Melody of Souls: The Precursor of Chaos
Supplementary material to Melody of Souls-Crescendo
"So long ago, before the world was made, the stars set aflame and man shaped, there was nothing. The whole of our Universe, from empty edge to empty expanding edge, was devoid of anything but the Mind. And then there was everything. In a moment, magic created a world, one born not in Chaos or Darkness, but one of Light and Goodness, at least for the moment. From there, our continent of Valoran, and all of Runeterra indeed, traces of our past began to appear, until Man and Magic were neatly one. For millions upon millions of years, our people and its civilization grew, spanning at the apex not merely the entire surface of Runeterra but nearby moons, planets, and indeed other star systems. We were the giants, as far as we knew. But one seemingly minor event brought our civilization to its collective knees, and that was when we were far mightier. The ongoing crisis may very well be the fatal blow. Only the Gods know of our success or failure even as we stand on the edge of defeat. Honor be with us all, and let this tale be a warning, and also inspiration for our descendants. The following is an epic of our civilization, as it is, has been, and shall be, such is and shall always be. And so with the near end of our people begins our tale, so Gods help the following story of our people be told true through the ages."
~The prologue, A Wondrous Record of the Ages, circa 26523 Before Chaos Age (3 years before the fall of the United Runeterra Empire, 43212 years before present)
Translation note: While the most accurate translations available have been made, there are some particular vernaculars with an as yet unknown meaning. All locations called by their ancient Runeterran name are modified to present-day names, and both time periods and years are expressed in traditional Runeterran and modern League/Institute nomenclatures.
26511 B.C.A, Valoran Capital City
The 7th age of the Empire, The Era of Prosperity
Yan Xiia-Shima III, High Templar, Malzamatt dynasty
7th rotation of the 1st sub-orbit
A gust of wind, long and magnificent, swept down the streets of Tal'Nakiro as dusk fell upon the quaint and nostalgic capital city of Valoran continent, one of the most powerful republics that the Empire was composed of. Located in the middle of the Shal'Rhymæ sand-flats (Shurima desert), the beautiful and modern metropolis was bedecked entirely in a wide variety of buildings large and small, all possessing the classical Wyrë (Glass and stone architectural practice dating from at least 35432 B.C.A) style of construction. As Autumn fell upon my beautiful city, the center of politics and culture in our wonderful new empire, the streets were now lined more than ever with sand and dust, stirred to life by the cool breeze. Not only did the dust sweep into the buildings, but even into a person's mouth and nose and choke now and then a few passerby who were milling about at this time approaching night.
The heart of the Runeterra Capital was well known for the magnificent and very beautiful river that somehow, despite all the odds, managed to flow through the middle of the desert, fed from the melted ice at the summit of the Frejlordian peaks, where it pooled itself into a small streams. Small streams merged to become larger creeks, which formed themselves to the mighty river Shirakawa, the same banks upon which the very first civilization in Runeterra were formed. They were the Lightbringers, the ancient peoples who, in their own language, called themselves a name that meant "all under heaven",such was their pride and belief in their knowledge. We,their sons and daughters, have used their sciences to great effect, and even so much of what they know was lost in their fall. That fall was horrible, and yet that fall was caused by none other than our own Empire.
I knew this much of the past and our people, and perhaps that is more than any other but the most learned, for indeed much of our own history has been lost. Long ago, so long ago, our forefathers in the fledging Empire (what then was a mere small Republic) it is believed by the highest of Scholar Templars that they fought a war againsr darkness. Back then humanity was a mere spot in the galaxy, but a small civilization, and by and large the only one we knew of. We may still be alone, but now we are mighty. We pray only that the darkness shall never return to haunt us once more.
I look upwards and crane my neck to the sky at the ear splitting shriek of a spacecraft engine, burning blue-white hot as it propels its craft higher into the sky, the propulsion system turning off as it exits the atmosphere of Runeterra a mere 50 kilometers above. It switches quickly to a jump drive that allows it to enter interspace, and with a shudder the craft speeds into the portal and an unknown destination. Our Empire had escaped the clutches of our mother planet over 3000 years ago, and now over 50 fertile and ripe worlds were being developed, mined, farmed or explored. There was no shortage of land and new discoveries, and there was no shortage of willing crew either, whether for mapping, industry or millitary purposes. The Empire defensive navy was ever vigilant in patrolling our boundaries, lest there rebels who refused to assimilate into the might of our state or otherwise unruly citizens.
Turning my gaze towards the ground now, I notice that there are more people than usual in the streets, humans and little creatures alike mingling about even at this late hour. The traffic is heavy, composed of a mixture of both small single-person two-wheel ground propulsion pods favored by the yordle minority and larger floating craft that humans traveled in. All of them trasverse the well-developed road and birdge system devised by our ancestors. Created many eons ago, according to the Record of Ages written by our forerunners, they slice and dice the planet's many continents and artifical oceans, connect northern peaks to central deserts, and cross vast plains between the cities of our homeland. There was no similar system on the other planets that our Navy had expanded to, so it was safe to assume our Predecessors, as we call our ancestors, were rooted firmly to the Runeterran soil, clouds and ocean.
A young female, perhaps barely 20 years of age and dressed in sharp Empire dress uniform, suddenly walks in front of me and orders me to halt. I hardly notice her persistent speech, focused on her beautiful body, her face golden and well-rounded like those from the Capital, the tops of her well-developed breasts almost peeking out, the absolutely mouthwatering proportions of her waist and hips. Making eye contact, I scan her face and see a nearly holy complexion, her dazzling almond eyes and long dark hair going down again, past her shoulders...and leading directly to the three stripes and pointed yellow star of a minor prodigy, a young Navy starship Commander.
"Xia", she says, calling my given name. "Your presence is requested on the bridge of the heavy battleship Pertinent Blade. The council requests a word with you."
"A word?" I manage to ask after remembering to breathe in, completely shocked by both her beauty and the unusual request. But she had already turned heels and left, leaving me to remnisce about her body from a different angle, and a sense of apprehension from meeting the council. Was it the rebellion stirring up trouble again?
26511 B.C.A, Valoran Capital City
The 7th age of the Empire, The Era of Prosperity
Azumi Shi'Naga, Imperial Navy Commander, Malzamatt dynasty
7th Rotation of the 1st sub-orbit.
Almost as soon as I stepped into the room, the elevator arrived. I stepped in, humming a traditional Empire children's song as the capsule descended upon the massive shaft beneath. Nearly 3 minutes later, the end came into view, the capsule having trasversed horizontally as well and now barely below ground. Before me the was the great expanse of hangar bay number 6Z, the pride of the fighter squadrons in the Home Fleet. All sorts of small sub-frigate spacecraft, from meter-long drones to old missile space fighters, from dropships to a 200 metre corvette class could he found. I inserted my rank card into the small data pad hanging off of a Tragic class stealth fighter, the chip beeping in satisfaction when it confirmed my identity via blood sample. I stepped into the pilot seats as the door hissed smartly behind me back into position. "Powered for launch. Ready to initiate at any time"
I fired the engines, letting them build to full and felt the corresponding force push me back into the pilot seats. Soon the ground of Runeterra far below began to show the slight curvature, the windows ahead changing from clouds to blue clearness in mere minutes, and then from sky to the pitch darkness of nothing but kilometre after kilometre of empty space. "Ship en route to target, fleet battleship Solitary Revelation, currently using a Hoffman maneuver to enter rendezvous range. Time to target approximately 59 minutes, distance to target 1608 kilometres and closing. Automatic pilot processes activated and functional", announced the ship's artificial memory construct. Course set, I rested my head on the sparse but above average furnishings, and prepared to take a light nap until arrival.
The swift chirping of the proximity alarm awakened me, sending my eyes darting across the projection before finding the 4 kilometre long heavy cruiser barely 900 metres away. I never ceased to be amazed by the massive ship under my command, nor the crew and weapons at my disposal onboard. Even now, seeing my ship again, it was all I could do not to let out a small gasp of pride and awe. It was one thing to be in command of a ship and understand the responsibilities of piloting what was essentially a giant death machine. It was quite another to be this close to the outer hull, seeing the length and girth of the battleship. Folds, creases and dents were visible, each a reminder of a past engagement. One in particular, gained in a hard fought battle against separatist groups in a nearby cluster, ran alongside nearly half of the ship, the deep cut only partially repaired and resembling in the current state a scar or perhaps a blood vessel. The ship loomed even closer, towering now far above and below the fighter I was in, the height seemingly insurmountable and the length endless. Windows after windows, many lit and bright, shone powerfully to illuminate the night. Thrusters and propulsion nozzles could be found seemingly randomly across the hull, with anti-bomber and anti-fighter chain guns scattered here and there as well. At the very forward end of the ship, next to the words "Solitary Revelation: ABB-15" written in a dull white, I thought there might have been a glimpse of the Purification weapon, the most powerful onboard, but before I could take a second look the fighter was already docked at one of the higher levels of the immense hangar within the ship. Below the stealth fighter were various vehicles for transit in ship corridors, various army regiments training and an entire Undaunted Inquisition-class destroyer, surrounded by a well sized escort of not one, not two, but three Holy Vengeance-class heavy corvettes as well. A quick look at my data interface told me the names of the ships: a 978 metre Pious Justice, flanked by 134 metre long Astral Blessing, Wondrous Pity and Ionic Symphonic. There was enough firepower in the small battlegroup within 1000 metres of me to wipe clean entire cities and remove them from existence. Such was the combined power of the Purification weapon and the fleet supporting it.
As powerful as the Solitary Revelation was, however, half a minute away at .7 sublight speed was a ship with more power than not just Solitary Revelation but also the other ships together, both offensively and defensively. Marked both by clear friend-or-foe tags and the silvery lettering on the stern and bow of the hull, it was the Argent Sword, a battleship by classification much like the Solitary Revelation, except the similarities ended there. With twice the thickness of armour plating protecting it and 40 percent longer, it was the flagship of not just a small battle group but an entire carrier force as well. It was rumored that a single shot from these heavy battleships could rip apart even a heavily armored enemy capital. There was no enemy force that could take down the Empire now, we had all believed. But even at the apex of the Empire, troubles remained.
The rebels in the far district had wanted sovereignty for three decades now from our rule, the rule of the Empire. The Empire, of course, refused. All systems had to become a collective to be successful, to ensure all planet's populations had enough minerals, foods and products. The Empire had no desire to fight, but only in the last few months yet another transport had been destroyed and vaporized by a small battle group of destroyers and frigates captured by the once loyal Colonial Navy Command. Since then the conflict had grown into war, sparked by hatred, separation and split ideals. Imperial cruisers were being destroyed one after another, our mismatched fleets configured for system patrols and not all-out battle with other starships. The rebels had gained one system after another, vowing independence and their own nation state. Our objective with this small group was to destroy the rebel's own flagship, a captured and nearly completed super-heavy battleship by the name of Argent Liberty. Nearly finished once rebellion broke out, the rebels had somehow managed to convert the battleship for their own use, adding armor and transforming the propulsion systems. As obsolete as the targeting systems were, the battleship nonetheless presented a massive threat to the colonies of our glorious Empire.
There was a pleasant humming noise from the ship's reactor as the ship began to undock from the station that it had been mated to. The cables tossed away, the hatches and airlocks closed, and the onboard power generator fully alive, I ordered a quick transition to translight travel. Soon enough, the ship now started to shudder under the stress of the load, and before long, the small detachment battle group was on its way to suppress the rebellion.
26521 B.C.A, The outer colony world of Isakandu
The 7th age of the Empire, The Era of Prosperity
Uri Dhak'Mado, Fleet Admiral, Unified Rebel Front
19th Rotation of the 14th sub-orbit.
The Empire had arrived again. That much was clear, with the sudden burst of electromagnetic activity just under 230 astronomical units out. The miniature-sized oort cloud surrounding the small sun shining softly was vaporized as a full round of enemy railguns cleared the area. One of our ships sent to investigate the incident, a Vivid Discontent-class light frigate, was destroyed in under 2 minutes, pinned down by a battle fleet of at least 12 ships, disabled and crippled, and ultimately completely pulverized.
I called immediately into action the defensive forces of the Unified Rebel Front government. The reply was sobering. Even the super-heavy battleship we had captured 10 years ago and had been placed under my command, the Argent Liberty, could not ease our worries. Once on the offensive and immensely powerful perhaps until 7 years ago, we had now been forced onto the defensive. Suffering from loss after loss, our navy remnants had been mercilessly pounded hard from our original front line over 1000 light years away to a mere 20 in under 7 years, and now it seemed that the front line had advanced further so that we too were swept under the steamroll of the Imperial Navy. In battle after battle, the Empire had swamped us with so many ships we were outgunned, outcrewed, and eventually outmaneuvered. Since the disastrous battle of Hak'Leet in 26514, the process of the Empire's so called "reclaiming", they had destroyed 30 star systems worth of habitable planets, extinguished perhaps thirty million lives, and ravaged nearly half of our rebellion fleet. Two half-equipped battle groups, both of them barely operational and mostly composed of nearly obsolete ships, were all that stood between the enemy fleet dispatch and the fall the last fortress world before our capital. Grimacing, I looked at our status reports, and put a battle plan into place. We could not fail, for defeat would result in complete destruction of our livelihoods. Victory was the only acceptable result. "Gods...please be with us", I whispered as the dark hulls of the Empire's fleet transformed into clearly visible ships.
265121 B.C.A, Chronos moon orbiting The United Rebel Front Core World of Shak'shilaai
The 7th age of the Empire, The Era of Prosperity
Uri Siri-Yai, Dark Templar, Unified Rebel Front
35th Rotation of the 27th sub-orbit.
The rocky world of Shak'shilaai, as barren and remote as it seemed to be from afar, was actually quite habitable. Chronos, the dark moon that was tidally locked and seemingly always in the shadow of Shak'shilaai, was not. Strong gusts of wind whipped up strong shards of stone and clouds of withering, painful sand, not fit for any human. And even so, I was here. Not for leisure, and certainly not for habitation. I was seeking the spot for the Transcendence, an ironic name given the purpose. The ceremony of Transcendence, myths said, would hardly bring any sort of spiritual lightness nor utopia. Instead, there was only one possible result: the opening of a portal from our world to a so called Chaos dimension, allowing the influx of a destructive spirit we could control. Whether this was ethical or not did not matter at the moment. If the summoning ceremony did not succeed, and Transcendece did not occur, it was quite that the Rebel Front would wither away to nothing. That could not be allowed to occur.
The eroded stone led to a even more minuscule path, barely visible under the eroded dirt. There was no way to discern if it was a correct path, for I was hurried. I hastily made my way over the small trail before finding a small fragment, half buried in the ground. Bending over to uncover it, I brushed off the centuries if not millennia of grime of the surface, picking it up and inspecting it meticulously. It was finely decorated and quite beautiful, with a smooth yet tough exterior that hinted at a former structure component. I was getting closer.
The next ancient artifact I found was larger than the previous, this one bearing the language of the Ancients. In a mixture of phonic alphabetic script and curvy pictographic glyphs, it spoke a partial message: "here is the sight of silentium, where-". The rest was far too broken and illegible to be read clearly. I moved on, increasing my pace now. Soon.
26521 B.C.A, The outer colony world of Isakandu
The 7th age of the Empire, The Era of Prosperity
Uri Dhak'Mado, Fleet Admiral, Unified Rebel Front
1st Rotation of the 15th sub-orbit.
Huge streaks of light emerged from the shadows, some of them barely missing our battle group, others making direct hits onto our ships. A small light frigate, the Intimidator, was struck down and neatly disabled, spinning out of control and imploded, taking out half the midship of the corvette Undaunted Rebellion nearby. The destroyer that had been escorting our ship, the Valiant Insurrection, suffered a solid barrage of weapons fire to the prow and lost all main weapons controls. Barely half a minute had passed, and already the battle group under my command had been reduced to three-quarters of what it had been before the engagement. With no choice, I ordered a temporary retreat, but not before ordering half a dozen nuclear missiles to be primed and launched ahead of us. The plumes of smoke dwindled down to a small column as they sped ahead of us in a higher orbit, and soon were out of visual range entirely.
26521 B.C.A, approaching the outer colony world of Iskandu
The 7th age of the Empire, The Era of Prosperity
Azumi Shi'Naga, Imperial Navy Captain, Shal'Yishin Dynasty
2nd Rotation of the 15th sub-orbit.
The enemy ships had fled, as expected. Small objects were fired from the enemy battleship, the very same Argent Liberty that I had attempted to pursue and destroy some 10 years ago with the first ship under my command, the Solitary Revelation. I had been a mere commander at the time. Now I was in full command of not a single heavy cruiser but half the battle group. And the bridge I captained was no longer that of a light battleship but a super-heavy, the Argent Eclipse, a sister ship of the one captured by the enemy in appearance and class, 12 kilometres in length and with the firepower to destroy an entire battle group by itself, and the ability to take on a fleet with proper support.
"Enemy capital within firing range" , our AI called. "Commencing targeting operations and preparing to charge primary offensive weapons. Target accelerating at 6.5*10^2 meters per second squared, out of range in 132 seconds." I acknowledged the AI with a brief nod before establishing communications with the Argent Liberty, which had now changed its nameplate to read Reconciliatory Solace. An interesting name, no doubt. But I didn't think it was a sign the rebels were ready for any sort of reconciliation. Even so, I was more than willing to extend a cheery blossom to the enemy. As soon as the link was established, I send my hologram to the Rebel Front capital, hoping for peace soon enough.
26521 B.C.A, The outer colony world of Isakandu
The 7th age of the Empire, The Era of Prosperity
Uri Dhak'Mado, Fleet Admiral, Unified Rebel Front
3rd Rotation of the 15th sub-orbit.
Surrender our ships, lay down our arms, and tell the rest of the forces to end the war with a ceasefire? The enemy captain appearing on our ship's hologram projector was either foolish or completely naïve, the proposition coming out of her mouth unattainable. I turned off the communication set and ordered a new course set for the faraway gas giant that orbited near the edges of the system. We would be able to jump into hiding and hopefully make small attacks from there, so long as the Empire did not know our position.
A nearby explosion, however, brought me back to reality. The enemy ships were gaining. Our reactor had been overworked as it was, with power diverted to energy shielding, propulsion and weapons. We would have to lose one to escape. I was pondering which of the systems were the least needed when another salvo of railgun fire attacked our ship. "Lower the shields" I finally decided as the reactor now began to feed power to the sublight engines.
It wasn't enough. I should have known. The only response of the Argent Eclipse was to take down its own shields and accelerate even faster. Cursing, I took down our weapons systems too. There was no point in attempting to return fire, it would only hinder our escape. Moments later, I saw the charge of the enemy's Ultimate weapon, as sparks flew from the barrel of their main railgun. "Brace for impact! ", I yelled, thinking it was too late. And then, the blinding flash of a reactor core explosion, oblivion.
When I opened my eyes again, shocked that I had somehow survived, I only had to take a glance at the bridge systems to see that the ship, other than the previously sustained damage, was completely intact. Puzzled, I looked around the bridge to see the officers confused as well. Then, a dawning realization. The escort carrier Dark Resolution, was gone from the bridge fleet projections. Already heavily damaged, it had moved in front of the Ultimate at the last second. All that remained of the once proud ship were ruins, some large beams once part of the superstructure, others small fragments that had been pulverized into specks of dust. A somehow intact Tragic stealth fighter, the same captured with the Argent Liberty so long ago, drifted in space. It flew alongside a lifepod, the only one to have held together long enough to escape. Together, there were no more than 30 survivors, from a previously massive crew of over 3000.
At last it seemed we had reached the warp point. The reactor diverted power from all other systems and charged out jump drive, one of the only self-contained jump devices available in the fleet. Most ships used warp stargates or relied on other ships with jump devices to carry them to the destination. The Argent Liberty, being a super-battleship, was considered important enough to have one of its own. Hastily retrofitted 2 years ago, I hoped that it would stand the rigors of travel. Praying softly and seeing the rest of the bridge crew do the same, I closed my eyes as the AI announced " Jump drive has been initiated. Entering warpspace. "
26521 B.C.A, pursuing the Rebel Front Fleet near the outer colony world of Iskandu
The 7th age of the Empire, The Era of Prosperity
Azumi Shi'Naga, Imperial Navy Captain, Shal'Yishin Dynasty
4th Rotation of the 16th sub-orbit.
They had somehow managed to escape. In an act that even I had to admit was honorable, the enemy carrier had sacrificed itself, jumping in front of our main weapons to shield the battleship. Nevertheless, I was determined to chase the super-battleship, no matter how difficult. I was someone who cared only for justice to be carried out- and Argent Eclipse would be my sword of retribution.
-End section 1