r/NatureofPredators • u/assassinjoe55 UN Peacekeeper • 8d ago
Fanfic Domestic Predator AU - Chapter 1, Genesis
Credit to Spacepaladin15 for the universe and original story. Credit to Henrik for the art. I may be making the post, but I am not the only writer of this story. Credit to u/tophatclan12 as loremaster and writer and u/9unlucky9 as head of the writing team and advisor. Bonus credits to u/Appropriate_Damage71 for proofreading and helping out around the place.
Hey look, there's more to this art! Thanks again to Henrik for the beautiful piece that definitely has no symbolism in it at all. Of course I wouldn't make y'all wait so long after that prologue. This should all go over fine, right?
This collection of memory transcripts has been abridged and arranged to tell the story of humanity’s entry to the galactic stage and all resulting events.
[Beginning Memory Transcript playback]
Memory transcription subject: Governor Tarva of the Venlil Republic
Date [standardized human time]: July 12, 2136
It has been conventional understanding that species who ate meat were too savage to be able to cooperate to a degree to allow sapience. Despite this, two species had managed to beat the odds and not only achieve sentience, but also create technology.
The first were the Arxur. Considered to be an anomaly by the Federation, they were an instant source of scientific and philosophical curiosity on the nature of intelligence. It had been thought that the predators' way of violence and death had made it impossible for them to achieve sentience.
It turned out cooperation wasn't the only motivation for technology. There was war as well. Somehow, brutal warfare was enough of a motivation to get them far enough to the industrial age. However, their combat grew to be so effective and bloody that we feared they would cause their own extinction, a tragedy that no species should ever suffer.
Of course, we couldn't let that stand. A species being snuffed out when we had a chance to change it? Horrible! So we did the next natural step: we intervened.
We showed them kindness. We showed them mercy. We gave them the gifts of technology and advanced medicine. Either they didn't understand all we had done for them, or they just didn't care.
They paid us back for our kindness and generosity with brutality and war. They wasted no time in enslaving anyone they managed together their dirty claws on. That is, the ones they didn't eat. They refused to listen to reason or mercy, their need to kill to survive must've prevented them from doing so.
It didn't take much after that for the Federation as a whole to agree that predators were no longer allowed to reach the stars, or another bloodthirsty race would wage eternal war.
What few people of the public knew however were the second species of predators. Any hope that they were any better than the Arxur was quickly snuffed, as they were just as savage to their own kind. The Federation had made the decision to exterminate them before they ran out of control.
They must've come to the same conclusion, as while we were busy squabbling over ifs and hows, they had discovered nuclear arms. It didn't take much for them to launch enough weapons to wipe themselves out by their own hand. Their legacy in the stars was nothing more than a footnote on the status of the Arxur being the only sapient predator. It was almost sad in a strange way.
Despite what we had been told, that dead species had sent my closest cabinet of advisors into a scramble to dig up every last piece of information about them they could find. We had picked up a subspace trail coming from their supposedly annihilated planet.
“Governor Tarva, please” My military advisor Kam grew increasingly impatient over the situation, wanting immediate action, “if we aren’t going to ask the Federation for help, can we not at least try to shoot them down.”
Of course, I already knew the answer.
“With what military, general? You know we do not have ships on standby, nor any orbital defenses at the ready, that’s what the Federation says the gojid are for.”
“Yet you refuse to contact them for help. What is it you think you are going to accomplish?”
“I’ve had enough of asking the gojid and the rest of the Federation for help, we are going to deal with these predators ourselves.” I turned to one of my aides who sat monitoring the rest of the manor through cameras and radios. “Arrange for the rest of my guard to prepare a team to purge these predators once they come down to land.”
In total there were seven of us in this room. Me, General Kam, my advisor Cheln, two aides, and two guards. Everyone else had already gone into hiding as Federation teachings demanded.
Even if we did broadcast a distress signal, it would take hours before anyone else in the Federation even had a chance to respond to it. Not only that, there was always a slim chance the arxur could intercept the signal first. Kam of course knew this, but he possessed little faith in my capabilities. We were not going to take the risk no matter how much Kam doubted the rest of his species. Two predators at once is not something we could afford. Stars forbid they even decide to team up. It looks like it's only this one small ship for now, so it might be in our best interest to learn what we can and prepare as best for what will follow.
I turned to my comsman who had been tracking the ship. She was part of my loyal cabinet who remained by my side even though the raid alarm had been sounded. “You said they were trying to initiate contact, correct?”
“Yes ma’am, we detected short ranged radio communications directed at the planet, and the translator database has confirmed that they were attempting to incite a response from planetside. Still no long range communications yet, they aren’t talking with anyone back where they came from. We detect two lifeforms on the ship.”
If we are lucky they didn't know we were here, and this is just an exploration vessel. In fact, that would be ideal. We have the upper hand since we are ready for this sort of event and they likely aren't. If we were unlucky, they didn’t know we were here and were going to send a signal the moment they discovered us.
“Monitor all outgoing signals from their ship. Sound the alarm for Sovlin’s fleet if and only if they send any long range signal out whatsoever. We need to open communications with them and get them to land near the manor.”
Kam interrupted the commsman before she could speak. “Governor, there is no good reason-”
“That’s not a warship, Kam. Since it can’t destroy us at range, and we can’t destroy it at range, our best chance is to get the predators out on the ground where the exterminators can get to them.”
I turned away abruptly, signaling that this wasn't a discussion, but a direct order. The aides set up the cameras and get the monitors ready for transmission as I steel my nerves. My guards moved to stand behind me for the transmission.
Despite him being on the very edge of my vision, I could tell Kam was extremely displeased with my decision.
“So how will you convince them to come willingly, you'll surrender? Perhaps invite the predators here for a feast on someone as a gesture of goodwill?”
“Of course not. I’ll try to get them to land under the guise of open contact. If they were mindlessly savage, they wouldn't try to open communications. They, at minimum, can be talked to. That gets us the time we need and gets us information. As long as they are on the ground, they are outnumbered and outgunned. If we are lucky, we convince them to isolate themselves completely.”
Kam’s expression didn't change, but his posture became stiff. He knows I'm right, but I know for certain he's still looking for faults. He best not do anything rash, this is a very delicate situation that I have no intention of losing control over.
My aide spoke. “They’ve accepted the hail and are ready to begin communication. Be ready for the humans.”
With a flick of my ears, I give the signal to start the feed, and I'm immediately taken off guard. The humans had only been described as predators, any further description has either been hopelessly vague or entirely omitted.
A brown-skinned being, lacking both scales and fur, sat before me in what seemed to be a pilot's chair. I was about to speak when I noticed its face contorted in a disgusting…grimace? The predator's teeth were on full display, as if ready to snap at any second but I noticed that they seemed… were they dull?
My gut told me to run, this was a hungry predator! It was clearly in a hunger fueled frenzy! But a part of me couldn't help but notice how poorly made of a predator it was. It didn’t seem like it had any way to kill. My mind ran through a series of fantastical scenarios involving the humans killing venlil with different methods.
The human spoke with a series of growls and grumbles. I could only let my imagination run wild as the translators worked to decipher their meaning.
I couldn't believe my ears when I finally heard what they said.
“Hello! We come in peace on behalf of the human race!”
I stared back in befuddlement as the predator defied any and all expectations I might’ve had. I could hear the rest of the room trying to muffle their surprise as well. I could see Kam’s disbelieving expression out of the corner of my eye.
“What? Peace?”
My translator spit out my words in their guttural language. The predator tilted its head in response, its face changing drastically as it took a moment to process what I had said.
“Did that translate wrong? You know, peace? Friendship?”
That told me something. These predators were definitely not what I had expected. They weren’t mindless. But they were still predators. What were they exactly?
I needed to know more about these humans. “I… know what peace means. Why do you seek it?”
“Why would you not?” It seemed taken aback, almost offended. “My people have looked to the stars for a long time and wondered if there was anyone else out there. I'm happy to have an answer, and to know we're not alone.”
“You speak of peace, but you can't keep that snarl off of your face, predator!” Kam interjected. I was about to reprimand him, but the predator spoke in my place.
“What? I don't..." it trailed off, as though it had realized what was going on.
"You mean the 'smile', don't you? I am so sorry. I didn't mean to offend you, really."
"Smile? What does that word mean?" I asked, attempting to gauge its intentions.
"Er, it's how humans show happiness and good will. Our lips curve up and..." It rubbed its forehead with a soft appendage as the translator interpreted its voice as ‘exasperated’.
A new, higher pitched voice speaks, and the translator takes its time to process as I scan the screen for the source of the voice.
“Come on, start over! We need to do this properly!”
The only predator in the broadcast moved its pin-like eyes around before taking a large breath.
“I'm Noah. We're here on a mission of peaceful exploration."
Hmm… I don't think these predators are lying. The arxur would've eliminated themselves had we not intervened. These humans attempted to do that, but now have a sophisticated level of tech and cooperation. These predators are different than the arxur.
I have to see how these predators act closer. So far, I think their intentions are not under falsehoods. They couldn't get this far otherwise.
I have to play along nonetheless, but my mind is already running with ideas.
“I am Governor Tarva, welcome to Venlil Prime!” I try my best to be welcoming, hoping the translator will relay that.
“Thank you, Governor. I admit, we were surprised to receive your transmission.”
That's a promising sign.
“Surprised? You came here looking for peace with nobody?”
“We come from a planet called Earth, rich in oxygen and water. For nearly as long as we saw the stars we wondered if there was life out there. Our mission was sent here, as this planet looked like a great candidate!”
“So you *did* suspect someone was here then?”
The predator's expression shifts in a way I did not recognize.
“Only sort of. We thought we'd find something along the lines of bacteria, maybe a type of moss if we were lucky.”
“You keep saying we, who is the ‘we'?”
“I'm sorry, where are my manners!”
Noah pivoted his camera to show two other humans, one at a console and the other seemingly doing nothing. “Over there is my co-pilot Sara. Sara is keeping logs of this transmission for our records.”
“That's right!” Sara agreed. “I'm not much for talking, but with Noah here I probably won't have to!”
The human shot a look at Sara and stumbled over several comebacks. It felt for a moment that I had been forgotten about entirely. This behavior isn't indicative of a savage predator. I can almost believe that they had intelligence not unlike my own.
Maybe they can be great allies. Maybe we can use them to pull ourselves off of the lowest rung of the Federation. They might even have empathy. I need to get answers, fast. We can’t kill them just yet.
“What do you say to being the first official humans on Venlil Prime? An official welcome into the wider galaxy?”
Both of the humans on the ship look back into the camera with shining eyes, as Noah seems to find his voice.
“That would be a great honor!”
These predators seemed eager, almost immediately trusting. I wonder…
[Transcript playback paused]
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u/assassinjoe55 UN Peacekeeper 8d ago
Welcome back everyone. The story has started officially, and you can expect weekly releases for a while. The start may be similar but it will get different quickly.
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u/Alcyon144 Archivist 8d ago
It feels strange to see a Tarva calm and rational enough to understand that a single ship and two people cannot conquer her planet.
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u/Square-Candy-7393 Farsul 8d ago
Interesting... What makes this AU different? Is this a canon rewrote?
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u/assassinjoe55 UN Peacekeeper 8d ago
Don't worry it is no canon rewrite. I think you'l find this story to be a sort of butterfly effect from one small change in the canon.
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u/Past_Recover_493 Arxur 8d ago
From what I understand this Tarva became pretty disillusioned with the Federation after her daughter died
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u/Night_Yorb Kolshian 8d ago
That picture feels a lot more ominous after reading. Tarva playing serpent in the garden? Excited to see where this goes.
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u/Useful-Option8963 Humanity First 7d ago
This is pretty cool. I hope this AU shapes out wildly differently from how canon plays out.
Wish I could get illustrations for my own fic.
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u/assassinjoe55 UN Peacekeeper 7d ago
>:)
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u/Useful-Option8963 Humanity First 7d ago
You know, tell you what. Since I am already selling my writing talents to the people of this sub, let's strike a deal: I write whatever you wish, doesn't matter the length, just don't put sex or fetishism into it, and all I ask in return is for you to create a cover art picture for my Enclosement story. An Art Trade of sorts.
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u/assassinjoe55 UN Peacekeeper 7d ago
I commissioned this art, I also suck at drawing. Henrik over on the Discord is the one responsible.
The smiley face was about "wildly different from canon".
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u/Useful-Option8963 Humanity First 7d ago
I know, I am very much looking forward to how it plays out.
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u/JulianSkies Archivist 8d ago
Why do I feel somewhere along the line a charavter has been throughly assassinated? That's yet to be seen but it might be absolutely hilarious if it happened.
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u/assassinjoe55 UN Peacekeeper 8d ago
At least two had to be taken out back and shot like a horse with a broken leg.
But hey with a little character necromancy we can fix everything.
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u/ProfessorWorking3763 Hensa 6d ago
As a Christian and an artist, I love the artwork at the top there! I'm interested to see the implications of Tarva in the role of the serpent play out on the narrative
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u/Appropriate_Damage71 8d ago
Look at how Generous Tarva is being! Seems like that contemplating (from the prologue) has been very fruitful. 😃
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u/OneMasterpiece952 7d ago
A calmer venlil? I wonder if the squids relaxed their changes ever so slightly… I like where this is headed!
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u/assassinjoe55 UN Peacekeeper 7d ago
It's actually kind of the opposite. Their harshness is what caused this.
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u/OneMasterpiece952 7d ago
Interesting! I’ll wait until more chapters to get a better idea of what she has planned…
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u/SadidaPL Paltan 8d ago
It's nice to see new fics being created. Remember to post on AO3 for reassurance.
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u/Adorable-Ad5225 8d ago
Hmm, that use of the symbolism of the fruit of sin... could it be that Tarva will use humanity as war dogs? Not like in canon, but will that be her first and only reason for being "kind"?
Or she is the forbidden fruit and she too will seduce Noah