| AMIA ARCHIVE https://amiaworld.net/phpBB3/ |
|
| [Various] The Discordant Truth and Quintessence https://amiaworld.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=79787 |
Page 1 of 1 |
| Author: | LetumLux [ Sat, Dec 13 2014, 14:16 PM ] |
| Post subject: | [Various] The Discordant Truth and Quintessence |
As life was finally able to begin rebuilding after the war that had consumed so much, a relatively minor event was also completed. A transcript of a conversation, a story, an open forum was transmuted from sounds to ink by Namer Tukson Devers. One at a time, copies of this long transcript were delivered by Ahsra, from her hand to those of Cordor, Bendir Dale, the Oakmist Vale, Winya Ravana, Kohlingen, Wharftown, and Tarkuul. None are posted - they are instead handed off personally to someone who seems to be of reputable authority to be given to the heads of each of the settlements. The transcript wrote: Ahsra:
The fires continued to separate and enter people until only a few were left, then the remaining ones blinked out, one at a time. Those present were made unsettled by this, and attempted many things. Some tried to use disjunction magic. Nothing happened to the fires. A rift-blade was used at them, and it instead was sucked into itself; the fires untouched. Eventually, the fires all vanished of their own accord, and nothing seemed to happen. People dispersed... It is called a 'Black Blade of Disaster'. It is... a magic that makes a rift shaped like a blade, it can kill with a touch. It sends parts of a thing to other places. If I were to guess, they were trying to use it to sever the fires from their connection to this place, but I am not certain. What I have described at Bendir Bay is gathered from others; I was not present, myself. Later in the day, Mathus was approached by a man who called himself Hawk, who asked for his help. Hawk was planning to go to the Mystran Grove in the middle of the Forest of Despair, thinking that there may be a connection between the blue fires and the magic eating entities that used to dwell there. Hawk, Emilie who was mentioned earlier, a man named Tracer, and Mathus all went to that place. They took off their magical items and put them into a bag, and stayed close to Mathus as they entered into the ruins of the Grove. Mathus surrounded them in his Aura of the Weave Equilibrium, which suppresses magic. It seemed to mute the 'scent' of the magical things they were carrying, and the Magic Eaters ignored them as they approached. Emilie with the blue fire in her throat, handed her magical things to Hawk and then stepped out of the Aura to see what the Magic Eaters would do. It seemed to ignore her, perhaps because the blue fire was stopping any magic within her. I am not certain of that. When she stepped out, Tracer and Hawk described the area as becoming slightly less blue, and more in focus. As if a 'fog' had been lifted. Not everyone saw this. These things seem to affect individual perceptions, depending on the tenacity of a person's will in that moment. Mathus tried to speak with the Magic Eater, talking to it in the manner of meaning beyond words... There had been a faint 'buzzing' noise coming from the Magic Eater, and it stopped when he spoke to it, and came closer. It seemed to grow brighter, and more blue. He asked it questions about its state, though it did not respond. It glowed brighter, and more blue, and the surface of it appeared to be shifting somehow. There was another 'pop' sound like before, and a point of blue fire broke away from the surface of the Magic Eater, moving around it like an Ioun rock. The creature itself did not seem harmed or changed, or even notice this. I think that it is likely that the fire had been inside the Magic Eater in much the same way that it had been in the others, but of this I cannot say for certain. Emilie felt something when this happened, a very cold sensation, and the blue flame within her throat glowed more brightly. There was another 'pop', followed by others, and more Magic Eaters approached. They gathered around Mathus within his aura, though they did not attack. The first Magic Eater glowed even brighter, and then the fire circling about it stopped, and floated above it. That fire flickered, and then disappeared, and then all of the Magic Eaters began to blue blue as well. They all came closer to Mathus, and Emilie's throat became very painful to look at from how bright it was, the blue fire within it coming out and joining with the Magic Eaters. There was a vivid blue flash in the sky, as if a sheet of the fire had coated the sky. It happened for a moment, then vanished. I have heard that it was seen all across the island. Where they were, seven radiant points of fire were hovering, like at Bendir Bay. Emilie collapsed, and became unconscious for a time, but seemed otherwise unharmed. The Seven Immaculate Fires approached the edge of Mathus' Aura, and extended a tendril of flame from the closest fire, as if touching the border of the Aura. As it made contact, Mathus felt an immense presence at the edge of his mind, and it encompassed him entirely, as if he were a tiny glass bubble floating in an ocean. There was no pressure, no pain, and no intrusion; merely surrounded. Emilie began to awaken at this time. The Magic Eaters gathered around began to... fray at their edges and their glow faded. The tendril of flame pressed in further, and Mathus tried to refuse it, of the thought that it might be harming the Magic Eaters. He tried to force it back out of his Aura. He felt the presence around him press slightly, and the Aura ceased to be. Magic returned. The Magic Eaters dispersed, seeming to have no interest despite the magical things they could smell again. Mathus asked the Seven Immaculate Fires what they are. They stopped moving when he did, and there was a sense of its presence upon his will. He saw images in his mind as it felt to pass across. A vast field, stretching as far as he could see, the grass made of thick, coarse hair. The vision shifted, and he saw a forest of beautiful trees made of a gleaming silver metal, dotted with blue and purple points of light in their metallic bark. The images changed again, and he saw a sky of bleached bone, dotted with point of pitch blackness instead of stars. Then, a perfectly formed tower of seamless and pure blue stone. It glowed atop a mountain of white rock, and surrounding the summit of it were seven pillars of blue fire. The vision shifted again, to nothing. No light, no sound, no feeling of temperature, of time or of space. Nothing but a pure, immaculate emptiness and the presence of Mathus within it, devoid of his physical body. An unknowable amount of time passed, and in the vision, a crack appeared across the 'surface' of the nothingness. It spread slowly, leaking light, sound, and time from the breach. An unknowable amount of time passed, and in the vision, a crack appeared across the 'surface' of the nothingness. It spread slowly, leaking light, sound, and time from the breach. Mathus could see a vague form around him as his mind was encased by his own body, time flowing around him again. He remained in the nothingness, watching the cracks spread and break the void. He suddenly felt the immense presence surround him again. Seven points of beautiful fire burst from his body.They spread out from the vast nothingness and touched against the cracks, trying to force them to close. They tried, and then faltered in their attempt to preserve the perfect void. The cracks grew again, and Mathus felt the presence touch against his mind in a way that was pleading. Mathus chose to help, and as he did so, in the vision, the presence washed over him and he was engulfed by the vastness of it. The fires consumed his body, and then spread out across the nothing. They pushed back the cracks, and the empty void was immaculate again. The vision ended, and Mathus collapsed. The fires entered into his body and resided within him like a sleeping presence. All of the fires that were there collected into him, though they no longer communicated for some time. That was the first day. What questions does anyone have before I continue. Almare :
Ahsra :
Avadon :
Ahsra :
Mathus :
Ahsra :
Aurelius :
Kat :
Mathus :
Kurchin :
Sana :
Avadon:
Ahsra :
A blue fire had taken the form of a woman dressed in blue robes of simple design. Her hair was black and shoulder-length, her eyes lit with the points of blue fire. She called herself the Light of the Center. He asked what she, what they are, but the Light of the Center could not answer it well. She said that they were unused to constraints like language, and that how they had communicated before was much as a metaphor. The Light of the Center asked about the nature of the Existence, about the Prime Material. She said that the planes were each infinitely large, had infinite potential, but they begin and they end. There may be an infinite number of planes, but they also begin and end. That these infinite planes overlap in places and this weakens the 'structure' enough that they allow passage between them. She said that though the planes are infinite and endless, yet have an end, they encompass everything, there are also things outside of them. I think that she may have been referencing the Far Realms here, but I cannot say for certain. She said that entities such as the Illithid, the Beholders, and things of that anti-nature came from beyond, and that they did as well. The Light of the Center said that they did not need Mathus; that he was currently the most interesting thing to occupy themselves with at the time. That they had lost interest in the others quickly. They were interested in experiencing things, and wanted to experience more. That Mathus welcomed them in, twice, where all others had resisted, intrigued them. Mathus asked about the vision, about the plea for help within it. The Light of the Center said that she had not been present for that; I think that she did not actually exist in that form until she appeared to speak with Mathus, like a sliver cut from a whole tree, she was only a tiny aspect. She said that they must have had a reason to show him what they did, but that she did not know it. She likened herself to a blade of grass in a vast field; a part of it, but unable to know the whole field. A single manifestation of the greater whole; each separate and a part of that greater whole at the same time. She said that she could not go back to the whole to get the answers for his questions because she would not return in a similar state to how she was then. They spoke more. Time passed. The Light of the Center was eventually able to return to Mathus many days later with clearer instructions; things for us to collect and do if we still wished to help them, though the Light of the Center said that she did not know what it would do; only that it was what the whole agreed needed to be done. We gathered the things that they asked for; essences of opposing planes. Mathus and I have agreed to not say the exact details of the ritual right now so that it cannot be repeated by those who do not intend to help. We collected these things and brought them to Frozenfar, to a place that was not near others, because we did not know what would happen when we completed the ritual, and we wanted to be able to try and contain it, or lead it away from people. The Light of the Center said that it was the right thing to do, though she could not say what would happen, and that it was what they needed. We performed the ritual. The Seven Immaculate Fires came out of Mathus and hovered over the parts of the ritual. The rote was done, and the air felt thicker, and the Fires each moved until they were between the things we had collected, and the portals that were opened behind them. A vast torrent of blue fire engulfed them as the rite was finished. The Fires burnt upward, then abruptly vanished. The items were all burnt into a thin, white powder. There was a moment of nothing that changed, the air still silent and thick. Then suddenly, the air felt thinner. Color faded out of view and everything became more grey and transparent. All around us, there was a low buzzing in the air, as if a huge swarm of flies had taken to the sky. It was quiet at first, and quickly grew louder. I did not see it myself, but Mathus described his vision warping and twisting, as if his sense of things... of spatial relation was skewed. His surroundings seemed to change in impossible ways, forming confusing and abstract visuals. To me, things remained solid and normal. I saw a tiny point of grey form above the center of the ritual circle. It was entirely without feature, and seemed somehow inherently wrong, like it did not belong. When Mathus saw it after his vision had cleared, he said it looked the same, but that it was fascinating and had not felt wrong to him. For a while, nothing seemed to happen. The point of grey hovered in the air; the snow that fell did not touch it, but vanished when it almost contacted it. There was suddenly a sound of metal grinding against stone, and a long, thick blade seemed to force its way out of the point of grey, extending as being being pressed through. It stopped half way, then cut down. There was a wave of vast, mental pressure as it happened. Mathus fell unconscious. I did not. The point had become a grey line now, the sword still protruding through the breach. The line warped as the Discordant Truth stepped from it, holding the sword. He looked human with the silver veins. He reached down and took a hold of the base of the grey line, and drew it up like it was a strange seam, until it was a dot again. Then he plucked it out of the air and put it into a pocket of his jacket as if it were just a thing. The buzzing sound had stopped at some point. We spoke, and he said his name. He said that he did not know what the point of the ritual had been, that he had not been aware of any ritual in particular. That he knew what it did, but not that it was to happen. The Discordant Truth said that he was not the result of the ritual, but a byproduct of it. The result, he said, was the Grey Breach. The dot of grey that had first appeared. He described it as a fundamental breach in the planar fabric. That it was made by one of 'us', in his words, expending its existence to form it. We asked more questions. He said that the grey dot was not the 'soul' of anything, because we had thought it might have been the remnants of the Seven Immaculate Fires. More importantly to this, he said that he knew exactly why he was here, and that it was because 'we' found the breach first. When he said 'we', he patted the hilt of his sword. He said that he couldn't cross before, and had no inclination to break through, but that had changed now. He said that the it was not likely they the ritual had been meant for him specifically to pass through, only that the breach be formed. He said that prior to his passing through he had no knowledge of the situation, and that if it were not his nature to know, he would have likely been ignorant of our world as well. We spoke more of things, and he showed us that he could make the dot into a line, and reached into it. He pulled out a wet worm covered in segmented, silvery plates of metal with many tiny, grasping legs like pincers. He said that it was not something that he grabbed for, but what was wanted to come out when he reached. It was some while later that we saw the Discordant Truth again. We had been training ourselves against the Illithid and were at the last chamber with the community-brain. He appeared and withdrew one of the worms and put it into the fluid of the brain's pool. To see what would happen, he said, and cause a change. Some while later from that, Illithid and then people were found with the silvery worms inside them, but I do not know as much about this. Tuomas of Kohlingen knew more, and did not share much of what he knew. Others will have to be asked about that, I cannot offer more. Some while after that, the Discordant Truth came to me and asked if I would help him to make an area devoid of magic in Actand, and I agreed because it is a thing that Mathus and I hoped to do on our own. At the time, the Discordant Truth had not shown himself to be actively malicious to antithetical to us. Only disregarding of things in the way that many people from this plane are like. The Discordant Truth seemed to have been working together or ... parallel to an entity that I think had been called The Hunter, who had been tracking down people with heritage from other planes. Kat :
Ahsra :
Sana :
Ahsra :
Kat :
Ahsra :
I could not say, that happened while we were not here. I will tell you what the Discordant Truth said. I spoke to him again recently. Sana and I went to Actand, to one of the Obelisks and I asked if he would come speak. He did. I asked what he was doing in Actand; he said that he was cultivating a new form of life, a thing that is partially sentient, alive while simultaneously not. That it was an experiment for seeing if a place can live in a manner similar to that of a creature. He said that he did not intend to moderate its behaviour, when I asked what he would do if the ... place-creature became destructive. Only that he would observe. I asked about the Quintessence, and he said that is the catalyst that have the land its life. I asked of the infesting of people. He said that it changes people into a form 'that is suited to existence in a state similar to that of the Far Realms'. When I asked if he was doing this to see what would happen, as seemed to be his answer for most things, he said no; that he was doing it because that is what 'should' be done. He said that he had done a great deal of traveling and observation since arriving, and he concluded that our form of existence is limited; stagnant. That our form, functions, and experienced do very little to distinguish us from one another. That our capacity for change, growth, and variety is permanently unfulfilled, and that he finds this abhorrent. I do not agree with any of those things he said. I asked him about the choice, to allow those who wanted to be as he wanted to take in the Quintessence of their will, and leave the rest alone. He said that he had come here without intentions, and that he was doing this as a 'gift'. I asked of the ritual to create a place void of magic, and he said that he was still interested in this happening. That things from the Far Realm, like the things in the caves below Cordor's farm lands, change what they are exposed to... we said some more things, then Sana and I left. She and I spoke, and I agreed that I would not be helping the Discordant Truth make the void of magic, because it may make it more difficult for us to remove him from our home if we do that first. Other things I have heard are that there are more Grey Breaches now. That one has become a mirror, or a reflective pool. That is what I know. Kat :
Tee :
Ahsra :
Unknown :
Tee :
Almare :
Kat :
Unknown :
Sana :
Alanna :
Cory :
Sana :
Kat :
Mathus :
Kat :
Alanna :
Mathus :
Ahsra :
Alanna :
Kat :
Alanna :
Sana :
Kat :
Ahsra :
Sana :
Kat :
Sana :
Kat :
Unknown :
Almare :
Mathus :
Kat :
Sana :
Cory :
Mathus :
Kurchin :
Almare :
Kat :
Almare :
Mathus :
Alanna :
Sana :
Alanna :
Alanna :
Sana :
Alanna :
Mathus :
Almare :
Alanna :
Mathus :
Kurchin :
Tukson :
Kurchin :
Mathus :
I have a suggestion - for the sake of the open forum, but so as to allow us to spread out and continue doing what we need to do with the time we have, I say any further communication on this matter be sent to Mr. Devers so he can transcribe it for the rest of us to see. Tukson :
Sana :
Kurchin :
Sana :
Alanna :
Unknown :
Sana :
Tukson :
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- An attached sheet wrote: {included is a picture of the Cerulean Sign as well as arcane and divine invocations of the ritual} |
|
| Page 1 of 1 | All times are UTC |
| Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group http://www.phpbb.com/ |
|