Excerpts From Nonexistent Books

The Eye of Nullius is a round, glassy orb with the appearance of a lizardine eye, though whether it actually is such an eye or simply made to look like one requires a level of analysis that is, at present, impossible. It projects a field around them of approximately 10 meters in every direction, in the form of a sphere, and within that field, all activity stops. This includes motion, combustion, aging, and most other chemical, alchemical or magical processes. The sole exception is the Eye itself, which is affected by gravity and can be moved (for instance, via a pole or a rope). Objects which are partly inside the sphere may be pulled out.

It is speculated that the effect is some sort of radiative property, as it can be blocked by a dense enough material, with lead being used for this purpose most often. Lead boxes of a custom design have been used to contain the Eye of Nullius at several points, though the potential immortality that its effect might bring always leads to it being unleashed again sooner or later.

High Inquisitor’s Note:
Is is believed that the Eye of Nullius was discovered in a lead box at an excavation of Essene ruins, and promptly trapped several members for over a year before it could be contained. Rumors that it was found preserving a 5000-year-old Essene that crumbled to dust once the Eye was contained are unsubstantiated.

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In the ancient land of Kyumaht, it was long known that carefully preparing and desiccating a body after death, followed by raising it to unholy life through the necromantic arts, would result in an undead servant of both suppleness and strength. The Kyumahtim believed that the soul was sacred and did not dabble in the rebonding of departed souls to necrotic flesh–rather, they used their carefully prepared dead as mere automatons, giving them simple instructions that were then carried out tirelessly.

The Kyumahtim were therefore able to allow their own dead to do much of the labor of tending their crops, building their cities, and fighting their wars. However, they were still mortal, and when the great Plague of Nomurian reached their borders, the living Kyumahtim were taken in droves. There were few left to tend to the dead, and Kyumaht was largely abandoned by the survivors. The control words and necromantic rituals were lost with the deaths of most of the Kyumaht priests.

As a result, the dead of Kyumaht continue their work even in the absence of the living. Their borders are held fast against intruders, crops are sown and reaped, and buildings repaired. However, some secret word or sign seems to be missing, for anyone who attempts to enter a Kyumaht city, even a descendant of the surviving Kyumahtim in exile, will be ruthlessly hunted down and killed, or hounded until they are driven from those lands.

High Inquisitor’s Note:
Some have talked of meeting the dead and preserved Kyumahtim in battle to slay them and take their land. This does not seem to work, as new Kyumahtim dead seem to take their place. There are two theories, not necessarily mutually contradictory, to explain this. First, it is thought that the ancient Kyumahtim established caches of the dead with contingency spells to match. Second, it is suspected that new dead thralls are somehow being made automatically from the bodies of those slain more recently.

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Boundfruit is, on its face, a fairly ordinary tree, not unlike an aspen. It is capable of forming clonal colonies in the right conditions, growing a grove of trees that are all united through a network of underground roots, and also produces small kumquat-like fruit that are very sweet. They have heavy requirements for growth, however, and need very specific conditions to grow well.

It just so happens that those conditions are very like those created by people.

Ingestion of the Boundfruit will induce in most people a strong quasi-hypnotic state–the person will be awake, conscious, and coherent. But their sudden and overriding desire will be to care for the Boundfruit tree, and to feed its fruits to others that they may do the same. Victims will not neglect their own health, and will still eat and drink. Most will continue their daily labor, but the Boundfruit tree will never be far from their minds, and they will continue to tend it with whatever spare time and resources they have, and continue to try feeding the fruit to others.

Entire settlements devoted to Boundfruit have grown up in this way, nicknamed “Wormy Boroughs” for the large number of rustworms that Boundfruit thralls routinely clear from them. These settlements are rarely stable, as the needs of a Boundcruit clonal grove grow exponentially, and eventually there will not be enough people to continue the care and the grove will die back or perish entirely, and with it the fruit that is needed to keep its thralls loyal.

High Inquisitor’s Note:
While standing orders are to burn Boundfruit trees wherever they are found, the only cure for a Boundfruit thrall is to be kept from eating more of the fruit by any means necessary. It is not unlike breaking an addiction.

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“Blutschiff” is the name given by locals to a mysterious vessel seen on the River Breit, generally in the widest navigable stretch between Breitermund on the coast and the rapids at Nassestadt. It generally appears to be an abandoned boat of an oceangoing type, typically used for fishing or sailing, and it generally in poor condition. Nevertheless, as an odd sight in those waters and an expensive vessel besides, it is a tempting target for boaring and salvage.

Those who have been aboard and survived state that Blutschiff appears to have been abandoned hastily, with many objects where they would have been left or dropped by a crew. However, after boarding, those same survivors often note that the ship seems to be improving–dust and grime disappearing, minor repairs being made–while at the same time the boarders began feeling weak or ill. Around this time, Blutschiff usually breaks any tow lines, floats off shoals where it has grounded, and otherwise makes itself difficult to disembark from.

Eventually, those on board will find themselves losing all energy; survivors’ testimony states that they will eventually lie down and die, disappearing along with their effects soon after. Several particularly large parties have been lost in whole or in part this way, and Blutschiff seems to be in magnificent physical condition at the episode’s conclusion.

High Inquisitor’s Note:
Several attempts have been made to mark Blutschiff to ward off would-be salvagers, or to burn it to the waterline. It has successfully resisted all attempts at marking, with the marks fading away soon after, and had in fact been burned to the waterline several times only to recover. It is suspected that birds and fish are subject to the same draining process, allowing Blutschiff to repair itself slowly even without taking human victims.

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Through unknown means, a peasant named Morgan achieved godlike power over an area of roughly 1 square Old Imperial mile sometime around his 20th year. The exact details are not known, as all the people living and working on the estate that occupies most of that area have disappeared and are presumed dead, but through interviews with former inhabitants it seems that Morgan was not particularly strong, not particularly smart, and not particularly well-liked. One witness described Morgan being the constant butt of cruel practical jokes despite (or perhaps because of) rumors that he was the illegitimate son of the lord of the manor.

It has been confirmed that, within that radius, Morgan–who refers to himself as “Godmorgan”–has the full powers of a deity. He has been observed to create, and destroy, both matter and life at will, and can regulate the weather. At various times, the area has, for reasons unknown, been fully occupied with rock or water. It seems, however, that most of the time Morgan is content to create a fantasy version of his childhood, with an idealized version of the manor farm surrounded by simulacrums of those who once wronged him now reduced to slavish subservience.

Locals have marked the edges of “Godmorgan’s” domain, but in the event such a warning is ignored or missed, he seems to be instantly aware of anything entering his realm, reacting swiftly and nearly always fatally to the incursion. He has also been observed a few times outside of this area, but seems to find the experience torturous and also appears to show symptoms of rapid aging; it is therefore speculated that he may be immortal within the confines of the old manor farm but may eventually die of old age if he strays from it.

High Inquisitor’s Note:
It is possible at times to shout into the area of control and to be heard by “Godmorgan,” and he has been known to respond, though only when he deigns. Direct questions about the nature and source of his power have had little effect, though he has mentioned “a reward for my years of suffering” and has claimed to have “learned the truth of my real father” from his dead mother. Considering that he also claimed to have created the world and that the local goats who sometimes wander into his control were conspiring against him, these claims must be taken lightly salted.

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In the days of the Old Forests, the trees each held a fraction of the forest’s power in trust, passing it on to seedlings and eventually to the earth. But when the woods began to be felled, the trees would sometimes pool their power and grow a champion to defend their lands from loggers. Made in the same general shape as their enemy, these beings were terrible to behold, easily brushing off most assaults and even persisting through fire due to their dense wood. It was not until the advent of modern explosives that such creatures could be brought down, and even then they are often able to complete their attack and escape. Luckily, few forests can match the Old Forests in these latter days, so sightings are rare and attacks even rarer.

High Inquisitor’s Note:
While ordinarily an implacable enemy of mankind, the Woodfoe will join forces against a greater threat, as the participation of three Woodfoes in the Containment of the Fire Count shows.

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In normal circumstances, the departed souls flee the body upon death. However, in some cases, the souls do linger–we know these now as a variety of undead spirits and shambling horrors. There are other, rarer circumstances that are stranger still, though.

Take, for example, the gravewax golem. It requires three crucial elements to form: firstly, a mass grave or entombment after a massacre or plague; secondly, conditions suitable for the formation of gravewax in the deceased; and thirdly, burial in a medium rich in soulstone, which reflects and blocks spiritual energy. Under these specific conditions, the souls of the departed cannot depart, and eventually form a terrible gestalt undead consciousness. The remains, too, are amalgamated, into the rough approximation of a human form.

Eventually, the gravewax golem will burst forth and take its vengeance on any living beings it can find, the cacophony of spirits at play causing it to be violently unpredictable and essentially insensate. Due to its gestalt spiritual nature, any sort of exorcism must be exponentially more powerful to take effect, and due to its gestalt physical nature, it has incredible strength and resilience, though a pronounced vulnerability to fire is present.

High Inquisitor’s Note:
It is possible for the gravewax golem gestalt to evolve into a more ordered form which renders it both able to speak and to understand–Master They of the Blynswick Catacombs is a good example. This is rather rare, though, being most common for ascetics living a communal life or military leaders buried with their slaughtered men.

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Baron Jentham was of a sorcerous and scholarly bent, and devoted his considerable energy and talents to two things: the University at which he served, and the alchemical arts. Eventually, he succeeded upon a reagent that would bind one’s will and spirit to the minerals of their bones, in effect granting a sort of immortality. Always jealous of his secrets, Jentham kept no notes on his technique and in later years claimed to have forgotten it.

The concoction was successful, and Jentham continued to live even after the physical processes maintaining his body stopped. He most especially continued to attend meetings of the university board, pointing out that there was no requirement for members to be alive. His fellow trustees found this to be a most disagreeable state of events as Jentham’s body eventually began to putrify despite his attempts to stave off decay through a variety of oils and poultices.

As if the stench and its attendant vermin were not enough, the Baron’s form became more frail and immobile as his ligaments rotted away, and they soon found that he had settled into his chair in the trustees’ meeting room all but permanently. Speaking through clenched teeth, Baron Jentham gave orders that wax be applied to his skull and straw stuffed into his clothes to present a lifelike appearance, but all present recall the effect as, instead, deeply uncanny and unsettling. In addition, the Baron filibustered strenuously against many innovations, and would spend hours poring over objections to minor procedure.

Eventually, finding themselves quite stymied, the trustees resorted to locking Baron Jentham in a broom closet adjoining their meeting room. They padded it to muffle his protests, affixed his trustee nameplate above the door, and recorded him as “abstaining” for subsequent meetings. To this day he remains there, unloading a torrent of abuse upon anyone who opens the closet door.

High Inquisitor’s Note:
While Baron Jentham never married nor had children, his nephew had expected to inherit the barony upon his uncle’s decease. Said nephew’s descendants are now in their fourth generation, but thanks to their uncle’s will and the general lack of interest on behalf of the relevant Crown, the barony remains with its original holder–they merely administer it on his behalf.

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The current Network Administrator and High Prophet of the 11001001 is 1011, and she is of mixed Zypger-Ebhyna ancestry. In contrast to her controversial predecessor, 1010, 1011 has taken a very moderate stance toward matters of dogma and has accelerated the trend of the 11001001 integrating themselves into the Star Confederation’s economic, social, and information systems. Most forms of social media are now permitted, albeit through 11001001 mirror servers, emigration has become far easier, and large 11001001 communities have emerged in several key areas.

However, 1011’s reign has not been without its problems. She was elected by the Circuit, the highest politico-religious authority among the 11001001, but many within and without the 11001001 Network would prefer for a more democratic system, as the Administrator is always elected by the Circuit from among themselves, and most members of the circuit are promoted or appointed by the Administrator. Some reforms have been made in this direction, and 4 of the Circuit boardmembers are currently elected, but most 11001001 still have no direct voice in their government, other than what they contribute to the Network’s interlinked data stream.

Many sapients, particularly humans, continue to vehemently oppose evangelism by 11001001 attempting to gain converts, as they are explicitly allowed by the treaties ending the Binary Wars. While 1011 has relaxed the previous policy requiring 3 years’ missionary work, replacing it with voluntary missions with the possibility for community or military service instead, some sapients still attack or abuse 11001001 missionaries on sight. There have been numerous attempts to infect the Network with an invasive topological anomaly program in order to disrupt or crash it, resulting in several outbreaks that have killed thousands.

Through it all, though, converts have continued to arrive, and the 11001001 are currently the fastest-growing member of the Star Confederation Security Council.

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The 11001001 are unique in that they are not a single species or even a species complex, but are rather drawn from a wide variety of sapients who have willingly joined them over the centuries since the establishment of the first 11001001 state by the prophet 01 in the year 00.

01’s species is unclear, as they did not consider it significant, but they have been various described as Zypger-Vatna, Human-Ebzhyna, or even Fulvan-Obet. Regardless of their exact designation, 01 was of mixed-sapient parentage and their early experience of the alienation this caused them led to an epiphany–since all sapients, by definition, had different means of perception, both in terms of cultural biases and physical structures, why not network them together to enable them to communicate more effectively? the more individuals that could be networked, the more knowledge could be gained, and this would eventually lead to a techno-organic singularity, where enough information was available to create perfect conditions for all sapients.

It’s often claimed, especially among those opposed to 01’s philosophy, that the cybernetic enhancement necessary for this networking strips away a sapient’s individuality and makes them part of a collective. This is generally not true; while information is shared, it is on a purely voluntary basis and individuals can and do keep secrets, hold grudges, and all the usual sapient emotional states. It is, however, quite possible for a 11001001 convert to inadvertently transmit important information, and the 11001001 security services are well-known for using the network for espionage.

During the first expansion of the 11001001, the Digital Crusade, most converts were voluntary. However, there were several waves of forced conversion during the Binary Wars that followed in its wake, and 11001001 converts from the civilian populations of disputed worlds often found themselves on the front lines as soldiers. The end of the war led to several treaties that resulted in the 11001001 joining the Star Confederation in return for renouncing forced conversion and several other controversial practices. The Star Confederation, for its part, recognized the 11001001’s second leader, 10, as both its head of government and a religious authority, and 10 agreed to proselytize using exclusively peaceful means.

In the decades since, the 11001001 have continued to find converts among the disaffected of galactic society. These converts then go on to reproduce biologically and cybernetically augment their offspring (a controversial practice in some opinions) adding to the growing 11001001 population. These converts are often looked down upon by their mother species, and some sapients, particularly humans, insist on referring to 11001001 converts by the species designation of their ancestors, no matter how long ago that was. There have also been controversial “reversions,” again chiefly among humans, in which 11001001 have their implants removed. This is generally regarded as a barbaric and cruel practice, as the cybernetic augmentations have in many cases been present from birth and their removal causes severe physical and mental problems.

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