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09/19/2023 05:54 PM
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Malchiodi's Diary
The Mark of the Outsider Excerpt from Malchiodi's Diary 2nd, Month of Darkness
I am now certain of the meaning of that script adorning the flesh of those few who encounter the Outsider. It is his name — the name he lost when he merged with the Void. And if this name is returned to him, the old ritual performed by the Envisioned years ago would be undone.
This revelation sends shivers down my spine. What I hold is the catalyst that could undo everything our collegiate has accomplished.
11th, Month of High Cold
The ancient language tantalizes me still. The pronunciation was never formed for any earthly tongue. Perhaps these people, long ago, spoke with the spirits? But speculation is one of the many pitfalls which threatens the errant philologist. To pursue this further would necessitate transgressing the deepest commandment of our order. No one has entered the Ritual Hold since the Outsider merged with the Void. But to find one of those cursed spirits to read this language...It intrigues and frightens me in equal measure.
27th, Month of High Cold
Against all caution, all prudence, all sense of loyalty, I persist. I cannot abandon my research. This place, this reliquary that holds the Outsider's true form, calls to me. If my plan to enter the Ritual Hold is found out, all is lost.
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09/19/2023 05:49 PM
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Hues of the Void
We lack the language to express the Void in all its complexities. We have no words for its beauty. There is the rich, velvety darkness of the depths of the ocean. The hollow hues of the sky on a starless night. The cold color when you close your eyes to moonlight. The mottled pigments of a bruise on tender skin. The sharp black at the corners of your vision as you faint from exhaustion. A crumbled anointment of old blood. Your own face reflected faintly in a dark glass.
I was ignorant of these delicate gradations when I first arrived, but the Eye of the Dead God has penetrated my senses and opened my mind. What was once a dull gray has revealed its subtle luster.
In my former life, I was a painter. I captured the blush of a young debutante's cheek, or the turn of a noble's shapely calf. I was paid vast sums to render the most insipid, lifeless aristrocratic faces into grand examples of virile splendor. But nothing I had ever seen compares to the grace and color of the Void.
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05/02/2018 10:16 PM
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Drabble 1.
 “In the beginning, many thousands of years ago, the world was under one religious order, practiced and taught by the Sintarians . Similar to Earth's monks, these powerful figures learned to harness and use the gifts of The Void . They used its energy to help the Kingdoms of the world prosper. Advancing technology and industry well ahead of its time. The teachings of the Sintarian monks all but advocated for unity and peace. Every man should look to his neighbor as his brother. And no one person should be considered higher than the other. A whole world built on Sintarianism. Or, as you would better understand, equality. The monks encouraged uniformity, but refused to share their secrets of The Void to the populace. Despite their teachings, these pettifoggers chose to keep the magic of The Void to themselves. And, as history would allow it, their secrecy did not go by undetected. A servant of the Sintarians spoke out against the monks. She revealed the hypocrisy of their self indulgence; shedding light upon their parsimonious ways. After all, the people deserved to know what they were missing out on. But shortly after her outburst, she was taken into custody by the monks, never to be seen or heard from again. And the sheep of the empire, brainwashed and manipulated, accepted when the Sintarians discredited her claims. According to them, she was mentally insane. But not every sheep follows its shepherd. While the majority of the public remained blissfully ignorant, a select few realized the truth of the servant girl's words. These individuals grew to oppose the Order of the Sintarians and congregated to form their own practice. These Cultists tried to mimic the arts of the Sintarian monks, but were faced with failure. Time and again. It was made aware that the monks had their secrets, but the details of their practices remained a mystery. How did the monks discover The Void in the first place? And what exactly did it consist of? Little was known of The Void. Beyond their gifts, not even the Sintarians knew anything. Except one thing. It was alive. Ancient and forever, The Void saw everything. What was. What could be. What might have been… Since the dawn of creation, The Void watched the lives of the mundane. Disinterested, unsatisfiable. Chosen on a whim, the monks were branded with its Mark ; curious to see the paths the monks would create for themselves, as well as how their decisions would alter the reality and lives around them. But the monks did very little with the power that was given to them. At least, The Void thought so. The Sintarian monks utilized their gifts for the benefit of the world, and its people never changed; neither for better nor worse. While The Void was impartial to good and evil, the monks’ Utopia created a world of monotony. Without diversity, the appeal of the monks grew stale; their methods banal. The Void lost interest… But the rise of the Cultists rekindled that spark of curiosity. Captivated by the infinite web of possibilities, The Void turned its eye away from the Sintarians and bestowed its Mark upon the capricious Cult. And their seed of corruption spread. More and more people became apostate. They were more interested in The Void than the lies fed to them by the monks. It’s no surprise that a war erupted between the growing cult and the monks. But when has any war been fought that didn’t impose on places it did not belong? It didn’t take long for the destruction of war to lay waste to every great empire. Seas of fire and smoke carried a thick miasma of death in every city. And the streets and houses were littered with mangled corpses and rivers of blood. It’s always the innocent that suffer most, isn’t it? Funny how humans use war to justify their barbaric impulses."
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05/01/2018 08:39 PM
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SΓ©ance Notes;
Reaching the VoidA woman's notes;
Month of Songs
Lady Cottington brought silk scarves from her boutique, one of which Mr. Prospero used to gently strangle her. I maintained a count of her pulse and observed her breathing. When the life signs faded, we left her still for two full minutes before reviving her. Was it really the Void she described? Have we succeeded in seeing the unseeable? My hand trembles as I recall the intensity in her eyes, as she struggled to recount with broken voice what she felt during those two minutes. Month of Earth
I convinced our little group that less gentle methods were needed if our desire to meet the Outsider was sincere. Bloodfly fever, voluntarily induced. That will be our way to the Void. After procuring a few bloodflies and some Addermire Solution, we coated our hands with elixir before exposing them to vivarium. The stinging was unbearable. Lady Cottington fainted immediately. I was the last one to remove my hands. The fever was quick to set in. As I faded in and out of consciousness, ocean waves pounded above me. There were silhouettes in the distance, and shimmering black rocks. A timeless passing, in an unthinkable place, while delirium held us for hours. I must get back there as soon as possible, when my wounds have healed.
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05/01/2018 08:36 PM
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Spirit of the Deep;
Spirit of the Deepsiren of the dreams;
I walked for hours along the coast, leaving Dunwall behind me until the lament of the waves drowned all other feeling. I wept, knowing you would not come to me, my love. You rule my dreams, where I behold with senses I do not possess in waking life the dark splendor of your home in the deep. There the ocean rests on your back like a sleeping child on his father's shoulders. In these sleepless nights of despair, you appear to me not as the mighty leviathan, but as a young man, with eyes as black as the Void.
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05/01/2018 08:19 PM
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Old Stolen Diary;
Excerpt from an old hereticbefore his execution;
For most, the Outsider is nothing but a child's tale meant to instill fear of that beyond the family, the community. When I was young, my mother and I were on the run, moving from one village or sea town to the next. Camping in the woods for weeks, always with the cursed Overseers at our backs. At night she told me of her dreams. Of the empty place where the Outsider whispered to her. With each visit, her craft grew, until she could see through the eyes of moths, and unlock a door or window latch from outside a house. I will find this empty place. Somehow the key to open the Void will fall into my hands. In time, I will learn the secret and he will call to me as he called to her. Call me a heretic for my studies. Drag me to your cold stone cell, whip my flesh and put me on trial as an apostate. Burn my body to ash. But I will continue to seek the realm of which my mother spoke. It is my life's meaning.
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05/01/2018 07:43 PM
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Abbey of the Everyman;
“There is nothing that keeps men at any one moment out of the cold and shivering Abyss, but the vigilance of the Abbey.” -- High Overseer, Falke Barrowe  The Overseers Abbey of the Everyman
The Abbey of the Everyman, or simply the Abbey, is a religious order in the world, spread and enforced by Overseers and headed by the High Overseer. Based in the cities of Whitecliff and Dunwall, the Abbey's ideology centers on the belief that "the universe is unknowably vast and swarming with all manner of dangerous spirits and forces, most of which are hostile to man's existence". The primary goal of the Abbey is to stand against the Outsider, but it is also tasked with civil matters, such as officiating marriages and regulating the Isles' calendar and the Fugue Feast. Under Lord Regent Hiram Burrows, the Overseers of the Abbey are granted the full authority of a civilian police force.
The Abbey has no stated deity (and indeed opposes worship in the traditional sense), although it places special importance on astrological and cosmological movements - the organization regulates the calendar based on the observation of cosmological signs, and in eulogies, the deceased is bade to "fade and merge with the Cosmos". The Abbey follows a strict set of doctrines known as the Seven Strictures, which dictate how followers of the Abbey should conduct themselves. Citizens are encouraged to place all their devotion and faith in the institution of the Abbey, particularly the High Overseer. Thus, the Abbey is generally regarded as a spiritual watchdog.
The Abbey believes that the world was created when "the Void issued forth the worlds and stars, swirling around that great, birthing abyss". The followers of the Abbey believe that "plants and animals arose from the primordial chaos, with humanity separating itself from the beasts of the earth. Dread spirits poured forth from the Void and set about plaguing all men and women, attempting to create discord in their hearts. And since creation, the entirety of the Cosmos has been slowly returning to the Void, pulled back toward eventual destruction".
The Abbey permits no other religions and opposes all acts of magic and witchcraft, in addition condemning those who diverge from the Abbey's ways. As the Outsider is the source of all magic in the world, the Abbey disavows him and actively combats his temptation of mortals.
The Abbey practices the burning of witches and heretics even in the industrialized age, as well as the destruction of supernatural objects, such as runes and bone charms. Conversely, the Abbey is generally accepting of technology, with electrical lighting and broadcast systems common in the Office of the High Overseer. The Abbey even states that the technological progress of the present time eliminates any excuse for the practice of witchcraft.
The Abbey has the authority to prosecute civilians for religious crimes and sentence guilty parties at their discretion - logs found in library at the Office of the High Overseer note that seizure of property, financial recompense, public humiliation, service to the Order, prison time, and execution are all sentences that have been carried out by the Abbey.With this extended authority, the Overseers become fanatical in their efforts to cleanse Dunwall of occult practices. "And I say to you, brothers, it is here that we make our stand as a righteous force against the growing darkness. It is here that we unite against the spirits of the unknown that would drag us screaming into the night, never to return to our homes, to our families! Together we will serve as a rod to those who would stray from the herd, for the foggy gray wastes of the Outsider. We will burn a bright fire with our virtuous actions so that others will not lose their way. And to those who choose to wander, beyond the walls of our homes, in far places, we will strike at them swiftly before they whisper to their neighbors, filling their hearts with strangeness and doubt."
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