Erdriap Chensh

The Erdriap Chensh is a huge, planetbound hunk of mysterious rock embedded under the ruins of an Ancient city and theorized to be some sort of highly advanced device.

• It is as an artifact.

Description (Specifications)

It is a massive, mountain-sized amorphous blob of vitreous stone embedded in the ruins of an Ancient city. The mountain object, eventually called the Erdriap Chensh (‘Controller of Wills’), was theorised to be able to control the wills of Humans over a vast area of space, elevating or reducing their motivations and direction. This information was kept secret and buried as the Consulate began to collapse under its stresses.

History & Background (Dossier)

Qrekrsha (1929 Zdiedeiant) sits on the edge of the great Zhdant Abyss. Initial exploration in the –5400s found nothing of interest but in −5326 a survey team found a massive, mountain-sized amorphous blob of vitreous stone embedded in the ruins of an Ancient city. Eventually similarities between the Erdriap and the vitreous stone were reported and, after discussions, the Qlomdlabr agreed to have them brought together for study. The Erdriap arrived in the Qrekrsha system in −5274 and researchers began earnestly working to find out what the two did. The mountain object, eventually called the Erdriap Chensh (‘controller of wills’), was theorised to be able to control the wills of Humans over a vast area of space, elevating or reducing their motivations and direction. This information was kept secret and buried as the Consulate began to collapse under its stresses.

When fighting did break out, the faction in control of the Qrekrsha system reviewed the two artefacts and, after ensuring their people were safely nearby, they activated the Erdriap Chensh in −5248, intending to benefit their own people and their allies. In fact, the artefact was set for the reverse effect. The field expanded at the speed of light, first within the Qrekrsha system itself, then to the worlds around it, within a 30 parsec radius. The Consulate watched with horror as all Humans within the area stopped caring about themselves or anything else, eventually starving to death. The Qrekrsha Zone lasted for centuries, leaving a massive barren zone within the Consulate. The warring factions quickly dropped their fighting, recognising that urgency needed to be given to saving populations. In fact, no one knew how long it would continue to expand, so many plans were set in motion. There was great relief when the effect finally stopped progressing in −5150.

The two artefacts are now kept sectors apart and under direct Qlomdlabr control. Even after six millennia, the zone has a much smaller population than the rest of the Consulate and the Qrekrsha system remains Forbidden.

Controller of Wills in the Regency

In the 1130s the Regency ran a project on a similar artefact discovered at Rhylanor and this project was used, during the passage of the Empress Wave through the Spinward Marches Sector, to mitigate the impact of that disaster. It protected a region approximately 14 parsecs in diameter from Rhylanor (Regina, Mora, Magash and Lanth were also inside that radius)

References & Contributors (Sources)

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This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Don McKinney. Zhodani (Mongoose Publishing, 2011), 62.
• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science