History
This
Age was named for its author, Grand Master Kadish. A student of the teachings
of King Naygen, Kadish adopted many of the old King’s ideals in his
life. He was known for his patronage of the arts, his fascination with puzzle
devices, and above all, his incredible wealth. Kadish collected vast stores
of gold, textiles, works of art, jewelry, and other treasures. Tolesa was
written in the 9390’s to house his tremendous hoard.
Environment
The Age consists of a series of puzzles created to keep away unwelcome visitors. Kadish Tolesa is set in the midlevels of a gargantuan forest, and is completely dominated by immense trees whose tops and bottoms are lost in a purple haze. They house a rich variety of arboreal life whose calls and scurrying can be heard in the otherwise total silence1.
Despite the awe-inspiring immensity demonstrated in the Age, it is dominated by an overpowering sense of decay. Arches and stairways have collapsed, the metal pieces of the locks are corroded, and the very stone crumbles and rots. Dust and dead leaves cover the broken pathways. Only the trees stand as a memorial to the futility of man’s greed.
Landscape
Like
many private Ages of the D’ni elite, Kadish Tolesa has a distinctly
artistic flair to its architecture. Stone was used almost exclusively for
construction, with metallic accents2. Everything was built on a giant scale
to accentuate the feeling of insignificance given by the trees, and even
the delicate arches and balconies among the boles of the trees have a very
heavy feel to them. The latter stages of the puzzle-locks involve construction
on a scale worthy of the Maintainer’s Garrison Ages3.
Additional Notes
Kadish
evidently had a number of interests outside of his own Guild. Besides his
Writing ability he owned a number of art galleries in the city. It is possible
that some of the pieces are even his own design, as many similarities in
style can be drawn to the peculiar style he used in his Ages.
1 Among them can be heard the distinctive call of the Ytram. Whether
this amphibian is native to Kadish and was imported to Riven or originally
came from another Age entirely and dispersed throughout the D’ni
ontology remains to be seen.
2 The source of the building material is unclear, and may have been imported
by Kadish specifically for his projects. If so, it must have been at enormous
expense to himself.
3 It has also been suggested that some of the pieces in his galleries
are Outsider art, although this has not been confirmed.
D'ni Explorers Guild -