HIWG HIWG Document: HD 3426 Date: 24-11-1992 From: Leighton Piper Gushemege Sector Developer 11 Skeffington Rd. PRESTON Lancs, PR1 5UP UK. To : David Burden, Gushemege Sector Analyst Kevin Parry, HIWG UK Clayton R. Bush, Quadrant 1 Editor J. Duncan Law-Green, Vland Domain Editor Subject: The Loeskalth Abstract: A more detailed look at the lost human race of Gushemege. THE LOESKALTH The Loeskalth and their culture were to all intents and purposes, eradicated through the vilani consolidation wars that raged in Gushemege between -5400 and -5300. In little less than a hundred years an independent human culture with a recorded history of six thousand years was extinguished. The loss was virtually so complete that a thousand years after the passing of the wars, the Loeskalth were confined to myth. The people and the culture had undergone a forced integration that banned the use of thier own language, and wiped out their own history prior to the arrival of the vilani. The Loeskalth as an independent, identifiable people have been lost to the mainstream macrosociety of Gushemege. Most of what is known about the Loeskalth today comes from archaeological finds, place names and oral tales passed down through the generations. The vilani references to the Loeskalth are few and far between but indicate a fiercly independent and aggressive race. The vilani came upon the Loeskalth around -6000 and offered them all the benefits of their technology but under their conditions. This meant the adoption of a vilani-type culture which the Loeskalth accepted although somewhat grudgingly. As the people became more prosperous and the influence of the Loeskalth became more widespread, voices could be heard urging a divorce from the Vilani Empire and the return to their own values. They began to carve out a small, pocket-empire of their own causing a great deal of consternation amongst the vilani. This problem and others led to the Consolidation Wars which led to the ultimate destruction of the Loeskalth. The evidence suggests a fierce, bitter war, with little quarter given or asked for. There are still a few folk tales and songs which commemorate some of the Loeskalth successes (few and far between) and many of the Loeskalth defeats. Most notable is "Endril a'Loeskalth gwalf" - Loeskalth's Fallen Mighty in translation. Recently interest has been fired by the discovery of a huge asteroid ship (massing some 50 billion tons) in the Aapu system (Vipach 0132) by Professor Enrique Laskan (from the Ilelish Cultural University at Dikaash). The ship measures nearly 10 km long by 8 km wide by 8 km deep and is nearly identical to a vessel having been recorded to have been found within a parsec of Saulente in the Inverness subsector of Far Frontiers. This Aapu vessel has remained in orbit around the system's primary for nearly 6500 years, and it was only discovered by chance. A prospecting vessel that had landed on the ships surface activated a anti-meteorite defence laser. Just before the final destruction of the Loes homeworld, some of the people undertook a project to excavate a series of asteroids to use as colony ships, to leave the turmoil and devastation with the plan to find a new home. The migrants decided to leave the region altogether and strike out over into the unexplored space spinward of the Great Rift. Evidence points to at least six vessels being constructed (including the one around Aapu), each with jump-1 capability and a magnetic fusion ramjet sub-light propulsion system. Examination of the abandoned, incomplete asteroid ship around Aapu suggests the vessel would have been home to some 10 to 15 thousand people. The vessel came complete with huge wharehouses, production centres, extensive hydroponic farms, resedential areas, space-/starship hangers and a complex museum-come-library which acted as a repository of all the remaining Loeskalth culture and history. As the vessels set out in slightly different directions only the fate of the two can be accounted for. By extrapolation it would appear that the starting point is the sytem of Abaelou (0233). Recent examinations of Abaelou would seem to support this theory. The reknowned archaeologist Professor Limun Sar-James has led a number of expeditions to the likely sites on the world, between 1099 and 1108. These research expeditions revealed the existence of a human culture some 6,000 to 6,600 years ago at the very latest. BIOLOGICAL ORIGINS The Loeskalth like all 'native' human populations discovered so far, originated on Terra and transported around 300,000 years ago by the Ancients. This was deduced from scraps of vilani medical data collected on the Loeskalth prior to their assimilation. Nearly aii the information on the Loeskalth was destroyed in the aftermath of the Consolidation Wars. This medical data indicates an average size, wieght and build for the Loeskalth. It would appear that they are descended from caucasian stock, possibly of celtic origin. This is derived from genetic and linguistic data that has survived. However evidence is tenuous at best, for at that stage of the transporting of the humans from Terra the languages were elementary in form. The slight celtic slant may have originated with the mingling of some terran European sublight travellers that colonised the Islands Cluster in Reft.