Of the Lirustime

"Even for those blessed by the Wolves, it is dangerous to look too deep into the darkness between the stars."

- Arvus, the Grey Spider

[A private report sent to the Understudy of the Spearhead House. Both he and the report's sender disappeared soon after it was received.]
No matter how much danger and devastation inhabit this world, we are far safer now than the mortals who lived millennia ago. Our mastery of wyr means we will never be laid low by oversights and shortcomings like the inexperienced rulers of Ara. The Great Wolves and their servants, the Exalted, have guided us on our journeys. And yet, there is always a tendency towards chaos. We mortals cannot see it ourselves - and anyone who has, has never lived to tell us. We are children of reality, with its endless delight and danger. But we are also chained to the Dark.

---

There are few, very few, who know anything about the true nature of the world. Even night mages, in their search through the darkness for the truth, never find anything truly revolutionary - at least, nothing truly revolutionary which they have survived. But rumours and guesswork persist.
The Midnight is the twisted shadow of our world. It is beyond the Sun, and beyond the stars. Inhospitable and ravenous, only night mages are able to safely traverse it - relatively speaking. The Midnight hungers for reality in any form, as anyone unlucky enough to come across a world-rift would know. If the moons and stars did not keep it at bay, say the night mages, it would have consumed everything long ago.
But it has tried before to 'invert the heavens'.
The Lirustime is a period shrouded in mystery. What we know about it is sparse: it was the age when the deepest and deadliest layers of the Midnight raged upwards - or forwards, or to the right - and invaded reality. The Great Wolves, the Exalted and the first generation of the Harbingers barely managed to keep the world from falling into the endless darkness. Almost all the civilisations of the time, including Ara and Arkan, were destroyed or devastated, and at least two Exalted were killed.
But what rose from the Midnight's deepest depths to cause this disruption? This is the one thing which has eluded our researchers entirely. We can only guess at the nature of a threat so absolute that the Wolves themselves were required to intervene. Nevertheless, several pieces of information hold some potential:

• The popular account behind Nox's Spears, a group of rock formations in the heart of the desert, is most likely unreliable - we do not know whether Great Wolves can bleed. However, a foe that might be able to strike such a blow to a Great Wolf matches up with the utter devastation which occurred during the Lirustime. And as Nox's domain involves the control and repulsion of the Midnight, there may be more to this legend than we think.
• An even less authentic source lies in the books of the Eternal Seafarers, a Midnight-centric cult. While cults by nature are highly untrustworthy, this one may yet provide some insights. More importantly, it may present the opportunity to end the cult before they begin to pose a real threat. Unfortunately, they already have heavy influence in the Ocean's Keep, and the powers-that-be may soon shield them from inquiry.
• Arkan, a city-state which was destroyed and submerged by the Harbingers, is an object of interest for more than its fabled status. As the Harbingers were generally devoted to protecting mortals, this indicates that there was something in Arkan which warranted its destruction. If so, finding its ruins may prove invaluable to our understanding of the time.
• Most promising of all are the accounts of night mages who have ventured all the way to the boundary of the Midnight's deepest depths. Many look into that darkness and sense a presence pulling them deeper, closer. No one ever passes beyond that border and returns, but soon we will surely be able to venture safely into the lightless abyss, and see what lies within...

Opposing our research at every turn, however, are the night mages - many of whom refuse to aid us in our investigations. Despite the fact that none of them have peered beyond the boundaries of the deepest layer of the Midnight, they maintain that whatever lies in the depths is far worse than we think, and that nothing is worth the risk of drawing its attention. In fairness, the above evidence provides them with compelling support. But we must understand a foe to defeat it. And in any case, our orders are set in stone.
Privately, of course, one is bound to harbour some doubt. But we have the backing of the entire Ocean's Keep behind us. It may take years, but we will discover the truth that lies in the depths.
And yet... I wonder if the mages are right.
Regards,
Jural, scholar of the Magitechnological Research Department

Type

Report, Scientific

Medium

Paper

Location

The Ocean's Keep