Human Sanctification Project

The **Human Sanctification Project** (Gauvajut: Pernas Pangarišuppis Antuhhalli, PPŠA) or **HSP** -- initiated by Prime Minister Suwelli -- was an attempt during the Sixteenth Age to eliminate various undesirable traits from the genome of the Gauvajut Empire's people.

These traits ranged from cancer, to stammering, clumsiness, and (in the founders' views) autism and non-heterosexuality, using technology salvaged from the machinery of the Twelfth Galactic Empire. Those undesirable traits were expanded to include hostile ideologies to make the people more docile and obedient to the Gauvajut emperors and their gods.

Millennia after the HSP, the governments of Jerde's nations derived their own serums from the HSP's chemicals. These chemicals were more effective than the HSP in improving the health, strength, and intelligence of its users. The worldwide campaign to "upgrade" humanity using those serums was known as the Great Uplifting.

## Motives

According to the advocates of the HSP, diversity in human beings was the result of countless attempts of human genetics to adapt to different environments. However, since many attempts resulted in various disorders and disabilities, there has to be some way to harness and manipulate genetics to ensure those harmful traits will *never* exist again in all humans, born and unborn. This would be done to make life easier for everyone in the Empire, if not for all living people, ending in "a global utopia free from any illness or flaw".

They also believed that forcibly altering enemies in the battlefield using the HSP would quickly end wars and usher in a new age of peace, where the defeated end up serving the Gauvajut gods in a comfortable life.

Another reason for the HSP was envy against the many civilisations of the Galaxy. Some of them were entire nation being more capable of fielding more powerful and obedient armies, whereas Jerde was divided between several competing and destabilising empires.

A third and a more important reason was the Terrans. The Jerdiskar started taking more HSP doses to force their minds to avoid the selfish, cruel attitudes of the Terran warmongers and cultists.

## Methods

The HSP was done through several methods: edible oils and pills that gradually altered the user's psychology within days, or genetic mutation within hours. Three types of these pills were:

* the Basic Oil, which helps its drinker concentrate more easily and think sharply,
* the Nine Oils, which gradually mutates its drinker into a more healthier body and mind within weeks,
* the Rho-Pill, which greatly eliminates sexual desires and addictions from a person.

By far, the most effective method was the Nine Oils, which was later condensed into the Great Oil. The Great Oil can turn mutate a person within days instead of weeks, making them more artistic but docile. But due to its lower costs, the Rho-Pill was more commonly-used.

One controversial method involved shooting an instant laser from a satellite towards the planet Jerde. If it was ever used, it would have mutated almost every living and unborn human into a "Sanctified" being: gifted with art and creativity, but devoid of lust, vice, desires, and individuality. It was an attempt to use a sort of "instant-fix" beam (already used by some countries to forcibly convert prisoners into obedient subjects or slaves) by applying it on a global scale. It was scrapped along with the project when the Gauvajut government found out that it would be used to turn their people into a hive mind.

## Types of "Sanctified" humans

### Neo-humans (Newantuhhes, Pahsanuwanes)

The original HSP humans, these people were the result of severe genetic and mental modification to remove any suspected "defect" from their bodies. As a result, they were healthier, stronger, beautiful, and more intelligent than their fellow Gauvajuts; but more obedient, docile, and being focused. They are known as "Neo-humans", or "Newantuhhes" (or "Neahtes") in Gauvajut; other names used for them were Pahsanuwanes ("Protected Ones [by the Gods]") and Šuppijes ("Sanctified Ones").

In the Gauvajut Empire and many of its allies, the Newantuhhes mutants were celebrated as "holy people who love the gods, and are beloved by the gods in return". However, the enemies of the empire, including Red Ardesch, revile them as "freaks of nature that spoil humanity's progress".

### Healeds (Nasmaijes)

Other Neo-humans existed within and outside the Empire, but they only had improved health and better metabolisms, while retaining their minds and individual behaviours.

### Abstinents (Abstas/Naspaijes) and Vatgrowns (Dukkaparkes)

Another variant of the HSP altered humans to an extent that it made lust -- and anything to do with it -- less appealing to those affected. Reasons for this variant's usage include a negative attitude in Gauvajut society towards lust in general, to discouraging people from aborting embryos (as abortion is considered a waste in Gauvajut culture). Although its supporters claimed that it was meant to divert humanity towards higher pursuits, pressure from conservatives forced the directors of the HSP to compromise from becoming absolutely asexual. The resulting humans -- the modified ones and their offspring -- were known as "Abstinents", and in Gauvajut, they were known as "Nas-paitakkes" or "Naspaijes" (Abstas, "the lust-less ones") or Asārijes ("the clean ones").

In this variant, the altered humans decide whether to reproduce their children via marriage, and only with their spouse; or to stay single and "donate" their reproductive cells to produce more members, until they decide to marry or remain celibate upon reaching mid-life. They were more celibate than other humans, but also more intelligent and fertile (so they do not need the bed to produce more offspring). These volunteers and their offspring mostly lived in communities away from the general public. They were allowed to move and live anywhere within the empire as long as they wore a tracking chip, and a government license was needed in order to marry an Abstinent. How these communities of Abstinents treated their offspring produced in laboratories, known as "vatgrowns", differentiated some from the rest: but children produced naturally were always regarded as citizens under Gauvajut law. Nonetheless, those children were altered to make themselves more modest. Their name in Gauvajut was "Dukka-parkes" ("Tube-grown Ones").

The first group, the Asshijanes (Aššijanes, "Beloved"), were known for treating the vatgrowns as equals, to be adopted by any family within their communities. These adopted vatgrowns were given citizenship, and were allowed to marry other Abstinents of the same age and opposite sex, or with pure humans.

The second group, the Palsaies ("Multiplied"), were known for reducing vatgrowns into slaves who worked alongside convicts. Palsailli vatgrowns were less intelligent and more obedient, although they were stronger to make them work harder.

To avoid overpopulation (or any violation of religious norms), they only produced vatgrowns every few decades, when a couple consented and decided to produce several children, or when the empire needs more workers and soldiers to replace lost manpower. Any attempts to produce vatgrowns in any other time was illegal, and any offspring produced from such attempts became property of the government.

Regardless of the results, the greatest scientists, artists, and warriors of the empire's later history were Naspaijes. Among the things that the Naspaijes preferred instead of sex included science, astronomy, mechanics, biology, and art.

### "Failures" (Pesshijanes)

This project (and hundreds of others before it in other countries) was not possible without scores of failed attempts. Some altered people decayed and died within days or weeks; others were driven insane by their broken minds; and still others became more like beasts. Some of them were volunteers, while most of the others were criminals and other "undesirables" within the empire or banished from its neighbours. These people were known as "Pesshijanes" (Peššijanes, "Rejects") or "Purpures" ("Dirts").

These victims became one of the reasons why many people opposed the HSP, as they feared that it might kill and destroy more people as "failures".

### "Splitters" (Espiajes)

Upset by accusations by radical groups about "men being oppressors of women", some scientists created a new subspecies of human that reproduces by splitting every few months. They learn faster than normal humans, but are less intelligent, and have no reproductive organs.

Some of these scientists also mutated themselves to become Splitters, living in isolated communities where women and girls are banned from entry.

## Legacy

As some advocates instead turned it into an attempt to impose a hive mind upon the Gauvajut people and their neighbours (depriving them of any free will), the later rulers of the empire banned the project, forcing its members into hiding. Angered by the forcible erasure of diversity in that project, the authorities of Red Ardesch decided that the "New Humans/Nejantuhhes" (people who were genetically modified by that project) were to be killed to stop their traits from spreading into the Ardeschi peoples. Some were instead fed with the Loi-Pill to preserve genetic diversity or alter their minds.

Other elements of the HSP and similar projects existed in other countries around the world, but they were mostly used to eliminate diseases or make their armies into super-soldiers. It survives into the present day as the peoples of Jerde become more resistant to diseases.

In spite of its suppression and prohibition, the project of those "new Humans" was a partial success: their intermarriage with other people resulted in lower sexual drives in the Gauvajut people and some other races, diverting their focus towards achieving higher intelligence. However, Gauvajuts lament that project as making their people less like warriors, leading to their decline and subjugation under the First Vozonid Empire.

Another result of the HSP is the higher likelihood of people being born as asexual, and the association of asexuality not with deviance but with intelligence, freedom, and enlightenment. It also made childlessness more acceptable, allowing more people to focus on higher pursuits: but some people continually reproducing averted demographic crises from across the world. While some countries were forced by their decreasing populations to invite foreigners to immigrate, most nations on Jerde retained their majorities and national cultures. For the most part, the "shifting nations" were able to integrate the newcomers: a few were torn apart between pro and anti-immigrant forces, three were taken over by militants, and fifteen had changed their cultures to accommodate the foreigners. Compared to that handful of nations that promoted mass immigration and "diversity", cultural change on most of Jerde was slower. Although it allowed their societies to remain stable, it also encouraged the erosion of personal freedoms and the rise of autocrats.

A third effect of the HSP was the stronger influence of religion in daily life on Jerde. While the peoples of Jerde were willing to advance in terms of technology, many of them not only continued to believe in supernatural entities, but the HSP influenced many people to revive their religious beliefs. However, even though it also led to the rise of extremism and fundamentalism, greater cooperation between the countries of Jerde suppressed those extremists to force them to conform with the rest of society. As atheism became associated with the Ardeschi regime, more people throughout Jerde rejected it out of fear or hatred of Red Ardesch, as more people wanted security in prosperity instead of diversity and change.

Some people who were descended from the New Humans not only had more intelligence and sharper brains, but also stronger resistance against diseases. However, they are not as creative as normal humans.

### The New World Order

See also: Denlotia

As a result of the HSP, much of the world had remained more or less stagnant. Innovation had slightly increased, but technology advanced at a slower rate. Creativity was reduced, so people mostly recycled and combined older tropes; most works were either "wholesome" or grimdark, with almost little to no deconstructions. Slow cultural and social change left many Jerdiskar societies intact, leading to widespread corruption. Nonetheless, revolutions still broke out, and reforms were gradually implemented to eliminate corruption and scarcity, but many societies slipped back into decline.

Much of the corruption and fanaticism in many Jerdiskar societies culminated into World War III, and from its ruin the World Alliance was formed from several alliances that rebuilt the world. The HSP influenced the laws of the alliance: while it led to a worldwide reduction in poverty, improved living conditions, and greater social mobility; many cultures across Jerde remained stagnant, changing only little in the course of decades, if not centuries.

The HSP became more popular as a form of resistance against the influence of the Terrans, otherworldly humans from dystopian worlds summoned to enslave and destroy Jerde. The strong urges in the mutations prevented many Jerdiskar from practicing and thinking certain harmful behaviours considered to be "Terran", such as lying, abuse, corruption, superstition, and so on, driving them to instead work together.

The other peoples of the Galaxy, especially other human civilisations not affected by the HSP, regarded the Jerdiskar as backwards. They were glad that the Jerdiskar were able to catch up with the Galaxy's technology *and* preserve much of their traditional cultures, but they were disappointed by their lack of creativity and their stagnant societies. One simple phrase used to poke fun of Jerde was: "high tech, low culture".

Meanwhile, some Jerdiskar were glad that the whole world was becoming more stable and conservative. A few even thought that this supposed unity of the world would eventually lead to the creation of a human empire to challenge the might of the Galactic powers, and ensure the dominance and supremacy of humanity.

To make up for the loss of creativity, Denlotian copyright laws were more relaxed. Movie franchises were allowed to have different interpretations of the same artistic work, without exclusively owning the work.

According to some studies, the altered genetics of the HSP made it easier for the Plague of 3900 to spread across humanity.

### Love Finds A Way

The HSP had not completely altered all humans on Jerde. A few resisters continued to exist, ranging from the enclaves to the Little Gauvajut Empire, which was itself a nation of same-gender love. It was those people who were more capable of recovering from the Plague, allowing them to survive whereas many of their neighbours died. At roughly the time of the Great Uplifting, the HSP's effects began to wear off, and romantic diversity began to reappear at random parts of the world.

Some countries were alarmed by the very reappearance of that diversity, forcing suspects to be altered by the serums out of fear that they might wage war on the world as Red Ardesch did. Others allowed them to continue undisturbed, and they also tried to protect them from a resentful society. A few societies welcomed this change as independence from the global community, housing people from who fled harassment and coercion.

Knowing that other people would wrongly associate their attractions with the propaganda and hatred in Red Ardesch, those who had such conditions created a festival every July, where people like them would present their love as an "art", usually in the form of paintings, dances, and music. It was also mainly a day for their people to express their love to each other, similar to other romantic festivals in other cultures' traditions. They wanted people to stop being afraid of them, and to know that they too will not serve Red Ardesch or wage a new war of revenge on everyone, but instead as their allies.

Outrage from such changes was one of the reasons behind the creation of the Great Uplifting. But before the final draft for its serums was completed, the director refused several formulas that would had forced the drinker to become more docile. He cared more about improving human bodies, rather than shaping minds to a global dystopia. His supporters turned against him and his project, becoming the "Wildlings" who used their modified Great Uplifting serum instead of his serum.

### The Great Uplifting

In 4253, various nations throughout Jerde modified the serums of the HSP, as they wanted to make all of humanity stronger, healthier, and smarter. They also wanted to prevent another devastating world plague like the 3900 Pandemic.

Weary and bereaved from the deaths caused by the 3900 Pandemic, many people across the world voluntarily registered for the mass enhancement programme, known as the Great Uplifting. They were opposed by various factions that rose up against them:

* Naturalists - they preferred humanity to develop their own resistance and become stronger without ever needing mutation or superhuman enhancements.
* Hedonists - they wanted to retain their carnal desires while the rest of humanity seeks to become more efficient.
* Wildlings - conspiracy theorists who wanted to impose traditionalist regimes bent on nationalism and religious zealotry.
* The Worker State of Klesha (at Kitasa) - a militant communist nation at the southern hemisphere that sought to rule the world.

At the same time, the Worker State created its own serum and spread it to its bloc. Its leaders' campaign of war to conquer the world was inspired partly by the Great Uplifting, as they believed that a single authority and extensive infrastructure would be a massive improvement instead of upgraded health. The World Government of Klesha sought to uplift humanity in their own way by making humans more social and less isolated, although it made them more fanatical and aggressive. This contributed to its wars against the rest of the world: to entertain the restless subjects, the later rulers of Klesha sent its militants to incite rebellions and establish friendly regimes. Some Kleshan warriors spread the serum to poorer communities and university cities to drive them into waging war against their governments, but most of their attempts ended in failure.

The Great Uplifting was a bigger success than the HSP, as it made the peoples of Jerde stronger, smarter, and vibrant. It also enhanced their creativity.

### Later history

When another country attempted to spread the HSP to Heronoja, the king of Heronoja threatened to declare war on that nation until it withdrew the HSP. Some countries still use the HSP towards people who could not fit in, while others banned it as an instrument of torture because it erases parts of the drinker's personality.

In a more twisted way, the Wannaenid Empire continued the HSP, but also expanded it to alter their human bodies and metabolisms into a more stronger form -- faster; tougher; more resistant to disease and aging; and most importantly, immortal. However, its modification to turn the Wannaenids into a nation of brutal warriors had also made them more aggressive and bad-tempered, so many of them would not make it beyond their twentieth year without getting killed in any fit of rage.

Beyond the Wannaenid Empire, the HSP left a sad mark on the human species of Jerde. It made them more intelligent, and its mixture with other elixirs made Jerdiskar more healthier and stronger. But with continuous doses imprinted into Jerdiskar humans' DNA, and repeated reminders of the wickedness of past criminals, they also made this tragic species more emotionally and mentally unstable. It led to their whole world becoming more dependent on mental healthcare, moral classes, and codes of law and justice to stem their worse attitudes. It also made them more collective and paranoid, fearing the influence of tyrants that might enslave them again.

Will the day come when they can finally be free from their dependency? Will they realise that they can be totally good, without the need for coercion and revenge? And will they let go of the scars of history, to fulfill the plan of the Gods who made them?

## Trivia

* The HSP was inspired by the author's own disappointment over his own failures, his wishes to make himself more "perfect", and his observations on the motives of discrimination (such as religious homophobia).
	+ It was also mostly inspired by the episode of "The Twilight Zone", "Eye of the Beholder".
	+ Three factors led to the development of the HSP dystopia in his works. The first was a question in a forum that asks about how would the world be affected if countries developed a chemical that turns people heterosexual. One answer suggested that it would later be used to punish all kinds of traits, including appearance and religious beliefs, binding their victims to a more uniform standard. The second was a chat with another person that suggested that this chemical would be useful.
	+ Another big influence for the HSP is the author's anger against his forgetfulness and ADHD, in which his forgetful behaviour and poor focus happened many times. Often, he tried to prevent them from happening, and yet they usually happen whenever he rushes. It could be from his own anger that he made many mistakes, making him seem "weird" compared to other typical people, and at other people for wanting him to accept his flaws instead of forcibly removing them.
	+ The third was a sequence of pills his parents made him eat every day and night, to help him control his mental disorders.
* The machinery of the Twelfth Galactic Empire was also used by the Juretorij (another alien race) to suppress unacceptable traits, turning them into a nation of forced smiles and twisted laughter.
* The methods used to produce the vatgrowns were used by earlier human and alien empires to quickly populate and colonise parts of the Galaxy with obedient subjects and slaves.

## See also

* Denlotian laws
* Bujanski taboos
* Penance
* Moral class