The Obelisk

The Halmorian Empire once saw the Obelisk and the Arcane interchangeably - as mystery, power, and potential; a gift from Ephaesus himself. Though mainlanders speculate the structure pierces clouds, colonists know it to be one hundred eleven feet tall, positioned at a high altitude so that it may be seen throughout Atalan. That name was deciphered from the Obelisk's runes by Galen Gray, father of the Obsidian Academy that now encloses the structure. Access was heavily restricted to those without Academy affiliation after the Long Night, though there was a time before The Long Night when anyone could examine it.

Tales of the Obelisk's strangeness are widespread in Eramere, even now. When near it, liquids freeze and boil; sounds echo, distort, and spontaneously manifest; and viewers experience memory loss, strange compulsions, vivid daydreams, and odd thinking. The tales are wild and fantastic, without much in common aside from eager delivery and eccentric content. All of it is strangely believable to those who have witnessed such phenomena.

Academy Wizards often became irritable as outsiders swap these tales. Though the phenomena are interesting - that which, some would say, sparked their interest in the Arcane - they also impede progress. One can not record observations when ink refuses to set upon the page, nor can one analyze runes when overcome by troubling hallucinations. Most maddening of all is that the runes slowly shift and change in unpredictable patterns. Primus Galen Gray sometimes warned Scribes that the greatest mistake they can make is to believe they have come to understand the Obelisk, as it is always changing, and always a mystery. This point was brought even further home when the Primus himself appeared to disappear within it during the events leading up to the Fall of Atalan.

Now, the Obelisk still stands within the abandoned city, waiting for any brave enough to dare the trip through manifestations and more dangerous creatures to reach it, and learn more about it and its runes once more.