The Somnius Report (Hereafter referred to as “The Account”) is a story of discovery told in fragments. Assembled from the journal entries of an explorer allegedly marooned on a distant world during the First Wave over 1,300 years ago.
Disclaimer:
This account remains unverified, and contains information that may be intended as allegory or social commentary from an earlier age. It may be entirely fictional. The story contained herein has been painstakingly assembled – and continues to be assembled – from the fragmentary archive discovered on the fourth satellite of the jovian planet Maugli, the second planet of the Glumri system. The Account, with entries alleged to originate from both First and Second Wave sources, uses the ancient designation of Gliese 876 for the Glumri system, and Gliese 876 c for the planet Maugli. The primary author of The Account refers to the satellite as Somnius, hence the title. The existence of the archive and where it was found does suggest The Account may be genuine, but should not be construed as absolute proof.
Notes on First Wave Entries:
Entries from the First Wave source are designated via alphanumeric codes. The organizational system seems to have been one used by navies of that era.
- Example: Logfile:MO.d123 indicates a log entry (Logfile) by the Medical Officer (MO) with a day reference (d123). The date reference seems to indicate, in this case “Day 123”.
Whether this refers to the 123rd day on Somnius or counts from some other event is currently unknown.Fragments discovered after this original writing indicate that the numbered days start with the first day on Somnius. - Example: Imagefile.ref.Logfile:MO.d1232 | Image Name indicates an figure or image (Imagefile) referenced (ref) in a particular log entry (Logfile:MO.d132) followed by a caption or title (Image Name).
- As indicated by the codes, the author appears to have been the Medical Officer aboard a First Wave vessel. The vessel’s name is given in The Account as the Cabot. No record of such a vessel or mission has been found, but this does not automatically render The Account fictional, as records in the First and Second Wave interstitial are fragmentary.
Notes on Second Wave Entries:
Entries from the Second Wave source thus far use an early form of the Standard Date System. The primary difference is that we currently use a quarter year system to differentiate times of the year, and they used a simple numbering system.
- Example: 418.E.11 indicates the 418th year (418) of the so-called Enlightenment Period (E) and the 11th day of the year (11).
- In our own usage, this would be 418.R.11.1 indicating the 418th year of the Republic Period (R), the eleventh day of the first quarter-year (11.1).
- Note the difference in the era designation, from Enlightenment to Republic. The people during the Second Wave period had a very high opinion of their time. One that has not held up to historical scrutiny.
- Entries from this source make reference to Uriel. Early analysis indicates this is the name of the vessel in which they traveled. One may also see it referred to as “The Ship” as if they are referring to an entity – because they are. This was one of the early periods of truly sentient A.I. development. At this time, the shipboard A.I. would have been identified with the vessel itself, as if the vessel was its “body”.
Glossary
First Wave – Refers to the First Wave of stellar exploration outside the Solar System, in the early 22nd century of the old Common Era.
Second Wave – Refers to the second wave of stellar exploration outside the Solar System during the Martial or Republic Era.
The Somnius Institute – The Institute founded by Dr. Jeric Lund and Dr. Lyra Abdi-Lund to catalog and interpret the archive discovered on the 4th moon of the planet Maugli, also called Somnius.
Cabot – The vessel of the First Wave expedition to Somnius
Uriel – The vessel as well as the on-board A.I. of the Second Wave expedition
First Wave Source / Ursula – The author of the majority of the First Wave Fragments. She was the lone survivor of the Cabot.
Fragment – This term refers to any entry fully recovered from the Archive. Note that it does not denote incomplete entries, merely that each entry is itself a smaller part of the overall Archive.