Catalogue #: 6980

Containment Class: Green

Storage Instructions: Item is presently contained in a standard storage locker at Compound-15's Western Hangar. Usage of #6980 for experimentation purposes requires prior approval from Chief Scholar Crescent Moon of Blackbeak. All photographs produced by #6980 are to be archived and submitted to the Institute database for further study.

Synopsis: Unexplained Artefact #6980 is a self-developing camera of uncertain make and model, retrieved from the Twin Kingdoms in 1264. Internal analysis has revealed no structural irregularities, nor any evidence of thaumaturgic enhancement.

Object is functional, and capable of capturing visual images. However, all photographs developed using #6980 will instead depict a natural landscape, believed to correspond to an alternate dimension (tentatively designated Earth-6980) not previously encountered by the Division of Exo-Cosmological Studies.

Testing has shown that the terrain and ecology of Earth-6980 varies depending on the photographer's location. As Earth-6980's climate, biota and topography appears radically divergent from that of Baseline, it is hypothesized to have branched from our universe at an indeterminate point in the distant past. Further research is ongoing.

Appendix-1: To date, testing of Artefact #6980 has taken place on all eight continents. The following is an abridged experimentation log, compiled by Petty Scholar Goodpeace the Younger of Longbridge:

Date: 05-09-1265

Location: Compound-15, Twin Kingdoms

Resulting Image: A barren desert expanse, no life forms present. Stars are visible in the background, although their alignment corresponds to no current or historical configuration.

Date: 08-01-1266

Location: Dreamwood Mountains, Principality of Greater Antipodia

Resulting Image: The surface of a vast ocean. A large moon visually indistinguishable from Baseline is observed, although subsequent analysis suggests it may be situated at a slightly (~1.2%) greater distance from the Earth.

Date: 32-07-1266

Location: Lake Merciful, Degenerate Wastes

Resulting Image: A rolling savannah captured at sunwake. An erect bipedal organism, possessing an enlarged cranium and mammalian features, is visible left of center. Subject stands at approximately five claws in height, and is pictured wielding what resembles a stone-tipped wooden spear. First direct confirmation of intelligent life inhabiting Earth #6980.

Earth #6980 from orbit.

Appendix-2: On 25-10-1268, Administrator Dancing Lights of Kingscrest granted approval for #6980's temporary relocation to the Institute space station Infinity, in order to investigate the extent of Earth-6980's geological divergencies. Over 128 images were captured from orbit, with the resulting photographs submitted to the wider Institute database.

These images confirm the climate of Earth-6980 to be far cooler than initially thought, as evidenced by the prominent ice sheets encompassing much of the northern hemisphere. Six of Earth's major land masses are identifiable, although are located at a noticeably greater distance apart, with several (including Blueland and New Cloudmount) believed to be entirely submerged.

The Division of Geological Irregularities has noted that Earth-6980's topography bears an estimated 72% resemblance to simulations of Baseline between 56 and 64 MY1 into the future.

Footnotes

1. Megayears (1 MY = 2,097,152 years)

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