CallumStephenDiggle
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Wormholes & Norns (+competition winners & major announcement!).
🕑 Added 2025-04-04 13:48:44 +0000 UTCđŁ MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT đŁ Humanity Lost Volume 2 will be releasing on the 1st of May 2025! Yes thatâs right, the day is nearly upon us! With this page, work on the second volume of Humanity Lost has finally concluded. I was going to include one final infographic on the Tandrax but I figured I could include all of the content that would have been in that in the pages of volume 3. Speaking of volume 3, I will begin working on that on Monday, so you wonât have much longer to wait before the journey continues!
If youâd like to catch up on all things Humanity Lost, follow this link: https://www.patreon.com/posts/infographic-for-119407823?
Hereâs the text from this post:
âThe scientists of the past theorized that in the future we would be able to travel from one side of the galaxy to the other in the blink of an eye using wormholes. Wormholes were thought to be âbridgesâ that could connect two distant points in spacetime. But this early theory was flawed. It turns out that wormholes cannot simply be opened remotely at a desired location in space, nor can they be linked between points. While wormholes do exist, their practical application is not what was originally envisioned. Instead of connecting far-flung regions of spacetime, wormholes can connect the same point across parallel universes. What this means is that when you travel through a wormhole, youâre not truly âtravelingâ in the conventional sense. Instead, youâre entering a corresponding point in another plane of existence. The FLUX, a smaller plane of reality than the REAL, allows for vastly quicker travel between equivalent points in the REAL, circumventing the time it would take trudging through the REAL at relativistic speeds. The Imperium, and occasionally the Tandrax, use this method to traverse great distances. While navigating the FLUX presents its own perils, once the corresponding coordinates are reached, a wormhole can be opened and the traveler can re-emerge into the REAL. The network of wormholes that the Imperium utilizes to rapidly expand across the Orion-Cygnus Spur was established in a fashion reminiscent of the laying of a railroad: the journey first had to be made before the track (the wormhole) could be laid. An Imperium Norn is a specialized unit capable of making a precise tear in spacetime and widening the wormholeâs âmouthâ to a desired size, maintaining the stability of the wormhole as it does so with its tremendous energy reserves.
A hole in spacetime is not a flat circleâit is a sphere. This is because two-dimensional objects cannot exist in three-dimensional space. A wormhole also has a finite width, so if one attempts to go through with a spacecraft that is too large, one side of the craft will loop around the wormhole and crash into the other side. Because of this, the Imperium Nornâs leg-spanâwhen fully extendedâis designed to be ever so slightly larger than that of the Imperium Leviathan, the Imperiumâs largest combat unit. This ensures that all units, regardless of size, can safely navigate the wormhole network without risk of spatial collision, allowing them to travel seamlessly across the Imperium. A wormhole also has some peculiar effects on light. Light from objects behind a wormhole bend and swirl around the opening. The distortion stretches and duplicates the background, creating halos and warped reflections that shimmer with movement as the observer shifts position. This strange spatial geometry is best illustrated when an object enters the wormhole from the side relative to an observer. It seems to drift along a strange, curved pathânot because itâs steering, but because the very fabric of spacetime is curved around the wormholeâs mouth, like a funnel around a pit. To the observer, the object leans inward, its shape subtly stretched and distorted as light from different parts of it take different routes to reach the eye. As it slips into the wide mouth of the wormhole, it doesnât disappear suddenly, but rather arcs around the âcornerâ of the mouth and begins to travel in the complete opposite directionâbefore stretching into a ring of light as it passes out of view.â
Now, time to announce the winners of the competition! I wanted to narrow it down to just one but I simply couldnât, both of these winners put in so much work to their entries and both concepts are so strong, so here they are:
âšJOINT WINNERâšSinfullsaint
Description:
âThe Nuk-Tal or " Stiltweavers " are a towering, spider-like species from the misty planet Zarath. Evolving in a thick, nitrogen- and sulfur-rich atmosphere, these asexual, walking pillars weave massive spire like cities that reach mountainous heights. Small gas-filled sacks throughout their bodies lighten their frames, enabling heights of 12â25 feet across over 30 subspecies. Masters of radar-based perception and silk technology, theyâve woven their way from fungal swamps to interstellar dominance, fully conquering their home system
Physical and Biological Traits
Stiltweavers stand on elongated legs, navigating Zarath's fungal forests and viscous swamps. Their four armsâtwo robust, two dexterousâspin different silks for habitats and tools. Radar organs throughout the body emit pulses, mapping their dim world, as the atmosphere is so thick with gases, light sensing organs just dont cut it. While gas sacks (filled with hydrogen or helium) buoy their size. There are subspecies like Navigators, Scholars, Harvesters, Child Carers, and Warriors that all diverge in form and role, budding asexually with genetic variety honed by ecology and hierarchy.
Social Behavior
Stiltweavers are hierarchical yet cooperative, their society orbiting the Sovereign. Social bonds form through radar âsongsââpulse patterns shared within castes or familiesâcreating a humming unity detectable across miles. They value symmetry and patterns, reflected in their webs, art, and speech, with disputes settled by weaving contests or radar duels. Warriors, the âblack sheep,â are less social, preferring solitary patrols or factional loyalty over communal webs, their gruff pulses a stark contrast to the Scholarsâ intricate melodies. Inter-caste respect is ritualized: Harvesters offer resources, Child Carers tend buds, and all bow to the Sovereignâs resonant authority.
above is a warrior in its natural state. Its hulking frame stands at 18 feet tall, with very few gas sacks to help lighten its weight, trading those in for more muscle and bone. shaped by thousands of generations before it, its form is one well suited for battle, being the most robust of the spices. Its body is covered a matte black ( lighted just for the sake of clarity) as it absorb more radar waves rather than reflecting them cleanly, reducing the precision of an enemyâs radar "map." As well as this, it has many spikes and all over its body, these had a dual function. to disrupt their signal silhouette, and to help map the world around them as antennae. this ones robust front arms have become massive self sharping sword like blades with iron Incorporated into them, giving them that red tint. This is also the case for other parts of the body, especially its mouth and tusks. Its second pair of arms, below its main body are well protected by the legs and front arms. They seat just above the silk producing end of this colossus, at the ready to make anything from rope, to an acidic napalm like glue.â
âšJOINT WINNERâšAndrea
Description:
âDespite being fairly small in stature and holding no real political of militaristic power, the Tchee-Kân were a race of highly boastful and arrogant sophonts. Above all else, they valued beauty and material possessions, spending a large portion of each day grooming their colorful integument, oftentimes enhancing it with dyes. Unfortunately for them, their colorful hides were highly prized by the more unscrupulous fur traders of the galaxy, leading to them becoming endangered and victims of frequent attacks.
Much of their homeworld was covered in a sponge-like floral matter growing up to a mile in height. The Tchee-Kân had evolved a unique adaptation to this terrain: while their long toes helped them distribute their weight and not sink in too deeply, a sharp spike on the sole of each foot dug into the ground with each step, anchoring them down and granting them a better grip. As they traversed the landscape, these spikes left behind a network of small holes, which quickly filled with rainwater, forming tiny ponds and burrows that supported different micro-ecosystems.
Originally spending all time on the surface, the frequent attacks by poachers forced them to seek refuge within the spongy plant matter, building a network of elaborate tunnels through which they could quickly get to safety.
Unfortunately, even these tunnels proved ineffective against a more powerful foeâŠâ
And thatâs it, thanks so much for supporting my work and thanks so much to everyone who participated in the contest, there were some really great entries that everyone should check out if they havenât already, check out their art accounts on social media while youâre at it and spread the love! Thanks again đđ»
Comments
Callum Diggle
Thanks in advance for picking up a copy, your support is much appreciated đđ»đđ» be sure to post a picture of it when you finally get it on your bookshelf and tag me, I love seeing my work in other peoples hands
Spaceboys
Canât wait to get my hands on volume 2 for my comic/manga collection
Miningation
thatâs a fat power crystal(?) eye spy in that norn, canât wait to see one explode also congrats to winners!!
