Strange Planets I: Hossana IX
For the past few weeks I have been working with my wondrous friend Maya who I met through playing her game Alone In Space but you might know better for her other work which you can find Here!. We have been working on surrealist and stranger planets for use with Mothership. Here you will find the planetary report and you can find the Horrors inhabiting it in the malice.
HOSSANA IX
Expeditionary Brief - Archaeological Report
SITE DESCRIPTION
Hossana IX was once classified as an uninhabited, undeveloped planet. That assessment was wrong.
Recent expeditions have revealed a sprawling metropolis that covers nearly the entire planetary surface. Its architecture bears a striking resemblance to the ancient Hellenic civilizations of Earth, with enormous temples, crumbling colonnades, and towering pillars disappearing into the horizon. Much of the city has been left to decay, its streets buried beneath rubble and its buildings worn down by an unknown passage of time. Yet even in ruin, the sheer scale of the metropolis suggests that the civilization responsible for it was once extraordinarily advanced.
DISCOVERIES
Mechanical constructs with wings, designated Icarian automata, continue to patrol the abandoned streets and elevated walkways. Some remain fully operational, while others lie scattered among the debris, their bodies broken and their functions long since lost.
Expeditions have also documented two distinct writing systems throughout the city. The first has been identified as Precursor script, consistent with inscriptions recovered from other archaeological sites. The second is entirely unfamiliar. It covers walls, pillars, and entire structures, appearing almost everywhere researchers have explored. Despite repeated attempts at translation, its meaning remains a mystery.
Above the metropolis hangs an enormous mechanical moon. Known as The Sanctum, according to translated inscriptions, the structure has attracted considerable attention since the first expedition arrived. A distinctive golden seam runs across its surface, separating it into two sections of its otherwise solid exterior.
Whatever The Sanctum was built to contain, protect, or conceal, it may no longer be sealed.
Among the more significant discoveries is a Precursor inscription recovered from a weathered column near the center of the city. Researchers have translated it with reasonable confidence:
BENEDICTUS QUI VENIT IN NOMINE DOMINI.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
MISSION STATUS
Initially, Hossana IX was considered a site of immense archaeological importance. That is no longer the case.
The expedition's original mandate has been suspended following a series of unexplained incidents.
Something is still alive on Hossana IX.
Surviving personnel have reported an unidentified entity moving through the abandoned districts, avoiding the Icarian patrols with apparent ease. Several archaeologists have been killed during these encounters. The nature of the attacks, along with the limited evidence recovered from the scenes, has made it impossible to determine the nature of the entity.
CURRENT OBJECTIVE
The mission has now been reassigned.
Our objective is to locate the entity, capture it alive, and extract it for further study. Specialized containment equipment has been issued to all relevant personnel, and authorization has been granted to engage the Icarian automata if they interfere with the operation.
The golden seam on The Sanctum is wider than it was when the first expedition arrived.