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The owner of this piece is Icurthus.\n\nPrompt: \"The existence of the uncanny valley implies that at some point there was an evolutionary reason to be afraid of something that looked human but wasn’t.\"\n\nLinks: https://www.sofurry.com/view/2221146 (SoFurry), https://www.furaffinity.net/view/59702196/ (FurAffinity)", "description_bbcode_parsed": "Writer's Crossing Monthly Prompt entry for January 2025. The owner of this piece is Icurthus.

Prompt: "The existence of the uncanny valley implies that at some point there was an evolutionary reason to be afraid of something that looked human but wasn’t."

Links: https://www.sofurry.com/view/2221146 (SoFurry), https://www.furaffinity.net/view/59702196/ (FurAffinity)", "writing": "A long time ago, in the valley beyond Roundpeak Mountain, there once lived humans.\n \nWhat are humans, you ask? That is a surprisingly difficult question to answer, since your generation will never meet one now that they have disappeared.\n \nThey were strange creatures. They had no proper fur except for a silly mane on their heads, so both the cold of night and the heat of day were dangerous to them. They did not walk on four legs like a proper creature should, so they were slow and noisy when they moved. At night, they slept so soundly that anyone can walk up to them without waking them. They had no beaks, no fangs, no claws and no wings. Not even horns or a tail. Their senses were dull and they got easily sick, so they had to be careful what they ate and drank.\n \nHow can such a creature survive, you ask? Well, young ones, they were smart.\n \nThey knew how to build not-real caves, which they called houses. This allowed them to sleep safely at night. They knew how to make food safe by heating it, something they called cooking. In fact, they knew how to make more than enough food by building special homes that they called farms, so they forgot what true hunger was. They knew how to make not-real fur that could keep them warm and protect them from the sun, things they called clothes. Sure, they were not complete masters of the world, for there was nothing they could do about their clumsiness or their weak senses. But it mattered not, for they knew how to shape a magical rock they called iron into usable shapes they called tools. With iron, they could make things like ploughs and scythes for farming, and hammers and saws for building.\n \nAnd they also made weapons from this iron. Weapons that became stronger and stronger as the years passed, until they were the most dangerous creatures in the forest. And that, young ones, is how such a weak species can survive. They became strong enough to push the forest out of the valley where they lived to make way for their houses and farms. Just before humans disappeared, they were so strong that the entire valley was under their absolute control. Nothing of the old forest remained there, only the farms and the houses which, by now, had grown so big that they looked like strange, angular mountains, sprouting like uncanny trees in the middle of the valley.\n \nThat, young one, is where Uncanny Valley came from. Of course, the humans are gone now, and the forest slowly returns to where the farms once stood. But the big houses in the middle of the valley still stand strong, remembering the days of old when humans still lived there.\n \nWhat happened to the humans, you ask? Well, young ones, no one knows.\n \nSome say a sickness killed them all. Others say that they couldn't live in the valley anymore because they were quite messy creatures that made everything too dirty for their weak health. And others still say that they ran out of iron to make the tools they relied on, so they had to find more elsewhere. But I think the Guardians may have done something to them.\n \nWho are the Guardians, you ask? I am not quite sure, even though I have seen them myself.\n \nThey look like humans. They walk like humans. They even sound like humans, well kind of. Yet, I don’t think they are real creatures. They looked to me like they are made of iron, though why humans would want to make tools like that, I cannot say. But they are dangerous, so you must promise not to go there before you have grown up, and even then, to always be careful. The Guardians do not take kindly to anything that enters the Uncanny Valley, especially where the houses are at their biggest. The beautiful and useful things humans left behind are not worth risking your life for, and the Guardians will never allow the secrets that the Valley now keeps, to come to light.\n\n Now hush, young ones. The night is dark and it is time to rest.\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "A long time ago, in the valley beyond Roundpeak Mountain, there once lived humans.
 
What are humans, you ask? That is a surprisingly difficult question to answer, since your generation will never meet one now that they have disappeared.
 
They were strange creatures. They had no proper fur except for a silly mane on their heads, so both the cold of night and the heat of day were dangerous to them. They did not walk on four legs like a proper creature should, so they were slow and noisy when they moved. At night, they slept so soundly that anyone can walk up to them without waking them. They had no beaks, no fangs, no claws and no wings. Not even horns or a tail. Their senses were dull and they got easily sick, so they had to be careful what they ate and drank.
 
How can such a creature survive, you ask? Well, young ones, they were smart.
 
They knew how to build not-real caves, which they called houses. This allowed them to sleep safely at night. They knew how to make food safe by heating it, something they called cooking. In fact, they knew how to make more than enough food by building special homes that they called farms, so they forgot what true hunger was. They knew how to make not-real fur that could keep them warm and protect them from the sun, things they called clothes. Sure, they were not complete masters of the world, for there was nothing they could do about their clumsiness or their weak senses. But it mattered not, for they knew how to shape a magical rock they called iron into usable shapes they called tools. With iron, they could make things like ploughs and scythes for farming, and hammers and saws for building.
 
And they also made weapons from this iron. Weapons that became stronger and stronger as the years passed, until they were the most dangerous creatures in the forest. And that, young ones, is how such a weak species can survive. They became strong enough to push the forest out of the valley where they lived to make way for their houses and farms. Just before humans disappeared, they were so strong that the entire valley was under their absolute control. Nothing of the old forest remained there, only the farms and the houses which, by now, had grown so big that they looked like strange, angular mountains, sprouting like uncanny trees in the middle of the valley.
 
That, young one, is where Uncanny Valley came from. Of course, the humans are gone now, and the forest slowly returns to where the farms once stood. But the big houses in the middle of the valley still stand strong, remembering the days of old when humans still lived there.
 
What happened to the humans, you ask? Well, young ones, no one knows.
 
Some say a sickness killed them all. Others say that they couldn't live in the valley anymore because they were quite messy creatures that made everything too dirty for their weak health. And others still say that they ran out of iron to make the tools they relied on, so they had to find more elsewhere. But I think the Guardians may have done something to them.
 
Who are the Guardians, you ask? I am not quite sure, even though I have seen them myself.
 
They look like humans. They walk like humans. They even sound like humans, well kind of. Yet, I don’t think they are real creatures. They looked to me like they are made of iron, though why humans would want to make tools like that, I cannot say. But they are dangerous, so you must promise not to go there before you have grown up, and even then, to always be careful. The Guardians do not take kindly to anything that enters the Uncanny Valley, especially where the houses are at their biggest. The beautiful and useful things humans left behind are not worth risking your life for, and the Guardians will never allow the secrets that the Valley now keeps, to come to light.

 Now hush, young ones. The night is dark and it is time to rest.
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