19 Landing, 6106 RTR

To The Office of Arch-Inquisitor Raphael Melchizidek

The Inquisition, Rephidim Temple

Rephidim, Sinai

I hope this report finds you in good health, Arch-Inquisitor, and that you will forgive me for not keeping you apprised of my activities for the past year in a timelier manner.

As you know, I have been on a quest to regain those faculties lost during the Seven Sisters conflict in Babel some time ago, based on interpretations of the following riddle given to me by the Oracle of Barada:

Listen, for I will make to you clearer,
To heal yourself, you need pieces from four mirrors.
Four aspects, four elements, four realms of your sphere.
Gather together, and bring them all here.

Dragon to Child as Fire is to Water,
Air to Probe as Earth is to Father,
A thing in a place, a place for a thing,
Metal, plant and stone, and of dirt do I sing.

In the hearts of four realms, far and away,
Live essences of each of the elements, I say.
A precious thing, potent to have and behold,
Find it there, bring it here, just as you're told.

Where to find them? Where do they abide?
Is there an answer? Or is it for you to decide?
There is potency in the riddle, not so in the plain,
It is your own mind to heal, so easy answers are in vain.

Is it so strange to you, so alien a test?
The gods have an answer in mind, but is it the best?
A quest is not simple, too cheap if done in ease,
So find fitting answers, and the gods your cleverness please.

After consulting with Master Zahirinee, and others, it seemed that the best course of action was to seek out specific items in different locations related to the Sphere of Earth and to the way my mind operates. A vision from the Pool of Zahirinee gave me a lead on the Sinai location, although that was not the first place I visited.

When visiting Morpheus (both the world and the entity), I was given a special tool to help overcome the loss of my ability to sense magic. This artifact is a tiara made of stone and Morphean Sifran Crystal, which reacts to varying degrees in the presence of magic or Sifran crystal. At first I had to observe the reactions directly, but over time I was able to simply wear it and receive the benefits.

My next stop was the planet Abaddon, where I conducted research at the Library of New Zion. The topic of my search was anything relating to a living essence of metal. I came across mention of an artificial thinking machine; a mechanical dragon referred to as the Leviathan. I was able to see the device first hand at the Museum of Antiquities , and convinced the director, Professor James, to aid me. He explained that the creator, Dr. Von Bronson, had left behind no notes – but that a secured laboratory had been uncovered in his underground base. After convincing the authorities in charge that I was unlikely to get myself killed, I attempted to enter the inventor’s inner sanctum.

While the initial puzzle lock (which had led to the unfortunate incineration of those undertaking previous attempts at entry) was simple enough to overcome, the inner challenge was not. In hindsight, if my mind had been operating at the level it had been before my Avatar of Inala incident then I would have solved the puzzle easily by taking it at face value instead of jumping to an erroneous conclusion. I was therefore trapped in the laboratory and hunted by Dr. Von Bronson’s robotic creations. During this time, however, I discovered another important clue for my quest. The dead man’s recorded voice informed me that the Leviathan would not be complete without physical senses, a power source and some means of countering Quantum Uncertainty.

For power, he had stolen the Holy Seed of the Celestial Empire ; a supposedly immortal plant which produced energy. This was in the lab, but had become inert. The Imperials were very happy with its return anyway. Also recovered was the Disc of Eras, an ancient Expedition artifact containing the information about the early days of the Expedition. Recovered notes also pointed to an outcropping of Sifran crystal on Abaddon which Von Bronson believed to have sensory functions which could be adapted to the Leviathan.

Since the Holy Seed was apparently dead, I sought to discover a replacement. Thanks to the Disc of Eras, it was possible to plot the location of the Imperial Starship Sutaranakh which crashed in the ocean of Ashtoreth .  With the use of a captured Sea Raider clam-ship, and the interaction of my tiara with its unusual drive-pearl I was able to find the sunken ship. The descendants of the crew had degenerated somewhat, but the ship’s artificial intelligence was still largely intact. Through the use of an interface helmet, it was able to extract what it needed from my own mind to restore all of its own functions. The Holy Seed which powers Sutaranakh is much larger than the dead one found on Abaddon, and was being used, so of course I could not take it. Sutaranakh told me it may be possible to resurrect the dead seed, however.

I was able to pass on a good deal of information stored in Sutaranakh’s memory to the Imperials on Abaddon. On my return to Sinai, I was able to sense magic once again, although my mastery of it was limited. After being tested on Caroban, I escorted a friend to Babel so that he could pay his respects to a fallen classmate for Reckoning Day. It was there when it became apparent that while my magic seemed to be recovering, my mind was not: I made a poor decision based more on emotion than reason, and as a result I was expelled from the Mages Guild.

I left Babel in disguise on a refugee airship. Circumstances turned dire, however, when the crew of the ship decided to turn pirate and kill their passengers for their belongings. I had no choice but to use magic, despite being unsanctioned by the Guild. I have no regrets, though – lives were saved and the pirates brought to justice (albeit Babelite justice).

I headed on to Abu Dhabi next, to see Master Barabbas.  He has become a father figure for me, and I was feeling in urgent need of a parent at that point. I was ambushed while leaving the ship by the former High Priestess of Inala, whom I had disfigured during the Yodhblakat raid of the Temple of Inala . I was able to resist her attack and bring her into custody. It was during this that I first encountered Watch Officer Ra Shrikendune, who was immediately suspicious of me.

Despite having expressed my goals to both the Temple and the High Council of Caroban, Officer Shrikendune determined that I should not be allowed to continue, and sought to take me in to custody (although I later learned that he actually intended to execute me). I was able to escape to Parthos in Olympia , but Shrikendune punished Mage Barabbas with house arrest.

I knew that there was a place on Sinai in the underground region known as Moltpaa which had another quest item. With the aid of a native guide, I made my way to the lost capital of Stalto. I cannot reveal the route or location of this city, however, due to an agreement with the inhabitants. In Stalto I encountered a Sifran artifact that the city records called The Observer. This device seemed to serve as a stabilizer of magical fluctuations, which was needed for the city to remain intact in a region of extreme wild magic, being both near to Bosch and also suspended over a lake of magma. While in contact with the Observer, I seemed to be transported to a different realm of white light, where I sensed the presence of many entities. The one which approached me was Barada, however, who hinted that this place was the abode of the gods. She seemed disappointed that I had no intention of taking the Observer for my own use, but did appear to confirm that I was on the right path and that awakening the Leviathan was a proper goal.

At this point, I had recovered more of my magical ability, but had none of the components needed to awaken the Leviathan, since I chose not to simply take them. Still, Barada claimed that ‘the hard part’ was past. In disguise, I traveled via caravan back to the Gateway Tower . I found my face on wanted posters liberally placed throughout the area, and was able to inquire at the Guild Embassy there as to whether or not Envoy would be allowed to surrender. The response was that Shrikendune had no intention of allowing me to be extradited to Caroban where I might get a sympathetic hearing, which means that he intended to have me killed. I had no recourse but to continue to life as a fugitive.

Sp Thanks to the aid of friends within the Temple , I was able to go along with the expedition to Behemoth, which was the next destination on my quest. Once there, I was able to activate an ancient transport system that took me deeper into the world, to a realm of vast sky islands which moved through narrow zones of habitation. I also encountered an Aelfin-like race known as the Balfin, who at first mistook me for a Sifra.

I thought it a simple mistake at the time.

The Balfin are largely nomadic, and speak a dialect of Aelfin. They are a short and sturdy people, with an extra pair of vestigial arms that they keep held against their ribs and use to hold onto things.  Their fur is dark, usually in black and gray patches, but otherwise their facial features are Aelfin and include the distinctive double-pair of ears.

I stayed with the Balfin for many days, learning their language and what they knew of the world they lived on. They had a means of moving from island to island, so that they would always be within a habitable zone, and before moving on had a practice of leaving a sacrificial offering of food to the beings they called the Svartifin, which dwelt deeper within the world. I arranged to be part of this offering, and was transported to the realm of the Svartifin, which may make up the core of Behemoth itself.

The Svartifin are black-furred, tall and slender, with small wings and Sifran crystal embedded directly into their bodies to form a headdress and armbands. They also have Aelfin features and speak the same language, although they possess a small horn similar to my own.  They refer to the Sifras as the Silfrin, which is similar to the term Xylphrim used in Stalto to refer to legendary apparitions.

The Svartifin claimed that I had been created by the Silfrin, since I was in the same ‘aesthetic’ as them. They explained that the Silfrin extracted people and other elements from the Portals – which refer to Exiles showing up in Forbidden Zones.  The Svartifin showed me the purpose of Behemoth: it houses and powers the great Engines that maintain the worlds of the Primus system, along with the communications system of the Silfrin. These engines operate by using the gas of Behemoth as fuel, and using it to create small, artificial universes which are then harnessed for power. They are very short-lived in real time, but the Svartifin can enter and exit them at will. They taught me how to listen to the song of the Engines, and use that to control how I traveled with in the mini universes.

The Engines require both fuel and a stabilizing compound to overcome catastrophic fluctuations.  The Engine of Fortunata was shown to me as an example of an Engine running out of control without the stabilizing compound: it produced malformed, violent universes in a very chaotic manner. The Engines of other worlds had been shut down, so that the stabilizing compound could be used on the Sinai Engine. The lack of compound and the diminished numbers of the Svartifin who maintained them was the reason, as well as a dearth of replacement components.

It was also explained that the Sinai engine occasionally suffers an emergency shutdown and restart as parts wear out. When it is restarted, it works at a reduced efficiency than before. The Svartifin think that another such reset is coming, and the Engine may not survive a restart.  To help avoid this, I showed them a new source of stabilizing compound that could be harvested from the final stages of the created universes.

In order to test this new compound, the Engine of Abaddon was restarted, including the functions which allow for the existence of magic. The Engines for Behemoth and Primus were restarted next, which means the Svartifin should be able to communicate with the Silfrin once more, which inhabit Primus itself in some sort of non-material form. As part of the testing of the compound, a crystal artifact was created that behaves as a quantum stabilizer – the same function that the Observer of Stalto performs. I was able to keep this, along with several worn out crystal Engine components. It was my hope that Morpheus would be able to examine them and create new working components.

The Svartifin detected an immanent Portal event within the Abaddon Engine, and I was able to enter the mirco universe and find the focus. A human named Walter P. Thorndike III was about to demonstrate a device he called the Meta-Dimensional Perambulator on a world inhabited solely by humans. He was asking for volunteers to accompany him, so I offered. It did not occur to me to try and warn or stop him, as I had no idea of what the effect would be. He activated his device and we appeared on Abaddon, in a new Forbidden Zone near the Imperial Lifedome.

We were spotted and brought to the Lifedome. This close to the Forbidden Zone and the newly spreading magic, I attempted a major ritual to revive the Holy Seed. Doing something of this nature solo is very taxing, and at the end I fell into a deep sleep. There was enough magic about that I was able to dream, and found myself in a dream realm fashioned to appear as a puppet store, and I was one of the puppets. This had been created as a trap by Ra Shrikendune using a powerful Dream Artifact.

I do not know why the witch-hunter thought this would work, as dealing with dangerous dream realms was a skill I had developed during the Seven Sisters ritual. Still, I called for aid, and Morpheus appeared. With his help, I escaped Shrikendune’s attempt at dream-assisted assassination. If not for my current status I would send an angry letter to the Guild for allowing the use of such an artifact after what happened to the Dream Realm during the Babelite ritual.

I had some time then to explain the situation to Morpheus. He had is own sources which suggested to him that the upcoming Engine reset would not be as catastrophic as the Svartifin predicted, but I could not follow up on his reasons at the time.

That Morpheus and the Svartifin have come to different conclusions disturbs me. Either Morpheus’ information is not as complete, or else he or the Svartifin are trying to influence my actions. I cannot blame Morpheus if he desires an end to magic on Sinai, for his dealings with mages have ranged from annoying to traumatic in the past. I do not believe he is a vengeful being though. I conclude that the differing conclusions come from having different means of assessing the situation.

When I regained consciousness, one-hundred days had passed since my ritual. You likely already know of the destruction of the old Imperial Lifedome by the blooming of the Holy Seed. The Seed itself appears to have reached underground to tap into the network of Sifran crystal on Abaddon, which certainly suggests that the Seeds are of Sifran or First Ones origin. A massive amount of magic was released, magnitudes greater than what went into the original ritual. This burst seems to have allowed for my state of suspended animation, as well as enhancing my magical abilities. While Abaddon’s magic seems to operate at about the same level as magic on Rephidim, it does not seem so weak to me now.

My mind still shows no signs of returning to its former self on its own. I am in a protected location, as neither the Expedition or Celestial Empire governments intend to hand me over to Ra Shrikendune. However, I have been experiencing emotional states that I can only describe as loneliness and mild dread.

I cannot look into a mirror without wondering how I fit into the Sifran order of things. My physiology was altered when I arrived on Sinai, and now I am not sure if the transformation was complete, or if it is my task to complete it myself. My only hope is awakening the Leviathan, and calling up whatever force it is that grants life to otherwise artificial beings. Morpheus, Sutaranakh and I are proof that something is in place for this purpose.

Acquiring the sensory organs for the Leviathan should not be difficult, now that I am familiar with interfacing with Sifran crystal, and know where to find them. I have a quantum stabilizer as well. What remains to be found is a working power source.  It is possible that the central bloom of the new Imperial Lifedome will eventually produce new Seeds which I can use, but that is speculation.  I will look into alternatives, such as a drive-pearl from Ashtoreth, if I can acquire one.

I’m not used to thinking like a mortal being. I am simply not physically equipped for it, nor does it help that I am only ten years old. I am not about to give up, however.

I would appreciate it if you would wish me luck, sir.

Envoy of Lothrhyn.

(Attached is a separate version of this report meant for the High Council of Caroban, if you can see your way fit to deliver it for me. It focuses on my discoveries and includes none of my personal observations. I leave it to you to edit out any information you deem too sensitive.)