During the high First Age, the ramifications of the creation of the Ascendant Realms - separating the Primordials from Edras, but still leaving them deeply connected through the astral roots - became increasingly apparent to the Brisingelion. Thinnings, astral ruptures that allowed the realms to bleed into Edras, were becoming more and more frequent, limiting the speed at which civilization could grow.
In order to safeguard the world that they and the Soulborn had won in the War of Souls, the Brisingelion make solving the problem of thinnings their primary focus. They spent the entirety of the First Age solving the problem of the Ascendant Realms spilling into Edras. And so it was that the greatest working of that fabled age came to be - the creation of Testaments (called Tropaions in the High Holy Speech). They were special types of orisons, works of ancient divine magics that captured prayers and infused them into matrices of auracite. Obelisk-like monuments in form, these orisons served to reinforce the veil between the astral and the physical.
They were even more effective than the deities had hoped, completely cutting off the Ascendant Realms from Edras, though only in the areas around the testaments. Their effectiveness ranged anywhere from a mile to a hundred miles, depending on the size and complexity of the testament. Unfortunately, as a side effect of their ability to stabilize the walls of reality, they interfered with other types of astral travel, as well, such as teleportation - though anything with a permanent gateway (like a teleportation circle) was still able to function within their area of influence.
The great work was complete by the end of the First Age. Testaments had been driven like divine stakes into all the corners of the world, closing the doors to the Ascendant Realms and ridding the Soulborn of the cursed thinnings. Edras was secure; the primordials were locked away in their Ascendant Realms; the Brisingelion had won the world they came for. And then the First Howling came.
Unable to breach the surface of Edras, the spawn of Magog, Throne of Sin, instead attack from Svurthan, the middle moon. Dropping onto the surface like a lunar wave of fiendish destruction, the testaments could not protect Edras from horrors of the First Howling. And it was in that, the first of many Howlings, that the web of testaments that dotted the planet was torn apart. Whether they were destroyed, forgotten, or desecrated - historians estimate that less than ten percent of those wonders of the First Age survive into modern times.
But not all of them were lost to the ravages of time. Though the secrets of their creation lie hidden in the fall of the First Age - thousands of them survive to into the Age of Kings. And it is around the surviving testaments that civilization always rebuilds. No matter what calamity befalls the Soulborn, whether it be the next Howling or some other apocalyptic catastrophe, they inevitably find their way back to the testaments. This is why the major cities of Edras are built atop of the ruins of those that came before them, why societies always seem to spring up in similar places - age after age.
In this fallen Age of Kings, the testaments are the foundations of society - allowing the Soulborn to withstand the curse of the thinnings and grow large enough to defend themselves. When people want to start a new settlement somewhere, they must inevitably acquire a testament to sit at the heart of their new community. Generally one recovered from the ruins of an ancient city (one of the primary motivators of dungeon delvers and adventurers - finding and restoring lost testaments) or one granted by a sponsor kingdom. Then the dangerous journey to transport the testament to the new home begins.
Psuedotropaions (or False Testaments)
*** WORK IN PROGRESS - Jack is writing this section ***
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