DEVBLOG #4 - THE PATH OF WONDER

At some point in their history (not much before their extinction), a schism in their form of life happened. It seems there had always been divergent ways of thinking around the scriptures and the role of the Ancients as the dominant species of O’Ree-Jin. Most of the time, those dissonant voices didn’t get enough traction to create a significant debate among the Ancients. At some point, one of these voices gained enough following to challenge the dominant way of thinking. They summarized these beliefs with an apostate pamphlet named The Path of Wonder that contradicted basic precepts of the Ancients culture:

• One realizes his potential by means of consumption.

• One is able to consume because he is able to produce.

• One produces as much as he needs.

• One’s needs must be contained by his ability to grow.

• One shall grow through diligence.

• Diligence is learned by providing to the community.

• The community's ultimate goal should be to realize its potential.

Everything we do must rely on this spiral as the power of our people depends on the growth of said people.

This radical change of view proposed a more proactive way of thinking about systemic growth on O’Ree-Jin. It is mostly attributed to the feeling of some of the Ancients that they were wasting precious time and resources just by not acting on them. The schism tends to be attributed to a natural flaw in the way the Ancients devised growth. The Ancients were capable of amazing biotechnological feats, the like of which has not been seen in other places of the galaxy. At the same time, these technological applications of the essence were always focused on expanding community boundaries, not as raw growth, but as how they related between themselves and the planet. As more applications for the substance were found, more impatient and wondrous the Ancients turned. The followers of the Path of Wonder advocated for a conjoint effort, policing and regularizing the means of production and the populace's work effort. This could not abide by the majority of the Ancients as it would hinder people's autonomy and freedom. From an outsider’s point of view, it seems the Ancients found their own kind of decadence. Decadence in the Ancients society came through a visceral fear based on the idea of inaction waste:'if we do not take advantage of the current opportunities, we will face later consequences.'Some portion of the populace started making exaggerated exploitation and use of the essence for growth, experimentation, and knowledge acquisition.

This was achieved mainly through the use of Harvesters. A sophisticated technology that extracted the essence from O’Ree-Jin’s bedrock, fracturing it in the process. This began to impact the environment creating residuals and subproducts of the substance treatment that were quite dangerous to the ecosystem. Moreover, these phenomena created other problems akin to the ones inherent to globalization and worker exploitation. These phenomena were entirely novel in Ancients society.

At some point, the sages tried to bring the debate to the public, expand the assembly, incorporate new participants, and reach a mutual consensus between these two ways of thinking. The popularity of the sages helped sway public opinion their way. Most of the activity of the Path of wonder became clandestine as it became somewhat shameful. The crisis was averted for the moment...