Watching Babylon 5 for the first time and I know there's still a lot of series left to go, but man, I think The Coming of Shadows might just be my favourite episode. My face just fell when G'Kar came up to Londo to buy him a drink, so full of hope that the Narn and the Centauri might actually be able to reconcile, knowing it wasn't going to happen. And Andreas Katsulas just really nails G'Kar's anguish when he hears about the destruction of the Quadrant 14 colony and he's on the warpath towards Londo, he was a phenomenal actor.
I was watching a video on crocodiles and thinking about the aliens I need to build for Free As Dust so now it's your problem.
By necessity, culture must arise after anatomy and is therefore immensely influential in its construction, human beings are reliant on our hands and voice boxes and thus you can get by generally with hand gestures and grunting noises.
With that in mind, lets look at the Narn and the Centauri in Babylon 5, the best science fiction show, go watch it.
This post is only going to focus on two traits and how they influence the aliens we're dealing with because JMS did some amazing work but I don't have access to a full anatomical write up of the angry lizard men and then 'what if imperial rome looked like versailles' aliens.
Male Centauri Reproductive Organs
Thanks to the episode where Londo uses his wang to cheat at poker (go watch Babylon 5) we're introduced at an early point to the fact that Centauri dicks are external, prehensile, and long. In the same episode it's implied that they're hexaphilic. Later confirmed by Vir.
Having six reproductive organs just out and about where they can cheat at cards would make them omnipresent in the mind. And the cultural ramifications are a people who make an emphasis of the pursuit of pleasure and the awareness of pain (after all, anyone could just set the pitcher on your dick while it's moving cards around).
Narn Pouches
The Narn have been pretty ground down before the series, but what endured is a protective and community based group. They are family oriented, and the Shan'kar is shown a couple of times, bringing to the forefront the idea that a Narn is an extension of their family.
It's no particularly surprising that the proud warrior race would be reptilian, reptiles are the best, but the anatomical feature I want to bring up is the pouch.
It seems like the Narn are often born as twins and share their parent's pouch. We can assume twins because Vir's fiance recognizes that two Narn are related based on their features and we know those two dudes are pouch brothers.
So that emphasis on community and family would have grown from every or almost every Narn having at least one person they are ride or die for right off the bat.
Given that the only thing we know about Narn sex is that G'kar has it and the Narn aren't really seen pursuing it, we can assume that it's likely a private matter (kept between you and Ambassador Mollari's wife).
I'm a huge language nerd so of course I'm going to inflict that on Babylon 5 – Narn, Centauri, and Minbari cultural/political/linguistic situation primarily, but also touching on Human influence because I am (as previously stated) a huge nerd. Based on a rant I offloaded on the B5 discord a few months ago.
First off, the idea that all alien species on the galactic chessboard speak the same/similar Lingua Franca; "Interlac," is super wonderfully convenient. I would assume that the most influential/oldest spacefaring alien races would have influenced this language. In terms of what we'd have seen on the show, those would be primarily Minbari and Centauri. The Minbari are far older; a thousand years ago they were already capable of space travel and space warfare, but they are also far more isolationist. Their outreach to the other galactic races seemed to have been pretty limited until the aftermath of the Earth-Minbari War. Trade, but little cultural exchange. Whereas the Centauri's imperial expansion and large political power in the galaxy would also have a large linguistic impact on trade and vassal planets.
The Humans join the interstellar chessboard quite late in the game, comparatively. In the show, it's only been like 200-150 odd years since they've had space travel and first contact with their first alien race, the Centauri. (Which, on a separate note is very funny if you compare B5 to Star Trek: First Contact with Vulcans pushes Humans into the utopian-ish Federation, whereas the Centauri immediately try to trick the Humans into believing that they're actually a lost Centauri colony. Really sets the tone for what kind of larger universe the Humans have just unlocked.) So, no, even though the show is in English, I'm not approaching this with the attitude that everyone is speaking English.
Anyway, Minbos first:
The Minbari have three main languages: Adronato (Religious Caste); Lenn'ah (Warrior Caste); and Vik (Worker Caste). Having three separate languages basically based on what your job is kind of a wild concept. The explanation I could come up for it was this: the Minbari were a spacefaring race even before the first Shadow War. It looks like, for convenience's sake, all the spacefaring races we see onscreen have a commonly used language of their most dominant culture - or some sort of creole or Lingua Franca combination of their main/most spoken languages. If your entire world has come together to explore the stars, it makes sense to have a very basic level of standard communication amongst one another - before finding whole other races you have to communicate with, from some baseline.
The splits between the castes only worsened since Valen's time - so it makes sense that those three Caste languages would be more like dialects of one unified Minbari language. Obviously, Warriors are going to come up with more words for describing blowing shit up, types of duels, honorable reasons for killing, etc.; whereas Religious are going to develop more specialized philosophical terms; and Workers are going to be able to spew technological and mathematical jargon much more easily.
It also makes sense as a cause and an effect of the rifts between the castes: you have to trust that the Worker fixing your ship knows what he's talking about because you, a Religious Caste member, don't quite have the words to describe exactly what he's going to do to your engine. The Religious spew incomprehensible stuff about "souls reborn in foreign bodies" and while you, a Warrior, know 50 different ways to say "I will kill you with honor," the actual depth of what that means isn't immediately accessible to you.
But, obviously, a basic level of communication is entirely possible, because the language these dialects originated from is the same – and mutual intelligibility is entirely possible. Now, obviously, this only works BECAUSE they're Minbari – they're able to preserve entire crystal cities for 1000 years, surely they can do the same with language. Because if you look at Human language 1000 years ago? That was 1025. The Byzantine empire was a thing. If somehow we wanted to have a chat with the people of that time - without lots of specialized knowledge, and command of several dead languages - we would not be able to at all.
Now for the Centauri:
In the show, the Centauri seem to fall into several categories of accents: the vaguely Eastern European-meets-Italian accent that characters such as Londo, Urza, and Refa talk with; Emperor Turhan's accent (although that's just the actor being Turkish, so I'm still not sure whether to count it); the very proper RP English accent that characters like Virini and Timov have; and the very standard American accent of Vir, Minister Vole, and many others. I am going to take this at face value - that in-universe, these characters all sound different from one another, in the context of their culture and language.
Which makes me think of various regional dialects and languages that the Centauri have – although, again, as an advanced spacefaring race, they do have a unified standard language for their species. When all Centauri were unified under the first emperor, it's not a stretch to think that there was a standardization of language – in CCP China, for instance, the Northern Mandarin pronunciation was assigned the standard, and the writing system was simplified and standardized. And the many other languages – I know they're called dialects, but all they have in common is a writing system, they are very often not mutually intelligible – are still prevalent across different parts of China. So, I'm thinking something similar to the Centauri – regional dialectical differences but one unified standard language.
Another factor that I think would be important in Centauri language is formality and rank. Many languages have this, to varying extents; a polite second-person pronoun versus an informal one in many European languages, or entire forms and cases of the language itself like Japanese honorific forms. There are whole separate verbs/nouns/sentence endings depending on how polite you are being to someone else, or how much you are humbling yourself in relation to the person you are referring to.
All this being said, it would make sense for them to have a Common Centauri, and a Courtly Centauri, as well as dozens of regional dialects. Courtly Centauri would be used in speaking to the Emperor, writing a legal document, projecting an air of distance between oneself and the subject, perhaps even used mockingly. Conversationally, Common Centauri would be used - which would also make sense as a significant component of Interlac, seeing as the Centauri were conquering people and trading across the galaxy for a long time.
(Another thing I thought of was a uniquely Imperial form of the language: not just a 'royal we,' but an entirely different way of speaking, open only to one man. Something a future emperor may well practice in the mirror, out of earshot, long before he's crowned. Or something he has to get used to on the fly, every slip-up being seen as significant in the Royal Court.)
Narn time now!
Unlike Minbari, Centauri, Humans, etc. Narn unification as a species and their need for wider communication arose from entirely different circumstances.
Imagine if Earth was colonized and forced into servitude by aliens tomorrow! It would become vastly less important who was German or Iranian or Javanese - the important thing would become getting those bastards out of here. The Centauri themselves wouldn't have cared about the cultural and linguistic differences between various Narn populations: all they needed was a work-force, and when it came to a long-term occupation of a population, education also becomes a factor. Just like with most occupied peoples', the occupiers' language is taught in the schools. So it makes sense to me that Narn schools during the occupation were taught in Common Centauri.
Post-Occupation, I can imagine several different camps that Narns would fall into linguistically speaking: those who become language purists, who would want to preserve and regain traditions pre-Occupation, the desire to return, culturally and linguistically to a time untouched by the Centauri; and those who would be more practical in the sense that they would support Narn Standard as the way forward, as a spacefaring race and sudden major players on the galactic board.
Narn Standard being something like a creole of most dominant Narn languages - with Centauri loan-words: especially for technologies, pejoratives, and cuss words. For instance, in Russian, the word for "idiot" is дурак "durak" –> which comes from турок lit. "Turk," a Turkish person. I feel like there would be a lot of similar things going on with Narn and Centauri.
But I'm imagining a lot of words like this in both Narn and Centauri
There are still very many different languages that Narns from various countries/areas would speak - especially older generations; but the younger generations, those born during the occupation and after would speak a more and more standardized form, with some regional/dialectical differences.
This, of course, brings me to my favorite character of all time: G'Kar!
The various prophets of Narn and their various associated religious texts would of course be in the various languages of wherever they happen to be from. Canonically, the Narns make perfect reproductions of their holy texts (including all the rips/burns/coffee stains) these religious texts would continuously be published in the same archaic language they were written. Imagine reading the Christian Bible in Aramaic!
This brings me to the Book of G'Kar. G'Kar was born during the occupation, so it is not a stretch that he would have written his book (basically his diary that he didn't intend to have published until after his death! I bet the poor guy didn't even get to edit it properly!) in Narn Standard.
This would have massive cultural significance on Narn - obviously his may followers, but also those against it, as giving legitimacy to the cultural/linguistic heritage of the Narns post-occupation, Centauri influence and all!
This whole post, and the whole rant I uploaded to discord back in September, was all inspired by Na'tak Burella - the Prideful WInd-catcher, G'Kar's nickname for Londo in the Book of G'Kar.
Given what we know about the way Narn sounds and the way Centauri sounds, 'Na'tak Burella' seems like an example of Centauri and Narn languages enmeshed. 'Prideful,' perhaps being a play on words for some Centauri loanword, and 'na'tak'-> 'wind-catcher' (wind-sock? windbag?) 'easily influenced' or 'gaudy and annoying.'
I pictured the Narn equivalent of the first picture. G'Kar calling Londo basically one of these guys. (It was brought to my attention, later, that it could also have been something more like the second picture.)
I have recently been thinking about Narn biology, and speciefically developmental biology. As they are marsupials their young would be born early, and what other races would consider "premature".
But, as I may as well use my biology degree for something, I've drawn a mockup of the developmental stages of a Narn pregancy and pouchling state. Also, hand for scale (because I kept looking at my hand, imagining tiny Narn babies while drawing this..)
(Long text going stage by stage under the break)
0-3 weeks: The start of the pregnancy, from just a lump of cells to the development of the central nervous system (CNS) and the heart. At this point there are almost no recognisable structures or limbs formed yet, though the forelimbs have stated to develop. Size at this point is similar to a jelly bean.
3-5 weeks: During this period the rest of the circulatory system as well as the respiratory system start to develop. This include the lungs, tracea, mouth and nose. Additionally the forelimbs grow larger and individual fingers start to form. The foetus will also double in size during this period, now rivaling a grape in size. The eyes is the last part of the CNS to start to develop, though they will remain closed for the forseeable future.
5-7 weeks: By week 7 the mouth is fully formed and the digestive system has started developing as well. The forelimbs have grown stronger and the back limbs have started to separate, though they are still far behind the forelimbs. The vestigial tail will also start to separate from the legs at this point.
7-9 weeks: At this point all necessary systems have to be fully developed. The CNS, circulatory system, and digestive system are now fully functional. The forelimbs have also developed far ahead of the rest of the body, and the fingers are tipped in sharp claws. By now the young will be able to climb a vertical surface using only its forelimbs, a hold over from an earlier ancestor where the young had to enter the pouch of the carrying male on it's own. These days the young are helped into the pouch by their parents.
Week 9: birth. (While the young of many of the races are deemed 'cute' as newborn, there is a general consensus that Narns are not. To most other races the Narns look distinctly unfinished.)
0-2 weeks after birth: After the birth the young is placed into the pouch of their male parent (or an other male should the parent not be available). The young, now officially a pouchling, will latch onto a nipple. The tip of the nipple will swell, effectively locking the pouchling onto it for the next few months. The face continues to develop, and they will lose the muzzle-like appearance they had at birth. During this period they will start gaining weight more rapidly, and at 2 weeks they are about the same size and weight as a newborn (earth) kitten.
2-4 weeks after birth: During this stage their face continues to become more recognisable as a Narn as features such as a nose and ears develop. Their spots and colouring will start to appear during this period, also helping them achieve the appearance of a proper Narn. Their feet have finally developed into limbs, and their toes will form individual structures during this period.
4-6 weeks after birth: From 4-6 weeks the pouchling will nearly triple it's mass. The critical systems are all fully developed at this point, including their eyes, though they remain closed. The rest of the body is also starting to catch up the the development of the forelimbs, and the tail have stopped developing.
6-9 weeks after birth: By 9 weeks the pouchling is fully developed, though still small. Their eyes remain closed, but will during the next couple of weeks gradually start to open. The face has gotten the distinct brow ridge, and the limbs have elongated.
9 weeks until the emergance: After having passed 9 weeks in the pouch, the pouchling is technically ready to emerge for the first time. At this point they have grown big enough to let go of the nipple, and their eyes will start to open, allowing them to start exploring the world beyng the pouch. Most pouchlings will however stay in the pouch until they reach 11-12 weeks of age. During these last 2-3 weeks they will change only in size as they continue to grow. If added together and counting the first emergance as the proper "birth", a Narn pregnancy, though split between the parents, average a total of 21 weeks, just past the half way point of a human pregnancy.
(Post script:
This all started because i listened to an interview of Julie Caitlin Brown from 2006. At one point during this interview she said, apropos of nothing: "I always thought G'kar should have gotten pregnant." (paraphrased from memory, it's been a couple weeks since then).
Which, i agree, that yould have been fun. It also made my mind start circling the idea of a Narn pregnancy, and what a developing Narn could look like. And, as I happen to have a degree in biology I don't have much use for, i figured, 'why not?'. And so i give you all my ramblings.
Also, do the Narn have a tail? Impossible to know, since as far as i'm aware, we have never seen a bare Narn ass. In my mind, they have a tiny vestigial tail. It is longer as a pouchling, but it gets mostly reabsorbed into their body before they emerge for the first time.)
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Babylon 5 is my favorite show of all time. Please don't judge it by the mid-90s production quality. Like the station itself, the show was doing the best it could with the budget and technical limitations it had and I love it for that.
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