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Malgrave

1.

Rock Climber’s Diary

Lore

Recording start. This is Wickimer Shaderoot, Exile explorer, and by the Matrias – I have never seen a world like this. It’s as if the Eldan themselves wanted to invite intrepid types like me to see everything they could about this amazing world. And holy trees and brambles, is it spectacular!

One thing that’s particularly surprising about this area of Malgrave – so far, hardly ANYthing has tried to eat me! On a planet like this, where so many of the creatures seem to have evolved
to be just a bit bigger than the average Aurin, that’s quite special, let me tell you. So many strange and wonderful beasts, birds, and beings! And what an easy path up the side of this outcrop, conveniently placed where I can see almost everything. Why, it’s as if all of the local creatures avoid this outcrop entirely for…some…reason…

Uh-oh.

All right, I don’t want to alarm anyone – and I hope you can understand me, because anything louder than a whisper is going to be a big mistake,
I think – but this climb just became serious. Really. Serious. I just crested the top, and I now know why there were no other critters or predators on this outcrop. There’s more on this planet than beasts and bots, as the saying goes. Yep, you guessed it: elementals.

Pure manifestations of primal energy infused with some kind of crazy willpower. They’re floating forces of nature, literally, and I’m not…exactly…sure how to deal with – wait. Quiet,
Wickimer. You’re going to get yourself killed talking to yourself like – oh, no. It sees me. I need to get out of here, and quick. Only chance is to jump for it. I’m leaving this recording behind as a warning to others in case I don’t make it. Here goes nothing!

[It is unclear from the recorded text whether or not Wickimer Shaderoot survived his desperate jump from the top of the rocky outcrop.]

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Malgrave

1.

Malgrave Survey Report

Lore

This is Captain Evino of the private survey vessel Kohra. Beginning audio log, Survey 397-Malgrave. This audio log should be considered a supplement to telemetric data.

I began the first survey loop on an approach from the northwest corner of the region designated Malgrave by the exploratory teams. Kind of funny, you know, the Exiles and Dominion can’t agree on much of anything, but they never seem to argue about what to call places. Guess if a name was good enough for
the Eldan, it was good enough for them. Anyway, gettin’ off track.

I flew in over what looked like a Dreg camp out to the west. Those mangle-headed mutants are pretty hard to mistake for anyone else, and their architecture’s a freakin’ nightmare. Meanwhile, some clone manager looks like he made a typically dense Protostar decision to set up some kinda marketing operation between the Dreg to the west and a pretty big distillery-lookin’ thing further inland. If I don’t miss my guess,
those are Marauder ships, in fact. Better not fly too low.

To the north, I’m seeing what looks like hunter’s blinds. Makes sense, there sure is a lot of wildlife down there. The camp isn’t too far from Fort Dominus, where the Dominion’s set up their forward base. They’re not all that far from Redsand Station, where the Exiles are holed up, but so far they’re not shooting each other too much. Maybe the Lopp down in Shinysand Oasis are getting in the way. That’s about central to this whole area.

The Lopp aren’t too far from a pretty big shipwreck to the south. Looks like a pretty recent crash – post-arrival, at least, not from the old Eldan era. And then there’s the town up north. Looks…freaky is the best way I can describe it. There are people there, I think, but they look ghostly. Like, literally ghostly. Sort of transparent and floaty. I sure don’t want to land down there!

Last stretch of the survey’s just ahead. I see a ranch to the southeast, and beyond that what looks like
some kind of temporary dwellings and a makeshift spaceport, with –

Oh boy. Yeah, that’s a Darkspur Cartel operation, for sure. I don’t think they spotted me, but you don’t want to get too close to a Cartel operation. Those Krogg will make you – target lock! Missiles fired! Releasing chaff…not working. Can’t maneuver out of the way…I’m hit! Blast it, they caught the Kohra right amidships. No way I can keep her flying. Just have to try not to crash in the middle of that Lopp village or the ranch
…if you can hear this, the Kohra is going down! Send help! This is Captain Evino of the Kohra, I repeat I am losing altitude and can’t seem to –

[The voice-to-text transfer, and the survey report, ends at this point.]

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Malgrave

1.

Darkspurned: An Ex-Enforcer Spills His Guts

Lore

AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTION

I never wanted to be no hero. But after growing up in the life and getting everything I could out of it, I came to realize that being an enforcer in the Darkspur Cartel just wasn’t for me. So I decided one day to pack it in. Second dumbest decision I ever made, right after joining up in the first place.

The fact that I’m alive to write this proves I made the right decision, I think. Maybe if a few other like-minded Krogg follow my example, we might just help turn the rep of our
whole species around.

I’d been part of the Cartel almost as long as I can remember. When I was just a Kroggling I remember seeing the big, black spaceships with the tinted windows landing and taking off from the private spaceport outside the run-down industrial town where I lived, and dreamed of something better. I knew even then that if I could just talk to the right people, do the right favors, maybe even hurt or kill the right lunkheads, I could get their attention.

But in the end, it was almost
an accident that earned me my stripes with Darkspur. I was working for a construction crew, real legitimate work, and eating my midday meal down to the spaceport every day. Even grown up, I couldn’t let go of that dream. I was heading down to watch the ships one afternoon when I ran headlong into an old Krogg who was out of breath, scared as hell, and leading a pack of a half-dozen Darkspur enforcers on a wild chase.

Colliding with me was the last mistake that old Krogg ever made, I’m sad to say. I was
n’t stupid. I knew this was my chance to impress the Cartel, and I took it. I grabbed that old Krogg by the scruff of his collar and without even asking what he was running from, drove my fist into his face. I knocked out three teeth with the first punch, and the rest with the next few blows. By the time the enforcers caught up with him, I was kicking him in the gut and he was coughing blood onto the ground, begging for mercy the whole time.

I think about that old Krogg a lot these days. The way he ran
scared. The way he went down like a sack of bricks under my fists. The sound of breaking ribs when my boots drove into his side. The spatter of blood when the enforcers took over and finished him off with a plasma blast to the back of the head. Yeah, I think of that old Krogg, and I ain’t proud.

This book ain’t about teaching you how to join the Cartel, or how to be a thug. It’s just the story of one Krogg who rose through the ranks and then got out. So don’t read too much into it. And whatever you’re
thinking, kids… don’t try this at home.

– “Smiley” Yulgogg

[Readers who keep up on the galactic news services may recall that the pseudonymous author of “Darkspurned” was found floating in the Halon Ring a few weeks after the book’s publication. The corpse was not wearing a space suit. Still, the tome is a damned popular read among the Cartel’s finest.]

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1.

Hott Lopp #17

Lore

IN THIS ISSUE!

– Your Correspondence –
Missives and musings from readers like you. Also, stories we made up! You should read them. Or not! No pictures, so really who cares?

– Features –
These are articles about topical events that you’re probably not all that interested in at the moment! You might be later. We understand you are a complex individual, reader.

– Interviews –
Enigmatic god-thing and licensed wedding officiator DAK-BUUN answers all our questions
– and a few we didn’t even ask – in our exclusive Hott Lopp interview! Why does he shout ALL THE TIME? Time to find out!

– Columns –
Princess Kamala of far-flung Skullcano Island is marrying a Lopp “commoner” from distant Wigwalli. Columnist Bonki the Offended digs into the controversy!

– “Shinies” –
The hottest Lopp on Nexus in a series of exclusive and tasteful holo-pictorials designed for you, the discriminating Hott Lopp reader. Looking for “shinies”? Look no further!
Looking for actual shinies, like treasure and so forth? Get out there and find them yourself! Or skip to the next section!

– News ‘n’ Notes ‘n’ Nothing Much –
NEWS about and pictures of (actual) shinies! (See?)
NOTES from Far-Trader Diki’s latest expedition.
NOTHING MUCH about the ongoing conflict between the Exiles and the Dominion, because what’s that have to do with Hott Lopp? NOTHING!

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1.

PSPN Hilites!

Lore

You are now or will soon be watching the Protostar Sports Programming Network, and presumably wish to know what programs will soon be available. Therefore, here is a listing of upcoming, high-profile, eminently profitable programming available ON DEMAND for Protostar Entertainment Solutions subscribers, and available for individual purchase for other, less savvy consumers.

GIRROK/ROWSDOWER RACING FUN HOUR!
Exclusive footage of all the fast-paced, family-friendly,
mega-grisly, blood-drenched fun!

ROWSDOWER ROUNDUP OF DEATH!
Spoilers – The rowsdowers inexplicably won the race, and are breeding like Snorkin Jabbits. Lock and load, competitive big game hunters!

ANIMAL TRAUMA RESCUE ISLAND!
When an innocent rowsdower is shockingly injured in a perfectly innocent rowsdower round-up, the doctors, geneticists, and fur stylists of Protostar Animal Trauma Rescue teleport to the scene! And then teleport back to an island,
where they live, because it’s way more comfortable.

FIRST ANNUAL MALGRAVE GIRROK HUNT
Not taking their racing loss lying down, the surviving girrok of the Girrok/Rowsdower Racing Fun Hour have gone on a rampage, consuming numerous prey animals, clones, and for some reason all of the light fixtures outside PSPN studios. Lock and load again, competitive, slightly bigger game hunters!

WORLD’S MOST HILARIOUS GIRROK-RELATED TRAGEDIES
CAUGHT ON HOLOGRAPHIC CAMERA!
Nothing like shiploads of amateur big game hunters to trigger wave after wave of hilarious hunting accidents – and Protostar holocams have captured every fun-filled minute!
May not be suitable for children who hate fun.

COOKING WITH ROWSDOWER
By which we mean cooking with rowsdower as an ingredient, not cooking with some kind of intelligence-enhanced rowsdower chef. If you’re looking for the latter, be sure to
tune in next week for TOP MASTER ROWSDOWER CHEF KITCHEN EXTREME!

SPORTSEVENING WITH P.T. ROTOSTAR AND THE PROTOSTAR SPORTS ANALYSIS AND PROFITABILITY FUN CREW!
There’s commentary aplenty as the SportsEvening Team tackles the trauma related to this week’s sporting events, the latest fatality totals, and tips for staying cool at your summertime rowsdower barbecue. All that and the latest vindball scores, only on SportsEvening!

Guide

Jump through blue loftite crystal to gain necessary jumping boost in order to reach the Journal location.

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Malgrave

1.

Is This Living?

Lore

“Is This Living?”
A Poem by Freebot Zippit

An organic insect lights
Atop my cranial plate at night
And so I think it might
Have me in its eye-sights.
The organic being lives
Organics can forgive.

These vise-like hands of mine
Hold no hope of love entwined
Till optic sensors shine
Upon one of my own kind
A metal hand resists
The crush of metal fists.

I have no mortality
No day will I meet mere destiny
Merely every day plus
three
Is what awaits for me
A Freebot now I am told
I find it is growing old.

– From LISTEN TO THE WHIRR, A Collection of Freebot Poems for Celebratory Occasions
(Excerpt Courtesy of Preceptor Press)

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1.

Lunch Menu

Lore

[A listing of the various luncheon specials available at Sandstone Hold’s favorite watering hole.]

APPETIZERS
– Small Gravel with Garlish Croutons…..5c
– Splorg Knuckles in Blib Sauce…..12c
– Hyperspiced Jabbit Wings…..3c for 2
– Vegetarian Rootbrute Soup…..4c cup/7c bowl

THINGS WITH BREAD
– No-Quarter Quartered Meatwich…..9c (add meat 3c)
– Yatish’s Clubhouse Sandwich….13c (“Lopp-Size” Half Order 8c
– Kurgburger…..10c (don’t tell the Lopp)

– Kurgburger with Kurg Cheese…..12c (seriously, don’t tell the Lopp, kurg are sacred to them)
– Barbecue Veal Kurgburger with Kurg Cheese and Kurg Bacon…..14c (no Lopp are going to read past the Yatish’s Clubhouse, right? That’s why it’s on the menu. Okay, then.)

THINGS WITH FLATTER BREAD
– Rowsdower Wraps Classic…..12c for 2 (half order 8c)
– Rowsdower Wraps Extra Skin…..14c for 2 (half order 10c)
– Rowsdower Wraps Extra Hoof…..16c for 2 (half order 11c)

– Rowsdower Wraps “The Works” (Skin, Hooves, Nostrils, Blib Sauce, Narfsnu Cheese)…..20c for 2 (half order 12c)
Vegetarian Rootbruturrito…..10c

BREAKFAST (ALWAYS SERVED, AND ALWAYS ON AN EDIBLE FIBER PLATE)
– “The Basics” – 2 Vulcarrion Eggs and 2 Strips Cubacon with Browned Mystery Hash on an Edible Plate…..11c
– “The Hungry Merc” 2 Vulcarrion Eggs, 2 Ravenok Eggs, 2 Strips Cubacon, 2 Links Cubreakfast Sausage,
on Crusted Mystery Hash that is the Edible Plate…..14c
“The Lil Loppling” 3 Boiled Splorg Eggs wrapped in Cubacon with 3 Whimcakes…..8c
“The Busy Buzzbing” Fruit and Fresh Kurghurt Smoothie with Whimwheat Germ and Vitamin Shot…..5c

DESSERTS
– Frosted Flints…..2c/bowl
– Rock-Like Candy Sugar Blocks…..2c/bag
– Whipped Frozen Smilk and Fruit…..5c/plate
– Painapple Pumice Cake…..4c/brick