Zeroth Directive

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"Endfield is a legitimate enterprise. You need to learn to distinguish fact from rumor. Not all those legends are true." Every time a new employee joins Endfield, the veteran staff makes a point of reminding them of this. That was until Operator Typhoeus joined Endfield, and all that effort went down the drain. With her rambling, mystical tales, this girl blurred the line between rumor and reality, turning us from a company with a certain legendary flair into ... a legend, plain and simple. The mysterious characters flashing across the screens, the crying sounds echoing from the bridge late at night, the lighting fixtures in the Engineering Division that never seem to stay fixed, always flickering on and off when someone is alone. These little coincidences, easily dismissed with a laugh, were gathered and woven together by Typhoeus into a spine-chilling legend. Long ago, the equipment aboard the sky vessel Dijiang was constantly breaking down. The poor craftsmen had no choice but to take shelter in the workshop, forging and repairing day and night without rest. Yet after a full year of toil, the number of machines awaiting repair only grew, piling up around them like an unbroken mountain range. Consumed by rage, his last shred of kindness was spent. He transformed into a vengeful spirit and entered the machinery itself, vowing to take revenge on every careless soul who cut corners in their operations. The lights flickering in the night are the sign of his patrol. — An entry from Typhoeus's notebook. After this story spread across Dijiang, the number of damage reports on the Engineering Division's repair list for that month dropped significantly. After looking into the matter, the stunned Mr. Andre gave a fair assessment of the story: this was not a story, but an indisputable fact. And this was just one chapter among the many legends Typhoeus had written for Endfield. In her notebook, the Endministrator was the great sage holding the Stone of Origin, Supervisor Perlica was the lightning mage wielding the power of thunder, Miss Chen was a ranger carrying a longsword. And everything Endfield did on Talos-II was planting great stone swords across the land to maintain peace in the world and protect all living things. A twelve-year-old child would find these tales childish, but for the Endfield operators with their heads full of whimsy, they were just right. "When I am working now, I imagine myself as a mysterious Sami Snowpriest. When the equipment overheats, I shout out ancient invocations..." And with that, Andre picked up the cooling gun from the corner, aimed it at the machine, and cried out, "O wind and snow, descend upon the mortal world!"

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War Song of the Samifjod Sun melts the snow, Under the frozen earth, shadows flee. But our wandering does not end. Sun splits the clouds, In the forest, rain departs. But our warfare does not stop. Lift shields, don plates, Fate holds us here. Under the sun, We bleed and fight. After arriving on Talos-II from Terra, the Feranmut Sami ended His years-long drift and chose a plot of land within the polar circle, settling there along with the Myrkwood He carried on His back. Under the Feranmut's protection, the Sami people enjoyed a brief period of peace. But soon, with the destruction of the Cosmic Gate and the outbreak of the First Aggeloi War, the Feranmut Sami gave His life to protect the Sami people, falling in the North Pole. The Sami people barely had time to mourn before they had to join in the construction of the Oathkeepers' fortress. What followed was a long campaign that has continued to this very day. When Typhoeus awoke on Rhodes Island and learned of her people's current mission, she immediately packed her bags and headed north. But after traveling a great distance to the Oathkeeper's fortress, a Sami Snowpriest just back from the battlefield gave her a pat on the back of the head, a slap reeking of earth, and turned her away at the door. "Come back when you are taller than your bow, then you can go to war." Though Typhoeus insisted that she was simply petite, no one believed her. After all, her hands had yet to develop the thick calluses that came from years of drawing a bow. Lost and dejected, she could only board a wagon bound for Myrkwood to meet the kin she had never known. This was the Sami she remembered, the environment, the customs, the language, the accents, all preserved. Yet at the same time, it all felt foreign to her. In the settlement, there were only the elderly, the wounded, and the children. Those who could still bear arms had all chosen to head to the front lines, guarding that line forged of flesh and blood, holding back the Aggeloi's march southward. Typhoeus, lost and adrift, remained in Myrkwood. She soon learned that after the fall of Sami, His legends had also been shattered. The elders who knew the old tales had turned to bone on the battlefield alongside Sami himself before they could pass the stories on. So Typhoeus, unable to fight on the front lines, decided to gather those legends and preserve them. Endmin, did you know? The fall of Sami was Sami's own choice. The people accepted Him and followed without hesitation. I found a Foldartal used for divination in Myrkwood. On it was recorded a "communication" between the Snowpriest and Sami. Before He descended upon the north, He had warned the people of Myrkwood that He had long foreseen a cruel and protracted war. He would have to go north and, at some future moment, sacrifice Himself to protect all living things. He gave His people the chance to leave... But on the Foldartal were the people's response— The will of Sami is the will of the Sami people. The mission of Sami is the mission of the Sami people. We will go north with you. The hunt never ends.

FILE 4

After the fall of Sami, most of the Sami people accepted the outcome. They live atop the Feranmut's remains, carrying on His will, fighting the Aggelos to protect Talos-II. Yet there were still Snowpriests who believed that Sami had not truly died. His soul had merely been lost within the rifts, fallen into a deep slumber. One day, Sami would wake from His dream and return to His people. They traveled to the rifts across Talos-II, setting up altars and performing rituals, trying to call Sami's soul back from the fissures. But none who went ever returned. Later, with the northern front growing ever more urgent, no one was willing to continue the attempt. In a snowy forest near the Wuling Very Large Rift, Typhoeus found the manuscripts left behind by one of those Sami Snowpriests. The manuscripts detailed all her attempts to awaken Sami. Though Typhoeus was able to confirm through her own exploration that the ritual had failed and the Snowpriestess had vanished without a trace, the girl still caught a faint whiff of possibility from the remaining materials. Unfortunately, after months of study, Typhoeus had made no progress. She asked every Snowpriest and shaman in the Order of Steel Oath and Myrkwood, but they all just shook their heads, believing it to be a doomed endeavor. Even after hitting so many dead ends, Typhoeus did not lose heart. The Snowpriestess's unique insights on dreams in the manuscripts taught the girl to perceive special revelations within the dreamscapes of others. "I don't know why, but lately I keep dreaming of being chased by a gigantic monster. The ground beneath my feet keeps swaying, as if I am standing on a suspension bridge. I toss and turn all night long..." "Simple. That monster is hunting you, and you have been cornered." "What should I do?" "Become stronger. Do not be the prey. Be the hunter instead." "I think I get it now." After that conversation with Typhoeus, the operator mapped out a full month of intensive training for himself. The exhaustion and sense of accomplishment from the workouts let him sleep soundly through the night. Before long, Endfield colleagues began showing up at Typhoeus's door with all sorts of dreams, asking her to read and interpret them. And Typhoeus, after listening to everyone's dreams, drew inspiration from them to craft a legend of her own, one that wove together the Feranmut Sami, dreams, and the Snowpriests. Soon, Typhoeus finished writing the ending. She thought the matter would settle just like the story itself. So she gathered her notes and set off to share the conclusion with those who had been waiting eagerly. But halfway there, she brushed past a young girl in the corridor. Typhoeus did not recognize her, yet she felt a strangely familiar presence emanating from her. It was a presence that had accompanied her people through swamps and forests, through winters and into springs, from birth all the way to death. By the time Typhoeus came to her senses, the girl had already walked far away. Later, she learned from others the girl's codename: Last Rite. Driven by a mysterious premonition, she tore out the ending she had written and wrote that codename on a fresh page instead.

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Typhoeus

BASIC INFO

HUMAN RESOURCES SUMMARY

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Operators

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