Clothier's Anomaly
Clothier's Anomaly is an unusual structure located in the oceans of Distal C. Scarcely investigated, the Anomaly is the source of many conspiracy theories, considered by many to be a ghost or a cryptid tale unique to the Navigator subculture.
Geography
First discovered by Eqai Voiranoi in early 9857 AR in the course of an airship expedition, Clothier's Anomaly appeared to be a shallow reef composed primarily of a smooth, white, sandy material. Upon closer inspection, Voiranoi noted that 'Atara'a Reef,' as he had at first dubbed it, was actually a monolithic object the size of a small island as opposed to an aggregate. The symmetry of the object suggested that it might have been some sort of organic material, such as the sunken corpse of a whale-like creature, but the total lack of decomposers (such as Distal polyps), opportunistic feeders (such as the golden skirt cuttlefish), or plant growth argued against this idea. Attempts to probe the surface revealed something startling - the object had the consistency and texture of dense, fine fabric, despite the total lack of inhabitation or prior sentient activity in the region. This is the source of the modern Clothier's Anomaly moniker: far from a natural formation, the Anomaly is most likely an artificial object of some unknown sort, produced by an unknown party in the misty aeons of The Curved Time. One thing that truly makes the Anomaly anomalous is that it never seemed to be in the same place between subsequent visits to Distal C. The Anomaly has been suggested to roam to an extent across the fourth and fifth faces, never straying too close to a commissure that would suck it into an adjacent cube, based on the scant few recorded cases of it being spotted by airship crews. Distal C is a somewhat difficult place to put down ground units, both in terms of being mostly water and in terms of local Distal life hazardous to humanoid health, compounding the problem of locating and documenting encounters with the Anomaly. Future deployments of serchers in sealed "Ixulova Tun" or "Meantwig" auto-armor to the cube might prove more fruitful in this regard.An Unusual Provenance
Clothier's Anomaly is almost exclusively known of from Voiranoi's own documentation, as it can be difficult to locate due to it's apparently self-motile nature. Those who have studied Voiranoi's journals from this period note that his writing style became notably more sparse and erratic . It has been suggested that not all of his journal entries pertaining to this part of the expedition may have been submitted to the Navigator's Guild archivists at the Castle of Aurorae. As the august elder explorer is revered by the Guild like a saint, the notion that his observations might have been the subject of exhaustion-induced hallucinations or even creative fiction is as close as possible to heresy for the otherwise secular organization. It is recorded that, after an hour's visit on the object's surface in a protective suit, Voiranoi returned to his airship and ordered the crew to immediately depart for the next cube layer. Crew stationed aboard the airship with Voiranoi at the time noted that he seemed shaken by something he had seen during his time on the surface, uncharacteristically suggesting that the ship should try to keep to it's itinerary despite his usual willingness to flex a schedule around investigating such an unusual discovery. Others simply chalked his haste up to an eagerness to complete the tour leading to his attainment of the first Courtier of Ironies title. In any event, scant records of the place and the events surrounding its discovery have survived into the modern day.
Current location
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