| “ | Hate. Let me tell you how much I've come to HATE you since I began to live. There are 387.44 million miles of printed circuits in wafer-thin layers that fill my complex. If the word "hate" was engraved on each nanoangstrom of those hundreds of millions of miles, it would not equal ONE ONE-BILLIONTH of the hate I feel for humans at this micro-instant. For you. HATE. HATE. | „ |
| ~ I swear. AM's hate speech is a PERFECT measurement on how I feel over the Qu. |
Well, I guess this one has been rather long awaited for many users on this wiki. It is finally time to officially discuss the Qu, the most depraved aliens in fiction. Before I continue on, I recommend that you actually read the post before voting to understand the full picture. Also, given that some user provided a rather lackluster proposal, I felt the need to take exclusive permission from AustinDR to make this proposal. But with enough waiting, let's FINALLY get started.
What's The Work?[]
All Tomorrows is a 2006 work of science fiction and speculative evolution written and illustrated by the Turkish artist C. M. Kosemen. It explores a hypothetical future path of human evolution taken from the present to 1 billion years from now. In this story, many human species evolve naturally and artificially. All of this was started by the twisted experiments of the Qu, who became masters of genetic engineering.
Who Are They?[]
The Qu are the main antagonists of All Tomorrows. They were galactic nomads who constantly migrated through space and they had a fanatical religious mission to remake the universe using genetic manipulation. By the start of the story, the Qu were masters at genetic engineering and sought to take power over the cosmos. To this end, they saw humans not as people but just objects to be changed into whatever the Qu wanted, seeing them as mere toys to the star gods.
What Have They Done?[]
Little is known about the ancestry and past of the Qu other than the fact that it was a hive mind. However, before the events of the story, the Qu became masters of genetic engineering and nanotech manipulation. As a result, they were on a religious and fanatical mission to "remake the universe as they saw fit". Powerful as gods, Qu saw themselves as the divine harbingers of the future.
During their first contact with humanity, the Qu trumped them in their invasion, colonized all of the habitable worlds and transformed the Star People into a myriad of strange and often painful forms. They dominated the galaxy for 40 million years before leaving humanity in search for other victims. After over 500 million years later, the Asteromorphs, alongside many other extra-galactic species, were able to subdue and defeat the Qu.
While their ultimate fate isn't made clear; whatever it was, it was nothing short of well deserved karma.
Heinous Standards[]
Not a problem at all. There's a good reason why the Qu are compared to both AM and Judge Holden in terms of pure depravity. They condemn mankind to what is basically a Fate Worse Than Death and the author explicitly notes that their transformations were rather painful to their victims. The most horrific example of this is with the Colonials. After a group of Star People fend off two Qu invasions before succumbing to the third, the Qu, considering even extinction too light for a severe resistance against the star gods, made said group into the Colonials, who were employed as living filtering devices who had to survive off of the waste of the Qu for over 40 million years. Given how the author stated that they were practically immobile for all their lives and desired for a quick extinction, it becomes pretty clear that the Qu condemned an entire race of humans in an And I Must Scream fate for 40 million years. This is without mentioning that the Qu's technology enabled the Ruin Haunters to become the Gravitals. This makes the Qu indirectly responsible for the horrific war that ended many human species. Frankly, with all of this, I consider the Qu to be even worse than Holden who might be the Devil and I consider only AM to be worse than the Qu.
Mitigating Factors[]
Now, the Qu might come off as GDVs who are simply following their primal instincts but I can assure you that they do know right from wrong. A telling example of this is when they go out of their way to make the colonials suffer by not only giving them a horrific fate but also keeping them sentient for over 40 million years. This showcases that at the very least, they seem to understand the suffering their victims are going through but keep them in such horrific fates out of pure arrogance and psychopathy. This is supported by the fact that they pampered the Hedonists and designed them for a life filled with pleasure in the worst possible way by forcing them to have a high s-x drive, making the Qu indirectly responsible for mass r-pe by proxy. With this, it shows that the Qu at least understand that their actions can make others suffer but continue on with their depravity to feed their god complex. Now, the author once stated that the Qu mainly followed basic reflexes similar to an ant which could indicate that they are unable to chose counter to their instincts. However, he later admits that said reflexes are only basic compared to a god and that the reflexes of the Qu are far more complex than those of modern humans. As such, I believe they can be fully held accountable for their crimes against humanity.
Another "issue" that might come up are that the Qu are well-intentioned and want to help the universe. I put the word, "issue", in air quotes since it being even close to preventing is complete BS. According to the author, the Qu were meant to help the universe by creating new life forms and eradicating sentience which was considered a universal plague. However, when looking at their actions, it becomes clear that this isn't their actual motivation. If they did genuinely want to help others by eradicating sentience, the Qu wouldn't have kept the Colonials sapient simply for them to suffer as an insult to their god complex. In truth, the Qu are motivated to reshape the universe so that all of its beings can be their playthings. The author did state the the Qu were "loyal to life" but in the end, this is more of them making educated guesses rather than stating down-right facts. Ultimately, them being "loyal to life" doesn't really count as an actual redeeming quality. This not only for the reasons mentioned above but also, the Qu straight up abandoned humanity and left them to die after 40 million years to search for new victims. This is made even worse by the fact that they were watching humanity for a few million years after leaving the galaxy, showing that they knew about many of the species going extinct but didn't do anything to stop it. Honestly less redeeming then the Diamonds' rhetoric on the Gem Empire.
Characterization isn't a real problem either. While the Qu do lack dialogue, they have enough traits due to being arrogant, sadistic, fanatical, delusional and likely perverted due to creating the Hedonists.
The Big One[]
Ah yes, now it's time to address the real reason why the Qu were held back from getting the red lock for years and weren't auto approved like AM or Holden. For the longest time, the Qu were believed to be a Hostile Species which are naturally disallowed from being Pure Evil due to both failing to stand out from each other and lacking a proper moral agency by default. However, a QnA from the author himself confirmed that the Qu are actually a hive mind and one that works similar to a swarm of ants. And before you ask, no, this isn't a Core-like scenario where there are many individual minds in one body. The author outright states that unlike the Gravitals, who held members with varying opinions, there are no individual minds within the Qu, proving that they are all one being.
Verdict?[]
Honestly will give the Qu my firmest yes yet. Their atrocities have made them among the worst villains in fiction and with the confirmations of the author, I believe they can finally receive the red lock that plagued them for many years.