https://gswiki.play.net/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Meditation_on_Fire_%28short_story%29 2026-04-08T23:08:55Z Revision history for this page on the wiki MediaWiki 1.39.12 https://gswiki.play.net/index.php?title=Meditation_on_Fire_(short_story)&diff=215749&oldid=prev 2024-03-22T18:22:52Z

<p>updated template for new required parts</p> <table style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122;" data-mw="interface"> <col class="diff-marker" /> <col class="diff-content" /> <col class="diff-marker" /> <col class="diff-content" /> <tr class="diff-title" lang="en"> <td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td> <td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 13:22, 22 March 2024</td> </tr><tr> <td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 1:</td> <td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 1:</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td> <td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>{{creative-work | title = Meditation on Fire | type = short story | author = Player of Mnar | author-displayed = Mnar Akurion}}</div></td> <td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td> <td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>{{creative-work | title = Meditation on Fire | type = short story | author = Player of Mnar | author-displayed = Mnar Akurion<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"> | date = 2021-12-14</ins>}}</div></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The history of the Dhe'nar is littered with stories of triumphs, followed by cataclysmic disasters brought on by hubris. While this story is based on true events, it assumes much, given that so many of its characters did not survive its ending.</div></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The history of the Dhe'nar is littered with stories of triumphs, followed by cataclysmic disasters brought on by hubris. While this story is based on true events, it assumes much, given that so many of its characters did not survive its ending.</div></td> </tr> </table>

GS4-XERAPHINA https://gswiki.play.net/index.php?title=Meditation_on_Fire_(short_story)&diff=168283&oldid=prev 2022-06-07T18:09:41Z

<p><span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">See Also: </span> Updated obsolete CHE website referenced in the See Also section</span></p> <table style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122;" data-mw="interface"> <col class="diff-marker" /> <col class="diff-content" /> <col class="diff-marker" /> <col class="diff-content" /> <tr class="diff-title" lang="en"> <td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td> <td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 13:09, 7 June 2022</td> </tr><tr> <td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 7:</td> <td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 7:</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>==See Also==</div></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>==See Also==</div></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>* [[Dhe'nar]]</div></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>* [[Dhe'nar]]</div></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td> <td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>* [<del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">http://obsidiantower.com The </del>Obsidian Tower] <del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Official Site of the</del> CHE Organization <del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">[[Obsidian Tower]]</del></div></td> <td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td> <td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>* [<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">[</ins>Obsidian Tower<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">]</ins>] <ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">-</ins> CHE Organization </div></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>{{DEFAULTSORT:Meditation on Fire}}</div></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>{{DEFAULTSORT:Meditation on Fire}}</div></td> </tr> <!-- diff cache key gswiki:diff:wikidiff2:1.12:old-156783:rev-168283:1.13.0 --> </table>

HATESHI https://gswiki.play.net/index.php?title=Meditation_on_Fire_(short_story)&diff=156783&oldid=prev 2022-01-02T18:27:40Z

<p>MOD-GSMOTTE moved page <a href="/Meditation_on_Fire" class="mw-redirect" title="Meditation on Fire">Meditation on Fire</a> to <a href="/Meditation_on_Fire_(short_story)" title="Meditation on Fire (short story)">Meditation on Fire (short story)</a>: Appended short story to the end for wiki consistency.</p> <table style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122;" data-mw="interface"> <tr class="diff-title" lang="en"> <td colspan="1" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td> <td colspan="1" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 13:27, 2 January 2022</td> </tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-notice" lang="en"><div class="mw-diff-empty">(No difference)</div> </td></tr></table>

MOD-GSMOTTE https://gswiki.play.net/index.php?title=Meditation_on_Fire_(short_story)&diff=156027&oldid=prev 2021-12-15T03:50:55Z

<p>Edited to replace the story text with a summary, and refer players to in-game references.</p> <a href="https://gswiki.play.net/index.php?title=Meditation_on_Fire_(short_story)&amp;diff=156027&amp;oldid=156026">Show changes</a>

JSEVERNS https://gswiki.play.net/index.php?title=Meditation_on_Fire_(short_story)&diff=156026&oldid=prev 2021-12-15T02:23:26Z

<p><span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">Meditation on Fire</span></span></p> <table style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122;" data-mw="interface"> <col class="diff-marker" /> <col class="diff-content" /> <col class="diff-marker" /> <col class="diff-content" /> <tr class="diff-title" lang="en"> <td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td> <td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 21:23, 14 December 2021</td> </tr><tr> <td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 21:</td> <td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 21:</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td> <td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Ilseval Senin Iarwynn, the woman, the elf, the brilliant magical prodigy, and the youngest mage ever to hold a chair at the Academy of Sharath, woke in her warded arcanium, clothed in filthy flesh. She gagged on the pure mountain air flowing through the high windows. Sordid light washed the world in oil. Everything stank of rotting meat – she stank of rotting meat, for that’s what she was, and only a rigid, iron will honed by centuries of merciless discipline stopped her from ending the source of the stench with a flesh-to-ashes spell. Instead she squeezed her eyes shut and curled over, waiting for the shock of transition to pass; for her mind to once again tolerate this putrid, mortal prison.</div></td> <td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td> <td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Ilseval Senin Iarwynn, the woman, the elf, the brilliant magical prodigy, and the youngest mage ever to hold a chair at the Academy of Sharath, woke in her warded arcanium, clothed in filthy flesh. She gagged on the pure mountain air flowing through the high windows. Sordid light washed the world in oil. Everything stank of rotting meat – <ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins>she<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins> stank of rotting meat, for that’s what she was, and only a rigid, iron will honed by centuries of merciless discipline stopped her from ending the source of the stench with a flesh-to-ashes spell. Instead she squeezed her eyes shut and curled over, waiting for the shock of transition to pass; for her mind to once again tolerate this putrid, mortal prison.</div></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>When the worst of the sickness had faded, she opened her eyes and pondered the floor beneath her bare feet. The marble was blackened, bubbled and broken. The meter-thick stones were riven with cracks all radiating out from where she stood. She kicked at the fragments curiously, then turned to consider the rest of her arcanium.</div></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>When the worst of the sickness had faded, she opened her eyes and pondered the floor beneath her bare feet. The marble was blackened, bubbled and broken. The meter-thick stones were riven with cracks all radiating out from where she stood. She kicked at the fragments curiously, then turned to consider the rest of her arcanium.</div></td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 35:</td> <td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 35:</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>“Ah!” She stopped. Where her faithful slave should have stood, attentive to her every need, there was only a smear of ashes and scattering of charred bones. Her robe lay amidst them, stained by his remains. The catastrophe that reduced him to cinders had not touched its enchanted threads, at least. She stared at the pile and let a little moan escape her, drawn out by pity and loss and other unfamiliar, weak emotions.</div></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>“Ah!” She stopped. Where her faithful slave should have stood, attentive to her every need, there was only a smear of ashes and scattering of charred bones. Her robe lay amidst them, stained by his remains. The catastrophe that reduced him to cinders had not touched its enchanted threads, at least. She stared at the pile and let a little moan escape her, drawn out by pity and loss and other unfamiliar, weak emotions.</div></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td> <td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Pointless. Begone. She cut the thoughts away like a gangrenous limb and turned back to the altar, her mind already returning to her great work. Behind her, the charred bones flowed together, climbing up each other like ants ascending a tree, until they came to rest in a loosely complete skeleton mortared with ashes. The construct reached down, plucked her robe from the floor, and draped it on her waiting arm.</div></td> <td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td> <td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins>Pointless<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins>. <ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins>Begone<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins>. She cut the thoughts away like a gangrenous limb and turned back to the altar, her mind already returning to her great work. Behind her, the charred bones flowed together, climbing up each other like ants ascending a tree, until they came to rest in a loosely complete skeleton mortared with ashes. The construct reached down, plucked her robe from the floor, and draped it on her waiting arm.</div></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>She pulled it over her thin shoulders, not minding the stench of smoke. The whole room stank of it anyway. The skeleton, its last service to her finished, crumbled back into fragments and calcium dust.</div></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>She pulled it over her thin shoulders, not minding the stench of smoke. The whole room stank of it anyway. The skeleton, its last service to her finished, crumbled back into fragments and calcium dust.</div></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td> <td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The altar was fine, she decided. Merely discolored, like her robe. It would still serve her. Perhaps it would even survive her final act of creation, the last link of the unbroken chain of progress that extended back through her centuries of study and toil, from the earliest days as her master’s apprentice. And even, she marveled, long before – her incipient triumph was the product of her master’s teachings, and of her master’s masters, back to the earliest days of the Dhe’nar. In a very real sense, she was the culmination of her entire culture, the purpose to which millions had lived and died over the millennia. All of it, unfathomable in its vastness, so she could finish the spell.</div></td> <td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td> <td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The altar was fine, she decided. Merely discolored, like her robe. It would still serve her. Perhaps it would even survive her final act of creation, the last link of the unbroken chain of progress that extended back through her centuries of study and toil, from the earliest days as her master’s apprentice. And even, she marveled, long before – her incipient triumph was the product of her master’s teachings, and of her master’s masters, back to the earliest days of the Dhe’nar. In a very real sense, <ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins>she<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins> was the culmination of her entire culture, the purpose to which millions had lived and died over the millennia. All of it, unfathomable in its vastness, so she could finish the spell.</div></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>This was truly the Way, the path her people trod. Though Ilseval was not a religious woman by nature, in that moment she felt something akin to spiritual euphoria, an enlightenment above and beyond the ecstasy of mere magic. Destiny was at last arriving for her people, and she was its herald.</div></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>This was truly the Way, the path her people trod. Though Ilseval was not a religious woman by nature, in that moment she felt something akin to spiritual euphoria, an enlightenment above and beyond the ecstasy of mere magic. Destiny was at last arriving for her people, and she was its herald.</div></td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 125:</td> <td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 125:</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The Deliberation Chamber of the Supreme High Council of the Chosen of the Gods was, in Reluran Inaphine’s inexpert opinion, rather more lavish than necessary for a glorified meeting room. Three enormous gilded thrones, each carved from a solid, flawless block of obsidian, rested at the corners of an equilateral triangle inscribed on the marble floor. A table lay between the thrones, if such a monstrosity could be called a table – dusky marble shot through with crimson veins of jasper was carved all around with a thousand reliefs portraying the triumphs of the Dhe’nar. Epic poems exalting their people flowed down the table’s sides, inscribed with needle-thin chisels and inlaid with gold. It was rumored that the center of the table contained a hollow space, into which the still-living architects who designed the chamber had been consigned, not for any particular spiritual purpose, but simply to imbue the room with an extra sense of grandeur. While Reluran had never checked the table to see if the rumors were true, centuries of experience with his people had not given him any reason to doubt it.</div></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The Deliberation Chamber of the Supreme High Council of the Chosen of the Gods was, in Reluran Inaphine’s inexpert opinion, rather more lavish than necessary for a glorified meeting room. Three enormous gilded thrones, each carved from a solid, flawless block of obsidian, rested at the corners of an equilateral triangle inscribed on the marble floor. A table lay between the thrones, if such a monstrosity could be called a table – dusky marble shot through with crimson veins of jasper was carved all around with a thousand reliefs portraying the triumphs of the Dhe’nar. Epic poems exalting their people flowed down the table’s sides, inscribed with needle-thin chisels and inlaid with gold. It was rumored that the center of the table contained a hollow space, into which the still-living architects who designed the chamber had been consigned, not for any particular spiritual purpose, but simply to imbue the room with an extra sense of grandeur. While Reluran had never checked the table to see if the rumors were true, centuries of experience with his people had not given him any reason to doubt it.</div></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td> <td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The point of all the gilt and treasure was twofold – first, of course, to awe the people, the laborers and lesser priests and mages and soldiers, so that they might properly exalt the occupants of the three thrones. The second, more subtle purpose, was to awe the occupants of the chairs themselves, to remind them of the enormous power and responsibility invested by the people in their decisions. To never let them forget that they had ceased to be mere elves, and were instead the Warlord, the High Priestess, and the Highlord, the three great beings who shepherded their people into the divine future.</div></td> <td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td> <td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The point of all the gilt and treasure was twofold – first, of course, to awe the people, the laborers and lesser priests and mages and soldiers, so that they might properly exalt the occupants of the three thrones. The second, more subtle purpose, was to awe the occupants of the chairs themselves, to <ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins>remind<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins> them of the enormous power and responsibility invested by the people in their decisions. To never let them forget that they had ceased to be mere elves, and were instead the Warlord, the High Priestess, and the Highlord, the three great beings who shepherded their people into the divine future.</div></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>It was also Reluran’s opinion that this second purpose had fallen somewhat out of favor over the millennia. The other two elves seated at the table didn’t seem to have any trouble remembering their greatness.</div></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>It was also Reluran’s opinion that this second purpose had fallen somewhat out of favor over the millennia. The other two elves seated at the table didn’t seem to have any trouble remembering their greatness.</div></td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 137:</td> <td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 137:</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The Highlord regarded Tiovri with half-lidded disdain. He propped his head up with one arm, while the fingers of the other drummed a steady beat on the table. Little licks of flame sprouted into being at each touch of his fingertips against the marble. Like most greater mages, his power sometimes leaked out in ways beyond his control. He sat silent through her speech, and when she was done, he flicked his fingers as though brushing away a fly.</div></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The Highlord regarded Tiovri with half-lidded disdain. He propped his head up with one arm, while the fingers of the other drummed a steady beat on the table. Little licks of flame sprouted into being at each touch of his fingertips against the marble. Like most greater mages, his power sometimes leaked out in ways beyond his control. He sat silent through her speech, and when she was done, he flicked his fingers as though brushing away a fly.</div></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td> <td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>“Ilseval is one of our greatest mages,” he said. His voice rang throughout the hall. It shook the table and the thrones. “Her Way is clear. The path to limitless power is never without its obstacles. If she succeeds she will glow like the sun, and we will all bask in her radiance. If she fails, then another generation of mages will take her place. So it has always been for our people, exactly as the prophet desired. If we stop Ilseval, we are no better than our foolish, blind kin. She is not to be feared, Tiovri, she is to be emulated. Perhaps you could learn from her example.”</div></td> <td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td> <td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>“Ilseval is one of our greatest mages,” he said. His voice rang throughout the hall. It shook the table and the thrones. “Her Way is clear. The path to limitless power is never without its obstacles. If she succeeds she will glow like the sun, and we will all bask in her radiance. If she fails, then another generation of mages will take her place. So it has always been for our people, exactly as the prophet desired. If we stop Ilseval, we are no better than our foolish, blind kin. She is not to be feared, Tiovri, she is to be <ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins>emulated<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins>. Perhaps you could learn from her example.”</div></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>If any other Dhe’nar had suggested such a thing to Tiovri, one of them would have died. For the Highlord, it was simply another Council meeting. Tiovri swallowed the insult, and only Reluran saw the faint twitch in her fingers. There was a long pause before Tiovri continued.</div></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>If any other Dhe’nar had suggested such a thing to Tiovri, one of them would have died. For the Highlord, it was simply another Council meeting. Tiovri swallowed the insult, and only Reluran saw the faint twitch in her fingers. There was a long pause before Tiovri continued.</div></td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 177:</td> <td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 177:</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The soldier beside him turned. “Problem, sir?”</div></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The soldier beside him turned. “Problem, sir?”</div></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td> <td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Keep it together. He shook his head. “No, lieutenant. The troops are performing admirably. Please continue.”</div></td> <td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td> <td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins>Keep<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins> <ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins>it<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins> <ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins>together<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins>. He shook his head. “No, lieutenant. The troops are performing admirably. Please continue.”</div></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>“Very good, sir.” The lieutenant nodded to the messenger beside him, who took off running down the battlements toward the signal corps. A flurry of flags signaled a new drill down to the officers on the field, and the vast formations wheeled into new positions. Like clockwork.</div></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>“Very good, sir.” The lieutenant nodded to the messenger beside him, who took off running down the battlements toward the signal corps. A flurry of flags signaled a new drill down to the officers on the field, and the vast formations wheeled into new positions. Like clockwork.</div></td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 287:</td> <td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 287:</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In better days, the foyer of Ilseval Senin Iarwynn’s tower was lavishly decorated with the accouterments of her trade – enormous mechanical models of the constellations; an array of lenses and mirrors suspended by invisible glass threads; an ever-burning lantern whose light shone only on pure elemental substances; a miniscule golden cage, its bars no thicker than threads, holding prisoner a floating, beating heart. All these and a thousand others with no discernable purpose, instruments and texts and scrolls and enough alchemical reagents to convert a pile of lead the size of Sharath into gold. And now they all lay in pieces, crushed by falling stones, toppled and spilled, evaporated and burned.</div></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In better days, the foyer of Ilseval Senin Iarwynn’s tower was lavishly decorated with the accouterments of her trade – enormous mechanical models of the constellations; an array of lenses and mirrors suspended by invisible glass threads; an ever-burning lantern whose light shone only on pure elemental substances; a miniscule golden cage, its bars no thicker than threads, holding prisoner a floating, beating heart. All these and a thousand others with no discernable purpose, instruments and texts and scrolls and enough alchemical reagents to convert a pile of lead the size of Sharath into gold. And now they all lay in pieces, crushed by falling stones, toppled and spilled, evaporated and burned.</div></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td> <td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>We are all undone. Bur shook his head at the debris and turned toward the stairs, but stopped when a new sound caught his ear. Soft, filled with pain, and barely audible above the crumbling of the tower. He stumbled over to a fallen bookshelf.</div></td> <td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td> <td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins>We<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins> <ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins>are<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins> <ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins>all<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins> <ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins>undone<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">''</ins>. Bur shook his head at the debris and turned toward the stairs, but stopped when a new sound caught his ear. Soft, filled with pain, and barely audible above the crumbling of the tower. He stumbled over to a fallen bookshelf.</div></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>“Hello?” He crouched down and tried to peer beneath the bookshelf and its books. “Lemma? Is that you?”</div></td> <td class="diff-marker"></td> <td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>“Hello?” He crouched down and tried to peer beneath the bookshelf and its books. “Lemma? Is that you?”</div></td> </tr> <!-- diff cache key gswiki:diff:wikidiff2:1.12:old-156024:rev-156026:1.13.0 --> </table>

JSEVERNS https://gswiki.play.net/index.php?title=Meditation_on_Fire_(short_story)&diff=156024&oldid=prev 2021-12-15T02:15:46Z

<p>Created page with &quot;{{creative-work | title = Meditation on Fire | type = short story | author = Player of Mnar | author-displayed = Mnar Akurion}} The history of the Dhe&#039;nar is littered with st...&quot;</p> <a href="https://gswiki.play.net/index.php?title=Meditation_on_Fire_(short_story)&amp;diff=156024">Show changes</a>

JSEVERNS