The latest chapter is now live. This is a chapter that I had been “working on” for what feels like years. You wouldn’t think so with how short it is. But the premise was always there. There is nothing more I can say in this exact spot without it being spoilers. I hope you feel what I aimed for you to feel.
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The Ruuthsgathga remained elusive for a great time. I knew I wanted them to be unfathomably evil. I wanted an evil that filled even the most compassionate person with only the urge to destroy it. But I struggled. The definition of evil has changed dramatically over time. Despite people’s best attempts to pretend moral relativism isn’t real, the truth is that we all engage in our own negotiation with what evil is. And I wanted no negotiation here. But I couldn’t think of something that hadn’t been done before. It took me years to find the answer.
One night, I was quite high, and I played what I now consider to be the second most evil video game of all time, that I have played anyway (the first is Hatred, for obvious reasons).
It is Plague Inc.
For those who don’t know, you basically play as a virus or pathogen and upgrade yourself to better enable transit across groups and environments.
The goal is to kill all humanity. But due to how the game works, I didn’t realize the totality at first. To me, humanity was an indistinct abstract of colors. Blue alive, red infected, black dead. But as you progress, you receive these updates from the world. Benign at first. “A new disease is found. Scientists are confident in finding a cure.” Then it gets more and more dark. “All transit is locked down.” And then finally, near the end, “Humanity succumbs to anarchy.”
I remember this intense horror as I watched the presence of humanity dwindle into ever shrinking pockets. Humanity remained in 5 pockets near the end. I forget exactly which. I think it was Chile, Canada, South Africa, Iran, and Vietnam. As tears were running down my face, I imagined the last thoughts of each group. The last one of each pocket had to have final thoughts, final laments, final fury, and then…silence.
There I sat for what felt like hours. Crying, sobbing, I had completed my mission. Humanity was dead. And so, I played again. And after a few more tries, humanity was dead again. And again, I considered what the thoughts were of each last pocket of humanity as they died out. Again, this heartache was overwhelming. But then it dawned on me. What if I was enjoying myself? What if I had a sick thrill in listening to the anguish of the last humans? What if I created this virus intentionally? What if I was an alien doing all of this?
It was then that I knew what the Ruuthsgathga were.
Anlov Record 