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Jeffrey David Sinclair, hero of the Battle of the Line, the first commanding officer of Babylon 5, first Earth ambassador to Minbar and Entil'zha, travelled one-thousand years into the past to assist the Minbari in the last Shadow Uprising. During the trip in the former Babylon station, he used the Chrysalis Device to transform himself into a near-Minbari. Something went wrong and he became a full Minbari, thus setting up a millennia of Minbari soul migrations. He and his "assistant," Zathras arrived shortly after the Minbari's base of operations was destroyed. They signalled the Vorlons of their arrival and several Minbari Cruisers arrived soon after. To the Minbari he gave the six-mile long station to continue the campaign against the Shadows. That Minbari were a fractured people fighting a desperate war. For a hundred years after the war, Valen worked to bring the Minbari together. He subdued the warrior caste; causing them to focus their aggressiveness in the defense of Minbar. He created an elite corps within the Warrior caste, called the Rangers, specifically trained to combat the Shadows. The Grey Council was formed according to his plan, known as the Covenant. Foremost in the Covenant was that no Minbari should kill another. Valen composed the Council out of nine Minbari (three members from each of the three castes: Worker, Religious, and Warrior). The forming of the Council appears in ritualized form in the Ceremony of Rebirth. In order to prevent one caste from taking over another, each caste owns and operates its own warships. These ships are assigned nominally to the warrior caste as a revokable courtesy. Shortly after convening the Nine, Valen left Minbar in something of a scandal. Essentially in exile, he and his wife bore several children. It is said that although he received the best medical attention, he passed away due to old age. Others say that he was transformed to allow him to take his place with the Gods. There are many questions among Minbari scholars as to Valen's true fate. It is prophesied that Valen will return. When or even if that will occur is highly debated, though none can dispute that most of his prophecies have come to pass: |
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