It seems I must clarify My brother's ramblings. Much of the true meaning
has been lost amongst His deranged drivel.


A very long time ago, a great war was fought between the Ankyreans and
the Dreikathi. The Dreikathi conducted many experiments with the
leylines and loci and developed a method of traveling through the
leylines, between any two loci, effectively teleporting them from their
continent to this one. Many scouting parties were sent, at first, and
evidence of this still remains buried in the Siroccian Mountains.


Both the Dreikathi and the Ankyreans were superior to other mortal
races, as they were afforded great strength, intelligence, and
ingenuity. The war was terrible, with catastrophic damage done to both
sides. The conflict reached a scale such that the world itself was in
danger of destruction and the Satus Himself was forced to intervene. The
Dreikathi were returned to their own continent and the memories of
mortals and Gods both were edited after the fact, in an effort to
prevent further warring between the two races. Where do you think I got
the idea? Only Myself and Lanos were allowed to know what had
transpired, for We were entrusted with the task of keeping the two
continents from ever making contact again.


Lanos accepted My Father's benevolence with reluctance and unease, for
His is the realm of Truth and He seemed to resent being party to this
obfuscation of history. Disgruntled though He was, He was an obedient
son and He heeded Our Father's wishes. For a time, there was no danger.


Several years prior to My Grand Artifice, the Ankyrean researchers began
investigating the leylines and were drawing near to making the same
discovery that the Dreikathi had made. As I analyzed the situation, I
came to one conclusion: The Ankyreans could not be allowed to make
contact once more with the Dreikathi and with their intelligence and
ingenuity, they would ever be a threat. Claiming that the Ankyreans had
forgotten their place and sought to dethrone the Gods, I put in action a
plan to destroy them completely. This has become known as the Second
Ankyrean War.


But it was obvious to Me that I could not stop at the Ankyreans, if
their legacy would be passed on to the newly elevated 'rellyw' that
inhabited the land. It was for this reason that I embarked upon My
greatest undertaking: The Grand Artifice. Systematically, I imprinted My
own image over all of Creation, reworking the memories of Gods and men
alike. As I crafted this falsehood, dangerous traces of Ankyreans and
their knowledge were painstakingly eliminated and My beautiful new
reality was left unmarred. Even the Lord of Truth fell prey to My
fabrication, for He had become the most dangerous threat to the secret
of the Dreikathi.


If there is one fault My Father suffers from, it would be vanity. He has
always been extremely proud of His Creation, and when I imprinted My own
image over it, He was furious. While He understood the need for Me to do
what had been done, He would never forgive anyone changing His reality.
Thus did He brand Me the Artificer forevermore.


Decades passed and again, all seemed well. Unfortunately, Lanos remained
the Lord of Truth and unbeknownst to Me, the revisions I had made did
not keep. He suddenly broke free from My weave of lies, outraged at the
deception. He confronted Me privately, threatening to uncover everything
- both the Ankyreans and the Dreikathi. What happened afterwards, well
that's common knowledge: I struck a deal with the Shadow Mother,
offering Her freedom in exchange for His elimination, for everyone's
safety. Unfortunately, Lanos had already put in motion a plan to unravel
the Grand Artifice that was beyond My power to halt.


Nearly two centuries passed and I maintained the vigil tasked to Me by
My Father, keeping a watchful eye on Sapience and subtly diverting the
course of those who could cause unhealthy consequence. Then came the
Kerrithrim.


The oceanic abomination dealt Me a mighty blow, crippling My arm
permanently and forcing Me to flee to the Shadow Plane. It was in this
weakened state, taking refuge in the dark, that they found Me. Servants
of the Shadow Mother imprisoned Me, trying to force Me to unlock the new
cage that Lanos had fashioned before His "demise" so that their mistress
would once more be free.


It was during My absence that our homeland was revealed to the
Dreikathi. When the Ascendril activated the Needle of Balance, the locus
beneath it exploded violently, sending shockwaves of energy through the
leylines. On their homeland, the Dreikathi had already depleted their
loci and the Needle's eruption told them two very simple things: There
was something out there. That something had loci for them to harvest.


Maybe with the way that Lanos has been acting of late, it won't surprise
you to learn that I'm the one who has always been acting in Sapience's
best interest. If I had not eliminated Him when I did, He would have
brought this calamity on us over two hundred years earlier. Think on
that for a bit: How well would you have been able to resist the forces
of Drakkenmont then, compared to now?


I've tried to answer many questions, for once, but there are still many
more that I leave deliberately unclear. Suffice to say that these
Dreikathi are nothing compared to the cataclysm that could follow after
them and it would seem that even the Truthseeker is hesitant to risk
this threat, for He too has opted to avoid any mention of it at all.


I am also pleased to announce that Daskalos is My new Orderhead. Those
of you seeking to join should approach him first. I couldn't end the
post without saying at least one lie, could I?


Penned by my hand on the 23rd of Severin, in the year 301 MA.