An Allegory.

The text of this story has been preserved as is.  It will relate and make sense to only a very few, though as I understand it the concept has been undertaken by others.  I make no claims as to the quality of the writing, as a much younger 'Jeremiah' penned these words.  The allegory reads as follows:




Disclaimer: All people represented in this allegory have given full consent to participation in any and all metaphors chosen to represent this forum's history.  This allegory is not much dialogue-based, it represents the history of SP in a format beyond just facts.


Prologue

At the start, there was nothing.  Then the world began to form.
Through a glistening aether-colored portal, crackling with residual energy, stepped a chestnut-furred chipmunk, who also had pink hair, a violet vest, and light purple knee-high boots, and as she landed the current world took shape.
Her name?  Candy Acorn.
She had managed, through certain technology, to create this world here.  It was a place for anyone to come and just talk about things they wanted to discuss.  First, though, she had to wait for someone to come.  She had placed some portals into this place from other places, so it wouldn't take too long.
However, there was one last thing.  Candy raised her hand, which, as the rest of her, was filled with the energy of creation, and called out in her clear voice, "I christen this world 'SP'!"
...and so it began.



First Chapter

It was the first night.  Candy was keeping up her vigil outside her home here, hoping against hope that the portals would actually start to work.
From one portal came three different newcomers, spaced only a few minutes apart, and they landed different places.  All three managed to find their way through the sparse forests to a central light - SP wasn't very large at this time.  They all came to the fire in front of the only house there currently - Candy's.
From knowing a few things about the technology which had been used, they knew that Candy was in charge around here.
The first was a white cat with black paws, an eyepatch over his left eye, and the other iris red.  The cat seemed to think over what he would say briefly, as if to clarify what he meant in the best way possible.  Then he introduced himself to the others, saying: "Officer Reece Karlos Blackeye, at your service."
The second was a silver-gray hedgehog, whose eyes would have better fit the cat's last name - his eyes were pure black.  His socks were a bright yellow, contrasting his fur.  Seeming slightly self-conscious through no particular doing of his own, he simply said, for now: "Dark.  Dark the Hedgehog."
The third newcomer had radiant, green-glowing shoe soles and a notebook under his left arm.  In the light of the fire, one could see not one, nor two, nor three, but four tails protruding from behind him.  His thick, bright azure fur and triangular ears, in combination with his tails, singled him out as a kitsune.  "Jeremiah Zak's the name."
Candy stood up from her lawn chair seat by the fire.  "Pleasure to meet you three.  My name is Candy Acorn.  Considering that you're all here, you know why I made this place and am trying to invite inhabitants.  Tonight, there is much to be done for the main invitation which will begin tomorrow.  Before you do that..." She gestured to piles of building supplies in the surrounding area.  "I suggest you build your own homes."

A couple of hours later, Candy went to check on them.  All three were done due to the advanced equipment they had available.
At Reece's new home, she stood in awe of the jet-black column-like structure which made up the main portion of the building.  Before going in to see him, though, she went on to the other two.
Dark's house wasn't exactly plain, but it wasn't crazy either.  It was two floors high and painted mauve, which Candy didn't exactly expect but was fine with.
Then she went on to Jeremiah's.  She saw a shadow on the ground, and looked up.  There, in the air, was a hovering, brass-plated structure, kept there by helicopter blades spaced at various places on the roof.
Yet she realized as she called out, they were noiseless.
"Jeremiah?  What were you thinking?"
His reply consisted of a rope ladder tossed down to her.



Second Chapter

Candy climbed up swiftly and came through the open doorway to which the ladder was fastened. Jeremiah was across the room, seeming to stare past her to the open air and appearing extremely pale.
He managed to regain control of himself and walked to another door, beckoning to the chipmunk to follow, then disappearing, tails flashing behind him.
The two of them finally sat down together in another room.
Candy was not looking pleased by how little she knew about the current situation.
"First...why the sudden silence?"
"Right...sorry about that...you see, I'm actually highly acrophobic," the kitsune replied.
The chipmunk facing him could not get her mind around this.  "You can fly...and you build a flying home...but you're afraid of heights?"
"Aye.  Well, mostly, except that in natural flight I manage to instinctually negate it...and I like flying things...and I'm just strange that way.  I'm considered eccentric in all manner of things."
For the time being, Candy decided to not ask the somewhat strange kitsune any more questions about his house's flight.  Instead, she took the liberty of looking around.  The room they were currently in contained a computer and printer off to one side, some other type of printing machine in a corner, and in a place of honor before the fireplace, a typewriter.
Jeremiah followed her gaze to the typewriter.
"I'm a writer, in fact a photojournalist by trade.  Other than that, I write various things, mostly stories and records.  Most recently, I was writing about-"
He gets cut off by a loud crash coming from outside.  Hurriedly, he rushes out of the room and goes to another, with Candy amusedly following.
In the main control center for the house, he stops, and carefully manuvers the home so as to land it.  Then he flips a switch and the helicopter blades fold inwards.
By this time, Candy already left to go investigate the noise, and the kitsune then retreats to his typewriter for the time being.
Over at the two-story house, there are signs of a hole in the right wall.  Candy is about to walk in, when she trips on a banana peel which seems to be there for no useful purpose.  While she doesn't take much injury, some of the energy she has leaves her and forms an object next to her.
When she sits up, she sees the object.  It is a three-dimensional word with arms and legs, and is apparently animate.  Just as it runs off, Candy makes out its three letters: 'G-A-G'.  She also realizes that it's running quite a bit.  She curses it under her breath and resolves to deal with it after taking care of more important matters.
Turning back to the hole in the house, she goes into it.  Dark is apparently busy with some equipment and doesn't notice her yet.  He also seems to be ignoring the hole in the house.
Then, finally pleased with his endeavor, he turns and sees the hole and the figure standing in it inquisitively.
"This is my studio," he explains briefly.  "I make movies.  The hole is a special effect, I'll fix it."
Candy decides to not probe any further, just nods, and goes to check on Reece.  She sees the running gag in front of the tower, then the sound of a gunshot rings out and the word is pinned to the ground for a time.  By the time she arrives, however, it's already back up and gone again.
She goes to the door, only to find that it's ajar already.  Walking in, she finds no one, and looks throughout the building, but finds no one.  Then, before she leaves, she leans against one of the mahogany panels covering the walls.  This particular panel slid back into the wall, and when she withdrew her hand the whole wall slid back.
The wall slid back and away, revealing a passageway leading underground. 
The chestnut chipmunk follows the passage and finds the walls lined with different sheets of paper, and some laminated or framed offical-looking documents...though the writing is so prim she can't make sense of it.  Most of it, at least.  What she can make out makes it apparent that it is hidden for a reason - it was, in its time, meant to be extremely secret, but now they're from quite some time back.  Finally, she finds Reece with his back to her, checking a radar for something.
Candy clears her throat.  Reece tenses and swivels his chair.
"Reece...what are you doing?"
He sighs.
"Just things I would normally do."
"Why the secrecy?"
"Being a high-ranking officer do you think I can just go and be open about things?  No!"
"A high-ranking officer where?"
"With all due respect, that's confidential."
Candy wears an expression of her irritation, but chooses to not press the matter.
"I will be at the fire and expect to see you there tomorrow."
"Sure, sure," the cat replies, his back to her again.  Candy leaves and goes back to the fire and inside her house, then sleeps.  As soon as she wakes, she sharpens the visibility of the portals in and wills daylight upon the world.



Third Chapter

In this first morning, Candy is again waiting at the fire as Reece, Dark, and Jeremiah come wait with her there.  She looks to the three of them.
"As you three have been here and been in the foundation...you are all tasked with responsibility of helping care for this world."  At first, she had the idea of giving them hammers, but after some discussion that idea was revoked.  So she put some of the power of the world into one of Dark's movie cameras and into Jeremiah's typewriter (which he carried with him literally everywhere) and made them the guardians and law-keepers of the congregation area around the fire, where it was planned people would meet often.  She gave Reece a toolbox, as he would have responsibility for the land of the world, especially where inhabitants traveled, to ensure that everything remained in top shape.
As the overall caretaker of the world, Candy would still have the final say in any major decisions and oversee the work of the others, but she trusted them to be able to do their jobs.
Among others, five inhabitants of note came through the portals as the sun traveled through morning.  In no particular order: a gray hedgehog with light gray eyes, a fox whose fur was between green and brown and had yellow eyes mostly shaded and obscured by glasses, a midnight blue bat with the same shade eyes, a black hedgehog with brown eyes, and a saber-tooth tiger, black-furred and showing yellow eyes.
"Welcome.  I am Candy Acorn, creator of this world, SP...and you five are?"
The gray hedgehog speaks up first.  "You can call me Cloud Duncan."
Then the fox.  "I am Gary."
The bat interjected his introduction almost immediately after Gary's: "Doctor Alex the Bat!"
Quietly, the black hedgehog murmured, "Anthony."
Last, the saber-tooth tiger, her voice clear.  "My name is Zora."
"Pleased to have you here.  There are construction materials scattered around; please make a home and make yourselves at home."  The five leave to do that, at the moment oblivious of Dark and Jeremiah, both sitting nearby with their respective objects.  A short time later the new arrivals come back to the fire, Gary and Alex being the most vocal.  Anthony is quiet for the most part, and Cloud and Zora leave after a short while.
The latter two start exploring the world, and shortly after that Reece comes back with his toolbox.  He has nothing major to tell Candy, who is sometimes present at the fire and sometimes not.  As the day wears on and idle chatter mostly dies down around the fire, more new tenants of the world are going out and taking further looks at the world, leaving an unintentional trail wherever they have thoughts about some of the natural features of the world.  Oftentimes, these trails meet, follow each other, or even intertwine for a time.
By the end of the day, there are many trails, and Candy puts more wood on the fire as she surveys the small group of homes, all built in close proximity as if there's more in common than just being homes.  Some are plain two-story houses, painted a dull gray, while others are of especial note - Reece's obelisk, Dark's studio, Jeremiah's flying house, Cloud's glass dome, Gary's shrine-like home with a centerpiece of a mysterious floating giant ring, Alex's genetics laboratory, Anthony's amorphous house made of an unknown substance between solid and liquid, and Zora's one-story home built and painted very accurately to resemble one of the two moons in the sky.
Most gather around the fire this night, though Anthony came and went before long, with Candy irritated with him.  Some inhabitants haven't been seen paw or tail of since building their homes.  There are also wanderers, who come to SP, build no homes and have no rights to come to the fire, though they can and do still look around.  After long hours of discussion of various subjects including the health of the world so far, the first rays of dawn start to become visible.  Candy also delegates responsibilities to three other inhabitants of the world; their names are unrecorded but it's known that two of them are given toolboxes to care for the world, the other given responsibility for the fire and discussion area.



Fourth Chapter

The new day, the second day, shows as high of hopes among inhabitants as since the
start - maybe higher.  Anthony and Candy argue more and for a time she feels she needs to forcibly restrain the hedgehog, so she uses methods humans sometimes do with non-anthropomorphs - she ties leather around his muzzle so he can't speak, leaving him wandering around for a time, before freeing him.  This was the second tier of penal remedy she established; the first was being forcibly removed from the commons fire area, the second entirely disallowed from talking there, the third
banished from the planet, and the fourth and most extreme a marking which would show someone to be banished even if they attempted to put on a masquerade as someone else.
Of course, as Candy attested to and instructed everyone she gave responsibility, using tools to force someone to do something was not to be taken lightly.  The person in question had to ignore authoritative instructions before the law-keeper took stronger action.  Those tasked with the fire area could impose the first two, as well as wipe the public minutes which were clearly visible on a bulletin board near the fire.  The caretakers of the world could impose the third and change trails, though only Candy could impose the fourth and make the most major changes and decisions.
In the morning, two more people of note come, among others.  Both are foxes; one black and white (one red eye, one blue), one green (blue eyes).  The first one calls himself Shiro, the second, Chirper.  When they build homes, each also has uniqueness: Shiro's home contains a weather control device, Chirper's can launch missiles, with capabilities to both surface and air.  Both seem a bit wild, usually speaking loudly on random topics when present.
Candy watches the community grow, and she sees it to be satisfactory, if not more.  On occasion, she adds, changes, and replaces decorations and scenery.  After some time, Dark and Jeremiah are the sole fire-kepeers, Reece and Anthony the sole caretakers.
Candy chooses Reece to be her assistant, for when she knows she might have to travel to other worlds for a time, and gives to him the energy of creation.  By the world's natural working, he can't be her equal, but he is as close as possible because she saw in him enough experience around the world and in his general day-to-day lifestyle to help her and preside in her absence.  A couple days after appointing him, Candy goes to begin a new world which she can make to have a special tie with SP.  She admits she cannot handle both worlds upon returning three days later.  A week passes, and she tries again, brought down again by being unable to focus on one place.  A third time she tries, and this time, while it is hard for her, she gives Reece total responsibility for SP until such time as she accomplishes establishing the other world.
Reece takes to the job fairly well, holding a few friendly competitions, and replenishes his ranks of responsibility holders, having Chirper and one whose name is not here recorded as the caretakers, Dark and another unnamed inhabitant as the fire-keepers, and his trusted friend Jeremiah as his right-hand fox, with the duties of both caretaker and fire-keeper.  Around this time, roughly two and a half months after that first night and first gathering, Jeremiah speaks privately with Reece one night and in an hour's time - as the two moons in the sky are directly overhead - he publishes the first edition of the SP newspaper, known rather blandly as the SP Newspaper for lack of another name.
Candy comes back a day later, determined she can do nothing for the other world, and while she approves of the newspaper idea she puts her usual world-keepers back in place - Anthony for general caretaking, Dark and Jeremiah for the fire.



Fifth Chapter

Time passes, the community grows.  Some arrivals of note include: a black, blue-eyed hedgehog named Sonowske and usually called either Sonow or Snow; a dark violet, light-brown-eyed wolf-cat hybrid named Daniel; a brown-gold, gold-eyed owl-cat hybrid named Merritaia; a dark gray fox with bright green eyes named Dane; a white three-tailed fox with bright blue eyes named Dusk; and a red, blue-eyed, two-tailed fox named Savon.
Now, five months after the world was created, Candy is rapidly making several changes - in one of the most major, she made Dusk a second assistant not long ago; for another Cloud is a caretaker, and Zora and someone with a name not on record take care of another main gathering site, an arena, where events and adventures of all types begin.  Candy also intends to return to the world she made quite some time ago and try to run it again.  At some point along the line, however...what exactly is said and goes on is not known to many, but something that is better-known is that Merritaia is at one point unable to find bearable being around Candy.  Jeremiah, a close friend of the owl-cat, also speaks up of difficulties he had with his faith in his leader, and barely a night later he renounced his post as fire-keeper, no longer wishing to fulfill it, and suspended his newspaper.  When word of this reached Candy, she spoke to the two briefly then saw both of them out through a portal, putting a type of seal on said portal to either temporarily (in Merritaia's case) or indefinitely (in Jeremiah's case) disable it.
The only records of the next month show: Reece disappearing slowly and not leaving his home after a point in time not more specifically known, then his being replaced by Sonowske; Dane and Daniel taking over from Dark and Jeremiah, and after about three weeks Candy leaves SP for other ventures, stopping in occasionally to renew the scenery.
The record picks up more a little over a month later, when Jeremiah returns.  He resumes the newspaper, and life in the community in general is going fairly well.  A last detail of note logged is that a caretaker did not show himself up to his responsibility and his toolbox was taken, leaving a space unfilled at present.  Dane became a specialist in the caretaking of the arena, and Jeremiah returned to being a law-keeper of the fire about a week after his return.



Epilogue

I do hope you enjoyed this summary.  This is written in honor of the half-year anniversary, or in the time the of most reading this allegory, the full year anniversary, as your time is twice of ours.  May light and truth guide you about whom I write.  May your world continue to flourish.
- J. Zak