This servitor [name]. This servitor can be summoned [can] This servitor is usually summoned [ususumm] When summoned, this servitor [whensumm] The most striking feature of this servitor is [strikefeat] In the wider universe, this servitor [widuni]
{name} is called a [sing] is called the [sing] is one of the [group] is part of the [group] has been named a [sing] has been deemed a member of the [group]
{sing} [sing1] [sing1] of [place] [sing1][sing2] [sing1][sing2] of [place] [adj] [sing1] [adj] [sing1] of [place] [adj] [sing1][sing2] [adj] [sing1][sing2] of [place] [place]ian [sing1] [place]ian [sing1][sing2] [place]ian [adj] [sing1] [place]ian [adj] [sing1][sing2]
{sing1} Udd Shal Eb Naf Jal Hum Yin Ipp Zow Ag Ch Ph Q Bar Div Voz Yagg Nauc Myr Kom Wux Ald Kn Osk Ula Luen Shin Nabat Goz Vat Rish Seleph Omm Zark Mu Nuq Deex Pyr Tuj Lz
{sing2} oth ith uth eth rak kor oon shu los yx thoa assa tan cue lat gon min uz arth fess rebl koza lath lien lili yan iel rea ashaii kru lur naka yit zhah mel thar iab mar ioz ogo
{group} [group1] of [place] [adj] [group1] [adj] [group1] of [place] [sing1]ian [group1] [sing1][sing2]ian [group1] [adj] [sing1]ian [group1] [adj] [sing1][sing2]ian [group1]
{group1} Race Clan Tribe Family Spawn Larvae Children Kin Court Horde Scions Progeny Host Brood Hive Swarm People Pack Flock Cluster
{place} [sing1] [sing1][sing2] [adj] [sing1] [adj] [sing1][sing2] the [place1] of [sing1] the [place1] of [sing1][sing2] the [adj] [place1] of [sing1] the [adj] [place1] of [adj] [sing1] the [adj] [place1] of [adj] [sing1][sing2] the [place1] of [adj] [sing1][sing2] the [place1] of [adj] [sing1] the [adj] [place1]
{place1} Spire Maelstrom Pit Ossuary Sea Fen Lair Plateau Rift Citadel Halls Flood Heap Void Wen City Hollow Grotto Gate Caves Rot Sepulchre Realm Maw Ooze Nadir Star Obelisk Pyramid Cairn Vortex Veld Apex Wastes Crater Grove Roots Depths Rings Chambers Mesa Comet Mire Brine Abyss Moraine Morass Labyrinth Growth Jungle
{can} when distant constellations drift into alignment. when something of equal or greater value has been lost to the summoner. through a specially prepared portal forged from unwholesome ores. into the body of a human host, who then transforms over agonizing hours into the servitor. only by one who possesses a piece of its home. with a viciously sought grimoire of forbidden lore. by one who has had their throat surgically modified to produce the necessary inhuman paeans. by unleashing a burst of magical energy like a lighthouse to guide its way. using a blade enchanted to cut the fabric of space-time. surprisingly easily, as though it wants to be beckoned. by offering up a lesser servitor as a meal. by negotiating with it in the dream-realm after imbibing soul-wracking mead. with the music of obscene pipes enjoyed in Leng. by one who has forsaken their humanity. under a new moon by antediluvian cromlechs. by providing it with the organic matter and noxious compounds necessary for it to construct a body. only with the assent of its current master. from within an arrangement of geoglyphs that express hyperspatial mathematical equations. through a door made by the opened ribcage of a still-living sacrifice. only by one who was born with a caul over their eyes.
{ususumm} as an assassin, because [assqual] as a living siege engine, because [siequal] as a familiar creature, because [famqual] as a guard dog, because [guaqual] as an assistant in alchemical workings, because [alcqual] as a mount, because [mouqual] as a messenger and herald, because [mesqual] as a labourer or artisan, because [labqual] as a scout and spy, because [scoqual] as a close-ranged combatant, because [cloqual] as a long-ranged combatant, because [lonqual] as a hunter and tracker, because [hunqual] as an overseer or slave master, because [ovequal] a healer, because [heaqual] as a performer or work of living art, because [perqual] as an object of worship, because [objqual] as a prosthetic, or augment, because [proqual] as a concubine and torturer, because [conqual] as a bodyguard or bulwark, because [shequal] as a mediator or diplomat, because [dipqual]
{assqual} it can change its colour and texture. it can secrete a fast-acting venom. it can eat memories. it can squeeze inside people and then puppet them or tear them apart from within.
{siequal} of its great size and strength. it can vomit gouts of stone-melting acid. its digging ability makes it a superlative sapper. it can slowly grow roots through and tear apart anything stationary.
{famqual} of its deep knowledge of alien lore. it can be used as an incubator for mutant spells. it can consume the warped energies of miscasts and thus render them harmless. it’s a living font of magical energy.
{guaqual} its sensory frills detect obscure spectra that let it pierce through illusions and other disguises. of its strong territorial instincts.
{alcqual} its organs can transmute chemicals it ingests into more rarefied forms. its precise chemosensory apparatus makes it an ideal measurer. its cysts and blisters can be tapped for exotic ingredients.
{mouqual} it’s unusually tractable and comfortable to sit on for an alien being. it can fly swiftly through air and space alike. it’s much more impressive-looking than a lame old horse. it can carry its rider on jaunts through other dimensions.
{mesqual} its vocal apparatus can mimic anyone’s voice. it can be deafeningly loud when it so chooses.
{labqual} it is indefatigable and can subsist on dust. it subtly dilates time around it, and can complete long-term tasks with surprising speed. its innards are hot enough to forge metal within them. it’s got an instinctive sense for mathematics and engineering.
{scoqual} its magnetic organs give it an unerring sense of direction. it can peer through opaque objects with non-Euclidean receptors. it can change its colour and texture. it’s got a highly compressible, malleable body.
{cloqual} the serrated rugosity of its hide tears away at anything that touches it. its metabolism can become hyperactive for bursts of quickly exhausted speed. it’s got limited precognitive intuition, and so can predict its opponents’ next moves. it can extend monomolecular-edged scythes from its body.
{lonqual} it can extrude razor-sharp, whiplike flagella. it can release and direct clouds of flesh-eating spores. it can accelerate baleful particles through its contorted body. it can toss its barbed quills with deadly force.
{hunqual} it can perceive a certain duration back in time, and so pick up trails that would be otherwise untraceable. it’s got an incredible sense of smell. once it gets a taste of someone it will be able to find them anywhere they go. of its overpowering predatory instincts.
{ovequal} the psychic pressure its mind exerts can weaken wills. it can implant eggs into hosts which can then manipulate their nervous systems. of its instinctual need to dominate. its appearance provokes intense, automatic fear in human viewers.
{heaqual} its milk causes regeneration and mutation in equal measure. it can mold flesh as though it were clay. it can reach into close parallel timelines to replace a person’s damaged parts with unharmed counterparts (or the reverse, if provoked). it can fill in wounds with its own regurgitated, mimetic tissues.
{perqual} of its otherworldly grace. of the bizarre elegance of its form. it gives voice to the music of the spheres. of its compulsion to rearrange its surroundings according to foreign aesthetics.
{objqual} of its idolatric resemblance to a higher entity. of its mind-altering pheromones that inspire devotion. of its ability to bestow sanity-blasting enlightenment. it is a harbinger of a cosmic menace.
{proqual} it can partially fuse onto another’s body and act as a living exoskeleton. it can be implanted in someone’s body to supply enhancing hormones. it can attach to a stump and reform into a replacement limb. it can cover a host’s face like a mask to filter hazardous atmospheres and grant access to its acute senses.
{conqual} it can produce a hypnotic melody. it exudes a psychotropic perfume that intensifies all sensation. of its prehensile, protean genitalia. its tentacles can drill through the skull and stimulate the brain directly.
{shequal} of its thick ablative armour. its pores can discharge a fast-hardening resin. it can bend nearby space to deflect and redirect attacks. of its ability to absorb harmful energy.
{dipqual} every possible language is encoded in its genome. it can simulate others’ minds within its own brain and thus gain insight into even the most unfathomable sophonts. it can cause those who see it to hallucinate that it is a member of their species. it emits a psychic field that puts those within it at ease.
{whensumm} will gradually disintegrate in our hostile corner of reality. will slowly go mad because of our world’s incomprehensible angles. will chafe against its bonds and try to use their letter to break their spirit. will act as an anchor that makes it easier for more of its kind to come as well, whether called or not. is accompanied by an unearthly storm. inflicts nightmares of its home on those sleeping nearby. will exchange some minor parts of its mind with its summoner’s, and vice-versa. will slightly weaken the barriers of reality, and cause anomalous phenomena nearby. has a chance of being replaced by a stronger, less controllable entity. has a chance of carrying an extraterrestrial disease with it. will take some time to acclimate to this world and thereby reach its full power. blights the area where it is summoned, making anything that grows there sickly and deformed for millions of years afterwards. creates a psychic disturbance that attuned minds can detect. creates a short-lived tunnel back to its point of origin. is ravenous, and must be immediately fed a large quantity of food or it will go on a rampage. will begin a slow metamorphosis into a more potent, less manageable form, catalyzed by the ambience of the new world. is imprinted with an understanding of local culture, language, and suchlike from its summoner’s mind. breaks the version of the ritual used to summon it, which must be reinvented before it’s used again. has a chance to break from its summoner’s control, to flee and pursue its own ends. will go berserk for some time before it can be controlled by its summoner.
{strikefeat} that it appears flat from whatever angle you see it from. its uncomfortably humanlike face. its {fractal|crenellated|throbbing|glowing} crest. its {porous|crackling|iridescent|molluscoid} shell. its {mandala-esque|eye-studded|gyrating|fleshy} mane. its {colourful|nacreous|thrumming|gelatinous} polyps. its {translucent|tumorous|suppurating|folded} flesh. its stench, like {rotting fruit|synaesthetic mauve|afterbirth|wet gunpowder}. its {tattered|radial|saw-edged|milky} wings. its {thorny|squamous|slimy|hairy} tentacles. it appears undead, or too grievously wounded to remain alive, despite this being its natural appearance as a living creature. its {oversized|false|retractable|skull-like} head. its {segmented|spiny|bulbous|coiled} tail. its {five-lobed|shining|stalk-mounted|many-faceted} eyes. its {knobbly|twisting|ingrown|crown-like} horns. its {gaping|tripartite|pharyngeal|rows of} jaws. its {wriggling|crystalline|pitch-black|rapidly grown and shed} teeth. its {telescoping|branching|interchangeable|craggy} limbs. its {corkscrew|cone|trapezoid|heptagon}-shaped body. its {ferocious|joyous|despondent|skittish}-seeming demeanour.
{widuni} is as inconsequential as humanity. is a degenerated survivor of a fallen empire. is a tool long discarded by its makers. is an invasive species that slipped through from an alternate macrocosm. is a minuscule fragment of a grander being. is a subject of a fledgling, expanding empire yet to learn how insignificant it truly is. keeps to the cosmic margins to avoid being squashed by uncaring god-monsters. imagines itself to be far more important than it really is. seeks to curry the favour of higher beings in the futile hope of being spared. preaches nihilistic acceptance of the state of things. is simply a product of chaos over a long enough time and large enough space. like a microbe living off the leavings of impossible titans. is the result of a species engineering itself to survive the passing of strange eons. is an attendant of the nuclear chaos at the core of all things. is a physical manifestation of the wandering dream of a great old one. is a pioneer species adapted to extreme ontological conditions. was once far above what it is now, but transcendent machinations cast it down. is like a shadow or holographic projection of an unimaginably complex, higher-dimensional object. is a refugee fleeing the destruction of its home by some vast, cool, and unsympathetic intellect. is in fact a distant offshoot of humanity, whether from a parallel timeline, or the by-blow of an adventurous extraterrestrial explorer, or whatever else. is a survivor of a prior iteration of reality, preserved out of something almost like nostalgia.
No tables?
ReplyDeletePart 1:
DeleteThis servitor [name].
This servitor can be summoned [can]
This servitor is usually summoned [ususumm]
When summoned, this servitor [whensumm]
The most striking feature of this servitor is [strikefeat]
In the wider universe, this servitor [widuni]
{name}
is called a [sing]
is called the [sing]
is one of the [group]
is part of the [group]
has been named a [sing]
has been deemed a member of the [group]
{sing}
[sing1]
[sing1] of [place]
[sing1][sing2]
[sing1][sing2] of [place]
[adj] [sing1]
[adj] [sing1] of [place]
[adj] [sing1][sing2]
[adj] [sing1][sing2] of [place]
[place]ian [sing1]
[place]ian [sing1][sing2]
[place]ian [adj] [sing1]
[place]ian [adj] [sing1][sing2]
{sing1}
Udd
Shal
Eb
Naf
Jal
Hum
Yin
Ipp
Zow
Ag
Ch
Ph
Q
Bar
Div
Voz
Yagg
Nauc
Myr
Kom
Wux
Ald
Kn
Osk
Ula
Luen
Shin
Nabat
Goz
Vat
Rish
Seleph
Omm
Zark
Mu
Nuq
Deex
Pyr
Tuj
Lz
{sing2}
oth
ith
uth
eth
rak
kor
oon
shu
los
yx
thoa
assa
tan
cue
lat
gon
min
uz
arth
fess
rebl
koza
lath
lien
lili
yan
iel
rea
ashaii
kru
lur
naka
yit
zhah
mel
thar
iab
mar
ioz
ogo
{adj}
Loathsome
Squalling
Ruinous
Cyclopean
Eldritch
Illusive
Blasphemous
Hideous
Occulted
Lost
Reeking
Ulcerous
Amorphous
Rippling
Fetid
Seething
Hoary
Fell
Rampant
Great
Charnel
Pestilent
Eldest
Demented
Fetid
Demoniac
Celestial
Chthonian
Miscreated
Wretched
Dark
Shrouded
Gibbous
Fitful
Dreaming
Unknown
Stygian
Haunting
Rapine
Abominable
Gloaming
Primordial
Ichorous
Esoteric
Phosphorescent
Sinuous
Undulant
Dire
Dread
Mordant
{group}
[group1] of [place]
[adj] [group1]
[adj] [group1] of [place]
[sing1]ian [group1]
[sing1][sing2]ian [group1]
[adj] [sing1]ian [group1]
[adj] [sing1][sing2]ian [group1]
{group1}
Race
Clan
Tribe
Family
Spawn
Larvae
Children
Kin
Court
Horde
Scions
Progeny
Host
Brood
Hive
Swarm
People
Pack
Flock
Cluster
{place}
[sing1]
[sing1][sing2]
[adj] [sing1]
[adj] [sing1][sing2]
the [place1] of [sing1]
the [place1] of [sing1][sing2]
the [adj] [place1] of [sing1]
the [adj] [place1] of [adj] [sing1]
the [adj] [place1] of [adj] [sing1][sing2]
the [place1] of [adj] [sing1][sing2]
the [place1] of [adj] [sing1]
the [adj] [place1]
{place1}
Spire
Maelstrom
Pit
Ossuary
Sea
Fen
Lair
Plateau
Rift
Citadel
Halls
Flood
Heap
Void
Wen
City
Hollow
Grotto
Gate
Caves
Rot
Sepulchre
Realm
Maw
Ooze
Nadir
Star
Obelisk
Pyramid
Cairn
Vortex
Veld
Apex
Wastes
Crater
Grove
Roots
Depths
Rings
Chambers
Mesa
Comet
Mire
Brine
Abyss
Moraine
Morass
Labyrinth
Growth
Jungle
{can}
when distant constellations drift into alignment.
when something of equal or greater value has been lost to the summoner.
through a specially prepared portal forged from unwholesome ores.
into the body of a human host, who then transforms over agonizing hours into the servitor.
only by one who possesses a piece of its home.
with a viciously sought grimoire of forbidden lore.
by one who has had their throat surgically modified to produce the necessary inhuman paeans.
by unleashing a burst of magical energy like a lighthouse to guide its way.
using a blade enchanted to cut the fabric of space-time.
surprisingly easily, as though it wants to be beckoned.
by offering up a lesser servitor as a meal.
by negotiating with it in the dream-realm after imbibing soul-wracking mead.
with the music of obscene pipes enjoyed in Leng.
by one who has forsaken their humanity.
under a new moon by antediluvian cromlechs.
by providing it with the organic matter and noxious compounds necessary for it to construct a body.
only with the assent of its current master.
from within an arrangement of geoglyphs that express hyperspatial mathematical equations.
through a door made by the opened ribcage of a still-living sacrifice.
only by one who was born with a caul over their eyes.
Part 2:
Delete{ususumm}
as an assassin, because [assqual]
as a living siege engine, because [siequal]
as a familiar creature, because [famqual]
as a guard dog, because [guaqual]
as an assistant in alchemical workings, because [alcqual]
as a mount, because [mouqual]
as a messenger and herald, because [mesqual]
as a labourer or artisan, because [labqual]
as a scout and spy, because [scoqual]
as a close-ranged combatant, because [cloqual]
as a long-ranged combatant, because [lonqual]
as a hunter and tracker, because [hunqual]
as an overseer or slave master, because [ovequal]
a healer, because [heaqual]
as a performer or work of living art, because [perqual]
as an object of worship, because [objqual]
as a prosthetic, or augment, because [proqual]
as a concubine and torturer, because [conqual]
as a bodyguard or bulwark, because [shequal]
as a mediator or diplomat, because [dipqual]
{assqual}
it can change its colour and texture.
it can secrete a fast-acting venom.
it can eat memories.
it can squeeze inside people and then puppet them or tear them apart from within.
{siequal}
of its great size and strength.
it can vomit gouts of stone-melting acid.
its digging ability makes it a superlative sapper.
it can slowly grow roots through and tear apart anything stationary.
{famqual}
of its deep knowledge of alien lore.
it can be used as an incubator for mutant spells.
it can consume the warped energies of miscasts and thus render them harmless.
it’s a living font of magical energy.
{guaqual}
its sensory frills detect obscure spectra that let it pierce through illusions and other disguises.
of its strong territorial instincts.
{alcqual}
its organs can transmute chemicals it ingests into more rarefied forms.
its precise chemosensory apparatus makes it an ideal measurer.
its cysts and blisters can be tapped for exotic ingredients.
{mouqual}
it’s unusually tractable and comfortable to sit on for an alien being.
it can fly swiftly through air and space alike.
it’s much more impressive-looking than a lame old horse.
it can carry its rider on jaunts through other dimensions.
{mesqual}
its vocal apparatus can mimic anyone’s voice.
it can be deafeningly loud when it so chooses.
{labqual}
it is indefatigable and can subsist on dust.
it subtly dilates time around it, and can complete long-term tasks with surprising speed.
its innards are hot enough to forge metal within them.
it’s got an instinctive sense for mathematics and engineering.
{scoqual}
its magnetic organs give it an unerring sense of direction.
it can peer through opaque objects with non-Euclidean receptors.
it can change its colour and texture.
it’s got a highly compressible, malleable body.
{cloqual}
the serrated rugosity of its hide tears away at anything that touches it.
its metabolism can become hyperactive for bursts of quickly exhausted speed.
it’s got limited precognitive intuition, and so can predict its opponents’ next moves.
it can extend monomolecular-edged scythes from its body.
{lonqual}
it can extrude razor-sharp, whiplike flagella.
it can release and direct clouds of flesh-eating spores.
it can accelerate baleful particles through its contorted body.
it can toss its barbed quills with deadly force.
{hunqual}
it can perceive a certain duration back in time, and so pick up trails that would be otherwise untraceable.
it’s got an incredible sense of smell.
once it gets a taste of someone it will be able to find them anywhere they go.
of its overpowering predatory instincts.
{ovequal}
the psychic pressure its mind exerts can weaken wills.
it can implant eggs into hosts which can then manipulate their nervous systems.
of its instinctual need to dominate.
its appearance provokes intense, automatic fear in human viewers.
{heaqual}
Deleteits milk causes regeneration and mutation in equal measure.
it can mold flesh as though it were clay.
it can reach into close parallel timelines to replace a person’s damaged parts with unharmed counterparts (or the reverse, if provoked).
it can fill in wounds with its own regurgitated, mimetic tissues.
{perqual}
of its otherworldly grace.
of the bizarre elegance of its form.
it gives voice to the music of the spheres.
of its compulsion to rearrange its surroundings according to foreign aesthetics.
{objqual}
of its idolatric resemblance to a higher entity.
of its mind-altering pheromones that inspire devotion.
of its ability to bestow sanity-blasting enlightenment.
it is a harbinger of a cosmic menace.
{proqual}
it can partially fuse onto another’s body and act as a living exoskeleton.
it can be implanted in someone’s body to supply enhancing hormones.
it can attach to a stump and reform into a replacement limb.
it can cover a host’s face like a mask to filter hazardous atmospheres and grant access to its acute senses.
{conqual}
it can produce a hypnotic melody.
it exudes a psychotropic perfume that intensifies all sensation.
of its prehensile, protean genitalia.
its tentacles can drill through the skull and stimulate the brain directly.
{shequal}
of its thick ablative armour.
its pores can discharge a fast-hardening resin.
it can bend nearby space to deflect and redirect attacks.
of its ability to absorb harmful energy.
{dipqual}
every possible language is encoded in its genome.
it can simulate others’ minds within its own brain and thus gain insight into even the most unfathomable sophonts.
it can cause those who see it to hallucinate that it is a member of their species.
it emits a psychic field that puts those within it at ease.
{whensumm}
will gradually disintegrate in our hostile corner of reality.
will slowly go mad because of our world’s incomprehensible angles.
will chafe against its bonds and try to use their letter to break their spirit.
will act as an anchor that makes it easier for more of its kind to come as well, whether called or not.
is accompanied by an unearthly storm.
inflicts nightmares of its home on those sleeping nearby.
will exchange some minor parts of its mind with its summoner’s, and vice-versa.
will slightly weaken the barriers of reality, and cause anomalous phenomena nearby.
has a chance of being replaced by a stronger, less controllable entity.
has a chance of carrying an extraterrestrial disease with it.
will take some time to acclimate to this world and thereby reach its full power.
blights the area where it is summoned, making anything that grows there sickly and deformed for millions of years afterwards.
creates a psychic disturbance that attuned minds can detect.
creates a short-lived tunnel back to its point of origin.
is ravenous, and must be immediately fed a large quantity of food or it will go on a rampage.
will begin a slow metamorphosis into a more potent, less manageable form, catalyzed by the ambience of the new world.
is imprinted with an understanding of local culture, language, and suchlike from its summoner’s mind.
breaks the version of the ritual used to summon it, which must be reinvented before it’s used again.
has a chance to break from its summoner’s control, to flee and pursue its own ends.
will go berserk for some time before it can be controlled by its summoner.
Part 4:
Delete{strikefeat}
that it appears flat from whatever angle you see it from.
its uncomfortably humanlike face.
its {fractal|crenellated|throbbing|glowing} crest.
its {porous|crackling|iridescent|molluscoid} shell.
its {mandala-esque|eye-studded|gyrating|fleshy} mane.
its {colourful|nacreous|thrumming|gelatinous} polyps.
its {translucent|tumorous|suppurating|folded} flesh.
its stench, like {rotting fruit|synaesthetic mauve|afterbirth|wet gunpowder}.
its {tattered|radial|saw-edged|milky} wings.
its {thorny|squamous|slimy|hairy} tentacles.
it appears undead, or too grievously wounded to remain alive, despite this being its natural appearance as a living creature.
its {oversized|false|retractable|skull-like} head.
its {segmented|spiny|bulbous|coiled} tail.
its {five-lobed|shining|stalk-mounted|many-faceted} eyes.
its {knobbly|twisting|ingrown|crown-like} horns.
its {gaping|tripartite|pharyngeal|rows of} jaws.
its {wriggling|crystalline|pitch-black|rapidly grown and shed} teeth.
its {telescoping|branching|interchangeable|craggy} limbs.
its {corkscrew|cone|trapezoid|heptagon}-shaped body.
its {ferocious|joyous|despondent|skittish}-seeming demeanour.
{widuni}
is as inconsequential as humanity.
is a degenerated survivor of a fallen empire.
is a tool long discarded by its makers.
is an invasive species that slipped through from an alternate macrocosm.
is a minuscule fragment of a grander being.
is a subject of a fledgling, expanding empire yet to learn how insignificant it truly is.
keeps to the cosmic margins to avoid being squashed by uncaring god-monsters.
imagines itself to be far more important than it really is.
seeks to curry the favour of higher beings in the futile hope of being spared.
preaches nihilistic acceptance of the state of things.
is simply a product of chaos over a long enough time and large enough space.
like a microbe living off the leavings of impossible titans.
is the result of a species engineering itself to survive the passing of strange eons.
is an attendant of the nuclear chaos at the core of all things.
is a physical manifestation of the wandering dream of a great old one.
is a pioneer species adapted to extreme ontological conditions.
was once far above what it is now, but transcendent machinations cast it down.
is like a shadow or holographic projection of an unimaginably complex, higher-dimensional object.
is a refugee fleeing the destruction of its home by some vast, cool, and unsympathetic intellect.
is in fact a distant offshoot of humanity, whether from a parallel timeline, or the by-blow of an adventurous extraterrestrial explorer, or whatever else.
is a survivor of a prior iteration of reality, preserved out of something almost like nostalgia.