Microstory 668: The Arkeizen Culling

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In response to a group of irritants who came to our galaxy, looking to stir up trouble, the leaders of the Central Worlds decided to dole out some punishment. These people consider themselves to be noble freedom fighters, so harming them physically would do us no good. Their message could get back to their compatriots in Lactea, and then we could be in the midst of an intergalactic war. We certainly wouldn’t want to martyr them, and only act to further their cause. One weakness they did have, however, was for the Arkeizen thralls. Arkeizens survived on Earth longer than they should have, but their evolution was stunted. Someone—we’re not sure who—must have taken pity upon them, and placed them in a paradise. This prevented them from developing any survival strategies to pass down through the bloodlines. Their only use is to serve others, so that’s exactly what we gave them. We brought them to our worlds, and they have lived in peace with us ever since, working on our farms, and in our factories. We have our jobs, and they have theirs. They provide for us, so who would want to take that away from them? This is best for all of us. The Lactean irritants think that the thralls should have to fend for themselves, but they’ve not stopped to think about what that would do to everyone. If suddenly every thrall lost the protection of their respective jarl, they would be lost. They don’t have any skills besides what their jarls taught them for the tasks required. They don’t have any money, so they couldn’t contribute positively to the economy, which wouldn’t really matter, because the market would crash in a single day, sending the galaxy spiraling towards utter chaos. Our culture is built on the backs of these Arkeizen, and though they may not be capable of complex language, we know that they are grateful to us for this honor. In order to protect us from this devastation, the Central Worlds took it upon themselves to teach the Lactean irritants a lesson by decimating the Arkeizen population. This was a significant blow to our economy, yes, but it was nothing compared to what would have happened had the irritants had their way. This happened long before the taikon began, so it shouldn’t have qualified for them, but we honestly didn’t want to have to do that again, at least not until the Arkeizen numbers could be replenished. A council of Highlightseers began to meet shortly after the taikon began in order to discuss whether an exception could be made to the rule of order. Since being resurrected, Sacred Savior, Sotiren Zahir has been trying to stay out of the taikon himself, so as to not influence them too greatly. Nevertheless, he made an appearance at one of council’s meetings when he was nearby for a meet-and-greet with Vilis Samuels. After long discussions, he agreed to allow this single exception, and the Arkeizen decimation took its place in history as the earliest taikon event chronologically.