The Star-Lost

Journals of a Baroness, lost to the Whirlwind.

The Star-Lost
I- Kath’rn, The Star-Lost; Baroness to the House of Kings keep this record of my work during my assignment to oversee the operations within the House of Snow. I write this entry in my records after the internal affairs meeting within the Kell’s Court. It seems that they have noticed my affinity for technology, and have sent me to Oversee and record the testings within the Site 17 SnowLab. The others informed me of a breakthrough in security technology.

(An entry found near the burned ruins of a Kings’ Meetingplace)

The Snowman
My journey to SnowLab 17 has proven to be an exciting endeavor; I travelled to a place full of still-developing prototypes and other technologies that most believe the realm of fiction. Councilor-Baron Yfoltryks of the House of Snow personally went over each of the experiments conducted at the site. My report was lacking in most information, as I was entranced with these new and exciting technologies. One of my personal favorites were the JF-R13 nanites: swarms of tiny machines that could imitate a rudimentary nervous system and animate the inanimate. The Councilor-Baron tested these machines on a snowman, which was slowly rendered animate: goofy smile and all. So fascinating.

(An entry found within one of the House of Snow Bunkers on Oreville Prime)

The Reef
I love to be among the stars. To fly upon silver wings through the vacuum...what joy this is.

The Councilor-Baron escorted me to the Ares Research station (shown in my previous report), and I now rest in the quarters of a Research outpost in the asteroid Reef. Few travel out to this place: Only the Snow Researchers or the House-Iron resource collectors. I wished to partake in a walk about the vacuum, but was convinced otherwise: for fear of being torn asunder by microasteroids. The Reef-Station was merely taking interstellar measurements; monitoring what's going on in the reef. But I still can't help gazing out the window, to look out at the stars...

(An entry found floating about a Ruined House of Snow Outpost within the Graveyard Reef.

The Frontier
My internal affairs report to the House of Kings was almost finished as I rode the Snow-Ketch Ekryskos-Fel. The last destination on my dossier was on a smaller moon past the Asteroid Reef: Ceseron.  The newest celestial body the House of Snow had been constructing on. This place was the exciting new foothold to fully colonizing the outer system (though, I had heard from a Kings correspondent that the House of Blades had several military outposts scattered across the Prime System and possibly beyond). Regardless, I was still happy to see the extent of the new research that the moon of Ceseron could bring. That alone made the journey all more worth it.

(Entry found in the wreckage within the Graveyard Reef, along with many other blank pages)

The Silence
I finally have found time to write after losing my initial report logs in the asteroid reef.

A few weeks have passed now, since my last recorded log (if my calculations are correct). It is unknown if this log entry will ever reach anyone, but i will send this out anyway. The Snow-Ketch is gone. Ripped apart by some odd unexplained force. I remember hearing the metal hull shriek as it was torn to shreds, and the great silence that ensued as the life support systems failed. I was lucky to be near the hangar when the breach happened. I was barely able to make it to a cargo Skiff when I was met with a crash and the empty void of space. And after i was safe aboard, i saw something and it was the strangest thing...

I swear. I couldn't see the stars.

The List
The stars are still gone.

Cargo-Skiff is floating adrift, with many of its systems offline indefinetly. Attempts were made to hail Prime, trying to get an answer from the House of Kings, or perhaps the House of Blades. There was no direct answer- just a repeating message from the Kell of Snow, ordering all House of Snow members to flee in their Ketches and Skiffs. The rest was static.

However, I am not the only survivor of the wreck. A few others were on board, or able to escape What Happened. There name and ranks of those aboard are as follows:

Kathr’n, the Star-Lost - King Baroness

Skavis, the steady-hand - snow Researcher-Captain

Bytkos, the never-broken - Iron Repair technician

Itipoks, the trusted - Snow Research Assistant

Sovkiks, the honor-bound - House Unknown

Sithris, defiant mind - Snow Research servitor

Miiraks, the steelbound - Iron Servitor

The Drift
It seems that I am the highest ranking member of this vessel. The others look to me for guidance and orders. I am not sure what decisions to make... Regardless of the choices, it was obvious that we had to repair the Ketch first. Once things are running again, we can find out what happened to Prime. Did they also experience what I saw? Are they still there? And the message...

There was no time to answer these questions. The repairs took 3 days to complete, back-to-back. We are attempting to return to the Prime system...

Skavis and his assistant want to flee, to follow their Kell.

Those of the House Iron wish to return to Prime.

Sovkiks tells me that she is of the House of Ash, and mentions to me something about seeing this coming.

We enter The Reef in a few hours...

The Graveyard
The Reef is full of ships. Derelict, floating in the void of nothing among the asteroids and debris. Whatever split our Ketch apart split these other ships as well. The House of Snow didn’t succeed in their mass exodus. Skavis is very silent, in mourning.

I turned the Skiff around. I don’t think there is anyone left on Prime to report to. I hailed the House of Kings channel on the comma system. Only static. The Snow-channel surprised me, though. Only one message, recorded. It said, “do not return. Nothing is left here.” The voice sounded...familiar.

I thought for awhile on what to do. Run? Return to Prime? Depressurize the Skiff as an act of mercy? The only option that I found solace in was to scour the outer rim of the System. Perhaps others survived, like we did.

I told the crew of my decision, and they silently agreed. We immediately plotted a course.

The First Station
We made it to the Demeter Station in a few days. The House of Iron supposedly used this place for some mass mining operation. When we arrived, We put out a hail on the station channel, but it just bounced back all garbled...

I was once again graced with a choice: to move onto the next station, or to go down to the surface and check with a team. I was certain there were no survivors...but...I couldn’t take the chance. I let the crew know of my decision. They weren’t very happy to hear it. No one wanted to volunteer for the away mission besides Bytkos. He said something about “house obligations.”

We set the ship down, with Skavis at the controls. (I trusted him to not leave us stranded there). Byt and I donned two pressure-suits and exited the craft into the low atmospheric white wonderland of Demeter. We didn’t find anything at the mining station, except some small bits of salvage we’d need later. The denizens of this station were very, very dead. The Captain and his crew were floating there, scattered. Seeing them floating limp with their shattered helmets made me sick. I don’t know what happened to them.

We left in a rush, uneasy about what happened.

The Confidante
The burden of leadership is difficult, even for one who comes from the House of Kings... I had found it difficult to find someone to discuss my issues within leadership. Skavis was far too cold, though he was the second-in-command on the vessel. Sovkiks spends most of her time meditating and performing other Ashen rituals i do not understand. The servitors were always good listeners, but never provided feedback to anything i said. I couldn't even tell if they paid any attention. Byt is the only one i really trust; he is good at keeping secrets. We have become fast friends. Byt and I converse often, in the cargo chamber of the Skiff when no one is around. He gives me good advice when i do not know what to do, as silly as that sounds. A King baroness seeking console from a supposed lowly House of Iron technician... The humor.

But after three stations in the outer rim of the system were inspected, and three of them had the same results. Lights were on but nobody home. The bodies were almost always floating dead nearby...But the technology was running smoothly. Byt mentions that the crew's cause of death are all connected. Can't be some sort of piracy because the technology is unscathed. Whatever killed those crew members were out for blood...

"Most races would take the equipment after the slaughter. Probably some animal." Byt had told me. "The equipment left alone worries me Baroness. Why is it still here?"

Oh. and i forgot to log this but, the stars have returned.

The Dark One
It seems that all the stations we had hoped to find survivors in were empty. Even the House of Blades and their outposts had been wiped out; their technology all unsalvageable. Even their pressure suits and armor were sealed tight, as to not be recovered. It seems whatever they were fighting won, given by the complete loss of life on all these stations.

I think we may know what we’ve been up against this time... We’ve been very lucky to not see any of them out there, but I can assume that it was the same strange things that blotted out the stars and tore the Ketch apart. On the Poseidon Blades outpost, there was a single image taken around the same time Prime went dark. It was very blurry, but you could see the tall dark form of some creature within the outpost walls. We can only assume that this creature was responsible for all the attacks. We know what to watch out for now.

The others are concerned with this news. Sekris has not been able to identify the being. The Priestess didn’t say anything, but something was off... she seemed like she understood what we were talking about exactly.

The Journey
all known outposts within the system have been abandoned, leaving the crew and I to be disappointed and disheartened. A traveling Outsider passing through was the only contact we had discovered during our travels. On a private channel between our two ships, I had asked him for advice (the Outsiders were said to know many, many things). It told me to travel to the east. “Find a place, out past the unknown. You will be safe there, and outlast the storms of what has happened.”

i did not know what to think. Leaving the system behind could be suicide. We’ve seen the Graveyard Reefs, full of ships trying to flee the strange Darkness creatures. Should we risk leaving as well? I asked him why we should head in that direction, but the outsider divulged no more information. Instead, he told me that soon something would infest this system, more powerful than any force in the galaxy. Not even the outsider technology could stop it. It predicted the death of the Prime system, and all inhabitants. Yet why did it seem so...nonchalant about these events. Why was it so resigned?

”leave this place, before you wither away with the dark infestation.”

that was its final warning. I told the crew of our new coordinates, and sent out a small beacon to warn any possible survivors of our coordinates. It would be usable only to those with a standard House encryption password.

My crew is uneasy.

The Meeting
The priestess needed to come clean. So I called a meeting between the crew, to confront the beetle in the room. I asked the priestess why she looked so strange when she saw the Darkness creature: why she looked as if she was hiding something.

It seems I was correct. She knew what it was. Thanks to some prophecy the house of Ash cooked up, they foresaw the end of Prime, and sent off a few of the clergy, including their Prime servitor Polaris-12. The crew was not happy.

“Foolish mysticism.” Scoffed the snow-captain. “If the end was here, our research stations would have predicted it first. You speak falsely”

The Ashen priestess shook her head and retaliated, saying that Science cannot explain what is to happen. And it cannot explain the dark forces at work.

Byt asked what these “dark forces” were. It seems that these darkness creatures are infesting the system, consuming on the inorganic materials, whereas some withering force will steal the life of the system.

We are all concerned. How do we fight such an overwhelming force? Can we escape?

The priestess travelled with the House of Snow to escape the system, but she did not expect to bring along such company. We travel onward to the coordinates.

The Next Journey
The exodus we are making towards the Outsider Coordinates continues, but our supplies wear thin. The Cargo we are carrying is down to a minimum, as we have run out of rations, and are currently relying on the Servitors to fabricate food out of bits of unwanted things.

Thats the fun about servitors: the House of Snow manufactured them to have matter reprocessors, so they can make anything into this odd nutrient paste. Its bland and boring, but its got what we need to survive. Lately our materials to reprocess have been running thin, and we can't get rid of all of our cargo. Every now and then we have to make a stop to capture a small asteroid for the Servitors to process. We're close to leaving the System entirely, going only where the Outlanders and the Probes have gone.

It is a shame that this triumph will only be shared with the crew of this ship. No one else is left to appreciate the achievements this crew is making. But nevertheless we continue.

The Exit
We've left the Prime system entirely.

There's something surreal about looking out at the system, after you leave it. It seems all so small and insignificant despite living within it for my entire existence.

Skavis and his assistant have been running tests, analyzing the new surroundings firsthand. I suppose that is how they cope with all thats happened.

Byt has been constructing small trinkets out of bits of metal. Mostly avian creatures from Prime: the city birds or pet species.

I myself have been coping in my own way. Every so often, i make a small little beacon filled with my entries and the coordinates and such- Like a trail of breadcrumbs. It is unlikely that anyone will be able to find them, let alone read them, but it's certainly worth the peace of mind. I often cling to the hope that we will find other survivors out here in the dark, or maybe stumble upon some sort of Orevillian civilization out there.

The Centaur
It seems we've stumbled upon a rogue centaur. Thats what Skavis and his assistant have been referring to it as. A wandering exoplanet. Byt and I prepared to investigate this space oddity, donning two of our pressure suits to head to the dark grey surface. The plan was to take some samples, and get the rest converted into fuel or food. The problem that arose was the lack of light on this centaur. It was dark, darker than any i've experienced before on a planetoid.

Byt and I collected various samples and such, as well as a great deal of transmutable materials to the ship. The surface was a fine gray powder, like gravel almost, that gave way to strange black stone. Strange grayish slime seemed to ooze from certain circular holes in the ground, metallic in nature. I tested this substance by dipping a rock in the silvery liquid, and it corroded away, like it was eaten.

Byt stumbled upon a strange stone, with odd markings upon it, almost like a written language scrawled out from the darkness. Perhaps something had lived out here in this place and died out to some strange catastrophe. It reminded me of Prime. How strange...

Even stranger, I swear i could hear a whisper...I thought it was Byt or someone from the ship, but it sounded like no one i've heard before. I signaled Byt to head back to the ship.

We left immediately, and did not look back.

The Glyphs
It's been two months since the visit to the Centaur, and things have been rather intense lately. The crew has started to succumb to boredom, and any attempts to translate the Artifact recovered in the dark has been met with failure. However, Skavis' evaluation illuminated that the etchings on the rock were made by the scraping of claws. With all other attempts at translation through scientific analysis seemingly failing us, I decided to ask the mysterious Ashen Priestess Sovkiks. Perhaps she could succeed where science could not.

she seemed eager to take on this new responsibility, with some sort of morbid curiousity. Byt has has been creating small drones out of the scrap metal and spare wirings. They lack the sophistication of the Servitors, but are possibly able to be given simple drone programming for exploration. It's quite interesting.

Speaking of interesting, Here's the "strange runes" we've found on the stone:

'''T⍑ᒷ dᒷᒷ!¡ ᓵᔑꖎꖎᓭ. W╎ꖎꖎ ||𝙹⚍ ᔑリᓭ∴ᒷ∷?'''

The Descent
Something strange is taking place on this vessel.

Since handing over the artifact over to the Priestess, we have not seen her leave her quarters in two weeks. Her doors were sealed, and would not move; we had to force them open manually. When we opened the doors to see what had happened, she was just...staring at it. In the middle of the room, meditating. Chanting something unintelligible. She was removed from her quarters and placed under medical observation until further notice, but only after she had injured Itipoks (a small gash on her hand and cheek.) It was still a minor wound, but we took no chances.

The Priestess's room looked strange, with things cluttered haphazardly, with the strange runic writing on the walls. It seemed she knew the language...somehow. Perhaps some sort of anomalous properties were housed within the artifact? Some biological toxin or effect?

Recorded Writings:

North wall:

T⍑ᒷ|| ⎓𝙹ꖎꖎ𝙹∴

eリ⊣⚍ꖎ⎓ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ᓭℸ ̣ ᔑ∷ᓭ

lᒷℸ ̣  dᔑ∷ꖌリᒷᓭᓭ !¡∷ᒷ⍊ᔑ╎ꖎ

t⍑ᒷ wᔑ∷↸ᒷリ cꖎᔑ╎ᒲᓭ ᔑꖎꖎ

iℸ ̣  ᓵ𝙹ᒲᒷᓭ ᓭ𝙹𝙹リ. Bᒷ ∴ᔑ∷リᒷ↸

East wall:

K╎⨅⍑ᔑꖎ

cℸ ̣ ⍑𝙹ℸ ̣ ⍑∷'ℸ ̣ ⍑⚍∷⍑

d'⚍╎⊣⍑'⍊⍑ᒷᓭ⍑

t⍑ᒷ ∴𝙹∷ꖎ↸ ∴╎ꖎꖎ

dᒷᓵᔑ|| ↸ᒷᓵᔑ|| ↸ᒷᓵᔑ|| ↸ᒷᓵᔑ|| ↸ᒷᓵᔑ|| ↸ᒷᓵᔑ||

West wall:

Wᒷ ᔑ∷ᒷ ᔑꖎꖎ ꖎ𝙹ᓭℸ ̣. N𝙹 ⍑𝙹ᒲᒷ. N𝙹 ⍑𝙹!¡ᒷ. ᓵ𝙹リᓭ⚍ᒲᒷ ⚍ᓭ.

Door:

T⍑ᒷ|| ᔑ∷ᒷ ᔑ ↸╎⎓⎓ᒷ∷ᒷリℸ ̣  ℸ ̣ ||!¡ᒷ 𝙹⎓ ↸ᒷᓵᔑ||. T⍑ᒷ|| ᒷᔑℸ ̣  ᔑꖎꖎ ⚍リℸ ̣ ╎ꖎ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ∷ᒷ ╎ᓭ リ𝙹ℸ ̣ ⍑╎リ⊣ ꖎᒷ⎓ℸ ̣. H╎⍊ᒷᒲ╎リ↸ᓭ 𝙹⎓ ↸ᔑ∷ꖌ ᓵ∷ᒷᔑℸ ̣ ⚍∷ᒷᓭ ᓵ𝙹ᒲᒷ ᔑリ↸ ᒷᔑℸ ̣  ᔑリ↸ ᒷᔑℸ ̣. ⚍リℸ ̣ ╎ꖎ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ᓭℸ ̣ ᔑ∷ᓭ ᔑ∷ᒷ ᒷ ̇/ℸ ̣ ╎リ⊣⚍╎ᓭ⍑ᒷ↸. ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ|| ᔑ∷ᒷ ᒷリℸ ̣ ∷𝙹!¡||. ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ|| ᔑ∷ᒷ ⍑⚍リ⊣ᒷ∷. 4. 1. 7. 7. 5 18.

w⍑ᔑℸ ̣  ||𝙹⚍ ⍑ᔑ⍊ᒷ ᓭᒷᒷリ ∴╎ꖎꖎ ᒲᔑ∷ꖌ ||𝙹⚍ ⎓𝙹∷ᒷ⍊ᒷ∷.

The New World
We've almost finally made it to the coordinates the Outsider gave us; we've been able to pick up a solar system where a habitable planet resides. We are all quite excited for the salvation that awaits us on this New World. (it reminds me of Prime, almost). It is a lovely color of blue and green, almost a perfect balance between the knobby continents and the white-and-blue-seas. I wonder what will await us on this new world? Our Journey here is almost to an end...

However, my excitements have been eclipsed by the worry for my crew. The Priestess and Snow-assistant remain in the medbay, treating their injuries (and in the Priestess's case, the psychosis).

I've recently been informed that the odd tablet we've acquired is...humming. The report from the medbay mentions that the Priestess keeps mumbling on about something arriving. I am not sure whether to believe her or not. "The deep comes to claim us," She says.

The rest of the crew has their celebratory drinks, while i prepare. Just in case.

The Final Hour
Nothing could have prepared us for what was to come.

a rift opened, just after surveying the planet's moon. A wave of dark pestilence followed us. Followed the call of the artifact.

It was an old beacon. we took it from them, i think. We should have left it. We brought them to this new system.

Skavis' predictions of how large the swarm of Dark Ones were underestimated. Now we know why.

I miss him.

I miss Byt too. He was in control of the helm at the time. A skilled pilot, but not skilled enough for the torrent of The Dark Swarm.

I know why there were no survivors at the other stations a Year ago.

The ship is gone. Byt's final attempt at our safety was to try to land the Skiff on the planets surface. I believe we crashed into one of the magnetic poles. He did not survive the impact.

At least he was not torn apart by the dark like Skavis. He attempted to give back the dark artifact to the swarm. His reward was not unpunished.

Itipoks and I were the only survivors, along with the Iron servitor. The machine is in very poor condition, very close to being unsalvageable. Itipoks has been struck blind in the impact. her eyes no longer able to see this new world. It is cold here, very cold.

Once again I look up. And I cannot see the stars again.

(found in a worn journal, deep within the wreckage of a crashed skiff.)

House of Noot Note
These papers and records have been collected from the beginning of the Whirlwind on Prime, and have stood the test of many tumultuous times since. They had been collected and scanned in order to preserve their records. When The Jump had begun, the Colony ship had followed the trail of information that the Snow-Skiff had left us.

The information contained within became quite popular among the crew of the colony-ships. The Legend of the Star-Lost grew over time. It helped us survive the long and stressful journey To the new world. We followed the breadcrumbs to this new land, and we owe it all to the actions of One Baroness.

We celebrate the Star Lost during winter months, when it becomes colder. We create small balloons with lanterns attached to them, and release them into the sky. They are Stars, and we use them to help guide the spirit of the Star-Lost to our towns and villages. To have her watch over us, as she watched over her crew.

~Scribe Bravkes, House of Noot