The Nexus Metamorphosis/Chapter II - A Time for Research

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The Nexus Metamorphosis ^[1].

Chapter II - A Time for Research

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   Shortly after the disaster, Daeronn Cegrips requests as well as homins’ curiosity brought them back to the Nexus. The old outpost's ruins had collapsed into the bark. The higher powers moved their teleporters to a more central position, at the former location of Watchcomb Workshop which had now room enough to host camps for the scientists. As for the marauders, they settled on the site of the former Highwatch Farm
    The first scientists to settle there were the zoraï cartographers. They brought with them a set of landmarks that could deliver measures of the bark motion. With the help of many homins coming from all horizons, they could draw a new map of the island.

    Haido Xuan, the Dynastic Gardener, and the FISHES society^[2] warned Ma'Kwaï Mabreka about the possibility of major tremors to happen again, especially in the northern Nexus, which until now has been pretty well preserved. Mabreka and the Assembly of the Circles found that the grave and the stele of Sage Season, had to be moved to preserve it from the threat. After an in-depth search, and the advice of Pyphollo Zeps, a prospector, The stele was moved on top of a mound surrounded by berries, dandelions, pearls, and mosses, the so-called “all the seasons of Season”^[3]

    New sources of supreme quality appeared again in the following cycles, mostly near collapsed areas in which particularly strong and aggressive groups of Gibbaï seemed to have a special interest. Tryker scientists settled then in the camps. Trykers therefore launched a collection of these materials while fyros ones focused on those Gibbaï and their special jewels, and helped to make the interesting zones safer. Weirdly, for unknown reasons the Matis kingdom had kept away from these researches for a long while, they finally arrived in the camps, in late 2611, in charge of gathering an extensive collection of the newly discovered materials.

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    It soon became difficult to move around in the Nexus scientists' Kami camp crowded with crates and jars full of raw materials and necklaces. At the beginning of 2612, Daeronn Cegrips and Freccio Tinagno organized a transport to move most of the collection to Pyr and Zora^[4]. The first caravan, led by O'Keerrell Rinie, left the camp and headed to the desert through the Lands of Umbra. While it was quietly walking in the Elusive Forest, it was attacked by a large league of marauder Clans who managed to capture the mektoub caravan though a heroic defense of the warrior's escort. Even the rangers who came to protect from the hostile fauna were slaughtered without mercy. After drying their tears, the survivors, containing the wrath of their defeat, departed towards Zora with the second convoy. This one could reach the witherings though Gate of Obscurity and the Trench of Trials in spite of the attacks of the predators.

    In 2613, Haido Xuan, the Dynastic Gardener, discovered unusual concentration of gibbaïs nearby a giant Salina located in one of the deepest chasms of Hammer Hills^[5]. An expedition was organized to protect her and to observe and investigate this tree, and its surroundings. It appeared that a group of the so-called “primitives” were gathered around the tree base for an unknown reason. The group began a cautious approach in order to keep the gibbaï quiet. The movement was not discreet enough, so the guards attacked, but were soon overwhelmed. Getting closer to the salina revealed many scratches in its bark : gibbaï were obviously harvesting its sap and It was impossible to divert the harvesters from their task. The escort collected a significant bunch of sap samples for further research, then returned to the Kami outpost for a debriefing. The mystery of the Nexus gibbaï's outstanding aggressivity and strength might have some explanation: did they drew them out of their weird jewelry? of the giant Salina's sap? both? in any case, we homins should take better care of them.
In Floris 2613 Haido Xuan, led another second expedition, in order to find a more pacific way to deal with the gibbaï than to slaughter them. As someone suggested in the first expedition, the first step was to meet the Gibbads. Amagastaï, their leader, suggested that we could coax them with sweets such as Salins (the Salina fruits), which they are very fond of. However harvesting them is only possible in summer.

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Excerpt from “Memoirs of a seasoned ranger”, by Do'ro Thee