Milestones

**The Milestones** were five mystical artifacts created during the Great Mileage War by Sigma Peacekeeper Karthik Chidambaram. After Chidambaram and the four Paladins, Captain Chandru, Matthew Wang, Pinkerton and Wang Xingchen brought an end to the war, Coros was split into four smaller realm states. The Paladins were appointed Sovereigns to the four realm states and each was entrusted with one Milestone. The final Milestone was kept with Chidambaram and brought back to Sigma Shire after the duel.

## History

### The Great Mileage War

Nearing the peak of the Great Mileage War, Mileage Emperor Lim Kien Mau had achieved near-absolute dominion over the Dean realm sector. The Sigma Spiritual, overseeing governmental authority of worlds, was alerted to this threat to intersector order and dispatched the Lord Peacekeeper Karthik Chidambaram for intervention. Chidambaram, aided by four Paladins, Chandru Mirpuri, Matthew Wang, Pinkerton and Wang Xingchen, invaded Coros Castle and challenged the Emperor to a duel in the the throne room. Kien Mau initiated an energy volley assault against Captain Chandru and Lord Pinkerton, whose defense shields gave way within seconds. The two Paladins were swiftly overpowered and subsequently disarmed, allowing the Emperor to direct his offensive on Lord Matthew, whilst defending against projectile blasts by Wang Xingchen. Matthew held off for a few more seconds before he too collapsed, leaving only Chidambaram and Xingchen standing. At this point it had become clear that the two of them were no match for the Emperor, and Chidambaram decided to cast a Charm of Banishment from his Sigma Staff. The Staff drew energy from Karthik and the Paladins to execute the spell, which drained the Emperor's life force and contained it in five separate spheres of power, would later be known as the Milestones. The end of the war marked the end of the First Aeon, and Coros was split into four smaller realms states, namely Pythagoras, Matthew, Pinkerton and Eden. Chidambaram appointed the four Paladins as sovereigns to the realm states, and granted each of them one Milestone. The final Milestone was kept with Chidambaram after the duel and brought back to Sigma Shire.

### Harnessing the stones

#### Milestone I

As the Archwarlock of Pythagoras, Captain Chandru Mirpuri sought a weapon of his own, for self defense and heightened protection over the Milestone. With Chidambaram's aid, Chandru managed to weaponise his Apple Pencil, Decimator, which served as a wand capable of energy manipulation and magnification.

#### Milestone II

Lord Matthew Wang did not consult Chidambaram before conducting experimentation on his Milestone and orally consumed it in the hope of harnessing its power. The Stone caused Matthew's body to swell and enlarge to multiple times its original size, expanding at an increasingly rapid rate. His royal doctors attempted to remove the stone from his stomach surgically, only to find that their scalpels were unable to pierce Matthew's flesh, which had been made indestructible by the Milestone. Matthew continued expanding in size and became the size of a house within two days, and the size of a small asteroid in roughly a month. He kept expanding over the aeons, until he grew to become a planet-sized being that hung in low orbit around the Dean realm sector. In order to continue maintaining contact with their sovereign, the government of Matthew employed the seer Mark Hayden Theseira to telepathically communicate with their now planet-sized sovereign.

#### Milestone III

> *"...but the eye cannot see itself"*
>
> ― Lord Pinkerton, on the Milestone's limitations
>
>

Lord Pinkerton sought knowledge above raw power, believing that the one who knew all wielded unlimited power, while one without omniscience was never really omnipotent. In order to attain the ability of all-seeing, he summoned seers and diviners to his palace, and tried to reverse engineer shattered Seeing Stones. He consulted Chidambaram, who suggested forging the Milestone into an already enchanted Seeing Stone. Pinkerton did so and created the Eye of Pinkerton, otherwise known as the All-Seeing Stone, which could peer into events occurring in his kingdom and the neighbouring realms, as well as glimpses into the near future. However, the Eye of Pinkerton could not spectate events occurring in a close radius, rendering Pinkerton unable to foresee happenings in his own palace. This left him vulnerable to nearby threats, and to combat this he decided to increase his number of personal bodyguards.

#### Milestone IV

Wang Xingchen required a power source to fuel the newly-established Horticultural Federation of Eden, as well as to link all Federation gardens in a single, traversible network. He implanted his Milestone into an oak seed, forming the Tree of Life, a gargantuan tree that structured the Garden Network (HortiNet), and supplied the cities of Eden with electricity.

#### Milestone V

Following his return to Sigma Shire, Lord Chidambaram desired to decipher the true nature of the Milestones and conducted experiments to test its power. He eventually discovered how to harness its energy and forged the Amulet of Chidambaram, weaponising the Milestone and allowing its energy to be channeled as he willed it to. The Amulet served as a powerful and versatile weapon, capable of executing spells remotely or serve as a source of boundless energy to support other enchantments.