<html><p><font color=DarkMagenta>"It is most logical to begin at the beginning. Most of the history you believe to be true is a delusion foisted upon you by Valverus a mere two thousand years ago. Most serious students of history already know it for the lie it is, but only our Alcanti understand more than a fraction of the truth. Moira, please cast <i>Dictation</i>, that you all may have a complete and accurate account."</font></p><p>As soon as the venerable mage was ready the gods began, <font color=DarkMagenta>"First, we were never the grandiose 'twelve beings of infinite power' that Valverus claimed we were. Rather, at the end of the last galactic cycle, as all matter and energy converged upon itself, we--twelve once-mortal beings of insatiable curiosity, driven to find out 'what happens next'--devised a method we hoped would allow us to step outside our rapidly imploding universe. Together we formed a force cage, a dodecahedron able to resist gravity, entropy, and the ravages of time itself. We were each responsible for one face of the structure, and if one facet failed, they all would fail, sending us plummeting into the tiny ball of darkness more intense than the brightest light had ever been. We held on grimly, though the battle taxed us, each and all, to the limits of our strength and endurance, millennia after relentless millennia, until the stresses within the black hole singularity triggered an explosion, and the outward expansion of the universe began again. We had absolutely nothing to do with the process, but we now know for certain that Big Bang follows Big Crunch like day follows night.</p><p>"We jubilantly told ourselves we were the luckiest people who had ever lived as we rode the stupendous, indescribable wave of power outward. It was easy to convert our force cage into a craft that protected us from the rushing, surging energy and dweomer, surrounded by the indescribable beauty of the birth of stars...and of gods. We watched in fascination as the universe matured, and suns and solar systems formed. We discovered that main-sequence stars between 5000 and 6200 K in temperature and around two nonillion kilograms in weight almost always form a crystal sphere outside their most distant planets; we were amazed to see that it was much like the wall of an ovum, controlling the turbulent, and--in excess--destructive, flood of dweomer, and allowing embryonic gods to develop. It looked like so much fun we decided to try our hands at being gods ourselves, and set off in search of a star that fit the parameters for life as we had once known it, but that lacked a crystal sphere and the developing gods such a structure signalled. It was then that Valverus first showed signs of the illness that would later claim him. He jovially thanked us for our 'help' in creating and sustaining the dodecahedron, taking for himself credit for an enterprise that was, by its very nature, wholly cooperative, and spoke with keen anticipation of founding a pantheon. We were troubled, but took no action beyond correcting his conceit, and Valverus seemed to let the matter drop.</p><p>"Eventually we found a solar system that fit our criteria and built our own crystal sphere around it, an artificial construct but identical in all particulars to the natural formation, and then began settling into our new home. The planets and moons had already formed, although accretion and changes in composition were still going on due to heavy bombardment from remaining debris. We nudged the planet that would eventually be known as Tamaranth more securely into the zone of habitability...and again ran square into Valverus, who decreed that the number of moons should be one, and only one. The vote for multiple moons ran ten to two, with Shalniel calmly and reasonably offering cogent arguments in favour of one...and we came to very satisfactory agreement, acknowledging and incorporating the points that Shalniel had raised, balancing the two largest moons so that, in the fullness of time, the length of a day and other rotational effects would be stabilised, and edging the others out far enough that their gravitational pulls were minimal.</p><p>"Everyone was happy with the accommodation...except Valverus, who was enraged by our 'defiance.' All twelve of us have slightly different strengths and weaknesses, but in power we are very close to balanced. We would not accept Valverus' arbitrary and self-proclaimed superiority, and made it unequivocally clear to him that we were a cooperative, not a dictatorship. If we disagreed, we would seek to resolve the issue through discussion and compromise, but the majority would rule. Valverus tested us, lashing out with all his strength to smite us...and, to his shock and horror, was neutralised and easily contained. Thus he began a long period of sullen brooding.</p><p>"Like all known planets, Tamaranth was originally molten, due to extreme volcanism and frequent collisions with other celestial bodies, but quite quickly (in geologic terms) it cooled enough that rocks and continental plates began to form. Outgassing and volcanic activity produced the first atmosphere; condensing water vapour, augmented by ice delivered from comets, formed the oceans; and life, that ubiquitous and quotidian miracle, began. As we learned more about building a planet, we worked with the natural forces to establish a magnetic field to prevent the planet's atmosphere from being stripped away by the solar winds, and watched as cyclic orogenic continent building and destruction began, along with periods of heating and cooling.</p><p>"It was then that we found--or were given--the Templates. In simple, prosaic terms these were planting instructions and seedcorn; adherence would result in a creation that would fit comfortably within a galactic matrix, one very familiar to us, for once we had been part of just such ecosystems. Rejection would limit the eventual beings of Tamaranth to their own, possibly unique, planetary environmental conditions. There was no pressure, no 'right' choice, just options, and thus began another of our Great Deific Debates. For a million years we discussed the matter, looking at implications, weighing alternatives, until we--at least, the eleven of us--reached harmonious consensus, and with a small pang for the paths that would not be taken and a far greater sense of excitement and anticipation, introduced photosynthetic cyanobacteria. Free oxygen started to accumulate in the atmosphere, setting off the mass extinction of obligate anaerobic organisms, laying down iron deposits, and oxidising atmospheric methane to carbon dioxide, triggering glaciation. The increased oxygen concentrations provided a new opportunity for biological diversification. Until oxygen became widely available, life had remained energetically limited, but such a radical breakthrough in metabolic evolution greatly increased the free energy supply to living organisms all over the world.</p><p>"Again Valverus unilaterally opposed the general agreement. This time he did not confront us directly, instead attempting by more subtle means to destroy the cyanobacteria and undo the Third Intervention. He was stopped before he could cause damage, and his anger and hatred knew no bounds.</p><p>"For the most part we were content to watch the incredible miracle of evolution, doing little more than encouraging a favourable mutation here and there, as prokaryotes were joined by eukaryotes then multicellular organisms. These simple creatures evolved into differentiated plants and animals, then, about 500 million years ago (or some 4 billion years after the world formed) began the conquest of the land. The first vertebrate land animals appeared 380 million years ago. Once again we debated intervention, but this time decided to let phylogeny take its course, and waited patiently for the emergence of mammals 180 million years later. We were intrigued by the diversity that developed, so varied from world to world, even though arising from the same templates and genetic materials. Tamaranth developed insects and arachnids of unprecedented size and complexity, which spurred and altered the evolution of reptiles and hastened the emergence of advanced avian and crocodilian forms; it also meant that virtually every carnivorous or omnivorous species that followed was at least somewhat insectivorous. That is a phenomenon unique to Tamaranth! We watched and marvelled.</p><p>"However, at last true primates came forth, and it was time to intervene again if we wanted a world that was compatible with the ones emerging under the guidance of other gods in different spheres. Again Valverus demanded we cease and desist; again the vote was eleven to one in favour of intervention, and Valverus seethed in impotent rage. The pace of change accelerated; 20 million years ago the first proto-hominoids were born, over the next few million years diverging into a number of genera and families that included the great apes, and steadily increasing in intellectual capacity including language, an understanding of culture beyond the family, and such intangibles as empathy and curiosity. At last, a mere 200,000 years ago, the first men, men in all particulars, walked the earth--Homo sapiens Tamaranthi originalis.</p><p>"We decided to divide into cooperative teams, the better to encourage the further development of this species, so full of potential, so amazingly close to their brethren, born on worlds that orbited far-distant suns...so achingly close to the beings we once were...billions of years ago. Yeron, Araul, Venall and Urth focussed on the basic phenotype, making very few changes beyond an enhanced adaptability. Ghorail, Shalniel and Miroch divided the species into elves, gnomes and dwarves, breeds that are slightly closer genetically to each other than to humans despite their apparent differences in physiology, and Ylwain, Fellbane, Gye and Kirmmaw shaped orcs, goblins and hobgoblins from the original racial matrix; they were the ones who also, just for fun, experimented with magically integrating genes from mammalian and reptilian creatures...and thus dragons were born.</p><p>"Valverus could no longer stand the frustration, our indifference to his increasingly irrational and arbitrary demands, and--most of all--our success and the pleasure we took in these creatures made in our image. He fled out into the universe, declaring that he was done with us and would create his own world, his own <i>universe</i>. In all honesty, we must admit, we were glad and relieved to see him go.</p><p>"The various races of men matured; the population increased slowly, faster amongst the relatively short-lived humans--and a stable breeding stock was our most compelling reason for leaving the strain almost untouched--more slowly for the longer-lived elven, dwarven, and gnomish races, moderately for the short-lived but more aggressive goblinoid races--you see, we were scientifically trying to perfect a balance between desirable mutability, physicality, cultural stability, and intellect. It was a fascinating, always delightful, project. The appearance of the comet was the first serious threat that the beautiful world we'd helped shape had faced, and we vowed to do whatever was necessary to protect it and the beings we now thought of as our children."</font></p><p>The gods paused for emphasis, making sure that everyone realised the importance of what they were about to say, <font color=DarkMagenta>"Several of you already know that whilst the tales of 'Great Wars' are utter fabrication, Tamaranth <i>has </i>been subjected to cataclysmic disasters every twenty-five hundred years. Twenty-five hundred and ten years, to be precise. You have all seen or read about the ancient texts, carved into the walls of the Halle der Könige in Tanalok and the Themais Uir in Assel-Vesdra, into remnants found in ruined Shenuth, in other ancient monuments you do not yet know. Places separated by over two thousand miles, but recording the same event in almost the same words. 'And lo, a vast Shadow fell upon the whole world, ravening and foul, and whatever it touched, it devoured, every creature that walks or crawls, that swims or flies, and every plant that grows upon the land or in the waters, sparing not a single blade of grass, and the very earth was scorched and barren, so that afterward seed fell on it and withered as if fallen upon stone...' Written seventy-five hundred years ago. The Burning Times. Der Hunger. Goeol Delos. There are fresh accounts every twenty-five hundred years...and it will return in Quartus, 1995."</font></p><p><font color=6495ed>"How can a comet do all that?"</font> Ludi asked, deeply troubled and equally confused.</p><p><font color=tomato>"It's not the comet itself, Ludi,"</font> Urth said compassionately, her hand extended toward the dwarven boy. Had she been able to reach out and touch him, comfort him, she would have done so. Reassurance, however, was not hers to give. <font color=tomato>"The danger, the destruction, comes from the race that lives on it..."</font></p><p>The Chorus explained, <font color=DarkMagenta>"At the same time organic life was evolving on Tamaranth, far out in the Everflowing, in Deep Space, in the roughly spherical cloud of icy planetesimals that surround our solar system nearly a light-year from the Sun, another, far different, ecology was developing. The dwarf planet that would become the comet was a giant in that region of space; it had drawn all its neighbours to itself, accreting so much mass that it reached hydrostatic equilibrium, forming a sphere nearly 250 miles in diameter. On this world, ice around a core of rock and metal, bathed and bombarded by raw dweomer, life began. From simple, minute creatures they progressed to colonies, and then into complex organisms, capable of metabolism, growth, and true reproduction. More aeons passed, and they became increasingly responsive to stimuli. In the fierce competition of their resource poor environment, some creatures developed motility. Step by step, mutation after mutation, the apex of that peculiar genesis acquired intelligence, but in structure they were little changed from their remote ancestors. They were black in all spectra, to soak up every possible scintilla of energy--dweometric, electromagnetic, chemical, thermal, gravitational, and nuclear--and they were nearly two dimensional, sometimes covering very large areas, but infinitesimally flat, presenting the greatest possible surface area for energy absorption. There was no food chain--each individual absorbed energy from any and all available sources and drew the nutrients for metabolism from the dirty snowball that was their home--with the result that every successful adaptation supplanted its progenitor, each in turn spreading out across the surface of their world.</p><p>"This stable existence changed when a star passed through that region of space; too far away to draw the world into its orbit, but close enough to cause gravitational perturbations that sent it plummeting toward distant Tamar. At first the inhabitants, sapient but extremely primitive, were unaware of what had befallen them. Generations passed in the same fierce competition for energy and resources they had always known...until they travelled through the Crystal Sphere, some 40 AUs from the star, and the Everflowing, their primary food source, was abruptly and radically curtailed. So far out the solar radiance was woefully insufficient to compensate, as were the gravitational forces of the outer planets, yet worse was to come. Solar radiation caused the volatile materials that comprised the bulk of the comet's mass to vaporize and stream out of the nucleus, carrying dust away with them, in a coma that, at closest approach, stretched out from the sun past rocky Marnin and beyond, and in that first pass it lost nearly 10% of its total mass, most of it in the form of precious, life-sustaining water, carbon dioxide, methane and ammonia ice. In the year and a half that the comet remained in the solar system, 90% of the population died off, but the few individuals that survived were the fittest, the most adaptable, and the most ruthless ever seen since their peculiar form of life had evolved.</p><p>"We were surprised to discern that intelligent life existed in so unlikely a place, but saw no reason to intervene--species evolve, mature, and become extinct regularly in the universe. Even then we knew this particular form was inimical to all life on Tamaranth, but we didn't believe any action was necessary at that time. Instead we watched, and pondered possible outcomes. We were overconfident <i>idiots!</i> We couldn't have been more wrong.</p><p>"Anyway, by the second pass the Shadow had become a single entity, the culmination of ruthless self-preservation. It still appeared to be composed of individuals, but they were all linked in a vast hive mind. It had learned to look outward, sending its senses ranging far and wide, and discovered the planets, huge spheres in stable, almost circular orbits around a reliable food source. The gas giants were not to its taste: dweomer and solar poor, with a gravity that made them dangerous even to Shadow. Marnin, far larger than its home, with a comfortable gravity, rich in essential ice, and bathed in light from a star a mere two AUs away, was highly appealing...until it passed Tamaranth. Soaked in solar radiance and rich in dweomer--coming from us, although it didn't know that--with oceans of volatiles, it thought it had found paradise! It looked no further, but right then began planning to conquer this perfect new world. That it teemed with life already was considered an advantage, facilitating the assimilation of valuable nutrients. Evolution on the comet had never rewarded the concepts of cooperation, compromise, or community; by this point such ideas were literally unthinkable, as meaningless as music to a species without organs of hearing.</p><p>"By the third pass, the Shadow was ready to make its move. It sent out appendages to cross the space between the comet and Tamaranth--and met our force blocking it. We were not then resolved to destroy the Shadow--and bitterly have we come to regret our forbearance--but we gave it no purchase on Tamaranth, driving it back onto its own planet. The Shadow was enraged; in its estimation, it was the summit of creation. How dare any entity stand in its way?! Howling vengeance and continued resolve, it continued trying until it passed out of range, travelling back from whence it came. By this time the comet was 15% smaller than when it had first formed.</p><p>"The Shadow spent the intervening years perfecting it magics, and planning its next attack. It devised a way to (it believed) absorb the powerful dweomer-fuelled barrier that had blocked it before, and go forth and conquer just that much stronger. It was partially successful. On the next pass, its fourth, it cut a wide swath of destruction across the face of Tamaranth before it was turned back, and those remnants that made planetfall caused further havoc before they could be destroyed, for direct, physical manifestations of our power on a planetary surface is fraught with danger to the ecological balance, even to the structure of the world itself, and our living, vibrant world was the very thing we were striving to preserve. Worse, we realised that it was no longer within our power to destroy it outright; we'd missed our chance.</p><p>"We needed help, but although the races of men, and other sapient creatures, had fully evolved into their present forms by then, they were still very primitive; civilisation was in its infancy. It would be many years before there would be priests with the wisdom, knowledge, and experience to channel our grace, so to fill that gap we made representatives that were both greater and lesser than the organic races, with powers both enormous and limited--enormous, to effectively fight against the increasingly powerful Shadow; limited, to prevent them from setting themselves against us or subjugating mortals. The Alcanti were created between 12,543 and 12, 533 years ago, starting five years after the comet's fourth return. Part of their mission was to police, guide, teach, and act as mediators between the organic races--humans, dwarves, elves, gnomes, orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, gnolls, dragons, and so forth--but their primary purpose, the Divine Trust that was central to their being, was to stand between and protect mortals from the Shadow. It is the one single area over which no Alcanti has free will. As long as they live, they <i>will</i> stand and protect.</p><p>"Although the Shadow was stronger, more devious, and more determined than ever, both we and the Alcanti were ready for the comet's fifth transit. It was repulsed with minimal loss of life on Tamaranth; we too had been perfecting our strategies and were able to destroy or turn back most of every wave. The depleted vanguard that attempted to establish a presence on the planet were met by the Alcanti and handily defeated. Moreover this orbit had resulted in the vaporisation of a further 5% of the cometary volatiles, and fracture lines were beginning to form. We know that most long period comets live for only a short time, making no more than half a dozen orbits before breaking up or encountering gravitational stresses that fling them into hyperbolic orbits and out of the solar system, never to return. The Shadow comet was much larger than average, but still subject to those same pressures. We deduced that it could not survive for more than another 12,550 years--five orbits--at most, possibly as few as 7,530 years--three orbits. We were cautiously confident that all would be well.</p><p>"Contributing to that optimism was the inadvertent capture of a fragment of Shadow. It was not organised enough to retain the horrific sentience of the whole, but it was sufficient for experimentation--in effect, it was a tissue sample. From it we and the Alcanti who were conducting the tests learned that it drew no nourishment from certain types of stone, that a force cage would contain it, and that it was vulnerable to the direct application of fire, provided it was hot enough. With each pass the Shadow had grown more intelligent, more organised, more determined, and more powerful. It seemed poor strategy to allow it 2500 years between passes to refine and perfect its assaults against Tamaranth.</p><p>"From these seeds a plan was born. With our full approval and under our direction, the Alcanti tasked with guarding the southern hemisphere cleared an island near the south pole, far from all living things, of all volatiles--anything consumable--and prepared a barrier. They were to channel our power to form a pen to contain the Shadow, and there incinerate it, destroying it forever. Those involved in that enormous project called themselves the Free Men, for--as we said--the one area where Alcanti have no free will is in the battle against the Shadow. Our practical dreamers stepped out on faith, believing that the day was coming when the threat of Shadow would be ended forever."</font> They smiled lovingly, <i>apologetically</i>, at Boand, Uduak, and broken, dismembered Tilador.</p><P>While listening, Theo continued to pet the pups. <font color=peachpuff>"So...the Alcanti are--the <I>'good guys'</I>..."</font></P><p><font color=seagreen>"Indeed they are, Theo,"</font> Ghorail, Shalniel and Miroch replied, warmly approving of "their" dwarf.</p><p><font color=dimgray>"Hardly <i>all</i> of them,"</font> Tassarion sneered, eyeing Tilador with eyes cold and hard as granite.</p><p><font color=DarkMagenta>"All, Tassarion. Including Tilador. He was playing a dangerous double game, trying to use the Shadow's tools against it, but his heart was always loyal to Tamaranth and the Divine Trust. You, not knowing what was really going on, reacted to what you perceived as traitorous betrayal, whilst he underestimated both your strength and that of the Shadow."</font></p><p>The gods sighed bitterly. <font color=DarkMagenta>"So have we all, time and again, underestimated the Shadow."</p><p>"By the time the killing field was ready in all particulars and every detail worked out, most of a turn had passed and nearly half the Alcanti had participated in the colossal effort. We stopped them from telling all their brethren, a decision that proved to be a mistake second only to our failure to destroy the Shadow when we had the chance. The Free Men were wholly focussed on the plan, on what they were calling 'The Final Confrontation'. We fully expected to succeed, but feared that, given their utter confidence, vigilance would be diminished in the event that some significant portion of Shadow escaped our trap. By their nature, Alcanti are constant, a necessary trait for beings that have to remain concentred on one task for millennia. In exchange, they are not flexible or easily swayed. We wanted a significant number unaffected by the anticipation, the almost euphoric expectation, that coloured the Free Men's perceptions...we hedged our bets."</font></p><p>For a perceptible moment the gods paused, mulling grievous memories, before continuing, <font color=DarkMagenta>"Twenty years before the next pass was due the comet moved into range of our senses. We were first shocked, then horrified, even frightened, by what we saw; the Shadow was a <i>full order of magnitude </i>stronger than it had been during its previous transit. There was no possible way our carefully laid plan would work. </p><p>"We informed the Free Men immediately; they were dumbstruck and disbelieving...and why wouldn't they be? We were shaken to the core ourselves. They heard us, but could not understand. It was too sudden, too radical a change. They asked us and themselves what they had done wrong, or what task they had failed to do, and couldn't grasp that <i>they</i> were not at fault. They tried to convince themselves that it was all a misunderstanding or correctable error, but it was no mistake, and their confusion became anger and defiance...rebelliousness. We ached for them; they'd worked so hard and so long, the prize had seemed almost within their grasp...and it was yanked away. They felt hurt and betrayed, believed we had judged them inadequate to our purpose, and were determined to prove us wrong."</font> </p><p>They looked solemnly at Fenrir, George, and Yngvi, making certain that the Loyalists were listening. <font color=DarkMagenta>"They planned disobedience and voiced their frustration. They sought our approval, tried to make us see that they were fit and ready for the challenge, tried to regain our support. They never, at any time, turned against us or Tamaranth."</font> </ |