Copyright 2007 ©

I have a few mysteries in mind that can be weaved into varied story lines, if not deeply explored than casually mentioned.

The Lady of Magic:

A ghostly entity reported by spacers to haunt ships passing through the Galaxies Edge. The entity appears in the form of an Apsu woman; descriptions of her demenor vary from a calm enticing figure, or an agressive, possibly angry one. Sightings have been reported by hundreds of spaces on all manner of vessels, the one common element to the reports being that as soon as the ships past beyond the outter most rocks of the edge her form slowly turns to vapor. Spacers took to calling the being the Lady of Magic as she would often appear to men alone in the quarters, usually asleep; lifting them from their beds and moving objects about the room. After such an experience many men reported a sense of bliss and calm that overcame them in their time with the Lady.

The Philosphers Stone:

As reported the Philosophers Stone is a singular abnormality in a fixed point in space. The few reported encounters with the stone can be traced to this stationary point around which the rest of the galaxy seems to move unaffected. One particular encounter was captured on video; Aboard a ship called the Eldleon, a Functite man named James was sharing a drink and laugh in the ships galley with a Conduran man named Manjhune. In the video file all seems normal, and then suddenly a disturbance can be seen in a nearby bulkhead. The subtle swift moving disturbance crosses Monjhune's upper body at which point his head shoulders and torso explode splattering all over the room, covering walls, furnishings and James alike in the remains of the Conduran. Standing there trembling in shock; he lets out a horrid scream just as Manjhune suddenly re-constitutes and collapses to his knees. Delusional and gasping for air Manjhune frantically thrashed about until other crewmen arrived to investigate the screaming. In the confusion the distortion continued to pass through the rest of the ship and back into open space. It was total happenstance that the event was captured on video; the ships quartermaster, who also served as its cook had installed an optic to catch a thief who had been stealing rations, instead what he caught, was an encounter with what came to be known as the Philosophers stone. As the distortion passed through the ship all her instruments failed and the Navigation systems were scrambled. It was days before the systems returned to normal and they were able to figure out where they were. The crew claimed that when the instruments came back online they were half a light year away from where they thought they should be.

Researchers would pour over the video and the ships damaged logs looking for clues as to when and where the encounter occurred.  The only added information was captured by the ships external optics where a small silver box could be seen off the ships bow just moments before Monjhune’s encounter.  Theories of what the box was, what caused the event or if the box was even related to the event are as numerous as the number of people investigating the event.  Some claim that when unconverted (the internal optic was of a lower quality than the device on the ships exterior) the distortion can be seen as the same small silver box. 

As for the two men involved, James returned home to Tchefuncte living in a small house at the base of the mountain on the edge of Asoltico where he grows flowers and makes candles for local festivals.  Once on terra firma he vowed never to return to the stars again.  Monjhune, driven mad by the experience could not go home, the planet of his birth no longer welcomed men since the Malorian revolution banned all off world men from entering Conduran air space.  His whereabouts were soon lost to the record. 

The Ancients:

The Galaxies greatest mystery surrounds a series of questions related to the beings that brought the varied races into contact with one another. Who were the Ancients, why did they come, why did they bring the Apsu and Syk'arans into the galaxy? And the most curious, why are there no records of what they looked like? During their time in the galaxy, the Ancients made contact with every known sentient species yet no record of their appearance remains. No still pictures, no drawings, no video not even audio recordings remain.  And it would seem quite taboo to inquire as to why.  The Ancients never mingled among the common people; they spoke only with political leaders in private consultation.  Often they would send Apsu as their envoys who would, on their behalf speak directly to a local people in mass rallies where new technologies and ideas were offered directly to the masses who would often gleefully accept the amazing new advancements.  They never asked for anything in return, not even thanks was required; they created the infrastructure for the galactic record, they provided ships and satellites, technologies both personal and public societies across the galaxy move from early metal forming agrarian people to galactic aged travelers in a matter of a few centuries.  Huge leaps in societal structure accompanied the technology as people were taught more efficient ways to organize their societies.   There was of course resistance but often progress moved forward despite the agitation, or as in the case of Tuatara, those resistant to the new ways were simply left behind.  Yet the questions remain.  Why?  Was it simply altruism, or did the Ancients have other motives?