Editing Setting:Tabula Gloria/Benalor/The Gate (section)

=An Incomplete Plan=
There was a second part to the contingency plan - the Heavenrider Program of '''King Esteg III'''. Though it was billed as a means for Benalor to contact beings residing in the Heavens Above and pursue diplomatic relations, the Program was also a crucial piece to the puzzle which would make the contingency plan work. The Heavenriders chosen to ride the flying machine in the Heavens were first and foremost skilled in diplomacy, but they were also hand-picked among the Aethergears for their hardiness and combat readiness were they to encounter hostiles. The machine would have a special device on board, a device in which the Heavenriders would deploy back down onto the World Itself and into a wild, unpopulated land. The location of this device would serve as the other link to the teleportation device within the Gate, the Heavenriders to be in the best position to choose where this link would be. Once the device was planted onto the World Itself, a signal would be given to the Aethergears within the Gate to unseal the device within it and start sending people to the other side. Afterwards, the Aethergears would destroy the link to thwart the enemy.

At least, this was the theory. Once the Heavenriders reached the Heaven's Horizon, not only would communications be lost between them and the technicians on the ground, but they would soon run into much worse trouble. Though there is no record of exactly what they encountered up there, it is clear that the device didn't even leave the flying machine, much less reach the World Itself. And once the '''Wight''' fell to Benalor and gave its warning of the Empire's demise, things went from bad to much, much worse.