The Sunken Archive

The Sunken Archive

sunken-archive

"The knowledge is there. It's only the access that's difficult." — Standard Veilwarden understatement

The Sunken Archive was The Irenian Empire's greatest library — a purpose-built repository housing centuries of magical research, imperial administrative records, philosophical scholarship, and what the librarians of the time called "the deep archive": classified records of the Empire's most sensitive operations, including (presumably) Valdris the Architect's full research documentation.

It did not rise with the islands on the Night of The Sundering. The section of the city it occupied sank. It is currently at the bottom of a lake on the surface of The Deadlands, sealed by pressure, distance, and five centuries of unchecked growths.

Parts of it are still intact.

Location

The Archive lies beneath what was the eastern administrative district of Vel Ira, in the section that sank rather than rose on the Night of the Sundering. The sinking created a shallow basin depression; within decades, water accumulation from The Deadlands' geological changes had filled this to create a lake, now called (in expedition parlance) the Grey Pool.

The Grey Pool is approximately four kilometres across and up to thirty metres deep at its centre. The Archive's main building lies in a section eight to twenty metres below the surface.

Reaching the Grey Pool requires:

  1. Navigating through the cloud layer — dangerous but achievable
  2. Surviving the Deadlands surface approach — the Pool is in a relatively stable region by Deadlands standards, but the transit route is not
  3. Dealing with whatever lives in the Pool at this point (various expedition reports, widely variant)
  4. Underwater access to a building that was not designed to be accessed underwater

None of this is easy. People have managed it. Several have not returned.

Physical State

The Archive was built to survive. Imperial construction standards for significant buildings included substantial magical reinforcement, and the Archive was classified as a Tier One preservation structure — the highest category, built to last a millennium. The building's stone shell and internal reinforcing framework are largely intact.

What five centuries of submersion have done:

Water infiltration: the interior is partially flooded. Lower levels — including the deep archive — are fully submerged. Upper levels have partial air pockets, though these are increasingly compressed by structural settling.

Biological colonization: extensive growths cover the exterior. Bioluminescent organisms have colonized the partially-flooded upper levels; their nature is unknown and their behavior in the presence of intruders varies by expedition account from passive to extremely aggressive.

Document condition: Conventional paper and parchment are, of course, ruined. However, the Imperial Archive also used aetheric inscription — magical encoding on stone tablets and crystal plates — for all significant records. These survive. Reading them requires either knowledge of the Empire's inscription protocols or a device capable of decoding them. The Veilwardens possess the former; The Ashen Court possesses both.

Known Contents

Based on pre-Sundering records and catalogues (partially preserved in other locations):

General holdings:

  • Complete Irenian legal and administrative code (relevant to The Ashen Court's legitimacy claims)
  • Five centuries of astronomical and magical research
  • Empress Sylara Voss's complete official correspondence (her private letters are elsewhere)
  • The medical and genealogical records of the imperial nobility

The Deep Archive:

  • Valdris the Architect's complete research files, including the full Heartstone design documentation
  • The Veilwardens' pre-Sundering monitoring data, including measurements that were classified at the time
  • Intelligence reports on the eastern provinces' ley-line situation that apparently drove the Heartstone project
  • At least three items listed only as "SEALED — Director authorization only" in the surviving catalogue

The third category — the sealed items — is what every major faction ultimately wants. The Veilwardens want the monitoring data and Valdris's full files. The Ashen Court wants the administrative records and anything that relates to Valdris. The Iron Compact wants anything that would give them advantage in the others' quests and would prefer the others not get to it first.

Previous Expeditions

Veilwarden Expedition, Year 198: First confirmed successful entry. Retrieved seventeen aetheric tablets from the upper levels before bioluminescent organisms forced withdrawal. Tablets contained partial astronomical records of limited immediate utility. Two of four expedition members returned.

Ashen Court Expedition, Year 267: Reached the lower levels using a technique that has not been shared. Retrieved an unknown quantity of materials. Three survivors of eight entered, all of whom entered Ashen Court secure custody immediately on return. No public report.

Independent Expedition ("The Cassivane Group"), Year 341: Funded by what was later determined to be The Iron Compact shadow financing. Reached the Archive. No survivors.

Veilwarden Expedition, Year 489 (13 years ago): Most recent confirmed attempt. Four Wardens, purpose-built submersible equipment. Made contact with — something — in the deep archive and withdrew without casualties, but also without materials. The expedition lead, Arcwarden Corvin Thessaly, was subsequently reassigned to The Spire of Echoes research program and has declined to discuss what was encountered. He is understood to have authored a sealed report.

The Something in the Deep Archive

Multiple independent expedition accounts reference an anomalous presence in the Archive's lower levels. Descriptions vary. Consistent elements:

  • Not hostile, or not immediately hostile — most accounts describe withdrawal as a choice, not a flight
  • Associated with geometric light patterns resembling Valdris the Architect's notation system
  • Capable of communication, in some sense, though what is communicated is typically described as "impressions" rather than language
  • Aware of the expeditioners

The Veilwardens have not published their theory about what this is.

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