The Book of Rites: Celestial Landmarks

"← Previous chapter: The Book of Rites: Forsaken Lands"Hovertext: Pertaining to locales discovered to have cosmic significance.

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In the Words of Lu Sclorian Hundred-Minds, the Scholar

Page 59 - Celestial Landmarks
Do you feel a kinship with the stars? You owe your everything to them; perhaps, one day, even your freedom.

I chased the stars across the river of my genealogy, until they led me here. I demanded they explain to me the Paradox of Knowledge. For, how is it that something can be shared, but still contained, within ourselves, in its entirety?

The stars did not respond, but set me on a Quest. I sought the nine Landmarks, which they revealed to me, so that someday I would reveal their mysteries to you.

These Landmarks, emissaries of the stars, are nine lenses through which we see the land, and see ourselves, in a new light.

Page 61 - The Ridge Of Gol
The serpent-titan Gandroth turned to brittle stone not long after his death, of that you may be certain.

What remains is a flat, elevated basin that stands us closer to the heavens. Upon the fallen Gandroth's hide, the stars themselves alight, and you shall know you stand on sacred ground.

We set the metal sigils, lit the candle-flames, and we emblazoned on the rock-like forms the Sigil of our passage to and from this land, and then?

And then, the stars themselves, they did reply to us, they sang, shining bright, their voices loud, and clear. We understood their cadence, and we knew how often to return.

Page 63 - The Spring of Jomuer
I ofttimes think the carapace of the hive-titan Bialanthius shall be an everlasting blemish on an almost-splendid bit of land. But Jomuer, in his brashness, felled the monster with a certain flair.

Then, the moon shone through the ridges of the massive carapace, and shined upon the pooling ichor, turning it into the freshest nectar ever to be tasted.

The Spring shall flow eternally, and those who walk within it shall experience the resplendent glory of the land.

The stars began to fall there in the Spring with regularity, and we now know how soon again that they shall do so, and we wish for you to see it for yourself.

Page 65 - The Cairn of Ha'ub
How ironic, that the shattered remnants of the bone-titan Shax Six Shoulders, which once stood vigilant over the archway into Flagging Hands, remain now as forebidding as when that horrid monster still possessed unnatural life.

After little Ha'ub dispatched the bone-titan in a feat of ingenuity, Shax's pieces fell unto the valley floor, forming a set of standing stones, which Ha'ub marked.

Further, traces of the titan's glacial blood coagulated into perfect frozen drops, which still shimmer in the darkness.

Six Shoulders seems to start reanimating when the stars above him dance a certain way. Paint the Sigil then, in the shining light.

Page 67 - The Pit of Milithe
If there is one Celestial Landmark in which I would never again wish to tread, unless, of course, the stars beseeched me to, it has to be the Pit.

'Twas dark in there beyond all reckoning. If not for Milithe's sorcerous lantern, all of us, we all would have been lost.

What lies within the Pit is not to be invoked. Although, I have no doubt our goodly Underking shall be unable to prevent himself from boasting of how Milithe sealed it there, for an entire age.

The thing yet lies there, on the edge of death. Through its connection to the stars, it gives the Pit significance. Walk there with courage, and a steady mind.

Page 69 - The Hulk of Ores
The Dazraban was first of many river-ships to vanish in the Downside. Although presumptions of its loss were not inaccurate, the Doomed Ship and her valiant crew had charted half the Sea of Solis, ere the end of their brave voyage.

The sea-titan Unfathomed Plurnes was not fond of vessels sullying her sea, and split the Doomed Ship with a single swipe.

The ship's own shattered prow would later end the sea-titan's cruel reign, as the boastful Underking loves to recount.

The stars themselves must have been moved by this. That point within the sea, now sacred, has the stars dancing in homage every now and again.

Page 71 - Isle of Khaylmer
The traitor Khaylmer Rope-Caller! Whereas he brought about our Empire's fall; whereas he nearly claimed the life of our dear Soliam, we forgive him.

We have forgiven him; we give a certain thanks to him. For he has played a vital part in the stars' plan. If not for him, then we, the Eight, would never have aligned.

We never found the Rope-Caller. He fled into the sea, towards an Isle, which we knew well to avoid. 'Twas there we think that Khaylmer's Tattered Mantle finally did him in, among the wild imps.

Should the stars ever converge above that Isle, it shall be to signify that their long dance across the skies is drawing to a close.

Page 73 - The Nest of Triesta
The ashen effigy of the nightmare titan Xilvias Horse-Headed looms as dark as ever on the precipices of Black Basin, where her chaotic influence sundered the land itself, until it wept with fire.

The very instant that our graceful friend Triesta Tithis finally laid to rest the Greater Titan with the power of the Holy Scepter of the Empire, the stars shone down upon us all with blinding light.

Triesta thought that she could bear her children in the warmth there, but, alas.

Now, the stars re-visit that locale with regularity. The fissures in the rock do pose more danger than one ought invite, but a summons to the Nest is to be honored.

Page 75 - The Glade of Lu
Never have I witnessed an affront to nature, mine and everyone's, quite like the poisoned woods of Limbless Arizech the root-titan, in his suffocating influence.

I shall leave it to the boastful Underking to tell you more of Arizech's vanquishing, whilst I may tell you something of the Glade that he protected, which became my own; for my own genealogy now occupies the soil there, and strives forevermore to prevent Arizech from taking root again.

The brambles of the Glade are constantly encroaching on themselves, then falling once again to dust. This miraculous cycle, reflected in the starlight piercing through the canopy, needs to be witnessed whenever the stars invite an audience.

Page 77 - The Fall of Soliam
From the top of Mount Alodiel, the Downside may be seen in its entirety, or at least felt, since so much of the land is shrouded. But, that is hardly all.

Through a wondrous miracle, there lies upon this highest mountain an inverted fall, whose waters crash not toward the sea, but rush toward the heavens.

We speculate these are the very waters which delivered us, but now, bend backward, seeking their return, as do we all.

In this phenomenon can freedom be achieved, but only for the chosen, when the time is right. This is a path to freedom we cannot traverse, but shall leave open for you, so that you may strive for it.

Page 79 - The Book of Rites
Much can be said about the Beyonders, whom we banished to the great beyond, for deeds irredeemable.

Suffice it that the details of their banishment are written in this Book. The Sisters and the Book became inseparable, not unlike the stars, their light, and the infinite darkness that engulfs them.

The stars communicate to us, and you, in turn. The words within this Book are but an edifice, a simple surface. Look past the text, to the hidden meaning, to the hidden power.

The stars above, as they are not mere lights, these are not mere words. If you chance upon the Beyonders within their prison here, give them our thanks."→ Next chapter: The Book of Rites: Greater Titans"