Region 86, The Amiant Cluster (Mekhala)
The Amiant Cluster
Geography:
As with most of the rest of Mekhala, the cluster is dominated by empty space and smaller asteroids, which are of little note -- although that has begun to change since the arrival of the custodial units of C.A.S.S.I.O.P.E. and Basu-Rahman Affiliates, as some of these minor bodies have become host to relay infrastructure and other bases of operation. The largest asteroid in the cluster, an irregular siliceous mass approximately 150 clicks across known as Amiant, is home to the majority of the region’s life and activity. Amiant is subdivided into two major regions, colloquially referred to as the dark and light sides in accordance with their appearance at the surface (with one being a gray several shades darker than the other). In addition to the shade, the dark side is also significantly less bumpy, more consolidated (almost no dust and very compacted, despite the asteroid-scale gravity), and has no signs of inhabitants whatsoever. Much of the light side is little more than a loose aggregation of dust and small rocks at the surface, simply settled into place by the weak pull of gravity. In select areas of the light side, flat, circular landing areas dot the landscape, the surface concreted together by the recent newcomers using a cement mixed with vacuum-resistant kelp mucus. Wide semicircular gateways stand at the edges of these circular landing pads, where visitors can descend into the heart of Amiant: the tunnels.
After about a kilometer of walking, the newly built, mucus-cemented tunnel walls merge into a much older tunnel network, which appears to have its walls reinforced with a strange sort of fibrous mineral, laid across and within the rocky material in all different directions, in a manner which seems to bind the tunnel wall together (and also provide a slight springiness in the floor). The tunnels, no less than ten meters in diameter, form a complex, sprawling network running under most parts of the light side of Amiant. The inside of the tunnel network is a vacuum, and typically pitch black (within the visible light spectrum, at least). Occasionally tunnels intersect or open up into larger chambers, tens or hundreds of meters across, which are often criss-crossed with the same fiber matted into sheets that subdivide the space or bridge across it. Some of these chambers are also largely without this fiber, instead opening into unconsolidated cavities where mining takes place.
Amiant has an extremely slow rate of rotation. A typical point on the surface might see Ophon for three hundred hours before an equivalent time facing the relative darkness of Outer Tekhum. As a result, the tunnels of Amiant that are home to the Fibrils see a wide range of temperature variation, an effective ‘day’ and ‘night’ that transpire despite the consistent darkness to the eyes of most organics. During the day, when the light side of Amiant faces Ophon and the temperature is warmer in the tunnels (entirely unsafe for most anything not in protective gear, ranging from 50-100 Celcius) are periods of activity, where the Fibrils go about their work and their rituals. During the ‘nights,’ temperatures drop as low as -100 Celcius, and Fibrils go to sleep, typically in large groups with others of similar size, within ‘nests’ of thick, matted mineral fiber found in some of the chambers. This temperature change is less drastic as one goes deeper into the asteroid, where it gets uniformly on the warmer end. In the very deepest parts of the tunnel network, the tunnel density decreases, leaving at the end only a pair of 10-meter tunnels, winding helically around one another for the last few kilometers leading to the Final Chamber, the only portion of the Fibril tunnels located underneath the dark side.
Recently, many of these chambers have begun to also feature outside presence, such as in media receivers that allow BRG relay stations on the outside to reach their Fibril viewers. These are often in dedicated rooms, which isolate these outside broadcasts somewhat from the bulk of Fibril society, although not by much seeing as how packed the screen rooms tend to be.
People:
Amiant is inhabited exclusively by creatures known as Fibrils, a type of lithoid entity composed of stone suffused with either magic or a biology so alien so as to enable intelligence and motion like that of organic life. A Fibril’s body, itself divided into a rotund thorax with a smaller beady-eyed head and rather small abdomen at the ends, is entirely obscured by a loose, fluffy cloud of mineral fiber, typically a light gray but sometimes also in faint, pastel-esque hues of blue, green, brown, and yellow. Emerging from the mostly spherical cloud are eight appendages -- round, flexible tubes with surfaces like a high-grade fabric hose densely woven from the same fiber, arcing up out of the thorax and tapering on the way back down to meet the ground with gripping pads composed of hundreds of fine fibers. The Fibrils live a peaceful, communal existence for the most part, under the mostly-ceremonial rule of a council of their largest elders (Fibrils continually grow throughout their lives, starting the size of a space-golf ball and having the potential to grow to the point where they barely fit through the narrowest tunnels; the average adult has a body about four feet in length, but appears much larger with cloud and legs included).
As a mostly air-evacuated atmosphere tends to be insufficient for using sound to communicate, Fibrils have developed a language communicated through taps and scrapes against whatever stone floor/wall/etc they may be standing on (or alternately, sent as vibration through tensioned mineral fiber structures). Additionally, Fibrils naturally emit light as part of their digestion, by which they are able to see. This light, however, is not within the typical visible spectrum for humans and some other organics, and the primary visible spectrum for humans is not visible to Fibrils.
Resource:
The Fibrils are natural weavers, and are extremely proficient with all manner of fiber arts. This is most used in their own application of natural mineral fiber for construction and all manner of personal wrappings, and for their most sacred rituals. In recent years, with the import of fibers and fabrics less injurious to organic life, they have taken to sharing simulacra of the projects of their Star’s End rituals with outsiders, oftentimes to the instruction of a particular patron requesting a fanciful garment. One of their favorite new fabrics to work with has been fine kelp filament, which they have developed novel ways of spinning, weaving, knitting, matting, and sewing into the highest known quality grades of thread, fabric, and wearable art.
Naturally, high fashion is also high art. Haute Couture has the resource categories of Luxury Goods and Art and Cultural Products.
The Fibrils, as no surprise for a lithoid species, have a diet consisting largely of mineral ores. Many of the tastiest and most filling of these are becoming increasingly rare within Amiant after centuries of extensive mining, and thus more ores are a necessary import.
Faith:
Star’s End is the most important ritual of the Fibrils, performed once per cycle at the end of the Amiant day. Thousands upon thousands of Fibrils will spend several hours crafting and donning protective garb to insulate themselves from the heat of the Final Chamber (unbearable even to Fibrils, and even then only Fibrils of a certain size can survive the journey, making it a sort of coming-of-age experience), and a lucky few will contribute to that cycle’s Stars. Typically these are humanoid dolls knitted lovingly from mineral fiber, draped in clothing of the most fanciful arrangements of color, texture, and geometry. Suspended like puppets between ropes held by the extra-insulated Fibrils, a procession of these Stars pursued by no less than half of the Fibril populace descends toward the Final Chamber at the deepest point of the tunnels, rhythmically tapping the tunnel walls along the way. Upon arrival, the ceremony as well as the rhythmic chant-like stomp-singing reaches its culmination, as the helical approach tunnels open into a wide chamber, where the stone is magically stained to a pitch black across all spectrums of light. At the center of this chamber floats a perfect, lightless sphere of incomprehensible size -- although that is not to say that it is particularly large or small. The orb pulsates with magical energy, felt by the Fibrils in a manner not dissimilar to the pounding bass at a rock concert (although of course the latter would typically not be able to travel through vacuum). One by one, the Stars of Amiant are given a final refrain of the chant, and hurled toward the orb. Upon contact, the doll and its magnificent outfit instantly disappear, leaving no trace and making no sound.
Sometimes, the doll Stars will be joined by a Fibril Star, the largest elder having made the decision to retire in the most honorable and spectacular manner possible. Similarly, they don their custom high-fashion garment, fitted for their arachnoid form, and lead the procession and its song. Once at the final chamber, these living Stars leap gracefully down to meet their End.