The Tidēs Merge Incident was a significant cultural incident that occurred on Tidēs Resort Planet, involving both Varyn hosts and non-Varyn guests.
A communal merge is a Varyn social practice where multiple individuals partially combine their gelatinous forms, sharing sensations, emotions, and experiences directly. For Varyn, this is a natural and deeply pleasurable form of bonding, often described as a transcendent experience of unity and shared consciousness. It is practiced in pools or pits and only observed outside of Planet Varyn.
On the evening of the summer solstice celebration in Year 31, a group of well-meaning Varyn hosts, excited by the festive atmosphere, initiated a large-scale communal merge in the resort's central plaza. As the merge grew, encompassing dozens of Varyn, the resulting collective experienced a powerful wave of euphoria and connectedness.
In their state of blissful unity, the merged Varyn excitedly invited nearby non-Varyn guests to join, not fully comprehending the biological and cultural differences at play. Some guests, intrigued by the shimmering, undulating mass of blue gel, and perhaps influenced by the free-flowing cocktails of the celebration, accepted the invitation.
What followed was a chaotic mix of sensations and misunderstandings:
Curious guests approached the merged Varyn, they felt an unexpected warmth and tingling sensation upon contact. Some were gently enveloped by the gelatinous mass, experiencing a strange but not unpleasant feeling of weightlessness. The Varyn's form seemed to mold around them, creating an oddly intimate embrace.
Participants soon found their senses overwhelmed. They reported feeling phantom touches all over their bodies, as if caressed by countless hands. Some described waves of pleasure washing over them, while others felt a dizzying rush of emotions not their own. The experience was reportedly intensely visceral, blurring the lines between individual sensations and shared experiences.
As the merge continued, the fluid movements of the Varyn mass inadvertently stimulated participants in increasingly intimate ways. Some guests reported feeling as if their entire bodies had become erogenous zones, with every movement sending shivers of pleasure through them. The lack of solid form meant that the Varyn unintentionally conformed to and stimulated every contour of the participants' bodies.
While some guests found themselves caught up in a euphoric trance, others experienced panic and disorientation. As android security forces intervened, participants were carefully extracted, many emerging in a state of dishevelment and sensory overload. Some were left trembling and overstimulated, while others appeared dazed and blissful. The variety of intense reactions contributed to the confusion and controversy that followed.
The incident lasted approximately 20 minutes before resort security managed to separate the merged Varyn and extract the non-Varyn guests. In the aftermath, several guests reported a mix of trauma and ecstasy. Jax Korrel, a Navarean student on vacation to Tidēs described the experience as "every nerve in [his] body deciding to party at once" in a documentary filmed on the subject. "Part of me wants to forget it ever happened, but another part? Kinda wants to try it again. Is that messed up?"
Man, they know how to party. Wish I coulda been there. ~zanezone wanna go?
The event led to a diplomatic incident, with some conservative groups, among them the Galactic Feed, accusing the Varyn of inappropriate conduct. Tidēs was closed for business and Varyn entered into negotiation with the World Unity on the subjects of privacy and consent at the resort. However, after careful cultural exchange and education, it was determined that the Varyn had no malicious intent, and the incident was chalked up to a significant cultural misunderstanding.
As a result, Tidēs Resort implemented new policies, including designated merge areas for Varyn and clear guidelines for inter-species interactions. The incident also sparked a galaxy-wide conversation about cultural relativism and the challenges of true inter-species understanding. In the immediate aftermath, bookings to Tidēs resort saw an almost 3x uptick from the 22-30 year old Tallisite and Navarean demographics.