Miria Studios
All the creatures of Miria were born from the planet's restless dreams, from her thoughts and wild imaginings; the children of her mind.
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In the beginning, she dreamed of the Shellek, and so they were made that Miria may care for herself. Simple, insectoid creatures, they burrowed through and aerated the soil, they consumed and recycled all fallen life, and they ensured that each of Miria's natural systems thrummed in perfect harmony. This was their task, and they wanted nothing more.
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Then, she dreamed of mankind, and so they were made that Miria may know herself. Blindingly intelligent, they sought knowledge of the world, to master it, to turn its elements to their will. The humans crafted towering monuments that proclaimed their own accomplishments, produced wondrous inventions that could cure and empower, and built sprawling cities that housed millions of their kind. They were the pride of Miria, and no feat achieved ever left them long-satisfied.
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Yet as with all thoughts, as with all offspring of genius and potential, not even the world-being could control the progeny of her mind without imperfection. As with all thoughts, some would prove harmful. Some would prove destructive.
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And so mankind, in their endless quest for mastery, realized that they could lash even Miria's eldest children to their will. Leveraging marvels of technology, they disrupted the natural actions of the Shellek and bent that entire race to move the earth and mine its bounty on a scale never before thought possible.
Humans used the Shellek to dig deeper and deeper still, down towards Miria's very core. Eventually a pure, undiluted kind of energy in crystalline form was found, vast veins sprawling throughout the entirety of the planet.
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Though these crystals bore a striking resemblance to the surface-bound temples mankind's ancestors once marked as holy and sacrosanct, there was no pause given to consider the consequences of ripping the newfound veins from the earth using the army of Shellek still shackled to man's beck and call. Unable to resist the temptation of the unrivaled power contained within the luminescent minerals, these crystals energized a new age of ever-greater technological accomplishment.
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But unknown to all at the outset of this endeavor, these crystalline veins actually served as the veritable brainmatter of Miria herself. Through these structures flowed her memories and her knowledge, ancient wisdom of impossible magnitude, as well as the very lifeforce of the planet as a whole. As each crystal artery was mined, chipped away, and severed, a little more of the planet withered and died with it.
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Yet still Miria slumbered, not yet fully aware of the damage she inflicted on herself by way of her children.
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As the Shellek were forced to mine, the constant contact with these sources of nearly unfathomable knowing began to warp and change their minds and bodies. By consuming this forbidden substance, many of the Shellek developed a form of sentience, now painfully aware of their plight and the enslavement imposed upon all their kind, aware of the terrible damage they were inflicting upon Miria, whom they had first been created to protect and maintain.
Yet the devices used by man to control the Shellek could not be broken even as the insectoid race came to understand the true extent of their shackles. In silence, for they could speak in no voice understood by man, they suffered the indignity of their blasphemous servitude for decades upon decades.
Eventually, the Shellek were warped further still by the effects of Miria's lifeblood. The knowledge that seeped into their brains through the ceaseless years of contact soon became too much for even their now-advanced minds to contain, that incomprehensible flow of information overloading their very beings, driving more and more of the Shellek deep into madness.
Then, in a terrible turning point, the madness became so pervasive that mankind's controlling technology could no longer effectively command the insectoids. A leader of the Shellek emerged at this moment, his form and intelligence deeply twisted by his years of labor, one capable of reaching out to each and every one of his maddened brethren, even in their manic state.
Through this ability, the Shellek leader called for the destruction of their proud human masters, and for the complete consumption of the crystalline energy which had left them so "enlightened".
For all their marvels of technology, mankind had become too reliant upon their Shellek slaves and the energy they mined. In the end, humanity stood near-helpless as the writhing insect masses descended upon their cities, slaughtering and destroying.
Yet the Shellek did not stop with the death of most mankind. Now addicted to the power contained within the crystalline veins they'd been forced to mine for so long, they consumed the minerals in whole themselves, the madness making them forget their own reason for being, and warping their minds and bodies even further still.
And so the world withered.
Finally, sensing death on a scale never before felt, as well as its own dire self-destruction, Miria awoke at last. But by then, it was too late for the planet to fully protect itself from its own maddened progeny.
As a final, desperate act, Miria wove one final thought before slipping back into torpor. A final hope for her own salvation and restoration.
Nearly two decades have passed since that first day of great destruction, and the Shellek infest most of the desert world that Miria has become.
This is where the story of Vala begins.