He Which Moves In Shadow

He Which Moves In Shadow is a historical tome recovered from the Ender Temple.

## Description

A heavy tome that appears to have been scavanged rather than created within the Ender Temple, as seemed to be the case with those other books recovered, He Which Moves In Shadow is set upon thick bindings and written upon yellowed parchment.

## Research

### Completed by Hassk

Few truly can be considered to revel in the chaos and disorder of the world more so than He Which Moves In Shadow, one of the many monikors of Ophidian, the Greater Deity of Malice. Only those of the Abyss, with whom Ophidian is known to freely consort, can be considered to be truly on par with the Master of Malice, and even then only a few amongst the Demon Lords can be considered truly so, even if their intellect and scheming could only ever aspire to reach sacrilegious heights of grandeur and nullifidian ploys. Most rather are perhaps more aligned with other members of the Malign, such as that of He Who Watches, who, like many demons, delights in destruction for destruction's sake. Ophidian instead encourages destruction for deliberate, unholy divine purpose - destruction to achieve disunity, anarchy through animosity. It is of little surprise that insular purity serves as a forefront for many of the cults and sects associated with the entity, and likewise individuals, whether isolated in their beliefs or of cultures and/or races that reinforce such sectarian traditions are thus so easily beguiled in servitude - outwardly and directly, or more commonly from a distance, indirectly and sometimes completely unaware of such an alignment, whether by ignorance willful or otherwise. Outside of lizardfolk, yuan-ti and a handful of other so-called monstrous races said to have been created through corruption by Ophidian from the Principal Races of Aita, many other races find themselves slipping with relative ease into Ophidian's shadowed grasp - but none more so than those first corrupted shortly after Aita's Second Gift - dragonborn, humans and elves. To Dragonborn, Ophidian brings assurances of the validity of their pride, encouraging them to embrace it deeply and resoundingly, and with it stirs arrogance, hegemonic desires entrenched strong with prejudiced sentiment. In humans, Ophidian points to their tenacity and pioneering spirit, but reminds them of their fragility and short-lived nature compared to the other Principal Races. With this, the Master of Malice twists humans against their creator, and encourages them to undermine those more long-lived, for they have stolen the years of further potential that should belong to them. In elves, Ophidian appeals to the opposite, using their longevity as a catalyst for discourse, inciting a detachment for coalitions and collaborations with other races, creating fears of failing diplomacy with the passage of time and the increasing frailty of their associates and allies. This self-imposed isolation allows for deepening of Ophidian's grasp, and in time pervasive thoughts of supremacy creep insidiously into the psyche.

As such, scholars in magical and mundane matters alike find themselves deeply divided on usage of research seized from cults and sects of He Which Moves In Shadow, given the bigotry encouraged by the deity. Despite this, when operating through one of their aspects, known commonly as the Coroner, Ophidian compels his followers to not only seek out new knowledge and understanding, but create it through experimentation uninhibited. While the countless advances in medical understanding, through close and repeated study of anatomy and physiology are those most commonly debated in halls of learning, other topics also occasionally stir controversary, most recently regarding use of neoteric notes in certain Alchemical guilds operating in the Sunar capital of Halima to create their newest innovation, the *Cinder Cube*. Motions to ban their widespread creation were promptly drawn up by several legislators and expositors, only to be brushed aside by others amongst them not wishing to hinder innovation - or deprive the Sunar military of a potential advantage in future conflicts or incursions. It is easy to seek outrage at weaponising research completed by those dedicated to one of the Malign, but others also petitioned to have botanical academia from the study of a known cabalist of Ophidian destroyed, and in doing so may have deprived alchemists of the first recipe for Potions of Healing on known record. Nonetheless, most documentation uncovered from sect headquarters dedicated to this particular aspect of Ophidian are said to be vile and cruel, filled with records of vivisection and other pointless experimentation for simply the sake of doing so. In a twisted sense, it is speculated that while Ophidian delights in enhancing and strengthening understanding, what brings further delight is that victims of those committing atrocities in his name might believe that some good will come from their sacrifice atop a dissection table - only for the act to be done simply for sake of doing so by an individual deranged or unintelligent enough to achieve an astounding revelation. As such, even cults dedicated to the truer form of Ophidian, in place of the aspect known as the Coroner may be found to have chambers that outwardly appear measured, clinical and scientific - though closer inspection shows them to perverse recreations, so-called research tomes filled with nonsense and jibberish framed as noteworthy indagations.

Troubling however is the lack of distinction between those other entities that seek out researchers where they work, whether alone and isolated, or in large groups of associates. It is well-known that Divinus is known appears before the Ten Guilds infrequently, guiding them in the weave of the arcane to bring about the creation of new spells, but his voice is not the only one that reaches out to those deep in study. Disregarding that of the Keeper of Whispers, known also as the Keeper of Secrets and simply the Keeper, whom makes promises of forgotten truths and knowledge forbidden, Ophidian too proves particularly present on the periphery of places of learning and understanding. Many acolytes and scholars early in their studies dream and aspire to achieve the next remarkable breakthrough or innovation and writ large their name amongst academic greats - and so fall as natural prey to the beings that claim to whisper them the steps they must take to succeed.