For centuries the Senetha chose to keep back the development of nuclear weapons, and self-propelled vehicles, that could have used combustion engines. They considered combustion engines useless and dangerous, instead, they harnessed other power sources; solar, electromagnetic energy, blue energy and many other forms of energy. Blue energy appeared as a blue flame or a pulsating sphere. It was kept in a furnace or oven as it was called by the Senetha, actually a containment unit, this energy came from an artificial universe that was developed by some of the Aura-Laei-i. The Senetha didn’t waste energy, it was considered precious. Their world was different from our world. They were more technologically advanced than us, they chose to live in smaller villages and small cities. It seemed almost medieval, but it wasn’t because they didn’t have the know how, they just wanted to live a free and basic life closer to nature. They had labor saving devices in their homes that helped make life easier. The Senetha kept sheep, horses, goats, rabbits, chickens, and many other types of animals as food. They also raised fruits and vegetables. There were vast areas that reached the horizon filled with wheat, rice, fruit trees and every type of crop needed for survival. There were natural elements that were raised to make clothes, such as cotton, leather, wool and silk. Other elements existed that were created by engineers and scientist like metal that was worn and as light weight as silk but impenetrable to fire, water, heat and cold. There was another material that resembled plastic. This too was weightless and could be created into various thicknesses to accommodate anyone who wore it. But they also had the technology to rearrange matter to create any material object they wished. They walked wherever they traveled, sometimes they would use a horse or a vehicle. This vehicle worked on solar power and hovered off the ground at low and high speeds. Traffic was of no concern because few people used such vehicles. The roads created by the Senetha were wide and were paved by a material that never eroded after many years of weather. Their village was a cross between a farming community and a city. The Senetha had developed weapons that were on a par with the once great city of Cashmakil, but again they chose not to create these things and dismantled them. They knew about the history of Cashmakil and they didn’t wish to go in that direction. And unlike Cashmakil the Senetha never thought of themselves as the center of the world, they believed that they were part of it and didn’t bother their non-Senetha neighbors and force their culture on them.

The Senetha were not perfect, there was bickering about water among the various competing belligerent villages and small cities. There were large canals situated between villages that were shared. Each canal had branches that sent water to each village. When water flowed less to one village they would accuse the other of stealing more water. The canals traveled on flat land and hills, the hills were built to utilize gravity to make the water flow down the hill faster, powerful pumps were used, but they would always get clogged. These problems almost led to small wars but it was, fortunately, they became only heated arguments in the council. This is one of the biggest problems the Senetha faced. The Orbs were the worst because the incident destroyed their way of life. Long ago before Tenashar was born the Senetha village began to extend into vast areas of virgin land. It became larger than the small Senetha cities. The village began to become overcrowded, people began to suffer from emotional problems, the Senetha had a love for open space, yet there was the other tradition of building structures, the Senetha’s love for architectural design. Eventually in time, the council was reminded of the large city of the past and they didn’t wish to go in that direction. Laws were made to keep the village within certain limits and it worked; there were factions that still wanted to extend the city. It’s important to remember the world of the Senetha isn’t a utopia. Life is a daily struggle, like all societies, some neighbors don’t get along with one another, there was once a trend where teenagers went off to the deep forest to be in a group, others to be alone, many became lost and were never found. There was a scholar who led them to believe that being alone in a forest and getting lost was the way to touch the universe, he preached that they had a compass in their heads and would find their way back. That scholar never practiced what he said to other people. Yes, there were people that had the training to get back without any device, but they were trained, these teenagers weren’t. That scholar was imprisoned and banished to the far north.

No society is perfect, the Senetha are never present as such, I believe there is no such thing as Utopia or Shangri-La. Nothing like this could exist in any world, it remains elusive.

We learn from our past and we try not to make the same errors, but we are only human. The Senetha learned from the example of Cashmakil, a city destroyed long ago.