Lore & Chronicles

The Nexus Metamorphosis
Chapter I - Bark quakes

It all began on Quarta, Medis 22, 2e CA 2608(*).

A few days before, posters displayed all over the New Lands had called on the homins.
New-Trykoth citizens and Matis kingdom vassals were on alert after a report from hawker Pazzy O'Toogh was sent to authorities.
Meanwhile, the Empire and the Theocracy had tasked the hunter Zelus Pelorus to investigate Desertstock, due to reports showing unusual kitin activity, and had called for the help of the Rangers.
Even the Marauders seemed to have stepped up surveillance, lurking around the cities.

As a matter of fact, there was little more than the usual Kitin activity, but as our group went closer to its destination, we were frightened by diffuse rumble, which was soon followed by a strong bark shake. Homins began to run hectically, even though they could barely stand. "Atysquake!", shouted some.

As the quakes faded away, our group continued its journey towards its Kitin Target and began to fight them, when a second quake happened. Many homins, weakened, died under the overexcited kitins' defense.

Clearly, the quakes were the cause of this activity, and they began to repeat quicker and stronger, making homins fall on the ground, as if they were tumbled over by a whole herd of angry shalahs.

Following their guides' advice, homins split in smaller groups of scouts in order to find the quake epicentre, and they spread out all over the continent.

Eventually, a group noticed that quakes were stronger in Nexus Minor than anywhere else, and called for help. Atys' coughs became even more intense. Everybody gathered on top of the "Destiny's End" hills; many thought that their own lives would end there, and they would face their own destiny. Then, finally, the tremors began to settle down, reaching quietness eventually.

Daeronn Cegrips, the Fyros academician and kitin specialist, who had been sent to the Nexus along with other scientists from different nations, asked homins to investigate for science's sake, while he and his colleagues were going to ask the local tribes to help establish encampments for the research teams.

Thanks to the place's elevation, that helped with long-distance observation, a few experienced homins noticed landscape changes in the western part of the Nexus.

Ground collapses, hill raising, landslides… carnivores did not make the investigations any easier either. The cataclysm had been especially intense in the Hammer Hills' surroundings. Homins discovered there two new deep holes in the bark, looking as if they were above a Prime Roots cave, with the southernmost one looking somewhat as the vortex wells that we are accustomed to.

(...)