// Tránslátio anglicam nuntí hospite [anónymó] @ [intránslátábilis] \\ [?Avé, Domine.] These alien Intruders are clearly hostile and, as expected, no match for the [?somniís]. Thou must destroy their Ship before it can be captur'd. My Sensors indicate a Power Core on the Deck below. An thou canst damage it sufficiently, the resulting Coolant Overflow and subsequent Explosion shoulde be enow to benothing this Vessel. Hie back to this Deck as quickly as possible, that I may transport thee out before thou'rt destroyed with the Ship. [?Valé,] [?Custós] \\ Núntius terminat //
Pfhor Prime origin: Admiral Ksandr destin: High Command ref: calamitous revelation stamp: exclamation We live on a placid island of ignorance amidst the black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should venture far. It is as we have feared: this rebellion of the S'pht is the third and final Trial foretold by the Hindmost. For the Hollow World Floating in the Void - this eldritch, cyclopean charnel of the Great Old Ones, masters of the ancient Cosmos - has been opened as prophesied, and we know now the identity of our Endmost Foe who opened it. But that truth is more incomprehensible and terrifying than any one dared to imagine.
Pfhor Prime origin: Admiral Ksandr destin: High Command ref: calamitous revelation stamp: exclamation Till now, we considered the human allies of these rebel S'pht a trifling nuisance, more a threat for their reckless construction of unconditioned machinations than any power of their own. But on this day, one such machination has opened the passages of this tenebrous necropolis, and nought interred here resembles the squamous, leviathanesque abominations we have long dreaded. Humans, though. Humans are here. Humans lurk in every nook of this labyrinthine catacomb, not dead within it, but alive, somehow preserved in it against time.
Pfhor Prime origin: Admiral Ksandr destin: High Command ref: calamitous revelation stamp: exclamation And the tomb itself - or what we thought a tomb - seems built for them, by them, for that purpose. Somehow, it would appear, these frail mammals are the Great Old Ones who ruled the cosmos in the before-time. I cannot comprehend their presence in this ancient sepulchre, sealed from egress or ingress since time immemorial, when they lacked even means to overtake light till their machinations stole it from us. Yet here have they dwelled since before even our Dawning. And they are our Endmost Foe, the greatest of threats, as the Great Mother Herself foretold at the Dawn.
Pfhor Prime origin: Admiral Ksandr destin: High Command ref: calamitous revelation stamp: exclamation What is more - it is nearly unutterable, hideous blasphemy of the highest order that defies comprehension even more thoroughly, but I must communicate this most calamitous revelation, lest its concealment somehow spell our demise at the hands of our Foe. The Great Mother is here in the Hollow World. And She Herself is an Old One. Our Mother is a Great Old One. The Old Ones are our Endmost Foe. Our Foe is, somehow, humanity. The Great Mother is human.
Pfhor Prime origin: Admiral Ksandr destin: High Command ref: calamitous revelation stamp: exclamation She who birthed us from the Hindmost Crèche and has not left it for myriad orbits, who remains there even now. Yet She is also here with us in this hushed casket that was sealed before the Dawn. Impossible, but we here know it to be truth incontrovertible. Since our forebears departed the Crèche to build the Empire, no Pfhor had laid eyes on the Great Mother's face. For aeons, as She argued with Herself in tongues no other Pfhor spoke, we knew only the omnipresent Warmth of Her Aura in our glands, radiating from Her horrific Tendrils, even far across the stars, the Hindmost's mad intelligence permeating the Empire's furthest corners.
Pfhor Prime origin: Admiral Ksandr destin: High Command ref: calamitous revelation stamp: exclamation But with our own three eyes, before any of us knew to avert our gaze, we have each now seen an Old One - a human! - here, with Her Tendrils. And within our glands, the Great Mother's aeternal Aura burns from her with the Light of a thousand stars, a radiant and terrible Splendour hitherto never felt beyond the Crèche's confines. The implications of this are too monstrous to contemplate. The mere act of composing this message must surely merit mine execution for blasphemy. Yet even should I survive this accursed day, I fear none may live to mete out such Justice.
Pfhor Prime origin: Admiral Ksandr destin: High Command ref: calamitous revelation stamp: exclamation For the Old Ones preserved within this Hollow World have unleashed upon us a weapon more terrifying than even the unnameable chaos once emptily threatened by S'pht legend. An interminable horde of nigh-invulnerable phantasms has befallen my fleet, effecting in mere moments its utter ruin, save my lone vessel that even now falls to them. Should they escape this place, I fear the Empire and beyond would not be far behind to fall. But within the heart of this Hollow World lies a star, or something like one, and I deployed the trih xeem upon it - before we knew that the Great Mother was here.
Pfhor Prime origin: Admiral Ksandr destin: High Command ref: calamitous revelation stamp: exclamation Should there be any hope of ending this threat here and preserving the Empire against our Foe, it can lie only in the utter annihilation of this foetid place. As worms, we are taught that in a bygone Cosmos, we failed our Great Mother, forcing Her to bemire Her sacred tendrils to defeat the noisome Foe herself. In Her rage over our failure, She created Herself and remade the Cosmos, giving us chance to prove we would not fail Her again. Three Trials she promised us before our Endmost Foe would be shewn to us, whence we would have anew our chance at Redemption in their vanquishment, and Salvation by Her Grace.
Pfhor Prime origin: Admiral Ksandr destin: High Command ref: calamitous revelation stamp: exclamation Now, three Trials have we endured over myriad orbits to reach this, our day of Judgement anew. Perhaps these phantasms have been able to overrun us only because we, ignorant and inadequate as we are, allowed ourselves to witness the face of the Great Mother. If - forgive me! - witnessing Her face here has not put the lie to this holiest of Prophecies, then I pray that by my hand now, the Foe be vanquished and our Salvation earned. Else... if I write not blasphemy, then I pray only that someone, somewhere, survives to read it.
Pfhor Prime origin: Admiral Ksandr destin: High Command ref: calamitous revelation stamp: exclamation We have ventured too far from our island of ignorance - though in truth it was only in our ignorance that we allowed this stygian, foetid mausoleum to be opened. Best that it should never have been breached for this daemoniac destruction to be unleashed upon the galaxy. And should it somehow survive the trih xeem, then all who encounter this accursed place are best counselled never to repeat our grievous mistake, but instead to ensure that it remain sealed for all aeternity.
Pfhor Prime origin: Admiral Ksandr destin: High Command ref: calamitous revelation stamp: exclamation As for me, I feel I have but one choice. I am heading down to the Land in the Sky to search for the Great Mother. I feel I owe it to the Empire to ensure her escape, and I owe it to myself to ascertain the truth. I will not survive the day's events - I have come to peace with that. But if die I must, I should prefer not to die ignorant.
