Abar

An abar (pronounced /əˈbɑr/; plural "abiri", /əˈbɪriː/) is a talisman of enormous power created by absorbing all life and magic from an entire veigur of Lothenmydhe. Though abiri are not in any way evil in and of themselves, and can be used for beneficial purposes, the creation of an abar is universally considered a supremely evil act, involving as it does the destruction of a world and generally the deaths of millions or billions of intelligent creatures—or the unwilling assimilation of their souls, which is arguably worse.

Creation

The creation of an abar is a complex process, and not one that can occur by chance. It involves powerful magics and years of preparation. The creator of the abar first chooses the object that is to become the abar, which could be anything—a rock, an apple, a book, a statue. (There is even one example of a living being becoming an abar—the Zian—, though not intentionally; the process was intended for a different vessel.) He then works the complex spells that draw into this receptacle all the life and power of the veigur. If done directly, this is a slow process, taking days or even years to come to completion. Some mages have developed a method, however, of getting the actual absorption done more quickly, therefore minimizing the risk of interruption, albeit at the cost of a longer preparation time. This method involves first the creation of a focus device called a gaçal that essentially slowly forges a link to all the world's life and energy, so that once the process is ready, all the power is drawn into the abar nearly instantaneously.

Whichever way it's done, the formation of the abar leaves the veigur it was created from lifeless and barren, without any plants and animals on its surface and without sun or star in its sky. Even the veigur's djel is absorbed into the abar, its power fueling the talisman. The only creature remaining in the veigur is the abar's creator, and the only object, apart from rocks and soil, the abar itself (and sometimes the gaçal). The desolation of the devastated area is not preternaturally maintained, and over time wildlife from neighboring vegari or areas of the Wild Lands may colonize the site of the emptied world, or the gods may establish a new veigur there, but all the world's former inhabitants are forever gone.

Powers

The powers of abiri vary considerably, and seem to depend both on the veigur they are created from and, to some degree, on the vessel used to create them. The exact processes involved are complicated enough, however, to make it impossible to accurately predict all the powers an abar will have before its creation. The powers of an abar are invariably immense, however; abiri number among the most powerful talismans of Dverelei, or indeed of any cosmos.

Claiming

Generally, the full powers of an abar are available only to a person who has some forged sort of link or attunement to the object. This attunement, known as "claiming" the abar, may require little more than simple possession of the abar, but in many cases matters are more complicated. It is the matter of claiming that leads some mages to create abiri in the first place; with proper preparation, they can arrange for themselves to be automatically attuned to the newly created abar, therefore being immediately able to utilize its powers.

Multipresence

Multiple copies of each abar exist—infinitely many copies, in fact, if, as some believe, the number of vegari is infinite. When an abar is created, the original vessel vanishes, but an abar with the form of the vessel, with identical powers and appearance, comes into existence in every veigur in Lothenmydhe. (It is technically the copy in the nearest veigur to which the abar's creator becomes attuned.) When a new veigur is created, a new copy of every abar appears in that veigur. When a veigur is destroyed or fades away, each abar associated with it also disappears.

The abiri are not, however, necessarily in easily accessible locations. They may be buried far beneath the earth, or sunk at the bottom of a sea, or hung in space among the stars. Indeed, even though copies exist of every abar in a given veigur, it may be that not a single one of those copies has ever been found and utilized. Adventurers and would-be conquerors aware of the nature of the abiri, however, may spend years or lifetimes searching for one to make use of its power.

An abar may be removed from the veigur it pertains to—which means that there may, conceivably, be two copies of an abar within a given veigur. Abiri may even be brought to other planes. An abar, or rather an instance of an abar, however, remains tied to the veigur in which it first appeared, which is known as its home veigur; certain spells may call it back, and it can also be induced to return to its home veigur by some other means as well.

Destruction

Abiri cannot be permanently destroyed by conventional means; they may not have any particular resistance to damage (though some certainly do), but if an abar is physically destroyed, it will simply reappear whole somewhere in its home veigur. There may be a way to undo the creation of an abar and restore the veigur drained to create it to its former state, but if so no one has hit upon it yet. Scholars are fairly certain that if such an act is possible, it would involve the complete and irrevocable destruction of the abar's vessel, but for the restoration of a world this would be an acceptable price. Whether the abar must be present for its destruction to be worked remains an open question, as is, if so, whether it would suffice to have at hand a single copy of the abar or whether it would be necessary to gather multiple copies from many worlds. In any case, many scholars and heroes have long worked to discover a way to reverse the terrible process that leads to the abiri's creation. Thus far, none have succeeded.

See also

• List of abiri