Axzigal's Memories - Summary

Previous Offworlders

You are not the first offworlders to seek Axzigal's knowledge, I will speak with those who prove worthy. Witness the fate of those who came before you...

1st Vision

You see a small group of Chiss who have the look of adventurers or mercenaries. Axzigal's memories have their auras tinged with greed and stupidity. They enter Axzigal's temple and you feel a battle from the depths, though Axzighal is never concerned. In the end, a single Chiss emerges clutching something closely, they rush off into the jungle, you sense Axzigal's awareness that the jungle consumed him before he reached his vessel. Axzigal never understood why he valued the trinkets he'd taken so highly.

2nd Vision

You see what appears to be a company of marines from the Chiss military, though they've clearly taken losses. They are lead by a senior Chiss woman who appears to be a Colonel in the Chiss Applied Research Division. Axzigal's memories paint her as equal parts brilliant, intriguing and foolish. She enters the temple with a full platoon of her men, while the rest stand watch. You get the sense that days pass, but eventualy, she emerges alone, and badly injured. She leads her troop back into the jungle; Axzigal's amused memories know she never reached her starships, and that only a handful of her best warriors returned to the stars. Axzigal assumed the strength they learned was worth the loss of their lesser members.

3rd Vision

Finally, you see a figure who is clearly sheathed in power, this is the first offworlder Agzigal considered worthy of respect; they are clearly dressed as a Dread Master (their signature appearance became known by the end of the war). He is accompanied by a single squad of elite Imperial troopers and three apprentices. Axzigal regards the Dread Master with admiration and hunger, the others are insignificant. The Master enters Axzigal's temple with his apprentices; there are waves of darkness and power from below, eventually there is a moment of fear... and then compromise. The Master emerges with only a single apprentice and what appears to be a large seedpod which Axzigal's memories regard with pride, a powerful weapon. As they leave into the jungle, Axzigal knows they will return to the stars with little difficulty.

The Rise of Sothis

For many centuries, we prospered on our world. The Sotharii ruled with strength and wisdom, guarded by their loyal Dragons. Then one day, the star-swimmer arrived...
As images form in your mind, you are struck by how stylized they are, like vivid illustrations rather than clear images; you realize this is a tale Axzigal was told, but never experienced, and yet they seem as real to her as if they were personal memories. You see a meteor fly down out of a clear night sky; as it flies it grows larger, and larger, and the image grows larger and sharper than it should as its significance in Axzigal's memory/imagination enhances it. It is clearly a Purgill, yet larger than any you've ever heard of, and it is clearly in distress, trying desperatly to pull out of the atmosphere.. and failing. As it comes crashing down, carving a great scar across the jungle, you see dozens of trees sending out motes of light.  The motes gather aroud the dying Purgill and coalesce into powerful Kurzahn.  They are vague, undefined, yet respected {Sotherin}. The figures fall upon the star-swimmer and consume it, and then, confusion. This gift from the second god is strange, it cannot be duplicated... it can barely be utilized, and none have consumed enough to make use of it. The Sotherrin turn upon each other and a great battle ensues.  How long it truly lasted, Axzigal knows not, but in the end, only 14 remained, each one unique and vivid in Axhigal's memory, they were the first Sotharrii.  They might have continued to fight for dominance, but one among them was strongest, and she argued for unity.  The stars were a strange new ocean, and a pack of Sotharrii would be more likely to prosper. Sothis had arrived. The 14 converted their trees into star-swimming vessels and left the homeworld.

Scavengers and Parasites

For a time, the Sotharii thought they were alone among the stars, for they found no other life, no other star-swimmers of any kind. But then, they found the Ra-Kata...
Another series of stylized images, another story Axzigal did not see in person. The Sotharrii arrive in a star system with activity! The planets have life, there are strange metallic star-swimmers. The Sotharrii approach, curious, and the metal swimmers attack. The strange Ra-Kata vessels are powerful, far stronger than the Sotharrii, two Sotharii are killed instantly, and Sothis calls a retreat. In a series of vague images you learn that the Sotharrii visited several more systems, and always the Rakatans attacked. 
But the Sotharrii were not crude dragons, they had mastered the paths of all three gods, and so they had options. The pack adapted the path of the scavenger, studied and learned the secrets of the Ra-Kata from the periphery; meanwhile, Sothis combined the path of the parasite with her special gifts from the 3rd god. While the Ra-Kata thought the Kurzan a minor threat, her Shadows infiltrated deep into their hives.
You watch as the Sotharrii, in ships smaller and cruder than what you saw in the the Rakatan database slink along the edges of Rakatan space, grabbing isolated rakatan ships when they are vulnerable, meanwhile Sothis sends strange clouds into the Rakatan planets, and where the clouds land, a few Rakatans have their shadows twist and distort into silhouettes of Sothis.  The rakatans seem unaware.  As time passes, the Kurzahn learn about the Rakatans, their culture, and their capabilities.

The Great War

Sothis concluded that the Ra-Kata sought nothing but dominance.  Sothis declared we would answer the challenge.  We used what we learned, some of the fourth god's powers, we learned to mimic, others we overcame.  We found the original star-swimmers and gathered their complexity.  We built bastions beyond the fourth god's reach, and Sothis elevated the most loyal of dragons to be lesser Sotharrii. 
These visions are different, sharper, these are Axzigal's true memories.  You watch as the war begins; now the Kurzahn ships are larger, more powerful, and they attack planet after planet, gathering the complexity of a dozen worlds.  You watch as on every world, once they had gathered what they found useful, they spill Sotharrii blood, leaving enough Kurzahn larvae to ensure the world will grow stronger in the future.  At times, a world is well defended, but the Rakatan ships cannot follow the Kurzahn when hey swim into the depths.  As they gather the complexity of Rakatan worlds, new dragons are raised/made  great star behemoths to lead the battle against the enemy.  For a time, The Kurzan meet little opposition, as the Rakatans seem unprepared for how quickly the Kurzahn adapted.

The Temple of the Fourth God

Victory seemed inevitable, but then the true power of the fourth god showed itself, not strength or adaptibility, but numbers.  Sothis's shadows spoke of a great temple built by the Ra-Kata, known as Star Forge, it produced swimmers by the thousands.  Yet the shadows also spoke of a great price paid, if the Forge could be destroyed, the fourth god was unlikely to gift another, and finally the shadows whispered of another great weapon, one combining the third and fourth gods, and should it be completed the Kurzan might fall...
You watch as the Kurzan are ambushed as they are harvesting a world; thousands, maybe tens of thousands of Rakatan cruisers fill the sky.  The Sotharrii kill them by the hundreds, but it is clear they are being worn down.  Sothis calls for a retreat, and the Sotharii flee to a bastion to rebuild and regenerate.  Yet this time the rakatans pursue, the Kurzan are pulled out of the depths as they flea, some are even killed.  Only in the bastions themselves are they safe.  The war changes, the Sotharii shift tactics, trying path after path to find an advantage, but the Rakatans accept any losses to defeat the Sotharrii, and given enough time, they sacrifice thousands of ships to find paths to the bastions.  Finally, you watch as Sothis plans an assault on the Star Forge.

Axzigal's Failure

As the Sotharrii prepared for a great battle, I was selected by Sothis to return to the homeworld.  I would bring complexity we had gleaned from the enemy worlds, and spread it among the great trees, so the Kurzah would not be diminshed, even if the Sotharii failed.  I was meant to preserve what had been gained.   I failed.  I returned to homeworld to find it under attack, a fleet of the enemy had found it, I don't know how, and the warden trees were burning, having few weapons that could reach beyond the sky.  {Pain/Shame} In my rage I forgot I was meant to be Sotharii, forgot I was more than a crude Dragon!  I should have hidden beyond the outer worlds, but I attacked.  I destroyed dozens of their ships, HUNDREDS, but victory was impossible, I took terrible damage.  The complexity I was meant to protect burned, less than a tenth of the gifts I was to shepard survived as I crashed down upon the world.  The enemy thought me dead.  They destroyed my star-swimmer, but I escaped deep beneath the earth. I had always been skilled with the gifts of the deepsingers.  I endured, preserving what I could and I watched as our world died.  When our planet had burned, our oceans boiled, our skies scorched, the Ra-Kata left.   I found what dregs of life were left, nearly all of it mindless grass, the fiercest hunters to survive were little more than weak sea scavengers!  And yet, there was hope, for the blood of Kurzah remained; it adapted, it learned, I shared what I had been able to shield from the enemy and watched as our world began to grow.  The Sotharii never returned.  In time, I was able to build a new star-swimmer and that's when I learned the last great insult of the enemy, the great prison which binds the Kurzah to this world.  I know that even if I found a way to escape, my complexity will fail where Sothis could not succeed, so I wait for our world to produce a worthy successor, and I laugh at the crude, stupid drakes, not even true Dragons, who rule over immobile saplings and think themselves Sothis. Hah!
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