These documents were recovered in-game.
Chapter XIX: Darker Still
Gu’labir and T’Zyri kept true to their word and, when Beodhen sent warning that soon Steramestei would cast the Aurora, they readied themselves. “On Deeper Maw,” T’Zyri offered. “True creation is born in the suffocating dark.” Hesitantly, Beodhen assented and prepared, with Steramestei and Mynair, to ready the Aurora for the Hedonist Prince’s High Holiday.
On the second night of Deep Maw, stars glittered brightly on the smooth expanse of Mynair’s tides. The Goddesses waited in earnest for the dark. Without warning, Gu’labir and T’Zyri slit open the belly of Deep Shadow. Darkness, fluid as ink and deeper than silence, spilled across the earth. Stars strained under the cover, and even the strange, glowing creatures of the seas guttered. The world was awash in a blackened quiet that courted both dread and wonder.
However, upon this darkness, Steramestei cast the Aurora. Upon the black, a streaming show of color and light danced across the sky and skittered across the waves. Pink, green, gold, purple, and red radiated as a spectacular beacon. As Steramestei allowed the Aurora to dip and flash in the night, the attention of the Beasts turned towards her. Slowly, the Four Beasts began to march towards Horizon.
Most Mortals who saw the Beasts march into the sea said they heard nothing but the thunderous crash of foot and claw upon the earth. However, those followers of the Sisters who listened intently claimed something else: they claimed to have heard, once more, the Song of 10,000 Voices. They claimed it was sung sadly by the space between the stars itself.
Whatever truth may be, the plans of Beodhen and Steramestei, as aided by T’Zyri and Gu’labir, proved sure. The Beasts were turned away from Circadia and towards Horizon’s sea.
Chapter XX: The Fall of the Moth
As Beodhen, Mynair, and Hyrnedhna watched the Aurora dazzle the black, Steramestei greeted an old friend. The Beast of Air, Sela’kaj, fluttered up towards the Star Lady. Great wings beating, the Moth left behind a trail of stardust, as if aiding the Aurora in guiding the Beasts back to the sea.
Steramestei spoke to Sela’kaj in the language of the stars, and Sela’kaj answered with a silvery, giddy chirp that echoed throughout Circadia.
Kasamei, far away and nervous for her sister, recognized the sound: rest, the Beast of Air assured, was coming.
However, as Steramestei laughed with the Beast of Air, her attention was stolen. Something flashed by her, and Steramestei turned to watch. A Wanton, one of Verine’s Aspects, flickered before her for a moment, then disappeared.
In this moment in which Steramestei’s attention was so taken, the Aurora dimmed. The world once more fell to darkness.
And in that darkness, T’Rer’s silver arrow raced through the sky. Sure of its mark, it pierced the Beast of Air through the breast. In a thunderous roar, the Moth fell through the sky and plunged deep into the depths of the sea.
The Aurora faltered. Steramestei screamed.
Far away, Kasamei heard her sister’s cry and, closing her eyes, raced through the space between stars and, in seconds, was at her sister’s side. Taking Steramestei’s hand, Kasamei held her twin in an embrace, murmuring only, “I am sorry.”
As Steramestei sobbed, Kasamei steadied herself. She did not have her sister’s brilliance, but she was made of a darker grace. Stumbling only momentarily, she cast the Aurora so that the Beasts might finish their progress.
And so they did. Lumbering peacefully, the Beasts returned to their slumber beneath the tides.
All would have rejoiced, but the Beast of Air, as Kasamei had witnessed, had fallen.
Chapter XXI: They Would Be Hated
Verine congratulated T’Rer on his success, and he, for the first time in months, smiled. One of the Beasts was dead. He looked to Verine and saw in her face, for the first time in months, a true ally.
Pity he failed to notice the snake at his heel. In a wavering shadow, T’Zyri appeared before them. She scoffed at her brother and her longtime enemy.
“What fools you both are,” T’Zyri said plainly. “How stupid you have become.”
Verine moved to reprimand the Goddess, but T’Rer stopped her.
“Leave me, sister,” T’Rer warned. “I know you and the Rotten One were behind such impossible darkness.”
T’Zyri laughed. “Indeed,” she said. “For that was a plan woven tightly rather than,” and she gestured at Verine, “cast loosely as one might discard waste.”
Verine once more moved to strike T’Zyri, but once more T’Rer stopped her.
They were interrupted by Nepheris.
“What has happened?” he demanded. “Their plan was working. It was in accordance with what they had discussed.”
Neither T’Rer, T’Zyri, nor Verine said anything. T’Zyri, however, smiled.
“Who killed the Beast of Air?” Nepheris looked from Verine to T’Rer. “Surely, it was one of you.”
“It was indeed my brother who let his arrow loose,” T’Zyri responded.
“Why?” Nepheris was rarely angry, but rage slipped into his words.
“It was the righteous thing to do!” Verine shrieked, but her proclamation felt hollow.
“Because he was embarrassed,” T’Zyri confirmed. “And, acting in embarrassment, he sealed his fate.”
“And what fate is that?” T’Rer finally said.
“You will be hated,” T’Zyri answered simply.
Nepheris looked from the Schemer to his aunt to the King who had once been his friend.
“And rightly so,” he hissed.
Nepheris and T’Zyri, wordlessly, took their leave. It is known that, for the first time in many years, Nepheris and T’Zyri shared what was mostly a cordial conversation. As so many things are, it is lost to time what was said.
Chapter XXII: The Era of Revelation
That Steramestei would accept the Fall of the Moth wordlessly was impossible. The Goddess, known for the white rage that could occasionally overtake her other charms, made it known that T’Rer was not only a brute but a foolish leader. She openly condemned his decision to punish Sela’kaj, decrying such action as both unnecessary and bloodthirsty.
It is true, among many of the Mortals, Steramestei’s proclamations echoed only dully. Afterall, many Devout and layfolk had fallen to the Beasts. Was it really such a tragedy, they wondered, if one might fall?
Such suspicions were stoked hastily by Verine–the Jealous God was eager to solidify T’Rer’s position among the Mortals and happily encouraged them to remember that, as ever, the Star Lady remained distant from the complaints of Mortals.
Verine may have been more successful had Kasamei not intervened.
Though Kasamei had joined Nepheris in his support of the Mortals beset by the Beasts, T’Rer’s assassination of Sela’kaj had turned her heart from not only T’Rer but Nepheris. As Steramestei condemned T’Rer, and Beodhen moved to unite the Wild Gods, Kasamei sent a Greater Aspect to the Mortal Realm.
Lai’Mara, once chief of all Kasamei’s Aspects, was visited upon the Mortal Realm. Known as an Omen of changing fortune, Lai’Mara was beloved by Devout of Kasamei. Lai’Mara, following Kasamei’s instruction, delivered to the Mortals who would listen Kasamei’s warning: T’Rer had been vengeful in his desire to strike down the Beast of Air. In doing so, Lai’Mara warned, the wounds of the Abyss grew deeper and festered more powerfully. Even those who disdained Steramestei could not refuse the wisdom Kasamei offered. Lai’Mara, for three years time, kept counsel with the Mortals, and, again, the Devout once more knew Lady Death’s comforting shadow.
Though Steramestei surely appreciated reconciliation with her twin, she could not forgive the Pantheon. She demanded an audience with T’Rer and, in frozen insult, decreed that she would relinquish her place on the Pantheon.
This caught T’Rer off guard, though he felt immediate relief. His mind was flooded of ways to be rid of the Star Lady, particularly if she were little better than any other Fallen God. Afterall, Verine’s Wanton had already proven meddlesome for her.
His thoughts were interrupted by the pleas of the Wild Goddesses. Mynair and Hyrnedhna, ever united in purpose, begged that Steramestei might stay.
It is unclear what Mynair said that moved Steramestei’s heart, but the Star Lady finally agreed that she would not relinquish her seat.
Perhaps she, like her sister, knew that the Era of Revelation would soon give way to Circadia’s most dismal time: The Age of Zealotry.
Zealot Larp 