Series characters outside the series

Vortex

Mongoose
I was wondering if any of you have ever used (or are planning to use) characters from the series but during a period in which they were not in the series. Given that B5's cast changed a lot, there are many possibilities.

- Kyle or Takashima after The Gathering
- Lyta during season 1 & 2
- Sheridan (and the Agamemnon) before season 2
- Na'Toth after her disappearance
- Talia after season 2 (Bester says she's dead but who believes him anyway?)
- Marcus before season 3
- Lochley before season 5
- Ivoneva after season 4

I'm probably forgetting a few…

I also thought it would be very chilling for characters to be confronted with a shadow ship during season 4 and learn that its CPU is actually Keffer. Especially if they knew him during season 2.
 
In case you didn't know or if you did where they would be might limit them. Spoilers, so if you don't know what happened and don't want to know, then don't read.

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- Kyle or Takashima after The Gathering
Recalled to Earth, so useful there. Takashima was originally going to be the mole who shot Garibaldi, so that could be interesting to weave in. Dr. Kyle saw Kosh, presumably as an angel, and was never the same. So that could be useful for players investigating the Vorlons, before Kosh is outed at the end of S2.

- Lyta during season 1 & 2
Lyta was recalled for seeing Kosh, presumably as an angel. After being investigated by Psi-Corp, and the Corp not learning much, Lyta goes rogue. Eventually ends up on Mars working with the resistance, with some of the resistance not knowing she was a Teep. May have been involved with the Rangers. After outing Talia, she goes to Vorlon space and shows back up on B5 in "Passing Through Gethsemane".

- Sheridan (and the Agamemnon) before season 2
Definetly useful for players who run across an Omega Destroyer. He was at Centauri Prime when Anna Sheridan left for the rim on the Icarus.

- Na'Toth after her disappearance
She disappears off Narn and ends up under the palace. IIRC, it is implied she was there since just after the War of Retribution. But this is easily changed to suit the campaign.

- Talia after season 2 (Bester says she's dead but who believes him anyway?)
Jms pretty much confirms that Talia was disected, but who really believes Bester anyways. It was shown in "The Corps is the Mother, The Corps is the Father", that multiple personalities in the same person could have varying Psi-levels, so the new Talia would be a P5. It also makes it reasonable that she would be disected if Psi-Corp ever found out that the original Talia was augmented by Jason Ironheart.

- Marcus before season 3
He ran a mining station that his family owned on Arissa. His brother showed up as a Ranger and was killed in a Shadow attack not long after. With the mining station destroyed, Marcus goes to Minbar to become a Ranger in early season 2 as he meets Sinclair. IIRC, in "To Dream in the City of Sorrows", Marcus' first assignment was to help Sinclair stop the Shadows in sector 14. That could leave some time before Zagros VII, but not much.

- Lochley before season 5
She may have also be assigned to an Omega Destroyer, but I'm not sure. Her time is pretty open, except right after graduating the academy.

- Ivoneva after season 4
Ivanova is assigned to the Titans, a Warlock class advanced destroyer. She shows up again before "The Paragon of Animals" to have the Titans cleaned. Very useful for intrigue for players to find out what was going on in Bay 13 and what happened on the Titans when it went beserk.

I'm probably forgetting a few…
Lennier after "Objects at Rest". He's a rogue Ranger with a Nial. What happens to him? Does he work with the Rangers? Does he later die as implied by Delenn's face and manner in "Sleeping in Light".

Lt. Corwin, Cpt. Lochley, Ta'Lon, Ambassdor Vir, Tessa Holloran and Zack Allen on B5 after "Objects at Rest".

Tessa Holloran before "Racing Mars". From "Endgame" to "Objects in Motion" in the newly freed Mars government.

G'Kar after "Wheel of Fire" and before he kills Londo on Centauri Prime a few years before "Sleeping in Light".

Lyta after "Wheel of Fire" when she leaves with G'Kar. She evidently dies in the Teep war. Garibaldi is involved in the teep war.

Londo is pretty well described in the Centauri trilogy "Legions of Fire." It also covers Galen, Kale and a few other technomages. Also covers Vir, Timov and Mariel.

Don't forget Lord Refa in between his visits to Londo.

Lt. Matheson as a teep before the Teep war or as an Earthforce officer after the war.
Cpt. Gideon before being assigned to the Excalibur.
Dureena before "A Call to Arms".
Dr. Chambers and/or her twin sister who is in Earthforce before Crusade.
Max Eilerson before Crusade.
Galen after "A Call to Arms". He was pretty busy and his time accounted for in the "Passing of the Technomages" trilogy before "A Call to Arms."

Alwyn after "The Geometry of Shadows" and before "The Long Road". Also Alwyn after "The Long Road."

Any others that I missed, LBH? :)

I also thought it would be very chilling for characters to be confronted with a shadow ship during season 4 and learn that its CPU is actually Keffer. Especially if they knew him during season 2.

That could be cool.

Kizarvexis
 
Kizarvexis said:
- Sheridan (and the Agamemnon) before season 2
Definetly useful for players who run across an Omega Destroyer. He was at Centauri Prime when Anna Sheridan left for the rim on the Icarus.

Actually, he wasn't. Remember jms said that the Shadow Within is mostly canon, this is one of those areas. The author plain got it wrong. The Icarus departs from "Station Prime" according to the documentary voiceover in "In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum" (I think). Station Prime is meant to be in Earth orbit (the design is a giveaway...).
 
I especially like the use of Keffer. Little things like that are like rewards for the players who know a lot about the series but aren't necessarily able or allowed to act on that information.
 
Alone in the Night said:
I especially like the use of Keffer. Little things like that are like rewards for the players who know a lot about the series but aren't necessarily able or allowed to act on that information.

Though given he was clearly vapourised - on screen - when the Shadow ship attacked that one wouldn't quite fly.
 
Kizarvexis said:
- Kyle or Takashima after The Gathering
Recalled to Earth, so useful there. Takashima was originally going to be the mole who shot Garibaldi, so that could be interesting to weave in. Dr. Kyle saw Kosh, presumably as an angel, and was never the same. So that could be useful for players investigating the Vorlons, before Kosh is outed at the end of S2.

didn't JMS say somewhere that Takashima was reassigned somewhere out on the rim?
 
frobisher said:
Alone in the Night said:
I especially like the use of Keffer. Little things like that are like rewards for the players who know a lot about the series but aren't necessarily able or allowed to act on that information.

Though given he was clearly vapourised - on screen - when the Shadow ship attacked that one wouldn't quite fly.

Was he actually vapourised? It's a while since I've watched it, but my memories are:
1) Keffer sees the Shadow ship coming towards him
2) Later, we see guncamera footage showing the Shadow blasting his 'fury.

You could argue that Keffer ejected between 1 and 2, and the Shadows picked up his escape pod.

Other options:
Byron, when he was still a Psi Cop
Brother Theo and his monks could show up anywhere
 
And then you have all of the characters who appeared in the novels and comics. You would get characters with more background than a couple of paragraphs of text in an adventure module but without the disadvantage of being too obvious to those who have watched the series.

Such as the player characters meeting Lt Khabib (sp??) from the book Accusations as an Earthforce officer- the player characters are unlikely to know who he is so you can play off against that.

Cheers

James
 
About Keffer, we do see him scream with pain while a creapy light covers him. This is probably supposed to be a Shadow beam vaporising him with his ship but it could be just a very painful version of the thing used by the Minbarito capture Sinclair's fighter during the Minbari war.

From what is told on the DVD set, the actor actually thought Keffer was just getting hurt and would come back next season when the scene was shot. They only told him after (I don't know if they had already decided). So, I guess it doesn't clearly contradict what is seen in the show.
 
Babylon 5 Aide said:
Major Lianna Kemmer - I forget which episode it is she is in, but I am sure someone else will remember her.

She was in Season US Episode 11 Survivors. Most likely after the distruction of EF1 and up to it she was at the Io jump point.

As for Characters prior Season 2 US Episode 3 The Geometry of Shadows. Galen is on the planet the Drahk use for a meeting place with other races (blanking on name).

And I have used Characters, as a GM, before they appeared in the show or after they left. Example I was running an IPX game where one of my players was introduced to Dr. Mordan and Dr. Sheridan. Prior to the Icarus Leaving.
 
Chernobyl said:
why would the shadows use keffer if he isn't a telepath?

Anna Sheridan wasn't a telepath either. and she had the same remnants of the Shadow Tech the frozen-telepaths had, and the implication was she had been serving as the core for a Shadow ship.
 
BabylonRebel said:
Chernobyl said:
why would the shadows use keffer if he isn't a telepath?

Anna Sheridan wasn't a telepath either. and she had the same remnants of the Shadow Tech the frozen-telepaths had, and the implication was she had been serving as the core for a Shadow ship.

In the Technomage trilogy it is stated she was in a shadow ship. It was also stated in the show, Z'ha'dum ep, by Justin that she was implanted and they couldn't quite get her personality back.

Kizarvexis
 
frobisher said:
Kizarvexis said:
- Sheridan (and the Agamemnon) before season 2
Definetly useful for players who run across an Omega Destroyer. He was at Centauri Prime when Anna Sheridan left for the rim on the Icarus.

Actually, he wasn't. Remember jms said that the Shadow Within is mostly canon, this is one of those areas. The author plain got it wrong. The Icarus departs from "Station Prime" according to the documentary voiceover in "In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum" (I think). Station Prime is meant to be in Earth orbit (the design is a giveaway...).

Ah, I missed that. Thanks.

Kizarvexis
 
Indeed, any person can be a shadow CPU but telepath can jam these CPUs. A telepath CPU is just more resistant to these interferences.

Also, I think there is a certain logic in using an ace pilot as the CPU for a ship. His brain is already partly trained for the job...
 
BabylonRebel said:
Chernobyl said:
why would the shadows use keffer if he isn't a telepath?

Anna Sheridan wasn't a telepath either. and she had the same remnants of the Shadow Tech the frozen-telepaths had, and the implication was she had been serving as the core for a Shadow ship.

The Shadows had only just awakened when Anna was captured on Z'ha'dum so she was handy. By the time they 'encountered' Keffer, they were at probably already planning on using telepaths.

Of course, as pointed out, his skill as apilot might be useful.
 
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