The Malleus Keys[1] were three devices constructed at the intersecting locations within the Feywild, Shadowfell, and Hellcatch Valley which were predicted to be the nexus of the 843 PD apogee solstice.
Description[]
Screenshot of the final Malleus Key, activated, from "The Apogee Solstice" (3x51) at 4:23:57.[art 2]
The keys resemble the Veilscatter Scope constructed by Ira Wendagoth, Birdie, and Oleander Calloway at their hideout near Bassuras,[2] although their purpose was significantly different. The one in the Fey Realm was also significantly larger, made of polished layered dark metal that resembled obsidian,[3] with metal cabling and pulsing embedded arcane cores. Some of the cores looked as if they had been added later, after an original power source disappeared. It stood almost 20 feet high.[4]
The key at the Hellcatch Valley site was a heavily armored black metallic central spire reaching over a hundred feet tall, lined with pulsing green veins of residuum and forked at its peak. It was surrounded by four smaller arcing spires leaning toward it.[5] At its base was a massive machine surrounded by an arcane field of energy. The four smaller arcs were powered with hundreds of Potions of Possibility.[6]
Locations[]
- The Fey Realm: This key was the first one constructed, designed by Ira Wendagoth,[7] and was located inside the Shiver Keep of the Unseelie Court within the Sablecast Grounds. It was meant to gather and augment arcane power, feeding it to the central key in Exandria. The key was destroyed by Bells Hells just prior to the apogee solstice.
- The Shadowfell: This key was also designed to act primarily as an arcane power source. Planerider Ryn sent a team with Beauregard Lionett and Caleb Widogast to destroy the machine, but the mission wasn't fully successful since they just damaged the Key, and the two members of the Mighty Nein were the only agents who returned to Exandria.[8]
- The Tishtan excavation site (Hellcatch Valley): This key was the target of the power designed to be gathered by the other two keys on other Planes of Existence. After the destruction of the key in the Fey Realm, it was modified so that its power sources were less accessible and vulnerable. Its design and implementation were reminiscent of Aeorian technology.[9]
History[]
The Calloways became curious as to why Unseelie Court magic was keeping others from paying attention to the new appearance of the red moon Ruidus in the skies of the Feywild. They clandestinely observed a meeting between some of the higher court members, Ludinus Da'leth of the Cerberus Assembly, and Otohan Thull, who together were designing and building a machine focused towards Ruidus. Having a bad feeling about it, they inquired within the Unseelie and tried to warn them, but were at first laughed off and then threatened. They eventually broke in and stole "what looked like the shiniest piece of that machine", the Moontide Crown, hoping to slow the device's construction.[10]
When the party visited the Calloways' hideout, they saw the Veilscatter Scope Ira Wendagoth and Oleander had constructed there, which was a 30-foot tall telescope-like object allowing the view of places normally protected even from Scrying and of the ley lines floating across Marquet. When Ira inserted the Weave Lens provided by Morri Calloway into the scope, Imogen Temult and Orym were able to see the Divine Gate-like cage surrounding Ruidus, and a city on its surface.[11] Ira removed the Moontide Crown from the device and disappeared.[12] Ashton Greymoore subsequently destroyed the Weave Lens.[13]
Later, when Bells Hells questioned Tuldus, a captured member of the Ruby Vanguard, he revealed that Ludinus Da'leth was probably currently busy handling "the keys", and Imogen telepathically saw a vision of machines resembling the Veilscatter Scope. Planerider Ryn identified the machines as the "Malleus Keys". When Ryn asked Tuldus which machine was the most vulnerable, he suggested there was growing tension between the Cerberus Assembly and the Unseelie Court.
Morrigan the Fatestitcher later told the party that the Key in the Fey Realm was located in the Shiver Keep within the territory of the Unseelie Court, and that it kept Ruidus over the Sun's Shadow realm.[14] When the group made their way there and successfully destroyed the Key by overloading its arcane cores, the image of Ruidus tethered to it in the sky of the Fey Realm blinked out of existence.[15]
The destruction of the device in the Feywild caused increased security around its sister machine in the Shadowfell. A team sent by Ryn managed to damage that Malleus Key, but they couldn't destroy it; moreover, only two of those agents, Beauregard Lionett and Caleb Widogast, returned alive to the Material Plane.[16]
Fan art of the Malleus Key activating, by BlackSalander.[art 4]
At the Tishtan excavation site, the main Malleus Key was reinforced with armor and its power sources dispersed and hidden underground, and Ira Wendagoth noted it appeared to be still missing a lens. A Luxon beacon was held within it.[17] By fueling the device with his own arcana, Ludinus Da'leth was able to advance time several hours to gain access to Ruidus in a clear night sky.[18] Later, when he managed to lure the Champion of Ravens there by attacking his beloved Keyleth, a trap activated by Liliana Temult turned the celestial warrior into a dark orb that was incorporated into the Malleus Key as its lens, allowing its activation.[19] The beam of red energy kept Ruidus locked in place over Marquet the following days, while the arcane barrier surrounding was slowly breaking.
Fan art of a vision of the Champion of Ravens, by Cha Cha Rae.[art 5]
It was revealed through a vision granted by the Duskmaven that her champion, sealed inside the dark orb, is in extreme pain while the Malleus Key is active.[20]
During a meeting in Whitestone Castle it was confirmed that the device could be the origin of the great disruption of magic during the prolonged solstice, as well as the source of a tension that, according to the Arcana Pansophical, could eventually destroy the weave of magic in Exandria, or at the very least alter it permanently.[21] According to Morrigan the Fatestitcher, the presence of the Bloody Bridge was bending the lines and creating tangles, which could lead to very dangerous situations.[22]
Days later Bells Hells learned that the Ruidian forces, including Ozo Cruth, the Sunder King, were now protecting the Malleus Key, and that the Weave Mind themselves had terraformed the terrain to create a defensive fortress around it. The Exandrian Accord were planning to send Vox Machina to assault this new "Malleus Keep" and destroy the source of the Bloody Bridge.[23]
Trivia[]
- The Factorum Malleus, or "Creator Hammer" was the name of an experimental Aeorian research project which the gods deemed too dangerous and which caused them to destroy the city.[24] "Malleus" is Latin for "hammer".
- The Bloody Bridge created by the Malleus Key terminates on Ruidus. That terminal point is protected by structures that include Exandrian stone.[25]
- When Essek Thelyss learned there was a Luxon beacon in the Key, he theorized that if several dunamancers worked together, it could be possible to disrupt the relic and the entire device in the process.[26]
References[]
- ↑ See "Bawdy Basement Belligerence" (3x44) at 3:38:43.
- ↑ See "Bawdy Basement Belligerence" (3x44) at 3:09:43.
- ↑ See "The Fey Key" (3x47) at 2:37:56.
- ↑ See "The Fey Key" (3x47) at 2:38:15.
- ↑ See "The Apogee Solstice" (3x51) at 1:29:20.
- ↑ See "The Apogee Solstice" (3x51) at 1:30:14.
- ↑ See "The Aurora Grows" (3x49) at 3:00:44.
- ↑ See "Red Moon Rising" (3x50).
- ↑ See "An Exit Most Fraught" (3x48) at 2:51:47.
- ↑ See "Dark Portents" (3x29) at 2:41:43.
- ↑ See "Reunion & Revelation" (3x30).
- ↑ See "Breaking Point" (3x31) at 0:24:46.
- ↑ See "Breaking Point" (3x31) at 0:39:22.
- ↑ See "Night at the Ligament Manor" (3x46) at 0:33:33.
- ↑ See "The Fey Key" (3x47) at 2:43:29.
- ↑ See "Red Moon Rising" (3x50).
- ↑ See "The Apogee Solstice" (3x51) at 3:17:58.
- ↑ See "The Apogee Solstice" (3x51) at 3:17:12.
- ↑ See "The Apogee Solstice" (3x51) at 4:21:28.
- ↑ See "A Path of Vengeance" (3x65) from 2:51:39 through 3:02:17.
- ↑ See "A Gathering of Heroes" (3x76) at 2:04:59.
- ↑ See "Fractures" (3x78) at 3:43:31.
- ↑ See "The Cradle's Convocation" (3x104) at 4:01:15. Vex'ahlia called it the "Malleus Keep" at "Collecting Legends" (3x105) at 1:02:31.
- ↑ See "The Genesis Ward" (2x135) at 2:15:55.
- ↑ See "Rush for the Bloody Bridge" (3x82) at 4:17:21.
- ↑ See "Gathering of Needs" (3x95) from 3:04:36 through 3:08:31.
Art:
- ↑ Screenshot of the Malleus Key in the Fey Realm from "The Fey Key" (3x47) at 2:33:12. This file is a copyrighted work. Its use in this article is asserted to qualify as fair use of the material under United States copyright law.
- ↑ Screenshot of the final Malleus Key, activated, from "The Apogee Solstice" (3x51) at 4:23:57. This file is a copyrighted work. Its use in this article is asserted to qualify as fair use of the material under United States copyright law.
- ↑ Fan art of the final Malleus Key, by Clara (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Fan art of the Malleus Key activating, by BlackSalander (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Fan art of a vision of the Champion of Ravens, by Cha Cha Rae (source). Used with permission.