The gifts of the ancient travelers. Secrets of star's blood. Enigmas of the void given form and law.
These are the tools of the Seeker. Lordram Vesk has acquainted himself with various forms of magic and sorcery native to the stars and the spaces in between, and this list specifies which abilities and to what capacity he can employ them.
Minor Arcana
Minor Arcana can be used multiple times a day without the risk of exhaustion. Though they are not as powerful as the major Arcana, when utilized creatively they can be deadly in their own right.
Spark (5/Day)
Gesture; Simple - Spread a closed fist to splayed fingers
Verbal; Single Word - Light
Duration - Up to 5 seconds
A blinding light forms and then radiates outward from the user's hand. This can be omnidirectional, a forward facing cone, or a concentrated beam. The less area the light covers, the brighter, and more blinding, it is.
Shift (5/Day)
Gesture; Simple - Run one hand up the opposite forearm, thumb pointed up toward elbow
Mental - Must visualize area being teleported to
Duration - Instantaneous
The user disappears in a sudden burst of darkness, all light (and the user) are absorbed into the inky blackness only to manifest themselves a short distance away in a mirror void. This can only be done at short distances.
Kindle (3/Day)
Verbal; Short Incantation - "Wrathful light of Titans, guide my aim."
Gesture; Simple - Run hand(s) over object/surface being enchanted
Secondary Gesture - Closed fist with knuckles held upward (as though grasping a lantern's handle), pushed toward an enemy who has made contact with enchanted item/surface
Duration - Up to 5 minutes
The user bathes an object or surface with the Light of the Guiding Titans, making it burn with a fire that does not harm the user. This effect can be dispelled by its user at will. This fire acts as conventional fire does, but can be transferred to a target who has made contact with the flame by performing a secondary gesture. This allows Major Arcana to home in on a foe.
A thousand worlds orbiting seven hundred suns. Three quarters dead. On two hundred more only the primordial sludge keeps me company. Bacterial scum floats to the surface as the rest take more perfect forms below the raging currents.
And on that last magical handful of planets, life. Rife with glorious complexity. Tense muscle fibers, dense bone. The vibrant yellow-green of foliage, the veiny routes of nutrients coursing through the leaves. A thousand thousand permutations mutations of each form of life, unpredictable in every way. Minds of hard matter, neurons firing at every stimulus. Planets littered with the tools of primitive creatures clawing their way into evolutionary relevance.
These are most fascinating, but all are lonely. Their lives change in myriad ways. Mine remains the same. Endless surveys. Photographic evidence of terrain. Samples of life, scanned and disposed of in the same breath.
Program coordinates for the next destination. Into the icebox for another few years of travel time.
Arrive in orbit. Land. Survey the territory. Take photographs of the terrain. Scan in biological samples. Dispose of them.
Repeat.
An endless life of monotony in the endless expanse of space. The twinkling of every light, the cool of the void and the heat of atmosphere all joining in a charmless blur. Life itself, lived in snippets, has lost its wonder.
Eight hundred light years, perhaps nine, from my native soil, and all I have to show are a log of mostly desolate rocks and radio silence. The transmission packages from Rechta ceased two hundred years ago, the day the last in my line perished. Still I shout my knowledge into the void, with the hope that someone at the other end is listening.
I no longer look at the cryogenic stasis pod as a mercy. It steals from me years. Chances to be alive in a time I know. A time I can understand.
It is with resentment that I continue my journey, jealous of my compatriots who stayed behind. They lived with those they knew. People they treasured and loved. I float along in a bucket, speeding to a world unknown in the name of Rechta. I will die, alone and forgotten, for an idea. For vain patriotism and glory unremembered.
In the beginning, I was devoted. I was strong. I needed no one.
Now I play through centuries old recordings, just to hear a voice that isn't my own. Even reports of tragedy come as sweet symphonies to ears that have not heard a living being speak in decades.
I am fatigued. Mind, body, soul. All are tatters. My will is diminished. I cannot press on.
I have seen a thousand worlds. Documented each one for a progeny I know nothing of, but at last, the void has taken all it can from me. That last shred of will.
This world will be my last. The third runt planet orbiting a yellow dwarf. As I step into the cryo-chamber for the final time, I pray that I find something worthwhile.
Rechta is a large, rocky planet that held place in the outer orbit of a blue star. Its oceans once covered 80% of its land mass, with more water locked in the icy frozen wastes at the far north and south. It supported vast societies with varying beliefs and ethnic makeups.
Industrialization and the irresponsible advancement of technology threw unsustainable amounts of CO2 and NO2 into the atmosphere, heating the planet gradually until the tipping point was reached. At the point of no return, Rechta deployed Seekers, scouts charged to find new planets to colonize. Their reports flooded back, and the mass exodus of the planet Rechta began.
Rechta - Current Day
Currently, Rechta is an inhospitable waste. Much like the Solar System's own Venus, the atmosphere of Rechta has trapped incoming heat in an infinite feedback loop. The great oceans have evaporated, the products of industry burn away as forests are set ablaze merely by the ambient temperature of the planet. Life beyond bacteria is impossible.
The relay stations and codes needed to retain contact with its Seekers were also lost in a final, devastating act of terrorism. Military installations, space stations, communications facilities, all were targeted by Rechtans loyal to the last Empress, who claimed to represent the Temple of the Stagaani, the primary religion of Rechta.
The Empress saw what Rechtans had done to their own world and did not want the process to repeat itself elsewhere. She sought to preserve the sanctity of the celestial realm, to prevent her fellow Rechtans from tainting the galaxy with innumerable dead planets. She declared Rechtans the greatest threat to the Celestrial Tapestry, the grand view of the galaxy Rechtans held sacred. Because of the Sutagana, billions of Rechtans perished, stranded on their planet as the atmosphere reached temperatures that melted lead.
Religion:
The primary religion of Rechta revolves around the worship of the Stagaani. The Stagaani are skyborn deities, also known as Titans on Rechta. These titans were once thought to be the ones holding the heavens in place, each one bearing a great lantern to illuminate the way for others of their kind. Together they lit the endless night sky.
This belief turned to worship of these beings, so naturally when a visitor from the heavens descended to the people of Rechta bearing gifts, they assumed him a Titan of the heavens. This being carried to the people of Rechta the power of the celestial cosmos they so revered, the heat of stars and the strength of storms. As for the one who had brought these gifts, he dissolved among them, worshiped for hundreds of years until his legacy became only legend.
The faithful are able to manifest these gifted powers even now.
Government:
The planet of Rechta had been conquered by a singular entity, the Divine Hierarchy of the Stagaani. The emperor who presided over the state and led the church was known as Sutagana, or "He Who Rules Below the Stagaani". He was thought the holy descendant of the titans, and acted in a manner accorded by the Temple of the Stagaani.
There was no separation between church and state. Both intermingled with each other, with religious, state, and even military leadership all concentrated into the emperor himself. So when an emperor spoke, he spoke with absolute authority in terms of morality, authority, and discipline.
Smaller sections of the empire were ruled over by a Noble/Priest hybrid class, with smaller territories ruled by nobles of equally lessening importance in the church hierarchy.
Military:
The military of Rechta was built upon the metaphysical power granted by the Stagaani. Magic was the Titan's gift to the people of Rechta, and in the centuries after this gift was given it was integrated into every facet of Rechtan life. So much so that the gift eventually became mundane. Weapons and tech are powered by conventional means, but those most powerful are powered by faith. This has led the most zealous of warriors to hold the greatest weapons, and it was such that led to the end of Rechta. These zealots took on the cause of the Last Empress, Sutagana Livena Streed. She ordered all ships leaving Rechta to be destroyed, and this order, being lawful and divine in nature, was followed by the zealots of the Rechtan Defense Force.
The Empress, for her part, escaped relatively unscathed.
"Seek knowledge. Be the eye of Rechta. Lead the way to a land beyond dead soil."
The Sanngetal is the standard scout ship of the Rechta Defense Force. It is provided to those searching for new worlds, and as such comes equipped with many of the accommodations one would expect of a long range, single-man scout ship.
Waste Recycler
The waste recycler on the Sanngetal is capable of 98% efficient restructuring of organic matter into digestible, edible product, though energy use remains a concern. It can also process inorganic matter into a base for the purposes of alchemy, though the efficiency of this process is much worse than for that of organic matter.
Water Purifier
Capable of filtering wastewater into potable drinking water at 100% efficiency, provided it remains intact. The components used to create the water purifier were rated for a decade long journey, as it was thought that Seekers would take the time to recuperate between discoveries. The first Seeker has done no such thing. He pushes ever onward, which has led to the perpetual disrepair of his machine.
Cryogenic Stasis Pod
The cryogenic stasis pod is designed to facilitate long range travel without the need for offspring. It effectively halts growth and decay, flash freezing the Seeker and awakening him at a predetermined date or after a programmed point in space has been reached.
Shift-Matter Shielding
Shift-matter exists as a type of metal that can alter its shade and tone to better match its surroundings. This is done by applying differing currents of electricity through the matter to change its properties, ceasing once an approximate color match is reached. While this does not provide perfect stealth, it is useful for impeding visual detection.
Deployable Bunk
A flat platform that slides out of the Sanngetal's inner siding. It is formed from a flexible material that becomes semi-rigid when deployed fully, providing some give to allow for a good night's sleep.
Alchemic Work Bench
The omni-purpose work bench is fitted with 3D holographic technology, allowing for renders of future projects and the design of necessary components and weaponry. It is capable of alchemizing nearly any form of matter, and creating customized tools with said matter, provided it has the necessary amount of raw material stored within its banks.
Bio-Organic Alteration Chamber
The bio-organic alteration chamber is designed to not only heal the woulds of those enveloped in its primordial goo, but alter their physiology to match programmed specifications. This can be useful when infiltrating more advanced societies, or to program the production of certain pheromones to make local fauna less likely to attack.
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