The idea that sentient extraterrestrials might be out there, perhaps even studying us, has created a fertile ground to produce all sorts of stories, radio and TV shows and of course films.

As I’ll mention in a later post, one of my writing inspirations is the Stargate series and its spinoffs.  I think you would agree that they wouldn’t have been nearly as exciting, if stepping through the stargate there wasn’t a chance of meeting a completely new species.

Most of the time though, the teams encountered human cultures.  In saying that though, many of those humans were put there by a more advanced race a long time ago, so there’s still a fingerprint of alien involvement.

When I first conceived the idea of the Siphen I only really had in mind phantom-like energy beings.  I had no idea of their motivations, how they exist, or what purpose they would serve in the story.  These are things that you develop with a bit of guesswork and throwing ideas at a mental wall until something sticks.

I suppose more than anything I wanted the Siphen to not be the usual powerful chaotic antagonists who leave a trail of destruction in their wake.  Instead they’re like scavengers, finding the path of least resistance to get their next morsel of energy.

But they weren’t always like this, they used to exist in harmony with their environment, in such small and carefully controlled numbers that they could have existed until the end of the universe without needing to migrate.

Though much like the Goa’uld that once swam in water, eventually they eschewed their simple existence and expanded far beyond their original habitat.

Anyway, hope that’s given you something to think about, I may write some more about them later, not necessarily on an alphabet post. 🙂