interlude: ellethia

[groundrules]

ELLETHIA

---

Goodbye & farewell to Taravast, as the party heads into the mysterious, if sadly downtrodden Ellethia. Our latest log has gone up to cover 3-17 January, and you can make your individual plotting comments or ask questions here!

Comments

[groundrules]

Hello!

1. The pamphlets are mostly self-contained and require no real magical reconstruction. The water damage might make some parts slightly illegible, but wouldn't bar readers from overall gleaning the following:

90 Days Since Conscription: Where Are Your Sons? it is unclear what the purpose of the conscription was, but the poster drawing shows hesitant young men being forcibly removed by a lawman from the loving grasps of their weeping families, while a man toying with a fire ball watches on with a smile.

Taravast Was Our Father's Question: includes a few paragraphs on why Ellethia must pursue its own path to growth and thriving glory, rather than remain locked in this ongoing rivalry for magical exploration with Taravast. The essay argues that constantly benchmarking off Taravast will stunt Ellethia's true progress.

Who Watches through Your Mirrors? a community group questions whether the newly debuted mirrors of luck, counsel or protection that have become popular in Ellethia are not secretly being used by the government to spy on its citizens. The group argues that Ellethia has come to overrely on magic that only the elite understand, ensuring their wealth and prosperity.


2. Are there any other interesting bits of information about Ellethia and what happened

Bear with me — what happened...?


3. A visit to the botanical gardens will reveal hundreds of stone plats, some marked with names. The phrase Truth Bows Only to the Sun, also found on the plates of Ellethia-Hamsour, is engraved on some of the plates. Most stone pieces have been cut to the same size, but the discrepancy in length/width and the cracks in the engravings suggest a rushed job. There are no actual graves. The dates inscribed on the plates show the deceased passed at various ages: children, adults, elders. They all perished in the same year. The plates that mention a day show the same one.

[lancifolium]

What happened to Ellethia, or any other useful nuggets of importance tbh! She'd be trying to read anything she can find to read.

Also, anything/anywhere of note with that eye sigil that was originally spotted on the Stairs of Sighs?

Would sifting through any of the buildings yield up any of those mirrors the pamphlet mentioned?

[groundrules]

Nothing recorded on what happened to Ellethia — but Lily can find the books of the library are largely out of place, signalling either Ellethia had very poorly kept libraries, or she is not the first to peruse the reading selection since the citadel fell.

The sun-eye sigil can be found on some of the decrepit plates buried beneath the greenery of Ellethia-Hamsour, which announce the magical-technological institutes. Consider sharing this with the class!

There are many mirrors in the citadel. Several houses have smashed mirrors, though they typically also have crushed windows, damaged furniture, etcetera. Several of the houses show damage that indicates trampling. If any of the mirrors in Ellethia-Allayar were ever magical, either they or the sorcery that governed them has been removed.

[lancifolium]

Awesome, thank you for all this!

And while we're digging around disorganized libraries: would there be any information about the lighthouse?

[groundrules]

Maps of Ellethia that precede the sundering show a great lighthouse — in Allayar.

Its remains can be found with deeps marks of likely mermaid clawing.

[lancifolium]

Delicious. Thank you again!

[reparo]

Sliding in here as well because Hermione's joining Lily in hunting for pamphlets for now. Would you be able to also say if there is anything to be gathered from the We Are The Answer and Selling: Minor Palace with Main Street View and Cat pamphlets?

(I feel like the word cat would probably catch Hermione's attention #JusticeForCrookshanks.)

[groundrules]

Sorry, guys - I think that's enough info for one of the searching parties, if you're doing this together. Happy to give you more if you do it apart, but I want to avoid giving the same unit all the info. Hope that makes sense!

[reparo]

It does make sense - thanks either way!

[lancifolium]

I'm sorry just to clarify, are you saying that the maps show a lighthouse in Allayar but not Hamsour, that both cities had their own lighthouses on the map, or was the map just of Allayar and not of Hamsour?

[groundrules]

Hi — the map is of pre-sundered Ellethia. They only show one lighthouse, in the region corresponding to the current Allayar.