The Age of Darkness

Then comes The Age of Darkness, the entire firmly established peace of the clans was upset by an ambitious and gifted upstart, Hariman Windcarver, the Voidheart. Jewellery of precious metals called Gemstones were an item of luxury during the times of the Age of Technology onwards, and the innovators and pioneers of the art of jewellery were the Jewellers of the Air Vaults. Within their great underground vaults, they proceeded to the art of crafting and carving jewels from raw and rare Gemstones. One of them made an important discovery: that these Gemstones interacted with their magnetic hearts, and were thus controllable by them from a distance. He was known as Hariman Windcarver...and it turned out, a secret sect within the Underground Air Vaults had already discovered this, and were keen to initiate young Hariman into their coven. Hariman swiftly rose up the ranks of the Animators, as they called themselves, for their telekinetic ability of motivating Gemstones into animation. At the very height of the ranks of the Animators was the Crystalgazer, for he was the first to discover this unique affinity they had with the Gemstones. Just by gazing alone, he could move Gemstones into bonding, and he was the first to pioneer and teach the art of bonding separate Gemstone pieces into a whole, from which he could then animate the core Gemstone into the Bejewelled Heart of a golem. Thus essential to this was the breath of life, and which somehow the Crystalgazer was in the know of and could animate golems at will.

Through sheer genius alone, Hariman discovered the secret of golem animation on his own. He aligned the magnetic frequency of the Gemstone heart of his own Sunstone gem that he found in the deepest depths of the Air Vault network, and through bonding the parts of his Sunstone Golem through his animating abilities, he proceeded to program thoughtwave patterns into the Gemstone heart's unique memory signature. Through sheer determination, he mastered the masterwork of the Animators, the Bejewelled Heart, and with this Sunstone Heart empowering his Sunstone Golem, he sychronised his magnetic frequencies with the Sunstone and wore the Golem like an armour, having so crafted it thus this way. He went on to challenge the Crystalgazer to a duel, hanging on the line both their lives and the title of Crystalgazer. The Moonstone Golem of the previous Crystalgazer was thus in this way superseded by Hariman's Sunstone Golem, but Hariman spared the life of his previous master, knowing him for his talents and being the pioneer of their secret art.

Teaching his new followers the art of Crystalgazing, in order to synchronise the magnetism of their own Gemstone hearts with the Gemstone heart of the golems, he thus taught them the secret that was kept hidden from them by the previous Crystalgazer. Also, important to note, is that this art of crystalgazing is very much like all the previous crafts before it, an art of self-purification and refinement. It was discovered through understanding the inner, higher self of the Demiurg, by that very first Crystalgazer, who was also the very first pioneer of the art of jewellery, by the name of Zhartan Rykarth. By understanding that their hearts were made of Gemstones like those very precious and beautiful Gemstones they took as items of luxury, he understood the deeper implication that they could control them, and thus affect changes beyond their bodily domain. By seeding and programming these Gemstones with their own will, in a sense imparting their willpower into them, they could thus animate beings of stone into replicas of their own animated life force, thus gifting them the breath of life. All of this reflected the Demiurg's own devotion towards the Masterwork, achieving the power of creation itself, in gifting inanimate objects the breath of creation.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Gathering his followers, the Animators and even the junior members, the Jewellers, he told them the true secret behind the Crystalgazer, how he was able to steer the course of the livelihood of their trade to success. It was the true power of crystalgazing, by prying into the future through the mystical power contained within the Gemstones. These crystal balls held deep meaning within them, but it was unsure to these new followers how they worked, how they could scry the future through the simple act of gazing into them. It puzzled them, and Hariman taught them how it worked. By gazing alone into the crystals, the memory signature of the Gemstone crystal ball could be synchronised with the will of the Demiurg's own Gemstone heart, thus appearing before them is the idea dream held within the heart of its possessor. And Hariman saw war within the crystal ball. He saw a new fire of union forged amidst the stars, through the bloodshed of their kin. In the preceding age of luxury, the Age of Technology, although there had been progress, much had been given to laxity and decline, with their race gluttoned on technological advances. In his heart's desire, and in his mind's reckoning, he saw a new age was to be at hand, and only through the crucible of war once again could their race be purified and advanced, brought about from the lethargy and laziness against progress they had sunk deep into. And rallying his Gemstome Golems together with their Animators and Jewellers, they proceeded to wage war against the rest of their kind.

And terrible and fierce was that war, with the hard as diamond Golems at the forefront of the battles, they fought against the mechanical wonders of the Engineers, Mechanicians and Tinkerers of the "Living Mechanism" Guild, against Gyrocopters and Colossi and Exo-Armour suited Miners. At the height of the war, Hariman Windcarver faced off against the leader of the Age of Strife, the one who united them all in the first place, Agnir Firehammer, atop Karak-a-Karaz. A titanic battle was waged, against the Sunstone Golem Armour, and the Tempered Blade Warhammer, and at the climax of it, the glass mosaic of the tower of Kazador, depicting the unification of the clans through the Warhammer was shattered, and Hariman was in full view of the carnage his war had waged over the lands. Countless dead laid among the ruins of their once proud civilisation, and in deep regret for going too far with his war, Hariman placed down his weapons and wept. He had realised sooner yet, that his war had gone overboard and done more harm than the good it was meant to rekindle. In a great clarion voice resounding over the battlements, he shouted his declaration of the end of the war, having no longer any reason to perpetuate it. Not all were to listen to Hariman though. some of the Animators, under the leadership of the previous Crystalgazer, Zhartan Rykarth, continued to fight against the Demiurg Oathhold Clans. Now, with the cooperation of the four Mountain Kings, this rebellion was successfully quelled with haste. These rebellious Demiurg were caged and imprisoned in the dungeons of Karak-a-Karaz.