the stars welcome you
The stars grow more restless each day
Their empty divinity grows clearer to the unaided eye
Stars are not for infinity, they are mortal like everyone else
It's that waning power we fear for
For the stars want their power again
So they rip through space and sky with their fury
Hateful as can be
We once had something to watch over us
Yet now it's afraid too
Tagapabalita, one to watch over us
Now whines as each star slams into its backside
For it, like us all, is mortal too
It fears pain and struggle, and begs for peace the only way it can
So it screams
Churning stomachs and putting fear in the strongest minds
They fear for that one day, Tagapabalita will flee
Too overwhelmed with agony to want to protect us anymore
The council tries to keep it calm
But it's nothing less than an animal who found favor with Kuryente
A simple trade of protection and care
It doesn't know that we don't intend for it to suffer
For it lacks the brainpower to understand our intention
And with no clue what we think of it
Tagapabalita believes it's being antagonized
So it wishes to go, to leave Kuryente
Maybe we'll see the stars better now that it may go
But if those same stars want us dead
All of us wish to leave with Tagapabalita
Yet there aren't enough space vessels
Among the common folk
The rich and famous have taken their leave
Even our rulers float above the planet, lying and telling us they're still there
A few hope that their ships make our new shields
Hopeful a perfectly placed Solarnoid knocks them out of the sky
Until then, we can only hope Tagapabalita stays strong
For we will die if it gives up
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Tagapabalita, or, One to Watch Over Us is a large serpentine entity of unknown size, though hailed to be about half the circumference of Kuryente. Its origins and family history are shrouded in mystery, alongside if more of such creature exists out there. Data has shown that it does share the family genus "Expanselvus", a group of large space based reptilians with similar structuring to snakes. Expanselvus members feed upon asteroids and hydrogen to provide sustenance for themselves, often inhabiting small solar systems in groups of 30 (scientifically known as a Cloud of Exanpselvus). These systems function similar to other animals, with a head of the chain going down to the bottom. Expanselvus are female lead, but the difference between them and their male counterparts have yet to be observed.
While Tagapabalita shares close ties to this genus, what species it lies under is unclear, as not enough visual samples have been put together to form a clear connection to another species. Tagapabalita does carry other differences to its home genus. This includes what appears to be less intelligence than it's counterparts. Due to the size of the entity, tests are not perfect, however it has shown unable to pass the mirror test, which is unlike other members of Expanselvus. Furthermore, it's additional appendages suggest Tagapabalita to be either a genetic defect of the genus, or a completely unique member of Expanselvus that has not been discovered.
Tagapabalita was first found in the Kuryente system on ████████████████████, seemingly far seperated from its other family members. This could have been a result of the natural process of Expanselvus, where young adult members will leave their family to start a new one. Whatever the case was, specialists where able to reign it in and provide a sort of "truce" with the entity. With retrogradiation projects, Tagapabalita was able to move around safely and easily to feed off the sun, while helping residents maintain a sleep cycle despite the shifting planet. This agreement has been one largely unspoken, yet has shown great benefit to both parties. Specialists hope to keep it around so more research could be done about Expanselvus and search for the orgin of One to Watch Over Us.
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It came here looking for a new home
A new place to rest among the stars
Sought after hydrogen, the air it must breathe
Sought after terra, the rocks in which it feeds
So it arrived in Kuryente
Foolish at first of the civilization surrounding it
Tagapabalita sought to hog the sun for itself
Damaging the crops Kuryente needed to grow and scaring many with hunger
Yet someone reached out, to encourage it to change
Ellust Poinntan
The words she spoke are ones still not known to anyone
A secret quickly left to die by her hasty demise
It was a death lamented over, yet now is celebrated
As Tagapabalita continues to cooperate with those living on the planet
Many only can be thankful of the unknown words
What became of Ellust is still a question with no answers
Seemingly healthy, she had caught a cancerous growth too rapid to prevent
Said to have eaten her alive in weeks
We fear for what needs to be done now
Without the words to speak, we can't provide Tagapabalita the support it needs
The need to know that this is not intentional
We fear the stars just as much
If only we knew the words to tell it, we would
Sadly, Tagapabalita may forever remain confused and afraid
Left to suffer with the malevolent stars pelting its fleshy backside
Though of scalular compound, it still is sensitive to the heat of the falling stars
Its screams continue to pierce the stars
The echos of its misery make many distraught and distressed, begging for change
Begging for someone to speak to it
Begging for Ellust Poinntan to appear again
None of the specialists know it's tongue, yet each day they try another way
Leaders promise their effort and money, but its effort that seems to be silent
They always wanted to leave if times got tough
Aboard specialty rockets covered in their pompous minds
Tagapabalita still screams in misery, it's pain a regular show
Nothing has changed, nothing seems to ever be able to change
Hope has reduced into a game
One where we try to imagine everything be alright
Joyful, isn't it? Needing to play pretend that everything will go well
Many await for Tagapabalita to leave so they can lose their lives to the stars that leave us
At least then our fate will be certain
A fate condemned to the ash on the ground
Perhaps poetic to some, but beyond the rest
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In response to the success of mission ████████████ on ████████████, Tagapabalita has moved to circling Kuryente instead of the local solar object. Though many tentative efforts and plans TAG-41B was produced.
TAG-41B or the Controlled Sun Project, is a detailed outline of the expected behavior patterns and movement system of both Kuryente and Tagapabalita. While the project is yet to be disclosed to the public, it is one that has served the tests of time and became a model to many other spacial bodies on how to work with celestial entities and how they can be beneficial for aiding in solar system dominance.
Tagapabalita will be moved between Kuryente, Galitaraw, and the Oiusten Passage for the 3 different stages of the Kuryente crop growing cycle. It surrounds Kuryente during the planting season, where it has been taught to move about in a specific pattern to let all residents keep some semblance of a sleep cycle. This is to allow sun in but not too much to prevent the terra from baking in the higher heat. And additionally this always helps Tagapabalita always have some access to the sun for feeding. During the irrigation season, it's moved to the Oiusten Passage. In this time period, Tagapabalita is free to consume whatever asteroids it deems fit. On Kuryente, a specialized team of Expanselvus specialists will monitor its activity and eating habits to assure its health. Lastly, during the harvesting period Tagapabalita will move around the sun, allowing for safer conditions and the space for retrogradiation if necessary.
Because of its less than ideal intelligence, Tagapabalita should be guided through the use of rewards, moved between the 3 regions with the use of G-114 "Sun Dancers" shuttles. Sun Dancers must be packed with 200 150 tons of nutrient-rich feeder as they move about, and are encouraged to also pack in non-toxic sweeteners to assist in encouraging Tagapabalita to follow the spacecraft.
The world was ripe with anticipation
All hopeful, all expecting
As Ellust climbed out of the Solar Bypass, she could feel her flesh slowly being bake by the nearby sun
The onslaught if hell bore down upon her
Yet she stayed, her goals far greater than the misery
Tagapabalita, whisking around the soon as it ate up the pulsating hydrogen and solar radiation
Its hunger lead many others close to starving
How fortunate that many have still lives, their ingenious is one of beauty
But fear still took hold, and many agreed
Something needed to be done
As she watched Tagapabalita make it's revolution, she croaked out sounds
Only through the layers of space and sky was she heard to the beast
However, no one else did
It was a mission alone into the cosmos
So her answers were ones to be kept with her
Yet it didn't much matter just then what was spoken
It mattered more that it was understood
And as the full mass of the sun could be seen again, Kuryente cheered
A feat of greatness many hoped would stand by Ellust late into her life
Yet her body had other plans
Only living long enough to create the system Kuryente still uses
Nobody quite knows what happened to her
Some say radiations, others, cancer
Others believe its a secret stooped in government conspiracy
Nothing confirmed, everything suspicious
May justice soon come for Ellust Poinntan
So that maybe Tagapabalita can stick around for a little bit longer
And so the planet feels a little bit safer
What has lead many to conspiracy though?
To believe someone so loved could be killed off by her biggest supporters
The ones in power who paid for this journey by the taxes of their civilians
Would be stupid to stab her in the back yes?
Yet they panic to conceal what doesn't need hiding
Left "desperate" to keep those safe
Nothing has ever happened after a secret was exposed
Yet they fear for it every time
The secrets Ellust had are ones that'll never be known
Her lead coffin buried deep and welded down
A closed book, published by an unknown author
Hopefully
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Eventually, Tagapabalita left the system, slinking through the Oiusten Passage again and past Ekko. It left rather quickly, needing only 2 days to be out of sight for 99% of the population. Many lamented its disappearance, with complaints flooding scientific agencies across P0LARI5 and C3RULE regarding their inability to keep it around. It got to the point where the leader of the Controlled Sun Project appeared to a crowd:
"My heart is broken just as much as yours. Tagapabalita was a staple of our culture, our society, and all the things that we were so proud of. His exit is not only a sign of change on Kuryente, but one that may include great disaster if we do not plan accordingly. The stars have become our nemesis, and they've been sending astral bodies of hatred onto us, and more importantly, Tagapabalita. Its fear was our fear as well, and it fought valiantly to protect us and care for us for so long."
"We continue to search for someone able to understand them, the Expanselvus. Yet they are a fickle bunch, and finding one just like it is a challenge that may takes years longer, a time period that may border on decades. With the power of the Solarnoids raining down on us, we've been quick to release a project that was planned to be done much later. A series of cones that could channel the power and magnitude of Galitaraw away from us. It's a project that has never received enough testing, but we fear that there is not much else to do."
"And as it's hoisted into position, take care of yourselves, and your families. Your support is what makes our institutions thrive, and while we've failed you here, we work hard day in and day out to not fail you all again. This cone project is one that will be perfected as time goes on, and we learn how to better manage our sun. We are no perfect civilization, but we're getting pretty damn close. Thank you."
Made by PortulTrademark, a part of the Our Home, Kuryente canon.
All images shown were made by Junji Ito
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