The Chronicles of Quelouva: The Ehrban Saga

The Ehrban Saga

The rise and fall, and eventual resurgance, of an ancient alien empire.

The Ehrban are a roughly humanoid species, approximately two meters tall at adulthood. They are digitigrade bipeds possessing six limbs total; the rear pair used for locomotion, the fore pair used for manipulation, and the middle pair resembling wings, a vestigial legacy from airborne ancestors, now useful only for sexual selection behaviors (c.f. the tail of a peacock). They also retain a tail from their ancestors, used now largely for display only, in conjunction with the wings. They are feathered but largely naked, their bare flesh resembling hairless human skin. Their only significant plumage is long, flexible, hairlike feathers on the scalp, wings, and tail, and a variable degree of down on the spine, shoulders and hips, though in those respects there is much variation between individuals. The wings also retain a significant amount of dorsal plumage, and occasional dorsal feathers on the head and tail are common in some lineages.

Their plumage, like that of all feathered species of their world, is in fact symbiotic flora feeding off of the waste products exuded through the pores of the skin; for the Ehrban dissolve all consumed and inhaled materials into the blood, and perform all filtering of wastes at the capillary level via sweat-like glands lining the surface of the skin. (Some related species have adapted this into a defense mechanism, for anything attempting to prey on such a species must bite through a layer of toxin-laden tissues before getting to the clean meat below). As such, the Ehrban and related species do not defecate, urinate, or even exhale, and consequentially do not need to eat, drink, or even breath very frequently, as anything consumed or inhaled remains in the bloodstream available for use unless filtered out by the skin; and the efficiency of the Ehrban metabolism means that very little in terms of mass needs to be filtered out. These "sweat" glands also filter and exude whatever hormones remain in the bloodstream after passing through the rest of the body, which serves not only as an olfactory signal to others, but interacts with their symbiotic plumage to produce color changes and even bioluminescence in response to their emotional state.

The Ehrban are versatile omnivores with highly efficient digestive systems, and can digest most biomass available in their native environment. Though they descend from largely carnivorous ancestors, their present diet is predominantly herbivorous, consisting especially of the nutritious reproductive parts of plants: fruits, nuts, beans, etc. To supplement this they also consume a variety of grains (in later cultures largely processed into breads and cereals); and while they are still fully capable of hunting and consuming other animals, their culture has over time reserved such foods to significant traditional ceremonies, and in later periods of their history many eschew even these. In times of need they can scavenge nearly any biomass available, having both a powerful digestive system and a powerful immune system; but as a sapient species they prefer a fresher diet as previously described, although certain specialty foods are fermented or otherwise age-processed. Though they have human-like lips, they lack the teeth of terrestrial mammals, having instead a beaklike structure in its place, adapted for their omnivorous diet. The frontal, central portions of the beak are thin and smooth-edged like mammalian incisors, while the rear, lateral portions are wide and rough like mammalian molars; the intermediate portions thus being thin and jagged like a serrated blade, similar to a series of cuspids.

They have color vision, but see a continuous spectrum of colors from the infrared through ultraviolet frequencies, rather than vision broken down by a number of distinct types of cones each sensitive to a different band of light, as in humans and other terrestrial animals. In addition to their two eyes sensitive to this band of radiation, they possess a third eye in a triangular formation above the other two, sensitive to frequencies from longwave microwave through most of the radio spectrum. Signals from this third eye are processed differently from signals from the other two, and perceptions from it more closely resemble echolocation, smell, or the skin's heat sensitivity than they do human vision.

All sexually reproducing species on Ehrba are hermaphroditic, sexual reproduction having evolved initially as a form of viral, parasitic reproduction which, given the selective pressure for the host to survive, eventually evolved into a less violent, mutually beneficial act. In early ancestors, "sex" consisted of nothing more than one individual forcefully injecting specialized, virus-like organic material into another individual, which then proceeded to hijack the machinery of the host's cells to construct a pseudo-clone of the aggressor inside its victim, slowly killing the host in the process. (The resulting child was not a true clone of the aggressor, as the hijacked cells retained much of their own genetic material; the child thus being truly the offspring of both aggressor and victim). Eventually an immune response evolved whereby the infected cells were isolated within a shell and ejected from the host body in the same way that asexual offspring were produced. Later still, sexual behavior evolved whereby one individual would voluntarily take another's "sperm" within its body (orally, evolving by way of the "mother" defensively biting the penis of the "father"), sparing the host the injury of forceful "infection", resulting in a fitness advantage for, and thus a predominance of, voluntarily sexual species. As with this history no separate sexes ever evolved, all sexual life on Ehrba is hermaphroditic, capable of both impregnating and of being impregnated. Due to the nature of such reproduction, one individual can be impregnated by several individuals simultaneously, which in some species more often results in multiple pregnancies but in others, such as the Ehrban, more often results in chimeric offspring. Because of this, the sexual behavior of the Ehrban is promiscuous, and consequently the concept of the nuclear family does not extend beyond having a shared "mother"; the entire tribe serves the role of "father", paternity being difficult to discern and often times shared.

Like most species of their world, the Ehrban do not give live birth but rather lay eggs. Asexual reproduction through self-impregnation remains possible even amongst sexually reproducing species, and in most species, including the Ehrban, occurs spontaneously at death, the still living "sperm" generating an egg from the organic material of the deceased individual. But whether the eggs were fertilized sexually or asexually, whether laid live or borne from a passed-on parent, they behave far more like what we on Earth consider seeds than what we know of as eggs; for all plant and animal life on Ehrban is related not only by common evolutionary descent but through much more immediate life cycles. An egg laid by an animal, such as an Ehrban, extends roots into the ground and sprouts stalks or vines, complete with leaves, and flowers, which then ripen into fruits which eventually develop into the precocial young forms of the animal which originally laid the egg, being revealed by the blossoming of the enveloping flower pedals. (Despite their physical precociality at birth, young Ehrban remain in many ways inexperienced and feeble, unable to procure food for themselves, and so like other species of their clade, adult Ehrban do possess breasts, resembling those of human females, with which they nurse their young once hatched. Nursing is possible at any time, not only perinatally, and nursing between adults is possible as well, though it is considered an intimate act and is often a prelude to sexual activity.) Because of this interrelation between plant and animal forms, the Ehrban distinction between "plants" and "animals" is in fact between primitive plants which do not have motile, oxygen-metabolising fruits, and more advanced plants which do. The latter sort of plant are cared for the way that young animals (or our own infants) are cared for by humans, while the former are mere flora just as plants are here on Earth.

Ehrban psychology has a curious familial quality to it, the biological nature of which was not understood until very late in their scientific development. Every individual possesses from childhood a voice in his head, like a secondary personality, which most individuals do not consciously distinguish from their own thought processes. This voice possesses the combined memories and personality traits of the individual's "maternal" ancestors; though as the voice is a distinct personality from that of the individual, it would not be accurate to say that the individual himself possesses an inherited personality or inherited memories. However, self-reflective individuals can come to know this inner voice better than more mundane individuals do, and in doing so access a wealth of inherited information (as well as other advantages discovered only later in their scientific development), and further still, influence the development of the inherited personality within themselves, and pass that development on to their children. In Ehrban culture, the family name corresponds to the name of this "maternally" inherited personality, e.g. "Keius" is an individual's name, "Meij" is the name of his inherited personality, and the individual is referred to formally as "Keius Meij".

These inherited inner voices are the cornerstone of all Ehrban religious traditions. The earliest religious practice, found throughout all ancient Ehrban cultures and continuing down throughout most of their history until the dissolution of what could accurately be called religion in their society, was simple meditation. Independent ascetic philosophers would enter into deep meditation and commune with these inner 'spirits', and thereby attain great wisdom. Some of these wise men developed followings amonst the more mundane citizens, and in this way various ascetic schools began to develop. Though most such schools throughout history emphasized teaching the method of attaining this inner communion, rather than any doctrine of belief developed regarding the experiences had in such communion, some such beliefs became widespread and historically significant. The first of these, developed spontaneously throughout schools across the world, was the belief that the voices heard in such meditation were the ethereal spirits of one's ancestors (living or dead); and that the spirits of deceased ancestors continue to live on (being accessible through these inner voices) so long as they are remembered and accessed. Related to this is the belief that the spirit of an ancestor or even an unrelated person can be summoned within a child's mind and become their patron or guardian spirit; this practice often being related to the naming of the child, i.e. a child would be given the name of the desired patron spirit. This belief, and the attendant ancestor worship, became the most widespread religious belief across Ehrban history. Eventually, a number of subsects developed from a simpler form of ancestor worship to hero worship, and then elevated their venerated heroes to the status of great pantheons of gods. These pantheistic religions went on to become the official religions of most ancient Ehrban empires.

But another school of thought developed out of the still-extant ascetic schools. Some particularly reflective individuals come to claim to have become one with their inherited personalities, and in doing so attained personal immortality, as it is the inherited personality, not the individual personality, which lives on so long as it is remembered. A further subsect of such people came to claim that in their state of oneness they could hear not only the inner voices of other individuals, but a greater voice, a distant roaring thunder which dwarfed any single individual; a voice they call "Geiana", meaning roughly "cacophony" (from "gheie", silence, stillness, clarity, or tranquility; and "-anous", lacking the quality of). They believed this voice to be that of their creator-god, and took the pain, anger, sorrow, and anguish apparent in its voice to be a sign that they had disappointed their creator; for behold, there were brief cries of joy when peace and goodness briefly overtook the world, and further rage and pain during times of war and great evil. This religion thus became the most proselytizing of all Ehrban religions, and sought to bring morality to the world so as to appease Geiana and spare the world her vengeance. While the most vocal core of the Church of Geiana eschew all foreign beliefs and traditions, the vast majority of church members retain the earlier ancestor-worship traditions, and the vast majority thereof still retain many elements of the polytheistic religions which the Church supplanted in its rise to power, with their "gods" once more reduced to heroes and saints. Furthermore, those of all religions who wish to become religious leaders (and are not descended from former religious leaders, thus inheriting the appropriate attributes from their ancestral spirits), still turn to the ascetic schools for meditative training. The exception to this is the fundamentalist core of the Church of Geiana, who devoutly follow only the chaste, asexually-produced descendants of original founders of the church, who (due to both Ehrban biology and the mysterious inheritability of personality) are more akin to, and believed to be, reincarnations of their parents, rather than normal children.

The truth of all these varied beliefs, and the exact biological nature of these inherited personalities, would prove to be the key element of later Ehrban history...

Antiquity series

Keius Meij, the invention of magic, and the golden age of the ancient Ehrban.

The Magic of Antiquity

Xenobiologist Keius Meij makes a discovery that will change galactic history.

Part I

Many thousands of years ago, on the far side of the galaxy, an alien race called the Ehrban has begun a galactic empire, as they spread from their homeworld of Ehrba, colonizing and transforming new worlds, all connected via a network of artifical wormholes. Though they have grown much more peaceful than earlier eras of their history, misunderstandings and conflicts still arise; and now, the fledgeling empire is threatened by civil war, as the fringe worlds struggle for independence from the rule of the federal government and the core worlds it largely represents.

Amidst this brewing strife, xenobiologist Keius Meij works in a federally-funded laboratory on one of the fringe worlds. He is researching one of the greatest biological mysteries of his day; the significance of a peculiarly dense and complex organelle found only in the cells of life from Ehrba, even though the basic building blocks of all life the Ehrban have found elsewhere is otherwise similar to their own. Of particular interest is the question of whether this organelle is at all responsible for the development of sapient life on Ehrba, which has hitherto not been discovered anywhere else.

In the course of his research, Keius discovers these organelles to be in fact tiny nanoscopic machines of incredible sophistication - of a level very difficult to explain by natural selection alone. These nanites each possess intelligent, programmable computing abilities and sophisticated energy-field sensors and manipulators; and further still, they appear to communicate with each other via some sort of quantum entanglement resembling the ansible links used to establish the Ehrban's interstellar wormholes. But as Keius is preparing to begin experiments with these nanites, his laboratory is shut down by the federal government, which is apparently withdrawing its important installations from the fringe worlds in preparation for war.

But determined not to be put off from his research - and hoping that a discovery of this magnitude might draw his people together and forestall the oncoming violence - Keius remains illicitly in his laboratory and conducts experiments with the nanites on himself. When his friend and sponsor Goran, a junior member of the federal senate, discovers these activities, he warns Keius that he is risking not only punishment by the federation for unauthorized use of their laboratory, but also the wrath of the rebel alliance which will very likely strike at the lab when the inevitable war begins - not to mention the condemnation of Geiana for this unnatural abominiation. But Keius then cuts himself severely with a piece of lab equipment, and when the wound almost instantly heals, Goran is amazed. Keius explains that the nanites can be used as intelligent nanoassemblers, and that he has programmed his own to repair any damage they find to his body. Goran is shocked by this development and leaves Keius to report to his superiors.

Alone once again in his lab, Keius continues his research, experimenting further upon himself. He begins to toy with methods of linking control of the energy manipulation capabilities of the nanites with conscious thought patterns, which could hypothetically allow an individual much finer, more subtle projection of gravito- and electro-magnetic fields and waves than the gross energy manipulation technology used in such devices as the wormholes. But just as he has his first success with this technology, moving - to his own amazement - a piece of lab equipment with his mind, a rebel strike force appears in the sky above his lab, having come to destroy the "bioweapons" or "supersoldiers" that are rumored to be under development there. As Keius scrambles to save what of his research he can, the rebel forces bomb the lab to rubble, and Keius is left for dead.

Part II

"Keius?"

"Keius is dead."

"...but you knew him?"

"I was him, Goran. I was a part of him... or he was a part of me. But now we are one, and I am all that remains."

"...and who are you?"

"I am Meij." The stranger rose and turned to face Goran. "Keius Meij. But not the Keius of the Meij family you once knew. I am the spirit of the Meij family, as passed down through Keius; and though he is gone now, he lives on in me, as do all his ancestors since time immemorial. And it is only by our fortuitous discovery that I have assumed control of this body after Keius' passing, and am thus able to speak to you now."

Goran returns to the ruins of Keius' lab, and following a string of apparent hunches, finally locates Keius, still alive, on a remote colony world, to which he secretly fled after dying and being resurrected by his nanites. In the process Keius has become one with Meij, the "spirit" of his family - a mind that resides within his nanite network, the likes of which all Ehrban have, but few are consciously aware of, and fewer still are able to commune with. Having merged entirely with this inherited personality, he hears the minds of others across the whole of the nanites' ansible web, as well as the voice of "Geiana", the cacaphony of inner voices of the entire Ehrba-descendant ecosystem. With subtle reprogramming of others' nanites - a feat he is now capable of accomplishing by will and proximity alone - he is also able to speak directly into the minds of others, as their own inner voices do; and through this connection he may exercise his newfound powers by proxy of such people. It was by this method that he arranged covert transport to this secluded world; and it was by his continuing links to those people that he was able to lead Goran here to find him.

Keius has spent his time here in meditation, communing with the life on this tiny colony, both Ehrban and wild, perfecting his newfound skills, listening to the roar and hiss of Geiana like the crashing of waves on the shore - and plotting a secret plan all the while. Now one with his ancestral spirit, he recalls the memories of his father Sovos as though they were his own, and realizes that all his life has been leading up to this plan. His very name, Keius, should have given it away: derived from gheieous, "possessing the quality of silence, stillness, clarity, or tranquility", his name is the literal antonym of Geiana. He was named of course by his father, who, during his life as an ascetic, became one with the Meij spirit, heard the voice of Geiana himself, and formulated a plan to bring tranquility at last to her stormy mind - a plan which he has been working toward, through Keius, for many years already, and which has now come to its culmination.

The Meij lineage had long been one of the most powerful in Ehrban society - the name itself literally means "power" or "might". Keius' ancestors in ancient times were some of the early rulers of his peoples' great empires, and though their influence had ebbed and waned over the aeons, the Meij family had always held some degree of power somewhere. That is, until their lineage grew corrupt and despotic, and at last, only three generations ago, the last world over which a Meij held dominion banished their ruler and joined the rest of the galaxy in less barbaric forms of government. The outcast ruler raised his son with great aspirations of one day returning the family to glory; that son in turn realized that the path to true power and glory lay in knowledge and just leadership, and his son Sovos in turn was raised as a philosopher. Sovos took the path of the ascetic, turning inward in contemplation for all his long life, postponing childbirth until near the end of his life, by which point he had come to the realization that to be a truly great leader, he would need to find a way to induce harmony in his followers; and that the key to this harmony was to understand the true nature of Geiana. Thus, after dying alone in meditation and birthing Keius from his corpse, Sovos, through the Meij spirit with which he became one, has subtly guided Keius down his path of research, and now at last the key to fulfilling their destiny is at hand.

Keius' plan is to speak directly to Geiana, and through her to the ancestral spirits of all Ehrban, establishing a communion between them, giving them all a single point of common focus - Keius himself - and priming them with dialogues on ethics and justice. Simultaneously, a few key individuals in positions of social and political power would be manipulated to put forward motions that their respective societies take certain just and ethical courses of action, and the people, having been subconsciously primed by these inner dialogues, would of course respond positively. In the process, as the inner minds of all Ehrban reached consensus and agreement, a single harmonious voice would emerge from the cacaphony that was Geiana, and though the individual minds of all Ehrban would remain, they would be subtly guided by the collective wisdom of their entire ancestry and civilization.

But to do this, Keius needs representatives on both sides of the war; and that is where Goran comes into play. Keius tells Goran that he will be the pawn on the Federation side of the war, to say the things Keius needs him to say, and that through this process Goran will become a popular and thus powerful political leader, perhaps even Chancellor of the Federation someday. Keius meanwhile will become a captive of the rebels, and from the safety of his prison cell manipulate their leadership as well. Though Goran knows he should be appalled by this devious plot, he finds himself, for some reason he cannot quite place, inclined to consent to it. Keius is calmly joyful, though not at all surprised, that Goran is willing to help him, and the two return to Goran's ship and plot a course toward Ehrba.

Shortly after leaving this remote world, however, a rebel warship arrives in the system, having somehow followed the same trail of hunches as Goran. They order Goran's small ship to halt and prepare to be tractored to the warship's fighter bay. Keius instructs Goran to remain on course, which prompts the warship to threaten weapons fire. Goran is terrified but maintains course as ordered. Keius meawhile removes an auxilliary power core from the ship's console, holding in one hand as the other hand spontaneously bleeds into it. The core powers on, though not apparently connected to anything, and Keius briefly swells in stature, a maniacal look coming over his face for a moment, before settling back to his usual calm demeanor. Setting down the power core, Keius instructs Goran to cycle an airlock and let him out of the ship. Perplexed, Goran questions Keius, but Keius assured him that everything will be fine. Placing faith in his friend as he never would before, Goran does as he is told and vents Keius from the ship, as the rebel warship fires its weapons. But to the rebels' surprise, their missiles are mysteriously torn apart midway to their target, and an object appears on their sensors quickly inbound to their ship. They deploy countermeasures but those are somehow deflected. Their weapons systems go offline without explanation, and the unknown object breaches the hull of their fighter bay.

Within the fighter bay of the rebel ship, Keius Meij forces open an airlock, but holds back the atmosphere within by force of will alone. Within the halls of the ship, he effortlessly deflects weapons fire and renders rebel soldiers unconscious but unharmed with just a thought. As he brashly walks toward the bridge of the ship, disabling security locks with a wave of his hand, the command crew begins to cower in terror before whatever kind of superweapon has gotten on to their ship. When Keius finally reaches the bridge, all are too frightened to fire upon him; but Keius kneels before the captain, arms outstretched and wrists together, and speaks. "My name is Keius Meij. I am your prisoner."

Part III

Years have passed. From his prison cell, Keius has a vision of Chancellor Goran concluding talks with the rebel leaders, signing a treaty with the fringe worlds agreeing to make modifications to the federation to address the concerns the fringe worlds have; and the fringe worlds agree to stand down and rejoin the federation. The war is officially over.

Keius' cell mates question him as to what he is smiling about, and he informs them that the war is over. They don't believe he could know this, of course. Later, word arrives from the treaty talks and Keius is released. He travels back to Ehrba, requests to meet with the Chancellor, and congratulates him on his successful management of this great crisis. Goran asks Keius what he plans to do now, and Keius reveals that he plans to search for the origin of his powers, somewhere on Ehrba.

After Keius leaves, Goran contacts the Church of Geiana to warn them about Keius. Because of their religious training in mental discipline, Goran and his church cohorts are able to hide their thoughts from Keius; and though Keius knows, by their silence, that they are hiding something, he does not see it as his place to monitor the thoughts of those who would wish to keep them secret from him. Yet Goran and the Church are not so benevolent, and see Keius as a dangerous heretic or perhaps something far worse.

Keius now has access to the collective memories of his entire ancestry, tracing back to times far before the Ehrban even evolved. He plans to use these memories to guide him on his quest. He meditates to recall the experiences of his ancestors, and then follows back the trail, retracing the evolution of the Ehrban further and further back in time, seeking the earliest of inherited memories, and hoping to find from them the site from which these mysterious nanites originated.

He traces the memories of his ancestors back through the colonization of new worlds, back to the figurehead royalty which left Ehrba seeking real power on new worlds; back further into their history to the line of true kings which ruled their lands for for so long; back further before the advent of the Church of Geiana, to the great emperors who were worshipped as demigods, descended from the high god Meij himself. And still back further before those empires, to more primitive kingdoms, before the rise of the notion of 'gods', when Meij was only a great hero of the past, the great Dragon-slayer. And back, back further into the era of simple tribes, back further and further to the days of Meij the Dragon-slayer himself, who had united his kin for the first time and together driven back the savage beasts which had terrorized Ehrban kind for so long.

But there Keius hits a snag, for not long before those times, the Ehrban did not have language at all; and so the memories of those so distant ancestors are unorganized and difficult to access. So Keius travels to the site of those earliest accessible memories, to see if the sight of once-familiar landscape will jog his ancient memories. But those lands are now the center of the densest part of Ehrban civilization, so he ventures to the Great Library to access a historical simulation of what these lands once looked like. It works; the sight of familiar landscapes conjures images of what once transpired there. Meij continues to trace his ancestry back, through the days before civilization, when primitive Ehrban lived in fear of the great dragons which once ruled the whole of Ehrba. Back and back further, and across the lands, watching Ehrban kind grow larger and less upright, and less intelligent, devolving back into their raptor-like ancestors, as the dragons they so feared likewise grow smaller and smaller, returning to their bipedal ancestry, and the lines of Ehrban and Dragon converge once again. This fact is of course no surprise to Keius, who as a biologist is quite familiar with his species' evolutionary history; though witnessing geological time unfold in reverse in such vivid memory is thus an even more fascinating experience to him.

By this point Keius has traces the migration of his ancestry back into lands which are still to this day wildlife preserves, lands where the few surviving dragons and other megafauna still survive, just barely, under the watchful care of endangered species wardens. So Meij leaves the Great Library and travels to these wild lands, to witness the world he seeks to remember first-hand rather than only in simulation.

But almost as soon as he arrives in the wild lands, his quest is interrupted, as he is captured by a task force sent by the Church of Geiana. Skilled religious practitioners such as those sent on this errand are strong of mind and will like the ascetics from whom Keius descends, though they use this psychic strength in stubborn and dogmatic ways; and they are thus able to resist Keius' mind control. Keius could of course easily dispatch them and force his way to freedom; but as he is invulnerable and thus in no personal danger, and as he seeks to be a just and ethical person, he refuses to use violence to escape from his captors, and so they are able to impede his quest.

Instead, he converses with his captors, denies any malfeasance on his part, and explains to them his quest and the origin of his phenomenal abilities. Though at first they simply deny his story as heretical lies, he manages to convince some of the younger ones amongst them by drawing their attention to the voice of Geiana, which is far calmer and more harmonious now than it ever has been. He further amazes them when a dangerous wild Dragon is drawn to their camp at night, but is easily subdued by Keius' empathic connection with all Ehrban life. Combined with Keius' invulnerability and other powers, these young church men come to believe that Keius may not be some sort of demon but rather their savior, send by Geiana to redeem the Ehrban, to usher in a new era of a more peaceful and loving Geiana. Keius of course denies this and explains again what he is really doing, but it falls mostly on deaf ears; one way or another, enough people side with him that he is freed, against the will of the others, and together they resume his quest.

After further meditation and much wandering on foot through the ancient wild lands, tracing the evolution of his raptor-like ancestors back to their airborne predecessors, back further through tree-dwelling gliders, and further still to lizard-like insectivors which hid in the forest litter, Keius leads his new disciples (and the begrudging remainder who still oppose him but tag along to keep watch on things) at last to the site of his oldest of memories. He recalls visions of an ancestor, a tiny, mud-dwelling creature, like a six-limbed worm, stunned and reeling in the upturned earth around the edge of a recently-formed crater. In the center of this crater shone a gleaming, silver, metallic form, roughly egg-shaped, which must have fallen from space. Back in present time, Keius is thrilled at this discovery, and warns the others to stand far back. Closing his eyes, he feels through the ground with senses unknown to any other Ehrban, utilizing the advanced sensory capabilities of his nanites. Then, opening his eyes and raising his arms, he summons a great whirlwind which blows the soil from the ground, drilling downward and raising up what lay beneath, until out of the ground comes a gleaming, silver, metallic egg, nearly twice a man's height.

The whirlwind settles and restores the earth to the ground beneath the egg, and Keius approaches it. His followers approach with him, though keeping a step behind, as Keius peers reverently into the egg. Curiously, he speaks; perhaps to his followers, perhaps to himself, perhaps to no one...

"They can hear us. They're listening. But they're not talking back. I wonder if they're waiting... for something."

His followers ask him, "Who? Who is listening?"

Keius replies, "Worlds. Minded worlds, all thinking together; hundreds, maybe thousands of them, each a unique and organic entity; a whole society of minded worlds, somewhere galaxies away. I can feel them all through this probe, as clearly as I can feel Geiana; though they are far more coherent in thought. But they're not saying anything. They're just... watching us. I think they're waiting."

"Waiting for what?" asks one of his followers.

"Waiting for Geia to say her first words," answers Keius demurely.

On the site of that dig would come to be built the greatest temple of the new Ehrban religion. As word of Keius' powers spread, and the changes in Geiana became apparent to the priests and spiritual masters around the world, nearly all of the Church of Geiana came to worship Keius as their messiah. Though he wanted no such authority, he would come to accept the role that was thrust upon him, to use it to do good and to further the work he had already begun in quelling the galactic civil war. With the liberal changes he advocated in terms of doctrine and dogma, which were eagerly adopted by the lower regional churches, many of the holdouts which had resisted communion with the Church had a change of heart, and the Church's prevalance became almost absolute, not out of proselytization or domination but out of a true love of Geiana, whom they sought to make Geia - a love, that is, of all Ehrban life, to whom they sought to bring peace and harmany at long last.

But there still remained some holdouts in the old Church, whose leaders still refused to acknowledge Keius as anything but some demon, abberation, or crime-against-nature incarnate. Hiding their thoughts from him, they began to plot and scheme some way to put the fear of Geiana back into the Ehrban people; and amongst their ranks was Chancellor Goran, who now greatly (though secretly) resented Keius for overshadowing him in power...

The Children of Antiquity

The spread of magic, the creation of life, and the discovery of humanity.

Part I

Keius grants magical powers, though not invulnerability, to a select few of his pupils, thus beginning the archmage tradition. After a number of years, some secret members of the old church manage to become initiated in this tradition, trained not by Keius directly but by the disciples of his disciples.

Part II

Keius and colleagues conduct a grand experiment on the now-ruined world of Asiria, which was the only great casualty of the galactic civil war, having been one of the two lead worlds of the rebellion. They work to create artificial life, designed from the top-down, by programming some nanites appropriately. The result is a race of organic robots; the Asiron.

Part III

An outbound portal, extending the portal network, finally reaches its destination, and when the subsequent exploratory team goes through, they find a world in the new system which is not only already habitable, but inhabited by intelligent, though primitive, alien life forms - humans. Absolutely fascinated by this discovery, Keius designs a plan to put the entire solar system inside a time dilation field, put some Asiron inside to observe and record the evolution of human life and civilization, and at regular intervals shut off the field and report back their findings to the Ehrban. But the Asiron prove unsuitable for this task, so while the time dilation field is being designed elsewhere, Keius works on modifying a select few humans to serve that purpose instead...

The War of Antiquity

An old grudge and a bid for power lead to the fall of Ehrban civilization.

Part I

The world of Berona (formerly the other lead world of the rebellion, and the world where Keius was held prisoner) volunteers to be the testing grounds for the time dilation field, for they already have a great concentration of gravitic research happening there. Chancellor Goran comes to Keius and offers to govern inside the time-dilation field, as the people of the rest of the galaxy really all follow Keius anyway, and Goran has only retained his Chancellorship this long due to Keius' continued endorsement. Keius replies that he was going to ask Goran to do so anyway, for although Goran has been hiding his thoughts from Keius for decades, he has never done anything to betray Keius' trust; and so, since Keius will be unable to monitor what happens inside the time dilation field, he could think of no one more trustworthy to keep watch than Goran. Goran is shocked to learn that Keius is aware that he has been keeping secrets; but very pleased to be given this opportunity. He selects the team that he will need to keep things running smoothly while the field is operational, including scientists and engineers from all fields; plus a team of trusted sub-governors, all of whom are secret members of the old church.

Part II

The time dilation field is completed and activated. Time within the Berona system is accelerated infinitely faster than time in the outside universe. To someone within the system, the outside universe appears frozen, and thus black and starless, for the entire time the field is activated. Meanwhile to someone outside the system, only an instant passes between when those inside activate the field and when they deactivate it, and after a bright flash of accumulated starlight shines out at once, all the changes which have occurred inside, no matter how long they took in internal time, appear to occur instantaneously.

Inside the field, now free from Keius' influence, Goran and his team immediately begin to enact their plan. His geneticists go to work breeding the hideous half-dragon mutants they have been designing for all these years, and set them free in the wilderness of Berona. When they begin to attack the populated areas, and are not easily turned back, Goran declare a state of martial law. With the aid of his sub-governors, some of whom have been trained in the archmage tradition, a state of panic is induced in the populace, and in desperation, absolute power is turned over to Goran. But still, "somehow", the monsters manage to ravage Berol civilization, which collapses around the world except for an underground refuge in the capitol...

[TO DO: FIGURE OUT THIS SEGUE]

Eventually an equilibrium is established whereby the warrior-class of Berol believe that they have enslaved the scientist-class, and the scientist-class believes that they have enslaved the warrior-class, when in fact both are serving only their God-Emperor Goran. Centuries pass, Berol civilization builds back to a spacefaring state, Ehrban history is completely forgotten, and Goran - sustained for so many years by the genetic and cybernetic technology of the Berol scientist-class, no longer truly Ehrban even - goes mad with power, completely forgetting his ostensible aim of putting the fear of Geiana back in the Ehrban people. Once the entire Berona system is buzzing with the massive fleets of the Berol, Goran deactivates the time-dilation field; the rest of the universe suddenly appears for the first time to the Berol, and their God-Emperor sends them to destroy the "invaders".

Part III

Keius is at Earth instructing his modified-human creations in their upcoming task, when suddenly he senses a great disturbance in the collective subconsciousness. He can feel the Berol, and they alone are strange and disturbing, particularly inasmuch as they seem completely oblivious to any communication from the collective subconsciousness and so are unresponsive to Keius' queries and commands. But more disturbing still are the hundreds of deaths suddenly occurring on the ships monitoring the time-dilation experiment, as they are unexpectedly destroyed by the Berol fleet. Mortified and confused, Keius lapses into a deep trance and assumes mental control over everyone he can, coordinating an urgent emergency response action. A huge fleet of ships is ordered to the Berona system, which mutually annihilates with the Berol fleet. But then, to everyone's horror, the Berona system flashes again, the time dilation field having been activated and then deactivated, and another Berol fleet appears ready to continue the attack.

The Ehrban Saga