The Bluestone Waymarkers

The Bluestone Waymarkers are a series of seventeen stone obelisks found primarily on the moons of habitable planets. Each obelisk is constructed of a rock similar to granite, engraved with a detailed inscription in an unknown language and inlaid with metal, usually platinum although in at least two cases, silver was used instead.
The obelisks are all placed on high ground and whilst the size of the obelisks varies, they are all designed to be seen clearly for a great distance. They are all made of the same material, which is not native to any of the moons on which they have been found.
The inscription on each obelisk is split into four sections. It starts with a basic mathematical and scientific primer, using fundamental mathematical and scientific facts to teach the basics of the language of the inscription. This part is the same across all the obelisks. Following this is a section describing the body on which the obelisk is placed, describing its size, rotational period and orbit. Fourteen of the known obelisks also include a rough map of the surrounding area. The third section is presumed to be a description of whoever placed the obelisk there. Much of this segment remains untranslated, but many assume that many of the current unknown words represent names. The fourth and final segment describes the local star, and then goes on to describe other stars. Where the other stars have been identified, there is no pattern to their location. This suggests that whoever built these obelisks has access to technology similar to the Ancient Wormhole Expansion Drive in use by the VBU, but this is purely speculation.
The language of the obelisks has not been found anywhere else, and shares only superficial similarities with any other known alien language. Most scientists theorise that the language was devised especially for the obelisks, similar in intention to the many SETI messages sent from earth in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Additionally, within each obelisk is a small chamber containing a sample of a transuranic element not present on the moon on which the obelisk is placed, alongside an inscription showing the atomic number of the element, how much of it was interred and the half-life in terms of the period of the orbit of the body. This can be used as a rough clock, marking how long since the obelisk was placed. The oldest obelisk is approximately nine hundred years old, but the newest is merely one hundred and twenty years old.
Several organisations are actively searching for more obelisks, or any evidence of the society that placed them. There is a fear that they would be hostile, but many hope that they might provide a vital insight into defeating, or at least surviving, the Outsider.

Item type

Navigational Aid / Instrument

Related ethnicities

• Bluestone Aliens

Rarity

Seventeen found so far, unknown number still to be discovered

Dimensions

Varies from 10m tall to 70m tall

Raw materials & Components

Made of an unknown granite-like bluestone, with platinum inlay