Upon the Nature of Erdreja

by Sheikh Rhattel En'Rholl Al'Fayed

Please note, this research is from prior to the Cataclysm of 1109, although most of the concepts remain the same - Number One

The Philosophical Nature of Erdreja

To all who seek comprehension of the world that we call Erdreja, through the study of both abstract and natural philosophy, certain basic patterns are made readily apparent with surprising regularity. A firm grasp of these concepts is necessary for any who desires true understanding and true influence. I shall introduce these concepts in a very abstract form, and then proceed to show how they arise again and again in more specific circumstances: the wise reader will bear them in mind throughout this text, and, I hope, in all other things also.
The first of these all-encompassing structures is known as The Rule of the Fundamental, and may be described thus: the nature of all things is expressed as a composition of certain fundamental concepts, few in number, and nothing that is, can be other than such a composition. All things are thus in essence similar, however different each may superficially appear, and so we may speak of the 'pattern' of a thing, a description of the way in which fundamental concepts combine with it; but one must understand that the pattern of a thing, and the thing itself, are one and the same. To know the pattern is to know the thing, and to manipulate the thing best, one must know and manipulate its pattern.
The second is known as the Rule of Four, or the Rule of Quarters, and may be described thus: in the composition of concepts, a similarity of structure arises at all levels and in each arena of study. That structure is four elements, considered as two sets, each set being of two elements opposed in some sense; yet with each of the four elements also, perhaps paradoxically, complimentary to each of the others. Where one finds evidence of three concepts fitting this structure, one must always look to an undiscovered fourth; and seldom has this approach failed to bear fruit, for good or ill.
The third is known as the Rule of Balance, and may be described thus: where there is an instance of the Rule of Four, there is also to be found a concept which represents the interaction of the quarters, the sum of the complimentary action of the elements with one another and the friction between them. One thinks of this balance of the four elements as a concept in itself: by the word 'balance', we mean both the underlying elements and their composition. Much of what describes a pattern may be expressed as the conflict of the elements within a balance.

The Balance of Erdreja and Universal Amalgam

The Universal Amalgam is the fundament of which all 'patterns' are made, from the Dragon of the Cosmic Egg itself to the most trivial of items - it is the collection of the most fundamental elements of our world, the Greater and Lesser Aspects. The Cosmic (or Greater) Balance is that of the four Greater Aspects (Void, Creation, Existence, and Neutrality), and each Greater Aspect is itself a balance of four of the 16 Lesser Aspects, according to the rule of Quarters.

Void balances knowledge against Spirit and Magic against Time.
Existence balances Fortune against Fate and Reality against Illusion.
Creation balances Water against Fire and Earth against Air.
Neutrality balances Evil against Good and Law against Chaos.

See 'The Elemental Cycle' for more information - Number 1

The patterns of the elder and younger races, and of each non-sentient entity or thing, are a balance of the Lesser Aspects. The Cosmic pattern of Erdreja itself is the balance of all 20. The Greater Balance may be considered to pivot around an axis that is often denoted Anti-Magic - that Is, the emergent concept that comes from the balance of the Greater Aspects may be called Anti-Magic, though it might equally well be described as the totality of power, as the world of Erdreja, or as the Cosmic Dragon itself. When this balance is manifested, it will act against any pattern in which the Lesser Aspects are 'out of balance' - witness the effect of the anti-magic daggers upon the Embodiment of Good, a pattern extremely skewed towards one Lesser Aspect.
There are in fact many worlds akin to Erdreja, each with its pattern built of the Universal Amalgam, each with its own Cosmic balance. Each lies within the Void (more properly, the Outer Void), which may be advisable to think of as the universe of possibility, though it is equally a place of annihilation, an arena of creation and dissipation. Ultimately the Void is the source and destination of all power and magic, from and to which the Cosmic pattern of Erdreja draws, circulates and releases energy in a relatively stable cycle. Ultimately, the existence and evolution of Erdreja is nothing more than the continued movement of energy between the Aspects of the Cosmic Balance and everything within - and thus the continued reshaping of the Cosmic pattern.
The balance of Aspects in every single pattern, however large or small, affects the Cosmic pattern of Erdreja as a whole. The stated purpose of the Elder and Younger races of beings is to maintain a balance of Aspects sufficient to nurture and eventually bring it birth the Dragon within the Cosmic Egg. The cycle of Life is the process by which living patterns distil energy into a form suited to the Egg. The balance of a sentient creature’s pattern determines to some degree its actions, and its actions control the balance of its pattern as it evolves. Each of our choices influences the Cosmic balance, if only slightly.

Cataclysm and The Embodiments of the Aspects

The Greater and Lesser Aspects exist as concepts, and sometimes as more physical 'embodiments' - forms taken on to allow them to interact and influence Erdreja (which they cannot do in their pure state). The Greater Aspects may create their own forms, but the Lesser must embody by merging into an existing pattern; a host, as it were - and by doing so, the Aspect becomes impure, influenced as much by the personality and nature of their host as by their elemental being. These Embodiments retain much of their old personality – the price the Aspects pay for interacting with our world Is being Influenced in turn by It. The Embodiments have frequently been called the Immortal Patterns, but this stems from a misunderstanding of their nature - the pattern of the Embodiment Is no longer the pattern of the Aspect and only the latter could be reasonably considered lo be 'immortal’. One should note that not all of the Lesser Aspects are embodied at this moment.
Each of the Lesser Embodiments desires that his Aspect become the dominant one in the Balances - but equally, each knows that the Balances must not tilt too far, lest Erdreja and the Dragon be lost entirely. Erdreja itself corrects excessive imbalances and instabilities via the mechanism of Cataclysm - simply put, the establishment of a new, stable Cosmic balance, usually with extremely nasty effects on the Inhabitants. This has happened many times in Erdreja's history.
Those Aspects in ascendance as the cataclysm begins will be those with greater influence in the new Balances that are established, for the cataclysm is a flux of power across the universe. The stronger the Aspects' position in the Balance beforehand, the more power will flow through it, and the more control it will exert as the world is reshaped. This flux of power may be expected lo destroy each of the embodiments, and return the Aspects to disembodied form. Because the flux that reshapes the world is concentrated to the Aspects in ascendance, the side effects of the Cataclysm reflect this: the Cataclysm of Water manifested massive flooding, sundering islands and drowning many people. It is believed that there have been at least six previous Cataclysms within Erdreja: the first, a Cataclysm in which evil was dominant, when Satuun tied Evrons Knot.
The abilities of certain of the Aspects to become embodied have become bound to specific objects, sometimes to aid their own agenda, but often to thwart it. Schaedel the Embodiment of Good, Imbued a staff with part of his pattern, to allow him more easily to embody within a willing vessel, the staff was later destroyed In a ritual to rid the surface of Erdreja of undead. Pendragon, the Embodiment of Law, did much the same, placing his pattern within the Artifact sword Excalibur, which was then split Into the Seven Swords of Wayland (Albion, Beleth, Elidor, Louros, Morax, Orias, Solas), Law was thus unable to embody unless the swords were re-forged Into Excalibur. This also caused Mordred (or Medroth), the Embodiment of Chaos, to be bound within the seven Chaos Blades carried by the Chaos Knights (Mayhem, Oblivion, Reaper, Disorder, Random, Executioner, Discord), again unable to embody unless the blades are reunited.

The Effects of Forced Disembodiment of the Aspects

It is clear that, without an Embodiment, there can be no direct, conscious moves made within the Cadre war on the part of, and originated by, the Aspect itself. It should be equally clear to the reader that the only way an Embodied Aspect can influence that war is through the action of its followers. Thus, the act of disembodiment of an Aspect prevents it from rallying support, but also deprives those with the wit and caution to see through the basic propaganda of the Embodiments of the opportunity to further their own understanding and ideology through direct interaction with the Embodiments.
The balances between the Lesser Aspects, and between the Cadres will always be determined by the actions of all sentient patterns within (he world, and not the actions of the Embodiments. The Aspects are eternal, if one were to destroy the physical Embodiment of an Aspect, the primary effect is movement of the energies of that Aspect that were concentrated within the Embodiment to a distributed over all Erdreja, which corresponds to the standard, disembodied, state of that Aspect. There is also an accompanying adjustment of the Balance.
That flux of energy from within the concentrated physical form back to a disseminated form is deeply destabilising to the Cosmic Pattern, and at the current time, can cause what appear to be 'cracks' in the reality of our world, looking Into the Paths of Light, and beyond into the Outer Void. This is a result of the Balance that maintains and protects Erdreja being highly stressed and therefore slower to respond to large-scale movements of power. The same effect occurs when an Item of Power is destroyed or damaged and releases a large amount of energy.
With the lesser Aspects disembodied, the Cataclysm will still happen, the Cadres followers will still fight, and the balance will still tilt this way and that, it seems to this writer that killing their Embodiments accomplishes nothing more than making it much harder to find out what Is truly happening. When they are embodied, when one speaks to them, one knows that each will twist things to their point of view, but one can speak to each of them, and come to understand how they distort things. This writer hopes that his readers are all of sufficient intellect lo be able lo talk safely to people they don’t trust, and still gain valuable knowledge.
Some of the Lesser Aspects have recently been forced to disembody - this has became easier lo accomplish, as their grips on the world are tenuous at best. with Erdreja teetering on the bring of cataclysm or destruction, the balances tilting wildly, and everything so unstable. It is also likely that the heightened awareness of the Aspects and the Cadres at this time is effectively concentrating more of the energy of each Aspect within sentient beings, as choices of Cadre are made, and less within the Embodiments themselves, thus weakening them further.
There is an Accord requiring that no more than two Aspects from each Cadre be Embodied at once: with the current situation, it may be that other Aspects from within the Cadres that have recently lost Embodiments may no longer be able to embody to maintain this number.

The Aspects, the Balance, and the Stability of Erdreja

It is the balance of the Greater Aspects (Void, Creation, Existence, and Neutrality) that represent the forces that keep our world together, and all within it: the Cosmic Pattern of Erdreja writ in the Universal Amalgam.
Creation ties together the physical elements that make up the forms of all things, the shells in which our beings lie.
Void ties together the forces of magic and faith, time and knowledge, that both provide the raw power that fuels our existence, and the barrier against the Outer Void that would see us dissipated into fragments of inert energy.
Existence ties together the way we perceive, and interact with, the world. What is real or not, and what we perceive to be, or not. How our choices can affect the world, and how we are affected by the choices of others - whether things are predestined, fated to be, or whether we each can forge our own fortunes.
Neutrality ties together the manner in which we frame and make our choices - our perception of how our own actions influence the wider world, be they good, evil, lawful, or chaotic.
When the world was younger, only Neutrality was needed to represent the balance of the world, as the highest order of the balances, for balancing our choices was all that was required for stability. As the world evolved and was altered in more diverse ways, as things became less balanced and stable, as powers and magics were abused more, the lower order Greater Aspects were forced to embody in order to influence the balance of the world, for things were out of kilter at more fundamental levels, such as those of the physical elements. Eventually, each of the four Greater Balances was embodied in order to attempt to maintain the stability of our world.
Now, as the world seems to be cracking and falling apart, even that is not enough. So we must have cataclysm, a rebalancing, for the alternative is for the Aspects to move so far out of balance that no cohesion remains. The world is what it is only through the delicate interplay of the Aspects, but pushed too far, even that can break down.

The Accords and the Servants of the Embodiments

The embodiments have a long-established agreement between themselves, known us the Accords, governing how each interacts with Erdreja. These may be considered ‘rules of engagement', and their apparent purpose is two-fold: to prevent the conflict between the Aspects degenerating into all-out war, and to provide means for the Embodiments to work together when it is in their interests. Supposedly, they may not speak of the Accords, but a number are known. One must bear in mind each Embodiment has an agenda of his own, and each may be willing to Ignore or circumvent the Accords should the value of doing so be great enough, or the cost little enough.
In order to enforce the accords, the Embodiments have created a prison of sorts, in which just one of their number may be bound, unable to escape or interact with Erdreja. Known as Castle Hassan, this prison is essentially a lower manifestation of the world, simplified to a place of forms, in which the full richness of Erdreja cannot be found. In recent history, the Embodiment of Neutrality was cast into this place by Void and Creation as punishment for breaking an Accord, releasing Existence, who had previously been bound there.
The Embodiments frequently choose a champion amongst those of the younger and elder races, from those -who most reflect within their patterns the relevant Aspect. The Champion is not constrained by the Accords, and so is able to work further his Embodiment's cause, free from those limitations. The Champion brings also a perspective closer to the races of the world, to counteract the extreme one-sidedness of the typical Embodiment's personality caused by the dominance of the Aspect within his pattern. In addition, the Champion may act to further his master's will even when the Embodiment is imprisoned or un-manifested within Erdreja. The Champion is usually imbued with great power in order to better perform his role, and as reward for his service.
The Aspects have other servants, for example, the (Herald of the Aspects, currently named 'Archangel', is serially re-created by Void and Creation to do the bidding of all of the Greater and Lesser Aspects as each Cataclysm approaches. Although a combination of each of the Aspects, it is unclear whether the (Herald possesses free will as we of the younger and elder races do - the current incarnation presents herself as an unwilling slave of the Aspects. It is speculated that the Herald must be present at the moment of Cataclysm, and may possibly play a fundamental role in its causation or triggering.
Other servants of the Aspects are not created, but rather are normal beings altered, adapted, and bound to a particular service. An example of this is the Void Librarian, bound to Knowledge and tasked to spread information around the factions of the Heartlands and to aid each of the factions’ leaders in matters that do not lead to adverse inter-factional action, such as warfare. The other lands of Erdreja have been sent similar emissaries from the Aspects.

The Cadres of the Aspects and the Eternal War

The Lesser Aspects have grouped into Cadres of similar sympathies, notionally Feast, Famine, War and Peace, each of four Aspects. These are distinct from the groupings under which they form the Greater Balance, and in particular, the Cadres are not immutable: Time and Knowledge were ‘exchanged’ in the Cadres when Satuun tied Everon's Knot to create unlife.
The Aspects in each cadre may be considered to hold a temporal affiliation with one another, but the truth of the Cadres is that they are alliances of link-minded Embodiments, working together to establish supremacy in the new balance. We should expect the Embodiments of even the ascendant Cadre to scheme amongst themselves for prime position in the last days before the Cataclysm. It appears that certain constraints act to allow only the two most dominant Aspects within each Lesser Balance to embody (with the exception of Illusion and Reality, whose Embodiments appear to act quite distinctly from the others).
The Cadre of Feast aims at a world in which all have the opportunity for prosperity and power, should they make the effort to earn it. Each would have the chance to make his own fortune; only those who deserve it will achieve it.
The Cadre of Famine stands for a world tilted to predestination, in which all but a lucky few are fated to have nothing, with little opportunity to gain more or develop strength. Those in power would have and hoard great influence, magic, resources, beyond what they could possibly use. A good choice if one expects to be at the top - but not everyone will be!
The Cadre of War seeks a time of strife, change, and uncertainly. All power would be in flux, and constantly challenged. Magic would be unpredictable and unreliable, but also widespread and powerful.
The Cadre Peace desire to tilt Erdreja towards a period of peace, law, predictability and semi-stasis: a time akin to that of the Empire before the previous Cataclysm. Progress would be slow but reliable, by gradual increments, and available to all; there is little to challenge or excite.
The make up of the Cadres and exactly what each implies for life on Erdreja may change, but their conflict has continued since the beginning of time. Yet, the power to change the Balance lies always with the living, whose patterns are a mutable mix of each of 16 Aspects and not with the Embodiments, who are too 'pure' to change the world directly - instead, they reflect it. The Cadre War Is ultimately fought between and won by the peoples of Erdreja: we must not remain blind to the cost.
The previous Cataclysm was that of Water, in 397AF the time of the Empire of Tebron: it was directly caused by the Conclave, and occurred too abruptly to result in the very visible jockeying for position between the Cadres that we see today. It is instructive to consider that this means that the Cadres were already well entrenched, and that their conflict was more subtle: peace was dominant through the Empire, and Water strong through the magics employed by the Colleges. The actions of the Conclave within the circle of Malkarn that triggered the Cataclysm could be seen as an attempt by another Cadre to alter the Balance.

The Items of Powers and the Affinities of the Aspects

In the early days of the world, each Embodiment of the Greater Aspects ‘adopted’ an Elder race: these were the days of the elemental empires. For each Lesser Aspect within the Greater Aspect’s balance was made an Item of Power by the Elder race so chosen. Their primary purpose is to hold in check the powers of the Elements, as a method of distillation and a safety net to allow the safe use of magics by all races of Erdreja.
The Tomes of the Physical Elements, in particular, were each made by one of the Elven Houses: the Vermillion (fire), Sylvan (air), Aquilas (water) and Loresti (earth).
Each Greater Aspect is associated with a Greater Item of Power, of which little is known, save that each was essential to the creation of the Lesser Items under its jurisdiction. Only by the use of an item, and perhaps also an ‘elemental cauldron’ a ritual circle very strongly attuned to the relevant element, could the power involved in the creation of the Lesser Items be controlled. The idea of elemental cauldrons is encountered in the writings of Brand: it is thought that the relevant circles might be En’esh (fire), the Wellspring (air), Malkarn (water) and Obsidia (earth). The Greater Items of Power has recently proved essential to the repair or reconstruction of some of the damaged items of power, such as the Orb of Magic.
Each of the aspects is linked to a colour, metal or material; the Aspect is reflected more strongly than any other in the balance of the pattern of that material. It is likely that the Items of Power made use of this affinity.
At a very simple level, the patterns of the Items of Power are little more than extremely dense and powerful concentrations of energy corresponding to a particular Aspect, and any sufficiently localised concentration of threads of one Aspect could in theory become another such Item. There is rather more to the matter than this though. Firstly, there is the inherent difficulty in acquiring, handling and maintaining such a level of power. Secondly, the difficulty of constructing a physical shell or form sufficient to contain such a concentration – the Tomes are believed to exploit a technique in which ‘flaws’ of the opposed elements are used to control the chosen element. Thirdly, the known Items of Power have shown a tendency to develop a form of sentience, by a process thought to be akin to the way in which the Aspects form embodiments, though less complete. Lastly, each of the known Items of Power has some manner of home within the Void to which it may return apparently ‘at will’.
The Items of Power may be tapped by those with sufficient understanding, in the first instance, as an external source of controlled magical energies (aiding the casting the higher level incantations or spells), and in the second instance, and more importantly, as both a source of power and a focal point for the manipulation of power with a ritual circle or to aid direct manipulation of the pattern of the world.
The Light Shard and the Dark Shard are not Items of Power in the sense discussed here, though they might seem superficially similar. They are instead focuses for communion with the Ancestors in one form or another.

The Aspects and their Relationships

The cadres and Balances are as follows:

Associations of the Aspects can also be found in the Elemental Weaves table, as this ones is quite out of date - Number One

Elemental Nature	Quintessential	Metaphysical	Physical	Idiological
Greater Aspect	Void	Existence	Creation	Neutrality
Item of Power	The Orbs	The Runes	The Tomes	The Helms
Elder Race	Ologs	Dwarves	Elves	Fae
Peace/order	Knowledge	Reality	Earth	Law
War/Freedom	Magic	Illusion	Air	Chaos
Feast/Plenty	Spirit	Fortune	Water	Good
Famine/Destruction	Time	Fate	Fire	Evil