1 Story 3, Book 1, Chapter 1

idk how to set a draft, please don't read yet

Lore

Planet (Aeon)

Half the size of earth because of less gravity, humans put on muscle slower and tend to be smaller. Most resources are very scarce, oceans are fresh water though. There are 3 large islands on the planet, each roughly the size of Australia. Humans evolved on Cruysom, goblins another, and last had ?. Most other life evolved on small islands or island chains. Life evolved around the resources available on the respective islands making for unusual genetics.

Goblins

Island is foresty with many predators and few prey, so all predators are also subject to become prey. Vicious hunters, agile, and evolved with plants so skin has green hue for chlorophyll-esque cells. Have immense respect for nature. Are kind to all animals, even humans. Worship the sea god.

Mermaids

Evolved from fish but have feet/flippers to take advantage of easy resources on land that natural competitors can't access. Made first contact with goblins and are friendly with them. Avoid humans because ships are an amalgam. Watch and bless the Perogin. Protectors of the worlds oceans, worship the sun god.

Humans

Modern society based on Roman Republic. Neanderthals were exceptionally smart and used very advanced tools to make up for scarce resources and dangerous predators on island. Essentially evolved with tools and animals native to island, too. First to begin seafaring and initiated globalism and trade. Believe in manifest destiny. Worship the god of nature.

Perogin

Cave men, gopher like people. Evolved on a small island with no resources other than fish. Eventually began digging and evolved to support underground lifestyle. Mostly blind, exceptionally strong, and very tight-knit community.

Bjorn

Mountain men, possibly bird people

Catpeople

Reclusive people. Not much is known about them.

Characters

Narrator

Is human from other earth. Father-like to characters based on the cats. Muscle guy.

Main guy (Omnia)

Captain of small adventurer ship. Not very capable but has a good grasp of art of war, philosophy, etc.

Kait (boy)

12 year old, average looking on Earth, has desirable looks for humans from Aeon. Black hair. Is the Perry's retainer boy.

Perry (girl)

18 years old, very pretty by earth standards, not so much by Aeon standards. Love interest for main guy. Rash but good at fighting because she wanted to be a hunter before becoming an explorer.

Flourine (girl)

35 years old, average looking by both standards. Is human, calculating. Medic on main guy's ship.

Hannae

29 years old, Perogin, possible love interest for narrator. Strong kicks because of years of construction work. Wants to be an archer in the raid party despite being mostly blind in the daylight.

Noyug

Captain of main guy's rival ship. Similar in size and crew. Wants to promote peace and friendship between species.

Kim (guy)

Son of Praetor.

Gil

Goblin, interested in technology rather than nature. Becomes mechanic for the crew, very food motivated. Possible love interest is the cook for the rival crew.

Main Story – From home to the world

After I said goodnight to my old cat, I drifted off to sleep. A nice end to a nice day, if I do say so myself.

As I wake, I have to wonder why it's so bright, I could have sworn I closed the blinds. Whatever, I just roll over and try to fall back asleep. But it's too quiet, what happened to the peaceful sounds of the city? I guess I have to wake up now.

Opening my eyes was a mistake, it's way too bright, this can't be my room. Once my eyes adjusted, I realized, it wasn't. I was outside. Not only that, in some weird alley but there's no apartments. The houses look classical in style but they're new and small. If these assholes can't afford a big house, why make the walls with such a pretty stone, just buy a big house instead.

This is weird as hell, I must've sleepwalked or something. When I actually take a look around to get my bearings, nothing is familiar. There's stone streets instead of cement, the houses are really pretty but small considering what the architecture must've cost. I haven't seen or heard a single car and the people walking down the streets are wearing togas. There's even some guys who look like legionaries. But their uniforms look wrong, there isn't much metal and even the leather looks off. The togas aren't wool or cloth or something, they look more velvet-y. I guess this is some renaissance fair, and they just suck at keeping any semblance of historical accuracy.

In that case the legionaries would have to be in charge, I go over to them and try to explain that I must've sleepwalked and if they could tell me if I'm still in Brooklyn. They looked at me strangely and start speaking some gibberish, must be Italian or something. I explained I don't speak the language and tell them to just be normal. One grabs me by the hand and starts looking me over, come on dude, I know I'm not dressed the part, just help me get home. They look at each other seriously and say something then begin to drag me along. Ok now we're getting somewhere, good on them for not breaking character, I guess. Even though their uniforms don't look remotely correct.

After a fairly short walk, at a pace that was too fast this early in the morning we pass by some busy street filled with shops and people and enter a large building. It looked sort of like an ancient warehouse but it was also filled with people. We followed the west wall and eventually entered a private room, I couldn't make out the writing in front, must also be italian, I'll give them points for trying, I guess. The "soldier" that had dragged me all this way almost threw me into a chair that was to the right of the door. The room looked like the pay area of some auction house. They probably needed to save money so they just put the guard house in some random spot. The other soldier heads down a hallway and eventually comes back with this pudgy dude in some nice duds who looked a little menacing.

Like his demeanor was hard and he looked like he meant business, it also looked like he had no love lost for me. As the guard manager, I guess he didn't really like people sneaking in and messing everyone's experience. He tells me something and I try to explain that I don't speak Italian and he starts getting pretty angry but the other guards explain something to him and it looks like he unwillingly accepted whatever they said. God, I wish they broke character already, this is getting pretty annoying. They practically drag me out the room and we walk all the way across the building to the far end to enter another room. The entrance looked pretty bad but the inside was worse, it was like some holding cell but it was packed. I looked around and these people all looked pretty sad, like real prisoners. Gotta admire their dedication to the craft.

And then I realized, they weren't supposed to be prisoners, they were supposed to be slaves. There was all sorts of stuff going on though, some people in front were completely naked and were being inspected, some people were chained to each other in single file in front of some door, some were in these disgusting cages, and some in the back were… Oh shit, they were being beaten, like full on blood and screams.

Well I don't think I'm in kansas anymore I said to the guard and he gives me a disdainful glance. They hand me over to the inspectors and after I get naked and checked out, which actually wasn't so bad, they put me in one of the cages with some rags. I must be some sort of time traveler. So I'm in the real ancient rome, this would be awesome if I weren't a slave. Oh god, now I regret hitting the gym so hard, I hadn't seen a single person even close to as muscular as me so far. That means I'm gonna be gladiator. Well atleast if these frail people are my opponents, I might be able to beat them if I get a long shield with my gladius.

After waiting for what felt like forever and trying to figure out if any slaves were from England, of which there were none, I was chosen to get chained and lined up against the wall. I could have sworn that Nero or someone ordered Britain to be sacked and the troops just said na, so someone should know about the english but I guess I'll have better luck asking gladiators rather than common slaves. Now I get to meet my lanista, I guess. I never thought watching Spartacus- twice- would actually come in handy.

The auction blocks were just raised platforms set at various spots across the warehouse, I can't believe I didn't pay them any attention on the way here. They weren't wooden like in the movies, though, it was like a marble stone but not as glossy, still very pretty. It was the same stone as the houses outside. This is pretty cool again, if I can get back to my present, then I could become a historian and I'd be my own proof. Once we got on the platform, they showed us off a little. They gave an order and the other slaves took off their rags, I did the same, it was pretty embarrassing since there were women and even kids watching but I just have to remember this is a different time, things like this are normal.

I can't say I wasn't a bit hurt that people didn't flock to muscular guy like me, the crowd for our auction block was pretty small. I was stealing glances at the audience to see if anyone looked like Batiatus from spartacus but I got nothing. Oh maybe we were wild men so our quality was low. Damn, that could mean the mines for me, I think. As I was looking around I made eye contact with some teenage girl who I could have sworn was staring right at me. Oh cool sex slave would be nice. I quickly look down, I need to remember she's a Roman citizen and I'm a slave. She taps her dad and sort of points at me, but she looks a bit scared of me, too.

Wait, maybe she wants me as her eunuch, I can't remember if they had eunuchs in ancient Rome and now I was praying they didn't. From what I could gather, when the auctioning for me began, only 3 people bid, it was over quick so I must've gone for cheap, that's bullshit, I could do some damage in the mines. The girl looked a little relieved when the auctioning was over, I'm guessing my master really wanted a swole eunuch. The auctioneer hands them a ticket and after the guards take me out of the group chains and put me on a personal one, they come over to me. I need to make a good impression so they don't make me a eunuch, I smile as best as I can, with my eyes closed of course so I don't look my masters in the eye and the curtsy. They laughed a bit and the father said something in Italian while looking at me, and they all stared expectantly. Oh shit, do I pretend like I'm a mute or I could say I'm British, what were they called in ancient times though. Weren't they celts or something.

I fake the best British accent I could, which was pretty terrible, and explain I'm from a nothern tribe, across the english channel. They didn't seem to understand and looked a little disappointed. Not good, maybe it'll be mines after all. I try to mime that I'm strong and capable. I pretend to carry heavy stuff and pretend to hand it over to the father and point to him and try to mime that he'd fall flat with the pack. I think they understood but they laughed again so I'm not sure. Maybe they'll make me their jester.

The family were all very good looking, all three were tall and fit. The father had black hair, short and military style, the mother blonde that was done up with braids and stuff, and the daughter had red hair with a skull cap and hair to her shoulders. I remember reading Romans were very fond of hair dye, I wonder which of theirs was the natural color. The mother and father were dressed in nice adorned togas but the daughter had a plain one that didn't even match her hat. Must be her rebellious years.

They guide me over to where they were standing and connect me to 2 other male slaves, I'm guessing they were also new purchases. And we walk down to a few other platforms, after shopping around for a bit, they finally buy a fourth and take us to the room I thought was the guard house. They hand a cashier the four slips for our purchases and give her some coins and we're on our merry way. There was a parking lot out back and after the two coaches seated the family inside, they tied us to the back.

The walk was actually nice, they didn't drive too fast and I got a look around the city. The slave house was in the market district and outside of that were smaller houses, I'm guessing for commoners. We walked a fair bit outside the city and arrived at a gorgeous mansion, I'm guessing my masters were equestrian class since they didn't have many guards and none looked like praetors. As we arrive, a handful of people, slaves most likely, approach us and the father starts giving them orders, he stops one of the younger boys and tells him something then points to me. I hope he was letting them know I don't speak Italian otherwise I'm probably gonna get my first beating soon since I don't know what the customs are.

They inspect, clean, and dress us in some short, somewhat clean rags and lead us back outside. The other three guys look nervous. There's a little rack ahead with various weapons and the family is sitting on the terrace overlooking the yard. Damn, I think we're personal gladiators. Why would they waste so much money just for us to die. The boy who's been attending me so far mimes to me that we're supposed to fight and I mime back if I'm supposed to kill them. Thankfully he responds in the negative. Now I'm totally confused, they're testing our fighting skills but this place looks nothing like a ludus and I don't ever remember slaves being used as conscripts.

They have myself and another slave walk up to the rack, the other guy gets a longsword, which if I remember correctly is a British weapon so I don't understand why they can't find anyone to translate for me. I go for the gladius, if I'm gonna be a gladiator, might as well be historically accurate. We stand opposite each other, maybe 50 feet apart. My time in the gym wasn't spent just on weights so even though he looks pretty athletic, I bet I could still beat him in stamina and strength. The only problem is I have no clue how to do any swordplay and my speed is low so I have to be careful.

The boy slave did say killing wasn't the goal so I'm gonna go with a hail mary. I throw the blade hoping to throw him off but I throw like a girl so it falls woefully short. Screw it, I decide to rush him but end up slipping on my own sword. I manage to catch myself and only stagger a bit, I hear giggles but I'm not sure who it's from, the adrenaline is too high. I run at him and, oh shit, he swings, I can't dodge! I flex my left arm and brace for impact, thankfully the blades are a little dull, the arm didn't fall off. It hurts like a son of bitch though. Wow that hurts. Gotta soldier on. I rally what strength I have left and give him the hardest right hook I could muster. He falls to the ground. I jump down after him, I start wailing on his arm that's still holding the sword. After a few hits, he lets go and I give him a couple more in the face for good measure.

He's bloody but I can barely keep my eyes open, I think I'm gonna pass out. I manage to weakly stand up and look to the masters. It's gotta be like the gladiators, thumbs up he lives, thumbs down we both die? I can't kill a man, can I? Thankfully, it doesn't come to that. Slaves start rushing over, the boy, my attendant, gives me support while a female slave wraps my arm.

I can't remember what happened after that, did I pass out? That's embarrassing, the biggest gladiator is the pansiest of all. I'm on some bed now, the arm hurts significantly worse now. I guess the adrenaline is gone. They only bandaged it though, do they not know how to stitch deep wounds in ancient Rome? I look at the boy and make a stitching gesture near my arm, he gives me a confused look so I don't think they do. Looks like I'm gonna have to stitch it myself or something. Just the thought of that is scary, so maybe not. I grab his blouse and rip it near the top and make the same stitching gesture, I hope he understood. He nods but as he's leaving I make a sound and he looks back, I make a drinking motion and getting drunk gesture and point to the floor. I really hope that made sense. He nods again and leaves. He comes back and has the thread, needle, and what looked and smelled like a cup of wine. Very good kid, you're my favourite Roman now.

I've seen this in the movies, I can do it. I quickly poured the wine into the wound. Motherfuck that hurt. I bet my screaming like a bitch echoed through the house. There's even tears rolling down my cheeks, god that was a bad move. Why does it hurt so damn much. Anyway now that it's disinfected, I gotta get him to sew it. The kids been staring at me like I'm some madman this entire time. I grab the thread and make a sewing motion at my wound and look to him expectantly, he nods. God this kid is smart, I guess I should take him as my lover since that's what gladiators do right? There was soup next to the bed, he probably brought it in while I was out. I grab the spoon and bite down. He clamps the wound and I already started moaning. As I feel the needle pressing down, I grow anxious and start screaming before he even pierces the skin. After an agonizingly long time, he finally gets to the end. I don't even have any tears or screams left. I'm just whimpering now.

When the world stops spinning, I drink my soup and go back to sleep. He rustles me awake but for a minute I thought I was home and my cat was rubbing me because she needed me to feed her. OH shit, what's gonna happen to my cat if I'm stuck in the past? I can't think like that, I just need to figure out how I traveled through time and go back. I hope she doesn't miss me to badly.

The boy supports me and leads me back outside. The room we were staying in should be towards the middle of the house, in the basement. There were many closed doors on the way out. And the halls themselves, although dimly lit were spacious and pretty clean. They looked better than the gladiator quarters in Spartacus. Ah shit, the weapons and competitors are all outside. The guy I fought is about to lose to one of the other gladiators, looks like I'm fighting next then. I really did a number on him though, he's barely able to support the blade with his right hand and I think I broke his nose because it looks pretty nasty under the loose bandages.

Even still his swordplay was pretty good, I even got into it a little and started cheering for him, which got me a bunch of sideways looks. I guess training is supposed to be serious. He should've used my gladius this round though, it'd be easier to use since his right arm isn't 100%. I soon realize why he didn't. They wanted us to use the same weapons as last round, I was reaching for a new sword but I got some bad looks and the boy ran up, picked up my old blade, said something, and handed it to me.

Alright, go time. I narrowly won the first round but screw it, let's go again. My new plan was similar, rush him, with blade this time give him a downward strike which will make him block with his blade sideways. That will leave his face open for a nice pummeling. I remember hearing that a person should "make a plan, stick to the plan, when the plan falls apart, throw away the plan", I should've remembered it before the fight. Everything went well until I got in close for my swing, he moved and reacted faster than me. Before I knew it he was out of the way and countering with a stab of his own. The entire time the blade was coming at me, my mind was blank except that I knew I was gonna die if I didn't move. Instincts I didn't even know I had kicked in and saved my ass. I was able to fumble out of the way and managed to narrowly avoid being gored in favor of having my gut nearly cut open.

Adrenaline is insane. More than pain or regret, I was angry. Angry at myself for being an idiot and at him for making me see my intestines. I think they were showing, the cut looked deep during the split second I glanced at it before I charged him. I think he expected me to go down after the hit because I managed to connect a couple good fists to his face and he was down instead. Then so was I. And the pain hit me. It was blindingly superb. My yells were so loud, I'm surprised that when the boy came running over, he wasn't immediately made deaf. Honestly though, the pain may not have been that bad but the fact that there was so much blood and I'm pretty sure I could see my guts scared the living hell out of me.

I'm not ashamed to admit it took me couple hours to mentally prepare for the stitches. Eventually, I told the boy to do it again. I'd been pouring wine into it so I wouldn't get infected, which in the long run was probably more painful than if I'd let him do the stitches immediately but I didn't want to go through that again. It took a couple weeks for the wound to heal and for me to get back in fighting shape. During this time, the masters had me do some light labor, they let me keep up with my workouts so my muscles wouldn't deteriorate too bad, and I somehow got the kid to come into my room at night to teach me their language. As far as I could tell, the alphabet didn't look or sound Latin. It took many hours a night, some of them being sleepless but I could finally understand him a bit.

Then the boy started to catch me up on all the things that I didn't know about. The town we lived in was called Fectaya. Although, his meaning was a little lost on me, so I'm not certain if it was town or country. The family we were owned by were called the Chobs and the young girl we'd be serving exclusively in the near future was named Perry. She was preparing to go on an expedition, of sorts, and the two of us were to be her retainers, I was the muscle and he was the handboy, is that even a thing? He further explained that the expedition was because of the landmass (basically it was an island but the way he described it makes me think it might be similar in size to Australia) didn't have much to go on in terms of food and raw materials and that the government was giving stipends and status to people who could discover and procure resources that would ensure long-term survival of the human race. Things weren't at critical levels yet, he explained, but within the next generation or two, they were projected to be.

Now, I ain't a history buff but I'm pretty sure that's not how Roman or Australian history goes. This leads me to the conclusion, as strange as it may be, that this is something out of a sci-fi novel, maybe an alien planet or alternate timeline. Fucking cool man. Well, I guess it could be a simulation like the Matrix or something, which would be less cool but still a fun time. Whatever the case, I just gotta roll with the punches, it seems, and probably literally, too. Good thing I was such a gym rat or I might have a sucky job like working the mines or something.

After some thumb twiddling and some light preparations on the boy's and my part, the day finally arrived. Perry and the entire family seemed very excited, while they had a going away party, we had to pack her large crates and load them on to the carriage. From what I understood, the family was of their version of an equestrian class and should Perry's expedition pay off, they would be promoted to something like senatorial rank. Which is odd considering how patriarchal the Romans were, this society seems very modern in regards to the treatment of women. As for us, he said we'd earn our freedom and a plot of land on the governments dime, which all things considered wasn't too bad a deal. Who knows, maybe she'll fall for me and I could become a senator myself. Another weird thing is why she'd only need a single guard, I mean I get I'm a pretty big dude but still, I did have my ass handed to me by some regular slaves. I hope it's not something they'll come to regret, but hey if we do well, more money for me.

Kait, the boy I'd been with, told me we'd leave at dusk because the journey would take a while. I'm guessing he said it would take a few hours but the exact word is lost in translation so I'm not sure. It seems they weren't worried about highwaymen, which is weird because even in an alien planet, people are people and they should be stealing from one another. We finally loaded into the carriage, with Kait and Perry in the passenger section and the driver and I up front. The carriage itself wasn't too weird except it looked like something out of the Victorian Era movies and I'm not sure if it's period appropriate or not. Getting a handle on the time period is pretty tough, at times it feels like I'm in 100 A.D and at others like 1500 A.D, and then there's the social structure. As we drove, I contemplated these things like my brain hadn't already been turned to mush from all the Real Housewives I'd been watching. The ride itself was pretty uneventful, thankfully, although the cold air sort of burned my face and the only thing keeping me protected from my newest foe, the cold, was the shawl they had given me to wear over my leathery armor. I had my little sword by my side, ready to begin my new career.

We arrived when the sun was slightly past zenith so I'd say it took us 8 hours or so to get to the port city. The city itself didn't have any walls or guards to mark its outermost edge, it just sort of started and so we rolled right in. Almost immediately as we entered, Perry hurriedly yelped something out to which the driver calmly stopped the carriage and seemed to carefully protest her suggestion. If I had to guess, I'd say she wasn't too happy with whatever he said because she began to excitedly argue.

After a couple minutes of back and forth like this, she eventually looked to me spit out what seemed like a question but I still couldn't understand their language. I just stared back blankly. Kait, who had become my personal translator eventually chimed in. He somehow managed to explain that Perry had wanted to go straight to the pier and get the party started, so to speak, while the driver insisted we go to the inn first and maybe get a lay of the land first. So basically they had reached an impasse and wanted my opinion. The girl definitely seems to be the gungho, hand over fist type, hell my blood is boiling just thinking about the adventures she'll lead us into. In this case though, better to go with caution so I managed to let Kait know I think it'd be best to get settled first.

Now with that settled, the driver started up again and I began staring out again. What in the fuck- did my weird ass master seriously just bite my arm? The other two servants shot me a concerned look, but barring my initial shock from the absurdity, I wasn't too worried, I just gave a hearty chuckle and it seemed to put everyone, even the girl who bit me, at ease. I guess I'm really starting to like this place and time period, I hope my cat fares well without me. After the next short, uneventful trek, we arrived at the inn.

The driver, Kait, and I, began unloading the luggage, when we finished the room closest to the stairs, our master made it a point to slam the door as we left. I think she might be a little mad, but couldn't say for sure. Now that we had some downtime, I took a peek around the inn and surprisingly, it was pretty big and closed in for ancient times. Since they didn't have electricity, I thought all ancient people's had small places with an open structure to let in as much light as possible, weird. Our rooms were 2 of the 4 rooms on the second floor and from the outside it looked to be about four stories tall.

The sun was high and some hard work was done it was, of course, time to eat. We were served from the inn staff in a common area by the lobby, the meal was a simple meat broth with what looked to be potatoes and bread to compliment. Simple, for sure, but cool as fuck. I'm like medieval adventurer now, well I guess not like, pretty fucked how this is real life now. As I quietly contemplated my situation for the millionth time today, I realized Kait and the driver were having what seemed to be a quite somber conversation, at this point I'm not sure if it's a blessing or a curse that I can't understand any of it.

After our meal, we exchanged pleasantries and bid farewell to the driver, he had a long ride home, but at least it would be quiet. As if in answer to my thoughts, Perry emerged from the inn almost immediately after his departure and she announced, as explained to me by Kait as we hurried behind, that we would leave presently for the docks. And the docks were as docks are, it's just like in the movies or video games, but I never expected the scale of everything to be so large, from the smallest fishing vessel to the cargoes being loaded, everything was large and heavy.

We weaved through all the 'hustle and bustle' and stared in awe at the myriad of ships moored here. Large galleon type vessels towered multiple stories over us and the city, interspersed with smaller, ornate ships that seemed to be designed to purpose. Occasionally we would step aboard one ship have a look around and hurriedly follow Perry as she made her way to the pier and past the next. I'm not sure what she was looking for but when we got to the far side which berthed smaller ships, she took more time to look around so maybe she was looking for a small, tightnit crew or something.

There was one ship we came across that she seemed to like, though. It was relatively small with a crew of about eight, from what I could tell. As she took her time to look around, Kait had the opportunity to have a chat with the captain, the first time he had gotten time to do so. I didn't catch any of the conversation but Kait introduced me and told me the captains name was Noyug. Fitting, orc name for a brutish fellow, but he seemed friendly. Perry would occasionally holler out something from within the cabins which he would answer promptly without getting defensive. He seems too much of a pushover, personally I would've said something to her about her impetuousness if I were treated like that... if I wasn't already her slave, maybe I'm the one that needs to change...

We eventually finished her inspection and moved on to the next ship. This one was about the same size, if I had to guess, it probably had a medium amount of space and wouldn't take much to crew it but the only two people we met aboard still seemed awfully few. After our brief inspection of the interior, I think Perry started to address the state of things with the young man who I believe was the captain. Kait explained his name was Omnia and the older woman, Flourine was the doctor. I guess if we joined that'd make Kait and I the deckhands, which I'm not sure is an upgrade or downgrade to my status as bodyguard. Although I guess the humble state of the ship was more troubling to Perry than either of us slaves.

His subservient demeanor seemed to rile Perry up even more. Even though I couldn't understand what was being said, I recognize a dressing down when I see it and it seems Perry was really letting him have it. I don't see why she was so vested though, as we could easily join one of the larger crews. But after a while of the one sided back and forth, I guess he said some things to placate the rambunctious young lady as she finally sighed a sigh of resignation and huffed off.

She went barrelling down the gangplank and in her haste, failed to see that some young, well kempt guy was on his way up.

~`Story B`~

Hannae loved making tea for her grandparents. Whenever she could get off work early, she would stop by their place on the way home so she could make the special tea blend that her grandmother had taught her and they would sit and talk, or just sit, she didn't care, she loved them and they loved her. But she knew their time was limited, they had been having trouble metabolizing the nutrients from the soil and with the only other food available being the fish from the ocean, without supplementing with the nutrients from the soil, their bodies would slowly become malnourished. Such is the nature of the Perogin, their connection to the planet runs deep and when they can no longer feed from it, they allow it to feed from them.