Interesting news from the Heartlands, friends

[stalingro]

As you may well know, a passage to a grand city beneath the heartlands plateau was recently discovered. A number of us were sent to investigate by Seeker Gavin, and to bring back any texts we might happen upon to shed some light on the mystery surrounding the place. Enclosed is the full text of the three books I found among the elven bones and rusted machinery, transcribed as faithfully as I can muster.

Metal Minds, Metal Bodies, Metal Logic.

It's become clear to the elders that our latest model is all that we could dream to achieve. With the initial failure of the Athica project to meet our expectations, its weakness to the influence of magic and its inability to cope with the absurdity of its own existance, the idea that crude metal engines would succeed where our most intricate life-giving enchantments had failed seemed laughable. Yes, the crude clockworks that we construct in ever-increasing numbers have shown no failings at this stage of the project. Their minds cannot be tampered with, their bodies are strong and resilient in the face of erosion. They are enduring, simple, unchanging. They are the weapon we will need against the future. Metal minds.

This one, while quite interesting, doesn't seem to tell us too much. What were the high elves preparing to fight against?

Changing Winds.

At this point, what option do we have other than to act? Magic is on the rise, all over the world. Every day brings stronger and stronger levels of magic down on us with the light and the wind itself. It is as though Elael is determined to destroy us once and for all. The High Mages argue that this increased level of magic in the land and its creatures is not harmful, that it is natural and will simply be sustained. It is obvious that this is not the case. It would seem that these enlightened scholars are turning a blind eye to the sudden, insidious mutations that have begun appearing among the creatures of the Faydark, and that similar occurances are happening all across Dalaya!
This phenomena, called the Changing Winds, occurs through a process where the amount of magic that sweeps over Dalaya daily is rampantly increasing - as larger levels of magic settles into the earth and water, it loses its natural ability to use and disperse it over the night, leaving remnants for the next day. As more magic joins the remnants of the previous day, they suffuse and further dilute the natural absorption, creating a constantly multiplying rate of increase in background magic. As far as we know, this sudden increase appears to have taken its beginnings some twenty years ago, when a massive flare of magic struck
the jungled continent of Ikisith, lighting up the sky in a display of multicolored light that could be seen by sailors in the Sea of Swords. The magic from this occurance slowly spread out from its point of impact, filling the atmosphere, and somehow drawing in more of its type from beyond the planet.
While the effects of this have not been entirely negative, it is our firm belief that this unchecked increase in background magic may well lead to the destruction of all of Dalaya in the long run, especially as it is suffused by the experiments of careless mages who revel in their newfound power.
To counter this, we must find a non-harmful way to nullify, disperse, and deflect magic. It is our firm belief that this method must furthermore be rooted in an intelligence that is immune to its long-term mutating effects, to create a permanent safeguard for our very existance on Dalaya. It is with this goal in mind that we have begun our project - the construction of the sentience dubbed "Athica."

Okay, so that sort of explains the motive behind Athica and later the machines. They were created to disperse magic, so it makes sense that we've noted that function in both of them.

The next book is about how all magic originates from Elael, the sun as I understand it. As the magic enters Dalaya's atmosphere it breaks down into the four elemental kinds of magic we are familiar with: air, fire(the lighter elements), water, earth(the heavier ones). Every spell we know is based on one or more of these elements; the author speculates that it is theoretically possible to access much, much more powerful magic by tapping into the power of Elael directly, or so I understand it. Perhaps... perhaps this has something to do with our new amphibious "friends"? I don't know, I'm afraid I haven't got the information to make a call like that. We do know, though, that their magic is unlike anything we've seen yet. I'll keep you updated if I stumble upon any other tomes in the depths of that great city.

-Lonaan