For those who only read story posts, I've edited and changed the last two chapters. Not significantly, but certainly shortening the timeframe and showing more progress from the SI.
Chapter 10: Primitive Civilization
It seems the compulsions I put on it have worked because Primus's Tribe has settled down at the base of the mountain. They've made a burrow and used the essence of a local tunneling Zerg to create a hard shell on the inside walls, protecting them from any burrowers or cave-ins.
I'll check in with It later.
---=== 49,974 ===---
It's been a very entertaining and productive year. Primus's tribe has grown to 100 sapient members. They're finding it hard to hunt with so many in the tribe. I pondered giving them some kind of crop or teaching them domestication, but Zerg are not humans. They won't allow themselves to be domesticated and Primals might be Omnivores but they're predators through and through. They'd hate farming.
So, I ordered Primal to choose some subordinates and they split off into sub-tribes. Soon after, two groups of 20 left, leaving a more manageable 40 in his tribe.
Personally, I've been advancing my psionics. I'm able to perfectly control my Telekinesis now, from tiny particles of dust to massive rocks. The Tribe freaked out when I lifted off to go practice on asteroids, but they revere me even more now, so... Bonus?
I've also managed to figure out psionic blades. Solid psionic energy is tough to deal with, mostly containing it, keeping it solid. It also gets harder to control it the further from your body it is.
So, I decided to layer them atop my bladed tentacles. The advantage is that Psionic energy is
not matter. It is Energy. The more I use it and the more control I gain over it, the tighter I'll be able to compress the blades, and the sharper it will be.
---=== 49,970 ===---
It's been four years since Primus split his tribe and they've made it a yearly tradition to split off a new tribe and send them on to new lands, all across the continent of Zeral, on the planet of Zergrove.
I've solved the food situation though! I created a Spawning Pool. It took a while with lots of trial and error, but I have created a pool of pure Essence that periodically spawns a brand new Zerg. At a fair pace too, a couple of Zerg a day. I placed it a fair distance from the village and informed them of its location. They now 'farm' these Zerg by letting them grow big and strong, then hunting them down.
The pool is pretty big, a kilometer across, but I can already see that it's slowly draining as new Zerg emerge.
The First Spawning Pool was the corpse of a nameless beast, and I don't particularly want to die to feed this ecosystem.
Either way, it should become self-sustaining within a few centuries. After all, new flesh and biomass will enter the system through the plant-Zerg, and none will leave.
I believe I've optimized myself, biology-wise, as much as I can. New Essences and strains are what I need. For now, I guess I'll continue working on my Psionics. Perhaps I can use it to improve my Spinal Cannons. My blades, which could already cut through rock, now cut through it like a hot knife through butter. Maybe a projectile? Some kind of Psi-Bullet perhaps?
---=== 49,950 ===---
I have Good and Bad news. I succeeded on the creation of a Psi-bullet by creating a shell of Psionic Energy in a 'spine' shape and filling it with barely stable energy, which will explode out when the shell is destroyed. I've also applied my telekinesis to the spinal canons, causing their initial acceleration to increase dramatically. Finally, I have a weapon viable for space battles.
The bad news is that the Primals are… well…
I am... Conflicted. On one hand, I've created a new civilization. On the other, they resemble the Orks of Warhammer more than anything else.
The tribes are at constant war with each other for their Essence and food, each having their own spawning pool.
It all started when I fixed the problem of spawning pools draining and a rebel tribe stole some of the Essence. And not by eating it, like you would expect. They took some in a container and made their own proto-pool. You see, the raw Essence in the Pool can now render down anything placed within it into more Raw Essence. The more one type of essence dominates, the more likely it is for the Essence to appear in the Zerg spawned from it.
This has lead to wildly diverging tribes. All appropriately named by me, of course.
The Ironskins, who's Spawning Pool contains an extremely high metal content. This caused all Zerg sawn from the pool to have extremely tough armor. They invented their own version of Blitzkrieg warfare, where they literally run the opposition over.
The Swoopers, a tribe dominated by flight-capable Zerg who, as the name implies, 'swoop' down to dive-bomb and grab their enemies, who they then drop from a great height. Zerg do make a very satisfying splat. The Ironskins are too heavy for this to work, so they employ different tactics against them, like building their nest on a cliff-face where they can't reach them
The Primals, the original tribe who surround my mountain. They worship me as the Apex and progenitor of their species, they curse in my name and pray to me. All the tribes do this, but the Primals most of all. They are the most diverse in form but united in their 'defense' of me from the other tribes.
The Deep Ones, an entirely subterranean tribe that excel in ambush and hit-and-run tactics. They're the smallest tribe, but also the most elusive. They also see through vibrations, eyes being unnecessary underground. This also means they are vulnerable to the Swoopers when they are on the surface. I also might have gifted them with enough heat resistance that they enjoy swimming in lava.
The rest of the Zerg either independent or live underwater.
Their politics are hilarious. The leader of each tribe is the most powerful, but for Zerg, powerful has many meanings. It means Oldest because one who has lived longer than you is more powerful. It means Strongest because one who is stronger than you can squash you like a bug. It means Most Cunning because one who can outmaneuver their foe will have an advantage over the others.
It means much else, but these are the core meanings.
When a Zerg believe it's fit to be the leader of a tribe, it challenges the current leader. If it's successful, then it undertakes a pilgrimage to my mountain to be 'blessed.' This is, of course, when I give them my tainted gift of Intelligence with a dash of mind control. If it fails, it's body is thrown into the spawning pool, so that it's essence might one day produce something worthwhile.
So yeah. I accidentally turned the Zerg into Orks. They might be a force capable of combating the Swarm though, given enough time to develop their culture, warfare, and united leadership.
However, they will have to do it without me. There is much I need to do in preparation for the future and I can't do it hiding on this random planet.
It's time to move on.
Zerg Zerg Zerg Zerg, Zerg Zerg Zerg Zerg.
