[h3][center]The Liaison[/center][/h3]

As a remarkable change permeated making, the unceasing vigil of the outsiders beheld it all, and none more so than the Liaison.  When Society formed, the outsiders could wheedle their way in, disguising their midnight-black chitin with cloth and walking among mankind, closer than ever to feeling that which they might never attain.  By degrees the outsiders could emulate the humans in their quest to resemble them, but just when the outsiders felt that they could finally become comfortable among their mundane cousins, a new dramatic shift took place.  Friendliness aided the outsiders' attempts at integrating themselves with mankind, but Curiosity and Discretion made the secret all the more difficult to protect.

Ever mindful of the humans' perilous status among the bloodthirsty Dyun and the merciless Cimex, the Liaison kept close watch, striding through the night around the settlement that it had grown to call home.  When the hatred-fueled subhumans came called for death and destruction, the Liaison resolutely met them outside the walls, hindering and skewering them with a magic never before seen on Galbar: ice, given to it by Escre in memory of the god of seasons whose wintery chill awakened the Great Spirit from its comatose slumber.  As the months dragged on, however, the Liaison grew more and more aware that its was a task impossible for a single individual.  So many were the wailing legions of Vestec, god of chaos, so profuse were the throngs of Arguis's chirping chosen, and so vicious were the star-born dragons that now prowled the planet and mindlessly obliterating all in their path, that the Liaison decided that to keep humanity from the brink of destruction, it needed more protectors.

One evening, when the moon of Undaisis floated serenely overhead, the Liaison, dressed in [url=http://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/file/view/white_church_set_small.jpg/546135000/white_church_set_small.jpg]immaculate garb[/url], knelt before a bubbling, silvery spring nestled between the roots of a deep, shadowy copse.  Into its depths the unblinking cyan eye stared, past the liquid and through to the planet's very core.  Escre had not been negligent in the time that Man and been taught the Way, but its withdrawal from the surface world meant it less than attentive to the mortals' plight.  [i]Eyeless watcher, toothless biter, voiceless whisperer, breathless howler, the humans are greatly put upon.  Mankind recedes into small pockets, surrounded on all sides.  The balance is threatened by the Cimex of Arguis, the Dyun of Vestec, and the dragons of Sauranath.  Even the rolling waves hold no mercy, for the Kraken has created abyssal terrors to ensure that no desperate seeker shall ever traverse his domain and survive.  You are doubtlessly aware that if the humans vanish, my kind will crumble too.  Please, Great Spirit...save us.[/i]

[color=696969][i]The fire already rises,[/i][/color] the pool burbled in reply.  [color=696969][i]Astarte, the Primal Magic, has gifted mankind with sorcery.  I see within humanity's spirit-song a new octave that grants them the ghost of a chance.  Already, however, the spawn of Arguis, the Cosmic Lore, begin to adapt to nullify the advantage.  You must go inside the human's city and found the Cold Monastery, where through worship and ministration of my lifeblood, humans may learn.”[/i][/color]

Though not fully understanding, the Liaison set its hand against the spring's surface, and beneath its touch the liquid turned to opaque white ice.  The Liaison heaved the huge chunk of ice out of the ground and painstakingly carried it over a span of hours back toward the settlement.  When the humans beheld a struggling figure bent beneath the weight of the huge, icy crag, some surged forward to help lighten the stranger's load.  Bearing the weight now with a dozen men, the Liaison ferried the special ice to the highest point in the village, and set it on top of a cluster of rocks.  [i]“Thank you,”[/i] the Liaison hummed to the humans.  [i]“I found this in the wild.  I am going to build a temple around it while it begins to melt, and when I am done, I will partake of its pure tears.  Any who assist me will be allowed to partake also.  Those who do will find a power to contest the ravaging hordes...a power like this.”[/i]

The Liaison raised its arms to the sky, and a clear mist whirled around its fingers.  On top of the awed humans' heads a thin coating of snow fell.  [i]“This is a power of Wi, different and new.  I will not let humanity fall.”[/i]

Within the coming weeks, the Cold Monastery was built, brick by brick, and adorned with marble and onyx.  No structure quite like it had been made before.  True to its word, the Liaison allowed humans to imbibe the liquid running from the face of the ice, and their spirits now sang with the hymn of winter.  So too were they bonded with Escre's planetary system.  The liquid life essence itself also healed their wounds, and after battling the Cimex and Dyun in the field, the men could return to the temple and drink deep to banish their pain.  Though the Liaison ever wore an expressionless white mask in the presence of his brothers and sisters, he grew in respect and renown among them, and soon all of the monks wore masks just as he.  The Pallid Communion had begun.