Re: Floor B25 - The Lost Corridors, Builder Bug Hive
Though the communicator senses the mixed shock and interest of his guests, it takes its time to reply. While the ruby sentinels keep watch, the golden bug moves about the room brushing antennae and forelegs against murals, sculptures and dioramas, now and then pausing in specific positions, contemplating the surrounding patterns at a new angle whose significance only it would know.
"You speak of the old masters," it finally replies. "They were our creators, the Solar and Lunar. In the Calendar of Irix, it was 3866 years ago, in the first cycle of Seedling-Pushes-Earth. In the calendar of the First Age of Man it is 1450 years after the death of the Primordials, and by the calendar of the Dragon-Children it is 2781 years before the rise of the Scarlet Empire." Third's mind works quickly to verify these numbers; the current year is RY 1085.
The golden insect continues to guide Dena and Third through the ornamented caverns, pausing now and then to examine the artistic representations of the events it explains. "We have lived here a long time, though not always awake. At times we lay dormant, hibernating, with no purpose to drive us. But do not misunderstand -- this facility, and its native intelligences, have existed even before we were born. We had no hand in its creation, but we were bioengineered to repair and maintain it, when the Celestials came to claim it as their fortress."
"In the Era of Shining Reflection the Creators were united. Little Mother created our three Queens to serve them, and among those who had a hand in our direction were the likes of Maia Wise-Eye, Cursed Sapphire, Shining Eye and Iris in a Field of Briars. In those days we numbered millions, and the factories churned daily, providing labor for the armies of the Clockwork General, the armaments of the Five Banner Warlords and the vessels of the Ruby Knights."
"Then came the Thousand Struggles. Five Coils, then known as Pillar of Creation, the Last Gift of the Maker, was utilized in full production as a factory-fortress of war. The General and all the others fought a war that spanned centuries. Oaths were broken and Circles shattered. In the end we lost track of our Masters three thousand years ago, when Creation broke into fragments. Without purpose, we slept." The mural that represents this time encompasses an entire cavern room, depicting a horde of sleeping insects in a haze of darkness. Watching over them is a giant stylized eye, inlaid into the ceiling. [Private to Third Beneficiary of Orderly Knowledge: Harmony tells you that it was during this period that she found herself 'assigned' to Coils -- during the period of silence after the Cascading Years. Thus she was not an original intelligence of Coils, but placed there by some whim of the 'Machine God,' whom she asserts was the original Creator.]
OOC: Sorry if this seems long; histories often are. I have another small portion and then it's all done.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:13, Wed 13 May 2009.