Grand Hourglass
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The Grand Hourglass is counted among the most mysterious objects in all of creation. It is bound to Arcaneus, the draconic god of time, whose symbol is an hourglass.12
The sands of time
The Great Hourglass of Arcaneus is where all the time in the universe is accumulated.3
The Sands of Time are a great source of power for those who know how to harness them. This time energy differs from arcane magic in many ways: it is harder to control, and what it does cannot be undone. Exploring it may be an affordable gamble for long-lived peoples, who have more sand to spare, but for short-lived humans it is deadly.3
Many scholars believe that time energy is what keeps a soul in the physical world, where it is held from birth until it passes to the afterlife at death. In their view every soul is like an hourglass that begins to run the moment it is born, and when its sands run out, its time is over and it leaves the mortal coil.3
In imperial doctrine
According to the dogma of The Empire, Arcaneus is no more than a god charged by Alarath with guarding the flow of time and the Grand Hourglass.4 The god's name is spelled both Arcaneus and Arceanus.14
Not everyone accepted that view. The scholars of the Order of Nus’ar held that Arcaneus, whom they called the "dragon of time", was the only true god and that time was the only true master. The Empire hunted them as heretics, then spared the survivors on condition that they live as scholars in the capital's White Library. They are now counted the greatest historians of Teneris, devoted to recording time itself.4
Many scholars, members of the Order of Nus’ar above all, believe that Arcaneus is in truth a manifestation of Orphus, the very essence of time, and some chained scholars hold him to be one of the most powerful beings in the cosmos. The Empire and the Church have violently suppressed this belief.3
The Hourglass Conspiracy
The Grand Hourglass is bound up with the Hourglass Conspiracy. In 261 AVD the Cult of Void came to light, led by people who claimed to carry the souls of the Heralds from before Victory Day. Events involving Arcaneus and the Grand Hourglass are known to have taken place, but little more is recorded of an affair that should have shaken the universe to its core. The cult left behind only the ritual massacres it carried out to bring back the "Dark Father".1
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Lands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide (Bad Badger Games, 2024), p. 17. Art by the Bad Badger Games team.
İlgili maddeler
OlayHourglass ConspiracyA shadowy affair of 261 AVD in which the Cult of Void came to light, touching the god of time and the Grand Hourglass; little else about it is known.
BölgeThe EmpireThe human realm at the heart of the Lands of Exile, an absolute monarchy heavily shaped by faith, ruled from Marble City by the unbroken line of the Red Eagle and divided into five provinces under their Sovereigns.TanrıArcaneusThe god of time, one of the Draconic Gods, whose domains are time and knowledge and whose symbol is the hourglass. The Empire counts him a guardian of time set by Alarath; the Order of Nus'ar held him the only true god.
TanrıAlarathThe god of war and justice, patriarch of the Exiled Pantheon and protector of the Empire, who prizes courage above mercy and whose paladins are said to serve him even beyond death.
EserHellfire cannonThe great magical cannons of the Empire as they appear in the Sürgün Günlükleri and Mürekkep ve Çelik campaigns, where the palace's chief engineer claims their design and a new cannon, Gloria, is unveiled outside Gromkar.EserGeceSilent enchanted short sword of the Raphael Efsanesi campaign, marked with a full moon, which Raphael took from the Kalel master Naros, sold to the merchant Sirius and had approved at the Archon embassy.EserHeart of the forestThe buried heart of the fey spirit of the Sınır Sapı forest in the Zincirsiz campaign, held to bring the town its flowers, fruit, clean water and growth, sought by a hostile being and at last lent to the mage Jonathan River.EserJewel from Azbo's tombA thorned jewel of heavy malice in the Zincirsiz campaign, said to have been made from the organs of innocent elves as a gift to a god, which the orc Azbo gave Jonathan River to carry to the chain-bearers and which hides on his wrist as a plain bracelet.EserRaphael's stolen chainRune-covered chain of a Chain Warden in the Raphael Efsanesi campaign, which Derek Sunshield secretly hired Raphael to steal from a hidden vault, claiming it had to be kept out of dangerous hands.EserSpider Queen necklaceA black-chained necklace set with spider legs in the Sürgün Günlükleri campaign, which the dwarven High King says was taken long ago from a drow matron. Kept by the dwarves of Dağ Altı, it was entrusted by the king to Ephorus.