The Atevi

Some hundreds of years ago the Atevi developed a stardrive.

And started traveling among the stars. Creating colonies. Hauling valuable gods and minerals back and forth wherever they were needed. The Atevi we know are the crew of one of those transport ships.

And the Atevi (like us) do not make perfect machines. Just good enough to do the job most of the time.

So one day, just as they made 'the jump', the drive on their ship failed. It did jump but to somewhere else. Then it overheated and melted into a lump of slag. They did not have the foggiest notion where they had gone. (Do you know where you are?)

But we know where they went. They jumped right into the solar system. "Welcome to earth."

"Yea, Thank you. Nice to meet you too."

Their spouses are back there, their kids are back there, their lives are back there. They want to go home.

And of course we want to help. But how.

At first the Scientists were exstatic, it did not last long.

• "Yes you can have a blood sample, but nothing that might hurt me badly like tissue samples or such. No Atevi Hospitals around here so I have to stay healthy."

• "Yes I am the astrogator. I have looked for signatures of stars I know and have not found any. The Andromeda galaxy looks about the same so our homesystem is probably somewhere in the milky way."

• "Sure you can study the stardrive, here you are. Keep it."
  And the scientists studied it. There is some Ytterbium in the lump.

• "Naw, I dont know how it works. I just push the buttons. There are not many hyperspace scientist working on ore haulers."

Actually it was nowhere near that easy. The Atevi are strange. They think strange. First you rephrase the question 50 times till you think they understand it. And then they answer. That is usually worse. The Atevi are strange.

Simple things like computer programming and digging potatoes are easy enough.

Math is more difficult. Their zero is very different. And numbers matter to the Atevi. They are much more than just enumerators. 5 is bad except with a 3 around. 4 is good except sometimes. If someone comes visiting you dont just grab an extra chair from the other room. You may have to bring 3 chairs to make the numbers good again. Or remove one of the potted plants.

Silly superstition? Maybe, but then again the Atevi used that math in developing their own stardrive. We are using someones leftover stargates.

And social structures? Well it seems they put great store in something like associations.

At one time the captain was asked did she love her husband. She still dont understand the question well enough to commit herself to an answer.

She gives him her paycheck and let him handle the finances. She would happily lay down her life for him.

But she would do that (and more) for the leader of the ore hauling association. A person she have never even seen.

The UN have paid them 3 million for the remains of their starship. With the money they have formed an association to join in the exploration of the stars. Hoping to find their way home.

You can read more about that at the page New Frontiers.

Meanwhile back in reality: The Atevi race was created by author C.J.Cherryh who have written 3 books about them: Foreigner, Invader and Inheritor. If you want to know the Atevi better you should read those books. In Cherryh's books the scenario is the other way around. Lost humans among the Atevi.

In gameplay I will try to (but not feel constrained to) behave in a manner consistent with the Atevi worldview. I will not engage in "but the Atevi would/wouldnt do this or that." discussions.