Editing Eden (section)

===Background===
The [[Entity|Entities]] first arose on a grey, silty world, which they destroyed and rode the explosion out to new worlds.<ref>In the beginning, a species chokes their gray planet. Here and there, landmasses appear, created by inhabitants to trap or uncover the scarce food that exists, but the landscape is largely liquid, water thick with silt and other particles. The creatures worm in and around one another, and the planet has as much space taken up by the creatures as there is space left for other things. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/10/interlude-26/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 26]]</ref> The early ancestor of The Warrior first landed on a world with caustic acid rain, filled with plant life, as did another Entity.<ref>But others made contact with other worlds.<br><br>A world with life rooted in landmasses, weathering brutal storms of caustic acid. The one who arrives on that world struggles to find a means of survival.<br><br>It finds refuge in one of the dying plant structures, provides ambient heat to nourish it, so that the openings might close up and the shelter be made more secure. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/10/interlude-26/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 26]]</ref> The two parasitized the plant life to survive and reproduce, and experimented, using their abilities to nourish and protect the plants and seeing which ones survived.<ref>It encounters another. A later arrival to the same planet, a member of its own species, another that is multiplying and consuming and growing. This new arrival chose a different means of survival, but it too chose a kind of parasitism.<br><br>They exchange shards where they meet. In these shards are codified memories, as well as the most effective techniques they have observed.<br><br>The planetoid is small, the range of options limited. A message is broadcast. Mutual agreement. They will move on.<br><br>
''Migration.'' - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/10/interlude-26/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 26]]</ref>

The two devoured the plants and took back their shards, forming once again into two singular entities. The second entity suggested to the ancestor that the two attack each other, in small, measured ways, and then recombine their shards and attack each other again so that they might find the combinations that survived and discard the rest.<ref>But something else occurs. A broadcast from the other, followed by an attack.<br><br>A carefully measured attack. The two creatures ruin one another with friction and pressure, burning hot, and shards are destroyed. Many are partially destroyed.<br><br>The other creature joins shards together into combinations, discards and destroys. Repeats the process.<br><br>New shards are created. Different functions. Forced mutation. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/10/interlude-26/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 26]]</ref> After experimenting like that as well for a time, they destroyed that world as well, sending out countless fragments of themselves to other worlds.

The Warrior's ancestor landed on a world with advanced technology. The entities learned of gravity-warping technology, and were studied in turn by the species. Some of them sought to rule; those they had bonded with lost the war, and the entities were rooted out. They formed three larger Entities, who destroyed the planet and fled, offspring scattering in every direction. This time, they controlled their paths with gravity and warped space.<ref>The next world encountered has sentient life, civilization. A complicated, rich world.<br><br>It is a symbiosis, this time, more than parasitism. The two species learn from one another. The shards code the 'technology' of this new species into their memories. They learn of warping space and gravity.<br><br>[...]<br><br>The cycle is cut short by a forced exit, as the shards are rooted out and destroyed by the natives of this civilized world. They meet, they bind and again they share ideas. Richer perceptions, complex technologies and more are fashioned in the unity of three larger creatures. It is through differences in the greater entities that a richness is created, new derivations, new connections that none would be capable of on their own.<br><br>The planet is expended, the offspring are cast off in every direction once again.<br><br>This time, they are capable of moving, of controlling their course. Gravity, warping space. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/10/interlude-26/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 26]]</ref>

The cycle repeated over three thousand times, and they grew more powerful each time. At some point, The Warrior's ancestors divided themselves into two entities, [[Warrior Entity|Warrior]] and Thinker, who would travel in pairs together. Each had slightly different attitudes and capabilities, so that they could compare different ways of doing things.<ref>After more than three thousand cycles, there are safeguards, there are protections. The arsenal of abilities, powers and protections the creature possesses have been built up. The entity remembers past failures and has adapted so they will not happen again.<br><br>The entities travel with partners now, moving in spirals while maintaining a measured distance from one another. Each is slightly different from the other, taking on a different role. Attacker and defender, warrior and thinker, builder and destroyer.<br><br>This divide is so they are able to take a different stance, shape their shards in subtle ways and clarify the results when their shards are compared and joined once again – some shall be kept, others discarded. Some will turn up interesting possibilities that can be explored when new shards are invented at the cycle's end. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/10/interlude-26/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 26]]</ref>