Niam was an untraditional Asuran, part of a small group who wished to Ascend by repressing the aggression programming in them. When Atlantis 1 came to Asuras, he welcomed them, and was very interested that they knew of Ascension. When the Asuran city-ship left to destroy Atlantis, Niam urged Oberoth to spare the lives of Atlantis 1. He then showed Elizabeth Weir the origins of the Asurans. After telling them of the Asurans origins, he proposed a trade: if Rodney McKay agreed to remove the aggression code from the Asurans base programming, Niam and his allies would persuade Oberoth and the others to spare Atlantis. McKay was able to locate a series of times called merges where the Asurans shared information. He uploaded a virus which "froze" the Asurans except Niam, and intended to destroy