You don’t know this, but I’ve been counting how many diary entries have been posted since I wrote “Please introduce yourself” here. Few will get it, even fewer will remember, but this is the 17th entry since then. Not exactly an anniversary, but still impressive. In that time, I’ve managed to tell you quite a lot about the universe of our game, and it’s still going on and on. I’ve got something to tell you this time too, and I’ll have some more next time.
Our news today are in pictures—and not in ordinary pictures, but animated ones! Remember I showed you some static images of automatons in previous entries? Well, their animation is in full swing, so today I’m showing you some moving pictures of automatons. Check out for yourself how cool they are.
By the telling title of this diary entry you should’ve realised that I’m going to continue introducing Midian’s chronology to you. I won’t just continue doing that—I’ll finish doing that, too. Last time we stopped at the 4th epoch, so…
New Agreement is a city. It’s one of the biggest cities of the empire, which in its turn lies beyond the Northern Ridge, under the protection of the Northern Gate.
The text of the New Agreement between the gods and the demons is etched into the stone walls of this city. According to that text, both parties can interfere with the affairs of Midian, but the interference is limited and parity-based.
Simply put, whatever the demons allow themselves, the gods can allow themselves as well, and vice versa. Jumping ahead, it’s thanks to the New Agreement that the invasion of the Inquilines didn’t end in an apocalypse.
You haven’t forgotten who Zaratosh is and what he did, have you? His wilfulness, which in the end saved humanity but also nearly destroyed all of Midian, deserved both a reward and a punishment. He received both, having become the witness of the New Agreement. Since then he’s been roaming across the world, making sure that the new order isn’t violated.
The New Agreement is written in an ancient language, long forgotten since, but not fully and not by everyone. The secret society of mages who call themselves Shoots tries to decipher the text, and not without success. The Shoots use the agreement to draw information about the workings of Midian’s; it’s their main objective.
How is the world designed and, more importantly, why is it designed like that? I’ve already told you a bit about the Shoots, but I’ll repeat myself: these people want to know HOW Midian works SO THAT they can rule it, and WHY it works the way it does SO THAT they can figure out the ultimate purpose. Does someone who can’t predict the consequences of their actions really need freedom of will?
At the same time they’re increasing their power, for knowledge is power. The way from the humans to the gods (or maybe to the demons?) is their current, but intermediate goal. The destination point is the main mystery for them.
A bit too much to digest? Well, it gets even better next.
Mainly because of the Shoots the humans’ influence grew. They were slowly, but surely becoming the domineering race in Midian. During all that time, the Shoots stayed in the shadows, preferring to act through cat’s-paws, with the help of elaborate intrigues and manipulations. Despite that, their activities bore plenty of fruit.
This led to the Primordial Spirits rioting and frantically churning out their own champions to make up for the influence of the Shoots.
Meanwhile, a conspiracy was brewing behind the eldest demons’ backs, which they overlooked. The demonic champions all across Midian joined forces and opened portals to demonic worlds, and hordes of demons immediately came pouring in through them.
To minimize the damage, the Supreme Gods had to intervene. They isolated the invaded areas, splitting the continent into several parts.
After perusing the New Agreement again, the Eldest Demons decided not to interfere.
At that moment, the Shoots came out of the shadows and went all-in. With the help of the portals they gained access to demonic worlds and mysteries they could only dream of before. One has to wonder if the whole portal conspiracy was part of their global plan. Be that as it may, by seizing those demonic worlds (yes, over time the Shoots will become that tough), they multiplied their knowledge, power, and influence manifold.
Living up to their name, the Shoots kept reaching up and they reached such heights that there came the last, ninth epoch…
I think you’ve got enough food for thought as it is.
How Do You Like That?
Next time, I’ll talk about half-bloods—half-elves, half-orcs and half-others. You don’t come across them in the game because inter-racial marriages are not accepted on this side of the Northern Ridge, which can’t be said about the Empire beyond the Northern Ridge, where different folks live in one place, intermixed, and get on with each other more or less quite well.
I’ll explain without going into details what rules and exceptions are at work in miscegenation in Midian. Jumping ahead, I’ll tell you that the rules are quite tricky.
I hope it will be interesting.