Property:Memora text
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Holds the text of Memora objects.
G
Again, the importance of The Expedition's Great Work falls on deaf ears. Dwarves remain at the ready, eager to man the forges, yet Cabirus does not seem to hear this… he makes one demand after another, guiding us to hew rock and carve chambers from the Abyss for his plans, yet of progress of the Great Work he ignores us, telling us to bide our time… we have waited long enough, and we will be heard! +
Cabirus has promised us much, and my fellow dwarves of The Expedition have become uneasy. Much of what Cabirus has warned us of has become true… but the aid he promised us is slow in coming, and is always accompanied by what we must do. He seems consumed by a vision of his own… and I fear our place in the future he envisions is one where we swear fealty to him. +
Cabirus seeks to “lead” the elven people with one hand, while holding another behind his back – it is as Pir-Tama spoke of in the ancient texts. He revealed a road to us, an escape from our captors… was it only to bring the elves to face another threat in its depths, for his own ends? To make us a captive army at his beck and call? +
H
Before? I was indolent, prone to innumerable vices and defects of character.<br><br>But in The Stygian Abyss, I found purpose.<br><br>I was honed to perfection.<br><br>This damnable place the hammer, and I, the anvil.<br><br>I left my initial refuge naked, armed only with reason.<br><br>In days, I wore the skin of a savage Grue.<br><br>In months, I united warring factions<br><br>and set them constructing my utopia.<br><br>I ignored the admonitions of the gods at great folly.<br><br>None saw the blade that killed me.<br><br>For my actions, I now pay what is due… +
The Hivemind's ancestral enemy is our ancestral enemy. I say this with no ulterior motive. We seek fellowship with our Shambler neighbors. So Pir-Tama preached, her will be done. And we certainly have no need of the Undead in our halls. The Lizardmen relish the challenge, so why not make it worth their while? I will make the arrangements. +
Again, pointless debate at the Circle of Portals… again, the lizards and the elves and their prattling words! What use is endless talk when there is labor to be done? If they will not help us, then perhaps Cabirus is right… if they deny us their Abyssal Keys, then we may wish to let them have a taste of the threat that rises, and then see their words fail them. And if that does not show them, then Cabirus is right – we should take it from them! +
I
This place had many names...<br><br>Avernus, Aornum, Xibalba, Ganzer.<br><br>The Stygian Abyss…<br><br>Gateway to The Underworld.<br><br>Here,<br><br>On the borders of death,<br><br>a scant, few brave and able have made their home.<br><br>A place,<br><br>where life should not exist.<br><br>Without your help,<br><br>it won't much longer. +
The Cataclysm caused death and diaspora among the races who dwelt here.<br><br>The Saurian tribes fled to the lower depths.<br><br>All save canny Ishtass.<br><br>who adapted. Survived.<br><br>He discovered Memora.<br><br>Used it to save all he'd learned.<br><br>When The Saurians returned, his recorded teachings founded their society.<br><br>Deep pity, he never saw it. +
K
Executor Rubric and the dwarves ignore our entreaties, our warnings of the new chambers being carved from the rising lava. The stubborn dwarf still harbors anger when I refused to relinquish the Abyssal Keys and allow The Expedition access to the heart of the Abyss. Perhaps they found a way already? Perhaps that is why the lava stirs? One thing is for sure… their stubbornness has made the decision for us. Relinquish our key to their greed and short-sightedness? I think not. +
L
We were not born, we elves. We were shaped, by the magic of the Obsidian sorcerers in a world beyond. A slave race, to do their bidding. It took Pir-Tama to free us from our chains, to carve out a new home in the underworld, and ensure that we would be beholden to no one ever again. Here, we thrive. Here - is our home. +
<p>We were not born, we elves. We were shaped, by the magic of the Obsidian sorcerers in a world beyond. A slave race, to do their bidding. It took Pir-Tama to free us from our chains, to carve out a new home in the underworld, and ensure that we would be beholden to no one ever again. Here, we thrive. Here - is our home.</p> +
Another mediator has gone mad, consumed with fever, as if burning from within… The Hivemind is troubled, and we have felt a new emotion pass through its consciousness, each spore warning of great danger to come: a vision of heat and fire, burning away the fields of The Hivemind and the thoughts that bind Saurian and The Hivemind into one. We sought aid from The Expedition and The Deep Elves, sought to warn them… but their doors are sealed to us, and they refuse to hear our mediators. +
M
Fire is not fatal to a garden. Flames consume the surface, leaving roots to thrive in fertile soil. And so Typhon won't spell doom for the fields of The Hivemind. Yet his awakening is not welcome. Typhon's flames would still scourge countless memories and exterminate our Saurian mediators, which The Hivemind would rather retain. If the other factions go untouched, so much the better! Reports of Shambler indifference are greatly exaggerated. +
N
My mentor said this to me once, before The Expedition was even formed – “Rubric, your role as Executor is not simply to mete out punishment – but also know when to stay one's hand. An ‘evil' once beaten, an evil that slumbers, is a threat to us only in dreams… but its presence reminds us to be mindful of word and deed.” Was he speaking of Typhon? Was he suggesting that perhaps Zeus was merciful in staying his hand from the killing blow? For what purpose? +
P
We passed through the portal that took us from the outside world to the Abyss, every elf at the ready, and Pir-Tama held it for us… then sacrificed herself, sealing it behind us. Here, in the sanctuary of the underworld, we could create a new land, under the yoke of no creature, beast, or false dreams of would-be kings and spectral prophets. +
Our refuge is lost. Our attempt to build a nation of our own laid waste. Typhon's dead crashed against our defenses like a tide, and for every elf that fell, we watched Typhon's energy raise it to march against us. This creature… whatever woke it, it comes for us. +
Earth, air, water, fire--all make up the Abyss, in balance, as Pir-Tama preached. And yet The Shamblers act as if putting flint to tinder is an abomination. They would have us douse our fires and huddle in the dark. Yet do they rage when the Dwarves forge? They took no issue with the Tinkers of the last age. Those artisan warriors wielded fire and steel to defend the Abyss, and yet they failed. We will not. +
The Hivemind regarded the arrival of Pir-Tama with interest. Although her flame in the Abyss burned briefly--just long enough to blaze the trail for her people--it burned fiercely, white hot. She preached diplomacy with the factions of the Underworld, to welcome their aid, to unite them. These are admirable qualities in any creature of The Lower Dark. The garden of The Hivemind is emptier for her loss. +
The Hivemind well recall the arrival of the magic-users of the last age, or the “Ancient Illuminated Seers of the Moonstone,” as they called themselves. The Hivemind watched as the seers conjured spells of light, food, and comfort, then established their own library of arcane knowledge. The Hivemind observed as the Seer society fell in the last eruption, betrayed by its most potent member. Such is clear: Turning back Typhon will take more than might. +
R
Cabirus was not one to endure silence. But when he demanded we act… we had no answer for him. Our silence he took for defiance, not uncertainty. He then demanded our Abyssal key, and when we did not surrender it, he cursed us both, Saurian and Hivemind, and said both would burn for our foolishness. When he left, carrying his rage with him, The Hivemind whispered to The Saurians that the specter was a danger to us all, perhaps the equal of Typhon. +