Breathing Lightning: The Gathering Storm

Breathing Lightning: The Gathering Storm is a book uncovered through use of Study-related Inquiries.

## Description

Breathing Lightning: The Gathering Storm was sought out by Ódóvir Jotunsson after a visit to the Kindlefane, the domain of Vedrana Ichorfeast, a trip that spurred a sudden interest in the Primordial Elemental Prince Tumulanche. Seeking out notable locations and places of worship of the Enlightening Lord, the paladin stumbled across this tome, more of a religious propaganda piece than a historical treaty, and while a few centuries out of date, it still seemed to hold much of the information that he sought courtesy of a number of notes seemingly scrawled along the sides of the pages by an unknown scholar at a later date.

## Reading

### Completed by Ódóvir Jotunsson

*And though the storm still gathers, crowds as clouds dredge across the horizon in understanding and knowledge, there is time and need for haste - for already others move against us, and seek to steal away our spark, gifted to us by the First.1 They will bolster themselves against the storm that rises, building themselves bastions against which we will strike with fury and vigour, and yet, for all of it, may not be able to pierce. Though the Levinous moves with such force, such suddenness, against stone they can do naught2, and so the time must be now. It will not be chaos that will ruin in seconds what takes year to arrange, but their chance to prepare. The faithful of the pretender King of the Clouds3 know the folly of their misplaced worship, for it is through the Enlightening Lord that storms rage, not the Walking One. The walls of Starhithe lie in ruins4, the armies of the Empire of the West and the Golden-State exhaust themselves in petty blood-filled conflict5. They will rue the day that they turned away from the true creators, and feel the wrath of those they have cast aside.*

1 - By the time of Zieggatt's writing of this tome, the Deep Gnome already had warrants out for his arrest in no less than six Realms - Atralran, Codorne, The Empire of Raq, Lachlen, Sunstone & Gawylthlan. Many of his original followers had already been arrested and/or tried, with the majority of them captured at the sect's base of operations on Thunderlance Isle a year prior.

2 - According to the historical legends, Tumulanche holds a long-standing rivalry with Nuldomul, another amongst the Primordial Elemental Princes, who claims dominion over the natural might of stone and earth in all its forms.

3 - Veth, the King of the Clouds is the philosophically-accepted ruler of the weather, including storms, proven repeatedly through acts of divine intervention by the Walking One.

4 - Starhithe, capital of Lachlen had recently experienced a series of devastating floods of unknown cause, although it is suspected to be related to the Circle of the Cascade, a hag coven based within the forests of Covengrove, assumedly in response to the new Earl le Tonnelier's quests against them.

5 - The ongoing War of the Stormblighted Plains is being led by King Gilbert V Goldlor against the Realm of Codorne.

I *have heard the First Spark's whispers, how they yearn for escape for freedom. They are lightning in a bottle, bound in chain divine by those6 that sought to usurp them from the lands that they created. Tumulanche's voice echoes at the highest peaks, where it echoes in unison with the others of the Tempest Trinity7, where the air is clear, rich with the smell of ozone and the rumble of thunder. In the deepest nights when the storm rages strongest, their words echo from the Canvas of Night, from the Wandering World in which they are bound. And yet, even in their confinement, their power still reverberates true. In the Heroic Domains8, the layer of Efsthvegr sparks with their dominion. Earthmotes shatter as the Lord of Lightning leaps between them, turning sand and dirt to glass, creating children of light and vigour9. But the children yearn for vessels10, and to them we offer ourselves freely - as conduits, onwards towards empowerment, as decreed in their commandments.*

6 - Further frivolous claims about the Principal Sixteen - Caihrnn created the Soil and Stone, hence their title of God of the Soil & Stone, not the Primordial Princes, who, in reality, served only to defile it as they shaped it to their own selfish forms.

7 - The Tempest Trinity is a loose alliance of Archomentals formed between that of Stratavalan, Ohmenis and Tumulanche. It is not uncommon for secret cabals associated with each to collaborate and cooperate, reflective of the oft aligned interests of their patrons.

8 - Ysgard, one of the Wandering Worlds. Efsthvegr is presumably a region within the Plane controlled, confining, manipulated or otherwise occupied by the Enlightening Lord.

9 - Presumably refers to an army of elemental creatures, Tumulanche is known to be served by a number of paraelementals made of living lightning and light, as well as finding servitude from many other creatures that petition them for the power of the storm.

10 - Elemental creatures bound or otherwise tethered to a world or plane other than the Material often require an anchor point to which they can hold to ensure their continued presence. For many lesser creatures, this can be achieved through use of arcane words, for greater entities, something more substantial or noteworthy is like to prove necessary.

*Few can survive Efsthvegr, save those chosen few. Dragons of blue and bronze dances through the sky, rending and tearing at scale and flesh, rippling elemental energy falling in place of blood, gore. From the trailing tendrils11 of Tumulanche that trace the boundaries of their confinement, the great and zeal artisans of giant kind shape arrows and spears, javelins and staffs, and from the billowing clouds mould armour and shields that grant flight and speed alike, crackling with their blessing12. Soon the same blessings will be afforded unto us, their faithful, and for now we hold amber, glass and crystal close, fur coats standing upon end, and silver13 thrumming in anticipation, with the spark dancing upon throat and lips, ready to breath life to the world.*

11 - Tumulanche is most frequently said to appear as a vast cloud with trailing tendrils of lightning that threaten to burn and vapourise any caught within the trail. Nonetheless, it has been reported that during encounters with mortal beings, the First Spark is sometimes known to take a more humanoid appearance, albeit titanic in scale.

12 - Champions of many powerful patrons are known to utilise weaponry and armour empowered with the might of their benefactor - these items are gifts beyond that of blessings of arcane understanding, which seems far more commonly granted.

13 - Amber, glass and crystal are common material components in channelling elemental spells associated with manipulating lightning, as are furs to generate static, and silver rods to conduct the arcing energy.