Fable of the Thousand Year Door

Synopsis
The Fable of the Thousand Year Door is a secret legend from Mychorriza's ancient history, passed down orally by a chosen line of Fable Bearers. Aristoadle, as the leader of the Fable Bearers, is the fable's keeper. He recounted the fable to the party at the Fable Bearers Sanctum.

The Fable of the Thousand Year Door
Long, long ago, in a bygone era, before Mycorrhiza as we know it today even existed, the ancestors of the people of Mycorrhiza did not dwell on the surface lands. They dwelt deep within the belly of the earth, in the depths of the Underdark. Myconid were different, then. Creatures you would hardly recognize. More plant than person, no mouths to speak, fearful of the sun, utterly alien to the myconid that you now know. They were followers of the Demon Lord Araumycos, which dwelt among them, worshipped by them as their patron god. Araumycos gave unto the myconid a great gift - a colossal fungus called the Earthstar. The Earthstar became the center of their society. It was a source of tremendous magical power. It was said that its mycelium stretched into extraplanar space and across the multiverse, connecting worlds, and Araumycos could use this connection to travel freely from the Abyss to our world and back at will.” For untold centuries, life for the myconid continued in this way. Until the mutations began. Myconid began to spawn that were changed, different. Transformed into the form that dwells on the surface today, they had mouths to speak, they walked as men, they appeared more person than plant. The ancestors of Mycorrhiza. At first it was only a small number, but over years, they reproduced and became many. The myconid viewed these mutants as pariahs and freaks, feared them to be cursed or abandoned by Araumycos. Those myconid who remained unchanged, the deep myconid, fashioned themselves as the pure, true myconid. And they came to fear the mutants, and from fear came hate. And so, the deep myconid exiled the mutants, banishing them from their ancestral home, driving them away from the Earthstar.

The mutants - the ancestors of Mycorrhiza - found themselves lost in a hostile world, for the Underdark is a perilous place for those without a home. But they did not give up hope. A hero rose up among them. The legendary Myriostoma. She was born with strange elemental magic - though she could not create magic of her own, she could control and change the elements that she found in the world around her. These powers she would later learn were those of a conduit - a rare form of sorcery. Led by Myriostoma - Myrio, as her people affectionately called her - the exiles traversed the Underdark in search of a new home. But they found those deep caverns hostile, unforgiving. They were no longer welcome in the only home they had ever known. And they may have perished in that deep dark, were it not for the unlikeliest of saviors. A gnome, called Juno.

Juno was not like other gnomes. He had the ability to change himself, his shape and form, freely. He was raised amongst the gnomes of Sibillini, and always considered himself a gnome, rarely taking any other form, although he preferred to appear with a mushroom cap upon his head. From a young age, Juno had strange dreams and visions, wherein he was visited by a spirit from the stars, which foretold in him a great destiny. Through these dreams, this spirit - called Heartsong - guided Juno into the caverns of the underdark, telling him that it was his destiny to bring salvation to a lost people.” And so it was that Myrio and the exiles came upon Juno the gnome, deep within the earth, in the caves below the Tanglewood. Guided by Heartsong, Juno led the exiles to the surface. The exiles, changed as they were, had never seen the surface. Never seen the sun. They were afraid, but Juno assured them they would be safe.

And so it was that the exiles came to the surface, where they were greeted by the gnomes of Sibillini. And thus a lasting bond of alliance and friendship was born. The gnomes of Sibillini welcomed the myconid, embraced them, even giving them lands to call their own - lands that would become what is now known as Mycorrhiza. In the years after the myconid arrived on the surface, and established their kingdom, they flourished rapidly, with the aid of the gnomes. But they had scarcely been on the surface for a decade when Heartsong once again appeared. This time not in a dream, but in physical form, a starlight spirit that descended from the heavens and visited Mycorrhiza.

Heartsong entreated the two heroes of Mycorrhiza - the legendary Myriostoma, and the gnome Juno - to undertake a new pilgrimage. A last journey to fulfill their destinies. This time, however, Heartsong revealed that he would be joining them on their journey. But an astral spirit cannot remain in our world on its own, the spirit explained. It needs a host - a living vessel to bear its light and tether it to our world. And there is only one type of being that is suitable for this task. One such as the gnome Juno. One capable of changing their shape. Such a creature has unique mutability - the tether between body and soul is more flexible, as the body is always impermanent, only a form, not a self.

And so Juno agreed to serve as Heartsong’s vessel, and the spirit joined itself with him. And together, Myrio and Juno, accompanied by Heartsong, traveled all throughout Materi. At Heartsong’s guidance, they visited sites of great elemental power - a nexus of fire, a nexus of earth, a nexus of water, and a nexus of air. At each of these sites, the conduit Myriostoma utilized a device of her own creation, a magical object called the Chaos Core, to harness the elemental power of the nexuses. Aided by Heartsong, Myriostoma charged the Chaos Core with the power of the four elements. And at each of these sites, a circle of druids was established, who would serve as the protectors and guardians of the nexuses. These druidic circles exist to this day, as the protectors of the elemental places of power. When their pilgrimage was complete, Juno and Myrio returned to Mycorrhiza. And here, the astral spirit Heartsong separated from Juno once again, and issued a prophecy. He foretold that a day would come, in a thousand years, that the surface myconid would have to return to the underdark and face their counterparts, the deep myconid, for the salvation of their world. Heartsong gave the people of Mycorrhiza an artifact - a relic called the Star Shard, a fragment of the Star Road itself - which he said would protect them from the corrupting power of the Earthstar when the time came. For safekeeping, the Star Shard was locked in a hidden vault within Mycellium Palace, sealed away behind a door, dubbed the Thousand Year Door, and the Thousand Year Door was sealed using the elemental power that had been charged within the Chaos Core.

With his task complete, Heartsong bid farewell to the people of Mycorrhiza. They wept for his departure, but he promised them that one day another star emissary would come - one capable of serving as his host. And that when that day came, the prophecy of the Thousand Year Door would be fulfilled. After Heartsong’s departure, the hero Myriostoma also departed from Mycorrhiza, taking with her the Chaos Core. The Chaos Core was the key to the Thousand Year Door, and so she vowed to find a secret and safe place to hide it, far from the hands of our enemies.

Heartsong’s prophecy, the existence of the Star Shard and the Thousand Year Door, the location of the Chaos Core. These things were all made secret. A tale passed down only through a chosen order of Fable Bearers, so that our enemies would never discover it. And thus it has remained, for a thousand years. Awaiting the birth of the next star emissary, to fulfill Heartsong’s prophecy. To retrieve the Chaos Core, to charge it with elemental power, to open the Thousand Year Door. To take the Star Shard into the Underdark and fulfill their destiny.