The Binding Law of the Cycle

Origins and Divine Intent

The Binding Law was first spoken aloud by a prophet whose name was lost in unraveling script. This prophet, now only referred to as The Voice Between, claimed to hear the law directly during a waking dream beneath a twin eclipse. Her followers were the first to enforce the doctrine, destroying sites used for time-fixing rituals and marking sacred looms with blood sigils meant to “suture” the Veil.

Though widely attributed to Kavessra’s influence, many scholars believe the law was initially intended to prevent misuse of Velexia’s balance, not to obstruct restoration. As Kavessra’s whispers gained foothold, the wording of the law mutated subtly through generations, shifting from protective decree to rigid prohibition. Some now use the law to justify suppression of Talorian or Alagorian extremists, but also by zealots to hunt Veilwardens who attempt to restore balance through ritual.

Enforcement and Cultural Reach

No centralized government enforces the Binding Law, yet it is upheld almost universally through divine fear. The Dawnbound of Solaris and the Nightseers of Umbrenor both treat violation as a capital offense, though the interpretation of what constitutes “locking” a cycle varies wildly. In Aetheron, where scholars attempt to untangle the law’s arcane syntax, small rebellions have broken out among chronomancers who see the law as an obstacle to balance, not a safeguard.

Among the Loomshorn and non-Thalrani faithful, the law is seen as unjustified suppression. Loomshorn communities who simulate ancestral threadbinding are often accused of tampering with the cycles, even though their synthetic link to the Loom is not directly related to temporal shifts. This discrimination has driven deeper fractures between cultural groups, fueling myths that the law is a tool of political control masquerading as a divine mandate.

Consequences of Violation

Those who attempt to bind or fix a cycle, whether through arcane means, eclipse-forging rituals, or magical constructs, risk a form of unraveling known as Threadburn. Victims slowly lose chronological cohesion: they forget what day it is, fall out of sync with others, or phase in and out of reality during misaligned hours. Clerics say this is Kavessra’s warning, a taste of entropy, not death.

But not all suffer in the same way. Some who’ve broken the law report gaining strange insights, visions of Elaris whole again, or knowledge of rituals that could restore the Veil. These “blessed heretics” are often hunted, their knowledge burned, their stories buried. Yet their very existence keeps the debate alive: Was the law meant to protect or to imprison?

Ritual Conflicts and Cultural Myths

A famous myth tied to the law tells of a Thalrani sage who once used a nightbound loom to anchor a stable Alagorian month to rescue a dying child trapped in eclipse-glare sickness. Though the child lived, the sage vanished, and in his place, a shadow replica wandered for seven years, cursing those who spoke of balance. This tale is often told as a parable about good intentions leading to imbalance.

Other stories tell of lost temples that hold instructions for harmonizing the cycle,s a direct contradiction of the Binding Law. These myths often reference ancient pre-Sundering knowledge or even Velexia’s early rites. Their forbidden status only encourages rogue scholars and dream-anchored adventurers to seek them out, hoping to reverse Kavessra’s influence or doom the world trying.