Thread Weaving
Man's life is laid in the loom of time
To a pattern he does not see,
While the weavers work and the shuttles fly
Till the dawn of eternity.
Some shuttles are filled with silver threads
And some with threads of gold,
While often but the darker hues
Are all that they may hold.
But the weaver watches with skilful eye
Each shuttle fly to and fro,
And sees the pattern so deftly wrought
As the loom moves sure and slow.
Taken from "The Loom of Time" Anon
It is unlikely that Jase Evron realised the impact his discovery of the Threads would have upon Lalenth. Historians still marvel that he shared his knowledge and did not simply attempt to use the Threads himself to accrue more temporal power. It took Lalenth many years to grow accustomed to this new and strange art; it took longer still for the city's delicate power balance to entirely resettle. The 176 Act ensured that only the nobility could be educated in the arts of the Threads stabilising their position but at the same time sparked a smouldering resentment in the lower classes. Even amongst the nobility, only a select few have the necessary talents to see and manipulate the Threads. Levacedus Aeolus once said "Thread Weaving is not for the impatient. It requires a subtle touch that one must be born with. Furthermore, discipline and time are required to train a mind to see and manipulate the Tapestry". Talent seems to run in families for the most part, most potently within House Aeolus.
The usual reaction of a novitiate seeing the Threads for the first time is one of complete awe. Threads appear as a shimmering cobweb of shining filaments that link and cover all objects, but are most strongly attached to living things. Weaver's refer to this interlinking network as "The Tapestry" - an apt term; manipulating one thread frequently causes shifts in all the others also. This gives an inherent unpredictability to working with the Threads as no Thread Weaver can concentrate long enough to assess every link in the Tapestry before carrying out his work. Indeed it is likely that should he seriously endeavour to do so, the sight and complexity would overwhelm him, perhaps fraying his wits permanently.
The ingredients for Thread Weaving rituals can be rare and expensive - none more so than the focus that each Weaver must carry. This focus may take the form of a necklace, brooch or ring and must be made of pure lalenthrium. Each entrant to the Academy must somehow afford such a focus to be commissioned from the Alchemists Guild (for the raw material) and the Smiths Guild (to work the metal to the desired form). Without this focus a student will not be admitted to the Academy. Although none doubt the necessity of the focus, some of the lower classes and indeed a few of the minor nobles note that the prohibitive cost of the focus is another guarantee that only the elite may be educated as Thread Weavers.