Editing Autia (section)

==='''173 ANC Emerald Isles Expeditions'''===

[TOP SECRET]

Belkan, Ercaenmedi, and Alkor, among others, have long been intrigued by the possibility of exploiting ancient Sartyrian artefacts for military use. In 173 ANC, the intelligence agencies of all three nations caught wind of a large complex of Sartyrian structures being discovered in the Emerald Isles by an expedition of explorers from Falconhead.

Belkan Intelligence was the first to act on the news, and dispatched a "scientific expedition" of 87 soldiers, 23 air crew, 4 griffon riders, 13 scholars, and 9 support personnel to the island on board the armored zeppelin "Indomina".

Much slower to catch wind of what was happening, unaware of the Belkan expedition, and not taking the discovery particularly seriously, Alkor and Ercaenmedi (allies at the time) assembled four small cargo zeppelins, and three messenger griffon riders, as well as 34 Alkorian marines, 12 airmen, 6 freelance adventurers, 8 Alkorian colonial bureaucrats with some scholarly knowledge, and an Ercaenmedi intelligence specialist. The force was assembled hastily from nearby Alkorian colonies, though the Ercaenmedian specialist was luckily just in the area.

The Belkan expedition reached the island first, but an unexpected tropical storm caused the Indomina to crash just off the coast of the island, leading to the loss of half the expedition members, most of the gear and equipment, and all but one of their griffons. Even worse, the island contained many dangers, including quicksand, strangler vines, dinosaurs, massive insects, zombies, and sadistic demon worshipping natives. After losing half of their remaining members trying to carve their way through the jungle, the remaining members of the Belkan expedition fortified their beach camp, then relied on their remaining griffon to ferry key members of the expedition directly to the ruins.

However, only 8 members of the Belkan expedition were ferried to the temple before the Alkorian expedition arrived. Outnumbered almost two to one, and possessing only a few functional muskets in addition to their melee weapons, the Belkans were swiftly defeated, with many of the kills attributed to the Ercaenmedian woman Naifi, who was skilled at both magic and melee combat.

After interrogating the surviving Belkans at the beach camp, the Alkorians sent a single messenger, Jessie Young, on a griffon back to the nearest Alkorian colony to report on progress so far, and notify senior officials that the Belkans were taking the ruins unusually seriously. They then mounted back up in their zeppelins with the intent to fly over the jungle and land at the temple complex directly.

Jessie Young's account of the two expeditions up to that point is our only reliable record of their fates. When a second much larger Alkorian expedition arrived on the island, the ruins had mysteriously disappeared, along with almost all traces of either expedition. The bodies of two Alkorian soldiers and a Spartician adventurer who died during the initial clash between the Belkans and the Alkorians were encountered in zombie form two days later deep in the jungle. However, the battle site itself and the Indomina had disappeared without a trace, not to mention the temple and the Alkorian force that reached it.

It was only three years later that Belkan historian Emilia Gunther was rescued during a retaliation raid by Alkorian marines against hostile tribesmen on an island almost three hundred kilometers away. Initially believed to be a captured Alkorian colonist gone native, her accent gave her away as a former citizen of Belkan. By that time the 173 Expeditions were something of a legend among Alkorians stationed in the Emerald Isles, and her rescuers almost instantly jumped to the conclusion that she was in some way associated with the Belkan expedition.

According to her rather farfetched and contradictory account, the 8 Belkans who reached the temple had split up into three groups, and she and a soldier named Hans never saw the other two groups again. She and Hans became lost in the tunnels and began to suffer from what is likely a series of hallucinations brought on by panic, during which Hans shot himself. Emilia later claims to have encountered an Ercaenmedian woman killing several Alkorians before fleeing the area. Emilia apparently wandered the tunnels for several more days before emerging back into the jungle and being captured by tribals. She was apparently unaware until being told so by her Alkorian rescuers that she ended up on an island several hundred kilometers away from where the temple complex disappeared from.

Emilia disappeared without a trace two days after being rescued.

Four subsequent expeditions to the island have turned up nothing, but each expedition was plagued by unexplained disappearances, unexpected bad weather, murders, and outbreaks of insanity. One of these expeditions disappeared completely.