The Brief Story

Raskk Sanders always wanted to be special, a ruler, an icon. But how can someone be special in a world where even children are incredibly strong and everyone can fly? How can someone rule a civilization where the very concept of property is gone, and everything belongs to everybody? How can someone be an icon on a society where all members are concerned on the happiness of others, instead of themselves? This world is Ullora, his world.

Determined to be great, Raskk left Ullora and came to Earth - where he knew that people are weak - pretending to be the mythological Ares - God of War. Once arrived, the qularr offensive had just begun. Raskk thought it would be a perfect start: destroying an alien invasion appeared to be an excellent way to show off to the entire Earth at once.

So he thought, so he did - "Ares" started to crush bugs by the hundreds and then...
...then, in the middle of the war, on a tide of blood, a death that could never happen, happened: while ripping a ship with his bare hands, a falling fragment killed a child girl in the street. That scene destroyed Raskk more than he did with the qularrs, and he never forgot. Now he adopted Earth as his homeworld and responsability, to let never the powerfull dominate and harm the weak.

Around the world, the rumor spread: Ares came to Earth to pledge to humanity and pay for his bloodthirst. Truth is Raskk is becoming, day by day, not an icon, not a ruler, but a true hero.

The Long Story

Ullora

Ullora is a distant planet with an ancient civilization. Very ancient.


As the people of Ullora always been very powerful, advances occurred quickly, and as quickly occurred the wars. There were many different clans, which have become different and competing megacities. Having been replicated around the globe in huge numbers and warred so much, there was only one question to ask: would the ulloreans destroy themselves before destroying the planet itself?


Both options have proven to be wrong when Ullora destroyed the ulloreans.

Nobody knows exactly why it happened. Maybe it was a natural process of accommodation – that might happen anyway. Or maybe it was the revenge of a wonderful and rich world on a blessed people who used these blessings only to destroy and corrupt everything they could. Terrible earthquakes engulfed whole towns and released lava on the surface, calcined several others. Tsunamis of Biblical proportions drowned - alone - nearly half of ulloreans. Almost all died and that, of course, ended all disputes and all war. The only dispute now was between survivors and the world itself: a struggle for survival in this new and harsh environment.

But in the last chance they had, the Ulloreans suddenly learned a lesson that destiny seemed to have no intention of teaching: the conditions were so extremely difficult that living or dying was no longer much different, but the children ...
... The instinct to protect children was something that adults could not ignore and, since their lives were not worth, Ulloreans started living for their children. Unlike the way, for example, humans live for their children, the total collapse of civilization and the end of faith in its own continuity, made the ulloreans see children as true amulets, something to cling to. The safety and well being of children was the only thing that kept the adults to jump in the lava or tectonic cliffs. Each ullorean lived not for your child, but for all children of all ulloreans. There was no guarantee to be a world tomorrow, but if there were, the children would be safe to see it. As a child growing up, he took - with his parents - the responsibility for all the children. It is clear that parents can take too long to realize that their children grew up and was thus being created a world where every person lives not for himself but for all others. This made the new civilization that flourished in Ullora evolve much more than the old, in every way.

The concept that "the life of each one is there to improve the lives of all" extends to the present day and thus have a Ullora people where they were abolished the concepts of borders and even the property: everything belongs to everyone and everyone is happy with that.

The Sanders

The Sanders belong to a ullorean lineage dating back to the great disaster, and one of the few who survived it. Along with a handful of other strains, the Sanders repopulated Ullora and the most diverse lineages of today have their origin in them. In other words, being a Sanders is to be considered a noble among the ulloreans.


The ullorean view of the nobility is, however, very different from what we usually see: for them, nobility has to do with gratitude, not with power.

Like ulloreans have much gratitude for the Sanders, these also feel gratitude for having been somehow "chosen" to survive and continue their civilization. So, all ulloreans are balanced, and everybody lives happily... almost everybody...

Sarisen

While rebuilding their civilization, the ulloreans reviewed all of the fundamental paradigms of their culture, because they had the chance to create a whole new world, but with thousands and thousands of years of maturity.


Thus, they created the "ullorian democracy", where each person is really committed to the good of all others.


In general, as everyone in the population is concerned only with their own problems and desires - or desires of a small group or class - the democratic process ends up serving only to demonstrate "the common will of the largest group of selfish."
In the ullorian democracy, each of the individuals in society's thinking about the greater good of all, this makes the democratic process to truely occur: the list of priority measures covering the largest group of the people. These, in turn, ensure that the next steps to be completed until all groups are satisfied. Until every ullorian is happy.

As the vast majority of important decisions are taken by referendum, the political process would become too slow if a solution was not found, and this solution came in the form of the Sarisen Tower of Information.

When Ulloreans found that each brain has a different signature - such as fingerprints or retina - they quickly realized that it would be just a matter of logging this signature of each cityzen, when completing the voting age to create a flawless system of vote capture. Thus was born the Tower Information, a huge backup of ullorean thought. This tower received the thought waves of each Ullorean located within the planet's atmosphere during the vote counts and the result almost instantly.
After the Great Disaster, the first city built by the remaining Ulloreans was Sarisen, which became the capital of the world and home of the oldest lineages, such as Sanders.
Once Sarisen is regarded as a true monument to the new paradigm of thought Ullorean, build the Tower of information in its center was a natural choice.

Raskk Sanders

Childhood and Adolescence

Raskk was born in Sarisen, son of Murtt and LLura, Raskk was a strong child, even for an ullorean, due to the superb genetic inheritance from their parents. All adults protected and cared for Raskk with great care, as they did with all other children, and Raskk spent most of his childhood simply playing.

But ...

One day something unexpected happened: Raskk was playing in one of the squares away from Sarisen, when he came across a guy who had never seen. He wore a slinky red with a large emblem, a long blue cape and boots, and seemed to be in uniform.Raskk realized he was hovering a few inches above the ground, but despite the flight being a regular feature in adult ulloreans, Raskk felt something very different and special about this guy.
The guy told he was well known in his home solar system as Dynamic, and he was a superhero. Raskk had no idea what would be a superhero, nor was he familiar with the concept of an individual being remarkable in the midst of all his people.
Dynamic told him he was on a mission to another planet, but was injured during a battle and landed secretly in Ullora to get care, because he knew that ulloreans have a drink with a very high healing power and bracing, took from plants so extremely abundant on the planet to that is used by them as naturally as we drink water. Dynamic asked Raskk to bring him, in secret, a bottle of this drink, and in return, tell him some stories of his adventures, so that the boy had more material in their play.

Raskk brought him the drink, heard the stories, Dynamic gone, but now everything has changed: Raskk never again be satisfied with being just another ullorean.
Would never be satisfied to be safe with all the people.
Being like everyone else. Do not be a champion. Do not be prominent among his people.
And especially, no more Raskk accepted the fact of not being worshiped above other children.

As time passes, the boy Raskk becomes a teenager who, despite sharing the noble andgenerous heart which is the natural tendency of ulloreans, differs from all its people and its culture in terms of individualism. Trying to become notorious in their society, Raskk began to strive to be the best in every activity exerted, even in their studies or shothun practice (a traditional martial art of ulloreans). Seeing his absurd and useless efforts to become an icon in a society that had evolved far beyond these concepts, Mutt and Llura Sanders sought to guide your child in order to make him realize the futility of their goals. They explained to him that notorious figures did not fit among Ulloreans anymore - since everything is based on balance - and that the very fact that he devoted himself to learning as much culture based on a paradigm so ignorant demonstrated - yet on an ironic way - this balance.

But Raskk was determined to become legendary, and if this was not possible between ulloreans, Raskk realized that his place would not be among them. As ullorean technology is extremely advanced, interstellar travels are relatively simple, so Raskk need only find out what would be the ideal planet to become a hero. His research eventually made him decide for a planet with an intelligent race that, while it is extremely physically fragile, quickly develops its technology, but maintains a very high level of superstition. This planet is the Earth and the combination of these characteristics in the "humanity" makes this a perfect target for someone who wants to walk among them as a god. After a brief historical query, the "Project Ares" arises.

The "Project Ares"

When he met Dynamic - the super hero who became a legend in his solar system -Raskk found himself facing a dilemma: on one hand he were part of a society considered "perfect", where everyone is important and therefore no one is remarkable, on the other hand, he was determined to make every effort to become a living legend too. Because these two facts show hopelessly incompatible, Raskk decided that - despite loving his family, his people and his world - Ullora was no longer his place.

So Raskk began to seek the planet where he would become a hero. His research took into account some simple criteria:

- The chosen planet should, of course, contain intelligent life. A race who understands the concepts of heroes and idols.
- The technological development of this species should be sufficient to provide comfort and pleasure: there is no happiness in ruling the trash.
- This species should be very weak compared to ulloreans. The more fragile, more grateful and dutiful to their new hero.
- The external biotype of this people should be compatible with the ulloreans: psychologically, the chance of an alien being accepted on a planet grows exponentially in proportion to their similarity with the local people. Furthermore, it is important for Raskk to be physically attracted to females on the planet, since it will be his home for life.

Using his access to the huge database of Sarisen Tower of Information, Raskk found, in a very distant space sector, a planet that fits all criteria, the perfect planet: Earth.

Located in the space sector 2814, Earth is a planet dominated by the race of the Humans. Despite having achieved a considerable level of technology, with regard to information (virtually all the information already on the planet is apparently connected) and the ability to "live comfortably", its medical technology and transportation is still primitive compared to Ullora .
There are three other factors that made the earth the golden dream of Raskk, even better than any he had expected: the fragmentation of nations, religious culture and atmosphere.

- The fragmentation of nations makes almost impossible that the whole world to unite to fight a common enemy. This means that - at worst - Raskk could take refuge in a nation to get away from others.
- The religious culture of the Earth is incredibly extensive and rich in cults, and mythologies are mostly composed of concepts, even today, naive. Most mythological gods are absolutely identical to humans, differing only by their level of power and authority. Obviously, this concept creates an immediate parallel between an ullorean and a god compared to a human. Thus, rather than a super hero, Raskk have a chance to be a god in his new world!
- The Earth's atmosphere differs from that of Ullora very subtly, not enough to cause any respiratory problems in an ullorean, but these differences - according to the analysis of the Information Tower - translate into a cumulative increase the Ulloreans capacities, making Raskk more and more powerful the longer he stays on the planet.

Everything in the plan was excellent, wonderful, perfect! Almost everything ...

As stated earlier, the transport technology of the earth is still very primitive, and this is - at the same time - excellent and disturbing news.
Excellent because, as the Earth is unable to meet and connect with alien people and cultures, the attempt to impersonate a god among humans is far more convincing. Troubling because, under the rules of the United Federation of Planets - which Ullora is member - the condition for two civilizations from different planets to get in touch, openly, is that the two have a minimum level of technology. By "minimum", the Federation understands "Capacity of space travel using hyperspace technology", ie, the planet must have the warp drives technology to be visited by spacecraft from the UFP (the rules of contact and the technology of warp drives on earth, are known only to a small group - the Trekkers).

In other words, although relatively simple to get transported out of Ullora, it is almost impossible to achieve the Earth. This was a problem that needed to be resolved at any cost: Raskk had not come so close to his dream to give up being a god for lack of transport...

Although not dealing with spiritual matters with so much ceremony, or even superstition, as we do, the ulloreans firmly believe in the existence of an Universal Will and Purpose. They also believe that there is something divine in the pure intuition of each individual and seek to always be alert to hear the voice that comes from within each one.
So Raskk was sure there was a greater purpose in the situation that presented itself: his intuition said, decisively, that he should go to Earth, but all the laws of the Federation said that the trip was impossible. Thus, Raskk began to train his body and his fighting techniques, and went on to study more about the earthling mythology, to choose which god would finally be embody by him to the human race.
Six long months have passed and now Raskk had transformed his body to the point where he could really pass as a mythological being. Moreover, his fighting technique was extremely sharp and he had learned, using the resources of the Tower of Information, basics of some earth languages in order to be able to communicate minimally when he arrives. Everything was ready, Raskk expected only a signal of the universe, showing a way to go to Earth. The Universal Will had to manifest itself.

And so, the Universal Will did manifest and sent to Earth the Qularr Invasion.


-=<TO BE CONTINUED...>=-

Image Gallery

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  Ares Comic Issue 1.

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  Ares fighting the Gravatic Shaper.

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  Tittanya, his foolish love.

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  Ares fighting Qliphothic Horrors.

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  Dynamic: Raskk's first inspiration.

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