That would result in the opposite situation, where foreign beings were wrongly interpreted as or syncretized into familiar ones - interpretatio Imperium, if you will. An Empire translator might see a warlike sun God and say 'Myrmidia', or see a serpentine symbol and say 'there's no snake gods, so it must be a river'. An Elven translator culturally projecting onto the Obernarn Stone might erroneously result in the name 'Asuryan' among the Old World Gods but that name wasn't used, it was 'Flaming Phoenix ... from atop His Gleaming Pyramid' which doesn't really have a lot of wriggle room for mistaken identity. And there's no easy way to theorize a translator that would come up with both an obscure Averland honour God and a relatively modern Lustrian Skink God who has no written records attesting to his existence - even a superfan of obscure theology would be much more likely to go with one of the Nehekharan snake gods over Sotek.
Teclis, a Loremaster of Hoeth, translating from one human language to another human language for the benefit of a human audience, seems like the kind of person who'd know of lots of obscure mythology and might chose to use what he thought were the closest human references he could think of where there was one. If he thinks that Taal is just the name his his target audience use to refer to Kurounos, he might use the word Taal in his translation of a pictograph of a horned deity because it was familiar to his audience, just as a German person translating from French to English might translate the proper name Allemagne into Germany, despite the fact they'd call their country Deutschland.
The local humans don't have a snake god though, so he could just randomly pick the name for one he's heard of, Sotek, if he's more familiar with that than others.
As to whether or not he'd pick the word Asuryan rather than Great Phoenix, that is a a bit harder to say, but still seems within the bounds of possibility. For all we know that's what elves call the aspect of Asuryan in which he's reborn.
Teclis, a Loremaster of Hoeth, translating from one human language to another human language for the benefit of a human audience, seems like the kind of person who'd know of lots of obscure mythology and might chose to use what he thought were the closest human references he could think of where there was one. If he thinks that Taal is just the name his his target audience use to refer to Kurounos, he might use the word Taal in his translation of a pictograph of a horned deity because it was familiar to his audience, just as a German person translating from French to English might translate the proper name Allemagne into Germany, despite the fact they'd call their country Deutschland.
The local humans don't have a snake god though, so he could just randomly pick the name for one he's heard of, Sotek, if he's more familiar with that than others.
Teclis is explicitly said to have translated the Talastein Carvings, not the Obernarn Stone, which doesn't say if it had or needed a translator. Teclis apparently was enough of a meganerd to have learned the language of the Belthani humans that lived around the Elven settlements of the Old World back during the Golden Age, but the Elves were long gone by the time the ancestors of the Imperial tribes arrived (except for Laurelorn and Athel Loren, of course) and they didn't return to the Old World until the 2300s, so they would have never encountered whichever dialect the Obernarn Stone would have been written in.
The continents were reshaped into five, and five cities were founded and our five leaders each joined with one. Draugnir with the city of Qt, Abraxas with the city of Iz, Radixashen with the city of Cd, Urmskaladrak with the city of Zl, and Kalgalanos with the city of Cl.
First, this is Deathfang's descriptions of which Dragons joined with which cities. We know Draugnir joined with the elves, and Radixashen "joined with Rhya" in I believe Athel Loren. Abraxas ended up in the city of Iz, which has a great naming similarity to Itza, and there is a legend that he was wounded, but not killed, by Sigmar at some point. Urmskaladrak is heavily implied to have ended up in Zlaltan, which would have brought him to close contact with Karak Zorn, leading to his death at the hands of Grimnir.
But there's one dragon missing here. Kalgalanos. And I think I know where he is:
"And in Cathay they were said to have been vomited out from the gigantic maw of the Great Black Dragon that lives coiled inside the earth."
This is a myth about the origin of Skaven in Cathay. Apparently they have a "Great Black Dragon coiled inside the earth" there, or at least a myth of one. This is notable because Kalgalanos' title is "Kalgalanos the Black". I think he might be buried in the earth beneath Cathay.
Margileo in particular is incredibly puzzling. I checked all mentions of his name in Tome of Salvation, and there are only four.
Two of them refers to him as a minor god of honor in Averland, one refers to him in the Obernann Stone story, and the final one is where it gets interesting. An in universe scholar says that Margileo was a Classical God who wasn't as popular as the big ones like Shallya and Verena, but he was adopted by the Empire as the "Guardian of Honor", and the scholar theorises that Margileo is an aspect of Myrmidia. But really, that's all I have on Margileo. Sotek on the other hand only has a singular mention in the entirety of ToS, and that's in the Obernann Stone. Really odd.
Teclis is explicitly said to have translated the Talastein Carvings, not the Obernarn Stone, which doesn't say if it had or needed a translator. Teclis apparently was enough of a meganerd to have learned the language of the Belthani humans that lived around the Elven settlements of the Old World back during the Golden Age, but the Elves were long gone by the time the ancestors of the Imperial tribes arrived (except for Laurelorn and Athel Loren, of course) and they didn't return to the Old World until the 2300s.
It doesn't say he translated it, but beneath the Obernan stone quote is says ' Translated from The Obernarn Stone, Now held In The ImperIal Museum, Altdorf.', so someone must have done.
The question does come as to who created the Obernan Stone. The pre-Imperial tribes were apparently illiterate until Sigmar and the dwarves invented a writing system for them. The Belthani had their pictographs, and both the elves and dwarves had their own written language, and had lived there, but I think we'd be told if it was the later two. I think it's possible that the Obernan Stone is one of the thirteen Talestein Carvings, but we don't know that.
As a side question, but how do we know the Belthani lived around the elves? The first time the dwarves encountered them seems to be after the elven departure (in -1,492 IC), and I can't find any references to humans in the Reik basin prior to the War of the Beard. If the Belthani has been living there during the period of alliance, I'd have thought that the dwarves would have met them then.
Edit: * referenced in both Tome of Salvation and Sigmar's Heirs.
As a side question, but how do we know the Belthani lived around the elves? The first time the dwarves encountered them seems to be after the elven departure when they were crossing the World's Edge and entered the Old World, and I can't find any references to humans in the Reik basin prior to the War of the Beard. If the Belthani has been living there during the period of alliance, I'd have thought that the dwarves would have met them then.
Early lore had the Reik basin being completely uninhabited apart from a few scattered Dwarven and Elven settlements up until the ancestors to the Empire arrived, and this is where the story of Dwarves first encountering men and calling them 'Umgi' was written. But ancient history has been a lot more fleshed out since then - Kavzar, Morkhain, Nehekhara in Averland - and such a huge and fertile land being empty that whole time stopped making sense, and they retconned that first meeting into merely 'one of the first recorded contacts', emphasis mine. It's not explicitly said that the Belthani and the Elves coexisted, but someone would have been living in all of the lands that the Elves and Dwarves weren't, and humans are the only possibility that would have been sensible enough to keep their distance instead of reaching critical mass and turning the Golden Age of peaceful and prosperous trading into a hellwar with greenskins or beastmen or whoever. And if those people weren't the Belthani and were instead some even earlier precursor, how would Teclis have been able to translate their runes?
I vaguely recall at least one bretonnia book also explicitly saying that the original institution of knighthood was at least partially in imitation of Dragon Princes, keeping the lance but swapping out the Dragon for a horse (a move the dragon princes ALSO have been doing as fewer and fewer dragons remain awake). It POSSIBLY makes sense to me that people might move into an existing city and make their own version of the gods depicted in the temples there as is posited as origin for the southern pantheon, but it makes way less sense to copy an entire system of warfare from paintings on walls. That origin for knighthood does seem to imply direct contact between the Bretonni and Elves.
Early lore had the Reik basin being completely uninhabited apart from a few scattered Dwarven and Elven settlements up until the ancestors to the Empire arrived, and this is where the story of Dwarves first encountering men and calling them 'Umgi' was written. But ancient history has been a lot more fleshed out since then - Kavzar, Morkhain, Nehekhara in Averland - and such a huge and fertile land being empty that whole time stopped making sense, and they retconned that first meeting into merely 'one of the first recorded contacts', emphasis mine. It's not explicitly said that the Belthani and the Elves coexisted, but someone would have been living in all of the lands that the Elves and Dwarves weren't, and humans are the only possibility that would have been sensible enough to keep their distance instead of reaching critical mass and turning the Golden Age of peaceful and prosperous trading into a hellwar with greenskins or beastmen or whoever. And if those people weren't the Belthani and were instead some even earlier precursor, how would Teclis have been able to translate their runes?
I think we know when Nehekhara reached Averland, and when Mourkain was founded though. Both were in the window between -1,500 IC and -1,000 IC.
And I disagree that early lore had it be uninhabited. This was the land that the elves colonised and lived in. It might have had a relatively low density population, but they could well have occupied all of it, just been spread thinly. Those elven colonies were destroyed during the War of the Beard, but all the Reik basin could easily have been the equivalent of Laurelorn Forestborn now, with that just being the last surviving fragment of a culture that covered all the lands that became Bretonnia and the Empire. There weren't necessarily any lands the elves and dwarves weren't occupying, so there's no need for anyone to fill the space. That'a why the War of the Beard would be so devastating and last so long when it was fought on the dwarves' doorstep, because it was fought on top of the lands of an awful lot of elves.
I've looked and I can't find a reference to it being retconned to being 'one of the first'. Note there's a distinction here between the Old World and the Reik basin. Kazvar is in the Old World but not the Reik basin. And indeed if it was only one of the first recorded, that shouldn't make a huge amount of difference. The elves and dwarves that occupied the surface of the Old World should have encountered any human tribes living there and that would have been recorded, I believe. Particularly as there was a major war happening on the continent so the dwarves would be looking for hidden groups of tall people in the woods, as they could be an elven strike force.
Perhaps a tribe slipped through in the decades before that recorded first contact, but having the first humans show in around -1,500 makes sense, as that's the start of the Time of Woe when the dwarves start to lose control of the overland passes and there's a lot of climate disruption to displace people. Having the lands abandoned for the century from the end of the War of the Beard to the Time of Woe doesn't seem too objectionable.
And as to why Teclis could translate it, magic seems like the obvious answer, so high magic combination of Chamon and Hyshto reveal the truth of the meaning embedded in the physical form, or whatever.
I vaguely recall at least one bretonnia book also explicitly saying that the original institution of knighthood was at least partially in imitation of Dragon Princes, keeping the lance but swapping out the Dragon for a horse (a move the dragon princes ALSO have been doing as fewer and fewer dragons remain awake). It POSSIBLY makes sense to me that people might move into an existing city and make their own version of the gods depicted in the temples there as is posited as origin for the southern pantheon, but it makes way less sense to copy an entire system of warfare from paintings on walls. That origin for knighthood does seem to imply direct contact between the Belthani and Elves.
I can't remember that, so a reference would be useful, but remember that there were elves living in the region of what would be Bretonnia when the Bretonni tribe arrived. The elves of the land that would become Bretonnia only became the Asrai in -1,124 IC, nearly four hundred years after the dwarves say humans entered the Reik Basin. Those early human settlers could easily have encountered the elves before they sold out to the forest.
We don't even know if the Belthani ever lived in Bretonnia.
The elves and dwarves that occupied the surface of the Old World should have encountered any human tribes living there and that would have been recorded, I believe. Particularly as there was a major war happening on the continent so the dwarves would be looking for hidden groups of tall people in the woods, as they could be an elven strike force.
War is not known for preserving written records. The same section as above explicitly cites this as a reason for so few surviving Dwarven records of that era, and also says that 'the Elves undoubtedly hoard many relevant records of this time' but that both races had little reason to pay attention to the human population.
War is not known for preserving written records. The same section as above explicitly cites this as a reason for so few surviving Dwarven records of that era, and also says that 'the Elves undoubtedly hoard many relevant records of this time' but that both races had little reason to pay attention to the human population.
The reference says ' The Chronicles of High King Nurn Shieldbreaker of Karaz-a-Karak, dated by Dwarfs to 1347 KA (circa —1492 IC), boasts the first known historical record of a Human tribe in the forests of the future Empire.' That's not saying one of the first as I understand it.
It says that the elves don't pay much attention to human religious practices, it doesn't say they wouldn't have paid attention to human populations if they'd existed. Indeed, as you cite, it says they have undoubtedly have relevant records, which suggests that they would have if they did. Note that the records could be relevant because there was no mention of humans, showing some evidence that they weren't there at the same time.
It's not Asuryan's symbol. Asuryan is represented by the flaming phoenix, by a pyramid engulfed in holy flame or by a symbol called the Eye of Asuryan (although I haven't seen a depiction of the last). Sometimes he's represented by a pyramid with the phoenix rising behind it as well. The closest you get to a yin-yang link with Asuryan is the mask he supposedly wears, being half black and half white and representing his role as Keeper of the Balance. That mask is never more fully described, but my interpretation has always been that it's a straight split down the middle, rather than a yin-yang style.
The division of the Inner Sea is at least partially artificial though, because the Isle of the Dead is an Elven construct, not a natural part of the geography. I suspect several of the other isles that divide the Sea of Dreams and the Sea of Dusk are also artificial, if not all of them.
I swear I've read a story where Asuryan withdrew the Gods from the affairs of the mortal world with the Vortex playing no part in it, but I can't find it.
I think we know when Nehekhara reached Averland, and when Mourkain was founded though. Both were in the window between -1,500 IC and -1,000 IC.
And I disagree that early lore had it be uninhabited. This was the land that the elves colonised and lived in. It might have had a relatively low density population, but they could well have occupied all of it, just been spread thinly. Those elven colonies were destroyed during the War of the Beard, but all the Reik basin could easily have been the equivalent of Laurelorn Forestborn now, with that just being the last surviving fragment of a culture that covered all the lands that became Bretonnia and the Empire. There weren't necessarily any lands the elves and dwarves weren't occupying, so there's no need for anyone to fill the space. That'a why the War of the Beard would be so devastating and last so long when it was fought on the dwarves' doorstep, because it was fought on top of the lands of an awful lot of elves.
I've looked and I can't find a reference to it being retconned to being 'one of the first'. Note there's a distinction here between the Old World and the Reik basin. Kazvar is in the Old World but not the Reik basin. And indeed if it was only one of the first recorded, that shouldn't make a huge amount of difference. The elves and dwarves that occupied the surface of the Old World should have encountered any human tribes living there and that would have been recorded, I believe. Particularly as there was a major war happening on the continent so the dwarves would be looking for hidden groups of tall people in the woods, as they could be an elven strike force.
Perhaps a tribe slipped through in the decades before that recorded first contact, but having the first humans show in around -1,500 makes sense, as that's the start of the Time of Woe when the dwarves start to lose control of the overland passes and there's a lot of climate disruption to displace people. Having the lands abandoned for the century from the end of the War of the Beard to the Time of Woe doesn't seem too objectionable.
And as to why Teclis could translate it, magic seems like the obvious answer, so high magic combination of Chamon and Hyshto reveal the truth of the meaning embedded in the physical form, or whatever.
I can't remember that, so a reference would be useful, but remember that there were elves living in the region of what would be Bretonnia when the Bretonni tribe arrived. The elves of the land that would become Bretonnia only became the Asrai in -1,124 IC, nearly four hundred years after the dwarves say humans entered the Reik Basin. Those early human settlers could easily have encountered the elves before they sold out to the forest.
We don't even know if the Belthani ever lived in Bretonnia.
It's not Asuryan's symbol. Asuryan is represented by the flaming phoenix, by a pyramid engulfed in holy flame or by a symbol called the Eye of Asuryan (although I haven't seen a depiction of the last). Sometimes he's represented by a pyramid with the phoenix rising behind it as well. The closest you get to a yin-yang link with Asuryan is the mask he supposedly wears, being half black and half white and representing his role as Keeper of the Balance. That mask is never more fully described, but my interpretation has always been that it's a straight split down the middle, rather than a yin-yang style.
The division of the Inner Sea is at least partially artificial though, because the Isle of the Dead is an Elven construct, not a natural part of the geography. I suspect several of the other isles that divide the Sea of Dreams and the Sea of Dusk are also artificial, if not all of them.
I swear I've read a story where Asuryan withdrew the Gods from the affairs of the mortal world with the Vortex playing no part in it, but I can't find it.
The reference says ' The Chronicles of High King Nurn Shieldbreaker of Karaz-a-Karak, dated by Dwarfs to 1347 KA (circa —1492 IC), boasts the first known historical record of a Human tribe in the forests of the future Empire.' That's not saying one of the first as I understand it.
It says that the elves don't pay much attention to primitive human religious practices, it doesn't say they wouldn't have paid attention to human populations. Indeed, as you cite, it says they have undoubtedly have relevant records, which suggests that they would have if they did. Note that the records could be relevant because there was no mention of humans, showing some evidence that they weren't there at the same time.
As far as I can see there are three alternatives: that a human population large and advanced enough to start building a megacity in -2500 were somehow completely unable to find any of the many ways through or around the Black and Grey Mountains for an entire millennium, or that for some reason the Dwarves were simultaneously so wary of humans that they guarded every way through or around the mountains against them but also so dismissive of them they never recorded doing so, or that the canonical maps of the Golden Age Old World showing a small handful of settlements along major rivers are wildly inaccurate and it was, instead, some sort of agrarian megalopolis that filled every acre of the Reik Basin, making it impregnable to humanity. Compared to the counterargument that maybe the Empire's archaeology - which is about a couple of centuries more primitive than our 'dynamite it all and see if it uncovers anything interesting' phase and is even further off radiocarbon dating - has yet to accurately map the exact timetable of the spread of prehistorical humanity, I know which I find easier to swallow, especially when it explains the thing that started this entire conversation: that Teclis was able to translate Belthani writings.
All these mythologies that should have been separated by oceans and millennia keep describing the same events and beings with too much accuracy and too often to be coincidence. The only conclusion that makes sense is that these are the same events being seen through different cultural lenses.
It's historical research in action, and that's kind of cool.
It's even double history, because there's consideration of the in-universe interpretation of the sources, and also an RL consideration of the reliability of sources.
[*] Thorek Ironbrow, to witness the arrival of the first Dwarf in Tor Lithanel for over four thousand years.
[*] Qrech, who is putting the finishing touches on his tome on the Chaos Dwarves.
[*] Egrimm, to try to sound out more information about the Alric situation.
[*] The Karak Azul Architects, to get involved in the design of your Library in detail.
[*] Vicarius Galenstra, to get to know him and his Ward.
[+] Social interaction initiated by someone else (locked in)
Near Tor Lithanel is a ring of Waystones marking the edge of the Verdan Lithridrom, the Wishing Woods. With shocking abruptness the cultivated beauty of the Laurelorn gives way to dense, dark stands of needle-leaved conifers draped with hanging lichens. It is said that to make an offering at a Waystone and sleep on the outskirts of the Woods is to be visited with prophetic dreams or terrifying nightmares, and many of the Elven artists you've spoken to seem to believe that both are equally useful for pursuing their art. It is also said that to actually enter the woods is to invite the nightmares to take up permanent residence within you. Reason enough to stay away under normal circumstances, but you left normal circumstances behind quite some time ago, and today you have been invited within by Queen Marrisith to meet with what is to be her contribution to the project. Why said delegate couldn't simply knock on your door and introduce themself is a line of thought that keeps you quite occupied as you dwell on the lurid stories you've heard of the place, but the Queen's letter directed you to a specific approach to the woods where the dense branches and curtains give way to a wide and wheel-rutted path leading deeper within, which goes some way to reassuring you. It probably isn't that treacherous if it sees this much traffic.
It's a long and eerie walk with only very infrequent shafts of sunlight managing to weave through the foliage overhead and a constant chorus of crunching needles underfoot, and by the end of it you're sure there's something off about these woods, but you're not sure what. The ring of Waystones means there are next to no ambient Winds, but you keep getting an eerily familiar sensation akin to vertigo. Your instincts keep telling you to look down, but that's because your instincts only think in three dimensions. The Aethyr is always lurking just under the fragile skin of reality, but here that skin has been cultivated into a realm of its own.
At last you emerge into the centre of the wood, blinking in the sudden sunlight, where the densely-packed trees crowd up against the edge of an ancient, open amphitheatre, the stage sunk deep below ground level. The seating tiers surrounding are filled with what you at first took to be still more trees, but on further examination they prove to lack both leaves and life. The stage itself is crowded with stacked crates and barrels and sitting atop one of them and looking thoroughly bored is Queen Marrisith, glaring up at the sun and drumming her heels against the wood.
"Your Majesty," you say, making your way down the ramp towards her.
"Lady Magister," she replies. "Mmm. Sounds almost like ladroi nastirr. There used to be a temple by that name - a well-regarded, hmm, let's say a house of worship dedicated to Atharti. I believe you know Her as Vylmar."
You're not sure what the proper reaction is to having your title so mangled by a Queen, but you try not to let any of it show on your face. "Worship of Vylmar has been outlawed for centuries in the Empire."
She frowns. "Why?"
"He was seen as too similar to the Tempter, I believe."
Her frown deepens. "Did this forbidding banish all desire for pleasure from the Empire?"
"I don't believe it did."
"Then why cede all that ground to the Tempter?" She waves a hand dismissively. "You needn't answer that. It's a debate I've heard too many times among my own people, and those that champion it the loudest are so often those that stand to gain should House Maeglin fall in stature. Perhaps the same dynamic was at play among your people." She looks up again, frowning at the sun. "My mother told me that there was originally a stone circle that indicated when the time was right to reach the Grey Lords, but it was replaced with this amphitheatre in the time of my grandmother. Easier to move things in and out and easier to defend, but so much less informative."
"I take it these Grey Lords are in the liminal realm I can feel?" you ask with deliberate casualness.
She raises her eyebrows at you. "You are full of surprises, aren't you? Yes, they're tucked away in the forest's Dreaming Wood. There are entrances scattered throughout the Laurelorn and touching it often takes as little as a thought, but a season's pay for their services," she raps her knuckles on the crate she's sitting atop, "requires the right time and the right place." There's a sudden shimmer of magical energies and she smiles. "That will be them."
The sensation of vertigo grows stronger and your senses scream to you that you are falling despite standing upright, and in the space between two heartbeats the woods surrounding you disappears, it and the sky alike replaced by a vast and softly glowing dome of marble encapsulating the amphitheatre. Its only break is at the top of the ramp you entered by, where a narrow corridor extends into darkness. Standing framed in it is an aged Elven man with his white hair and beard cropped close, wearing worn hose and tunic under a long travelling cloak. With his hood up to cover his ears he wouldn't look out of place in any tavern in the Empire. "Dear Marrisethai," he says, striding down the ramp like an actor onto the stage, "you look more like your mother every decade. How have you been?"
"All the better to see you're out of your tower once more, Lord Hatalath." She reaches out to embrace him as he approaches, and his hug lifts her off the crate. "I had thought the Lords Thanan would be joining us for this effort."
"You know them, they're always happy to visit but they want to disappear home as soon as the sun kisses the horizon. And I had just wrapped up my latest project, and I've actually walked the world since the time when humans were terrified primitives hiding in the woods and mimicking our Waystones, so I was the natural choice. Besides, the other option was your Uncle."
Marrisith's smile turns brittle as she is released from the Elf's arms. "Then you doubly bless us with your presence. I take it that means you know what must be done?"
"Something about the Dwarves wanting to compare notes, I was told. Lord Sarumar said they were doing something with their network again."
"And so I approached them via our new allies in the hopes they could be lured into a joint research project - you and yours keep telling me how much of a setback it is whenever the flow of magic lessens, and with the isolationists of the High Council no longer in the majority we took an opportunity."
"And her?" he asks, looking over to you. "A go-between from the human realms, I take it? One who has been dabbling quite a bit in things she shouldn't, by the look of her. Which Emperor does this one belong to?"
"They've only the one Emperor now, and this one speaks Eltharin, and will be a party to the research," Queen Marrisith says, smiling and shaking her head. "Don't the others keep you up to date?"
"They might, I'm not good at paying attention when I'm busy. How did any of those things happen?"
"The latest Everchosen forced them to unite or perish, and Teclis - the current Loremaster of Hoeth, one of the line of Aenarion - convinced them to rethink their opinions on magic, and apparently taught some of them our language in the process. Our guest is from one of their single-Wind Orders of Magic."
"So who's the go-between for the Dwarves?"
"She is also here on behalf of King Belegar of Karak Eight Peaks."
The Elf frowns, his brow furrowing. "They got it back? And they're employing human Mages? Tch, you look away for a few centuries and the whole world changes on you. Greetings, daughter of the Empire," he says, turning to you and switching to archaic but fluent Reikspiel as he looks you up and down. "Greetings to you, daughter of Freya. It's been some time since I walked your realm, but I always found the Asoborns to be a cheerful and sensible lot. Much better than the Styrigen. I am the Grey Lord Hatalath."
You do your best to reply in kind. "I am Lady Magister Mathilde Weber of the Grey Order, and Loremaster to King Belegar. I've only known your people for a few months, but I relish the opportunity to know more."
He smiles. "My people are but twelve, and I doubt you've met any but I - but fear not, because there is no better place to start. We are the least numerous third of Laurelorn, and we differ as much from the other two as they do from each other, but do just as much to keep our realm alive." He snaps his fingers and with a creak of wood, the not-trees still surrounding you jerk to life as energies flow through the marble. With jerky motions they descend down the stairs, each of them wrapping wooden arms around a different piece of cargo and lifting them effortlessly off the ground, and the bizarre procession disappears up the ramp. "And in turn, they keep us alive. Trying to live entirely on fruits and vegetables harvested from a Dreaming Wood is not an experience I can recommend."
"We keep you quite a bit better off than merely 'alive'. And some of our artists swear by the Dreaming Diet," Marrisith replies.
"Only ever for as long as it takes for the novelty to wear off. Despite what so many of their works insist, there is a terrible boredom to pain." The last of the wooden golems disappears into the darkness, and moments later another emerges at the head of a similar line, though you cannot tell if it is the same things returned or an entirely new procession. Only the first three are carrying crates, and the others return to their places in the seats surrounding you empty-handed. "That's everything but the uglier of those cuirasses, the widdershins columnar assemblage on it needed to be replaced entirely. It should be ready by the next exchange."
"As ever, you have our gratitude," Marrisith says with a smile.
"Then I hope it was in one of those boxes, because if not-" he pauses a second and then snaps his fingers - but you could feel the process beginning while he was still talking, so you know that it wasn't the gesture that banished the dome of marble and returned you to the material world. "If not, I'll have it all to myself and the other Lords will have to go without."
