Heere was the first conscious entity in the newly formed world. To be clear, she was the world. In normal mortal terms she does not have a large intellect but if her wisdom could be isolated and measured, it would be in the hundreds. Eventually, after billions of years and the environment already teaming with life, she had a child. He was born as the world's first god, Chaos.
Chaos treated the world like an artist, sculpting in features like fjords where cliffs and the oceans met, and mesas in arid lands. He loved all the creatures, but like his mother, they could not talk with him. Over time, he increased the intelligence of some of her apes, and they became Human. He did the same for mammalian creatures in the oceans, and they became the Sea People. Both groups began forming societies, and Chaos walked freely among them, not demonstrating his power and hiding his true form.
After time, Chaos felt the world lacked variety. He began refining a group of Humans. After a hundred thousand years, the Skolturi race formed. As that was happening, two Humans managed to ascend; they became Nature and Wisdom. These new gods could communicate interactively with their interfaces, something they could not do as mortal sapiens.
Deep caves already existed in various parts of the Earth. Chaos made some even deeper, but they contained only mold and lichens. In the deepest reaches, there was no life at all. Like his mother, he desired that creatures inhabit the empty spaces. He called on Nature and Wisdom to help him. Through their interfaces they had access to a galactic intelligence they called System. They petitioned System for some form of life to exist in the dungeons, and the first monsters came to exist on Heere. In the deepest depths, abiders were first. They were capable of surviving in the dark on aether alone. However, they did little more than exist. Higher up in the dungeons, various sentient monsters began to form, as well as a sapient species called Oni. Over many millennia the dungeons continued to develop, even without further prodding by the gods.
The surface world had two great species, but Chaos wanted more. The Skolturi had high regard for Mother Heere, each other, and even the Humans. Humans were very creative, but often self-centered, sometimes caring little about others. It was the opposite for wolves, who worked together and tried to establish a balance with their environment. If only the wolves could have the intelligence and creativity of Humans. Chaos formed his first chimera, merging a Human and a wolf. It was a very awkward being, with the head of man, its front legs becoming arms, and its back end being primarily wolf. It was also angry and insane. This was an understandable result, considering that neither the Human nor the wolf was given any choice in becoming a chimera.
Chaos repeatedly made wolf/Human chimera, and the results were no better. He called on Nature and Wisdom for assistance. Wisdom realized the beings would be better off as bipeds, and modified the chimera accordingly. Nature realized that for them to be a true species, they would need to be able to breed true, and that became the case. The beings were still felt very beastlike, hunched over, and not very intelligent. Mercifully, they forgot their former existences. They were no longer insane, and they were very protective of each other due to the pack instinct from their wolf half. They kept the average age of their component beings, based on life-cycle, not years. They maintained sufficient intelligence to keep the interface of their component Human, but lost their classes and much of their knowledge. Once reaching a sufficient maturity, they could choose new classes, only limited by their lack of information. Their interface would steer them toward classes useful to a primitive society, however.
Based on a sound they made, Chaos named this new species, Covargh. Millenia sharpened their intellect and most of their beastlike comportment faded. Their pack instinct developed into strong societal bonds, fairly equivalent to that of the Skolturi.
Chaos was pleased, but his drive for variety had satiated for a time, but not eliminated. He wanted to make something new, something beyond what even Mother Heere had done. The Covargh had begun as a double-being chimera, but they were still very similar to what had come before. Could he be just as successful with a triple-being chimera?
His first experience had taught him this would not be a project to accomplish on his own. He called for assistance from Wisdom and Nature Wisdom was somewhat intrigued, but she demanded that this time, they would need consent from mortals before merging them into chimera. Chaos agreed, remembering the madness and anger his initial chimera had undergone. Three component species would be used. They chose to use a Human, a Skolturi, and a Sea Person for each chimera. Using Covargh could introduce unforeseen chimeric issues, possibly generations after the new race began.
They agreed to search the world for volunteers from the three species. They focused their search on artists, the dispossessed, seekers, and loners – people of imagination who would be willing, perhaps anxious, to achieve something different for their lives. After several weeks, they had gathered 150 volunteers from each species, from younglings to full adults. They were evenly split between male and female. This project would take place on the mostly uninhabited New Continent. The new race would not need to compete with other sapient beings.
Stolen story; please report.
Wisdom asked for three volunteers from the 450, those willing to be first. They were assured memories of each of the component beings would remain intact. They had more than enough volunteers, and they chose three younger adults. It was best to start with a reasonable level of maturity, yet retain the resilience of youth. The three would include at least one male and one female. The gods brought these three to an isolated beach, and gave them one final chance to back out of this endeavor. If so, they would be returned to their previous life. The mortals looked at each other nervously, but all three remained resolute, curious as to what they could become.
Chaos asked them to calm themselves. They did so, and he performed the merger. The result looked nothing like the species which would one day be known as Trichyans. Instead, this first chimera was still substantially three beings, joined at their shoulders and sides. The three heads were merged, but still substantially distinct. The component bodies were facing outward, 120 degrees apart. It maintained six arms, six legs, two penises, and a vagina. While the three shared a core consciousness, they were still substantially themselves in mind.
Nature realized this would not do. Too clumsy, too disparate, too different to ever be one. Nor could this sort of chimera ever become a true-breeding species. She asked them (for that is what they still were at their core) what they felt. They all felt the same – ‘I’m not us. We are not one.’ Nature discussed possible modifications with the other two gods and the being(s) before them. It was agreed the chimera would be given a substantially different form.
Chaos worked his power, and the being integrated. Three arms disappeared, and three legs. Instead of an obvious conglomerate, an individual now stood. A very clumsy and awkward individual to be sure, but one which had promise to grow and adapt. The three bulbous heads had merged fully into one, with three faces. One face was primary, with two eyes, a mouth, nose, and ear. The other two faces consisted of a single column of ear, eye, and nose. Instead of three loosely connected brains, there were now three lobes, adopting functions unique to each other as well as a lot of overlap. One of the penises remained basically the same, along with external testicles. The other set of testicles had formed into ovaries within the new creature’s body, leaving its penis as an egg-delivery organ. The vagina, while substantially intact, had evolved, becoming additive to the DNA of its children. Most of its body was leathery, with just a touch of hair around the ears and nether regions.
The four further discussed this chimeric form, and they agreed the current design would be a good start. Modifications could be made as necessary, plus over time evolutionary forces would help adapt the tri-being to the complexities of life. A major difference in the new being was its ability to speak. Instead of three minds controlling three mouths, three lobes now needed to cooperate in communication. Part became oral speech from the primary face, part became mental from a second lobe, and part was coordinating from the third lobe. They maintained most of their individual memories, but lost their classes. They maintained their learned skills, however, losing a rank in each. Two of the interfaces had gone quiescent, and the third was ready to guide the new being, which had named itself Tri Chyan, through the class selection process.
The gods brought Tri back to the remaining volunteers so they could see the results of the chimeric process. Everyone was given the opportunity to discuss what had happened, and to ask questions of Tri. Twelve of the volunteers, four from each species, chose to retract their assent, and they were returned to their previous lives, memories of what could have been forgotten. The biggest concern most had was Tri’s awkward speech, which the gods had been elaborating as they spoke. Wisdom assured them that once they become like Tri Chyan, they would be able to fully communicate, part of their speech becoming mental in nature. The Sea People had already possessed a level of telepathy as a racial trait, so they were very comfortable with maintaining a form of it.
The remaining part of the day was spent in evolving the 435 remaining bipeds into 145 more Trichyans, the name almost unanimously accepted for the new species. With 146 Trichyans, each contributing genetic material to their children, there was sufficient variety for a healthy civilization to grow. The gods seldom directly interacted with them after that point.
But the Skolturi did. They had a strong drive to develop a stable, peaceful world, and over time they succeeded. Oh there were disagreements and even wars, but even those were fought with honor, soldier to soldier. Other mortals ascended to godhood, including from the Skolturi, the Sea People, the Covargh, and finally Scamp the former Trichyan.
Soon after Scamp’s ascension, Chaos brought him to his ethereal palace and introduced him to his host. Scamp wondered why he was receiving such a detailed introduction. Chaos told Scamp that after millions of years, he was ready to expire. He had seen and done enough. As a trickster, Scamp shared a chaotic temperament, and Chaos felt him to be the best heir. “But wait -”, Scamp pleaded. It was too late; Chaos was no more.
Tens of thousands of years later, Skawa detected a whiff of something which attracted his attention. “Variety,” he thought. “Old wounds are healing, perhaps it is time for the world to embrace change. There were mutagenic compounds being used on some of the bipeds of the Trichyan continent, attempting to allow them to communicate efficiently with the Trichyans. It was taking place in a single city, but Skawa had an idea. He called a convocation of the gods. Unfortunately not all came – some still refusing to let the world back into their hearts. Skawa’s proposal was to mutate the mutagenic itself, and spread very small concentrations throughout Heere’s atmosphere. Since the Trichyans had started the process, their continent was the first to feel sufficient concentrations to begat variety.
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Entering the void was the rare example of not only a progenitor god but a first generation soul as well. System greeted Chaos personally and he had the opportunity to meet several other beings of galactic stature. He had lived for over six million galactic years. During that time he had acquired thousands of karma, twice granted extensions to the maximum lifetime limit of 2000. He was given several days to explore the void and gain knowledge he had wondered about for those millions of years. For the first time he gained an interface, set to the interactive level shared by unborn awakeneds. He knew he would soon enter the cycle of reincarnation.
He had one concern. “What of Mother Heere?” he asked System. System assured him his Mother would be fine, and a pact was made whose ramifications would eventually be felt throughout the galaxy. The former god was given the choice of his species, although he would not be born normally, not as an awakened.