The Ophaia

"I beheld a world in its entirety, and I gazed upon the Foundations that sustained it. And the priestess of the stars spoke to me-

Witness THEIR coming, O child of the world - the hunters of the earth and the stellar sea! Fall to your knees in reverence, and THEY shall draw near to you..."

— a "visionary"

What description could contain the Wolflords' majesty? The pillars of reality, the embodiments of nature, the sources of all life... all the world's paper could not contain Their names and deeds. From the sun's gold-woven radiance to the protection of the moons, from the lifeblood of the world to the fate which binds it, the Sevenfold Foundations surpass all mortal thought, and are unrivalled in Their glory.

Yet in these latter days, only the talismans of the mages They bless, and the laments of the hunting wolves, serve as remembrances of Their power.

The Seven Pillars Hewn

"The days of Their glory are long past. Only the wolves, racing beneath the gaze of the weeping moons, remember the truth - thus do we name the great ones."

— an ikayal priestess

The Wolflords' origins are entangled with the very genesis of Wyral, forbidden knowledge to all mortals. Even the meaning of Their truename has been lost, and most fear to even inscribe it. The names They bear now were passed down with a great deal of reverence, and a greater amount of fear.

Most scholars hold that They came into being - or arrived, or emerged - along with the world's creation. Some esoteric sects say that the Wolflords are rulers-in-exile, guarding against some star-devouring scourge beyond the world's confines. Still others believe the world to be the meeting of Their seven dying celestial realms.

And those sleepers, beholden to the starless sky, whisper that They stole the power with which Wyral was forged, inciting the wrath of the heavens...

Ophaia Ousia

"All things in this world have being and substance, yet they fail to answer the question: what is being? What is the 'divine essence' that unites all things?"

"Enlighten us, Teacher."

"The Foundations alone are in and of Themselves, branch and root of the Divine Reason."

— a discourse between the Heretic and her students

Each of the Sevenfold is the totality of a single aspect of reality. Sol, for instance, does not merely preside over light and fire - He embodies them, from the devouring flame of purification to the gentle light of dawn. This demesne is that which He passes to His chosen, the sun mages - fragments not of His mastery, but Himself.

But They are nothing so comprehensible as mere physical beings. The Foundations anchor both matter and mind. They are manifestations of Ideals - or rather, the Ideals are emanations of Them.

Ideals have been defined as "universal concepts", a flawed title for an equally vague theory. Few can quite can upon what qualifies to be called an Ideal in the first place. Love, Harmony, Justice, Finality - these are only the most popular alternatives to the accepted canon.

And even after deciding on these seven fundamentals, one must still attempt to assign them to the Wolflords. But how could mortals ever find a word to describe the source of all oceans, or the bones of the very earth?

Wars have been waged, and kingdoms reduced to waste - all for the uncertain perception of divinity. The nations who revelled in Imber's wine of freedom were overthrown by those who wished to hasten Aspira's finality. Empires devoured the land in the name of Lapis' stability - only to be shattered by heroes enacting Fulmen's retribution.

If the Wolflords still watch over this world, and have seen the blood and flame spilt over these profound yet meaningless Ideals... it is no wonder that They forsook us.

A World in Manifest

"Seven Tianli for the seven worlds, upon whose ruins we tread."

— a saying among the Tayali Flamestriders

As for Their forms - is it not enough to know that They are? Their common epithets are misnomers; it is only because wolves were so often Their attendants that mortals named Them "Wolves". Most of the Wolflords only manifested in shattered glimpses.

But when a Wolflord deigned to descend - even in part - the world shuddered.

A single glance from Fulmen could permanently reshape the ley lines, sweeping the land like a storm. Those who encountered Lyra often never spoke again, overwhelmed by Her divine voice. Lapis alone wandered in His true form, but not even the bones of the earth could withstand His coming.

Even that was nothing compared to what They could do in Their wrath.

It is said that when Nox fought the devouring abyss, He dragged the very stars from their thrones. Imber's tears as She descended to grant Axhal Her blessings were such that the blood shed on those plains never stopped falling.

Which of these stories are rooted in truth is unclear. Perhaps it does not matter. But those who ardently wish to gaze upon one of the Sevenfold... may find that it is more than they can bear.

The Severed Way

"We could never hope to [...] heavens. That companion of death [...] was all a lie..."

— charred notes found in a Rethyan ruin

The Wolflords were never close to mortals. If Their presence is enough to shatter the world, the distance between heaven and earth is reasonable - perhaps even expected. Their influence was seen in the ascension of new Exalted, and in the tides, the eclipses, the constant march of time.

But the heavens have fallen silent, and the halls of the stars are empty.

The youngest confirmed Exalted is Axhal, who ascended in the centuries before the Endwar. Since then, there has been no divine intervention in Wyral. Not when the Ending nearly devoured the world They held so dear. Not when Their mortal charges turned on each other. Not while Their order crumbled, and the world raced towards the coming nightfall.

Many have tried to ascend to the celestial realm - through alchemy, through mage-work, through discerning fate's threads. Others set themselves up as the new rulers of this world, letting the old temples and rituals fall into disrepair. The so-called glory of the old world haunts them all in their own way.

Yet the path to the Foundations has been severed. Whether They are dead, or sleeping, or vanished - none can say.

Perhaps we disappointed Them.

Perhaps They abandoned us.

The only certainty is that, one day, we will miss Their guidance sorely.

"The long night has already begun. The sky is destined to shatter."