“"They're a legend. The kind you would use to frighten small children at night. They were ruthless, savage, but extremely bright. A very bad combination. No one has seen them for centuries."
- – Londo Mollari, 2261
The Drakh were a secretive race and allies of the Shadows.
Biology
The Drakh are a race of bipedal humanoids, distinguishable for their tough scale-like outer skin and two prominent crests that bend around towards the back of the skull. They are known to have a specialized pouch on the upper left side of the chest, used to nourish and bond with newborn keepers before they are implanted on a chosen host.[1][2]
Drakh are known to have some degree of psi ability and have on occasion also been known to display some telekinetic abilities.[3] The foremost manifestation of this being their ability to "commune" with the Drakh Entire. Using this ability they use can communicate with one another en masse, though it takes some effort and preparation to initiate and requires them all to "agree" to the commune so it is far from instantaneous.[4]
This ability also extends to the keepers, which become part of the Entire when they are bonded to the nourishing pouch and this in turn links the Drakh to those implanted with keepers. Through this bond they can directly look into the mind of a thrall, seeing their thoughts and memories. This however does not mean full control of a host's every move. The link is limited and the host can learn to hide things from the keeper. (According to Emperor Mollari, it cannot hold its liquor, so being intoxicated gives the Thrall some measure of self-control.)[5][6][7][8] Nevertheless, they are able to use the link to inflict an enormous amount of pain which can be used to punish and condition an uncooperative thrall to obey.[9]
Another manifestation of a Drakh's advanced mental abilities is a skill that allows them to pull a subject's mind into a kind of waking dream-state, subtly warping and reshaping their perception of reality. In doing this they may attempt to confuse, frighten or trick a subject into revealing a truth. They may also be able to pick up on surface thoughts, though a strong enough mind - even one untrained in telepathic blocks - can hide their true intentions. This ability is fairly limited and seems to only be possible over short distances, possibly requiring line-of-sight, and is nowhere near as invasive or powerful as the kind of scanning possible for the trained telepath of the Humans, Centauri or Minbari.[10]
History
Their home for some time had been the Shadow homeworld of Z'ha'dum. As an ally the Drakh had access to their technology and while the Shadows slept between wars, they were out and about in the galaxy pursuing the Shadows' agenda. The Drakh were responsible for engineering the organic implants for the technomages, creating a ready made army for the Shadows upon their return.[11] The Drakh were also responsible for giving the Dilgar, through Jha’dur, access to Shadow technology, with almost fatal consequences for Kosh In 2257.[12] After the Shadows left the galaxy with the remainder of the First Ones, Lyta Alexander triggered the planet's self-destruct systems and the planet was destroyed. However, there was enough time for an evacuation which allowed the Drakh to escape.[13]
Soon afterward the Drakh began to influence the former enemies of the Shadows. They made contact with a member of the Minbari religious caste, to help sway the Minbari Civil War.[14] They had also attached a keeper to Captain Jack, in an attempt to kill the leader of the Martian resistance during the Earth Alliance Civil War. Border raids began to pick up across shipping lanes, which helped John Sheridan forge the beginnings of the Interstellar Alliance.
They also began to influence the Centauri. Many Centauri knew of the name "Drakh" as a legend to frighten children.[15] They took direct action by attaching a Keeper to Regent Virini, allowing them to control his actions.[1][16] The control over the Centauri was in retaliation against the actions the Centauri took when they destroyed the Shadow base on the island of Selini in order to stop the Vorlons from destroying their world.[17]
Over the next year the Drakh helped build up the Centauri military in secret without even the ministers of the Centaurum knowing about it. When the Interstellar Alliance found out about the purported Centauri attacks, the Narn and Drazi led an assault on Centauri Prime, causing severe damage to the entire planet.[1][18] After this attack, Londo Mollari had a keeper attached to him and was crowned Emperor of the Centauri Republic.[1]
In December 2266 the Drakh led an attack on Earth.[19] The new Interstellar Alliance ships Excalibur and Victory were successful in stopping the Death Cloud that the Drakh controlled, but were unable to stop a deadly plague from being released into the atmosphere.[20] Due to the efforts of the Excalibur and others, a cure was found for the plague before all life on Earth was destroyed.
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The Drakh maintained their control of the Centauri until December 2278, when Vir Cotto revealed their presence to all of Centauri Prime when he destroyed their Tower of Power. Shortly afterwards, the Drakh abandoned Centauri Prime, with the Centauri and Interstellar Alliance fleets in pursuit. The Alliance also provided telepaths to the Centauri to detect any keepers that may have been left behind on Centauri Prime.[21]
Notable Individuals
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 The Fall of Centauri Prime
- ↑ The Long Night of Centauri Prime - (p.3)
- ↑ "In the Kingdom of the Blind"
- ↑ Out of the Darkness - (p.109)
- ↑ The Long Night of Centauri Prime - (p.6)
- ↑ "Objects at Rest"
- ↑ "War Without End, Part II"
- ↑ Racing Mars
- ↑ The Long Night of Centauri Prime - (p.72)
- ↑ Out of the Darkness - (p.59)
- ↑ Casting Shadows
- ↑ JMS on Genie 8/1/1997
- ↑ DVD Extras - Babylon 5 Data Files
- ↑ "Lines of Communication"
- ↑ "Rumors, Bargains and Lies"
- ↑ "Epiphanies"
- ↑ "Into the Fire"
- ↑ "The Wheel of Fire"
- ↑ War Zone
- ↑ A Call to Arms
- ↑ Out of the Darkness
| Major Races | ||
| Ancient Races | ||
| First Born · Vorlon · Shadow · Walkers of Sigma-957 · Thirdspace Aliens · The Hand · Asmodeus' race | ||
| Major Races: | ||
| Minbari · Centauri · Human/Neanderthal · Narn · Dilgar · Drakh | ||
| League/Alliance Races: | ||
| Drazi · Brakiri/J/Lai · Gaim · pak'ma'ra · Abbai · Yolu · Hyach/Hyach-do · Markab · Llort · Grome · Hurr · Cascor · Balosian · Onteen · Iksha · Vree | ||