Treavery
From Mizahar Lore
Treavery in its positive form is the power to travel in time through the use of water, as time shares many of water's traits. In it's negative form, it is the loss of time and memories. Those who bear the positive mark are called treavers.
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Tanroa and The Mark
Tanroa rarely intervenes directly in the affairs of mortals. Her very presence and existence creates a powerful force. She feels her constant influence of time and aging is invasive enough.
When Tanroa acts, it is subtle, but the ramifications of her actions either reach to the destiny of the world or are contained to a miniscule ripple. Only in dire or entirely inconsequential cases does she divert or stay her hand.
She has no formal followers, as her power has reaches beyond being incumbent on the faith of mortals. Her powers pervade whether believed or not. However, there are those who are her agents. It is a small gathering, too old and too few to make a noticeable body of believers.
Tanroa takes interest in the affairs of men, but as a spectator. To her, the world and universe comprise a magnificent work of art, a sublime song, a loved story. She knows the beginning and end of things and exists in a beautiful limbo. Tanroa both exists in and above the moment. She is both the river of time and hovering above the current, knowing where it has been, will go and will end.
As a lover of the story of the world, Tanroa will occasionally insert herself to save it, or to add a brief line to beautify it. One of her methods of doing so is the gift of her gnosis. None can earn or beg a positive gnosis of Tanroa. She arrives and gives them when it suits her ends.
Mechanics
To award her gnosis, Tanroa will place her hands over the followers eyes and breathe a word that has no recognizable sound or distinction. It is a word of pure meaning, too full for the recipient to completely understand. Those who receive positive marks analogize the experience to submerging in water but remaining dry. Those who have been marked negatively describe it like a wind passing through them, taking something of themselves with it.
Negative gnosis activate and influence the marked one with little warning. The negative marks obliterate memory upon being given, and will continue to rearrange the bearer's conception of time. If lucidity is recaptured, it comes in the evening only to vanish come morning.
A positive gnosis is activated through rituals involving moving water. As a blessed one progresses, the rituals grow less complex and particular. This is because the physical objects are symbolic of what the marked ones have yet to understand. Literal acts give the mind some foothold in the complicated realm of Tanroa's river. To a person observing the ritual, the marked one simply vanishes, leaving their clothes behind.
Once the rituals are performed, the blessed one enters an allegory of time created by Tanroa. Since only Tanroa can see and know the true shape of time, the marked ones must deal with this antechamber of sorts. Their actions within this allegory are given real weight by the goddess, though. Tanroa's antechamber seems a world in itself, but it is only a symbol of what mortals cannot fathom.
The Antechamber of Tanroa
The antechamber is a space without edges. Mist sometimes gives an appearance of enclosure, but the longer one looks into the fog, the more endless the chamber becomes. The length of time one can remain in the antechamber, the rooms they can visit and the speed one travels at is dictated by the number of marks.
In the first room, the marked one wades in a pool. The scene they just left is recreated in shape, but the forms are made entirely of water. Colors run and twist, water constantly flowing and recreating the scenes. The practitioner can only observe, interaction exists only when she returns to the normal world. This space represents the marked one's present. Should the marked one begin to walk in either direction she will begin to inhabit the "present" of geographically near places. The antechamber is built to mirror the size of Mizahar. When a marked one leaves the antechamber, she will reappear in the same moment of time as when she left, but in the place where she wandered to within the antechamber.
When a second mark is received, a door appears in the mist, ever-present regardless how far one wanders. This door leads into a second room, far more perilous than the first. In this room, the marked one walks across an endless narrow bridge. Beneath her a massive waterfall rages. To enter the past, one must leap into the raging water and intensely fixate on the point in time they want to reach and the place they wish to be. All the while, the marked one is thrown about and beat by the water. Losing concentration results in the marked one arriving in a destination different from what they intended. Hopefully, this ending spot is not midair or within a solid object.
Only when one receives a third mark, does the bridge end. It leads to a new door, that last walkable room of the antechamber, the future. Only those with specific missions or very distinct conceptions of the future are able to navigate this room. The future years and places are embodied in an infinite array of water-drops. A marked one reaches out and lets her will guide her to the proper drop. When it is in her hand, she drinks it and arrives in the point it represents.
The last mark reveals a well in the center of the third room. Down the well is the place of the in-between. No practitioner dares to enter it, as none have ever returned. It has only been used to banish objects that were best unmade.
Returning to one's original time and place can be achieved at any level. One needs only enter the antechamber's first room and lay flat so they are submerged in the pool. A brief sleep seems to overcome the marked one and when they awaken, they are in their original time and place once again.
The Sandmen
If a treaver outstays their allotted time in either the antechamber, the future or the past, Sandmen appear. Sandmen are actually those cursed by Tanroa. When they lose hours and minutes in the day, it is because they have been transplanted into different realms and places to hunt disobedient treavers.
While pursuing the treaver, Sandmen are mindless drones under divine protection. They can be temporarily outrun, but they cannot be fought or injured. To be touched by a Sandman is to be dragged into the antechamber and drowned in its pool. Some treavers survive the drowning and awaken in their original time, weakened and warned. Others awaken in Lhex's waiting room.
Appearance
The positive gnosis is unique in its location and appearance. It is a faint circle that rings the iris in a starry blue that flares when activated, the circle deepens and flourishes with every progression. Creatures without pupils have a star like point of blue light recessed into their eyes. The gnosis is not easy to spot, it is usually caught when one turns a certain way into the light.
Tanroa's negative gnosis can be a blessing or curse. For those with a painful past, it can bring new lightness and peace, but those who would rather recall the years before and the hours at hand it is a hollowing thing. When Tanroa bestows the mark, the recipient begins to weep white tears and their eyes and hair begin to lose color.
Rituals
To enter Tanroa's antechamber, a marked one must use water that was drawn from a peaceful source, be it a puddle or pool. This water is to be bottled in blue glass and left outside on a starry night. Once this is done, the water is ready for use. This "curing" process of absorbing starlight in a blue glass is consistent throughout the various rituals.
When properly cured the water will take on a blue or green hue. Some treavers add herbs or flowers to the cured water, attesting it either pleases the goddess or makes their journey smoother. The concoctions can become highly personal.
To enter the antechamber of the present, a marked one must pour the water on her feet and hands until they are soaked. She will then make the sign of Tanroa, an enclosed figure eight that resembles an hourglass and close her eyes. When she opens them, she will be within the antechamber.
If one intends to go as far as the past in the antechamber, the water must be drawn from a moving source before soaking up starlight. The favored one will take a bowl of this water and return it to another moving stream. She will then step into the stream, only to slip through into Tanroa's antechamber.
To reach the past, a priestess gathers rainwater and cures it by starlight. She then drinks it, her body becoming a mirage in the present world. She manifests again within the antechamber.
No matter the ritual, the marked one will always begin in the antechamber of the present and must progress through the rooms to reach their destination. Should the treaver perform a ritual to move into the past or future, they are not required to pass through the doors, and may stay in the antechamber of the present.
Mark Progression
| Marked [Cursed] - 1 Gnosis Mark | |
| Marked: A person marked by Tanroa may only reach the antechamber of the present. They bring nothing with them into the chamber and will emerge from it naked. Within the chamber they move only as fast as they would outside of it. However, their "time" in the chamber is limited to three bells (hours).
Tanroa has seemingly plucked the cursed from the pattern of time, setting them aside briefly. Those cursed will have their hair lighten to white at the tips regardless of length or shearing. It is a troubling sign they have lost something, but will never recall its significance. | |
| Favored [Despised] - 2 Gnosis Marks | |
| Favored: A favored one may now see and pass through the door into the past. While in the antechamber of the present, they are given a horse to ride, fashioned completely from water. It will have a color and if given a name, it will serve only the favored one. Favored ones may dwell in the antechamber for three days.
While a favored one enters the antechamber with nothing, they can emerge clothed. Hanging on the door to the past is a tunic the same color as their horse, and a cord with a small, empty hourglass. This tunic and necklace can pass through time with them. When a favored one emerges in the past, they have limited time to accomplish their purpose. The empty hourglass on their necklace fills, granting them whatever time Tanroa sees fit. It can be a minute or months, but when the sands run, they are returned to the antechamber. Too frequent use of the gnosis will result in very brief stays within the past. Tanroa frowns on anything more than once a season. Once within the past, a favored one cannot wander the antechamber of the present for more than a few minutes. To make another journey to the past one must return to their original time first.
Despised: Those who are labeled "despised" may not truly be out of favor with the goddess. They may only be innocent stumbling blocks for the existence of the world, or their previous years' experiences awakened pity in the goddess. In addition to the loss of specific memories, the details of their past prior to the mark are watery. For example, they can recall their mother generally, but not her favorite color or the dress she always wore. Occasionally, they may also lose small portions of time from the present, a bell here, twenty chimes there. Where they go in those missing moments is a mystery to them. At this stage, more of their hair whitens and the color of their eyes dim. Whenever they cry, the tears are a pearly white. | |
| Priest/Priestess [Adversary] - 3 Gnosis Marks | |
| Priestess or Priest: A Priestess of Tanroa may traverse, the present, the past and the future. In addition to all the above abilities, Priestesses are granted three weeks within the antechamber of the present.
Passage into the future is similar to traversing the past. Time in the future is limited and the antechamber of the present can only be used briefly. Before moving to the past or a different future, one must return to their original time.
Adversary: In addition to the above afflictions, an adversary of Tanroa begins to confuse the past with the present. They exist in a dreamy world where cause and effect are disconnected and the timeline of their relationships are incoherent. Lucidity is partially granted towards the close of the day, an almost cruel reminder of their infirmity. They sleep with the dread of knowing they will be lost again come morning. Maintaining social connection is both difficult and heartbreaking. An adversary may awaken one morning, certain they are to meet a particular friend, only to discover by nightfall this friend has been long dead. They are often forced to grieve anew, feeling old pains with all their potency. The adage that time heals all wounds will not apply to their jumbled lives. An adversary's hair is now completely white and a milky sheen covers their eyes. | |
| Champion [Nemesis] - 4 Gnosis Marks | |
| Champion: A champion of Tanroa is a rare and mysterious thing. They move freely between the present, past and future, and may see the well into the inbetween.
Usually there are no more than twelve living Champions across the ages. Six of these champions will be among the Tempered. When one champion passes, another may take its place. At this level, a treaver is immune to the affect of aging. They are frozen at an indistinct age, neither old nor young. However, they are not protected from violent deaths or infectious disease. Champions are still controlled by the dictates of the hourglass, and may remain in the past or future only as long as Tanroa allows. They may wander the antechamber of the present for three months at a time. A Champion's life is devoted wholly to the whim of Tanroa. They are often sent to do errands they do not understand, but have the assurance that it will alter the features of the world. Much of their lives are spent in various times, so they find it difficult to maintain cohesive relationships. While they consistently return to the time and place they departed from, they are burdened with the knowledge and fatigue treavery brings. Champions are often resting when they are within their original time and easily escape notice.
Nemesis: Those with four negative gnosis marks are unmoored from their lives and sense of time. They are unable to create new conceptions of time or crystallize new memories. Everything exists in the instant; they are constantly recreating themselves and those around them to fit within their broken idea of the world. Who they are is limited to what idea they can manufacture of themselves in the very moment. They are reduced to creatures led entirely by impulse and shaped by fragments of thought. On good days, stunted memories of the years before their fourth mark become their present. Sadly, what they believe to be true in those times is perpetually contradicted by what they experience. It is a reeling life of dizzy instants and uncertain steps. A Nemesis's eyes are completely white, as is their hair, mirroring the emptiness of their past and future. | |
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Out of character note: This is an incredibly rare gnosis, not to be granted in a starting package or just because a PC shows interest. Treavery is a gnosis that ought to be granted to experienced players who will not abuse the privilege. |
Mark acquisition threads
| First mark | ||
 | A Window To The Past | First mark acquisition for Malia. |
| Second mark |
| Third mark |
| Fourth mark |