World Burner

The World Burner is a working label used at the Convox for a squat grey “egg” seen mounted on the Geometers’ ship. High‑resolution phototypes show it bracketed directly to a shock‑absorber strut within a lattice that carries small thrusters, antennae, and spherical tanks. The mounting brackets are strangely oversized; scaling them from images implies extraordinary mass, best explained by a super‑heavy, fissionable core. From this, analysts infer that the pod is a thermonuclear device several orders of magnitude larger than any made on Arbre.

Convox calculations further note that the surrounding tanks appear sized to give the pod enough reaction mass to maneuver on its own, potentially taking up a position in an orbit antipodal to the mother craft. If detonated there, it would flood the visible hemisphere with radiant energy sufficient to ignite it—hence the nickname “World Burner.” This reading is an inference from imagery and scaling; the visitors’ intent is unknown. In earlier observations, the vertex supporting the assembly was brightly lit and crowded with suited personnel; some onlookers believed this indicated preparations to launch, but this remained conjecture. In those images the pod was attached to the ship; no separation or deliberate detonation was seen.

Observed configuration and activity

On a covert approach to the Daban Urnud, observers saw the assembly directly across a rubble facet and described it as “a hydrogen bomb the size of a six‑story office building,” egg‑shaped and bound into a dense web of struts, plumbing, and spherical tanks. The supporting vertex‑citadel appeared dedicated to the World Burner’s mounting and services, and bright work‑lights illuminated scores of suited personnel actively clambering over the structure.

As the approach party closed, a Ringing Vale detachment—the Valers—executed an Emergence and covertly boarded the complex. Moments later, those watching from a nearby observatory perceived a brilliant, boiling flare and a shock transmitted through the ship’s frame; one teammate inferred that propellant tanks had been blown. In the immediate aftermath, traffic surged through the passage leading to the World Burner’s vertex, with armed personnel and firefighters moving both ways, some injured, and the assembly reported ablaze. Accounts also describe the associated vertex as a command post and maintenance depot for the World Burner, including a conference room with windows overlooking the bomb.

Sabotage and status

Subsequent reports attribute the event to shaped‑charge sabotage carried out during the boarding action. According to these accounts, the World Burner exploded in three places—the primary detonator, the inertial‑guidance system, and the propellant tanks—followed by a large secondary detonation as the tanks ruptured. Afterward the assembly was described as wrecked. In the wake of the blasts, access to the vertex was tightly controlled and sections were depressurized; later repair or rebuild status has not been described in available accounts. No orbital deployment or operational detonation of the device has been observed.