A Dream of Lapis

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Within Eldham there are, and have, existed thousands of republics, kingdoms, empires, duchies, and states. Many nations are well known and players have toiled to keep the history of these regions alive through writing and monument building, but for every well known nation there exists at least a dozen insignificant nations. Within each nation exists cities, towns, or even squatter huts that have their own history, their own story to tell. There is history behind every name on a map, every river and mountain was given a label for a reason. To erase the story of a land is to rid the land of its very value - culturally, religiously, and politically. This school of thought was heavily preached within the temples of the Sylfaeist Faith, and has the following goals for those who wish to preserve the stories of the land.

## What must be done?

The following points lay out the main ideas and policies to follow:

* The histories of people, places and faiths are to all be recorded in books
* Ancient monuments are to be reconstructed and rededicated to their original purpose
* New monuments are to be built to mark physical locations of importance
* Any community that values its history should invest in building libraries to house historical books, museums to showcase historical artifacts, festivals to promote culture, and monuments to preserve past glory
* Lost history or stories are to be recovered at any cost. The ruins of long abandoned cities or statues to unknown deities must be studied and their histories must be uncovered
* Attacking armies must treat libraries and museums as sacred places, as the history of the land and people is sacred. Defenders too must prevent the destruction of libraries and museums
* A nation must use its resources to promote the culture and history of their land

In the Sylfaeist Faith, Lapis is thought to contain the power of Sylfae, and as such is often used in rituals and sacrifices to communicate with Sylfae, god of knowledge. Thus there is a strong connection between lapis and preservation of history. As such, I have decided to give this philosophical thought a name - the Dream of Lapis. In the Dream of Lapis, the preservation of cultures, stories, historical artifacts and traditions is paramount to the survival of the nation as a unique entity in an ever changing server.

## Why uncover lost history?

The world of Eldham is simultaneously one single grand story of worldbuilding, and also many different intertwining stories of players, communities, and nations. Regions from all corners of Eldham have stories connecting themselves with every other corner of the world. Even a squatter hut is but one strand of the grand story that is Eldham. Of course, as human memory is not infallible, not all histories are preserved. So why bother recording what has been forgotten? Because the stories of famed nations have been built off the coalescing of dozens of inconsequential histories, and forgetting those minor stories will lead to an incomplete history of a kingdom. Imagine the history of your nation to be a strong and sturdy rope, the tiny fibers that make up that rope are all the small details and minor histories that eventually led to the history of your nation. Yes, much like the rope, the history of your nation may still be intact even with a good portion of its history lost, but, also like the rope, the history of your nation will be incomplete and not as strong as the fully uncovered history.

In short, to preserve and expand on our own history we must uncover the lost stories of the past.