The Knowledge Key
It's said the Keepers envied us. They lived too long, saw too much, and endured more loss than any heart should. They thought it was our kind who were the fortunate ones for our lives were brief and we could live under the illusion that things such as love could be eternal.
Nothing other trait better describes the Keepers and their civilization than that of knowledge. The pursuit of understanding defined who they were and pushed them to become far more than just mortal beings. One popular legend in particular tells the story of a race that evolved under the light of distant star. This was when the cosmos was young and still in motion, still baking within the fires of creation. First they mastered their world, then the star upon which they circled. And then, they looked beyond and found... no one. They were truly alone among the stars.
The Keepers became masters of this creation, being able to watch it happening first hand. With that came knowledge of the fundamental workings of reality. What many would consider apocryphal or lost lore the Keepers were able to bear witness to. This accumulation of wisdom helped them to transcend the need for even mortal bodies, becoming creatures of thought and mana rather then true flesh and blood. Many became distant and forgot what it was to be a living creature. Others would live mortal lives over and over, indulging in opportunity to accumulate to guide other young races along paths of knowledge. Hoping, perhaps in vain, to push another species toward joining them in enlightenment. Over the eons most of the Keepers moved on to whatever lies beyond our reality, having learned all that they can and feeling no attachment to this existence any more. Those that remained behind had to abide by the one rule all of their kind swore to - interaction directly with mortals and their civilizations must be done in a mortal form. To do otherwise would risk wiping out or dramatically altering the fate whole races with but a gesture. Such direct and bombastic meddling could never result in enlightenment. Such a thing had to be learned, not forced.
The few that remained behind were dedicated to helping living things evolve and achieve enlightenment as well so that they could rejoin the others who left before but not have to be alone any longer. To do this they took mortal forms again and made a small island on a life-rich world their home. That island was in what would eventually be known as the Tairuk Island Chain. They mentored life there while using the gates to travel to other worlds and meet other races worthy of their knowledge.
They tweaked and nudged civilizations both on Tairos and across the void but in doing so they became blind to a rising threat, that of the Golden God. This being was one of divine power who was taught the ways of the Keepers by one of their own kind, one who believed this creature could attain enlightenment and join them on the other side of reality. Instead, the Golden God used this new found power to force evolution along a path of his own design. Rather than a caretake... a keeper, he became brutal taskmaster who allowed living things no choice but to follow the course he laid out for them. Or, to perish if they could not conform.
When the final remaining Keepers defied his "divine" order and condemned his use of their gifts; the Golden God levied his judgement against them. He refused to suffer the criticism of beings who would surrender their enlightened forms to live among mortals and nudge them along some greater path. If they wished to be mortal then they too would obey his design or perish beneath its progress. The Keeper who forged the Knowledge Key was an ally of the god's mentor and one of the first of his own kind to achieve enlightenment. It's possible she may have been the oldest living being the cosmos had ever seen and such a distinction would come with a weight of knowledge that no other could compare to. In this way, she was the pinnacle of what a Keeper could be. And it is with that understanding that she devised the plan to form the Keys and lock away their gifts until a proper inheritor could unseal them.
Game Statistics
While holding the Knowledge Key in a free hand or wearing it as an amulet you have advantage on Intelligence Ability Checks, Intelligence Skill Checks, and Intelligence Saves.
The wearer of the key can also cast Divination Spells without requiring Manacite
The key has 10 charges. While holding it, you can use an action to expend 1 or more of its charges to cast one of the following spells from it, using your spell save DC+2: Guidance (1 charge), Comprehend Languages (1 charge), Identify (1 charges), Fortune's Favor (2 charges), Tongues(2 charges), Contact Other Plane (3 charges), Legend Lore (4 Charges), Foresight (10 Charges)
The Knowledge Key regains 1D4 charges per day at dawn.
The Knowledge Key cannot be damaged by any known means of normal or magical damage.
Manufacturing process
The Keeper who make this key sacrificed her living body and eternal essence in order to make it. The process to repeat such a feat is believed lost with her
Significance
This key was forged by the oldest living being the cosmos has ever known. The maker of this key is the one who designed the keyforging process and with the hope that what Keepers would leave behind would one day fall into the hands of those deserving of it.
Item type
Magical
Current Location
Subtype / Model
Rarity
This is a unique item. There is only one in existence
Raw materials & Components
The key is made of Dolomite or possibly Limestone. The thin line of gemstones in the head of the key are Kyanite
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