An Efilversal survivor named Nils Nilson was the one who ultimately taught
the Ochivari how to start their antinatalistic movement. It was he who
believed most passionately that the only way to protect life was to destroy
it. He saw no irony in this. “To prevent suffering, one must cut the threads
of existence before they get too long,” he was once heard saying. He was
insane. But he was an excellent orator, and a very moving teacher. In
exchange for his words, he asked the Ochivari to transport him to a new
universe. He didn’t specifically say that he was going to continue to spread
his message, but that was definitely what he wanted to do. His people were
becoming extinct, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. If he wanted
to mould a civilization into his image, he had to find one still with a
significant population. That was what he really wanted, to turn people to
his side, and convince them to do whatever he wanted. It probably didn’t
matter much what he convinced them to do, as long as he would go down in
history as the most influential voice of all time. It worked. The world he
ended up on was falling apart. Wars and unregulated technology were
threatening everyone in some way. There weren’t really even rich people who
could protect themselves against the consequences. It was just a huge mess,
and from just about everyone’s perspective, a lost cause. Nilson saw
potential in them, though. If he could condition them to despise technology
beyond a certain level, he could have his notoriety. He got to work. He used
his charm to gather a few followers, and with the power they gave him, he
was able to gather more. And more, and more, and then after that...more. It
was never enough.
No one could stop him, even if they wanted to. Any government still standing
at this point in time was wholly ineffectual, so there was no one willing
and able to oppose him. Anyone who had some kind of principled stance
against his ideas didn’t give him much thought. The reality was that he was
not only the loudest voice in the crowd, but one of few who had any interest
in using that voice to enact change. With little resistance, he banished
sufficiently advanced technology, and killed anyone who did actively operate
against him. Most people were too scared of him to argue. Yes, he was
violent, but he was ending wars, because people no longer had the suitable
resources to try, and they were all coming together under one banner anyway.
Eventually, no one was left to fight, because they were either dead, or on
the same side. Now, the Ochivari promised never to enter the universe where
they left Nilson to start a brand new life. They had every intention of
keeping that promise. Unfortunately for all of us, that kind of attention to
detail can get lost when you’re dealing with bulk travel. Nilson died not
too long after he arrived, which only augmented the mystique surrounding his
philosophy. When the Ochivari finally did arrive, it was nearly thirty years
later, and no one on the mission who made the original promise to him was
even still alive. Despite their ability to travel through time, a generation
for the Ochivari goes by quickly. Each time an individual tries to make a
jump, there’s about a fifty percent chance that they’ll die, and past
successes hardly increase those odds. Anyway, since their outlook was
transformed, these humans were happy to welcome the Ochivari to their home,
and were more than willing to join their cause. The loop is complete. The
Ochivari gave Nilson to these people, which made them the confederates they
would end up becoming to the Ochivari.
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