Eye of Gefrin

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair! For I have become death, the destroyer of worlds.

— Rhomeian Dictator Camillian

There are many powerful weapons throughout the world. Rhomeian Strike Ballistae, capable of wiping out entire formations. Lantean Fire, inextinguishable flames that devour wood, stone, steel and flesh. The Shade, concocted in Nurn, which can drain the life from entire nations. Untold horrors from the darkest reaches of the human mind. Yet they all pale in comparison to what the Rhomeion have unearthed from beyond the Age of Twilight.

It is a cube 45 centimetres high and 45 centimetres wide, made from steel, grey in colour, with round symbols on every side. These are the Eyes of Gefrin, cursed eyes of the Vardanian god of Death. Whoever looks into them, so the priests will tell you, is instantly burned to ashes. Quite fitting indeed for this nightmarish weapon.
The cube is filled with water and within that water is another, smaller cube. Within that is a small piece if Rodite, maybe 5 cm in length, lying opposite to a piece of tin, which is held by a mechanism. It is connected to a small button on the outside of the cube. Once pressed it will lower the tin towards the Rodite.
Once they touch it will start to heat up, slowly at first, then faster and faster until it burns hotter than anything else in existence. After exactly 5 minutes it melts the inner cube, the water reaches the burning material... and oblivion follows.

Wrath of God

In all of recorded history since the First Dawn, the weapon has only been used twice. And both times the event burned itself into the minds of those witnessing it. First in 860 DA, when Beredel the Sea King attacked the ancient metropolis of Rhomeia itself, a fleet of 15,000 ships at his back. His horde had begun to scale the cities walls and for a second the City of the World's Desire seemed in his grasp. In a flash nearly ten thousand ships were annihilated, walls 75 meters high and 10 meters wide obliterated and the Sea Kings reign ended.
The historian Pilerin recounts the event:
...It had been brought to an island about 7km from the walls. Brought by a man already dead, suffering from an incurable, torturing illness. It was mercy we told ourselves. On the 37th day of the siege, the sun had barely begun to rise, he pushed that small button. A bright green flash, the air ripped apart by a torturous scream of unearthly magnitude. I do not know how but I managed to turn my eyes toward the light. And for a second I witnessed oblivion.
A writhing ball of black, yellow and green, surrounded by a shimmering veil of white. Then it burst. There was no wall, no attacking armada, no city, no sky. Only the howling, screaming, raging torrent of death. Then nothing. Only an hour later, after the winds had parted the obscuring smoke could we see the full result.
Caetina had been a paradise, full of life. On a clear day, it seemed like a green jewel among the grey-blue of the ocean. Now it was a dead wasteland. In the centre of it a gaping hole, nearly a kilometre wide. The surrounding land coated in glowing, grey dust. Merely an hour prior the sea had been filled with thousands of ships. Now it was as empty as the land. The wall closest to the explosion had been ripped apart...

by Dominik Mayer

In a radius of 12 kilometres, all life had been obliterated. Beyond that, the shockwaves had done massive damage to buildings and ships. Historians believe that over 50.000 men lost their lives that day. Caetina has stayed a dead, grey speck among the colourful archipelago that is the Rhomeian heartland. Even 2500 years later, only a bunch of hardened shrubbery has begun to scale the walls of the caldera that now sits in the centre of the island.

Last Resort

Now one might reasonably ask why the Rhomeion do not rule the world or at least use it more often. The answer is rather simple. It is not worth it. While the weapon seems simple in its function, in truth it requires enormous effort to produce, maintain and use. The full details are kept secret but it is known that a single Eye requires over 500 steps to make alone. Every single one of those has to be done 100% perfect or else it might malfunction, not work at all in the best of cases. Expensive beyond measure and requiring constant maintenance, even a nation as rich as the Rhomeian Empire can only hold four of them at once.
Aside from that is the question of who would want to rule a wasteland? The Eye leaves nothing but dust in its wake. Caetina had been an act of desperation. A last-ditch effort by a nation brought to the brink by a fanatical horde, intent on wiping them from the face of the earth. Were it used in a war of conquest, against a city even, the empire would find itself isolated, hate and opposed by the entire world.

It is a relic from ancient past. A small part of Oblivion. The last resort, only to be used in the darkest of times. To use it is to unleash death itself.

— Aeneis, Rhomeian Emperor

Today the barren island of Caetina is used for army exercises and weapons tests.

Item type

Weapon, Explosive

Subtype / Model

Weapon of Mass Destruction

Manufacturer

Ordo Mechanis Imperia Rhomeia

Related Technologies

• Rodite Based Technology

Owning Organization

Rhomeian Empire

Rarity

Legendary

Weight

50kg

Dimensions

45x45cm

Related Materials

• Rodite

From ancient Past
The exact origins of the weapon are unknown. What is known is that it is older than nearly all other civilizations on the face of the earth. It is a relic from the Age of Wrath, a time when mankind was both at its greatest and most terrible.
For over seven centuries, man slaughtered each other by the millions. The Five Great Realms battled for dominion over all lands under the sky. And in the minds of their most brilliant souls, nightmarish creations began to take form.
Rhomeia is the last remnant of that era and many of its technologies are passed down from those apocalyptic times, even if they are mere shadows of what they once had been. One can shudder at the thought.
What secrets lie in the dusty chambers of the ancient city? What horrors are so mind-numbing that even a nation capable of using the Eye of Gefrin is not willing to unleash?

Camillian, a true Rhomeion
One of the greatest Rhomeian leaders. A great general, inspiring leader and caring politician, he managed to bring the empire back from the brink. Three times he was given the title of Dictator, supreme ruler of the nation.
It is a position only used in times of greatest need and gives whoever holds it absolute power. Each time Camillian vanquished the threat and thereafter stepped down from his position.
A simple man, he lived on a small farm on one of the outlying islands, never much caring for wealth or power. When he died in 879 DA he left a nation in mourning. His reforms served as the basis for the later Rhomeian Golden Age from 1000 DA onwards.

by zodlex