Mist Harbor Library Lectures - 2026-07-05 - The Empyrean Syndicate (log)

The following is a log of a lecture delivered on Sunday 5th July as part of the Mist Harbor Library lecture series. Jaired Delone was the guest speaker.

Topics covered in the lecture series must be lore-based but are otherwise left to the discretion of the speaker(s). This lecture discusses the Empyrean Syndicate.

The log has been edited to remove excess noise and chatter but some engagement and digression have remained to reflect the audience participation and subsequent discussion.

---

[Library, Meeting Hall - 29806] (u3223132)
A trio of wide stairs lead down from a wide archway into this brightly lit room. A small podium stands atop a small dais opposite the archway, and several cushioned benches have been arranged throughout the space, each offering an excellent line of sight. A number of elliptical windows line the walls of the hall, and a rich crimson-patterned carpet covers the entirety of the floor underfoot. You also see a tattooed figure drawing, the mural-sided Perigourd cassone, the web-draped Missoni disk, the repousse copper Riend disk raised in leafy designs, a makeshift table of linden planks propped on stacks of old books with some stuff on it, the glaesine Yardie disk streaked with cobalt veins, a marble-lined runic codex chiseled with cerulean runes, a Skyship landscape, a Skyship Lift landscape, a goliath diviner drawing, an engineer drawing, a clockwork vine drawing, a captain drawing, an auramancer drawing, a pegasus drawing, a prismatic rift drawing, a runestone drawing and a small table with some stuff on it.

Also here: Sir Geijon who is sitting, Sir Cryheart who is sitting, Distinguished Lady Khobra who is sitting, Librarian Bezzy who is sitting, Miss Lissaya who is sitting, Hotu, Perigourd who is sitting, Bathcwyn Missoni who is sitting, Corlyne who is sitting, Lord Teveriel who is sitting, Mistress Thurayya who is sitting, Riend who is sitting, Dahcre Reader Ordim who is sitting, Blade Yardie, Taloin who is sitting, The Infamous Tabubu who is sitting, Lucraine who is sitting, Jaired

You softly greet, "Well, good afternoon everyone and welcome back after a short hiatus!"

You softly begin, "As the Library's Loremaster, it gives me great pleasure to once again welcome you to another in our lecture series."

You brightly explain, "The aim of these lectures is to provide a platform for imparting

You gently say, "I ask that everyone be considerate to the speaker, as well as those who comment or ask questions."

You softly continue, "All opinions are welcome and indeed encouraged, as long as they are courteously expressed."

You softly say, "So..."

You apprehensively say, "Some of you may be aware of a recent proclamation from Ta'Vaalor regarding the Empyrean Syndicate."

You softly say, "I don't know about you but it raised a lot of questions and concerns for me so I am delighted that our speaker has agreed to be here today to answer some of them."

You smile at Jaired.

Jaired nods once.

You softly say, "Please give a warm library welcome to Jaired."

[APPLAUSE]

Jaired says, "Thank you all for coming. I've a quick presentation... of sorts... then I will open things up for questions and discussion."

Jaired nods once.

Jaired says, "So first..."

With a sassy twist of his wrist, Jaired produces a sharp snap with his fingers, the sound cutting through the air like a sharp retort.

Jaired says, "Imagine."

Jaired says, "You've found yourself aboard one of their massive skyships... and you've just boarded one of their lifts."

Jaired glances at a Skyship Lift landscape.

Jaired closes his eyes for a moment.

Jaired leans back.

Jaired recites steadily:

   "Sol... Tal... Tir... Ral..."

Jaired recites steadily:

   "Eth... Zod... Eld... El... Hel... Vex..."

Jaired orates, "The gears of the cargo lift groan into life, and the hull of the Skyship shudders around you."

Jaired recites steadily:

   "Ohm... Ist... Mal... Ral... Amn..."

Jaired elaborates, "The crackling voice continues. Echoing from a strange, brass contraption."

Jaired recites steadily:

   "Lo... Dol... Sol... El..."

Jaired seriously orates, "Goliaths swarm all around, and around this time..."

Jaired wryly continues, "You may be wondering how you got into this situation."

Jaired nods once.

Jaired leans against the podium, taking a momentary rest.

Jaired says, "Many of you have heard whispers of strange lights in the heavens, masked strangers seeking gemstones, and impossible airships that cast no sails upon the wind."

Jaired casually glances around the room.

Jaired slowly empties his lungs.

Jaired carefully says, "Long before the kingdoms of humanity, before the great Elven nations, and even before the Dragonspine was named... there existed a civilization known as the Gigas."

Jaired continues, "In the far north, their cities stretched across the ancient Hinterwilds. It was not always the frozen wasteland we understand it to be, and their mastery of magic surpassed nearly every discipline known today."

Jaired explains, "The speculative source of this greatness was an immense crystal known as the Lunar Shard."

Jaired nods slowly.

Jaired slowly says, "The Shard was no ordinary crystal. Legends claim it fell from the sky during the world's earliest days, embedding itself deep within the northern reaches of Elanthia. Whether it was a fragment of a drake's egg, a celestial relic, or something stranger still is unknown. What is certain is that its presence awakened impossible understanding within those who dwelled nearby."

Jaired says, "From it, the gigas learned Gemstone Craft."

Jaired focuses. Opalescent mist froths up from his skin and materializes into mauve jewel in his hand.

Jaired turns over his mauve jewel.

Jaired says, "They carved fragments into enchanted gemstones capable of magnifying magical talent beyond natural limits. Entire cities were built upon discoveries born from these crystals. They mastered prophecy, walked hidden pathways through the River of Color, and even reached distant worlds beyond our own."

Jaired leans forward.

Jaired warns, "Yet power rarely grants wisdom."

Jaired's brow knits with concentration. The mauve jewel he is holding yields into a glimmering prismatic fog that joins with his flesh.

Jaired continues, "During the Ur-Daemon War, even the greatest diviners found their visions clouded. The future itself became silent. Desperate to escape extinction, the gigas turned increasingly toward forbidden magics. Death, dimensional travel, and powers no mortal race was meant to command."

Jaired says, "Though they survived the war, another catastrophe followed."

Jaired says, "The Gigas Skalds called it..."

Jaired takes a deep breath.

Jaired recites:

   "The Calamity."

Jaired says, "Another celestial object... a comet perhaps... fell from the heavens. The impact itself was enough to weather on its own, but the aftermath was another story."

Jaired nods slowly.

Jaired slowly says, "The cold spread across the north. Wyrms multiplied. Crops failed. Worse still, suspicion and paranoia infected the minds of the Gigas. Their civilization fractured from within. Their mastery of the higher arts slowly withered until even they no longer understood the wonders their ancestors had forged."

Jaired solemnly says, "Empires do not always fall beneath invading armies. Sometimes they simply forget how to remain."

Jaired leans back.

Jaired continues, "Among those witnessing this decline arose a faction unwilling to accept decay. Their seers discovered another immense crystal across the western sea. A second fragment akin to the Lunar Shard. Guided through the River of Color, they abandoned their homeland in search of renewal."

Jaired says, "There they discovered the crystal they named..."

Jaired takes a deep breath.

Jaired recites:

   "The Skyheart."

Jaired slowly explains, "These exiles became the people we now know as the Goliaths."

Jaired continues, "Though diminished in size compared to their ancestors, they developed remarkable new arts centered upon gemstone manipulation and machines powered by sunlight. Great fleets of airships, each the size of a small town, replaced the impossible magics their forebears had lost."

Jaired leans forward.

Jaired casually glances around the room.

Jaired says, "But the Skyheart, too, could not halt corruption."

Jaired shakes his head.

Jaired says, "Eventually its power faded. Its lands were stripped bare. Its gifts exhausted. Consumed."

Jaired leans back.

Jaired plainly says, "Now these descendants call themselves the Empyrean Syndicate. Remember that name."

Jaired nods once.

Jaired leans against a small podium.

Jaired measuredly warns, "The Syndicate is no wandering band of raiders. It is a civilization sustained through conquest. Captives fuel its industry. Converts strengthen its ranks. Vast white skyships blot out the skies wherever they travel, and its spellcasters wield gemstone craft refined over centuries beyond anything our own scholars possess."

Jaired ponders.

Jaired lightly speculates, "Why have they come east?"

Jaired cocks his head.

Jaired explains, "Because the Lunar Shard still endures."

Jaired nods.

Jaired plainly states, "To the Syndicate they are salvation."

Jaired pushes his rectangular fel glasses up on the bridge of his nose with one finger.

Jaired warns, "Recent visions gathered through dangerous rites have revealed their intentions with unsettling clarity. Witnesses speak of colossal white vessels drifting above the clouds. Strange black devices fall from their hulls before erupting into colorless flame. Entire settlements vanish beneath silent devastation."

Jaired says, "One vision records a towering woman with a shaven head marked by intricate tattoos. She speaks no words our witnesses understand, yet her meaning is unmistakable."

Jaired takes a deep breath.

Jaired recites:

   "Oppose us... and this shall be your fate."

Jaired removes a tattooed figure drawing from in the duffel bag placed alongside him.

Jaired carefully places a tattooed figure drawing on the floor.

Jaired says, "Those who have brushed against her mind describe something impossible to measure. Not hatred. Not rage..."

Jaired states, "Certainty."

Missoni narrows her eyes.

Jaired leans against the podium, taking a momentary rest.

Jaired casually remarks, "Such beings do not negotiate. They conquer."

Jaired says, "Yet despair is the luxury of those without purpose."

Jaired says, "The masked artificer... likely a descendant of those who still remember fragments of ancient gemstone craft... has begun studying recovered codices taken from fallen Syndicate agents. These strange tomes possess the ability to alter gemstones themselves, replacing one property with another through rituals known only to their makers."

Jaired nods.

Jaired reaches out and touches a marble-lined runic codex chiseled with cerulean runes.

Jaired says, "Every recovered codex weakens the enemy's advantage. Every gemstone entrusted to an artificer strengthens our own."

Jaired says, "This is why we now scour battlefields not merely for treasure but for knowledge."

Jaired says, "You will hear of Dust. The shimmering residue left when Lunar gemstones are deliberately shattered. To the untrained eye it appears worthless."

Jaired leans forward.

Jaired casually glances around the room.

Jaired slowly explains, "It is anything but. Dust carries echoes of the Shard's power."

Jaired says, "Artificers bind it into rituals. Shamans glimpse distant truths through it. And now, through strange convergences of prophecy and sacrifice, certain individuals have begun forming mysterious spiritual connections with the Syndicate itself."

Jaired continues, "Whether this bond proves a weapon or a curse remains unknown."

Jaired looks thoughtful for a moment, then shrugs.

Jaired concludes, "Thus I leave you with three lessons."

Jaired plainly says, "First: Never mistake forgotten history for dead history. Ancient civilizations often cast the longest shadows."

Jaired plainly says, "Second: Every Gemstone carries more than magical power. It carries memory, legacy, and the ambitions of those who once shaped worlds with them."

Jaired plainly says, "Third: When next you hear thunder on a cloudless day, do not look to the mountains. Look to the sky."

Jaired points up.

Jaired says, "For if the white ships have returned, history is no longer something we

Jaired says, "I will now open things up for discussion, as well as questions."

Perigourd asks, "Have you found any clues as to what other valences or worlds they may have travelled to, and if so, what the nature of them are?"

Perigourd cocks his head at Jaired.

Speaking to Perigourd, Jaired says, "That's a good question. The Artificer has suggested they've visited many worlds."

Jaired says, "In one of the visions, if I remember correctly..."

Jaired says, "The woman, referred to as simply... Her..."

Jaired points at a tattooed figure drawing.

Jaired says, "She seemed to have portals she could see through. It is... fuzzy."

Perigourd nods understandingly at Jaired.

Jaired says, "But she was monitoring the fleets progress, and they were in many places at once."

Jaired asks, "If this was more than one world? Or just our own?"

Jaired shrugs at Perigourd.

Speaking innocently to Jaired, Khobra inquires, "If thiz can never truly be zeen az a curze or a veapon. The bond created vith thiz nev pover being granted - are ve not in truth making the enemy stronger becauze of the blind lightness of greed?"

Jaired nods.

Speaking quietly to Missoni, Riend whispers aloud, "The prospect of somone able to control a fleet spread across valences is.... disturbing."

Thurayya shivers.

Missoni nods grimly at Riend.

Speaking to Riend, Missoni whispers aloud, "It makes one wonder just how many Skyships there are."

Speaking to Khobra, Jaired asks, "I would answer with another question. Would doing nothing and staying out of their way yield a... better result?"

Geijon says, "Their forces don't entirely activate like something alive or in a full physicality, like fragments or echoes."

Corlyne murmurs, "Or if they're simply testing our capabilities before sending stronger force

Jaired nods at Corlyne.

Geijon says, "These are strong scouts."

Speaking softly to Jaired, Khobra answers, "Vithout underztanding a pover - a nev zort of pover, No. Vatching and azking the correct queztionz normally get the zilent rezult." Jaired nods at Khobra.

You softly ask, "Which leads me to my question, if I may?"

Speaking tentatively to Jaired, you inquire, "If left unchecked, would you say that the Empyrean Syndicate could be considered an existential threat?"

Speaking to Khobra, Jaired says, "Trying to understand it is what I believe we're trying to do."

Speaking to you, Jaired says, "Absolutely."

Missoni fidgets.

Perigourd nods grimly.

Lucraine melodically says, "Imagine if they alligned themselves with one of the other more threatening factions."

Jaired says, "They originally left in search of resources, and they've since... exhausted them."

You apprehensively ask, "Does anyone else have any more questions while I ponder this startling and troubling revelation?"

Speaking to Lucraine, Teveriel says, "Their focus seems rather narrow, at least for the time being. These.. shards of the Lunar Shard that Jaired spoke of."

Missoni concernedly says, "They are consumers, like the Ithzir, and we have what they need."

Speaking to Lucraine, Yardie says, "Would be bad if they aligned with the Dusk Coven."

Tabubu quietly says, "Missoni actually speaks the first solid theory so far."

Jaired nods at Missoni.

Jaired nods at Teveriel.

Speaking to Teveriel, Jaired says, "Their attacks are solely focused on where Gemstones can be found."

Teveriel nods at Jaired.

Speaking to Yardie, Perigourd says, "I'd doubt that they'd feel any need to align with the Dusk Coven, or anyone else, to be honest. The care they show for other humanoid races aboard their vessels makes me think they view us all as beneath them."

Speaking to Jaired, Yardie asks, "You just said their attacks are solely focused on where Gemstones can be found. Do you forsee them spreading elsewhere, considering how many people seem to be acquiring them?"

Speaking to Yardie, Jaired says, "Depends how quick those wells go dry, I imagine."

Thurayya asks, "Is the Syndicate in competition with adventurers for these gemstones?"

Thurayya asks, "Or are they actively tracking down those who hold them?"

Speaking to Thurayya, Jaired says, "So..."

Jaired leans against a small podium.

Khobra innocently answers, "Perhapz a bit of both."

Thurayya nods at Khobra.

Jaired nods once at Khobra.

Thurayya says, "It seems likely that they would do both."

Speaking to Thurayya, Jaired says, "So far, they're not seeking us out in our homes. Their attention seems primarily fixated on and around Talon Isle."

Thurayya says, "Good to hear, but one wonders how long it will remain that way if they are so greedy for the gems."

Speaking to Thurayya, Jaired says, "Our collections as of yet are probably too small, and their still intent on finding them at their source."

Thurayya nods at Jaired.

Speaking melodically to Jaired, Lucraine asks, "You may not know but is there a correlation between the increased activity up the mountain near the Sands by Ice Mule?"

Speaking to Lucraine, Jaired says, "I can't speak to that, unfortunately."

Lucraine nods understandingly.

You softly comment, "Such an informative and thought-provoking presentation today!"

You kindly conclude, "I am sure you will all join me in showing your appreciation for our presenter!"

[APPLAUSE]

Jaired says, "This was fun. Thank you all for coming."

[MORE APPLAUSE]