Raum-Wal

Almost everything that is "known" about the Raum-Wal is rumour and conjecture. There are so few credible sources of information that the evidence is inadmissible, and the Raum-Wal is believed to be an old spacers' tale.

Although no one has formally documented a Raum-Wal, many have claimed to have seen them. The famous spacer, Arn Fuss-Duo, is said to have escaped being eaten alive by a Raum-Wal, but as with all spacer stories, this should be taken with a pinch of salt.

The minimal evidence that is available suggests that the Raum-Wal is a giant whale-like creature, possibly the largest space-dwelling creature in existence, which is primarily found in asteroid fields and belts, and occasionally within planetary rings. How such a creature survives in the vacuum of space is another of the great mysteries. One theory suggests that the creature consumes the rock and ice of its habitat, thus providing essential minerals, which are broken down in a complex digestive system, and oxygen extracted from the water. On this basis, it has been suggested that a Raum-Wal is an inorganic life-form and is attracted to the metal content of wayward vessels, believing them to be rich sources of food. Other theories suggest that a Raum-Wal leaves its mouth gaping to act as a giant ram scoop, and that they may be anaerobic life-forms.

The Galactic Society of Cryptozoology currently ranks the Raum-Wal as the third most sought after cryptid after the Will-O'-the-Wisp, and the Nebelfleck Worm.

Fuss-Duo, Arn

A Gregoran spacer that, legend would have it, escaped being eaten alive by a Raum-Wal (see The Ballad of Arn Fuss-Duo).

Fuss-Duo's other claims include surfing the tail of a comet in his ship, the Astral Princess; accidently flying too close to a supernova; single-handedly preventing the breakout of war between the Y'Kalians and the Partheans, and making his way through the Bryson Singularity Cluster with an out-of-date NaviCom.

The last anyone heard of Fuss-Duo was just before he flew back into the space where he first encountered the Raum-Wal. There are two widely accepted versions of the legend from this point in the story of Arn Fuss-Duo. The first says that he found out he was dying of an incurable disease and that he wanted to make peace with the beast before the end. The other version says that he was so furious on finding out he had the disease, he set his ship to self-destruct and flew into the gaping mouth of the Raum-Wal quoting Ahab as he straddled the anti-matter core.

Spacers

Spacers cruise around the galaxy fuelled on nothing but the cheapest Mangorian Whisky and are famous for telling tall tales to the very naive and/or stupid. It should not be taken that all stories told by spacers are entirely fictitious because spacers have been places and seen things that most galactic citizens can’t even imagine; this is generally due to the fact that spacers spend more credits on booze than they do on ship repairs and keeping the ship moving is more important than having a working NaviCom.

Over the centuries of space travel, spacers have been greatly romanticised; films have been made, novels written, and ballads sung of the tales of many a spacer and their wandering ways. It’s such a shame that so few of the authors bothered to research their subject in person because if they had they would have been severely disappointed; most spacers are as romantic as a whiskey-flavoured belch.

Many a bar throughout the galaxy will have a resident spacer; this spacer may go away for a time to travel the galaxy, but they will always return to that same bar, to that same stool that no one else dare use, and there will always be a drink waiting.

There have, of course, been famous spacers, the most notable being the Gregoran, Arn Fuss-Duo. One of Fuss-Duo’s wildest claims was to have landed in the gaping mouth of a Raum-Wal, believing it to be a cave in an asteroid that he could use to shelter from pirates, and escaped to tell the tale.