It happened again. Again, his creation killed itself off to extinction. Dominus was going to be the center of mockery and a laughing stock at the gathering of deuses again. ‘How could this happen again? I was sure that this race was going to last. This time I really tried to give them an advantage that could keep them alive for millennials.'

Dominus created the Dakus race, a sturdy race that had medium intelligence and could withstand great damage. To make their lives easier he gave them telekinetic abilities and wings so they could fly. To speed up their industrial development he even gave them exceptional knowledge about metals and metallurgy.

The day of the deuses gathering arrived and Dominus just sat in his chair sulking, knowing that everyone was going to make fun of him. The other deuses started arriving, chatting until the head deus Theophanes arrived. Everyone took their place and Theophanes opened the gathering. “Welcome to the five millennial gathering of deuses. As always, we are here to discuss your progress as lesser deuses, over the last five millennials and see if some of you are ready to move forward to greater power.” 

Theophanes took out a book and put it on the table. He opened the book and started to look through the pages. “Hmmmm… I see some candidates that did well this last five millennials. Hmmmm… And, of course, I see someone who didn't do so well.” Theophanes raised his head and looked at Dominus. Dominus just sunk down a little in his chair.

“Three of your creations killed themselves to extinction in five thousand years. That is a new record.” Theophanes said and the rest of the deuses started chuckling silently.

“It usually takes about two to three thousand years for a race to go extinct but you somehow managed to do it get one race to go extinct in...Wait. That cannot be right. It says here they went extinct in five hundred years. Hmmmm… Another record as it seems.” Theophanes said. Dominus sunk down even more in his chair. Some of the other deuses were now laughing.

“One more mishap like this and I will have to take away your power as a deus and make you a deus luminare to one of the deuses until you learn and earn your place as a deus again.” Theophanes said. 

“Now let's go back to business. Thekla and Eldad, I see that your races are still growing strong after ten thousand years. I think you are ready to move on to be deus potentes, but don’t take the new power lightly. I will see you two after a millennium and see how you are doing. The rest of you I will see at the next five millennial gathering of deuses.” Theophanes said and left taking Thekla and Eldad with him.

The other deuses surrounded Dominus and started making fun of him, teasing him that Theophanes should have already made him a deus luminare and that he was stupid and newer going to be a true deus, let alone a deus potentes. As they were laughing at him Godwine, the only friend Dominus had, came to help Dominus and drove away the other deuses.

“You ok?” Godwine asked.

“No. I knew that I was going to be the center of mockery and a laughing stock of this gathering.” Dominus said.

“Well, you did give them quite a lot of material to work with.” Godwine said with a sarcastic smile on his face.

Dominus looked at him with a furious look on his face “I’m really not in the mood for your sarcasm.” He said.

“Come on, I’m just trying to lighten you up a little. It’s not so bad, you got a second chance at least.” Godwine said trying to cheer Dominus up. “But you have to tell me how you managed to kill of a race in five hundred years.”

“I’m not in the mood.” Dominus said.

“Come on. I’m your best friend, you have to tell me and I promise I won't tell anyone else.” Godwine sad.

“Ok. I’ll tell you.” Dominus relented. “I made a race of intelligent rodent species and I named them Ranus. I was thinking that I could use their natural ability to reproduce quickly so they have more workforce in short time. If there are more of them, they will have more workforce to grow food, more workforce, they would evolve to the industrial age more quickly, but that was not what happened. I miscalculated the speed at which they reproduced. They reproduced so quickly that they didn’t have time to teach their young the basics of agriculture or anything really. They started living like wild animals, eating everything that was in their path. When they ate all the animals and the plants they started to eat each other until they all starved to death.” Dominus said with his head bent down.

Godwine somehow managed not to laugh aloud, but on the inside, he was laughing like crazy. 

“That’s a bummer.” Godwine said as seriously as he could, but a small chuckle escaped from his mouth.

“I knew it. You are laughing at me too.” Dominus said looking at Godwine with a sad look on his face. ‘Even my best friend is betraying me and laughing at me.’ He thought.

“I’m not laughing at you. I'm laughing at the thought of millions of rodents running through the fields eating animals as big as elephants. I don’t know why, but that picture appeared in my head when you were talking about the Ranus eating everything.” Godwine lied to spare the feelings of his best friend who really messed up that race.

“Yeah, that part was funny to watch, I’ll give you that.” Dominus said and Godwine laughed inside even more.

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“What about the other ones? What happened to the next one?” Godwine asked and mentally prepared not to laugh aloud.

“Well, I tried to learn from my mistakes. I made the Ranus race too dependent on their animal instinct so I decided to make a race that was more intelligent. I made a slender highly intelligent race Elesi. They learned quickly and had perfect memories. This time I made them reproduce slowly. The only thing I didn’t count on that they judged other members of their race by their intelligence. They killed many less intelligent members of their own race. They didn’t build cities because each of them thought that they were the most intelligent and didn’t want to be surrounded by less intelligent members of their race. Some of them didn’t want to have any contact with the others because they remembered the mass murders as if they happened just yesterday and were afraid that the same thing will happen to them. They became a narcissistic and an egoistic race, afraid of each other.”  Dominus said with an angry look on his face.

“Mass murdering intelligent barbarians. Nice combo. ”Godwine said.

Dominus just looked at him and continued

“They didn't develop any agriculture or have an industry, they lived as loners, gatherers and hunters, gathering food and hunting animals from the forests or fishing from lakes and seas. The only places they gathered in larger numbers were places like markets. There they exchanged items or services for other items and the markets were the only places where they could meet their potential mates. The mass murder of the less intelligent members of their race, the slow reproduction and a narcissistic and egoistic race was not the combination that I was aiming for and that could last long.” Dominus sighted.

“Yeah… ” Godwine said.

“To make things even worse their slender bodies weren’t sturdy enough to withstand damage. And because they lived as loners, didn’t practice any kind of medicine because that wasn’t a sign of intelligence, many of them died of simple injuries like a broken leg, an arm, or even a simple cold. Their arrogance and intelligence were their downfall in the end and they went extinct in two thousand years.”

“Oh, buddy! I’m so sorry. It sounded like a good plan.” Godwine said.

“I know. However, it backfired spectacularly. I still don't know how I messed up that one. I really thought that intelligence was the key to making a good race.” Dominus said. “Guess I was wrong.”

“Don’t beat yourself up about that. Intelligence is the key to making a good race, but you have to balance it out with other things.” Godwine said.

“I know. That’s what I tried to do with the last race I created.” Dominus said. “But I still messed it up.”

“How did you balance it?” Godwine asked.

“I created the Dakus race, a sturdy race that had medium intelligence and could withstand great damage. To make their lives easier I gave them telekinetic abilities and wings so they could fly, so they could move freely around the planet. To speed up their industrial development I even gave them exceptional knowledge about metals and metallurgy.” Dominus said.

“That sounds good so far.” Godwine said.

“Yeah… However, something became wrong with them in their minds. After a few hundred years, they started behaving violently. They started living in packs, at first I thought that that was normal, just one of the steps towards building a community but, at that time, I didn’t know how wrong I was. They newer outgrew living in packs, the packs just got bigger. If they couldn't settle a dispute inside the pack they didn't have a trial, they settled everything with battles to the death. They did develop a system of regime but not a political one as I hoped. They held battle challenges every few years and anyone could challenge the leader of the pack. The battle was always fought until one of the fighters died. That’s how they chose their leaders. ” Dominus said.

“Ouch.” Godwine said.

“Right, ouch. The worst thing is that the Intelligence and exceptional knowledge about metals and metallurgy I gave them they didn’t use to develop their industry. They used it to develop weapons and armor and because the packs were all at war all the time they developed stronger and more lethal weapons all the time. At one point, there were three packs left, the three largest packs and they knew that everyone else from their race was dead. Instead of making peace with each other, they each developed weapons of mass destruction. Each pack wanted to be the last pack, the only pack to rule the planet. They didn't know that each pack had the same Idea.” Dominus said with a shaky voice.

“Ohhhh… Don’t tell me they...” Godwine said.

“Yeah… They did. And the last ones standing killed each other with their bare hands. The weapons caused so much damage that it left the planet barren, empty of all life.” Dominus said with a crestfallen look on his face.

“So the last race didn’t only kill themselves, they killed the whole planet.” Godwine said.

“Yeah...”  Dominus sat on the floor. “I feel like a total failure. This was my ninth race and I still failed.” He said with a discouraging look on his face.

“Come on, buddy. I know you have it in you to make a good race. You just have to learn from your mistakes and find the right combination and balance as I did. Don’t you think I made mistakes in the beginning?” Godwine said.

“No. You never told me about your races before the race you have now.” Dominus looked at Godwine. “How many mistakes did you make?” He asked.

“A few.”  Godwine said.

“How much is a few?” Dominus asked seriously.

“Four. But don’t let that discourage you from trying again.”  Godwine said.

“Just four… ” Dominus said. “I really am a failure.” Dominus put his head into his palms.

“You are not a failure. Just concentrate on what you have learned so far. Come on. What have you learned?” Godwine said.

“Ahhh… They all have to be intelligent but not too intelligent.” Dominus said.

“Yeah, keep going.” Godwine said.

“They all have to have sturdy bodies, but not too sturdy so they don't go crazy and violent.” Dominus said.

“Right.” Godwine said.

“I should probably make them all curious about the world around them and not give them the knowledge about something directly. That way they can learn for themselves. I shouldn't give all of them the ability to learn too quickly or give them a perfect memory. Maybe just enough that they can learn what they want and be able to forget the bad things that happened to them or to others.” Dominus said.

“Right, so that we don’t repeat the situation with remembering the mass murders. And the knowledge of metallurgy for the mass destruction weapons. But I’m starting to see a pattern in the way you think.” Godwine said.

“What pattern?” Dominus asked.

“A piece of advice. In all your previous races, you made all of the members of the race have the same qualities. You practically made them all the same. How would you feel if all of us deuses were the same?” Godwine said.

”That would be awful and make no sense. If we were all the same we would all think and act the same. I see your point.” Dominus said.

“Yes, throw some random in your next race. Don’t make them all the same.” Godwine said.

“Yeah… That could work. If they were different, they would act and think different like us. Thank you for the advice Godwine. I think I know what to do with the next race.” Dominus said.

“Yeah, what are you going to call them?” Godwine asked.

“ Hmmmm… I think I’ll call them Human.” Dominus said.