Post by mal on Mar 3, 2011 19:02:07 GMT -5
Their names were nearly unpronouncable by human speech. Their leader, who we will call Ra since that would later become his name, walked along the banks of the spawning pools. His anscestor had been one of the first to take Unas as hosts. Likewise we will call his race the Goa'ould, for that is also what they eventually would be called.
For unrecorded millenia the Goa'ould had taken aquatic life as hosts. He remembered lifetimes dwelling in the mire hunting game while in the body of great reptilian predators. The Goa'ould had genetic memory, inheriting the memories of their anscestors. However, only a small percentage of Goa'ould advanced beyond the larval stage, symbiotic creatures which entered the mouth of aquatic or land creatures, and entwined in the intestinal track. Once achieving sentience, they moved up and into the spinal column and brain stem.
The being that would be Ra remembered hundreds of lifetimes, inhabiting varying lifeforms. He had entered a Goa'ould male in the traditional way, as the young male was gathering water at the riverbank. He remembered his anscestor's shock when upon achieving sentience he'd moved up into the spinal column and brain stem, and took control of the Unas' mind. The SHOCKING influx of intellect that occurred. LANGUAGE. What an amazing concept. Tools.
Ra's ancestor had quickly achieved dominance in his tribe and instead of simply enjoying his superiority, he began to ACTIVELY bring other Goa'ould to the riverbanks to be taken as hosts for both mature and larval Goa'ould. His tribe quickly began to achieve dominance in the area, and a great though primitive civilization was created. While other Unas hosted Goa'ould mimicked his actions, his innovation had established his group as dominant.
As the being who would be Ra walked on the banks of the spawning pool, he reflected that he had been born in a pool just like this. Within was a queen. An elderly Unas woman but still fantastically healthy. Goa'ould warriors make their hosts powerful and long lived. Queens were nearly immortal in their longevity. The could reproduce asexually, or they could combine with the dna of a warrior to give their offspring the memories of both parents. He himself had sired many larvae from this queen.
Ra's father, and his fathers before him, had always had the combined memories of both queen and warrior. They were superior in every way. Or that was their belief. A pair of warriors came rushing up to him ... and Ra readied himself inwardly, while showing inward calm. If they dared attempt to slay him, their suffering would last for decades. And they knew this.
But this was no assassination attempt. They were two of his most trusted. The great eye, they said, had flashed with blue-green fire and a vertical pool of water had formed within it. From the pool had stepped strange beings ... soft looking, but with beautifully crafted garb and weapons. The spoke a strange language, not the language of the Unas, and the scouts had withdrawn unseen into the forst. They had informed their captains, and they in turn had come to Ra.
Two choices ... flee or fight. There were only three. He would taken 10 Unas warriors to destroy the invaders. They were small and weak ... and their bodies would feed the food pits by dusk. No one entered their territory without permission.
The battle had not gone as planned. Their staffs, pitiful seeming weapons before the spears of the Unas, had fired blazing fire which TORE through their ranks. Only because they had a slight element of surprise had they not ALL been slain. Ra himself was badly injured, dying despite his best efforts. Only one other warrior lived ... and was laying prone trying to heal his host. Repulsive as it was Ra only had one option to save himself. He made the dangerous attempt to leave his host body, ripping out of the throat and diving down the soft flat toothed maw of the weak being laying stunned before him.
In his mind's eye he remembered his anscestors amazement at achieving control and the mind of a sentient creature. This being was a thousand times more advanced. They were a human race, taken from earth and planted on other worlds as had been done hundreds of times by a long gone race called the ancients. This branch of humans had achieved technological advancement more quickly than others, and had recently begun exploring space with primitive faster-than-light ships. Much speedier exploration, however, was achieved using the stargates. The same beings that had plants humans throughout the galaxy had also left gateway devices behind for travel between planets. Ancient carvings had been deciphered and they had travelled to the planet of origin to find it still mired in superstition and primtive technology. They'd even asssembled great ships brought piece by piece through the gates and begun to converse with the locals who regarded them as gods.
What an incredible opprortunity. It far exceeded that achieved by Ra's ancestor ... the dominance of the entire galaxy. This space faring race had settled merely a few dozen worlds ... with infiltration by Goa'ould such as himself, they could usurp their control and technology. They would eventually be discovered ... but by that time the Goa'ould would be unstoppable. Jaffa armies had been created using human breeding stock from earth. However, their strained resources in this war left their power stretched thin on earth, the planet of origin, and a rebellion occurred. The gates were buried by the locals, and it was not worth the years of travel to journey to the remote region. Even in later years when technology allowed the journey in months instead of years, few could spare ships to make the journey.
Eventually, the Goa'ould took to bickering amongst themselves and governors became independent of Ra, creating their own empires. Most Goa'ould maintained their human forms, for the stolen technology of the sarcofogi was geared toward that form and even more greately expanded a Goa'ould's ability to extend the lifetime of a host. Possibly most importantly, their senses seemed designed for hedonistic lifestyle and the enjoyment of the tactile. Their minds had vast processing capacity and were easily controlled. A perfect union was achieved.