The Glaennyn & the Maelstrom
Jarik in conversation with the Nameless One
Whilst Jarik sits on the mightiest of the Glaennyn the dragons of Grayhawk converge on the song of the dragonmoot, their wings in harmony with the powerful calling. They talk about many things and eventually their conversation turns to the Maelstrom and its relationship with the Dragon Staff.
"This universe is quite unique," the Nameless One begins. "In many respects it follows the same patterns as the others but then it is starkly different to anything I have ever seen. Aside from my dispute with the Old Gods the relationship between the higher powers and myself was always a good one. The necessity to survive usually put me in direct conflict with them so I became adept at diplomacy and tact. The present internment on Grayhawk, however, allowed me to sit and consider, and indeed absorb the knowledge gained over the years. In fact without that time I would have missed some critical clues as to the nature of our power.’
"Whilst I do not claim to fully understand either the Maelstrom or the Staff I can furnish you with what I have learnt. Perhaps a network of freethinkers may well get to the bottom of the secrets of this…the last universe.
"When the Glaennyn unleash their most terrible power it is to the Maelstrom where we turn. Indeed as you – a Resonance Master – can testify you have the ability to unleash it upon an opponent and tear him to bits. But usage does not imply understanding. For that path a little more knowledge is required.
"By now you will have realised that I am not deposed towards violent actions, although I acknowledge that sometimes they are inevitable. Unleashing that I do not understand is not in my nature; I pursue understanding not power.
The very best way to enlightenment. We too – the Glaennyn – are not by nature violent, yet our powers and sheer physical presence would contradict this. It is folly to pursue such a violent career when it is not warranted…there are plenty of enemies in the universe without actively seeking them out!
"A storm is a violent chaos that pulls and pushes the environment in a tempest-like act…yet the Maelstrom is not like that. Take time to study it…when you unleash it or when you stare into it concentrate. The apparent chaos is a lie – what you initially see is storm-like, but a closer inspection will reveal raw energy. It is far from random – in fact if you stare long enough you will see a pattern (it took me a year to do this!). It is energy and it is linear…it starts; it follows a path and it ends – then the whole process begins again…like a heartbeat? Like the slow inhalation and exhalation of breath?
"A predictable power is therefore a usable one. Simplistic though that statement is there is a thin truth within it. The energies involved are so great that a mere accidental brush against it will cause total oblivion and that is the first obstacle to serious study. When a Glaennyn unleashes a breath it is the Maelstrom that tears asunder the foe – yet the breath is not projected (it does not exit our mouths like spittle or phlegm) it merely appears at our target as a sonic attack. To me I feel that we call it forth like an elemental but Hammoth (the sagely Glaennyn) disagrees. To summon it (he says) would imply that it is sentient and he argues that the Maelstrom is anything but.
"So it is a force then…we both agree on that. But most forces have a purpose, or at least a reason for existing. A normal storm is merely the affects of atmospheric changes; sorcery is a force that is manipulated from an inexhaustible pool of energy. What I am saying is that all things go from one state to another…but this is not the case with the Maelstrom…it just is.
"So let us take a step back for a second. Now that we know that it exists and that we have a limited control over it we must start to ask the question; why? It is with the emergence of the Dragon Staff where the answers may lie. It is natural to assume that the staff itself is a conductor, or a conduit to house this energy. That is not the case. As soon as you touched it, as soon as it harmonised with your inner abilities I knew instantly.
"The staff is not a conductor – it is the Maelstrom – a physical manifestation of the Great Storm itself, somehow fashioned into a portable device.
"That is interesting, an idea that I had considered but discarded due to my assumption that the Maelstrom was the primeval chaos from which all emerges. So rather than primeval chaos we are perhaps discussing primeval energy, in many ways I makes no difference, dut I agree the fact it can be utilised suggested a form of order behind the seeming chaos. Do you agree that it is likely that Prometheus and the Unmaker utilised the power of the Maelstrom during their sequence of universes.
I cannot recall ever experiencing Promethius or the Unmaker ever using the Maelstrom. When it is used all the Glaennyn (and you for that matter) will feel the usage through your body and soul, like a stone thrown into a still pond…the ripples will eventually reach you. Promethius created many forms of sorcery; some great, some experimental, and in all the universes he created he used them all. No…I cannot recall him ever using it.
Many think that the Glaennyn created it but that is not true…sometimes the truth gets lost in the ages that we live. In actuality the Dragon Staff was found…when the Glaennyn first experimented with the Maelstrom and its usage the staff erupted from it…into the hands of a man (this was several hundred universes ago so it may not be a man as you know it…but the term suffices). This man instantly became a leader of dragons.
"And now you have me – and may my tenure also be memorable for all the best reasons.
"It was a day I remember very well, for it was the day that every Glaennyn became immortal…in fact we were not ready for just how immortal we were! As the universes collapsed around us we fled to others – unbeknown to us we were the only creatures that could transcend these new lands (other than Promethius and his dark cousin the Unmaker). It became a game to the creator / destroyer. Sometimes whole universes were created with the sole purpose of destroying us…or at least finding out why none of the laws of any universe applied to us. Soon – thankfully – they gave up and just accepted us…they had a higher calling after all.
"When you say soon I assumed you mean an unimaginably long period in my conception of time. You had impressive peers, their death and your survival must be fundamental elements of this final universe.
Yes, the timespan would numb your sense of time I think! Over the period of twenty universes…say 400,000 years! Sometimes one feels the pain of age more keenly – being reminded of my longevity does that!
"This last universe bore their inbred malice with greater venom than any other. The Old Gods were pre-programmed to attack us…and in doing so our dwindling numbers were confined for thousands of years. I should say that at the start our numbers were counted in thousands…but we are an infertile race – we cannot reproduce ever, though we have tried without success to further the bloodline over the eons.
We tried…with varying degrees of success. As you know we are infertile but there are ways round this…a bloodline can be injected into a being without the need for reproduction. The results tended towards the catastrophic, however, and the dragon / Glaennyn mix dies out quickly
Have you, in some fashion, mixed your blood with the dragons and others of this land? If so who? And what do you think will happen to me on the next full moon, which must now be very, very close?
[Note to DM. The destruction of Azael went at such a pace that he was destroyed well before – perhaps a week? – before the full moon. That would make it very soon indeed. Refer to the text which discussed if Jarik was staff or distaff – see Resonance email and its reply]
"Your heritage is shrouded from me. Strange, since my power over the spirits is great…but then my power on Grayhawk has yet to be tested. The god of liberation (Malkar) has bid me to steer your mind on a path that will help the priest…the gifted priest that Malkar the man saved from his father. The fact that I cannot divine your lineage speaks volumes, however, the very fact that your father and mother are masked can mean only one thing – your roots lie in primal power. Oh yes, my adept, the god Malkar does not reveal to me your parents for a reason…he knows only too well where your power lies.
"Still, there remains the question which burns on your lips. Who am I? A good question, and one that I will attempt to answer. One member of your immediate family was dragonkind – that would explain your talent with Resonance and why I cannot divine the nature of your parentage.
"One constant in all of this is the Staff. Of course Dragonstaff is a misnomer – it would be better named the Maelstrom Staff but the handle has stuck over the years. I suppose the wielder has a natural authority over dragons so it is understandable. So few of the wielders ever understood what they were actually holding, and none of my forefathers ever had the courage (or stupidity) to tell them. Remember the Maelstrom is as lethal to us as it is to any other being…the perception is that we (the Glaennyn) are masters of it. The truth is we just don’t know what we are doing…it just happens.
"I am honoured by your trust, that chose to reveal that you have withheld for ages, indeed for universes – a new and amusing measure of hypertime. But here have I just stumbled across something strange. It is an assumed fact that Prometheus did not introduce time until near the end of the age of creation, but it appears from your understanding that time, or at least chronology, exist within the Maelstrom. Perhaps your conception of heart beat or breath is especially valuable here. The best analogy might be that the Maelstrom has a tempo variable, according to circumstances – just like the heart and breath of any animal. Even the plants breath, albeit slowly, an elven singer once gave me breathing lessons to help my singing and told me "Jarik breath like the trees slowly, rhythmically and never to be heard!"
Another point of contention here between Hammoth and myself. He believes that the Maelstrom acts as a pre-time clock that regulates everything. Remember that we (the Glaennyn) have existed in all the universes sometimes we get there before Promethius starts to order things. Imagine if you can a universe before the Great Father creates Time – it is a strange and truly chaotic experience! Yet even in those moments (or centuries) before time structure the Glaennyn are always acutely aware of the pulse (tempo is a better word here) of the place.
This tempo never changes even after Promethius orders and regulates time. Perhaps he – the Great Father – uses the Maelstrom as a metronome to regulate his universal time. I really don’t know.
"Hammoth comes at it from a more philosophical angle. His question is always why. What is the purpose of it…what is the purpose of the Glaennyn and why are they so bound with the fate of that staff? He has his theories and I have mine – no doubt you, Jarik, will invent some of your own. Somewhere within us there may be the truth of it.
"There are many possibilities. What is most surprising to a mortal is that they should have inherited the staff from the Maelstrom and not the Glaennyn. If the Maelstrom is, as Hammoth argues, entirely without conciousness, then the simplest deduction would be that the Glaennyn’ probe of Maelstrom while attempting to understand themselves, caused an alteration in the resonance of the Maelstrom, you caused the Maelstrom to materialise in an non-destructive form, the ‘Dragon’ Staff. But why into the hand of a non-Glaennyn? That seems an almost sentient response.
You are not mortal and never have been. If a mortal soul were to grab the staff he would be obliterated by its awesome power…a mortal soul is just not ready to handle such a force. Azael took it from you in the fight on Menengor but survived because he was immortal. Hammoth has another theory but I will not deflect your thinking…the sagely Glaennyn may well be wise but he can be pompous at times!
Why into your hands?
I truly believe that the staff chooses the wielder…though at risk of contradicting myself not in a sentient way. Think of it in musical terms…when an instrument is tuned it resonates at an exact pitch…I believe that you and it are at the same frequency…furthermore I believe that no other creature on Grayhawk is so attuned.
"Our power, as you know, is not governed by Chael’s Laws or the Layers of Magic. Within an anti magic shield we can still call upon our magic. We draw our power from the Maelstrom itself; be it a devastating attack or the simple bending of a man’s will through a word – the reservoir we dip into is that ferocious storm. There is something within us that converts the energy of it into a desired result. Again this implies a measure of control within the Maelstrom itself.
"But there is a wider perspective. There have only been four constants in the universes that have emerged and fallen…four elements that have persisted throughout all of the universe’s manifestations. Promethius, the Unmaker, the Glaennyn and the Maelstrom. This is the true Universal Constant – the four elementals that guarantee life? Of course there are only two of them left but we are left asking the same questions regarding chickens and eggs all over again. But for now forget those questions and ask yourself why?
Choice, perhaps that is it. The Prometheus, the Unmaker and the Maelstrom do or did not have choices in the way we think of them, they all simply are or were. But the Glaennyn have chosen to survive, and understand, and you have succeeded to date. But the Glaennyn are also of the four elements. Perhaps the universe requires internal choice to have true and eternal direction, choices made by one from within the universe, no one from without. Perhaps Prometheus and the Unmaker knew this, perhaps you suspect it, The Maelstrom, the final aspect of the universal constant can only exercise its influence through a vessel that is not of the four elements of the universal constant.
"Why this seeming universal constant? What is its significance? I don’t believe the Maelstrom is an antidote or mirror of the Void – that nothingness is merely the vast space between the things – but its importance cannot be overlooked. Aside from the Maelstrom the Void is the only thing that Promethius cannot create – there may be something significant in this – it is to my knowledge the two things that he has no control over. In fact in one of the universes early beginnings I used the Maelstrom to destroy Promethius and the whole thing fell apart very quickly as the Unmaker took hold. Again I feel I am on the verge of a great discovery but I just can’t put the pieces of it together well enough to reveal a plausible theory.
Choice, perhaps that is it. The Prometheus, the Unmaker and the Glaennyn and made choices, Prometheus chose to create, the Unmaker destroy and the Glaennyn to understand. But the Glaennyn are also of four elements according to your understranding. Perhaps the universe requires internal choice to produce true and eternal direction, choices made by one from within the universe, no one from without. To put use a musical analogy the tune must be that of the universe itself and not of the universal constant. Perhaps Prometheus and the Unmaker knew this, perhaps you suspect it, The Maelstrom, the final aspect of the universal constant has no volition but its influence balances all through a vessel that is not of the four elements of the universal constant. The conductor?
"There is another link to the staff and our power…and indeed to what led it to become known as the Dragonstaff. Promethius created many races, many powers; he experimented with time, with seasons, with planes – indeed there have been a dizzying and eclectic mix of creations throughout the histories. But to my knowledge there is one creature that is always present: a thing he creates very quickly in all the universes he creates. Sometimes he delays it’s coming but always it emerges – I speak, of course, of the dragons. Perhaps it was a tribute to the Glaennyn, or perhaps it was his hope that he would create an eternal nemesis to rival us. That never once happened. No dragon ever raised a claw to us…though Promethius persisted with his design as only the Creator could.
"There were variations but if you put all the races of dragons from every universe side by side you would be stunned at how similar they were. It was Promethius’ obsession…or perhaps it was something more primeval. Like it or not the dragon was a powerful creature…perhaps the most powerful ever seen in the universe.
"But if Promethius did not create the Glaennyn, then who – or what – did?"
"Perhaps Prometheus dreamed of men, dragons and staffs" Perhaps he was Glaennyn?