Wraith Defenders Club

[ciannwn]

Self facebook promotion, lol

Am just sending you a friend request. I'll put ciannwn in the message so you know who it is.

[ciannwn]

I'll start a group today, and link it. Okies?

Yay.

[addicted_to_steve]

All roads lead to Steve, apparently... *shakes finger* You naughty girl, you. I'll start a group today, and link it. Okies?

@ Orb: I am already rubbing up hard against as many Wraith as I can, and there's no apology from me for the innuendo.

@ A_T_S: Poking your status, hmmm...?

My bad, lol. I seriously thought I was cut and pasting from all the groups. Evidently Steve was channeling my actions... I shall now rectify said mistake:

Todd

Bob

fingers crossed this will work

[Todd's Pet]

Well done, Steve! We all know it;s the truth!

Could you VM me the link, Izzy hon - I can't access FB till I get home and it would save me searching this thread for it
Yes, I know - I;m a lazy beggar, but I have to save all my energy for Steve!

[WraithTech]

Which is probably why the adults are the way they are - they oldest ones would have to be the most cut-throat ones simply to have stayed alive that long!

I have a bit of a different view on the natural state of wraith relations, both within their hives and between their hives: I see them as being just like humans, especially humans in chaotic areas where disaster has struck.

Within the hives, faced wraith children on the show are rare, so I don’t see them having to brutally compete with siblings for resources that used to be plentiful before the new Lanteans arrived. Ellia was a few years old when rescued as child. She must have been treated well and used to being loved to transfer this need to Zaddik. Elric let Zaddik feed her the solid food that she needed and stayed close to teach her to hunt from a distance when the time was right.

Michael, after getting to know the Lanteans and developing a temporary friendship with Teyla, said that humans are not much different from the wraith. He found out that humans form meaningful relationships too. Even with his varying sanity levels, he was never able to completely let go of Teyla.

Rhys was willing to give his life for his hive.

Todd said that the Gift of Life was reserved for “brothers” and was very concerned about crew in Infection. His concern for his crew betrayed the necessary previous brush off of those feelings when Rodney tried to persuade him to help his sister.

Within the hives, their aggressiveness largely depends of their personalities. Scientists seem gentler: Erik did not fight back with Ronon and got along well with his queen, Tommy seemed shy compared to Karl, and Archimedes projected a certain amount of friendliness. Commanders do what their name implies: they command others and bark orders, just like our military leaders do. When Todd raises his voice, it is over life and death matters like the crash-landing of the infected hive and keeping his alliance members from being killed when the Attero device was active. Regardless, no matter friendly a wraith may be with his or her own kind or hive, this can’t be shown to outsiders to make them appear weak or vulnerable.

Last, Todd is often too trusting of subordinates. This may be based on prior experience with interhive and intrahive relations. The arrival of the new Lanteans disrupted a stable culture and replaced it with starvation, chaos, and the need for military order and even treachery to survive. Before the new Lantean arrival, wraith culture had 10,000 years of inter-territorial cooperation. It was so cooperative that they used to share telepathic knowledge until new Lantean intrusion made them splinter this to maintain some level of secrecy. Earth has nothing that comes close to that level of cooperation and the new Lanteans ruined what the wraith had going for them.

[ciannwn]

Before the new Lantean arrival, wraith culture had 10,000 years of inter-territorial cooperation. It was so cooperative that they used to share telepathic knowledge until new Lantean intrusion made them splinter this to maintain some level of secrecy. Earth has nothing that comes close to that level of cooperation and the new Lanteans ruined what the wraith had going for them.

It took a lot of trust and co-operation for most Wraith to go into hibernation with just a few active to keep a check on the Pegasus population. There was nothing to stop a group of queens and hive commanders from forming a faction and destroying other hives which were parked with hibernating Wraith in them. Eliminating rivals would have meant more food to go round but, as far as we know, Wraith didn't start fighting over food until after the Atlantis expedition woke them all up early.

[Isolde]

I have a bit of a different view on the natural state of wraith relations, both within their hives and between their hives: I see them as being just like humans, especially humans in chaotic areas where disaster has struck.

They may have a family structure, but I doubt if it has many similarities to western human social systems. I see it as being more clan-like, with extended familial links, perhaps, that may allow for fostering etc, as was once done in mediaeval Europe/UK.

Within the hives, faced wraith children on the show are rare, so I don’t see them having to brutally compete with siblings for resources that used to be plentiful before the new Lanteans arrived. Ellia was a few years old when rescued as child. She must have been treated well and used to being loved to transfer this need to Zaddik. Elric let Zaddik feed her the solid food that she needed and stayed close to teach her to hunt from a distance when the time was right.

Females are different creatures to the males, but I've never been comfortable with the idea that the only ones were Queens. I know it ain't canon, but I think they are likely to have other variants, like the drones, only female. Which is, of course, why I wrote them into my fic.

Also, any species as sophisticated as the Wraith would care for their young, and make a big deal of it. Absolutely, they do. But, I wasn't thinking of the rate of attrition as applied to the kids, but to the adults. That's a completely different kettle of the proverbial fishies.

[Todd's Pet]

Orb - you don't have to try to convince me that wraith have feelings or that they form close bonds (with worshippers as well as each other - Todd made that clear in CG)

What you're all describing is fairly basic hive behaviour and I;m assuming TPTB intended for wraith to be akin to hive insects on this planet - even though they got a lot of the basics of hive-forming insects glaringly wrong

[Todd's Pet]

They may have a family structure, but I doubt if it has many similarities to western human social systems. I see it as being more clan-like, with extended familial links, perhaps, that may allow for fostering etc, as was once done in mediaeval Europe/UK.

Females are different creatures to the males, but I've never been comfortable with the idea that the only ones were Queens. I know it ain't canon, but I think they are likely to have other variants, like the drones, only female. Which is, of course, why I wrote them into my fic.

Also, any species as sophisticated as the Wraith would care for their young, and make a big deal of it. Absolutely, they do. But, I wasn't thinking of the rate of attrition as applied to the kids, but to the adults. That's a completely different kettle of the proverbial fishies.

Of course in hive insects here, the drones are actually sterile females... the "faced officers", being rare, would be more akin to the fertile males who compete to mate with the queen (and would therefore be rampantly sexual, not completely disinterested as some have tried to suggest our gorgeous green guys are )
There is of course, more than one queen born, but they compete with each other to be mated and go on to form their own hive. Virgin queen bees tend to the mated queen almost like "handmaidens".

[WraithTech]

They may have a family structure, but I doubt if it has many similarities to western human social systems. I see it as being more clan-like, with extended familial links, perhaps, that may allow for fostering etc, as was once done in mediaeval Europe/UK.

That would also be a good way to get more genetic variation. The freedom Todd had to join new hives after losing previous ones makes this especially plausible.

Females are different creatures to the males, but I've never been comfortable with the idea that the only ones were Queens. I know it ain't canon, but I think they are likely to have other variants, like the drones, only female. Which is, of course, why I wrote them into my fic.

There has been a question ongoing in regards to if Sally was a Keeper, a Queen, or both.

Also, any species as sophisticated as the Wraith would care for their young, and make a big deal of it. Absolutely, they do. But, I wasn't thinking of the rate of attrition as applied to the kids, but to the adults. That's a completely different kettle of the proverbial fishies.

Wraith with no political or leadership aspirations would probably be able to lay low in a hive city of thousands as long as they do their jobs and do not make waves, such as the scientists, keepers, and technicians. Those seeking leadership positions would need to prove themselves and be able to displace rivals.

[ciannwn]

Females are different creatures to the males, but I've never been comfortable with the idea that the only ones were Queens. I know it ain't canon, but I think they are likely to have other variants, like the drones, only female. Which is, of course, why I wrote them into my fic.

All we were told about the Iratus bug lifestyle is that they

(1) Live in colonies - 'Conversion'

2) Hunt by themselves - 'Thirty Eight Minutes'

For all we know, they could only get together in colonies during a breeding season so their nests are well protected. Real life group living insects have different lifestyles with termites being very different from honey bees so group living alien insects could have unique differences to equivelant species on Earth.

http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/aimg26.html

What does bother me a bit is using the word drone for the masked Wraith. This was fine for Star Trek Borg because drone can mean -

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/drone

A person who does tedious or menial work; a drudge:

Since we were told that Wraith evolved from insects, though, I keep thinking of this other meaning -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_%28bee%29

The drones' main function is to be ready to fertilize a receptive queen.

[addicted_to_steve]

Their sole purpose in creating the Wraith was to make a creepy alien species that everyone would hate and thus hope the Lanteans would soon eradicate them. Unfortunately for them... this was an EPIC FAILURE! When SGA first showed on Aussie TV and I was an innocent young sixteen year old (cough cough cough), I remember seeing a snippet of it and thinking "Ooooh, those aliens are sexy"... It was only recently that I actually watched SGA. The moment I put disc one of season one into my dvd player I adored the Wraith. So, SGA writers - you failed! Okay, a slight divergence there.

Here is something that annoyed me today, when I was reading SGA novel #10 "Nightfall" by James Swallow:

...The acrid smell of cordite was strong, along with the battery-acid stink of the Wraith themselves... [184]

Battery acid????

[WraithTech]

All we were told about the Iratus bug lifestyle is that they

(1) Live in colonies - 'Conversion'

2) Hunt by themselves - 'Thirty Eight Minutes'

For all we know, they could only get together in colonies during a breeding season so their nests are well protected. Real life group living insects have different lifestyles with termites being very different from honey bees so group living alien insects could have unique differences to equivelant species on Earth.

Great theory: I wondered how a large cave full of them would have enough food to begin with. That could be the fore-running equivalent of hibernation wherein the iratus bugs get their fill and retreat to a cave to make nests and to keep movement to a minimum to conserve energy.

[ciannwn]

Of course in hive insects here, the drones are actually sterile females...

Depends what insects you mean. In ants and honey bees, drones are the fertile males while the sterile females are the workers.

the "faced officers", being rare, would be more akin to the fertile males who compete to mate with the queen (and would therefore be rampantly sexual, not completely disinterested as some have tried to suggest our gorgeous green guys are )

I hope they don't suffer the fate of male bees.

[WraithTech]

Here is something that annoyed me today, when I was reading SGA novel #10 "Nightfall" by James Swallow:

...The acrid smell of cordite was strong, along with the battery-acid stink of the Wraith themselves... [184]

Battery acid????

If the wraith smelled badly anywhere, wouldn't McKay have complained?

Are those novels any good?