Microstory 528: So-called Light Wars Begin Over Earth

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Our great galaxy’s animosity towards Lactea cannot be overstated. They are full of communists who value nothing. Ever citizen, regardless of how hard they’ve worked—and except for a few “contribution requirements”—is provided for. They are all immortal, telekinetic, and uninteresting. They represent all that our people hate about the universe, and they have always been our worst enemies...until now. As it turns out, there is an even worse way to do things. There is that Lactean rule that says one is not allowed to enjoy the benefits of the system without having some sort of vocation. That vocation may entail sitting in a room, reading a book, and making sure a robot doesn’t malfunction, but it is technically a job that the government accepts. Following that requirement, citizens are free to act as they please. They may travel where they want, learn what they want, and marry who they want. This is not so when it comes to the evil society of Thuriama.

Thuriama is the name of the new branch of Amadesis that rose from the ashes of its former self after the destruction of its originating planet. Amadesis is the most heinous and despicable religion ever created. Its entire purpose is to poison everything it touches, and infect outsiders with their twisted ideals in religious devotion. This particular sect focuses most deeply in the concept of the soul, hidden in their claims of bringing light to the blind. The idea of controlling someone by accessing their soul energy has been a goal of theirs since the seeds of the sect was first planted by historical figure, Ellaraitch. It is not yet clear if they have succeeded in their endeavors, but what we do know is that they are executing at least more traditional forms of fidelity on a compartmentalized group of their own population. Historians believe that they cloned or bred an entire subpopulation designed specifically to serve them. As Fosteans, of course, we find the idea of enslaved humans to be disgusting. It is one of the few laws that we even have. The Thuriamen have no such law, and have been exploiting free-thinking individuals for whatever dastardly plans they have. And so it is with a full understanding of irony that the Fostean leaders have teamed up with Lactea to combat these terrible people. We would normally avoid interfering with other cultures, but it was nearly unanimously felt that standing back threatened our galaxy. If the Thuriamen indeed have the ability to control others, that is something that must be stopped. We have done things our own way, though, and acted somewhat against our alliance with Lactea. We decided to attack Thuriama first. Unfortunately, since Thuriama is located in higher complex dimensions, this meant risking exposing ourselves to veiled Earthans. Details on our battle campaign are forthcoming, but there is one thing that we can tell you. The Light Wars have just begun.

Microstory 61: Grace

In the universe of my canonical stories, most people identify as bisexual. The number of true monosexuals is to a very low extreme. And I say true monosexuals, because there is a not insignificant number of people belonging to a religious order called the Amadesins who all claim that sexuality is a choice, and that they all choose to be heterosexual. Amadesis is an amalgamation of Mormonism and Scientology, but also exhibits the absolute worst aspects of any and all other religions. The rest of society recognizes the difference between love, sex, and procreation. They understand that you can have one without the other two. With modern technology, even procreation is now possible without sex. Back in the day, homosexual relationships were slightly discouraged, but only to foster the increase in population. This led to a few still-standing traditions, along with the misguided Amadesin movement. In an opposite-sex relationship, the resulting child will usually inherit the surname of the father. This is because of earlier theories that children received more than half of their DNA from their mothers. The father being able to pass down his name was symbolic way of balancing out the contribution, and the practice remains to day for simplicity, and to have some kind of standard. Similarly, in the case of same-sex relationships, one caregiving parent will also be a genetic parent, while the other caregiver is not. The child will usually use the name of the non-genetic parent.

Because of the prevalence of bisexuality, the words boyfriend and girlfriend do not exist. Besides sounding juvenile and unsophisticated, it would never occur to society to use such gender-specific terms. Instead, they use gracer and gracie. These are technically opposites of each other, but are used interchangeably, and respectively mean “one who favors” and “one who is favored”. It’s possible to refer to someone who either favors you, or you favor, but with unreciprocated feelings (i.e. crushes). Clarifying language will be used for these situations. There is another reason for using these terms instead of limiting words like partner, companion, or significant other. They perceive romantic relationships to reside on the same spectrum as friendships; only to a higher degree. Even though emphasis was placed on population sustainability millennia ago, pairings solely for the purpose of propagating the species were never part of common practice. A marriage of two people who were not friends would have always been seen as strange. Arranged marriages did exist in some cultures, specifically Amadesis, but it was pretty taboo.