Preservers, origin of?

yeess... and the Burrowers do remind me of the dinosaur-time ancestors of Homo Sapiens...

I wonder if this possiblility of change is what makes Shuna feel uncomfortable in the palace... she doesn't wanna be evolved...

as for the elves we could say Tyleet is an example of the Palace affecting their development...

Interesting thought about Shuna, Leanan. It shows a whole other aspect of the Palace.



Oh? What's happening to her?

The very fact that she exists...

I think Leanan is referring to Tyleet's conception. Nightfall and Redlance wanted Leetah to help conceive her in the Palace in order to increase Leetah's power and maximise their chance of success.

This may well have affected Tyleet in some way, possibly brought her closer to being the most genetically perfect that she could be, perhaps?

Oh, I see. I thought something had happened to her in "Searcher and the Sword" or something :oops:

I figured the preservers didn't need to reproduce because there's enough of them already, and the're pretty hard to kill. ("Heeheehee! Highthing can't squish Petalwing! Try! Try!") But if they have no sex organs, then why are they such little voyeurs? It seems like every time the elves are doing it, there's always a preserver watching with a big smile on its face. Naughty little bugs!

Wow! Neat idea! Perhaps Shuna can feel the pull of the ship's magic on her.

EDIT: Another thought.... perhaps the palace did change her? Hmmm? Like teaching her how to send? Hmmmm? (Interesting theory.) :D

I was thinking about the preservers being sexless; it's never made sense to me that they are unable to reproduce. The only reason I can think of is that they were engineered that way, shaped that way, by the Coneheads because they did not want their ship overrun with insects. Imagine that the flitrins were like earth insects and could lay thousands of eggs; in no time the Palace would've been overrun. In order to prevent this, the Coneheads could've shaped them to be sexless, while also making them immortal and indestructable. They probably gave them their "homing" instinct too. I think both the flitrins and the trolls were shaped by the Coneheads along with experiencing an accelerated evolution because of the Palace's magic. If anyone's read the "Uplift" series by David Brin, I can see sort of the same thing occuring. In that series, in the future, humans accelerate the natural progression towards self-awareness and intelligence in a number of different "intelligent" species (dolphins, great apes, dogs) in order to match human intelligence.

Yo, folks, there is such a thing as asexual reproduction in nature. And it happens fairly often in insectoid species.

Like the cone heads at one time thy did breed but immortality eventually made this unnecessary.

Quote from Elfmom :No, they don't reproduce. But since they're indestructible, that's OK.

That's how I've understood the issue:

The Coneheads took the Flitrins and the Buddlers with them, because they didn't want to let the last two species of their homeworld die (and because Timmain - and others like her - enjoyed the company of the animal).

They were NOT engineering them by whim or purpose. They had learned to respect live and every creature. They didn't need "servants" of any sort. Remember ... they are able to get anything they need by their magic and the Palace.

Both creatures reproduced freely - and died soon due to their short lifespan.

The Palace and its inherent magic started to change the creatures (like radioactivity would change DNA, but in a positive way), enhanced their developement and made them become something different.

On this path the Flirtrins, due to their simpler blueprint and much shorter breeding intervals, changed faster and to a higher degree. On their way from a butterfly to a partly humanoid, intelligent being their offsprings became less and breeding became rare ... similar to the Coneheadss' developement.

The Preservers became "useful", developed an ability to cocoon the elves from time and space. And they became indestructable and immortal. At this state the reproduction stopped. Be it that the last generation was indeed genderless - or they are practically barren, like the Coneheads were.
Whether they could reproduce when their numbers would shrink - who knows.
Within the Palace - most probably YES - the magic would change them again.
Without the influence of the Palace - I doubt so.

The "longtime memory" of Petalwing and the others is not because they were "shaped" from the original Flirtrins in the very beginning but a "genetical memory" passed over for generations.

The Preservers are totally fine with their task - they not even see it as "serving". Remember how stubborn Petalwing can be when Cutter (or any elf) has different opinions about the use of wrapstuff?


Some thoughts to the Buddlers to show the differencies ...

They developed slower. The Proto-Trolls are like "primitive" Humans (or Coneheads) when we meet them. No longer animals ... intelligent beings with own will and own culture ... and still FAR from the developement state of the Coneheads. And they obviously never stopped reproducing - so they might not be immortal, just VERY long living.

Having them do service in the sphere was probably the try to give them a task, not mainly the wish of the Coneheads to have workers and servants. The vessel is not a spaceship with mechanics and stuff that has to be mended - it's magically formed and directed by magic! Beings with an adaquate developed mind can get everything out of its substance - just by thought.

Some Coneheads might have enjoyed the service - like some had enjoyed the presence of the animals in the very beginning. But I doubt that they were considered as slaves and supressed by purpose.

But obviously the Coneheads have misunderstood and mistreaded them! They were so far away from their former, earth-bound existance that they simply didn't remember the needs at this developement state. And face it - they were much more engaged in their own musings as in "Troll studies".

The Proto-Trolls became more and more intelligent - and more and more discontent. And finally they took their chance ...

I think that's a pretty good assessment, Embala. I would hazard a guess that the Coneheads were preoccupied with their explorations, and self-absorbed to a certain extent. They may not have realized the high intelligence level of the proto-trolls, esp since the trolls evolved gradually, while the Conheads themselves (undying) remained constant.

A really nice assessment, Embala, like Lunakat said. I can really relate to the idea of bringing the flitrins and burrowers. The palace is really beautiful and perfect, but I guess it would lifeless over time, like homes that have no plants or pets in them.