It is nearly as long as Babylon 5 itself. These ships are very rare and usually in deep space on assignment. Omega Class These are the newest Earth Alliance Heavy Cruisers, the first one, Agamemnon came out shortly after the Earth-Minbari war. They are the fastest and most powerful ships in. Category:Earth Alliance ship classes - The Babylon Project - Babylon 5, DVD, Babylon Five. Games Movies TV Video. Explore Wikis; Community Central; Start a. A thorough study of the Dilgar war is finished and changes the forward looking strategy of the Earth Alliance. 'This story changes the time line of the Babylon 5 universe after the Dilgar War.' Rated: Fiction T - English - Sci-Fi - Chapters: 10 - Words: 100,426 - Reviews: 286 - Favs: 456 - Follows: 461 - Updated: 12/9/2013 - Published: 9/6/2010. With a loss of 70% of the original 60,000, the Earth Alliance probably had a total of 18,000 ships. Of the 18,000 strong fleet of the Earth Alliance, at least half of these are support vessels for the fleet - cutting us down to 9,000 vessels. In this video we will be going over the top Earth Alliance to find out which one is the strongest. We will be talking about Nova class dreadnought, Explorer class ship, Hyperion class heavy.
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Text written by Larry King
Planet lists compiled by I. Marc Carlson, Larry King, and others
Babylon 5 trademarks belong to J. Michael Straczynski and Warner Brothers
Contents:
- Introduction
- Human Settlements in the Solar System:
Earth ... Earth's Moon ... Mars ... Phobos ... Deimos ... Outer Planets ... Io ... Ganymede ... Europa - Human colonies involved in the B5 Story:
Proxima III ... Orion Colonies ... Vega ... Deneb IV ... Arisia 3 ... Beta Colonies ... Beta Durani ... Regula IV ... Theta 49 ... Ceti Gamma II - Human colonies mentioned in passing:
New Kobe ... New California ... New Jerusalem ... Cyrus III ... Janos VII ... Amador ... Pepinia ... Sinzar ... Flinn Colony ... Jericho 3 ... Disneyplanet - Planets which are probably human colonies:
Arcturus IV ... Antares ... Bel-Nar ... Andat ... Hutchison Colony ... Mohlion Asteroid Belt ... Tau Tramula ... Aris Colony - Space Stations:
Lagrange Stations ... Mid-Range Military Outpost ... Babylon Stations - Colonies in the B5 books
- Some places which are not colonies
Introduction
The 'Earth Alliance' is a federation headed by Earth. Until 2260, it included Earth, the human colonies within the Solar system, and all significant human colonies outside the Solar system. However, it is not clear whether very small human settlements were in any real sense part of the Earth Alliance.
How many worlds are in the Earth Alliance? Well, on 23 December 1994, J. Michael Straczynski posted:
- Earth Alliance has about 14 worlds/colonies in 12 different solar systems.
but more recently, an episode of Babylon 5 referred to '24 colonies in 14 systems'. Presumably JMS's original post is no longer canon, but perhaps there are just different ways to count 'colonies' involved here.
(For example, not every small military base should necessarily be called a 'colony'. In particular, 14 colonies in 12 systems means no more than THREE in the Solar system – and we certainly know of more than three military bases and mining outposts in our system!)
In this document, I have listed all colonies mentioned in the Babylon 5, Crusade, and Legend of the Rangers episodes and movies. References from the novels are placed at the end – but I don't claim to have included every colony mentioned in the novels. Under each colony's entry I have listed every reference made to it – except for Mars (where only the major references are mentioned) and Earth (which has only a brief entry, for obvious reasons.)
Human Settlements in the Solar System
- Earth: This is the home planet of our species, and the seat of the Earth Alliance government.
Humans first ventured into space in the 1950's, and first set foot on another world in 1969. The Earth Alliance was formed and absorbed most of the various nation-states of Earth, and began to settle other colonies in the solar system, around 2100. First contact with an alien race – the Centauri – occurred in 2151.
Around 2158, Earth Dome was built in Geneva and became the capital of the Earth Alliance.
Earth's expansion into the galaxy were interrupted by the Dilgar War of 2230 to 2232, and the Earth - Minbari War of 2245 to 2247.
Earth's president during the Earth-Minbari War was seen in In the Beginning, but her name was not given. After the war, she was responsible for launching the Babylon Project. According to the novel Clark's Law, Luis Santiago was her vice-president. He became President sometime in the 2250's, and was re-elected in January 2258 (Midnight on the Firing Line).
President Santiago was assassinated on December 31 (Chrysalis). The new president, Morgan Clark, declared martial law on 8 April 2260 (Messages from Earth) and abolished the Senate. He ruled as Earth's dictator from that point until the end of 2261.
- Earth's Moon: Not much is known about the human settlements on the Moon. Captain Sheridan served with Jack Maynard on the 'Moon-Mars Patrol' according to A Distant Star.
- Mars: The Mars Colony has been one of the most visited locales in the show, and many of the major characters have roots there. Nonetheless, according to The Exercise of Vital Powers there are only two million humans living on the Red Planet.
'Mars Dome' has often been referred to in the show, and we have seen it from time to time. It is unclear whether the majority of Mars inhabitants live under this central dome.
One major city on Mars is New Vegas. It has been mentioned several times in the show: in And Now For A Word, Lloyd's of London, Las Vegas, and New Vegas were mentioned as having issued odds on Babylon 5's survival; Garibaldi and Ivanova discuss the 'New Vegas Lottery' in War Without End, Part One; it is also mentioned in the original script for Passing Through Gethsemane. (Is New Vegas itself inside 'Mars Dome'? Unknown. Christopher Russo suggests New Vegas may be the place referred to as the 'Martian Pleasure Dome'.) The Illusion of Truth mentions both New Vegas and Slimtown as Martian cities.
There is also a 'secret' Psi-Corps base on Mars, mentioned in A Voice in the Wilderness, Messages From Earth, and Ship of Tears, and shown in A Race Through Dark Places, Divided Loyaties, and the Shadows Past and Present comic arc.
History:
There was apparently some Shadow activity in the solar system in the 13th Century, when Shadow vessels were buried on Mars and on Ganymede. Humans founded the short-lived First Mars Colony shortly before 2100; according to Midnight on the Firing Line it was destroyed in a sneak attack. The Second Mars Colony was founded around 2150, since one of its founders, John Carter, had a youthful great-granddaughter in 2259. (The Babylon Project Role-Playing Game, however, gives a date of 2105. Note, of course, that 'John Carter' is the human who became the Warlord of Mars in the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs 'Barsoom' series.)
The Toronto Blue Jays moved to Mars in 2200. Jeffrey Sinclair was born there in 2218 (And the Sky Full of Stars, Voice in the Wilderness).
Mars was untouched in the Earth-Minbari War (In the Beginning). However, just after the war, Mars experienced some tumultuous food riots. Jeffrey Sinclair met both Laurel Takashima and John Sheridan during the riots (The Gathering, Voice in the Wilderness I, Lines of Communication, A Distant Star, and War Without End I). At this time (perhaps during the riots?) the Free Mars terrorist group became public – though they had been organizing for some time before this, according to Spider in the Web. Many Marsies had sympathy with Free Mars' aims, if not their methods. The Mars Resistance is apparently an organization with a broader base and more mild methods than Free Mars.
In 2253, a wrecked Shadow ship was found in Syria Planum on Mars, but when it was excavated, another Shadow vessel arrived to take it home (Messages from Earth). This led to the ill-fated expedition of the Icarus to Z'ha'dum (as seen in Z'ha'dum and the novel The Shadow Within). By a remarkable coincidence, Jeffrey Sinclair and Michael Garibaldi, who had just met, also witnessed the vessels' departure from Mars, according to the comic arc Shadows Past and Present! And by another remarkable coincidence, the Shadow vessel was buried extremely close to a secret Psi-Corps base.
A major Mars Revolt occurred in October 2258 during A Voice in the Wilderness. After this revolt, a Provisional Government was appointed by Earth; this government was still in charge as late as March 2259 (Spider in the Web). Around this time, former Psi-Corp agent Lyta Alexander began working with the Mars Resistance, though she did not reveal that she was a telepath; she left Mars for Babylon 5 in October 2259 (Divided Loyalties, The Face of the Enemy).
Mars played a pivotal role in the novels Voices and Accusations.
Martial Law (no pun intended!) was declared on 8 April 2260 by Earth Alliance President Clark. Mars, under the leadership of Provisional Governor Xavier Montoya, refused to enforce Clark's decree. On 13 April, Clark ordered Earth Force to bombard the Mars colony. The bombardment is shown in Severed Dreams, and in one scene it appears that the dome itself was hit.
It would seem that for the next three months Mars was effectively independent, and it is unclear what military action was being taken by Earth. It seems that Earth's major war on Mars did not begin until 28 July 2260 – because fighting had been going on for '259 days' as of 12 April 2261, when Earth captured New Vegas and Slimtown in The Illusion of Truth.)
Around June or July of 2261, the Mars Underground made an alliance with Sheridan's forces (Racing Mars and Lines of Communication), while Martian magnate William Edgars hired Garibaldi (Conflicts of Interest) for some nefarious deeds. From this point on, Mars became a focal point of the story-arc in Babylon 5. For full details, see the later part of Season Four. Suffice to say that when the Interstellar Alliance was formed, President Sheridan kept his promise to the Mars Resistance and insisted that Earth grant independence to Mars.
Babylon 5 Spinoffs:
In Legend of the Rangers, weapons officer Sarah Cantrell introduces herself as a native of Mars.
Mars is especially prominent in the Crusade series. Both Captain Matthew Gideon and Max Eilerson are Mars natives. Eilerson in particular is a patriot, referring to Earth's 'oppression' of Mars at least once.
Both War Zone and Ruling From the Tomb take place on Mars. These episodes refer to Mars as an 'Independent Member of the Earth Alliance'. It's unclear exactly what political status this conveys, but it is certainly an improvement over the earlier days!
Some additional statistics about Mars have been revealed. In War Zone, Gideon says that Mars is a 'dead world' – that there may have been some native life eons ago, but that there is none today. In Ruling From the Tomb it is mentioned that 90% of Mars' inhabitants are human. (Presumably the others are an assortment of the various races seen in Babylon 5.)
The Lurker's Guide notes that Ruling From the Tomb also featured a 'Bradbury Street', a 'Burroughs Street', and a 'Carter Street'. It's unclear whether Carter Street is named after the fictional John Carter or the 'real' one!
The Lurker's Guide also spotted that the bar in Tomb was called the 'Phobos', just like the bar in Face of the Enemy. It doesn't look much like the place where Garibaldi betrayed Sheridan, however.
One other point of interest. During Season Four, Michael Garibaldi received an early-morning call from William Edgars. The irate Garibaldi complained, 'Mr. Edgars, have I ever mentioned to you that there is a seven-hour time difference between Babylon 5 and Mars?' Edgars responded, 'Yes you have, but I am on call twenty-four hours a day.' The clear implication is that there is a constant time-difference of seven hours between Edgars' home on Mars and the living quarters on Babylon 5. This is absurd. Babylon 5 runs on a 24-hour day, and Mars's day is closer to 24 hours 40 minutes. The only way this would make ANY sense is that the human settlements on Mars keep their clocks set on Earth time – which would be insane (we've seen that Mars Dome is transparent. . . . .)
- Phobos: There was a terrorist attack on Mars' larger moon, as mentioned in Eyes. Apparently it is also the site of a prison (this is mentioned in the Lurker's Guide, but I can't locate the original source).
- Deimos: Despite its tiny size, there is apparently a settlement on Mars' smaller moon. In Season Four, William Edgars' message displays have Mars - Phobos - Deimos written in the logo.
- Outer Planets: In December 2258, Earth Alliance President Santiago went on a 'Five Planet Goodwill Tour'; when Chrysalis begins, he is leaving Mars Colony and heading for the 'Outer Planet Colonies'. It's not clear exactly what the five planets are, or whether 'moons' count as 'planets' here. The only human settlements in the outer solar system mentioned in the show have been the moons of Jupiter. Presumably, such items as Jovian Treeworms (Born to the Purple), Jovian Tubers (TKO), and Jovian Sunspots (Deathwalker, Spider in the Web) are from these moons, and not from Jupiter itself.
- Io: Although it's difficult to imagine a settlement on Jupiter's inner moon (Io is plagued with gigantic volcanoes), this is the location in the outer solar system most often mentioned on the show.
When the Minbari invaded the Solar System at the end of 2247, Earth 'lost touch with Io' (In The Beginning), but it's unknown what damage the Minbari did to the colony. Walker Smith spent some time here before TKO. Susan Ivanova and John Sheridan were stationed together on Io for some time (Points of Departure); this is where Ivanova threw a telepath out a window.
One of William Edgars' many estates is on Io (The Exercise of Vital Powers).
The primary jumpgate in the Solar system is 'near Io', and has been mentioned several times. President Santiago's ship was destroyed near this jumpgate in Chrysalis.
In Point of No Return, President Clark's declaration of martial law seems to originally only refer to Earth, Mars, and Io. General Hague's ship was leaving Io early in this episode.
- Ganymede: There was a labor strike on this moon in 2237; this was the last time the Rush Act was used prior to By Any Means Necessary. In March 2260, a wrecked Shadow vessel was dug up on Ganymede; Captain Sheridan destroyed this vessel in Jupiter's atmosphere (Messages from Earth).
Human colonies involved in the B5 Story
- Proxima III: This colony has been mentioned several times, usually just as 'Proxima'. It is apparently one of Earth's largest colonies. There are a military base, a 'tachyon relay station', and a 'transfer station' (jump-gate) in this system; the often-used term 'Proxima Station' probably refers to one of these. In No Surrender, No Retreat, the graphic depicting the Proxima System very clearly shows that Proxima I, II, III, etc. are the first, second, third planets about the same sun. (This is a common astronomical convention, but it hasn't been always used in the show – Sigma 957 is not the 957th planet in its system!)
This colony is probably a planet in the Proxima Centauri system, but this has not actually been stated on the show. Proxima Centauri, sometimes known to astronomers as Alpha Centauri C, is the closest star to our sun: it's 4.226 light-years from us (slightly closer than Alpha Centauri A or B), and is a type M5 red dwarf star.
(Note that the 'Centauri' race of Babylon 5 do not hail from Alpha Centauri, as their homeworld is at least 40 light-years from Earth!)
In 2247, the Minbari conquered 'the mid-range military bases at Beta Durani and at Proxima III' just before heading to our Solar System to end the war, as seen in In The Beginning. Del Varner was smuggling goods from the Proxima System and the Vega System in The Gathering. The Ikarran bio-technology devices in Infection were brought to B5 via the transfer station off Proxima III, and were quarantined there after the episode. Dr. Tasaki, the over-eager scientist in A Voice in the Wilderness, mentioned that his wife lives on Proxima. And mad bomber Robert Carlson had struck on Proxima III before Convictions.
On 13 April 2260, after President Clark ordered the bombing of Mars Colony, Proxima III and Orion VII declared their independence from the Earth Alliance (Severed Dreams).
By early 2261, Proxima III was under constant threat by President Clark's forces, but they still maintained contact with Babylon 5 and with the Mars Resistance (Racing Mars). On August 3, although at least one Starfury squadron had defected to Proxima's side, Earth Force ships were winning the battle for the planet and not sparing civilians (Moments of Transition).
In September 2261, the White Star Fleet and Babylon 5's starfuries fought a battle in the Proxima System (No Surrender, No Retreat.) This resulted in the liberation of Proxima III, which was thereafter guarded by Earth Force ships loyal to Sheridan.
- Orion Colonies: Colonies bearing the name 'Orion' have been mentioned several times.
- Orion IV is a mining world. Garibaldi worked here after losing his job on Europa; Walker Smith was one of his drinking buddies there. (Survivors, TKO). This may be the home of 'Fortune City'.
- The Black Rose Killer operated on Earth Colony Three in the Orion System, according to Passing Through Gethsemane.
- Orion VII was populated by 'Flame-Birds' sometime in the last half-million years, as revealed by the Vendrizi in Exogenesis. More recently, it was visited by General Hague's ship, the Alexander, when Hague was trying to organize the opposition to President Clark. The Alexander was ambushed during its return from Orion VII (perhaps near the Orion VII jumpgate, or perhaps after leaving hyperspace), on 10 April 2260 – this was the battle at the beginning of Severed Dreams. After Clark ordered the bombing of Mars Colony, Proxima III and Orion VII declared their independence from the Earth Alliance (10 April 2260).
There is, of course, no star called simply named 'Orion'. The location of these planets is thus unknown – and more importantly, we don't even know if these worlds are in the same star system, or are even different names for the same world.
But since Passing Through Gethsemane refers to the Orion System, my guess is that in one star system, there is a mining world (Orion IV), and a large civilian colony (Orion VII); moreover, Orion VII is the third human colony (or the third human colony outside of the Solar system) and thus also bears the title 'Earth Colony Three'.
Richard Wakefield suggests Pi-3 Orionis as a nice, nearby candidate for this star – it's a yellow-white F6 star only 24.505 light-years from Earth, and since it doesn't have a well-known name (like the bright stars in Orion) it might easily be called 'Orion' by its inhabitants.
On the other hand, he 'Babylon 5 Micro-Machines' include a vehicle which is supposedly a dual aircraft/spacecraft used by the 'Orion Belt Alliance'. Christopher Novosad-Russo points out that since aircraft aren't much use in an asteroid belt, this suggests that the 'belt' here must be Orion's Belt. If so, there may be three colonized systems – Delta, Epsilon, and Zeta Orionis, the 'belt stars'. These are all white giant stars between 1500 and 1600 light-years from Earth.
Another mystery: In the final scene of Season Three, we glimpse a plaque in Sheridan's quarters which reads:
Earthforce Orion Command [illegible]
hereby appoints
John Sheridan
to the rank of
CaptainDoes this mean that when Sheridan was promoted to Captain, he was assigned to an Orion-related division of Earthforce? Or does this mean that after Orion VII seceded from Earth, they re-commissioned Sheridan as a captain in their own navy?
Oddly, the Orion colonies were never mentioned during the fourth season of Babylon 5, despite Orion VII's major role in the rebellion during Severed Dreams!
In the Crusade episode Patterns of the Soul, the planet Theta 49 is clearly in the vicinity of Orion VII. General Thompson's original orders (which he claims come from President Sheridan!) were for the colonists to be brought to an Earth Force ship near Orion VII, which would then transport them to Earth.
When Gideon says that the Excalibur is 'going to Theta 49, in Orion Sector,' Eilerson replies that he doesn't want to 'go to Orion System.' This is an odd twist. Perhaps Eilerson either mis-heard or misunderstood Gideon. Perhaps 'Orion Sector' and 'Orion System' mean the same thing; but this is very odd. (Sectors are used inconsistently; for example, 'Sector 14' is a small piece of a star-system, while at other times 'sectors' seem to include several stars.) It is also possible that Eilerson already was familiar with Theta 49, and knew it was in the Orion System.
But the most likely explanation is that Eilerson's 'Orion System' was an error. There is no sign in the episode that there are other inhabited planets in the same system. Indeed, if Theta 49 were in the same system as Orion VII, why would the Excalibur be needed to ferry thirty people to an Earthforce ship one planet away?
- Vega: Alpha Lyrae, better known as Vega, is an average-sized white star (type A0-V) only 25.167 light-years from Earth.
Del Varner had been smuggling goods from the Vega System and the Proxima System in The Gathering; some of the dialogue seems to imply that Vega is in 'the Damocles Sector'.
In Voice in the Wilderness, Part 2, the EAS Hyperion was 'headed for the Vegan Outpost'.
John Sheridan mentions that he was briefly stationed on the Vega Colony in In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum. In this same episode, Morden claims that he stopped off at a medical facility on the Vega Colony after the Icarus was destroyed – although this may be a lie, since the rest of his story is certainly fabricated!
Mad bomber Robert Carlson stole explosives from the ice mines of Vega VII, per Convictions.
And in A Call To Arms, Captain Anderson was taking the Charon to Vega Colony when he received his strange 'summons' from the Technomage.
- Deneb IV: Alpha Cygnus, better known as Deneb, is a white giant star (type A2-I) which is an awesome 1600 light-years from Earth. In Racing Mars, Dr. Franklin and Captain Jack discuss the human colony on Deneb IV, where Captain Jack's daughter lives. When Jack claims it is a tiny settlement, Franklin realizes he is lying; Franklin points out that Deneb IV is the 'largest colony market in the area'.
This fourth-season mention is the only reference to a Deneb colony. However, back in season one, Catherine Sakai said she had made a 'survey run through the Deneb Sector' during Parliament of Dreams.
- Arisia 3: In Lines of Communication, Marcus Cole tells the Mars Resistance, 'I was raised on Arisia Colony, which was sucked dry by Earth taxes and ruined by Earth corporations.'
The novel To Dream in the City of Sorrows (which JMS says is '100 percent canon') has a slightly different version of these events. In this novel, Marcus worked at his family's mining facility in orbit about the otherwise-lifeless Arisia 3. It was here that his brother, having met with Sinclair on Minbar, first told Marcus of the Rangers.
However, Marcus' family seems to have started this mining facility when he was a young adult. In Matters of Honor, Marcus mentions he had worked on several mining worlds, and was working on one when his brother died. So Marcus was not 'raised' on Arisia. Furthermore, it seems a bit pretentious to call this tiny facility a 'colony' at all; indeed, there are no other human settlements in the system.
Marcus had earlier mentioned that he was raised in a community that prized its English traditions (A Late Delivery from Avalon). If we take the novel-version as canon, then Marcus was stretching the truth in his speech to the Mars Resistance, and his birth colony is still unknown.
(Note: Although Marcus pronounces the world 'eryssia', the spelling of 'Arisia' is used in the closed-captioning and in the novel. Arisia is the oldest inhabited planet in our galaxy in the greatest pre-Golden Age science fiction series, the 'Lensman' saga. Yet Edward Elmer Smith's Arisia bears no similarity to the Cole family's mining facility. Perhaps whoever discovered the system was a fan of Smith's works?)
- Beta Colonies: An annoyingly-large number of planets in Babylon 5 are referred to simply by a Greek letter and a number – 'Sigma 957', 'Epsilon 3', etc. Worlds with the designation 'Beta' are very common, and it is a mystery how they are related, if at all.
In the early days of the show, 'Beta' seemed a designation used by the Centauri to name planets.
- Beta 9 is an old, lost Centauri colony, according to Midnight on the Firing Line.
- Beta 12 is the Centauri name for Earth, also according to Midnight on the Firing Line.
- Yet in The Gathering, Londo claims that long ago the Centauri conquered the Beta System 'in only nine days'. Since Beta 9 and Beta 12 are clearly in different systems, the term 'Beta System' should be ambiguous, so it's unclear what he means here.
- It is possible that Londo could be making any of these things up; he doesn't seem very serious!
However, in the fourth and fifth seasons – and now in Legend of the Rangers – 'Beta' seems to be associated with human colonies.
- Beta 9 is the name of a human colony that figured prominently in the human civil war. After the battle for Proxima III in No Surrender, No Retreat, the EAS Hercules headed to Beta 9 for repairs. This indicates that Beta 9 was already friendly to Sheridan (or at least neutral) very early in the war. Later, in Between the Darkness and the Light, Ivanova orders the survivors from the EAS Damocles and the EAS Orion to face a war-crimes tribunal on Beta 9. It appears from what she says that Clark's forces committed atrocities on Beta 9, although it is unclear when this happened.
- Beta 7 was mentioned in the Season Five opener, No Compromises. Major John Clemens had run the prison system on Beta 7 'until President Clark was kicked out of office', according to Garibaldi. Clemens at one point blames Sheridan for ruining his 'home', but it is unclear if he is referring to Beta 7 at this point. But it sounds like Beta 7 must have remained a Clark loyalist world until the end of the civil war.
- We saw quite a bit of the civil war in the latter part of season four. It seems unlikely that there would be a Sheridan-loyalist world – secure enough to use for political prisoners – in the same system as a Clark-loyalist world! So Beta 7 and the 'new' Beta 9 are most likely in different star systems.
Finally, there are two times that the term Beta Colony, with no number, is used.
- In the late fourth-season episode Face of the Enemy, Lyta Alexander tells Dr. Franklin about a criminal whose mind was destroyed by the Psi-Corps. She says that this criminal is now living in an institution 'somewhere on Beta Colony'.
- In Legend of the Rangers, Malcolm Bridges introduces himself as a native of Beta Colony.
Could the human colony 'Beta 9' and Londo's 'Beta 9' be the same? It doesn't seem possible. How could a 'lost Centauri colony' in 2258 become a civilized Earth colony by 2261? The most likely explanation is that Straczynski re-used this name, forgetting that it had been used nearly four years earlier for another world.
Could 'Beta Colony' and Londo's 'Beta System' be the same? It seems unlikely. The Centauri conquered the Beta System long ago – which means that it originally was home to an unknown alien race, and then became a Centauri colony. And there was never any suggestion that Earth annexed any Centauri worlds.
Could 'Beta Colony' and 'Beta Durani' be the same? No, because it's clear from Legend of the Rangers that Beta Durani is not Malcolm Bridges' homeworld.
Could 'Beta Colony' be the same as 'Beta 9' or 'Beta 7'? This is a definite possibility!
- Beta Durani: This is another human colony which wasn't mentioned in the first few seasons of Babylon 5. Its name resembles the 'Greek Letter - Constellation' protocol, rather than the 'Greek Letter - Integer' protocol mentioned above. However, there is no constellation called 'Duranus' or anything similar.
According to In the Beginning, Stephen Franklin discovered a crashed Minbari ship on Beta Durani sometime around 2242, but was unable to save its crew.
In the Beginning also tells us that at the very end of the Earth-Minbari War (2247), the Minbari conquered 'the mid-range military bases at Beta Durani and at Proxima III' just before they entered our Solar System. This suggests that Beta Durani is very close to Sol!
After President Clark began to rule the Earth Alliance as a dictator in April 2260, there seems to have been an unsuccessful resistance movement on Beta Durani. It was liberated by Sheridan's forces in September 2261, according to Susan Ivanova's 'Voice of the Resistance' broadcast in The Exercise of Vital Powers. Specifically, Ivanova says that 'Beta Durani and the Mid-Range Military Outpost' have been liberated. Perhaps these are two unrelated places, or perhaps she means that the planet Beta Durani and the mid-range military base in the Beta Durani system have been liberated.
The colony at Beta Durani is the central focus of Legend of the Rangers: To Live and Die in Starlight. In this movie, we learn that Beta Durani is a domed colony with only 600 inhabitants.
Shortly before To Live and Die in Starlight, an archaeological dig on Beta Durani uncovered a city eight miles underground. This city was part of the dominions of 'the Hand' a billion years ago. During the course of this movie (which occurs in 2265), agents of the Hand destroy the dome, apparently killing all inhabitants of Beta Durani.
The details about Beta Durani in Legend of the Rangers do not explicitly contradict the earlier references, but they certainly give a different impression. In Legend we are never told that Beta Durani is close to Sol, that it contains a military base, or even that it is a human colony. It is possible that the 'mid-range military base at Beta Durani' was not on the planet, but was instead some sort of space station or asteroid base. If this is the case, perhaps the Minbari completely destroyed this base, since it certainly doesn't exist during the incident in Legend – if this is the case, then this can't be the same base that was referred to in Season Four.
- Regula IV: A small group of human separatists settled on Regula IV in the late 2170's, according to the Crusade episode The Long Road. In 2267, the Excalibur tried to negotiate with this group and their guardian techno-mage.
- Theta 49: Theta 49 is in the Orion Sector, near Orion VII. (See Orion Colonies above for details on the 'Orion' worlds' locations.)
Theta 49 was not a human colony before 2266. Indeed, it contained a thousand-year old settlement of Dureena's people and was otherwise uninhabited, as related in the Crusade episode Patterns of the Soul.
In November 2266, around the time that the Drakh sowed the plague on Earth, a group of thirty humans settled on Theta 49. The Excalibur visited them in 2267.
Since it appears that this settlement will remain on Theta 49 for some time after 2267, it now qualifies as a marginal 'human colony'.
Human colonies mentioned in passing
- New Kobe: In By Any Means Necessary, Senator Hidoshi mentions that his grandfather worked in the spacedocks on New Kobe. (Note that Kobe is a major city in Japan; it's possible this was founded as a colony by a Japanese organization or political entity.)
- New California: There was a labor strike on New California at some point in time, according to By Any Means Necessary. (The exact quote refers to 'the strikes on Europa and on New California and at Matawan'; however, it's possible that what is said is 'in New California', which would suggest this is a city, not a planet. Matawan is a real city which had a major labor strike in the 20th century.)
- New Jerusalem: Colonel Ari ben Zayn was involved in fighting here, according to Eyes. It is possible that this began as a Jewish colony or an Israeli colony; ben Zayn was also involved in military campaigns in Israel.
Jerry Pournelle, Gordon R. Dickson, and other science fiction authors have written stories about off-world colonies founded for religious reasons, much as the New England colonies were in the 17th Century. New Jerusalem may be a colony of this type; if so, it's the only one mentioned so far in Babylon 5.
- Cyrus III: Colonel Ari ben Zayn was involved in fighting here, according to Eyes.
- Janos VII: General Franklin led a military campaign here – in GROPOS, he is referred to as the 'Scourge of Janos VII'. The pterodactl-like Grylor in Knives is mentioned as being native to Janos VII as well.
- Amador and Pepinia: Two of Earth's newest colonies. Amador and Pepinia joined the Earth Alliance just before The Gathering, according to the headline in 'Universe Today'.
- Sinzar and Flinn Colony: These were sites of battles in 2247, during the latter part of the the Earth-Minbari War, according to In The Beginning.
- Jericho 3: Another colony mentioned in In The Beginning.
Planets which are probably human colonies
- Arcturus IV: Alpha Bootis, better known as Arcturus, is a sub-giant orange star (K2-III) 35.8 light-years from Earth.
This planet was allegedly mentioned The Parliament of Dreams, but it might not be a human world.
(Andy Lane says this was mentioned in 'Parliament'. But I rewatched my tape and couldn't find it. This may be an error on Lane's part.)
- Antares: Alpha Scorpii, better known as Antares, is a twin star (one M1-I red giant and one smaller B4-V white star) around 520 light-years from Earth. It has been mentioned various times during the show. However, it's not certain that Antares is a human settlement.
Del Varner visited the Antares Sector before coming to Babylon 5 in The Gathering. His computer files mention Antares itself as one of his past locations.
In The Parliament of Dreams, Catherine Sakai brings Jeff Sinclair some 'Antarean Flarn' to eat. Interestingly, 'Minbari Flarn' is referred to in Confessions and Lamentations and Sic Transit Vir; is this the same food?
The novel Voices has an alien character referred to as an Antarean. However, the novel Blood Oath (by the same author) mentions the planet Antareus. If this isn't a misspelling, it may be the home of the Antarean, and then Antares could still be a human world.
- Bel-Nar, Andat, Hutchison Colony, the Mohlion Asteroid Belt, and Tau Tramula: These places are all listed in Del Varner's computer files in The Gathering; along with Antares, they are the six places he visited before coming to Babylon 5. The last two names are very hard to read, and not all need be human colonies, but at least 'Hutchison Colony' sure likes like a human name. Based on the dialogue, most or all of these are in the 'Antares Sector'.
(It should be pointed out that the special-effects folks may not have intended for us to freeze-frame these computer files, so this may all be nonsense. In particular, on the planet Bel-Nar, Del Varner was trading Trilithium Compound, which would seem to belong in that Other Show, not in Babylon 5's universe!)
Space Stations
- Lagrange Stations: 'Lagrangian points', or 'Trojan points', are orbital positions which balance the gravity of two different bodies. These equilibrium points make excellent locations for space stations.
Before coming to Babylon 5 in Eyes, Ari ben Zayn visited Lagrange 22, which is 'near Mars'. (It might not be feasible to put a station in the L4 or L5 points of either fast-moving Phobos or tiny Deimos, so this may be in Mars' L4 or L5 point. If so, it's not particularly close to Mars.
Presumably there are at least 21 other Lagrange stations! Yet during TKO, Walker Smith mentions visiting Lagrange Station without mentioning any number.
Building a real space city in the Lagrange point which trails behind Earth's moon would be an awesome – yet feasible – accomplishment. The L5 Society was founded for this purpose. It is now part of the National Space Society.
- Mid-Range Military Outpost: After the Battle of Proxima III, Sheridan's forces continued to liberate Earth colonies. In The Exercise of Vital Powers, Ivanova mentions Beta Durani and the Mid-Range Military Outpost as places recently freed from President Clark's rule. It seems likely (based on Sheridan's comments in Face of the Enemy) that the garrison here chose to ally with Sheridan rather than to fight.
Note that In The Beginning refers to 'the mid-range military bases at Beta Durani and at Proxima III' as if that is a generic term. So it's uncertain if Ivanova is referring to the Mid-Range Military Outpost as the specific name of a single base, or if she means that the planet Beta Durani and the mid-range military base in the Beta Durani system have been liberated.
- Babylon Stations: The first three Babylon stations were built in the early 2250's but sabotaged before their completion (Grail, The Gathering); JMS verified that they were destroyed by humans opposed to the Babylon Project. It is not certain where they were located.
Both Babylon 4 and Babylon 5 were located in the same star system; Babylon Squared reveals that it takes a starfury three hours 'in normal space' to travel from B5 to B4. Babylon 5 orbits the planet Epsilon 3, but Babylon 4 might not; its location is usually referred to as 'Sector 14'. For a discussion of exactly where Epsilon 3 might be located, see the companion document, Stellar Geography in the Babylon 5 Galaxy.
Babylon 4 was completed in 2254, under the command of Major Kranz. It vanished twenty-four hours later. For details on its odd fate, see Babylon Squared and War Without End.
Babylon 5, 'the last of the Babylon stations', went on-line in 2256. While Earth propaganda claimed B5 was 'neutral territory', it was clearly under the control of Earth Force military (see Survivors, GROPOS, etc.) Its commanding officer was Commander Jeffrey Sinclair until the beginning of January, 2259. Captain John Sheridan took command of Babylon 5 on January 8.
On 13 April 2260, after President Clark ordered the bombing of Mars Colony, Proxima III and Orion VII declared their independence from the Earth Alliance. Sheridan followed suit and declared Babylon 5 independent as well. (Severed Dreams). From this point, until the end of the Human Civil War in November 2261, the station was effectively under the direct control of military dictator John Sheridan, who has created his own uniforms and his own laws. He occasionally consults with his fellow officers, but almost never reveals his plans to them. On September 2, 2261, Sheridan began a war to 'liberate' Earth and its colonies from his fellow tyrant, President Morgan Clark.
After Sheridan became President of the Interstellar Alliance, Captain Elizabeth Lochley was appointed Commanding Officer of Babylon 5.
The Excalibur visited Babylon 5 in the Crusade episode The Rules of the Game. Lochley was still in charge of the station. If she has been commanding officer continuously from January 2262 to mid-2267, that would be five and a half years – much longer than Sinclair's two to three years or Sheridan's three years!
Oddly, President Sheridan stated in Rising Star that he intended for the Interstellar Alliance to eventually buy Babylon 5 from the Earth Alliance. But this never came to pass. In Sleeping in Light, the final fate of the last of the Babylon Stations was revealed.
Colonies in the B5 Books
Worlds listed both in the Babylon 5 novels and in the television series are covered above; see Arisia 3 and Antares, for example.
Betelgeuse 6 appears in Voices, and Betelgeuse Four appears in Blood Oath (both by author John Vornholt). Beta Orionis, better known as Betelgeuse, is a red giant star (type B8 I) which is around 900 light-years from Earth.
S.M. Stirling's novel Betrayals mentions a Japanese-settled world called Nippon (which is, of course, the real name of the island which Europeans call 'Japan').
The Babylon Project, the role-playing game written by Joseph Cochran, lists some (but not all) of the above-mentioned colonies on its map. It also adds New London Station, Canton I Colony, Canton III Outpost, Kandhi III Colony, Berlin II Colony, Delphi IV Colony, and the Myoto VI Outpost, all of which sound like 'national' colonies. The Cooke II Colony, Cooke III Colony, Dakota I Colony, Dakota II Outpost, Dakotat Colony, Leonis V Colony, and Leonis VII Outpost are also named. Further worlds take their names from the stars where they are located: the Sirius III Mining Outpost, Sirius Transfer Station, Kapteyn's Station, Ceti Station, Ceti II Colony, Tau Ceti IV Colony, Wolf V Colony, Signet Station, Ross IV Outpost, Eridani III Colony, and the vanished Procyon II Colony. Oddly, The Babylon Project places this 'Altair Transfer Station' at the star Ross 154, not at Altair. In a similar vein, it places the Vega Colony at Ross 248, not at Vega – it gives the Minbari control of the real Vega system.
In our Solar system, The Babylon Project adds the Venusian Orbital Station, Saturn Station, and the Skywalker Asteroid Base. It also names the colony on Earth's Moon as the Armstrong Colony.
For a more in-depth analysis of the astronomical data given in this game, see the companion document, Stellar Geography in the Babylon 5 Galaxy.
Earth Alliance History
Some places which are not colonies
Here are a few place-names which are mentioned in the show and sound like colonies, but are not:
New Vegas is not a world, but a city on Mars. (See 'Mars' above.)
New Melleray was the home of the Brother Theodorus' monks before they came to Babylon 5 in Convictions. This is a real abbey near Peosta, Iowa. Since New Melleray is a Trappist (Cisterian) abbey, it would seem that Brother Theo's monks are Trappists.
Balos (or Balus) is a planet which was captured by the Dilgar in 2230, and liberated by the Earth Alliance in 2232, during the Dilgar War, according to information given in Deathwalker. But it is not a human world, for Balosians are mentioned in Born to the Purple. It's conceivable that Earth 'kept' this world after liberating it, but I know of no evidence to support this.
Betelgeuse 6 appears in Voices, and Betelgeuse Four appears in Blood Oath (both by author John Vornholt). Beta Orionis, better known as Betelgeuse, is a red giant star (type B8 I) which is around 900 light-years from Earth.
S.M. Stirling's novel Betrayals mentions a Japanese-settled world called Nippon (which is, of course, the real name of the island which Europeans call 'Japan').
The Babylon Project, the role-playing game written by Joseph Cochran, lists some (but not all) of the above-mentioned colonies on its map. It also adds New London Station, Canton I Colony, Canton III Outpost, Kandhi III Colony, Berlin II Colony, Delphi IV Colony, and the Myoto VI Outpost, all of which sound like 'national' colonies. The Cooke II Colony, Cooke III Colony, Dakota I Colony, Dakota II Outpost, Dakotat Colony, Leonis V Colony, and Leonis VII Outpost are also named. Further worlds take their names from the stars where they are located: the Sirius III Mining Outpost, Sirius Transfer Station, Kapteyn's Station, Ceti Station, Ceti II Colony, Tau Ceti IV Colony, Wolf V Colony, Signet Station, Ross IV Outpost, Eridani III Colony, and the vanished Procyon II Colony. Oddly, The Babylon Project places this 'Altair Transfer Station' at the star Ross 154, not at Altair. In a similar vein, it places the Vega Colony at Ross 248, not at Vega – it gives the Minbari control of the real Vega system.
In our Solar system, The Babylon Project adds the Venusian Orbital Station, Saturn Station, and the Skywalker Asteroid Base. It also names the colony on Earth's Moon as the Armstrong Colony.
For a more in-depth analysis of the astronomical data given in this game, see the companion document, Stellar Geography in the Babylon 5 Galaxy.
Earth Alliance History
Some places which are not colonies
Here are a few place-names which are mentioned in the show and sound like colonies, but are not:
New Vegas is not a world, but a city on Mars. (See 'Mars' above.)
New Melleray was the home of the Brother Theodorus' monks before they came to Babylon 5 in Convictions. This is a real abbey near Peosta, Iowa. Since New Melleray is a Trappist (Cisterian) abbey, it would seem that Brother Theo's monks are Trappists.
Balos (or Balus) is a planet which was captured by the Dilgar in 2230, and liberated by the Earth Alliance in 2232, during the Dilgar War, according to information given in Deathwalker. But it is not a human world, for Balosians are mentioned in Born to the Purple. It's conceivable that Earth 'kept' this world after liberating it, but I know of no evidence to support this.
Ivanova lists fourteen worlds which are under Vorlon attack in Falling Toward Apotheosis. Some of them have human-sounding names (7 Lukantha and Mokafa Station specifically sound African). However, it seems clear from Epiphanies and Racing Mars that no human colonies were involved in the Shadow War or the Vorlon War.
Acknowledgements
The original planet list was by Marc Carlson, and was tossed around on rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5 by various folks, including myself, Marc Carlson, and Mark Mielke. Some verifications came from the on-line Babylon 5 Encyclopedia and the Lurker's Guide. Thanks also to Rocky Persaud, Christopher Novosad-Russo, John Krikorian, and the 'Crusader' for their ideas. Rev. Matthew Lynn Riegel supplied the information about the New Melleray Abbey.
New planets which turned up in Andy Lane's Babylon File book spurred me to re-watch many episodes and take better notes (resulting in my finding worlds even Lane had missed). More lists by myself and Marc Carlson eventually congealed into this document. The Legend of the Rangers and Crusade additions are mine.
If there are still errors or omissions, let me know!
Planets of the Earth Alliance / Updated 9 August 2008 by Larry King
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