The Quodall tribe has been an ever present, albeit benign, entity in the hostile Ninth World jungle of Xenthropa since anyone or anything can remember.

The purple humanoids of organic and metal composition have never succumbed to their dreadful automaton neighbors’ machinations or the jungle’s twisted environment and creatures.

Either through guile or by their resilient anatomy, the peaceful abhuman tribe has persevered through many arduous trials.

Yet, the Quodall now face a danger that could mean their end, and for the first time seek the help of outsiders.

Actorazaya Bram, an elder and man of science of the tribe, made a startling discovery nearly a century ago. Bram found that the lifespan of the Quodalls had been diminishing with each century, and its growth in both innovation and thought had declined greatly.

A slow degradation that began hundreds of years ago, was beginning to quicken. Bram traced the downfall of the tribe to a single element, intelligence.

Something had happened long ago which caused the intelligence of tribe members to lessen with each generation, to the point where cognitive skills and concepts that were well mastered could now not be attained.

Bram has been leading an expedition for decades throughout the Ninth World to find a cure, only leading him back to Xenthropa where he has heard of rumors of an ancient colossal device, called the Pectromenar Cannon, buried somewhere deep beneath the jungle which may be the key to the survival of the Quodall.

However, the tribe is not the only ones who seek the artifact…

Far below the jungle recesses of Xenthropa in caverns of dark green crystal and grey rock stand hundreds of humanoid statues called the Cythanalian Prophets, named after an underground city which vanished around the same time of the statues’ appearance.

Although the prophets stand silent and motionless, the statues emit intricate strange glowing and incomprehensible symbols in the air for communication between themselves and those curious enough to seek them out.

Hundreds of books and Holotabs have been written in an attempt to translate the language, with each claiming to be the one true source. However no one book or person can agree on the language and it is left to the individual to make what he will of the prophets’ “words.”

Androth Orkeolas, a former Aeon priest, is one of many who claims complete comprehension of the Cythanalian symbols. Androth is eager to share the knowledge and rewards to those who will assist him in bringing the prophets back to their true form.

Banished from the Order of Truth due to his unfounded theories and questionable actions in his study of the prophets, Androth seeks to clear himself of his brethren’s accusations by showing evidence that he, and he alone, knows the true “words” of the Cythanalian Prophets.

According to Androth, the prophets were scientists who came to this world from another plane of existence hundreds of years ago. Unfortunately, their transportation to Earth caused the city of Cythanalian to disappear, an event that proved to be a misfortune and a boon to the prophets.

Androth claims that a surviving automaton guardian of the city took vengeance on the prophets forever freezing them in a living prison.

They were completely immobile but conscious.

Their new state, in addition to Earth’s alien environment, gave the prophets an intelligence that increased as the centuries progressed.

Androth says the prophets have now “mined the entirety of intellect” and wish to devolve to their former selves so that they may take pleasure in the simple things that they once took for granted (whatever that may be, Androth claims not to know).

Androth relates to those who ask that he is on a journey given by the prophets to find the Pectromenar Cannon, an enormous scientific device used by an ancient race millions of years ago that will devolve the prophets back to their forms before their encounter with the guardian automaton.

The cannon’s true use is unknown, but according to Androth, the discovery of the cannon will prove once and for all that he was right about everything about the prophets…or so it would seem.