Cantoss, the first of the Very Far Fekxtah

Mean Distance from Oma: 3,884 WA

Orbital Period around Oma: 336 years, elliptical, 90 degrees to plane

Mean Diameter: 9,885 miles

Length of day: 17 hours

Gravity: 4.4 Ethems

Description:

The Fekxtah planet Cantoss is the first, the innermost, of what the ancient Elzheni texts call the Very Far Fekxtah. They are called this for the simple reason that they are extremely far from our sun, Oma, and, therefore, from our own home world, Ethem.

The ancient Elzheni texts describe Cantoss as a world of earth and water. What they meant by this is that the planet comprises layers of earth and stone interleaved with layers and oceans. The surface of Cantoss is a huge land mass with a number of large, shallow oceans, and it is extremely cold given that it is directly exposed to the emptiness of space. Cantoss has little atmosphere to speak of. Of course, at this remarkably low temperature the oceans and lakes of Cantoss are not made of water. That would be frozen as hard as rock in this environment. There are instead made of a substance that the ancient Elzheni called “Desslenelt”. It is a material not found on our own Ethem or on any of the inner worlds. If it were, though, it would immediately turn into a gas because of the difference in temperature.

Beneath the thick surface layer of the planet there are three individual layers of liquid with layers of earth (or stone) between each. We will describe each in separate sections below.

The core of Cantoss is hot and fiery and the Elzheni believed it to be made up of either molten rock perpetually spinning to generate its heat or that one or more celestial beings are trapped, embedded in the very core of the Fekxtah. It was surprising to our current scholars that a race of beings as intelligent and as scientifically minded as the Elzehni would put credibility in the latter belief since that seems closer to religion than to science. Regardless, we simply convey the major points of the ancient texts for educational purposes without making judgements as to their correctness or fitness.

As one moves further away from the molten core of Cantoss, the extreme heat lessens and eventually cools allowing the earth and stone to become solid though it does remain pockmarked with many volcanic outlets where the core’s heat manages to rise through cracks in this material. Some of the outlets are quite large (as large as a mountain here on Ethem), and others are quite small, no bigger than the well-ventilated crawl space at the base of a fine home. The layer that contains these hot geysers is encased by a great ocean, hundreds of miles thick. At its top, the points farthest from Cantoss’ core, the liquid becomes slushy and eventually quite solid forming another of Cantoss’ layers with earth and stone lying at the top of this layer.

Another layer of liquid follows this layer of solid, which is again followed by a layer of solid, and then yet one more layer of liquid the top of which touches the bottommost part of Cantoss’ surface layer.

In this manner Cantoss has three distinct layers of ocean each of which surrounds the entire planet. Each layer contains its own ecosystem which is home to many living beings, and every layer is distinct from the others.

The three ocean layers are described in greater detail below.

The Hyless Ocean

The topmost of the three layers of ocean within Cantoss is called the Hyless Ocean. It is the coolest of the three as it is closest to the surface of the planet and is furthest from Cantoss’ hot core. It contains an abundance of life in two forms. The first of these is a race of creatures that the Elzheni called the Hyless, for which this ocean layer of Cantoss is named. The Hyless are gigantic creatures made from a thick organic slime. They move slowly and deliberately around the full extent of the planet. They survive by consuming a thick, gooey brine that grows in large patches on the bottom of this ocean, and, it should be noted, they feed on each other. The ancient texts say that it is unclear if one creature actually devours another or if they simply merge with each other going from two large creatures to one single, much larger, one. The texts also mention that these creatures have seasons of growth, but also seasons of shrinkage. Over time these creatures become ever larger, and at the appropriate season each of the truly gigantic creatures will begin to vibrate quite violently and will eventually shake themselves apart, or simply explode, into ten of thousands (or perhaps more) smaller versions of themselves which then begin the cycle again.

The Hyless have a stiff outer shell that provides a barrier between the ocean’s liquid and their own inner body. Their inner bodies contain a plethora of hand-sized “organs” that travel throughout the Hyless repairing parts that are ailing or broken and giving the large creature some semblance of intelligence, though perhaps not enough for actual sentience.

The Ocean of Lights

In this hidden ocean deep beneath the surface of Cantoss lies one of the most spectacular sights in Oma’s Solar System, if one could only see it, which the ancient Elzheni claim to have done. This layer contains countless numbers of luminescent water-bound creatures. Most are almost completely transparent, but all of them emit lights into the dark ocean, and every light seems completely unique in its color, its luminosity, and the frequency of its bursts. Some are constantly lit and one can watch as they move throughout the watery world. Others blink intermittently or only under specific circumstances, or in reaction to events such as being threatened by their neighbors.

These creatures feed on each other and on an abundant life form that grows from the rocky bottom of this ocean. These creatures, known to the Elzehni as Farddissil, are thick, smooth stems that can grow to be as much as a mile high, supported by the thick fluid of the ocean. Many of these have at their top a soft light that mimics that kind of fishy creatures that live in the ocean. This is an elegant disguise, and a highly efficient method for capturing, and devouring, its fellow inhabitants of this watery world.

The Red Ocean and The Civilization of the Gollanir

The bottom-most of Cantoss’ three ocean layers is called the Red Ocean because of the red hue of its water and the vast number of volcanic chimneys that line the bottom of its extent. These chimneys are constantly spewing fiery detritus from the earth and stone layer that lies immediately underneath the Red Ocean which is closest to Cantoss’ molten core.

This ocean is quite warm and because of this it is made of liquid water. The water is warm throughout and the parts near the volcanic chimneys are boiling.

The warmth of this layer and the richness of the earth that encases it both above and below, have given rise to many intelligent life forms, and one in particular that has excelled all others that was known to the Elzheni as the Gollanir.

The Gollanir will be described in greater detail in a subsequent chapter of this document. Here we will state that this race of creatures had developed a very powerful science of their own based on the Six Energies, and on Physic Energy in particular. Their master of Physic Energy gave them great power that allowed them to create a civilization that spanned the layers of ocean of their own world and it gave them the ability to extend their reach to the Fekxtah that lie further from Oma. The Elzheni discovered that the Gollanir were a very old civilization, older than any of the races on Ethem, and that they likely had dominated this part of the Solar System for tens of thousands of years. They had created alliances with other races on other Fekxtah, and so the Elzheni were careful in their efforts to establish, and maintain, a close friendship with this Civilization and its many members.

Fekxtah Station #12:

This Fekxtah Station is unique among all other stations in that it served as both a station from which exploration could be made, but it was primarily a diplomatic outpost where the Elzheni could maintain and extend their relationship with the Gollanir.

The station was built on the surface of Cantoss. Originally, it was small, holding only a few dozen Astronomers, but once the Gollanir contacted the Elzheni the station was built into a much larger structure, much of it with the help of the Gollanir.

Oma’s Very Far Fekxtah

The group of what are called The Very Far Fekxtah are so distant from Oma, and therefore, from our own Ethem, that they could not be detected by any device created by the ancient Elzheni Astronomers. They were also too far to be reached by the machines the Elzheni had created for travel from one Fekxtah planet to another (from one Fekxtah Station to another). Therefore, the ancient Astronomers who explored the Very Far Fekxtah had to travel first to the most distant of the “inner” worlds, the Fekxtah Station on the planet Mammarrell. From that station they could then transport to the Very Far Fekxtah. This worked well for the most part in that it allowed travel to take place. However, because each Fekxtah had its own orbital period around Oma the outer Fekxtah were not always close enough to Mammarrell for transportation to take place. For example, it was often the case that the Fekxtah to which the Elzheni wished to travel, was on the other side of Oma from Mammarrell, or somewhere in its orbit such that the distances between Mammarrell and the destination were too great.

The effect of this was that there were only windows of time when the alignment between Mammarrell and one of the Very Far Fekxtah were close enough for transportation to take place. The Elzheni Astronomers called these windows of time the Positional Transportation Alignment Opportunity (PTAO). A PTAO might be as long as several years or as short as a week, which also meant that the time between PTAOs would vary considerably. Sometimes the Astronomers had to wait for decades for another transportation window to open up.

These alignment challenges were the cause of many tragedies usually because a Fekxtah Station would be left on its own for many years and encountered a problem but no help could arrive in time to assist. We will not, in this document, tell the stories of these many difficulties, and instead refer the reader to the original Elzheni Astronomers’ tomes themselves. Of course, one will need to be well-versed in the ancient Elzheni languages or have access to someone who is. For those who are interested in pursuing one or more of these documents, the preeminent heolas mayamar (library) in Tarnath contains the vast majority of the writings of the ancient Elzheni Astronomers, and that would be a good place to start.

The details of the Very Far Fekxtah are straightforward. They comprise four Fekxtah planets and many smaller worlds as well as countless fragments of stone and ice. These will be described in the pages that follow. As with all other sections of this book, these pages contain only a summary of the information carried in the ancient texts.

We will conclude this overview of the Very Far Fekxtah with a note about the Disk of Itennin. This disk is one of the great artifacts that has come down to our scientists from the previous time of the world, the Second Era of the Fifth Age of the World. During the long years that made up that Era the Elzheni there were many races. It was, after all, the first time in the history of our world that races of creatures came into being, as opposed to individual creatures. Of all the many and various races that occupied this time period, the Elzheni were the greatest of all, and (rightfully) claimed to be Masters of the World. Sadly, their brilliance also led to a level of arrogance that eventually destroyed them and much of the world. That story is told elsewhere.

What is relevant to this short document is that the Disk of Itennin contains great knowledge of Oma and Her Family. The Disk itself is a beautiful thing. It is a circular disk made from various metals and precious stones that is six feet in diameter. Its beauty is sufficient to make it a work of wonder. There are many who want nothing more than to look upon it, sometimes for hours, because even the tiniest portion of the Disk allows the viewer to see much that is hidden to an untrained eye, and even much that is not visible to the eye alone. There are details that can be seen only by Energetic sight that allows one to see details ever smaller, even smaller than we can imagine.

The Sorcerers of Shawmancer Island possessed the Disk of Itennin for the first centuries of this the Third Era of the Fifth Age of the World, and they claimed to have discovered incantations and Words of Power that unlocked many parts of the Disk. I mention this claim for the sake of accuracy, but, of course, any such claims of using “magic” to unlock a physical artifact are simply not credible.

The Disk had a long history of passing from one powerful kingdom to another, but once the Guilds were fully formed and functioning, they rescued it from those who could not appreciate its scientific importance. We, The Guilds of Tamarra have uncovered great amounts of the information stored in this disk, and we believe there is even more that may be found as we continue our methodical work to reveal the secrets of this ancient thing.

We would recommend attending any, or all, of the Guild meetings that update the community on new discoveries.

Mammarrell

Mean Distance from Oma: 2,739 WA

Orbital Period around Oma: 391

Mean Diameter: 28,105 miles

Length of day: 94 hours

Gravity: 7.8 Ethems

Description:

Mammarrell is known as the Fekxtah with a Thousand Fingers. This, of course, is poetic license taken by the Elzheni Astronomers to describe the myriad number of magnetic and electrical fields of force that extend out from the planet to pierce space for thousands of miles beyond the physical bounds of the planet itself.

We will first note that this Fekxtah planet has no atmosphere. None at all. The empty immensity of space begins at the very surface of this rocky world. The only thing that breaks the darkness of Mammarrell’s rocky surface and the empty void surrounding it are the lines of Energetic force emanating from it. Usually these astronomical tendrils are invisible to the Astronomer’s eyes. There are times, however, when activity within the Fekxtah cause them to burst into color. The ancient Elzheni Astronomers called these events Moments of Energetic Chromatics, or MEC. An MEC might last for only seconds, but they can, at times, linger for days or even months. Regardless of their duration, an MEC event comprises every color imaginable (and some that can not be imagined). These tendrils, or as the Astronomers called them, their “lines of force”, are alive with constant movement. There are accounts that describe lines that cross each other and burst into explosions where they touch, scattering fiery bursts of light out into the cosmos, and down onto the planet below. At times the lines of force twirl around each other and combine to create ever thicker and longer forms. As one Elzheni Astronomer wrote in the ancient texts, “It was as if Oma lit fireworks over one of its most distant children to illuminate the distances among all of its children.”

There was speculation that, for countless eons, Mammarrell had been home to many of Oma’s Fire Daemon. Some Astronomers believed that the Fire Daemons spent their lives in constant motion on Mammarrell’s surface and that, periodically, these dances became so ferocious that they caused the Energetic Chromatics to flare into visibility. While this may be an artful and delightful story for Elzheni children (or our own), current scholars agree that it is no more than that — a fantastical children’s story.

It is interesting to note that, even though the Fire Daemons story is not to be taken seriously, the ancient Elzheni Astronomers did indeed find strong evidence of the existence of an Energetic life form on Mammarrell. There are accounts of Astronomers who tried to contact these creatures. These attempts almost always resulted in the death, or the total incapacity, of the curious and brave Astronomer; however, several explorers did return alive from their encounter and described their experience. Each of them told almost identical stories. At first the Daemons, called Mammarrs by the Astronomers, seemed uninterested in the Astronomers. In fact, they seemed not to even notice their existence. They were far more interested in the pockmarked, charred surface of Mammarrell. They wandered aimlessly over the rocky terrain occasionally bending to more closely inspect the stony expanse. Then suddenly, and inexplicably, they would halt seemingly fixated by a particular site. Like a small, slow-moving whirlwind they would surround this point on the surface and, as they spun around it, they would sink into the stone until almost all of their “body” was below its surface. The creature’s fiery glow would suddenly erupt into an intensity of heat and light. The rocky area they had surrounded immediately melted, turning into a slushy lava. With a final flash of incandescence the Mammarr would launch itself into the dark reaches of space that surrounded Mammarrell, carrying the molten stone with it. The Mammarr would fly far away to find a home on one of the many tiny moons that surround it, or deeper into space to a destination unknown to the Astronomers.

The Elzheni Astronomers speculated about this odd event, and though they were unable to arrive at a conclusive explanation, many were convinced that the Daemons were feeding on the material substance of Mammarrell.

Finally, it is helpful to note that there was much discussion in the ancient texts about the similarities between the Mammarrs and the Flamen who inhabit our own world here on Ethem. On our own Fekxtah the Flamen are a rare thing to see, and, when they are seen, it is usually quite brief as they fly out of the ground into the sky or from the sky into the earth. The fiery Daemons of Mammarrell were, however, ubiquitous. The Astronomers rarely looked out onto this world without seeing a number of these creatures busily exploring Mammarrell’s surface.

Fekxtah Station #11:

Fekxtah Station number 11 is located well beneath the surface of Mammarrell. It was constructed of a special substance created by the Elzheni Materials Masters which was impervious to the destructive desires of the Mammarrs. It is reported that the first stations, created out of the stone and rock of Mammarrell itself, were quickly destroyed by the Mammarrs, who seemed drawn to the oddly shaped spaces that had suddenly been carved out of their world. Once found by a Mammarr, a station would soon find itself inundated by any number of these creatures, each eager to consume the edifice. This gave rise to a belief among Astronomers that the Mammarr had the ability to communicate with each other. It was assumed that this communication occurred strictly through the Physic Energy that was so abundant on this particular Fekxtah

The construction of this Fekxtah Station took many years. Several dozen attempts were attempted before a solution to the Mammarr problem was discovered. The Elzheni were able to finally develop a material, and kind of metallic stone, that the Mammarrs would not consume. Accounts tell of Mammarrs descending on through the natural rocks of Mammarrell that stretched between its surface and the first walls of the Station. Once they had found the stations boundary they would latch onto it and begin to gyrate. After only a few seconds, however, the Mammarr would abruptly break away from the material and fling itself back up to the surface. There it would quickly find, and consume, some of the natural stone of the planet. It was almost as if the Daemon had suddenly bitten into something highly distasteful and had to excise that objectionable material with something more to its liking.

Our final note about this Fekxtah Station is that it was by far the largest of the Stations, other than Ethem of course. It comprised at least 20 floors and extended almost a mile wide in some parts. It was constructed at this large size for two simple reasons. The first was that the Fekxtah planet Mammarrell had very unique Energetic properties of great interest to the Elzheni scientists. There were two Energies in particular. One was Physic Energy. There were quite powerful and ancient forms of this Energy on Mammarrell. The other was Transference Energy, which is a Shadow-inflected type of Physic Energy (see the scholarship on Non-Junovalent Energies for more).

The second need for such a large Station is that it served as a transfer point to the Fekxtah Stations of the planets further away from Oma herself. These Fekstach could not be reached directly from Ethem because the distances were simply too great, and so the Mammarrell Station served as their entrance.

Yunah

Mean Distance from Oma: 1,840 WA

Orbital Period around Oma: 336 years, elliptical, 90 degrees to plane

Mean Diameter: 7,200 miles

Length of day: 63 hours

Gravity: 0.9 Ethems

Description:

Yunah’s life ran out many ages ago, and is now no more than a sad remnant of a dead Fekxtah, a lifeless body of rock and stone that is pushed to and fro by the Fekxtah that surround it.

We would forgo the inclusion of Yunah in this document but for two reasons. The first is historical. For many Long Times of the Whole World Yunah was a vibrant Fekxtah planet. According to the Elzheni astronomers, when Oma was still young, Yunah lived closer to Oma where it could absorb the tremendous warmth of its fire. During this time it was a world covered completely in water. No dry lands broke above the great waves that dominated Yunah’s life cycle. The planet-wide ocean was hundreds of miles thick, and in some places the waters reached down into the rocky core of its own self. There was a great abundance of life in Yunah’s ocean. The currents carried vast islands of sea leaves in predictable routes that circled the planet. There were certain places, near the poles of the planet, where islands were overcome by the seas. The masses of vegetation were submerged by ferocious currents and carried deep to the bottom of the water world where they provided nourishment to the tiny creatures that lived in these depths, and there was evidence of a rich, intricate system of life that provided a place for the tiniest of creatures, some too small to be seen, all the way up to behemoths many miles in length that roamed all the reaches of the ocean.

As the Long Times passed, Yunah grew greedy and thought too much of its own power. It gradually moved closer and closer to Oma to bask in its radiance and claim a place as Oma’s First in its Family. At first Oma brought wondrous heat and succor to Yunah, which delighted in the glory of its warm wealth. The vegetation that populated the oceans grew to new heights, extending thick tendrils many miles above the Fekxtah’s watery surface. But there came a time when Yunah became too close to Oma. Its fiery emissions, and the fire daemons who escaped from, or were pushed out of, its body came too quickly and too fiercely to Yunah. Soon the plant life was scorched, and eventually it began to burn. They tried to save themselves by sinking down below the waters but to no avail. As time passed the waters boiled and the plants died. Yunah felt pain as its deep oceans evaporated into the cold, empty space surrounding it. Then the planet Fekxtah saw its peril and it worked mightily to eject itself from its descending orbit and to free itself of Oma’s heat. Alas, though, it took a great time for it to accomplish that feat. It had spent too many eons descending toward its great, fiery mother. As it struggled for release from Oma’s pull, the waters of its world steamed and boiled, and its atmosphere filled with thick clouds but they were not thick enough to protect its oceans.

Eventually, Yunah flung itself away from its great mother Oma, but by then it was too late; all that remained of Yunah was a husk of charred rock and lava that hurtled to the outer parts of Oma’s family. As it flew away it lost its strength and it slowed, and was eventually bound to a new orbit that was determined for it by the Fekxtah that roamed the outer reaches of Oma’s family, and there it sits today.

The second reason for including Yunah in this tome is that even though it no longer lives and it’s orbit is very far from Oma, it holds, according to the ancient texts, the frozen, lifeless remains of one of the early Fekxtah Walkers, the race of creatures that tended the World when it was young, during the Age of the Fekxtah. The Walkers were the shepherds of the Fekxtah. They tended all of the Fekxtah to keep them each in their appropriate place and to stop many of the wars among so that they would not destroy themselves and all that was to come. It is told that the Walkers have the ability to move throughout the Entire World with their ability to step from place in the World to any other place of their choosing. They behave as though there was no restriction in how far they might move in a single step, as if there was no such thing as distance between different places in the world. If it is true that this ancient corpse from the very beginnings of time exists, then its recovery would give us boundless knowledge about the Great World and its Making.

Fekxtah Station #10:

This Fekxtah Station was carved out of one of the many rocky towers that dot the Fekxtah planet. These stone structures are highly stable since they have been in place since Yunah left its near orbit around Oma. The structures were forged by Oma’s fires and fire daemons and the ancient texts say that there are still markings from the many daemons that found a home for some time in the solid, rocky parts of the planet.

The ancient texts say that there is an atmosphere on Yunah, though it is far smaller and less dense than what we are used to here on Ethem. A sect of Elzheni that specialized in the invention of flying objects apparently found Yunah to be a particularly good location for their work. The composition of the stone found here is such that it easily absorbs, and holds onto, Physic Energy. This is no doubt due to the terrible assault of Oma’s fire on the planet. Whatever the cause, the Floating Energicians, as they were called by the Elzheni, were able to construct many stone floating and flying transports. It is said that there were so many that at times they would cover the entire sky.

Moralastalla

Mean Distance from Oma: 987 WA

Orbital Period around Oma: 31 years

Mean Diameter: 93,801 miles

Length of day: 56 hours

Gravity: 6.2 Ethems

Description:

Moralastalla is referred to in the ancient texts as “the Breathing Fekxtah.” The more mystical members of the Elzheni Astronomers Scientific Federacy claimed that this was due to a “being of cosmic proportions, born during the Second Age of the World, living inside the material confines of the Moralastalla Fekxtah.” It is not entirely clear what this cryptic remark means, and, sadly, the author (or authors) do not go into additional detail (or that detail may be contained in some of the Lost Volumes), so current scientists are left to little more than casual (or some would say, wild) speculation.

Even though this ancient tract gives us little to go on, the Fekxtah planet itself does have some peculiarities that lend credence to the “breathing” claim. The planet is constantly emitting huge plumes of gasses from its northern polar region. This creates a massive churn in the atmosphere of Moralastalla and, due to the spin of the planet, it creates a large halo around the planet. The halo has divided itself into a set of separate rings. It is believed that hidden within these rings are many small moons and even lesser (smaller) bodies. There are accounts (again, these are contained in the ancient texts) that “smoke devils” move among these small, lifeless rocky forms. If the texts are to be given credence, these smoke devils have an ability to form themselves into various shapes. They also have an ability to launch at high speeds to travel within the halo of Moralastalla and then have the ability to cling to one of these small moons, or planetoids, to halt its forward momentum, and surround the object. The Elzheni observers, who occupied Moralastalla’s Fekxtah station, recorded contention among the smoke devils for possession of the halo’s moons and moonlets. If two or more smoke devils occupied a moonlet at the same time, they observed terrific storms and churn of the cloudy substance of the devils, as if they were fighting for dominance of the celestial object. In most cases these great battles resulted in the expulsion of all but one devil from the planetoid. In the other cases, the speculation among the Elzheni was that one of the smoke devils had consumed its rival(s).

The halo of Moralastalla deserves much more attention than we can provide here. We must leave it at the idea that the halo is a world unto itself, and is deserving of years of study in addition to what studies may be given to the planet.

In addition to the halo, Moralastalla is surrounded by a naturally occurring belt of rings that rotate around the planet at a highly accelerated rate. The rings approach the planet very closely, within miles of the surface of the Fekxtah.

This brings us to the surface of Moralastalla, or, more accurately to the absence of a solid surface. There is a thick cloud cover that provides the outer shape of this planet. The clouds are in constant movement, and provide a sharp delineation between the emptiness of space around Moralastalla and the clinging, self-entangled masses of clouds.

Fekxtah Station #9:

The Fekxtah Station for Moralastalla is quite large. The accounts talk of it housing hundreds, possibly as many as one thousand, astronomers and workers.

The station sits in the upper levels of Moralastalla’s cloud cover so that it has access to both the planet itself as well as to the empty space around the Fekxtah. Though the station sits in this outer covering, it is anchored to something deep below. The Fekxtah Station is unique among all such stations in that it has this long anchor that tethers it to the planet. The tether is made of a material the Elzheni refer to as gennelith, which is a material the Elzheni crafted from other materials including some found in the outer Fekxtah of Oma’s Family. Gennelith’s properties are a strange combination of strength, pliability, and lightness of the material itself. In small form, that might be held in the hand, gennelith is so light that it is nearly impossible to feel the weight of it and its thin strands are so thin as to be almost invisible.

The ancient texts claim that the giant strand of gennelith is anchored at one end to the Fekxtah Station and its other end is connected to the hard surface of the planet which is thousands of miles below the Station.

During the early days of the use of this station the Elzheni had a vehicle that was able to descend along the shaft of the gennelith tether to carry a small group of explorers from the station to the surface of the planet. It was a terribly dangerous journey due to the tremendous turbulence of Moralastalla’s atmosphere which would often disturb the gennelith tether causing sometimes sharp, uncontrolled movements. In addition to the dangers of the journey, the surface of Moralastalla was extremely hostile. Temperatures were high and much of the surface was covered in shallow oceans of molten rock connected by streams of hot lava. Many Elzheni explorers lost their lives in pursuit of more knowledge about this strange Fekxtah, and, as the ancient texts record, over time fewer expeditions were launched until, at some point, they were finally ended and the car that traversed the gennelith tether was stored away in the least accessible sections of the Fekxtah Station.

Dra Ag Ahaggalla

Mean Distance from Oma: 517 WA

Orbital Period around Oma: 18 years

Mean Diameter: 118,150 miles

Length of day: 11.8 hours

Gravity: 4.6 Ethems

Description:

Dra Ag Ahaggalla is Oma’s largest planet. It is in fact so large, and has so many moons, that the ancient texts described the Fekxtah as its own Celestial Family. Only a small part of this planetary behemoth had been explored by the Elzheni. This was due in part because of its enormous size, but also, and perhaps more so, because of its turbulent, and quite violent, environment.

Dra Ag Ahaggalla is swathed in multiple layers of heavy clouds that carry inside them particulates that can eat away at the raw material of anything attempting to pass through them. The clouds form into ferocious storm patterns that extend for thousands of miles and some which circulate across the entire circumference of the planet.

The upper layer of this Fekxtah’s atmosphere is several hundred miles deep with separate, distinct layers lying below it. Each layer has been given its own name by the ancient Elzheni explorers, but we will not recount that list here. It is notable, though, that the sixth layer of Dra Ag Ahaggalla is, unlike those that surround it, an atmosphere that is relatively quiet with storms that are less frequent and more manageable. For this reason it was labeled “The Stillness”.

The layer below The Stillness is as severe as the layers above; however, the clouds of this layer are much darker and thicker than any above it. Parts of it are so thick that they turn from gas into liquid and form temporary oceans that float along the wind currents and then dash into the layer below or suddenly dissipate back into a thick, sticky air. Some of the most extraordinary accounts from the Elzheni explorers tell of creatures that traveled in this heavy layer. Reports speak of tall creatures, hundreds of feet tall (or long), that fly among the violent winds and sometimes dance between them. The Elzheni dubbed these inhabitants of the Fektah the Drawegg in honor of the name of the planet itself.

There are no accounts of direct contact with the Drawegg; however, there were numerous occasions on which these alien beings would be seen close by when damage had just been done to the Fekxtah Station. Huge dents had been made in the outer shell of the station as if a giant hammer, or a hard fist, had battered its thick, metallic skin. Several accounts posited the belief that the Drawegg could speak, or at least laugh, though others argued back that it was simply the wind that they heard.

Below these top-most atmospheric layers the knowledge of the Elzheni becomes more sketchy. A number of brave (or foolish) Elzheni explorers used small vessels to explore the depths of Dra Ag Ahaggalla, but few of them returned.

Of those few that did return, two left detailed accounts of what they saw and experienced. They each made mention that their tiny, one passenger, craft had benefited them. They suspected that it was small enough that the forces of the planet had less effect on them, and that, perhaps, the Drawegg saw them as too small to be of concern. Whatever the reason, each of these ships and their explorer was able to travel thousands of miles into the bowels of Fekxtah. The deeper they went into the planet, the more dense the atmosphere became, and at their deepest extent the dense gas gave way to a sloshing liquid, which was heavy and viscous and seemed to cling to their craft slowing it down. Each pilot reported, independently, that as they went lower and the liquid became denser, it felt as if the liquid was reacting to their ship in an intelligent manner, as if it could perceive them as an intruder. At times the liquid would separate, creating an open, empty space hundreds of feet wide. This would cause the craft to suddenly fall but before it could meet the other side of this space it would be met by a thrust of liquid shooting up from the bottom as if to attack the tiny ship and hold it in its grasp. The pilots’ struggle to regain control of their vessel was significant and they survived only because of their great courage and outstanding skill. Neither of these explorers ever found a solid surface to the planet. They each noted that they believed there was simply no such thing.

We will make note of one other unusual characteristic of the Fekxtah planet Dra Ag Ahaggalla. As mentioned above, this planet has an enormous number of moons. The ancient Elzheni scientists counted over one hundred, and thousands of smaller objects (too small to be considered a “moon”) also circling this planet. Several of the moons are large, almost the size of our own Ethem, whereas the smallest are only a few miles in diameter.

The moons of Dra Ag Ahaggalla were, for the ancient Elzheni, their own separate area of study. They were highly diverse; some being made entirely of water (frozen, of course, at their surface but perhaps liquid deep inside), others a strange accumulation of oddly shaped rock, and still others (though only a few) that were long and wide but only inches thick, like enormous sheets of stone. Sadly the books about Dra Ag Ahaggalls’ moons have been lost to us, or have yet to be released to us by the Heola mayam. NOTE: The Heola mayam are those of their race who devote their lives to the protection of books, in particular, the books of the ancient Elzheni race. In the colloquial language these mayam would simply be called “librarians”.

Fekxtah Station #8:

The ancient texts tell us that the creation of the Fekxtah Station for Dra Ag Ahaggalla was one of their greatest engineering challenges, and considered one of their greatest successes.

This station was built to float in “The Stillness” layer of the Fekxtah. Getting materials to that layer of Dra Ag Ahaggalls atmosphere was a challenge in itself, one which failed many times before a way was found to navigate the hostile storms of the outer atmosphere to reach this less violent place.

The station was built as a large oblong object, with strong, metallic sides to protect it from the planet’s chaotic atmosphere. Inside the Fekxtah Station were particularly advanced Energetic engines that the Elzheni had created just for this purpose. The Engines were powerful, as they had to be to withstand the weather of this strange world, and they had to be constantly attended to adjust for the planet’s constantly changing storms.

There are later accounts that the Elzheni followed their success in building this craft by building several more so that they could position these large ships at various points in the Fekxtah. Of course, we have no ability to verify if this was true, or not. We can only report what the ancient texts claim.