Bel'Zanar, the Dark Moon

"A long time ago I came across a world that looked like it had been struck by some terrible cataclysm. The land was broken and there was nothing but death and ruin. I didn't stay long. Something about that world unsettled me. I moved on. Then one day I met a fellow Traveler on the High Path and we stopped and talked. Lennik was her name. As we talked she mentioned a world that appeared to have suffered the same fate as I had found. At first I thought maybe it was the same world... a coincidence but not impossible. But no, Lennik was adamant. Her dead world was different to my dead world. And then she told me how other Travelers had also found dead worlds like ours. And apparently on one of them a Traveler she trusted found survivors. Mad, desperate damned souls clinging to what meagre life remained. They told the Traveler of a Moon that appeared in the heavens and blocked out the sun. How it descended bringing fire and chaos as the world broke asunder. How it... latched onto their world like a tick, drinking deep. How it disgorged a swarm of demons who fell upon the people of their world... capturing and killing all they found. Those survivors hid whilst their world died around them. When finally the Moon had drunk its fill it ascended, leaving behind a mortally wounded world. The truth is, I can't say for certain if that story is true. Lennik believed it, I saw that in her eyes. In the years since I've spoken to other Travelers who tell me the same thing. Of worlds stripped of life, of survivors speaking of demon filled Moons. So I think we can safely assume that somewhere out there in the void between the stars... there's an evil that's ever hungry, moving from world to world. I love mysteries as much as any Traveler but this one... I'm not sure I want to find the truth of.".

Kessan the Traveler

Bel'Zanar is a world-ship that moves at sub light speeds across Otherverse, travelling between star-systems and descending upon worlds rich in life and resource to strip them bare before moving on. It is a horror from the Dark Age, a menace to all life yet thus far unstoppable.

ORIGINS

Nothing is known of its origins. Its name is only known due to a Traveler being witness to its arrival on the world of Yurin. The Traveler attempted to communicate with the Moon only to have his mind nearly destroyed by the psychic onslaught he suffered. Before he cut off the communication he was bombarded with images he cannot to this day decipher and a voice that repeated the phrase "Bel'Zanar hungers" over and over. The name stuck and ever since it has been known as Bel'Zanar.

APPEARANCE

The size of Earth's moon, Bel'Zanar appears a black rock with a writhing mass of miles long tentacles at its base around a great spear. It this is spear that is driven into the world that Bel'Zanar wishes to feed upon. The tentacles purpose is unknown, though it is speculated they are for defense and to harvest asteroids as it passes through space. Its means of propulsion in space is also unknown. In mass it appears to be more dense than it appears which accounts for the destruction it inflicts upon worlds as it descends upon them.

Its interior has yet to be seen by an outsider, though one can imagine a hellish domain easily enough considering the nature of its occupants.

OCCUPANTS

The creatures who emerge en masse from the Moon as it feeds on a world are described as being large vaguely humanoid winged chiropteran creatures clad in black armour, wielding cruel blades and weapons designed to capture as much as kill. Individually, they are strong and formidable and they always attack in large groups. Their technology level is high, far higher than the worlds they target. Some Travelers believe that Bel'Zanar only targets worlds who are technologically less developed, making their invasion and harvest considerably easier and less risky.

The Demons true name is like all with Bel'Zanar unknown, as is their culture, leadership structure. Virtually nothing is known about them save their cruel nature and psychical might.

A rare depiction of a Bel'Zanarian Demon

CONCLUSION

It is safe to say that Bel'Zanar is a tangible threat to all worlds across Otherverse. As space travel is so rare and few planets possess global defense systems and long range detection methods the Dark Moon is free to ravage world after world. It is likely that one day it will encounter a world that can defend itself. When that day does come it will shed more light upon this terror.