The following images were made using my custom build of Disco Diffusion, photo-manipulation and digital drawing through Gimp and Inkscape, and post editing/composition in darktable.
This was one of the most advanced and intricate piece I've done so far. More than 20 different slices were stitched and photobashed together, cables were DRAWN (yeah, drawn manually, even though I'm a TERRIBLE drawer) on top of the base image. I imported the image in Blender and designed a few cables that I wanted to lay on top of certain part of the image, then rendered them with transparency to have a model on which to work/to create a brush from, to be able to draw them in Gimp later on
The post production and composition was also MAD, as this piece was very very, very blue, almost monochromatic, and I really had a tough time to try to bring it back to a consistent milky white while also keep the coherence of the other colors, the values, and the overall temperature of the image. I honestly think I did a good job on that, and for once, I might even say I'm satisfied with the result.
The ones who call themselves the United in their tongue, not that they really need to communicate between each others, but when interacting with other beings. I'm guessing each of the other race should have a different name for them, in relation with their own cultural/philosophical advancement, as they represent the fictional "finality" of their evolution. Three different finalities, actually.
Firstly, they are united, they have returned to the source from whence they came and became the source itself, undivided and eternal.
Secondly, they have everything they need in a state of abundance, meaning that they do not "need" anymore, and are in a complete and permanent state of bliss. Bliss here not meaning pleasure or happiness, but the absence of any form of pain, sadness, need, melancholy, desire, and so on. Kind of like the Hellenistic ataraxia.
And finally, they have freed their mind, by freeing their body, and found the truth, the freedom inherent to both the state of bliss of unity. They are simply, and purely free, as one.
Well, first, theorizing about a situation of "abundance", where resources are available at a higher quantity than what is needed, without being a problem to produce, is interesting. If you're not familiar with the work/thoughts of Peter Joseph (the Zeitgeist movement, the New Human Rights Movement, etc), a situation of abundance is something that is, in the past and nowadays, completely taken out of the equation, every time someone tries to reflect upon the state of society.
Whether the talk is about AI, basic resources, incomes, ecological efficiency, cross-political and cultural coalition, we never put on the table that, it might be possible to be in a situation where and when we don't "need". A person proposes a revolutionary idea, an other offers the negative counter point, the "what if", the demonstration of the worse parts of the human mind. But this part is driven by 2 things, the survival instinct, and empathy. In situation of abundance, the survival instinct isn't needed, it becomes irrelevant on most things, as most of what is needed for a person to survive is available!
To put it simply, let's word it in a few way. Firstly, in a physical way, let's consider drought, and the feeling and consequences of a dry and arid environment. It is a hard environment to thrive in, for most animal species, compared to an environment where water is easily accessible. Now introduce water, in quantities far over what is needed to such an environment. Staying theoretical, the "dry" notion disappears, it does not exist in this environment anymore. The ones who have experienced it previously still remember, and use it as a reference point, even though it fades. The ones who haven't personally experienced it heard of it, and have some kind of idea of the notion. But after a generational evolution, the notion disappears, as it is simply not relevant to those present in the situation where water flows easily.
Transpose that now on a feeling, with, in a VERY reductive way, loneliness. When I feel lonely, I wish I had someone to talk to, to hang to, to hug, that I can relate to on an intimate and truthful level. That is because this kind of relationship is not a standard between everybody in the world, in the streets of my city. Because it isn't available freely and easily, the absence of it is more noticeable and brings this feeling of "loneliness". Again, I'm being overly simplistic and crude here, bare with me. But if everyone was open to each other on this intimate and trustful level, and you could "feel" like you would be able to talk to anyone, to share with anyone and to hug anyone when need arises, then the need slowly fades away, as it is normalized in behavior. It isn't a need anymore, in contrast to a "missing" thing, it is just part of a behavior that is normalized, and slowly becomes integrated. Little by little, the idea of "loneliness" disappears, as the concept of "dry" and "arid" faded.
But that is, in theory, what could be explored with this 2nd race of this universe. A theoretical situation where physical, emotional, psychological, cultural, societal, ecological needs are ALL met in their most PERFECT mode of existence, creating a situation of ABSOLUTE abundance. Contrasting the other races with this one while exploring the story line could bring about some interesting things and behaviour -all while being entirely theoretical and fictional, of course. How could I know what and how a situation of complete abundance be like, since it has simply never happened?
By itself, it seems like this race would be quite boring in a scifi/fantastic universe, as there isn't much happening in it, since it has all happened already. Beings don't need, they don't communicate, they are just all so overly harmonized to themselves and each others that they inherently know what the other might think or say. It's not that they are telepathic, it's that they know, logically, what the rest would think, because they are thinking the same thing. They are just on a complete similar wavelength of thoughts.
