Grand Arcanum of Old Vassos

The Grand Arcanum towered above the city of Vassos in its prime

The Grand Arcanum is the biggest and most impressive of the many Arcanums built during the silver age. Once the Gods left The Mortal Plane and it was left with only traces of their divinity, people began taking steps towards taking the place of gods as ruler of mortals. One of the side-effects of this mortal thirst for power was the remarkable ability to keep records. The Arcanums all host information usually having to do with the founding of the city and inhabitants. However the Grand Arcanum is the largest Arcanum and is filled with all sorts of information.

## Silver Age History

In the silver age Vassos was refounded as a refuge, it was meant to be different than other cities of the era. The people wanted to return to the old days - before mortals thirsted for ruling power as the divines had.

A group of Vasilian Priests settled into the throne of Vassos and began to refound Vassos.

The group settled and made this breath-taking Arcanum. It was during these first years of it's re-founding that Vassos became a human epicenter for people around Congeria to meet and discuss different ideas, magics, and research. During this time Vassos was called "The City of Thought" by humans.

The Grand Arcanum itself was revolutionary and inspired peoples around Uvonor to follow suit and make similar towers devoted to the keeping of records and documents for each race and nation of the great continent. These Arcanums, though built separately without consideration for other Arcanums, ended up banding together thanks to the first Grand Loremaster: Plautum Ios. Plautum established The Honorable Network of Lore-Masters, which was a network of scholars and sages which cared for and upheld the standards of The Arcanums. Thanks to the network, The Arcanums became a vital part of many kingdoms during this age. None, however, was as vital to a society as The Grand Arcanum was to Great Vassos as well as ancient Congeria as a whole.

## Bronze Age History

The bronze age did a number on Vassos. During this era people had created their worst evil yet - currency. The creation of it cause Vassos to instead of be a testament to gods of the past, be a filthy den of debauchery. Where once temples or libraries stood now was casinos, brothels, and illegal fighting rings.

The leaders of Vassos became more concerned with material possesions and wealth. They cared not anymore for their old values, the cities' founding values. Due to this the Arcanum fell out of use. Only a very small number of people still worked in the Arcanum, writing tomes and records of knowledge and current events and adding them to the top-most library which was only lightly guarded by a water trap.

Ultimately, the Bronze Age was the last time anybody added information or artifacts to the Arcanum for over 3,000 years.

## Pyrite Age History

The arcanum was more of a center - piece for Vassos, it became known as the city's symbol. Yet still, the Arcanum was scarcely used during this time and wouldn't again see use of any kind until the earth-shattering war that was the Mallus.

## Destruction during The Mallus

During the war of gods vs. mortals, The Grand Arcanum served as a hospital. Due to it's enormous size and the collection of healing tomes, healers settled here and filled the rooms with patients on bloody haypiles or bedrolls.

However towards the end of the war, as Mortals started killing great champions of the Gods and Arch-Angels, the divines grew worried. Thus, they decided to make an attack on the humans' greatest city. The awful orcish god of war, Ogladag used all his remaining power to summon a storm of hellfire and destruction. He brought this storm down on Vassos, killing most all it's inhabitants.

When the mortals set off The God's Malice it only further damaged the old ruin, and tore apart what was left of the city around it. The explosion was so powerful even that it shot buildings and pieces of The Grand Arcanum all over The Isles.

All that remains in the central ruins of Old Vassos is a burnt old tower, somewhat ripped apart and destroyed.

## Building Layout

Upon entrance, there are two sets of heavy double doors that lead into a very immense and large library with tall bookshelves in which faded and dusty books rest. There is dim light from the lanters set around the room by the sages. This room has two floors, the ground floor, and one which is a sort of circular balcony around the room. There is space for the bookshelves from the first floor to fit their length, and the walls of this floor are decorated with books. In the very center of the large library is a giant obsidian statue of former Grand Loremaster Elrig Pasth.

Above this section, not much of the Arcanum survived. According to what the sages have learned, further up their were more records, a meeting place, a small office, and the living quarters of the Network of Loremasters. On the top floor of The Arcanum was an observatory, however it did not survive the blast. The new inhabitant of Vassos were, however, able to salvage the telescope used by Plautum Ios himself and use it to study the stars.

There is also a tall and foreboding door towards the rear of this room that leads to the Lower Sanctums. The area beneath the Arcanum is called many things - The Deep Sanctums, The Deep Arcanum, The Secret Rooms, and many other foreboding titles - but most of all they are known as trouble. The Lower Sanctums are filled with secret libraries and vaults which hold amazing treasure and knowledge, but they are heavily guarded by great traps placed by expert wizards known as Vault-lockers/Rune-layers/Wizard Supremes. These traps can range from very deadly to ridiculously deadly - but all of them have one thing in common.... they guard something worth dying for.