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Order and Chaos is a fascinating Lorestone set, with much explicitly said but the context not consistently clear.

Let's start with what we know.

  • The speaker is Athyll, as it is the only name associated with any of the speaking parts. From the content, we know that she was an Alfar mage of great power, likely Dokkalfar due to the mention of Lyria.
  • Either Athyll has deep discussions with herself or she has lost her mind. The conversation seems to be more than just voicing an imaginary friend but the voices don't seem to be distinct, separate personalities.
  • Athyll saw an Erathi, and searched for another vision of the spirit throughout her life.
  • From the description that she saw "a horrible, chaotic monstrosity" in the depths of an Erathi ruin implies that she saw a Niskaru of some kind and was convinced that this was the same sort of being as the "divine spirit" that had previously appeared to her despite its obviously opposite nature.
  • Athyll's spirit was somehow trapped inside the Lorestones, still apparently self-aware.

Now, what can we imply from these facts?

  • Athyll was quite possibly driven somewhat mad from the cognitive dissonance of conflating the Niskaru with the Erathi. It is obvious from even the most casual observation that these two sets of beings are complete opposites, and even aside from the
  • The Lorestones seem to function in a way akin to observation posts, recording what is near them. It is distinctly possible that Athyll used the Lorestones scattered throughout Erathi ruins to search many ruins in a short time, which could have led to her entrapment, especially if she used (or attempted to use) a spell similar to astral projection through the Lorestones to conduct the search more thoroughly.
  • Perhaps Athyll's madness is actually a Niskaric curse, as the self-hatred shown in most of the Lorestone set is the only disconnect between the two speaking voices, as though one is a self-destructive overlay on Athyll's mind. With the Niskaru lords already sealed away by Athyll's time, such a minor curse is a likely possibility for Niskaric influence.
  • It is also possible that, as a consciousness trapped inside Lorestones, that Athyll is actually speaking with herself, possibly even responding to and attempting to interact with past recordings of herself.


Impossible as the idea seems at a glance, I feel the need to propose it: What if Athyll is actually right? What if the Erathi were a group of Niskaru whose motives became oriented less on "causing chaos and mayhem" and more on "make our chaos and mayhem last as long as possible," thus having good reason to end the Deep Gloam and create something structured to destroy? It would account for the Erathi's disappearance and how thoroughly all evidence of their ending was destroyed, if they had control of all of it. It also explains why Niskaru are so very common in Erathi ruins. The Codex of Destiny also fits into this, as the ability to predict the future seems from Agarth's discussions of it to do a lot more tearing-down than building-up. This could even explain why Niskaru Lords such as Fyragnos and Khamazandu were sealed away instead of destroyed, so that they could return to destroy the world at a later time. Fortunately, there is one scrap of evidence that even on its own tears this theory apart, as the Fae mention in "Fyragnos Comes" that "they fought as beams of light amid darkness. We saw it," explicitly marking the Erathi as more than just a Niskaru plot to have more world to devour. Furthermore, this mention supports the reality of Athyll's initial vision, the idea that what she saw was an Erathi.

As always, please feel free to comment, criticize, compliment, or otherwise talk about these ideas.

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