Magog (Andromeda)

The Magog are an alien race in the television series Andromeda. The most significant Magog character in the series is Rev Bem, who eschews the "brutish violence" of the rest of the Magog.^[1]

The Species

The Magog are human-sized predators covered in a loose, shaggy pelt. They feed on sapient beings, whether human, alien or Nietzschean, which they paralyse with toxin, and reproduce by laying their eggs in another living being:^[2] the larvae hatch and consume their host.

Technology

The attacking Magog swarms — savage, naked, non-technological animals interested only in eating and reproducing — arrive in their own well-designed space-craft. It is suggested that the Spirit of the Abyss taught them how to create, or at least gave them, their technology. The swarms are described as the juvenile form in Series 1. Whatever the source, at least some are intelligent enough to learn how to operate it effectively. Some Magog aboard their Worldship are armed with coilgun personal weapons.

Magog World ship

This is the Magog 'mothership'. It is a superstructure made of 20 connected planets surrounding an artificial sun, the size of a small solar system. It is armed with point singularity weapons, carries an unknown but massive number of smaller vessels, and is home to trillions of Magog. In the beginning of Season 4, it was discovered the ship was built by an immortal cyborg named Kroton at the behest of the Spirit of the Abyss. At the end of Season 4, it was thought to be destroyed, but it was later revealed to merely be crippled in Season 5.

The Spirit of the Abyss

Their leader, or god, is the Spirit of the Abyss. He appears to be a powerful but not omnipotent energy being. He has been shown to be able to take over people's bodies, and absorb energy. The Magog say that he is their creator. In an earlier episode, Rev Bem says that the Divine created the Magog: "...the Divine also has nightmares, for he created us."^[3] The Abyss has many agents and during the series, takes over the Lambent Kith Nebula, Trance's family in order to trick them into destroying the universe. The Abyss is destroyed in the last episode when Andromeda leads Trance's sun into the Route of Ages where the Sun burns it to death.

References

1. Booker, M. Keith (2004). Science fiction television. The Praeger television collection. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 188–190. ISBN 0-275-98164-9.
2. http://www.space.com/sciencefiction/tv/andromeda_strait_001013.html
3. Angel Dark, Demon Bright 6 November 2000 (Season 1, Episode 6) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0512222/combined