Terragenesis: Conjuration and Transmutation in Tandem

Terragenesis: Conjuration and Transmutation in Tandem is a book uncovered through use of Study-related Inquiries.

## History

During the academic endeavours of the vedalken Andrius before relocating to the newly-founded settlement of Amber Run, the artificer spent numerous hours engaging in research across a wide range of fields. As many before him, his interest turned to the recent changing landscapes, with islands rising from the waves to the north and east and mountains bursting through the stone to the west.

## Research

### Completed by Andrius

The creation of the lands is as imprinted in the mythology of the creation of Ahlus as the creation of the Principal Races, but arguably even more fundamental in nature. Without the soil and stone, shaped by the One with the Dirt that bears their name in his deific title, there could be no home for the Principal Race to be born, to live, to thrive, and from which to pass heavens-bound from with their deaths. Thus, and quite rightly, the matter of their formation has fascinated scholars, and during my tenure as the Archmage of Transmutation at the Crimson College, I have likewise dedicated myself to such considerations, and found myself gifted with a bounty of test subjects in response to the emergence of landmasses and landmarks alike across the continent. For those somehow unaware, which in truth likely applies to the majority of the populace even if it does not those with the opportunity to elevate themselves to positions of well-travelled or learned, no fewer than seventeen noteworthy islands have risen from the waves in the last century, seven off the northern coast at the borders between the Brumal Deep and the Allreach Sea, with a further ten off the eastern coastlines near Tourmalini'i. The Bristlebacks, a mountain range of some thirty-thousand miles pushed through the soil and stone over the course of a matter of years, and promptly extensive flooding of surging rivers have formed new lakes from where the terrain has been altered. The Tyndian headlands seemingly spontaneously sundered itself from east to west, forming the aptly named Sunder Straits, and thus few can deny that the engines that stirred Terragenesis might once more burn anew.

Naturally, sights have turned to the divine workings of Caihrnn, the one responsible for the original act, but theologians find the act empty. It has been noted that since the Manifestation in 1099AG, the event by which a Vestige of the Darkbringer reconstituted in the form of the Elder Evil Hadar, Caihrnn's constellation has faded from the Canvas of Night, attributed to his seemed destruction by a cosmic weapon known as the Hungering Void. Nonetheless, the power of the Lord in the Quiet Places persists, dedicated clerical staff offer up their prayers and find answers, divine warriors find their words, weapons and will empowered by his blessings, and yet concern has naturally grown that the emergence of new land is not that of Caihrnn's design, absent as he is. Theologians are quick to remind the faithful that a god cannot truly be slain, but what has become of the One With the Dirt remains uncertain - and with uncertainty worry naturally arises. Such tensions have no doubt given rise to the newly-founded Sect of Renewal, who believe that such stirrings are the sign of a cycle beginning once more, a cycle of destruction to make way to subsequent creation, but the theologian's question still remains, by whose will and design? Through sermons and lectures ignored by the majority of the populace and disparaged by much of the rest, the Sect claims that numerous iterations of Ahlus have existed before, and will exist again in the future, too, though cleansed of the taint of the Principal Races and their current vices. When pressed, the Sect of Renewal places the architect of the eponymous renewal as Dur, the Molten Crown, an exiled member of the Ahlusian Pantheon currently thought to reside within the Elemental Plane of Fire.

Instead, it is suggested that we must look to the histories for potential answers. It is said that before the wars that preceded Aita's Second Gift, the Primordial Elemental Princes, vastly powerful beings personifying the might of nature, though greatly varying in power depending on the tale - with some differences in the texts being as great as that between an Intermediate Deity and an Exarch - were able to transform the lands they traversed. Mountains rose from the plains, forests withered into frozen wastes, islands rose anew from waters seething with noxious fumes. Is it possible that without the presence of Caihrnn, the Archomentals enact their presence once again? It seems likewise unlikely, given that it was an act of divinity that cast them aside, trapping them beyond the Material Plane - an act not so easily undone, if at all. Conversely, it has been instead suggested that instead of an act of destruction, the arisen lands may be a form of healing, returning to the state that they once existed long before Aita's Second Gift to the time shortly after their creation, before great landmasses were shattered and splintered to naught by the wars that would come. When wielded by their divine creators, it was said that the artifacts that have come to be known as the Remnant Weapons had the power to split mountains in two, and fell a forest in a single sweeping strike. Is it that implausible that in the crushing depths of the seas lands may languish broken and lost, now returned to the surface once more? The Heirarch of Rydoon, Celenwe, believes the healing to be directly complementary to that of Caihrnn's own, that with each curative burst delivered unto them by means unknown, the soil and stone returns to their original vision for the lands.