Babylon 5...with a different race

[zorcarepublic]

If you have any of the B5W books, or have a casual knowledge about the history of the B5 universe before the Centauri found Sol, then you might know of a war fought between the years 2000 and 2008-10 (so its actually winding down in fact at this very moment)

The Centauri were fighting a race spinwards of them called the Orieni. Now, what might have happened if the Orieni had defeated the Centauri and were the ones to discover Sol in ~2170?

[dekket]

Would the Orieni have been friendly to Earth?
Part of the reason that the Centauri gave Earth "Jumpgate" technology was that the similarity between humans and Centauri was close enough that the Centauri, in the beginning, could claim that Earth was a lost colony, starting things out on friendly terms.

At the time the Centauri Republic was in decline, as remnant of its former glory, and was keen to forge close ties to the 'newest' of the spacefaring races.

The Orieni would not have been in the same situation, so I doubt they would have been so "helpful".

But in terms of plot/storylines in the Show, and assuming no major changes to the development of humanity due to the swap of Orieni for Centauri, and B5 is actually built:
No Centauri/Narm conflicts, no Centauri/Shadow alliance, No devastation of Centauri Prime.

[cyntax]

Originally Posted by dekket

The Orieni would not have been in the same situation, so I doubt they would have been so "helpful".

To expand on that, I would have thought that IF the Centari had been defeated and the Orieni had comes across Humans, we'd have been wiped out to. We look like the Centari, but are far less advanced. Not really a challenge to face, but with so much to gain

[dekket]

Interesting point.
Does anyone know if the Orieni or the Centauri were the original aggressors in the war?
It would make a lot of difference in how the Orieni would have interacted with newly discovered Earthmen.

[Rodders]

Would the Orieni act aggresively towards us because we resemble the Centauri? (Wasn't it mentioned in series 1 or 2 that the Centauri tried to pass themselves off as "Cousins" to our race?)

[zorcarepublic]

Sorry for the lateness of the reply, but I don't make many trips to this page...

The Centauri and Orieni hated each other on contact, as they were so different, the Orieni being religious zealots and the Centauri decadent. The spark that caused the war was the Orieni supplying the Drazi with advanced technology to raid the Centauri. But a Centauri Royal Navy/House Navy mission in 2000/2001 discovered a Drazi commander with undeniably Orieni tech onboard and Orieni technicians forced to install them.

The Orieni would quite likely have assimilated us into their empire, as they believed in bringing Order to the universe, and they had experience of bringing 'primitive' powers into the empire from almost the beginning

[Rodders]

Originally Posted by zorcarepublic

The Centauri and Orieni hated each other on contact, as they were so different, the Orieni being religious zealots and the Centauri decadent.

Hmmm. I wonder if that's why the Centauri and the Narn are at each others throats too.

[Interference]

Originally Posted by zorcarepublic

Sorry for the lateness of the reply, but I don't make many trips to this page...

Three years isn't so late