Nethilius News: Survey Team

[Mystic]

<The articale read>

"Today it was unveiled that a survey team had been contracted to investigate and supply reports back on the surrounding worlds of the Nethilius system. At this point in time one can only guess at what the Goverment might do with these reports, or what may have inspired them. Possible reasons include future expansion, tightening security, or the search for valauble resources. I believe the true answer to likly be a combination of the above."

"So who is the team choosen for this inspiring mission? Sadly none can claim to be Nethilius's finiest. In the end Commander Joesiv of the Juraian Empire was picked to lead the mission. Leading a team of four he will guide the groups small explorer frigate the 'Unity', throughout the Aun'Ve system. The groups suspected stops will include the firey planet Mephister, the large ice world Glacius, the gas giant Omnivarn, and the distant dead world of Ixiayan."

CommanderJoesiv
A Juraian explorer of over 150 years Joesiv has unmeasurable knowledge in the field of plantery exploration. He has seen and experienced almost all known plantery landscapes and dealt with the diffcults encountered there in. Additionally he is an expectional pilot, having served for 35 years in the Juraiain airforce previous to becoming an explorer.

Lieutant Maxwell
A former Techoren soldier, turned mercenery, Maxwell has over 67 years battle experience. He has obtained both further study and training in both Techoren and Dark Juraian academies. Well versed in the weapons and tactics of the two races Maxwell serves as the groups protector and muscle.

Doctor Victoria
A skilled Techoren field doctor and recent student of genetics, Victoria Arashan is the groups medical officer. Victoria's role is to detect any possible threats in a plantiods atomsphere, flora or furna. If any are detected she will detrime the risk present and any possible counter measures. On top of this she will monitor the psychial health of the crew and any psycological changes.

Shaaron'Thar
A Pariah Xenologist with over 50 years experience in the field, Thar is an expert in alien cultures and civilzations. Thar primarly specialises in dealing with extinct civilzations, identifying racial characteristics to draw an image of what the race may have been. None the less Thar is still highly experienced in the culture and society of existing races, making him invalauble when dealiing with primtive cultures.

[Mystic]

<Servey Report 1: Mephister> Arrived at Mephister late today. Inital scans have revealed that the planet, smaller than Nethilius, has only a single large, very large, contiental landmass. This landmass Dominates over one half the planet, stretching from pole to pole. The other half of Mephister is a massive chaotic sea of ever boiling, cooling and erupting lava. Small islands dot the landscape of this chaotic hellstorm sea.

Unsurprsingly reports show Mephister to be a very hot planet, with an exceedingly active molten core. In some parts of the planet direct exposure to the elements will result in a swift and painful death. However this is not the case for most of the world. The termpartures, while hot, are survivable with sufficent water, and are perfectly tolerable within enviromental protections uits.

Surfance scans have hinted at an bundence of minersal resources and other enriched elemental forces. With detail this more after after ground based landings.

<The Ash Fields> The equiater of the planet, and a great deal of the area around it, consists of what we call the Ash Fields. seemingly endless landscapes of burnt ash terrain and bubbling tar pits. Occesionally one may even run into a lava flow. This bleak landscape is not entirly empty however. Towering pyramids of anicent design can be found haphazardly abuot the ash fields, seemingly uneffected by the suffercating heat. Thar suspects they are of Horian orgins, though how a winged race survived on this world is a mystery.

Most horroric however are the unliving legions. Entire battalions of skeletal warriors, armed with black steel blades and sheilds, petrol these fields. For what, whom or why is unknown, we avoided these with little diffculty. However we begin to suspect the area is haunted. Unearthly howls and screams fill the night, yet nothing shows up on any sensors. A strange... ominus feling has fallen upon us we begin to suspect something is hunting us. It is time to leave these fields.

<The Broken Range> North of the Ash Fields is the broken range, a successive series of mountains, some taller than the others, almost ascending upwards like some kind of nightmarsh stairs. Victoria's surveys have revealed that these are all dorment, most likly extinct valcones. Sensors tested postive for enriched elements and raw minerals where easily found. Towards the top of the northern cap we located an unexpected and staggering castle. We moved into investigate by where assualted by skeletion forces. What horrors has this world witnessed to bear such scars?

<Hellstorm Ocean> Retreating southwest of the Broken range we came to the Hellstorm Ocean, the lava flows that covered over half the world. Making use of a skimmer craft we traversed over this bubbling concotion. Boiling lava would ooze, or erupt in deadly gysers to the surface, it was flow rapidly to an unknown current, then slowly cool. As it cooled it would sink back beneath the surface descending to the bottom, where it would reheat and eventually erupt back to the top. Life exists within the Hellstorm ocean, our sensors where able to detect it at this close a range, but we never gained visual identifaction. Doctor Victoria also detected several lethal gases emiting from various sections of the great ocean. The worlds largest valcano existed beneath the surface of the damned sea, spraying a simply massive, never ending stream of lava miles into the air.

<The Scared Groves> The southern section of the world, passed the Ash fields, was the coolest, although even here the temperatures matched the hottest of Nethilius days. Rivers of lava had broken the large section of land up into smaller sagements, some consisted of broken, or glass stone plains, but a few... where every different. We located areas of life, green grass, bushes, trees, even lakes (although these where dangerous hot), A mysteriy black obliesks inlaid with ailen runes could be found at the center of each section, leading us to the conculsion that these where somehow responable. These sections where easily the most habital locations on the planet, but there areas are not large, and its ecosystem could not sustain the demanding of teeming cities.

<The Great Basin> In the southern cap their lies a giant crater like basin. It boarders on the hellstorm ocean but its mountain like sides have not yet crumbled to allow the deadly lava to flood its center. Thar and Victoria both believe it was either some sort of lake or even a polar cap that has long since dried up. Minerals are littered across the surface and could easily be accessed via drilling equipment.

This concludes the Mephister primary expedition, next stop the ice world of Glacius

[Mystic]

<Survey Report 2: Glacius> Arrived early morning. Inital scans have revealed Glacius to be a world slightly over 2.5 times the size of Nethilius, orbited by two moons. The closer of the two moons, Shahana, is composed primarly of ice and water, the further of the two, Ryuhana, is primarly composed of rock. Shahana supports a thin, but breahtable atomsphere.

Glacius is composed of two main contients, both dominating their half of the world. They are both reffered to simplay as the eastern and western continents. Glacius also houses an extremely cold northern pole. This smaller landmass is so hazardus survival inside enviromental suits can not be guraanted past an hour, if that. Vechile failures are likly and secure habition is impossble.

Unsurprisingly Glacius is a very cold world, covered in snow and ice, it is however also a world teaming with life. All manner of plants, fungi and titanic aniamls dot the landscape. Surface scans have revealed that Glacius soil is rich and fertile, when reached, and so have great farming potential, for anything that can survive the cold that is.

<The Great Plains> Located far south on the east contient these great plains are simply rolling fileds of compacted snow covered in a light layer of foilge. All manner of plants and fungi grow here, some of which Doctor Victoria confirmed to be edible, the flavour of the shimmer berry is quiet delicous. The great plains are home to simply massive creatures, some mammual, some reptellian, most herbiours. We did on our last days witness a vicious four legged carniour bring down one of the giants, but it held little interest in us. Thar theories we're simply to small to be of much interest to the beasts, unless they where straving that is.

<The Shattered Maw> This is a range of mountains that seperates the north of the east contient from the south. A very large and deliberate path has been cleaved through the mountain range, clearly showing that intellgent life exists or at least existed on Glacius. The stripped carcassues of great beasts littered the canyon, half buried in the snow, showing the path was used to migrate between hemispheres, and that it was clearly hunted. Two thirds of the way through we found out by what as we fell under attack by shikana skirmishes. It was only thanks to Maxwells keen aim and brillant sense of direction that we were able to evade and survive much of the deathtrap. Maxwell and Thar both agree that the Shattered Maw is a fully fledged shikana colony.

<The Clagmore Hills> The northern section of the great land mass was just rows of slowly curling but ever rolling hills. While not picturly high in heigh each hill covered a great span of width raising debat as to their origins. The Clagmore hills are home to some of the plants and fungi found in the south, but is far more rocky and barrern. Naturally it likewise houses some of the worlds gigantic reptails. Most surprsing to find was the indigenus tribe, called the Clagmore, that hunted and lived here. They lived in small, scattered settelements, constructed from well craved rock and ice, and clade in the thick furrs of native beasts. How they hunt and bring down the great beasts of the plains is not known, Thar would someday like to return and live among them if he could only stand the cold.

<The Shimmering Isle> across a surprsingly liqiud sea, that seemed to behave like liqiuid nitrogen, lay the worlds northern pole, a large island of shimmering white crystals and glass like ice. Its jagged peaks and twisted spires seemed to suggest an unnatural though alien origin. We believe that the Shimmering Isle may hold a wealth of gems, such as diamonds, but the asburb freezing temperatures, even inside enviromental suits, makes it seemingly impossible to ever mine.

<Frostmaw Glacier> The northern section of the western landmass is litlte more than a contiental glacial sheet the size of a small ocean. The depth of this ice plate can only be guessed at but it is massive, running deep into the frozen earth. Inital scans of the area revealed that power enmnations where being released from below the ice, mixed in with trace metallic readings. Continued exploration soon revealed large tunnels dug into the ice. It wasn that long after that we saw our first shikana burrower. We beat a fast retreat from the area, encountering light shikana resistence. We believe, though with no certainly, that the Frzoenmaw Glacia maybe a second shikana colony.

<Mistmantle Forest> These anicent green trees, covered in a snowy cap, form a dominating forest that covers much of the western contient. The forest is thick, covered in a strange, partially obsecuring mist. It was improbable to take a land based vechile through the thick kingdom of ferns, and given its vast distance, we choose instead to preform aerial scans in fast sweeps of our skimmer craft. Scans revealed the forest was temming with life, but what we can not say, certainly their was no room for the giant beasts of the eastern landmass. During our scans we spotted a mysterous floating object in the distance, like a giant disc just hovering in the air. We returned after a sweep to investigate it further, but the large object had apparently vanished into a clear blue sky. Investigation into our blurred images has failed to result in any indentifaction.

<Ruinous> This area was not named by us, but the Dominon. The great forests open up onto snowy plains, that lead to rocky hills and mountain sides. The area is dotted in crumbling ruins, many frozen in their almost original state. Several excavated tombs can be found open in the barren rocky sides of hills, and Thar speculates their should be even more. The main feature of this area is an abandoned Dominon base. The airstrip is frozen over, though the tower still stands, large buildings and solios are located not far off, though i see little hope for the main generator. We also located two sealed bunkers but lacked the ability to open them.

This concludes the Glacius survey. Next we shall pass through the Isha-Sharron asteroid belt and then onto the giant gas planet of Omnivarn

[Mystic]

<Survey Report 3: Isha-Sharron Belt> Inital belt scans reveal large despoisits of rock and ice. Potentially the Isha-Sharron was originally another ice world destroyed in some unknown disaster, or prehaps a world that never formed. The belt itself is thick and wide, and composed of debris of various size. Some rocks are no bigger than ones own head, others are the size of contientenal plates. The large belt forms a circle aruond the entire solar system, forcing merchant ships to either detour around it, dangerously travel through it, or more commonly try to subspace past it.

We located amongest the asteroids the remains of an old Dominon Battleship, likly a class grade below their massive jagguernaughts. This ship was badly beaten and appearned burnt out. Large asteroid collosims had smashed chunks out of the ships body, leaving massive indents, but the structual skeletion appeared intacted. It is impossible to detrime why this ship was left here without further investigation.

The asteroids have proven to be rich in mineral materials with large deposits of ore and water the most readiliy avaialbe. We extracted a sample of ice from one of the asteroids and tests proved it to be an exceedingly pure source of water. We where unable to obtain an ore sample due to unexpected difficulties.

Scanners revealed the presence of a large group of shikana mining a remote section of the Isha-Sharron belt. Why shikana are mining ore or what they do with it is unknown, they became alerted to our presnece when we appraoched to close and where forced to rapidly withdraw. Shikana responce was swift and furious and the area should be marked as a navigional hazard, especially for slower, builkier merchant vessels.

We managed to slip through the Isha-Sharron Belt, but in doing so uncovered several more small scale shikana mining groups. This is somewhat alarming and throughs out our original estimates at shikana population. It is impossible to guess how many Shikana maybe hiding amongest the debris.

This concludes the Isha-Sharron survey, Next stop, the Omnivarn gas giant.