By Hyacinthia ys’Andalis, Planeswalker & Knight of the Order of the Raven in Flight
Author’s Prelude
Greetings, Seeker! You hold in your hand an invaluable resource, for this is the first volume of a guide to Arelith’s greatest hidden treasure: The Astrolabe, the Door with many Keys. I am no great scholar of the Planes - I leave that to the learned folk of the Arcane Tower - but I have walked many paths, and hope to inspire you, dear Reader, to seek them as well. The rewards to which they lead are difficult to fathom until you have experienced them for yourself.
The first step is to Attune yourself to the Glorag Stone, high in the Skull Crags. After that, you will need the correct Keys, clues to which I have left in the three volumes of this Codex. Once you pass through the Door, the rest is up to you.
This volume concerns the Inner Planes of the Great Wheel, which align to neither Good nor Evil but are instead forces of nature and existence.
First Riddle of Keys
Three Lords and a Lady,
Upon their thrones:
Earth and Fire, Water and Air.
Grumbar’s Key is as its Lord:
In the foundation of all,
Simple, solid, unrefined.
Kossuth’s Key is polished:
A flame before a gate.
It only burns with radiance.
Akadi’s Key is a sacrifice:
The gift of flight,
Plucked from her subject.
Ishtishia’s Key is simplicity:
Pour out your offering.
Nothing could be more clear.
[The final page of the book bears a simple design: A star, ringed by two layers of circles - six compose the inner layer and a further sixteen make up the outer layer.]