|Viraliv|[27-7]Zrukt-Has|Ghaz|Ophial|Eglin|
12,674,133,437cy
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Some progress was made on the other projects but nothing substantial enough to report. Just some preliminary research into mainly material designation and some conceptual designs. But, mainly my focus has been on the group Alpha of the Jungle Mole. Their last discovery left me hoping for more. As they get closer to the heart of the Vexian civilization it stands to reason that more discoveries would be made and that the chance of seeing a live Vexian from this civilization also increases.
At that point the investigation would also slow down however. These Jungle Moles would switch from a focus on speed to stealth which is in line with the policies regarding my existence here. Regardless of my personal opinions on the matter… I wonder what the other Ludds think about these policies. Surely the others in my generation would be similar enough to find some common ground but there’s still a wide range of differences between us. Or so I assume given how only a few Ludds are chosen to be the basic format for the next generation. In truth I don’t remember much from that time.
And as it stands I won’t be a format even if I was the most excellent of my generation. The lack of a communications device is to thank for that. Not that I’m not trying. The Sky Whale still hasn’t found any of the materials that I require. My current theory is that the same aliens that built the pyramid already collected them for whatever purpose. But even then I would find some marks of that somewhere; old mining equipment or even just drilling marks on some asteroid. Of course, I didn’t think the Sky Whale would need to scan for something like that at the time. Seems like I’ll need another model designed for those smaller details to follow in the Sky Whales wake. It didn’t take long since I just modified the Sky Whale. It was faster to produce too, being smaller in size. Only about sixty-three percent the size of the Sky Whale, its sensors are more delicate though and it has more thrusters for maneuvering; especially useful for the asteroid fields and material disk around some of the stellar bodies which the Sky Whale had some difficulties with.
I sent it on its way and returned my focus on the Jungle Moles. They’ve made some distance since I’ve last checked on them, not as much as before since they’ve switched over to a more stealthy mode of operation. The walls have changed this far in, it’s a minor detail and I don’t know the value of the observation. Before the walls were smooth, periodically broken up by thin ridges trailing from the top to the bottom. Now a barely noticeable hexagonal pattern exists, raising up ever so slightly from the walls. Perhaps it means something. An auxiliary in their language or a maker for a section of this pyramid. It could also be a simple decoration.
Another thing I’ve noticed, now that I travel ever closer to the home of these Vexians is that they only ever travel horizontally. By that I mean that there have been zero traces of them climbing vertically into the upper or lower parts of the pyramid thus far. Are they a vertically challenged species? Irrespective of the advantage in room that being a species of small stature gives them it would still set their development back a few thousand years. Of course there could be another reason. Maybe they once tried and it ended in a failure. Without the proper structuring to excavate the dirt filled tunnels it would likely end in the death of those in the immediate area. Maybe they simply see no point right now, their population size not making it a density based design philosophy a necessity.
Looking at the good, it at least gives the Jungle Moles more places to hide themselves. Which will be good when they inevitably meet with these elusive Vexians.
Oh!
Looks like some potential progress was flagged for my attention. Hmm, seems to be from the part of me working on the project to get around instinct’s rules. It seems like the current direction of development is focused on the Jungle Mole’s organic composite that it produces. The theory is that, with some modification, it can be used to lead animals to the destination we need them to go to. If that works then there’s even potential to use it to manipulate the chemical producing organ in their bodies to get them to act in a certain way, even specific actions aren’t out of range. Of course it’d be difficult and the testing would be lengthy and specific to species of animals. It could work however and this could be considered a breakthrough that could move the project forward a few months. Haha, never underestimate the research and development prowess of a Ludd!
Such progress made me want to check on the other projects as well. A quick cursory look revealed that not much progress had been made on them but that was to be expected. Especially the one trying to create life. Let alone theorizing a developmental direction I haven’t even come up with a testing facility. I suppose focusing on this project for now shouldn’t matter too much to the Jungle Moles.
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Well really, two testing facilities are needed. One for testing if the design even ‘grows’ properly and then another to test if it can blend in well enough with Eglin’s ecosystem. The first facility can simply be built on some asteroid, carefully so I don’t leave marks behind once I dismantle it. The other facility is much harder, simply because I can’t move the animals around. Even if the project to skirt around those rules succeeds it wouldn’t work in this case. Since they’d be trapped inside of a facility it would violate the rules. The other option is to make the entire planet the testing facility, it’d be more of a site at that point. That saves a lot of, well headache isn’t the right word but it’s similar enough, but it does mean that unexpected variables have a good chance of showing up. It’s something I’ll have to deal with later though since that’d be at the halfway point for this project.
For now I just need to find a good stellar body for it. Luckily I can just pull the records for the asteroid the Sky Whale has visited and choose from there. It doesn’t need to be that large anyway, it just needs a good local source of the needed materials. Not that I know what those materials are yet, I can guess though.
With that line of thinking in place I can leave and focus elsewhere. A good thing too, it seems like the Hezian Vexians are up to something. Likely some kind of ceremony. It seems like one of their tallest has died, something they place great importance on. In their society, perhaps in some primitive belief, they believe that the taller you are the most able you theoretically are. They have great respect and influence within the tribe. The death of one requires a ceremony of taking care of the leftovers and finding one who could replace them. It also seems like they place importance on how tall all of the members are. If all of the members of this select circle are relatively much taller than it signifies a great omen. If they aren’t much higher than it is a bad omen. A simple concept but I’m not sure why it started.
It seems like the previous circle, before one of them died, held neither a good nor bad omen so this time the selection is very important. On a side note, the tallest of them has the first slot and is the most powerful in terms of influence and only four of these tallest exist at a time. They are delegated to be in charge of certain important tasks. One for warfare and hunting, one for medicine and birthing, one for tool making and discovery, and one for administration and guidance. It’s an interesting though not wholly unique tribal system. One has to wonder how they would react to meeting some of those taller species that exist in the universe; the kind that’s body would blot out their sun.
It makes me wonder how the more technologically advanced pyramid Vexians function. It could help give me a more accurate timing of when the split off occurred. Just like their culture, it’d likely have made some changes however.
Oh. It seems like they’ve ended the ceremony. The deceased tall one was burnt to a char in a pyre of wood that was situated on a stone outcropping in one of the nearby lakes. The stone seems to have been flattened by hand long ago so it’s likely that this spot isn’t random but holds some kind of significance to their culture. Though little burn marks existed on it until recently, that seems to be because the water is just capable of lapping at the surface of the rock. This also means that they don’t have to do any clean up, eventually the wood rots and the structure collapses.
The one they chose to replace the previous tall, was even taller than the replaced. The height of this species is heavily connected to the food availability in the region during their growth stage, it seems like this one was lucky. I wasn’t there at the time but it’s likely that during its larval stage it was quite aggressive with eating. They don’t remember things from that growth stage but the data makes the correlation clear. Really the tallest are just those that were most able to be aggressive during that stage.
Perhaps that’s why their species is so combative towards each other. Their tallest are, in their eyes, the most attractive and therefore their genes are most often passed down to the next generation. Furthermore they are not expected to take part in the more dangerous activities like hunting and tend to live their full natural lives. If this continues, will they be able to pass through the nuclear filter? It’s hard to tell. Well, it’s not like I’ll have to wait very long for the answer. That is if they pass the current filter that they’re in, though it looks like they already have, seeing their level of technology. I’m sad that I missed it, it’s something that I’ll have to wait for their archeologist to discover themselves since I can’t dig through the earth that much myself.
Well, I’ll leave these little Vexians to themselves. I think it’ll take two-hundred years… maybe. At that time they’ll be interesting to watch. Unless those in the cave do something. Although they’re more advanced they don’t seem to have as much desire for exploring the unknown so I can only place my hopes in the Hezian Vexians to spread out over Eglin.
There must be some reason why these mountain Vexians developed in such a weird way. The answer is obviously in the central cavity, or wherever it is that they reside. Their technology is far more advanced but in some areas, at least from my limited view of them, they seem far behind these Hezians. It also makes me curious if these pyramid Vexians know of the other group and vice versa. If they do then they haven’t shown it, they seem utterly content being hermits. Something in the past must have happened, after the split off of the groups. Something that changed their developmental trajectory permanently. It was obviously something to do with the aliens that built this pyramid, whether accidental or not.