Narn Orbital Platforms

psyclonejack

Mongoose
Okay peps,

My players are going to be paying a visit to a Narn Orbital Base, within the next couple of weeks. Provided they make it through the current hyperspace adventure safely. Since waiting for the Narn sourcebook isn't an option. I am asking for some input on discription, style of systems, as well as types of personel they might incounter. It will be a diplomatic visit, so I would like to make it a military base of sorts. Also, I plan to have the party run into G'kar, as well as some misadventures on the station. My campaign is still pre-babylon 5. So incidents will come back to haunt them once they begin the B5 adventures begin. Also I am wracking my brain trying to think of a well known Narn Orbital Base that the players would be able to relate to.

Thanks in Advance,
PsycloneJack
 
There were always the bases that the Shadows used for target practice in the season 1: Chrysalis and Fall of Night in season 2. I cannot remeber their names (and don't have my B5 books to hand) but AOG did full combat stats for them.

As for personnel - probably much like you'd find on B5 but fewer aliens and a lot more military personnel.

Hope that's some help.

DW
 
Narn bases...

Well, there's the Ja'Stat class warbase seen in "Crysalis" (the one that looks like five coffin-shaped T'Loth-sections welded together in a flower-like shape), or the Ja'Dul class civilian starbase seen in "The Coming of Shadows" (the three-section base - however, even though it's called a civilian base, it is a lot more military then many other races civilian bases; mounting not only defensive weaponry but it's own big guns... after all, Narns have only limited understanding of the concept "civilian"; logical after their 100 years as centauri slaves...).
If it's an important base you can also expect it to be ringed with minefields and T'Gan defensive satellites (nasty beasties armed with e-mines and ion torpedos), and might even have a few cruisers (G'Quans, T'Loths, or also G'Karith patrol cruisers or Var'Nic destroyers...) as support fleet.

As for personel... If it's a Ja'Stat, think "Death Star" and replace all those stormtroopers and imperial officials with Narns in their uniforms (and Moff Tarkin with G'Kar if you want :wink: ). It it's a Ja'Dul you can also expect an "trade sector" that's a bit like a mini-B5 with shops and accomodations for alien visitors.

Interior decorations - just like G'Kar's quarters or Narn Warships (or Klingon ones for that matter); low reddish-yellow lighting, utilarian construction, low-g (narns have no artificial gravity, but those bases Do rotate a bit)... no luxury since the narns don't waste resources on that if they can build more weapons to threaten the Centauri with instead.

Hope that helps a bit...
 
ShadowScout said:
low-g (narns have no artificial gravity, but those bases Do rotate a bit)...

I'd be inclined to say zero g given both designs, and certainly for the Ja'stat which had ships docked to it externally - unless you balance those out, rotating for gravity isn't a wise idea.

The Ja'Dul might be okay to spin for gravity, but again, it's not that suitable given how its arranged (most of its structure/mass is near the axis of rotation).
 
I'd agree with the low-g idea, probably low enough to be near zero-g there. And if you want you can get hold of me and I will e-mail the .pdf files for the Babylon 5 Wars versions of the Narn bases if you want.

The only thing I have issue with is the Tarkin-G'Kar comparison, now yes he would be doing what he can to focus the Narn against the Centauri but he's doing that more out of anger for what the Centauri have done, he's not trying to impose the Narn view of government on the galaxy which is what the goal Tarkin was doing with the Empire's view of government. Everything else mentioned I do for the most part agree with.
 
LoneStranger said:
The only thing I have issue with is the Tarkin-G'Kar comparison...
-SNIP-
Yup. What I meant, was that G'kar at Pre-B5 times can be nasty.

Although he doesn't want to impose his view of how things should be on All the galacy like Tarkin (it's in the Empire's credo after all), he is almost as bad (just not so secure in his power, thus more scheming and devious - see "The Gathering"; I presume Tarkin in before-ANH times was also a devious yet charismatic git; all the books and BG info point in that direction, only after he bacame "Great Moff" did he no longer need to be subtle in his dealings with anyone but the Emperor and Vader...)

However, the basic mindset is the same, only the scope of G'Kar is a bit smaller, and his reasons are a bit more personal. Both follow a "Grand Cause" (Tarkin - bringing "Order" to the galaxy and assuring supremacy of his people; G'Kar - bringing "Justice" to the Centauri and ensure the safety of his people), which in their eyes is worth a few (or more) sacrifices (as long as others are sacrificed); both think the end justifies the means.

Only G'Kar has still some compassion left (see his actions with Sakai), as long as he can afford to (one of the less canon books mentions him doing some atrocities of his own during the time when the Narn Regime subjugated races like the T'llin or Tachunq - and those stories seem likely, since the Narn certainly weren't nice in their quest to build the strength to take on the Centauri after their first liberation...).
Tarkin has left all compassion behind, for him the millions humans and aliens on Alderaan are just a statistic in the empire's history, no more then a footnote. G'Kar isn't at that point, not by quite a bit... however, he might have taken that road, if things had gone quite differently. But these differences between him and Trakin were what made the Shadows look elsewhere - G'Kar thought to small, had too limited a goal to create wide-spread chaos, was too focussed on his enemy instead of pursuing a grand destiny that was likely to bring him into conflict with many other races... his great goal was limited to one race, one small region of space, and he didn't intend to go beyond that. Tarkin (or Londo for that matter) had an unlimited (and in Londo's case, diffuse and not entirely thought through) goal, something that wouldn't stop, but would have to continue no matter what (even if the empire had won, it would have been only a matter of time before the next rebellion had sprung up in one other corner of the galaxy; even if the Centauri had archieved Londo's dream of regaining their greatness fully, it would only have been a matter of time before their expansion would have brought them into contact with new enemies, or old ones had risen up in resistance again)

As for reasons... The Narn have suffered greatly under Centauri rule, and now believe they have the right to make others suffer the same in the name of making sure their people will never again suffer thus. I could make another comparison, but I wish to avoid cans I know containg worms, and current politics is always one of those. I don't know all about Tarkin and the BG of the empire (after all, you never know if GL isn't going to throw in some new info in E-3), but while he may have started out from an honest desire to make sure something like the clone wars (and the other troubles created by the crumbling of the republic - and we don't know if Tarking hasn't suffered some personal trageties of his own to make him the man we saw in "ANH") can never happen again, he became drawn too deeply into "the dark side" (not of the force, but of human nature in this case... well, maybe the force too, one never knows where the Emperor's influence stops in SW...), calmly planning genocide as logical step toward his goal.

But still, G'Kar in pre-B5 times IS a very "grey" character; not really to be trusted and capable of doing a lot of nasty things if it furthers the cause of the Narn regime. Not quite as evil as Tarkin (who I'd rate just a bit below Jha'Dur - he at least didn't enjoy his "work" as much; and at least didn't go out of his way to kill bystanders unless it was neccessary for his cause, while Jha'Dur did that just as "practice", besides doing things in her labs that would have Dr.Mengele throw up his lunch...), but still pretty bad under the right (or wrong) circumstances.

Damn, I'm writing a rant again, am I not? OK, ok, I'll stop now... :wink: :D
 
well I'm not arguing how G'Kar evolved into the Narn we saw in the first season but Ive been under the impression that Tarkin was always like that and didn't get to truely be himself until the Empire came to be. In effect he wasn't created as he was unleashed. And also as it has been pointed out G'Kar and the Narn only want to get rid of the Centauri while Tarkin and the Empire wanted to rule it all.

Also Tarkin helped create the offical policy the Empire used while in power, G'Kar just did what he could to keep Narn aggression focused on the Centauri.

I can see why you think that, I just don't see it myself that strongly.
 
Ive been under the impression that Tarkin was always like that...
Sorry, but that's psychologically impossible. No matter how bad a human psyche gets, all are born equal. Even Hitler or Himmler were nice as a baby. So something Tarkin encountered in his early life (or more likely several somethings) must have made him like that. Since he is a fictional character, we can't track down his BG and analyze, we can just hope that some day someone will invent one that matches his psycho-structure.

In effect he wasn't created as he was unleashed.
Say, he was created, and then unleashed. Many sociopathic personalities never get the chance to fully live out their mindset. Even today there are people with the minds of KZ commanders running around, it's just that they for one don't have the power to actually do all those things, and for another aren't told by society it's all right doing those things (so they at least have some intellectual idea that those things are wrong, or at least currently unacceptable by society). Now if someone were to seek out those people (easy for an force-psychic like Palpatine), and tell them it's all right to exterminate, say, muslims, And give them the power they need to do it, well... it has happened about 65 years ago, and human nature being what it is it can happen again, unfortunately.

And also as it has been pointed out G'Kar and the Narn only want to get rid of the Centauri while Tarkin and the Empire wanted to rule it all.
Because that's what they saw as the problem. The Empire's credo is that all the aliens, and mans "wild humans" are incapable of self-control on a galactic scale, and to ensure order and peace they need to control them all. The Narn regime isn't concerned with the whole galaxy, just with themselves - they want security through strength, and give the Centauri some payback for a century of slavery - but then it stops, and they don't care about the rest as long as they're secure. As I wrote, limited goals. As you wrote, a Big difference.

Also Tarkin helped create the offical policy the Empire used while in power, G'Kar just did what he could to keep Narn aggression focused on the Centauri.
Well, yes. Tarkin actually directed the stream, G'Kar just mostly swam along with the rest of the Kha'ri (their main "stream" was directed by circumstances - the centauri occupation). However, we know he DID make his own decisions about how some things should be handled... sneaky deals, black operations, maybe a nuke here and there to convince a low-tech race that it would be unwise to oppose the Narns... not quite as bad as Tarkin, but still not very nice...

I can see why you think that, I just don't see it myself that strongly.
And that's just it. They're both very similar, it's just that in Tarkin this psycho-structure is a lot stronger then in G'Kar, overpowering most others. And G'Kar can and will as we know from the show turn back and take another raod, while Tarkin seems too far along his to even think about changing his ways... And of course he's more "grey" to Tarkin's "black", projecting an reasonable facade while Tarkin no longer needs to. And he's nicer, when he can afford to.

Still, I wouldn't recommend visiting him on a Narn base if your hair stands up like a peacock fan... :wink:
 
Back
Top