Side-Write: What is a Keamaka, Really?

I'm deep in the development of Project Wild One, but with the first build of Project Matchmaker coming out earlier this month and going public in a few days, I figured it'd be good to put in one more on Safron and Mala's world. I do still feel shaky on some aspects of Mala's people and how they live, so I decided to explore that a little through the lens of how Safron's people might see it in this somewhat implausible article I roughed out.

As usual, this isn't strictly canon so much as an off-the-cuff sort of deal from what I've got in the back of my head, so some details may change down the line. That said, I hope you find it interesting!

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What is a Keamaka, Really?

Today in a special feature, the Fremont Press brings you a fresh, candid take on the nature of the creatures seen as planetary enemies until just recently. Jored Keke had the opportunity to speak with their ambassadors at length and is ready to share his insight from the strange encounter.

Three and a half years ago, our policy of interstellar isolationism was finally broken by our nearest neighbors, the Keamaka. It didn't matter that they weren't welcome in our system, as they were here to take our people and our technology by force. Many of us have lost loved ones in the struggle that followed, so it's easy to eat up the portrayal of the "Slimos" as barbaric and cruel, and until recently, it was virtually a matter of national duty to despise them.

But at long last, peace talks have reached the point at which we can start trying to actually communicate honestly, to try to get to know our neighbors, rather than simply see them as monsters. We here at Fremont Press hope that, while the past will never be forgotten, we can see a more peaceful understanding develop between our species from here. To that end, we want to do what we can to help you understand the Keamaka as a people, and not as a dirty word, or an abstract evil. We know this won't be a popular sentiment, but it's our duty to spread information, and to do what little we can to stop any more needless death in what has already been a costly, frustrating war.

So please, smooth your fur, hide your fangs, and get yourself something to drink. When you're ready to learn about people different from yourself, please read on.

Before I go on, I'll admit that I haven't been able to verify a lot of this information directly: the only accounts we have from the Keamaka homeworld are rather skewed and unhelpful reports from returned prisoners of war, and to our knowledge, no one has set foot on that strange planet of their own free will. But I personally spoke with several representatives of the Keamaka, looking to learn more about their people, and while I don't doubt they have certain agendas in how they present themselves, I learned a great deal about them through what they said, and what they didn't. Some of the details here may have to be corrected as we gather more information.

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The Keamaka are a proud, fastidious people. Their society is tightly structured in an intricate hierarchy, placing the many living beings they use for physical action at the bottom, the working class in the middle, and the royal family at the top. At the very peak is the Empress, a being treated as almost a deity, who seems to act as the focal point for all the Empire's conduct. All work is done in the Empress' name, by her decree, and for her benefit. Any authority a manager or an enforcer of law has is granted purely through the favor of the Empress, and any who break her laws are considered to have insulted her. I couldn't get a clear answer on what happens then, but it sounds like it might be some sort of self-imposed exile, or possibly death. If the ambassadors are to be believed, crime is almost nonexistent on their world, as few could bear the shame of committing crimes.

The Empress also seems to serve as a sort of living embodiment of the Keamaka as a whole, as there seemed to be some ambiguity at times as to whether something was for the good of the people, or for her specifically. It was fascinating trying to pick apart how they see the world, and I'll admit, a little unnerving.

One of the obvious conclusions was as we've suspected for some time: The Keamaka believe themselves to be superior to all other forms of life. They seem to think their abilities represent some kind of holy right to rule over other forms of life. They don't even seem to see their inability to move on their own as a disadvantage! The Keamaka seem to see the material world itself as something crude and below them, and believe that their physical bodies are only the vessel, or even just the bridge, between them and whatever body they choose to use today to further the Empress' will.

Indeed, while the war has been hard on us, the outcome seems to have been very hard on the Keamaka as a whole. The worldview they've built their entire culture on is cracking apart, as they've been unable to overcome another species, supposedly inferior to them. We didn't speak much on this directly, but it was clear to me there must be a great deal of turmoil and unrest over there as it becomes clearer and clearer they won't be winning this war.

It's easy to take some satisfaction in the thought that we've broken them of this conceit. But I'm tired of looking at these people with nothing but spite. Yes, they've done horrible things, and have believed some horrible things, but our history hasn't exactly been clean either. Many of us come from countries once crippled either by zealous wars or by the persecution that followed when would-be oppressors were thrown down. People can't help being born into a culture of fascism and imperialism. This is the culture that gave them the strength to crawl up out of the stone age and develop their own world power, and we can scarcely begin to know how they've struggled to get to this point. It's likely a story not so different from ours. I'll have to ask for more about that next time I speak with their ambassadors.

The more I've thought about it, the more I think it makes sense, really. On its own, a Keamaka is virtually helpless. They have no skeletal structure or bones. They're basically just... brains? The old cliche of the "brain in a jar" has often been a terrifying idea, just because of how awful it would be to be a mind without the ability to see, or move, or speak. Of course they'd be desperate for a body, like that. Of course they'd look for any reason they could find to justify always having one, no matter what. When it was just them and a bunch of mindless animals, it made sense for them to believe it was their right to be in control. It wasn't a problem for anyone... until now.

This isn't just a case of slapping down some blowhards that think because their fur's a certain color they're better than everyone else. The man I spoke to grew up believing that he had a right to the body he was riding, that he would never be deprived of the ability to see and move. What we've done has shaken that belief, and threatens the very foundation of their culture.

I don't mean to say we shouldn't have beaten them back. Believe me, I'm glad we put a stop to them, and I'm glad we did it before they could conquer some other, less-prepared race. But while we're all hurting from the things they've done, I think it's only right to recognize that in their own ways, they might be hurting even more. Yes, they attacked first, and yes, it's their fault all of this happened. It's not up to me how we exact reparations for all of this. But I know there are a lot of people over there that just want to do the best they can, and on top of the lives they've lost, they're losing something much larger than any one person.

The ambassadors I spoke to were very... intense. I wasn't sure how to interpret that at first, but the more I think about it, the more I understand. They're afraid of us. They're afraid that sooner or later, because of us, they won't just be defeated, but they'll lose their bodies. I know I've heard people call for putting a stop to all their manipulation of other beings, even animals, but I'm not sure they understand just how cruel that would be. Nobody would throw every citizen of a country in prison for losing a war. And no prison would be so cruel as to render you blind, deaf, dumb, and immobile, utterly cut off from reality itself.

I don't know what the right course of action is from here, but I think it may be time to think less about revenge, and more about doing the right thing, before we become the monsters ourselves. I can't claim I was comfortable in the presence of the Keamaka, but I will say this: that was a person, with their own thoughts and emotions. I just hope we remember that means that they have rights, too.

-Jored Keke