The Hand-of-God artifact
Vanity of Verity?
Some authors have too much time on their hands and since they keep traveling all over the planet to research their topics, also too much money. This one collected a wide variety of anecdotes on the hand-of-god artifact. Rather than reading the whole boring book, read the excerpts below.
Preface
As some of you may know I have always been very interested in sifting through myths and legends to uncover the truth below the surface. Throughout many years I have uncovered many obscure and hidden facts that were lost behind a veil of mystical madness. Several books have I written about what I uncovered, ever looking for new subjects. But nothing has intrigued me more than the story of the hand-of-god artifact. I haven't always known about this artifact, for it is extremely obscure and descriptions are sparse and spread far and wide. I only found out about it by accident, working on finding information on the famous dragonlances of Duncan Ironweaver.
The Hand-of-God artifact is supposedly an item used by some ancient king to use to become a god. But you be the judge. I have collected the stories from a number of sources from all over, combined the ones similar, and deleted the parts only once mentioned. If you ask me, the artifact must be real and still existing somewhere, possibly at the bottom of the Shattered Sea.
No Artifact, but Powerful Spell
In our ancient history there should once have existed a powerful arcane organization. That much can be construed from the fact that our world is filled with powerful magic items and artifacts, the making of which is not an art our present mages possess.
Stories are abound of this arcane organization having access to more powerful spells than our present mages have. These powerful spells must have been used to create a permanency to spells that today are too powerful to maintain for longer than a day, hours, or even minutes or seconds.
This is why people today think that the weird and wondrous story of the hand-of-god concept has to refer to an artifact. After all people tend to want to believe that some measure of access still exists to the level attained by those ancient casters. Logic however dictates otherwise. If making a low spell more permanent takes a higher level of spell, than it stands to reason that making a high level spell more permanent, takes an epic level spell. So, of there once was an effect that could harness the power of the gods, surely making such a spell permanent would take a level of spell that surpasses even the powers of the gods. Therefor this spell must surely have been temporary and no permanency could possibly be hoped for.
The Folly of a Mad King
Stories tell of the ancient kingdom of Netheril. It is told that a state, country or empire by this name once existed, that was ruled by mages instead of councelors, king or emperor. Still, many the same stories tell of a king that ruled this land who was hungry for more power. The explanation offered by some of the stories, is that this was the head of an arcane order, and therefor a mage himself.
To increase the might of his empire, even after it already ruled nearly all the world, this king-mage lusted after the power of the gods themselves.
As the more reasonable stories have it, the king worked on a spell named the hand-of-god, which in his mind would grant him the power he so eagerly wanted. Many years he worked on his spell, and no cost to himself, others, or even society as a whole, he considered to dear.
In the end the gods were angered by the king's hubris and destroyed him and his mighty empire, consigning all to dust and nearly completely erasing all knowledge of them from history.
The Failure to Become a God
There are stories about a spell known as the hand-of-god. These stories say it was an invention of an archmage who wanted to become a god.
This epic would have us believe that the mage actually succeeded in completing the spell he worked on. But the mage had made a mistake. Yes, he would gain the power of a god, but only for the duration of the spell.
So after the spell ended, the mage was punished for his folly. Drained of all life and energy, the mage was turned to stone on the spot, and according to legend, still stands on the spot today. A constant reminder to others that some powers are not for mere mortals.
The Weapon that was Too Powerful
Once there was a powerful empire called Nethrul. It ruled many lands and many people, but always wanted more. Insatiable was the appetite for power, wealth and influence that Nethrul professed.
Under king Karza, the empire decided to attack the powerful empire of Nystral. Up to this point the empire had only attacked states of less power than theirs, and the Nethrulians had always been successful. But their success had made them overconfident. Nystral may not have been as mighty as Nethrul, but their lands spanned for more miles, and their people were stubborn and strong willed. Here was a foe that would not be simply overrun in a short sortie. Taking the empire of Nystral would take time, and the Nystralians used this time to their advantage.
When it became clear to king Karza his advance had been halted, and his forward troops were cut off from the main body of his front, he sought more extreme measures to regain the initiative, before the tables would be turned past redemption.
For months the mages worked on a weapon that would be so terrible, no force or army in the world could stand up to it. Finally they came up with the solution. The hand-of-god was a fact. It would be used only once.
King Karza ordered the assault on the lines of the Nystralians, hoping to break through to the city that held his forward troops, hoping that most would still be alive. The Nystralians confident that the assault would be hopeless, understandably brought all their troops in position to defeat the assailants once and for all. This was the moment the Nethrulians had been waiting for. The mages unleashed the weapon to finally and completely wipe out all resistance of Nystral. The weapon worked. The entirety of the Nystralian army was annihilated instantly. But King Karza and his mages had gone too far in their lust for expansion and their lack of patience. The blast was so powerful it destroyed the might of Nethrul as well, and neither empire was ever heard from again.
Collected Theories
Apart from these recurring takes on what may have happened before something named the hand-of-god artifact came into being, there is a wide variety of wild fancy free prose going in all directions. Some argue that it was a love story, where a king fell in love with a goddess. Others talk about an artifact that turned everything it touched into gold. There are stories about an ancient race of lizardfolk that used long forgotten and forbidden magic culminating in the construction of the artifact. Others that blame the elves for having gone too far in their natural inclination to magic, in that long ago time when they were still walking with the Seldarine, when Corellon Larethian was still skipping through earth's forests. Yet another story even goes so far as to say this was part of the fall from grace that sent the Dark Elves underground.
The Destructive Nature of Heavy Magic
Closest to a logical explanation to where all the stories of the Hand-of-God artifact come from, are the ones that describe a thing called Heavy Magic.
As anyone with access to magical ability knows, magic can only be used by drawing energy from somewhere. One might even say, magic usually takes a toll. Priests and their like get their magic from their deity, who can grant the energy drawn from worship to their most devout followers. Druids are no different, although they consider their abilities to stem from nature directly. But in fact they use the energy a deity of nature lends to all things that grow. Bards and similar professions gain energy by putting a lot of effort into intricate and complex vibrations that tap into the weave that encompasses the world. The weave by the way, for those who are unfamiliar with it, is the source all arcane magic has to use. It is part of the energy that originally gave shape to the world and binds all things together. Sorcerers are considered to draw their power from within themselves, but it comes not from the sorcerer, but from a bloodline connected to magic, an innate magical creature, a deity, a rupture in the weave, or any such source. Warlocks or witches are much like the divine casters, with the questionable twist that their power is not given as a favor, but in the shape of a pact or deal. The prize of warlock power will ultimately be paid by the warlock himself. And finally, the wizard, the most powerful and versatile of the casters, quite obviously immediately pays for all his magic. His skill takes years of study and the continuous digging through tomes and scrolls.
Much of the toll that magic takes can be seen in the using of components that are being destroyed, warped, burnt or otherwise used up. The more powerful the spell, the more expensive the component. The cost of a spell being an exponential function of the strength of it.
Heavy magic is a thing of legends as much as the hand-of-god artifact described in this work is. The concept is that it is magic that surpasses all known magic today in power and result. Many casters consider the concept to be balderdash, the wild stories of madmen and narcissists seeking attention.
It follows therefor that if heavy magic would really be a thing, the cost of casting spells of this strength would be astronomical. It would burn up such great amounts of wealth, resources or rare materials, that if it were used as much as today's magic is, the world would run dry in due time, eventually disrupting the weave, leading to catastrophe hard to imagine. Probably the world would simply disintegrate into the ash and dust that formed it. But who knows.
Several sources discussing the existence of an artifact called the hand-of-god, describe a deity of magic feeling the need to intervene. A moment where arcane power had grown too great to be allowed, so great it threatened all existence, and something had to be done.
It would not necessarily be the artifact that caused disaster, but the punishments of the gods that struck down the arcanists working on this forbidden heavy magic.
The Mutual Growth of Technology and Knowledge
Another source of logic in the wildly varying descriptions of the hand-of-god artifact, is the long and arduous developments that led to this culmination of skill and power.
The existence of an old empire known as Netheril comes up in many stories, and a similar name or geopolitical power comes up in yet other sources. It is rumored to have been extremely interested in magic from the get go.
This age long development of their technologies and knowledge would eventually lead to an artifact, the power of which was too great for any mortal to wield... As their magical prowess grew, they made machines powered by magic, which in turn made it possible to develop their magical prowess even further. And so on and so forth.
In the end people born with magic flowing in their blood, much like sorcerers, who spent their whole lives studying the extent of magical knowledge of earlier generations, worked with machines that were so powerful that magical energy oozed from them continuously. Together the arch mages and their technologies condensed insane amounts of magical energy in an item that now bears the name hand-of-god.
Hopeful Conclusions
In some sources, mainly found in the libraries of wizard towers or arcane research facilities, I found quite positive attitudes to the hand-of-god artifact.
In that work it was discussed that the artifact was a resounding success and the creator actually become a god, even though the process had destroyed the nation that bore him. But once a god, what care would he have for those he left behind. Especially considering the fact that his powerful spells all had their huge costs anyway, and this was only the next step.
They argued that, had it not been for an unfortunate accident, the artifact would have made their rule of the entire world a certainty, unattested and unchallenged by anyone or anything. The empire therefor was only inches away from lasting peace and prosperity, and probably would still be in existence today, had the explosion not happened.
In this tome I discovered an accusing finger pointed straight at The Shadow. This god of dark magic, one of the Dark Six, became so enraged at the threat to his power and supremacy that he destroyed the entirety of the empire, to keep these mere mortals from tapping into this level of power without him having his say in it. Had they had a little more time to prepare, the mages would have been able to defend against his strike and arcane magic-users worldwide would be free from the fickle nature and hard won approval of deities today.
Type
Manuscript, Historical
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