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Myth of Truth
Campaign In Irëdeule, religion had always been a matter of personal choice and the heterogenous composition of its people fostered
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In the southwest of Thevenek, amidst the restless waters of the Tan’Lei Rift, lies an accumulation of enchanting and vibrant islands overflowing with life and embellished with countless unhatched, singing, Arrival Eggs— the Tan’Lei Archipelago. It is here where the Vixak Protectorate, a remarkable enclave of sagely druids and wild warriors, chose to make its home.
The Protectorate was founded shortly after the disbandment of the Dogantine Eldership, brought to life by a resolute and irenic female elf known as Ixcylla Vixak, one of the first elves to set foot upon Irëdeule; and one of Minya Nissë’s most fervent and trusted apprentices. Vixak has gone down in history as a formidable sage who embraced and significantly extended the teachings of “The First Woman”, surpassing even the bounds envisaged by other personages such as Zanlin Bluehop and Algar Frytae.
Through active coexistence, attentive observation, and wholehearted communion with the enigmatic Arrival Eggs, Ixcylla and her people began to discern intricate behavioral patterns and subtle reactions to the stimuli the surroundings offered to the portals. Their vigilance yielded previously undisclosed insights into the manifold transformations and alterations an Arrival Egg can undergo due to its external and surrounding conditions preceding its inevitable disappearance. The cornerstone of this beliefs is none other than the apparition of the enigmatic White Oak, a magical entity endowed with the power to alter the fabric of time. Its portal, one of the earliest Vixak proteges manifested itself over open sea, with nary a landmass beneath. Ixcylla solemnly assumed the duty of securing the egg, and by means of her druidic influence over the land and the sea, she transported the portal to its current abode— The Ivory Pit, a resplendent waterfall that currently nourishes the tree with starlight, conferring it with a particular perennial green. Today, the tree stands as an indelible part of Vixak Heritage and is fiercely safeguarded by the Clan of The Amaranthine White.
The advent of the White Oak abetted an expansive field of study and philosophy that gradually coalesced into the Astral Black Covenant— a compendium of magical knowledge with scant factual knowledge regarding the origin of remarkable but seemingly unnatural phenomena occurring throughout the Tan’Lei Rift; and a set of precepts to which all within the archipelago whether native or foreign, must adhere. These circumstances turned the Vixak into a highly lawful collective, one that deliberately eschews the troublesome and tumultuous chaos of the mainland. The Protectorate’s constituents frankly avoid any conflict that might imperil the plethora of unhatched Arrival Eggs that litter the Protectorate’s territory. To this day, under the stewardship of an aged and gray leader, their unwavering focus remains the preservation of this humming, luminiscent, and unhatched eggs.
A prevalent belief within the Protectorate asserts that some of these eggs contain the souls of all the unlucky departed during Death’s Birth, including none other than the revered Minya Nissë, who is destined to rise from a cryptic state of near-death slumber. However, outsider influence has sown doubt regarding the Protectorate’s belief system and the Astral Black Covenant as a whole; these pockets of skepticism have secretly granted permission to Hexa scientists, Sil’Kin mages, and Vigil representatives to study and experiment with protected Arrival Eggs. And while most investigators adopt a passive and respectful stance towards the portals, there are few who take and audacious or reckless approach, inciting the fury of the Silmëtarine.
All of this creates ominous turmoil within the Rift… as the eggs persist in their haunting, mellifluous singing.
The aims of the Vixak are always cloaked under an impenetrable veil of mystery and reticence carefully weaved by Ixcylla herself. Their tone, always ambiguous and multifaceted, oscillates between a purported interest in protecting the entirety of Irëdeule, and a seemingly exclusive investment on the events unfolding within the confines of their lands and the Tan’Lei Rift. Alignment within the Protectorate is mandatory as per the Astral Black Covenant, making international cooperation with the archipelago rather partisan to the Protectorate’s (and Ixcylla’s) mindset.
Internally, the clans of the Protectorate work together ceaselessly to mislead outsiders with the intention of keeping the prevalent arcane occurrences transpiring in the Tan’Lei shrouded and unknown. Yet, whilst mostly successful, the people of Vixak have failed to suppress widespread knowledge about several phenomena including the sudden and bewildering emergence of maelstroms that defy the conventions of destruction by vanishing entire ships, leaving not a single trace behind; or the rise of magnificent and colossal celestial events— radiant displays of light and color, seemingly innocuous to their surroundings; or the ominous “visits” of the Ellar’dan, a massive sentient sea beast composed of naught but energy, and a behemoth that threatens to recreate Death’s Birth (after all, an entire city dedicates itself to providing for the beast).
Amidst these perplexing circumstances, the Protectorate painstakingly maintains the Vixak Veil, a series of arcane structures that bridge and isolate the waters that separate the landmasses that together compose the Archipelago. These magical “barriers” are brought into existence through selfless sacrifice of innocent islanders chosen as protectors of their realm, and dubbed “Veilkeepers”. The final purpose of this structure remains hidden behind curtains of secrecy, guarded by an intricate web of half-truths, and known only to the innermost circles of the Protectorate.
Immersed in mysterious deference and doomed to an eternity of martyrdom, the Veilkeepers are bound to a culling that governs every moment of their lives. Revolving around the sacred tenets of the Astral Black Covenant their existence is entrusted with two paramount missions— the protection of the connections that link the islands nestled within the Tan’Le Rift; an the august responsibility of safeguarding the extremities of each thread of the Veil.
A Veilkeeper is not forged be training or upbringing; these “saints” are set apart by a distinct array of physical traits that delineates their sacred duty— pallid, waxen skin; hair as pure and white as snow, irises tinged with shades of regal purple and lavender; and nails as dark as charcoal. While most Veilkeepers hail from the islands under the aegis of Vixak influence, it is occasionally brought to the Protectorate’s notice that “branded” individuals are born in foreign lands, circumstances that require desperate measures (including the sanctioned act of abduction) to ensure the predestined “chosen one” finds their way to the archipelago.
The path of a Veilkeeper is a transformative journey and a grueling odyssey that culminates in the foreboding and corrupt lands of the once-opulent city of Awfitzkey. The rigorous preparation a “chosen one” goes through is designed to strip these individuals of their worldly emotions, forging them into what the Astral Back Covenant dubs “saints”. Their lives in this path are destined to be fleeting, and all of them sharing the same honorable, yet poignant denouement. In a complex and awe-inspiring ritual, Veilkeepers relinquish their ties to humanity and participate in the separation of the Tan’Lei Rift, the Aenigmian Sea, and the rest of the big blue ocean— they are transfigured into statues of light, and become an anchor of the veil to are sworn to protect.
Arrival Eggs may be found everywhere within the sprawling expanse of the Tan’Lei Archipelago, its islands, and its waters; yet, there exists a pair of significant agglomeration zones that draw intense Protectorate monitoring and guardianship: one west of Yarkham, the other northwest of New Awfitzkey. These zones, known by a name that befits their radiant ambience— Silmëtarwa, or Lightgardens— are the domains of the Clan of the Amaranthine White, a dedicated core of sentinels to the portals’ mystical legacy.
First introductions might place the Silmëtarine as naught but a cadre of unruly and irresponsible youths, only reveling on the pleasures of the present, and seemingly unaware of their savagery and general lack of decorum. Their tales of adventures brim with wonder and frequent exaggeration of their dare-devilish exploits. Yet, the truth of their existence, and the depth of their commitment transcends superficial perception. The Clan of the Amaranthine White is a diverse assembly of youths blessed by the White Oak with the gift of agelessness and anointed by the Allmother herself with a perpetual haste charm; their appointed mission, while intertwined with boundless levity, still carries profound seriousness, as they are the protectors of the melodic Arrival Eggs found in the Lightgardens. Becoming a Silmëtarine entails forfeiting the chance at a normal life, and taking a vow to sacrifice an immortal one in service to the gardens.
Despite their dedication to a mission of protection, the Silmëtarine maintain a deliberate distance from the broader defenses of the Protectorate; their involvement is generally limited unless a direct summons from the Allmother is receive. This strategic restraint aligns with one of the Astral Black Covenant’s fundamental decrees: “The protection of the portals is of vital importance; none of the garden shall be left unattended, with more than half of its guardians in absence”— for it is widely known, that such is the potency of their collective power that even with reduced numbers, they remain more than capable of facing any peril that might threaten the sanctity of the Silmëtarwa, and the enduring wonders they harbor.
Beneath the perilous and tumultuous surface of the Tan’Lei waters, and in the heart of the Aenigmian Sea, the Cilyakeep family leads the fabled and enchanting underwater city of Hitash. This extraordinary lineage currently comprises four siblings, each joined by their respective life partners, and together they nurture thirteen budding souls, an ensemble ranging from the age of fourteen to twenty-seven. Their uniqueness as a family does not lie on their close-knit bonds, but rather in the sorcerous talents that course through their veins, and in their designation as attendants to the capricious and enigmatic entity known as Ellar’dan, by the Astral Black Covenant.
In the Cilyakeeps, tradition has forged a dynasty-like lineage where the mantle of stewardship is passed from generation to generation by the eldest hand to the next. So outstanding has being their performance through generations of service at the city’s management Their outstanding performance as stewards has given birth to a parallel power structure within the Vixak Protectorate, entwining government of the city with an extraordinary set of negotiations with the Abyss Dweller has bestowed them with unrequired but indisputable reverence and influence throughout. Yet, despite their elevated stature and the weighty responsibilities they collectively shoulder, the Cilyakeeps remain rooted in their ancestral values of forebearance and austerity.
While they stand as bastions of Ellar’dan’s sanctuary and the illustrious rulers of Hitashites, the Cilyakeeps adhere to the same secret tents and duties described in the pages of the Astral Black Covenant; their devotion to the Allmother is unwavering, an their allegiance to the protectorate is true.
The name of Lady Ixcylla Vixak resonates with such reverence that it transcends the differences between ideologies and the imaginary boundaries drawn by nations, making of her a charismatic figure that carries a momentous weight; indeed… most Cyriedonians hold her in high esteem thanks to her direct connection to the very first inhabitant of the world, and honor her as a boundless wellspring of wisdom. Yet, some skeptics harshly question her ability to govern, attributing her advanced years to a loss of judgement and calling her bigot for her heavy inclination towards the Astral Black Covenant’s philosophies and doctrines. Ixcylla’s life has a profound effect on the relations of the Protectorate as a whole.
The Protectorate’s leadership’s disposition creates complex alliances and intriguing diplomacy in and out of the Archipelago. Still, Vixak government keeps open channels of communication with the rest of Cyriedon, for no faction denies its acute awareness of the significance of the unhatched eggs that litter the Lightgardens, communications that harbor profound concerns and selfish fears stemming from the unknown possibilities the outro of a portal melody harbors.
Campaign In Irëdeule, religion had always been a matter of personal choice and the heterogenous composition of its people fostered
Most of my tomes do not bear direct connection to the origin of the multiverse— after all, most of what
