Nothing is here 6

The Lords above the Depths shall lead you. Know the Lords as the Tides know them.

Tehom, or “Raquiya IV” as it was originally labeled on the Marcusian documents, is a world for heroes. It demands and creates heroes, and humanity responds. It is a world ruled by a segment of humanity, known as the Cerenim, who have been imbued with supernatural powers and success. Under their guidance and celebrity, the survivors of a failed human terraforming effort have flourished, creating a handful of sprawling cities that dot the islands and small continents along Tehom’s equator. Within these cities, humanity struggles to stabilize itself as it obeys the decrees from and obsessively follows the exploits of the Cerenim.

The world and a short history

Once in a great while, the slipstream changes enough that the jump links between systems change. When this results in a system suddenly disappearing from a cluster, it is a horrible tragedy. When a new system appears, however, it creates a massive opportunity. Such an opportunity presented itself when the Ziz Cluster found itself linked to a new system, Raquiya. The primary rights to map and colonize Raquiya were acquired by the Marc United Systems, one of the four TerCols (terraformation-colonization groups) within the Ziz Cluster. As the oldest extant TerrCol, it had the greatest ability to marshall the necessary resources. MarcUS found a relatively rich and uninhabited system with several barren worlds and one survivable world – Raquiya IV Raquiya IV was slightly smaller than the Terran Standard Size, but it was frigidly cold with little dry land. Nevertheless, the air and water were compatible with human life, and the early survey teams discovered substantial mineral deposits. Colonization was approved.

The Marcusian Period

MarcUS became quite successful as its exploitation of the system. As its profits increased, MarcUS established three space stations for systema administration:

• STAS – System Theater Administration – Slipknot
  • This station was in charge of the slipknot point linking Raquiya to the rest of the Ziz Cluster
• STAM – System Theater Administration – Military
  • In orbit around Raquiya IV, the central command and control post for MarcUS
• STAR3 - System Theater Administration - Research, Regulation, & Representation
  • The station for civilian administration

As Raquiya’s system population increased, discussions regarding the terraformation of Raquiya IV began in earnest. As the world was already (more or less) inhabitable, a lower-cost and slower terraforming process was conceived.

The Plague: World Blood

Terraforming began as planned, and as the world warmed and the oceans began to be open water all year, the inhabitants began calling the world “Tehom,” denoting a deep, turbulent ocean. But quickly, things began to go awry. Sabotage became a constant concern, and many unexplained malfunctioned plagued the project. Additionally, the scientific models were proved widely inaccurate: The climactic changes to the world did not fit within anticipated parameters, and dangerous meteorological activity became frequent. The first serious crisis was a pandemic. As the world warmed and the ice thawed, the water supply in many areas became contaminated with a bacteria that caused mental illness, including mass auditory and visual hallucinations. Its colloquial name, “world blood” (which the upper administration of MarcUS did not appreciate) came from the fact that after a critical mass of contamination, water would become a reddish color. The pandemic worsened and changed. Those who were poisoned began to die quickly and horribly if taken too far off the surface of Tehom. STAR3’s orbit was low enough that it became a medical research facility.