Places Of Power
From Atlantic Roleplay Wiki
Title: Places of Power
Author: Azrundan Hawkwood
Everyone is familiar with the various shrines and moongates that can be found in various places throughout the land.
Moongates allow passage from place to place and between the 3 facets.
The shrines are mostly known for their benefits to the... metaphysically inconvenienced... The purpose of this study is to analyze the ether in and around these places of power, or "hot spots" as I like to call them, in order to gain a better understanding of the flow of mystic energies through
-Felucca-
The energies of the places of power in Felucca were fairly stable for quite some time. The moongates drew from the ambient energy of the circle of stones, while the shrines acted mainly as a kind of etherial storage sponge.
The first major disturbance occurred when Minax began her invasion. The corruption of the 8 virtue shrines fueled her powers and subtly wounded the land. This wound would become apparent when Lord British and his mage Nystul completed the ritual that would open the way to/create Trammel. There is a disagreement among scholarly circles as to what exactly happened and who is to blame for the resulting cataclysm in Felucca. In my own studies, I have determined that the structures built in the various cities were some kind of etherial projectors that diverted energies from the then-corrupted shrines and projected them onto a formless proto-facet. This would explain why Trammel is an almost exact copy of Felucca, and why it was uninhabited when the first Britannians arrived. Such a great discharge of mystical energies cannot occur without consequence, as history has shown us.
When the Shadowlord Faction revolted against Minax she relinquished her hold on the shrines, as they were of little use with most of their energy drained.
-Trammel-
The vast majority of the energies from the hot spots in Trammel are actively used to power the "Justice" effect that makes it much more difficult to do violence against another person. It is a crude and incomplete effect at best, but it does its part to keep the general populace safe from random violence (specific, organized violence by large groups is another matter however...). The relative lack of etherial background energy in Trammel does make it much more difficult to work magic on a larger scale than simple spells. One has to wonder if this has something to do with the Council of Mages' disapproval of Lord British's actions...
-Illshenar-
Illshenar is something of a mystery. The shrines and moongates each share hotspots, which leads to several... unconventional mystic areas. The Tree of Life in the middle of the charred forest is one example of such a place. Further exploration is necessary to determine more about the nature of these regions. As for the shrines, most of their energies seem to be devoted to 2 things: keeping the moongates stable and open across all 3 known facets, and shielding Illshenar from other means of entry, either by moonstone gate or other means. This same effect seems to be what prevents the Recall and Gate spells from functioning. The residual "justice" effect seems to "bleed" over from Trammel, though it is difficult to say whether this is in fact its true source. Without more detailed knowledge of the actions of the previous inhabitants of Illshenar there is little else that can be determined.