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Orbanians

general info | known members | technology

General info

Planet: Orban. SGC designation unknown.

Their stargate is painted a reddish color, unlike any other. (Learning Curve)

The floor surrounding the DHD was at one point covered in a mosaic that included images of Goa'uld symbiotes. (Learning Curve)

Originally seemed to be at least connected to, if not descended from, Aztecs. (Learning Curve)

Daniel found at least one artifact with the image of Chalchiutlicue, the Aztec goddess of water. (Learning Curve)

After further study/discovery, Daniel theorized that the Orbanians were in fact descended from the residents of Teotihuacan, a Mesoamerican city that flourished for nearly a thousand years as a religious and economic center before suffering an upheaval around 750 AD. The people of Teotihuacan pre-dated the Aztec (and the Mayans). (Learning Curve)

Their buildings included very modern-looking high-rises and a replica of the Teotihuacan Pyramid of the Sun. (Learning Curve)

The greeting gesture used is to hold both arms up, bent at the elbow and palms facing inward, then draw the arms together across the body until the hands touch, and pull the hands in to touch the forehead as the Orbanian bows slightly. (Learning Curve)

Thanks largely to the Urrone, the Orbanians were advancing incredibly quickly, achieving in a few decades what it took humans more than a century to accomplish. They haven't managed to achieve Goa'uld-level technology, but they're heading in that direction. (Learning Curve)

The Urrone aren't the only researchers -- other researchers use the nanites given to them by the Urrone children to advance their own research. Those looking into naquadah reactors had been waiting 10 years for the knowledge of Merrin's studies -- without her Averium, they would have had to wait another 12 years. (Learning Curve)

The Orbanians, through Kalan, struck a deal to exchange information with the SGC. Orban would supply a naquadah reactor for Sam to study on Earth, while the SGC would send Teal'c to explain everything he knew about the Goa'uld. (Learning Curve)

Both Kalan and Merrin (the Urrone expert in naquadah reactors) believed that simply handing over the reactor would be sufficient to fulfill their part of the bargain, and they intended to return home immediately after delivering it. Both were startled that Sam would require teaching. Merrin stayed to do the teaching. (Learning Curve)

Urrone:

A particular class of children, chosen at birth to be the means through which the population acquires new knowledge. Each child is injected with millions of nanites -- called nanoprocessors on Orban -- in infancy, before the neural pathways are set. Each child is set on a particular course of study, to become an expert in that subject. They require little sleep, and apparently do nothing but study. At puberty (roughly -- it's not clear whether it's puberty per se, or the child's 12th birthday), the child reaches the " time of Averium" and his or her nanites are harvested and distributed to the rest of the population, who then have all the knowledge the child acquired. The Urrone child is simple-minded (and pre-verbal) after that, since the nanites effectively took the place of their own synapses, which thus never developed. (Learning Curve)

The nanites used in Urrone children were developed in an Orbanian laboratory 49 years earlier. (Learning Curve)

Urrone nanites have no effect on the aging process, and don't leave the brain unless they malfunction, in which case they disconnect from the brain and are absorbed into the bloodstream, where they're inactive and harmless. They basically just act as extra synapses, to rapidly accelerate the learning process. (Learning Curve)

When he was first dealing with them, Daniel believed the Urrone to be simple apprentices. (Learning Curve)

Urrone children wear white clothes -- pants with legs that come just below the knee and a long-sleeved tunic-y shirt, both pretty form-fitting. The tunics are thicker than the pants, and are patterned (white on white), not plain. The Urrone also wear a cloth headwrap with a trailing end that goes down their backs, and white ankle-high shoes. (Learning Curve)

Averium:

The ceremony in which an Urrone's nanites are removed and distributed -- one to each adult and non-Urrone child, to be added to the nanites already in their synaptic networks. This leaves the children pre-verbal (with basically no hope of gaining knowledge, so long after their language-acquisition window in infancy) and fairly simple-minded. The children are housed in small rooms and cared for thereafter. (Learning Curve)

Daniel's first assumption on hearing the term " averium" was that it was a sort of graduation for the apprentices. (Learning Curve)

Past-Urrone children (and presumably adults, although they're never mentioned) were considered incapable of learning (probably correctly, given the likely total lack of native neural pathways thanks to the millions of nanites given to them at birth). Their brains cannot accept new nanites, and the Orbanians didn't understand the concept of teaching without nanites. After Merrin's nanites, with their knowledge of Tau'ri teaching methods (or at least some of them) were distributed, the Orbanians decided to try teaching the past Urrone children " the old-fashioned way" . (Learning Curve)

Kalan insisted that the " children" were well cared for (again, no mention if that includes the ones now in their 20s, 30s, and 40s).

Known Orbanians

Kalan:

An adult, and father of Tomin, an Urrone child. (Learning Curve)

He was the main liaison with SG-1 and the SGC, helping to set up the deal whereby the SGC gained access to an Orbanian naquadah reactors and Orban in turned learned about the Goa'uld. He accompanied Merrin to the SGC to deliver the reactor. He was startled to find out that Sam would need help understanding it he couldn't help her, since he had no knowledge of the technology. (Learning Curve)

He assigned Tomin to work with Teal'c, finding out about the Goa'uld later, when Daniel came up with his theory that Orban was connected with the ancient Mesoamerican civilization of Teotihuacan, Kalan asked him to explain that to Tomin, as well. (Learning Curve)

When Tomin went to him asking to undergo his Averium six months early, because he was concerned about what he'd learned of the Goa'uld, Kalan agreed. (Learning Curve)

He seemed to have no problem accepting that Tomin was a part of him after the Averium (in the form of the nanite from Tomin that had been injected into him), and not in the simple-minded boy left behind. (Learning Curve)

He was angry and appalled that the SGC could " demand" that the Orbanians not go through with Merrin's Averium (even though it was a suggestion, not a demand), not understanding why they would have a problem with it or why they would think it was appropriate to interfere with local custom. He was also outraged at the thought that the Orbanians were harming their children in his eyes, the Urrone children weren't harmed because they were well cared for after their Averiums. In his own words, it was the happiest day of his life when Tomin was chosen to be Urrone. He demanded Merrin's immediate return as soon as Daniel and Teal'c began questioning whether she should be allowed to go through with her Averium. (Learning Curve)

After Merrin's Averium, he and all the others had a better understanding of what SG-1 and the SGC had meant by teaching (and playing), and he decided to begin teaching Tomin " the old-fashioned way" . He also learned to draw stick-figures. (Learning Curve)

Merrin:

One of the Urrone. (Learning Curve)

A girl, 11 years old (by her own statement, although it's not certain how long an Orban year is), who was an expert in naquadah reactors -- she had spent 10 years studying them. (Learning Curve)

She believed it was a great honor to be chosen to be one of the Urrone, and to undergo the Averium -- she had no fear of losing her sense of self, she was just pleased that her people would have her knowledge. (Learning Curve)

She accompanied Kalan to the SGC to deliver a reactor to fulfill Orban's part of the deal between the two worlds. (Learning Curve)

She was surprised that Sam would need help understanding the naquadah reactor, although she promptly offered to teach her about it as soon as she understood what Sam needed. (Learning Curve)

She had to learn how to draw, for the first time, to help explain things. Her initial drawings were precise representations of things she'd seen.  After Jack took her outside and plunked her into an elementary-school art class, and grumped at her a bit, she learned to be more relaxed about it. (Learning Curve)

Merrin was how the SGC discovered the use on nanites in Urrone children, when her bloodwork showed traces of silicon, trinium, and an unknown element, which turned out to be nanites. She also showed high neuropeptide levels, which Fraiser investigated and learned was the result of millions of nanites infesting Merrin's brain. (Learning Curve)

When the SGC (more specifically Jack, who tried hard to convince her) offered her amnesty on Earth so she could escape the Averium and the loss of self, she refused, insisting that it was an honor to be chosen. (Learning Curve)

She returned after spending an afternoon on the surface with Jack, learning to play and paint a bit. Jack sent her off with a big 96-color box of Crayolas. (Learning Curve)

After her Averium, she effectively regressed to infancy, like the other past Urrone. She held on to her crayons, though, and was happily scribbling on the wall when SG-1 came to see what was going on, and Jack went over to hang out and draw on the wall with her. (Learning Curve)

Solen:

One of the Urrone.

A boy, roughly 11 years old, who took Tomin's place as the one learning about the Goa'uld, and defenses against them, from Teal'c, after Tomin sped up his Averium. (Learning Curve)

Tomin:

One of the Urrone. Also Kalan's son, around 9 or 10. (Learning Curve)

He was assigned to learn about the Goa'uld from Teal'c, and rapidly formed a bond with him. He began by studying Teal'c's physical characteristics, and was suitably impressed. The more he learned, the more concerned he became about the Goa'uld threat. Eventually he asked his father to advance his Averium by six months, so that he could share his nanites -- and knowledge -- with everyone, so they could begin preparing defenses. (Learning Curve)

Zaren:

One of the Urrone.

A girl, about 11 years old, who was helping Daniel clear the walls of the Orbanian stargate chamber for study -- she was doing a good job, earning praise from Daniel. She reached the " time of her Averium" while she was working with Daniel. (Learning Curve)

Technology

Nanoprocessors:

The Orbanians developed nanites in a lab some 49 years before Merrin traveled to the SGC (making it roughly 1950 by our calendar, depending on how long an Orbanian year is), and began using them as a teaching method. Certain children (Urrone) are chosen in infancy and injected with millions of nanoprocessors, which take over forming the neural network. Nanoprocessors don't leave the brain unless they malfunction, in which case they disconnect from the brain and are absorbed into the bloodstream, where they're inactive and harmless. They basically just act as extra synapses, to rapidly accelerate the learning process. After an Urrone child reaches the time of his or her Averium, the nanoprocessors are harvested and distributed to the rest of the population. (Learning Curve)

Naquadah reactors:

No real idea of what they do with them, but the Orbanians have developed very small, powerful naquadah reactors, about the size of a breadbox. Sam used the one Merrin brought to the SGC as the base model from which she developed the SGC's reactors. (Learning Curve)

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