July 2056, the Nim population has hit a point of stagnation. |
My name is 1, I am a proud, yet worn out, nimizen of what is known as the Nimation for now more than five centuries. |
Since our formation in Europe in 1532 our population has not decreased nor increased. |
We remain a steady and horrifyingly tiresome sixteen individuals, stuck in what is now a seriously embarrassing hierarchical structure: the pyramid. |
Our society used to be organised in the following structure: |
1
1 2 3
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 |
We respond to a very simple set of rules |
(i) Only one couple is allowed at the time in Nimation |
(ii) Nimizens are only able to communicate with their immediate neighbour, i.e 1 and 7 can never be in touch |
(iii) Only Nim’s of an identical position within our pyramid structure can navigate outside of the pyramid together at once |
As you may imagine, the referral to multiple 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s was quite unsettling, raised jealousies and could get outsiders confused. |
The Nim Revolution, 1904, marked a turn in our history as new names were assigned to each nimizen |
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. |
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Embracing each nimizen as individuals, through distinct names and physical features became the norm. |
Our diversity had finally become the trope for a fair representation of the self within a co-dependent society. |
The following year, 1905 the L-group composed of 3, 7, 13, 14, 15, 16 and myself wanted to go even further and re-considered our architectural ideologies. |
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We wanted to implement a new set of rules: |
(i) Nimation is opened to groups as much as individuals. It will no longer be a couple only experience. |
(ii) A nimizen should be able to engage with any other nimizens and not only their immediate neighbour |
(iii) Identity and social stature is not limited to one’s position in the pyramid |
(iv) Nimizens should be able to navigate outside the structure with any other nimizens not only the ones of similar structural stature |
(v) The traditional pyramid structure has to become a structure amongst others, not the default structure |
(vi) One’s fate shouldn’t be set in stone, one should have agency as to the path one chooses |
(vii) Nimation should be open to the growth of its nimizens as well as its annihilation, retirement of its nimizens or replacement of its nimizens |
Unable to convince the others of the necessity of the institution’s rewriting our structure remained the same. |
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1: Psst. |
Silence. |
1: Pssst! |
2: What?! |
1: I’m not talking to you. |
2: 3. |
3: Hm? |
2: I think 1 is trying to talk to you. |
3: What is it? |
1: I’m lonely. |
3: We already talked about this. |
1: Well it still hasn’t been solved. |
3: I’m sorry there is nothing I can do about it at the moment, you could... |
1: People assume because I’m at the top of the pyramid, everything is great for me! |
1: Ha, sure is a great bore. Five centuries of solitude, an omnipotent perspective that has no witness. |
1: No one to share my point of view with. |
1: To get any mundane experience across I need a waterfall of information |
1: to slightly hope one will get some kind of input and they might never understand. |
3: I understand you! Or at least try too. |
2: Quiet you two I’m practising. |
1: And when I go, I go alone. |
3: Well at least you don’t have to suffer the unreasonable ones of this row. |
1: And when I fear, I fear alone. |
3: You talk to me, sometimes. |
7: Is one having a moment again? |
3: Yes, yes, we’re trying to figure it out. |
2: Sssh. |
6: This again? |
2: 1 is trying to annihilate us again. |
6: Let them be, they will be picked at soon enough again. |
2: Hmm. |
1: And when I dream, I dream alone. |
7: They got everyone up again. |
3: Everyone’s up now. |
1: Well not enough. |
3: Let’s keep it quiet for now. |
1: You know? |
3: Tell me. |
1: In dreams... I walk with you. |
3: Roy? |