“There were many terrors that the Desolation unleashed upon us, ranging from fire raining from the sky to the very earth tearing itself apart, to the clouds of living death cresting over the horizon unexpectedly. Yet of all of the horrors that we were forced to endure, none struck closer to...
2024-07-09 16:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post“It is quite easy to explain to the uneducated masses, who can’t even begin to fathom the full extent of magic’s potential, exactly what the dark mana is. It is the left-over remnant of what once was. A husk of spent potential akin no different than what a pile of ash is to wood. Comple...
2024-07-09 16:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post“There are many who think that simply becoming an Ascendant, that is actually managing to Awaken heart and soul, is all it takes to reach power. To instantly become something more than just a mere mortal. I am here today to tell you that absolutely nothing could be further from the truth. T...
2024-07-09 16:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post“Of all the shapes and applications of magic that we Incarnates are capable of, there are perhaps none more wonderous than the act of healing, the journey of taking what was damaged, wounded, or made less than, and bringing it back whole. Under the care of a skilled healer, it is possible f...
2024-07-09 16:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post“Officially, there are no real rankings or preferences when it comes to affinities and their aspects of mana. Each and every single one is a blessing beyond compare and brings along with it countless uses, applications, and opportunities for the Ascendant. In actual practice, however? Those...
2024-07-09 16:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post“It is easy for those not on the path who have witnessed Incarnates duel to think that battle is merely a test of physical might and one’s skill in wielding magic. That whoever wins is simply the stronger or more capable of the pair. However, in practice, nothing could be further from the...
2024-07-09 16:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post“Students often ask just why exactly the Archives are set so far away from the Academy proper, especially during the winter when the grounds are covered in all manners of ice, sleet, and snow, making it a true agony to cross. And every time they ask, I give them the same answer: because stu...
2024-07-09 16:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post“Caught a standout today, belonging to a new and unknown trader named ‘Vincent’, no last name given. Appears as a young man, white hair, possessing no identifiable affiliation or confirmed affinity. Ascendant status is unconfirmed, but potentially a Fallen due to the presence of a crook...
2024-07-09 16:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post“Live combat drills are one of the most effective ways to train Ardent troops for conflict with the Enemy. While Eidolons will not behave like humanoid casters, the variety of spells and embodiments on display in the typical training group does represent the diversity of foes that will be f...
2024-07-08 16:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post“The Crest of the Ardent is one of the most sophisticated pieces of magical item manufacture that you are ever likely to see. A device smaller than the palm of your hand, which will nonetheless shield you from death and bodily harm unless you are exposed to ridiculously extreme forces. Just...
2024-07-05 16:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post“There is no valor in death. There is no honor in a defeat. History is written by the victors. Failure to recognize this is a weakness, and all weakness is punished.”
—The Necessity, Valtoris Blackstar
Unlike the unfriendly send-off that they’d receive...
2024-07-03 16:18:51 +0000 UTC View Post“There are rules in any society, and none more so than the society of elves, where memories are long and grudges carried longer still. To scry another individual without their permission could easily be interpreted as an invasion of privacy not unlike hoisting up their skirts to take a peek...
2024-07-01 10:45:41 +0000 UTC View Post“Teleportation is a facet of spatial magic, typically empowered by the use of an ample supply of Etherium. The greater the distance travelled, the greater the mana expenditure. There can be no denying its utility, but in practical terms the expenditure is typically too great to justify its ...
2024-07-01 10:45:37 +0000 UTC View Post“Relic worlds are an oddity in the Empyrean and beyond. Places that were destroyed in antiquity, almost always by Eidolons, but that inexplicably retain a living world-soul. It is from them that we learned much of what we now know of how and why Eidolon incursions occur, but they also stand...
2024-07-01 10:45:35 +0000 UTC View Post“The Ardent, while a complete organization in of itself is further subdivided into multiple branches for more efficient administration and specialization with the two largest branches being the Ardent Navy and the Ardent Infantry Corps. Of these two core branches almost all recruits will at...
2024-07-01 10:45:29 +0000 UTC View Post“The Standardization of Spells, Embodiments and Paradigms was a necessity for the ongoing growth and prosperity of the Empyrean Alliance. Each culture had their own name for identical magics, and the confusion and overlap became a source of danger. “
—Fundamentals of Arca...
2024-07-01 10:45:26 +0000 UTC View Post“The Aions have been called many things by the countless cultures that have encountered their relics throughout history, but the one thing that all agree upon is that they are the source of magic as we now know it. It is their language we speak to cast spells. Their technology we cannibaliz...
2024-07-01 10:45:23 +0000 UTC View Post“Humans, being the most populous. Elves, being the wisest. Dwarves, the most industrious. Fiends, the hardiest. The Najash, the most naturally cunning. These make up but a fraction of the sapient creatures with which we share this universe.”
—The Sentient Species, Mison A...
2024-07-01 10:45:19 +0000 UTC View Post“There are times when destruction is a kindness. When there is a cancer that must be excised so that the healthy body can go on. Sometimes it is an individual. Sometimes it is a world. If universe is a living organism. Then I am the surgeon that saves it.”
—The Necessity,...
2024-07-01 10:42:49 +0000 UTC View Post“In the realm of magical study, there is nothing more fundamentally misunderstood as a worldsoul. It is, in essence, a mana core for an entire planet. Just as we cultivate our own cores, a worldsoul is a naturally occurring conglomeration of the native floes of mana throughout space. Withou...
2024-07-01 10:00:00 +0000 UTC View PostHey everyone!! As you can no doubt tell by now with the barrage that likely went out to your emails...we are getting ready to start serializing the next round of books! Woo!!
As a special sneak peek, you're all getting the chapters ahead of time before they truly go live elsewhere in the w...
2024-06-28 20:37:53 +0000 UTC View Post“Of all the aspects of mana there are in the world, there is none rarer than Aether mana. Considered to be the most pure and stable of all the aspects, the uses for these highly coveted motes are nigh limitless. From enchanting, to alchemy, to artifice, to empowering and cleansing one’s b...
2024-06-28 19:44:14 +0000 UTC View Post“The first step for any young aspirant wishing to take their first step upon the Path of Incarnation is to create one’s Nexus, the place where all mana and virtues that they acquire can be safely stored for use. But how is this done you might ask? How is it that we create this wonderful p...
2024-06-28 19:44:11 +0000 UTC View Post“Unfortunately, there is precious little that we can say of the Old Gods, save that they were the ones to break the First. For while they were indeed Gods by any comparable measure of power, they did not linger long among us mortals, and nor did they demand worship. Instead, from what few a...
2024-06-28 19:44:06 +0000 UTC View Post“Yet if they had hoped that their sundering would quell whatever had triggered their rage, the First Gods were soon proven wrong. For once those below them, the first of the mortals, began to understand what happened to them, they rose up in a blinding fury that paled that of even their onc...
2024-06-28 19:44:03 +0000 UTC View Post“It is written, in our most ancient of texts, that when our realm was first ordered out of the infinite nether by the First Gods, and all of life seeded upon its surface, that each and every living thing was born whole. Born with both their body and soul interwoven with one another, a perfe...
2024-06-28 19:43:59 +0000 UTC View Post“It is difficult to explain what a Virtue truly is to someone who hasn’t held onto one themselves. Pinned it down with their Will as they sheered it away from the chaff of whatever herb, rock, weapon, beast, spirit, or even person it belonged to. Yes, you read that right, Virtues&nbs...
2024-06-28 19:43:55 +0000 UTC View Post“What does it mean to Fall from the Path you ask? Well, it means to suffer a loss of almost indescribable proportions and as such, is considered the worst nightmare that can befall an Incarnate. In the very best of cases, a Fall from the Path means to lose a substantial amount of one’s In...
2024-06-28 19:43:52 +0000 UTC View Post“Mana is the source of all. It in all its forms is what makes up the bedrock of not only our realm, but the firmament of existence itself. It is the wind that fills our lungs, it is the warmth of the summer sun, it is the frost of the darkest winter. It is all that there ever was and all th...
2024-06-28 19:43:48 +0000 UTC View Post