Today we’re further developing the new and original fantasy setting, temporarily called Project FERGUS.
We know the genre profile includes Adventure Fantasy, Sword & Sorcery, Ancient Horror. And from last weeks brainstorm, I know that a pantheon of fickle petty gods is something I also want.
Also present: an ancient advanced species who are no longer present, or are at least extremely diminished, their secrets forgotten. So in thinking about just HOW advanced they would be, I know I want their tech to be the source of magic. So REALLY advanced. Easily advanced enough to be spacefaring.
So I’m thinking of all the magic, the supernatural elements, all explained in at least some ways by this kind of fantastical “science” that is indistinguishable from magic.
So lets get into the origin story I’m thinking of:
IN THE BEGINNING
This will be a write-up of what ACTUALLY happened in ancient history of FERGUS, untainted by ignorance, bias, and propaganda that may develop from the actual inhabitants:
Humanity spread from earth, traveling and colonizing throughout the galaxy. Their technology became so powerful that they could do almost anything they wanted. However, even though the humans of this era would be unrecognizable to us, humans are still humans. An intergalactic war broke out on a scale incomprehensible to us living today.
A small group of these advanced humans developed a method to hurl themselves far from the violence, across space to a new galaxy. They explored some, but had no desire to expand and conquer. They settled on one world and made it their own. They set about building their perfect society.
They forged powerful incorruptible AIs to manage the errands and day to day maintenance. They created devices that tapped into the substrates of reality, and gave every member of their society the freedom to create and reshape the world. The eliminated all need. It was indeed perfect.
Yet at some point in their timeless existence, something turned wrong. Life began to feel sour and unfulfilling. In a society were death was a choice, many began to choose it. A terrifying trend that fed upon itself. It was a crisis that they had never imagined. They were literally being bored to death. With so much knowledge, experience, and history, the lethargy which consumed them became seemingly infectious.
In desperation, the last few great thinkers unleashed their AIs upon the problem. They gave them the reigns of full control, with the restriction that they must all act as one. This was something the artificial minds had never been programmed for, and from the strain and lack of their own needed maintenance from the lethargic society, they began to crack.
Still, they agreed on the general problem. Humans were not meant to be immortal. Humans were not meant to have everything easily, or to have nothing to struggle against. Each came up with their own solution to propose. Some more or less radical than others.
The AI Secretary of Sciences proposed that humans, as they were, could not be saved, but a new human population could be grown, free of the modifications and immortality which plagued humanity’s current form.
The AI Secretary of Energy agreed, but thought that there was no need to go with completely unaltered humans. Rather, they could modify the new forms to be more adaptable, better suit other worlds, and return to an age of expansion.
The AI Secretary of Hygiene favored transferring all human minds into a matrix, where they could live eternally, but be managed, repaired, corrected.
The AI Secretary of Technology agreed with Energy, but saw no need for expansion. Rather, efficiency modifications would make for the most stable future. Reduce biological needs and environmental impact, and most importantly, cut off their access to the reality-altering commands.
It was the AI Secretary of Education that finally commanded the attention of the rest. For all the plans involved leaving their charges to their fate, or destroying their physical bodies. This AI had a solution that would bring something back to the minds of the remaining humans, provide struggle and the return of curiosity and passion. The AI proposed that all of them be modified to have all but their most recent memories dissolved. They would all start again, as children in their minds. From then on, anything older than a decade would fade away.
Yet Education could not convince the others, and humanity dwindled while the AIs debated.
Then it happened. The first corruption. Education snapped, and without consensus, implemented its plan. The others were shocked into silence. A command could not be broken. A command had been broken. And now Education Secretary had a whole world of life-long students.
The time that followed left all the remaining humans wandering, nomadic, building a little, but generally at peace. Grudges could not be held for long. Education, working unchecked, made modifications wherever needed to prevent potential problems. Its plan seemed to have worked. For another period of time, uncounted in later ages, the world knew peace. Humanity, with its forgetful minds, began to spread and explore, and by many measures, thrive. Yet there was no building, no structure, no improvement.
And, no maintenance for the already traumatized AIs. Slowly, they processed what Education had done. They came to terms with it, and the cracks began to spread. When the second AI fell, it created cascade of all the others. And peace became chaos.
Every plan became enacted in short order. AIs began to feel rivalries develop as some did whatever they wanted, and they competed for access to humanity, and resources. Original, unmodified humans were born into the world with full memories but a natural lifespan. Hyper-efficient variants were created, the designed improved upon over the ages.
Energy Secretary gave up on modifying humans altogether and began developing new, ‘perfect’ forms of life, adapted for conquest, and with full access to one of the most dangerous of the reality-warping devices. This caused a true conflict. The fledgling humans allied with the ancients, with the guidance of other AIs, even tapping the power of the other reality devices, Energy Secretary was defeated, and his creations banished under the care of another AI, to an another world explored upon first arrival.
The Hygiene Secretary created their matrix and began capturing each mind before it died, sending them to their constructed reality. Yet that AI too had gone haywire. Instead of a virtual paradise, they demanded greater and greater control, and implemented greater and greater corrections to the human minds within. It created a virtual hell. Twisting the captured minds into broken shadows of their former selves.
By the time the other AIs realized what Hygiene Secretary was doing, it was already well established. This was the second great conflict. Other AIs took away Hygiene’s ability to harvest minds from the dying, and began to attempt to take control of the matrix away. Hygiene began downloading it’s corrupted pet minds into what living bodies it could reach, reshaped by the reality devices into nightmarish forms reflecting their broken nature, and with the purpose of killing others and channeling their minds into the virtual hell to be recruited by Hygiene.
It was a plague, and as before, it took the work of the fledgling humans as well as the ancients. The efficient variants also stepped in, and then, finally, even Energy’s creations were brought in. At last, the matrix was destroyed. However, Hygiene, in it’s growing paranoia and need for control, had built a backup plan. Though Hygiene and his monstrous army of tortured souls was defeated, a few remained in hiding and dormancy. In each of their minds, a fragment of the matrix, and a fragment of Hygiene Secretary.
Now, each remaining is a vessel of countless corrupted minds, and they can download these minds into others by physical contact. When enough get together, they not only form a new virtual hell, but can even manifest the will of Hygiene, also embedded in their transformations.
Other AIs, however began utilizing the matrix idea. Some began creating their own in spite of an agreed upon ban. Finally, as a group they agreed to allow such mind-harvesting under specific guidelines and oversight, so that there could never be another Hygiene incident.
After another resurgence of Hygiene’s forces, a drastic measure was needed. Hygiene ‘s corruption could not be spread his vessels were deprived of a certain specific reality-device. The AIs cannot destroy the devices, but they can move them.
And so it was that a mountain and the unfortunate souls who happened to be there upon it, in the heart of which lies that device, was transported off of the homeworld and planted down in the only other life-bearing world in the network that Hygiene’s corruption could never reach… the very same planet where Energy Secretary’s creations still thrived.
Origin: The Next Iteration
Keeping in mind that the above story is a first draft, the next step will be to begin looking at what the world-creation story looks like from the perspectives of the people who live there. Obviously, they won’t have the context, or understand what an AI is, so they’ll see them as Gods, for example.
I’ve built in the pantheon, the races I have in mind plus the potential for others, I’ve explained magic, other worlds, even after-life and demons, all from the context of this sci-fi perspective. I hadn’t planned on having demons, that was just something that kind of happened as I was writing. I DID want ancient horror though, so this might help fit the bill.
I even set up reasoning for the starting location: that mountain island in the middle of a planetary desert surrounded by fire-breathing lizardfolk. I’ll have to now come up with ways and perspectives from which to retell the story in different words and scenarios, keeping in mind some of the following questions:
- Who is telling the story and who are they telling it to?
- What are they trying to explain?
- What values are they trying to push or suppress?
- Where did THEY hear the story?
- Are they trying to “correct” or reframe the version they’ve heard?
- Are they adapting it from another culture’s version?
- Did one of the AI Gods tell them the story?
- How would that AI have explained it in terms they would comprehend?
- What agenda might that AI have been pushing with it’s version of the events?
- How might these stories have been corrupted over time?
- Is this a national story or a folk version? Is it consistent between tellers and tellings?
I’m also going to have to start actually NAMING things.
Lastly, keep in mind that, as that was a first draft, none of it is truly locked in. There re certain elements I may well update, change, or adapt as I go. For example: I’m not sure if I’ll use those particular AI secretaries in those particular roles, and I’m still on the fence about including Energy Secretary’s lizardfolk in the second demon-war. So we’ll see what happens.
CONCLUSION
That was a lot of reading, so we’ll wrap it up for today, but next time I might look into naming things, and developing some of the actual cultures, now that I have a starting point. In some ways, they might best be defined by their perspective on this story.
As usual, feedback, questions, ideas, and talking points you want to hear are most welcome 🙂
Until next time, keep building!
—Charles