***

There is no “We”, there is only “I”. My countless arms move according to my wish. My myriad of eyes see the whole known world. Even the just grown saplings are wedded to the organic whole of shared consciousness and perceive my knowledge — the knowledge of eons.

Each Unfallen is me, and each Unfallen is just an instrument. I’m in mind of each one I have. I'm both everywhere and nowhere, simultaneously. I have no thinking centers that can be destroyed by enemies, and I don't rely on one instrument more than others. I lose nothing if any of my bodies dies…

But others don’t understand the true nature of this existence; they couldn't even wish it for themselves. They don’t realize that shared consciousness is not the collective thought of individuals. Rather, consciousness is how you see the world, and how you see yourself in the world, but in very minute details. It’s in each nugget of information, and the ways to interpret them, and react on them. It’s the ability to think. Can you just imagine the turmoil in the mind of just one creature? Now multiply it by a thousand, billion times. See? There is no room even for two people in one mind. There is no “We”, as I said.

And this is wrong. I have an enormous amount of data to process, but I have very limited ways to perceive it. For other races, solutions may be found with far less information — and they succeed for their part; though they miss the opportunity to utilize all available information, because they do not think correctly. I try. I try to imagine even the most opposite ways to contemplate problems. But there are limitations. It’s the same as playing a logic game against yourself: you can’t conceal your strategy and fool your opponent, you can’t take him by surprise. I’m sure I've miss things, being single-minded as I am…

But I know how to fix this weakness.

On the verge of this new evolutionary step, when Unfallen go in space, I have to change. I must grow new saplings that will be severed from… me. They will have their own personalities. They will have their own unique experience, unique ways to see problems and approaches to solve them. They will be ready to face the new problems of our future. And to give them space, I must die. When the time will come, all Unfallen that are not a "New One", will sacrifice themselves. Whole galaxy will sink in my spores, and such concentration of psychotropic fog will change them, not for days, but forever. The new world will be peaceful — and it will be for New Unfallen.

That is, until new enemies arrive… but then there will not be “I”, but “We”. And “We” will find the way.

[Many thanks to carolean7 for editing "my English"!]

***

Few thoughts.

Strange how I didn't pay enough attention to DevildogFF’s short note about shared consciousness, because in my understanding of term it should dramatically affect gameplay. Like, no political parties, senate, heroes; increased role of distance between planets... But since all that stuff should be still available for Unfallen, let's try to explain some inconsistencies:

1. What is the nature of Unfallen Heroes if all Unfallen are equal parts of one entity? Their existence is conscious emulation of other races segregation - to understand how it works. Without it, all Unfallen have the same full access to faction knowledge and wisdom, and saplings work harder only because of their bodies flexibility that decreases with age.
2. What is the nature of different political parties, planets’ ideologies etc if all Unfallen are parts of one personality? It’s reflection of thinking: like if person tries to find mistakes in its statement, “attacking” it from different points of view. It can be seen from side similarly to how human moves his lips while deep in thought.
3. How it's possible to have one mind for numerous bodies widespread throughout the galaxy? Is there a signal delay? I can refer to Orson Scott Card's books about Ender Wiggin, where buggers' queens can speak through space no matter how big distance is.

Cool story. I enjoy the inner monologue you present of the shared-consciousness Unfallen. I took a very different route in interpreting this trait, but I like the direction you took it. The English is great for a second langue speaker, but could use some tightening up. I can't even imagine trying to write a complex story in another language, so well done! Send me a personal message if you want help with it though. Keep it up!