Year: 198CE

As the cycle of power is wont to do, the Merians of New Celest had the upper
hand in their never-ending crusade against the Taint. In the past year alone,
dozens of raids and incursions into the sacred Plane of Earth had forced its
guardians, the Earth Lords in the Citadel of Rock, to retreat into the dreaming
to protect themselves from death. The Midnight Legion, once the proud and
indestructible military force of Magnagora, was scattered and leaderless, unable
to repel all but the weakest of attacks. The atmosphere was grim; the situation
dire.

As the year turned, there was talk of abandoning the Earth Plane to the ravages
of the Light…the Midnight Legion would no longer heed the call to battle from
the Earthen plane and the realm would be left to administer its own defense. In
this way, they would be able to concentrate their strength in other locales,
places where they had a stronger hold. The Geomancers were appalled. With the
source of their power occupied by Celest, there was no telling how their magic
would be affected. Yet nothing they said, no matter how hard they pleaded or
threatened, would convince the generals to change their minds. Deeply worried,
the Geomancers instead decided to appeal to the Legion at large. The following
is a scribed account of the words spoken that day.

Scribe: Safon y'Muati
Date: 23 Estar, 198 years after the Coming of Estarra

A majority of the Midnight Legion has gathered in Fate Square to hear the words
of Xifan y'Bolgari, an elder amongst the Geomancers.

He slowly walks forward, hunched over his staff. He is an ancient Viscanti, so
many wrinkles on his face one can barely tell where his eyes are. The
Geomancers did not choose their representative well. The Legion has already
lost interest and are talking amongst themselves

He stops. He straightens. Suddenly, the years melt away from his frame.
Where once there stood a Magi near death stands one in the prime of his life.

Slowly, Xifan raises his Tainted staff above his head before slamming it down
with a resounding CRACK. Four stone pillars suddenly jut out of the ground
behind him. The Geomancers chose their representative well. Not a sound can be
heard except for the clanking of gears.

Xifan cast his gave over all of us.

Softly, he said, "Brothers and Sisters of the Taint, in this time of conflict
and war we are called upon on a near daily basis to come to the defense of the
Plane of Tainted Earth, and more specifically, the Lords of Earth and Stone in
the Citadel of Rock."

With a faintly reproachful tone, he continued, "However, how many actually know
who you are fighting for? Who exactly are the Earth Lords, and why should we
defend them when they call? Before we can accurately describe why we do so, we
need to know what they are, and what they represent."

"The Lords of Earth and Stone came about, not as the creation of an Elder God,
but as the culmination of the thoughts and beliefs of the Mages. When a certain
ideal or philosophy reached critical mass, one of these beings came into
existence. In the words of Lady Gravynia herself…"

A voice sounding akin to the crunching of gravel seemed to emanate from the
aether, ""I am all of you over thousands of years. When the first Mage touched
the Earth, then was I conceived. And when the Geomancers grew in power, then we,
thought amalgams, became. We crossed from the abstract of the dreaming to the
material realms. And the Earth was our dominion, but we are bridges from the
Dreaming to the Material."

As the voice receded, Xifan cleared his throat and continued, taking on a more
scholarly and tone than he had before, "Although the exact time of their
conception is unknown, seeing as our early history is broken and vague, we can
trace the roots of the Elemental Orders to soon after the conclusion of the
Elder Wars. Therefore, we can be all but certain that the Lords were born in
the time period after the Elder Wars yet before the Vernal War."

"Although we know that the Earthen Lords existed pre-Taint, they were not seen
in corporeal form until a little more than fifty years ago, when Emperor
Ladantine opened a path to the Citadel to take over the Dreamscape."

"Prior to that, the Lords and Lady were only accessible through dreams, and
even then only to the most devout Mages after a complicated and profound ritual
that involved the systematic purging of all liquids from one's body."

At this point, one of Xifan's attendants hurried up to him and whispered
something in his ear. I could not hear what was said, though after the
attendant stepped back Xifan, looking slightly put out, stopped his lecture.

"Yes, yes…history isn't quite important right now, is it? Well then, let's
move on. Let us meet the Lords whom you have sworn to protect."

"First! Brom, of the Pocked Boulder!"

The air is filled with sound of rending stone as one of the four pillars cracks
and reshapes itself into a replica of Boulder Brom.

"Brom…the Earthen incarnation of war and conflict. Well-muscled and formed,
his arms carry the strength of an avalanche."

Xifan frowned slightly "Yet Brom is not whole. He bears the scars of countless
battles and his form is riddled with immense holes due to the grind of Time.
The Lord of the Pocked Boulder came into being as the manifestation of
Magnagora's strength and determination and is now the Earthen patron of our
warriors and soldiers."

"Next, there is Bhalegu, Lord of the Blasted Sands."

A second pillar exploded into a maelstrom of dust and sand. Quickly, the
debris coalesced into the amorphic form of Bhalegu.

"Bhalegu is the very incarnation of sublety and deceit. The polar opposite of
Lord Brom, Bhalegu is ever shifting, never solid. His being is a constantly
swirling maelstrom of sand and dust and his body never settles into one form.
Born of the political maneuverings and deceptions of Magnagorans long past, he
is the patron Lord of the politicians and illusionists."

"We now come to Gravynia, Lady of the Cracked Stone."

Slowly, a third pillar splinters and reforms into the visage of Granite
Gravynia, her mane of disintegrating stone piling up on the ground behind her.

"The only female among the Earth Lords, Gravynia is the result of the combined
consciousness, the perfect meld of power and deceit, of strength and subtlety.
Her form resembles that of an aged woman with skin of fissured granite and hair
of an always cascading dust. As the representative of the bind between power
and politics, Gravynia is believed to be the oldest of the Earth Lords, perhaps
even dating back to the very inception of our great Engine."

Xifan paused slightly before continuing, his eyes seeming to cloud over. "The
final Earth Lord, and the most enigmatic, is Klaymech, Lord of the Soiled
Earth."

"In the days before the Citadel of Rock was revealed to us, it was He who was
the envoy between the Lords and us mortals, for, like us, he is imperfect. Made
entirely of Mud, he is a mix of the abominable Water and the blessed Earth. It
is theorized that once he was comprised of the elements of Air and Fire also,
yet when those channels were locked, they were torn from his being, leaving him
incomplete and almost totally insane."

The Magi began pacing, "Existing in both the Material and Dream realms, the
Earth Lords have the ability to boost the potency of the dark essence held by
the Earth Plane's resident gargoyles and grubs when given the Sands of the
Manifestations of Dreaming."

"Why they are able to do so is not clear, yet it is believed to be connected to
the consequences of their inception and their unique role as the personification
of Magnagora's dreams."

Xifan stopped his pacing suddenly, and spun to face the assembled Legion, his
eyes glowing red and a faint rumbling was felt below my feet.

Barely audible, the Viscanti hissed, "Regardless of the path you have chosen,
the Lords of Earth and Stone are extremely powerful and enlightened beings who
deserve our utmost respect. All that the Lords ask for in return for their
strength and wisdom is our word to defend them against all enemies. It is a
small price to pay."

Xifan thrust his staff into the ground a second time, and the four Earth Lords
sank back into the cobblestones of the Plaza.

Without another word, the Magi turned his back to those assembled and walked
away, once again leaning heavily on his staff.

*End of Record*