History

The world of Mutualism takes place in a time when humans have died out. They ended up killing off too much of the earth, not giving it enough time to grow back and ripping it of its resources. Tyto and bugs were left starving, and knew something had to be done. They banded together, fighting back against the humans, destroying their resources and leaving only a few straggling remainders that died out on the island, protecting their land from the outside world. Bats refused to aid in this destruction, seeing it as senseless violence.

Humans were gone, leaving an unbalanced ecosystem in their wake. At first, they kept up their alliance, providing for one another as needed… but food began to run shorter and shorter. Bugs found a solution- there were strange, floating islands, high above where most tyto could fly, which carried glowing rocks. When touched, the bugs were able to use powers to produce and guide plants, the earth, the water. It was a temporary solution for them, and they rejoiced at this find, distributing the rocks to bugs across the land and helping them learn the powers of deep, strange magic.

The tyto, however, did not have such a find. The tyto grew greedy, desperate, unable to grow food like the bugs had learned to do. Some prayed to gods, others tried to make up for it by learning, but it wasn't enough. They began to do the same thing that the humans had, and when that wasn't enough, they turned to taking from the bugs. The bugs had claimed they found a land where there was plentiful food, where they could produce their own resources-- where was this so-called land? Why had only the bugs found it? Where was it for them? Some tytos began to take matters into their own claws, convincing the other tytos in the tribes that the bugs were stealing from their land and their food, and that they were nothing but pests that refused to stop mooching off of them. The bugs were no happier. They were convinced that the tyto were using them only for their gain, and prosperity would only come if they went out on their own where they could control the situation. Small bands of tyto broke off, and they would hunt down packs of bugs that were trying to migrate to the new lands. At first, it was only to steal supplies. But somehow, originally by accident, the tyto began to realize that the bugs satisfied a much, much deeper fulfillment within them when they ate the bugs themselves instead of just the supplies they carried.

Horrified at this, bugs retreated, vowing that they would never trust the tyto again until they learned the error of their ways. They took everyone possible to the islands, too high for the tyto to reach or find with the fog surrounding the land. There they built societies within the rocks, finding new ways to use magic and binding themselves together into groups. However, they had to return to the surface of the land so that they would be able to get the nutrients needed to grow their food in the skies, creating tension and fear as they tried to grapple with avoiding the "monsters" that were the tyto still roaming beneath.

The tyto, for a time, were still merciless. They grew so feral with hunger that, through generations, the ability to speak our form a coherent language was long forgotten. They consumed everything in their path, desperately hungry for something that only bugs could satisfy, and trying to quench the large metabolisms they needed to survive. Many tyto died of starvation, and the few that were left decided that things needed to change. They formed groups, separating to the far ends of the islands, and learned to have patience. Their deep feral desires for food had to be ignored, through meditation and through fasting, so that they would learn to be satisfied with the little that they had. These practices slowly allowed the land to recover, animals returning as their populations were replenished and left alone, giving the birds the chance to eat only what was necessary. For a time, they had now learned to quench the burning embers within them, to silence them and leave it to rest.

Tyto, during this time, had lost their ability to properly communicate, through the long periods of silent meditation that had been taught to help them survive. It was thought that this ability must be long gone, never to be found again except through gestures and vague displays. Instead, they discovered a far more curious magic- an ability to share thoughts, touching one another's souls. It was hidden deep within them, and through practice, each tyto learned that they could finally share their thoughts and ideas as their own.

The bugs, on the other hand, were oblivious to this. They had separated into groups. The beetles, dragonflies, and similar species formed a clan called Khepers that specialized in healing magic and grew food sources. The bees, wasps, and ants became known as the Hiveborn, working in groups to keep things organized and build the structures around to keep the islands intact. Then the Lepidopa, later on known as the Outsiders, were made up of the moths and butterflies who made their way to the surface to gather much needed supplies and bring word of the lands below. The bugs were ruled by the stability of the Hiveborn, who ruled with an iron fist in an attempt to control the problems that had once plagued them, keeping true to their promise to never trust those below at any means necessary.

When bugs and tyto met, it rarely went well. Bugs were the one thing to reignite the tyto’s hunger, and so bugs had to quickly learn to avoid the tribes of tyto, or be eaten. For the tyto, the bugs were no more than pests, potential creatures without thought or feeling that wanted to take what little food they had. For the bugs, the tyto were fearsome, greedy monsters of the land and waters below without thought or feeling, who only wanted to quell their desires through consumption.

The bugs and the birds lived very different lives, separate but interconnected by dependencies that they didn’t even understand. One lived on the Great Expanse, the colder regions of the islands above that were safe from harm but desperately needed the resources below, and the other lived in Belous, the large island below that yearned for a new kind of energy it did not possess. Each thought that they had exactly what they needed in their world, that they had learned the way of their lives and that they did not need to understand anything beyond that.

But they were wrong.

There were other ways to get the life energy, the magic, the wholeness that both craved so much. This is where our story begins, where the lines of one species meets another after generations of separation, and how understanding and trust begin to mend the bonds of both the land itself and the species that relied on it.