Rifts: Interview with Amadeo Pnuema

Research request by: Denzel Gemtrotter Scribed by: Master Elanor Shortwick

It may be best that I start from the beginning. I'll attempt to consolidate my telling into more manageable sections. It would be a lengthy narration, otherwise. To begin, the cause of the crisis, in truth, the rifts began as a confluence of events; several smaller actions compounding over time. This island is inundated with magic.

Wands and potions are common place. Portal use is frequent. Many travellers possess their own lenses. And there is a small assortment of planes with permanent portals to this island. It is a deep concentration of magic in such a small location. As you might expect, this places great strain on our reality.

It's being bent and folded constantly to accommodate our needs. And over the years, this strain accumulated. The rifts began after one final 'push' was performed, unbeknownst to those doing the 'pushing'. : It was a device created by a warlock named Thaneros at the behest of Haston Reyne. It was called the Eldritch Incendiary Influx. It was meant to be a magical bomb, of sorts.

It was set off below Cordor. And its detonation was the 'straw that broke the camel's back'. They had inadvertently torn a hole in the fabric of time and space. The 'hole' they formed was relegated to Cordor, at first. It quickly spread across the island and across the Great Wheel.

At first, it appeared to only be elemental planes. Then Upper Cordor was wreathed in moss and grass: Arborea. It led to several wars and battles across the island as different planes held their own aspirations for this place. It seemed only Mechanus knew that these rifts were growing more problematic and that they jeopardized the Wheel as a whole.

They were prepared to destroy this Prime in order to contain the problem; our existence in exchange for the Great Wheel's survival. They were courteous enough to provide us with time to address the problem ourselves. During a demonstration of a device designed to seal the rifts [by treating the symptoms], a Mechanus construct appeared and designated a small number of people. These people were scanned, given designations, and teleported without warning to Mechanus.

Those conjured were Colan Blake, the creator of the device. Kainda Ogden, Jel, and myself. We were conjured into what could best be described as a courtroom. The Prime was on trial. The sentence, of course, was already issued. Guilty. We were at fault for causing this problem, so an ultimatum was posed; fix it, or remove it. 'We' being the entire population of Abeir Toril.

A solution was provided by a curious source. A man lost to time and space. [A man] stuck outside the confines of reality. He appeared insubstantial. Hazy. With a foot planted both here, and elsewhere. We perceive our reality in a linear fashion. Each moment leads into the next. This man perceived it dynamically.

The figure in question provided only vague details of a solution. We were, in essence, the axel of the wheel and that we were off-center. In order to achieve balance, we had to make the boundaries between realities distinct again. In order to do this, a 'microcosm' had to be constructed. It was described as an Astrolabe. It required a twofold process. The first was to acquire planar tokens from across the Great Wheel. Every plane, including our own. Each plane had one diametrically opposed to it. And so these tokens needed to be arranged in a way that they were opposed to one another. Mechanus and Limbo for instance.

The second process was the creation of the runes that 'magnified' the distinction. In doing so, a demiplane was formed where the Astrolabe would be housed. Prior to this, a 'model' of the Astrolabe was built. Originally in Stonehold, it was moved to Benwick as a result of the planar disruption caused by its fall. It was, in essence, several unadorned obelisks with hollow cavities. Each bore a plaque with the name of the plane in question.

It was designed to mirror the Great Wheel, and thus serve as a means of arranging the artifacts. The 'model' was destroyed, or perhaps transposed when the Astrolabe was formed.

[We gathered] artifacts that embodied every plane on the Great Wheel. They could be as simple as a branch or as complex as a burning heart or a brick of water. They needed to have significance to the plane.

The items were being assembled by two groups; Sencliff and the Arcane Tower. Initially Sencliff sought to deliberately cause rifts in order to further their aims. This put both Sencliff and the Tower at ends when assembling the planar tokens. Eventually, they were convinced to put aside their differences and work together.

So the 'map', the runes and the planar tokens were all assembled. Benwick was chosen as the site of the ritual, after it had fallen. This was due to the 'friction' caused there. [The] forces of the Lower Planes [were] striking out against a bulwark of Celestia. Akin to flint and tinder; the friction between the two antithetical planes caused energy to permeate the air.

It needed to be harnessed in order to form the Astrolabe. A device was made by Amelia Selana to harness this energy. As the tokens were assembled, spatial disturbances began to emerge. Several rifts to several planes tore open at once. Each obelisk began to emanate a light, and grow insubstantial. They did so in pairs. As this transpired, the rifts decreased in diversity and frequency. They did, however, increase in strength. It culminated with only the elemental planes requiring binding. Amelia Selana, Jel, and Vippin were responsible for the ritual. The others defended them.

After the planes were all accounted for, there was a brief conflict against entities that existed between the planes. They lashed out against the group as a whole. Perhaps the rifts served as a means for them to reach beyond their oubliette. When the ritual concluded, they had vanished. And a portal emerged. It led into the newly formed Astrolabe.

Signed with nine squiggly lines arranged in a fan