Tau'ri

"You are the Fifth Race. Your role is clear. If there is any hope in preserving the future, it lies with you and your people."

- Thor

Tau'ri is the term used by the inhabitants of the Milky Way to refer to Earth and human beings from Earth. The word means "first ones" or "those from the first world" in Goa'uld in the sense that human life began on Earth. While it originally applied to all human beings in the Milky Way, the term has come to apply specifically to the humans who currently live on Earth as the Stargate Program progressed. The Tau'ri have become known as the "Atlanteans" by the races of the Pegasus Galaxy due to their habitation of the city of Atlantis, and Earth has also been referred to as "Midgard" by the peoples of planets under the protection of the Asgard. Most of the time, the majority of protagonists in the fight against galactic oppressors are of the Tau'ri, fighting a multi-front war against several other major races. When the Asgard race was close to extinction, they declared the Tau'ri as the "Fifth Race", an allusion to the once-powerful but now-defunct Alliance of Four Great Races.

History
"There is a tale of a primitive world the Goa'uld discovered millennia ago. The Tau'ri. The First World where forms of this type first evolved. It is said the Goa'uld harvested among the primitives, some became Goa'uld hosts, others became Jaffa, the rest were taken as slaves and seeded among the stars to serve them."

- Teal'c

The Tau'ri are humans that were seeded by the Ancients when they left the Milky Way in Atlantis, possibly to escape the Ori Plague. They returned after the end of the war with the Wraith. When they returned, some stayed among the humans, passing on the ATA Gene. The passed-on ATA gene makes several humans from Earth the second evolution of the Ancients and the inheritors of the Ancient technology.

Around the same time, the Tau'ri were discovered by the Goa'uld Ra, and transported throughout the galaxy via the Stargate network and starships thousands of years ago when his race was dying. The people of Earth eventually rebelled against the imposed Goa'uld slavery and buried the Stargate in Egypt.



The Tau'ri rediscovered the Stargate in 1928, and the truth of the galaxy about sixty years later: the galaxy is populated with the ancient peoples of Earth, and the Tau'ri are their only hope of eventual freedom from the Goa'uld.

The time of the Second World War (1939-1945) marked the first experiments with the Stargate. The United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was "curious" about its potential, authorized experimentation to learn what it was capable of. Professor Langford and Ernest Littlefield lead experiments in it, but it was abandoned after Littlefield was presumed killed after stepping through the Gate.

The experimentation, and eventually exploration, were later continued many years later when the U.S.A commissioned nine teams (with many more later on) to go offworld to assess threats to Earth, open negotiations with other civilizations, and procure technology to protect Earth. The first mission was headed by SG-1 and SG-2 who went to Chulak. However, SG-1 got captured, but was later freed by Teal'c, First Prime of Apophis, who joined the team.



After many missions, Senator Robert Kinsey attempted to shut down the Stargate Program because it was a global risk, ignoring the fact that Earth would be attacked by the Goa'uld as warned by Daniel Jackson. SG-1 however disobeyed orders and went through the gate to the co-ordinates Daniel found in an alternate reality. With the help of Bra'tac, Teal'c's teacher, they destroyed Apophis' two motherships and stopped the invasion of Earth. The Tau'ri later came into contact with the Asgard, who, at the time, believed that the Tau'ri were too young a race to ally with. Then they met the Tok'ra, a race of Goa'uld who are opposed to the System Lord's enslavement of the galaxy. They eventually formed an alliance and fought against the System Lords. .

SG-1 encountered the Replicators in 2000, a small robotic insectoid race impervious to most energy weapons, yet vulnerable to projectile weapons. SG-1 eventually crashed the visiting Asgard ship Biliskner, previously commanded by Thor, that had become infested with Replicators into the Pacific Ocean. The heat of re-entry caused the ship to break up in the atmosphere. This was the first of many victories over the Replicators, until they were eventually defeated by the Tau'ri.



In the year 2004, Earth discovered the address to the Lost City of the Ancients, known from their myths as Atlantis: a city that held numerous technologies that could give any who re-discovered it ultimate power in the Milky Way. However, it was in another galaxy called Pegasus. Stargate Command sent an expedition through the Stargate to locate the city, using the ZPM recovered from the Ancient outpost on Proclarush Taonas. Upon arriving, they learned that the Ancients had also seeded human life in the Pegasus galaxy and met a powerful enemy known as the Wraith.

After eight long years of fighting against the Goa'uld, the Tau'ri was eventually able to defeat the System Lords, along with the Replicators, aided by the Jaffa Resistance, the Tok'ra, and the Asgard, with the help of the Ancient's Superweapom on Dakara.



After the defeat of the Goa'uld, Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran eventually contacted the technologically superior Ori and alerted them to the human presence in the Milky Way. The Tau'ri were subsequently forced to battle against the Ori and their servants, the Priors, looking for a weapon to effectively fight them, and prevent humanity from being forced into the servitude of another race once more.

The Tau'ri managed to acquire a weapon capable of destroying the Ori, the Sangraal, and sent it to the Ori galaxy in an attempt to destroy the energy beings, and prevent them from enslaving humanity. Months later, the Tau'ri gained a great advantage over the Ori forces still present in the Milky Way, in the form of a library of the latest Asgard technology installed on the Tau'ri battlecruiser, the Odyssey, before the Asgard committed mass suicide. This gave the Tau'ri access to very advanced technology and knowledge, giving them an almost unparalleled superiority over the other races of the universe.

The Tau'ri would, almost a year later, acquire a relic of the Ancients, known as the Ark of Truth. The Ark of Truth had the ability to show anyone whatever "truth" that was programmed within it. This artifact would eventually lead to the final downfall of the Ori. The Tau'ri exposed the Doci, the Speaker of the Ori, to the Ark of Truth, instantly turning all Priors in the galaxy away from Origin and stripping the final Ori, Adria, of her faith-generated power. The Ancient Morgan Le Fay subsequently engaged Adria in an eternal combat. These and later events would end the Ori crusade with the Tau'ri standing victorious.

Political climate
The United States, by virtue of its control of the Stargate, was largely responsible for Earth's interstellar policy. However, more nations have gradually come to take part in its use. After an Asgard ship crashed into international waters, Russia was able to recover a Stargate that SG-1 had beamed aboard and used it to briefly establish their own Stargate program based in Siberia, although this was eventually terminated and merged with the United States program running out of Cheyenne Mountain. The Russians currently operate their own SG team under Stargate Command's authority. After the System Lord Anubis became an increasing threat and his planned attack on Earth seemed to be coming in the immediate future, the United States and Russia informed the other three permanent members of the UN Security Council: the United Kingdom, France, and China. This was done in the hopes of pooling their combined military resources to defend Earth against Anubis' fleet.

As a consequence of this, the eventual arrival of Anubis' fleet prompted the US President to inform these 5 nations, as well as long-time ally Canada about Stargate Command's fleet engagement plans. After the defeat of Anubis's Fleet and the subsequent discovery of the Ancient outpost in Antarctica, an international committee was established to oversee it and the Atlantis expedition. These new nations were informed of the Stargate's existence because they were all signatories to treaties establishing Antarctica as neutral territory (the outpost is located in the region not claimed by any government).

The three main branches of Earth's involvement with alien technology include:
 * Oversight of the Ancient outpost in Antarctica
 * Stargate Command (also its associated research facility at Area 51 and the Alpha Site)
 * The construction of the fleet of Earth-built space battleships, such as the Daedalus class battlecruiser and the BC-303

The efforts of the United States in these three branches are coordinated by the Department of Homeworld Security.

Many of the nations that are now aware of the existence of the Stargate still don't agree on many issues regarding interstellar and domestic policy. From the onset, China has expressed its distaste at not informing the public about the Stargate's existence; however, they have deferred to the United States, as they have seen that this could create mass panic. SG teams have accidentally sparked planetary wars on industrial, World War II/Cold War-era worlds by informing their populations about the true nature Stargate, the most notable being Tegalus, where first contact caused a fundamentalist coup d'état and full-scale nuclear warfare. .

Russian officials have intimated in private that one of their major motivations in supporting the United States' control of access of advanced alien technologies is that they want the USA to be the one that spends billions of dollars and risks a great deal developing prototype technologies, such as for the BC-303s, and that once they are perfected the Russians planed on building their own BC-303s, for a fraction of the cost and no risk. In the end, they did not build their own ships, but did receive a more advanced American-built Daedalus-class battlecruiser.

Public knowledge of the SGC
Over the years, all attempts have been made to keep the existence of the Stargate secret, assuming there would be mass panic if the public found out. This has been shown by several alternate-universe experiences, as the reason of the survival of was due to Carter joining the military, and possibly the SGC remaining a secret. The SGC has been remarkably successful at this, even when Earth was under direct attack by Anubis, an assault which included the apparent destruction of an entire US Navy USS Nimitz Carrier Battle Group, and when a skyscraper disappeared in downtown Seattle with no apparent explosion. Nevertheless, conspiracy theorists, especially those with business ties to the U.S. Air Force like Alec Colson, have suspected that some kind of extraterrestrial activity is going on at the highest levels of the military. A very few select civilians not in government are aware of the SGC's existence, such as Martin Lloyd (who is himself an alien), and Joe Spencer and his wife, as well as Jeannie Miller and her husband Kaleb. For the civilians who do know of the existence of the Stargate Programme, they must sign in a Non-disclosure agreement form.

In the year 2010 of an alternate timeline in which the Goa'uld had been defeated by an alliance between the Tau'ri and the Aschen, the entire Earth knew about the Stargate, and appeared to treat it in much the same way as air travel. However, that future was erased to prevent Earth from being influenced by the Aschen.

In an alternate universe, the SGC was forced to reveal the Stargate's existence after Anubis' attack in 2004. This caused global panic and the world's governments were in arguments. The U.S. barely got the Ancient control chair out of the Antarctic outpost before Russian troops moved in. Also, major riots broke out in the United States, and President Hank Landry was forced to issue martial law. As a result, civil rights were severely limited.

Relationships with other cultures
The Tau'ri had a strong alliance with the Jaffa Rebellion, after effectively being responsible for its creation, beginning with Teal'c's defection. However, many Jaffa believe that the Tau'ri merely accelerated the inevitable Jaffa uprising, a process that had started by the rebellion of the Sodan, continued by smaller rebellions such as the Battle of Tazek'sur on Chulak where several Jaffa, including Gerak's father, died for their eventual freedom. Nevertheless, the Tau'ri are largely responsible for the eventual formation of the modern Free Jaffa Nation. Those Jaffa factions who fought alongside the Tau'ri felt very indebted to Earth and wanted to establish a democratic system of their own. By stumbling across the Pangarans, combined with their special relationship with the Tok'ra, the Tau'ri were also able to free the Jaffa from their mortal dependence on Goa'uld larvae by adapting the Tretonin for wide-spread use.

The relationship between the Tau'ri and the new Free Jaffa Nation has been more difficult. Many Jaffa continue to view the Tau'ri with a certain amount of mistrust, leading to several threats against Earth. Before the destruction of Dakara, however, the Jaffa were valuable allies against the Ori.



In 1998, the Tau'ri made contact with rebel Goa'uld known as the Tok'ra, whose goal it was to overthrow the System Lords. The Tau'ri and the Tok'ra eventually signed a treaty and they have been valuable allies ever since. The Tok'ra have been instrumental in defeating both the Goa'uld and the Replicators, and also joined the fight against the Ori.

The Tau'ri also had strong ties with the Tollan before the destruction, despite their frustration at the Tollan's refusal to share any of their technology with Earth. Tollan society was destroyed, however, by Anubis when they refused to attack Earth to save their own planet.



In 2002, it was discovered that Earth was also the homeworld of the Ancients after they left their own galaxy for the Milky Way. The Ancients, one of the most advanced civilization to ever live, were the original constructors of the Stargates and continue to affect the societies of the galaxy. Although not necessarily direct ancestors of the Tau'ri, the Ancients consider human beings in general, and the Tau'ri in particular, to be the "second evolution" of their species, a fact that would later come to haunt the Tau'ri with the discovery of the Asurans. Some Tau'ri possess genetic markers (called the ATA gene) unique to the Ancients that allow them to use Ancient technology, as a result of interbreeding with a group of Ancients that returned to Earth ten thousand years ago from their city of Atlantis when there was no hope of defeating the Wraith.



The Asgard once described the Tau'ri as being well on their way to becoming the "Fifth Race", a reference to the Alliance of Four Great Races that both the Asgard and Ancients were part of, and had seen their great potential long ago. Although the Asgard were originally hesitant to form an alliance with the Tau'ri, as the difference in their levels of technology was at the time too great, they would eventually come to depend on the Tau'ri in their fight against the Replicators: the Replicators, used to dealing with the sophisticated Asgard, were unprepared to counter the more simple approaches of the Tau'ri. In return, the Asgard have become one of Earth's greatest and most powerful friends, and have gifted to them many of their technologies, most notably hyperdrive, shielding, and beaming technology. Unfortunately, the alliance would come to an untimely end when the Asgard were unable find the flaw in their degrading genome, ultimately leading to their extinction. Before their deaths, the Asgard gave the Tau'ri all of their knowledge and technology, despite strong reservations at the young stage of Tau'ri development, and self-destructed their home of Orilla; finally pronouncing the Tau'ri as the Fifth Race of the Great Alliance.

When dealing with less advanced human races, the Tau'ri have adopted a policy on the sharing of technology similar to the Tollan, but nowhere near as strict: while the Tollan refuse to share any of their technology, Earth will usually refuse to share only their military technology. They will, however, often provide these cultures with humanitarian technologies, such as medical supplies. They also often refuse to intervene in the political situations of other planets, however exeptions have been made when they feel it will be for the better.



In the Pegasus Galaxy, where they have become known as the Atlanteans, Earth has made multiple relations with the less advanced humans there with the help of the Athosians, their closest allies in that galaxy. Some alliances have been made in order to gain food to replenish their stocks and others have been made to fight the Wraith together (which usually end rather quickly). One of their most prominent alliances was with Genii, a military dictatorship possessing technology that, while advanced compared to the natives of the Pegasus Galaxy, was nowhere near as advanced as that of the Tau'ri. A shaky alliance with the Genii was forged in an attempt to fight the Wraith, as they were the most advanced culture they had so far encountered, but due to the rampant corruption in the Genii leadership, all communication with them was abandoned. An uneasy truce was reached, however, when the Genii leadership changed, which the Tau'ri helped happen.

In 2006, the Lucian Alliance, a highly organized group of drug dealing criminals that had stepped in to fill the power vacuum left by the Goa'uld, made an attempt to capture the Battlecruiser Odyssey, resulting in the death of its commander Colonel Paul Emerson. The leader of the Alliance, Netan had sent a lieutenant Anateo on what he had hoped would be a fools errand, believing that the Tau'ri were too strong for the plan to succeed. This backfired on Netan as Anateo almost succeeded in taking the ship. Although the crew was eventually able to retake their ship, the Tau'ri have declared war on the Lucian Alliance, something they were seeking to avoid. However in 2007 the Lucian Alliance set up a bounty on SG-1 because their drug dealing was being disrupted by Earth's elite Stargate team, causing Netan to become weak in the eyes of the Lucien Alliance; they then turned the strongest of bounty hunters against Netan to kill him and take his place of power in an attempt to set things right.



Humans were initially seen as a weak species by the Ori. Ultimately, however, Earth steadily grew into an increasing threat that the Ori had to either convert or destroy. First, they released a plague on Earth, which was foiled when the ascended being known as Orlin returned to the lower planes to provide the Tau'ri with a cure, at great cost to himself. With their first attempt at removing the Tau'ri as a threat foiled, they turned SG-1's own Daniel Jackson into a Prior for that purpose. However, protected by the consciousness of the Ancient Merlin, Jackson was able to send the Sangraal, the only weapon that could destroy the Ori, to their galaxy, destroying them. Because most of their forces were stuck in their own galaxy, the Ori turned to their Jaffa allies, who were eager to destroy Earth; SG-1 was able to foil their plot. Finally, Earth came to pose the greatest threat the Ori had ever faced on the lower planes, in the form of plasma beam weapons that could penetrate their motherships' shields in a handful of shots, while at the same time boasting shields that could resist the primary energy weapon of multiple Ori motherships for several minutes. Realizing the very real danger the Tau'ri now posed, the Ori then mounted plans to launch a full-scale assault against Earth, but were thwarted when and SG-1 activated the Ark of Truth, thus removing their follower's belief in Origin, and the Ascended being Ganos Lal engaged Adria in a never-ending duel, permanently ending the Ori crusade.

Tau'ri on the Intergalactic Stage
The Tau'ri have rapidly risen to prominance and become a major power in both the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies. They have caused the downfall of many other galactic powers, including the Goa'uld Empire, the Replicators, the Ori, the Asurans, and they are well on their way to ending the Wraith domination of the Pegasus Galaxy where even the Ancients had failed. As a result, they are often treated with caution by other major races, and even one of their closest allies, the Free Jaffa Nation, has shown great mistrust towards the Tau'ri as many of their population believe that the Jaffa should remain independent and free from any non-Jaffa influence.

Many members of the Lucian Alliance, one of Earth's enemies, believe the Tau'ri to be a major threat to their organisation, and believe that they have caused more grief to them than any other adversary, including the Ori. A small minority, including their leader Netan, are of the opinion that the Tau'ri are of no or little consequence however.

The Tau'ri were proclaimed the fifth member of the Alliance of Four Great Races by the Asgard, who left all their knowledge and history to the Tau'ri, thus placing on them the responsibility of being the first line of defense for preserving the hope of the future.

Technology
The Tau'ri were a fairly advanced race even before the exploration of the Milky Way, capable of simple space travel and nuclear warfare. Tau'ri weapons are capable of rivaling the Goa'uld staff weapons and, interestingly enough, Tau'ri weapons were the only known weaponry to permanently damage the Replicators before the invention of the Replicator disruptor.

The Tau'ri's first (successful) attempt of constructing any advanced starships of their own resulted in the F-302, an air and space superiority vehicle capable of engaging battle against most alien starships. Since then one of the Stargate Command's primary objectives has been to develop and construct a fleet of Earth-built space battleships, such as the Daedalus class battlecruiser and the BC-303.

Alien technology
The Tau'ri have developed many technologies based on what SG teams have brought back from trips to other planets via the use of the Stargate on Earth. While Earth's level of technology prior even to Stargate travel far supersedes the level found on most planets throughout the galaxy (and indeed others), several races far surpass it. Much of the alien technology the SGC was able to procure has been Goa'uld in nature, which they have utilized to make several advances, mostly in the area of starship and weapons technology. However, since the Asgard donated their entire database and latest technology to the people of Earth before they perished, and with the exploration of Atlantis and access its database, the technology of the Tau'ri will make an incredible leap forward in the near future, perhaps rivaling, or even surpassing, that of both the Ancients and Asgard, thereby making them the most powerful race in the known universe.

Military strength
"He's a coward, choosing to run and hide, rather to face the wrath of the Tau'ri"

- Anateo speaking about Netan's caution of the Tau'ri

Earth has several offworld teams, mostly under the control of the SGC, who are to open negotiations with other planets and procure advanced technology that could be used to defend Earth. They usually operate as teams of four, although that is not a requirement. A few off-world bases have a number of military personnel for operation.

In addition to this, Earth presumably possesses a conventional military capability dispersed throughout the many nations that occupy its surface. The potential effectiveness of these Forces in defending Earth against external attack is unknown, as SG Teams using current military equipment have shown weapons such as FIM-92 Stinger Missiles to be somewhat effective against Goa'uld vehicles. However, the decentralized nature of Military Forces on Earth, as well as the great variations in standards of training and equipment present the possibility that an external attack would at least at first meet confused and relatively ineffective resistance. In addition, many nations appear to have no knowledge of the Stargate and as such would have no way of preparing and planning for such an attack. Finally the ease with which forces of Anubis managed to annihilate a US Navy Carrier Battle Group indicates that much of Earth's military capabilities would be of limited use against external threats.

The Tau'ri also posses at least 25 SG teams and 5 Atlantis teams who are actively working off-world.

Starships
Earth also operates a small, but highly advanced, fleet of starships, consisting of:
 * Prometheus (Destroyed)
 * Daedalus
 * Odyssey
 * Korolev (Destroyed)
 * Apollo
 * Phoenix (Under construction)

Earth also has several squadrons of F-302s (space-worthy 2-man fighters), but the exact number remains unknown. Their known base of operations include Earth, Atlantis, and Alpha, Beta Sites and Gamma Sites. In addition, every Daedalus-class battlecruiser also carries 16 F-302 fighters.

The Atlantis Expedition
The Atlantis Project, also called the Atlantis Expedition, is Earth's international mission to the Ancient city of Atlantis in the Pegasus Galaxy. The impetus for the creation of the expedition was the discovery of the Ancient outpost in Antarctica. The reason that it is international is that it was felt that a project of such importance could not be the exclusive province of one nation, as well as the fact that according to American and international law, Antarctica is international territory and hence it would be technically illegal for the United States to operate any facilities without international participation or at least international knowledge. An international committee, originally called the Atlantis Committee was established, creating the first truly international body for the management of Earth's off-world affairs. It is composed of the representatives of several nations, but the leaders of the committee seem to be the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China, however, numerous nations have sent people to Atlantis.

The International Oversight Advisory
The committee created to oversee the Atlantis Project has gone beyond its original purpose and has actively affected other areas of Earth's off-world affairs as the International Oversight Advisory, or I.O.A. Its core is composed of representatives the Big Five: the United States, represented by Richard Woolsey; the United Kingdom, represented by Russel Chapman; France, represented by Jean LaPierre; Russia, represented (it is assumed) by Col. Chekov, the Russian military liaison to Stargate Command (although it is unknown if he survived the Battle of P3Y-229); and China, represented by Dr. Chen Xiaoyi.

The I.O.A. recently agreed to provide Stargate Command with funds which General Hank Landry and Daniel Jackson stated was necessary for the SGC to remain important; since the Congress of the United States would not appropriate these funds, the committee agreed to on the condition that a civilian watchdog would be permitted to watch over SGC affairs. That watchdog is generally accepted to be Richard Woolsey, the United States representative.

Worlds under Tau'ri control

 * Earth (Homeworld)
 * Gamma Site (Major military base)
 * M35-117 (Current location of Atlantis)
 * Pegasus Alpha Site (Major military base)
 * P4F-221 (Mining operations for naquadah)
 * P4X-650 (Current location of the present (3rd) Alpha Site)
 * P5C-629 (Military base and part of the "Seeker Project")

Major Enemies

 * Aschen (Status unknown)
 * Asurans (Confirmed defeated) - see Asuran-Tau'ri-Wraith war
 * Genii (Sporadical enemy/currently nominal ally)
 * Goa'uld (Confirmed defeated) - see Tau'ri-Goa'uld war
 * Lucian Alliance (Crumbled)
 * Michael Kenmore (Crippled Pegasus Galaxy threat) - see Michael's crusade
 * Replicators (Confirmed defeated) - see Replicator Invasion
 * OP-CORE (Status unknown)
 * Ori (Confirmed defeated) - see Ori crusade
 * The Trust (Status unknown)
 * Wraith (Active Pegasus Galaxy threat) - see Tau'ri-Wraith war