Thread by @ebonstorm

In the beginning was the Seed. Cast into space by the Last Ones, they knew their time was at an end. The world broken, ravaged, the people dying, they saw the cataclysm would be the end of all things.

They created the Seed, filled with the potential of a cross-realm Index.

Launched into space, the Last Ones sent it into the heart of the cataclysm, the rain of asteroids upon the world and in its birth throes, it created gravity and dragged the raining death toward itself.

Each asteroid added to the Seed, making it larger and more massive.

Soon, the storm of asteroid slowed. The Seed sat above its homeworld, now almost dead, it began to transform. And it took Root. The size of a moon, the Seed sprouted and its hidden cargo, placed as coded instructions, began to evolve.

The Seed took Root. Extracted materials, transformed itself, and slowly a durable low-lying fungi took root. Breaking down the asteroids, creating the vital material for the Tree of Life to begin to be born. It would grow slowly over the centuries.

Rained down upon by orbital storms of debris trapped in the orbit of the star. But the Tree was like iron. It captured those asteroids in its flesh, turning them into nutrients, and preparing for the second stage of its development. The Tree began to Sing.

The fungi continued to evolve, slowly at first but soon becoming a vast network, giving birth to smaller trees, plants and systems which would move water, energy, and prana, the lifeforce of the Last Ones, through the Great Tree and as it grew, it reached into the Other.

From the Other, gateways formed attracting new plants, new animals and eventually new People. First came the star dragons, who enjoyed the tree, feasting upon its free flowing prana, they grew intelligent and traveled the realms connected to the Tree.

These realms were once part of the Old World, connections lost for millennia, now once again found. The Dragons sought company and invited those who could appreciate the Tree, the last great artifact of the Old Ones and those first races became the Caretakers.

Of no particular breed, species, or even lifetype, the Caretakers slowly did what they could to expand the Last One's work, though it was so masterful, they could only expand on its perfection. Some lived beneath the surface of the tree, mining the ores trapped within.

Others lived in its mighty branches learning how to harvest the star energy trapped within each precious leaf. Many lived in the Root, the secret and magical region, the core of the Tree, where science and magic both held sway and miracles were the order of the day.

And then there were those who lived in the shadows cast by the Tree. Dimensional rifts created by the Tree itself, allowing millions to inhabit the Tree and yet not be visible from above it. Some rifts were able to be reached by portals, others only by Dragons.

And some, only by the oldest and wisest of the Caretakers who kept secrets of the Tree in these places, secrets the Dwellers of the Tree could never know.

The Tree, She, as they declared, was not without defenses; as she expanded, both in her realm and others, greed followed.

Now vast, the Tree circled her former homeworld, there came a discussion amongst the Eldest, as to whether they should return to the surface. Most had no interest. They had not come from that world, and felt no need to return to it. The more adventurous would travel there.

And they would tell others of their adventures. If they returned.

The homeworld was not dead as had been foretold but recolonized by the same materials which comprised the Tree. Living machines who were beginning to stir and show a semblance of intelligence. And curiosity.

Farnor, a young stardragon, and her crew, would gain a reputation across the Nine Realms as explorers, traders, and truth be told, scoundrels. They would be hired to return to Homeworld to discover, the machines were learning to harness prana.

To harness prana, meant soon, they would be able to open gates and travel to other realms, including the Tree itself.

Farnor and Company discovered the Living Machines had help. A survivor of the Old Ones who considered the Tree, an abomination.

And would do whatever was necessary to destroy it.

This was fun. Good luck on your creative adventures, everyone. #scifichat

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