TO: EVERYONE [mid-july]

[cryptsleeper]

[ The message arrives to the Summoned in two distinct styles of handwriting, indicating that Alucard and Thancred are coordinating the transmission of this important missive in tandem. ]

Apologies for the interruption, but after some time of investigating, Thancred and I have found some interesting information related to a remaining mystery that dates back to the first time many of us experienced the eternal night of Nocwich.

Alucard is granting me far too much credit, please know he’s the one who uncovered this. But yes, for those of you who were here back then, I’m sure you’ve been wondering who was truly behind the attacks on the three Summoned delegates. It’s certainly haunted me, especially given that it led to the attack on Libertas and the subsequent retaliation against Nott.

It turns out that those responsible were a Nocwich faction of Josselyn Creed’s cult, who skillfully were able to manufacture equipment that appeared to originate from the Free Cities, thus appropriately assigning the blame.

It doesn’t excuse the Queen’s lack of a proper investigation before she made assumptions and mounted her attack, but it does give us all some closure. We can’t be entirely certain what the cult’s motives were, but we can speculate.

It is worth noting here that Josselyn’s cult has roots in a more established faith here, one associated with the concept of a New Day and the Page of Pentacles. I first heard the phrase when we were invited into the realm of the Fae, and it concerned me given how much it sounded like something that could be a cult. As it turns out, there are a number of branches throughout Abraxas. Josselyn was able to turn branches towards her own ends, which in turn explains how so many of us were taken when she executed her plan.

To add another branch to this winding tree, a small village associated with Nott called the Old Emberwoods still practices this faith, and there are other similar hamlets scattered throughout Thorne and Solvunn. While they appear to be harmless and practicing an untainted version of the faith, a few of us will be keeping an eye on them all the same out of an abundance of caution.

On top of that, a mage named Oliver is apparently from Old Emberwoods. Only a few of you may recognize that name, but he was one of the mages who helped a group of Summoned escape Thorne about three years past. Beyond that, all I have been able to learn is that he is older than he looks — about a century, all told.

This information was likewise shared with Sten, who some of you may know from Luna. He was kind enough to keep an ear to the ground, and eventually found an old flyer for one of this group’s meetings. When I visited the location in Ikorr earlier this month, I was able to find another flyer that had the impression of a strong hand writing on top of it. Making rubbings revealed the plans as we have just outlined them, thus bringing this information full circle. From the looks of the location, this branch of the cult has not been active since.

We realize this is a lot of information to take in, particularly for those of you who are more newly Summoned. Feel free to ask questions and we’ll answer to the best of our ability. With any luck, this cult will never again rear its ugly head and we have the answer to a question that has been plaguing some of us for quite some time now.

Likewise, we realize that this information may seem pointless given that this faked attack and the responses it garnered offers uncomfortable parallels to our current moment. There’s no true connection between them, and we are sharing this information for the sake of knowledge and closure.

(( ooc: In case it’s not clear, blue font is Alucard and black font is Thancred. Responses will come from one or both of them, and threadjacking is encouraged as there is a lot to discuss here! ))

Comments

[funbreaker]

If he's from Nott, you would think he'd be more familiar with Wild Magic than High Magic. I don't know if the type of magic practiced might determine a mage's longevity, and you are far more familiar with the magic system here than I am, so I would appreciate if you could investigate.

Though I imagine you have much and more on your plate at the moment.

[magicalarchaeologist]

Everyone has Wild Magic, it is both harder and easier to learn than the other kinds. It's the most natural, based in emotion and instinct, it's actually the first one I think a lot of people here learn as children.

To be able to supersede Academic Magic like that, he (they? I know a woman was with him) would have to understand how it works. They would have both had to be extremely skilled mages, and that means extensive training. The other interesting aspect is that they understood the court well enough to know where everyone was and to get ahead of the execution, and what spells they'd need to use to get around them. That doesn't just take skill, it takes cunning, and I would wager, inside information.

Where they were trained I don't know, but Thorne wouldn't admit to the Summoned if these were their own Hayle-trained mages going rogue, so we won't get any answers from them.

[princessvegas]

That's not true. About Wild Magic. It doesn't have to "supersede" Academic, like Academic is stronger or better or something. A novel isn't worse than a textbook. Just the same language written different ways.

And it was a mandatory public execution. Wasn't that hard to know where everyone would be.

[magicalarchaeologist]

I'm not saying it's stronger, I'm saying it's different. To overcome a type of magic you need to be stronger than it. They would need knowledge of Academic Magic to get around it. Unless it appeared at the time like they were making it up as they went along, which is possible too.

You don't think they had previous knowledge of where to go and what to do? I wasn't there but as it was described to me, this required a certain level of finesse.

[princessvegas]

You can pick a lock or just blow it up with dynamite. Both will get it open. Academic Magic is just Wild Magic that's been controlled and forced into step by step directions, it ain't like High or New Magic where there's an extra ingredient in the mix. They didn't have to negate anything if they could just overpower or blast through it.

But we don't even know if they were doing that. There's other magic. All the races have their own magic styles.

I mean, they probably were in the courtyard at some point to get the mental picture, but they portaled into the dungeon and then straight into the courtyard. They smashed some kinda hole in the wards and then they were in.

That part never seemed mysterious to me. But Oliver knew how to find Relena to save her, and only the queen and some of her pet mages even knew what she was up to. And Oliver took her to the Singularity to heal her, too.

[magicalarchaeologist]

They portaled into the dungeon? That should be impossible given the magical wards here. Although I suppose they could have strengthened them after the appearance and it was weaker before, but that's still very impressive.

Do you think they used another race's magic? It could account for much of this if so.

Oliver was in the Horizon with her? Or to the Singularity itself in the physical realm?

[princessvegas]

Yep. Just stepped out of a portal, unlocked the cells and then told us to follow him through to the courtyard. Oh, and he put Relena back with us first for a few minutes. I guess maybe so she could spread word and we'd be more inclined to go. The wards killed all magic and even natural powers, so I don't know if they changed them after. I didn't stay to find out.

Could be. We didn't see them do enough to really have a good idea. Just freezing the kingdom and portals. Which are big but not like, a lot of info to consider, you know?

Physical Singularity, at least as far as I know. She was almost dead, I don't think she could have gotten to the Horizon. And I don't know if she even knew how to get there from outside the crater, since by then, no one in the dungeons had been able to go back after they got thrown in the first time. I was in the summoning after that.

[magicalarchaeologist]

This is valuable information, I've only heard secondhand about what happened.

You spoke to this Relena? She said that Oliver took her to the Singularity in person? I thought that was impossible outside of the Dimming.

For Oliver to have access to that, I don't know what to make of it. Perhaps Alucard's theory about his relation to the divine is accurate.

[princessvegas]

I never talked to her but I was there, and she told other people. I can't say exactly how close they were though.

[magicalarchaeologist]

I see. Thank you for giving us more information, it's illuminating. I don't know how it's possible for Oliver to have gone there without dying.

[princessvegas]

I'm not sure if they were inside the crater itself. Back then, we didn't know much about it to really talk about, and Relena wasn't here much longer after we got out, so she wouldn't have thought to be so specific, I don't think.

But sometimes, it's best to just let a mystery stay a mystery.

[magicalarchaeologist]

Perhaps. I don't think any of us had intentions on seeking them out again, although I am very interested in how they did all of that, but not enough to look. It appears the discovery of where Oliver is from was secondary to their research on the Nocwich attack, and likely unrelated.

[funbreaker]

I can't imagine it would be impossible to keep everyone in Thorne from talking if either one of them was once established in Hayle. In some ways, it feels as if they came out of nowhere.

Mainly, I would be curious to find out what precisely leads to certain mages becoming long-lived.

[magicalarchaeologist]

I'm not very popular right now here, but I'll ask once I'm off the list.

private

[funbreaker]

Are you still in the dungeons?

[ Yes, Yennefer told him. Of course she did. ]

Private forever

[magicalarchaeologist]

I was just released the other day. I was forced to leave Kyle behind, I'm not very happy about it.

[funbreaker]

Did they give you much trouble while you were down there, or was it mainly to make an example of you?

[magicalarchaeologist]

No, they were polite and hands off. The questions were what you'd expect, mostly about what happened to you three and how you knew to go, which I didn't answer anything about. I think it was more of an example, and also just in case they could get answers to that.

[funbreaker]

When you wouldn't tell them anything, what was their reaction?

To be honest, I still don't know how Jolene was aware myself. That's a question I'd like the answer to one day.

[magicalarchaeologist]

Annoyed. I wasn't entirely polite about it. They put me back in the dungeon for a few days after the first refusal, but let me out after the second refusal. I think I could have been out sooner if I answered anything, but I had no interest in that.

Hayle is locked off for good now, I assume it'll be a long time before we hear from them again. But maybe some day you'll get to ask her.

[funbreaker]

It could have been much worse. I imagine they decided that the outcry that would have followed if they went so far as to harm you wasn't worth it to them.

In any case, I appreciate the two of you suffering gaol time for us.

Hayle is locked off? How so?

[magicalarchaeologist]

They probably also figure it's not as if you three are far away. Which means you must be prepared for a change of mind down the road. Coming to Nott with a force wouldn't be that difficult.

I think they temporarily locked off during the conflict, but they need those trade routes so they're likely open again by now. I think they may just be more careful about who is let in out of fear of Sidwell. Perhaps he would have sent more of a problem there if he found out Jolene and in extension perhaps Anastasia helped us.

[funbreaker]

True, there's a chance they plan to come collect us at some future date.

[ And if that ends up being the case, Thancred would like to believe he'll be ready for it. He's not wont to let his guard down. ]

That's a detail I don't plan to share with anyone other than who I've already told, if I can help it. Does that mean that the Summoned as a whole are no longer allowed to travel there?

[magicalarchaeologist]

I don't know, but I suspect there are tensions between the locations. Anastasia likely must make peace with the new King, but that doesn't mean she trusts him. Nor would I, in her position. I can't see Sidwell allowing any of us to travel that far right now. Perhaps with time. Everything is tense right now, it doesn't mean forever.

With our knowledge of the possible future, it's interesting to think about how Hayle ended up the only refuge for Thorne, as far up north as it is.

[funbreaker]

Yes, there is something to be said for simply allowing these embers to die down.

It's difficult not to continue thinking of the details from that dream as we try to determine if we're somehow following the same path despite our best efforts. It seems far too early to tell, especially when my memories early on are quite hazy.