Centauri contradictions and the religious experience of each race:

The Centauri Republic is, unusually for a republic, headed by an Emperor. This seems to be a contradiction, but Centauri religion is also a contradiction, being the only “Maker” religion to also be polytheistic as many preceding Emperors had been deified. The position of Emperor may be more like a hereditary Pope or Llama, with the main functioning of government being run by the Aristocracy. The only powers an Emperor appears to have is absolute control over the day-to-day affairs in the Royal Palace and command of the Centauri Naval and Defense forces. Its possible his/(her?) powers are even more limited, being the final authority over foreign policy and the defenses around Centauri Prime.

What really makes Centauri politics appear so contradictory is the amount of political power enjoyed by the Centauri Aristocracy (who make up the Centaurum or Senate). Again, this isn’t quite so strange as this system was the basis of the Roman Republic and was used by the authors of the United States Constitution to deny power to the masses in an Aristocratic “Representative Democracy”. Perhaps the history of the Republic explains this if we consider that the total (Centauri?) population over their twelve planets is forty billion and we could then assume that “provinces” in the Republic are given a fair degree of autonomy and are populated by a roughly equal mixture of Freemen and Slaves so as to limit the political power of the free masses.

Considering the probable size of her military and reserve forces, as many as one in ten male Centauri may be in the Military, constituting a privileged rank or Caste below Aristocrat. Centauri Prime itself may have few or no Freemen at all with planetary society being polarized between Aristocrat and Slave. The point of this is that it may be the responsibility of Freemen to choose the
members of the Centaurum as the Centaurum chooses the Emperor.

Centauri society could be divided as follows:

Aristocrats-200 to as many as1.5 billion individuals (including female Centauri)

Military-2.5 billion (if trained from boyhood)

Freemen-18-20 billion

Slaves-17 billion

It should be noted that there are probably several ranks of 'slaves', who's legal status
appears to be that of women in the nineteenth century: not being able to travel or own
property or be responsible for their own actions.

All of the important races in Babylon 5 appear to experience the Universe according to their own sense of Justice/ God. For Humans, the experience is very much Agnostic, God neither being really confirmed or denied with as much evidence to support either hypothesis. The Minbari are Pantheist, and see the Universe as simply trying to understand itself.

For the Soul Hunters there is no God because they do not see what they consider to be the Soul as being capable of surviving after death, The Shadows’ embodiment of Justice is conflict and evolution while for the Vorlons it is Order and planned evolution.

The Centauri only experience prophesy, but directly with every individual dreaming their own demise. The Narns worship Nature and this is reflected in their sense of Justice, which is based on Revenge, as they do not see the Universe as being quite as Conscious in the same way that the Minbari do.