Pooky's Notes: First of all, I do NOT own Invader Zim or the idea of Irkens.
It was all Jhonen's idea! –points accusingly-
The species called the Vorcarn, however, is in fact, my idea. So...Yup. GO AWAI.
Vorcarn basically look like tall Irkens with marks on their skin, typically around their eyes a little. Their antennae are longer, too.
There's a key of terms at the bottom of the 'fic.
Keri t3h Ninja: Bah! You dare leave me out of the disclaimer?! Faygains are mine! I also beta this :U
Pooky: OH YEAH. This 'fics overloaded with OCs, considering Irkens don't even exist until like.. Chapter 4 or something. xD And if you're here to figure out which rat-hole Valle came out of, you're unfortunately going to have to read through a lot. D:
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It was about 2000 BZ.
Irk was a barren wasteland. Uninhabited.
'It' began on Vorka, one of Irk's moons.
Most of the moon was completely covered in city, the clusters of lights were clearly visible from space. But even in this huge mass, one could pick out the 'capital', Viseshtadt, for it was a patch of brilliant white among the dull gray metals of everywhere else. Only a few dark splotches of vegetation were left- precious gardens that provided nutrition. If they did not exist, all of the food feeding the residents of the Moon would be imported from elsewhere. Vorka was home of a race experts in Genetics. That's their business in the Universe. They would create species of organisms for the benefit of themselves and their 'clients'.
The Moon held only about 5 million specimens of Vorcarn. For the species was so into their creations that it was very rare that they mated. It all began with The Invasion.
Chapter One –Yutl's Folly
Jalied received a small alarm from what seemed to be a phone-like device hanging from his belt. The monitor blinked softly. A female, monotone voice spoke to him, "Vormun Lokk has returned from her Trials. She will be in Landing Pad A4.," Jalied put the device in it's place, and began to speed walk his way past other Vorcarn. There was rarely anything other than a Vorcarn in the poorly lit hallways of Viseshtadt's buildings. Most of the buildings on all of Vorka were solely made for their 'business'. It's probably a snore for any tourist looking for adventure.
Jalied himself was of average height- about 7 feet. His skin was a healthy green, his eyes the common cyan color most Vorcarn had (though they were covered by goggles). He was lightly marked, around his eyes, in a light gray. He wore a lab coat, albeit a short one: It looked almost like a shirt. His legs were warmed by black pants. Due to all his walking he wore a flexible metallic covering over his feet. It was comfortable inside, which had a gentle inner lining, and the metal shell would not wear down. They clacked loudly. Jalied carried blueprints of some sort.
He looked out at the open entrance: An arc of delicately carved white marble. A precious stone imported from another planet no less. Outside a ship was beginning to land. The cockpit was connected to two enormous engines to the side via thick cables with an armored cover. The metal reflected light off in all directions. The ship looked newly polished and in good care. The white flame that the engines died down, and the ship was still. The cockpit opened, and out came another one of his kind.
This one was considerably shorter, perhaps by two feet. Her skin was pure white, and her eyes were a very light pink. She wore white clothes, the sleeves of the top being long so you could not see her hands. Her shoulders and upper torso were protected by amour, as well as her shins and feet. Lokk was an albino of her species, and she preferred the dark halls of the buildings. Her skin was extremely sensitive to the sun, and every time she was out she would have a sort of hood that would cast a spooky-looking shadow over her face. Strapped to her back was a staff with a large blade- it was almost like a Glaive. She too was lightly marked around the eyes.
Lokk exited the ship and groaned in annoyance as she saw Jalied waiting for her. He was supposed to be the one to keep her updated on what was happening so she could concentrate more on her training, but he seemed to be getting a little too friendly. "What now?" a cold voice emerged from the hooded form.
Jalied blinked at her, "There has been a new Minister elected to represent Vorka called Yutl. The Vormun here seem to be a tad bit concerned - he seems to be very ambitious. He wants to try and colonize Irk for the Vorcarn. Right in the middle of what seems to be an inevitable conflict with the Miagas of Faygah IV!"
Lokk stared at Jalied and joined him in the shadows of the great halls of the buildings, "Why does this concern me, Jalied? Aside from maybe guarding the fool during my shift."
Jalied paced a little to keep up with the Vormun's quick stride, "But-you see. If we were to go to war with them, we don't have nearly enough Vormun like you to protect Irk or even Vorka. The high-hormone gene is just too rare among us, so they presented the population with a new project. All Vormun who passed their Trials are to be involved."
Lokk looked at him, "So. You're first project, eh? Congratulations Jal. What do they need me for?"
"They need you for…Training," he said quietly.
"Training? Who will they train?" she asked curiously, and a little lightheartedly.
Jalied quickly replied, "There's a meeting about it Upstairs in the Astronomy Spire, during Khaot's Second Hour. Yutl, as well as all of the Tehch'nika will be there, and Vormun who have passed their Trials and are near Viseshtadt today must go, as well. They don't want to risk having someone eavesdrop."
"Thank you Jalied," Lokk said, but before she diverted from him to go to her quarters, he grabbed her wrist gently, "Umm- wait..", he said.
She stopped and turned back to him, "What?"
Jalied, blushing slightly, said to her, "If you want.. After the conference we can go to…You know…Join me for Nakt in the city?" It was a bit bold, the environment between the two was supposed to be highly professional.
"Sure, fine," Lokk said and freed herself from his gentle grab before turning around and leaving him.
As soon as Lokk was out of his sight, Jalied let out a little gesture of happiness, making a pathetic punch at the air, "Yes!" he said, "I did it!" The Vorcarn went to his home a happy little Alien.
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A few hours later, the sun was slowly being blocked more and more by planet Irk, its brazen surface hidden by an invisible layer of toxic gases.
Vorka rotated extremely slowly, Nighttime was basically when they were behind Irk, and happened once every two weeks. Lokk smiled to herself as she approached Viseshtadt's open gates. They were only closed in times of war. Irk- despite its barren qualities, looked gorgeous from the Moon, the Sun only peeked behind it, now.
She went into the White Buildings and used an elevator that could go from left to right as well as up and down. She exited the elevator to find a door in front of her. The door was being guarded by two untrained Vormun, the ones that have finished their Trials were all inside.
One of them, a full 8 feet (a taller of the Vorcarn) looked down at her with red eyes. Red, a color that appeared less often then the Guard's Gene. The two guards let her pass without trouble and with a little bow. The number of Fully Trained Vormun numbers was low enough for the untrained Guards to remember who they were.
The room was plain and white, like the outside of the city. The walls made it look like a Hospital room. On the ceiling, however, there was a map of the known universe. Hand-painted. They could have used a Hologram, but a previous Minister – Kashdt - wouldn't have it. He had a soft spot for art. When something new was discovered, it would immediately be added. They would soon have to start painting the walls, the ceiling was running out of room.
Today there were many seats sat around a large holo-Board.
She seemed to be the last one at the conference, and ironically enough the only seat left was one next to Jalied, who was holding his blueprints. She sighed, knowing he probably reserved the seat for her, and sat next to him.
"Good, now we are all here!" said a calm voice, heavy with some accent. Lokk thought it made him at least sound sophisticated. No doubt that was Yutl. He seemed to carry an air of pride as minister for their little rock. He looked them over with cyan eyes and continued to speak. "As you may all know, there seems to be an inevitable conflict between Vorka and Faygah 4. The entire issue stems from the Prince of the Miagas. Their King seems to be very ill and on the verge of dying. The Prince will only become king if he wages war on another planet before the King dies. The only thing that may be keeping him from attacking us is that we're on a Moon- there may be some strange Miagan Tradition issues he needs to go around. We need an army, a large one, and we need it now."
One of the Tehch'Nika spoke and all eyes bore onto him. As if continuing the statement, he said, "There isn't enough space on Vorka to keep the army lab hidden. With your permission we could empty out some of Irk's core and build a Breeding Lab underground- away from the dangers on the surface. Also, there have been some valuable ores discovered beneath the planet's surface for Trade.", and then he sat. The attention was once again diverted to Yutl.
Yutl seemed pleased with the idea, "These plans can conform with the colonization of the planet. However, once we step on Irk the Prince may have all the permission he needs to start a war. It needs to be done stealthily and with preparation."
Lokk guessed they had already talked about this while she was gone, there seemed to be mutual agreement on making the army in the first place. If they had just stayed on Vorka, the Maigas supposedly wouldn't attack them. They didn't want to take that chance. Vorka was an easy target for conquest, it didn't have an army or a fleet, and she was sure that under another leader, they would have most probably just surrendered to avoid the destruction of their precious breeding labs.
A question interrupted her thoughts, and she noticed it was one of the Vormun, "How are we to train this army? There isn't nearly enough of the Guard to train them in time."
"A pending question some of our newer arrivals will want to hear the answer to," said Yutl, who took out what appeared to be a laser pointer. He pointed it at the Holoboard, which sprung to life and turned on to expose a Menu.
The lights dimmed and in the center of the room a holographic simulation showed an Irken PAK. There was silence. He quickly began to explain. "The Vortians gave us this gift, the PAK. A Programmed Artificial Knowledge unit. It can turn images and sound into Data that can be programmed into the brain of an Organism- if it's compatible. They each can have a pass code to prevent the Miagas or some other enemy from accessing the Information in them. This data can be acquired from its senses or from a computer. Instead of training the Irkens face-to-face, we will program the fighting styles of the Vormun into them. It may take a few weeks at the most for them to be able to do what the Programming says."
Almost as soon as he finished there was a small wave of a hundred voices (probably more) as the Tehch'Nika and Vormun began to discuss quickly among each other. Voices began to Rise.
"If they are to be programmed with such knowledge, how will they be controlled? Can these PAKS install a sort of Rulebook to Control them?" One said.
"Even then, these things could have emotions and would need to have a Personality program as well to insure they don't feel malicious to us," another quickly replied.
"If the Miagas capture some of them, they could still find a way to hack into them and take all the information out - maybe even reprogram them! We don't quite know who are their allies are yet," added another.
Yutl seemed to stand calmly in front of them, although he wanted the crowd to just be silent. Soon enough the chatter calmed down, and he was able to answer the previous questions he heard amongst the shroud of noise. "First of all- in order for them to be able to clearly distinguish us from themselves, they'll have to be somewhat different form our appearance.", Yutl suggested, "Enough for them to know clearly who they will obey."
There wasn't much of a pause needed before an answer was decided, "Although it may sacrifice strength, I do believe the easiest way for them to look similar but still be able to clearly distinguish from us would be through height and eye color. You might as well keep them from having markings as well."
"Yes, that way we could purchase standard-issue Vortian War-Machines instead of the more costly custom-made models. Now their Eye color...", he said and began to point to something on the Holoboard. The monitor began to type in symbols as Yutl spoke, "They will be made in the image of the Vorcarn, but their maximum height will be four feet, their eye color will be red, and their skin will be lacking the markings Vorcarn have." With this input, the Holo-Board let out a life-sized three dimensional holographic simulation of what the species should look like.
Yutl started to talk again, "Now- to protect The Information in the PAKs in case of the Irken's capture. I don't know much about the planet - but maybe a reaction to their atmosphere?"
Jalied had risen next to Lokk. She looked up at him, but had a feeling if she stared he would get nervous, and so looked away. "Resources have told us that most of the prisoners are actually kept with a species that share the planet with them - the Degens. It is very humid where the prisoners are kept. The Irkens can contain cesium or francium inside their blood, so when they breathe in the Dihydrogen Oxide vapor, it will create quite an explosion with the build-up of gas enough to destroy the PAK and the Irken. The explosion will also pose danger to the Miagas," and to indicate he was finished, the Vorcarn sat down.
There seemed to be general agreement. Lokk noticed they cared a lot less for this species' well-being than normal. She remembered at the thought of having one of their other projects hurt would send them into a fit. She could care less about any of their projects. They typically didn't involve her.
"One thing, however," Yutl began to point out, "all these qualities will require them to have a lot of dependence on their PAKs. Personalities can be programmed into them, as well as knowledge. The PAK can also act as a filter to filter out the air on Irk, but can allow dihydrogen oxide gas or just oxygen to pass through if it's present."
The computer in the holoboard picked up what he had said and added the Vortian device to the model. It made the adjustments to the model to show the connection between the Irken's brain and its PAK. It would be connected by a cable to its spine.
"And- if it's personality and knowledge is programmed for the PAK, its brain will act like a receptor. Without it they'd be...rather stupid," Yutl said, but there were no complaints. He sighed as it drew to a close, "So we have the basic structure down. The Noordlech Province will take care of the skeletal and muscular structures in comparison with Irk's Gravity and the like. The Ostlich Province will take care of the Internal Organs and their Systems. Sootluch can take care of the internal fluids and their distribution. Vorun can take care of its connection to the Pak, and its programming. One last thing to add. For further security, the Irkens must not have any reproductive organs. We must have complete control over their numbers. The Vormun are all to go to Breeding Center 5yB2 in 15 hours at Abshluss. You will also return there when the Suns are shining on Vorka again. 2 weeks from now. Everyone is dismissed."
Jalied got up quietly and left, Lokk had followed closely behind. He was in the Vorun Breeding Lab. He would get to work on the Pak's programming.
Lokk had left Viseshtadt with Jalied, who had a Lift car that could take them both to wherever they wished to eat for Nakt. He seemed to be unusually quiet; Lokk could tell this project seemed to bug him a bit.
Sitting net to the pilot's chair, Lokk stared out at the windshield ahead of her and watched as they reached a low valley of city. At max speed, the Lift car would travel at 500 MPH, and they could reach the other side of the Moon probably in a few hours. It took them a few seconds of hovering over metal fields before they reached clusters of enormous buildings. Colorful lights adorned them in the pitch black of night, creating much light pollution and illuminating the sky with a soft purple glow. The Stars were invisible.
They left Viseshadt to go to a nearby cluster-city of Liebt.
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Key Terms:
Noordlech: Vorcarn Province that covers the poles and land around it. Based after the German word for 'Northern'.
Sootluch: Vorcarn Province that covers the equator and a lot of land around it. Based after German word for 'Southern'.
Ostlich: Vorcarn Province between the Noordlech and Sootluch Provinces that covers the Northern hemisphere.
Vorun: Vorcarn Province in the Southern Hemisphere between Sootluch and Noordlech.
Dihydrogen Oxide: Just a fancy way to say "water". Francium and Cesium (Or any of the alkali metals like Lithium, Sodium, Potassium, and Rubidium) react very violently with water.
Vormun: The Elite Guard of the Vorcarn. Comes from the German word Vormund, which means Guardian. It also means custodian. xD
The Trials: Basically when a Guard is ready to become a Vormun, he or she goes on a 50 year journey around the Galaxy to learn different fighting styles. After they come back, they go on a 3-month probation period where they can lose their status as Vormun.
Viseshtadt: The capital cluster-city of Vorka. Viseshtadt comes from the words Weiss Stadt, which means "White City" in German.
Miagas of Faygah IV: Miagas are a race of cat-like creatures from the planet Faygah IV. The planet is divided among three races. The Miagas reside on the Northern Hemisphere.
High-Hormone/Guard's Gene: Basically a gene all Guards must require. Vorcarn are usually docile unless they have this rare gene, which raises a hormone level and causes them to be more aggressive. (Alien PMS, anyone?)
Nakt: Just a word meaning something like "Dinner". Based after the German word for Night "Nacht".
Lieb: Cluster-City, sort of like a Down Town Viseshtadt. There is lots of activity there. Based after the German word for Love "Liebe".
Tehch'nika: Based after the German word for "Engineer". These guys are basically the bosses of any Official Breeding projects that the Vorcarn must work on.
Degen: Species on Faygah 4, they're basically 'dog-people'. They always fight alongside the Miagas when they declare war.