Clones

**Clones** are artificial organic beings that were based on existing lifeforms, created from cells to an identical extent. It can also refer to organic beings that were mass-produced.

## History

Powerful, technologically-advanced countries used clones to quickly colonise other star systems or build armies and slaves, as they grew and were trained faster than normal humans.

In many of those societies, clones had less rights than people, and were mostly used either as soldiers, slaves, or breeding stock.

## In the Rabydosverse

The Vigefionians, Konjors, and Malendors created armies and slaves by cloning. The most notorious form of cloning was from the destruction of Arentos, when the inhabitants were killed by the Konjors and reduced to a plant-based ooze, which was then used to manufacture an army of slave dolls.

### "Revival" of the dead?

In the Rabydosverse, cloning is the closest to an actual revival of someone who died, as a living body. While the soul of the deceased was already lost, the clone is considered as a continuation of the deceased they were made from.

This became much easier as technology became more advanced, to the point that after a great catastrophe or war, only those requested by next of kin were allowed to be revived as clones.

This is known in Jerdiskar languages as "to clone someone back to life".

To ensure that the clone has the closest memories of the deceased, brain scans are used to record the person's thoughts and personality, and then downloaded into the developing brain of the clone before their body is being formed. Very rarely can a clone be the exact copy of the original person, due to differing conditions from the template and the vat where the clone is created, or frequent minor mutations by the body as it is formed.

Clones of the dead may sometimes feel uncomfortable seeing images of their template's deaths.

The resulting clone may be somewhat altered by the wishes of their makers or clients. For example, one man who was killed during the Wannaenid invasion suffers from a rare disease and was unruly. After independence, the man was cloned, but without the disease and with a calmer attitude.

Some religions also claimed that if the person's clone dies, in the afterlife their soul is different from the original template. Many fiction works in Jerde have this scenario as a theme, where the souls of the template and the clone discuss about their person's life as if they were twin siblings.

### Four Restorations

At the end of the Sixteenth Age, some of the countless victims of its many wars were cloned back to life. That is, they were cloned so their original people would live again for a second time, but in most cases, their souls were already gone. A few had their souls returned to their new bodies, complete with some memories form their past lives. The ruined nation of Ardesch, shamed and hated for starting some of those wars, decided to clone many of its victims out of mourning, so they would be brought back to life.

Among the people who were restored to life as clones were victims of human sacrifices and mass murders across the world, chosen because their deaths were seen as useless. Earlier, the nations allied against Red Ardesch had a debate whether this would be permissible, but it was carried out to repopulate countries that were ruined by Red Ardesch's wars.

In total, the Sixteenth Age had four times when the dead were used to repopulate the world:

1. First Restoration - After the fall of Red Ardesch and the Utopianists
2. Second Restoration - After the birth of the Denlotia, to reunite the dead with the living who wanted them back
3. Third Restoration - After the fall of Klesha and long after the end of the Denlotia
4. Fourth Restoration - After the exile of the Terrans and their defeat in the Reorganisation War.

Out of billions or trillions of deaths, only around 10-40 percent were chosen to be revived as clones. They were either chosen by authorities, or requested by loved ones. The Fourth Restoration was considered the best of the restorations, as up to 60% of all those killed were chosen by the survivors to be cloned back to life.

## Cloning and reincarnation

In some Jerdiskar cultures, ghosts can be defeated be forcing them to reincarnate into a new, mortal body. In Vozonid folklore, reincarnation is a humiliating punishment for a ghost, especially because it weakens a mighty spirit into a frail, humble child. These legends claim that ghosts fear anything related to birth, including cloning, because it strips away their power and savagery by forcing them to live as their victims!

This legend is used to explain why does every clone think and behave somewhat differently from the person they were based from: they could have the soul that was formerly a ghost. It may also be that to the overtly-religious Jerdiskar, cloning people is akin to a punishment to evil ghosts, by forcing them to live through the shameful purification of rebirth, humbling, and remorse.

Some also believe that the usage of cloning by some empires and armies might had also ended many hauntings and paranormal sightings across Jerde. Some eyewitnesses also claimed that they saw ghosts being dragged as if by a mighty wind into the sky, shooting up like a firework until they disappear.

## Societies that utilised clones:

### Rabydosverse

* Vigefion
* Multadlo
* Valgeta
	+ "pleasure people"
	+ all-female warriors
* Directorist Ardesch
* Red Ardesch
	+ military and labour clones
* Gauvajut Empire
	+ Naspaijes
* Konjor Supercorporation
	+ Konjor creations
	+ During Sarmelonid times, people had clones of themselves to be tortured as a form of humiliation.
* Malendor Supercorporation
	+ Malendor creations
* Ontemazei Empire
	+ Kelunne
* Arnadjanai (only Naumakanir)
* Bujan
* Shaunetor
	+ Due to their androgynous gender, many Shaunetorians prefer to "create" and "grow" their own children from "child gardens". They may request desirable traits for their children, after plucking their hair, drops of blood, or skin to create cloned children.

### Rinnarverse

* Nordic State
* Earth Union
	+ military clones
* Farsiders
	+ Ueheishi
* Galactics, who were themselves descendants of clones.
	+ Vetarbroitar
* Galaxials