At the beginning of the story, it was an ordinary world, an ordinary planet, and an ordinary beginning.
It was a tiny dot in the endless starry sky, a speck of dust in the universe. Just like every planet that gave birth to life, luck favored this solid planet made of rocks, metals, and sulfur-rich minerals. After a solar storm, charged particles and a strong magnetic field penetrated through the rock strata on the surface, and the first Si-S major molecule with the ability of self-replication was coincidentally assembled from a hot spring in the shallow layer of the planet's surface. This silicon-sulfur molecule became the most complex compound in the history of the planet, and it became the beginning of the whole story. It was lucky to survive the material changes of the hot springs, lucky to complete the first replication, and lucky to maintain its stability during the temperature changes of the hot springs. In the slow and purely lucky "reproduction," it took tens of millions of years to cover the bottom of the hot springs, and then slowly spread outwards. It gradually converged, mutated, and fused with other substances or other mutated macromolecules around it. Symbiosis, fighting, compromise, the seed of life took root and germinated. After hundreds of millions of years of simple replication, the first creature that could be called a "cell" evolved from these constantly replicating silicon-sulfur soup.
The primitive biosphere of the mother planet started underground.
It was not until hundreds of millions of years later that the cell, whose shell was made of sulfides, slowly "learned" how to combine with other cells, forming a more complicated creature that was more suitable for survival and migration. It wandered freely in the dark geothermal soup for the first time.
The original underground hot springs had been on the verge of extinction over time, but the underground "water" system of the mother planet was net-like, and the ancient creatures that learned to move freely swam from the dried up hot springs to another nutrient-rich hot springs, and slowly approached a shallow underground river that led to the surface. Finally, these ignorant little creatures settled in an ancient open-air lake, began the next stage of complexity, and prepared for that fateful day — to step on the surface — without knowing it.
The first creatures that ran on the mother planet were little creatures that crawled on the ground. Perhaps they looked a bit like squashed lizards, or they had tails that degenerated from caudal fins, or they had sharp little nails that clung to the smooth rock bed of the hot springs. Even their ancestors could only rely on guesses and the restoration of their remains to imagine what these ancient little creatures looked like. They guessed that these first creatures on the mother planet would have blue-white scaly skin, silicide made up their bones, and fibrous sulfide made up their soft internal organs. They had not evolved to have eyes, because the dark hot springs and the bottom of the lake did not need such organs. These blind crawling creatures once left the ancient geothermal source, and then left the nutrient-scarce underground river, and now they left the unchanging lake: an epic adventure. They used their frail limbs to carefully grab onto the dry rocks on the surface and climbed onto the ground. The thick atmosphere of the primitive mother planet stirred up a cold wind that blew on the still damp skin of these little creatures. Some of the more timid individuals might have retreated, but thankfully, the brave ones among them raised their heads and welcomed the unprecedented dry air. At this moment, it had been two billion years since the solar storm that sowed life on the mother planet.
As these little creatures ran across the vast and desolate land of the mother planet, and gradually multiplied and spread to a considerable scale, a decisive turning point appeared: Ancestor Anthus called this turning point the Year of the Great Storm. The mother planet of the Schilling people was a huge planet.
According to the data provided by the ancestor, it was probably three times the size of Earth, and it had a liquid core that was full of power. The intense geological activity in ancient times had caused its surface to be covered with super-large mountain ranges and rift valleys that were unimaginable on Earth. These mountain ranges and rift valleys stretched endlessly across the entire planet's crust, cutting the planet into several parts like corrugated paper in a separate breeding box. Where the crust was sunken, the mountain ranges and rift valleys could not continue, but there was a huge ocean as a barrier. Just like that, the mother planet was naturally divided into several regions, and each region had a different natural environment. The most different regions were like two different planets. Such a high difference in surface would cause the accumulation of excessive turbulence in the atmosphere, and coupled with the overly active sun next to the mother planet, this brought about a drastic change in the mother planet's climate, as well as various large-scale meteorological events that were unimaginable on Earth. The scale and intensity of typhoons on the mother planet were several times that of Earth's, and a high convection wind could even spread across four-fifths of the planet. Although the cycle between each phenomenon was very long, every time it happened, the planet would be turned upside down.
And this time, an unprecedented storm was brewing on the mother planet. The scale of the storm was larger than any storm in the planet's history or since. It swept across the entire planet, triggering worldwide rainfall and hurricanes. The center of the largest storm ocean on the mother planet dropped by tens of meters, triggering impact tsunamis that ravaged the surrounding continents, and the floods surged inland. Fate seemed to want to give the planet a kick, so it triggered a large-scale collision of the planet's crust in the northern hemisphere, where the mountains had the most mountains. Cracks appeared in the towering mountains, and the floods from the coastal areas flowed straight in. Coupled with hurricanes and heavy rainfall, this shuffling meteorological event lasted for nearly half a year on the mother planet.
The primitive biosphere suffered heavy losses in this reshuffle, but it did not completely perish. Miraculously, this became one of the reasons for the Seely people's very different civilization structure. The primitive creatures were sent to all corners of the planet and began to evolve anew in those environments that were so different that it was almost like a different planet. The silicon-based life forms were resilient, and their tolerance to temperature and humidity was often tens or even hundreds of times that of carbon-based life forms. They stubbornly survived in every corner of the mother planet, and eventually evolved into more than a dozen incredible life forms.
The difference between each life form was like that of an alien creature!
And then there was the story of the Schilling people. Due to the previous "Age of the Great Storm", the world's organisms evolved into more than a dozen almost completely isolated lineages, and half of these lineages produced intelligent life forms. These were the primitive Schilling people. That's right, the Schilling people were not a single race. They evolved independently in the strange environment of the mother planet, and they gave birth to several fundamentally different creatures. Although they all had the appearance of humans and walked upright, that was the result of information disturbance in the galaxy. If you put the two Schilling people from two different tribes on the mother planet together to study them, you would definitely think that they were aliens from two different planets!
Perhaps this was an ancient incentive for the "branch" of the Shiring Apostles today.
The Schilling civilization was a relatively rare "multi-species hybrid civilization." That was, multiple different intelligent species originated on the same planet, reached the stage of civilization, and finally formed a mixed civilized civilization. They were compatriots, brothers and sisters of the same civilization, but their life forms had reached the point where they thought each other were aliens. It was that exaggerated.
This kind of "multi-species hybrid civilization" was probably very novel in the conventional worldview of the people on earth, but for me, this was not the first time this concept appeared. Just look at the species composition of the Salvation Army: they came from the same planet. This was the case for the Schilling people. They were made up of several different intelligent species. These intelligent species were also the origin template of the Shiring Apostles in the future.
Just like many other ordinary races, the major races on the primitive mother planet also had wars when they first came into contact with each other. Due to the fundamental differences in life forms, these wars were extremely tragic. When Ancestor Anthus talked about this period of history, he kept mentioning some names: Scorpio, Safar, Storm. These were all the races on the mother planet in the ancient times. Before the Schilling civilization formed a unified whole, this planet was divided and occupied by several equally civilized species. The division and opposition on this planet was far worse than the most chaotic era on Earth.
But just like the ordinary races that persisted until the era of the universe, after the initial war and integration, the Schilling people successfully turned from opposing races into a unified civilization and began to explore their universe.
"Multi-species hybrid civilization" had a unique advantage, and that was their rapid development in the field of scientific research and exploration. Therefore, the Schilling people mastered advanced space technology in a relatively short period of time, and after coming into contact with the limits of the physical world, they began to study how to jump out of their universe. And it was at this time that the disaster suddenly came.
The Abyss erupted in an inland colony and almost instantly destroyed this civilization that was full of hope, and in a short period of time, it crossed the final defense line of the mother planet.
This eruption of the Abyss was also the original source of the "hatred" of the Shiring Apostles.
Although the Schilling people stubbornly resisted, with their strength, they were completely unprepared to fight against an enemy like the Abyss. Coupled with the scale of the Abyss that the primitive mother planet faced at that time, the Schilling people finally had to accept the fact that their universe was slowly collapsing, and any fleet and artillery against the unknown enemy was useless.
The Xi Ling people used the last of their resources and the time they fought for to build an ark that could cross the void. On the day when the primordial homeworld was completely covered by the abyss, they began to flee their home universe. This was the first time in the history of the Xi Ling civilization faced the abyss, and it was also the last time the entire race fled. The birth of the Xi Ling apostles happened not long after that.
"We were losing in the battle against the Abyss. It was an 'enemy' that could not be explained with common sense. It was invisible, intangible, and could not be analyzed." Anthus took a long time to finish the first half of the history of the mother planet, and now he finally talked about the Abyss War and the birth of the Shiring Apostles. "We did not even know that it was a clear evil enemy, or just an irresistible natural phenomenon in the universe. We only knew that in the end, everything became the enemy. The longer we fought against the Abyss, the stronger the enemy force we had to face. It was a battle that we could not win from the beginning, and in the end, the coalition government had to abandon their home and jump out of the universe."
"This must have been a very risky move back then." Sandora nodded.
"Yes, it was risky, extremely risky." Anthus sighed. "We did not fully master the technology to jump out of the world. The precise model of the multiverse, the indescribably dangerous environment between the multiverse, and how to carry out controllable travel between worlds were all still in the exploratory stage. We had just found out that there was a wider space beyond our own world, and we had just found out how to use mathematical devices to create an orderly field that could allow us to survive in the void, but the war against the Abyss had already reached the stage where we had to flee.
After the first batch of arks set off, we lost contact with them. The high-power communication antenna that we equipped for them only lasted for a short period of time in the void before malfunctioning. The second batch of arks used a new discontinuous communication technology. After they left their home planet, they maintained a connection with the base for a period of time, but soon after, they lost contact as well. It was as if trying to jump out of the universe was no different from suicide. But there was no other way, we had to keep launching arks. There was no time to research a safe travel plan, and we did not have enough resources to launch more unmanned experimental arks. The Confederation government had long given up on their home planet's defenses. In the last moments of their lives, the Schilling family holed up in the last colony on the other side of the Milky Way, watching the universe slowly crumble before their eyes. The starlight sent back by the deep-space probes grew dimmer by the day, and the light and shadows between the nebulae grew wilder and wilder by the day. Under such circumstances, we used everything we had to build arks. Regardless of whether these simple arks could survive in the void until we reached the next safe world, we had to escape without hesitation … "
"The homeworld might be located at the boundary of the Void Quadrant," Sandora suddenly said in a low voice. "The only difference between traveling within the quadrant and traveling across the quadrant is the method of communication. The first batch of arks' communication system was definitely designed to work in the 'continuous void', so after we crossed the quadrant, those arks disappeared … Don't worry about that, please continue."
Anthus nodded. He knew that he probably did not understand Sandora's explanation. "In the end, the situation took a turn for the better. The pressure of genocide could drive mortals crazy, but it also gave us the explosive strength to survive. We finally figured out the key to traveling in the void and created a crude navigation device. It sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? The first batch of arks didn't even have a navigation device. It was like a primitive canoe without a rudder or sail. It could only drift forward in the void. That was the first batch of arks. "
After the new technology was invented, it immediately turned into manned spaceships. Like I said, we did not have the time and resources to conduct unmanned experiments. The abyss was closing in on us. Once any new technology was invented, we had to immediately convert it into a physical object and send a group of brave volunteers out. At that time, we still did not understand the propagation pattern of the abyss. Its non-linear propagation could lead to disaster every day, so we could only send people out whenever there was a chance to prevent ourselves from missing the last 'safety window'. In the end, we felt that the time had come. The destructive force was only half a light year away from the final barrier, and there was no time to develop new navigation technology or build new arks. The Confederation government decided to launch all the spaceships they had built, loaded them with everyone they could, and jumped into the void. "
Using the experience gained by the pioneers who had sacrificed their lives, the last batch of arks managed to move forward in the void. We even managed to contact a few of the spaceships that were launched earlier and successfully met up with them. However, most of the spaceships that were launched earlier still remained uncontactable. They were like floating balls thrown into a turbulent current to test the flow of water. They had long been swept away by the void. "
From that day on, the era of Schilling's homeworld came to an end. The Confederation government announced a reorganization, and with the approval of the entire population, we abandoned the moderate federation and parliamentary system. The entire civilization turned into an imperial system. The Xiling Empire was established on the ark. "
In order to survive, we decided to give up our individual interests and arm ourselves as a nomadic civilization with absolute efficiency, obedience, unity, loyalty, and bravery. Everyone knew very well that as a nomadic civilization that could capsize at any time, this was the only way for us to survive. "
Even though we escaped from our homeworld, the Schilling people's rage for revenge never subsided. We remembered the painful history of our homeworld being destroyed, and we have been trying to find out the truth of that disaster. Scientists firmly believed that the collapse of the universe was not a natural phenomenon. Our homeworld was destroyed by something abnormal and did not belong to our universe. After a long period of research, they finally confirmed that this thing came from outside our world, from the depths of the void. After the ark fleet encountered some cosmic fragments, they confirmed that this power had destroyed more than one world. The last point is very important: we thought that the destructive force had disappeared after the destruction of our homeworld, but it still existed, and it was a common phenomenon in the multiverse. This gave the Schilling people a constant motivation during their difficult exile: revenge. "
In the end, the scientists decided to call this power: the Abyss. "
Still, no one knew the nature of the Abyss, and they did not know whether the two-dimensional patterns on the surface were material or energy or something else, but at least the target of revenge was clearer than ever. At this time, something else happened. We realized that our many flaws as mortals would not last long in exile. We would fear, we would retreat, and we would lose our will to fight as time passed. Most people could not be a hundred percent honest with others, and it was difficult for people to trust each other. These flaws became more and more obvious as the exile continued. Just like that, the determination of the Abyss and our own flaws worked together, and finally, the new government decided to create a new life form, and infuse all the information of the Schilling civilization into this new life form, and let them take over the Tinder. "
"In fact, the Originator project had already begun in our homeworld." Anthus paused for a moment before revealing more secrets. "When we were fighting against the Abyss in our homeworld, we realized that the Abyss was more likely to infect the weak-willed mortals. So, someone proposed to create a cruel and merciless weapon to replace the mortals in the battle against the Abyss. The name 'Originator' was also mentioned at that time, so you can say that the 'Originator' project was proposed in the homeworld. But because the situation of the war took a turn for the worse, we did not have the time to create this ideal life form. In the early days of exile, survival was more important than anything else, so the project was temporarily put on hold. It was not until later when we had a chance to breathe that the project was restarted. "
"This is the origin of the Shiring Apostles." Anthus sighed and said tiredly.
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