A to Z 2026 - X - Contessina’s Collection of Human Treasures

“You would really think that given the radical social change that occurred in the aftermath of the Calamity, all the aliens that started showing up, humans would exhibit widespread xenophobia, but you’d be wrong. 

“In their private media, there was a definite level of hate that exploded, but the thing is, that’s an entirely different matter. It’s almost a lie they tell themselves.

“In their actual lives, humans very rapidly adopted all the wonders suddenly available to them, as they always had. They were shown all manner of new cuisine. There’s very little humans like more than some exotic new cultural dish. They had Welborn restaurants at every urban street corner almost from the moment they showed up to help fight the Danab. It didn’t hurt that Welborn dishes are easy to adapt from available ingredients, that they’re so rich in sweet profiles. Welborn have always had a gift of combining vegetables in a way that draws out entirely new elements, like a chemist’s dream. In fact humans very quickly started calling the results the Philosopher’s Soup, after their long-held belief that they could discover the secret of turning ordinary stone into their treasured gold. 

“The Arkosians, naturally, gave humans all manner of new ways to explore another of their passions, flying. It turned out, they had long believed the future would deliver jetpacks to everyday life, and that was a dream the Arkosians made possible. 

“But it wasn’t all surface level. I know I can sometimes gripe about how my people can be treated by outsiders. Sometimes that’s merely instinct. You get insulted enough you see it everywhere. Humans on the whole have probably been kinder than average. Perhaps it’s mere flattery, but they actually seem amused by us. That’s certainly different!

“Then there’s the very idea of integrating themselves into the wider community. They petitioned immediately to join the Galactic Alliance. They began the difficult process of applying their space programs to the needs of the Space Corps. There’re tales of Jimmy Smith I know you’d find amusing, Michelangelo. If anything, humans have experienced far more hate from others than they’ve themselves proffered.

“Yet they keep trying to find peace with the world around them, regardless of how the definition of world changes. They have no reason at all to trust the Danab, and yet they were trying to reconcile their cultures from the very moment the Calamity began. Some call them naive. And yet, even among the Danab, hearts and minds changed…”