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.
Upon first seeing what the Thread Weavers refer to as the Tapestry, the usual reaction is one of awe. Threads look like shimmering lines of light, the finer they are the more fragile the Thread. The Tapestry is a cobweb of flickering light covering places and people. One cannot force the sight of the Threads. Chase it too hard and it will fragment and disappear from sight as gossamer on the breeze. 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”.
The ingredients for Thread Weaving ritual 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, broach 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 Smith’s 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.
Some are content to merely read and understand the Tapestry around them; then there are those who wish to twist it for their own end. When wishing to affect the Tapestry in this way a Thread Weaver must understand that all things are bound together. Cause and effect. If one pushes the moon they will also pull the tides. It is a subtle balance that if disrupted may have cataclysmic effects.
Whilst all the nobles may hold access to the Thread Weaving lore; Cressida Aeolus has the greatest understanding and leads the Academy of Thread Weavers. Referred to as the Proconsul, she only teaches a small group of students, who in turn teach those below them. There are many rituals established that students may learn, both complex and simple. However, the Academy welcomes research into new methods and effects meaning a pupil need not despair if unable to find anything to their tastes in the Academy’s ledgers.