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ÄRAM: Wake of Fallen Empire
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<blockquote data-quote="mikeg" data-source="post: 3834112" data-attributes="member: 39640"><p><strong>ÄRAM: Wake of Fallen Empire</strong></p><p></p><p> </p><p><strong>GEOGRAPHY</strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Beyond the Veil</strong></p><p></p><p>Even before the people of Äram could wonder what lay beyond their shores, their minds were filled with deeper questions. Who ensures the return of our crops? Who has given us the gifts of fire and magic? Who granted us our sacred stories? And how can we be here to even ask? The answers lay somewhere outside of common sensory experience. And only a few have returned to speak of what lies beyond.</p><p></p><p>Among the oldest healers, some were granted the power to quicken the recently deceased among their cairn rows and sacred groves. A few of the departed returned whole, others sat silently brooding for a few days of life, and the rest terrorized their former companions as mindlessly violent aberrations. Even as the religious orders have honed their divine magic, there has yet to be a case where the resurrected could recall a single memory from their lifeless state.</p><p></p><p>Other magics attempted to cheat fate through possession. The rhythmic trances of ancient possession troupes allowed performers to negate their own consciousness and serve as temporary vessels for other beings. It was these methods that inspired spellcasters to inhabit the bodies of the living through specially enchanted receptacles. In this way, a few more sinister mages were known to have passed through the bodies of the young for generations, but their deaths would inevitably arise through complacency and accident.</p><p></p><p>Despite these failures, continued magical efforts would yield abilities to traverse space in a non-material form, eventually allowing spellcasters to visit new realms of existence. Such practice required months of concentrated study, diet and meditation for a single such attempt. But enough experiences were collaborated to suggest that these other realms were not merely the product of willful hallucinations. These were worlds that intersected the material realm, inhabited by powerful beings who claimed to empower the faithful of Äram and countless other worlds.</p><p></p><p>These closely guarded techniques came to be known as the Seeking Way. Originating among the inlets of Arta long before the Teulan Empire, they now are employed by several schools of magic throughout the known world. Study and preparation of these arts is still arduous, but the power gained is immense. Such abilities have been found on scrolls by few lucky adventurers. The ancient Order of Lacdevu, in the rugged eastern frontier of Csorna, claims to possess the deepest knowledge of these new realms and the ability to commune with the dead.</p><p></p><p>Long before the first explorations of the Seeking Way, a cluster of forgotten civilizations thrived in western Äram. Only a few of their structures remain among the desolate corners of Arta, Csorna and the Nagorno. Their statues of beast-headed men guard deadly tombs of unsurpassed magic. Their few deciphered inscriptions speak of vast temple-cities, and a cultish devotion to a line of god-kings with names like Gorogzagog and Bulshozagog. Adventurers who have survived the ancient tombs have brought back a range of artifacts operating as portals to other realms. Some lasted long enough only to loose unearthly horrors. Others opened onto finite pockets of space with bizarre physical properties, or even allowed passage to other consecrated sites in the known world and undiscovered lands. Some even claimed to possess portals to grant them access to the realms of the gods. The descendants of these ancient civilizations are said to have escaped a race of subterranean mind enslavers long before the dawn of history. They may survive today as something other than human among the colossal fissures deep below the hills of Csorna and in the dusty tablelands of the Nagorno Plain. Today's academics only faintly grasp these techniques, referring to them as the Sending Way. Magical research of this technique has built upon the spellcraft required for teleportation and the gating of unholy beings.</p><p></p><p>While neither the Seeking Way nor the Sending Way is fully understood, it is clear that they impart nearly divine abilities to mere mortals. The religious ramifications are potentially enormous, as it is possible that the lesser deities of smaller sects could be exposed as fallible beings of limited power. Practitioners of these arts should be aware that they will be regarded with deep mistrust and even hatred by those whose power depends upon the monopoly of magical abilities and divine access.</p><p></p><p>Long ago, these outer realms were understood to be the province of gods and heroes. Among mortals, the paradises after life were reserved for despotic rulers who ensured their own safe passage through monumental constructions. Common people did not expect such rewards after life, and the most they could hope for was the "good sleep" granted to those who fulfilled their obligations and remained in the good words of the living through story and song. All of this changed after the life of Ben Duín.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="mikeg, post: 3834112, member: 39640"] [b]ÄRAM: Wake of Fallen Empire[/b] [B] [/B] [B]GEOGRAPHY[/B] [B]Beyond the Veil[/B] Even before the people of Äram could wonder what lay beyond their shores, their minds were filled with deeper questions. Who ensures the return of our crops? Who has given us the gifts of fire and magic? Who granted us our sacred stories? And how can we be here to even ask? The answers lay somewhere outside of common sensory experience. And only a few have returned to speak of what lies beyond. Among the oldest healers, some were granted the power to quicken the recently deceased among their cairn rows and sacred groves. A few of the departed returned whole, others sat silently brooding for a few days of life, and the rest terrorized their former companions as mindlessly violent aberrations. Even as the religious orders have honed their divine magic, there has yet to be a case where the resurrected could recall a single memory from their lifeless state. Other magics attempted to cheat fate through possession. The rhythmic trances of ancient possession troupes allowed performers to negate their own consciousness and serve as temporary vessels for other beings. It was these methods that inspired spellcasters to inhabit the bodies of the living through specially enchanted receptacles. In this way, a few more sinister mages were known to have passed through the bodies of the young for generations, but their deaths would inevitably arise through complacency and accident. Despite these failures, continued magical efforts would yield abilities to traverse space in a non-material form, eventually allowing spellcasters to visit new realms of existence. Such practice required months of concentrated study, diet and meditation for a single such attempt. But enough experiences were collaborated to suggest that these other realms were not merely the product of willful hallucinations. These were worlds that intersected the material realm, inhabited by powerful beings who claimed to empower the faithful of Äram and countless other worlds. These closely guarded techniques came to be known as the Seeking Way. Originating among the inlets of Arta long before the Teulan Empire, they now are employed by several schools of magic throughout the known world. Study and preparation of these arts is still arduous, but the power gained is immense. Such abilities have been found on scrolls by few lucky adventurers. The ancient Order of Lacdevu, in the rugged eastern frontier of Csorna, claims to possess the deepest knowledge of these new realms and the ability to commune with the dead. Long before the first explorations of the Seeking Way, a cluster of forgotten civilizations thrived in western Äram. Only a few of their structures remain among the desolate corners of Arta, Csorna and the Nagorno. Their statues of beast-headed men guard deadly tombs of unsurpassed magic. Their few deciphered inscriptions speak of vast temple-cities, and a cultish devotion to a line of god-kings with names like Gorogzagog and Bulshozagog. Adventurers who have survived the ancient tombs have brought back a range of artifacts operating as portals to other realms. Some lasted long enough only to loose unearthly horrors. Others opened onto finite pockets of space with bizarre physical properties, or even allowed passage to other consecrated sites in the known world and undiscovered lands. Some even claimed to possess portals to grant them access to the realms of the gods. The descendants of these ancient civilizations are said to have escaped a race of subterranean mind enslavers long before the dawn of history. They may survive today as something other than human among the colossal fissures deep below the hills of Csorna and in the dusty tablelands of the Nagorno Plain. Today's academics only faintly grasp these techniques, referring to them as the Sending Way. Magical research of this technique has built upon the spellcraft required for teleportation and the gating of unholy beings. While neither the Seeking Way nor the Sending Way is fully understood, it is clear that they impart nearly divine abilities to mere mortals. The religious ramifications are potentially enormous, as it is possible that the lesser deities of smaller sects could be exposed as fallible beings of limited power. Practitioners of these arts should be aware that they will be regarded with deep mistrust and even hatred by those whose power depends upon the monopoly of magical abilities and divine access. Long ago, these outer realms were understood to be the province of gods and heroes. Among mortals, the paradises after life were reserved for despotic rulers who ensured their own safe passage through monumental constructions. Common people did not expect such rewards after life, and the most they could hope for was the "good sleep" granted to those who fulfilled their obligations and remained in the good words of the living through story and song. All of this changed after the life of Ben Duín. [/QUOTE]
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