Excerpt from the personal journal of Imsspud Midhand Fighting-claws, Chronicler, Homeworld Project; translated by Shung-Si Karsten.

Translator's note: A significant portion of the original version of this document was recorded in the author's full tri-sensory language. While most of the document could be translated directly, certain references—such as personal and place names—require some of the subtlety of the author's original language to differentiate between them. To this end, I have done my best to represent these subtleties in a way that will define the references without alienating the reader.

The aural component of the reference is spelled phonetically, based on this translator's limited human hearing. The visual component is represented by a written description. (For example, the "Midhand Fighting-claws" reference in the author's name indicates an unsheathing of the double talons on the speaker's middle set of limbs.) The olfactory component is not used.

In addition, I have taken the liberty of using the gender neutral pronouns "they/them" when referring to individuals of the author's hermaphroditic race.

Lastly, some of the concepts used by the author possess no direct translation or correlation to common human concepts. Whenever possible, I chose a word or phrase that represents the idea. When such a word or phrase was not available, or when further explanation was necessary, I included notes to assist in the reader's understanding.

For the reader's reference, the initial entry in the journal was recorded approximately 3000 standard years prior to it being translated.

Sixth Age, 104th Year, 72nd Day

I am Imsspud Midhand Fighting-claws, historian, xeno-sociologist, and chief chronicler for the final phase of the Homeworld Project. I will keep this private journal as a supplement to the official chronicle of the Project expedition, although I hope it will stand on its own as an account of my personal thoughts and feelings during the decades this expedition is expected to last.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Many believe that the Homeworld Project will be the true legacy of our Sixth Age; others claim it is nothing but folly. Thus far, I reserve judgment, for the answer lies in the outcome of the mission. If we manage to recreate the conditions of our homeworld on the target planet, then the Project could very well become the legacy of this age and mark the true beginning of our return to prominence—the true beginning of our Sixth Age—a far better marker than the supposed end of our war with the Geddon-hir, a war I do not believe will be over until every one of them (or every one of us) is dead.

Yet even if the Project fails, I will be hard pressed to agree it is foolish for us even to try. After our long recovery from the war, our people need something to look forward to. The re-creation of the conditions of our homeworld, conditions we can find nowhere else, gives them that something. If successful, it will provide a place for the scattered remains of our people to gather, a place we hope will be safe from the Geddon-hir. A place where we can start over.

Many of those opposed to the Project believe that, because it was our attempts to emulate Nature that led to the creation of the Geddon-hir, and thus to the destruction of our homeworld, we should live without such a place and let the absence remind us of our foolishness. And foolish it was. But it is no reason to deny ourselves a new homeworld, for what we did in creating the Geddon-hir was no more foolish than what any of dozens of other Fourth Age races did by creating new species or manipulating existing ones.

Nearly every race that survives its Third Age becomes convinced it must, for whatever reason, attempt to improve on Nature. Inevitably, something goes wrong. Yet, even knowing that, each race seems determined to try, to be the one to get it right. None have.

Lifeforms need the millennia used by Nature to develop correctly. Trying to force such development in too short a time, no matter how well researched and planned, often results in out-of-control creatures such as the Geddon-hir, or helpless slave races such as the Bassej (created and used by the Vale) or the Kanda'hirst (enslaved by their creators, the Krayca, as well as others).

As a follower of the philosophy of Universal Ecology, I must acknowledge that such creatures have their place in the Universe, but it is sometimes difficult to accept such an all-encompassing belief for, too often, it is the innocents created who must pay the price of their creators' foolishness.

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