Excerpt from the personal journal of Imsspud Midhand Fighting-claws, Chronicler, Homeworld Project.

Sixth Age, 104th Year, 84th Day

Many of the readers of this journal may notice that I use no clan designation in my name. Rightfully, one might assume this is because I am a member of one of the families whose actions during the Geddon-hir War so disgraced the clan name that I prefer not to—or dare not—use it.

The truth is, I am truly without a clan. Not because my people were lost during the War (being only eighty-four years old, I am too young to even remember the War), but because each of my parents were from a different clan.

Due to the number of clans destroyed during the War, the Directorate decided to allow a limited number of clan breedings to take place in hopes of establishing new clans to replace those that were lost.

Although I am the product of such a breeding, I am not automatically qualified to begin a clan. The Directorate must first approve the new clan, and before I can petition them for such approval, I must master three of the intellectual sciences, three of the physical sciences, and at least one of the arts.

Although I take my responsibility as a possible progenitor of a new clan very seriously, it is the opportunity to learn that truly interests me. And, although my participation in the Homeworld Project will limit my ability to meet and study new races, it is my hope that it will allow me to learn other disciplines. I hope that my participation in this expedition will help to advance myself toward these goals.

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Two of the physical sciences in which I have found an interest are botany(1) and xeno-biology (which also aids in my study of the intellectual sciences of xeno-history and xeno-sociology). To this end, I will be assisting Barist Clan kiSheel Scissortail, chief Expedition botanist, and Zanscha Clan Uil Hindhand Travel-claws, our xeno-biologist.

I have already started working with Barist. The homeworld plants we are bringing with us for implantation on the new world have been readied for Sleep and seem to be doing well. I only hope that I am as ready, for we will not be using the Rintoel Drive, so as not to alert any Geddon-hir to our movements, and this will be a long journey, the length of a full Sleep.

This would not bother me so much, save for the fact that this will be my first off-schedule Sleep. But the Sleep is necessary, not only to spare us from having to endure the journey, but more importantly to allow those of us on the project to share in the auryl(2) and, thereby, be fully prepared to work so closely together for so long.

Still, I have my reservations. Although I have been approved medically for the artificial Sleep-inducement procedure and know that—in theory at least—one can survive indefinitely in Sleep, I keep remembering the stories of those who never awaken.

Footnotes:

Here, the term "botany" is used loosely, as many of the plants to which the author refers would not be classified as such using human classification methods.

Loosely translated, the term

auryl

means "group mind" or "combined consciousness." During Sleep, the consciousnesses of nearby sleepers join. It is believed this phenomenon evolved initially as a survival technique. Originally, clans entered Sleep only with fellow clan members.

Auryl

allowed all sleepers to awaken simultaneously, or nearly so, in case of an attack or other threat. In this reference, the author's hope is that the individuals from different clans will become closer—more of "one mind"—to aid in their future work together.

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