pak'ma'ra
From The Babylon Project
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- "pak'ma'ra are chosen of God... very special. We can eat of all the creatures who walk and fly and crawl... but not of the fish in the sea. "
- – A pak'ma'ra
The pak'ma'ra were members of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds and are members of the Interstellar Alliance.
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[edit] Physiology and Appearance
The pak'ma'ra are rather large-bodied, bipedal [1]sentients with tentacles protruding from a large head, behind which is a sort of hump on their back; its purpose is unknown, though it's possible that it might actually be their young. Pak’ma’ra can breathe in both oxygen and Carbon Dioxide atmospheres.
A pak'ma'ra's diet consists of carrion, preferably "five days dead and decayed" or they will not touch it. A pak'ma'ra can eat just about any creature, alien or otherwise including mammals, reptiles though not fish and they are extremely resistant to bacterial infection. It's because of their unique method of food digestion and expulsion that Babylon 5 was equipped with special toilet facilities for pak'ma'ra use only. Though this may have been out of consideration for other aliens as much as for the pak'ma'ra.[2][3]
pak'ma'ra clothing tends to consists of a long thick robe encircling their entire body except for their head and seems to be a universal trait.
[edit] Culture & Society
Posessing no concept of marriage, pak'ma'ra generally live alone or at most with one other of their race, called Nish'ka, the thought mate. Not a mate in the usual sense, they are quite simply a very close friend.
pak'ma'ra habitats are usually organic in nature rather than fabricated structures; caves, grottoes, etc. A clustering of these habitats forms a sort of a village which each have gathering places in which tasks are divided up by mutual agreement. In this way one group of pak'ma'ra may agree to provide food, another may build, a third may engage in research, a fourth in teaching, and so on. Whatever the task at hand, they are worked at diligently and for however long they may take. After which there is rest and meditation and discussion until needs arise again and the pak'ma'ra again gather to divide the tasks, however they may fall to different pak'ma'ra then the previous time.
Once or twice each pak'ma'ra year the inhabitants of a village will gather at a designated location to discuss their lives and share any new knowledge gained. Once every five Pak'ma years, all pak'ma'ra journey to a massive plain to do likewise on a much larger scale.
When alien races finally realized that the pak'ma'ra are an almost completely task-oriented society it made interaction with them possible. For example, traders in foodstuffs found that a bargain with whatever group was dealing with food production at the moment would be honored by whatever group took on the task next.
This has led to speculation that the pak'ma'ra possessed a hive mind. But research showed that this was untrue. In essence, the pak'ma'ra have a hive-mentality, they do share all of their knowledge but it's through discussion not an automatic process. Many have also believed that the pak'ma'ra are telepathic within their own species but the fact that they have a very complex spoken language tends to belie that theory.
[edit] Religion
The pak'ma'ra have no organized religion at all. If anything could be considered sacred to them, it would be the idea. They believe thought is the spirit. Despite this, pak'ma'ra believe that they are naturally superior to other beings, or roughly translated "chosen of god, very special". On rare occasions they also partake in what passes for religious ceremonies, one of which involves communal singing. Giving its rarity there is very little literature on the subject although those that have witnessed it claim that (surprisingly) the song is a beautiful sound full of sadness and hope and wonder and a terrible sense of loss.[3] [4]
It is perhaps because of their beliefs and their superior attitude that most other races consider them to be, among other things, slow, selfish, greedy, obnoxious, stubborn and not very bright. As a result of this, along with their diet and the associated aroma that they are often socially shunned and ignored by other races, though they are on many alien worlds trading, they are effectively invisible.[5][4]
[edit] Language
Because of the shape of their mouths, they are unable to form words in the same manner that other races speak. [6] This means that they must frequently make use of an electronic translator which they are always seen carrying with them. The have no written language of their own.
[edit] Technology and Resources
The pak'ma'ra are not as advanced as the other races, having only developed space flight relatively recently. pak'ma'ra technology is all based on crystalline power sources, similar to Centauri and Minbari power sources. Their technological development has been mostly focused on transportation and communication as well as ranged weaponry. However like their social structure this changed upon first contact when they recognized new needs.
The pak'ma'ra have no interest in conflict but interaction with other races showed them that they needed to be able to defend themselves. Though not very maneuverable, their ships are surprisingly fast and heavily armed with weapons that pack a heavy punch. pak'ma'ra ground defenses are even deadlier and the rugged terrain and dense atmosphere of Pak'ma make invasion unlikely for any but the most powerful races.
They have been known to purchase military ships from other races and are also been known to scavenge for technologies. They have access to large amounts of Quantium 40, which every race needs to construct jump gates, and they have spread far across the galaxy peddling the much sought after substance.[5]
[edit] History
The pak'ma'ra civilization dawned around the Earth year 261 and changed very little until their contact with other races when they achieved space flight in 2186.
First contact with other races came as quite a jolt to the pak'ma'ra concept of the universe. Faced with an influx of new alien ideas, many of which they couldn't grasp, the pak'ma'ra became curious. After a long debate it was decided to add a new task to their lives; the task of discovery. pak'ma'ra were sent all over the galaxy to simply observe other beings and hear their new ideas.
These ideas would be brought back to the homeworld to be debated and those which seemed logical were then adapted into pak'ma'ra culture, though very slowly. This change is continuous and no one can quite guess where it might lead in the future.
After their first contact the pak'ma'ra joined the League of Non-Aligned Worlds and when the Earth Alliance established the Babylon 5 station, they sent their chosen spokespersons to serve as Ambassadors. In December 2259 pak'ma'ra space was one of the twelve territories. invaded by the Centauri Republic and at the outbreak of the Shadow War, the pak'ma'ra followed along with the other races in the League of Non-Aligned Worlds in the formation of the Army of Light and the signing of the Babylon 5 Treaty.
In 2261, after the Shadow War had ended the pak'ma'ra were among those who suffered border attacks by the Drakh.[7] As a result the pak'ma'ra were one of the races to accept the protection of the White Star fleet, fearing rumours of a new unknown and powerful enemy.[8]
During the Earth Alliance Civil War the pak'ma'ra joined the rest of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds in declaring all mutual defense treaties with Earth null and void and later lent their official support to Sheridan’s campaign against the Clark regime.[9]
When the Interstellar Alliance was formed, the Pak’ma’ra were among the first to sign up. As members of the new alliance, they agreed to share resources with other worlds in compliance with the Declaration of Principles, including providing the Abbai with food shipments to see them though the winter months.[10]
Along with Alliance membership came the right to send recruits to the Anla'shok and the Pak’ma’ra were again among the first. At first however, Sech Durhan and Sech Turval were at a loss as to what to do with a pak'ma'ra's refusal to speak anything but its own language, requiring the use of a translator as well as its dietary requirements and astonishingly foul smell necessitated moving its quarters in Tuzanor away from the other recruits. They did considered using it for garbage disposal but there are things that even a pak'ma'ra won't eat. Entil'Zha Delenn however saw that because of this - the pak'ma'ra often being shunned and ignored - they were perfectly suited to serve as couriers, infiltrators and cryptologists.[5]
[edit] Government
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The pak'ma'ra operate under a unique form of government, perhaps best illustrated by the pak'ma'ra saying that roughly translates as "pak'ma'ra, all same, all different".
While difficult for some races to comprehend, understanding this philosophy is essential to understanding the pak'ma'ra government. For example, when other races made first contact with the pak'ma'ra they naturally requested to speak with their leadership and were presented with an elderly pak'ma'ra named something which sounded roughly like "Ssh'ssh'ya'ssh". The next time audience with the pak'ma'ra leader was requested they were shown to yet another pak'ma'ra with an entierly different name. It didn't take long to realise that the pak'ma'ra had no concept for "leader or ruler" and that anyone that wished to can speak for the entire race, since pak'ma'ra are all the same. However, since they are all also different, the "spokesman" can take no action on anything until ALL pak'ma'ra, everywhere consider the subject.
In time the alien governments discovered that they could deal with specific groupings among the pak'ma'ra and actually achieve what passed for treaties that would be honored by the next group to fill that task.
[edit] Behind the Scenes
- According to JMS, the pak'ma'ra do not capitalise the first letter of their name in English: -
- "In all of my scripts, I always spelled pak’ma’ra in all lower case letters. Our script coordinator kept changing it to Pak’ma’ra. Finally, I had to tell her to stop changing it. She wanted to know why. I said, “Because that’s how they spell it.” It’s great being able to win arguments by citing non-existent rules of punctuation created by equally non-existent species."
- – Babylon 5 Scripts: Volume 5, page 11. Footnote 5
[edit] Other Sources
- Babylon 5 Scripts - Other Voices: Vol 3 (Babylon 5 Alien Guide)
- The Official Guide to Babylon 5 (CD ROM)
[edit] References
- ↑ The Official Babylon 5 Magazine, Vol. 2 No. 11
- ↑ Legacies
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Secrets of the Soul
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Sleeping in Light
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Learning Curve
- ↑ JMS post on rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated - 4/22/1995
- ↑ Lines of Communication
- ↑ Rumors, Bargains and Lies
- ↑ Between the Darkness and the Light
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 The Paragon of Animals
| Major Races | ||
| Ancient Races: | First Ones • First Born • Vorlon • Shadow • Walkers of Sigma-957 • Thirdspace Aliens • The Hand | |
| Major Races: | Minbari • Centauri • Human • Narn • Dilgar • Drakh | |
| League/Alliance Races: | Drazi • Brakiri • Gaim • pak'ma'ra • Abbai • Yolu • Hyach/Hyach-do • Markab • Llort • Grome • Hurr • Cascor • Balosian • Onteen • Iksha • Vree | |
| Governments | ||
| Major Governments: | Vorlon Empire • Minbari Federation • Centauri Republic • Earth Alliance • Narn Regime | |
| Minor Governments: | Drazi Freehold • Brakiri Syndicracy • Abbai Matriarchate • Gaim Intelligence • Hyach Grand Council of Elders • Markab Confederacy • The pak'ma'ra • Androma Republic • Marga Chulda • Mi-Ma-Ti • Ingyo • Ventuki Conglomerate of the Vree • Sh'lassen Triumvirate | |
