Ancients (Stargate)

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The Ancients, (also known as the Alterans) are a humanoid race in the fictional Stargate universe. They are the most advanced race known to have existed. They evolved millions of years ago and developed a space-faring society, long before human life evolved on Earth. They claim to be responsible for the existence of human life in the Milky Way and Pegasus Galaxy. They have Ascended to a higher plane of existence.

1 History
2 Pegasus Galaxy History
3 Biology
4 Language
5 Culture
6 Technology
7 Also See
8 External Links

History

Spoiler Warning: Plot details and/or information about the ending follow. If you wish to enjoy the work first, stop reading here and return at another time.

Millions of years ago, the Alterans were a united race on the evolutionary path to Ascension. At some point in their past, a split occurred that divided them into two camps: those who would later be given the name Ancients and the Ori. The Ori believed that their power should be worshiped, and they became increasingly dogmatic and filled with religious self-righteousness. They believed they had a right to control all "lesser" races.

The Alterans, on the other hand, believed in the scientific method, "the systematic understanding of the physical world through observation and experimentation, through argument and debate, but most of all freedom of will" (Stargate: The Ark of Truth). Despite threats to their existence they refused to compromise their standards even after having invented technology, "The Ark of Truth", able to stop the spread of Origin throughout their own galaxy. Unwillingly to forcibly indoctrinate, like the Ori, they instead abandoned their home galaxy for the Milky Way. Once they ascended, they maintained a strong belief in free will and believed it was unethical to interfere with the free will of less advanced races.

After the Alterans fled from the Ori, they settled in their new home, the Milky Way galaxy, which they called Avalon, where they built Astria Porta (Stargates). The technology was developed by those who left the Ori galaxy. In the Milky Way, they first landed on Dakara They also found Earth ("Terra," in their language). There is minimal physical evidence of the Ancients existence on Earth as compared to other Ancient-occupied planets, but there have been indications that they thought of it as home. The reason for Earth's significance is thus far unknown. While in the Milky Way, the Alterans suffered from a plague that wiped out most human life in the galaxy, a plague possibly originated by the Ori. The Ori did their best to stop the disease even attempting time travel to save their civilization ("Window of Opportunity")

The Alterans built a large city-ship, Atlantis, and used its Stardrive to fly to the Pegasus Galaxy. It is possible they were fleeing from the plague. They left behind at least one of their own, Ayiana who was discovered frozen million of years later, infected with an unknown but highly virulent disease ("Frozen". Some fans have theorized that Ayiana may have been left behind to activate the device at Dakara (also known as the Dakara superweapon after the Jaffa claimed it) to restart all life in the Milky Way. While this process would have first meant the destruction of existing life, the Alterans may have seen it as a necessary evil in their battle to destroy the plague. Arguments against the destruction of all human life in the galaxy are the existence of human civilizations such as the Altairans that predate the rise of the Goa'uld.

In the Pegasus galaxy, Atlantis settled on a planet of vast oceans and little land. At least one other sister city has been discovered on another planet in the Pegasus galaxy.

Pegasus Galaxy History

The Alterans seeded humans and Stargates across Pegasus. At some point within the last years of their life in Pegasus, the Ancients, now known as Lanteans, after their main city, came upon and woke a sleeping enemy known as the Wraith. Dr. Carson Beckett theorizes that the Wraith evolved from a leechlike insectoid creature called the Iratus bug, when the Ancients mistakenly allowed humans to evolve on the same planet as the bugs. Waking the Wraith proved to be a terrible mistake. The Wraith immediately set about culling the human worlds of Pegasus.

Believing strongly in their superior technology, the Lanteans sent a delegation protected by their most powerful warships to negotiate peace. The Wraith proved to be extremely hostile, and their numbers far exceeded the Lanteans; the delegation was destroyed. The Lanteans and Wraith went to war, and although Wraith technology was inferior to that of the Ancients, they overwhelmed the Lanteans with sheer numbers.

The Ancients pursued several methods of eliminating the Wraith including Project Arcturus and nanites. Arcturus attempted to harness energy from this universe in much the same way the zero point modules do from subspace. The experiment resulted in the devastation of the planet Doronda.

The Ancients' attempt to use self-replicating nanites to fight the Wraith was also a failure. The nanites developed higher intelligence and eventually took on human form. They came to be known as Asurans. The Asurans claim to have advised the Ancients on how best to deal with the Wraith but their advice was discounted. The Ancients attacked them with the intention of destroying them all and erasing all the records of the experiment. Some nanites survived and replicated. They rebuilt a grand civilization on Asuras and later posed a threat to the Atlantis expedition.

After a long siege, and one hundred years of war with the Wraith, the Lanteans retreated to Earth via the Stargate and submerged Atlantis beneath the ocean where it would await the return of the Lanteans (or their descendants, humans) for ten thousand years. In an effort to prevent the Wraith from following them to Earth or launching an attack against Atlantis from numerous points of origin, the Atlantis DHD blocked dialing from all other gates except for Earth.

Many Ancients stayed on Earth and interbred with humans, passing on the Ancient Technology Activation gene (ATA gene). The Ancients on Earth influenced the myths of Greece with the legend of Atlantis. They may even have helped the Romans build roads.

The Arthurian legends were also shown to be influenced by the Ancients; in particular, the Ancient Myrddin/Merlin, who was revealed in the Season 9 episode "Avalon" to have aAscended after returning from Atlantis. He later retook human form in order to create a weapon against the Ori in secret from his ascended peers. Merlin became known as King Arthur's wizard in mythology, and the anti-Ori weapon became known as the Holy Grail.

The Ancients formed an alliance of four great races, alongside the The Asgard, who were becoming advanced around that time (as stated in the episode "Revelations"); the Nox, whose origins are unknown; and the Furlings, about whom almost nothing is known. While many theorize that the alliance formed after the Ancients’ return from Pegasus, the precise timing is unclear.

Biology

The Ancients were the first humans, and they evolved in a galaxy far from the Milky Way. In the Stargate Atlantis episode "Before I Sleep," the Lanteans state that humans in the Milky Way are the second evolution of their kind. The Ancients, even with at least 50 million years' evolutionary advancement, are very human in appearance and basic physiology. Their brains, however, are much more advanced. Toward the end of their evolutionary development, but before they Ascended, the Ancients developed advanced abilities, such as telekinesis, extraordinary sensory abilities, and the ability to heal others. It is unclear whether this is solely due to their evolutionary advancement or from use of the DNA Resequencer or specifically related to the attempt to Ascend to a higher plane.

The Ancients' Ascended form of pure energy allows them to be seen and heard by ordinary humans and then disappear at will. Most, however, adhere to a sort of "Prime Directive" that forbids them to influence the unascended.

Language

The Ancients' language appears to be a precursor of Latin, although it is distinct from that language. It has a unique writing system. Unlike the Goa'uld and Asgard writing systems, which correspond to ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and Nordic runes respectively, the Ancient writing system has no analogues with any known Earth alphabet. Generally speaking, Ancient characters are rectangular, blocky, and dominated by right angles.

Perhaps for simplicity’s sake, Ancient lettering corresponds directly to the English alphabet and number system, enabling fans to decipher several of the writings shown in the series.

Culture

Little is known of Ancient society and culture. They appear to have spread over several planets in the Milky Way. Little is left of their cities, but much of the technology they left behind remains functional even after several million years.

Given the vastness of the Stargate network, it can be reasoned that finding new planets and building the network was a great goal for their society. It is their most lasting and influential legacy to humanity and other sentient life in at least three galaxies.

The Ancients also devoted years of research to ascension. They studied the biological and spiritual aspects of the process. On a planet in the Pegasus Galaxy, they built a time-dilation field that allowed those who entered to focus their lives on ascending without fear of attack from the Wraith. They also studied life forms in other dimensions as well as creatures made of energy. Most of what the Ancients left behind is in the form of technology and scientific knowledge. Little else has survived the years.

In Pegasus, the Ancients lived among the humans. In addition to Atlantis, they had at least one other sister ship on another planet (Stargate Atlantis episode “The Tower"). They also had other cities, including the ruins on Athos. The Athosians, and possibly other human civilizations in the Pegasus galaxy, say their prayers in Ancient and honor the Ancients as “The Ancestors.”

Technology

In addition to the Stargates and Atlantis itself, the Ancients left behind several important technologies. The outpost in Antarctica contained several hundred powerful drone weapons—controlled by a control chair activated by the ATA gene—capable of bypassing shields. Most of these were used up destroying Anubis's fleet in "Lost City, Part 2." Atlantis also has its own collection of drone weapons, most of which were used up in "The Siege." They received replenishment in "The Tower" from Atlantis’s damaged sister ship.

Ring Transporters are one of the oldest Ancient technologies. Atlantis does not appear to have any and uses a transporter system that also operates as an elevator.

The Goa'uld have copied and claimed several Ancient technologies, including the crystals they use to power their technology, store information, and house computer systems. They also used Ancient healing technology to create the sarcophagus. The sarcophagus is similar to the Ancient Ancient healing cube in that both can reanimate dead tissue, and provide near-immortality, but both also have adverse effects on the human brain. Anubis used this device to animate his army of Kull Warriors.

The DHD (Dial Home Device) is used to operate the Stargate. Though the Stargates in the Milky Way can be manually dialed (with some difficulty), the DHDs control the Stargate operations and give them the power they need to create and maintain a wormhole. The puddle jumpers and Wraith darts also have DHDs that can dial the gate remotely.

ZPMs or Zero Point Modules, are one of Ancients' greatest achievements. The Ancients created several power devices that last for millions of years including the crystal power device inside the DHDs. The ZPM far surpasses them all in power and longevity. The city of Atlantis is designed to be powered by 3 ZPMs. The ZPMs, discovered by the Atlantis expedition are possibly the same that powered the shield during the siege of Atlantis during the War. The shield held back the massive weight of the ocean for 10,000 years.

A part of the Ancients' legacy is the knowledge they left behind. The Atlantis database is a vast. The Ancients also left behind the Repository of Knowledge in the Milky Way. The repository is a library that can be downloaded directly into the brain. The human brain is not yet advanced enough to manage the data and it takes over the brain, replacing the language making it difficult to communicate. Despite this, Jack O'Neill was able to make use of the knowledge, and built a power generator that allowed him to dial the Asgard home world, in another galaxy. The Asgard were able to remove the data from O'Neill's brain. The knowledge from the repository also gave the Tau'ri a more complete listing of the gate network as well as a detailed blue print of the DHD.

The Dakara superweapon is a weapon created by the Ancients to break all life in the Milky Way into its constituent elements reseed it. The Superweapon can be set to destroy specific things and keep others alive. It has been used by the Jaffa High Council to destroy human life on several planets. It was also used to destroy the Replicators.

The Ancients also experimented with self replicating nanites (similar to the Replicators) which they intended to use in their fight against the Wraith. The experiment failed and the nanites evolved into sentient life forms. The Ancients attempted to eliminate them completely but several nanites survived and replicated. They became known as the Asurans. They rebuilt a grand civilization modeled after Atlantis. The Asurans are humanoid in form and some are striving for Ascension in the hope of becoming like their creators.