Text; UN: TheWizard

[tomatowizard]

Hello,

I thought maybe we should touch bases now that we're back from the fissure. There was some important things going on there that should probably be discussed.

First: The giant crystal in the basement. That thing was a vortex of magical power that I couldn't look at directly without feeling like I was staring at the sun. I didn't want to risk touching it, but I understand several other more

[She stops typing for a minute to consider how to phrase this other than "stupid and foolhardy"]

more risk prone individuals did touch it and were not vaporized on the spot, so I'd be interested in hearing what you thought of that.

Second: I did some reading in the library of Silvereagle Manor and was able to find some rather cryptic references to the basement crystal. I could find frustratingly little concrete data about it, but they did apparently think of it as an item of religious importance. It was referred to as "The Eye", and was apparently a way of communicating with the Planet. Or with "The soul of the planet". Both terms are used interchangeably.

Third: A question, rather than an observation. If I say the word "Golem" to you, what do you imagine? Because I felt like I was thinking of something a little different from everyone else.

If anyone else discovered any useful or interesting information in their explorations, I think it would benefit us all to share it here.

Sincerely,
Samata Mahto.
Wizard.

Comments

[nojohnyouare]

I didn't touch it. But it definitely looked important. Sorry.

Thank you. So the soul of the planet... The same one that brought us here.

Something created by people from inorganic material. That comes to life and walks around. But it's magic, so not like a robot.

[tomatowizard]

And not a church fashioned in the shape of a roughly human figure that was blessed by the miraculous power of god to stand up and obliterate all that stood against his word?

[nojohnyouare]

...That could be one. But... Narrow definition.

[tomatowizard]

It's the only one I knew of until I came here.

un: daybreak

[hairpincurves]

I can't answer that first bit because I didn't touch it either. I took a look at it with Third Eye but I was definitely nursing a headache for a few hours afterward. One of the people I was with did some talking to it though.

Second bit: Those books were infuriatingly vague, weren't they? I suppose it makes sense that the books assumed anyone reading would know what The Eye was, but it wasn't helpful...

Third bit: When I hear 'golem' I usually think something vaguely human-shaped, possibly made of clay but generally anything inorganic will do, and generally made by people for the sake of carrying out tasks.
I think the term was originally meant unformed material or something to that effect but language over the years changing, etc.

[tomatowizard]

There's a lot to unpack there but let's start with the most bizarre: People could TALK to it?

[hairpincurves]

In a way at least. It was definitely some kind of psychic communication as far as I could tell.

[tomatowizard]

I just thought of it as a power source, not an actual sapient entity. Everything they wrote down about the Eye was draped in metaphor and poetic language to the point of being almost incomprehensible.

[whatsmytalentagain]

Hi, Mahto-san. Sorry I can't give you any concrete info on that vortex thing. I was kind of preoccupied with the whole "getting pulled into a fissure" thing for the first time... But I think Akechi-san theorized something about a magic being having a piece stolen... Maybe that being's the Eye/Soul of the planet and that thing in the basement was stolen from that being?

IDK

Also, I think a golem's supposed to be some kind of statue brought to life by dark magic? Why do you ask?

[tomatowizard]

Yes, I didn't pick up as much as I'd have liked about my first fissure either, what with the total confusion.

I asked about golems because they are a very specific legendary sort of creature where I came from. Imagine a church built in the shape of a man and animated directly by the will of god to be a walking instrument of his will. They say no golem has ever been destroyed, and that a single one can turn the tide of a battle or rip the walls of a castle down with its bare hands. So to hear the little suits of armor at Silvereagle Manor described thus was...

Let's just say I had a very different mental image in mind when I heard the word.

[whatsmytalentagain]

... Woah.

Yeah, I think the golems in your world are a whole nother animal than what's out here. I don't even equate moving suits of armor as golems. Aren't they more like ghosts?

[tomatowizard]

I don't know, I've never met a ghost.

[have_hat_will_travel]

"The soul of the Planet" sounds like some kinda eldritch... Thing.

Golems, where I'm from, are constructs, usually of iron or steel, that can process and obey simple commands. They have the big advantage of being almost entirely immune to magic - though they can still be bested using indirect casting to enhance martial skill.

Nasty business, both.

[tomatowizard]

"Eldritch thing" is pretty vague, wouldn't you say?

[have_hat_will_travel]

Well, yes. I don't have enough info to offer anything more specific than that.

My Arcana training is useless without enough to go on.

[tomatowizard]

That's fair enough. I just wish I had more details to offer but, as I mentioned, the research was frustratingly vague.

Arcana training being a formalized understanding of arcane theory?

voice; pvtlchurch

[motherfucking_ghost]

Yeah, it was definitely a way to talk to the planet. The planet...force...god-like...soul spirit being some people have talked to before? Communicated with.

Still a fragment. Like. In pieces. Searching for it's missing piece. Pieces? That people ripped from it. [He sounds a little distant for a moment.] So I can't really blame it for being so fuckin' scared of us, man...

...But, uh, so there's this mountain somewhere? That it wants us to go? To either find it or it's piece? Something like that, I think.

voice

[tomatowizard]

Do you think there are more fragments of this...thing? Scattered about the world?

[motherfucking_ghost]

It sounds like, according to what other people have gathered, it's just one fraction of itself it's trying to find. But it wouldn't surprise me if there were more.

un; danslalune

[riderofcharlemagne]

Oh!!!! Oh Hi I touched it!!!

Let's see...

it was there, but also it wasn't. We were being watched but it felt like in that room but the thing was really far away in the mountains. It was really scared...it was in pain because it was itself but then it was scooped out and not itself anymore. Not entirely.

But it's ok it's our friend now!! And we're going to help it!!

For your third question: Golems are the big rock things Caster used to make. He put a kid in one of them.

[tomatowizard]

There's so much to unpack in what you just said I'm not even sure where to begin. How about with putting a child inside of a golem. That sounds positively dreadful.

[riderofcharlemagne]

Yeah it was really messed up.

He needed a 'core' for it but he planned to use my friend and I didn't want him to die so I took him and ran.

So I guess he used that kid instead.

Justcaws

[foolishjustice]

The stone in the basement was a communications tool used to talk to an entity that is the source of magic in this world. It's the one bringing us here, searching frantically for a part of itself that's been stolen.

We have reason to suspect that part of itself is somehow related to the Fissures, too.

And on the third question, golems are magical constructs made of normally inanimate material, that are made to move around and follow orders. Sort of like the suits of armor in the manor.

[tomatowizard]

See, this is why I brought this up on the communication device here. I had no idea any of this was commonly known. There really isn't much in the way of organization here is there?

[foolishjustice]

I normally try to hold meetings after every major discovery, but it does seem like me and my fiance are the only ones who bother trying to keep a sense of organization. And even that only helps those who attend and are able to keep up with the discussion.

The existence of the entity and its missing piece should only be unknown to new arrivals, but given how chaotic the meeting discussing it got, I can easily imagine the relevant information being missed by someone who was simply overwhelmed.

I've honestly been considering compiling a booklet of important information after every new discovery, and leaving it with the signs.