 |
over the course of the last million years. The last Great War occurred ten-thousand years ago, leaving the Shadows defeated, not destroyed. For nine thousand years they waited, then in approximately 1200 C.E., the Shadows began to prepare for another war. By this time most of the First Ones had gone beyond, leaving the remaining elder Ancients and the current races to deal with the threat. During their Uprising the Shadows used the Narn homeworld briefly as a resupply post. They slaughtered almost all the Narn telepaths. G'Quon and the remaining telepaths (all of whom were past childbearing age), forced the Shadows off their world. This was one defeat of many for the Shadows. They gathered their forces too quickly and were stopped before they were ready. An alliance of worlds, including the Minbari and the remaining First Ones put them down. Around the time of the Uprising, the Shadows stored some of their vessels in the Sol System for future use. Humans have found two, one on Mars in 2253, the other on Ganymede in 2260. The first was returned to the Shadows in exchange for unknown favors. A secret cadre of humans, including some highly-placed individuals in Psi Corps and Interplanetary Expeditions (IPX), created an alliance with the Shadows around 2253. Shadow assistance was given to the Psi Corps in the alteration of human telepaths. One such experiment led to the creation of embedded artificial personalities (APs) fanatically loyal to the Corps. When telepathically triggered the AP permanently replaced the previous personality. Other experiments with Shadow technology led to more insidious "creations." After reviewing data from a long-range probe, an expedition was commissioned to explore the barren world of Z'ha'dum in 2257. The Icarus, a human explorer ship under the direction of prominent xenoarchaeologist Dr. Chang, landed on Z'ha'dum. The crew of the Icarus did not know as much as they could have about their mission, which was funded by IPX. Captured by the Shadows, the humans were given a choice: serve us or die. At least one member of the crew, Morden, is in their service. One of a long line of Shadow Thralls, he, like all the rest, thinks his masters are his equals. The Shadows latched themselves to the Centauri; once performing "favors" for them through Ambassador Londo Mollari; now for Lord Refa. This will carry a heavy price for the Centauri. The Shadows are using the Centauri's war with the Narn as a distraction. By helping the Centauri retake the Narn Homeworld and colonies they removed a source of potentially damaging information about them (the Book of G'Quon), or so they thought. Learning from their most recent defeat, the Shadows are slowly consolidating their power; manipulating races behind the scenes. The Shadows know that the Vorlons are aware of their intentions. However, they feel they are in a superior position. Should the Vorlons sound an alarm they feel most races would not believe them. Even if most races did, such a move would force the Shadows to move agressively now, causing the deaths of billions of unprepared lives. They are not afraid of the Vorlons; they are afraid of an alliance of races. |
|
