Vendetta Online

The Chronicles of Exile

AD2670

For many long years the Itani Ark would ply starlit fields of space. After their first jump, they found no usable planets in the nearby system. However, after scanning the system heavily, they detected what appeared to be an additional wormhole area. Probes were launched and successfully returned, telling of another system containing several planets. The crew then took the ship through and spent time investigating the new system. Their search was a disappointment, and no suitable planets were found. Once again, however, another wormhole area was discovered. This continued for many years, systems would be found, some with planets, some without. A few of the planets could have been made habitable, but doing so would have been beyond the means of the people and technology onboard the Ark. Thus, they wandered the stars, most of the Itani still in cryogenic sleep, while the crew began to slowly lose hope of ever finding a new home.

AD2689

After nineteen years of aimless wandering, hope became a bitter thing to bear among the crew. They had passed through many wormholes and many systems, crisscrossing all over the galaxy. No suitable planet had been found. Some began speaking of returning to Terra II and abandoning their search, arguing that perhaps in the last twenty years the tempers of the Serco might have cooled. All the wormholes through which they had passed would remain stable for millions of years, so the return path was yet open. The Ark's captain, former high command general of the Itani forces and now growing quite old at eighty two, refused to allow them to relinquish their quest. The crew muttered that they would not have to wait long, for the captain was ailing and knew his end was near. His last hope, that he might see a new home for his people before he died.

AD2691

On February the 11th, 2691, the Ark entered a new system, and proceeded to scan its planets. To their joy, the fourth planet looked perfectly suited to establishing a new colony. Indeed, it was estimated that within a few hundred million years, the planet might begin life on its own. It already had a thin, but stable nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere, as well as liquid water in some places. The crew carefully surveyed the surface, and selected an area of a continent near the equator. With a ponderous groan, the Ark pierced the light clouds and landed without incident. Within a few days, the process of reviving the frozen Itani population had begun. Construction began on the first dome of the new world. Sadly, about a week after the landing, James Armand, Captain of the Ark, passed away. The Itani people pledged to remember that his diligence and faith brought them to their home, naming their new domed city Armand in his honor. The planet would be called Itan, a new world for a hopeful people, forever cut off from their ancient home of Earth, and far from the anguish they had caused and borne on Terra II.

AD2693

There was a child on board the Ark, an orphan of the war, discovered in a bombed-out Itani settlement by a fleeing family and brought along with them to the underground launch site of the Ark. Barely two at the time, his background was unknown, his parents presumed dead. Raised by the family that found him, he was tested for deafness and speech impediments due to his unwillingness to speak. Although he was named by his foster family, his nickname became "Eo" (AY-oh), as that was the only sound he would make. Marked by his teachers for his apparent intelligence and (silent) enthusiasm, he studied diligently in a school for the disabled. Many of his classmates there were children injured physically or psychologically by the war with the Serco, and this seemed to have a profound affect on his formative years. He learned to read at age four, and thereafter spent many long hours pouring over the computer databases, learning of history and fiction, mathematics and philosophy. The recent history of the Itani was a particular point of study for him, specifically the events which lead to the horrible destruction of the war and eventual exile of the Itani people.

AD2701

Abruptly, at age twelve, Eo began speaking. His use of language and demeanor were far beyond his years, and he caused quite a stir within his school and community. When asked why he had suddenly began to speak, he responded that he simply hadn't had anything to say before. Now that he had availed himself of the powers of speech, he used it to ply his elders with questions, many of which they could not answer to his satisfaction. He asked why the war had occurred. Why had the Itani people allowed themselves to be ruled by such an evil and misguided man as Akan. Why, above all, they persisted in such hatred of the Serco, who had never truly intended them any harm, and had wished only to share the planet in peace. His teachers and foster family, still fresh from the war and weary with the grief it had brought them, had little to offer him but sadness and regret. Eo pondered, and continued to read.

AD2706

Fifteen years of labor made quite a difference in the world of the Itani. Their capital city of Armand was now large and stable. Once again completely self-sustaining, they had taken the time to carefully lay out and build their new city, planting tree-lined walkways and creating numerous parks. The idea was to create a new world that recalled the beauty of Earth, now known only from pictures and stories passed down from their ancestors. Terra II, while it had been home, had been largely a place of steel and harsh windswept terrain, a land occasionally broken by a dome or strange Serco-engineered wildlife. Thus, the city of Armand flourished and grew, and the people took solace in the haven they had created. Plans were made to accelerate the terraformation of the rest of the planet. Many advances had been made in this process during the formation of Terra II, and these were put to work on Itan. Large atmospheric processing machinery was constructed in the mountains near Armand. Underground, huge artificially-lit greenhouses were excavated, growing plants and trees for eventual use on the surface. The planet took well to the terraforming process, and change became apparent.

AD2707

At the age of eighteen, Eo left his foster parents and school to search for answers in the wider world. Taking a job as a surveyor for the terraforming process, he learned to pilot a spaceship and flew around the planet, studying its geology and makeup. This information was then used to make decisions for different steps in the terraforming process, including climatic predictions, where flora and fauna should be distributed, and other tasks related to making their world the growing, green place they desired. Spending much of his time alone aboard his spacecraft, Eo watched the evolution of the planet unfold beneath him, pondering still the fate that had brought them to this place.

AD2734

The terraforming process on Itan had succeeded beyond all expectations. Although far from completed, the planet had begun to show large sections of green, with even greater success in the introduction of simple undersea life. The atmospheric processors, now scattered across the planet, kept the weather mildly in check while maintaining the balance of the air. It was estimated that sufficient plant life would exist to make the planet wholly self-sustaining within a hundred years. Eo, during this time, had risen to a position of considerable respect among the terraformers, and within the Itani community as a whole. He took to writing long papers lamenting the sad, recent history of the Itani, and suggesting that people learn from their experiences and look positively towards the future. Much of what he wrote struck a chord with the people, allowing them to rest easier with their past, and enjoy more of the time at hand. Among other things, Eo wrote that the pursuit of war and hatred could come to no good, and that only listening clearly to the voice of one's own soul, not one's ego, could provide true guidance. Not long after this, it is believed that Eo began studying ancient literature, stored in the vast computer databases, which discussed meditation and martial training. Combined with his studies of many ancient philosophies, religions, and cultures, he began to create a new philosophy of life and existence.

AD2751

Itan has begun to flourish in greenery and life. Farms have popped up in many places around Armand. The Ark, resting in its permanent position on the far side of a small river from the city, has had a beautiful park built around it. Small villages have sprouted up here and there as people venture out from beneath the protection of the dome of Armand. Forests have sprouted up in a number of places, and fish and insects begin to appear. Each species is rolled out according to the overall plan of the terraformers, when the world and current balance of life is believed able to sustain the addition of something new. Eo has built a school in the mountains just north of Armand. Here he offers a rigorous monastic life, coupled with study of martial arts, philosophy and meditation, as well as more "standard" arts and sciences. Many men and women come to study and converse with him, now an elder statesman and well-loved thinker of the Itani people. His school produces impressive students, both for their well balanced and good nature as for their keen intellects and imaginations. Eo teaches that martial arts, far from the seeming outwardly combative nature, are merely a path to better understanding of one's self and better functioning as a human being. The common thread of peace and harmony runs through all that is taught within his school.

AD2793

At age one hundred and four, Eo passes away. On the evening of his death, still fit and of very sound mind, he informs his students that he will no longer be available to teach them. However, he states his belief that they have understood the meaning and spirit of his ideas, and he hopes they will cling to that spirit rather than to the pedantic specifics of his words. With that he thanks them and goes to his meditation chamber. His body was discovered the next morning.

The planet of Itan mourns its gentle hero. His body is interred in a memorial near the Ark, not far from the statue of James Armand. Nine of Eo's ten foremost students leave his mountain school to start new schools in the open-air towns around Armand. The Schools of Eo become the standard by which education is judged, and produce a new generation of fit, happy, wise, and well-adjusted individuals. The people of Itan strive to live in balance with their natural surroundings, which have taken so long to grow.