A Gathering Storm
Over the past year, four odd wanderers have made their way to the forests of Lusternia. First came the aloof loboshigaru, Diakala, to the Serenwilde, arriving suddenly and causing some small bit of consternation, who was followed soon after by a druid calling himself Tinjtak Gladheart raising a ruckus in Estelbar. Barely a quarter of a year later, a pair, the elfen Coimrac Nightshade and the mugwump Slemgooum Fyrgenwig arrived together in the Glomdoring before parting way soon after. Though they offered little explanation as to who they were and why they suddenly decided to visit the communes of the First World, each of them demanded a wealth of supplies, a gift, they claimed, which would be for the benefit of all of nature.
Though little could be gleaned of their purpose at first, citizens of the communes relentlessly pressed the demanding wayfarers for answers, combining clever application of threats, sympathy, withholding of aid, and, in one case, the judicious application of tea. Slowly, the semblance of a story was able to be pieced together. The four were members of a society known as the Anas’im’aeklas, an order formed long ago to combat ‘a great evil’ visited upon nature by the old Celestian empire. Though the group had long kept itself hidden, working far beyond the public eye, recent concerns convinced them to reveal themselves to the commune at large. What this danger may be, or why it was so great that the four came out of hiding, none were willing to say other than to cryptically caution against trusting lucidians.
Elsewhere, the Mysterious Presence, quiet for nigh on half a decade, struck once more, this time encasing a lucidian climatologist in a block of crystal. Not willing to allow so eldritch a presence keep captive a fellow mortal, warriors from across the Basin swarmed to the scientist’s aid; blasting apart the crystalline prison while fending off brutal attacks by the Presence itself. Despite the staunch opposition, the soldiers of Lusternia proved more than a match and succeeded in both driving off the Presence and freeing the unlucky lucidian. Despite being incredibly grateful for his rescue, the climatologist did not tarry; after giving thanks, he dashed off to complete his nebulous objectives.
Soon afterwards, a fantastic beam of flame was seen lancing into the sky far to the west, sending waves of energy out to blanket the heavens. Soon afterwards, strange weather anomalies began to emerge: rain fell upwards, frost and snow gathered in the desert, and lightning arced across the sky with nary a sound. What exactly the molten lance did to disrupt the natural order, and whether it is related to the Anas’im’aeklas, has yet to be revealed.
