Mirrors Survivors

Surviving groups of Mirror

After the fall, there were hundreds of thousands of refugees in the sphere.
About half of them made it to the spheres planets, where they found a new
home. Ironically, the former upper class who was among them fared the
worst: many of them died on board of the refugee- ships at the hands of
those who believed the numerous rumors about the nobles being somehow
involved the cataclysm, others got away with their lives but little else
when they arrived at the former tributary planets, where their possessions
were confiscated as “compensation for years of economic and military
oppression” or other made-up “reasons”.

And there were those who fled the sphere completely, never to return. Most
of them were assimilated into other communities in the known spheres, some
founded “survivor-states”. At least three realms were “New Mirror”, none of
them surviving the first ruling generation. Without the supporting
infrastructure of their former empire: the political, social, cultural and
economical reorientation simply was too big.

Some folk found another way. They too wanted to start something new, but
without giving up the old. Immediately after the fall, countless
spacefaring captains began looking for old acquaintances and founded small
flotillas, each intending to plunder as much as possible. Those who preyed
on the other planets quickly found out that after a few raids no one
allowed them to enter port. Most of those “vultures”, as they were called,
turned toward Mirror Prime (1) and tried their hands at the many riches
left behind.

Among the vultures, two groups are especially noteworthy: The Retrievers
and The Guardians of Mirror.

The former simply plundered the ruins, but were the most successful. They
alone succeded in building a permanent base of operations at the surface
AND holding it longer than two decades (after which most ot the other
Vultures were either dead at the hands of other marauders, roaming monsters
(which were unleashed during the fall by the invaders or freed from their
cages where rich merchants or nobles kept them) or waiting spelltraps
guarding the riches left behind.

The Guardians of Mirror saw the plundering as a slap in the face of all
that Mirror stood for (apart from the exploitation, of course). They wanted
to bear in remembrance Mirror at it´s peak, it´s achievements, works of
art, the priceless magic developed over the centuries – in short: all of
Mirrors good sides.
They stood against the other Vultures, trying to stop the plundering, while
essentially doing the same: they too tried to retrieve treasures from the
now- dangerous ruins, but not with the intention to enrich themselves but
to preserve them. Almost all members were (and ARE, for the group is up to
today active in Mirrorspace and the known spheres) idealists, many of them
simply didn´t want to leave their old home and living as refugees. Today,
many generations after the fall (human generations that is- for among the
Guardians ranks are many elves who lived at Mirror Prime before the fall
and remember it´s splendor well) their activities are spread over the most
of the known spheres, hunting down items from their old home. They have a
stable and very good relations with the Seekers, as both groups are
constantly searching something: one for old memories, the other for new
knowledge.


Footnote

(1) As long as we don´t have names for the other planets or worldlets, i´ll
stick with “Mirror Prime” when writing about the “Capital” of the shpere.

Questions

(1) Do you envision Mirror Prime as a whole planet (long ago unified into a
single, global empire and then expanding to the stars) or a small worldlet,
similar to the rock of Bral perhaps?

(2) In which spheres were the three(?) survirorstates, is there anything
left? They would make a good adventure: the party finds the ruins on some
lonely world and discovers among the rubble crumbling old notes, describing
the location of some treasure left at Mirror Prime...