The Halting

The method by which Those Who Know stabilize the position of The Outer Planetoid.

Effect

The result of this procedure is that The Outer Planetoid remains in the optimal position relative to That Which Changes rather than orbiting The Central Star. This, in turn, enables The Hive to stay at the height of their power throughout the year.

Side/Secondary Effects

The main side effect of The Halt is that The Outer Planetoid no longer cools down as it did when orbiting The Central Star. Consequently, only about one third of its surface is solid rock while the rest is molten. The Continent requires additional protection from melting as well, which is incorporated into the procedure for The Halting.

Manifestation

The Halting mainly involves converting and redirecting the kinetic and potential energy that would normally affect The Outer Planetoid. Similar processes are required for the thermal energy which threatens to melt The Continent. The resulting flows of energy - from one side of the planetoid to the other - can be perceived as fields of light and warmth which grow more intense towards The Peak.

Source

The energy required to counteract the gravitational pull of The Central Star is taken directly from the emissions of That Which Changes. Large portions of the radiation are intercepted before they reach the surface of The Outer Planetoid, channeled along it and fed into the side facing The Central Star. Surplus energy is used for sustaining the The Hive's bodies or supporting activities such as The Recombination.

Procedure

The Halting requires perpetual effort by about five million bodies. Those are distributed all over The Continent. Unlike the majority of the population, they stay on the surface during their shift. Every involved group gathers on the mountain top closest to its home caverns, where they have the best access to the energies of That Which Changes.
The method itself is quite similar to that of The Recombination, since both are based on the redirection of radiation energy. Once a body has reached the appropriate location, it engages in dance-like motions to align its antennae to the various frequencies. Those Who Halt attune their neural activity to the electromagnetic field to better sense its fluctuations and react accordingly.
The specific placement of the bodies depends on their location on The Continent. Groups at The Shoreline spread out along the border between solid and molten ground to intercept as much as possible of the incoming radiation. Those further inland stand in funnel configurations which serve to focus the collected energy in the direction of The Peak. Finally, as one gets closer to The Peak, the bodies begin to form circles which are better suited for directing the energies into the ground.

Discovery

The plan to stabilize The Outer Planetoid's position took form in the Year 75390. The following five years were spent preparing for the immense effort by manifesting additional bodies in strategic locations all over the star system.
Once the planetoid began approaching That Which Changes in Year 75395, Those Who Know focused on counteracting its movement along the orbital path. They worked in shifts which involved about a third of the population each, to account for the enormous strain on their bodies. The inital phase of The Halting, during which the planetoid's velocity slowly decreased, took two years in total. The optimal position was reached in Year 75397, on Day 25 of The Phase Formerly Known As The Phase Of Greatest Power.
By that point the focus of The Halting had shifted fully towards sustaining this particular position.

by Kathrin Janowski

Related Element

radiation

Effect Casting Time

continuous effort

Range

The Outer Planetoid

by Kathrin Janowski