Galith-Drast

The shadows hold no candle to the place before me. My eyes see blackened night, my ears the thrumming of machinary. And yet, it was like a void. Lines of constellations and runes would ocassionally be visible, but nothing clearly showing me the continued path. I was trapped with no way out.

And so I remained, suspended from aging. I cannot tell how long I was down there, but more than a hundred years had passed when I was eventually pulled back to the material plane. Times have changed again. Yet those walkways between the world, they still haunt my existence.

— Excerpt from a first hand account of the Galth-Drast

Galith-Drast, also known as The Path Unseen, was a series of extradimensional pathways that allowed those without magical means to cross great distances. It was commonly used during the Age of Creation, but the knowledge of how to operate it was lost some time before 0 AR.

Galith-Drast

General Information

Also Known As	The Path Unseen
Type	Transportation
Properties	Quickly traverse long distances without magical means.

Historical Information

Created	During the Age of Creation
Creator	Unknown
Lost	Before 0 AR

Description

Most descriptions of Galthi-Drast describe it as a shadowy set of hallways occasionally illuminated by white runes, constellations, and lines. This is believed to be a bi-product of the magical means that helped to create the path. There are others who describe a more solified stonework that can be crossed. In these cases, the stonework is lined with runes that were iridescent, glowing faintly every now and again.

Some writings discuss individual arcanists putting them on the path, while others discuss gates similar to stone arches that allow someone to walk through without the assistance of a powerful magic user. It seems there were set destinations in larger cities, with each of the floating cities said to have their own moving waystation for someone to cross through, usually a gate carved into part of the mountain used to create the city.

It is believed that the Galith-Drast could be used similarly to the Ether, allowing someone to temporarily move quickly between different parts of the world. Unlike the Ether though, the Galith-Drast would allow someone to move greater distances while barely moving within its limits.

History

While exact dates are not known relating to the Galith-Drast, writings indicate that the paths were created at some point before the creation of the first flying city. Initially limited to the Arvadians, they realised that for trade purposes, it would make sense to open the path to all.

At least two centuries into the paths existing, it is said that powerful divine and natural magic users were able to move themselves into the paths as they would travelling into different parts of the world. A skill which is potentially a way to regain acceess to the paths in the modern day.

During The Shatter, it is claimed that Galith-Drast was targetted by several of The Deceiver Gods as a way to strike quickly at powerful enemies, but also to corrupt something made by the prideful mortals. Most texts indicate that the followers of both Zeradoth and Ilvyr used the paths to quickly move from place to place unseen.

Due to the targetting by the Deceiver Gods, the knowledge to enter Galith-Drast was shunned by arcanist, and many of the waystations that existed around the realm were destroyed and dispelled. This led to fewer and fewer people even aware of Galith-Drast's existence. Eventually leaving it in obscurity until the 6th century after The Parting.

Rediscovery

In 659 AR, the Human scholar and arcanist Fabian Gathandrix rediscovered writings about Galith-Drast, the first to learn about it since it was lost. He spent the second half of his life trying to research as much as he could about the paths, visiting and unearthing potential waystation locations. In the 47 years he had, Fabian discovered three waystation ruins and put together funding for arcane and mechanical research, attempting to open some permanant gate to the paths.

Fabian inspired at least three other apprentices to carry on his work. Each of them initially started working together. However, a dispute over methodology split the trio. In doing so, they all have made progress individually. None of them have successfully opened the paths again, but their pathways of restoration, arcanum, and mechanics have all made great strides towards that potential.

Notable Waystations

Location	Status	Description
Outside of Sovmora	Ruin	The first waystation to be rediscovered in 672 AR, the frame was partially intact. There was writing in ancient languages that were long-dead carved into the stone dias. Some has been translated, but others seem to similar to modern languages that there have been mistranslations to the modern wording.
The northern Slycol Desert	Ruin	The least useful of the discovered waystations, it was intiially believed to just be a sandstone dias for ritual purposes, but has since been linked to the Galith-Drast. There is a depiction of a door of shadows several times along the base of the dias, but otherwise, no magical potential remains, likely due to the properties of the Desert itself.
Southern Tokevis	Ruin	Discovered in 752 AR, this waystation contains magical energy much stronger than that found in any other waystation. While very little of the frame remains and there is a large split in the dias obscuring its visage, it has been noted that some ancient Runic was carved into a small fragment of the dias. The ancient word for "shadow".