Wraith (Stargate)
The Wraith are a humanoid parasitical species that feature in Stargate: Atlantis.
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History
The Wraith were a humanoid extraterrestrial species that were native to the Pegasus Galaxy. Their origins was thousands of years ago and was traced to the colonization of the Pegasus Galaxy by the Ancients. During their colonization, they seeded many of the worlds with the Humans with one such world being native to a type of insect known as the Iratus Bug. These insects were parasitic and attacked the Humans in order to feed upon them. It was believed that this feeding led to Human DNA being incorporated into the genome of the insects itself. At some unspecified point, the Wraith species developed from this feeding cycle where they developed into a humanoid race that could only survive by feeding on other lifeforms.
A prevailing theory was that the Wraith evolve after the Ancients had arrived in the Pegasus galaxy. It was believed that the Ancients allowed human life to develop on worlds inhabited by the Iratus Bugs. These creatures came to feed on humans and incorporated their DNA into their own makeup leading to the eventual evolution of the Wraith who were combination of traits from both species. As a result, the Wraith were deemed to be an accidental and unwitting creation of the Ancients in the galaxy. (SGA: The Gift)
Much of their earlier history is currently unknown except that they would begin a war against the Ancients for the fate of the Pegasus galaxy. The Ancients made use of their powerful warships to hunt the Wraith and moved them deeper and deeper into Wraith territory. At least three such vessels were disabled at great cost to the Wraith but they managed to gain three ZPM's in their possession. Using these potent power sources, the Wraith created a secret cloning facility in order to breed an army to swarm the Ancients with sheer numbers.
Despite the Ancient's advanced technology, it seemed that there were never ending waves of Wraith that drowned them with numbers until only Atlantis was left standing. During the war, the Ancients attempted to negotiate a peace with this foe but faced only treachery from the Wraith. Fleeing transports would be destroyed and a siege of Atlantis would begin. The powerful shield of the Ancients would protect them from harm but it became apparent that they had lost the war. Instead, the Ancients chose to abandon Pegasus, leaving the victorious Wraith with the entire galaxy.
During this time, the Atlanteans attempted to form a peace and sent a delegation protected by their most powerful warships in the faint hope of negotiating a truce. It was a failure as despite Atlantean ships being individually powerful the Wraith had large numbers that overwhelmed their foes. After that great battle, the tide turned against the Ancients who had retreated behind the shield which protected Atlantis. (SGA: Before I Sleep)
The Wraith would begin a period of periodic culling of the Human inhabitants and destroy any civilization that grew too advanced which meant it would become a potential threat to the Wraith. While secured in their victory, the Wraith were attacked by a new foe; the Asurans, the mechanical creations of the Ancients. Its not known how long this conflict lasted but it ended when the Wraith distributed a computer virus into the Asuran base code which deactivated the imperative to attack the Wraith. The Asurans would retreat to their homeworld and the Wraith would leave this powerful foe alone.
Millennia ago, the Wraith encountered a confederation of human planets ruled by the Genii where they attacked them and drove the civilisation to the brink of total annihilation. (SGA: Underground) At some point, a Wraith scientist conducted secret research against the wishes of his people where he sought to experiment on humans. The project was designed to make the feeding process more efficient leading to Wraith DNA being implanted in some of the test subjects. The project was deemed a failure and the test subjects were freed from the laboratory but unknown to the scientist the humans had the capacity to sense the presence of the Wraith through limited telepathy. (SGA: The Gift)
In order to ensure their crop of Humans remained plentiful, the Wraith would embark in hibernations where a majority of the race went to sleep leaving only a few caretakers to watch over them. They would awaken at set points where they would feed on the Humans of the galaxy after which they would have slept again. This pattern was interrupted in 2004 by the Atlantis Expedition that awoke the Wraith prematurely leaving too few Humans to feed the hungry Wraith. However, the Wraith became aware of a new rich feeding ground in another galaxy where the Atlantis Expedition originates from - Earth.
For the next 10,000 years, the Wraith remained in control of the Pegasus Galaxy where they conducted periodic hibernations and cullings of their human herds. Whenever humans on a world reached a certain population, they began to send their forces out to harvest them for food with them being brought back to their hives. This was until one day when a culling on the planet Athos brought back some humans who were unaware of the existence of the Wraith. An interrogation of their leader revealed his name to be Colonel Marshal Sumner and that he was native to another galaxy where he was from a human world that had a population of millions. This brought the existence of a rich new feeding ground that could sate the Wraith's hunger. The humans were freed by their comrades from the Atlantis Expedition with the Wraith Keepers being killed and the awakening of the hive. (SGA: Rising, Part 2) The great ships then rose from the worlds where they slumbered in order to move actively across the galaxy. (SGA: Thirty-Eight Minutes) The awakening of the Wraith had been premature and there was not enough prey for them to feed themselves and they suffered the risk of dying from starvation which meant that they became desperate to find this new rich feeding ground in another galaxy. (SGA: The Gift) Wraith hunting parties were alerted by the activities of these new humans when a transmission device detected the presence of a person with the Ancient gene. They attempted to capture these humans in order to find their base and the location of their homeworld that was the site of a rich feeding ground for the Wraith. A Wraith commander in pursuit of his prey was captured by the enemy and held for interrogation in Atlantis. (SGA: Suspicion) By this point, all the Hiveships had awakened in the galaxy where it was said that they would gather in strength before coming to Alantis in force. (SGA: Poisoning The Well) This saw 21 Hiveships within that quadrant awakening with 60 known ships being within the Pegasus galaxy. (SGA: Underground) The Atlantis Expedition encountered Wraith fighters around the planet Proculus that were destroyed by a mysterious force. This saw several Hiveships arrive where they found a human population untouched by cullings and attempted to harvest its population only to be destroyed by an Ascended being who stood watch over that world. (SGA: Sanctuary) Three Hive Ships were among the forces that headed towards Atlantis with a long-range scout being dispatched to probe the city. (SGA: The Brotherhood)
The Wraith fleet later arrived in the Lantea star system where they were attacked by one of the Atlantean weapon platforms that were reactivated by the humans. This allowed for one of the satellites to destroy one of the Hiveships but a power overload prevented it from firing again and this allowed the remaining Wraith ships to destroy it. Meanwhile, a Wraith warrior who had transported himself to Atlantis via the scouting mission was secretly operating in the city and looking to sabotage operations until he was captured by the Atlantis Expedition. (SGA: The Siege, Part 1)
The Wraith would marshal their forces and send their Hive-ships to siege Atlantis once more in order to gain the coordinates to Earth along with recovering a means to reach it. The initial siege was defeated by the defenders, however, a second larger force was approaching. The Humans resorted to trickery and used the Wraith's desperation for a new food source as an advantage. Atlantis was seemingly destroyed by the Humans that occupied it leaving the Wraith in despair. Seeing their only means to sate their hunger destroyed, the Wraith began to fracture into various factions and a civil war would be waged between the factions.
Various skirmishes would continue with the Atlantis Expedition and the Wraith attempted to capture an intergalactic starship used by the Humans in order to gain the knowledge the needed but this failed. One faction discovered that Atlantis had survived and resorted to trickery into gaining the secrets of intergalactic hyperdrive technology and the location of Earth. This force would be destroyed by the Atlantis Expedition.
At this point, the Asurans attacked the Wraith quite aggressively which caught the Hives off guard at first before retailiating. The Wraith attempted to use their computer virus weapon once again to defeat their mechanical foe but failed. They immediately learnt that the Asuran base code had been changed and the Atlantis Expedition was responsible. An operation would be conducted to capture Dr Rodney McKay in order to learn of the changes he did to the Asuran base code in order to create an improved computer virus to affect them which would be distributed through a captive Asuran. This plan ultimately failed.
As the Wraith were showing increasing resistance to the Asurans, the mechanical Replicators decided to change their tactics which involved destroying the Wraith's food supply in order to starve the race. In a desperate gamble, the Wraith known as Todd would allow himself to be captured by the Atlantis Expedition in order to ask for their help to stop the Asurans. The changes to the Asurans base code made the use of a deactivation program unsuccessful and the increasing attacks on Human worlds meant that the Asurans needed to be confronted.
Todd would negotiate with several Hives and gain seven Hive-Ships that would team up with the Atlantis Expedition and the nomadic Humans known as the Travellers to siege the Asuran homeworld itself. The attack was successful and the Atlantis Expedition created a weapon that resulted in the Asurans destroying themselves and Asuras. The Wraith would desolve the alliance with the Humans and the Hives would form various factions once again which highlighted a return to their civil war.
Overview
The Wraith appear as Humanoids that possess hair, animalistic eyes and a skin tone that ranges from pale white to pale green in colour. The race were divided between males and females which shared many attributes to Humans. Their biology is the result of a merger between Human and Iratus insect DNA which means that the Wraith share many attributes with both species.
The species are vulnerable to retroviral weapons that target the Iratus insect DNA within their genome. The result of such a procedure strips the Wraith of such qualities turning them into Human. As a side effect, the Wraith lose their memory. Without constant treatment, the Wraith begin to revert back to their true state. This being the case, the females of the species appear to possess a stronger biology and are more resistant to such an action.
Biology
In appearance, the Wraith were a race of humanoid beings with pale white skin. (SGA: Rising, Part 2) They were noted to hold traits similar to the life stealing insectile Iratus Bugs. (SGA: Thirty-Eight Minutes)
It was said that their bodies lacked any of the human inhibiting proteins that meant that as long as the cells were properly nourished that a Wraith could not die from old age. (SGA: Rising, Part 2) In battle, Wraith warriors could be gunned down by weapon fire only to rise up again as their injuries were healed by their regenerative powers. (SGA: Suspicion) It was theorised that a Wraith's ability to heal itself was directly proportional to how recently it had fed. (SGA: The Defiant One)
A chemical was released by the Wraith that precipitated the draining of life from their victims with it being believed that this prepared the human body for the process. Certain unique proteins could impede its use and could mutate into something toxic that poisoned the Wraith. (SGA: Poisoning The Well)
Due to their regenerative abilities, killing a Wraith was said to require some degree of effort and capturing one was said to be even more difficult. (SGA: Suspicion)
Their origins were traced to insectile organisms native to the Pegasus galaxy that shared many traits similar to the Wraith. This included the ability to draw life from prey and use that energy to heal their injuries. (SGA: Thirty-Eight Minutes)
Wraith possessed a sort of telepathic network that allowed them to communicate with one another. This talent did not extend to other species as they were not able to read the minds of humans. (SGA: The Gift) It was said that the Wraith were capable of making humans see things that were not there. They were able to use their telepathic powers to create phantom-like visual phenomena in order to confuse their prey. (SGA: Rising, Part 2)
Wraith were shown to only feed on humans and did not consume animals. (SGA: Poisoning The Well) The Wraith had said that all living things had a desire to eat and that they detested hunger. (SGA: Rising, Part 2) In times of desperation, they were known to engage in cannibalism and fed on their own kind in order to survive. (SGA: The Defiant One)
Feeding
The Wraith are a parastical species that require a ravenous appetite for the life force of Humans; one of the aspects they gain from the Iratus bugs. This is accomplished by slamming the palm of their feeding arm into the chest of the Human. This act pierces the skin and begins the process. A special enzyme is injected from an enzyme pouch within the Wraith's body into the Human which makes them stronger in order for them to handle the traumatic feeding process better. As the feeding continues, the Human visibly begins to age with young adults rapidly changing into an elderly appearance and finally till nothing but bones were left. The feeding process can be accomplished on fellow Wraith as well and is done so when members are starving or during the civil war among the race.
The feeding process sates the Wraith's hunger and increases their regenerative abilities which is directly proportional to how recently the Wraith has fed. The Wraith are capable of reversing the process and giving back the 'years' they have taken from their prey. This is only done so willingly to their most devout of worshippers or brothers.
The Wraith are known to use the feeding process as an interrogation tool and a manner through which they can gain willful followers. This is done so by taking the life from a prey and giving it back to them which proves to be an addictive process.
Telepathy
One of the interesting developments that came about in the Wraith is telepathy. This gift allows all the Wraith to be linked with one another though they do not possess a hive mind. Among their race, it serves as a potent communication tool though this became segregated when individuals with Wraith DNA, such as Teyla, were able to make use of this network. This makes a captive Wraith a dangerous foe as they can telepathically alert their brethren. A group of Wraith can combine their abilities in order to extend this telepathic summoning into space allowing them to call their brethren to aid them should they be stranded or captured.
The Wraith make use of their telepathic abilities offensively as well and are capable of generating ghostly images to their prey in order to confuse them. This ability can be ignored by people who are aware of it. In addition to this, the race can make use of telepathic probes to see into the mind of their prey though this requires open minds as the thoughts of soldiers are too rigid to get into easily. The more powerful Queens are even able to telepathically plant suggestions into their prey causing them to kneel and become helpless. Untrained or weaker telepathic minds can also be possessed through the telepathic link allowing the Wraith to control them as puppets.
Subspecies
The Wraith have recently been divided into at least two subspecies due to the direct or indirect machinations of the Atlantis Expedition.
The first Wraith subspecies were created through the use of a retrovirus that targets the Iratus bug's DNA that make up the Wraith. The aim of the process was to turn the Wraith completely Human thus negating the threat posed by them. The first unwilling recipient of the process was the Wraith known as Micheal and required constant treatment in order to surpress the Iratus DNA but ultimately proved to be a failure as amnesiac Wraith begin to recover their memory. These Wraith begin to revert back but only partially, appearing as a mixture of Human and Wraith. These entities are disgusted by their kind who smell the Humanity on them and are killed unless they prove to be useful making them outcasts among their kind.
The second subspecies was created by Micheal as a result of him being ostracized by his kind and his unwillingness to be Human as the Wraith hunger consumed him. In order to better protect himself, he began a process mimicing the creation of his kind by feeding swarms of Iratus bug on Humans that incorporated their DNA into their genome. Howeever, the resulting offspring were modified and their Iratus genome was enhanced to create a monstrous Humanoid insectile creature born from a cocoon stcture that would serve as the perfect soldier that would do Micheal's bidding. These insectoids did not seem to possess the ability of speech and their true range of skills is unknown. What is known that dozens of breeding facilities were created by Micheal who escaped with a brood of the creatures before they could be attacked by the Atlantis Expedition.
Culture and Society
Wraith society appears to be divided into a Hive structure with the top of the pyramid being dominated by powerful females called Queens. These female entities are the rulers of their Hive and necessary for it survival as they are capable of breeding more Wraith through a process that has not been entirely explored. Beneath the Queens lie masked drone warriors that serve as the footsoldiers of the Wraith species along with unmasked Wraith commanders who serve as lieutenants. There exists another caste known as Keepers who help in maintaining the Wraith's technology but little is known of these beings.
The Wraith are known to be a territorial species and their Queens are known not to work well with one another - feeling outrage when a rival enters their feeding ground.
Though portrayed as a monstrous foe, much of Wraith culture and society is unknown. They are capable of acts of compassion and evidenced by the Gift of Life ritual which allows a Wraith to give their life force to another. This is only done so to the most devout of worshippers or those they consider brothers.
Wraith were known to cocoon humans where they kept their bodies in a form of suspended animation. (SGA: The Defiant One) Such prey were then stored in their hives for later feeding. Freeing or killing those within the cocoons alerted the guards. (SGA: Underground)
To survive over the years, the Wraith were known to enter states of hibernation where they slept in-between feedings in order to maintain their human herd. (SGA: Rising, Part 2) They were capable of hibernating for hundreds of years at a time. (SGA: The Defiant One) During this time, a number stood watch over the sleepers to protect them though these were few in number. (SGA: Underground)
It was said that the Wraith always prevented any race from advancing too far. (SGA: Poisoning The Well) There were stories of the Wraith dialling a Stargate to a target world in order to prevent their victims from escaping through it. (SGA: Letters From Pegasus)
Upon awakening, the Wraith travelled their own feeding grounds in order to gather their strength. It was said that they were a patient race who had taken their fill and gathered their strength before gathering in force to attack their enemies. (SGA: Poisoning The Well)
The Wraith language was noted for being a derivative of Ancient. (SGA: The Gift)
Technology
During their war with the Ancients, the Wraith had created a transmission device that was able to detect the gene present within their enemies allowing them to track their quarry. These machines were said to not be powerful enough to transmit over subspace and instead connected with a nearby relay station that transmitted to the Wraith thus alerting the nearest Hive. (SGA: Suspicion)
Warriors had wrist devices that contained a number of high-tech equipment as part of its set-up. This included a distress beacon that alerted the rest of the Wraith unless something shut it down. (SGA: Childhood's End) Wraith tended to self-destruct rather than allow themselves or their technology to be captured for study. (SGA: Underground) They were known to equip such self-destruct devices on their warriors who wore it as part of their chest plate and by pressing the centre they triggered the countdown. Higher ranking Wraith were known to make use of a self-destruct device that was located on their wrist. (SGA: Suspicion)
They had constructed small automated spherical devices able to float across the field where they scanned for prey or objects of interest. These machines were deployed to investigate areas of interest where their ability to hover meant that they could evade weapon fire. The drones were able to gather information and then beam it back to their masters unless they were shut down. (SGA: Childhood's End)
Weapons used by the Wraith were Stunners that were energy blasts that impeded the firing of neurons within living beings. This effectively allowed them to paralyse their targets with this only being temporary and was not fatal. (SGA: Suspicion)
Wraith fighters were capable of producing a teleportation beam that could abduct targets as part of a culling. Their ships were also small and stream-lined allowing them to travel through the Stargate. (SGA: Rising, Part 2) Darts were noted to be short-ranged fighters that had to operate from a larger capital ship. (SGA: Sanctuary) Darts contained a data storage device that was a flash memory which could contain information on the location of the fighters hive ship. (SGA: Underground) Darts were capable of being modified to serve as long-ranged scouts where they were able to be deployed far from a carrier ship and made their way to a potential target area at incredible speeds. Once there, the fighter could conduct scans and emit a data burst to the rest of the Wraith before self-destructing. (SGA: The Brotherhood)
They were known to make use of a class of supply ship designed to carry large numbers of humans which were food for feeding. (SGA: The Defiant)
These great ships that took part in culling's were capable of landing on planets and appeared as mountains after residing on a planetary surface for thousands of years. (SGA: Thirty-Eight Minutes) Their ships went in and out of hyperspace on a period basis either due to limitations in hyperspace technology or for a desire to feed. (SGA: Letters From Pegasus)
Members
- Ellia :
- Steve : a male Wraith who was hunting the Atlantis Expedition only to be captured by them with Major Sheppard giving him the name 'Steve'. (SGA: Poisoning The Well)
- Bob : a male Wraith commander who was on-board a dart that scouted Atlantis to lay siege to the city where he set his ship to self-destruct whilst he secretly transported to the surface. Once there, he hid in Atlantis where he looked to sabotage and report his findings back to his people until he was captured by the Atlantis Expedition. He was ultimately killed by John Sheppard during a failed interrogation at finding weaknesses in the Wraith. (SGA: The Siege, Part 1)
- Todd :
- Michael :
Notes
- The Wraith featured in the setting of Stargate: Atlantis.
Appearances
- Stargate: Atlantis:
External Links
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