HOME | DD

Description
Personal Log - [PULSING WATER, STEADIED PALM] : Expedition Cycle - 0367 : "For [HOME], what we have so far."

A modest global tier-III society in the grip of mass psychological crisis, culminating in a civil war between two hemispheres. The native race comprises a single monospecific taxon of largely hairless viviparous upright bipeds with large brains and dexterous hands; minor phenotypic differentiation across the world-population. Physical abduction of specimens from across the planet currently number 79. Mental examinations of subjects number some 51, with a notably higher rate of declinations by specimens retrieved from imperialist-held territories. In this regard, please defer to the accumulated wisdom of [Serene Echoes, Stillness Held Within], as she has shown the most adaptability in reaching their minds for mutual spiritual enrichment and self-wisdom.

Continuous saturation of the entire world-population with hagio- and sym-psychic frequencies has helped empower and cement the vision of the party of revolution while weakening the party of reaction by developing the unevenly matured grains of sanity innate in both. More and more, agents among the revolutionaries take charge in internal debates, inspiring feats of comradery and humility. Among reactionaries, it spurs empathy and, subsequently, doubts about their atrocities. Their [secret police] have tragically martyred many of these proto-pacifists within short order of their attainment of sanity. Nonetheless, praise and affection must be lauded upon [Cosmic Strings; Symphonic Tenderness], who has worked miracles for their people in pursuit of her artistic passion.

The death toll remains high, but the conflict is closer to a definite resolution than at any other point in their recent history. Fighting has been fiercest in the [Tilted Rectangle]–[Tapering Crescent] isthmus, where, for a second time since my arrival, we have watched imperialist forces surge south only to be savagely repelled; in the forests and hills of northern [Big Island], where an invasion from the sea by revolutionary forces has triggered a wave of supporting revolts; and throughout [Great Continent]'s interior plains and highlands, where imperialist forces of the reactionaries and revolutionary forces push hard on multiple axes. [Great Continent] has seen the most grotesque barbarities, with swarms of war machines maneuvering to and fro over the sprawling landscape, flattening settlements and forests. The scope and intensity of the suffering there, physical and mental, is indescribable.

Among the arsenal of the two opposed camps are a variety of mass-produced atmospheric, terrestrial, and oceanic war machines. Reconnaissance of debris in planetary orbit has revealed that spaceborne weapons were also previously used. Radiological investigations of devastated areas have indicated that imperialist forces previously had access to a significant stockpile of legacy nuclear bombs. Many of these weapons, deteriorating for ages in suboptimal storage, malfunctioned at various stages of their activation, shortly scattering them haphazardly over seabeds and landmasses. The remaining bombs caused extensive damage to rebelling cities and many millions of deaths. Elements from both camps continue to salvage fissile material from the malfunctioned warheads for use in "dirty" bombs. We consider this particular technology a holdover from an earlier age of imperial strife as, since their last great salvo, the party of reaction has seemingly been unable or unwilling to resume their manufacture. [Cosmic Strings; Symphonic Tenderness], whose has already dedicated a treatise to the reactionaries' common and collective mentality, believes the limitation to be one of productive economy and practical ingenuity rather than some compunction: "They don't have the [guts]. It's a continual embarrassment that they once had the wisdom and power to unmake great cities and, somehow, failed to maintain them. Any imperial efforts to recreate the supply chains necessary steps on too many toes, so their forces are resigned to small-scale scavenging."

In the more oceanic hemisphere, social revolution is making waves through the fabric of the socio-economic order, preparing for a transformation to something their most beloved speakers call the [global transitionary program]. The nature of this process is still obscure through our as-yet myopic lens of this world's historical process. Still, it entails a monumental rationalization of social powers inside the global society toward new mass social ends, resolution of contradictions in the [relations of production], pulling the entirety of their race towards a more active role in the organizing of civilization while abolishing the distinction between itself as a collective communal spirit and what we may call its [politico-mystical] function.

[Serene Echoes, Stillness Held Within] believes this reckoning to be analogous to our historical record of [The Liberation] (how titillating!) But why and how what was for us a bloodless series of falling [dominoes] was for them and so many others nearly a [holocaust] is beyond this social-archivist's already strained powers of sentimental supposition. At the latest observation, revolutionary forces were sweeping reactionary-imperialist opposition throughout nearly all landmasses. Though the imperialist forces are better equipped, they are outnumbered and outmaneuvered by revolutionary forces of the periphery.

In the drier hemisphere, the party of reaction is fortifying its cities and factories for a final onslaught by world-revolutionary forces. On a dour note, the imperial masses are sick and bitter, tired of fighting and toiling, tired of hating their leaders, but more scared of the enemy than of breaking out. No idea or purpose guides them, only vague tribalistic notions of the pseudo-species and communities that only endure as abstractions.

Voluntarily, I handled the mind of subject 72. It asked, "Why do I rise with each morning of my life?"

Wincing from this electric shot of misery, I replied to its question with a question: "Why does this thought fill you with sorrow?"

"Because my [brain] is sick," it snapped back, continuing venomously, "and I am insane. We all are; none bear any [responsibility]. And we are all doomed to die alone."

This subject, whom we have nicknamed [Solemn Master; Fleet-Footed] (humorous, as their indigenous name is unpronounceable), has since taken up extended residence with us aboard the Observatory.

~~~

Here we have an idea that's been kicking around in my head for a minute, drawn from a few influences; notably the 1937 novel Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon, of which I thoroughly recommend, and some of my rather thinly-veiled ruminations about Communism.

I've had passing encounters with vocal proponents of Maoism–Third Worldism and its most striking recontextualization to me was the narrative reframing through world-systems theory of the Earth from a community of nations or game of competing empires into a single albeit archipelagic country, split between a global capitalist and proletarian class. Aside from a few "recalcitrant regions" led by small local elites, the Westphalian nation-states that so much of our major media and leaders publicly cling to don't exist anymore as far as the operations of the former class is concerned. Instead, the core states might be better visualized as the capitol or metropolitan areas of a single global empire; the peripheral states being no more than mere value-generating provinces to be farmed to enrich the capitol. A worldwide countryside, retaining its tribelets and tollbooth castles as relics of centuries past, put to better use thus far through maintenance rather than deconstruction. Although they are naturally deconstructed over time, as people come to subconsciously recognize various realities of the world albeit without comprehending the broader significance.

It was such an exciting jolt to the senses, but I ran up against a means of portraying it in a way that I would've found enjoyable... until I decided not to portray it from either side, but a third party secretly aiding and abetting the Communists, and watching the world-historical procession with marked curiosity. I am certain some viewers will jump to conclusions and assume that the real story is that sinister aliens are actually brainwashing billions of feeble-minded indigents into organizing against their masterful White-skinned world-rulers. Such an interpretation, I believe, is scarcely bleaker than the idea of multinational exploitation sparking widespread revolution in the global south. I digress.

Having it be helpful aliens trying to help humanity overcome this time of spiritual crisis and steer it down a healthier path towards broader horizons felt a suitable tonal counterweight that the very idea of utter ruin that such a global conflict must elicit.

Note: Description may be subject to expansion, changes, and revision

Description
Personal Log - [PULSING WATER, STEADIED PALM] : Expedition Cycle - 0367 : "For [HOME], what we have so far."

A modest global tier-III society in the grip of mass psychological crisis, culminating in a civil war between two hemispheres. The native race comprises a single monospecific taxon of largely hairless viviparous upright bipeds with large brains and dexterous hands; minor phenotypic differentiation across the world-population. Physical abduction of specimens from across the planet currently number 79. Mental examinations of subjects number some 51, with a notably higher rate of declinations by specimens retrieved from imperialist-held territories. In this regard, please defer to the accumulated wisdom of [Serene Echoes, Stillness Held Within], as she has shown the most adaptability in reaching their minds for mutual spiritual enrichment and self-wisdom.

Continuous saturation of the entire world-population with hagio- and sym-psychic frequencies has helped empower and cement the vision of the party of revolution while weakening the party of reaction by developing the unevenly matured grains of sanity innate in both. More and more, agents among the revolutionaries take charge in internal debates, inspiring feats of comradery and humility. Among reactionaries, it spurs empathy and, subsequently, doubts about their atrocities. Their [secret police] have tragically martyred many of these proto-pacifists within short order of their attainment of sanity. Nonetheless, praise and affection must be lauded upon [Cosmic Strings; Symphonic Tenderness], who has worked miracles for their people in pursuit of her artistic passion.

The death toll remains high, but the conflict is closer to a definite resolution than at any other point in their recent history. Fighting has been fiercest in the [Tilted Rectangle]–[Tapering Crescent] isthmus, where, for a second time since my arrival, we have watched imperialist forces surge south only to be savagely repelled; in the forests and hills of northern [Big Island], where an invasion from the sea by revolutionary forces has triggered a wave of supporting revolts; and throughout [Great Continent]'s interior plains and highlands, where imperialist forces of the reactionaries and revolutionary forces push hard on multiple axes. [Great Continent] has seen the most grotesque barbarities, with swarms of war machines maneuvering to and fro over the sprawling landscape, flattening settlements and forests. The scope and intensity of the suffering there, physical and mental, is indescribable.

Among the arsenal of the two opposed camps are a variety of mass-produced atmospheric, terrestrial, and oceanic war machines. Reconnaissance of debris in planetary orbit has revealed that spaceborne weapons were also previously used. Radiological investigations of devastated areas have indicated that imperialist forces previously had access to a significant stockpile of legacy nuclear bombs. Many of these weapons, deteriorating for ages in suboptimal storage, malfunctioned at various stages of their activation, shortly scattering them haphazardly over seabeds and landmasses. The remaining bombs caused extensive damage to rebelling cities and many millions of deaths. Elements from both camps continue to salvage fissile material from the malfunctioned warheads for use in "dirty" bombs. We consider this particular technology a holdover from an earlier age of imperial strife as, since their last great salvo, the party of reaction has seemingly been unable or unwilling to resume their manufacture. [Cosmic Strings; Symphonic Tenderness], whose has already dedicated a treatise to the reactionaries' common and collective mentality, believes the limitation to be one of productive economy and practical ingenuity rather than some compunction: "They don't have the [guts]. It's a continual embarrassment that they once had the wisdom and power to unmake great cities and, somehow, failed to maintain them. Any imperial efforts to recreate the supply chains necessary steps on too many toes, so their forces are resigned to small-scale scavenging."

In the more oceanic hemisphere, social revolution is making waves through the fabric of the socio-economic order, preparing for a transformation to something their most beloved speakers call the [global transitionary program]. The nature of this process is still obscure through our as-yet myopic lens of this world's historical process. Still, it entails a monumental rationalization of social powers inside the global society toward new mass social ends, resolution of contradictions in the [relations of production], pulling the entirety of their race towards a more active role in the organizing of civilization while abolishing the distinction between itself as a collective communal spirit and what we may call its [politico-mystical] function.

[Serene Echoes, Stillness Held Within] believes this reckoning to be analogous to our historical record of [The Liberation] (how titillating!) But why and how what was for us a bloodless series of falling [dominoes] was for them and so many others nearly a [holocaust] is beyond this social-archivist's already strained powers of sentimental supposition. At the latest observation, revolutionary forces were sweeping reactionary-imperialist opposition throughout nearly all landmasses. Though the imperialist forces are better equipped, they are outnumbered and outmaneuvered by revolutionary forces of the periphery.

In the drier hemisphere, the party of reaction is fortifying its cities and factories for a final onslaught by world-revolutionary forces. On a dour note, the imperial masses are sick and bitter, tired of fighting and toiling, tired of hating their leaders, but more scared of the enemy than of breaking out. No idea or purpose guides them, only vague tribalistic notions of the pseudo-species and communities that only endure as abstractions.

Voluntarily, I handled the mind of subject 72. It asked, "Why do I rise with each morning of my life?"

Wincing from this electric shot of misery, I replied to its question with a question: "Why does this thought fill you with sorrow?"

"Because my [brain] is sick," it snapped back, continuing venomously, "and I am insane. We all are; none bear any [responsibility]. And we are all doomed to die alone."

This subject, whom we have nicknamed [Solemn Master; Fleet-Footed] (humorous, as their indigenous name is unpronounceable), has since taken up extended residence with us aboard the Observatory.

~~~

Here we have an idea that's been kicking around in my head for a minute, drawn from a few influences; notably the 1937 novel Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon, of which I thoroughly recommend, and some of my rather thinly-veiled ruminations about Communism.

I've had passing encounters with vocal proponents of Maoism–Third Worldism and its most striking recontextualization to me was the narrative reframing through world-systems theory of the Earth from a community of nations or game of competing empires into a single albeit archipelagic country, split between a global capitalist and proletarian class. Aside from a few "recalcitrant regions" led by small local elites, the Westphalian nation-states that so much of our major media and leaders publicly cling to don't exist anymore as far as the operations of the former class is concerned. Instead, the core states might be better visualized as the capitol or metropolitan areas of a single global empire; the peripheral states being no more than mere value-generating provinces to be farmed to enrich the capitol. A worldwide countryside, retaining its tribelets and tollbooth castles as relics of centuries past, put to better use thus far through maintenance rather than deconstruction. Although they are naturally deconstructed over time, as people come to subconsciously recognize various realities of the world albeit without comprehending the broader significance.

It was such an exciting jolt to the senses, but I ran up against a means of portraying it in a way that I would've found enjoyable... until I decided not to portray it from either side, but a third party secretly aiding and abetting the Communists, and watching the world-historical procession with marked curiosity. I am certain some viewers will jump to conclusions and assume that the real story is that sinister aliens are actually brainwashing billions of feeble-minded indigents into organizing against their masterful White-skinned world-rulers. Such an interpretation, I believe, is scarcely bleaker than the idea of multinational exploitation sparking widespread revolution in the global south. I digress.

Having it be helpful aliens trying to help humanity overcome this time of spiritual crisis and steer it down a healthier path towards broader horizons felt a suitable tonal counterweight that the very idea of utter ruin that such a global conflict must elicit.

Note: Description may be subject to expansion, changes, and revision