Intelligent Species FA-0154: Iceans

MPRE Communiqué - June of 2023, the 12th 18:25
AUTHORISATION: KENDALL, S - 8119743
CONFIRMATION: Item received, minimal distortion

RECIPIENT:
Ministry of Parallel Reality Exploration Headquarters
Whitehorse, Yukon Territories
ATTN: Dr. Alexander Skelhorne, Director – Pharmaceutical Division

Alex!

My lord it’s been some time since I’ve been able to actually get anything out to anyone back home. The transmission windows here are so tight that I’ve had to restrict the whole team, myself included, to one item per burst transmission and I needed to send Helen an apology for missing her birthday again this year during the last window.

But my word, Alex, if she could only see this place!

So much of this reality reminds me of the trip the four of us took down to British Columbia last summer – there are trees EVERYWHERE! Huge trees as large as skyscrapers, but remarkably enough, smaller trees grow even beneath the canopy of these giants as if performing an act of defiance to grow without sunlight. I’ve arranged to have several samples sent your way for study.

But strangest and yet quite wondrous of all is the peculiar race that we have designated as the Iceans that inhabits this place. I know that the original scouting team reported no intelligent life here, but I would surmise that is simply due to a lack of time spent here. We quite literally stumbled onto a massive group of peoples that I have come to understand are simply everywhere in this world, even living on oceans and other bodies of water, though whether it’s a love of the sea or a lack of space that drove them there I cannot be certain.

At first we came upon small building similar to a lean-to in design but suspended in the trees just off of the ground. It wasn’t until we started to really look around, and up in the particular that we realised the extent to which these curious people had developed. In the trees overhead we saw a network of bridges and ropeways connecting enough wooden structures to equate to a small city.

As a collective whole they come across as indifferent to the presence of my team and I. I would hate to use the term docile but it seemed as though they couldn’t care less about our presence, so long as we didn’t interfere with their daily lives. If my experience in the field is worth presenting an opinion, I’d say we likely aren’t the first visitors of abnormal origin that they’ve seen before.

When initial attempts at communication through signing failed we tried speech in many different languages and struck upon a most startling fact. Their dialect is remarkably similar to English in many respects, however, actually vocalizing their dialect is considered extremely formal and is rarely used. A whole family could go years without saying a single word to each other. In place of vocal communication, they seem to communicate through facial expressions or actual actions. Everyone seems to know their place in life and everyone does their job. Jay Markson over at HR would love these guys.

They are masters of horticulture and agriculture, seeing both as the highest ends to which one can devote a life. Over many years of practice they have found ways to graft nearly any small plant onto the limbs of the larger trees. To an extent, they use the tree limbs as we would use a field for growing huge amounts of food. I was immensely surprised to discover upon a little digging around that the immense forest, including the large, and presumably quite ancient, trees as well as all other florae were planted by the previous two generations.

I know that sounds strange to have a tree considered ancient and yet to have it planted by your own grandfather. When I had managed to speak to one of the locals, who was gracious enough to be a guide for my team, he told me that the lifespan of one of their kind was roughly approximated to half the lifespan of a tree. Alex, these trees must be many hundreds of, if not a thousand years old. It’s tough to imagine.

Along with their ability to grow a myriad of plant varieties they have also developed a fairly sophisticated system of metallurgical manipulation, utilizing the few metals to which they have access to provide additional strength to their mostly wooden structures in the form of braces and pulley systems, as well as the typical use of tools found in all societies of this level of complexity. All uses of refined metals are as finite and conservative as possible, preferring to allow their building techniques and designs to provide all the strength for their homes. The metal equipment is usually in place as a temporary solution to allow for structures to be put in place as high as the tree canopy in a simply and easy fashion. I would go so far as to call the system quite elegant.

I suppose to keep the administrators happy, given this is an official document, I should include some slightly more formal descriptions of these people, if for no other reason than preventing them from deleting this message. But really, Alex, you should try to arrange a visit into the field.

REPORT:

Subject: Intelligent Race FA-0154
Designation: Iceans

NOTE FOR REVIEW: I would like to note that the similarity in dialect found here to the English language should be noted and catalogued for Dr. Markus Bishop’s investigation into the Prime Earth Origin Theory in the Physics Division. Evidence collected here may help to understand the nature of the collectively explored realities.

These people all seem to be of similar height, approximately six feet tall, give or take a few inches. They appear quite human in stature though their limbs are slightly longer and more articulate. Their complexion has a blue hue to it, almost the colour of turquoise but with more blue. Sylvia, my biologist, suggested that it might have something to do with copper or cobalt in their bloodstream, though I would have thought having a heavy metal in the blood would be toxic to pretty much anything. As yet I have been unable to negotiate to be given a blood sample to bring home for BioDiv to sort through. Mostly it’s just been plant life that I’ve been able to get my hands on, largely with the help of our hosts, and sent to or three specimens back through the rift, at least some of which I’ve ear-marked for you, just like I promised.

In terms of a societal structure, they appear to be something of a caste society, comprising of three castes that I can ascertain. A governing caste that keeps things running smoothly; an agriculture caste that supplies all of the food for a town or city; the craftsman caste that builds all structures, the mechanics that assist them as well as needs for life such as clothing, which is nearly as diverse in styles as one might find on Earth and made of a material similar to ordinary cotton. The governmental caste tends to have their structures and homes towards the ground, with the craftsmen near the canopy and the farmer caste occupying most of the space in between in order to grow food.

The three castes are all active participants in the arts, all of which tend to revolve around wood and the forest in some fashion, such as wood carvings and creating instruments. As far as I’ve seen, this is the only form of recreation that they indulge in, spending the vast majority of their time going about their work for the day. I’ve made several recordings and taken hundreds of photographs to bring back.

For sustenance they rely solely on what is grown by their farmers and have no other source of food. At first I had believed it to simply be a choice of their culture to not eat the meat of local fauna, but over several days investigation and a little questioning of our guests, I have discovered that there is next to no additional fauna on the planet, except for deepwater fish in the ocean, which may explain why great lengths have been undertaken to set up settlements that float in the middle of large bodies of water.

Given the level of development of the Iceans and the lack of much fauna elsewhere, I suspect that this planet suffered a cataclysmic event that may have wiped out most other species leaving the Iceans to become the dominant race on the planet.

As per Article Four (4) of the MPRE Guidelines, I formally note this planet as passive in nature with no discernable threat from the peoples of this reality. I would also formally request this planet be labelled as zero-threat to MPRE teams to ensure that no weaponry of any kind is introduced to the populace, with the possible exception of small knives which are already in use.

END REPORT

Well, Alex, my team and I should be returning within a few days of you receiving this message. I can only hope that the administration doesn’t foul this place up like it has in times past. These people deserve to be left in peace, though I can’t see why a little friendship and trading of stories by firelight can’t pass between our peoples.

Give all my best to Louisa and Max and if you get a chance let Helen that I’ll be coming home soon.

Cheers,
Sean