Knowledge Collective

A Knowledge is a Defiant device that can pass on information. They are quite prevalent in the Defiant starting area, Terminus. "Greeting Ascended, how may I be of assistance?"

Information Available

The History of this Facility

"The original Life Factory was uncovered in the twentieth year of Prince Zareph's reign near the city of Port Scion. It was built by the Eth city-state of Arkeen, and it was used to conduct experiment into the replication, creation, alteration and resurrection of life in all its forms. The Eth had only begin initial designs on the machines they called "Resurrection Forges", aspiring to return people from the dead with their magitech. Their study became the basis for the experiments we among the Defiant would conduct when we explored their halls many centuries later.

Following the initial discovery, more were found in the vicinity, and we expanded them for our purposes. When the Guardians destroyed Meridian, we shut ourselves within them to continue our studies, barring the doors and creating magical fortification to keep ourselves safe to pursue Project Omega. We have long since lost contact with all other bases. It is our belief that all other such Life Factories have since been destroyed by Regulos in his destruction of Telara. May we find a way to return our lost comrades through eldritch technology."

Protocols for Proper Regeneration

"1)Never use a skull, pelvis, or any other large bone to begin the regeneration process. Instead, choose a small bone, so that if there is a slight mismatch with the subject's original skeleton it does not end up a fatal problem. For example, a phalanx from the hand is ideal, for a finger of a slightly shorter or longer length will not cause the subject many problems on return.

2)An exact balance of sourcestone must be achieved. There can be no substitution, or the body will collapse.

3)Do not eat or drink near the Resurrection Forges.

4)A soul must rate at least a 5.0 on the Valis-Farwind scale to be deemed worthy of regeneration."

The Nature of the Rifts

"Rifts appear where the boundary between the material world and the elemental planes has grown thin and tattered. They manifest as the forced opening of a tear in the Ward. It is observed that from the moment the Ward broke, the frequency and intensity of rifts grew exponentially, as the existence of rifts created more rifts.

Rifts allow members of the planes to spill into Telara, but even more importantly, they draw the plane itself closer to Telara. This is what is known as convergence; Telara is flooded with too much elemental energy, shattering the homeostasis of elemental energy responsible for the world's bounty.

When Regulos destroyed the Ward completely, he created an almost complete convergence of Telara with the Plane of Death. Only a very small sliver of Telera remains."

The Slaughter at Meridian

"Meridian was the heart of all the Defiant operations. Through the walls of Meridian were high and well built, they would not withstand what was coming. Among the original Defiants, only Asha Catari was ever returned with any measurable power, a fluke in a long series of disappointingly mundane resurrections.

Guardians assaults were held back by Defiant technology for a short time, but the day came when Cyril himself led an army of Ascended Guardians to take it. The outcome seemed predetermined, as soldiers with power of three men rolled against the walls of the city.

The results were, predictably, a slaughter. Meridian burned in the fires of the Guardian zealotry, and pieces of shattered machines littered the streets among the bodies of those who fell defending it."

Orphiel Farwind

"Orphiel Farwind is credited as being the founder of the Defiants. It was his consiferable efforts into the study and advocation of magitech that lead Aedraxis to lift the ban on its study. Later, when Aedraxis was revealed as a pawn of Regulos the destroyer, Orphiel lead members of the Defiant races to join with Prince Zareph at Port Scion.

When Port Scion fell to the forces of Death, Prince Zareph was lost with it. The Guardians blamed the Defiant machines for the loss of haven and King, even though it was one of their own Ascended, Alsbeth, who was revealed as the hand of Regulos and invited his forces in. Orphiel then led the survivors among the Defiants to Meridian to settle there and continue their studies.

Shortly before the fall of Meridian to the Guardians, Orphiel disappeared. Though a great search went out for him, no trace was ever found, nor could foul play be proven. Where he is, or why it is he might have given up on the organization he founded, remains a mystery."

Orphiel's Failsafe Device

"Among Orphiel's greatest discoveries was a means by which to create a temporal anchor and a machine tethered to that anchor. While the exact name of the machine was the Distal Temporal Refraction Device, it has become colloquially referred to as Orphiel's Failsafe Device. While Orphiel never truly mastered "time travel", his device did succeed in the returning objects that passed through the machine to the fixed position in time at which the device had been built.

Orphiel would not share the exact details of its creation with anyone. As usual, he closely guarded the secrets of this breakthrough. When asked to explain in very simple terms how it worked, however, he said, "The machine has an aura that confuses time on such a base level that time would rather ignore it completely than attempt to resolve the issue."

On Sourcestone

"*BZZT* Sourcestone has been extensively studied by our technomancers, but little has been discerned in regards to *BZZT* exact nature.

Sourcestone in its most powerful form incorporates *BZZT* six elements to create an "ultimate" sourcestone. This is the sourcestone from which *BZZT* gods crafted Telara. Subjected to this intense levels of planar energy, sourcestone *BZZT* become aligned to one element or the other. Examples of such "single flavor" sourcestone are *BZZT* found in the rifts. *BZZT*"

"*BZZT* Sourcestone results when planes intersect with each other and with the physical material of Telara. It is believed that the reason Telara is *BZZT* bountiful is because of its exact cosmological orientation on the intersection point of many planes. Unfortunately, this *BZZT* made it a tempting lure for the likes of Regulos and the rest of *BZZT* Blood Storm, as they would consume the sourcestone and enslave the people *BZZT* this world to get it."

Lastlight

"*BZZT* After the fall of the Guardians, the remaining infrastructures of *BZZT* former Empire of Mathosia crumbled. Refugees fled from one haven to the next until *BZZT* were none left to turn to. Gangs of marauders formed alongside the rift invaders to *BZZT* advantage of the chaos, and soon only the strong and the lucky remained. *BZZT*

'*BZZT* Some survived by banding together. One such group of survivors founded the *BZZT* of Lastlight. They settled in the shelled buildings of a former settlement, which had lost its former name when *BZZT* last of its inhabitants were slain. When we Defiant researchers at the Life Factory opened our doors *BZZT* finally face what had happened to the world, we encountered a small community of half-starved and half-mad individuals clinging to *BZZT* last their humanity in the face of annihilation.

At first, they were hostile to us, as they were only acquainted with visitors looking to pillage them, but we won *BZZT* trust gradually. Their personal accounts of the end of days have motivated us *BZZT* continue our work no matter what obstacles might stand *BZZT* our way."

-Sylver Valis *BZZT*

Temporal Flux:WARNING!

"*BZZT*1) Do not initiate the Temporal Flux unless preparation has begun to initiate *BZZT* use of the Failsafe Device. The Temporal Flux is necessary *BZZT* enable the Failsafe device, but it is dangerously unstable and could potentially unravel elements of the temporal tapestry!

2)When the Temporal Flux has been initiated,*BZZT* not allow it to be interrupted. Doing so could *BZZT* potentially unravel elements of the temporal tapestry.

3)Do not eat or drink near the Temporal Flux

4)Initiating *BZZT* Temporal Flux is likely to attract the attention of Regulos, the destroyer , as a large amount of sourcestone will be burned. *BZZT*

Defiant 2.0

"Resurrection is a relatively simple matter these days. Clerics have long been able to call on to gods or high spirits to pull souls from the Soulstream, but such beings can be fickle so the ancient Eth endeavored to create a technological way to do so. They were close, but it was not until Orphiel found their technology and completed the project that we actually saw a machine resurrection.

The resurrections were insufficient, however. Of Orphiel's original Defiants, only Asha Catari ever possessed true power. She is said to have stolen some of the power of Regulos himself when she encountered him in the beyond, and this explains her unreplicated power. All others were disappointingly mundane and not the equivalent of the Guardians.

It is only with recent breakthroughs that we have been able to bring back true Ascended, reformed with the capacity to hold not one but many souls."