About Iris

Legal Name: Iris Lilith Blanchimont
Birth Name: Ahnci Strahl Yadahmikot
Nickname: Snowcat, the Ancient Akasha
Occupation: Curator, Anamneis Eorzea; Inventor; Adjunct Professor, the Sharlayan Studium
Job Crystal: Sage (basically)
Age/Nameday: 35, Tenth Day of the Second Umbral Moon (est.)
Gender/Pronouns: Cis Woman, Her/Hers
Sexuality: Lesbian
Relationship Status: Married to Curiosity Blanchimont

Lady Blanchimont

As a kitten of less than a full year, Iris was found adrift off the coast of Cedarwood on Vlybrand by a cargo captain, Felt Blanchimont. When the Assessors were unable to find record of the ship Iris was on, Felt and his sister Visse elected to adopt Iris and raise her in that unconventional family. Felt operated the ship Yuveria under Ishgard's flag, as a scion of a noble house.Before the Calamity, Iris was a bookish person but was almost unrecognizable compared to who she is today. Fancying herself an 'explorer', she joined the Companies Misfits and Restoring Honor and went out to the minor outlying camps of Coerthas and beyond. As things got more tense, she followed Felt into the Maelstrom Foreign Levy. The Yuveria sailed to the East to seek assistance from allies and Iris found herself stuck in Thavnair following the calamity with her father's crew. Oddly, Iris also has memories of Carteneau, of seeing her fiancee Eliza Scarlet die under Dalamud. She also carries the marks of Bahamut's and Phoenix's aether. She's assumed this was the manifestation of her Echo abilities, as one of Hydaelyn's gifted. Iris' name is listed in the Maelstrom's register of Carteneau veterans.Iris learned the nature of this disparity: she fled Carteneau by means of the spell Flow. The damage it did to her memory dovetailed with her intense trauma and grief to create a false narrative in her mind.Losing Eliza was deeply damaging to Iris. She spent most of her time in Radz-at-Han in study of Thavnairian alchemy, interacting with few people outside of making rivalries with Hannish scientists. When she finally returned to Eorzea, she quickly took a posting as House Blanchimont's envoy to the Wanderer's Palace where she befriended the acerbic Tonberry population while she studied the Rancor and arcanima.Eventually, after working with a variety of agents at the behest of her family like the Limsan mercenary group Arche Koeln, a shopping arcade called The Safety Station and scientists called Equinox, Iris returned to Ishgard to attend the funeral of her grandfather, Aestide. Felt, who was eldest of Arstide's children, refused to ascend to patriarch. With Visse deceased and few others in the family having a notable list of deeds, a slim plurality of the House aligned behind Felt's heir Iris. As a veteran of Carteneau and an inventor of some minor note, Iris had accomplishments the House could base its merit on.For the first few years of her time as Matriarch, Iris was fairly quiet. Her presence was needed for the House's pride, but her status as a Miqo'te and adopted child made her also Blanchimont's shame. Several members of her House have attempted to have her assassinated or elsewise deposed. She broke this silence, though, after the end of the Thordan regime.The Colloquies of Ishgard, the meetings that took place between the end of the theocracy and the dawn of the Republic, drew Iris' attention and she spoke at them, passionately, about pluralism and Ishgard's need to accept those not Elezen or Hyur. Being called a 'beastman' at the Colloquies galvanized her -- she could stand that in tabloids and whispers, but it could not be the basis of a new government. Her radical politics of reform made her a valued political ally of Lord Aymeric de Borel, the leader of the new Republic. As such, Iris has represented House Blanchimont and the politics of inclusion in Parliament for several years.Following an effort to deepen her connection to the Ancient named Mnemosyne, from which Iris' soul was fragmented, her scientific pursuits were put on hold. While she hasn't discussed publicly what Akasha's knowledge gave her, it has turned her focus to the ethics and philosophy of science and magic. She's applied to teach a course on the subject at the Studium in Sharlayan, and taken a sabbatical from Parliament to perform these duties.Iris took over the faltering Anamnesis Eorzea, for which she had been Special Collections Chairwoman, and connected the project with the Eorzean Museum Network. As part of her new role as curator, Iris acquired the Cieldalaes island of Avenberry from which she intended to launch an expedition into Meracydia, the land in which she was born. While the Meracydia Expedition proceeded to mass resources, Iris' focus wound up split, however. That expedition would be put on hold, however, when Blanchimont was sent to Tural as part of a diplomatic mission.A combination of her good reputation abroad and the relative dislike her countrymen have for her resulted in her being dispatched to H.A.N.D. as Ishgard's delegate. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also cancelled her planned Meracydia Expedition to dispatch her to Tural instead, which she grudgingly accepted. All this brought her to Garden's attention, where she was approached to be a visiting scholar, and instead applied to head the Department of Sciences, citing her status as an orphan and a researcher.Mnemosyne's story includes Endwalker spoilers.

Projects of Atelier Iris

Below is a partial list of technologies either developed in part or in full by Iris Blanchimont or subjects researched either in part or in full by Iris Blanchimont. This list omits projects substantively similar, considered uninteresting, or pursued entirely by apprentices, assistants and associates of Atelier Iris. Iris has also written several academic and scientific texts.

W416

Computational and Analytical Terminal (CAT)

The CAT is a data storage and computation machine developed by Iris' research into Allagan nodes. It is capible of communicating with other CATs and Allagan nodes connected via linkshell to Atelier Iris' Communication Network. The CAT at her lab in Goblet is able to remotely manage her other CATs and transfer data between them.

W501

Aether Syringe

Made with a sliver of white auracite, the Aether Syringe is used to draw out a small sample of a person's natural magical aura for testing, or rarely to inject specific aspects of magic into a subject to balance out natural imbalances. It is designed to resemble and functions similarly to a traditional mechanical syringe, but does not break skin, instead working by touching the patient's temple.

W624a

Aetheric Cannon

Nicknamed "Ascianbuster", the Aetheric Cannon is a modified version of the Scion experiment using White Auracite. Powerful overcharged crystals feed into Astral and Umbral Node capacitors at either end of a White Auracite prism to power the cannon only when it is to be discharged, causing the very expensive tool to have a long power cycle but serve as a self-contained weapon. It has been field tested.
It must be used with a standard piece of White Auracite to trap a fleeing aetherdense soul.

W636

Geometric Projector

Shelved due to instability, the Geometric Projector was a mobile holographic interface designed to project arcanima runes in three-dimensional space. However, if used on anything but a flat surface, the geometries warped unpredictably causing wild and dangerous alterations to intended spells.
They aren't all winners.

W693

Allagan Technology Activation Gauntlet

Copying the markers found in Allagan blood, the ATA Gauntlet is designed to 'trick' certain Allagan technology to believe the user is a heritor of Allag's legacy and respond as if the user was an actual Allagan. While tested on limited low-security systems in Azys Lla, it has been effective in increasing access to abandoned Allag technology.

W700

"MythrilCat" Tek Armor

Using designs for other magitek-enhanced armors like W606 not here recounted and schematics acquired from Azys Lla, the MythrilCat battletek suit greatly augments the user's aetheric abilities and projects a protective barrier of energy based on Galvanize arcane geometries to protect it's wearer. It also grants limited extreme agility thanks to Wind-aspected exhaust vents on the arms and legs. And it looks sexy.

C103

Blanchimont Root Beer

Compound 103 was developed using principally sassafras, sarsaparilla, vanilla, molasses, licorice and other sweet flavors in a medium of effervescent water. It was largely an alchemical accident, but as Iris is not a fan of alcohol she quickly became a fan of the compound. Her business manager Audrey imaginatively noted the number of plant roots in the formula and called it 'root beer', before packaging and selling it to Eorzean businesses. It has almost single-handedly bankrolled more ambitious projects on this list.

C147

Carbuncle Treats

A commercial success like Root Beer, the Carbuncle Treats are pebble-sized pieces of crystal, some simple and some with complex blends of aspected aether, designed to be nourishing and even 'delicious' to summoned creatures. Despite the name, they can also be given to Egi, Nymian fairies, or even Primals if you're into that sort of thing.

C155

Nethecite

Classified as a Compound due to it's theoretical existence in nature, Iris' consultation with Facta non Verba proved the theoretical "doomsday crystal" can actually exist. Atelier Iris currently contains three fragments of a Nethecite shard believed to have caused an explosion in the ceurleum fields of Thanalan. The detonated nethecite was believed to have been a several-tonne bomb, but Iris has calculated the shard that went supercritical was smaller than a fingernail. Securing Nethecite has become the mission of House Blanchimont's knights nearly full-time.

T51

Northswain

Thanks to Iris' work with Garlond Ironworks on the Manacutter-class airship's corrupted crystal engine (designated T48 by Atelier Iris), Iris was able to develop a custom modification to the class used as a racing pinnace. The Northswain is a two-person craft with a higher top speed than a standard Manacutter sacrificing fuel consumption rates and structural stability to accomodate the weight of a copilot without comprimising speed. Northswain holds the airspeed record for Eorzean designs, narrowly beating the Garlond Falcon-class... after the Falcon's safety modifications.

T90

Intershard Resonator

Located at Chocolina's Emporium in Ul'dah, the Intershard Resonator acts as an artificial Aetheryte with a single egress -- Norvrandt. Using the amazing calculation power of the CAT system and a sympathetic resonance with the Crystal Tower, the Resonator establishes an outbound teleport spell first to the Crystal Tower and, through that, to the identical Tower located at Crysterium. Travelers to Crysterium can use the aetheryte in the city to travel back to the Resonator, but the Resonator only accepts inbound Travelers from Crysterium, and only those attuned to the Resonator. Efforts to expand the Resonator's use to broader scope were... unsuccessful.

T92

Astraea

A stolen Prima Vista-class commercial Garlean airship refitted to serve as a yacht and mobile lab, the Astraea is one of the more long-term projects Atelier Iris is undertaking. Refit goals are laid out in stages over the next decade, eventually including minor self-defense weaponry. It's skiff hangar is expanded to serve as a dock for the Northswain. It is not safe to fly outside Eorzean airspace due to being a stolen Garlean asset.

V188-1

Mizu

A subject of study, Mizu is the result of a voidesnt possession gone awry (which Iris classifies under Voidesnt-type 188). The succubus attempting to possess the lalafell eventually named Mizu (or "Petunia" by Iris' assistant) died in the process, leaving a reanimated but anima-less creature with no identity of its own. The emergent creation eventually learned to communicate, but operated largely on instinct and without an understanding of its abilities. Mizu is the ward of adventuring company Arche Koeln.

V188-2

Nikolas Synclair

Once a hyuran serial killer named Nikolas Sinclair attempted to invoke the power of a voidsent lord, K'thalu. Synclair offered K'thalu a vessel in the form of one of his victims in exchange for the voidsent's favor, but trapped K'thalu in a Mhachi coffin during the process, siphoning the abilities of the Voidsent for himself. The result was a creature similar in principal to the agents of Ascians, capable of reforming upon death in the Void and returning to the Source. Given his resemblance to Ascians, the Aetheric Cannon (W624) was used to effectively erase Nikolas' anima from existence.

V188-3

Mariea Gardener

The mind of the Voidsent K'thalu was able to seek refuge from Nikolas' betrayal inside the host he had prepared. Cut off from her power, K'thalu existed in the form of Mariea Gardener for several years. She was allowed to continue existing in Eorzea given her impotence, under the observation of House Blanchimont.

A001

Eliza Blanchimont

The first Anthroparian and a Great Work of modern science, Iris used the ATA Gauntlet (W693) to interface with chimerical genetic engineering pods in Azys Lla to incubate Eliza. Eliza, named for Iris' lost love and cogenitor Eliza Scarlet, is made using a fusion of Iris' genetic material and Scarlet's taken from preserved blood samples. Eliza serves as an important proof-of-concept for artificial conception technology Iris has considered her life's work. Eliza is not yet "finished".

Gran01

Codex

If A001 is Iris' life's work, Gran01 is the most ambitious project Iris has ever undertaken. Originally created by archmagus Crysola Tsara of Arche Koeln, the Codex is a book capable of recording any event it is exposed to in perfect detail and objectivity. It's potential as a surveillance tool is concerning, but Iris was more interested in it's other properties. It needed a soul bound to it to sustain itself. This lead to working with an old rival, Ardashir, to develop Gran01-A, an artificial soul, to free Iris' assistant from her bond to the book. The book has since been able to project an echo of it's creator Crysola into the world for periods of time. It's resemblance to old Allagan tome-familiars is interesting, but it appears to be in an entirely different class of power. Iris theorizes it is the birth of a legendary Gran Grimoire.

Discourses on Memoria

A Theoretical Framework for Absolutely Everything

Written as an exploration of the creation of the universe, Etheryis and aether itself, Discourses on Memoria posits that all Stars in the sky are Crystals, citing cases like Travelers Lightning Farron, Chocolina Katzroy, Shantotto, Iroha Reisen and Noctis Lucis Caelum as travelers from another Star. Going further, Iris posits that all the Crystals at the heart of those Stars are themselves Shards -- Shards of the origin crystal Memoria. For this, Iris cites heavily-redacted reports from adventuring companies like Limsa's Arche Koeln. Drawing on these two core theories, Iris explains the origins of everything from magic to gods as a byproduct of a "Great Shatter" that ignited the multiverse.

Sins of the Mother

On the Responsibility and Ethics of Magical Creation

A departure from Lady Blanchimont's theoretical aetherology, Sins of the Mother is written as a series of hypotheticals and case studies on the act of creation itself. From her own work on the Anthroparion Project to carbuncles, and even the potential found in Creation Magic as a concept, Iris explores not the science, buth the moral considerations found therein. Core topics include the wisdom of creating something beyond one's own understanding, and the potential harm inflicted on both created and creator.

Be All My Sins Remembered

Ancient Mnemosyne's Recounting of the
Final Days of Amaurot

Lady Blanchimont lends her pen to the dictated narrative of one of the Ancients in this extremely limited release book. Part aetherical study, part historical account, the book delves into the nature of the fall of the Ancient civilization from it's most prolific librarian. Due to the relative secrecy of the knowledge about the world of the Ancients, however, the book is a rare text and the Sharlayan Forum regulates it's release. It is considered classified.

The Meracydia Expedition

The expedition is a large-scale investigative effort conducted as a culmination of the entire efforts of Lady Blanchimont: the engineering of Atelier Iris, the diplomacy of the Ishgardian Foreign Office, and the archeological ambition of Anamnesis Eorzea.The goals of the expedition are to establish peaceful contact with Meracydia, investigate the history of the region, and on a personal level allow Iris to meet any biological family that might remain on the southern continent.

Akasha Mnemosyne

Guardian of Ancient Knowledge

Name: Mnemosyne
Title: Akasha the Great Librarian
Invocation: Gates of Memoria
Occupation: Collector of Knowledge
Gender/Pronouns: Cis Woman, Her/Hers
Sexuality: Lesbian
Relationship Status: Lost Love of Pandora
Status: Sundered, 3/7ths restored.
Known Shards: Iris Blanchimont, Forgiven Euphoria

In the time before time, Mnemosyne was the cataloguer of what was, what could be, and what must never be. She experimented with Dynamis in ways others didn't, using it's impermeability to etch the Great Library on to her very soul to ensure knowledge of the Ancients would survive even the worst disasters. A fragment of that oversoul would go on to be Iris Blanchimont.That research was born in part from her troubled love of Pandora, who she loved with her whole heart, but whose pursuit of immortality through Dynamis was horribly self-destructive. She couldn't watch Pandora rend herself, and instead pursued her own plot to preserve herself through the generations through the Great Library.As the Final Days of Amaurot grew closer, Mnemosyne's obsessive collection of knowledge fell to the keening sound within the heart of the world. Nothing was unknown to the Invocation of Akasha, and so in the waning moments of the world that was, the First Librarian discovered the nature of Meteion, of Azem, of Hermes and of Venat. Worse than Hermes' foolishness was Azen and Venat's solution - the scapegoating of poor Meteion, a daughter of Amaurot in pain and need, and the deaths of untold numbers of Eld by their hands, done to create a world to contain the poor girl they made prisoner.Driven mad with the shame of what her people did, she chose not to preserve herself through a memory crystal, leaving only inscribed on the soul of her future selves two decrees: Don't trust Azem, Don't trust Hydaelyn. Beyond those directives, what it was to be Mnemosyone would be scattered to the future like so many pebbles in a pond, weathered and changed and lost to time for eons.But Mnemosyne knew what her oversoul was. She knew that when the moment came and Hermes' creation was brought free, even the most feeble fragments of herself would will her into existence again, diminished but alive. With the simple instructions to not aide the Eld that the Akasha deemed criminal, she positioned her future fragments to act in the wake of Azem, to correct Azem's mistakes and atone for Azem's sins.As long as there would be those who would ensure Azem's future came to pass, operating under the auspices of the self-styled God Venat would become, she would never have the strength to challenge this fate. But one day, Mnemosyne hoped, she could right the wrongs of her people, and even if Azem and Venat would be seen as divine, she - the undeniable words - she could bury her people's hubris once and for all.She was not going to be divine, nor did she believe it was deserved. In the shadow of giants, she was only the fact, the account, the history of despair. Mnemosyne forever would live on as the lesson to never repeat the misdeeds of arrogance, nor the catastrophic result of poor scientific rigor, nor - perhaps worst of all - the sin of blind faith.

Members of
House Blanchimont

Out of Character

Iris has been roleplayed consistantly since the beta of 1.0. As it seems she's been part of and accomplished a great deal, and is a fairly unlikely character, I feel a need to mention that nearly every fact about her, or invention, or subject of study has had the background of establishment in roleplay. You play someone for near a decade, they get weird. She also is, though she doesn't know it, probably Meracydian, based on Meracydia being the ancestral homeland of Miqo'te. Which is also kinda weird, though doesn't so much affect RP. That's okay, though. I like these things about Iris. You may not, and that's also fine. You also may not like her IC -- she can be cold, arrogant, even oblivious due to her long time in relative isolation and spending a long time hanging out with Tonberries. But she tries. If you'd like to try and get to know her, some sample hooks include:

Iris is available for roleplay of a wide variety of themes, but the player reserves the right to step back from any subject matter at her own discretion. That said, Iris and her player are exceptionally adaptable and able to work within a wide variety of scenarios.

You can reach the player on Discord:
.laniakea

Refractions
of a Dying Star

Time and memory, frozen in crystal.Luminous eyes scanned the displays of her most reclusive lab. Machines hummed, Allagan technology connected to Eorzean crystals connected to Sharlayan conduits connected to things stranger and more unique yet. It was a testament to lies. Well, not lies, she supposed, but half-truths. Obfuscations. As much as she knew the machines would work, she also knew they would only work for her. She hadn’t so much invented the new, as found a way to horribly abuse the very, very old.Half a malm above her head, the world burned. She wasn’t exactly horrified by this reality. Not only was it the more or less consistent state of things in her lifetime, it wasn’t even her first genuine apocalypse. At least this one, the wise would face on their own terms instead of facing Venat’s notion of salvation. It was ingenuity’s time to shine, not time for fatalism. Still, she looked at the feed from her drones outside. From the depths of the Wanderer’s Palace, the aether-death of the Source wasn’t a pressing concern. The Tonberries kept the horrors and marauding survivors at bay, and the plague had little reason to visit a forgotten place like Nym. It wasn’t even hard to negotiate her lease here, as it were, with her promise of abundant aether and the ability to make whatever was needed from the ambient energy around them.Her eyes, a source of light in the dim of the lab, settled on one of the sources of purple glow deeper than themselves. A crystal, roughly the size of a coconut and appeared to be constructed from stained glass, or perhaps hundreds of tiny shards overlaid one upon the next to create the unique appearance. It floated in a case filled with a thin, swirling, beautiful multihued gas acting to insulate it from the outer world. The dynamis wasn’t easy for her to handle anymore, but her children helped craft and fill the case. What little they knew of the lab’s function, they knew the implications of this stone.The case would only open, however, for her. “Recognize Mnemosyne Blanchimont, Akasha of the Amaurotine Library.” When had she last called herself Iris? She would as soon use her birthname Ahnci or alias Flameu at this point, though even that was a pale echo of what she was now. Names were funny things. They felt like clothes, things worn to express to the people around her who she was. Sure, she was called Iris outside her lab, and sure she signed notes with the name, but it was someone else’s comfort. All names were, she supposed. The case, however, was only for who Mnemosyne was today. Iris, that piece of her she once was so proud of, would hate what she was retrievingIt was cold to the touch, which always surprised her. With a supreme sense of care and gentility, she picked the crystal up. She held it as if it was the most dangerous thing in the dying world, which was fitting as it probably was. She moved the stained glass prism to another container, one that connected diodes and wires directly to the stone. She let out a sigh of relief when it was safely connected, and the various displays around the room lit brighter.A small silver bird with a long tail flew around Iris, and as it did a feminine, mechanical voice came from the machines around her. “Nethecite Module connected. Dynamantic alignment at 78 percent of tolerance. Power at 300 teraether-p.” The voice sounded happy about all this, being strongly emotive compared to the average Allagan device. Because this control node was special. It, too, was fueled by Dynamis. That was a sensible precaution, given the volatility of working with Nethecite.“Run the simulation.”The bird trilled excitedly, and the machines responded. “Executing simulation for Operation Memoria Arch.” Nothing actually happened after the machines spoke. It was all being conducted with math that Mnemosyne could practically see in the air around her. She could come to the same conclusion as her computers, but with something like this she needed to be certain.It wasn’t like there weren’t plans to save the world. Hells, Mnemosyne was consulting on them. One of Iris’ little projects, providing information about the theoretical implications of time magic to Garlond Ironworks, providing data about Alexander, providing data about the theoretical teraether-p output of the Crystal Tower. And she knew it would work. She knew that both because she saw the math as plain as she saw it now, and because this was not what Venat knew. This wasn’t how the Source died.

She knew all that now. Being whole gave Mnemosyne near-unfettered access to history. The Invocation of Akasha was a powerful glimpse into the past. So powerful that, while small and fragmented, touching history made her mind convulse. A sundered soul was ill-prepared for the totality of history to walk through its mind as casually as an army of barkers in a market ward. Iris had seizures when the Echo gave her visions. Mnemosyne didn’t exist without her visions. They were as vital a sense to her as sight.Her mechanical leg crossed over the organic one as she sat, waiting for the computer, Laniakea, to tell her what she already knew. Memoria Arch worked, but imperfectly. Even with total recollection, even able to walk back to the day she wanted herself, sending another was too volatile. Maybe if time magic were a more developed science, or if she ironically had more time… but even if the world could be saved, this timeline couldn’t. It would persist so long as the Lifestream permitted, but it would never thrive. Hells, it couldn’t even fail its way into Eden the way Hades endeavored when he began this whole affair. It was a dead end of history.And it would take so, so painfully long for this dead end to be cut. Amid that, there would be more suffering. More war. War, after all, never changed. The power of Black Rose reduced the Great Continents to sticks and stones, but war marched on unabated, as diligent and inventive in its designs as Mnemosyne was in her own. She couldn’t allow her children to suffer the slings and arrows of a dead Star. A dead end. A melancholy abyss. And if the Ironworks’ plan worked–she was certain it would–it only made sense that this branch would eventually be pruned. A lifestream as stretched and thin as Etheirys’ couldn’t support another sundering.That left the Memoria Arch.The bird chirped sadly, and the computer spoke. “Simulation complete. Out of 100 passthroughs, all executions were successful, but the destination remains inconsistent.”She closed her eyes, and let out a slow breath. “Do you concur with Alexander’s assessment of the timeline? That Azem’s actions are, presently, the best possible outcome?”“Alexander had more data than me,” the computer replied, huffily. “Based on projections, however, Etheirys may survive my sisters’ will if the Eighth Calamity is averted. When we come home to this world, it is unlikely it can mount a meaningful resistance.” There was a sad trill from the bird. “Mnemosyne, would you like candy?”Mnemosyne opened her eyes. “Later. I want you to increase the constraints on the Nethecite, we need it as close to criticality as possible if we’re going to do this,” she adjusted her coat and stood, leather heel and mythril leg clacking against the stone floor. “Here I commit the chronicle of the last of the Eld, I suppose. Call for the girls, would you?”

She’d tell them sweet lies, as she had all along. That she’d save as many as she could. That one day, Curiosity and she would follow them. That in a time beyond reckoning, Mnemosyne would meet Iris again. Little, beautiful, improbabilities. She would save her children, because her children were also Mnemosyne. The Invocation would be easy. Memoria would welcome its favored curator, be it the true awesome power of the Akasha herself or those small sparks, those fragments of fragments. Practically whispers of her power. Yet those whispers were woven into Eliza, Lita and Ivy. A whisper was held in auracite, to shepherd and guide Mercy.She’d never see them again, after today. They were hardly the first refugees from this world–already the cosmic forces that controlled time frayed from the future success of the Ironworks plot and the meddling of people like Iris. There might be people ahead, for them, that would understand what she’d done. There might be people for them to connect with. Hells, at least there’d be G’raha.“Don’t fuck this up, Azem,” she said under her breath. One of her greatest annoyances was now the person who would shelter her children from the unmaking of a world. Would that a poet knew the depths of her abuses of station, it might make for a wonderful story. One she never wanted told. Hope was her parting gift to the four people she loved more than every mystery she’d never uncover.She wove her hands through the air. Lie after lie. Promise after promise. All for this. All for one chance to do something no Eld had ever accomplished. As her hands moved, trails of light were left in their wake. Complex arcanima floated in the world where she moved. She built from her own inner light a gateway, one surrounded by the complex machines and arcanima and the Nethecite, the crystals, the faith, the broken Meteion and every other resource she drew to her person for this moment.“I am Mnemosyne, Akasha of the Amaurotine Library. I beseech the universe to grant me vision and truth, to let me walk through time and memory, frozen in crystal. Open your secrets, Memoria, for the Curator of All.”The gateway she built snapped abruptly into something solid, manifested from the Invocation of Akasha. It swirled with a violent purple light, broken by kaleidoscopic vision of stone streets through half-finished worlds. The way was open to her, as it always was. It bent to her command. This was what it meant to be who and what she was, it was a unique connection to the fabric of the universe.“Dynamantic alignment at 102 percent of tolerance. Approaching criticality. Safety measures will automatically shut down the aetheric flow at 110 percent to prevent supercritical-”“Override it, Laniakea.”There was a silence that sounded like it might last for days. History swirled beyond the Memoria Arch. She could keep the door open long enough for her children, she just needed to find the right moment and hold it in her mind. Easy, for the Akasha. And there it was. She had the moment. A memory of pain hot in Iris’ hands that would be a beacon for Mnemosyne. The dragonblood plot, a failed coup Iris helped foil, but one where she couldn’t save everyone. Ishgard slayed one final dragonet because peace sat ill on some shoulders in her homeland. That happened before the Battle of Ghimlyt.That was her door to the brighter world the Ironworks intended to create.“Memoria, old friend,” she reached to the frame of her arch, looking in on the cobbled stone walking back to the snowy fields of Ishgard, “throw wide your gates so they may pass.”