Quoted By:
“<span class="mu-i">The</span> Change. Supposedly, a leftover genetic trait allowing Sotten to enter a hibernation state from an ancestral species back when our planet was colder, though even that doesn't quite explain everything. It's a bit of a mystery, even though it was discovered a thousand years ago.”
<span class="mu-g">”That's quite a mystery. Tell me about it. How did it reach such mass adoption? Surely most of your race would abject to spending their whole lives asleep?”</span>
You wish he would've dropped this by now.
“...It was during our development. Sotten naturally have very high birthrates. We are a prey species, originally evolved from rodents, and infant mortality in our natural habitat is extremely high. Both from predation, disease, and harshness of life. Litters of six to eight is most common, but twelve or more isn't unheard of.”
<span class="mu-g">”I see. You must have had very harsh evolutionary pressures.”</span>
“Our metabolism in nature requires us to eat almost our bodyweight in food every day, or else we'll begin to starve and die. This was the delicate balance that allowed our species to exist on our planet; until technology began to advance. It didn't happen all at once; but through a combination of societal development, medical technology, agriculture, and so on. Pretty soon, most of those children could make it to adulthood now; and our species grew exponentially out of control. All of our resources were gone- all the fossil fuels, all of the nutrient-rich soils, all of our natural prey species- eradicated. It caused endless wars and famines, and total hopelessness. That was until we discovered the change.”
<span class="mu-g">”Ahh. Genetic engineering. Every advanced society develops it.”</span>
“No, no. You don't understand. It was found that when a Sotten is forced to rest and conserve energy for multiple days at once- a profound and permanent change overcomes them. Their metabolism slows and energy expenditure goes to almost nothing; and they change from constant wakefulness to constant sleep. There is no way to reverse it.”
<span class="mu-g">”So young Sotten were forced to go through this change.”</span>
“Yes. But that wasn't enough. You can't just strap a pup down to a table and expect the change to happen- it has to be... chosen. Willing, in a way.”
<span class="mu-g">”So how did you get every single Sotten to choose it?”</span>
“It's either that, or die. That's the lesson of the <span class="mu-i">warrens</span>. All of our young are forced into a complex of tunnels and buried within. The old warrens were especially brutish; traps and collapsing soils and <span class="mu-i">kur</span>, our word for snake-devil, all meant to kill young Sotten. Only a handful, less then 30%, make it out alive.”
<span class="mu-g">”That's a strong eugenic policy. But wouldn't that just select for the strongest and the fastest?”</span>
