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feotakahariIt’s easy to forget that Nomads aren’t related to humans. They have as many arms and legs as a human. They vocalize at pitches humans can hear. There’s even a bit of overlap in what meats they can eat, though they’re not much for vegetables. And of course they packbond just like humans do, making friends and taking lovers. The solitary predator wasn’t that far back in their evolutionary tree, but when they faced an influx of bigger, scarier predators, tool use and cooperation were all that prevented extinction. When Tinkers marry outside their species, they most frequently marry Nomads, and Tinkers willing to part with their culture’s xenophobia can easily find a home in Nomad communities.
But hyperspace travel is a very old power, and proto-Nomads developed it long before they developed sapience. They made their mark on what was once an empty space, and it made its mark on them. It carries the imprints of their thoughts and feelings, in ways Nomads, as a non-psychic race, aren’t equipped to consciously analyze.
There’s a kind of neurosis that Nomads are reluctant to discuss. If they spend too long in hyperspace, their instincts become stronger. They become more aware of the differences between themselves and others. Other Nomads become mates or competitors, and non-Nomads become the only other thing a proto-Nomad could conceive of. Prey. Things that may speak or reason, but are fundamentally husks. And to a Nomad’s—now a Prowler’s—reasoning brain, husks must be eliminated.
The Prowlers can’t win in the end. They can’t cooperate as well as the Pure, they don’t have the raw power of the Parasites, and hyperspace itself is slowly changing. But “winning” is a very human way of thinking. And as similar as they may seem, Nomads were never human.
But hyperspace travel is a very old power, and proto-Nomads developed it long before they developed sapience. They made their mark on what was once an empty space, and it made its mark on them. It carries the imprints of their thoughts and feelings, in ways Nomads, as a non-psychic race, aren’t equipped to consciously analyze.
There’s a kind of neurosis that Nomads are reluctant to discuss. If they spend too long in hyperspace, their instincts become stronger. They become more aware of the differences between themselves and others. Other Nomads become mates or competitors, and non-Nomads become the only other thing a proto-Nomad could conceive of. Prey. Things that may speak or reason, but are fundamentally husks. And to a Nomad’s—now a Prowler’s—reasoning brain, husks must be eliminated.
The Prowlers can’t win in the end. They can’t cooperate as well as the Pure, they don’t have the raw power of the Parasites, and hyperspace itself is slowly changing. But “winning” is a very human way of thinking. And as similar as they may seem, Nomads were never human.
