Bretonia's Great Purge

[jammi]

[font=Courier New]Another beautiful day was dawning on Planet Gaia. Everything was stunningly beautiful on Gaia, from the showers of rain to the setting sun and the lush and verdant jungles and forests. Each of the creatures that lived there occupied a perfect niche, balancing the fragilely perfect ecosystem. Many of these creatures were now basking in the new day'€™s warmth, the sun edging over the horizon to smile on the land beyond. Gold and crimson godrays danced between the trees and over the land, glittering off the morning dew. Birds, and Gaia'€™s giant singing insects began to stir, lending their dawn chorus to the awakening world.

Then there was a jarring, incongruous, artificial sound. It was a boom, followed by the shriek of descending engines. A fiery comet came plunging down from the heavens. Flocks of birds took flight in panic, and troops of monkey-like mammals screamed at the sky in confusion. As the ship slowed, the flames winked out of existence. A combat variant Clydesdale, blacked out with sensor dampeners dropped further and further down, a fact that would have interested many a casual observer. A ghost ship. Unfortunately, our hypothetical observer did not exist, leaving the pseudo-monkeys to puzzle out the appearance of this new sky-chariot on their own.

Roughly one story up, it levelled out over a small lake, and the bay doors whispered open. There it hung for a moment, as a heated argument took place inside. A short moment later, there was a sharp flash, and a small, hairy man was bundled out the door. He dropped like a stone, arms pin-wheeling. If the ghost-ship'€™s crew heard him scream, '€œI can'€™t swim!'€ on the way down, they made no sign of showing it. The man hit the water with an almighty splash, then sunk like a sack of potatoes. The ship watched for a moment more, then angled up towards whence it had come, and vanished.

A great length of time later, this encounter would be responsible for inspiring the formation of a civilisation and rudimentary religion among a specie of moderately intelligent molluscs that lived on the lake's shore. Their doctrine mostly consisted of waiting for the One God to descend upon them once more, and throwing other molluscs that disagreed with them into lakes. In retrospect, it was quite similar to many human religions. Ironically, the entire lot were wiped out when another ship crashed on them 10 years later. A statement on whether it took them to mollusc Valhalla was not forthcoming.

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