Beginning and End

**Beginning and End**, also often referred to simply as '**Aor's Hammer**,' as well as the **Hammer of Souls**, is a weapon and item of myth and great power. It is a magical hammer resembling both a gavel and a blacksmith's hammer and was used by the god Aor to both forge and judge souls. After the events late in the 4th season of *WovenRealm* lead to the death of Aor and the destruction of the Soul Well, the hammer came into the possession of Oleander Morgenstern who used the hammer to craft the fate of the realms during the event known as the Reckoning of Heaven. With Beginning & End the hammer of Aor, it is considered a relic.

## General Information

### Type

* Magic Item
* Weapon

## Properties

### Bonuses

* Doubles the number of creatures summoned

## Base Description

"As you hold the divine hammer, resembling a gavel and a smith’s hammer simultaneously, you can feel it humming it in your hand with so much power, it would bring those with still living nerves to pain. (Like when you hit a baseball wrong with a metal bat). Your ability to see beyond the mortal veil allows you to see the strange colors of ethereal energy that gather around the hammer’s head. As you gaze upon the intricately carved runes on the side of the hammer, passages of celestial text give way. Despite not normally being able to comprehend such a text you hear a voice,

*“I was the Beginning and the End. In Sundering, my term completed. The souls that made me are free. To become stars, to live again, or wherever they may go. Bound to godhood no longer they need be, for even we, the divine, are made of the same essence as you. It is how, and why, we may choose to walk your world as you do as I had allowed many before.*

*Souls are forged in the crucible of creation, given the gift of life. All that comes with it. It is only fitting that the one who Gave Life to souls is the one who to Judge the very value of the life that soul lived…*

*Hand of Creation, Hand of Judgment – Simply, lift me high and declare thy verdict; Guilty… Not-Guilty. The guilty shall know penance through thy hand. The innocent shall be raptured away.*

*But the souls of thy friends, comrades, loves, and family. What of them? By what standards shalt thou judge? In judgment, we learn about ourselves and those around us. In judgment there is growth.”'*

-the description of Beginning and End narrated by GM Alex in S5E2: 'Betrothed.'

Beginning and End appears as both a judge's gavel and as a smith's hammer at the same time made of a platinum material Aor's body was comprised of and the same crystalline adra that comprises a majority of the surface of the Soul well. Celestial inscriptions on the side of the hammer allow whatever essence of the dead God of Souls and Judgment (or of the very Great Wheel itself) commune with its wielder. Knowing the true nature of the hammer, when you gaze upon it, you can tell that it has lost a significant portion of the power it once had.

## Abilities

### Soul Forger

When you use an ability or cast a spell that summons creatures, you double the number of creatures you summon.

### Ultimate Judgment

You point Beginning and End at a target and judge their soul. You may declare them 'Guilty' or 'Not-Guilty.'

#### Guilty

The target makes a hard save (DC 16). If they fail, you control the target on their next turn.

#### Not Guilty

Target’s is ‘banished’ for 1d4 turns upon failing a hard save.

### Judge Judy and Executioner

Due to the bonds the Emerald Caravan shares and their role in *fate*, the hammer causes special interactions to occur when judging a member of the Emerald Caravan.

#### Soren

Soren was transported to Yvette's Pocket Plane where his mother described being ready to separate from her current husband, Malikath, the elven god of fire, murder, and treachery. She showed him a special pit in Hell where the reason she even sought Tawn out in the first place was to provide Malikath with an earthly person who could fuel his power. To do this, every person killed by Soren's hand has their soul brought to Hell and are fed into Malikath's power. Soren agreed to end Malikath, but not for Yvette's sake, but rather redemption's.

#### Vercingetorix

Vercingetorix was transported to Gehenna where he was met with the goddess Cersei who had tormented him while he was imprisoned on the purgatorial plane. Here, he forgave the goddess, stating she simply was acting on her nature, and stated that he believed through great effort she could overcome her ruinous nature and become good.

#### Constance/Minerva

Constance and Minerva split from each other momentarily when judged with both Constance and Minerva observing the helpfulness of the newfound ability while expressing discomfort over being separated from one another.

#### Ezara

Ezara was transported to a place in the Feywild called the Lake of Lost Memories where she was met by the goddess Gwynlia, her grandmother. Here, she was presented with the option to fully embrace her fey heritage and to accept the offer of a future divine seat of godhood. She left to ponder such a fate.

#### Oleander

Oleander was transported to the darkest depths of her own psyche where the dreadlord Blackheart has been waiting to confront her.

### Cosmic Forge

There are times when your Clairvoyance allows you to see the thinning threads of Fate that the hammer can be used to change, forge anew, or set into motion.

## Legendary Lore

The true nature of Aor and his hammer known simply as the Beginning and the End are a mystery to even gods of deep lore and knowledge such as Phoonzang. What is known is that the hammer was utilized by Aor to both craft souls anew from the dust left by dead stars and to judge those very souls at the end of their lifetimes. The true limits of Beginning and End's power are unknown, and with the destruction of the Soul Forge, it is likely none will ever know the height of the divine hammer's power, but the ability to forge a soul is certainly a godly ability.

The origins of the hammer have a few competing myths surrounding the subject with each only presenting a theory stranger than the last. One telling states that Beginning and End was present at the Soul Well when Aor first arrived. Other tales state that the Beginning and the End made from Aor by sacrificing a piece of his very essence and power to the Soul Well. Some esoteric texts suggest that the relationship between god and relic should be reversed with the Beginning and the End actually being the very essence that drove Aor and the dead god of judgment merely a vessel for the energies of creation that pulse through the hammer.

The only mortal, and by all accounts, entity; known to wield Beginning and End besides Aor is Oleander Morgenstern.