koremorleth
Newbie
This gathering was full of revelations, conclusions, turmoil, and camaraderie. Our first evening, Xava the Black revealed to us the name of the Prisoner and the creation of Old Magic. Before this meeting, there were only 10 who knew the name of the Prisoner. They are the Watchers. Of the 10 original Watchers, only seven remain. This we have known for some time now. The following is an accounting of the history of the Prisoner and the creation of Old Magic.
Shar Zaal. The name of the Prisoner of Gavaria, which we have long been seeking these past few years. At one time, many hundreds, perhaps even thousands of years ago, ther was no magic. Until a being came along, a member of a progenitor species who desired freedom above all else. Shar Zaal was the creator of what we know today as Old Magic, though at the time, there was nothing old about it. He created magic in a world that was devoid of it. This was long before Xava's time, but to the best of the Watcher's knowledge, this is how magic came into the world. At the initial creation of Old Magic, it was weak and so Shar Zaal set a condition upon it. Every time that Old Magic was used, it's power grew. Shar Zaal desired that anyone who wanted to use it to have access to it. However, there were dire consequences. Because the power of Old Magic grew each time it was used, so too did the power of the individuals who wielded it, and so too did Shar Zaal's power. Everyone was in possession of absolute power. And this created chaos and madness. Reality was conflicted. Old Magic allowed a being to create and do anything that they desired, and life was completely unlivable for those without his power, and they suffered greatly. The world was thrown into an instability that it might never have recovered from, had Xava and his fellow Watchers not sealed away Shar Zaal from this world.
There were those who believed the power to be unfair, and would be fairer if there were rules in place. And so, the Watchers set about searching for a way to govern the world and apply a sense of order to this world. They used Shar Zaal's own power against him and created 13 Seals, which cut off Shar Zaal's connection to the world as we know it. And as long as the Seals remained intact, Shar Zaal simply was not.
But in recent years, chaos has slowly been worming its way back into this world. The Seals are weakening, the Wind Stones being the first of these over 500 years ago before the Calamity. Some have even been destroyed. And as they weaken, Shar Zaal becomes more aware of our world. He is regaining his mind, and "Hands reach to where Feet long to stand, wielding what they can Grip to meet their Needs." It is unknown how aware he is of our world, but it is known that the strongest belief that he held was Freedom. Should Shar Zaal break free and return to this world, he has the power to reset everything. He could wipe our memories, reset reality, and remake it in his image.
But the most frightening prospect of all, is that in the end, Shar Zaal wants us to wield Old Magic. For to use it, all you must do is hold it and want something and you have the power to do anything you desire. To create anything you want. To wipe out your enemies. To save your friends. But there is a terrible cost. For by using it, we strengthen Shar Zaal's power, and bring him one step closer to breaking free of his prison. One of the ways he is doing this is through 8 bands, one to represent each aspect of Magic: Life, Death, Order, Chaos, Flame, Ice, Stone, Lightning.
Before Xava revealed this to us, Pyrrha, the kitsune Watcher that we as adventurers assisted back in March, brought maps of Gavaria with the location of each of the 13 Seals on them.
The following is a list of the Seals, their locations, and their current status.
1. Boiling Trench - Oceans west of northern Cinem - Status: Destroyed
2. Coral Roof - Opal Sea - Status: Destroyed
3. Underwood - Northern Cinem - Status: Intact
4. Ever-Burning Lighthouse - Mott Lake in Cinem - Status: Destroyed
5. Wandering Waste - Swamp in Atish just south of Eryport - Status: Unknown
6. Protean Retreat - Mountain next to Fluga, Cinem - Status: Intact
7. Heart of the Peninsula - Meltith, just west of Diregrasp - Status: Damaged
8. Divining Pool - Passwall, north of Noxfell - Status: Repaired
9. Precipice Dagger - Oathgate, in the Giant's Bane Mountains - Status: Unknown
10. Anchor Spike - Lashangra, Skain - Status: Repaired
11. Wind Stones - Southern Skain, north of Bebilico - Status: Destroyed
12. Crossroads Nexus - Aetheric Crossroads - Status: Damaged
13: Web of Reality - Aetheric Crossroads - Status: Unknown
Those in bold are Seals that are damaged, in the process of being fixed, or still remain intact to the best of our knowledge.
It was originally thought that a broken seal site was unfixable, but it has been determined that we can touch and use Old Magic to fix the seals because the seals themselves are made of Old Magic, as are the rules that govern them. There were some initial misgivings, as we were told that it was detrimental to use Old Magic, but in this way, we are simply returning the excess back to the sources, filling in the cracks and making them whole again.
BANDS OF POWER
It is postulated, by Sir Roff and his research with Ilja, that the Bands of power can be used to fix the broken seals. There are 8 of them, and from what we know of the text of the Prophecy of the Red Wastes, it seems that these bands are the broken shackles referred to in the prophecy. To date, this is what we know:
Each band is connected to a magesterium element. We know of five bands so far. Tomekeeper Dramthin Hartsboon has created this list to keep track of the bands and their current whereabouts.
Ice - Imperatrix Reign of the Aetheric Crossroads
Stone - Unknown
Lightning - Ris'Sunnis (deceased, band in custody of Ilja, care of the Gavarian Earth Guild of Terna)
Flame - Bruen (deceased, band destroyed by Xava the Black)
Death - Granny Moseby of Atish
Order - unknown
Chaos - Barrister Magnus Varov of Passwall (band in custody of Court Healer Roff)
Earth - Unknown
Please continue to add to the knowledge published here, as this is only a basic transcription of what we know at this point. Continue discussion, and by all means, if anything written here is inaccurate, do not hesitate to reach out and discuss below, as we are not perfect. This is for all adventurers.
Best,
Lady Kore Morleth of Puxil Cove
Margrave Auryn Fairhorn of Concord
P.S. If anyone has access to a copy of that map, it would be prudent to share it here ((OOG: is there a file that can be uploaded here so that we can see the map here?))
Shar Zaal. The name of the Prisoner of Gavaria, which we have long been seeking these past few years. At one time, many hundreds, perhaps even thousands of years ago, ther was no magic. Until a being came along, a member of a progenitor species who desired freedom above all else. Shar Zaal was the creator of what we know today as Old Magic, though at the time, there was nothing old about it. He created magic in a world that was devoid of it. This was long before Xava's time, but to the best of the Watcher's knowledge, this is how magic came into the world. At the initial creation of Old Magic, it was weak and so Shar Zaal set a condition upon it. Every time that Old Magic was used, it's power grew. Shar Zaal desired that anyone who wanted to use it to have access to it. However, there were dire consequences. Because the power of Old Magic grew each time it was used, so too did the power of the individuals who wielded it, and so too did Shar Zaal's power. Everyone was in possession of absolute power. And this created chaos and madness. Reality was conflicted. Old Magic allowed a being to create and do anything that they desired, and life was completely unlivable for those without his power, and they suffered greatly. The world was thrown into an instability that it might never have recovered from, had Xava and his fellow Watchers not sealed away Shar Zaal from this world.
There were those who believed the power to be unfair, and would be fairer if there were rules in place. And so, the Watchers set about searching for a way to govern the world and apply a sense of order to this world. They used Shar Zaal's own power against him and created 13 Seals, which cut off Shar Zaal's connection to the world as we know it. And as long as the Seals remained intact, Shar Zaal simply was not.
But in recent years, chaos has slowly been worming its way back into this world. The Seals are weakening, the Wind Stones being the first of these over 500 years ago before the Calamity. Some have even been destroyed. And as they weaken, Shar Zaal becomes more aware of our world. He is regaining his mind, and "Hands reach to where Feet long to stand, wielding what they can Grip to meet their Needs." It is unknown how aware he is of our world, but it is known that the strongest belief that he held was Freedom. Should Shar Zaal break free and return to this world, he has the power to reset everything. He could wipe our memories, reset reality, and remake it in his image.
But the most frightening prospect of all, is that in the end, Shar Zaal wants us to wield Old Magic. For to use it, all you must do is hold it and want something and you have the power to do anything you desire. To create anything you want. To wipe out your enemies. To save your friends. But there is a terrible cost. For by using it, we strengthen Shar Zaal's power, and bring him one step closer to breaking free of his prison. One of the ways he is doing this is through 8 bands, one to represent each aspect of Magic: Life, Death, Order, Chaos, Flame, Ice, Stone, Lightning.
Before Xava revealed this to us, Pyrrha, the kitsune Watcher that we as adventurers assisted back in March, brought maps of Gavaria with the location of each of the 13 Seals on them.
The following is a list of the Seals, their locations, and their current status.
1. Boiling Trench - Oceans west of northern Cinem - Status: Destroyed
2. Coral Roof - Opal Sea - Status: Destroyed
3. Underwood - Northern Cinem - Status: Intact
4. Ever-Burning Lighthouse - Mott Lake in Cinem - Status: Destroyed
5. Wandering Waste - Swamp in Atish just south of Eryport - Status: Unknown
6. Protean Retreat - Mountain next to Fluga, Cinem - Status: Intact
7. Heart of the Peninsula - Meltith, just west of Diregrasp - Status: Damaged
8. Divining Pool - Passwall, north of Noxfell - Status: Repaired
9. Precipice Dagger - Oathgate, in the Giant's Bane Mountains - Status: Unknown
10. Anchor Spike - Lashangra, Skain - Status: Repaired
11. Wind Stones - Southern Skain, north of Bebilico - Status: Destroyed
12. Crossroads Nexus - Aetheric Crossroads - Status: Damaged
13: Web of Reality - Aetheric Crossroads - Status: Unknown
Those in bold are Seals that are damaged, in the process of being fixed, or still remain intact to the best of our knowledge.
It was originally thought that a broken seal site was unfixable, but it has been determined that we can touch and use Old Magic to fix the seals because the seals themselves are made of Old Magic, as are the rules that govern them. There were some initial misgivings, as we were told that it was detrimental to use Old Magic, but in this way, we are simply returning the excess back to the sources, filling in the cracks and making them whole again.
BANDS OF POWER
It is postulated, by Sir Roff and his research with Ilja, that the Bands of power can be used to fix the broken seals. There are 8 of them, and from what we know of the text of the Prophecy of the Red Wastes, it seems that these bands are the broken shackles referred to in the prophecy. To date, this is what we know:
Each band is connected to a magesterium element. We know of five bands so far. Tomekeeper Dramthin Hartsboon has created this list to keep track of the bands and their current whereabouts.
Ice - Imperatrix Reign of the Aetheric Crossroads
Stone - Unknown
Lightning - Ris'Sunnis (deceased, band in custody of Ilja, care of the Gavarian Earth Guild of Terna)
Flame - Bruen (deceased, band destroyed by Xava the Black)
Death - Granny Moseby of Atish
Order - unknown
Chaos - Barrister Magnus Varov of Passwall (band in custody of Court Healer Roff)
Earth - Unknown
Please continue to add to the knowledge published here, as this is only a basic transcription of what we know at this point. Continue discussion, and by all means, if anything written here is inaccurate, do not hesitate to reach out and discuss below, as we are not perfect. This is for all adventurers.
Best,
Lady Kore Morleth of Puxil Cove
Margrave Auryn Fairhorn of Concord
P.S. If anyone has access to a copy of that map, it would be prudent to share it here ((OOG: is there a file that can be uploaded here so that we can see the map here?))
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