Visitation of Orithena

Context and Naming

Within the ongoing gathering at the Convox (extraordinary mathic assembly), participants refer to the recent Orithena encounter as the "Visitation of Orithena." The term is used in plenary briefings following the event and is treated as the convenient label for what happened at Orithena and what followed. It is often shortened in conversation to "the Visitation."

• Orithena is an ancient center of learning on Ecba; its modern compound included access to the Temple of Orithena (ancient ritual complex). The Visitation label is used by avout (monastic scholars) who were summoned to the Convox and shown official speelies and summaries.

What is known so far

Accounts gathered at the Convox, and from avout present at the site, describe the following elements:

• A probe associated with the Geometers (visiting aliens) descended at Orithena. Participants handled parachute rigging and opened a hatch after equalizing pressure. One injured occupant—described as a woman—died shortly thereafter. A box of vials and the body were preserved as "givens" for transfer to the Convox.
• Witnesses first took the streak to be a meteor; as it approached, a parachute deployed while two observers on the slope ran toward the site. Most onlookers stayed at the rim of the excavation while Orolo continued down to the plaza; a companion followed him. The "hole" in these accounts refers to the excavated Temple of Orithena at the bottom of the pit.
• An Ita speelycaptor named Sammann arrived only minutes after touchdown and recorded much of what followed; later briefings at the Convox draw on those images, while an eyewitness has supplied additional details not captured on the recording.
• Soon after the encounter, a destructive event overran the area; witnesses speak of a blast followed by the Eruption of Ecba (volcanic event). Survivors were evacuated to a nearby beach where a temporary canvas camp—nicknamed "New Orithena"—was established for decontamination, interviews, and rites.
• Convox speakers now attribute the deceased probe occupant to the group informally called the Antarcts, while embedded projectiles are said to be consistent with matter associated with a different group sometimes nicknamed "Pangee." This is presented as the working reading of laboratory reports and not a final pronouncement.

Immediate response

• The site and evacuees came under the control of the Sæcular Power (worldly authority). Quarantine procedures, chemical hosing, and biomedical intake were imposed; later, representatives from Tredegarh coordinated the transfer of the "givens" to the Convox.
• Convox specialists report that a red laser used by the visitors had a wavelength not matching known natural spectral lines. This, along with tests on recovered artifacts and the preserved body, is discussed as evidence that the visitors' matter differs at the nuclear level ("newmatter"), with the practical implication—per Convox briefings—that cross‑infection risk is low. An Ita (technical order) additionally notes that distinctive odors were detected from the body, implying some interaction with avout olfactory tissue.
• In the wake of the Visitation, influential messals and parallel briefings spurred planners to re‑task a silent reconnaissance satellite to pass near the visitors’ icosahedral craft, anticipating that the vessel would turn its shielded face toward the incoming object. Ground‑based telescopes were readied to view structures normally hidden from Arbre if such a maneuver occurred. This gambit is recorded as part of the broader response attributed to the event.

Orithena connections

• The event is anchored to Orithena (ancient learning center) and its temple complex. Avout from the Orithena lineage (pre‑Cartasian tradition) used computational chanting in their work at the site; Convox observers recognized related motifs when an Edharian chant echoing that tradition was later sung during Inbrase.

Current status

• The label "Visitation of Orithena" is in active use at the Convox for reference and archival purposes. Investigations into the recovered materials and recordings continue under Convox oversight; public summaries are delivered in plenary sessions, which now also include eyewitness question‑and‑answer.
• At the Convox, the event also functions as a temporal anchor in speech (e.g., "after the Visitation of Orithena"). Operationally, non‑essential activities were paused to focus personnel on analyzing the visitors' ship; avout were pre‑assigned into small cells for potential dispersal, and rucksacks with identification badges were issued on the plaza as part of a deterrence‑oriented dispersal plan sometimes nicknamed the Antiswarm.

Public reception and representation

• After Sammann captured and circulated images over the Reticulum, the phrase "Visitation of Orithena" became widely recognized beyond mathic circles.
• Because of their visible roles during the Visitation, Cord and Yulassetar Crade were later selected to travel with an Arbran delegation to the Daban Urnud, presented as representatives of "the people" in proceedings overseen with the involvement of the Sæcular Power.

Notes

• Scope: Speakers sometimes use the label to encompass both the probe encounter at Orithena and the destructive events that immediately followed; others confine it to the initial contact. This page preserves that ambiguity.
• Interpretation at the Convox: In a public dialog, a prominent Procian speaker asserted that Orolo might have signaled the visitors using an analemma, linking this idea to (a) the choice of Orithena as landfall, (b) Orolo drawing an analemma in his final moments at the site, and (c) his acceptance of responsibility afterward. Others, including an eyewitness, challenged this as unproven and urged adherence to the Steelyard’s preference for simpler hypotheses. The suggestion remains an attribution, not an established fact.