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"Carter, there are bugs on that planet. Big, huge, ugly, honkin' bugs!"
Jack O'Neill's thoughts on Svoriin[src]

Svoriin, designated BP6-3Q1 by the Tau'ri, was once home to an advanced civilization known as the Svoriin, but was mostly taken over by bugs by the time it was visited by SG-1. Svoriin has one moon which the Svoriin planned to build a lunar colony.

Description[]

Svoriin was a warm planet, with an atmosphere of 1.0,[2] which was covered mostly in large bodies of water, though with enough land to support Human civilization.[1] The geosphere of Svoriin was stable, with only minor earthquakes hitting the planet roughly once every hundred days[2] and, perhaps as a result, the surface of the planet itself was devoid of any noticeable radiation. The climate of the planet was generally mild and temperate, with the temperature averaging out at twenty-three degrees Celsius.[1] Svoriin orbitted a single star, which was very much like the Earth's own sun and underwent a period of high solar flare activity every four years as well as having other periods of intense activity.[2]

Svoriin had four seasons, each of which lasted twenty-five days; spring, where the temperature was around the planets average, summer, during which time the average temperature rose up to forty degrees Fahrenheit above the average, autumn, where it returned to the average, and finally winter, at which time the temperature was known to drop by anywhere up to forty degrees Fahrenheit from the average. During the course of the year, Svoriin averaged out to have eighty-five days without rain, six days of light rain or snow, two days of heavy rain which was likely to cause floods which could gain speeds up to ten miles per hour, two days of thunderstorms or snowstorms, two days of winds ranging up to ten miles per hour, one day of gales which peaked at around thirty miles per hour, and a single day which produced hurricanes or blizzards.[2]

By the late twentieth century, the native people also named Svoriin[2]—had created highly developed cities which were built upon reclaimed land which surrounded the vast bodies of water throughout the planet, some of which were thought to have once been canals or lakes.[1] Sonden was one such city, comprised largely of towering buildings, which was also the location of the planets Stargate by the late twentieth century.[2]

History[]

One of many planets visited by the Ancients, the only relic of their visit left by the late twentieth century was the solitary Stargate. Many years later, around though thousands of years before the inception of the Stargate Program on Earth, the Asgard brought Humans from Scandinavia to Svoriin, encapsulating them in the Protected Planets Treaty they had with the Goa'uld. Unlike the people of Cimmeria, however, the native people—who took on the name of their planet, becoming the Svoriin—were never discovered by the Goa'uld and so their planet did not warrant any additional protection such as Thor's Hammer on Cimmeria. Nevertheless, the Asgard kept a constant watch on the planet and visited it throughout various points in its history, although the natives never became aware of their presence.[2]

In the three thousand years leading up to their rediscovery by the Tau'ri, the native Svoriin developed a technological civilization, eventually entering the Electronic Age. Throughout all this time, the Svoriin never came close to exhausting their planets natural resources, but nevertheless fought many wars due to their differing religious beliefs; the most prominent two being the Gards and the Gemonites who had very differing beliefs about the Stargate which they were unable to reconcile. The Gard, the oldest and most powerful church on Svoriin, believed that all life on their planet was created by the Supreme God, and their all-knowing benefactor, Thor, who had used the Stargate as a vehicle to create the Svoriin themselves from the chaos of the universe. The Gemonites, however, were formed around an individual known as Gemon who claimed he was a Prophet of Thor in the year 1198 and informed the masses that the Stargate was simply a holy object through which they would someday be reunited with Thor. Though Gemon was branded a heretic by the leaders of the Gard church, he managed to garner a large following through so-called "miracles" he performed thanks to a cache of Asgard technology which he discovered. Despite these differences, the Svoriin legends were very clear about the Stargate's purpose and provided detailed instructions on its use, as well as the address for Svoriin itself.[2]

Because of their differences, the two religions argued over the Stargate vehemently, with the device trading hands many times throughout their history. After a major religious conflict around 1798, the Stargate was finally set up in a memorial plaza in the city of Sonden next to a large bay. Though many doubted the devices abilities due to it not having been activated in thousands of years, when a Gemonite pilgrim managed to activate the Stargate through a random sequence of glyphs, many saw it as a vindication of the Gemonite beliefs. Though the Gard argued that using the device was the ultimate evil temptation, and indeed something that no mortal should ever trifle with, the Gemonites argued passionately and were eventually given the right to risk their own lives to travel through the wormhole. Though at first everything went well, with the explorers visiting another planet and then returning safely to their own, disaster soon struck the planet Svoriin. On a trip to the planet which the Svoriin had named Skaald, a single individual was stung by an infestation fly and so was immediately brought back through the Stargate to be cared for.[2]

Though advanced in many other ways, the Svoriin lacked a thorough understanding of genetics and so the infected Human's DNA was quickly changed to that of the infestation fly. The Svoriin medics were unable to understand why the infected man became encased in a cocoon, though the entire planet quickly became aware when the cocoon burst open, revealing more infestation flies. These flies soon infected more people, and the epidemic became planet-wide, devastating most of the Svoriin civilization. Over the course of a year, the population of Svoriin decreased from hundreds of millions to a mere nine hundred thousand, most of the survivors being scattered in urban areas which offered some shelter from the flies. Luckily for the survivors, these areas had many stockpiles of food which had been designed to support the entire population of the planet for weeks; due to their reduced numbers, this same food was able to stretch for over a year. By the time that SG-1 visited the planet, however, these stockpiles were running low.[2]

BP6-3Q1

The capital of Svoriin as it was when SG-1 visited.

When SG-1 did visit the planet, in late 1998, they were met with a ghost town which Colonel Jack O'Neill later compared to "Coney Island in the winter" in his mission report.[1] However, when they checked for traces of battle damage, radiation, or any harmful agents in the air which would account for the lack of people, they were unable to find anything and so remained perplexed at why a seemingly advanced civilization had simply went missing. As Teal'c was sure that the Goa'uld would wish to leave clear evidence if they had been responsible, the team were unable to easily locate the source of the problem until a bug landed upon Teal'c's back during their conversation. Not wishing to startle the creature, O'Neill slowly drew his M9 pistol on it and moved into position to shoot it off Teal'c's back. Before he was able to do so, however, the bug stung Teal'c and then flew away; Teal'c immediately collapsed in pain. It was at that time that a swarm of the bugs chose to reveal themselves, appearing from over the tops of the buildings and heading towards the group of Tau'ri. Dr. Daniel Jackson was the first to notice them, and immediately suggested that the team return to Earth through the Stargate, which they proceeded to do.[3]

However, when Teal'c too started his metamorphosis into the bugs, the rest of SG-1 were forced to return to the planet in order to capture one of the flies so that a cure could be created. This time traveling in hazmat suits, the team were able to return to the planet and successfully capture one of the flies before anyone else was stung. They were chased back through the Stargate by a swarm of flies, however, which were killed by Earth's iris covering the Stargate at their end. The team later showed General George Hammond and Dr. Timothy Harlow evidence that strongly suggested that the insects had been responsible for the population's demise.[3]

Because of the events which transpired following SG-1's visit to the planet, Svoriin's address was later locked out of Stargate Command's dialing computer for good and the address also removed as it was considered to be far too dangerous to ever return to the planet given what had happened.[1]

Behind the scenes[]

Stargate SG-1: The DVD Collection issue 10 gives the Stargate address for this planet, though two of the glyphs are the same. It has not been stated anywhere that this is not possible so, as no other source has provided an address for the planet, it must be assumed to be correct until contradicted by another source. In addition to this, the Stargate SG-1 episode "Bane" reuses the dialling sequence for Abydos, giving the two planets the same address. As this is impossible, the address from Stargate SG-1: The DVD Collection 10 is used in this article.

References and notes[]

Links and navigation[]

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Protected Planets Treaty
Protected Planets Adara IICimmeriaEarthFensalirGalarK'tauPX3-595SvoriinVanaheim
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