Harmonies in the sand

A tale from the stars

As they approached the arid moon Bikeria, they saw vast sandstorms dancing around the yellow terrain. They circled it in search of a suitable site for taking shelter, and found a region of petrified sinkholes that would be ideal for hiding from the sun and the storms.

Photo by Daniel Olah

They landed in a rocky hollow. Icarus's thrusters pushed away the yellow sand and revealed a blue hue in the rocks below. It was hot in the planet, but at least they got some shade from the rocky walls of the hollow.

Varis started working on the adaptor for the gravitic resonator, while Zalta put on an EVA mask to scout their surroundings. After half-an-hour Zalta returned: "Varis, I think you should come take a look at something".

Photo by Alexander Popovkin

They both left the Icarus wearing EVA masks and headed East towards a colossal cleft in the rocky cliff. As they got closer, Zalta pointed at a large dark webbed structure "what do you think that is? It looks organic but... our sensors did not detect any signs of life in this moon". "It looks a bit creepy" Varis shivered "maybe we should move the ship further away from that thing".

Before they could decide what to do they started to hear a pleasant harmony coming from within the cleft. "Are those... things making this sound?" Varis asked, leaning towards the noise. The massive black strands ahead of them were vibrating, producing a powerful, but soothing sound as if there was a massive string orchestra hidden in the rock.

"It's kind of beautiful" said Zalta "I think I have heard something like this before... Varis I think this is millian music". Varis looked at her perplexed. He had never heard anything like that before. The sound captivated his ears, and the vibrations in the air relaxed his entire body.

The sound slowly faded. Varis and Zalta were looking into the webbed structure waiting for something to happen. A soft light started oscillating from within it, then a long, amorphous creature slowly floated out of it towards them. It's black body did not carry any features or shapes, but it occasionally lit up with a soft white glow, showing patterns of light that disappeared and reappeared. "You were right, there is a millian here" Varis said.

"Hello there millian! We didn't mean to interrupt your music. Our ship broke down and we were looking for shelter" Varis waved. The creature did not respond. "Varis, millians can't speak, they communicate via light" Zalta noted.

"Light? Do you know what they are saying?" Varis asked. Zalta shrugged. The creature continued to approach slowly, floating about a meter above the ground. "Hold on, that is close enough friend! We mean no harm!" Varis held the blaster on his belt. The creature faltered and started circling around in place, glowing and dimming it's long body.

"Varis, no need for that! Millians are peaceful. I think it is just trying to communicate" Zalta noted. Varis relaxed. Sand and pebbles on the ground near the creature twirled and clacked with a vibration in the air, as it lowered it's body to touch the floor. It appeared to stand up it's elongated body as if to imitate a human figure, then it bowed down slowly, and rose again.

Zalta bowed in response. Varis saw that and did the same. The millian turned around and slowly retreated in the air back to it's lair. The soothing sounds slowly came back.

"I think our neighbor is a musician" Varis smirked. Zalta laughed.

Game notes

I’ve been playing this space opera RPG solo using Mythic and the Offworlders system and I thought I should share this scene as I felt it was kind of evocative and cool. The last thing I expected to encounter in this desert moon was a floating, glowing serpent alien musician but alas! That is what the oracles had intended for me to find.

I must sing praises to the Perilous Void supplement, which has been captivating my imagination and allowing me to create a rich setting filled with factions, sentient races, giant nebulas and many other things.