Legacy of the Star-Travellers

• Posted by A-Pocky-Hah! August 19, 2017 - Filed in TSC: Short Story - #'TSC Book and Terminal Event'  #Mananauts!  #'Sun Birds!'  #'Space Talk!'  - 1,507 views

   

  Legacy of the Star-Travellers

   

  By Sephellus Yvarn

  Synod Scholar of the Lambda Convent

   

  Aetherius is commonly known to scholars and mages as the origin of magic and arcane arts. During the Reman Dynasty, there have been many recorded attempts of expeditions into Aetherius made by the Royal Imperial Mananauts, and the Sun Birds of Alinor. Some were successful, but overall, all of them failed because of the same ironic reason: the untenable expenditures required to reach magic by magicka.

   

  In the end, the Royal Imperial Mananauts and the Sun Birds were dissolved with the former being left as an honorific rank in the Elder Council and the latter leaving behind the Great Orrery in Firsthold as their legacy. However that is not truly the end of their story.

   

  From hidden records that I’ve managed to uncover, I found out that senior members of the Royal Imperial Mananauts and the Sun Birds had met in secret and formed a new organization known as Group 413. By combining their knowledge of aetherial travel, they began conducting experiments on a more cost-efficient way of travelling to Aetherius. The result was the creation of what they called ‘Varla Gates’.

   

  From the limited amount of information that I could gather, these ‘Varla Gates’ work similarly to Ayleid Wells found in Cyrodill, but they seem to draw magicka at a larger amount and at a constant rate. Could Group 413 have perfected the Ayleids’ method of harvesting magicka from the sky? With their combined knowledge and skills, I don’t see the possibility being far from it.

   

  Another interesting information that I’ve managed to uncover about the Varla Gates is that they also have the ability to reverse the output of magic. Basically, instead of drawing magicka from the sky, they can return it back to the sky, or more specifically, the stars. Members of Group 413 often called this method as ‘Slingshot’.

   

  Whether or not this method is similar to using a real sling is up for question. But what I can tell you is that this method is related to another shocking information.

   

  Apparently, Group 413 has discovered a way to send a single individual into Aetherius through holes left by the Magna-Ge. The specific process still remains a mystery, but it seems to involve something called a ‘Transliminal Aetherial Interface Unit’. Such a mouthful of words, but it must hold some meaning as the name is repeated multiple times in most of ther documents.

   

  Despite their startling and groundbreaking discoveries, Group 413 seemed to suffer the same fate as its predecessors, lost and forgotten in the pages of history. There have been no mentions of Varla Gates in any records, documents or oral traditions for the past six hundred years or so. However we at the Lambda Convent believe that these Varla Gates are real, and if we can uncover just one of them, it may just change how we will perceive Aetherius.

   

  As for this ‘Transliminal Aetherial Interface Unit’, I will ask Professor Neeralin about it. Afterall, she was the one who first introduced me to this subject.