Tara Ma, Æther Drives and Hybrids
The fact that I didn’t commit to writing the Chronicles of the Æther War series before starting on the Post-Apocalyptic and Fifth Empire Cycles takes away a bit of the mystery of the Æther War. Now when I do start on that series, it will come off more like a prequel to all these books I’ve already finished rather than the base from which everything else springs from. Anyway, given the plots of Everyday Magic 3 and Nagareboshi Tennyo, it seems like a good time to provide a somewhat comprehensive overview of the singular figure who is so pivotal to all the goings-on in the New Earth Empire from the immediate pre-Æther War era and beyond. The short “Say Hello to Mother” provides a primer for all this. Although I’m not going to reveal her true identity just yet, the entity known as Tara Ma is the source of all magic (which the Empire would call ‘Arcana’ to make it sound slightly more respectable). Tara Ma emits a unique energy that was dubbed “æther”, originally meant to be a placeholder label that ultimately stuck. This æther was later subdivided into three different types based on its effects. Alpha-type æther (also known as “neutral æther”) is the basic medium by which the Arcana operates. Much as light through a prism, it can be filtered into different elemental types, not only the classic four elements of Greek and Buddhist thought but others as well, which often results in the “element” label being dropped in favor of the more all-encompassing term “aspect”. Beta-type æther (“living æther”) acts as both a catalyst and something of a preservative for biological processes, which proves useful not only for terraforming but also as a method of juvenation and life extension therapy. Gamma-type æther (“transforming æther”) affects change in living organism, which produces the “Others” (think fantasy creatures and whatnot) which are better optimized to process æther. One key aspect of æther is that it can only be generated and processed by organic matter, specifically living organisms, though some inorganic matter can serve as conduits and receptacles of æther energy.
Tara Ma’s æther emissions only had an effective range of about 25,000km, which meant that access to the Arcana was limited to close proximity to Tara Ma. The objective was then to expand this range. Attempts were made to artificially generate æther to no effect, so attention then turned to duplicating Tara Ma herself. Although there were some experiments with breeding Tara Ma, the more effective strategy was mass cloning. They could not match the output of the original, but they were not subject to the same temperamental fluctuations in power either. These clones became the core of the Æther Drives that were used not only to power warships, starbases and the like but also to serve as the Core Units of offworld colonies, dramatically accelerating the process of terraforming worlds. How dramatically? Think along the lines of the Genesis Device in Star Trek. A process that would normally take over a hundred years could be completed in under a decade. This was a massive boon to the Empire’s expansion as it jockeyed with the Martian Alliance and the Jovian Federation for supremacy in the galaxy.
The Skyfall Calamity brought an end to the Empire’s Æther Drive-fueled dominance. Tara Ma fully broke free of her induced state of dormancy and summoned her far-flung “daughters” throughout the Empire to her. Planetary Core Units could not answer the call to Reunion and they along with any other Æther Drives that were prevented from returning to Tara Ma were put to sleep by Tara Ma herself. This devastated worlds reliant on the Core Units with events such as the Cataclysm on Altamira, the Days of Fire and Forgetting on Bellator and so on. These disasters manifested themselves in different ways, showing signs of variance among the different Core Units. The Core Units that went dormant largely continued to passively maintain the ecosystems they helped create and emit æther. Vague memories of them would persist in various myths, such as the Maid of Life of Miravel and the extinct cult of the Earth Mother on Bellator.
While hundreds of Lost Worlds were dealing with the collapse of civilization, the Empire collapsed into in-fighting as various factions vied to claim the throne. Once the situation stabilized and the Empire was in a position to reassert itself, work was already well underway to salvage the Æther Drive concept while reducing the risk of another incident like the Skyfall Calamity. The basis for the Hybrids featured in such stories as NagaTen and EM3 are the Alpha Type, a modified version of the Generation 1 clones of Tara Ma with some genetic modifications to reduce receptivity to Tara Ma herself with minimal interference to æther emissions, though they are not intended for active deployment but rather as a source for genetic material to produce other Hybrids to complement the limited stock of available tissue samples from Tara Ma herself. The Beta Type only has 50% of the genetic material of Tara Ma and an equivalent potential relative to the Alpha Type. Because of the perceived danger they represent, they are typically kept under containment and are only used as relays in the “Æthernet” that connects all Hybrids and allows for superdimensional communication. The Gamma Type has a 25% portion of Tara Ma genetic material and is often the “big gun” of deployed Hybrids, as seen with Major Yang in NagaTen. The Delta Types, at 12.5%, are the most powerful Hybrids typically deployed, while the Epsilon Types at 6.25% are seen as more of the standard-issue Hybrid. While a Zeta Type (3.125%) classification exists, they do not typically have much advantage over mid-level Arcanists and are not generally produced (though their reliable manifestation of Arcana potential makes the concept serve as a sort of emergency resolve should doctrine shift to favor mass deployment of Arcanists). At the level of the Eta Type (1.5625%), the manifestation of Arcana potential becomes uncertain, as does the ability to connect to the “Æthernet”, so experiments at further dilution of Tara Ma’s genetic material were abandoned.
While the above represents the mainline development of Tara Ma Hybrids, there are many other types of experimentation, which you will see in such stories as Candidate 03 and Seasons’ Seasons. Among the objectives of these various projects are increased output, greater stability, and risk reduction. Results are varied, but none of these projects have seen the same widespread adoption as the mainline Hybrids. Of course, issues with the Hybrids in the mid-8th Century, as demonstrated in NagaTen and EM3, would at least temporarily put an end to the activities of the Hybrids as we know them. Action yields reaction and the risk of a second Skyfall Calamity sufficiently spooks the higher ups. The lure of Tara Ma’s power is too great to abandon, so we don’t see a total purge, but the Hybrids do find themselves put on ice for a good long while.
I could delve deeper into the details, but I think this is more than enough for one post. I may cover certain points in greater detail later if the mood strikes me. For now, we’ll leave things here and let the rest of EM3 and NagaTen play out. Stay tuned.
Addendum:
If you were wondering if the æther produced by Tara Ma functions differently from æther as described in the Tellus Arc, the answer is no. It’s no coincidence either as the Cross Arc is so named because it was intended as a cross of elements from the Tellus Arc and the Space Arc. What I’ve talked about here actually spoils some elements of stories I haven’t brought into production yet, but you won’t have the full context until those stories are released (unless I decide to just go ahead and talk about it here on the blog prior to their release). You might be wondering if it’s too convenient that the æther label just happens to refer to the same thing, but that isn’t the case. The same thought process is at work even if the people involved are separated by thousands of years. Admittedly, the Imperial scientists who initially used the “æther” label were doing so out of a bit of poetic whimsy, but tapping into the stuff of myths works out when those myths become reality.
