Officially designated Private Habitable Satellite Y-7, the satellite Ghale Thusif had selected to hold a dialogue with Lynnys was almost immediately more widely known as the Velvet Chamber. It was a medium sized model, but had only been designed for private use. It could hold around 100 individuals comfortably, although its filtration systems could support up to 500 uncomfortably. Taking the entire Esoteric and Religious Groups Committee as well as its various attendants and support staff already took up 80 individuals. The amount of Lynnysians they would be able to hold at any time (especially considering any important figures they wished to directly interview would demand rooms for their entourages) was limited.
Beyond the accommodations, the satellite itself had a grand dining hall and kitchen, several smaller meeting rooms, an emptied shrine room, a communications room, a laboratory (the previous owners had been heavily involved in the intragalactic corsic trade), and small biosphere park. The most prominent feature of the satellite however was how red it was. In the year prior to selling it, its previous owners had been in a corsic-supported state of esoteric ecstasy in which they were convinced that the color red represented the “truth of the stars,” covering the entire satellite, and themselves, in it. The walls and floors were painted, furniture was replaced with variants representing every red hue a painter could make, and velvet drapes were brought to cover every doorway. Awakening from the absurd spectacle a year later in embarrassment, the satellite was sold for cheap rather than attempting the expensive process of fixing it. Searching for a place closer to but not on Lynnys that could be acquired quickly and cheaply, Private Habitable Satellite Y-7 proved to be the only realistic option. Despite its absurd appearance, it was found upon exception to still be suitable for habitation, with all of the modifications being surface level. After 4 days of travel, the Esoteric and Religious Groups Committee set foot in the Velvet Chamber for the first time.
After taking a couple more days to settle in, the Committee planned to move forward with its deliberations, exactly as it had at the Vaird. It’s worth emphasizing this fact, because it is often lost in the events that follow: the move to Lynnys was only intended to make it easier and quicker to hear the Lynnysian perspective. It was not intended to change the actual functioning of the Committee or its purpose at all. Indeed, the Committee picked up exactly where it had left off prior to its decision to relocate, down to the current speaker picking up directly where they had left off. With the exception of Ochre and possibly some of his closest allies, none of them were prepared for the reception they were to receive. Thusif may have had some implication, a letter of his to Leaf Rivers has survived describing his fear that “the controversy over schooling may give us little grace from these people,” but even he does not appear to have recognized the fury with which Lynnys held them.
The first Lynnysian called before the Committee was Pao Alasaj. Alasaj had been one of the most prominent voices against the Committee. As principal of one of the largest esoteric schools, she had considerable influence in the sector and was a skilled communicator. She was also a Truthseer of the Theogonists, one of the most visible cults aimed at upper class Lynnysians which officially aimed at creating God by collecting the entirety of exoteric and esoteric knowledge and imputing it into the mind of a single, currently unselected, person. The Theogonists are critically important to understanding how anti-Chamber (and later, anti-Imperial) sentiment was able to be directed on a planet as fractured and decentralized as Lynnys. Due to their thirst for knowledge, the Theogonists were uniquely positioned in every sector of Lynnysian life. They had an ability to coordinate and direct action in a way few other cults did. That much of the backlash against the Committee had been organized by them is proof of that on its own.
Alasaj entered the room without even deigning to look at the council that would interview her, instead focusing entirely on a large, vibrant purple feather she held in front of her face. She moved stiffly, as though afraid it would fall apart. As she carefully lowered herself into the seat prepared for her, not even for an instant did she take her eyes off the feather. Thusif then asked her to state her name and business, for the record. Alasaj made no indication that she heard what he had asked so he did so a second time, louder. One of Alasaj’s aides who had entered the room with her indicated that he wanted to speak and was granted permission to do so, explaining that, “the Truthseer is too engaged with her work to speak to you. She is entranced in contemplation, to speak now could lose her hundreds or even thousands of hours of progress.” Skeinheld demanded explanation for what could be so important about the feather over the representatives of the Emperor, to which the aide replied that he had no idea, he was not fortunate enough to be as enlightened as a Truthseer. The Committee sat in silent perplexion, staring at Alasaj while waiting for her to speak.
It is important that those who do not have esoteric leanings do not consider the Lynnysians as stupid or irrational (although they will proudly tell you that they are). The move with a feather has at best incidental relevance to Alasaj’s search for the truth. She was perfectly aware that she had to speak to the Committee, yet she chose to ignore them anyway. While these sorts of interactions will mar the relationship between Lynnys and its opponents, when Lynnys eventually found non-esoteric allies in its cause, there are considerably less incidents of this sort. The truth is that prominent Lynnysians acted in this way because it was a display of power. It was an indication that there were things they considered stronger than the Empire and the Emperor, things that they were willing to make representatives of the Vaird wait for. And that, because the Committee had just spent considerable time and money moving to the Velvet Chamber, there was nothing the Committee could do but sit and wait.
Alasaj held up the Committee for 15 minutes before setting down her feather and turning to face them. Successfully moving past the formalities required to open the interview, Thusif then asked her the question that caused the entire move: given that Lynnysian schooling had been shown to be so inadequate relative to the rest of the Empire, what issues did she have with the Empire even collecting data. Thusif made very clear that he did not and would oppose any attempt to force a specific curriculum or impose on the traditions of Lynnys, but that the ferocious response they had received was sparked by the mere collection of data was cause for concern.
In response, Alasaj began a clearly prepared monologue. Stopping only to sip from a glass of water her aides kept perpetually filled, Alasaj lectured the Committee on the history of esotericism and Lynnys, the orthodox and heterodox theologies, the common and uncommon strands of knowledge, and a detailed list of every incident of Imperial incursion and perceived overreach into the cults’ private actions. This lecture lasted 10 hours and upon its completion the Committee was immediately adjourned for the day, with many of the delegates left vexed by Alasaj’s display. Except for those already sympathetic to her argument, none of them were quite sure what to make of it. No contemporary records show that any delegates were even confident what her point had been, beyond a nebulous claim that the Empire could not be trusted.
The questioning the next day was opened by an ally of Skeinheld, demanding a clearer answer to why the cults were so opposed to even giving data. Alasaj said that she had already answered that question in her monologue yesterday; the Empire had not proven itself able to be trusted to not interfere in matters of personal spirituality. Skeinheld himself erupted at this, attacking Alasaj as an “obsfucator,” trying to deny the right of a good education to her children. The Committee broke out into mutual recriminations, with Skeinheld and Ochre taking the loudest roles. The minutes of the meeting break down at this point, but the one thing clearly recorded, apparently because it was loud enough that it reverberated throughout the chamber, was Skeinheld saying that if this was the attitude of the Lynnysians “perhaps the Empire should dictate education.” In response, Alasaj and her aides silently picked up their things and left back for Lynnys, ignoring any requests that they remain from neutral delegates.
Word of the incident was quickly spread across Lynnys, with the Theogonists’ whisper network making sure the most inflammatory possible interpretation of it was heard. In the minds of many Lynnysians, Skeinheld’s comment was not the simple exclamation of a single man said in anger, it was the declared policy of the entire Galactic Empire that would be forced on them at the point of a gun. In Lynnysian fashion, a new cult popped up in response to growing anxiety that took hold of many of the most devout esotericists: the Dark Stars.
To the Dark Stars, the only possible conclusion to the Empire’s alleged ambitions would be mass Lynnysian resistance which would cause the Empire to treat them as they had Morroth. Unlike for many of the other revolutionaries around the galaxy though for whom the black hole formulators were the ultimate price they strove to avoid paying, the Dark Stars conceived of the black hole formed in Lynnys’ place as the culmination of the entire esoteric project. All of the life and death, truth and lies, passion and fervor of Lynnys would be compressed into a single, beautiful point, commanding the attention of the entire universe. Depending on the exact strain of Dark Star ideology (for, as with all cults, there were diverging interpretations of central doctrine), their example would send out psychic power across the galaxy to inspire revolts in their honor or the black hole would literally engulf the entire universe into a single, deific mass.
The relationship of the Dark Stars with more mainstream cults, and especially with the elites of those cults, has been controversial and convoluted since the moment the cult emerged, but with the accumulated evidence of time it seems safe to conclude that there was while most of the mainstream cults were free from connection, there were some connections with certain high ranking individuals in the mainstream with the Dark Stars. Ironically considering her interview sparked their formation, Pao Alasaj was not one of those individuals and would be one of the fiercest voices against taking the accelerationist path the Dark Stars championed. In her view, staunch resistance was a necessity, but it would have to remain mostly non-violent, bolstered by alliances with other revolutionary planets.
The most controversial associate of the Dark Stars however was Ochre. Here there can be no mincing words: Ochre had connections with the early Dark Stars, was sympathetic to their ideas, and colluded with them. This connection very quickly broke down and it is likely that Ochre did not understand just how serious the Dark Stars were, but despite his best efforts to cover up his early sympathies, the weight of historical evidence without question places Ochre as providing critical information and guidance to the Dark Stars in their earliest days.
After Alasaj walked out, the Committee struggled for two whole weeks with Lynnysian authorities on trying to get more interview subjects up to the Velvet Chamber. The protests that had broken out in response shut down the planetary-side of the spaceport, briefly preventing anyone from leaving the planet. When the protests finally quieted down enough that a ship was able to dock at the Velvet Chamber, the interview subject was Gourisch Aroun. Aroun was a principal of an esoteric school that described its mission as teaching students the difference between “truth, lies, reality” and, like Alasaj, had taken a significant role in the initial resistance to the Committee. However, while Pao Alasaj had been opposed to any capiluation to Imperial interference with Lynnys, her position was the relatively moderate or at least centrist one held by Lynnysian elites. Aroun was a true hardliner, a believer that not only must the Empire be given no ground on Lynnys, but that restrictions against esotericism off of Lynnys must be reduced as well. The ideas of these hardliners that would become both the “esoteric imperium” and the “esoteric commonwealth” emerged from this ferment.
Aroun had been invited by Ochre, most likely in coordination with Lynnysian elites, that Aroun would be the best able to convey a message to the Committee: their actions were pushing the Lynnysians farther. He arrived exactly two weeks after Alasaj had left, a period in which the intra-Committee alliances had been forming much stronger. This is the first moment that one can truly speak of a “Binder” faction directly headed by Veldrick Skeinheld. Several delegates began to take explicitly hostile views against the Lynnysians, feeling that they had given them a chance to express themselves and that Alasaj storming out, the subsequent flare up of protests, and now the sending of an interviewee who would take a much harder line were signs that negotiation was hopeless. They did not yet have an incitement, but even in Skeinheld’s own testimony, he had begun to consider the possible necessity of a reinvigorated occupation.
After settling in, Aroun was brought before the Committee and asked to state his name, just as Alasaj had been. Before he could answer though, one of his aides moved forward carrying a large case to whisper something in his ear. According to the accounts of some but not all Committee members, Aroun’s eyes grew wide and he opened his mouth to say something. Before he could though, the aide quickly opened the box. An explosion rushed through the room, shrapnel from the box ricocheting off the walls. Aroun and the aide were killed instantly, while the Committee ducked as rapidly as they could.
Half the Committee ended up being hit, mostly with minor wounds. 3 members were critically injured. All survived, although two required limb transplants and the third a heart transplant and permanently lost his eye. One member, Perseverence Keth, had her throat pierced. She bled out on the floor of the Chamber before medical assistance could be acquired.
The Dark Stars took credit for the Chamber Bombing as soon as news reached Lynnys, declaring it their intention to “attack the Imperial usurpers of the known truth wherever it hurt the most.” Ochre, despite his connections with the Dark Stars prior to this point, likely did not know about their intentions. There is no evidence that he had any contact with them after the attack and probably severed any contact immediately. Based on eye witness reports of the delegates, Gourisch Aroun also seems to have been unaware of the attack. Whether or not he knew his aide to be a Dark Star is unknown, but the specific terrorist attack does not seem to have been a plan of his.
The attack immediately brought the scrutiny of the galaxy on Lynnys. Keth was the first delegate who would be a casualty of the Revolution and this was taken very seriously back in the Vaird. While Lynnys had been seen as just another front in the Revolutionary Wave, it now stood out prominently as the most important planet of that wave. In reality, it probably was not, Mawr or Khalas still held more influence on the ground. But, with the attention of the entire Constitutional Chamber, Lynnys would be made so. There, the debate between the Conservative Reformers and the Radicals, the increasingly expansionist tone of both the Bands of Justice and the esotericists, the flagging political fortunes of Q Loakh, and a spurned Archeich from an unknown backwater would collide together to change the Committee room into a platform for disputes across the galaxy. The Velvet Chamber Debates were about to, finally, begin.