The Last Day

The Last Day were an isolationist group linked to the Legacies of Distant Reverie.

## History

In a secluded community the members lived simple lives, granted bliss each night with vivid lucid dreams shared as a community. They experienced lives as kings and queens throwing balls and fetes that stretched across the horizon, as adventurers and explorers delving ancient ruins hidden behind waterfalls, in the wildest forests and at the depths of the oceans. By comparison, their waking hours seemed mundane, exhausting.

A few amongst the Last Day started to make draughts that would encourage deep sleeps that would last for days at a time, their bodies withering from the lack of attention given to them. Some resisted the allure of such substances for a while, but in time all amongst them routinely used the mixture. As their bodies atrophied, their minds flourished, existing in the dreaming world even after their eventual and inevitable mortal demise. For centuries they lived on in this way, corporeal forms now naught but ash, before they found themselves reborn. Among this number was the Atral farmer Eldur who fled with one of the artifacts and knowing his fate sealed himself in stasis with a enchanted chamber filled with Tviatini Basilisk secretions.

At present, it is unknown what happened to the remaining members of the Last Day, including the noble Eordemos Lightvale, although they appear to be linked to the disaster that eventually befell Ahlus after the rise of the Astedian Empire.

## Research

### Completed by Zareyl Arkenviir

*The Last Day has defied description for decades, with some researchers and scholars defining it simply as a community of benign individuals working together as an independent settlement uninterested in the occurrences of the Realms, and others still placing them at the other end of the spectrum - branding them heretical cultists with intentions of corrupting layabout youth with grandiose fabrications of deceit. Regardless, those members of the group itself were like to pay little mind to either opinion, confident in their shared sense of purpose and their secluded locale. Those with both interesting passing and focused know that the Last Day made their home somewhere within the Penance Marshes, but few can agree as to where exactly, given the sprawling expanse of the quags and mires that weave through the mist-laden Elmbraind Forest on the easternmost edge of the continent of Ahlus.*

*The Last Day had little reason to pay attention to their surroundings though, given the arcane talent of those contained within. Reports detail a trio of artifacts in possession of the group that allowed for the creation of all manner of illusionary magics in which the greatest wishes, whims and whimsies could be achieved. New members were not a frequent occurrence, but not unheard of either - as news spread further it grew a passing fancy of many to visit, seeking opportunities to experience the process for themselves, even superficially, as to live out particular events for a few hours. Vanquishing vexing foes, practicing social encounters, training fearsome feats without fear of lasting injury, simulation of all manner of pleasures, such was the magic - if it existed within the dreams of the individual it could, feasibly, be achieved. Further still, it seemed that those whom spent extended periods of time in the dreamscape could start to meld their own dreams with others, sharing the visions with each other - and reaching out to those seeking respite, shelter and community while they slept, regardless of whether they slumbered in the bed directly adjacent to them, sprawled in the shade of a broad-branched oak or passed out atop tavern table with taste of mead upon their lips.*

*So in started the issue in the minds of those that heard of what the members of the Last Day were seemingly capable of. Fearing that they would soon have the power to influence the dreams of others, weaving the world through the thoughts of others, several nobles, wealthy merchants and other folk of status hired a series of mercenary bands to evict them from their gated community. Many took their coin, all failed in doing so - for it seemed that if the members of the Last Day did not wish to be found, they could not be. In retrospect, the cause for this is obvious - searching for a group with unfettered illusionary skill is invariably challenging, but this did not stop significant sums being invested as part of this endeavour. Regardless, those with the coin to pay achieved what they wished - albeit indirectly. The Last Day no longer opened their gates to visitors, whatever their intention, and instead delved deeper into the Realm of Dreams in their reveries.*