Background: This story takes place on what humans would call
Tau Ceti II, an arid world with sparsely scattered bodies of water. The only life consists of scattered
vegetation, most of it underwater, and an intelligent race of spherical,
gelatinous creatures. These Cetians are
not native to the planet; they were genetically engineered by an ancient,
spacefaring race called the Gods.
During a war between God factions, a schism sparked by the very creation
of the Cetians, specimens of the species were launched into space,
cryogenically preserved with a sample of their ecosystem. When they arrived, barely intelligent, on
Tau Ceti II, their ecosystem spread quickly through the world’s largest
sea. The species reached sentience
within a millennium, and it quickly adapted methods to survive on land. At the time of the story, the planet
supports 1,000 colonies consisting of 10,000 Cetians each.
Biology: The Cetians are spherical beings of about three
centimeters in diameter. They are by
nature a sea-dwelling people; their gelatinous flesh would quickly dry out and crumble
in Tau Ceti II’s deserts without constant immersion in water (the Cetians have
solved this problem with numerous devices, including protective
land-walkers). Their external organs
are limited to a cluster of black optical sensors, two indentations that are
the equivalent of ears, and an air bladder that allows for underwater movement
and vocal communication.
Their most remarkable feature, though, is a
specialized neural center that allows for the focusing and projecting of mental
waves: in short, the Cetians are telepathic.
An individual can broadcast a broad range of emotions and feelings with
little effort; this has become so important to Cetian culture, in fact, that it
has essentially become a secondary alphabet.
Cetians regularly use emotional broadcasts in everyday speech and even
in naming individuals.
To further enhance their mental powers, Cetians can
engage in a process called “fusing,” in which two or more individuals excrete a
sticky fluid and combine into a larger mass.
Those involved in the fusion become a hive mind, sharing all thoughts
and knowledge, and the total mental power of the group is far greater than any
of its parts. If enough Cetians are
fused, their powers become so great that they can completely control the mind
of an individual, mold a factory out of the minerals of their world, and even
redirect an incoming sandstorm.
The Cetians reproduce asexually, with each offspring
retaining the memories of its parent and gaining a slight increase in mental
power. However, because of their
efficient energy usage, Cetians have essentially infinite life spans under
ideal conditions. To avoid
overpopulation while still allowing for the species to become more powerful,
the government must uphold strict population control.
Government: Cetian society is organized around their
unique fusion ability. One hundred of
the most powerful Cetians within a colony fuse together to form a nearly
omnipotent entity called the Council.
The Council is the absolute ruler of its colony; it builds factories, provides
whatever its people need for survival, and enforces regular population control
through an annual ritual called the “deathsong,” in which the Council sends out
neural waves that kill the weakest members of the colony. Few protest the absolute rule of the
council. Those who do often find
themselves brainwashed, their capacity for free will stripped away from them.
Religion: The Cetians honor the ancient people who created
them. To the Cetian mind, the Gods are
not supernatural beings—indeed, it is generally accepted that they perished in
the violent war that followed the birth of the Cetians—but they are still
worthy of honor and worship. Because of
the nature of their beliefs, there are no real churches, although each Cetian
is instructed to spend some time each day in meditation and reflection on their
creation. There are no religious texts,
no priests, and no prophecies, with one notable exception, quoted below:
“The death of the Gods granted more than life to us. It granted us godhood itself. We are still a child-race, incapable of grasping this gift. However, the time will come when a God will evolve from our people and awaken the gift within us. We will become Creators. We will shape children from the molecules in the air, in the soil, in the sea. We will continue the cycle that produced our race.”
--Council
of the Wveek Colony,
1336
Years Post-Arrival
(This prophecy is central to my story, which will involve two Cetians working in secret to overthrow the Councils and become Gods.)