Insect Wars: Dark Zone or Light Universe?
In Brigadoom, set at the time of Kai’s death, their songs reference living for 6000 years and 10,000 years.
It is stated in Brigadoom that the Brunnen G did not achieve immortality until they had crossed into the Light Universe and established themselves on Brunnis 2. This was supported by Supernova when Kai notes that the archaic Brunnen G had not mastered the secrets of life.
If we assume that at the time of Kai’s death the oldest immortals were still kicking around, and that immortality was achieved shortly after settling on Brunnis, then we have a time period of 12,000 years.
This leaves the problem of a 5000 year old recording on Brunnis. Either the two are incompatible, or we must assume that the person questioning the time prophet could not have been a Brunnen G. He’s 7,000 years off the date set in Brigadoom. In addition, the Brunnen G have been behind their shield, so its not like it was someone visiting the old homeland.
We are not shown the questioner, so we cannot affirm by his appearance or hair that he is Brunnen G. His only interest is in mineral deposits. I would therefore suggest
that he is a prospector or treasure hunter who visited the time prophet and eventually
at the end of his life, wound up on Brunnis.
His appearance in the memory banks is not impossible. It is very clear that Poetman spent the last years of his life corrupting the Brunnen G systems, inserting messages, and leaving *traps*. Indeed, his interference with the ‘Burst of Life’ message, was a clear trap for the unwary.
It would only capture those not familiar with archaic Brunnen G terms.
Indeed, given the fact that he was a prospector/treasure hunter, it isn’t unreasonable that he would have gone to the Time Prophet and to the probably legendary Brunnis at different points in his life.
However, its possible that the Time Prophet
may have sent him to Brunnis.
There is some evidence that the Beans did not originally intend such a vast span of time. In Supernova, the Divine Predecessors claim to possess the memories of archaic Brunnen G who walked the streets of Brunnis.
This would put the Divine Order itself at well over 12,000 years.
However, in Brigadoom, and in IWHS, there is a suggestion that the fall of Brunnis marked the rise of the Divine Order. Which suggests
either that the Divine Order is only a few thousand years older than Kai, perhaps 3000 to 6000 years old in total. Or perhaps that the Divine Order was quiescent for 10,000 years before attempting to conquer the Universe?
Another question comes from the fact that it was the 14th Divine Shadow that killed Kai.
If each Divine Shadow lived only a century, that’s not much of a history after all. But there were, according to the first season, only four Divine Shadows after the one that killed Kai, implying an average lifespan of at between 500 and 800 years. This puts the founding of the Divine Order somewhere between 7,000 and 12,000 years before the
IWHS present.
Frankly, I’m not sure the Beans fully thought it out, but may have just thought
‘thousands of years’. But we are left with
the canon they’ve handed down.