THE BEGINNING OF THE UNFALLEN METANARRATIVE

(Word Count 498)

In the beginning, a great deity planted a garden. He planted trees and created creatures. Among the trees, the Tree of Life was the most prominent. And to the creatures, the great deity gave them fruits from all the trees for food except from one tree, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. All creatures fed off the fruits from the Tree of Life, and they grew strong from eating the fruits of life. But as time progressed, some creatures became enticed by the luster of the fruit that the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil bore. They begun eating from this tree and were quickly intoxicated by knowledge from the fruit. Those who fed from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil waged war against their former brethren. This was how the Unfallen received their name because they did not eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. In due time, many creatures succumbed to eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The great deity returned to visit the garden and found the garden almost overran by corrupted creatures. He uprooted the Tree of Life and allowed the Unfallen to take shelter inside the Tree of Life. 

When the Tree of Life was uprooted, the great deity gifted the Tree of Life the ability to travel through the vast jeweled black sea to plant itself wherever it pleased. Even traveling amidst the sea, the Tree of Life produced fruits for the Unfallen to eat. This was how they were nourished until the replanting. When suitable land was found, the Tree of Life replanted itself into the new land; unfortunately, the Unfallen were not able to adapt to the new land. Since the Unfallen had great affinity to the Tree of Life because they always ate its fruits, the Tree of Life conformed them to itself becoming its own saplings. This was how the Unfallen came to be what they are today. And by drawing from the strength of the land, the Tree of Life and the reborn Unfallen were able to cultivate another garden. 

Time went on and the garden increased to cover the whole land inducting the native fauna and flora into the garden. As the Unfallen aged, some resolved to imitate the Tree of Life and planted themselves into the earth. They soon budded and produced their own fruits. The native creatures would eat the fruits which also contributed in spreading seeds. As these seeds were spread across the land, new trees of life were planted and in due time, saplings sprouted forth from the ground. And these new saplings helped extend the garden. And as the Unfallen grew older, some imitated the Tree of Life and uprooted themselves and sailed across the jeweled black sea to replant themselves in new lands. They also carried young saplings on the voyage to the new lands just like how the Tree of Life carried creatures within itself.

Clarification:

The Tree of Life is looked upon as the progenitor of the Unfallen race. The Tree of Life was gifted with the ability to fly i.e. become an intergalactic ship. It is also the premier mythical hero of the Unfallen. It is not known whether this mythical hero still lives today and if it does, the location has long been forgotten. So the Tree of Life is a mythical hero that dwells in a mythical land so to speak.

The Unfallen were originally not plant life but creatures. I noticed from the art design that saplings resembled more feral and humanoid creatures.

The vast jeweled black sea represents space populated by the celestial bodies.

The new land represents a new planet.

Its a rather intriguing choice to choose to start with the "Garden of Eden" state and combine it in a sense with the "World Tree" sort of anomaly in ES and create a story from that. In fact I was waiting for the "Eden" concept since its a rather nice low hanging fruit - see what I did, aha.

In any case, you expand beyond the concept by creating a links to a variety of ideas such as relationship with the Endless - or I assume so - as well as a reason for the Unfallen to have the personality, motivations and shape that they do. Creating a semi-mythical sort of creation story.

This is a rather well thought out story with very little mistakes - but its 2am right now and Im not really checking - and it shows that you have been paying attention to concepts between both phases; since you include a number of different ideas in your story that stem from there. 

So, very well done.

Sotnik wrote:

Hah, a very consistent mix of Semite, Indo-European and Endless mythologies! I've never read such a thing.

For me, there is a great mystery of flight technologies of the Tree of Life and the Unfallen. Might they produce oil or LNG out of their own organic material? Or is it an artificial technology deriving from the Endless?

Thanks for the compliment. 

In answering your question, from the design docs, the Unfallen ships have solar sails so there is no reliance on fuel source for interstellar space travel. But planetary flight for Unfallen ships utilizing solar sails is an impossibility due to gravity and air resistance let alone reaching escape velocity, so an Unfallen ship must incorporate flight machinery. Also, I'm not sure how things equipped with solar sails stop in space; I don't think they can stop which will require another way of stopping the vessel.

The design doc also said that solar sails provides power for the ship. Let's say that solar sails can photosynthesize so a Unfallen ship can create glucose. The ship can use the glucose to heal itself (create more cellulose) and use the glucose as an energy source. Now when the glucose is used by the Unfallen ship (organic living being) as energy, ethanol and carbon monoxide are created as waste products. (The carbon monoxide could be metabolized by the Unfallen (sapling to ship) to produce glucose.) The ethanol could be used by simple combustible machinery or consumed for its alcohol sugars. But, for the flight system, a combination of different strains of bacteria is used to turn the ethanol into a higher density alcohol suitable for rocket fuel. And this higher density alcohol enables planetary flight for an Unfallen ship. Unfallen ships could bud and blossom thrusters. And once the Unfallen ship reaches space, the thrusters could wilt down to the planet. That's as far as I can develop this; I'm not sure what to make of the oxidizer. 

I want to add something. When an Unfallen fleet embark on a journey through space, I think they should utilize planets to sling shot themselves which may offset the initial slow start from the solar sails. I also envision that the utilization of high density alcohol combustion consumes great deal of energy for the Unfallen ship so it might be preferable to use combustion for planetary flight and the initial planetary sling shot.

For the flight technology for the Tree of Life, let's just say that a little (pixie) dust could go a long way.

segua wrote:

Under the right conditions, due to pressure and heating, methane can turn into crude oil/petroleum or natural gas. But I was reading some things to give me a better idea of methane use as rocket fuel. It seems methane is a better alternative to even hydrogen and RP1 (highly refined kerosene). An end product of methane is kerosene. Methane requires less energy to keep liquidfied, no choke and stores better in outer space.

Actually, natural gas consists mainly of methan. And yes, it is now used as a rocket fuel in a liquefied form. It is an organic product so Unfallen might produce it in theory, but there is another justification for connecting them with methan: it is an a nature-friendly substance which is transformed into water and CO2 upon burning. And the plants love both of them :). 

Moreover, cellulose tissue of plants allows them to sustain high pressure inside their cells or organs while Unfallen ability to travel in space hints that they are capable to develop resistance to cold temperatures. Altogether, these two features makes me think that Unfallen can accumulate energy in a form of liquified and compressed natural gas.