It is rumored that underneath the garden of the Tarsengaard Mage Convent there lies a fearsome horror. Not many people outside of the Convent knows of its existence, and those that do are either sworn to secrecy or ‘silenced’. The Council of Mages have declared the garden out-of-bounds to all but the most skilled of their order. Archmage Thallis, of the Water School, has created an illusion of perpetual rain in order to discourage passers-by from wandering unknowingly into the clutches of the beast, and a stasis spell has been cast by ArchPrime Elgor to preserve the garden.
It is rumored that this horror was reason behind the elimination of the Prime Elemental contest between the schools, and the setting up of the Animal Study laboratory. The older generation of mages still speak in hushed voices and in quiet corners about the terrible fates that befell Archmages Duluth of the Fire School and Archmage Polith of the Earth School, who attempted the forbidden arts of merging the Elements together in their efforts to win the contest. Rumor has it that their combined magical powers created a vortex of power that sucked the both of them into it, as well as numerous plants in the nearby vicinity. But the vortex was unstable, and fluctuated wildly, disintegrating the matter within it and combining it into a new form. The result was a horrific, mindless plant monster known as the Carnivorae.
Quickly, before anyone could catch it, it buried it’s immense bulk beneath the surface of the garden, and sprouted tentacles with which to feed its insatiable hunger. Very few survived that day. An entire generation of budding mages was almost wiped out. According to one of the few survivors who managed to use Insight on the beast, the vortex still exists within the Carnivorae, causing an eternal emptiness that it strives to fill with anything – plant, animal, human food.
It has been nearly two decades now. The spells are starting to fade as Archmage Thallis grows old and ArchPrime Elgor has been diagnosed with the Humming’s sickness. The Animal Study technicians are working night and day to find a way to prepare themselves for the battle against the Carnivorae, analysing countless numbers of plant and animal species in hopes of finding a weakness. The various Elemental Masters are feverishly training a new generation of mages to replace the many talented ones that were lost that day.
ArchPrime Elgor is expected to last for another six months at best.
After that, we can only hope and pray that we are ready.
