Friends, friends, and friends (You are my friend, there is no alternative), it is I, P’pol Ban Orubasay, coming to you once again from sunny (figuratively!) Garlemald! I’m not sure if these have been getting through, as the censors now scoff when they see me come into the mail room! And with a story like THIS, not spreading the truth is an option I just do not have! So, I sent this out in secret with a smuggler so you could read it in its entirety!

In my last story packet, I mentioned that I have been working diligently in the system, and finally got a job at a scientific research center! As I’m just a regular citizen, the best job I could get was in the custodial corps, but cleaning bathrooms all day is a significant step up from mining while being whipped! At least I think so.

One of my coworkers regrets the promotion to citizen and often begs our supervisor to return. I hope he gets what he has been after! Good luck to you, Kaoni Ban Doshiya!

Many long days and nights that bleed into each other have given me so many opportunities to learn new secrets! My last two reports, On the Meaning of Life (EDITOR’S NOTE - Not received), and The Recipe for Immortality (EDITOR’S NOTE - Also not received) were sure to bring you all some exciting developments in the advancements that Garlemald’s top scientific minds have been cooking up! THIS revelation, however, shatters both of them combined into a pile of fine, fine dust that could potentially cause serious health risks after prolonged exposure!

One of the scientists on the project, Gregorio Lux Ezzolio, has been very kind to me, helping me out of jams, buying me jams, and even joining me for jam sessions on Tuesday Open Mic Nights at Wurtz Watering Hole (please come if you are in the area)!

We have gotten so close, in fact, that he spoke with my boss, and now I am the only person allowed in his office after hours! For cleaning purposes, of course.

Sometimes he leaves books and data out, and I have no choice but to dust them off! He should not have to come in to find a dusty stack of papers and findings, after all. And sometimes while I am wiping them down, a word or several thousand enter my line of sight and I become more knowledgeable, like through osmosis!

Because of this, I have stumbled upon some dark and dangerous secrets. But one, above all, has been near and dear to my heart, and I am happy to say I have finally gotten some answers to burning age-old questions!

In a previous issue, I brought some hard evidence that Hydaelyn is, in fact, flat. This news was deemed so destructive to public order that the Grand Companies banished me and I had to camp out in Coerthas for months. It was not the most pleasant time, but speaking truth to power is worth the price.

As it would so happen, though, I am not the only one to have noticed the obvious truth! Imperial scientists have been researching it for years, and they have uncovered some shocking revelations!

Before getting into them, though, let us first discuss an age-old myth, that of Hollow Hydaelyn. Sharlayan Scholars have long dismissed the idea, but for a time, there were many who thought that perhaps our star was not solid, but instead had a hidden layer beneath our feet. This layer was surmised to contain its own continents, ecosystems, skies, and even ocean! Some even say that strange beasts roam these lands, similar to the ones we see all the time, but with minor differences.

Despite attempts to prove it by digging deeper and deeper holes, no one was able to dig deep enough, sadly, and while the idea persists in pop culture, it is largely seen as a laughable joke rather than scientific theory. At least, that is what the general public is told.

The Garlean Empire has an unimaginable amount of resources. This, of course, means advancements in military technology, science, and even espionage. From what I could learn, their own research into Hollow Hydaelyn began following reports from moles embedded in Old Sharlayan that scholars had found some evidence to suggest the old myth might actually be true.

One of the early diggers, Tall Crab, had uncovered some ancient carvings in his attempt to reach the hidden world within ours. While translating it in full had been a difficult challenge, the scholars were able to determine that it describes travelers coming and going through the layers to trade and explore.

This, of course, excited the Empire. A whole new world, a dazzling place we never knew, ready for diplomacy, trade, and possibly a means to move convoys away from the eyes of the surface!

Still, after years of moving dirt and rock from depths never before seen, it became something more in line with myth. That is until they realized what I had discovered just last year. Hydaelyn is flat. But how would that change anything?

One of the telling signs for our star not being a spherical object in space, as many claim it to be, is the position of the sun. No matter where one stands on the planet, the sun is in the same spot at the same time. One would expect at least dawn in La Noscea to be dusk in Kugane, but no, high noon is high noon no matter where you are.

At first, I had guessed that perhaps we are on a disk, spinning in such a way that the light always hits the entire thing at once. This was a theory at the Garlean Science Institute for a long time as well. But, not satisfied and feeling like only part of the puzzle was uncovered, a team of researchers was able to develop a means of reaching far higher into the sky than ever before. What they found was this revelation I share with you today. Our sky is not what it seems.

When you look up at the stars at night, do you even feel that they move just a bit too smoothly? I have spent many sleepless nights watching the different colored astrological symbols drift by into the horizon. They always feel so distant, and yet somehow so close.

The reason for this, though, was one I had not expected. Imperial Expeditions into the great unknown were quite peculiar. At first, balloons with instruments were loaded up and sent off unmanned to take readings. Yet, each time, rather than coming down gently, each crashed to the surface as the ballon had been punctured at the top. Detractors believed that it was due to atmospheric pressure. Still, determined, more advanced flying machines were sent.

The crew of the Narwhal was the first to successfully return to the surface, as others before them had not. The captain of the expedition explained, in secret debriefings, that he decided to stop short of a certain altitude. Noticing that each mission had failed around the same spot, he assumed that it was a deadly height to fly in. He was more right than he realized.

Following the Narwhal’s journey, more crews were sent up, this time each stopping short of the barrier of no return. These slow-rising crafts had hatches for teams to leave their craft and peak out and each that did reported the same thing. The sky is not air at all, but rather, a solid surface.

I know it is hard to believe, but surely the signs point to the truth, do they not? Why else would the sky be so box-like? How do the constellations seem so shimmering and so close? These are not distant stars, but actually gems reflecting light back. Our sun is not actually a burning gas giant, but instead, a magma pool rotating above us. Hydaelyn, as we know it, is indeed flat. But it is also hovering in the center of a larger spherical container. We are the hollow layer!

You may be thinking “P’pol, that is great and all, but I have to feed my children corn or other things that you think people feed to children. What is the point of revealing this hidden and correct truth to us?” Well, dear readers, the important takeaway in all of this is that I was right! So petition your local Genetically Enhanced Ixal Overlord and get my banishment removed!

This has been P’pol Ban Orubasay, reporting the truth to you!