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Description
Commissioned work from the talented www.fiverr.com/lindraws for an upcoming work of science fantasy of mine, "Once Upon a Planet." Unathi here is an ancient being, rescued from the dead planet sitting at the setting's center, who presided over the collapse of the civilization that previously ruled all of known space (that is to say, their version of ancient astronauts). They might be termed a 'civilizational deity,' or a being that is said to embody the values and ideas of the culture it originates from, but luckily for them, they've since evolved past that. Thousands of years ago, they were made as the ultimate experiment to see how the human soul could be weaponized and used to society's advantage, a kind of flesh golem that their people hoped would win them a multi-sided war that they were engaged in on their totally urbanized planet against six other major city-states that staked out corners of the globe. When things were finally completed, and the being awoke, it completely absorbed every single soul from the people that had made it... and destroyed every other living being on the planet's surface in an act of uncontrollable madness due to their birthing pains, turning it into a dead world. Forced to wander by themself for countless years alone, eventually they began to stop thinking of themself as "we" and instead as "I" through self-introspection and meditation, allowing them some semblance of normality. Unable to leave, and unable to die due to their immortality, they waited until the crew of the Laughingstock arrived by a quirk of fate - or perhaps not, given that if they concentrate they can see multiple probabilities - and freed them from their makeshift prison. The tattoos on their body function as spells and were an intended fail safe in the event something went awry, being the only things that kept them bound in their initial struggle.

Despite what their countless genocides would suggest, Unathi in the present is very much unlike what one would think a mass murderer would act like. They are extremely friendly, showing near total deference to those around them, and unwilling to use any sort of violence whatsoever. However, they're a growing organism, and their vast range of powers includes anything from returning something to life, the ability to float in place with a localized anti-gravitational field, destroying an object on a molecular level, or rearranging their own DNA to suit their mood (there's a reason I've given them pronouns like this since it makes little sense to do so for a being that has control of themselves on such a minute level). In the present, they're an indispensable part of the Laughingstock crew as their knowledge - either known to them or hidden away - allows them to interact with much of the technology that litters the numerous worlds that the ancient civilizations that birthed them had once colonized, as well as being able to form star maps to previously hidden caches of treasure.

Unathi is married to both Jean and Wu through the story's events and would do anything to please them. For Jean, his drive as nothing but a mortal man to stake a claim and put himself in the history books is an attractive trait, while Wu's struggle with her own sense of where to fit in outside of the highly regimented society she came from, as well as other much larger details that would be spoilers, is relatable to them because of their mutual struggle to belong. Their greatest goal is help heal the tremendous amount of guilt that they feel... though whether such horrible people as their husband and wife are can help them overcome the remaining worst aspects of their nature certainly remains to be seen.

Description
Commissioned work from the talented www.fiverr.com/lindraws for an upcoming work of science fantasy of mine, "Once Upon a Planet." Unathi here is an ancient being, rescued from the dead planet sitting at the setting's center, who presided over the collapse of the civilization that previously ruled all of known space (that is to say, their version of ancient astronauts). They might be termed a 'civilizational deity,' or a being that is said to embody the values and ideas of the culture it originates from, but luckily for them, they've since evolved past that. Thousands of years ago, they were made as the ultimate experiment to see how the human soul could be weaponized and used to society's advantage, a kind of flesh golem that their people hoped would win them a multi-sided war that they were engaged in on their totally urbanized planet against six other major city-states that staked out corners of the globe. When things were finally completed, and the being awoke, it completely absorbed every single soul from the people that had made it... and destroyed every other living being on the planet's surface in an act of uncontrollable madness due to their birthing pains, turning it into a dead world. Forced to wander by themself for countless years alone, eventually they began to stop thinking of themself as "we" and instead as "I" through self-introspection and meditation, allowing them some semblance of normality. Unable to leave, and unable to die due to their immortality, they waited until the crew of the Laughingstock arrived by a quirk of fate - or perhaps not, given that if they concentrate they can see multiple probabilities - and freed them from their makeshift prison. The tattoos on their body function as spells and were an intended fail safe in the event something went awry, being the only things that kept them bound in their initial struggle.

Despite what their countless genocides would suggest, Unathi in the present is very much unlike what one would think a mass murderer would act like. They are extremely friendly, showing near total deference to those around them, and unwilling to use any sort of violence whatsoever. However, they're a growing organism, and their vast range of powers includes anything from returning something to life, the ability to float in place with a localized anti-gravitational field, destroying an object on a molecular level, or rearranging their own DNA to suit their mood (there's a reason I've given them pronouns like this since it makes little sense to do so for a being that has control of themselves on such a minute level). In the present, they're an indispensable part of the Laughingstock crew as their knowledge - either known to them or hidden away - allows them to interact with much of the technology that litters the numerous worlds that the ancient civilizations that birthed them had once colonized, as well as being able to form star maps to previously hidden caches of treasure.

Unathi is married to both Jean and Wu through the story's events and would do anything to please them. For Jean, his drive as nothing but a mortal man to stake a claim and put himself in the history books is an attractive trait, while Wu's struggle with her own sense of where to fit in outside of the highly regimented society she came from, as well as other much larger details that would be spoilers, is relatable to them because of their mutual struggle to belong. Their greatest goal is help heal the tremendous amount of guilt that they feel... though whether such horrible people as their husband and wife are can help them overcome the remaining worst aspects of their nature certainly remains to be seen.