Unity - The Battle Of The Pillars
Francis trembled in the arms of her mother. Her mother brushed away the ash and dirt In her hair, clutching a wound that would soon take her life. Rail guns fired massive rounds into the sky, some piercing through the silieu ships hovering just above Unity.
A heavy step rattled the floor beneath them. Francis whimpered, but didn't turn away. The beast stepped into view with snarling teeth and scaled skin. It raised a weapon and she merely narrowed her eyes.
Her mother pulled her head away, forced her to look elsewhere. Francis resisted, even as the weapon charged and the soldier prepared to fire. She expected the sound of gunfire, but instead heard the sound of crumbling stone.
An arm burst from the wall behind the creature, grabbed it, and pulled it back. The metal frame bent, the bricks falling to the ground. The creature flew back, thrown to the opposing side of the street. Standing between Francis, her mother, and the soldier, was what looked to be a woman, an eden dressed in a sleek, black suit of battle armor.
Francis cowered at the sight, and the eden removed their helmet. They looked human, and possessed an aura, as if their mere presence radiated holy light. The soldier stood, shaken by the sudden attack. The eden turned to face it, their brow furrowed.
The beast roared, a deep, bellowing cry of rage. The eden tilted their head, then bent forward, giving a battle cry of their own. Francis stared in fear and wonder. The eden's roar scared her more. Nuclear flashes in the sky cast light on the eden as they screamed. Somewhere between moments of darkness and illumination, the little girl saw something inhuman. It was brief, an image that faded as soon as it appeared, the image of a monster.
The siliue looked around for its weapon, then settled on charging forward, its claws swiping at the eden, and its gaping maw opened wide. The eden reached forward, took the force head on, and gripped the upper and lower jaws with their hands. They pried the mouth open wider, dislocating the bone. The soldier fell to its knees, shrieking in pain as the eden ripped the lower jaw from the body and struck a killing blow. When the eden stood to meet the girl's stare, the cuts on their hands dripped blood as black as night.
Francis darted forward, wrapping her arms around the eden's legs in a tight embrace. The eden seemed unprepared, staring down with wide eyes as if afraid. The mother sobbed uncontrollably, her hands clasped together in the only form of thanks she was able to give. The eden nodded, knowing the mother would die soon. They raised their hand and rested it on the child's shoulder, then pulled the girl closer...
It's surprising how long it took for us to understand the eden on even the most basic level. They are one of the most technologically advanced species in the galaxy, or what we call a late stage civilization. Consider their mastery in the field of medicine, along with how genetic manipulation is the hallmark of their species. They have been able to genetically modify every single aspect of themselves.
For example: Before approaching a species they've never met, members of their race volunteer in infiltration projects. These volunteers are genetically modified, altered to be indistinguishable from the species they are infiltrating. It isn't perfect, but it's highly effective. The volunteers will work their way to high positions of power and prepare the species for first contact with their race.
Sadly, humanity didn't get that far. They were preparing us for their arrival before
The Battle of The Pillars. Shortly after the battle, several high level officials stepped down of their own volition. Did you notice they were all women? Their species has evolved around their technology and the consequences of that technology. The eden are a species made up entirely of clones. The genetic manipulation was so invasive it rendered the entire species sterile.
The Eden Matriarchy
The eden are ancient. Over time, they developed a radically different understanding of ethnic groups. To them, biological sex is a cultural trait. Biological sex is optional, and it's a choice made by every eden when they come of age. This choice helps determine their ethnicity. Their genetic alterations allow the option to alter their decision after the fact, as well.
This concept is so ingrained in their culture, their society is fractured into different ethic political powers on the ground of gender as opposed to nationality, skin color, cultural roots, and even ideology. All Eden are born without gender, and when they choose it, they join a social group that shares that similar identity. Most here on
Safeharbor believe that all eden are female because we were contacted one of several ethnic groups,
The Eden Matriarchy was the first to contact us and controls nearly a third of all eden controlled space. Their warlike, despite their calm demeanor. They have their own religious tendencies, social norms, and culture. They even have separate naming conventions and aesthetics for their ships compared to other eden cultures, and they are the only ones who really cared about humans in the first place.
Appearence.
No one knows what the true form of an eden looks like. Every eden we come into contact with looks like
Us. Other groups have contacted us, but they don't have the same level of investment in our species as The Matriarchy. No one is allowed in their cloning facilities. Don't test them on that.
What I can tell you is this: an unmodified eden looks nothing us. Their planets shouldn't even be able to support life. Most of their worlds have no oxygen, no magnetic field, and not even the slightest bit of water. This is a preferable environment for them in their true form.
Why do we trust them? Do you think there's a choice? Why would we deny the technology they offer? Why would we say no to the protection they offer as allies? The only reason we learned anything about the galactic community is because they saw fit to tell us, and gave us the tools to see for ourselves.
A Designer Genome
They don't have a way of emulating the asymmetry most organic bodies have naturally. Their bodies are way too symmetrical, and are often uncomfortable to look at, especially with our eyes. The delayed reaction present in human vision from our own genetic tampering can cause extreme anxiety if you stare at any human modified eden for too long.
Our eyes look for asymmetry, our brain trying to account for something that isn't there. It tends to make us uncomfortable because the brain is not entirely sure what to feel. This can make human modified eden appear very attractive, but don't get any ideas. It's also terrifying. It wouldn't matter anyway. Most of their species would identify with something on the asexual spectrum, given the drive to reproduce no longer exists for them.
The Matriarchy struggled to adapt to us, and we to them. They understand but fail to empathize with our species. They get upset when people stare, usually internalizing the anger. They fail to understand our cultural concepts of courtship. As well as our concepts of gender and sexuality. This has led to some uncomfortable situations for both parties involved.
Whoo. This is a longer article for sure! Excited to dig in and see what you've pulled out in the past few days! Hmm. So one thing that comes off as a bit odd to me is the opening. It took me until that amazing blue container to make the connection that "matriarchy" wasn't referring to the organizational government of the eden nor the name of the species as a whole. This minor disparity made the article initially read as being about the eden when it's about the matriarchal eden ethnicity. I liked the details, but a bit of relocation wouldn't hurt or a more interwoven approach to ensure the proper focus. Typo: "their warlike" should be "they're" as they don't possess warlike and you also don't continue it as a noun. "No one knows what the true form of an eden looks like. " Lines like this relate back to my previous paragraph. It makes it feel like even you, as the author, aren't sure whether to focus on the cultural importance of the matriarchal eden or explain the species. You should probably have a species article first so you could link it and have a better funnel into this article. Not a bad thing, but just a note: you really like your long explaining paragraphs with little to break them up. It's something I've personally begun to shy away from to allow the reader to more easily find their way through the article, but your CSS does well enough to make me not notice the chunks of writing. Ooookkkkkaaayyy. I don't really know how to react to the "Gender Roles" section because, in all honesty, I don't understand the gender role assignment that humans have presently. It's way too muddled and many of the masculine traits you mention while, maybe if I wasn't reading this article, I could associate with masculinity but really the first thing that came to mind while reading was businesswomen. Frankly, I think that Gender Roles should cease to exist -- but that's neither here nor there. I did like the mention of neutrality in pronouns as it makes way more sense for languages nowadays to give way to the freedom of gender expression. "I understand the battlefield is noticeably vacant from that list, yes?" I LOVE the sass in that line. It's hilarious and I almost glazed over it at first. But holy cow, battlefields being a romantic affair for some matriarchal eden is great. Also, something that literally just came to me, wouldn't most relationships within matriarchal eden be "lesbian" as they chose to present as female? I may have missed it, but with the medicinal advancements of the eden have they elongated their livespans to inhuman lengths of time? Just out of curiosity, though I hope you explore that in the eden article -- presuming you plan on having one on the species itself. I love the artwork you've been using. Despite the grimness of the world, it has a soothing lavender and periwinkle color to it. I also like all the different details about the warrior's religion of the matriarchal eden. It's pretty interesting, though I kind of wound up skimming a little bit. Sorry there, but I don't have many big comments about that. Alright. Overall thoughts. I loved this article, as always, and enjoyed the insight into your first(I think?) alien species in the world. I would like to read more about the eden and an edit of this article to clearly define it as an ethnicity not a species wouldn't hurt. But, beyond that, another jobs well done.
Woooot yes. The archivest is one the sassiest character I've ever written XD also yes, a romantic evening among the bodies, nuclear flares shining on the battle like candlelight. It's a thing to behold lol. One thing I do have to say regarding the way this article shift between species ethnicity is because humans know next to nothing about the species itself. Literally everything said about the Eden as a whole is in this article. Since it's the human perspective they know nothing about the other ethnic groups. I will definitely weave it together more to make it more clear and to shift that focus when I polish this up. So you reacted as intended though I should make it clear that was my intent with the gender roles bit. I hate gender roles. It's stupid, cause anyone could have these traits, a business woman is a good example. I really struggled on this bit. The idea is that Eden can choose things we cant. They practically build their gender and sexuality themselves. On top of that, masculine and feminine are not, nor should they ever be, one or the other. They are two halves of a whole. You need functions of both in society and that's regardless of who or what you are. I am excited to have another pronoun for dialogue though as any Eden characters have to be called they or them to maintain continuity, English be dammed. They have the liberty to choose how they are 'born' unlike us. They have the same lifespan of the species they emulate. So in this world they would live 300 years or so as a human modified Eden. They CAN change this with some tampering. On the idea of them being lesbians, yes and no. I mean techniqually yes cause that's our word for it, but that would mean they are sexually attracted. Most Eden are asexual, so technically no as well as they have no sexual attraction or desire. We'd still refer to their relationship as a lesbian relationship, but from our perspective, it would look more like a romantic but platonic relationship, if that makes sense. Hmm that's a rabbit hole there XD
That sounds... exhilarating, though far from peaceful. What an interesting design, Hmm. That makes way more sense. The best solution would be to have the archivist initially suggest that the matriarchal eden are the most document ethnicities of the eden, providing humanity with all they know about the species. Well done then because boy did the gender roles section remind me that those still exist in the world of physical humans. Jumping off your comment about the reliance upon both masculinity and femininity, I'd say society would be better off without them as people would be free to explore the roles that their personality leads them to. In reality, the only purpose that sex--not gender--has in society is reproduction. Yeah, English is a bit restrictive about gender despite having way more looseness than, say, Spanish. Ooh. That almost makes sense; however, you may need to rephrase that to "mature into" as birth implies the origin of thought and independent growth. By that standard, it would be pretty much impossible for the eden to decide pre-birth--unless you're suggesting that the parental figure picks for them. The aspect about actual lifespan works well, however. That is indeed a strange rabbit hole to consider. I've not actually thought about what you might call a relationship between two asexual "women." Realistically, there need not be a term for it as all that matters is that it is a relationship. It's also interesting to see a whole species exploring the asexuality spectrum. From what you've written, they will have a range of actual sexuality from more grey-asexual to complete asexual. I was wondering, however, what sort of romantic orientation they might have? While it's realistic for them to be asexual, lacking in sexual interest, and also possess a low libido, I think it's still realistic for them to long for a relationship. I feel like I might have missed a bit, but some of what you say sort of almost suggests that relationships rely upon sexual lust while, in reality, relationships can form simply from the desire to have that kind of connection. Even if the eden experience that kind of desire differently, it would be logical to see matriarchal eden fighting in monogamous or polygamous relationship groups. Speaking of polygamy, you kind of suggest that the eden find this pattern to be confusing, but then don't elaborate. Either way, there's a lot to explore there. Good luck in finding the right balance of exploration and inferencation.
Oooohhhh all good points and I'm definitely gonna take that advice there. ....I cant quite change it to mature.... for reasons... One thing I'll say is absolutely sex is not the point of a relationship. Romance to them is an entirely emotional affair. I say this cause arguably, the very nature of attraction is a sexual one for humans, from a scientific or chemical standpoint at least. We would have no frame of reference for what attraction is to them, unless your asexual and in a relationship perhaps. And finally, polygamy would be VERY strange to them. Monogamy is baffling. They cant wrap their heads around stating with one person for life, as an emotional connection can develop with anyone and to various degrees. Ill specify that their society would be considered polyamorous. polyamorous battle groups?! Yesssssss.