Member
Sep
ErosSense
Enigmatik
op2024
Fetzen
Snowdrops
abnormallory
Timemaster
Andreyich
Expendable
Esoteric Temple of Acerbus
"Passion is Power; Seeing is Knowing"
Government Form:
Theocracy and Fractured Oligarchies
Population:
1.5 Billion
What is humanity?:
The human soul
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Planet Name and Description:
Acerbus: a tidally-locked planet only slightly smaller than Earth, orbiting a k-type main sequence star (an "orange dwarf" named Algus, as a nod to its cooler temperatures compared to Sol) in a solar system populated primarily by gas giants and two asteroid belts. It is the only terrestrial planet in the system, though it has two large but uninhabitable moons. It was originally described to colonists as an "Earth analog," a planet which seemed to have similar traits to humanity's homeworld. It has a similar and breathable atmosphere, cool temperatures and a gravity resting at 0.82Gs. Like Earth, it is primarily ocean which, like Earth, is water. It's a little blue marble, filled with life. There are no continents on Acerbus, but instead many mountainous and volcanic islands. The Acerbian year is almost exactly the same length as the Earth year.
To the grievance of the colonists, the planet is more metal-poor than originally projected, with the asteroid belts being a more reliable source for useful metals in the system. Both its moons also contain more metal than Acerbus, though neither is as useful as the belts. A popular Acerbian poet described Acerbus as "The Beggar of Algus," and The Beggar has become a bitter nickname for Acerbus used by miners and rich men alike.
Being a tidally-locked planet, the world does not turn, meaning there is no day or night cycle. One half of the planet is always facing the sun and the other is always turned away from it, so there is perpetual 'day' on one side and perpetual 'night' on the other, with only a small band locked in constant twilight. As temperatures are high in the daylight, and the 'night' side is dark and frozen, the islands of that Twilight Band were marked out for colonization.
Unfortunately, as the colonists discovered, Acerbus is not the perfect mirror of their homeworld they felt they had been promised. Early expeditions discovered that the pollen released by local flora year-round triggers severe reactions in all humans, causing rash, severe irritation and discomfort and, over time, potentially fatal breathing issues. Further study uncovered that Acerbus soil struggles to grow Earth crops, and that while the local life is technically digestible, it has an bitter, unpleasant taste and causes prolonged stomach trouble. (Many Acerbians today believe this was the source of the planet's name, though it was actually named after the "harsh" acid rain caused by frequent volcanic eruptions.)
The local life can be challenging to categorize in part because much of what would appear to be flora or plant-life on Acerbus is, very unlike the plants of Earth, capable of locomotion. Some of it is also semi-aquatic, meaning that during a severe storm, one might watch a forest rise up out of the ocean and walk itself under an overhanging beachside cliff for shelter, completely remaking the local landscape. The Twilight Band which remains the primary area of human habitation suffers from such rains and storms frequently, and unpredictably.
It was not long after the colonists arrived on this shifting and difficult world that they realized they were not the only intelligence present.
Ceti (singular: cetus) are the only sentient life discovered on Acerbus, an aquatic species native to the Low Dusk region, on the outskirts of the Twilight Band where the waters are becoming dark and cool. They are large enough that the first human colonists to spot one called them an "Acerbian Whale," though scholars believe the title was only a reference to their imposing size. Their morphology is too alien to make them cleanly analogous to one Earth species, but like much Acerbian life, they have the apparent traits of many different lifeforms familiar to humans. They are indeed whale-like in size, growing to be an average of 15 meters long and even in Acerbus' lighter gravity weighing up to 36 metric tons. A lightweight but strong crustacean shell covers their cetacean bulk, with four wide whale fins extending out from their sides and a fluke propelling them at the back. Varying numbers of tentacles extend down from their underbelly to grasp food or tools, but extend upwards into the shell when swimming.
They have a neck which stretches out from their main body for following prey into holes or getting into cracks in a shell, and a long narrow head which is protected by shell plates. They have three large, black and beady eyes jutting out on very short stalks. The lower portion of their face, around their mouth, sprouts with smaller sensory tentacles which are used for feeling, giving them a bearded appearance. They were also described by the first human colonists as "sea monsters."
Their sentience was discovered quickly, as they live in a kind of underwater stone age, with simple tools and a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Their level of technology was at first mistaken by the colonists as a sign of limited mental capacity, but the reality proved to be the opposite. Ceti are in fact considered "more intelligent" (in the sense of learning ability, problem-solving and creativity) than humans, and it's believed by most researchers that the only reason they have never developed a complex society or high technology is not because of a lack of intelligence but because of their lack of social instinct. They do not exist in groups. Therefore they can't cooperate with each other on the scale needed for technological progress.
Ceti are purely solitary predators, preying on the other large aquatic life of Low Dusk. Their tentacles are strong enough to crush the shells of the Mega-Nautilus which is their preferred prey, but they're known to let them live through the first few attempts. They often let their targets flee, catching them and scaring them and letting them go repeatedly, not at all unlike how a cat toys with its food. They sometimes rip a painful but non-vital body part off of their prey while it is still alive, and they don't mind doing this to humans that they find swimming in their waters. Based on observations of ceti body language, they seem to think our anatomy is fascinating. This seemingly sadistic behavior is mentioned here because it is an example of how ceti think and behave. They are curious and insightful, but rarely show empathy. They are incapable of any but one kind of social bond.
They reproduce asexually, and the one bond they form is with their newborn children, who they will care for at an early age. It is debated whether this maternal instinct is a one-off example of altruistic behavior or if it rises from a narcissistic desire to propagate a genetic "second self." They speak by vocalizations similar to whale song, called cetus-song, and teach their children the basics of survival. However, as soon as the child begins to grow to a threatening size, their mothers turn and run them off. If allowed to grow, they will eventually kill and consume their parent. The bond is apparently one-way.
This is the standard of life for ceti. So they don't share very much knowledge with each other or future generations, meaning that even if every individual ceti is a genius by human standards, any discovery they make stays only with them. It will die with them, if they die- but ceti do not die of age. Like the lobsters of Earth that their shell is so similar to, ceti do not weaken with age and continue to be healthy no matter how many years pass. There was one curious cetus who voluntarily helped human researchers translate their cetus-song into something comprehendible to humans, and among many other things claimed to be 2000 years old. Though it is uncertain how they could have measured years, without technology, in a world with no days and only subtle seasons. Most ceti are known to be liars.
Communication with ceti, when it happens, rarely is more fruitful than that. It perhaps should not be a surprise that they are untrusting and don't typically share information willingly, and are much more likely to find ways to learn from the humans they are speaking to. When introduced to a human idea or technology, they are capable of understanding it fairly quickly. Their personalities in conversation are sardonic and antagonistic- acerbic, you might say. They're prone to sarcasm.
The Temple currently limits contact with ceti, describing them as "monstrous and spiritless."
They have a neck which stretches out from their main body for following prey into holes or getting into cracks in a shell, and a long narrow head which is protected by shell plates. They have three large, black and beady eyes jutting out on very short stalks. The lower portion of their face, around their mouth, sprouts with smaller sensory tentacles which are used for feeling, giving them a bearded appearance. They were also described by the first human colonists as "sea monsters."
Their sentience was discovered quickly, as they live in a kind of underwater stone age, with simple tools and a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Their level of technology was at first mistaken by the colonists as a sign of limited mental capacity, but the reality proved to be the opposite. Ceti are in fact considered "more intelligent" (in the sense of learning ability, problem-solving and creativity) than humans, and it's believed by most researchers that the only reason they have never developed a complex society or high technology is not because of a lack of intelligence but because of their lack of social instinct. They do not exist in groups. Therefore they can't cooperate with each other on the scale needed for technological progress.
Ceti are purely solitary predators, preying on the other large aquatic life of Low Dusk. Their tentacles are strong enough to crush the shells of the Mega-Nautilus which is their preferred prey, but they're known to let them live through the first few attempts. They often let their targets flee, catching them and scaring them and letting them go repeatedly, not at all unlike how a cat toys with its food. They sometimes rip a painful but non-vital body part off of their prey while it is still alive, and they don't mind doing this to humans that they find swimming in their waters. Based on observations of ceti body language, they seem to think our anatomy is fascinating. This seemingly sadistic behavior is mentioned here because it is an example of how ceti think and behave. They are curious and insightful, but rarely show empathy. They are incapable of any but one kind of social bond.
They reproduce asexually, and the one bond they form is with their newborn children, who they will care for at an early age. It is debated whether this maternal instinct is a one-off example of altruistic behavior or if it rises from a narcissistic desire to propagate a genetic "second self." They speak by vocalizations similar to whale song, called cetus-song, and teach their children the basics of survival. However, as soon as the child begins to grow to a threatening size, their mothers turn and run them off. If allowed to grow, they will eventually kill and consume their parent. The bond is apparently one-way.
This is the standard of life for ceti. So they don't share very much knowledge with each other or future generations, meaning that even if every individual ceti is a genius by human standards, any discovery they make stays only with them. It will die with them, if they die- but ceti do not die of age. Like the lobsters of Earth that their shell is so similar to, ceti do not weaken with age and continue to be healthy no matter how many years pass. There was one curious cetus who voluntarily helped human researchers translate their cetus-song into something comprehendible to humans, and among many other things claimed to be 2000 years old. Though it is uncertain how they could have measured years, without technology, in a world with no days and only subtle seasons. Most ceti are known to be liars.
Communication with ceti, when it happens, rarely is more fruitful than that. It perhaps should not be a surprise that they are untrusting and don't typically share information willingly, and are much more likely to find ways to learn from the humans they are speaking to. When introduced to a human idea or technology, they are capable of understanding it fairly quickly. Their personalities in conversation are sardonic and antagonistic- acerbic, you might say. They're prone to sarcasm.
The Temple currently limits contact with ceti, describing them as "monstrous and spiritless."
Demographics:
By Subspecies:
Vulgaris / Homo Acerbus: 56%
Marinus / Homo Marinus: 33%
Umbratilis / Homo Umbratilis: 11%
By Location:
Twilight Islanders: 89%
Nightside Islanders: 10%
Nightside Nomads: 1%
In Space (miners, naval): <1%
All descendants of the original Acerbus colonists have been genetically modified for life on this challenging world, the resulting breed being called Homo Acerbus. The teaching of the Temple is that Acerbians are human, but the modification was intense enough that one would never mistake an Acerbian for a human of Earthly origins.
In order to move well in lower gravity, Acerbians are taller and thinner, frail-looking and towering compared to baseline humans. In order to bring their immune system in line with the deadly pollen and sickening food of Acerbus, some amount of alien DNA from Acerbian lifeforms has been incorporated into their genome. This did make the pollen tolerable (though it still itches) and the food edible (though most of it is still bitter to the palate), but an unintended impact of the modification was pale, dry and pallorous skin.
Playing with genes is of course not simple or even predictable, and aside from the papery skin, another side-effect of the process was the loss of hair: all Acerbians are bald. Flowing headdresses, especially for women, have filled the gap. More positively, all Acerbians are ambidextrous and have very quick, efficient motor skills, which is considered one of the few gene mods not to have had any unintended results.
But the same cannot be said for those alterations which dealt with the most complex organ in the human body. Acerbian genetic modification includes an arguably misguided attempt to improve on the human mind. The early goal was to increase intelligence, but the issue became that there is no one factor or one part of the brain that's responsible for what we call intelligence, just as there is no one thing clearly responsible for consciousness or self-awareness.
The geneticists only succeeded in enlarging and "speeding up" certain areas of the brain, which did indeed improve learning ability and problem-solving, but brought consequences. Although not necessarily better at academic work than baseliners, Acerbians are comparatively quick to pick up on new skills. They're also naturally insightful and perceptive and are, unfortunately, often mentally ill. Due to increased activity and pattern recognition, they are especially prone to mania, paranoia, obsessive personality disorders and something akin to moderately severe bipolar disorder. Regardless of diagnosis, most every Acerbian is unusually passionate by Earth standards and prone to extremes of emotion. The suicide rate among Acerbians is forty percent higher than it was among baseline humans.
The last change made to their mind is that Acerbians do not fully sleep. Instead, they enter a restful meditative state, in which half of their brain shuts down for one hour while the other half stays awake, and then they switch. The whales of Earth did something similar. Unlike the whales, during this meditation they still "dream," but these dreams present as lucid, vivid and powerful "visions"- sometimes they are beautiful, sometimes traumatic. Acerbians always remember them perfectly when their meditation is over. The Revelationist faith strongly encourages finding spiritual meaning in these visions.
In order to move well in lower gravity, Acerbians are taller and thinner, frail-looking and towering compared to baseline humans. In order to bring their immune system in line with the deadly pollen and sickening food of Acerbus, some amount of alien DNA from Acerbian lifeforms has been incorporated into their genome. This did make the pollen tolerable (though it still itches) and the food edible (though most of it is still bitter to the palate), but an unintended impact of the modification was pale, dry and pallorous skin.
Playing with genes is of course not simple or even predictable, and aside from the papery skin, another side-effect of the process was the loss of hair: all Acerbians are bald. Flowing headdresses, especially for women, have filled the gap. More positively, all Acerbians are ambidextrous and have very quick, efficient motor skills, which is considered one of the few gene mods not to have had any unintended results.
But the same cannot be said for those alterations which dealt with the most complex organ in the human body. Acerbian genetic modification includes an arguably misguided attempt to improve on the human mind. The early goal was to increase intelligence, but the issue became that there is no one factor or one part of the brain that's responsible for what we call intelligence, just as there is no one thing clearly responsible for consciousness or self-awareness.
The geneticists only succeeded in enlarging and "speeding up" certain areas of the brain, which did indeed improve learning ability and problem-solving, but brought consequences. Although not necessarily better at academic work than baseliners, Acerbians are comparatively quick to pick up on new skills. They're also naturally insightful and perceptive and are, unfortunately, often mentally ill. Due to increased activity and pattern recognition, they are especially prone to mania, paranoia, obsessive personality disorders and something akin to moderately severe bipolar disorder. Regardless of diagnosis, most every Acerbian is unusually passionate by Earth standards and prone to extremes of emotion. The suicide rate among Acerbians is forty percent higher than it was among baseline humans.
The last change made to their mind is that Acerbians do not fully sleep. Instead, they enter a restful meditative state, in which half of their brain shuts down for one hour while the other half stays awake, and then they switch. The whales of Earth did something similar. Unlike the whales, during this meditation they still "dream," but these dreams present as lucid, vivid and powerful "visions"- sometimes they are beautiful, sometimes traumatic. Acerbians always remember them perfectly when their meditation is over. The Revelationist faith strongly encourages finding spiritual meaning in these visions.
The above description is the basic genetic modification of every human who lives on Acerbus. Acebians for whom these are the only modifications they have are called Vulgaris, meaning "common." There are two subsets of Acerbians who have more intense modifications in addition to these basic ones, and they are briefly overviewed below.
Acerbus is a watery world, moreso even than Earth which was majority ocean itself. The dampness is a constant and the majority of edible food lies underwater. Late in the time of the Forecaster, when it was clear that the early colonial society was heading for a complete collapse, a push was made to further acclimate humanity to a semiaquatic lifestyle. The hope was in allowing these new humans to thrive on Acerbus "natively," without strong technological or social support.
It was a partial success. Although not fully semiaquatic, Homo Marinus is equipped with slick, water-repellent fish skin, and they're slightly thicker than Vulgaris Acerbians with subcutaneous fat that insulates from the cold. A vastly improved lung capacity and enlarged spleen (for holding oxygenated red blood cells) allows for up to two hours under water before coming up for air.
Their hands are enlarged, and their fingers are of course webbed and function as fins. Their feet are also lengthened, webbed and fin-like, and they have an instinct for "locking" their legs together and spreading their feet in opposite directions in such a way that allows them to propel themselves when swimming like the fluke of a whale. They likewise can "lock" their elbows to their sides, as human arms are a little long to function as fins. Their ankle and wrist muscles are very powerful. A Homo Marinus can see as well underwater as above it, with large black pupils. Their sense of balance and motion has been reoriented to function in the "low gravity" world of water.
A common slur for Marinus is "fish-nose," which is a bit of a misnomer as they don't have full noses at all. They have a slight bump where their nose would be that opens into two vertical slit nostrils, which shut closed when submerged.
A slightly disturbing modification designed late in the process allows them to digest raw meat safely, and their many teeth are sharp.
It was a partial success. Although not fully semiaquatic, Homo Marinus is equipped with slick, water-repellent fish skin, and they're slightly thicker than Vulgaris Acerbians with subcutaneous fat that insulates from the cold. A vastly improved lung capacity and enlarged spleen (for holding oxygenated red blood cells) allows for up to two hours under water before coming up for air.
Their hands are enlarged, and their fingers are of course webbed and function as fins. Their feet are also lengthened, webbed and fin-like, and they have an instinct for "locking" their legs together and spreading their feet in opposite directions in such a way that allows them to propel themselves when swimming like the fluke of a whale. They likewise can "lock" their elbows to their sides, as human arms are a little long to function as fins. Their ankle and wrist muscles are very powerful. A Homo Marinus can see as well underwater as above it, with large black pupils. Their sense of balance and motion has been reoriented to function in the "low gravity" world of water.
A common slur for Marinus is "fish-nose," which is a bit of a misnomer as they don't have full noses at all. They have a slight bump where their nose would be that opens into two vertical slit nostrils, which shut closed when submerged.
A slightly disturbing modification designed late in the process allows them to digest raw meat safely, and their many teeth are sharp.
Homo Umbratilis are a variant of Homo Marinus, which is itself a variant of Homo Acerbus, which is itself a variant of Homo Sapiens. Umbratilis is a modification of a modification of a modification of humanity. The four-armed, black-eyed Umbratilis are also the first Acerbian subspecies about whom the question "Are they still human?" has been seriously asked. Nobody has yet to provide a definitive answer, and for political reasons the Temple has refused to decide on it.
As Acerbus a tidally-locked world, most people live in the twilight zone where temperatures are most tolerable. The Umbratilis were created in an ambitious attempt less than a century ago to colonize the dark and cold "night" side of the planet. Homo Umbratilis is the only subspecies created after the fall of the Forecaster, in more modern times, so their alterations were made with a deeper understanding of Acerbus. In addition to everything done to the Vulgaris and Marinus strains, an Umbratilis is built especially for swimming in the cold and living in the dark.
Sensory modifications were a special focus here. Their eyes are twice the size of typical human eyes and completely black, specialized so much for seeing in the dark that daylight is intolerably blinding to them. Beneath their ears are two small holes that essentially function as another, more underwater-purposed ear. Though they can't breathe the water, they can take in some amount of seawater safely through their slit nostrils, which opens up the ability to smell underwater. This and the secondary ears were improved upon until Umbratilis could hear and smell far better when submerged than any human can on land.
They have a slowed metabolism which conserves heat and energy, but renders them not quite as quick as the other subspecies are known to be. Perhaps as a consolation, they are much larger, reaching 2.5 meters tall. This, combined with a layer of blubber to protect against the cold- making them the only Acerbian subspecies thicker than baseline humans- means they would weigh over four hundred pounds in Earth's old gravity. With muscles redesigned for pushing through the water, they are intensely strong.
Certain proteins help bodily fluids not to freeze, and increased blood flow to the extremities prevents frost bite. They have a second heart to facilitate this improved flow in light of their size. Redundant body parts were a theme on their creator's minds, since they have, infamously, a second set of arms. The idea behind these additional limbs, which also end in fin-like hands, was to allow them to alternate between propelling themselves forward underwater with each set.
Their appearance is considered frightening to other Acerbians, especially the Vulgaris Acerbians that are so noticeably closer to baseline humans. Umbratilis' unusual height, sharp teeth, four arms, wide and black eyes, fish skin, slit nostrils and physical bulk are used to villainize them in some Vulgaris-targeted Acerbian media. One insult aimed at them is "ogeres," a slur which originates from the French word "ogre." They primarily inhabit islands on the night side of Acerbus, though many live a nomadic life in fleets of aging industrial fishing vessels which serve as their homes.
As Acerbus a tidally-locked world, most people live in the twilight zone where temperatures are most tolerable. The Umbratilis were created in an ambitious attempt less than a century ago to colonize the dark and cold "night" side of the planet. Homo Umbratilis is the only subspecies created after the fall of the Forecaster, in more modern times, so their alterations were made with a deeper understanding of Acerbus. In addition to everything done to the Vulgaris and Marinus strains, an Umbratilis is built especially for swimming in the cold and living in the dark.
Sensory modifications were a special focus here. Their eyes are twice the size of typical human eyes and completely black, specialized so much for seeing in the dark that daylight is intolerably blinding to them. Beneath their ears are two small holes that essentially function as another, more underwater-purposed ear. Though they can't breathe the water, they can take in some amount of seawater safely through their slit nostrils, which opens up the ability to smell underwater. This and the secondary ears were improved upon until Umbratilis could hear and smell far better when submerged than any human can on land.
They have a slowed metabolism which conserves heat and energy, but renders them not quite as quick as the other subspecies are known to be. Perhaps as a consolation, they are much larger, reaching 2.5 meters tall. This, combined with a layer of blubber to protect against the cold- making them the only Acerbian subspecies thicker than baseline humans- means they would weigh over four hundred pounds in Earth's old gravity. With muscles redesigned for pushing through the water, they are intensely strong.
Certain proteins help bodily fluids not to freeze, and increased blood flow to the extremities prevents frost bite. They have a second heart to facilitate this improved flow in light of their size. Redundant body parts were a theme on their creator's minds, since they have, infamously, a second set of arms. The idea behind these additional limbs, which also end in fin-like hands, was to allow them to alternate between propelling themselves forward underwater with each set.
Their appearance is considered frightening to other Acerbians, especially the Vulgaris Acerbians that are so noticeably closer to baseline humans. Umbratilis' unusual height, sharp teeth, four arms, wide and black eyes, fish skin, slit nostrils and physical bulk are used to villainize them in some Vulgaris-targeted Acerbian media. One insult aimed at them is "ogeres," a slur which originates from the French word "ogre." They primarily inhabit islands on the night side of Acerbus, though many live a nomadic life in fleets of aging industrial fishing vessels which serve as their homes.
History:
Years: 0-70
The history of Acerbus begins like the history of most human colonies. They had shot in a panic through the Gateway like every other colony ship, and had landed on an unpleasant and challenging world like many of them. The Gateway had closed shut behind them soon after, leaving the blackness of space and no way home. They were alone, cut-off, and frightened. This experience was the experience of so many of humanity’s scattered seed.
In those early decades, as they first landed on the soil of this bitter, damp and uncomfortable world, what set those who would become the Acerbians apart was the presence of the Forecaster: a powerful, experimental, semi-organic AI created by a cutting-edge genetics company called GENIE, whose executives had furnished the Algus Colony Ship in exchange for safe passage aboard it. It was a blatantly illegal creation, with several neural nets created as much by human-derived neurons as traditional electronics. It was fortunate for the Algus Colony Ship that the world governments had bigger issues on their hands in those days than one illegal AI.
This partly human machine was sold as something able to juggle the many complex numbers and choices of a burgeoning colonial effort, making “decisions with the accuracy of a supercomputer but the sentiments of a human.” It worked for seventy years.
During that time, the Forecaster became in a sense the real leader of the colony. The AI shouldered first the number-crunching work, then resource management, then larger goal-setting, and by year thirty was the primary decision maker of the entire Acerbian effort.
At this time Acerbus was still a united nation. The shortage of metal was, naturally, an immense issue, and it was made worse by the discovery that Acerbian “trees” did not produce useful wood. But the Forecaster always found workarounds: the cities were built of stone and utilized low-gravity to great effect, tools were made from animal bone and shell and other alternative materials, and plastic could always be created from fossil fuels. Humanity itself was in the process of being genetically modified to survive on Acerbus without technological support. Many studies endeavored to discover if high technology could be maintained long-term with limited metal, and the Forecaster itself ran constant simulations of that exact scenario. But this was when the problem began to show.
It was discovered that the GENIE executives (all of them dead of natural causes by now) had deeply exaggerated the longevity of such a machine. Most of the Forecaster’s human-derived components were failing, literally aging, and its decisions were less and less reliable. This was an apocalyptic issue, because at this stage the colony’s entire system relied on it. There had been talk of diversifying, or of creating a back-up, but the work of either option was monumental- so it had always been delayed. Now it was too late.
The Forecaster fell to a fatal error one day, right as it was supposedly on the cusp of finding a solution to Acerbus’ resource problems. And in less than a year the world was burning.
The history of Acerbus begins like the history of most human colonies. They had shot in a panic through the Gateway like every other colony ship, and had landed on an unpleasant and challenging world like many of them. The Gateway had closed shut behind them soon after, leaving the blackness of space and no way home. They were alone, cut-off, and frightened. This experience was the experience of so many of humanity’s scattered seed.
In those early decades, as they first landed on the soil of this bitter, damp and uncomfortable world, what set those who would become the Acerbians apart was the presence of the Forecaster: a powerful, experimental, semi-organic AI created by a cutting-edge genetics company called GENIE, whose executives had furnished the Algus Colony Ship in exchange for safe passage aboard it. It was a blatantly illegal creation, with several neural nets created as much by human-derived neurons as traditional electronics. It was fortunate for the Algus Colony Ship that the world governments had bigger issues on their hands in those days than one illegal AI.
This partly human machine was sold as something able to juggle the many complex numbers and choices of a burgeoning colonial effort, making “decisions with the accuracy of a supercomputer but the sentiments of a human.” It worked for seventy years.
During that time, the Forecaster became in a sense the real leader of the colony. The AI shouldered first the number-crunching work, then resource management, then larger goal-setting, and by year thirty was the primary decision maker of the entire Acerbian effort.
At this time Acerbus was still a united nation. The shortage of metal was, naturally, an immense issue, and it was made worse by the discovery that Acerbian “trees” did not produce useful wood. But the Forecaster always found workarounds: the cities were built of stone and utilized low-gravity to great effect, tools were made from animal bone and shell and other alternative materials, and plastic could always be created from fossil fuels. Humanity itself was in the process of being genetically modified to survive on Acerbus without technological support. Many studies endeavored to discover if high technology could be maintained long-term with limited metal, and the Forecaster itself ran constant simulations of that exact scenario. But this was when the problem began to show.
It was discovered that the GENIE executives (all of them dead of natural causes by now) had deeply exaggerated the longevity of such a machine. Most of the Forecaster’s human-derived components were failing, literally aging, and its decisions were less and less reliable. This was an apocalyptic issue, because at this stage the colony’s entire system relied on it. There had been talk of diversifying, or of creating a back-up, but the work of either option was monumental- so it had always been delayed. Now it was too late.
The Forecaster fell to a fatal error one day, right as it was supposedly on the cusp of finding a solution to Acerbus’ resource problems. And in less than a year the world was burning.
Years: 70-400
It was a second apocalypse, as the entire political, informational and infrastructural system of Acerbus crumbled over months. Across the various colonized islands of the Twilight Band, the power vacuum was filled by local authorities stepping up to assert control. But as the metal shortage was felt in its full brunt for the first time, few of them had the resources they needed to govern. This is how the raiding started.
From this point forward, the history of Acerbus is largely a history of raids, skirmishes, in-fighting and warring primarily over metal, but also over land and (something very rare on Acerbus) tolerable-tasting food. Each island became a world unto itself, which was only concerned with the well-being of itself. Warlords arose out of this endless conflict and became the true authorities of Acerbus.
Times were rough. When a large haul of metal or a valuable mine was won from an opposing island, a feast might be held and everyone would celebrate, but soon it would become clear that the warlord intended to use it only to supply his own militia- in order to go on more raids and press the advantage. Rarely was it put towards the people. Basic necessities ran low on all but the most fortunate islands. As access to healthcare became limited, Acerbian folk medicine was born. With edible food hoarded by the local warlord and their armies, what was left became communal. As historical data-banks were stripped for wiring, the past was forgotten and fell into oral tradition. Acerbian culture became warlike when it was clear that joining the raiding parties was the only way to progress in life.
In over three centuries of chaos, it should be no surprise that many found solace in faith. Ever since genetic modifications during the time of the Forecaster had stripped Acerbians of true sleep, vision-like experiences had replaced dreams. Now many small religions formed around them, bolstered by local folklore and oral tradition. These Vision-Cults were often lead by a local prophet who claimed the power to interpret people’s visions. Often, the warlord had a personal prophet in his house that interpreted visions and signs for him, advising him before great battles and on all spiritual matters.
Among these prophetically advised warlords was one Barbieri, a brutal but ingenious man who supposedly won his army in a one-on-one duel with the previous warlord. Historians used to suspect this story of being apocryphal. Now evidence points towards the duel being a real event, but rediscovered writings from the period suggest that Barbieri cheated.
Regardless, he began as the possessor of a small island who strategically played his rivals against one another, attacking opportunistically when they were at their weakest. He promised positions to any enemy commanders who defected to his side, but cut off the right hands and gouged out the right eyes of any who did not. As his reputation grew, many aligned themselves to him, and he expanded his power over the Twilight Band steadily. In time it was obvious to everyone that Barbieri had become a power large enough to function as the leader of Acerbus. As the other warlords were forced to accept the way history was moving, they fell in line- though not always without a struggle. All warlords now swore their fealty to Barbieri, who was titled the Victor.
Victor Barbieri established his dynasty and ruled Acerbus for the rest of his life. He pushed projects to revitalize the economy and improve interisland trade, but his special focus was on unifying the now disparate Acerbian people. One part of this was a movement to bring all the Vision-Cults into one cohesive faith, a single global religion which answered to Barbieri’s personal prophet. The religion which Barbieri’s prophet taught was known as Revelationism, first created by a now dead preacher called Sister-Mother Aurora, and it was made the faith of the world.
It was a second apocalypse, as the entire political, informational and infrastructural system of Acerbus crumbled over months. Across the various colonized islands of the Twilight Band, the power vacuum was filled by local authorities stepping up to assert control. But as the metal shortage was felt in its full brunt for the first time, few of them had the resources they needed to govern. This is how the raiding started.
From this point forward, the history of Acerbus is largely a history of raids, skirmishes, in-fighting and warring primarily over metal, but also over land and (something very rare on Acerbus) tolerable-tasting food. Each island became a world unto itself, which was only concerned with the well-being of itself. Warlords arose out of this endless conflict and became the true authorities of Acerbus.
Times were rough. When a large haul of metal or a valuable mine was won from an opposing island, a feast might be held and everyone would celebrate, but soon it would become clear that the warlord intended to use it only to supply his own militia- in order to go on more raids and press the advantage. Rarely was it put towards the people. Basic necessities ran low on all but the most fortunate islands. As access to healthcare became limited, Acerbian folk medicine was born. With edible food hoarded by the local warlord and their armies, what was left became communal. As historical data-banks were stripped for wiring, the past was forgotten and fell into oral tradition. Acerbian culture became warlike when it was clear that joining the raiding parties was the only way to progress in life.
In over three centuries of chaos, it should be no surprise that many found solace in faith. Ever since genetic modifications during the time of the Forecaster had stripped Acerbians of true sleep, vision-like experiences had replaced dreams. Now many small religions formed around them, bolstered by local folklore and oral tradition. These Vision-Cults were often lead by a local prophet who claimed the power to interpret people’s visions. Often, the warlord had a personal prophet in his house that interpreted visions and signs for him, advising him before great battles and on all spiritual matters.
Among these prophetically advised warlords was one Barbieri, a brutal but ingenious man who supposedly won his army in a one-on-one duel with the previous warlord. Historians used to suspect this story of being apocryphal. Now evidence points towards the duel being a real event, but rediscovered writings from the period suggest that Barbieri cheated.
Regardless, he began as the possessor of a small island who strategically played his rivals against one another, attacking opportunistically when they were at their weakest. He promised positions to any enemy commanders who defected to his side, but cut off the right hands and gouged out the right eyes of any who did not. As his reputation grew, many aligned themselves to him, and he expanded his power over the Twilight Band steadily. In time it was obvious to everyone that Barbieri had become a power large enough to function as the leader of Acerbus. As the other warlords were forced to accept the way history was moving, they fell in line- though not always without a struggle. All warlords now swore their fealty to Barbieri, who was titled the Victor.
Victor Barbieri established his dynasty and ruled Acerbus for the rest of his life. He pushed projects to revitalize the economy and improve interisland trade, but his special focus was on unifying the now disparate Acerbian people. One part of this was a movement to bring all the Vision-Cults into one cohesive faith, a single global religion which answered to Barbieri’s personal prophet. The religion which Barbieri’s prophet taught was known as Revelationism, first created by a now dead preacher called Sister-Mother Aurora, and it was made the faith of the world.
Years: 400-Present
Of course, Barbieri eventually went the way of all humankind. Lying on his death bed, he passed his power to his only child, Alessia, who would succeed him as Victor. She was a little girl of only eight years old. At Barbieri’s funeral, the personal prophet whom he had made the religious leader of all Acerbus- a by now ancient man named Sergius Domino- promised to serve as the girl’s protector until she was of age to rule alone.
That time never came. Before she was ten, it was discovered that Alessia was horribly ill in some lifelong way. Acerbian medicine had not recovered enough to be capable of treating it. She would not reach adulthood.
Sergius Domino hid this. He temporized. While Alessia’s life faded, he cemented himself as a leader in every way he could, established connections with key warlords, and secretly prepared Revelationist ministers and faithful soldiers to rise up and make themselves an authority if ever the time came. And it did come, by Alessia’s twelfth birthday.
When it was heard the future Victor was dead, and there was no clear heir to replace her, local warlords who had previously been loyal to Barbieri threatened revolt. They saw this as a chance to regain their independence, and a return to the old ways before a Victor meddled with their affairs. Skirmishing and warring flared up again within only a few days. It was a promise of more bloodshed to come. A short, cynical senryu written by a poet from this time is titled "Acerbian History" and simply reads:
"First the world ended,
then the world ended and now-
the world is ending"
It was the Revelationist priesthood that prevented it.
Domino put himself forward as the new leader of Acerbus. It may not have worked, but he had established himself enough in the time of Alessia’s sickness, and had so prepared his loyal priests for this moment, that he at least had the ear of the warlords. He promised a return to stability if he was put in power, and for the warlord’s part he said he would make any who stayed loyal to him an “executor,” a governor with almost fully autonomous power over his own island. No more meddling. All they had to do was keep the peace, pay their tithes, and ensure the faithfulness of their populace. Almost gratefully, they agreed.
The ones who did not were conquered again by those who had. Their bodies were dismembered and dumped in the ocean to be eaten by ceti. Their islands are now ruled by Revelationist priests, officially called revelators.
That is the history of Acerbus, in short.
Since the Revelationist priesthood took authority, things have vastly improved. The revelators established a global order just capable enough to start rebuilding Acerbus after the many centuries of endless war. In an unexpected but fortunate turn of events, it's became clear that the priesthood tends to act in the better interest of the common people, which they depend upon even more than they do the support of the warlords-turned-executors. In this way healthcare has resumed, formal education has come back into existence, and a decent quality of life has been resurrected from the distant past. The priesthood is imperfect but, if nothing else, they’re kinder than the warlords.
For the first time, it looks like the sun may be about to rise in the Twilight Band.
Of course, Barbieri eventually went the way of all humankind. Lying on his death bed, he passed his power to his only child, Alessia, who would succeed him as Victor. She was a little girl of only eight years old. At Barbieri’s funeral, the personal prophet whom he had made the religious leader of all Acerbus- a by now ancient man named Sergius Domino- promised to serve as the girl’s protector until she was of age to rule alone.
That time never came. Before she was ten, it was discovered that Alessia was horribly ill in some lifelong way. Acerbian medicine had not recovered enough to be capable of treating it. She would not reach adulthood.
Sergius Domino hid this. He temporized. While Alessia’s life faded, he cemented himself as a leader in every way he could, established connections with key warlords, and secretly prepared Revelationist ministers and faithful soldiers to rise up and make themselves an authority if ever the time came. And it did come, by Alessia’s twelfth birthday.
When it was heard the future Victor was dead, and there was no clear heir to replace her, local warlords who had previously been loyal to Barbieri threatened revolt. They saw this as a chance to regain their independence, and a return to the old ways before a Victor meddled with their affairs. Skirmishing and warring flared up again within only a few days. It was a promise of more bloodshed to come. A short, cynical senryu written by a poet from this time is titled "Acerbian History" and simply reads:
"First the world ended,
then the world ended and now-
the world is ending"
It was the Revelationist priesthood that prevented it.
Domino put himself forward as the new leader of Acerbus. It may not have worked, but he had established himself enough in the time of Alessia’s sickness, and had so prepared his loyal priests for this moment, that he at least had the ear of the warlords. He promised a return to stability if he was put in power, and for the warlord’s part he said he would make any who stayed loyal to him an “executor,” a governor with almost fully autonomous power over his own island. No more meddling. All they had to do was keep the peace, pay their tithes, and ensure the faithfulness of their populace. Almost gratefully, they agreed.
The ones who did not were conquered again by those who had. Their bodies were dismembered and dumped in the ocean to be eaten by ceti. Their islands are now ruled by Revelationist priests, officially called revelators.
That is the history of Acerbus, in short.
Since the Revelationist priesthood took authority, things have vastly improved. The revelators established a global order just capable enough to start rebuilding Acerbus after the many centuries of endless war. In an unexpected but fortunate turn of events, it's became clear that the priesthood tends to act in the better interest of the common people, which they depend upon even more than they do the support of the warlords-turned-executors. In this way healthcare has resumed, formal education has come back into existence, and a decent quality of life has been resurrected from the distant past. The priesthood is imperfect but, if nothing else, they’re kinder than the warlords.
For the first time, it looks like the sun may be about to rise in the Twilight Band.
Culture and Society:
For the last one hundred years, the "Sacrosanct Century," Acerbian culture has become dominated by their faith in their unique mythology. Below are the basics:
Revelationism was created by combining ancient mythology with early Acerbian spiritualism and folklore, with a deep influence from visions. It is a religion built around its myths and the implications inferred from them, often laden with double-meaning and esotericism. Its founder and Highest Prophet, the one who birthed the faith, was Sister-Mother Aurora, a woman obsessed with mythological stories and plagued by visions even more vivid than the Acerbian norm. She experienced visions even while waking, so that her life was constantly interrupted by events she considered to be divine instruction.
Though sizeable fragments of humanity's history had been lost to the chaos of the warlord era, she somehow managed to find a library of mythological stories and religious texts from all the major faiths of Earth. This event, too, she considered to be divine. She read them all. And, though they contradicted, she tried to believe them all.
At last her visions did the work of bringing together the disparate sacred stories in her mind, creating a single unified idea. She taught much of these things publicly to the curious masses and privately to her few but devout followers, but she wrote down nothing herself. Multiple accounts of her teachings arose from the writings of her students, which were eventually edited into verse and combined together into the Sacrosanct Songbook, a long music-like poem that provides the entirety of Revelationist mythology and its foundational principles. It was in this tradition that Sergius Domino, the first theocratic ruler of Acerbus, was raised.
Sister-Mother Aurora did not live to see her religion truly bloom. But in the decades after her death, as her followers rose to the heights of power at the side of the Victor and scattered her vision across the world, it would become the faith of all Acerbus. It would also split and crack under its own newfound weight, as sects emerged and beliefs diverged. There are today many secondary books after the Sacrosanct Songbook, a large apocrypha of supposed sayings of the Sister-Mother, of mystical vision journeys, of teachings from other self-proclaimed prophets, of new interpretations created by both theologians and wandering wisemen. Which of these secondary texts a particular Revelationist accepts and which they reject largely defines their denomination, the sort of Revelationist that they are. It is not at all uniform.
But all accept the Sacrosanct Songbook.
It describes the gods of Revelationism in poetic terms but immense detail, and calls them "The Gods Behind The Gods." This term is used because a principle belief of Revelationism is that all other deities are reflections, echoes, or children of its own deities. It revolves around the idea that the gods of Earthly mythologies, like Thor or Ra, are representatives of the true gods. In this way all mythologies and religions are real, in a sense. But those who still believe in them must be brought to realize that their gods exist beneath that which is truly divine, the Gods Behind The Gods.
It was the belief of Sister-Mother Aurora that they never revealed themselves directly to humans before the Fall of Earth because mankind was not yet ready. Earth and all its religions were intended for humanity to grow and mature enough that we could one day meet the true gods. Our passing through the Gateways is likened in her language to our birth, our exiting out of the "womb" of Earth into the cosmos proper. Now that we have passed through the void and been touched by the starlight, humanity is finally born, and is at long last ready to learn the truth.
With all of this imagery related to birth and children, it may not surprising that the Gods Behind The Gods are also called the Cosmic Mothers.
That is how the mythology goes. But in a more practical sense, what the Revelationist faith most calls its followers to do is:
1.) Repeat rituals until the Swallower comes, for the healing of their souls and society.
2.) Accept the coming of the Swallower, which means accepting all things and reaching a state of inner peace.
3.) Obey the Whisperer but resist the Liar, which means behaving properly
4.) Work through their spiritual imperfections, which in most cases equates to a kind of religious therapy
5.) See beyond the veil between the material and spiritual world, whether it be by meditation or by highs of emotional experience or by mind-altering substance usage.
Those who walk the path and achieve a state of transcendence before their deaths, after they have passed away, are believed to become a transcendent spirit, an eternal part of the universe which will remain whole when the Swallower consumes it all. They will pass through her belly and into the next world both as themselves and as a foundational part of the cosmos.
Though sizeable fragments of humanity's history had been lost to the chaos of the warlord era, she somehow managed to find a library of mythological stories and religious texts from all the major faiths of Earth. This event, too, she considered to be divine. She read them all. And, though they contradicted, she tried to believe them all.
At last her visions did the work of bringing together the disparate sacred stories in her mind, creating a single unified idea. She taught much of these things publicly to the curious masses and privately to her few but devout followers, but she wrote down nothing herself. Multiple accounts of her teachings arose from the writings of her students, which were eventually edited into verse and combined together into the Sacrosanct Songbook, a long music-like poem that provides the entirety of Revelationist mythology and its foundational principles. It was in this tradition that Sergius Domino, the first theocratic ruler of Acerbus, was raised.
Sister-Mother Aurora did not live to see her religion truly bloom. But in the decades after her death, as her followers rose to the heights of power at the side of the Victor and scattered her vision across the world, it would become the faith of all Acerbus. It would also split and crack under its own newfound weight, as sects emerged and beliefs diverged. There are today many secondary books after the Sacrosanct Songbook, a large apocrypha of supposed sayings of the Sister-Mother, of mystical vision journeys, of teachings from other self-proclaimed prophets, of new interpretations created by both theologians and wandering wisemen. Which of these secondary texts a particular Revelationist accepts and which they reject largely defines their denomination, the sort of Revelationist that they are. It is not at all uniform.
But all accept the Sacrosanct Songbook.
It describes the gods of Revelationism in poetic terms but immense detail, and calls them "The Gods Behind The Gods." This term is used because a principle belief of Revelationism is that all other deities are reflections, echoes, or children of its own deities. It revolves around the idea that the gods of Earthly mythologies, like Thor or Ra, are representatives of the true gods. In this way all mythologies and religions are real, in a sense. But those who still believe in them must be brought to realize that their gods exist beneath that which is truly divine, the Gods Behind The Gods.
It was the belief of Sister-Mother Aurora that they never revealed themselves directly to humans before the Fall of Earth because mankind was not yet ready. Earth and all its religions were intended for humanity to grow and mature enough that we could one day meet the true gods. Our passing through the Gateways is likened in her language to our birth, our exiting out of the "womb" of Earth into the cosmos proper. Now that we have passed through the void and been touched by the starlight, humanity is finally born, and is at long last ready to learn the truth.
With all of this imagery related to birth and children, it may not surprising that the Gods Behind The Gods are also called the Cosmic Mothers.
Every citizen of Acerbus is required to profess and believe in the three Cosmic Mothers, who created the universe and will destroy it, as well as the six Cosmic Brothers who are their children.
Note: It is not considered blasphemous, and is in fact encouraged, to translate the names of Revelationism's gods into the language of the reader/listener. As a result, the names of the Cosmic Mothers and Cosmic Brothers are presented in English rather than Novum Vulgaris.
The Cosmic Mothers are as follows:
And the Cosmic Brothers, their children:
The gods of other mythologies are considered to simultaneously be the shadows, the reflections, the echoes, and the children of the Brothers. So, for example, Loki is a child of the Liar. Enki is a child of the Whisperer. And so on.
Note: It is not considered blasphemous, and is in fact encouraged, to translate the names of Revelationism's gods into the language of the reader/listener. As a result, the names of the Cosmic Mothers and Cosmic Brothers are presented in English rather than Novum Vulgaris.
The Cosmic Mothers are as follows:
The Bearer: The goddess that formed the cosmos in Her belly, and then birthed it into existence. She embodies creation, and that which was. She is the original, first Cosmic Mother; the other two come to existence in the universe which she births. She is portrayed in art as a woman with many eyes, often weeping.
The Sufferer: The goddess that embodies reality, and that which is. The Sufferer's body is the universe itself, the stars and every atom. She is everything that will happen between the creation of the universe and the end of it. She is portrayed in art as a woman with many faces.
The Swallower: The goddess that embodies uncreation, and that which will be. The Swallower's body is the void between stars and the space between atoms. She is the end of the universe and the destruction of all things. She is portrayed in art as a woman with many arms, whose entire face is a mouth, because she will one day swallow up the universe and all things will cease to exist within her stomach.
When the universe was first created, it was flawless. The spiritual world and the material world existed as one. But the Swallower, who is Nothing, became envious of the Sufferer, who is Everything, and- depending on the telling- either cut her with a poisoned dagger or bit her with venomous fangs. The venom seeped into the Sufferer, sickening her and "making her mind bitter." This drove her to madness. The Sufferer's Madness is the cause of everything wrong with reality, from disease to entropy, and it can never be cured until the universe is swallowed up again.
When the Bearer saw that the Sufferer has been driven mad, she said "Oh gods, oh sisters, what have you done?" She then split the spiritual world from the material world to protect it from the Sufferer's madness. There she has fled, awaiting the time when the Swallower ends creation.
After the Swallower consumes the universe, she will sit in an empty place and ponder. After eons which cannot be counted, she will come to regret that she consumed all there was, and the moment she feels this regret, a change will begin in her. The dead universe in her belly will boil with the heat of all the suns she swallowed, and in that heat and pressure will form a new universe. The Swallower will transform into The Bearer, and will birth the universe, restarting the cycle.
So the cosmos is in a constant cycle of creation and destruction, of being birthed by the Bearer, embodied by the Sufferer and swallowed by the Swallower, who then turns into the Bearer and starts it all over again.
And the Cosmic Brothers, their children:
Weeper: The first-born son of the Bearer, also described as her eyes. Ever since the Swallower poisoned the Sufferer, he looks upon the broken state of the universe and cries out day and night. He embodies perfection, and thereby cannot fully manifest himself in this now broken cosmos. He is portrayed as an older man with a scar across his face, and eyes red or swollen from crying.
Whisperer: The second-born son of the Bearer, also described as her mouth. He is the god who speaks into the hearts of humanity, telling us that we were made for a better world. He embodies all that is still good about the cosmos. All our sense of morality comes from the Whisperer, as he is the voice of conscience that tells us how we would act in a perfect world, and so how we must act for this world to be improved. He is portrayed as a young man with a single eye and an open mouth.
---
Seer: The first-born son of the Sufferer, also described as her eyes. He is the god who witnesses and records the passing of the ages from creation until destruction. He embodies time. He is portrayed as a very old man, weary and often leaning on a cane, for time is now very old and the end is close at hand.
Screecher: The second-born son of the Sufferer, also described as her mouth. The poison that drove his mother mad also entered him, and he screams out always in agony because of it. He embodies that which has become bad about the cosmos. He is portrayed as a sick or crippled man.
---
Eater: The first-born son of the Swallower, also described as her stomach. (The Swallower has no eyes, and is blind.) The Eater is the Swallower's favorite son, the purest representation of her soul. He embodies the end of time. He aids his mother in concluding all things, and is the being which takes a deceased human soul into his mother. He is portrayed as an executioner.
Liar: The second-born son of the Swallower, also described as her mouth. He embodies imperfection. He is named the Liar because he is a trickster and a deceiver who works to undo the cosmos by introducing falsehood into it, and must be resisted. He is the antitype of the Whisperer. He is never portrayed in any form.
The gods of other mythologies are considered to simultaneously be the shadows, the reflections, the echoes, and the children of the Brothers. So, for example, Loki is a child of the Liar. Enki is a child of the Whisperer. And so on.
That is how the mythology goes. But in a more practical sense, what the Revelationist faith most calls its followers to do is:
1.) Repeat rituals until the Swallower comes, for the healing of their souls and society.
2.) Accept the coming of the Swallower, which means accepting all things and reaching a state of inner peace.
3.) Obey the Whisperer but resist the Liar, which means behaving properly
4.) Work through their spiritual imperfections, which in most cases equates to a kind of religious therapy
5.) See beyond the veil between the material and spiritual world, whether it be by meditation or by highs of emotional experience or by mind-altering substance usage.
Those who walk the path and achieve a state of transcendence before their deaths, after they have passed away, are believed to become a transcendent spirit, an eternal part of the universe which will remain whole when the Swallower consumes it all. They will pass through her belly and into the next world both as themselves and as a foundational part of the cosmos.
So the Acerbians remain a peculiar people, difficult to classify by the boundaries of Old Earth. Their mythology incorporates elements from disunified Earthly cultures, and even outside of their faith, strenuous genetic modification has made them unidentified with any one ethnicity. They've accidentally become something a bit unique.
Although their islands are covered with high-reaching stone cities and therefore highly urbanized, community is alive and well and is one of the most vital things to understand about the Acerbian lifestyle. Communal music, oral storytelling and spoken poetry are immensely popular despite computerized entertainment, especially when accompanied by the mind-altering substances which can be obtained legally from low-ranking revelators. It's arguably one of the only benefits to come out of the warlord era: when food was scarce, people survived by banding into close-knit communes that existed within the chaos of a city. Most Acerbians still eat dinner and spend time each night in a large group of 5-10 families (called a circulus) which comprises the core of their social life. Most residential buildings in Acerbian cities are built with the circulus in mind.
At home with their circulus they dress comfortably, but abroad in the stony streets Acerbians have a very formal style. Early on in their history, Acerbians had to wear clothes to cover their entire body for protection from the pollen. Even now the pollen is still a discomfort. Robes and other flowing, covering clothes are normal on Acerbus, and many people both men and women wear veils over their faces. This is only partly religious and largely practical: a veil helps with the frustrating pollen and the difficult-to-predict rain immensely, as the material is most often water-repellant. Gloves of a similar material are also popular in a world where every surface tends to be damp.
Acerbians speak a unique language: Novum Vulgaris ("New Common"), a blending of something like Ecclesiastical Latin with heavy Italian and English influences. It's creation has to do with a half-successful attempt from the Forecaster to institute a resurrected Latin as the official language of Acerbus, and with the simple fact that many of the early colonists spoke Italian or English.
One thing Acerbians hold to which will feel more familiar to traditional human cultures is a strong sense of personal honor. This was formed in the combative warlord centuries and then made concrete by Revelationism and its rules, and is enforced by the social pressure of a circulus. Roughly seventy years ago, a retired executor and military veteran named Ex. Davide Taylo wrote "The Code of Bitter Honor," a collection of proverbs and maxims that incapsulated the spirit of Acerbian honor. Its strictures have rapidly become a part of the backbone of proper behavior, and every young Acerbian who takes their reputation seriously memorizes it. Lethal duels are fought over breaches of it.
The quintessential Acerbian is indeed passionate and mercurial enough to end a life in a duel, but surprisingly rigid in his outwards behaviors. He is quick to befriend or curse, stormy, prone to both ecstatic visions and lifelong feuds, but loyal to his fellows and his beliefs and his island even at great harm to himself. His sense of right and wrong is defined by the expectations of those around him. One poet called Acerbians "Fires in a brick cage."
Governance and Politics:
Acerbians have endured the chaos of many changing-of-hands in terms of their governance, with the one common thread being that the regular citizen has never had any say in it. That is not likely to change soon. But as things stand, the balance of power is slightly odd.
The Revelationist priesthood, the revelators, runs things on the national level. In the official sense, Acerbus is a theocracy led by the Temple Gathering, a senate-like legislative body comprised of high-ranking revelators. The Temple Gathering is headed up by the Sacrosanct Orator, a single revelator elected by his or her peers for a lifetime- the Acerbian equivalent to a pope and a president. The office of the Sacrosanct Orator has been gaining power for decades now and is starting to exert more and more control over the Temple Gathering as a whole.
Where the cracks start to show is on the local level. While the priests lead the nation on paper, the majority of the individual islands are not led by a high revelator but rather by an executor, an Acerbian term for a kind of governor. While executors must remain loyal to the priesthood, this is technically a secular office, descendent from the warlords of old.
Because executors are given surprisingly vast powers over their own islands, the politics and laws of each individual Acerbian island vary greatly depending on which executor is in charge. A lucky few are almost democratic; several more are still militant and dictatorial, though the priesthood has shown itself able to step in if it becomes too problematic. Many are simply quiet aristocracies, with a ruling family that passes along the executor title through the generations and keeps their people loyal with bread and circuses. There is no single rule of thumb for the politics of each island.
Executors can and do still fight one another, just as their warlord ancestors did. Though with the Temple Gathering overwatching the world now, the priesthood is able to enforce enough civility as to keep these conflicts down to the level of skirmishes rather than wars, many of which are now over social issues as much as over resources- family feuds, religious dominations and the like. In this way the priesthood convincingly claims to be a force for good on Acerbus. The time of wars and horrors is over, they can proudly say.
It's half true. While conflict on the ground is rarer and softer than it has been since the fall of the Forecaster, it has begun for the first time in outer space. The warlords fought so much over metal because they did not have the ability to reach the asteroid belt. In the stronger economy and reclaimed technology of modern Acerbus, the executors and the revelators are able to reach it, and there they are always having space naval skirmishes with one another over territories and mining zones. But these tiny wars up in the stars are seen almost as a game, happening far above the heads of the people whose names they are waged in, and the normal populace is barely aware of them.
Technology Overview:
Acerbus has had a lopsided, starting-and-stopping approach to technological advancement through its history. Early, when research was mostly under the dictation of the Forecaster, the emphasis was on genetic tampering, on cloning, and on ecological studies of their strange planet, all in an attempt to bring humanity and Acerbus into some kind of coexistence. Strides have continued to be made in these fields although the time of the warlords and the pressures of that period, when schools were converted into military academies and research centers into fortresses, temporarily put a stop to it. In the modern day, Acerbus has enjoyed a boom in the field of neurology. Some modest advancements have also been made in naval warfare, especially as it pertains to AI, which will be explained in the military overview. Outside of these bright spots, however, Acerbians should be assumed to be struggling technologically. All its eggs are in very specific baskets.
A few stand-out examples of ETA's "bright spots" of technology are detailed below.
Re-education and Mental Mapping:
Acerbians have made great advancements in re-education and mental rehabilitation over the last century. They've particularly developed tools to 'read' the human mind, scanning a patient's brain and being able to analyze their behavioral patterns and choices, vision/dream activity, areas of trauma or overactivity, and so on.
It can be used to understand and treat conditions like PTSD or psychotic and mood disorders in ways that have never been possible before. It is in large parts thanks to this that the priesthood has been able to curb addiction under their rule while still allowing mind-altering substances as part of religious ritual.
But, recently, it is also used by the authorities- strict executors or tyrannical revelators- to understand and "treat" dissident thought, to forcefully cure rebellious forces or problematic individuals of their views. This is not like the clumsy attempts at re-education tried in the past. Re-education today is a sophisticated process of prescribed drugs, electroconvulsive therapy, psychotropic substances administered in the right doses, forced and manufactured religious experiences and, at last, the liberal application of suggestive ideas to a sufficiently broken mind.
A human being cannot be remade overnight. But with the right tools, a memory can be altered, a new idea can be implanted, an identity can be lifted or lowered: and with that, the remaking can begin. Its use is deeply controversial, especially as the revelators try to maintain their reputation as a force for good. But it has proven so useful for dealing with heretics and nonbelievers that it has yet to be outlawed. The words of a poet that had gone through such a process were simply:
"They swallowed my memories
but left alone my memories
of the swallowing"
Digitized Ancestors:
It began as failed attempts to transfer a human consciousness into another body, biological or mechanical. These trials were ordered in the days of Victor Barbieri, when the faith was still in its adolescence and the Victor had a desire to see his world progress (and, perhaps, to make himself live forever.) Though they never were able to make a complete transfer of a person's mind from one body to another, they found that they could get "little pieces" of them across, as one researcher phrased it. A few memories, their speech patterns, the most consistent traits of their personalities- described by an Acerbian poet as "a small and broken ghost."
This "ghost" was never enough to inhabit a body. But placed into a computer simulation, it could talk to you, almost how the person would have talked. Later in history, as the revelators took over, there was hot debate for decades about whether this, this shattered fragment, was the person's captured soul. It was decided that it is not. At least not all the way. But, by a sermon from the Sacrosanct Orator delivered to the Temple Gathering and a subsequent vote making it law, it is considered a small piece of their spirit.
In this way the Digitized Ancestors were introduced. They are scans of a deceased person's mind, kept preserved in databanks and called up again when one of their descendants needs to consult them for advice. A revelationist might still speak to his great-grandmother or, phrased in his own beliefs, a remnant of her spirit. The dead are not inaccessible.
Medical Advancements and Shedding:
This is a tame usage of cloning, and the same genetic modification which created the Acerbian subspecies. Aging has always been a terror to humans of any world. Revelationists do not believe that the physical body should last forever, but most denominations (the Umbratilis Nomads take exception, as do some who emphasize the Swallower) don't forbid extending its lifespan for some time. Shedding is the usage of cloned body parts- livers, joints, ears and eyes- to replace failing ones. For one instance, an Acerbian reaching old age will often have his doctor prescribe a new heart. New skin grafts are popular for hiding the appearance of aging, and certain mental illnesses or brain damage can also be treated by replacing the problematic section of a patient's brain.
Replacing failing organs won't extend a lifespan forever. However, one undeniably positive change the priesthood has implemented is to make healthcare free for all Acerbians regardless of their executor, and modern citizens who stay in good upkeep combined with genetic treatments are now projected to reach over two-hundred years of age.
Genetic Modification:
The technology used to genetically modify the early Acerbians is very old now, and has been improved upon only slightly. It was created by the GENIE corporation as a secondary way of securing safe passage aboard the colony ship, in case the Forecaster didn't live up to expectations. It is seen almost as magic by the Acerbians of today, but some experts exist who can still make the ancient gene labs function. The process is expensive and somewhat inefficient, requiring much time and funding, and its unlikely they will create anything more extreme or more efficient than what is shown in the Homo Umbratilis. Nonetheless it should be possible for the Acerbians to create new subspecies of themselves or others if the need arises, and if they are given time.
Military Overview:
The newly begun space naval warfare in Algus is taking a shape not unlike the submarine-vs-submarine warfare of Earth's past, largely waged at great distances and concluded by the delivery of an explosive payload. In honor of that tradition, they call these payloads torpedoes, not missiles. Because space is infinitely large and yet the Algus system in particular is often "crowded" by asteroids and ships- and by gas giants whose massive gravitational pull throws off passing torpedoes- Acerbian torpedo guidance systems have become advanced and exacting. Really, the torpedoes of Acerbian forces are AI-controlled "smart torpedoes" that make decisions, guide themselves through complex maneuvers, and have an understanding of what they are doing. Usually they know the name and psychological profile of the enemy commander. They understand intrinsically how to maximize for the most efficient destruction of the target.
Due to the impressive results that Acerbian torpedo technology tends to achieve, EMP devices and point-defense have become critical, the first to disrupt their internal systems and the second to shoot them down. Like their targets, both are typically AI-controlled in modern battles. In order to get around these defenses, some vessels have begun to use long-distance railguns which shoot heavy, powerful bullets that cannot be targeted by point-defense and have no electronics for an EMP to confuse. But thankfully for those hit by them, these are not quite as powerful and devastating as a torpedo against the hull. Acerbian hulls in general are as thick as the metal economy will allow them to be.
Scanners are deeply important to victory in battles fought at such distances- as are the devices which confuse them. Many Acerbian vessels which seem obvious make themselves "invisible" by so disorienting the scanners of other vessels that their location, out in the vast void of space, cannot be ascertained. In more desperate situations, they have an emergency "silent mode" which kills non-vital systems on board the ship and slows venting heat out into space, reducing the footprint which other vessels are hoping to pick up on.
When it comes to conflict with other nations, Acerbus' vessels will seem stealthy, prone to attacking at a distance with brutal, AI-run explosives, trying to conclude the battle quickly before they can be pinned down. They will be found at last hidden behind a moon or a cluster of asteroids.
Due to the impressive results that Acerbian torpedo technology tends to achieve, EMP devices and point-defense have become critical, the first to disrupt their internal systems and the second to shoot them down. Like their targets, both are typically AI-controlled in modern battles. In order to get around these defenses, some vessels have begun to use long-distance railguns which shoot heavy, powerful bullets that cannot be targeted by point-defense and have no electronics for an EMP to confuse. But thankfully for those hit by them, these are not quite as powerful and devastating as a torpedo against the hull. Acerbian hulls in general are as thick as the metal economy will allow them to be.
Scanners are deeply important to victory in battles fought at such distances- as are the devices which confuse them. Many Acerbian vessels which seem obvious make themselves "invisible" by so disorienting the scanners of other vessels that their location, out in the vast void of space, cannot be ascertained. In more desperate situations, they have an emergency "silent mode" which kills non-vital systems on board the ship and slows venting heat out into space, reducing the footprint which other vessels are hoping to pick up on.
When it comes to conflict with other nations, Acerbus' vessels will seem stealthy, prone to attacking at a distance with brutal, AI-run explosives, trying to conclude the battle quickly before they can be pinned down. They will be found at last hidden behind a moon or a cluster of asteroids.
Infantry has been pivotal to Acerbian history, unlike the modern skirmishes of space naval combat, but it has changed only a little in that time. Because most islands on the Twilight Band are primarily covered by dense, towering cities, Acerbian forces excel at urban combat and vertical mobility. Jetpacks have been brought up to the point of actual effectiveness and ease-of-use, and every respectable Acerbian army has a few units carrying them. Jetpacks or no, Acerbians armies are usually organized into small and highly mobile units kept well-funded by their executor or by their high revelator, as the case may be. They are equipped with good guns, grenades, bulletproof vests, and the other expected tools of war, but also occasionally with short swords for the close-quarter scraps and spiraling duels that are so common on crowded Acerbian streets.
Like their space naval counterparts, during pressing times it's not uncommon for Acerbian soldiers to hide in their environment, in their case by wearing civilian clothes and carrying concealed weaponry. Many executors have started to press in on a neighbor's island only to find their genetically altered minds coming to paranoia at the uncertainty of who is a fighter and who is not. The only Acerbian soldiers are who really advertise themselves are those who wear corazza, a form of lightweight but versatile power armor- only commanders or the relatives of executors and revelators are ever equipped with corazza. Besides mobility and protection, it's used as a way of declaring the owner to be important enough to ransom instead of killing.
Like their space naval counterparts, during pressing times it's not uncommon for Acerbian soldiers to hide in their environment, in their case by wearing civilian clothes and carrying concealed weaponry. Many executors have started to press in on a neighbor's island only to find their genetically altered minds coming to paranoia at the uncertainty of who is a fighter and who is not. The only Acerbian soldiers are who really advertise themselves are those who wear corazza, a form of lightweight but versatile power armor- only commanders or the relatives of executors and revelators are ever equipped with corazza. Besides mobility and protection, it's used as a way of declaring the owner to be important enough to ransom instead of killing.
Because the majority of islands in the Twilight Band are mostly urban, and the wet navy is an important presence, Acerbian air forces have been developed greatly in two specific directions.
The first kind are light craft able to fly at low altitudes and maneuver quickly through tight urban spaces. In the warlord past such designs often carried bombs for sudden, explosive terror attacks that menaced the civilian population. The Temple has outlawed such practices in modern Acerbus. Now precise weaponry is a necessity to minimize accidental collateral damage, and prevent the waste of valuable metal ammunition. As technology has been reclaimed and improved, the modern crafts are often unmanned.
The other kind are ship-killers. Nearly as small and fast, and equipped with smart missiles.
The first kind are light craft able to fly at low altitudes and maneuver quickly through tight urban spaces. In the warlord past such designs often carried bombs for sudden, explosive terror attacks that menaced the civilian population. The Temple has outlawed such practices in modern Acerbus. Now precise weaponry is a necessity to minimize accidental collateral damage, and prevent the waste of valuable metal ammunition. As technology has been reclaimed and improved, the modern crafts are often unmanned.
The other kind are ship-killers. Nearly as small and fast, and equipped with smart missiles.
Living on an oceanic world with a violent past and a sometimes difficult present, the ETA has developed vessels such as warships and submarines to a high degree, even more than they have infantry or space naval techniques. However, because it is unlikely that another colony will ever have an aquatic naval battle with Acerbus, the Aquatic Navy has been left out of this overview.
Uh, imagine metal-efficient but well-built warships and powerful submarines, and more stuff about smart torpedoes. An Acerbian poet once said--
Uh, imagine metal-efficient but well-built warships and powerful submarines, and more stuff about smart torpedoes. An Acerbian poet once said--
