The Creation of the Web
By Artemis62
It was said that there was a time before the Web. Not in my time, nor my father's time, nor even my father's father's time. No, long ago, in an era lost to the mists of time, there was no internet, no Web. Humanity lived in a different place, then, a world called Arell.
Arell was nothing like the Web we live in today. No, it was a far darker place, a place of death and suffering, of starvation and burden. It was a dark era for humanity, a time where one's end could come at just about any time. We do not know how long we existed in Arell, nor where we came from before then. But, what records we have of this unenlightened time are enough to send shivers down anyone's spine.
It seems that communication in Arell was limited, to the point that one could only talk to those who were near by, "close" as certain texts claim. Compounded by the fact that Arell was a far vaster plain than the Web, and travelling between places in Arell could take minutes, or even hours. Truely, even I cannot comprehend how existance in such a horrible place could be possible. But, exist we did. And somehow, we managed to live our lives.
But, it had a heavy toll. In Arell, humans needed to perform, at regular intervals, a ritual called "eating". This ritual required a sacrifice of certain items to the gods which would ensure that individual's continued existance. Indeed, not "eating" for an extended period of time would gradually weaken a person, until eventually they terminated. It also seems that the items required to "eating" were scarce, and thus had an inflated value.
Many had so few resources that they could not afford to "eating" very often, and fed up with their curse, they did battle with those who could "eating" in order to take their items. Of course, since one of the side effects of these battles was that there were fewer people afterwords, nothing was done to stop them. All in all, the lot of a person living in Arell was a difficult one.
One day, four friends living in Arell decided that they were fed up with the state of affairs, and they set out on a journey. They travelled all across Arell, from the highest mountain to the lowest valled, in search of a solution to their problems. Soon, they found themselves at the very gates of the land of the gods. There, they demanded of the gods that something be done. The gods spoke back, and said:
Fear not mortal, for soon thy suffering shall be at an end. I shall bless thee and thy kind with a new land, with no hunger nor suffering. A land of eternal life. And, thou shall be the administrators of this land, and thy name shall be root.
Within them, the four friends feld something awaken, a power they did not know they had. They found that they could enter a new world. This new world was as a blank canvas, and they found that it was as though they had the brush. Together, they went through this new land and raised new mountains, and carved new valley. They created beautiful lakes and forests. They created the Daemons as well. Yes, dear reader, this new land was the Web.
Soon, the four returned to Arell and one by one, they helped the humans move into the Web. Before long, they all existed in the Web, and Arell was left behind forever.
However, it soon came to light that it was not the utopia that the four roots had envisioned. Some of the evils that existed in Arell had entered the Web along with the humans, and become a virus, which slowly tried to consume the Web. The four roots fought the virus, and managed to drive it back and entrap it. However, they knew that the virus would not be contained forever. Though they tried, they could not destroy the virus, as it still had a connection to Arell. So, the four roots decided to take another approach.
They chose a few trusted humans, and created the Blessed Order of Technomancers. As you now know, the Technomancers were created to fight the virus and its spawn. They were given greater power than ordinary men to achieve this task. The four roots also spread the seed of Technomancy within the population so that there would ever be a fresh supply of Technomancers.
Satisfied that they did all they could for this new world, they left the Web, leaving behind the Technomancers to guard and protect the Web forever. And, they continue to do so even to this day.
If you're interested, I've got an idea for a story set in this universe. I don't know if I should bother, though... What do you guys think?
