Olimpia

Memory Crystal of The Last and First Elder—

By traveling far and wide, I witnessed what was left while collecting the necessary knowledge. I finally understand the events that led us to the state we are in, though it is little comfort.

I leave this to those who will come after we finish our fall. To give a glimpse of why the world is the way it is and what led to your existence. In this way, I hope you won't commit our mistakes.

My time is short. Even now, I can feel my mind collapsing as I use my will to inscribe this record.

It does not matter, though, for this day will be the end of my people. Whatever remnants remain, they won't be part of our empire, for they will no longer be part of The Pact.

I may have been forced onto a path that results in me losing my mind and body, but it is the cursed wretches left to live out the rest of their lives in the ruins of what we once were who should be pitied. Though, then again, they were the ones to choose the fate of us all.

Our self-destruction was inevitable. The reach of our people had gone farther than anyone could have ever imagined, and our only limit was how far we wished to extend our reach, for there were none that could challenge us.

None but ourselves.

Looking back at my people's history, it is obvious that we started dividing ourselves by the Path of mental casting we walked early on. It was the only logical choice. The length of our lives might be counted in centuries, but to reach the peak of power, one has to focus their efforts.

While it is possible for those with power to progress far in the other paths of mental disciplines, it is impossible to reach the peak in more than one. And it isn't even a matter of some supreme talent waiting to be born to blow all of our expectations out of the water.

As one's power grows, the essence of their soul changes. Not the core, for no power short of the Creator, could ever tamper with the heart of a soul, but the shell around it. The change is not the same from one individual to the next, but there is always a transformation. It is a shift in perspective that comes from how one views the powers they use while manipulating the world.

That change was the essence of our demise.

While the Paths of our mental techniques may cross or intertwine for a time, they can be divided into three categories, the Paths of Body, Mind, and Nature.

Like any society, we had clans, sects, and individuals who held power and social status to varying degrees, but those mattered far less than their Path.

As the Paths' differences in perspective became more apparent, the young were kept separate so they wouldn't be tempted. A temptation that would lead them to be separated from all they know should they follow it, not because of the physical distance, but how they would end up viewing the world.

Nature wielders focus on casting their powers externally and, as the name suggests, controlling the elements. By its very essence, controlling nature leads to vast areas of effect. While they can focus their powers on small areas for devastating results, they are most destructive in small areas. Locations where they can turn the ambient energy against itself, causing such vast destruction that few could survive standing within it.

Such power leads those who wield it to believe that they are capable of anything. A belief that, in many ways, is correct. They live seeking harmony and balance in all things, for in a brief moment of inattention, they could devastate all around them. And when an individual can not achieve a goal, there is always another who can be brought in to help, for nothing exists in isolation, which leads to all on the Nature path working together to form a greater whole.

Counter to the Nature Path, those on the Mind Path focus on individualism and intelligence. They do not accept the world as it is but as they would like it to be, and they will shift their own perspective and those around them until the world is seen that way. They are at their strongest when no one knows they are around, striking at weak points that no one else can see.

This power leads its wielders to believe they are always in the right. That they can see the right course of action, and all of those lessers around them are blind, for they can never seem to take a step forward without taking two back. Since they can reshape how others view the world, they could make it a better place. And, of course, as they are the ones doing all of the work, why should they not enjoy the benefits?

For the Body Path, every individual's actions are about improving themselves, though we acknowledge we may get better results by working together. Marginal, nearly insignificant improvements that build upon each other, whether it is with their skills, body, or mind. Every day is another chance to push yourself. To become as solid as steel or graceful as a breath of air. And as one takes one of the aspects of the surrounding world into their bodies, they become as strong as nature itself.

The Path leads those who follow it into a life of isolation. It reinforces and justifies an unyielding faith in their own efforts and abilities. Everything outside their own efforts and improvements fades away unless they think something in the wider world can help them along their journey. Once they have advanced far enough along their Path, they begin to harmonize and assimilate part of nature. How they view their element will change their temperaments to some degree, based on how they view their element, becoming as raging as a fire or as calm as stone.

Avoiding being influenced by the power we wield and falling into one of these categories is impossible if we want to be strong. How much we are influenced will vary, but it will be there if we have accrued any reasonable amount of power. Because our mental abilities, more than anything else, are based on belief.

A belief that limits us as much as it propels us.

At the peak of power, all lines blur, but that is not the case for the rest of the journey.

In the beginning, those who focus on the Mind, as only those of will and intellect will ever step foot on the Path, will be the strongest. Then comes Nature and, finally, Body.

The farther one walks along the Paths, the less influence the Mind Path can exert on them, as only those with an iron will ever reach those levels of power. And the Body path begins to rise as the number of gains they have achieved stacks upon themselves.

Resulting in the Mind path eventually falling to the weakest on average, with the Body path the strongest.

As we developed and refined our Paths, progressing farther down them with every generation, the inevitable happened. Those of the Mind path could not take their relegation of power.

They long looked upon the Body path as intellectual inferiors who needed guidance, and in truth, many of us were. But the individualistic nature of the Body Path and our fickle actions often brought us into conflict with the Mind Path.

Conflicts that were becoming progressively more one-sided as time passed.

The result was the Mind wielders losing their power. And affront that they would not stand for.

The Nature Path stepped in as our society headed to what appeared to be an ever more likely civil war. They recently had their first High King born, as he was able to reach the state of One With the World.

His powers became so great that he could reach out past this world and connect with another. All with the help of their world tree acting as a bridge between the realms.

To access this wonder, the Nature Path made the other Paths join The Pact. It was the masterwork of an enchanter and, quite literally, a living document. After some negations about the precise rules, all of the factions agreed.

It was one of our most extraordinary, and inevitably our worst, achievements as a people.

The document's power tied the souls of our people together. It stipulated a set of rules of when we could make war against each other. It granted rights to every elf and had expectations from them as well.

When The rules weren't followed, those who broke them were punished.

There was no mere beating or fines levied against the offender. No, it did not matter where they were, but anyone breaking the documents would feel as if the heavens themselves were suddenly against them.

Whatever Path they walked, they would find it all but cut off from them. Making them nearly more than the base beings we found on the lesser worlds.

The Mind Path could not allow themselves to be cut off from the opportunities and riches found on the frontier worlds, so they signed The Pact.

At first, the Mind Path was placated by what they gained as they willingly placed a leash around their necks. They could walk the worlds and act as gods, and they forced their will upon those with lesser minds.

But soon, the truth became apparent to all.

The Path of the Mind is fraught with traps. Pitfalls that even those who are careful and well-meaning can fall into at a moment's notice. And those who have no intention of being kind can reach levels of depravity that are best left to the imagination or, better yet, forgotten to the march of time.

A shift in perspective began to take place among my people.

The Body Path began to see themselves as the protectors of the lesser races we found. The youth were always looking for a challenge, and fighting for better treatment among those we ruled was better than most options they had.

They would go out looking to those of the Mind Path and, when found, would do all within their power to undermine their plans.

Challenges and provocations were called out until either the one on the Mind Path halted whatever they were doing or accepted the challenge to make the loser leave the area.

While there were situations that demanded the gathering of individuals to make a judgment on a problem. Usually, when no agreement could be reached, it inevitably came down to single combat. And more often than not, the Mind Path would lose.

The holdings of the sects and clans walking the Mind Path continued to shrink. Even on the frontier worlds, where The Pact had a lesser hold on us, the mind path could not retain its lands.

With the constant persecution and the lesser hold of The Pact on the frontiers, many on the Mind Path began to change their actions to those of more questionable methods. The actions of those violating The Pact only added fuel to the fire.

Even the factions within the Mind Path that had never set foot outside the bounds of what would be considered acceptable started to be punished.

Soon, the Mind Path could find no one other than those of their own Path willing to help them.

Those of the Nature Path tried to placate those of the Mind, to force those of the Body to stand back and give them some space, but it was already too late. The ones in the faction who voiced patience and moderation had been silenced. Either by being replaced, through murder or election, or being shoved into obscurity.

The majority of those on the mind path had enough of the persecution, and they would have their reckoning.

At the time, it didn't look like anything special had changed. The Mind Path pulled back into their long-established underground cities, cutting off nearly all contact with the outside world.

Those of the Body Path celebrated like they had ridden the world of some grand evil.

And then, the Mind Path began their efforts to corrupt The Pact.