Tagrea

Tagrea, designated P3X-744 by the Tau'ri, was a planet in the Milky Way galaxy which was once under Heru'ur's domain and held a Stargate. Heru'ur abandoned the planet when their resources were depleted, leaving the Tagreans in a dark age. The Tagreans removed all historical evidence when they eventually came out of that dark age and developed an industrial society, so that they would forget everything. By the time that they were reunited with the Tau'ri, when the Prometheus became stranded nearby, their recorded history was only 300 years old and all evidence of the long-buried Stargate was lost. Despite some disagreement within the Tagrean leadership about the wisdom of locating the Stargate, the eventually agreed to assist SG-1 in finding it so that they could get help from Earth.

Goa'uld rule and revolution
One of the many planets visited by the Ancients during their time in the Milky Way galaxy, Tagrea was a planet that the Ancients placed a Stargate on. Whether or not they remained on the planet after this is unknown, but any signs of their habitation&mdash;if indeed there were any to begin with&mdash;had disappeared by the time that the Tau'ri constructed Stargate Command on Earth.



Millennia after the Ancients left the Milky Way galaxy, and thousands of years before the Tau'ri constructed Stargate Command, Humans were brought to Tagrea from Earth by the Goa'uld System Lord Heru'ur. These people then became Heru'ur's slaves and served him until, sometime before the year 1700, the planets natural resources became depleted and Heru'ur left the planet. Following his departure, the Tagreans rebelled chose to bury their Stargate, placing a coverstone in the middle of the gate so that Heru'ur could not return. The Tagreans attempted to destroy all evidence of Heru'ur's presence on the planet, purposefully forgetting their own history and starting their history over again after their long "dark ages". All knowledge of what Heru'ur really was faded, eventually relegating him into the position of a myth.

Following this, the population of the planet grew much larger than it was under Heru'ur's rule and the people progressed technologically past the limits set upon them by their previous oppressor. Through their technological exploits, they were able to create a post-industrial society spread over four major cities which ran on advanced power generators as well as many other technological marvels. Transport on the planet was available through both a form of train, simply tracked vehicles and even hot air balloons; indeed, the military of Tagrea even developed a form of armoured balloon which was capabale of complex flight maneuvers. During the course of centuries, some artifacts from Heru'ur's rule over the planet were discovered which led to a small group of people believing that Heru'ur was indeed a god who had created the Tagreans on their planet.



Contact with the Tau'ri
In the year 2003, the Tau'ri were forced to visit Tagrea after an instability in the naquadria used to power Prometheus's hyperdrive caused it to became unstable during their journey to P7X-009, forcing them to drop out of hyperspace and make their way to the nearest planet with a Stargate; a planet they designated P3X-744. Although they had never been able to dial Tagrea from Earth, they assumed this was simply because the Stargate was buried and so made a short hyperspace jump the remaining 0.38 light years to Tagrea. When they arrived at the planet, however, a further instability meant that they had to jetison the naquadria reactor in orbit around Tagrea, where it exploded and produced an EM pulse which knocked out systems on both the Prometheus and the planet itself.



The Tagreans, taking this as a sign of hostility, launched two missiles from their ground facilities which had been shielded against such pulses. The Tau'ri on board, fearful of what these weapons could do while Prometheus was without shields, contacted the Tagreans and asked them to stop the missiles from hitting. Though there was some delay, the missiles were exploded before they could hit the Prometheus and the Tagreans ordered the Tau'ri to land on the planet displaying that they had communications equipment capable of space contact. Though Colonel William Ronson was hesitant about landing on the planet before their shields were functional, Smantha Carter managed to convince him that their shields would be operational within minutes and so he agreed to land the Prometheus. Before getting off the ship, the Tau'ri attempted to scan the planet for signs of naquadah which would lead them to the Stargate but were unable to find any.



Once the Prometheus landed on the planet, it was met with several of the Tagrean armoured balloons as well as troops and tanks on the ground. SG-1 were chosen as the liasons to the planet, and so went to meet with the armed battalion of soldiers. As they neared the troops, they were met by Commander Kalfas of the Tagrean Security Force, who was wary of these people to the point of xenophobia, and demanded that they disarm themselves or they and their ship would be fired upon. Taking him at his word, SG-1 dropped their weapons and were escorted into the capital city to meet with the leader of the Tagrean people.

Search for the Stargate
Once in the city, they were met by Chairman Ashwen who was far more cordial than Kalfas had been, welcoming the strangers to his planet before Kalfas rejoined them. During the meeting, SG-1 explained that they needed use of the planets Stargate, but neither man knew what this object was. After Jonas Quinn showed them a picture, however, they informed the group that what they were looking for was the Ring of the Gods, but that it was not real. Carter, looking for a way to find the Stargate, asked if they would be allowed access to the Tagreans historical data. Though Kalfas denied this access, stating that their freedom of movement was not negotiable, Ashwen agreed to have ome basic historical data transferred to the Prometheus for them to look over. After SG-1 exited the room, the two Tagreans voiced their disagreements with each other but sent the historical information to the Tau'ri anyway.



The Tau'ri, looking over the information they were given, noticed that the data only went back over the past three hundred years and so would be of no use to them as it did not mention the Stargate nor any other Goa'uld devices. In order to gain further access to the Tagreans databases, O'Neill decided to invite the Tagrean leaders on a tour of the Prometheus, as well as inviting them to dine together in order to get to know them better. Though this angered Ronson slightly, he quickly agreed to O'Neill's plan. During the tour, the Tau'ri informed the Tagreans that most of their technology was in fact the product of alliances with other alien races and also that it was the instability in the naquadria which caused the explosion above their planet. After the tour, the two peoples ate on the Prometheus and discussed their differences.

While the others interacted with the Tagreans, Teal'c and Jonas were given access to the Tagrean library where they looked for more information while being monitored both by Tagrean guards and a scholar in the library. After the two cornered this scholar, he informed them that he may be able to help them find the Ring of the Gods. Taking them into his office, Terrak revealed that he was a follower of Horus, but was quickly informed by Teal'c that Horus was a false god. After this, he revealed artifacts which he had managed to collect over the years along with a parchment which spoke of the chaapa'ai. Teal'c and Jonas soon translated the parchment and, with the help of Terrak, determined that the Stargate was located north of the city, in the Wastelands of Annur.



Though Kalfas did not want to grant them access to this area, as he was fearful of what might be uncovered, Ashwen overruled him and allowed the Tau'ri access to try to locate the Stargate. Jonas, deciphering the parchment, determined that the Stargate was buried between the second and third monument of an old ruin which they came across. After hours of work, the group discovered the coverstone and Stargate and reported this information back to the Prometheus, asking for assistance in lifting it. While others raised the Stargate to a standing position, Carter and Terek discovered the DHD and Carter determined that it was still intact. While this was happening, Kalfas had moved his men into position and was monitoring the Tau'ri's efforts. Just as Jonas finished entering the Stargate address for Earth and the wormhole activated, Kalfas revealed himself and ordered the Tau'ri to stop what they were doing or he would do so by force. The Tau'ri capitulated to his demands.



O'Neill and Ashwen quickly learned of the happenings in the desert and, though Ashwen ordered Kalfas to stand down, he would not do so as he insisted he was protecting the people of Tagrea. As such, the only plan that O'Neill could come up with involved using the Prometheus to force Kalfas to surrender; the only problem with this plan was that they had armoured balloons pointed at the ship. After Ashwen convinved him that the gun batteries would not fire, and indeed chose to board the ship himself, the plan was set into motion and the Prometheus flew through the atmosphere to rescue its crew. True to Ashwen's word, the gun batteries did not fire on the ship and they managed to make it to the wastelands unharmed.



Once there, Ashwen and the remainder of SG-1 used the ring transporters to beam down to the planets surface, where Ashwen demanded Kalfas surrender. Though he refused to, the other members of his military forces obeyed their peoples leader and so Kalfas was disarmed and stripped of his position of power. SG-1, thankful for the Tagreans help, used the Stargate to get back to Earth in order to get repairs for the Prometheus. It remains unknown what, if any, further contact was made between the Tagreans and the Tau'ri but as they left on ammicable terms, it is likely that they became allies.

Behind the scenes
Somehow, Tagrea shares the same point of origin as P2X-416 but this could be a simple mistake, as the actors may have simply pressed random glyphs in each case.