Originally posted by kshaund
However, the question is why you think otherwise, and what you base that on...
I should never have mentioned Y'ha-nthlei in the first place. I mentioned it in a moment of anger over people just accepting the Terra Papers, which
amounts to nothing more than a story. I realized my mistake, but it was too late; people already read the post, and I didn't want to edit it, least
people think the powers-that-be edited it, or that someone "got to" me. And now, so many have asked about it, I really cannot ignore it any longer.
I might as well tell the story:
In the early 1950s, my grandfather was serving in the US Army, and was assigned to Plum Island, at the time the US military's biological warfare
research center. Specifically, he was assigned to Lab 101. But when he arrived, he found it was not a laboratory, but more resembled a prison, or an
exhibit at a zoo. Only it was the most heavily fortified prison or zoo exhibit. The only way in or out of the cell was via two heavily reinforced
doors, like bank-vault doors. There was a window in and out of the cell, but there were two layers of bars on either side.
My grandfather was horrified to see what the cell contained, Y'ha-nthlei. It was humanoid in shape, but nothing resembling a primate. It was some
(as my grandfather described it) "unwholesome" combination of fish and man, almost frog-like. It's skin resembled that of a Great White Shark,
grey on the back and creamy white on the underbelly. It's bulging eyes were on either side of the head, and every bit as black and soul-less as a
shark's. Gills lined either side of it's neck, but it could breath air, albeit labored. As it gasped for air, one could see row upon row of
wicked, needle shaped teeth. It moved about on all fours, like a gorilla, but was able to use it's "hands," terrible clawed things. My
grandfather speculated those taloned-hands were the reason for the security; he thought it could be strong enough to rip apart a human, and would have
no trouble escaping a normal prison. He further speculated the Army had learned this via deadly trial-and-error.
At first, my grandfather thought this was some unfortunate mistake of nature. But only when they told him he was to report on when it ate, slept, and
if it tried to communicate (via a two-way speaker), did he realize it was an intelligent creature. They told him nothing about the creature (he would
learn it's name and history later).
Fortuntely, it took a few for the creature to communicate. My grandfather said "fortunately," because he was terrified the first few weeks, and
thinks if it had spoken then, he would have had a heart-attack. Instead, for those first months, it pressed itself against the window, head cock to
the side, staring at him with just one eye. Grandfather said he then knew what it was like to be a fish stalked by a shark. Just when he thought it
was never going to attempt to communicate, one day the speaker came on, and he heard the thing's voice. Grandfather said it was a hoarse, croaking
whisper. As prepared as my grandfather was, he said it was more terrifying than the sounds of combat he experienced in Korea. All it said that first
day was "Hello."
Little by little, they spoke more and more each day. Grandfather learned it was not an alien, as we think of them. It was "alien" in that it was
not human, but it was not from another planet. Y'ha-nthlei's race was from Earth and had always lived on Earth. But not on the surface, their
communities were deep in the world's oceans. It's name wasn't really Y'ha-nthlei, it's kind had no personal names. When interacting with others
of their kind from other communities, they called themselves by the name of their own community. Its "city" was Y'ha-nthlei, thus it was
Y'ha-nthlei. It claimed its kind were effectively immortal, only dying from accidental or violence.
And violence was how it came into the US government's possession. In 1926, the US government discovered that Y'ha-nthlei (the community) was
preying on a town on the coast of Massachussets. Grandfather said Y'ha-nthlei used the term "accepting sacrifices" when refering to this town, and
got the sense the people "sacrificed" suffered a far more horrible fate than death. When the government discovered this, they attacked both the
town and Y'ha-nthlei (the community), torpedoing and presumbly destroying the alien "city." Y'ha-nthlei (the alien) was captured in the town,
choking on tear-gas. For almost 30 years it had been in the government's possession. For the first few years, they poked and proded the creature,
though it really had no idea what the scientists were doing (probably taking tissue samples for God-knows-what). At first, they subjected it to daily
interrogations. Grandfather was amazed to learn the creature knew English before his captivity; in fact, it seems it was a translator of sorts between
hit kind of humans, and this was what it was doing on land at the time of it's capture. But as the years went by and it had less information to give,
there were few and fewer interrogations. Gtandfather estimated no one had interrogated for 10 years; Y'ha-nthlei said it only had it's various
guards to talk to since.
Over time, Y'ha-nthlei revealed the true history of Earth.
The first life on the planet were the Old Things. Y'ha-nthlei called them the First Things, Old Things, and the First Things interchangably. From
how Y'ha-nthlei descriptions, my grandfather was able to determine the Old Things came here about 1 billion years ago. The Old Things seem to have
been incredible creatures. They were not native to this planet, coming from some unnamed star. They did not come here on spaceships, but via their
own wings (which we would recognize now as behaving as solar sails) able to survive the cold and vacuum of space. They also seem to have used what we
would now call "Star Gates."
It was the Old Things that created all life on the planet. That is right,
all life. It began as an experiment, the Old Things trying to
create a slave-race to serve them on Earth. These first experiments, these microbes, were accidentally released into the environment, the beginnings
of life on Earth.
Eventually, the Old Things were successful in creating their slave race. The way Y'ha-nthlei described them, it reminded my grandfather of the Blob.
But the Old Things were too successful. They created a constantly evolving, intelligent and strong slave. After millions of years, the slaves
revolted, having become living weapons of mass destruction. The Old Things won the war, but at great cost. It destroyed their society, and they
realized they were completely dependent on slave labor. The Old Things could not destroy their slaves, but feared another revolt.
By this time, Y'ha-nthlei's race had evolved under the waves. The Old Things waged war against them, in hope of subjegating a new slave-race, one
more easily controlled than their ever-evolving, living and breathing WMDs. The Old Things won the war; in sick irony they deployed their living WMDs
against the very race the Old Things hoped to replace them with.
Sometime later, another race arrived on the planet, with dreams of conquering it. Y'ha-nthlei called them the "Spawn of the Stars," though it was
not clear if it actually thought the Star-Spawn were born of stars, or if it was a poetic-name referencing the fact they came from beyond Earth (my
grandfather believed it was Sirius). The Star-Spawn were titanic creatures, Y'ha-nthlei refered to them as "mountains." Despite their size, even
they had trouble against the superior technology of the Old Things. The Star-Spawn formented rebellion among the Old Things' slave races; both
Y'ha-nthlei's race and the Blob-like creatures gave themselves to the cause of the Star-Spawn.
The war raged across the planet for aeons. It only ended through a cosmic disaster. Y'ha-nthlei said it was when "the Moon was born." But my
grandfather, knowing of modern theories about the creation of the moon, and knowing it was created before the Old Things came, believes this event was
the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs. Whatever the true nature of this disaster, it devestated both the Star-Spawn and the Old Things.
Y'ha-nthlei said his kind were affected, but spared the worst of the disaster because they lived in the ocean. The Earth became inhospitable to both
races; the Star-Spawn's capitol city sank into the ocean and they were forced into hibernation. All but a handful of the Old Things and their cities
were destroyed; they related to the bottom of the ocean to wait out their final days.
Y'ha-nthlei's race believes themselves to be the true masters of the Earth. However, since the time of the war, conditions have never been
hospitable for them to assume control. They presented themselves to the first human civilizations as messengers of the gods, but humans grew to fear
them and war with them, eventually considering them just mere legends.
With the rise of industrialization, Y'ha-nthlei's feel threatened in a way they have not felt for millions upon millions of years. As they looked
to the Star-Spawn as their saviors against the Old Things, they look to them now, believing a day soon when the Star-Spawn will awaken. On that they,
they will over-throw humanity and install Y'ha-nthlei's race as the true masters of the Earth.
How do I know this is true? I have
proof and
more proof
Now, tell me why this is any less true than the "Terra Papers."
[edit on 15-7-2008 by SaviorComplex]