All planes grow from the
Astral. Even the
Liminal, the fabric between the many worlds, is simply a state of waiting for its own becoming.
Lake Roto is situated at an unusual bulge in the ley network, pulled in multiple directions by multiple attached planes. Of course, you know the
Endless Magma to the west–you can see its gleam over the canopy from here on clear nights. You’re likely also familiar with the
peléan-guarded
Feywild portal, deep in the
Crown-Fire Grove. The
rangatiri you’re traveling with can guide you there in perhaps half a day, should you need to investigate it. We in the
House of the Nova hold the rest a close secret–let us say that the
Astral Plane’s wells run deeper near certain reservoirs, and the
druids of the
Children of Aquarius share this house with us for a reason. Dr. Bottomjeans has an alarming amount of our information, given the schematics of her lab’s equipment; should you find it in her wreckage, I ask that you guard it better than she did.
All magic pulls on its source.
Found Magic is the least disruptive; it merely acknowledges that which is already present, and only the most powerful and desperate uses of it distort it.
Learnéd Magic tends to sit lightly upon it, despite what skeptics might say. I am not one to judge it; I am a weaver, so I am a woman of patterns as well. There is many a
wizard who tries to push the ley, and many a wizard who tries merely to follow and monitor it. From your diligent notes and your earnest demeanor, you seem to be the latter. I welcome that, given our time of need. I'll happily facilitate it.
Granted Magic, though… granted magic has a neediness to it, one I've never fully trusted. I spoke to my mother this morning before I returned from the
Conclave. She is not quite as good at being discreet as she thinks she is. I’ve been instructed to gather lore on a
Death Knight named
Maudelyn Blackheart; this name has made its way to Bottomjeans and yourself as well. I trust you understand what a death knight is, Archmage, and how consequently troubled I am by the potential implications.
These equations you’ve found are based around the Enheduannan conjecture. It’s a useful tool for estimating the potential ability of lesser immortals to return to the Material Plane after their defeat. You see how she’s labeled the variables? Powers supporting the immortal, souls claimed by those powers, and the years of their first appearance and latest defeat according to the Divined Planar Age. Somewhere, Dr. Bottomjeans likely has journals balancing speculative P-values within an old series of diviners’ formulas called the Zodiac matrices. They’re complex mathematical expressions that describe instances of magical anomaly in relation to interplanar calls for power flowing between the Material Plane and others. They’re not dissimilar to the locumtemporal microfluctuations I showed you earlier–albeit derived from intense calculation rather than careful observation. The values climb exponentially the more granted magic a given immortal supports–as I said, there is a neediness to granted magic. It saps the network; it creates vulnerabilities. Benevolent gods may see fit to restore them responsibly; lesser immortals hungry for power will never do the world the same service.
I recognize the names of death knights: Maudelyn Blackheart,
Dread Lady Gerolde… I seem to recall
Dicent Éxni as an ancient
elven legend? Death knights have a habit of banding together. When they do, terrible destruction always follows. It’s chilling to see their names connected like this, with so many dates in our near future and recent past. What happens after all those dates come to pass? What evil could possibly lie at the center of this star?
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