by Jan Davidszoon de Heem, public domain
The Finite Architects were a group of academics and experts of arcana that voluntarily banded together at the
Scriptorium Soiram in 397 AB with the noble goal of finding a way to correct the aftereffects of
The Breaking, including but not limited to:
- A way to stop the cataclysmic natural events
- A way to resurrect the lost deities
- A way to reconnect Ostelliach to The Web
The conclave sequestered themself in the massive library for nearly 2 years, 342 days, before returning with instructions for the ritual that would later be known as
Godcrafting as well as instructions for
Rebuilding the Temples.
There is nothing documented in historical tales or scrolls to detail who first proposed the idea of the Finite Architects nor if there was any sort of leadership, hierarchal structure, or governing force at all. Instead, the general consensus is that the greatest arcane minds of Ostelliach could not sit idly by in the fields any longer and all of their own accord began to drift to the Scriptorium to search for answers and when enough of them had gathered, the organization was formed.
Nor is there any information about what types of auguries, rituals, seances, spellcrafting, or other mechanations occured during those 342 days to yield these answers. No person or group is credited as the lodestone to the plan, the revolutionary who cracked the code. Indeed, most of the makeup of the Finite Architects was left unknown, unsung praises for the heroes of the land. It is generally surmised that there were less than 200 people present and that they came from all over Ostelliach, but those figures are just footnotes in the greater story and impossible to verify now.
As far as any are aware, the Architects disbanded shortly after dispensing their wisdom via, quite frankly, any means necessary (bird, beast, spellcraft, construct).
There are some who believe their quest for knowledge cost the Finite Architects dearly and that none survived long after delivering their missive, the cost of forcibly hacking themselves into The Web to understand its secrets a blasphemy with too high a cost for any mortal.
Still others believe they walked away from the conclave no longer mortal and still lurk in the shadows now, corrupted by what they learned, pulling the strings of this Web these conspiracy theorists claim they crafted anew for themselves. Those conspiracy theorists are fewer and further between in the recent century, given no great wizardly coup has crippled Ostelliach in the Architects' wake, but they still persist (and are often shooed unceremoniously off the otherwise-welcoming Scriptorium grounds for causing a ruckus).
