Several months into their malady, the Divine Congregation of Iosyne
gathered in the Lair, seemingly on the verge of answers. With their
Goddess missing for some time now, the congregants and order had
searched for clues with the Spirean Sciomancers, as well as the
Malevolent's closest apostles, as to any leads.

Their investigations led them to a dark chasm within the Lair, where a
broken cocoon attracted the attention of the Goddess for Her to
return... though it quickly became clear that this was not the same
Goddess they were accustomed to seeing. The Immortal flickered in and
out of existence, appearing as a mass of spectral and shadow energy that
barely took a physical form. Nega-Iosyne, as She became known, had an
almost manic and impulsive obsession with the Order and Congregation,
encouraging them to slay anything and everything in Her name. Astral
storms crackled across the firmament as Her fervor echoed throughout the
skies, and the continent was swept up in carnage and bloodshed.

In the midst of all the slaughter, it came to light that Ati, the
strange entity lurking in the deepest reaches of the Itzatl, had been
awakened by the prevalence of bloodshed and shadow within the world. It
was revealed by Omei, the Artist to be no other than the progeny of the
Shadow Mother, formless and trapped within Farsai. Its efforts to secure
a physical form for itself led to the attempted possession of its
priest, but it soon proved that no mere mortal could contain its
essence.

The priest's corpse, after being handled by the Mad Mage Tralendar
Cardinalis and Doctor J.R. Anfini, was destroyed using the Lance of
Irissotl, the fabled weapon of Sonn that remains one of the few
armaments effective against Ati and other creatures of shadow. However,
traces of Ati touched them both; while the Mad Mage escaped unscathed
from this brief contact with the creature, the Doctor was possessed by
the Shadow.

The threads began to connect: Iosyne, Ati, the Shadow Mother, the Shadow
plane itself. Moirean Seirath, Iosyne's General, declared Holy War on
the Order of Severn, the Manipulator, in a desperate attempt to garner
His attention after her communication to Him went unanswered. His
reaction was immediately furious, speaking directly to Moirean as He
demanded to know details. As she informed Him of what had transpired in
His absence, the Manipulator revealed what He knew to be the cause - the
Goddess Iosyne was fully Shadowbound, with the real, physical Goddess
trapped beyond the void.

Despite Severn's warnings, Iosyne had tapped into a direct link with the
Shadow Plane, as Severn explained it. Her Divine Essence was unable to
combat the corrosive nature of the Shadow Mother's power, thus She
quickly succumbed to the curse of the Shadowbound. The Manipulator
explained to Moirean that there would be no cure for this blight, and
all that suffered from it would end up with the same fate. In an
unexplained act, Severn extended a sliver of His essence to Moirean so
as to keep her unborn child protected as well as to see Moirean herself
lasted to have the child. As the Lord of Artifice made His exit, He
vowed to execute Nega-Iosyne when He next got His hands upon Her, and
anyone else who threatened to spread the curse.

Penned by my hand on the 23rd of Ios, in the year 395 MA.