The Shadow War
Or "The Invader/Defender Game As Explained By Babylon 5"
I don't know how many people on this forum are science-fiction fans, but I imagine it's actually far fewer than many other game-based internet forums. I also don't know how many people are old enough to even remember Babylon 5, let alone have watched it; I didn't even watch it when it aired, I was too young. The pseudonym I'm posting this from is a character in the television show, which spanned five seasons and some of the best writing science-fiction television has ever seen. If you're at all interested in science-fiction, it's worth taking the 110 Episode journey; trust me on that.
Now to the meat of the argument. If you haven't seen Babylon 5, there will be some spoilers, but nothing that's likely to destroy your enjoyment of the show if you plan to watch it later. I leave it up to you.
In the show, the humans and other similarly-advanced species were guided by an alien race known as the Vorlons, who were much further ahead of even the futuristic Minbari technologically. Vorlons were mysterious, never showed their true selves, and advocated most strongly for order, which often meant doing what the Vorlons said. The Vorlons, it was said, asked one question: "Who are you?" And were supposed to be able to find whatever they needed to know in one's answer to that question.
Starting at the end of season one, but reaching its height towards the end of season three, we began to be slowly introduced to another alien species, known as the Shadows. Where the Vorlons were order, the Shadows were chaos; attacking largely defenseless, less-advanced species, and then fading into the night. It would be very easy to characterize the Vorlons, who helped and supported the main cast, as "good", and the Shadows, who were violent and destructive, as "evil." I think that this is, however, a gross oversimplification.
Where the Vorlons were good, they were also stifling. It was nearly impossible to get a straight answer out of a Vorlon, with very cryptic and difficult-to-understand riddles in response to questions, and near impenetrable secrecy, they restricted far more than they taught or explained. This is not to say that they may not have had good reasons for doing so, but they were a restrictive, conservative, stifling force as well as a positive one. For these reasons I characterize the Vorlons as Order, rather than Good, because they brought with them both the positives and negatives of Order.
Say what you like about the Shadows and their destructive tendencies, but ultimately it was the Shadows who drove the humans and other species to rise up, grow, defend themselves and others, and reach their pinnacles (largely hinted at at the end of season four). My namesake character described the actions of the Shadows as "the ones who come out from time to time, kick over all the anthills in the galaxy, and see which ants make better anthills next time." This certainly destructive, and certainly chaotic, but it brings the positive benefits of a sink-or-swim experience, and it encourages growth; it is Chaos, but it is not purely evil, in particular when it is revealed the other ancient species left the galaxy and left both the Shadows and the Vorlons in charge. There is a strong implication that there is at least some merit in each viewpoint.
Having watched, and been a part of, the Defender/Invader game in the past, I would argue that while Defenders tend to see themselves as good, while Invaders are evil, a much more accurate description would be that the Defenders are Order, and the Invaders are Chaos. Invaders have such a broad base of beliefs in who they are and who the defenders are that it's hard to characterize this viewpoint as being in opposition to the "Invader" viewpoint, as the Invader points of view are myriad and disconnected in a number of ways.
Working the Parallel
It's obvious that this is not a perfect parallel, but there are some interesting bits which really overlap, for me. Defenders, and Vorlons, are quite secretive, and often keep to themselves. Compared to the myriad light-raiding communities, Defenders tend to keep to their own, and establish foreign relations with other defenders. This is not an accusation, merely an observation. In the same way, Invaders, and Shadows, rely on stealth to operate, to sow confusion and achieve their goals. Defenders, and Vorlons, tend to be much more dogmatically ideological, where Vorlons ask "Who are you?", and Defenders tend to view themselves as being inherently and morally right. Invaders, and Shadows, embrace a more complex vision of their universes, where Shadows ask "What do you want?", and Invaders tend to view the struggle as being being not between right and wrong, but our side and theirs.
Ultimately, in the show, it is the Vorlon maxim which wins true: "Understanding is a three-edged sword." This maxim is heard throughout the series, but it's not until early season four when one of the human characters, in this case my namesake, finally understands it. In an angry confrontation between Shadows on one side, Vorlons on the other, and the rest of the galaxy caught in between, John Sheridan finally shouts at the two impressively advanced alien species:
"I get it now! Understanding is a three-edged sword. Your way. Their way. And the TRUTH."
And I believe that the Defender/Invader game is much the same. Both sides have their ways, and both the way of Order and the way of Chaos, taken to extremes, have negative effects to them. Defenders might stifle the growth of communities which might band together and rise up to deal with Invaders, or grow closer together in the wake of an Invasion. Invaders might destroy whole regions, and their communities, where they fail to grow to meet the challenge provided of them. But understanding is a three-edged sword.
I encourage anybody who's not a part of this game to speak to both Invaders and Defenders, and to take everything that each of them says with a grain of salt. As Lorien said, this is not a battle you can win, "you must understand your way out of this." And maybe when all the neutrals get together and realize that they are the ones in control, they are the ones with the power and the numbers, maybe they'll say to Invaders and Defenders both:
"Get the hell out of our Galaxy!"
