The Philosophy of Alien Warriors

AI generated image of Nasai Warrior.

The Desolation Trilogy began with a single image on a TV Screen; an image that inspired the idea of a "Western in Space. "That idea, in and of itself, isn't all that original of course; we can point to TV shows like Joss Whedon's Firefly as an obvious example of the genre, and even Gene Roddenberry's Start Trek was originally pitched as "Wagon Train to the Stars". As I began creating the universe my story would take place in, I found myself thinking about the ideas I wanted to talk about in my story. Which type of characters might embody the ideologies that would drive events.

As I began to outline those events with the serial killer that I wanted to create a murder mystery around, I pondered his motivations and the events that would create the monster, I began to consider his origins.

Originally, I found myself resistant to the idea of the killer being an alien who looked human. I enjoyed Star Trek growing up, by the time I was in college Star Trek: The Next generation was on TV. One thing that became a minor annoyance was that all of the aliens encountered were basically human beings with different bumps and appliances on their heads. Star Wars at least had aliens who looked different: the classic cantina sequence in the original Star Wars was a a sensory overload of truly different species. The idea of an alien species identical in appearance to humans

was something I'd always wanted to avoid... except that I found myself thinking about how horrific that would be: a villain capable of hiding in plain sight.

Jabba the Hut

Susie Plakson played several roles on Star Trek TNG.

There was a saying, If you give a million chimpanzees a million typewriters one of them is going to bang out the works of Shakespeare. I wondered about the possibility that in a universe where one galaxy can contain a million habitable planets then wouldn't it be possible that with all of the infinite vagaries of evolution - even in an environment humans would find hostile - a species could develop that would look outwardly identical to humans even if they were very different internally? Thus I imagined the harsh world that would become Nasata, home of the warrior species known as the Nasai.

Life Giver above Nasata

Oddly enough, as I began to imagine the Nasai and their culture, I wondered what would motivate one of them to travel to another world to become a savage killer, I became enamored of the idea of a society of warriors that would send its youth out to earn the right to be accepted into their society; if you look back at history there were human societies that did much the same, whether it was the Spartans whose rite of passage was to send a young warrior into the wild to survive on his own, or the Romans who saw merit in even the nobility sending their sons to serve the Legions in faraway lands, that they might learn to "ride, shoot straight, and speak the truth. "

With that, the character of Vahran was born: a young man - a boy, really - who earns the right to test his mettle against the universe, at least partially out of a desire to avenge the murder of a friend at the hands of the rogue Nasai. Although he demonstrates the skill to pass the test to earn the right to pursue his quest, he is still possessed of the arrogance and intemperance of youth and thus convinced of the superiority of his own people. With that came the idea of his ties to humanity through his father's best friend. As he grows into a man, he is forced to face his own biases and learn how to move past them, to see the merits of people and cultures very different than his own, even as he learns from his own mistakes, at least partially created by his personal arrogance and prejudices.

When Vahran meets Reed Cooper, he first sees Cooper as just a other human he has to deal with; but over time he can't help but respect Cooper's grit, determination, and ferocity in combat. Vahran realizes humanity might actually possess some of the very qualities his own people. As time goes on he becomes more understanding of not only humans but his own father's respect and regard for them. In the process he gains the maturity and wisdom to become the very type of warrior he hopes to be become.

J.R. Winton