I woke up tonight in the mood for something creepy, and revisiting this story was just the thing—actually raised the hackles on my neck.
If you have the chance sometime, I'd recommend reading Karl Eward Wagner's novel Bloodstone. There's a vaguely similar concept at work in the background, though the similarity isn't fully apparent until the novel's end. (And the influence of that story's sleeping horror isn't as nicely subtle as you've crafted here.)
I'm curious now as to whether The Traveler still has influence over the ascended Ancients—thus their punishment of Chaya and others like Oma and Orlin that acted on behalf of lesser beings—or if it's merely that, having shed their humanity in escaping it, they realize there's no longer a place among them for those who somehow retained their compassion. Did the Ori ascend under the influence of a different Traveler (their fabled City of the Gods, perhaps?), or somehow manage it based on information left behind when the Ancients fled their galaxy?
Oh man, I just realized that the history of the Stargate setting means that The Traveler was on Earth millions of years ago... what if that Antarctic defensive base it left behind isn't just what it seems, but a seed or bud that will someday grow into another Traveler now that people are inside it again?
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Date: 2006-10-01 07:43 am (UTC)If you have the chance sometime, I'd recommend reading Karl Eward Wagner's novel Bloodstone. There's a vaguely similar concept at work in the background, though the similarity isn't fully apparent until the novel's end. (And the influence of that story's sleeping horror isn't as nicely subtle as you've crafted here.)
I'm curious now as to whether The Traveler still has influence over the ascended Ancients—thus their punishment of Chaya and others like Oma and Orlin that acted on behalf of lesser beings—or if it's merely that, having shed their humanity in escaping it, they realize there's no longer a place among them for those who somehow retained their compassion. Did the Ori ascend under the influence of a different Traveler (their fabled City of the Gods, perhaps?), or somehow manage it based on information left behind when the Ancients fled their galaxy?
Oh man, I just realized that the history of the Stargate setting means that The Traveler was on Earth millions of years ago... what if that Antarctic defensive base it left behind isn't just what it seems, but a seed or bud that will someday grow into another Traveler now that people are inside it again?