#alpha spar

[clonemando]

A Kiss a Day in May

Day 12- Goodnight Kisses

Jango & The Alpha Batch

Each day this month I have a 100 word drabble featuring a different clone with a kiss prompt. Not all are romantic and they include all sorts of pairings and relationships. Feel free to offer pairing/ character suggestions for future days.

Become the Clone template they said. We’ll pay you fortunes beyond your dreams they said. You’ll get to train the best army in the galaxy they said. Well now Jango was standing at the head of a line of 100 children dressed in their pajamas, many of them holding plushies as they each stepped forward to get their goodnight kiss pressed gently into their forehead.

“Goodnight Maze, Goodnight 84, Goodnight Spar, Goodnight 99, Goodnight Spar- wait, brat go to bed! You already got your kiss. 17 no, don’t… Ugh.” Jango grumbled as 17 started brawling with Spar on the floor.

[padawansuggest]

Sometimes I remember that there was an alpha clone (Spar, but be warned I’m writing this from memory mostly I haven’t read this wikia in years) who ended up with all of Jango’s memories, was absolutely disgusted by the cloning as a whole, left to Mandalore and successfully campaigned for the next Mand’alor. So, 1: don’t claim the Kryze fam as the last ruling fam lol it was still the Mereel/Fett legacy thanks and 2: Jango as a root person fucking hates the cloning process and 3: for those of you that want to make fics where he wasn’t a willing progenitor and it took Sith bullshit to get him to do it? Yeah it actually supports that idea so go crazy my loves I’m writing those fics too. And also 4: I just remember there is another Prime Memory clone out there who didn’t get a son and this can work with both fics where he adopts Boba, fics where he adopts Din Djarin, fics where he decides to keep Kenobi as his adult baby, whatever you want fam, all three if it pleases you. Thanks. Love you.

[yukipri]

Spar, Alpha-Ø2, Mand’alor the Resurrector.

My take on this super fascinating if somewhat obscure character from Legends! A clone with Jango Fett’s memories, who escaped Kamino to become leader of a faction of Mandalorians.

I’ve been exploring him a lot in my fic, the Prime Override, and I wanted to give him a shot visually. His appearance here is specific to my fic, where his story diverges considerably from Legends, so there are a couple of details that don’t match that of any of the three official illustrations that exist of him. But the changes are intentional! I still hope he’s recognizable 😅

~~

PLEASE DO NOT REUPLOAD, EDIT, TRANSLATE, OR OTHERWISE USE MY ART. To share, please reblog! Reblogs and comments greatly appreciated!!!

�� You can see the rest of my art through the Masterpost pinned to the top of my blog!

[delusionalbitchinthehouse]

Just Alpha and Ifrit sparring. They're both shirtless, Ifrit in those fuckass tiny Ghost shorts you know which ones, Alpha in grey sweatpants, both all sweaty and all up in each other's space, grunting as they roll around. Grinning like maniac even as they sport bruises and split lips. Maybe there's a bit of blood trickling down Ifrit's face, dripping on his torso, some staining Alpha's teeth as well. Their hair messed up, tangled, sticking to the nape of their necks. Throwing each other around until they devolve into what starts as agressively shoving their tongues down each other's throat but ends up being a long, lazy making out session.

[clonememesfrikyeah]

Jangotat: “Hey guys, I uhh… might have gotten a girl pregnant. I don’t really know what to-“

Alpha-17: “WHAT?!”

Maze: “When?”

Fordo: “How??”

Jangotat: “… well, when a man and a woman love each other very much-“

Spar bursting through the door: “I know it took a while but i got the bantha milk! Did I miss anything while I was gone?”

Everyone: •_•

[mamuzzy]

Peak Alpha-17 moment when the Grim Reaper comes for your chicken, so you start to beat his ass, BECAUSE NO ONE IS GOING TO TOUCH THE CHICKENS!!!

[yourfriendlybi]

Here's an idea that I REALLY enjoy and like to share

Ink teaching Dream that negative emotions are still normal/natural to have and that Dream doesn't have to be this overly positive person all the damn time

Because ya'll gotta remember, Ink still takes their negative emotions/vials and that would probably end up Ink explaining that negative emotions are still needed like the positive ones

[uppercut-athletics]

Sparring highlights 🔥

[roseaesynstylae]

In keeping with my firm belief that 99 is one of the Alphas, here’s some headcanons about his relationships with various Legends characters.

Alpha-17: Alpha loves his little brother and will happily pound your face in if you insult him. Fordo: He always brings 99 gifts and communicates with him while he’s on a mission. He’s not really a talkative person and 99 is well aware of it.

Spar: 99 picked up on what was going on with Spar before anyone else and got concerned. While no one’s ever come out and said it, the rest of the Alphas have their suspicions about how easily Spar snuck off of Kamino.

Mij Gilamar: 99 and Gilamar have a fairly good relationship, mainly because Gilamar is one of the few medics 99 trusts to work on him without doing any weird experiments. Walon Vau: 99 has very mixed feelings about Vau. On one hand, he hates how Vau treats his trainees and knows that they’re all going to end up traumatized and unstable. On the other, he does understand where Vau is coming from, at least on paper. He wants his brothers to survive and he gets that commandos need more intense training than average clone troopers. He just knows that Vau’s cadets are going to end up with PTSD long before they ever see a battlefield. Things are complicated by the fact that Mird, for reasons best known only to itself, has taken a liking to him, meaning that it has to come over for playdates. Between Mird and the fact that Vau is legitimately trying to toughen his cadets up so they’ll survive, 99 likes him more than certain other trainers.

Dred Priest: If 99 had the chance, he’d kill Priest without any remorse. (And Isabet Reau as well, but she and Priest are basically the same asshole.) As he can’t do that, he’ll settle for using his access to the utility control rooms to make their lives as difficult as possible.

Kal Skirata: 99 is aware that Skirata genuinely wants the Nulls to be happy and that he’s the main reason the Nulls weren’t decommissioned. 99 respects him for that (possibly connected to a certain fanfic idea that has consumed my mind), but something about the man just rubs him the wrong way. Skirata has never done anything to him, it’s just one of cases where you just dislike someone and can’t quite explain why.

The Nulls: Despite the Nulls and the Alphas having a tense relationship, 99’s never had any problems with them, outside of them knocking out the power to the science building and making his job harder. He knows that they could be a lot worse and they don’t intentionally cause him trouble. (See the parentheses for Kal Skirata.)

[twinterrors29]

when Obi-Wan arrives on Mandalore to investigate claims that the Mandalorians are working with the Separatists, Alpha-17 insists on joining him

they still have to root out Pre Vizsla's Death Watch after the terror attack on Sundari, but quickly realize that the incredibly homogeneous armor paint worn by the Death Watch commandos they met doesn't match the recordings they have of Mandalorians attacking Republic supply ships

so they have to look further, eventually picking up a lead toward the Prime's birth world, Concord Dawn

where Alpha-17 is able to learn that the Protectors have been recently taken over with a man with a very familiar face: Spar, Alpha-02, the brother he thought he'd lost before the war even started....

and now Alpha-17 has to decide whether his loyalty to his brother outweighs his duty to the Republic, and to his Jedi partner...

[clonemando]

hi!!! idk if u know legends but if u can can you write something from Spar’s perspective when he and the Supercommandos fight clones?

I don't know Spar super well tbh. I know of him but I haven't read his stuff personally so it's mostly conjecture. I've read the Alpha-17 comics and the Jango Fett Comics from legends as well as a few Boba related things.

I appreciate the request but I think that this isn't going to be a ficlet I'd be up to writing right now. I might revisit this later and if I do I'll definitely tag you!

[taistelutaide]

POV: Your cocky pretty boy sparring partner has a record of 0-68 knockout losses against you, but he still comes back to make it 0-69...

[yukipri]

The Prime Override - Chapter 73 is up!

Hevy - Alpha Sparring

Sorry it took forever to update again! And forever to edit too *looks at the clock*...Anyway, here's the next chapter!

This Chapter: Spar beats the shit out of Ninety-Nine.

Ninety-Nine was the sole vod who reached maturity so quickly, even as his Alpha batchmates gradually followed in short bursts in the years after him. This meant that for years, he was the only adult vod (other than Jango—and Jango wasn’t allowed to count, not back then). He was also the sole vod who didn’t have a schedule that was constantly packed with training, training, and more training. He was the only vod who wasn’t being forged into something, a tool to sell—he was an anomaly, a single unit deemed past practical use, but kept around due to his value as an experiment, and as a means to control their Prime. All of this meant that Ninety-Nine alone had the means—both mentally, and in terms of his time—to begin building the foundation of what would rapidly grow to become the Ghosts. Even those who were ignorant of the Ghosts, as Hevy had been, always knew he was central to who the Vode were as a people. He couldn’t imagine Tipoca City without him. No one once doubted his value. Even if he was a non-combatant. It makes it all the harder for Hevy not to move, not to scream, when Ninety-Nine is ruthlessly hurled out of the ring. He hits the ground with a thud, heavy enough to shake the training room.

> > Read Ch 73 on AO3

Want to read ahead? Read early access chapters on my Patreon!

> Ch 74 - Part 1

[delusionalbitchinthehouse]

Alpha & Pebble my beautifully fucked up boys ! Here’s them fighting because they don’t know how to communicate. Angst, but with some tiny bit of comfort ? Maybe ? I’m not sure it really is comfort but well.

Alpha’s not sure what the Sibling of Sin said, he only caught the tail end of a mean laugh, but it must’ve been about Delta ; it’s the only thing that could get that reaction out of Pebble. Snarl peeling his lips so far back it looks borderline painful, eyes blazing, tail whipping the air, claws extended.

The earth ghoul is about to pounce on the stupid, stupid human, rip them to shreds and risk being sent back to the pit for the offense it represents. Alpha acts on instinct alone.

The fire ghoul barely manages to catch the back of Pebble’s uniform just as the earth ghoul leaps toward the Sibling. Pebble didn’t see Alpha coming, too blinded by rage, and is caught by surprise ; in a second, and despite his vigorous thrashing, Alpha has the earth ghoul in a chokehold, his arm digging into Pebble’s neck in an effort to keep him from committing first degree murder.

The Sibling blanches at the display, finally realizing their stupidity, the amount of danger they’ve subjected themselves to by sheer malice, and scurries away while they still can. 

Alpha curses as he drags Pebble away, sharp kicks surely bruising his legs, claws raking along his arm in an attempt to make him let go. No chance. Alpha only tightens his hold, cutting Pebble’s airways even more off until the earth ghoul’s knees buckle under him and he let himself be thrown into the common room.

Alpha only grants him a few seconds to take deep, gasping breaths before taking two fistful of the front of Pebble’s uniform, hauling him up against the wall ; with the earth ghoul being a good head shorter than Alpha, and pretty light in comparison,  it’s easy for the fire ghoul to pin Pebble there, his feet barely grazing the ground.

« Are you stupid ?! » Alpha growls inches from Pebble’s face.

« Let go you fucking-»

« No, » Alpha grunts, baring his own fangs, « I asked you a question. Are you fucking stupid ?! That what you earth ghouls do, smoke your brains away ?! You know what happens to dumb sons of bitches who harm members of the Church ?! Do you want to be sent back, away from you greenhouse, your home, your pack ?! »

Pebble blinks, momentarily stunned by the reason behind Alpha’s anger, before his face contorts once again and venom creeps back in the pale green of his eyes.

« So you’d let that piece of shit say whatever they want ? Insult Delta whenever they like ? »

So Alpha was right, it was indeed about Delta. The fire ghoul doesn’t get to say what he wants, Pebble is on a roll.

« Yes, of course you would. Pack only matters when it suits you, yeah ? When it’s convenient. But the second protecting it might cause troubles, you back off like the coward you are. Is there any of us you’d take actual risks for ? Is there anyone outside of Omega, oh so precious Omega, you would sacrifice things for ? »

Alpha sees red, Pebble’s word cutting deep, hitting a nerve dead on. How dare he. How dare Pebble question everything Alpha did for the pack ? The fire ghoul doesn’t know if he wants to rip the earth ghoul’s tongue out or curl into himself to sob. 

Pebble opens his mouth to go on, and Alpha is absolutely sure he cannot take a drop more of the earth ghoul’s venom, that infamous venom of his that slithers into your veins, wraps around your heart, squeezes until it bursts.

Alpha throws Pebble to the ground, sits on his chest, raises a fist - aiming for his face, maybe his nose, anything that would make the earth ghoul shut up, shut up, shut up.

That’s when Alpha catches the glimmer of hope in Pebble’s eyes, realization dawning on him with the effect of a cold shower. Pebble itches for a fight. Wants to get hit, beaten up to a pulp, and who better to rile up for that than Alpha, short-tempered, sparring enthusiast Alpha ?

As always, Pebble is seeking what he cannot ask for, and seeking it from Alpha. 

The fire ghoul stills, fist still raised. Pebble waits, tense as a bowstring, eyeing it almost voraciously. But there, under the anger and inexplicable need to be hurt, something fragile, vulnerable hides. 

Whatever the Sibling said, Pebble took it to heart.

Alpha’s eyes slip closed, a shuddering sigh escaping him as he brings his hand down slowly, grabbing Pebble’s jaw firmly, but with unusual gentleness. The earth ghoul stiffens.

« You know damn well I take care of my pack. And, whether you like it or not, you are pack too. So the next time you want to be used as a fucking punching bag, you join me on the mat instead of running your fucking mouth and goading me into damn near killing you. »

Despite the simmering fury in Alpha’s voice, his hand doesn’t tightens, simply stays there, holding.

Pebble’s eyes flash with both desperation and rage.

« Don’t pretend to care- »

Alpha growls again, tail slapping against the floor harshly enough to sting.

« Stop telling me how I feel, Pebble. My feelings are mine, you don’t get to twist them into what’s more convenient for you. »

All the fight seems to rush out of the earth ghoul’s body at that. Pebble’s muscles all let go at once, his face growing weary, almost melancholic. He avoids Alpha’s eyes, nods curtly.

« Got it. »

Alpha can’t help the way his eyebrows skyrocket toward his hairline at that, but doesn’t comment. It’s as close an apology as he’ll get from Pebble.

The earth ghoul is staring at Alpha’s arm, jaw clenching hard. There’s a few rivulets of blood trickling from the claw marks Pebble left on it in his efforts to free himself.

For a moment, they stay frozen like this, something akin to « what now ? » floating in the heavy silence between them.

A door slamming in the distance snaps them out of it. Alpha let go of Pebble, stands up to let the earth ghoul do the same. Pebble runs a hand through his short, messy hair, strands spiking in every directions. 

Sighing heavily, Alpha adjusts his shirt, glad that he wasn’t wearing his own uniform, or else he’d have a lot of explaining to do as to why his sleeve would be in tatters. Again.

From the corner of his eyes, the fire ghoul spies Pebble awkwardly straightening his collar, somehow seeming reluctant to leave. Alpha watches him, and yet, he’s caught completely off guard when the earth ghoul grabs his injured arm, careful to avoid the cuts, eyes glaring daggers at the consequences of his own anger.

The strangeness of the situation keeps Alpha frozen, eyes glued to Pebble’s face. The near permanent crease between the earth ghoul’s eyebrows, the scar cutting through the bridge of his nose, the smattering of freckles across his cheekbones, the scruff eating away at his cheeks, everything is thrown into sharp focus by their sudden stillness.

When the earth ghoul looks up at Alpha, the fire ghoul wonders what he sees. Yellow eyes Pebble’s dying to gouge out ? Already crooked nose the earth ghoul longs to break into an even more unsavory form ? Deep claw marks on his cheek he’d like to extend ? But the look in Pebble’s eyes doesn’t hold any murderous intent. It’s conflicted, confused, the abrupt change in their usual dynamic rendering him just as silent as Alpha. 

For once, they are both out of words. A miracle, really.

Then, Pebble let go so suddenly you’d think Alpha lost control of his fire and inflicted him a third degree burn.

« You should get those checked out, » the earth ghoul mumbles, resolutely staring at his feet.

Alpha blinks, lost for a moment, before remembering his injuries.

« Those are just scratches. »

Pebble scoffs, but doesn’t add anything, fleeing the room without once meeting Alpha’s eyes again.

The fire ghoul heaves a sigh, scrubs his hand over his face. He feels weird, Pebble’s expression when he took stock of the damages he’d done lingering in his mind. 

Alpha hopes Mist will let him share a smoke with her tonight, Satan knows he could use her blunt honesty to understand whatever the fuck just happened.

But first, he has a Sibling to scare the living daylight out of to ensure they won’t breath a word of Pebble’s near slip up.

[clonememesfrikyeah]

Stec: “Hey Maze!”

Spar: “Force sakes, just say corn, Maze is corn everybody!”

Fordo: “He calls himself that because he thinks it sounds more mystical.”

Jangotat/Nate: “Well I like the way he said it; Maze!”

All the other arcs: “Maze! mAze! MaZe!”

Trantos: “It’s fantastic!”

Alpha-17: “It’s a-Maze-ing.”

Maze: ” :/“

[mamuzzy]

Hey dear :D can you tell us about your headcanons on Jango training the Alphas ? :D

I finally got here to answer this ask. <3

And ooooh boy do I have??? Only angsty ones, love.

I use RepComm lore as a base of my headcanons, just to make clear in what continuity I'm creating in. And that means: NO INHIBITOR CHIPS.

The whole idea of the Clone Army revolves around one thing ultimately: to completely exterminate the jedi. To create an army that is ready for the decisive moment of taking down the enemies of the Sith without the jedi even noticing what is coming at them.

The trainers of course didn't know that this is the ultimate goal of the army, but they knew they had to train a whole army for a future war that who knows when will come. They had be loyal. And they had to be effective.

Every trainer had different approach:

Kal Skirata used love and insisted on the importance of comradeship which ultimately didn't necesserily made his commandos loyal to the Republic, but to each other.

Walon Vau used harsh discipline and insisted on the importance to make his commandos remember: they are superior than others and they have the most important mission in their life. Nothing awaits them outside because they have everything they need: their duty. Vau's trainees remained loyal even after the regime change.

And then we have the Alpha ARC Troopers trained by Jango Fett.

The Alpha ARCs in their mind are the unaltered version of Jango Fett. 100 copy of Jango Fett with their brain remained untouched (compared to the Nulls who's brain was tampered with). Meaning, the Alpha's undying loyalty to the Republic is not pre-programmed, it is not in their genes. It is conditioned with traditional methods: And that is FEAR.

More under the cut

Jango Fett didn't care about the clones and I will sparta-kick everyone from this hill who tries to fight me. I don't have a single worldbuilding where Jango was a "good daddy" for the Clones. He was a great, loving and caring father to Boba and Boba alone.

For him, the clones are products, but also they are part of his agenda: Even he dies, there will be millions of Jango Fetts who will fulfill his revenge of killing off all the Jedi.

The books often mention that Jango was a sociopath (meaning he is on the spectrum of ASPD), and this template was able to make the clones to be so effective. His brain is just built different and wasn't cluttered with moral based inhibitions. That's why I think that Jango wasn't actually a sadist who enjoyed tormenting his trainees - The Alphas - out of joy and personal amusement. It served the purpose, it was all pragmatic.

There wasn't any more description what was Alpha's training like on Kamino but these little snippets of lores made my brain go brrrrrrr about the theories. If the Alphas - THE ALPHAS!!!! - were scared of Jango it could mean that their training included something that gave a reason to fear him.

We know that he installed his own commands into the Alphas such us destroying the Clone Facility in case of Separatist attack on Kamino which Alpha-17 almost fulfilled. But also, being unquestionably loyal to the Jedi. For me, these commands weren't installed. I truly love the unaltered brain-Alphas.

-- Physical pain --

When you are in the military and under training, the line between educational violence and actual physical abuse is very thin. Insubordination had to be punished. Jango had to make sure that the Alphas remain loyal despite not having the same inhibitions like the rest of the clones, so there must have been exercises where he tested how far the Alphas would go to fullfill their duties, achieve victory, enforce an order, AT ALL COST.

They had to put through physical hell, pushed over their limits, pushed over their thresholds and beyond. If caught crying, if caught showing pain, if caught showing the single muscle of questioning Jango's orders, they had to be punished. They weren't made to compete with each other, but they also couldn't protect each other publicly when Jango punished the Alphas for insubordination. They had to watch. They had to learn from it.

The Alphas found secret ways to communicate with each other. To find comfort in each other in one way or another. Oh they knew the concept of love and caring. They watched Jango and Boba from the distance. The reassuring words. The caring touches of a father. They watched how the Nulls were running to their precious sergeant for comfort when hurt. They were very much aware that this is not something they would get.

-- RECONDITION: THE ULTIMATE DEATH --

The Alphas needed only one case of serious insubordination to learn their places and that was Alpha-Ø2. He was truly an independent mind and free-thinker, a true inspiration to thrive for individualism in the sea of Jango Fetts. Spar refused to comply and refused to sworn loyalty to "a republic" which he didn't knew.

And one day Alpha-Ø2 disappeared. Only to return without his memories. Returning without his fiery temper, without his free-spirit... and without any knowledge of how he used to love his Alpha-brothers dearly.

The brainwashing of the Alphas were so much successful later in time, when Alpha-Ø2 - called now Spar - actually deserted at age 8, two years before Geonosis, most of the Alphas felt disgust just by thinking about him - they had to.

Alphas had to believe that Spar was the utter disgrace to the Republic, otherwise it would mean, that they were actually treated wrong.

They had no idea that Spar's desertion was orchestrated by Mij Gilamar and Jango Fett himself after Spar regained his memories - probably the only mercy Jango showed for a clone.

-- Jango had to find the perfect balance --

The Kaminoans wanted soldiers who are independent thinkers but still loyal. Completely supressing their individualism wasn't an option, learned from Spar's case.

What the Alphas did in their non-existent freetime wasn't his business. But the Alphas had to drop everything that is them, when Jango ordered them to do so.

Jango hated every form of authority and realized that the Alphas inherited this trait for his disdain. So he used this train in them to be more effective as advisors for the Jedi. The Alphas had to make sure the Jedi survive until the critical point after all.

Alpha-17 is the smartest of them and the closest thing they had for Spar, which made him always walking on thin ice.

Tavo and Sull, lovebirds.

Maze had knowledge of wide variety of things due to reading forbidden literature that wasn't their in their curriculum.

Fordo communicated only through sign language due to trauma, and his closest friends learned too so they can speak to each other. He only spoke when Jango ordered him to do so.

They were smart enough to know what is was truly considered disobedience. And that was going against the Republic and Jango. If they comply to these rules, they will be safe.

-- ALPHA vs NULL conflict --

Jango always had to remind the Alphas that they were expected to be better than their precedessors, the Nulls. If they fail to meet with the standards, they won't have "a kal skirata" to save them from recondition.

Alpha-Ø2 sure didn't have.

The Alphas after a while didn't need outside motivation to be obedient and loyal. Because they were meant to be everything the Nulls couldn't be. Seeing the examples with their own eyes, how chaotic the Nulls were, how the Nulls as children were actually unruly and sadistic toward the kaminoan technicians, how they disobeyed everyone who was not Kal Skirata, they finally saw what is expected from them: BE BETTER THAN THEM.

And they finally found their positive reassurance on their own. How to take pride in being the true servants of the Republic. Only the Nulls didn't give a shit about this rivalry. They didn't care about Jango or the Alphas or being better than the Alphas.

Being obedient without question was totally against he Alphas nature but they tried. They tried fucking hard.

Alphas: We are the perfect soldiers of the Republic because we are obedient, well-behaved, and we don't cause trouble to our trainers unlike you.

Nulls: We are perfect soldiers because Kal'buir said so, nyenyenyeeeee!!!

Indeed. That Alpha's didn't have "a kal skirata" in their life to tell them they are enough. That they are perfect. That they do the best. Because their best was never enough.

And they weren't enough.

The Alpha ARCs deemed to be failure in the end and their template genes weren't put in to mass-production. When the deployment to Geonosis began, they realized that they weren't meant to be used in the battle and it almost broke them.

Despite their effort and hard work, the Alphas still deemed a failure. Unpredictable, unruly, and because they didn't have any inhibition in them, the Kaminoan didn't trust that they would fulfill their roles. Alphas had to watch the Nulls leave to Geonosis while they were put into stasis.

They didn't have "a kal skirata" to save them from this fate. They didn't have Jango Fett, he wasn't there at all.

They were all alone.

-- Did Jango's approach work? --

My answer is: no.

Despite the conditioning, the Alphas had wide-variety of reactions to the Republic, to the Jedi, and Order 66.

Some were able to shake down the effects of the conditioning, and realized that this dead man won't come after them from the grave to punish them for disobedience.

Some Alpha deserted and died by the hands of Clone Assassins sent after them during the Clone Wars.

Some Alpha remained loyal to Jango's orders, the Republic and then the Empire, training the new generation of soldiers.

Some Alpha went into hiding and became bounty hunters.

Ultimately, how they interacted with the world around them as individual and how the environment treated them decided their own fate.