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[tface=fell]A Treatise, Entitled
THE WONDROUS MACHINE, AND FORCES CHTHONIC AND REASONED



T. V. A. W.
[/tface]

[tface=fell]
 

* * *

Although the Society of the Shining Hammer continues tirelessly in its  quest to bring civilization and progress to our newfound home, no amount  of knowledge can benefit a man without understanding. It is this  author's hope that this work will illuminate the minds of its readers,  and allow them to walk the Road of Progress to a brighter tomorrow.

* * *

It can be fairly asked, what is this place that we call the world, Abeir-Toril, and what is our place in it?

The answer may be learned by the study of the world itself. Mankind is  entirely encompassed by the Wondrous Machine, the unimaginably vast  masterpiece of He who Creates, the Architect, Builder, and Demiurge. For  what are mountains but the teeth of gears? What is magic but sparks  that fly from the anvil struck by the hammer of creation? This Cosmic  Engine has been ordered from the heavens to the depths of the earth,  built as both fuel and boiler for Creation itself. Our lives are as  gears in its inconceivably workings, and we serve as Technicians helping  to oversee the Engine so that we might improve ourselves and the world  around us.

* * *

It can be fairly asked why, if the Wondrous Machine was made by the  Demiurge, it requires mortal hands to make it perfect. Where also, some  will ask, is the place of the other gods, and why do they not serve the  Demiurge if all the world is His Engine?

To the first, the answer is found in the nature of creation. Stagnancy  is an evil as great as wickedness, for stasis is the germ of  destruction. One need only look to the retreat of the elf, or the  decline of the dwarf, to see how clinging to tradition in the face of a  changing world yields only despair. The Demiurge, in His wisdom,  understood that continual labor on the Road of Progress is essential for  the Engine to exist; the creation of mankind begets Creation itself.

To the second, the answer is found in divine accord. Although the  Demiurge is indeed the author of the universe, but all the gods are its  overseers. What is creation without the justice of Tyr? What is artifice  without the mercy of Ilmater? What is civilization without the  agriculture of Chauntea? The Creator of All did not build his Engine  solely for His faithful, but for all faithful, and made places for His  divine fellows as He made one for His own.

* * *

It can be fairly asked, that if the world is a vast Engine, how can it be powered and how does it function?

The answer appears in the writings of men given inspiration by the  divine, ideas both scientific and theological. The Wondrous Machine is  driven by a single force, the power of Reason. Reason is not an  elemental entity, however, but one birthed in the process of divine  industry. Reason takes many forms: it is the steam that drives the  eopitlyic engine, and it is the elyctricity that alights along the  copper coil. Reason is the most powerful of tools, for it is malleable,  comprehensible, and exists in abundance wherever there is the will to  make it.

Before there is Reason, however, there must first be the resources to  make it. Forces that are yet to be made reasonable are chthonic forces.  Like Reason, chthonic forces take many forms: they are found in the  current of a river, in the vein of ore under the mountain, in the trunks  of forest trees. Compared to Reason, chthonic forces are malleable but  lack comprehensibility: emotion, not the logic of Reason, drives them.  This emotive quality makes chthonic forces unpredictable and as  dangerous to mankind as the winter avalanche or the murderous fey. They  are unsuitable for artifice but not to feared, for they are forged in  the fires of divine industry and transmuted into the vital Reason that  furthers Creation itself.

* * *

With questions answered and ignorance dispelled, let all mankind, thus  girded with knowledge, take up the hammer of industry and work together  towards the never-ending perfection of Creation. So let it be forever  and ever, unto the lives of our children and our children's children![/tface]

[tface=fell]A Lecture, Transcribed and Entitled
EOPITLYIC SALVATION[/tface]



[tface=fell]T. V. A. W.[/tface]

[tface=fell]* * *[/tface]

[tface=fell]Lords, ladies, men and women of Mistlocke, good evening.[/tface]

[tface=fell]My name is Tycho Velsed Arus Welbruch, and I am a doctor of  the Society of the Shining Hammer. This night, I intend to share with  you a revelation of immense importance.[/tface]

[tface=fell]We stand on a propitious location, at an auspicious moment.  The location has meant salvation for many innocents– and the time is one  of transition from a dark past to a bright future.[/tface]

[tface=fell]Stories are told of the colony three years ago, and how its  citizens were snatched from the jaws of death after enduring immense  suffering. And the memory of such admirable fortitude will endure far  longer than three years; I say it will endure for more than three times  thirty years.[/tface]

[tface=fell]I was not among these brave men and women three years ago,  but since I was shipwrecked in this land I have found myself in deep  contemplation of their plight, and of the plight that still faces all of  us today.[/tface]

[tface=fell]I called this village, secluded Mistlocke, a place of  salvation; and indeed it proves a sanctuary for us, while the whole of  Ymph is consumed, acre by acre, by the foul work of the Witch H’Bala’s  necromancy.[/tface]

[tface=fell]In Mistlocke we are safe … for the moment.[/tface]

[tface=fell]For I do not doubt that the time shall come, and come all  too soon, when this last refuge from the Witch, and from the other  terrors of this land, shall too be despoiled, unless we act swiftly and  with conviction.[/tface]

[tface=fell]My friends, I am a man of learning. In my youth, I was a man  of politics, but I tell you truthfully that I have put such pursuits  behind me. Today I am a man who wishes to bring the light of  civilization and prosperity to every man, woman and child of this  island– not just to this or that camp. In Mistlocke, as refugees, we are  all as one, sharing one fate, and one destiny. Were the multitudes of  the Colony, three years ago, not united as one? What did politics matter  to them as the apocalypse bore down upon them? Adversity brings unity;  so it was then, so it is now.[/tface]

[tface=fell]The forces arrayed against our common home are vast, but  with keen minds and industrious effort it is possible to overcome  them.[/tface]

[tface=fell]Our salvation from the Witch cannot come from magic, as the  Conclave found to their dismay when the Witch broke their eldritch  stronghold.[/tface]

[tface=fell]It cannot come from the pikes of men, as the brave Stygian  Armada learned to its sorrow. The Witch is a creature of incredible  power and ancient cunning, and she has found ways of dealing with all of  these threats.[/tface]

[tface=fell]But her longevity has created the spark that shall be her  undoing– for in the course of such an unnatural lifespan, history itself  can be seen marching onward. The tools and weapons of the past have  proven ineffective, and so we shall look to the future, and create new  arms of our own.[/tface]

[tface=fell]What is rotting flesh, when compared with the strength of  tempered iron? What is the quick flare of magical weaving, when compared  with the eternal energy of water and steam?[/tface]

[tface=fell]The speaker waved his hand decisively, shaking his head.[/tface]

[tface=fell]I tell you truly, they are nothing. The Witch shall be  confronted with our constructions, and she shall look upon them in  terror, for in their bronze confines and turning gears she shall find no  life to snuff out, or to contort to her own devices.[/tface]

[tface=fell]This, people of Mistlocke, is eopitlyic salvation. It cannot  be emphasized enough: H’Bala draws strength, perversely, from living  flesh. It is the living she corrupts, it is the living she turns. It is  the living on which she feeds. But against the cold iron of our engines,  her foul magics shall find no purchase. Machines have no souls to be  tainted; no minds to be confused. They are relentless, they are  fearless, and they are unstoppable.[/tface]

[tface=fell]And as these engines inexorably triumph over the ancient  magics of Netheril, so too will they build for us a better future, and a  brighter tomorrow.[/tface]

[tface=fell]It is a simple thing to destroy, but something far greater  to build. The weapons of war shall become the tools of peace, and even a  place as humble as Mistlocke shall shine with their light.[/tface]

[tface=fell]The Society recognizes the value in every man and woman,  high or low: and that value is the power of reason. Reason is our most  precious resource and our most powerful weapon. Let us assemble and  build upon our common faculties. Come forth and speak with me, and we  can build a better future together. Thank you.[/tface]

[SOLVE *************** ET ************** COAGVLA]

SOLVE *************** ET ************** COAGVLA

ANNUNCIATING
the
EPOCHAL
INVENTION
of
THRICE-BLESSED
THEOFERROUS
G * O * D * S * T * E * E * L

R. T. R. D.

Schmiede, mein Hammer, ein hartes Schwert!

SINCE THE DAWN OF TIME, MEN HAVE LABOURED TO PERFECT THE ART OF METALLURGY
* * *
FOR CENTURIES THE SOCIETY OF THE SHINING HAMMER HAS SOUGHT TO UNLOCK THE SECRETS OF FERROUS PURIFICATION
* * *
AT LAST THE DEMIURGE HAS TRANSMITTED THE WISDOM OF
PANSOPHIA THEOCHALYBIS
SANCTISSIMA RHODO STAUROTICA PRINCIPESSA
UNTO THE EXPONENTS OF THE WORD
RESULTING IN THE CREATION OF

GODSTEEL!

THE PUREST METAL EVER FORGED BY MORTAL OR IMMORTAL HAND!

THRICE AS STRONG AS ANY EXISTING METAL!
THRICE AS HARD!
THRICE AS DURABLE!
THRICE AS FORGEABLE!
THRICE AS MALLEABLE!
THRICE AS WELDABLE!
THRICE AS DUCTILE!
THRICE AS RESISTANT!

SEEK YE TO GIRD YOURSELF IN GODSTEEL ARMOUR? TO BRANDISH A GODSTEEL BLADE?

 The Society of the Shining Hammer will induct into
the THEOFERROUS ORDER OF PANSOPHIA
and bestow one plate & one blade upon
any Man or Woman
who finances the facilities and faculties necessary
to produce the first batch of GODSTEEL!

Production and application of Godsteel will then be placed
at the DISPOSAL of the GOOD OF MANKIND
under the purview of whosoever sponsors continued production!
[INDENT]SEEK YE OUT THE SOCIETY! FIRST TO INVEST, FIRST BLEST!
SERVE CIVILIZATION AND SERVE MANKIND!
BECOME A THEOFERROUS KNIGHT!
GLORY TO THE DEMIURGE!



[/INDENT]

Gold is for the mistress -- silver for the maid --
Copper for the  craftsman cunning at his trade."
"Good!" said the Baron, sitting in  his hall,
"But Iron -- Cold Iron -- is master of them all."

For the Society,

Master Rufus T. R. Descreza, Engineer
Artificer of the Shining Hammer Society

Confession and Discovery of

the Society of the Shining Hammer

R. T. R. D.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Almost  precisely twenty-three years ago, when I was but a child, something  terrible happened. The city in which I lived, Tantras, became witness to  the Arrival. It was completely destroyed.

The Clash between Torm, the Loyal Fury, and Bane, the Dark Lord, left  the city a ruin and a graveyard. I still remember wandering around in  the dust of fallen buildings and stumbling over the corpses of the  populace.

I, along with all other children of Tantras, was orphaned, as our parents took their own lives in sacrifice to the Loyal Fury.

And even when the threat from across the Dragonreach had been  neutralized, and we were honoured with the name Martyrs' Progeny, we  felt as if the world had ended. Our home was a smoldering wreckage,  emptied of life, uninhabitable. We Tantrans had learnt, more than any  other people in the world, the true meaning of the Time of Troubles.

But then a miracle occurred. God reached down from the Heavens, spake a  Word of benediction upon Tantras, and blest it with his hand.

Men of God from all over the Vast, and from all over the world -  engineers, architects, buildmasters and machinists - flocked to Tantras,  and with their very hands they began to rebuild our shattered world.  Suddenly Tantras started living again. Rubble was cleared, and people  walked the streets. The harbour was repaired, and ships docked and  undocked. Temples were rebuilt, and the citizens worshiped. Palaces were  repaired, and the government resumed.

Tantras became a proud city again. On the day I came of age, I walked up  on a hill outside the city and looked at her, at Tantras. My heart was  filled with gladness to see the city not only restored, but greater than  ever before, and on that day I decided that I too should be an  engineer; I too a Man of God.

Α ∴ Ω

In the Vast there exists a Society, and has done so since the days of  the fall of Jhaamdath. It is called the Society of the Shining Hammer -  the Hammer wielded by the hand of God, the Demiurge.

The Demiurge does not desire praise, even though he is the Creator. He  does not desire flattery, even though he is the Maker. He does not  desire worship, even though he is the Author. He does not desire  sacrifice, even though he is the Constructor.

He is the artificer of the Wondrous Machine that is the entire world. His Word is our Thought.

He is worshiped not in ritual but in construction. He is flattered not  byn words but by deeds. He is praised not in symbols but in creating,  building, making and working. The only sacrifice he accepts is time.

We Men of God, we fellows of the Society of the Shining Hammer, seek to  know the Demiurge by listening to the Word and by studying the workings  of the Wondrous Machine. We seek to please the Maker by making things  ourselves. We seek to honour the Creator by creating.

And for our efforts, he has rewarded us with the ultimate truth - the  ultimate knowledge: his secret name; a name carried by no other thing  and no other being, for it is his alone, and it is the key to  comprehending, mastering and finally perfecting the Wondrous Machine.

I know this secret, for I have been a member of the Society for many  years. I have tutored the family of the Thylturl of Procampur, which has  long been my home, in its teachings, and I have created, along with  many of my fellow Men of God, the Cranes of Tantras, which have made its  port one of the wealthiest and most effective in the Sea of Fallen  Stars.

It is by unexpected Providence alone that I am here on Ymph. I was  traveling from my home in the Vast towards the Isle of Lantan with a  fellow Man of God, Master Welbruch, when my ship failed to hold fast  against the raging seas, and I was washed ashore here.

But now we are here, and like many of you, we have drawn the conclusion  that we may come to remain here for the rest of our lives. And upon that  conclusion was soon based the decision to establish a chapter of the  Society here on Ymph - here in Mistlocke, if Providence permits.

۝

The Society calls now to itself:

All  those willing to work with us towards progress and prosperity - all who  are willing to help us build, make, assemble, craft, construct and learn  - all who wish to explore, to discover, to pierce the mysteries of this  place, to understand the nature of our difficulties and eventually to  overcome them - all who wish to learn the secret name of God.

Let the spirit of God descend upon Mistlocke as it did once upon Tantras, flowing through the very minds and hands of ourselves.

Seek out the masters of the chapter: myself or Master Welbruch.

For the Society,

Master Rufus T. R. Descreza, Engineer
Artificer of the Shining Hammer Society

Let's face it, Gond is a boring god. His dogma is flat, he has no real enemies, and doesn't do anything except build stuff.

The Shining Hammers are not Gondites.

Characters of virtually any faith and alignment are welcome in the Society. The only prerequisite is a desire to honor the Demiurge's Wondrous Machine by advancing civilization for the good of all. With all the power groups running around these days, there's sure to be fun and conflict in plenty. If you're interested in joining the Society, feel free to write me or Thou tun'st this World a PM or send us tells ingame!