The Elegy of Tumult. Prose in Ethnis | World Anvil

The Elegy of Tumult.

Written by Etoilebane

Working far from my family
On a numbered planet without a name
Will I have a name in death
or be another number?
— Death Poem found near an Aen corpse, identity unknown

Discovery

An expeditionary force on behalf of The Jupiter Syndicate was sent in to investigate the aftermath of The Killjoy Misfortune. Among the ruins of the planet, a severely injured and unidentifiable Aen corpse was found near one of the houses. The death poem (above) was written in dried blood nearby.

According to Jupiter Syndicate records, the death poem was summarily recorded in honor of the deceased and the sacrifice they made in The Banner War; the corpse was tagged for collection purposes; and the expeditionary force moved on with their mission.
"Hey Riss, I found a body"
"Poor bastard. How long d'ya think 'e's been dead?"
"At least a couple years, probably around the time all hell broke loose."
"Welp. Tag it, photograph it, and hopefully the can get 'im back to his loved ones. This isn't what we're lookin' for."
Actual conversation recorded during discovery

Significance

After the The Killjoy Misfortune, Artian-01-04 was deemed ill-suited for continued use as a mining colony/planet and was decommissioned shortly after. Declaring it a total loss, The Jupiter Syndicate issued an immediate evacuation order for all remaining personnel and wrote off the remaining equipment, minerals, and encampments still present on the planet.

The death poem being found shows that something of value can still come from the ruins of Artian-01-04 and has led to more expeditionary and survey teams being sent to the planet, now christened Tumult to search for other writings and records to better tell the story of what happened.

Comments

Please Login in order to comment!
Jul 3, 2018 23:58 by James L

A lovely little "moment in time" article, spurring on more questions but still satisfying the reader.

Jul 4, 2018 00:17 by Kris Weavill

A great snapshot into Ethnis, makes me actually want to read more.

GorgeFodder - Former Forge Father & Former Community Director of World Anvil
Jul 4, 2018 00:26 by SirElghinn

I enjoyed it! Mysterious and leaving me wanting more. Well done!

Powered by World Anvil