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Table of Contents
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The Eidola
The eidola (singular: eidolon) — ghosts and spirits that plague Calliden — are known for roaming the wide expanses of the countryside. Kept at bay by the priests of the temples and their magic, it is a very rare eidolon that will venture into a town or city. Small villages, however, have the occasional issue with these otherworldly entities mingling among the living. More reliably, they're seen circling the_towers the compass towers, although approaching those towers is forbidden to the common people and they are guarded by the Order of the Fang.
The priests and priestesses of Calliden are all trained to banish the eidola, and this is why no city of any significant size is without at least a small temple to one of the gods within its borders. To be without a priest nearby is to be at the mercy of an eidolon if it comes.
Typically, the spirits are harmless and little more than ethereal images that sporadically appear and disappear. While some eidola seem to speak, they make no audible sound. Rather, these translucent apparitions — seen most clearly at night where they seem to shimmer or glow with a bluish white light — are mostly silent additions to the scenery that do not acknowledge the world about them. Their features, if they appear to have any at all, are vague to the point as being described as only generally human-like. Some eidola appear more frequently and appear to do the same task over and over again, but benign spirits never speak aloud or interact with the living.
People have come to fear the eidola because one never knows when one will encounter a malevolent eidolon. Malevolent eidola are capable of possessing mortals, sweeping them into tasks said to be left unfinished in life. Sometimes the task is not terrible. Sometimes the task is unspeakably horrific. Possession leaves mortals without memory of the incident, and sometimes memory issues linger for months after. There have also been rare stories of madness that follows in the wake of possession.
The Haunted Northern Woods & Northwestern Shore
The northwest has the most vibrant stories concerning the eidola. Along the northwestern shore, there are supposed to be regular appearances, including the shimmer of their movements atop and below the surface of the water and along the cliffs making the stretch of coast the most haunted territory of Calliden aside from the compass towers themselves.
A temple is dedicated to Noira on the stony cliffs there and fishermen refuse to fish the waters for fear of bringing on a curse. That is just as well for the temple of noira is also a guardian temple of sorts that actively seeks to prevent anyone sailing on the cove cove''s waters.
Malik
The Sacred city of Malik is notable in that the whole of its recorded history no one has ever documented seeing an eidolon within the city walls. most attribute the safety of the city to protection afforded it by the gods. '
The Abominations
When one wonders why alchemists are so reviled in Calliden, one need look no further than the Abominations. While the term Abomination can refer to anyone or anything touched by magic without channeling it (either by the rites taught by the temple or by the forbidden practices of the alchemists), it usually refers to the monsters born of alchemical experimentation that plague the continent.
Horrifically twisted by magic gone wrong, no creature ever seems to manifest the same abilities or physical characteristics as its alchemical kin. The abominations are as foot soldiers used by alchemists and others who would harm the peace and order of Calliden because they are often large, highly durable, and of a particularly foul temperament.