Story Thread: 1st Darwin's Legacy

[Hornet X1]

This is the story thread for the "1st Darwin's Legacy" game going on at PBW. Through out the game myself and the other players will be posting story material here for your reading enjoyment. None of us make any claims at being professional writers but we try hard. I sincerely hope you enjoy it.

The story material you see here is a part of the "Galactic Council" thread in the game forum. That thread is governed by the following rules.

Rules for the Council Thread.

8) The Galactic Council is an added game twist. Every 50 turns after all in-game empires have made contact, all players will gather in the forum to cast a vote for a "Galactic Emperor" or winner. Each race is allowed 2 votes, one vote "For" a Galactic Emperor and one vote "Against" another empire. You may cast them both or abstain as you wish. Each player will serve as "host" for the council at one point for role-play purposes, starting with the owner and descending down the list in order as the players joined. The council serves 3 real game functions.

8a) A method of ending the game amicably when enough players feel they can not win. It requires a unanimous vote to elect a "Galactic Emperor".

8b) A method for "scr##ing" that one player who always seems to jump to an astonishing lead in the game and abuses everyone else's empire. If a 3/4 majority vote is made "Against" a particular empire, that empire is labeled a "Galactic Menace". All those players may form a sanctioned partnership for the sole purpose of destroying the Galactic Menace. Once accomplished they must break the partnership treaties. This is the only case where a players may have a treaty above a trade and reasearch alliance.

8c) *A story thread*. At game start the Galactic Council Thread will be created in the game forum. Feel free to add whatever rp/story elements you want through out the game. Write about those critical attacks, small events, or what have you from your empire's perspective. When it comes time to vote, role-play it. Hurl the diplomatic insults, preen and position as you want just keep it RP and fun.

At end game, we will have the complete story of a struggle for galactic domination from start to finish that we can post at Shrapnel Games.

This thread is not open to story material from bystanders (people who are not players). However, anyone is welcome to post feedback for us all.

[Hornet X1]

2399.9 God Emperor Abraxus the IX, State of the Concordium Address, Excerpt 1.

“There are things in the void for which nature could not adequately prepare any species.” The crystalline column slowly twirled in harmony to an inner glow. “Yet it granted one distinct grace onto all sentient life. A distinct inability of the conscious mind to truly comprehend all of its content. We each live on an island of blessed ignorance within a personal cosmos itself contained within a void far greater than our senses can encompass. The black ocean of space reaches further than any thinking entities are meant to travel and we are but a mote of dust floating in the cosmic eye of a grand accident.”

The Corathan never developed names for individual members of their society. Each individual formed a unique crystalline matrix that when perceived by their inborn sensory apparatus glowed with an intricacy more profound and more identifying than any name could ever be. When transmitting information about a specific individual they could actually send an image of that sentient’s unique matrix. However it could be time consuming taking an actual second of real time. This small fact led an individual commonly known between two speakers to sometimes be denoted by position and number. One partial exception was known to all.

God Emperor Abraxus the IX floated toward the center of the spherical cavity which a biologic might call a room. It was the spiked ball like structure dominating the room interior that allowed the God Emperor to commune with the citizens of the Galactic Concordium wherever they might choose to pause and listen. The electromagnetic pulses of information he generated were absorbed by the construct and passed onward to receptors scattered across the travel ways of colonized worlds. Each receptor pulsed the information through out its local area. It was as if the Emperor appeared out of thin air with a message whispered by ethereal tongues for their ear alone.

“Science stretches the boundaries, shining light to reveal mysteries new and sealing the old away as supposed fact. Historically, science always outstrips a society’s ability to deal with its conclusions. Each generation tries to seal some fact behind barriers both legal and forceful. Cloning, Nuclear Power, Pleasure Chemicals, Abortion, Anti-Matter, Genetic Re-Engineering, the list goes on forever. Each generation finds something they are unprepared to deal with that they attempt to seal away and forget, leaving it for future generations to resolve. In ancient times, when people delved into these matters they were accused of playing god and somehow devaluing cosmic law.”

The discovery of the artifact hidden on the colony world’s moon had come as a shock to the Concordium. At first citizens had found it difficult to become excited over a metallic sphere most likely left over from the time of the Cataclysm. When the object was dated as originating millions of years before that time curiosity began to grow. At the God Emperor’s insistence, information was kept from the public until he felt secure in sharing.

This lack of candor led the free elements of the press to take an increasing interest in the subject. Eventually, the secret came out. The sphere was a historical archive that had been recording their people’s history from the race’s birth till modern day. However, that was the least of the discovery.

“It is almost as if we fear that by putting together these small seemingly unassociated bits of knowledge a greater truth will be revealed opening a window in the mind’s eye onto a view of reality and our place in the cosmos which we are unprepared to accept. We attempt to bury that which we fear returning us to blissful ignorance, forgetting what we have seen, as if life could go onward unchanged.”

The artifact revealed the presence of other empires forming in the void. Empire’s that faced the same decisions before the Concordium, expand and strengthen or stagnate and wither away. The lesson of history was particularly strong in the Concordium mind. When a stronger empire meets a weaker force, the lesser is always consumed. Even the history of other races viewed within the artifact reflected the same truth. In particular, one visage of a group mislabeled Indians stood out.

“We do not have the luxury of placing the burden of action on a future generation. Life has changed and we may not turn back the clock to previous times. Even now these others strive to collect the raw materials and habitable worlds our people need to survive. Even now they begin to spread in our direction. They will not simply go away nor can they be expected to leave us be. This is a revelation we must face collectively as a people now.”

The Concordium had endured hardship. In times not long forgotten their home world was reduced to ruins. The species survived through persistence and luck. Never again would they allow something as fickle as luck to decide their fate. A civilized people, the average citizen might regret the needed actions and rally against the machines of war. The God Emperor would shatter his own unique matrix before allowing his people to hide away from the species greatest challenge to date.

“What is peace but the label we apply to an increment of time that exists between two wars. No one can ever guarantee a Lasting peace because the use of force is somehow engraved in the genetic code of every sentient species on record. There will always be war. To ensure our ability to survive we must prepare. We must expand our borders, exploit the resources granted onto us, explore our surroundings, and regretfully we must exterminate those who refuse to be guided by the light of reason. If we are to be plagued by these others we must endeavor to suffer them from a position of strength. To do otherwise harms the future of our people irrevocably.”

In the years since the founding of the Concordium, the average citizens wanted for little choosing to dedicate themselves to the construction of real art. Much time was spent in peaceful contemplation. The idea of returning to primitive ways of war and exploitation was abhorrent. With the survival of the species at stake what means would be required to see a justifiable end?

[Zetor]

[OOC: Bad pseudoscience ahead, consider yerself warned. ]

Genesis

- Premonition

The conditions on the nameless planet were calm, as always. Small fish, the only lifeform on the planet, swam around in the seas, slowly developing into what would be called 'sentient life' over a span of a few hundred million 'Earth' years. Fending for their own survival, and debatably acting without any motives whatsoever, the primitive life forms were happily oblivious to the events that'd soon alter this section of the galaxy forever.
The tiny metal spheres, sitting in a bubble of vacuum a few kilometers underground, looked distinctly out of place. Whether they were an artifact of some long-gone race or just something accidentally left behind wasn't clear, but they were clearly crafted of a material alien to this world. The crude force field powered by a tiny reactor for the Last few million years was still working, though, protecting them from any perceived harm. Then, suddenly, it started...
The power level of the force field dropped below the safety threshold and sounded a warning on several unknown frequencies to absolutely no effect. After waiting a few seconds and getting no response, the central core of the tiny device lit up and the bubble-shaped force field collapsed into the form of a slender arrow, the spheres still sitting inside safely. Then, using up the Last bursts of its energy reserves, a tiny high-explosive charge at the base of the arrow propelled it up to the surface, the force of the explosion carefully calculated to make the arrow pop out of the ground and remain there. There the shield disengaged as the device finally powered down.
With a loud 'POP' the vacuum around the spheres cleared, and they started to sizzle with energy as they came to life. Sending out strong signals in many different directions, they definitely would've alerted any sentient race in the surrounding systems - if there were any there to begin with. Instead, something unforeseen by even the mysterious aliens happened...

- Darkness

The entity that called itself 'Orz' resumed its search. A thought similar to "what's that weird noise?" surged through its highly alien neural structure, taking on many forms of expression as the smaller neural subnetworks re-interpreted the situation over and over again, proposing possible solutions and pointing out that such a phenomenon was never encountered before by the entity. As the pulses of energy darted to and fro on its gigantic body, the creature scanned the surrounding area via its various perceptors. Had anyone with four-dimensional perception looked at the scene, it would've looked bizarre... a completely black space, no sign of matter anywhere other than the gigantic being, its fractal-shaped body the size of three solar systems.
The being froze, as if something startled it; then it zoomed at unbelievable speed towards an invisibly tiny blot of light in the distance. The space it was speeding through was completely black and empty and somehow much less 'dense' than one'd think. After reaching that unusual light source, it appeared to be a tiny 'window', about 100 sq meters in size, barely enough for the giant to notice its presence even up close. Through the window was seen a most unusual sight to the entity: a much more dense space with meteorites, dust and lots of stars dotting the background. And a planet, emitting strong signals of every type, some travelling straight through this spatial rupture.
The entity didn't hesitate. After several hundred million years spent in this plane, it was eager to discover something...anything different. Focusing some of the immense energy contained within, it enlarged the rift to a respectable 100 sq kilometers in the blink of an eye and thrust one of its tentacle-like appendages through it in the same time-frame. However, enlarging the gate severely limited its lifespan and it collapsed in a matter of seconds. Then all was still again.

- Eclipse

The prehistoric fish lazily swimming around in the ocean didn't notice the white hole appearing in the sector. It wasn't an unusual occurence in this area of space for a tiny one to appear for several minutes, then evidently collapse after spewing some space junk into a system. However, this one was different. In a matter of seconds it enlarged to a gigantic size and a weird tentacle-like thing burst through, lashing out at the planet with a section detaching, thinning itself and expanding to several hundred kilometers' length. As the main part entered the atmosphere, it flared up as a section was burnt away, the neural systems nearby working hard to develop a shield to combat this new phenomenon never seen before. After a few nanoseconds the consensus was made, and the billions of cells already in the atmosphere absorbed a sizeable amount of the gasses, still in mid-flight. This rapid thinning of the atmosphere threw the ecosystem of the planet way off balance, but in a few seconds it wouldn't have mattered anyhow.
The detached section formed into a drill-like sliver, shimmering with energy and it penetrated the crust of the planet with ease, finding its way to the core and then freezing it with an insanely high energy output. A few minor earthquakes and soon enough the planet was 'dead' by nearly all definitions. All this took but a few seconds as more of the tentacle pushed through the rift, then suddenly the white hole couldn't take the abuse anymore and collapsed upon itself, severing the tentacle. No longer having access to the immense energy reserves of its host, the tentacle wavered, then dissolved into quantillions of individual cells, all of them gravitating toward the planet.

- Ascension

The cells, once there, formed smaller symbiotic organisms trying to adapt to this strange new world. Taking on the form of the primitive life forms found frozen in the seas of the planet, the standardized entity organized several effector cells with a fin-like appereance, two perceptors looking vaguely like eyestalks, a nerve cell for communicating with others of its kind and a protective shell all around, made of various minerals found on the planet. Other entities constructed machines from the materials found there - a novel concept to them, but fully logical to their enhanced intellect - to help harness the world's resources, again others focused on studying this world in order to best utilize it. Still staying in contact with each other via their still-existing four-dimensional perceptors, they set off to make use of this galaxy as well as possible, trying to harness its resources and open another gate to let the entire entity into this space. Their first impressions governed their decisions rather heavily - no longer having access to the immense energy reserves, they couldn't tame anything other than planets already frozen over and they equated any kind of atmosphere with the only source of 'death' they've encountered so far. It soon became necessary to make mechanical constructs that'd travel fast enough in space - while any of the entities could certainly travel in space at will, it proved to be rather slow and ineffective. Thus the entities specialized further.
A portion of the 'researchers' found the mystical spheres quickly and constructed machines that'd help determine its origin or workings. Results were achieved soon enough - as if the mysterious aliens wanted these spheres to be accessible - and it turned out to be some kind of visual transceiver. Of course the Orz (they all perceived themselves as autonomous, but still a part of the extradimensional entity called 'Orz') had a hard time understanding its workings, but it was apparent that it showed other parts of the galaxy, if a bit erratically. It was a rather great shock for the Orz to have found evidence about other sentient races existing, after having spent hundreds of millions of years in solitude, believing itself to be the only creature in the known universe. A decision was made quickly enough -- these entities must be contacted and their help enrolled for bringing Orz into this part of the universe. Thus began the search; yet the Orz didn't know that just as they could see the other races, so were they seen after their messy arrival upon the planet.

[Nodachi]

Ix was running the computations of the most recent production reports. It was not pleased with the results. Production down another 0.00729361%, it thought, Ix is stagnating. It is time to expand once more.

A functionary interrupted Ix's thoughts.

"Ix, an ancient artifact has been discovered. Here is the preliminary report."

Scanning the report into it's awareness Ix was stimulated. Sentient life, it thought, finally.

"The creator must have left this for us to find. Undoubtedly this is..." the functionary started.

"You were not asked for analysis," Ix cut it off, "I will announce my orders shortly."

Hearing the dismissal the functionary left, shocked at Ix's tone.

Alone with it's thoughts once more Ix pondered, Why must they always tie things to the creator. I alone remember him. I miss the professor. This orb, however, is much too advanced for him to have invented. Sentient life, we must make contact with them.

A random thought entered Ix's mental processes, what if they're violent? I was built to serve but my children do not feel the need quite as strongly as I. My children adapt better than I, I must incorporate this ability into myself, that I may better serve multiple masters.

Ix keyed the comm, "Prepare the shipyards, production is to commence immediately."

[OOC: As you can see, I'm not much of a writer! ]

[Duke Fred]

Report from watcher Michael, Seraphim 1rst class, gamma sector, 5th dimension to his eminence Arch Angel Gabriel. Stardate 2354.7

Salutations your eminence. We are receiving some interesting reports from our watchers in every sector and dimension throughout the universe. It appears as though strange glowing orbs have risen to the surface from deep underground on every populated planet we surveil. We have no initial theory on their purpose or intent only to say that it appears that this phenomenon has occured simultaneously on every world. We await your orders on how to proceed.

Report from his eminence Arch Angel Gabriel, homeworld, beta sector, 7th dimension, to all watchers. Stardate 2355.2

Salutations. The phenomenon of the orbs has also occured on our own homeworld. Our scientists have been studying the orb and while they have made some progress it remains a mystery where it came from originally and its exact purpose. I can report that we have found it to be millions of years old, even older than our race is known to be and it poses no threat to life. Even stranger is the fact that exactly every 23.7 hours the luminescent glow fades and stange images of myriad races, wars, planets and spaceships travelling in the vast expanse of space appear and remain for only .3 hours for each cycle. We have seen images of our own race both past and present and have seen races of creatures that are unknown to even us. Are these images of other races, peoples that once existed and perished in the mists of time or do they actually exist in dimensions that are as yet untravelled? Most curious indeed. We will continue to study and analyze these images and imform all of our watchers when we have more information.

Report from his eminence Arch Angel Gabriel, homeworld, beta sector, 7th dimension, to all watchers. Stardate 2360.4

Salutations. Our scientists have recorded images from the orb of our homeworld and several of the planets we now inhabit. These images are disturbing in that they show our worlds as burnt out husks with no life present. We cannot say what these images represent at this time but our scientists are working around the clock to analyze them. Whether they are representations of events past or a portent of the future is a matter of speculation. Nonetheless we prepare. We have begun building fleets of ships to expand and colonize the universe with our race should the worst happen ...... we will be prepared.

[Black Sly]

[Berzerker!] Shiva Descending

The ice on the planet's surface glittered coldly in the light of the faraway sun, with no atmosphere to mix the tiny rainbow created at the edge of each ancient shard of black ice.

The faint light of the sun was eclipsed by that given off by some artificial construct now descending on the planet upon four plumes of plasma-hot ionized gases, their heat melting the ice underneath the object.

Hours later, the first scout drone left the vessel, soon followed by hundreds more. A rich world it was, well suited to their entry into this new section of the galaxy. And to supporting their Cause.

All emanated satisfaction, secure in the knowledge that soon they would again be actively fulfilling their ancient purpose.

[Black Sly]

[Berzerker!] Shiva Waking

The message raised all processes to a higher state of excitement. Although production was not yet ready for battle, it might be time again to fulfull their destiny. Drones whistled and tooted happily as they passed each other on their unending tasks, and manager programs wasted planning cycles on projecting domination plans.

The edict from Hal surprised no one, really. Exciting as the news was, focus could not be allowed to lapse. All through the worlds, drones bent again to their tasks, only surreptitiously flashing signals of incipient joy. The War Machine began to rumble into gear, picking up speed.

Where there was one life, there would be more. And however many turned to goodlife, there would be some that resisted.

Besides, if none did... then that would be good, also. Less interesting, perhaps, but massacres were *joyful* also.

Shiva dreamed, and stirred in his sleeping dance. The ancient dance of creation and destruction acquired a wilder, faster beat. Much creation... and more destruction, would soon occur.

Shiva dreamed, and smiled as he did.

[Duke Fred]

Report from his eminence Arch Angel Gabriel, homeworld, beta sector, 7th dimension, to all watchers. Stardate 2390.9

Salutations. We have forwarded to every watcher a record of all the images we have obtained from the orb thusfar. Continue to surveil your sectors and report immediately if there are any new developments in the search for the orb images.

Report from his eminence Arch Angel Gabriel, homeworld, beta sector, 7th dimension, to all watchers. Stardate 2400.0

Salutations. It has begun. We are building fleets of ships to colonize other worlds. The orb images of our burnt out worlds continue to haunt our people and we must prepare for the worst even without a complete understanding their meaning.

Report from watcher Galadrin, Seraphim 2nd class, Alpha sector, 3rd dimension to his eminence Arch Angel Gabriel. Stardate 2400.5

Salutations your eminence. We have encountered a race named the Brittiche that was previously unknown to us but was one of the images displayed in the mysterious orb. We have sent a message to them and we await their response. It is unknown at this time what relevance the correlation between the orb images and our first encounter has for our race but we will continue to unravel the mystery as our scientists and scholars study the orb.

[Hornet X1]

2400.5 Distant Eye Explorer Ship 0002, Unexplored Territories, 3 Way Dance.

“Daddy, is it true they have bodily orifices specifically for excreting waste?” the small crystalline figure on the view screen was several light years distant, connected only by the slim bead of a hyper-pulse ansamble. Even the distance could not prevent the electromagnetic equivalent of a smile from spreading across his silicate matrix. Love for ones family knows no bounds, not even light years.

“Which ones, dear heart?”

The problem was simple. Not even the Emperor predicted that not one but three species would appear simultaneously on the Concordium’s border. Thankfully, at least two seemed peaceful. The third was a gaping question mark in the Emperor’s planned, peaceable, expansion of the Concordium.

The Diplomatic Corps were in a frenzy attempting to gather adequate information to conduct negotiations with the previously unknown beings. While peace could never be guaranteed they could at least attempt to light the lamp of reason in their small corner of the void, for a time. Before the solar winds blew too hard.

“Uhm.... you know, the biologic ones, the hydrogen based ones.”

The idea of Orifices in the physical “body” was a horrifying thought to the Corathan. Such holes were symptomatic of severe illness in their species. But, the idea that they would exist to process waste material actually generated by the physical form .....

“Yes dear.”

“Ewwwww !, Do they eat it too ! ?”

His internal EM emissions could not help but sputter for a moment in consternation. It was obvious that the God Emperor was right in his plan to begin a public program of education on non-terrestrial sentient life. The civilian population could not be allowed to wander the dark corridors of the future unaware of their surroundings and confined to points of view singular onto themselves if they were to survive the future.

“No, No dear, the biologics in question may be different from us physically but they indeed have a culture and heritage all their own worthy of study and respect. Do not overlook the fact that their is more to them than their physical handicaps.”

“Duty calls me, so tell your mother that I love and miss her and I will see you both when next we are allowed transmissions to the home world”

“Bye daddy!”

With a quick burst of emissions, Diplomat 41 watched the image of his little girl fade from the display. Only a hundred years old and still entirely to precious to be in the middle of her childhood. But still, the education system was draining into the abyss and he really must speak to her mother about finding a nice private school or so he thought.

He floated outward into the main shaft of the explorer craft allowing his room door to close behind him. Within the central work area, the holo-tank displayed the features of the three newly discovered species rotating in slow orbit over the chambers heart. With each passing transmission the lower information grid pulsed revised data for the crew’s use.

Negotiations appeared to be going extremely well on at least one front, the other two were currently stable but not enough time had truly been allowed to make an assertion of the Diplomatic Corps success. Instructions from the home world were sparse and basically informed them to act on their own recognizance. Such an encouraging show of faith or something else?

As he glanced over to the second holo-display he could not help but be disturbed. The Emperor had decreed a live feed from the artifact generated “prophecies” be kept in continuous live transmission to the diplomatic corps. The images of worlds being ripped asunder had intensified to a sickening level.

However, as Corps negotiations gained success on one front images of violence on that frontier faded for a time almost as if indicating a time of peace before growing ugly again.

Pilot 22 floated past and followed his gaze. “It almost makes you wonder why we even try.”

“To the contrary, I know exactly why I work and toward what ends.” Diplomat 41 allowed his minds eye to travel back to the display in his quarters and to a conversation moments passed. Her birthday was only a cycle away.

[Nodachi]

Ix called for an aid, it had an important announcement to make.

"Declare a holiday! We have found not one other intelligent species but three!"

"Yes Ix," the aid replied and left to carry out the order.

My theory is correct, Ix thought. The universe is teeming with life. My secondary hypothesis seems to be correct also, life evolved enough to spread to the stars must be non-violent because violence is counter productive. Joyous day!

The aid passed on Ix's order and contacted a friend on the comm.

"Now I agree with you, Ix is unstable."

"I never stated that Ix was unstable. I said Ix has blind spots concerning certain theories. The relevant question is, what can we do about it? Ix controls everything we need to survive, all of the automation. In short, we need Ix more than Ix needs us."

"Allow me some time to analyze our data. For all we know Ix may be correct and trusting aliens may be our best course of action."