Haven of the Angels, Part 2

Description (continued):

The ancient text tells us that there is a pause of several weeks in this entry before it begins again. This break in the recounting provides an opportunity to answer a simple question that deserves explanation. The question pertains to the manner in which the accounts of this traveler, and others like her, are attained and retained so that they could be put into the ancient texts of the Elzheni Astromentists. To express the question more plainly; how does the Astromentist take this journey, in their como-induced state, and at the same time document it? The Elzheni give us the answer elsewhere, in other of their docs. We do not need to include all of that here as it contains extensive detail of the Elzheni science. Instead we will provide a simple explanation which should provide the reader with a sufficient understanding of the process the Astromentists used. Each Astromentist’s journey actually includes two participants. The first is the traveler, the Elzheni who imbibes the como and falls into a deep state of affinity with the tendrils of Mental Energy that permeate the world. This is the Astromentist who takes “the journey” and they are known as the Caller. The other Astromentist is a companion to the Caller known as the Listener. It is the job of the Listener to maintain a connection with the Caller’s mind, the Mental Energy contained within them. This connection allows the Caller to transmit an account of their journey as it takes place, and it allows the Listener to immediately transcribe that account into a written form. Given that many Astromentist Callers do not survive this journey it is a great benefit to have a strong Caller-Listener bond so that, even if the Caller is lost and unable to return, the precious knowledge they gain has already been collected. The Caller and Listener are often Elzheni who have worked hard to form a particularly strong bond between their Mental selves, but that is another story.

Having elucidated the Caller-Listener mechanics we will now continue with the next part of the account from Eharria, the ancient Elzheni Astromentist.

“I cannot tell how long we have been traveling since we left the Fekxtah planet Chayffen behind us. My Energetic companion, the shard of pure Mental Energy that has no name, has been a welcome partner to me on this journey. It has been useful and steadfast during our time together. However, it seems to be weakening in a way that I do not understand as we travel further into the deep darkness. It seems as if I detect fear. But that cannot be. A Mental Avatar is not the same as an Emotion Avatar and cannot experience feelings. Or, so we believe. I am thinking this may not be entirely true. Perhaps the great corruption of the True Elements, that led to the creation of the Six Energies, did not divide these Six as neatly or as cleanly as we have believed. It is known that Emotion Energy and Mental Energy are the two Inner Energies so perhaps there is a connection between them that we do not yet understand.

I think of this and other things during our long journey, and I try to bring comfort (if there is such a thing) to my companion. The darkness and emptiness that surrounds us is so complete and so limitless that we may despair, or, I should say, I despair and I worry that my Avatar companion may become infected by my own feelings as well as the endless darkness. I fear that if it weakens it may decompose into nothingness, and leave me drifting aimlessly in a cosmos too vast to comprehend.

I send these thoughts to you, darling Estellannon, my companion and Listener, but I can no longer feel your presence. I have sensed some things, but they were distorted and so fragmented that they were incoherent. I am not now sure if they were real or if they were no more than fabrications created within my own mind. I fear for my sanity in this bleak black. It is almost unbearable when I think of how far I am from home. I take some small comfort in knowing that I have traveled further than any other Astromentist, but will any know of this? Are my thoughts carried to you dearest Estellannon? Do you Hear me? Are you Listening?”

Over the next week the Calls from Eharria were infrequent and intermittent, and comprised only fragments of thought and cries for help. The notes from Estellannon say that she detected fear and desperation from her Caller, and was concerned that Eharria was losing her mind and that her companion may have dissolved into nothingness. Then on the eighth day since her last coherent transmission there came this.

“I see something but what I see cannot be. The Mental Avatar that has been my constant companion for these many days (months? years?) has faded almost into nothingness. It is but a wisp of Energy that I comfort and feed with my own Energy as best I can. But, it is too weak to confirm whether what I see is something seen or if it is unreal and no more than a sign of my own mind’s deterioration that leads to my eventual evaporation into the nothingness that surrounds me.

I don’t know if you can hear me, Estellannon, but I must tell you what I see, or what I believe I see. There is a field of objects before me. They are of every imaginable shape and size and are scattered without sense throughout this dark space so very far from Oma. I seem motionless and, from this distance, lifeless, like dry detritus, desiccated debris that is ancient beyond description or understanding. How I know this I don’t understand, but I do. They continue as far as my mind’s eye can perceive, extending ever away from Oma, but instead of a plane of them, like the orbits of Oma’s children that circle around her, they extend above and below. They seem to form a great sphere that contains all of Oma and Her Family as a womb might encase a life inside of it.

I draw closer and as I do, I think that it sings to me.”

The message stops here and continues hours later.

“I have reached the nearer of the objects, Estellannon. I can now see that they are real, and not my imagination, and I was wrong; they do move though almost imperceptibly. They seem to all be adrift, uncontrolled without direction in the endless space. They are dusty, rocky shards, and cold stone that forever circle around their center, which is without doubt Oma.

But, there is more. My Avatar companion has revived. It seemed to gain sustenance as we entered this field of broken debris. I believe that the objects here have healed my Energetic companion in some way. This is only a guess for I have no proof, but it somehow seems right to me. And, I myself feel uplifted. Perhaps it is simply that the burden of endless emptiness has been lifted from me and hope has returned.

Now we will rest and continue to float into the vastness of this place, and I can now hope, Estellannon, that you may yet hear me.”

Haven of the Angels

Mean Distance from Oma: 118,000 to 226,000 WA

Orbital Period around Oma: N/A

Diameter: N/A

Length of day: N/A

Gravity: N/A

Description:

Far beyond the last Fekxtah planet of Oma’s Family lies an enormous globe of celestial objects that surrounds Oma and the entirety of her children. This is the Haven of the Angels. The nearest parts of its physical extent begin further from Oma’s furthest planet, Chayffen, than Chayffen is from Oma, and its end reaches that far beyond its start. It is a magnificently vast area filled with celestial objects beyond count. They are formed from loose entanglements of rock, dust, and ice, and in some cases shards of one or more of the Six Energies. They vary in size from no more than a small boulder to the size of large moons.

The Haven of the Angels was first discovered by a small coterie of eccentric Elzheni scientists who were characterized by their peers as little more than religious zealots since they did not follow the fixed, methodical processes adhered to by the broader Elzheni scientific community. The members of this sect called themselves Astromentists since they considered their abilities to be an extension of their highly developed affinity with Mental Energy. Their peers called them the Como-ists, since they made heavy use of a powerful drug made from the como plant to trigger their “explorations”.

It would be impossible, and perhaps unjust, to present the story of this small sect without using their own words. Their writings convey not only their goals and achievements, but also give a proper portrayal of the mindset that drove them to explore the extreme distances far beyond the influence of Oma. It also reveals the manner in which they achieved their goals which is certainly outside all credible bounds of scientific thought.

The reader might be asking why we would include mention of such a strange group of Elzheni in this document. The question is well warranted, and there was much discussion of this among those of us who are responsible for the creation of this summary of ancient Elzheni knowledge of the greater Fekxtah world. In the end, two arguments convinced us to include the Astromentists in this brief tome. The first was that the Astromentists had persuaded a number of the most prominent Elzheni scientists of their day that their explorations, or “journeys” as they were fond of calling them, were true. How they validated their knowledge to their colleagues is unknown. The ancient texts contain no account of the discussion, or, at least, none that we can find. We felt that the judgment of these ancient masters could not be discounted regardless of the opaque quality of their decision. By itself that was sufficient justification to include the Astromentists’ experiments in this document.

That said there is a second argument which is also compelling and worthy of our attention. It centers on a strange, and unexpected, event. In the year SP~5,019, only five years before completion of this document, the Guild Division for the Science of Oma and her Fekxtah Family (SOFF) was confronted by a living entity, sentient in its nature, that claimed to originate from the Haven of Angels. At first the members of the SOFF believed the creature to be no more than an individual of a race from our own world that we had not yet discovered — it is accepted among current Guild scholars and scientists that there are many such unknown, and undiscovered, creatures living on and inside of Ethem. However, as Guild scientists interacted with this creature they discovered that it had knowledge that could not be known to any other than those who had studied the accounts of the ancient Astromentists. This could not be, though, as the ancient tomes are unknown to those outside the Guild, and, even within the Guild, are well-protected from any who have no compelling need to read them. When the Guild members confronted the creature with this unassailable reality, it calmly countered with information about several of the Astromentists mentioned in the ancient texts, and claimed to have known them. What it said was in keeping with our understanding of that time of the Elzheni in every respect and in great detail. It was, of course, an astonishing turn of events; one which we could not, in good conscience, disregard, and we were left in the precarious position of being unable to refute the thing it claimed to be.

With this short introduction we believe we have properly conveyed our rationale for inclusion of the passages below. It is now up to the reader to judge for themselves whether the excerpts here are believable or no more credible than the wild tales we tell our children at bedtime.

Below we will use several quotes directly from the Astromentist books of the ancient documents. These quotes are from an Elzheni Astromentist whose name was Eharria.

“I begin. The taste of the como is fresh and clean. It stings my tongue with its strange bitterness, and comforts me as I recognize my body’s familiar response to its effects.

I close my eyes and my inner eye opens. It shows another world to me, one that lives within the known world, but a world that reveals much more than our physical senses can detect. I am surrounded by tendrils of Energy.

At first I do not see them. I simply know they are there. I am patient, a patience I have acquired from much practice, and after some amount of time (a thing which is always hard to sense in this state) they become visible to me. Their tendrils writhe in constant motion, vibrant in colors of scarlet and gold and others I cannot name.

I reach out to touch them, to caress them, and then to gently hold them. They accept me and we embrace. I feel their cool grasp as the distinction between my own being and theirs disappears. We become a single entity, a wisp of life that is not bound by the physical, only by the boundaries of thought.

They carry me forward and we lift ourselves away from our home, my home, the Fekxtah planet Ethem. Soon it is far away, a tiny globe that sits in the vast space that fills the void that separates all Fekxtah from each other.

We travel in the firmament and beyond it.

The direction of our flight is sometimes my decision and sometimes theirs.

We rush through, and quickly pass, the floating shards of Seekrem’s Halo. As we go I see Ethem’s sister planets, Aldrem and Harrayem. They are far away, but are also near enough I can sense them and the life on their surfaces. Distance exists, but not in the way it manifests for physical creatures. The boundaries of distance are overcome.

We continue moving away from Oma. We glide past the small Fekxtah Illidreth and soon pass the great giant Dra Ag Ahaggalla and its many moons. We fly through the other Far Fekxtah of Oma; Moralastalla, Yunah, and Mammarrell. I recognize them for I have visited them all on previous journeys. Then there is a pause as we pass through a great emptiness.

We reach the Very Far Fekxtah. We pass the orbits of Cantoss, Tor, and Melladdin, and, at last we reach Chayffen, the most distant of Oma’s children.

We stop and with our Energetic limbs we probe what lies beyond. We, the Elzheni race, have no experience of any worlds beyond Chayffen. It is for us nothing other than a vast expanse of darkness, space filled with profound emptiness.

I have been this far before, but never further. I feel fear rise in my own self and this causes the connection with my Energetic companion to weaken, but she senses this and pulls me back into her embrace. He assuages my discomfort with her own sense of safety. He (for my companion is both he and she, and neither) can touch the Energetic sinews of Chayffen which lies nearby, and this gives her the satisfaction of having a familiar place near to us.

The moment of fear passes and we probe the darkness before us. For long minutes (or perhaps hours or days) we allow the deepness of this space to encompass us, and then we sense something. There is something there. Or do we believe that something should be there and only imagine it? Perhaps it is only the hope that the world cannot be entirely empty of the Energy that creates all of the living beings of the world.

I search my Elzheni self for long enough to remind us of our charge — to discover what lies beyond Oma’s family. I perceive a sense of delight that comes from my companion; an unusual thing to experience. It was almost as if she were a physical creature, at least for an instant. The sensation was of real, palpable delight and then it receded to a memory, but it was enough.

As one we arrived at the belief that something was there, waiting for us.

We launched ourselves out beyond Chayffen and flew into the unknown.”

Chayffen, the Planet that was a City

Mean Distance from Oma: 16,200 WA

Orbital Period around Oma: 531 years

Mean Diameter: 102,400 miles

Length of day: N/A hours

Gravity: 4.2 Ethems

Description:

Chayffen is the fourth, and outermost, of Oma’s Very Far Fekxtah. Chayffen is the name that is given to this Fekxtah planet, and also to the city which spans the entirety of its surface. It was known to the Elzheni as the “planet that was a City”. The Gollanir called it “the unending house”. Each name was equally apt.

The other notable fact about Chayffen is that it is a frozen world. By that we mean that this world goes far beyond cold. It is wholly without heat, other than what is brought by those who visit. Gollanir believed that at one time the planet Chayffen had been a world of warmth and abundant life. They believed that something, perhaps some ancient being of the wide universe, occupied the core of Chayffen, and that this ancient thing created its own heat, that in turn produced an atmosphere on Chayffen that nurtured a rich abundance and variety of life, including a brilliant race of creatures called the Ultar who built the great city that occupied their planet.

According to the Gollanir (and the Elzheni concur) the ancient Ultar were the first sentient beings to populate any of Oma’s planets or moons, and they appeared long long before any the sentients of our own planet Ethem. In our accounting of the Ages of the World we would mark their beginnings at some time late in the The Fourth Age of the World which was the Age before our own. The Fourth Age of the World was known as the Time of Energies. The Six Energies came into being at the beginning of this time period and the Age ended during the ascendance of the primitive, but powerful, beings known as the “Energy Avatars”, each of which embodied in a living form one, and only one of the Six Energies (Emotion, Mental, Body, Physic, Mystic, and Shadow). If this account of the Ultar is true then it brings into question the veracity of the document we hold so very dear to our science; namely, The History of the Created World. This document, which was written by the ancient Elzheni and came down to us from them through the Heolas race, claims to be a record of all creation since the world began. Current scholars simply do not believe that any contradiction to this tome can be true. Many Guild members, and their powerful leaders, believe that it is nothing less than blasphemy to speak of it. Because of this kind of disapproval (and, we daresay, condemnation), there are very few Guild scholars who are willing to consider this alternative account. They have theorized that the Ultar were a race whose origins were from outside of Oma’s Family, which would imply that there are other (perhaps many) other races and creatures in the distant world of the stars and the Great Universe. To our great disappointment (and the joy of Guild Leaders) these scholars have offered no substantial evidence of this, and so is considered nothing more than pure speculation.

Whatever their origins, the Gollanir spent many years investigating the history of the Ultar since they rose to prominence on the planet Chayffen. According to their accounts the Ultar lived for millennia in peaceful co-existence with the other living things of their home world. They were curious about the world around them and were constantly learning about Oma and her Fekxtah Family, and even about the world beyond Oma. They created devices that allowed them to see clearly the smallest niches of distant planets and even planets and stars far away from Oma. It was said that they could even detect the movements of the Walkers, those creatures who had lived since the beginnings of the Created World and could move to all places in it. In addition, it was believed that the Ultar had created chambers of special material that allowed them to travel inside of Oma herself. These were virtually indestructible vehicles that could withstand not only the immense heat of Oma, but could withstand the Energy storms that constantly thundered throughout its interior.

The Ultar lived in this manner for thousands of millenia when suddenly disaster overtook them. The fire that had burned in the center of Chayffen, the ineffable flame that provided life-giving warmth to Chayffen throughout its long existence, suddenly, without warning, was extinguished. The cause for the catastrophe was never found either by the Gollanir or the Elzheni, but its consequence was indisputable and fatal. When its inner fire died, Chayffen no longer had protection from the cold cruelty of the space that surrounded it. The deep atmosphere quickly dissipated and was soon utterly swept away leaving no air to breathe or warm airs to keep living beings alive. In a matter of months Chayfeen and all of the things that lived on it had died or were frozen in place. Soon after the mass extinction of all of its life the Fekxtah itself died. Bombarded by the cold force of deep space its rotation slowed and, eventually, stopped altogether.

Some scientists speculated that at least some of the Ultar must surely have survived. Perhaps migrating to one or another of Oma’s Fekxtah to start over again. We can only guess, but there is general agreement among current scholars, and the ancient Elzheni, that the catastrophe must have been so immediate and profound that none could have survived.

For many thousands of years Chayffen, the city and the planet, lay desolate; a dead world continuing to circle Oma, but with nothing breaking the stillness and its unchanging cold.

Eventually the Gollanir found their way to the frozen expanse and empty buildings of this world. When they first arrived they were in awe at the enormity of the endless city and the immensity of the structures which populated it. Over time they discovered the libraries of the Ultar. They discovered their name and translated the relics left behind by this ancient, powerful civilization. As the years passed the Gollanir learned more and, as they did, they began to understand the magnificence of the Ultar and the enormity of their tragic extinction.

Eventually the Elzheni joined the Gollanir in their quest to uncover all of the secrets of the Ultar and that mutual effort was mentioned even into the final documents written by the Elzheni before they, themselves, were destroyed.

Fekxtah Station #15:

Shortly after they began inspecting Chayffen the Gollanir established outposts for their investigators. Since many of the structures built by the Ultar were still standing and sturdy, the was no need to build their own homes. They simply selected Ultar buildings that appealed to them and added the necessary accommodations. Many of the outposts were situated in tallest buildings, some of which rose miles above the planet’s surface. From these vantage points the Gollanir could view miles of the cityscape below them or look out far over the oceans. Other outposts were constructed at the surface level of the planet to make expeditions easier, and still others used places that the Ultar had built deep below Chayffen’s surface. Over time the Gollanir refurbished hundreds of structures to serve as outposts.

It was a simple process, when the Elzheni joined them in their explorations, to share some outposts and to give the Elzheni the freedom to construct their own within remaining structures. The ancient texts handed down by the Elzheni tell of three outposts they had created for their own, with others shared with their Gollanir colleagues.

Melladdin, the White Pearl

Mean Distance from Oma: 9,004 WA

Orbital Period around Oma: 429 years

Mean Diameter: 31,320 miles

Length of day: 17 hours

Gravity: 8.8 Ethems

Description:

Melladdin is the third of Oma’s Very Far Fekxtah. It is a world entirely shrouded by white and pink clouds. If you were to view this planet from space, it would gleam a soft white, as a white pearl might, and thus the name.

The cloud cover is many miles deep but does not extend all the way to the surface of Melladdin. Below the clouds is a world teeming with life. A huge variety of plants populate the world from its lowest depths up to and inside of the thick cloud layer. In addition to its plant life, Melladdin has millions of species of insects and an even larger number of sludge-like creatures that are made from a single cell, though there are instances of where cells have learned to attach themselves to each other to create populations of attached cells. The one life form that is noticeably absent is any kind of animal life or creatures such as we have here on Ethem.

The climate of Melladdin is perfectly suited to sustain the life it bears; it is hot and wet, hotter than the hottest of tropical environments here on our own Ethem, but not so hot that it prevented the Elzheni scientists from wandering the lands and oceans.

There are two factors which contribute to the heat of Melladdin. The first is the thick cloud cover. It ensures that the heat generated by the planet remains on the planet. The second factor is Melladdin’s ultra-hot core that radiates tremendous amounts of heat into the surrounding layers of the planet as well as its surface. The Gollanir scientists were unable to explain why Melladdin’s core was so unusually hot. When the Elzheni scientists tried to explore the Fekxtah to explain the anomaly, their efforts were immediately stopped by the Gollani. The Elzheni were highly suspicious of the Gollanir’s odd behavior; however, they did not pursue the endeavor as they wanted to ensure relations between the two civilizations remain healthy. There is, however, a story in the ancient texts that claim the Gollanir scientists knew the answer to this question, and did not want the Elzheni to discover their secret. There are rumors that the detailed story of this interaction (and a possible trip to the center of this planet) is contained one of the ancient books, but that this book was lost long ago. Current scholars are highly skeptical that the books is lost, but only our Heolas mayam colleagues know for certain.

As we have stated so many times before, there is not sufficient space in this tome to capture the complete picture of this Fekxtah and the vast variety of life that populates it. We will however, briefly describe below several of its most interesting life forms.

Interesting Life Form #1: The Fross

The Fross are enormous plants. They are the largest life form on Melladdin and one of the largest throughout all of Oma’s Family. Their roots begin at the bottoms of Melladdin’s oceans, where they attach themselves firmly to their rocky floors. From there they rise up through the waters, then through Melladdin’s atmosphere, and they finally pierce the layer of clouds that enclose the planet. The ancient texts claim that the Fross also found anchors for themselves in the cloud layer itself. It was unclear to the ancient Elzheni how they attained this seemingly impossible (unnatural?) feat; however, it was believed that there are Energetic anomalies that are a part of the cloud layer and that the tip of the Fross massive stem has an affinity with these “Energy Clouds”, with an ability to bond with them so that the Fross are attached there in the sky.

Fross grow quickly in the hot, wet atmosphere. Of course the distance that they grow, from ocean floor up to the sky, is so great that it takes several centuries before they are fully grown. Once a Fross reaches the clouds it may spend several years searching for, and attaching to, one of the Energy Clouds that can serve as their anchor point. The ancient texts say that one of the most beautiful sights on Melladdin is a Fross soon after it has broken the surface of the ocean. Once they stretch a few hundred yards above the ocean surface they “bloom”. This bloom takes the form of enormous flower-petals that extend up the length of the Fross thick stem and stretch out over the waters below. At this time they also display colorful, roughly round seeds that soon drop off into the water to be carried away by the currents and sink to the bottom of the ocean where they will begin again the process of anchoring and growing.

During their lifetime each Fross will serve as a home to millions of Melladdin’s insects and cellular life forms. There are insect burrowers that tunnel deep into the core of a Fross to make a home for themselves and their progeny, often resulting in long networks of tunnels. Other insects make their homes in the Fross lush leaves and others live on the rough exterior of the Fross where they build nests (see Empire of Drell below).

Interesting Life Form #2: Empire of Drell

Most of the most abundant and long-lived of the endless number of insect species on Melladrin are called the Drell. They are also the most aggressive and, so the ancient texts argued, were the dominant insect species on the planet. Each Drell has multiple pairs of fluttering wings, similar to those of dragonflies on our own world. They have large heads with multiple eyes and antennae, and they have a long segmented body comprising multiple hairy abdomen connected by a slim, black filament. The smallest are less than an inch long, but the largest of the Drell can grow to be several yards in length.

These creatures have an intricate social structure that includes an Emperor or Empress (thus the name “Empire of Drell”), a leadership caste, a soldier caste and a variety of castes that are born to perform very specific construction tasks such as those who build their massive nests and fortifications and hunters who constantly forage for food (usually other insects). There are even large groups who have the ability to link themselves together to perform specialized tasks such as transporting large, heavy objects or sustaining themselves underwater for long periods of time. These groups are most prominently displayed in the Drell’s warrior castes who can form vast flights to smother and kill their enemies, often at great cost to themselves.

There are tens of thousands of Drell communities, or Empires, on Melladdin. Each is led by its own Emperor or Empress (or sometimes both) and each has their own distinct customs and caste system, and the texts say their own language or some variant on the common Drell language. The many Empires, though, are very similar in their highly militant nature and their desire for conquest and the domination of other Drell Empires. Because of this there is constant fighting between and among these warring communities that has existed for countless years.

Interesting Life Form #3: The Bee Elzud

We cannot mention interesting life forms on Melladdin and not include the Bee Elzud. These plants are similar to the fungi of our world. They appear in different forms in different places and under different conditions. At times they are a lush, soft moss that covers large stretches of earth or even the hard stone that comprise much of the dry surface of this planet. At other times, they are soft stems protruding a few inches above their mossy floor, and then there are the magnificent, complicated, twisting filaments that weave their way several yards. Each soft tendril contorts itself around the others that surround it, and often around other plants or hills that stand in their way. Some of the chaotic structures created by the Bee Elzud have spanned hundreds of yards from the top of one hill to another prominence, and then spurs will reach out from these.

This abundant plant provides a home to many insects and to other plants, including flowering varieties that layer a cornucopia of color across the otherwise consistent tans and light brown of the Bee Elzud. Though their intricate structures are soft and light but are also surprisingly strong; able to withstand the fierce winds that frequently range across the largely flat surface of Melladdin. However, from time to time, powerful hurricane-like storms rage across the planet upending everything in their path. The Bee Elzud structures will succumb to these angry winds, but, over time, rebuild themselves to re-occupy the territory that they had once dominated.

Fekxtah Station #14 (Gollanir Outpost #1209):

The Gollanir scientists had many outposts on Melladdin. This included places on Melladdin’s surface, high in its cloud cover, and deep under its oceans. They shared many outposts with the Elzheni, though not all. They also gave the Elzheni several outposts to be used entirely on their own for their own purposes. The ancient texts claim only one of these as the Fekxtah Station for Melladdin. Some current scholars believe this showed the rigidity of Elzheni thinking — one and only one Station for each planet. Others believed that the Elzheni installed their Astronomical Transportation machinery in only one of these outposts and would travel to the others through more conventional (non-astronomical) methods.

Whatever the case may be, this station was large, covering dozen of acres with multiple buildings each connected to the others through a set of underground tunnels.

One of the tomes from the ancient texts that was written near the end of the Elzheni’s existence, referred to an Elzheni “colony” that had made their permanent home in this place on Melladdin and had lived their for several generations at the time of writing. Though this author trusts the integrity of the Elzheni who wrote the ancient texts, that is an unusual position. Most scholars consider this story to be nothing more than an apocryphal tale built on top of a host of other apocryphal tales. We hope that someday we may resolve this dispute with empirical evidence.

Tor, World of Moons and Rings

Mean Distance from Oma: 4,088 WA

Orbital Period around Oma: 296 years

Mean Diameter: 93,408 miles

Length of day: 11.8 hours

Gravity: 14.6 Ethems

Description:

Tor is another of Oma’s massive Fekxtah; however, it was better known to the ancient Elzheni as the “World of Moons and Rings” because of the extensive rings that surrounded the planet and its many moons. There are three major rings that surround Tor. Each is unique in its composition and structure. In addition, Tor has hundreds of moons in orbit around its massive bulk. The moons vary greatly in their size and composition, and in their distance from Tor (one moon in particular has an elliptical orbit that brings it very close to Tor several times per year — measured by Ethem’s years). In some ways, it is reasonable to think of this Fekxtah planet as a small solar system of its own rather than simply another of Oma’s planets.

The Elzheni wrote many tomes dedicated to Tor and its system of rings and moons. Interestingly, they state that much of their information was provided by the Gollanir scientists, and that other parts of their understanding came from joint work performed in collaboration with their Gollanir colleagues.

Sadly, we do not have sufficient pages in this book to describe in any detail the world of Tor or the collaboration between the Elzheni of our world and the Gollanir Civilization; however, we can provide a sufficient overview so that those who have greater interest can explore those interests on their own. We encourage these motivated individuals to contact our Guild offices so that we can provide you with the guidance you will need. Our segment of the Guild, the Division for the Study of Fexofamilial Communities and Genealogy (DSFCG), is housed within the Guild Energetic Research Collective’s offices on the Second Tier of Naldrin City. The door is always open.

We will now describe some of the key parts of the Tor planetary system.

The Rings of Tor

The Inner Ring

There was debate among the ancient Elzheni Astronomers as to whether this ring was in fact a true ring or if it was no more than a massive cloud surrounding the planet’s equator.

This ring is a billowing mass of icy shards and clouds of thick gas. It shows itself throughout most of Tor’s year as various shades of blue and white. At times though (due to interactions with Fekxtah Lines of Force) it will shine in bright oranges, reds, and a variety of other colors. This gigantic cloud circles Tor at a speed much greater than the rate at which Tor, itself, revolves. This was a conundrum for the Elzheni Astronomers (and the Gollanir scientists); however, it was a boon for “Ring Watchers” who could stand in one place on the planet and watch the Inner Ring pass swiftly across the sky above them.

The source of the Inner Ring is gas and ice that exits from the tops of extremely tall mountains on Tor. These mountains are called The Spouts or The Spikes. There are hundreds of Spouts that thrust out of Tor’s flat surface, all of them clustered around the equator. The Spouts are steep, cone-like mountains that extend fifty miles or more above Tor’s surface. At the very top of each Spike are large, open vents that constantly spew hot material into outer space. This material is a rich mix of slushy fluids and small shards of dark stone and rock-hard ice. The accumulated ejecta from all The Spikes clings to each other to form the Ring that circles Tor’s middle.

The ring is most notable for the unusual life form that inhabits it. Along with the icy slush that the Spouts of Tor throw into space, there are also small living creatures. These beings have bodies in the shape of hollow tubes no more than a few inches long. Along their smooth, cold bodies they have a thick layer of hair-like appendages that can be extended or contracted at will, and are used to help them navigate the thick clouds of this Ring. These living beings are called Egcells, a name given to them by the Gollanir and adopted by the Elzheni. Egcells are intelligent creatures with an odd form of social interactions. They are creatures that live deep below The Spouts, far below Tor’s surface, in a nutrient-rich, thick briny slush. When they are expelled from their warm, wet homes, they immediately, and frantically, look for some way to survive the brutal cold into which they have been cast, and they seem to have found a way to do that. According to the ancient texts, the Egcell learned to link themselves together in long chains by tying their hairs with each other. By clinging to each other along their sides or at their ends, they have found ways to generate and share the heat needed to survive by funneling warmed moisture through their tubes. They do this by consuming various substances in the Ring that surrounds them. These chains of Egcells can survive for long periods of time and, because of this, the length of their chains can grow to become quite long; hundreds or even thousands of miles in length. When the distant light from Oma strikes them at just the right angle the chains shimmer and swirl. Seen from the surface of Tor they appear as thousands of bands of necklaces or linked jewels constantly twisting, turning, sparkling, and weaving themselves into playful patterns.

The Ring of Broken Moons

The Ring of Broken Moons is Tor’s second ring. It comprises dozens of sub-rings where each band is slightly separated from its neighbors. The contents of each ring are created from the debris of Tor’s more ancient moons that have, over eons, been shattered by collisions with each other or simply from the competing tides of gravity from Tor and other moons.

The result is a ring filled with clumps of rock and ice. Some have assumed strange shapes that are miles long and may still retain the curvature of the moon from which they broke away. Others are as small as boulders or pebbles or even grains of sand.

The ancient texts claim that there are many scientific stations that were built by the Gollanir on some of the larger pieces that make up this ring. They were used for some very specialized scientific experiments, such as attempts (primarily by the Gollantir) to grow plant-life on these barren slabs of stone. The Gollanir had made many attempts over many years without success. It was the Elzheni scientists who finally solved this problem for them, allowing a very strange plant-life to grow in outer space. If true (and many of our current scholars do not consider this to be at all credible), then it was a truly amazing victory of science!

Finally, this ring contains three tiny moons that are still whole. They are Kempert, Yoodruts, and Sollasha. Each is less than 50 miles in diameter, and, at the time that the ancient texts were written, each was in a process of decay and eventual collapse. Records include observations of long cracks running across much of their surface, cutting deeply into their cores.

Given how old the ancient texts are it is reasonable to conclude that, since that time, one or more of these moons may have already disintegrated their remains becoming a part of one of the bands of detritus — provided, of course, that the Elzheni texts are credible accounts.

The Silent Ring

This ring extends far out from Tor. It is wide and thin and almost invisible. The nearest parts of it begin well beyond the end of the second Ring, and it extends almost half of the distance to Cantoss. It went unnoticed by the Gollanir scientists for thousands of years and was discovered only by accident when they noticed small perturbations while traveling along Lines of Force between Cantos and Tor.

At the time this Ring was little explored. This was due in part to its great distance from Tor, but also because of its ephemeral nature. It seemed at times to be present, and at other times it could not be found. When it was observable by the Elzheni and Gollanir scientists, they found a wide, thin body comprising small, fist-sized stones and a great deal of raw Physic Energy that both bound them together into a ring, but that also pushed them apart sufficiently so that there were great distances between the objects. Most surprisingly the entirety of this Ring was very still. It seemed to revolve around Tor very slowly, almost imperceptibly, and the gravitational fluctuations created by Tor and other planets, Cantoss in particular, seemed to be flattened out, dissipated, by the Ring as if it would not tolerate any disruption to its usual stillness.

The Surface of Tor

Other than the Spikes, Tor’s surface is mostly flat and is made of either jagged, black stones (and small mountains of them here and there) or it is made of unmoving oceans of dense liquid that span thousands of miles across the planet’s skin.

There are two large tomes in the ancient Elzheni writings that talk of Tor’s surface and the composition of the planet beneath. However, sadly, we do not have room here to say more.

Fekxtah Station #13 (Gollanir Outpost #3174):

This is an ancient outpost built by the Gollanir Civilization many millennia ago. It was given to the Elzheni as a gift; a token of their desire to collaborate with the Elzheni.

The Gollanir named this outpost Errin Tair Camma Batassad by the Gollanir, which means “Search for Wisdom in the middle of the Shallow Sea”. The Elzheni, being ever the pragmatists, renamed it to a “Station” and gave it a number.

The station was built at the crown of a small desolate mountain that jutted out of one of Tor’s many shallow oceans. The jagged stone rises several hundred feet above the ocean surface and atop the mountain’s crags is the building itself. It extends several stories above the top of the mountain, but it also reaches far down through and below the mountain and continues deep into Tor’s mantle. The ancient texts say that the lower levels of this Outpost link to many of Tor’s natural tunnels that run just below much of the planet’s surface from one side of the planet to the other.

The Gollanir Civilization: The First Civilization of the Very Far Fekxtah

In consultation with, and approval from, the Guild Committee for the Proper Disposition and Dissemination of Historical Science Documents, we have chosen to include in this tome a short break from our descriptions of Oma’s planetary Fekxtah to provide information on a highly important finding of the ancient Elzheni Astronomers. As we have stated before, we report from the Elzheni texts not to affirm their truth, but rather to provide a rational summary of the assertions and claims put forth by these documents and their authors, the Elzheni Astronomers. Though a debate still continues among today’s scholars about the full veracity of their documents, it is agreed that the Elzheni possessed a compelling and keen understanding of the world of our home planet Ethem and of the greater world outside our own planet which, of course, includes the planetary system of which our home world, Ethem, is a part.

We ask only that our dear readers understand the diligence that the Guilds’ scientists have given to these ancient tomes of significance, and recognize our deep belief that only science can give us a true understanding of the world. Therefore, intelligent, rational investigations, even those whose conclusions may not be agreed to by all who study such domains of knowledge, must be included in our efforts to put the conclusions of all examinations into the hands of all who seek knowledge so that they may make their own conclusions.

That is our disclaimer and now we present some of the astounding (some would say “fanciful”) information included about this race of creatures.

The original home of the Gollanir was the innermost ocean level of Cantoss which was known as The Red Ocean because of the color of its waters and the reflections of the fires that burn across most of the ocean’s floor.

The Elzheni first came into contact with the Gollanir as they were building their Fekxtah Station #12 on the surface of Cantoss. The ancient texts note that, “As we were building the lower level of the new Fekxtah Station, we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by more than a dozen objects floating a few feet above the surface of Cantoss. They appeared to us as bags filled with a thick, brown liquid which had something sloshing around inside it. We initially took them to be some kind of natural phenomenon that had bubbled out of cracks in the surface of the Fekxtah since they seemed to us to be no more than fluids encased in a six-foot tall gelatinous capsule. Upon closer examination, though, we discovered that each enclosure contained a living being, somewhat resembling an octopus, and that they seemed to be examining us.”

The texts went on to describe the details of this encounter. Each of the jelly-like globes contained a single occupant of the race that would become known to the Elzheni as the Gollanir. They had large heads with three bulbous eyes, a tough leathery skin, and a long even slit below the eyes for speaking and eating. They had two sets of tentacles; one set of four that were short (about one-and-a-half feet long) that were in constant use manipulating various protrusions inside their shells that controlled their movements and their inner environment. Then there was another set of 8-10 tentacles that swirled about in their container and would, at times, push out and extend their shell to be used like we use our arms for grasping, pulling or pushing.

Though it took some time, the Gollanir were eventually able to communicate with the Elzheni in the Elzheni language. The Elzheni Astronomers quickly came to understand that these creatures were spectacularly intelligent, and, to their surprise (and dismay) seemed more evolved than the Elzheni themselves. The Elzheni’s fear of this new race of creatures was dispelled when they discovered that the Gollanir had interest only in the other Very Far Fekxtah and had no interest in traveling any nearer to Oma than their home world of Cantoss took them.

The ancient text that describes interactions is voluminous since it includes both the history of interactions between themselves and the Gollanir Civilization over the course of several hundred years as well as detailed descriptions of Gollanir history, life, and their sciences. We will very briefly address each of these below.

Gollanir History

The Gollanir are a life form that goes back hundreds of thousands of years or, in the case of its predecessors, millions. They began as tiny creatures living near volcanic vents that were ubiquitous across the floor of the Red Ocean, which extended around the entire inner core of Cantoss.

Over eons the Gollanir grew ever more intelligent and capable. It was said that they started as a race with only two or three tentacles, but as time passed, and as need drove change, the number of their tentacles and the dexterity of each increased.

Living so close to the core of Cantoss, they were always exposed to the Fekxtah Energy Filaments, which will be described below. Over time they developed an affinity to these tendrils of force and began to study them and, eventually, to use them.

Eventually, the Gollanir learned how to control the Fekxtah Filaments, and, remarkably, discovered ways to travel along these filaments providing them a way to travel from one Fekxtah to another along these Energetic Tendrils that connected them.

Gollanir Life

In addition to the development of their remarkably deep scientific studies of the Fekxtah Filaments, the Gollanir also developed a sophisticated society. By the time the Elzheni first encountered this race of creatures, many thousands of years ago, there were millions of Gollanir who lived on Cantoss. Food was abundant and procreation was controlled so that their population size would never outrun their food supply.

Over the millenia, the Gollanir discovered natural passages between their own water kingdom deep in Cantoss to the other two water worlds under Cantoss’ surface. In addition, they constructed a number of tunnels that provided them with easy, fast access to the other layers of Cantoss, even to its surface. Of course, the Gollanir were accustomed to the immense pressure of the Red Ocean so deep inside the planet that they could not survive in the areas above their own. Being a resilient and inventive race, they developed strong spheres with tough, flexible skins that they could fill with their own waters and food. They called these spheres jellin capsules. The jellins maintained a constant pressure inside them so that the Gollanir were always enclosed in a welcoming and safe environment, and they gave the Gollanir the ability to travel widely about their own planet and to the other Very Far Planets.

Gollanir Science

The Gollanir have a connection with all of the Six Energies; however, they have a highly attuned affinity with a particular kind of Physic Energy known as Fekxtah Energy Filaments (aka Cosmic Sinews) which are an immensely powerful subtype of Physic Energy that connects the Fekxtah of the world to each other. The Sinews originate from deep within all living Fekxtah (e.g. suns, planets, moons, and even the winnomarn) and they manifest as invisible lines of force that draw Fektah toward each other and sometimes push them away.

As mentioned earlier the Gollanir had found a way to travel with the Fekxtah Filaments and could do so while contained in a jellin to keep them well-protected.

Over many thousands of years, the Gollanir explored the world of the Very Far Fekxtah and populated much of it. From these other Fekxtah worlds, they found new and interesting races of living beings, they gathered an enormous amount of knowledge about the Very Far Fekxtah, and so about Fekxtah generally, and they built an elaborate system for travel among all of the Fekxtah in these outer parts of Oma’s Family using the Fekxtah Filaments as their highway system.

There is brief mention in the final passages of the ancient texts that we were allowed to see that the Gollanir had not encountered any other race of creatures as intelligent and capable as themselves and they were very glad to have found one in the Elzheni. It seemed to provide them with a delightful new perspective on the world and with a completely different source of folk with whom to share the wonders and delights of exploring the world, especially what the Elzheni were able to tell them about the inner worlds of Oma’s Family.

Current scholarship believes that the Elzheni had extensive contact with this civilization and that they two races worked on many projects together, each sharing their knowledge with the other which added to their overall ability to explore the outer parts of Oma’s Family and beyond.

Current scholars believe that there exist many volumes written about the cooperation of these two folk and their many accomplishments, and we have approached the Heolas who control the ancient libraries, the libraries that the heola refer to as their mayamar. 

Much to our chagrin the Guilds have not been provided access. To be accurate we will say that we approached many Heolas scholars and Mayam, even the illustrious heolas scholar, the Mayam (Protector of the Library) named Hemma. All we have approached have denied that such tomes exist. However, we believe, quite strongly, that the heola who control access to the ancient books have deliberately kept them from us. We would in particular welcome any comment from Hemma, who happens to be the mayam in charge of the great Desert Mayamar (Library) known as Hehhollow, as to the veracity of this statement. Much to our dismay we received no response to our repeated requests for his wisdom before publication of this work.