Duality of Divinity: Foreword
Description
This document is written in a print-like hand, ascribed by Albus Rickette. It is the first of a scattered collection of documents related to the Duality of Divinity, a book written by Albus Rickette, which was either never completed, or damaged during the events of the Gap. Scanned and processed for the public by the Holy Church of Sarenrae. Original document on file at the Radiant Cathedral.Text
Since the dawn of time, the bards have gifted mankind with songs of ancient heroes, wicked villains, and the almighty gods. Crumbling tapestries depict forms haloed in white and black, clashing together to determine the future of this dangerous world, and the fate of all its people.As scholars are often wont to do, these tales are studied to determine their validity, and the strange phenomenon described within. Anima stands at the forefront of our work, used by mortals to change history, forge empires, and defy the gods. This is the white energy that surrounds mankind’s beloved heroes, and the mundane evils that act as their rivals. But what of the black?
Just as venerable as Anima, this black aura is far less frequent in our history. It hovers over undead monstrosities and the greatest of evils – chaotic forces that seek to devour the world. The Fey call it Vacuus, but it has older, cryptic names.
I have spent my life looking for answers, but they are few and far between. The Feywild is a dangerous place, and its opposite is no kinder. But to understand the nature of these two energies, one must understand their source…
If you are a scholar of any repute, you have read of the Feywild. Home to the Fey, it is a land of chaos and wild ideas. Rumor states that it was a sandbox for the gods themselves, but I can offer no credence to such claims.
Having been there myself, I can say that little can be said for certain. What is true in one place may be false in another, especially as one steps further away from its connections to the Material Plane. I have seen seasons change in an eye blink, from winter to summer, then spring. I have watched as a hail of arrows hung in the sky – slowly arcing to the glacier-like soldiers marching in their shadow. I have heard tales of worlds unseen, oft visited by the roaming Faerie courts, but unimaginable to mortal kind. What wonders I missed by turning left instead of right, a man could spend an equal lifetime trying to discover. However, it is not to these wonders that I aspired.
Instead, I sought the origins of all power – the fountains from which all great beings are baptized. It took me nearly two decades to discover the origin of Anima. It runs rampant in the Feywild, like a wide, infinite river. From there, it pours into the Material Plane like sparse rain, touching the darkest bastards and fabled farm boys throughout the realms. Even I cannot tell what causes it to strike some over others, perhaps only the gods can say for certain.
The clerics among my scholarly brethren would say it is by divine will, but I would hypothesize this is only a partial truth. While the gods have made beings of Anima in written history, some grow to power seemingly of their own will, while others find fortune through conduits, such as Alignments or artifacts with no attachment to one specific deity.
It is my theory that Anima is the purest form of being, wielded by the creatures of untold potential and power. There are no limits to its usage, no common definition that may define it. In that way it is very much like the Feywild, and the gods that once designed its shape.
This was my epiphany, you see. If Anima was so closely tied to the Feywild and the majesty of existence, then by what origin did Vacuus fall upon our realm? I began to wander the Feywild with a different mindset, which in turn changed the course of my steps. Intention is a powerful thing in the lands of the Fey. Keep a destination close to heart, and the fabric of reality rises to meet you.
I sought out places of death and ending. Forests so quiet you can hear a heartbeat, and ravines filled to the brim with bones. In these places there is a potent sense of dread, and barely a creature to be found. Those I did find were swift to assault me, and wailed curses until the bitter end. It took me five more years to find the source of Vacuus, a journey that has cost me more than I could stand to account.
The Dark Tapestry is a place of ends. It reflects what will one day become of our world, when the last rattle awakens the eternal devourers from their slumber. You can hear them there, breathing – awaiting the day when this reality is our own. The mere sound of it bereaved me of my senses, and to this day my hair is as white as my bones.
The creatures there mirror those of legend – primordial beasts taller than any tower, in such a mass that I could not fathom their number. They are joined by the Dark Fey, soldiers in a war that predates written history. The Fey do not speak much of them, but what words they do speak are cloaked in fear. Regardless, I found what I was looking for – the source of Vacuus. It festers in the Dark Tapestry like a brackish pool, clearly visible in the center of a barren wasteland. Creatures pull themselves from it at the will of the devourers, their birthing wails more terrible than a baby’s last breath.
The Dark Fey sometimes take newborns from the pool, or artifacts that roil with maddening auras. I’m not certain how they are made, or where they go after, but a certain few must make their way to the Material Plane.
I spent the next twelve and a half years crawling my way out of that pit. The Fey guard its exits with force and trickery, in which countless creatures of Vacuus have met their end. It was with meticulous care that I slid between them, like pulling apart a trickster’s puzzle. I never thought I’d be so happy to see our simple stars, set behind a moon with no eyes... I had eluded the forces of life and death, walked into their hidden corners, and came back alive.
Let me tell you what I’ve learned.
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