“The winds are changing,” the elder Unfallen mentally communicated to his young companion as he twisted his massive bulk to look down at the young sapling by his side. “I will soon be leaving this place and joining our people as they strive to reach the stars.”

“But why must you go?” the young Unfallen answered, his five glowing eyes staring up with reverence at the one known as Roots of Stone, his mentor and friend of many centuries. “There are others even older than you who could make the sacrifices needed to lead our people into space.”

“Aye, there are others,” Roots of Stone answered in a deep, rumbling voice telepathic voice. “But the Council of Elders believes I am the best suited to act as the vessel which will lead our herald into the unknown.”

Roots of Stone was thousands of years old and stood over a hundred meters in height. He was cloaked in an array of leaves denoting his status as a Guardian of the Unfallen, whose purpose was to protect his people in the new age of exploration that was beginning. Soon, his body would undergo new changes as he became the first interstellar exploration vessel the Unfallen would launch into the void beyond their home system.

“It feels wrong that your consciousness will cease just so that some other Unfallen may command you,” the sapling conveyed, his voice filled with confusing and anger. “You should be the one leading our people. Who has the Council picked to be this so-called herald anyway?”

Roots of Stone chuckled at that and the shared feeling of bemusement sent a rush of warmth and comfort over his young companion.

“That is why I have brought you here today Leaf Dancer,” the ancient Unfallen Guardian answered. “For you see, I’ve only agreed to the transformation because the Council granted my one request.”

“And what was that?” Leaf Dancer answered in a puzzled thought.

“That you be the one who will lead me out into the night’s sky,” Roots of Stone replied proudly. “The other Guardians are too massive to serve as effective diplomats and explorers. They will continue their growth should the day come that we need stronger ships to protect ourselves. My body’s mission will be to explore and it would make me happy knowing you will take me on my maiden voyage. You will be a hero to our people Leaf Dancer. Seek out the stars in my body and honor my sacrifice.”

“I will do as you ask,” Leaf Dancer answered solemnly, “but I intend to do more than just that. I abhor the need for our eldest and greatest to sacrifice themselves so that we may travel the stars. I vow to seek out answers in the vastness of space and find a way for the Unfallen to spread across the galaxy free of such sad circumstances. I will transform our people with your help Roots of Stone, by unlocking the mysteries of the galaxy.”

*End of Submission at 500 words*

Man, that was hard fitting everything into 500 words or less. 

Anyways, I tried to stay as committed as I could to what we already know about the Unfallen based on excellent work by DevildogFF and DigitalHawk96.

What proved most difficult for me was finding an interesting quest chain. I knew the characters I wanted to write about almost immediately, a old mentor making the ultimate sacrifice and a young protege destined for greatness. The idea of the elder Unfallen giving up their bodies for use as starships really struck a chord with me so I started thinking about what kind of consequences such necessities would have on a society. I'm not exactly clear on if all Unfallen starships are former elders or just the battleships, but I've decided to go with the former. 

Having established that, I thought about how younger saplings must feel watching their older friends sacrifice themselves for the betterment of the whole species and that got me thinking about a quest line where the Hero, Leaf Dancer, seeks to explore the galaxy in the hopes of changing the way his society functions. So it is a very personal story, just like the Lumeris story focuses on Jenestra Omalfi'Meos' struggles with the families, but it is also galactic in scale and scope. Leaf Dancer has many options available to him in his search for a solution to the problem he perceives his people to have. He could try and build relations with or observe other species in their efforts to travel the stars, he could seek out hidden caches of Endless research and technology, and so on. Hopefully this start would provide enough material for a variety of interesting main quest chains.

If you have any comments or suggestions I hope you share them with me. Thanks for taking the time to give my submission a read!

Cool story. Fitting details in 500 words or less is a challenge but nonetheless good.

Your flow is nice and I like how it does feature a brash and even naive character that whats to better its people. That definitely is a start to a quest or purpose for the Unfallen.

I also want to understand how you picture the Unfallen. Once they become a ship, do they cease to be who they are and become a machine?

segua wrote:

Cool story. Fitting details in 500 words or less is a challenge but nonetheless good.

Your flow is nice and I like how it does feature a brash and even naive character that whats to better its people. That definitely is a start to a quest or purpose for the Unfallen.

I also want to understand how you picture the Unfallen. Once they become a ship, do they cease to be who they are and become a machine?

Thanks! Yeah, I'm hoping the idea of a young Hero striving for change and discovery will set up some nice main quest chains for the Unfallen as a while species.

Regarding how I see the Unfallen, I debated this for a while. Part of me figured their conscience would continue to function as normal once they become ships, allowing them to communicate and remain a part of the shared link all Unfallen share. But this began to get a little confusing regarding how to truly seperate Heroes, civilians, and ships in the game if they are all the same thing. Then I thought about how the need for sacrifice could create conflict in their society so I went the other way with things.

Basically, in my version of the Unfallen, once an elder makes the sacrifice to become a vessel, his body is used as a base onto which various technologies are grafted. It appears as a mutilation to the natural form and thus is considered more of an evil necessity of space travel. The conscience of the elder may still exist, but it is so consumed with the constant running of the ship's systems and other concerns that is it forever cut off from the link the Unfallen share. This is what Leaf Dancer will seek to change. What route he goes about doing that will be up to the player.

I'm thinking through the process of tree to interplanetary vessel. The Unfallen elder would be sacrificed, processed and manufactured into a craft of from a human perspective. I rather think that the Unfallen can shape themselves or "twist" themselves into an interplanetary vessel. Depending on the approach, an Unfallen elder could become an empty husk of itself or an organic vessel. I prefer the latter seeing how in the phase 2 design, the Unfallen vessels are cyborgs.

segua wrote:

I'm thinking through the process of tree to interplanetary vessel. The Unfallen elder would be sacrificed, processed and manufactured into a craft of from a human perspective. I rather think that the Unfallen can shape themselves or "twist" themselves into an interplanetary vessel. Depending on the approach, an Unfallen elder could become an empty husk of itself or an organic vessel. I prefer the latter seeing how in the phase 2 design, the Unfallen vessels are cyborgs.

Yeah, I considered the fact that the Unfallen are cyborgs to play a crucial role in the ability of their elders to be transformed into starships, but I still consider them to be mostly natural with mechanical sub-components rather then a total mix of organic and cybernetic life. From the images we've seen I tend to think the natural elements of the Unfallen are dominate over the synthetic.

The idea of the Unfallen elders twisting themselves into starships is an interesting one, but in my mind the effort needed to turn an elder Unfallen into a vessel capable of interstellar travel is something society would need to devote its industry to. Hence the need for elders to willingly sacrifice themselves for such vessels to be built.

echo2361 wrote:

segua wrote:

I'm thinking through the process of tree to interplanetary vessel. The Unfallen elder would be sacrificed, processed and manufactured into a craft of from a human perspective. I rather think that the Unfallen can shape themselves or "twist" themselves into an interplanetary vessel. Depending on the approach, an Unfallen elder could become an empty husk of itself or an organic vessel. I prefer the latter seeing how in the phase 2 design, the Unfallen vessels are cyborgs.

Yeah, I considered the fact that the Unfallen are cyborgs to play a crucial role in the ability of their elders to be transformed into starships, but I still consider them to be mostly natural with mechanical sub-components rather then a total mix of organic and cybernetic life. From the images we've seen I tend to think the natural elements of the Unfallen are dominate over the synthetic.

The idea of the Unfallen elders twisting themselves into starships is an interesting one, but in my mind the effort needed to turn an elder Unfallen into a vessel capable of interstellar travel is something society would need to devote its industry to. Hence the need for elders to willingly sacrifice themselves for such vessels to be built.

I can see what you mean about the primacy of the organic over the mechanical. The elders "twisting" themselves into vessels might necessitate the need for dust magic. I'm just thinking here, but I am reminded of Transformers Beast Wars, where, at the end and spoiler alert, the machines become techorganic. But I'm thinking of the reverse where the organic becomes techorganic i.e. both machine and organic. But this detail might differ from writer to write. I just imagine that the elders are transformed into a living, breathing ship capable of weathering deep space and even surviving deep space for prolong duration.

One method of "twisting" is that the materials needed to transform an elder Unfallen into the ship could involve "fertilizing" the immediate grounds with dust, minerals and etc. The elder would use its roots to draw off the "nutrients" during the "twisting" process. Each phase of the "twisting" emphasis something different. Such as the first phase forms the (super)structure, next would be the starship system and sub-systems, next would be the corridors and compartments, and finally the possibility of outside rapid petrification.

Yeah, I definitely think that Dust must certainly be involved in the transformation of an Elder into a spaceship. That, combined with their semi-cybernetic features would allow the bodies of the elder's to survive and travel in the harshness of space.

Cool story.

Frogsquadron wrote:

Cool story.

Thanks Frogsquadron! I'm hoping it offers a nice mix of explanation of who the Unfallen are as a people along with the start of a compelling quest line focused on a young Hero setting out to change his society for the better, or at least what he thinks is better. Such things are always open to interpretation