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It is said that the first inhabitants were molded from the clouds of Illuminati’s multiple skies and are in fact considered descendants of the Sun itself. These creatures are known as Gxapás, “g” standing for sun and xapá signifying joy in Greek, defining them as the people of light being as bright and joyful as the Sun itself. Instead of food, they receive their nutrients from the Golden River that leaks from Gamma Pergonae which releases her remaining luster to the Gxapás to drink. Each drink acts as a nutrient which completely fills each fiber of every person’s body, giving the utmost strength possible. Every Gxapá is almost translucent having only a touch of glitter, producing an image of elegance and vigor unlike no other to which causes such admiration from the civilizations of other planets. But what outstands many is that despite their striking beauty and grace, the Gxapás are simple people, living through and by their surrounding nature. And so they dedicate their lives to give back to the planet that gave them life. As Illuminati endures its 8 solar phases per day, the Gxapás guide the light, the clouds, and the water to each sector of the planet where they then change form and go on into the next phase. But in order to guide the makers of their landscape, every year when Illuminati turns a year older, the Gxapás are responsible for carrying out a special performance in honor of their planet so that the previously mentioned foremost substances will cooperate throughout the year. Very few have come to witness the ethereal melodies and dances that represent poise and splendor.
Just as the Gxapás receive their nutrients from the ΧρυσαφÎνιος Ποτάμι, colloquially known as The Golden River, so does the rest of the flora and fauna. Illuminati’s whole planet has only 1 type of biome and 1 type of ecosystem. It has a freshwater biome, specifically a lotic βίωμα translated to English as a lotic biome. Such a biome is characterized by its rivers or streams that provide the constant flow of water that therefore offers the means to support the organisms. In Illuminati, that source is only one: The Golden River, but its amount does not affect its greatness to deliver life. What differentiates the lotic biome in Illuminati from those that exist on Earth is simple. Normally, on Earth a lotic biome can offer life to a number and a variety of creatures depending on how fast the water flows, the quantity of water, and the seasonal changes; yet since Illuminati has a constant flow of the golden water rays, a high amount of it, and zero seasonal changes due to its perpetual repetition of solar phases – the river nourishes a vast number of animals, including plants and land or sea creatures without any limits. The Golden River can supply life and restore life as well as heal and mend, but what it cannot have is organisms (neither fish or plants of any kind) living in its waters because their wastes pollutes the river. As a result Illuminati has only one ecosystem: a terrestrial ecosystem, in which several animals inhabit its grounds.
Despite the fact that The Golden River cannot have organisms residing in its waters, as it gives life to its people, it also supplies life to the organisms that go there to drink its waters. The Golden River has the shape of a figure eight representing its longevity in terms of infinity, therefore the river is durable till the end of time since it is indeed the source of life in that planet. The particularity of this river is that it traverses the landscape of the whole planet and despite not having a huge variety of plants, it does have one particular kind of flora. Alongside its streams and beds, the Golden River has a strip of miniscule Sunflowers growing. Since they receive the utmost direct flow of the golden water, they never die. At the beginning of each year, on Illuminati’s birthday, the trillions of tiny Sunflowers shed their petals. As an exceptional present to their mother planet and river, one of the performances in the planet’s honor has a group of Gxapás perform a wind ritual conducting the petals to float in the ongoing river to give back life to the mother of life itself. And so the cycle of life begins once more. On the other hand, the fauna that live in the premises of Illuminati consist of only eight animals which all signify the qualities & norms that the community lives by. First and foremost, there is the gazelle which represents agility. Then, there is the jaguar which epitomizes the power of silence, meditation, and dominance. Next, there is the owl which stands for wisdom, as it sees it all and knows it all. Subsequently, the reindeer embodies endurance as the peacock indicates royalty and vision. Moreover, the rabbit exemplifies fertility as the bear symbolizes motherhood and bravery. And finally, the dog characterizes loyalty.
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Before Earth and its humans ever decided to or ever could explore the vast and glorious civilizations, solar systems, and galaxies beyond them – there was the birth of what they consider to be animism or ανιμισμÏŒς as the native Gxapás refer to it. Animism plays with the idea that inanimate objects have spirits within them and as a result breathe life to the rest of the universe. If you are to recall the legend, the Sun was the mother of life breathing vivacity, attributes, and most importantly a soul into each and every one of her creations. The concept of animism that humans have is almost the same as that of the Gxapás and all of this is true, except that the Gxapás take it to the extent of believing what Earth’s humans think that John Locke came up with. The Gxapás established into their animistic beliefs that every life form created is initially and essentially good and thus can stay moral since it intrinsically has the ideals of the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. However, they believe that very rarely there are “inconveniences” or “rotten apples” that are born with both the right morals, but also with a bad Sunflower seed. These anomalies aren’t exposed unless they are triggered with a sentiment or a lack of it causing the seed to explode and scatter its wicked, depraved, and corrupt insides into the soul of the being. An example of that is the Moon and because of it, the legend and its religion warns its listeners and especially the children to stay away from that ugly path and instead embrace the just path. Overall the religion of the Gxapás embodies the concept of life to all and so they believe that everything – the Sun, the Moon, the rivers, the plants, the soil – have life inside of them and so they all have a soul despite not breathing or talking or interacting amongst one another as the animals and the natives do.
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The language spoken in Illuminati is Greek, one created by its first inhabitants to primarily revere the Sun through its annual rituals. Playing the role of a life giver, The Sun’s presence greatly influenced the language which is why there are countless words that signify what the sun represents: life, light, prosperity, and joy. The first forms of communication, however, were through the soil drawing pictures of a fireball and using the golden pigments from the Sunflowers to paint and provide color to the paintings. These early figures could be considered the first hieroglyphics telling the legend of the formation of their sun Gamma Pergonae and of their planet Illumination. Yet, as the civilization advanced, it came to a point where the elders no longer seemed fit to draw the legend on the ground and therefore created an 80,000-page manuscript transcribing the legend in what would become to be known as the original form of Greek. Before ending their cycle of life and passing their remaining energies to the young, the elders gathered a group of youngsters to educate them on the language so they could go on to teach the others. And when the time finally came, the elders all passed away and were buried on a bed of Sunflowers that absorbed their lingering droplets of life. So, the elders’ vision was granted and soon the whole population was fluent in Greek honoring The Sun and its life in more than just drawings or oral tradition, but in the art of language.
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Since the beginning of time, the Gxapás established themselves as loyal followers of The Sun and its legend, for life was a gift given to them by an otherworldly presence that deemed them fit to receive it. And because of this, the Gxapás dedicated their lives to learn about their surroundings, to aid it in its lifelong journey, and to see it thrive. For freedom of thought, they would go to lay on the Sunflower beds and dream as if they felt the diminutive beings’ breathings and singing their lyrical melodies at their ears. For amazement, they went to stand and watch, alongside their brothers and sisters, the landscape change from phase to phase and from scenery to scenery as if an opera or play were taking place. For simple inspiration, the Gxapás would head to a clearing and dance to the inaudible music of their environs, the pounding drums of the battle storm filled with luscious shades of purple and a devouring red or glide to the sounds of a twirling aqua and a swift pink. And when the humans from Earth discovered their untouched planet and entered with their overbearing looks, their odd clothing, and even more bizarre transportations, the Gxapás were shocked. These people came preaching “civilization,” “technology,” and “advancement” while stepping on the ground with the utmost disregard and trampling on the Sunflowers with the greatest contempt. And so, the Gxapás made their attempts to teach them what they as little ones had been taught, to love and respect life, never minding its shape or form. But it was useless and with their departure the Gxapás felt as if technology was a threat to all existence causing an obliviousness of what there is to adore and appreciate, which is why today the Gxapás remain the simplest people and the best of them all, never forgetting where they came from and always revering life.
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From their last interaction with the humans from Earth, the Gxapás did learn that to prevent another parasite like them to come into their planet and act as if it were their stepping mat, they would need a leader. Such a leader would vow to defend them and their most sacred beliefs which always came down to their devotion to their Sun, their language, and their religion. But then many Gxapás thought that one person would not be enough to conduct a nation nor to be the head of a divine position as that. Some challenged having only one leader because of the legend’s warning, creating suspicion that if only one person would be named “head of state” for instance, all would be fine unless he or she was part of the “inconveniences.” For if the leader had indeed a bad Sunflower seed growing in its insides, the fate of the Gxapás could be in jeopardy. Therefore, the Gxapás concluded that a council would be the best solution, because even if one of them was an “inconvenience,” the others would do what was just and right for the people. Thus, the Illuminati planet ruled under a theocratic democracy naming its supreme deity The Sun and calling its daughter Gamma Pergonae its chief goddess. The Council of Elders were the most respected, the most just, and the most moral out of all the people, yet they were still never considered as great as the Sun and its goddess nor did they have more rights than any of the others. Still, each Gxapá had a voice and had the freedom to live life and absorb it as ever.
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Pertaining always to their moral compass, the Gxapás do not believe that it is right to sell any life form for the profit of another which is what they saw in the economy of the humans from Earth and their stories of visits to other planets. They see such actions as the epitome of slavery and all its malignant offspring, all originated from a bad Sunflower seed. Because of these reasons, the Council of Elders contemplated on the possibilities to create an alternative economy and so they decided upon founding a traditional economic system. Such economic system would be based on the values that their legend and their religion inspired, that is the spread of light and the spread of happiness. Their days still didn’t alter and were still filled with the liberty and joy of sunshine. They did not produce wastes to enhance what was viewed as “technological advancement” from neighboring planets and societies. Instead, their culture and traditions remained intact. Nevertheless, a day came when this solitude from such malevolence was questioned. Many critiqued that how could the Gxapá people judge and consider the other societies mean by doing what they considered as “right” and “progress,” if they as a community made no attempt to guide and help the lost souls. Some said that this was the ultimate level of hypocrisy, until a group of youngsters offered a solution: “Why not share their gifts of light to the rest by sending three melted Sunflowers in a basin? Together, the melted Sunflowers worked as if it were the Golden River itself, capable of enlightening the minds of such lost souls.” Thus, began the delivery of the gifts once a year and somehow each gift brought back a small detail from the planet it had been delivered to: from gems, to scepters, to scriptures, to religions, to legends of other planets and many more. Today, the Gxapás send presents of sunshine and brightness on Illuminati’s birthday to every planet and in exchange receive distinct knowledge and culture that make their people as innovative and accepting as ever.
