TabletOfDestinies
Tablet of Destinies</b>\\ Artifact N/A\\ Metaphysical Clay Tablet
Description
There was neither non-existence nor existence then; there was neither the realm of space nor the sky which is beyond. What stirred? Where? In whose protection? Was there water, bottomlessly deep?
There was neither death nor immortality then. There was no distinguishing sign (i.e. difference) of night nor day. That one breathed, windless, by its own impulse. Other than that there was nothing beyond.
Darkness was hidden by darkness in the beginning; with no distinguishing sign, all this was water. The life force that was covered with emptiness, that one arose through the power of heat (ascetic energy).
Desire came upon that one in the beginning; that was the first seed of mind. Poets (or saints) seeking in their heart with wisdom found the bond of existence in non-existence.
Their cord was extended across. Was there below? Was there above? There were seed-lacers; there were powers (shakti, or feminine power). There was impulse beneath; there was giving-forth above.
Who really knows? Who will here proclaim it? Whence was it produced? Whence is this creation? The gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe. Who then knows whence it has arisen?
Whence this creation has arisen--perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not--the one who looks down on it, in the highest heaven, only he knows -- or perhaps he does not know.// --from the Rig Veda
It is not common knowledge, but the Primordials who created the world were actually very powerful fae. This is not to say that they bear any resemblance to the cataphractoi who occasionally roam creation. Rather, the Primordials were, like the fae, the product of an infinite, formless mass of possibility--or more accurately, essence. They emerged and took shape because, in the endless chaos that is the deepest regions of the Wyld, it was possible for them to do so.
There are countless millions of Primordials who emerged like this out of infinity; however, in one part of the Wyld, 33 of them gathered together in an attempt to forge an existence for themselves. In the deep Wyld, things are neither existant nor nonexistant; the only reality of the Wyld was the fact that, in an infinite chaos of possibility, the concept of reality is a possibility itself. So in order to make this possibility of reality real, the 33 Primordials inscribed their true names on a tablet. By doing so, the concept of static reality came into being.
The so-called Tablet of Destinies served as a doorway, not into Creation (for Creation had not yet been created), but into a level of stasis that would allow creation to exist. By writing their names on this tablet, the Primordials brought into being the concepts of time and cause-and-effect--in other words, destiny. Without destiny, without beginning and end, and a system of causes and effects that would bring the beginning to an end, Creation could not exist. Their names were bound to the destiny they brought into being, and hence, the Primordials were allowed to create Creation.
The Tablet resides Elsewhere--specifically, at the center of the Games of Divinity. It is impossible to explain how these Games work; however, for the Primordials, the city of Yu Shan was constructed so that the Primordials would have a place to sit around the Tablet of Destinies and play their Games. Only the Primordials know this; the current residents of Yu Shan respect the Tablet as the source of the Games of Divinity but have no idea what it does, so they leave it alone since they are addicted to the game it provides.
In addition to the 33 names of the existant Primordials, the Tablet also contains 1/3 of another name, the Sea of Chaos, who inscribed a portion of her name before changing her mind. This resulted in her becoming only partially actualized, and she exists forever rooted in the distant endlessness of the Wyld, part static concept (Sea), part unformed possibility (Chaos).
Nobody living in Creation knows what this artifact is--actually, no one has even heard of it. It has layed dormant since before Creation was even formed. There are few even among the living Primordials who know of its existence, and since their natures and names have been twisted to fit them into their prison, their memories are few and far between.
Gaia and Autochthon know about the Tablet but it is highly unlikely that they would willingly divulge any information about it to anyone, since their very existence is rooted onto the Tablet. The Yozis, on the other hand, may be able to construct memories of the Tablet and would be eager to share information about it, for the Tablet can be used to free them. The dead Malfeans could care less about the Tablet, even if they could remember anything about it (which they can't, since their destiny has been irrevocably changed, unlike the Yozis).
It is fitting that a source outside of Creation was the first to speak the name of this artifact within its borders. Qingu, exalted fae of the half-formed Sea of Chaos, was charged to contact the lonely Sea's Primordial brothers and sisters and beseech them to come back into the Wyld to give her comfort and companionship. She therefore told her fae servant to find the Tablet of Destinies, saying that it would be instrumental to bringing her Primordial brothers and sisters back into the Wyld and into her lonely embrace.
All Qingu knows is that the Tablet of Destinies contains the true and original names of the 33 Primordials who emerged from the Wyld to form creation. He will probably try to contact the Yozis to seek more information as Gaia will not be forthcoming and Autochthon is hard to reach.
System
This is such a powerful artifact--it's pretty much the most powerful artifact possible having anything to do with Creation--that its discovery and its use should certainly be reserved for an end-game scenario.
A character could do several things if he ever got his hands on the Tablet of Destinies.
First of all, he could complete the 33 and 1/3 name on the tablet, the incomplete name of the Sea of Chaos. This would actualize a new concept into Creation, transporting the Sea of Chaos into the confines of Creation and transforming her from the Sea of Chaos into the Sea of _______.
Secondly, he could erase the names of some of the Primordials on the tablet. This would destroy them forever and Creation would be reforged as if the concepts they embodied never existed in the first place. (This is the only way to actually destroy a Primordial, and the reason the Underworld was created is because the Primordials were murdered, not expunged from the fabric of destiny.) However, if even one of the Primordials is expunged using the tablet, Creation would be irrevocably changed and most likely different beyond recognition once the character returns to it. Erasing all of their names would certainly obliterate Creation; erasing more than a few would change it into an alien world.
Thirdly, a character could replace the old names of the Yozis with their altered names, freeing them from their prison. The demon world exists because the Yozis were twisted into different names, unhinging them from the Tablet of Destiny; if the names on the Tablet were realigned, they would again be a part of the fabric of reality. (And despite the Ebon Dragon's ambitions, this is the only way for them to get out of their prison--it's freakin' destiny, after all.)
Fourthly, a character could remove a Primordial's name from the tablet without erasing it and take it somewhere else into the Wyld. This acts as a transport for the Primordial, who disappears from Creation but is not destroyed. A name cannot be removed from the tablet unless the Primordial is willing to go on such a journey. Qingu wants to do this so he can bring his master her old friends back to keep her company.
Manipulating the Tablet of Destinies in such a way is actually not hard to do for an Exalted (if you find it first), since any creature with the power to shape possibility/essence into reality already has the ultimate power of which the Tablet itself is the manifestation. This is why the Tablet of Destinies appears as a clay tablet with names written on it to someone from Creation--it is as easy to command its powers as writing on a clay tablet.
It would take a feat no less than storming Yu Shan and busting up the Games of Divinity to get one's hands on the Tablet, however. Even if one managed to enter the sanctum of Yu Shan, the Tablet "resides" there but is not actually there. It exists outside of and before Creation, and even in Elsewhere (where Yu Shan is), only its shadow is materialized. Only a very powerful Sidereal with massive understanding of the flow of time and destiny would have the ability to reach into the time and place that the Tablet exists in; and opening such a portal would probably require a godlike (or circle of Solar-like) expenditure of sorceries and essence.
Back to AlladArtifacts
