Sunday, December 4, 2011

Not Eladrin

I am starting to believe that Voss and myself represent the only Eladrin that remain on Haven.
Anabalis and her contingent have revealed themselves as devils from a world shard that has detached itself from the chain.
We discovered that the chief Archivist had been killed by a mist devil trying to get access to the central archives. We set a trap that led us back to Anabalis. We defeated her but took her prisoner. She claims to re[present devils who have the power to remove Haven from the chain. They wished access to the archives in order to determine who has the power to sign a treaty for the entire world.

The treaty would remove Haven from the chain but would require that Haven provide aid to fight the demonic incursion in future worlds.

The only group that has the power to sign such a treaty would be the Council of Seasons. Currently only Priness Betina and Voss are definite members (representing Fall and Winter respectively) with the regent of Ascension being a possible third. In order to sign such a treaty, all four houses would need to be represented.

The Devils definitely appear to take the shortest possible route to achieve their ends.

Another delegation was sent to Ascension but we have had Anabalis attempt to recall them as we fear that Demonic influence is strong there.

We are heading to Portsmouth to attempt to find more details about the Nefleheim family (and potentially the other two families as well). On the way, however, we are going to stop and talk to the fey. They are currently aligned with Ascension against Barera. We hope to provide enough information to have them switch sides. Or at least remove themselves from the conflict.

The Eastern Eladrin

While my companions shunted me off to continue my reasearch, they gained an audience with the Eladrin delegation from the East led by Anabalis. They claim to have fought the Enemy for 20,000 years which is longer that we have been on Haven. When questioned on this, they evasively implied that they were from the previous world.
The pounding is Kansul's horde trying to breach the wards placed on the world by the Barerans. Barera is where the initial group fled the previous world. Thus it is closest to the demonic world behind us. This is likely why the energies most affected them.
The Barerans credit Eladrius for preventing them from going mad when the demonic energies came through. He had set up a system to allow them to retain themselves. For whatever reason, this system did not protect the halflings. Yet again we find halflings more immediately and deeply affected by extraplanar energies.

It was 50 years ago the Mount Ascension became cloaked in the darkness we dissipated but only 5 years ago the demon began to try to breach the wards in Barera (causing the banging). "She who sleeps on roofs" earlier told us that the Son told her to allow the undead onto Mount Ascension. Perhaps he sees the Lich Queen as a potential ally against Kansul.

More research

Ah the bliss of some uninterrupted time for proper research!
Tecera's are referred to as the third in the ancient language. They form a bridge between the being and the land. This is what allows (or strengthens) the ability of an extra planar being to influence a world. Thus the Possibility, which is a Far Realm Tecera, allowed the corrupting and randomizing energies of the Far Realms to influence the area around it. Given the nature of the Far Realms, it is unclear if there was an intelligence acting through the Tecera or if the Tecera itself had obtained its own, strange sentience.

Betina is the last survivor of the House of Fall. During the magical disruption 97 years ago, the Aerie of Fall was docked at Barera and the remains are outside of the city (having been converted for continued dwelling and use)

The Nefleheim Aerie (The Aerie of Winter) was going to Barera (to ask their aid against the undead) when we went to Furlough but (according to Betina) but was diverted to Treacher's Folly instead. Treacher's Folly is well within the control of the undead and is now surrounded by a veil of continuous blackness as we found on Ascension. If we are to find the remains of the Nefleheim clan, it will be here.
Portsmouth is the edge of this zone of darkness. This is also where Baern's former lover, Oefa may be found.

In Barera at last

We have reached Barera with notes of introduction from both Mistress Kim and Lord Tweedsbury. Some Eladrin from an unrecognized house are in conference with princess Betina.
The magical banging we have encountered elsewhere is so strong in Barera it makes the very ground shake. We must be near the epicenter.

Time for research

It would appear that Baern has a connection to a religious scholar of some note, Oefa Granhelm.
One of the the books that Baern recovered from the redactionists in Ascension was by this luminary.
Before we went to Furlough (and all this madness started), Bearn and Oefa had a romantic trist. Of course, Oefa being of a noble house, this resulted in her parents being most upset. Indeed, these are the events that led to his being assigned to the Neflheim court.
In the intervening years, Oefa was not idle. 75 years after the fall, Oefa's studies into souls led her to conclude that the gods of Haven are responsible for the large number of undead present in Haven when compared to Furlough.
Her theory is that the pantheon is out of balance. The souls of good people are collected by the gods but those of evil beings are not. Since the soul cannot be destroyed, it finds a vessel and creates a "naturally" occurring undead. In comparison in Furlough, which has a more diverse pantheon, only undead created through rituals are found.
If "She who sleeps on roofs" is correct then the thought processes, personality, and very being of a deity are influenced by the souls that they collect. This is both what caused Peter Kovak to break into the existing Pantheon in Furlough and what forced him to destroy the Haven Tecera. In both cases, he was absorbing too wide a variety of souls.

It would appear that earlier worlds on the chain were lost because evil gods sided with the demons. Thus two experiments were tried: On Haven an all good pantheon was created (resulting in natural undead and the eventual ascension of an undead deity, the Lich Queen). On Furlough, monotheism was attempted (resulting in the splintering of the overstretch god)

We have finally had time to research the books we recovered from the redactionists.

Many of the more ancient books talk about old gods and their fight with the Primordials. These old gods are part of the basic creation myths of the universe. According to the books, the old gods lost to the Primordials and, in their defeat, split the universe into the current chain of universes. Thyey spread their essences across the new world and these essences have formed the nucleus of the new gods.
Kansul and his demon forces are the soldiers of the Primordials. However, where the Primordials wish to create and destroy in an endless cycle, the demons wish to destroy without creation. Thus they have been consuming world after world.
Angels and Devils both represent the soldiers on the sides of the old gods. Angels have turned away from directly fighting Kansul and instead work with the new deities to protect intelligent life. The devils continue their struggle, using whatever means necessary to win.

Thew new gods are not as powerful as the old gods. We have evidence that their essence can be collected (this collection from the previous worlds is what formed the basis of the energies used to uplift the current pantheon). However, if this collection does not occur, their essence dissipates. It is not clear if the energy is lost forever or if it will later coalesce on its own, forming a new proto-deity.

Upon fleeing to Haven, the scholars of the time believed that the god fragment that was here was that of a nature deity due to the lushness of the world. Given the drift of the Mother towards a feral, naturalistic stance, it may be that she is becoming aligned with the base alignment of Haven itself.

Mind Control

Once again the base tenants of research have been thwarted by my companions.
Mistress Kim and others all had a series of marks around their face before disappearing. Some have healed to near invisibility.
Lord Tweedsbury was close at hand and we were able to examine him. He was mind controlled by another being. We (along with Berkley the steward) fled the embassy and attempted to find a place to capture the Possibility in the Grotius Cube. Along the way we were ambushed by more corrupted halflings.
We holed up in a warehouse to attempt to both capture the Possibility and allow Baern to attempt to remove the affliction on Lord Tweedsbury.

Berkley was the source of the mind control. He alerted more halflings to our possition and then revealed himself as a Far Realm creature whose face was made up of finely articulated fingers. By tightly gripping a face he could exert control over that being. Hence the marks we found.

We defeated the halflings and Berkly and he proved to actually be a smaller, insectoid creature attached to the remains of Berkley's face. I subdued the creature and would have recovered it for study had Yulia not destroyed it.

I do not understand why my companions insist at continually putting us at a disadvantage.

We have contained the Possibility and restored Lord Tweedsbury.

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