Journal of Galthir the Cartographer

Entry 47 -

(The original lore this deals with is the Property of, and Copyrighted By, Mainframe Studios. That lore can be found at https://playpaxdei.com/en-us/news/diegesis.)

Entry 47 - My Continued Studies on Theolonius

Grimyr has a new project, which keeps me from roaming and exploring as I'd like. His demands for those silly wall candles is incessant, so I have to stay close at hand to mine his supply. Fortunately, two other things are true - I can continue improving my other skills, and I have free time to peruse, consider, and ponder the wrtings of Theolonius. In my study of Theolonius, I had read through his accounts of myths and legends, to finish the first millenium of human history. This time I will see if I can progress through the remaining 3000 years.

The Elysium Age (~1050 to ~1930)

Begins with the survivors of Demira's Flood, recovering and rebuilding. I can greatly sympathize with those long-dead peoples, having recently survived such myself. I still can remember the flood waters lapping at the floor of my high hill cave refuge. Neither Grimyr nor I know how he survived the Flood waters he fell into, but I have started to suspect that the Scion's Blessing of Repeated Life had much to do with it. It would speak to the great upheavals of the land that he reawakened here in Llydaw instead of his original mountain home in Vanes.

But back to Theolonius.

He then describes the rise of the Four Great Ancient Cultures - Atlantis, Thule, Helios, and Carpathia - and describing their great feats. I will admit, the phrasing of Atlantis' feat is a little ambiguous in my mind. Which of two different objects did they forge? The Sun? Or the Sun Beneath The Sea? The inhabitants of Thule sound more like the remnants of the Wild Firsts that managed to isolate themselves from Meirothea and Demira, and having survived Demira's Flood, expanded into the vacant lands. Helios, like Atlantis is given a admiring depiction. But in his description of Carpathia, I detect more than a little bias.

The same kinds of deeds described for Atlantis and Helios, are immediately attributed to a "Prince of Hell". Apparently, despite their cousins in the other Ancient Cultures acheivements, it takes a Prince of Hell to produce a "kingdom of gardens and mirrors, marble and incense", of "peace and beauty", whose throne "touched the stars". This strikes me as a lesser acheivement than forging a sun, controlling the light itself. Unless, of course, Theolonius has a much lower opinion of Humanity's ability to live in peace or create beauty.

Then he lists each of the Great Culture's Flaws, and they strike me as veiled descriptions of 2 of the Demonic Sins - Pride (in Atlantis and Carpathia), and Wrath (in Thule and Helios). Why Theolonius ascribes a greater failure to Carpathia than to Atlantis is unclear and unstated. Leaving me to wonder at his clear hostile bias - he lived thousands of years after these events, after all.

And for all his personification of the Sins as Demons and people, his warning phrases are still worth remembering: "The sins returned, not as monsters, but as policies. As architecture. As ritual."

My only disagreement is that I'm not sure the Sins ever left, given his descriptions. I'll also disagree with him on an inferred source of the Sins. Policies - that leaders gave the people. Rituals - that leaders prescribed. Architecture - that leaders built. Here, he leaves the People innocent of their actions, and I belive that to a large flaw. Monsters may deceive us and tempt us into Sin. Wrongly admired Leaders may lead us astray. But it is our selves that commit the actions, that commit the sins. And to forget that is dangerous.

The Great Surge (~1930 to ~1950)

And here he claims that those Sins of the Elysium Age, "cracked the earth" and let demons walk brazenly through Creation. Until the rise of "fifth redeemer, Armozel, the seventh son of a Gothian carpenter". Armozel is the first Redeemer to be given fully mortal origins. But I am left wondering where Goth was. Which of the Four Great Cultures was it a surviving fragment of? Or, for that matter, were there other cultures contemporary with them? And, of course, the other problem that struck me when I first read it. Demira was the Third Redeemer. Armozel is the Fifth. The Fourth had not yet been mentioned. Why?

Anatolia. Like Goth, its origins are unmentioned, though it was apparently a kingdom.

Armozel is credited with inventing the art of enchantment, the same that I use on my more ambitious armor and weapons. And the "art of war", presumably against the demons striding the land. And in a lack of textual organization, it then becomes clear that Armozel was born before the earth cracked releasing the demons.

In fact, like many oral tales, Theolonius' writing often loop back overriding, expanding, and once or twice even contradicting earlier statements. I can clearly imaging the younglings originally hearing this story asking "And then what, Grandpa?", "But Granther, what about...?", and similar story prompts. So let me straighten his story into a more linear timeline.

* The Great Cultures have died away, leaving behind other lesser, though still great, Kingdoms - Anatolia, Goth, Iberia, and Gallia. Officially, this is the last part of the Elysium Age.

* Armozel is born.

* Armozel is 34, and already credited with great scholarship and the invention of enchanting. He enters the service of the Kingdom of Anatolia.

* Armozel predicts the Great Surge, of the "cracking of the earth" letting the demons free. He begins fortifying, and also recruiting the "Sons of Light", his own army of paladins. It is unclear if this was in the aid of Anatolia, at its behest, or in spite of it.

* The Great Surge begins, it is now approximately 1930 in Theolonius' reckoning of the years.

* People begin fleeing to Axis Mundi, which is apparently a real place, not just a myth. It opens its gates to let them it.

* The Four Kingdoms fall, in an unknown order, their people and forces retreating to Axis Mundi.

* Phaionios, the Archangel of Flame and Fourth Redeemer, descends from Heaven, fighting against the demons to preserve Humanity and aid Armozel.

* Phaionios swings his "divine weapon of unmatched devastation" that kills not just demons, but spreads throughout the land, killing "thousands of refugees, paladins, and artisans" and scarring the lands of Iberia, Gothia, and Gallia, leaving behind only the Haunted Lands.

* Phaionios and Armozel join forces to form the First Crusade and drive the demons out of the world, reigniting the Ancient Stela (the holy stones.

* As they advance, they build Watchtowers and the Border Forts.

* Phaionios burns the last of the demon gates, while Armozel seals the gates to prevent the demons' return.

* Phaionios ascends back into Heaven. It is 1950 in Theolonius' Reckoning.

* People leave Axis Mundi, returning to the wider world.

* Armozel becomes revered for his part in the First Crusade.

* Decades later, Armozel leads the remaining Sons of Light into the depths of Mount Medula. Theolonius says this is the result of a demon disguised as an angel tempting Armozel with treasure and glory, but no support is offered and its tone is suspect.

This is actually the most problematic of Theolonius' writings so far. It is as if were two stories, with one laid atop the other, concealing some bits of ugliness and trying to beautify others. All I can be certain of is that Armozel was a man who did great deeds, two thousand years in the past.

The Age of Legends (~1950 to ~2350)

Theolonius begins his next section thusly: "The world did not recover quickly and the devastation that followed in the wake of the First Crusade lingered on for centuries. The Great Surge had left Creation scorched and grieving." Here, Theolonius understates his case. If the Haunted Lands scarred by divine fire that condemned those killed to an eternal unlife as lost souls are the same as those lands I know as shrouded forests, pale moors, and the cursed plains, they have lingered for millenia.

Theolonius goes on to describe the hardships of the years that followed, the introduces Oroael, the Sixth Redeemer. Oroael's Gift is the "Rule of Life", but what that is, is not explained by Theolonius. Who, from the tones used, at least admires and reveres Oroael, if he isn't actually a monastic follower of him.

He also mentions a number of other Heroes from this time, but does not mention any of their great deeds, assuming his audience knows of them. I wish I did, as I can almost hear the horns blowing as he mentions their names.

Theolonius also breaks with the criteria he has used to demark the other Ages. They all end in a Calamity; the Age of Legends, he claims, "ended with seeds planted and saplings growing" instead of silence.

The Age of the Kingdoms (~2350 to 2996)

Here, Theolonius's history becomes very confusing; he states "It is said that Oroael’s teachings paved the way for the Four Kingdoms, Gallia, Gothia, Iberia, and Anatolia." But those Four Kingdoms were destroyed in the Great Surge. If they were rebuilt, his tale of the Age of Legends does not mention it. A general rebuilding, yes, but no mention of the resurrection of the previous Kingdoms. I believe we must assume that the resurrection was part of the rebuilding. Otherwise, Theolonius' entire Reckoning is called into question, and I do not believe him to be the kind to make such an obvious mistake.

This age is the age of the Seventh Redeemer, Eleleth, of the Many Names. Of all the Redeemers, Eleleth is the one that most inspires me. Even unknowing of her deeds before reading Theolonius, I find that many of them I have made my own. Eleleth is not given an origin either angelic or mortal. Though given Theolonius' mention of her extreme long life, I am sure he believed her to be angelic.

Like Oroael before her, she doesn't provide new gifts to Humanity, but seems to provide insight on how to best use the gifts already given.

The Age of the Papacy (2996 to ~3900)

Now comes Mellephaneous, the Eighth Redeemer. Who founded the Church, the Papacy, and if her extended life and vanishment are signs, was most likely angelic. Regardless, Theolonius spends much of this letter detailing the Papacy's fall into Sin and tyranny.

It was Mellephaneous who raised the great Petra Deis in our valleys. I assume that it was at her order that the Shrines around them were built. I wonder about the distinct variants of the Shrines, though. Are they indications of the lapse of time? Differing builders? Differing factions? Are they all contemporary?

Culminating in the appearance of Loïos, who is considered to be the Ninth Redeemer. But who was prevented from completing his mission. Unless, it was, perhaps, the end of the now-corrupted Papacy. He lists many Popes and Papess in his list of corruption, and from Theolonius' descriptions, their Sins are clear.

Loïos' death marks the end of the Papacy.

The Great Cataclysm (~3900–present)

In his next letter, which details the last century of history, Theolonius lists many organizations that were destroyed by the Papacy, as it could bear no rivals. I repeat their names here, so that other Scions may watch for them, and if met, greet them as potential allies.

The Covenant of the Last Ember, the Gallian Compagnons, the Sanctum Compact, the House of Sunshield, the O'Mara bloodline, the Ulians, the Clan of Grayhawk, the Knights of Valour, the Luminari, the Bloodbrothers, the Magnus Lunae, the Storm Ravens, Sanctuary, the Black Company. All diminished or vanished, but inspiring, and their treasures, knowledge, and presence should be sought by all who wish to heal the world.

But beware of those claiming actual lineage from them. And as they support the Pax Dei and the Good, ally with them. But if, in the long dark years, they have fallen, mourn their loss.

And then Theolonius make the claim that I find both the hardest to accept, and the hardest to deny.

We Scions are not Human.

We Awaken fully grown, with no childhoods. When we are killed, we are reborn at the holy stones, like one of the Sons of Light. We Awaken knowing. We do not eat nor drink to live, though we are energized by both, and enjoy both. We do not sleep, but toil without apparent end, until we vanish in our own homes, only to re-appear some days later.

Theolonius is apprenhensive of us. The Papacy abhors us, and seeks our annihilation. For we are not Human.

But I caution you my brothers and sisters, do not think that we are necessarily better than the humans. We are not. I have seen us prideful, slothful, wrathful, envious, greedy, lustful, and gluttonous. Even overcome with levity to the point that we fall prey to the hazards we dismissed or should have seen. We can fall to Sin as easily as the Humans. We are not better.

But we may be their salvation.

Strive, and heal the Land.

Galthir