Welcome back to Curious Archive. This video is the second part of a two-part
series exploring the incredible speculative alien world of the Birrin, so check out part
I if you haven’t already. The world of the Birrin was realized by Alex
Ries — an exceptional designer and worldbuilder who worked on the video game subnautica — and
I have links to where you can follow and support him in this video’s description. In part one, we broke down the biology and
early history of the Birrin, a six-limbed sentient alien race at the center of this
fictional world. But there’s still a lot to cover. Which is why, In this entry into the archive,
we’ll be chronicling the next several eons of Birrin history, following their incredible
arc into the far future. So, let’s get started. When we last saw the Birrin, their civilization
had undergone an apocalyptic reset back to the preindustrial era, due to an event called
‘The Fall’ — which turned the equatorial region of their planet into an inhospitable
wasteland known as ‘The Kiln.’ This vast, super-heated region cut the Birrin
populations north and south of the area off from one another. And Birrin aren’t the only species on planet
Chriirah effected by the Fall. Organisms like the Irridalli, a group of unique
spear-faced predators that thrived in the tropical oceans, suffered a disastrous population
decline as their biome — and indeed, the entire planet — turned upside-down. But even after The Fall, many Birrin, though
bereft of certain technologies, continue to live relatively average lives. Some populations live as farmers of a plant-like
organism called Bluestick — essentially returning to agricultural societies. Although the lives of these post-Fall Bluestick
farmers are just a single, small blip in the vast history of the Birrin — Alex Ries has
mapped out every single aspect of the agricultural practice — making his fictional world feel
all the more palpable. This diagram showcases in detail how Birrin
Bluestick agriculture works. The Bluestick grows best alongside channels
of Brackish water: hence the design you see before you. Interestingly, the bluestick can’t photosynthesize,
but grow symbiotically with the red-tinted organism called Raftweed to produce food. Indeed, most of the plants on the Birrin world
are composites. Here, you can see the life cycle of the strange
tree-within-a-tree organisms that dot the landscapes of Bluestick farms. Once again, the level of detail here is impressive. The Bluestick plants are preyed upon by the
glassworms: a group of small, translucent pests. These creatures have evolved a specialized
hierarchy, and can be divided into queens, soldiers, and workers: much like the complex
social structures of ants here on earth. The glassworms are in turn preyed upon by
the Chattertails, which are greatly valued by Birrin Bluestick farmers thanks to their
natural pest control capabilities. Their alarming looking mouths are in fact
folded forelimbs used to ensnare prey. When the time is right, these sharp limbs
snap forward and ensnare the unlucky glassworms: keeping the bluestick crop safe from harm. Elsewhere on the Bluestick farm, we have the
thoroughly-detailed Bluestick Mill — a manufacturing structure that uses a large wind turbine to
power a mortar. The technology here is based on pre-fall designs
— showing that Birrin civilization isn’t quite starting from square-one. The Bluestick mill grinds the raw crops into
a concentrated gel. This processed Bluestick is profitable for
its medicinal, industrial, and chemical uses — especially now that older industries have
all but collapsed. Helping to farm these Bluestick fields are
groups of Giants, the second intelligent race on planet Chriirah who also suffered a population
decline due to The Fall. While giants and Birrin don’t always get
along, on this Bluestick farm, the Giants work alongside Birrin, as you can see here
with a group taking a well-deserved break. And there’s something about this image in
particular which captures strangely familiar and almost human emotions. But the pre-industrial reset wouldn’t last
forever. The Birrin technology which supported a space-faring
civilization, though forgotten and in ruins, was still out there, waiting to be rediscovered. Eventually, global shifts in the post-Fall
Birrin world reach the bluestick farm. Here, a motorized vehicle from an emerging
global power called the Reclamation arrives to assist the laborers in a gesture of goodwill. It’s a sign that after many centuries of
recovery, the world is being reborn. And over the course of the next era, the rebirth
following The Fall picked up speed. Eventually, the lethally warmed equator could
be navigated once more with the rediscovery of flight. Here, a primitive aircraft called the Kilnrunner
flies high over the expanse to avoid the searing heat. Crafts like this one help reconnect the north
and south Birrin populations for the first time in over a thousand years. In this next image, you can observe two Birrin
scaling the First Mountains — one of the few places on the planet that still possess
frigid temperatures. These explorers are another sign that, long
after the Fall, the world is starting to reconnect. One detail I especially like is their unique
suits come with mouth-operated multitools, since Birrin often use their beaks as well
as their front limbs when manipulating objects. In another scene showing the Birrin society
making impressive strides towards a more technologically advanced civilization, here, a Reclamation
heavy-lift delivers a wind turbine to the Birrin of a river valley. This image shows that long forgotten technology
is returning to the society of the Birrin — and the disparate populations are reconnecting
with each other more and more. Like any movement, however, the so-called
Reclamation is complicated. Many parts of the faction are more interested
in empire building than helping to rebuild. Indeed, one thing I like about the Birrin
world is that its history isn’t a straight line, but a long road of progress and backsliding. With the mistakes of past civilizations still
in many minds, however, overall the Birrin species would begin to move towards a better
tomorrow. Here, you can see a twin-mast Reclamation
ship coasting along the coast of the Tuktalli region, marveling at the ruins along the coastline
— which has not been seen for thousands of years due to the fall. Since the Tuktalli region is located deep
within the Kiln, it would have been inhospitable for quite some time. By now, Birrin society is at last entering
a second age of scientific advancement. Soon, more egalitarian reclamation efforts
would emerge on both sides of the Kiln. Here, a Birrin plane-like vehicle called the
cresting wave begins to make its ascent in front of a sustainable, gleaming city: showing
that the gloom of the Fall is truly lifting. Even more striking, in this image, you can
see the Birrin rediscover rocket technology through reverse engineering ancient, pre-Fall
designs. These rockets aren’t as effective as the
old ones, but advancements would continue throughout the next several centuries — as
Birrin technology ultimately advanced beyond that of their predecessors. Here, at an even later date, we can see the
space program has expanded, as a Birrin astronaut explores a nearby planet as part of the species’
first program to explore the further reaches of the Birrin solar system. Considering all the suffering the Birrin society
endured, it’s a stirring image of all they’ve overcome. Eventually, it’s possible the Birrin would
even encounter some future version of humanity. This image is no longer officially ‘canon’
according to Alex Ries — but it shows an intriguing possible future where technologically
advanced humans and Birrin study interactions between babies of both species to gather data
for a hypothetical joint colony. It’s a hypothetical idea I find very intriguing. But perhaps if the Birrin even encounter humanity,
it won’t be humanity as we know it. In this final, famous image from an unknown
point in the Birrin’s future, we see two Birrin meeting an awe-inspiring visitor simply
called the ‘meta-human.’ Is this powerful being an artificial descendant
of humanity, several millennia into the future, at a time when our technology has turned us
into something we scarcely would recognize? That’s certainly my theory, although it’s
left up to interpretation. It’s an enigmatic image purposefully left
vague: a story which has yet to be told… In the end, the Birrin are both a cautionary
tale and an uplifting one. The story of a civilization that rose, and
fell, and rose again. If you liked this exploration, I’d encourage
you to check out more of the Birrin on Alex Ries’s own page: there are extra details
on his site, including his creative process behind some of these images. Once again, links are in the description. Like I said in part I, Alex Ries is also planning
to release a full book about this incredible world sometime in the future, so stay tuned
for that! Also, thanks for watching. If you enjoyed this entry, please lend your
support and like, subscribe, and hit the notification icon to stay up to date on all things Curious. See you in the next video.
