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in: Quest Character, Associations, Structures, and Crews

A.R.D.E.N.T.

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A.R.D.E.N.T., or the Arcane Research Development Enchanting and Tinkering Group, is a secretive organization dedicated to the study and application of magical devices. The organization became active in the year 439, and their agents have been involved in many of the major historical events in Oberin ever since. They are especially notable for their activities in the Void Realm, and for building the Voidgate in Foehan.

A.R.D.E.N.T. occupies an awkward place in the political framework of Oberin. Their agents have always been welcomed into the various towns and cities, yet the organization as a whole is at the center of numerous controversies, including the theft of Marali's curio piece and other priceless artifacts. Furthermore, their agents are notoriously tight-lipped, and they have aroused considerable suspicion due to their secrecy and reticence during worldwide crises such as the Black Shadow Assassinations.

ARDENT 1 – Edgard copy

Edgard, the leader of A.R.D.E.N.T., circa 439.

The founder and original leader of A.R.D.E.N.T. is a man named Edgard. Edgard disappeared into the Void Realm in the year 441, however, and since then, day-to-day administration has fallen into the hands of Edgard's assistant, Rena, and the expert enchanter Ezranth.

Origins[]

A.R.D.E.N.T. traces their beginnings to a private enterprise owned by two master enchanters named Dalton and Edgard. According to Edgard, their shop was one day attacked by a group of black-and-red clothed "businessmen". The assailants destroyed the shop and stole all of Edgard's secret magic formulas. Dalton's role in the attack remains a matter of mystery, but at some point, the two men had a falling out and parted ways. While Dalton went off to travel the wilderness, Edgard continued to conduct the business – now known as A.R.D.E.N.T. – for an unknown length of time.

Eventually, Edgard came to Mirith under the Sleeping Moon of Year 439, introducing himself as a collector of rare items. He set up a sort of bounty hunting operation, paying adventurers to bring back loot from rare and dangerous creatures. Many targets were brought down for A.R.D.E.N.T., such as a storm elemental, a lava serpent, a hydra, a chaos hound, a hardened golem, a devouring boa, and countless others.

This exchange carried on for two moon cycles, and the expanding organization soon began to construct multiple laboratories and warehouses. These were all hidden to the unaided eye, owing to magical devices called Pocket Weavers, which cloaked the structures by hiding them in some distant location. The organization was prospering, until one day, mercenaries under the employ of a certain "D" attacked Lab #02. This marked the start of a violent rivalry between Edgard and his former friend Dalton. And all the while, a mysterious druid garbed in black and red began to interfere with A.R.D.E.N.T.'s bounty operation, urging adventurers to keep for themselves the loot they acquired on the rare creature hunts.

ARDENT 3 – Topaz Golem copy

One of the many rare creatures hunted by A.R.D.E.N.T.

Project Bloodfire and Downturn[]

Then, in the Bleeding Moon of Year 440, a malevolent entity known as the Bloodfang invaded Lerilin. This entity did not have a physical form, but rather took over the minds of the village’s inhabitants little by little, until it had assumed complete control. Edgard himself came to investigate and defend the village, and set up a local research tent to house his activities. Whilst there, he was incapacitated by the Bloodfang's forces, and he became trapped in his lab for many days. During his absence, his assistant Rena came to lead the fight, setting up a temporary A.R.D.E.N.T. lab and emergency room in the village.

After some time, Edgard was freed by Rena and the Lerilin Vanguard, and the Bloodfang was defeated. But as the last elements of the so-called “Bloodlink” were killed, they warned that A.R.D.E.N.T. had some ulterior motive in aiding the town. In the meantime, however, A.R.D.E.N.T. began to face increasing financial hardship. Underfunded labs began to malfunction and fall into ruin, starting with Lab #04 by the Ant Hill in Lerilin. And then there was the matter of the secretive "Project Bloodfire", the existence of which is only attested to in fragmented documents recovered from the smoldering ruins of Outpost #06 near Foehan. When asked about the operation, Edgard was surprised that anyone had heard about it, and stated only that it had been a failure.

Faced with all this misfortune, A.R.D.E.N.T. was forced to temporarily shut down in the Dancing Moon of 440. This seemed to create a vacuum on the world stage, as there was an immediate increase in the activities of the organization’s rivals. That, and the emergence of new rivals altogether. Aside from just Dalton, there were now reports of a sentient skeletal figure known as Frostbone, and a Masked Man that claimed to serve Dalton. The Masked Man was responsible for at least one attack on an A.R.D.E.N.T. lab, while Frostbone was involved with some mysterious construction projects around Duldrus and the Ice Dungeon.

At one point, these two new competitors met in battle at the Marali Lake – Frostbone emerged victorious, and the Masked Man was killed. This Frostbone would go on to claim that Project Bloodfire was actually a success, together with other statements that demonstrated a vast knowledge of internal A.R.D.E.N.T. affairs. He also hinted at the existence of some rival organization, perhaps called "Beneath the Candle". Lastly, he attempted to dissuade adventurers from supporting Edgard, before disappearing in the Lucky Moon.

But Edgard was not idle either – he had been conducting a private audit of A.R.D.E.N.T. expenditures. The investigation revealed that a significant chunk of the organization's funds had gone missing, raising suspicions of an internal rebellion or split. Edgard was entirely dismissive of this possibility, however. In any case, he got the organization up and running again in time for the Blue Moon Festival of 440.

The Arcforge and Void Campaigns[]

In the Fighting Moon of that year, the reformed A.R.D.E.N.T. began a new research project. Their object of study: a forge that was said to "help shape the world", previously only a thing of legend. These legends claimed that the forge was housed in an invisible seaborne tower off the coast of Andris.

Edgard found the tower and led a group within, but they were unable to go any further than the antechamber. There, they discovered some frescoes that indicated the presence of other invisible towers all over the world (but no clue as to their purpose or origin). Additionally, there was a recurring motif of a map of Oberin with two anvils on either side – the right anvil containing a star, and the left anvil a tree. This design has also been found inside the libraries of Brigobaen, but its significance remains unclear. A.R.D.E.N.T. has been on the lookout for these towers ever since, with little success thus far.

ARDENT 7 – Island copy

The rift by Andris Bridge.

Parallel to this Arcforge project, A.R.D.E.N.T. began to explore ways to access planes and dimensions outside the world of Oberin. Their research brought them to something they called the Void Realm – a vast dark world somewhere beyond Oberin. But their experiments began to have unwanted side-effects, beginning in the Waking Moon of 441.

Small dark rifts started to appear all over Oberin, like tears in the fabric of reality. At some of these sites, more A.R.D.E.N.T. paraphernalia was found, including documents referring to a certain “Lord Edgard IV, Bringer of Light”. There was also a journal containing some sort of proverb or prophecy, reproduced below.

“Windows of the future, shadows of the past / when the great threshold is crossed the veil will fall / but fear not, for the ardent flames shall be a bastion against the darkness // always keep a candle lit, to ward off the darkness / always mix potions clockwise.”

The meaning of this inscription is far from certain, but some have theorized that the crossing of the “great threshold” refers to the ongoing collision of the two realms: Oberin and the Void. And indeed, over the next few moon cycles, many adventurers crossed over into this strange new realm, by way of the rifts.

But one day, the A.R.D.E.N.T. journal was reported missing from Brigobaen. A single page was recovered, and it seemed to contain another prophecy: “Eyes will gaze upon the lands and weep tears of darkness.” Not long afterwards, a gigantic column of pure darkness descended from the skies off the coast of Lerilin, leaving a massive rift on the surface. Several identical rifts soon appeared all over Oberin. The Void Realm appeared to be drawing closer, and the world’s leaders were about to be struck by the catastrophic Black Shadow Assassinations.

ARDENT 8 – The Other Side copy

A scene from inside the Voidgate.

A.R.D.E.N.T. responded by confiscating the bodies of the victims, and gathering whatever evidence they could get. They also started collecting Zionidic Crystals at the same time, probably to assist in their research. As usual, the agents refused to share their findings, saying only that they had seen these types of killings before. And to make matters worse, Edgard became trapped in the Void just as he was on the verge of making a breakthrough in the investigation. Edgard remains trapped there to this day, though he did manage to send one final communication through the rift west of Andris, in the form of a coded message engraved on a molten stone spear.

Over the course of the next two years, A.R.D.E.N.T used the information from the spear to to construct a portal to the Void Realm. This Voidgate was built just outside Foehan, and has been successfully used at least twice. Neither expedition turned up any signs of Edgard. Still, the portal remains active, and all that one needs to use it is a Small Moon Fragment.

Theft Controversies[]

Throughout the Arcforge and Void campaigns, A.R.D.E.N.T. has also been the focal point of two major theft investigations. First, the agent Ezranth was reported to have stolen some unknown item from the vaults of Mirith. He had been allowed inside by the authorities because he had been assisting in the investigations of the Black Shadow assassinations. And before anyone could apprehend him, he teleported away with one of his magical devices.

A.R.D.E.N.T. also caused a stir during the liberation of Marali, at the end of the Second Ice War. Before the battle commenced, an agent delivered supplies to the humans, and explained that they could not assist directly in the fighting since the organization’s resources were stretched too thin with the Arcforge and Void campaigns. But at the end of the battle, Marali’s piece of the Curio went missing – not long after another agent had been seen snooping around the fort.

Neither of these two controversies have been solved, and A.R.D.E.N.T.'s guilt has yet to be fully proved.

References[]

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