Dawn of the Ancients

In late 2007, a series of strange events took place near Earth that were never really explained.

The Story So Far

Some years back, an asteroid giving out some peculiar signals entered the Sol system, seemingly on a collision course for Earth. A combined effort by several of the more powerful residents of Earth (and some not so powerful) saw it destroyed, and no harm came to the planet.

Detailed analysis of the remnants of the destroyed asteroid left puzzling questions. An element, dubbed Etherium by Zaik, was discovered to be the source of the strange signals. The element itself was very unstable, and soon all traces of it were lost, contaminated, or had destabilised completely. No further analysis was possible.

Some weeks after this incident, reports emerged from the residents of the Ten'Aino House of sightings of skeletons that appeared metallic, but seemed more like ghosts or spirits (which are actually kind of common in that area). Again, nothing further could really be divulged and the events were soon forgotten.

Nechrim, brother and former Nemesis of Haak, returned from his forced exile to claim he knew what all of this was about. He claimed the asteroid's destruction acted as a signal, an activation beacon of sorts, to an ancient, dormant intelligence that was somehow tied to the world of Earth.

While skeptical, the crew of The Infernus did some further digging and found a similar signal to that of the asteroid destroyed some months before. Nechrim quickly jumped at the opportunity to investigate further, and while he seemed a changed man, only one volunteer appeared to join him on his mission - Ast.

Neither returned, and upon a follow-up recon mission to their last known location, the system they'd traveled to, had been destroyed. They may well have found what they were looking for, but given the shuttle wreckage found near one of the asteroid belts, it seems unlikely they enjoyed the experience.