Tau'ri

Encyclopedia : T : TA : TAU : Tau'ri

The Tau'ri (sometimes spelt Tauri, and often spoken as "People of the Tau'ri") is a widespread term used to refer to humans of Earth by many alien races in the science fiction universe Stargate SG-1. With the exception of Teal'c, the team denoted SG-1, the protagonists of the show, are members of the Tau'ri (i.e. normal humans), but due to often being the sole ambassadors for Earth, some offworlders use "Tau'ri" to refer just to them, or just to the SGC.

Contents

1 Overview
2 History of the Tau'ri
3 Relationships with other cultures
4 Public knowledge of the SGC
5 Political climate
6 Technology
7 The Atlantis Project

7.1 Leaders of the Expedition
7.2 The International Oversight Advisory

8 Offworld Outposts
9 See also

Overview

In the Stargate universe there are humans on many other planets throughout the Universe; in the Milky Way, they were transplanted from Earth to these other planets by the Goa'uld; in the Pegasus Galaxy it was the Ancients; and the Ori have human subjects in their home galaxy. The word Tau'ri specifically refers to Earth humans, especially in the sense that human life began on Earth. The word "Tau'ri" literally means "the first ones" or "those of first world" in Goa'uld.

Most worlds which did not know about Earth until SGC personnel made contact with them typically refer to the Tau'ri as "Earth people" or something similar. With the exception of the Galarans the peoples of planets under the protection of the Asgard call Earth "Midgard."

History of the Tau'ri

According to Jaffa legend, and writings found on Abydos, a very long time ago the Goa'uld race was dying. One Goa'uld, Ra travelled to Earth and encountered a primitive race of ancient Egyptians. With his knowledge and technology he discovered that he could sustain a human body indefinitely. Ra took a young human as a host and became ruler of the people. Ra (and other Goa'uld) transplanted many thousands of humans to other worlds, using an interstellar transportation device called a Stargate. Some of those taken were used as Goa'uld hosts; others were modified to become Jaffa, and the rest were made into slaves. Eventually, the people of Earth rose up in rebellion and forced the Goa'uld from Earth. Through the second gate (in Antarctica), the Goa'uld continued to take the Ancient cultures of earth throughout the galaxy, since the one in Egypt was buried to prevent the return of the Goa'uld and the position of the Antarctic Gate prohibited large-scale Goa'uld intervention. The Tau'ri rediscovered the Stargate in 1928, and the truth about sixty years later: the galaxy is populated with the ancient peoples of Earth, and the Tau'ri may be their only hope of eventual freedom from the Goa'uld.

Relationships with other cultures

In season 6 of Stargate SG-1, it was discovered that Earth was also the homeworld of the Ancients after they left their own galaxy for the Milky Way. The Ancients, the most advanced civilization to ever live within the Milky Way, were the original constructors of the Stargates and continue to affect the societies of the galaxy. Although not necessarily direct ancestors of the Tau'ri, the Ancients consider human beings in general and the Tau'ri in particular to be the "second evolution" of their species. Some Tau'ri possess genetic markers (called the ATA gene) unique to the Ancients that allow them to use Ancient technology, possibly as a result of interbreeding with a group of Ancients that returned to Earth ten thousand years ago from their city of Atlantis. The Asgard in the episode The Fifth Race once described the Tau'ri as being well on their way to becoming the "fifth race", a reference to the alliance of four great races of which both the Asgard and Ancients were members. The Tau'ri are currently in control of Atlantis, a city of the Ancients that was once on Earth in Antarctica. An expedition lead by Dr Elizabeth Weir is living there in the hope of finding new technology left behind by the Ancients. The Tau'ri also have a very strong alliance with the Asgard, whom they have helped on many occasions. They in turn have helped Earth in many different situations and given new technology, most notably Asgard hyperspace technology.

Public knowledge of the SGC

Throughout the series, all attempts have been made to ensure that the public is completely oblivious to the facts about the Stargate, owing to the mass panic that would in all likelihood ensue. The SGC has been remarkably successful at this, even when Earth was under direct attack by Anubis and when a large building disappeared in downtown Seattle with no apparent explosion.

In episode "2010", the entire Earth knew about the Stargate when the Aschen helped the Tau'ri defeat the Goa'uld.

Political climate

The United States, by virtue of its control of the Stargate, was largely responsible for Earth's interstellar policy. However, more nations have gradually come to take part in its use. After an Asgard ship crashed into international waters, Russia was able to recover a Stargate it was transporting and used it to briefly establish their own Stargate program based in Siberia, although this was eventually terminated and merged with the United States program running out of Cheyenne Mountain (the Russians get to operate their own SG team under Stargate Command's authority). After System Lord Anubis became an increasing threat and his planned attack on Earth seemed to be coming in the immediate future, the United States and Russia informed the other 3 permanent members of the UN Security Council; the United Kingdom, France, and the People's Republic of China. This was done in the hopes of pooling their combined military resources to defend Earth against Anubis' fleet.

As a consequence of this, the eventual arrival of Anubis' fleet prompted the US President to inform these 5 nations, as well as long-time ally Canada, about Stargate Command's fleet engagement plans. After the defeat of Anubis's Fleet and the subsequent discovery of the Ancient outpost in Antarctica, an international committee was established to oversee it and the Atlantis expedition. These new nations were informed of the Stargate's existence because they were all signatories to treaties establishing Antarctica as neutral territory (the outpost is located in the region not claimed by any government). Still, not all nations have been informed about the existence of the Stargate.

The 3 main branches of Earth's involvement with alien technology include oversight of the Atlantis outpost in Antarctica, Stargate Command (and its associated research facility at Area 51), and the construction of the fleet of Earth-built space battleships. The US Air Force possesses two vessels, the Daedalus and the Odyssey; a third, the Prometheus, was destroyed in a battle with the Rand Protectorate. The secret branch of the Pentagon led by General Hammond and later Jack O'Neill that is in charge of all three has been dubbed the Department of Homeworld Security.

Many of the nations that are now aware of the existence of the Stargate still don't agree on many issues regarding interstellar and domestic policy. From the onset, China has expressed its distaste at not informing the public about the Stargate's existence; however, they have deferred to the United States, as they have seen that this could create mass panic. On at least two occasions, SG teams accidentally sparked planetary wars on industrial, World War II/Cold War-era worlds by informing their populations about the Stargate, the most notable being Langara, homeworld of Jonas Quinn, where the result was the use of Naqahdriah-based nuclear weapons, and Tegalus, where first contact caused a fundamentalist coup d'état and a full-scale nuclear exchange.

Russian officials have intimated in private that one of their major motivations in supporting the United States' control of access of advanced alien technologies is that they want the USA to be the one that spends billions of dollars and risks a great deal developing prototype technologies, such as for the BC-303's, and that once they are perfected the Russians plan on building their own BC-303's, for half the cost and no risk. In the end, they did not do this, but they did receive a more advanced American-built Daedalus-class battlecruiser, (also called a BC-304), which they called the Korolev (named after Russian rocket scientist Sergey Korolyov).

Technology

The Tau'ri have developed many technologies based on what SG teams have brought back from trips to other planets via the use of the Stargate on Earth. Whilst Earth's level of technology prior even to Stargate travel far supersedes the level found on most planets throughout the galaxy (and indeed others), Earth's technology still remains crude compared to the larger races that they do not surpass.

The Atlantis Project

The Atlantis Project, also called the Atlantis Expedition, is Earth's international mission to the Ancient city of Atlantis in the Pegasus Galaxy. The impetus for the creation of the expedition was the discovery of the Ancient outpost in Antarctica. The reason why it is international is that it was felt that a project of such importance could not be the exclusive province of one nation, as well as the fact that according to American law, Antarctica is international territory and hence it would be technically illegal for the United States to operate any facilities without international participation or at least international knowledge. An international committee, originally called the Atlantis Committee was established, creating the first truly international body for the management of Earth's offworld affairs; prior to the discovery of the outpost, only the Big Five and probably Canada (Rodney McKay, a Canadian citizen, worked on the Stargate Program in 2001) knew about the Stargate Program. It is composed of the representatives of several nations, but the leaders of the committee seem to be the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China. However, numerous nations have sent people to Atlantis; for a list of important ones, see Tau'ri personnel of Atlantis.

Leaders of the Expedition

Any expedition requires leadership. Unlike Stargate Command, which is a command of the United States Air Force, the Atlantis Expedition has a civilian head. However, two military officers figure prominently in the affairs of Atlantis. The form is Position: Person-Country

Commander of Expedition: Dr. Elizabeth Weir-United States
Chief Military Officer: Lt. Col. John Sheppard-United States*
Chief Scientific Advisor: Dr. Rodney McKay-Canada
Chief Medical Doctor: Dr. Carson Beckett-Scotland, UK
Commander of USAFV Daedalus: Col. Steven Caldwell-United States

* - Sheppard replaced Colonel Sumner as Chief Military Officer after he was killed in action.

For more information see Tau'ri personnel of Atlantis

The International Oversight Advisory

The committee created to oversee the Atlantis Project has gone beyond its original purpose and has actively affected other areas of Earth's offworld affairs as the International Oversight Advisory, or I.O.A. Its core is composed of representatives the Big Five: the United States, represented by Richard Woolsey; the United Kingdom, represented by Russel Chapman; France, represented by Jean LaPierre; Russia, represented (it is assumed) by Col. Chekov, the Russian military liaison to Stargate Command; and the People's Republic of China, represented by a woman by the name of Dr. Chen Xiaoyi.

The I.O.A. recently agreed to provide Stargate Command with funds which General Hank Landry and Daniel Jackson stated was necessary for the SGC to remain important; since Congress would not appropriate these funds, the committee agreed to on the condition that a civilian watchdog would be permitted to watch over SGC affairs. That watchdog is generally accepted to be Richard Woolsey, the United States representative.

Offworld Outposts

Earth operates several offworld bases in addition to Atlantis. Stargate Command operates three bases offworld: the Alpha Site, Beta Site, and Gamma Site, all as backup sites in case Earth is destroyed and as offworld research stations for research that would be either impossible or too dangerous to conduct on Earth. The Gamma Site was recently forced to self-destruct after a scourge of carnivorous insects, presumably designed by the Ori, overran the base ("The Scourge").