From: STRACZYNSKI [Joe]
Subject: For those taking notes, you'll remember...
To: GENIE
Date: 5/1/1992 8:32:00 PM
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For those taking notes, you'll remember Ambassador Londo Mollari, of the
Centauri Republic...likened in some ways to the fading Roman or British
empires. At one time, their fist could be felt across most of what is now
inhabited space. Now...they live on old stories and fading glories.
The Narns once were very much under Centauri control, and they received
in many ways the most brutal treatment of any "protectorate" in Centauri
jurisdiction. A little under a hundred years ago, as the power of the
Centauri Republic was fading, the Narns broke their chains in open revolution
and expelled the occuping army, achieving independence.
The way they were able to achieve independence was through a strong
military mindset and sense of pride...which though useful then, has since
become something other...something darker and more menacing. Still smarting
from two centuries of occupation, they launched a major effort to build up
their own forces. They strip-mined their economy to get their hands on the
latest weapons tech, most of it illegally obtained. They began slowly to
convince themselves that they had a Destiny among the stars...a destiny of
conquest.
And over the last few decades, they have been tentatively extending
themselves, taking over unalied planets here and there on the fringe of the
Narn system, small places that offered strategic and economic value, but which
were too far away to fight for, and of too little importance to (in many
cases) the Centauri republic, which was busy dealing with its own internal
problems.
The Narn Regime now is in many ways the X-factor, the new kid on the
block with something to prove. They're growing awfully strong, awfully fast.
They're cunning, and determined, and quite deadly.
Which brings us to Ambassador Jackarr (pronounced JAH-karr), of the Narn
Regime, married to a female war hero, whose fathers on both sides were also
distinguihed veterans of a hundred campaigns. In the main, his task is to use
the facilities of B5 wherever possible to Narn advantage == from arranging
tech-smuggling to military objectives and so on -- while doing all possible to
interfere with the basic purpose of the station, to create the peace. Peace
is not in their best interests, though they give the opposite impression.
They want to keep all sides divided and at each others throats so that they're
occupied while the Narns grow and expand quietly in the background. The last
thing they want is an alliance aimed against them before they're ready.
One last note about Jackarr...I wanted to create someone specifically who
folks would gradually come to expect is behind anything that goes wrong or
afoul. "Oh, he's the bad guy." And to a large extent, for the first part, he
will be...then something quite surprising will happen, and everything you
THINK you know about Ambassador Jackarr will be turned completely upside down.
We've all seen the SF standard of The Villain Who Chews Scenery...I wanted to
take that and use it just long enough to get folks comfortable with the
convention...then pull the rug out from under them.
jms |
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