        
 
|
Entry /
Kyuem Kyuem are admittedly one of the least understood artifacts that we know about. They are constructed of three progressively smaller stones stacked on top of each other, surmounted by a power stone. Functional kyuems are always associated with a stable portal to or from the Ethereal Plane, and can be observed in each of the Brion brothers' keeps. However, the exact relationship between stabilized portals and kyuems is not yet clear. It is known that in order to work properly and remain active, a kyuem must be placed and actived in a place of steady (and perhaps large) ether flow. A kyuem in some way has the potential to stabilize a portal it is near. The potential of danger is quite high, either if one is constructed by the untrained, or improperly placed and activated. Some theorize that the kyuem powers its associated portal by channeling the power of the ether flowing through the area into the portal, giving it stability. Others believe the kyuem does not provide power itself, but rather absorbs excess ether and provides additional ether, evening out the flow, in order for a portal to remain stable, acting as a sort of ethereal "waterwheel". Until recent times, only one kyuem had been built, to public knowledge, in 548. Its construction was attempted on Centaur Island, and it vanished immediately after placement without activating stably. A number of ethereal creatures appeared as it failed. Events in the Years 566 and 567 led to the placement and successful activation of a number of kyuems. Damage to the Ethereal Plane, said by the Brions to be due to excessive use of Ethereal Portal Stones by exiles but possibly due to disastrous experiments by Tenebrion in the Ethereal Plane, led to sporadic focal merger of the Ethereal Plane with our material plane. These Ethereal Incursions created unstable portals and led to massive influx of Ethereal creatures into our plane. During these Ethereal Incursions, kyuems were set and activated successfully, leading to stabilization of the tears linking the two planes. However, unlike the truly stable kyuems and portals set up by the Brion brothers, these kyuems appear inert. Nevertheless, the kyuem stabilizes the linkage between the area in our plane where it was placed, and the region of the Ethereal Plane that was involved in the Ethereal Incursion, which somehow acquires a shadow-kyuem. In practical terms, any portal created in an area with a kyuem is forced to open only in the linked region of the other plane. Travelers using Ethereal Portal Stones to create portals leading to a random part of the Ethereal plane find that when these portals happen to open into a kyuem-stabilized former Incursion snell, and they then open another portal in the Ethereal Plane, they end up not at Portal Island as expected, but in the snell in our plane containing the corresponding kyuem. Conversely, purposely opening an Ethereal Portal on a snell with a kyuem in our plane always leads to the corresponding region of the Ethereal Plane. Knowing that a portal has a fixed destination can be quite useful for transportation. Comments from Lugubrion (Autumn 567) about our poor upkeep of these apparently inactive Incursion kyuems led Purple Haze to discover that "feeding" an ethercle to an inactive kyuem not only helps preserve it, but also activates it for a short time and re-opens the closed portal (leading to the linked area, of course). Related Entries: |
