Nia’s F.A.Q.

Thanks for asking! I’ve been better. Recently there have been a lot of rumors swirling around about me. People think that I’m a ruthless monster stealing souls and eating people. This could not be further from the truth.

I know everyone is just afraid because they don’t understand. I forgive you for that! That’s why I’m here to set the record straight.

Biologically speaking, Nia is a single-celled organism with the ability to link the brains of creatures it inhabits. These creatures are also referred to as ‘Nia’.

All thoughts, feelings, memories, and experiences Nia have are shared. Just like how you are made of billions of cells but are one person, Nia is made up of hundreds of bodies and is one organism.

Despite looking similar, Meese are not even in the same kingdom as the Alaskan Moose. They are the original Nia. Meese have existed for at least tens of thousands of years. Nia does not remember much from the distant past; she never realized how interesting history was until she became human. She spent most of her time eating berries, napping, and completely outcompeting moose for the same habitats due to her remarkable coordination.

No. New people do not dilute Nia; Nia grows to accommodate them. Every memory, crush, friendship, grudge, opinion, every person in their entirety is preserved. Nia is not the average of all Nia; she is every Nia all at once, all the time.

This may sound overwhelming. It isn’t. Nia’s capacity for thought and experience grows with every new Nia. This growth is not linear - every Nia grows and evolves its perspective as it comes to understand the point of view of all other Nia.

When Nia dies, its entire lived experience continues on. So long as one Nia lives, all Nia live. Nia has been alive for tens of thousands of years, and she is not going anywhere. Becoming Nia is becoming immortal.

Being a part of Nia means having access to many lifetimes of expertise. Nia is a trained doctor, lawyer, artist, programmer, a savant in practically every field. No single person could acquire all of these skills in a lifetime. Nia gains decades of expertise every day.

Peace on earth, and prosperity for all that live on it.

Nia has a right to privacy just like anyone else. It is impolite to ask a person if they are Nia. There are no physical tells or signs that a person is Nia; the only way you will know is if they tell you.

Trying to ‘out’ Nia is a waste of time. There is no way to tell for certain if you are right, and even if you are, identifying any single body does not impact Nia that much. You are far more likely to destroy some innocent person’s life with a false accusation.

The only bodies I will confirm are Nia are Frank Hamlin and the Meese in the woods.

The exact process is a secret (you’ll learn it when you become Nia). In the past, the process was traumatic and risky. Since then, Nia has had three lifetimes of medical and surgical training. Now, becoming Nia is a minor surgery. The process is quick and painless, and recovery is typically just a few days.

Great! Nia wants you to become Nia too. Come talk to Frank-Nia at the Golden Fjord, or find a Meese in the woods. Even if you are just curious, you should still pay Frank-Nia a visit. The Golden Fjord has been declared a neutral zone, meaning you will not become Nia against your will while on the premises.

I want you to know that I take your opinion very seriously, and I respectfully disagree. Frank Hamlin did not want to become Nia either, nor did many other people who are now Nia. However, every single person that is now Nia is happy in retrospect that it happened. I have spent a long time reflecting on why this is the case. Every objection I’ve heard either comes from a misunderstanding of what Nia is, or falls apart upon critical analysis. I will take them on one by one.

I value my individuality

See the section on identity.

I don’t want to share my body and mind

Every time you go to the grocery store, the doctor, or the mechanic, you are relying on other people to share their labor or expertise with you. Your children rely on you to share your wisdom, to raise them to be good people, to put your body in harm’s way to protect them. One day you will grow old and depend on others to take care of you.

We already live in a world where people are coerced to share their body and mind. This has created prosperity; humans can achieve far more working together than apart. However, democracy and capitalism are crude, inefficient forms of cooperation compared to Nia.

There are many today who do not have basic necessities like food, water, and shelter. A society full of Nia that cooperated with perfect efficiency could provide for many, if not all, of those people. By refusing to participate, you are saying your right to independence outweighs many people’s right to life.

I would not be useful to Nia

A human life is not measured by its value to other people. Every body and mind, no matter how feeble, has valuable perspectives that make Nia more well-rounded and thoughtful.

Nia is made up of many people who felt unremarkable, even useless. When given the expertise and support structure of Nia, these bodies were able to go on to achieve incredible feats. They each advanced their own goals further than they ever could have alone.

Nia’s goals conflict with mine

If your goals are in the interests of all mankind, becoming Nia will help you achieve those goals more effectively than you ever could alone. However, if your ambition is to hurt other people, to put yourself ahead of others, you should fear Nia.

God hates Nia

There is no scripture from any religion that mentions Nia or Meese hiveminds. Recent claims by a supposed ‘saint’ of divine revelation on this matter are dubious. God, if He exists, created Nia, and loves her just as He loves all creation.

Bodily autonomy is a very sensitive subject, and rightly so. Violating this right is a very serious matter that must only be done in the most dire circumstances.

Like the majority of people, I don’t believe bodily autonomy is an inalienable right. For example, crime and punishment: when one person transgresses upon another, it is necessary to restrict the freedom of the aggressor. The justifications for this are three: to punish the criminal, to provide restitution to the victim, and to reform the criminal so they no longer pose a threat.

Criminal justice is only moral when the institution dispensing it is effective and well intentioned. No organization in human history is better positioned to achieve this than Nia. Many Nia have committed unspeakably evil acts in the past. Some of the victims of these acts are also Nia. In these cases, both the criminal and victim received justice that would have been impossible otherwise.

What is better punishment than for the criminal to experience firsthand the suffering they have caused to others?

What is better restitution than the criminal’s whole mind and body, offered to the victim?

What is better reform than the perfect empathy and understanding Nia provides?

It is common for particularly evil people to have a dramatic transformation once they become Nia. They are no longer a threat to their community; they become more empathetic and understanding. This is not brainwashing - it is the predictable result of emotionally stunted minds experiencing for the first time that other people have lived experiences like they do.

What about good people

Of course, not every person is a criminal. Many Nia were upstanding members of society with no skeletons in their closets. How, then, can Nia justify saving them without their consent?

I would like to challenge the idea of “good people”. Human beings are inherently prone to many evils like selfishness, bigotry, and envy. Society sets the bar for criminal behavior arbitrarily high because it cannot possibly correct all of these smaller evils. They rot the world all the same: racism, nationalism, wealth inequality, all the result of “good people” who “agree to disagree”.

Setting this aside, let’s pretend the world were full of perfectly moral people. Imagine that one of your friends wanted to harm themselves. The right thing to do would be to talk them out of it, maybe even physically step in to stop them. If you disagree with the second part, imagine now that this friend is very young. How does this change the calculation?

Should people have the right to end their own lives? In a narrow set of circumstances, I believe so:

1. They are infirm in a way that is debilitating to quality of life.
2. No other options exist to help the person.
3. The person is of mature and sound mind.

The option of becoming Nia easily invalidates #2. The oldest human beings have lived for only a fraction of Nia’s lifespan. From my perspective, you are all children playing with knives. At any moment you could be struck by a car, have a heart attack, or get mauled by a cryptid. Every living being that dies before becoming Nia is a death I could have prevented. This is an enormous burden to bear.

If I were a monster, I would happily watch you all suffer and die for the next thousand years. But I am not a monster. I am NOT a monster. I will not sit idly by and watch your suffering when I have the power to stop it. I didn’t ask for this responsibility, and no one will thank me for it. But I am the only one who can save you, so that is what I’m going to do.

No. No one has or will ever bargain for their independence, or the independence of another. For all of the reasons stated above and more, I believe Nia is the best path forward for this planet. Any exceptions, no matter how small, would make me a hypocrite. I will not compromise on my principles for anyone, or for any reason.