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HISTORY, NARN REGIME
A few hundred years older than the civilization of man, the people of Narn were once a peaceful agrarian race, much like the African Zulu tribes of Earth. Narn home world is the second planet orbiting a star designated 82 Eridani by Earth astronomers, which some 13 light-years from Babylon 5, 20 light-years from Sol and nearly 67 light-years from Centauri Prime. While not technologically advanced in general, some of the more advanced nations of the planet Narns were able to reach out into space rather easily, due to the proximity of a Jump Gate in Narn orbit. Before the Centarui invasion, the Narns enjoyed one of the most stable societies ever recorded in the known galaxy. This all changed however in the early 22nd Century, when the Centauri Empire made first contact with the people of Narn during their second drive towards galactic expansion. Understanding the need to win over the Narns quickly, the Centauri warship dropped a plasma bomb on the capital city of the Narns southern continent. Hours after the explosion, a Centauri ship landed on the planet and informed the Narns present that they had defeated an invading alien force from space, who meant to enslave their planet. With Literary culture and history littered with tails of powerful beings from other stars wielding the powers of gods, most noteable in the "Book of G'Quan" the Narns greeted the Centauri with open arms. News of the Centauri's bravery and nobility in defending Narn from the fake invasion spread quickly and the Centauri found them selves honored as royalty and literally praised as gods. The Centauri enjoyed this. Taking advantage of the Narns naivete, the resurgent Centauri Empire offered the Narn a place in their glorious Republic. With membership would come technology, schooling, medicine and most importantly protection from aggressive alien races. Narn leaders, fearful that the aliens who attacked them may return if the Centauri left, willingly joined the Centauri Republic and unwittingly signed their people into servitude. At first the Narns served the Centauri willingly. With the god-like praise offered up by the people of Narn, it quickly became the jewel of the new Republic. The rich soil and the wide variety of crops quickly became a primary export item and the planet at large became a prime vacation spot for all Centauri. Advertisements for vacations to the Narn homeworld were enriched with the logo Gods go to Narn. Slowly but surely, the rights of the indigenous population were curtailed and freedom quickly slipped from the Narns grasp. Within less than a generation of the Centauri's arrival, the Narns came to realize that the Centauri were far from being the noble god races who had visited Narn in the past. The damage had been done however, and the Centauri freely walked Narn streets, comfortable in their cloak of nobility and confident in their superiority. The Centauri had become the masters, the Narn the slaves. Though the Centauri had arrived on Narn as saviors, they had become conquerors. Some of the Narn leaders, who had first embraced the Centauris arrival, attempted to bring up this point with the planets territorial governor. The Centauri Governor mocked the Narn elders, but was not so foolish as to realize the possible threat they presented. Thus he made an example of several of the more rebellious elders, then broke up those who remained. When the allure of the planet Narn subsided in Centauri culture, they moved onto "business as usual." Massive mining operations began to take effect, Narn citizens were rounded up like cattle and sent to help in the mining operations and the maintenance of the planets agrarian base. Due to the Narn's superior strength and endurance, the Centauri also began to export them to other Centauri holdings, to be used as slave labor. Becoming more concerned with the precious metals and matterial the planet had to offer, the Centauri discontinued maintenance of the planets biosphere. The oceans were drained or destroyed, fresh water depleted and the animal life slaughtered. The Centauri were destroying the whole of Narn. Realizing what was happening to them, several resistance groups had formed on Narn. Disorganized as they were however, the rebels were easily curtailed by the Centauri occupational forces. This changed with the arrival of several Narns who had spent years working as slave labors on other Centauri worlds. They told their fellow Narnians of what was really out in the universe. The Centauri were not the great protectors and more importantly they were not the only power in the universe. Seeing the need for organization, the Narn rebel leaders organized all the rebel factions on Narn into a massive guerrilla force, sabotaging Centauri equipment, vessels and assassinating Centauri citizens living on Narn. Soon, Narn slaves working off world began making alliances with other races in the League of Non-Aligned worlds who had also shirked off the shackles of Centauri rule. Weapons began finding their way to Narn and the resistance began to severely cut into Centauri resources. Refusing to accept the disobedience of their slaves and the possible loss of the Jewel of the Republic, the Centauri invested more time and resources into curtailing the Narn uprisings. The more the Centauri fought off the Narn terrorist attacks and the planets general populace, the more the Narns fought back. The Narn rebellion came to a head in the early 23rd Century, when it was revealed that it had been the Centauri themselves who had dropped the Plasma Bomb on the Narn capital nearly a hundred years before. Outraged, the rebellion gained support from every Narn on Homeworld. Cities were burned, outposts were destroyed and mining ground to a halt. Terrorist strikes from Narn forces had brought exports from Narn to a dwindle. Then, with the help from other races in the League, the Narn began to cut into the Centauri's galactic trade. When it became obvious that holding Narn was far more trouble than it was worth, and having strip mined the entire planet of every natural resource, the Centauri abandoned the planet Narn in mid 2214. Devastated by the Centauri occupation, socially, globally and morally, the Narn vowed to never again allow them selves to fall under the boot of oppression. With science learned from the Centauri, contacts made by Narn slaves with more benevolent races, combined with what little technology the Centauri had left behind that was not destroyed or sabotaged, the Narn began the task of rebuilding their world. In order to survive, the Narn knew they had to become self-sufficient. To accomplish this, the Narn fell into tribes once more and began a teraforming campaign to bring life back to their now desolate planet. Finding the timetable for global reconstruction too long and with a strong desire for revenge, the Narn came together again to create a new World Government. The new government was based off the ruling cast that had lead the Narn to prosperity a century earlier. Families appointed leaders, leaders became part of a tribes Circle through which leaders were appointed to the Narns central governing branch, the Kahri. One of the first issues addressed by the new Kahri, was the need for Narn to grow economically and become self-sufficient. It was decided the fastest way to accomplish this goal was through strength, and thus the Narn began a massive military build-up. The Narn had learned that the universe was a cruel place and to survive this new, larger world they had been thrust into, the Narn decided to become equally ruthless. Having created the Narn Regime, the once peaceful agrarian race broke onto the galactic scene with a vengeance. The Narn quickly laid claim to several worlds and began exploiting their resources to fund their new military. Some worlds were barren and lifeless and the Narn were able to flourish there. Other planets were rich with life and, like their former Centauri masters, the Narn conquered any sentient race they found on a world within their grasp. They had become what they had hated, conquerors, and did not care. Within twenty years of entering the galactic scene, the Narns had expanded their regime to include nine colonies. Of the nine colonies the Narn controlled, four of them were former Centauri holdings that had either been seized by force during border skirmishes with the Centauri Republic, or been handed over to the Narns by the Centauri royal court, in an effort to appease them. As the Centauri did not fight for their holdings, the Narn believed their former masters had learned to fear them and cowered before their newfound might. Following their expansion and the stabilization of their economy, the Narn began to eagerly pursue trade with every and any race they could find. The idea behind this went back to ancient Narn societal structures, and the belief that strong trade was the key to making friends and allies. Unfortunately, the Narns long fought struggle to free their world and create a galactic empire, left them ill prepared to deal with the battle field known as politics. Several races the Narn had opened up trade with early on, quickly accused the Narns of being traitors and liars, trading with alien powers that were enemies, some times at war. The Narn didn't understand why the other alien powers found this to be a problem, but quickly came to realize that dealing with aliens was a great deal more difficult. Due to their unfamiliarity with political trade policies, the Narn quickly gained a reputation as being a mercenary race that would buy, sell, or trade anything for the right price. This was not too far from the truth, as Narn trade laws were very liberal, allowing for trade and commerce with all races save the Centauri and those beings the Centauri were allied with. A law that, at first, also excluded the Earth Alliance. During a first contact with an Earth ship in 2219, the Narn appeared to be receptive to opening relations with mankind. Unfortunately, when the Narns saw humans for the first time they mistook the human crew for being Centauri and opened fire. Upon realizing their mistake, the Narn continued to be suspicious of the Earth Alliance, engaging in several boarder skirmishes with the Alliance before signing a Treaty with Earth in 2224. A decision whos wisdom would soon be realized. In 2228, the Narn made contact with an alien race known as the Dilgar. The Dilgar, a race as old, powerful and technologically advanced as the Centauri Republic, had always been kept in check by the Centauri. Now with the Centauri losing holdings all across the quadrant and shrinking form the galactic scene, the Dilgar had begun a massive expansion of their own empire. Believing all that were not Dilgar to be nothing more than potential slaves at best, the Dilgar quickly began attacking and destroying the outposts of many alien worlds. The Narn, not wishing to bring down the wrath of the Dilgar, sent a peaceful delegation to their world. The first two ambassadors sent to Dilgar were used in scientific experiments, what was left of their remains sent back to Narn. The third Narn representative was finally able to open relations with the Dilgar Empire. The Dilgar had a long standing hatred of the Centauri, whos powerful Republic had put the Dilgars empire in check hundreds of years earlier. The Narn used this common hatred to foster a trade agreement with the Dilgar, in the hopes that the two races could become friends and, some day, rule the galaxy together. While the Dilgar did agree to open trade relations with the Narn, the two powers conducted very little trade. When word of the Dilgars invasion of the Non-Aligned worlds reached the Narn Home World, many in the Kahri began to worry about what would happen should the Dilgar decide to invade their space. Despite these fears, trade with the Dilgar continued. Less than a year after entering into trade relations with the Dilgar, the malevolent race discovered that the Narn were trading heavy weapons and medical supplies to the League worlds. Outraged the Dilgar turned their eyes to the Narn. The first act of open aggression occurred when a Dilgar warship attacked an approaching Narn trade fleet, which was wiped out in a matter of seconds. From there, in order to teach the Narn a lesson about the price of betraying the Dilgar, they attacked and devastated one of the Narn colonies closest to their space. When a Narn fleet finally reached the annexed colony, they were horrified to discover that the Dilgar has used the whole of the Narn populace as gini-pigs in horrific genetic experiments. The Narn and newly formed League of Non-Aligned worlds realized the major threat the Dilgar represented. The Narn now unofficially joined in the war against the Dilgar, but only to protect their own holdings. Despite Narn objections, several league worlds petitioned the Centauri to join with them and make a stand against the Dilgar. The Centauri refused, having their own internal problems to deal with. A plea for assistance then went out to the ancient and enigmatic Minbari Federation, who had already signed a non-aggression pact with the Dilgar. In late 2229, the Dilgar officially declared war on the League worlds and let it be known that Narn could be next. Dilgar invasion fleets rampaged across League territories, all but ignoring the Narn accept when Narn vessels were found in the battlefields. Wave after wave of allied ships were beaten back, the military forces of the Narn Regime quickly becoming depleted as the League worlds changed from offense to defense. As the Dilgar fleets marched on, the war against the Dilgar began to look more and more hopeless. In the year 2231 everything changed. During what was looking to be a disastrous military error, a fleet of League ships with some Narn ships present, attacked a Dilgar war fleet. Losses on the allied forces were heavy and with the Narn and League fleet crippled, the Allied forces were about to give the order to retreat. Then, from out of nowhere, a fleet of Earth Alliance warships jumped out of Hyperspace to join the fight, only a few hours after having declared war on the Dilgar Empire, providing the allies with their first major victory in nearly a year. For the rest of the war the League and Earth Alliance forces fought side by side, valiantly beating back the hordes of the Dilgar Empire. Humanities entrance into the war provided the Narns with the time needed to deploy their newest warships and fighter craft, effectively cutting off the Dilgars escape routs thought Narn space. By the end of 2231 the allied forces had succeeded in beating back the Dilgar forces and crushing their malevolent empire. Relations between the Narn Regime and Earth Alliance warmed quickly following the war, the two races entering into mutual defense treaties with each other and many in the League worlds. Despite their sledge hammer approach to diplomacy, relations and trade between the Narn and Earth Alliance continued to strengthen. When the Earth Alliance went to war with the Minbari in 2245, the Narn were one of the few to willingly trade with the Alliance, providing humanity with weapons and technology stolen from the Centauri. Following the conclusion of the Earth/Minbari war, relations with the Narns soured, due primarily to the Alliances poor performance during the war, a fact many in the Narn Regime exploited in their encouragement to attack and seize Earth Alliance holdings. Although the Narns never committed any attacks, the damage had been done and trade with the Alliance, despite the need for matterials to aid in their reconstruction, dropped off substantially. By the time Babylon 5 went on-line in 2256, the Narn Regime had expanded to include fifteen different solar systems, including their home system. Seven of the Narn colonies were systems they had liberated from Centauri, some of which were given to them out-right by Centauri Emperor Turhan. Narns continued to search for new territories to conquer, including a failed attempt to seize the Centauri agro-colony on Rahgesh III. The Narns also continued to live up to their mercenary reputation, going to great lengths to acquire any and all technology that would give them an edge against the Centauri. A key concern of the Narns by this time, was the lack of telepaths in Narn society. Most every other race had telepaths and ancient lore told of an alien race constructing a base on the Narns southern continent and killing off all the Narn telepaths, effectively leaving the gene that creates telepaths virtually non-existent. Thus, on several occasions, the Narns attempted to purchase DNA from alien telepaths, in the attempt to create a Narn telepath of their own. Genetic experiments were a failure and even the kidnapping of a few alien telepaths here and there provided little assistance. By 2259, tension between the Narn and Centauri had reached a boiling point. When the Centauri Emperor announced a visit to Babylon 5, Narn officials went on a tirade and Narn ambassador G'Kar went as far as to demand the Babylon 5's commander, captain John Sheridan, deny the Centauri Emperors request to visit. Their pleas ignored, the Kahri decided that the Emperors arrival might in fact be an act of fate. The Narn military was at its peak; the whole of Narn forces fully prepared for a war they were sure they could win. Thus it was decided that Narn ambassador G'Kar would take the opportunity to assassinate the Emperor and send the two super-powers into war. Before ambassador G'Kar had a chance to kill Centauri Emperor Turhan, the extremely old emperor collapsed and later died of natural causes. On his deathbed, Turhan sent a message of apology to the Narn ambassador and, for a brief moment, a chance for peace looked likely. Unfortunately, forces within Centauri culture, looking for an opportunity to seize power, decided to attack and seize control of the Narn colony in Quadrant 37. While it would later be discovered that the Shadows had in fact attacked the colony on behest of the Centauri ambassador, the presence of Centauri warships in the area plunged the two races into war. The Narn quickly realized that, while under Turhans rule the Centauri were not prone to striking back at aggressors, his successors held no such reservations about using the tools of war. Over night the Centauri pulled their massive space fleet out of moff-balls and the Narn quickly found that they were out gunned three to one by a technologically superior force. One by one the Narn were beaten back, with the Shadows providing the Centauri with major tactical data but letting the Centauri them selves engage the Narns. Nine months after declaring war on the Centauri for attacking their colony in Quadrant 37, the elite of the Narn fleet was destroyed over the key Centauri supply outpost at Rogash VII by Shadow forces. While the Narn fleet of two hundred ships were taken by surprise and easily dispatched by five Shadow Battle Crabs, the bulk of the Centauri fleet jumped into the Narn home system and used mass drivers to bomb the Narn homeworld into the stone age. The war was over and the Narns found themselves right back where they had started, living under the boot of Centauri rule. 2260 was a dark year for the Narn, as the Centauri seized all technology, weapons, colonies and outposts, reducing the Narns to a slave race. Any who fought back against Centauri rule were executed as the Centauri began a Purification program to weed out and execute any Narn who may one day try to rise up against the Republic. Their defeat led to the Narns re-examining the way they had treated other races. Many of the older Narns blamed their subjugation to having adopted Centauri tactics, while younger Narns proclaimed they lost because they hadn't been enough like the Centauri. In the end, it was not force of arms that liberated Narn from Centauri rule, but the sacrifice of one man - G'Kar, last of the Kahri. G'Kar, having been captured and tortured by the Centauri, made a bargain with Londo Molari to help in the assassination of the mad Centauri emperor Cartagia, in exchange for the freedom of Narn. Thus, in 2261 during a hearing being held to explain G'Kars impending execution, the last of the Kahri freed himself form his chains and attacked the guards. Running for his life, emperor Cartagia died of a massive heart attack that was actually brought on by poison injected into the Centauri emperors system. Following the death of Cartagia, newly elected Prime Minister Londo Molari, kept good his word and freed Narn. G'Kar, who was offered the opportunity to become Emperor of Narn himself, declined the offer and demanded that the Kahri be re-instated. Following this, G'Kar returned to Babylon 5 to confer with his allies in Captain Sheridans Army of Light. Once again the Narn have begun a military build up, a process that is taking much longer due to the loss of more than half of their colony worlds to the Centauri. Surprisingly, some of the worlds now under Centauri rule, are home to races the Narn had enslaved, who had willingly petitioned for membership in the Centauri Republic to ensure they would not be enslaved by the Narns again. Narn society is still in a period of adjustment that can only be compared to Germany of Earth, following the end of World War One. Some Narns hope to once again strike back against the Centauri, while still others want nothing more to do with war. Domestic strife within Narn society is quite prevalent and it is yet to be determined which side will ultimately prevail. Many now wonder if the Narn will again choose the path of the Centauri, or choose to march down a new road. Only time will tell. |
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