The Traveller

This is the children's first time seeing the Traveller through the telescope. I wish i'd had enough money to buy priority tickets, we've been in this queue over three hours now. Thank goodness for the sno-cone bike

— overheard from an excited mother outside the observatory

History

by skeeze on Pixabay

Eight hundred and twenty seven years ago the Great Quake was preceded by a new object in the night sky. In the weeks leading up to the seismic event it loomed ever larger, becoming visible even during the day. On the day it loomed largest the earth cried out; volcanoes spewed forth destruction, the seas over ran the coasts and the land was split asunder. The object carried on it's way, seemingly oblivious of the destruction it had wrought, until it disappeared from the sky entirely.
Twenty years later it returned, however this time it kept it's distance. It appeared as no more than an unusually bright star in the night sky, visible for no more than a few days. Needless to say this caused some small amount of panic, until it became apparent there wasn't going to be another tearing apart of the earth. It has repeated this cycle every twenty years hence and has now become a celebrated event.

Tourism

Since the building of the first observatory, one hundred and eighty seven years ago, people flock to Salike every twenty years to get a closer look at the travelling star. Astronomy has always been a highly regarded field of study amongst academics, and a popular pastime amongst the wealthier denizens of Salike for many years. Advances in telescopic and navigational devices have made people aware that there are many more objects in the sky hidden from the naked eye, but none have the same pull as The Traveller. The observatory has a steady stream of people through it's doors almost continuously during the time of The Traveller's passing and the city sees a healthy rise in profits.

Natural Resources

by Jochen Schaft on Pixabay

On it's first passing The Traveller shed small rocks which peppered the earth, almost unoticed in amongst the other chaos that was going on at the time. At every passing since it has shed a few more, until people began to take more notice and started collecting them. It was soon discovered that these rocks contained a strange metal, but it was many years before they learned how to extract it properly and many more before they learned how to work it. Today, in Salike, it is most notably used to craft the devices in which the Daemons are contained.

Type

Asteroid

Hidden secret

The observatory in the city does not house Salike's most powerful telescope by any means, and there are reasons for that. How good those reasons are remain to be seen. However, inspection of the Traveller through this hidden telescope has revealed that it is not the same as the other floating space rocks they have observed. It has colour and it pulses, ever so subtly. What does this mean? - I don't know, I'm still writing the book

by Rolando Marin on Pixabay

A divine messenger

Those who follow the Way of the Three Orders call the comet The Messenger. They believe it to be sent by the God Kyevyag as a warning for falling away from the Way. That it's twenty year cycle is the God's way of reminding his people to remain faithful to the Way, and if they fall away again it will once moe reign down it's destruction.

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