Galaxy's Edge Space Bar (archive)

[Darth Revan]

Thordon looks worried and saddened, "Well that's dis-heartening. However you all seem to have escaped the pressures of war to experience and enjoy your existance." His expression returns to that of curiosity, "How long has this conflict existed? You act though you know of a before-time, so it couldn't have been that long ago."

[Myitt]

Myitt laughs again.  "For the time being, yes.  You've got to try and enjoy your existence."  She thinks for a moment.  "The war has been going on for twenty-one Generations, or over forty-five human years.  I was born before the war began, although I was barely out of grubhood by then."

[Darth Revan]

"Forty-five human years? I wonder how long that is on Anarion? However, it's but a speck compared to the life span of an Anaron. So I guess it's not that bad."

[Myitt]

"Hmm, well, we could try and figure it out," says Myitt, sounding pleased with the idea of having something to calculate.  She brings up her floating holoscreen.  "Can you tell me your units of measurement, such as, how you determine time?  On Earth each instant of time is called a second, sixty seconds make up a minute, and sixty minutes make up an hour.  There are twenty-four hours in a day.  Do you calculate time in a similar fashion, and if so how many of those units are in a day?  A single rotation of your planet on its axis, from daylight to night?"  She types for a moment.  "There are roughly 365 days in an Earth year, or one rotation of Earth around its sun.  You should be able to plug in the units here."  She slides the holographic square through the air over to Thordon, where what must be some kind of cursor for entering text has appeared.  Below it are floating characters, numbers in the Galard writing system.  "These would be your equivalents of an hour, these would be your equivalents of a day, and these are years."  She seems to leave no option for whether or not Thordon's people even have such measurements, as if it was inconceivable that even the most basic civilized creatures wouldn't have some way of marking the passage of sunlight.

[Darth Revan]

"Unfortunately no. We used to have such a system, but over the years we've abandoned need for such a system. Years and days flow as one. As to date, We have been sentient and self-aware for millenia. We lost complete track of time as it seemed redundant to continue counting."

[Myitt]

"Then how do you know your equivalent of years are much longer than Earth's years?  For that matter, how do you know how old you are?  I guess you just....live really, really long lives?  Are you a collective entity, with the memory of countless millenia?  There must be a point at which it ceases to really matter."  Myitt smiles brightly at Mar and awaits an answer from Thordon while playing around with the little unit converter to double-check her Yeerk-Earth dates.  "Hah, within 0.1%!" she crows.

[Darth Revan]

"I don't. I've never heard of Earth until now, so we've never needed to compare the two. A being's life span is dependant on one's strength with our element. There are strong ones that I've known almost my entire life, there are some that don't survive childhood. However that is a great rarity, it's a grave and sad moment when a young one loses his hold. A large average live for few millenia. It's really random and impossible to measure.

"Of course 'strength' and 'skill' are two different attributes. My love is almost as old as I, short a few millenia, but she isn't very skilled in controlling her elelment. Her body is strong, but she isn't skilled. She just today learned to refill her house's battery. Then again, energy transfer is more complicated then sending shocks and hovering."

[Myitt]

"Fascinating, it would be interesting to take a look at the way your genetic code survives millenia like that, if you have anything similar to DNA," Myitt says.  "DNA is the code of genetic transfer for many forms of life that exist in my universe."

[Darth Revan]

"As do we, but with our Element being Energy, our bodies sustain themselves very well. And again, if someone's body has a weak hold on that energy, they fade faster than others. It's a solemn moment when we lose someone, but it's how they were designed, so it's accepted."

((Thanks for asking all of these awesome questions. It's helping me think on these aspects that I just glazed over before.))

[Myitt]

((Haha...no prob   Pretending to be an over analytical alien math nerd (and being a pretty gigantic bio nerd) makes me think too much about little inane details XD))

"Energy having the ability to sustain genetic code, it's all very interesting," Myitt muses.  "You say your people have never had war, outside of a few small skirmishes with the Sijris, is that right?  It must be a peaceful existence.  My planet was peaceful too, before the war.  Such are the dangers of knowledge, I suppose.  The humans have a saying: Ignorance is bliss."

[Darth Revan]

"Yes, there was one moment of battle between Sijris before they realized we meant no harm. We lost a few friends then, but we've been trained to defend ourselves against the wild, so we were prepared to defend ourselves from the attackers. Our civilization is one of support and coexistence. Most everyone has jobs that help keep our populace busy and contented. Everyone's needs are met and if someone feels they deserve something outlandish, we convene with them to find either a suitable compromise or we allow them what they wish. But essentially everyone works to better our society for the good of our species. My day normally consists of going around cities looking to help any in need."

[Gaz]

"I'm not mixed up in their stuff," Gaz said, coming into the conversation. "I'm a pirate by trade. I don't necessarily hate everyone. Quite fond of others, I am. But I'm especially fond of their cargo."

Morgan chuckled and shook his head.

"Take what you can," Gaz started again.

"And give nothing back!" Morgan finished.

[Shenmue654]

Mar glances almost jealously at Thordon for a few seconds, but then shakes his head as if pushing off a distant memory. Mar then sighs with a kind of odd longing and states, "My entire life is characterized by war, pestilence, and death. By the throbbing pains of a loved one's loss and the confusion of their absence. Even by the toxic hatred of the Andalites and Yeerks, losing much of the beauty of what they were in what seems to them an endless war. To sustain myself I must travel between locations and spread entropy and emptiness everywhere I go. I've gotten used to it, but I still remember and desire the kind of peace you have on your world. As for the issue of time...time appears brief when I pay attention to it, and appears meaningless when I don't. "

Mar then smiles a bit at Ossanlin and shakes his head. "You needn't worry so much. I am who I am, and if you'd acknowledge a creature of my type as a friend of yours, I'll reciprocate."

[Myitt]

"Mar, I'm crushed," says Myitt with a knifelike smile.  "I didn't think the war made me that ugly."

[Darth Revan]

Thordon looks understandably at Mar when talking about losing a loved one. "Ah, yes. 'Loss.' It doesn't happen often, but I lost someone very special. I was one of the sorcerors that studied the first portal. My brethren and I still had our legs then. To truly learn and  excel at being a sorceror, we had to shut ourselves from our personal lives. I was planned to be married before we sorcerors decided to shut ourselves off. I had to leave her, for millenia, I had to almost forget her. But she stayed in my mind, small part, but still there. Even after we evolved our legs away, and we were completely enveloped in our techniques and studies, she was always there. It was maddening. I think that's what pushed me to take my own life." Thordon just stopped there, lost in his memories.