immemorial survivals: May 2011

Decrypted Correspondence Fragment - Boreal-Liminar Array

Reconnaissance has gathered these articles documenting Indigenous activity at Emplacement 4 (Coastal):

A. Excerpt from archaic expedition journal, recovered from ruin across from Emplacement site:

The Object is not far ahead now, so says our guide as best we can tell. He still hasn't stopped giving us that look, which in his position is understandable I suppose. If two women and a man arrived in my village from a land I'd only seen written of in carved stone, asking after the strange looming thing of the coast, I'd certainly find it difficult to adjust to the fact that I'd been entrusted to guide them. We've come a very long way.

Not looking forward to siphoning from the Object. If the Institute is correct (and they certainly should be, funding an expedition at a time like this), then the Object should be casting flares and wilting the local greenery right now. Nela and Dan both have extraction experience as much as me, but that doesn't change the fact that no one before us has come so far to harvest from an Object this potent.

Yesterday Dan went on about it being “strange to harvest resources from something built for some other purpose by people long before us.” I can’t say his reservations were welcomed by Nela and me. "Research Expedition" sounds nice, but it's no secret that the only priority we have that matters is to bring back something to make the situation better back home. Just hope Nela's doing alright, she's strong but I can tell that what happened in her district before we left must still be wearing on her.

B. Approximate transcription of carved text in stone along a path in view of Emplacement site:

This silent Spectre, long ago, began belching flame, and causing all growing things to wither. The people of the land nearby feared famine. The emanations of decay continued to spread from the ill place, regardless of the people’s protestations. This dread condition continued until the arrival of the Three Envoys. Recognising the Spectre as a threat to the stability of the earth and its people, the Three had set out from their distant dwellings, seeking to remedy the Blight. Having sacrificed much in crossing the vast earth, the Three confronted the Spectre and learned what would be further required from them to fulfill their task. Performing elaborate rituals, the Three sacrificed their own lives in a brilliant flash. Afterward the Spectre's miasmal exhalations abruptly ended. Thus this land is an Emblem of Sacrifice. The People now give up much to travel here as the Three Envoys did, in order to recognise the virtues of Sacrifice.

These articles indicate that Indigenous interference with Emplacements has been consistent, including a sustained period of resource harvesting from multiple sites. Emplacement 4 has been used as a destination of Pilgrimage by the Indigenous since the last active cycle was disrupted. Further assessment contingent upon proceeding(…)

[Decrypt End]