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niqhtlord01 · 1 year

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Humans are weird: ET Stay Home

( Please come see me on my new patreon and support me for early access to stories and personal story requests :D https://www.patreon.com/NiqhtLord Every bit helps)

Subject: Species 543-71-D9 Observing Xenologists: Flipip Nu and apprentice team.

Observation Day 1:

We have encountered another primitive species in our travels across the stars. We are still some days away from direct observation but our scanners have detected multiple signal waves emanating from their world which we were easily able to tap into.

Their planet circles a red sun in the green zone providing ample areas for life to develop. The dominant species appears to have developed rudimentary space faring technology but for some reason remain centered on their homeworld.

Reasons for the lack of interstellar exploration remain a point of debate among my fellow researchers. It is possible that we have begun observations at a point of cultural divergence with this technology and the confines of existing sociology norms seeking to hinder it, or that the technology is still in an experimental state and not ready for wide spread production.

While their shuttle craft appear limited we have detected that the species have deployed a number of orbital satellites both positioned around their planet and circling their inner and outer system.

Based off the readings from our current sensors these satellites appear a mixture of signal transference and outward observation. There is a belief among my team that these may act as an early warning system to alert the species to any inbound travelers. As such I have ordered all scrambling jammers activated and set a course that should avoid the majority of them. -------------

Observation Day 13:

The previously plotted course indeed took us past many of the satellites and we have now obtained a stable orbit above the world for closer observations. Our cloak is currently active leaving us protected from all but the most advanced observation equipment; technology at this time we agree is far beyond the means of our current subjects.

Initially we had taken up a position in low orbit just skimming the planet’s atmosphere, but it was quickly discovered that the majority of signals being sent from the satellites were being rebounded back towards the planet’s surface. This proved problematic as our scramblers were still active and began blocking signals in an area roughly half the size of the smallest continent on the surface.

Seeing this would no doubt prompt swift investigation from the planets inhabitants I moved us to high anchor above the planet and reduced the range of our scramblers to the smallest bubble they could achieve and still guarantee our safety. ------------

Day 20:

It has been several days since we moved orbit positions and we have seen no indications that our presence was discovered. This is fortunate for a number of reasons as we have made several surprising discoveries without having to set foot on the world.

With minimal effort from my technical apprentice, we were able to tap into the information network and begin observing the data first hand. I have found it almost beyond belief that the majority of the signals being transmitted back and forth between these satellites are unencrypted and so easily accessible. In a matter of hours we were able to formulate a picture of the species we are dealing with which would normally have taken us weeks of painful close observations from remote drones and limited on site expeditions. The only hindrance as of yet is the sheer volume of data being fed on a daily basis amongst the planets dominant species. We have had to dedicate the majority of our ships computation systems to sifting through the information for critical details.

From what we have gathered so far we have learned that the dominant species is called “Humanity”. A species that has gone through several hundred evolutionary changes to their current standing which has allowed them to establish themselves as said dominant species.

They are proving to be quite perplexing however when it comes to further classification of their social behaviors. Rather than being united as a single species, these “humans” appear to have subdivided themselves into several dozen different castes based around either national lines or genetic origins. Further confounding is their need to then further divide these by genetic traits such as hair, skin, body structure, etc.

Further observation is required. -------------

Day 37:

Earlier today several of my team came to me with a petition to begin first on planet observations from the surface. Their proposal was in response to the continuing conflicting nature of information being transmitted which is causing problems with the legitimacy of the data.

Conflicts are reported by one group of humans while being denied from ever happening by another despite clear evidence. Sub classes of humans are having their genetic heritage questioned without proof and based solely on physical differences that can be observed through sight. Even the origins of their people have been called into question by what appear to be numerous religious beliefs that are shared worldwide.

I admitted that while at first the information being gathered was proving more useful than any field work observation, the continual stream of conflicting information was beginning to show that simply observing the information networks would not be a viable option for further study.

They gave me a detailed plan to land a small landing craft near one of the smaller and more isolated communities dotting the planet and begin observations from there. I told them that I would go over their plan and have a decision for them in the morning.

In truth I am concerned about sending any detachment of my team down to the surface, though I did not openly share my reasons with the others.

While going over the information one night I discovered several dozen entries scattered throughout the human historical records of previous visitors to their world from other planets. Many of these encounters were often harmless glances in the night sky or seeing shadowy figures off in the distance, but a number also were more descriptive and detailed abductions of individuals to be taken and experimented on.

This showed that while technologically inferior to our people, these humans were all too aware that they were not alone in the universe and would most certainly have plans in place for any future encounters. ---------------

Day 38:

I agreed to the proposal of a landing party and the team departed a short while ago.

Despite my still apprehensions we needed a fresh source of data to analyze and having an on the ground team would provide that raw information we needed.

The team will be setting down on the island continent in the southern hemisphere. Orbital scans showed the land to be largely inhabited around the coastline of the continent while the interior was sparsely populated save for small communities.

From the landing site they will observe the local populations from a distance and then relay their findings back to the ship while also gathering samples of not only the planet but of humanity as well.

It’s risky, but the plan seems airtight. I wish them the best of luck. -----------------

Day 39:

I was awoken early in the morning to the panicked distress signals coming from the away team and rushed to the command deck.

Nuk’le, leader of the team, had been injured and their shuttle was heading back to the ship for medical attention. What was worse was that a human was also onboard who had been the one to injure Nuk’le and had been knocked unconscious by one of the other team members before they took off.

It is hard to describe the full spectrum of emotions I was feeling as I stood on the command deck and watched the shuttle’s signal get closer by the minute.

Anger, sorrow, concern, disdain, confusion; all these things swirled within me like a raging maelstrom with no outlet to disperse.

Zu’ru was now in command of the team and I demanded a full report as to what had happened in the few hours I had been away from the command deck. She told me that the team had safely landed at the predetermined landing site without issue and began making their way to the human community several miles away. They had setup their observation post along a ridgeline that overlooked the community and were able to gather many visual data captures and scanning samples of both the humans and the ecosystem when the first indications of a problem began.

The climate shifted without warning and a mighty wind began blowing in from the west. All around them the loose sand of the ground was soon picked up by the wind and the team found themselves in the midst of an intense sandstorm. Nuk’le did not wish the equipment to be damaged by the storm and so ordered the team to retreat back to the shuttle to ride out the storm in safety. Along the way the team had encountered their second problem.

The team had been making their way through the thick sandstorm back to their shuttle when they quite literally stumbled upon a human heading in the opposite direction to the town. They wore a long cloak and scarf that billowed in the wind while their eyes were protected by a pair of crude goggles. On their back was a long metal rod with a wooden handle that Zu’ru recognized as a tool used by hunters of the human culture and deduced that this human must have been on the hunt before the storm hit and was likewise returning home before heading out again.

They simply emerged from the sandstorm clouds like a wraith and came head to head with the team causing Nuk’le to panic and fire off a burst from his stun pistol. The shot went wide and hit the ground in front of the human who in response swung their hunting tool off their shoulder in a smooth motion and fired back at Nuk’le striking him in the shoulder. The crude hunting projectile punctured his suit and embedded itself in his flesh sending him into shock from the pain.

As the human turned their hunting tool on the rest of the party Zu’ru was able to get a second shot off with her own stun pistol and hit the human in the chest. Their hunting device fell from their hands and they collapsed to the ground as well while the team began tending to Nuk’le.

With the team leader seriously injured and the secrecy of the mission now compromised Zu’ru made a judgement decision to take both Nuk’le and the human hunter back to the ship. Some of the team wished to merely kill the human, but Zu’ru stated that the human had acted in self-defense and that it was Nuk’le who was at fault. Furthermore, there was no telling what would happen if the human did not return to the community. They had no idea what social standing they had or who they even were and the risk could endanger any future missions to the planet; so they would take him back to the ship, inject him with a memory altering drug, then return him the following day and hope that the community would believe that the human had just become lost in the sandstorm.

While I commended Zu’ru for her dedication as a scientist, I also criticized her and the rest for being so careless.

The damage had been done though and at this point I can only hope we can mitigate how far it spreads. -------------

Day 39 B:

The ship is in full quarantine lock down. All crew save for security personnel are confined to quarters until further notice.

No sooner had the shuttle landed in the hangar bay did the human wake up. For whatever reason the stun setting on our pistols did not affect the human as long as it should have and they regained their motor functionality as the landing ramp lowered and the science team began filing out of the shuttle.

One of the team had moved the human to a portable table and was preparing them to be moved to the medical wing when the human pulled a metallic blade of some sort from their clothing and slashed out at them. The blade cut deep and the team member recoiled as a deep gash opened up along their arm.

Before anyone could react the human was up and sprinting down the ramp. Confused by the sudden appearance of the human and the cries of pain from the newly injured team member, the rest of the landing party panicked and scattered around the hangar bay in their attempts to put distance between themselves and the human. Zu’ru was the only one to react and pulled out her stun pistol to again incapacitate the human.

I can only assume that the human recognized the weapon from before as no sooner did Zu’ru draw the weapon did the human quickly dodge the first shot by flattening themselves against the floor. They then proceeded to dodge all subsequent shots by rolling along the decking until they bumped into one of the fleeing landing party members.

Placing the knife directly at the crew members throat the human used the crew member as a living shield, blocking any shots Zu’ru would fire for fear of hitting her own comrade.

I rushed down to the hangar bay with a security detail and several medical staff to tend to the wounded and we stormed into the hangar from the access portals opposite the shuttle. This turned out to be a terrible move as no sooner had the corridor doors opened to let us in did the human push their hostage at Zu’ru thus knocking her over and then breaking into the corridor.

It was then I came face to face with the human for the first time. Their face was still covered with the previous trappings Zu’ru had reported, but for a moment I caught a glimpse of something behind those goggles as the light reflected off them.

It was a primal fear that was understood by every living species, regardless of where they came from.

The human was terrified and running on pure instinct.

They shoved me back as they entered the corridor, knocking back several of the medical and security personnel that had accompanied me. One of the security detail had been smart and had positioned themselves to the side of the door rather than in front of it. They brought their weapon down hard in an attempt to physically knock out the human as soon as they stepped into the corridor.

Stopping their forward momentum with a heavy footfall the human jerked their head back at the last second leaving the security officer unbalanced. They then brought up their crude knife and stabbed directly through the exposed section of their security armor around the neck leaving a bright stream of purple blood as the blade cut through flesh and embedded itself in their skull.

The human made to retrieve it but the other members of the security detail began firing wildly and so the human instead left the blade and sprinted down the opposite end of the corridor soon to be followed by the rest of the security team.

I stayed with the medical team as they cared for the injured and began enacting quarantine procedures via my comlink to the command deck.

Not only was there now a rogue alien aboard the ship, they seemed very keen on the ways of dealing out death. ---------------

Day 40:

It has been several hours since quarantine was enacted and yet still the human runs loose.

What’s worse is that they have avoided the security detail and are now at large inside the ship.

I have no idea how they managed it with quarantine procedures in effect but just as the security detail had them cornered the human simply vanished into thin air.

Security is now going through a deck by deck sweep of the ship to find the human while internal scanners go over every corridor and room searching for their life signs.

I’ve given up sleep for now and have taken up my position in the command deck to better help coordinate the search. Though my body is running on fumes I still find ways to keep myself awake and alert. One such method being focusing on the annoying guttering sound now coming from the air vents above the command deck. It was not there when I was last on the command deck but now it’s ever present sound is helping me stay awake.

Once the human was captured I will need to detail a work crew to get up there and repair those vents for peace of mind. They claim it is too small for them and that we should use robots instead but I know that there is enough room for…for……

Oh no.

*Garbled metallic sound in the background as something metal falls heavily to the ground*

*Several voices all shouting at once sound off followed shortly by weapons fire*

*Audio log ends*

#HUMANS ARE WEIRD #humans are insane #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #story #writing #scifi #original writing #niqhtlord01 #space australia

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wh40kartwork · 2 years

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Magos Xenologist

by Boris Tsui

#imperium #adeptus mechanicus #techpriest #skitarii #warhammer #warhammer 40k #warhammer 40000 #40k #boris tsui #servo skull

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poore-choice-of-words · 3 months

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I think in-universe, Xenologists get a lot of calls from medical professionals dealing with superhumans for the first time, or the hundredth time.

"A sensitive will fall under anesthesia fast, but their immune system will flush it out faster."

"Without the history of this particular person with superhuman strength, I cannot say if you need a stronger scalpel, whatever that means."

"Their body turned to metal when it touched the scalpel? How fast? Did you try to cut through it? How did it go?"

They save a lot of lives by being nerds.

#the heroes' guild #my writing #my worldbuilding #there's other professions that call them #of course #and having any amount of knowledge on superhumans #makes you a vital resource in your field often #but medical professionals are most frequent #trying to talk about writing on here more #I'm in a period of activity

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benjithefox · 1 year

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Kai & Julie in the Pokemon AU?

Thank you so much for the ask!

Starting of with Kai, i made her an archaeologist in this au instead of a xenologist. Her and Ben also never liked each other romantically, they would always fight (pokemon battles not physically) as kids when their grandpas would visit each other. Now they have become friends although still with a healthy rivalry and bickering :D!

Kai’s team: lycanroc (midnight form), cradily, carracosta, archeops, bastiodon and tyrantrum

(Didnt make her younger version yet, but i can tell u her first polemon is rockruff)

Julie time, she and Ben used to date, and it goes about the same as in cannon, however here Ben was to focused on pokemon traning/batteling ofc. They r pretty good friends still though and meet up at least once every month to talk :]

julie works as a professional tennis player, shes also a really good pokemon trainer and will occasionally help out in a gym as an extra trainer if shes needed and often competes in competitions for fun

Julies team: zigarde (10% form), alolan ninetails, persian, sawsbuck (spring form) furfrou (heart trim) and furret

Also im planning on making Ester soon so look out for that! :DD

#julie yamamoto #kai green #ben 10 #ben 10 art #ben 10 fanart #ben 10 au #ben 10 julie #Ben 10 kai #ben 10 pokemon au #pokemon #pokemon au #fanart #au #I love these twos designs so it was hard to change them #Made julie a bit more prepared for sport though #artyippe

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basaltbutch · 7 months

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the combination of dnd events that happened last night and the space exploration game i was playing before bed meant that i had a dream last night where i was a xenologist out in space. and i was getting some really weird readings from a planet and maneuvered around to see better.

and yeah of course the readings were weird because i circled around the planet and an entire half of it was missing. bisected straight down the middle. and the core was writhing and squirming and as i watched some planet-sized lifeform, too massive and intricate for me to properly describe, unfolded itself from where it had been feeding on the molten core of the planet. still dripping magma from its jaws and stared at me.

now the horrors of realizing that worldeaters existed really got to me and the only thing i could mutter was. "holy shit. there's a guy in there." except i had half awoken because of one thing or another, and shaw was laying next to me still reading a fic on their phone in real life.

"can you elaborate?" they said, very slowly, trying to tempt sleeping me into saying something funny.

except i was just awake enough to both recognize that shaw was sitting next to me but also asleep enough to still see this giant planetary consuming lifeform right in front of me. and shaw's question only pissed me off because i didn't need to elaborate when there was a cosmic horror right fucking there!

"no." i said out of spite.

#it speaks #and then i woke up more and raven cuddled me except in my half asleep state the sound of them inhaling went on for years and that also #pissed me off and scared me so i told them to stop breathing #i had a very silly night last night.#anyway im putting this alien in my scifi story at some point #it was swag

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literary-illuminati · 1 year

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Book Review 15 – Deep Wheel Orcadia by Harry Josephine Giles

Okay, continuing to try to catch up on my 7-review backlog! If very inadequately, but hey.

So someone on here recommended I gives this a try, and having read it I’m flattered that they thought I was sufficiently cultured to get that much out of it. Or better to say that I appreciated it as, like, a concept or an art object more than I enjoyed it as a story or as a work of literature?

So the story itself is of a space station in the middle of nowhere, its economy based on gathering some strange cosmic fuel source from a local gas giant, and about to collapse as a revolutionary advance in starship technology decimates demand for that resource. At the same time, there’s a resident xenologist studying the strange alien ships pulled up from the gas giant, and strange spectral energy ghosts have begun to haunt the station.

But the actual point of the book is that it’s written in the Orcadian dialect (that is the dialect of the Orkney Isles) – each page is half filled with the text in Orcadian (and I’m fairly sure in verse), and then repeated in English in the bottom half. It is, if I’m trusting the marketing, the first science fiction novel ever written in Orcadian, and the first novel published in the language in fifty years.

Sadly Orcadian is just barely mutually unintelligible enough with standard English that I basically had to rely on the translated halves of the page for at least two parts in three, and it’s just...not great. Dealing with ambiguity in language is the curse of every translator of course, but I’m really pretty confident that just clumping every option together into a new compound word (e.g. “swellwaves and whirlrushdancespins”) is, in fact, the wrong choice. I got a headache from the eyestrain trying to parse the potential meanings at least a couple of times.

The whole idea is kind of charming in a 19th century cultural nationalist intelligentsia sense, and the flow of the Orcadian verse was usually really very pleasing to the ear, but yeah, didn’t especially work for me.

The story itself is – well, I was left entirely confused about the whole thing with the energy ghosts and all that, but everything else was fine, but kind of shallowly dealt with? The station was vividly drawn, the cast all seemed very real, but there just wasn’t the word count to actually deal with any of the stuff the book wanted to except by just touching on them and gesturing at wider tropes. Like, the sense of entropy and the worry of your home fading away and all the young people leaving to go seek a future their home can’t give them, and people desperately trying to find some way to adapt or giving up entirely – that was pretty keenly felt (one rather gets the sense that Orcadia and the Orkney Isles share more than just a language). But everything else? Just two many POVs and irons in the fire, not enough space for any of them to really breathe.

The comparison that comes to mind is the one Becky Chambers book about humans still living on the Fleet (Records of a Spaceborn Few, I think?), compared to which I’d say this felt much more poetic and emotionally resonant going after a similar sort of concept, but then I’m wildly biased here.

Anyway, yeah, really wish I could have enjoyed this more, but I can’t really say I did.

#book review #sff #Deep Wheel Orcadia #Harry Josephine Giles

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morebedsidebooks · 11 months

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10 LGBTQIA+ Books from Around the World

In honour of Pride this June here is a list of ten books that show it’s a very queer world.

Amora Stories by Natalia Borges Polesso, translated by Julia Sanches

From Brazilian writer Natalia Borges Polesso, Amora is a collection of many vignettes around wlw, from teenage first times to wizened women together for decades, running the gamut of tragedy to triumph.

La Bastarda by Trifonia Melibea, translated by Lawrence Schimel

A notable book in several ways, La Bastarda by bisexual feminist Trifonia Melibea is the first novel by a woman from the Equatorial Guinea translated to English. A short YA novel told in the perspective of budding lesbian 16-year-old Okomo who faces a lot. Yet a story that is ultimately uplifting.

Dark Soul by Aleksandr Voinov

Originally created for an erotic piece around guns, Dark Soul by England based emigrant German author Aleksandr Voinov is a mafioso title that stacks up content warnings like its body count. While also offering several characters that are not straight or monogamous. Including one holding a special place in my memory, the genderfluid, hypersexual, and pansexual Silvio Spadaro.

The Diesel by Thani Al-Suwaidi, translated by William M. Hutchins

Equated as a piece of shock fiction to great buzz and controversy, originally published in 1994 but not available and largely ignored in the Emirates for a decade, The Diesel by Thani Al-Suwaidi is a curious achingly little book like the folklore it sits with endures. Taking its name from the nonbinary protagonist and narrator, from a village in the northernmost Emirate, who in this coming-of age story becomes a popular and subversive entertainer in the vein of mukhannathun.

Baker Thief by Claudie Arseneault

A treat of a fantasy queerplatonic novel from a Québécoise author Baker Thief plays with not only romantic tropes but English and French. Claude/Claire (bigender aromantic) bakes by day and steals gems, what are actually witches’ souls, by night. While Adèle (biromantic demisexual) a cop, that was just unceremoniously transferred because of her tendency to try and root out corruption wherever it lies, has made it her mission to apprehend the masked thief.

Fin & Rye & Fireflies by Harry Cook

Set in Australia Fin & Rye & Fireflies begins with Fin, (gay) a teen new to town after he was outed and his conservative religious parents uproot the family moving closer to a “therapy camp” (i.e., the conversion sort). Still Fin develops a crush on Rye (gay) who has lived in the seaside hamlet his whole life. Along with Fin quickly making fast friends with other queer teens. This YA novel dedicated by the celebrity author to all the LGBTQIA+ love stories he wishes he read as a young gay kid, channeling a little of cult musicals too, is likely to bring all the feels.

Halfway Human by Carolyn Ives Gilman

American author Carolyn Ives Gilman in 1998 made a striking debut with the science fiction novel Halfway Human. When an unprecedented and genderless visitor from the currently closed off planet of Gammadis lands in one of the clinics on the moon Capella Two after a suicide attempt, xenologist Val is called in. A unique opportunity she finds much more than one could first imagine as the patient named Telda begins to share its story. This is one of my favourite novels in the genre, if not in general of all time. Nominated for awards, even today a reader might see why this was such a buzzed about book. Themes examining gender, class, exploitation, and capitalism continue to resonate. (FYI, please consult the content notes provided in the link.)

The Kiss Murder by Mehmet Murat Somer, translated by Kenneth Dakan

A bit of a semi-retirement project for author Mehmet Murat Somer, the Hop-Çiki-Yaya mystery series crafted to a bit of a different beat first began publishing in Turkey in the early 2000s. In The Kiss Murder, a feisty trans drag queen protagonist, styled in old Hollywood fashion Audrey Hepburn in particular, tries to the find the murderers of one of the girls from their club.

Herculine Barbin translated by Richared McDougall

French intersex figure Herculine Adélaïde Barbin sadly committed suicide in 1868. Still, a life not only inspiring the date of Intersex Solidarity Day on November 8th, leaving behind a memoir that has also been the basis for adaptations on both stage and film. The English edition comes with an introduction by Michel Foucault and other added material.

Tentacle by Rita Indiana, translated by Achy Obejas

Tentacle by Rita Indiana from the Dominican Republic is a subversive and award-winning cli-fi novel. The main character described in the original title, (La mucama de Omicunlé) Acilde is a maid and sex worker desiring to get a dramatic expensive drug for a sex change. And as it happens also prophesied as the male saviour in a traditional Afro-Caribbean religion. This one book I still haven’t come to a complete assessment of. Tentacle is writing likely worth the dive but, just as beautiful as sea anemones are, there are those that pack a powerful sting.

BONUS: For comic lovers I also have posts on LGBTQ+ characters in comics from the 21st Century and LGBTQ+ characters in comics from the 20th Century

#lgbtqia+ books #pride month #queer the world #global literature

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hollowwhisperings · 11 months

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"Speaker For The Dead": Bran Stark as a Reference to Ender Wiggin.

I read the first two Ender books when FAR too young to handle their themes of, y'know, the intimacy of xenocide when you're a child soldier. Scary stuff for a kid of age with the protagonist.

So colour me Unsurprised upon relearning that the language the aliens of SFTD's aliens to speak with humans... is named "Stark".

Because of course GRRM would find joy in a conveniently horrifying-by-implication Pun.

The Premise of "Speaker For The Dead" (the sequel to "Ender's Game", a Differently Horrifying inspiration for some of my childhood nightmares) is this: human colonists and the local alien species had been more-or-less at peace until a human is Suddenly & Inexplicably Murdered by the aliens who considered him a Friend.

Due to [the Plot of Ender's Game], Humans are wary of Jumping To Conclusions as to this seemingly Senseless Violence and Ender Wiggin (of Ender's Game) stops at the planet to Speak at some Funerals. To properly Speak for the Deceased, Ender investigates the Murders and because of [the plot of Ender's Game] feels certain that there has been a Fatal Translation Error.

Spoilers for SFTD & comparisons to Bran's POV Arc under cut.

He's Right.

The Piqueninos (the aliens) are still learning to communicate with the humans they're sharing a planet with, using a language named "Stark". The deceased men were both held in great esteem by the Piqueninos, one of the primary reasons why [A Xenologist Expert] was sought after: why kill someone who was their Friend?

It turns out that Ritualistically Vivisecting respected males of their society is how the Piqueninons Evolve: they had spent the entire book calling Trees their "Fathers" and they had meant that literally.

The gratuitously violent murders of their human friends were efforts by the Piqueninos to honour these men by making them Fathers, using the same method of Deification on the human men as they would to their own kind.

Cue the Horrific Revelation that, no, Humans Do Not Transistion From Life Phases via being Ritualistically Killed to Become Trees: the Piqueninos efforts to "honour" their Human Friends actually Killed Them. Permanently.

Now let's reevaluate what Bran Stark's been up with the Singers in ASOIAF.

Brynden Rivers has been sending Dreams to kids with Greenseer Potential and directing them North.

Jojen & Bran, inspired by such Dreams, go Beyond The Wall to seek out this "Three-Eyed Crow" who will teach Bran how to "fly".

Bran & Company end up in a magically warded Cave populated by the mythic "Children of the Forest" (Singers) and someone they call "The Last Greenseer", a man who has a weirwood tree growing through him & introduces himself as a Man Formerly Known as Brynden.

contextual clues identify him as "Brynden Rivers": one of three Great Bastards of Aegon IV had with Lady Melissa Blackwood*, Hand & Spymaster to Kings Aerys I & Maekar I, a Disappeared Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.

the Singers confirm the religious beliefs shared with the First Men as being Literal: the trees are gods and the gods are trees. Incidentally, Jojen brings up how Revered Greenseers are by those who worship the Old Gods.

Jojen has Greensight and Bran, as someone who can both Skinchange AND Greendream, qualifies for "Greenseer" status. Except... the Singers Very Consistently call Brynden "the Last Greenseer" even with Bran Stark right there contradicting that There Can Be Only One (the Singers also mention greenseers as existing in Plural, historically, & that those of their Own Species have "died out/[faded?]").

Brynden "The Last Greenseer" takes Bran as his [apprentice]. Part of this Training is going into the Weirwood Tree [Hivemind], a network that transcends Time & Space (because Roots, i guess?) and allows Bran to see all sorts of varyingly traumatising Visions.

Bran's lessons require his sitting on a Weirwood Throne beside Brynden who is, incidentally, a body horror Weirwood Tree-Human hybrid now.

BTW, Bran's "training diet" features an Ominously Described "Paste" fed to him by the Singers. It's made from Weirwood Seeds, apparently.

(hey isn't everyone stuck in this spooky underground cave because leaving it means getting eaten by zombies? whete are they getting these Weirwood Seeds from- oh. Hi there, Brynden the Tree-Man Abomination)

wait, if Bran's a Greenseet now then how come the Singers still call Brynden the "Last" Greenseer? is this, perhaps, an instance of, say... interspecies life phase transitions being Poorly Translated to humans due to Trees Being Gods and Trees Transcending Time & Death?

has Jojen, perhaps, Made An Assumption about "when" that Title of "Greenseer" is gained? He had said that Greenseers were Deified as Weirwood Trees, implying they were entombed upon death...

...but what if Dying is part of the deification process?

(well, for a given value of "dying"... *looks at Brynden The Tree-Abomination Rivers*)

...the Cave Singers are totally going to ritualistically vivisect Bran and make him their new Tree God, aren't they.

(and, from the looks of Brynden, some decades into HIS initiation... this process will Not Be Quick nor "Pretty")

Brynden is probably complicit in the Singers' Scheme to Make Bran A Tree, if only due to Brynden being the "Weirwood" Bran's Paste Training Diet is made from.

Brynden might also want Out from the whole "Unnaturally Alive & Conscious This Whole Time" thing because WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO BE ALIVE AS YOU ARE TURNED INTO A TREE.

let us Not Recall the descriptions of: Brynden's current appearance, the many non-peaceful expressions carved as Faces for Heart Trees, the states of humans "honoured" by the Piqueninos in SFTD, any descriptions of what Becoming A Tree involves...

...and any investigation into what, exactly, a Weirwood's "seeds" may be. I stop at "Horus in Set's Salad" and THAT WAS ENOUGH.

MOVING RIGHT ALONG, when Not Being A Tree Hivemind, Brynden & thus Bran seem to fulfil a role not dissimilar to that of "Speakers For The Dead": they examine historic events as Outside parties. Brynden instructs Bran on evaluating his Visions objectively, without reverance nor judgement. At least, I think he did. Again: preservation of own sanity > exact visuak descriptions of events in ASOIAF.

Interestingly, being an effective Speaker for the Dead requires much of the same skillset as a Competent Kingmaker (or, at least, a King UnMaker).

To Conclude, the Similarities*** between Bran's interactions with the Cave Singers and those of Human Friends & Piqueninos in "Speaker For The Dead" are Multiple &, knowing GRRM, probably Deliberate. Let's just hope Meera and Jojen have gone AWOL because Meera is Plotting Arson, not because they're of Interest to the Cave Singers' reproductive purposes too. Both series do enjoy subjecting female characters to Grim Maternity &/or Horrific Relationship Revelations.

Arson is my Ideal Plotline for Meera, Grand Elk Larceny as a distant second. All those "Last Hero" parallels Bran Stark has going on should be Recognised (by Meera) and AVOIDED (by Meera) WITH FIRE. I'm lowkey convinced Brynden would actually prefer being burned alive to "indefinitely trapped in rotting human flesh as he slowly becomes a Tree (potentially for the purposes of interspecies repropogation)".

Footnotes

*Lady Melissa Blackwoof was likely an aunt or sister of Lady Melantha Blackwood of Winterfell, Bran's great-great grandmother: there is almost certainly at least one other Blackwood in Bran's family tree, likely as one of his 4 unnamed great-grandmothers through Grandpa Hoster Tully & Grandma Minisa Whent.

It's also possible that all the Movement at the end of Brynden's reign as Hand (the Lords going to KL for the Great Council that made Betha** Blackwood Queen of Westeros & Grand Escort from KL to The Wall to send off Maester Aemon & Ser Brynden) was how Lord Beron Stark's Heir, Edwyle, ended up married to a Riverlander like Melantha Blackwood.

**Queen Betha & Lady Melantha were almost certaingly "cousins" of some sort to Brynden through his mother, Melissa Blackwood. The exact degree of relation is unknown but It's There.

The degrees of relation from "Lady Melissa, Paramour of Aegon IV" to "Lady Melantha of Winterfell" connect Brynden (through his Blackwood mother) to EVERY living Stark, courtesy of their one unanimously agreed shared Grandpa (Lord Rickard Stark, of "murdered by Aerys II & Part 3 of 4 Extremely Valid Reasons for Ned's Rebellion").

Lady Catelyn's being a Riverlander, specifically a Tully & a Whent of Harrenhal, make it likely that Brynden's related to HER too.

Jon, of course, has Black Betha as all 4 of his paternal great-great grandmothers AND Lady Melantha as one of his maternal ones (the others being Marna Locke, Arya Flint, & Lorra Royce): Jon's somehow being "5/8ths Blackwood" is how I got distracted by the blood ties of Brynden & Bran in the first place!

#valyrianscrolls #asoiaf theories #brynden rivers #the last greenseer #bran stark theories #cw body horror #cw cannibalism #speaker for the dead #greenseers #arsonist meera #piqueninos #ender wiggin #house blackwood #i kept getting distracted by how contemporary to brynden all these blackwood grandmums are #i would like 1 family tree for catelyn please #i forget whether house blackwood is legit plot relevant or just fans getting progressively more excited by river witches #it all comes back to the riverlands #jojen is fine actually #weirwood paste

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knightofcaliban · 1 year

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@arch-magister-khnemu for an urgent starter

Blue fire washed over the barricades like waves crashing against the shore. Bedivere ducked his head, but even so he could still feel the intense heat of the flames through his power armor. Others of the First Legion were not so lucky, had not moved quick enough to avoid the conflagration. Bedivere could hear their cries over the vox as the fire turned their armor to slag and melted their flesh and bones to cinders and ash.

“Hold! Hold the line!”

Bedivere recognized Chapter Master Braithwaite’s voice. He, at least, seemed to have been spared the worst of the warp assault. As his voice echoed along the Dark Angels entrenchment, the thunder of bolter fire resumed, Astartes rearing back up to pour more of their wrath into the advancing foe. As Bedivere stood, he leveled his plasma pistol and squeezed off a shot. The searing ball of plasma struck one of the chittering insectiod things and caused its carapace to burst into flame.

The xenos, dubbed Mantoa by the xenologists attached to the crusade fleet, were horrific looking things that reminded Bedivere of the centaurine creatures referred to in Calibanite legend, only every inch of them appeared to be derived from some crawling insectoid thing. They walked on six legs that supported a segmented abdomen. Their heads and thorax rose upwards, and not forwards, and boasted another two pairs of arms. The first pair were shaped like giant combed scythes, while the second smaller pair had manipulators or hands that wielded crude spears, blades, or the tainted fire that their shamans now threw as the Astartes.

“Where are the Fifteenth?” Bedivere heard someone ask. “Where are the Thousand Sons to protect us from this damned witch fire?”

#arch-magister-khnemu #[Aspirant of Caliban: The Great Crusade]

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ao3feed-hitoshi-shinsou · 1 year

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Alphabet of Alternate Universes

Alphabet of Alternate Universes by HiddenJules

Arranged Marriage - KiriBaku Bookstore - ShinKami Cyberpunk - ShinBaku Domestic - IidaChako Elementary School - MomoJirou Flower Shop and Tattoo Parlor - SeroRoki Gods and Goddesses - SeroRoki Hogwarts / Harry potter Setting - KiriBaku Ice Skating - SeroRoki Journalism - TodoDeku Kingdoms - CamieJirou Law Enforcement - KiriSero Musicians - TokoJirou No Quirks - Class 1A in a normal high school :) Orphan - KiriBaku Pirates - Poly Bakusquad Quest - TogaOcha Roommates - MinaChako Small Town / City - KiriBakuDeku Theater - BakuDeku Urban Fantasy - KiriBaku Vampire - DabiHawks Western - Camie/Natsuo Xenologist - SeroMina Yakuza - BakuDeku Zombie Apocalypse - EraserMic

Words: 1687, Chapters: 1/26, Language: English

Fandoms: 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi

Characters: Bakugou Katsuki, Kirishima Eijirou, Kaminari Denki, Shinsou Hitoshi, Iida Tenya, Uraraka Ochako, Jirou Kyouka, Yaoyorozu Momo, Sero Hanta, Todoroki Shouto, Midoriya Izuku, Utsushimi Camie, Tokoyami Fumikage, Toga Himiko, Dabi | Todoroki Touya, Takami Keigo | Hawks, Todoroki Natsuo, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic

Relationships: Bakugou Katsuki/Kirishima Eijirou, Kaminari Denki/Shinsou Hitoshi, Bakugou Katsuki/Shinsou Hitoshi, Iida Tenya/Uraraka Ochako, Jirou Kyouka/Yaoyorozu Momo, Sero Hanta/Todoroki Shouto, Midoriya Izuku/Todoroki Shouto, Utsushimi Camie/Jirou Kyouka, Kirishima Eijirou/Sero Hanta, Jirou Kyouka/Tokoyami Fumikage, Ashido Mina/Bakugou Katsuki/Kaminari Denki/Kirishima Eijirou/Sero Hanta/Shinsou Hitoshi, Toga Himiko/Uraraka Ochako, Ashido Mina/Uraraka Ochako, Bakugou Katsuki/Kirishima Eijirou/Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku, Dabi | Todoroki Touya/Takami Keigo | Hawks, Utsushimi Camie/Todoroki Natsuo, Ashido Mina/Sero Hanta, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Domestic, Alternate Universe - Elementary School, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Ice Skating, Alternate Universe - Journalism, Alternate Universe - kingdoms, Alternate Universe - Law Enforcement, Musicians, Alternate Universe - No Quirks, Orphans, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Quest, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Alternate Universe - Small Town, Alternate Universe - Theater, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Vampires, Alternate Universe - Western, Xenologist/Alien, Alternate Universe - Yakuza, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse

Read Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45664921

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commie-robot-fairy · 2 years

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Eclipse Phase: Bad Dreams and Worse Dreamers

Our polycule has started a new Eclipse Phase game, set a little over a year after the end of Martian Liberation or Bust. Our Heroes were thrown together for an artifact-recovery mission that became a combat op involving Jovian and Ultimate forces. And then the Artifact... Did something, and they found themselves in a decaying orbit over 2006 Earth...

...which means, if they play their cards right, they can stop the Fall. Or start it early.

Our cast thus far:

Straylight: Yes, we’re going with the second-generation thinly-veiled self-insert. Daughter of Ciel and Nima from the Martian Liberation game, raised lovingly in an accelerated simulspace, she thought she was ready for her first big job. She was wrong. She brings considerable engineering skills, soft- and hardware, to the table, and the unique perspective only an AGI can to such matters. In a frame built to adapt to unexpected circumstances, she never thought she’d need it this badly, but is confident it will give her team a considerable advantage in what comes.

Jenn: Stray’s catwoman aunt, also from Martian Liberation. A skilled psychosurgeon and infiltrator... as long as she isn’t seen. Was not ready to be a parental figure, especially not in the middle of everything else that’s happening right now, but is rising to the challenge admirably.

Helios: A famous gatecrasher and xenologist, a skilled AI programmer and doctor, she’s been around far longer than anyone knows, and has more than a few secrets she’s not quite ready to share...

Pyra: A relative unknown whose backstory Doesn’t Add Up, but whose capability for violence will be sorely needed in the coming days...

#EP:BDAWD

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bcnes · 28 days

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❛ This is not about me.❜ from @braveparanoiac trek verse :)?

"I thought it was a perfectly reasonable question," McCoy grouses. Okay, yes, technically he does already know the man's qualifications - he's serving on board the flagship, isn't he - but it still feels pertinent to make certain of that before he allows him to start poking and prodding at him like he's some sort of lab rat.

Not that Ford is actually interested in him; no, it's the prickly little alien that's attached itself quite firmly to Leonard's hand that the xenologist was called in to deal with.

"I'm a surgeon. I need this hand. Just want to make sure you know what you're doing. I mean you've dealt with this sort of thing before, right? Where'd you say you were from again?"

#hell of a time to ask [ + ] answered #braveparanoiac

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filipmagnuswrites · 9 months

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The Short Story Reader #26 – Love in the Season of New Dance by Bo Balder

Previous | Next Xenologist Leena prepares to say goodbye to her research after tenure track has been closed of. First, however, she has an alien species’ mating rituals to observe. But when one of the Amphim awakens much too early for these rituals, Leena can’t pass the opportunity by to meet one of the aliens she has studied for so long: It struck her powerfully that he was not just an object…

View On WordPress

#alien species #Bo Balder #book blog #Clarkesworld #clarkesworld 198 #fiction #Love in the Season of New Dance #Sci-Fi #Science Fiction #short story #short story reader #story review #writer #Writing

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thesquidsink · 10 months

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Daily #45: First Contact

After over two thousand years and fifty million light years of searching across the stars, Ambassador Centur was to be the first human to meet an alien intelligence.

She'd been fascinated by the aliens since she was eight years old, when she'd stumbled across them in the Central Intelligence, before school had even begun to teach about them. It was believed they called themselves the Kroōnār, based on the scraps of information left behind in the abandoned cities and planets and outposts that were their legacy. Centur, like uncountable numbers of people before her, had been utterly mystified by the aliens who had left their great cities behind. Not in ruins, as would be expected from an extinct civilization. Of course there had been some aesthetic and structural damage, and rot, but the planets appeared to have been abandoned only a few years before human arrival, as if the Kroōnār had simply packed up and left.

Every Kroōnār planet that humanity had found was the same: recently left behind, not fallen victim to war or disaster or disease. Xenologists had the tantalizing and ever-present feeling that each time, humanity had been just a little too late, just a little too slow. If our ship drives had been faster, had safety standards been relaxed to arrive faster - but no, safety standards existed for reasons written in blood. For two thousand years, xenologists, and humanity, had to live with the constant, ever-present knowledge that alien life, alien civilization, were out there - but just the tiniest bit ahead, as if avoiding human contact.

At the age of eight, she hadn't known it yet, but Centur dedicated her life to solving the mysteries of the Kroōnār that had baffled humanity for two thousand years. Over her one hundred and twelve years of life, she'd spent one hundred and four studying the Kroōnār. She'd written more research papers and visited more Kroōnār outposts in her lifetime than any other human ever had. Family and friends indulged her for some years, but everyone she ever got close to would eventually tell her that her interest in the Kroōnār had become an obsession, crowding out the space for anything, anyone else in her life.

Well, today, it would pay off. Today, galaxy-renowned xenologist Dr. Centur would be the first human in history to make contact with the Kroōnār.

Though she was not a crew member of the First Contact, Centur stood on the bridge, well back from the officers at work, watching the viewscreen. They had arrived at a beautiful, Earth-like planet, glistening with blue and green and long, streaky patches of white clouds, floating alone in space, the sole planet of its system. The viewscreen zoomed in, combining data from a variety of long-range sensors and telescopes to create a composite image very much like what Centur would see if the ship had windows and was a million kilometers closer. She thought she could see ships, though at this range, it could have been her imagination.

All of Centur's calculations had turned out to be correct. It seemed that, to perform their maddening disappearing act, the Kroōnār knew the capabilities of human ship drives, and calculated their departure to be a few years before human ships could arrive in their system. Centur had commissioned a stripped-down ship with a disproportionately large core and drive, which would travel at normal speed for most of the voyage, and then release a massive burst of acceleration in the last leg, to surprise the Kroōnār and arrive before they could fully evacuate.

And it had worked. The First Contact's sensors showed plenty of in-system activity. The Kroōnār were leaving, but they had not yet left.

"Ambassador Centur," said the captain, clearing his throat. "All systems ready. We have no reason to believe the Kroōnār will be hostile, but shields, drive, and helm are on standby, just in case."

Centur kept her smile to herself. Not once in two thousand years of research had humanity seen a weapon on a Kroōnār planet, nor even a reference to one. But the Captain was a good man, and his priority was to keep his crew safe. "Thank you, captain," replied Centur. "Please open a wide-broadcast channel."

The captain nodded to the comms officer, who counted down with her fingers: three... two... one... and the channel, with its modulator and translation matrix that Centur had helped build herself, was live.

"Greetings to the Kroōnār. I am Ambassador Centur, of the human vessel First Contact. It would be my great pleasure to speak with you, to share our species' knowledge and experience in peace."

Centur waited, her anticipation so great that she couldn't breathe. This would be the defining moment of humanity - actual contact with a peaceful alien species. This day would go down in the Central Intelligence's histories as a defining moment of the ages, and Centur was lucky enough to be here for it.

The comms channel crackled. "Oh god, they found us," said a musically-pitched, low, warbling voice. "The humans finally found us. Oh, bother."

Centur frowned. This was... not the reaction she had expected. She felt she'd studied the Kroōnār's remnants for more than long enough to understand proper communication customs, and this was... not that.

"Er... please repeat?" asked Centur. "I am Ambassador Centur, we have come in peace to -"

"Yes, yes, we understand," replied the voice. "Look, you caught us off guard, we didn't expect you to arrive so soon."

"Sorry...?" said Centur. "It's all right, there's no need for ceremony or -"

The feed crackled, and a different voice came on, this one higher-pitched. "Look, we've been avoiding you for two thousand years because we just don't like you. We've learned all we cared to from your wide-band broadcasts, and we just don't think your values align with ours. We won't really get along." There was a long, beautifully musical sigh. "We've tried to be polite, packing up and moving whenever you get close, even leaving you whole planets. So we apologize infinitely for this rudeness today, but - would you mind terribly just turning around and going home and leaving us alone? We just... don't really like you."

For the first time in her life, Ambassador Centur didn't have anything to say about or to the Kroōnār.

_______

Based on prompt:

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