Adrius Yamamura's Journal Entry
Purpose
One of many journal records salvaged from Ark 07.
Adrius Yamamura's Journal Entry
Year: 3074AD; E9.Y1514.D224 aka 7514 Enlightenment Age, 9th Era, 26th of Nau.
Unofficial Records of Silverback Restoration Department Engineer: Adrius Yamamura
____________________________________________________________________________________
We’ve been here for 24 years now. We’ve accumulated much in that time, and our organization has been doing very well. The natives don’t know about us yet, thankfully. Hopefully they will never have to, or if they do, never find out what we were really created for. I want to make the world better, but there are many in our ranks who fear the shadreagh and veran peoples – for good reason, I suppose, since we mundane humans are no match for their superior genetics and abilities. But that of course is why we, the Silverbacks, exist in the first place. I suppose I should get on with my report. Irrelevant as it is to my job, I’m getting paid for this. The northern half of Muyerdia is temperate, averaging around 5°F in the winter months and anywhere from 70°F-95°F in the summer months, depending on elevation and approximate location. The strangest thing is the occurrence of “Syessessa,” the natives call it; which seems to translate roughly into English as “soul season.” More on that later. The region of Adar, our resident country, is almost nothing but rolling hills and sparse woodland, aside from the extravagant stone cities dotted throughout. Multiple rivers cut through the landscape, ending in lakes or flowing out to sea. Silverlock itself is built from the remains of Ark 07, though much of the ship still stands as a central piece like a memorial. It serves as a council hall for our political figures, though only the first several floors are useable, as the remainder was gutted for materials. There is one floor remaining at the very top, what used to be the helm, and it’s used as an observatory. A pulley-system elevator allows easier ascent and decent. The city is largely built from salvaged metal, giving it a largely industrial look. Native influence and assistance brought in stone materials and design, for a look that is both elegant and imposing (in my opinion). Wood is the absolute hardest to obtain, due to strict relations with the foreshad people who hole themselves up in the woodlands. Stone is difficult as well, but we buy what can’t be quarried and make up for it in the metal we can mine. The city was planned well, but expands rapidly each year, with many areas constantly under construction as the population grows. When we crashed, the population was 110,000 with crew and civilians combined. Twenty-four years later, we’ve seen a growth of 4,000. I’m sure the numbers would be greater if the tensions weren’t still high with the natives. While Silverlock flourishes despite our complications, we are still under a quarantined zone. We weren’t allowed to plant any of the seeds we brought from Earth, and the animals and insects we brought on Ark 21 were revived and consumed by that ship’s community, as they weren’t allowed to contaminate Vruanhai’s established ecosystems. The insects had to be killed and cremated, along with the remains of the dead animals. The eleshad residents in Silverlock are subject to the same quarantine, no longer allowed to leave the designated zone, but have allowed biologists to study them and watch how their immune systems handle human germs. So far, they appear to be far hardier than us, or have some sort of natural immunity to some of our illnesses. That, or human viruses and bacteria can’t survive yet within the host of a different species – even their core genetics are different, and their DNA is made of only a single coiled, laddered strand. Amusingly, some of the bigger fantasy fans who were aboard the Ark were saddened that this disparity in DNA meant that half-breeds were impossible. Our technology and culture has attracted the most curious natives, and thanks to them, the language barriers between us have crumbled. It helps that these…non-elves, these eleshad folks, are capable of telepathy. The planet itself is magic-rich, but to them it’s a force they call “lefvada”, and the practice of using it is called – well – it translates to “Channeling.” It’s some kind of energy, maybe not unlike ether from old human folk tales, or perhaps even like “qi." While our organization has yet to verify the claims, the natives say this “lefvada” flows through everything, like it’s the planet’s lifeblood, and they are able to draw on and manipulate it. True or not, we’ve all witnessed by now that these people can make fire, water, and many other things bend to their will, as if they truly have stepped out of some fantasy fiction novel. The strangest thing, I think, is that some of the children born recently are exhibiting capabilities of utilizing this force, whereas those of us who were there for the initial crash have no such luck. The eleshad who reside here claim it as the effect of reincarnation – souls from the planet getting attached to newborns, apparently indiscriminately. The implications of this are vast… But I digress. This does however relate to the aforementioned “Syessessa.” All the children born during this season exhibit stronger channeling capabilities, and not just in humans. This is observed even in the eleshad migrants. It is apparent that the season has a direct relation with this lefvada substance, but what exactly remains to be determined. As for the natives… They are odd, to say the least. Elf-like indeed in regards to the shadreagh species. Eleshad seem to be the most industrialized and widespread, having advanced civilizations even before our arrival. They had governments, farms, schools, sciences and religions all coexisting. In some regards, they are more advanced than we are. The eleshad, as one of them told me during an interview, live for roughly 2,000 Vruanhai years. It varies a little among the breeds – their foreshad and maveshad cousins, which I’m told I should be lucky to never encounter – but a minimum of 2,000 is typical. The verans, the blood-sucking yet not-actually-vampires of this world, I’m told live forever. I personally scoffed at this notion, until I was told they can still be killed by any means that weren’t age. So perhaps they were like the lobsters of Earth. I couldn’t entirely discard the idea. As of now, we’ve no idea what grants these people their longevity, but the eleshad I interviewed seems convinced that “once the lefvada substance saturates human souls, our lives will become longer as well.” It seems like a crock to me, but time will tell.
Unofficial Records of Silverback Restoration Department Engineer: Adrius Yamamura
____________________________________________________________________________________
We’ve been here for 24 years now. We’ve accumulated much in that time, and our organization has been doing very well. The natives don’t know about us yet, thankfully. Hopefully they will never have to, or if they do, never find out what we were really created for. I want to make the world better, but there are many in our ranks who fear the shadreagh and veran peoples – for good reason, I suppose, since we mundane humans are no match for their superior genetics and abilities. But that of course is why we, the Silverbacks, exist in the first place. I suppose I should get on with my report. Irrelevant as it is to my job, I’m getting paid for this. The northern half of Muyerdia is temperate, averaging around 5°F in the winter months and anywhere from 70°F-95°F in the summer months, depending on elevation and approximate location. The strangest thing is the occurrence of “Syessessa,” the natives call it; which seems to translate roughly into English as “soul season.” More on that later. The region of Adar, our resident country, is almost nothing but rolling hills and sparse woodland, aside from the extravagant stone cities dotted throughout. Multiple rivers cut through the landscape, ending in lakes or flowing out to sea. Silverlock itself is built from the remains of Ark 07, though much of the ship still stands as a central piece like a memorial. It serves as a council hall for our political figures, though only the first several floors are useable, as the remainder was gutted for materials. There is one floor remaining at the very top, what used to be the helm, and it’s used as an observatory. A pulley-system elevator allows easier ascent and decent. The city is largely built from salvaged metal, giving it a largely industrial look. Native influence and assistance brought in stone materials and design, for a look that is both elegant and imposing (in my opinion). Wood is the absolute hardest to obtain, due to strict relations with the foreshad people who hole themselves up in the woodlands. Stone is difficult as well, but we buy what can’t be quarried and make up for it in the metal we can mine. The city was planned well, but expands rapidly each year, with many areas constantly under construction as the population grows. When we crashed, the population was 110,000 with crew and civilians combined. Twenty-four years later, we’ve seen a growth of 4,000. I’m sure the numbers would be greater if the tensions weren’t still high with the natives. While Silverlock flourishes despite our complications, we are still under a quarantined zone. We weren’t allowed to plant any of the seeds we brought from Earth, and the animals and insects we brought on Ark 21 were revived and consumed by that ship’s community, as they weren’t allowed to contaminate Vruanhai’s established ecosystems. The insects had to be killed and cremated, along with the remains of the dead animals. The eleshad residents in Silverlock are subject to the same quarantine, no longer allowed to leave the designated zone, but have allowed biologists to study them and watch how their immune systems handle human germs. So far, they appear to be far hardier than us, or have some sort of natural immunity to some of our illnesses. That, or human viruses and bacteria can’t survive yet within the host of a different species – even their core genetics are different, and their DNA is made of only a single coiled, laddered strand. Amusingly, some of the bigger fantasy fans who were aboard the Ark were saddened that this disparity in DNA meant that half-breeds were impossible. Our technology and culture has attracted the most curious natives, and thanks to them, the language barriers between us have crumbled. It helps that these…non-elves, these eleshad folks, are capable of telepathy. The planet itself is magic-rich, but to them it’s a force they call “lefvada”, and the practice of using it is called – well – it translates to “Channeling.” It’s some kind of energy, maybe not unlike ether from old human folk tales, or perhaps even like “qi." While our organization has yet to verify the claims, the natives say this “lefvada” flows through everything, like it’s the planet’s lifeblood, and they are able to draw on and manipulate it. True or not, we’ve all witnessed by now that these people can make fire, water, and many other things bend to their will, as if they truly have stepped out of some fantasy fiction novel. The strangest thing, I think, is that some of the children born recently are exhibiting capabilities of utilizing this force, whereas those of us who were there for the initial crash have no such luck. The eleshad who reside here claim it as the effect of reincarnation – souls from the planet getting attached to newborns, apparently indiscriminately. The implications of this are vast… But I digress. This does however relate to the aforementioned “Syessessa.” All the children born during this season exhibit stronger channeling capabilities, and not just in humans. This is observed even in the eleshad migrants. It is apparent that the season has a direct relation with this lefvada substance, but what exactly remains to be determined. As for the natives… They are odd, to say the least. Elf-like indeed in regards to the shadreagh species. Eleshad seem to be the most industrialized and widespread, having advanced civilizations even before our arrival. They had governments, farms, schools, sciences and religions all coexisting. In some regards, they are more advanced than we are. The eleshad, as one of them told me during an interview, live for roughly 2,000 Vruanhai years. It varies a little among the breeds – their foreshad and maveshad cousins, which I’m told I should be lucky to never encounter – but a minimum of 2,000 is typical. The verans, the blood-sucking yet not-actually-vampires of this world, I’m told live forever. I personally scoffed at this notion, until I was told they can still be killed by any means that weren’t age. So perhaps they were like the lobsters of Earth. I couldn’t entirely discard the idea. As of now, we’ve no idea what grants these people their longevity, but the eleshad I interviewed seems convinced that “once the lefvada substance saturates human souls, our lives will become longer as well.” It seems like a crock to me, but time will tell.
