On Dragongarde
And The Multiverse
A Compilation of Tales and Observations
By Kenan Dazureus,
The Arcane,
Headmaster of the Academy,
And Kain's Soul since the World of Kingdoms.
Structure of the Multiverse
Quite simply, I shall attempt to map out the known realms of our Multiverse and explain some of the relationships between them.
The Nether is one of the two original realities of the Multiverse. As the stories go, it is the source of the Nether Magma that mingled with Aether Water and produced the stage that we souls prance around on daily, the physical world. The shallowest portions of the Nether are available for Heroes to explore, whereas the deeper areas are restricted. The shallows take the form of a decidedly hellish land and monsters there are more dangerous than those of the overworld. Still, the place has it's uses- It produces eternally glowing crystals and eternally burning stone, and certain bits of the inhabitants' bodies are useful as ingredients in alchemy. In places there are ruins- Large intimidating forts and bridges spanning the molten lakes, made of an especially dense and durable stone. These are often inhabited by clans of pig zombies- monsters like the rest, but more considerate of their own kind. They also tend to have gold weapons and ornaments on them, which is as uncanny to me as the ruins in which they live. The Nether's deeper layers get less physical as one descends, giving way to purer grades of Nether Magma. They are also used as a dwelling place for the souls of monsters, and a prison for the truly horrific souls that are too dangerous for the general population.
The Aether stands as a counterpart to the Nether. Far less is known about this world, as the Zo do not allow any ordinary Heroes into it. What is known is that the first level contrasts the Nether's red-hot underground with floating islands abundant in plant life and water. The other levels have still higher forms of protection on them and fade into non-physical forms as the Nether does, with the "top" being the font of pure Aether Water.
Kingdom, Sanctum, Zeal and Dragon are collectively called the Worlds of Souls. They are the only parts of the Multiverse which are composed of matter to their very edges, without fading into a more Ethereal form, and therefore have an unmatched stability and suitability for the presence of Heroes. Only one is active at any given point in time, although others may be present as Memorial Worlds. There are other satellite universes that coexist with the Worlds of Souls, notably the impermanent Warshard.
If we imagined the Multiverse as an egg, with the Aether and Nether as the shell and Worlds being yolks, then the place we call Intermundos would be the white. It is both spatial and temporal, although it does not flow in a simple progression and does not seem to approach an End. Although little is known, theories do exist regarding the nature of this zone. My favorite is that it is extra, unused matter produced from the original combination, from which the Zo craft Worlds. The Intermundos serves as a medium for inter-realm travel, and this typically by portals. The best known examples are the Nexus and Heroes' Gates. Unfortunately the method for producing them is unknown and probably specific to the Zo, as all methods attempted by Heroes up to this point have been at best unstable and at worst disastrous. All tunnels seem to bleed order into Intermundus, producing spectacular sights for the foolish spellweavers who end up stranded there. Great beams of light arching across the sky, the land fading into a white oblivion in the distance. Despite the initial appearance of formlessness there are many sights to see farther away from our paths through the realm, although in the vast majority of circumstances I would be inclined to think it wasn't worth it to go searching for them. The Intermundos has dropped souls in different times, places, and Worlds, very rarely producing for us out-of-place artifacts or unprecedented leaps of understanding in a field of study.
The End
Every World of Souls has a finite lifespan. When one reaches it's twilight, presumably long after the Heroes have flocked to another realm, it decays into a timeless void called the End. From this world come Endermen, typical corrupt souls in the guise of monsters that the End has shaped into eerie, slender beings that can take advantage of the temporal instability and warp out of the End into other destinations. They carry pearls that a Wizard may use to teleport with, suddenly appearing at the spot where the pearl breaks. The pearls can also be crafted into items called Ender Eyes, which are said to scan all places that are tied to the End, but as of writing nobody has harnessed that ability to a great extent.
The Ether
The Ether is simply the area that lies outside of the Multiverse. It's nature is largely undetermined by our small selves, although it may be that the Zo understand more of it than we do. We know that it is where souls come to the Multiverse from, and that there are other creations like the Multiverse elsewhere in it. Occasionally visions can be connected to the Ether, leading me to believe they are a function of a soul and not of the Multiverse itself.
The Nature of Souls
The soul! The foundation of the Multiverse. Kain himself is a soul, as are the other Zo, as am I, as are the entire race of Heroes. But surely men die, and surely children are born who themselves go on to die. Why? It seems paradoxical that the eternal beings would be snuffed out in our realm, that Kain's worlds are some manner of drain in the basin. I posit that something as simple as reading a book, or watching another person walk past could explain this apparent disregard for the balance of the Ether. It is important to note that in the following body of text, much of what I say is slightly askance of the Truth- Ethereal things are not easily described and physical metaphors are quite convenient.
I have had the privilege to speak with some of the Zo and the secretive Loremasters, and their stories have led me to believe that each soul has a unique, defining essence, that radiates from the soul itself. This essence is formed by every change the soul is subjected to. In a temporal environment, one in which time flows, changes happen constantly and consistently, leading to unbelievably complex identities. These essences are not simply mashed into a soul like an imprint upon clay, though. They are gathered, and layered on top of each other, each very thin and allowing the observation of what lies beyond it. Some layers are thick, if the soul regards them very strongly, and others thin. The Proctors are likely quite talented at seeing these layers; it seems like such an ability would allow them to determine whether a soul is suitable for entry into the Multiverse.
But there is more architecture to be described: Each layer emits bits of itself into the Multiverse, and perhaps beyond although I imagine that Kain's realms keep quite a bit of it in, at which point it drifts about. If the layer was strong, and often that means the event that caused it's creation was memorable, it's residue may last for ages, but the residue of thin layers would quickly revert to a blank state. This ambient soul-radiation is a primary component in the creation of new layers, with formless radiation having no effect on the layer and formed radiation leaving it's own mark. There are other complex subjects- Whether residue that retains it's identity weakens or strengthens once imbued into a soul layer, how a soul manages it's own resources and so on, but that's beyond the scope of this particular scribbling.
So then, the question of death. What happens? Death seems to cause a disruption in souls as they are forced out of their temporal environment. When this happens, a large amount of layers are lost, the weakest and newest ones being the first to go. Therefore souls are simplified when leaving their mortal bonds, but they remain themselves. And not only do the originals survive, but any superfluous resources they hoard are redistributed into the Multiverse. I, for example, can recall the sight of Argon, the Monarchy of Blasphemy and it's King, the Fall of Zeal. But the day-to-day, or the ways I died? I remember none of it.
Memorial Worlds
I recently remembered something from the World of Zeal, that the Zo can produce portals to what appear to be Worlds of Souls whose times have come and gone- Kingdom, Sanctum. I have since heard rumors that they conjured a link to Zeal as well. But these realms all have some oddities in common- There is no native life, the merest flower couldn't be moved by a legion of soldiers, and they are all unmarred. As the Loremasters wrote, The Worlds of Kingdoms, Sanctum and Zeal were fled because of terrible calamities that ostensibly would have ruined the landscape. But these are whole, because they are memories. As each world was lost to it's own apocalypse the souls of the Heroes longed to return, and although a true reentry was impossible the Zo devoted some of their vast power to recreate memories of the old Worlds. The caveat is that they are monuments, unmoving and solemn. Free from corruption, yes, but far from inhabitable.
Cookies
A person may look on Kain and decide he's an intimidating ruler, or a worker of magic, or experienced with a sword. Surely he's all of these, but it seems that the Chiefest Zo is also an excellent cook. These cookies tend to appear to Heroes when Kain is in a good mood, and can be used as short-notice sources of mana, even in the same way as a human bone. Ever since they first appeared they have been studied carefully and now anybody with a talent for baking can produce some of their own, although it requires the use of hard-to-find cocoa beans, and it's almost universally acknowledged that Kain's are better anyways. In fact, Kain's are undoubtedly the most delicious little snacks I've had the good fortune of eating.
Abel's Lance
A spear of very old make that takes it's name from it's first known owner, a man named Abel who lived during the early days of Sanctum. Abel stalked around Sanctum's city and, despite the anti-violence wards on the place, stabbed no less than thirty people to death while proclaiming rebellion against the Zo. However, his ability to harm let him be harmed- as he rampaged a group of Dragoons from Skyforge tried attacking him and succeeded, ending Abel's life and confiscating the spear in Fiore's city vault. It's next appearance was near the end of Sanctum's existence, when King Domitius and a battalion of his soldiers marched on Sanctum's city. They, like Abel, could kill and be killed within the city's borders. Kain eventually intervened and took Abel's Lance. Domitius turned back from his mission and was thereafter known as Wyrmtongue. It's unknown what became of Abel's Lance then- I theorize from my talks with Domitius that it gathered it's own rudimentary soul, like a coalescence of negativity against the Zo... if this Ethereal energy was too far outside of the Zo's grasp to be destroyed it may yet be sealed up somewhere, out of the reach of men.
Soul Stealer
The Soul Stealer is an artifact which is only rumored to exist, and most of these rumors sprouted in Sanctum. As the tales go, it is a small shard of obsidian surrounded by a spiraling purple aura. Anybody killed by the owner of the Soul Stealer has their soul banished to the depths of the Nether. Some stories tie the Soul Stealer to a soul-eating monster trapped in the Nether, some to a group of occult assassins, some to mysterious disappearances. I only know two things for certain- the first is that if such a thing existed I wouldn't want everybody to know it existed. The second is that these three major rumors are not mutually exclusive in the least.
Mob Arenas
Early in the Heroes' time in Dragongarde, a group of settlers discovered an odd phenomenon in the wilderness- phantom monsters. They appeared in waves out of thin air around one specific spot and attacked the traveler's camp intermittently, even during the daytime. When incapacitated they would vanish as suddenly as they appeared, and would eventually fade on their own if left alone. Naturally, the settlers decided to settle somewhere else.
Now there were multiple locations like this, scattered throughout the realm. Later in Dragongarde's life, structures were built to contain the monsters and they were used as training grounds for anybody who wanted to sharpen their skills. Thus were the Arenas created.
Madlumite Hoes
When Sanctum's Memorial World was brought into existence, many Heroes- myself among them- flocked to the Madlum Blockade, the site of a feud between the city of Madlum and an organization called NATO. While examining the ruins I noticed a crate which was packed with seemingly-mundane wooden hoes. Nobody seemed to know what purpose they could have served... Seems like some manner of prank to me.
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