Credible Prime

Ancients

In the ancient time when the Answer was revealed to Kalfate it was done so to preserve the answer and knowledge forever. Kalfate's very existence was proof of something profound. Then, in those times, Kalfate was unassuming. But when imbibed with the Knowledge, Kalfate became transformed into something beyond. This new found revelation, given by a race of Elders who learned the truth, it is said, through diligent study - through methods lost to cosmic history -was revealed to Kalfate. And legends tell us that the Yend history regards the ancient Elders as a master race of scientists who reverse engineered the cosmos back to its origins. And discovered the randomness of it all. No Creator. No Design. Just existence. Seeker lore teaches that the Ancient Elders themselves were a fractured entity, the entity that created the Vast and the Expanse. The Seeker tales say that the One was a being so extraordinary that time and space could not contain it. Before the Vast, it is told, it dwelled in its own environment upon creation- upon the layering of orbits and planets and star movement-among nebula and black holes and SpaceTime-on the infinite stretching of the Vast the One, in order to watch over and guide future generations, stationed the Elders across the Expanse. The Elders imbibed Kalfate with the answer, knowing that they were not immortal beings. And Kalfate's knowledge included the answer and the location of the one. The path to All.

Still the question remained. " Who or what was Kalfate?". The legend tells of one who has the power to find the Beacon and the original Beacon is Kalfate. But no physical description has ever been given; only that Kalfate was born as sentient and given knowledge that resulted in immortality inasmuch as immortality was needed to reveal the Truth.

But after that revelation of Truth what then? What happens? What comes next? The legend doesn't say. It only says that the Beacon finds Kalfate and Kalfate reveals the truth. The circuit is complete. Like an engine that needs power to continue , connecting with the Original Beacon activates the entirety of existence, answers all the questions . But to find the Beacon a tool was devised and handed down across the ages. Beacons were peppered all throughout history, always leading a band of warriors on to the next clue. That band of warriors was the Mercs of Kalfate. Always hoping that the next clue revealed the answer, the Mercs of Kalfate were driven to search far and wide, to never relent and to pledge loyalty eternal. The Mercs had existed for generations- eons in fact if you asked some of the more unorthodox members. They were knights on an endless quest to satisfy their purpose and to protect, throughout the ages, those who believed as they did, and those whose unique abilities and calling drove them closer. Kreed always knew very well that his search with his crew might just lead to another clue with no Kalfate as the end game. That is until he met Krux Koda.

It's no wonder that Krux Koda, from a culture and a civilization that categorically denied the mission that the mercs ascribed to, would be a Beacon. Beacons were revealed, throughout time, among the most unlikely of characters. Criminals, murderers, thieves, charlatans- at one time or another these dregs of civilized systems had all exhibited beacons, according to Merc records. Beacons weren't selected for their aristocracy or social status. More often than not they were classless, broken and shadowed. Beacons attached themselves to the ones that existence had cast aside.

Koda was Yend in name only. He was like a faithless blight among the militant faithful. He was raised by shopkeepers who were more galaxy nomads than they were lockstep supporters of Pragmatica. From an early age he was taught that self-preservation, even if it called for imitating a passion, was the key to everything. He took his instruction very seriously. It's sculpted his future. As a boy his father would take him to work with him- a discount shop full of all manner of junk that he passed off as souvenirs to the traveling masses that visited Credible Prime.

" Tell the people what they want to hear," his father would say. " You're the son of a shopkeeper and a shopkeeper you will be as well. A shopkeeper makes his mark by being agreeable, even in the face of something disagreeable."

And that was the mantra by which Krux Koda lived his entire life.