Now, I am sure that most of you are wondering. What is the relationship of humans with the Divine Trees and later on, Sacred Trees?
That’s a tad complex but I will try to keep it short.
Putting it simply, humans are fruits of the Divine Tree. Or rather, the humans who would one day become our ancestors were spawned through the natural processes of Divine Trees which existed all over the world as a result of the Biosphere being established during the early stages of the Age of Gods.
Divine Trees didn’t have a proper template for what terrestrial life forms were.
Not to be confused with the Sea of Life, which originated Aquatic and later on Amphibious lifeforms. The moment where life moved from the Primordial Ocean to land, they became part of the Divine Trees domain.
“But professor, does that not contradict your earlier statement of life originating from Divine Trees?”
An astute observation, Ms. Niemeyer.
You could think of Divine Trees as the system which dictated and recorded all paths known of evolution. Rather, you could say that their way of creating life was to expose already existing lifeforms to harsh environments and weather conditions, creating circumstances under which life would either die or change to suit its new environments.
“So, Divine Trees establish the ideal conditions for life to develop as it did.”
Of course, that wasn’t their only purpose. Divine Trees were also meant to store vast amounts of data, recording all forms of life. Not a written record… the best way to explain this would be…
“Annual Growth Rings”
Very good, Mr. Nesthesia!
Divine Trees, like any other tree, accumulate ‘mass’ in the form of data. And in order to obtain more data, they alter environmental conditions in order to record the changes and evolution of lifeforms.
Like the rings you find when you cut a tree trunk, the data is stored in layers depending on the time during which it was recorded.
Can you tell me how Sacred Trees differ on their approach, Mr. Nesthesia?
“Sacred Trees… don’t store data. Not really. What they do is manifest an ‘image’ over the texture of the world. The beings born from Sacred Trees aren’t capable of change unless their data is modified beforehand.”
And how do Sacred Trees collect data, if not by registering the evolution of living beings?
“Sacred Trees reflect the beliefs and ‘delusions’ of beings who live around them. If a Divine Tree is something that can establish a proper ecosystem in a continental scale, a Sacred Tree is something that artificially overwrites the existing ecosystem in a much smaller scale.”
These localized modifications were reffered to as Groves in ancient history and we can find many examples.
The Garden of Hesperides is an example of a Sacred Tree overwriting a local ecosystem.
Another would be the World Tree Yggdrasil. Though that one is a bit of a freak accident.
“World Tree?”
Something for another time, my dear.
Now, going back to my earlier question. Can someone tell me what is the connection and relationship between humans and the Divine Trees.
“It would be the Primordial Humans, yes?”
Good answer. But what can you tell me about Primordial Humans?
“Primordial Humans are… the distilled essence of mankind. They are everything that we are and can become. Legends speak of them as the ‘Seeds of Humanity’, the original models from which we are all descended.”
You will find many in the Zoology and Botany Faculty who would argue that what makes a Primordial Human special would be their connection to the Divine Trees. They exist within their ‘records’ and thus had their existence validated as ‘necessary for the ecosystem’. Modern humans, despite being descendants of Primordial Humans, are not recorded on Divine Trees past the end of the Age of Gods.
“We… aren’t on record? But wouldn’t that mean… ”
That we would be rejected by the world? No. Nothing so extreme. After all, the Age of Gods was replaced by the Age of Man. Acknowledged as the dominant species on the planet, we don’t need to have our existence validated by a Divine Tree.
“But what if we could? What if a modern human could find a way to… regress past the Age of Man?”
Miss Niemeyer, whatever you are thinking. I must caution you to reconsider.
Primordial Humans existed because their existence was validated by Divine Trees as necessary. The same way they validated all sorts of ancient beings of mystery. Without a Divine Tree to validate them, the Primordials became ‘phantasms’, beings considered fantasy.
The reason why they had to flee to the Reverse Side.
There was no Divine Tree left to ‘validate’ them.
“So… if someone became a Primordial Human…”
They wouldn’t be considered ‘Human’ by the standards of the Age of Man.
“Wouldn’t it be the other way around, Professor? The existence of a ‘validated’ Human wouldn’t make them the only ‘human’ accepted by the World?”
The concept of ‘humanity’ which existed before the Age of Man is different from the current ‘humanity’ which exists in the modern era. They cannot coexist without one rejecting the other.
“Unless the former has something that roots it to this world. Which is what I think these two are getting at, Professor Broccoli.”
…
Y-You?!
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