Varan: Offspring
The following text is a translation of a narrative contained in an anthology written in an undeterminable language. Many narratives were contained in this anthology, but many pages were missing or characters were faded in the others. The characters on the first few pages of this chronicle were very faded and could not be translated. Since the chronicle seems to have a clear beginning, we can only assume the un-translatable section was some sort of introduction. Nothing significant has been lost.
The text was composed in a style unread and unseen by modern man. Efforts to translate the text in this style were met with failure. A coherent, clear narrative could not be formed, so the style was altered in a way that most of the ideas presented in the narrative were conveyed in a clear manner. Some ideas the narrative tried to convey may have been lost in translation, though we dearly hope this is not the case.
Chronicle 1: Alpha
In the beginning there was nothing. What would become the dominion of the stars was empty and devoid of the spark that would give rise to all things: Thought.
Beyond the emptiness was the great Infinite, a place where the pure existence that the future denizens of the cosmos hoped to achieve had been. Before Nirvana had been achieved, the Infinite had been defined by Chaos. The Infinite had worked to transcend its chaotic self as it had hoped to do since the beginning of its existence. It succeeded. But with its salvation came a price. The denizens of the Infinite soon found that in attaining their goal, they had broken a critical law of existence. Even though the Infinite was magnificent and indefinable by the minds of those who would succeed its denizens, it was still bound by the laws of existence. With the rise of Order in the Infinite came the tragic fall of one of these laws: Purpose.
Without Purpose, there could be no existence. To exist is to change, evolve and with this evolution comes a reason; an ultimate goal, otherwise known as Purpose. Once that purpose is fulfilled, there must be another. If not, existence becomes static, and the universe will not tolerate an unchanging existence. The challenges it offers are all a single component of a benevolent cosmic design. With challenges come learning and ultimately expansion of the essence. From this expansion comes the all-powerful creative force known as Thought. Thought provokes not only internal, but external expansion. The great Infinite itself was a product of this external expansion provoked by Thought. The universe itself requires these expansions to grow itself.
Realizing their eventual fate, the denizens of the great Infinite sought a way to preserve themselves and the efforts to some extent. When all hope seemed lost, their eyes fell on the emptiness before them.
The denizens of the great Infinite were bound to existence only by a small amount of time. During this time they worked to replicate the Spark of Thought that had given them life. They had previously thought themselves all knowing, but during their work, they were proven incorrect. Though they had come close, they could not recreate the spark of Thought. Complex attempted solutions resulted in failure, so the true solution they theorized, had to be simple. As their failures became continuous, the mighty hope they had felt in their hearts was beginning to fade away. They soon resigned themselves to the very fate all living things attempt to prevent: to disappear forever without making any external impact on the souls and environment that surrounded them. Their society crumbled and their world fell victim to a great suffering. It was then they began to look forward to death, the ultimate release from all that trouble the fragile soul.
As soon as the last flames of hope had been completely extinguished, they were relit. The ultimate solution to their problem was finally made clear. The problem was the lack of understanding of the essence of the Idea.
The Idea was the offspring of Thought; the force that would lead to new discoveries and expansions. The essence of Thought was Chaos. Though the power was creative, it was equally destructive. Thoughts would attempt to overshadow each other; overpower each other if left uncontrolled. This Chaos would eventually overtake the one blessed with the great and terrible power of Thought. The essence of the Idea however, was order. The Idea was a complanation of many thoughts. Unlike them however, the Idea was clear, coherent and completely creative. To reproduce Idea from Thought was all the denizens of the Infinite needed to know. In a short amount of time, the spark of Thought was complete. The denizens of the Infinite rejoiced at their eternal life as an everlasting concept.
The Spark was placed into the emptiness and left there. The denizens of the Infinite watched nervously, hoping their efforts had not been for naught. Their prayers were soon answered. The Spark soon flowered and the process of forging the Idea from Thought began. Soon, the ideas given life by the power of Thought yielded results. Basic Law had taken root and the process of giving life to the cosmos began. Some ideas were rejected and the products of these ideas collapsed. Any flaws with these ideas were quickly mended and the emptiness became a realm of stability, though not quite order. In time, the emptiness was transformed into a nearly perfect imitation of the Infinite. There was one key difference between the two however, that would insure the emptiness' survival: Eternal Chaos.
Desperate not to have their creation fall victim to the same fate that had obliterated them, the makers of the Spark ensured that one new Idea would arise from the havoc of creation: Eternal Chaos. No matter how close the denizens of the new universe came to achieving absolute perfection, they would never reach their goal; the universe would instantly adapt to whatever force was threatening its stability. For every step the inhabitants of the new universe took toward perfection, they would be presented with a challenge even harder to overcome than the one they previously had. With Eternal Chaos, the new universe would continue to exist and flourish. Each challenge overcome would give rise to a new stage in the life of the makers' creation. Eventually, it would become more magnificent than the Infinite had ever been.
There was one flaw in the makers' designs however. The force of Chaos yielded both creation and destruction. The creation it yielded however was ultimately unable to sustain itself in the rapidly evolving Chaos that gave life to it. The ocean that was Chaos would eventually erode its creation, whose fragments would be forever lost in that vast ocean. The fragments would be reformed into a complete creation, but the process would repeat itself. The cycle of life and death in Chaos was a cycle of suffering. Life would be given, and then taken away at any moment. Domination by Chaos would halt any progress the governing forces could make, ultimately resulting in their domination. There was no guarantee that this fate would not befall the makers' creation and sadly, tampering with the design would only lead to its collapse. The makers could only pray Chaos would not overtake the governing laws that bound all of creation to existence.
. When the Spark reached its long awaited completion, its makers had a more or less clear idea of how the ideas given life by Thought would manifest themselves in the new universe. It was expected that the process would be similar to the one that had given rise to their world. Due to the unpredictable nature of the Chaos driven force of Thought however, they couldn't be completely positive that their expectations would be given form. For the most part they were. Their eyes soon fell on a strange mass floating in the infant universe. Upon closer inspection, this mass was discovered to be a life form. The makers of the spark were dumbfounded by this result of their labor. They had figured it would have been ages before the most basic form of life was to appear. They had been previously convinced that they would never live long enough lay eyes on the true testament to their existence, to their efforts to make an impression on the universe to which they were little more than the mortal bodies of light. This testament was sentient life.
To the surprise of the makers, the life form was a sentient being, aware of the magnificence unfolding around it. Like any sentient life form, this strange being hungered for knowledge.
The expansion of the self promotes the expansion of the universe that houses all minds. To enhance the self, one must be able to process the expansion of ones environment or society and discern how it relates to the self or can be use to enhance the self and its perception of the universe in which it resides. This perception is strictly confined to individual minds and is not all encompassing like Thought. Knowledge itself does not promote universal growth, yet eventually leads to it and is a necessary component of sentient life. To perceive is to think; to think is to exist.
The creature's pure consciousness prevented it from comprehending the reason for its existence and that of the flowering universe. Lacking knowledge and a way to perceive its life, the creature's infant mind was thrown into a state of pure turmoil. Its anguish became so intense that the creature attempted to rob itself of its existence. Knowing the creature had some purpose to fulfill; the denizens of the Infinite intervened, touching the creature's mind. The creature's soul was filled with joy. Its long search for the meaning of its existence was over as was his solitude in the cold, dark empty space.
The inhabitants of the Infinite shared their thoughts with the creature's and the creature shared its thoughts with them. From this, its observers made many astounding discoveries regarding the creature, its nature, and its abilities. It seemed to be the catalyst that would trigger the emergence of organic life on desolate rocks floating in the cosmos. This creature was the only existing thing in the universe that could do this. Though the creature's body was mortal, its essence was not. Even though this creature had been born of their efforts, its observers treated it like a divine being. In their ages of existence, they had never encountered a being with an immortal essence. This creature was clearly one level below the highest order of being. The denizens of the Infinite gave it a name: The Absolute.
The Absolute was no longer alone. It remained linked to the Infinite, sharing its intimacies with them as it shared those of itself. With their assistance, the dark cloud that was the doubts of The Absolute dissipated and the creature could see his purpose clearly. This purpose was to promote the expansion of its home by filling it with life, sentient life.
In time, the Absolute succeeded in giving life to the first sentient being. Finding a primitive life form on a desolate stone, it proceeded to share its knowledge with it. The life form's mind expanded greatly and in time, it was able to form thoughts and ideas of its own. The Absolute then set out to recreate his results on the same life form and succeeded. It soon discovered however, that his creation had a fatal flaw. The Absolute had forced the life form's intellectual development too quickly. As a result, the creatures lacked the things that come only with experience and individual perceptional development. One of these things was the difference between what is just and what is unjust. Like infants, The Absolute's first creation experimented with ideas and actions. Unable to discern the mistakes made in their experimentation, the creatures simply repeated them. Their collective society was unable to progress and the creatures soon fell victim to their barbarity.
The Absolute mourned its failure and loss. The denizens of The Infinite, still clinging to life, brought The Absolute back from the depths of despair and encouraged it to repeat its experiment. The Absolute complied with their wishes.
The Absolute realized its mistake of accelerating the intellectual development of his last creation and was determined not to repeat it. It selected another desolate stone and bequeathed to it the necessary properties that would enable the sustentation of life. It scattered the seeds of life and watched them take root. Though they were put through many trials, they succeeded in taking root and flowering. The Absolute watched its creations develop and form their own perceptions and thoughts. The Absolute felt a joy unlike any felt before. He had succeeded. What would become of it after its purpose was fulfilled it cared not. It had proved that its life was worth something. As long as it could die knowing it had worth, The Absolute cared not of its fate. Its despair had ended, The Absolute was sure of this. It called out to the vast number of voices that populated the Infinite so that they may share its joy as they had shared everything else with it. The voices would not answer. The Absolute was again alone.