Chronicles of The Etherium - Origins

[|nfrared]

Preservation

We waited, We waited. We knew we were alone now. There was nothing. Only the faint hope of the Eidolon. We were sick. I was growing weak from the radiation of the Fall. The nomads, my hate for them swelled. But I was powerless. I was to wait. To hope, or to die.

After the departure of the Eidolon, the Etherium were only able to wait out its return. This led to a long period of hopelessness and dismay. When the crew discovered that they were the only Etherium not getting any weaker did they come up with the idea that would allow the Etherium to sleep out this illness. They would intergrate the remaining survivors into the station as they were, if they chose to.

Many had already succumbed to the illness by this time. Whether it be from exposure where the station's radiation shielding had failed, or from desperate attempts to divided and survive despite the warning of the Temple's crew. The choice was given, stay awake and walk the station, or become part of the Temple as the crew had. This would see them woven into the station's computer system, increasing the processing capabilities at the same time. It would also mean that the body would cease its degenerative state although extracting themselves later could be difficult. Of the 100 or so remaining, only 32 chose to remain as fully physical active beings.

While the others went to into their intergrated state, those awake grew hateful and bitter over the following years. They knew they were doomed. As they grew weaker they became more desperate, their intellects slowly began deteriorating as their bodies had, each one going quite insane by Etherium standards. Some were determined to make one last strike against the nomad invaders or anything between them. One by one, they went down to the technology vault, fitting themselves with the most destructive personal weaponry implants the Etherium had come up with over the millenia.

They would then select a ship from among the fighters in the hangar, packing the cargo bay as portable research laboratory and engineering suite all in one, filling the entire ship with Iridium for their final journey. Knowing that they had only as much time as they had Iridium on their vessel, the survivors set out to strike a final blow against something... Anything.

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Shard - The Faceless One