Evolving the Wraith ?

[Sir Hamish]

with the destruction of the replicators it seems like the writers want to keep the wraith as the big baddies in the series. unfortunately, they don't seem that threatening anymore. Apart from some back story, little about the Wraith is secret. We know roughly how they evolved, we know they have about 60 or so ships, we know they cull all life in the galaxy then go to sleep. It doesn't seem like theres a lot of them left and there are very few surprises, as well as the fact that out new Asgard lasers can cut through their hive ships with ease.

A lot of people want a new villain in the series, but are there ways the wraith can be 'evolved' to make them a more interesting, powerful and threatening villain ?

Ive had a few ideas, so here goes:

A new Wraith faction should be introduced to the series. These Wraith should be Royal Wraith, essentially the upper class of wraith society and the rulers during culling time. They will be led by an evolved Alteran 'Emperor', once a great scientist and warrior, he chose to become a wraith because he believed it was an alternative to Ascension that would grant him more power on our 'mortal' plane of existence. A lot of his followers will also be individual's who chose to evolve intro Wraith and will thus be more knowledgeable about technology than other normal wraith.

These Royal Wraith will live on a planet near the edge of the Galaxy. It was once one of the greatest cities in the Alteran Empire, but when the Royals captured it they used it as their Capital. The Royals also posses 5 hive-worlds, enormous ships that use the most advanced technology in the Galaxy. They have shields as strong as the shields on Atlantis etc.

When hibernation ends, the hive ships throughout the galaxy begin to cull humans as per usual. However, they also take humans to the Capital as a tribute to serve as food to the Royals and their Emperor who, in turn, use their knowledge to grow more hive ships for the normal wraith. If any Wraith attempt to seize control of the city, the Royals can use their 5 powerful hive worlds to regain control.

When the Atlantis expedition woke the Wraith up, the Royals did not wake on the capital with the rest of Wraith. But when the Replicators proved themselves to be a significantly powerful force, numerous Wraith Queens traveled to the capital and woke the Emperor.

In Season 5, Shepard and his team could travel to the Wraith capital and meet the newly awakened Emperor. The Emperor will reveal he intends to bring the normal Wraith in Pegasus under his control, and inform Shepard that he has Hundreds more Hive ships in two more Galaxies that were left undefended when the Alterans ascended. The Emperor hopes to recall these ships and force a mass migration to the Milky Way, thus posing a direct threat to Earth.

blah blah blah blah

anyone else got some cool ideas to make the Wraith better.

[An-Alteran]

Sure.
Here:

Nine Hundred and Twenty Thousand years ago, the Ancients had long established their reign in the Pegasus Galaxy. Being rather slow to progress technologically, culturally, and in many other areas, their race had remained mostly the same for literally millions of years.
They had dedicated themselves to a single goal: Ascension. The theory went that it was possible to cause the physical body to be artificially formed into energy and retain consciousness. This was discovered when the Ancients learned of a creature that existed as pure energy, and acted like an animal.
Unfortunately, they inadvertently killed the creature in their tests by accidentally sending an energy wave that cancelled the creature out. After millions of years of study, they were coming closer and closer to duplicating this form of life.
Few other experiments were being done, until some persons started becoming tired of this constant focus on Ascension. The once great civilization had become so rapped up in its philosophy that technological development and innovation had almost completely ground to a halt. Some scientists who were researching a strange bug that seemed to feed on the cellular structures that caused aging in creatures. The bugs began feeding on the human populace some time earlier, and the Ancients decided to study this process.
They found a human who had a bug attached to him and subjected both to experiments, partly to learn how to remove the bug and save the man’s life, and also to learn how the bug accomplished this.
Their experiments worked and they were able to separate the two with an intense form of radiation.
The bugs had an interesting cellular and shell structure that the Ancients found very intriguing. The bugs shell “armour” was very resilient, and capable of terrible blows without breaking, shattering, or piercing. This shell also rapidly repaired itself when damaged. The bug was very tough and capable of restoring a limb within hours of losing it, assuming the bug was well fed. A compound set of injuries would render this incapable of occurring. So if a bug was cut in half, it would die. Or if it lost a large section of itself, it would die. The shell and the internal structure of the bugs were both very resilient but operated almost as separate organisms, growing at different rates and in different ways. In fact the shell could live apart from the rest of the bug, but would die do to a lack of nutrients.

The Ancient scientists and engineers had been experimenting with the shell greatly. They learned that the internal aspects of the shell could survive in space easily. They started designing a way of mass-producing the shell materials with living aspects to allow for self-repair.

The Ancient’s experiment on the human and bug had an unaccepted result, what they did not realize was that the radiation had reacted with a chemical the bug process and had caused it to become a strange form of cancerous viral infection, which started transforming the human into a strange blending of the bug and human.

The bug had also been affected. Within several years the majority of bugs now caused humans they bite to turn into the blends. These blended human/bugs would have the intelligence of the human, pigmentation, senses, some of the instincts, and the amazing regenerative capabilities of the bug, as well as the strange telepathic capabilities of the bug. Since the chemical was a product of the bug and not the shell, the blends did not have true shells, but their physical structure was strengthened by some of the shell cellular structure over vital areas, especially bones.

The Ancients called them pesium irei unius, or “destroyed ones” because of the nature of their existence. The destroyed ones grew in number without control. The Ancients at the science post reported often and attempted to create a counter agent to the infections virus.

Eventually no human was left on the planet. And tens of thousands of the destroyed ones were left without food. The Ancients began intense experimentation on the destroyed ones, learning they were incapable of feeding on anything not living and humanoid because they are mostly human, non near-human cells cannot provide nutrients because the cells are incompatible.

The destroyed ones after several days without food began to die… they as a single group mind decided their was one course of action to take: They must storm the Ancient base, and eat them.

After a few hours of fighting, the destroyed ones had overwhelmed their captors and the guards of the lightly defended outpost.
They learned much from the scientists before consuming them.
The more intelligent ones learned from the computers a great deal, and learned of the experimentation on the shell structure. The destroyed ones learned that with the right stimulation and nutrients the shells would allow for extremely rapid construction of ships. With the right manipulation, 90% of a ship could build itself. The Ancients had already done most of the research, and the destroyed ones simply began applying it.

The destroyed ones learned how to use the Stargate and started attacking human worlds as well as Ancient worlds. Within a few days they had an abundance of food and masses of recourses at their disposal. Rapidly the human worlds began referring to them as the linguistic equivalent of “the Wraith”. “The Wraith” captured several large human production facilities and started building relatively conventional ships that had non-living shells covering and intertwined with the ships. They rapidly began building a fleet.
The Ancients, never wanting to kill, decided not to intervene and allow the humans to deal with the Wraith.

They viewed the loss of several hundred Lanteans at the science post as tragic, but acceptable and not worth wiping out a new race of creatures. The Wraith grew to millions in number over a very short period of time. Certain growth hormones are used to force most Wraith to grow to adulthood in mere weeks. These generally wind up being relatively unintelligent and poorly educated with limited telepathic powers. They are used as mass ground troops. Wraith grow rather quickly anyway, but they take years to mature. These become the leaders, commanders, scientists, and engineers in the civilization. After a few dozen human planets were under their control, with the populace as a form of heard that they used as food, the Wraith stopped invading and started setting up an infrastructure. Deep in their minds they viewed the Ancients with twisted hate because of leaving them and their former human existence to fight on their own. The Wraith are not conscious of this, but it is there. So this inspired them to win at all costs.

[An-Alteran]

PART 2:

The Wraith laid dormant for centuries on their worlds… waiting.
Meanwhile, the Lanteans were mostly pleased with themselves and content to let the Wraith sit there and rot. Or so they expected. The Wraith in total only captured three of their worlds. The initial research post. another post, and finally a manufacturing plant. A total of 3,215 Lanteans were killed. The Lanteans never retaliated.
Many Lanteans, especially the military wanted revenge. It never was authorized.
The Lantean scientists, engineers, and philosophers who made up the vast majority of the civilization felt that doing so would bring up natural tendencies of violence which needed to be shed to allow for Ascension. They were content in “forgiving the Wraith” and moving onto their research.
Hundreds of thousands of years passed. The Wraith had built a massive fleet that they hid across their industrialized worlds.
15,000 years ago the Lantean Defense Force who had wanted to eradicate the Wraith and free the humans were gaining support in the council. The Defense Force, aware that the Wraith had been building production facilities and experimenting with Lantean inspired energy systems and weapons based on the limited examples they had found (Lantean policy dictated that all equipment would be destroyed in invasion occurred. Most weapons and the like at the Lantean worlds was damaged or destroyed leaving the Wraith with little to build upon).
The council determined that no such action would take place and ordered the Defense Force to disarm their ships and store all drones and other weapons off the fleet. The Defense Force was outraged and rebelled. Both sides wanted a peaceful resolution, but that didn’t occur. The Lanteans and the Defense Force exchanged fire among some of the ships. The Defense Force lost a few ships, and several loyalist ships were destroyed.
The Defense Force and many likeminded scientists, and engineers left Pegasus for good.
This caused Pegasus to be mostly unguarded. The Defense Force took most of the ships, and almost all of the most powerful ones. Though, like they had been, the Lanteans were unconcerned. Their weapons and shields were powerful, they never expected to have difficulty in any combat situation. The majority of their remaining fleet, small to begin with, was made up of transports, science ships, scouts, and very old warships.
After a few more thousand years the Wraith decided they were ready. Entire fleets had been hidden as mere agricultural growths on planets thought absent of intelligent life.
Many millions were kept in hibernation, and when they awoke for battle, they consumed all remaining humans on their few worlds. The Wraith launched an all out invasion against human and Lantean worlds.
They captured dozens of worlds over only a few weeks.
Before they could react, half the Galaxy was already in Wraith hands.
Many more massive human factories and several Lantean ones fell into Wraith hands. These were all converted to constructing the Wraiths biological ships.
The true war ensued. The Wraith ships were easily destroyed by Lantean weaponry, and the Lantean shields gave their ships massive staying power. Large land facilities were defended with ZPM powered shields. Many Lantean Gates in facilities had been quickly equipped with shields to prevent assault after the first invasion hundreds of thousands of years earlier. This prevented the loss of most Lantean planets to Gate assault.
The Wraith lost nearly every ship-to-ship engagement, and lost hundreds of ships every time they tried to take a Lantean world. Yet still, the Wraith pushed on.
Then the Lanteans offered peace. They talked with the Wraith over hologram, and sent a delegation of their most powerful warships. These were mainly the newer ones the Defense Force had not left with. Several Rectoer (Master) Class ships came along with them. The Wraith devised a plan. They would send over a delegation one a ship filled with a powerful bomb. They met the Lanteans on the outskirts of the Pegasus Galaxy. Much to the Wraith’s delight, the Lanteans’ ships had their shields lowered as a sign of good faith. The Wraith delegates were to meat the Lanteans on, ironically, the Lantean flagship Pruedeantiea (Wisdom). The Wraith delegates, unarmed warriors, came aboard greeted by Lantean security who were to escort the Wraith delegates to the conference room… the Lanteans were confused. Suddenly the hanger flew apart in violent explosion. The bomb tore through the ship, tearing apart its systems. The ship lay disabled as hundreds of Wraith escort ships opened fire on the unshielded Lantean Warships. Their shields activated and they started returning fire with their pulse cannons and Drones. Explosions filled the sky. Thousands of Wraith ships were on their way already, and after several minutes of fighting, arrived. They had been hiding behind a black hole that prevented any sensor scans from detecting anything specific. The Lanteans fought valiantly. Thousands of drones filled the sky, tearing apart Wraith ships by the dozens.
In the end only one Lantean warship escaped, a Rectoer Class ship, after the delegates beamed aboard, and a few smaller ships that were there including several scout ships and science ships modified to carry more drones were destroyed, but a few escaped with the Warship. The rest of the fleet fought on and were destroyed. The Wraith lost thousands of ships in the fight, nearly all the ships they sent, but they won.
The Wraith launched every remaining ship they had directly at the Lanteans.
Few Lantean ships remained, and the Wraith were able to bash threw the defenses of many human and Lantean worlds. Eventually only a hand full of ships protected Atlantis and a handful of the most well defended worlds.
The Wraith were winning. They moved in on Atlantis. The system that Atlantis was in was heavily defended. Dozens and dozens of satellites were spread around the worlds in the system. The Wraith lost hundreds of ships to the satellites. And thousands more fell to the Ancient Drone systems across the Atlantis planet. The satellites one by one were destroyed. Finally the Lanteans submerged Atlantis under thousands of feet of water. The Wraith weapons were unable to effectively penetrate the water, but dispersed into the water. The Wraith left a fleet there which shot down many ships returning to Atlantis. The Wraith campaign was moving more slowly now. Hundreds of ships were lost in every encounter.
The Wraith sent a fleet to a world, after destroying the ships there and the satellites, communications was lost and they were never heard from again.
The Wraith had conquered almost every system in the galaxy.
There fleet fluctuated in numbers by the thousands.
The fleet was being spread out, chasing after the Lantean ships in the galaxy.
And then, suddenly, a large fleet of the remaining Lantean warships attacked the most well defended Wraith factory world and destroyed all the ships there and decimated the world. The retaliation campaign succeeded in the destruction of almost every Wraith factory world. The remaining worlds were all severely damaged. The Lantean fleet was finally broken apart. The few ships that remained fled in all directions. One ship apparently received information that would show a fundamental weakness in Wraith tech that would win the war. The Wraith learned of this and sent a fleet after the ship.
She was found repairing her hyperdrive, which was damaged after the attack on one of the last Wraith worlds, and was low on power and drones. She put up a valiant struggle, destroying several ships before being shot to pieces. In a last ditch effort, they opened a hyperspace window in a Wraith cruiser and rammed the ship. The Lantean ship was presumed destroyed, as no trace of it was found.

The Wraith learned that only Atlantis remained and all Lanteans were being recalled to travel through the Gate to an unknown destination. The Wraith sent much of their fleet to Atlantis to blockade the city. Few ships got through, but the Wraith lost hundreds of ships in the last months of the war. At one point, a strange energy was detected and a Lantean Gate Transport appeared out of nowhere. It was quickly shot down and presumed destroyed, then after a few days… silence. No life forms were detected anymore from Atlantis. The Wraith left ships for several hundred years… no life was detected again. The Human populace was devastated in the Galaxy. Few humans survived, none remained with any form of infrastructure.

The Wraith were left with no way of truly rebuilding their once great manufacturing potential. Many Wraith wanted to leave the Galaxy and search for food, a few wanted to remain and cull the worlds left, though few and few humans were left on them.
The Wraith were divided. And so they decided that those who wanted to leave would do so and separate from the main colony. The rest became fragmented between rival Queens after the main Queen was killed in an explosion assumed to be an accident.
They remained with few Hive ships, and only a few times more cruisers.
The rest of the fleet left in search of food…

That fleet returns.

[Mitchell82]

^Um that is the current history we already know so whats your point? Except that the Anceints wernt in Pegasus for over 900,000 years.

[garhkal]

I like the fleshing out you have done..

[jenks]

^Um that is the current history we already know so whats your point? Except that the Anceints wernt in Pegasus for over 900,000 years.

Yes they were.

[Dark Soul]

Yes they were.

I have no clue...

[dasNdanger]

with the destruction of the replicators it seems like the writers want to keep the wraith as the big baddies in the series. unfortunately, they don't seem that threatening anymore. Apart from some back story, little about the Wraith is secret.

I think that - with the introduction and development of Todd's character, the show has shifted the mystery from the Wraith as a whole, to the Wraith as an individual. Do any of us REALLY know what Todd is up to?

He wanted to create his own army to take out the other Wraith - OR so he says.

He has shown a sort of admiration for Rodney, even if he does like playing with his head a bit.

Ronon doesn't trust him...and Todd doesn't challenge that mistrust as he has done with Sheppard.

Todd is very good at manipulation.

Even if Todd's character doesn't continue on in the series, TPTB have laid the groundwork to develop other Wraith characters in a similar way, making them an individual threat with their own, hidden agendas. In fact, it seems the Wraith are headed that way, with hints of civil war and the like.

A new Wraith faction should be introduced to the series. These Wraith should be Royal Wraith...

Interesting idea. Basically I like the idea that there is another group of Wraith out there yet to be discovered. It's one thing to find a cloning facility, but quite another to find an entire part of the galaxy swarming with never-before discovered hives. As it is, however, such a thing seems unlikely.

So - my ideas how to make the Wraith more threatening are a bit simpler, and easier to do:

1. SHUT THEM UP! There is power, and mystery, in silence. Todd has become chatty and fun, but his best moments are when he just gives someone that 'look', and you have no idea of what he is thinking. Or maybe you DO have an idea - like when Rodney tried to get him to say he was joking about feeding on him, and Todd just kinda cocked his head to the side as if to say, 'I was not joking, my delicious little friend.'

2. MAKE THEM HARDER TO KILL!! One of the worst things you can do to neuter an enemy is to make them easy to kill. What happened to Wraith walking into a hail of bullets, unstoppable in their longing to feed? The Wraith have devoted their sciences to learning to become more efficient hunters, maybe it's time they start devoting some time improving their tactical skills. They were once badarse martial artists...make 'em badder. They once withstood gunfire...bring back their near-invicibility. Simple, easy things to do.

3. INTRODUCE A ROGUE HIVE SHIP. Let's bring on one, HUGE hive ship - larger than any seen before. The commander and crew are unlike any other Wraith - they will not negotiate with humans like Todd and his fellow Wraith did in BAMSR. No...they form no alliances, they show no mercy. Culling - PFFFT! They are not satisfied with mere culling. They - like the Replicators - annihilate every human - and Wraith - they happen upon. Their appetite is insatiable - unlike any Wraith before. They don't threaten - they DO. The mystery would lie behind who the commander is - why he has taken this course, what role he plays in Wraith society, and in their past, and in their future.

Such a force would split the Wraith in half - those who support the rogue ship (in effect, becoming 'worshippers' to save their own hide) and those who oppose. The thing is - you never know who is who. This sort of scenario would work best if some Wraith continued on 'friendly' terms with the humans.

That's just a few ideas...

das

[Ltcolshepjumper]

As well, hre's something that will make the Wraith at least a tad bit more interesting- have them advance in technology
Give them shields, a stronger hull, better warriors, etc.

[McSwift]

ARGGG!!!

INTRODUCE THOSE DAMN FURLINGS (except the Furlings are the bad guys).

Excuse the word damn.

[rarocks24]

^Um that is the current history we already know so whats your point? Except that the Anceints wernt in Pegasus for over 900,000 years.

Atlantis left Earth 3.2 million years ago. The Ancients were there for a VERY long time.

[Orlin2000]

I like the idea of the wraith getting some advances technologically... see the only problem is that all thats stopping them from getting to earth is hyperdrive problems and the fight wed put up but still... i think that the wraith need some new goals... not just get to earth, eat, etc... they need a new goal, something to be looking for, and so does atlantis, like in spoils of war, when i heard them say hiddden planet with summit on it (not an exact quote i know) but i got all excited... something secret and hidden away, you know what i mean... and no i dont think we need any more wraith factions just yet, michael, todd, n every other wraith whos in the middle of civil wars etc... n everyone seems to have a problem with new enemies, i dont, just as long as theyre interesting and a little original... i say the more baddies the better.... then the whole thing can culminate with a giant battle... in the sky, in space and on the ground, underwater, on another plane of existence and whatever other arena you can think of... im rambling... basic jist of waht im sayin is, i love stargate... give me more... BSG is good too, ive just realised, but that dosnt matter now... and dont call me shirley...

[YutheGreat]

I agree. The Wraith are the main Baddies in the Pegasus Galaxy. The problem is because of SG-1's contributions in Asgard tech. The expedition now has the capability to wipe out the Wraith hiveships. Look what they did to the Auroras.

The Wraith emperor idea has potential. Right now there is no queen that last more than 3 epsiodes to be a fan favorite. An idea hit me last night. This could be a chance for New Powers to rise up. I am thinking of Michael's army. The main issue is that Michael's race is superior in physical aspect but doesn't have ships or weapons other than the Wraith's. Michael made incredible progress in short amount of time so what if he had a decade? a century? or even a millenium? The answer I came up with is a time dialation device.

Michael finds an ancient outpost/research station. There the Ancients were studying time dialation technology. In order to give them more time to come up with weapons, technology and ultimately more ships to win the war with the wraith. They were close but were unable to complete a devise. Michael manages to create time dialation devise. He gets his hands on a half powered ZPM. So he captures a damage hiveship one that Shepard and his team also has their eye on. They fight. Michael manages to take it. He and his creatures along with a few Wraiths and humans prisoners on board go to the Outpost/Research station. Shepard follows in the Apollo or Daedalous by the time they get there a few centuries have past. They are attacked by a Michael's new super army. They have more technology. New warriors. Bigger and better ships.

The super army destroys the X304. Shepard, his team and a few others escape in a jumper. They decide to sneak in and destroy Michael's time dialation devise and his power source.

[Ehecatl]

Or they could build more Hives.

[rarocks24]

Or they could build more Hives.

The Wraith have to have a population proportional to the amount of food in the galaxy (eg humans). The likelihood of them building more hives is highly improbable.