Whimsy and internal pressure.
Why didn't the shadows do something about the telepath weakness?
- Thread starter G2309
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^And now you know the *real* reason the maintenance crews stayed away from bay 13.
Seriously though, I think the relationship between a Vorlon and it's ship is a few notches above master an pet, though it has similar connotations.
It might be worth noting that in one of the short stories, we find that Ulkesh's ship regenerated itself and far from being lost without it's master, was willing to respond to Sheridan and even eager to help him and Lyta counter whatever shadow tech had been buried in the systems of Ivanova's warlock. As I recall, it said it was happy to have something to do again.
As for the evolution of telepaths, it's fairly well explained the Psi Corps novels and another one of the short stories that there are no naturally occurring sentient telepaths. Of course Lorien is hard to account for an any level, while the various First Ones could have engineered the trait into themselves generations ago and of course the Thirdspace aliens are from another universe so there's no telling how things work in their domain. So yeah, other than those (and that weird hive mind bacteria) all teeps from all sentient races were from Vorlon tampering.
What's interesting though is the idea that the Vorlons aren't terribly powerful telepaths themselves. After all, they created teeps to be tools and why create a tool that is less able to do a specific task than the one that wields it?
Oh and as for Bester being Mordin's opposite number...if you read the Psi Corps trilogy, then that's not as crazy as it might first appear, considering who and *what* his grandfather was...
Seriously though, I think the relationship between a Vorlon and it's ship is a few notches above master an pet, though it has similar connotations.
It might be worth noting that in one of the short stories, we find that Ulkesh's ship regenerated itself and far from being lost without it's master, was willing to respond to Sheridan and even eager to help him and Lyta counter whatever shadow tech had been buried in the systems of Ivanova's warlock. As I recall, it said it was happy to have something to do again.
As for the evolution of telepaths, it's fairly well explained the Psi Corps novels and another one of the short stories that there are no naturally occurring sentient telepaths. Of course Lorien is hard to account for an any level, while the various First Ones could have engineered the trait into themselves generations ago and of course the Thirdspace aliens are from another universe so there's no telling how things work in their domain. So yeah, other than those (and that weird hive mind bacteria) all teeps from all sentient races were from Vorlon tampering.
What's interesting though is the idea that the Vorlons aren't terribly powerful telepaths themselves. After all, they created teeps to be tools and why create a tool that is less able to do a specific task than the one that wields it?
Oh and as for Bester being Mordin's opposite number...if you read the Psi Corps trilogy, then that's not as crazy as it might first appear, considering who and *what* his grandfather was...
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"It might be worth noting that in one of the short stories, we find that Ulkesh's ship regenerated itself and far from being lost without it's master, was willing to respond to Sheridan and even eager to help him and Lyta counter whatever shadow tech had been buried in the systems of Ivanova's warlock. As I recall, it said it was happy to have something to do again."
I never read that story!!! What was the title of it?!
I never read that story!!! What was the title of it?!
Presumably they're built to purpose and after a million years or more, I'm sure the Vorlons have figured out the right balance of intelligence vs obedience. Plus of course they are still ships, so the frame of reference for what might be considered boring or traumatic would be quite different compared to that of humanoids.
On a similar note, the techno-mage books has whole chapters told from the perspective of one of the shadow vessels (Anna's one, as it happens) and as I recall they're characterized as fanatics that revel in destruction and carrying out the wishes of their masters. Once assumes they're not so difference from the Vorlon ships.
On a similar note, the techno-mage books has whole chapters told from the perspective of one of the shadow vessels (Anna's one, as it happens) and as I recall they're characterized as fanatics that revel in destruction and carrying out the wishes of their masters. Once assumes they're not so difference from the Vorlon ships.
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Indeed, the biggest difference between Vorlon and Shadow ships seems to involve creatures serving (presumably unwillingly most or all of the time) as the CPUs of the latter, while the Vorlon ships seem to be given at least enough life (or it comes directly from the Vorlon?) that the middle man is unnecessary.
The shadow ship core is like an unwilling organic computer for the ship, as opposed to the symbiotic relationship the Vorlon transport has with their masters.
BTW, Joe did say that Kosh's ship was a personal transport and that the bigger cruisers like the one in "Interludes & Examinations" have full Vorlon crews.
BTW, Joe did say that Kosh's ship was a personal transport and that the bigger cruisers like the one in "Interludes & Examinations" have full Vorlon crews.
^I wouldn't say "unwilling" exactly, not once they're inside the thing anyway. As I understand it the potential CPU is basically subject to a death of personality, a mindwipe that obliterates the person that was there and installs a new one. Indeed, this appears to be a necessary step and not a side effect of the process, hence the ship on Ganymede going nuts.
I must admit, as grisly a twist as this turned out to be, I still can't quite figure out *why* the Shadows designed their ships to require a living sapient to be grafted in as the CPU. It can't be raw processing power because machines can do that just as well, or better, nor can it be the inherent unpredictability (or "chaos", if you will) of organic neural linkages as that can just as easily be achieved through cloned tissues with gene modifications.
Perhaps it's a longevity thing? All those cycles of dormancy where they'd scatter their remaining ships on desolate worlds lead them to develop a system where the part most likely to degrade (the brain) to be easily swapped out for a fresh one. Perhaps if you did the same to a Vorlon ship, after a thousand years it simply might not work. The structure might be intact, the engines, weapons and power plant all of but the organic control systems are just inert goo. On the other hand perhaps the two technologies are fundamentally different.
I must admit, as grisly a twist as this turned out to be, I still can't quite figure out *why* the Shadows designed their ships to require a living sapient to be grafted in as the CPU. It can't be raw processing power because machines can do that just as well, or better, nor can it be the inherent unpredictability (or "chaos", if you will) of organic neural linkages as that can just as easily be achieved through cloned tissues with gene modifications.
Perhaps it's a longevity thing? All those cycles of dormancy where they'd scatter their remaining ships on desolate worlds lead them to develop a system where the part most likely to degrade (the brain) to be easily swapped out for a fresh one. Perhaps if you did the same to a Vorlon ship, after a thousand years it simply might not work. The structure might be intact, the engines, weapons and power plant all of but the organic control systems are just inert goo. On the other hand perhaps the two technologies are fundamentally different.
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