Months... Months I was trapped in my own body, fully conscious of the world but unable to move or act in any meaningful way. A passenger in my own flesh, unable to die but also unable to live. The Mournland has a peculiar effect on the mind, there are whispers on the wind that seem to speak only to you, but they speak to everyone and they can't possibly be saying the same things. I frequently heard the voices of those who were lost, some of which died long before the Day of Mourning, asking me to join them. As time went on and I stubbornly, unwillingly, clung to this mortal coil, the voices became more insistent. The wailing of the dead still keeps me awake at night. The worst part is, I'm fairly sure that some of these voices, and the memories that they invoke, never existed. At the least, I'm not sure that I ever actually met some of these people.
The Mournland is full of corpses, especially on the Field of Ruins and other areas where battle was being fought on the Day of Mourning. Perhaps most alarming, these bodies never seem to decay, frozen in stasis as they were at the moment of their deaths. I wonder how many of these people are in limbo, like I was, not really alive but not dead either. Able to perceive the world, but not effect it. Truly it's the worst fate I can imagine, and I lived it for several months.
I remained this way until he came, and awakened me from my paralysis. Lord Chyrassk breathed new life into my broken body, mending the physical ailments and reconnecting the pathways to my brain that allowed me to walk again, to move again. Beyond the mere paralysis, the Mourning had horrifically damaged my body, and the feat of healing that Lord Chyrassk pulled off, I am sure, is beyond even House Jorasco.
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My mind has been opened, and my eyes with it. Xoriat, the plane that the Gatekeepers so naively refer to as the Plane of Madness is no such thing at all. Indeed, Lord Chyrassk refers to his plane of origin as the Realm of Revelation. It is not madness that permeates the layers of this reality, but truth. We're confined in this world but the constraints of our reality, we lack the perception to see things as they really are and this limits us indubitably. There is no overcoming this limitation, for the weight of the facade is heavy indeed and it presses down on us all, saturating us with falsehood.
We've been taught all our lives that dragonmarks are special. These people, of the houses, they are chosen in some divine way. Only these families can develop and hold these marks, and that has to mean something, right? Lord Chyrassk claims that this, too, is a falsehood. The houses have pulled a great deception on us all, gathering those who developed the same marks together and killing those who didn't fit their narrative. If a dragonmark is so divinely appointed, it should be impossible to remove them. Indeed, dragonmarks remain after death, this is known.
Lord Chyrassk can do it, though. We've captured a man named Rasial Tann, an aberrant. Somebody that nobody will miss, but it will suffice to test Lord Chyrassk's theory. Lord Chyrassk is certain in his ability to perform the transplant, needing only a suitable vessel for the mark. Imagine our luck, then, that this Rasial was a smuggler, and one carrying the very binding stones that we require!
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The surgery was a success, Lord Chyrassk successfully removed Rasial's mark. We have it now, in liquid form, and in theory we should be able to transplant it into a new host by having them imbibe the fluid. An aberrant mark is volatile, however, and Rasial's is particularly dangerous. We have no need, at current, of such a violent mark. It will have to remain in the citadel for further study.
It's a shame that the process of removing a dragonmark seems to be unavoidably fatal for the marked individual. It seems the mark is intrinsically tied to their being and their life, and to remove it is to remove them in their entirety. It is uncertain whether their consciousness has remained with their mark, or if it has passed on to Dolurrh. Lord Chyrassk will ponder this. He claims that the dragonmarks are a manifestation of the Draconic Prophecy, drawn on the canvas of flesh, whatever that means. I am unfamiliar with prophecy, but if this is true, I wonder if it predicted their removal in this manner. I can't imagine it to be a very good prophecy if it didn't.
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Another aberrant came looking for Rasial. A half orc, he stumbled upon Olalia and tried to help her. The poor thing couldn't understand him, and his distraction cost him dearly. I managed to sting him, and had him brought to Lord Chyrassk. Another dragonmark, this one bringing fire. Unfortunately, despite alterations to the procedure, it would seem that this was also fatal for the host. We've killed a few people now, it surprises me how little it bothers me. I suppose nobody came out of the Mournland unchanged.
This knowledge, that dragonmarks can be removed and transplanted, is historically significant. Such a discovery could break the power of the houses, imagine if anyone could acquire a mark. It remains to be seen if we can produce more marks from those we have, or if we can only take a mark from someone who already has one. Lord Chyrassk studies the solutions.
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We have captured the halfling, Jode. He has the Mark of Healing, and seemingly no connection to House Jorasco. They won't come looking for him, a true dragonmarked heir! This is perfect. We'll finally be able to see if the true marks differ from the aberrant marks once removed from their host. Perhaps there might be some chemical clue as to why they develop in specific bloodlines?
Lord Chyrassk has been experimenting with the half orc's mark, and has produced a fluid that behaves much like Alchemist's Fire, but can be remotely agitated to cause an explosion. I'm unsure how useful this will be, an explosion is not subtle and we need to avoid detection, but it is a significant discovery, it means we can do something with these marks.
I regret having to take the halfling's life. He was fulfilling a valuable role in the community of High Walls, and it pains me to take that from my people. We're working for a long term goal here, though, and some sacrifices have to be made if we're to bring about a more equal world, one without the artificial constraints placed on us by this world and it's laws.
Lord Chyrassk has expressed an interest in placing a true dragonmark on a species that cannot normally manifest such a mark. He seemed to become excited at the prospect of dragonmarked creatures that break the standard mold, beasts rather than people. I admit to some curiosity, though I fail to see how such creatures could effectively use them.
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Another refugee has arrived in High Walls with a true dragonmark. I could smell it on him as soon as he entered my tent, the Mark of Sentinel, if I'm not mistaken. It's a shame, this Terfel seems like a nice enough fellow. I'm sure if he understood what we were trying to do, he'd be more than willing to give his life for the cause, but the man has a child and this will no doubt cloud his judgement.
We'll have to take him by force, like we did the halfling. Hopefully there isn't too much collateral damage, he seems to have a capable group with him. We should wait for an opportunity to grab him alone.
