Traditional Stories of Vale Reef

High Father and Winged One met
with thought to make five kets.
Halfway through making plan
Winged One knew need for land.
A place made called deep
where kets live and sleep.
Something the kets must do
Winged One thought then knew.
They would share his work
explicitly would the first.
Second would see
events yet to be.
Another would travel stars
through the present never far.
The last would keep them safe
to relieve Winged One of the weight.

Aster and Haket met to make the original five Kettlah. Midway through, Haket realized that there must be a place for them to live, as Astran was inhospitable to non-Ontautt. The Deep was made, though it is unclear whether the Deep is on Ibausec (Haket’s continent on Astran) or somewhere within the Golden Deep (a local group in Vale Reef). The first ket Roa would share his work, reliving memories of the recently passed to catalogue. The second ket Niu, would see the future. The fourth ket Mao would travel through the present with Haket, as an assistant of sorts. The fifth ket, Key would keep the five in good spirits. It is of note that the third ket, Lue is not mentioned.

In deep he rose the gates
where Winged Ones work took place.
Winged One could see
what was and what had come to be.
Future gate was blank;
full his powers could not make.
Winged One sought out Trickery
wielding such magik: her ability.
She spoke: visions of future
were not his to endure.
Winged One did not relent,
sought this for the second ket.
Trickery offered no control
when or where would show.

Haket set up all of the gateways in the deep, the gate to the past, the future, and the unconfirmed third gate of the present (what was) in a limited act of creation. He could see into the present and past gateways through his own powers, but sight into the future was beyond him. Haket believed Sham’ayn could give Niu the ability to see through this gate, helping him to prepare for what were previously unforeseeable deaths such as large-scale casualty events. Sham’ayn told Haket that she could not give him this ability and he agreed that it would be for Niu. She accepted this and told him that she could offer either of them no control over what the gateway would show, only that it would show that which has not yet happened.

Winged One accepted constraints,
future vision a worthwhile trait.
Second ket, Niu the name,
would see futures through gateway.
Trickery brought her surprises;
for future sight Winged One compromises.
Threshold the ket would not cross,
otherwise forever lost.
One body part must remain
anchored to the present stay.
Winged One would not see,
no change to destiny.
If present mistake alter
future certain no longer.

Haket accepted these constraints for Niu, deeming that the abilities the ket would be granted were more than worth the concessions and limitations. Sham’ayn had more to tell Haket: Niu would not be able to travel into the future through the gateway. Niu must remain tethered to the present somehow, likely by leaving any single body part in the deep to prevent being lost to the future.

Her last instruction to Haket was that any information gleaned from the gateways could not be used in hopes to either alter or ensure what was seen. This has affected ket philosophy as seen in the writing Questions of Why.

In future this will be,
strange dream prior unseen.
Inside light creatures hide
spending time, howling bide.
Paused ket awoke a fright,
shaken from gruesome sight.
Breaking free monsters scream,
terrible future seen in dream.

This tale is passed on from Niu’s tribe, and may have some verses or lines missing. It is heavily rumored across Vale Reef that it is incomplete, but we present as much as we have.

In what is believed to be the first instance of a ket seeing the future, a Niuni is said to have woken up, scared by the glimpse of the future they had seen. Monsters that evade description in the “prophecy” break free from whatever held them and let loose screams.

Currently locked in light,
break free some unknown night.
Devour stars and planets wide
Claws and teeth gnashing time.
Rip, tear space itself
High Father cannot help.

The middle stanza explains that the monsters were locked in light and break free at an unknown date in the future. These monsters have claws and teeth, and are large enough to devour stars and planets, likely referring to planet-stars and their cores, though it may mean star-planets as well. Their power is so great that Aster cannot contain the threat.

Writhing wyrms in dream
first future mortal seen.
In first future sight
was seen unknown fright.
Trapped inside core of star
unclear whether near or far.
This dream came to be
called Unknown Prophecy.

We now know the monsters to be ‘wyrms’: winged creatures with claws and teeth, and the chronicle tells us that this is the first confirmed future-sight. The last stanza encapsulates the fear felt by the escape of the creatures from their star-core prisons, and calls this revelation the Unknown Prophecy.