The Minbari Federation

Vir: "They're a very spiritual people!"
Londo: "You may leave that in. That always frightens people."

The Minbari are probably my SECOND favourite race in the Babylon 5 universe. (I think it's pretty xarned obvious who my very favourite is.) They are pretty cool, actually. They may SEEM boring at first but once you actually get to know them, they do have some interesting quirks. Such as how, for example, they always sleep at a 45-degree angle. No, I'm not saying that they manage to slant their bodies while they are unconscious; they build their beds to tilt that way on purpose. They supposedly do this because they believe that to lay down horizontally is to tempt death. Personally, I sometimes wonder if they do it just so they can laugh their heads off at the antics of other races attempting to sleep on a slant.
As for physical appearance, well, the Minbari, as you can see above, are bald, have a protective, antler-like bone covering the back of their heads, and very low, very small ears. They also have no eyebrows and I'm pretty sure they have NO hair anywhere on their entire bodies, but then again, I've never been suicidal enough to ask a Minbari to strip for me. The only exception is for Minbari who are direct descendants of Valen, who was originally Human although they don't like to talk about that, who, due to their latent Human genes, can grow facial hair if they are male.
Minbari are often, but not always, rather small-boned and short by human standards, and tend towards more delicate features. The only skin colour I've ever seen on them is a pale Caucasian tone.
The bone can be shaped different ways according to the individual Minbari's caste (more on that in a bit) but I do think that in general, it tends to be more rounded and graceful on a woman and more pointy on a man. The Warrior Caste members shape theirs to have lots of sharp points and look very ferocious, whereas the Religious Caste makes theirs more peaceful-looking. I haven't seen enough Worker Caste Minbari to be sure how they shape their head-bones. (The two Minbari above are both Religious Caste, by the way).
The Minbari culture has three Castes--Religious, Warrior, and Worker. They used to fight all the time until Valen, their main Saint or Prophet or what have you, told them not to. (To a Minbari, the expression "Valen's Name!" serves the same purpose as "Great Maker!" does to a Centauri.) Then they had peace for 1,000 years.
They have some interesting religious rituals. In one, the Ceremony of Rebirth, the priestess (?) says a passage from Valen's sayings about when the Grey Council was formed, and passes around little red fruits. There are also bells, chimes, zithers, and chants. The most interesting part of this ceremony is the fact that it also doubles as a WEDDING ceremony! If a serious exchange of looks takes place while eating the red fruits, those two people have just quietly gotten married! The stuff that Delenn is talking to Londo about in the quote below is part of this holiday, too. The ceremony is only the ending of the day, the rest of the stuff leading up to it is just as if not more important.
A Minbari is born into a caste but is not FORCED to stay there all her life; she may convert at any time. However, she needs to be really open about it, or else her former caste-mates will call her a traitor. Any Minbari who changes castes too often will be considered untrustworthy.
Their capital city is named Yedor (shown in the linked picture below), and their currency is the lek. They count and do all their mathematics by base ELEVEN, not 10.
They also LOOOOOOVE threes, and triangles. They seem to do everything that way. Nine members of the Grey Council (their ruling body. "We are Grey. We stand between the Darkness and the Light."), three triluminaries (WHY does that remind me of the three Triforces from the "Legend of Zelda" games--does each Triluminary represent one of "Power, Wisdom, and Courage"?), three castes, triangle designs on everything, etc. They're a bit obsessed if you ask me. Still, they are a pretty interesting people.

COOL THINGS ABOUT THE MINBARI:
1. They have a GORGEOUS planet.
2. Those funky slanted beds.
3. They were able to kick the Human's butts in the Minbari War (which I'm sure THEY must have called "The Human War".)
4. Despite their quiet outside, they can get pretty darn MEAN if you tick them off.

NOT-SO-COOL THINGS ABOUT THE MINBARI:
Not a list, but I guess my main beef with them is simply that they are such a heavily religious people. Not being religious myself, that leaves me with little to latch onto. (However, Delenn and Lennier ARE two of my favourite characters on the show.) And they are just a bit too quiet for me. They are WAY too caught up in rituals (you have to go through FIFTY to get married, for example).
Londo: "So, what does this 'Rebirth Ceremony' entail, eh?"
Delenn: "We meditate, on what was, what is, and what is to come."
Londo: (sarcastically) "Sounds positively festive!"
Delenn: "Then we must give away something that we value greatly, and tell someone a secret that we have never told anyone before."
Londo: "Oh, for a moment there, I was thinking wine, women, and debauchery! But then, I forgot I was talking to a Minbari."
--Ceremonies of Light and Dark
Other than that, I guess they're pretty cool. They just don't make me get completely involved, or laugh, the way the Centauri do.




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