Per aspera ad astra
Something is happening beneath Terra, and above it.
In Malachite, tremors halt mining operations and old miners speak of howls deep in the dark. On the Highland Plateau, the goliath tribes have gone quiet and watchful, unsettled by lights in the sky they won’t talk about. And in Chrysalis City, Saria’s old colleague — Kristen Wright — is quietly asking around for help with a “structural survey.”
None of it looks connected. Yet.
Rumours You May Have Heard
- “Echoes from the deep dark” — tremors and howls beneath Malachite have brought mining to a standstill.
- “The Wright Commission” — someone at Rhine Labs is looking for discreet, well-paid help.
- “Something is blowing up the sky” — goliath tribes on the Highland Plateau are disturbed and restless, and no one seems to know why.
What You Know
Rhine Labs has gone public with something they’re calling the Pioneer Project — official word is that it’s a research initiative aimed at the sky itself. Beyond that, details are scarce, and Rhine Labs isn’t in a hurry to clarify.
What is clear is that the threads you’ll be pulling on — the tremors, the disturbed tribes, the quiet recruitment — all seem to circle back toward the same place. Where they lead, and what waits at the end of that road, is something you’ll have to find out for yourselves.
Your Path
You’ll begin with no obvious stake in any of this — establishing yourselves in Town Malachite, taking work where you find it, making a name and making enemies. But the further you go, the more those early choices come back around. The factions you side with, the trust you build or burn, and the secrets you choose to chase (or leave alone) will shape what role you end up playing when things come to a head.
By the end, you may find yourselves standing in front of a choice with no clean answer — and whichever way you lean, the consequences won’t be small.
This page intentionally leaves out who’s really behind all this, and why. Some things are better discovered at the table.