DraKaise

The Ethereal Fluid of the Adventuring Spirit and Madness.

The Very nature of the cosmos, all borders; from the lines of war, to the boundaries of death, are swayed by the tides of DraKaise.   ~Farne DeShay, Wizards of the College
  The night skies of Ithungsida are a light blue. Alight with the myriad of forms present, hanging high above the mortal realm. The Pantheon can be found there in their diminutive forms, with the Celestial Giants forming the boundaries. Yet, the dull haze of blue is always present. Always there, cast between the stars in an infinite display. The stars that can be seen from any realm and the blue that remains ever-constant.   This is DraKaise. When the gods ascend, their new forms in the heavens above are brilliantly lit with a blue unlike anything found in nature, and unlike anything made except by magic. For they have been infused with the very power of DraKaise and anointed by the Giants. It is said that this acts as a material, a substance that can be gathered given the right tools. Something that directs and powers the very machinations of the heavens, and influences everything on the mortal realms.   Tales of Iwa speak of that ancient land's connection with the tides of DraKaise. Of their knowledge and understanding that allowed them to navigate it's ever-changing tides. To look into the soul of MeyGana, Roar of the Sea and find the direction to sway, so the DraKaise did not tear them asunder. It is not known if this means that DraKaise was more prevalent, or perhaps if mortals were more attuned to it's differences in that ancient time. However, these ancient stories hold many truths to be uncovered as to the nature of the Universe, and this mysterious material; DraKaise.   DraKaise has been known of for countless years, with tales from deep within Iwa's past surfacing through ancient Dwarven Oral Myths and Tales. It is the very spirit of Adventure, the siren's call of Champions, the accumulation of Disaster. And it is a term that most will recognize with ease, as it has latched onto the public consciousness and been internalized into large amounts of culture; from those labeled as DraKaise Stricken in SosIwa to preserve their familial honor, to the eponymous organization; The DraKaise Battalion, who grow and field heroes and adventurers that cross the entire continent of Ithungsida.   However, even with it's steady presence in public consciousness, and it's ease of recognition to those that seek the knowledge; DraKaise is difficult to explain or describe. And truly, it may not have been completely explained until the Wizards of the College dedicated one of their immense towers to unraveling the mysteries of DraKaise. However, that truth is strange beyond measure...  
 

Public Perception

  DraKaise is known of by name, if not by the concept itself. However, the fundamentals of the belief ring true to those that have done more research into the Material. Namely in that it effects the majority of Mortal Life, possibly even swaying some of the higher beings. As well as likely being everpresent, or at least, present near disruptions and disturbances.  
"DraKaise is the Mortal Tide, taking form in the clashing of peoples and minds.   Where there is war, one can see the hallmarks of DraKaise.   Where adventurers roam; the blue haze is bound to reside."
— Bardic Description of DraKaise

The College Discoveries

  And after their in-depth research on the topic; the Wizards of the College would agree with those marks. Even as they study how that remained common knowledge over the years.   They found that DraKaise has a heavy relation to the Ethereal Plane, possibly constituting the majority of the plane itself. This lead to a standardization and understanding of a spell that allows easy transit into the Ethereal Plane itself. The research also offered a glance into the use of DraKaise for Divination purposes; culminating in the spell the Flash of DraKaise.   And, finally, finding that public perception, while not wrong, didn't have the entire story. Yes, DraKaise is associated with many of these things. However, no link could be drawn between this viscuous liquid that makes up the entirety of the Ethereal and those labeled as "DraKaise Stricken", but it is the Essence of the Universe, the potential source of magic, and a barrier between the Mortal realm and that of the gods.  
 
  With these discoveries finding the differences between what is true and what can be proved, the thought of DraKaise as a spiritual idea, a grand scapegoat, or the errant dreams of the drugged, must be reconsidered.  
Since the creation of the very planes, DraKaise has been the essence that drove adventurers out from their homes and towards the unknown.   DraKaise Flows across the world and centers on those destined for adventure, driving them from their homes in fits of rage, or potentially madness.   ~ Farne DeShay, Wizards of the College

D

Type
Metaphysical
Color
Varying shades of Blue.
Common State
Ethereal

Where are these quotes from?

  The Wizards of the College is a group of wizards that have dedicated their lives to the study of the strange and explicitly magical natures of the world. They seek out new strange spells and discover new landscapes in the realms beyond that of Arydia.   The Bardic Description was gathered from a bardic troupe that services the Wizards of the College.

Comments

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Mar 13, 2019 21:09

Alright then,so the first thing I have to admit about the article is that the information given can be a bit, muddy. I mean after some reading I did get that the thing essentially is the fabric of the cosmos, but beyond that I'm struggling to, visualise it. At points I see it as space dust, at others as a form of liquid sea. But a clear idea doesn't come to mind what to see it as.
I do like how you give examples how the people use the material in off themselves, of cultures and people using it. The text is always descriptive as usual!   The only question I have is: are there any active places or people mining the material? organisations, locations that try to get a common source of the stuff going?

Mar 14, 2019 01:38 by R. Dylon Elder

OOOOO DAT FORMAT THO! love the fixed sidebar and those columns are nice as well! I would take the paragraph below them and above and give it a tiny bit of space simply because it seems cramped to me IMHO   So reading through i found several fantasy troped that you immediately seemed to go, "TWIST!" and make it much more than that. At first it reminded me of lyrium from dragon age and several other forms of convinient magic sources, then it start to really make itself unique and it stands out. That is hard to do in fantasy and I commend you for that. I love how you kind of dance around it. The quotes offer almost no clear picture, even the text dances around its description, clearly saying it isnt easy to describe at all.   So, i have two question, one is what exactly did the tower study, as in how did they do it. what method could be used to study such a thing and the second is how did this start being used? is it a secret or lost to time or can one trace back to the first user of DraKaise?

Mar 14, 2019 12:21 by Dejers Garth

Thanks for reading!   The fixed sidebar is something I get a lot of comments across my world, I think it's a super solid addition that really paid off for the 20 minutes it took to figure it out. XD I added a bit of space, but really can't see a large difference. Not sure, just not really seeing the cramped nature. But will definitely be attempting to take that into note in the future!   DraKaise has been a slow-burn to get to this point. It's gone through a fair number of variations before I hit on the realization that it's direct description almost devalues it. I'll be putting more information about DraKaise, it's usage, it's history, etc. In other articles.   When I get to going in-depth on the Wizards of the College, they'll be getting a lot of cool information and part of that will be their research of DraKaise.   DraKaise has been around for the entirety of this age, possibly dating through the previous two ages as well. This means that the only beings that can potentially give a solid recount of the information here would be the deities themselves. And even they might not quite know the answers.   Thanks for commenting! :D

Mar 14, 2019 13:56 by R. Dylon Elder

No problem it was a great read and led to Firn lol. On the description i would definitely be careful. Alot of people seem to comment on it like its negative. I dont seem to think it is. The only way its negative is how i didnt realize what it was till later on. Its a great way of adding mystery, id hate to see it lose that XD regardless its great!

Mar 14, 2019 17:17 by Elias Redclaw

Fantastic article! I absolutely love the amount of effort and detail that you put into this article! First off, The beginning quote was amazing. It absolutely hooked me into reading the rest of this article and you managed to keep my interest with amazing description afterwards. The Description is simply amazing and was very interesting to read! The usage of linking and the sidebars formatting was very good as well! Congrats and keep up the great work!

Mar 14, 2019 20:48 by Tobias Linder

A bit difficult and "bricky" to get through. You throw a lot of terms, words and proper nouns at us in the beginning of the article, and the lack of elaborate tooltips makes it hard to get into the article, as you keep wondering what all of this is.   And I must admit, even after reading the article, I don't understand what DraKaise is. Is it an entity, a realm, a mist, or just another word for heaven?

Mar 14, 2019 23:16 by Dejers Garth

I... Don't see a lot of dense text in the beginning. The first handful of paragraphs mostly have links, or excerpt tooltips. "Celestial Giants" doesn't and that's valid, but "Wizards of the College" is fairly straightforward, so that's the only thing I really see that's lacking.   Bricky, sure. It's talking about a difficult topic. One that I'm not even clear on all the details of. I just don't see how tooltips defining every other word would help when the majority of needed definitions(Of which there are still considerably few), are there...   I do see that you had issues reading the article if you grabbed onto the idea of DraKaise being an Entity or a word for "Heaven" Neither of which are even remotely referenced in the article. However, It does make up a large portion of the Ethereal Plane, and it can be considered a mist of some sorts.

Mar 15, 2019 08:13 by Tobias Linder

Alright, that does clear things up quite a bit. I guess I just got mentally stuck on trying to figure out what the hell it was.   Oh, and the tooltip I was mainly complaining about was "The Pantheon". Rather than having an excerpt of what the article is about, I'd like a quick summary of the Pantheon itself, so I don't have to click the article and read that first to continue. Excerpts are great for getting readers a "quick lesson" in the world and allowing them to continue reading without having to go to another article first.   And I just realized my critique was highly limited. I blame tiredness. I quite enjoy the formatting, it makes the text less dense towards the end and the sidebar is well used well, even if it is perhaps just a little short, but I'm not sure what more to add there.   It does give me a vibe of the old theory of Ether or the Noosphere. Is that what you were aiming for?

Mar 15, 2019 14:58 by Dejers Garth

That's valid! I've been going through and trying to make excerpts more useful as tooltips, but some of the older articles get left behind. I'll work on writing out a better excerpt for the Pantheon! Many thanks on that.   And that's fine! Critiques can be hard to pull off at times. Sidebars are a pain to pull off a lot of the time. And it's not horribly far off from Ether!   Many thanks for the comment! =)

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