A number of the less powerful races make up the League of Non-Aligned Worlds, which assembled as a result of the Dilgar War, which occurred 30 years before the start of the series.
Londo's accent was developed independently by actor Peter Jurasik,[8] and was imitated by William Forward,[9] who played Lord Refa.
[13]: 110 The Centauri, a humanoid race similar in appearance to humans, are a proud and aristocratic people governed by an emperor and a nobility-driven senate called the Centaurum.
For instance, it was the Centauri who sold jumpgate technology to the Earth Alliance, allowing humanity to start colonizing interstellar space.
[14]: 161 The Centauri Republic is reflective of many imperial cultures on Earth, although J. Michael Straczynski makes a specific comparison: "the British Empire once upon a time...
[23] The Dilgar were a race depicted in the show as an aggressive, warlike society who initiated a sudden and unexplained campaign of conquest against all neighboring worlds between 2229 and 2232.
However, it is revealed that the immortality serum required the death of a sentient being to work: Deathwalker intended to increase war, bloodshed and other atrocities among the other races.
She nearly accomplished her plan: an alliance of races attempted to employ her to refine a version of the serum that did not require murder; however, her Minbari flyer was destroyed by a Vorlon warship as she was leaving Babylon 5.
Servants of the Shadows until the older race left Z'ha'dum, the Drakh became major antagonists late in the Babylon 5 series and in its sequel, Crusade.
The Drazi race in the show was depicted as reptilian in appearance, with blue skin, thick skull bones, and no nostrils, although they are otherwise humanoid.
Commander Susan Ivanova ended the contest through the use of a loophole in the rules: taking the sashes of the leaders and ordering both groups to stop fighting.
The only known major warship seen on-screen operated by the Drazi is the "Sunhawk", a small, highly maneuverable cruiser possibly designed primarily for patrols and quick hit-and-run attacks on larger targets.
A Sunhawk has also been shown to have the ability to carry and launch a small one-man craft; during the battle of Coriana 6 one is seen flying vertically while firing a pulse weapon.
In the "Call to Arms" tabletop wargame by Mongoose Publishing, the Drazi have numerous other craft, from small fighters up to large dreadnoughts.
A good example of this discovery was shown in the third season, episode 5 Voices of Authority wherein the characters Marcus Cole and Susan Ivanova meet the "Walkers" of Sigma 957.
Like chameleons they have the ability to camouflage themselves by taking on the texture of their surroundings while they try to mess with their victims' minds, planting suggestions in their brains with their telepathy.
It is known that a pyramid located within a city buried eight miles beneath the surface of the planet Beta Durani 7 contains a portal that leads to another dimension.
Earth-Alliance had gained more technology than any other race in the known Babylon 5 universe: Dilgar, Narn, Centauri, Shadow, Minbari, and Vorlon tech all at one point in time.
Such powers include being able to cast a shield around their bodies to absorb damage or contain atmosphere in hostile environments, hurl fireballs, generate holograms, cloak themselves in invisibility, and establish real-time communication with another Technomage regardless of distance.
As was noted during an Earthforce broadcast of the incident, "There may still be some isolated colonies or outposts, but for all intents and purposes the Markab are a dead race."
Minbari are humanoid, usually thin and pale, though considerably stronger in hand-to-hand combat than the average human of the same size; they are bald, with gray bony crests across the back of their heads.
Another "young race" like humanity, the Narn Regime were previously occupied and enslaved by the Centauri, and bear them deep ill-will because of the brutal methods of control employed.
Their religion venerates philosopher prophets, and most Narn draw strength from various different holy writings, the most noted being The Book of G'Quan.
[34] Loosely humanoid in form, the pak'ma'ra have tentacles around a mouth cavity containing an inflexible beak, somewhat reminiscent of the mind flayers or Cthulhu.
"[35] As this combination renders their mouths incapable of forming words in most other species' languages, they rely on machine translation for interspecies communication.
In the final episode "Sleeping in Light", Vir Cotto remarks that he and Londo had once passed a group of pak'ma'ra who were singing in their quarters, and that,"It was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard."
[citation needed] They are clearly sentient, as the individual seen in the episode "The Long Dark" was able to board a ship and reprogram its computer, and they are very patient.
Few things are known about the Streibs except that they launch raids on other worlds and sectors, capture isolated life-forms from their ships, and quickly retreat before they can be pursued.
Straczynski later confided during an interview that the Thirdspace aliens were inspired by Lovecraft's Great Old Ones,[citation needed] in that they are a malevolent force existing in a dimension or trans-spatial realm just adjacent to our own and that they use other species to increase their power and as servants.
Little is known of Vorlon history, but they are known to have played a significant role in defeating the Shadows in the previous great wars over the past million years.