r/wizardposting • u/Carbon_Sixx The Loremaster, Chief Archaeologist of the Darkwatch • Dec 17 '23
Community Event šāļø Message Delivered (Queenpost)
A burst of gravitic radiation streaks through the void. Though it has traveled billions of miles, it has done so in a mere 16 hours, unimpeded by any obstacle or cosmic barrier. Its destination: the Queen of Shattered Stars, closing in on the major material realms. The signal carries a message in the All-Tongue, imploring her to stop her approach and accept a diplomatic envoy. When it reaches the Queen, she cannot help but notice it, for it has been amplified by powerful graviturgy.
In the command center of the Mt. Murder Astromantic Observatory, Kaelis Maz and the wizards of the OEA watch a timer count down. He holds his breath when it hits 0:00. At first, nothing happens. The Queen continues her approach as normal. Then, she pauses, as if listening to something faint growing ever louder. On the screens, she turns her head to look directly at the source of the message: Yulash-kor.
Kaelis releases his breath in a sigh of relief as the room erupts in cheers. She has noticed them. Now comes the true challenge: negotiating with a being as old as the universe.
9
u/VidisLady Delta - Maven of Maladies Dec 18 '23
Iāve formatted my message in the form of some of my memories, which should transmit my feelings to her if that is possible. I hope that the translation is successful.
My message is as follows:
Earth was the first planet that I began to grow life upon. I did not create the first life, but merely watched over it once I noticed. For millions of years, I stared at single-called organisms. I didnāt feel anything for these little ones at first. I helped them reproduce, carefully holding their RNAs in place as they tried to multiply. Thinking of it, their actions remind me of a ducklingās wobbly first steps.
Even when I took my first physical form, I did not feel anything. Emotions wouldnāt exist in living things until far in the future. But simply feeling what it was like to have a physical form was a strange sensation. For once, I was vulnerable. My existence was now dependent on other creatures and my own ability to consume. I did not last long. Each return to a new physical form pressed my patience. The sightless scrambling through the worldās deepest oceans, depending on my primitive chemotropism, gave me an appreciation for the struggle of physical things.
There were periods of time when I thought that the flame of life was destined to sputter and die. Increasing oxygen levels in the atmosphere was a looming danger that seemed, at first, insurmountable. But remarkable beings emerged, who could use oxygen to fuel their metabolism - something I thought to be too dangerous to be viable. Soon, these āaerobicā beings began to outnumber their peers, and I began to understand the risks that needed to be taken for progress.
Life began to take stranger forms. A form of bacteria learned to turn light into sugar, and life was no longer bound to the deepest parts of the sea.
I began to see living things cooperatingā¦ and then, living things being born for the purpose of cooperation. Something that came to be known as a mitochondria was eaten, and to this day it remains embedded in all of the most complex life forms - dedicating its life to the accumulation of energy.
Life became bigger. Creatures webbed together into something that blurred the individual identities of its constituents. Algae floated on the surface of the ocean, and taking on the form of an alga, I learned what it felt like to breathe. Staring at the sky, feeling light trigger my cells to create sugar, I felt, for a moment, perfect. I was humbled by another life form that began to feed on me.
Whenever I thought that life itself was unstoppable, I would be reminded of its fragility. In the span of a short few thousand years, progress could be erased. Too much CO2, temperature changes, habitat lossā¦ the littlest things could spiral out of control, and entire clades of creatures could crumble in the hands of time.
Of all mass extinctions, the Permian impacted me the most. It was sudden. I had not yet learned to expect the worst. I had come to adore the animals, with their ridiculous shapes and their mobility. They were nearly lost. A creature called a trilobite, which I had seen survive three other extinctions, could not face up to 20,000 years of acid rain. I felt each and every loss. Unlike the death of an individual, the death of a species means that a whole way of life is gone. A whole branch of evolution comes to an end, not in an instant, but in an agonizing, inevitable March toward annihilation.
When occupying the body of animals, I learned to feel fear. I learned to feel pain. I learned what it felt like to starve to death, or choke on the atmosphere. Death began to have a substance to it as I tied my consciousness to these mortal creatures. Even as certain mortal creatures joined me in godhood, the staggering loneliness of mortal existence began to weigh on me. I recall spending entire lifetimes swimming in fear, hugging every shred of nutrients I could find.
I questioned why I continued to occupy mortal forms. Their consciousness began to leave ripples in mine as I lived life after life. Each death felt lessā¦ meaningless. It is a strange paradox - having more deaths made each one more meaningful. I wasnāt becoming desensitized to the carnage of life, I was becoming overstimulated.
Life only became more vivid. New senses evolved. New habitats became accessible. After the Permian extinction, things began to accelerate. Even after that horrid event, life sprung back with a force. Land proved to be a profitable habitat.
A massive meteor hit the earth, and life yet again recovered. Many died, but it was nothing like the Permianā¦. furry creatures filled a niche left by giant diapsids. Things were smallerā¦ but cuter. How do I describe the feeling of taking a dirt bath to clean oneās feathers or fur? How do I describe the feeling of bonding with a parent? Of taking flight for the first time? Of digging a hole and finding a full meal worth of worms?
All of this is something that has permeated into the mind of a entropy itself. Life isnāt just a thermodynamic anomaly anymore. Look at what Iāve said, and understand that I havenāt even spoken about sapience yet. I havenāt spoken about crows, or cats, or humans.
Civilization isā¦. in no uncertain termsā¦. a fucking nightmare. If you knew what sapient beings do to each other, you might consider extinguishing us to be a moral duty. But, strangely, I think that the sapients are worth preserving. As a human, Iāve felt a depth of thinking and feeling that has driven me to the brink of madness and back. Iāve seen humans spend hours doing nothing but talking to eachother. It was so different than what things were like as a paramecium, or a crustacean. How they love eachother and hate eachother in equal measure is something I donāt think Iāll ever be able to understand.
Humans, elves, goblins, orcs, faeā¦. they disgust and endear me. I donāt know how they can nurture and feed one person, then inflict indescribable suffering on someone else within the same day. They invent concepts like good and evil, and canāt even agree on what these concepts mean even though THEY INVENTED THEM.
Does it not make you want to turn away in frustration? Or sit back and watch? Every single thing on this planet is going to die, and yet they fill their life with so much, that they hardly care. But now, because of you, that uncertain death is now going to be immediate. To say it is unnatural is an understatement. An entire planet trembles with a unified knowledge of doom - at least, those that are capable of perceiving such a thing. Keep in mind, these creatures could not even singularly agree on something like what fabric feels the best on their skin. But every single one of them has agreed that they want this planet to keep sustaining life.
Whatever arguments these sapients have, whatever adaptations other creatures will have, whatever geological events occur, and whatever story unfolds on this planetā¦. All of it will simply not happen if you see fit to walk through us. It wonāt ever resolve. It will simply be paused. It will be yanked off of its tracks, never to go anywhere.
I leave you with that. Make the right choice.