In 8 ABY, Doctor Lancer Brunou kept a journal in which he recorded the progress and discoveries of MS-133, a science team that served Moff Kentor Sarne, Imperial warlord of the Kathol sector. Under Brunou's command, MS-133 had been sent on an archaeological expedition to the planet Aaris III to discover what had caused the extinction of the native sentient species, the Aaris. Over the course of several months, Brunou recorded the team's progress and findings in the journal, including the discovery of an artifact made of a metal unknown to Imperial science. Following the artifact's discovery, the team was attacked by the primitive descendants of the Aaris. Brunou was one of only two survivors of the team who were subsequently rescued from the planet by the New Republic corvette FarStar.
Lancer Brunou, author of the journal
In 8 ABY, Moff Kentor Sarne, the Imperial warlord of the Kathol sector, commissioned a science team, MS-133, to conduct an archaeological expedition to a series of ruins on the planet Aaris III. Doctor Lancer Brunou was assigned to lead the team, which had the specific remit of discovering the cause behind the extinction of the Aaris, the native sentient species. Over the course of a couple of months, Brunou recorded the team's progress on an almost daily basis. On day 49 of the expedition, Brunou noted that the team had found a metal ingot in a floor safe during an exploration of a ruined structure.
Over the next few days, Brunou recorded in the journal how tests on the artifact had revealed it was made of a substance unknown to Imperial science and that the chamber it had been found in was covered in bas-relief pictographs. The pictographs emitted sounds when pressed, and it was believed that they served as an aural history of the Aaris civilization. Grigor Tansad and Jelok, two scientists on the team, worked on the translation of the pictographs. Despite the discoveries, Brunou noted that the team had started to become paranoid, and believed that they were being watched from the jungle, although there was no indication of sentient life on the planet. Unknown to the team was that the artifact they had discovered housed a sentient lifeform that fed off the life-force of living beings and sought to destroy them by manipulating their emotions to violence. As the team members fell prey to the artifact's influence, they were attacked by the primitive descendants of the native Aaris. The Aaris knew the artifact as the Plaque of Victory, and its influence had caused the downfall of their civilization thousands of years previously.
The team began to suffer casualties due to the Aaris' attacks, and their shuttle was destroyed. Brunou and the last few survivors fortified their position and sent a distress signal to Sarne's capital, Kal'Shebbol, pleading for rescue. While the team had been on the planet, Kal'Shebbol had fallen to the New Republic, and Sarne had fled into the depths of the Kathol sector with the majority of his forces. Brunou, along with the research assistant Solla Deremot, was eventually rescued from the planet by the crew of the New Republic CR90 corvette FarStar, which had intercepted their call for help. The crew studied the journal with Brunou's permission when they investigated what had transpired on the planet.
Doctor Lancer Brunou's journal appeared in Artifact of Aaris, the second roleplaying game adventure scenario published in The DarkStryder Campaign in 1995. Several entries from the journal are presented in the adventure, which serves as background information on MS-133's discovery of the Plaque of Victory.