The Encroaching Threat of Qa'im and the Pra'Raji

[Nazey]

By Arterian Lunesco

The city of Qa'im, ruled by its supposedly mechanized and ageless sovereign Zojhir al-Maribid, is undoubtedly one of the biggest growing threats facing the sanctity of Ephia's Well.

The heretical cult of Pra'Raj has great presence there, practicing their esoteric ideology of self-improvement.  Little information can be gleaned from the city, other than from the influences that can be felt across the Great Ash, and the mechanized patrols that occasionally pour forth to scour the desert.

Details on the cult are few and difficult to corroborate; the only publicly available sources being anonymous texts and pamphlets of dubious authenticity.

Their influence can be seen throughout the Great Ash, and even quite close to Ephia's Well; in an abandoned makeshift lab, titled "Sawbones Sanctum" by the locals, an amateur attempts to recreate some of the mechanized experiments through bioengineering of grotesque, decaying creations.  According to this researcher's notes, the creatures are unsustainable, even with necromantic animation - he muses that Ephia's waters could be used to sustain the creations, and is the reason that 'Qa'im seeks the Waters', lending a strong motivation for Pra'Raji interests in increasing their influence over Ephia's Well.

Finally, this author has personally witnessed an instance of what has been colloquially referred to as the 'Iron Rot'.  During an expedition to find a missing Groknak offspring, the beast was found inside of a cave - eyes glowing red, whirring with mechanized internal organs, belligerent and inconsolable.  It breathed steam and fire, and its flesh had been turned into a metal alloy, the organs interconnected with wiring instead of veins. 

Despite common superstitious belief, 'Iron Rot' is not a malady by this author's estimation, but a deliberate work of grotesque and admittedly impressive engineering.  Within the corpse of the creature, a small device was found - a chip of metal with small internal components. 

This chip seems to have the function of controlling the host in a preprogrammed manner.  It could even be removed from the former host and repurposed, either to control a new host, or to have its function altered.  Though it is difficult to discern, the mechanization of the host's flesh is likely a transmutative property, combined with the engineered chip - and possibly sourced from it.

Did the heretics in Qa'im devise such advanced technology themselves, or repurpose it from elsewhere?  An imperative question to answer.