Formidable in battle, the Guardians of the Ancient ruins of Aeternum are not to be trifled with. I have lost many a life to them in my research. Still, I have begun to notice some patterns in their fighting, allowing me to escape when the time is right. The Ancient Guardians wielding clubs rear back before they try to smash your skull in, a rather painful way to die, and I am able to predict their movements with some veracity in watching how they charge at me. My head is still ringing from my last death, the ghost of the crack in my skull throbbing idly as a reminder of my still having a long way to go in combat skills.

Found in Lupus

Guardians' Attacks

Some of the bodies of the Ancient Guardians are only half-preserved, cursing them to an eternity of crawling on their bellies to reach their next destination. I made the mistake of underestimating these crawling torsos and was met with a swift death from the way they have adapted to jump up at and claw down their enemies. I refuse to give up on my research simply because of the forceful resistance I am being met with, but those crawlers haunt my nightmares in ways their standing brethren do not. I feel a chill down my spine writing about them even now.

Found in Norma

Half-Formed

The weapons the Ancient Guardians carry are of a rudimentary level of craftsmanship. Occasionally they can be found with steel armaments but most often it is a low-grade iron with which they fashion their weapons. They seem to lack the capacity for ranged weapons beyond a few commanders carrying javelins for throwing, and are a people who live and die by the sword and mace. Their bony hands can also deal a great amount of damage when raked across skin, so even unarmed Guardians should be considered dangerous.

Found in Hercules

Guardians' Weapons

The Guardians attack all humans who dare trespass on the ruins of the Ancients. While animals are free to come and go, anything that stands on two legs is met with immediate and brutal hostility. Without eyes how do they see what they are attacking? Some of their attacks are sloppy and seemingly blind, so perhaps they rely on the other senses in combat. How they stand and fight without muscles in the first place is still a mystery.

Found in Ursa

Guardians' Resolve

These lookout towers reach up towards the heavens, perplexing the common observer as to how they were erected in the first place. Was scaffolding used? If so there are no remnants of it, and no external support beams to keep the towers up. To me they seem to have grown directly from the ground like proud stone evergreens, stacked high enough to touch the clouds.

Found in Lacerta

Reaching Towards the Heavens

Even more fascinating than the lookout towers themselves are the massive orbs near the top of them. They look so large it vexes the mind to imagine how the Ancients got them up there. Is their directional positioning significant in any way? The orbs appear to bulge out of only one of the sides of the tower, and look similar to the orbs found around Windsward.

Found in Carina

The Orbs

I parted with the Syndicate today.\n\nMore aptly, they parted with me, those arrogant fools, but I was close to leaving them anyway. Their jealousy was bearing down on my back over this Ancient research and I believe they were either plotting to steal it from me or take me out of the picture. Alchemist Olivera seemed regretful to expel me but I surmise this was nothing more than an act. He has always been envious of how I take fate into my own hands and pursue the mysteries of azoth on my own without sharing my research. Why should I share? The Syndicate has never done anything for me beyond send me to my death chasing tokens of their favor.

Found in Draco

Syndicate Expulsion

I can feel the glares from Adjudicator Amano and Commander Chauhan whenever I pass them in the settlement. They are not subtle people. I know they disprove of my research into the Ancients, thinking them heretics or weaklings, but I will prove them wrong. I will prove them all wrong.

Found in Orion

Proving Them Wrong

We all know that the earth is the center of the planets and universe, and it is only fitting that the jewel of our planetary system is the one with such a fantastical island like Aeternum on it. If our planet is the center of the heavens then Aeternum must be the center of the planet, located so closely to the equator and imbued with power as it is. Azoth, the substance found here and nowhere else, is further proof that is the primordial Eden of which the scriptures spoke, the place from which all life sprang. I am honored and humbled to be standing at the center of everything, and must know what the Ancients thought of this phenomenon.

Found in Shattered Obelisk

Center of the Stars

I can feel the toll of the last few deaths especially heavily. My stomach still aches where it was stabbed by the rusty sword of an Ancient Guardian and no amount of healing drops seem to soothe the pain. I am becoming weaker with each resurrection, waning like the moon until there is nothing left. I must put a pause on my research for now, and find someone who can venture out in my name and the name of the astronomical sciences. I shall wait in the settlement for someone of a like mind who can continue my fieldwork.

Bodily Limitations

A land of many settlements centered on a Shattered Obelisk suspended in time

Heron's Field Notes Chapter - NWGuide Database of Lore

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