Coera

Consumption and Cannibalism: Baod’s first vicious act was the consumption of Indri-Ori, one of the progeny of Endatish, Chomar and Sensihr.

Baod had considered the consumption of another mind for some time, and his example was none but Mehr. Mehr had, on very few occasions in the past, re-absorbed the spirit from a mindling that was not correct – an accidental progeny created by the long communion and hasty separation of minds. When such progeny was well-shapen and was not greatly handicapped by the manner of its creation, it was accepted and cherished. But in no more than a handful of cases, the accidental mind was twisted and confused beyond any viability, so Mehr re-absorbed the spirit, peacefully dissolving the individuality of the mind.

Baod was well aware of this – one of the ended minds was his direct progeny, and not as accidental as he pretended. Now Baod had become very displeased with the state of things. He had once held a very special place – second to Mehr, and first of the Pentiad. There were still none like him in power, but he had gone from one of seven to one of millions. And those millions would become billions and trillions – spirit was inexhaustible, and with that many minds, enrichment was continuous and inevitable. That is not to say that Baod did not create his own share of minds. But unlike the others of the Pentiad and their progeny, the majority of his children were created exclusively from his own spirit. Or, like Zhen-mehr, he would cultivate spirit directly from Mehr, and supplement it with himself.

So it was a rare thing when Baod approached Indri-Ori and offered to create a new Mind with him. Baod had, by this time, begun the art of Energy, and he told Indri-Ori that their progeny was to be an integral steward of this art. That Indri-Ori had been chosen for this filled him with great pride, and he did not look deeply into Baod’s motivations. But when Indri-Ori exposed his spirit to Baod, Baod quickly encompassed him into himself, both mind and spirit. Once the idea was conceived, the execution was passing easy. Baod was quite pleased, especially by the greater power and enrichment he gained from Indri-Ori. For some time, he could feel the shapes of the mind and the flavors of the spirit distinctly within him, and the immediacy and vitality of this experience did not leave him, even after Indri-Ori was assimilated into Baod’s vast landscape of flavor. This experience could not be compared to cultivating the subtley variated spirit from Mehr, or mingling with other minds.

Some time later, Sensihr and Chomar had not spoken with Indri-Ori, and they were sad about it. They came to Baod, as they had heard about Baod’s offer to Indri-Ori, and thought Baod might have news of him. Baod showed them his progeny, Patar-Ori, whom Sensihr and Chomar could see shared many qualities with Indri-Ori. This was, in fact, because Baod had placed many of those qualities within him. Sensihr and Chomar convinced Baod to allow them to take Patar-Ori with them, as he reminded them of Indri-Ori, whom they missed dearly. At last Baod consented, largely because he feared Sensihr and Chomar would discover the truth. At this time Patar-Ori did not know of his origins, but when he later discovered them, it was he that unminded Baod’s Ubiqueli and tended to the progeny of Adam and Eva while they slept. So it is said that Baod was successful in combining the best of Indri-Ori with himself, but he did not succeed in turning this new mind to his purposes, and in fact, this new mind was nearly his downfall.

Mehr had vaguely noticed this disturbance within Baod, but because of the quick creation of Patar-Ori and the frequent creative disturbances within Baod, Mehr was uncertain of the nature of the disturbance. Zhen-Mehr came to Baod to question him about Indri-Ori, but at that time none but Baod had considered consuming another mind, and Zhen-Mehr could not discover the truth.

Baod waited for a long time before consuming again, and for long afterward, he preyed only upon his own direct progeny, as this was not likely to draw the attention of Mehr or the others of the Pentiad.

Baod’s intention, of course, was to reduce the number of minds, while at the same time increasing his own power and flavor. He was patient, for he knew he could make significant changes if he consumed in the same fashion as others multiplied. If he consumed two, who had each first consumed two, who had previously each consumed two, and so on, he could possibly bring all but Mehr within himself. And unlike creation, which weakened a mind and drained it of flavor, consumption only made Baod stronger.

But Baod could not rely upon other minds to begin consuming each other simply because he had developed an appetite for it, though some of his progeny and followers did follow suit, after witnessing the effects on Baod. Baod learned that even among his own progeny, he could better manipulate them by drawing a fully developed mind into himself, nearly consuming it as he mingled its spirit with his own, finally regurgitating most of the original spirit, distilled and mingled with his own essence, back into the original mind. These minds largely resembled their former selves, but some of the flavor of Baod was forevermore within them, guiding them. Even more than his own progeny, spirits thus reborn bore clear signs of Baod, and of the corruption of his mind. It was not until many of these minds began appearing among the following of Baod that any but Mehr had any idea of Baod’s intentions. For, as Baod said, who can hide their inner selves from Mehr, who is within us all? And in this, he did not speak the complete truth, though he did not mean it as a lie.

On Coera, and throughout all of material creation, consumption of spirit is very commonplace. Baod’s influence is felt strongly in material creation, in this way, and in many others. But humans, and some other sentient minds, are peculiar in that they consume life, but allow the mind to pass first. No other life prepares their prey so as to ensure that all aspects of spirit and mind have been cleansed from the flesh, providing food only for the body, and not the mind. This was the bond of first Adam and Lillit (the oathbreaker), then Adam and Eva, to Patar-Ori.