Report #7862

The Tubu Incident

"As you know, I have always questioned our ability to verify some of the more wild claims of the Librarian. While it is certainly capable of impressive feats of correlation, I believe that it is prone to confabulating stories that are not supported by the documents it draws from, with The Sleepwalkers' Tale being a prime example. In this most recent report, I feel I am proven correct. The hallucinatory suggestions of some group of 'worldbuilders' who can alter our reality at a whim is simply preposterous, and demonstrates the folly of relying on a constructed entity for actionable information." - Note from Lorekeeper Wighelm to Provost Cyneburh regarding the Librarian's report on the Tubu Incident.

Tubu is an island in the Mangimoi Archipelago, and the largest of the Mbaru Island Group. Until three years ago, it was the center of the Kingdom of Gailo, with a large and thriving population. On the 1st Apex of Lepus 3982, every person and animal on the island vanished. The earliest reports came from ships in the harbor at Kota Daya, who were untouched by the disaster. They found the city completely empty, with not even rats or insects remaining. The structures of the city were untouched, and the sailors who explored managed to prevent any fires or other disasters that could have destroyed evidence. Later investigations concluded that the depopulation affected the entire island of Tubu, with every animal big and small that was on the island that night disappearing without explanation.

Initial Investigations

What reports can be gathered from the sailors who first discovered the disaster are fragmentary, but they all agree on the essentials. Since then, investigations into the incident have been conducted by several organizations including ourselves. We have been able to share intelligence with the Gwāsa, the Order of the Lightkeepers, and the O le Feagaiga, and this report reflects input from them as well.

In short, the island's population is gone, as if they never existed. The gods of the dead do not know where their eidolons went, save that they did not appear in their appropriate underworlds. There are no bodies on the island that indicate anything useful - what corpses that were present all appeared to have died before the incident, and their deaths are easily explained. Interrogations of the eidolons of people who lived on Tubu until shortly before the incident revealed no signs of what may have caused it, and there are no known prophecies that can be associated to the event.

Attempts to contact the Numina of the island have failed as well. Like the people and the animals, the gods and spirits of Tubu are gone. Their shrines remain, both on the island and in the Eclectic Temples, but all attempts to locate or communicate with them have failed.

The metaphysical atmosphere of the island has been altered, although whether this is a cause or side-effect of the incident is unknown. The dream-analogs of Tubu have become entangled with the idea of 'emptiness', and those who have visited it report feeling like intruders who are defiling some sacred place. Nobody has chosen to remain on Tubu any longer than necessary. Some of the island's residents were spared by not being on Tubu during the event, and they confirm that the island carries a different emotional resonance than it had before. Most of them have chosen to relocate to the island of Gamfene, where the government of Gailo has been re-establishing itself. Beyond taking their belongings, not a single person has elected to resettle on the island.

Looking Deeper

Along with the O le Feagaiga, we have dispatched a team of Dreamwalking agents to investigate the conceptual layers beneath the memories and echoes of Tubu within the Dream. They were not able to find anything definitive in Tubu's recent past, or in the other Dreamland variants of the island. Attempts to experience the vanishing itself were prevented by the sudden absence of thinking beings as it occurred - from the viewpoint within The Dream, the entire island ceased to exist until the sailors landed to investigate, and it has remained patchy and vague ever since. One particularly sensitive Fai Tala claims to have heard a short sentence just as the dream-version of Tubu terminated. It said "hu, Tubu is strangely empty."

Possible Explanations

Very few explanations fit the facts as presented. The Velhot of Väinädin have concluded that there was no magic used that can be detected, and no signs of a major working of this magnitude has been reported. This is also the opinion of the Burj Alhikma, at least as far as we can determine via unofficial channels.

Two explanations have been proposed so far, both fairly speculative. The first is that this is somehow connected to the Silence. If so, it would be a large departure from how they have been observed to operate; the Silence has caused whole universes to vanish, not the population of medium-sized islands. Admittedly, we don't know much of what happened in the silenced worlds before they vanished, but no activity of the Silence has ever been detected in this part of the Dream, and it does not seem likely that they are responsible.

The second explanation is that one of the Aurelian Coins caused the incident. This is the opinion of certain members of the Lorekeepers, and has some merit. The coins have been known to alter reality on the scale of whole islands, which is consistent with what happened on Tubu. However, previous uses of the coins have been difficult to detect because they usually alter the timeline as well, editing the past to present an almost seamless version of reality with the changes spliced in. In this case, the change was anything but seamless. However, we have contacted the priests of the Aurelian Bridge, and purchased the right to be informed if they receive any indication that the Bridge or its coins were involved. I would also like to reiterate my request that we purchase a copy of the Codex Pontis for the library, despite the exorbitant price they are asking for it, as it would likely resolve many questions like this one.

A Different Theory

I do not believe that the existing theories adequately explain the Tubu Incident, and lean towards a different theory. In my researches within the Dream, I have observed marks upon the ideas and associations of our world that indicate the presence of entities with powers far greater than the gods. I call these beings 'Worldbuilders', for they seem to gather the substance of the realms and directly create new worlds within the Dream, shaping them for purposes I cannot speculate upon. I have detected signs that our own world is constantly being shaped and manipulated by one or more of these Worldbuilders. In the case of Tubu, I believe that the words heard as the population vanished was the utterance of a worldbuilder declaring what reality should be - and in the process obliterating countless creatures such that they dissolved into nothingness.

It is my suggestion that we make an attempt to communicate with these entities, to determine what they want and if they can be convinced to not use their powers in this way again. I do not know if they are malicious or simply do not see us as equals - it is possible they do not even know we exist, and they believe we are mere figments. I do not know how we can begin this project of communication, but we must find a way. Otherwise who can say how many more people will be dissolved in the same fashion as the inhabitants of Tubu?

Type

Report, Intelligence

Location

Tubu

Authors

• The Librarian of Foxbridge

This document has been prepared by the Librarian of Foxbridge, for use by the Lorekeepers of Foxbridge and those approved by the King of Bernicia or the Provost of Foxbridge College. If you are reading this without permission, I will know, and I will make sure you are dealt with.

The Librarian

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