#v.hiraeth

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((I’m trying to name countries and stuff and it’s.... working. Slowly.))

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The Seere

The designated leader of Ethir. Replaced every five hundred years, they are usually of the older generations of elves in the tower. There are multiple candidates trained throughout the century leading up to the replacement process. Upon becoming the Seere, the chosen candidate gains access to the vast aetherical knowledge stored within the tower’s lower levels - a library containing ancient texts dating back to the first recorded period of man’s history - and a pool of aether that draws in the aether from the surrounding sea. By allowing direct access to the pool’s aether, the Seere casts spells that are otherwise impossible to use by mortals, either in defense of Ethir or in the pursuit of specific knowledge. Absorbing this aether directly, however, reduces an elf’s lifetime over time, leading to the need for replacements every few centuries.

Any decisions that could affect the entirety of Ethir are brought before the Seere and a council made up of their peers (former, future, and potential Seeres). As the most knowledgeable of the elves, trust is placed upon them to make decisions for the tower involving their allies and enemies. On very rare occasion, there have been uprisings to overthrow a rogue Seere, but due to the limitations on a mortal body enforcing a limit on aether consumption, it has never ended in too big of a disaster.

The first Seere, long since deceased, was the first to slay the Divine Beast, Ammiras. It is because of this that such high honors were bestowed upon them, and played a large part in easing relations between elves and humanity.

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Dalvensus is kingdom of monsters, located to the far north near Myrartis. Due to aetherical disturbances, monsters that should not exist often appear here, and are pushed back by nearby countries. However, Myrartis seems to have become involved with Dalvensus and its creatures, leading to their growing hostilities in recent years.

Drawn by the high amounts of aether in Ethir, what seemed to be a plantlike scout from Dalvensus traveled there and attempted to root itself in the tower. It did not go unnoticed by the elves living there, however, and they captured it before it had climbed to the top of the tower. While the goal of Jastira, a renowned alchemist and the last ruler of Ethir, was to study and experiment on this creature, an incident occurred causing it to infect a number of elves and turn them into abominations. 

Due to Ethir isolating themselves from the rest of the world, this went unnoticed for some years. When it was discovered, red vines had overtaken most of the tower. Its inhabitants were now beasts similar to those that lived in Dalvensus, with the plant that brought their ruin rooted in the inner depths of the tower, far beneath the sea. Guarding it is Jastira herself - still looking humanoid, dawning a red dress, she attacks all trespassers with magic and dodges with inhuman speed.

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((oooooh they probably live in Myrerius. Sarge (one of the main cast) is a dragon person and he comes from there.... meaning they’d probably have horns and stuff---))

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Log 1:

Jastira Vamaris. XX of XX, year XXXX. Soon after many of our younger citizens made their exit from Ethir in hopes of seeking knowledge beyond our walls, we were forced to close ourselves off from the outside world. An invader from Dalvensus, perhaps once intimidated by our numbers, seems to have wandered close… It is some sort of plant-like creature that is hard to describe. It seems like it has not fully bloomed, and for the sake of not allowing an infection to spread throughout the tower I have isolated it in a container from which it cannot escape. Those who found it have been instructed by the higher-ups not to mention it - it could be a scout, and we don’t want to cause any sort of panic among what remains of our citizenry.

...I… well, to be quite honest, I’m a bit amazed to have a live sample in our grasp after all this time. Previously they were killed on sight, but this subject seems to have put up little fight and, and I believe my pleading finally got through to one of the guards. One of the night guards, what was his name… He always gives me this look like he’s interested in my work… Aelin? No matter, no matter, I’ll deal with that later. I have to focus, and I may be getting carried away… Ahem.

As many of my younger assistants have left, it has been mostly Mona - er, that’s, Illimona, the one who transferred over from…. nevermind - and, well, myself. I have other assistants, but they have been rather busy in different points of research, you know. The fewer people who know about this, the better, though, and Mona is sworn to secrecy. Wouldn’t say a peep. We’re both very excited to get on with our research, but of course the higher-ups have to… They have to determine it’s safe to do anything with the damned thing. We don’t know how aether will affect a creature made from, from aetherical disturbances, you know! So in the meantime I’ve been examining it, but, but it doesn’t have any particularly interesting behavior so far. It has been extremely passive, leading me to uncertainties about that “scouting” theory I mentioned… I did mention that earlier, correct? Yes, well, if it’s a scout it’s not an especially good one. I don’t understand why it’s a plant monster, either.

Log 2:

Experimentation still not approved. Should be within the next couple of days, they said. What if it needs to eat? What if it dies before I can do anything on it? However, I’m no fool - we could capture another one alive eventually, we have nothing but time. Our surrounding allies have finally caught word of our closed borders, so the Seere is sending word of our reasons by means of their little aether pets, the… whatever they’re called. Ahem.

I spoke with Aelin last night, you know, and asked if he’d caught the damn thing alive just for me. But he said it didn’t even put up a fight, after they knocked it off the tower - it’d been climbing up, you see, and was uncomfortably close to the peak when they found it. None of the guards on the lower levels reported anything out of the ordinary, so I’m curious as to how it got so high while completely invading detection! The Seere is taking this breach in security very seriously, though, so, um, we put barriers up that will detect if anything living enters the tower or the surrounding area. It caught a fisherman who we had to kindly turn away, all the way from Urion! I know some of my students headed over that way. I wonder how they’re doing…

Sometimes I look at the thing. It’s barely moved. I don’t think it has eyes, but I feel like it’s… it’s staring at me? I threw a sheet over it.

Log 6:

Jastira here again, you know the drill. Experimentation approved - Mona? Can you come here so I know it’ll pick up your voice? (Yes’m.) Excellent, excellent. We’re doing the most basic of aetherical tests today, running a current through its body - without damaging it, of course. I’m worried pure aether will kill it, as it is, but I don’t… I don’t exactly have access to corrupted aether. (Only in Dalvensus, Jas. Are we good to go on this, or-?) Hold on, hold on.

Ahem, so this is test one. We’ll see if it reacts at all. Five seconds.

…

…

…

N...Nothing? Nothing. All righty, but it’s still alive, right? Its vitals haven’t changed, we haven’t detected any change in aether balance yet…. The aether we have stored is uncorrupted, strangely. (For the sake of the recording: I’ve made sure it filters out, so it doesn’t ruin the whole batch. If it gets corrupted we’ll have to immediately ship it off to assure its gotten rid of.) Yes, yes, but it’s surprisingly fine so far. The creature itself seems rather low-level, to be honest, I’m not sure if we’ll get much out of it. (Unlikely a scout, if that’s the case, so why send it all this way? Did it wander off a pack and end up at the nearest settlement?) Who knows! That’s what’s exciting - we’ve never directly dealt with the stupid things! But, but of course, we must take caution. It could be a ruse. (Are they that intelligent, even?) It’s impossible to tell, you know. But we have to be careful.

Log 14:

We’ve been filtering through the same aether, just…. Just normal aether, direct outta the earth. I’ve switched up the batch a bit, since so far no amount has had any reaction. I’m… Mona is out, today, because a few of the guards have gotten sick, so she’s taken over for one. Must be something going around. Aelin’s been sick, too, and I.... I can’t help but have a bad feeling. I don’t want to say it, but if this doesn’t work… you know. I’ll probably just kill the damn thing. I’ll say it… I’ll say it died or something. I don’t know. I don’t have high hopes, honestly, but this will have been a learning experience nonetheless. If aether doesn’t hurt the damn thing, that renders some of the more pure magic types a bit useless, doesn’t it?

Ahem, so, this… this batch is human-based aether. I want to see if it reacts to people. So, test… test seventeen? Yes, final test. I guess final log in this particular experiment file, if nothing goes according to plan. There’s not really a plan, I guess, just… you know. Ten seconds.

…

O-Oh! It’s blooming! That’s not good, is it? It’s a bright red sort of color, it’s…. As the aether goes into it, the flower gets bigger. Growing out of its head. Its vines are growing. A-Ah, the aether went off, and now it’s --

Log 15:

T… There was an issue. It got… it got too big for its container, damn thing cracked, the guards came and killed it after I pulled the alarm. I was hiding under the desk. I’m still hiding under the desk, pondering. That was like, it was like, an hour ago? An hour ago. They took the body away. If the aether in people makes it grow, perhaps it devours people, and maybe it hadn’t so it was… it was weak, or something of the sort, it was-- Ah-ah, somebody is banging on my door… Who is it?

(J-Jas, please open the door, please-)

Mona?

Log 16:

[There is static. Nothing but static.]

Log 19:

XX of X, XXXX….

I am changing. I can feel it. I’m beginning to see it. My eyes are so red now, they’re so… and my veins… It’s been… How long has it been? It’s been a few weeks… It’s been a few weeks and I’m shut up in my lab… They don’t try to get in here, I don’t… I can’t think straight…

Aelin… him and the other guards… They were sick, they were sick because… it was weak because it had already released its spores. It didn’t release any spores before they killed it. But the spores… they… they just burst out of its…. Body… I’m so, so tired…. They don’t try to get in… but they know I’m here…

I’m going… all the way to the bottom of the tower…. The bottom levels… If I turn on the… the emergency… god, they’ll kill me before I make it there… they’ll kill me…

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All throughout time the three Divine Beasts have appeared in a cycle, forcing the rebirth of the world:

Ammiras, the serpent, drowns the old world - flooding all the land, sweeping away everything it can with tsunamis and endless rain.

Tareus, the titan, crafts the new world. It creates the land on which living things will grow, and is considered the most peaceful of the three beasts.

The Golden Queen, Exulla, creates new beings to fill the new world, and violently deals with whatever is left over from the old one. She holds sway over monsters, and is known to destroy the other two Divine Beasts before vanishing into the sea, reappearing only after they have been reincarnated centuries later.

Little remains of the Old World because of these creatures, but over time humanity has grown strong enough to combat them. Each encounter with a Divine Beast leads to massive loss of life, and at times not all three could be defeated before the end of the cycle. Even now, there are those seeking a way to end the cycle permanently by separating the three from the world’s aether...

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((Also it was Myrartis that kidnapped the twins when they were younger and experimented on them. They really did have good intentions for the world at large, but have since allied themselves with.... basically an army of the damned.))