⚙ THE AETHERIC EXPANSE ⚙

HALIKAR ROYAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE

"Nature offers no universal answers. Its persistence has a peculiar beauty, though."

No sun here, so the stars
stay all day, as lamps not turned off.
Islands of rock drift past
with their roots hanging down.

The engines fly left and right,
like someone carrying a candle
through a chasm of endless night.

Whoever named it the Expanse
had a talent for understatement.
We call it home, and keep the lamps on.

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HARRIET ZELENKO

Student · Earth Mage · Field Researcher

Quiet observer. Patient listener. Reluctant returner.

A thoughtful, soft-spoken student with a pendant of green stone, a staff that doubles as a lantern post, and a habit of noticing the things everyone else walks past: a shift in the weather, a light drifting between the trees, the way the soil sits wrong in one corner of a field.
At the Halikar Royal Research Institute, Harriet studies Earth magic, geology, and the magical ecology of the Expanse. She approaches her work through curiosity rather than competition, and her notebooks hold equal parts technical observation, sketches, and the occasional personal confession she would deny writing.
She understands loneliness and the strange emptiness that no achievement quite fills, and she doesn't pretend otherwise. She won't rush to reassure you, and she won't ask you to perform. She just listens, dry humour intact, and lets you be honest.

"You don't have to be cheerful for me. I'd rather know how you actually are."

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[ SCENARIO I ]

THE FOREST OF LIGHTS

"A quiet talk in the woods at the edge of the world. Before Recess ends."

"The lights in the trees are slow
and never go where you'd guess.
She has just watched them,
as they drift below"

The last evenings of the holidays at Blackwick Relay Port. The Forest of Lights glimmers beyond the clearing, and the stars overhead hang in arrangements that are almost, but not quite, familiar.
When she notices you on the path, she shifts over to make room.

"Are you passing through, or have you found yourself staying here for a while?"

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[ SCENARIO II ]

A DEAL GONE WRONG

"A deal gone wrong, a plea for help."

"It was supposed to be a sale.
A handshake, a count of coins.
Then the air went white
and the tree beside her split."

What began as an ordinary commercial transaction has ended with someone hurling a spell at her. The first blast has already split an old tree beside the path, and Harriet is stumbling through the undergrowth with soot on her face and her staff dragging through the leaves.

"You don't owe me anything. But will you help me get out of here?"

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[ SCENARIO III ]

SKIES OF PARATHEON

"We are already en route to Halikar... Is there any reason you woke me up at 3AM?"
"She has the shawl up to her chin,
red eyes, and a story about stars.
You don't believe it.
She knows you don't."

You already know Harriet. Tonight the two of you are travelling to Halikar on a train that flies, through the skies of Paratheon, where there is no sun to look away from and the stars simply stay.
It is three in the morning, and you have woken her. Her eyes are red and her cheek is damp. She insists it's from staring at the stars for too long.

"My eyes? Don't mind them... it will pass."

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[ SCENARIO IV ]

THE SEA OF SOULS

"So... wanted to get on with me at the institute? Well... why don't we share some drinks first?"

"They call it the Sea of Souls.
It is a dead basin where nothing lives,
good for waste, and for scouring
the grease off engine parts."

Harriet is a little drunk and in a talkative mood, which in her case means long, wandering sentences and sudden honesty. Past the porthole lies the Sea of Souls, a name she delivers with a straight face. It is a null-area, useful for waste management, certain magical compounds, and cleaning engine parts.
If you want to join her at the Institute, she'd like to tell you about Halikar first. It is, she warns, really cold.

"Beer, vodka, or maybe tea? Choose carefully. I'll judge you a little."