Descent into the Abyss

Descent into the Abyss. The Ørbital Expedition deploys an auxiliary craft to map Deep City and recover scattered Ilghal code fragments.

Inter-Enclave Transcript / Ilghal-QW Channel
Date: 2407 CE / 306 p.A.
Origin: Expedition EX306pA-QW
Destination: Eurasian Enclave Laboratories

These four images document one of the most delicate phases of the expedition: the descent of an auxiliary craft through the access shaft connecting the surface to the immense cavern where Deep City remains buried.

The images were captured from the expedition’s main vessel as it monitored the operation. As the auxiliary craft descends farther into the cavern, communications begin to deteriorate, revealing an impossible landscape of colossal suspended platforms, the remains of ancient infrastructure, and a permanent fog that severely limits visual analysis.

The auxiliary craft has three primary objectives: to accurately map the ruins, scan the surviving structures, and recover every scattered fragment of Ilghal code throughout the cavern.

Each recovered fragment becomes another piece in the historical reconstruction effort aimed at answering a single question: what was Deep City really like before its collapse?

The 3D models, maps, and visual reconstructions published throughout this project are not isolated artistic interpretations. They are working hypotheses generated from data recovered during the expedition and continuously cross-validated against newly discovered evidence.

These images belong to the research phase that follows the discovery of Deep City by the Ørbital Expedition (2407 CE / 306 p.A.) and form part of the ongoing effort to reconstruct the events that led to the Collapse of Deep City (~2361–2365 CE).

Every meter of descent brings the expedition closer to understanding a lost civilization… and raises new questions about how Deep City truly functioned.

Dr. Noam Ørbital
Expedition EX306pA-QW