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“What can you tell me about the Cave of Ancestors?”

“Oh, I am shocked you don’t know about it, young one.”

“I just want to know if it is real.”

“Oh, it is very much real, lad. You see, thousands upon thousands of years ago the ancient arpines revered the cave as sacred. It was said to be a place of pure spiritual essence, a place where the veil was at its most thin, a place where one could connect to the gods and our past ancestors like no other.

When you entered the cave you would be greeted by a dazzling sight: astrite crystals sprouted all over the walls, tiny streams would flow down the rocks which echoed off it’s high ceiling like music, and in the center was the largest astrite crystal ever seen by arpine eyes at that point.

There was an opening on the high walls through which the light of Astir’s moon would shine. The moonlight would strike the sacred stone, refracting through it and then upon all the crystals lining the walls and the streams that gently flowed through the cave. The whole cave would be bathed in the divine glow and sparkle like the stars in a way that made it seem like the Nightlands had come down to Krathal itself.

It was said that during this weekly event was when the veil was at it’s most thin. It was an intersection of worlds. It was when you could view our ancestors who’d long since passed on to the stars to work in the world around us and also be able to speak directly to the gods who govern it.

Shamans from overpacks all over the continent would make pilgrimages to the cave, bringing along anyone who desired to go with them. They would have rituals in the cave, they would then sleep next to the sacred stone to directly meet with our gods and ancestors in the dreamscape, or even project into the astral world.

That was until it was lost.”

“How was the cave lost?”

“No one knows, all that anyone knows is that four shamans from four of the overpacks on the great northern continent were the last ones to ever see it before it vanished: Umberin of the Deeptrackers in the Shadow Forest, Cyaqua of the Tempestriders in the Southeastern Coast and Archipelago, Lightfoot of the Sunwalkers from the Windy Plains, and Sigrid of the Alprunners from the Foothills.”

“Has anyone ever tried to look for it?”

“Of course, but only one fellow ever got close. An archaeological explorer some generations ago by the name of Dr. Danger Runner, who concluded it must be in these very mountains! But he died before he could find it.”

“I see. Is there any of Dr. Runner’s work left remaining?”

“Probably in the archives I’d imagine.”

“I see. I will be going now. Thank you for your time”

“You’re welcome. And may you be guided by the wisdom of the gods and the lights of our ancestors in this journey,” the elderly female arpine ended off on as she smiled warmly to the young male arpine sitting across from her, who was fidgeting with an astrite crystal in his hand.

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This is a special project I spent the past week or so on. And it was a big project, the save file for this is like 350 mb and the original unscaled export was like 40 mb. Had to scale it down a lot to upload, lol.

This was ambitious, and I probably put an insane amount of work into something that likely won’t get much attention lol. But I am more than happy with the results here regardless!

I’ll probably take a break from art for a while to recharge from this.

But here you go, some ancient arpine characters and ancient arpine lore and legends.

Art, characters, and story © Me.