Nova

Far above the windswept peaks of Zenith is a land which remains a mystery to all but a few. Reports from those who claim to have visited the shard called Nova include tales of endless sandy deserts, with violent windstorms carving strange shapes among the rocky buttes that dot the horizon. Stranger still are the gigantic many-legged arthropods known as Novapendra, the inhabitants of this shard.

There have always been stories. Old stories that havesomehow taken on lives of their own, passed down from mother to child, from storyteller to captive audience. Older than the more recent tales from travelers who claim to have been there...

Crickets, as big as the Yakirin of Zenith, swarming in uncounted multitudes across silt-covered plains, the enormous centipedes like lone sentinels watching them from above, perched on rocky outcroppings. The Novapendra, arranged at intervals around natural stone circles, singing in unison and creating a pillar of incandescent white light which erupts from the circle’s center and fires upward into the heavens. Labyrinths of tunnels and chambers, dug to immeasurable depths, bathed in an ultraviolet glow and filled with behemoth cocoons. A crystalline temple, towers taller than the tallest spires of Quill from before the Fall, scintillating and shimmering in the neverending light.

Legends? Memories? No one is quite sure. One thing is certain: the Novapendra emissaries on Haark have made it quite clear that Nova would not be a welcoming place for visitors. The only Folk foolish enough to try their luck regularly are Chitineers, those foul-tempered, trophy-hunting outcasts from Haark. Can they and their stories be trusted?