On the Ratio and the Pact of Nine

A letter from a wizard, sent from Mythodea to the Midlands

The powers with you, dear friend,

I hope you and yours continue to be well. I can happily report to you that everything has worked out the best for us, even if Elavie still mourns our old home a little. But who wants to complain, others lost much more, and often times things that cannot ever be replaced.

[…]

Since you often have eagerly questioned me in the past on the subject of the mysteries surrounding the Ratio, and I never had the time to give you an in-depth answer, I will now make up for it, so that your curiosity may be satisfied.

What is the Ratio?

This question, dear friend, has been asked again and again in recent years, both by the greatest thinkers and by much simpler minds. I will be frank with you, for you certainly do not deserve half-truths and drivel. We still have no idea; however painful it is to admit this ignorance of ours. There is no shortage of explanations and theories: “world doubt”, “limitless reason”, “flood of ideas” and “delusion of creation” are frequently thrown in, but all these words skillfully avoid the real question, because all of these answers ultimately refer only to states of mind. What seems to be certain is that the Ratio triggered these states of mind and the Ancient Rulers began to create something new as a result, which ended in the catastrophe of the uncontrollable Forsaken.

But all this does not explain where they found the power to actually overcome their nature in both spirit and deed and then the nature of the world itself. There must be more to it than that, especially as even I, after careful consideration, simply cannot understand how a sheer disembodied idea or mindset is supposed to be “sealed” (as it is the case with the Ratio at the moment), especially as it is still possible for each of us, with a little imagination, to produce one or the other original idea; or to think and imagine things, for example from outside Mitraspera into this land, or to be critical of the realities of this world. All that can be said with certainty is that the Ratio is not part of the Forsaken in the true sense, but rather the source of the Forsaken. I fear, dear friend, that further speculation, without having found new facts, would be a shameful waste of time and parchment.

So, I’d rather write down for you a little about the history and the facts that we are certain of.

In the history of Mitraspera, as you may have already heard, there was a time called “the Golden Age” and in which, according to all that is known, the Ancient Rulers had brought their arts and powers to mastery in every way. Their works must be almost beyond our imagination today.

But it was also at that time that some of the Ancient Rulers invented and used what we now call “the Ratio” (whatever it may be) and thus brought idea after idea into the world. Those Rulers are called the “Primordial Sceptics”.

However, some of the most favored disciples of these Primordial Sceptics realized that the world would probably perish over time through every new creation made. At that time, some of those who were already opposing the Ratio and wanted to preserve the world in its original form, the “Adamants”, allied themselves with them.

They were nine of the powerful Ancient Rulers who joined together in a secret alliance, further known as the “Pact of Nine”. The reason why this was a secret was that even in the face of immediate danger, the divide between the beliefs of the more progressive Sceptics and the conservative Adamants ran so deep that both sides would have hunted down the “Nine” as traitors for joining into a common cause with a side seen as mortal enemy. But the Nine knew only their goal and knew how to conceal their activities. Their names, however, have been handed down to us to this day, since the Pact was intensely discussed in later years.

Sephistikos, the creator of the Black Ice, was this one student of the Primordial Sceptics who brought the Pact into being. Garwan, the undead king of Ankor Mortis, Thul Ag-Mîn, the powerful pestilence lord and bearer of the Magnatan skeleton, as well as Ashantiala, who later became Champion of the Void (and who was probably just a straw puppet of her cowardly masters) were the representatives on the Sceptics side. Marien de vo Canar, at that time Nyame of the North, much later even High Nyame, and the woman who started the Worldfire, entered in the name of Magica, and Khor-Zuhl, the creator of the White Portals, showed off his Aeris-loving genius. You see, dear friend, these are great people, of whom I have told you before, who came together at this point despite all dangers and differences. The missing three names are identified, but no other great works or stories are known of them. Perhaps one or two of them will be revealed in the future.

Those Nine chose a special place to do their work: the location of the fall of the Quihen Assil “Quin’Khal”, for the ill-omened dust of the dead star had blinded the Elements for this place, and all mortals avoided it as well, considering it cursed. But from then on, the black stardust served the Pact as the material of their works.

In order to defeat the Ratio, living beings were created, first the people of the “Kan”. These, dear friend, were strong and hard-working, but mentally quite limited, which is why the “Rikan” were developed from the Kan, who were sharp in their thinking but weak in soul. As the highest form of the Mirrorkin, as the three were later called, beings called “Xerikan” were built, who were completely soulless and without an own will, but of superior strength and very docile. The last were to function as indomitable war machines and later also as keys to the seals, for the people of the Mirrorkin created a mighty construction at the site of the Starfall, which was henceforth called “Siegelstatt” (“seal place”), in order to banish the Ratio. The first and most powerful seal, whose functioning and construction must remain as mysterious to us today as the Ratio’s nature itself.

By now, however, open war had broken out and the Adamants were pressing the Sceptics, and vice versa, with all the fervor they had. Again, we know little more than the final results. How, in the turmoil of battle, the seal managed to achieve completion, how the fortunes of battle allowed the tides of war to sway back and forth, and what heroic deeds may have been accomplished, are still shrouded in the mist of history. In the end, however, the success of the Pact of Nine stood tall, but at a high price.

In their final rebellion, the Primordial Sceptics had placed a cruel curse of short-lividness on the Edalphi people, who had first served them but later betrayed their masters.

Tens of thousands had died, including many from the Ancient Ruler’s own people.

Even though the war was over and the Ratio banished, at least Marien de vo Canar, who had even sacrificed her own child to make the seal possible, was severely punished for her actions and lived a long time in shame and penance before she could redeem herself. How the others may have fared is not recorded.

The Rulers of the Forsaken left the field as victors. Orphaliot, however, the leader of the Adamants, swore annihilation to all the Forsaken and covered the land with further wars until he and his fanatical followers were finally banished as well. This was followed by the era of the Champions, about which I will certainly write some letter or other in the near future.

Kan, Rikan and the last remaining Xerikan were put into stasis in Siegelstatt. The settlers found that place recently, you will remember my letters from that time, dear friend, and were able to not only fathom much of the story I have just written to you, but also to awaken the Xerikan and bring it under their control; which was very fortunate, as this meant that the Avatar of Terra, who had been enslaved by Argus, could once again be freed.

I think this time next year we will know more, because many of the unanswered questions will certainly be revealed at the Seal of the Ratio, which we were finally supposed to reach with our armies.

I hope that my explanations have taught and entertained you as well and have now satisfied your curiosity for the time being, my dear friend. I await your next letter with anticipation. Give my regards to yours and may the powers be with you.