The First Land Herald/450-01-32
| Article Number: 96 |
| Dateline: 450-01-32 |
| LIRAXES' DEVICE IDENTIFIES PRIME SORCERY LOCATION Since our last meeting, the extraplanar entity Liraxes has been busy at work fulfilling its own mission of restoring the Balance, though exactly what implications Balance holds for the rest of us remains unclear. At a recent meeting with adventurers, Liraxes posited there was an approximate 67% chance that wild magic was not the result of intentional activities, but also an approximate 87% chance that intelligent entities were now taking advantage of the situation. It calculated that the most likely entities to be doing this were the Heralds, followed by demonic entities, other types of entities from outside of known space, and the beings known as the Immortals, in that order. As part of its mission to maintain Balance, Liraxes announced that it was gathering materials to construct a device to determine the best course of actions for doing so. "Liraxes can make use of materials from this plane for constructing a device more attuned to this phase," it said. "Any contribution of small rods or mechanisms made from materials from this plane will be helpful in this regard." Several adventurers gave Liraxes various rods and mechanisms, and we watched as Liraxes began construction with those. We saw one of the mechanisms rise up into the air, and blue crystal began forming around it. Other mechanisms followed, linked together by additional crystal growths. Some parts of the forming device then began to twist in space, parts of it appearing to move through one another. Then the entire thing shuddered for a moment before vanishing with a faint pop. It was only a start to the mysterious device, but Liraxes assured us that there would be future opportunities for us to provide additional materials. While many of us pressed the issue of the return of our missing friends, Liraxes said that their return was not necessary to the maintenance of Balance, but it projected a high probability that fixing the Balance issue would result in a timeline in which our friends are returned. "Current calculations indicate that timelines in which the Balance is maintained will also result in a timeline in which the missing individuals are returned," it said. "Construction of the device will help improve the accuracy of achieving those outcomes." Some days later, Liraxes announced over the gweth that it had identified one of the locations for engaging in sorcerous casting to help the Balance, which he described as the ruins of a small building located west of the city of The Crossing that contained arachnids. Adventurers quickly flocked to find this location, a little ways outside of The Crossing's west gate, beside the remains of a building long reduced to jagged foundation of moss-stained tufa. Among those who came, a few brought materials for Liraxes in response to his previous request. Gwenddolyn brought a backpack full of rods with a variety of material properties, and Urbaj provided approximately 30,000 mechanisms made of iron, steel, bronze, copper, oravir, tin, nickel, and zinc, as well as rods carved from all of the varieties of bone and stone commonly found on our plane. Liraxes deemed these donations acceptable and tonelessly responded that they should be sufficient for data acquisition. It said that previously delivered materials had been sufficient to begin more refined calculations, including the identification of the current location as a priority target for engaging in sorcerous casting. However, the additional materials would still be of use to further refine observational ability. Meanwhile, Parkons wished to finalize a contract with Liraxes in order to mitigate the potential for negative consequences. He expressed concern that freely donating materials to Liraxes without the protections of a contract could be reckless, though he hoped that he was wrong. However, Liraxes said that according to its revised calculations, "there are no circumstances under which your missing people are returned without resolving the current imbalance in magical energy" -- thereby changing the underlying premise of the proposed contract, since the original contract was primarily focused on the return of the missing adventurers. As for the device itself, Liraxes informed us that it was still calculating a precise location for the final optimal placement of the device being constructed, assuring us that it will have no direct impact on our plane beyond physically existing in it. Liraxes clarified that we should engage in sorcerous casting in general to restore Balance, excluding Teleologic sorcery, and that while sorcerous backlash was not required for the process, it also would not disrupt it. A large group would also not be required though it may help the process. It said that additional locations would be identified as further calculations were performed, and that once they were identified we could assume that sorcerous casting at any of them would be equally effective. It warned us to "not expect immediate results. This problem has been building for a long time, and will not be resolved immediately." When asked why exactly casting sorcery at these particular locations would help improve the Balance, Liraxes claimed it would be difficult to explain to us. "It is difficult to explain the mechanisms involved without references to math. Liraxes focuses on the long term outcomes of activities, rather than the proximate causes," it said. "Are you capable of describing the color blue to something which does not have eyes? Or the taste of food to something which does not have a tongue?" Interestingly, Liraxes revealed that Balance-restoring activities and activities to rescue our friends were not necessarily one and the same. "There are methods of restoring the Balance which could be accomplished without the missing people being restored, but at present those are suboptimal paths," it said. "But there are no options which result in those individuals being returned until after Balance is restored." Urbaj, who first encountered Liraxes during a meeting he hosted to address potential breaches of the Trader guild's pact with the Arbiter in Darkness (See FLH article from 450-1-17.), was one of the first people to jump onboard and provide a large amount of materials to Liraxes. When asked why he felt inclined to do so, the Trader provided a practical and well-reasoned response. "I trust Liraxes by virtue of its existence as an extension of the Greater Concept of Balance. Everyone else involved in this -- whether it's the other messengers, the Immortals, the Heralds, or even you and I – are self-interested and imperfect. But we have no reason to think Liraxes is even capable of doing anything that is not in the noble pursuit of Balance," Urbaj said. "Liraxes is also the only one to give us a realistic course of action. So far the results of those actions have matched its predictions, which has been to our benefit." Rumors flew of another Liraxes sighting at a meeting at a hidden shrine under the cover of night. Due to the clandestine nature of this meeting, I was not able to verify who was present nor exactly what took place, but I was informed by an anonymous source that Liraxes advised the attendees that they could play a role in restoring Balance by engaging in certain activities within the Museum of Imperial History. The exact nature of these activities remains unclear. To some, Liraxes' revelations offer a glimmer of hope, while others remain hesitant to engage in sorcerous casting without a clear understanding of the math behind its enigmatic calculations. One thing remains clear, however -- it will take our combined efforts to overcome the challenges that threaten our world. Until then, Illiya |
| Real Date: Unknown Date |
| Subject(s): Wild Magic |
| Author(s): Illiya |