The Doom of Hroa

Many wonder why it seems the denizens of Hroa develop Metadimensional Extroversion Syndrome in greater numbers than other citizens of the empire; some put it down to expert matchmaking, others to cultivating promising visions, but no living human, House Serpens or otherwise, knows the whole truth of the oddly consistent spike in psions born on the planet.

Onuj is the closest any race has come to defining this creature, the name coming from a far galaxy, from a long dead civilisation. Even then the true nature of the beast was unknown, and the civilisation and its data lost to time and the Scream.

Deep below the surface of Hroa, further than any have made it, slumbers a great beast. While it usually inhabits spike space, subsisting off the unfortunate travellers lost in the void and an unknown energy source, once every few millennia this great beast burrows into a planet to hibernate. While sleeping it exudes a metadimensional field, a much weaker version of the energy cocoon it utilises when travelling between sectors. When it re-emerges, healed and rested, the planet will come to an end.

This particular creature burrowed beneath Hroa’s crust was driven to an early hibernation, harmed by an unknown force, and has slumbered for millions of years, time reforming the planet around it and leaving barely a hint of its existence to the current inhabitants of Hroa.

This particular cycle has become complicated and delayed, owing to unique factors. The occurrence of The Scream furthur injured the Ojun, and the prolonged presence of humans on Hroa has siphoned off some of the metadimensional energy the creature would normally use to heal..

While the energies the Ojun emanates are detectable, it is beyond our capabilities to truly investigate. Many who tried have gone mad the closer they get to the centre of Hroa, driven beyond sanity by metadimensional energy. Investigating the source soon became taboo, considered akin to believing lizard people back on Terra. Many academic peers of those who choose to investigate the phenomenon assumed the madness was always there, only exposed by stress.

Many precognitives who live on Hroa will experience visions of drive space, and of the metadimensional fabric of the universe, though this is not frequently identified as anything other than normal visions of travel, not uncommon to many on the planet. During the Scream a huge mass-vision was projected on the psions of Hroa, though none survived the phenomenon; this was the first instance of a vision of the Doom. Interspersed through history, though rarely, are such visions - always far off, and never clear enough to glean true meaning, even with the Oracular Council and their Compilers.

During the Scream the beast shifted as it’s wounds were re-opened, creating a planet-wide earthquake that is unexplained to this day - mostly due to the scientists succumbing to that same event.

It was once believed that the energy it produced came from the planet itself, spawning a cult during the Scream. This was a radical group that spawned the general, much less obvious psychic worship, which nowadays is much more akin to reverence for social icons than true religious worship, especially with the pervasive nature of the High Church of Messiah-as-Emperox.

This cult had, at the core, 5 metapsions, with their abilities the only reason they didn’t immediately succumb to the madness that overtook most. In the chaos after the Scream, this group came to power, and while they were eventually overthrown, members purged, the period during which they held sway is one of the darkest chapters in Hroan history. Most Hroans believe this cult died out in the purge and even now membership, or even discussion of the beliefs is considered a huge taboo, akin to cannibalism. If a cultist were to be found in a Hroan community, they would be driven out violently.