The Landlords are an alien species who are the owners of the planetary lease on Earth.
Biology[]
The Landlords are said to look like the Kraken from 2010 movie "Clash of the Titans". Though not as large as the movie character, the Landlords were even more monstrous and menacing and seemed to growl as they breathed.
The architecture and design of their faces made it look like they were physically incapable of smiling; but highly capable of ripping things apart with their mouths. Their teeth hung out of their jaws and had tentacles sticking out of their faces and backs as well. They have two smaller arms growing out the elbows of their bigger ones and walked on four legs, but looking more like a giant spider with a pseudo-human torso.
When interacting with creatures smaller than their forms, the Landlords utilize a form of technology to use biological proxies called Speakers that were reduced to human size. Speakers looked less intimidating, wearing long cloaks and stretched hoods with iron contraptions around it, like DeSaad; a popular comic villain from the DC comic universe.
History[]
Over a thousand years ago the Landlords laid claim to Earth as a part of their many properties that owned in the galaxy.
However when humanity evolved on the planet and began to spread across its surface, without accreditation from the Landlords, the rightful owners decided to eliminate the species.
They attempted to remove the indigenous life forms by force of military power. Though ancient humanity proved to be a difficult species to wipe out, despite their primitiveness. The conflict between the Landlords and humanity ended when one of the ancient cultures of humanity from El Salvador negotiated a lease to remain on Earth, promising to care for the land as the Landlords had did. This was satisfactory to the Landlords who agreed to the terms, and carved the contract upon the walls of a cave in El Salvador. The contract would then be accepted by other ancient cultures at the time who the Landlords met and shared the stipulations of the agreement.
Over time the Landlords representatives, the Speakers would visit Earth from time to time to check on humanity’s progress in caring for the planet. Due to Earth being some distance in the universe in the outskirts relative to the boonies, the Landlords had inconsistent interaction with Earth as it was regarded a remote prefecture under their control.
The second visitation was in Ancient Egypt, where the aliens were treated with reverence which earned the culture favoritism at the time. Other cultures were visited such as the Aztec and Incas, though they were regarded as barbaric given their predilection for blood sacrifice to the Landlords. Despite the gruesome rituals the aliens accepted the barbarism as a stage of development the humans had to pass through. As a form of their blessings the aliens gave their human tenants forms of gifts such as good weather by using their technology to manipulate the climate.
In the passing of time what was centuries for humanity, a mere few years had passed for the aliens through their visits. The aliens visitations in modern times would be the result of UFO sightings. At one point humanity even attempted to attack their representatives, causing the human attackers and the incident to be so thoroughly obliterate that it was forgotten by history.
Eventually the Landlords decided to put Earth on the market and was sold to an alien species who intended to turn the planet into a resort. The aliens then proceeded to come to Earth and announce humanity’s eviction as their contract was due to expire. Later the Landlords came to explain the situation to the humans via the Speakers.
Earth’s leaders in disbelief attempted to disregard the contract as it was made by lesser minds. However the aliens while understanding their disbelief insisted that the contract terms were clear and humans must honor it. They even provided proof of their contract, showing a holographic version of it that exactly matched the cave paintings in El Salvador.
They also listed their reasons for selling Earth, as despite after a thousand years humanity had not kept their side of the contract given the ecological damage to the planet no thanks to the abuse humans had rendered to it.
While humanity’s leaders deliberated on their course of action, the Speakers of the Landlords engaged with human scientists and showed off their technology for their amusement. However when asked if there was a possibility of trading said advanced technology, they were flat refused as the Landlords had learned long ago of the ramifications of trading advanced technology to primitive races which resulted in the destruction of the races but also the planets under their care.
In regards to the conundrum that the humans faced, being evicted, the Landlords had possible solutions as they encountered similar situations on their many properties. They proposed that humanity could confine itself to one of the continents as a reserve for their species. Specifically the continent of Antarctica, however they suggested that humanity trimmed its population. The reasonable suggestion was rejected by the human leaders unwilling to cull its numbers despite the greater good.
The Landlords had technology to teleport the humans to another planet, though humanity was hesitant to put their faith in the Landlords. During the intense negotiations at the United Nations, both Speaker and human leaders would not give in to the other. It was at this time a lowly accountant belonging to the UN staff raised his voice to argue that the terms of the contract were flawed as they did not specify a standardized time of the duration of the lease on Earth. While a thousand years had passed for humanity, nearly a few had passed for the Landlords. His interruption of the deliberations was met by anger by the human leaders, however to the shock of all, the Speakers agreed with his argument as it had raised a valid point.
The reason why such an addition was never made to the contract was due to the Landlords knowing humans valued human time. But with this, it appeared that the contract only needed to be reinterpreted this technically allowing for a renewal of the current contract, in which the humanity’s lease for Earth would be extended for the foreseeable future at least until a thousand years passed for the Landlords. The aliens noted that if they renewed the contract, given humanity’s self-immolation it would be likely that the species would run itself to extinction long before the contract ended. Despite the four prediction, humanity’s leaders were willing to take the risk and allow their fates to be up to themselves.
The Landlords then decreed that the contract with humanity was still in session. They departed Earth on amiable terms, promising to not interfere with their development but still on occasion observe. Before leaving one of the aliens out of sentimental value decided to archive event between them and the humans.
Culture[]
The Landlords come off as neutral property owners who rent out their properties to other parties. Like any land owner though on a universal scale, the ruler ship of the worlds they own are of little significance to them, save only if the planet is still viable and well cared for.
Despite their supposed indifference towards humanity and their possible extinction, the aliens did have some affection to the lesser species. Mostly due to their past experience in being worshipped as gods during ancient times. Plus combined with their dislike of the new owners of the lease on Earth disrespectful attitude, who demanded they evict the species from the planet or wipe them out. Through a weapon known as the Disinfectant. The Landlords were hesitant to use such methods as it could damage the planet but also cause needless death. However while they did feel a tinge of sympathy to humans, they did not feel obligated to assist them unless it benefited them in a way.
Source[]
- The Landlords by Rich Cole (2021)