The true technomage
In a world of spirits, gods of concept and gods of flesh; it was strange that in the shadows of end of the human adventure that the Foliads of the towns and cities began to embrace a new figure. A figure made wholecloth from the minds of the mages and those that supported them.
Buoyed by rampant creative intellectualism and enhanced by the human's blatant religious favour, the foliad mages fought the concept of a foreign deity by constructing one of their own - the idea of the 'true technomage'. Originally a focus on the idea that a mind would come that was so learned, so critical that it could take society into a new form simply by the shock waves of their brilliance.
This concept built upon itself as the millennium progressed. The deification off this ideal was the start, building story and mythology onto the image of the technomage and giving a name Olari. The area around what would become the Solaris kingdom would come to put much of its intent and purpose into upholding this ideal and many of the towns now lost to time pooled together to create the Amphitheatre of Knowledge, a place where the people of the region to discuss and explore the scientific ideals of magic, technology and enlightened thinking. When the (Dragon King) - Solaris formed formed the region under his protection after the exile of the humans, he clasped the name of the ideal in his teeth and shook, claiming the lands as his and casting the first court in the lands next to the amphitheatre - under the watchful gaze of the grown effigy that straddled the amphitheatre in the likeness of this foliad-made god. All things come to an end though, and merely a hundred years later the treaty to ban all public worship of gods and religion - with the effigy of the amphitheatre torn down and a new bastion grown in its place. While Olari finds purchase from time to time - including on one of the buildings of Vertus - the god itself has disappeared into the undergrowth, the sigil of the belief appearing within the web and weft of circuit magic and on books of knowledge around the region. A plinth still holds vacancy in the Great Hall of the Academy of Natare when Olari once stood. Even now, Olari stands for the embodiment of Foliad potential, though some of the other denizens of Levis have picked up the torch in the nearly 2500 years.
One of the more interesting moments in the history of Levis comes from the wax and wane of the followings of those above. While her followers have made a comeback under the cover of secular society - often sticking to the shadows - during the human years, when worship was open, Aranthme's following was on the decline. This was often attributed to the conservative beliefs of the invasive human culture. Indeed under human gaze Levis became much more covered and close, an it was in this environment that Olari's laboratories and conservatories flourished. Traditional foliads would often find abandoned Aranthme temples and re-inhabit them as places of study for the knowledge god. Alchemy and the study of materials was often a focus of the place - combining the latent creative energies of the place with Olari's demand of knowledge.
The largest tennet of the followers of Olari is the belief that one must question everything. Innovation, experimentation and a touch of the rebellious is what is sparked within the minds and hearts of the followers of Olari even to this day where the culture of its people and its rigid institutes hamper that fire within the curious minds of the mages of the lands.
This concept built upon itself as the millennium progressed. The deification off this ideal was the start, building story and mythology onto the image of the technomage and giving a name Olari. The area around what would become the Solaris kingdom would come to put much of its intent and purpose into upholding this ideal and many of the towns now lost to time pooled together to create the Amphitheatre of Knowledge, a place where the people of the region to discuss and explore the scientific ideals of magic, technology and enlightened thinking. When the (Dragon King) - Solaris formed formed the region under his protection after the exile of the humans, he clasped the name of the ideal in his teeth and shook, claiming the lands as his and casting the first court in the lands next to the amphitheatre - under the watchful gaze of the grown effigy that straddled the amphitheatre in the likeness of this foliad-made god. All things come to an end though, and merely a hundred years later the treaty to ban all public worship of gods and religion - with the effigy of the amphitheatre torn down and a new bastion grown in its place. While Olari finds purchase from time to time - including on one of the buildings of Vertus - the god itself has disappeared into the undergrowth, the sigil of the belief appearing within the web and weft of circuit magic and on books of knowledge around the region. A plinth still holds vacancy in the Great Hall of the Academy of Natare when Olari once stood. Even now, Olari stands for the embodiment of Foliad potential, though some of the other denizens of Levis have picked up the torch in the nearly 2500 years.
One of the more interesting moments in the history of Levis comes from the wax and wane of the followings of those above. While her followers have made a comeback under the cover of secular society - often sticking to the shadows - during the human years, when worship was open, Aranthme's following was on the decline. This was often attributed to the conservative beliefs of the invasive human culture. Indeed under human gaze Levis became much more covered and close, an it was in this environment that Olari's laboratories and conservatories flourished. Traditional foliads would often find abandoned Aranthme temples and re-inhabit them as places of study for the knowledge god. Alchemy and the study of materials was often a focus of the place - combining the latent creative energies of the place with Olari's demand of knowledge.
The largest tennet of the followers of Olari is the belief that one must question everything. Innovation, experimentation and a touch of the rebellious is what is sparked within the minds and hearts of the followers of Olari even to this day where the culture of its people and its rigid institutes hamper that fire within the curious minds of the mages of the lands.
Children
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Very compelling contrasts here. One of my favorite eternal struggles in the genre is nature vs. civilization. Nature vs. the unrelenting advancement of tech. It can be chilling. Well done!