Saturday, August 27, 2011

The Twenty-two Wonders of the Galaxy

1. Infinity Outpost: A Kronn-made technological wonder, the Infinity Outpost was located on the very edge of the Fringe of the galaxy, until it was destroyed by the Naktaka in the Second Great War.  The Outpost was a place often visited by Kronn era pilots; Kronn themselves, Hrullgi, Prothen, and Telophs.  Infinity Outpost was located in the Huunti system asteroid belt, the Mukemuke, was the size of an average moon, had a star copper hull, hundreds of docks and housing within it, and outside it's hull it has gyroscopic rings constantly circling around, stopping only to let ships by.  It was called the Infinity Outpost because the Kronn called the space in between galaxies the "Sea of Eternity".  But, as heavily armored as it was, during the Naktaka raids on Imperium Fringe systems, hundreds of refugees fled to Infinity Outpost.  The reptoids pummeled the outside hull with photon cannons, while a team of Naktaka snuck inside and planted a vacuum bomb; imploding the moon-sized station.

2. Five Aurora Rings of Veth: The rings of Veth are giant halos of auroras along the equator.  As the name says, there are five layers of the auroras, all different colors and patterns.  The Five Rings are massive enough to be seen on most parts of the world.  The Rings move along the equator and move during the night, before everyones' eyes.

3. Eye of Eternity: Built either by the Kronn or the Telophs, the Eye of Eternity hangs in high orbit above Ogodo.  It is a bipyramid made out of a stone from Krodia, with smooth slopes on both sides leading to a capstone of a blue-white crystal, also probably from Krodia.  A flight of steps on both top and bottom lead to a great set of pneumatic metal double doors.  Behind these, in the Eye itself, which is some some two hundred feet high, a vast gallery, ringed with ascending balconies, the floors getting smaller and smaller.  Inside, there are many room coming off of the main, entry gallery; these hold, or used to hold, great wonders of the ancient galaxy.  Sadly, much of the Eye has been ransacked, only the treasures of the main altar in the central chamber remain untouched.  The Eye of Eternity has been preserved by the Imperium since the colonization of Ogodo, and though it was nearly destroyed in the Battle of Ogodo during the Great War, it still floats in space, undamaged.  

4. Planet Architect: A Kronnian capital ship, consists of a spherical body, with four arm like prongs coming from it's sides. The Architect was used by the Kronn to, legends say, construct worlds. On it's underside, is an energy cannon, that shoots pure energy in between the prongs, which charge the beam, shape it, and set it in the designated space. Then, it is said, the energy cannon is charged even more so that the energy turns into the elements, that are then shaped into water, soil, etc, though it could also do a reverse process, sucking the energy from something, thus destroying it. After the Kronn went extinct, the craft was hidden for thousands of years, until the Naktaka found it deep under Eridu. The reptilians used the craft against the Imperium during the Second Great War , but as they laid siege to Eridu, Marcus Leondes used his spacewalking powers to jump aboard the Architect, and destroyed the Naktaka flagship and base planet. After the war, the Imperium put the Architect adrift toward the Zuric black hole, destroying the Planet Architect.

5. The Forbidden Temple on Ossym: Long ago, in the early days of the Imperium the Gasha Order was founded on the then-fringe-world Ossym.  The Gasha are a order of psionic knights dedicated to protecting the Imperium, based now on Takhotep, but some of the elders live on Ossym.  When the first Gasha discovered their powers on Ossym and the Imperium had established the Order, a stronghold was built for them on Ossym.  At first it was a simple building; a place to train and meditate and live.  But as the Gasha grew, so did the temple, as each successive generation has added onto it.  Now it is a massive, complex fortress with many wings and annexes and towers.  Only Gasha Warriors who have taken the Oath can enter the inner temple of the fortress, and they are not allowed to discuss what is in there.  Outside, the Temple is rather beautiful, with trees and orchards and it has fish ponds in the courtyard as young Gasha train on the lawns by the river outside.  

6. Custodian of Xar: A sentient droid that was on Xar, who ran the factory that produced Zan's android legions. He was short circuited by Imperium scouts. The Custodian was custom-made, stood thirty feet tall, humanoid in shape, and was covered in rough, zycite armor. He resided in the Command Bridge in the factory.

7. Floating Gardens of Io: Once, only the Emperor and his court were allowed to visit this natural wonder, but now any Imperium citizen may come to the Floating Gardens.  Io is a lush world to begin with, miles of temperate jungles and dramatic, snow-covered mountains, and azure skies during the day and purple skies during sunset.  It is a popular vacation world.  The Floating Gardens, located not far from the city Prunium, hang above the jungle, near a mountainside, in terraces and steps.  All kinds of plants and fauna live and grow on these floating chunks of earth; waterfalls link the hovering islands together.  There are no signs of Imperium life on the floating islands, no building was allowed, but there is an invisible grav-net that keeps people from jumping off.

8. The Valley of Nyrador III: During the Great War, the Sinn Warriors and the Gasha Order met in the Valley of the Sun on Nyrador III.  Lord Karr of the Sinn, during the battle vaporized everyone, including himself, and trapped their souls in the Valley, renamed the Valley of Spirits.  People think he used his psionic powers, others believe Karr used an artifact, the Go-dett Orb.  Ever since the bloody battle, there is the "good" side and "bad" side of the valley, divided by a river, which turns into blood every noon, to mourn the battle.  The light side of the Valley is very hospitable, the Gasha Order spirits made their side of the Valley warm all year, plants grow at an incredible rate, there are beneficial herbs and sweet smelling flowers.  While the dark half is barren, marshy, filled with poisonous plants and gases, filled with malicious monsters.  In the river there is a monument to the Gasha warriors who died, along with three thousand innocent natives killed by the Sinn troopers, it stands seventy-eight feet tall.  Under the Valley, there is an intricate network of crystal tunnels, very beautiful, but extremely dangerous, many adventurers have delved down into the caverns, never to return.  Many people agree, if it exists, the Go-dett Orb is down in the Spirit Tunnels.

9. Clarke's Lighthouse: Many years before the First Great War, Clarke, a human from the Emperor Dirod system was a hyperspace scout, who along with his partner, Myndorra, explored much of what would be called the Mid Ring, and on the border of the Mid Ring and the Pioneer Regions, he built a beacon station. A beacon station is a small space station that sends out a strong beacon to ships, attracting them to the pit-stop station. It also helps with coordinating hyperspace leaps. In Clarke's day, there were many "lighthouses", as they were called, most were within the Core, Inner Ring, and Colonial Territories, his though was a trailblazer. He stayed in the lighthouse, named The Far Orbiter by himself, for many weeks managing the beacon array, and fixing food for the pilots that stopped there, though six years after he first opened the lighthouse, he purchased a group of droids to run the Orbiter, and he even built a gundroid to police the dock. The Far Orbiter was a place often raided by pirates, mostly unsuccessful raids though, for Clarke was an expert marksman, and most pirates avoided the place after he installed the gundroid. When he wasn't manning the lighthouse, Clarke was off in his ship, The Outlander, making hyperspace routes and mapping systems with Myndorra. After Clarke died, his lighthouse was simply known as Clarke's Lighthouse, and his family, he married Myndorra, still takes care of the Lighthouse to this day. Clarke's Lighthouse is somewhat triangular in shape, with rounded corners, and a sleek, armored hull, and, in Clarke's day, one dock, but today it has four.

10. The Will of Arung Uni: Of all the millions of planets in the Galaxy, Arung Uni is one of the most unique.  Arung Uni, ancient capital of the Prothen Empire, has a consciousness; a psionic will.  And though now Imperium citizen has never set foot on the alien world there are signs that show it has a will.  First, Arung Uni is the only planet in it's system and it stays still as the green sun orbits it.  Second, the Prothen talk of their planet as a person and seem to revere it.  And third, Arung Uni moved, it jumped into hyperspace, during the Second Great War.  Of course this could be rumor, mere legend.  Imperium scientists have yet to visit the alien homeworld.

11. Belt of Arkkilon: A technological wonder, the Belt of Arkkilon is an artificial belt, torus in shape, with hundreds of engineers living inside.  The Belt was built in 526 AI by Arkkilon Tech, it was built in small sections, then towed up into the exosphere.  The Belt circles the whole planet, and is home to engineers, who work on classified and experimantal projects, or devices that would be hard to build on the planet's surface.

12. Great Gate of the Imperium: Built by the great engineer Oimmdol, the Gate is a giant ring, like the Belt of Arkkilon, that protects the Eridu from invaders.  It was built in order to protect the great capital from invasion after the First Imperium Civil War by Oimmdol, a native Terran.  He drew plans for the Gate, and, seven years later, the first segments of the Gate were towed up into space.  The Gate was built in much the same way as the Belt of Arkkilon; it was constructed in small segments, then brought up into the exosphere via tow ship.  The function of the Great Gate is to stop any and all ships in hyperdrive, making a common rest stop for pilots, Eridu sits at the beginning or end of a number of hyperlanes including; the Follon Lane, The Core Industrial Trade Route, the Urub Spice Lane, the Ridian Tech Throughway, The Eridu Hyperlane and the Myndian Way.  The Gate also slows down the ship passing through the atmosphere, making sieges of the world slow and dangerous.  It is also covered in shield generators and thousands of laser and torpedo turrets.  The Great Gate was almost destroyed in the New Sinn Wars, but the Terran adventurer, Zek Kalso and a group of pilots saved it.  The Gate is still in use today.

13. Wind Flues of Curgu: On the Pioneer Region planet of Curgu, there are hundreds of natural tunnels that go from the surface, then twist and turn down, close to the core.  The mix of cool surface winds and thermal updrafts, along with the twists of the Flues makes very interesting musical sounds.  The native Curians say the music was from celestial spirits floating along with the wind.

14. Orthel Antenna: A massive tower, starting in the middle of the atmosphere and rising three miles up, full of commercial offices and satellites. It began construction in 58 -AI by the Orthel-Talisis Spaceflight Co-op. The Antenna looks like a great silver-colored needle, three miles tall, with dozens of ports, as well as a battalion of gundroids. During the Fourth Tuetese Civil War, the Tuetese and their allies had seized the Antenna, and held it for three weeks under siege by the United Corporate Combine armies, until they gained access by ventilation shafts that were left unguarded, thus allowing the UCC to regain control of the Antenna.

15. Xalanatha: The Second Great War destroyed the Xala homeworld of Xr'laga I, the Xala fled to various colony worlds.  After sixty years of living in other Imperium worlds, the Xala built Xalanatha as their new capital and center for the Temple.  Xalanatha is the biggest space platform ever built in the Galactic Imperium.  The size of an enormous city, it is built in a terrace, the Temple at the top, with the military barracks, offices, the Strataltry, navy hangers, and the Imperium governor's palace.  Below all this is the rest of the city; domed roofs, geometric streets, docks, and all the usual components of a Xala city.  Under the entire city, down in the maintenance and under-workings of Xalanatha, is the Undernatha, a hidden city of smugglers, thieves, mercs and other low-lives.

16. The Fifty Obelisks of Tahkhotep: These hundred foot tall monuments are found outside the old library of the Gasha Order.  The Gasha scouts at first thought the obelisks were spread out in an unorginized mess, but later study showed they were, in fact, in a pattern, a symbol composed of these monuments.  Excavation uncovered cables that connected the obelisks.  These pillars are thought to be used as a homing beacon for Kronn pilots that were far out in space.  Recent discoveries on other planets have uncovered similar obelisks.

17. Black Ziggurat of Algol: On the wasteland planet of Algol, the native sinn speices built thousands of temples dedicated to their dark magics, but one stands out among them, the Black Ziggurat.  Located on the Ung'or Peninsula, the Black Ziggurat stands 435 ft tall, is made out of an obsidian-like substance called glokk, and has a total of 894 stairs.  Inside the temple, there is an altar dedicated to the One in the Void, an evil, ancient force, and the Sinn Warriors had a large academy in the Ziggurat.  Past the altar chamber, there are living quarters for the sorcerers, and soldiers, prison cells, torture chambers and numerous other rooms and corridors.  It is said the Sinn Monks still live, deep down in the temple.  The Black Ziggurat is surrounded by an aura of black power, turning some of the Imperium scouts, who found it, insane.

18. The Memory Vaults of Arung Iilum: Located on Arung Uni's only moon, Arung Iilum, the Vaults are a central part of the Pahndo Witches' belief.  hidden in a secret archive somewhere on the rocky moon, the Memory Vaults are great, whitish-blue crystals, encased in Prothen cases and storage frames.  The crystals can store thoughts, the ancient Prothen must have discovered this, so for millions of years the Prothen Witches and Executors have stored important thoughts and ideas in these crystals.  The Vaults, it is said, are guarded by five Keepers, immortal Prothen Witches tasked with preserving and guarding the archives of Arung Iilum

19. The Colossus of Zan: This 500 foot tall statue overlooks the capital city of Burrus, New Zan City.  The bronze, marble, and zycite colossus was built after Zan the Conqueror's death, c. 114 -AI.  Zan, born the heir apparent of Burrus, conquered much of what is now the Imperium, his use of war androids  and his brilliant resource management and strategy made this possible.  After he had conquered his Despotate, he reigned for some fifty years, dying a peaceful death on Burrus.  He had had plans drawn up before he died of the colossus, but it was his generals who ordered the construction of it after his death.  The great statue is of Zan, wearing a war crown and armor, wielding a sword and torch.  It is said that his body was moved from his tomb to the colossus, along with his treasure.  The colossus, though very old and weathered, still stands; many have tried to enter it's dark insides, few have come out unscathed.

20. The Drumlins of Maan: The world of Maan went through an extreme ice age, that covered three quarters of the world, the natives, the Maanasa, migrated to the far south, and stayed there for five generations.  When the glaciers and layers of ice melted, they left behind extensive amounts of mineral deposits, and a vastly different landscape.  The former plains, marshes, and forests of Maan were replaced by massive, dramatic, swirling, drumlins and other glacier formed features.  The Maan settled on the sides of the massive hills, rediscovering the world that had been so drastically changed by the eight hundred year ice age.  The drumlins are mostly in the northern hemisphere, and are often over two hundred feet tall.

21. The Necropolis of Emperors on Eridu: This great part of Eridu, the size of a large island, is the burial site for the Galactic Emperors. It is not far from the Central Galactic Library. The Necropolis includes imperial crypts, catacombs, and tombs for the soldiers who died in the Wars of Formation, along with graves for important senators, aristocrats and generals.  It was also the burial site for the leaders of the Nations of Narhul, and the final resting place of Caiss-Sol, first Emperor of the Galaxy.

22. Gog, the Supercomputer: A legendary ancient computer, who's makers and location remain a mystery.  Gog is said to be sentient, and was once found by Galactic Emperor Arateus of the Imperium during the Second Imperium Civil War to get advice on how to stop it.  Also another legend says that Zek and Basim discovered Gog in some caves on a planet in the Fringe.  It is said that Gog is a giant computer cube, taking up a whole cavern.  Gog is only counted as a Wonder because there is some proof pointing to his existence, and he is one the most popular legends, especially among deep space pilots.

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