Tag: information war

#Lore24 – Entry #243 – Helica Month #31 – The Final Scroll Claimed, the Final Battle Begins

Excerpt from the Journals of Azita Gaji, Explorer of Helica, Seeker of Knowledge, Blessed of Saghirah

The Transgressor has come once again, this time it’s barely been thirty years.  If my calculations are correct, after its defeat this time, it will only take another twenty to twenty-five years to reappear.  Time grows dreadfully short for Helica, but I feel a certain amount of hope within my soul, a feeling I’ve not known in some many centuries, for Saghirah, along with the other Amaranths, have put their scheme into motion.  I have known of it for some time, given what I have learned and through the dreams provided me by the Amaranth, but have not written of it until now, for their enemies could not know of it should my texts fall into the wrong hands.

It was only now that I could possibly have claimed the final scroll from within Tyraguard, for a great tragedy has befallen the Church and a quiet chaos spread through their ranks.  My enemy for the last few centuries, the Summoner Most High, Lady Tephysea, has fallen.  The Church says that she passed from old age, but I know that was a lie.  Though I had sought to slay her myself for many centuries, it was not meant for me to do so.  Rather, she suffered betrayal all her own, and though I cannot confirm it, I have my suspicion that it may well have been her own son, Selanar of House Wynmaer, who was responsible, for he quickly ascended the ranks of the Church in the wake of her death, and the Sylvanae were quite fast to spread word of her passing quietly in her sleep, far too quick. 

I will know for certain soon enough, but at long last, I have claimed the final scroll of Saghirah, having gone into the Church’s most sacred places as a Knight Protector once more, this time with a summoner by the name of Baiharu and his Knight Protectors, his lifelong friend, known as Nyxon, and a man out of time known as Kenjiro, one brought here by none other than Saghirah herself.  Baiharu is remarkably open-minded, having been raised as a summoner only reluctantly before Tephysea’s death as he had come from a disgraced family that had been wiped out due to their heretical actions, but given the fewer numbers of those capable of summoning the Amaranths in this age (an entirely different topic for another time), the Church had little choice in the matter.  Perhaps they saw potential for a redemption story to sell to the people should Baiharu ultimately be successful.

I will certainly do everything in my power to see this through, for the coming of Kenjiro, plucked from ancient Grad Artanais by Saghirah herself, is the key to the ultimate victory for the Amaranths and the salvation of Helica.  More will I reveal soon, but for now, I will compile everything that was contained within the scrolls and await the right moment to reveal it all.  It is coming; at long last, it is coming, the end of this journey…one way or another it will end.  I continue to place my faith in the Amaranths, in my Empress Saghirah, for Helica has no other choice for its salvation. 

#Lore24 – Entry #242 – Helica Month #30 – The Final Scroll Revealed

Excerpt from the Journals of Azita Gaji, Explorer of Helica, Seeker of Knowledge, Blessed of Saghirah

Another four Tranquilities have come and gone, and indeed, their duration is growing shorter each time.  The Church of Phyresis of course does not address this, rather, simply increases their rhetoric about remaining faithful and forsaking all that it has deemed to be anathema.  Now that they have secured their own malkikai defenses in Tyraguard, as well as soldiers trained in the use of firearms, my future task is going to be much more difficult.  For, you see, Saghirah has finally blessed me with knowledge of where her final scroll rests, and it is fully within the belly of the beast.

Indeed, it lies within the dark heart of Tyraguard itself.  I would have thought that the Church would have destroyed such a relic, but perhaps they have kept it intact just for me, hoping to draw out the one who has caused them no small amount of headache over the decades and centuries, for my truths have been a constant thorn in their side.  Though the buildup was slow, the fact that there have been a handful of minor uprisings against the Church is encouraging, even if they were quickly quashed.  It is pleasing that I have become such a bother for Tephysea and her machinations, and I gladly accept the title they have bestowed upon me of Heretic Most Foul. 

I must delve further into the nature of the Beasts soon as well, for I feel that a great many allies in the coming battle for the soul of Helica will be found amongst their ranks, once I learn the nature of what controls them, how their new flesh is formed.  The Tamers keep their secrets well, though, perhaps better than the Church itself.  Though I had thought their order had maintained its seat of power in Tyraguard all these years, I have managed to discern that this is not the case, that their true heart lies elsewhere.  One day, perhaps, I will find it, and discern the secret of the Beasts with it.

I have walked among the lands of the Phyresians without my Ketzeryn garb for some time now, keeping my profile low, using false names, changing my garb and appearance constantly, even performing as a most reverent worshipper of the false god.  I do not keep up with my journals as I used to, certainly, for by now I would have filled a library with my ramblings (a pleasant enough thought, but impractical for now), but do offer the occasional update when I return to one of the safe havens I’ve secreted about the world.  Helica has changed much over the years since I was blessed by Saghirah, yet plenty of its history remains, enough that I’m able to offer my insights to passing travelers as I encounter them, pondering a certain ruin, a particular statue of a lost heroic summoner, or a gouge in the landscape caused by a past battle with the Transgressor.  History is so much more exciting to tell when you can offer personal insights and experiences in the stories you share, and people are so much more likely to listen and take your stories to heart.  This is especially important when my tales subtly reveal the truths I have learned thus far.

#Lore24 – Entry #241 – Helica Month #29 – To Share Forbidden Knowledge

Excerpt from the Journals of Azita Gaji, Explorer of Helica, Seeker of Knowledge, Blessed of Saghirah

If anything good could be said about the current leadership of the Church of Phyresis, it is that, with the Most High Summoner Tephysea in charge, some advances have been made, and with the aid of the Ketzeryn, no less.  The Church has actually adopted long-range communication technologies that were recovered many decades ago by the Ketzeryn, who had used them to keep their own fleets in touch since their recreation.  Of course, I’m certain that this will lead to nothing good, and likely will be used to further tighten the Church’s control within its established borders, if not encouraging them to expand their holdings even further.

A more disturbing rumor has begun to spread amongst the Ketzeryn during the latest Tranquility that the Church had begun adopting more stringent security within its capitol of Tyraguard, specifically reclaimed machines of war from before the coming of the Transgressor, the ancient malkikai that even they have been reluctant to study.  Not all Ketzeryn clans are in lockstep with one another, certainly, have never been, and the fact that some may have broken away and made deals with the Church to further their knowledge of the lost technologies is not unexpected, but is nonetheless worrying.  And of course, the average person accepts it faithfully, for the Church has simply declared these machines bonkikai, for use by those within the Church to protect the people from further actions by the Transgressor and other enemies.

Until I can confirm the nature of these machines for myself, perhaps joining a trading ship bound to Tyraguard’s ports to have a closer look, I’ll withhold further judgement, but securing more power, no matter the cost, seems to be perfectly in line with Tephysea’s ways.  Given that she’s undoubtedly allied with the Transgressor at this time, it’s honestly not that surprising.  As such, I’ve taken a few steps to help unsettle that new power structure she’s building up, tp weaken the foundations, so to speak.  Firstly, I’ve made sure that the Ketzeryn are developing countermeasures to any such malkikai that may be on the horizon, mainly in the form of more effective firearms and specific loads charged with electrical energy, which these creations are more susceptible to; more reluctantly, they are developing their own bonkikai to combat those of the Church, using what has been salvaged from across Helica.  Secondly, using the resources that I’ve accrued over the years, I’ve set up various methods of disseminating the truth of the Transgressor that I have learned from Saghirah’s scrolls to the people.  I am certain that my printed texts and burst transmissions through the communications system will be condemned as the work of heretics, but it will be enough to begin putting doubt into the minds of those who haven’t been totally brought under the sway of Phyresis.  Given the fact that several criminal groups have sprung up in the last few decades, all dealing to some extent in materials the Church has declared illegal, there is no insignificant number of those people who perhaps would be willing to listen to my message.  It will be slow and arduous, certainly, but with proper caution and my seeming timeless nature, it will be effective, I am certain.