The Extinction

The Extinction is the most recent Entity to start emerging. It has existed since at least the 1860s, and circa 2012 it may not be strong enough yet to begin taking avatars.

It is the fear of catastrophic change, the extinction of humanity and its replacement by something else, especially by humanity's own doing. It was possibly once part of The End but has grown into its own fear now that the end of humanity may no longer be the end of life itself.

> *But now the fear is not of a rapture or a revelation. It is of **catastrophic** change. Mankind will warp the world so much it kills us all, and leaves only a thousand years of plastic behind. Technology will strip us of what it means to be human, and leave us something alien and cold. We will press a button that in a moment will destroy everything we have ever been. Animals are witnessing the end of their entire species within a single generation.*
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The Extinction is associated with doomsday events, man-made catastrophes (including bombs and climate change), codes or strings of numbers, and the destruction of human skin and tissue.

The Extinction's ascendance was originally predicted by Adelard Dekker in 2006. While before the Change its existence was heavily debated, it was confirmed to exist in MAG 175. However, the question as to whether it is on the same level as the other Entities or the existential threat Dekker feared remains unanswered and possibly unanswerable.

## Emergence

Many avatars of other entities want to prevent The Extinction from being born or at least weaken it. This is because, in contrast to the passive End, they fear it will be active and seek to create a lifeless world - potentially replacing humans with something else that could then fear their own annihilation.

Adelard Dekker strongly believed The Extinction is its own distinct power and that its emergence was a legitimate threat, and while most believed it, avatars who knew of it reacted with varying degrees of urgency.

* Peter Lukas planned to use the Panopticon, a place of power for The Eye, to learn about The Extinction and how to stop it. His plan failed when his assistant Martin Blackwood (selected for his balance between The Eye and The Lonely) refused to complete it as he began to understand the magnitude of current events.
* Simon Fairchild seemingly agrees with Peter Lukas as far as his view of The Extinction goes, though his knowledge or connection with Lukas' plan is unknown.
* Elias Bouchard knew about The Extinction and was concerned with its emergence, but hoped to simply enact his Mass Ritual before it emerged.
* Though Gertrude Robinson often worked with Dekker and he often sent her statements regarding his discovery and theories regarding The Extinction, Gertrude was skeptical of Dekker's theory and did not believe it was distinct from other powers.
	+ This may be because she did not believe his theory, or it could just be because of Gertrude's attitude towards abstract or conceptual issues she cannot physically deal with.
	+ Dekker mentions that some of the "immediate dangers" that Gertrude is focusing on could be a direct result of the new power's emergence.
* Oliver Banks hypothesizes that because after the Change no new people are born, the human race might disappear. This would result in the fears not existing anymore which could be a manifestation of the Extinction.

## Characters

* Dekker theorized that Garland Hillier, a member of the Millerite movement, may have had close ties to the extinction due to his obsession with the end of the human race.

## Locations

* The Anthropocene Age: The Extinction's domain in the post-Change world. A dried-up seabed piled with junk and ruined traces of humanity, it is constantly dry and scorching hot. It is populated by mutated and predatory animals as well as native lifeform(s) of unclear nature. It is unknown if this domain has an avatar.

## Trivia

* The string of numbers given in MAG144, when decoded using a Polybius square, spell out the sentence "THE WORLD IS ALWAYS ENDING".
* An Extinction statement features the only snake to make an appearance thus far, the stone viper in MAG 149. Notably, apocalyptic serpents are common across human mythologies, such as Apophis in Ancient Egypt or Jörmungandr in Scandinavia.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 MAG 134: Time of Revelation
2. ↑ MAG 113: Breathing Room
3. ↑ MAG 151: Big Picture
4. ↑ MAG 167: Curiosity
5. ↑ MAG 113: Breathing Room