Akashic Records - The Tower of History

No thing comes from nothing. All Flows from Akasha and back to it. This is the origin of history, and where history rests.

— A quote from above the Tower's door, as recoreded by Theodore Sophiral

The Akashic Record is one of the six towers of Var Nexa. Historical accounts, that are generally accepted as fact, place the tower in the Northern region. However it's status as a "Phantom Location" means the exact route cannot be planned out.
The Akashic Record is a store of masses of knowledge, specifically its purpose is to record all of history. The tower is known to have grown over time, both subtly in height and overtly in features. Stories suggest that this is related to history, the tower growing as more is recorded.
The Tower is made from a mix of materials, though primarily stone. Imposingly large, it would take days at minimum to walk around its exterior, and tall enough that it begins to touch the clouds, the Tower can be seen from a great distance before being reached. The base of the Tower is described as quite normal in design, however the uniqueness comes from the "instruments" coming off it.
At various points the Tower appears to grow wooden parts horizontally from the sides. Giant tubes, pipes, chimes, horns, several differnt types, but all appear open so the wind can pass through them. It is thought this is what creates the music that runs throughout the Tower.
Few expeditions have found the tower, only two seeker teams in modern history supposedly reaching and exploring it. The first, by the Sophiral Seekers 146 years prior to the modern day, focused on entering the tower. The door requiring completion of a puzle to open, with more found further in. However the second expedition, by the Aetheral Seekers 30 years prior to the modern day, reported the entry puzzle was different from prior. It is therefore thought that the Tower changes over time.
Alice Steiner - leader of the Aetheral Seekers - noted that the tower's walls were covered in an uncountable number of discs, ranging from the size of saucer plates to humongous, building sized ones. Each disc has spiral grooves, working from the outside to the inside. These were framed in panels, seemingly slotted into the walls. Many, though only a fraction of the number of discs, have inscriptions written in Old Emblaetir. While a full translation wasn't deciphered, slightly different symbols were found in the same location of each panel. These appeared to be numbers, and possibly names, denoting an order and connection between panels.

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Purpose / Function

The Askashic Record appears to be intended as a storage of information. The discs presented throughout seemingly hold information, though how to access this isn't clear.
Sound is the second feature of the Tower. When within a constant background musical tune is present, though it isn't known how this is made it seems the Tower was purposley built to make it.

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Design

Author's Note: The Tower is based on the larger inspiration behind the Akashic Records.
In real life beliefs The Akashic Records are seen as a compendium of "all universal events, thoughts, words, emotions, and intent ever to have occurred in the past, present, or future." This acted as the basis for a physical location in Var Nexa that was a record of all of history as it has happened.
In addition, the word "Akashic" comes from the Sanscrit word for "Aether" which in many cultures is viewed as one of 5 fundamental substances. In particular, it's main characteristic or property is described as "sound."
This acted as the inspiration for the Tower and how it gathers information. The top of the Tower is open and along the exterior are what look like giant wind instruments, these allow wind to pass through the Tower.
Sound is carried on the wind to the Tower, and is then recorded within the Tower on the giant discs. However only the sounds are recorded, so the discs only hold information on what has been said outloud, or the noises that occured (for example, if a tree fell the recording would only have the sound of it falling, which would allow someone to deduce what the sound indicated).

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Entries

Records of Sophiral Seeker Teams Expedition:
8/5: The Tower's door won't open. It's got a lot of sliding squares (oh, it's 15, 4x4 - 1). Shifting them is obvious, but can't figure out how. It isn't a picture, maybe a sequence?
Can't force our way in, Prince tried that about 10 minutes into us figuring it out (which DIDN'T help, by the way, it's broken now. Can't slide it). Looks like it's the same stuff as the rest of the Tower so I'm not sure how else we'll get in - maybe there's a door on another side?
9/5: It fixes itself! Prince dinked it before but this morning it was like he'd done nothing (Happy we don't have to travel round the whole Tower looking for another, but we were going to make Prince carry everything for breaking it - going to think of something else now).

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Sensory & Appearance

The main sense associated with the Akashic Records is sound.
The Tower is partially characterised by the music often heard throughout, thought to be created by wind funneled into the top of the Tower and through the interior.
The denizens, while little is known about them, are preluded by the crescendo of a soothing song.

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Denizens

Records of Aetheral Seeker's expedition - written by Alice Steiner:
It appears we are not alone in this tower, creatures aside. While exploring László encountered what he best described as a "vaguely human shaped glowing glob." Supposedly this happened when he was fighting a Tenrecho.
During the conflict he drove the creature into a wall, damaging the slab found there. A soothing ring apparently echoed around, and the Tenrecho fled immediately. László barely had a moment to recover, when an orange glow entered the room, heralding the appearence of a similarly coloured "person."
This "person" was featureless, no eyes, mouth or hair, and completely ignored László. He says they walked with calmness, no worry, no panic. Each step creating another soothing ring.
Apparently it's entire focus was on the damaged panel, which it appeared to be trying to fix. However, when László placed a hand on the panel, the "person" stopped, acknowledging him with an eyeless stare, until he removed his touch. László said that, in that moment, he understood why the Tenrecho had fled, and similarly left the area as soon as possible.
No more of these beings have been encountered as of yet. It seems unwise to intentionally damage the panels, despite the temptation. Though I shall record any further findings.

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Hazards & Traps

The Tower has multiple traps and hazards, ranging from the creatures, to seemingly intentional tricks, to what may simply part of the Akashic Records functions.
Sound Tunnel: There is a corridor on the second floor, maybe 20m long, that seems to be a funnel for sound. While not necessarily intentionally dangerous itself, the sound is overwhelming. Just being in the exit's path is enough to cause hearing damage if enough time is spent, attempting to travel the tunnel has caused excessive pain and passing out (further attempts haven't been made for safety's sake).
Echo Chamber: A dangerous room, in here any sound made can be replicated by the room. This means the sounds of your steps on entering, clangs of metal gear, or voices spoken. This has been used to disorientate anyone exploring, but also fool them into thinking allies have spoken when they haven't. This is particularly dangerous as the sounds can be mixed and combined (for example, if you said "dangerously" and "true", the room could say any combination such as "danger" or "truely"). Speak enough and the room could replicate entire conversations on its own.
Strumming Spiders: A species of spider so far only found in the tower. As with most spiders, their silk is excellent at transferring vibrations. The Strumming Spider has taken this further, they strum and pick on their webs to produce various songs in order to lure in prey for capture. They have the ability to tune their webs, tightening and loosening strands to alter the sound produced. They may also use this to ward off threats, by making sounds similar to other predators. Some have been known to lure creatures close enough for them to jump on, to ambush prey. They range in size between a small and large dog. Typically live in pairs.

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Alterations

The Akashic Records change over time, constantly growing and having new parts added to it. Even the location doesn't seem consistent.
Though the Tower has been visited so infrequently this hasn't been properly analysed, every expedition to it has found some change. Whether this is the entrance puzzle, the location, the height, or the music that plays through out, there are always some differences. Though more extensive research is needed to properly identify patterns.

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Architecture

The Tower's "base" material is stone, with no notably different properties outside of being possible to damage, but seemindgly possible to destory. Integrated within the stone is brass and wood. This can be seen running throughout the stone in a criss cross of patterns, but also extends from it to create beams (some of which connect walls, others simply hand in the air). The brass and wood have grooves around them, allowing them to vibrate.

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History

The Akashic Records are, like many things in Var Nexa, older than recorded history. The earliest known reference to it is a little over 5000 years old, but as this refers to the Tower as already existing is isn't truly known how old it is.
While a handful of expeditions have been made by Seeker Teams to reach the Tower, only two have sucessfully reached the Tower and managed to return:
1) One-hundred and fourty six years prior to the modern day the Sophiral Seeker Team, lead by Theodore Sophiral, managed to reach the Tower for the first time in known history. They were able to gain access to the Tower and explored it for approximately 1 month.
2) Thirty years prior to the modern day, a second expedition managed to enter the Tower. The Aetheral Seeker Team, lead by Alice Steiner, were able to coroborate and expand on the information of the prior sucessful expedition. However their expedition lasted 2 months, so managed to explore further in. They famously encountered one of the Denizens of the Tower.
All known information about the Towers interior come from these two expeditions.

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Founding Date

>5000 years old (earliest reference, but known to be older)

Alternative Names

The Tower of History, Sound Tower, Akasha

Type

Tower

Parent Location

Var Nexa