Great Machine - History

History

The Great Machine was constructed sometime around the earth year 1758, 500 years prior to the establishment of Babylon 5. The identity of the race who built it is unknown, although the race that formerly inhabited the planet did play a part in its maintenance and supervision. Eventually, the offensive potential of the machine provoked a schism in the custodial species between those who sought to use it with restraint against those who sought to use it for conquest. The violent faction was eventually expunged, and knowledge of the planet's location had been lost to them in the process.

Following the exodus, the inhabiting species eventually died off or left Epsilon III, leaving only one member of their race, a being named Varn (Curt Lowens), to function as the custodian of the Great Machine. Varn himself had a series of ten assistants named Zathras to perform the physical repairs and maintenance of the Machine itself, although this was not known to anyone until the year 2260. Varn continued to operate the Great Machine until his health finally began to wane in 2258, and the Machine began to malfunction as a result, destabilizing the planet. An expedition by Babylon 5 personnel brought him back to the station where he informed them of his identity and his function. Unfortunately, the Great Machine also broadcast an emergency beacon that was detected by the expunged faction, who traced the signal back to its location. There was a resulting standoff between Babylon 5 and the fleet of faction ships over custody of the Machine. A member of the Minbari religious caste named Draal, facing retirement and exile, offered to take Varn's place as custodian of the Great Machine and to protect it against those who would abuse it. With the assistance of Londo Mollari, Draal returned with Varn and assumed control of the machine, using its weapons systems to destroy the faction fleet when they attempted to land. Draal then warned Babylon 5 station personnel that the Machine and the planet were off limits to everyone until the time was right. Varn then began to train Draal about the machine's workings until his death in 2259.

Draal kept the Great Machine off limits until 2259, when Babylon 5 became involved in the Shadow War. He offered the services of the planet (The Long, Twilight Struggle) to assist in the search for other First Ones, and to provide communication and historical information that would assist them in the effort. The Great Machine was essential in creating the temporal rift that allowed for the passage of Babylon 4 1,000 years into the past to fulfill its role in the previous Shadow War (War Without End), and for obtaining the clandestine radio transmissions that proved Earth vice president Clark was directly responsible for the assassination of President Santiago in 2258 (Voices of Authority). While Draal had pledged the Machine's defenses to the aid of the station in the war, they were never needed, and instead, Epsilon III was used as refugee relief area for victims displaced by the War.

After the Shadow War concluded in 2261, President Clark began to escalate the violence and atrocities of his police state to control dissent, including an attempted seizure of Babylon 5. After the coup was thwarted, Babylon 5 seceded from Earth, and began to broadcast intelligence reports of Clark's regime to counteract his propaganda. Because of the distance between Earth and Epsilon III, Babylon 5 enlisted the Great Machine's power supply to enhance the signal so that it could traverse the distance and bypass the jamming equipment used by Earth to block the transmissions (Conflicts of Interest).

Following the civil war between Earth and Babylon 5, nothing is known about the Great Machine's activities.