A healthy baby girl, however, should grow up normally. Whenever a Noble House wishes to 'acquire' a family member, the method needs to follow a set of norms. Since our citizenship only concerns Elohim, only them are sought. Yet enlightenment is rare. Therefore, the best way to get results is to breed children by the hundreds of millions in hope that one will achieve greatness.

Traditionally, a matriarch donates her eggs every year. They are cloned and inseminated with sperm sourced from Yah'lès or imported from outside the country. These « standardized seeds » are then implanted into a surrogate mother's uterus, who will be monitored during gestation. A trouble? The procedure is terminated. An opportunity to give birth to a mass of gelatin is not worth the risk. This technique ensures an excellent genetic diversity, while giving the biological unity wanted by our clans. Zhijia's daughters, to name what I know, are truly sisters, hence their resemblance to my wife.

The Great Houses push this process further: they alter gametes, in order to reinforce specific traits. That's why families are so similar in their physical characteristics. All Wei, for example, have red skin and green eyes. We can tell where a reinir comes from by looking at her. A clan can have up to six thousand members. Size doesn't tell anything about wealth. Producing children is expensive, but some lineages tend to compensate for their lack of political authority by an excessive birth rate.

My situation is unusual. In normal circumstances, my creation would never have been admitted. First, I am a commissioned project. Reiner is fiercely hostile to the very principle of designing custom-made Elohim. There is an ocean between choosing the shape of a nose and creating someone from scratch. Second, my status implies that I couldn't belong to any clan. I emerged in defiance of our legal system, and on paper, I am counted as an adopted child of the royal house. My matriarch was Ashimora herself! Cool, isn't it?

Leilin had an exact idea of what she wanted: a warrior talented enough to stimulate her tastes but unable to compete seriously. A chick so beautiful she would redefine the word, sexually insatiable, with the stamina to keep up. My education had to guarantee her satisfaction. All of my being was designed to be as attractive as possible, both physically and mentally. Exoticism personified. A prowess in gene-sculpting.

In the end, thirty-seven out of the initial fifty million babies came to term. My 'mother' died in childbirth. I was educated by servants, who provided the required schooling: just what was important for a good citizen. All they had to do was hope that one of us end up reaching enlightenment, otherwise the program would have to start over. Fortunately, I won! My clones did not. So I became an Eloah at 17. The way I say it sounds nonchalant, yet it gives me a terrible chill. If you miss your chance, something beyond any control, someone comes into your room in the middle of the night to take you away.

You were 'princess perfection'? Welcome to Ganthra. Here is a forge, work hard kiddo! My case was so wrong in the administration's eyes that they preferred to destroy my « sisters ». How did they feel when their « parents » came to slit their throats? Today, I am aware that I stood on top of a mountain of skulls. Without a prodigious stroke of fate, my head would have joined that bloody stack. I was convinced at this time that people were trying to flatter me by saying they envied my fabulous luck. I had the intelligence of a brick.

Since we're talking about a time before I got my first souvenir recorder, it's a fuzzy memory. I have images that come back, especially at night. A large wooden building on a meadow, purple hills, some white fir tree... A woman took care of me in the morning. Blonde, tall and stern. In the evening, it was a small cheerful redhead. Since nothing bad returns into my mind, this daily routine was probably pleasant. After my enlightenment, the staff threw a party to celebrate. They were under no obligation. I think these people liked me.

The next day, they shipped me off to my clan's capital planet with great fanfare. At the royal palace, with my background. I would stay there waiting, while the Empire of Mara assigned me to a group where I could get my civilian instruction. These lessons usually last for two centuries. I will never see again the place where I lived my first years. For me, it is nothing but a dying dream. I was born at 17. Hell, what do I find so hard to talk about in all of this? I have the awful feeling that I'm digging up some dangerous relics. Maybe I'm just under stress?

Now, I'm more comfortable with my responsibilities, which doesn't lessen at all the pressure Enki is putting upon me to follow his 'vision'. While his exceptional wisdom commands respect, my opinion does not change: humanity deserves knowledge. We have no right to deny what belongs to them. I teach what he forbids, secretly. Enlil said that our function was to illuminate, to educate. I do the work that is expected from me, I bring light. My students have chosen a name for themselves, as a joke, in reference to this: the Illuminated.

The school is located in a hidden, deserted area. Don't look for it. Yes I know you read my diary, Enki! Enough fighting. It's too late now. Let me do my thing. When the time comes, my students will protect the world you have shaped. In the meantime, I will impose the necessary limits, on my terms.