The Origin of Dragon's Eye Lake

Part I: The Landing (Year 0)

The history of the Tower of Light is not a history of the Fifth World; it is a history of the previous one.

When the old multiverse was destroyed, a small band of heroes, the Celestial Knights, survived. They took refuge within the Ring of Power, a pre-cosmic artifact that is beyond the control of even the gods. From this impossible, immortal sanctuary, they watched as Anushirvan destroyed everything and, from the raw void, rebuilt the new multiverse.

As the new world cooled, the surviving Knights—led by their wisest and oldest member, Souwron—had to choose a new home. They chose a remote, defensible, and shallow valley on the continent of Aethelion. Here, they "landed" the Ring of Power.

The Ring's own reality-bending nature manifested its keep: the Tower of Light, an invisible, ethereal spire, appeared at the center of a newly-formed Dragon's Eye Lake. This was their new fortress, their sanctuary, and their secret.

Part II: The Great Work (The Dungeon & Eyelyss)

The Knights now had a home, but they needed a "filter." Their new duty was to find the next generation of heroes, but the Ring of Power was too dangerous to be approached by the unworthy.

The Knights themselves, led by Souwron, began their "Great Work." They chose the "sacred mountain" on the shore of the lake to be their new, fortified gateway. Using their collective, ancient power, they began to build the Dungeon of Fire.

This was not a simple construction of stone and traps. The Knights poured their own power, their ideals, and their psionic energy into the mountain, creating the "ever-shifting maze" from scratch. They "set the tone," designing it not just to test a person's body, but to look into their "mind, heart, and soul."

At the road that led into the mountain, they erected the massive, 30-foot-tall statues of Celestial Knights, a final, monumental warning to all who would seek to enter.

As the new world grew, the first mortal adventurers and heroes, drawn by the legend of the "Sacred Mountain," began to arrive. They found the statues, and the bravest (or most foolish) continued past them into the new Dungeon of Fire.

Most were found unworthy. Their hearts were impure, or their minds broke.The Dungeon let them leave. They fled, broken and humbled, back past the statues.

These "worthy failures" could not bring themselves to return to their old lives. They were a people obsessed, defined by the trial they could not pass. They settled at the foot of the statues, just outside the maze's entrance, in the shallow valley by the lake. This permanent settlement of hopefuls, failures, and trainees became the town of Eyelyss. It is a town defined by the Tower it cannot see, populated by those who were tested, failed, and are waiting to try again.

The Tower of Light is the home of the Celestial Knights. The tower is rendered invisible to any form of detection, even True Sight is unable to view it. The gods themselves are able to perceive it but beings of lesser stature are unable to do so by any means.

The tower is rumored to have many hundreds of floors. It is also rumored to be trapped by anyone who enters the tower with the intent to harm. Those who do become cursed as undead until they can atone for their transgressions.

Dungeon of Fire

The Dungeon of Fire is the maze-like area that surrounds and protects the Tower of Light. It employs extremely powerful magics to maintain the structure, traps, and the creatures within. This maze is an ever shifting maze to make it so multiple ventures into the be unique experiences. Those powerful magics also prevent teleportation in to, out of, or through the maze save to the Celestial Knights that cannot enter the maze except by their express choice. The maze is not expressly intended to be a battlefield and can be passed without battle. Most of the creatures within the maze would prefer to destroy those that enter the maze.

The Armory

The Armory is a forge that spans many levels of technology from typical forging to the ability to produce highly advanced devices. The only restriction on what the Armory's Forge can create is the craftsman working the forge must know how to construct the item in question. All other resources then become available to the craftsman. The expansive area contains large lockers to hold the gear for each Celestial Knight that is currently in service. Each locker is similar to a portable hole, where it is larger on the inside and can hold enough equipment to outfit a small army.

The Ring of Power

The Ring of Power has existed prior to the multiverse as it is known. It possesses power so great that even the Supreme God Anushirvan cannot undo it. Is a 20 foot diameter ring of radiant positive energy that is about 18 inches thick and sits about 4 foot 6 inches above the ground. It is the source of power for the Celestial Knights