The Hylacon Peoples
The prophet Hylacon, first came to Magicians' End in 750 BPC, warning of a coming disaster that could only be mitigated by a league of magicians co-operating together. His knowledge of the local Laws of Form impressed many mages and his stories of travelling within the Discontinuum were intriguing and credible to many, so that when he vanished unexpectedly, he left behind a group of believers who began working on the program he had set forth.
It was only when he came back in 428 BPC, however, that the number of his disciples grew to the point where his followers were given the name of the Hylacon Peoples.
Structure
The Hylacon Peoples were organised into Chapters, each of which was designed to be able to operate independently. During those times when the prophet was imparting his teaching, Chapter leaders acted as mediators and disseminated the words of Hylacon to the faithful in meetings such as the one illustrated at the head of the article.
Later, individual Chapters were assigned the task of constructing specific gates when the Hylacon Gates were being built.
History
The small society that was a precursor to the Peoples, started with only a few enthusiastic believers in 750 BPC, but it grew rapidly after 428 BPC with the second coming of the prophet, and this was the time his followers started to be known as the Hylacon Peoples.
When the Harmonic Resonators of the Way of the Harmonic Path first began to play uneasy melodies, the Hylacon Peoples were one of the few authorities who had anticipated the hints of trouble this prefigured, and when the Planar Conformation finally struck, the ideas of the Hylacon Peoples were suddenly taken a lot more seriously all over the world.
Hylacon himself was absent, however, when the leaders of the faith began their great work, constructing the Hylacon Gates in secret from 37 APC. There must have been many tales of bravery, intelligence and heroism that concerned the building of the gates. To begin with, even getting to the escarpment rims of the new continent was difficult with shipping restricted and air travel likely to be intercepted by dragons, wyverns or other flying agents from the Dark Domains. It was possible to use teleportation to a limited extent but such spells have always come with great cost and are not reliable. Teleportation alone was certainly not sufficient to transport all the men and materials needed for the task.
If the leaders of Novanoir had suspected what was happening and organised a co-ordinated defence the gates could never have been built. Fortunately their minions were more interested in exploration beyond the borders and when they did occasionally notice human activity around the rim of their continent they were contemptuous of what they thought was merely scouting. So it was that gate constructon proceeded without any serious attempts to stop it until it was essentially completed in 68 APC.
Hylacon himself returned to lead the locking of the gates and without the additional knowledge of the Ancient and Glorious he had gained from difficult and dangerous journeys into the deep Discontinuum it is certain that this would have failed. Using the hard won insights he had gained, however, the Hylacon Peoples were able to successfully disguise their work in the preliminary stages of the arcane locking rituals, which took six years to complete (between 68 and 74 APC) before they culminated in the final action at the Easter Gate.
This was the moment of transcendence when the forces of the Dark Domains finally became aware of the threat and did everything in their power to prevent the gates from being closed. To achieve their goals the Hylacon Peoples and the prophet himself needed to expend every last scintilla of their arcane powers and in so doing they met their end, becoming a part of the structure of the gates forever.
So it is that the transcendence of Hylacon was also the transcendence of the Hylacon Peoples and is marked each year by the celebration of Easter Day on the 15th of Mald.
428 BPC - 74 APC
Type
Religious, Cult
Leader
Founders
Location
Notable Members
Comments