Tag: ruvale

#Lore24 – Entry #360 – Sci-Fi Month IV #25 – Looking Toward the Demon Sector

Transcribed From the Personal Recording Implant of Andra Ganim, Chronicler of the Codex Infinitum

AG:  “There does seem to have been a definite increase in interest in the Demon Sector over the last few years, certainly.  You are saying that it is the will of these draconic souls, such as yourself, that draws people toward it…why?”

RV:  “That is the big question.  I have yet to uncover the exact reason, and may not in your lifetime, or that of your great-grandchildren, even.  It is a vast region of space, far larger than the seventy-two stars that gave it its name in the old days, during our earliest surveys of the region through the Demon Barrier using the crude equipment of the age.  Even I did not realize it at first, but I had a developed a growing interest in the area following the uptick in dragon-souled individuals I had managed to locate, and only put the pieces together later.  The most obvious theory is that there lies something within the Demon Sector that we need to know about, something of vital importance, perhaps to the entirety of our galaxy, even.”

AG:  “Do you believe that perhaps the ancient dragons were responsible for forming the Demon Barrier itself?”

RV:  “Perhaps; their power is undeniably far beyond what even I have obtained since my awakening, and remains my ultimate goal, of course.  Perhaps the remaining true dragons lie at the heart of the Demon Sector, or perhaps the next revolutionary clue along the trail that will ultimately lead us to them.  It is only supposition, but I theorize that our continued interest in dragons, the pervasiveness of their iconography adopted by various peoples throughout history, still prevalent in popular culture today, influenced by their many ruins, is something of an inborn trait hardcoded into our very essences.  It is simply stronger in some of us, those who possess particularly strong souls.  Or perhaps there is a coming awakening of said souls on a grand scale; I simply do not have enough evidence to say for certain.”

AG:  “What evidence have you seen that would lead you to your supposition that the draconic souls are awakening?”

RV:  “It’s mostly based upon a curious series of events that I have only recently begun to piece together over the last century or so.  First was the sudden increase in available test subjects across members of the multiple humanoid races within civilized space; I went from approximately one subject per twenty years, roughly, to suddenly collecting four in one year, then ten the next, and at least twenty per year after that, with each subsequent generation showing more and more of the stronger souls, those peculiar individuals who displayed great leadership ability.  You may have heard that DSM had taken a rather forceful stance on acquiring various smaller companies recently, their owners, CEOs, whatever, simply being paid off and vanishing.  Well, I know exactly where they went.

Secondly, there was the discovery of a particular unique artifact by a mostly insignificant mining company near the world of Ruvale, obtained from one of their asteroid mining operations in the areas beyond the habitable zone of the system.  That artifact was called UCSD-0001.”

AG:  “Was this related to the Ruvale Blockade incident?”

RV:  “It was, in fact, the entire point of the Ruvale Blockade.  Once the existence of the object had been brought to my attention, I initiated the takeover of the company immediately and had intended to seize the object even before the documents had been submitted.  As fast as my agents were in reaching Ruvale, they were still too late to lay hands on the object, however, for the CEO of the company was not only an idiot, not realizing the value of what he had found, but he carelessly allowed it to fall into the hands of a jewel thief of all things.  My agents and additional security forces attempted retrieval, but the locals proved far too willing to aid the thief and her allies in hiding from us.  So, with that status update, I would blockade the planet until I had what I wanted.

Unfortunately, as fast as I had my forces moving, the thief was faster in obtaining passage off Ruvale.  The blockade nearly worked, though; had we been perhaps an hour sooner, we would have had the artifact immediately.  As it worked out, though, it had fallen into the hands of a broker on Sentinel Prime, which then sold it to me once she had obtained it.  In the end, little of value was lost in the endeavor, and the locals were reminded that DSM is not to be trifled with.”

AG:  “What did you discover once you finally had this object?  What was it?”

RV:  “UCSD…Unidentified Crystalline Storage Device.  This was the first object of its kind that I had ever come across in my many years of exploration.  Based upon the data from the mining company’s records, the asteroid which it was mined from was not native to the Ruvale system, had drifted into the mix from somewhere beyond its reaches, for its composition did not match anything else in the surrounding area, even showed signs of intense heat damage and a lingering radiation signature that, for them, was of unknown origin.  For me, it was quite obvious where that radiation signature came from:  the Demon Barrier. 

The company’s initial tests upon this object revealed its nature, as the moniker they gave it indicates.  A form of crystalline storage device that we had yet to encounter or create for ourselves and possessed of microscopic draconic runes upon its surface.  This object is reminiscent of arcane storage matrices from the old days but possesses a much more densely packed structure, allowing for a much greater capacity.  The arcane school of transmutation, specifically of “storing” objects inside these matrices as we have done in the past, and some of us still do, is essentially digitizing the objects and placing them in a static, digitized state until we call them out again. 

Have you ever thought it curious how much of what we know about the methods of manipulating the raw magical essence, magic, resembles modern coding procedures?  How curious indeed beings like certain kitsune are able to magically manipulate data, their curious form of hacking?  I could go into great detail about the nature of this relationship, but for now, I’ll refrain.

UCSD-0001, when I and my top AR&D members began to study it and access what it contained, revealed an amount of data roughly comparable in size to the entirety of the DSM corporate archives throughout the company’s existence, an unprecedented amount of data. We have only scratched the surface of this object, so to speak, though it possesses a hardness greater than diamond, reinforced with protective magic.  We have not even managed to date the artifact yet, in fact.”

LORE24 ENTRY #18 – The UCSD-0001 Incident

Category – Event

A demonstration of power by the megacorp DSM, the UCSD-0001 incident, more commonly known as the Ruvale Blockade outside the official channels, was a show of force by the company, proving that they had the resources and manpower to quickly and efficiently blockade an entire planet in order to secure stolen corporate resources and capture those responsible.  Officially, this demonstration/training exercise went off with only minor issues, the largest of which being a chemical spill aboard one of DSM’s cruisers that resulted in significant damage to the ship’s hangar, and the actual blockade was was fully enforced, tested, and released within 72-hours.  The response of the local populace was stated to be “negative and vocal, but overall insignificant” regarding the inconvenience.

Unofficially, there was much more to the blockade, all of it revolving around the discovery of a relic of unknown origin by a mining company working upon one of more distant planets in the Ruvale system, their corporate headquarters based on Ruvale itself.  The object, listed as “Unknown Crystalline Storage Device – 0001” in company records, was roughly spherical in shape, and only about an inch in diameter.  Within the red-colored gemstone, which was as hard as diamond, were microscopic symbols that were determined to be of an ancient Draconic language; the object itself radiated magic energy.  All attempts at reading the data within the device were unsuccessful, and the mining company reached out to other groups for assistance in deciphering the data contained within the object.

This search for an arcanist put the compnay, and UCSD-0001 on DSM’s radar.  Once DSM had attained knowledge of this relic, their CEO, Rivalle Volcari, immediately initiated hostile takeover procedure of the mining company.  Within two weeks, the company was part of DSM, but its former CEO had gone missing, along with UCSD-0001, just before the final steps were completed.  Moving with remarkable swiftness, having confirmed that the object had yet to leave Ruvale, DSM initiated further measures to fully blockade the planet and secure the object.  The relic had been confirmed to have been taken by the former CEO, and had then been stolen by a third party.  A fast-response security team was dispatched to Ruvale to secure the relic, but the thieves managed to fight their way through the security team and subsequently disappeared.

Initially, a massive manhunt was started locally, with the capitol city, Radermere, being locked down by local law enforcement, working with DSM’s operatives.  Within forty-eight hours, having yielded no results, DSM green-lit the planetary blockade to secure the relic, and their nearest ships were pulled off their assignments and redirected to Ruvale, with others following within a handful of hours.  Hackers intercepted encoded corporate transmissions, however, and word was able to spread on Ruvale of the coming blockade.  Those in the know began preparations to leave the system immediately and spread the word to everyone who would listen.  As it would turn out, the thieves responsible for stealing UCSD-0001 were more resourceful than DSM could have imagined, and were able to smuggle themselves and the relic off-world during the mass exodus of ships that were leaving the planet as the first of DSM’s fleet arrived.

 

LORE24 ENTRY #17 – Kanna the Crusher

Category – Person

Kanna “The Crusher” is a famous pit-fighter known across multiple systems for being the most skilled fighter around.  Based on the planet Ruvale, she runs “The Crush”, a spacer’s bar and fighting arena where she is the reigning champion with an ongoing challenge to anyone willing to accept it:  beat her in a fight, win the big prize, which is currently over 200,000 credits.  Though many have tried, none have managed to defeat her in a fight.

Kanna is a massive female orc, standing over seven feet tall and is built like an equinarian (meaning she’s loaded with muscle and appears to be amongst the strongest humanoids walking), her green skin covered in intricate tribal tattoos in red and white inks, and below those dozens of scars from her many fights, her shoulder-length hair also white, unkempt and wild, her eyes a distinct reddish tint.  Kanna’s muscular form is rarely covered in more than a furry bikini with matching furry bands around her wrists and ankles.  She is not known to have ever been spotted wearing shoes, either.  Outside the ring, she is friendly and outgoing, often mingling with her customers and getting to know them as they enjoy some food and drink and the other entertainment her establishment offers.

In a fight, however, she is all business.  Kanna can certainly be vicious, but unlike many orcs, seems to control her bloodlust, never letting herself get flustered or out of control.  Her movements are always intentional, no movements wasted, as are her strikes.  To date, there hasn’t been a challenger who has managed to best her in battle, her knowledge of unarmed fighting styles seemingly unmatched.  Depending on the attitude of the challenger, she may not hesitate in simply putting them down for the count, or she may play with them, trading maneuvers and wearing them down, drawing them in to see if they have predicted her feints.  Though Kanna is a master of many styles, as her moniker implies, she has a preference for grappling.  A vast majority of her fights end with her opponents being crushed in her arms or between her legs, or even underfoot, with her twisting their limbs in a painful submission hold.  Rumors persist that she gets quite excited having smaller beings under her feet, but thus far, nobody has been brave enough to confirm the rumors.

Unbeknownst to nearly everyone, Kanna is not only amongst the deadliest unarmed fighters in the known galaxy, but she is also a skilled arcanist, casting spells of moderate power, though her true talents are in tattoo magic; many of her tattoos were created through her own efforts, and provide various benefits to her.  Those who are aware of her arcane talents assume that she has enhanced her body with her magics, and it is her magical tattoos which are responsible for her impressive combat abilities.  The truth of the matter is known to only Kanna herself and Shi Sukimori, the kerryn arcane gunslinger whom mentored Kanna in the mystic arts, though there are rivals who, having found out about Kanna’s magical tattoos, are plotting to find out the truth for themselves, whatever it may take.