Talyn

Talyn
Production information
Class:	Leviathan gunship hybrid
Maufacturer:	Peacekeepers, Moya (birthed)
Modified by:	Peacekeepers
Technical specifications
Countermeasures:	Starburst
Armament:	Sonic ascendancy cannon
Complement:	At least one transport pod
Crew:	One controller (though capable of having more), DRDs
Passengers:	At least four
Usage
Role(s):	Gunship
Earliest sighting:	1.20 The Hidden Memory
Latest sighting:	3.22 Dog with Two Bones (wreckage)
Destroyed:	3.21 Into the Lion's Den - Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Affiliation:	Independent, Moya
Known commander(s):	Bialar Crais, Stark, Aeryn Sun

This article covers the Leviathan gunship. For Aeryn Sun's father see Talyn Lyczac.

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"That's Moya's Child?"

"Yes."

"But it's covered in weapons."

-Chiana, Pilot, and Rygel, on Talyn

Talyn was a male Peacekeeper/Leviathan hybrid gunship, a living spaceship that was the progeny of the Leviathan Moya.

Talyn was named after Aeryn Sun's father.

Overview

The Leviathan Moya was subjected to a hybridization experiment by the Peacekeepers while in captivity. A synthetic stimulant/conceptive was placed in her by a Peacekeeper Leviathan expert called Tam Velorek, the leader of the experiment. It was accidentally released by Ka D'Argo six months after Moya's escape from Peacekeeper captivity, leading to the conception of a fetus. Roughly a cycle later, Moya gave birth to a baby Leviathan. Because of the baby's weaponry, he became stuck during the birthing and had to let off a low yield shot to get free.

In his infancy, the baby had a few disagreements with his mother and refused to talk to her. Moya felt that a Peacekeeper should talk to him and asked Aeryn Sun to assist. Aeryn boarded the infant Leviathan and succeeded in convincing him to listen to his mother. To show her gratitude, Moya asked Officer Sun to name her offspring, and Aeryn later named it after her own father, Talyn.

However, the result of the Peacekeeper experiment was obvious: Talyn was far from a normal Leviathan. The conceptive had been contaminated with the DNA that produced weapons, and Talyn was born with integral weaponry, the most notable of which is his main gun, the sonic ascendancy cannon. These weapons caused difficulty at his birthing from Moya but also proved to be the solution when he used a low level blast to blow out two tiers of Moya otherwise leaving her unharmed.

At times, Talyn could be emotionally unstable, even going so far as to deliberately attack Moya. He also panicked easily. It is unclear whether this resulted from his violent childhood, or from errors in his genome.

Sonic ascendancy cannon

Talyn's cannon

Mounted on a gun turret at the top of the ship, the cannon was Talyn's largest weapon, and was often used with lethal effect. At one point, worried about Talyn's destructive potential, Bialar Crais wanted to replace it with a dampening net. Ironically, Talyn shot the net salesmen with the cannon and starburst away to protect his mother; it was later learned the salesmen were carrying forbidden cargo. In later episodes, Talyn used the cannon to destroy the Shadow Depository and Scorpius’ Marauder.

Internal defenses

Talyn has multiple weapons emplacements, not only his impressive complement of external weapons but powerful network of internal defensive weapons to repel boarding parties. He used them to kill a Scarran, a noteworthy feat as they are known to be difficult to kill.

Classification

Talyn is classified as a Leviathan/Peacekeeper gunship hybrid. Unlike other Leviathans, Talyn doesn't have a Pilot bonded to him, but still has a vestigial Pilot's den: although he physically could be bonded to a Pilot (he managed to bond temporarily, yet successfully, to Stark in one instance through the Pilot's den), he does not require one in order to navigate himself and fire his weapons. He can operate purely on voice command; still, a humanoid can be implanted with a device that allows direct interface with Talyn, although not to the same extent as a Pilot. Talyn can even resist orders from time to time to the point where commands are more suggestions than orders. This device, unless properly modified, can also be a two-way street through which Talyn can force feedback through to injure the implanted humanoid. It also leaves the humanoid open to feeling Talyn's pain as Pilot feels Moya's pain. The device's sympathetic effect can even go as far as to physically blind the humanoid if Talyn's sensors are damaged. Because of the connection strength, Talyn can force those connected to him to do his will to a certain degree. This causes great deal of pain to the humanoid pilot to the extent that was seen on Crais.

Talyn is regarded as one of the most advanced ships ever created; not only is he more powerful than a standard Peacekeeper gunship (also more maneuverable, better sensors, as well as other factors), but as a living ship he can automatically heal himself over time without having to put into drydock. He also comes with his own red DRDs, which have a unique look compared to the DRDs of other Leviathans and very powerful weapons.

Talyn's DRD.

Talyn was widely anticipated to be one of the most powerful ships around by the time he reached maturity. He was young (and quite childlike) for much of Farscape, and was dwarfed by his mother Moya, although he did grow gradually over the series. It was theorized by Pilot that he might even have grown larger than a normal Leviathan.

Talyn sacrifices himself to destroy the command carrier.

At the end of season 3, Talyn sacrificed his life to save the crew of Moya. Captured and disabled while docked inside the Peacekeeper command carrier that had been following the crew for three cycles, Talyn starburst within the carrier, causing a massive energy wave that progressively consumed the carrier while leaving enough time for most of the crew to evacuate the ship. Talyn's remains were carried by Moya to the sacred Leviathan burial space, something of an elephant graveyard of Leviathans, space they regard as holy and where they go to die. He was mourned by Moya and her crew, with Chiana and Jool overseeing the release of his remains and Rygel delivering a eulogy where he proclaimed that Talyn had been a credit to both his species.

In the second to last issue of Season 5, Talyn briefly appeared: alive and well, much bigger, in an alternate dimension, and with three main cannons. He was named Lo La by that dimension's version of Ka D'Argo in the last issue of Gone and Back. Talyn helped John meet that dimension's version of Aeryn, setting straight her confusion by shooting through Grazya's command carrier. Having D'Argo as his captain allowed Talyn much greater stability than he had with Bialar Crais, as that dimension's version of Crais was killed when Moya was only two months pregnant with Talyn.

Background information

• The original design for Talyn had two turrets, top and bottom, but each would have had six or seven guns, all spinning independently. (Farscape: The Illustrated Companion)

Appearances

• Season 1
  • "They've Got a Secret" (fetus)
  • "The Hidden Memory"
  • "Bone To Be Wild"
  • "Family Ties"
• Season 2
  • "Mind the Baby"
  • "Out of Their Minds" (recording)
  • "The Ugly Truth"
  • "Liars, Guns and Money - Plan B"
  • "Die Me, Dichotomy"
• Season 3
  • "Season of Death"
  • "Eat Me"
  • "Thanks for Sharing"
  • "Green Eyed Monster"
  • "Relativity"
  • "Meltdown"
  • "Infinite Possibilities - Daedalus Demands"
  • "Infinite Possibilities - Icarus Abides"
  • "The Choice"
  • "Fractures"
  • "I-Yensch, You-Yensch"
  • "Into the Lion's Den - Lambs to the Slaughter"
  • "Into the Lion's Den - Wolf in Sheep's Clothing"
  • "Dog with Two Bones" (debris)
• Farscape: Gone and Back: "All Fall Down" (unrealized reality)