[center][h1][b][color=000000]M[/color][color=404040]u[/color][color=808080]r[/color][color=c0c0c0]e[/color]x[/b][/h1]
[color=808080][b][u]The Heart of Stone[/u][/b][/color][/center][hr]




[hider=Excerpt from a Monogram on Uniform Murex Creation Mythos Folklore]In the beginning, there was only the Star, Astranoma. One of countless others in the aether of creation. It lived in ineffable tranquility in the manner of most higher beings, until one day it was joined by a second Star, called Anima.

Astranoma and Anima became lovers, who danced with each other for untold centuries. Across the aether however, a nearby Star called Baleous saw the two and was driven to hatred by its jealousy. Taking a greatbow, it aimed true and struck at the heart of Anima, slaying her. Astranoma was stricken with untold grief and anguish. Knowing that Baleous would try to shoot out their heart and knowing that in their grief they would not be able to fight them, Astranoma tore out their own heart and turned it to stone before casting it into the darkness of the aether, becoming imperishable and unfeeling.

Baleous saw this and knew their arrows would not be able to pierce Astranoma's petrified heart, so they instead dipped them in the poison of its hatred. Even as it did so, Astranoma wrought a great spear, wreathed in flame, and cast it across the void. Baleous loosed their shot moments before being struck by Astranoma's lance. 

The great spear of flame ruptured Baleous, causing the star to break and scatter across the aether. Baleous' arrow broke and shattered upon the stone of Astranoma's heart, but the poison seeped into its surface and began to writhe its way into the vessel's core, and where the poison burned through the stone a great mire arose. The seething poison of hatred corrupted the flesh of Astranoma, causing all of of its essence to sublimate in response. The amalgamated substances of Astranoma's life coalesced into plantlife, arising as shoots from the stone, and then as animals and all the peoples of the new world that would come to be known as Murex.

Yet as the essence of Murex rose from its core to manifest upon its shell, some rose beneath the welling poison and mixed with it, creating all the evils, horrors, and anguishes of the world and giving rise to demons who would plague and torment all who dwelt upon Murex.

The first of the demons to arise, Rancor, saw the sublimation of Murex's core and knew it could twist the rise so as to choke all life from the world. The demon burrowed and twisted through the underside of Murex's shell, hardening and petrifying the gaps and openings in it and blocking the passage of the sublimating essence - which then condensed and swelled within Murex until the heart was fit to burst. The great deluge surged and burst forth from beneath the well of hatred, spreading a choking pall of death across the whole of Murex, and all that were encompassed by that flood of dark perished.

Atop a great mountainside untouched by the swell of darkness, a mortal watched as Rancor flooded the world, but was wise and perceived the failing of the demon's scheme. The flood was a great condensation of the conceit of Murex's core, and so all things and potential dwelt locked within the ravenous shadows of Rancor's hatred. Upon the refuge of the mountainside, the stargazer toiled to harness what little life and materials had survived the flood, gathering flint and tinder in order to conjure the essence of Astranoma's Empyrean flame. The mortal then took a chisel and cut an orb of amber in the visage of vanquished Anima, before setting the sphere above the fire. The icon began to glow with an inner light as lines of flame and heat ran through the worked channels of its surface and its core, until it shone as a perfect mirror of Anima's corse in the aether above. The stargazer fed the fiery icon to a bird, which flew over the great flood and itself caught flame from the heat of the stone within it. It fell into the shadows, wreathed with flame and banishing the darkness about it. Its body turned to ash as it landed upon the surface, and from its ashes grew the first Gloaming Tree. Its radiance burned at the dark and from it dissolved the essence it held captive, causing the whole of the sea of vile darkness to ripple and quake until the last of the trapped essence was freed. Life once again flourish across the surface of the world, even amidst the lingering, hungering dark of Rancor. 

Thus are the ancient stories of our ancestors, spoken and passed on by almost every culture and every peoples across all of Murex. These stories explain the many facets and traits of the world we dwell upon. The great expanse of iridescent ichor that crisscrosses the equatorial sky once a day, far off in the distance of the aether. The great billowing trails of flame visibly streaking away from the star Astranoma, pointing towards the epicenter of the distant web. The large, fractured and rapturous celestial body close in orbit to Astronoma itself. The existence of the Dark Brier and the demons that dwell within it, the pervasiveness of Rancor's ocean and the gloaming plant and wildlife within it. Perhaps it is the case that these stories, although omnipresent and in unexpected harmony across the peoples of the world, are not the whole of the story. These stories are not uniform across even culture, as the figures described therein frequently bear different names. At times the story is told with a different order of events. At others, the details of a given event will vary drastically. In aggregate, most stories told of the first times upon Murex would closely resemble or be recognized as variations of the one above. Perhaps these stories, and this one, are untrue, or capture but parts and pieces of what truly transpired at the dawn of our world. The opinion of this scholar is that such stories, even if not wholly accurate, are far too pervasive and far too similar as a whole for them to not contain at least glimmerings of the truth...[/hider]
[hider=A Public Digest][center][b][u]BEWARE![/u][/b]
Do not travel alone! The darkness swallows light!
Distant lights [u]are not[/u] visible through the dark. Travelers [u]must[/u] follow the roads!

[b][u]How to Survive if Lost[/u][/b]
If you are without light, [u]do not panic![/u]
Servants of Rancor are drawn to fear. Remain calm at all times.

If you are near a settlement, wander until you find a Gloamwood. 
The trees should be marked with Guidesigns left by local hunters and herbalists.
Follow the Guidesigns to the local Haven. These are checked regularly.

If you possess any Gloaming Amber, offer a Supplication to An.
One of her gracious Lanterns shall find you.
Travelers may procure Amber and Supplication Instruction at most gatehouses.

[b][u]Passage Days[/u][/b]
Every twenty-four days, the corse of Anima recedes.
[u]The Dark will wax in power.[/u]
[u]All mortal sensation will be lost if caught without light.[/u]
If caught without light, [u]remain calm[/u] and stay in place. Do not move from your spot.
Wait until the third dawn, and Anima's corse will return.
It will then be safe to find your way once more.[/center][/hider][hider=Metanarrative on the Dark Sea]The Sea of Rancor is a pervasive atmosphere of ravenous darkness that covers 90% of Murex's surface. Its surface extends a full 3000 meters above sea level. It flows and behaves akin to a fluid, and will rush to fill in empty spaces that are downhill from it. It also behaves as if pressurized, so will fill any vertical chamber up to 3000 meters above sea level. Airtight seals are required to deter it. If banished by completely saturating an area with light, the darkness does not recur unless the area is flooded by it again.

This darkness is not so ephemeral as its mundane form. This darkness swallows light. Light sources, while still capable of illumination, will light smaller areas, and their light will not be visible from without the area they illuminate. Beacons of light, such as from lighthouses, are not visible from a distance. The same is true of other lights, up to and including light from Astranoma, Murex's star. This darkness cannot be acclimatized to, having better low light vision does not allow one to see further with what little light they have since the darkness here.

The surface of the Sea of Rancor practically seethes with terrible and dark, roiling power - almost like a thunderhead accumulating charge. This surface layer is much more aggressive and will swallow and snuff out any and all light sources that enter it, and acts as a barrier to starlight. Unlike the Dark beneath it, this surface layer does not flow, and instead propagates and drifts like a stormfront.

When the worlds converge, the Sea of Rancor's storm cells will not propagate across boundaries. Darkness from the Sea of Rancor will flow into other worlds limitlessly, but only during the night, and any darkness exposed to primary starlight will be banished. Only darkness under cover during the daytime will remain and retain its supernatural properties from the Sea of Rancor.

Every 24 days, Anima orbits behind Astranoma and things get bad. The effective range of illumination for lights halves again, and the dark abruptly becomes a barrier to all forms of perception. It will swallow sound during this time. You will not be able to scream for help. If one is caught without any light and is completely submerged in the dark, it will completely numb their entire body and kill all methods of perceiving the world, such as scent, taste, and so on. Only by warding away the Dark with some small measure of light is one able to retain what little sensation remains effective in the darkness. This period lasts three days, after which Astranoma completes the short tail-end of its elliptical orbit around Astranoma and returns, and the Sea of Rancor settles back to its normal intensity.

This process occur within the other worlds, where applicable, as long as an open channel exists where the effect can propagate from Murex to the other worlds. Distant patches of darkness from the Sea of Rancor, isolated in other worlds, will not react this way if there is no connecting channel between them and the Sea of Rancor.[/hider][hider=Excerpt from a Murex Ecology & Wildlife Guide]...the 'Gloaming' wilderness, as it is so called, is the only sort of plantlife that can exist in the Median of the Sea of Rancor. As observed both from highlands ecologies as well as ancient manuscripts, ordinary plantline cannot persist without exposure to starlight, of which there is none in the Median. If ancient myth and lore are to be believed, Gloaming plantlife arose from the freeing of essential conceit from the ravenous shadows of the Sea of Rancor, and as such it is uniquely suited - some would say evocatively designed, even - to survive in complete darkness and, in certain religious fields of philosophy, to combat it. 

Gloaming plantlife has skin and bark riven with lines of sidereal illumination which casts a faint, passable glow that is just enough to keep the darkness at bay except during Passage Days. For reasons unknown to secular natural philosophy, Gloamwoods do not grow regularly wherever there happens to be fertile soil. Religious screed would have it that Gloaming woods obtain sustenance from welling essence from the Heart of Murex that seeps through the cracks and gaps in the shell, though this is naturally impossible to prove or disprove either way. Such screed also conveniently explains the abundance of scrub and brushin certain areas where absent in others; Gloaming grasses and plains shrubs are of course by no means omnipresent despite their mundane analogues dominating the Highlands even in colder climes, distant from the equatorial band.

Wildlife in the Median is a mixture of the extraordinary and the mundane; clearly our ancestors saw fit to bring with them down from the Highlands of yore many of the surviving cattle and domesticated beasts, or else were followed into the void by feral wildlife that learned not to fear the Supernal dark. What is clear is that the Gloaming Wilderness has a natural complement of wildlife uniquely suited to it, such as the Gracious Lanterns of An, the brightly luminous and ephemeral wisps that dwell amongst Gloaming Groves and feed upon Gloaming Sap. A common survival tactic when lost in the dark is to lay out a spread of molten sap over an open flame so as to spread its scent and attract these Lanterns, which possess an unusual and unexplained kinship with man and will accompany the lost traveler in dark places, as well as warn of the presence of the servants of Rancor.

There are many ongoing debates within the field of natural philosophy as to the true nature of Supernal Predators, otherwise known colloquially and in religious doctrine as the servants of demons. The current prevalent theory is that they are mundane ambush predators adapted to the wilderness of the Sea of Rancor, lacking the same luminous qualities of other forms of Gloaming wildlife (and even other gloaming predators!) as a means of facilitating stealth and elusive stalking behavior. This is supported by most Supernal Predators lacking eyes or other photo-sensitive organs (although this is not always the case), even though many possess vestigial ocular sockets. While it is commonly claimed that Supernal Predators are drawn to fear and panic, this has not born through in intensive field observation - many Supernal Predators, in fact, are capable of becoming acclimatized to the presence of Humans without identifying them as potential prey...[/hider][hider=Metanarrative on Murex Ecology]Most of the ecosystem within the Sea of Rancor is bioluminescent to one degree or another, giving off faint amounts of light that, in mass aggregate, creates luminous oasis of activity amidst the dark. The religious speculation as to how these species survive absent light is not too far off the mark, wild plantlife in the Median grows in abundance over gaps and cracks in Murex's crust, which is half the reason why major settlements tend to be so particularized in location within the Median - they tend to exist in spots where cultivation of Gloaming Plants that can illuminate the settlement is possible. Elsewhere, constant burning of fuel and Evocation magic is necessary to keep settlements illuminated. Gloaming plantlife fares perfectly well in daylight as long as the local conditions are otherwise suitable (acceptable temperature range, soil quality, groundwater, etcetera).

Gloaming plants and wildlife are no safer than anything else during Passage Days and tend to enter torpor states to outlast the ravenous darkness. All illumination from them subsides during this period, there is no escape, etcetera.

The natural philosophers are half-right about their theories as to the Servants of Rancor. The truth of the matter is that while there do exist numerous nonluminous Gloaming species, there are also actual creatures of nightmare who act as the servants of demons. Absolutely none of them are drawn to fear per se, but it is much more likely that they will be able to find you if you are panicking in the dark for most of the normal reasons you can likely imagine. There is no easy means of distinguishing between an ordinary Gloaming Predator and a Servant of Rancor; the latter are occasionally made to be indistinguishable from the former.[/hider][hider=Excerpt from a Commentary on Highland Culture]...Though they are most distant and at times remote from life even in the Median, the highlands are in a very real way, the cultural epicenters of all civilization upon Murex. Cultural historians will cite the highlands as the birthplace of Humanity writ large, while religious historians will cite the mythical occurence of Rancor's Flood as a cataclysmic event that consigned all of Humanity to these territories before then proceeding to migrate back out into the Sea of Rancor afterwards. The highlands are home to the oldest settlements and structures in all of Murex, and the highlands are where the most influential and powerful institutions in the world - including the disparate highland nobility, the institution of the Cynosure, the Sevenfold Union of Sects, the Brier Questors, and even the contentious Creed of Nu-Anima - keep their bastions and centers of power. Everything in the highlands is oft-described as being simpler and easier in many respects, a common supposition put forward by those Median denizens who have ventured upon the surface at times. Wildlife and roaming game are much more abundant in the highlands, they are warmer and generally more hospitable, much more difficult to get lost in, and cattle and crop are much more readily reared and grown. In a very real sense, the highlands are the center of Murex political and religious culture - though not exclusively so in the modern era as used to be the case, with more and more large-scale settlements and independent states starting to focalize influence and wealth in the Median. The primary distinction between the cultures of the Median and the Highlands is one of class and wealth. Predominantly, most permanent residents of the highlands outside of hermitages are wealthy enough to afford the rent for modest townhouses in any Median settlement of note. As the Cynosure centralizes its facilities and personnel in the highlands, they are consequently home to the greatest number of individuals capable of Evocation...

...since time immemorial, there have existed seemingly innumerable formal lines of highland Nobility, all with unique traditions, arrangements, and authority. The highlands, though disparate and far-flung, are but small lots in the grander scheme of Murex and with time and the inevitability of the diplomacy and intrigue between them all, a number of common trends have emerged between the majority of them. In particular, the vast majority or noble lineages are defined by a select pedigree of rulers and heirs capable of Evocation. The purpose of this specificity is unclear, although many historians theorize that the aspect of Evocation makes for greater certainty in the assurance and tracking of direct lineage. It remains debated whether Evocation is an inherited aspect, but regardless of the truth of the matter the combination of golden-eyed Evocation and freedom from seizure by the Cynosure make for a powerful public image. 

Many Nobles hail from ancestral families of peerless repute, typically wealthy beyond any practical measure, and free of the nominally restrictive regime of the Cynosure, the Nobility control massive domiciles and empires of territory by wit of wealth, political capital, land title, and force of arms. Part of what defines a Noble lineage is not just their ability to perform Evocation, but to conjure unique phenomenon that cannot be easily or readily reproduced even with formal training from the Cynsosure - such as the famed ability of a certain Noble family to Evoke an Echo, or even outright Manifestation, of Lightning.

Noble families are subject to a number of semi-religious and traditional rites of descent and succession. These vary depending on region and culture but, as stated previously, a few notable convergent methods have arisen between most. Most Noble families have a head who holds ultimate authority, who must be capable of Evocation. For various reasons, they are forbidden to marry or produce offspring with other Evokers, either from other Noble lines or otherwise. Traditionally, rulers will take on harems of concubines - male and female alike - from the common masses, occasionally producing offspring capable of Evocation from birth. One might think would settle the matter as to its heritable nature, but people love to argue, and in particular the irregularity of such offspring and the irregular combination of whether the sire or bearer of the child was golden eyed has spawned much contention, further fueled by conflicting assurances, denials, and arguments amongst the Nobility itself.

Regardless of such disagreements and disputes, it is usually the case that the eldest Evoker in the chain of succession is considered the heir of lineage. According to the commonly espoused sentiment of the highland nobility, one of the most important reasons for the practice of pairing with mundane commoners with each generation is in order to keep the practical needs and perspective of the common people alive and relevant amongst the ruling class who govern the lands...[/hider][hider=Excerpt from an Incomplete Religious Treatise]...mainstream gathering of the seven most prominent religions upon the face of Murex would thereafter be known as the Sevenfold Union of Sects. It is the task of this body to monitor and influence the spread of contemporaneous beliefs and unique religious practices. Independently the Seven Sects continue to preach, proselytize, and spread their faith, zealously and opportunistically. It is the separate and more secular task of the Union to document, record, and formally archive modern shifts and trends in common religious beliefs, practices, and doctrine across all Seven Sects and their various members. Within the last several centuries, a shift in political expediency has also seen the Union transform to become the official bank and bookkeeper of all seven faiths, beholden to all of them whilst clutching the purse-strings for the purposes of deterring religious war and massed crusades. The Union thus has broad public appeal even where particular denominations of the seven faiths are reviled and outright banned in distinct regions, as the surface-level secular management of the seven faiths creates an impression of honestly and good faith and the vision that they are custodians of the peace and common welfare of the masses. Thus the modern motto of the Union, 'To attain a more perfect peace.'

There are many critics of the current state of the Sevenfold Union, namely of its grossly agnostic practices and approach to doctrine alongside common allegations of usury and profit-driven motive...

[b]Editor's Note:[/b] Sadly, the most learned and esteemed author of this planned Treatise was found to have taken his own life via strangulation one evening. A drastic and tragic capstone to a noted escalation in temperament and a preponderance for confrontation and heated contention in his final weeks.[/hider][hider=Excerpt from a Commentary on Rancor's Brier]The wound in the world. The birthplace of all anguish. The pit of Demons. I am not a particularly religious man, but having visited and witnessed the passage of days in Rancor's Brier personally, I can affirm the truth to these assignations. 

The first thing to realize is the sheer scope and scale of the Dark Brier. The site is easily its own little subcontinent. Its structure is, as many will know from simple reference, a large indentation or bowl-like shape, very much like an impact crater. The bowl itself borders a highland realm, and itself pervades across every height of the Median, and deeper still around its heart - some might speculate as deep as the core of Murex itself.

From without the heart of Rancor's Brier grows a vicious mass of a substance, like some twisted mixture of tree oceanic coral, with mineralized skin that rusts as iron does, giving the whole of the twisted mass a ruddy and sickly hue in the light. Even in the highland areas of Rancor's Brier, these structures choke out the light with great, yawning canopies of material that form an insidious web across the sky, catching all of the light that falls. The Dark Brier does not burn, does not yield readily to bladework, and its points and edges are notoriously caustic and toxic to the touch. I myself have witnessed a man pricked by a nettle, and days later seen writhing in inhuman pain, their entire body twisted, contorted, and covered with alien growths that defy dignified description, centered around the point of injury. 

Most die from such injuries. The singularly unfortunate few who survive become changed. According to soldiery, the deeper areas of Rancor's Brier, particularly in the highlands, are filled with whole settlements of victims who have been transformed by its poisonous kiss, who have forsworn their humanity and become servants and disciples of demons. Scouts and expeditions who survey Rancor's Brier regularly skirmish with their numbers frequently, and the whole of the Brier is filled with monstrous, deformed, and ill-minded wildlife that has been afflicted similarly. Due to the irregular measures of containment, it is not uncommon for groups of afflicted individuals and creatures to escape the confines of the crater and flee into the wider world, where they plague all those who dwell in the light...

...several confirmed demonic lairs where the malign beasts dwell, shaping and reshaping the whole of the surrounding area to fit their twisted and capricious whimsy, taking unfortunate victims as both prisoners and playthings to adorn their territory, equal parts warning and entertainment...

...rivers, streams, and bodies of a caustic, tar-like substance which seemingly moves and flows, occasionally even uphill, with a will of its own. The Brier seems to dran and sup on it as most benevolent flora does with water. Though I am uncertain how to credit such tales, some number of the soldier claim the stuff can even animate to seek out victims, to do battle, or to fulfill an unseen darker purpose...

...gradually spreads in every direction, impeded by no condition and liable to spread rapidly even across highland territories.

Without any exaggeration, I say with great conviction that these tumorous and pestilent structures could readily and easily infest the whole of the world, if the Sevenfold Sects and the Brier Questors did not work to constrain its growth and work to push the corruption back. An entire industry and culture of deterrence and taking battle to the evils of this place has sprung up in the surrounding regions and the highland.

Many religious scholars I had the chance to query as to the topic were in disagreement, but most conformed on one thing: The outbreak of Rancor's Brier, where uncontained, would prove calamitous to the whole of civilization - though most then hastily rushed to assure me, that no extremity of the Dark Brier can survive independently if severed from its root. Breaches and extensions of the Brier into the reaches bordering the crater have happened historically, but been successfully curtailed at later dates simply by successfully severing the line of growth between the heart of the Brier and its intruding extremity...[/hider][hider=Excerpt from a Treaty on Arcane Evocation]...the most secretive of arts, only capable of being performed with those who possess golden eyes. The secret to obtaining such gifts is a well-kept secret and beyond the purview of this treaty, and the only purpose of mention being that Evocation cannot be taught to simply anybody as you would a trade skill. 

Evocation is the ability to reshape and mold the potential of the essence of Murex, arisen from its core, the conceit of Astranoma itself. As an artist working with clay, one can reshape the world into almost anything they desire. Unlike with clay, it is not possible to create something new by accident. Anything made with Evocation must be cast from the memory and impressed upon the world. If you have not witnessed it personally, you cannot cast it. The truth to effective Evocation is more nuanced of course, as merely having witnessed something will typically make for only the weakest of Evocations. True Evocation requires comprehension and familiarity with whatever is being Evoked. This is why most initial efforts to conjure flame, for example, produce patently false and ethereal illusions rather than actual fire. In order to truly Evoke flame, one must be more personally familiar with it, have seen other natural flames, understand the circumstances of its occurrence, have some basic knowledge of why it occurs, and be wholly familiar with its qualities. This is why certain tradesmen who work with flame habitually are better able to Evoke flame when introduced to the art. Familiarity makes for superior Evocation. Academic knowledge of a subject to be evoked will only carry one so far of course. As many of those same Evokers will likely tell you, the best way to become familiar with flame in a way that makes for effective Evocation is to be burnt by it. This is true not only of flame, but of many other possible subjects of Evocation - direct exposure is the best and most effective way of rapidly improving the quality and grade of subsequent Evocations.

Evocation has four grades of casting. The first three are wholly arbitrary and subjective and exist simply as a guideline for identification and gauge. The fourth is an objective grade recognized only when an Evocation meets a number of critical conditions. These grades, using an Evoked flame as the subject are as follows:

[u][b]Hints[/b][/u] - The weakest form of Evocation, which may be as simple as a singular Evoked sensation or quality. A colorless illusion of flame, or perhaps simply the sensation of heat or the production of light. These usually are cast as static and unmoving images, or else what motion they do have will be drastically retarded. Most hints are also largely translucent and easy to miss from a distance.

[u][b]Seemings[/b][/u] - Any form of Evocation with multiple facets and effects. Any Evoked Flame which emits both heat and light would qualify. A more stable or convincing illusory flame, perhaps accompanied by other facets such as scent. A Seeming of flame, unlike a Hint, can actually be somewhat dangerous, as a Seeming of flame can occasionally actually burn. This, however, will usually cause only minor amounts of pain and leave no visible injury. Most Seemings of Flame which burn in this manner are the product of an academic and personal awareness that fire hurts, without personal experience or analogous experiences by which to gauge or understand how or why a burning flame is injurious. Seemings remain somewhat translucent although are readily perceived at a distance, and whatever color they have tends to be faded as though with age.

[u][b]Echos[/b][/u] - A powerful and complex Evocation with a complete range of sensory and physical effects. Even Echos are muted and evidently fabricated however. The Echo of a flame will not burn as hot or as fiercely as the original - but it will burn, and what it burns will be consumed as if by flame. The Echo of a flame will, ideally, burn with a quarter of the efficacy of the original ideal used to Evoke it - and as such there are many practical limitations to the use of Echos and why you do not often see Evoked flame employed in smithing. In order to overcome the inherit muting of the Echo when compared to the real thing, you would need to evoke a flame four times as fierce, and few Evokers will have personal experience with such things. Most Echos are completely coherent at close and long range, but their coloration and range of motion will tend to be imperfect, betraying their true nature.

[u][b]Manifestations[/b][/u] - Manifestations are the apex of Evocation, and rarely achieved. Manifestations are such closely detailed and complex recreations of the original subject that they cross a certain 'crux' of potentia and will perform a full leap directly from the pale replica of an Echo directly to complete fidelity. A Manifestation of flame is all but identical in quality to the original article used to Evoke it and will behave exactly and perfectly as a normal flame of its nature. Attaining Manifestations is not something that can be reliably taught, with individuals only becoming capable of Manifesting a particular subject with potentially years of private experimentation and practice. Understandably, those Evokers capable of manifestation keep many of the details of their methods as closely guarded secrets.

While Manifestation seems outwardly impressive on its own merits, in practice Evokers who are capable of Manifestation often elect not to. This is due to the nature of Evocation below the grade of Manifestation. Hints, Seemings, and Echos all require ongoing attention and concentration to maintain, as they do not have the potentia necessary to exist on their own. A practiced Evoker however, can cast and maintain many different Evocations of this nature simultaneously, potentially even at longer distances and whilst performing other tasks. A Manifestation, however, cannot be maintained in this way. A Manifestation, possessing complete fidelity, is indistinguishable from the genuine article and will not respond to the will of the Evoker. A Manifestation of flame will burn for as long as a flame of its nature can burn in its given conditions, and save manually snuffing the flame out or feeding it fuel there is nothing the Evoker can do to impact its longevity, which is why one is less likely to observe Manifested flames in a smithee than the Echo of flame - a perfectly Manifested flame would still require fuel in order to continue to exist, unlike an Echo.

. . .

...the Evocation of living and animate beings is possible, and the art is distinct enough that the practice has its own assignment of four unique grades. What is important to understand is that even the lowest grade of this nature is, implicitly, of a higher standard and quality of Evocation than a Hint of standard evocation. As a reminder, the first three Grades are effectively arbitrary and implemented solely for the purposes practical identification and use. Given the inherent complexity of evoking living and animate beings, it should come as no surprise that even the most basic Evocation thereof would be inherently more complex and coherent than the Evocation of an inert or even a reactive object. 

[u][b]Semblance[/b][/u] - A motionless assembly of sensory information pertaining to the evoked entity. What they look like, scent, and texture are present, but the Semblance is wraithlike and cannot be touched, evidently translucent, and all associated sensory information is heavily muted.

[u][b]Vestige[/b][/u] - Similar to a Semblance, but possessing basic animation and coherency. Can manipulate light objects and bear a faint amount of weight. Solid but frail and prone to dissolution if impressed by undue external force. Capable of muted speech, but can retain unique intonation and inflection used by the Evoked individual. They can only speak what the Evoker has heard the individual say before, and only with specific prompting by the caster. Capable of basic, particularly described tasks - Vestiges are renowned for being extraordinarily dim, and cannot accomplish most basic tasks unless every individual requisite step required is tasked of them.

[u][b]Shade[/b][/u] - A Shade can be mistaken for an actual person from afar or in poor lighting. They are entirely solid and resilient to moderate external forces; they can be shoved or even pushed onto the ground without losing coherency. Capable of labor and complex activities; they can haul cargo up to a certain threshold, write or copy letters, and even hold rudimentary conversations (although they, as with Vestiges, still cannot say anything the Evoker has not heard the original speak). They will mimic the voice, speech patterns, gesticulations and general mannerisms of the original. Shades are capable of following complex instructions and can perform most activities without direct intervention or elaboration from the Evoker so long as the Evoked individual could have feasibly done so.

[u][b]Eidolon[/b][/u] - Eidolons are a hypothetical grade equivalent to Manifestations. In this context, an Eidolon would be a perfect, indistinguishable duplicate of a given individual. Most readers familiar with folklore will likely have heard any number of outlandish tales of dubious authenticity as to the Evocation of a whole person of this nature. Be assured: Insofar as I personally am aware at the time of this writing, an Eidolon has never been successfully Evoked by any Human. They have been, and remain, wholly hypothetical achievements of the art of Evocation. There is a solitary qualification to my assurance here, which shall be discussed at a later point in this treatise...

. . .

...is now my sad and solemn duty to discuss, in detail, the existence and nature of Demons and their use of the art of Evocation.

Demons, according to myth and religious texts, arise from the poison of Baleous' Hate, and are thus made from the very same material used to Evoke all the essence and things from the core of Murex and that which is ultimately responsible for all life and civilization upon our world.

It thus follows that Demons are uniquely and singularly capable of Evocation to a degree and range which would beggar even the most peerless of Human Evokers. Most Demons, with few exceptions, are capable of perfectly Manifesting anything they have ever seen. The only comfort to take from this bleak prospect is that even they seem to have unknown and hidden rules by which they must abide. One such rule which is reliably known is that they cannot manifest wholecloth constructs out of the aether instantly - they must do so piece by piece. An example of this is seen in the popular folklore tale of the Demonic being Tyrytys, who was able to Evoke an entire palatial estate complete with servants, guards, and both a full stable and kennel in some retellings. In practice, a Demon could in fact accomplish such a feat, but not with the ease and in the single instant Tyrytys does in the stories. In order to do Evoke such a palace, the demon would have had to individually manifest each brick as well as the layers of mortar comprising its structure, and every individual piece of furniture, and every individual animate being within it, and so forth. Even given the peerless talent and ability of most Demons in the art, such a task would be inordinately time consuming and prone to unexpected error and interruption. A brick falling out of place mid-construction and causing a wall to collapse would drastically set the Demon back, as it would have no means to immediately move away or dispose of the debris save by conjuring Evoked laborers.

It thus follows that even Demons, fully capable of regular Manifestation, themselves prefer frequent use of Echos and other grades of Evocation. Although some heart can be taken of this, know that unlike mere mortals, Demons have no known threshold of effective cognizance and focus of will. They may maintain any number of Evocations, at any range, indefinitely, even while distracted or grievously injured.

The attentive reader who has read of Eidolons and of the ability of Demons to Evoke animate laborers will likely question whether Demons can evoke Eidolons, to which the answer would appear to be in the affirmative. There are many historical instances, formally recorded, of Demons 'returning' an individual from death. Rest assured, Demons do not possess the capacity to cheat death, and almost assuredly, the individuals brought forth by those Demons were Eidolons and effectively entirely different people. Identical in every meaningful way, but still a copy and not the original subject. 

The reader can also be put at ease with the assurance that Demons do not commonly create Eidolons simply because of their expedient ability to do so. As illustrated with the example of trying to Manifest an entire palace brick by brick, an Eidolon would be a wholly self-sustaining entity beyond the direct control of the Demon in question, and so in most cases of little practical use to them. All evidence indicates that Demons prefer lesser Evocations which they can directly maintain, direct, and dismiss as necessary.

If the reader should still be fearful of a possible Demonic catspaw or imposter come to defraud or deceive them, be at ease. Any Evoked Eidolon would then doubtlessly observe the very Demon that had evoked them, or else question their surroundings and the discontinuity of their memories with what they are currently experiencing. If anything, most Eidolons Evoked by a Demon would make haste to warn the original article of the Demon's attention and schemes - a contributing factor to the rarity with which a Demon will Evoke an Eidolon. 

Having said all of this, the reader is encouraged to assume that a Demon, left to its own devices, will not willfully conjure an Eidolon unless specifically prompted to do so as part of some dark and inadvisable bargain...[/hider][hider=Metanarrative on Evocation]The 'treatise' above does an adequate job of explaining the functionality of Evocation, so I will mostly be discussing its limits and 'unknown' rules here, starting with the very first and then immediately abandoned topic of what enables a person to perform Evocation.

The Treatise specifically indicates only those with 'Golden Eyes.' can perform Evocation. This is because the capability of performing Evocation is essentially a disease with multiple vectors of transmission. It has nothing to do with the manipulation of essence of Murex's core, case in point: Evocation is functional in all three worlds.

In particular, those who have ingested the flesh or matter derived from the body of a Demon will become Evokers. After doing so, the individual is overtaken by abrupt fatigue and will fall into a deep sleep within thirty minutes, either voluntarily or abruptly. They will be plagued by strange and foreboding dreams, and when they awaken their eyes will have shifted to a golden coloration and Evocation may then be performed at will. 

Evocation as a trait is also partially hereditary and sexually transmissible. Men can transmit Evocation to a woman if a viable pregnancy ensues (the important moment is implantation, for our purposes), and a Woman with Evocation can potentially pass it on to her children.

Despite this, the highland nobility of Murex make a point of making their family lines always pair with outsiders and non-Evokers. This is because Evocation, when passed onto offspring from both parents, always results in the birth of a Demon. A pairing between a Male and Female Evoker will produce Demonic offspring 100% of the time. A pairing between a Male Evoker and a normal woman will never result in Demonic offspring and will produce normal offspring capable of Evoking roughly half the time, since the disease does not grip the woman's physiology and genetics until after successful implantation. Any subsequent coupling between the same two individuals will then assuredly produce only Demonic offspring (since thereafter the Woman will have become an Evoker). 

Evocation can also be transmitted via cannibalism of Evokers, although it has be particular. Unlike with Demons, where devouring any amount of their flesh or humors is effective, with Humans and other species one must devour the Thymus specifically in order to acquire Evocation.

Moving on the the practical applications and usage of evocation - as described in the treatise, even the most potent Echo-grade Evocation will, under ideal circumstance, only have a quarter of the efficacy of the Evoked principal. An Echo of flame will only burn with a quarter of the original's potency. Hence, a battlefield Evoker can conjure the Echo of a sawdust explosion, but it would only have a quarter of the force and thus would be significantly less likely to be life-threatening. Similarly, the Echo of a falling or flung boulder would not be anywhere as dangerous as the original, since it would only have a quarter of the mass and force of the original projectile - and due to how force scales with mass, the efficacy of an Echoed projectile will usually drop off geometrically.

Evocation is dangerous and effective on the battlefield and elsewhere, but the obvious applications are usually not the most effective.

One useful and practical application of Evocation is lighting. Even a Hint of a memory of daylight can be used to illuminate massive swaths of open space, for as long as the Evokers maintain the Hint. This is why cities, particularly in the regions of Murex less conducive to Gloaming wildlife, commonly employ multiple Evokers to maintain redundant and overlapping Hints of daylight above the settlement at particular points in order to provide regular illumination and backup in the event that one or two of the Evokers should lose concentration while going about their day.

The inverse application is also useful - the Evocation of darkness, and also of supernal darkness. Unlike with illumination however, it usually takes a stronger grade of Evocation in order to obscure well-lit environs, since any Evoked darkness will be more akin to applying a dark-shaded translucency filter over everything. With light, it is easier even where the light is faded and illusory, because native darkness is responsive to even low emanations of light. That said, an Evoker can easily almost wholly darken even a well-lit room with a fine-tuned Echo of darkness. As discussed in the treatise above, a Manifestation of darkness would be next to useless, since it would operate identically to actual darkness and so would instantly abate in the presence of light. A Manifestation of supernal darkness would have more permanence, but few mortal Evokers have the requisite knowledge and ability to comprehend supernal darkness necessary to Manifest it.

You will have noted that it is possible to Evoke the Echos of flame with a quarter the potency of the original. Multiple Evocations of this nature cannot be readily combined to enhance them, even as Echos. In practice you will just have two overlapping flames of identical heat that do not meaningfully interact with each other, as a reflection of their imperfectly realized nature. Whether or not combining Evocations together actually works or not depends more on the context than on the Evocations themselves, since they generally speaking will not meaningfully interact unless they are both solid constructs. Multiple Hints of daylight, referred to above, will not combine to create greater than normal illumination. Similarly, multiple Echos of darkness cannot be combined to make an area even darker. In both cases, the brightest Hint or the darkest Echo will define the upper threshold of what is perceived.

Also as commented on by the treatise above, it is possible to Evoke Vestiges and Shades to perform labor. The rules here are similar to the suggested rule of thumb for Echos. A shade will have perhaps a quarter of the strength and resilience of the original person. A Vestige will have, at best, only a tenth their strength and resilience. Under most circumstances, any amount of force which would cause any sort of break or disruption of the Vestige or Shade will cause them to vanish. A particularly skilled Evoker who specializes in Shade Evocation might be able to create Shades that can 'survive' injury and even obtain wounds and bleed like ordinary people, but this would represent one of the uppermost boundaries of what is capable with an Evoked Shade. Any additional fidelity would likely come at the cost of something else, and the only thing left to attain would be the Evocation of an Eidolon - which is comparatively almost impossible by most non-Demons.

As with the rest of Evocation, to create the equivalent of a Manifestation of a Live or Animate person, the Evoker would have to possess a close to perfect comprehension of them. Not only of their anatomy and the functionality of the body, but also of their personality and mind. Most Shade Evokers could qualify as textbook surgeons due to the knowledge of standard anatomy they require in order to be able to Evoke a shade (and a good number of them do, in fact, have full or part time job as physicians). All of their knowledge and more would be needed to even have a faint chance of Evoking an Eidolon.

The hypothetical degree of knowledge necessary to make an Eidolon would require more than mere familiarity with academic knowledge of anatomy. An individual will have to have, optimally, witnessed multiple vivisection in order to observe, feel, and probe at how most of the body looks, feels, and functions. They should have specific knowledge of the quirks and features unique to the person such as moles, irregular growths, the arrangement of their teeth, chronic bodily conditions (such as their digestion), etcetera. They then require an almost perfect realization and encompassment of the self of that individual. How and why they think, their mannerisms, habits, tics, and even their unconscious thoughts.

Despite the steep level of insight required, creating an Eidolon is somewhat easier than one might be led to believe after immediately having been told all of this. One does not need perfect awareness of every facet, physical and mental and otherwise, of another being in order to Evoke an Eidolon of them. They just need to know [i]enough[/i] of both to pass a particular, arbitrary threshold of complexity and fidelity to the principal being evoked. Past a certain unknowable limit, the Evocation will automagically fill in all the gaps while Manifesting the Eidolon, allowing for its creation even though the Evoker might have incomplete knowledge of the subject - which even allows the Eidolon to have memories and thoughts the Evoker knows nothing about. The Eidolon is, after all, a perfect duplicate of the original.

Any attempt to Evoke an Eidolon below the requisite threshold will always result in a Shade. Attempting to 'alter' traits of the Eidolon, consciously or otherwise, will always produce a Shade. What is important is the memory/the abstracted principal being used for the Evocation. If what you want departs from what you have perceived and are aware of, what you produce will be imperfect as a result. This applies to all forms of evocation as well. Attempting to evoke Green flames, for example, will not work unless you have actually seen Green flames before. You cannot recolor the abstraction of the principal flame you are using for your Evocation.

Which neatly ties into the closing point: Evocation draws upon the abstraction of what an individual has perceived and experienced, not upon what they want or what they desire. An Evoker does not create, they [i]recreate[/i].[/hider][hider=Excerpt from a Commentary on the Cynosure]...a nearly worldwide institution which acts as the predominant custodian and guardian of all Evokers external to the nobility of the highlands. They are not universally accepted or tolerated; numerous cultures view the Cynosure as an insufferable and intrusive subversive agency of saboteurs and blackguards. What is true is that the Cynosure operates without license or regulation save broad public appeal by a majority of the civilized world and the express approval of the mainstream Seven Sects. 

The Cynosure makes its business identifying, tracking, and apprehending Evokers external to the nobility who crop up (by unclear means) and cloistering them, subject to 'rehabilitation,' surgical treatments, and potentially training, or else to execution, or even other less pleasant alternatives. They are known to do this anywhere, everywhere, and to anybody who is not of noble descent, and have flagrantly violated the sovereign authority of several territories and even empires in order to do so. The Cynosure is funded by a number of anonymous patrons, although the Union of Seven Sects is usually pleased to admit its contributions, what they themselves contribute surely cannot account for the vast resources, manpower, and influence the Cynosure has at its disposal. Its internal hierarchy is largely a mystery to the layman, and even its ordinary agents know very little of its inner workings beyond what gleamings they gain from instruction and training by Cynosure officials. They openly own and hold land in numerous realms where they operate asylums, barracks, prisons, and other facilities pertaining to their line of work.

Publicly, the Cynosure holds themselves out as the only legitimate protector and guardian of Evokers in the wider world, especially those who are unfamiliar to the art and incapable of practicing it without being imperiled or else exploited by others. The Cynosure publicly advertises that it offers safe, effective, and reliable training to Evokers that enables them to function and thrive in modern society. Though it is true there are notable, prominent individuals in every society capable of Evocation who were inevitably cloistered, educated, and then subsequently released by the Cynosure - for every success story, there is an unseen mound of corpses.[/hider]