Salvation of Oriennelis

This document has been contributed by: Cerys Hildegarde

Located on the northern border of Del'Verun, Oriennelis was a grand city that served as a hub of trade and interation between Del'Verun and the nation on its northern border, Vransia. The city was filled with mages, runesmiths, connaiseurs of magic, and renowned magical schools. Home to the most well-known practitioners of the arcane, the city was on the forefront of magical innovation - floating vehicles, automatons, magical constructs, and a steady flow of arcane energy. In its prime, the city was known as the "Gateway of the Weave". Visiting the city, when it still existed, was considered one of the most desireable travels a mage could make.

The Fall of Oriennelis

During the scourge of the God War, the continent of Vehasi was torn in half. Conflicts between the gods left a bottomless canyon that would come to be known as the Great Scar - a scar that would separate the northern and southern parts of the continent and limit their communication and trade for years to come. As the Scar was first forming, it began as a thin crack in the ground that stretched from coast to opposite coast. At first, it had all the makings of an artificially created Rift - albeit a very large one. But the magical signature eminating from it caused pause in academic and arcane communities. And as the crack began to grow, panic began to set in. The crack bisected villages and towns, and as it expanded, cities would fall into its depths. The mages of Oriennelis heard of the horrors that had befallen the cities along the rift, and it was not long before they realised that it was only a matter of time before the Scar would swallow their own city.

The City's Salvation

Evacuating the city was far too large a task to undertake, as more streets and buildings were swallowed by the ever-growing scar. Mages and scientiests worked together to try to find a way to stop the expansion of the Scar, to no avail. Soon, their focus turned to finding a way to preserve the city. A race against time, every arcane practitioner who called this city home was working to find a solution to their imminent crises. And, eventually, one was found. An artifact whose details would be lost to time, one that could hold the entire city and its inhabitants within it. The artifact, once used, held the city in a stasis - entrusted to a mage of Oriennelis, who was to find a new location for the city, and reestablish its legacy in a safe location. However, shortly after the city had been saved, the mage selected to carry it to its new home was slain - and with him, all knowledge of how to restore the city onto the material plane. No one knows what happened to the thief or the artefact, and the city is yet to be recovered.

Item type

Unique Artifact

Leaking Magic

Whatever magic was used to seal an entire city, as well as its inhabitants, into a single artifact, was incredibly powerful magic indeed. There is some scholarly debate as to what magic was used, and how this feat was accomplished. Some believe that the mages of the city created a demiplane off of the elemental plane of time, Tempor. Others, however, believe that the mages created a pocket of the Weave itself, while a few believe that the city is safe outside of the bounds of the planes of existence. Regardless of how it is kept, it is no secret that the artifact is not complete enough to contain the entirety of its magic. Whoever holds the artifact is said to have temporal powers beyond even those of the sole plane-soul of Tempor.

Notes from Saibra

The trail to Oriennelis' location ran cold shortly after the artifact was stolen. However, strange magical signatures have eminated from each new God-Queen of Reuni as they have been crowned.

The Search for Salvation

To this day, scholars continue to be on the hunt for this artefact, with the hopes of restoring the city, as was the wish of the mages who first formed the artifact. Some believe it is what is morally right, to right the wrongs of the artifact's thief and to restore the honour of the original mage sent out to save the city. Others think it a quest to prove themselves worthy of the magic of the city; recovering the city would be a high honour among mages, and they would surely be rewarded by the city's inhabitants. Archaeologists seek to recover the knowledge stored within, of the God War and of life before its onset. The city and its people, if the artifact has succeeded in storing them, would be a great trove of information from the past, information that was lost in the aftermath of the God War. However, for most older mages, the search for the Salvation of Oriennelis is known as "the young arcanist's folly", for the search has gone on for centuries and every lead has gone cold.