But I Am Free
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create a Nexus that's not only artificial, but took on a life of it's own and became uncontrollable and free.
- Image Credit: The Duelyst II game.
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: New Cov Temple
- Links: New Cov NJO Temple | New Cov
- Nexus Name: The Evergrown Nexus
- Nexus Alignment: Neutral
- Location: New Cov
- Affiliation: N/A
- Size: Medium
- Strength: Strong
- Accessibility: It is easy to find but hard to get to. There's no hiding it's presence or it's effect on the wildlife around it, but those effects have made the already dangerous creatures of New Cov that much more dangerous, if more keen on remaining close to the area the Nexus resides in. Even people who have been exposed too long feel the same as the creatures, becoming it's protectors. Either by instinct or an unnatural pull to be the Nexus's defenders, they tend to drive any who'd approach out.
- Description: The Nexus itself is in the heart of a machine, for it was artificially created. The effects it started to give off however cause the wildlife around it to suddenly and irreversibly grow, encasing it within the body of one of New Cov's more dangerous carnivorous trees. It glows from within the trunk, giving an ethereal beauty to the dangerous flora.
The Evergrown Nexus was made with the intent of healing wounds of all kinds to those exposed to it, be it body or soul. The intent, however, was not the result. While being exposed to the core of the Evergrown can heal physical wounds of all kinds, it can result in unexpected side effects. A limb that was regrown being stronger than another. Sight that's superior to what had been lost. Continued exposure over months can cause mutations and a strong, mental pull to remaining close to the Nexus.
Leaving the area has what was healed return to what it was. The superior strength in a lost limb returns to average, and returning to the nexus doesn't re-empower. Prolonged exposure mutations have given the local fauna more flora like attributes. Fur turns to bark and leaves, claw and tooth to rock and stone. There are cases of animals growing in size. The flora on the other hand have grown much larger than outside the Nexus, giving a very visible line between where the influence begins and ends.
POINTS OF INTEREST
- The Evergrown Heart: What was a facility of machine and technology has been completely consumed by the flora the Nexus empowered. Remnants of what had been built remain, covered in overgrowth that normally would've taken centuries otherwise. It looks serene and peaceful, but no living creature approaches. The tree the Nexus is housed in feeds on any who get too close.
- The Evergrown Jungle: A visible difference from the natural jungles of New Cov has the Evergrown Jungle quite the sight. Trees twice as dense and twice as tall start and stop abruptly in the area of influence the Nexus gives, housing within far deadlier flora and fauna than the surrounding landscape. Nothing enters, and nothing leaves.
- The Evergrown Village: Animals and plants aren't the only ones affected by the Nexus. A group of people of once varying species have mutated to similar forms of bark and stone with the overwhelming urge to keep the Nexus safe. They live amongst the trees, alongside the animals and plantlife that would be dangerous for outsiders to approach.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
It started with the best of intentions, as all things do. As Kahlil's work on reversing Sithspawn and healing their mutations continued, the more he realized he needed something more than what he could do with science and tome alone. Thus began the Nexus experiment, deep and isolated within the New Cov jungle. The life of New Cov was meant to be used as a guide post for it, infusing the 'heart' with that every essence of life and rightness. When the Nexus stabilized enough, some of the most mutated Sithspawn were brought in to be healed.
The results worked, at first. The dark mutations of the creature seemed to erase as it was brought back to the animals they once were. As it turned out, they were better than they once were, seeming to have improved drastically under the presence of the artificial nexus. Such effects didn't last when the animals were removed to be returned to their natural habitats, but given they weren't weakened to anything less than where they should've been, it was deemed a success.
Success was short lived, however. Life finds a way, and artificial or not the Nexus was as living as the jungle it was guiding itself on. The change was immediate. The facility it was housed in ruptured by plant life, prompting an evacuation of the Jedi and Scientists within. Over the course of a day the Evergrown Heart and the jungle it resides in formed, trees growing to towering heights. Within weeks the animal life changed, keeping the Jedi from returning in and yet not leaving to create chaos elsewhere. Some Jedi and researchers went in to study, but none have wanted to return, instead telling others to stay away before seeming to destroy their communication devices.
The experiment was halted and closed, and the Evergrown marked as a danger zone for all to enter. Now it thrives in it's isolated bubble, neither expanding nor shrinking. Simply living, as it was made to do.
