OMEGA CONQUEST®
A text version of the space fantasy podcast. - Episode 0 - An Introduction
OMEGA CONQUEST dares to elevate the space-fantasy genre by digging deeper. While it delivers the action and adventure fans expect, it also carries cultural and spiritual weight, told from the perspective of oppressed peoples confronting colonization. Rooted in a bottom-up societal viewpoint and touched by Afrofuturist influence, it reimagines familiar tropes through voices often left out of mainstream sci-fi and fantasy. This mythic, genre-expanding space odyssey is universal in scope, resonating with anyone who has ever questioned power, identity, or destiny.
This brief introduction gives us a peek inside the Eloshaa, an intergalactic council of Watchers responsible for seeding sentient life in the universe. Their poignant debate considers the fate of a petulant hybrid species, h-3-6-c, also known as the humankind experiment. These so-called humans possess a peculiar imbalance. On the one hand humankind are impressively insignificant. On the other hand, they possess the power to destroy the entire universe; the same universe the Watchers currently call home.
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“You have created an abomination. Alpha-Man is a sin; an imbalanced defect,” she said.
“I gave my rock-chucker a fighting chance,” he said. Was it not unfair for Alpha-Man to be seeded in the harshest habitat?”
“The rules of the experiment were clear; no version of the hybrid species was to receive any further upgrades or additions from us. They must achieve a higher state of being on their own," said the collective.
“And per those rules, I added nothing to Alpha-Man. However, no such rule was made against taking things away," he said.
"Subversion," she interjected. "We all understand methods of addition by way of subtraction."
No things were added. I simply removed Alpha-Man’s ability to perceive of his connection to Source.”
“Thereby removing Alpha-Man's ability to experience a sense of self-content. He is now transformed into a paragon of perpetual motion, restlessly seeking outside of himself that which he already possesses inside. You made him unconscious; blind to his connection to everything, everyone, and most of all Grand Source Creation. Such a cruel, lonely state of existence you have created for Alpha-Man,” the collective said.
Alpha-Man has internalized this cruelty and now wields it like a weapon, spreading it like a virus throughout the galaxy. Unable to perceive Source, he worships his tools as both god and savior. A danger to us all, the abomination must be deleted," she said.
“How can he be an abomination if he has gone from throwing rocks, to interstellar travel sooner than his brethren and much sooner than any of us might have anticipated,” he said. “Can we blame him for tool worship? They have served him so very well.”
"And yet he has not evolved spiritually enough to wield them wisely. His rocks may have advanced technologically, but he still only knows how to chuck them at others...and maybe even at us if we're not mindful," she said.
“Our collective concerns are as follows. Every tool Alpha-Man develops he uses only to better make war. He is at war with the environment, he is at war with himself, and he would attempt to war against Grand Source Creator if he could perceive of it. In removing his ability to perceive Source you have cruelly created a being whose spirit does not know peace. Without an adequate spiritual connection to counterbalance his high intellect, Alpha-Man is indeed an unbalanced abomination. You have reverted the hybrid species into a feral beast of abnormally high technological advancement; a veritable monster of war, a monster that never rests, a monster that is never content, a monster that only knows love through his love of domination and conquest. Worst of all he is driven by an all-encompassing, insatiable need for 'more',” the collective said.
"I am in full agreement with the collective's assessment. Therefore Alpha-Man must be eliminated from the experiment,” she said.
“Alpha-Man shall not be removed," said the collective. "All versions were granted free will to use as they may. If the other versions don’t abide Alpha-Man’s pursuit of conquest, let them employ their free will and stop him."
“Thereby forcing the other versions to become just as war-like as the abomination in order to stop him? That is not honoring their free will.
“Free will encompasses the freedom to choose to be dominated or choose to resist,” he said. “We are not in violation.”
“We gave them free will when they were balanced creatures before he changed the conditions of the experiment,” she said. “Allowing free will to continue in such an imbalanced creature is dooming the galaxy to imbalance as well. Conquest is an unchecked virus for which there is no cure. One star system after the next, it doesn’t stop. It is for this reason we must be the cure. We must clear the infection and restart the experiment.”
“We shall not interfere,” said the collective. “The rules of the experiment remain intact. Alpha-Man’s imbalance also serves as a prison where he is blocked from Source and locked into a perpetual state of war and conquest. When there is nothing else left to consume, the imbalance shall consume itself, thereby ending the abomination.”
“Then we’ve failed. We've failed to honor Grand Source creator," she said. Yes, Alpha-Man may eventually destroy himself, but what about the other versions he takes with him? What about the fate of my beloved Omegans? Their free will is subverted when their only option for survival is to become just as war-like as the Alphans."
“Don’t count the Omega Star System conquered so soon," said the collective. "Omega is teaming with an abundance of creation-level life force. Yes, the Omegans face imposing odds, but their connection to Source is unmatched,” they said.
“After all, who are we not to believe in miracles?" --Eloshaa Collective
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Omega Star System; believed to be the last in the known galaxy to develop interstellar travel. As such, many of its worlds were ripe for conquest by more technologically advanced cultures like the beings from Alpha Star System, who, given the harshness of their early environment, developed in constant opposition to their surroundings where the Alphans learned to control and dominate their outer world for survival. In contrast, most Omegan cultures practiced a more harmonious state of being, living more in tune with the environment and each other. This made the native Omegan cultures prime targets that offered little resistance to Alphan colonizing forces.
When competing ideologies meet, there is conflict. From the Alphans’ perspective, Omega was a perfect prize. They found it was abundant with untapped resources and populated by beings not prone to acquiring, hoarding and commodifying the environment. Rather than repelling the invading Alphan forces, Omegans welcomed their imminent conquerors with open arms, like distant brethren of the same star family. It was only after the Alphans had a stronghold in the star system that the Omegans learned of the brutal, oppressive methods with which Alphans spread their technologically advanced "civilization" to those less fortunate, “lesser” developed cultures.
The Alphans faced a great dilemma. For the first time, they encountered more abundance and resources than they were able to pillage. Rather than simply take what they could manage, the Alphans devised ways to feed their insatiable addiction for ‘more’. More riches meant more mining which created a need for more labor, so the Alphans tapped Omega’s richest resource of all, its people. Many vibrant, unique cultures were forever lost as native Omegans were captured and forced into the vilest form of chattel slavery known to humankind all in order to feed that pervasive Alphan desire for excess.
The Interstellar Slave Trade was born and continued to ravage Omega for many generations until a time known as the Enlightenment, wherein an anti-slavery Alphan sect known as the NOF (New Order Federation) broke off from the dominant Royal Empire (RE). The NOF sought to assimilate native Omegans into Alphan society, while the Royal Empire maintained the harsh practice of chattel slavery.
“Every system of control simultaneously gives birth to that which rebels and seeks to destroy the system, especially in such an extreme circumstance as chattel slavery.” --unnamed Shoga
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Enter NooBeing, a team of specially gifted Omegan outlaws hired by the NOF to fight against the Royal Empire’s trans-galactic slave trade. In a morally and spiritually corrupt society, the line between hero and criminal is nebulous at best, and nonexistent at worst. The team is led by Shok’aan Ri, a man-dragon hybrid who must protect his home world against Royal Empire colonizers. This hidden planet is home to the mythical Oto Dragon; a highly sought after commodity as the RE seeks the dragon’s blood to create an unstoppable army of human-dragon hybrid super-soldiers, which would ensure complete and total annihilation of Omega Star System.
OMEGA CONQUEST Book 1: The Hidden Dragon.
Join us on this epic space fantasy adventure in Episode 1.
