On Mad Tom and the TitansAdventurers of the Realms! As most of you know, last Friday (12/21/1012) the Realms suffered the largest incursion of Bedlam to date. The full extent of the damage is still not known, but many of our homelands have suffered greatly, and Wellman Central Command has fallen. Samuel Cowperthwaite and the large Book of Moons are missing in action, and the surviving Wellmen are scattered across the Realms. Those of us who were in Wellman Central Command that night could not hold back the tide of Bedlam, and were forced to flee.But even in this darkest of times, there is still a ray of hope. We fled through the woods, guided by one of the surviving Wellmen technicians towards a Bedlam-free “point of light.” After a long struggle, we were greeted by the welcome sight of Paeter Yule, who held back the Bois until we were safely inside the point of light-the tavern dedicated for this year’s yuletide festivities. Inside the tavern, Pater Yule shared information with us. Our language did not have some of the words he needed, as the things he spoke of are far older than any language we have. Furthermore, these notes are only as complete as I could write them down- we learned a lot in a very short time. If you were there and feel I have made a mistake, contact me, and I will correct it. But, as near as I could record it, here is his story: Since the beginning of time, there have existed entities of great power. The closest word we would have for them is “titans.” Each titan embodies an aspect of the universe, and we have directly interacted with two so far. The first is Peter, Titan of Hope. We know him better in his current guise: Paeter Yule. He has several brothers, all of whom embody an aspect of the universe. We will never interact with most of them, but we definitely have come into conflict with one. Thomas, Titan of Madness. Perhaps better known as MAD TOM OF BEDLAM. According to Paeter Yule, Bedlam has spread too far for us to succeed by simply defending against its frequent assaults. We have been defensive, and reactionary. We have been playing by Thomas’s rules. Now it is time for us to change the game. The best way to kill a snake is to cut off its head. If we can destroy Thomas, the rest of Bedlam should fall with him. We now have a clear goal. Paeter Yule specifically stated that our only hope is to gather an army of as many allies as we can possibly gather- an army of the Realms and beyond- and lead it ten thousand miles into the heart of Bedlam to kill Mad Tom of Bedlam. If we do not, Bedlam is the ultimate fate of the universe. There are several complications with this: Unfortunately, when a titan kills one of his brothers, he takes on their aspects. Paeter Yule becoming Hope and Madness would be disastrous, so he cannot help us directly. Thomas has already killed two other Titans: Ethan, the Titan of Horror, and Malcolm, Titan of Death. His full title is Thomas, Titan of Madness, Horror, and Death. Thomas’s mastery of Death explains why, when someone dies in Bedlam, they cannot be brought back. We need to go back in time and stop Tom from having conquered death, or we will not be able to make it into the heart of Bedlam. We already have a rough framework of how to do this; please see the notes that Valerie of Griffindor and I gathered at the 1012 Black and White in the Library of Ivory for details. (http://library.cityofivory.org...-1012) Unfortunately, we need both the large Book of Moons and Samuel Cowperthwaite for this, and both are missing since the fall of Wellman Central Command. If anyone with information on the whereabouts of either should come forward AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Furthermore, Tom can immediately retreat to any Bedlam Seed he has planted. We need to destroy the seeds in all the other dimensions that Bedlam has spread to, or he will simply retreat there. Father Yule can “lock down” the mortal realms, to stop him from retreating to a seed in this plane, but we still have to destroy the seeds in every other dimension Bedlam has a foothold in. We still have to determine which dimensions have Bedlam Seeds, and then go and destroy them. We also have to destroy what Paeter Yule referred to as the "Walking Seeds": the ZulaBois, the ZulaBois from an alternate future (destroyed as of sundown 12/22/1012), and the TermorseBois. Otherwise Thomas can retreat “into” one of them, as well. (The body of Wayland Smith is explicitly NOT a Walking Seed. Allegedly, Paeter Yule may have told people that the body of Wayland Smith is what Thomas currently inhabits, but if he did, I missed it. If anyone could definitively confirm or deny this, please contact me immediately.) Even once we have done this, we need to actually kill Thomas. We don’t actually know how to kill a Titan, and Paeter Yule literally CANNOT tell us. There are certain rules that titans are bound to by nature, and this is one. Finally, at the end of his story, Paeter Yule warned us that before this time next year (that is, Yule,) we must kill Mad Tom, or all will be lost. The day after receiving this information from Paeter Yule, we killed the ZulaBois from an alternate future with the help of the Stag of Morrow. According to the Stag, this was his ultimate fate. Unfortunately, Stag willingly gave his life in the process. Earlier that day, before he was sacrificed, the Stag announced that he had gathered an “army of common folk” to join us in our invasion of Bedlam. Knowing that he was to die soon, the Stag passed command of that army on to Monique of Chimeron. Additionally, the alt-future ZulaBois had stolen Albion, a Wayland blade. The blade was destroyed in the process of killing the alt-future ZulaBois and the fae soul inside was freed. Note: Councillor Ged's information on how to save Termorse can be found here. http://library.cityofivory.org...morse ADDITIONAL NOTES ON TITANS Paeter Yule could only inform us of titans that we had already openly interacted with, but there are many more. Each one embodies an aspect. As explained earlier, when one titan kills another titan, they gain that titan’s aspects. When one titan is left, that titan’s accumulated aspects will determine “the ultimate fate of the universe.” Obviously, we do NOT want the ultimate fate of the universe to be Madness, Horror, and Death. (Not that anyone needed MORE motivation to stop Bedlam.) While Peter must struggle for survival by nature, on a conscious level, he does NOT want to be the titan that determines the ultimate fate of the universe. Remember, his aspect is Hope, and as Paeter Yule himself said, "What kind of universe would be one that is always hoping for a better tomorrow?” Paeter Yule could not identify any of the Titans who are currently unknown to but he implied that we might have interacted with other titans without knowing their true nature. The possibility of finding and contacting them so as to gain more allies in the fight against Bedlam was discussed briefly, and probably warrants further research. NOTES ON THE “GRANDCHILDREN” AND “CHILDREN” OF TITANS Paeter Yule referred to the Bedlam Bois as the “grandchildren” of Thomas. They are not his LITERAL grandchildren, but our language doesn’t have a closer word for the relationship between the Thomas and the Bois. The best way that Paeter Yule could explain it is that they are, in a figurative sense, Thomas’s progeny- the third generation. In the same way, the inhabitants of the Realms are also the comingled third-generation progeny of various titans. Paeter Yule proceeded to explain that if the Bois are Thomas’s “grandchildren,” his “children” are the Bedlam Seeds and the Walking Seeds- the second generation of Madness, Horror, and Death. Beings of the second generation and the third generation cannot interact easily- it isn’t meant to happen. This is why it is so hard for us to affect the Bedlam seeds. Peter briefly spoke of another second generation: the Giants. They are dormant right now, but if we could awaken them and enlist their help, they should be able to affect the Seeds much more easily than we could. Or we could just awaken another threat as dangerous as the Bedlam Seeds. More research is needed. LIST OF DIMENSIONS WITH SEEDS THAT NEED TO BE DESTROYED (INCOMPLETE): • Faerie • Quetzal • The Dreaming? • Hell?? • ? If you have knowledge of the any more planes with Bedlam Seeds that need to be destroyed, or can confirm the existence or nonexistence of Seeds in Hell or the Dreaming, please contact me at once. I know this to be true. This is not the way the world ends. Knowledge is power. -Ezra Chandler Court Diviner of Chimeron, Chimeron Militia |
Created by Ezra Chandler (Athena Teatum) at 12-31-12 03:15 AM
Last Modified by Ezra Chandler (Athena Teatum) at 12-31-12 04:38 AM