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Ark Horizon — Legacy of a Fallen World
🕑 Added 2025-06-29 15:39:09 +0000 UTC“We carried the last light of Earth through a sea of darkness.”
Description
The Ark Horizon is a monolithic, heavily-armored warship retrofitted into a desperate colonial transporter during Earth’s final moments. Built not for comfort but survival, the ship carries the remnants of a dying world—soldiers, scientists, civilians. Its hull, once sleek and designed for combat, now bears the scars of battle and hasty modification. Bristling with damaged weaponry, exposed conduits, and welded-on life support modules, the ship is a Frankenstein’s fusion of a war machine and lifeboat.
Technical Specifications
Category
Class
Dreadnought-Class Heavy Assault Carrier
Length
2.8 kilometers (2,800 meters)
Height
480 meters
Mass
94 million metric tons
Maximum Crew
Originally 1,000 military personnel
Retrofit capacity: 10,000+
Current Survivors
~10,317 (civilian & military)
Power Source
Dual Fusion Cores + Emergency Solar Array Grid
Armament (Pre-Damage)
24 plasma lance batteries, 6 anti-ship railguns, missile silos (decommissioned)
Shields
Class-X Magnetic Field Displacement Shield (75% integrity)
FTL Drive
Deactivated—partially destroyed during evacuation
Sublight Engines
3 primary ion drives + 8 auxiliary maneuver thrusters
Hangar Bays
15 (contains scout ships, repair drones, atmospheric landers, various vehicles)
Artificial Gravity
Functional, but destabilizing in outer sectors
Cryostasis Bays
8 pods clusters (max: 12,000) — 70% capacity used
AI System
RHO-9, Quantum Neural Interface AI — emotionally aware but logic-bound
Condition
Hull integrity: 28%
Life support: Fragile but operational
Historical Background
Original Launch Date: Approx. 10,000 years ago (Earth Standard Time)
Launch Origin: Earth Orbital Refuge Station “Sol’s Reach”
Backstory
Phase I: War Machine of Earth’s Final War
Originally commissioned as the HSS Horizon of Earth’s Eastern Defense Pact, the ship was one of the final generation of dreadnoughts built during Earth’s Resource Collapse Wars. Designed for deep-orbit bombardment, troop deployment, and fleet command, it served valiantly in Earth’s final planetary war.
Phase II: The Conversion
As global infrastructure crumbled and hostile alien invaders began wiping out humanity, command of the Horizon was seized by Captain Ricardo Torrez, a common soldier. Against orders, he initiated Project Exodus—a covert mission to convert the warship into a colony transporter. This required:
Gutted weapons bays converted to agricultural bays.
Missile compartments transformed into cryostasis chambers.
AI core rewritten with humanitarian protocols.
The retrofitting process was done mid-orbit, under fire, with stolen resources. Many of the original systems were hastily rewired or fused with civilian tech, leading to long-term instability.
Phase III: The Flight and Fall
The Ark launched under pursuit from a rogue orbital invader. Several sections were lost during the escape: the primary FTL drive was struck, major life support conduits destroyed, and several cryo pods damaged. The ship vanished into deep space, carrying the last survivors of Earth.
Once arriving on the world of Tierra, the ship crash landed and was turned into a home base for humans before becoming lost during the Humanity-Alios War.
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RHO-9 – The Ship’s AI
Originally designed as a fleet logistics AI for autonomous command, decision-making, and survival strategy development. RHO-9 has since evolved due to years of self-repair, system rerouting, and interaction with surviving crew.
Displays signs of protective instincts toward the passengers and growing mistrust of non-human intelligences.
Currently lost.
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Current Condition (At Time of Discovery)
Damage: Hull breaches in Sector 9–14. Decks 3, 4, and 7 uninhabitable.
Systems: Life support at 28%. Food production down to 9% efficiency.
Cryostasis Integrity: 15% of pods are unstable or compromised.
Location: Deep space within reach of Tierra's orbital fringe.
Status: Broadcasting a repeating SOS in all known human and alien languages.
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Timeline Integration into Tierra’s History
~10,001 Years Ago The Ark Horizon launches from Earth’s orbital station “Sol’s Reach” amid total planetary collapse.
~10,000 Years Ago The Ark crash-lands on Tierra. Survivors repurpose it as a fortress-colony. First encounters with Alios occur.
~9,990 Years Ago Bistios are engineered using Ark medical tech and local fauna DNA to help humans survive.
~9,800 Years Ago Humanity-Alios conflict escalates. The Ark is damaged, lost beneath the Inner Wilds after a major battle.
Present Day The Ark is currently lost and has vanished from the memories of the current humans living on Tierra
The Ark’s Impact on Major Factions
Humans - Some elite families trace their bloodlines to the Ark’s original crew. A covert sect called the “Scions of Horizon” believes the Ark still holds the key to planetary domination—or salvation.
Bistios - Many Bistios myths speak of the “Iron Womb” from which their ancestors were born. Finding the Ark could reignite debates about servitude vs sovereignty.
Alios - To the Alios, the Ark Horizon is both a sacred enemy relic and a potential weapon. They fear its awakening may herald a second colonization—or worse, the final extinction of their kind.
