HOMEWORLD:
Home world is Minbar, exact number of
colony worlds is unknown but presumed to be at least as plentiful
as other major new races since the Minbari are the oldest and
most advanced of the new races, although population has been declining in
recent centuries.
BIOLOGY
The Minbari are mammals, structurally and
skeletally similar to humans, though with some variations (such
as the horn growth around the head, a more obvious spinal
structure and a different blood type. Minbari are born without
the "horny crest" that eventually grows from the back
of the skull, and gradually grows forward with age over the ears
which are mounted below the bone section and behind the mandible,
lower than where they are on humans.
The Minbari have no tolerance for alcohol, being driven to psychotic impulses and violent rages, this little known fact was used by Marcus Cole to help establish his credentials with Delenn (shown). Minbari don't perspire, but rather secrete some sort of fluid while they sleep, the exact purpose of which is unclear. Minbari can live 200 to 250 Earth years, although the latter portion of that in a "somnolent state". Like many of the other races they have blood with differing types.
CULTURE:
Their cultural interests are primarily
the attainment of perfection, whether mental, physical spiritual,
emotional; technology is transitory, merely a means to an end,
moreover, absolute self sacrificing service to others is the most
noble goal. Their society is built in a highly ordered and
regimented manner, as can be seen from one of their sayings;
"understanding is not required, only obedience", a
considerable portion of which centered, like many of their
religious beliefs, around the number three. Physically their
culture consists of a strict caste structure, of which there are
three; Warrior, Religious and Worker, and a code of obedience to
one's superiors in that caste, although the religious caste has
precedence over the other two. Caste membership is determined
early in life by what a person is called to do and is not
dependent upon the clan so that two members of the same clan can
be of differing castes. Minbari don't bathe, but rather use a
chemical compound that strips away the outer epidermal layer in
an act symbolic of rebirth. There are three basic languages:
Len'au, Feek, and Audronado (the language of the Priestly caste),
also referred to a "light", "dark" and
"grey", which are further broken down into 97 dialects
and sub-tongues. There are elaborate rituals of shaping, honing
and cutting as the crest's grow, some crests are shaped more in
line with the military caste, for example. The results of
courtship is largely determined by the female, who watches over
her intended while he sleeps to watch for his true face that is
revealled while asleep, if she likes what is revealled she may
stay a further two nights to complete the ritual, otherwise she
is free to go. Should the male insist that she stay, which is
considered highly improper, she can leave while he sleeps, and
then cut of his access to her family. Minbari writing is
orientated vertically rather than horizontally. The Minbari
believe that sleeping in the horizontal is tempting death, as a
result of which their beds are built at a slight inclination.
GOVERNMENT:
The Minbari Federation is the political
organization of the Minbari people which is governed by the Grey
Council, an organization made up of three members from each
caste, and a central leader. Dukhat was the leader before his
death in 2245, an event that precipitated the Earth-Minbari War.
Delenn was offered the position, but declined it. The capitol of
Minbar is Yedor, the location of the seat of government which is
known as the Palatium.
HISTORY:
The second "major" interstellar
civilization contacted by humanity, with regard to level of
resources, the number of worlds involved, etc. and had been
spacefaring much longer than the Centauri. They are the oldest
species that humanity has had extended relations with, and the
most advanced with regard to technological level with the
exception of the First Ones and Shadows. A thousand years ago,
Valen, the Minbari's greatest spiritual leader, brought the
Minbari society together, and subdued the warrior caste, prior to
this there was killing of Minbari by Minbari. There were three
warring castes, which he pulled together when he formed the Grey
Council (three from each caste forming nine, worker, warrior, and
religious). Since that time, and the Minbari have been in space
for well over a thousand years, they have pretty much hewn to
that rule; it is their greatest taboo. Once the three sides were
integrated, the warrior caste mainly contented itself with
external threats.
PSI:
The Minbari have telepaths, although it
is considered a rare gift and those with the gift usually offer
their skills to others as a service for which they are amply
rewarded. Some Minbari appear to have other powers as well, such
as being able to identify when they are being scanned and they
may be able to "see" the soul, although these skills
may be restricted to members of the Grey Council.
RELIGION
The Minbari as a whole are deeply
religious, placing considerable importance not in a God or Gods,
but in souls, which they believe leave the body at death and
merge with the souls of other dead Minbari to be recycled into
later generations, in this way, as individuals advance their own
souls so the Minbari as a whole advance.
Souls can only be perceived via the physical bodies they inhabit, but the real soul is something only dimly related to the body, a projection of a fraction of the universe's own consciousness seeking to discover meaning.Valen, the great Minbari spiritual leader and founder of the Grey Council, appeared a thousand years ago. Because each generation is reborn in the next, no Minbari has killed another for almost a thousand years. Indeed the given reason for their surrender at the Battle of the Line was based on this belief - they discovered that Minbari souls were going to the humans and Minbari do not kill Minbari. At some point in the past someone or something has interfered with the Minbari religious development. In the temple, a member of the religious caste must spend a year learning to appreciate laughter. Note how this compares with the beliefs of the Soul Hunters.
TECHNOLOGY:
The Minbari have magneto-gravitation
control, albeit in limited ways, measuring linear thrust in units
known as BoPrills and Prills and have also been developing hybrid
Vorlon
-Minbari technology, the White Star in particular. Their
technology is far in excess of that of Earth and probably beyond
that of the Centauri too; their ships could not be locked onto by
the Earth Alliance's XB7 tracking systems during the
Earth-Minbari War, although Earth has caught up slightly since
then.
Minbari
Rings
You may or maynot have
noticed the rings on the Minbari's fingers, well if you have or
not heres some information you may like to know about the rings
Ships of the Minbari Federation
Warcruiser
The Minbari Warcruiser is the most
powerful ship among the younger races. Its beam weapon is very
powerful, vaporizing most fighters with one quick shot, and
cutting into larger ships. The Warcruiser is very large, around
1.7 km tall. These ships were used with great effectiveness in
the Earth-Minbari war, where they almost destroyed all of Earth's
forces. There is of course artificial gravity on board. The
Warcruiser also carries a large complement of Minbari Fighters.
The ruling body of the Minbari, the "Grey Council", has
permanent residence on a special Warcruiser.
Fighter
The Minbari Fighter is an extremely
maneuverable and fast fighter. Its weapons are three beam weapons
positioned around the cockpit, angled 120 degrees apart, that
fire in short bursts. The design is heavily based upon Minbari
aesthetics, where the triangle is the perfect shape, so the
Minbari Fighter has a triangular shape when viewed from ahead.
The three "wings" also swept forward, in a reverse
delta-wing shape. The pilot lies down looking forward during
flight.
Flyer
The Minbari Flyer is a small ship
used by Minbari diplomats, couriers, and other important persons.
It only has room for one pilot, plus some cargo. Unlike the
Minbari Fighter, the Flyer only has two wings, and it is also
slightly larger. There does not seem to be any artificial gravity
on board. The Flyer also appears to be armed.
Minbari Weapons
Minbari Pike
WEAPONS OF THE MINBARI
FEDERATION:
The weapons of the Minbari federation are vast and powerful. Of
all these weapons, the following make up the mainstay of the
Minbari's arsenal - Neutron cannon, Fusion beam, and the
Anti-Matter cannon. Here in we will explore the current
theoretical database concerning these weapons, and their use
aboard the Minbari's primary warship, the Sharlin class
War-Cruiser.
FUSION BEAM:
This weapon is the Minbari's primary medium range and
anti-straighter/capital ship weapon, powerful enough to destroy
small targets, and large enough to engage capital ships. The
workings of the Fusion beam is simple, high-mass material is
compressed into a new and even denser compound. The massive
energy release is then forced through the weapon's projection
matrix creating a beam of destructive energy.
Using a Graviton stream or an EM field as the weapons conduit,
the energy created by the marriage of the two masses is fired
down the Graviton stream, along with the newly formed energized
mass. This combination of mass and energy allows the Fusion beam
to punch almost all forms of armor, as well as rake and vaporize
enemy targets with ease.
NEUTRON CANNON
This weapon is the primary long-range weapon of the Minbari
Federation, accurate enough to engage fighters and powerful
enough to engage capital ships. Many people, upon hearing the
weapon's name, assume that the Neutron cannon is a simple Neutron
particle weapon. It is NOT. The Neutron cannon is, in actuality,
a molecular weapon of great power.
The Neutron cannon fires a stream of "Anti-Neutrons"
down either a Graviton stream or EM field. When the Anti-Neutrons
strike any form of mass, it instantly destroy that mass.
Destruction is a result of the Anti-Neutron particles canceling
out the noble Neutron particles that make up the nucleus of the
atoms in question. The result is instantaneous molecular decay,
as the atoms loose their cohesion and fly apart.
Due to these facts, a Neutron cannon uses less power to create an
even greater destructive effect than one could ever accomplish
with Lasers or normal Particle beam weapons. No form of armor,
not even Minbari armor, is immune to this weapon's effects, as it
destroys matter on a molecular level.
ANTI-MATTER CANNON
This Anti-Matter cannon is the Minbari's primary weapon for
conducting orbital attacks and planetary bombardments. The
Minbari's Anti-Matter cannon fires a massive discharge of pure
Anti-Matter from the ship's primary reactor core, a Quantum
singularity.
This Anti-Matter stream is held within a complex series of
Graviton beams that prevent the Anti-Matter from leaking or
interacting with any mass, save that of the designated target.
Using the Anti-Matter cannon, the Minbari Sharlin class
War-Cruiser can level the surface of a planet in less than 20
minutes.