Nietzscheans

Nietzscheans are an alien race featured in the 2000-2005 science fiction television series Andromeda. They are one of the provincial races presented in the series and were introduced in the pilot episode "Under the Night". The first named Nietzchean character was Gaheris Rhade, former first officer under the command of the show's main character Captain Dylan Hunt. Another variation of the character, a genetic descendent named Telemachus Rhade was introduced later in the series. Another character, Tyr Anasazi, was introduced at the end of episode one and was a regular, credited cast member throughout the first three seasons of the show.

Description
The Nietzscheans are an offshoot breed of humanity who have been genetically augmented into specimens of complete physical perfection over the span of thousands of years. Aside from physical superiority, they are virtually indistinguishable from baseline humans. The only visible difference between a human and Nietzschean is that Nietzscheans have sharpened, external bone growths that extend from their forearms which can be used as weapons. Nietzscheans believe in genetic superiority and have based their culture on the beliefs of the 19th century Earth philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.

History
The Nietzscheans were once part of the Systems Commonwealth. Things changed however following the Treaty of Antares in which the Commonwealth made peace with the savage Magog - a monstrous race whose practices included eating the bodies of other sentient creatures. The Nietzscheans, having long suffered at the hands of the Magog, could not abide the prospect of forging an extended peace with them and saw it as a sign of weakness on the part of the Commonwealth. They knew that it was now time for the establishment of a new order and they began fortifying their defenses, building a fleet of warships in the Hephaistos System. When the time was right, they staged a fake distress beacon and the Commonwealth sent their flagship, the starship Andromeda Ascendant to respond. When the Andromeda arrived, they found the fleet perched on the edge of a black hole. The Nietzscheans caught the Andromeda completely by surprise and opened fire. Ship's captain Dylan Hunt ordered his crew to abandon ship, but suffered even greater shock when his first officer, a Nietzschean named Gaheris Rhade betrayed him. The Andromeda was caught up in the gravity well of the black hole and frozen in time for more than three-hundred years. With their strongest ship out of the way, the Nietzscheans were able to continue their campaign against the Commonwealth and in a relatively short period of time, the Systems Commonwealth collapsed, giving rise to a dark era known as the Long Night.

Notes & Trivia

 * The concepts behind the Nietzcheans were originally developed by series creator Gene Roddenberry and developed further by writer/producer Robert Hewitt Wolfe.


 * The Nietzscheans share similar traits to that of the Augments like Khan Noonien Singh featured in the Star Trek] mythos. Khan was introduced in the original [[Star Trek series episode "Space Seed" and was also the feature villain in the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Like the Nietzscheans, the Khans are named after a famous historical figure from Earth's past, Genghis Khan.