The House Unhindered

Not far from the famed Songbird Station in The Diaspora is a dense cluster of irregular asteroids, each ranging from the size of a human fist to a mile in diameter. Few travelers give the formation more than a passing glance, but those willing to spend a day navigating to the center of the ever-shifting field find a unique sight: a glass dome nestled like a dewdrop in the crook of an L-shaped asteroid. Within the dome, dozens of standing stones rise starkly against an incongruous swath of jewel-green grass. Among the forest of stones, nearly a hundred cocoon-like tents bob gently against their tethers in the near-weightless environment. Softly glowing lanterns complete the effect of an eternally starlit campground. This is the House Unhindered, a place of worship and instruction dedicated to Desna, the goddess of luck and travel. The compound is indeed a place of quiet contemplation, as its quaintly archaic appearance suggests, but in recent decades it has also become a training ground for the Starwalkers, a group of bold explorers and daredevils seeking to join the ranks of the best zero-g aerialists in The Pact Worlds.
Most pilgrims visit the House Unhindered to worship among the standing stones, writing their own venerations in amid thousands of expressions of devotion in dozens of languages that already cover the rocks. Though these visitors rarely stay longer than a few days, one man has chosen to make the area his home. Vami Iashmu (CG male korasha Lashunta operative) can frequently be found floating above the shrines in meditation. Though the scar that jags across his weathered features makes him look intimidating, he enjoys engaging gawking visitors in friendly banter. “Don’t bother,” he assures those who offer to bring him mag boots or a safety line, “I’ll be back down eventually. Gravity keeps her promises.”
Despite Vami’s peaceful demeanor, legend holds he was once a space pirate of particular cunning and luck. The many iterations of this tale paint him as a hero, a villain, or something in between, but all agree that a catastrophe left him alone and adrift in the Diaspora with his suit’s environmental protections slowly dwindling. He had nearly given up hope when a butterfly with aurora-like wings appeared and guided him to a tiny asteroid. Once Vami managed to grab the boulder, however, Desna’s messenger disappeared, and Vami realized his rescue was in his own hands. With that new perspective, he pushed off toward a distant speck—another asteroid—and so bounded his way from one hunk of space debris to another only to turn up days later at Broken Rock. Vami neither encourages nor dismisses these stories, but chuckles at each new retelling.
Regardless of their veracity, these tales of Vami’s self-sufficiency, skill, and sheer good fortune exemplify the core beliefs that drive his disciples, the Starwalkers, to incredible feats. They overcome the challenges of space travel outside the safety of a ship, including maneuvering in zero-g, surviving in a vacuum, and overcoming the panic that sets in when free-floating. Training includes races and games of tag between the dome’s standing stones. Once students have mastered these agility exercises, Vami’s mind games begin.
Given only the most basic of environmental suits, each student floats alone in space a short distance outside the House Unhindered. Ostensibly, the task is to practice relaxation techniques and become comfortable enough to fall asleep in zero-g, but the true test begins at the 10-hour mark, when Vami fails to retrieve the student as promised. Those who conquer their panic and begin taking active measures to save themselves pass the exam, while those who only call for help or accept their fate receive a stern lecture on the need for self-reliance.
“If you do not come to your own rescue, why should anyone else?” Vami chides them, once he has brought them back to the dome. “In the void, you are always moving. Away from something. Toward something else. You are a traveler, and travelers never stop taking the next step.”
From that point, Vami’s training grows more serious. Agility exercises that made exciting games within the safety of the dome become breathless, bounding races through the asteroid field around the House Unhindered. Vami provides instruction on the fundamentals of physics needed to mentally estimate angles, trajectories, force, and other variables while calculating point-to-point jumps on the fly. A thorough education on orbital mechanics and line-of-sight astrogation further ensures his disciples can execute lengthier maneuvers with little need for instruments and only the most basic thrusters. This practical curriculum rounds out with lessons on in-field suit repair, maintenance, and optimization that extends survival in vacuum.
For their final test, students join Vami on a grueling, multiday hike to a remote bivouac on a small asteroid to face the trial of the Silent Seven. Taking only what they can carry, each student must venture out alone to find seven golden bells hidden in nooks and crannies throughout the asteroid field. These bells are silent in the vacuum of space, but they send a signal back to a computer at the bivouac when rung. One by one, the students take their turns, disappearing into the field for days at time, while the others track their progress. No matter their skill or stubbornness, none of them return with more than six bells to their name. Once all the hopefuls have tried and failed, Vami reveals his final trick: no seventh bell can be found.
“You cannot complete this test because nothing in life truly ends,” he instructs in his final lesson. “Even death is a chrysalis from which we emerge into the afterlife. The voyage is endless, comrades. You are as ready as I can make you for whatever comes next. Go forth and walk among the stars.”

Type

Monastery

Parent Location

The Diaspora