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The Kiramon: A Scientific Study
See Also: A
Brief History of the Aelotoi, The
Legend of L'Naere
Please note that this is an Out of Character
reference about the Kiramon, and most citizens of Elanthia
would not have access to this information. Nor would they
be likely to view it from the same perspective as presented
in this document.
The kiramon are largely a race of nomads. They inhabit a
place only long enough to do with it what they will, and move
on to find something else. Primarily, the kiramon are resource
gatherers. They have developed a heightened intelligence through
centuries of experimentation. They have learned to harness
electricity, light and geothermal energy in order to fuel
their vast brood chambers with heat and nourishment.
There is no moral code to the kiramon. No remorse. No fear.
No love. They are driven by need. And they act upon that need,
doing whatever becomes necessary to fulfill their goals.
While highly intelligent, it is important to note that the
kiramon themselves have no individuality. Each individual
being that is truly "kiramon" (more on other subjugate
races later) is merely an extension of a greater whole. The
kiramon is a collective being that grows and moves fluidly,
as streams and rivers move among the contours of Elanith.
But even rivers and streams are destructive. Over time their
meanderings begin to wear at their surroundings, as rich soil
is swept aside so that only rock remains. And it does not
stop there. Soon the rock wears away and fissures form, causing
ravines and canyons. Left alone the river may tear away everything
that remains of the rich earth, leaving nothing but a deep
gash.
So it is with kiramon. They inhabit. They use. They destroy,
and they move on. Anything left behind them is either dead,
or dying, and they think nothing of it.
In truth, there is no "they" to speak of. There
is simply "it". It is a single organism that exists
collectively among many smaller beings. The level of purpose
of each of these beings is manifested only by what they do.
We believe there are a great many types of kiramon, and only
a small number have ever been seen on Elanith.
Hierarchy and Sociology
The kiramon intelligence exists as a cooperative conglomeration
of beings. No one creature ever houses the full extent of
the actual conscious. This number of actual creatures that
are connected to the Cooperative wax and wane based largely
upon the needs of the race.
The Brood Mother
In a single hive (there can be many at once), only one brood
mother will exist. She is the breeding female that populates
the hive and replenishes it with fresh workers or defenders.
She maintains a large portion of the Cooperative intelligence
within herself, and is capable of making decisions based on
hive needs. Together with Brood Mothers of other hives, they
communicates on a peer level with...
The Hive Mind
The Hive Mind itself is not solely a biological being, nor
is it solely a single kiramon. Through use of light, energy,
and chemical transference, the Mind communicates over great
distances between Brood Mothers and directs the strategic
decision making of the collective being that is the kiramon.
Just as the kiramon race exists as a cooperative intelligence,
so does the Hive Mind exist as a conglomeration of biological
and particle energy used solely to direct that race. What
is important to note, is that the actual biological components
that comprise the Mind are not solely kiramon, but of many
suitable and compatible races.
The early collection of kiramon, before they became a single
intelligence, began to realize that they could rise far beyond
their own advanced level of understanding by incorporating
other species into their own makeup.
As a result of many thousands of years of experimentation
(what is now called "genetics"), the original kiramon
were able to transcend their individualism by expanding their
intelligence into a combination of foreign brain matter, and
perfectly formed crystalline structures.
Thus the First Mind was born. This being was still confined,
but maintained a vast intelligence comprised of many individual
brood mothers. Its capacity for learning and growth was astounding,
yet soon it found that in order for the race of kiramon to
transcend beyond even what it had done, it had to die. Its
structure was imperfect, and it could no longer expand.
Before death, it laid a great yet exceedingly simple plan
to all the existing brood mothers: "Do not grow outward.
Grow beyond."
And with this one message came a clear vision of a perfect
crystalline structure that transcended any attempt at tracing
itself back to an origin. The brood mothers understood that
in order for the race to truly become one, they would have
to separate and lay that structure out among themselves, copying
it again and again until no sense of "self" or "origin"
remained. There was only being.
It is notable that during these long years of discovery,
not much was done in terms of growth to the race itself. The
kiramon were small in number and not powerful, so they were
largely un-noticed by any beings that might be near.
This changed. Once the full Hive Mind existed, the needs
of the race grew exponentially, and they began to move.
In order to grow, the Hive Mind required gems. Plain and
simple. However, the gems must be of perfect, pure clarity.
No flaws can exist in their crystalline structure or they
will not be suitable for use by the Mind in increasing its
memory and learning capacity. To gather these gems, the Hive
Mind instructs the Brood Mothers to create kiramon workers.
Kiramon Workers
These kiramon are among the lower end of the chain. Even
though all kiramon exist as a collective unit, the worker
is the most expendable, and consequently the least needed
by the Hive Mind. Vast numbers of workers can be removed from
any given hive before the Mind itself would even know they
were gone. The sole purpose of a kiramon worker is to collect
gems for examination by the Mind. If the gems are suitable,
they are then moved to a location in the hive for use by the
Mind. This location is usually a large cavern or similar vast
expanse that is heated by geothermal gases and contains a
method for light to filter in, directed either by metallic
mirrors or simple roof openings. Since most hives exist in
deep places, some sort of light reflection is often used.
If the gem is suitable, it is added to the overall Mind structure,
to be used for many things; storage, amplification of thought,
cognitive centers, etc.
If the gem is not suitable, it is not cast aside. Over the
millenia, the kiramon have developed a great affinity for
working with crystals, so they are able to use gemstones in
a vast number of tools. Typical uses include light refraction
for use in hydroponic photosynthesis, or light amplification
and concentration.
Almost immediately, it became apparent to the Mind that it
would need to protect its workers as it expanded. So thus
were born kiramon defenders.
Kiramon Defenders
These beings work as extensions to the Mind, and can therefore
gain a bit more of its attention. As with workers however,
the hive could lose a great many defenders without ever noticing
their loss. If the number becomes large enough, the Mind might
instruct Brood Mothers to either add more, or to spawn kiramon
overminds.
Kiramon Overminds
Overminds are somewhat of an anomaly. Ideally the Hive Mind
should not have to create these, as it already is connected
to any other kiramon in the cooperative hives, however on
rare occasions, the Mind needs to be "closer" to
the situation so to speak. An Overmind is largely a communication
amplifier. Through it, the Mind can understand a given situation
tactically and direct efforts as best serve the hive's purpose.
A single hive can have more than one overmind, but this is
rare.
"Growing beyond" is an ever-present concept that
the Hive Mind strives to pursue. In its present state however,
it understands that not all required tasks to fulfill this
goal are necessary to be performed by kiramon themselves.
Therefore it began to seek out other beings that it could
use as resources. Over time, it directed hives to subjugate
these races, and to alter them in order to serve.
Among them are:
Kresh
These beasts can be described as no more than giant ticks.
A hive found them while expanding tunnels, and noted that
they had a keen sense of direction underground, and understood
how to avoid pockets in the earth that could cause caves
or tunnels to collapse. Being a non-sentient race, the Kresh
were easy to subjugate and adapt. The kiramon enhanced their
capability by grafting diamond-hard gems directly to their
digging limbs. This allowed the kresh to become exceedingly
efficient. Even more so than before.
Il'Kresh
An il'kresh is a completely mutated kresh. The Il'Kresh
is an above ground variant that the kiramon adapted from
existing kresh stock. These beasts are used primarily to
haul silt and bedrock away from the hive tunnels.
Aelotoi
The Aelotoi are a sentient race of humans that the Hive
Mind adapted for mining and the foraging of organic components
above ground.
Their homeworld offered a light gravity, so it was a simple
matter for the Mind to genetically alter the Aelotoi physiology
so that later generations would grow wings. These were
useful because of the fact that the Mind could send the
Aelotoi
into normally hazardous terrain with little chance of injury.
An additional benefit was gained when the Mind realized
that their intelligence and brain structure was sufficient
to incorporate into the biological component of its own
structure. Some Aelotoi were bred specifically for harvesting.
Monlata
The monlata are non-sentient beasts of burden. What is
unusual about these beasts is that they are amphibian; completely
at ease on either land or under the sea. They are also massive.
At nearly 50 feet long and 20 feet high, the Monlata lumbers
about above ground or glides with graceful ease in water.
The Mind, seeing the potential of this beast, bred a series
of exodermal pouches into them, so that they could carry
silt or debris far away from the hive, and into the ocean.
This was important, because not all of the planets that
the kiramon inhabited were devoid of challenges. Some sentient
races were able to offer up some means of defense, and it
is known that perhaps at least one race was able to drive
all Brood Mothers from their world.
So it is important to note that a hive (or collection of
hives) can actually exist and maintain itself if cut off from
the Mind. Typically, when one Brood Mother is threatened or
dies, the workers carry out latent commands (either received
via pheromone, or mental telepathy) that cause at least one
of their number to turn into a minor brood mother itself.
This worker will sustain the hive's numbers as much as possible,
yet it may not be able to communicate back to the Mind. At
this point the Mind may either try to re-establish contact,
or if no contact is possible, may simply let the hive continue
to go about its business. It still maintains is minor links
to the workers, defenders, or even overminds of the hive,
but without a full Brood Mother to communicate with, it cannot
direct the hive to prosper.
A great number of hives still exist in the universe today,
however the kiramon numbers have largely stabilized. Not so
much because the Mind has finally Grown Beyond, but more because
of limitations in resources. It continues to strive to transcend
even its perfectly formed crystalline structure, and it searches
ever onward to the next level of being. No matter what the
cost.
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