The Shadowlands: Danger or Destiny?
Kritias

Even though it has been over three months now since the portal to the Shadowlands has been opened, there is still a lot that is unknown about this strange place. I sat down with three prominent members of the community to discuss the Shadowlands and its impact on the citizens of Rubi-Ka.

The scientists at JAME (Jobe Association of Metaphysical Exploration) have been rather quiet about what they know about the Shadowlands. There are explanations involving alternate realities and the Shadowlands being the source of all notum, but it is unknown how much of this is helpful information and how much is misleading disinformation.

Eomaia is the President of the clan organization Section 4 and considers herself, "a woman of prayer." She views the opening of the portal a mixed blessing, as she says it is both an opportunity to "look deeper into ourselves" and something "akin to opening Pandora’s Box." According to Eomaia, by opening the portal, the JAME team has "unwittingly released a chain of events that none of us can hope to control."

Eomaia seems to be like many Rubi-Ka citizens who are wary of the power the Shadowlands hold. There is so much that is unknown about this other world, and there is potential for much danger. As she pointed out, the Shadowlands contain "forces that are beyond our comprehension and predate everything we know," and that there has "to be changes in how we choose our destinies." Eomaia closed our interview by emphasizing that while there is so much mystery about the Shadowlands, we must not ignore the purpose of our existence, and that is to explore.

Next I sat down with Solstiare, a neutral General in the organization Circle G. She was a bit blunter than Eomaia, as she began our interview by saying that she thinks "that those that stand in opposition to the portal opening are of a dull, narrowminded sort."

To Solstiare, the opening of the portal to the Shadowlands was overall a good thing, she sees both that "the influx of new tech, as well as the general exploration is of great benifit" to the citizens of Rubi-Ka. When I asked how she felt about the JAME researchers, she answered very directly. "As for the Jobeians, I think that they have good intentions," she said, "[but] we are all familiar with where good intentions leads." Finally, on the topic of the Redeemed and the Unreedemed, Solstiare had little to say except that it is "a waste of time and effort on a conflict that is accelerating the decay of the ground they stand on."

Finally, I got the opportunity to talk to the President of the Omni-Tek organization RUR (Rubi-Ka Universal Robots), Dabblez, and while she did not have much time, she had a few interesting things to say. As for the science of the Shadowlands, Dabblez admitted that it is "a whole new science [and] nothing like what I studied at University."

When I asked about the dangers of the Shadowlands, she quickly got defensive. "We should never fear knowledge," she said, "it [is] standing still and stagnating that will destroy us." According to Dabblez, "the universe is out to get us, [and] it’s only through science we stay one step ahead." Her love of knowledge was obvious through-out our interview and she ended by adding, "If we stop learning, we die. It is our destiny."

There are many more perspectives on what the opening of the Shadowlands will bring us, but we can all agree that it is only through time that we can discover how this momentus discovery will tie into our destiny as a people. Whether it is danger or power, technology or destruction that lies inside the Shadowlands, there is one thing that we can know: there is no turning back. The portal is open, and our destiny waits.