Age: 14,000,000,000 Years
Hidden or Lost?: Lost
History: Staring deep into the night sky, beyond the Thorn Season constellations, you may detect the light of a strange star that inspires revelation and the melting of the scales from your eyes. This light of truth emanates from an ancient relic of What-Came-Before, which is now known as the Masseter Asteroid.
At the violent formation of the universe, Nothing exploded into Everything. But what existed before that primal moment was not simply a featureless void. There was at least one being, most often thought to have been a titanic chronicler of knowledge referred to in apocryphal texts as ‘The Astral Lineage.’ The Lineage creature was there when the universe exploded into being, and was utterly annihilated in the blast. Those who study the enigmatic presence have postulated that it was the final repository of the truth behind the universe’s creation, a sum total of What-Came-Before distilled into a material form. And with its destruction, that knowledge was all but lost.
The only known fragment of the Astral Lineage that survived the birth of All was a portion of its impossibly massive skull, a broken remnant that came to be known as the Masseter Asteroid. The giant ossified shard has floated at the edge of the universe for millennia, shining brightly with the incandescent secrets of existence.
Across the galaxy and time, many have noticed the abnormal glow, becoming obsessed with the visions it brings. Those of sufficient capability have even attempted to reach the Masseter itself, building generation ships, ramshackle cosmic flotillas, and hibernation vessels to attempt the journey to the edge of the universe. Every one thought that they would be the arc that finally stole the secrets from the strange body, but very few have made contact. The closer they all got to the asteroid’s mind-shredding aura of truth, the more violently new revelations assailed the senses of all aboard, eventually killing the crews or driving them insane. Abandoned vessels from a million worlds now orbit the asteroid like a grim halo.
Those few who have managed to survive the trip to the Masseter’s surface have discovered that it is not as lifeless as it seems. Clusters of giant ticks, infused with millennia worth of the asteroid’s universal emanations, can be found nesting in the crevices and shadows of the Masseter’s crags. Some explorers have even claimed to have dined on the rare meat of these ‘Lineage Mites,’ only to find themselves ascended into avatars of gods from What-Came-Before, wise beyond comprehension and lost beyond saving.
Do not stare at the light of the Masseter Asteroid for too long, or you too may become fatally obsessed with its deadly truths.