Preface- a brief history of Xanropa
A watercolor sketch of Xanropa, 2024
Xanropa- the utopia of the stars, is a tetrahedron planet that sits in the chasm of space. It was conceptualized by a group of humans called the Originators who abandoned their homeworld to pursue a better life. When the idea was only on paper and discussed in many councils, the Originators were facing the consequences of their humanity. War, greed, and an ever-failing environment led the way to begin planning the monumental move from their homeworld and eventually find and populate Xanropa.
Due to the various political conflicts of their homeworld, the Originators had to fight their way out of their former skies. Lives were lost during their take-off in an event they call the Final Rift. As the Originators took flight in their vessel, they were met with various attacks that were planned to dismantle the vessel and/or end the Originators. The Final Rift would later be practiced as a day of celebration and reflection; it was a day that they lost so much but would also acquire more than they ever dreamed of. The last image many of the Originators saw of their homeworld, as they left it behind, was sighted as an orb of ruin. The homeworld was veiled in a layer of glassy clouds- that flashed sporadically from the constant carnage of violence and disruptive weather patterns. All memories made there were devoured by the last horrific sight of their homeworld for it was cemented in Originator history as the Ceaseless End. It has never been documented whether or not the planet is still spinning to this day, or if it ever finally imploded on itself via the abuse it endured.
Eventually, the Originator’s vessel would land upon a crystalline meteorite that would become the eventual location of Xanropa. Construction of the tetrahedron took many years to complete, but the Originators were led by determination, a new sense of meaning, and an incredible amount of joy behind their project. The tetrahedron would be built around the meteorite- for after many tests, the crystalline meteorite proved to be a sustainable resource of power. Since the crystalline meteorite was now at the core of Xanropa, the former meteor would be deemed the crystalline core. As the physical construction of their new homeworld began, so did the construction of their new political system. After the events of the Final Rift, it was agreed upon what was not wanted from their new system and what was desired for so long from their previous system. Unlike their old homeworld, there would not be one singular leader. Instead, the tetrahedron would be split into five unified colonies (one for each vertice of the tetrahedron), with a leader from each colony making up a leading council. The council would oversee the prosperity and continuing practices of their collective utopia. If ever the public wanted new council leaders, they could acquire an election for each position.
Of the five council leaders, the leader of the first vertice, Vaine, is the most notable. However, his notoriety is not one of only good will or bad intentions. Vaine was regarded as one of- if not the founding member of the movement called the Unity Cause, and all of the Originators admired the work of Vaine. Without him, Xanropa may have never been. If any elections were conducted on behalf of the public, Vaine would always retain his position as council leader of the first vertice. Vaine was gifted with the ability of artifice and created many of the mechanisms and buildings that helped the new homeworld thrive. This ability was one of the reasons why the public never challenged Vaine’s position. Vaine was also a crafter of human sensibilities; he was always empathetic to the people of Xanropa and almost always catered to their needs- no matter which vertice they were from.
Although the tetrahedron structure of Xanropa was mostly comprised of metals, the Originators were able to cultivate an environment that mimicked their old homeworld. Oxygen was made available by synthetic vegetation. Human-made lakes were embossed into the faces of the planet that provided safe reservoirs of drinking water to all. The lakes also wrapped around the tetrahedron in an almost spiral-like pattern, all connected by streams that rolled across the faces. Each lake would be labeled by the three vertices that they each inhabited. They were labeled by starting from the first vertice, working toward the bottom left vertice, and then finishing the three-number sequence at the bottom right vertice (for example, the lake that was on the face of the second and fifth vertice is Lake 125). These lakes would be called the Wrapping Lakes of Xanropa. The buildings that now occupied Xanropa were clean and built with the intention of peaceful activity to move freely throughout them. Fragments of the crystalline core were used as various lighting and as power for the many mechanisms and buildings that were helping the innovations on the planet.
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Years went by, and Xanropa’s conception had been brought to life. It was a feat that so often was claimed as impossible, but here the Xanropians were, to prove the sentiment of impossibility and their estranged homeworld wrong. For almost as long as it took for the utopia to be made a reality, many years went by in calculated and prescribed peace. As the inhabitants grew and flourished, Vaine’s paranoia of invasion festered. At the beginning of Vaine’s transition during the second generation of council leaders, he had created and dispersed a new piece of technology out to the citizens. They were pairs of visors that veiled the top half of one’s face with two monitors (one for each eye) that projected presentations recorded by Vaine and a crew comprised of other Xanropians to the public about the history of their planet. Programs varied from educational content to providing exclusive interviews with individuals who played critical roles within the Originators (this included Vaine being interviewed to the delight and no surprise of all). During one of his interviews, Vaine declared, “Our utopia is not something we should take for granted. Some day, Xanropa may fall and we need to be prepared for if and when dire events take place. Let us not have what happened on the Ceaseless End, happen on Xanropa” He also explained that the purpose of his visors was to “connect us all, and keep us all on the same page of our history and where we are going as a lovely planet.”
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Three decades would go by, and casually, Vaine would direct programs for his visors that spread more curiosity-led fear to the Xanropians about the possibility of invasion and what they could do to prepare for such a scenario. As many Xanropians continued to enjoy the visors of Vaine, the then-elected third generation of council leaders (Hyanthra of the second vertice, Lyndria of the third vertice, Garal of the fourth vertice, and Charles of the fifth vertice) met to discuss the ever-distressing paranoia Vaine was harboring and perhaps unintentionally contaminating the viewers with slowly. Anonymous citizens would voice their concerns about Vaine and the duration of his leadership. He was the only leader of the generations of council leaders to remain in his position, which was quite something considering the Originators did not want any leader to remain in position for such a period of time. Plans were being made to convince Vaine to forfeit his position and to hopefully extinguish the fear that was being projected across the tetrahedron. Unfortunately, the plans of the four council members would never be seen, for an untimely tragedy had unfolded. The event has been archived as ‘Day of Illusion’ which happened while the Xanropians went about their supposed to be peaceful lives.
Deafening booms shook the face of the tetrahedron. Everyone knew not what to do in the middle of the uncertainty. Vaine’s visors did not broadcast anything concerning the frightening experience. Viewers were met with a ‘no signal’ wall through their visors as the booms continued. Eventually, it was uncovered that unforeseen violence broke out in the third and fourth vertices. Shock, confusion, and dread shadowed Xanropa as it was reported that Vaine had intervened with a crew of mechanisms and was gravely injured. Lyndria, Garal, and many citizens of their vertices were declared casualties of the horror. From what was archived on the tragedy, it has been said that the booms were explosions set off by mechanisms and other energy sources that alleged terrorists had orchestrated. Who and why this violence occurred had not been discovered. Surviving council leaders, along with emergency council appointees, met to discuss what action to take next. All typical peace of Xanropa hid behind locked doors and powered-down mechanisms for weeks as the council met to piece together what had happened. One major piece of information from behind the event was only known to Vaine, who now laid in the hands of fate as his medical mechanisms worked to keep him alive. If he survived his grave injuries, Xanropa would have answers behind the tragedy, the council believed. For the time being, the tetrahedron lay silent and still in the grand vacuum of space. The weeks that followed were so silent that the planet almost seemed to be nonexistent.
Eventually, after what felt like a lifetime, Vaine reemerged, and it was observed that he had survived his injuries but at the cost of being more mechanism than human. The only part of Vaine that seemed to be human was the bottom half of his face, which was not hidden behind his visor. His torso and limbs were now that of the mechanisms’ limbs, metallic and cold. The public was in more disbelief than they were on the Day of Illusion. Vaine had declared that an insurrection had been planned by the third and fourth vertice leaders Lyndria and Garal. The two former vertice leaders had been secretly building armies of mechanisms that had only the intention of taking over the planet and overthrowing the system that they had carried on from the Originators’ plan. Lyndria was elected as the third vertice leader for her brilliant archiving of the history of Xanropa- which Vaine believed she was trying to erase and rewrite. Garal, the leader of the fourth vertice, was at the time helping Vaine with creating mechanisms for defense against any type of threat. Vaine explained that Garal’s use of the arcane had worried him and feared that he was making warfare to conquer the planet. If fear had not already been perpetuated from the Vaine, it was ragingly gleaming from him and his words. Hyanthra and Charles met with Vaine to discuss plans for reviving the lost vertices, but Vaine had told them to leave any future planning to him. This is where the transition of Vaine had been detected by Hyanthra and Charles. In secrecy, they met with trusted appointees to prepare a plan if their feelings of mistrust toward Vaine were to become true. If Vaine was going to wipe out the political structure of Xanropa, they would construct a makeshift planet inside the tetrahedron. It would serve as a new haven for those who did not feel safe with Vaine. They would call themselves the New Originators.
With more questions than answers, the public continued to navigate their lives. Many still used their visors to stay informed on the events that were transpiring. For some reason, many individuals started to become sick or collapse while using the visors of Vaine. Some Xanropians found that some visors were emitting frequencies that led to the users’ ailments. After much concern and new information about the visors were made publicly known, Vaine was put into question. The last glimpse of Vaine that was known to the public was seen and heard at the beginning of his interrogation; he led the questioning off by apologizing for any inconvenience that his visors had brought Xanropa, and slowly, he maniacally revealed that he was connected to all of his visors. Thus, Vaine had become omnipotent through the vast amount of visors. Whatever the Xanropians saw, thought, or heard while using the visors would be transferred to him. After this blight had been made known, he continued to bring up the plan and the existence of the New Originators. With the reveal of the new faction, Vaine also released information that he had finished the construction of a mechanized army whose parts were made from a new material he called bloodsteel: a metal substance that was melted down from recycled metal scraps and the remains of deceased Xanropians. At the end of the interrogation, Vaine gave the public an ultimatum. Xanropa could stand with their new leader, Tyrant Vaine, or be forcefully sent to the New Originator’s inner planet. They would have a week to decide and make any preparations for their decision.
There was turmoil that was last felt on their ancient homeworld brewing on Xanropa. Many thought that the newly named Tyrant Vaine had no right to monitor them all as he had been doing and did not want to be governed by the very thing that had made them abandon their ancient homeworld. Within the week, many had decided to not only join the New Originators but also declare war against Tyrant Vaine. The former council leaders of the second and fifth vertices, Hyanthra and Charles, assumed the position of temporary leaders of the New Originators. Hyanthra had arcane abilities that granted her mighty agility and strength. Along with her power and wisdom, she had been sharing and teaching others from her Vertice how to harness their arcane abilities. Charles was very gifted in artifice- not well known to many, and constructed mechanisms that could not potentially be corrupted by Tyrant Vaine, for they were operated by special marionette controllers that highlighted their manual use. Just as Hyanthra had done, Charles also had been a well-regarded instructor and taught many Xanropians from his vertice how to build and operate his specialized mechanisms. Together, they gathered all Xanropians who wanted to join the New Originators and prepared for a scenario that they never expected to face on Xanropa.
As the countdown toward war was dwindling, users of Tyrant Vaine’s visors collapsed and woke up stating that they were in fact, Tyrant Vaine. The horrifying truth that Tyrant Vaine was technologically omnipotent had come to life. All the victims of the visor infiltration would declare themself as Tyrant Vaine and begin to audibly continue the countdown with the other harmonizing tyrants. It was unanimously decided that the countdown was marking the time the New Originators had to vacate Xanropa and move inwards to their encapsulated planet. After the amount of possessed visor users grew astronomically, many of the New Originators doubted their chances of war. Sightings of monstrous mechanisms had been sighted near the second and fifth vertices. Vaine’s mechanisms had armor that looked crustacean and bore mighty claws. Their heads were T-shaped and bore three eyes. Vaine would speak and his menace could be heard from all around the crawling mechanisms’ bodies through phantom speakers. Hyanthra and Charles decided that whoever wanted to retreat to the inner planet should do so while whoever wanted to stand against Tyrant Vaine, would do so and retreat when necessary. They would not give up on the Originators, who gave so much, for this presence of unforeseen evil to take it all away.
Charles and Hyanthra were dedicated and exceptional teachers, before and during the intensifying build-up toward their confrontation with Vaine. Charles had what could be called a school of citizens that could operate Charles's mechanisms as Hyanthra acquired an army of trained citizens who could harness their arcane abilities to perform aerial and ground maneuvers. Unfortunately, some members of the now-combined forces of the New Originators fell to Tyrant Vaine via their visor usage. Some of the New Originators were able to show feats of incredible endurance and remove their visors before succumbing to the omnipotent grip of the tyrant. The combined forces of Charles’s manual mechanisms and Hyanthra’s army may have been reduced, but their resolute remained in full tact.
Finally, when the countdown was under an hour, those who wished to evacuate to the inner planet did while those who wanted to defend and fight for Xanropa prepared for the dawning war. The New Originators set out toward the first vertice- they kept a good number of members close to the first and second vertices to help protect the entrance to the inner planet and the land of those vertices in general. When they arrived at Lake 125, they were met by a mechanized behemoth that now dammed the stream connecting Lake 132 to Lake 125. It had a long neck like a serpent and had many sharp fangs. Beside the behemoth crawled the daunting mechanisms and all of the possessed visor users that acted under Tyrant Vaine’s conscience. Hyanthra and Charles at first tried to resolve any pending violence with talk, but it was meaningless for Tyrant Vaine declared that the perfect utopia is not one comprised of a planet of individual humans but rather a group of humans that are all under the same control of one mind. Hyanthra and Charles were stricken with disgust and fear by this Xanropian nightmare of a man and former ally. Then the confrontation occurred as Tyrant Vaine’s mechanized monsters began to charge the New Originators.
As the forces of New Originators fought off the mechanisms of Tyrant Vaine, the possessed visor users began to charge into the clash, throwing in many distractions for the New Originators. Hyanthra and her army used their hammers and spears as they thundered down upon Tyrant Vaine’s mechanisms, sending chunks of metal through the sky. “PHFT! PHFT! PHFT!” Using their training, Hyanthra and her company of the second vertice rained down on Tyrant Vaine’s forces just as stars and other satellites leaped across the sky. In the blink of an eye, mechanized terrors fell apart in front of all who were a part of the conflict.
Charles could switch control between two great mechanisms, one that was a colossal shielded warrior and the other was a great mechanized owl (which sat behind the head of the colossus warrior). While Charles switched control between the machines, the other mechanism controllers from the fifth vertice controlled more shielded warriors and gliders that helped ward off Tyrant Vaine’s swarm. Before Charles and Hyanthra led their stand against Tyrant Vaine, it was agreed that the Xanropians, who were under the possession of Tyrant Vaine, were not to be killed under any circumstances. After all, the possessed Xanropians were their neighbors and loved ones. Charles had constructed makeshift kiosks that could retain the possessed individuals as members from the second and fifth vertices studied how to exorcize the tyrant from them. It was not as simple as removing the visors of Vaine, for if the visors were removed with force, the possessed seemed to either lose their vision, spiral into a coma, or die immediately after removal. The way that Tyrant Vaine operated his current visor interface during the conflict made removal seem impossible- without somehow permanently harming the user, thus, the research on the captured possessed Xanropians was absolutely necessary if the New Originators wanted to save their own people.
Unfortunately, no matter how prepared anyone could be, casualties began to be counted up. When it comes to wars, no one needs to be reminded of the carnage, the gore, and the trauma that seeds itself into the lives of those that willingly and especailly unwillingly participate. Perhaps the most wicked thing about war is when acknowledgment is made toward the violent events, lives are scarred and lost in a matter of time that seems so small. In a matter of under a day, the New Originators were able to vanquish the behemoth of Lake 125. Charles was able to use his colossus warrior mechanism to capture the beast by its throat as some of Hyanthra’s company fell upon it like a mighty meteor shower. This was about the time that Tyrant Vaine’s armies of mechanisms and possessed users were dwindling. While the reduction came as good news for Charles and Hyanthra, they also lost many from the second and fifth vertices. Even though the combined loss was not as significant as Tyrant Vaine’s loss, they were reminded that those who fell under possession of the visors of Vaine were their casualties. During much of the violence, Tyrant Vaine remained away from the battlefield as if he were playing a board game. Watching, controlling the possessed visor users, and preparing to walk into the conflict zone.
When the tyrant inevitably showed up on the battlefield, the top half of his body sat on top of an intimidating mechanism (similar to his crustacean-looking mechanisms that kept attacking) with large hands whose fingers could be scythes. As Tyrant Vaine addressed the citizens of the second and fifth vertices, he tried to tell everyone that this was the first step toward their imagined utopia. It was revealed that his new form, including all the components that his crawling mechanisms were comprised of, came from a mixture he developed and coined as ‘bloodsteel’ which was gathered from the remains of humans and mechanisms. The very threat that Charles and Hyanthra were fighting were the remains of their fellow Xanropians and recycled mechanisms. With this knowledge, the two vertice leaders threw all reasoning with the tyrant to the side and they declared that Tyrant Vaine’s war and his new role needed to come to an end. As it could be suspected, the tyrant rejected this notion and decided that he must continue to fight for his defined utopia. With his intentions decided, Tyrant Vaine and more waves of his mechanisms and possessed Xanropians charged toward the New Originators.
Tyrant Vaine swept away masses of humans with his monstrous claws and spear-tipped legs by torpedoing himself through defending Xanropians at a horrific speed. His attacks were as fast as Hyanthra and her warriors- who could not successfully cease him. Now, the sum of distractions worsened as Tyrant Vaine was not only fighting with the Xanropians but also releasing as many of the possessed visor users from Charles’s kiosks- rejoining the battle.
Charles and his company of the fifth vertice were also struggling to keep up their defenses against the number of Tyrant Vaine’s mechanisms. It was becoming more and more difficult not to harm the possessed visor users, and in the act of split-second thinking, the New Originators had to at least render the possessed incapacitated. Eventually, Charles saw an opportunity with his colossal shielded warrior. Using his marionette controllers, Charles switched channels with his mechanisms and immediately directed the colossal warrior toward Tyrant Vaine. As soon as the tyrant was at an appropriate distance, Charles maneuvered the mechanism to restrain Tyrant Vaine, pinning him down with the mechanism’s shielded arms. When the tackle took place, a wide vibration shook the surface. It took all of Charles’ strength to restrain him through his controllers. Tyrant Vaine was clawing and lacerating the colossus mechanism. Hyanthra stood ready to strike at the tyrant when the moment was right, all the while, she continued to fight and aid her company against other crawling terrors.
Charles and Hyanthra formed a good rhythm with each other and prepared to take down Tyrant Vaine. As soon as the vertice leaders thought it, the tyrant ravaged out of Charles’s colossus mechanism, managing to maim one of its arms while crawling his way out to continue his havoc. As Hyanthra prepared to launch into one of her shooting star patterns, Charles clicked his marionette controllers again, puppeteering the great owl now. Hyanthra ran and leaped into her shooting star pattern with her spear aimed at the mechanism housing the former leader of the first vertice. All that she wanted was to end this conflict and try to resurrect the Vaine of before. In the second that Hyanthra began her comet-like charge toward Tyrant Vaine, Charles had his mechanized owl soar across the surface toward Hyanthra and the tyrant- his hopes to have his owl hold the tyrant down. Then, a time-stopping flash occurred at the coordinates of Hyanthra and Tyrant Vaine’s point of impact. Charles was not sure if Hyanthra had been hurt, or worse, the first and only thing he saw was her spear skewering Tyrant Vaine where his mechanized heart would have been. His long, sharp legs lowered as a human would kneel. The left arm of the mechanized horror had been taken off with Hyanthra’s attack as well. Charles seized the opportunity to control his owl to take hold of the gravely injured tyrant in its talons.
As Charles and his owl had a grip on Tyrant Vaine, he noticed that Hyanthra was lying in her own blood. In an understanding reaction of grief and anger, he maneuvered the owl to rip the dying tyrant in half. Tyrant Vaine’s lower half was thrown toward one of his crawling mechanisms, as the other half remained in the owl’s talons. After the legs of the tyrant were thrown, almost all of the battlefield noticed the great mechanized owl now in the sky. In his continued anger, Charles yelled for all to hear that the war was over. If any standing mechanisms or possessed visor users of Tyrant Vaine valued their betrayal toward Xanropia, this was the moment that they retreated back to the first vertice in fear. After the war was declared over, Charles could not think of doing anything but have his owl mechanism fly far away and drop the remainder of Tyrant Vaine somewhere in the carnage of this war he could not finish. At the moment, he could not think about anything but the status of Hyanthra. Charles ran to Hyanthra, feeling as though he had failed her, where she was being taken care of by fellow Xanropians. Somehow, she had managed to survive the warped grapple between her and Tyrant Vaine but lost her right eye and was laid unconscious. It was deemed that Hyanthra would recover but needed to get to a medical center immediately. As the leader of the second vertice was taken to recover and rest, Charles and the remaining company of the New Originators stayed to search and rescue all of the Xanropians they could.
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Days passed after the deadly conflict on the now battle-scarred Xanropa. Hyanthra would wake up and be caught up on everything that had transpired. During her recovery and through the many updates given, Hyanthra would decide to remain on the surface- wishing to return to the second vertice to restore and reclaim the land that may have been taken by Tyrant Vaine- who seemed to have not been officially declared deceased but rather missing. Charles would lovingly argue with Hyanthra about her decision, but it would be decided that Hyanthra and whoever wanted to join her on the surface, would return to the second vertice. The New Originators would not formally disband nor state that their union had expired, Charles would remain and continue to improve the inner planet of Xanropia all the while aiding Hyanthra however he and the inner planet citizens could from within the now eerie tetrahedron. Both of the vertice leaders and their companies would modify and fortify their current dwellings, making sure that they were protected and ready for any pending invasions again, however, they would continuously check themselves to make sure no one had any signs of the sickness that overtook the once respected vertice leader, Vaine. Since the tyrant’s defeat and alleged disappearance, some of his possessed Xanropians and mechanisms remained active and would wander the face of the tetrahedron- sometimes showing up near Hyanthra and Charles’ new homes. Whether he was alive or not, the fear that Tyrant Vaine may still be alive kept many of Xanropa awake. Solidifying the truth that they were still waiting for the mechanized tyrant to return…