Ceryne

Ceryne is a verdant world deep within the Shackleton Expanse, its surface blanketed by dense jungles. The atmosphere is rich and humid, fostering vast ecosystems of towering flora and thriving fauna. From orbit, the most striking feature is the Ceryne Rift: a colossal black scar that cuts across the largest continent for hundreds of kilometres, its depths hidden beneath clouds and shadow. The surrounding terrain is rugged and unstable, with tremors and storms common along the fault line.

Ceryne Rift

Initial scans of the Ceryne Rift reveal more than simple tectonic activity. Deep sensor sweeps register irregular energy signatures and faintly geometric voids beneath the surface, though interference from the planet’s magnetic field prevents a clear image. At ground level, survey teams may discover traces of shaped stone and fused glass along the ravine walls - ruins half-swallowed by jungle and time. Amid the overgrowth lies a single exposed archway descending into darkness, its surface smooth as obsidian and faintly warm to the touch. From within, instruments detect a slow, rhythmic energy pulse.

The archway leads to an immense subterranean labyrinth extending far beyond the reach of tricorder or detailed sensor scans. Its corridors are perfectly smooth, as though carved from a single sheet of black glass, and branch in complex, repeating patterns that defy conventional mapping. The air is still and dry, and light reflects oddly off the walls, creating the illusion of endless depth. Murals and reliefs are etched into the glass - abstract scenes of struggle, reverence, and transformation - whose meaning is impossible to determine. No power sources, machinery, or life-signs are detectable, yet the structure remains unnaturally intact, as if untouched by time.

Encounters

A lot about Ceryne is left undefined in this article, and is for the writer to determine (such as the presence, or lack thereof, of indigenous life, which may or may not be pre-warp). The focus of this AOR is the subterranean labyrinth. Investigations of the complex can discover its origins as a site created by the Vezda or their worshippers, whose identity may be learned or lost to the shrouds of time. Some suggestions for the purpose behind the labyrinth’s creation and its nature:

• A Shrine of Suffering: Built by Vezda-worshipping followers as a temple where ritual pain and sacrifice were performed to empower their masters.
• A Prison: Constructed to contain a rogue or weakened Vezda, its geometric patterns forming a psychic cage that now lies dormant - or cracked.
• A Memory Vault: A psychic archive where the Vezda inscribed the experiences of conquered species into the walls, each mural a living echo of torment.

This AOR is envisioned as a setting for a horror story; the nature of that story is up to the writer, but here are some ideas that could be used:

• Lost Contact: A survey team exploring the labyrinth stops responding. Their last transmissions show erratic readings and panicked voices before cutting off. A recovery mission must venture inside to uncover what became of them.
• Echoes of the Past: The labyrinth’s murals begin to move when illuminated, replaying scenes from ancient lives. At first, they seem like historical recordings—until the scenes begin to feature the away team themselves.
• The Faithful Remnant: Deep in the jungle or near the rift, the crew encounters a small, isolated community who revere the labyrinth as sacred, and view outsiders’ entry as sacrilege. Their rituals may hide knowledge - or allegiance - to whatever lies below.
• The Return: After escaping, members of the crew begin to display strange behaviours: sleepwalking, carving symbols, hearing the pulse in their dreams. The labyrinth’s reach, it seems, does not end underground.
• Shared Hallucinations: Crew members begin seeing the same visions—faces in the glass, corridors that others insist don’t exist, or events replaying from different angles. Logs show no such footage recorded.
• Bleeding Memories: The labyrinth dredges up each explorer’s most painful memories, projecting them as vivid sensory experiences in the tunnels. Sometimes they merge—others’ traumas appearing as one’s own.
• Echo of the Imprisoned: Voices begin calling through the comms network, using the crew’s own language but phrased like ancient pleas for release. Eventually the source triangulates to a sealed vault: the tomb or prison of a Vezda?

Writers may determine the nature of the labyrinth, its telepathic influence, the presence of Vezda, or the nature of the technology within the complex, as well as threats, challenges, or aid from beings or natural phenomena on the surface of Ceryne.

In Play

• Ceryne is a setting rife for writers to develop details around the core conceit: the horror-filled subterranean labyrinth. Anything about the jungle setting in particular is ripe for more world-building, or it can just be a background. In particular, the presence of intelligent life on Ceryne, and its nature, is up to the AOR holder.
• The surface of Ceryne should feel oppressive and alive: a humid world of endless rain, thunder, and thick jungle that muffles sound and swallows light. The Ceryne Rift is vast and unstable, its edges constantly shifting as storms roll across the continent. Reaching the archway itself is an expedition through heat, mud, and silence.
• The nature of the labyrinth is deliberately undefined. Writers may choose whether its influence is technological, psychic, or supernatural, and how much of its Vezda origin is revealed or understood.
• Encounters within the labyrinth are best framed as experiences rather than events - hallucinations, distortions of perception, or emotional manipulation. The deeper the crew goes, the more their senses and instruments fail them.
• Horror can continue beyond the labyrinth itself. Characters may carry its effects with them after leaving Ceryne - through dreams, altered behaviour, or a lingering psychic imprint.
• The focus of stories on Ceryne should be the tension between Starfleet’s search for understanding and the limits of what can be explained. Whether the labyrinth is explored, escaped, or sealed again, its secrets are unlikely to be fully known.