This journal is written by Cal.
Letter 1
Most Exalted Headmaster,
It is with great joy I inform you that I have located the castaway expedition of Luxians. They have made their way to the city of Aeqen, and are currently based there.
Nominally, their mission is of Archaeological nature, for they were sent here to find evidence of the Luxian religion. Apparently, the revered ancestor Usen appears in their legends too, and has a connection to their goddess Ashling. However, now that they are on Arcadia the expedition is having trouble working towards its goals. The crew suffers from the curse of nightmares and memory loss (though did not seem receptive to my suggestion that they be Converted).
What doesn’t help with the expedition’s progress is that the ones who are in a position of leadership are pursuing different goals entirely. These three people seemed the most interesting out of all of them, so for the time being I decided to follow them.
First, there are two elves who are female (I asked!) and siblings. Their names are Brighid and Sahiusa Pavet. Brighid is half-dragon, and this is a condition that was inflicted upon her later in life. The two of them have come to Arcadia to discover more about what happened to Brighid and whether the process of her turning into a dragon can be stopped (though she does not want the process reversed entirely). Apparently, when she has nightmares she explodes! I am very curious how someone so unstable managed to survive up until now.
The third member of their group is Murray Hayward. He has not been as forward with what he is on Arcadia for, but apparently he is pursuing a flower-in-a-mirror which is also a metaphor, and the other two seem to agree that this goal has a very high priority. Murray is a man and also cooks for the group. The Luxians seem fully egalitarian and have no stereotypical ways for men and women to behave, yet they do not reject the concept of gender the way the Converted do either. I wonder what makes them cling to this “unnecessary bureaucracy”…
Us four have made camp near a city in the Frozen Highlands that is commonly referred to as “the Scar” these days. I will consult the maps to see if it matches any Arcadian settlement or whether ‘tis a newer addition by another civilization, so expect more updates on this later.
Finally, I would like to report on the dire state of the Arcadian infrastructure. Roads are rotted away altogether, much is rusted or gone altogether. However, there is a light, thank the Predecessors: the trains themselves are running, and surprisingly well-maintained, and some gardens seem to have survived too. It is not my place, of course, but perhaps returning functionality to the remaining parts of the railway and more of the food gardens would be an excellent start to show our benevolence towards the new inhabitants of Arcadia and help them see the benefits of rejoining the Republic.
Over and out, Calculus Turing-Curie