Universalia

By Christophe Thibaud

A misanthropic autocrat obsessed by metaphysics and the great strategists of the past.
A singular Reptilian worried about her survival.
A humanistic automat rejected by its peers.
A volatil egocentric entity.
Eternal war.
Universalia.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 21, 2014
• ISBN: 9781291844733

Book preview

Universalia

Universalia

Universalia

Christophe Thibaud

© Christophe Thibaud

Lulu.com

Year of publication 2013

« The intellectual ownership code prohibits copies or reproductions destined for collective use. Any representation or reproduction, in whole or in part, by any means, without the prior written permission of his beneficiaries or of others assignees, is illicit and constitutes an infringement pursuant to Article L.335-2 and other articles of the International Ownership Code. »

Front cover Illustration: Lucette Dutertre

Translated by Cyril Bouloux

Index

Notions and informations

Universe

After the attack

Decapitation

The multiverse

Terra Prima

Kordan

The Great Legislator

Mecatronica

Korpi

The Great Men

Introspection

Relative notions

Atzu and Kub

Korna

Techno pleasure

Experience

The general

The example

The dissidence

The Indicators

Sethis

The encounter

Mecatron Dominus

Atmosphera

The Contact

The exchange

Atzu

The rout

The intimate enemy

Compromission

The original combat

The divine wind

The unexpected

Propitiation

The anticipation

The apotheosis

The absolution

The communion

The finishings

The great leap

Annex and references

-XIVth century

Ere tenebris

XVth-XXXth centuries

Nova aetate

XXXIth century

Heram divina

Sun Tzu (544-496 B.C.)

His true name is Sun Wu (Wu meaning military or martial), a Chinese general of the sixth century B.C.

He is particularly well known as the author of the most ancient work published on military strategy.

The hallmark of his work is that the objective of war consists in compelling the enemy to surrender without fighting, using cunningness, spying and great mobility: this means adapting to the opponent’s strategy to ensure victory at a lesser cost

Universe

To this day, nothing can certify if the universe is finite or infinite.

Some theoreticians are in favor of a finite universe, but without limits, others of a finite universe with limits.

A finite universe could, for example, be space closing on itself.

After a long journey in a straight line in that universe it could be possible to come back, not far from the starting point

The given definition of the universe is without any meaning.

We know today that a definition of an ensemble, however formal it may be, does not imply its existence.

In short, the word universe has yet to be defined.

Schematization of the multiverse:

(also called Universalia or multi-universe)

The multiuniverse is made up of a coherent cubical block containing all the known universes, the point of perfect symmetry being represented by the Wormhole, a unique and common pathway that enables travelling from one universe to the other.

Universe 1

Mother Planet

Terra Prima

Individual

Terrian (Homo sapiens superior)

Characteristics

Homo sapiens of Terra Prima possess the highest level of intellect.

Its population reigns this universe.

Has the ability to travel between the universes.

Life expectancy of around 200 sidereal

years.

Population

250x10⁹ inhabitants

Political Context

Terra Prima has been under the dictatorship of the Kor cast since the twenty-fifth century.

Kordan is the Great Legislator, an autocrat nominated by the dominating cast. An exceptional man obsessed by the transcendent military strategy and philosophy of Sun Tzu.[1]

---

[1] The other planets of the Terrian universe comprise less intelligent or technologically less competent individuals, yet able to travel outside the planet habitat. Moreover, their cosmic travels were voluntarily limited by the autocracy.

Universe 2

Mother Planet

Mecatronica

Individual

Superior intelligence.

Definition of mecatronics

A synergistic and systemic combination of mechanics, electronics and real time informatics. The interest of this field of interdisciplinary engineering lies in conceiving powerful automatic structures allowing the control of complex systems.

Population

10¹² units

Political Context

Its functioning is based on the principles of the ant nest with a central unit called Mecatron Dominus as a queen mother.

History

The power of Homo sapiens of Genesa, parallels that of Terra Prima in evolution.

As from the twenty-fifth century Homo sapiens was progressively overpowered by the Mecatrons.

This Homo sapiens population now lives on a satellite planet of Mecatronica under constant surveillance and technological restrictions imposed by the Mecatrons. The other planets of the mecatron universe are intellectually more advanced but their lack of technology does not permit them to move out of their planetary habitat.

Universe 3

Mother Planet

Reptilia

Individual

Reptilian

Characteristics

A high level of intelligence.

Life expectancy of around 235 sidereal years.

In the evolution criteria of Terra Prima:

Currently speaking, Reptiles are part of a group of animals with a variable temperature and a long body covered with scales.

They are not part of a paraphyletic but of a monophyletic group. Some theropod reptiles are at the origin of birds and mammalian reptiles are at the origin of mammals.

Mammalian reptiles are among the first reptiles to appear at the beginning of the Permian period (primary era) and competed with the dinosaurs right up to the Trias.

Soon after they appeared, they evolved into various lineages of herbivores and carnivores,  one of which differentiated into mammals.

The first animals to join this class appeared on Earth in the Carboniferous period, at the same time as the amniotes.

Being the first vertebrates able to colonize the terrestrial environment, they rapidly developed into a wide variety of species, represented by the dinosaurs that largely dominated the Earth during the Mesozoic period.

After their extinction towards the end of the Cretaceous period the latter were replaced by the mammals.

In this reptilian universe

A parallel evolution assured the continuity of the domination by reptiles and paved the way to the present dominant reptilian system.

Population

20x10⁹ units

Political Context

Dictatorship under Sethis, a dominating mammalian female.

Universe 4

Mother planet

Naturalia

Characteristics

Presence of vegetal structures and animals of low intellect (a primitive type of interaction with the environment).

The vegetal and mineral components of Naturalia are dominant over the animal world.

This planet is the supply zone of raw materials to the different universes of the multiverse.[2]

---

[2] Other planets in this universe overflow with primitive species.

Universe 5

Dominant entity

Atmosphera

Characteristics

Gaseous form of intelligence resulting from electrical synaptic activities.

This intelligence is limited by the large distances between electrical connections.

Despite geographical distances, the addition of connections reaches a level of intelligence equalling that of the different nations which command the multiverse.

This makes it possible to travel from one universe to another, with a potential risk of disorganization of its physical component.

Atmosphera has the will not to depend on the other universes.[3]

---

[3] The universe of Atmosphera possesses planets with a fauna and flora which contain species or individuals which have primary interactions with the environment.

Universe 6

Mother planet

Animalia

Characteristics

Animalia is inhabited by a varied, yet not totally identified fauna and flora.

The animal component dominates the natural habitat.

The various species have a primitive, poorly-evolved level of intelligence.[4]

---

[4] Other planets of this universe also have the same natural macrocosm but are of smaller size.

Universe 7

Quasar

Definition

Right until the end of the 20th century there was a great controversy concerning the very nature of these objects.

A scientific consensus has recently been reached according to which a quasar is a compact region surrounding a super massive black hole located in the center of a massive galaxy.

Its size varies from ten to ten thousand times the radius of Schwarzschild of the black hole. Its source of energy comes from the accretion disk which surrounds the black hole.

Characteristics

A gigantic quasar gradually eliminates the whole of this universe. The most advanced and intelligent civilization has been destroyed by the forces of attraction of the quasar before it had time to acquire the level of technology which would have allowed it to escape its fate.

There are still some planets with individuals whose extra-planetary travels hardly go beyond the satellites.

Universe 8

Enigma

Characteristics

Some suppose that it is at the very origin of the multiverse or that it holds all the secrets. Several exploring expeditions have been undertaken to try to unravel that which, for the many who believe, remains the enigma of the gods.

There has been no return from these expeditions.

After the attack

Orion Galaxy

Year 3024 A.D.

Once again the attack had been repelled.

Once again, it resulted in savagery, if such a term could be applied to machines, a savagery carrying in its bloody furrow, cohorts of vessels, war machines and human beings.

Once again, such an outcome, without a winner, reflected the sterile and uncertain character of wars taking place in the multiverse.

Again and again.

« Know when it is meet to fight and when it is convenient to withdraw. »

Thus, the so aptly named Orion, a figure of Greek mythology, whose story is about a huntress known for her beauty and violence had witnessed an interstellar war in which horror had embraced magnificence.

Kordan, in the central post of the flagship of the Terra fleet, wondered about the inanity and yet so vitally important, endless wars and conquests.

« Peace is the interval between two wars. »[i]

In that era of the thirty-first century the fleet of the system colonized by Terra had, once more, ensured the failure of the conquering inclinations of the war machine of mecatron.

Yet the accomplishment of that joust left no bitterness in Kordan’s spirit.

Indeed, war was intrinsic to human nature. Its ancestral character rendered it neither necessary nor respectable but its acceptation remained a necessity.

« He who remains on his guard shows his lack of strength.

He who attacks shows his abundance. »

The chapters of History rested on a background of wars, introducing the latter as being inherent and natural, an important component of the hourglass of passing time.

All attempts to make peace and alliances between the different civilizations of the multiverse, often considered as activities of spying or intimidation, had failed.

Sometimes the pure and simple lack of trust was sufficient not to sign alliances.

Sun Tzu’s treatise, «The Art of war », written in the VIth century B.C had deeply influenced Kordan who wanted to be considered as his adept.

Napoleon was supposed to have said : «had I followed Sun Tzu’s precepts I would not have lost so many battles and more particularly Waterloo »

Naturalia was the main, ceaseless object of conflict.

Indeed, the natural components available on that universe had become indispensable to the dominant civilizations of the multiverse, providing both natural elements for the essential functioning of their individuals and raw materials for everyday life.

There were of course many other causes of conflicts with other populations of the multiverse about which Kordan had talked to Korpi, his mentor.

— Korpi, why do different species wage war between them? Kordan asked in his fourteenth sidereal year.

— There are answers which raise many other questions.

A species does not like those which do not look like them, because difference breeds fear and fear, an instinct for survival, leads you either to attack or to move away from that different species.

There is yet another questioning concerning that other species.

— Is it superior to you? If such is the case it might dominate or destroy you. Can you dominate it? If such is the case you should make slaves of them to increase your power.

The human being has always considered himself as issuing from a divine origin and he tolerates neither competition nor difference.

Moreover, the encounter with different intellects is source of many dangers:

«He who knows the other and knows himself can fight a hundred wars without ever putting himself in danger.

He who does not know the other but knows himself will encounter a defeat for each victory won.

He who knows neither himself nor the other, will inevitably lose all battles.»

Finally, do not forget that your conceptions of the human being are not those of another species of the multiverse. Can you reason with your concepts to understand a being different from you?

That is why war will continue as long as the difference exists.

— Fine, said Kordan. It seems then that only the collusion between civilizations, a danger greater than fear of the other, or a common objective could make these deleterious conflicts for all our civilizations disappear.

Kordan had then had the unwavering intuition that the main aim of his life was the discovery of the secret of Enigma and the cessation of conflicts in the multiverse.

For him these two elements were closely associated and had to be merged.

---

[i] Jean Giraudoux.

Decapitation

Several attempts to reconciliate the different universes had been undertaken in the past.

As during the old Terrian epoch, the status of ambassador was dangerous and he who assumed it knew pertinently that his survival was prone to caution during his travelings into an inhospitable universe.

Nonetheless the perseverance of these attempts of conciliation was mandatory because «war was the continuation of political activity by other, non desirable, means  »[ii].

In the best of cases, the ambassadors had merely been thanked.

«When enemy emissaries

come to make proposals,

the enemies want to rest a little.»

Often they had purely and simply been exterminated if not sometimes sent back in small bits and pieces to their original fatherlands

For the Terrians, death by decapitation symbolized the detachment of the center of reason from the rest of the body.

Roman emperors often used decapitation of terrian saints to punish the messengers of God.

The cephalophore saints represented a category of personages who, decapitated, stood up, took their head between their hands and walked to the place where they wanted to be buried.

That illustration represented a cruel death.

It meant glorifying the death of a martyr by giving it a divine type of representation, thus a noble and transcendent character.

To put it simply, in barbaric times it was rather customary to expose the heads of enemies on poles, as an example, to instill terror in unwanted invaders.

Korpi had told Kordan an anecdote taken from Napoleonic legends.

It concerned the episode of the terrian town of Jaffa, where the different protagonists had traded bullets or rather head for head.[iii]

The Reptilians had mastered the art of inspiring fear in the Terrians and their cruel methods had a destabilizing effect on many adversaries. Their bestiality, either purposely exhibited during conflicts or naturally presented, entertained the malaise and the aversion of the Terrians for that species.

When telling atrocious historical tales, which Kordan enjoyed listening to, Korpi had revealed to him how important intimidation was in war negotiations:

In the seventeenth century, during the Shimabara rebellion (an important revolt of peasants against the Shogunat Tokugawa), there were many scenes of decapitation.

On top of those ordered of the defeated warriors, others were done to instill fear in the heart of the foreign invaders, mainly several occidental nations which had inclinations to expand their colonial and economic empire.

Thus in 1639, the Shogun Iemitsu imposed a Japanese protectorate upon the colonizers.

On the 3rd of August 1640, the 57 emissaries of the Portuguese embassy were decapitated and only the members of the crew were allowed to give an account of what had happened.

This strong action was the prelude to a calm period which lasted two centuries.

In Japanese culture, the principle of decapitation was closely linked to the bushido tradition which glorified death by seppuku.[iv]

The seppuku, literally a cut in the belly or harakiri, was a ritual form of masculine suicide by opening the bowels.