Ashes of Ak'Thakra (ˈɑk.ˈtʼɑkra)
An urn, a couple meters in height, containing a sample of Ak'Thakra's surface, now scorched by RKM bombardment at the end of the Battle of Ak'Tharka. It serves as a reminder to the population in orbit never to forget or forgive the STUN.
History
Two years or so after the destruction of Ak'Thakra's surface, people from an orbiting habitat, Ki'Raka Urak, went to the surface of the planet to do further exploration and scavenging. There they decided to take with them a memento, an amount of sand from near the former capital, Khar'Ak 'Than. They then made a large urn, and filled it with the partially glassed sand.
Significance
The urn represents Ak'Thakra, obviously. It represents a home now lost, scorched to ash. The people view it with great reverence. The urn rests in the deepest parts of the habitat's capital building, in a great sanctum, with all manner of other artifacts nearby.
"O Ak'Thakra, long lost home of ours! Thine great deserts, thine gilded river. Gone for an eternity more, we shall return one day, and bring the Urn with us."It also embodies the people's hatred of the STUN. Obviously, having your home and an important place destroyed by a hostile force will not make you look upon that force very favourably. It also represents the habitat's newfound isolationism.
Item type
Unique Artifact
Creation Date
2878
Dimensions
3m height, 1.5m in diameter at thickest
Raw materials & Components
Made largely of dull light brown porcelain, the urn also contains a lot of gold decorations, along with diamonds in ornate patterns.
The sand inside is partially turned to glass, as the heat of the RKMs' impact caused that. Though they impacted closer to the twilight, habitable band of the tidally locked world, Khar'Ak 'Than was close enough to the heat waves that it's sandy expanses were still partially glassed.
Super cool concept, the idea of a people who would see the evidence of a great crime looming on the horizon and would still want the urn spells two entirely different thought processes when it comes to these sorts of things. The scale of a world taken from an entire race, even if it is floating right outside a viewport or the like is often just too much for someone to be able to grasp. An urn though. A handful of sand and glass, those are things that people can grasp and hold onto as a symbol. Nice, short and sweet read.