The Voices of Stone and Sky
For our dead we cried, to the sky we wailed.**Esh Asthanu** ([vel. /ˈɛʃ-æs.ˈθæ.nu/](veldrani-language-article)) to the Veldrani, the Voices of Stone and Sky are the cornerstone of their civilization, the source and archive of their history and tradition, as well as the constant reminder of the sin that they committed long ago during the wars for the liberation of the Pāll-tanír.
For our freedom we fought, and yet we failed.
We won our liberty but paid what cost?
We have our victory, and yet we lost.
Structure
The different Voices are of an equal rank, each one belonging to the collective, to the Voices of Stone and Sky, in much the same way as each individual Voice is itself the product of all the minds and souls of the Veldrani chieftains that have lived since the [Genocide](the-highborn-genocide-article).
Public Agenda
The Voices were created in the distant past to serve as living repositories of the collective wisdom and history of the Veldrani peoples. However, they serve a more important and, as far as they are concerned, more noble cause of ensuring that the Veldrani and the peoples of the [Pāll-tanír](pll-tanr-article) never forget the terrible price that had to be paid in order to secure their present freedom and liberty.
The Voices, as living historical records, serve as a reminder to the Veldrani peoples and to everyone who knows their true purpose, that they must never let such a horror as what transpired during the Highborn Genocide happen ever again.
Assets
The Voices, as a collective, possess very little in terms of material wealth. One might make the argument that as the _de-facto_ chieftains of their tribes, the Voices own everything that their tribe does, but this is a gross misunderstanding of the function that the Voices fulfil within their respective tribes. The Voices are endowed the title of chieftain, but they "rule" over their tribes in more of an advisory capacity, drawing on the corpus of knowledge that they possess within them to guide the Veldrani tribes on their uncertain path to redemption and self-discovery.
The handful of material objects that the Voices possess have little value to the common man, and are really only priceless to those who are learned of history. While the Voices would not deign to claim possession of the relics of the Highborn such as the [Book of Names](the-book-of-names-article) and the [Bones of the Terminarch](the-bones-of-the-terminarch), they are in sole custody of the objects.
History
As the Veldrani oral tradition makes no mention of the exact date of the creation of the Voices, using them as the sole source of information would provide very little help in the context of constructing a history of the Voices as an organization. However, given that the Voices themselves have perfect recall of the years that have transpired since their creation, it is actually rather trivial to determine that the Voices were first conceived of and created in the year 26320 N.L., a year after the end of the Highborn Genocide in 26319.
Hierarch Amanhet of the Támarhetë was the first Veldrani to give himself to the magic that would create the other Voices. He was reborn as the Voices of Justice, his eyes and mouth becoming as blue fire. As the first of the Voices, Amanhet's distinctive brass mask, which he wore to hide the gruesome result of taking a focused bolt of lightning to the face, was adopted by all the Voices that would follow in his footstep.
It wasn't, however, until Amanhet's son, [Rāsthan](hierarch-rsthan-article) ascended to take his place as the Voices of Justice in 26364 N.L. that the other chieftains came forward to participate in the magical pact.
In 26365 N.L., Kevar the Sinner, who struck the blow that ended the war against a defenseless girl who had already watched her mother slain in cold blood before her, returned from his guilt-fueled pilgrimage into the heart of the shattered Highborn empire with the Book of Names and left for one of the most barren valleys in the Skywall Range.
In the decade that followed, Veldrani who had participated in the Highborn Genocide flocked to Kevar hoping to partake in whatever redemption he endeavored to. Although Kevar allowed them to stay and establish the village of Teshaveht, he never allowed anyone else to take up the task that he had set for himself — that is, carving all the names in the book into the stone of the cave that he had chosen.
Teshaveht continued to grow, however, and Kevar found himself in the unenviable position of being a spiritual leader to a group of Veldrani with no common clan. In ailing health, Kevar realized that in order to finish his work, he had to take upon the title that he had vowed to himself he would never accept as penance for his sin. He declared the Teshavehtë a clan in their own right and took the mantle of chieftain, ascending in the year 26377 N.L. as the Voices of Regret.
Subsidiary Organizations
