Daban Urnud

Not to be confused with Urnud, one of the origin worlds associated with the visitors.

Daban Urnud is a starship built by engineers on Urnud; its name translates as “Second Urnud.” According to the Laterran linguist Jules Verne Durand, it was the last and largest of a series of atomic‑bomb‑propelled craft, first intended to send a colony to a neighboring star system only a quarter of a light‑year away.

Durand relates that a mutiny and change of command redirected the ship onto a geometrodynamic trajectory meant to reach Urnud’s own past. Instead, it arrived in a different cosmos, orbiting an Urnud‑like world later known as Tro, beginning a prolonged “Advent.” In time the vessel was rebuilt to support peoples of both worlds and launched again, reaching Laterre (known on Arbre as Antarct).

From this testimony, a pattern emerges in which the ship is rebuilt at each stop before moving on, with upheaval accompanying these Advents. Durand warns that the Urnud/Tro bloc—self‑styled the Pedestal—seeks to assess Arbre’s capabilities and may act pre‑emptively if it believes extraordinary powers are real. He also notes practical constraints, such as incompatible food biology between worlds, that drove the ship’s mixed provisioning and refits.

Statements about its deep history and the intentions of those associated with it are presented here as Durand’s account rather than established fact.

Configuration and life aboard

Laterran accounts describe the living heart of the Daban Urnud as an “Orbstack” of sixteen hollow spheres clustered about a central axis that rotates to produce pseudogravity. Each sphere is partly filled with water and supports houseboats linked by nets and bladders; when the ship spins or accelerates, the water settles accordingly and the boats are rigged to handle jostling. Trunk lines of optical fibers route captured sunlight from the exterior inward to illuminate rooftop farms. Pressurized corridors allow movement between spheres so that Urnudans, Troäns, Laterrans, and Fthosians can travel among communities. Zero‑gravity sections are dotted with lockers holding respirators, fireproof suits, and extinguishers, reflecting the crew’s particular caution about fire in weightless spaces.

External architecture and shielding

Around the Orbstack, the ship is enclosed in a rubble shield arranged as a faceted icosahedron. The shield is hung on a network of giant shock pistons; the Orbstack is webbed into the middle. Systems that interact with the wider cosmos—radar, telescopes, weapons, and small craft—are mounted on the thirty shocks or at the twelve vertices where shocks join. Three vertices near the pusher plate are exposed mechanisms; the other nine are complex vehicles or pressurized nodes. Some contain passage tunnels connecting the icosahedron’s exterior to interior spaces; one serves as an optical observatory.

Chronology and Arbran correlation

Analysis by an Ita, using captured Urnudan documents and conversion from Urnudan to Arbran units, estimates that the ship’s first inter‑cosmic departure occurred roughly nine centuries ago in Arbran reckoning, with an uncertainty of a few decades. Some avout have noted that this aligns with the era surrounding the Third Sack; this remains conjectural.

Orbit and surveillance windows

Recent in‑orbit observations describe the Daban Urnud on an elliptical path ranging roughly from fourteen to twenty‑five thousand miles above Arbre, completing a revolution in about fifteen hours. Because of this geometry, teams in low orbit experience alternating periods of concealment and exposure as line‑of‑sight to the ship opens and closes. The ship has short‑range radars suited for nearby objects, but these are not kept active continuously unless visitors are expected; lookouts associated with the Geometers rely on telescopes and syndevs to sift imagery for anomalous objects and non‑balloon orbits.

Current activity on Arbre

A covert approach has been launched by Sæcular authorities working with avout, using personal suits paired with lightweight upper stages. To confuse surveillance, scores of balloons and chaff were lofted alongside humans and cargo, with rendezvous conducted behind a screening balloon during line‑of‑sight gaps. The cell assembled a reflective “Cold Black Mirror” to mask both optical and radar signatures and brought a small service tender online, whose reactor splits water into oxygen and hydrogen to sustain operations. To climb silently toward the Daban Urnud’s altitude without rocket flares, the team deployed an electrodynamic tether and began a days‑long spiral under continuous low thrust.

As the final approach neared, a sextant was used to refine orbital elements, and the tether was cut at a precise alignment to synchronize the orbit with the ship. After pushing the Mirror away to clear the view, the team advanced in matte‑black suits and used grapnels to snag the wire mesh that binds the rubble shield. With the help of small thrusters, they absorbed the last of their relative velocity and established a firm hold on the Daban Urnud’s exterior.

Status and occupants (reported)

Within the shipboard society, communities from Urnud, Tro, Laterre, and Fthos are said to live within the Orbstack, with education geared toward roles in the Command. Political alignments reported by the Laterran source place Urnud and Tro together as the Pedestal, with Fthos opposed and Laterre divided. These particulars are retained here as attributions to that source until independently corroborated.