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?

quentin

You appear a little lost; why else would one engage a mysterious question mark? To that end, allow me to take the opportunity to clarify a couple of points for you.

The name’s Quentin. I’m head of Quality Assurance on board this Boundary Station, and it is therefore my sworn duty to ensure all questions, queries and concerns are addressed to the highest professional standard.

What do you want to know?

Where Am I?

You are on board the FBS VIVAELLIPSIS; the finest vessel of the Exposition Fleet launched from Niamine 10 cycles ago, in response to our most recent cataclysm, the Colossus Tear. We occupy a region of the Meridian System known as the Yawling Twist, about a three night drive from the Coreward Worlds. And yes, we are in a dimension quite different from your own

The look on your face suggests I’ve exacerbated your confusion. I’d encourage you to enrol onto Portal Orientation: a lecture series devised by yours truly, wherein I can elaborate and elucidate beyond this cursory explanation

SIGN UP FOR ORIENTATION
Can I Bring A Friend?

Newcomers are always welcome on board out station. Might I suggest some mediums by which you might bring them over?

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I'd Like To Know More About What Exactly Is Going On Here

We are here to elucidate newcomers to the peculiarities of our reality. If Portal Orientation doesn’t appeal to you, perhaps subscribing to Exposition Broadcasts would be more your speed; it’s certainly more leisurely, in any case

Where're The Restrooms?

Over by the Dimension Gates. You walked passed them in order to come and ask me where they are

I Like This Place! How Can I Support What You Do?

Ah, a commendable display of charitability! Allow me to deploy a remote support vendor (lest you wish to walk all the way over to the kiosk and run the risk of having to deal with that wastrel Tully):

BUY US A COFFEE
BECOME A PATRON
BUY A SOUVENIR
VISIT THE LODGE

If monetary support wasn’t what you had in mind, might you consider spreading the word about our own dimension once you return to your own? In any case, all support is appreciated equally and emphatically

I Actually Came Over From The Nantaris By Mistake...

Then I suggest you go back there before the absence of the NANTARIS's signature brand of mediocrity warps your mind

Who's In Charge Here?

I am sufficiently high up the management ladder for you to be dealing with, if that's what you're getting at. Otherwise, Madam Kiara Drake is our VP, and as for the President, well... you ought not worry yourself with such matters

stories
—
1-May-2020

serene vale

Harlow
ephemera • moons of zephra
See The Sights As They Were Intended

I remember feeling very calm.

I always thought that if I ever came face-to-face with the embodiment of annihilation (who doesn’t ponder these things?), I’d cower and plead and beg and all the other things you might do when presented with the prospect of your imminent demise.

But I didn’t do any of that. I merely sat and faced it, whatever it was, and waited. I could have moved; I could have run away, but it would have been pointless. This wasn’t a forest alloroc or an angry chimaera that I might have a chance of escaping. This was the all-consuming, boundless evil described in every single cataclysm mythology across the System. As I stared out at it, I realised I’d transcended fear — this was was worse than any war or any beast, worse even than The Chaos. What would be the point in being afraid of something like that?

I don’t know why or how, but I was filled with this confidence, this certainty, that whatever happened next, I’d survive it. I don’t know how, but it felt like this thing knew it too, as if it was staring back at me, understanding me, maybe even feeling afraid of me? It’s hard to describe what was really happening in that moment, that lifetime, but I didn’t feel like me, and at the same time I’ve never felt more myself than I did in that moment.

And then it was over. There was no grand flash of light, no raging storm or burning skies. It just stopped. Like melting glass, the moment passed. That spiritual, ineffable, eternal moment, passed. Wherever the thing, the entity (the friend?) was now, it wasn’t here, and it had taken with it all the pain and the suffering I’d been holding on to all this time. Part of me worried that it was this pain and suffering that had brought it here in the first place, as though the volume of my anguish had be so loud it had echoed out across dimensions to bring the entity here, but the rest of me found it hard to feel concerned whilst feeling so weightless. As selfish as that might sound, it’s the truth. And as I sat and I processed what this meant, I realised something profound…

I was free.

Free of the negative voices that had haunted me for as long as I’d been alive. They were uttered in another time, another life. They didn’t matter any more. In fact, they’d never mattered, not really, because they were always only ideas, ideas held by people who only knew me as a fleeting periphery that they passed by on their own uncertain roads. Their ideas were no more powerful or valid than any of the countless other ideas I’d either chosen to ignore or simply hadn’t understood. These voices that I’d internalised as absolute truths were just phantoms that faded in the light of this newfound understanding.

As I sat and I delved into even deeper introspection, I realised that everything was still there. Like books on a shelf, all the memories were still there, but they’d been placed in their proper places. My memories were still as I’d left them. What had really changed was me.

Resting against a nearby tree (all this revelation had suddenly made me feel very tired), I explored this powerful new insight. No one is qualified to judge me any more harshly or fairly than I judge myself, and in the end the only way these external judgements can even carry any weight in the first place is if I choose to let them. I was free to make up my own mind about the things I valued and whether I felt I was upholding those values. Without the fear of failure, I realised that even the negative had an element of beauty to it; that with light comes dark, and to truly understand my craft I had to embrace it in its rawest form, with honesty — which meant accepting the flaws, whatever they may be.

The appreciation that value comes from within opened up a flood gate of ideas. No matter what else, the consequences of what had happened here and what I might have to face, there was no denying I’d done what I set out to do. I’d found my clarity.

I sat by that tree and the melodies just came pouring out of me. It was as if they were writing themselves; not in notation or as score or indeed in any kind of discernible structure; they expressed themselves as ideas, as feeling, as journeys, weaving across the page so vividly I felt as if I could reach out and touch them. They twisted out in front of me in a million beautiful patterns, and it was like they were singing in familiar voices, the voices I’d been so desperate to hear all those nights in the Lodge struggling to capture the initial spark that had got me there in the first place.

There’s no describing the feeling of warmth that flooded my body at the moment, as finally, finally, I felt that I was whole again.

Now my only problem was, how was I going to find my way back home?

Harlow is a member of Shako's Sound Lodge, joining after spending most of her working life as a labourer in the Calandira Docklands on Karabine II. Her music has been cited by Fixed Boundary Reporter as some of the most innovative to come out of the Lodge in cycles, though they would say that given their disdain for the previous generation roster. Harlow currently resides in a state of metaphysical oblivion, but we're sure she'll be back with us soon.

Image courtesy of profound spiritual awakening

Worried About Falling Behind?

If keeping pace with the periodicity of expositionary promulgation invokes in you a foreboding sense of trepidation, our scholar drones are on hand to courier missives direct to your inbox to ensure your continued edification. 

Your privacy is very dear to us. You can eyeball the terms of our privacy policy here. And of course, you can unsubscribe whenever you want to

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• • •
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occultism & arcana • unsolved mysteries • zephra
• • •
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• • •
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• • •
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• • •
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• • •

Share with your friends & show them what a snazzy cat you are:

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> Read more uplifting stories:

cloud village

Frisco Dias

circadian city

Frisco Dias

astral glade

Harlow

> Or perhaps edify yourself with a book:

meridian gods, vol. I: the goddess & the glacier

Cera Deyamore

a brief history of the chaos, vol. II

Alberich Canderwell

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You Are Here:

Cosmic Library
The Orrery
Astral Market

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PORTAL ORIENTATION ENROLMENT FORM

• Portal Orientation consists of eight lectures delivered over sixteen nights

• Attendance will be monitored, and failure to attend will result in your removal from the course

• There will be prizes for those displaying a certain degree of aptitude

Your privacy is very dear to us. You can eyeball the terms of our privacy policy here. And of course, you can unsubscribe whenever you want to

If you aren’t sure whether you’d like to commit to such an exposition-intensive experience, you may wish to view the first lecture here first to get an idea of what to expect

On second thoughts, I'd rather not

PORTAL ORIENTATION ENROLMENT FORM

• Portal Orientation consists of eight lectures delivered over sixteen nights

• Attendance will be monitored, and failure to attend will result in your removal from the course

• There will be prizes for those displaying a certain degree of aptitude

Your privacy is very dear to us. You can eyeball the terms of our privacy policy here. And of course, you can unsubscribe whenever you want to

If you aren’t sure whether you’d like to commit to such an exposition-intensive experience, you may wish to view the first lecture here first to get an idea of what to expect

On second thoughts, I'd rather not

Exposition Broadcasts currently consists of one email every seven nights, highlighting articles from our catalogue that will help you get to know our reality. We occasionally send additional stuff, like if something interesting happens or the Portal needs to be evacuated

alright then
quentin

ATTENTION NEW ARRIVALS

Welcome aboard. The name’s Quentin, and I’m Head of Quality Assurance.

You will notice this is a very busy terminal, and it’s not uncommon for travellers to go missing. To that end, I strongly advise you sign up for Portal Orientation, as we cannot be held liable for any misfortune that may befall you on account of your own ignorance.

You have been duly advised as per standard protocol. Enjoy your stay. 

SIGN UP FOR ORIENTATION

CONGRATULATIONS

You successfully entered your own email address. There won’t be any prizes for that I’m afraid, but it’s nice to know you’re at least capable of writing. The next step is to go to your inbox and confirm your sentience; you won’t be enrolled until you do.

You may now return to your prior deviations

Your privacy is very dear to us. You can eyeball the terms of our privacy policy here. And of course, you can unsubscribe whenever you want to

CONGRATULATIONS

You successfully entered your own email address. There won’t be any prizes for that I’m afraid, but it’s nice to know you’re at least capable of writing. The next step is to go to your inbox and confirm your sentience; you won’t be enrolled until you do.

You may now return to your prior deviations

Your privacy is very dear to us. You can eyeball the terms of our privacy policy here. And of course, you can unsubscribe whenever you want to

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