The Age of Fallen Kings emerged from the Ghost Storm. Some, unknowing, believed that the destruction of the Prism Crystal had been without consequences. They saw many strange things, compelling and incomprehensible. Those who traveled into the Great Beyond never returned. Yet some feel that they still hold the lanterns which light the way on the Gray Road. Many have spoken of the mysterious histories of the ghost folk. They are a people without drama, without subterfuge and betrayal, without ambition, but, in their own way, they possess a certain warmth. They are not without thoughts and feelings. So the history of the ghost folk must be remembered as the history of memory. Once, when the ghosts still walked the earth, the Inquisitors of the Silver Castle abjured even peaceful remnants, and went so far as to mandate the cremation of all corpses. It is true that the Remnant Kings fought like beasts, but their fury faded steadily as they lost all memory of humanity. As the Long Moon waned, even the fiercest of the ghost-soldiers faded into aimless shades, and then disappeared entirely.
But who had engineered the Ghost Waves, so many years earlier, at the apex of the Lunar Cataclysm? The druids had nothing to gain. The Circles of the Moon and Stars held absolute power in the Dark Lands. Any disturbance must have threatened their traditions. Yet the patterns of Ethereal Flux bore all the signatures of the Primal Arcane. For example, Gephlepx observed that the granite and the Pale Crystals employed in the Gray Gates likely came from the mines at Barrow Hill. Who could have executed such massy projects without attracting the attention of the Circles? Indeed, how could such projects have been completed without the aid of mighty geomancers? Dlape and Jlane theorized that errant Physicists, perhaps from Verge Hall, executed the projects in secret and framed the Druids on purpose. Mleme and Harrower imagined a forgotten faction of dissident Druids, but also imagined that perhaps the Circles built the Gray Gates with a different purpose in mind but made some catacylsmic error.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Long after all threat of dangerous specters had disappeared, righteous inquisitors still scoured the Earth, demanding accounts of any uncommon incident, harassing and interrogating hermits and herbalists, and developing coercive proposals regarding burial sites and rituals. While their orthodox methods of interring the dead had no measurable impact upon the incidence of lingering souls, their manual of practice became standard across much of the world, especially the Great Shield, and influenced the cultures of Starfall, Arcdown, Sheerpillar, and the Lens Islands. Those beliefs have now diverged in various ways, and the viability of holy inquisition has been hampered by political fragmentation, but most cultures on Earth now believe that proper treatment of the dead is essential to safeguard the tranquility of the living.
The Gray Gates were demolished and the Pale Crystals disappeared. The Museum of Hangfire Tower displays one in appropriate containment. Another was shattered into seven shards to craft the Royal Blades of the Red Bastion, which are still used today for military and ceremonial purposes. Popular legends claim that seven of the Pale Crystals are held by a secret Druid Circle. While these crystals do have a natural attunement to Lunar and Soul attributes, it seems unlikely that they bear any resitual enchantments related to their function in the Gray Gates. As usual, when an enchantment is broken, all traces of it vanish instantly. Yet the Pale Crystals hold a certain place of honor and terror in the popular imagination, as if they might thrum to life and once again generate a cascade of bloodthirsty spirits. Perhaps these superstitions might lend them an additional attunement with mythological Fear Magic, thus justifying their continued containment.
- Elder Sage Rlathoses, "The Chronicles of Antiquity"
