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.

[nojohnyouare]

So your world only does it the one way. In mine... I think they're just stories. I haven't seen a real one.

[tomatowizard]

I've never seen one with my own eyes but the stories about them are remarkable. They are told to be able to turn the tides of battles by themselves, and to rip down the walls of castles. There are no records of a golem ever being destroyed.

So when I heard there were golems in Silvereagle manor, I got nervous.

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.

[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]

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.

[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.

[hairpincurves]

It sounded like it was, at the very least, connected to the entity that's bringing people here. I think. Don't quote me on that.

[tomatowizard]

I don't think I've heard about this. Tell me more about this entity.

[nojohnyouare]

Oh. Sorry. I should have asked beforehand.

[tomatowizard]

You weren't to know. It's an unfortunate and unavoidable side effect of a large number of strangers all from completely different backgrounds suddenly being jammed together.

And anyways they turned out to be relatively harmless.

[nojohnyouare]

That's true. Peaceful guards. For a place that wasn't so dangerous yet.

I wonder. I thought the further-out Fissures would be more dangerous. But this one was mostly fine.

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.

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.

voice

[tomatowizard]

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

[tomatowizard]

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

[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.

[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.

[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.