"All men must die". This was the carved inscription on the ground at the foot of the Rock of Delmonutha, a mountain of pure diamond. A giant, solitary monolith on the surface of the infamous desert asteroid Durathane. Travellers came from all the corners of the known Universe to witness this spectacular sight. Every rotation cycle, the rays of the setting Durathanian sun cut into the enormous gem and splayed out in a multi-colored fanfare. It is said that the eyes that beheld this reflected glory will from then on look upon the universe with supernatural clarity. Some devout pilgrims have left this place enlightened, and used their newfound wisdom to save many from folly. Other eager visitors, while no less passionate, were not so favored and the intensity of the revelation, the starkness of the reality, simply drove them to utter madness.
No one knows who carved the words there into the diamond rock. Even less understood is the purpose of the words. The mountain structure itself had been studied for millennia. Using magic and science, scientists and mystics tried to probe its inner contents. But the mountain of diamond remained impregnable. "All men must die", it said. They always have.
Though technically an asteroid, Durathane was large enough to contain a basic atmosphere. However, it was not spherical like the other planets, and it belonged to the asteroid belt that orbited its mother planet, Sardis. Legend has it that the asteroid belt used to be a whole planet even larger than Sardis. But a terrible war amongst the inhabitants on the planet eventually ended with its total destruction.
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