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| =Act I= | | =Act I= |
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| ==Letters of Exile== | | ==Letters of Exile== |
| | {{main|Letters of Exile}} |
| | Found in [[Lioneye's Watch]]. They contain information on when and for what an exile was sentenced. Clicking on the object repeatedly will rotate randomly between different exiles. |
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| There are 15 letter of exile located in the [[Act 1]] town [[Lioneye's Watch]]. They can be found immediately after you kill [[Hillock]] and enter the town. The letters cycle randomly each time you click the lore piece. The easiest way to make sure you've gotten all fifteen letter is to do them all before any other [[Act 1]] lore pieces. Check your achievement progress by pressing "H" and opening the "No Stone Unturned" Achievement tab, you should see 15/28 if you got all of them. Afterwards you can proceed to collect the rest of [[Act 1]]'s lore as you progress through the act. See [[Letters of Exile]] for a comprehensive list.
| | ==Weathered Carvings (Lavianga)== |
| | | {{main|Weathered Carving}} |
| ==Weathered Carvings== | | Found throughout [[Act 1]]. They tell of the Karui's attempt to settle in [[Wraeclast]], as told by Lavianga. |
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| There are 7 weathered carvings found throughout [[Act 1]]. These carvings provide insight into the Karui's attempt to settle in [[Wraeclast]] and the mysterious Black Spirit that consumed their king [[Kaom]] and eventually drove the Karui out of [[Wraeclast]].
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| ===Weathered Carving I===
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| The first carving is located in [[The Coast]].
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| ::''Kaom's canoe struck this sand with the force of destiny. At his back, the greatest war host in Karui history tamed the wild sea, their canoes coupling with the land, one by one.''
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| ::''Lioneye's Gemlings met us with shining metal and bold words. Hyrri's arrows withered their pride. Kaom's axes silenced their despair. Marceus Lioneye fought bravely, to the last. Kaom honoured him with a place on his belt.''
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| ::''Kaom has shown Wraeclast our Karui strength. Kaom will teach Wraeclast the Karui Way.''
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| ===Weathered Carving II===
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| The second carving is located in [[The Tidal Island]].
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| ::''Kaom has removed the Eternal stain from this coast. The Empire's citizens decorate our meeting houses with their heads. Our warriors build homes for our families. Our families till the earth, wish the waters, fill the air with song.''
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| ::''The Karui Way is yet a seedling here, but it grows, gains in pride and power every day. Kaom has kept his promise. The time of the Karui has come.''
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| ===Weathered Carving III===
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| The third carving is located in [[The Mud Flats]].
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| ::''Black storms descend on us from the North. Unnatural tempests of rage and hatred, lashing our backs, tearing at our houses. The rain is shot with shadow. It withers our crops, sickens our livestock.''
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| ::''And the wind... the wind carries with it a restless spirit that breeds melancholy and madness. A spirit that creeps through our dreams, weaves tales of misdeed around our resting minds. We try not to listen. We try to remember ourselves. Some of us forget.''
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| ::''Brothers fight. Brothers die. Kaom punishes those that quarrel, that steal, that murder. Yet still the nightmares goad us into malefaction.''
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| ::''We Karui are banished from sleep.''
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| ===Weathered Carving IV===
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| The fourth carving is located in [[The Ledge]].
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| ::''The earth of Wraeclast rejects the dead. The black spirit of storm and dream now reaches into the ground and rises up our slain imperial foes. It leads the fallen from their graves and drives them to fight us beyond the end, rotted tooth and jagged nail.''
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| ::''Our own Remembered have joined their cursed ranks. No longer may we give our beloved to the birds, messengers of spirit to the sky, conveyors of flesh to the earth. Kaom has commanded us to destroy our Remembered with axe and fire. Kaom is the bravest of us, willing to bear the ire of the Ancestors for the survival of his people.''
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| ===Weathered Carving V===
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| The fifth carving is located in [[The Climb]] near Lioneye's Standard.
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| ::''The black spirit infects living flesh and bone. The animals suffered first. Their bodies changed. Their eyes filled with a hatred of mankind that is beyond instinct.''
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| ::''Now it is we who must bend and bow like saplings before the seaborn gale. The firstborn of the Kingdom of Kaom has greeted us this day. The firstborn of the Kingdom of Kaom was buried this day. Even our children are not spared the black spirit's touch.''
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| ::''What have we done to enrage Wraeclast? We look to Kaom. Our King will lay the spirit of this land at peace.''
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| ===Weathered Carving VI===
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| The sixth carving is located in [[The Ship Graveyard]] next to the [[waypoint]] or [[Captain Fairgraves]].
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| ::''Kaom stands before us and looks out to the raging sea. He sings, calls, screams to our Ancestors to come to our aid. He offers them the Gifts of Old, a feast of heart and mind, muscle and marrow, cooked in the fire and rock of this angry land.''
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| ::''We have not practiced these ways in so many years. Only in the darkest of times, most desperate of times, do we perform these oldest of rituals. Only here and now may we sacrifice and consume our own. Only in our King can we trust this return to our ancient selves.''
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| ===Weathered Carving VII===
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| The seventh carving is also located in [[The Ship Graveyard]], usually near the ocean. It was previously located in [[The Coves]] before [[The Awakening]] expansion in which [[The Coves]] was removed from the game.
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| ::''Kaom is gone. Our King has taken our finest five hundred warriors and descended into the depths of Wraeclast. He spoke to us of a vision, a gift from the ancestors. Kaom has been deceived. The vision was a gift from the black spirit. It has conquered Kaom.. The black spirit has conquered the Karui Way.''
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| ::''Hyrri has made ready her canoes. We will take those that are left, five hundred forgotten families, and carry them back to their true homes. Back to Ngamakanui.''
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| ::''Kaom's promises have lead us into nightmare. Hyrii will lead us back to the dawn.''
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| ==Lioneye's Standard== | | ==Lioneye's Standard== |
| | | Found in [[The Climb]]. It marks where [[Marceus Lioneye]] commanded the Eternal Legion in what would be his last stand against the Karui. |
| Lioneye's Standard is located in [[The Climb]] on a small rise about halfway through the zone. The fifth weathered carving can usually be found nearby.
| | :''There is no Honour without Sacrifice.'' |
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| ::''There is no Honour without Sacrifice.''
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| ==Bronze Monograph==
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| Bronze Monograph is located in [[The Prison]], just before the entrance to the [[Trial of Piercing Truth]].
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| ==Shavronne's Journal== | | ==Shavronne's Journal== |
| | Found in [[The Warden's Quarters]]. |
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| Shavronne's Journal is located in [[The Upper Prison]] in [[The Warden's Quarters]]. It can be found on the path to [[Brutus]] where you first encounter [[Piety]].
| | :...still the Karui barbarians advance from the South. Lioneye is dead, his legion slaughtered. Should the need arise we shall retreat through Prisoner's Gate, raising my barricade behind us. But our Lord Brutus nears readiness. Foul times demand heroism. The Warden will serve as our saviour. May he crush the Karui into the sand with the mighty fists I shall gift to... |
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| ::''...still the Karui barbarians advance from the South. Lioneye is dead, his legion slaughtered. Should the need arise we shall retreat through Prisoner's Gate, raising my barricade behind us. But our Lord Brutus nears readiness. Foul times demand heroism. The Warden will serve as our saviour. May he crush the Karui into the sand with the mighty fists I shall gift to...'' | |
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| ==Letter of Instruction== | | ==Letter of Instruction== |
| | Found in [[The Warden's Quarters]]. |
| | :Dear Shavronne, |
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| Letter of Instruction is located in [[The Upper Prison]] in [[The Warden's Chambers]]. It can be found in the corridor after the fight with [[Brutus]].
| | :You have certainly had your work cut out for you with Lioneye's Legion. Do not concern yourself with Marceus' complaints. Our Emperor is fully aware of the General's fickle nature. |
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| ::''Dear Shavronne,''
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| ::''You have certainly had your work cut out for you with Lioneye's Legion. Do not concern yourself with Marceus' complaints. Our Emperor is fully aware of the General's fickle nature.''
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| ::''As to your need to accelerate the implantation process, I can recommend a quite simple alteration. Dip the gem in a boiling solution of six parts blood and one part thaumetic sulphite for no more than thirteen seconds. Any longer and you will invite the crystal's wrath.'' | | :As to your need to accelerate the implantation process, I can recommend a quite simple alteration. Dip the gem in a boiling solution of six parts blood and one part thaumetic sulphite for no more than thirteen seconds. Any longer and you invite the crystal's wrath. |
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| ::''Once the gem is withdrawn from the solution, you have but a few seconds to install the gem in the prepared flesh and close the wound. Should the gem cool too much prior to implantation, it will become inert and your patient with it.'' | | :Once the gem is withdrawn from the solution, you have but a few seconds to install the gem in the prepared flesh and close the wound. Should the gem cool too much prior to implantation, it will become inert and your patient with it. |
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| ::''Trust in that bountiful talent of yours, Shavronne. My thoughts are with you.'' | | :Trust in that bountiful talent of yours, Shavronne. My thoughts are with you. |
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| ::''Malachai'' | | :Malachai |
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| ==Sailor's Skin== | | ==Sailor's Skin== |
| | | Found in [[The Cavern of Wrath]]. |
| Sailor's Skin is located in [[the Cavern of Wrath]].
| | :Welcome, husband. We knew in our hearts that you would find us. Come, Daresso, Ambrosia and Amarissa must meet their father. Come, my love. Return to your family. |
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| ::''Welcome, husband. We knew in our hearts that you would find us. Come, Daresso, Ambrosia and Amarissa must meet their father. Come, my love. Return to your family.''
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| ==Damp Diary== | | ==Damp Diary== |
| | Found in [[Merveil's Lair]]. |
| | :Daresso gave me the gem, kissed me, promised that he would be by my side forever. I sang for him. I sang for Oriath with his gem at my throat. Kalisa's gem. Kalisa's voice. |
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| Damp Diary is located in [[the Cavern of Anger]].
| | :I sang in her echo, performing arias that had once made the Empire weep. I listened to Kalisa's lullabies in my dreams. I gave myself to her music. Mind...and body. |
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| ::''Daresso gave me the gem, kissed me, promised that he would be by my side forever. I sang for him. I sang for Oriath with his gem at my throat. Kalisa's gem. Kalisa's voice. ''
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| ::''I sang in her echo, performing arias that had once made the Empire weep. I listened to Kalisa's lullabies in my dreams. I gave myself to her music. Mind...and body.'' | |
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| ::''Daresso left me, for Sarn, with a promise to free me from Kalisa. I begged him not to go. Tried to show him the wonder of my transformation, the beautiful daughters he would soon meet. He couldn't see. None of them could see. I fled from their hatred.'' | | :Daresso left me, for Sarn, with a promise to free me from Kalisa. I begged him not to go. Tried to show him the wonder of my transformation, the beautiful daughters he would soon meet. He couldn't see. None of them could see. I fled from their hatred. |
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| ::''When Daresso returns I will cast his cure away. I will teach him what true love is.'' | | :When Daresso returns I will cast his cure away. I will teach him what true love is. |
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| =Act II= | | =Act II= |
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| ==Etchings on Wood== | | ==Etchings on Wood== |
| | | {{main|Etchings on Wood}} |
| All four etchings are found in [[The Crossroads]]. Etchings on Wood I and II are located in a ruined house next to the path between [[The Old Fields]] and the [[waypoint]]. Etchings on Wood III is found in a ruined mill next to the path between the [[waypoint]] and [[The Broken Bridge]]. Etchings on Wood IV is in what appears to be the remains of a church across the road from the mill.
| | Found throughout [[The Crossroads]]. |
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| ===Etchings on Wood I===
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| ::''I haven't slept. No-one has slept. Not for three days, not since the black storm in the northern ranges. Not since the nightmares began.''
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| ::''Violent and twisted night terrors. They whisper to us, tempt us, threaten us, beguile us. They promise terrible things in return for even more terrible acts.''
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| ::''My husband, Denirus, went to Alliston to find a doctor who might help. He should have been back yesterday. I fear for him. I fear for all of us.''
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| ::''-Tani''
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| ===Etchings on Wood II===
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| ::''It has been a little over a week since the black storm.''
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| ::''My husband has not returned and sickness now sweeps though our village. Many have died and those that lived have... changed.''
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| ::''These were folk we once called neighbour and friend. Now they limp and stagger through the night, their deformities as grotesque as the madness in their eyes.''
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| ::''-Tani''
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| ===Etchings on Wood III===
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| ::''The moon was full the night of the black storm. It is full again.''
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| ::''They have come for me. They have come for my daughters. Bravalo called out while the others skulked and muttered in the darkness. Corin went to them, arms open, welcoming. The nighmares told her to.''
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| ::''My uncle tried to stop her. Bravalo crushed his skull with his smith's hammer. I barred the doors and windows but they screamed like monkeys and beat themselves bloody trying to get in.''
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| ::''I had no choice. I took my two youngest and fled to the cellar, following the tunnel to the mill.''
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| ::''All we can do is hide and hope. God help us.''
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| ::''-Tani''
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| ===Etchings on Wood IV===
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| ::''Three lunari gone now, since it all began. Perhaps I am the only one who still looks upon Lunaris, who remembers her name. Soon, I will be gone and the moon will go on, alone.''
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| ::''My husband has returned and he hunts for me. My dead husband hunts me. Corin too, and my uncle. Corpses rise and walk and feed. My girls, they walk now... and feed.''
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| ::''God has forsaken us. Lunaris is my witness. Tonight, I return to my family.''
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| ::''-Tani''
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| ==Ancient Reverie Device== | | ==Ancient Reverie Device== |
| | Found in [[The Chamber of Sins Level 1]]. |
| | :Inquisitor, |
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| The Ancient Reverie Device is located in [[The Chamber of Sins]] Level 1. It can be found in the center of the zone in what appears to be a ruined map device room. The unique spider [[Black Death]] can be found nearby.
| | :If you attempt to transmogrify a virtue gem without the proper mental preparation, you will be a puppet master working strings made of vipers. Remember, these gems are phantasms in crystalline form, alive, with volitions inscrutable. Master conscious dreaming, as I instructed you. Your death would mean little to me, Maligaro. It's what your demise could unleash that concerns me. |
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| ::''Inquisitor,''
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| ::''If you were to attempt to transmogrify a virtue gem without the proper mental preparation, you will be a puppet master working strings made of vipers. Remember, these gems are phantasms in crystalline form, alive, with volitions inscrutable. Master conscious dreaming, as I instructed you. Your death means little to me, Maligaro. It's what your demise will unleash that concens me.'' | |
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| ::''Malachai, Thaumaturge Laureate to the Empire'' | | :Malachai |
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| ==Transmutia Device== | | ==Transmutia Device== |
| | Found in [[The Chamber of Sins Level 2]]. |
| | :I bequeath this Transmutia Device to you, Inquisitor Maligaro, in recognition of your devotion to our sublime Art. May it be the chariot that conveys your dreams into reality. |
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| The Transmutia Device can be found in the boss room in [[The Chamber of Sins Level 2]] behind [[Fidelitas]] and the Strange Device that drops the [[Baleful Gem]].
| | :Malachai, Thaumaturge Laureate to the Empire |
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| ::''I bequeath this Transmutia Device to you, Inquisitor Maligaro, in recognition of your devotion to our sublime Art. May it be the chariot that conveys your dreams into reality.''
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| ::''Malachai, Thaumaturge Laureate to the Empire''
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| ==Proclamation== | | ==Proclamation== |
| | Found in [[The Western Forest]]. |
| | :We, the Court of Reckoning find you, Doedre Stamatis, guilty of the following transgressions against God: |
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| The Proclamation can be found in [[The Western Forest]] surrounded by a circle of stones. The exact location is somewhat random, but it is usually close to the path slightly below the [[waypoint]].
| | :''Perversion of God's Creation'' |
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| ::''We, the Court of Reckoning find you, Doedre Stamatis, guilty of the following transgressions against God:''
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| ::''Perversion of God's Creation''
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| ::''Promotion of Heretical Beliefs''
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| ::''Unlawful Enslavement of Eternal Citizens''
| | :''Promotion of Heretical Beliefs'' |
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| ::''Torture of the Innocent''
| | :''Unlawful Enslavement of Eternal Citizens'' |
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| ::''Murder of the Servants of Purity''
| | :''Torture of the Innocent'' |
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| ::''For these most severe crimes, I do sentence Doedre Darktongue to burn at the stake till naught is left but ashes on the morrow, 4th Fiero of Verusi, 1334. May her life serve as penance for the lives she has taken, and let Purity sweep away the dust of her deeds from our firmament.''
| | :''Murder of the Servants of Purity'' |
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| ::''"Only will and truth can prevail over the evil of our own kin."'' | | :For these most severe crimes, I do sentence Doedre Darktongue to burn at the stake till naught is left but ash. May her life serve as penance for the lives she has taken, and let Purity sweep away the dust of her deeds from our firmament. |
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| ::''- Emperor Voll'' | | :- High Templar Voll, Commander of the Army of Purity |
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| ==Arteri's Letter== | | ==Arteri's Letter== |
| | Found in [[The Western Forest]]. |
| | :Arteri, my beautiful captain. |
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| Arteri's Letter can always be found in [[The Western Forest]] at the end of the road on a table next to the Blocked Pass and the unique boss [[Captain Arteri]].
| | :I wish it were not you, but I cannot bring myself to trust any other with this most vital of tasks. |
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| ::''Arteri, my beautiful captain.''
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| ::''I wish it were not you, but I cannot bring myself to trust any other with this most vital of tasks.''
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| ::''This is the only pass between the inner and outer Empire. No further exiles are to enter the inner Empire. We have material enough for our work.''
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| ::''Ensure that the barricade remains in place, and if any exile should somehow pass through, kill them.'' | | :This is the only pass between the inner and outer Empire. No further exiles are to enter the inner Empire. We have material enough for our work. |
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| ::''I will send for you when my work is complete in Sarn.'' | | :Ensure that the barricade remains in place, and if any exile should somehow pass through, kill them. |
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| ::''Until we share our next night together,'' | | :I will send for you when my work is complete in Sarn. |
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| ::''Piety'' | | :Until we share our next night together, |
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| ==Plaque==
| | :Piety |
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| The Plaque is located in [[The Fellshrine Ruins]] at the entrance to the ruined church. Following the path from [[The Crossroads]] all the way to the end will bring you directly to it.
| | ==Plaque (Fellshrine Ruins)== |
| | Found in [[The Fellshrine Ruins]]. |
| | :On this day, the 2nd Sacrato of Verusi, 1334 IC, the Army of Purity remembers its most devout and beloved servant, Archbishop Geofri of Phrecia. |
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| ::''On this day, the 2nd Sacrato of Verusi, 1334 IC, the Army of Purity remembers its most devout and beloved servant, Archbishop Geofri of Phrecia.'' | | :As spoken by Geofri: |
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| ::''"Only will and truth can prevail over the evil of our own kin."''
| | :''Only will and truth can prevail<br />over the evil of our own kin.'' |
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| ::''- Geofri'' | | :- High Templar Voll, commander of the Army of Purity |
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| =Act III= | | =Act III= |
| | ==Ancient Graffiti== |
| | {{main|Ancient Graffiti}} |
| | Found throughout [[Act 3]]. |
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| ==Official Orders== | | ==Official Orders== |
| Located in [[The Warehouse District]] near the [[Gemling Legionnaire]].
| | Found in [[The Warehouse District]]. |
| | :Captain Alsarus, |
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| ::''Captain Alsarus,'' | | :Remain in the warehouse until I personally send for you. In the unlikely event that Chitus should fall, you and your fellow legionnaires will be safely beyond the perimeter of his heart gem's influence. |
| ::''Remain in the warehouse until I personally send for you. In the unlikely event that Chitus should fall, you and your fellow legionnaires will be safely beyond the perimeter of his heart gem's influence.''
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| ::''Your men and women are my finest work yet. I would not lose you all to some aberration of chance.''
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| ::''Malachai, Thaumaturge Laureate''
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| ==Ancient Notebook==
| | :You men and women are my finest work yet. I would not lose you all to some aberration of chance. |
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| Ancient Notebook found in [[The Marketplace]].
| | :Malachai, Thaumaturge Laureate |
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| ::''I write this now in hope that someone will remain. Someone may remember. | | ==Ancient Notebook== |
| ::''This sun is an orb of blood. Twisted twilight shrouds my eyes. The air reeks of anguish. Zarn has plunged into nightmare.
| | Found in [[The Marketplace]]. |
| ::''The man who server me coffee now wriths on the floor. He rants visions he alone can see, as writhing red tentacles grow from his face, as if his eyes had been seeds waiting to sprout. He is quiet, now, my waiter. No more cackling and screaming. Dead.
| | :I write this now in hope that someone will remain. Someone may remember. |
| ::''Of my fellow partrons, only two live. The others have fallen. Their blood is everywhere. The survivors, Gemlings both... their skin shrivels and greys to the hue of necrocys. Their gems flare with unholy luster. Their eyes... black as... hatred.
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| ::''A gemling ghoul... it twisted off a corpse's head... gnaws at skull like dog. My head now... visions clawing at me... Thinking burns! I see... horror, envy the mute corpses at my... feet. Words flay me... flee me. All is madness!
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| ==Journal Entry==
| | :The sun is an orb of blood. Twisted twilight shrouds my eyes. The air reeks of anguish. Sarn has plunged into nightmare. |
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| Located in [[The Solaris Temple Level 2]] near [[Lady Dialla]] and [[The Eternal Laboratory]].
| | :The man who served me coffee now writhes on the floor. He rants of visions he alone can see, as writhing red tentacles grow from his face, as if his eyes had been seeds waiting to sprout. He is quiet, now, my waiter. No more cackling and screaming. Dead. |
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| ::''Malachai, 1st Caso of Divini, 1329 IC. | | :Of my fellow patrons, only two live. The others have fallen. Their blood is everywhere. The survivors, Gemlings both... their skin shrivels and greys to the hue of necrosis. Their gems flare with unholy lustre. Their eyes... black as... hatred. |
| ::''"Pretty as porcelain, but her mouth spins like the potter's wheel." That's how I once described Dialla. Yet on this day, my lady is as ravishing as a nightmare, radiant as the fullest moon.''
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| ::''Dialla is my Gemling Queen and we shall rule, side by side, over the world that will soon come to be.''
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| ::''-Malachai''
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| ==Reverie Device==
| | :A gemling ghoul... it twisted off a corpse's head... gnaws at skull like dog. My head now... visions clawing at me... Thinking burns! I see... horror, envy the mute corpses at my... feet. Words flay me... flee me. All is madness... |
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| Reverie Device found in [[The Eternal Laboratory]] in Normal or Cruel difficulties.
| | ==Journal Entry== |
| ::''I awoke, feverish, and barely conscious I set to drawing these maps through the sable hours. By morning my fingers ached, my eyes burned, yet still I found no rest. The Reverie commanded its rendering.'' | | Found in [[The Solaris Temple Level 2]]. |
| | :Malachai, 1st Caso of Divini, 1329 IC. |
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| ::''The Reverie Device now stands completed. I have placed the first of my maps within its receptacle. I have taken my maiden voyage into Nightmare.'' | | :"Pretty as porcelain, but her mouth spins like the potter's wheel." That's how I once described Dialla. Yet on this day, my lady is as ravishing as a nightmare, radiant as the fullest moon. |
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| ::''I know now that which sent me this precious gift. It knows me, expects my return. It would be foolish to disappoint.'' | | :Dialla is my Gemling Queen and we shall rule, side by side, over the world that will soon come to be. |
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| ::''- Malachai'' | | :- Malachai |
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| ==Malachai's Journal== | | ==Reverie Device== |
| | Found in [[The Eternal Laboratory]] on [[Normal]] and [[Cruel]] difficulty. |
| | :I awoke, feverish, and barely conscious I set to drawing these maps through the sable hours. By morning my fingers ached, my eyes burned, yet still I found no rest. The Reverie commanded its rendering. |
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| Malachai's Journal found in [[The Eternal Laboratory]] in Normal or Cruel difficulties.
| | :The Reverie Device now stands completed. I have placed the first of my maps within its receptacle. I have taken my maiden voyage into Nightmare. |
| ::''Tear down the walls that imprison the mind... that is what the gems do. That is their true 'virtue'.''
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| ::''The moment my fingertips brushed the cool, silken planes of that first gem, I felt it. My skull ached, as if its content were growing, pressed against the bone, searching for a way to break free.'' | | :I know now that which sent me this precious gift. It knows me, expects my return. It would be foolish to disappoint. |
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| ::''That night, once the wine had dulled the pain enough to allow the onset of sleep, the dreams began. I have not been without them since. Nor would I be. Every spark of thaumaturgy that I wield, every device that I forge, every creature that I transfigure. I owe to these lessons cloaked in Nightmare.'' | | :- Malachai |
| ::
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| ::''From whence do these precepts hail? Certainly not the mundane grey between my ears. I possess only one reference that bears faith. Translated with unquestionable clarity by that idiot savant, Icius Perandus. "The Beast". Doryani of the Vaal knew the truth. Soon now, so shall I.''
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|
| ::''- Malachai''
| | ==Malachai's Journal== |
| | | Found in [[The Eternal Laboratory]] on [[Normal]] and [[Cruel]] difficulty. |
| ==Letter to Chitus==
| | :Tear down the walls that imprison the mind... that is what the gems do. That is their true 'virtue'. |
| | |
| Located near the waypoint of [[The Sceptre of God]].
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| ::''My dear Chitus,''
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| ::''The Empire has lived in fear and ignorance since its inception. Our Azmeri ancestors, in their arrogance, turned their backs on the lessons of the Vaal.''
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| ::''The emperors before you lacked courage, lacked vision, paying lip service to 'Eternity' while scrabbling for approval and comfort within the prison of their meagre, mortal lives.''
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| ::''You are not one of those emperors. You are Chitus the Great, the man who will make this Empire truly understand the meaning of the word 'Eternal'.''
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| ::''We shall build this Thaumatocrazy together, my emperor, gem by gem, immortal by immortal.''
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| ::''Your devoted servant,''
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| ::''Malachai''
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| ==Plaque==
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| Located in [[The Sceptre of God]] right at the entrance from [[The Imperial Gardens]].
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| ::''Malachai
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| ::''Laureate Thaumaturge to the Eternal Empire''
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| ::''The Feather of Dreams''
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| ==Bronze Monograph==
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| ===The Crematorium===
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| ::''On the Night of a Thousand Ribbons, our finest city burned. It burned with fires lit by cruelty and neglect. It burned with shame for giving the title 'Emperor' to a man who did not deserve it.''
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| ===The Catacombs===
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| ::''An emperor cannot allow himself to become buried in the shadowed vaults of self-doubt.''
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| ::''Cannot allow thougths of imagined disasters to spin about inside his mind like so many strife-splintered wheels.''
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| ::''An emperor navigates his way through the terrors of perplexity with his eyes set firmly on the rising sun.''
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| ===The Hedge Maze===
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| ::''A leader cannot simply stride forward into the future and expect his people to be able to follow.''
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| ::''A leader must look over his shoulder so that he can witness and understand the consequences of the path he has chosen.''
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| ::''To ensure that his people are still with him. To ensure that he has not become lost.''
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| ==Ancient Graffiti==
| |
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| [[Ancient Graffiti]] is found in six different locations in [[Act 3]]. It can be inferred that this graffiti was written during The [[Purity Rebellion]].
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| ===Ancient Graffiti I===
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| Located in [[The City of Sarn]] somewhere along the walls near the water.
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| ::''Mortality is the mother of life. We have turned our backs on her.''
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| ===Ancient Graffiti II===
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| Located in [[The Slums]] in a seemingly random location.
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| ::''The Monkey King has built his throne on your back. A throne of gold and gem, polished with blood and tear. Throw off the Monkey King and his shining privy, before your back is broken.''
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| ===Ancient Graffiti III===
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| Located in [[The Warehouse District]] on one of the outside walls of the warehouses.
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| ::''The gemmed genteel are an infestation. They are the Monkey King's fleas that drink your lifeblood. Crush them in your work-forged hands!''
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| ===Ancient Graffiti IV===
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| Located in [[The Catacombs]] in a random location.
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| ::''There is nothing 'eternal' in this empire of ours but the names of our day that shall be revered or reviled in the centuries to come.''
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| ===Ancient Graffiti V===
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| Located in [[The Battlefront]].
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| ::''The Shadow whispers and simpers at the Monkey King's feet, but when the Monkey King puts his back into the Sun, it's the Shadow that leads the way.''
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| ===Ancient Graffiti VI===
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| Located on a random wall in [[The Docks]]
| | :The moment my fingertips brushed the cool, silken planes of that first gem, I felt it. My skull ached, as if its contents were growing, pressing against the bone, searching for a way to break free. |
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| ::''The Monkey King names you 'slave'. No. You are the gems of Wraeclast, not the treacherous stones you dig and die for. It's time to bend the Monkey King's ear. Tell him your true name.'' | | :That night, once the wine had dulled the pain enough to allow the onset of sleep, the dreams began. I have not been without them since. Nor would I be. Every spark of thaumaturgy that I wield, every device that I forge, every creature that I transfigure, I owe to these lessons cloaked in Nightmare. |
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| ==Library Books==
| | :From whence do these precepts hail? Certainly not the mundane grey between my ears. I possess only one reference that bears faith. Translated with unquestionable clarity by that idiot savant, Icius Perandus. "The Beast". Doryani of the Vaal knew the truth. Soon now, so shall I. |
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| These books are found randomly throughout [[The Library]]. Only a few will appear each instance so several searches of The Library will be needed to find them all.
| | :Malachai |
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| ===The Purity Chronicles===
| | ==The Purity Chronicles== |
| {{main|The Purity Chronicles}} | | {{main|The Purity Chronicles}} |
| | Can be found throughout [[The Library]] and [[The Archives]]. They tell of the Warriors of Purity and their insurrection against Emperor Chitus. |
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| Book 1: Embers of Insurrection
| | ==The Ancients== |
| ::''"He soared to power on the smoke of burning witches". So the surviving Gemlings whispered of Voll of Thebrus, as he donned the Imperial crown on the 2nd Sacrato of Phreci, 1334 IC. But in truth, he was never the sort of man to set a girl alight for merely reading a palm or remedying a bout of the clap.''
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| ::''Righteous and devoted to both faith and country, High Templar Voll struck little hardship in gathering others to his godly cause: Sarn's own Lord Mayor Ondar and Victario, the People's Poet; Archbishop Geofri of Phrecia; Governor Kastov of Stridevolf; and Commander Adus of Highgate. Together, these Warriors of Purity forged an uprising against the Gemling thaumatocracy that Voll hoped would "snatch this empire from the claws of devilry and return it to humanity".''
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| :::''- Garivaldi, Chronicler to the Empire''
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| Book 2: Bloody Flowers
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| ::''High Templar Voll had Victario entreat Thane Rigwald of Ezomyr, knowing that a poet would fare far better than any politician in rousing the romantic Ezomytes to rebellion. Stirred by Victario's empassioned words, Rigwald mustered his blood-bound clans, and on the 3rd Fiero of Dirivi 1333 IC, took to the fields of Glarryn in open rebellion against Governor Gaius Sentari.
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| ::''Such was the colourful splendour of a thousand tartans and banners that the Ezomyte uprising became know as "The Bloody Flowers' Rebellion". Though Sentari's Gemling legionnaires slew three Ezomytes for every one of their fallen, the Bloody Flowers won the day through sheer fury-driven courage.
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| ::''Governor Sentari fled to Sarn, only to return in Astrali with reinforcements drawn from the capital, Vastiri and southern garrisons. Little did Sentari know that, by so weakening those forces, he was playing right into Voll's hands.
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| :::''- Garivaldi, Chronicler to the Empire
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| Book 3: Fall of a Jade Axe
| |
| ::''In a man-to-man fight on open ground, a Gemling Legion would have slaughtered Kaom's Karui warriors like so many pigs in a pen. But Kaom had no intention of engaging Lioneye in a fair fight. By absorbing some heavy losses and feigning a chaotic retreat, Kaom drew Marceus into ordering his Gemlings to abandon their tower shields so that they might pursue and rout the fleeing Karui.
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| ::''It was not out of recklessness that Lioneye plucked such a decision, but from the experience-born confidence that the Karui did not have archers. Traditionally, Karui warriors are forbidden from using projectile weapons of any kind. What Lioneye understandably overlooked was that this tavukai (sacred prohibition) did not extend to women. At her uncle's behest, Hyrri had traveled to Thebrus and studied archery with Voll's finest military tutors. When the legionnaires shed protection in favour of mobility, Hyrri and her bow-women broke cover and rained death upon the Gemlings from the cliffs above.
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| ::''A valiant Marceus Lioneye gathered his surviving legionnaires for a final stand within the walls of Lioneye's Watch. Kaom honoured his bravery by wearing Marceus' bejeweled head upon his belt from that day on.
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| ::''Having secured a safe harbour for landing reinforcements, Kaom continued his conquest of the coast, slaughtering the Eternal citizens and clearing the way for the first ever settlement of Karui upon the Wraeclastian mainland.
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| ::''- Garivaldi, Chronicler to the Empire
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| Book 4: The Red Sekhema's Saddle
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| ::''In return for her military support in the rebellion, Voll promised Sekhema Deshret the return of the Maraketh grazing lands stolen during the imperial conquest of the Vastiri Plains. The Red Sekhema agreed on one condition, that she might have Hector Titucius' skin with which to fashion a rhoa saddle.
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| ::''To this end, Voll and Deshret engineered a trap for General Titucius and his Vastiri Legion. The Maraketh had long been able to predict the comings and goings of the vast and vicious dust storms that constantly plague the plains. Deshret located one such fledgling maelstrom within a day's march of Titucius' camp. For his part, Voll identified a number of imperial spies amongst the Maraketh and fed them false information regarding a potential tribal uprising. Taking the bait, Titucius had his Gemling legion surround the supplied location, thus placing himself squarely in the path of Deshret's dust storm.
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| ::''On the third Galvano of Vitali 1333 IC, the tempest descended upon Titucius' legion with blinding, deafening ferocity. Deshret's akhara, born and raised in dust and wind, swept through the legion, harvesting it like a field of ripe corn. Once storm and Maraketh fury had abated, the Vastiri Legion existed only as a multitude of dust-cloaked mounds. The Red Sekhema claimed her prize and it is said that there is no more comfortable saddle in all of Vastiri than Deshret's.
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| ::''- Garivaldi, Chronicler to the Empire
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| Book 5: The Emperor is dead. Long live the Emperor!
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| ::''On the last day of Divini 1334 IC, High Templar Voll laid siege to Sarn, his ranks swelled by Ezomyte, Karui and Maraketh rebels under the respective leaderships of Thane Rigwald, Hyrri of Ngamakanui and Sekhema Deshret. Emperor Chitus rallied his freshly minted Gemling Legionnaires and, for a time, looked set to execute an effective defence of the capital. But his efforts were cut short by his closest advisor and friend, Lord Mayor Ondar.
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| ::''During the celebration of the Night of a Thousand Ribbons, Ondar struck Chitus down with blades tainted with the most virulent of poisons. Yet the emperor's inhuman constitution served him to the very last. Taking up his axe, Chitus cleaved Ondar in twain before expiring himself, in a visceral and calamitous display of thaumaturgy.
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| ::''Malachai, Thaumaturge Laureate, and his gemling consort, Lady Dialla, were captured by Victario Nevalius' citizen revolutionaries shortly thereafter. With their leadership either dead or detained, the gemling aristocracy of Sarn had no choice but to offer the city's surrender.
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| ::''Voll and his Army of Purity marched through the gates of the capital and the following day, the High Templar was crowned Emperor Voll the First.
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| ::''- Garivaldi, Chronicler to the Empire
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| Book 6: The Rapture Device
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| ::''Voll condemned Malachai to consigned to the Crematorium for 'living conflagration', but it seems that Malachai's promises have saved him from the pyre. "An end to thaumaturgy," he claims. A fancy that our Emperor is willing to humour.
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| ::''For weeks now, Malachai has been consigned to the Solaris, forging a mechanism that will purge Wraeclast of its otherworldly vices. Today, the first Fiero of Eterni 1336 IC, Malachai and his Gemling Queen gripped each one corner of a silken mantle and unveiled his Rapture Device. Like a pit of copper snakes it writhes before the eyes. Whether it is a miracle or a monstrosity, none but Malachai can say. Yet tomorrow Voll shall lead the Highgate Legion home, conveying Malachai, Lady Dialla, and this bewildering apparatus north.
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| ::''North, from whence the first Gems came. From whence the nightmare of Chitus' thaumatocracy was born.
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| ::''It is in Highgate that our Emperor Voll will finish what he started. He will burn Chitus' empire from history and raise up a fresh and pure theocracy from the ashes of arrogance and corruption.
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| ::''God be with you, Voll of Thebrus, and with us all.
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| ::''- Garivaldi, Chronicler to the Empire
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| ===The Ancients===
| |
| {{main|The Ancients}} | | {{main|The Ancients}} |
| | Can be found throughout [[The Library]] and [[The Archives]]. They tell of the fall of the Vaal Empire and the rise of the Eternal Empire. |
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| Book 1: Last of the Vaal Queens
| | ==Victario's Writings== |
| ::''It has been written of Queen Atziri that her throne room was lined with mirrors and that she held court naked, demanding the same of those wishing her audience. The theory was that a naked man had nothing to hide, but one might easily venture that Atziri utilised her striking physical presence to influence courtly engagements in her favour.''
| | {{main|Victario's Writings}} |
| | Can be found throughout [[The Library]] and [[The Archives]]. They contain anecdotes and allegory written by the poet Victario of Sarn. |
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| ::''A woman like Atziri, beautiful and naked, would be very difficult to refuse. The few statuettes and reliefs that remain depict her as a rare beauty, a young woman with exquisitely delicate features, large, mesmerizing eyes, and a full figure of intoxicating sensuality. Whether the depictions are realist or interpretive is unfortunately impossible to corroborate.''
| | ==Dark Tome== |
| | {{main|Unbearable Whispers}} |
| | Found in [[The Library]] with the {{il|Unbearable Whispers I}} prophecy. |
| | :My Council, |
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|
| ::''But who was the woman behind the title? The few surviving accounts on this matter contain two schools of thought on the matter. Some speak of Atziri with adoration, touting her as a visionary, the woman who would lead the Vaal into a brighter future. Others are less kind, suggesting that Atziri's love for herself overshadowed any love for her people. If her court of mirrors truly existed, however, then the latter seems more likely. Vanity, after all, is the most insidious of all Sins.'' | | :The sky turns black as ink. |
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| ::''Only one thing can be said for certain of Atziri: she was the last Queen of the Vaal. The trail of history ends during her reign, some four hundred years preceding the Imperialus Conceptus.'' | | :We must gather at once, for I fear the end draws close. |
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| :::''- Trinian - Intellectus Prime | | :I have uncovered a tome that illustrates certain forbidden techniques used to prolong life far beyond ordinary means. We shall fracture our very souls, and keep safe a piece of one another's very being. With this, none of us may perish unless all of us perish at once. |
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| Book 2: Zerphi the Murderer
| | :It is not without a cost, for life granted requires life be paid, but it need not be any of ours. Bring your most loyal and healthy retainers, and bid the rest farewell, for we shall not see them again. |
| ::''It is said the Vaalish noble, Zerphi, lived for 168 years. That is more than three times the current imperial average. Were this the only unusual attribute of an otherwise uneventful life, Zerphi might have have been cast into the back corner of history to gather dust with the other inexplicable anomalies. But his life was anything but uneventful.''
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| ::''Zerphi was the Vaal civilisation's most infamous serial killer. Over a period of 128 years, Zerphi abducted, tortured and murdered thirteen victims. All in their twentieth year of life. All of noble descent. All Gemlings. But this feat alone did not catapult Zerphi into the annals of history. Rather, it was the quality of his heinous acts that set him apart, not the quantity.'' | | :Make haste and do not speak of where you are going. Immortality is within our grasp, but there are countless who would risk death - who would kill - for a chance at eternal life. |
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| ::''Evidently, Zerphi was a master at inflicting the most prolonged and agonising demise. His victims' bodies were found in a state of horrific mutilation, yet post-mortem analysis revealed that all of the physical trauma infilcted had occurred while the victim was still alive. Some sources claim that the techniques of torture were so refined that he was able to inflict the most intense and lasting pain the human body is capable of sustaining.'' | | :-Inya |
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| ::''Then we come to the curious matter of Zerphi's death which, as so often occurs with historical investigation, brings us back to where we started. Zerphi was finally found at the side of his thirteenth and final victim, who was unmolested and unmutilated. Simply dead. When the centenarian's body was committed to autopsy, the recorded results are mystifying in the extreme. It is claimed that Zerphi did not possess the body of a 168-year-old, rather that his corpse had the physiognomy of a man of twenty years, no more.''
| | ==Letter to Chitus== |
| | | Found in [[The Sceptre of God]]. |
| ::''Life and Death have walked hand in hand since the beginning of Time. Could Zerphi have persuaded them to kiss?''
| | :My dear Chitus, |
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| :::''- Trinian - Intellectus Prime
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| Book 3: The Queen's Thaumaturgist
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| ::''In a culture festooned with gems and steeped in thaumaturgy, Doryani must have had quite the exceptional mind to rise to such preeminence as he did. Or perhaps he was simply more ruthless than his counterparts. Such is the impression one tends to garner from the accounts written of events following Zerphi's death.''
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| ::''Atziri's orders are quoted in a number of different texts. Doryani was "to make any effort within the realms of possibility, and to act without fear of question or consequence". And to what was Doryani expected to apply this supreme effort? The investigation of Zephri's longevity and youthful vitality.''
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| ::''There is a particularly chilling manifest, containing endless lists of names, page upon page. The names of young men and women, ranging in age from sixteen to twenty-six, sent to Doryani for "processing". Only those of "full and recent maturity" were deemed capable of accommodating the "necessary procedures" required without succumbing to "premature expiration".''
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| ::''Yes, Queen Atziri was prepared to slaughter her own people in the desperate pursuit of perpetual youth and beauty. Vanity, indeed, is the most insidious of all Sins.''
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| :::''- Trinian - Intellectus Prime
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| Book 4: Raising the Azmeri
| |
| ::''Drain a cup of Azmerian tea and then try to read your future in the leaves. You'll find that your Vaalish will come in mighty handy. Our literature was conceived and born within the Azmeri's cultural marriage with the Vaal.''
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| ::''Prior to Vaal contact some 2500 years ago, the Azmerian culture had a purely oral tradition of story and record keeping. Afterwards, their literary culture blossomed, along with just about every other aspect of their fledgling civilisation. From the moment the first Vaalish embassadors set foot upon the rugged slopes of the Azmerian Ranges, the Vaal civilisation held the hand of the Azmeri as they grew from a primitive tribal existence into a cohesive culture of settlement and agriculture.''
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| ::''Yet while the Vaal were generous with their knowledge and guidance in many areas, there is one subject upon which they were notably silent: the Tears of Maji, now known as Virtue Gems. Despite an exhaustive search, neither account nor passing reference can be found regarding gem usage amongst the early Azmeri. Though they described the Vaal as having flesh adorned with glittering crystals, our Azmerian ancestors were never privy to the gems' potentials or powers.''
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| ::''At least, not until the first Vaal refugees came knocking five hundred years later.''
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| :::''- Trinian - Intellectus Prime
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| Book 5: The Fall
| |
| ::''The Vaal. Thousands of years in the making. Gone in a blink of Solaris' burning eyes. The Azmeri tell of the Vaalish immigration with equal measures of pity and horror. Small bands of tattered, shambling survivors, bereft of their families, their wealth, and in many cases, their sanity. They were welcomed, and cared for, but none could give the Azmeri the one thing they sought in return. None could tell them how the Vaal realm came to such a sudden and catastrophic end. An apocalypse that came to be known as The Fall.''
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| | |
| ::''The number 3126 is forever burned into Azmerian history. Three thousand one hundred and twenty-six: the number of Vaal refugees who came to live with and eventually become absorbed into the Azmerian people.''
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| ::''Three thousand one hundred and twenty-six survivors from a civilisation counting in its millions.''
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| :::''- Trinian - Intellectus Prime
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| Book 6: Imperialus Conceptus
| |
| ::''Tarcus Veruso descended from the mountains and his eighty thousand tribesmen and women through the doomlands to Azala Vaal. There he planted his banner upon Atziri's grave and with these words founded our great and eternal empire.''
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| ::''"The Vaal closed their eyes to flesh and stone, to blood and bronze. We are not Vaal. We are Azmeri. For now and forever, our eyes are open."''
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| ::''Veruso built his capital upon the bones of Azala Vaal and baptized it Sarn. From there, Veruso formed the first Legions and proceeded to conquer the lands beneath the Mantle, clearing it of the mindless constructs and fierce abominations left in the wake of The Fall.''
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| ::''True to his word, Veruso ensured that his people lived "with eyes open". The ancient Vaalish centres of learning and power were sealed and quarantined. Thaumaturgy was outlawed and those who stained themselves with Vaalish folly were burned for their sin. The Tears of the Maji, too dangerous to be destroyed, were gathered up, taken to Highgate, and buried within the bowels of the mountains. The caverns there were sealed and forgotten. ''
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| | |
| ::''A supreme effort to erase the past. A primitive reaction born of primitive times, in the opinion of this humble historian.''
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| :::''- Trinian - Intellectus Prime
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| Book 7: The Light of Phrecia
| |
| ::''Five years after his father's death, Emperor Caspiro, too, was dead. Although accounts of the exact details differ, one clear fact is agreed upon. Caspiro was dismembered by something referred to simply as a dark being.''
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| ::''It was General Alano Phrecia who avenged the Emperor's death and who triumphed in driving away the pervasive darkness enveloping what would become the imperial heartlands. Though it seems fanciful to contemplate a portion of our Empire cast in perpetual night, Azmerian writers of the time are unified in their depiction. Perhaps it was caused by peculiar weather patterns or some thaumaturgical residue of The Fall. On this matter, this humble historian is left in the uncomfortable state of pure conjecture.''
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| ::''On the first Sacrato of Lurici, 35 I.C., Alano himself wrote that "our legions drove the dark being deep into the recesses of its lair and sealed it away for eternity". Having returned the gaze of Solaris to those lands stretching from the foot of the Mantle to the Axiom Ranges, Alano Phrecia returned to Sarn. In the absence of a clear Veruso succession, Alano was crowned emperor and the Imperial heartlands were named in his honour.''
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| ::''With the former realm of the Vaal thus tamed and settled by our Azmerian ancestors, the Eternal Empire saw a long period of peace and prosperity under an unbroken line of Phrecia emperors.''
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| ::''"To care for this Empire with eyes open." - A traditional vow made by the High Templar upon the coronation of an Eternal Emperor.''
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| :::''- Trinian - Intellectus Prime
| |
| | |
| ===Victario's Writings=== | |
| {{main|Victario's Writings}}
| |
| | |
| Book 1: Kalisa Maas
| |
| ::''I never really understood Brektov's work. Just a mess of trills and squeaky highs to my commoner ears. But that was before Kalisa Maas. From the very first note, her voice reached into my chest and plucked my beating heart from its cage. By the wide, glistening eyes of my fellow punters, I knew that they felt it too.''
| |
| ::''I've previously stolen a quick nap during the aria that precedes Antonio's disemboweling. Not tonight. The gem at Kalisa's throat sparkled with starlight brilliance as her C sharp shattered every pane of glass in the auditorium. An emergency intermission was called while the stage crew repaired the floods and cans, and a pair of physicians saw to those audience members lacerated by falling splinters.''
| |
| ::''Now, my suspicion of the Virtue Gems is well-documented. Though general and courtier might fall over each other to have Malachai embed them with these miraculous crystals, it is a travesty of justice that the legionnaires and workers of this empire should have such mutilations forced upon them.''
| |
| ::''Yet, in Kalisa Maas I've seen how these gems may rend apart our mortal bonds and permit our imaginations and souls to truly shine.''
| |
| ::''I'm adrift in the quandary, no oar in sight. Is Kalisa the Artist or the Art? Is she the same woman I knew before, the young bundle of talent and timidity I had no choice but to adore? Is she still, in fact, a woman at all?''
| |
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| :::''- Victario of Sarn
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| Book 2: The Blackest Monkey
| |
| ::''The Monkey King was enjoying an afternoon amble along the riverbank when, upon looking over his hairy shoulder, he noticed the Blackest Monkey he'd ever seen ambling along behind him.''
| |
| ::''"Why do you follow me?" the Monkey King demanded of the Blackest Monkey, for he did not appreciate uninvited followings, especially on his riverbank amblings.''
| |
| ::''"So that I might go where you go, be where you be, my King," answered the Blackest Monkey.''
| |
| ::''"And what if I do not want you to go where I go, be where I be?" clamored the irritated Monkey King with a spit and a gibber.''
| |
| ::''"Wanting and having are not the same, my King" answered the Blackest Monkey in a voice as smooth as banana juice.''
| |
| ::''"I am the Monkey King! I do as I wish!" cried the now furious Monkey King with much shrieking and frothing.''
| |
| ::''"Wishing and doing are not the same, my King," answered the Blackest Monkey in a voice as silken as butterfly wings.''
| |
| ::''Too wild to even spit or gibber, to shriek or froth, the Monkey King took to his heels and ran. Along the riverbank he raced, faster than the water, faster than the wind, faster than thought, for he was the Monkey King, and all know that the Monkey King has the fleetest feet in all the land.''
| |
| ::''He ran to the end of the river, and then to the end of the mountains, and then to the end of the clouds, and then to the End of the World.''
| |
| ::''And who should be there, waiting at his King's feet at the End of the World, but the Blackest Monkey the king had ever seen.''
| |
| ::''"Why do you follow me?" the Monkey King begged of him.''
| |
| ::''"Have you ever been to the End of the World before, my King?" asked the Blackest Monkey.''
| |
| ::''"No, I have not." realized the Monkey King.'' | |
| ::''"There is my reason to go where you go, be where you be, my King," concluded the Blackest Monkey in a voice as warm and welcoming as death.''
| |
|
| |
|
| :::''- Victario of Sarn | | :The Empire has lived in fear and ignorance since its inception. Our Azmeri ancestors, in their arrogance, turned their backs on the lessons of the Vaal. |
|
| |
|
| Book 3: Slaves of Virtue
| | :The emperors before you lacked courage, lacked vision, paying lip service to 'Eternity' while scrabbling for approval and comfort within the prison of their meagre, mortal lives. |
| ::''Another shipment of human picks and shovels, bound for Highgate. Ezomytes mostly, care of Gaius Sentari's "civilization camps". A few dark skins here and there, Karui and Maraketh. Malachai has had his wicked way with all.''
| |
| ::''Limbs are stretched, contorted, double and triple jointed. All the better to pluck gems from the cracks and fissures of their home and tomb to be. They squint and cower in the sun, their eyeballs injected with gloom so that they might see in the subterranean night as they would in their warm, homeland day.''
| |
| ::''The shackled slaves shuffle north as the gems they mine tumble south, a glittering landslide of power and privilege for the fairest of our Eternal citizens. Civilization is bought and paid for with the flesh and blood of the primitive. It is a debt that will one day need to be repaid.''
| |
|
| |
|
| :::''- Victario of Sarn | | :You are not one of those emperors. You are Chitus the Great, the man who will make this Empire truly understand the meaning of the word 'Eternal'. |
|
| |
|
| Book 4: A Friend in Need
| | :We shall build this Thaumatocracy together, my emperor, gem by gem, immortal by immortal. |
| ::''It's one of those summer days in Sarn, when the sweat dries on your skin the moment it dares slither from your pores. Lorenzi and I are sipping coffees, iced with cubes from the North. There's a tremor in his voice as announces that he is going to see Malachai tonight, to have a gem implanted in his hand. The palm of his left hand to be exact. Once I run out of expletives and paused for breath while the waiter wipes spilled coffee from our table, I manage to ask him why. "So that I might have the fastest fingers in the Empire," is his reply. Lorenzi, first violinist of the Sarn Symphonic, and my dear friend, is going to become a Gemling.
| |
|
| |
|
| ::''Ten days pass and Lorenzi's hand is healed. He plays for me, a piece that he has written during his convalescence, something he will debut this evening in God's Theatre. The gem casts a bloody hue over his violin as his fingers fly across the strings. They are an ephemeral blur, too quick for eye or mind to follow. And the music... there's only one experience in my life that compares. The night I had with Marylene before she died. | | :Your devoted servant, |
|
| |
|
| ::''It has been a month now, and once again Lorenzi and I sip iced coffees together in the Perandus Markets. Though we only sit a narrow table apart, Lorenzi is a world away. The nightmares began a couple of weeks back. He toys absently with the vial that I have bought for him from the apothecary, yet I know he won't drink from it. The soothing of his wits will mean the slowing of his fingers. The music is Lorenzi's life, and to Lorenzi, the music and the gem are one and the same. | | :Malachai |
|
| |
|
| ::''A year has gone, and the day is once again hot enough to dry the sweat on my skin the moment it dares slither from my pores. I sip an iced coffee and think of Lorenzi. He played last night, in God's Theatre. Fleet, furious, and wondrous, he was. We passed in the foyer, and I looked into his grey face, his pale blue eyes. I don't know what he saw, but it wasn't me. I don't know what I saw either, but it wasn't Lorenzi.
| | ==Plaque (Sceptre of God)== |
| | Found in [[The Sceptre of God]]. |
| | :Malachai |
|
| |
|
| :::''- Victario of Sarn | | :Laureate Thaumaturge to the Eternal Empire<br />The Father of Dreams |
|
| |
|
| =Act IV= | | =Act IV= |
|
| |
| ==Note== | | ==Note== |
| | Found in [[The Aqueduct]]. |
| | :Captain Vincenti, |
|
| |
|
| Located in [[The Aqueduct]] on the left path near the [[Highgate]] entrance.
| | :The Highgate holds the secret to the true origin of the gems. Cleanse the mountain of those Maraketh parasites and secure the entrance to those Mines. |
| | |
| ::''Captain Vincenti''
| |
| | |
| ::''The Highgate holds the secrets to the true origin of the gems. Cleanse the mountain of those Maraketh parasites and secure the entrance to those mines.''
| |
|
| |
|
| ::''Do not disappoint me, Vincenti. As you well know, my displeasure can change a man.'' | | :Do not disappoint me, Vincenti. As you well know, my displeasure can change a man. |
|
| |
|
| ::''-Piety'' | | :-Piety |
|
| |
|
| ==Voll's Confession== | | ==Voll's Confession== |
| | Found in [[The Dried Lake]]. |
| | :I vowed to "care for this empire with my eyes open". I lied to my people. I lied to myself. Blinded by my lust for 'purity', I placed my faith in the most corrupt of men. |
|
| |
|
| Located in [[The Dried Lake]] in [[Voll, Emperor of Purity]]'s camp.
| | :I watch now as my legion dies, their flesh melting from their twisted bones. They fall...and rise. A tide of mortal death and eternal damnation. |
| | |
| ::''I vowed to "care for this empire with my eyes open". I lied to my people. I lied to myself. Blinded by my lust for 'purity', I placed my faith in the most corrupt of men.''
| |
| | |
| ::''I watch now as my legion dies, their flesh melting from their twisted bones. They fall... and rise. A tide of mortal death and eternal damnation.''
| |
|
| |
|
| ::''I feel it now in my own flesh. The heat. The corruption.'' | | :I feel it now in my own flesh. The heat. The corruption. |
|
| |
|
| ::''I have failed you, my Empire of Purity. Do not forgive me, but please, I beg of you, survive me.'' | | :I have failed you, my Empire of Purity. Do not forgive me but please, I beg of you, survive me. |
|
| |
|
| ::''-Voll''
| | :''-Voll'' |
|
| |
|
| ==Malachai's Notebook== | | ==Malachai's Notebook== |
| | Found in [[The Crystal Veins]]. |
| | :The Rapture Device has absorbed its fill of harvested life from Fury and Desire. It is ready. |
|
| |
|
| Located in [[The Crystal Veins]] in a corner near the [[waypoint]] and The Rapture Device.
| | :So am I. |
| | |
| ::''The Rapture Device has absorbed its fill of harvested life from Fury and Desire. It is ready.''
| |
| | |
| ::''So am I.''
| |
| | |
| ::''I know now that I was born to be the end and the beginning of the Empire. The Beast has made this clear to me. As clear and undeniable as the sacrifice I must now make.''
| |
| | |
| ::''My Lady Dialla, my love, my life's greatest achievement. She must leave me now, for she cannot follow and she will perish if she remains.''
| |
| | |
| ::''And so I will ask of her more than she would ever give. I will betray her. I will break her heart, so that I do not break her soul.''
| |
| | |
| ==Weathered Carvings==
| |
| | |
| More Weathered Carvings appear in [[Act 4]] similar to the ones found in [[Act 1]]. These carvings are written by [[King Kaom]] himself and give us a rare look into Kaom's own mind. These carvings are all found within [[Kaom's Dream]], [[Kaom's Path]], and [[Kaom's Stronghold]].
| |
| | |
| ===Weathered Carving VIII===
| |
| | |
| The eighth carving is found almost immediately after entering [[Kaom's Dream]].
| |
| | |
| ::''I dreamed of my Ancestor's halls. They were empty.''
| |
| | |
| ::''I dreamed of the north, of an offering left to us by Tukohama, an offering that will save the Karui. I needed only to take it.''
| |
| | |
| ::''I gathered my finest five hundred. I brought them here. I claimed what Tukohama had promised me.''
| |
| | |
| ===Weathered Carving IX===
| |
| | |
| The ninth carving is located at the beginning of [[Kaom's Dream]].
| |
| | |
| ::''We crushed the servants of Kitava beneath our heels as we marched across the land. I allowed not one of my five hundred to fall. The blood of the Ancestors surged in our veins and each and every one of my warriors earned Tukohama's mark upon their skin.''
| |
| | |
| ::''We descended into the heart of Wraeclast, and there He came to me. Tukohama. He asked of me a sacrifice. I gave it willingly. My axe fell five hundred times, the jade drinking its fill of Karui blood.''
| |
| | |
| ::''Tukohama was pleased.''
| |
| | |
| ===Weathered Carving X===
| |
| | |
| The tenth carving is also located at the beginning of its respective zone, [[Kaom's Stronghold]]. It is directly next to the [[waypoint]].
| |
| | |
| ::''The Eternals opened the gate and invited Kitava into this land. The Karui paid the price.''
| |
| | |
| ::''Kitava cut us off from the Ancestors, raised the remembed as His children, tortured our dreams.''
| |
| | |
| ::''Kitava murdered the Karui Way. I will found a new Way, for I have been chosen. I gather my forces so that I might wage war on Kitava. I am the son of Tukohama, and I will lead the Karui back to glory.''
| |
| | |
| ===Weathered Carving XI===
| |
| | |
| The eleventh carving is also found in [[Kaom's Stronghold]] close to the end of the zone. It should be somewhere around the beginning of the bridge leading to The Caldera of the King.
| |
| | |
| ::''The moment your skin touched the corrupted soil of Wraeclast, you were infected. Kitava has soaked this land in his filth. I will crush the corruption from your bones, drain your black blood upon this sacred ground.''
| |
| | |
| ::''Brothers and sisters, I honour you with a warrior's death. Your spirits will fight by my side when we march against Kitava. You will be given in service to Tukohama.''
| |
| | |
| ::''You will be remembered with glory.''
| |
| | |
| ==Grand Arena Plaques==
| |
| | |
| There are three plaques found throughout [[The Grand Arena]] that give us further insight into [[Daresso, King of Swords]]' origin and his relationship with [[Merveil]]. [[The Grand Arena]] is a very linear zone, and all three plaques can easily be found in the passageways between each arena in the zone.
| |
| | |
| ===Plaque I===
| |
| | |
| ::''At age thirteen, carving knife in hand, I killed beasts for the amusement of the filthy. At fifteen, they thought me worthy to fight a fellow man.''
| |
| | |
| ::''A butcher he was, twice as big and twice as stupid as I. I butchered the butcher and many like him, earned my way, kill by kill, out of the offal pit and into the Grand Arena.''
| |
| | |
| ::''I thought I would find wealth and glory in the arena. I was wrong. I found something far more precious. My Lady Merveil.''
| |
| | |
| ===Plaque II===
| |
| | |
| ::''I knelt in the sand of the Grand Arena, awaiting the killing blow. I raised my eyes to look upon my death.''
| |
| | |
| ::''Instead, I saw her. Merveil. Her beautiful eyes met mine, and I knew that she saw me too. I turned my opponent's strike and killed the man with his own dagger.''
| |
| | |
| ::''Fighting had always been about survival. The primal instinct to kill or be killed. Now the fight became about something else. Love.''
| |
| | |
| ===Plaque III===
| |
|
| |
|
| ::''The previous King of Swords was a giant of a man, both faster and stronger than I. Yet I needed only look up at my Lady Merveil to know that I had no choice. I could not die this day.'' | | :I know now that I was born to be the end and the beginning of the Empire. The Beast has made this clear to me. As clear and undeniable as the sacrifice I must now make. |
|
| |
|
| ::''I made him shiver under ever parry, striking with all my might, so that my arms felt they might snap with every impact. All the while, I studied his face, watching for that moment when he began to doubt. It took an hour, but finally it was there.'' | | :My Lady Dialla, my love, my life's greatest achievement. She must leave me now, for she cannot follow and she will perish if she remains. |
|
| |
|
| ::''Burning with pain, empty with exhaustion, I stepped inside his faltering swing and I slit the giant's throat.'' | | :And so I will ask of her more than she would ever give. I will betray her. I will break her heart so that I do not break her soul. |
|
| |
|
| ::''I did not take my victory bow. I knelt in the sand, looked to Merveil, and cried out for my Lady's hand in marriage.''
| | ==Weathered Carvings (Kaom)== |
| | {{main|Weathered Carving}} |
| | Found throughout [[Kaom's Dream]] and [[Kaom's Stronghold]]. They tell of the Karui's attempt to conquer [[Wraeclast]], as told by [[Kaom]]. |
|
| |
|
| ::''From that day forth, I wore the Crown of Swords upon my head and a ring of eternal love upon my finger.''
| | ==Plaques (Grand Arena)== |
| | {{main|Plaque (Grand Arena)}} |
| | Found throughout [[The Grand Arena]]. They tell of [[Daresso]]'s youth and his love for [[Merveil]]. |
|
| |
|
| ==Malachai's Dedication== | | ==Malachai's Dedication== |
| | Found in [[The Harvest]] |
| | :On this day, the eve of this Rapture's completion, I honour those who have passed and whose passion and knowledge have brought us to the brink of salvation. |
|
| |
|
| Malachai's dedication can be found in [[The Harvest]]. Once you reach the [[waypoint]], take the left path and you should come across an intersection with the Dedication in it.
| | :Inquisitor Maligaro, a creative force without equal. |
| | |
| ::''On this day, the eve of this Rapture's completion, I honour those who have passed and whose passion and knowledge have brought us to the brink of salvation.''
| |
| | |
| ::''Inquisitor Maligaro, a creative force without equal.''
| |
|
| |
|
| ::''Shavronne of Umbra, an aesthete of transcendent sensibility.'' | | :Shavronne of Umbra, an aesthete of transcendent sensibility. |
|
| |
|
| ::''Doedre Darktongue, an idol of fervor and dedication.'' | | :Doedre Darktongue, an idol of fervor and dedication. |
|
| |
|
| ::''You taught me far more than I ever taught you, my students... my friends. We strove to make a greater world together and, in your memory, I shall make that world a reality.'' | | :You taught me far more than I ever taught you, my students... my friends. We strove to make a greater world together and, in your memory, I shall make that world a reality. |
|
| |
|
| ::''Malachai'' | | :Malachai |
|
| |
|
| =Other= | | =Other= |
| ==Vaal Letters== | | ==Vaal Letters== |
| {{main|Vaal Letter}} | | {{main|Vaal Letter}} |
| These can be found in [[corrupted area]]s. There are 12 in total. The letter varies between each instance of a vaal zone.
| | Found in [[corrupted area]]s. They tell of [[Atziri]]'s subjugates how their turmoil under her reign. |
| | |
| ==The Labyrinth==
| |
| | |
| === Bronze Inscriptions ===
| |
| There is one bronze plaque and four bronze inscriptions in various zones of the Labyrinth. The plaque is found at the entrance, the first inscription is found at the beginning of the first Labyrinth zone, and the remaining three inscriptions are located in each Aspirant's Trial.
| |
| | |
| ==== Bronze Plaque ====
| |
| ::''"The Just Goddess presides over us all. The future of the Empire rests in her even hands."<br>
| |
| | |
| ::''The Lord's Labyrinth, opened by Emperor Izaro Phrecius on the second Galvano of Azmeri, 1317 IC.<br>
| |
| | |
| ==== Bronze Inscription I ====
| |
| ::''"In the impressionable youth of my reign, I was encouraged to believe in the precious nature of my imperial blood. The 'divine claret', as one fool of a courtier would repeat with tiresome regularity.<br>
| |
| | |
| ::''Unfortunately, my divine claret refused to pour from one cup to another. Try as I might, with a lovely procession of young and ever dutiful wives, my noble seed simply would not sprout.<br>
| |
| | |
| ::''Who, then, to choose as my worthy successor? With the candidates on hand either mediocre at best, or maniacal at worst, I found myself in quite the quandary.<br>
| |
| | |
| ::''That's when Fortune took me by the hand and led me to a forgotten tome on a forgotten shelf in the quietest corner of Sarn Library. A tome entitled, 'Ancient Traditions of Azmerian Ascendancy'.<br>
| |
| | |
| ::''The rest, one might say, is history."<br>
| |
| | |
| ::::''- Emperor Izaro Phrecius
| |
| | |
| ==== Bronze Inscription II ====
| |
| ::''"The Azmeri were the first culture known in history to use the trials of strength, wisdom, and spirit to select its chieftains.<br>
| |
| | |
| ::''The first Lord's Trial was a rought-hewn maze festooned with wild animals and brutal traps, crafted to test aspiring Azmerian leaders' body, mind, and soul.<br>
| |
| | |
| ::''In conquering the adversities of the maze, a champion proved they were capable of bearing the crushing burden of chieftainship.<br>
| |
| | |
| ::''The first trials were simple contraptions reflecting simple times. As the Azmerian civilisation grew in number and complexity, so did the trials, from treacherous mazes to bewildering labyrinths.<br>
| |
| | |
| ::''Alas, there are no surviving descriptions of the labyrinth that tested and proved the worth of Veruso, Prima Imperialus. I would imagine it was quite something to behold."<br>
| |
| | |
| ::::''- Emperor Izaro Phrecius
| |
| | |
| ==== Bronze Inscription III ====
| |
| ::''"The Azmeri were consummate survivors. They had to be, having been sired in the most inhospitable range of mountains in all of Wraeclast.<br>
| |
| | |
| ::''Unfortunate, some might say. I do not. I believe it was the making of them. And of us, their descendants.<br>
| |
| | |
| ::''So it is no wonder that they developed the Lord's Trial. With survival being a moment-by-moment concern, that harried people grew to understand power quite intimately.
| |
| | |
| ::''Strong leadership is able to bridge the chasm between existence and extinction. Poor leadership might see an entire tribe vanish into that same chasm.<br>
| |
| | |
| ::''When the Azmeri descended from their mountains to conquer the fecund lands of central Wraeclast, they thrived and multiplied with utmost alacrity in those more forgiving climes.<br>
| |
| | |
| ::''For is it not poverty that teaches us how we might excel in times of plenty?"<br>
| |
| | |
| ::::''- Emperor Izaro Phrecius
| |
| | |
| ==== Bronze Inscription IV ====
| |
| ::''"The custom of the Lord's Trial was upheld throughout the founding years of the Empire. Veruso's successor, Caspiro, was a low-born legionnaire, the lone survivor of a labyrinth that claimed the lives of every high-born contender, including Veruso's only son.<br>
| |
| | |
| ::''Caspiro proved to be every bit the emperor that Veruso was.<br>
| |
| | |
| ::''Alas, the Lord's Labyrinth was corrupted by those with the vanity to consider their blood more precious than their Empire. Selfish blood breeds selfish times, and the Empire paid for it with its own blood. With the Night of a Thousand Ribbons. With that most regal of cannibals, Emperor Romira.<br>
| |
| | |
| ::''Not any more. I, Izaro Phrecius, shall return us to Justice. I shall build the greatest Lord's Labyrinth in Azmerian history, and my successor shall be chosen by the Goddess herself.<br>
| |
|
| |
|
| ::''Only when the Lord's Labyrinth is drenched in selfish blood can a true leader ascend the throne."<br>
| | ==Inscriptions== |
| | {{main|Inscription}} |
| | Can be found beside [[Stone Altar]]s in the [[Talisman league]]s. They are the memoirs of [[Thane Rigwald]]. |
|
| |
|
| ::::''- Emperor Izaro Phrecius
| | ==Bronze Monographs== |
| | {{main|Bronze Monograph}} |
| | Found throughout [[Trials of Ascendancy]]. |
|
| |
|
| === Poems === | | ==Bronze Plaque== |
| There are five sections of a poem strewn throughout the Labyrinth. The first four can be found in any zone that is not an Aspirant's Trial. The fifth will always be located in the final Aspirant's Trial.
| | Found in the [[Aspirant's Plaza]]. |
| | :"The Just Goddess presides over us all. The future of the Empire rests in her even hands." |
|
| |
|
| ==== Poem I ====
| | :The Lord's Labyrinth, opened by Emperor Izaro Phrecius on the second Galvano of Azmeri, 1317 IC. |
| ::''The Son of Ezomyr met the Son of Sarn<br>'' | |
| ::''Upon the road to the Imperial throne.<br>''
| |
| ::''The Eternal offered his cunning,<br>''
| |
| ::''His eyes and ears, bought and paid for.<br>''
| |
| ::''The Ezomyte offered his strength,<br>''
| |
| ::''His sword, earned in the arena.<br>''
| |
| ::''A pact was forged,<br>''
| |
| ::''With the Labyrinth as witness.<br>''
| |
| ::''Two men separated by blood.<br>''
| |
| ::''Two men bound by hope.<br>''
| |
| ::''Two men, and only one emperor.''
| |
|
| |
|
| ==== Poem II ==== | | ==Bronze Inscriptions== |
| ::''The Ezomyte and the Eternal took their rest<br>
| | {{main|Bronze Inscription}} |
| ::''In the lee of strife's gale,<br>
| | Found throughout [[The Lord's Labyrinth]]. |
| ::''And remembered the travelled road.<br>
| |
| ::''Beast and fiend had fallen and bled,<br>
| |
| ::''To the Ezomyte's sword, swift and true.<br>
| |
| ::''Trap and trial had risen and succumbed,<br>
| |
| ::''To the Eternal's wits, quick and shrewd.<br>
| |
| ::''Two men had cried their triumph,<br>
| |
| ::''A Warrior and his Guide,<br>
| |
| ::''Whilst other ascendants echoed their pride,<br>
| |
| ::''With anguish and agony.<br>
| |
|
| |
|
| ==== Poem III ==== | | ==Poems== |
| ::''The Warrior bled upon Izaro's stones,<br>
| | {{main|Poem}} |
| ::''And cursed Izaro's ilk.<br>
| | Found throughout [[The Lord's Labyrinth]]. They tell of [[Thane Rigwald]] and how he was betrayed by [[Chitus Perandus]]. |
| ::''He looked upon the walls of his tomb,<br>
| |
| ::''Built by his masters, his enemies,<br>
| |
| ::''And called for the First Ones to carry him,<br>
| |
| ::''To the forest and fields of his Ezomyr.<br>
| |
| ::''Yet while the First Ones remained silent,<br>
| |
| ::''The Guide did speak<br>
| |
| ::''Of secrets planted by clever hands<br>
| |
| ::''Enslaved by gold.<br>
| |
| ::''And with one such secret,<br>
| |
| ::''Plucked the life of the Warrior<br>
| |
| ::''From the First Ones' jaws.''<br>
| |
|
| |
|
| ==== Poem IV ==== | | ==Memory Fragments== |
| ::''A Guide, cornered and quailing,<br>
| | {{main|Memory Fragment}} |
| ::''A Warrior, watching,<br>
| | Can be found throughout [[map]]s. They are the memoirs of [[The Shaper]]. |
| ::''The moment bathed in the shadow<br>
| |
| ::''Of doubt,<br>
| |
| ::''Of ambition,<br>
| |
| ::''Of an imperial throne.<br>
| |
| ::''And a people made free<br>
| |
| ::''By an Emperor of Ezomyr.<br>
| |
| ::''The Warrior threw off that cold and cloying shadow,<br>
| |
| ::''And struck down the slavering beasts.<br>
| |
| ::''The Guide looked to the Warrior<br>
| |
| ::''With gratitude in his eyes.<br>
| |
| ::''And spoke of doubt,<br>
| |
| ::''Of ambition,<br>
| |
| ::''Of an imperial throne,<br>
| |
| ::''And a people made free<br>
| |
| ::''By an Emperor of Sarn.<br>
| |
|
| |
|
| ==== Poem V ====
| |
| ::''The Guide led the Warrior down a path<br>
| |
| ::''That wound and twisted<br>
| |
| ::''Through fields of blossoming promises.<br>
| |
| ::''Green-bladed hopes.<br>
| |
| ::''The Warrior closed his eyes.<br>
| |
| ::''A mere moment<br>
| |
| ::''To feel the warmth of the sun on his back,<br>
| |
| ::''And to drink from the Guide's proffered flask.<br>
| |
| ::''Now the Warrior staggers and crawls<br>
| |
| ::''Down the wounded, tortured causeway.<br>
| |
| ::''The bitterness stings his weeping eyes.<br>
| |
| ::''The fire roars in his belly,<br>
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| ::''Consuming him.<br>
| |
| ::''The Warrior will not ascend.<br>
| |
| ::''Instead he hunts.<br>
| |
| ::''Guided by his love for Ezomyr.<br>
| |
| [[Category:Lore]] | | [[Category:Lore]] |
Unbearable Whispers IUnbearable Whispers IDark runes skitter across the pages of the tome, concealing the Whisperer's allies.You will discover a tome in the Library, Academy Map, Museum Map, or Scriptorium Map.Right-click to add this prophecy to your character.
prophecy.