This is a draft for a fair rewrite. Don't make angry edits, try to forget any agenda of your own, and keep the English-speaking reader firmly in mind. Thanks.
DRAFT
This article concerns modern peoples in northern Iraq and neighboring areas. For the ancient Mesopotamian kingdom, see Assyria.
"Assyrians" is a collective term used to identify indigenous peoples of northern Iraq and neighboring areas of Syria and Turkey, who also identify themselves as Aramaeans and Chaldeans. They are the survivors of the formerly extensive Aramaic- or Syriac- speaking Christian community of northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, and northwestern Iran. Assyrians are members of the Assyrian Church of the East (Nestorian), the Chaldean Catholic Church of Babylon, and the Syrian Orthodox Church, and the Syriac Catholic Church. They read and write various dialects of Aramaic, a Semitic language which in the form of Syriac is used in their religious observances. In Iraq, a few Early Christian churches dating back to the 5th century still dot the northern countryside.
It should be emphasized that in ancient times Assyria and Syria (or Aram) designated two separate geographical areas with different languages.
Though the modern Assyrians assert their connections with the Assyrian empire that began with Sargon I and which encompassed what is now western Iran, all of Syria and Mesopotamia (Iraq), Palestine, the Armenian highlands and which even threatened Egypt in the 8th and 7th centuries BC, direct genetic inheritance and authentic cultural continuity with any modern peoples are tenuous. But see the links below on "Assyrian Identity" and Genetic Differentiation In Iranian Christian Communities.
The term "Assyrian" is disputed by scholars. Rudolf Macuch (Geschichte der spät- und neusyrischen Literatur Berlin, New York:de Gruyter 1976) points out that from the beginning the Eastern Neo-Aramaic press used the term "Syrian" (suryêta) and only much later, with the rise of nationalism, switched to the name "Assyrian" (atorêta). However, according to Tsereteli (Sovremennyj assirijskij jazyk Moscow:Nauka 1964), a Georgian equivalent of "Assyrians" appears in Georgian documents from the 18th century, designating Eastern Aramaeans.
Among linguists, supporters of the term "Assyrian" (such as Edward Odisho The sound system of Modern Assyrian Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz 1988) admit that linguistically the term is misleading, because in linguistics the name "Assyrian" is reserved for the extinct language of ancient Assyrians, while the modern Aramaic dialects belong to a different branch. He further argues that ancient Assyrians could be among the ancestors of modern Arameans in Iraq.
A'Gaeris was a D'ni philosopher, who had once been an important public figure but had fallen into disgrace after breaking D'ni laws. He had been exiled from the upper classes, and was forced to live under the low poor of the D'ni society. A'Gaeris grew to hate D'ni and all it stood for.
After the arrival of the human Anna in D'ni, and the subsequent falling out between the former friends Veovis and Aitrus, A'Gaeris saw his chance for revenge. He approached both, and played them against each other. The result of this was that Veovis was falsely accused of attempting to Write illegal Books, and was framed for [...]. Veovis was imprisoned based on the testimony of Aitrus.
A'Gaeris now used this to make Veovis his accomplice: he helped Veovis escape, and together they planned their revenge on D'ni. After a series of [...] attacks on the city, they released poison gas in the Cavern, a genocidal attack which killed most of the population. Not content with this, A'Gaeris and Veovis Linked diseased corpses into all Ages they could find, [...] most of the refugees as well.
However, A'Gaeris' plans were foiled when Veovis refused to Write an Age where he and A'Gaeris could live as Gods. Enraged, A'Gaeris murdered Veovis. Aitrus had caught up with them by now, and managed to lure A'Gaeris into a Death Age, but only by Linking there himself, in essence committing [...].
Ah ( aka Tuesday and Jerusalem.Ah ) is a very buggy computer virus which infects COM files including command.com. Ah is based on the V1024 virus, and originated is Italy on May, 1991. When the first program infected with Ah is executed, Ah will install itself memory resident at the top of system memory, but below the 640K DOS boundary. After it is memory resident, Ah will infect .COM programs over 1K in length when they are executed. Infected programs will increase in size by 1,173 bytes, though the file length increase will be hidden if Ah is resident. Their date and time in the DOS directory will appear to be unaltered, though if the program's original time was 12:00a, it will now be blank. The virus will be located at the beginning of infected programs. Total system and available free memory, as indicated by the DOS CHKDSK program, will decrease by 1,216 bytes. Interrupts 08 and 21 will be hooked by the virus. Systems infected with Ah will experience frequent system hangs. These hangs occur when the user attempts to execute a .COM program which is infected with Ah. They may also occur when the virus attempts to infect an uninfected program. System hangs occur so frequently with Ah that the virus is very noticeable. The Ah virus activates on Tuesdays, at which time it will attempt to format the first few tracks of the system hard disk.
The following text string is found in infected files:
- "(C) David Grant Virus Research 1991 PCVRF Disribuite this virus freely!!! ...ah...John...[...] You!"
Ah is believed to have been created by the same person as several other viruses from Italy, including Smack and Enigma. David Grant and the PCVRF had nothing to do with its creation.
The Tectonese, or Newcomers, are the fictional humanoid alien species featured in the movie Alien Nation as well as the television series of the same name.
Appearance
Tectonese skulls are slightly larger and more elongated than human ones. They are also hairless, and the back of their heads are covered by a distinct pattern of brown spots. Tectonese faces tend to have more rounded features than human ones, but other than that they are more or less physically identical to humans in appearance.
Physical Attributes
Because they are a slave race that has been bred and engineered for maximum efficiency, the Tectonese have physical and mental attributes that are in some ways superior to that of human beings. They are much stronger than humans, and they assimilate new information (such as new languages or procedures) very quickly. Because of their long enslavement, however, they do not always have a lot of common sense when it comes to Earth culture.
Distinct Tectonese attributes include:
- Salt water is extremely corrosive to them, and acts on Tectonese flesh much like industrial acid would on human flesh. Immersion in salt water is lethal to Tectonese, and even being splashed by it can be extremely damaging.
- Spoiled or sour milk acts like alcohol to them.
- They are unable to digest cooked meat, which causes them severe gastric distress. As a result, Tectonese eat only meat that is uncooked.
- They have two heart-like organs, one on each side of the chest. Tectonese are extremely durable and can keep going even after being shot in the chest multiple times. The only way to kill one instantly is to destroy both hearts or the brain.
- For anatomical reasons not explained, the testicles of male Tectonese are neither vulnerable to damage nor sensative to pain, so kicking them in the groin is completely ineffective. They do however have very sensative nerve clusters just underneath their armpits, and striking them there has the equivalent effect of kicking a human male in the groin.
History
The Tectonese mothership crash landed in the Mojave Desert near Los Angeles. This event freed the enslaved Tectonese aboard, but also stranded them on Earth with no place else to go.They were eventually assimilated into Los Angeles as yet another foreign community.The focus of both the movie and the television show is the various tensions that arise between humans and the alien newcomers whom they suddenly find themselves sharing the planet with.