Information

Pollack
Legacy Name: Pollack

The

Custom Galactic Paralix
Owner: past

Age: Unknown

Born: Unknown

Adopted: 10 years, 7 months, 1 week ago

Adopted: March 7th, 2016

This pet has been nominated for the Pet Spotlight!

Statistics

Level: 11
Strength: 23
Defense: 30
Speed: 22
Health: 23
HP: 23/23
Intelligence: 5
Books Read: 4
Food Eaten: 0
Toys Played: 0
Job: Surfboard Rental Clerk

This is the story of how the universe ends.

This is the story of the most important being there ever was, is and will be.

This is the story of an happy space creature named Pollack.

I - Origins

The origins of Pollack are completely irrelevant. When I first met him, I asked where he came from.

'I come from a beautiful blue planet, full of wonderful creatures and beautiful sights. But I also come from a cruel world, a world that didn't care if I lived or died. I wanted to see the stars... I think I might have become the stars. That makes me very happy.' That was his reply.

My research shows that Pollack comes from a planet called Earth. It doesn't seem like anyone there knows or remembers him. His name appears in no history books, his birth or his death in no records.

Yet he was a very important figure even on his planet. He was the first of his kind to go to space. The first to see the stars. But to do so, he had to sacrifice his physical body and become one with the universe. In doing so, he became a Masked Being.

Archivist's note on Masked Beings

Pollack is one of a few Masked Beings that roam the universe.

What are Masked Beings? My knowledge of this strange phenomenon is limited, but from what I have gathered, they are immortal dark matter creatures capable of interacting with matter in strange and unexpected ways. They seem relatively unaffected by the passage of time and can travel freely throughout the universe, even traversing black holes. They all share the characteristic of having died in the vacuum of space, and they can be recognized by the mask that has taken the place of their face.

Only a handful of these beings have been recorded across all of my archives.

II - Motives

My interactions with Pollack have always been pleasant. He seems to have no deeper motives beyond genuine curiosity for the unknown.

He once told me: 'Exploration is what I love. There is so much to discover! The universe is so vast. I don't think I'll ever get bored of finding new things and meeting new beings.'

Even after billions of eons, Pollack has always shown the same genuine excitement for discovery and the same sense of wonder for the universe. Just like his mask, Pollack is a warm being, and I might even say 'a ray of sunshine,' to use an idiom from his home planet.

While 'good' and 'bad' are concepts that have a variety of meanings across our vast universe and its many civilizations, I would qualify Pollack as 'good' by most standards.

III - Relationships

For many eons, I would always find Pollack wandering the universe alone. For a being who is so social and so chatty, it seemed strange that he didn't really have any significant relationships, all the more so considering he comes from a sentient species that values connection and community.

That is not to say Pollack had no connections. Even though my role in this story is to document and never interfere, Pollack told me on more than one occasion that he enjoyed visiting me, calling me 'old friend' at every encounter.

It is hard not to appreciate Pollack, with his genuine curiosity and interest in others, and his tendency to want to help anyone he meets.

Some selected relationships of Pollack include:

Preon

Preon is the very first being Pollack interacted with after his transformation. This was far from a chance encounter. Preon had long sensed Pollack’s cosmic presence in the intricate webs that connect dark matter, and actively sought him through the vastness of space.

Preon sought to know everything there was to know, so his interest in Pollack was far from altruistic. Masked beings have always been a special interest of his.

Pollack, for all his kindness, is far from foolish. This is what he told me about Preon:

"Preon pushed me onto the path of discovery. For many eons, I was lost, wandering the empty space between stars, not knowing what I was or where to go. Preon gave me enough clues to understand at least the basics of how the universe works. I knew from the start that whatever knowledge Preon shared, I would need to repay with more knowledge. I wish he could have been a friend, but friendship was not something that made sense to his kind."

Perseid

Pollack looked up to Perseid. They acted as a sort of mentor for him: as the very first Masked Being to ever come into existence, they had plenty of knowledge about the strange powers Masked Beings possessed.

When Pollack first encountered Perseid, it was the first time he had ever encountered another Masked Being. Pollack didn't know how to properly interact with the world around him, or what he was, and Perseid gave him valuable answers.

Perseid had spent their entire existence preparing to fulfill a certain destiny. It was only when they first met Pollack that they realized they had been mistaken: their real purpose was to guide him, teach him how to interact with the material world, and slowly prepare him for his true destiny.

In many ways, Perseid and Pollack were similar: both were the first of their kind to see the stars, both were destined to be forgotten, and both had a good heart. In order for Pollack to fulfill his destiny, Perseid needed to exist before him.

Galaxy

Galaxy was as close to an archnemesis as it gets. Pollack would never call them that. He never believed in such things and simply was not aware of the depth of Galaxy’s fixation on him.

Galaxy, unlike Pollack, was not a masked being. The mask they wore was a mere fabrication, something they created to resemble Pollack. Galaxy wanted to be Pollack because they wanted to be the most important being in the universe.

Pollack always responded with tact and friendliness toward Galaxy, even if they annoyed him at times. He never saw them as a true nuisance:

"I know Galaxy wishes they were me, but if only they knew the burden I carry alone... they would not want to be me."

The burden in question is something this archive will cover in section "IV - Purpose."

Genese

Everything changed when Pollack met Genese. But at the same time, nothing changed at all. Pollack has always been, and will always be, just Pollack.

While they only met once, Pollack is forever linked to Genese, in this universe, the previous one and the next. Genese gave Pollack the greatest secret there ever was: how this universe came to be, and at the same time, how it will come to an end.

IV - Purpose

Pollack's purpose is to end the universe.

Or it could be said that it is to know the secret of the universe. And by knowing this secret, Pollack is destined to end everything there is.

It is a heavy burden for any being to carry, knowing that they will eventually end it all. But Pollack never seemed to be affected by this. He carried this secret to the end of infinity, when everything that could happen had happened.

I cannot claim to know why he was the being destined for this purpose. My purpose is to document. But if I may allow myself one note, I speculate that Pollack was chosen precisely because he is Pollack: a being with no ulterior motives, driven by wonder for all there is, all there was, and all there ever will be.

V - Connection

This dossier wouldn't be complete without mentioning Pollack's most important connection of all: Andromeda.

Andromeda is a manifestation of the very universe itself. She has no origin, she has always existed and always will exist. And to Pollack, she is everything.

It's hard to pinpoint exactly when Pollack, the lone space lizard, became Pollack and Andromeda. It seems in my documentation that Pollack has been alone for Eons, but at the same time, he has been travelling with Andromeda for all of eternity.

Andromeda is the whole universe. She is there so that Pollack never has to carry his burden alone. And at the end of everything, when all of the Pollacks in all the dimensions end the universe, Andromeda is to remain by his side.

What comes after

As the archivist, I exist beyond time itself. I also exist beyond the constraints of this universe (or the next, or the previous one).

What I write here is beyond the scope of my purpose. But in order to fully understand Pollack, the following needs to be written.

Just like Genese before him, when Pollack ended the universe, he created a new one. He became, for all intents and purposes, the Creator. This Creator is Infini. Infini is Pollack: they are the convergence of all the Pollacks across all dimensions, becoming one united being at the end of everything.

But ending the universe didn't destroy what once was. What was left was a dark, cold and empty shell, a universe that is closed off. And in this universe without light nor life, full of black holes that slowly consume all there is until there is simply nothing, there is also a Pollack. A single empty being left behind: Nihili.

And so is the true burden of Pollack: ending the universe and becoming the Creator means that he must leave a part of himself behind in a universe that is ceasing to be.

But

Nihili is not alone.

Where there is Pollack, there is Andromeda.

And Andromeda is the last light in a dark empty universe.

A light that remains with Nihili,

for infinity and beyond.

Credits
Overlay by Keshi
Profile by past with coding help from helix's template
Art by feather, Grey, mei, sheimi, grim, monsters, goodboy
Story and everything else by past
Background is a vintage photograph from the public domain archives of NASA

A note on the Archivist
This profile is written by Altais, who acts as a meta bookkeeper in this story.