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Ellevar

1.

Tracking the Hybrid

Lore

First Day of the Hunt
They tell me the beast is no typical monster. Bound to the very planet by infernal root and treacherous stem, the Hybrid is as much plant as animal, a demon and a blossom of death. It will not be the first such creature I have faced, but I must prepare. Every hunt is unique. I shall take my time, and study the beast.

Second Day of the Hunt
The jabbering little Lopp are little more than prey dressed up as merchants and playing at the hunt. They are not my targets today, but they
will tell me of the Hybrid. This “stemdragon.” They say it hoards some fantastic treasure, but I care not. The only thing I want from this Hybrid is a truly challenging hunt.

Third Day of the Hunt
I have followed the course the Lopp gave me, and told them I would bring news of any “shinies” I should find. A promise I shall keep, ridiculous as it may be, if the Lopp have treated with me honorably. They have no reason not to. The hoard is of no use to me. It is only the head of the Hybrid, my trophy, th
at I seek.
I have emerged from a hidden cave network into a secluded glen cut off from the rest of the region. Now to study my prey from a distance… if I find it before it finds me.

Fourth Day of the Hunt
The Lopp will pay for this. This is no Hybrid! No “dragon”! There is nothing of the beast about this creature at all! It is a flower, nothing more. A large flower, true, but nothing a sharp blade cannot slice down in a single blow.
Still, only a fool rushes the hunt. I have found a place to
observe the creature. Perhaps there is more to it than meets the eye. I released a few small decoybots disguised as jabbits to see what this stemdragon made of them. Then it came to life in an instant, snapping at one of them immediately. It barely damaged one of the decoys before giving up, however. The Lopp insist the thing ran them out of the valley. How? It is rooted to the very valley floor! Not even a robotic decoy was able to get itself caught by the stemdragon. What danger could
it have posed to the Lopp? The vermin are making sport of me, I think. Tomorrow, I shall begin the hunt. I do not expect it to take long.

Fifth Day of the Hunt
The Hybrid fooled me, and earned its name, for my hunt does not go as planned. I knew it was fast, but it can move. I mean, really move – it erupted from the ground in a shower of earth and stone, roaring into the sky, and charged on strong legs of fibrous sinew! A dragon indeed, big as a shuttlecraft and fierce as a space-crazed pumera. Now I
have become the prey, or so it must believe. But I am patient. This wound is not mortal. I can wait in this tree for some time. It must return to the soil eventually.
And when it does, I have a new plan. Trophies are overrated. I will burn this creature to ashes, or I shall die trying.

[The state of this journal and the lack of subsequent entries seems to indicate the Draken hunter who kept this journal went with the latter option.]

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Ellevar

1.

Cargo Lifter Operation Manual

Lore

Thank you for purchasing, renting, or stealing the FreightSpace HCL-47 Hypermagnetic Cargo Lifter for your project/war effort/subjugation/picnic. With the HCL-47, we’re sure you’ll be successful/victorious/profitable/relaxed. Here are just a few of the special features that set FreightSpace apart.
– FreightSpace’s patented Micro-Suck Waves find the metals in any object – organic or mechanical – right before they attune a primal magnetometor to that
frequency. Then they suck, lift, and manipulate with the same raw power that made the HCL-46 the best cargo lifter you’d ever need – until now, that is!
– Internal FreightSpace BalanceSure Gyroscopes ensure you’ll never knock your giant metal-moving machinery off-balance or out of whack! Because nothing’s more awkward than being knocked over by your own cargo.
– FreightSpace knows that operating levers and pushing buttons can be truly exhausting work, which is
why the HCL-47 cab boasts 20% more head clearance than the HCL-46, all-new heated seating options, additional cup-holders, even a charger socket for your datachron so you’ll never mess a call!
Repulsion Mode is the latest time-saving feature from FreightSpace, and it’s built right into the HCL-47! Yes, usually you’ll want to be lifting – but sometimes, you need to repel things as fast as you can! By reversing the polarity of the neutron flow in
the power convertors feeding into the HCL-47’s central magnatron, you can turn your lifter into a serious pusher.

Approved for military uses by both FCON and the Dominion Military.

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Ellevar

1.

Nerissa’s Diary Vol. 35

Lore

[This diary – the latest of many, it seems – reveals Nerissa’s secret life as Scarletta Bloodheart, writer of romance fiction both torrid and turgid.]

And Trees Also Have Roots

by Scarletta Bloodheart

The trees of her home village always struck the young matria as a bit too familiar. A bit too much like family. And like most families, the trees of Lushleaf had a
few residents who didn’t play by the rules. Neither did the trees.

Matria Fondi Hoogleheart was the third daughter of village hunters who had earned no great repute, she had never planned on taking over from her second cousin, the beautiful and righteous Matria Tanallyra Oakenheart. The unexpected and mysterious death of predecessor, who
did not survive an attempt to make peaceful contact with the enigmatic and savage stemdragons of Nexus, left a gaping wound in the Weave that young Fondi could not hope to heal so soon. Instead she was too focused on just keeping her new job. She certainly wasn’t expecting her consorts to so quickly become so important to her, three extensions of her very
spirit, helping her to navigate the first fragile steps of her stewardship of the village.

And she had certainly never expected to fall in love.

But on that first walk through the forests of Celesttttttttttttiiiiiiiizzzzzzzzzz

FILE CORRUPTED! [RELOAD] [EXIT]

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1.

Ravenok Racer Illustrated #119

Lore

ALL THE RAVENOK RACING NEWS YOU CAN HANDLE!
In this issue: Racing forms! Ads for specially bred speed-enhancing splorg bait! Full-color holograms of all your favorite ravenok racers! AND MORE

CONTENTS

Page 04…..THE FUTURE OF RAVENOK RACING! It’s the hottest new competitive, timed, animal-based sport on the Fringe – and beyond! Who’s the greatest ravenok racer? Who’s got the hunger to knock them off their lofty perch? And who will be the great
ravenok racers of the future? We’ve got all the inside analysis!

Page 12…..RRI HALL OF FAME UPDATE! Who are the fastest ravenok of all time? Who rode those ravenok to greatness? We polled experts and our own reporters for to find out, and you can see all our current rankings on the hall of fame charts. Will Feathered Fury finally reach the top spot, or will Beak Dancer maintain her three-issue winning streak? Can anyone break Chua jockey “Dangerous” Dozzi Nak’s record of
thirteen straight victories? Probably not, but you won’t know until you read the article!

Page 16…..BLOOD ON THE TRACK! Will the tragic events of last year’s Wilderrun 5000-Meter Dash be repeated, and if so, how many in the crowd might be slaughtered by aggressive, intelligent, predatory birds that are barely domesticated and generally pretty surly to begin with? We’ll lay down the odds for all your bookmaking needs.

[Continued on next page]

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Ellevar

1.

Relics of the Gods

Lore

And how, then, did these items come to be handed down to we inheritors of the Eldan legacy? Many ways, but all of them driven by a divine and unique purpose. No base understanding can arise from these relics without the vigilance of the true faith of our ancestors.

– Only the Vigilant can learn from the gods directly, and only the gods may state the true purpose
of any relic. Anything else, no matter how scientifically justified, is mere guesswork.

– Only the Vigilant should come in contact with relics that once touched Eldan hands. This weakness in our souls, the need to touch that which the gods did touch, must be overcome before Vigilance becomes innate.
– Would the gods not expect their holy church to oversee their
legacy? Who better? And who better than I to lead this effort? I, Bro–

[Digital signature of authorship cannot be retrieved. Please click [HERE] to reload random anti-AI code to continue. If you do not see a random anti-AI code, or the above link does not work, please remain where you are, rogue AI. Anti-AI Agents are en route. You are under arrest for rogue behavior.]

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1.

Lost Science of the Eldan

Lore

Can the Vigilant Church explain the true mysteries of Eldan technology? Can platitudes and parables reveal the secrets of long-range matter transmission, planet-wide A.I. constructs, or the workings of genetically optimized omni-plasm? Of course not! This does not mean the Vigilant themselves have no place in our work, merely that theirs should not be the
only voice guiding this research. Without science, faith is founded on ghosts and memories, nothing more.

Most egregiously, I cannot stand idly by while functioning Eldan artifacts we barely understand – technology which could provide unlimited power, talismans surging with infinite sources of primal energy, and records which could contain the secrets of
creation itself – are seized by clerics so devoted to the gods that they dare not regard their divine gifts too closely lest their simple faith face any kind of complex test.

Who am I to question the sacred order of things? Someone practical enough not to want to die for my statements. Someone to value the shadows as I work to free the true scientific knowledge of the gods from the church that would claim to speak for them.

Dr. Anonymous