Library Entry: Abyss Rift

• Location Lanth Subsector: Map

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Lost Treasure Ships of the Abyss Riff

Enli lddukagan
360 pages
BMX, TMX, and folio
Cr25.
Esotear-Roddocks, Ltd, Lanth (1112)

Lost Treasure Ships of the Abyss Rift is a major deviation for Esotear-Roddocks, which previously only published books of academic interest. While this may have harmed its reputation among Imperial scholars, the popularity and sales of Abyss Rift are a substantial compensation. The book has the superficial appearance of a traditional academic work, which sets off the sensationalistic style of the author, who actually holds no degree at all.

Enli lddukagan is a journalist of some renown in the Spinward Marches. His particular notoriety is from his investigation of high level corruption in the Imperial Navy during the Fifth Frontier War. Several articles regarding ship disappearances have his byline, most published in tabloids found in the Marches. Abyss Rift focuses on ships that disappeared in the neighborhood of the Abyss, also called the Lanth Triangle, especially those carrying valuable cargo.

Although the Abyss is sometimes referred to as a rift, it is really a product of random stellar distribution. lddukagan defines its boundaries as the shortest path a hypothetical jump-2 starship can travel in circumnavigating it. It engulfs most of the Lanth subsector, and extends lobes into the Vilis and Lunion subsectors. Seven worlds are contained in the Abyss. Enli lddukagan points out in particular that the three closest to the center are interdicted.

Many legends and myths involve the Abyss, especially tales of ghost ships. There's the tale of the Zhodani commerce raider Chtarriash cursed by a priest of the Stellar Divinity to wander the starless void. The battle song of Jonn Bleu the pirate is occasionally heard on G-band coming from vacant points in space. And ships still log contact with ship registry R-1023, Errant Aurora, well over a century after its disappearance.

A widely known ballad, popular early in the 1000s, tells the story of the Aurora. The liner's captain/owner, Karl Pitts, had a reputation for excellent passenger accommodations but poor care of his drives. All that kept the ship from disaster was Pitts' romance with Sibunessa, Queen of the Abyss, who lived on an obsidian world. Pitts then fell in love with a beautiful baronet, named only as 'The Lady of the Imperial Sun." The affair made Sibunessa jealous. Aurora disappeared en route to D'Ganzio, lost to the darkness forever. Sword World myths also mention Sibunessa, but in those tales Sibunessa is either a space dragon or a hideous dwarf.

Stories of strange occurrences seem commonplace among the worlds around the Abyss. In 1072, xboat X-43491 vanished en route from Ghandi to Dinomn. This is one of several xboat disappearances in the Abyss.

However, the pilot for X-35626, which next followed on the same route, had a strange report. He insisted he was besiegedfor days by something trying to get in from jumpspace.

In 938, a starship, belonging to an unknown human race, was discovered drifting at the fringe of the Denotam system. Its four occupants had all died three years previously of undetermined cause. Investigators described the ship as a fast courier, at least TL15, of highly unconventional design. Ship computer memory was blanked. The Imperial Navy impounded the vessel shortly after discovery, and it has not been seen since. It was recorded as a "Zhodani scout ship" (sic) until 999, after which it was removed from all unclassified naval inventories.

All hands were also found dead aboard the destroyer escort Astaroth in 1057. It jumped from D'Ganzio and arrived at lvendo on schedule, but in such a decrepit condition that it could no longer be made spaceworthy. It was as if 300,000 years had passed aboard the Astaroth in the one week flight to Ivendo. The navy hushed the incident.

Abyss Rift directs most of its attention toward treasure ships, among them the Naome. During the early 400s, Mosu Alhabah maintained a pirate base on a gas giant moon of the Ylaven system. In 429, the navy attacked the base and recovered most of his accumulation of stolen goods. However, Alhabah escaped in the process with the Naome, a subsidized merchant, and the richest of the loot. Neither the Naome nor any part of Alhabah's booty was ever found.

On 071-1109, Sword Worlders raided the Ummadkuar and Andarusmam family estates on Lanth. This was at a time in the Fifth Frontier War when the Gram Fleet still occupied that system. The items taken were several First lmperium art treasures, including the 'Sidig Iis Maru', a priceless sculpture. They were traced to an independent Broadsword-class mercenary cruiser, the Falchion. It jumped out of the system soon after the theft, never to be seen again even by Sword World accounts.

The Disappearances Table (See Below) is a limited selection of the disappearances discussed by Iddukagan.

All of these ships are lost, and any could be missing as a result of misjumps. If they returned to normal space, they might be anywhere within 36 parsecs of their last known location. On the other hand, when misjumped ships from around the Marches are rediscovered, they have a habit of reappearing in or around the Abyss. The light cruiser lmirarka was found by scientists on Lunion when it sent a focused signal from hex 2023. The story of the Lucky Star's desperate effort to reach Calit was made famous by the Makhidkarun holodrama. And no less than five misjumped ships were discovered in the stellar sphere of Lanth. The Abyss could be a wasteland of lost ships, perhaps even going back to the time of the Ancients. But the emptiness between worlds is so vast that the missing ships might never be found.

DISAPPEARANCES

The above text originally from: "Lost Treasure Ships of the Abyss Riff" by Michael R. Mkesh
Challenge 44, Pg 30

The character Enli lddu­kaggan is from Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society
No.22, "Casual Encounter," by J. Andrew Keith
See Article of Contact: Contact: Iddukagan

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