AldebaranThe Explorers
Aldebaran, the red eye of Taurus, has attracted lore since the early 20th century, including the discredited 'Vril' myth of the 1920s–30s. The modern Aldebaran archetype is an explorer people, and the Atlas notes the esoteric origins of that lore plainly.
At a glance
- Home system
- Aldebaran (Taurus)
- Avg. height
- 5′11″ – 7′10″
- Appearance
- Tan to orange skin, hairless, angular
- Reported lifespan
- 300 – 700 years (lore)
- Social structure
- Described as expeditionary
- Technology
- Described as advanced propulsion
- Primary traits
- Curious, analytical, restless
- Relationship to Earth
- Described as neutral
Physical profile
Aldebaran beings are described as lean and angular, with tan, copper or orange skin, hairless heads and dark eyes. Some accounts give them a textured, almost cracked skin surface. They are portrayed as explorers: practical, curious and unsentimental.
Reported origin
Aldebaran, the red eye of Taurus, is an orange giant about 65 light-years away and one of the brightest stars in the sky. A giant planet was reported orbiting it in 2015 and later called into question. The star's prominence made it a target for lore early: the 1920s and 1930s German esoteric circles associated with the so-called Vril Society claimed contact with beings from Aldebaran, a story that was itself largely elaborated by 1960s and 1990s writers.
Culture
Expeditionary and analytical in the modern lore, with the beings cast as neutral explorers rather than guides or adversaries.
Technology
Advanced propulsion; the Vril-era story claimed that the beings transmitted plans for flying machines.
Craft
The alleged Vril craft of the esoteric legend, and unremarkable discs in later lore.
Communication
The Vril story described channelled messages received by mediums; later material follows the same pattern.
Earth encounters
There are no witness cases. The Aldebaran lore has an unusual and troubling pedigree: it originates in interwar German occultism, and the 'Vril Society' story was expanded after the war by writers connecting it to Nazi secret-weapon myths. Modern channelled sources have largely stripped that context away and present the Aldebarans simply as one more star nation.
Lore & history
XenoAtlas includes the Aldebaran because it is a recurring name in the lore, and notes its origins because they matter. The star itself is a magnificent object visible to anyone on a winter night; the beings attached to it are a twentieth-century invention.
The Vril Society itself is poorly attested; the name comes from an 1871 novel, The Coming Race, and the postwar legend of Nazi flying saucers guided by Aldebaran messages was built by writers in the 1960s and 1990s from thin sources. Historians of the occult, including Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, have traced how the story grew. It is a case study in how lore accretes, and it is why XenoAtlas states the provenance.
Source notes
- Aldebaran — star and associated lore · encyclopedic summary
- Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity (2002) · critical historyFind on Amazon
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XenoAtlas documents extraterrestrial concepts appearing in mythology, contactee literature, popular culture, speculative accounts, and related sources. Inclusion does not constitute scientific verification.
Related species
See every type in the Types of Aliens guide.