Top and Bottom, Up and Down

"Really, I would start with getting rid of these six Archmages you have. In the name of the Divine Order, how are you meant to get anything done when negotiating with the realms at all, when such discordance is at the heart of your approach?" The fussy minister pushed its pince-nez up one of its seven long noses (if noses they could be called), and they immediately began to slowly slide down another of its thin trunks. "Of course, you could easily solve this by eliminating all of them but the Archmage of Day. Why, they could still be in charge of liaising with the other realms - you know, lower down the lattice, as it were - but it all wouldn't be so messy."

Amos sighed. When the Civil Service had selected him to liaise with the servants of the Argent Mantra, he hadn't expected them to be quite so... monofocused. He looked at the figure before him, dressed in layered robes enlaced with crystals, its face a strange construction of four eyes atop a mass of seven short trunks. The Minister Second-Class, Ninth Clade, the Respected Aphos-Mu, it has said its name was. "I really think we're getting away from the point."

"I don't think we are at all!" Aphos-Mu raised a long multi-jointed, lecturing finger. "The matter of the Omnihedron is, like all matters, one of governance - loyalty can only flow from clear, strong governance, and the predictable change you desire can come only from that loyalty being harmonious in nature. Do I need to read once more from my treatises on the subject?"

Amos assured it this would not be necessary. It had already spent much of the morning doing just that, quoting its own interminably dense text in a surprisingly annoying sing-song voice.

"Look, if you won't consider a single Archmage, why not two? Mortals like that kind of simple symmetry, don't you?" It said this in the tone of a parent admonishing a stubborn child. "An Archmage of Triumph, for Day, Summer and Autumn, and an Archmage of Adversity for Winter, Spring, and, um, Night, I suppose. With this proposed omnihedral order you've suggested, one of them would be in charge for half the cycle, and the other the other half. It's quite a nice idea, isn't it?"

Amos agreed that it was quite a nice idea, but that it still had nothing much to do with the problems of the Omnihedron itself.

"Well! None so cursed as those that will not hear." The pince-nez reached the end of their current trunk again. "Alright, well, start from the top: never let it be said that Aphos-Mu wasn't themselves willing to listen. Why don't you share some of your own theories, and I'll tell you what the problems with those are?"

Amos sighed once more. "What would Avigilana teach?" he thought to himself, holding the exemplar's icon that sat across his neck. "Patience. Patience and moving forward." He looked up, and prepared to speak once more.

He had to believe that they'd get there. He did believe they would get there. Eventually.

Sinokenon has strong views on a number of topics, especially relating to hierarchy, authority, responsibility, loyalty, and the ascendant powers of the magic of the Day realm.

Overview

In response to the casting of Bright Eyes Gleam in the Depths the Turning Mirror offered to send heralds to every corner of the Empire to gather information about a problem or situation named by the Imperial Conclave. If the Throne of the Sun discovered any way that the stated dilemma might be addressed or resolved, then its hierarchs would present their findings.

Conclave requests the Turning Mirror considers the matter of how the damage and detrimental effects of the Empire wide rituals that have been cast towards the Omnihedron can be fixed, in particular the blood red roads, and speculate on the result of completing the Omnihedron.

Declaration of Concord, Raised by Æsa Sigeling, Imperial Magus, Autumn Equinox 385YE

A declaration of interdiction against the magical practice of weaving an enchantment across the entire Empire. We cannot risk such chaotic and unpredictable magic without adequate safeguards

Declaration of Concord, Raised by Cassandra i Periera i Erigo, Imperial Censor, Autumn Equinox 385YE

Perhaps fittingly, the Conclave chose the Omnihedron itself. Aesa Sigeing, the Imperial Magus, raised the declaration asking the Wheel of Light to consider "the matter of how the damage and detrimental effects of the Empire wide rituals that have been cast towards the Omnihedron can be fixed, in particular the blood red roads, and speculate on the result of completing the Omnihedron."

With the Conclave's blessing the servants of the Turning Mirror have been free to roam the Empire, seeking answers to one of the the greatest questions of magic. A thousand motes of light scatter across the land in search of order. At the same summit, partly in response to concerns from several quarters, the Conclave elected to interdict all Empire-wide enchantments, but if The Wheel of Light can furnish the Empire with answers, perhaps the power of the Omnihedron might yet be harnessed safely.

There is no light that does not cast a shadow, not even the illumination that streams from The Throne of the Sun. It would seem that the Turning Mirror is not the only being interested in the Omnihedron – but more of that later.

What Is Known

Urizeni magicians have long understood that the magic of the realms can exert a powerful mental influence over those who fall under its influence. An Autumn ritual might make someone greedy and avaricious, while a Winter ritual made them morose and disdainful. It is often assumed that the more powerful the enchantment the more powerful the influence; while that can be true it is more accurate to say that the higher the magnitude of the effect, the more far-reaching and consequential these resonances can become. Nowhere is this more true than if the focus of the enchantment is a key node - since any resonance will quickly cause adjacent nodes to reverberate in sympathy.

In practical terms, there is no enchantment more powerful than those that are cast on the entire Empire, and many stargazers argue that the Empire is the anchorstone that lies at the very centre of the Net of the Heavens, joining all others. The result is that if one casts an Empire wide enchantment, the resonance of the realm can have unpredictable and far-reaching effects. Something will definitely happen, but it can be impossible to know what. This can be confounding to many magicians, because most ritual magic is eminently predictable; the ritual defines exactly what it will accomplish. Sabina of the Endless Beacon, a well-respected stargazer and teacher often uses the example of a spinning top to illustrate this contradiction. "When the top is spinning, we know with absolute certainty that it will eventually cease spinning and fall to the ground. This is well understood - and yet we have never found any prognostication anywhere in the Day realm that can answer the simplest of all questions... Which way will the top fall when it stops spinning?".

In some senses the Omnihedron is an attempt to resolve this mystery, to identify what the resonances might be and to prevent those that are harmful. The hope is that if the right rituals could be created - and then cast in the right order, then it would be possible for the entire Empire to benefit from one great enchantment after another without either risk or ruin. All that is needed for that to happen is for the Turning Mirror to help the Empire solve the single greatest mystery of magic known to mortal minds. Once you know which way the spinning top will fall... everything else is child's play.

A Circular Conversation

Somewhat regrettably, much of the advice provided by the Turning Mirror turns out to be of dubious value. There are a thousand conversations all across the Empire between heralds of the Argent Mantra and Imperial magicians but arguably they reveal reveal more about the eternal than they do about the Omnihedron.

The first "revelation" of That Which Holds The Sun In Place, is their firmly expressed view that the Urizen theory of the Omnihedron is flawed because it relies on the other realms. The ministers of the Turning Wheel claim that the influences of the other five realms are simply too chaotic, too unpredictable and too injurious to progress and stability to form part of the Omnihdedron. Any attempt to use a realm other than Day will, inevitably, be flawed because those realms are flawed. The Day realm is the only one that encompasses the possibility of perfection - since the Omnihedron is by some definitions a quest for perfection, it logically follows that it should primarily utilise Day magic.

Sinokenon's proposal is that the Empire should direct all their resources to the creation of a set of great Day rituals, each explicitly combining two or more of the primary resonances of the Day Realm: divination, revelation, mastery, perfection, focus and force. Blending different resonances should make it possible to create different enchantments. A degree of experimentation would then be needed to identity the right sequence of these rituals, as well as the duration. As the eternal points out, there is no inherent reason why one of the rituals should be used only once - perhaps it should be cast every season for a year, or perhaps a decade, or more, before moving to the next.

It is clear that Sinokenon's heralds have some difficulty comprehending the idea that this approach might yield problems. The most recent casting of Bright Eyes Gleam in the Depths made made art and artistic expression more difficult, shattered shrouds, and saw workers wages rising permanently across the Empire. Most Imperial magicians see these side-effects as deeply troubling, but that view is not shared by Sinokenon. It proves impossible to convince their heralds that these effects are in any way detrimental.

As Ragged Anne, one of the Ashill Landskeepers puts it "We asked a Day eternal about magic... and t'answer were to cast more Day magic... In other news, water is wet and pigs like mud."

The Turning Mirror's other suggestion is equally self-referential. According to the Wheel of Light, the key challenge of the Omnihedron is the inherent unpredictability of the magic. However Unity is adamant that this is nothing to do with the magic - Day magic represents absolute order. The problem is the target of the ritual. The outcome of the ritual is unpredictable because it depends on the exact configuration of the Empire at the point where the ritual is cast - and that keeps changing. In the language of the Net of the Heavens, if you change a single node in the Net, then that changes the whole Net. In effect you're casting the same ritual - on a different Empire - so you get a different outcome. Hence the unpredictability of the ritual. That would seem to present a somewhat irresolvable challenge. The Empire is made up a million living breathing beings, it's hardly going to remain still for three months while an enchantment runs its course.

However, the Turning Mirror is confident that very small changes are fine. After-all it doesn't really matter if people breathe or not... well not to Sinokenon leastways. It's the big changes, the significant alterations to the Net that are the problem. All the Empire needs to do to perfect the Omnihedron is to stabilise the Empire and stop it changing.

The Turning Mirror suggests that the Empire start by passing no new Senate motions, Synod judgements, or Conclave declarations for a year, and accompany that with ensuring that no armies move anywhere during that time. Only once the Empire is brought to a position of perfect stillness, would it be possible to eliminate the unpredictability of the Omnihedron rituals. Once that is accomplished it would be possible for the Empire to make small but predictable changes to ensure steady and certain improvements.

Even the stargazers who are most indifferent to Imperial politics understand how ridiculous Sinokenon's suggestions are. If the mystery of the Omnihedron is going to be solved, nobody imagines it will be be by stopping all Imperial activity for a year. Again, these suggestions tell the Empire much more about Sinokenon than than reveal about the Omnihedron.

However the conversations are still somewhat useful. If the Turning Mirror is correct and one can only eliminate unpredictability and dissonance from the Omnihedron rituals by making the Empire completely unchanging, then maybe it is impossible to eliminate the negative consequences. What if the failure of previous generations of stargazers is because they are searching for something that simply cannot exist - a version of the Omnihedron with no flaws or drawbacks?

One Wintermark runesmith compares it to the smith's art, pointing out that you don't make the perfect steel by eliminating all the impurities from the iron. Pure iron is surprisingly soft, it is the imperfections in the steel that make it hard. But if you make it too hard it becomes brittle. The challenge facing a blacksmith is to add the right imperfections. What if the Omnihedron is not about creating the perfect ritual with no drawbacks, but rather about accepting the trade-offs and choosing the right benefits and flaws for the task at hand?

Fortunately, Sinokenon does have some more suggestions that are more practical.

A New Position

• Sinokenon proposes that the Empire create a new Imperial title in the Conclave with the power to submit a declaration of endorsement
• If that happens at the coming summit, the eternal will empower the Empire's mana sites making Carve the Crystal Guardian more powerful in the coming campaign season

There are many conversations between the heralds of the Turning Mirror and Imperial magicians over the Omnihedron, during which the eternal becomes aware of the immediate threat of Cold Sun. This causes the heralds deep concern, though not for the subsequent attack on the Empire. They seem to consider the presence of thousands of scions of no great significance, being firmly of the view that the Empire will be victorious against them. Any incidental losses in the meantime will be recouped simply given the passage of time, after all.

That we should complete the omnihedron sequence of rituals.

Declaration of Concord, Raised by Ariadne of Auric Horizon on behalf of the Sevenfold Path, Summer Solstice 385YE

Rather, what distresses them is the way in which they perceive that the Conclave discharged their responsibilities in the matter. The Conclave passed a declaration by Ariadne of Auric Horizen instructing Imperial magicians to complete the Omnihedron but then did not endorse the subsequent use of magic. The Apex Hyperion regards this as a catastrophic failure of hierarchy, one that damages every part of the Empire.

To declare Anthemius Netherwatch. This is for his role as the organiser the Urizen covens to cast Bright Eyes Gleam in the Depths for which he takes responsibility.

Declaration of Concord, Raised by Bryn Netherwatch, Witness of the Conclave, Summer Solstice 385YE

Sinokenon believes that an ordered realm requires that whatever power rules, it must always issue clear instructions. They see this as essential to ensure that those who carry out those instructions may do so faithfully and without fear of punishment. That latter point is particularly important; the eternals heralds are deeply agitated that individual magicians face punishment after apparently following the Conclave's will. They see this as a catastrophic outcome that permanently damages the authority of the Conclave, and constitutes a fundamental failure of Loyalty by the Conclave towards those who follow its direction.

To try to ensure that such an outcome could not happen again, Sinokenon's heralds propose that the Imperial Senate create a new Imperial title, they propose it be called something like the "Overseer of the Omnihedron". They're not wedded to that name, but they do want to see something whose purpose is clear. Crucially the title should be given the legal power to raise one declaration of endorsement each summit. That way every magician will know whose responsibility it is to decide what enchantments should be cast on the Empire and once that decision has been approved by the Conclave then anyone can attempt to enact it safe in the knowledge that they are following instructions correctly and do not risk destruction for doing so.

The Turning Mirror's heralds are surprisingly emotive on this point. To that end they are prepared to help the Empire in its battle against Cold Sun if the Senate acts as they have asked and creates the title. If that happens, then for the following season, the eternal will enhance the Empire's mana sites so that they become more powerful when Carve the Crystal Guardian is cast on them. If the Senate creates the new Conclave position, any mana site targeted by the Day enchantment will receive a seven rank bonus (rather than the normal five) due to the ranks of guardians being swelled by soldier-heralds sent by the eternal.

It goes without saying that if the title is created, Sinokenon will take a keen interest in their affairs.

The Stork and the Key

• The Empire could build a college of Day Magic at Sunspire in Morrow more cheaply
• The Turning Mirror will endow the Dean of the college with an everturning wheel each summer
• This opportunity will last for a year

The Stork and The Key

Commission Type: College of Magic

Cost: 45 mithril, 45 white granite, 60 weirwood and 450 crowns

Effect: College of Day magic in Morrow

Sinokenon's view is that the Empire should focus all their efforts on casting Day enchantments on the Empire, rather than suffer the consequences of using more flawed realms. It is, however, cognizant of the fact that most magicians they speak with remain convinced that any credible attempt to construct an omnihedron probably requires all six realms. However, whatever course they take to reach the Omnihedron, the Empire would clearly benefit from having a college of magic specialised in Day magic. That would allow magicians to research omnihedron Day rituals which would make casting them much cheaper and easier and might help bring further insight into the problems.

Having scoured the Empire, the eternal's ministers claim to have identified the location currently best suited to the creation of a new College of Day Magic. Sunspire in Morrow watches the the forests of Therunin, guarding the territory against incursions from the Spring realm. According to the Apex Hyperion, the Stork and the Key are not in conjunction, but their current temporal alignment mean they are both dominant over the Sunspire at the same time and will be for the next year.

As a result the Empire would find it easier to build a College of Magic here, provided it took advantage of the alignment by being specialised in Day magic. Of course "easier" is a relative term, the College would still require 45 wains of mithril, 45 wains of white granite, 60 wains of weirwood and 450 crowns, to say nothing of the ongoing upkeep.

If the Empire does build a college of Day magic in the next year - at Sunspire or anywhere for that matter - then the eternal promises to endow the Dean of the college with a boon, providing them with a single sunlight orb each summer, an everturning wheel that functions in a manner similar to a Web of Celestial Attunement.

Other Realms

• The Turning Mirror states that the Day Archmage could use a plenipotentiary to ask the Unblinking Eye to find the perfect location for other colleges

If the Empire is absolutely dead set on the idea of casting rituals of other realms, then the heralds of the Turning Mirror point out that they really ought to create a college of magic for each realm. The Icy Crag of the Eteral Sun is specialised in the research of Summer rituals. While the Heliopticon helps the people of Urizen research any magic – and indeed is currently engaged in the codification of an Imperial enchantment – it can only work on one ritual at a time and the ministers have no doubt that its patron will increasingly exert influence to encourage the Doyen of the Spires to favour Autumn magic. The Lyceum is currently in the hands of the Grendel, representing a further narrowing of opportunity.

Sinokenon has identified the perfect location for a college of Day magic, but that still leaves two other realms; three if you count Night magic. It is beyond the ability of the Turning Mirror to know where magic of the other realms is strongest, but there is one power in Day that knows where everything is. Or almost everything certainly. Or everything that is worth knowing definitely. Even Sinokenon is not quite sure on the limits of She Who Watches, but the eternal is certain that the Unblinking Eye would know where the perfect location to build a college of magic was to be found.

Of course speaking with She Who Watches is not straightforward, but the Empire already possesses the means to contact any of the Day eternals. The Archmage of Day could use their power of plentipotentiary to ask Kimus to find the best site to locate a college of magic specialised in Spring, Winter or Night magic. With some care, they might even be able to use their plenipotentiary to elucidate what they meant by best.

Once they had that information. Imperial prognosticators could easily assess the sites and provide the kind of information the Empire would need to make a decision on the matter as they've just done with the Sunspire.

Dissenting Voices

The presence of Sinokenon's ministers has not gone unnoticed Other eternals have sent heralds to involve themselves in the Omnihedron discussion It has not escaped the notice of the other realms that the Empire is engaged in earnestly discussing the Omniherdon with Turning Mirror. A number of eternals are clearly piqued, either irritated by or curious about, the discussion. More than one report meetings with three very distinct heralds; the Almighty Panjandrum, the Fleeting Beat, and Grimcrow.

"Anyone can win with five aces, a good magician plays the cards they are dealt.

The Almighty Panjandum

The Almighty Panjandrum

• A voluble herald puts forward the perspective of the Night realm

The Almighty Panjandrum is a curious figure, with a tall body that seems at odds with their surprisingly small head and arms. They dress in Dawnish style, wearing a long rich houppelande of midnight blue and carrying a blackwood staff that helps with their rather awkward gait. They are definitely not a very important herald of Sadogua, a fact the Panjandrum is at great pains to stress. The Toad King is absolutely furious with the Empire and has forbidden his heralds from rendering any aid to Imperial magicians at all. Those that do face spending the rest of eternity being slowly digested in the Wyrm-Kings belly.

However... it has not escaped the notice of the Night realm that the Conclave has elected to confer consult with Eye-Biter on the matter of the Omnihedron, and it pains many in the true realm of magic to imagine the enlightened minds of the Empire being blinded by the entirely vacuous illumination that spews spills out of the Mouth of Infinity. In the interests of ensuring that the Incandescent Mote does not entirely burn the spark of imagination from the Empire's minds, the Almighty Panjandrum has appeared to dispense some prismatic ink insight.

There is a lot more of this sort of laboured language: the Almighty Panjandrum may be many things but terse or humble are not amongst them. It seems to have a habit of contradicting itself. However those magicians who manage to tolerate their circumlocutions do glean a few potentially useful insights. It's not that the herald actually seems to know that much about magic, but in the constant stream of chatter there are questions and statements that seem to almost make sense.

In the view of the Master of Magic Almighty Panjandrum, the idea of using only one realm is idiotic. The one piece of advice that the Turning Mirror has dispensed that the Panjandrum doesn't poo-poo is the idea that magic is inherently unpredictable. But rather than see that as a flaw, the herald presents it as a feature of magic. Enchantments on the scale of the Empire are unpredictable, but that brings benefits as well as problems.

When the Empire cast Bright Eyes Gleam in the Depths, it inspired new ways to think about mana sites, revealed rare magical stones, created unique eye-stones, and a whole raft of other benefits. Of course it's a problem that it also discouraged art, but on balance the Empire came out ahead.

If you had six feet, why would you try to walk with one?

The Almighty Panjandrum

The Panjandrum argues that if massive Empire-wide magic really is as unpredictable as Eye-Biter claims, then how can there possibly be a single formulation of rituals that work consistently every time? If you can't know what is going to happen, how can you know what ritual to perform next? "You can't build a wall with odd shaped stones. Unless it's a dry-stone wall. Or you use mortar. But if you don't know what shape your stone is, how can you balance a stone on top of it?"

In the view of the Panjandrum, the Empire should develop as many different Empire-wide enchantments as they can. Rather than try to work out the right sequence, they should judge which ritual to cast next based on whatever effects the last one had. If the Empire changes then the sequence will change - and since the Empire is always changing...

The Panjandrum is at pains to stress that he cannot actively help the Empire with any of this at the moment, but he is absolutely certain that the Brother of Wizards is just itching to help. Once the Empire has found a way to placate the Lobbersloth's anger over the theft of his demesne, then he is certain to want to help.

Fleeting Beat

• A servant of Sorin expresses the opinion of the Lord of the Tomb City

Fleeting Beat is almost a skeleton, with sallow parchment skin barely covering their bones. They are swathed in robes the cover of desert sands at night, and their crystal eyes are mismatched spheres of midnight black and balefully glowing red. They are mostly interested in speaking to magicians versed in Winter lore, on behalf of their dreadful lord Sorin.

The Hungry Wolf has little patience or sympathy for the Imperial Conclave. “The price sets the worth,” whispers Fleeting Beat in its raspy voice. “What is bought too cheaply is held too lightly; it is cost alone that gives meaning.” The Imperial enchantments provide many benefits, and those benefits are bought with the dissonances that cause so much trouble. Attempts to refine these so-called Omnihedron rituals to try and avoid the dissonance can only lead to a situation where the rituals themselves became worthless, their boons negated by the misplaced urge to remove the costs. It is fine for a child to wish for a world without suffering, says the Herald, but every general knows you cannot win a war without loss.

In the judgement of Fleeting Beat, the Conclave has erred by listening to the cries of those harmed by the recent magics. They must harden their hearts and accept that some will be harmed by Imperial enchantment. What concern is it of the Conclave if farm owners are unable to preserve their crops or artists receive no patronage. Their suffering will teach them an important lesson - the world is hard, after all. Crucially, there is no way to access such power without paying a price. The best the Empire might hope to achieve is for the Conclave to find ways to spread that burden so that life's misfortunes fall on the wealthy and the poor alike.

Grimcrow

• A herald of Wise Rangara asks a simple question

The final herald who expresses an interest in the Omnihedron is a creature named Grimcrow that emerges from a regio in Miekarova and wanders seemingly at random along the Empire's roads. It resembles little so much as a great mass of sticks, feathers, and bones bundled together haphazardly into the rough shape of a person, with the eyeless skull of a great corvid wedged atop it. It engages in conversation with anyone who wishes to talk to it, especially children, and offers a counter-argument to all this talk of how and when to perform the Omnihedron and simply asks “what is the wisest course of action?”

If the problem with the Omnihedron is that the disadvantages and dissonances are unpredictable, and build on one another unpalatably, then there are two obvious courses of action – or so Wise Rangara's herald claims.

Instead of allowing the power to build and build, create intentional gaps in the structure of the Omnihedron – leaving one or more seasons between each ritual casting to let the garden recover its strength (to use a herbalist's metaphor). Better yet, use them only when they are actually needed, not just because you can cast them. Or, alternatively, consider the possibility that the Omnihedron is a bad idea and that the Conclave has already chosen the wisest course of action – don't cast these rituals and find other ways to use magic to help the Empire.

But at the end of the day, regardless of what the Conclave decides, the important thing it that people learn from what they do. What have the Empire's magicians learned from this attempt to build the Omnihedron?