For several days, we tracked a “mechanical reindeer herd” across the frost lands. Our path led us through ravines flanked by cubic cliffs and rows of monoliths, culminating in the discovery of a vast “underground haven” beneath the permafrost. There we encountered an ancient human tribe: the Roya.
Physiologically, the Roya differ little from us. The distinctions lie mostly in the subtle traits they’ve developed to survive the extreme cold. Within this colossal subterranean cavern, an astonishing energy source, known to the Roya as “Baldur’s Heart,” pulses without end, providing the light and warmth needed to sustain life in this underground region. Sustained by this “sunlight,” the Roya have built a new home under its rays. Over countless generations, they have studied the rhythms of Baldur’s Heart, devising their own system of timekeeping to mark the cycle of day, night, seasons, and years, living in quiet synchrony with the world above.
According to Royan mythology, certain “mechanical creatures” that roam the frostlands — which they call Soliskin, and we classify as the Exoswarm—are considered countless sparks of Baldur’s own consciousness. In gratitude for the light Baldur bestowed, the Roya have taken up a sacred generational duty: to guide lost Soliskin back to this sanctuary and live alongside them. After millennia bathed in the Reactor Drive’s radiance, the Roya of today can now walk the frostlands wearing little more than Lahai-Roi’s light garments.
We once hailed Lahai-Roi as one of the greatest scientific discovers of the century, yet we have refrained from making it public. The Pioneer Association’s leadership agrees that releasing this “earthshaking revelation” may spark uncontrollable consequences. The Roya, isolated for generations, might develop a deep curiosity for the outside world, while modern civilization, in turn, may cast its own judgement upon this ancient one.
Would this lead to communication and coexistence, or to intrusion and exploitation? No one can guarantee the outcome. Thus, the Pioneer Association must handle this research report with the utmost caution.
Time, it seems, is a luxury we can no longer afford.
According to our personnel in Lahai-Roi, several outside institutions, having obtained leaked intelligence, have already dispatched their own investigative teams. Their goal is to lay claim to the region’s discoveries before the world can take notice.
Among them are earnest researchers, driven by curiosity and respect. But there are also “poachers” cloaked in the guise of “civilization.” These intruders plunder Lahai-Roi’s natural wealth at will and treat the Roya as a backward tribe. They offer the Roya trinkets common in the outside world or even obsolete technologies, attempting to purchase trust and gratitude at a paltry cost. Not once have they regarded the Roya by the ethical standards they claim to uphold.
Simultaneously, some within the Roya tribe itself grow restless. Those who have forgotten or even scorn their ancestral mission. Now, driven by rebellion against tradition or by a fervent longing for the outside world, they seek to “leave the frostlands” through drastic means. They barter away tribal knowledge, resources, even technology… And for this betrayal, they have been cast out, becoming “ Outcasts,” wandering beyond the tribe’s protection.
The “Pandora’s Box beneath the frostlands” has been opened. Thus, the Pioneer Association signatories have resolved to selectively and strategically disclose portions fo our scientific findings to the global public.
Just as the leader of the Black Shores once remarked, this is a negotiation laid bare before all nations. Once key information about Lahai-Roi is public, every state will be compelled to approach the same table and, together with the Roya, determine the future of Lahai-Roi itsef.
