Technomage
A Technomage are a group of beings that feature in the Babylon 5 universe.
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History
- "Do not try the patience of wizards for they are subtle and quick to anger." - old saying stated by Elric.
Long ago, this order of beings had come to the Centauri homeworld and became secured as legends within their society. This came when the first emperor of the Centauri Republic consulted three Technomages who have him their blessing whereupon he took the throne of their empire. (Episode: Geometry of Shadows) Some within the order had spent their entire lives in pursuit of the burial ground in hyperspace known as the Well of Forever. (Episode: The Well of Forever)
By the mid-23rd century, humans had become accepted into the ranks of the Technomages. Londo Mollari claimed to had not seen a member of this order for years and certain members of EarthForce had heard of them as well as their reputation but had never seen them before to the point that their existence was doubted by such individuals. They sensed the coming of the Shadow War that they considered a black and terrible storm which they intended to avoid as they sought to preserve their knowledge from being either lost or abused so they decided to depart known space. (Episode: Geometry of Shadows) Alwyn disagreed with the other members of his order as he felt it was cowardice to depart from the coming Shadow War to go into hiding and thus remained behind where he would call Regula IV his home. (Episode: The Long Road)
In 2259, three of their number had visited the Earth Alliance neutral Babylon 5 station. They were joined by others of their order who had met in secret with Babylon 5 security registering around a hundred of them. Ambassador Mollari saw this as an opportunity to strengthen his influence and political position within the Centauri Republic by attempting to gain the blessing of these Technomages. However, the Technomages were dismissive of any attempt at seeking an audience with them as they claimed they had no interest on affairs on that side of the galactic rim. This was because they were taking part in a journey where they had no use for issues such as money or power as it would be no use for them. After being rebuffed, Londo Mollari attempted to manipulate events by tricking Captain John Sheridan to detain them at the space station. This was partly achieved as Earth Central itself tasked Captain Sheridan with learning more about them. Mollari's slight was discovered whereupon Elric used his abilities to torment the Centauri ambassador for sometime such as using a holodemon to ravage his computer systems and an equation spell to put his financial accounts in disarray. To end this torment, Londo went before the Technomages and apologized to them for his actions. Afterwards, the Technomages departed but Elric told Ambassador Londo Mollari that he saw darkness in him where he saw his great hand reaching to the stars where the sounds of billions of people calling him name that were the words of his victims. This saw them leave onboard their starship and exit Babylon 5 space when they entered into the Jump Gate. Elric claimed that Captain Sheridan would not see their kind again in his life time though a part of him hoped that they were wrong. (Episode: Geometry of Shadows) Even after the Shadow War was concluded, the Technomage order remained in hiding in their secret sanctuary and had not returned to known space. (Episode: The Long Road)
By 2267, Earth had suffered an attack by the Drakh that led to the deployment of the Drakh Plague on its surface leading to the entire planet being quarantined and a search for a cure being sought. At Regula IV, EarthForce had determined that a mineral on the planet had a natural anti-viral compound that aided in the resistance to disease thus increasing the life expectancy of the human inhabitants. The Drakh Plague led to EarthForce around the planet engaging in strip mining activity to gather more of the mineral. However, their activities displayed the agrarian human inhabitants and also angered the Technomage Alwyn who had resided on the planet for the last twelve years and came to call it home. At first, he attempted to convince EarthForce into moving their mining operations but they refused as the site they had chosen contained the richest vein of the mineral. Thus, Alwyn resorted to sabotage where he began using spells to create a golden dragon to scare the EarthForce personnel whilst using other technomagic to create havoc among their equipment. As a result, EarthForce called on the assistance of the Excalibur as they were not aware that their troubles were the result of a Technomage. Captain Matthew Gideon and the Technomage Galen travelled to the planetary surface where they were distrusted by the natives but were saved by the intervention of Alwyn himself. He explained his role in defender of the planet and its people as they were unable to protect themselves against the Earth Alliance. However, the farming community were responsible for taking some of the EarthForce miners as hostages which forced Alwyn's position. He attempted to convince them to release the hostages but they refused and instead Alwyn made it appear as he was using the mining site to enhance his spell to destroy the EarthForce destroyer in orbit. This panicked the EarthForce personnel into calling the Excalibur into firing its main gun at him seemingly killing him and destroying the site. In reality, Alwyn had survived and had masqueraded his death in order to indirectly eliminate the mining operation as well as leave Regula IV's community as he came to realize that they had grown too dependant on his intervention. (Episode: The Long Road)
Overview
They were noted for using science to achieve the effects of magic where they exist in the ambiguity of that ability. These mages studied the mysteries of lasers, circuits, crystals, scanner, holographic demons and evocation of equations. Such tools were used to achieve their abilities with secrets including the 14 words to get someone to love another forever or the 7 words to make them go away without pain. Set programs were able to be generated to create monstrous seemingly real creatures until they were stopped by the caster. This ability to create holograms allowed them to form simulations that fit in the palms of their hands and replay events that the Technomage had witnessed. Similarly, they were able to replicate the effects of teleportation allowing them to disappear in bursts of fire and reappear elsewhere. Holodemons were capable of being summoned that possessed data systems in order to consume data records and personal files. Equation spells were then used to manipulate data flow information to get the afflicted person's financial accounts into disarray and lead to the purchase of undesired items. These spells were able to torment specific regions such as electronics in a set area where they caused malfunctions in the lights or play music that annoyed those that heard it. Technomages also made use of glyphs, sigils and runes that they generated from their powers where they left them at sites that they visited. (Episode: Geometry of Shadows)
Among their spells was the capacity to create monstrous holograms such as golden dragons. These creatures were not physical constructs but designed to scare their intended victims. However, whilst this was the case, a Technomage was able to create programming to allow the creation of more demonic flying creatures. Whilst appearing as holograms, these were able to solidify their mass and actually use physical strikes against their targets before returning to their holographic state to avoid retaliatory strike. Technomages were also able to enhance their powers by using specific sites similar to a dish that boosted the effects of their spell. Such powers allowed them to increase the magnitude of their technomagic and engage in spells that could destroy a starship in orbit. (Episode: The Long Road)
Technomages considered themselves dreamers, shapers, singers and makers who knew a great many secrets of the cosmos. Their spells allowed them to know how to say goodbye to a friend who was dying, on how to be poor or rich or rediscover dreams that were stolen. Seeing a Technomage was considered a rare sight as they did not like to travel as they preferred not to leave their places of power. To the Centauri, seeing more than one at a time was considered a very bad omen. Those that believed in the old ways saw it as a powerful image to be given the blessing of a Technomage. (Episode: Geometry of Shadows)
Their black starships had highly sensitive sensors that allowed them to scan the faintest echoes in hyperspace. This ability allowed them to navigate off the beacon network that was used by the younger races to move through hyperspace. Though able to navigate hyperspace, their ships were not able to survive the stronger currents within that extradimensional realm. A Technomage was able to merge the navigation system of their craft into a larger vessel thus improving their navigation capabilities. (Episode: The Well of Forever)
Members
- Elric : male human Technomage who led the gathering of his kind that were departing for unknown parts after Babylon 5 where he rebuffed attempts by Ambassador Mollari to meet him. (Episode: Geometry of Shadows)
- Galen :
- Alwyn : a male human Technomage who did not agree with his brethren in leaving known space before the Shadow War and instead lived as a protector to the people of Regula IV for 12 years. He departed when he came to realize that its people had grown too dependent on him and masked his death in order to allow them to make their own future. Alwyn was a friend of Galen and was fond of casting holograms in the form of a golden dragon. (Episode: The Long Road)
- Isabelle : a female human Technomage who was a fellow student of Galen and the love of his life. She spent her entire life in search for the Well of Forever and when she died Galen made the promise to place her remains in the hyperspace burial ground. (Episode: The Well of Forever)
Appearance
- Babylon 5: "Geometry of Shadows"
- Babylon 5: "A Call to Arms"
- Babylon 5: "The Lost Tales"
- Crusade: "War Zone"
- Crusade: "The Long Road"
- Crusade: "The Well of Forever"
External Link
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