Motif · from book 5
Primal engines
Circe's history lesson on the CrawlCon panel: the original council nations 'accidentally tripped the primal engines' and started the chain reaction that overpopulated the galaxy, leaving primal elements to be collected from the pre-seeded worlds; the Hive, who reverse-engineer primal technology, demanded the right to field-test macro-AI-controlled enhancement zones, and the request was put under advisement. A hunter promises to birth a thousand nymphs in the birthing hall of Hive Home two.
First appears: Book 5
Series arc
As of book 6. Hive Home and the lobotomizer in the AI's speech; Orren's zygote in the settlement; the elements the crawl exists to mine, per Odette. Book 4's 'Macro AI' was this.
Open threads
Status is open or resolved; the chapter after it is the last one that moved the thread.
| Thread | Opened | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Two kinds of Residual, and a hidden upgrade | B6 ch. 73 | open — The Apothecary's thousands reciting a mantra that implants something; Agatha's handful who serve the Eulogist; Parvati now Alexandro inside a Borant transport at Mumbai; 'The primal will know who it really is before all the elements are stolen from it.'. Paulie was cut off at 'how to shut off the...'. |
All threads: Open threads.
Through book 5
Circe's ten minutes of history on the CrawlCon panel 'Crawling Through the Ages': the council nations 'accidentally tripped the primal engines', the overpopulated galaxy, the primal elements to be collected from pre-seeded worlds, and the Hive's macro-AI enhancement zones (B5 ch. 33). Keith says his father says Carl whores himself 'to the macro AI and to the mudskippers' (B5 ch. 31); Vrah will birth a thousand nymphs in the birthing hall of Hive Home two (B5 ch. 35).
Through book 6
Where they appear
| Book | Chapters they are in (of the book's) | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 5 — The Butcher's Masquerade | 3/78 | Ch. 31, Ch. 33, Ch. 35 · the book's own page |
| 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride | 3/74 | Ch. 46, Ch. 48, Ch. 51 · the book's own page |
By book
Primal engines in book 5 — The Butcher's Masquerade
Circe's ten minutes of history at the masquerade: the council nations 'accidentally tripped the primal engines', the overpopulated galaxy, the primal elements to be collected from pre-seeded worlds, and the Hive's macro-AI enhancement zones (ch. 33). Keith says his father says Carl whores himself 'to the macro AI and to the mudskippers' (ch. 31); Vrah will birth a thousand nymphs in the birthing hall of Hive Home two (ch. 35).
Primal engines in book 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
The AI's description of the hydra: the mantises' Hive Home was once a factory for something interesting, they turned it on, and an infant macro AI formed — nurseries, and the lobotomizer (ch. 46); Orren's explanation of the Primal Engine, a grain of rice at a planet's core, and the Macro AIs that can only be installed into one, like a consciousness in a zygote (ch. 48); Paulie's kind live in every civilisation with a primal engine (ch. 51); the elements the crawl exists to mine (ch. 37).