#egtw

[nocternalrandomness]

Moths lined up at the 2024 De Havilland Moth Club Fly-In at Oaksey Park Airfield

[burningsuitfire]

Essek and religious trauma

Saw this post from @balleater here and having been meaning to write a meta on the subject, theorizing about what we know.

Essek admits to being seriously traumatized when Caleb talks to him in the Grove.

(141) Caleb: Somewhat hypocritical coming from me, but try to be kind to yourself.  Essek: You, more than anyone, showed me that trauma doesn't define you.

The simplest conclusion is religious trauma, along with neglect and abandonment.

In the wrap-up Matt puts serious emphasis on Essek's parents and family being "very deeply steeped" in the religious culture alongside how Essek has "very much eschewed" the religious culture, that no one has ever genuinely cared about Essek beyond his influence and talent, that his family didn't understand or support his focus on dunamantic research (or his career), and draws clear lines about the negative aspects of Dynasty's theocratic authoritarianism and uncompromising cultural zealotry, at points Mercer even compares it to evangelicalism and doomsday cults.

He also gives us hints that it's a bad situation for anyone who doesn't follow the official faith, like in Eiselcross when Caleb asks questions about the mandated religion and Kryn theories on the beacons:

(124) Essek: It is an interesting idea, though I would caution to keep it close to the chest. Such conversations might be considered sacrilege in some circles of the Dynasty.

Which as word of god tells us Essek had a very bad relationship with his powerful authoritarian den family that didn't understand him or his goals, and he grew up in the Bastion (which is a temple to the Luxon), when the Dynasty laws are founded on the faith and enforced by the military:

(EGtW) The laws of the dynasty, which stem from the faith of the Luxon, are enforced by a network of trusted Aurora Watch captains and soldiers

To the point where Matt emphasized how even petty criminals in the prison were systematically "beaten and emaciated", sacrilege could have ugly consequences, even growing up.

Especially considering that all we know of his father is that he seemed to have a temper to the point of extremely self-destructive tendencies, and that he was possibly military and thus law enforcement (warriors function as both in the Dynasty).

Even in the dinner conversation when he was being outstandingly open, Essek was very careful not to tell the nein anything that could allow other Kryn to question his faith:

Marisha: So his lying about it [consecution] was just about going along with the zealotry and not- Matt: Exactly, because he didn't want people to think that there was something up.

And then there's Essek's massive trust problems, which are specifically focused on the word "trust":

(131) Caleb: We feel we can trust you more than my old teacher. (You see, when you say the word "trust". It's simultaneously like seeing a small hit to the heart... and whatever icy bit that cracked melts away for a minute. There's a moment of him hearing the word and letting it wash over him.) Essek: I'm thankful for the trust you put in me. And I hope to make this up to you.

(124) Essek: I've never really been trusted and so I did not trust. When I- when you gave me trust, it gave me a perspective that was so agonizingly striking. So easy to see that I refused to acknowledge it at first, even. (135) Essek: The more I begin to see Beauregard, yourself return with these markings- I've only just recently learned to trust. It's hard to begin to mistrust so quickly.

Where there's a theory that it might stem from the Dynasty's training for echo knights and dunamancers (when we've heard Essek tell Caleb that the training is comparable to that of scourgers), and we even see the echo knight in Zadash react very strongly to the word "trust":

(13) Mollymauk: We just need to know who we can trust and who we can't.  Thuron: You cannot trust anybody in this city. You cannot trust yourselves. Anyone who has not bound themselves. They are the enemy.

Other context and info gives us that consecution and worshipping the Luxon and following the umavi-written "system of pure faith" created from their interpretation of the beacons (as EGtW dictates the Luxon is canonically silent and unconscious) is required for people to hold Dynasty political/spiritual/military office and influence, to work for the theocratic government (comprised of the 12 noble religious den families), and that dunamancy and the Dynasty's dunamis research is only accessible to those working for the government.

And it seems like Essek hints at unattractive consequences to others discovering he's been lying about his faith (and/or the dangerous nature of his career):

(131) Essek: I just know that I've also survived this long, weaving the intricacies of deceit like I have, by knowing how best to keep myself out of the complications as best as I can.

Finally, we have Essek's relationship with punishment and pain, alongside the Dynasty's systematic religious corporal punishment:

(57) In the shadows there look to be multiple figures. Some human, some ogre-ish with more reinforced bars, drow. Emaciated, beaten. Not looking happy and healthy, but then again, what good Dungeon of Penance would?

(77) ...days of chosen sunlight in which the nightfall is dispelled and the people of Rosohna and Xhorhas bask in the sun. Even those who find pain and challenge in its presence, as it is part of the worship. (EGtW) The Kryn drow who emerged from the shadowed depths of the caverns beneath Xhorhas now endure periods of sunlight as part of their worship. Periods of days, sometimes weeks, will transpire in a state of perpetual evening, enabling the darkness-bound denizens to go about their work. Such periods briefly come to an end to usher in periods of scheduled, mass worship under the sunlight.

(99) Essek: I will take my leave for the night. Thank you for not throwing me into the water. (97) Essek: The pain is somewhat comforting because I am my own punishment. (91) Essek: I have seen those far older than you that have experienced maybe half the pain I see in your eyes. Age isn't everything. Experience is what hardens you, prepares you for the worst. (138) Beau: My essence will haunt you. Essek: And I would deserve it, like I deserve all of the things that haunt me. Jester: Aw, Essek... Essek: Don't- offer me any solace. (141) Essek: Maybe it's time I just found my way. Really began my penance. I've procrastinated long enough in dealing with my sins. I convinced myself I'd be alone for so much of my life. It's hard to say goodbye when I don't feel alone anymore, but… I understand. I understand and accept what I've done.

[thegingerwithcurlyfries]

have you heard the good word? verin thelyss exists and he believes in you.

[diakiraiart]

New D&D character, who dis?

Fiinaly getting to play in an Exandria game, so here's my Ritchouse Brand, Half-orc consecuted soul'd Echo Knight; Ezracesh Ulkum.

Thought was she was one of those kids born within Beacon radius during one of the skirmishes between the Empire and Dynasty, but having military parents, raised in Bladeguarden the centre-of-army-training and all that indoctrination the Empries famous for has her thuroughly convinced her desire to go east was actually just a desire to get on the battlefield and fight for her country.

ignore the weird almost-too-real dreams of being a dark elf or the fact she can make an echo she's fully ignoring.

Hoping for it to be a fun year =3

[ignatiusteto]

super rough sketch of new oc! drow chronurgy? wizard. super aloof and elegant, but could be made more silly. name possible ilidya? ilidrya? who knows!

[luolands]

Essek's Powers

EGtW: Essek is a prodigy who displays an unprecedented talent for the manipulation of dunamis energy

c2e57: You follow Essek and as you do, you feel like your pace is quickened. People pass by, other guards, but they blur past like you're unable to necessarily focus. Something is subtly influencing you to make it difficult to really trace the path you take to where you're going. ... Fjord: Do you not feel the same effects? Essek: No. Time is one of my specialties.

Essek, c2e57: Don't deal much in blacksmithing, not my specialty. [His hand rises out of the curtains that is his cloak and his hand passes. These trails of somewhat translucent, gray energy drift off his fingertips for a second and float there before dissipating.]

Essek, c2e57: While we do have periods of worship in which we give ourselves to the sunlight as part of our means of showing our faith, it does impede our day-to-day business. So as part of our craft, we've found a way to keep it at bay, for as long as we'd like.

EGtW: Twelve hours of daylight each day can become painful and physically detrimental to those beings adapted to subterranean life. To mitigate this problem, powerful dunamancers have woven arcane shields to temporarily block out the sun above Rosohna.

c2e61: The rain seems to fall, but you never see it scatter across the Shadowhand. It seems to drift around and he stays dry amongst the storm.

c2e61: Following below, it's hard to see because the cloak almost meets the ground, but looking below: his feet aren't touching the ground. He's just drifting.

Essek, c2e71: It seems you have made your preparations and are ready to leave? Beau: Yes, you may enter and cross into the threshold. Essek: Thank you. [He glides in. You watch the ball bearings actually separating out around his form. Like there is some invisible force that is pushing them outward, and just generating this strange force that keeps them at bay.]

Jester, c2e74: [I pull out a cupcake] It's fresh, I swear! Essek: [Extends his hand and the cupcake lifts out of your hand and drifts over. He sniffs it.] Thank you. [It vanishes beneath the cloak.]

c2e77: At which point, you watch as she begins to lift up off the ground from the chains and you see Essek, his hand out of his cloak, lifting her off the ground. ... You watch as her entire central torso crushes inward, the chains go taut and you hear the metal bend as some of the chains begin to pull and break in places before she is dropped to the ground limply.

c2e91: And he just drifts off, the gate opens on its own (creak, slam) and he heads up to the interior.

c2e91: Essek approaches, waves a hand, and the gate (creaks) opens and lets you guys in.

Essek, c2e91: Allow me to take care of this for you. [He waves his hand for a second and you watch as the chairs, the furniture (scraping) scoots from the edges into the center, forming a little seating area, table scoots in.]

Essek, c2e91: [He goes ahead and lifts a hand towards the hunk of clay] If I could have some help? [You lift it and it's half the weight it was before you grabbed it.]

EGtW, 2nd Lv. Graviturgy Wizard: Adjust Density. As an action, you can magically alter the weight of one object or creature you can see within 30 feet of you. The target's weight is halved or doubled for up to 1 minute or until your concentration ends.

c2e97: He moves his hand this way and one of the crates (scraping) scoots and he sits on it. Jester: Still cool, still fucking cool.

Essek, c2e97: My entire life, I've been propped up to be perhaps worthy of being one to break those boundaries.

Essek, c2e124: [And he rises and begins to head towards the door. The door opens on its own.]

Essek, c2e131: You are led to the familiar exterior of Essek's chambers. And, as you approach, the door (whooshing) opens on its own. ... As you all enter, the door closes behind you as he curls his hand towards him. And, with his other hand, he drifts out, a chair scooches forward and he drifts down into the chair, one leg crossed over the other.

Caleb, c2e131: Come on in. Jester: Wait, we're naked! Essek: [The doorway opens, stops. And slowly opens. (he sighs) The door opens the rest of its way on its own. ]

Essek, c2e132: Hold on to that, we have our means of drifting carefully. Or we could try to climb- well, you could try to climb. I'll be fine. Veth: Oh, yeah, you can drift. Essek: I can.

c2e132: Partway in your descent, you have this shadow drift by as Essek just drifts over the edge and just glides down past you, like an elevator, and just looks over at you each as he slowly descends towards the bottom.

c2e134: You see, as he starts putting his hands out in front like this, like he's soft throwing objects forward. You watch as rocks start coming out as he's just plucking them, as he pulls the gravity from them, aiding you as you guys go along.

c2e135: You see Essek puts his hand out and begins to concentrate, his eyes narrowing. As he does, you watch as the smooth, relatively untouched stone base of this glass tube device (stone cracking) begin to crack and crumble. You see it get pulled away and dragged under the ground behind, scattering. The glass breaking, and as opposed to shattering around you, being shunted off to the backside of the wall, scattering on the ground.

c2e135: As it all falls away, he turns his hand up, and as he does, it's like an invisible hand digging into clay and lifting through as it sifts past the fingers. You see the rock lift and then crumble, and then there in the center, you see this diamond-shaped gem, of faint dark purple coloration, that was now released. He lifts it and drifts it over into your hand.

c2e135: You guys all were all prepping and doing this space, as this was happening, Essek, you see him begin to cast something and then condense it into his hand. He hands you this small bead, Veth. This is like a marble. And just goes, "Follow my lead." ... A bolt of black lightning arcs out from it, across the way towards the creature. It's a level four Lightning Bolt.

EGtW, 14th Lv. Chronurgy Wizard: Arcane Abeyance. When you cast a spell using a spell slot of 4th level or lower, you can condense the spell's magic into a mote. The spell is frozen in time at the moment of casting and held within a gray bead for 1 hour.

c2e136: [He's wading through the water and he's like] Don't forget to return the favor! Sam: He can't float on the water? Liam: It's a three-inch spell. Matt: It doesn't quite work like that. It keeps him off of solid ground, but it doesn't put him over fluid surfaces. It's not a levitate type spell.

c2e138: He pulls out a piece of dark chalk and finds a section of the floor, and begins to draw different dunamantic symbols in this patterned array, making you progressively more and more uncomfortable as the designs begin to come together. Some of them are little more intricate for even your understanding, but you begin to pick up the basics of it, using this stone as a focus, not unlike how residuum is used as an amplifier device in a number of other laboratories.

c2e138: There's that brief moment where you see Essek, sweat beginning to form on his forehead as he's concentrating, and as you're focusing your spell energy towards this crystal, you see it begin to glow brighter and brighter and brighter, not unlike the way that the threshold crest was taking on that filament-like brightness, but this itself has a deep, deep purplish hue, and you see it begin to flicker, not unlike the symbol that you were seeing, which makes you extremely uncomfortable.  In a moment, you feel this urge to just rush in and stop it, but as you do, Essek twitches his arms around it and then draws his fingers in two different directions, and you see this small tear in reality, a break in reality, if you will. And with that, you can see, in a brief moment, in this sliver, hundreds of realities just brushing by at an endless speed. He begins to take and fold that tear around, like if the tear in space time became a thread, and wrap it around this stone, and as soon as it begins to close on it, (sizzling, shattering) it shatters... and we're going to go to break.

Essek, c2e140: I spent my entire life studying the intent to not let things like this happen to chance.

Essek, c2e141: I have spent my life in the pursuit of the ability to control one's future, and that path has led me to making many mistakes. And my shift begin to wander the possibility of fixing one's past, and since we found this, I've thought of it often.

EGtW, 14th Lv. Chronurgy Wizard: Convergent Future. You can peer through possible futures and magically pull one of them into events around you, ensuring a particular outcome.

[wake-up-puppet-boy]

Listen I don't go here but I DID watch EXU Calamity and I did buy EGTW and read is obsessively every three months. I read Pelor's wiki and how the wiki describes Zerxus' dream and that's,,, now what I got from it…? Like at ALL???

The wiki describes this scene as showing Pelor's action as cold and violent and I get that's how's Zerxus sees it but---Asmodeus is pretty much Exandria's satan. This man is Lawful Evil at his core. Mr. Lord "Kindness is Stupid" of the Nine Hells. Father of Lies right here. The end of the series pretty much confirmed this. And Pelor knows all this.

And even if that battle isn't really happening in front of Zerxus. But that's the real Asmodeus. And if that's the real Pelor, he just...leaves him alone? He just let's Mr. Lawful "I'm Sworn To End All Mortals" Evil go? Because one human told him too??? A human that didn't even like him. A human who thinks he's above the gods themselves. He's willing to bet the fate of Exandria himself because one human looked into the face of pure evil and saw something pitable within him and chose mercy?

Did Zerxus make him feel guilty? Did Zerxus remind him of someone? Did Pelor think if there was even a chance that it was worth talking? Did he hope Zerxus was right? Does he regret his decision?

Would he do it again?

Yes, as a NG god Pelor can be a tyrant beholden to his own will. But he's one of the only NG gods of the prime deities. The only one accepted in places such as the Dweldian Empire. The other is Raei. The one who chose kindness and paid for it. Other gods are beholden to Law or Chaos or their own domains. But Pelor is beholden to Goodness in of itself. And compassion is written into his commandments.

[ariadne-mouse]

How it started:

How it's going: