Eastern Jungle "Amazons"

Enemies of all, even the Gods...
No one knows the proper name of this secretive group of all-female warriors based in a shadowy corner of the Native's abandoned kingdom, and the name "Amazon" is a mythological term from the Oldworld applied due to their fierce independence and practice of abducting young girls to bolster their ranks. Even their existence is a subject of skepticism, considered stories to scare rebellious young girls straight. Residents of Bainshaebo live their lives blissfully unaware of the secret war being waged between three factions-the Freelanders, the Natives, and these "Amazons". No one would know of the existence of these heretics but for the Harrowing of Cassatina.

Structure

A strict matriarchy, these warriors do not seem to have a set form of government. They do not answer to a queen, though there are senior members who provide guidance and training. Not even male servants are tolerated in their halls.

Culture

Unlike the nomadic Freelanders, the Wild-Women operate more or less like a cult, kidnapping young female Freelanders who stray too close to the Eastern Jungle or city-dwellers from Bainshaebo out on their freelanding tour. They present a facade of camaraderie, providing new "recruits" with plentiful food and a warm dwelling, but in reality slowly erode the mental defenses and sever the ties to their past lives. It is so subtle and insidious even older members of this order do not remember undergoing such conditioning. Long thought a myth, even by the Freelanders, awareness of this rebel group has spread throughout Thanged, leading to more victims braving escape if captured.
Testimonies from former captives have revealed that whenever asked why the Godless simply do not extend invitations for women to join their commune voluntarily, the Wild-Women simply refuse. Offering the option would be admitting they are wrong, and in their eyes they are always right.
When the question is posed to Watch-Riders why simply not dispatch many warriors to root out these heretics, the common response is "just as Roth will not outright destroy Phitdaitiarona so that she may serve as a test to the people's wills, so are these blasphemers permitted to live to test the resolve and bonds between mothers and daughters".

Assets

The "Amazons" have taken up residence in the more intact buildings of the Lost City, refurbishing the stone halls into a jungle-shrouded palace. They have plundered forgotten artifacts and fineries of the Natives, carving a kingdom for themselves amid the ruins of the prideful unicorn-folk.

History

Ritho-Forsaken Indeed

Originally thought to have been founded by one of Vthia's surviving daughters or children of the murdered Bainshae and Kundai, the Wild-Women's origins might lie in the more distant past as far back as Thuruk's reign, perhaps even founded by daughters of Jhuno and Jhunin, the Lunar Sisters and wives to the Celestial Brothers. They likely had their start as a small group disillusioned with life on the plains and suspicious of the benevolence of the Four Queens. By the time they settled in the Eastern Jungle, Ritho had already leveled the stone palaces of the Natives. Despite the disarray on the surface, enough of the structures remained intact to provide serviceable and spacious homes.
If any Natives sought to reclaim their former dwellings only to find them inhabited by these brazen strangers, the warriors would chase them away and more often than not kill them outright, further antagonizing the unicorn-folk. Freelanders-already wary of the Eastern Jungle-began circulating stories of phantoms haunting the dense wood that would slay or abduct the unwary. Roaming clans would notice funerary cairns desecrated with weapons and tools missing from mounds nearest the forest border. Because the city-dwellers limited themselves to Kundain and the Freelanders live so scattered abroad, the Child-Stealers would not be exposed for many thousands of years.

The Harrowing of Cassatina

(Compiled from the memoirs of Queen Alahaedra and Queen Cassatina)

The Rebellious Princess

Granddaughter to the legendary Queen Danaetanera III, Princess Cassatina balked and chafed at the etiquette and duties required of her as heir to the throne. Mother and daughter had an acrimonious relationship at best with Cassatina believing her mother Queen Alahaedra thought of her only as a pawn; a piece on the board to maneuver to maintain the political power of the burgeoning dynasty of the House of St'lur.
When Cassatina came of age and prepared to go freelanding, an apprehensive Alahaedra sent a group of her personal guard to keep watch on her from a discreet distance and prayed to Ritho for her safe return. Eager to leave behind the confines of the Riders Citadel and Bainshaebo as a whole, Cassatina trekked out into Kundain, disregarding her mother's warnings to avoid the Eastern Jungle and determined to go where she willed. She viewed herself queen of all she surveyed and even contemplated abandoning the succession entirely and committing to the wilds like the Freelanders of the plains.

"Cassatina never knew her grandmother, being born long after her passing. She scoffed at the stories of Danaetanera III, dismissing her great achievement as merely killing herself. What she failed to understand, was what did her grandmother sacrifice herself for? Her home and family, of course!"

— Sarah Ann Goode, xenohistorian

Captive Guest

Despite precautions taken, Cassatina fell asleep one night only to awaken inside a strange stone building. Alahaedra's guards were horrified at their blunder: the princess kidnapped right under their noses! They managed to track the perpetrators to the eaves of the jungle and feared the princess had already been slain by the vulgar Natives. Distraught, they returned to Bainshaebo with the grim news. Meanwhile, Cassatina found herself given the royal treatment and marveled at the vast stone halls with tables laden with all manner of food and bustling with women who-much like her-sought independence.
Alahaedra refused to believe her daughter had perished and prayed fervently to Ritho for a sign. Receiving visions of Ritho's Smiting and the thick undergrowth of the Eastern Jungle, Alahaedra determined Cassatina yet lived and had either become lost or held captive in the Lost City. Worrying that dispatching an entire company of warriors would startle the captors into recklessness, she set out alone to rescue her daughter, armored light and armed to the teeth.
Although Cassatina enjoyed the environment, she felt something amiss in the back of her mind. When she asked politely if she could leave, the older women hemmed and hawed, exaggerating the dangers of the Eastern Jungle and evading her questions. If she got up to leave the women would entice her back inside or intercept her before she reached the doors. A dread began to settle in her gut and while sitting at a table with a tray laden with sumptuous food before her, Cassatina began muttering prayers to the Four Queens. One of the matrons noticed her praying and promptly cuffed her, stating harshly that prayer to the Goddesses was forbidden. This shattered the illusion of camaraderie and Cassatina wished nothing more than for her mother to come rescue her.

"It really was quite insidious, the ordeal the young princess endured. No matter how often she insisted she return home, they replied 'silly girl...this is your home now!"

— Sarah Ann Goode, xenohistorian

The Path, The Peril, and the Proving

Ever since the City Strife, the Four Queens made it clear through their medium the Silver-Haired Maiden that the Goddesses would not answer each and every prayer given: that individuals had a duty to themselves and their loved ones to do everything in their mortal power to rise to the occasion and overcome a crisis. Alahaedra knew no matter how fervently she prayed, neither of the Four Queens would simply rescue her daughter outright. She had to push herself to her limits against all odds.
But at that point in time Alahaedra was already advanced in age, nearly 60 cycles or 120 years Earth-time. Any other situation it would be unheard of for an aging queen to embark on such a rigorous operation, let alone by herself, and yet she had to try, or none of the Queens would forgive her. She reached the eaves of the Eastern Jungle and entered the shadows beneath the canopy. Recalling her own youth and the skills of stealth and speed imparted by her mother before her ascension, she made her way to the Lost City unseen, guided by visions of lit stone halls and her daughter alone in a sea of strangers.

"The Path, the Peril, and the Proving is a doctrine issued by Roth herself stating that the Queens will not personally intervene unless in extraordinary situations. This served to reduce over-dependence on the Queens while encouraging individuals to helm their own fates in the face of great danger."

— Sarah Ann Goode, xenohistorian

Royal Rescue

No matter how long she watched and waited, an opportunity never arose for Cassatina to escape her courteous captors. Guards stood at watch at all entrances and all eyes seemed to remain watchful of her when she slept. None of the women she spoke to ever talked about leaving the commune or even of their former lives outside the Lost City. It became clear that they would not ever let her leave no matter what, and she feared that by the time she grew older and strong enough to fight her way out, she would no longer remember home.
Alahaedra came upon a lit corner of the Lost City populated entirely by women. She had heard rumors of ghostly women haunting the Eastern Jungle but had chalked it up to superstition as so many before her. On one hand she felt relieved since if Natives had taken her daughter they would have killed her outright, but on the other she remained an elderly woman against dozens if not hundreds of hostile warriors. She could not possibly fight them all, and she was not one of the Metraind to command the Fabric of Being. Her only hope lie in a daring swift escape.
One night Cassatina sat at a table as she had previous nights: a plate laden with food before her and women chattering beside and across from her as if she'd lived there for years. The women began asking Cassatina what role she'd prefer, be it gardening, hunting, or guard duty. Cassatina tried to remain evasive but the women pressed her to make a choice, sounding like gossiping old biddies, their voices masking a sinister edge. Back outside, Alahaedra dodged patrols and scaled the walls of the hall, clambering onto the sill of an exquisite glass window. She spotted Cassatina-alive and well-but surrounded by her captors. Increasingly pressured by the Child-Stealers, Cassatina's gaze flicked up and she spotted her mother through the window. Their eyes met and instead of crying out with joy, Cassatina remained silent and began making a scene, decrying the women's practices and drawing all eyes to her. Alahaedra realized her intent and waited for her opening.

Flight Across the Plain

Cassatina berated the women for forsaking the Queens and screamed that Ritho would smite them for their sins, just as she had the Natives millennia ago. She sang aloud the Warrior's Anthem, first sung during the City Strife eons ago. The matrons approached, preparing to discipline the princess for her impertinence. With the women fully distracted, Alahaedra smote the window with the pommel of her sword and vaulted through the window, making a spectacular flip through the air and landing on one of the banquet tables. She rushed down the aisle, pausing briefly to upend nearby tables and making such an almighty ruckus as she could. Shoving aside the matrons, she scooped up Cassatina and fled for the opposite end of the hall.
The Harrowing remains one of the more extraordinary tales-not for revealing the existence of the Child-Stealers themselves-but for the spectacular feats of physical skill Alahaedra displayed in that burst of motherly desperation. She executed incredible flips and rolls, slides and jumps, dodging thrown metal darts intended to stop her in her tracks all the while carrying Cassatina in her arms. She plowed through the doors, knocking over the guards and leaving the dining hall in complete disarray. She kept running all the way to the border of Kundain, but even after leaving he haunted city behind, she had not yet secured freedom for herself or her daughter. Thoroughly enraged and unwilling to let anyone escape no matter who, the matrons dispatched three hunters.
Alahaedra and Cassatina fled across the plain, unable to stop or rest or seek help since Alahaedra had come alone, not even bringing her personal pegacorn mount Coldsilver. The three huntresses remained in hot pursuit, tracking the queen and princess through the thick grass all the way to the outer-most plantations surrounding Bainshaebo. While Alahaedra felt relief upon seeing the walls of Bainshaebo, her heart sank when she realized her strength began to fail her and she would not make it inside the city proper. None of the farmers thought anything of it when the two ran past, followed by the three relentless hunters. Indeed, they did not even recognize Alahaedra since her journey had left her so disheveled. Alahaedra made her way to one of the ancient platform lifts used in the past to scale the walls in the earliest days of Bainshaebo before the construction of the gates. She and Cassatina clambered onboard and activated the lift, narrowly evading capture. But the hunters would not relent and merely sought out another nearby platform. Utterly spent, Alahaedra watched with dread as the platform creaked up after them.

"Even in the prime of their life, at peak physical condition, no Thangien could have run so far so fast on foot let alone with a child in tow. Without a doubt, the Queens empowered Alahaedra, otherwise such a trek would have been impossible at her age! This reinforced public belief that the House of St'lur enjoyed the favor of the Queens."

— Sarah Ann Goode, xenohistorian

Leap of Faith

Alahaedra had one last hope and appealed to the Queens in earnest. The lift reached the top of the wall and she and Cassatina ran towards the corner-most tower of the great wall. Scaling the spiral staircases leading up the seldom-used sentry tower, she and Cassatina reached the top with nowhere else to flee. The three huntresses closed in, determined to drag both the queen and the princess back to the Lost City. Alahaedra and Cassatina made a shocking gamble and leapt from the highest parapet to the city below. The three hunters watched with contempt, thinking the two had chosen the coward's path.
Much to their surprise, two pegacorns flew up and caught the queen and princess on their backs: Alahaedra's mount Coldsilver and Cassatina's Firegold. The pegacorns had answered the Queens and taken flight from their personal enclosure at the Rider's Citadel. The huntresses watched in disbelief as the pegacorns flew off over the city, but they would not escape justice for their transgression. By that point, members of Alahaedra's guard had caught up to them and cornered them atop the tower. Eager to avenge their failure to protect the princess, the guard hurled the wicked Child-Stealers off the parapet to the streets below.
Alahaedra and Cassatina enjoyed a tearful reunion at the Citadel gardens with Cassatina vowing never to disappoint her mother ever again and Alahaedra promising to be more respectful of her daughter. Cassatina shared details of her captivity and that the Child-Stealers would not attempt to hunt her again, and warnings went out far and wide to be ever-more wary of the Eastern Jungle. While awareness among freelanding youths reduced abductions, the Child-Stealers still made targets of the plains nomads.
Alahaedra would reign another five years before passing from the world and leaving the mantle of Watch-Rider to the princess. Cassatina had learned much after her Harrowing and would go on to enjoy a prosperous reign as Queen, longer than both her mother and grandmother before her. Her leadership served to cement the House of St'lur as an illustrious governing family...at least until the reign of her descendant, Payina...

"It is such a tragedy stories concerning the immediate descendants of Danaetanera III fall to the wayside thanks to Payina's madness. If you ask the average Thangien about the House of St'lur, they immediately think of Danaetanera III, Payina, and-more recently-Ander Vai-Stel-Vethu and his family. The Harrowing is such a poignant epic, it really deserves wider recognition!"

— Sarah Ann Goode, xenohistorian

Ritho's Restraint

When asked why Ritho does not simply smite the Child-Stealers for their crimes against families, the Silver-Haired Maiden replied that after the Smiting of the Natives, Ritho chose to practice restraint and instead empower parents to protect their children. The high-profile story of the Harrowing served to curtail incidents with many hoping that the Godless would simply retreat into complete solace or die off entirely, but since then the Child-Stealers have simply changed tactics, targeting lone female Freelanders or whisking babes away from the fireside at night. To this day blood runs hot between the Natives, who hate human-born, the Freelanders, who wish to live in peace, and the Child-Stealers, who spite not just the Gods but everything they stand for.
"I thought I would die alone and childless, with no daughters of my own to pass on my family's legacy: the tales of great Queen Danaetanera and her daughter Alahaedra, the Harrowing of Cassatina...but you have given me hope, Ander. Hope that the House of St'lur will yet live on,"| Chi Chi Lina, Yainae to Ander Vai-Stel-Vethu

Ander's Account

Not for many years after he settled into his life in Bainshaebo would Aleksander Vanstandtvoort realize how much of a bullet he'd narrowly dodged after crash-landing in the Eastern Jungle. He'd spent however many hours hanging upside down helpless in the cockpit of his crashed fighter, and remained an easy target for a wandering Native or spiteful Wild-Woman to slay. Towards the latter years of his life, before his death at the Battle of Banguk, Ander wrote of an unnerving encounter with a strange creature he described as "looking like a cross between a bear and a horse, with a muzzle like a cinder brick and a long thick tufted tail and great heavy arms."
The creature had apparently sat in the brush close to where the Silver Archangel had crashed and watched him stoically as he collected his wits and took his bearings. He thought it a statue at first until it moved and peered down at him but made no motion to attack. Even though the creature did not attack, Ander felt unfriendly eyes watching him and headed towards sunlight. He emerged onto the vast Plains of Kundain and for a moment contemplated turning around and retracing his steps only to stop upon seeing the same mysterious creature blocking his path, urging him to leave the jungle.
Chi Chi Lina, Yainae, believed that the creature was one of the pegotaur, the reclusive black beasts of the dark jungle, and that it had actually saved Ander's life since neither Native nor Wild-Woman would dare risk its ire. Ander would never get to learn the truth himself and gave up hope of retrieving his fallen fighter until providence brought it to the gates of Bainshaebo...

Spoiler Warning: Unpublished Content!

The Far Star Traveller

Ander squinted, studying the crowd flocking to the gate. “There’s something of a commotion going on over there…” he muttered as he and Yainae followed the road to the great gate. Spectators muttered amongst themselves as they gathered along the thoroughfare. Ander spotted a group of men with tanned, freckled skin and clad in what looked like tooled rawhide maintaining a perimeter around something large resting on a sled fashioned from wood and animal bones. “Who are they?”

“Freelanders. Nomads of the open plain. Rarely do they come to the city, much less with such fanfare. It seems they found something interesting…” Yainae muttered. Ander tilted his head up and leaned from side to side to get a better view of the object on the sled. His eyes widened when he spotted a familiar design and he pushed through the crowd towards the group. Raising eyebrows in mild surprise, Yainae daintily wove her way after him.

“Hey! Hey! Make way-please! Hey! That’s mine! That’s mine!” Ander shouted as he shouldered through the throngs. He could scarcely believe the sight of his old fighter-far much worse for wear than he remembered when he left it- and his heart leapt with joy upon seeing the Silver Archangel. Onlookers closest to the group made way as they recognized him. “Good sir! Please, if you-” One of the Freelanders moved to intercept him and spoke a warning in Thangien, holding his palm out close to Ander’s chest. “No, wait! You don’t understand what you’ve found!”

“Hang on a tic...I think this guy’s an Oldworlder!” Another Freelander said and stepped over from the side of the moss-caked P-40 chassis.

“Oh thank goodness, you speak English!” Ander sighed in relief. “Look, this contraption you’ve found? It’s an airplane, and it’s mine!” he explained. The Freelander with orange hair pointed at him.

“This is yours?” he asked and pointed from Ander to the fighter.

“Yes!”

“This is yours?”

“Yes!” Ander exclaimed, exasperated. “Look, I can prove it-” Ander reached down to his belt pouch to search for the patch from his old jacket he carried with him.

“Well too bad, coz it’s ours now!” the Freelander interrupted him before Ander had a chance to unbuckle the clasp and clapped his palm against his leather tunic. Ander stared back at him, aghast at the flippant remark. “We risked life an’ limb draggin’ this wreck outta the Eastern Jungle all the way across Kundain, narrowly dodgin’ certain peril from blood-thirsty Natives and fornication-starved scantily fur-clad warrior women in the process! If you expect us to fork it over, we expect just compensation for our efforts,” the Freelander finished and rubbed his thumb and fingertips together. Ander opened his mouth to protest: it felt like trying to debate a Welshman.

“Ander! See to your craft. Let me handle this,” Yainae barked as she arrived. She began speaking in Thangien, negotiating smoothly with the shrewd nomads. Ander moved past them and knelt beside the chassis, peeling off moss and rubbing dirt off of the emblem of St. Michael. Yainae sealed the bargain and placed a few coins in the lead Freelander’s palm, nodding graciously. The Freelanders nodded in agreement and sauntered forth down the street, presumably towards the Pavilion to barter for provisions with their newfound funds. The leader took one coin and bit down on it briefly, making an appraising grimace and nodding in approval. Yainae looked over at Ander and wondered if she’d parted with a small fortune in exchange for a curious new lawn ornament. She walked over, stopping just behind him.

“The fuel tanks are perforated through and through...the wing is completely bent out of shape...it looks like something-or somethings- been nesting inside the cockpit…” Yainae could hear the tightness in his voice as Ander wiped his chin with his palm. “Even if I had the tools and resources, I have not the mechanical know-how to repair it, much less get it airborne…” Ander braced one hand against his knee and placed his free palm above the painted emblem beneath the canopy edge. He inhaled and exhaled deeply in disappointment, sending the fringes of his mustache fluttering. “I’ll never fly again.”

He raised an eyebrow and glanced over his shoulder when he felt the reassuring squeeze on his shoulder from Yainae’s small hand. She stared down at him and smiled warmly. “You will find other ways to fly,” she whispered softly. Ander’s nostrils flared briefly before he closed his eyes and nodded. “Now...let us see about getting this back to the grounds. Perhaps I should have paid those gentlemen to stay and help us with it…” Yainae turned to the side, the folds of her dress brushing against the sled.

Demography and Population

Strictly female. Population is bolstered-or maintained- through forced abductions. Men are not permitted even for the purposes of breeding since expanding the population would draw more scrutiny.

Territories

The Wild Women inhabit a small corner of the Eastern Jungle where the Lost City reaches the foot of the forest mountains. They live a mostly secretive life, eschewing trade with any major faction.

Military

Every member is trained in basic combat with a few elite warriors tasked with retaliating against incursions from the Natives. They practice only the very basic forms of combat, eschewing the School of Rait'chian because it is a product of Roth, Goddess of Victory.

Technological Level

In order to maintain a low profile, the Wild-Women rely on primitive weaponry such as polearms, projectiles, and snares. They've discovered deposits of workable metal and have panned enough dererium from the Winding White to fashion wicked implements. Their most insidious tools are slender dererium throwing darts coated with a powerful narcotic they use to hunt down those attempting escape.

Religion

Viewed as heretics for their abandonment of the Four Queens, the Wild-Women do not answer to any god, not even Phitdaitiarona, which has earned the ire of the Empress of Night, who views wicked deeds as her express domain. Although they acknowledge the existence of Ritho-Goddess of the Home, Hearth, and Family- for her role in smiting the Natives and thus driving them from their cities, they have no love for her.

Foreign Relations

Thangien: Hostile.
Freelanders: Hostile.
Natives: Hostile.

Laws

The Wild-Women respect their elders but do not worship or revere them. All work towards maintaining the commune. Dissonance is not tolerated, and none are allowed to escape easily. A hunting party of three is dispatched to retrieve any brave and able enough to flee the Eastern Jungle, and should the escapee reach the safety of even Bainshaebo, they will not stop until they have retrieved their quarry. Only killing the huntresses will bring true liberation, for the Child-Stealers will not dispatch a second hunting party should the first fail. They treat one another with respect, but view all others as beneath them, and thus theft, murder, and blasphemy are not viewed as sins. Prayer to any of the Four Queens-even a whisper- is considered taboo.

Agriculture & Industry

Far from being hide-clad savages, the Wild Women maintain secret farms and maintain livestock to support their extravagant lifestyle. Since their inception they learned only through hard work are they able to live in luxury.

Trade & Transport

The "Amazons" travel entirely on foot, viewing vehicles such as wagons as cumbersome and noisy. They even refused to tame equines such as pegasids and pegacorns as steeds, and especially abhor the Pegasi, viewing winged equines of any type as creations of the Goddesses whom they loathe. They travel in stealth through the undergrowth, avoiding detection even by the Natives.

Education

Battle-matrons will mold their charges in a specific field be it hunting, farming, or combat. Although the "Amazons" maintain the facade of a benign sisterhood, declining participation in any activity is not permitted.

Infrastructure

While even Deres refused to explore the Lost City, the "Amazons" have made use of structures abandoned by the Natives, architecture so sophisticated, they question whether the Natives actually built the city themselves...

Aleksander finished salvaging what he could from the cockpit and stowing everything in his rucksack. He consulted his compass but the crash seemed to have damaged it as the readings made no sense. He turned around briefly, searching for the faintest path through the thick undergrowth.

His eyes came across something dark amid the green: it almost looked like a statue, like the Eastern Island men. Aleksander frowned in confusion and stepped towards it. It looked like some sort of large blocky-featured beast resting on its haunches. It loomed above him, nearly seven feet tall at the head.

Aleksander jumped when the “head” moved, turning towards him slowly. Nostrils flared and eyes as dark as coal regarded him calmly. He cautiously stepped away as the entity shifted on its haunches. It had a wide rectangular muzzle and short round ears. A long thick tail thumped the ground around its legs briefly. Short dark fur covered the body.

Aleksander didn’t know what to think: it made no move to attack, yet he felt an uneasiness about him, as if unfriendly eyes watched him from the brush.

— The Far Star Traveller

Founding Date

Unknown

Type

Illicit, Rebel

Capital

Lost City of the Natives

Alternative Names

Ritho-Forsaken, Wild-Women, Child-Stealers

Demonym

Godless

Government System

Gerontocracy

Power Structure

Semi-autonomous area

Economic System

Barter system

He sighed in relief as he finally trudged out of the humid hell and out into a wide grassy field. While the weather felt considerably better, the plain seemed to stretch out far before him into the distance. He couldn’t even see so much as a lone cottage or windmill in the horizon. Aleksander consulted his map, wondering just how far off course he’d veered. He folded it back up and thumped it against his palm and turned around, wondering if perhaps he should try a different direction or return to the wreck.

His breath caught in his throat when he saw something emerge from the undergrowth: it seemed the black beast from earlier had followed him, whether out of curiosity or caution he couldn’t tell. It stood up on its hind legs, towering far above him. It snorted irritably and swished its tail.

Again, Aleksander got the impression it meant no harm to him directly, but for whatever reason it wanted him to get far away from the forest. Aleksander glanced about, once more feeling a hostile presence from something other than the black beast. He glanced at it briefly before turning back towards the grassy plain.

— The Far Star Traveller