The Dark Memory Crystal

A memory crystal of jet black obsidian that appears to absorbs the light around it. A relic of the First Age, aside from its unusual appearance it remains in pristine condition, and in perfect working order. Were someone to acquire it from its current owner and find some means of playing it, they would hear the following:

Greetings and salutations on this most felicitous day! I do so hate to impose on you at such a time, but I felt this an appropriate gift for the occasion. In response to your earlier query:

It’s difficult to describe, even for one such as I. We are, after all, speaking of an existence before linear time was crafted; a formless epoch of pure, unfathomable chaos. To even speak of the founding of Creation requires words, concepts, facets of reality that no longer exist. Given what preceded it and the events that occurred subsequent, it is impossible to tell the true origin of Creation. But then that’s why you came to me.

From that timeless abyss of infinite possibilities a pattern arose, a melody of such exquisite beauty, fleeting but potent. It should have changed ton something else, and indeed would have, but for the fact that suddenly there were those who could sing this tune, who could define it an in turn were define by it. Not all who could chose to do so of course, and not all that tried succeeded, but we did. Suddenly we were, where before we were not, the first true act of existing. And by our mere being we defined the chaos around us, and if it could be said to have been anything, it was repulsed. If one were to project action on it, and we did, it could said it acted to destroy us, infinite possibility versus power incarnate. It should have won, but we were able to join our voices together, to create a chorus that could not be silenced. Some chanted a tune of order, some sang with an atonal but inventive pitch, some few whispered a dark undercurrent of promises and lies; many sang loudly of power. But the greatest voice, the one that united our disparate melodies and rose to unite us in song, sang of glory. This voice asked us who it was, and we replied he was Z'Ma... was Mardukth, the King of the Primordials. So it came to pass that we defined each other.

Now, as you may imagine formless chaos gets dull rather quickly. It was decided we would create a realm for ourselves, a plane of existence defined as we were, where we might properly exercise our power and revel in our divinity. The Lidless Eye That Sees announced that Autochthon would provide the designs for Creation and the games which were to make its heart. Then there arose the question of raw materials. Oh yes, you would think in a sea of infinite possibilities we could simply will into existence anything we could want or need. But in being defined we had limited ourselves, as unimaginably vast as the constraints on those limits might be. We wanted a foundation as solid as ourselves on which to build, yet while we discovered we had the ability to create, we could not create something primordial. I, of course, devised a solution: One of us could serve as the foundation for our Creation. One of us would invert, become a new being while we others created a realm out of them. There was some debate of course, but once everyone was made to see this was the best course of action, all that remained was to decide who. Mardukth proposed that his queen, Tiamethys, the first of us to raise her voice in answer to his question, should be so honored as to become our home, over which he would rule for all time. Our queen countered that as the most glorious of us all Mardukth himself should found our Creation, that all of existence might serve as a monument to his eternal greatness. This impasse was resolved when Mardukth exercised his authority as King for the first time, and commanded Tiamethys to become something new. We set out to define Creation, and in so doing were defined by it. After work on the Great Maker’s design was begun, I was quick to point out that had it not been for Autochthon's designs, we would still have Queen Tiamethys among us. I am unaware of this leading to any animosity. Cytheria shaped the body of Tiamethys into Creation, and Cecelyne brought order to it. Theion empowered the process, and as creation neared completion we came fully into our power there, he lashed out at the chaos which sought to dissolve us, and he wounded it with definition, naming it the Wyld. I became as a shadow to Creation and undermined it, so that some chaos energies of the Wyld would always eat at its edges, eroding but also renewing existence with raw possibilities, such that we would never again want for raw materials with which to create. All went as planned, though I felt Cecelyne always held some resentment that the design had subtly undermined her vision of a Creation of perfect, static order. I can’t say I agree, but given current circumstances I do see her point. Some others felt that as our leader it should have fallen to Mardukth to define the Wyld, but instead he chose to deliver the final blow to Tiamethys' primary fetich soul and complete the reshaping process of his Queen. Mardukth was the first among us, and now he was the first to commit an act of violence against another Primordial, thought as it turned out he was far from the last. But he was still glorious, and he was still our king. In any event, Tiamethys was no more, in being fashioned into creation and experiencing fetich soul death she was remade anew, now a being to be known as Gaia. All told a rather fascinating set of precedent for fashioning a new realm, albeit not one we ever thought we would revisit.

For a time, I can’t say for how long, I wasn’t really paying attention, and time was still a fairly new concept that changed day to day, all was well. Creation was as exactly what it was designed to it to be, and the Games of Divinity all we had desired and more. We thrilled in the act of creation, and in destroying the lesser creations of other, or even our own we had grown bored of. As you know, when something owes its existence to you, it is yours to do with as you please. That was the problem, the problem with our King. Mardukth had been our king before time, before Creation, but the reality of our situation had changed. He was still as glorious as ever, but now we found his glory stifling. Mardukth required the constant control and obedience of his subjects because he was king, which was how he was defined, and how he had defined us. But in Creation everything is defined, even if it is sometimes subtly so. Moreover, we could now define ourselves, and so had no more need for anyone to define us. We had a true freedom lesser beings cannot even fathom, yet we were not fully free to exercise it. And there was the memory of Tiamethys. One did not need to encounter Gaia in the games, all of existence was a reminder that while most of us had chosen to exist as something new in response to inhabiting Creation, one of us had been forcibly remade into something new, by order of King Mardukth. We could not foresee a need to ever forcibly remake another Primordial, yet The Lidless Eye That Sees said it would be so. Hah. There was a great deliberation on what should be done, and finally Theion, then as now the most puissant of us, proposed that if there was to be change, then we should seize control of it now. He proposed that he should be king, for only he had the power to wrest control from Mardukth, yet was confident in his power and thus saw no need to constantly exercise it over the rest of us. Ligier need not proclaim only Theion’s might as he marched beside the newly created Unconquered Servant and illuminated Creation each day; King Theion’s might would proclaim the power of his people to all of existence, over all existence, for all time. The opportunity was too tantalizing to ignore, and so it came to pass: we decided we were no longer ruled by Mardukth, and Theion decided he was King. Theion made a move and for the first time won against Mardukth in the Dames of Divinity, A Ligier’s light shone in Yu-Shan for all to see. Mardukth, was still glorious, but now that was all he was. We finished defining ourselves, and thought we had become what we would be for all time. The endless age of the Primordials had begun. Then we began making new beings to tremble at our greatness, and it was good.

Thank you for humoring me, Lord Desus, I do hope you’ve enjoyed my tale, but I’m sure you have other matters that require your attention. Please, do give my best to your new bride, I’m certain you’ll both be very happy together.

Played only a handful of times in its long history, it was given to the Solar Exalt Desus as a wedding present from the Yozi known as the Ebon Dragon. Although at the time it was agreed the crystal's contents had no effect on Desus, it was considered potentially dangerous, if not outright heretical, and so it was donated to the great library at Sperimin, with access to it tightly regulated by the Solar Deliberative. Following the Usurpation it languished there for centuries until it was eventually retrieved by the Lunar Exalt Raksi, Queen of Fangs. Although it is currently used as a centerpiece for a rather impressive, if sinister, tiara, none save Nara-O knows if Raksi decided to listen to it.