The Overreach Project and the Discovery of the Black Expansion

Discovery, Scientific

Following the political turmoil caused by the publication of the Airtam journals, the Bechtlarite Empire, in a show of solidarity with the other races of the world, begin a series of joint exploratory expeditions out over the Void in an attempt to further study and understand the phenomenon. While the endeavor had a rocky start, it was hailed as a very positive and progressive move in the right direction. Unfortunately, what those studies found was a horrifying discovery. The Blight was slowly devouring the land it infected, and it was growing.

Sovereign Zigmund Effron , seeking to bridge the gap between his people and the rest of the world, set forth with the blessing of the Order of Objective Representation to open up more collaborative efforts with other cultures in their scientific and exploratory efforts. Invitations were sent out to all nations, even the the Gaul Do Shah, in a very public way encouraging all those interested in furthering the global understanding of the world and a more unified track forward, to join them in pushing the boundaries of the known world.   The Orphans of Volri and the Ventryte were the only nations that sent representatives to accept. The Culvarkt opted to abstain in favor of supporting the endeavor logistically, seeking to play down the alliance the two nations already shared in the public eye.   The initial excursions were difficult, the varied natures of the three cultures clashing in ways that proved to be counterproductive to the endeavor, and a general lack of trust for their Bechtlarite hosts was apparently in the initial dealings. Over time, however, the consistent showing of good faith by the Empire and the fair treatment of the representatives sent by the other cultures proved to be genuine, the visiting enclaves treated as honored guests and every need they could ask for met and their ways respected and honored to the best of the Becht abilities. The excursions became more regular as the working relationships became more foundationally reliable, and the addition of the Volrishtad and the Ventryte representatives on them proved to any remaining skeptics that they were both of sharp mind and keep senses, bringing tremendous amounts of insight and knowledge to the collective efforts. Over time, the data gathered and the observations collected led to the discovery that the borders of the Blight were expanding slowly, encroaching on every border at a steady pace while the central mass of the Blight itself seemed to be growing more thick and entrenched. The obscured activities within it were next to impossible to document, but thanks to the abilities of the Volrishtad accompaniment, the occasional detail was able to be gleaned. From that central mass, it became apparent that the land within the most dense parts of the anomaly was being consumed by the energy of the Void, the reaction caused by it being in constant contact with the earth below corroding and literally eating away at all it touched. The process was thankfully slow, but nonetheless troubling.   The Ventryte additions of their own knowledge of the lands of the Gauldowhynna added to the findings and gathered data, confirming and expounding on the information acquired during the course of the project, and the details of those lands, not studied since Airtam Morenthall made her expedition there many years prior, showed the decay and consumption was far worse than they initially thought. While there was no precedent by which to compare this, the concerns of the gathered nations rose, and together, they began to seek solutions, though it seemed hopeless.