[True enough, and Venat acknowledges that with a smile and an upturned hand.] But I am the only one who can experience it for myself. And even more so, the people, some of whom may disappear, as happens here.
But speaking of that, in the here and now you have my full attention. Provided, of course, that you've a story to tell me!
Well, this is a bit on-the-nose for me, isn't it. [She, who had sundered the star, now will hear about a rejoining?] Length is no object. In fact, I daresay it improves the tale.
[Honestly, he had mixed feelings hearing about the Sundering... and then math happened.]
So, the tale of these stars begins with one named Terra. Thousands of years, it thrived and its people advanced in both magic and technology; so much that they had found a way to pretty much live forever. Now that always sounds awesome in theory, but I don't think people think about the cost it comes at.
They drank too deeply of its aether to sustain themselves. [That makes perfect sense. Even in the old times, the Ancients knew to return themselves to the aetherial sea after their life's purpose had been met. To not do so would be to break the cycle. No doubt this world Terra understood it differently, but the principle remains the same.]
Yes! Gods, I'm so glad I don't have to explain that part... [Because it can be really confusing to some people and he's not sure how to make it clearer.]
So Terra, as you guessed, began to die. Their core - a crystal controlling the cycle - dimmed. Now, the solution is obvious to us, but things like 'death' and 'mortality' are pretty scary despite them being natural and needing to happen. Terra, not wanting to give up their immortality, decided they would feed into the cycle another way. By finding young, uninhabited planets, they would use fusion, taking over the planet and its cycle, and have it continue their own.
[The parallels are obvious, as he might recall from her own story. This might have been Etheirys's fate, had the faction that wished for Zodiark to restore their world gained its power. How far of a step is it, after all, from restoring the dead to refusing to let them die again, especially when the sacrifice came at the first step?]
Travel between worlds is rare indeed, but some beings have done it. The eldest of dragons and the strongest of machines. Given what you describe, I would guess they called upon the latter.
Yeah, they built this old man named Garland to oversee the process and for a while, it seemed like things were working. However, I don't know if they were running out of planets or just short on time - I think it was the latter - but the next planet they found met all the criteria only life had already started on the surface. They decided to try the fusion process anyway and it didn't end well...
In that case, I'd expect that even weakened as it was, the planet Terra had stronger aether than this newfound land did, and as such, surrendered even more of its limited aether in the fusion.
[This is only an educated guess, and so she offers it up curiously, awaiting his appraisal of her assessment.]
Actually, the fusion didn't work. Terra was rejected, but ended up fused inside the planet while some of its landmarks appeared on the surface and its moon started orbiting this new planet. A lot of life ended up lost including on Terra.
[But Zidane shakes his head and shrugs.] Now with Terra trapped, Garland decided he would keep trying to turn this new planet, Gaia, into Terra from the inside out. Meanwhile, what Terrans survived put their souls into stasis.
Oh. [Venat curls her fingers, mind already racing to analyze just what might have happened. An enforced Rejoining, without the "Re-" -- the incompatibilities must have made the connection impossible. What a terrifying thought... Any sort of survivors were lucky indeed.]
This Garland fellow puts me in mind of some others I knew.
[The Unsundered, whose commitment to the Rejoining never wavered. No wonder Meteion's report had been so dark and unsparing, if people truly were like this in all times and all places.]
Yeah, but not for his lack of trying. First, he planted the Iifa Tree to try blocking souls from returning to Gaia and introducing Terra's souls instead to the other planet, but it was taking its time. He tried speeding it up too by making kingdoms go to war through this stuff called Mist which, when you're exposed to it too long, it ramps up every hostile feeling a person has. Course, that didn't work so well when kingdoms began building above the Mist and also using it as an energy source.
[He grins wide... but too bad his story wasn't over.]
Well, since that plan wasn't working anymore, Garland moved onto his second plan. He was already making new vessels for the Terra's souls when he finally claimed Gaia so he decided to make a being that could travel to Gaia and instigate wars that way. The person he created, he named them Kuja.
He was pretty human by all accounts. Did his work pretty well too, but Garland wasn't satisfied with him. He'd created Kuja almost without flaw, but found his strength lacking because he didn't have a soul.
[No explanation needed, Venat understands. Does this far off world of Gaia, or Terra for that matter, understand dynamis, or is it the same mystery it was on Etheirys for so long?]
If I were to guess... he discarded Kuja immediately in favor of a new model.
Aha, that would've been the nicer option probably. Nah, he kept Kuja around, but on a reduced lifespan to make the next model with a soul. He was going to make sure that the second one had the power to handle any conflict they might encounter on Gaia; but he didn't fully consider that Kuja wouldn't like the idea of being replaced.
He had no consideration that Kuja might consider himself a person and worthy of life...
[The arrogance of the Ascians, played out in full once again. How she had hoped to hear otherwise, yet truly, what else could be true? Only those who move forward can avoid those mistakes, and yet Garland's very identity demanded turning the clock back.]
Nope. Kuja and any of the ones created after him were tools for an end after all. Garland considered Kuja a wrench though 'cause he really messed things up for him soon. He took the second project and threw it away on Gaia. Why he didn't just destroy it? Probably to prove he'd be superior to them one day.
But he was created in turn -- a being set to a long task, one which required he have no compunctions or scruples. I wonder, perhaps, if Garland did not even know caring was an option.
Probably not. I mean, he still had some feelings, but usually in response to things going against his plans and Terra. Like, after Kuja's whole stint, Garland banished him to Terra too... and then made a third to replace him and the second one.
Tellin' ya, pretty expendable. I don't think he even tried finding the other; probably thought it died since he made it develop from a baby and all.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2022-07-11 01:44 pm (UTC)But speaking of that, in the here and now you have my full attention. Provided, of course, that you've a story to tell me!
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Date: 2022-07-11 08:10 pm (UTC)Oh right, guess I'm off topic. [Kinda.] It's a long one, but if you wanna hear, it's about two planets - or stars - and how they came together.
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Date: 2022-07-13 12:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-13 02:04 am (UTC)[Honestly, he had mixed feelings hearing about the Sundering... and then math happened.]
So, the tale of these stars begins with one named Terra. Thousands of years, it thrived and its people advanced in both magic and technology; so much that they had found a way to pretty much live forever. Now that always sounds awesome in theory, but I don't think people think about the cost it comes at.
In the case of Terra, it was their planet.
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Date: 2022-07-13 01:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-13 08:38 pm (UTC)So Terra, as you guessed, began to die. Their core - a crystal controlling the cycle - dimmed. Now, the solution is obvious to us, but things like 'death' and 'mortality' are pretty scary despite them being natural and needing to happen. Terra, not wanting to give up their immortality, decided they would feed into the cycle another way. By finding young, uninhabited planets, they would use fusion, taking over the planet and its cycle, and have it continue their own.
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Date: 2022-07-13 08:47 pm (UTC)Travel between worlds is rare indeed, but some beings have done it. The eldest of dragons and the strongest of machines. Given what you describe, I would guess they called upon the latter.
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Date: 2022-07-13 09:02 pm (UTC)Yeah, they built this old man named Garland to oversee the process and for a while, it seemed like things were working. However, I don't know if they were running out of planets or just short on time - I think it was the latter - but the next planet they found met all the criteria only life had already started on the surface. They decided to try the fusion process anyway and it didn't end well...
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Date: 2022-07-14 12:58 am (UTC)[This is only an educated guess, and so she offers it up curiously, awaiting his appraisal of her assessment.]
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Date: 2022-07-14 03:28 am (UTC)[But Zidane shakes his head and shrugs.] Now with Terra trapped, Garland decided he would keep trying to turn this new planet, Gaia, into Terra from the inside out. Meanwhile, what Terrans survived put their souls into stasis.
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Date: 2022-07-14 10:39 pm (UTC)This Garland fellow puts me in mind of some others I knew.
[The Unsundered, whose commitment to the Rejoining never wavered. No wonder Meteion's report had been so dark and unsparing, if people truly were like this in all times and all places.]
A work of centuries, if not millennia, I'd wager.
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Date: 2022-07-14 11:06 pm (UTC)[He nods this time at her statement.]
Yeah, but not for his lack of trying. First, he planted the Iifa Tree to try blocking souls from returning to Gaia and introducing Terra's souls instead to the other planet, but it was taking its time. He tried speeding it up too by making kingdoms go to war through this stuff called Mist which, when you're exposed to it too long, it ramps up every hostile feeling a person has. Course, that didn't work so well when kingdoms began building above the Mist and also using it as an energy source.
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Date: 2022-07-15 12:52 am (UTC)It is ever the fate of those who conduct such grand plans to neglect the influence of those people they consider smaller and lesser.
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Date: 2022-07-15 02:33 am (UTC)[He grins wide... but too bad his story wasn't over.]
Well, since that plan wasn't working anymore, Garland moved onto his second plan. He was already making new vessels for the Terra's souls when he finally claimed Gaia so he decided to make a being that could travel to Gaia and instigate wars that way. The person he created, he named them Kuja.
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Date: 2022-07-17 02:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-17 04:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-18 09:59 pm (UTC)If I were to guess... he discarded Kuja immediately in favor of a new model.
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Date: 2022-07-19 12:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-03 02:50 pm (UTC)[The arrogance of the Ascians, played out in full once again. How she had hoped to hear otherwise, yet truly, what else could be true? Only those who move forward can avoid those mistakes, and yet Garland's very identity demanded turning the clock back.]
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Date: 2022-08-03 05:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-03 09:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-03 09:21 pm (UTC)Tellin' ya, pretty expendable. I don't think he even tried finding the other; probably thought it died since he made it develop from a baby and all.
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Date: 2022-08-04 01:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-04 08:48 pm (UTC)[He grins wide. She gets it.]
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Date: 2022-08-04 09:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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