Environmental lore

Throughout Wraeclast are various pieces of environmental lore that can be found in many different zones. These lore pieces provide us with much background information about Wraeclast and its inhabitants that is necessary to fully understand the plot and history of Path of Exile. All of the lore pieces listed here are necessary to complete the achievement "No Stone Unturned."

Act I

Letters of Exile

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 15/24 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

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.

Weathered Carving I

The first carving is located in The Coast.

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.

Lioneye's Gemlings met us with shining metal and bold words. Hyrri's arrows withered their pride. Kaom's axes silenced their dispair. Marceus Lioneye fought bravely, to the last. Kaom honoured him with a place on his belt.

Kaom has shown Wraeclast our Karui strength. Kaom will teach Wraeclast the Karui Way.

Weathered Carving II

The second carving is located in The Tidal Island.

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.

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.

Weathered Carving III

The third carving is located in The Mud Flats.

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.

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.

Brothers fight. Brothers die. Kaom punishes those that quarrel, that steal, that murder. Yet still the nightmares goad us into malefaction.

We Karui are banished from sleep.

Weathered Carving IV

The fourth carving is located in The Ledge.

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.

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.

Weathered Carving V

The fifth carving is located in The Climb near Lioneye's Standard.

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.

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.

What have we done to enrage Wraeclast? We look to Kaom. Our King will lay the spirit of this land at peace.

Weathered Carving VI

The sixth carving is located in The Ship Graveyard next to the waypoint and Captain Fairgraves.

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.

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 inour King can we trust this return to our ancient selves.

Weathered Carving VII

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.

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.

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.

Kaom's promises have lead us into nightmare. Hyrii will lead us back to the dawn.

Lioneye's Standard

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.

Shavronne's Journal

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...

Sailor Skin

Sailor 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.

Damp Diary

Damp Diary is located in the Cavern of Anger.

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.

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.

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.

When Daresso returns I will cast his cure away. I will teach him what true love is.

Act II

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.

Etchings on Wood I

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.

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.

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.

-Tani

Etchings on Wood II

It has been a little over a week since the black storm.

My husband has not returned and sickness now sweeps though our village. Many have died and those that lived have... changed.

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.

-Tani

Etchings on Wood III

The moon was full the night of the black storm. It is full again.

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.

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.

I had no choice. I took my two youngest and fled to the cellar, following the tunnel to the mill.

All we can do is hide and hope. God help us.

-Tani

Etchings on Wood IV

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.

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.

God has forsaken us. Lunaris is my witness. Tonight, I return to my family.

-Tani

Ancient Reverie Device

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.

Inquisitor,

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.

Malachai, Thaumaturge Laureate to the Empire

Transmutia Device

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.

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.

Malachai, Thaumaturge Laureate to the Empire

Proclamation

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.

We, the Court of Reckoning find you, Doedre Stamatis, guilty of the following transgressions against God:

Perversion of God's Creation

Promotion of Heretical Beliefs

Unlawful Enslavement of Eternal Citizens

Torture of the Innocent

Murder of the Servants of Purity

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.

"Only will and truth can prevail over the evil of our own kin."

- Emperor Voll

Arteri's Letter

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.

Arteri, my beautiful captain.

I wish it were not you, but I cannot bring myself to trust any other with this most vital of tasks.

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.

Ensure that the barricade remains in place, and if any exile should somehow pass through, kill them.

I will send for you when my work is complete in Sarn.

Until we share our next night together,

Piety

Plaque

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.

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.

"Only will and truth can prevail over the evil of our own kin."

- Geofri

Act III

Ancient Graffiti

Ancient Graffiti is found in six different locations in Act 3. It can be inferred that this graffiti was written during The Purity Rebellion.

Ancient Graffiti I

Located in The City of Sarn somewhere along the walls near the water.

Mortality is the mother of life. We have turned our backs on her.

Ancient Graffiti II

Located in The Slums in a seemingly random location.

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.

Ancient Graffiti III

Located in The Warehouse District on one of the outside walls of the warehouses.

The gemmed genteel are an infestation. They are the Monkey King's fleas that drink your lifeblood. Crush them in your work-forged hands!

Ancient Graffiti IV

Located in The Catacombs in a random location.

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.

Ancient Graffiti V

Located in The Battlefront.

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.

Ancient Graffiti VI

Located on a random wall in The Docks

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.

Library Books

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.

The Purity Chronicles

Main page: The Purity Chronicles

Book 1: Embers of Insurrection

"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.

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".

- Garivaldi, Chronicler to the Empire

Book 2: Bloody Flowers

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.

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.

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.

- Garivaldi, Chronicler to the Empire

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.

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.

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.

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.

- Garivaldi, Chronicler to the Empire

Book 4: The Red Sekhema's Saddle

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.

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.

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.

- Garivaldi, Chronicler to the Empire

Book 5: The Emperor is dead. Long live the Emperor!

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.

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.

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.

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.

- Garivaldi, Chronicler to the Empire

Book 6: The Rapture Device

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.

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.

North, from whence the first Gems came. From whence the nightmare of Chitus' thaumatocracy was born.

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.

God be with you, Voll of Thebrus, and with us all.

- Garivaldi, Chronicler to the Empire

The Ancients

Main page: The Ancients

Book 1: Last of the Vaal Queens

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.

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.

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.

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.

- Trinian - Intellectus Prime

Book 2: Zerphi the Murderer

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.

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.

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.

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.

Life and Death have walked hand in hand since the beginning of Time. Could Zerphi have persuaded them to kiss?

- Trinian - Intellectus Prime

Book 3: The Queen's Thaumaturgist

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.

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.

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".

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.

- Trinian - Intellectus Prime

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.

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.

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.

At least, not until the first Vaal refugees came knocking five hundred years later.

- Trinian - Intellectus Prime

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.

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.

Three thousand one hundred and twenty-six survivors from a civilisation counting in its millions.

- Trinian - Intellectus Prime

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.

"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."

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.

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.

A supreme effort to erase the past. A primitive reaction born of primitive times, in the opinion of this humble historian.

- Trinian - Intellectus Prime

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.

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.

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.

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.

"To care for this Empire with eyes open." - A traditional vow made by the High Templar upon the coronation of an Eternal Emperor.

- Trinian - Intellectus Prime

Victario's Writings

Main page: 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?

- Victario of Sarn

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

Book 3: Slaves of Virtue

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

Book 4: A Friend in Need

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.

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.

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.

- Victario of Sarn

Act IV

Note

Located in The Aqueduct on the left path near the Highgate entrance.

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.

-Piety

Voll's Confession

Located in The Dried Lake in Voll, Emperor of Purity's camp.

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 have failed you, my Empire of Purity. Do not forgive me, but please, I beg of you, survive me.

-Voll

Malachai's Notebook

Located in The Crystal Veins in a corner near the waypoint and The Rapture Device.

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 Path.

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 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.

Burning with pain, empty with exhaustion, I stepped inside his faltering swing and I slit the giant's throat.

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.

From that day forth, I wore the Crown of Swords upon my head and a ring of eternal love upon my finger.

Malachai's Dedication

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.

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.

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.

Malachai

Other

Vaal Letters

Main page: Vaal Letter

These can be found in corrupted areas.