An arrow flies from the cosmic bow, it is expelled through the atmosphere at incredible speed, nearly pulling away from the gravity well before falling to land just a few feet behind the archer.

Glitch slowly becomes aware. But aware of almost nothing. There are no thoughts, no feelings, no images, no memories, no dreams, and really only barely awareness. 2 weeks pass by with nothing happening except a general sense that there is expansion. Suddenly Glitch senses the presence of an other. Still there are no thoughts.

One week later, there is a sense of inside and outside forming.

Two weeks later, where there was neither light nor dark, there is dimness. Slowly over the next 33 weeks, other senses are layered up, one at a time. At some point, she became aware of the sound of a heartbeat, but had no words to give the sound. Later a more rapid heartbeat was added to the mix, in syncopation with the first. But still, no thoughts or memories form in Glitch's awareness. Except a general sense of being everything in existence.

Suddenly Glitch feels intense pressure everywhere. This happens over and over again, until it seems to become constant for a few minutes before suddenly releasing. As the pressure releases, her lungs suddenly fill with painfully cold and dry air - air which it seems she had never felt before.

Slowly her memories return to her, but she has no motor control of her body, and she is surrounded by strange hairy giant beings who seem obsessed with her. Speaking of her body, it is different than normal. Her fur is now hair which is longer and ginger colored.

The hairy giants are making guttural noises that seem like a language, and are poking at Glitch. One of them holds her to its chest, and Glitch suddenly feels overwhelmingly hungry, with an undeniable urge to bite the chest in front of her. When she does, she finds that she has no teeth, yet a delicious liquid flows from the one holding her (whom she is biting - or rather, gumming).

Well.... this is an unexpected outcome.... maybe that is what happens when you go through a black-hole with scruff, there isn't much but consciousnesses left for it to pull back together?

She didn't dare try and use any of her abilities besides passive ones like senses... just tried to gumm less and suckle more. She didn't want to scare or frighten her parents.

She would try and see what this world was like as little as she could from her limited ability, while concentrating on learning the language. Her intelligence, and rapidly developing brain should make learning languages only take a few weeks if they talk in ear shot a lot. Then she could learn even more about things.

She is worried about the others though, so will spend a lot of time meditating..... hopefully her parents don't worry that she don't cry a lot.

She will spend most of her waking time meditating and trying to teach her body mussle memory so she will have motor control. She will cry when hungry or, well you know, because she don't have much a choice and she wouldn't want her parents to worry if she didn't cry at all.

Other than figuring out what kinda reality she's in, learning more, and trying to mediate and get control over her body though I can't think of much else she can do.

Being a baby is rather limiting, she could try and learn to do an OBE.

This frightened the crap literally out of her parents. They both released some fecal matter in surprise at this abnormal behavior. This wasn't their first child. This was their 43rd child. This was the first child who had ever suckled - as far as they knew in all of sasq history. Glitch figured out that they referred to their kind as sask.



In fact, as she listened, Glitch found that she began remembering the language. She had lived lives before this one, somehow. Lived lives as a sask. But those were not her in the sense that none of them had known anything of Glitch. Additionally, her Chaos ability to decode, though it was not working as well as she was used to it working, still seemed to help.


The sask spend most of their time in their home or the home of another. Sask habitats are woven together from Living Tree. Living Tree is the source of all light and heat and air and water and earth. The world extends as far as the mind's eye can see, and it is a world of 90% air, 9% Living Tree, .9% other vegetation, .099% animal, .0009% mineral. It extends in every direction almost equidistant from the root center - a living crystal containing and slowly consuming a black hole. The Living Tree is a sphere the size of a very large star system. Most of the Living Tree is thin branches connecting at nodes. Nodes are filled with diversity of life, and are always where the sask build habitats.

Glitch's family lives near the outer border of the tree. They will cultivate the boundary and accumulate any matter being drawn into the black hole to use as fertilizer for the Living Tree and their garden plants. As time goes on, they will ultimately cultivate the environment that will surround their own home for the rest of their lives. Their parents and siblings have all moved in from their homes deeper in the Living Tree for the next few years as the newest addition to the family grows up.

While they're away, their neighbors will keep their homes cultivated and cared for.

The only one missing is her larger parent's smallest older sibling who has committed his time to helping reclaim a home that had been destroyed by a rogue asteroid for the sask who had been made homeless in the tragedy.

Gender didn't seem to be a thing in this culture. And Glitch couldn't tell any bodily differences between anyone - which should have been easy since no one wore any clothes. Both of her parents could produce the nutritious fluid. The taller one was referred to as "bana" and the shorter one was referred to as "domo". The others had a variety of names like poto, nebe, gaba, nongo, etc.

The walls of their habitat were a lattice of useful plants built on the backbone structure of Living Tree. The branches of Living Tree emitted bright light which could be tuned for any combination of color and heat. Specially tapped vines of Living Tree released fresh air to fill the habitat and surrounding area. Certain locations were chosen in the center of a group of habitats to be the center of gravity, and a Living Tree crystal structure would be cultivated. The crystal was somehow connected to the one at the center of Living Tree, and it became like a miniature local power source for the sask, plants and Living Tree itself.

The useful plants included an orchid which tapped pure water from the Tree, a tangle of roots in a leaf-sealed structure which absorbed any waste and its odors, a selection of fruit vines, herbs, vegetables, grains and other things used in cooking or smoking, and a multi-tentacled small thing on a web in each window to trap any unwanted small flying things.



They do find this odd, and seek the help of a shaman of some sort.

By now, she has learned most of the sask language, and will be able clumsily communicate before her fine motor control in her mouth improves.

She finds meditating difficult, like she's starting over for the first time. She still remembers how, but she has to train her brain to cooperate and concentrate. She doesn't learn anything about the others, but she does sense what she has finally determined to be scriff vectors. One of them is coming toward her.

There is a shuffle and a hoot from the main entrance, and a sask with a sash enters the habitat. The others gather around hir, and one of them leads Glitch (who has learned how to walk now) over to the new sask. Shi introduces hirself as Kinaraowm. The vector seems to be coming from hir. Shi produces three items from the sash: a miniature white tree, a white sash, and a white puppy. Glitch's sask infant instincts pull her toward the puppy, but it is clear now that the scriff vector is coming from the small white tree.

Kinaraowm picks up Glitch and gives her a lick as a sign of affection (something that every family member has done to her by now at least 3-5 times a day). If she used to have an autistic reaction to something like this, her biology took over and made it feel really good and reassuring. She'll later learn that the contents of the saliva communicate to her biology any intentions the licker may have toward her.

Kinaraowm says to Glitch as shi places her down, "I believe one of these things might be yours. Which one do you think belongs to you?"

EDIT:
Everyone eagerly waits to see what she chooses. Her past-lives memories seem to be drawing her toward the white sash.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:16, Wed 20 July 2022.

She points out the shash but seams unsure, letting them know it seams familiar but she has never seen it before if she is capable... or come close to as she is capable.

She will try and get info about the tree and puppy if she can... and pet the puppy a lot. ^.^  Good puppers! Curious why they where brought and why the little tree has scriff. Though doughts there is a way to share this or anything....

Guesses there is little point in trying to hide she is different. lol

She tried to do that with giving her parents, and herself a little bit of a releaf, but figures she could never mimic the behavior of a real baby to where some one who had so many could not tell something was diffrent.

Is a little consurned that she has memories of being a sasq and hopes some how her soul did not mingle with a soul of one of there's....  it would just be another to the collony sure, but a shame to force such on some one when she did not know if she would regain her ability to split off and let them have the choice of leaving... nor currently the abbility to make much sense of her ownmindscape..... her own mind kinda just blinding together into a mesh of a single personality aprently at the moment.

She would need to be able to meditate and enter her own mind first.

She hoped trying to talk to the spirit of this living world tree could help

Glitch says, "Thish sheemsh familiar to me, but I've never sheen it before."

Kinaraowm comments, "Interesting."


Glitch asks, "What can you tell me about the white tree? and what about the puppy?"

Kinaraowm answers, "The puppy was a simple ploy to see if you were just an odd child - any child would gravitate to the puppy when given these choices. Puppies are just more fun.

"As for the tree, it popped out of the sharp point of a Living Tree crystal during a festival of heat and light. It grew into this tiny tree over time as it absorbed heat and light. It has been used to heal wounds and restore spoiled food. We had hoped..." but he trails off.


"I wash wondering," Glitch interjects, "why you brought the little tree and why it has [scriff]" (Glitch transliterates 'scriff' as best as she can with this oddly shaped mouth and its different way of creating sounds.)

Kinaraowm answers, "We have never heard of 'shcriff' before. But there are other things we would like you to have a look at. Are you all willing to come with me to a special site?"

Glitch's family all agrees. They are curious and would like to understand what is happening. They all love their little gidi, and wanted to support her in unraveling the mystery.


Once she gives up trying to hide anything, she becomes a much more ordinary baby in many ways - giving in to intuitive pushes and pulls helps her develop as sask.


In her next meditation attempt, she feels carried in to deep meditation beyond any ability she's ever before had. She finds herself face-to-face with all of her colony (including the queen Glitch), and all of her sask-body's ancestors. She has free access to the memories of her living ancestors up to the point of conception for the father, and up to the point of birth for the mother. It turns out sask bodies do both tasks at will. About 100 generations back she sees her first deceased ancestor, and shi is there completely - totally with Glitch in her mind. Sitting in the background, just observing what Glitch does, neither judging nor commenting, just loving and watching.

There are a few more living ancestors older than hir, and then a whole group of deceased ancestors - all having passed away within the same 10 year period. It was a civil war. Some were on one side, and some were on the other. But none of them cared which side they had been on any longer. They were all too occupied watching and loving Glitch.


The Living Tree was already present in her vision, and when she turned her attention to it, she saw what seemed like the whole universe bowing to greet her. The Living Tree said, "You came to me, appearing within my central crystal, and fell into the event horizon before I could react. But I caught your awareness, and gave you life with this body. The heritage of this body is yours, as much as your own memories and selves are your own."

Takes it they have a some what hive mind in the background a shared living memory like the ratkin do.... only much much more clear with out the overwhelming mind of a godlike being being the core of it all.

She asks the tree "Did others come with me? There where many people who are like me who where captured by beings who feed and spread on the pain of others....I stopped them by sending them and there captives into the black hole.... others like me should have 'survived' ... along with three of those that feed on pain. I am consered what happened to my friends.... and I worry what the three might be doing"

---

Well she acts more normal, as normal as a talking baby can....  she will follow along to see what the elder wants to show her and will try and figure out what the sash is with her senses and memory.

Through observing the others, it becomes apparent that everyone knows about their inner access to the ancestors, and to the memories of their living ancestors, but most people don't access these memories very often. There are certain occasions and ceremonies where people will intentionally commune with the ancestors, but it isn't normally an every-day thing (except through dreams). Sask also carry a reincarnating spirit, and a new spirit, both of which are separate from their ancestral heritage. So sask carry their own unique spirit which never reincarnates, a spirit which reincarnates life after life without following familial lines, and ancestral spirits who passively observe and offer advice when it is sought.

This mode of thinking triggers a memory from a sask 'past life' who wasn't an ancestor of Glitch's sask body, but is somehow an ancestor of her current sask spirit (not to be confused with her Ratkin spirit. Shi was looking forward to the ceremony of interdependence ((rite of passage into adulthood)) for many years, having given hirself a head start by meditating on hir own daily. Shi had developed the inner calm and peace that the Kinaraowms had spoken about, to a greater degree than in any of hir previous incarnations ((incarnations of this sask spirit)). Hir ancestors were in constant communication with hir through hir dreams, and had given hir much advice to become the way shi had become. Shi had been reflecting on the nature of compassion. The time came for the rite to begin, so shi took the Living Tree crystal fragment in hir hand and launched hirself into the void beyond the outer rim of Living Tree. Shi had saturated hir body with air through controlled breathing, and if shi was careful, shi would have about 40 days before shi needed to breath again. There was a planetoid moving in hir direction, and shi'd land on the planetoid in about 3 days, which would give hir 37 days to plant the Living Tree crystal and wait as Living Tree grew out to reconnect with its separated crystal.

As shi was floating through the void, shi was trying to understand what was keeping hir spiritually stuck despite hir unending effort and commitment. Finally shi gave up, and realized shi could never attain what shi sought, even if shi tried for an eon. So shi surrendered completely. Suddenly everything made sense and shi was part of it all. There was no true boundary. Shi was no more. Hir mind became part of the background of the body shi operated, and hir spirit undifferentiated from the universal ground of all spirit.

3 days later shi landed on the planetoid (about the size of Pluto). The impact of hir landing shattered the little dead rock. Shi plunged the crystal into the crumbled crust and then pulled hirself from the crater. Then shi sat and waited for the Tree to come to hir. For 37 days shi continued to exist in a thoughtless state of awareness, bliss, peace, and selflessness.

The memory fades from here, and picks up some time later while shi is wearing a white sash and giving other sask sage advice - even teaching the Kinaraowms. Hir name is Nimiaom.


"I never saw anyone but yourself appear the way you did."


It's a symbol of wisdom and community service. One who wears the sash has committed their life to the service of all sask, especially their spiritual wellbeing.


Because she is still so small, she is carried by Kinaraowm to the central Living Tree crystal of this node, and directed to place her hand on the crystal.

Suddenly a past life memory surfaces. Shi was wearing the white sash, and teaching the sask of a certain node, when a group of interstellar vehicles began to attack the node, attempting to destroy it. To keep them all safe, shi told everyone to place their left hand on the crystal and their right hand on the closest sask to them, so that everyone would be connected in the chain. Then shi focused on a node nearby, and psychically teleported hirself and the rest of the group to that other node. That had been the first time anyone had ever psychically teleported.

Kinaraowm repeated those same instructions and waited until everyone was ready, then teleported to a different node.

Suddenly there was a scriff vector pointing to a small leaf-constructed container. Kinaraowm opened the container, and there were three items. A small pile of ashes, a leaf-woven blanket, and a seed of some unfamiliar kind.

Kinaraowm said, "Which one is yours?"

This time, the scriff vector was clearly coming from the ashes - which also seemed like Chaos depleted substance, and seemed very familiar - like an old friend. The seed looked cool. The blanket elicited another 'past life' memory. Nimiaom was called to a node on the boarder, to help with a sick child. The child was chronically hypothermic, and needed to spend an inordinate amount of time being bathed in heat. Nimiaom wove a cool blanket from Living Tree leaves which would never dry out, and placed it over the child. The child started shivering immediately, but then shi licked its forhead, and suddenly the child stopped shivering and got up to play. The child was healed.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:34, Thu 21 July 2022.

"There is something interesting about the seed, I remember the blanket but it's not mine I gave it to some one.....this is mine..." she leands down giving the ashes a lick. She tries to use mothers touch healing and give the ashes some of her chaos.

"Teacher! What was your name when you gave the blanket, and do you remember the name of the one you gave the blanket to?"


With the additional Chaos, the ashes stir and form into an egg. The egg vibrates and buzzes, increasing in pitch until it sings a sweet wordless song. It feels like it is acknowledging Glitch and rejoicing at her return, yet biding its time to hatch at the right moment.

After Glitch's response, they repeat the teleportation process once more, and Glitch senses all of the remaining scriff vector as being directly in another small leaf-constructed container. When it is opened, Glitch sees a tiny toolbelt with the scriff vector, too small to fit even around her finger. There is also a little black spherical stone. Glitch is again asked to pick one. This time, a memory of the little black stone comes to her - she remembers being Nimiaom and finding the stone on the little planetoid she had spent 37 days in bliss awaiting the Tree, and deciding to keep it as a memento.

She picks up the stone looking at it examining it. "Nimiaom, this is the name of the soul that has joined mine." She tries to remember the name of the child while she looks over the stone "This was her's too, I remember finding it on her right of passage." She also looks over the tools sniffing at them to see if they might have been her's or some one she knew from the smell or sense of energy about them. There so small it's hard to tell.

Other than that it seems to have no Chaos in it, it is cold and smooth and unremarkable.


Kinaraowm is visibly shaken and excited by this response.


As she tries to remember the name of the child, inside her imagination she hears her voice as Nimiaom saying, "Naka".


She smells her ordinary ratkin body - right down to the DNA. As her mind acclimatizes to this sask body's way of sensing chemical signatures, she begins to process far more chemical information than her ratkin body could process - which is really saying something. She feels she could identify every type of atom and every type of chemical compound simply by smell. She simultaneously smells everything she owns and everything stored inside her toolbelt.

As soon as she touches the toolbelt, it responds through the Rite of artifice dedication and grows to be large enough for her baby sask body to wear.

Kinaraowm and all of the sask are shocked by this development.

((I'm working out the next few plot points before the conclusion of this world's adventure, so I'll come back with more later, but in the meantime, I'll leave off here for you to respond.))