Treatise on Samarra - Publication by Doctor Wilhelm Strauss

[Chrysalis]

INTRODUCTORY OVERVIEW:

“And I finally beheld it, the jewel and the blemish, part perdition and part salvation, the dry island in the endless void.” – Pioneers 2:1

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Located inside a spatial anomaly, a clear zone of the edge nebula far beyond what is known today as the Nomad Worlds, lies the Babylon system. So named by the natives, the Babylon red giant star is orbited by two major planetary bodies, and an indeterminate number of asteroids grouped in belts or otherwise scattered around the system. The larger of the two planets is Sur-Marrati, a red tinted, barren world devoid of any life or atmosphere. The slightly smaller of the two, is a barely habitable desert planet orbited by a single moon, and possessing of a strange, technologically primitive, yet nonetheless sophisticated civilization; The focal point of this treatise – Samarra.

To describe Samarra as an arid planet would be an understatement, its dry ravines and endless seas of dust and sand that dominate the vast majority of its surface often go decades without a single drop of rain. The planet orbits its red giant sun at a comfortable distance, yet it takes about 50 standard hours to complete a revolution around its axis, leading to searing hot days and freezing nights. This coupled with its general lack of water, farmable land, and native flora leaves a lot to be desired in terms of large-scale colonization.

Yet, in 322 A.S, three colony ships, each carrying around three thousand people from the Sirian houses made planet fall, by necessity according to some accounts, and to others under the benevolent guidance of mystical beings that shepherded the colonists to their new home. Regardless of the version, it is known that both of the ships landed on a mountainous plateau, nestled between two large rivers, the largest sources of water on the planet. Here the colonists dismantled their ships and repurposed their components into a rudimentary settlement, laying the groundwork for what is today known as “Assyria Megalopolis”, the capital of the Samarran Dominion.

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