Chapter 3: The Rise of the Magmar Aspects

After the Touch of Eyos, the Magmar lived for hundreds of years. They also gained the ability to return to the chrysalis and be reborn anew, making them virtually immortal. Without their Queen Mother, they could not reproduce, but they were not leaderless — over time, a Magmar named Valknu became their alpha. Valknu, as their Prime Focii, discovered a way to save the Magmars’ deepest memories as a gift to their future selves. Each cycle required them to re-experience and reinterpret their memories in a process known as the The Dance of Dreams. In order to preserve their memories through time, the Magmar developed a magical song-like script that contained their collective experiences in a group consciousness known as The Thirteen Aspects.

Over the millennia, the Magmar developed a balanced philosophy of the world, a reflection of their own harmonious path to constant rebirth. They were solitary yet spontaneous, focused on simplicity and the wonders of nature, and detached from personal desires. They mostly kept to themselves, but sometimes travelled great distances to interact with other sentient beings.

Unlike other races, the Magmar learned to be still and commune with the Great Tree of Eyos, sometimes spending several kalpas — hundreds of years — to achieve dialogue with it. Thus they learned about the Great Blooming and began to worship and celebrate Eyos as the ultimate bringer of birth, growth, and rebirth.

When meditating together and bonding with the Great Tree, the Thirteen Aspects could see out in the world and even glimpse the ephemeral tapestry of time, but doing so cost them their individual identity, their sense of self. Ultimately, they were unable to achieve complete ascension or see more than a hint of the future. Thus, they were cursed to forever repeat their lives, never fully controlling their own destinies.