There were none present to see its inception, though storytellers and bards over the centuries have offered tales and myths to explain its mysterious arrival. Whether it was built or summoned is unknown. The truth is, none actually know for certain where the Wheelhouse came from. Many, in fact believe the Wheelhouse is a tower built by the First Gods who departed Mythren prior to the Age of Dominion, and it is here that their secrets and truths are kept. The purpose of this tower, however, is clear. The Wheelhouse is the only power holding the broken remains of Mythren together.
The world that was should have been lost with the Breaking of the Moon. The destruction rendered in the sky was only the beginning of the cataclysm for the surface world as fiery fragments rained down with ruination in its wake. It is said that the Breaking sundered not only this world, but all worlds connected to Mythren—a collision of realities and fey realms and a collapse of time and space. It was in those moments of utter destruction that the Wheelhouse appeared, dreamlike, out of the chaos.
It is a place shrouded in myth, and none alive can truly say what the tower is, or who or what resides within its secret rooms. Yet there are some answers, though few, as to what the Wheelhouse holds inside. Within its deepest levels exists the Dreaming Pool. It is a vast body of water, lit from within by tiny spheres of light that float and bob in the still water like jellyfish. The chamber housing the pool is immense, illuminated only by the small pinpoints of light in the water. Stalking the rim is the Fisherman, a tall, and stooped figure clad in back robes. It is he who captures the light and sends it along its way to the Cradle Sanctuaries of the Sanctuary Cities where that energy is used to infuse the bandiar with life. A hooded apparition that carries a long, netted pole, the Fisherman’s origins and identity are as mysterious as the tower in which he dwells.
Muses and sooths are also known denizens of the Wheelhouse, though their origins stem from the outside world. The muses, beautiful young gypsy girls touched with the power of prophecy, fill the dark chambers and corridors with their song. It is a type of magic they weave—one of many types the Wheelhouse relies upon to maintain its existence as well as its hold on the surrounding drifts. Sooths are children brought to the tower and educated there in all things relating to the former ages, as well as relevant happenings in the Remains. The ancient tomes and scrolls used in their education are merely a fraction of the artifacts vaulted here, however. The Wheelhouse is the last great bastion of collected knowledge and tales, called the Chronicles, once recorded by the Mystics.
Empowered by one such relic are the branded, those who serve the Wheelhouse as regulators of forbidden magic in the Remains. Upon their face is a rune-marking that grants them the ability to drain arcane power from a given source. They are sent out to the drifts when enchanted items are found by those living in the Remains, or on rare occasions, when magic is irresponsibly wielded by the bandiar. They, like the Wheelhouse itself, are an unforgiving lot willing to make the necessary sacrifices for a world that could not possibly understand their actions.
There are others, too, that dwell within the tower, though their natures and identities remain hidden even from others who have spent time within the walls. What is not a mystery is the fact that out of all that has survived the so-called end of the world, the Wheelhouse stands as a seemingly omnipotent lynchpin to a fraying existence. Likely its presence has penetrated all realities, conjoining them in the shattered remnants of what was once the mythical Dreamscape. It is here, amongst the drifting wreckage of all that ever was, and all that was ever dreamed, that the Wheelhouse draws its power.
But the terrible truth is that the power of the Wheelhouse is at long last fading. The necessary energy required to hold the world together has taken a dire toll upon the tower, and as conflict and rebellion grow in the Remains, the magic of the Wheelhouse decays. Recovered artifacts and reclaimed magic help to fuel the Wheelhouse, but already the strain can be seen as more of the Sanctuary Cities fall and the Cradles are abandoned. In these locations no more bandiar can be created to bring order to the chaos, and the consequences are apparent not only in the Remains, but in the drift itself.
Todd VanHooser
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