Alaris' Report
A painting of a large tiger stalking through the dense lush greenscape of a tropical jungle.
The tiger isn't particularly iconic; the jungle is, and is most probably just Hydroponics. As a divination, the meaning would appear to be the surface one: "I see a tiger here"
Four human sized pods standing in a row. There is a small open window in each pod. Through the first three windows are visible the faces of a slightly pale brown haired woman, a younger dark haired woman, and younger-still dirty blond haired woman.
Again, nothing here is iconic. The ovoid shells are Hegemonic healing devices, and those inside are alive, being healed and protected. The choice of subjects is, I believe, a choice of who is significant, but given that the first of the subjects is the artist herself, I believe it to be a choice of personal significance.
The background of this painting contains a great ship hovering in space. Standing before it, seemingly larger than the ship itself, is a stern looking man wearing a Hegemonic SkyGuard uniform. In his left hand he holds a spanner. Over his right shoulder is the ghostly image of a cat-human hybrid holding a spanner in his left hand.
The only iconography here is the arrangement, rather than the subjects. The SkyGuard man and the Jellical share the same relation to the ship, that of technical healer. The sense is one of healer, as if the ship is alive, rather than technician of an object.
A painting of a man looking at a complicated control panel that has displays of planets of many types. None of the planets are recognizable in specific, but seem to be connected by a vast web of luminous lines. A great light emanates from the far corner of the screen, partially engulfing one of the planets.
This is a somewhat iconic scene. The man is a current crew member or partner of the ship. The planets are the Linked Worlds, and the light is a threat, observed without form or detail. The planet is *not* Pierogi, but only an archtypal "a planet", the first to be touched by the unknown light.
A painting of a handsome man in his late forties wearing the uniform of a Captain of the SkyGuard. His chest is adorned with numerous service ribbons and medals. Behind him stands the shadowy but imposing figure of a multiheaded beast with golden scales for skin. The dignified look on his face speaks of duty, honor, and inestimable valor.
The man was the subject of the painting, and the captain of the ship at the time of the painting. He seems to have been the center of the ship's chi, its energy and social structure. The creature behind him is iconic, and symbolizes his family, each of whom is similarly proud and powerful in spirit. The three main heads of the beast symbolize the man and his siblings.
A painting of a set of scattered tables. At the closest, a young man in a SkyGuard uniform sits across from a young woman in a white lab coat, a complicated game of webs and small black stones. There is a timer on the table, and a man in a more ornate SkyGuard uniform stands with his hand upon it.
This is a mixture of iconic, semi-iconic, and representational. The two seated players were crew members at the time of painting; the game itself is not strictly representational, but represents only "a game." The standing man was the Strategos at the time of painting, and was never present on the ship; his presence in the painting with the timing device signifies that it is he who will put an end to the time of games.
A matte black cube, on which glow a host of tiny white lights, some larger, some smaller, some nearly too tiny to see in an increasingly complex design. In the shadow of the cube are a matching cube, one-third its size, glossy white with glowing blue lights in an even more complex pattern, and a transparent cube one-third the size of the white cube, with multicolored flecks in a pattern too complicated to quite grasp.
This one is interesting. It's all more iconic than not. The black cube is the living spirit of the ship, embodied in the computer it resides in. To clarify, this is distinct from and more accurate than saying "the computer." The relation of the white cube to the black cube is that it is further in the future, it is a more clearly realized spirit, and it is a result of the black cube. The relation of the transparent cube to the white cube is that of the white cube to the black cube.
A large ornate chamber. On the central dais is a man-sized ruby emanating light. To the left of the ruby, is a tall well built man in an ornate uniform. Around the chamber, in each seats, rests a world. Each world is different. One seat is empty.
This appears to be fairly straightforward, and the iconography of the worlds should be unsurprising. Pierogi is the missing world, the other outworlds are all represented (an amusing play on words, that) at this gathering. The light is the light of information conveyed, of emphasis and clarity; the red stone is not so much a stone as an embodiment of Red. What "Red" is in this context is somewhat puzzling; my divinations indicate a very old meaning. (Not the "Red Hegemony", and not the old Crux Communalizer political party).