This is a breakdown of research the Communists have conducted on behalf of the Windless Ring.

Stelae

The Windless Ring is actively seeking any new information about the tablets they’ve come to call the Alchemist’s Stelae.

A black tablet with Draconic or Orichalan text was auctioned in the planar city of Vertigo in the month of Drowning. There was quite a bit of drama and scheming among the buyers, and at least three parties are actively pursuing the mysterious party who purchased the tablet.

Place Names and Details

According to research in Feery’s Leap, the Sighing Plains was a region in what is now the “Glow Worm” Steppes ( Valley region). The limited maps they have uncovered do not readily make sense compared to actual maps. This is a serious problem, an unresolved issue. Is their interpretation of these maps accurate? In the recovered maps, there seem to be no Durju lands, and the main river running through the Steppes runs the other way. They also refer to the region as a grassy space suitable for agriculture, which simply is not so.

The Wine-Shadow Sea is the classical Orichalan name for the Wine-Dark Sea. The Sea of Ancient Blood was described as northeast of the Wine-Shadow Sea. This does not correspond to any known body of water.

According to limited information uncovered from the Steppes, there was some conflict between the Orichalan Empire (whose home region at the south of the Pazidan Peninsula was called the Thousand Fingered Shores) and the scholarly city-states of the Steppes. This is not mentioned in any known texts outside the Steppes.

There were twelve college-monasteries that became city states in the Sighing Plains. White Gardens, Sea Pallisades, Whispering Spires, and Unopened Gift are all college city-states. Eleven Sentinels, Faithful Rememberer, and Silent Reflections are other examples. Cloven Mountain may be another such site. Whispering Spires and Sea Pallisades seem to have been particularly important locations.

Other place names appear to refer to known locations in the Orichalan Empire. The empire ruled primarily from a place known then as the Pinnacle of Sighs. Major cities in their empire included Rememberer’s Well (thought to be the City State of the Roglaras), the Whispering Circle, the Seven Springs (presumed to be Modron), and the White Throne (Damkina?). Glass Sands appears to have been a ship-building and trading hub in Oricha, with a famously fine harbor. Its exact location is not a matter of record.

Gods of the Late Ancient World

Little is known about the gods of Oricha, as so few texts have survived.

The Cry of a Thousand Tongues appears to have been a god of wrath and warfare, the cry of armies charging into battle.

The Mother of the Seven Springs is a known classical name for the goddess now known as Modron, still associated with the city of the same name. Though current hagiography has her coupled with Mitra, in classical times she was described as a virgin mother and having neither partner nor peer.

The Eye of the Wine-Shadow Storm was a weather goddess popular with sailors at the time, who was associated with the tern. Amala is a modern goddess with a similar purview, who is also associated with the tern (see gods).

Queen of Frost may be a reference to an ice-goddess of vengeance, who had a widespread but heavily persecuted cult at the time.

Light of Discovery and Opening Flower appear to refer to underground religious cults. The Shining Revealer (Light of Discovery?) was a fabled Orichalan scholar-martyr whose followers were regularly put to the stake and burned. There are several famous cases of magical self-immolation as protest. Opening Flower is believed to have been another illegal god, with origins to the west of the Wilderlands. Its faithful practiced distinctive dances said to suggest blossoming vegetation. The punishment for this religious practice was drawing and quartering.

Silver Serpent

The Silver Serpent is a scholar known to consult the Communists on a sporadic basis, primarily at the night market in Damkina, though also appearing in Viridistan, the City State of the Roglaras, and the planar City of Laughter (see Planar Metropolises). His first entry in the Ledger is about 120 years ago. He appears primarily interested in lore of the Orichalan Empire, especially outside the Pazidan Peninsula. He has contributed several important texts from the period. He is considered a trustworthy source on history of the latter half of the Ancient period. His interest in the period may be broad-reaching, but it does seem to have a focus on metaphysics, religion, and alchemy.

The Silver Serpent’s patron is said to be a powerful vampire archmage. Like many archmages, he is believed to be capable of hearing when his proper name (Fallow Joy) is spoken aloud. The archmage is believed to have origins in the Elephas, probably around Damkina. The Silver Serpent is his only agent known to the Ledger, but several other agents are suspected. The archmage also appears to be interested in the lore of Oricha.

Afvaldr

Afvaldr was the windsinger aboard the Skraemir under captain Gaerlingdagr the Woodwose for about twenty years. The ship features prominently in several raid-songs, including the Conquest of Sea Rune, where his wind-whistling is particularly noted. The ship disappeared from the record after the battle, but there are no records of its sinking. In all the existing songs, Afvaldr is described as “favored of Bragi” or “the sparkle in Bragi’s eye.” Gaerlingdagr, conversely, is compared to the goddess Iðunn.

Skandiks do not generally consult Communists, so Afvaldr’s absence from the record after the Conquest of Sea Rune is not conclusive.

Nouliss-Hakkari

The Scarlet Thorn, the Marquise of Malice, was an Orichalan goddess of trickery, scheming, and poison. She was popular in circles of power for much of the empire’s reign. Born to a mighty family but sold to servitude to a rival when her family fell from grace, the Scarlet Thorn schemed and poisoned her way back to power, eventually destroying both her original family and the family to which she was sold. She encouraged her followers to be ruthless and unrelenting in their pursuit of power, and is said to have been a great patron of alchemists, assassins, and poisoners. Her priests favored pins, darts, and blowguns, and many were also alchemists. One legend tells of a grand ball, where many of the guests were led to wear garments of a uniquely beautiful fabric. During the ball, these guests all succumbed to a dancing mania and died a twitching, writhing death. The poisoning agent was said to be the combination of the fabric and a beverage served at the event. Her followers were encouraged to be visible and outspoken in their ambitions and intent, but subtle in their machinations.

The Poetess

The goddess called the Poetess appeared in Tarsh or Old Torsh about 1200 years ago. She studied swordsmanship and dance among the elves of the region, but her temperament drew her to a life of adventure. When her adventuring company was slaughtered by hags, she sought out allies to find vengeance. In this way, she made the acquaintance of Heathwalde the Bard, and the two fought hags for decades before they wrested the secret of divinity from a world-weary dragon beneath a tower like the modern keep of Wyrmwatch. The wizard who rules Wyrmwatch is said to know more about this story.

The Poetess did not discover her lyric ability until she began traveling with the Bard. During her prior adventurers, she focused on dance, drums, and the elven fife. Most of her spells lacked verbal components, instead relying on complex gestures and footwork, or drawing patterns with a length of ribbon tied to the pommel of her sword.

Tchai Shavíl, Gâshek’s keeper

Tchai Shavíll is a drifter merchant-prince who has strong connections among janni merchants and shadow genies. He keeps more non- drifter servants than is typical of his kind, and his schemes worm their way into the Material. He is known to recruit children from the streets of Viridistan, Tula, Tarantis, Rallu, and the City State of the Roglaras, and possibly even from the Demon Empire. In Viridistan he is believed to operate a criminal syndicate as the Seven-Fingered Knight. In Tula, he is thought to be behind the syndicate known as the Fireflies.

As a young adult, he was sold into slavery to a middling drifter merchant. He eventually usurped the drifter’s operations, and expanded upon them. While he clearly has contacts among the janni and other geniekind, there is no record of his relations with his former clan or family members. The Shavíll family line is part of the Horalay line of the Rosniucz clan, and all these entities operate much as they have for the last few centuries.