An Anthology
...“I have seen the dark universe yawning
Where the black planets roll without aim,
Where they roll in their horror unheeded,
Without knowledge, or lustre, or name.”
...
“I have seen the dark universe yawning
Where the black planets roll without aim,
Where they roll in their horror unheeded,
Without knowledge, or lustre, or name.”
...There has been a deluge of information since the onset of Aquarius. The transformation has been recorded by journalists, scientists, and independent researchers in their own respective fields. Yet to this date, there has been no single, unified catalog on the subject, nor has there been a comprehensive explanation for the source of our paradigm shift. It is my hope that this collection may offer some unique insight into the Age of Aquarius as told by those most affected – at the center of the storm.
The first draft of this collection was intended for one of the repositories of Menagerie. Due to a number of professional and legal entanglements, it has come to be an independent body of work. Without access to Menagerie’s typical methods of data collection, the scope and precision of our research has been greatly limited. Still, the freedom of a grassroots anthology has opened more doors than we could have ever imagined.
Menagerie’s modus operandi is still recognizable in some of the earlier works. As a consequence of my upbringing, their methodology is also reflected in the more technical pieces enclosed within - forensics, lab reports, certain diagrams. Beyond that point are a selected number of firsthand accounts, surrendered freely by those deemed relevant and willing. There remain some journalistic pieces not intended for this collection but which can provide valuable context to the subject at hand and are safely within the public domain. Finally, there are certain transcripts, email chains, and text messages that have been included within this work. They were obtained with full permission of the parties involved or have otherwise been edited to remove all identifying information.
by Elena Reiner
Age of Aquarius has easily cost me hundreds of dollars worth of printing. (I shudder to imagine what it cost in man-hours, seeing as we know nobody made any money at all.) It is the product of several years worth of firsthand research, experimentation, and a downright saintly amount of outreach towards people who would gladly kill us if given the chance. At several points I’ve asked myself, “Is this ever going to be done?”
As it turns out, no. This collection is ever changing and ever growing. I’ve written this preface upwards of ten times for each new edition we attempted to publicize. I will likely write it again at some point in the future, to reflect the new needs of its evolution. The truth is, with a project as ambitious as this, there can be no true end. That which attempts to capture this range of time and space is tied to the fullness of it. When we are dead, it lives on. I imagine its branches spreading out like blackened hallways, up towards heaven and down into depths unknown. I imagine it torn apart by buzzards and revered by saints. There is no telling. Still, do not confuse my vision for nihilism. Though this collection will change with the world it means to capture, there are some fundamental aspects that will prove rigid and invaluable. It is essential to our operation that we have a centralized source of information on the forces we reckon with. It’s probably helpful to civilians too, but we’re talking practical use here.
Someone more thoughtful than I could tell you more about the politics that went into this book. I know that was a major point of contention in its production. I feel the identity crisis is pretty palpable here - from lab report to novella to handbook and back is no easy transition. As it is though, I can say that it’s certainly not apolitical. That’s why Ezekiel asked me to write the intro. You may have even been presented this as theory and I have to say, that’s not entirely true either. I like to think of it as a mirror - distorted at times, yes, but a mirror nonetheless. What this collection sets out to accomplish is The Truth.
We have stumbled and we have fought, but our end goal is to know what really happened, what’s really happening, and just what fresh hell awaits. And we want to warn you, too.
Before it’s too late.
Anyway, onto the organizational structure. I’m sorry. What else is there to say? The structure suffers from the same schizophrenia I mentioned previously. It’s a work by various authors who weren’t necessarily in communication with one another and our ideas about what it should look like changed various times throughout its conception. With that said, we’ve settled for chronological. More or less. There was much debate on the true starting point of the Age of Aquarius and how much context to provide for it. We decided it was better to be safe than sorry and to not assume a level of familiarity on the subject. The Cosmic Overview was included, but only insofar as to understand our current strats. (I’m sure this goes without saying, but you should definitely check out the supplementary readings if you have the time. Please read something not by us.) From there, the scope narrows significantly to focus on particular case files by Menagerie and the earliest documentation on the Partition.
Past that point, things become somewhat personal. The work begins to feel like a reflection of the people who made it and of some key figures who feature prominently within this story. This is where the departure from Menagerie’s cut-and-dry analysis begins to shine through and you’ll need to approach the reading in a different light than before. Your limits as a reader may be tested. We never meant to challenge you or to make things harder than they needed to be. What we found is that to cut out only what’s useful is to leave a bleeding body behind. We wish to prevent the truth as a whole and to see that these stories and the people within them are not forgotten. I do not apologize for when it ceases to be an instructional guide. If you’re so inclined, you can make one yourself.
It’s worth mentioning that this is, at best, only an approximation of the structure. The stories tend to bleed out onto each other and not everything fits neatly into a designated space or its designated time. Rather than over-edit them to fit their surroundings, we deemed to leave them as is, with some preamble to explain their appearance. As well as being inserted into the text themselves, much of the epistolary content – transcripts, emails, etc,. – are collected at the end of this work. There is also a glossary and appendix, mostly for those who are unfamiliar with the jargon we’ve overemployed.
Lastly, I want to give a thank you to all who read this. If even one person is helped by this work, I will have been glad to have poured my life savings into printer ink.
by Ducky
In the beginning, there was only sea. The dark waters stretched out across forever. The darkness existed eternally, went on infinitely.
This darkness begot the first children and these children were recursive, their bodies lacking bounds and indistinguishable from the surrounding waters.
In time, they grew and bred. They began to assimilate and merge. The children were innumerable; we will never know how many there were in their middle ages.
In time, the number dwindled. There were only eight left.
~
Urs
@
Scio
!
Re
#
Doldra
%
Ona
^
Sol
&
Gifu
*
Psi
There is a deep taboo against depicting or naming the Eldest among those who study them. It’s standard practice to only use icons to distinguish them. However, you may see names, titles, and euphemisms employed anyway in this tome. These are not “real” or even “official” terms, considering any true authority on the subject would be hard to define and harder to come by. They’re merely names adapted as needed by people outside of the cult, who don’t operate under the same taboo. Terms may vary from author to author, but each god has all their designated titles listed within their glossary.
EC
The Eldest were the last of their kind. Though new species did propagate, they bore no resemblance and did not wield the same power. They were the biospiritual creations of their elder siblings.
What the young gods lacked in prestige, they made up for in creativity. In many ways, the Eldest were inert. They were satisfied with the deep waters of their birthplace and did not dream of change. But the Lesser Gods were spry and eager.
They took up the silt of the riverbeds and made it into clay. They spasmed and thrashed to make room in the waters – in flowed air. They morphed and modified their bodies to suit their whims. One of the first born among them turned to light itself. Others turned into laughter or into vision. Others split up into stars. They were evershifting, everchanging. They began to split the clay amongst themselves and from this they formed the first planets.
Earth was a creation of the god known as Tetra. It was one of many of his projects, but is said to have been favored and doted on about all overs. Earth had a special quality that set it apart from most other bio-planets; a veil had been cast over it. It was all but removed from the spiritual realm. The veil offered unique protection from the affairs of the gods. Life was allowed to develop there in isolation.
Then there was an incident.
The Earth is now unsupervised and the veil is now being torn to shreds. There is now a vacancy and a discourse over the rightful heir. This conflict is somewhat commonplace for non-Earth worlds; it’s not unusual for the Lesser Gods and even some of The Eldest to have land disputes. But the isolated and “untouched” nature of Earth is said to be particularly appealing to prospective inheritors. Earth is sought after, if you can believe it.
The Earth is uniquely fragile and shrouded, which means the methods of acquisition trend untraditional. It is hard to overstate the blessing that our world is prized; though it’s being disrupted, they’re really treating it with a gentleness and precision that you don’t see very often in other exhibits.
Their primary means of war is through the manipulation of anima and the creation of neoanima.