❝I sing this to be free
I sing for you and me
I sing across the sky
To find a place of life
Where all of this is true
I bring this into you❞

BUFF

For those who are bonded to the Fathomless, they will, one night, wake up from a startling dream in which they remembered a memory they had forgotten, or had glossed over.

DEBUFF

Bonded of the Empty Machine will experience insatiable hunger this month, and will never feel satisfied no matter how much they eat.

At first, you feel a pull. In which direction, you do not know. When a portal of shimmering black and glittering stars appears in front of you, it only seems natural to step into it. On the journey, it is as if you see everything: ancient galaxies wheeling through space, cultures born and growing and leaving their planets, lights creeping over landmasses and them winking out all at once. You see the hungry arm of a black hole, an enigmatic smile under a mirrored mask, a fist clenched tight around an endless sword. Fangs shining in starlight, bandaged feet that have traveled so many miles and still remain sturdy, and code shattering under titanium will.

And then your feet touch solid ground again, and what you have seen is suddenly hard to recall, the merest of glimpses springing to mind when you try to think back.

All you know is that you witnessed something enormous, something you probably shouldn't have seen.

As you struggle to refocus your gaze, all you see for a long moment is white. White walls, white floor. Narrow white cots lined up against a wall, screens blinking above them in tones of soothing aqua and mint. You are in a medbay — a highly advanced one, given the lack of bulky machinery — but perhaps the most eye-catching thing about the room is a long window showing endless black and twinkling stars outside.

Before you can give voice to any thoughts, a small robot flutters toward you, and perches on the back of a chair. "Hello, Wayfarer!" the birdform chirps cheerfully. "I imagine you must have many questions; allow me to enlighten you! You have fallen victim to a quantum accident and have been pulled to another universe, but the Ascendants, in their generosity, intercepted your signal and brought you here so that you did not wind up in empty space. You are aboard the Theorem of the Astral Rose; our mission is to explore uncharted space and search for the Song!"

They pause, thinking, their little blue eye aglow, and then brighten.

"Oh! Introductions are in order! I am Starling's Lament in Flight, but you may call me Starling's Lament. I am one of the Hosts of this exploration vessel; we will do everything we can to ensure a safe voyage for you. Unfortunately, at this moment, we cannot send you home. The Ascendants have indicated that their search for the Song may play some key role in doing so." They whistle a merry tune. "Please enjoy your stay! The other Wayfarers are currently on planet Epsilon-355, you may join them at any time!"

And so, you take a shuttle down to the planet; an orb of a nearly unbroken gold landmass and pale pink clouds scudding across the surface. On the journey, the pilot Host recites for you why this planet was picked: it is a possible match for a planet mentioned in a story about the Last Pilgrim, one of the most enigmatic of the Edicts. If there are scraps of the Song to be found, it may be in the path they traveled there.

PLANET TYPE: arid world
ORBITAL CHARACTERISTICS: close orbit to native sun, no eccentricities in orbit
ROTATION PERIOD: 31 hour days, 405 day year
NATURAL RESOURCES: iron-rich silicate, limonite, titanium oxides, sodium, nickel
BREATHABLILITY INDEX: safe for humanoid respiration
WEATHER PATTERNS: occasional sandstorms, very little rain
LANDMASS: 98% of planet
AVERAGE TEMPERATURE: 31c
SURFACE GRAVITY: average
BIOSIGNATURES: indicates a narrow range of native life
ARTIFICIAL STRUCTURES: none found

REFLECT

On-planet, activity is bustling.

Research & Archives pinpointed a clue in the story that would make finding the Last Pilgrim's trail easier to find: a pathway of bones that the caravan traveled upon. It is unknown how long this pathway is, or even if it still exists, depending on how long ago that story came from.

Science & Engineering, meanwhile, concluded that the golden sand of this planet is wholly unlike the sand of other deserts, made up of not just silicon dioxide and fossilized marine life, but of many inert chemicals and minerals, a scattered rainbow of compositions. Epsilon-355 was, they concluded, at one point the closest planet to its sun, and that has sown a strange field upon it: the golden ash and viscera of a star's fiery tempest and the powdered remains of a destroyed moon. It is, quite literally, made from stardust and moondust. The glass that litters the sands was put there by chaotic lashings of star plasma, whips of heat so intense they penetrated through the atmosphere and raised burned lines of melted sand over its surface. Luckily, the orbit of the planet has since taken it too far away from its star to do such damage again.

After long-range scans, Wayfarers were able to find signs that pointed to a large deposit of inert biological material that lay to the north-west.

As you pack up your camp, the weather is clear, and the sky is bright. For most Wayfarers, adjusting to the 31-hour cycle of Epsilon-355 has been difficult, but midday naps and staggered sleeping schedules have made it easier. The sand has proven to be a constant irritant when the breeze picks up, but the creatures largely prefer to hide, and there have been no more sightings of the barren-racers. It seems they travel only alongside the sand-whales, and the sand-whales only emerge after a storm.

With all of your supplies stocked on people's backs and the hover-sleds the Hosts have brought for easier travel, you set off to the north-west.

After the storm, the glass outcroppings had been scrubbed clear, and they still remain that way. The path north-west takes you through something of a valley, bordered on both sides by sharp juts of the glass, enormous spikes just waiting to impale anybody who sets a foot wrong. As Wayfarers move through this valley, the reflections feel like they are watching you, but you can never quite catch any coherent image in them outside of your own selves.

Until, that is, you happen to glance at another, and see a vision of something you regret. A past action you took, a decision you made, a fate you changed. It's a static image, like a photograph reflected in the glass's surface, and it does not fade when somebody else looks at it.

They all remain like specters lining the path you are taking, watching your every move.

DEBUT

After two days of travel, you find them.

At first, the Wayfarers find the trail of bones mentioned in the scrap of story you're following. It is just as described: a pathway of enormous bones, presumably of the last titans the story refers to. They are neatly laid in a winding pathway over and between the rolling sand dunes, bleached white by sand and time. Most of them are meters long: humerus bones three meters long lining the path like a border, rib bones twice as tall as a person creating elegant fan shapes.

On the side of the path, greater remains may occasionally be seen. Enormous titanic skeletons half-buried in the sand, watching the pathway, like they simply laid down and died as eternal sentinels.

Astute observers notice that the skulls are all pointed in the same direction, and so, that is the direction you follow, until finally, you find life.

You hear them before you see them; music and laughter carrying through the light breeze. And when the Wayfarers crest a massive dune, you look down upon a valley where there winds a serpentine path, and upon it walks a long caravan of people. You catch up to them, and as you walk alongside them to get to the front of the line in hopes of finding a leader, they all greet you warmly, like old friends that simply have not met yet.

There is a brightly painted wooden wagon with a group of old women in the back, their faces stained with red ochre, their eyes blind, and their mouths laughing. A young boy wearing red pearls leads a metal hover-craft with a pilgrim painted on the side, and a pack of young children in aquatic water-suits run with him, giggling bubbles into the water in their helmets. Young women of dark skin and magnificent wings trail in a line behind a four-legged robot, singing helio-cycle poems and carrying bowls of vivid fruit. You identify what must be the lapho-beasts from the story: huge quadrepeds built like a gorilla with hooked beaks, the size of a three-storey building, plodding along at a sedate pace, their backs lined with rolled up tents, and barrels of grain and water that sloshes with every one of their thumping steps. A small group of tall entities with featureless faces and elegant robes walk along a pair of rock-skinned hexapods. A squat creature with a head shaped like a mushroom dances alongside them all, strumming music on a long instrument that emits color and light with every note. Everywhere you look, there is music, and laughter, and celebration.

It takes a while to get to the front, but there, you meet the ringleaders of this pilgrimage. The first is a tall robotic entity with limbs as thin and straight as sticks, a narrow rectangular face, a bright red woven cloak, and a hat that resembles a dǒulì, wide and conical. Her name is Elegance, and she introduces you to her wife, Rēza, a short woman who resembles an upright moth, with large furred wings and compound eyes, her antenna waving in the breeze. The scarf around her neck and mouth is of many colors, and looks charmingly handmade, a little rough around the edges.

They tell you that this caravan has been traveling for thirty days, and they are not far from their objective. The unknown temple, they believe, lays little more than a week's travel away. Everybody you see has come here from local systems, hoping to find something in the Last Pilgrim's footsteps. Thousands of pilgrimages have been doing the same, one after the other, for eons.

Everybody, they say, finds something different. Something you did not know you needed until that very moment.

If you ask them if the Song is to be found there, Rēza laughs, and says they do not know. But perhaps, if you need it that badly, it will be what you find?

Elegance and Rēza are happy to have you travel with the caravan, and encourage you to meet with everyone. They also think it would only be appropriate for you to help with the caravan's various ventures: the story-tellers are trying to compose an epic poem to mark their trip, and the hunters are catching local flora and fauna to stretch out their rations. Or, you can join the sand skimmers, racing on their boards with brightly colored sails taking them through the dunes, scouting ahead for an oasis to seek more water.

Medical, perhaps, might be asked to help with desert-given injuries, sand rashes or injuries from the bone pathway. Engineers might be approached to help with the sand stuck in the joints of mechanical entities. Research & Archives might be pulled into hearty discussions about the story set on this planet.

FIRESIDE

When dusk begins to fall, the caravan draws to a stop, and they begin to make camp.

The Wayfarers do the same, setting up your tents and supplies. The carvan sets up in a series of circles, some small and contained to family groups, others large to hold dozens of people. Silverthorn is gathered for small fires in the middle of the circles, and many set about making dinner. Soon, the smells of smoke and dried meat fill in the air, stews bubbling with vegetables and foraged Firelight Brush roots, Speckled Runners turning slowly on spits to roast. Grain is pulled from barrels and pounded into powder on wide, flat rocks, mixed with scant water supplies to make a bread that is nonetheless fluffy and pale yellow once its dark crust has been broken open.

The caravan gladly shares their supplies with the Wayfarers with no expectation of the same in return, though it would certainly be polite. The lapho-beasts lay down so that their burdens may be taken off their backs, and slumber noisily next to the circles, curled almost entirely around some smaller ones.

Once dinner is served, the caravan turns to the members of the Theorem's crew, and begs: tell us a story.

You see, they have been traveling for a month, and they have already told each other all the stories they know. Stories from their own lives, stories that they were once told about others. Here, in this desert, the only currency worth anything is stories, and they are all eager for new ones. Is that not the domain of the Last Pilgrim? Is it not an honor in their name, to share stories of progress, of journeys, and of learning?

Children crowd around you eagerly, old men and women with sparks in their eyes lean in close, and the light-making music-playing creature of before hushes everyone, readying the crowd to listen to whatever story you choose to tell.

Or perhaps you are more content to listen as other circles share the stories they have told already, finding new details to highlight or new questions to ask. Either way, a lot of tales are being told around these fireplaces, and it would be wise to listen to them.

GLIMPSE

You spend the next week traveling.

It's not easy. On one day there is another sandstorm, and the caravan has to hunker down and wait it out. The following day is spent avoid the sand-whales and the barren-skimmers, but luckily, they don't go near the path of bones. You make friends with people in the caravan, you share stories over spiced drinks and good bread. You help where you can, and in return, the caravan shares everything they have with you.

You learn that they are here chasing a story: a rumor that visiting the temple at the end of this pilgrimage will grant them something they want. It does not cure illness or bestow riches, they say, but it gives you something you never knew you needed until that very moment. Some of the caravan have nothing besides the clothes on their backs, and some of them are wealthy, and some of them are seeking meaning. Some of them are from Alliance space, others are not.

A week later, Elegance and Rēza call the Wayfarers to the front of the caravan. You will have first honor of cresting the next row of sand dunes to catch the first glimpse of the temple. And as you scramble up the dune and peak its crest, you see it in the distance:

A long, almost mountain-like range of sand dunes, taller than any you've seen so far. Beyond them, the pale purple sky is lit up with fractal reflections in every color; atmospheric blue and x'enuda pink, the same orange as the optics of a robot family in the caravan, the gentle gold of the Theorem's shield.

Whatever is beyond that dune-range, it is giving up a spectacular light show.

They say it will take another day to get there, but for today, you will stop at an oasis.

The presence of water has allowed tall canyons to form around its exterior, so you must descend downward to find the shady oasis. The water is a perfect aqua blue, so clear you can see the very bottoms of the shallow pools. Here, there is life different from the tough, scrubby plants you encountered among the dunes: plant-life whose roots are able to draw in water from the pools, crowded around the edges of them in small clusters of orange and red leaves, white flowers peeking out among them.

First, the caravan must take enough water to fuel itself. But after that, anybody is free to take a dip, to bathe themselves or merely to enjoy the cool water.

If you do, you'll find yourself curiously refreshed, like you've just gotten the first decent night's sleep in a while. It may even cure minor wounds, and ease the aches of travel.

Tomorrow, you will finally find the temple that the Last Pilgrim visited.

(CODE)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[When Lilias’s eyes fall on the stranger who approaches, she notes his small size—but there is nothing childlike about his demeanour, and he is clearly of a species foreign to her. Perhaps his people are all on the shorter side. Even in her own world, Lilias had never come face-to-face with any catfolk; she has no idea if the stranger’s appearance is unusual even by that metric.

It matters not, as long as he can drive the skimmer. Taking his confidence as confirmation that he can, she follows him toward one of the waiting machines, lengthening her stride so she can walk abreast of him instead of trailing at his heels.

Despite journeying among them for a few days now, she has not yet learned to tell the difference between the other wayfarers and the caravan’s many members. The people here are too numerous and too alien for her to have learned all their names and faces by heart in such a short time, and she doesn’t recognize Yi as someone she’s spoken with before.

But rather than ask which he is, she decides she may as well initiate introductions.]

Well met. My name is Lilias Hollow. I arrived here with the Wayfarers.

( by solarian standards, these vehicles are archaic. he has also had to adjust to how different energy and fuel are for vehicles not developed by his own kind. all solarian technology is built upon the bedrock of Fusang and its roots: rhizomatic energy is generated specifically when the Primordial Roots absorbs and processes solar energy. that’s why, rather than build a spaceship, he had launched the island of Kunlun into space as one instead—the roots already ran through every part of the island, and so they would provide a constant and reliable source of energy as they traveled through space. he has noticed that other civilizations tend towards combustion—releasing energy stored in fossil fuels by burning them. that, too, is archaic in his eyes. nearly barbaric, really. but beggars cannot be choosers, especially when the only Primordial Roots left in this universe are those still on Penglai and those entangling with his heart.

really, yi’s confidence that he can drive might be misplaced. he had figured out how to pilot his own ship, yes, but it had taken a few days of fiddling… and a Host had kept coming by to “help” (patronizingly, in his mind). but these things are basically just a steering rig hooked up to an engine. how hard could it be?

one of his ears flicks up towards her as she introduces herself. he nods. ) A new face. Yes, welcome to Epsilon-355. You haven’t missed much but the sandstorms and scorpions.

I’m Yi.

( they approach one of the idle sand skimmers. yi seems accustomed to dealing with machinery built for taller creatures; he has to do a little leap or two to hop up into the cockpit, though once he sits down in the pilot’s chair… well, lilias can probably hear an irritated grumble emanate out of it as he finds that he’s too short to actually see out through the windshield.

in the end, he basically has to stand in the chair, crouched over onto the console so he can reach all the controls. he is inspecting them, trying to logically piece together what does what, as he continues, ) Is there any particular reason you wanted to take one of these to go scouting, or did you just want to get away from the caravan?

[Despite now being properly acquainted with her driver, Lilias is no more confident than before about whether or not he is a member of the pilgrim caravan. That’s a little irritating, but if her curiosity absolutely demands an answer, she’ll just ask outright. For now, she stops beside the resting skimmer and watches Yi hop into it.

At this point, she experiences her first moment of real doubt about her pilot. His grumbling and readjusting in order to find a posture that allows him to reach all the controls speaks rather pointedly to her of someone who has never piloted this exact type of conveyance before. Also, if they experience any sort of bumps or sudden turns, she suspects he may lose his balance, trying to drive standing rather than seated properly.

Well… he’s willing to take his own life into his hands, apparently. Far be it from Lilias to fuss over such things when the wilds of the desert are still calling. She climbs into the passenger’s seat.]

I tired of feeling like I had nothing to do.

[A shameless answer, perhaps, when there is never a shortage of menial chores to be done in a caravan like this. But it doesn’t occur to her that the caravan members might welcome her inexperienced hand in such tasks. Probably, they would need to spend more time supervising and instructing her than it would have taken just to do the chores themselves.]

Why did you offer to drive?

( really, manual control is just so cumbersome and unnecessary. if yi’s jade system was properly online, he wonders if he would be able to connect via wires in order to interface with the vehicle’s systems directly; then there would be no concern about knowing exactly what each little button or switch or lever did. the problem that these vehicles were generally built for creatures at least a foot taller than he is would still be a problem, but… it would be the only problem.

he utters a single, mirthless laugh under his breath at her response. )

Such an admission is a quick way to get an unwanted task shoved into one’s hands.

( one of his ears flicks as he presses the button that he assumes is the ignition—it is, after all, small and circular and red. upon pressing it, the skimmer’s engine revs and whines to life. for all the doubts (perhaps well-founded?) lilias has about her driver, yi is at the very least fastidious. he double-checks that there are no brakes, standard or emergency, engaged before taking the controls in his clawed hands. ) We will do our best to look properly productive.

( he is gentle with the throttle at first, sliding the sand-skimmer away from where it had been been towed along behind the caravan and away from the path of bones itself. he is still getting used to this technology, but it doesn’t feel too difficult to drive or maneuver. of course, that might change once they get out into the dunes, but… for now, he entertains nostalgia, remembering building tiny, simple vehicles to race along the beach with his sister. he had always won, of course.

really, his purpose is similar enough to hers. he at first replies with a shrug. ) I wanted to feel the wind in my fur. This desert heat is hell.

( which is why, once the nose of their skimmer pushes past the path of bones and into the dunes, yi punches it. the skimmer seems almost eager as it lurches out over the sands, speeding over the dunes in the direction opposite the sun. )

[Perhaps Yi is right: If Lilias advertises her excess of free time, she may find herself sporting responsibilities she has no desire to shoulder. Nonetheless, she is not overly concerned. Anyone foisting jobs upon her that she didn’t wish to complete would first have to overcome her stubborn intractability. She is quite capable of refusing those who might coax more accommodating folk into doing things they had no intention of spending time on.

Besides, scouting is a valued task for them to be setting out on. Surely it is far too late for anyone to think to interrupt their joyride.

Lilias is still unfamiliar enough with technology such as this that the noise and subtle feel of the skimmer purring to life unsettles her just a bit. It is almost like an alien creature itself, for all that nothing about it looks especially organic. But Yi’s control over it seems sufficient, and as they pull away from the caravan, she gradually grows less interested in peering around him to see what he’s doing, and more content to take in the vastness of the sandy wastes speeding by.]

I’m unused to it also. Where I come from, summer is often overcast, and there’s usually a cool breeze coming off the ocean.

[The heat has been stifling—though now that they’re out here and the wind keeps her from putting up her hood, she’ll probably end up burned instead of sweaty.]

TDM #2, arc 1.2: as she bends toward the sun

BUFF

DEBUFF

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