Entity

<infobox> <title source="name"><default>Entity</default></title>

<image source="image"><default>File:Placeholder location.png</default></image> <header>Basic Information</header> <image source="map"></image> <label>Type</label> <label>Location</label> <label>Teams</label> <label>Inhabitants</label> <header>First Appearance</header> <label>Worm Debut</label> <label>Ward Debut</label> </infobox> The Entities, also known as the Worms<ref name="SB1"/><ref name="I26"/>, are a species of immense multidimensional alien creatures. They are the source of parahuman powers.

Appearance

The nature of Entities as multi-dimensional beings renders them very difficult to visually comprehend or describe; in one of the visions experienced by Taylor, she describes them as reminiscent of a 3-D representation of a hypercube, except vastly more elaborate and complex in form. She perceived the Entities in her vision (the Warrior and Thinker) to be the size of small planets, and noted that they were continually shedding tiny pieces of themselves that flowed in a trail behind them, as if they were made of sand that was being blown by a strong wind.

Goals and Methods

In order to reproduce, evolve and find a means by which their species may survive the heat death of the universe, the Entities disseminate 'shards' across planets containing sapient life.<ref>The entities are trying to answer a question. How do they survive when they're done? When all's said and done and they've taken every planet and everything's shifting toward the same ambient state. How do they survive the heat death of the universe? They don't have the answer, and if they're going to use simulations to figure it out, they need as much data as possible to justify the expense, by the time they reach that point. They don't have a lot of creativity, so they borrow it from others. From humans. - Comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref> Shards are the 'cells' of the Entities, partially-autonomous fragments capable of performing many functions, retain information, and maturing by learning from their hosts. Nearly all of an Entity's shards are distributed across alternative versions of a target planet, bar a few 'vital' shards that they keep for themselves. These Shards are assigned to hosts, who use their newfound powers in various ways that the Shard records. In this way the Entity tests it's various techniques, abilities and technologies it has gathered to find new applications or insights to improve its various capabilities.

After the Shards have gathered sufficient data, they return to their respective parent Entities, which briefly exchange information between themselves before siphoning energy from all versions of the host planet except one. They then funnel this energy into a single reality, detonating the planet in that reality and all others within their influence, and using the resultant force to scatter fragments of themselves across the universe. These fragments eventually grow into new Entities.

Through repetition of this process, knowledge is acquired across many civilizations across the universe, knowledge which can then be used to grant powers to the next set of hosts, forming the basis of the superpowers seen in Worm. This process of distributing and reacquiring shards in order to propagate is known as The Cycle.<ref name="I26">Interlude 26</ref>

The Warrior and Thinker

Though entities can vary wildly in their approach to gathering information, there are only a select few entities shown in Worm. The Warrior and The Thinker are the names given to the two entities that chose to settle on the Earths. The two fulfill different roles: the Warrior is more direct and focuses on short-term problems and threats, while the Thinker is capable of abstract thought, looking ahead past the current cycle and thinking about the goal of the entities as a whole. They work as a pair, traveling together through the universe to visit planets and carry out the cycle.<ref name="I26" />

As the Warrior and Thinker approach new planets, they undergo a negotiation over which realities to inhabit. Realities are categorized and separated into groups according to their similarity to each other, with shards capable of settling in and drawing energy from these various groupings. By grouping worlds like this, the entities maximize the amount of information that can be learned without rehashing the same experiences over and over. The realities that the entities focus on are chosen according to the degree of conflict, long-term viability of the environment, and population of the planet.<ref name="I26" />

During their approach, the entities also simulate the future to optimize the cycle. Both entities use precognition to assign likely hosts for their shards, though they differ in their methods. The Warrior observes the immediate impact of the shards, seeing how shards shed from their mass will interact with the local host species. Modifications are then made to the shards in order to make them compatible with their soon-to-be hosts. This is the origin of the Manton Effect, which prevents powers from harming their hosts. Modifications are also made to prevent the shards from being used against the entities. One such alteration is what causes the inability to remember the trigger vision following a trigger event, and was done using the shard given to Imp.<ref name="I26" /> Differing from the Warrior, the Thinker observes the path of the cycle as a whole, trying to find the optimal future in order to maximize conflict and gather the most data. It simulates possible futures, making adjustments until it finds one that is suitable for its goals.<ref name=":0">Interlude 29</ref>

The cycle is when their individual roles come into play the most. In some cycles, the Warrior and Thinker work behind the scenes, out of sight. In others, they take a more direct hand in the cycle, directly interacting with the host population. In the latter situation, both of the entities typically form avatars, representations that fit in with the rest of the host species. The Warrior's avatar holds great power, able to counter and nullify any immediate threats to the cycle. The Thinker's avatar keeps the cycle running smoothly, manipulating the hosts and making sure that conflict runs high.<ref name=":0" />

When the cycle has run its course and the shards are at "critical mass," the two entities reconsolidate. They then exchange shards, rubbing their interdimensional bodies against each other, generating heat and friction that forces shards to intermingle and mutate. Through this, they share information, comparing and contrasting the data they have gathered by way of their differing roles in the cycle. Finally, they detonate the planet, scattering multiple copies of themselves across the universe in search of new planets to inhabit. In this stage, both partners are required in order to gestate and complete the cycle, as they have evolved to become dependent on one another after thousands of cycles.<ref name="I26" />

The Entities' shards are limited to operating within their hosts home planet's atmosphere, sometimes to protect the parahuman host, sometimes to prevent them from leaving the planet the Entities are working with,<ref name="SB1"/> but mostly due to stretching the limits of their range, as Shards are situated on the planet. Broken Shards not linked to a Entity network ignore these limitations, and some normal Shards can draw energy with other methods, but most powers cannot work past a certain point between the upper atmosphere and 400km up. However, particularly creative hosts that greatly contribute data to the cycle are afforded some leeway in exchange, though this only goes so far.<ref>Uphill/doomed project from the start. Shards are situated on Earth, reaching through realities for corona pollentiae. Powers don't really go into space, because, well, you've got the shard situated on the planet, and their reach is stretching, stretching up & out to the person with the shard. Do they exceed the shard's reach?
Broken shards don't care so much, some powers can draw energy in other ways, but by and large, powers stop being responsive or start getting fucky at some point between the upper atmosphere and 400k km out. Many powers are manton limited so they don't actually get out into the vacuum.
[...]
He likely had the means of creating the moon bubbles and tertiary systems and life support and keeping it running... but maintenance starts getting tricky. The first option is that the shard goes 'this is worth the effort' because Gramme is giving the shard fuel for something interesting, and all is well except for whatever it is that the shard was so keen about. The second option is that the moon base works fine, the first colony gets out there, and then somewhere along the line Gramme's well of inspiration and his eye for key details in his tinkerings just... stops. - Wildbow on Reddit</ref> The possibility of a host species evacuating large portions of their population from the planet is one the Entities considered long ago; Tinker shards that could grant mass-evacuation capabilities deliberately sabotage themselves to prevent a host from accomplishing such a thing, although individuals could potentially leave.<ref name="R2">By and large, the shards would sabotage attempts at going to space. Even Sphere's moon base was probably doomed from the start.
[...]
Avatars like Scion are there in part to ensure things continue smoothly. If people decided to mass evacuate, he'd step in.
[...]
It is a built-in limitation. Individuals could theoretically leave (Legend?), but mass transportation options would likely be sabotaged (like a Squealer spacehulk, or Sphere's power, for example).
[...]
[Eden shards] tend to be missing /current/ limitations; the ban on space travel is something that would be long-established, valid across multiple species. Other stuff varies for different plans of attack and the like. - Wildbow on Reddit</ref> Were large numbers of parahumans to leave the target planet, an avatar like Scion would step in to stop them.<ref name="R2"/><ref name="SB1"/>

Should they instead encounter a species that has already expanded beyond their planet and become spacefaring, there are a number of different possible ways they could handle it: Set up exclusively at a high-traffic planet with steady growth to ensure they get the widest selection of the species population, treat the whole system as a biome and distribute individualised avatars to each populated planet, or broadcast a signal to all available nearby Entities and increasing the number of partners and potential yield.<ref name="SB1">They don't want people leaving the planet they're working with. A very good reason to have an avatar like Scion around. Probably wouldn't draw his notice until people with shards started leaving in any greater number.
Anyway, joking about star wars aside, the question of how the shards would deal with a species that already has spacefaring abilities is an interesting one. Possibilities include:

• Going after one planet with a high influx of people and a steady growth rate. Operate as normal.
• Divide into sub-shards, have each worm becomes two or three avatars. Probably a slower development rate, but they can still operate on multiple key planets, and work in concert, treating a system as a single planet, for all intents and purposes.
• Broadcast a signal to all their entity buddies in that overarching section of space, so anything passing by is liable to reroute and home in. Easily ten+ entities working together. - Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref>

Having encountered technology and programming before, the Entities are very careful to limit any power that could allow the creation of Artificial Intelligences; compulsions that nudge the host to severely limit their creations, keeping them bound to a certain level of functionality and power to keep interference and threats to a cycle low.<ref>Xexilf: In that world, probably the best that can be hoped for is an unchained dragon going von neumann and taking over for humanitys own good. If Richter would really unchain her, and if she still triggers somehow. Untriggered dragin would do less well.

Hmm, multi-dimensional dragon empire, can she progress far enough in the less than twenty years to match scion somehow? If she has planets worth of resources.... and with her intelligence she may just figure out his theoretical weaknesses.

Wildbow: It would be a grave oversight by the entities to give someone the ability to make artificial intelligences and not, say, compel him to bind those AI to a certain level of power and keep them bound. - Comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles.</ref>

Biology and Abilities

Each Entity is made up of "trillions upon trillions upon trillions" of "shards",<ref>I'd imagine them as crystals, but folding/unfolding like tesseracts, with the entities themselves having a more organic overall shape. - Wildbow on Reddit</ref> crystalline many-dimensional objects roughly analogous to biological cells. These shards perform a variety of functions, but primarily serve as a source of abilities that they Entity can wield, with each shard controlling a different ability. Early Entities possessed shards granting them control over fundamental physical forces such as heat and electricity, but over the millennia and countless cycles of acquiring and refining new abilities, the set of powers wielded by Entities has diversified enormously. Shards controlling similar abilities are organized into clusters, similar to organs. Shards also carry information, encoding the Entities' memories and allowing for information to be transferred between Entities through exchanging shards. Consequently, every Entity carries shards with memories dating back to the very beginning of the species.

Basic Abilities

Entities have the ability to navigate between alternate versions of reality. If an entity grows large enough, they extend into multiple realities at once simultaneously, distributing their bodies across universes. They can absorb light and other forms of radiation for energy, as well as consume prey for food, though this has long since ceased to be their primary source of energy after they began carrying out the cycle. Entities can also consume other entities, assimilating their shards and growing both in size and power.

Although the Entities have encountered and acquired abilities that deal with time manipulation, they are unable to use such powers efficiently, as they are extremely energy-intensive. As such, most time-manipulation powers are mixed with simulation/precognition and manifestation.<ref>Comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles.</ref>

Communication

The first complex message ever sent by an Entity was communicated by having every one of their shards express the same concept at the same time, with each of the millions of their shards contributing a different nuance to the message. This method was violent, involving almost every shard turning the full force of their different capabilities outward, expressing an incredibly informationally dense message across countless wavelengths and forms of energy.

Later, more evolved entities broadcasted similarly nuanced signals across channels formed of the very foundation of the universe. The signals were only sent across specific realities, so that they would not accidentally contact uninhabited worlds. These broadcasts were conveyed using trillions upon trillions of shards, capable of conveying more information than an entire planet of sapient beings might in a century. One drawback of this method of communication was that it grew quieter and less nuanced as an entity lost its shards.

Outside of broadcasting, entities also exchange shards with one another, a practice that is vital for them to evolve and grow. One method they use is to exchange shards codified with memories and techniques. Another method is achieved by direct physical contact, in which the entities rub against one another with intense friction. This physically transfers shards as well as creating new shards via forced mutation. Many shards are destroyed in this process, with many more being created. It is possible for an entity to sacrifice too much of itself in this way.

Space Travel/Reproduction

Before beginning the Cycles, the entities reproduced exponentially, and on at least 170 different occasions managed to overcrowd every version of their planet across every reality, a number of worlds exceeding the number of particles in a single universe.<ref name="I26" /> It is unknown if their current method of reproduction with the Cycles is faster or slower, but it is known that there are a vast number of entities across the multiverse despite starting from just two at the beginning. In an analogue, it is compared to spreading glass marbles across the whole of Canada, standing in a random spot and throwing another marble, and the marble will pass within a foot of one of them no matter what.<ref> Discord conversation with Wildbow, archived on Spacebattles</ref>

When entities are ready to leave a planet and propagate, they form protective shells and reorganize themselves so that they wrap around countless versions of the target planet, forming a complex shape that weaves in and out of the various realities. Then, they draw all the energy from every version of the world at once and focus it into a single reality, generating an explosion with such force that it shatters the planet within that reality. The power of this explosion is channeled into all of the other realities as well through the interdimensional connections generated by the entities, resulting in every other version of the planet detonating as well.

The force of the detonation is such that it shatters the entities, sending fragments flying through space, with each fragment becoming a miniature entity with all the memories and knowledge of their parent. Originally, this process was uncontrolled, with the detonation destroying many of the fragments and haphazardly flinging out many more, with only a slim chance of taking root on viable worlds. Later, this process became more streamlined, destroying fewer or none of the fragments in the blast. Certain entities like the Warrior and Thinker entities employed more refined travel methods like gravity-warping and space-warping abilities to steer their fragments toward habitable worlds with the guidance of precognition.

The Warrior and Thinker lineage mainly reproduced and traveled in pairs, though some of their offspring gathered into trios instead, and the Loner travelled by itself.<ref>But her attention was on the first.  She felt it reach out and connect with another that shared a similar trajectory.  Still more were doing the same, pairing off.  Forming into trios, in some cases, but most chose to form pairs. - Excerpt from Interlude 15.x</ref> Pairs of these entities moved in spirals while maintaining a measured distance from one another. Abaddon traveled using a different means, mostly using momentum to move and only changing course when it needed to, as doing so expended vast amounts of energy.

Combat

Each shard from an entity is capable of producing countless powers of the sort granted to parahumans; the Shards are deliberately limited during the cycle to give a very small set of powers to a host. Entities can draw upon all the powers of a given shard, although during the Cycle they are mostly limited to the shards that they keep within their main bodies.<ref name="I29.x">Venom 29.x</ref>

Though the combat abilities of Entities are too numerous to describe in detail, one notable ability carried by Scion is stilling, which lets him cancel out wavelengths, which lets him counteract, manipulate, and cancel virtually any parahuman or human-generated effect. He can cancel out heat, eliminate sound, break Grey Boy's ability, disintegrate molecular bonds, etc. He can do so with beams, thrown orbs/bullets, a light he emanates, and a personal forcefield, among a variety of other mechanisms.<ref>Comment by Wildbow. Archived.</ref>

History

Origins

The entities evolved on a planet with a gray sludge-like surface. Their solar system contained a "tear in reality," which their world would pass through twice per revolution around their sun. This tear allowed the entities to travel to alternate versions of their planet, allowing them to access new resources in order to feed and reproduce. After countless revolutions, some entities developed the ability to travel between worlds even outside the boundaries of the tear.<ref name="origin">Wildbow - 05/29/2019

Kind of like we'll never know how a biological worm like the proto-Entities managed to go across dimensions

My thoughts on it is that it was just the reality on their planet that things were a bit ripped up or torn, and abundant resources and advanced hunting encouraged those that could better absorb or adapt to interdimensional stuff. - Wildbow on Discord, Archived on Spacebattles</ref><ref name="origin2">It began at a planet that rotated around a star that was simultaneously binary and solitary because of a tear in space that cut through it, transforming it into a double image. The planet traveled a path that, twice per revolution, intersected a hole in space. When that planet intersected the hole, the writhing species that lived on it could move between. Those that could travel could access other layers of that same world. Other possibilities. Food was abundant, and so was breeding. Those that could see and interact with the tears when they passed by had the advantage.

After a thousand thousand such revolutions, a thousand contests, some began to be able to create and work with their own tears, keeping the subatomic particles with them. - Excerpt from Last_20.e1</ref> Over time, this ability allowed them to thrive and reproduce across countless versions of their planet, until they had exhausted almost every food source on every version of their world in every reality. The entities then turned to devouring each other as well, until there were only a few left, which then retreated to a handful of worlds while life across the realities replenished. After the worlds recovered, the entities would proliferate again until they were forced to consume one another and eventually retreat once more. This cycle of life and death occurred over a hundred and seventy times without variation, with each cycle taking a shorter time to elapse, and with some realities left permanently barren.<ref name="I26" />

Eventually, one of the entities realized that there was only so much time left before every version of their world would be rendered barren, and with a powerful broadcast that crippled the entity, proposed that the entire species consolidate and leave their home planet. One last war was fought, carried out over several revolutions, with each entity consuming and incorporating one another until there were only two entities left, each so large their bodies snaked across countless realities. Ready to depart, they configured their bodies into numerous fragments that formed an interdimensional shell around the planet. They then leeched the energy from every version of their world, using that energy to shatter them all in a massive detonation that launched their fragments into space in search of new homes, like the seeds of a dandelion.<ref name="I26" />

The First Cycle

The first post-diaspora ancestor of the Warrior Entity landed on a small planet with caustic acid rain, covered with plant life. It inhabited one of the plants, nourishing it and protecting it, and across the span of many revolutions it multiplied and seeded other plants with its shards. During this period it conceived an early idea of the cycle, in which it would test the host species through conflict. Eventually, the entity began spreading to versions of the planet in other realities, and in the process encountered another entity, which had also arrived on the planet and chosen a similar method of parasitism. The two exchanged information in the realities where they met, sharing knowledge, and eventually came to the conclusion that they needed to move on.

Preparing to leave, the two absorbed their host species for energy and took back the shards they had dispersed among them, forming once again into two entities as they funneled energy into a singular reality to detonate the planet. However, while waiting for the detonation, the second entity suggested that they exchange information by carefully attacking each other, colliding with friction that joined their shards into combinations, creating variation. After experimenting like that as well for some time, they came together into one, configured into a shell, and detonated the planet, sending out countless fragments of themselves to other worlds.

The Second Cycle

In the next cycle, an entity landed on a world with a technologically-advanced civilization. The entity's relationship with the host species was more symbiotic this time, with the entity studying the host species' technology and being studied in turn by the host species. However, war broke out between members of the host species that had bonded with shards and those that had not, and soon the natives began rooting out and destroying the entity's shards, forcing the entity to make an early departure.

As the various shards consolidated, this time they formed three larger entities, which came together and combined shards in a manner similar to that in the first cycle. After detonating the planet and fragmenting outward, the offspring were now able to control their paths through space by utilizing the technology of the previous species, warping gravity and space to guide themselves.

3,000+ Cycles

As the ancestors replicated and spread, the cycle repeated over three thousand times, and they grew more powerful each time. A collection of safeguards and protections were developed, conceptualized from previous failures, such as in the second cycle, to make sure they would never happen again.

At some point relatively recently, the Warrior's ancestors began replicating and traveling in pairs of entities. Each entity in the pair had a subtly different role in the cycle, such as attacker/defender, warrior/thinker, and builder/destroyer. These individual roles allowed for their shards to be shaped in different ways, allowing for more variation when they came back together at the end of the cycle.<ref name="I26" />

Earth's Cycle

The Warrior and Thinker entities found the Earths through precognition, scouting out humanity as a viable host species. While the Warrior prepared for the immediate cycle, the Thinker thought ahead, preparing to simulate the future. However, the arrival of a third entity, Abaddon, distracted the Thinker, taking a detour to exchange shards with the new entity. While this process enriched the Thinker with information, it also caused it to suffer heavy losses in body mass,

Fanart Gallery

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  Contessa sees a vision of the Cycle.
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  Browbeat stands in the remains of Eden. Above, two Entities weave their way to a new destination.
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  Two Entities travel through space.
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  The Warrior creating Scion.
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  Entities travelling by MugaSofer.
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  In the beginning, a species chokes their gray planet.

Trivia

• Apollyon is a hypothetical entity that showcases the fact that entities still do eat one another.

References

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