SGA thematic list: alien cultures and new non-human aliens

[ratcreature]

This SGA thematic list concerning aliens is divided into two parts:

1. stories featuring (human) alien Pegasus cultures prominently somehow (including the cultures of Sateda and Athos, the Genii and other canonical peoples), preferably if the culture is explored, but if one of the culture's aspects works as a plot device in an unusual way that's okay too, as long as the aliens are visible as having a culture in their own right. This excludes the "aliens made them do it" genre (for which specialized thematic lists already exist anyway) unless the focus is very much the culture and its reasons to require visitors to engage in sexual relations, rather than a "there was a random, irrational fertility ritual *hand-wave*, so John and Rodney have sex" kind. This also excludes any story in which Pegasus aliens only make a token appearance.


2. stories with new non-human aliens, i.e. not stories featuring canonical non-humans like the Asgard, Ancients, or the Wraith, which I feel is a different theme.

These are not recs, but a thematic list. I'll link gen stories as well as all kinds of pairings, but at least initially it's biased towards pairings I read, e.g. I don't read John/Elizabeth so I'll need others to point out stories from those corners of fandom fitting the list criteria to me. I decided to list the stories with the authors' summaries (if available) rather than listing what kinds of aliens appear in order to avoid spoiling the stories.

If you want a story added, your own or others, please comment with the title, author, pairings (if any), summary, a public link (i.e. no f-locked or community member locked LJ entries and the like), whether it's a WIP, and under which topic it'll fit, so that I can list the story.

ETA (August 16, 2007): The thematic list is now located on a separate website for easier maintenance.

1. stories featuring alien cultures

2. stories with non-human aliens

Comments

[liviapenn.livejournal.com]

Here's mine:

First Contact, by liviapenn
http://liviapenn.livejournal.com/411968.html
John Sheppard/Teyla Emmagan. Summary: At first, she does not even know what to call them, or how to think of them.

One thing Ronon's tattoo doesn't mean, by liviapenn
http://liviapenn.livejournal.com/358896.html
Gen. Summary: There's a saying where Ronon comes from. It goes like this: 'They feed you well in the militia.'

[ratcreature]

Thank you for reminding me of those. I've added them both.

[liviapenn.livejournal.com]

No prob. :)

I know you said I decided to list the stories with the authors' summaries (if available) rather than listing what kinds of aliens appear in order to avoid spoiling the stories.-- but do you think it would be useful/possible to split up list #1 into two groups-- the major canonical alien cultures, and then the one-shots and non-canonical alien cultures? IE, one list for the Athosians, Satedans and Genii, and one list for everyone else? Just a thought.

[ratcreature]

Well, the problem is that in a lot of fic that bothers with Pegasus cultures it's relating one to another, say the very first on my list currently, Ardhanarishvara, obviously that's really long, and I list it because of the various new alien cultures that appear, but also because it explores how Teyla and Ronon react to the gender swapping, and in Teyla's case also how the Athosians react, etc. Or The Body Holographic, IIRC that has an alliance of canonical and new Pegasus cultures set in the future and forming a merger. And frankly for many stories I would have to reread to remember exactly what would be the best fit, or whether something needed in both, to sort that out, so... *points to her sloth icon and looks sheepish*

[liviapenn.livejournal.com]

Oh, good point. *G* And I suppose that if someone really wants to find the Athosian / Satedan / Genii-centric stories, they could just look at the featured characters...

[ratcreature]

Yeah. In my bookmarks I have tags for these, but not all of those are really about the culture, some stories I tagged with "genii" may just be Kolya-centric, or ones tagged "athosians" could feature Sheppard playing football with Jinto or whatever. And really, if it becomes too unweildy, there's always room for splitting or just for additional thematic lists. I mean, compared to HP for example, SGA is still lacking thematic lists for lots of things.

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

I think this one might fit:

winter discontent
http://mediafans.org/rachael/sga/2006_sga_winterdiscontent.html
Lorne/Parrish. Summary: As he watched Sanchez hit the symbols on the gate for the tenth time, Lorne knew they were utterly, utterly fucked.

The aliens are more background-ish, but the focus of the story is on a continuing event in their society--a periodic massive winter storm--and a problem that developes from what they have done to deal with it.

[ratcreature]

Sure, I added it. The aliens don't have to be the main thing as long as they're still somewhat important and not completely generic. Thanks :)

non-human aliens

[flambeau.livejournal.com]

Suburban consumption rituals (http://www.strangeplaces.net/torch/suburban.html) Gen-ish, 2,800 words. Buy three, get one free! Last-minute gifts are a tricky business.

Re: non-human aliens

[ratcreature]

I can't believe I forgot about that one! Thanks for reminding me. :)

[shetiger.livejournal.com]

Mine, all human-alien:

Lustration http://shetiger.livejournal.com/242922.html
Unrequited Keras/Sheppard. He lets himself look, because there is no reason not to. Set within the episode Childhood's End.

A Night at the Opera http://shetiger.livejournal.com/260283.html
Ronon/Elizabeth/Teyla, NC-17. Aliens didn't make them do it. They just encouraged nicely. With a fruit basket.

So Petals Moulder http://community.livejournal.com/lostcityfound/50792.html
Teyla/Halling. As the team bond over shared stories of their youth, Teyla remembers what was.

A Strong Tea http://community.livejournal.com/sga_flashfic/396759.html
Teyla gen. Charin had made certain Teyla would always remember this recipe, even if it made the lines around her eyes draw into tight furrows of sorrow each time Teyla repeated the words.

[ratcreature]

Thank you for pointing these out to me, I've added them.

[ratcreature]

I noticed that the ones in your LJ are now flocked and the others deleted. :(

Do you have other links for them or did you remove them entirely?

[shetiger.livejournal.com]

Ahh, sorry. I was having moments of wibbling. I'll fix that this afternoon and get back to you.

(They're all on my website as well. shetiger.com)

[ratcreature]

Cool, it's good to know they're still around. :)

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

all category 1:

The Modern Man's Hustle by eleveninches
John/Rodney, Ronon/Elizabeth, incidental Lorne/Teyla. A diplomatic mission has lasting consequences for Elizabeth and Ronon. Featuring alien wildlife, fake marriages, witch hunts. [Satedan and two original cultures]
http://dejabu.robot-army.org/sgahustle.html

A Royal Deception by mandragora1
John/Rodney. Atlantis needs Prince Rodney back. [original culture]
http://community.livejournal.com/sga_flashfic/159098.html

Summerland (Portrait of the Man As a Boy) by samdonne
Gen. Sheppard always seemed to him a man who hadn't enjoyed growing up, and didn't like seeing it happen to good people. [sequel to Your Cowboy Days Are Over -- different planet]
http://samdonne.livejournal.com/49505.html

Ties by yin_again
Teyla/OC, Teyla/Ronon, John/Rodney. No one was particularly surprised when Teyla started dating. Several people were surprised that the person she was dating wasn’t Ronon. [Athosian]
http://community.livejournal.com/14valentines/47066.html

[ratcreature]

Thank you! I've added them.

[dossier.livejournal.com]

thanks for the mention--this is a cool list! As I look at it, it definitely puts the focus on why some of these are my favorite stories, I love cool aliens.

[ratcreature]

I'm glad you find it useful. And if you know of any other stories that might fit, please suggest them?

[dossier.livejournal.com]

as I was going through and re-tagging these, I noticed that minnow1212 advertises http://minnow1212.livejournal.com/229040.html as the flipside of Reside.

[ratcreature]

Yeah, I've read that, but it's really more about the team reacting to the Wraith's destruction, no? We don't really get that much about the destroyed cultures in that one.

[debris_k.livejournal.com]

Just noticed you don't have astolat's Mostly Harmless (http://intimations.org/fanfic/stargate/MostlyHarmless.html) in the non-human aliens section. I mean, floating puffballs! That say Hello! *...is there even an emotion for that? lol*

[debris_k.livejournal.com]

Shoot, am idiot. Story details are here, in the original post (http://www.livejournal.com/community/sga_flashfic/47515.html).

[ratcreature]

Thanks for the suggestions. I mostly remember that as an "aliens made them do it" story, though. I don't recall ever learning anything about the puffballs except that they were a wacky plot device for sex, though it has been a long time since I read it. I didn't exclude AMTDI again under point two because it's not that common for non-human alien stories, but since there's fans who maintain specific AMTDI thematic lists already, I don't list that genre, unless there's more to the aliens. Do I remember the story wrong and the aliens are more than a sex-pollen device? Then I'll list it.

[debris_k.livejournal.com]

Hmm, good point. You know, upon re-reading, the aliens don't actually *make* them have sex. They kind of... mollest John and Rodney a bit. And afterwards, it's kinda unclear whether they have the frantic sex *because* of the aliens, or as an after-effect of being frottaged unconscious by said aliens' tendrils and the resulting sexual high.

So, basically, I can't help you decide either way. The side I'm looking at is "Aliens! Kooshball-like aliens! Glee!" and while there's a part of the story spent on theorizing on said aliens, the story itself isn't that long so I don't know if they count as a whole alien culture or something. They remain pretty much an alien mystery (floating, chocolate loving, hello-saying, John and Rodney -mollesting mystery, all in all) in the end, and as the guys jump into bed together and not blame it on the aliens, heck, I dunno.