Wheel of Fire Special #5: The Origin of Mind Written by Razorclaw X (spiceoflife@NYChotmail.com) http://www.crosswinds.net/~slythe/ranma/ranff.html Disclaimer: All material herin belongs to the author, and plagarism of this concept, in part or in whole or borrowing, in part or in whole, will not only get you my ire but the priceless sight of seeing you behind bars. No part of this document may be reproduced, retransmitted, or altered, in part or in whole, for monetary gain, incidental, consequential, directly, or not at all, without express permission from the author (if you are unable to contact me then that does not grant you these rights). Such condition applies to all my works, and your ignorance is no excuse, as I reserve the right to update this disclaimer, and it stands in whatever shape or form it manifests in any work, appearing there or not. ------------------------------------------------ On the Origin of the Gods "I suppose the best place to start is at the beginning." "The web... the one the Mekani spread from their home galaxy... we are merely the edge of the web. The mechanized army is moving outward in expansion, in order to follow their primary directive-- to survive." "In fact it was in this other galaxy, one adjacent to our own, that the Mekani Hive was birthed, but their origins are far more recent than their creator's story. I speak of another race-- the one that fathered the Mekani-- they are the M'tora. Levitating, conical- shaped creatures with huge eyes and ten tentacles, two of which are longer than the others, with a sharp beak in their midst-- often contributing to the image that they resemble squids... somewhat. Their size is as large as a human head, but they dress with long capes and shoulders that it appears they are humanoid, like us. It's a deadly advantage they hold over other races." "The M'tora are probably one of the oldest races in the universe-- their evolutionary development has gone so far that they are unparalleled in psychic mastery and science. It was this that lead them to arrogance, and their near-destruction. You see, the M'tora had rivals, and in order to eliminate those rivals they escalated to unimaginable heights in warfare. It reached a point where all these races, in a galactic- scale war, nearly annihilated themselves." "The M'tora and other alien races realized the error of their ways, and, lying on the brink of extinction, they forged an alliance based on the common goal of survival. Although each of their powers have shattered thanks to the climax of their war, together they became strong again. However, their numbers were decimated far beyond their former glory, and thus in order to maintain hold on their empires they devised a creature by which to police their territories." "After a time this alliance devised a Hive Mind-- a powerful computer which was designed to serve the goals and carry out the wills of its masters. An army of creatures, cheaply constructed, spread out to reclaim any territories lost after the war to other minor scavenger forces, or police borders. Using physical designs to inspire fear in the people they wished to subjugate, these creatures were the Mekani." "By nature the Mekani will operate in the most efficient manner possible. The Hive will relegate orders to generals in a rigid hierarchy, where only the leaders have any semblance of intelligence; all other Mekani are drones. Although one of their prime directives is to seek out and absorb technology, they are not dumb enough to ignore an inferior technology for such a case when it may be desirable. In fact, the Mekani will prioritize efficiency so much that they will often discard regular uses of technology we might find useful-- such as energy shields-- because they soak up too much power-- power that can be useful in other systems." "Nor were they programmed stupid. Their creators were so well-versed in artificial intelligence that they plugged-up any logical loophole imaginable... and those that came up later were easily remedied. In a sense the Mekani do have the ability to reason and have the capacity for higher thinking, but often they will hide this fact and play on their image of fear-- the mechanical locusts that seek only to consume all in its path. Psychological weapons, the M'tora know, are very powerful, and cheap, weapons." "Many thousands of years past, and the Mekani moved to conquer the galaxy its masters inhabited. This so- called Mekani Alliance welcomed those who wished to bask in their glory, and swept aside those who would remain unaligned to their cause. Any distrust from past wars were erased as unity took hold on a galactic scale, and for a time the Alliance remained content. The member races of the Alliance became known as the Aligned Peoples-- those who shared the vision of a universal order in the cosmos." "However, one day explorers from another galaxy arrived. The Alliance thought nothing of it, until later that same race came to invade their galaxy. Although the invaders were wiped-out easily, the Alliance determined that it could no longer remain complacent with just bringing order to their galaxy-- but to other galaxies as well. In the name of universal order the Alliance dispatched the Mekani to all neighboring galaxies." "The Aligned Peoples cannot be underestimated." "In time the Mekani expedition came to find Earth, and discovered a force in the Sol System that could threaten the Aligned Peoples' hold on the galaxy. To that end the Mekani-- along with a detachment of the member races-- made their journey to this system, and summarily wiped-out any perceived threat on the way. When they arrived on Earth the object of their search was nowhere to be found...." "At some point in Earth's history, the human race effectively put an end to the threat themselves." "Unfortunately for the Aligned Peoples, the humans living there at the time were powerful sorcerers-- the High Men, and perceived the invaders as threats. They attempted to wipe-out the entire expedition, hurling powerful magicks from their sky castles, but some of them managed to crash on Earth to continue the war. Many years past as human magic-users and Aligned Peoples warred, until the sole M'toran member of the expedition usurped control over the Mekani on the planet for his own ends." "You'd think the Mekani would rebel by themselves... but they can't. You see, the Hive Mind isn't just a computer, but it's also made up of the people behind the Alliance in the first place. It's not the core conscience of a computer, but the organic mind of a M'toran behind it. Their psychic mastery allows them to achieve untold ends with their machines. In effect those siding with the Mekani subjected themselves to the wills of the M'tora driving them. Later technological advancements allowed other members of the Alliance to command them as well, but never as effectively as with a M'toran. In fact the M'tora need not control directly, whether in an interior cockpit or a remote post, but through a dummy unit. The dummy unit was essentially a special genetically- engineered M'toran that served as an extension of its will." "The expedition members were unaware of this, of course; only the elite heads-- those involved in the original war-- knew of it. When the Mekani turned against the Aligned Peoples these abandoned people in turn sided with the High Men. The Mekani Director-- or rather, the M'toran commanding it-- determined that the goals of the expedition were lost, as the Aligned Peoples wished for personal gain rather than serve the Alliance. But, in the end, the combined power of the humans and the Peoples outmatched the Mekani hordes, and they cast great magicks to expel them from this plane, into a dark void of nothingness. This void was made by creating an artificial Earth in a parallel demi-plane, and all traces of the Mekani were taken with it-- including the means by which the Peoples could return home." "The Peoples became known as the kami. It was their intention to live out the rest of their existence on their demi-plane, away from the Alliance that would seek them out as traitors, and to seal the Mekani they could not hope to annihilate on their own. Such was the magical energies that went into the creation of the demi-plane that new kami spontaneously-birthed for a time. Time proved their deception a success, as the Alliance bothered them no further." "However, not all of the kami had sided with the humans in the war. In particular, one is remembered-- Sagila, the Lord of Black Moon, a powerful dragon. He was tried for crimes against the alliance of kami and cursed for all eternity-- by fragmenting his soul and forcing him into unlife." "That creature is better known as Deathclaw." "You see, the nature of Deathclaw's curse is this: he cannot know a final death until he can find the one who possesses the other half of his soul. He cannot know the joys of living... but somewhere along the line Deathclaw discovered he could reclaim that by possessing a willing individual. However, that never lasted long, as eventually the body died-- either from the host's arrogance or by being consumed by the ghost dragon's will. The cycle repeated itself until at last he found the other half of his soul, in a girl that mirrored his temperament perfectly." "That girl is Shizuka. When she dies Deathclaw will know a final death." "In time the kami alliance fragmented, where two distinct factions developed-- the Celestials, who lived on the surface and in the sky, and the Infernals, who lived under the ground-- warring over interests and conflicting ideas. Along with this several renegade kami refused to live in the demi-plane-- the Kami Plane, as it became known-- and lived on Earth as outcasts of their people. Along with the decline of magic with the fall of High Man the kami on Earth lived to become legends-- legends such as Grendel, Orochi, Merlin, and Bahamut are but a few examples. By the Common Era these legendary High Men and rogue kami disappeared into obscurity, and few such individuals still roam the Earth today." "In order to enforce the border between kami and man four leaders of the Aligned Peoples emerged: Seiryu, Byakko, Genbu, and Suzaku. Their sacrifices forged a bond of cooperation between the dying High Men and the kami, and these High Men became the priests of the Four Gods. However, since the High Men met near-extinction thanks to the Mekani War, they had to turn to their lesser brethren to carry on the tradition. These people would serve to safeguard the border between man and kami, as well as hunt down the remaining renegade kami and deliver them to the Kami Plane, where they belonged." "The Four Gods exist only in spirit and not in form, and like Deathclaw, they manifest only in a host body. However, not only must the host be willing, but it must be suitable to the gods' tastes, whims, and wills... and must be of purity, requirements which are harsh but nonetheless enforce their guardian spirits." "The kami and Mekani stranded on Earth-- which they believed were completely wiped-out-- became a black footnote in the Alliance history, but they never kept their eyes off Earth, for such time which it may once again display some sort of threat to the structure of their order. Even as we speak they continue their expansion from their home galaxy, to bring unity to the chaos holding this universe." --- On the Origin of the Name "It seems that the kami bear a number of names. Why this is so is uncertain to humans, but we can at least conjecture why this is so." "Whenever they were born, almost all kami are immortal, thanks to the magicks going into their creation, or the energies they created themselves, as in the case of the original kami lords. They pick up a wide variety of names as aliases, but rarely they will adopt a name for themselves. It could suit their fancy at the moment, or thrust upon them by the locals, but whatever the case the kami in question becomes quite attached to it, and it goes beyond any simple alias." "Each kami is either given a name or chooses one at birth; this is their most prized name, and the kami will guard this name jealously to those that are outside their circle of society. I believe the reason is to safeguard themselves from powerful magicks-- ones which require the utterance of a being's name-- as it can be quite inconvenient or dangerous to either party involved. For this reason any who learn of such a name on accident are usually sought after and killed, along with the destruction of all records of that name, if possible. On the other hand, a kami can give out that name to those they deem 'worthy' of knowing it; this is considered a very high honor indeed. If you belong to this select group then consider yourself having a friend for life... and possibly this may extend to your descendents as well." "Having said that, most people will never know the kami's true name; it is very likely the name you know is one of their secondary names. Most kami aren't as obsessed about others knowing this name, as they recognize that others-- humans in particular-- need some way to identify them. The longer a kami lived, the more likely it'll have multiple names to which become attached to it, and more so the longer they remain on Earth. Therefore the kami with the most names will usually be exiles or renegades." "The secondary name can also be used in magicks, but the kami in question can choose to ignore the spell if they wish. This is particularly true for summoning spells; if the summoner somehow angers the kami he summons, then the kami may not arrive, for example." "Names confer power as far as the kami are concerned, as some would do to information. Knowing a name is a privilege, not a right, and one must be careful to safeguard it lest they incur the kami's wrath." --- On the Origin of the Guardians "It fell to the task of the ones who became known as the Four Gods to safeguard the seal holding the Mekani in the Void Between Worlds, and thus maintain the Kami Plane as well. They sacrificed themselves in order to erect the seal in the first place, and their followers among the remaining High Men were charged with maintaining the seal for all time, lest the Mekani bring their mechanical plague to Earth once more." "A great shrine was erected in a remote region of Japan, built with five great spires-- four at corners matching the compass points, and one central focus tower. Each of the outer towers were composed of seven floors, representing the number of stars that made up the gods' constellation in the night sky, while the focus tower, the Tower of the Sun, bore eight floors. The Tower of the Sun served as the focus of the seal, as the Gate of Heaven formed above it, reaching to the Kami Plane's equivalent, the Gate of Hell in the underworld." "Each of the four towers were dedicated to one god: the black Genbu Tower of the north, the green Seiryu Tower of the east, the white Byakko Tower of the west, and the red Suzaku Tower of the south. At the top of each tower was a crystal foci that channeled the gods' energies toward the Tower of the Sun. Each of these were protected by their respective Guardian spirit." "The Guardian was the one privileged with the ability to safeguard the seal, and was filled with the essence of their god. Becoming one with their god, often they became the god itself, and would serve until the Guardian's life span ended. The task is a lifetime's one, and the gods are especially picky about who they wish to become one with. While it is generally accepted that this Guardian will be pure of heart, that's not necessarily so, and even the most qualified of candidates are shunned on a whim from the god." "Some would credit Seiryu as the 'leader' of the Four Gods, but such is not necessarily true. What this dragon god looks out for is someone strong of will and conviction, and cunning. In essence, Seiryu is one who is strong and reliable." "Suzaku, on the other hand, tends to be a force of will. He is proud, and sometimes vain, and often thinks in terms of black and white more than shades of gray. This god does not rest until he proves to be the strongest of all his peers, and this drives Suzaku to unimaginable heights. Persistence is the fuel to the great bird's flame." "Byakko is, at the same time, a creature of great ferocity and a gentle being. This god has learned to appreciate life, but is no less willing to take it away, either. It is discipline within which conquers that without. Whether it be focus or enlightenment, Byakko is no pushover." "The oddball of the four, Genbu, is a shunned figure in most imagery. Debate rages what this creature actually is, and most cultures don't acknowledge him as a being of power on par with the other three. To that effect Genbu often will try to prove himself-- to be accepted for what he is. There is no quality that Genbu values more than one's desire to remain true to oneself." "The High Men have long since died out, and their work is carried on in the tradition of humans that continue their practices." --- On the Origin of the Shadow "As the High Men died out a select order of their number retreated into the shadows, as they were the ones disciplined in Shadow Weaving. These High Men studied the way of shadow, and have utilized their psionic mastery of the dark matter to observe and record history. In effect, the Shadow Weavers are espers that observe." "Few know of their existence, as they are often hidden literally in the shadows. They will watch and record, but never act, in fear of breaking the code of their sacred order. It is unknown as to what punishment this would call for, but very few Shadow Weavers would think to intervene on events. Those few that do are considered renegades, but they are not hunted down; it is their belief that the wayward ones will eventually 'see the light' and return." "After all, the shadow is that which embodies the light and dark. They are neutral in such matters, and such they should remain." "Shadow Weavers draw their power from a weave known as the shadow stream-- an otherworldly place of black liquid substance that is cold to the touch. Using this they can travel through the shadows at will with their psychic mastery, and it is here they remain safe from harm." "The one you are most familiar with is Hokuto Takemasa. She is indeed a descendant of the High Men of old, and it is from them she draws her esper power from. It's where most espers can trace their ability from, at any rate. She's gone rogue, so to speak, because she doesn't understand her order. Yes, Hokuto intervenes in affairs against code, and for her it is unavoidable in her desire to lead a more stable life past the role of observer. Her inability to understand lead her to the Shrine of the Four Gods, where she encountered more people who follow an ancient order." "'Why would anyone follow such an order?' she would ask. 'You have your whole lives to look forward to; why not enjoy it?' The answer becomes, 'It is our duty.' If you ask Shizuka, it's 'Someone has to do it.' In any case, Hokuto didn't find the answers she was looking for, and moved on." "She believes Fate conspires against her constantly. Hokuto blames everything on Fate-- an insubstantial concept of a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's probably why she's trying so hard to defeat her own obligations and responsibility. Erroneously she thinks it's a curse, but in reality Fate is an illusion she created around herself to absolve herself of any responsibility." "Beside Hokuto, we know very little of her order, being outsiders. What do they do with the history they record, anyway? It's likely they know truths hidden by time... perhaps ones that are best left unknown." ----------------------------------------------- Author's Rant A brief history of the Mekani and Deathclaw, as well as an elaborate explanation of the kami. Also appears as part of "Souls of Fire" where the Mekani also appear as enemies, so I thought I'd sync the stories a bit. -- Razorclaw X (spiceoflife@NYChotmail.com) http://www.crosswinds.net/~slythe/ranma/ranff.html