Appeasing the Dark Star

The immense space station of Typhon is another relic of the Elnorian era; an artificial planetoid with close to half the mass of Earth's moon. It is a formidable weapon of war along with being the home of around a million people and for generations has occupied a position between the inner and outer system, serving as a meeting place as well as trading hub.

And at its heart is the Dark Star, a tamed black hole that powers the Typhon and is in turn fed by a steady stream of resources gathered from the Kuiper Belt. The Dark Star Attendants are the quasi-religious band of technicians and engineers who oversee the Dark Star, treating it with the reverence of a cult serving their God. As well as ensuring the complex machinery that keeps the Dark Star active and contained, the Attendants watch and listen to it for they claim that as its Chosen People, they hear it whisper secrets of that which is to come. Most of the time these whispers are inane babble, but on occasion the Attendants have reported to the Council of Typhon a warning of impending danger or a potential path to be taken for the benefit of all. The Council have learned not to dismiss the Attendants and their warnings. The Dark Star and its environ is their domain and though considered a band of insane religious fools, the Attendants are an important and integral part of Typhon for without them the Dark Star would surely fail, and the station would fall.

The Watchers are the truly faithful amongst the Attendants, those who surrender their lives to observing the Dark Star and hearing its whispers. They gather in a great circle around the Dark Star, fed intravenously and with a number of pipes connected to them to filter out bodily waste so that nothing may distract them from their sacred duty. And they watch the Dark Star, their eyes eventually burnt out leaving charred sockets. And still they watch, and they listen, and they pass on that which they hear.

Once a solar year comes the most Holy of Day of all; to prove the piety of the Attendants one of them must be sacrificed to it for the Dark Star is a God and an ever hungry one at that.

This is considered the greatest service to their order that can be achieved, and viewed as a way of becoming one of with their God. So when the times comes the Watchers will wait for their God to select one of their number. That Watcher will be struck with a vision of their God and will fall unconscious, only to wake up moments later with a newfound air of tranquility. Their fellow Watchers will know that the Dark Star has has made its choice, and their fellow Watcher will join their God.

The Attendants will come and take the Chosen away, with a new Watcher taking their place. The Chosen will be cleansed ritually, doused in sacred oils and clad in fine robes before being lead to a platform overlooking the Dark Star below. Then the Chosen with outstretch their arms and step off the platform, falling into the waiting embrace of their God. They will not scream, their faces will show only pious joy before they are gone, taken unto the Dark Star.

Following this, the Watchers may be granted a prophecy from the Dark Star, one that will be of unparalleled importance, a gift from their God for their sacrifice.

Of course, outsiders and sceptics will find such a tradition a grotesque spectacle, a barbaric ritual that serves no actual purpose and that the prophecies are nothing but the deranged babbling of religious madmen. But for the Council of Typhon, too many times have the prophecies given to them by the Attendants proven beneficial and so whilst they do not understand how and why this happens, they are only too glad to make use of it. And if the cost is merely one of the Attendants themselves, well, that is something they can live with quite happily.