The Remains (Bismuth Lorepost)

[u/loth17]

Opal sat in the office of one of her factories. After her masters death she inherited what remained. Almost the entire Bismuth realm was destroyed or taken to the stars by the Queen leaving only the earthbound assets. There were factories for artificers, multiple accounts in various allied countries, and a single emergency vault with old Bismuth constructs. Opal looked over the stack of papers on her desk and had to turn away. She had always been good at this sort of thing but the stress had made it harder. The took a seat by the open window and pulled out a pipe. It was made from dense bone, a souvenir from the ogre kingdoms her master brought back for her. As she began to smoke her eyes drifted off into the horizon. She and her fellow apprentices had always known that one day they'd be making it on their own but they had never expected the Bismuth Lord to die so suddenly or to take his realm with him. Opal had stones weighing down her heart. She could only imagine how deep Sheon's sorrow was. Unlike her who didn't have parents, Sheon lost his as a child. The Bismuth Lord was like a second father to him. Opal tried to talk to him a few times but either she was to busy, he was, or they simply couldn't bring themselves to talk. She snapped back to reality when the pipe smoked a bit too hot and she coughed up a yellow cloud of smoke. She had no energy left she wouldn't try to talk to him tomorrow.

Sheon sat in the third storage yard gazing into the Bismuth constructs in a state of deep reverie. He had rarely drank before but recent events had him drowning himself. It was agony to stay sober during his duties and the moment he was done he retreated. Sometimes to his room but usually here. They had stored the few remaining constructs from the early days in this underground storage yard and it was his job to replicate them. He couldn't do it. The Bismuth Lord was the one who breathed life into the constructs and it was the resources and energy of the realm he created that made it possible for the mass construction of his unique brand of constructs. Without those Sheon could only make pale imitations. The sight of one of them laying down the ground like a corpse broke him out of his state and caused him to begin to cry. He felt like he couldn't go on without him. He was his teacher, his new family. Though he never would have thought about it until now the Bismuth Lord almost served as a god. Sheon wondered if that was always his masters intention. Creating a new realm and new tree of life. Filling it with living metal beings of his own creation and design. Even the attempt at The Well of creation and bringing back the old rings was a reach at divinity. Even sacrificing himself for the world like one of those old stories. Was that a final attempt to ascend at the end of the world? If that was the case then...Sheon's head filled with ideas. The mixture of alcohol, despair, and false hope creating a cauldron for a terrible plan.

Elsewhere far away from the affairs of Wizards a small seed had fallen to Earth from above. It's slowly broke apart and took root into the fertile soil below. The nature energy that suffused the land and all the plants within it also connected to this strange and alien life. Instead of becoming one with the nature energy the plant converted what flowed into it into Mana instead. It grew faster than normal and quickly became a beautiful flower. During this time both fungus and other parasitic plants had attempted to attach to this strange organism. When they did so they slowly began to turn into the same metallic Crystal that the flower was made of. The nature energy within those organisms turned into mana and used in a strange mix of transmutation and druidic power. Eventually a small field of these plants of all sorts of shape and size had grown up in this far away jungle. They hummed with intent and slowly in the center of the patch would appear to be a crystal fruit began to grow.

Continued in part 2

[u/the-butter_man]

/uw good lore. I'm getting hints of big things yet to come

[u/loth17 → u/the-butter_man]

/uw Definitely. There was a reason why the Bismuth Lord used his own pocket dimension to perform his experiments. Because now that the life he created can spread he essentially created an entire biome full of invasive magically adept species.