\r\nThis was written December 24th, 2025<\/i>\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\nUnicorn Evolution<\/h2>\r\n
\r\nEvolution sometimes works in unexpected ways. Let us look at the unicorn for instance.\r\nIn modern days, we simply consider them as an upgraded version of the horse, don’t we?\r\nOne which is associated with magic, along with a lovely and powerful horn on its forehead.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nBut, what if I told you it was actually the other way around? That horses are descended\r\nfrom unicorns and are actually a byproduct of evolution: A genetic accident that has led\r\nto better survival odds. But, with all the additional power we attribute to the unicorn,\r\nhow could that possibly be?\r\n<\/p>
\r\nWell, in a long ago time, back when magic was more common, unicorns were one of the\r\nprincipal sources of magic. You see, unicorns were one of the primordial Wizards, exhibiting\r\nnatural magical powers, and channeling it through their wand. What wand? Why, this should\r\nbe obvious, the one protruding from their forehead, silly.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nOnce upon a time, magical creatures in perfect harmony with human proto-wizards, the\r\nearly humans who were getting exposed to magic. They wouldn’t themselves be able to wield\r\nany magic, but they partnered with unicorns, each helping one another with different tasks,\r\nand going on missions together. It is even said that a unicorn and their partner could\r\ncommunicate telepathically, although this might only be legend.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nSo, what eventually happened? Well, you’ve probably heard long ago how unicorns are\r\nweary of humans and only accept the presence of the “pure” virgin? Well, that’s only\r\npartially true, a distortion by humans based on their own religions. It should really\r\nbe seen as the pure-hearted, as opposed to the virgin. But why? I hear you ask. Well…\r\n<\/p>
\r\nAt some point, a group of enterprising humans wondered whether there was a way to themselves\r\naccess magic. Eventually, one of the was struck with an idea: What if they harvested it\r\nfrom unicorns? At first, they opted for more “ethical” methods, since humans and unicorns\r\ndid live in harmony. Accordingly, they waited for a unicorn to die naturally and then went\r\non with their plans, claiming they wanted to avoid the unicorn’s magical power to be “wasted”.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nBelieving ancient myths, they thought a unicorn’s magic was found in their\r\nheart. Thusly, the unicorn still being freshly dead, they carved out the heart, and one\r\nof them consumed it whole, before carving out the horn to use to channel the magic. Turns\r\nout, it worked flawlessly, and so did we get our first human Wizard. But obviously, it\r\ndid not end there, now the box was open, and there was no going back. Others also wanted\r\nto get powers for themselves.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nAt first, they kept only going after unicorns that were dying either naturally or from\r\nnormal battles, until the demand grew much higher than the supply. At this point, they\r\nhad to find new means of fueling the supply. And thus, the hunt was on.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nPeople started acting like savages, capturing unicorns, carving them, consuming their\r\nstill beating hearts because of their own myths, and ripping out the wand. Yet, this was\r\na hassle, and wouldn’t lend itself to a great economy. After all, you had to be present\r\nin order to consume the heart.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nEventually, people experimented further, trying to create potions or powders from the heart,\r\nand all of those worked. It was silly of them to not realize sooner that consuming the\r\nheart was completely useless; had someone tried to use another Wizard’s wand, they would\r\nhave realized they were able to handle it. Then again, it might also have been propaganda\r\nto keep the Wizards as part of the Elite. Ah, but once this realization came about, the\r\nflood gates were open, and the hunt reached new levels.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nHuman savagery and brutality can never be underestimated. I’m guessing you’ve heard of\r\nwhat some fisherman do to sharks, right? Due to the popularity of Shark Fin Soup, a lot\r\nof fisherman have been known to just carve out the fin of the shark and then releasing\r\nthem back into the water, to die a rather cruel death. “After all, only the fin would\r\nfetch a high price, why waste time and space with the entire carcass?” would be their\r\nreasoning. Well, in a similar way, unicorns were being chased by humans, and their horns\r\nwould be ripped off their own heads, leaving them powerless and vulnerable.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nAccordingly, unicorns became much more selective of which people they would associate\r\nwith: Unless they could confirm the person’s heart was pure, and thus would cause them\r\nno danger, they would flee. Still, they were still being hunted, with their number\r\ndwindling.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nLuckily, nature found a way. By pure accident, a new breed was born, the horse. New genes\r\nwere introduced, which wouldn’t trigger the growth of a magical horn. Gradually, since\r\nthis gene protected the new breed from unicorns’ new predator, human, this gene propagated\r\nmore and more, and thus horses became the dominant species, with unicorn gradually becoming\r\nextinct.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nWhat are you thoughts on this whole tale, tragic right? Do you wish we’d been more careful\r\nand been more in harmony with unicorns, to hopefully keep magic around? How foolish of\r\nyou! And it wouldn’t be surprising you’re only thinking this because of how special\r\nunicorns are seen in modern culture. But this kind of tragedy, or extermination, and pure\r\natrocity is nothing special in the entirety of human history. This was neither the first\r\nnor the last such tragedy. Such things are still happening to this day, and we’re just\r\nletting them happen. Why? Convenience, there’s an apparent gain to it, albeit short-term,\r\nand unsustainable.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nAlthough, to come back to unicorns. They’re not exactly completely gone, the necessary\r\ngenes are still present in some of the modern specimens. Did that relieve you? Make you\r\nbelieve that you might one day encounter one? Live a magical experience? Foolishness once\r\nmore! Those genes are themselves already rare, and require the correct combination. Why\r\ndo you think we haven’t seen any unicorn in who-knows-how-long? A naturally occurring\r\nunicorn, at this point, is extremely unlikely. Although an artificially created one might\r\nstill be in the cards.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nAnd if you think that’s all the magic that’s existed in the world, that would be a silly\r\nthought. Though just like with unicorns, a lot of those were hunted out of existence\r\nby human foolishness. Alas, seems like we can’t have nice things…\r\n<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This was written December 24th, 2025 Unicorn Evolution Evolution sometimes works in unexpected ways. Let us look at the unicorn for instance. In modern days, we simply consider them as an upgraded version of the horse, don’t we? One which is associated with magic, along with a lovely and powerful horn on its forehead. But, … Continue reading Writing Challenge 2025 \u2013 27 – Unicorn Evolution<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2598"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2601,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2598\/revisions\/2601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}