B5 River Of Souls

[Kristin Banyas]

RIVEROF SOULSProduction NumberTNTCF3Release Date8th November 1998 Production CreditWritten ByJ. Michael StraczynskiDirected ByJanet GreekExecutive ProducerDouglas Netter

& J. Michael StraczynskiProducerJohn CopelandProduction DesignerJohn IacovelliDirector of PhotographyJohn C. Flinn, III A.S.C.EditorSuzanne Chambre SternlichtMusic ByChristopher FrankeChronologyStory DateTue 8 - Sun 13 June, 2263Chronological OrderPreceded ByObjects at RestFollowed ByThe Legend of the RangersPublishing OrderPreceded ByThe Wheel of FireFollowedObjects in Motion Episode Gallery

Captain Lochley is happy that nothing of consequence has happened to Babylon 5 since John Sheridan and Michael Garibaldi left the station. She mentions a term she coined, the Sheridan-Garibaldi Effect, which describes the chaos the two have brought to the station in past. As she finishes explaining her theory to Lt. David Corwin, he regretfully explains to her that Garibaldi arrived a few minutes earlier.While Garibaldi is chatting with his employee Bryson, an archeologist who searches for eternal life, Security Chief Zack Allan is visiting an illegal holobrothel in Brown 11 to shut it down. The holobrothel uses photos of people to create a three dimensional copy of that person and people can have their fun with it with the help of a special suit. But instead of closing his facility the owner Jacob Mayhew calls for his lawyer James Riley who sues Lochley for damaging the reputation of his client, because Zack told the people there that it is dangerous to use these suits.

The mad Ralga souls manipulate Bryson to help them to get their revenge. The very powerful souls use the reactor to pass through the station and try to kill the Soul Hunter. But Lochley thrusts the Soul Hunter away and is almost killed by the electric shock. For a moment she is dead, which in that small window of time some of the Ralga souls bring her into their vessel to talk to her. Lochley finds out that the Ralga were not really dying when the Soul Hunters captured their souls they were evolving to an existence of pure energy. When she regains conscious she tells the Soul Hunter about her experience. He is shocked to hear that they may have made a mistake.

Meanwhile many other Soul Hunter ships arrive at Babylon 5 and demand the soul vessel. The Soul Hunter aboard tries to tell them about their mistake but they don't believe him because they think they never slip up.

Garibaldi and Zack search Brown 11 because that is the location where most of the reports of strange occurrences had happened the previous few hours. They find a dead man who looks like he was frightened to death. There Jacob Mayhew appears again and verbally assaults Zack for impairing his business. When he realizes that shutting down the sector wasn't to keep his customers away he shows them a strange energy stream coming out of his holobrothel. At this place they see a holographic illusion of Captain Lochley.

At this moment Captain Lochley, who has left the Med Lab, joins the group and sees the holo of herself. She is offended, and further shocked to hear that her image is more frequently used by the brothels female patrons. They realize that the souls are using the holograpic system to get bodies.

Lochley, Garibaldi and Zack follow the souls to a hall. The holo of Lochley talks to the other souls about revenge. When the lights flicker and the souls don't, Lochley realizes that these souls are using another resource than the reactor. They deduce that these holographic illusions are used only to distract them from the real situation. So Lochley runs back to the holobrothel with a hand grenade and blows it up. Mayhew is not happy about that.

As they arrive in Grey 4 they find Bryson in the middle of a pillar of lights and faces. He's in a kind of trance and holding the vessel of Ralga souls. Garibaldi tries to talk to him but as result the souls try to kill him. Security around Zack starts to shoot at the pillar but without harming it. So they stop shooting.

The Soul Hunter decides to sacrifice himself as a bridge between his people and the souls of the Ralga. He wants to bring them back to their home world where they could find a way to release the souls from the vessel without killing them. The souls accept his offer and he dies. The souls release Bryson.

Finally Riley appears at Lochley's office and tries to sue her for violating the rights of his client and destroying his facility. But she shoots it down with the fine print of his client's contract about military operations.

The River of Souls is a fragile yet indestructible path on which all spirits flow from the Material Plane through the Gate of Souls and into the Ethereal Sea. The cycle of life and death is maintained by the flow of the river, with spirits passing into the Outer Planes as part of the natural progression. If for any reason, such as following the Chaos War, that the river is diverted, then all souls become trapped on the world of Krynn and havoc and chaos will reign, one of the first signs being the leeching of magic.

When I was very young, my grandparents owned a farm on the west side of the Animas Valley north of Durango. Back then, the valley was divided up into roughly 40-acre strips of land, stretching from the top of the hill that divides the valley from Falls Creek, down to the river itself. Houses were mostly situated in the middle of each strip, up along the highway, or what is now known as West Animas Road. Below that were fields and the barn, pasture and sloughs that filled up each spring when the river spilled out of its sandy banks.

When the Escalante-Dominguez expedition crossed at the same place in 1776 they, too, referred to it as Rio de las Animas, as did John M. Macomb, exploring the area in 1859, and members of the Hayden party, surveying the San Juan region for the United States Geological Survey, in 1874. The notion of a river teeming with aimlessly wandering souls was, I realized, a lie. I started to feel like I had been duped.

The River of Souls is a river of ectoplasm that carries the souls of the dead. When people die, their souls leave the physical body and are drawn to the river by the Soul Altar. According to the book soul journey, written by Aretha, the river then leads the souls through "unchartable realms, transcending the plane of the world." Cerberus, a three-headed hellhound, is tasked to be its guardian, while the Key Master keeps her from escaping.

According to the same book, the Dark Altar found in Arceuus, Great Kourend, is responsible for creating the power of their Soul Altar, drawing energy from the real Soul Altar, whose location is unknown. Without it, the souls of Great Kourend would not be able to reach the river as easily.

I have been conducting research among the local population, specifically regarding the "children's story" Nimbus told us, regarding the river of souls. I had a suspicion that there might have been other versions, or versions with better recorded provenance.

All things come from the river, and all return to it. The river may split and meet again. Other things may fall into it and change its course, but nevertheless it continues. In time, even mountains are worn down before it.

Naturally, it is easiest to view this as an allegory for control of life. In the end, rivers are impossible to control. A person may swim or boat, but never take hold of the river to steer the course of the water itself. And it is impossible not to see the relationship to Strand, which slips away the moment a person tries to grasp too tightly.

I wonder about Strand. About its appearance. We can see the origins of the Stasis power on Europa, and the concept of a cosmic ice to oppose stellar fire fits very neatly in a certain sort of paradigm. Even that idea of stillness and control suits freezing, a slowness of atoms whether or not it is in truth a power of "ice." There is a certain weight to the perception of an "element."

If Strand had been shaped through the lens of Neomuna, surely it should have been some cosmic water instead, something that flows and gives way only to rise again. There are certainly combat styles to support this in old records.

But this power that has never before been used in this way came to one Guardian first, and I conjecture that they may have unconsciously given it form. I wish I had seen it! What would "connection" have appeared as? Now, of course, we know the shape of this power: it is green, it weaves itself in strings. As other Guardians begin to learn it, they too slot it into these positions in their minds. Whatever advances they come to are already framed verdant and tangling.

The River of Souls is the name given to the constant migration of mortal souls from the Universe to Pharasma's Boneyard in the Outer Sphere, where they are judged and sent to their eternal fate.1 Cyclical in nature, upon a mortal being's death the River is the first part of a soul's afterlife,2 and before birth the quintessence that becomes a new soul traverses the River and arrives in the Universe to give life to a new mortal being.3

Once detached from their mortal vessels, souls pass through the Ethereal Plane, joining each other on their way to the Elemental Planes, then out of the Inner Sphere and into the Astral Plane. Souls then form the titular river, where they are watched over by countless representatives from the Outer Sphere, such as angels, devils, and demons. These forces attempt to protect the souls in transit from malicious forces, as most souls are destined to become shades who join and empower these guardians' home planes.14 The river ends in the Boneyard, where Pharasma judges the souls and dispatches them to a compatible Outer Plane or shuttles them on toward some other fate.5

Souls in their migration generally have little to fear on their journey, watched over as they are by powerful entities from the various planes. The two exceptions to this come from night hags and the much more dangerous astradaemons. The former travel to the Astral from their homes on the Ethereal Plane and are always in search of souls to steal and sell to the highest bidder on the Lower Planes. The latter constantly hunt for souls to consume and take back to their masters on Abaddon.1

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