Treatise on Samarra - Publication by Doctor Wilhelm Strauss

[Chrysalis]

HISTORY - CHAPTER ONE, THE PIONEERS:

"Gentle blessings upon thee ardent pioneers, that led by dreams of greatness sailed the endless void and found the small jewel in the midst of it." – Pioneers 5:1

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Piecing together a definitive account of the initial years of Samarran history proved to be cumbersome, as historical accounts from the time, if you could even call them that, were only found in local folk tales and in native religious scripture. After disembarking and establishing my presence to the powers that be, I naturally started a multifaceted investigation, listening to local tales and petitioning the Samarran Temple of Light to allow me access to their archives, only to be stonewalled at every step by highly inconsistent narrative and the priesthood’s apparent apathy for my plight.

Regardless, I didn’t allow myself to be defeated, and I started methodically dissecting and compiling the folk tales, looking for consistently overlapping elements. Additionally, I contacted various local dissidents and bartered some, to me, primitive technology in exchange for copies of Temple documents pertaining to that time. From here I managed to piece together a relatively trustworthy narrative of two early periods the locals call the “Pioneer Era” and the “Century of Troubles”, respectively.

It is known that three colony ships, Assyria, Mesopotamia, and the Babylon traveled from Sirius to reach the planet in 321 A.S, a bit over 500 years ago, and the initial settlement grew outward from their repurposed husks. However, one of the earliest inconsistencies I encountered in the local narrative, were occasional references to a fourth ship that is apparently absent in other accounts. By studying copies of Temple documents, I managed to solve this inconsistency, among others, and confirm that there was indeed a fourth ship that unfortunately didn’t reach its destination, having been destroyed in some catastrophic event along the way. I held these documents in high regard because, despite their purple prose format filled with nonsensical religious bloat, they were highly consistent regarding the past, and invaluable in mediating and cross-referencing other sources.

To digress no further, the initial settlement, named Assyria in honor of the first ship to touch down on the arid soil was erected at the center of the largest divide between the two great rivers, and the colonists quickly surveyed the area for usable materials. Fortunately, they found few of the native plants to be edible, and this coupled with the grain seeds and provisions they brought from Sirius, ensured a steady supply of food for the time being. Irrigation systems were already being constructed as the two other colony ships made landfall, and the colonists worked quickly to establish themselves, and make the best of a less than ideal situation.

The following decades were spent in peace as the colonists cooperated to turn the unlivable desert into paradise, sacrificing technological progress and the ability for spaceflight, for more ground based feats of engineering pertaining to mining, food production and shelter from the unbearable heat at day, and freezing cold at night. The demographic records from the time show an excessive growth over the first century, the population effectively doubling by the middle of the century, then tripling by the end. This unfortunately brought more trouble than it was worth, as the increase in workforce came with a decrease in available food, extreme shortages becoming common by the end of the first century.

As a result of this, tensions rose among the population, and eventually by 402 A.S, splintering clans and factions formed and started aggressively competing for fuel sources, liquor trade and food. The factions were primarily divided into three blocs, one representing the Black Gold Fortress, a petroleum oil rig and refinery deep in the wastes, where the rivers disappear into the sands. Khan’s Towers, a mining settlement in the northern wastes (today known as the Cloister of Anu), and Assyria City, until then the de jure and de facto capital and financial center of the colony. Occasional squabbles and skirmishes became more and more heated during the next decade, and by 413 A.S, erupted into a full-scale war between the factions, major and minor alike. This period lasted for 99 years, and is referred to as the “Century of Troubles”.

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