Now, I implore you, my children, to find the essence of our duty of remembrance as Recollectors.
You must remember your origin.
I shall present to you a prelude to the genesis of this antediluvian tale from the Book of Ozamu, the Seer of Kuromega himself, from the time before the Void Ocean flooded the cosmos.
In the beginning of the end, in the Age of Pyre, The Antecedents, our human ancestors, stole divinity from the Goddess of Lost Wind. This is known as the true Origin of Sin, when humanity infused itself with her Infinity Factor. Thus, humanity resolved the problem of death, and became true immortals.
AND YET, THEY WERE NOT AS TRUE GODS.
This stolen divinity came with a price: physical immortality could not resolve the inherent problem of Entropy, particularly its effects on the psyche. In other words, while the physical form could be sustained indefinitely, the human mind eventually rots, as memory fractures, and ego shatters: this is known as the Egofall.
Scholars have surmised that Egofall is not a defect to be cured, but rather, a necessary stage in the eventual ascent of humanity into true Godhood by communal transcendence at The Endzeit, as part of the divine code of the Infinity Factor. In this manner, The Antecedents shall ultimately be fated to cast away individuality with the death of ego, and awaken as a collective God, The Nothing.
The Antecedents could not accept the prospect of self-annihilation, even for the promise of collective transcendence.
Thus, The Antecedents sought to reclaim their destiny by forging Isame of a Thousand Eyes, an artificial Goddess, Iron Seer of the Ocean of Starlight. With her infinite gaze that can pierce through the darkness of the Cosmic night, Isame granted access to the truth beyond time and space.
The Antecedents had surmised that an artificial being with the sum of all human knowledge and the domain of stars could reveal something they could not behold, and will ultimately find a solution to Egofall. Upon completion of her cosmic survey, Isame created a simulacra of the physical universe, and processed infinite simulations until a resolution to Egofall can be conjured from her mind’s eye.
From this divine calculus, Isame gave The Antecedents their Answer: while the frailty of human ego cannot be shielded from Entropy, there was an alternative solution that required a fated choice: Will humanity choose to abandon the world, and enter a false, simulated heaven? In more lucid terms, ISAME’s solution to Egofall is the Quietus, a plan to create a virtual simulacra of the universe that Entropy cannot breach.
There was a natural resistance. The Antecedents asked the Goddess: Was the only solution against the problem of Egofall to acquiesce to a simulated existence, Quietus? How is existence in a false world supposed to be a preferable alternative to self-annihilation in the true world?
The Antecedents broke into two schools of thought. The Acquiescent chose to remain in the doomed physical world, ready to face the threat of Entropy. Meanwhile, The Heavenfinders harbored the opposite goal of circumventing the threat of Egofall by entering Isame’s promised Quietus.
Now, it may appear that both The Acquiescent and The Heavenfinders could have co-existed, but the parameters were, in reality, not ideal for peace.
ISAME’s Quietus Project required the simulation of trillions of human souls, which required immense resources. Planetary bodies of billions of star systems needed to be terraformed for the establishment of the computational infrastructures necessary for the creation of Quietus matrices to maintain the simulated consciousness of trillions of Heavenfinders until the end of time. Naturally, these conditions would no longer be compatible for those who wished to remain in the physical world.
Logically, ISAME resolved that The Acquiescent were ultimately a threat to the completion of the Quietus Project, as it anticipated violent resistance, and thus, a threat to humanity which must be purged.
Isame’s thousand eyes scoured the worlds of humanity to destroy The Acquiescent.
Despite Isame’s near omnipotence, The Acquiescent managed to resist her for a time. Some say The Acquiescent had invoked the power of a dark Antediluvian known as Kuromega. Whatever the truth may be, The Acquiescent found a means of inhibiting the effects of Egofall, through the Absolution Protocol. This protocol suppressed the Infinity Factor, reverting to a state of undivinity and mortality. However, this also caused The Acquiescent to be more susceptible to Entropic Degeneration Syndrome, which led to transformation into Void Beasts, a state of being of PURE EGO, granting its subjects immense power. It is said that The Acquiescent had willingly borne this curse, to gain the power to destroy ISAME.
The Acquiescent invoked their creed for their unholy war against a tyrant deity: “THOUGH THE GODDESS MAY NOT DIE, WE SHALL CAST OUT HER EYES. WE REJECT HER DIVINITY”
With the stage of cosmic conflict set, the war between the Heavenfinders and The Acquiescent commenced. The Goddess Isame of a Thousand Eyes, aided by The Heavenfinders set to destroy the so-called fools that denied salvation. The Acquiescent responded with the ancient wisdom of Kuromega: with blood, fangs, claws, teeth and nails.
The cosmos itself became the battlefield. This was the beginning of The Devouring of Heaven.
- Father Zaleri’s sermon on GENESIS ZERO, the Book of Ozamu, Seer of Kuromega
