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stars-in-a-jam-jar · 1 month

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[JUMPS IN YOUR INBOX] YOU! KEEP TALKING.

Saw your analysis post information Marble Sky and was incredibly intrigued by how well you connected details in the story. I hadn't caught the detail of Holly presumably being an incredibly important member of his species because of his addition to The Vault. That's a very nice catch. Additionally, I do think you're right about the Vault's function being long-term preservation rather than a holding place for people about to be killed. Holly's obviously been there long enough to put down literal roots and has been onserved to be peaceful enough that Ward was placed with him for co-habitation.

Not only does that imply that Sculptors cares about his subjects not killing each other, but he also has found through rooting around in Ward's brain that humans are social creatures and need social interaction to maintain vitality. If he has plans to kill Ward, it wouldn't make sense for him to place him with another inmate, giving him a "roomie" suggests that he plans to keep Ward long-term, and in fair mental condition. The same applies to Holly as well. Nobodies stopped him from growing plants in the Vault, despite him obviously being captured and under surveillance. If we're to assume that proximjty to vegetation is important for teegardians (tbh its important for humans too, but I digress) then it can be assumed that they're trying to keep him sane as well. Not for anything good, mind you, but it implies Sculptor isn't a "mad" scientist but rather a thorough and clinically practical one.

I have Thoughts about other aspects of your analysis (positive ones prommy) but this ask is very long. Anyway A+ analysis you forced me to overcome social anxiety to brain dump in your inbox haha

Thank you♡♡♡♡♡

I love when a scientist who's Objectively A Bad Guy is also Objectively A Good Scientist, it makes everything feel so tactile, if that's the way to describe it. "Some of you will die be horrifically traumatized and violated by weird information scraping biotech. But that is a sacrifice I am willing to make."

There seems to be established protocols around the situation with the humans. 'We found a primitive spacecraft with creatures inside.' 'The edible kind?' Ward says he feels like they're being watched. Ecliptica warns Alcor not to bite Oscar because he doesn't know where he's been. These Are Very Organized People, and because we the audience are more inclined to lean into Oscar's POV than Ward's on account of wanting to see Oscar successfully woo this big scary alien, we don't notice how Fucking Terrifying That Organization Is. An organization facilitated by Sculptor's deeply unethical science because final leadership defaults to Ecliptica due to her being the biggest and strongest.

Like. Like the Echolocators a curious species, but in a universe where they are some of the most dangerous things in space, so everyone, especially high ranking officials like Sculptor and Ecliptica, just confidently takes what they want. The hierarchy within their own colony is functionally the only thing that gives any of them pause. When Ecliptica is testing how far Oscar's trust in her not being a danger to him goes, Alcor fearfully scurries out of his arms because 'Oh shit, the moon is getting up in my space, I gotta get out of here.' and he looks on anxiously as she picks Oscar up because Oscar is his fun big dude who tastes like a great snack when he bites him and has this cool music stuff in his headphones. It's perfectly fine for Alcor to crawl all over and cling to Oscar, but suddenly Oscar is up close and personal with the most dangerous thing in Alcor's life and he just stands next to Ward anxiously flicking his tail around.

I have an idea mostly based around uhhh nothing I guess that it's not that female Echolocators are rare or anything, it's that they're Extremely Territorial and very likely to fucking Kill one another.

#marble sky #marble sky theories #jammering on

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fairfowl · 3 years

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Lie There and Breathe pt 2: A Poor Choice of Watchmen

A horde clone oc story (part one here)

Tw: mild gore, cult indoctrination

The next time that the clone awoke it was to a feeling of coldness. The bandages that were wrapped around his head had become soaked.

The clone reached a hand up to touch the wet cloth over his face, wondering if someone had poured water over him while he slept, but as consciousness returned to him he realized that it was more likely blood. The wetness had dampened the bandages, and then dripped down onto the thin pillow under his head. It was very unpleasant.

The emptiness in his mind seemed to amplify the pain from his wounds, leaving the frantic signaling from his nervous system to echo around inside his skull rather than travel outward into the hivemind as intended. He missed feeling his brothers, and being felt. He missed the comforting thought of Horde Prime Feeling him and Knowing him as an extension of his own glorious self.

It was no wonder, the clone thought, that other species were so desperate and primitive. How could one be anything but when left trapped within their own mind?

He was already tired of being alone.

The clone took a slow breath, and listened for his brother The Breather beside him. He quickly isolated the familiar rasping sound from the chaos surrounding them. The wheezing sound was quieter than it had been, and the clone reached out, hoping that his companion had not been moved further away. His talons at first met empty air.

The clone strained further, partially lifting himself off the cot as he reached blindly across the void.

Eventually he found what he sought.

The soft strong skin of a fellow clone.

It appeared that while the clone had slept someone had come and propped The Breather up in a half sitting position. The clone noticed that his companion's breaths seemed to come easier from the change and wondered at the improvement as he traced The Breather's arm from wrist to shoulder.

He scooted as closely to the edge of the cot as he could manage, still too weak to sit up on his own, and rested a hand on his companion's arm.

"You should wake up Brother." He said softly, his voice rough from disuse. "I don't know what's happening but with two of us we will stand a better chance than one."

The Breather slept on, each breath long and slow. For his part the clone found that he didn't mind.

"That is fine." He said aloud, feeling silly and slightly hysterical. "I will keep watch for both of us, I-"

The clone stopped abruptly, as the tide of panic lapped at his mind once again. For all that he had been blind since first awakening the darkness seemed to become more menacing the more that he thought about it. The clone shuddered but soldiered on, continuing his one-sided conversation.

"Although I am a poor choice of watchmen at the moment."

He needed to remain calm. If he kept his wits and didn't panic he and The Breather would still have a chance.

If he stayed calm then they might survive.

He did not stop to wonder when he had become they. All the clone knew that he wanted both of them to make it through this, although for the first time he did not know what the future held. It had all seemed so simple before, he would have served Prime for the length of his existence, whether he perished in battle or simply reached the end of his useful life. Now Prime was gone and the clone was still shocked by his own urge to continue living.

On an impulse, the clone stretched further across the void to hold his companion's shoulder bracingly, craving the grounding physical contact-

And promptly toppled to the ground as his cot overbalanced, the wooden frame falling on top of him with a crash.

For a moment all he knew was pain. His head rung like a struck bell, and warmth bloomed upon this wounded face, mingling with the now cold fluids that already soaked his bandages. Smaller sharp pains pulled and stung across his body. The clone was surprised to find that he had yet more injuries, he had been so distracted by the persistent pain from his eye and face that he simply hadn't noticed. Not until he moved.

Still the discovery of his collection of cuts and scrapes was immediately overshadowed by the new bruises that he had surely just gained.

The cot was heavy, pressing hard onto his back and legs, and the chaotic noise of the tent had fallen to a hush.

"Are you okay?" Someone was beside him, kneeling down to his level. The clone briefly considered yelling but decided that it wouldn't help. Instead he simply scoffed and tried to lift himself from the ground.

After a few moments of futile struggling the clone felt two arms grab him beneath the arms, hoisting him up and righting the cot with a set of practiced movements. His head spun.

He listened through the relative silence for The Breather and concentrated again on the repetitive rasping noise as he was set down on the cot in a seated position, his legs dangling as counterbalance while the stranger supported his shoulders.

The new person was talking to him, but he did not hear them. The clone was too focused on breathing in time with his companion, slowing his heart rate as his head continued to spin. Eventually he regained control of himself, and tuned head towards the person beside him.

"Hi" they said, their voice low and soft, as though they were speaking to a frightened animal. The clone had already guessed that the person interacting with him was Etherian but now he was sure. They smelled like grass.

"Hello" He responded, feeling out of his depth. Was this one of his new masters? Did they know the extent of his damage? Maybe they were also someone conquered by the Etherian Princesses and the She-Ra.

“Hey,” they greeted again, the clone did not understand why but said nothing “You took a pretty bad fall there, do you think you reopened any injuries?”

Now the voice was hesitant, as though the speaker was afraid of him. Before the fall of Prime the clone would have thought them correct to be afraid, but now he lacked the will to lash out. Truly without Prime he was a pathetic creature.

“I- I think my face is bleeding again…” Indeed the warmth that had bloomed against his cheek felt as though it was dripping downward, mixing with the fluids that already soaked his bandages.

“Yeah, yeah those definitely need to be changed.” The Etherian said, a hand still holding the clone’s shoulder to steady him. “What do you think, Master?”

“I think they should have been changed a few hours ago.” The clone startled as a wry voice chimed in from a few feet away, not far from where The Breather continued to sleep. “This one’s been shuffled off to the corner, but his head wounds will get infected if we don’t clean that up. They might be infected already.”

“Okay, I’ll rewrap them.” The first voice replied. The clone felt a new hand grip his shoulder, larger and less gentle than the first, as the Etherian on his side hopped up and walked away, their footsteps vanishing into the noise of the tent.

"Master…" He said slowly, concentrating on The Breather's quiet rasp as his heartbeat quickened. Fear coursed through him but he refused to relinquish control. "Are you to rule over us now that Horde Prime is dead?"

The very words felt blasphemous, but after so many hours of lying blind and helpless with no idea what was happening The Clone found that he had to know.

"Oh! No!" The person beside him replied, his hand tightening against the clone's sore shoulder. "No no, not until you're no longer my patient at least."

The gruff voice chuckled.

"I am a Master Healer of Mystacor, you may call me Master Mendus, or just Mendus if you’d prefer.” The clone nodded, unsure of the meaning of most of the words he’d just heard but doing his best to absorb them anyway. “Dawn, the one who helped you up, is one of my apprentices. I’ve assigned you to her care.”

As if on cue the footsteps returned, and the soft voice with them.

“I got the supplies. Master, can you hold him up while I unwrap his face?” The second Etherian—Mendus—said nothing, but the clone felt him shift, and the air moved as Dawn stood directly before him.

Slightly overwhelmed by the sudden attention of two alien beings the clone felt himself stiffen up, holding himself as straight as he could manage although still relying on Mendus’s hands to keep upright. Panic still hovered at the edges of his consciousness like a threat, but he held himself together to the best of his ability.

If he lost control now he could be punished or taken away, and The Breather would be left alone. He would not leave his helpless brother to the mercies of their captors.

Dawn’s gentle hands reached up to his face and the clone suppressed a flinch as he felt her slowly begin to unwrap his bandages. Throughout his entire stay within the healing tent he had seen only darkness, swathed in bandages and blood, but as they were peeled away light shone through his right eyelid, green and dim but present nonetheless.

His heartbeat quickened, and the clone felt his claws scrape wood as he gripped the edge of his cot.

Layer by layer the bandages unwound. They stuck over his left eye, but each time they did Dawn sprayed them with a cool liquid that wet them enough to come apart without pain. Eventually cool dry air touched his face and scalp for the first time, and the clone found that the only thing covering his eyes and wound was a gauze pad that stuck there, held by the gore beneath it.

“This might hurt.” Dawn warned, spraying more of the fluid directly onto his face. The liquid penetrated the bandage and stung as it entered the wounds on his left side, he could feel fresh blood welling up and dripping down his cheek. The clone could also feel himself beginning to shake as the gauze pad was carefully peeled away, exposing the wreck of his face to the open air.

And for the first time since Horde Prime’s defeat the clone opened his eye.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for tuning in to the continued adventures of Chamomile and Calamine the clones (AKA the clone and The Breather)

This time Chamomile actually speaks although he hasn’t much to say, we also meet two new characters

Master Mendus is exactly what he says he is, a healer from Mystacor who has taken responsibility for the hospital tent where our heroes currently reside. He’s a good man...or a good fawn as it were...

Dawn is one of several of Mendus’s apprentices and is currently responsible for both Chamomile and Calamine, she’s a dutiful gentle young doe. She will be Chamomile’s first real link to the Etherians and will help him and Calamine as they go on. Despite her sweet nature she is isolated from her family and seeking out connections

#spacebats #horde clone oc #horde clones #spop #she ra and the princesses of power #the horde #she ra #hordak #mystacor #original #i contributed #my fic #chamomile the clone #calamine the clone #horde clone ocs #spop oc #post series #Lie There and Breathe

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kemetic-dreams · 3 years

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A cave site in Kenya’s forests reveals the oldest human burial in Africa

Africa is often referred to as the cradle of humankind – the birthplace of our species, Homo sapiens. There is evidence of the development of early symbolic behaviours such as pigment use and perforated shell ornaments in Africa, but so far most of what we know about the development of complex social behaviours such as burial and mourning has come from Eurasia. However, the remains of a child buried almost 80,000 years ago under an overhang at Panga ya Saidi cave in Kenya is providing important new details. Working with a team of researchers from Kenya, Germany, Spain, France, Australia, Canada, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States, we studied the burial. Our results, published in Nature today, reveal valuable insights into human cultural evolution, including how Middle Stone Age populations interacted with the dead.

A child called ‘Mtoto’

Around 78,000 years ago, a small child of 2.5 to 3 years of age was carefully placed on their right side in a shallow pit in a cave near Kenya’s coast. Their legs were raised to their chest in a flexed position, and their body wrapped in a special cloth, perhaps an animal skin. Political analysis, without partisanshipPolitics newsletter The child’s head was placed gently on some kind of perishable support - a pillow in readiness for the long sleep. As a final act, the child was deliberately covered over with dirt from the cave floor and left for thousands of years, slowly becoming buried under another 3 metres of soil. Our team later nicknamed this person “Mtoto”, meaning “child” in Kenya’s Swahili language.

Unearthing Africa’s oldest burial Panga ya Saidi is roughly 15 kilometres from the Kenyan coast. Our team first visited in 2010 as part of an archaeological project on the origins of East Africa’s Indian Ocean trade.When we first entered the cave with our colleagues from the National Museums of Kenya, we knew the site was special. The limestone walls towered some 20-30 metres above us, creating a cool microclimate for forest plants to thrive and humans and animals to take shelter. The cave is sacred to the Mijikenda people who occupy the area today.Read more: Ancient eggshells and a hoard of crystals reveal early human innovation and ritual in the KalahariWith permission from the local community to conduct our research, we embarked on what has become a decade-long process of discovery at the cave. We quickly realised the site held far greater significance for understanding human evolution than we originally thought.Our excavations uncovered a deep series of occupation layers bearing thousands of stone tools and animal remains, as well as shell beads and ochre fragments. These finds revealed more than 78,000 years of early human cultural, technological and symbolic activities.But our most exciting find came in our third field season in 2013, when the shallow pit containing Mtoto’s burial was exposed some 3 metres below the cave floor.The remains were so fragile, our team had to cover them in plaster and remove them intact with the block of sediment in which they were buried. The block was sent first to the National Museum in Nairobi, then to our collaborator Maria Martinón-Torres at the National Research Center on Human Evolution (CENIEH) in Spain, who is a leading expert in hominin palaeobiology Martinón-Torres and her team spent months painstakingly excavating and documenting the remains in her laboratory, revealing not only that the remains belonged to a modern human (Homo sapiens), but a small child.Mtoto’s preservation was remarkable. The skull and face bones, including the jawbone, were still articulated. Based on the shapes of the teeth, Martinón-Torres was able to determine that the child was just 2.5–3 years of age.Microscopic analysis of the bones and surrounding soil confirmed that the body was rapidly covered after burial and that decomposition took place in the pit. In other words, Mtoto was intentionally buried shortly after death.Furthermore, the position of Mtoto’s flexed body, found lying on the right side with knees drawn toward the chest, suggests it was a tightly shrouded burial with deliberate preparation. The position of the head and the way it had collapsed in the pit suggested a pillow of some kind may have been used, indicating the community may have undertaken some form of funerary rite.Read more: The revolution that wasn’t: African tools push back the origins of human technological innovationOur next big question was the age of the burial. The bones were too old for radiocarbon dating, which only works well on organic remains from the past 40,000 years or so.We turned instead to a method called luminescence dating, which measures when quartz grains in the sediment were last exposed to light (that is, when they were buried). The luminescence dates securely placed Mtoto’s burial at 78,000 years ago, making it the oldest known human burial in Africa.Implications for human cultural evolutionThe Panga ya Saidi burial is a major breakthrough for understanding how early populations in Africa treated their dead, allowing us to start situating these behaviours alongside what we know about how culture developed in other regions.Child and juvenile burials are not uncommon in the Eurasian record, and now we have definitive evidence for not just intentional burial at 78,000 years ago in Africa, but the burial of a young child. This suggests a kind of special treatment of the young, with complex emotions of mourning linked to complex social behaviours.Interestingly, the burial was not accompanied by any grave goods or personal ornaments, as have been found with early burials elsewhere in Africa and Eurasia.In fact, the earliest symbolic ornaments at Panga ya Saidi, in the form of cone snail shell beads, only appear some 10,000 years after Mtoto’s burial. Associated with the burial, though, is a fragment of Giant African land snail shell that bears evidence of incisions from a pointed instrument or tool. While we cannot interpret this evidence symbolically, it does show some form of human modification.The burial is also significant because of its association with stone tools belonging to the Middle Stone Age tradition, which has been linked to more than one hominin species, including both modern and archaic Homo sapiens. At Panga ya Saidi, we can definitively state that modern Homo sapiens manufactured these stone tools, providing some clarification on the nature of early technology and tool use.Read more: Why are humans unique? It's the small things that count We can also derive new information about the anatomical evolution of our species. A comparison of Mtoto’s teeth with a representative sample of Neanderthal teeth as well as those from recent and fossil Homo sapiens showed that, although they were clearly modern human, they also have some primitive features.This supports recent archaeological and genetic research suggesting our species didn’t evolve from a single population in one region of Africa. Rather, modern human populations living in different parts of Africa looked different to one another and followed different evolutionary trajectories.

#kenya #kemetic dreams #oldest burial site #east africa #mtoto #panga ya saidi

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starr-fall-knight-rise · 4 years

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Humans are Space Orcs, “Animal Planet Hungry.”

You guys liked the last stuff, so here is some more.

“We have just had the opportunity to meet a real life alpha human in their den. Led by doctor krill, we have been able to touch one of these fascinating creatures and interact with him on some level, and now we are following him through his lair as he seems to have heard something. Look, he seems to have stopped.”

The camera crew pulls to a halt, and the group nearly trips over each other trying not to get to close to the human who begins to tilt his head this way and that as if listening to some sound. Dr krill moves forward to stand next to the human who grunts and hoots at him in the strange primitive language.

A moment later they begin walking again, and suddenly they can hear the sound of distant noises. It echoes badly in the microphone of their recording equipment, so it is difficult to tell what it actually is, but the closer they get, the more it sounds like human vocalizations, chaotic and loud, much louder than those that the human had made so far. Nervously they shift hiding behind the doctor and the alpha human who walks, relaxed at the front of the group.

The camera zooms in on his back highlighting the powerful way in which his shoulders move to match his body, and the surprising grace with which he balances upright as he moves down the hallway.

“Now doctor, can you tell us a little bit about the strange covering that human wears. I mean besides the Rundi and a few members of my own species who have adopted the style, they seem to be the only one who cover their bodies.”

Krill turned to look at them with a dark expression, “Well…. That is a status symbol. It has been tradition, since great antiquity of the humans, to wear ...” He leaned in close, “the skin of those animals they have hunted.”

There was a gasp around the circle as they stepped back staring at the human in shock and disgust.

“What is the human wearing now.” One of them squeaked pointing towards the fabric covering the human’s legs.

The doctor looked back at them, “Oh that, that is…. A Denim!”

The camera crew recoiled in horror staring at the poor denim which had been fashioned into pants for the human to wear, “But that’s ot it.” That, “he pointed at the heavy brown material covering the human’s shoulders, that is a Polyurethane.” More quiet sniveling, whatever the creature HAD been, it must have been large and frightening o have a skin that thick, “And what is worse, the humans save the most savage for last, the greatest disonor to poor poor…. Cotton.”

“A cotton, what is a cotton.”

“It is used primarily as under-clothing next to their most unsanitary bits.”

A chorus of ewing

The human turned his head at the sound. The corners of his mouth pulled down in the direction of the doctor who looked back at him with a shrug. The human made a hissing noise at Krill who just waved him off, “Oh behave yourself, human.”

The little furry lines above the human's eyes raised, and then he did something most unsettling, he flashed the white’s of his eyes at Krill before rolling the colored part of the orb back into place. The group of them flinched at the expression, “What was that?”

“He is trying to communicate dominance to me, it is not working.”

The human let off a sharp burst of air from his nose and turned away with a strange shaking of his head.

They continued down the hallway, and the noises grew louder. It was definitely the sound of other humans, and there were more than one of them, which meant there was a group, and that thought was absolutely terrifying for most of the crew members who began to fall back behind afraid of what they were about to see.

The noise was close by now just ahead and around the corner.

Ahead of them, the alpha was just about to step into the hallway, when a sudden eruption of whirling limbs and glittering white teeth roared around the corner. The human leaped back with incredible speed nearly tripping over the doctor who dodged out of the way. The crew members squealed in fright as the two humans went rolling past them locked together by their powerful limbs, both trying to pin the other to the floor.

leg s flailed and feet kicked nearly knocking a camera from someone’s hand.

The crew members ran back up the hall in absolute terror.

“HEY BOTH OF YOU KNOCK IT OFF!” There was a sudden pause in the group as they turned.

“Get this on camera Damn it!” Mendex ordered from where he was hiding behind one of his cameramen. The camera is fumbled around for a bit and the screen shows mostly the floor and then a wild spinning as the hallway flies past and then is brought back into focus.

On the other end Krill stands between the two humans having pushed them apart.

The aliens watch in fascination as the humans stagger to their feet opposite each other with the doctor standing in the middle.

“Are you alright doctor!” Medex called, “Is everything ok. Are we safe?”

Dr. Krill looks up at them, “You are safe now. I have subdued the humans, though that was only their play fighting. If they were actually fighting I wouldn't have had such luck.”

“That was their play fighting.”

The two new humans looked down the hall at them one with hazel eyes and the other with a sort of honeyd amber. They hooted in confusion and looked over at the alpha. What ensued was a strange gibbering between the three of them punctuated by wild articulations of the arms and the face.

Teeth were flashed seemingly at every other second.

The speed at which they communicated nonverbally was fascinating.

Krill motioned them forward, “Now, come here come here. With the alpha protecting us, we should have no problem with the rest of the pack. This time he is only able to get the aliens halfway up the hall before completely giving up and allowing them to wait there.

“How did you do that.” One of the breathless cameramen asks.

“How did I do what?”

“How did you break them up…. Wasn’t that super dangerous.”

The doctor stand sup rather straight patting one of the humans on the leg. The two humans exchange a strange expression before going back to staring at krill, “That is for one simple reason, and that reason being the human social hierarchy. As i have said before, that over there is the alpha.” The human in question raised his head almost as if he was interested in what they had to say, “The alpha is the most important human on the crew and tells everyone else what to do, however there is a structure below him. I am what might be considered a beta in this category. The only human I let boss me around is the captain.”

One of the humans made a hooting noise, and the other three burst into fits of that strange revving noise showing their teeth at each other. The doctor looked over to glower at them, “Better keep your mouth shut, or I will make sure to order you another physical.” The humans stopped the noise they were making

“If one of you had tried this, you likely would have been torn apart.”

More strange noises from the humans which was quickly silenced by a growl from the alpha.

“What were they doing Like why were they fighting, was it just play fighting, or was it something specific.”

The doctor stood there smiling, “Oh probably fighting each other for mating rights or something similar.”

The humans gurgled something towards the doctor crossing their upper limbs over their chests.

Krill ignored them, “yes, it is often that the less desirable humans fight each other for dominance. In this case, these humans are very ugly, and so need to show their prowess through combat.” The chattering grew louder, and the alpha started up on that strange revving noise again.

One of the humans loomed over Krill form the side.

The crew shrunk back in concern, “Dr…..”

“Don't worry, they won’t hurt me. I am too valuable and high up in the social hierarchy to allow it.” The humans eventually backed off beginning with a deep rumbling in the back of their throats.

“Are there any times in which you find yourself worried for your safety, doctor?”

The little creature shrugged patting one of the humans on the leg. There was a short little back and forth between the alpha and the omegas, but eventually the creature lowered itself to allow the doctor access to it’s short spiky fur. He made a strange humming sound as Krill patted the top of it’s head.

Oh I am worried for myself every day…. “Mostly when the humans get hungry.”

The alpha had moved a bit closer kneeling on the floor with Krill and the other human. The third joined suit so now Krill stood in a semi circle of humans patting one of them while he continued to speak. He prodded one of the humans, “Open your mouth.” The human made a strange expression at him, but he did it again until the human complied. The group of them stepped back a bit in disgust as the slimy interior was opened up to them.

“You of course now what teeth are. However, generally in the intergalactic community, teeth are made a different way, usually out of some sort of hard deposit built up in the mouth. Other species have beaks and use rough areas in their mouth to grind up their food. Humans on the other hand have a special set of bones in their skull, that is specifically designed to rip their way through the inside of the mouth and poke out. These white things right here, these teeth, are-”

“Bones!” Someone stammered, “They…. They rip their prey apart with sharpened bone… that grows in their mouths.”

“Thats…. That's hideously fascinating.” mendex said, from where he had ended up, still lurking behind his camera crew unintentionally, or perhaps very intentionally in the safest place in the group if the humans were to suddenly attack.

“And what is that?” Someone asked pointing back towards the human.

“Oh that, yeah that is a tentacle. Humans only have one in their mouth and it allows them to manipulate their food and make the strange vocalizations they have.”

“I wasn't aware that humans had tentacles.”

“Not tentacles A TENTACLE. The human mouth must remain wet at all times in order to digest their food. While most species start the digestion process in the stomach, if they do possess such an organ, humans begin the digestion process in the mouth with enzymes which begin the breakdown process, makes it easier for them to digest greater amounts of food, and food that is generally harder for other species to eat.”

“Wait, hold on…. You said you get worried when the humans are hungry…. Why is that?”

The camera zoomed in on the humans. The alpha licks his lips wetting the skin with a layer of digestive slime. His eyes focus on the camera crew who can’t help but back away in a measure of concern.

The other humans look between each other and then turn their heads towards the crew. Their eyes are very still and very focused. Together the three of them fall into a sort of low crouch hungrily staring at the group of cowering aliens.

Krill glowers at the humans just as another one was licking their lips, “Well, Case in point. Now would probably be a good time to feed them.”

“What…. W-what do humans eat?” Cme a trembling voice from the back.

Doctor Krill patted his hungry humans on the leg, “Oh, I think the better question is…. What don’t they eat.”

Shuffling and nervous swallowing.

“Some humans will eat anything plants, fungus, non food items, but their most popular item of food, is o take another creature, skin it, dismember it, chop it into little pieces, and then light it on fire.”

It was almost surprising that the camera crew didn’t pee themselves upon hearing that.

As if to punctuate the point the final human licked their lips as if hungry for what the doctor was talking about. The other two humans were making some sort of ace at each other though it was hard to determine what it all meant. Out of all the species in the galaxy, humans have the most complex system of nonverbal cues. Facial expressions, while common in other species, are more prevalent in human society.

“Y-you have to be joking.” Someone peeped.

“He’s a Vrul they don’t joke.” Someone else whispered from behind

Krill remained stoic, “Well what did you expect when you showed up here. Humans are known for being entirely insane, so why wouldn't they eat fiery dismembered corpses?’

#humans are space orcs #HUMANS ARE WEIRD #humans are insane #humans are space australians #humans are spaceoddities #earth is a deathworld #Earth is space Ausralia

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sepublic · 4 years

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Makuta and Rahi

I really have to speculate about the Makutas’ relationship with Rahi as a whole. It’s never quite defined within canon the purpose of Rahi’s existence in the Matoran Universe, did the Makuta ever consider this, and did it bother them? While Mata Nui created various sapient races with no-doubt clear-cut purposes as part of a larger machine… Did the Makuta ever feel insecurity over the seemingly pointless addition of the Rahi? Did they ever feel extraneous alongside their own creations?

Especially since I can see a LOT of thought, passion, and creativity going into a lot of Rahi species and their designs, behaviors, the way they interact with one another… There’s a delicate thing that needs to be considered when designing an ecosystem, and that’s Balance. I have to wonder if that’s a concept that the Brotherhood of Makuta held dear to their hearts, especially given how inextricably tied it is to their creations.

Thinking on it, I can better understand why the Makuta saw taking over the universe as just a mere extension of their pre-existing duties. Their ordained purpose in life had already been to create species who have specific niches, roles, and purposes to play… Mata Nui’s handling of sapient species was no different, right? You had Makuta actively working to improve upon pre-existing creations, so improving upon a fractured universe by uniting it just makes sense! The line is further blurred when one considers the presence of sapient rahi… And in that scenario, I guess it’s not too surprising that the Makuta saw themselves as not all that different from Mata Nui, in the end- Maybe even better.

The creation of ecosystems also means establishing a cycle of life, which often means designing species with the intended purpose to be devoured and/or killed by other Rahi creations. That sort of lifestyle and mentality, raising and designing entire species for a specific purpose, one they both live and diefor… It can really create a God complex amongst some Makuta. They have literal divine justification in creating a ‘greater system’ where the lives of countless Rahi are meant to be sacrificed and hunted down, all to maintain a cycle of life, a specific balance.

And considering their roles, the Makuta no doubt got used to the idea of culling populations in order to maintain an order and ‘balance’ within ecosystems. And with the line between Rahi and sapient species blurring… I can see, more and more, how the Makuta became so nonchalant to the idea of killing others for a ‘greater purpose’, and how this casual attitude just led to the Brotherhood becoming more and more desensitized- Until we have people like Icarax or Gorast, who outright revel in carnage. They were encouraged from creation to create species that were meant to die, or species that were meant to kill- Oftentimes both. And as one takes pride in their ability to fulfill this role, some end up taking pride in their creations’ ability to kill, and/or die…

I’d even argue the Makuta are the Matoran Universe equivalent to the Great Beings, as amoral scientists who saw ruling the world as just a natural extension of their pre-existing duties, and themselves as the best candidates for the job. After all, the Archives Massacre taught them that it was necessary to kill a few, in order to save the rest… Aside from Teridax having always been genuinely terrible, I can see why his role as a Zoologist framed the way he perceived the situation. It wouldn’t have been much different to the nonchalance that comes from killing off an invasive species in droves, all to maintain an ecosystem- Or introducing predators whose sole purpose is to kill those creatures.

I can also see this desensitization towards individual plights and smaller issues, all for the greater good, really getting to the Makuta. As they spread out following the Matoran Civil War, a lot of Makuta likely had a policy of just letting smaller incidents, chaos, and injustices occur without interference- So long as they didn’t interfere with the grand scheme of things. It’d be like turning a blind eye to a helpless prey being pursued by a hungry pack of predators- Sure, you feel sorry for that prey. But in the end, this is just nature, it’s just how it is… And those predators have to eat, man. It’s like how Zoologists, out in the wild, generally don’t interfere with the stuff that goes on around them, unless this is something threatening an entire ecosystem or species. I can see some Makuta coping with their roles by deciding that it’s downright immature to be caught up in the life of a single Rahi, learning not to be so attached to creatures that just come and go, living and dying, etc.

I can see how their roles as ecosystem overseers led to the Makuta being discouraged from getting personally involved, nor closely attached to the actual subjects they were working with- And how this practice translated towards their oversight of the Matoran Universe, letting the Toa do the heavy-lifting of protecting society. I can see how they became resentful of the Toa, who were blessed to be but mere heroes and protectors, and received adulation for this; While the Makuta felt unappreciated as beings who had to make difficult choices for the greater good, and often sacrifice the lives of others for this purpose.

No doubt, many coped by seeing the callous reality of their duties as being noble in its own sense, as is the idea of making the difficult call to kill others for the sake of a larger world. There must’ve been jealousy amongst the Makuta towards the Toa- Who were revered for fulfilling their roles, only for the Makuta to be vilified for doing the same. Don’t blame THEM for their detached manner of overseeing the universe, the Makuta were just doing what the Great Spirit told of them! And that could lead to resentment towards Mata Nui, for even making the Makuta to be like this…

And when the League of Six Kingdoms fell, following the disappearance of the Barraki? It’s no wonder the Brotherhood of Makuta took over, they applied that same principle of enforcing a balance and functioning system, an interconnected web of interactions, and applied it on a grander yet similar scale- This time to the countless civilizations and sapient species of the Matoran Universe. Given how apathetic Mata Nui was towards maintaining the Matoran Universe, I can see how the Makuta thought themselves as better rulers.

As Zoologists, they’d be intimately aware of the process of observing populations in their natural habitat, keeping an eye on them, herding them towards a desired path with a guiding hand. The Brotherhood probably saw itself as paying more attention to the goings-on of the Matoran Universe than the Great Spirit, and they were probably right! And it really does seem like common sense, that people who actually know more about the world they’re governing and more closely involved with it, should actually be running it VS some detached, apathetic Great Spirit that can’t even notice the formation of a League or Toa Empire in his own body, so long as it’s not directly affecting him.

When you’re designing ecosystems, you have to take everything into account- So the Makuta likely saw themselves as more attentive, responsible, and even compassionate towards the Matoran Universe inhabitants, than their own god. Not to mention the idea of constantly manipulating the lives of being they see as lesser, more primitive, and not having the same rights nor intelligence as them… I can see some Makuta mistakenly dismissing the sapient species of the Matoran Universe as no different. Or at least, that same detached, patronizing attitude of treating others without regard to what THEY have to say, because they’re too dumb to consider the bigger picture… I can see how it was applied to beings like the Matoran.

I can see why the Makuta saw the sapient species of their world, and ‘dumb animals’ as not being all that different… And on the flip-side, this naturally meant that just as Rahi were lesser beings to them, so were the other sapient species in the Matoran Universe. And it just led to the Makuta distancing themselves, creating that sense of detachment and superiority, that mentality that the ends justified the means… Being encouraged to create others with the purpose to kill and/or die, taking pride in one’s ability to create something that causes death, or satisfaction at the demise of something else…

Not to mention, the diversity of Rahi may have exceeded that of sapient species, which not only influenced the Makutas’ fascination with shapeshifting and their creativity, but likely made them see themselves as being more clever and imaginative creators than Mata Nui himself. Working closely with the Great Spirit also made him seem much less distant to the Makuta, much more approachable… And thus so much more flawed and vulnerable. Especially if they knew exactly how a jeopardized system could easily throw Mata Nui’s health out of balance, how he was outright dependent on the lives of his ‘lesser beings’ and creations, while the Makuta lacked such a weakness and only continued to transcend, evolving past physical bodies.

The Makuta, most of them, were terrible people. That much is not up for debate, and most of them really DID choose their own horrific paths. People like Gorast and Icarax enjoyed carnage far too much, while Teridax was just awful to an unprecedented degree. But it makes me consider Krika’s sadness, how he sees the Makuta as trapped to their fate, like their decisions to become conquerers and usurpers was merely inevitable… Because in the end, they were made for that. They were made to be Zoologists, and thus predisposed to traits that would better enable their purpose.

Just as the role of the Toa made them predisposed to being heroic and beloved by others… One could argue that the Makuta were similarly fated in a sense, albeit doomed. They had a completely different purpose than the Toa, and that meant a different mentality, way of life, and handling of others… The Makuta weren’t made to necessarily care for others, and to even disregard the lives of some for a ‘greater good’, for a balance. They were placed in an environment and position that both encouraged and required the attitudes that led to their corruption, so I can see why Krika felt his fate as a traitor to the Great Spirit was inevitable- Because one can’t escape their reason for existence, nor can they escape Destiny. And, it’s funny that Krika becomes so resigned to the idea of being unable to escape one’s inherent nature… Because one can argue that the Makuta DID rise above that, alongside their intended purpose. They weren’t meant to take over the Matoran Universe as conquerers, yet they chose to act contrary to both the plans of the Great Spirit and Great Beings.

And while Krika saw this lifestyle as a natural extension of their creators’ intended roles for them… There’s still the realization that they DID defy the plans of their makers, to an extent. To the point where they could outright rebel against them- Again, as a result of attitudes implanted by their creators, for the purpose of carrying out their assigned duties. But still… It’s not entirely hopeless, and that’s Krika’s downfall- He just sort of gave up. He was too much of a coward, too resigned, and too apathetic to make a difference. Krika saw one’s environment as dictating a person’s existence and identity, but I can see why- After all, with regards to the idea of evolution and adaptations, for many animals their environment literallyshapes what they are!

And just as environments can be created by the Great Beings, so too can Rahi be made by the Makuta, with regards to how they’ll function in said environments. Krika lived by the idea that beings are dictated entirely by the circumstances they were made in… If his own Rahi could never rise above their environmental circumstances, then could Krika? Especially since he, too, is a creation of a higher being? Overall, I can see how Krika became so defeatist and cynical; At least until the last second, but by then it was too late. To Krika, beings’ lives are dictated by an unchangeable environment/situation, and the only way to survive is to adapt and conform to that environment, to live by what it dictates- There is no changing one’s situation, you are entirely subject to its whim and power. Perhaps it’s no wonder Krika became so disillusioned.

#bionicle #makuta #brotherhood of makuta #rahi #krika #mata nui #speculation #meta

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onestowatch · 3 years

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ROZET Proves an Unpredictable Wildflower With “Cake Face” Video [Premiere + Q&A]

Rozet is an artist that clearly thrives with some veil of mystery, a contrarian of immense talent, a personna with a purpose. Why bother decoding such a creative with a third party perspective? So we invited her to help explain her process, vision, and her brilliant new song and visualizer, “Cake Face.”

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Ones to Watch: Who is ROZET? What do you want your audience to take away from your work?

ROZET: ROZET is a wildflower. The part of me that is unpredictable and free. A flower that shows up wherever and however feels most natural in response to the season. My wildflower self is trans-species. I really never know what I’ll do or how I’ll do it. I feel so peaceful and calm within that hotspring of identity. This represents my relationship with nature, wellness and art.

How has your artist journey evolved thus far?

I just finished my first tour and it was unforgettable. I had never seen anyone sing the words to my songs before and me not know who they are. I went from contemplating in my room if my songs were too abstract or multilayered to fit in any genre or pool of people to now playing venues with over 1000 bodies in the room jamming out. I’m grateful to meet new souls and see them identify with this noise I’m making. It gave me chills.

Multi-disciplinary artists suffer from enormous choice, how do you decide what creative mediums work or not?

I think we are never done deciding. It is a primitive thing. I feel it and try it, or I don’t. I try to minimize external opinions as much as possible, but in some cases it is necessary to broaden mediums and make them more relatable. Even still with this I am gentle and intentional, honoring my experience and mission on Earth first as much as possible.

What is “Cake Face” inspired by? Lyrically, especially.

“Cake Face” was inspired by the longing for time,space,and education within relationships, especially the relationship between the phone and social interactions. Whether it be career, family, romantic, or friends, I feel in the past few years the demand for quicker responses and being available at all times has created this additional pressure that some may not realize could be causing someone with mental health challenges to work even harder to feel important.

The lyric “these days they only know me when I’m on the telephony” truly explains very clearly the self-worth attached to being this visual reminder for people and if not, than you don’t exist or are shamed for not being more available.

Sonically, the simplicity within the chords, I wanted it to hint toward an older era. Remembering a time when sending feelings and emotions through the mail took days, sometimes weeks to arrive at someone else’s door. Then they’d have time to process that before responding. To give an emotionally regulated response. Now I feel there is sometimes shame associated with non-rapid responses. Imagining the feeling of being off grid and untraceable and how that could also be included in the conversations of success, talent, and health.

“Out of sight Out of Mind”

When I isolate from people and my phone, I actually have a chance to download and process what I have learned and infuse my music with it. Without that time period I’d show up as a glitching person. I would have no energy to contribute and essentially my mission here on earth is to respond to the times through my artful passions. I am happy in stillness. I want to surround myself with people who encourage me to take 10 minutes to take a break, while still being remembered and a priority.

How did you settle on the visual direction for “Cake Face?”

The visuals for my songs usually take me about a year to even flush through. I always tell people I need to experience all the seasons with each song and visual. I like to observe how it flows through the space and how it bounces off of the community I am in.

I am into social experiments and incorporating my mediums within that approach. Is it the response we all need, is it the holistic medicine I need right now? I ask myself these questions a lot. Does video provide more depth to the narratives within “Cake Face?” Expand upon them?

Video does provide more depth to the narratives within a song like “Cake Face.” I need as much outlet as possible to convey a whole message within four minutes. Honestly I am grateful I have another day of life to continue to release music, so I put as much energy and thought into each piece as I possibly can, because I never know if I will again. It differs, sometimes I put more energy into the video than the song, and sometimes it’s flipped.

“Cake Face” has a multilayered meaning. There’s the relationship between individual and society, and there’s the education around mental health and how society contributes to that in a possible or negative way. The final layer is the responsibility of that individual to decide what they can manage, what they can control and what they cannot. I am always writing songs and video concepts that stem from truly just trying to survive on this planet and enjoy the time I have here.

How does the rest of the EP pair with “Cake Face?” Is it a cohesive work, separate?

I feel right now the rest of the EP is still growing and evolving, “Cake Face” was my first stream of consciousness approach to writing so I feel it is my only journal-like piece on this project and I look forward to hearing my songs sprout all together in one garden.

What are your hopes and aspirations for the EP / visualizer?

My intention for the EP/ visualizer is to reveal a bit more about who I am and what my perspective is on health, the relationship with myself, and emotional intelligence. That is a continuous process and hopefully it will reveal a garden of people and listeners that understand me, so I can continue to talk to them and create this bond with likeminded people for as long as possible.

What’s next for you? What should we be on the lookout for?

I am sitting in gratitude and yet walking with more energy to release more songs so that is what is next! I have so much music and an abundance of visual healing I look forward to sharing this fall!

Who are your Ones to Watch?

Most artists I’d consider my ones to watch are my talented family members and friends that I want to put shine on!

Producer- Richard Tandy Artist/ Producer - George Tandy Jr. Artist - Dylan Golden Producer/ Painter - Wizz Dumb Comedian - Lizzmatic Animator - Olivia Mangione Clothing Designer - Countess Brown Artist - Amunbes Artist - Austin Ward Artist - Jesse Boykins III

#rozet #cake face #soul #singer songwriter

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thegreenwolf · 4 years

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Note: This post was originally posted on No Unsacred Place in 2011, and then later Paths Through the Forests. I have reposted it to my personal blog at http://www.thegreenwolf.com/blog so I can have more of my writings in one place.

When I’m making artwork, I often enjoy having some music or video going on that I can listen to and watch while I work. The other day I finished up watching Carl Sagan’s Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which I’ve been watching segments of over the past couple of weeks. For those who haven’t seen it, it is an epic, thirteen-hour-long exploration of the Universe we live in, from the atomic level to the entirety of everything, ranging from the Big Bang itself all the way up to the present day. In each of the hour-long segments, Sagan touches on many diverse sciences, as well as history, sociology, psychology, and other disciplines. He puts into layperson’s terms the processes of evolution, the geologic history of the Earth, and the origin of life on this planet and even of the Universe itself.

What I found most invaluable, though, was how the series gives us perspective of where we fit into the grand scheme of things. Until not too long ago, most cultures had a very human-centric view of reality, where we were at the core, and everything revolved around us in importance. Cosmos is both beautiful and controversial because it shows us how very small we are, but also what amazingly intricate and long-lived processes we are an integrated part of. There were many times throughout the series where I was reminded of just how impossibly vast the Universe is, how very tiny the Earth is, and yet also how we ourselves, and everything else, are made of stars–and just how unlikely was the chance that we and everything else on Earth are here today. As humbling as it is to realize just how tiny our “pale blue dot” is, Cosmos also dedicates time to showing what does make us, as a species, so significant in our knowledge of the Universe. As Sagan said in the introduction to the series, “We are a way for the Cosmos to know itself”.

This is simultaneously humbling and inspirational. Much of human religion and spirituality is so heavily anthropocentric our spiritual cosmologies are largely concerned with the interest the Universe and its denizens have in us, and most of our deities are created in our very human image. Many of us never get further than “Earth” and “Sky” as the primordial, “biggest” concept-deities, because that’s how our ancestors understood it to be.* The celestial bodies we most acknowledge are the Sun and the Moon and our closest planetary cousins, but even astrology primarily concerns itself with how the positions of the stars and planets are important to us humans. And yet the Earth, and the visible parts of the Sky, are minute compared to the immensity they, and we, are a part of. It’s humbling because we find more and more that humans are far from the most important collections of stardust, and also inspiring because with every new discovery in biology, in astrophysics, and in so many other disciplines, there’s so much more we can know and explore about Life, the Universe, and Everything, even as laypeople.

I have, over the years, heard pagans and other such folk complain that there’s no real magic in this world, simply because we can’t do things like shoot fireballs from our fingertips or physically shapeshift or heal life-threatening illnesses with a touch. And yet Cosmos is a perfect illustration of the magic that is inherent to this physical reality. Look at evolution, for example. It is not just the “survival of the fittest”, as many oversimplify it. Rather, it is a many-generations-long progression of tiny shifts and alterations, and somehow one ancestral being has offspring which, over millenia, branch off into many diverse creatures. The phylogenetic Tree of Life is full to overflowing with living and extinct beings that are fascinating, beautiful, and inspirational simply by being themselves, without layering on subjective meaning like totemic lore or other symbolism. Or, on a smaller scale, I like to think about photosynthesis. The chloroplasts in plant cells, which are likely derived from cyanobacteria that formed symbiotic relationships with primitive plant cells, take sunlight and turn it into food. All the food we eat is created from sunlight changed into sugars by photosynthesis–we are eating transformed light waves**. How are these things not magical and miraculous, especially the more we know about them?

Cosmos is a massive journey through many of these manners in which star-stuff has formed over billions of years, and I can’t but think of it as revealing why the physical reality I live in is sacred. “Sacred” means “to inspire awe or reverence”, and with each new piece of knowledge about the Universe I acquire, the more deeply I feel that sacredness. Mythos and folklore and divine inspiration are great and beautiful things in the sphere of human experience, but if we are to understand the roots of those experiences, we need to dig into the (sometimes literal) dirt where those roots are grounded.

I think, perhaps, Cosmos could be in and of itself a ritual tool. Thirteen hours is a long time, and while most pagan rituals last an hour at best, there’s also something to be said for an immersive experience. So here’s a suggestion, whether you’ve seen this series in its entirety already or not: Set aside an entire day where you can be undisturbed, either alone, or with other interested, curious and respectful parties. Get comfortable. And then watch Cosmos from beginning to end. (Take breaks for the bathroom and food as needed, of course, but keep them short.) It will be a lot of information, and you may wish to go back at a later time and watch it over again in smaller segments. But this time, simply open yourself to the flow of information, and see how it affects you and your understanding of the Universe.

It may seem odd, on this nature-spirituality-themed blog, to suggest such long immersion in media. Yet not all media is created equal, and this series is much more information about the Universe than what we can immediately observe on our own, condensed into a few hours. Sitting in front of a television won’t show you the spirit of the land where you live, but it can offer you so much more backstory on its geology and biology and ultimate origin than you could get by watching the denizens of the land interact. It’s a complement to direct experiences with nature, not a replacement, and I see it as inspiration to make more forays out of our homes and into the world around us–and, perhaps, to support more exploration beyond where we can currently go. To know about evolution is one thing, but even scientists best appreciate it when they are able to actually see the plants and animals that resulted. (In fact, some of the most glorious marvels written about nature have been penned by scientists, not about things going on in laboratory settings, but our fellow beings in their own habitats–or the habitats themselves.)

Whether you choose to immerse yourself in a thirteen-hour marathon, or take Cosmos in multiple smaller doses, I encourage you to take what you learn and apply it to your experiences in the world around you. I know for myself that having more of the story has enriched my hikes and rituals outdoors, and I hope this can be a valuable resource for you as well.

* Ancient mythos from various cultures worked with what the people of those cultures knew at the time, with great wisdom but without the benefit of high-powered telescopes and other very helpful technology.

** We are still unable to shoot fireballs from our fingertips. But isn’t it cool that in a way, through photosynthesis, we can eat fire?

Did you enjoy this post? Please consider supporting my work on Patreon, buying my art and books on Etsy, or tipping me at Ko-fi!

#Cosmos #science #naturalist paganism #nature #pagan #mine

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theadrogna · 4 years

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@singledarkshade came up with the Dream Show challenge, where we had to give her a list of 7 TV shows or films and we were given a cast of 7 actors in return. Then I got carried away and this is the result: Diaspora

Synopsis:

Earth seeded the galaxy with colonies, sending out ships full of colonists in suspended animation with everything they needed for a life elsewhere. That was a generation ago and now a new ship, the Linnaeus, has been sent to check on the colonies that Earth founded. Have they prospered and conquered new worlds or are they failing and in need of help to survive? The Linnaeus with its team of scientists and problem solvers is Earth’s mission to re-establish contact. The colonies are a long way from Earth and the rules are different when you’re so far from home.

Cast:

Dr Aneurin “Nye” Castell (Arthur Darvill): Nye is the team’s xeno-ecologist and scientific lead. He’s something of an idealist, and a brilliant academic, but never saw himself going into space again. Parsa is an old friend and talked him into joining the crew as an opportunity for furthering his research. He specialises in finding out what makes an Earth-like world inhabitable for humans, and looking at alien ecosystems to investigate how they function. He usually ends up doing a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to sorting out what’s going wrong with a colony. He is able to make intuitive leaps that can be hard for others to follow, but is accepting that not everyone can always keep up. He doesn’t particularly enjoy walking into the unknown, but his scientific curiosity is why he’s here.

Dr Parsa Nazari (Cas Anvar): Leader of the expedition. Originally a scientist himself, he left academia and moved into the role of mission specialist. He’s the one to make the tough decisions, even if sometimes that doesn’t make him popular, especially with his friend, Nye. He’s been working towards leading the Linnaeus mission his whole life, and recruited only the best for the expedition. He has to juggle the scientific side of the mission with the political, and that isn’t always easy, but he’s good at finding acceptable compromises. He leaves behind a divorced husband and two kids to head up the Linnaeus mission.

Rosalind Fitzroy (Torri Higginson): A politician. She’s not well liked amongst the crew, and Parsa fought to exclude her but failed. She is ambitious, but so far her career hasn’t gone as planned. She is able to read people and manipulate them, although often less effectively than she thinks. She’s on the team to remind the colonies that they’re still subject to Earth law and that they’re expected to help their home world, but her role is also smoothing the way for the team with the local authorities. If the colony need advice on how to set up new systems of government or on their economy then Rosalind can help with that too. This could be the most important job of her life, but it’s one that most politicians wouldn’t want, but she sees it as a stepping stone to something better.

Dr Carrie Joshua (Hannah John-Kamen): Carrie is a medical doctor. Her job is to assess the physical health of the colonists and help them with medicines, nutrition and fitness. One of her biggest concerns is how human biology interacts with the new worlds. She enjoys trekking and climbing, and can be found on the ship’s meagre fitness equipment most days before she begins work. On planet, she’s enthusiastic to explore, even in areas which appear dangerous. She is also fearless when it comes to putting her patients first, something that has been known to get her into trouble. She’s one of six siblings, and misses her big family more than anything else while she’s in space.

Kira Sokolov - (Jodhi May): As both the ship’s engineer and technical problem solver, she thinks fast on her feet to fix broken technology with limited resources. Her motto is that “perfect is the enemy of good”. Ed likes to tease her by calling her MacGyver, but it isn’t that far from the truth. She is tenacious and loyal to the team, but has little time for Rosalind because she used to be the representative for the province where Kira grew up. Her family still live there and have to deal with food shortages and rationed water. She’s bilingual and enjoys learning new swear words in every language she meets, but her most annoyed exclamations are in her mother’s native language, Ukrainian.

Ed Avalino (Taika Waititi): The pilot. He drives the bus, but has to double as the lab technician and general assistant to whoever needs him most when they’re on planet. He is the closest thing that the team have to a security person, and does his best to protect them when on planet and assess threats. He is relatively easy going by nature, but can quickly shift gears to deal with a crisis. He gets on with all of the crew, even Rosalind, but shares a love of danger with Carrie. Parsa apparently met him in a Martian jail, but neither of them will talk about that incident, despite Nye desperately wanting the details. Rumours about his past missions as part of the Earth military are probably untrue, but he doesn’t dissuade anyone from exaggerating them further.

Dr Grace Blackwell (Nafessa Williams): Grace is the xeno-psychology expert on the team. The humans in the colonies are not alone and someone is needed to work out what the aliens want. She also often applies her psychology skills to the humans as well. She’s the youngest and most inexperienced member of the team, and was something of a prodigy. She looks up to Nye as a mentor, but occasionally finds his pure pursuit of the academic to be too much and prefers to listen to her gut. No one ever questions her knowledge of her subject, but she sometimes lacks confidence in herself. She knows that this is a once in a lifetime chance to make a difference and she’s grabbing it with both hands. She is a natural ray of sunshine, but finds the long journeys between planets are the hardest part of the job.

Episodes:

1: The Flight of the Linnaeus (Pilot) – Nye Castell is researching far away planets but hasn’t left the safety of his university in years, when Parsa Nazari invites him to join the Earth’s first trouble shooting mission to the Colonies. Nye is unwilling at first, but Parsa plays upon his need to investigate and learn, and eventually he accepts. Flashbacks give a taste of exactly why he is so unwilling to leave the planet. He puts his Earth-bound affairs in order and reports to the Linneaus facility to begin work. Parsa and Nye build the team, but are blindsided by their superiors’ need to include Rosalind Fitzroy, and an attempt to destroy the entire project by an anarchist spy who claims to know something they don’t.

2: Planetfall – The Linneaus arrives at its first destination, the colony of Gessner. This has been chosen as an easy first test of their readiness and skill, since Gessner has been in regular contact and appears to be doing well. Appearances can be deceiving though. The colonists thrive when they’re young but rapidly die when they reach 60, with one notable exception, the governor of the colony who was elected partly due to his magical longevity. It’s up to the Linnaeus crew to find out what’s going wrong.

3: Downfall - Having discovered that the elderly are being deliberate poisoned when they become older and less useful, Rosalind tells the crew that Gessner is no longer their problem as the solution is beyond their ability to fix. Nye, Carrie and Grace disagree strongly, but Ed points out that they have no resources to forcibly change the leadership of the colony, whilst Parsa sides with Rosalind much to everyone’s surprise. Grace outlines a system of psychological pressure points that could be used to change the governmental structure, but is this really the job of the Linnaeus crew?

4: Homesick - After leaving Gessner, the Linnaeus crew have a long journey to the next planet. Nye sleeps badly and sees his long dead mother in the corridors of the ship. It seems like Nye might be suffering from “orbital fever”, a psychological condition that affects astronauts on long voyages and he reluctantly goes to see Carrie. She agrees with his self-diagnosis and tells Parsa that Nye will need to be taken back to Gessner, as the condition typically worsens rapidly to become psychosis if not treated. As the crew readies to turn back, Grace reveals that she’s being visited by the ghosts of her childhood pets. Other members of the crew also start seeing things, leaving the team in no doubt that something else is going on here. Nye works out some of his childhood issues with his hallucinations.

5: All at Sea - Everyone is pleased to reach their next destination, Aelian. Here the colonists share their world with a primitive, but sentient, species of sea dwellers, which hadn’t shown up in the original survey of the world. This has produced a dangerous tension, and one which Grace is ill-equipped to handle despite this being her area of expertise. The entire crew find themselves drawn into what could be the build up to war between the two species who regard Aelian as home.

6: Adapt and Survive - The Linnaeus lands at the colony site of Ellis to find that the landing site is deserted. All that greets them is the remains of buildings and abandoned vehicles. Nye, Ed and Carrie trek into the jungle to see if they can find any trace of the humans who are supposed to live here, while Parsa, Grace, Kira and Rosalind investigate the ruins of the colony for clues. Nye and his group find the colonists, but they’re changed beyond recognition. Parsa discovers the reason and it becomes clear that the Linnaeus needs to leave rapidly.

7: Lost in Space – The rapid departure of the Linnaeus from Ellis leaves the crew with repairs to make to their broken ship as the Linnaeus drifts further from its course. Kira and Ed lead the effort, putting the scientists to work. Nye reveals a little more about his reluctance to come on the mission. Carrie is sure that Rosalind is hiding something, but he has no idea what. Soon the crew are fighting for their lives, racing to make planetfall before the ship breaks down completely.

8: Borderline – The Linnaeus’ crew are faced with a failing colony, known as Genera, where the colonists never seem to manage to make much progress, but are kind and welcoming. Despite the apparent fertility of the world and its ecosystem, the crew of the Linnaeus realised that the colony could only have a single generation before if it dies out completely. Nye refuses to give up in finding a way for the colony to become viable, but Parsa thinks they should cut their losses. Kira takes a young engineer from the colony under her wing. Rosalind attempts to get a message back to Earth.

9: Hooked on a Feeling - Genera still remains something of a mystery to Nye, until Carrie informs him that Kira’s apprentice is suffering from withdrawal symptoms. Nye and Parsa investigate, coming to the conclusion that the entire colony are hooked on the same addictive substance, apparently unwittingly. Nye uses all of his skills to find the culprit.

10: Letters from Home – While the ship continues to deal with the ongoing issues of Genera, Ed receives a message packet from home for the crew. Now in addition to the problems of the colony, the crew find that their life on Earth has caught up to them. Rosalind accidentally ends up revealing just how important their mission is, angering the crew who were not kept informed. The Earth is desperate for resources and dying. Perhaps all they can do is to make their mission a success.

11: Mushroom Stew - The Linnaeus has left Genera behind and is on its way to Dorrien, a planet that seems to favour fungi over almost every other form of life. The colonists have faced difficult growing conditions for their crops, which must be kept in vast greenhouses to protect them from contamination with fungal spores. But as rapidly as the colonists clear land, the mushrooms seem to be doing their best to retake their planet.

12: The Great Chain of Being - The colony of Jekyll was a paradise when the colonists landed, but now the local wildlife is dying out, with great tracts of land becoming barren. Nye and Parsa desperately search for the reason behind the devastation, while the rest of the team try to help the colony deal with the effects of the dying ecosystem. It’s up to the crew of the Linnaeus to find a way that the ecosystem and colony can be saved.

13: Paradise Lost - The colony of Masamune is bland and calm. Even the animals don’t eat each other, but something is killing the colonists. Rosalind is under pressure to report positive findings back to Earth, and asks the team to falsify their reports since every colony they have visited is struggling in some way. She drops the bombshell that if the Linnaeus doesn’t do as it is told then it will be recalled to Earth, having failed to fulfil its purpose.

#RBACL QCC #Dream Show

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project-ohagi · 4 years

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Kyoka Jirou x Reader {Monster AU}

Buy me a coffee!! <3

The wind ruffled your tails as you stalked further and further into the night. Your breathing was laboured and crimson cuts littered your body. You couldn't understand why they were pursuing you; it wasn't as though you had been doing anything wrong. In fact - you were simply undertaking your daily routine, when, quite suddenly, you felt something graze your glorious fur. It prickled, and you snarled, turning around to check your surroundings. You failed to see the snipers, the smaller guns, the silver bullets and the other objects gleaming with malice. You started backwards. Your ears twitched.

Another shell skirted past your neck. You whimpered. This wasn't supposed to happen; your forest was a peaceful place, riddled with multicoloured fairies, large lakes which sheltered a variety of creatures, including Kappa, magnificent trees that were also home to a few different species, and of course, your family. You lived in a clearing, far from where you were now, flanked by trees and foliage, bodies of water and special barriers. You refused to lead these intruders to your comfortable habitat. You cared too deeply for your fellow Kitsune.

You could have transformed right in front of these malignant individuals, yet you didn't. You wouldn't give them any more reason to follow, to hunt, to kill. Your nine, flowing tails were prime targets though, and very sensitive. You obtained your final tail a mere two weeks ago, when you finally turned one thousand years of age. It would bring shame on your family if you were to die now, at the hands of these evil humans. You bounded further into the thick forest, attempting to lose your pursuers at every twist and turn. However, for some reason, they always seemed capable of finding you. Perhaps it was the distinct scent you gave off, that was different from all the other forest-dwelling beings, or maybe it was simply because your natural form was far too difficult to hide. You decided that it would be in your best interest to find a safe spot, transform, and get out as fast as possible. You didn't quite know why these people were here, intruding on sacred land, but they were both annoying and frightening. You also weren't sure why they were using such primitive weapons - surely humans these days had powers? You could attest to having seen as much with your own eyes.

As you were pondering this, you spotted an opening - a little space beyond some shrubbery, with a forbidding river cutting off the path. Thankfully, you were friendly with all the water spirits and monsters, so getting across wasn't going to be a problem. You glanced back, not seeing your attackers, although you could still hear the chinks of their metal boots on the lush forest floor. Your heart was racing.

There was a familiar face beside the river; it was a Kappa with whom you were close. You signalled the forthcoming danger. Your friend nodded, not seeming fazed in the least - they were very good with deception, and had a hard head. They could cover for you until you were across the river. You thanked the stars that you were able to swim.

You crossed with ease, emerging on the other side with a dripping coat. Throwing one final, grateful look at the Kappa, you turned and bolted. You ran for around another twenty minutes, making sure to put as much distance between yourself and the intruders as you could. However, your legs grew increasingly tired, and soon enough, they buckled. You fell to the ground with a thud. The earth shook, causing all the loose leaves and creatures to jump and scurry away. Your breaths were shallower now, as you could finally focus on regulating them. You were breathing through your nose, still reluctant to trust the peaceful atmosphere. Once you had regained most of your strength, you adorned your human form. You forgot to do it earlier, but your other plan had worked like a charm. (H/c) locks flowed from atop your head, caressing your face like a silk handkerchief. Your eyelashes fluttered, revealing bright (e/c) eyes. On your body was a simple, snowy-white dress. You couldn't exactly control what sort of clothing materialised - you hadn't yet mastered this ability. You knew your mother could do that; she was a very experienced Kitsune, after all (at least, that's what she wanted you to tell people).

There was another river in this place, but this one had a cascading waterfall and a bunch of giant rocks, perfect for sitting on. You wandered over to the biggest one, which was located directly underneath the waterfall. You perched there, feeling the water seep into your hair and roll down on to your dress.

"Hello?"

You cracked one eye open; the voice didn't seem threatening. In fact - whoever it was sounded lost. It was the voice of a young woman, not one of those hunters. She probably didn't even know they were also in the forest. You gazed at her, scanning her petite figure with an air of caution. She was beautiful, with choppy, purple hair and what looked like earphone jacks? You had seen those before, you remembered, somewhere in the city. Apparently humans plugged them into electronic devices in order to listen to things privately.

"Yes?" You asked, turning her full attention towards you.

A crimson blush appeared on her cheeks. "Hi, um...I'm kinda lost. Do you know how to get out of this forest?"

You slipped off the rock. "Why did you come here?"

She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "I was here with my friends, but we got separated. I've been walking around for ages." She paused, looking at you in confusion. "Why are you here?"

"I was being followed, so I came here for sanctuary." You responded, circling her.

"Followed by who? Are they here now? Are you okay?" She became more frantic when she saw your wounds. "Oh my god, what happened? Did you get shot? You need to see a doctor or something! If you come with me, I can take you to Recovery Gir-"

You shook your head, pointing to the waterfall. "The water in this place is good for healing."

She didn't look convinced. "You're covered in blood and wounds!"

"You interrupted me."

She winced. "Sorry, but really, you should see someone about those."

"You should leave. You said you were lost?"

She expressed embarrassment again. "Yeah..."

"Then come. I can show you the way."

With an appreciative nod, she allowed you to lead her out of the clearing. You weren't quite certain what had compelled you to help this lost stranger, but she wasn't anything to be afraid of, and she was genuinely concerned for your wellbeing. Just remembering her words and tone was enough to make you shiver. It was something different and exciting - something you hadn't done before. Normally, you tried to stay far away from humans and the city. Your family didn't want anything to do with that lifestyle. Some beasts did opt to blend in with the humans, and actually, that included a lot of Kitsune. You had interacted with humans before, but it was never for very long. You weren't sure how long you could keep your human form. This girl was one of the first people you had met since gaining your ninth tail.

It seemed as though she wanted to say something; perhaps she would thank you again, or perhaps she thought the silence stifling. Either way, she was mumbling a lot, but your senses were more enhanced than a human's, and you picked up on every single word, despite how incoherent it might have sounded to one of her own kind. You halted, turning your head to glance at the girl. She hadn't noticed that you stopped, and you didn't move out of her way. She bumped into you, and her face immediately fell. She jumped backwards, waving her arms around. Her cheeks were even more flushed than earlier.

"Do you not like the silence?" You questioned, tilting your head.

She blinked twice. "No, t-that's not it."

You said nothing.

"Who are you...exactly?" She suddenly asked, cautiously.

There was another round of silence, and she figured that might have been something you didn't want to ask. She panicked - that could be seriously misconstrued. Here you were, trying to help her, and she was just being rude. However, after a few minutes of humiliating her, she saw a smile creep on to your features. It was the smallest thing, and had she not been paying attention, she definitely would have missed it.

"My name is (Y/n)." Your voice was soft, sweet, and she could almost hear the faintest giggle.

"O-Oh, cool." She gulped, extending a hand. "Kyoka Jirou."

You nodded. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too. Uh...are you about my age? What school do you go to?" She asked.

Humming, you wondered if you should lie - she would never know any different. Although, for some reason, you didn't really want to do that. It was a complicated thing to mull over. Humans could be so frail, yet so conniving, but you were convinced that this girl was pure. She looked like she would make a good mate, despite her genetics.

Eventually, you made a decision: "I'm afraid I don't attend a 'school'. We learn culture and the ways of life here, in the forest. I suppose this form does resemble your age, but in reality, I am a lot older."

"No way." She breathed. "Are you, like, a fairy or something?"

An amused sound caught in your throat. "Not quite."

"...What are you then?" She questioned, interest piqued.

"A Kitsune." You replied, trailing a hand across your back.

For less than a second, she saw a total of nine (h/c) tails, freely flowing in the crisp breeze. When you swiped your hand across them, they disappeared, and she was left wondering whether they had even been there in the first place, or if it was simply an illusion. Nevertheless, she found it really cool. She briefly thought that it might have been a quirk, but you mentioned being taught in the forest. Plus, the vibe you gave was otherworldly - like you weren't supposed to exist on this plane of reality. You were a fantastic beast; no wonder you were being followed.

She grinned. "Can you show me some tricks, then?"

[Word Count: 1738]

#my hero academia #boku no hero academia #boku no hero x reader #mha kyoka #kyoka jiro #kitsune #monster au #kyoka jiro x reader #female reader

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griffinsandpeacocks · 4 years

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Loony Two Writing Challenge Bonus! I Feel Like Time’s Standing Still

Griffin sighs as he sees yet again, everything seems to have frozen. He get’s up from the cafe he’s at walks up to the counter and leaves a note over the cost of his order. He walks down the road and sighs looking around. At first he had thought he was the one doing this unintentionally. After several times he realized it wasn’t him but he seemed to be the only one unaffected by this. Eventually he manages to get to the bus and slides into the back and hides behind a book. He waits and hops off at a stop near the University and sighs. He’s always been an odd one out. The kids from other rich families disliked him because he not only payed to get it he tested and was begged to come. The kids that tested like him refused to believe he had tested as high and had paid his way in. So he was... Not too popular. He hums and goes to the dorm and steps in he had been clear, he didn’t have much he just asked they leave his bed desk and wardrobe alone. Which took up one wall. Thankfully they have so far.

He sits at his desk and starts working on his thesis. He keeps it on his laptop which he carries on him everywhere, though he also keeps it backed up in his email. He might be slightly paranoid. He’s been working on theoretical bio reading tech that can scan, register, and possibly even duplicate bio-signatures. In all reality he’d found though species tend to share a large portion of a bio-signature, there are specific quarks that make each unique. Like fingerprints but as of yet he hasn’t found a way to scrub and change bio-signatures. He’d made a prototype but all it does is register and record a single bio-signature. He’d created a locking mechanism that required to scan the little bracelet he’d made the bio-scanner into. He’d had to tweak it and had been tinkering when his roommate came back Griffin wasn’t fully comfortable with working on his tech but he was close to getting the lock to work he takes off his goggles and his gloves and rubs his eyes waving attempting to be nice. They nod and look at his lock and the bracelet.

“What is that..?” Alec asks, his room mate was thankfully laid back and had slowly realized since a lot of their classes were together though rich Griffin wasn’t faking how smart he actually was. Then again no one cared to look up his last name and realize who his parents were. One was a leader in archaeology the other was a leader in sociology. One dug up ancient civilizations the other went through and worked out how that civilization functioned. The two of them often worked together and Griffin had grown up fascinated by the way ancient people interacted and what they could build even with primitive technology let alone limited resources.

“Um... Basically it’s a lock and scanner combination. It’s meant to scan a bio-signature and the lock and bracelet are meant to sync so only that specific bio-signature can open it. I’m trying to work out a few bugs that are making it kind of useless.” Griffin explains and Alec nods he was working in coding, in fact he was hoping to become a government sanctioned hacker. Griffin always found it odd that the government frowned on hacking but would gather up ‘White caps’ to help them.

“Sounds complex.” Griffin shrugs and sighs rubbing at his eyes again.

“That’s half the problem. Besides nothing worth doing is ever easy. Or at least that’s what father likes to say. I wonder how their latest dig’s going...” Griffin mused and he sighs and packs up his project he’ll just go ask the engineering professor if he can see a way to stop the damn scanner from locking in the signature.

“Yeah, that sounds seriously complex and my brain isn’t weird like yours.” Alec jokes Griffin snorts as he stands stretching.

“Yeah might be a blessing, if you were more like me you’d be hopeless with those ones and zeros you love so much.” Griffin jokes and Alec laughs as Griffin walks away to go ask his professor some questions. He spend the next few days noticing the random freezes start to happen more frequently. It’s starting to annoy him as he can’t just go about his day if this keeps up. Especially if his classes keep getting interrupted. As he’s walking back to the dorm he sees time pause again and growls looking around as it’s the second time that day. He sees an albino skipping around moving people and cackling and Griffin freezes waiting for them to get closer. When they do Griffin sighs.

“This shit’s getting old quickly do you mind? I have classes I’d love to do without getting paused in the middle of drinking water. I don’t have time to pretend I don’t see odd shit happening!” Griffin shouts making the man jump and cough. He moves slowly back and then books it away Griffin keeps a firm hand on his bag to keep it from jostling too much and books it after him growling hating when time stops being frozen and he’s now dancing through a crowd to get after the stranger. He catches up in an alley.

“Seriously asshole, explain! I thought I was doing it though I know I don’t have any crazy magic or any kind of mutation.” The man groans.

“Look I do this because it’s fun and I know how to not that I know how it works but eh, obviously however I can do this you have something similar that makes you immune to my effects.” He says and Griffin sighs.

“Can you just go screw with people away from Uni? I’d like to not look anymore out of place than I do.” Griffin whines. The man paused and raised a brow.

“Out of place you’d know how that feels?” He asks incredulous and Griffin glares.

“Look asshat I might not be albino or have some odd social quirk but you try to be a rich background walking into a Uni with high IQ stats and see how long it takes for no one to like you. The people that tested in for merit hate me because I got in and they only see money, the rich hate me because half my way in was merit alone. I don’t need scholarships I didn’t ask for any I just paid like I could do and showed I have the smarts so everyone seems to hate me with a passion so fuck you yes I’m an outcast.” Griffin rants and the man leans back and nods.

“Alright I get your issue. I’ll leave the Uni area alone.” He says and Griffin sighs.

“Thank you. I’m just getting fed up with everyone hating me and I don’t want this on you of it. Though... Have any theories on why we can do the thing with stopping time?” Griffin asks and the other shrugs.

“The most I can say is I know when I freeze an area it basically enters it’s own little bubble the moment I let go of the affect everything resumes back at the time I paused it. Like the area I pause basically loops back to the start point. That’s all I’ve really been able to see.” He says and Griffin nods having noticed it too.

“Well then... You go have fun I guess.” Griffin says walking away confused about the man’s flippant carefree personality.

“We should get drinks some time, you’re interesting.” He calls and Griffin looks back.

“Sure, so long as it’s not in a time loop.” Griffin jokes walking away hearing the other laughing. He’s grinning as he walks away.

#mild language #Oberon x Griffin #original story content #loonytwowritingchallenge #writing challenge

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startrekvigilant · 5 years

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So what was the 21st century in Star Trek.

We spent the early 2000s recovering from The Augments and their very near-totalitarian rule over humans. We develop technology, like the Millennium Gate in 2012 (Star Trek: Voyager), a superstructure that would serve as a prototype for space colonization.

By the mid-to-late 2020s we had continued our development of ships that would eventually surpass the model we banished Khan and his like in. But it was becoming increasingly clear that another world war was happening.

In fact, World War III broke out in 2026, apparently due to an “Eastern Coalition” making a direct attack on the United States of America (Star Trek: First Contact). The ensuing years the war went on with differing levels of intensity and size, and the world became steadily more violent, as many famous riots and upheavals spread through Europe (Unified Ireland, The Next Generation, The Bell Riots, Deep Space Nine).

In the 2030s earth made a few select manned missions to mars. (Apparently around this time the United States added two new states to their union, and why the hell not they were probably on the moon and on mars. I doubt this made other countries happy, it probably escalated the fighting and enveloped other nations, adding to the tensions the world had been experiencing since 1996, the end of the Eugenics War).

The United Nations reshapes itself due to the changes on earth since its initial creation, and the New United Nations feebly tries to sort out our problems. It did not do very well for itself, obviously. World War III was a fact now and earth was in trouble. Space-faring technology is pursued with renewed fervor, with ships of people attempting to explore further and further out of our solar system. Perhaps these many attempts to further star ship tech was due to a spreading fear that things might be coming to a violent end on earth? Most likely.

In the 2040s we see more colonies popping up on the moon, safe from the horrifying destruction that was breaking out on the planets surface. But it only continued to escalate. Now, whatever happened to the people on these off world colonies is not specified, but if the fighting is as bad as we think it is, and if it was fought primarily with nuclear weapons, maybe we stopped caring about these off-world colonies. Maybe sending them food and supplies was getting too bothersome. These colonies were most likely abandoned, or they scraped by on meager rations, waiting for the fighting to end.

The years 2039 to 2050 don’t really have any significant events in official trek canon, but I’m going to go on record and say it was eleven years of complete global warfare. By 2050 things calmed down, and many thought the worst was over, but then the nuclear strikes began in earnest, destroying thousands of cities and millions of lives.

Then in 2053 it suddenly stops.

The war ended because there was nothing left, and all who perpetuated the violence were dead. There are attempts to pick ourselves back up again, but any form of government that existed before the outbreak of war was gone. Civilization actually crumbled, it was the end of the world. Just like in the movies! The death toll is set somewhere around 600 million officially…but I think it’s low. This was the first real nuclear war right? All the stockpiles of warheads collected over the cold war and beyond…this was the war where those missiles destroyed cities, wiped nations right off the map. How many nations have warheads? How many warheads do they have? The imagined damage is catastrophic.

The years following are every dystopian fiction writers dream! Scattered bands of irradiated wary humans, scraping by in tents on the fringes of giant holes in the ground that were once major cities. A lot of information about who we were before all the mindless fighting was lost. So that’s a good cop out reason to explain was the canon is so spotty? But pretty much by 2060 human civilization had taken a major turn. People lived nomadically, independently, in a strange sort of dazed anarchy. Like I dunno, I think a lot of people might have died, a lot of important people, so we really were at an all time low.

But there were still scientists and scholars, entertainers and trades people. Humanity was still alive, but there wasn’t much left. Amongst them was Zefram Cochrane, the eventual inventor of warp drive on earth. Canon is once again spotty, he most likely started his physical experiments in 2060, but who knows how long he had been working on his calculations for.

2063 is when everything changed for the human race.

Zefram caught the attention of the vulcans! What a one in a million shot! It was mind blowing! It was astounding! It freaking changed the rotation of the planet, it boiled the oceans, it drove us all to madness, man it was BIG. Aliens! On earth! In front of humans! Talking to us! With language! That we were able to understand! And they us! My! God!

Like, it doesn’t take much thinking to realize how much this changes everything. But it’s also hard, yanno? These aliens seem so like us, but everything we do confuses them and everything they do bewilders us. They see our smouldering planet, nearly destroyed, still fraying along the edges and think “my god, emotions will destroy everything.” we’re just confused. No emotions? How. We talk to them and are upset by their unchanging face, they give us no visual cues, and they hardly move their eyebrows. This is difficult!

And on top of this we feel like small children around them. But by comparison our species is! They’ve been out in space doing the space thing for eons. Eons! They’ve actually traveled through space for so long that a very large fraction of their population split off and settled themselves in a different star system and stayed there so long they evolved into an entirely new species. Romulans! Those cunning cousins to the Vulcan race that will one day become one of our most notorious enemies.

But we don’t meet them until the 23rd century. And you wanna know why? It’s cuz the vulcans don’t trust us and the vulcans hide a lot of their information from us because it’s unsafe to let a species as primitive as us in on their technologies and knowledge. It’s kind of dark, isn’t it?

Some might feel like the vulcans are disgusted by us, but feel obligated to us. They might find us clingy and I really don’t think they’ve interacted with other species like they find themselves doing with us. Seriously, we’re dating. Or they’ve become our parents? Or like, our mentors? I don’t know but one year after first contact humanity finally sees itself getting back on its feet. We go from living on the fringes of nuclear waste sites to building universities and sending ships of people to explore the stars.

Large groups of people leave earth entirely, going off to discover new lands, and new peoples in the name of earth. Sometimes these encounters don’t end so well for us. We’re new to the space game.

We meet a race of wolf-like creatures, the Kzinti, and they bully us until we fight back. These battles amount to no more than schoolyard antics, really. In 2065 the SS Valiant is launched on an interstellar mission to the furthest reaches of the galaxy. Almost as an omen for the years to come, the Valiant is lost and never heard from again (or at least not until 2265).

So we don’t know how exactly it came to be formed, but by 2067 United Earth was sending probes out into space in order to learn more of the life out there. Vulcans would not share their technology or their information of space life, so it was up to us to get the ball rolling.

The Friendship 1 was a probe like the ancient Voyager I, meant to inform extra-terrestrials of life on Earth, our language and customs. Basically we were already getting bored with the vulcans and their rules, and wanted to meet more fun aliens, aliens who were down to party.

By 2069, far away from Earth the Kzinti pick on us for the last time. Humans finally defeat the Kzinti and they finally agree to stop attacking us. It’s an important moment for humans in space. We’ve been out here for such a short time but we were finally able to stand up for ourselves. We governed and were listened to. It changed us, I guess.

So now we’ve stretched our legs, we’ve been picked on by aliens and fought back; we’re ready to colonize. Well, the vulcans don’t think so, they’re still weirded out by us, think us too dramatic. And our home planet is still a mess. There’s still a weird sense of dystopian cruelty hanging in the air, and I guess a lot of people are looking to move out.

We want to meet more aliens, but we can’t take them back to our place, it’s too embarrassing. So expeditions to find a kind of replacement earth begin. Our starships were still in their infancy, only capable of warp factor one. But we wanted people to get excited about this technology, so we began high-profile searches for New Earths.

The SS Conestoga is launched to bring 200 colonizers on a nine-year mission to Terra Nova, where they would immediately dismantle the ship and use it to build their new colony. So you see, technology is still very limited. It’s faster than our previous technology, but it still takes a good while to reach our destination.

Humanity is becoming spread thin is what I’m saying.

Some humans go out to explore far reaches of space and are lost. Others venture out to meet new civilizations and are greeted with years of warfare with an alien race. Others still board starships to find home on new planets only to end up stranded. It’s a tumultuous time. But still, we explore. We don’t let the hardships stop us because they never have before.

The SS Conestoga reaches its destination in 2078, and the Terra Nova colonies of humans begin. Now we can clearly see a divide forming between space-exploring humans, off-world colonists and Earth-bound humans. And the rift will only widen from here on out.

The mindset is that now we’re able to explore strange new worlds then why waste time cleaning up earth? Because everyone is busy dealing with official space business, earth is once again left to rot.

By 2079 in some parts of the globe, things are pretty much back to being dystopic shambles, and all “United Earth nonsense” is brushed off the table. Humanity forgot about earth! It’s supposed to be a new, bright era for humanity, but our home is still on fire. And the distain for earth is palpable.

By 2083 the United Earth space agency planned to send 200 more colonists off of wasteland earth to the new Terra Nova colony, but the original colonists had grown so fiercely independent they were now actively aggressive towards Earth.

I bet vulcans watching from the sidelines were just amazed at the boundlessness of humans distrust of one another. Honestly. We’re our own worst enemy. We’re still shell shocked, we’re still not over the last centuries of violence and war with each other. And now we’re forced to deal with aliens? It’s a bad scene man; we’re not dealing well.

Things are pretty quiet during most of the 2080s, but by 2090 we’ve started to industrialize more planets and moons in our solar system.

The last decade of the 21st century is mostly filled with confusion and exploration, much of earth is still ungoverned, we’ve lost contact with our largest off-world colony and we’re realizing we know next to nothing about space and the aliens that populate it.

#long post #original content #star trek #writing #and that's the tea #i wrote this wow i forgot i wrote this but i did #thanks memory alpha for the references

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cxncordia · 5 years

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Magical system for the blog:

Since all my guys have some way or another the use of magic, I decided to create a nifty magic system that encompasses most (if not all) of their universes. This is based on the Sanderson’s laws of Magical Systems (particularly, the second law) and it’s mostly a work based on The Magicians.

Ability: Use of magic to alter the reality itself. Magic is performed through the use of spells, which are unitary events represented through a medium to be altered to the will of the caster. In other words, the caster creates a representation of how the world should be according to the Magician’s will through the medium. Magic is both the skill and the fuel used to perform these alterations.

Limitations: The possibility of changing an event is limited by the skill of the caster (some changes of reality are way too difficult for the caster to perform), the amount of fuel available in the space surrounding the caster (that is, how much magic is available to perform) and finally, the circumstances, that is, all the details that encompass the reality they are trying to change: the planets positions, the amount of air, the position of the sun, the soil, the type of plants and such.

Weaknesses: Lack of skills, lack of fuel and lack of mediums/ingredients to perform.

Further constructions:

These alterations can be performed by the use of a medium, that is, a representation of the event through the use of the human body and the human skills. These mediums could be incantations (oral language), written or drawn signs (graphic language) and through gestures (fingertutting, dancing, or kinetic motions).

The larger the event that the caster wants to impact, the more mediums the spell may require.

The larger the event that the caster wants to impact, the more fuel they may require.

Magic (as a fuel) is an invisible resource that is distributed through all the universes and beyond. Some spaces are heavier in magic than others. There is a belief that ley lines or pipelines are spread all over the universe and these are the ones that distribute magic.

Magic (as a fuel) can cluster around emotions, objects or even organisms, manifesting in magical fauna and flora and magical instruments.

Parts of these manifestations can be used in spells to fuel the same or act as catalizer or preventers even.

Since magic can manifest through objects, Magicians can charm certain objects to perform specific spells when certain conditions are met.

Precisely because magic manifests organically in some beings, every magician has a Discipline, a specific set of magical skills that can be cast without the limitations or with very little affect from the weaknesses. That said though, some limitations and weaknesses (the lack of magic fuel or even the lack of fingers) trump over the Discipline.

Though it’s uncertain, we could infer then that Magic can manifest as a sentient organism, which is what we could consider a Deity. These beings are either natural (birthed from Magic itself, also known as The Old Gods) or artificial (created either by stealing the magical resources from another deity, assessing large quantities of magical fuel and then absorbing them or because the deity passed down the skill onto a human).

The magician himself is a beacon of magic. Magical fuel is called to the Magician and then allows it to pass through, fueling the representation of how the world is supposed to be and thus, allowing the change of the circumstances that created the event.

How much magic can the Magician draw and how much magic can pass through them depends entirely on the skill level of the caster. Apprentices could only cast a few spells without tiring themselves up while Master Magicians can create amazing spells with the flick of a finger.

If too much magic passes through the caster at the same time, the caster may end up with their physical body burned and magic impregnating into their spirit, creating a new organism: a Niffin, beings that are made of absolute magic and, given they possess no body, they possess no consciousness of what is right or wrong. The only way to reverse this is for the Niffin to inhabit a new body all for themselves... which is very hard to be done, but not impossible.

Deities on the other hand have their physical bodies made of magic, thus they do not suffer the effects of the Niffin. They also do not have to make a representation for magic to be cast, they simply have to will it for it to happen, because they are made of magic. Which also means that none of the weaknesses and limitations of the system apply to them.

Universe tailoring:

Though I will be using this system for almost anything that has to do with Magic, there are a few exceptions that I need to present.

Chilling adventures of Sabrina:

Magic is a skill that is only given to witches and warlocks, who are themselves of another species (most likely born out of the interbreeding of humans and demons). Witches do not age like normal humans do.

As a skill, it’s natural and it comes almost as second nature to all witches, who then go to school to refine said skills. So, the limitation is that only those who possess the genetic disposition can perform magic.

Since the origin of magic is of demonic nature, a weaknesses is anything that is holy or blessed can diminish, hamper or even destroy the magical effects.

The skill requires no use of medium. Kinetic mediums (gestures, pointing, body language) are used mostly to direct where the effect is desired.

The more individuals perform the same spell at unison, the more control is given over the event and the more chances of success are presented.

Spells, in this case, are instructions to obtain a specific outcome. So, in order to obtain something, you need to possess the instructions.

How these instructions are obtained in the first place is hard to say. Since the show has a large Abrahamic inspiration, it’s safe to say that many of these are either created by Lucifer or were stolen from the same instructions that God used to create the universe.

The ingredients in this case are symbolic of the event that is trying to be controlled, giving the magic a fetishizing and primitive aspect.

Through the use of the ingredients where the caster performs on them a symbolic representation of the desired outcome.

American Horror Story:

Magic is, again, a genetic concept that is passed down from generation to generation, originated from one individual, most likely a Deity, though this is also unclear.

Every generation has a witch that rises above all else, which is called The Supreme. The exact qualifications of what makes one witch above the rest and what not, is not known. However, to fully ascend to that role, one must pass the test of the Seven Wonders.

It’s unclear why, but silver bullets are a definite weakness for witches and warlocks alike, as well as fire. While witches can be killed by any other mean, these two methods seem to be the most effective to keep a regular dead.

The Seven Wonders are seven specific skills that push the boundaries of magic skill in the caster. These skills are available to all witches and warlocks, but only a few can master most of them and only one can master all of them.

Magic is closely linked to the genetic history of the individual, meaning that there are particular spells or skills that are unreachable depending on the caster ancestry.

Magic is also linked to the sex of the individual, which means that witches will be always superior in magic skills than warlocks, because the testosterone in the blood blocks the magic. So far, it’s not known if a FTM or MTF have a change in their skills after their gender reassignment. (Considering the very transphobic/homophobic views of Ryan Murphy, it seems unlikely).

Since it’s biological, magic can appear in organic ways in some individuals, giving them specific powers or skills. This manifestation can be one of the Seven Wonders or can be a different supernatural skill entirely. For easier plotting matters, all the manifestations of my characters are related to the few Wonders they dominate.

Spells can be then divided in two: ritualistic and improvised.

Ritualistic spells require specific circumstances: incantations in a specific language, specific ingredients, specific environmental circumstances or even specific graphical representations and should follow very precise instructions. Where these instructions come from or who created them, is unknown.

Improvised spells are mostly manifestations of magic through the will of the caster. Normally, these manifestations require the use of a kinetic medium (pointing, moving eyes, waving hands, touching or interacting with the universe) from the caster to will events into happening.

This is as much information I will gather on the topic. If there is another universe to be exploring, consider this post to be updated.

Now, who uses what? Here goes the list:

Virgil: The Magicians

Valerian: The Magicians / CAOS

Enzo: The Magicians

Julio: CAOS

Andrew: AHS

Vico: The Magicians / AHS / CAOS

Garrett: The Magicians

Harper: The Magicians / AHS

#the typist #concepts #hc:virgil #hc:valerian #hc:enzo #hc:julio #hc:andrew #hc:vico #hc:garrett #hc:harper

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fansonia · 6 years

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Earth Experiences #1: Her College

- Start Log -

Ah, see, where to begin.....I suppose at the beginning. Much has happened since my arrival at this....odd little planet. Most of what has happened, I fear, were not entirely good experiences in the beginning. I still shudder at those nightmarish memories, of cold concrete and questionable gazes, humans in matching outfits staring down at me with their primitive weapons aimed for my skull. But things have changed now, perhaps for what could be the better. During my detainment with this human colony’s military, I was assigned to be effectively colonized with the civilian population, due to my similarities with the species. One such human, I was assigned to, with her duty to act as my sort of......guide, I guess one could call it. She’s still what one could call a child, according to their species. Funny, as on my planet, she would already have reached adulthood approximately 2 Earth years ago.

She insisted on taking me with her to her college, as she called it. It seems that the younger humans end up going to their own kind of schools, though they last for far longer periods of time than the ones on my home planet. My human companion said that in this human colony, she didn’t have a choice aside from going to this college, enlisting in her country’s military, or working what she said would be “a dead-end job with food stamps, if you’re lucky”. This statement seems rather dramatic in tone, but given the strange ways of this planet, I wouldn’t be surprised if her words had some hint of truth within them.

Anyways, I digress. Today, she ended up practically pouncing on me and dragging me out of my confines, what she called a guest bedroom. She made us both some food (which surprisingly, wasn’t awful), grabbed her things, and flew out the door to her transport vehicle. I must admit, despite being archaic technology in comparison to the advances of my home, it is a rather nice piece of machinery. We ended up on our way, as she explained more of the nuances of humanity as she drove. Truly, they are a strange species.

We encountered some slight abnormalities to what my human called her “normal day”. For one, it seemed that a large gathering of archaic transports were clogged in one place, on the road in which she would usually travel. “A car accident”, she told me. She muttered some curses under her breath before figuring out an alternative route, particularly noting how unsettled she was to see multiple vehicles with flashing lights appear. “Emergency vehicles, so either there’s more than one car up there, or someone’s dead.” Her morbid remark didn’t exactly soothe me, but then again, I did tell her some time ago not to try and “sugar-coat” reality when it came to my forced transition to society.

Aside from the morning chaos, we ended up reaching a small plot of land with stationary cars in designated areas. She turned off her car, put up a piece of fabric in the front of the window (saying something about how this “sunshade” would keep the car from overheating. Hey, I’m not one to judge), and headed outside with her belongings. I followed her, not exactly understanding what we were waiting for. After all, she told me her school was still some ways away!

Turns out, I would find out what we were waiting for. A larger transport vehicle appeared, one she called a “shuttle bus”, allowing us both to ride. She had me hold some small card (one that allowed her to ride this shuttle), and was granted access to ride alongside her. Strange, that she would offer to potentially endanger her own clearance to allow me safe passage, but not entirely unsatisfactory. We found some seats (which I still question the overall safety of, despite the human girl saying we would be fine), and within minutes arrived to the area in which she wished to reside in. It wasn't much of a walk from where the shuttle bus placed us to her first class, one she stated I would love.

To my surprise, it was strangely intriguing. A large group of humans were already inside, sitting with electronic devices I could only assume to be laptops. Like the cars, they were archaic technology compared to the engineering found back home. The things I took for granted....who knew I would miss the familiar purr of a transport sphere, the annoyance my friends and I experienced at the sight of an error screen on the digital folding tablets....what wouldn't I give to see those again. To see home again....my human chaperone is giving me that sad look again. Pity, I believe is the emotion she's conveying. I'd better move on.

Anyways, the class passed in little time, with the instructor reviewing subjects about Earth's history and art. Quite interesting, I must say! Especially one term that the human seemed enchanted by, something called sophrosyne. Balance, order, unity, harmony....the word's synonyms brought a sense of peace to my mind. I can understand why she loves that word so much. Despite the flaws of the human species, sometimes something so simple as a word or an action can be enough to breathe hope back into one's troubled consciousness.

There were some breaks in time between more of my human companion's classes. Not much happened aside from her telling me more about human society, and working on her assigned classwork. Similarily, her next few classes were somewhat uneventful, as well. She did interact with some other humans, however. She's a bit awkward at the whole "social interaction" thing, but she seemed to gain favor with others without much trouble. I watched her as she worked, acting as if this were nothing unnatural. I suppose for her, this life is indeed natural. It's hard to fathom constant work as a healthy lifestyle, but then again, this planet is full of strange outlooks on life.

As soon as some other humans bid her farewell, she ended up joining me again, the two of us walking back to where the shuttle dropped off. She pulled out her electronics and began to write more of my experiences, as I watched another human play with an animal in the grass. According to her, it was a dog. The one in the grass was far different from the high-strung behemoth she took care of at home, though. Far different.

My human chaperone kept telling me I should post this to her blog. In fact, she practically shoved her laptop into my hands several times today in the middle of writing my account of today’s events. While I find it strange that she’s so fascinated with my perception of her seemingly normal human life.....I suppose it’s not too terrible. After all, she did offer to purchase me some human food in the food court area she loves so much. Oh well. I’d better make sure she does more of her work, before she gets distracted by something else again. Last time I let this slip, she ended up playing with bubbles for an extended period of time. Best to make sure she doesn’t neglect that future she says is so important.

- End Log -

#short story #aliens #scifi #humans are space orcs #idk how much that last tag applies but hey imma add it #maybe gonna continue this?#slice of life #college #text post

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starr-fall-knight-rise · 5 years

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Humans are Space Orcs, “Eating Everything.”

I am working my way through the list of suggestions that you guys left me, so this is the first installment from a Anon ask. I don’t know if this is what you wanted to read or where expecting to read, but this is what I came up with.

Intergalactic Journal of Biology and Medicine

Humans have one of the most resilient digestive tracts in the known universe. As an Omnivorous predatory species, humans are capable of digesting muscle , fat, carbohydrates (simple and complex), proteins and fibers taking many nutrients and extreme energy from them. Their use of carbs gives us an explanation as to why humans are so powerful because they require a lot of energy to use their bodies. Additionally, the stomach acid of a human is capable of digesting, non-food items though no nutrients can be pulled from it.

Generally speaking, the rule is that if you can eat it, a human can eat it, though, whether it is to their taste or not is questionable.

Furthermore, the human body reactivly ejects toxic substances once detected, so within reason, humans are capable of trying many foods without the negative consequences many of us would associate with sticking foreign substances in our mouth.

There GA intergalactic summit was held, on what was Earth time, November 5th, 4022. All members of the GA council were expected to attend, or at least a representative for every species in the known universe. At this time that would include the Rundi, Gibb, Tesraki, Bran, Vrul, Drev, etc. but worst of all, the humans.

The Rundi steward, a class of government official who was specifically tasked with dealing with the drudgery of bureaucracy, was not pleased in the slightest. It was primarily his job to put everything together, and depending on how well he did, it could either make or break him in social hierarchy of his species. The Rundi were a primarily governmental planet, everything they did was based upon a structure of hierarchy and rule. Government was the greatest form of service, and Anarchy wasn’t even an afterthought in philosophical debate. The rundi were not capable of anarchy.

It was a planet of politicians in some form or another, every interaction had political underleanings, and their speech was always heavily guarded. For this reason, the Rundi had been the first in suggesting an intergalactic system of government. The terasaki had agreed only upon realizing they would be tasked with overseeing economics, but had benefited from the Rundi system of government seeing as they tended a bit towards social anarchy, a thought that the Rundi had seen as horribly barbaric, especially since their system was based primarily on the equal distribution of goods to support government structure.

The Vrul had only agreed to join based on their own personal interest in survival. Generally they wanted nothing to do with intergalactic politics and would have been happy to maintain their own peaceful homeworld, but the introduction of other species into the galaxy had offered a great threat to them, and they had decided, out of necessity, to join the GA as being friends with the other species was in their own self interest. In turn that had meant sending their very, very skilled workers to help the rest of the galaxy, and that included their scientists and their doctors, and their mechanics.

And then of course there was the issue of the Drev and the humans, both scarily similar in social hierarchy and temperament. The Drev were warlike and honor bound, but once choosing a leader, they had been surprisingly willing to join in as long as they were given the opportunity to participate in any and all armed conflict that happened to take place across the galaxy.

The humans….. The humans were another story. There was no one characteristic that helped to identify their motivations. The humans themselves were well versed in war, politics, economics, and science, but they did everything to the extreme. Where the Drev practiced war for honor,when humans waged war, they did it to kill, while the Rundi maintained government and played games within their own circles, the humans played against each other often mixing war and government into one. Their economic practices varied widely, but their current system played for keeps and focused on the greatest accumulation of wealth possible far beyond what the Tesraki did. Then when it came to science, they never considered WHETHER they should do something, but only if they COULD do something.

And now here the steward was forced into the position of setting up this summit for all the different types of species. The catering alone had been a complete nightmare, and he had been forced to ship different sorts of food for thousands of miles in order to feed everyone in the proper manner. There were some species he did not have to worry about, like the Vrul, who were more plant based and so did not eat, but there were others, and that included the rundi and the Tesraki, who had every strict diet consisting of only very specific foods to eat. He found that he could tack the Drev onto some other species, seeing as their bodies were capable of metabolizing almost any plant as long as it retained a similar structure to human plants and fruit.

However, the humans themselves were the hardest part, because the range of food was so wide, he could hardly determine what was going to work and what was going to be a massive disaster. He honestly didn’t know, different sources said different things, and he couldn't bare to think about putting MEAT on the table…. That was just against his constitutions.

In fact, he was scrambling right up until the council had convened for the evening, and the mass tide of bodies came pouring into the room filling the vaulted ceiling with rockus chatter in dozens of different languages.

He could hear the humans coming a mile off.

The humans and the Rundi had a similar register when it came to hearing, and humans were known to be able to mimic Rundi vocalizations to some degree simply because they generally tended to communicate in deep grunts, hums and guttural vocalizations. The humans, wlel their language was just as varied as their culture clicking, hissing, snapping, humming and grunting filling the air with discordant and somehow, rhythmic quality..

Their presence turned heads.

They walked with the Drev delegation, which was no surprise to anyone. The humans had been unable to send their usual representative due to a social disagreement between earth and its neighboring sister, Mars. So who had they gone and sent….

Them….

The rundi Steward knew all about them….. Crewmembers of the UNSC Harbinger, the widest ranging vessel in the entire galaxy, and home to a crew that was indisputably certifiable. They were the most reckless, most dangerous, and most terrifying amalgamation of creatures in the galaxy somehow including one Drev, and a rather out of place Vrul whose behavior suggested he had caught whatever brain malady had overcome the humans, and was just as insane as they were.

He cringed horrifically at the sight of them.. Humans were a destructive force, and were known to cause chaos and mayhem wherever they went, even at the best of times, so this was bound to get interesting.

The delegates were seated, and the Steward welcomed them with gracious words of introduction he had spent months preparing. It was a very political thing for him to do, and included subtle compliments to all delegations involved, laid down some ground rules but made sure not to undermine the authority of the people he was speaking too..

However, to the humans, the attempt was obviously heavy handed brown nosing, though none of the other delegations seemed to notice.

He invited them in for refreshments and encouraged discussion between the parties.

Of course, the humans weren’t exactly ones to pass up the idea of food and were some of the first to the table examining the contents with great interest even the food that was not theirs. They seemed very amused watching the other delegations pick up their specific food and then move away to sit.

“What is this.” one of the humans commented holding up a rather stringy green tube that wriggled and squirmed in his hand, “Are these worms?”

One of the Tesraki looked over, “No, it’s a Cavestalk, a kind of plant. Probably not to your taste, they are known to be poisonous to other species. In other words, not human food.”

The human raised an eyebrow, “Buddy, humans are the sharks….. Or wait…. Maybe that's the goats of the universe, we can eat anything within reason, and even a couple of things outside of reason if given enough time.”

The Tesraki made a sort of shrug and wave with its large ears and then walked away. The steward watched the humans with a worried expression. It wouldn’t due to allow the humans to make themselves sick on his watch, but it seemed as if that idea was only becoming more and more likely as the humans poked and prodded at the leftovers of other species hardly bothering with the food that had been laid out for them…. Mostly strange fibrous plant materials.

And that is when it came, “I dare you to eat it.”

The two humans locked eyes, one still holding the wriggling Cavestalk, “What.”

“I said, I dare you to eat it.” The human stuck out his chin at the other human in a primitive position of posturing, “How much do I get if I do.”

There was a moment of thought before, “Twenty credits. I’ll give you twenty credits to eat it.”

“What happens if it poisons me?”

There was a hand wave, “We have a doctor on board, he can just pump your stomach…. Chicken.”

A moment of silence passed between them, and the Rundi steward began moving towards them to stop something horrible he felt was about to happen. He wasn’t fast enough, and before he knew it, the human had thrown back his head and dropped the wriggly green thing into his mouth swallowing it whole like an alligator or a snake.

People around looked on in somewhat fascinated disgust as the predator’s throat bobbed and he smacked his lips making a face, “Eh, I can still feel it moving…. Eh.” He paused, “Though, taste wise it isn’t so bad kind of like a wiggly asparagus.” After a moment his eyes narrowed, and he smacked his lips again, “Spicy asparagus, uh, that’s really really weird.”

He reached the table just as the Vrul came running up shoulders squared in a very un-vrul way, “HE LITERALLY JUST SAID IT WAS POISONOUS TO OTHER SPECIES, AND NOW YOU’RE EATING IT! AND YOU OVER THERE.” A human looked up at him from where it had been prodding the Drev coiltree berries, “GET THOSE OUT OF YOUR MOUTH!”

They had attracted the attention of some of the closer tables now who were looking on in entertained confusion and worry.

A human waved a hand, “It’s alright Doc, we have you don’t we”

“I AM NOT THE MAGIC CURE FOR NEUROTOXIN.”

Another shrug, “Well it’s a good thing that I’ll throw up before anything really bad happens.”

The rundi steward tried to intervene as the humans began prodding through the other food, “Drev can eat human fruit, so I bet these things are like fruit.” one of them pointed out popping the berries into his mouth and chewing with a contemplative look on his face, “Not bad.”

“Please, please, if you would remain within your own food groups.” The Rundi begged. HE was now realizing he should have written up some legal documents to avoid litigation if the humans were to be damaged on their property, but now was too late.

A human waved him off, “Don’t worry, everyone else is done eating, besides.” He Pointed towards the human food, “That's literally a pile of lettuce, I am a man, not a horse.”

“Horses don’t eat lettuce, also that’s not lettuce,it’s spinach.” Another human piped up prodding at a strange squishy red ball sloshing with a strange pink nectar, “This looks like candy.”

“Please don’t put that in your mouth.”

The humans swarmed away from the two dissenting voices. One of them picked up the strange pink orb and licked it. It’s eyes lit up and it bit into the piece wiping pink juice from it’s face as it did, “Ok, this, this is good 10/10 would try again.” And that only caused all the other humans to move over to try one.

“I SAID GET THAT OUT OF YOUR MOUTH!” The vrul demanded.

The Rundi steward looked on in horror and worry. Vrul didn’t behave that way, everything here was just wrong.

A Drev joined the party just then pointing to the pink orb, “I love those, but you should definitely try these too.”

“No, no they should not.”

He was ignored, and the humans scooted over to look. It was a strange spiral plant in a light yellow color that made a distinctive crunching sound as the humans bit down. They shrugged, “Sort of just like space celery if you ask me.”

Did these creatures have no sense of self preservation!

A group had gathered around the table strangely amused at the humans, who just ate…. Everything.

The Rundi steward almost keeled over watching his future go down the drain as other species began offering humans food. Whatever it was, they seemed unable to resist putting it in their mouths. A human made a face spitting something back out into his hand, “Ax bleh, tastes like Satan’s feet.” “Quick question. When was the last time you licked Satan’s feet.” “The last time I was at your mom’s house.”

The humans made strange noises at each other as the Rundi stepped in and began grabbing things from the humans only to find the Vrul to be doing the same, “Stop it! Stop it all of you!.”

The human’s paused, as did the other delegates in surprise.

“STOP PUTTING THINGS IN YOUR MOUTH THAT YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE.” The intervening silence was broken as one of the humans loudly crunched on one of the pink orbs. Everyone turned to look at her and she just glanced around the group.

“What?” She wondered past a mouth full of food.

A human waved a hand at him, “Keep your shorts on, we promise you won't get in trouble if one of us dies.”

The Rundi stared on incredulous.

They were going to kill themselves, they were really going to kill themselves.

Maybe it was best if he resigned before being fired, at least he would be able to keep his dignity

#humans are insane #humans are space orcs #humans are space australians #humans are spaceoddities #humans are weird #earth is a deathworld #Earth is space Ausralia

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soulwitch · 5 years

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Each of the empires expanded differently and are inherently different.

Once the Extermination Directive broke free, it began to Cluster its planetary systems, no more than a few hyperlanes apart from each other. Usually multiple resource worlds and machine worlds surrounding a data center hub, these are spread out all over the directive space.

Whereas the Red Collective is made up of all the half biological population and some freed retained machine worlds usually found in pairs, either in the same system or within one hyperlane of each other. A machine world overlooking an assimilsted world.

The religious Izalith Syndicate expanded only colonizing around objects that are considered holy or Gaia Worlds, meaning most of their systems either have many or multiple habitable worlds inside the single system with additional colonies branching out from it, similar to the cluster format of the directive. However unlike the directive whose most important piece is at the center, the Syndicate's worlds are all of equal importance around the holy sites. The only Exception is that the Izalith Syndicate enslaves primitive worlds, meaning these worlds may be left on their own away from the protective multi-system support. Usually turned into a fortress world to be bombarded into nothing and delay intruders.

The Tatari Commerce league being a trading MegaCorp, only has three real colonies, all of them are ecumenopolis. Any other world they have is merely for food and mining to supply these three massive trading Worlds. Usually home to the poorest of the poor.

The Anfari consciousness given its tight connected space that matches the Tatari Commerce League in size, has merely a chain of planets only a few systems apart that vary in specialization, the hive mind tends to ensure each planet only has a single role. Given they're all so close together it is easy for them to protect their planets, however it does mean losing a planet could have a far bigger impact on the highway as a whole.

The Senji Architects, the third machine race has their planets centered around its core data hub, however they do have some Fringe worlds for other species interaction that have not been turned into full machine worlds. As machine worlds cannot Harbor biological life, these few Fringe worlds offered with refuge and cooperation with biological races, to lose these would isolate them.

The second last of the larger civilizations, is the Kansaku Confederacy. Unlike The izalith Syndicate the Confederacy is a spread out mix of planets, from Young colonies to healthy populated diverse worlds. These colonies acts a little more autonomously from each other with their own Garrison and Fleet unlike a United Empire, while this promotes their diversity end fast growth, it does mean the Empire is slow to react as a whole when threatened. They all heavily rely on trade with each other, to make up for what each lacks. Where the Anfari would suffer in one specific problem if they lost a planet, the Kansaku would suffer all over as a whole as each the first planet fills the needs of many other planets and vice versa.

Finally we come to the United Acadian Federation. Arguably the larger of all the non machine Empires, the Acadian space is filled with planet after planet of self sustained systems all linked properly under the Acadian government. They are all spread out through Acadian space however there are never too far away from each other. To lose a planet would not strain this Empire resource wise, and for them to mobilize their Fleet once in a war is hardly an issue. Their main problem comes from their sheer size in general, and their role as galactic peacekeepers. The population own concern towards the izalith syndicate, and the sheer count of Worlds that, if the Acadian were to suffer too many losses the morale of the people may call for them to exit any conflict with the extermination directive. It would be hard during a wartime mobilization, for the government to control the population on so many worlds, possibly lead into sectors that want to break free to distance himself from the conflict. With a greater population comes a harder task at uniting them under a single cause.

Beyond these standard Empires, there is the marauder Enclave, a collection of systems of orbital habitats belonging to a massive Fleet of long-time Marauders and Pirates. It enjoys almost peaceful trade with the Kansaku Confederacy due to the Fringe planet of Tempest IIb being somewhat of a welcome in paradise for these Pirates who are always trapped in space. They are given free access to amenities on the planet as a sort of low impact tribute, in return the Marauders continue to act as a deterrent to the Extermination Directives sole hyperspace lane in Kansaku space.

And finally there rests a single Fallen Empire sandwich between the Confederacy, The Syndicate, and the Federation. Their borders are always closed and they interact with none of the younger races even as they reach more advanced levels of Technology. Though their fleets combined is still the strongest in the galaxy in terms of technological power, they will not move a muscle to bother with the younger races affairs. At least not yet.

There are other things in space, leviathans, caravaneers, even creatures that cannot be explained. But it would take something special to move the sort of things in favor of either the neutral Nations, the collective, or the directive.

There will be Representatives of each Nation, for people to interact with as interacting with a collective Empire is rather difficult. But through them and through picking what events to possibly Focus, people will be able to influence how this Galactic Civil War proceeds.

#lore and random info #I will have this in a better to read easier to understand format soon don't worry

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