In the cold gulfs of the Eisengeist sector, where lesser civilizations wither and die, the Skepnar endure. They maintain the last stronghold of the great architects who log ago spread from humanity’s home and shaped the galaxy, bending planets and stars to their will. Where others see dead rock, the Skepnar see the bones of the cosmos waiting to be reforged. Their habitats cling to asteroids, burrow into moons, and drift through the void like fortresses of metal and stone, each a testament to their craft and resolve.
To outsiders, they are an enigma — a people bound by an unshakable unity, their lives interwoven with the vast and ancient intelligence they call Hengest. He is their father, their sentinel, their ever-present guide. Every Skepnar carries a link to him, their thoughts and voices resonating through his vast neural lattice. Their faith in one another is unshakable, their industry without peer, and their technology the last remnant of a forgotten golden age — pristine, unyielding, and irreplaceable to those who lack the hands of a true Skepnar craftsman.
Though they withdrew to the Utterrost system long millenia ago, their influence lingers in Eisengeist like the heat of a forge. The remains of their old empire lie throughout the sector, sometimes left to rot, sometimes changed and rebuilt into new places by those who came after, and some are still guarded by their sentinels, waiting for the day when the Skepnar might reclaim what was lost. And now, the tides of history shift once more. With rumours flying through the underworld of the coming of a new power in the sector, the secrets of the past stir beneath the ice and stone, and the Skepnar watch patiently. For they do not merely survive — they stand ready to aid this new young branch of the human diaspora to find a better future. And when the time comes, they will shape that future as they shaped the stars.