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, or "Worms"<ref>Interlude 26</ref>, are a race of multidimensional creatures of incomprehensible size. They are the source of parahuman powers.

Goals and Methods

Introduction

In order to evolve and learn a means by which their species may infinitely survive after the Heat Death of the multiverse, Entities disseminate 'shards' across a chosen planet with sapient life. Shards are fragments of the Entities, capable of performing numerous functions, retaining information, and maturing by means of learning from their hosts. Nearly all of an Entity's shards are distributed across alternate versions of the 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.

After the shards have gathered sufficient information, they return to their respective Entities, which briefly exchange information between themselves and then siphon energy from all versions of the host planet except one. Using this gathered energy, they detonate the remaining planet, using the resultant force to scatter clusters of themselves across the universe, which eventually grow into individual 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 in their approach to gathering information, there are only a select few Entities shown in Worm. The Warrior and Thinker are the names given to the two Entities that chose to settle on the Earths. 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. The Warrior and Thinker work as a pair, traveling together through the void to seed target planets with their respective shards. During each cycle, the two of them take on subtly different roles in the cycle, such as attacker and defender; warrior and thinker; and builder and destroyer.<ref name="I26" />

As the Warrior and Thinker approach new planets, they undergo a negotiation over which realities to inhabit. Realities are 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 strife, 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. 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 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 the Entities' individual roles come into play. In some cycles, the Entities 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 hosts. The Warrior's avatar holds great power, able to counter and nullify any threat that it encounters. 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 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.<ref name="I26" /><ref>Wildbow on SpaceBattles</ref>

Abilities and Powers

Basic Abilities

Entities have the ability to navigate between alternate versions of reality. If an Entity grows large enough, they extend into multiple worlds at once, distributing their bodies across realities. They could absorb starlight and radiation for energy, as well as consuming prey for food.

Each of the members of the species was made up of many cells, or Shards. Different clusters of Shards maintained different abilities. They could tear chunks from others of their kind if they were exposed or weakened, absorbing their Shards and thus growing larger.

They possessed some control over heat, cold, electricity and mental manipulations. When they were large enough, they were capable of drawing all the heat and energy from countless worlds at once and focusing it with such intensity that it destroyed a planet, shattering with such force that the explosion echoed through the channels they used to extend into other realities and shattered those worlds as well. They were able to reorganize themselves, forming protective shells so that fragments of themselves would survive this blast and be thrown into space.

Communication

Entities primarily communicate through "broadcasting." The first complex message 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 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 the intended 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. Overall, these broadcasts were conveyed using trillions upon trillions of shards, capable of conveying more information than an entire planet of sentient beings might in a century. One drawback of this method of communication was that it grew quieter and less nuanced if an Entity lost its shards.

Outside of broadcasting, Entities also exchange information 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 oneself this way.

Space Travel

Originally, Entities would blast themselves into fragments, which would fly through the vacuum of space with only a slim chance of taking root on viable worlds. Later, certain Entities employed gravity-warping and space-warping to steer their fragments toward habitable worlds in a more controlled manner.

The Thinker Entity and Warrior Entity travelled in pairs, which moved in spirals while maintaining a measured distance from one another. Abaddon travelled 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

At full size, Entities controlled all the powers they would eventually give out, plus more; each Shard was capable of producing countless powers, and was deliberately limited; they only expressed anything close to their full abilities in very rare cases. Entities could draw on all this power, as well as those Shards they chose to keep to themselves.<ref name="I29.x">Venom 29.x</ref>

However, Entities were not omnipotent. It would have been a grave mistake for them to allow Artificial Intelligence to be created without strict limitations being placed on it.<ref>Comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref> If their Vital Shards were separated from one another, they would die.<ref name="I26" />

History

Origins

The Entities originally lived on a planet of gray sludge, in a strange region of space where normal physics inconsistently applied.<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> There selection pressure gave the species the ability to move between universes to the different versions of that same world.<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 breed until they choked out almost all other life on their world in every universe. They would then devour each other as well until there were only a few left, then retreat to a handful of worlds while life replenished. This occurred over a hundred and seventy times without variation, and each time the cycle would be shorter, with some realities left permanently barren.<ref name="I26" />

Then, one of the Entities realized that there was only so much time left before every version of their world had been rendered barren, and proposed the species leave their planet. One last war was fought, and in the end there were only two Entities left, each so large their bodies covered numerous worlds. They formed their bodies into numerous fragments that were themselves smaller Entities, then leached away all the heat and energy from all versions of their world and used it to shatter the remaining habitable versions of their planet and launch their fragments into space like the seeds of a dandelion.<ref name="I26" />

The Cycle

The early ancestor of the Warrior Entity first landed on a small planet with caustic acid rain, filled with plant life. Another Entity landed on the same world. 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.

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. 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.

The cycle repeated over three thousand times, and they grew more powerful each time. At some point, a few hundred cycles ago the Warrior's ancestors began travelling in pairs together. Each had slightly different attitudes and capabilities, so that they could compare different ways of doing things.<ref name="I26" />

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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