Minbari

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Mira Furlan plays the Minbari ambassador Delenn in Babylon 5

The Minbari are a fictional alien race featured in the television show Babylon 5. The Minbari characters of Delenn, Lennier, and Dukhat figure prominently in the series.

The fictional planet of Minbar is the homeworld of the Minbari race. The planet and race were named by Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski after the Islamic pulpit known as a minbar.

[edit] Homeworld

Bill Mumy portrayed the Minbari Lennier in Babylon 5

Babylon 5 ran for five full television seasons, and also included a number of made-for-TV movies. In the beginning, the audience knows little of the Minbari, but episodes reveal progressively more.

Although the Minbari are considerably younger than the ancient First Ones, they are among the oldest of the "younger races". The Minbari are more advanced in technology than humans, and have had spaceflight capability for over 1,000 years.

Minbar is located in the Chi Draconis A star system - a binary star system. It is the seventh planet in orbit around the local suns. The system is just over 25 light years from Earth. Like Earth, Minbar has an oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere. The polar caps are larger than those on Earth, the northern cap covers 23% of the planet's surface. On the whole, Minbar's climate is colder than that of Earth. The planet is noted for vast crystalline structures, many cities are carved directly from crystal. Minbar's year is about 1.5 Earth years. Its day is shorter than Earth's, being 20 hours and 47 minutes. It has two moons. The population of the planet is about 4 billion, and the capital city is located at Yedor.

[edit] Biology

The Minbari are humanoid in appearance. Unlike humans, Minbari are generally bald, however some males are capable of growing facial hair. They have light toned skin and a large external bone structure on the back of their heads. Minbari have a slightly longer life span than humans - some have been known to live as long as 150 years.

The Minbari sense of taste is not as developed as that of human beings. Minbari prefer hot, spicy foods because of their weak sense of taste. Minbari do not drink beverages containing alcohol because their systems react badly to it.

The notable headbone structure on the back and sides of their head is an extension of their skull. Minbari are not born with the headbone present. Instead the headbone grows over time. Female Minbari have a smooth headbone which tapers to a single point at the back of the head; males typically have headbones which taper to several points along the bone.

The Minbari physically have more stamina than humans, and can sustain injuries that would be fatal to a human. Their headbone protects their cranium and brain from impacts that would be fatal to other races. Minbari can tolerate a much greater blood loss than humans could. Also, they can sustain general trauma that would be fatal to other races. Dr. Franklin of Babylon 5 theorized that this was the reason why the Minbari were so successful in the Earth/Minbari War - they could survive injuries and battle wounds that would kill or incapacitate a human, and they could keep fighting longer than most human soldiers could.

The Minbari reproduce sexually, in a manner similar to that of humans. Their sexual organs and the locations of such organs are similar to humans. As a rule, Minbari do not mate outside of their species because of a belief that it would disrupt their racial purity. However Ambassador Delenn married former Earthforce Captain John Sheridan, and their union produced a son, David. This would normally be impossible, as Minbari and humans are not genetically compatible, but Delenn's transformation into a human/Minbari hybrid made it possible for her and Sheridan to have a child together. It may also be that she was able to do so because she was descended from Valen.

As with Humans and most other sentient species, a small percentage of the Minbari population are telepaths. They seem to be evenly divided among all three castes, though most of them are expected to live as part of the Religious caste from birth. For Minbari, telepathy is seen as a gift from the Universe, and telepaths are highly honored in Minbari society.

A million years in the future, the Minbari will eventually evolve to First One status, as do the humans ("The Deconstruction of Falling Stars").

[edit] Government

The Minbari Federation is the government of the Minbari worlds and colonies, it is based on Minbar. Although there is a capital city on Minbar, Yedor, the ruling body of the Minbari Federation, known as the Grey Council, usually meets on board a starship, the Grey Sharlin, also known as the Vilin'Tha or "Hand of Valen".

The Grey Council is made up of nine individuals, as well as an additional person who serves as an advisor/leader to the council. Members of the council are addressed by other Minbari with the honorific prefix 'satai-'.

[edit] Society

The Minbari society is structured around three quasi-ethnic castes. These castes are called Worker, Warrior, and Religious. Membership in a caste appears to be a hereditary matter - children of parents from one caste will usually follow their parents. If the parents are of different castes, the mother's caste takes precedence - any children would belong to the mother's caste. Sometimes Minbari who have a deep feeling for one caste - which they refer to as the calling of their heart - will join a different caste. The castes are not as limited as their titles would suggest, and to some degree try to be self-sufficient. For instance, all three castes maintain security forces. However, the only caste permitted to maintain a military force among the three has always been the Warrior Caste. In 2260, the Religious Caste broke this tenet held so importantly by the Warriors, in having their members work as assistants to the Anla'Shok, staffing the White Star Fleet, and helping the Worker Caste to build the ships.

Each Minbari caste has leaders which are referred to as elders. These elders oversee the governance of the internal matters of the caste.

Until the breaking of the Grey Council in 2260 each caste held equal power, an institution created by Valen a thousand years before to put an end to civil war between the castes and unite them against a common enemy, the Shadows.

[edit] Religion

The Minbari religion does not have a central God figure, nor does it have a pantheon of Gods. The Minbari have a belief that the universe itself is sentient, and that the universe has the ability to break itself into many pieces and invests itself in every form of life. Thus, every being is a projection of a part of the universal soul. They believe that the universe uses the perspective of individual sentient beings in a process of self-examination and a search for meaning.

Valen is a central figure in Minbari religion.^[1] However, Valen is not considered a deity. He was a "Minbari not born of Minbari". About AD 1260, a fortress suddenly appeared in Minbari space, on which resided Valen flanked by Vorlons, who then led the Minbari people against the Shadows. After the war, Valen helped restructure Minbari society, organizing the Grey Council to lead it. These nine individuals came from each of the three castes. This form of government remained stable for a thousand years until the next Shadow War. Valen knew the Shadows would return and wrote prophecies to warn the Minbari when the next war was starting.^[2] After these tasks were completed, Valen left Minbar; the remainder of his life and eventual fate is still a mystery, though it has since been kept a secret by the Grey Council that he did have a wife and children in self-imposed exile, most of whom returned to Minbari society in secret, had families of their own, and added human DNA to the Minbari gene pool.

Minbari people believe in reincarnation. They feel that after an individual has died, the soul of the individual joins with all the other departed Minbari souls. The souls then all meld together becoming one. Then the souls are reborn into the next generation of Minbari.^[3] This was the central reason behind the Minbari stopping their war with the humans, as they had found "that Minbari souls were reborn in human bodies".^[4]

[edit] True seekers

Minbari respect the role of "true seekers", which Delenn explains are those who follow the calling of their hearts. Even when such a seeker's task appears to be folly, other Minbari – especially religious caste – will provide what assistance they can. This was showcased in an episode when a human boarded Babylon 5 searching for the holy grail and Delenn aided him in his quest.^[5]

[edit] Language

The Minbari have three main languages, referred to as Light, Dark, and Grey, a language for each caste. The languages are Lenn-Ah or "Light"(Worker Caste), Adrenato or "Grey"(Religious Caste), and Vik or "Dark"(Warrior Caste). All three languages are based on a root language of Adrihi'e. In common speech all three languages are used, as each is designed for a different purpose. The language of Adrenato is euphonic in tone and usually slow in delivery. It is the only one of the three with words for spiritual and philosophical abstracts. Vik is concise and sharp-sounding. It is designed to convey orders with few words and no ambiguity. Lenn-Ah is technical in nature, filled with adjectives. It is used when one discusses mathematics and sciences.

Examples:

• Adrihi'e: Nu'zen Fel'ani in-a lis'e medran

[English: You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.]

• Adrenato: Na'chea, Duvea na

[English: Make the sound of gently falling rain.]

In reality, much of the Minbari spoken on screen is derived from Russian, with phrases such as не можно spoken with a subtitle saying Don't be, such as in the episode War Without End Part I.

[edit] Alphabet

The Minbari alphabet appears on Babylon 5 trading cards, and seems to be a simple substitution cipher of English letters. This is occasionally used to create inside jokes, which at the time were understood only by the staff.

In the Season 2 episode "There All the Honor Lies," an important-looking message is displayed on Delenn's computer, which actually reads, "Chester is very spoiled. I guess it's my fault. I loved him too much."^[6] Later, in "Dust to Dust," Vir Cotto returns to Babylon 5 from Minbar, proudly wearing a short robe they had given him. The letters on it spell out "ALOHA."^[7]

[edit] Notes

1. ^ "The Parliament of Dreams." Babylon 5. 1994-02-23.
2. ^ "War Without End, part 2." Babylon 5. 1996-05-20.
3. ^ "Soul Hunter." Babylon 5. 1994-02-02.
4. ^ "Revelations." Babylon 5. 1994-11-09.
5. ^ "Grail." Babylon 5. 1994-07-06.
6. ^ http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/guide/036.html#NO
7. ^ http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/guide/050.html#JS