Lorgan's Notes: Mephoric Emblems

Mephoric emblems are ancient magic relics created by the Beast. Tasked by Erse Parr to find and destroy the remaining emblems, the Shades of Darkness thought they eradicated them--and they could not have been more wrong.
Much of the following information was gleaned from discussions with Katta and Qira on the boat ride to Greenglimmer. They are ancient ghosts who lived through the Beast's rule (their arrival in the Evenacht pre-dates him by thousands of years). Some of what they say contradicts what I'd previously read about the Beast (I arrived in the Evenacht after he met the Final Death--thank the syimlin).
Dear reader, also keep in mind, I'll be adding info if I ever get access to a large research library. Wrev Seltees published translations of the mephoric texts the Beast used to create the emblems in his book Relics of the Past: How the Beast Used Elfine Magic, but I can't recall the exact wording.

Research:
Mephoric Emblems

by our uneasy hero,
Lorgan the Suspicious

In this Research Document:

all images by Shade Melodique
unless otherwise stated

Mephoric Emblems: History

The Beast was Syimlin of Death between 13001 years previous and 6882 years previous. His was a strange rule, in that he, as an Evenacht beghestern, became the Death deity for the continent of Talis. Up until he sent Old Man Death to the Final Death, all syimlin had been mortals from Talis who gained the syimlin mantle through various means.
During his early reign, he felt the other syimlin slighted him due to his umbrareign, rather than faelareign, affiliation. He fell deeper and deeper into rage. After he destroyed the dam on the Nectar and flooded the Grail 11000 years previous, his rage burned to new levels; Zibwa the Healer aided ghost and the living alike, helping them recover and heal. Seeing this as an insult to his authority, he decided that he would prove his power by bringing more spirits under his control. He gathered faithful followers from the beghestern and conducted his first raid on Talis.
He chose an elfine city dedicated to Zibwa to invade, and the slaughter of the unprepared populace was immense. His actions attracted the notice of other syimlin, especially the furious Healer. Sun interceded. He visited the Forest Temple and reminded the Beast of the covenant all Death deities agree to when they accept the mantle--do not take mortals before their time. The Beast violated that vow.
I'm murky about the details, but Qira said that the Beast was alive up to that point. After Sun's visit, he was dead. He repented--probably not a lie when he spoke it, but changed his mind afterwards.
Why? Being dead proved a huge problem. Only Death can gift syimlin with the Gift of Life (which, combined with the mantle, makes syimlin syimlin). He died without the blessing (because beghestern live thousands of years naturally, and apparently it never occurred to him immortality was more than that). So he bore the mantle but did not have the corresponding syim-sanctioned immortality (because the Gift of Life after one is deceased holds no meaning). This weakness made him susceptible to the Evenacht's Death deity, Levassa, who came for him (because, as an umbrareign, Levassa was his death deity).
They fought, and before Levassa could draw him to the Evenacht's own evening lands, he escaped. The Beast realized he would fall to Levassa sooner or later, and since he did not have the immortality stamp that would keep him in the Evenacht, he needed another method to protect his existence and his mantle.
He developed mephoric emblems to this end.

I admit, I don't understand the intricacies of a Death blessing themselves with the Gift of Life. Katta says that previous Deaths did not receive it because immortality only lengthens one's lifespan, and the dead no longer have a life to lengthen. Erse Parr, on the other hand, is a Living Death. She needed the Gift of Life to exist beyond a mortal lifespan. Did she gift herself? Did another syimlin, like Darkness? Did Sun play a role?
Katta and Qira grinned and shrugged at the questions, but they know. I must find a way to weasel the information from them. They are VERY close-lipped when it comes to something they don't want to talk about. I think they like being mysterious, and it's aggravating.

There are few images of the Beast. After he met the Final Death, depictions on Talis and in the Evenacht were burned. There are rumors that religious sects within the beghestern community still honor him, but they keep their worship very, very secret.

Mephoric Emblem, 6130 years previous
Finder Municipal Museum, city of Evening

The above emblem destroyed the countryside in which Erse Parr grew up, and eventually led to her confronting the Beast.
The museum curator says that by the time of this specific attack, the Shades of Darkness, under Veer Tul's command, entered Talis and battled the Beast and his minions with the help of the Shadow Cave acolytes. They inevitably arrived too late, as they did not have previous warnings of his targets, but during this particular incursion, they nabbed the emblem before the Beast could retrieve it.
It amazes me, how innocuous these items look. How could a horn or a tree branch possibly hold so much power? That we still see extant emblems, 6119 years after the Beast's demise, is a frightening testament to the strength of syimlin magic.

Mephoric Emblem, 8243 years previous
Shades Archive, city of Moonserat, the Quiet

Physical Description

The physical shell did not matter as much as the magic within, but the Beast preferred twisted or gnarled things like horns, staves, branches, etc. He commonly added decoration in the form of leather strips that held small sticks, feathers, or beads (he copied this from the Relic elfines, though neither he nor they admitted it). Sometimes he embedded gemstones filled with magical power onto the top or into the sides.
Often he would spell components separately and combine them into one item. The more combined objects, the greater the power the emblem held.

Spell Description

The Beast, for all his horrendous behavior, was not a grand magic user. His was brute force magic with no finesse but lots of punch--and he could not punch the emblems and expect them to retain their form.
Inspired by ghostly incantations and the weaponized mephoric staves used by Relic elfines, he carved or painted spells on the emblems. These spells had one purpose; end everything that existed within the boundaries of its detonation, and prepare the energy that remained for the Beast to consume (basically, they mushified everything, and he sucked up the remaining energy like a kid sucks up a drink). If he were not nearby, a follower would use empty emblems to absorb the energy, then give them to him at a later time.
He used this energy not only to power his ghostly body (he had a tough time absorbing mist as a spirit), but as a reservoir to dip into and use when he led retaliatory invasions on Talis. Like I said, he was not a skilled magic user, and his forays into the land of the living took more power than he was comfortable expending, just in case Levassa caught up with him (apparently his use of his mantle was atrocious, and we should all thank the Sun he never learned better control).
Once he exhausted an emblem, he re-carved or re-painted the symbols, then re-filled them.

The incantations written on the emblems, while inspired by how ghosts chant spells, had specific wording the Beast conscripted from Relic elfine staves. He was not an intellect, so, by necessity, he stole useful magic.

This means the symbols used on the emblems are beghestern, but the words are Relic elfine. He must have had a Relic elfine as a follower, because I see no other way he would know about these enchantments.

The Relics lived some 36,000 years previous to 30,000 years previous in southern Talis, when their people were swallowed into the first wildelfine population. The link is especially odd, since Zibwa, the Healer, was a Relic, and he was the sworn enemy of the Beast.

Beyond the Reservoir

The Beast abused his mantle during Judgments, and it's my understanding that Darkness (Veer Tul) took over most of his Deathly duties to mitigate his behavior. Veer prevented a great deal of harm, but it freed the Beast to continue his depraved invasions.
Faelareign sent to the Evenacht before their time did not enjoy the thought of serving the Beast's whims. Many ghosts held deep resentment for him because he destroyed so many friends and family in the effort to make the Evenacht bow to his will, and raids on the Forest Temple became a regular occurrence (which, yes, interfered with Veer Tul's Judgments. I gather this was one of the primary reasons he created the Tunnel of Memories, something distant and distinct from Death's Temple).
The living on Talis did not sit idle, either. Large towns and cities created defenses against him and his followers. Annoyed at the defiance, he schemed of ways to punish his enemies. Sometime around 9900 years previous, on the advice of a beghestern shaman, he altered the spells on the emblems and gave them to his most loyal servants as battle weapons. Instead of creating a radius of destruction with the emblem as its center, those using them could point and release the energy in a line (like, basically, every battle staff. But he thought this unique and genius).
These staves caused havoc and terror among the people of Talis and those of the Evenacht, and they destroyed without mercy--just as the Beast preferred.
After further research, the shaman figured out a way to remotely trigger explosions by way of a magic barrier linking emblems together. A barrier would form, keeping the minions who planted them alive. The shaman even made two different varieties; one to create ghosts on Talis, and the other to fill reservoirs in the Evenacht. Escalating quickly, his followers would plant the emblems in a circle around a habitation, leave, and trigger them. Nothing remained but blackened rock, ghosts, and essences.

The Beast thought this new discovery would destroy his syimlin foes and Levassa, who continued to hound him and interfere in his death-dealing. His minions would set a circle around a habitation and then warn them of their impending doom, retreat to a safe distance, and wait for their prayers to be heard by their deity. They expected the syimlin to show up in answer, then trigger the explosion.
Qira said this worked exactly once, on a local forest deity, not a syimlin or Levassa. Their demise overwhelmed the emblems set to absorb their energy, and the entire area blew up into an Emblematic Collapse, but on a smaller scale than what we saw at Black Temple.
This infuriated the populations in what is now the snow-bound Sunderlands. The Evenacht living and ghosts banded together to retaliate--but that is another tale.
Unfortunately, the Beast realized that more powerful magic users would produce more energy for his emblems. So the shaman created larger emblem receptacles, and he targeted more powerful foes--which did not end well for him.
See Erse Parr: Syimlin of Death for an accounting of his demise.

Dear Katta and Qira,
Since I know you'll be reading this missive, I've further questions that you won't hide from (well, except for the last one).

1. Why are the emblems so small? Even branches that are the size of a faelareign table are twigs to beghestern


2. How, exactly, did the Beast hide from Levassa? I've met him, and I know his power--and I know the Beast could not cast an involved spell without help


3. Why did Sun not kick him over to Levassa in the first place? His was an egregious abuse of power


4. Why did the syimlin not stop the rampages? There were eleven other major syimlin at the time, plus Evenacht native deities like Levassa. They couldn't band together and defeat him?

Lasting Legacy

The Beast made thousands of emblems during his tenure as Death. Since he successfully evaded accountability for his actions, he became complacent, grew corpulent, and Erse Parr took advantage of his weaknesses, sent him to the Final Death, and gained his mantle.
The Beast was no more, but his emblems remained. His followers, attempted revenge on the new Death for his defeat, used the emblems to power their attacks. Without the Beast's backing, however, they were unable to create new ones with the same potency. They went into hiding, Death and Darkness rooted them out, destroyed the shaman, the priests and the cult, and turned their attention to the remaining emblems scattered across the Evenacht.
Knowing great harm would come from wayward emblems, Erse, with Darkness's blessing, commanded the Shades of Darkness to hunt down and destroy them. It took centuries, and despite persistent rumors that the Astri held hundreds within their vaults, the Shades declared the task complete.
But now we know, they failed in their charge. The Beast's emblems still exist, and are as powerful as when he created them. In unsuspecting hands, they've already proved monumentally destructive.