Mere

Mere is a human who has appeared in numerous Great Ship stories.

## Biography

### Early Life

Before Mere was born, her parents were wealthy human colonists who purchased a streakship and attempted to reach the Great Ship. On the way, their ship hit a comet, killing everyone onboard. All that survived was the embryo that would eventually become Mere.

The ship's AI and autodocs were able to keep her alive, but she was confined to a small dark space. Since she was an immortal with a bioceramic mind, she lived this way for over ten thousand years. The ship had been thrown off course, and the AI badly damaged, but it was eventually able to find a habitable planet, Tila, for Mere to live on.

### Tila

After crashlanding on planet Tila, Mere was found by aliens also called the Tila. Tilan eyes were capable of detecting auras, which were thought to provide them glimpses of other realities. Mere's unusual aura indicated that her presence was very rare in the multiverse. They quickly discovered her ability to survive gruesome injuries and regenerate lost body parts, and concluded that she was a god.

The Tila worshipped Mere, and built grand temples for her. Over the centuries, Mere's village grew and became a major city, and the center of an empire. Due to Mere's long life and record-keeping, she realized that the planet's climate was changing, and tried to warn the Tila.

Shortly after meeting with the Tilan leaders, Mere was assassinated and chopped into pieces. She was not truly killed due to her bioceramic brain, but her mind was forced into hibernation for centuries. The pieces of her body were kept as relics and carried all over the world by armies. The pieces were eventually lost, and Mere was mostly forgotten.

Over a thousand years after her "death", Mere's head was recovered and she was coaxed back to life. The Tila were now more technologically advanced, and understood that Mere was an alien. Once her body healed, she began modifying her body and behavior to mimic the Tila. She had a series of Tilan spouses, many of whom were scientists. One of them built her cybernetic eyes that gave her the Tilan ability to sense auras. Some of them helped her prove that Tila's binary suns were moving closer together, and would eventually merge, killing everyone on the planet.

One day, Mere was informed that an observatory had discovered the Great Ship, and that its captains were the same species as her. The Tila eventually discovered Mere's old ship and managed to repair it. They forced Mere into the ship and programmed the AI to take her to the Great Ship. She urged them to use it to save themselves from extinction, but they insisted that in this reality, Mere was destined for some greater fate.

### The Great Ship

After Mere arrived on the Greatship, Miocene tasked Washen with finding a way to use Mere to their advantage. Mere was able to infiltrate the homeworlds of alien species and live as one of them, gaining valuable information that helped the Captains decide whether the species should be allowed on the Ship.

### The Polypond

**(Spoilers for The Well of Stars)**

When the Greatship was forced to enter the Inkwell, Mere was sent on a secret mission to gather more information about the Polyponds. She rode a ship (named the *Osmium*, after her ex-husband) disguised as space debris in order to avoid sensors. Her research led her to determine that the Polyponds were not a species but part of a single entity, the Polypond. When her ship was damaged beyond repair, she managed to contact one of the Polypond buds and land on it's surface. The bud was able to revive her with a new mortal body, and spoke with her as it traveled toward the Great Ship.

### Dragon

**(Spoilers for The Dragons of Marrow)**

Mere is one of the Dragons who rule over Marrow, and whose death triggers the burn cycle.

Seldom eventually reveals that the Dragons have been living on Marrow and fighting the !eech for billions of years.

## Appearances

* Mere
* The Well of Stars
* Noumenon
* The Speed of Belief
* The Dragons of Marrow
* Nameless He
* Flattering the Flame