Lore Quest: The Novo
From Istaria Lexica
 This article is a work of fiction related to Istaria. It is part of the background Istarian story.
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| Quest type: | Lore |
| From NPC(s): | Luciano |
| Locations: | Guild of the Artifact Hunters |
| Previous quest(s): | Lore Quest: The Vielo |
| Next quest(s): | The Novo Machine: Remnants |
| View this quest in the Quest Tree | |
| Item(s) required to start, progress or finish the quest: |
|---|
| none. |
Quest text[edit]
Greetings, <race>. Do you seek my knowledge of the Novo? Good, good, ungrel. The Gifted should be aware of their history to avoid the return of some threat. And if you have experienced this event, it will be a good reminder.
This story starts with none the less than the completion of the Ritual of Life Everlasting! Yes Gifted, the very event that created what you are today.
Upon the completion of the Ritual, the Vielo felt a change in themselves. We had long been travelers between the many different planes that exist in Istaria, collecting lore, knowledge, and other valuable items. Travelling that much through the planes had given us an affinity to our existence that no other races had.
We could suddenly hear distant voices within ourselves, and we began to speak back. Within a short amount of time we realized they were conversing with ourselves. After realizing this it was only a short time for us to research through our vast amounts of knowledge to discover what had led to this happening, and what exactly was happening. From this point in time onward we kept in regular contact with their counterparts in the other Realities, keeping up-to-date on the history and events occurring in each reality.
Speak to Luciano
You look shocked, Gifted. Haven't you even heard about these Realities? Then you should talk to Valentina to learn more about them.
So Luciano revealed to you the fate of the Realities before we use the Novo. Then I will enlighten you, ungrel, about what we have known since the Ritual of Life Everlasting.
Foolish Ungrels always trying to tame forces they do not truly understand, causing problems for the entire universe! When the Ritual of Life Everlasting occurred, it had a terrible side effect of splitting Reality into 14 seperate shards. Shortly after the ungrel created this mess, we Vielo were able to determine what happened and why we were able to speak to ourselves, but not ourselves through our minds.
Yes, after that Ritual and until we use the Novo we have all had our own voices trapped in our heads. How would you enjoy having 13 other versions of yourself all speaking to you in your head, ungrel? To keep things from getting complicated, we devised a way of naming each of the Realities so that we could track the history of each separate shard of Reality. Each tribe of Vielo now refers to their tribe as the Vielo of their Reality's name.
The 14 different shards of Realities were named the following: Blight, Bounty, Dawn, Earth, Energy, Expanse, Ice, Light, Life, Nature, Shadow, Spirit, Twilight, and Wind. We had named them after our most beloved Realms. Each of these Realities existed, and ever since they came into being they had been slowly diverging in history.
You see the interesting thing is you - the Gifted. Across each of these Realities existed a copy of every person, except the Gifted. Each of you was unique to the reality you were part of. The Gifted were what was causing history to diverge, everyone else continues to act the same way they would across each Reality. The tragic thing is that while everyone has always considered the Ritual of Life Everlasting as the saving point of Istaria, it could have very well been its downfall!
Yes, the downfall of Istaria could very well be placed upon the Ritual of Life Everlasting. While it may have created the Gifted, it had also multiplied the forces of the Withered Aegis by fourteen times. You see, they were not Gifted, and thus they existed in full force in ALL fourteen Realities. Or they had existed in full force in all fourteen...
There hadn't been much Withered Aegis activity in years. We Vielo assumed they had found out about the different Realities shortly after we did, and their necromancers had begun researching how to move across the realities. We believed they had been able to achieve this about twenty years after the completion of the Ritual, when the Realities of Light, and Nature were destroyed. This whole time they had been teaching their troops how to move from one Reality to another. They had been ferrying all their troops into one Reality at a time, combining all their troops into one massive force, and then launching a massive attack across the Empire destroying it easily. Who knows which reality would be next...
Speak to Valentina to learn about the split Realities
I have told you what I knew. Return to Luciano.
Speak to Luciano again
Quite a tale isn't it? When discussing with ourselves in other realities, we could know in real time what happened to each Reality. We could have descriptions of the fate of the realities that fell under the Withered Aegis offensive and these stories can send a chill to your own spine. You should speak to Aladar to know more about it.
Greetings ungrel, are you ready to hear the tale of the Realities of Light and Nature? While all of this may seem strange to you as you first hear it, you must listen and believe. The Gifted before you had to do it if we wished not to share the same fate as they did.
The Reality of Light was the first to fall, eight months before we came to the Prime to help you as your kind tells time, after the Ritual of Life Everlasting spread the Gifted across the fourteen shards of Realities. The Withered Aegis have always sought to destroy all that is living and have always been defeated by the brave few that inhabit these Realities.
As you may already know, one of the side effects of the Ritual of Life Everlasting was the splitting of the fourteen Realities, and while that turned out to be a blessing to the Gifted in some cases, no one benefited more than the Withered Aegis!
The Withered Aegis, who come from the Realm of Blight, devised a plan of the utmost evil. They used their necromancy and the corruptive power of the Blight to raise the dead and transform the indigenous creatures of all the Realities into one massive army that numbered in the millions and there was but one purpose for this horde: the complete and utter destruction of each Reality, one by one.
The Empires in the Reality Light were caught unaware and the undead horde ran unchecked through the walls of Aughundell, to the glorious city of Tazoon and brought the cities to their knees. Tazoon was torn brick from brick, and not one building was left standing. The council members met to discuss what was to be done, but it was too late and they were slaughtered where they sat. The grand fountain of Tazoon flowed red with the blood of the slain.
No living thing was left alive and you could see the fires of Lesser Aradoth from the eight Towers of Magic. The Towers soon fell in the onslaught. The powerful magic users of that Reality put up a valiant, yet futile, defense. They were no match for the Withered Aegis. My kind barely escaped the carnage and fled to the Realm of Twilight.
The mighty Reality of Light was snuffed and stays dark until we merge the Realities...
The Reality of Nature was next. This time the Withered Aegis attacked from the north. Their armies hit Mahagra, the home of the Half-Giants. More died there in the first hour than in all of the preceding history of the Half-Giant battles against the Withered Aegis.
Blood ran down the mountains to Kirasanct and all the arcane magic the Fiends possessed wasn't enough to staunch the flow of the immense numbers of undead and blighted beast.
The dead and dying of this Reality were ensorcelled and added to the ranks of the Withered Aegis' armies and their numbers swelled. Cities fell and Empires crumbled and the Reality of Nature was no more. There were no known survivors.
If that was not bad enough, Ungrel, with each additional Reality that falls to the Withered Aegis, their forces grown even larger!
As for the remaining twelve Realities, they would share the same fate if no action was taken. The remaining Realities had only seen limited action against the Withered Aegis attacks and small scaled invasions and had no idea of the danger they are truly in. The Withered Aegis had hidden their true numbers from us and from the Gifted, until they are ready to launch their next Reality destroying force. Already the Withered Aegis had some idea of our plans and were attempting to split their numbers into twelve armies to destroy the Novo Machines. If they had managed this feat, it would have prevented the Gifted from merging into a single Reality. This could not happen! The only hope of survival for anyone and anything on any Reality was to fight as one and so the Novo Machines had to be completed and then protected at all costs!
Listen to Aladar about the fallen Realities
Being able to tell you this story means we have succeeded. Speak to Luciano to learn about this feat.
As Aladar told you, the fate of Istaria looked grim and we have to find a solution to merge the Realities and unify the Gifted forces. We were in the year 21 A.R., according to your calendar. Time was short, but Pashalia had visions of the future: one was showing Istaria being invaded by a massive army of undead and another one was showing the Gifted travelling through a machine just in time to stop the Withered Aegis.
With the description of the machine, we started to search among our scrolls and books what it was across the Realities and we found the blueprints of a device called the Novo.
It was a great and wondrous machine of infinite power built to transcend dimensions and Realities...in theory, that is. Although we had never tested this theory in such a large manner, we are fairly sure that it would function as we intend. Unfortunately, we did not have time to fully test before the onslaught of the Withered Aegis was upon us. If the Novo machine succeeds or not, ungrel, either way the fate of the Istaria was in hands of the Gifted.
The purpose of the Novo Device, though it may sound a bit far fetched, was to unite the Gifted for the first time in history, allowing all the Gifted to fight as one against the Withered Aegis' massive armies. The knowledge of the construction and use of the Novo had to remain a secret to protect it from abuse, but we Vielo knew of a way through the power of the Novo to transcend space and time to merge the other Realities that were split after the Ritual of Life Everlasting back into one! But we had to hurry.
These devices had to be completed across all of the twelve remaining shards of Reality at the same time. That was the most crucial element of our mission. It was paramount that the devices were completed and were able to charge up until they are ready to be turned on and we were able to merge all Realities into one. We were communicating with the other Vielo across the other Realities to culminate this endeavor.
Time was of the essence and we had act quickly! My people were still receiving messages of an attempt to stop the construction of the Novo. You can understand, of course, why the Withered Aegis would have been massing their armies to stop the completion of the Novo Devices and also why it was so critical that the Gifted not be swayed from the course of action the Novo had shown us.
The construction of the device was underway southwest of Bristugo along the coastline. The Gifted had several missions.
The first one was to build structures to support the machines themselves. Many of your builders brought countless resources to complete them. Fitters, Weavers, Masons... the work seemed to have no end but they finally managed to finish in time to place the machines.
Meanwhile, the parts of the machines were crafted in various cities across Istaria. The Gifted were bringing resources to the exceptional Vielo crafters posted at their machine to use their knowledge and their abilities to create the complex components. These were so fragile they couldn't be carried through the teleport gate system making the mission more tedious. You can speak to these crafters if you want. They are at the workshop in the house over there.
Some Gifted tried to craft some spare samples of these components. Some were talented enough to get close to the quality level of the Vielo, but they couldn't match of course. Nevertheless, it helped to complete the Novo faster.
Of course, the Withered Aegis sent troops to prevent the machines from being completed. The Gifted warriors stood against many skirmishes. With the efforts of every Gifted, we managed to finish the Novo machines in time across the twelve remaining Realities. Each machine was charged with some extra energy to have the power to merge the Realms of Light and Nature where no machine could be built. Then we could only activate the machines and hope.
And we succeeded, ungrel! The copies of the non-Gifted were merged into one and all the Gifted were together to fight the threat of the Withered Aegis. We had ruined their evil scheme!
Speak to Luciano to learn about the construction of the Novo and how Istaria was saved
We can't hear our own voice anymore. We can only count on ourselves now to prevent the Withered Aegis to conquer this world. We, the Vielo, have saved you, but our destiny is now bound to the Gifted.
Steps[edit]
- Speak to Luciano
- Speak to Valentina to learn about the split Realities
- Speak to Luciano again
- Listen to Aladar about the fallen Realities
- Speak to Luciano to learn about the construction of the Novo and how Istaria was saved
