Codex/Tales From Aperion

### Aetherium

Believed to be the crystallized blood of Kosmera, every facet of life on Aperion, from the gleaming Valorian cities to the grotesque architectures of the Tetrarchy relies on this miraculous substance known as Aetherium. Aetherium is coveted by all groups as a power source, a crafting material, and even sustenance. The Valorian Godsmiths forged the weapons and armor used by their knights with Aetherium. The savage Kraven are drawn to consume it. Every facet of life is affected, bolstered, and powered by this magic material.

### Aperion

Seeing the unlimited potential of their world, the early Valorians named it Aperion. Since then, Aperion would come to mean both the planet and the idea that something was worth preserving.

### The Skybreaker Monolith

The Skybreaker Monolith is a device of such power that its scope is difficult to understand. Originally devised as a way to affect and control Aperion itself, the Monolith languished for centuries as a mere Aetherium drill. However, in order to grant it these capabilities, the ancient godsmiths needed to understand all aspects of the Aperion. In doing so, they created something that can shape the very nature of reality.

### The Sanctums

Created in a bygone age by the ancient godsmiths, the Sanctums were built to act as eternal repositories of Valorian knowledge. The ancients feared that all the stories and discoveries of the Valorian people would be lost f they continued to war as they have and so they build these thinking constructs to preserve the Valorian memories. The Sanctums would be librarians and historians, who would remind the Valorian people of their paste and guide them forward into the future. Of the seven known Sanctums, six were lost in the Valorian Civil War. Only the Seventh Sanctum, the one who was sealed away, remained.

### Valorians

The Valorians were the fist creations of the Archons. Made in the likeness that the Archons would seek themselves, these semi-divine warriors initially acted as extensions of the Archons' collective wills. The greatest of the Valorians were given Valorplate, the legendary armor made in image of the Archons, and asked to champion their gods on Aperion.

### The Necessity of Betrayal

The Archons' unwavering belief in their own perfection would doom us if we continued to follow them. Physical form came with corruption, jealousy, anger, and grief. We could not allow the Archons to remain incarnated. If we didn't exile them back to the realm of pure ideal. return them into formlessness, they would destroy us. They had to be stopped. We could not allow them to corrode our attempts to build a true civilization.

It did not escape us that the Archons never worked together. It would be difficult for one of us to take on an Archon and win. But unlike them, we were not alone. Even if they would not work together, we Valorians could.

### Sati's Recollection

Bulwark was the last Archon to fall. After Moebius was consumed in the Battle of Unhinged Summer, after Aegishorn made a final stand at Brittle Rain, we came to the Battle of Halved Skulls.

Bulwark brought swarms of Vargul and Abyssian mercenaries to augment his loyal Valorians. He used his divine power to bolster his troops with incredible durability. We had to strike Bulwark's faithful down over and over. In the end, we took to splitting their helms.

The price in blood was high, but we had done it. All twelve of the Archons were finally sent screaming back to the realm of dreams and spirit. Now the real work could be down. We could build a true society.

### In The Beginning

Kosmera made the world when she devoured herself. The Archons were her dreams and they dreamt hungrily of existence. There was nothing to satisfy the hunger but her own flesh. Kosmera ate of Kosmera. She shed blood-of-the-serpent, the crystalized power of void, which we call Aetherium. The world clotted around it. Existence coalesced like frost on glass.

And from the ruins of Kosmera's body, the Archons stepped forth into existence.

### Firstborn of the Archons

We Valorians were their first design. All twelve Archons collaborated to craft us forms that they would also eventually use. They gifted us the fist suits of Valorplate. Holy armor for the champions of the gods. Each as precious as it is powerful. We were the first to know death, and the first to show courage in its face. Thus we were named Valorians.

We had always believed they made us in their images, but they had instead made themselves, too well, in ours.

### Imperfect Gods

The peoples of Aperion had misunderstood the Archons' nature. They should have stayed as gods of ideal. When they spun themselves physical shapes, incarnating themselves into psychical realm, they became trapped by the sins of mortality.

Overcome by mortal anger, jealousy, and ambition, the Archons quarreled among themselves. It is said that when kinds quarrel, they argue using armies. We Valorians were made by the Archons to be their armies. And so, with little choice, we argued.

With Valorians as their great armies, each Archon, according to their nature and their hunger, be it conquest or be it mercy for the conquered, made war. We did not know how deeply Kosmera's hunger had chewed into our souls, then. We would learn.

### First Recollection of the Seventh Sanctum

The first time I observed the Archon Hinterclaw, they were standing over a war map with models and pieces forged from raw Aetherium. Like a game board, Hinterclaw moved pieces from one place to place, stronghold to stronghold. Sometimes they closed a gauntleted fist and a piece imploded, signifying the outcome of some future battle. In this fashion, Silvermane predicted the movements of the Archons' armies and the flaw of war. Hinterclaw cared only for victory, not that the battles cindered our cities and effaced our writings. How could I preserve a word that only cared for battle and power?

Macros was there, even then. Hinterclaw's fiercest champion. Ever hungry for power, he wanted to steal the Aetherium pieces. I, on the other hand, ignored those Aetherium models and instead stole Hinterclaw's stratagems.