The Draught of Aeternum

The myth tells of Magister Tirennia Vetrix, who braved the Rift to seek sustenance for the besieged Nova Roma. She returned weeks later, silver-haired and silent, carrying an amphora sealed with seven containment glyphs. Inside was a shimmering wine said to grant longevity and invulnerability to those who drank it — but also visions, whispers, and madness.

One by one, those who drank disappeared into the Rift or fell into quiet insanity. The amphora was sealed and hidden away, but whispers claim it still calls to those who would drink eternity.

There is evidence of Tirennia Vetrix’s existence — her name appears in the Scholae Arcanii rolls of the First Century AR — and the Codex Vault does in fact contain an amphora sealed with seven glyphs, designated Aeternum-1. Whether its contents are truly as described, however, remains speculation, as the seal has never been broken in recorded memory.

Within the Riftwatch Quarter, the story is well-known, told to apprentices as a warning against overreaching. Among the Riftborn in the outer provinces, it is whispered reverently — some claiming to have seen lacrima vitis, the mythical Rift-grown berries from which the draught was pressed. Among the Severed, it is spoken of as a promise: a way back into the Rift.

Some versions say it was not a wine but a syrup, thick and black, served on a shard of Riftglass. Others claim it was never meant to be drunk at all, but poured into the earth to still the Rift’s hunger — and that Vetrix’s consumption of it was a mistake that damned her line.

In the Imperium proper, it is regarded as a cautionary tale — cited in Tribunal proceedings when discussing forbidden experimentation.
In outer Riftborn communities, it is a holy myth — sometimes even reenacted in ceremonial toasts with ordinary wine.
To the Arcanii, it is doctrine: that which should not be touched.

Referenced in the epic poem Vinum et Umbra (Wine and Shadow), attributed to the Riftwatch poet Caius Terval.
Also appears in The Annals of the Veil, in a chapter describing the sealing of forbidden artifacts.

A mural in the Riftwatch Quarter depicts Vetrix kneeling at the Rift’s edge, amphora in hand, her reflection in the Riftwater showing her as skeletal.
Some Custodians bear rings engraved with a stylized amphora crossed with containment glyphs, as a silent admonition.