When the malleus keys were first introduced, I noted that "malleus" means hammer, such as in the word mallet and also the bone in your inner ear that helps with hearing. I know this because of a witch hunting book from a long time ago called the Malleus Malefacarum (or the Hammer of Witches)
I make note of this.
They are called "hammer keys"
So, I'm sitting there. Episodes pass. I'm thinking about the Aeor arc in campaign 2 for some reason, can't recall why. But I'm thinking about it, and suddenly, I recall something
The Mighty Nein uncover notes about something called the Factorum Malleus project, AKA the God Hammer. We know this to actually be, canonically, what Ludinus has been trying to replicate with his keys courtesy of FRIDA and their memory of protecting one
In those notes the M9 recovered, the project head is noted as a mage named Athodan. It is stated that this mage uncovered a relic, which turned out to be a Luxon beacon, and used necromantic glyphwork to unlock some property from it that pleased the overseers of this mage's work. What this mage was working on prior to (or in conjunction with) the Malleus Factorum project was rejuvenation
I believe that Ludinus Da'leth is an ancient Aeorian mage named Athodan who worked on the original project to free Predathos and kill the gods
When the gods (collectively, Betrayer and Prime) struck Aeor out of the sky, I believe Athodan somehow survived, but lost all of his work
Maybe he wasn't in the city at the time. Maybe he had some sort of contingency. Regardless, he survived. And, in order to survive the Calamity, he made his way to Issylra and hid out in Vasselheim, the Dawn City, the last bastion of civilization left after the Calamity ravaged Exandria
Once people began migrating out from Vasselheim again, he settled in a town called Ivaadel. Maybe this is where he developed his harness thing that allowed him to rejuvenate again, since he'd be approaching pretty old age (depending on what was done with the Luxon beacon and how old he was when he did it)
He rejuvenates and relocates. Can't have anyone back home notice that Old Ass Ludinus is a 150 year old elf again, right?
He settles in Molaesmyr, because in this post-Calamity world, he is working with figurative rocks and sticks when it comes to magic and technology. So, he needs somewhere that will
a) have a natural wellspring of powerful magic, and
b) have access to relics from Aeor. Molaesmyr has both
And we know Ludinus began hoarding Aeorian artifacts as per Team Wildemount's investigationHe attempted something. Either a shoddy replication of what was built in Aeor, or just an attempt at communion with Predathos and that wiped out the city and corrupted the surrounding woodlands
Ludinus then runs off to Bysaes Tyl for a brief time before showing up on the Eve of Crimson Midnight (interesting name, that) and is credited with stopping the violence between powerful Dwendalian and Julous Dominion aristocratic mages. This accord he is able to reach with them is the basis on which he founds the Cerberus Assembly
The Cerberus Assembly is named after a conglomerate of mages from the Age of Arcanum and predates with Calamity
Knowing that Ludinus founded the modern Cerberus Assembly is kinda suspicious considering how little information of the Age of Arcanum survived the Calamity
He also mentions Laeryn in his notes (Abriya's character from ExU Calamity) and literally no one remembers who she is. Him being aware of her is nuts in the first place, even crazier if you think he is just a modern-day elf mage
In summary:
Ludinus Da'leth is a pre-Calamity, semi-immortal mage from Aeor named Athodan who has been using his knowledge of rejuvenation to keep himself alive for, at the very least, 1000 years
Too many boxes of this theory have been ticked, and I wholeheartedly believe it
