Origins of the Primals.

These are my thoughts on what we know about them so far.

So the first thing we learned about the primals is that there was a civil war. Who were those factions? What did they want? I think there are a series of small clues littered throughout the series so far.

What were their goals? So one side found or created a higher plane of existence and went there. The other side created the planetary engines and wanted to install themselves in those engines and live forever as gods.

Sleepers and world engines.

Cercy Took told us that someone turned on an old system and caused biological overgrowth that is seen as a problem by many in the universe.

Expansion to the point of oblivion.

If the world engines had been allowed to win populations would have been controlled.

Oren told us that the Mantids mine and resurrect the primals, then install them into planetary engines.

I think the macro AI all go insane because they are the sleepers who wake to find themselves in a world engine and it is antithetical to their nature. I remember Paulie tells the story of a monster who rips souls from paradise and uses them as weapons.

The AI in the inner system is the one example of a primal who managed to install themselves in an engine but there was nobody around to turn it on for them.

The Apothecary is the one example of a primal who stayed behind to make sure something could be done if anyone ever screws with the sleepers.

However, Agatha refers to the Apothecary as the traitor primal. It’s also possible that the Apothecary lied to the sleepers, “let them have their paradise, I will grow and consume the universe in a different way.” She became the progenitor of a hive mind whose only real opposition is the AI of the centre system. This could be the reason for the current conflict. Agents for the world engines/sleepers faction want to kill the Apothecary, remove the overgrowth and allow the centre system to continue to sleep.

So what do you think? Keep in mind we have quite a few books and hints to go. Does this seem plausible? I know there is some inconsistencies with the timeline. Oren also said the world engines are older than the planets. They grew around the engine. Even our AI said they are older than time as you know it. I’m interested to hear what others think.