A Discussion on the
Nature of the Eerith
As transcribed by Kerjavik of Myr-Kûn

"Discussion about the Corrupted is not something for young ears to be listening to. But nevertheless I will continue.

"Mind, though. Much of what I tell you is meerly a tale passed down from Master to Apprentice. I think that much is now only a moral story about the dangers of hubris - excessive pride.

"The Mir Sorcerors first encountered these beings in the aftermath of the cataclsym surrounding the fall of Avaerand. The ones we now call the Corrupted were in a state of confusion, and indeed the Mirani did not even recognise them as living beings, but first though of them as some after effect of the cataclysm.

"Somehow they gained some power over the Corrupted. Whether this control was due to force, or agreement is now lost, but the result was that the Sorcerors of Mir were taught by these beings many arcane secrets - which they then used to continue their conqueset of Qaiyore.

"Sad really.

"They named themselves the Eerith, a word which had no meaning in any tounge of the day, but came to mean many things in later years. They said that they came from before the Herentaena'myr."

"Before the Dreaming? Don't you mean beyond the Dreaming?"

"That, I presume, is what the Sorcerors said as well, but the Eerith refused to change their story. They claimed that they were the 'first lights in the darkness' and that they spent their younger days alone and without comfort. In the darkness they called to each other and came together in a great conflagration. The light from their existence uncovered many wonders in the darkness, and they treasured these wonders, for they gave meaning to their existance.

"Together they worked for years uncounted. They brought together the many lights and wonders and created a great jewel in the darkness that would be a reflection of all that they had found.

"This great work was yet incomplete, when they found that they were not alone in the darkness. Someone had gone before them and had created something that was beyond their understanding. They paused in their work to look upon this creation. This creation was our world, the infinitely varied and the perfect creation of the Maker. The Eerith saw that their original work was as a child's in comparison. They then set about the task of creating their own world, using their growing understanding of this one to further their own work.

"But just as they started, they were wrenched away from their work and left in a land they couldn't understand.

"Here m'boy, is where the Sorcerors appeared. While the Eerith were still reeling from this transition, the Sorcerors took the Eerith to be servants. Imagine that! Those who had endeavored to recreate the universe were reduced to waiting on old men!

"But for some reason, they didn't complain. They just served in silence.

"Over the many generation of service, the Sorcerors learnt much, about magic, the very fabric of the universe if the Eerith are to be believed. Many of the lessons you take draw upon the sayings of the Eerith, but we still don't understand what they are.

"Not that they didn't try to understand the Eerith. Those Sorcerors learnt a great deal about the Eerith, much which we seemed to have chosen to forget over the intervening years.

"The Eerith consider themselves to individually represent them all. Or rather, that while they are all essentially identical, they each listen to a different facet of their personality. The Eerith are not beings of flesh, but beings of magic. They would take on different forms the way we wear a different shirt. The descriptions recorded are as varied as those who looked upon them, but commonly they are described as "fiery winged beings of light" or "tall men clothed in light and music".

"There were supposed to be five main 'types' of Eerith, each of which represented a different facet of their nature.

"The Sorcerors named these five groups according to how they behaved. Favorite among them were the Guardians. These Eerith were the most understandable of them all. They were used as mytic watchdogs by the Sorcerors, because whatever you gave to them to protect would stay protected. They were also used as agents of destruction and fear as they chose to learn the arts of warfare.

"The other group in great favour with the Sorcerors were those sho became known as the Alchemists. They seemed to take delight in the act of transforming one thing to another. What they changed seemed to matter little as changing a rock into gold seemed to have as much significance to them as convincing a man to take up a new profession.

"A very similar group were the Architects. Although it is recorded taht they were more interested in the process of creation. They were also the most proficient at gathering diverse talents and using them for a greater purpose. Many of the great towers in far away Mir are partly the work of the Architects.

"The last two groups have often been labelled as failures by the Sorcerors. I think it's because these were the least understandable of all the Eerith. The Explorers only ever wanted to see the next horizon, learn about a new technique. But they never seemed to want to work at anything. The Sorcerors tried to use them as spies and scouts, but even that was sometimes a failure as often they would disappear for much longer than intended - sometimes years at a time.

"The biggest challenge to the Sorcerors were the Mystics. These Eerith seemed to spend much of their time doing absolutely nothing! They comtemplated the myteries of the world. The Sorcerors learnt their greatest magics from the Mystics, but even so, most of what the Sorcerors wrote down from the sayings of the Mytics is still poorly understood even today. Many of us suspect that it was the Mystics that were responsible for the rebellion that was the beginning of the end for the Empire of Mir.

"The strangest thing about the Eerith was that they seemed to defy the laws of magic - and the laws of reality as we understand them. Somehow they seemed to be able to create in moments effects that a Man requires many weeks of work for. Not only that, but their very presence seems to make the practice of magic that much easier.

"Annaeyana itself is an example of this. It remains aloft, even to this day many many thousands of years after it's appearance. But as any apprentice will tell you, magic is not permanent, it is transitory by it's very nature. But Annaeyana had no magics cast upon it. It follows it's own laws, requiring no magic to sustain it!

"That was another reason that the Sorcerors desired the Eerith so much, for the spells that a Sorceror cast would remain until the Eerith departed - without any additional exertion on the Sorceror's behalf.

"When the Sorcerors gathered to take Annaeyana west to lay waste to new territories, it seems that the gathered Eerith decided to take their leave. What exactly happened on that fateful day remains a mystery to this day still. But suddenly Annaeyana plunged towards the ground, and only the great sacrifice of the Arch-Mage of the day prevented the destruction of Annaeyana. So now it floats, unattended, above the desert tribes who tremble at it's passing, only kept aloft by the great magics of the Arch-Mage who died all those years ago.