[The Sanctuary and Beyond] I, Isur

[Ialari Pythone]

As often as time allowed, Ialari would spend time in her Dominion engaged in relatively mundane activities. It was all a part of communing with her Dominion. By living there, breathing the air and sharing thoughts with the environment, her nature gradually influenced the space. Ialari had accomplished a lot of this over the years as her Dominion slowly began to reflect who she was. The landscape, which at first had shifted randomly, was anchored now in a vast underground cavern. Over the years, Ialari had introduced a number of different plants and even a few animals. She even learned to exercise some small control over the weather as well as the general mood of the place. Much of what she accomplished though was done through sharing her thoughts out loud with the Dominion; something she had performed at length on countless occasions. While it served to help strengthen her ties to the Dominion and increase her control over it, such sharing also maintained her ties to the physical world. Without that grounding, she likely would have lost herself to the Dominion rather than gaining control over it.

As she sat in on the rock next to the small pool of water, Ialari found herself thinking about Izurdin; not an uncommon occurrence to be sure. The god had influenced her life in so many ways and had influenced her Dominion as well. It was with his gnosis and the bond Ialari shared with him that she was able to increase her claim of space within the Ukalas as well as bless her Dominion with his influence. She often treated her Dominion as a living creature, holding lengthy one-sided conversations with it and explaining various aspects of her life, her feelings as well as the history of her people, their religion and of course Izurdin.

Speaking out loud as she lounged about on the rock, she spoke of King Izurith, the first isur and sire to all who came after.

“It’s a story that my mother told me many times when I was growing up. Ages ago, when the earliest humans spread across the land, the world was a bit chaotic and untamed. There were countless threats that the humans found themselves faced with on a daily basis. Not the least of these threats were the ones posed by the gods themselves. They sought to carve out their own kingdoms among the mortals; dominating, enslaving, leading, guiding and shaping the mortals as they saw fit.” Ialari traced her metallic fingers through the stone of the rock, watching it part at her touch.

Arith and Reth, her two blood-bound snakes, slithered about the ground below on the hunt for food. In a way, Ialari was speaking to them as well even though she knew they likely had no idea what she was saying.

“As the gods played with the humans like pieces on a game board, the Divine Father Izurdin chose to remain a part from it all. He felt he had done enough by taking the raw material created by Ivak, God of Fire and forging the world from it. He left the other gods to their play things and waited to see what would come of it all. Alas, the gods meddled too much in the affairs of humans and stifled creativity and potential. The humans, even as many found a life through various gods, were at the same time losing themselves. His infinite patience finally stretched to the limit, the Divine Father decided to take action. The humans however were too far influenced by the other gods for him to be able to do much directly. Instead, he conceived of a plan to introduce a new element to the playing field.” Ialari remembered fondly her mother’s voice the first time the story was told to her. It was told as a bedtime story to help Ialari fall asleep. Although she could never stay awake to hear the story all at once, she was able to piece it all together over time.

“Izurdin had the idea to build a model and introduce it to the humans as something to aspire to. His creation would show the humans that with enough patience, ingenuity and strength, they could accomplish anything for themselves without having to rely solely on the gods. So, in his divine workshop, Izurdin had a rough piece of stone mined from the furthest depths of his own realm. It was rather bland in appearance other than the single vein of silver that dominated the stone’s center. Taking hammer and chisel to the stone, Izurdin began to carve. As he shaped the stone, his model began to take shape in the form of a stone skeleton. From the silver vein in the stone, he molded muscle and tissue to cover the skeleton. Looking upon his growing creation with pride, Izurdin’s satisfaction brought forth skin to cover the figure; skin much like his own. Then, with a divine hand, he touched the model’s shoulder.” Ialari always loved this part of the story.

Looking at her own black metallic arm, she continued, “The model’s arm took on a brilliant ruby hue. At that point, as perfect as he creation looked, it was still little more than an elaborate sculpture. It would take a divine spark to grant it something far greater. Reaching into his own body, the Divine Father pulled forth a piece of his own essence and infused it into the model. Then, with his own blood, he awakened a heart within the model and with it, created a new life. The model creature was given the name, Izurith and the Divine Father called him son. He tasked his creation which he referred to as an Isur, or Child of Izurdin, to enter the mortal realm and teach the humans how to live for themselves and not solely for the gods.” Ialari never fully understood that part of the story. The isur embraced Izurdin with all that they were. Basically they lived for him. For the Divine Father to wish his child to teach the humans NOT to live for the gods seemed to go against one of the basic teachings that the isur held so dear.

Yet, even as she had trouble fully understanding the concept, she couldn’t help but acknowledge that some of it did align with her own situation in life. While Izurdin held great influence over who she was and who she wanted to be, if she were to ever fully achieve her goal of becoming whole again, she would have to learn to live for herself. It was a philosophical puzzle that she often toyed with in hopes of fitting together the right pieces.

“Izurith went to the mortal realm and brought with him the secrets of smithing, and of physical improvement. He taught as many humans as would listen how to create with their own hands and how to build their bodies to a level that they could stand against the threats posed by the living world. By learning how to improve and create, the humans need not be so reliant on the gods and in turn would be able to find their own potential and prosper.” Such were the concepts that all isur lived their lives by. Izurdin granted them the tools in life to build and grow who they were.

She didn’t know exactly why but the story of Izurith always made her think about her Pythone Pitrius, the first of her family. “Even though he is no Izurith, my most ancient of direct ancestors, Pythone, was a unique individual to be certain. He was a man that I think both of you, Arith and Reth, would have enjoyed being around.” Ialari looked down to see Arith, the smallest of the two snakes, snatch a beetle off a small rock, crush it in his jaws and begin the process of swallowing it.

[Ialari Pythone]

“The thing about Pythone that would interest the two of you most; I must admit it has influenced my life in many ways, is that he has a uniquely strong affinity for snakes. He dabbled in a variety of magical disciplines and his manipulations of djed usually took the form of something related to snakes or poison. It was also rumored that he had close ties to Siku, the Snake Alvina. It was even said that his bond to the Alvina was as strong or perhaps stronger than that shared with the Divine Father. I doubt that part though.” Ialari was always uncomfortable with that claim about Pythone. As much as she was enamored with snakes, she could never imagine giving her faith to Siku over Izurdin. “Unfortunately he vanished while performing some vastly important mission for Pitrius, himself. Oh how I would love to know what that mission was and what happened to Pythone. I like to think that he and I would have gotten along well.”

Talking about Izurith and Pythone was enjoyable for Ialari. In fact, she got so caught up in the stories that she had a rather novel idea. Why not honor both of those important figures by creating a sculpture influenced by both. It would be a centerpiece for her Dominion that would hopefully, at least in some small way, take away some of the gloom that shadowed the place; the shadow created by the tree of death that loomed overhead.

While she didn’t know a whole lot about the formal art of sculpting, that is to say she was no master like many of the artisans that sculpted works of art throughout the Kingdom, she made up for it in imaginations, enthusiasm and of course there was always the possibility of imparting upon such a work in order to bring out its inner beauty. With an idea quickly forming in her mind, Ialari took a temporary leave from her Dominion to reenter the physical world back at The Sanctuary. Stepping through the doorway, she entered her chambers, dressed herself as she had been lounging around in the nude, and made her way to the forge where she gathered a bit of iron stock. Returning to her chambers with the iron in hand, she reentered her Dominion. Setting the iron down, she began work on gathering a few more things she would need for her sculpture. The next thing would be a good amount of stone. There was plenty of it that she was able to access within the confines of the Dominion. Nestled in a subterranean cavern, there was stone everywhere. Walking over to where a rather large stalactite reached up from the rocky cavern floor, Ialari began using her metallic hand like a tool used for cutting clay. With her arm fully extended, she sunk it slowly into the base of the stalactite and began sliding it in a way that it would gradually separate the stone formation from the cavern floor.

It was a slow process as Ialari didn’t want to cause too much stress on the stone itself in fear that it would collapse in pieces. While that wouldn’t necessary harm her intended project, it would make quite a mess and potentially hurt her. The stalactite itself was about six feet tall and five feet at its base tapering off to about a foot around at its tip. She had no idea how much it must weigh but she was certain it was immensely heavy. She wasn’t sure how should be able to move the massive piece of stone but eventually came to the realization that she could probably just manipulate the stone in a way that it would slowly lean to a point where she could separate it. If she did it right, she could get it to lay down with minimal force. In fact, it wasn’t all that far away from what she considered to be a good spot to build the sculpture. Once it was laying down, she could use it for raw materials with only a short distance to cross to and from.

Gradually, Ialari slid her arm through the stone and manipulated the base of the stalactite so that, as she pushed it over, she would rework the stone to maintain some support. Eventually, the vertical positioned stone formation became more and more horizontal until Ialari finally separated it from its base; letting it fall to the ground with a heavy boom. While it did crack in a few places and break a part in others, it was still mostly whole and thus allowed her to avoid potential injury from flying debris. When the stalactite had fallen, Ialari quickly realized that it wasn’t going to be enough stone. As her creation would essentially be a statue, she would need a base or foundation for it. The spot she had originally wanted to put the statue, though nearby, would require too much extra stone to be moved and shaped to make the location feasible. Looking back at where she separated the stalactite, she realized that it wasn’t all that bad of a place to start. It was close enough to the center of the Dominion to still be a focal point and most importantly, there was already something of a rough base already there.
Finally deciding that was going to be the place to begin, Ialari started to envision the sculpture she was going to create. She would do it in a way that would honor Izurdin’s creation of Izurith and would give it a form that would honor Pythone. The sculpture would be that a giant coiled snake. She would start with an iron skeleton and then cover it with stone all the while making it with a serpentine form. When she was finished, she would impart upon it all in a homage to the two heroes from history.

Looking at the soon to be foundation, Ialari would need to square it up and keep it flat in order to meet her needs. Lacking the appropriate tools to make leveling the stone easy, she tried to think of a way to come up with a make-shift leveling device that was simple yet effective. “I think maybe a bit of water would do the trick. I could test how level it is with a bowl of water and a piece of the iron.” It wasn’t a perfect idea but it should work for what she needed. Retrieving a bowl from the chest where she kept her some of her meager supplies, she filled it part way with water from the nearby pool. Then, taking one of the longer pieces of iron stock, she laid it out on the rough stone slab where the stalactite had been. She then placed the bowl of water on the center of the stock. Looking to see if the water leaned toward a certain direction in the bowl, she noticed that it was off by a couple of inches. Removing the make-shift level, she began taking stone from another part of her Dominion by carving it out with her metallic hand. She then took the pieces of stone that she had “cut” and began the process of molding them like clay and pushing them into the slab, effectively adding to the overall mass. Just like with clay, she layered rough sheets of stone onto each other to raise the low part of the slab. Using her iron/water level, she tested again before continuing to add stone and smooth it out.

[Ialari Pythone]

It took several attempts before she was able to fill in the gaps and raise the dips in the stone. She then shifted the level in a different direction and repeated the process of adding stone where necessary and removing some when needed. It was a rather frustrating process to level a stone base that was nearly five feet in diameter but after many attempts, a lot of stone manipulation and repetitive tests of how level it was, Ialari eventually decided that the base was as level as it was going to get; at least within a half-an-inch or less. As she wasn’t a professional sculptor, mason or architect, it would be good enough at least for her.

With the stone base flattened, she began trimming the outer edges of it to make it square. Since she had already leveled the largest of the base’s dimensions, squaring the outer edges to perfection was even less of a necessity. Slicing the stone with her hand and arm, she went around the roughly circular shape of the base and created edges. She decided on the shape of a decagon as it would represent the ten original clans of the isur. Before the Valterrian there existed ten distinct clans of the isurian race. In addition to the clans of Sultros, Vizerian, Pitrius, Terras and Coglias, there had once been clans, Hundir, Jiathu, Viceren, Uluth and Kladil. Unfortunately, the latter five had been lost due to a number of different tragedies in the years following the great disaster. As the statue would serve as a monument to those things that Ialari held so close, she felt it was only right to represent her people at the height of their culture.

When she had finished carving out the sides of the base and making it a decent shaped decagon, she took a step back and examined her work. It wasn’t perfect, there were a few inconsistencies in the shape of the stone but there were relatively minor considering the only tool she had at her disposal was her own body. She actually saw that as being yet another addition to the monument as the isur, at their core, were living tools of creation and industry. Pleased with the results, she began mentally designing the shape that the iron would take as the statue’s skeleton. Of course it wouldn’t be an actual recreation of a snake’s skeleton as it was more a means of helping support the shape that the stone “skin” would take. What little she knew of stone-work, it usually incorporated a mechanism for stability in the form of iron bars running through the core of the stone. The buildings in Pitrius City and in fact the Kingdom of Sultros as a whole all incorporated that sort of design in their construction. While most were also imparted upon with Izentor and thus were impossibly durable, the use of iron ensured that the final structures would last for centuries or longer.

Ialari recalled the great storm that erupted across the land a few years prior. In the days before the storm, she received the most disturbing of visions. She saw an ensemble of humans approaching what she knew could only be the prison of Ivak, God of Fire. She could see the telltale signs of isurian work upon the entire place and deep down knew it to be a construct of Izurdin himself. She witnessed the humans working to free the fire god. In doing so they were set upon by a terrible force; a being composed of nothing but fear. As fear descended upon the humans, a figure familiar to all isur emerged and faced the fear, it was none other than King Sultros, the savior of the isurian race. He appeared only to be struck down by the incarnation of fear but in doing so, saved the humans and allowed the fire god to be released. The resulting storm of magical energy exploded and washed over the land for countless miles in all directions. She saw the wave slam into the citadels of each of the five isurian cities. She also saw each citadel engulfed in flames, their color matching the arms of the clan that built them. Red, green, blue, violet and black all lit up the sky and held back the wave of destructive force. It was a well-known story that, upon his founding of the New Kingdom, King Sultros decreed that every building would be imparted upon with Izentor. At the time he didn’t say why nor did he need to, he was the King after all. His foresight had saved his people once more. While Ialari still struggled with the meaning of his return and sacrifice for the sake of humans, she couldn’t deny the wisdom inherent in the decision to impart upon the citadels.

[Ialari Pythone]

Text Here...Returning her thoughts to her current project, Ialari first thought of a coiled python, its massive form curled up in a posture of patience and thought. While this would be appropriate enough, her thoughts shifted more to a coiled rattlesnake, waiting to strike, watching and planning, dangerous yet cautions. If it didn’t need to, it wouldn’t strike; preferring to be left to its own ends. If necessary however, it would bring a swift end to any who threatened it. It was a personal trait that Ialari decided would be more fitting. Like the rattlesnake, she didn’t wish to strike if she didn’t have to. She preferred to be left alone but if challenged, she would make sure the challenger knew it was treading dangerously close.

The amount of iron she had available would have to be stretched a bit in order to accommodate her needs. As the statue would not need to withstand the harsh elements of the physical world, keeping the skeleton thin and spare wouldn’t be as much of an issue. So, gathering the iron stock, she brought it to the base and began shaping it. She started with what would be the rattle on the end of the tail. With her metallic hand she began to twist and shape the metal, merging it with other pieces as needed. The tail would stick upright just like she’d observed rattlers doing in the past. She curved it slightly to the side as she continued up the tail. There would be seven major curves in the iron skeleton as she molded it. She followed the mental image of the snake as the body went from the upright tip of the tail down slightly before starting the first major curve. She came back around then toward the second curve and then to a longer sharper one. Gradually the iron skeleton began to form something of a coil shape as she brought it around for the forth curve that would support a rise. The skeleton rose up several feet before needing another curve. That sixth curve was a difficult one as it would make a sharp turn before reaching the snake’s head.

Where the heavier curves in the snake’s skeleton were, Ialari used more of iron so as to provide greater support for the stone skin to come. It was a long, tiring process but Ialari was experiencing motivation of the likes that she rarely had. After a number of adjustments, reshaping and repositioning, she took a look at what she had accomplished. It wasn’t looking like much had been accomplished as she gazed upon a long, twisting piece of iron that kind of resembled the posture of a coiled snake. Of course, the true form would come when she started adding the stone. Unfortunately, that part would take the greatest amount of time as she would be engaged in vast amounts of stone layering to get the right thickness, stability and consistency throughout. In order to keep it all as uninform as possible, she would also have to add the details such as scales as she progressed over the length of the statues body.

Ialari, for the briefest of moments entertained the idea of employing the newfound magic in her blood to bring the statue to life once it was completed but quickly decided that it would be defeating the entire purpose of the statues creation to begin with.

After a short break in which she drank some water and ate a couple of apples that she had brought from The Sanctuary’s kitchen, Ialari returned to her work. She dived into the next phase of the statue’s construction by carving off chunks of the fallen stalactite. She started work where the statue’s iron skeleton touched the stone base. Once more she manipulated the stone as if it were clay by packing piece after piece around the iron until she had an appropriate amount of mass to work with. The skin of the snake would be layered to the point where it would create a body that was about a two feet in diameter. The statue itself would stand, at its highest point, six-feet tall and extend five feet from one side to the other on the base. As she packed and layered the stone at the bottom of the statue, she slowly moved toward the where the tail would turn into the rattle. Several pieces of stone were packed, molded and shaped in the rough serpentine form that had been established by the iron skeleton. When she got to the base of the rattle, she began packing progressively smaller amounts of stone on top of each other to give an appearance that looked somewhat similar to the tip of a rattlesnake’s tail.

With the rattle, she smoothed each piece so that it was rounded and progressed up the tapering end. When she had finished with the rattle, she moved back down the length of the tail and began packing more stone on the parts she had already started. As she finished a section, usually about every foot or so, she used her metallic fingers to trace scales into the stones surface. Carefully and with as much attention and focus as she could muster, Ialari continued to layer the stone on the main stretch of the statue’s body, following each curve in its form while tracing out the pattern of scales. Hours passed as she continued working. As she started the rise in the snake’s body as it moved more vertical, it became more difficult to keep layering the stone as she had to lift it up so high so often. Her body was beginning to feel the burning ache of overexertion the further up she went.

This brought on the need for more frequent and longer breaks in order to keep herself from pushing her body too far. At one point she allowed herself a several hour long nap in order to recuperate her strength. She even went so far as to exit her Dominion and visit The Sanctuary’s bath chamber where she soaked in the hot water and allowed the heat to sooth her aching muscles. After a decent meal, she returned to her Dominion and to working on the statue. She was nearing the final curve of the body that would lead into the neck and head. Ialari was putting so much into the finest details she was capable of that she even distinguished the patterns on the snake’s belly as being different from its sides and back.

[Ialari Pythone]

When she finally reached the point where she could start shaping the head, she could feel the end of the first half of the project nearing. With the last remaining bits of the stalactite remaining, she used the stone to form the unique shape of the snake’s head. She molded the ridges over the eyes and and carved the curve of the mouth. She chose to leave a closed mouth on the snake as she didn’t intend on an overtly threatening posture. Digging a pair of nostrils on the upper front of the snake’s face, she soon moved on to the finer details of the head scales. While she told herself time and time again throughout the entire construction process, which at that point had reached two and a half days of work with but a single five hour nap in the middle, she found adding the details of the scales and facial structure came easy for her and didn’t look half bad. Having spent countless hours observing her own “snake children” in addition to having grown up around snakes, their appearance, features and nuances were ingrained in her mind like that of her own face in a mirror. She knew the angles of every scale, the orientation of each band of scales and the curl of the mouth without having to give it much thought.
At the end of the third day, Ialari was physically wiped. Exhausted as she was though, she stood in front of the statue gazing upon one of the greatest pieces she had ever worked on. Although still nothing comparable to the masterworks of the great isurian artists, the love that she put into the statue was clear. The soon to be addition of imparting further refine the piece in ways that Ialari could only imagine.

Knowing how much effort and energy it would take to perform the imparting, Ialari chose to sleep until she couldn’t sleep anymore. She would need every bit of strength she could muster when using Izentor on the statue as it would nearly incapacitate her completely for a while after. There was also the part of needing to find and focus on a memory significant enough to adequately honor, at least in her own mind, the meaning and symbolism behind the entire idea of the statue. That would take some time as well. So, once more, Ialari left her Dominion to sleep in the soft bed back at The Sanctuary. She prayed for good dreams and even better memories.

When Ialari awoke quite some time later, she returned to her Dominion and to the monument she had created. Looking upon the nearly completed work once more, she was filled with a sense of pride at what she had done. The final step toward completion was at hand with the need to impart a bit of herself onto the statue. She brought with her from The Sanctuary a few days’ worth of dried meat rations since she would likely be unable to go back for a few days after the imparting was complete. The memory she considered using to empower the use of her gnosis was one that held a special place in her heart because it was one of the more vivid ones involving her people and her love for them. With that memory in mind, she approached the statue and stepped up on to the base. The way the snake was coiled, there was a descent spot on the central coil where she could sit down and get comfortable. While sitting on stone wasn’t considered the most comfortable place to relax, for Ialari being in such close contact with her creation was comforting in itself.

As she situated herself into a half sitting, half laying position, she began the mental preparation needed to clear her mind in order to enter the meditative state required for imparting. Closing her eyes, she imagined, as she had many times before, her mind as being a room filled with clutter. The clutter was all the distracting thoughts that could potentially interrupt her focus and cause the imparting process to fail. She pictured a large broom pushing the clutter out of the room through several open doors. As she moved the broom around the room, she swept the clutter away and shut each door one by one. The exercise forced her to focus on a single task at the expense of all other thought. The clutter would push back of course which forced her to concentrate harder to removing it. Eventually, each open door was closed with the clutter of thoughts held back. When the room of her mind was clear of the cluttered thoughts, she turned her attention toward recalling her chosen memory.

[Ialari Pythone]

Ialari was in late twenties, a teenager by human standards. She had just arrived in Sultros City for the celebration of the Day of the King. It was the first day of Spring and the holiday marked the birth of Isengir Izurus Sultros. Isengir was the isurian king who led his people to found the New Kingdom after the Old Kingdom had fallen during the Valterrian. It was the holiest of days to the isur as it honored the greatest hero of recent memory. Along with honoring King Isengir, every king before him was also honored all the way back to the first one, Izurith. Ialari’s mother, a priestess of Izurdin, had made it a priority to bring her children to Sultros City every year, not only to celebrate but to also remind them of who their people were, how they got to where they are and who helped get them there.

It was early in the day and Ialari’s family had arrived in the city the day before. It was a short trip from Pitrius to Sultros but Ialari’s mother always wanted to get there a day before so they could settle in. As a priestess, Ialari’s mother had the privilege of staying at Izurdin’s Forge, the Temple of Izurdin and home to the Anvils. The Anvils were the organized religious organization that maintained Izurdin’s following throughout the Kingdom. Ialari had always enjoyed visiting The Forge as it gave her the opportunity to be even closer to Izurdin. She admired the Anvils for their closeness to the Divine Father and sometimes entertained the idea of trying to join them. Such a thing would be difficult though not impossible as Ialari had already begun the early steps of joining the Silver Tower as an apprentice.

On the Day of the King, Ialari left The Forge with her mother and siblings to attend the various celebrations that were going on. As usually happened, Ialari separated herself from the others and went off on her own. She made her way to the Plaza of the Crimson Arm; the center of everything in Sultros City. The crimson stone that lined the floor of the plaza was a sight in itself with a circle of statues depicting great isurian heroes from throughout history surrounding it. The plaza was crowded even so early in the day with isur of all clans mingling about. It was one of the few days other than, The Trazen, that members of all clans put aside their petty squabbling and came together in celebration of the entire race.

It was one of the rare times that Ialari actually enjoyed being around so many other people. There was a strange energy in the air that brought out the best in everyone. Children ran all about in play while artisans exchanged their works as well as compliments, advice and critique. Musicians played, people danced, it was truly a time for taking pride in being isur. Ialari enjoyed watching everyone. Always the observer, she didn’t take part in many of the festivities as she preferred to simply watch everyone else do whatever they were going to do. As she sat on a rather ornately carved stone bench, watching two isurian men arm wrestling a short distance away, her gaze slowly shifted upward. There, hundreds of feet above, hovered a large hunk of stone. Ialari knew the story of that stone well.

King Sultros, having discovered a new home for the isur following the Valterrian, led his people deep into the mountains of Kalea. Of the once great Kingdom of old, there remained but five of the ten isurian clans and but a fraction of the former population. The isur were nearly wiped out as a massive volcano of the likes never before seen in isurian memory, erupted in the center of the capital city of Izurith. The King led the remaining isur to a series of five mountain peaks all located a short distance from one another. At the base of the tallest one, he announced that the mountains there would serve as their new home. Considered one of the greatest leaders in isurian history, King Sultros further led the isur to build the New Kingdom which the people decided unanimously to call, Sultros.

King Isengir lived longer than any other isur known at the time and his great deeds were honored even in death. In the great cavern high above where Ialari stood, was resting place of Isengir’s body. When he died, the clan lords, all nearly as old as Isengir had been, decided to honor their friend and king in manner so fitting. The Lord of the Pitrius Clan, through the use of powerful magic, enchanted the very spot where Isengir had stood at the base of the mountain and proclaimed the founding of the New Kingdom. That magic tore loose the ground that Isengir had stood upon during his proclamation. The stone was then raised high above the floor of the great cavern that housed the city. On that rock, Lady Terras placed a sarcophagus built with her own hands out of a single giant ruby; Isengir’s body was laid to rest in that sarcophagus. Lord Coglias, known to be the closest of friends with King, offered that upon his own death, his spirit would be allowed to serve his friend in death as the tomb’s guardian. Finally, Lord Vizerian called out to the Divine Father and asked Izurdin to grace the tomb with his touch. On the final day of the tomb’s construction, Izurdin himself appeared before the entire isurian race and decreed that Isengir’s tomb would be the holiest of sites in all of the Kingdom. He repeated a prophecy that King Isengir was said to have made shortly before the founding of the Kingdom. He stated that one day, the isur would face a threat much like that of the Valterrian. Upon that day, the King would return and stand once more in defense of the people.

Since her earliest memories, Ialari had come to the Day of the King and looked up at that great stone tomb hovering high above and wondered. As she sat in the bench looking up, she made the decision to no longer wonder. Determination taking over, Ialari stood from the bench and looked for a path leading from the plaza, a path that led higher up. It took some exploration around the outskirts of the Plaza for Ialari to find the road that led to the upper levels. Most of Sultros City was open to all isur and Ialari assumed the King’s Tomb was as well. Although she didn’t know the exact way to get to the tomb, she kept looking up at it and trying to choose the right path that would get her closer. Eventually, she started to get closer until discovering the single road that led past everything else in the upper levels and climbed higher up the cavern wall. The road paved with bright red stone with a deep red railing that ran the entire length of the road. As Ialari made her way up the side of the cavern; the walk felt like it was taking hours.

She passed a few others on her way although they were heading in the opposite direction. By the time she reached the end of the road, she was the only one around. At end of the long road, on the side of the cavern wall high above the city, Ialari looked past an elaborately carved archway depicting the building of the tomb and saw the tomb itself. From her vantage point it was hard to see much other than the huge chunk of floating stone with a small structure built in the center. The tomb itself was accessed through archway by means of a narrow, ornately crafted silver bridge. Hesitant at first, Ialari took a deep breath and walked through the archway and onto the bridge. She did everything she could to avoid looking down as she knew it was impossibly high and she wasn’t much a fan of heights.

Slowly and with her hands clutching the railing, Ialari walked across the bridge on her way to Isengir’s tomb. Even though there were no obstacles hindering her path, it was slow going as she was overcome not only with excitement but also nervousness brought on by the height and the experience as a whole. When she finally reached the other side of the bridge, she stopped. She wanted to remember the moment forever. Slowly she took a step from the bridge onto the hovering stone in front of her. Indeed she would remember that first step years later.

A few more steps and she was standing several feet onto the rock as she gazed upon the small stone structure that dominated its center. The structure was masterpiece of stonework and sculpture. Countless carvings decorated the outside walls depicting all the various heroic deeds performed by the King in his lifetime. Globes of crimson light were set into the wall on either side of the door providing outside illumination. The door itself bore a lifelike representation in stone of the Lord Coglias who offered his spirit to watch over his friend for all time. Ialari, after not being able to move for many moments, finally came to her senses and proceeded forward. She tried to open the door but found it to be extremely heavy. This forced her to put the entire weight of your small body into pushing it. Slowly it opened for her and she stepped inside. Once in, Ialari was greeted with a sight that brought her to her knees. Illuminated by a single crimson flame that hovered in the center of the chamber a few feet below the ceiling, the walls were covered in tapestries also depicting even more of the King’s exploits. In the center of the room was a large ruby sarcophagus. Although it was not transparent, Ialari could make out past the gem’s facets, a dark shape similar in size to a person. On a stone pedestal behind the sarcophagus sat, Nauglimir, the King’s Hammer. It was said that the hammer was forged from Isurian Steel in volcanic fire. It was supposed to have imparted upon by the King himself using the fourth mark of Izurdin. Legend told that the hammer’s striking faces were made from actual lava held in place by the King’s Izentor. As an artifact imparted upon by Izurdin’s Champion, Nauglimir bore a large portion of Isengir’s soul. Although dormant, having been so since his death, the hammer was rumored to be sentient and was in fact a still living extension of the King.

When she was finally able to look away from the sarcophagus and the hammer, Ialari turned her attention to the tapestries on the walls. They were quite different than the carvings outside. The tapestries, while depicting the Isengir’s deeds, were far more humble. They showed the man, not the king. There were images of his family and of his discovery of the mountain that would soon become a kingdom. It was that image that stuck with Ialari most. Isengir didn’t look like the heroic savior who led an entire race out of oblivion. Instead he looked like a weathered man, afraid and shouldered with a burden that no one should have to bare. In that image Ialari saw a true isur. She saw a race of people striving for perfection while surrounded by imperfection. She saw the struggles, trials and journeys that so many of her people have endured to get them to where they were now. She saw a people who, though peaceful by nature, would strike out with deadly strength against any who dared try and hold them back.

That was the moment that Ialari then looked deep within herself and wished for a way to be a complete person like Isengir. She wanted to be just a person while also being able to be the deadly warrior, great leader, loving parent and faithful servant. She wanted to hold the Divine Father’s favor as the King did. It was also at that moment that the question of, “Why”, the question that would haunt her for many years after, began to take on greater meaning and urgency.

[Ialari Pythone]

As Ialari slowly opened her eyes, the memory of her visit to Isengir’s Tomb still lingering, she saw the entire statue engulfed in chromatic fire. Although she was already finding it difficult to move, she watched as the flames slowly faded. As they did, the statue was left with a glistening finish over the stone similar to that of a real snake. Although obviously made of stone, the statue began to look as though it could move at any moment. Inconsistencies in the stone began to right themselves while the details Ialari had painstakeningly included began to sharpen. She could feel the Izentor flowing over, into and out of the statue as her soul infused a bit of itself onto her creation. Although she could see and sense that the imparting had been quite successful, she was unable to sense exactly what was imparted. In the midst of recalling the memory and the intensity of it, she had forgotten what her original intent was as far as what qualities to impart. Usually when there was no solid intent, the process would fail. This one however succeeded yet the properties remained hidden.

Then it hit her, the toll the imparting took on her broken soul came slamming down on Ialari like a hammer striking and anvil. Her limbs felt as heavy as the stone statue she was laying on. Her muscles spasmed and burned as if she had just spent days on end holding one of Kavala’s horses above her head. Her head began to throb then pound with the force of an avalanche. Quickly she lost consciousness; unable to further ponder the possibility of an unknown property having been imparted onto the statue.

When Ialari finally woke, she had no sense of how much time has passed. She could barely move however and not due to the effects of the imparting process. Those effects were already fading rather quickly. The trouble she was experiencing came from the fact that she had been laying on a hard stone statue likely for a few days without moving. It took an epic force of will to make her body respond enough to push herself forward in order to roll off the statue and onto the ground. Unfortunately, the ground was also stone and Ialari landed with a cry of renewed pain. Taking several moments to summon a bit of strength, she pulled herself agonizingly across the ground toward the pool of water several yards away. Her throat was impossibly dry and she could barely breath without coughing. Eventually she made it to the pool and drank deeply. She drank until she felt like she might vomit. Pausing to let the feeling pass, she dipped her face in the water and let the cool, wet feeling refresh her.

Having left the rations right next to the pool in a small leather pouch, she forced her arms and hands to move enough to open it and retrieve the food. Slowly she bit and chewed at it to try and hopefully bring some calm to her cramping belly. Recovering from this particular imparting process seemed like it would be even more of a chore than usual. Even though she didn’t do anything during the process that she hadn’t done many times before, the fact that she forgot the intended properties still bothered her. Was it possible that whatever she imparted was somehow dormant? While it had never happened to her before she decided it was quite possible that whatever her fractured soul passed on to the statue would become apparent sometime later.

Rolling onto her side, Ialari looked back at the statue. Indeed it was magnificent. The rough details she had added, while still kind of ragged, were given a bit of refined edge that made them stand out in a way that looked better than they really were. The glistening sheen to the stone reminded her of Arith and Reth. The curl of the snake’s mouth gave it a subtle mystery as to whether it was preparing to strike or whether it was simply waiting. As Ialari lay on the ground looking at the statue, Arith and Reth, one at a time, quietly approached. They both took turns slithering across Ialari’s prone body; the feel of their bodies against hers comforting her. After about an hour of laying on the ground, Ialari was finally able to muster enough strength to bring herself to one knee. From there, though a bit wobbley, she pulled herself to her feet. Carefully she took a few steps followed by a few more. As she began to move, the stiffness that had paralyzed her body just moments before began to go away. Soon after, she was starting to feel a bit more normal if still a little groggy. Standing now before the statue, she recalled part of the memory of Isengir’s Tomb that didn’t seem to want to go away.

It was said that Nauglimir, the King’s Hammer, lay dormant within his tomb and that would one day show its true nature when the time was right and when it was needed. Perhaps that is what was wrong with the statue as far as Ialari’s imparting was concerned. It wasn’t the right time yet to reveal its true nature.

[Ialari Pythone]

Thread Grade

Dominion 2
Storytelling 5
Sculpting 5
Meditation 2
Lore: Strengthening a stone sculpture with an iron frame
Lore: Sculpting with stone as if were clay using the isurian arm
Lore: Using a container of water to test how level something is
Lore: The vision of the Djed Storm of 512
Lore: Sculpting a stone statue to resemble a coiled snake
Lore: Using Izentor to impart upon a statue
Lore: Visiting the tomb of King Sultros for the first time

Item: Stone statue of a snake located within Ialari's Dominion. It has been imparted upon with the second mark of Izentor. Any gnosis related effects imparted upon the statue remain unknown.