In A Tome Of Old

[Sebastien Alexandre]

In the south, there once existed a great and vast city, though some will tell you in actuality is was nothing but a small farm village which was, through the use of sorcery and tricks, made to look far grander than what it really stood at. Regardless, there existed such a city, and it existed at the southern most tip of the southern most isle in the southern most county of the Duchy of Kildare. Within the walls of its grand libraries and temples and universities, the histories of a people who, like their city, did not truly exist or at least did not exist to the extent of which they were seen, were painstakingly recorded and preserved within its walls for what its Counts presumed would be the rest of time. Yet, as all things eventually do, power brings corruption and mismanagement. While power can sustain even the most corrupt of nations, eventually power fades, too, and with it so falls an empire. The nations and peoples of old, the great beings of which now are remembered only in children's fables, are reduced by the internal stresses which they bring unknowingly upon themselves. This, too, sadly, happened to such an empire, in a period of which it had no true Count to hold the title, and only a group of lowly and corrupt regions ruled.

This city, this capital of a vast and powerful niche within a vast and powerful Imperial Republic, was once known as Hallucidagrad, and within its walls stood the great and noble library, the Library of Hallucidagrad, which was so great in size and importance that it was known by all who knew it as simply, the Library. Here were the histories kept; the accounts of wars and attrocities micras over, the preserved remnants of decayed and destroyed texts from centuries past. The histories of a million peoples and a thousand nations were preserved within its walls, the histories of every Kaiser and Kaiseress, every Regent and Usurper, perhaps even some who held the titles of both Usurper and Regent, stood within its walls. So too, were the records of the lives and cultures of the peoples who inhabited these lands.

These people, these masters of illusion and trickery, who one could never be sure that they truly existed anywhere but in the dreams and thoughts of their Count and in the senses in your body so easily fooled, yes - these were the people known as the Halluci. It is said, that if one ever looked down to the shore, a vast and magnificent lighthouse guarded the harbor to the city of Hallucidagrad. Yet, it is also said that the duty of lighthouse was merely its second calling. For in truth, the pale blue light that shown from within its massive walls was not made for the purpose of guiding ships safely to harbor (though safely guide them it did), but to serve as the lifeline, the Maintainer, the Puppetmaster, of all the beings within Halluci who were made of naught but dreams and whims. Here, within this heavily guarded fortress of a lighthouse, lay the Envisioning Stone.

So unlike its brother, the Boomist Stone, it was. Where the Boomist Stone of the Temple of Ryvenna had only the power to destroy, to decimate, to tear apart the fabric of life, the Envisioning Stone could do nothing but give. It is true, that with the Envisioning Stone creatures died - but does not the creator have the power to decide when his creation's time is at an end? Cannot the potter mold the clay to his very will and whim? Thus, from this stone came the hundreds of thousands of beings that made up Halluci. Illusions so strong, enchantments so potent, trickery and sorcery so powerfully and intricately woven, that to touch the hand of an illusioned being was to feel the calouses of his fingers, worn by work in the field. That to lay your head against the chest of an illusioned maiden was to feel her heart pumping, and, if she took fancy to you, to hear it accelerate.

Yet these powers came at a great price, as well. While the Counts of Halluci had been able to create these magnificent stones, these polar opposites of all that humanity stood for, neither could work outside the confines of these peoples homelands. Never would an illusioned being see the golden waves of wheats in the Kitanus Fields, or feel the biting cold of winter in Dalmacija. Never would an illusioned emissary give gifts from the Counts to the Dukes in Elwynn and Goldshire, or beg mercy on the Counts behalf from the Kaiser on his Mango Throne. No, the power of the stone, while indeed great, was vastly limited. Thus becoming a cornerstone of foreign policy for the Halluci's leaders. A policy of defend at all costs, with no offensive capabilities or desires to think of. For truly - what could you need, when a seemingly dead bit of grass could spring up into fields of wheat? Indeed, the powers of the Stone was vast, but it could not kill. It could not maim, it could not harm. While its creatures had the ability and free will to do such things, the Stone itself could not willingly or consciously create or cause catastrophe upon its people or others within its bordes. And thus Halluci was a peaceful realm, ruled by peaceful Counts who saught war only when it was brought upon their doorsteps. Counts who went to battle with heavy hearts, knowing that from the Stone a web of life flowed - knowing that some of the strings connecting that web would soon perish forever back into the Stone from which they came.

The Halluci, it is said, were always highly valued within their society - hard working, able to work on what may seem to the outward eye a feast but in reality only a few grains. A peaceful society that focused all of its attentions on the bounties of religion, philosophy, and artistic endeavors instead of the bounties of war. A society in which all could coexist peacefully - the Elves and the Dragons and the Ents and the Humans and the Illusioned Halluci.

Yet Halluci was not without its troubles. From time to time strife would strike the Imperial Republic, and Halluci's neighbors would look on in envy at a land frozen in time by the strength of the Stone and the cunning of the Count. A land where crops grew plentiful and rain poured from the sky while its neighbors danced and sacrificed and prayed for but a drizzle for their meager harvests. And so, while the Halluci were a peaceful people with peaceful rulers, war was often brought upon its peoples. Yet each time the Halluci repelled them, losing many lives, both Illusioned and Human, in the process. Yet is not all life prescious? Who truly holds the power to deem another being more or less significant than the other, and are we not all but mere thoughts and dreams of our creator? With this philosophy, the Illusioned were mourned for as fiercely as the True Living, and the Envisioned lay in tombs just as the Humans did, though in truth an uncovered grave would find nothing but a piece of bark, or perhaps a pebble from the river.

For most of its history, Halluci flourished - and flourished greatly. It rebounded quickly from its wars and strifes, and its rulers worked ceaselessly towards the betterment of their peoples. For in truth, it is said that only two rulers ever ruled this land, and so time had not allowed for corrupt heirs to take the throne and abuse their peoples.

Yet, in the time when Halluci seemed at its greatest height, a little known Countess of the south curried favor with the Duke who ruled not only the peoples known as the Halluci, but their oft-jealous neighbors and their allies and even their foes, as well. With this favor the Countess soon became Duchess, and with the title the nation of the Halluci was brutally torn in two. The Envisioned that could moved quickly to the north of their former realm, and the regents of the Counts established what they hoped would be a working replica, a twin of a twin, of the Envisioning Stone in city of Port Halluci. And indeed it worked, but alas, it worked not well nor to the degree of which its stronger sibling to the south did, and so the Halluci of the north became a diseased and constantly ill people. A sick and mutated imitation of what their people had once been. And thus the people mourned, and mourned bitterly, for the days of old when the Counts cared for htem so and prosperity was the only way of life they ever knew.

In this time, a ruler thought killed in the turmoil of such things, re-emerged to lead what was left of his peoples to what he hopes was a better life. While his name is lost to time, it is said he led his people to the far-off Duchy of Elwynn, bringing with him yet another replica stone. An imitation that, while far better than the one what stood in Port Halluci (for the Count was skilled in these arts, and had many powerful magi to aid him), was still but a sick and sad shadow of its brother in what was now the much-abused ruins of the once proud city of Hallucidagrad, enabled him to carry his people, and place them in exile in the County of Illumination in Elwynn, where the Count sought refuge and was granted it willingly by the Elwynese Duke. Thus to this day, the Halluci all over the former homelands and in Elwynn speak nothing but good things of the Elwynese.

It is hoped, in the writing of this tome, that perhaps one day a Count of Old will return to restore his homeland, and the homeland of his people. That he will rise up, and make the Halluci both strong and weak at the same time. For in truth, it is said it was our strength that made us so vulnerable - we threatened those around us, and in defense we were slaughtered so that their own would not be threatened. It is hoped one day this Count will return, and both cast down the descendants of his former subjects and raise them up at the same time. That he wil make harder and more mysterious the arts of the Halluci, so that they can never become abused nor envied. The the shadow stones in Port Illumination and Port Halluci can be combined in fullness with the remnants of the stone in Hallucidagrad, and that one day the Halluci will stand again, and stand on equal, brotherly, and cooperative footing with their neighbors, as proud members of the Duchy of Kildare...

[Andreas the Wise]

This is wonderful, really wonderful, Sebastien (or Oz ... what name would you prefer?) This is the thing I couldn´t get from the Wiki, that I could never understand until it was explained to me by one of its creators ... and its good you explained it now and before Jonas and I were halfway through our game with an incorrect version of the Halluci ... hmm ... Jonas, I´m getting more ideas
Sebastien - I´ll talk with Jonas and probably pm you some of our plans. That way you can fit in with them in your writings, and your creativity adds to the resources for the game etc ... brilliant!

[Jonas]

Brilliant!

[Andreas the Wise]

Three months previous

As Hallucination prophecies went, this one seemed, at first glance, relatively standard. That the heir to the County would return and the Halluci people stand proud again. Variations on this basic theme had been predicted for the last three hundred years, with little success.

But at a further glance, this prediction seemed to have something more to it. For a start, it predicted not one but two heirs, one with the wisdom of yore, and one with the innovation of youth. Apart from this, it seemed somewhat confused on whether there was two or they were two aspects of the one person ... what would be achieved under the prophecy certainly sounded like one person. What's more, it gave specific descriptions of those that would come ... well, of one of them, anyway - right down to the birthmark on the left cheek. Furthermore, instead of "There will come," as most prophecies started, it said, "There will come very soon. And I mean really soon - like next coupla months soon. No kidding. Really." Many of the citizens of Old Hallucination, though it had been centuries since there had been a true Count or any Envisioned beings had been seen, were rather excited by the prophecy, and waited eagerly, in case, this time, something would come of it.

If it didn't, there'd probably be a lynching by Christmas, but folklorists know that's a risk of the trade and pack thick-necked shirts accordingly.