Lore

Lore of the Wizard with a Gun universe is told primarily through dialogues and series of books. This page hopes to transcribe the books, according to the series.

Lore Journals

• Alchemist Books
• Warlock Books
• Magus Books
• Sorcerer Books
• Wanted Posters

Gladwell Guide to the Shatter

Volume I: The Imperium

Welcome to The Shatter, brave adventurer and loyal customer of Gladwell Airships! The broken islands can be a dangerous place to visit, but our guides can keep you safe while you’re out getting rich!

Ye olde wizard’s Imperium took the worst of the explosion that broke the world two hundred years ago, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing good to be found there! The wizards are long dead but their mechanical pets and servants still roam the ruins, guarding treasures and precious reagents for your potion and magicks.

If you’re lucky, you might find an old, valuable spell tome that wasn’t encrypted by the cryptomancers of the Imperium. But please stay away from the Library of Alchemi! That’s Gladwell property and is off limits to our customers.

Welcome to the Tower

By Hilda Bulla

If you’re reading this, I’m dead… or the Cryptomancer has given up on me and found someone new to take my place.

She’s confusing and secretive, but you can trust that her goals align with ours -- at least to the point of stopping the world from falling apart. She cannot come into the Tower, for reasons she can’t or won’t divulge, so the Tower is completely at your disposal (other than Marcus).

Welcome to the Tower, whoever you are.

Like most, I thought the Tower was an Imperial myth. The doorways have been closed since the world broke two centuries ago and there are no entrances on the mainland that I know of. In my last five years on the Shatter, we’ve found and opened all of the doorways we’ve found.

Each doorway yielded many discoveries: books, machines, reagents… until we opened the last one. The large eye-shaped doorway at the edge of the Imperium. We set something loose that’s been waiting in the Tower a long, long time…

I think Chaos must be a failsafe left behind by the gods to prevent us from accessing their final Tower. Considering what happened two hundred years ago, I don’t think I’m the first person to release it.

We’ve rolled the Wheel back dozens of times to stop Chaos from destroying everything. We always fail. Though time doesn’t move normally here, I’m too tired and too old to continue this battle.

I just keep telling myself: one more time. That will likely become your mantra too.

Good luck, Hilda Bulla

The Library of Alchemi

By Hilda Bulla

The Tower existed before the Imperium.

All the Imperial writings we've found indicate the Gods used the Tower to build our world but destroyed the record of their actions. Maybe the Imperium did when they discovered the Tower, but from all the time we've spent decoding their encrypted books, they were not the record-destroying type.

Isa has taken over the Library of Alchemi.

For a while, I lent her my First Edition to transcribe the endless stacks of books. In one of those books, we read that The Imperium had found most of the Tower doors themselves before the Shatter. For hundreds of years, we have been told Alders was about trade routes and Koleye was a rebellion. I see now the Imperial wars with Alders and Koleye were about establishing bases near doorways. If we can stop Chaos, we have to get copies of those translated books back to the Academy. We’re at the verge of restoring all magical knowledge to the world, in a way that’s far more equitable than the Imperium’s caste system. I hope we make it in time to prevent my brother from rebuilding his own Imperium.

Thanks to him, Isa’s parents have placed a bounty on her. At least hers, unlike mine, is “Wanted: Alive,” but I worry the gunslingers and bandits they’ve been shipping here by the boatload lack a certain subtlety or ability to read…

When this is all over, I hope to mend things with the Gladwells, but I doubt they’ll ever forgive me for putting their daughter in danger.

The Infinite Well

By Hilda Bulla

I have mostly bad memories of the Fell, but the Lowroad still feels the most like home to me in the Shatter. There’s always a bed for me in the Tavern and Joshua always has a cold drink ready. One of the benefits of teaching him some alchemy.

In the next room over, Marcus raves on and on. I’m thankful the godsmarble muffles most of his ranting. I’ve resealed the room, primarily at the Cryptomancer’s request. I didn’t free him from his prison for the same reason. His imprisonment seems accidental, perhaps an experiment gone wrong, but he feels dangerous and unpredictable. Another variable for Chaos to exploit.

Reading through his notes (while he protested), he’s obviously from the Imperium before the Shatter. He’s lasted this long because time in the Tower works differently than in the overworld, especially when the doorways are closed.

Experiments with Isa indicate that when a second passes inside the Tower, 216 seconds pass outside. So in the two hundred years since the world broke, over 40,000 years have passed in here! Yet a person trapped in the Tower during that time would feel no aging or hunger. Likely, it seems, they’d go mad.

On the topic of madness, I’m worried about Orion. His studies at the Well have been having a noticeable effect on him. I think he’s no closer to healing the Well of his ancestor’s poison. Even if he does, I don’t think he realizes how much corruption has seeped into the ground of the Fell. Fixing the source is only one part of a century-long healing process.

The Kolbara Tree

By Hilda Bulla

When I first met Kolanna, some of their tribe mistook me for Solus, the goddess of destruction, having returned to save them from the barbarian king.

In their myths, Solus plucked her eye out to create a Lighthouse with which she could judge their deeds and character after she left. Though the doorway to Solus’ Lighthouse from Koleye is broken, we found another entrance through the Barren Sea. Having studied the Lighthouse closely, I don’t think the eye at the pinnacle is her literal eye. It’s clearly another godmachine and, based on the records of the destruction of Alders, an immense weapon. I expected that Kolanna would want to take over the Lighthouse, but instead they’ve settled into the Greenhouse where they’re studying the void tree.

Kolanna’s been the most resilient of all my Riders, probably because they’ve held the existential future of their people in their hands for most of their life. I expected them to want to take over the Lighthouse as a tool to fight their father, but I think they see the Greenhouse as a way to break that cycle of violence. Not that I’ve ever seen Kolanna back down from a fight.

The Lighthouse

By Hilda Bulla

We found the room like this. A room of judgment. A room for meting out punishment. Three chairs around a cage perched over the void.

It seems uncharacteristic for the Imperium to use the Tower as a courtroom, but the other alternative seems even stranger: this was where the gods cast judgment. What crime against a god would merit being brought to the Tower?

When I described this room and my theories to Talia, she was very quiet. At first I thought she was reflecting on Solus’ punishment that broke apart Alders, but she surprised me by saying:

“Being trapped in the Tower would be the perfect punishment.”

She’s never met Marcus. Most of the Rider’s haven’t, though they know he exists. Perfect punishment is not how I’d describe his condition. You’d have to really hate someone to isolate them outside of space and time for eternity.

I worry now that she’s found the Lighthouse, she plans on turning it into a prison for those who cross the Mage Hunters. Her militia reminds me too much of my brother’s. For now, they’ve been aiding us against Chaos, but when Chaos is contained again, whose side will they be on?

The Voidskimmer

By Hilda Bulla

When we unlocked this doorway in the Barren Sea, none of us expected to discover an empty dock on the other side. No other tower we’ve found has one, so I don’t know why the gods built it or how their ships traveled across the windless void.

In one of our attempts to defeat Chaos, Isa helped me summon the Voidskimmer into the Tower. If continued frontal assault of the Oculus doesn’t work, maybe we can set sail into the void instead.

I’m convinced now the Oculus leads to a doorway through which the gods left the Tower forever. The Cryptomancer was adamant I opened it last. Perhaps she thought with all the discoveries we’ve made in the Tower, we’d have a chance against Chaos. So far she’s been wrong.

Every time we go out into the Shatter to fight again, I see the heaviness of our task weighing down the others. We’ve been inside the Tower for years, maybe decades, between every roll of the wheel. There is something here that eats away at the mind, a voice in the void that preys upon our doubts and amplifies our fears.

I haven’t found anyone else to take over this role, and I’m worried after so many years of fighting, there is no one else out there who could do this. Perhaps a time will come where we’ll have to let Chaos win.

As the bard says, all things come to an end.

Introduction to Gunmancy

By Hilda Bulla

When the Imperium collapsed during the Shattering, all magical knowledge vanished with them. Those that tried to rediscover magic through trial and error suffered horrible fates, some I witnessed firsthand. A lot of great minds have been destroyed studying magic.

It was mostly serendipity that led me to create the first gun, but it’s been my life’s great privilege to teach the art of gunmancy, first at the Academy and now across the Shatter. Gunmancy takes the unpredictability and inconsistency of magic and, through rigorous study and experimentation, makes it controllable and safer (at least for the wielder).

The most important part of gunmancy is, of course, the guns. Guns, sometimes called wands, are simple tools for holding, directing, and releasing spells. A gun is comprised of three core parts: the trigger, the hammer, and the barrel.

A gun would be useless without bullets. Most of this tome will cover the creation of bullets, but let me start with a simple introduction of the two primary parts of a spell: the powder and the bullet. Bullet are (mostly) metal conductors etched with a rune. The rune is the core identity of the spell. Powders provide additional energy for the spell, as well change how the spell behaves after it leaves the gun.

If you learn nothing else from the introduction, remember this:

The more powders you used in the bullet, the more powerful the spell.

Pulling the trigger of a gun causes the hammer to strike the primer of the bullet and initiates an arcana reaction in the powder. The powder ignites an arcane current that runs through the bullet. The metal bullet is consumed as the energy courses through the runes to become a spell. The spell travels through the gun’s barrel towards whatever the barrel is aiming at.

Remember to aim the gun first.

Alchemi's Letter

Word of Alchemi, God and Goddess of Transformation

Alchemi’s Letter - Words of Alchemi, God and Goddess of Transformation

I’m so sorry Magus. Had I known what my brother was planning, I would have stopped him.

With one Word, his name no longer exists. If you try to imagine it in your mind, if you try to imagine his face, you’ll see only chaos. Even he, as I imagine him drifting, is faced with the eternal horror of being nameless.

He was never much revered by my people. They will not miss him. The very idea of him will disappear from the world. If they ask, I’ll explain him away as one of my many forms.

I am, after all, now the god and goddess of transformation.

Gladwell Guide to the Shatter

Volume II: The Fell

Well, aren’t you a daring adventurer, going into the Fell! make sure to buy some gladwell poison resist potions before you head into the swamps. The magic that corrupted the swamps of the Fell precede the Shatter by almost a thousand years! The miasma hasn’t gotten any weaker though, so don’t drink the water…

The Fell is home to a variety of dangerous creatures, so we advising staying close to The High Road, the ancient viaduct built by the Imperium. You might make some new friends at the High Road Tavern.

Fun Fact! The people of the Fell have no government! That’s right: they’re an anarchy of abominations, so any disagreements will have to be settled by violence or drinking contest and not by a local magistrate.

Warning: Gladwell ships no longer drop offs or picks ups in the Deep Fell.

The Infinite Well

Orion's Note

Poison.

Poison seeps into every crack and crevice, every thought, every moment of my existence, What is it? How could such poison be so deep in the very stone of the Well? It’s as though the gods themselves cursed this place. Once the gods could create entire worlds with just a word. Now those words are lost, replaced by one that haunts me: POISON.

Who etched that word upon the very godsmarble?

I feel myself losing my grip on sanity. My thoughts slip away under the ever staring eye of the Oculus, but I must know the truth. No matter the cost.

Decoded Message

Your orders have changed. You may (and must) leave your post to pursue the archwizard. I should have sent more agents down to support you. We didn’t realize the extent of his plans until you connected the pieces. That’s my fault.

Once this is over, you will leave the Fell and return to the city. I know it’s been hard down there, but you’ve done excellent work. we’ll put another agent in the bar and you can get some rest.

You have our permission to take whatever action needed to stop him from opening the door. The Imperium depends on you. GO!

Untitled Journal

Unknown Writer

I’ve been betrayed by the others; They made PROMISES that have been broken! WE HAD AN AGREEMENT! The very foundations of what we set out to do are now undermined and our very work, thousands -- tens of thousands -- of years of effort from ALL OF US is at risk.

HE wants to take credit for EVERYTHING, but he’s not the only one who has contributed. HE DOESN’T GET TO MAKE ALL THE DECISION WITHOUT TALKING TO THE REST OF US. I SHOULD HAVE HAD A CHANCE TO SAID NO.

She can’t come in and change the nature of reality. The gift she got is NOT A GIFT to be freely given out. Just because she got it doesn’t mean SHE CAN GIVE IT TO OTHERS.

I CREATED MAGIC. SHE CAN’T TAKE IT FROM ME. SHE CAN’T INVENT HER OWN. SHE CAN’T DO THIS. SHE CAN’T SHE CAN’T SHE CAN’T.

The Teaching Adventures of Marcus the Magnificent

Koleye: Day 5

I’ve finally settled in after the trip over the high road. Far better than wading through the toxic Fell, but still harrowing if you’re afraid of heights. Turns out I'm afraid of heights.

They’ve quartered me in the sorcerer’s wing of the new campus. I’d hoped they’d just have me do research, but they want me teaching apprentices. Should be a light work load, I hope, considering the actual goal of my trip.

Despite Koleye’s barbaric history and the custom of its savage citizens, I find the arid wastelands strangely beautiful in contrast to the trees of the Imperium and Fell.

They sent a dozen construct mechanas into the wastes to build a real town so we don’t have to teach in tree-bound burlap sacks. With the speed at which the mechana work, they could’ve just sent one. I wonder if the constructs are intended to serve as guardians as well, though I’ve never seen the mechana fight.

The Teaching Adventures of Marcus the Magnificent

Koleye: Year 2, Day 100

I’m growing tired of teaching.

Teaching simple cantrips and reagents without getting into Godspeak is driving me crazy. One of my students is royalty, by the savage definition, and she… gets it. She fundamentally understands magic in a way that’s unsettling.

She must’ve heard me say a Word, because I walked in on her practicing it. We intentionally don’t teach runes and have students rely on Imperium-provided scrolls, protected by cryptomancy, so that we have control over how magic spread into Koleye. If she starts decoding things, then Koleye will spiral out of being a potential Imperium colony into a direct competitor to the Imperium.

I need to speak to my father, but he’s been distracted lately.

One obvious solution is witchfire. Controlling witchfire is a standard practice for second year academy students, and those who fail to control it end up expelled or dead. It’s a good way to weed out the weak. Or cause an accident.

Journal of Marcus the Magnificent

Day 1

Despite all I did in Koleye, I’ve been banished to this godsforsaken corner of the Fell. How long has it been? Seven years? Eight Years? Ten?

We never should have brought magic to the barbarians. All the blame was placed on me, but the war was inevitable! If you teach someone to play with fire, then the first time they get burned…

Yet, all the time I’ve been stuck here doesn’t count.

Today is Day 1.

I found it! The first doorway to the Tower from the Fell. This must be why father let them send me here. Not as a punishment, but as an opportunity.

Just like the doorways I found in Koleye, this leads to the central portion of the Tower, back to that mysterious wheel.

Journal of Marcus the Magnificent

Day 498

They sent a fledgling cryptomancer to the Fell to run the old bar. They’ve given her some loose alibi (her brother, the miserable captain of the guard, lives here), but I know it’s to keep an eye on me and the other pitiful outcasts they’ve left to sink into the bog.

The other Archwizards must not trust my father if they think I need to be watched. They’re right to not trust him. If only they knew what we were planning…

Three doorways left! Or is it four? Then the last…

Maybe I can fool with the young wizard and have her report back nonsense. She seems naive enough. Over her head. Innocent. Scared.

She’s wears the mask of her role, but I've seen the scars underneath. If anyone knows what a witchfire burns would look like, it would be me. She should have been expelled from the Academy for a burn like that. Maybe she’s being punished too by being sent here.

Journal of Marcus the Magnificent

Day 657

My father plans, on the night of the centennial celebration, to open the Oculus and, finally after decades of searching, learn the secret of the gods. A pity if someone were to slip to the cryptomancer what he’s planning. The other archwizards are watching him closely; they must be starting to suspect. If the cryptomancer were to tell them…

Is that too risky? Will they figure out my part in all of this?

The cryptomancer is becoming more of a nuisance. Her brother’s dead. I didn’t have anything to do with it, but she’s been prying a lot into my past.

She’s finding out too much.

She knows about the tower, or she will soon enough. So maybe i bring her into the here and trap her. lock the door, throw away the key. My father doesn’t even know where this entrance is. She’d be here a thousand years before anyone found her

Is that safer than using her against my father?

If I use her right, I finally get my revenge. I can be the one who opens the Oculus. I can become a god. The whole Imperium will know my name, and I will punish them all.

Gladwell Guide to the Shatter

Volume III: Koleye

Hope you have some warm clothes, adventurer! Koleye used to be a hot wasteland, but the Shatter left the barbarian homeland covered in two hundred years of never-ending snow.

You know what’s not cold though? The tempers of the barbarians of Koleye! They’ve been fighting for a decade since the royal scion has refused to challenge ole King Harold for the throne. Just stay out of their way and they should leave you alone.

The hungry vulfs on the other hand… Please don’t bring any meat with you on the open tundra.

Make sure to visit the roots of the Kolbara tree, one of the great wonders of the world left behind by the Gods! There's only one trunk, but its roots cross the entirety of the frozen wastes.

The Three Gods

By Archiwzard Xavier

Welcome to the Tower, apprentice wizard of the Imperium!

There are many Tower entrances created by the gods that we’ve discovered around the world. Others remain undiscovered and unopened. As a wizard of the Imperium, you will be expected to seek out new knowledge and new tower entrances for your country. The gods left a thousand years ago, but we know much of their powers and histories.

Alchemi was our god and goddess. Alchemi could change his form with a single word. She taught us how to read and write and how to experiment with magic. He taught us the power of secrets. Her library is the greatest gift she left behind for us.

Magus was the god of the Vale. He left his people, the magi, with the Infinite Well and the gift to nourish life. The magi squandered their gifts and now the poisoned waters of the Fell corrupt their bodies and their land.

Solus was the goddess of the barbarians of Koleye. She did not give them the gift of magic but she taught them destruction and war. They remain to this day a savage people, resistant to our offers of enlightenment.

Intertwined Journal

Part 1

You okay?

I’m fine, but something’s wrong. The Tower doors have shut again. I'm sealed in the Library.

Me too. You heard from Hilda?

I haven’t. Can you see her Tower from the Greenhouse? It looks like a bomb went off inside it.

I’m too far away.

Can you get here?

No, the tether only let us go one way.

What should we do?

Wait. Prepare. Craft more bullets.

I’ll build more mechana.

It’s up to Hilda to roll things back.

She may be worse off than we are.

She’s never failed us before. Trust your aunt.

Intertwined Journal

Part 2

Remember those annoying bounty hunters?

Yes, why?

They found a way into the Tower. I just fought them.

How?

I don’t know, but I'm worried about Hilda even more now.

Did they take anything?

The gear from the Wheel that I recovered. My gun. They wrecked the library too. I’m still putting it back together.

Why would they want the gear?

I don’t even know if they know where it goes. maybe they serve Chaos.

I cannot think of another explanation.

If they do serve Chaos, they’ll be coming for you next.

I shall be ready for them.

Flora's Journal

Part 1

Even after all this time, I can’t believe Magus gave me this gift. Since he brought me to the Tower, I feel like centuries have passed. The act of creation demands so much of my attention that I could easily lose millenia here. Soon I’ll be ready to have the others come and see the work I’ve done. They’ll be excited when they realize how far I’ve pushed growth magicks.

Speaking of which, Solus loved the Kolbara sapling I gave her.

The fruits of the tree have all the nutrients a person needs to survive, plus it tastes amazing. The clonal nature of the plants is what’s interesting though. As it grows across Solus’s lands, all the saplings will be connected to the primary trunk through the void, drawing arcana as a nutrient. The trunk will grow as wide as a city, so her tribe can build their capitol in its shade. As the roots expand, each shoot can become a thick tree big enough to support a small village. The tree and tribe will grow together in symbiosis.

I’ve been trying to come up with a good gift for Alchemi’s brother, to make peace with him. Alchemi doesn’t know why he’s been so hostile. Nothing a plant can’t salve!

Flora's Journal

Part 2

I’ve had deep and lengthy conversations with Solus about death. I still can’t believe the others, with all the power of creation and magic at their disposal, haven’t created an afterlife for their followers yet. She seemed embarrassed, perhaps from the fervency I defended the idea, which is uncharacteristic of her. She’s fallen in love with one of her mortal kings, who is, to be fair, quite a beauty.

For him, I think she can be swayed.

The others have long held onto their belief that so long as people believe there is an afterlife, the existence of one doesn’t matter. Magus was easy to convince of my plan, but his heart is less hardened by an eternity in the Tower than the others. Alchemi and her brother will be harder to convince.

I’ve figured out that Alchemi’s brother fought against me being given the gift, though not why he did so. He’ll be the hardest to convince.

Final Thought on our Work

Word of Magus, God of Creation

Through this door lies an infinite expanse of worlds, many not yet born and some that are.

You were my first world. As intimate as I am with your flaws and shortcomings, I love you dearly. Though creating you was a struggle and some of the worst pain and heartbreak I’ve ever felt, you have given me some of the greatest joys and memories I could possibly imagine.

I will never forget you no matter how many worlds I craft…

But it is also time for us to move on.

To create something and let it free is the ultimate test of the artist.

The people I lived among called me a god, but I never felt comfortable with that title. I never wanted to rule their lives and demand their worship. I just wanted to create some place they could live, someone they could love. So if you must call me something, call me Magus, the Creator.

We’ve done our best to lock the Tower and keep your world self-contained and self-operating, but I know there is a chance one of you will find a way in here and try to follow us. I hope you don’t. Everything you need is here. But if you do, come find me.

The Long Lost Brother

The Song of an Unknown Bard

A long lost brother left behind In a land outside of time And over cent’ries, or were they days? He lost his soul, he lost his mind. When they found him did they know the worm had eaten him to the core? They must have - For they cast him forth On a ship, bound to the bow. Long lost again he drifted through an endless, starless prison And when they left and locked the door he’s eyes beheld an eon’s vision

that he’d be trapped forever more

Gladwell Guide to the Shatter

Volume IV: Aldern Sea

Looking for a sunny and sandy vacation, adventurer?

Before the world broke, the Aldern Sea was a vast island kingdom ruled by a matriarchy of pirate queens. Don’t expect any fish now though! The waters of the sea fell into the abyss and all that remains is a barren desert.

Though there’s no more booty to plunder, the descendents of those feisty pirates are now heartless mercenaries! Fun! Just don’t draw steel or spell on them and they should leave you alone…

The richest treasures of the Barren Sea can be found in the old Imperial Shipwrecks! Alders and the Imperium had a rough and violent history, and now that the water is gone, you might be able to find old imperial treasures guarded by whatever sea creatures have managed to cling to rocks and the wrecks.

The Arcane Cycle

By Archizard Xavier

Creation. Change. Destruction

Those are the three primary phases of magic. Understanding them and how one branch of magic connects to the others is essential to understanding how you can change reality in the way the gods did. In the center of the wheel, forever turning its spokes, is arcana: the raw magical energy that everything contains. Arcana cannot be destroyed. It cannot be corrupted.

Creation is the act of shaping arcana into a new element.

Transformation is the transference of an element from one state to another. A large amount of arcana is required for the process.

Destruction returns an element into arcana. Less arcana is required for this process, as the arcana inside an element naturally wishes to return to Chaos.

Journal of Archwizard Xavier

I’ve been relegated by the other archwizards to guarding the Wheel as a thinly veiled punishment for my son’s folly in Koleye. I told them we couldn’t teach those brutes magic magic and I’m the one suffering for it!

The sting comes as much from guarding a broken machine as the irony that I can’t roll it back to fix the boy’s stupid mistake.

Six tethers. Why would three gods require six to roll back the wheel? My only guesses risk heresy. I’ve been reading the lore, but there’s none that explain it. The gods didn’t leave behind a manual.

At least the eye doesn’t glare down as strong here. Perhaps I’ll be spared the insanity of my predecessors. I have time in the world to solve this riddle.

Shopkeeper's Note

On the Eve of the Centennial Banquet

Apprentice,

The Archwizard came back all in a huff today demanding that the ceremonial outfit we’re working on be, this is a direct quote, “fit for a god.” I think he’s gotten a little full of himself, but that’s an Imperial wizard for you.

I’m running to the market to gather more Saffrodil silk from the Shyan trader’s stall? If you get it before I’m back, please re-open the shop. The Cryptomancer guild robes are ready for pickup.

Centennial Dinner

By Archwizard Xavier

Gentlewizards,

I come before you on this night a thousand years after the gods left us, six hundred years since the founding of the imperium, two hundred years since we reopened the Tower, and a hundred years since we built the Prime Mechana.

Tonight is a night when the gears of destiny align.

We have regained access to half the tower. The secrets of the gods open before us. We have located doors in the Deep Fell and Koleye that will take us even further.

In the capital, our Mechana (nod to Corvellum here) build spires that reach the sky. The High Road carries us over the ruins of the Vale and to our foothold in Koleye. The Carts of Shyan bring us reagents from around the world on our roads while paying our tolls. The Imperial Navy pushes the pirates of Alders back to its shores. Our cryptomancers (nod to Lucretia here) have secured the entire library of Alchemi.

And so I raise a toast! The golden years of the Imperium are ahead of us. The other two archwizards and I wish you the best of evenings. Enjoy the food, the wine, and the fruits of centuries of labor.

Theories of Chronomancy

By Archizard Xavier

The power to roll back time.

This is what I’ve been seeking for decades: a functioning Godmachine. Yet still I struggle to figure out how to control it. The gods left no instruction or tome behind. I’ve already scoured Alchemi’s library twice and set the mechana to the task as well.

The Soul Tethers must be the key. When I’m tethered, one of the Wheel’s gears begins spinning. Of course the gods would not allow themselves to be rolled back with the rest of the world, so they must have built a failsafe that requires them to be in the Tower when the machine activates.

There were three gods, so there must be three tethers as well. There’s one here and another one in Alchemi’s library. That must mean the third is in the Fell, for Magus, or Koleye, for Solus. Still, it’s strange that this tower has no clear owner…

I can trust my son on one of the tethers, but I don’t know who to trust on the other… Giving someone the knowledge and power of a god is a vast risk considering what I’m trying to accomplish in the Tower. Maybe I could bind a jynx to one…

The Secret of Soul Tethering

By Archizard Xavier

The Gods did not build an afterlife, at least not the one the commoners believe in. I’ve been able to gather this from the experimentation I’ve done on souls.

So far, I’ve been able to transfer a soul from one body to another, to return a soul to a body after severing it, and return a body to a soul using a Soul Tether.

Transferring a soul from one body to another is much like dropping a new tome on a mechana. The memories remain in the previous body and no new memories from the soul are created in the new body, which indicates to me that any experience a soul has is intangible. It has no more experience than a mote of dust in the breeze. Therefore, there is no afterlife.

I have not yet been able to destroy a soul, which seems to take a large amount of magical force. I’m hesitant to experiment too deeply, as succeeding, I hypothesize, could release an even greater arcane explosion.

The Final Word of Archwizard Xavier

If you read this, know that I have come here to ascend godhood.

Only I have unlocked all the secrets of the gods. Only I know the true identity of Chaos. Only I have earned this.

I was the one Chaos chose to inherit its powers. I was the one it beckoned to the Oculus. Of hundreds and thousands of wizards who have discovered and visited the tower, only I have mastered it.

Now I will follow in the footsteps of the gods and join them as an equal.

This power is mine and mine alone

Do not try to follow me.

the door will be locked.

The Parting Gift

Words of Solus, Goddess of Destruction

I am leaving you forever.

As a parting gift, I give you my right eye.

May it watch over you as I watched over you for millennia. May it witness your glories in battle, your honor in defeat. May it see your families grow and prosper like the roots of the Kolbara. May it judge your worth the way that it judged that of Alders.

If it finds you lacking, it shall destroy you. If it finds you worthy, you shall have my blessing and my strength Until the day you die.

May the boughs of the Kolbara forever shade you. May the blood you spill flow over the blood you lose. May the bones of your kings guard the Tower forever.

You shall always be my children.

I shall be with you forever.