: I posted this down the list a little as an add-endum to the volunteers post,
: but this is a biggie : I'd like to chew this one out on its own...
No one took the bait, so you're reposting? I think your hypotheses are a bit heavy for most of us to chew on. There's also a *lot* of conjecture, here. Let's just say that the concept of individuality and oneness must be different for the S'pht. They are, after all, fully networked to each other, so that their thoughts must undoubtedly be shared. In many respects they are like the Borg in Start Trek, just not ruthless. (IMO, we'll be the ones who become the Borg - cybernetics is inevatible - what we do with it will determine how benign it will be.) Now, every indication is that the Jjaro fashioned the S'pht from native life on L'howon, so in a sense the Jjaro made the S'pht in their image (that concept seems strangely familiar). It can therefore be infered that the Jjaro are networked or have a shared consciousness. But were they always that way? And where did *they* come from. Did they invent the W'rkncacnter, or was it something even older than they? Was it the product of some ancient war? These are things that we can never know.
An interesting take on this can be found in the final screen for the Tempus Irae 2 scenario. In it, S'buth tells the marine that the S'Pht were not the creators but were the creators' master builders. By that I assume that he is referring to the Jjaro. He goes on to say that they have gone mad and will undo the very creation of the universe - that all we know will go to darkness - and that we must fight them. It always struck me that S'buth was actually referring to the "imminent" collapse of the universe. Was S'buth, like Durandal, trying to escape the closure of the universe? It's a very interesting thought, but it's all conjecture. Isn't this forum great?!
