A shimmering shape crossing the amber plains of Inomis has upended every assumption the U.I.W.G. brought to the newly colonized world. The Glassback Strider, a towering quadruped crowned with translucent crystalline plates, is the first confirmed megafauna documented since Logan Klay’s administration began settlement operations in the Gona System.
A Living Mirage
Recorded during a routine atmospheric survey, the Strider stands nearly 20 meters tall. Its prismatic dorsal plates refract sunlight into wavering halos, making the creature appear—at a distance—like a wandering distortion in the air itself. Surveyor Nara Vell described the first encounter: “The horizon bent. Then it began to walk.” Researchers report the plates pulse with patterned light, which may serve as communication or even memory storage.
A Resource Too Valuable
The Strider excretes Lume Resin, an amber crystal capable of storing extreme photonic charge. When activated, it produces shared-sensory projections—“memories made of light,” as one scientist put it. But high exposure risks identity bleed, sparking immediate interest from black-market brokers already trafficking in Neuroburst™ stimulant packs. Speculative prices for Lume Resin have reached tens of thousands of credits per gram.
A Creature Older Than Most
Genomic readings suggest the Strider’s lineage stretches back millions of years, its biology part-organic, part-crystalline, likely evolved to harvest Inomis’ intense sunlight. Dr. Siva Dorn states: “It doesn’t just survive in light. It thinks in it.”
Already Becoming Myth
Among settlers, the Strider is quickly acquiring folklore. Many describe a faint emotional resonance—nostalgia, sorrow, or memory-like impressions—when standing near the creature’s refracted glow. Locals now call it “The Memory Gait.”
A Precarious Future
The Galactic Federation has issued a cautious advisory but is unlikely to enforce it meaningfully; frontier oversight remains inconsistent, as seen in past crises like the Veyra-Null coral collapse. For now, the Glassback Strider continues its slow pilgrimage across the plains, radiant and inscrutable. Whether it becomes a symbol of Inomis’ wonder, or its first sacrifice to industry, remains entirely in the Guild’s hands.