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Secrets of the Schism

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Rondstat

Rondstat

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It is the source of the energy that the Teragardians use to power their devices... a great black hole surrounded by a corona of red crackling lightning, that arched to nearby obelisks that stored the energy



So is described 'The Schism,' a mysterious artefact that sits at the heart of human civilization on Teragard, birthplace of humanity. The humans of Teragard possess no magic, and so rely on arcane technology, powered by the Schism's extant energies.

Seven Magisters control the Schism, and thus, Teragardian society. They dictate law and religion, they restrict access to the Schism, and they methodically obscure its true powers from the public. Robert the Strong encountered extensive evidence of the Magisters' doctored documents and clandestine directives. Among these 'hidden' powers is the ability to act as a portal - the Schism provided Robert access to Gielinor.

Kindred Spirits reveals another one of these latent abilities, in a book written by one of the Magisters:

It even seems as though the Schism has more difficulty in snapping such souls free from their current host.


The Schism apparently severs the bond between the body and the soul, a function performed by Harold/Death on Gielinor, Eir on the Fremennik homeworld, and the first cognizant mortal to die on every plane/planet.

So, the Schism is:

-a power source that takes the place of magic
-a portal across worlds
-the reaper of Teragardian souls

Magic is a manifestation of 'anima,' focusing magical energy both within and from the environment/one's home plane into practical effects. A plane without an Anima Mundi is incapable of sustaining magic.

25-May-2016 23:06:45 - Last edited on 24-Sep-2016 23:24:41 by Rondstat

Rondstat

Rondstat

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Certain creatures are more magically attuned than others, and most humans require runestones in order to focus their magic potential - 'The Young Robert' posits lack of runestones as the cause for the absence of magic on Teragard. Still, the performance of magic without runes is not unheard of, and the situation on Teragard raises the question - are people unable to access magic, or is access to Teragard's Anima Mundi deliberately being withheld from them?

The soul is said to consist of anima. This raises several interesting possibilities:

-Does Teragard lack an Anima Mundi?
-Is the Schism, and thus human technology, powered primarily by the unwilling souls of Teragard's citizens?
-Was the Schism created to replace Teragard's reaper? What happened to the original reaper?
-Is it possible that the Schism IS Teragard's reaper? Is the Schism alive? Could it have possibly once been a demigod like Icthlarin?

By the description, the Schism sounds closest to the Battle of Lumbridge portal, the dark portal in the abyss, or (especially) the Unstable Core from Tuska comes.

I have no answers, but I'd love to see some theories. For me, this is probably the most fascinating piece of lore to come out of Kindred Spirits, and I'm surprised it's seen so little discussion.

25-May-2016 23:07:01 - Last edited on 25-May-2016 23:24:03 by Rondstat

AesirWarrior
Jan Member 2021

AesirWarrior

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BTW It's been said the Fremenik go to the human home world's afterlife when they die. Seeing as how Terragard is the human homeworld it seems likely Eir is Terragards reaper... Unless of course their plans changed once they came up with Terragard. This was only ever said in q&as after all.
---------------------

A long time ago Mod Ollie drew a "map" of the Gielinorian underworld. Basically beyond the gates at the river noumenon is the underworld, and at the center of the underworld is something called "the nexus of afterlives". I think the schism could be their equivalent. When they die their souls are attracted to it because, well, it's the afterlife! ... Or at least a link to it.

...What if Terragard has no anima mundi, like you theorised, because there's nothing left of it?! What if the entirety of Terragard is artifical (think Coruscant)? The only thing left is the link to the afterlife which exists in all worlds.

Alternatively, it could be related to the Daemonheim rift. They both give off tremendous amount of energy for a mere portal.

... Or the boring answer is that it's just a rift in reality and its "gravity" is strong enough to pull at souls.

I also believe it might have the ability to send someone back in time. Robert the Strong's notes from RoTM heavily implies that there's some time travel/time loop shennanigans going (you're supposed to give a note to Robert when you see him and that note tells him to do something he's already done...). Time travel can be achieved through various different ways, but I wonder if when we eventually go to Terragard we'll meet Robert before he becomes the legendary hero...

Or... hmmm, we know from Some Like it Cold that Death can turn back time. What if Eir sent Robert back in time to Gielinor's fourth age because she sensed he had a destiny to fulfill. -
I have noticed your kind does tend to blindly stumble forward towards danger simply because it exists. What is your word for that?
- We call it being a hero.

26-May-2016 02:12:02

William Witt
Aug Member 2023

William Witt

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I had a headcanon (though you've made a convincing argument that Saradomin's language is actually from New Domina and not Teragard, potentially breaking it)... I posted it on your thread about the written word, but will repeat it here for the benefit of others.

William Witt said :
Haven't read your whole thread; Have to be going somewhere, but just thought I'd comment on your speculation that the common tongue originated from Teragard.

Going by one part of the novels, this is probably not the case. This was in Return to Canifis, I think, but there's a part where an unfamiliar language is used. While the text doesn't actually write out any words of the language for the reader, it's explained that it's the language of the priests of Entrana, and that it was the language that Saradomin spoke when he first came to Gielinor, and that he prefers to hear prayers made in his own language. Theodore, as a Knight of Falador, knows a little of the language himself.

So Saradomin's language, which he spoke when he first came here, is distinct from the common tongue. Whatever this language is, it may be reasonable to imagine that it might be the language of Teragard (and/or of New Domina, perhaps).

Going slightly off topic into speculation of my own that I've had for some time - It does seem, from the sounds of it, to be a liturgical language - Similar to the role of Latin in the Roman Catholic Church.

And Latin in the RuneScape multiverse is the Infernal tongue...

...And what we've heard of the "Schism" does sound an awful lot like the rift that hobgoblin geomancer encountered in that Lores and Histories story (and possibly also like the rift/Daemonheim as described ingame)....
The Asgarnian ale must flow.

26-May-2016 02:30:32

Aig123
Jun Member 2019

Aig123

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Now that would be interesting, an entire civilisation powered by the souls of their own kind.
The context sounds similar to the Daemonheim book 'The price of Betrayal'.

I also wonder if this is what gave Nomad inspiration to building the Soul Obelisk.
He made it to the Underworld in one piece, perhaps he knowns a way to Teragard as well.

26-May-2016 05:40:43

Sepulchre
Dec Member 2020

Sepulchre

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When Robert the Strong came here from Teragard, it is said he entered here through the Schism.
What that seems to imply is the Schism is actually a form of portal through the abyss, similar to what our teleportation magic is. I would say the most likely cause for it "pulling souls" is because it is "unstable," though not in the way you think.. almost like that thing from Spiderman 2.
Remember, magic is merely an impression of the power of the Elder Gods, according to Wen*ra, and souls are made up of the Anima Mundi, which is a 'mistake' in the Elder Gods' power of creation. My honest first thought is that the Schism could actually be an Elder Artifact created for the purpose of correcting the problem of leaking Anima Mundi that created sentient life.
Maybe this is ACTUALLY the way the Elder Gods "dispose of" the "mistakes" of sentient life during the Great Revision? A
World Guardian
must learn to find
Balance
in themselves.
Only then can they
Control
themselves and forge their own
Fate .

26-May-2016 06:21:16

Rondstat

Rondstat

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In response to Aesir:

Spoilers for Nomad's Elegy in case you haven't played it, but we learn in that quest that Death and Icthlarin do NOT in fact serve a particular afterlife, but rather ferry the souls of Gielinorians to multiple afterlives - they serve the realm of Gielinor.

Because of this, I would assume Eir works the same way (which still leaves the question of why she's hanging out on Gielinor - maybe there are no Fremennik left on their homeworld), and serves a plane rather than a particular afterlife.

I know a lot of people make the assumption that Fremennik homeworld=Teragard, but Saradomin sent humanity to dozens, if not hundreds, of realms, before Gielinor was even inhabited. Guthix's memories make it clear that he chose races who were unfamiliar with gods/worship. Seems to me like Fremennik would have to come from an early plane in the human diaspora, so far removed from Saradomin they've forgotten him.

Your theory is very interesting - if Robert's whole childhood and adolescence on Teragard actually took place in the future/present. For him to know about us, then, he'd have had to have gone back home at a certain point - or something. We do know now that it's nothing to do with Bob the Cat - the Halloween event, apropos of nothing, just dumped the big lore bomb on top of us that Death reincarnated Robert as a cat just because, which is pretty boring.

Seems like the most common theory is that the Schism is somehow the same as the Daemonheim Rift. So... what's the Rift?

27-May-2016 01:30:37

Cthris
Dec Member 2023

Cthris

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Rondstat said :
.
I know a lot of people make the assumption that Fremennik homeworld=Teragard

If you really think about it, the Fremennik homeworld cannot be Teragard. A planets reaper/death is the first thing to die on said world. On gielinor, it was an old farmer man named Harold.

I've asked Mod Raven a few questions before about how humans came to exist in the games multi-verse. If you remember from Fate of the Gods, the elder gods purposely didn't create advanced life forms so how humans came to be, being as complex as we are, is kind of a mystery. Evolution was the answer from Mod Raven. (Interestingly, enough Mod Raven suggested that the precursor humans, which would have been common ancestors to the monkeys on Marimbo's planet, were spread through the universe through various ways including gods.) Anyways, based on the fact that Eir is not plankton, or something basic like that. (and isn't some intelligent ape creature if we go by the assumption that only inteligent beings can be reapers) it is reasonable to assume that whatever planet she lends her reapers skills too it cannot be the origins of humans.

The fact that the schism serves as Terraguards death makes a fair bit of sense if it is the origin planet of the majority of intelligent life in the universe because it would probably take millions of years before something competent would die that could serve as death.

27-May-2016 01:43:46

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