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Hanari Carnes · (05-05-2020)

Like hunters in a "dark forest", a civilization can never be certain of an alien civilization's true intentions. The extreme distances between stars creates an insurmountable "chain of suspicion", where any two civilizations cannot communicate well enough to dissipate distrust, making conflict inevitable.

All life desires staying alive.

In layman's terms: In The Dark Forest, the assumptions of life are this: living organisms want to stay alive — they have a survival drive — and there is no way to know the true intentions of other lifeforms. Because there can be no certainties of a peaceful encounter, the safest course of action is to eradicate the other species before they have a chance to attack you instead.

There is no way to know if other can or will destroy you if given the chance. Lacking assurances, the safest option for any species is to annihilate other life forms before they have a chance to do the same.

“The universe is a dark forest. Every civilization is an armed hunter stalking through the trees like a ghost, gently pushing aside branches that block the path and trying to tread without sound. Even breathing is done with care. The hunter has to be careful, because everywhere in the forest are stealthy hunters like him. If he finds other life — another hunter, an angel or a demon, a delicate infant or a tottering old man, a fairy or a demigod — there’s only one thing he can do: open fire and eliminate them. In this forest, hell is other people. An eternal threat that any life that exposes its own existence will be swiftly wiped out."--Liu Cixin

The lights tore through the dense and unfamiliar wilderness. This was an unfamiliar land for the group, a dense and vast abyss of brush and foliage that seemed to go on for light-years.

A place they had never seen before, but it roused their raging interest that burned like a wildfire inside of them. So many things for them to use, to pillage, to bring back home to their native land. Every land they come across in this colossal depth, they have made their own.

After realizing they may not be out of the foliage for a while, they decided to land the ship and explore the immense, untrodden landscape for themselves.

Strapping their weapons on them, and charging up their defense suits, they headed out into a world where they didn't know what to expect.

---This massive army of humans was cruising through the galaxy, conquering every planet with intelligent life they came across. Doing this took centuries, it had become a main stay. Every child that was born was raised to be a soldier. It was in their nature, they knew nothing else. No compassion, no heart, no soul. Just ruthless killing machines.

When they emerged from the brush, they stared in awe at the utopia that sat in front of them. Buildings with golden domes, wide glass windows that reflected the light of the star they seemed to worship, and an abundance of potted plants that donned vibrant flowers. The beings who lived here were in the streets, communicating, socializing, dancing, singing. The planet seemed to be overloaded with artists, musicians, actors and poets. All of whom practiced their craft in the streets with no fear, no reason to be anything but merry.

The soldiers shook it off. They noticed the air was different here. Clearer, easier to breathe, and the visibility was second to none. They felt as though they could see double, maybe even triple, the average for their eyes normal capacity. The men pushed forward, entering the paradise that lay before them. Many of them had their hands on their guns, but they were not in shooting position, yet. Every being they passed waved, nodded, welcomed them. Children ran up to them, pulling on their uniforms, and offering their toys. Many of these "people" sat around just soaking up the atmosphere. They seemed lazy, relaxed. Not a care in the world. They got their joy from simply being alive another day.

Women strolled down the street in elaborate dresses, and many of the men wore loose, comfortable clothing. Everyone got along here. They loved each other. There was no hostility among these beings, no jealousy, no envy. Everyone had their place, and enjoyed their place. Some of the biggest smiles the soldiers had ever seen.

They found a large building that held a man dressed differently than the others on the street. He looked to be some sort of higher figure, but when questined he insisted that although he was the leader it was the people who made the land.

He informed the soldiers that this land had virtually zero pollution. Everyone lived off the land and made their own living.

When pressed about the armies and what the soldiers could expect in terms of resistance, they were shocked by his reply.

There were no armies. The planet was at peace.

This disgusted the soldiers. A planet at peace? They could be at peace while the people on their planet had to conquer other nations in order to get the resources they felt they needed to survive. Centuries had passed. This was life now.

The soldiers took the man, forced him to he knees. His eyes went wide. Large, pleading eyes. Scared eyes. Eyes that told the story of peace and unfamiliarization with the horrors of war......

They slit his throat.

Blood sprayed the wall from the gaping wound, and ran all down the front of him Gushing like a geyser his wide eyes stayed still as he fell forward in a heap, the soldiers cocking they guns behind him. They looked at each other and nodded before exiting, leaving the bleeding leader dead on the floor.

The high powered futuristic guns went off as soon as they exited, turning the first few victims they came across into dust that blew away in the slight breeze.

Children dropped their toys, and began to run. But they didn't know where they running to. They have never had to run from anything. Many of them were shot in the back as they ran.

Women, men, all were screaming and running to a place they didn't know, pleading to an unknown entity before they turned to dust, or dropped and fell, blood pooling below them. The soldiers went up hill, down hill, eliminating everything and everyone in their path. They shot animals, rounding them up and bagging them--they would need them for food.

Bones crunched, flesh tore, throats gurgled as they filled with blood. Eyeballs popped out of skulls as the bones were crushed between a boot and a rock. The soldiers collected teeth both as souvenirs and perhaps to extract nutrients in any way they could. Same with hair, and the forehead skin as they scalped whoever they felt like, often times still alive.

Screams torn from throats as the large knives ripped into them. The soldiers made their way towards the countryside. The farmers threw their arms up, but it didn't matter. They were shot down. Entire families with no bias to age or sex. The farms were pillaged for what could be used, the rest was burned. The crops would be irrigated with blood. The had slaughtered the natives in droves. Survival of the fittest in their eyes. They were the fittest.

The smoke that filled the air was foreign to this land, and the sky became dark. There was a wind, suddenly. The soldiers moved through the landscape, eviscerating everything in sight when the smoke began to break in the wind. A flagpole broke into the sight-line.

That was strange, these people flew familiar flags. It must be a decoy. The soldiers glanced down at the flags that sat stitched into their uniforms. These people flew the same flags. One soldier nudged another, pointed. Then the next one nudged and pointed. Rinse and repeat. It dawned on them all in one fell swoop.

Many of these emotionless soldiers began to throw up. Some cried. Some put the high powered guns to their own faces and pulled the trigger. As the wind blew the flag, the only sounds were the gags and sobs of the aggressors.

They had returned to their home planet. Earth.

A civilization that wishes to continue expanding across the universe will need to compete for the limited resources with any other intelligent life. With this assumption, one need not even consider that the species is hostile. We endanger animal populations on our planet all the time, not out of hatred but out of need for resources.

The Dark Forest theory is an examination of life on Earth: how we treat one another, our propensity both for violence and for cooperation, our ability both to consider and disregard life. The theory applies these characteristics to the great beyond — the voids of space which may harbor life that might follow a similar way of thinking and acting. One of the biggest consolations walking the streets of Earth at night is that even if one confronts another person, one can still appeal to their humanity. We can all understand desires and fears. But that’s not a guarantee when addressing civilizations in space. Would it be better if their nature was similar to ours, or should we hope to find a very different race under those warm yellow street lights? Perhaps we’ll find a society kinder than ours, and wiser. Perhaps not.

"So what I am failing to understand is why we continue to bow down to red-x. Giving in to his every whim and demand just because he gave us the big sad eyes and played the pity card? I mean this guy spends eight dollars at Lowe's and suddenly hes Vincent VanGough? He is gonna need more than a little red paint to intimidate someone like me. How many times is he going to threaten to leave if we don't be nice to him before we finally just let him go. What would we really be missing? Nobody would miss him. The fact he is even in this captains match is a slap in the face to the entire rich history of War Games. I mean, he is gonna pick last anyway, thats a given, but who really wants to be on his team? It is a guranteed loss, a wasted slot. The only hope to save his team would be to draft massive star power, and those stars happen to also be captains. Is there a way to just cut the fat now? Does anyone else volunteer to be captain? There has to be someone more reliable. To red-x team all I have to say is RIP, because with him as captain, you've lost before the match has even begun.

Shane

, is he a natural born leader? Sure, perhaps sitting behind a desk and making marketing decisions....but inside that ring, is he a guy you want to rely on when heading into battle? All of his talk about a new personality, a new attitude, a new Shane

! Do you believe it? I sure don't. People don't change. People are who they are, it is how they are wired. They may make a pledge to themselves, to the others around them, but deep down people are who they are--and Shane

is nothing but a class clown. A prankster. The funny guy with cringe-worthy humor tailored towards 14 year old boys. Guys like my partner Chris Chaos have a fierce loyalty to him, but I do not. I have a fierce loyalty to myself, and what I do in that ring. Do I have an issue with Shane? No. But I warn him now, don't get in my way because I will snap his arm.

Now that the scrubs are out of the way, lets get to the deserving captains. All of them are champions. All of them are icons here, legends in their own right. All of them are who you would think about when you see a match like this with captain next to their name. They SHOULD be the captains. Centurion, Robert Main, Shawn Warstein. The face of this establishment, and probably, to be absolutely honest, the only thing keeping this company in the black.

I have my reservations about Warstein and his moral character, but nobody can take away from him his accomplishments in the ring. I've done battle with the man, and he is the real deal. But like Ric Flair said....'To Be The Best, You've Gotta Beat The Best.' That is what drives me. I want to be the best. I want to have a long and illustrious career here, and when people look back at my career in 10 years, I want people to see that I did battle with the best. And I won. I want people to look at me in the same light as they view these men in. I wanna be a legend.

How do I do that?

By beating them. I've only been here a short time but I already have a resume that many roster members here could envy. But it's not enough. It's never enough. Success is the best revenge, and at the end of the day, my success will do my talking for me. I won't even have to speak my part. I'll sit there, smoke a cigar, drink some tequila, and let them make a documentary of me with video clips of me beating men like Shawn Warstein. I may lose to him 10 times, but that one win will be what everyone remembers.

Look at Michael Jordan. He lost to the Bad Boy Pistons in the playoffs twice, and they were kicking his ass for 4-5 years before he overcame them. Look what he became. It was beating the big names, rising to the occasion, overcoming the obstacles that were a big factor in his legacy. That is going to be me.

I'll be honest......

Picking first for War Games would be great, but winning War Games is even better. At the end of the day it doesn't matter where I pick because I am going to overcome the odds, we are going to win, and we are going to etch our name further into the legacy of this historic company's lore. Say what you will, none of it matters. All that matters is what happens when we step into that ring. That is how we are measured. Keep that belt warm, Shawn, because Hanari is coming.

Centurion, I hope you saw what I did to your little protege Tula on Savage. That is going to be you....tears streaming down, crying like a bitch, tapping out. Not because I have any ill will towards you, but because I am going to do what I have to do to survive.

Robert Main is perhaps the most perplexing competitor in this match. The odds on favorite, I'd imagine. The one who will be standing face to face with me when this is all said and done. The man who has taken XWF by storm, by force, and has transformed into one of the most dominant forces this roster has ever seen. A great. An all-time great. The APEX predator. Again Robert, you're probably going to pat yourself on the back if you win this match, come out on Savage or Warfare with another long-winded, droning on in ring promo about how you have the number one spot. You have to relish in your own success. You have to force feed it to each and every one of us. You have to highlight your highlights at every turn......almost as if you have to convince yourself that you are as good as you say you are. Robert....this match won't mark the end between you and I. Oh no, it is just the beginning. Chris and I are coming for those belts on Saturday, and after I win the number one spot and leave you wallowing in a pool of denial and self-doubt.....I'll shatter the rest of your world this weekend when I put the final nail in the Apex legacy.

I am not going away Robert, so you better used to me. This is a Dark Forest, and its survival of the fittest.

I

WILL

SURVIVE.

*fade to black*

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