Apep

A serpentine species originally native to NGC 185, the Apep were enemies of the Ancients and — later — the Imperium.

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DATA

DESIGNATION

Sapient.

HOMEWORLD

Apepi homeworld.

LANGUAGE

Apepi.

AVERAGE LENGTH

18 metres.

SKIN COLOUR

Dark violet.

EYE COLOUR

White.

DISTINCTIONS

Eighteen prehensile tentacles, eight on each side of body.

AVERAGE LIFESPAN

Potentially immortal; the Apep have complete control over their aging process.

HISTORY

The Apep originated on a hot, humid planet of jungles and deserts, the only habitable world of a trinary star system. The Apep developed civilization relatively early in their history, having attained present day Earth-level technology only 3,300 years following the birth of their civilization. After one of the suns of their system eventually destabilized, threatening to go supernova and destroy their world, the Apep managed to flee their world far in advance of the planet's destruction; building a fleet of generation ships, they left their doomed home for the unknown stars.

The Apep eventually settled on a world seventeen light-years from their home system. A small cold world, the Apep struggled to survive on it's surface. Yet survive they did, and in time came to colonize even more worlds. With the advent of their own version of the supergate network, the Apep eventually spread throughout NGC 185. Being the only sapient species present in NGC 185, the Apep had never encountered other races. That all changed once they made first contact with the Ancients.

Upon expanding beyond the Andromeda Galaxy into NGC 185, the Ancients, callous as they were to the presence of other intelligences, quickly embarked on a campaign of genocide against the serpentoids. Though their technology was a match for the Ancients', the Apep didn't have the numbers or resources to withstand the intergalactic marauders; in little time, they were driven to near extinction.

The remaining Apep managed to save themselves when they found a means to safely capture and contain the virulent genome-destroying nanites the Ancients had released against them. Reprogramming the nanites to target Ancient DNA, the Apep let them loose on their original creators. With the Ancients now preoccupied with a pandemic which threatened to overwhelm and eradicate their entire species, the Apep turned towards recovery. Their galaxy rendered all but uninhabitable to their kind, the Apep packed up and left in a generation ship for a new home.

The Apep set course for the distant Milky Way Galaxy. During their journey through the intergalactic void, the Apepi generation ship happened upon the starship of the Traveller, the Ancient who would later become one half of the being known as Atum. After a brief skirmish, the Traveller escaped, albeit not unscathed; the Apep knew he was out there and were determined to track him down and destroy him.

The Apep did reach the Milky Way eventually. As Atum created and began expanding the Imperium, so did they their own. Using the advanced technology available to them on their generation ship, the Apep set up shop on numernous worlds, enslaving or enlisting the races they found to serve them in their campaign of conquest. In time, by being as relentless and merciless as the Ancients they hated, the Apep created an empire which was fully capable of providing a viable threat to the creator god's vast kingdom.

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The Apep are a species in my own personal version of the Stargate universe. I came up with them years ago, soon after I first began moving away from Stargate SG-1 towards a more movie-centric canon.

I knew I wanted Ra to have a personal enemy, someone non-human who could rival him and his empire. I found a perfect figure to serve as his enemy straight from ancient Egyptian mythology itself — the evil demon/god of darkness, Apep. Purposely ignoring the Apophis interpretation from SG-1, I made Apep a species instead of an individual but still retained the serpentine influence, and — to make them as alien as possible — I gave them tentacles as limbs.

My backstory for the Apep has changed considerably since I first came up with them. In the original story, Ra and the Apep became enemies after a Horus Guard scouting party arrived on one of their worlds, unwittingly bringing a virulent contagion with them that began infecting and killing off all the Apep living there, leading to the sterilization of the planet through radiation bombardment; there was no prior relationship with Ra or the Ancients in this backstory. I believe I changed it to mirror the original legend and make it fit with the Bill McCay novels more.

Now I have revised the history of the Apep a tad further, as Ra no longer exists as such within the Stargate Reimagined Universe.

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Comments, whether positive or (constructively) negative, are appreciated.