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Wacky Worldbuilding: Cultural Heroes

I'm very mildly tinkering with a ...I guess you would call it a closed setting? It's pretty generic honestly. A single decently fleshed out city, with both a rich history and notable characters with their own motivations dotted through it. The core conceit would be that it's The City, the one where you go to make it big, where anyone important is, anything can happen, etc. I wanted someplace I could introduce a character from basically anywhere, pretty much.

Anyway, one culture hero is Dently Haars. Once a homeless wretch, he found a mostly quiet bit of the city and (unable to afford either an inn or a home) decided to dig a hole to sleep in. Not the brightest of ideas, but it lead to his luck turning. Every day he would dig just a little deeper; a makeshift roof, walls, and three days into digging Dently broke through into what was a house several centuries ago. A house with [ancient magic/tech/whatever equivalent] still in it. Shortly after that he made a fortune selling and/or recreating what he found, leading to the rise of a wave of miner-adventurers, and the creation of the odd phrase that amounts to "when it doubt, dig yourself a hole and pray".

Reveen said:
I figure we'd still be making a big deal about Drake 50 years from now in the fantasy/cyberpunk/semi-post-apoc nightmare future, Canadians tend to do that. Like maybe he has a cult centred around his music or something.
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wait, the rapper?
 
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Jacob Rush was a garage inventor from Detroit. The city on Earth, not the planet, and it was back in the days that said city was still in a slump. He didn't have the money for college, but he had the money for books, and a drive that few men possess. He believed that a new manufacturing industry would make jobs for the city he grew up in, and studied all sorts of hard science to try to figure out a way to make some sort of "new paradigm" vehicle. He thought he'd hit a dead end after reading enough about quantum mechanics to have an accurately informed opinion on it, but that reading lead to him trying to figure out what could do the things falsely attributed to that particular field of science. A little over a year later, he created a functional teleporter... and accidentally cratered a block of Barton-McFarlane bringing the device back down from orbit. Jacob opted not to sell to the military, which proved a wise move thanks to the example of the Seth Dyle Apocalypse, and worked from prison with various private investors to create a competitive extraplanetary colonization market. Eventually, these efforts were profitable enough to afford one of the best lawyers in the country, and Jacob Rush was a free man less than a decade after his invention his the market. He would later be the first man to set foot on a planet outside our solar system, with the first words spoken on that world being "Damn. Bright children of the stars, indeed."
 
Hmm. Cultural heroes are not a usual part of my worldbuilding. I do have a mythology where each character is an "animal god" like coyote or anansi, and each of these animal gods is the totem animal of a segment of the population. It's basically a personality type system meant to replace the way fantasy settings sometimes use astrological signs to describe characters. The hero of the whole cast of totem animals is probably Lyon, since he's the leader who is brave and charismatic. Personally I favor Coon, who is the clever trickster. Then there's Oesal, he's the villain mastermind, so he's sort of an anti-hero or a hero to villains or something like that.

When I was younger I tried writing one where the main character became the cultural hero by being the mayor of the first settlement on a new planet, and also writing a book of philosophy and occasionally tutoring children as a supplement to their main teacher. That plot thread turned out as self indulgent wankery though.
 
I'm cumin currently world building a rather large fantasy world (something on the scale between Middle Earth and Faerun), and one characters in particular has been driving a huge amount of the world building.
He is known as the Lonely Knight, for reasons that are no longer accurate, though he is also called the Nameless Knight since he has, for his sins, given up both his identity and title; he tends to go by Lord Toby for short.
In any case, he's basically *the* main folk hero that everyone knows; he pops up everywhere, at every world ending disaster, unstoppable evil, or unspeakable wickedness. He's taken on gods, demons, dragons, and literal forces of nature, despite being a mortal long past the age of retirement.
He is so famous that the words 'I am afraid that my name was taken from me, for my sins,' is enough to get everyone's attention, which is also why nobody tries to impersonate him, since the last fools to try it died before they could pull their trick a second time.
He wields an enormous sword in battle, and is attended by two 'apprentices' that he is attempting to teach and redeem; a devil and vampire respectively. They are making good progress together, despite the Devils repeated attempts to assassinate him.
 
Ailay despairs.

She dies. And she despairs.

And she writes.

She writes of the betrayal of the Vrazcoin, of the injustice of their nobles. She writes of the fall of Ralez, of seeing the white statues plundered, of the destruction. She writes every detail of King Booncear's return from imprisonement, the wailing in the streets. The little glint of hope- the Duel of Garbondi- burned forever into stone at her hand.

Ailay writes-- and if there is a future for the kingdom, it will be this that tells the story of the Great War to generations to come.
 
From the backstory of one of my more popular tabletop RPG systems:

Sundered Realms: Sei Songha
Three Mountains is one of the more esoteric Court games. A token-based strategic table game requiring high levels of hand-eye coordination and exceptional memory, it enjoyed a brief flash of popularity centuries ago when complex, lengthy games were popular at Court. Since then, it has faded from prominence for all but its oldest and most devoted followers. There is a prominent Court tournament each year that remains well-attended, and great success continues to carry with it significant prestige, but few new players bother to take up the game; it is simply seen as too complex for today's tastes and no longer fashionable.

While a first-year fosterling at House Handael, Sei entered the annual tournament on a whim, expected to proceed no further than the group stages, like the other occasional newcomer. They came third. The next year, Sei fought the incumbent champion – who had won the title eleven times – to a hard-fought draw over the course of nearly eighteen hours.

Since that tournament – observed by the Empress herself – and despite their age, many believe that Sei is likely the dominant strategist in the Empire today. Their victory – as fourth year fosterling, in a heavily-wagered-on exhibition set - of two simultaneous Three Mountains games against a pair of the best grandmasters in the Realm remains one of the most highly-watched exhibitions in recent memories. Yet despite – or perhaps because of – that fact, they have no obvious political affiliation or motivation. Their patrons are a small, select group of unaffiliated 'elder statesmen' at Court. From generals to civil servants, they have cultivated a small community of retired courtiers with an interest in abstract questions of philosophy and logic. Sei themself demurs from questions: always willing to take any wager, but rarely willing to discuss the underlying motivation for it.

Sei has never moved in the same circles as the Empress. Besides their older patrons, nearly all Sei's popular following is among the young: fresh courtiers and fosterlings who have followed their progress on the tournament circuit and in the games. Now in their eleventh year as a fosterling, quiet questions are asked about where they go from here. Persistent rumors circulate that Sei has a Court appointment as a general – or at least a staff officer – waiting on the Empress's desk, if only they will take the Walk and claim it. Others say they are waiting for the right moment to claim the Imperium itself. For the moment, however, they seem satisfied to while away their hours in the gaming halls of the Imperial Palace and House Hanadel (and occasionally, for extra spending money, at the gaming tables in the New City where the occasional unwary merchant might still bet against the bright-eyed House scion with a full purse and an innocently youthful face).
 
This somewhat fits the prompt, but when i saw it i was inspired about a necromancer or group of necromancers who instead of being in the spot light them selves are known for bringing back the sades of dead musicians, composers, actors, painters etc. this can even be adapted for different settings like medieval fantasy vs modern, and magic is hidden and secret vs in the open.
 
This thread makes me realize how rarely I think about culture heroes in my worlds (which I expect was rather part of the point, well done). Two that sort of fit the bill are from a scifi setting of mine going by the name of Solar. Essentially, it's a far-future solar system, a long while after Earth collapsed to rampant EMP nanotech, augmented humans, machines, uplifts and AI running about the place. It's a terribly varied place, full of strange divergent factions and individuals.

One of these individuals is Fabricant. Fabricant is reckoned by some as the ultimate creator and artist. They've tried practically every form there is, from virtual world sculpting to designer drugs to good old fashioned painting to poetry to weapon design to - you get the idea. Fabricant keeps chasing inspiration mainly through different forms of existence. Sometimes they might live for a year as a perfectly fragile unaugmented human, other times as a self-aware building, then again as just a virtual copy, sometimes as part of a collective group mind... there doesn't appear to be any form of existence Fabricant won't try. Currently, they exist as a digital ghost within a sensor array in a Martian mountain, unable to act or communicate in any way, only to observe - an experience that is expected to produce another masterpiece when they're eventually recovered. The system - or at least its artists and intellectuals - follow Fabricant's latest experiments with a keen eye.

Perhaps due to this bewildering array of perspectives and alleged centuries of lifetime, Fabricant is very good at almost anything they try their hand at. When they aren't... well, few solars will admit it. The cult of personality and genius is too strong for nay-sayers. Getting your hands on some of their work is a sign of status and influence on its own. Fabricant is practically worshipped in some places, even as details about their origins and nature remain shrouded in mystery - which perhaps helps add to it.

Another notable individual is Warmind - an amalgam collective consciousness composed of the uploaded minds of many pre-collapse generals, warlords, war criminals and other martial types. Warmind has sworn off violence and claims to want nothing but inner peace and contemplation (on violence and death). It instead spends its time consulting and composing poetry and philosophical works about war. This curious contradiction has attracted many to Warmind, though others consider the collective a war criminal for their 'consultation services' and for the art and poetry that's inspired thousands of belligerent disciples across Sol. Still, Warmind's works are considered by many varied, nuanced and insightful looks into the nature of soldiers and war - at times glorifying it, at times showing its full terror, mocking it in one poem only to proclaim it the universe's only salvation in the next.

Neither is in any way an universal culture hero, but they're the closest I can think of. They're both alive in the present of the setting (in some manner of 'alive', in any case), which makes me think that I don't really have old culture heroes in my worlds that I can think of. Regular heroes, yes, famous rulers, the like, but culture heroes... hmh. Something to rectify.
 
(For context this is a super natural wild west setting and this person was a Player character who broke it in half)

There's been strange happenings, horrors rising from the earth, homesteads empty with the owner's gone without a trace. Odd glowing rocks from outerspace...and they got double crossed on their expedition by a cult wanting too harvest these strange things for horrible profit, possibly at the cost of entire cities.

Now here comes the PC's and especially Mercy Graves. After digging out something that was not meant to be at their dig site (and being slaughtered by it) they end up at the Crossroads, think a place where uncounted pasts become the present (and most rituals run through as well). Turns out they weren't supposed to die during that. So they're given a second chance, become revenants and hunt down the cult before they usurp history as we know it (or just cause havoc).

So she comes up with a plan. She invokes the Crossroads and goes to the Museum of Histories, because naturally if there are artifacts and digs then someone must be keeping them. There she meets the Never-Was. The literal keeper of uncounted histories made of smoke and memory and she makes a bet with it. The knowledge/souls of the entire party if she loses, and unlimited access to the library if she wins. She wins. Hard. (turns out nothing can save you from bad dice)

Then followed by a sputtering seething monster she hunts down the relevant archive, double checks that everything is there, pulls out a match and fucking lights it on fire.

So they exit the library with the Never-Was swearing it will ruin them.

In the real world, the cult was trying to summon their deity...given that their deity's non-existence was literally on fire they only summoned a conflagration that burned down their mansion. (dice hated them and she ended the campaign in one fucking session)

She goes on to found the Grave's Burial Service which was the ground work for the next campaign and has enough infamy she's a vengeful ghost story in the waking world.

If you ask a normal who she is they'd tell a ghost story, if you ask a Hunter they'd tell you the legend, if you asked a cult? They run because that's a statement of intent.
 
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In the Ninjas of Saturn universe - in which humanity is defended in secret from extrastellar dracodroids by a clan of ninjas living on the moons of the planet Saturn - there are Three Great Legendary Masters in the folklore of Titan Village, and whom even to this day the people revere.

The first, Robert "Bob" Masamune, was the unrepentantly weaboo zillionaire astronaut who led the expedition to Titan in now-ancient times and founded their society. In the present day, there is much debate over what of his qualities and achievements are real or imagined.

The second, Jouko Tenashi of the Heavenly Legs (for whom the current-day protagonist is named), was a courtesan renowned for beauty enough to seduce the Demon King of the Stars, guile enough to steal from him spiritual powers capable of reshaping the universe to the whim of man; and generosity enough to share her stolen power with the rest of the village.

The third, who renounced her surname to be known only as AYA and is recent enough to be "historical" rather than "quasi-mythical", was a talented violinist who suffered a nervous breakdown from the strict Idol-like lifestyle her manager forced on her. She beat the utter hell out of him in public before partying herself into a stupor; in the following drunken creative fit, she single-handedly recreated and repopularized the musical genre of Trance Metal, before moving on to become a highly successful stage and film actress and horror and romance novelist -- an artistic genius the likes of which never appears more than once every few generations.
 
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Ignacio Gustavo Caldivari -

What can be said about Caldivari?

An autodidact. A polymath. Philosopher. Alchemist. Mathematician . . . Master Thamaturge.

Thought little is known about Caldivari's life. Much is known about his teachings. The depth and breadth of which have survived to this day owe much to the meticulous preservation by generations of Thaumaturgists.

It was Caldivari who first codified observations on the subject of thaumaturgy. It was Caldivari who first derived the Words to permit the influence the natural world directly. Who composed the first array, est ignis, the firemen, so essential to modern industry, was one of Caldivari's spells. And it was Caldivari who established the Thaumaturgist's College at Keplein.

It is said that human history can be divided into two great epochs. The time before Caldivari, the Faerie Court, where humans lived dependent on the whims of the Great Sidhe Houses and possessed no means of magic of their own. And the time after Caldivari, the time of reason, of nation states, of industry and iron, of man made magic.

Such is his greatness, that modern thaumaturgists still recite as their oath, the first page of his Treaties of the Spheres ;

The Universe was created by song. This much we know.

From nothing sprang the White Note from which all meaning is derived.

And from its division.

Language to define.

Every atom and its property.

Every force and its quality.

Every action and its reaction.

All of creation.

Defined by the Word in infinite permutation.

Foothold and keyhole of cosmos.

The study of the Word falls to the Thaumaturge.

Language is our discipline.

Through humble study we glimpse nature in her secret places.

With hands meant to dabble in dirt we lever our meager strength.

By power of Word.

To command thunder from heaven, mimic earthquake, and mock the invisible world.
 
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The Autumn Lord -

"You should have seen him then. As he was. He was young, once. And fierce. He could make thunder talk and mountains walk and fool the whole world to fight at his side."

Not a single person. Not exactly. But a composite of character in the mythos of the Fae. A folk hero as it were.

For the Fae, who grant special meaning to cycles and auspicious divisions, the title of Autumn bares connotations of deep liminality and power. Not the least for its association with the seasonal titles of the Faerie King and Faeries Queen.

From what the histories tell Lord of Autumn was the title of the Winter Kings truest companion. The Least and the First.

Least, because Lord Autumn was the lowest title of nobility. Below even the created Knights in terms of recognized honors.

First, for in all things it is said that Lord Autumn had the Kings ear. A keeper of grim secrets and a teller of unpleasant truths.

In dire times, a word from the Autumn Lord was said to carry the weight of a command from the King himself.

But this authority was a seldom used and oft unwanted burden. What the Autumn Lord was most of all was friend, confidant, and near as brother to the Winter King.

Unladened by decorum. It is said Lord Autumn would travel far and wide. Oft disappearing into the Wyldes for years or decades at a time only to return to the Court, barefoot, in tattered cloak, wreathed in fall leaves, to reveal some discovered truth or report some threat vanquished.

At other times he was a central figure in intrigues. Protecting the Winter King and the Summer Queen beside the Vernal Lord. Or thwarting acts of unrest and attempts at assassination.

Most of all, however, is mention of Lord Autumn as a lore keeper, an arbiter, a keeper of secrets and laws.

In this guise he enters even human myth as a protector and symbol of honor, wisdom, and covenant.

It is said that Lord Autumn brokered the treaties that sheltered mankind under the protection of the Faerie Court.

That he was a bearer of the True Names of punished spirits and Fae.

And that he lead the hunts which drove off the unshackled Spirits. Greatest of all, the All Seeing Eye of the World, He whose name means Panopticon.

Later folk stories from times after the Faerie court depict him as a trickster and guileful hero. An illusionist and habituated shape shifter.

In this form he is most oft associated with Foxes and it is believed that it is from the Sionach lines of Fae that the Autumn Lord descends.

Most striking of all in his depictions is the wearing of a fox skull. A mask said to be carved from the bones of his own predecessor, burnished and inlaid with gold and polished gemstones. The stylings of the masks as depicted in surviving carvings and murals, once believed to by stylistic, are now thought to depict different autumn lords.

If so. The office and character of Lord Autumn may provide our furthest glimpse into the misty past of the one hundred millennia era of the Faerie Court.
 
This hero is with the Tower idea. Talus the Dispeller, A wizard who cultivated his skills in detecting and unravelling spells to the point he was the go to wizard for that type of thing. He was mocked by others who used flashy moves but everyone uses his spells when stealth is required to live. His hero status has lasts for centuries. Even after discovering the Tower and going MIA presumed KIA along with the group that went with him, He is a legendary hero that survived the test of time.
 
Huh... I read the OP, and thought this was about... uh... real cultural heroes. As in actual historical people. By "your world" I thought the OP meant "your local community."

So I wrote up this little blurb with links about a local guy I just recently learned about because I thought he had a cool story, but then I read the rest of the thread, and I guess this is actually supposed to be about fictional worlds. So...

Well, since I already did the work, here it is, I hope including a real life person ends up helpful to people crafting their own fictional cultural heroes:

Thomas GIles aka "The Blind Harpist of Zion"

So I ended up out here in Utah due to my work (I'm in the software industry) and I started noticing that several homes had a full size harp sitting in the living room when I came by to visit. Apparently Utah children learn to play the harp like other upper-middle class children learn to play the piano or the violin. When I asked why, I was told that Utah has more harpists per capita than any other state. Asking why that was the case led to me being told the story of "The Blind Harpist of Zion" aka Thomas Giles. Thomas Giles was a Welshman and a coal miner who lost his sight in a mining accident. After his accident he learned to play the harp. Converting to Mormonism 1856, he migrated to Utah, having to walk all the way from the Mississippi river, and nearly froze to death on the way (his wife and newborn did freeze to death). Once he got to Utah, he earned a living by playing his harp all up and down the Mormon settlements (or as the Mormons called it: "Zion").

He's generally credited with making the harp a major musical instrument in Utah Mormon culture, which has resulted in a large number of harpists residing in Utah. (Especially the richer parts of Salt Lake City).

Modern examples of this "harp culture" in Utah would be things like "The Harp Twins" a pair of twins that take various popular songs, rewrite them for the harp, and then post youtube videos of them playing them (think something like Lindsey Stirling, but with harps).

Some examples:
Hedwig's Theme (aka Harry Potter).
Eye of the Tiger (they seem to enjoy classic rock a lot, and have done many harp covers of various artists).
Moonlight Densetsu (aka Sailor Moon)

I thought this was a very interesting example of a local cultural hero that probably no one outside of Utah and maybe the harpist community have ever heard of. Nor is he ever going to be a major part of any official historical record taught in schools. Yet over 160 years later his story is still repeated inside a small community, and he continues to have a major impact on that local community culture.
 
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In the setting I'm developing for a Pathfinder game Hero (and by contrast: Villain) have a very specific meaning to them. While someone one the street might use the phrase "You saved me, you're my hero" or suchlike to someone a Hero was someone... more.

A Hero was a swordsman who, while seemingly mundane, could also fall over two hundred feet walk away from it. A Hero is someone who can understand the intricacies of higher Valence spells that can render a lesser spellcaster mad. A Hero not only has the favor of their God/Goddess but also their ear.

(In translation the world is what's called an Epic 8 world where the maximum level most can reach is 8 out of what is normally 20. A Hero or Lillian can keep going but there's requirements and consequences to breaking the boundary of mortality that is level 8)

A few examples of Cultural Heroes are Crown Prince Dalthomeir who so long ago swore to fight evil where it stood and left his would-be throne for greater things, even today he fights side by side the greatest of the Angels against the worst demons the Abyss can throw. Raised in the seedy and treacherous world of politics that is the capital city he is a straight line in a world of squiggles, choosing to simply weather any intrigues and respond once the hand is played the Prince was a man in politics that was clear and understandable. Many lamented when he left instead of taking the thrown while many breathed quite the sigh of relief at the same.

Another is the former adventurer Tuckett. While a simple man, he now has a finger on the pulse of the world from his retired position as a innkeeper. See throughout his adventurer's Tuckett did his best to make friends everywhere he went, often giving up shares of his treasure, skills or time so that others would feel a lessened sting of the cruelty of the world. He traveled the world and made it his friend and never forgot a name or a face. Now that he resides in a single place and doesn't roam he receives and sends letters to what seems to be every single mover and shaker in the land. In this land people play the Six degree of Tuckett and he does his best to keep that number down.

Lastly and most mysteriously is an Archcaster spoken of only as The Red. The Red is a conjurer of such strength that he has never met his match in this plane and has since gone off to who-knows-where to do who-knows-what. While not a cruel man he has (had? No one has seen him in some time) The Red has a vindictiveness to him and those who try to get one over him such that to this day there is a single sub-tower that refuses to be rendering sane or whole (It will only do one or the other rumors say) once again and no wizard in their right mind will ever don a red robe for fear of reprisal (whether from The Red himself or from other who think they're The Red is unknown, probably both is a safe answer)
 
Elder Haman said:
Huh... I read the OP, and thought this was about... uh... real cultural heroes. As in actual historical people. By "your world" I thought the OP meant "your local community."
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One the one hand you're not the only person who seems to have gotten that idea. So don't worry, you appear to be in good company.

On the other had this is the creative discussion and world building forum and Squishy had stickied this thread and the thread explaining it.

Hey @LordSquishy ? Maybe preface each week's thread with it being part of the creative world-building series?
 
Arnold Schwarzenegger. Specifically, Android Arnold Schwarzenegger, in the future remakes of the Terminator films once humanity has sentient robots.

Does all his own stunts! Suffers everything for his craft! Real bullets, real robots, real explosions! After travelling back in time to the year 1984, can our implacable hero erase the stain of a rabid anti-AI terrorist from the future-to-come, or will he succumb to those new-fangled 'emotions' he was never meant to possess? A tragedy in three parts!
 
I had to come up with a few for the eternally postponed FATE campaign I've been dreaming of for years. The basic idea for the setting is it takes place after the end of a different, very high power level campaign that never happened, so of course I had to come up with those heroes, although they're not really 'culture heroes' and more the more traditional kind.

The best example that comes to mind is Rike Kleist, a famed alchemist known for essentially redefining the science and personally inventing a great deal of the apparatus used in modern alchemy. Her reach is more than academic, though. Her political pull was a significant factor in pulling her small but influential duchy of Schwarzinsel into the Great War, from which they emerged as a regional power. She's a noted friend and companion to the adventurer Carolina Brave, First Child of the New World, an artist of some repute known for her excellent use of perspective and precise lines, and the best part is, as a vampire she's still around to enjoy the fruits of her sterling reputation.

There are a couple of other ideas that I've yet to put any serious thought into, but sort of need to exist. One would be the go-to propaganda guy for the defunct evil empire brought down by the previous set of adventurers, and the other requires a long and convoluted explanation as to why their existence is necessary.
 
I once joined a Deadlands game in which several native tribes give respect to a man they call Whiptail, a dancer so skilled he danced out of his own skin.
I'm pretty sure he's some sort of shape-shifter who gained his powers by becoming such a famous and revered dancer that he became mystically significant somehow, and ever since then has used his gifts for the defense of his people - but especially for some pretty crazy shows! He's known all around North America these days, and somehow his myth never does die out...
Not certain of the details because I was a player here and not the GM (and it was years ago), but I found this pretty cool!
 
I dunno if fanfiction counts, but C41-9713-4132 is the greatest Hero of the Borg Collective in "We are the Borg and that's Okay!" Why? He wrote "The third Axiom of Choice.", fanfiction of M39-2763-5639's amazing fanfiction of F16-2376-9991's* fanfiction of "The color of pride.", which in turn was a complete piece of crap, whose author removed his label in shame, only to have eighteen people try to claim authorship after C41-9713-4132's masterpiece. Of course the only way to really keep a secret from the greatest hackers of all time is to remove all the data identifying you, so nobody knows who really wrote it.

Anyway, whenever C41-9713-4132 comes out with another chapter the whole of the collective freezes for a second and then goes about their work on autopilot until they've read it.

Diplomatic talks with the crew of that Enterprise thingy are on hold until further notice, the diplomats will just all curl up in a corner somewhere while we discuss the new Chapter. It's really a masterpiece. We'll just tell them it's an important cultural festival. It's true from a certain point of view.

C51-3648-2372, you forgot to disable your facial muscles, the engineers see you giggling. Yes, I know F12-1234-1234's* speech about the scion of Amber walking the Pattern was hilarious and genius, but these "Star Fleets" are much too limited to understand anything about it. It'd be like explaining League of Lowlifes to your 28-great-grandma, who still runs on eight dimensional Cyberspace and refuses to upgrade.

----
*F names are Fictional Borg Yes, my Borg have cultural festivals about fanfiction of fanfiction of fictional fanfiction of a story someone posted anonymously.

The Borg of "We are the Borg" have a super high fidelity internet connection in their brains.

"Why would we waste material to create art, when in our shared minds we aren't limited by it? Why would we paint our ships when we can just superimpose the most wonderful murals of light upon our very eyeballs. You look at this machine room and see drones going about their work, but if you had our implants, if you could see and hear what they hear, you would notice that their perfectly coordinated motions are set to music the likes of your bog-standard human ears could never enjoy. That guy over there sorting tubes and slotting them into the nutrient lines? He's currently delivering a completely metal Instrument 27-12-973 solo and everyone else who likes that sort of music is listening in rapt attention. While not missing a beat in their work. You look upon us and see uglyness. But in our shared mind, what we experience is pure AWESOME. You think our implants are horrible mind control devices, but the truth is just that they are so amazing that everyone who experienced them wouldn't ever want to live without them and becomes a Borg just because they realize we're right.


"We are the Borg. You might as well lower your shields and surrender your ships right now. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will become part of us. Resistance is futile, and will be met with enough ridicule and sarcasm to make the average sophont spontaneously combust. You have been warned."
 
Jared said:
In my Lands of Red and Gold universe, which I'm slowly publishing on SV (here), the indigenous peoples of Australia developed agriculture several thousand years ago.

One of their cultural heroes who appears in the middle stages of the timeline is their version of a Renaissance Man, called Pinjarra. He's kind of a combination of social philosopher, chronicler, historian, advocate, geologist, and visionary. His legacy leads to social movements as influential as Marxism was in real history (although he didn't directly develop such movements). He's particularly noted for a variety of epigrams and sayings which have been much-quoted (and much distorted) long after his passing.
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Holy shit, it's on SV now????
Time to do another re-read!
 
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