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The Nube Oscura Project:
Background:
This web page serves as a the results of an ongoing informational study on Nube Oscura and its ecosystem, as recently rediscovered, as begun in the year 18453. This broad overview will touch on the environment, the organisms that populate Nube Oscura, specifically the Mist people, and the relationships between these systems. The goal of this ongoing study is to examine the adaptations of the Mist and to ultimately learn from this environment without light.
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History:
In the year 5002 the planet Earth of the Milky Way Galaxy suffered from an internal conflict resulting in a grand search for refuge for billions of survivors. The exact causes of this internal conflict have been lost in the million years since but some details are still known from the rich oral and visual history kept by the Mist. (Later, this study will discuss the complex written and oral language of the Mist as a result of the complex and varied international population of the initial flight. It is an interesting and complicated tale of internal and intellectual conflict from which one can glean an excess of information on the conflict between human nature and the then burgeoning Mist nature.)
What is known is that there had been a planned mission, Mission 429, to transport a group of space pioneers to the newly constructed moonbase by the Spanish government, through the Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial. All fifty passengers and seven crew were on board and ready for take off when the first international shots were fired. An impending nuclear war set Commander Dolores Aves into quick action that ultimately rescued the only survivors on Earth. Commander Aves and crew (who will be discussed in detail later in the history of the initial population of the Mist) decided to not waste their training and preparation and left Earth as quickly as they could. During takeoff it was discovered that some of the major navigation systems had been compromised in the little time they had still been on Earth and all were sent floating through unknown space for days on end until Mission Specialist Abah Kapoor noticed a small, dark planetoid form in the distance. Initially fearful of the shape as a potential threat, it was quickly realized that this could be the miracle they had been searching for, for their fuel and food stores were quickly being depleted. Pilot Ivan Ortzi made the split second decision to divert the shuttle’s course towards the planetoid form and safely landed on the unknown land.
After landing, Mission Specialist Kapoor completed a series of tests on this seemingly barren land, determining it to have atmospheric levels of oxygen concentrations slightly lower than those of Earth. Mission Specialist Wallace Ramsay determined that these levels were safe enough for human lungs, but advised anyone who left the controlled safety of the shuttle to bring personal air compressors and oxygen tanks for emergencies. While keeping all other passengers contained as well as uninformed, much to the dismay of all on board, a small group from the crew decided to explore this new land. Commander Aves, Physician Ramsay, Specialist Kapoor, and the Nepali sherpa Giridhar Baral and his son Rochan. (Giridhar had originally been selected as a special forces crew member for the original moon mission to act as a moon creator guide, as he had been a master mountain sherpa back in Nepal, renowned for his survival abilities. His son, Rochan, acted as his apprentice and thankfully came along with the rest of the party for he is often credited as being the saviour of all of the refugees. More of this will be discussed as their mission continues.)
This party left the ship with their small oxygen concentrators and and small packs with only around five days of provisions, and began to wander into the unknown apparent wasteland.
After leaving the craft in the safe hands of Argyris and Ortzi, the exploring party left their ship behind and traveled in the direction which they believed to be north, according to their Earth compasses. At that time, it was unknown that Earth compasses would not work properly or reliably on this planet because of the differences in core composition and therefore different magnetic levels which led to compass confusion. Rochan noticed that his compass began to spin and began to unravel some of the alpaca wool that he had packed with him to remind him of back home and began to tie pieces to rocks along the way.
The group walked and walked for what it seemed to be miles and miles, but only to the pace of the unaccustomed Spanish Commander and the Scottish Physician. After several hours of hiking rocky terrain, they had only traveled a distance of around three miles before they decided to make camp. During their first march, they had not seen any other living organism and assumed it to be night because of the lack of life and because of the lack of light, and bundled up as well as they could for it was quite chilly. When they woke up, there was still no major light source, but all assumed that this planetary body must just have different day and night cycles. It was not realized until the end of their third Earth length day of wandering on the apparent wasteland that they realized that there was no major or definite light source and that this was really a dark planet. It was Specialist Kapoor who first made the observation that this must be a rogue planet, for as the days went on, there seemed to be no pattern to the movements of this celestial body nor the celestial bodies around it. The only light that lit their paths was the faint glimmers of the surrounding stars and their flashlights, which by the fifth day of constant use were almost completely depleted of stored power.
Running low on supplies, and approximately thirty miles from their shuttle, which they could no longer see, the crew was running short of ideas and of hope. If they did not return with any sense of life they, and all of the passengers, would be doomed to slow deaths from starvation. Commander Aves could not let this happen and set forth on the sixth day with only her draining flashlight and Rochan, leaving the others exhausted and without much hope at their last camp.
It was Rochan who discovered the first volcano and flourishing oasis. (It is this event which the oral tradition deems to be the saving light of their society. It is also from this event where it becomes apparent that there may have been a name change over the years, for Rochan means “illumination” in Nepali tradition, which would be a fitting name for him who illuminated the path for survival.) As Commander Aves stopped to catch her breath, Rochan went ahead over a cliff and came upon a valley full of flourishing chemosynthetic life, all surrounding the vent of a shield volcano. He observed a multitude of creatures and plant life and became speechless, collapsing to his knees at the wonder of it all. When he caught a hold of himself, he ventured down into the valley and felt the heat of the molten magma and rejoiced at the return of the proper levels of feeling in his extremities and ran to what appeared to be a stream of water. Using his knowledge of his father’s survival skills he created a water filter and drank the apparent water, forgetting all about the danger on this new frontier. Thankfully, it was pure water, much purer than even that of Earth because of the lack of pollutants. Exploring his surroundings, Rochar found several kinds of berries and what he hoped to be edible plants and gathered as much as he could in his pack and ran back to Commander Aves. Finding her almost to the point of being unconscious, he used the water and plants that he had scavenged to bring her back into the waking world. Amazed at the power of the plants Rochar had found, both he and Commander Aves went to the crater and collected as much as both of them could hold to take back to their struggling crew members.
After all of the crew had regained their strength, all decided that they should return to the shuttle to share the good news with those waiting with their last shreds of hope. Quickly realizing that they could not follow their compasses any longer, the yarn that Rochan had tied along the way became their second saving grace. It took them only three days to return back to the shuttle because of the remarkable strength they found from the nutrients of the scavenged plants. It is said that upon returning to the shuttle the crew stepped out of a mist created by the warm resources in the packs, and such became a colloquial and later the officially recognized name of this new population - the Mist. The crew quickly relayed their good news and the population of the shuttle set out to find more of these oases of life and to learn more about the new world around them. Commander Aves herself selected the name for this new planet, calling it “Nube Oscura” in her native tongue of Spanish, which translates to “dark cloud,” portraying an image of the dark, mysterious new world she saw in front of her. This idea resonated through the initial inhabitants and has cemented itself in the psyches of even the descendants today.
What is known is that there had been a planned mission, Mission 429, to transport a group of space pioneers to the newly constructed moonbase by the Spanish government, through the Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial. All fifty passengers and seven crew were on board and ready for take off when the first international shots were fired. An impending nuclear war set Commander Dolores Aves into quick action that ultimately rescued the only survivors on Earth. Commander Aves and crew (who will be discussed in detail later in the history of the initial population of the Mist) decided to not waste their training and preparation and left Earth as quickly as they could. During takeoff it was discovered that some of the major navigation systems had been compromised in the little time they had still been on Earth and all were sent floating through unknown space for days on end until Mission Specialist Abah Kapoor noticed a small, dark planetoid form in the distance. Initially fearful of the shape as a potential threat, it was quickly realized that this could be the miracle they had been searching for, for their fuel and food stores were quickly being depleted. Pilot Ivan Ortzi made the split second decision to divert the shuttle’s course towards the planetoid form and safely landed on the unknown land.
After landing, Mission Specialist Kapoor completed a series of tests on this seemingly barren land, determining it to have atmospheric levels of oxygen concentrations slightly lower than those of Earth. Mission Specialist Wallace Ramsay determined that these levels were safe enough for human lungs, but advised anyone who left the controlled safety of the shuttle to bring personal air compressors and oxygen tanks for emergencies. While keeping all other passengers contained as well as uninformed, much to the dismay of all on board, a small group from the crew decided to explore this new land. Commander Aves, Physician Ramsay, Specialist Kapoor, and the Nepali sherpa Giridhar Baral and his son Rochan. (Giridhar had originally been selected as a special forces crew member for the original moon mission to act as a moon creator guide, as he had been a master mountain sherpa back in Nepal, renowned for his survival abilities. His son, Rochan, acted as his apprentice and thankfully came along with the rest of the party for he is often credited as being the saviour of all of the refugees. More of this will be discussed as their mission continues.)
This party left the ship with their small oxygen concentrators and and small packs with only around five days of provisions, and began to wander into the unknown apparent wasteland.
After leaving the craft in the safe hands of Argyris and Ortzi, the exploring party left their ship behind and traveled in the direction which they believed to be north, according to their Earth compasses. At that time, it was unknown that Earth compasses would not work properly or reliably on this planet because of the differences in core composition and therefore different magnetic levels which led to compass confusion. Rochan noticed that his compass began to spin and began to unravel some of the alpaca wool that he had packed with him to remind him of back home and began to tie pieces to rocks along the way.
The group walked and walked for what it seemed to be miles and miles, but only to the pace of the unaccustomed Spanish Commander and the Scottish Physician. After several hours of hiking rocky terrain, they had only traveled a distance of around three miles before they decided to make camp. During their first march, they had not seen any other living organism and assumed it to be night because of the lack of life and because of the lack of light, and bundled up as well as they could for it was quite chilly. When they woke up, there was still no major light source, but all assumed that this planetary body must just have different day and night cycles. It was not realized until the end of their third Earth length day of wandering on the apparent wasteland that they realized that there was no major or definite light source and that this was really a dark planet. It was Specialist Kapoor who first made the observation that this must be a rogue planet, for as the days went on, there seemed to be no pattern to the movements of this celestial body nor the celestial bodies around it. The only light that lit their paths was the faint glimmers of the surrounding stars and their flashlights, which by the fifth day of constant use were almost completely depleted of stored power.
Running low on supplies, and approximately thirty miles from their shuttle, which they could no longer see, the crew was running short of ideas and of hope. If they did not return with any sense of life they, and all of the passengers, would be doomed to slow deaths from starvation. Commander Aves could not let this happen and set forth on the sixth day with only her draining flashlight and Rochan, leaving the others exhausted and without much hope at their last camp.
It was Rochan who discovered the first volcano and flourishing oasis. (It is this event which the oral tradition deems to be the saving light of their society. It is also from this event where it becomes apparent that there may have been a name change over the years, for Rochan means “illumination” in Nepali tradition, which would be a fitting name for him who illuminated the path for survival.) As Commander Aves stopped to catch her breath, Rochan went ahead over a cliff and came upon a valley full of flourishing chemosynthetic life, all surrounding the vent of a shield volcano. He observed a multitude of creatures and plant life and became speechless, collapsing to his knees at the wonder of it all. When he caught a hold of himself, he ventured down into the valley and felt the heat of the molten magma and rejoiced at the return of the proper levels of feeling in his extremities and ran to what appeared to be a stream of water. Using his knowledge of his father’s survival skills he created a water filter and drank the apparent water, forgetting all about the danger on this new frontier. Thankfully, it was pure water, much purer than even that of Earth because of the lack of pollutants. Exploring his surroundings, Rochar found several kinds of berries and what he hoped to be edible plants and gathered as much as he could in his pack and ran back to Commander Aves. Finding her almost to the point of being unconscious, he used the water and plants that he had scavenged to bring her back into the waking world. Amazed at the power of the plants Rochar had found, both he and Commander Aves went to the crater and collected as much as both of them could hold to take back to their struggling crew members.
After all of the crew had regained their strength, all decided that they should return to the shuttle to share the good news with those waiting with their last shreds of hope. Quickly realizing that they could not follow their compasses any longer, the yarn that Rochan had tied along the way became their second saving grace. It took them only three days to return back to the shuttle because of the remarkable strength they found from the nutrients of the scavenged plants. It is said that upon returning to the shuttle the crew stepped out of a mist created by the warm resources in the packs, and such became a colloquial and later the officially recognized name of this new population - the Mist. The crew quickly relayed their good news and the population of the shuttle set out to find more of these oases of life and to learn more about the new world around them. Commander Aves herself selected the name for this new planet, calling it “Nube Oscura” in her native tongue of Spanish, which translates to “dark cloud,” portraying an image of the dark, mysterious new world she saw in front of her. This idea resonated through the initial inhabitants and has cemented itself in the psyches of even the descendants today.
General Note:
It could be said that this lesser developed society did not take proper precaution when beginning to explore their new environment for there were many casualties in this new world, but such is the process of discovery and the course of humanity. It was quickly learned which plants were safe and which were not, how to characterize new animal life, how to take precaution in this new land without light, and ultimately, though very slowly, over thousands of years their bodies learned how to adapt and evolve to their new surroundings. It is these plants, animals, environment, and adaptations which will be elaborated upon in the further parts of this study. If one final, overarching thing could be said about the people of this mission it would be that they were extremely fortunate, colloquially lucky, in their series of events, but life is a result of a series of (relatively) unpredictable events and it is what one does with these events of luck or misfortune, depending on the outlook of the actor, that creates new life and development.