The arrival of Makali has puzzled many of you. I would like to share
with you what really happened, as elsewise I do not believe it will be
discovered. You want to read this. Where to begin, where to begin.

I'm sure you remember the destruction of the Landmarks. They're
chronicled in events post #115 and #116. The short version is that a
Conclave of powerful mystics, including O'ising the shaman of the
Yriluawe, the swamp witch Haag, the reclusive sorcerer Hycanthus, and
the ice wizard Maklak, hinted that they were trying to destroy the
Angel/Demon Mirror Landmark to prevent another powerful member of their
group from doing something unspecified. The resulting destruction of
many of the Landmarks was welcome by much of the population of Sapience,
but still troubling was the lack of knowledge regarding why the Conclave
did this. And more importantly, who is the other Conclave member that
they now opposed? To answer this, we have to go way back...152 years
back, in fact, to the coming of the Morningstar.

The Morningstar, as some of you will remember, was scourged the planet
of life, killing all on it, and resulting in the creation of two new
Gods - Aurora, Goddess of Light, and Apollyon, the Malefactor - and the
re-awakening of Vastar, the Skylord. This was caused by the meeting of
two great heavenly bodies; one, a sightless, dark behemoth consuming all
around it, even light, called Abaddon. The other, a star to outshine
Lady Sol herself. The meeting of these resulted in the tremendous burst
of energy that was the death of so many, for Abaddon could not contain
Lady Sol, and consumed until its very essence burst with the power taken
unto itself.

Now, the star that collided with Abaddon was called Ethian. This star
was not merely a desolate, burning heavenly figure, rotating in the
ethereal timeless space outside the world, but home to a race of
beings..of dragons. Different from both the Greater and lesser Dragons
known to Sapience, these lived in the heart of Ethian. After the meeting
of Ethian and Abbadon, only a hardened, cold core remained. The dragons
abided, and through the last century, the remains of Ethian settled near
to our planet, crossing very near its path every year, during the month
of Sarapin.

As Ethian hurled through the multiplicities of realities, it shed great
chunks of itself, pregnant with energy beyond ken. Some of the dragons
living on Ethian traveled here with those chunks. You know them, and for
good reason: Yudhishthira and Geh'shya, among others. Those of you old
enough may remember that the sudden discovery of the isle of Polyargos
occurred soon before the creation of the Landmarks. The energies that
these segments of Ethian unleashed solidified into what became known as
the nine Landmarks: The Mirror, the Falls, the Pillars, the Sphinx, the
Oak, the Garden, the Totem, and the Valley, each with their dual
aspects. And thus it came to be that during Ethian's Crossing, the
Landmarks became volatile, and subject to a change in aspect.

But how is this related to the creation of the Goddess of Destruction?
That is now easily answered: The fifth member of the Conclave was none
other than the dragon Yudhishthira. You see, the constant death and
rebirth as your factions battled over control of the Landmarks fed their
immense energy until the material of Ethian weakened further and
further. Finally, the bloodshed reached a point where Yudhishthira and
his witch-priestesses planned to use the great power of the rest of the
Conclave to release the energy of the Landmarks in a great ritual and
channel it into the birth/awakening of a Goddess of Destruction. Their
plan backfired when the other Conclave members realized they were being
duped, and sealed the Mirror to prevent Yudhishthira from completing the
ritual. As the Mirror was the most powerful of Ethian's Landmarks,
Yudhishthira and his witch-priestesses were weakened along with the
Landmarks themselves. Time, though, was on their side, for eventually
the seal that the Conclave put on the Mirror would decay.

And now it has happened. On the most recent crossing of Ethian, the
great heavenly body came closer to our planet than any crossing before.
The great pull of the former star drew the power of the Landmarks like
poison from a wound, and this time, Yudhishthira and his followers would
not bother with deception. Instead, they would slay the Conclave members
and use their hearts to amplify the power of the ritual they would
perform.

And so began the story of a new Goddess. What happened this day will be
recorded in the Events archives, but know that what I've penned is true
and necessary for understanding the significance of today's revelations.
And finally, all hail Makali, Goddess of Destruction!

Penned by my hand on the 14th of Sarapin, in the year 360 AF.