Forbidden Knowledge

Not all knowledge is freely available on the world of Soi. This protected information is often called lost knowledge, forbidden lore, or protected knowledge. This information includes the processes and histories of bio temples, and Council of the Undying meeting records.

Reasons for knowledge being locked away are varied but range from protecting trade secrets to preventing uprisings in civilizations of Soi and carnage through weapons of mass destruction.

Forbidden lore is the subject of treasure hunters and adventurers, often seeking them abandoned ruins.

## Kinds of forbidden knowledge

**Orders of suppressed knowledge**

**Uncommon**

1. Knowledge that is difficult but not impossible to find if one were to do research in a fairly large or advanced city

**Privileged**

* Knowledge only a few people know. Mostly in the minds of royals, trade masters, or guild heads

**Mythic**

* Knowledge that is only known by heads of states and great civilizations or organizations

**Arcane**

* Information that even some of the Immortals do not know

## **Information that is considered forbidden lore**

* Methods of creating viral or chemical weapons
* Abandoned projects of the Immortals
* Historical records that cover atrocities of civilizations
* Historical records covering the atrocities of the Immortals
* Personal secrets and information of the Immortals
* Solid information regarding aberrants

## Reasons for suppressing knowledge

* Wanting to prevent mortals from attempting to become immortal themselves
* Protecting the reputation of the Immortals
* Concealing the weaknesses of the Immortals
* Preventing mortals from making deadly weaponry

## Knowledge Vaults

### **The Vault of the Stargazer**

The Vault of the Stargazer is an extensive library created by the Stargazer to store her vast collection of forbidden knowledge. She is known to have kept a journal documenting her life before immortality, as well as medical records of experiments she performed on herself in order to gauge the full extent of her power. She also is believed to have documents on dangerous technology and erased history. It is speculated this might be the same library as the Temple of the Mind.

## Individual Nations

### **The Broken Kingdom**

While the Broken Kingdom as a whole remains utterly oblivious to most things of an academic nature, the Truest King and his Order of Truths have been working for the last fifteen hundred years at the gathering of knowledge. This knowledge includes the blueprints for additional technologies which the Kingdom as a whole may someday embrace in addition to the knowledge which may be qualified as Forbidden. Included with this is the collection of King's writings as well as a few documented lapses in his lie-detecting which are studied only by the highest ranking members of the Order as a part of their training and honing of their technique. The entirety of this collection of knowledge is kept within the massive underground fortress of the Cathedral, in vaults known only to exist by the Truest King, the highest ranking of the Order, and the 14th Councilmember, the last only being aware of the existence of such collection following his command of the Cathedral's defenses during the Great War. Some of this "forbidden" knowledge is present in the structure of the Cathedral itself, the ventilation, plumbing, and secret door systems having been designed and created by the Academy during the Cathedral's construction prior to the Academy's withdrawl from the world.

### **The Technocracy**

The leadership of the Circle has always had a fickle relationship with hiding knowledge. Often, they've been the ire of many Immortal civilizations, making public knowledge that was supposed to be hidden. They've freely leaked documents about the Council of the Undying, made public global atrocities meant to be hidden, and at some point the Immortals of the Circle even wrote a 50-page document detailing their origins and mental capabilities, claiming they were humans from a world which was far more advanced than their own.

#### **The Bayesian Conspiracy**

This is not to say that the Technocracy doesn't keep secrets. Most notably, more advanced students at Kallipolis University have described a secretive group of scholars who actively cover up discoveries which are seen as more dangerous than useful, including mind control and advanced bio-weaponry.

### **Mamutok**

#### **Star Maps**

The original star maps of the Mamutok tribes named the stars after the Immortals, who were still using their birth names at the time. Some of them opposed this practice and they were quickly pulled from production. It is theorized there may be some of these still available to the public.

#### **Project Desperation**

This is a project known to only the tribe chiefs working closely with the Stargazer herself, with several subordinates participating but not knowing the full extent of the project. The chewswarms that live on the northern reaches of the Stargazer Plateau lay millions of eggs each year. The Mamutok gather as many of these eggs as they can and deliver them to the chiefs, who send them to a secret underground facility in the coldest part of the Plateau. The cold keeps the eggs in stasis indefinitely. After many years, it is estimated that there might be billions of eggs in storage. The Stargazer can choose to release her apocalyptic swarm onto the fields of her enemies at any time, however to date she has not participated in any war and believes such an act of extreme violence should only be a last-resort measure, hence the name Project Desperation.