Proclamation of the Crown

For the love of ducks, another one of these bullshit claims... Wait, they're sending for-- do they have proof?!

— adventurer

For millennia, researchers have known of the Words of the Silent: a prophecy discovered in the depths of the Sunari Wilderness that speaks of a world's end, its final dirge, and the glimmer of hope that may halt apocalypse in its tracks. That glimmer is stored, according to the prophecy, in a group of heroes - and in a crown.

Expedition on Ascirthe by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

For millennia, scholars have quibbled over what they believe the crown to be. A literal crown, a representation of sovereignty, a long-held territory, something vaguely resembling a crown, a title, or a very high point on a map -- there are, ultimately, too many possibilities for any one guess to be taken seriously. Certainly not when there is no evidence for any of the claims.
You may now see where this is going.
The Proclamation of the Crown is an official letter, signed and stamped by a large expedition made up of well-learned individuals from sixteen different nations across four continents (and a few islands), that claims to have uncovered the location of the crown referenced in the Words. They declare that they have found it... in one of the most untouched places of all Istralar. At the world's most northernmost point, in the endless frozen hell of Ascirthe. Their expedition, the Pelgrehin Expedition, has founded a small settlement where they can rest nearby, for none can agree to leave it behind.

If it is truth and not mere madness, then the knowledge that an artifact of incredible power lies in unclaimed territory is dangerous. Released to the world as their proclamation has been, the eyes of empires and villains turn north...

International Reaction

This cannot be true. Ascirthe, of all places?

— nobleman

The proclamation was copied hundreds of times, and delivered in countless ways. Arcane mages teleported to postal hubs in large cities. A force of sailors rode to Guided Breath, last stop on the edge of the north, to see missives passed to Isyrei traders. Others, with stronger boats, sailed further south to make deliveries along Iskaldhal's coast - to K'zudh Ev, Fjolkandr, Restruja, Volkur and beyond to all of Iskaldhal's coastal nations.

They did not stop there; they continued west, resupplying as they went, with intent to bring the news to even seadwelling Laminaeles and beyond to Istralar's many island nations - even to Vexua, the isolationist utopia.
Rapidly, in the second month of 5627, the news began to reach new quarters. It sped along through the Iceflows to Polyhedra, Gildómar, and the like. It found its way to the highest ears of the world's greatest empires - the Aletheian Empire and the Medimian Empire - and all the rest of Valathe's most powerful. The ageless elves of Galasthin, the jade halls of Yulan Sheng, the deathstalked land of Vuorenmaa; each heard of the tale as it darted east.
With the lifting of Gaia's Lament, even southern Takawaoku has now heard tell of what lies in the north. It threatens to shatter the uneasy peace and recovery they have only just entered into with their recent freedom, for even the bereaved Shiar cannot afford to ignore the letter.

Letter's Journey by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

Each and every nation must make the decision on how to respond to this call, and must do so swiftly. If any nation chooses violence, then the world may erupt into a more fearsome war than any before. There is every chance that the letter lies, that the Expedition were fooled - but with stakes as high as these, no nation can ignore the potential threat. It is simply too important.

Read the Document

Proclamation of the Crown

People of the world, rejoice!
Long have we known of a hidden salvation for a fate that has ever drawn closer, but ever has it been lost to us. We have searched through the flaming hells of Xotlan, the apocalyptic wastes of the Sunari Wilderness, the darkest depths of the ancient oceans, and beyond these to the surface of our remaining moon.
Yet we had never thought to look to the tip of our world when we stood upon it. From space, we could see the sprawl of an endless icy grasp. We were fools for ignoring it before.
It has taken countless years of struggle and suffering, and the cooperation of peoples from all nations, but we write this from our new foothold to the gates of the north, where we hope to hold out until word arrives from beyond. Ascirthe is not home to nothing but oblivion, as we have long, long believed. At its northernmost point, where the compass spins uncontrollably, an anomaly guards the very crown we have long sought.
Some of our group have peered in, and stared upon greatness. It is no mere crown that awaits us, but a slumbering sliver of power as great as that of the gods. To look upon it is to know tranquility of a kind utterly unknown to we mortals in the bounds of our home planet; one might need travel to the peace of Nirvana for such bliss. So emotional is the experience that those who gazed upon it were soon broken to tears, overcome by the love and weight this glimmer of true hope holds.
We call each and every nation here now, for we cannot ignore this gift, nor let it fall into reckless hands. We share this information to all so that it may not be taken by one group; to attempt to seize control of it may see it lost to us. Send forth those prepared to weather the depths of a winter more bitter than any imagined, and let us guard what may be needed to shield our world.
For if it has appeared to us only now, here, in this place of bleak death - perhaps it shall soon be needed. We are not divinity-sent; it is not we who must use it.
Thus it falls to us to shield it for those who will need it most.
Signed,
the Members of the Pelgrehin Expedition

Close

Letter's Journey by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

Type

Announcement

Medium

Paper

Authoring Date

5627

Myth

Words of the Silent

Location

Ascirthe

Is it True?

Reaching Ascirthe is a challenge at any time of the year. Winter still rules the northern hemisphere of Istralar; it is nigh impossible to reach the ice's heart at this time of year. How the Expedition managed to is unknown; even magic cannot compete with the sheer force of natural danger beheld in Ascirthe's weather alone.
Worse, the world has recently plunged into a period of global weather issues, likely caused by the remnant damage of the Earth-Mother's Gift being reforged into Tyreos within the Sea of Souls.
Magic itself is more unpredictable in these times, especially at the northern cap. Thus far, attempts to scry on Ascirthe's supposed inhabitants - the Expedition - to teleport there have universally failed. To confirm the letter's contents, then, travel must be done with mortal skill.
Until contact is made with the Expedition in some manner, the document's contents will remain a mystery. Even now, though, they have alerted a frenzy in each and every nation. The search has begun.

So a tale begins. History shall crack under this one's weight, in time.

— the Storyteller