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Reposted by helloe // Toitū te Tiriti!

dollpaws ❆⚢ @snowfall.gay · 16/09/2026

Day 16 of Swordtember! 16 - Leviathan The Season of Starfall lives up to its name. #rbswordtember

Journal of Record - Article 335-0067.

It appears I will be making arrangements for that research station on Espial Rock after all. It has been several cycles since we opted for the less intensive stabilisation repairs on the lighthouse there, and it had proven successful as of two days ago. Alas, the Season of Starfall brings surprises, as it always does, and in a rare instance of a falling star striking land rather than the ocean, one has wiped out the upper third of the lighthouse and buried itself in the rocks below.

Thankfully, the strike occurred before nightfall, and the current lighthouse keeper was in the adjacent building, sleeping. Had it been past nightfall, it would most certainly have killed them. However, it leaves a significant issue regarding the safety of any vessels wishing to cross the Boiling Sea. For the time being, we have issued a notice advising a considerably wide berth around the islands here. It will cause disruptions to the fisheries delivering food to the various settlements, but it is not worth risking the safety of those vessels for. The Order can arrange for additional provision deliveries in the event of any shortages.

$Inspecting the impact site, it is apparent the entire building will need to be rebuilt. The tower itself has sustained massive damage, the upper third completely obliterated- including most notably the lamp and lens- and the rest of the structure has been torn through by a cobweb of cracks and fractures which have rendered it entirely uninhabitable. The falling star did not appear to be at all dissuaded in its momentum by the tower, and has buried itself thoroughly in the stone bed that the island sits upon. I have been referring to it as a falling star despite the obvious taxonomical failings of the term, but for all intent and purpose it may as well be a fallen star, given that sparing the eight moons maintaining their silent patrol between the two ever-present suns, we do appear to be entirely alone in this part of the cosmos- the night sky is a void of tar and pitch, such that the stars do appear to have fallen from sight. The hole it has left is far too wide and jagged to descend safely, however, in something of a stroke of luck, the star breached an existing cave system in the rock bed- one reasonably accessible from the beach on the western flank of the lighthouse's outcropping. Having made a brief expedition down there, I can finally get to the actual meat of this entry- the article in question. It is a fossil, of exceptional detail and level of preservation, which appears to have been exposed as the falling star tore through the rock. The star itself appears to travel still further down into the rock bed, and I may insist a return and attempted retrieval of it once we have the research station fully established.$

The creature to which the fossil in question belongs to is difficult to identify, but it appears to be the remains of something truly colossal. It is a single scale, seemingly of something draconic in nature, rather than the piscine source one might have assumed given its location. The single scale is maybe sixteen and eleven inches at its longest and widest points respectively, and appears to have been somewhere in the region of two inches thick. The creature this belonged to must have been nigh invulnerable, as a lattice of these scales would surely repel even the most refined spearpoints. The rock the fossil pulled away from has preserved the pattern of the scale, a rippled effect that seems to have retained an iridescent colour gradient, which implies the presence of some trace crystalline elements in the scale prior to its fossilisation.

The blood runs cold at the image of a creature of this magnitude, one clad in resplendent pearlescent armour that might once have swum in the depths that end not twenty yards away, back at the cave's entrance. Though at this size, it may not have swam the depths so much as it would simply have filled them. It is difficult to imagine an ocean vast enough to accommodate such a titanic animal. One would hope that, were we to share a planet with such an entity, it would have made its presence readily known by now.

It's strange, but it seems warm to the touch. Resting my palm on its surface and observing the way the surface almost undulates against the skin feels... right.

Ex Arcana Scientia.

Artemis Kaumera
Head of Arcane Research for the August Order
45th Light of the Season of Starfall, Cycle 335.

Graphic reading: "REGAL BONES SWORDTEMBER 2026 1: Fanart 2: Gamble 3: Primal 4: Flock 5: Decay 6: Noir 7: Wings 8: Oblivion 9: Fractal 10: Fae 11: Hunger 12: Inversion 13: Flesh 14: Werewolf 15: Lost 16: Leviathan 17: Bramble 18: Tempest 19: Atom 20: Junk 21: Cocoon 22: Crystalline 23: Fool 24: Sticky 25: Generation 26: Moon 27: Grave 28: Mystery 29 + 30: Deadly + Sins Prompts brought to you by my amazing patrons at patreon.com/regal_bones!"

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