Archive of Lorenon (Lore-en-on)

Lorenon's Archive was originally built to house and protect documents related to Laness's various grand projects related to arcanistry. The characteristically Lanessian desire for permanence however means that it was constructed in such a way that it functioned additionally functioned as a citadel during times of unrest and, more importantly, the Fall.

As Laness grew more centralized, the city of Lorenon became an important hub for the nation's arcanists. With more and more arcanists passing through the archive to file away project documents or research the work of their colleagues, it was decided that an expansion was necessary. The archive was transformed from a single building to complex with the addition of new buildings connected by underground tunnels, to house lecture halls and arcanist workshops.

The Lorenon Mythallar powers a massive Forbiddance spell cast over the entire archive and for a hundred feet in every direction. This spell prevents teleportation and dimensional travel from entering the affected area, additionally, creatures of the planes find being within the spell's area unpleasant and will burn to cinders if they stay within for too long. When discouraging fiends and undead from approaching, a sphere of swirling, iridescent colours surrounds the archive. All who have had the misfortune of witnessing this defense activated have described the sphere as one of the most beautiful sights they have ever seen.   The materials used to construct the archive are all reinforced by spells of durability and immovability and enchanted to have their form immutable to make the walls, for all intents and purposes, indestructible. Ironically, the only weak point was the grand door that still stands to this day despite the walls having partially collapsed around it.

In the Spring of 1E 1338, an expedition of adventurers and archeologists sponsored by the University of Venainé journeyed to the Archive with the assistance of the Knights of the Watch to learn from the only intact Lanesian ruin ever discovered. Within the Archive, they found countless texts describing works of Lanesian magic and even plans for many creations thought to be legends, such as flying ships and spheres of annihilation. The prize jewel of their findings were the research notes and plans for lifting a city-sized chunk of earth into the sky and keeping it at a stable altitude, obviously intended to create a city in the clouds.   While the treasures and knowledge they acquired were incredible, so too were the horrors they met inside. The Archive was filled with the skeletons of those who had sought shelter from the Ruin and journals they found told how they had turned on each other as time went on due to groups becoming increasingly insular and each believing that the others were keeping secret the key to escaping the situation. As the adventurers dealt with haywire security constructs, they noticed more and more signs of another plane leaking into the Material—corrupting stonework into horrific flesh-like walls and creating clouds of madness-made-material that congeal into aberrations. At the lowest level of the Archive, where the building's Mythallar dwelt, they encountered a vaguely humanoid being that named itself as an Emissary. Its mere presence was the source of all the planar corruption. The adventurers attacked the Emissary and, despite the loss of many of their comrades, managed to eventually fell it. To their horror, the Emissary's body collapsed into a gory slurry and rose again as a massive pillar of ruptured flesh, twisting organs, and screaming faces. The minds of the entire expedition were assaulted by a maddening choir of insane laughter and vicious screaming as the Emissary destroyed the Mythallar and shifted to another plane. Battered, and not quite all there anymore, the expedition returned home.