SC 2023 | Operation Antecedent

Mission Report: Operation Antecedent

^{Mission completed: 31 July 2023}

Mission Objective

In conjunction with Operation: SummerCamp — Seek out information regarding the Antecedents while investigating the Kingdom of Arsavela.
Find out what the people know, and what remnants of the Antecedents remain and continue to influence the people to this day.

See Mission Findings Attached Below

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Entry 1 of 16: Champions of the Dawn

LAST OF THE ANCIENTS

The mortals who lived during the lifetimes of the Champions of the Dawn were themselves the last of the Antecedents: the ancestors of modern humans of Malkora.
Many have prayed to the Champions in the pursuit of greater knowledge of their ancestors, but the gods will not — or can not — provide the answers they seek..

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Entry 2 of 16: Aurel

ANCIENT CITYSCAPES

The Kingdom of Arsavela as a whole is the oldest of Malkora's lands, seeing no changes from the leylines from the final days of the Nameless Age. Because of this, many of its cities and settlements are built from the ruins left behind by the Antecedents who once made the lands their home.
Aurel still contains entire sections of the city which are comprised solely of ruins, with no further development, leaving ample opportunity for study of the past — that is, if such a thing were permitted by the Alabaster Hand.

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Entry 3 of 16: Stonegrass Lavender

FLOWERS OF THE NORTH

The stonegrass lavender of Arsavela bears a strong resemblance to flowers native to Ba'Logor, suggesting that they were brought over to this land some time in the past. Thought to be a favorite flower of Levje, the Druid, some theorize that Kora, the Dawnbringer, brought the flower from her native lands and gifted them to Levje during their travels.
This line of thinking has influenced the symbolism of the flower in Arsavela's local flower-giving culture, and has suggested that even in the times of the Antecedents, giving flowers was a common gesture to express appreciation.

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Entry 4 of 16: Savelan Barn Owl

AN ANCIENT SYMBOL

The Savelan barn owl has been a symbol of the Arsaces Monarchy since its conception, but relics of the Antecedents bearing the Savelan owl symbol predate the monarchy's formation by a wide margin. A notable example of such a relic is the Handscythe of the Druid, holy relic of Levje, the Druid.
Historians believe it to be possible that the Savelan barn owl was a symbol of powers predating the turn of the new era, but no records remain of this history.

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Entry 5 of 16: Battle for Light

FROM ANTECEDENT TO HUMAN

Following the Battle for Light, the Antecedents were no more. Through the strain of battle, and the free-flowing influence of magic, all who survived the conflict were irrevocably altered, to their very core. The era of modern humanity began with the end of the Nameless Age, as the world saw its first radiant dawn in millennia.
In a bid to move on to brighter futures, many connections to the past were cast aside, as humans created new lives, new empires, and new histories. The Kingdom of Arsavela was one of the first, and one of the only to consciously maintain connections to the ancient past.

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Entry 6 of 16: Dessicated Sands

WRITTEN IN BLOOD

Throughout the Nameless Era, the Antecedents had little to no control over the leylines, unlike in their prime, but they were able to continue tracking the leylines nevertheless. Though the leylines flowing beneath the lands of Arsavela have remained stable throughout the entirety of the Age of the Seekers thus far, they do indeed still flow, and always have the possibility of emerging unexpectedly.
Several leylines carve a path through the aetherial fabric of Arsavela, as identified by the Antecedents, including the leylines of life and vision, and an ever-present leyline of power. Tracking of the leylines in the past has shown that leylines regularly increase and decrease their flows, and even branch into new locations like meandering rivers and broken deltas.

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Entry 7 of 16: Dawnsinger

HYMNS OF THE NEW DAWN

Vosra, the New Dawn, predates the other gods of Malkora by a fair margin; even her Champions of the Dawn only arose decades after her arrival was known, ascending to godhood after decades more, still.
Many of the hymns sung by the Dawnsingers of the Voices of Hope are songs heard from the goddess herself, during prayer and in communion with the divine. These ancient songs graced ancient ears, likely even in the era of the Antecedents, and continue to be sung in the modern day.

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Entry 8 of 16: Addressed, My Owlet

THE POWER OF IGNORANCE

The Antecedents lived in a Golden Age of Magic before the Nameless Age fell upon the world, where magic was boundless and commonplace — a far cry from what the world is today. In a realm of boundless magic, travel and the spread of information was simple and instantaneous, with some messages not even needing to be sent, in order to be received.
These ancient people knew the value of secrecy and the art of withholding information until just the right moment when it is needed. With time, methods were devised to send messages to one another which can inform the recipient subliminally where and when to open the message, deterring the recipient from reading it ahead of time. These were never failsafe, but were quite effective.

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Entry 9 of 16: Open Terrace

RELICS AND LATENT MAGIC

Castle Amsa houses many relics believed to have been creations and possessions of the Antecedents, ranging from holy relics of the gods to mysterious tools and objects likely used for ceremonies and rituals in ancient times. Many of these relics have a peculiar draw to them, for some more than others, which may be linked to the magical bloodlines of humanity.
As most who reside in Arsavela remain unaware of their magical bloodlines, due to never having opportunities to discover them, this remains a theory at best.

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Entry 10 of 16: Handscythe of the Druid

LEVJE, THE ANCIENT

Having belonged to the goddess Levje, the Druid, this object is a relic of ancient times, and represents tools which the Antecedents used in the era after their fall. There are some who theorize that this tool predated the fall of the Golden Age of Magic, noting that its construction and design were too elaborate and artfully crafted to have been created during the Nameless Age, though no records are available which confirm or disprove the theory.
Many historians opted to date such relics based on these qualities, which identified more crude tools and objects as items from later in the Nameless Age, and objects such as this handscythe from early in the Age, or even predating it.

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Entry 11 of 16: Alabaster Terrace

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE ARCANE

Much of the Alabaster Terrace is built with its historical framework proudly on display, showcasing the architecture left behind by the Antecedents. Many of the exposed surfaces of these ruins bore inscriptions and icons, only some of which could be translated through ages of study.
Though the language spoken and read in the Kingdom of Arsavela is one of the closest to the ancient language of the Antecedents, time has caused the language to evolve and drift too far from its ancestor, both in terms of spoken syntax and in written glyphs, for reliable translations to be possible without additional references.

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Entry 12 of 16: Kora, the Dawnbringer

HUMANITY'S GUIDE

The Antecedents barely survived throughout the Nameless Age, withering away with each passing year. What once stood as a proud global empire teetered at the edge of life and death, the balance tipping ever closer to the side of death.
Kora's initiative and faith set in motion the events which brought the Antecedents from the brink of extinction to the beginning of a new era. Though the Antecedents still ceased to exist at the turn of the era, their legacy was preserved through the humans who would follow in their footsteps.

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Entry 13 of 16: Aurelian Relic Keeper

INSCRUTABLE ORIGINS

Many of Arsavela's relics have origins that even their keepers could never identify. Though it is broadly accepted that the relics of the Kingdom are objects created or owned by the Antecedents of old, attempting to recreate the relics or understand the way they functioned had proven impossible.
It was shortly after the keepers began speaking amongst each other about the possibility of more than just the human hand being involved in their craft, that the Alabaster Hand began to press the keepers to begone from their posts, and prioritize removing relics from public view.

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Entry 14 of 16: First Church of the Purifier

NAMELESS DIVINITY

The earliest records of the First Church suggest that its origin lies in days before the Nameless Era truly came to an end. Should this ring true, it would mean that the Antecedents adopted faith in the gods of Malkora before they had proven themselves to be the world's saviors.
Historians speculate that this means these ancient people were drawn to faithful practices, some going so far as to suggest that the Antecedents worshiped gods before Vosra — but who?

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Entry 15 of 16: Suna Mondrane

BREAKER OF THE ACADEMY

The academies of Aurel once taught aspiring scholars about the wonders that once ruled the world, the splendor of the Golden Age of Magic in the hands of the Antecedents. In Suna's rise to power within the Alabaster Hand, the academies were one of her first targets as she personally oversaw the dismantling of any curriculums which covered the subject.
All who resisted her motion to bar such topics from their lecture halls saw swift and cruel judgment. The name of the Antecedents is now scarecely shared, even in whispers, in Aurel's academic halls.

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Entry 16 of 16: Kein Lofano

SCHOLARS OF ANTIQUITY

Kein Lofano devoted much of his study at the academies to historical sites dating back to the times of the Antecedents. Seen as marvels of technology, it is believed that many of the structures and materials at their disposal could not be man-made, at the very least not with resources available in the present day. All efforts to recreate Antecedent architecture have failed spectacularly.