The Vanir are an offshoot of the Asgard who migrated to the Pegasus Galaxy.
Biology[]
The Vanir are physiologically identical to the Asgard in the Ida Galaxy. The Vanir like their cousins employ cloning as a means of propagating their species.
However the Vanir have small implants in their bodies that may be related to their success in staving off the negative effects of generations of cloning and re-cloning themselves, and stabilize their genetic structure.
History[]
Ten thousand years ago, the Vanir split with the Asgard, making their way to the Pegasus Galaxy. Beyond the power of the Asgard High Council, the Vanir were free to indulge in their experimentation of humans in order to seek out a solution to the declining genetics. Around the same time the war between the Ancients and Wraith was raging, providing a distraction for the two races to be unaware of their experiments.
The Vanir expected that the Ancients would win, but instead the end of the war saw to the Ancients abandoning the Pegasus Galaxy in favor of returning to the Milky Way Galaxy. The Wraith now claiming the Pegasus Galaxy then turned to dividing the spoils of war amongst themselves. Among the spoils were the human worlds that were claimed as feeding grounds.
They soon became aware of the Vanir and their abductions of their human cattle. Initially thinking they were some begotten race of the Ancients, the Wraith eventually realized that they were a new species that were just as advanced as the Ancients. Unwilling to allow their dominion of the Pegasus Galaxy be challenged by these aliens, the Wraith launched a campaign to obliterate the Vanir.
Caught unaware, the Vanir lost many of their intergalactic vessels, but the species survived by escaping in their smaller ships to a world that was so toxic that not even the Wraith would dare traverse. Overtime the Vanir adapted to create mechanized suits to interact with their new environment.
However by 2008 the planet had become far too hostile for the Vanir, forcing them out into the galaxy. By then the Wraith were already in disarray due to infighting and a plague among their human cattle. The Vanir seeking to eliminate the Wraith who they saw as an obstruction to their species, sought Ancient technology to end the race once and for all.
Among the artifacts that the Vanir salvage was the Attero device which was located in the Ancient city of Atlantis. The device was capable of crippling all Wraith ships in the galaxy but had the side effect of destroying Stargates which would explode and devastate worlds. The Vanir were alerted to the Attero device's location, when the human expedition team activated the lab's location beacon where the device was kept. The Vanir raided Atlantis for the device, capturing two humans in the commotion.
From one of the humans they learned that their Asgard cousins had perished, which only embolden them to use any means necessary to destroy the Wraith. While many ships were destroyed, the Atlantis team foiled their plot, saving the Pegasus Galaxy. They Vanir soon vanished to parts unknown.
They would later reappear two years later, stealing an Ancient device that was theoretically capable of de-ascending higher beings. It's theft was learned of by the Atlantis expedition, though it was unknown the Vanir wanted such a device. Later on they Vanir attempted to abduct Dr. Elizabeth Weir, a human diplomat and former leader of the Atlantis expedition and recently de-ascended being.
After capturing an injured Vanir, the Atlantis expedition learned that their interest in Weir was to gain a study of her reproductive system, as they wanted to see if her eggs were still viable after being de-ascended. They theft of the de-ascension machine and attempted kidnapping of Weir were acts of desperation by the Vanir. Their species was at a critical point where they were close to extinction. It was believed that they could use the de-ascension machine to bring back an Asgard who had ascended and use their untainted genetics to renew the Asgard/Vanir species.
In a sense they wished to capture Ran, an Asgard who had rumored to have ascended. The Atlantis Expedition refused to allow this plan to pass. However Weir offered an alternative, by having the Vanir plead their case directly to Ran via the Ancient communication station used to talk to ascended beings.
Once communications were opened, Ran willingly de-ascended herself on the mortal plane, unwilling to allow her species to go into oblivion. She offered the Vanir her help and hope, and promised the Atlantis expedition that the Vanir would trouble them no more.
Source[]
- Stargate: Atlantis - First Contact
- Stargate: Atlantis - The Lost Tribe