Difference between revisions of "Delver"
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{{quote
| Ancient things stirred. And in that moment between heartbeats, they not only saw me, but they '''knew''' me.
| [[Spensa]]{{book ref|
}}
The '''delvers''', sometimes called the '''eyes''', are ancient, extra-dimensional beings that live in the [[nowhere]], the space beyond the world utilized by numerous [[cytonic]] abilities.{{book ref|sky1|54}}{{wob ref|12913}}{{book ref|sky2|4}}
The [[Krell]], on the other hand, do not appear concerned with the eyes, freely using the nowhere space for their own purposes. M-Bot also seems to use the nowhere to augment his processing capacity with no ill effects, although he could be shielded to protect him from the eyes.{{book ref|skyward|55}}{{book ref|skyward|31}}
== History ==
=== First appearance ===
{{quote
| Centuries ago, my kind learned firsthand how dangerous the delvers are.
| [[Cuna]]{{book ref|sky2|10}}
}}
The origins of delvers, if there are any, are unknown, though it's likely they've existed in the [[nowhere]] for thousands, if not millions of years.{{book ref|sky1|54}} Back in the days of the [[Phone Company]], prior to humanity's expansion outside of the Solar System, they were nowhere to be seen, even by cytonics capable of teleportation.{{book ref|elysium}} [[Superiority]] scholars speculate that a species needs to develop particularly skilled or powerful cytoncis for delvers to pay attention.{{book ref|sky2|10}}
The first known appearance of a delver occured during the second of the [[Human Wars]]. During that time, humanity built facilties on obscure and dying stars as part of a weapons program hoping to summon and control a delver, with [[Detritus]] being one such base.{{book ref|sky2|19}} They have succeeded and summoning delves; however, the beings proved impossible to control. In some cases, the cytoshields proved insufficient, leading to delvers destroying the very people who sought them out.{{book ref|sky2|4}}
In total, thirteen delvers emerged into the physical world. They rampaged throughout the galaxy for the next few decades, destroying world after world, before eventually fading away one by one. From then on out, however, they were a constant presence in the [[nowhere]], observing all cytonics. For this reason, [[Superiority]], as well as human enclaves, drastically cut down on the use of cytonics and wireless communication, so as to avoid drawing them in again.{{book ref|sky2|10}}
=== Second attempt ===
{{quote
| We '''don't''' need to defeat the delvers. We simply need to control them.
| [[Brade]]{{book ref|sky2|31}}
}}
A century after the Third Human War, the delvers remained a persistent danger, although the protective standards grew far more lax. A this time, [[Winzik]], head of Superiority's Department of Protective Services, conceived of a plan to once more deliberately summon a delver and control it, to use it as a weapon against those who'd go against the Superiority. The lynchpin of his plan was [[Brade]], a powerful human cytonic under his command.{{book ref|sky2|31}}
With rumours of delvers being close to reemergence -- possibly fuelled by Winzik's propaganda -- the Superiority set up a program to train people in to fight delvers.{{book ref|sky2|10}} They also developed a supposed weapon to fight them, though in reality, the "weapon" was a cytonic device luring them into a different planet. This was the primary method by which Winzik would "control" the delvers: set up the lure with coordinates to whichever place he wished destroyed.{{book ref|sky2|31}}
=== Reemergence ===
{{quote
| In the panic of knowing she would die, Brade finally accomplished her goal.
| [[Spensa]]{{book ref|sky2|40}}
}}
When Superiority arrived over [[Detritus]] for a decisive battle, [[Spensa]] quickly realized that [[Brade]] intended to summon a delver, and ordered humans to cut off all radio communication in anticipation of the event before pursuing.{{book ref|sky2|39}} She, and eventually others from her training flight, chased after Brade, hoping to kill her before she could suceed. Eventually, they managed to pin her down, although in her would-be final moments, Brade managed a summoning.{{book ref|sky2|40}}
After the delver emerged, Spensa tried to send it away, to the star system in which she and the other trainees had practiced. While she succeeded at dissuading it from attacking Detritus, the delver instead went to Starsight.{{book ref|sky1|41}} Spensa and her flightmates followed, hoping to take it out before it could kill everyone on the space station.{{book ref|sky2|42}} With assistance from [[Morriumur]], Spensa managed to reach the heart.{{book ref|sky2|43}} There, she communed with the delver and managed to show it that all the annoyances that the delvers despised were living creatures. This seemed to horrify the delver, which quickly returned to [[nowhere]].{{book ref|sky2|44}}
== Trivia ==
* Brandon once began writing a science fiction novella called ''The Eyes'', inspired by [[wikipedia:Fermi paradox|Fermi paradox]], the question of why we can't find any aliens despite the statistical probability of their existence. The story remains unfinished, although a chapter of it was posted as a reward on the [[Writing Excuses]] Patreon page.{{bws ref|state-of-the-sanderson-2016|State of the Sanderson 2016|date=2016-12-19}} Its setting was eventually absorbed into the [[Skyward universe]], with one of its alien races appearing in ''[[Starsight]]''{{wob ref|12197}} Given the title, it's possible that
== Notes ==
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