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The Shadow Gate

In the years 12 and 13 a group of Runewick mages performed a magical ritual on the grounds of the Happy Glade, not far from the rock called Oldra's Tower by the druids once active here.
This ritual was a test to finally build a magic portal for a longer distance.

From the wars against Kharud the Sorcerer only a few years before, one had learned how important it was to be able to move troops quickly over longer distances. For the test, a portal for a short distance was planned.

A ten-storey tower was built directly above a mana node to channel the mana required for the ritual. This tower or ruin was later popularly called the Shadow Gate.
This tower was also used to store and prepare the items needed for the ritual. These were various magical artifacts, glyphs, elements and also alchemical subjects that were needed to control the mana. These items were prepared in the years before the experiment.
These ritual items were usually transported and stored in consecrated stone coffins.

During the first attempt to create the test portal there were problems with the control of the Mana flow, which ended with an explosion and caused the tower to collapse. All the equipment and many of the mages were buried under the debris and mostly sank into the swamp. Since most of the mages did not survive this disaster, the experiments were not continued.

The attempt for the portal ritual was made by permission of the archmage, but without his direct participation. The exact cause that led to the failure of the attempt is not known.

Orally transmitted by Archmage Elvaine Morgan to Deanna Aryon'athar.
Runewick on the 16th Ronas of the year 61

Das Schattentor

In den Jahren 12 und 13 führte eine Gruppe Magier aus Runewick ein magisches Rital auf dem Gelände der Fröhlichen Lichtung durch, unweit des Felsens der von den früher dort aktiven Druiden Oldras Turm genannt wurde.

Dieses Rital war ein Test um schliesslich ein magisches Portal für eine längere Distanz zu errichten.
Aus den nur wenige Jahre zuvor ausgetragenen Kriegen gegen Kharud dem Hexer, hatte man gelernt, wie wichtig es war Truppen schnell über größere Distanzen verlegen zu können.

Für den Test war zunächst ein Portal für eine kürze Distanz geplant.
Direkt über einem Mana-Knoten wurde ein zehnstöckiger Turm errichtet, um das für das Ritual benötigte Mana zu kanalisieren. Dieser Turm bzw. die Ruine wurde später im Volksmund das Schattentor genannt.

In diesem Turm wurden auch die Gegenstände gelagert und vorbereitet, die für das Ritual benötigt wurden. Dabei handelte es sich um diverse magische Artefakte, Glyphen, Elemente und auch alchemistische Substanden die für die Kontrolle des Manas benöigt wurden. Diese Gegenstände wurde in den Jahren vor dem Versuch vorbereitet.
Diese Ritual-Gegenstände wurden üblicherweise in geweihten steinernen Särgen transportiert und gelagert.

Beim ersten Versuch das Testportal zu erzeugen kam es zu Problemen bei der Steuerung des Manaflusses, was mit einer Explosion endete und den Turm zum Einsturz brachte. Die gesamte Ausstattung und viele der Magier wurden unter den Trümmer verschüttet und versanken größtenteils im Sumpf. Da die meisten der Magier dieses Unglück nicht überlebten, wurden die Versuche nicht fortgesetzt.

Der Versuch für das Portal Ritual erfolgte durch Genehmigung des Erzmagiers, jedoch ohne seine direkte Beteiligung. Die genaue Ursache die zum Scheitern des Versuchs führte ist nicht bekannt.

Mündlich überliefert von Erzmagier Elvaine Morgan an Deanna Aryon’athar.
Runewick am 16.Ronas des Jahres 61

The collapse of the Tower of Water

Upon arrival in the year 22, the refugees from Gobaith found the town of Runewick in a state caused by an incident that must have happened only a few years earlier. When asked for the exact date, the Archmage always falls into sad monosyllables, so that this date cannot be accurately recorded in this transcript.

The reason for the sadness is the loss of the then Tower of Water, which was located in the southeast of the town and was connected to the Towers of Air and Earth by bridges. The Tower of Water contained, among other things, an extensive collection of magical artifacts. And if today we hear bad-mouthing about the stock of our library, it is because the reputation of being the most important library in Illarion precedes us. What we find today, however, is only the remnants of this unique collection of knowledge, which could be salvaged from the rubble of the collapsed tower. Most of the books, however, were in such a bad condition that they were copied in multiple copies by the scriptors of Runewick and thus could be made available to the libraries of the other towns, in order to avoid at least another loss of otherwise unique copies. Thus, the other towns owe their rich endowment of books, for their educational standards, to the generosity of the Archmage.

The mighty Tower of Water, like the other towers, was once created by the Archmage through magic, and also stabilized by magic. This stabilization was provided by an appropriately placed and particularly powerful crystal wand, a wand of water. This crystal wand was created by the Archmage as a result of years of research.

The events that led to the collapse of the Tower of Water could be traced by the
traveling historians Anton Guile and Hadwin Riley in 63, who provided us with their findings as well as artifacts from each era.

Erin Solace was a student at the Arcane School of Water. During the time of her studies, Erin also gained early knowledge of the existence and power of this particular crystal staff dedicated to her element of choice, water.

As her arcane education progressed, Erin developed into a very ambitious student. Her ambitions were very much focused on the element of water, so she paid little attention to the other directions and elements of magic. However, this arrogance and lack of knowledge of the interaction of the elements was to determine her fate.

She became cold and distant towards students of the other elements, even towards those who were once her friends.
While studying the Element of Water, she apparently overestimated her own abilities too early, and became preoccupied with procedures whose requirements exceeded the scope of her rather one-sided knowledge. She requested permission to perform a dangerous and very risky experiment, but the archmage forbade it.
Disappointed that the archmage did not trust her with these supposed abilities, she made a secret plan. When the archmage visited Lor Angur again, she performed the experiment.

To understand the effects of her action, it is important to understand that each of the towers was protected by a crystal wand.
These crystal wands were used to channel mana, which in turn shielded the tower and prevented it from breaking into pieces.
By taking the rod of water and using it for her own experiment, Erin obviously disrupted the mana flow and caused the tower to collapse.
She panicked and stole the crystal wand to cover up her own failure.
When the archmage returned from the trip, Erin wanted to blame Gergely for what had happened. Gergely was a student at the Arcane School of Fire, he secretly loved Erin, and was downright obsessed with her.
Erin Solace had a far greater influence than Gergely during her time at Runewick, and she made no secret of her disapproval of the students of Fire.
Erin obviously realized, however, that this lie would not stand up to scrutiny.
She buried the crystal wand in a place known only to her. In order to find this place again, she described it in her diary, in which she also confessed her deed and the lie. She hid this diary together with a necklace in a hole in the cellar vault of the Tower of Fire and sealed it with a stone. Believing that only she would succeed in breaking it, she put a protective spell on the hiding place. She then fled Runewick and thus escaped punishment.

It can only be guessed what followed. But it is obvious that Gergely watched her hide the diary, because obviously he found it. Nothing else is known about Gergely's training or later career, but he was also a student of the archmage, and he seemed to have been able to remove the protection spell.
Through the diary, Gergely not only learned about the place where Erin had buried the crystal wand, he also took note of how much she spurned his love and despised him.

Under the cover of night, Gergely went out to dig up the wand. One would think that he wanted to return it to the Archmage, but perhaps the scorns and lies in Erin's diary made him change his mind, because he hid the crystal wand in another place. In Erin's hiding place, on the other hand, he left a note that set them on the path to a common story that led from one place to another until finally the place where the crystal staff, necklace and Erin's diary were hidden could be found. As clues, Gergley left love letters to Erin at various hiding places and also pages from her diary containing clues to the next hiding place in each case.
The historians solved the riddles, and at the end of the investigation, not only fragments of an unhappy love affair were recovered, but also the crystal staff and Erin's necklace, which turned out to be her family's heirloom.
The latter was learned by citizens of Runewick during a brief personal visit of Erin Solace to Runewick a few months before the appearance of the historians. She had come to town under the pretext of looking for the necklace, but was clearly searching for her diary. When she finally realized that the hiding place was empty, she fled in a panic, with no possibility of finding out anything more about her.

The town of Runewick would like to thank the two historians Anton Guile and Hadwin Riley, who contributed with their great work to the historical reappraisal of the history of Runewick.

The crystal wand was handed over to the Archmage, whose joy at the find was obviously struggling at that moment with the memory of a loss.
Even if his words about Erin Solave are not very flattering, those who know him better may know that besides the loss of the Tower and its contents, he may also be pained by the loss of a student who had the mental gifts to be a great mage, but whose character was not up to the responsibility that comes with it.

As personal words, I would like to add to this write-up that I decided against displaying the crystal staff and Erin's necklace as examples of transgression because I do not see Runewick as a place where people are pilloried. From my experience, time holds many opportunities for change, for better or worse.

Runewick, 12.Tanos 63
Deanna

Aldyros Benvolte - Former Alchemist of Runewick

When it comes to alchemy, the name Aldyros Benvolte comes up again and again. He was a great alchemist, but if you search the library, you will hardly find any written mention of him. For this reason, and because Benvolte's researches still influence today's alchemy in Illarion, the following is a summary of what is still known about Benvolte from Runewick's point of view. In advance it must be mentioned that the author, who is an alchemist and admirer of Benvolte, unfortunately never met this man personally, because Benvolte's creative time in Runewick took place about 20-25 years before the arrival of the refugees from Gobaith, who reached the country in the year 35.

The following summary of perhaps the greatest alchemist of all time is based on a conversation with the Archmage Elvaine Morgan on 20 Tanos 50, as well as some parts of the treatise on slimes by the Galmair alchemist Ufehin Copperhand from 39. Further information comes from personal research by the author.

Nothing is known about the origin of the human Aldyros Benvolte, supposedly he is from Salkamar. It is probably so little known about it because Benvolte led a very secluded life and spent most of his time in the alchemical laboratories or libraries, he never sought the glory.
Although he came to Runewick with students in his entourage, he always kept a low profile and probably wanted to give the impression that he was just an ordinary potion maker who could make a few healing potions.

However, the archmage soon realized that Benvolte possessed a far greater knowledge, and he wanted to make him a professor of alchemy.
Benvolte refused at first. But one day he came to the Archmage and wanted to accept the offer, but in return he demanded a considerable amount of resources.
He demanded the rarest herbs in the world, pure elements in a number that the Archmage himself had never needed for rituals in his life, and much more. It must be said that Benvolte himself was never seen gathering herbs in nature, but always left this to his students and assistants. But even the students were rarely seen outside the laboratory during this time.
The Archmage was sympathetic to Benvolte's ambition and respected his zeal which he tried to hide. He would have agreed if Benvolte had told him what he needed these things for, because he did not want to give away such powerful things without knowing about them.
But Benvolte remained silent. The next day he disappeared from Runewick, together with his students.
At first he stayed in Cadomyr, but not for long, then he moved with his students to Galmair. It seems that he was able to do research there for a long time. During this time he accomplished the work for which he is most famous, he created the living slime.
During this time, three of his known students disappeared. There is also said to have been a fourth disciple, Granor, who still lives near Cadomyr.
Since the realms were not very close at that time, not much else is known in Runewick about Benvolte's time in Galmair. What is known is that Benvolte incurred the wrath of the Don, and was imprisoned there for a time, but managed to escape. The Don is said to have declared Benvolte his mortal enemy and is said to still fall into irrational rage if you talk to him about it.
This may be the reason why the story about Aldyros Benvolte written by Ufehin Copperhand differs somewhat from the memories of the archmage.
In Ufehin Copperhand's treatise on the slime, there is no mention of the slime that Benvolte first created. It is the so-called Old Slime, a peaceful form of slime that does not occur in nature because it is still unstable.
Among some alchemists, extracts of Benvolte's recipe are known, they can create this Old Slime for a limited time. Whether other slimes have been created by Benvolte, as Copperhand claims, is not proven.
It should be mentioned, however, that a stable form of the Old Slime survived in Runewick. It can therefore be assumed that Benvolte, before he finally disappeared, went to Runewick again and left something for the Archmage.
Furthermore, in 55 a certain Theophan of Lyr appeared in Runewick, and led some Runewickers to a hiding place of Benvolte, where a substance was found that Djironnyma gave to Deanna Aryon'athar.
Who this Theophan of Lyr was, and whether it was his real name is not known. Possibly it was one of his students, or perhaps Benvolte himself.

Recent information also suggests that there were connections between Aldyros Benvolte and the infamous alchemy lab Viridan Needles of the Rat People. This information is supported by the fact that Granor Bergenhieb, Benvolte's former student, keeps a ratman as his assistant like a slave, whom he calls Egon. The relationship between Benvolte and Viridan Needles also seems to be very conflictual.

19.Findos 65
-Deanna

- Draft -

Historical note on the outer borders of Runewick

The territories of the three realms are essentially delineated from one another by natural
geological formations.

Galmair's territory includes the adjacent Nargun Plain as well as the northern Swamp and
the Plain of Silence, including the Northern Woods up to the Insurmountable Wall.

Cadomyr's territory is surrounded by mountain ranges and includes the Kantabi Desert the
western part of the Border Mountains with the Shadowlands, as well as the western part of
the Kantabi Desert, the Kantabi Delta and the south mountains with Mount Letma.

Runewick includes the area around Snakehead Bay, which extends to the west and northwest
to the eponymous Border Mountains and is demarcated from it. In the north, the area is
delimited by the neutral peninsula of the Hemp Necktie Inn and in the rest by the eastern
ocean coast.

From a geological point of view, the Sentry Forest also belongs to Runewick's territory. It is
historically documented that Cadomyr once settled in this area and fought pirates from
there. However, it happened that Cadomyr attacked Runewick's fleet from this position and
damaged it severely. The attempt to dismiss this act as an accident did not prevent the
Archmage from repulsing Cadomyr's troops from the Sentry Forest and banning Cadomyr's
port in retaliation. Cadomyr then settled further west, and established a new port in the
Kantabi Delta.

Today, however, Cadomyr's banner flies again as a matter of course on the old guard
building in the Sentry Forest. Therefore, it is reasonable to ask how Cadomyr can lay a
territorial claim to the Sentry Forest here based on the previous events? Furthermore, this
land is home to a shrine of Ushara built by Runewickers, which is a sacred place in
Runewick's sense. This shrine does not come from Cadomyr, because Cadomyr worships
other gods.

There are no assignments to the three realms for the following areas: Hemp Necktie Inn
Peninsula, Pauldron Isle, the Northern Islands in the Syrita Bay.

Runewick, 14.Tanos 66
~Deanna

- Draft -

Historical note on the outer borders of Runewick

The territories of the three realms are essentially delineated from one another by natural
geological formations.

Galmair's territory includes the adjacent Nargun Plain as well as the northern Swamp and
the Plain of Silence, including the Northern Woods up to the Insurmountable Wall.

Cadomyr's territory is surrounded by mountain ranges and includes the Kantabi Desert the
western part of the Border Mountains with the Shadowlands, as well as the western part of
the Kantabi Desert, the Kantabi Delta and the south mountains with Mount Letma.

Runewick includes the area around Snakehead Bay, which extends to the west and northwest
to the eponymous Border Mountains and is demarcated from it. In the north, the area is
delimited by the neutral peninsula of the Hemp Necktie Inn and in the rest by the eastern
ocean coast.

From a geological point of view, the Sentry Forest also belongs to Runewick's territory. It is
historically documented that Cadomyr once settled in this area and fought pirates from
there. However, it happened that Cadomyr attacked Runewick's fleet from this position and
damaged it severely. The attempt to dismiss this act as an accident did not prevent the
Archmage from repulsing Cadomyr's troops from the Sentry Forest and banning Cadomyr's
port in retaliation. Cadomyr then settled further west, and established a new port in the
Kantabi Delta.

Today, however, Cadomyr's banner flies again as a matter of course on the old guard
building in the Sentry Forest. Therefore, it is reasonable to ask how Cadomyr can lay a
territorial claim to the Sentry Forest here based on the previous events? Furthermore, this
land is home to a shrine of Ushara built by Runewickers, which is a sacred place in
Runewick's sense. This shrine does not come from Cadomyr, because Cadomyr worships
other gods.

There are no assignments to the three realms for the following areas: Hemp Necktie Inn
Peninsula, Pauldron Isle, the Northern Islands in the Syrita Bay.

Runewick, 14.Tanos 66
~Deanna