On 04 January 2745, Durval, then known as Listening Post Epsilon 9, was formally founded. During the zenith of Terran expansion, its massive crystalline spires were painstakingly grown, not formed naturally. These bio-crystalline hyper antennae served a crucial purpose: to monitor the intricate subspace currents of the Iron Halo defense grid.
Sometime after its founding, the cataclysmic event known as the Sundering shattered the entire galaxy. Durval was consequently plunged into a thousand-year cryo stasis. The planet's artificially thickened atmosphere, once crucial for sustaining life, collapsed into a thin, freezing shroud.
This environmental devastation forced the planet's entire population deep beneath the ice sheets, into the geothermal Crevasse Cities. For centuries, the resilient Durvali people survived by metabolizing the planet's geothermal vents and mining the pure water ice, which they traded with the inner system. During this long period of isolation, the true purpose of the Spires was forgotten, and they came to be revered as the "Frozen Fingers of God."
Five years ago, the Red Sun Dominion annexed the entire Pamita Chha system, including Durval. They initially saw the planet as little more than a strategic refueling point and a convenient source of coolant water for their capital ships. However, Dominion xeno archaeologists recently began excavating the base of the largest Spire, the Silent Monarch.
These archaeologists believe the ancient antennae contain invaluable logs from before the Sundering, data that could pinpoint the location of lost Terran armories. The local Durvali population, however, harbors a deeper, more unsettling knowledge. They understand that when the wind blows through the spires, a unique psychoacoustic vibration resonates through the ice, capable of inducing hallucinations and profound madness.
The Durvali believe the Spires are not merely listening to the stars, but are actively holding something back. The Dominion's reckless drilling has disturbed this delicate frequency, causing the ice to sing constantly for the first time in centuries. This persistent singing is a manifestation of the "ghosts of the Sundering" leaking through the disturbed antennae. The true mystery lies in what the Spires actually detected a millennium ago: not an attack, but a relentless signal from the galactic core that has never ceased broadcasting.
Currently, the situation on Durval is tense and rapidly destabilizing. The constant psychic tremors from the singing Spires are causing widespread mass insomnia and paranoia among the Durvali. These reckless excavations by the Dominion are pushing the local population towards the brink of open revolt.
