Chapter 16: The Empire's History

General Summary

Winding down from their conversations, the party discussed matters pertaining to their quest. Samantha wished to see the Receptacle, which would be most easily seen from the heights of the Great Wood. A destination Faerus had in mind.
Hana inquired about Luanshi's tendency to doze off. Luanshi explained the dreams he's been having, as a black garbed, white masked individual, working for the Empire to hunt and capture great beasts for study. The Nine Beasts were responsible for allowing the Empire to create worlds to inhabit. Yet their star did not radiate aether as it did back home. A situation that caused Hana to speculate that a tenth member of the Pantheon may still be missing.
As Jannelain returned, Luanshi was able to ask about the Vestige of Knowledge. Jannelain explained the Emperor's tendency to rely on elite forces, rather than fielding a large number of people to accomplish something through attrition. These were the tendencies of the Sage, who succeeded the Former Emperor Kean. The dangers of the work would make even a single loss a disaster for the project, prompting the Sage to find the best of the best to fulfill the roles.
Even managing to convince a team of warriors to research the matter of Souls, known as the Transcendent, their findings on Transcending were ultimately regarded as not applicable to most teams, owing to the element of chance. They instead were used to subdue the Pantheon, so the researchers could examine them.
Jannelain remarks that Vernon, the best sorceror in the Empire, managed to derive certain incantations from their findings, though ultimately it was chosen to let them roam free and fight among one another to solve the issue of terraforming.
In an attempt to create warriors that could rival the power of the Transcendent, the Emperor started The Origin Project.
Being placed in the Eteras Project, Jannelain was responsible for helping the Empire duplicate inhabitable worlds. The day the Error occured, the device responsible for the duplication activated on its own. In its unfinished state, it created two worlds, each a fraction of the original's size, and funneled a great deal of the aether to the new creations. Caerean seemed convinced this shouldn't even have been possible, and yet it occured.
The worlds were doomed the moment they had been copied, and yet the Guardian, Kean, wished for the people to have a goal, and something to still work on. That maybe one day the Pantheon would show up.
On the matter of the Origin Project, participants had their internal aether replaced with that of the star, granting them great strength, though only being able to refuel their stores by coming into contact with similar aether. Medians, and most of the Old World, made use of external aether for their combat arts, thus avoiding the fatigue that comes with depleting ones own aether stores.
In order to create a warrior, their mind would need to be treated as well. The Vestige of Knowledge was created to imprint a template of a warrior's mind into a participant, granting them the same level of prowess as a base.
The final part of the sum were matters regarding the soul. A means would have to developed to hold onto souls after they depart their bodies, to later re-assemble the mind and soul with a new vessel to act as a body. While the Body and Mind could easily be solved with the present technology, the matter of the Soul refused to be automated.
The facility harboring the Vestige of Knowledge has sufficient space to house an entire planetary colony within its preservation units. It was the means used to bring people to Eteras, and it may be their way out.
Hana pressed the matter of the soul, prompting Jannelain to explain that the issue was resolved by making use of a person's talent to reunite souls. This talent allowed them to reconstruct people back to life in a new vessel. Yet this person would be stuck to this device for the rest of their lives, a fate that was deemed a sacrifice by many. This conflict with the Emperor's vision produced a great deal of dissatisfaction with the decision, prompting the Transcendent to leave the Empire's service.
Those involved in the Origin Project were given masks, to mask their identity, and remain anonymity in their work.
After receiving an excess of detailed recounts of the Empire's operations, the team went home, now bolstered by Jannelain's crew.

Report Date

20 Feb 2022