The ICE

*"It is time, for the ICE."*

-Verbal signifier of impending ICE.

## History

The ICE made its first appearance on earth during the 21st century, but was felt by other civilizations as early as several million years ago. In its oldest state, the ICE was intangible, undetectable, and unnamed, though this did not lessen its symptoms. These attributes had devastating results on the local civilizations. Realizing the dangers of an invisible ICE strike, a long lost advanced alien civilization managed to encode a messenger signal into the ICE itself, fundamentally changing its nature. Modern day ICE is always surrounded by this messenger signal, heralding its arrival and allowing lifeforms to prepare.

The name "ICE" comes from the encoded messenger signal. It is designed to communicate the most basic of concepts: the fundamental stoppage of an object; a "cold" that slows and halts. This was a useful way to translate the idea of absolute immobility across language barriers and sapience levels. After all, it is very important an organism halts all movement when it is time for the ICE.

## Appearance

Though completely intangible, the ICE can still be analogized or symbolized. Many describe it as a great spatial gas that rides mindlessly through the universe. They hypothesize that the interior of this ICE space is not homogenous, but instead filled with multiple concentrated collections of material that cause ICE events. In other words, a collection of ICE storms move as a single fixed object. This means an area in the ICE zone can have no events, or multiple events in succession. The ICE's messenger signals condense with the ICE, but expand just past their boundaries in order to reach an area first. The messenger signals also creates visuals in the eyes of other lifeforms to signify the arrival, presence, and passing of the ice.

During an ICE event, messenger signals invade the minds of applicable organisms and show a series of blue circles moving from an unseen right boundary to an unseen left boundary. This disturbing visual hijack continues until the ICE event is over; a period that may take a few seconds to several minutes.

## Effects on cognizant creatures

When present, the ICE heavily disrupts the transition between intent and action, completely destroying a creature's ability to act autonomously. Any attempt to make a deliberate action is twisted beyond recognition and can often result in injurious or fatal activity. Trying to walk, for example, may lead to one splaying their legs, spasming, and smashing their head on the ground. Even a simple action such as opening a drawer could lead to slamming one's toe in the drawer and contorting into a heap on the floor. The new movements needn't be sensical or even appear physically possible in their time-frame. This thankfully does not extend to small, instinctual actions such as swallowing, breathing, or blinking.

An organism under the effects of ICE has full cognition and apparent control so long as absolute stillness is maintained. Any attempts at movement result in a feverish perception of doing several activities at once, all of them incorrect. This sudden transition (and accompanying pain) can cause anxiety, heightening the desperation of a victim and worsening the effects. Only letting go and stopping all movement will cease the damage.

After several ICE events, even simple lifeforms learn to react to messenger signals and halt movement.

## Cultural Significance

The ICE is often used as a quick signifier of pause; a more intense version of "HALT!" Saying it is time for the ICE taps into a deep and primal fear of ICE survivors, causing them to stop and re-evaluate the situation. The expression is used very sparingly, lest its meaning be watered down by overuse.

## Trivia

* I have no idea where the emote for the ICE came from.
* Even Caliber 3 entities struggle to counteract the effects of the ICE, though Caliber 2's and above may shrug it off at will.
* Some philosophers hypothesize that the ICE is alive and intelligent. They are wrong.