Tower of Archives · Ciallmhar
Level 1 — The Threshold
The World of Eadrom
What holds when the darkness presses in.
The Tower of Archives rises ten levels in the heart of Ciallmhar, each floor dedicated to a discipline of knowledge. The climb is deliberate — from recorded fact toward understanding. What follows is a partial record, arranged by floor. Deeper accounts are kept in the restricted archives of the Companion.
The Ten Levels
The Threshold
Public entry, exhibits, reception, and orientation. Where every visitor begins.
The Keepers
Copyists, cataloging rooms, and preservation vaults. Those who keep the archive functioning.
Campaigns, wars, battle maps, commanders, royal records, fortress designs.
History, genealogy, diplomacy, cultures, languages — the study of mankind itself.
Natural Philosophy
Geography, weather, flora, fauna, agriculture, astronomy, navigation.
Architecture, engineering, metallurgy, music, poetry, essence-stone technology.
The Bane, the Storm, Darkness, Light, Essence, Bonding, Weaving, ancient artifacts — the most restricted of the ordinary floors.
Philosophy & Theology
Questions of meaning. Virtue, ethics, the purpose of Light, interpretations of ancient texts.
The Chamber of Inquiry
Active research, private collections, visiting scholars. Knowledge still being pursued.
The pinnacle. Council chambers, rarest manuscripts, observatories. What is kept here, the lower floors do not record.
Level 3 — Military History
The Light
The Pillar of Light
Just beyond the southern mountains of Ciallmhar, the Pillar stretches toward the sky — the only thing keeping the Storm and the Bane from finding a permanent home in Arsatir. Clouds swirl around the mile-wide beacon.
No one fully understands the ancient magic that keeps it lit. Every year a ritual involving all four nations recharges its light. For those on the borders, the hours feel like days while the ritual is completed.
“When the Pillar’s light shines again, bane that have slipped across the border slink into the long shadows its light casts, hungering for their chance to turn creatures of light to darkness.”
— Anonymous border keeper, Ciallmhar Garrison
Level 4 — Kingdoms & Peoples
Arsatir
The Four Nations
Fire
Ciallmhar
Northeast
The Smouldering Forest, rivers of lava beneath trees that crack with heat. Tall stature, 6–7 feet. The Crown grants nobility to accomplished banehunters.
Earth
Oroa
Northwest
The Fallen Mountains — some float due to immense earthstone deposits. The tallest people, 7–9 feet. Longer lives, muscular builds.
Water
Proteya
West
Coastal nation. At the center of a maelstrom lies dry land where waterstones can be mined. The finest sailors navigate these waters.
Wind
The Wildwood
East to Southeast
Great forest. Home to the Griffon Riders and forest drakes. Windstones mined in the Stone Trees — towering rock formations in intense wind streams.
Level 4 — Kingdoms & Peoples
Notable Figures
Biographical Records
Fragments recovered from field notes, archival records, and banehunter journals.
Banehunter — House Stoutfire
Rowan
Scarred by failure, Rowan works alone. A pragmatic hunter who has developed a grudging fondness for a town he never meant to protect. Blonde, scarred, carries the weight of past mistakes.
Darkstone — The Umbra Six
Priv “Misfortune”
A darkstone user serving the Blackstones, carrying a darkstone in one arm and a windstone in the other. Leads the Umbra Six — an elite squad of soldiers bound by loyalty and shared suffering.
Elemental Creature
Hellcat
A large, broad-shouldered black cat with coin-sized interlocking plates that raise to reveal flame. Highly intelligent, resistant to bane corruption. Bonds with such creatures are rare.
Master of Essence
Jack
A rare weaver who can use all four elements. Carries himself like a gentleman, frequently grins, flourishes his hands when he weaves.
The Umbra Six
Priv’s elite squad of Blackstone soldiers. Valier — optimistic, darkstone user. Zehr — the marksman. Rile — earth magic, jovial, massive build. Karrig — the medic, kind and gentle. Ator — fire magic, explosive expert. They are not evil, but are sometimes forced to follow evil orders.
Level 6 — Arts & Craftsmanship
The Weave
Essence Magic
Essence stones are found at locations of extreme elemental intensity. Each stone attunes to the element of its origin. To use a stone’s power, one must bond with it — through prolonged contact, deliberate concentration, or using an already-bonded stone as a bridge.
Weaving requires concentration and practice. Each element demands a different mindset:
Fire
Precision and discipline. Fire creates, it does not merely manipulate.
Earth
Making whole. Healing, protecting, building. Keeping things intact.
Wind
Openness. Working with the flow. Creativity and expansion.
Water
Trust. Exploration, discovery, bravery to face what lies ahead.
Level 7 — Mysteries
The Darkness
The Storm & The Bane
The Storm is a dominating force of darkness over Eadrom — clouds of pure black, its wall stretching as far as the eye can see, bunching against the border of Arsatir, demanding entry.
Bane are ill-made creatures sent beyond the borders under cover of the Storm. Most are wild animals corrupted by other bane. Infected humans die of the corruption if not treated quickly. Bane cannot survive long in the light.
“Death incarnate, called ‘bane’, came with The Storm, and everything they touched turned to Darkness.”
Level 10 — The Archmaster’s Hall
“There is more here than I can fully see yet.”
Higher still, the Archmaster’s Hall sits beneath a lantern of cut glass and iron. What knowledge is kept there, no record in these lower floors can say.
Deeper records — restricted archives, field notes, and uncovered fragments — are preserved in the Companion Archive.
The Darkland Saga · Tower of Archives · Ciallmhar