Crimson Sand
Ashtan. That is the name your parents have endowed you with the day you hatched. Your parents are now the heads of a respected family in Duv'al, the sacred capital of all your kin. But as they enjoy a life of humble luxury and proud piety, you drift and toil here atop the boiling hot sands, braving the desert alongside an entourage of ten, the sun rays above smiting your natural hat and blinding your only eye as the cruel grains below graze and scorch your eight, tentacular limbs.
Why were you sent here? To establish an outpost for the Duvenkind. Your kind. Where exactly are you headed? To a land of abundance, an oasis on the desert. A beautiful, gilded city of a now extinct civilization, littered with the remnants of towering builds of doctored sandstone. Even the graves of the great Hu-Mans are a striking sight to behold. Those are mighty pyramids, obstructing even the sun with their height. Now the city lies in ruins, while the Emperor hopes it to be still somewhat hospitable.
When pioneering explorers of your race first discovered this site, they found it in an alike state - devastated. But those explorers are long gone, and it remains unknown until now what happened that caused the 'Mans' annihilation. All knowledge of these beings' history comes not from these explorers, but their predecessors who recorded in writing their alleged meetings with the Hu-Mans.
Unlike the one in Duv'al, their town square is said not to house rows of habitats but rather a crater, decorated only with the shattered remnants of what seems to be an ancient Hu-Man leader's statue. The statue is so wonderful in truth, that not even the gods are graced with anything remotely so fantastic in Duv'al! By worshipping their lord so, did the 'Mans invoke the jealous anger of the gods? Is that how they died?
Why were you sent here? To establish an outpost for the Duvenkind. Your kind. Where exactly are you headed? To a land of abundance, an oasis on the desert. A beautiful, gilded city of a now extinct civilization, littered with the remnants of towering builds of doctored sandstone. Even the graves of the great Hu-Mans are a striking sight to behold. Those are mighty pyramids, obstructing even the sun with their height. Now the city lies in ruins, while the Emperor hopes it to be still somewhat hospitable.
When pioneering explorers of your race first discovered this site, they found it in an alike state - devastated. But those explorers are long gone, and it remains unknown until now what happened that caused the 'Mans' annihilation. All knowledge of these beings' history comes not from these explorers, but their predecessors who recorded in writing their alleged meetings with the Hu-Mans.
Unlike the one in Duv'al, their town square is said not to house rows of habitats but rather a crater, decorated only with the shattered remnants of what seems to be an ancient Hu-Man leader's statue. The statue is so wonderful in truth, that not even the gods are graced with anything remotely so fantastic in Duv'al! By worshipping their lord so, did the 'Mans invoke the jealous anger of the gods? Is that how they died?
You have 5 choices:
- The 'Mans were a brilliant species! How could they have possibly blundered so?
- It is fortunate that the Duven instead devote great reverence to the gods.
- Maybe it was their irresponsible use of power that brought about their end?
- Some questions simply cannot be satisfactorily answered at the time.
- Their fate matters not. What matters is the fate of my mission.