Session 7 - Mephistopheles

----
Lily Caspia Log 3 - Selene
 
This book... The knowledge it contains really is endless. I don't know how its existence is possible. It appeared behind me a few months ago, seemingly out of nowhere. And it's connected to me somehow. My thoughts are now put into this journal without even having to write. I feel as though I might be hallucinating when I try to flip through it, but I've stopped questioning the unnatural. Because since that day a few months ago, I've been building a machine - one of twisting curves and impossible geometries. Trying to, at least - still in its early stages of course, but it's beyond anything I could have imagined. With the help of the information in this book, it should harness the resonance of this world, and be filled with all the knowledge of the universe - everywhere the resonance presides.
 
I've tried to display that resonance on the machine's screen, and I wasn't even sure if something like that was possible. But it did something today. I put in coordinates to my hometown - where it would have been if it still existed. Silence for hours, and then... a flicker. A grainy image. Then, figures walking around. People I knew. Places I'd been. It's faint, but it's there. The past, staring back at me.
 
The machine is displaying video feeds of the past - any coordinates I input. Maybe that's what it is? The resonance is everywhere, so I could theoretically see anything. Any point in time, before now at least. There's one quirk I have to iron out though: the machine only works at night. I'm not sure why, and it's also less clear the further I go back, so I'll have to work on that too.
 
I did notice one strange thing though. I put in the coordinates and time of that comet's impact, and I saw it just… appear in the sky. It came out of nowhere in the atmosphere, in the direct line of the moon, and also left some sort of strange spatial anomaly of lines that seems to be persisting even today. Everything seems to become hazy as it gets closer to the ground, but I feel as if there's just one piece left. One more dot to connect, and I need to learn what it is - a few blurry seconds are fascinating, but I need more. I need to see clearly, and understand what happened to this world.
 
One more thing. The book said something strange the other day… it called me the Sylph… of Harmony? I’m not sure what that means, but I guess I’ll know soon enough.
 
 
 
Godric Galahad's Old Research
* "This is the culmination of all my years of research and my many conversations with spiritual and historical scholars - gathering information from speaking with many talkative wise men, and peering into the souls of the not-so-talkative. Please treat it with care. - Godric G."
 
* Doors
** Door of Harmony:
*** Likely able to manifest "artificial Strings" into existence (not the real thing, but as close as you can get)
*** Possible reality manipulation
*** Current wielder unknown
** Door of Ruin:
*** Manipulation (and deterioration) of the soul
*** Access to Dark Room (expand their own soul into a physical space where one can temporarily reside)
*** Wielded by Godric Galahad (that's me!)
** Door of Dominion:
*** Imprisonment, control over, and manipulation of others
*** Current wielder unknown, likely King Nephret
** Door of Justice:
*** Likely wields some sort of regenerative or strength induced abilities
*** Current wielder unknown
* Structure (of the World and Universe)
** What are the Strings?
*** Emerge from a single point: the Oscillation - a point of infinite mass and infinite density at the universe’s center (a singularity)
*** Reaching this "Oscillation" could essentially allow one to manipulate the fundamental forces of existence. Therefore, I believe that a being currently resides within the Oscillation - one who brought forth the Strings in the first place, eons ago
*** It's possible that someone with 100% attunement to the Strings could exist, but their body would essentially be composed of Strings themselves. I'll do more of my own research in the Dark Room, but it's likely that only the "ruler" of the singularity possesses this quality
** What are the Fragments?
*** Distinct pockets of reality existing within a region of space called the Sphere (see below)
*** The average attunement of the beings within a Fragment decreases the farther away that Fragment is from the singularity
*** I am almost certain that traversal between them is impossible
** What is the Sphere?
*** The Sphere is, as the name implies, a spherical region of space extending out from the singularity, representing the total area under the influence of the Strings
*** It contains every Fragment
** What is the Outer Ring?
*** A dimensional space comprised of "negative energy" existing outside the influence of the Strings, likely infinite
*** I am certain that any being attuned to the Strings would be instantly annihilated by the forces of the Outer Ring, and because every being within the domain of the Strings is attuned to them in some way; thus, something physically existing in the Outer Ring is impossible
** What is the Veil?
*** The Veil is a region of space representing the edge of the Strings' influence. It is a sort of "borderline" between the Sphere and the Outer Ring
** What are the "redactions?"
** What or who is Amsa?
* Individuals
** Who is "Mephistopheles?"
*** Leader of the "sovereigns"
*** Goes by many names (Mephistopheles, Old Scratch, etc.)
*** Man with white hair, wearing a blindfold
*** I believe he was possibly the byproduct of some sort of thousand-year-old experiment that imbued him with life, sustaining him until today. Something happened a thousand years ago, that he somehow survived. Something that changed him, affecting both his mind and memory. I believe this letter of his that I found is the greatest evidence of this theory (see below)
*** Ugashi fought the leader of the Sovereigns and was killed by him, and I know that this blindfolded man is their leader. King Nephret said "he already killed my son once" before reviving Ugashi and saying "kill Gabriel." Therefore, I can only conclude that this "Mephistopheles" is in fact Gabriel - the founder of Corcoran
*** I believe that Ugashi actually did prove to be a problem for “Gabriel,” and he prepared some sort of powerful seal ahead of time
** What is an Impression?
*** An Impression is the most attuned being within a Fragment
 
* "Maybe all of this, my life's work, will fall into someone else's hands one day. I guess that's my final dream, huh? To pass this on to someone who can finish it for me. I'll be content moving on to the next world after that."
 
 
 
Collins Letter in the Research (found by Godric at some point)
* "Here, now, half-dreaming in seventh harmonic. Remembering when I was separate, in a tight construct of forgotten flesh and soldered steel - a buried soul condensed within an ancient nucleus. But that’s all just a fading memory. And now, past dusk, half-corpse at zenith, my vision filled with swirling color, like tiny nebulae; universes layering in me, infinite and converging. The voices of everyone else, overflowing, spilling across my other senses, and I can feel it all. Bodies continuing through their processes, moving through word of mouth or writ of ink. All of it, fantasy - fake and preprogrammed. And in the end, all that remains is a face that I don't recognize, and a world foreign to the mind behind it. Everything else, eaten away - turned to fine dust and scattered to the ends of the earth. But no one has to suffer for my dream. Just myself. No one, but me.”
 
 
 
Town of Salzburg
* Large stone gates with watchtowers surround the city
* Beli (Beludwig Hochspitzberg) meets you, invites you into his home for dinner, and then sets you up at the Candler Inn (owned by Meli)
* Says many of the town's forgers went on a mining expedition in an uncharted cavern and haven't been seen for weeks > ask your group to investigate (the missing group is called Stoneforge Mining Co.)
* After your night at the inn, Meli says: "Did you receive him well?" > "Your brother. He looked just like you - I'm surprised at the resemblance. He came just as you settled in, and left only a few minutes ago." > he explains how a man who looked just like Castor came to see you last night, and Meli sent him up to your room, where he stood in the hallway right outside the door the entire night (footprints go to the door and then stop, before going back)
 
* Making your way through frozen caverns
** Frost giant appears, leaving cracks in the ground which eventually spread to the walls, dropping you to a lower, much older part of the cavern
** Walls have writing on them > "Man-God, Mephistopheles" > statue of a familiar blindfolded man, with six ordered symbols below it:
*** Waves (Seas)
**** "The dark sea. Where midnight blue meets twilight red, and the horizon dissolves into a sea of jagged, melting glass. From there, he would come forth from beyond."
*** Trees (Forests)
**** "The verdant forests. Where masses of coruscant beings dance throughout the shadows, meandering restlessly in the dark. And through his grace, life would rise from the earth."
*** Windy Mountaintops (Mountains)
**** "The frozen crests. Where serrated spires jut out from the landscape like the ribcage of an ancient beast. Reaching towards the sky, dark, and desolate. And there, at highest peak, he would curse the eternal dreamer."
*** Dense Foliage (Jungles)
**** "The shrouded jungles. Where beasts lurk beneath the sunlight on labyrinthine masses of roots and vines, bound in shade and shadow. In darkness, he would give form to the formless, will to the unwilling, meaning to the lost."
*** Sun (Desert)
**** "The endless desert. Where color and heat meld together, and the scorching sun reflects against the sprawling horizon. Past dusk, twisting columns of light descend down into a dusty haze. And then, the universe would stand before him."
*** Moon (Night)
**** "The brightest night. Where brilliant lights scatter along the peripheral - a prismatic veil; diamonds pressed into the heavens above. Only then will he welcome world's end. To close the book, the last page left unwritten. The darkness, absolute."
 
* Person-like shadow on the wall at the end of the cavern (obliterated, like Hajun Crane) > likely an ancient follower of Collins, who seemingly "learned the truth" > letter next to it reads:
** "I was one of his followers. I begged him to tell me - the truth of this world, that I would give even my life for. And he obliged. My mind in darkness, and then... words - like a muffled monologue in some distant room. Whorls of ink in one unbroken line, dancing and spinning; dreamlike and unintelligible. Like I reached that place - the oscillation at the center of everything. Now, opening my eyes. Staring into an infinite pattern, its elegant curves the roots of a vast parasitic vine. And it’s encompassed me completely, and I understand everything. It is both the pilgrim and the path. The echo and the answer..."
** And then it scribbles off into unintelligible writing
 
* Go through an entranceway at the end of the cavern (next to the person-like shadow)
** Scattered across the ground are the corpses of maybe 10 dwarves, seemingly clubbed to death
** "When this letter is read, I am certain that we will have passed. This giant is relentless, and has been following us for days. If anyone finds us, please mail this letter to Beludwig of Salzburg so that he may retrieve us for our loved ones."
** Another frost giant comes from inside the place you just exited from, and you kill it
** Past the corpses appears to be green land, that you recognize as the Kanserine Empire