Messages

[VAHD]

Condotierro & Warmaster,

Present circumstances make me believe that my current stay with the Tower may become dangerously time-sensitive. It would be best to speak with you at some point about the future, regarding what will come after Bet Nappahi, and the potential of employment with the Band if circumstances worsen. Your recommendation will carry significantly more mileage if it becomes more exigent that I have somewhere safe to land outside.

FROM:
VAHD

[I am a seeker of the Truth]

     I am a seeker of the Truth.
These are the words that started my journey.

It has been almost a year since then. Since I first found the Way, and learned how much more of this world I had yet to understand. Some ten months, then, since I first saw my reflection in the Light. Some ten months, then, that I broke ground in Assuru and labored over the texts of the Ayyabas and met them in the wake of the Ash-Storm's coming;

And eight since the Prophet's visions of crypts of Formoria; eight since I heard the words,
"Ere the Axe rains flame upon Iistu," and seven since I went beneath Harrowden, and discovered the lost city and the crypts of the Martyr, and learned the name of the Sequestered of Anshan. It is six months, then, since I met the Thing that I now believe to be Pra'raj, or Izdu; and six since I met the Other Side, and learned the Truth that the Zenithars keep from the others.

It has been six, then, since I learned the name of the Prophetess Selene;
it has been six, then, since I have learned that I must kill her with my own two hands.

It has been five, then, since I learned that my true name was not the one I was raised with;
and it is today that I begin to make the sacrifices, the choices, the decisions I should have made six months ago. My lethargy has betrayed and made a liar of me. I set my ambitions aside because it was difficult; but there is no purpose in living without challenge.

My name is not Arymathras.
It never was.

My name is Vahd.
My mission is to enlighten the people.
And to drive out the wicked yet.

I am not a heretic.
I am simply the only one who remembers the Truth.

[The HERO WORSHIP of PHOR-ORENTES]

      The HERO WORSHIP of PHOR-ORENTES

"IN EACH HAND HE HOLDS WATER AND SALT,
    PHOR-ORENTES." – DATE UNKNOWN,

It was not so many days ago that a fresh-faced refugee had came to me and said this;
"Is what has been built by the Sultan not grand? This Fortress Ephia, which defies the ash and death of the waste; a young city ready to take it's prime." It was in that moment that I resolved to bring to the people this book, because ignorance is a disease worse than the Red Death. Most men will know what we mean when we say "the Orentids", but how few of you can say you truly understand who they were?

Do you know the names of the divines that Orentes II worshipped? Do you know the origin of the magical works that wrought underneath and all around us? The following text should be your primer in familiarizing yourself with the topic with the words of Orentes I, ...

"And I saw myself there, my arms draped in sleeves of the finest silk;
Attended by wise men whose faces I had not yet known, and who laid a title like a laureate upon my brow,
Orentese Prince.."

The origin of the Orentids as a people is lost to the annals of history, but what we do know is that they came upon the Well in the years after the brutality of the Harrowing; that their people settled among ruin and rock, then much buried beneath the soil, and set to building themselves a home that would survive Pra'raj's lone hateful eye. That among them was a man beset by visions of grandeur and a greater future, who saw himself not as a King, but a Prince of a young, fledgling Principate; who laid the groundwork of all these things and more to come, ...

These people took on a foreign fashion of names in the stylings of Collosi, wherein we first see the accolade of Phor-Orentes; of whom the educated will recognize Phor as the Patron-Father of the Collosi, and mayhaps as the true creator of the Well, many millenia ago; who is known as the Mist-Drinker, for he broke neither bread nor wine. We know him as "a Builder", to whom Ephia is "the Mother Tree;" that which makes the world, and then that which makes life.

Even the King has records of this man and woman, supping at their table together in millenia passed; so the smart man will as "why, then, does Orentes I style himself as Phor-Orentes?", when he is no flesh and blood of the Collosi, three-to-five thousand years detached from the pair of them? The answer is simple. Religious mysticism. Aspersions of grandeur, and oft-muttered of visions;

"And who does this Prince think he is? First he dictates us to take new names,
And now he speaks to us that we must take on new Gods?
We are of the Wheel, and have always been,.." – DATE ESTIMATED 7690s~

And it is here that the aspersion to the inheritance of the Collosi take on new colour; where the mantling of Phor's legacy as has been done across Kingdom and Principate immemorial now seems to metamorphosize into a religious doctrine; wherein as Orentes II is document as travelling below the Well, and bringing forth great riches,

His character and faith itself becomes like hot metal, hammered into someone wholly different by colour as he emerges; and he no longer says praise to B'aara and Urazzir, but instead he says this: "HAIL to PHOR," and more curiously than all before, begins to erect the walls great and high while turning his Court to strange worship; while the Seers and Sages sing of one who will bring back the waters wherein they were stolen in the Harrowing, and see the Well fat and full; but his NEW GODS did not avail them of it; and so his riches and wealth built temples and halls, great and ancient auditoriums and places of learning; but that he was to fail in the coming of the water, left embittered and weary in death.

He was born Enrico, and he died Phor-Orentes;
And with each delve beneath Ephia's Well, he became it more.
By the time of his demise, he no longer spoke our tongue, but the syllables of Erugi;

"And look what these infernal machines have wrought; they bring life from the stars to rock and metal, and I have all but begged them to stay their hand,"

And it is then that his Son, Orentes III, takes up the mantle; and he is gifted by the Gods,
That his people learn of great and ancient secrets. That Machines are made which give life to rock and stone, as their Ephia once breasted life into clay and mud to make men. We know these as the "Anima Forge," and from there birthed the Golden Lions of his reign, while their funds ran dry; and then came Qa'im, who leaned over his shoulder, and whispered softly; "We will make the waters return, if only you allow us below."

We know not what words were shared, but that the Well's coffers began to run dry and fallow; and the promises of Qa'im ran hollow, and the people looked on in reviling, and said this;
"If your Father had seen us now, he never would have raised these great walls,"

But the common man fails to see what is most fascinating. That in their hero-worship and
uplifting of their Princes, that their Prince became endowed with otherworldly knowledge; learning the secrets of the Collosi's tools and great power, and becoming like something else; perhaps, some would infer, like that which the old books say Iistu was the prison buried to contain. That there is one who made Princes, who made men like Phor;

Yet as we all know, the story bookends here, with the daughter of the last;
Ibtihal! And now she like the Collosi is gone, to some a wraith, and the Well both her graveyard and her prison, in her bringing back of the waters. In this, has she not became as Ephia, as her forebears did mantle the namesake and endeavor to take the Powers of Phor, like the Djinn take our own names?

And now we drink from the Well she brought fruit to.
[/gfont]

[SHADOW SISTER WELL]

SHADOW SISTER WELL

FOREWORD: I owe this discovery to Zalthar & Karstcleft, for their assistance, funding, and sublime charity; I owe this discovery to Nesilhan bint-Zuthal, for her last minute assistance and confidence in my work; and lastly to the League of Gold, who were kind enough to patronize a man from another League for his hard work.

Sweeping vistas & hand-wrought stone, chiselled in the icon of a man knelt before a hooded, ambiguous frame; the motif of a Well, and cradled in the heart of that Well, a Chalice and trophy like no other. We call this place "Iistu". In the old tongue, it meant one thing; "Place of Imprisonment." Yet in today's common parlance, we know it as another.

But what if I told you that there was another place like this? Where a Man once saw visions of a gleaming chalice, and was joined by seven hooded disciples who spread the gospel of a Prophet in how the world could be remade? This place is not Ephia's Well, but it is Iistu. We know that Iistu is Prison. That Iistu is that which contains in the Old Tongue.

And beneath us, Ephia's Well once contained it's grim secret, too.
Welcome to Shadow Sister Well.

"The firstborn of a seventh son. He was the one who saw the Truth,
He was the one who showed us the way, and the first of seven disciples."

This man was Mordecai, and they tell us he was the favored of God in the singular. Not of our Wheel, nor the Sages, but of one cause, and one Lord in the isle of Harrowden. Then I ask the educated among us a question: this man, who is guided by religious visions, and righteous fervor - surrounded by apostles and itinerants who drove him to seek a Chalice... Does it remind you of anyone? Does it make you think of the state of our Well?

What if you were to learn that this Ephia's Well, this Iistu, buried in the broken sphere of the world, burnt to cinders by the Heliograph, had the ruins of Fomorian and Collosi art? What if I told you that like in Ephia's Well, there was a seal for something buried deep within it? Then I would ask you; what is the commonality between us, and them? What if I told you that it had whispered in the ears of men, the way the Well had to the babe [REDACTED] and Enrico?

This poses us with a potent question that calls into matter the very existence of Ephia's Well, the Cinquefoil Rose, and the truth of what is beneath us. For too, our records say He Who Shall Not Be Named was guided by Voices to the Old Words: given visions and power, which one drained our Well dry and severed B'aara's love for thousand-and-some-years. For too, our records say Enrico the Pretender was guided by the Voices to the Old Words: given visions and power, once with forever changed the course of history and led to the Ephia's Well we know today.

Do the statues of the Pilgrim and Chalice predate us? Do they stretch back to the days of the Collosi?
Have they been brought to "Iistu" as a message? A sign of triumph over evil? Or did someone, later, bring these statues here, and stoke the legend of one bringing The Chalice to the site of an ancient and terrible evil?

By the assessment of the author, ARAMATHRYS Al-ALMADEL, there are two prevailing theories:

EPHIA'S WELL is one of a number of PRISONS scattered across the Ash Waste, having been designed by the Collosi to restrain an entity beyond our comprehension and understanding, and that the statues of the Pilgrim, Kneeling Giant, and Chalice were some form of LONG TERM COLLOSI DANGER WARNING that "This is a Place of Honor, Do Not Disturb": and that the Cinquefoil Rose and the Sisterhood are predicated on the memory of this thing, to renew the bindings and use the White Spear to remake the Well with it's shackled power, [/li][/list]


OR,

• That this is not the SISTERHOOD's first Cinquefoil Rose: that they have seeded the Myth of the Chalice at the sites of these Prisons, and raised religious men to act as their caretakers and stewards on multiple occasions since their emergence in the Caliphate (yet undated), and that they are aware of the existence of the entities which have perverted Enrico the Pretender, He Who Shall Not Be Named, and perhaps even the Collosi themselves, and have armed specimens such as "PROPHET MORDECAI", and "THE GRANDMASTER" with their charge, ...

Leaving the rest of the world with a burning question.
What Happened in Harrowden - What Happened to the Fomorians?

PS: The "mysterious hooded disciples" that resemble the Sisterhood also appear in Pra'Raji literature, of the moon's light and the stars settling upon the Disc and enlightening the people. You may discover this artwork in the Wild Machine's upper crust.

I am beginning to believe these "Hooded Figures" all serve the Entity within the Moon, according to Harrowden and the translations of the followers of the Shining Path. Or this might be my paranoia acting up after the Moth was spying on me.

[BEY SORAZIN]

  TO
      BEY SORAZIN,

FROM THE OFFICE OF ACHAEUS SAENUS

I am not apprised of the internal management of Legion affairs, nor do I believe I speak with sufficient authority to dictate the management of your men; but I have been faced with conduct beyond appalling from one of your own Lieutenants. Conduct that must not become known of by the public for even its' public admission would demonstrate extreme danger to the state, and am left with no recourse but to look to you.

Lieutenant Colmes let slip information crucial to the war that was saved from falling into enemy hands purely by my negotiation and the quick action of a well-placed Consulate agent. Our entire war-front, down to the very last soldier at the fore of our ranks, had a legitimate threat to their lives as a result of this miscarriage of duty regarding the Arslan Contingency.

My term is ending and I had, for a moment, thought of turning towards service in the Sultan's Fourth, but the unconscionability of these affairs has left the image of the Legion deeply stained by a level of ineptitude that is both gross and disturbing. I convey this to you not as a demand, but as a hope that you are aware and considering the future of the Fourth Legion.

If for some reason this warrants discussion face to face, I will remain available for some days.

WITH GREAT DISCRETION,
ACHAEUS SAENUS

[your]

Dear Legate Achaeus,

You will show my Second Apprentice the respect she is due by using her proper title. It is the least you could do after all the damage you have done.

This path is immutable at this point. When your masters in the Cinquefoil Rose reach Bet Nappahi and set into motion the destruction of this entire world line, then I will shove your face into it again and again until I return to the void and you cease to exist.

You are a wretch!

Estellise Azimi

TO: APOTHAR AZIMI
I am sure you are fully aware that I attempted to avert this with an alternate pathway only to be sabotaged by perhaps the least cognizant Lieutenant you've ever met and your pet project.

Regardless - I'd still like to talk to you and Apothar Stern.
There will be something else coming downwind soon. Might have a chance.

- SAENUS

[To]

    To:
           Mae Stern, Apothar Eisenberg, Apothar Zol Nur, Apothar Wormswill, Apothar Azimi

      This is Achaeus Komemnos Saenus. I recognize an outstanding debt to the Tower and am here, as per a show of graciousness, to receive any end-of-term requests in exchange for your prior cooperation in the first election & battlefield. If the Tower has any particular issues that need to be addressed, I would see them forwarded for rectification regardless of where your support sways for the following primary.

I'd also like to meet and speak briefly on a past issue (Arslan, Tutors) and the immediate future of the Well.

I'll be available for the next few days.

- SAENUS

Colmes,

The only thing you 'sacrificed' is a contract you led me into and then immediately double-crossed. I have never forgotten that you made me a liar. Nor do I care overmuch for you to play a teary-eyed victim and start rambling about elections and a duty to supplement where I have been failed repeatedly.

I am here asking you what you need to get your job done.
I am reminding you that I have spent three months waiting to handwave whatever you do, only for a months-too-late apprehension of an apprentice Brooker.

If you want to hang yourself and be done with it otherwise - do so.
Otherwise, get rid of that wretch and use these last weeks to effect.

-KMNOS.

Lieutenant,

That vermin had the gall to come to my office and flaunt her rumor-mongering.
I am disappointed that this matter has not been resolved.
When I came to this office, I had utmost respect and faith in you.
But you allowed Argent to escape. You wasted time until Gedwyr and Zalthar were gone.
You've opted to pick at crumbs and make deals that only undermine the future.

And now you may well have destroyed our single trump card over the enemy with loose lips.

What am I to think, Lieutenant?
Are nuisance suits and half-assed attempts to unseat Mirielle all we'll ever get out of you?
I believe you can and ought to have been able to do far more than what you've accomplished.

What, exactly, is the demon that has possessed you these long three months?
For a time, I considered flying into a rage and throwing things at you - but the truth is, you were my first and only supporter in this city, something I have done my best to honor, and I write to you instead as a deeply concerned friend.

Do you need to resign?
Do you need help?
What are you even aiming to do anymore?

Your Friend,
Komemnos

[left]

Authorized, but apostasy legally requires the individual to have left the Domain of the Wheel -
or to have facilitated apostasy in another.
These individuals by and large do not appear to be superficially guilty of this crime.

But I will hear your arguments on trial.
- KMNOS

I agreed to none of this. Alexandria burned it down of her own volition.
But the entire suite of that edicts stood mostly in support of the Cinquefoil Roses's rights and autonomy.
If they wish to get rid of all of the legal protections I've given them with the assent of their Legate, it is their own prerogative.

As for the Springtime Promise - the only copy we had of it is now destroyed. There is no legal document to enforce it.

- Komemnos

Your affiliates in the Banda Rossa kidnapped and tortured a woman to extract a concession from my spineless co-Legate in broad daylight. Be glad the Fourth Legion is meek and ineffectual or the consequences would have been considerably worse than your associate not being paid.

Show up to my office if you've a third of the story and you'll hear the rest of it.
- KMNOS

Sally was awesome! Sad to see him go but at least it was a cool way out.

MORE IMPORTANT RASH OF PRESSING CONDITIONS
NEED MEDICINE FOR "SCALD MADNESS" BEFORE IT INCAPACITATES ARMY
INQUIRE WITH COLMES

BRING WHAT YOU HAVE ON BLOOD PLAGUE

FRM
KMNOS

As someone who was permanently at like -98% movement speed from it I think you people are evil