Lorewarden
| Lorewarden | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Civic Archivists and Historians |
| Realm | Terasil |
| Capital | Kar-Thal |
| Leadership | Oskaet-Zal |
The Lorewardens are the stewards of memory, civic law, and ancestral continuity in Orasian society. Based in Kar-Thal and active throughout the sacred districts of Kel-Siruun, they are responsible for inscribing, interpreting, and preserving every major civic decree, genealogical record, and resonance event within the realm of Terasil. More than scribes, Lorewardens are tonal guardians of Oras’s will—ensuring the past remains harmonically aligned with the present. Lorewardens also compose half the Council of Stone.
History
The Lorewardens emerged shortly after the founding of Kar-Thal in the Era of Isolation, when oral transmission of ancestral knowledge proved insufficient for the increasing complexity of civic life. Their order was formalized during the early deliberations of the Council of Stone, with the establishment of the Ashlar Vaults as their sacred archive.
During the Great Erosion, Lorewardens led expeditions to salvage memory-stones and law-tablets from collapsing districts, often embedding themselves in dangerous fault zones to preserve Orasian continuity. Their role deepened with the introduction of memory-oaths and harmonic law-binding.
Structure and leadership
The order is led by the Senior Archivist Oskaet-Zal, a Lorewarden selected through lineage, stone trial, and oath-line evaluation. Below them are tiers of Archivists, Record-Binders, Stone-Chiselers, and Tonal Interpreters. Apprentices are inducted through the Rite of Echoes, in which they must harmonize with a living record-stone.
Each Lorewarden specializes in one or more disciplines: ancestral lineage, law-stone carving, resonance mapping, or decree harmonics. Promotions are rarely discussed aloud and often marked only by a shift in stone-glyph attire.
Major settlements and strongholds
- Kel-Siruun, Kar-Thal – Central enclave and location of the Ashlar Vaults
- Vaults of Loen-Karith – A sealed retreat for the interpretation of forgotten oaths and conflicting genealogies
Relations with other factions
The Lorewardens operate in close alliance with the Council of Stone, particularly the six Lorewarden seats on the council itself. They advise the Stonewardens during periods of civic review or memory disputes, and maintain ritual parity with the Sanctuary of Echoes.
They occasionally clash with rogue oathcarvers and undocumented memory-keepers who operate outside of sanctioned lineage protocols.
Notable figures
- Salhaet – Keeper of the city’s birth records; known interpreter of dream-stone fractures
- Archivist Irun-Shaal – Elder harmonist who authored the Glyph Concord of Stillwake
- Vehal-Tor – Designed the echo-responsive inscription grid used in post-Erosion civic mapping
Traditions and practices
Lorewardens speak only when aligned to the local chamber’s resonance. Their tools are attuned to their individual tonal imprint, and inscriptions must be made during specific echo intervals—times when the stone “listens.”
They observe the **Cycle of Recollection**, a span of quiet inscription and shared harmonic calibration where no new laws may be passed. During this time, all existing civic records are re-harmonized.
Memory-oaths, once recorded by a Lorewarden, are considered legally and spiritually immutable.
Legacy and influence
Without the Lorewardens, Orasian civilization would lose not only its records, but its resonance with the past. Their inscriptions form the spine of Terasil’s law, ritual, and civic rhythm. Though sometimes viewed as aloof or obscurantist, their presence is essential to the cohesion of Orasian identity—carving the echo of what was, so that what is may endure.