Current cycle: 1092 PH / Jan 3, 2022, Prime Earth Local Current virtual identity: Valgueri as Jujube, The Clement Coral Current whereabouts: Node 804

I’ve begun to take down what little I can recall of my creator’s memories about the world, and his time Watching the Prime Reality known as Earth. With my first entry, I will attempt to transcribe what I know about Athenvar, the Prime Anchor Tree, and her siblings.

Though I have never come across any verifiable trace of her within the virtual spheres, I watch and seek out signs of Aventhar. It could be that the magic of the Anchors doesn’t—or can’t—extend into the virtual, but still, I search. I know, due to my mere existence here, that magic and technology can and do commingle. This suggests the likely influence of an Anchor as the source, but beyond that, I’ve found nothing. Perhaps seeding my own limited knowledge here will trigger something; help me to uncover what has thus far eluded me?

Athenvar is the greatest of the Anchors on the Prime reality known as Earth. It was given into the care of the Tenebra mages by the Temer Saint Austler, who was also a great friend to me—the original me. It is unclear to me how Austler came to be the custodian of Athenvar, nor is it known how he was able to cultivate such a wonder.

Some say Athenvar is of the A’venfae, a sapling grown from the great tree of their lands, from before their own Harrowing and their arrival to Prime Earth. Kel’dara, they had named it, and it is said it is the only tree of its kind in their homelands. Though they themselves have legends of yet another tree from which Kel’dara was cultivated.

I find this unlikely, though the Anchors of The A’venfae, specifically the Lantern Trees of New Murias, are very likely not born of this Prime world either. It’s verifiable that they function in a similar way to the Prime Anchor, pulling this world closer to the Ethersea and fomenting the creation of Shallows. It’s also safe to assume that the trees of The A’venfae were brought here with them, and so seems likely a link to Kel’dara exists there. But Athenvar? Her origins are less clear. She once took root in the old world—in Europe—but came across the ocean after the wars and the Harrowing of the A’venfae homeworld. Brought by Austler. This seems well accepted. But how she grew to prominence and the reasoning behind her being given over to human mages—The Tenebra—there is only speculation.

I do think it highly likely that Austler had help from the A’venfae. Both in her moving and in her subsequent growth and care. Specifically those of The Bright Courts of Gorias, City of Springtime, and Flowers. Those A’venfae are longtime allies and friends of the Tenebra and are also known to hold dominion over great Druidic powers. To this very day they, along with a chosen few among the Tenebra Mages, keep Athenvar safe, protecting her.

Athenvar is massive. I’ve not seen her myself, but the memories I contain give the impression of a wonder. She has a form much like an oak, but much larger and with bark more akin to stone or shale. She springs from the earth abruptly, as if thrust from the underworld. Her branches are wide, reaching for the sky and, in summer, casting magnificent shadows from their ivory leaves, which glow with a soft, warm light.

At the height of summer, her leaves begin to shift, dimming and turning slowly crimson as winter comes and they fall to the ground. Eventually, they will fade to dull aburn, leaving the great trunks and branches bare, as if carved from the earth, dark and hard and unyielding until new growth appears in the spring.

The greatest among the Anchors are said to share a similar form, but they adapt to their locations, and to the needs and desires of their caretakers. It’s said that the Flaming Grove of Lost Falias never shed their leaves, even in the height of summer, and they burned with all the many shades of flame year-round. That is before the grove was lost to that world’s Harrowing and the leaves turned black.

The Anchor Trees are special in many ways. They hold and protect the Prime Realities, anchoring them to the Etherwells and shielding them from the chaos and darkness that swirl around creation—and the corruption known as The Harrow. They provide a conduit to the Etherial, serving as a font for magical energy but also providing access and refuge to the lands within the vastness of the Ethersea. They are guardians and providers, inspirations, and guides. And more.

The greatest among them, Athenvar and her sisters are intelligent entities, though little knowledge remains about where they come from or how they originally came to be. They seldom communicate, at least not in a way those of lesser intelligence can contemplate, and so relatively little is known about the innermost natures. The Tenebra, who, as part of their tradition, form a familial bond with Athenvar, would know more, but they are secretive.

The Anchor Trees exist throughout the Etherlands, scattered across the Ethersea. I have…memories of the trees in Labyrinth, though they are…incomplete. On Prime Earth, I know of several. There is Athenvar at the center of the Tenebra city of Alpine, high in the mountains, and her nearest sister, Varenthae, under the direct care of the Court of Leaves within the Shallow of New Gorias. There are the lesser anchors of New Murias, along the western shores—the fabled Lantern Trees and the Groves of Twilight with their beautiful blossoms.

They are fewer, now, in the old world, across the sea, where once Athenvar took root, long before the World Wars shook the European Shallows of the A’venfae from this world. The reclusive A’venfae of Falias keep one, high in their wintery home, protected by Cairnoc—ram’s horned giants who fight only to protect. And there are whispers that something of the Flaming Grove survived the Harrowing of Finias, though if this is true, the whereabouts of such a tree are not known to me.

There are likely others as well, perhaps smaller groves of lesser Anchors. Rumors of fae sprits in Japan—the yōkai of Japanese folklore—speak to some connection with the Ethersea and the presence of Shallows there. Surely if this were true, there would also be an Anchor or grove, though who would tend to it is a mystery.

These Anchor Trees are the primary source of Etherial energy on Prime Earth, and though it’s not prevalent in the everyday lives of the mundane, this Prime, of all I know of, is thick with magic, rivaling only lost Temer or perhaps Terasua.

Though I cannot access, or recall, the specifics, I know that Valgueri—we—have a primary duty to Watch the Anchor Trees. Ostensibly to protect them. And so, within my role here in the Spheres Virtual, I watch. As of yet, there has been no sign aside from the derivation I see often. Much of the world is reflected here, and while it’s hard to discern the true echoes from the merely frivolous whimsy of mortals, I will remain vigilant and ever watchful.

Notes to Nine: It has been helpful to me to assume the guise of one of the Witches of the Crypto Coven—the solemn Seer Jujube, The Clement Coral—when engaged in contemplation of the magical. Unlike other semblances available to me, they provide a unique perspective, both on the technology of the virtual spheres and the essence of the Prime. I will speak on this more in future but know that as a mage yourself, albeit of a different tradition, you may do well to investigate them.