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 ====== A'N'L'Lth' ======
-A'N'L'Lth', once a majestic place of worship, now stands as a silent ruin in the heart of The Terrace of the Punishment, in the district of the Temple of the Elders. Its walls, once adorned with divine frescoes, are now cracked and eroded, silent witnesses of a past glory. The collapsed columns and broken arches create a dilapidated landscape, where wild vegetation has reclaimed its rights, insinuating itself into the crevices and flourishing in the abandoned spaces.
+This place of worship, once majestic, now stands like a silent ruin on the Terrace of the Punishment, at the heart of the Temple of the Elders. However, while the priestly and popular customs designate it as the "Garden of Stones," some scholars refute this appellation, arguing that it results from a very poor translation of an antic name of place, A’ n’ L’lth’. The current Garden of Stones, as known in Laelith, is merely a modest remnant of a past glory whose roots trace back to the very dawn of times.
-A'N'L'Lth' is a place imbued with mystery and fear. The inhabitants of the Punishment, despite their difficult life, avoid venturing there, fearing the ancient spirits who, according to legend, still haunt these ruins. The few who dare to venture there speak of strange echoes, unintelligible whispers, and invisible presences.
-Despite its state of disrepair, A'N'L'Lth' retains a certain grandeur. The remains of its sculptures, the fragments of its mosaics, and the remnants of its altars bear witness to a rich and sacred past. A'N'L'Lth' is a monument both tragic and fascinating, a reminder of the past greatness of Laelith and a symbol of the city's resilience in the face of adversity.
+A’ n’ L’lth’ — sometimes called “Garden of Stones” — is a place imbued with mysteries and fear. The inhabitants of the Punishment, despite their difficult life, avoid venturing there, fearing the ancient spirits who, according to legend, still haunt these ruins. The few who dare to venture there speak of strange echoes, unintelligible whispers, and invisible presences.
+Behind the ruins and modern facts about A’ n’ L’lth’, its history dives in the very far past.
+According to Peyrii-of-the-Great-Plain, a famous scribe who wrote several studies about Laelith’s History, A’ n’ L’lth’ is not a former place of worship. It does not even belong to the Temple of the Elder itself, as A’ n’ L’lth’ refers to a more antic place.
+Of course, other scholars do not fully agree with Peyrii’s assumptions. Nevertheless, Peyrii’s studies about A’ n’ L’lth’ meet other texts and creeds on the Lithos and the Lithoracle. His works is a different sight on the matter, the one that could shed further light on the history.
+There is a legend taken from the Aladhel’s Book of Songs, the Temple of the Mist.
+“In very ancient times, Hu-Llivanii lifted his eyes to the sky and saw the deadly star. He gathered his brothers, exhorted them to follow him beyond the Great Black Ocean to populate a new world.
+They built the great Vihanas, numbering a thousand, and rose beyond the spheres for the exodus [...]
+Eeg Oon Z’ Aaz Than found a marvelous island where HuLlivanii could thrive. But, while he/she wished to end this long journey here, they wanted to continue.
+There was a quarrel. The spirits [of the levitating stones] of the EOZAT’s vessel rebelled and dispersed as the Vihana collapsed.
+There, EOZAT built the First City. He spoke to the scattered stones, eventually gathered them and arranged them in a circle, asking them to become the guardians of the New Garden.
+He died, was buried in a grand tomb, which will be a temple where, for seven vihanic generations, the four original matters of the universe will be worshipped.
+Unable to master the Stones, the sons/daughters of EOZAT scattered them and they abandoned the First City, which fell into oblivion.
+From this place HuLlivanii retained the memory under the name of A' n' L'lth', the Garden of Stones.
+Translation by Peyrii of the Great Plain, 786.
+**About this text**
+This narrative, which belongs as much to legend as to history, is little known. It recounts events from a “very remote antiquity,” according to the words of the scribe Peyrii, who spent several years translating and studying it, comparing it to other sources from the libraries of Laelith, as well as from Egonzathan-la-Basse and other works brought by travelers. The scribe considers this legend fundamental for understanding the history of the city, which it places in a broader context than we are accustomed to. Of course, Peyrii’s work has been the subject of much controversy, particularly by the religious, who saw it as a "disruption of dogma," shaking certainties established for generations. And yet... other learned priests, not only from the Temple of the Mist but from other noble institutions of the city, approved these research efforts, believing – contrary to the first group who wanted to burn Peyrii's works – that the Legend of A’ n’ L’lth’, or The Birth of the Garden of Stones, was a primary source in the search and study of the city’s origins. Peyrii of the Great Plain was a renowned linguist in his time. In addition to mastering the common language perfectly, he spoke and wrote fluently in other languages from nearby and distant lands. He also had a deep knowledge of certain ancient scripts, notably the kaserii, in which the legend in question was written, at least in the version Peyrii had in his hands. The scribe also noted that the kaserii used in this text was an impoverished form because it was a very late writing. What does “impoverished” and “late” mean? A note written parallel to the aforementioned study specifies that “the kaserii used in this text no longer possesses any of the language subtleties that exist in the Book of Aladhel, yet itself was written very late, if we consider the course of the ages.” Indeed, as Peyrii further clarifies, when discussing the (or the) book(s) of Aladhel and the numerous Comments & Additions, we should not think in terms of hundreds of years, but rather hundreds of thousands of years. For the scribe, the text of the legend of the “Garden of Stones” that interests us here comes from an ancient corpus about twenty thousand years old.
+These figures that plunge us into the depths of time do not exactly align with the historical narrative of The Punishment, which saw the destruction of the ancient Tanith Lenath, preceding the birth of Laelith, dating back a little over a millennium. Even if, for this story, we are not concerned with accuracy down to a few dozen years, the foundation of the City by Eozat is not at all from the same era. And for good reason! Here, we are in the presence of the HuLivanii, whom only a few rare scholars studying in Laelith know, at least by name, since it would be impossible to encounter one of these beings within the city’s ranks. Those who have had the leisure to travel to the farthest reaches, to the other end of the Lake, and visit Egonzathan, will be able to draw a close connection between this unique region and the HuLlivanii whose legend recounts some ancient exploits. Here, these beings are called Huvalinians, or Zadhulians, or by other similar denominations derived, by corruption, from the ancient word. The Huvalinians and Zadhulians are haughty peoples, inaccessible to the common mortals, to whom is attributed the feeling of being the “Founders of the World…” Well, in a way, they are, since their race and civilization are of an antiquity that far predates all other civilizations of this world.
+Peyrii, who has long studied these texts, as we mentioned earlier, asserts that the HuLlivanii dominated the universe for tens of millions of years... It should be noted that the scribe was a very wise man, not at all inclined to the use of certain pipe herbs, and preferring only good beer consumed discreetly and amicably. And he knew the difference between hundreds, thousands, and millions...
+The Kaserii language, and its alphabet, even in its late form, according to Peyrii, cannot in any way be confusing in this domain. “It is a logical, concise, efficient, and remarkably precise language. It consists of only three tenses: the past, the present, and the future, leaving the use of the conditional and other temporal adjustments to distinctive signs that guide the speaker in these nuances... [...] Its alphabet itself consists of only about twenty signs – from 20 to 24 depending on usage – but typically 22 letters for the so-called ‘classic’ Kaserii, the one used in the “Book of Aladhel”. What is remarkable about Kaserii,” Peyrii adds, “is the 56 ‘Stones’ that are added to the 22 letters to add all possible nuances in the reading of texts. Obviously, in practice, the speaker only uses – and knows – the 22 basic letters, called ‘Trees,’ which form the common alphabet. The use of ‘Stones’ is only done in a religious, esoteric, scholarly context...” [...] “…each of these trees corresponds to a specific sound, a consonant of sorts, and a number. The combination of trees and stones allows for the description of the universe...”
+Further on, the scribe adds: “The letters of Kaserii do not serve only to describe words and elaborate thought through writing, text, speech; it goes further, as it is also a descriptive musical language in the literal sense of the term... The power of this language is incredible; it penetrates the souls of beings and the structure of the world. It has the power to achieve incredible things, but to us, simple humans, they are completely inaccessible... I know many mages and sorcerers who have attempted the path of Kaserii and have only known failure in this domain...”
+This digression on Kaserii is important because it will help explain, as best as possible, certain nuances of this text. Unfortunately, our common language is far too impoverished to reach all the subtleties of Kaserii. Firstly, Kaserii can only be studied by a few individuals already well versed in the study of ancient languages. In Laelith, this education is only provided in schools affiliated with the Temple of the Mist, which claims to be the sole repository of this knowledge for obvious historical reasons. Nowadays, there are fewer than a dozen students who have chosen this curriculum, in addition to others that are more renowned and accessible.
+**Let's return to Peyrii-of-the-Great-Plain’s study.**
+The legend known as the “Garden of Stones” does not challenge other theories regarding the origin of the Lithos, the existence in the past of Tanith Lenath, the Punishment, and the history of the creation of Laelith. On the contrary, it fits perfectly into this narrative and brings a depth that is little known. As Peyrii likes to say, this legend “is one facet of our history, which contains many.”
+But the scribe will not hesitate to challenge many of our certainties and beliefs on this subject. It’s worth noting that Peyrii was never a religious figure, nor was the entire House of Peyrii in the history of Laelith, even though their ties to the Mist have always been very close, but solely on a cultural and scholarly level, not religious. It’s also worth mentioning that this House (or family, dynasty) is one of the oldest in the city, though little known to the public.
+According to the studies of the Peyriis (of the-Great-Plain and others...), the presence of the HuLlivanii on the site of Laelith in a very distant past should be beyond doubt.
+“We have before us several testimonies of their history. They still stand proudly within the walls of our city...”
+Indeed, three major sites, still visible today, are attributed by Peyrii to the HuLlivanii. The most renowned among them is the Temple of the Mist, although this building has undergone numerous restorations since its origin; the ruins, known as the Temple of the Elders, are the second site designated in this HuLlivanii belonging. The third is the Seven Kingdoms Circle, on the Terrace of the Hand-that-Works. Peyrii adds that other HuLlivanii remnants still exist in the city, but are less visible. He mentions, among others, the Old Ages Pier, or the Thousand Steps Ladder, which he considers as structural elements of an ancient vanished city. The scribe goes further by asserting that in the foundations of many buildings, there exist ancient remnants. And that even the Cloack itself may not be immune to concealing some incredibly aged stone.
+And about the “Garden of Stones”? Well, this site is not included in Peyrii's list!
+The Peyriis have, since the inception of the city, drawn up its plans. They are therefore perfect connoisseurs of the local topography and witnesses of its evolution over time. Even though few of these documents were made available to the general public, the Hierarchs had them at hand. We can mention the existence of the Grand Cadaster, which is housed in one of the rooms of the Palace of the God-King, or the famous plans that were circulated during the reign of Teaphanerys XIV and whose use has persisted to this day. But, on none of these maps, however detailed they may be, does a “Garden of Stones” appear. Some think that it could actually be the Garden of Destitution, but nothing corroborates this hypothesis, as this place has always borne that name for a long time. Others saw the Garden of Stones in one of the courtyards of the Palace of the God-King, but again, nothing confirms its existence within this noble residence, even if it was modified many times throughout its history. Regarding this building, Peyrii mentions the existence of the Old Wall, which would, according to his analysis, be a very ancient HuLlivanii vestige predating the palace itself.
+No matter how much we search through all the existing plans, ancient or current, of the city, there is no trace of the Garden of Stones! And for good reason! Peyrii of the Great Plain confirms to us: "A' n' L'lth' is not a garden within the city, but the site of the city itself, and well beyond its current limits. A' n' L'lth' (aL Anen al Lilith), according to Peyrii, covers a territory of about 28 miles in diameter, corresponding to the Celestial Egonzathan, as described in the Book of Aladhel. The center of this circle is located at the site of the Temple of the Elders.
+Let us return, before continuing our archaeological investigations, to the Lithos and the Lithoracle, and our HuLlivanii. As written earlier, these legends are not opposed but rather complementary and should be understood as different facets of the same story. After all, nearly twenty thousand years is being recounted here!
+“Far above us, the stars shine and die, lost in the vastness of the galaxy. To escape the loneliness of the void, some have forged connections with a few of their sisters through powerful cosmic currents. The groups thus formed, the gestalts, are greater than the sum of the stars that compose them. They are particularly capable of dreaming and animating their dreams by nourishing them with cosmic energy.”
+(Excerpt from the “Book of Origins of the Lithos and the Lithoracle” – Official Canon)
+The Book of Aladhel describes roughly the same events (see above), namely a Presence in the stars, the death of some, the connections that exist between them despite horrifying distances, etc. Further on, in the “Book of Origins of the Lithos and the Lithoracle,” we can read:
+“Long ago, on a distant world, lived an entity called Ûra. She had given life to many children and devoted her very long existence to observing the skies. Without ever leaving her home world, by observing the sky through ingenious instruments, by collecting testimonies from travelers from beyond space, she had eventually discovered the existence of the Lithos and had come to share their suffering, lost as they were in the vastness of the void, unable to forge the bonds that could unite them. So Ûra asked her children to build her an immense stone ship to sail the galaxy. They built for her the largest ark ever constructed, and finally came the day when their ancestor set out alone aboard the ship to undertake her final mission: to gather the Lithos.”
+(Excerpt from the “Book of Origins of the Lithos and the Lithoracle” – Official Canon)
+The “Book of Aladhel” describes, in a similar manner, this galactic quest, with travelers from beyond space and ships (arks) in the vastness of the void. However, the narrator’s vision differs here, in the “Book of Origins,” as it concerns an entity named Ûra while the “Book of Aladhel” gives voice to HuLlivanii. For Peyrii, Ûra and HuLlivanii are two different entities, which should not be confused as some had asserted at one time. The “Book of Origins of the Lithos and the Lithoracle” is specific to Laelith and its writing dates back to the very earliest times of the city, although based on older accounts. This book is part of the official Canon of the city’s Cults and can be read interchangeably in each Temple.
+The “Book of Aladhel” is of significantly older origin and does not belong to the classical Laelithian tradition. Only the Temple of the Mist considers it as part of its liturgical corpus, and only during liturgies with the presence of the threnodes. We will see why a little later on. This book belongs to the Hullivanii (or Huvalinian) tradition; that is why it is very little known in Laelith. It was only with the recent liturgical reforms of the Mist, led by the High Priestess Inamaka Mahpiua at the beginning of the reign of Nin 1st, with the return of the threnodes previously exiled in Egonzathan, that the “Book of Aladhel” was repositioned in a worship context. It is added to traditional readings and chants, not replacing them.
+Astinas Alewens, a historian of Laelith, described in his works and the “Annals of the Temple of the Mist,” little known for the latter, the threnodes and the liturgy attached to them. Other chroniclers have also mentioned their presence. But the violent troubles of the years 789 and following erased these historical memories for a time.
+To explain the “Garden of Stones,” it is necessary to understand the very foundation of the existence of Laelith. I propose this long article, which I was able to consult at the library of the Temple of the Mist:
+The Threnodes of the Temple of the Mist, Laelith
+Among the four temples of Laelith, the Temple of the Mist holds a special place. Of course, every adherent of one of the other temples will say that theirs also has “a special place,” but it must be recognized that the Cloud, through its history and religious doctrine, has a “little something” that the other temples do not.
+The temple [of the Mist], as we see it today, is the result of numerous restorations and successive embellishments, but its structure is very ancient. It is one of the very few monuments of the antic Tanith Lenath still standing—if not the only one—and in continuous use.
+If we observe, on a city map, the layout and form of some structures, there is a certain resemblance between the Temple of the Mist, on the terrace of the same name, the Temple of the Elders, imposing and ominous ruins dominating the equally sinister Terrace of Punishment, and the industrious Seven Kingdoms Circle in the Hand-that-Works. These three urban elements present an evident circular shape. The Temple of the Mist with the Cloud Nine Plaza and the Crescent, and the buildings of the surrounding neighborhood; the Temple of the Elders and its concentric circles in ruins; the Seven Kingdoms Circle, also quite circular, and the semicircular plan of the constructions that line it over a sometime significant distance, and the Aisle of Craft that runs straight through a neighborhood with otherwise chaotic urban planning. This is well highlighted on the cadastral map drawn up by the Peyriis during the reign of Teaphanerys XIV, and then continued under Nin I.
+Historians, including Astinas Alewens, explain that these structures are obvious remnants of the ancient city destroyed by the Punishment, just like the Thousand Steps Ladder or the Old Ages Pier, which follow the traces of ancient straight avenues of the immense Tanith Lenath.
+The three structures we are discussing here are each in a different state of preservation. The Seven Kingdoms Circle was built on the foundations of a building that is now completely gone, but traces of it still remain in the plot layout and some walls supporting certain artisan shops; however, these are heavily altered and buried in constructions of various ages.
+The Temple of the Elders is still quite visible, but the structure is completely ruined and dangerous. People have not rushed to explore it where it is located...
+The Temple of the Mist is the building that has survived the best, or at least has been the most maintained at the cost of numerous and subtle restorations. Indeed, according to Astinas Alewens, what we see today of the temple is only the central structure of a once much larger building, the memory of which is found in the surrounding plot layout.
+The original purpose of these three structures is unknown to us. It is likely that the Temple of the Mist did not assume its liturgical function until after the Punishment. The designation “Temple of the Elders” is also “modern,” meaning it dates back to the early days of Laelith.
+Let’s return to the Mist and the Threnodes.
+Astinas Alewens relates, in one of his works dedicated to this part of Laelith, the presence of “singers-walkers” who roamed the ruins of a building brought down by the cataclysm. This is evidence that the Threnodes--or Melopists, existed before the Punishment. Indeed, they were searching for elements of the reliefs that made up the walls of the ruined building.
+**Who are the Threnodes?**
+In fact, the official history of Laelith hardly mentions them, except for Astinas Alewens in his works or the “Annals of the Temple of the Mist,” which few people consult.
+However, there is a person whose family has been established in Laelith for generations and who possesses vital information on this subject, and that is the scribe Peyrii known as “of the Great Plain,” heir to the Peyrii cartographers’ dynasty, running a “Geography & Typography Workshop” located in a courtyard near the Choir School Ladder, not far from the Mist (today, this workshop is located near the Cloud Nine Square). This discreet building is full of treasures for those interested in the history and urbanism of the mystical city. Indeed, having had the opportunity to visit it on a fortunate day, I glimpsed a unique plan there, that of Tanith Lenath, before the Punishment! Thus, Peyrii quickly showed me the locations of the three mentioned buildings, including the Mist.
+The evidence of the antiquity of the Threnodes is there, on this plan. Additionally, Peyrii associated their presence with that of the Huvaliniens, or Hullivanii, who were undoubtedly the first masters of the vanished city.
+Peyrii also made a revelation to me, drawn from his in-depth research on documents and plans related to that time, about Tanith Lenath. That this city was not “conventional,” according to our own perspective. The very ancient Tanith Lenath had an area significantly larger than our contemporary Laelith; that it was circular in shape, with a diameter of about 28 miles, and that it levitated more than 300 feet above the ground, on flat terrain in that region at the time.
+Needless to say, I was astonished when I left Peyrii’s place. Ultimately, I found it hard to believe, as it seemed impossible to me. Fabrications? Delusions of an old man who, nevertheless, did not seem to be losing his mind or frequenting the taverns of his neighborhood excessively? Or perhaps, some truth in his words?
+I dared not imagine the reality of a city 27 miles in diameter, levitating in the air. And I refrained from repeating these incredible statements to anyone!
+Yet, I needed to know more, primarily out of personal curiosity.
+It was impossible to search the Peyrii residence, so I relied on research in the libraries of the temple and the Materialist University; after all, libraries abound on the Mist Terrace. And when one knows exactly what one is looking for, it is easier to find...
+It took me about three years to obtain some answers. Peyrii wasn’t as crazy as I thought! Indeed, several ancient works, including those of Astinas Alewens, describe the imposing dimensions of Tanith Lenath, similar to those mentioned by the cartographer. And while few descriptions mentioned levitation specifically, all agreed that the city was “very elevated and that to access it, one had to use monumental ramps or stairs, while the Masters levitated to pass through doors strictly reserved for them.”
+“The city of the Levitans stood at its center, surrounded by canals and lush gardens where the great sacred Tree of the Vihanas held a place of honor...
+...The City moved slowly, so that the Levitans could oversee the lands they administered. For this purpose, the Visionless Slaves marched, chanting strange melodies in the depths of the City, holding hands and wearing the “Helmet of Strange Flows”. They numbered in the hundreds and thousands, advancing in circles in the Depths, harmonizing gently on the Three Notes and the Eight-Tone Intervals.
+But one day, weary, the Slaves revolted against the Levitan Masters and ceased their slow sung pilgrimage.
+The City fell, and sudden and violent anger was unleashed, breaking the walls and toppling the Palaces and Monuments. The Walls collapsed, scattering the water from the canals.
+The Ground began to tremble with great force and noise, and the Earth suddenly rose, tilting from West to East, and the surrounding Mountains also rose. Everywhere there was desolation and death. The furious Levitan Masters chased the Melopist Slaves, killing the greatest number, consuming many before leaving the Cursed Places forever...”
+//“The Staggering Fall of the City of the Levitans.”//
+From a Manuscript of Ancient Times. Temple of the Mist.
+The Threnodes were thus, according to this ancient text that we have reproduced without modifying the dated style, a human population enslaved by the Levitan Masters, that is, the Huvalinians, or HuLlivanii.
+A powerful revolt caused the city to fall. Indeed, it appears that the slaves maintained the city in levitation through their slow, chanting walk, and the wearing of a helmet connected to a “strange” fluid, also called “threnodic fluid.” In fact, all of this could have appeared as legend or tale rather than real events. Until the resurgence of the Threnodes in the liturgy of the Mist, since Inamaka Mahpyua became the High Priestess of the Mist, and reformed the liturgy to return to its origins.
+This was not achieved calmly and serenely within the clergy of the Mist, far from it!
+Nevertheless, the history recounted in this manuscript does not meet the official History, which states that in -1200, at the location of present-day Laelith, Tanith Lenath was merely a very modest village whose description bears no resemblance to a large levitating city with a diameter of 28 miles and numerous palaces. Refer to the works of the official Canon!
+Two completely contradictory stories, one proclaiming that Tanith Lenath would be a HuLlivanii city, built on the model of the Hu-Llivan’s Celestial Egonzathan, while the other speaks only of human and barbarian populations, struggling against non-human races.
+According to Peyrii, these two stories are one and the same, but it is the chronology that is at fault because it is completely absent from the first manuscript text.
+For the scribe, the Levitan’s Tanith Lenath is much older than the Tanith Lenath of official History.
+“These are two cities separated by nearly 20,000 years; the first, the HuLlivanii one, collapsed following the revolt of the Threnode slaves, resulting in ruins and desolation, as well as the departure of the HuLlivanii, probably towards the region of the current province of Egonzathan.
+For a long time, the site of the levitating Tanith Lenath remained uninhabited, except by the descendants of the Threnodes and a few human inhabitants of the ancient city, the former keeping in their collective memory the memory of a life of unfree men, subjected to the violence of powerful masters from another world, while also appreciating the beauties of a very ancient civilization, making it a religion derived from the vihanic cult of Aladhel the One God. This will be the basis of many future problems...
+The humans will populate the site of the ancient Tanith Lenath and gradually establish scattered communities there. Among the remnants of the “Fallen” (as what remains of the fallen levitating city is called), three buildings still stand, which are gradually being cleared of debris. Three circular towers, one of which still rises to nearly 300 feet above the ground of that time, slightly leaning, will serve as a refuge for human populations against barbarian attacks. As centuries pass, the debris merges with the ground, becomes covered with vegetation, or is reused in more rudimentary constructions. The great Tower will later become a Temple, known as the Temple of the Elders, significantly transformed over time. The second tower, known as the Threnode Tower, retains its original pillars, called Vihanic Pillars, then numbering 6 (two disappeared in the catastrophe and will be restored later). It is there that the descendants of the melopist slaves will permanently settle by restoring the building. The third tower, in worse condition at the time of the collapse, will disappear over time, but its location still marks the landscape and will one day become the Seven Kingdoms Circle.
+In -700, according to the official chronology, Tanith Lenath was founded and became a thriving city. In fact, this is the second Tanith Lenath built on this site. It would later become Laelith, but there, you know the story!
+The cataclysm described in the manuscript mentioned above--and in the official Canon--following the collapse of the ancient city, is merely a “shortcut” between two eras: the fall of the levitating city, which was undoubtedly catastrophic, and the Punishment that struck the second Tanith Lenath in history. Two events separated by nearly 20,000 years, grouped into a single text of late composition (around 300).
+Official history provides little detail regarding the presence of the Threnodes in Laelith, and particularly at the Temple of the Mist. Likewise, we have no information about the liturgy practiced at that time, but we can assume that it was similar to the one that came into effect during the recent reform promoted by Inamaka Mahpyua at the advent of Nin I.
+The breaking point occurred in 789, and even a little before. A serious political, social, and religious crisis rocked Laelith, risking to destroy the sense of unity that had prevailed. The preludes are ancient: the power struggle between the Palace and the Temples, within the Temples themselves, in the corridors of the Palace... and external enemies watching...
+For a long time (around 640), two dynasties of divine sovereigns shared power, the Tokinafal and the Teaphanerys. But we will speak here of Tokinafal VII, known as “the Lake”, who reigned between 789 and 794. However, his predecessor, Tokinafal VI (781-789), was already caught in a certain turmoil that would explode during the reign of his successor.
+The situation in Laelith was, from the beginning of the 780s, difficult in every respect despite a certain prosperity of the holy city. Social crisis due to increasingly marked inequalities between the “common people” and the aristocrats of the city and pressure from merchants to raise prices of essential goods; political crisis with permanent tensions at the Palace; religious crisis within the Temples and particularly at the Mist, which will have heavy consequences for the following centuries.
+It is known that the temptation to impose a monotheistic cult is recurrent in the history of Laelith, in total opposition to the cult of the Four Elements, and that the HuLlivanii have long been promoters of this divine vision, since they worship One God, Aladhel. But the HuLlivanii have been absent from Laelith for a very long time, and even their Zadhuilian cousins do not live here. Yet, even distant at the other end of the Provinces, these Levitants from another time exert some influence on the Mist, through the Threnodes grouped in a College. The liturgy of the Mist, before 780, remains imbued with ancient history, under the guise of the Cults of the element Air. The clergy is constantly torn between respecting an ancestral tradition and the necessity of reform to remove the Threnodes from the liturgy to stem any attempt at monotheistic drift.
+In 789, the crisis erupts in the city: riots, looting... each faction in the fray fights for its “cause”: the people want to eat their fill and no longer pay these countless taxes raining down on them, the aristocrats refuse to yield an inch of their secular prerogatives, real or imagined, the clergy of the Temples battles multiple heresies...
+As for the Palace, it is the weakness of the power that allows this explosion of anger from multiple sources.
+**The Temple of Mist, responsible for troubles?**
+As mentioned earlier, the temptation towards monotheism has always been strong in the Mist, and it was during the reign of Tokinafal VII that a heresy almost reached unprecedented proportions. The Cult of the Nameless bears resemblance to that of the One preached by the HuLlivanii since forgotten times. However, the cult of the Nameless has little to do with the symbolism of Aladhel and its grace in homage to Nature and the Universe. The heresy of Son-Tô proves to be somewhat more cruel and primarily aimed at strengthening the personal power of this individual who tragically ended his days on the Pillory Square. Needless to delve into the details of this affair here, but the consequences will be significant for the future, as the collateral victims of this disastrous era, which devastated the temple, were the Threnodes forced into exile to save both their lives and their millennia-old knowledge. They were wrongly accused of complicity with Son-Tô. Several confessions indeed provided strong denials, demonstrating that the Threnodes were horrified by the cult of the Nameless and the fatal attitude of Son-Tô. But they were not considered.
+Two versions exist: one claims that it was the Threnodes themselves who decided to leave Laelith, taking with them books and sacred objects, including Tegelthan's pipes; another says that the “three-note” melopists were kicked out of the temple with kicks to the backside... In fact, during the year 794, dozens of Threnodes were murdered and their Choir School (located in the ladder of the same name) set on fire.
+Once the Temple was orphaned of its singers-walkers, the liturgy could no longer be conducted in the same way as before. The rupture was abrupt.
+The Spheres of Ascensional Liturgies remained in their tunnels for several centuries, and the Tegelthan fell silent.
+At the end of this period, in the years 798-810, the Mist must rise again because the damage is very significant, both for the cult itself and the building. A restoration campaign allows the Temple to quickly resume adapted liturgies in the absence of what made up its essence. To replace the Spheres, which had become unusable since the departure of the Threnodes, an ingenious platform system is designed to recreate a semblance of aerial liturgies. To do this, a vast mechanism is installed in the Sphere Well, and eight stacks, called Dodzeer (named after the architect who restored the temple), are erected between the ancient Vihanic stacks to reinforce the dome and the structure of the mechanical platforms. The magnificent reliefs adorning the interior and exterior walls of the temple, finely carved in white rock with blue veins, are buried under a coat of poor quality, upon which, depending on trends and eras, paintings are made, gradually destroying the original appearance of the Temple.
+Mist worship is simplified and significantly strengthened in terms of the Air Element in accordance with the official dogma of the holy city. Furthermore, “they” hastened to remove from texts and archives any references to the Threnodes and the cult of Aladhel. The tunnels of the spheres being walled up following the installation works of the platforms, they are forgotten. The Tegelthan is partially put back into service but the most important pipes (in the harmonic style) were taken into exile with the Threnodes. As a result, the instrument only partially functions and by the beginning of the reign of Teaphanrys XIV, it is completely neglected.
+It is at the beginning of the reign of Nin I that the Mist will regain its forgotten splendor under the energetic impulse of the new High Priestess and the return of the Threnodes and an exceptional liturgy in beauty and spiritual depth.
+* * *
+Let's return to the Garden of Stones.
+We understood that it does not exist as such in Laelith, and that it is the geographical site that should be named as such.
+The word “Garden” here is just an approximation of the Hullivanii word “A’nen,” which could be translated as “the pleasant land” or “the pleasant place.”
+The “A’ n’ L’lth’” or “aL Anen al Lilith,” could be said in Common (language): “The place that pleases the Stones.” But Peyrii proposes another version: “The place where the Stones rest.”
+Does this mean the place where the Lithos are? Not only the small ruins into the Temple of the Elders but all the country where Laelith stands for centuries?