Memory
Memory is a massive, highly advanced subterranean metallic facility and black-market hub located on Valaralda. Secretly designed by the dark mage Cariel (operating under the persona Magona) and constructed by the rylak Talon, it serves as the technological and magical centerpiece for Cariel's grand plan to relocate the planet Eryn.
Initially hidden deep beneath the Thesserin Desert, the facility was secretly accessible via a high-speed, windowless silver bullet train that connected directly to the underground tunnels of Ilyrion.
Geography and Environment
Memory is an imposing, circular chamber built entirely of metal, black circuit boards, and exposed wiring, standing in stark contrast to traditional elven architecture.
Key features of the facility include:
- The Central Machine: A towering, twenty-story device in the middle of the room featuring thick hydraulics and advanced electronics. Fourteen clear pipes erupt from its center like a spiderweb, each glowing with a strange, blueish light and connecting to the outer walls.
- The Amplification Network: Recessed into a high shelf along the circular wall are fourteen Books of Amplification, each slotted into a receptacle that connects to the central machine's blue pipes.
- The Outer Wedges: The ground floor perimeter is divided into wedge-shaped sections (resembling the slices of a soul leaf). These alcoves contain mirrors, stasis chairs, three-dimensional displays, and active magical gates.
- The Theater: The upper levels (starting at the fifth floor) feature amphitheater-style seating that looks down upon a stage set into the wall, utilizing gravitonic engines to float audience members in mid-air.
Key Events
Black Market Operations
For years, Talon operated Memory as a shadowy hub for the lawless, offering highly illegal services to those who could pay the price. Utilizing an abundance of darkprime wood (harvested through murder for hire and assisted suicide), Memory offered instantaneous gatesending transportation, black-market delivery, intentional memory wiping, and an experimental procedure called "memory reclamation therapy."
Quynn's Discovery
After escaping a jail cell in Ilyrion with the help of a gray-robed mergemelder named Jacob, the mindmaster Quynn was brought to Memory. Talon offered him a tour, but Quynn quickly noticed the fourteen Books of Amplification lining the walls. Before Quynn could investigate further, Talon activated a machine that engulfed Quynn in a flash of light, sending him away to the planet Eryn.
Lorelei's Awakening
After the apocalyptic Conjunction, Allain and the priest Lionar brought a severely soulblinded Lorelei to the facility. Warning that the process was dangerous, Talon and a gray-robed mage subjected Lorelei to memory reclamation therapy. By passing dozens of magical gates over her body in rapid succession at a specific frequency, they successfully repaired her neural pathways and unlocked her ancient memories.
Erodar's Show and the Emergence
The illusionist Erodar the Prime hosted an exclusive, invite-only magic show on the upper levels of Memory. Mid-performance, the facility literally began to move. Accompanied by loud clanking and grinding metal, the walls slid upwards, and the audience platforms floated into the air.
Memory physically breached the surface of the Thesserin Desert, expanding upwards to become the mechanical core of Cariel's towering, sand-covered Palace of Memory.
The Planetary Gate
With Memory fully elevated above the desert, Cariel initiated her endgame. She captured the young Prime Mage Rylan, strapping him to a chair on the narrow shelf housing the fourteen Books of Amplification. Using her horrific soulbinding magic, she hijacked Rylan's mind. Forcing him to draw upon an immense stockpile of darkprime willow and the amplified power of the fourteen Books, Cariel made Rylan open a colossal, planetary-sized gate that forcefully pulled Eryn into the Persephone solar system.
The Collapse
During the ensuing multi-faction battle in the desert, an enraged Arra unleashed her devastating magic upon the Palace of Memory, completely shredding the stone towers and ornate domes. However, the metallic inner structure of Memory survived the collapse.
As a massive, magical sandstorm engulfed the desert, Trey flew Arra into the exposed metal framework of Memory to seek shelter. A brutal confrontation ensued on the Bookshelf level between Trey, Arra, and Cariel. The fight ended abruptly when Arra backhanded Cariel with a strengthshaping-infused blow, launching her mother completely out of the metallic facility and into the desert winds.