The Mayfly Swarm

Only that which we are experiencing Now is Real.

Core Concept

Where the Krystallos embody deep time, legacy, and accumulated history, the Ephemera represent the radical present. They are a species that lives with no concept of past or future, experiencing reality as a series of intense, disconnected moments.

Physiology & Biology

Insectoid or avian, with extremely accelerated lifecycles, often lasting no more than a single planetary rotation. They reproduce explosively and their individual lives are short, vibrant, and violent. They possess no mechanism for long-term memory storage; their minds are constantly overwritten by new sensory input.

Psychology & Society (Faith / Fiction)

Core Faith: They have no history, no legends, and no plans. Their society is a chaotic, moment-to-moment swarm intelligence, driven by the immediate pursuit of primal Needs (food, reproduction, safety). The concept of a continuing “self” or Thread is alien to them.

Core Fiction: They have no fiction. The act of storytelling, which requires linking a past event to a present telling for a future audience, is a cognitive impossibility. They are a culture without myth.

Gameplay Hooks & Tensions

Playing as an Ephemera would be a high-speed, high-stakes experience focused on immediate gratification. Your Subjective Interface would have no memory log, and quests would be simple, reactive Goals that expire in minutes. The challenge is to achieve something meaningful before your life burns out.

Their opposition to the Krystallos is total. To the Ephemera, the tortoises are inert, meaningless rocks. To the Krystallos, the Ephemera are a storm of nonsensical noise, a biological static that erases the very possibility of history.

Eidos Generated

• [immediacy]
• [the_eternal_now]
• [ephemeral]
• [oblivion]
• [sensation_without_memory]