Wraith

"If the Wraith have never touched your world, you should go back there."

- Teyla Emmagan

The Wraith are a vampirous, hive-based species that harvest on the 'life-force' of other beings for nourishment through suckers on their palms. Countless worlds in the Pegasus Galaxy live in constant fear of the Wraith, who return periodically to cull their human herds.

History
The Ancients first encountered the Wraith many thousands of years ago. After arriving in Pegasus in Atlantis, the Ancients seeded several planets with humans and Stargates. One of the planets held a creature called the Iratus bug, which began feeding off the humans. Eventually, they began to take on advantageous human characteristics, such as larger brain mass, bipedal locomotion, and opposable digits. Once awoken, the Wraith went to war with the Ancients and fed upon the people on these worlds&mdash;until the city of Atlantis was all that remained untouched. The Wraith attacked Atlantis with their powerful weapons, but the city's shield held. While the Ancients held the technological advantage, there were so many Wraith that the Ancient Council saw no way to win. Defeated, the Ancients decided to submerge the city and leave through the Stargate to Earth.

The Wraith as a collective species go through long hibernation cycles, lasting as long as two hundred years. Their massive hive ships contain untold numbers of hibernation pods. During this time only a small number of them move about, enough to keep their victim worlds on edge. The sleeping masses are watched over by a small group lead by the Keeper, one Wraith designated with their care whose death would signal their premature awakening&mdash;as it did when she was killed by Major John Sheppard.

The Keeper interrogated Colonel Marshall Sumner and learned that a plentiful feeding ground&mdash;Earth&mdash;exists elsewhere in the universe, but she was unable to determine where. Upon her death, the entire hive reawakened. Now that the species is moving, feeding on planets throughout the Pegasus Galaxy, no one is safe. However, there are not enough humnans to sustain for long. The Wraith attacked Atlantis, hoping to learn the location of Earth. The Tau'ri and the Athosians battled to preserve the city, but the Wraith were too many. The Atlantis expedition then faked a self-destruct, setting off a timed nuclear warhead and cloaking the city. The Wraith, believing the city destroyed, left, causing them to fall into Civil War over the available feeding grounds.

The Wraith use stun weapons to incapacitate their prey, so that they can feed on their victims later. Their ships include the hive ships, which can land on planets during an extended hibernation cycle, and Wraith Darts&mdash;small, fast-moving ships capable of travelling through Stargates and equipped with culling beams for transporting their prey aboard.

Feeding
"All living thins must eat."

- Wraith Keeper

The Atlantis Expedition knows little of Wraith physiology, but some facts have been learned. Though humanoid in appearance, the Wraith are genetically closer to the Iratus bug than humans. The Wraith possess none of the normal human inhibiting proteins, giving them a frighteningly efficient regenerative mechanism in their genetic makeup, allowing their bodies to heal themselves. Their regenerative abilities are so powerful that, as long as the cells are properly nourished, it is unlikely that the Wraith ever die from natural causes the way that humans do. These abilities are powerful to the point that dismembered body parts have the ability to move on their own. To sustain themselves, the Wraith feed on a human's "life force" by draining them through a specialized sucker organ in their hands. What exactly they feed upon is still unknown, but the results are frightening to behold: the victim will appear to age rapidly, though they will not actually physically age. The feeding process is extremely painful, and normal humans would die much faster than would allow to nourish the Wraith normally. To prevent to the victim from dying prematurely, the Wraith introduce a special enzyme that ensure's that the heart continues to beat.

The ability to heal is apparently connected to how recently they have fed. If one has recently fed, they will heal almost instantly, though one who hasn't fed in some time is much weaker, but still quite strong. Even bullet holes quickly seal themselves like evaporating water. Females have a much stronger immune system. The species also has advanced telepathic abilities: they can force their prey to see things that are not there, and can use their mental powers to forcefully interrogate humans, though they are incapable of actually reading a human mind. The Wraith also release a sticky, web-like substance that they use to cocoon victims for future feedings.

Telepathy
"Do not trust your eyes. The Wraith can make you see things that are not there."

- Teyla

The Wraith are unique as they are one of the few races that have developed telepathy. This essentially links every Wraith to one another allowing them to communicate with each other. Despite this, they do not possess a hive mind but it did serve as an effective communication system. After this system was infiltrated by Telya from the Atlantis Expedition, the Wraith began to segregate the network to prevent information from being leaked to their enemies.

The Wraith were also capable of enhancing their telepathic abilities to summon the rest of their kind to rescue them. This was accomplished by the number of Wraith within the group who were capable of adding their powers to one another and thus 'boost' the telepathic signal. Typically, this appeared as a ceremony where Wraith hummed and were present in a circle.

The Wraith used this telepathy in an offensive capacity by projecting shadows that distract 'prey'.

Society
"We are a patient race, Major."

- Steve (Wraith)

Culture
Little was own of Wraith culture itself except that it was focused upon culling the Human populations of the galaxy for feedings.

The Wraith are focused around a hive based society similar to insects but this does not mean that they are guided by a collective mind despite being telepathic. Within the Hive, their exists lower caste 'drones' which are masked warriors that perform most of the general duties. This lower caste are supervised by more intelligent male 'commanders' whose faces are not masked. Higher above these Wraith are an unknown group known as Keepers which are tasked with maintaining their technology. The highest authority of the Hive was the Hive queen who maintained near absolute control of the Wraith hive-ships. It was rare for males to take command of their gargantuan hive ships but there was one occasion where a Wraith 'king' was sighted who had been responsible for the culling of Sateda.

Concepts such as beauty and comradeship do appear to be present within the vampiric species. One Wraith that had been captured by the Genii for an unspecified amount of time declared that his escape attempt was worth seeing the stars once again. In addition to this, the same Wraith performed the Gift of Life on a Human which they only did so to their most devout of worshippers and their 'brothers'.

Despite being hated by a majority of Humans within the Pegasus galaxy, the Wraith were known to be served by Wraith worshippers who would be allowed to live for their obediance.

Castes
The Wraith are divided amongst themselves in defined castes.

Political inclination
The Wraith possess an extremely strong territorial instinct, making inter-hive cooperation very rare. Politically, the Wraith appear to have lacked any form of united government since the end of the war with the Lanteans. The hives are extremely fierce in the defense of their own territories, and kill any who trespass on worlds which they claim as their feeding ground.

The situation was made worse with the arrival of the Atlantis Expedition. Upon learning of the existence of Earth, the Wraith awoke from their hibernation cycle fifty years prematurely with the hopes of culling Earth. However, the Wraith have been unable to locate Earth. As the humans of Pegasus were unable to repopulate themselves, and as there were too many Wraith to allow them to sustain themselves, the Wraith have devolved into civil war. This, however, has allowed the Tau'ri a new strategy in fighting the Wraith.