BEING A THEORY OF THE THIRD GIFT OF ALTHARES

In ruminating upon the possible Third Gift of the god Althares to His people, I began to wonder if there may be some intended connection between the three gifts. I theorize that the Three Gifts combine to make something even greater. The First Gift was knowledge of conductivity (i.e., electromagnetism). It enabled control of lightning, magnetics, metal-repelling armor, and -- most famous of all the resulting inventions -- skyships. The Second Gift was knowledge of alchemical creation of blastpowder. It enabled the invention of fireworks and -- more famously -- weapons known as guns. What do these two gifts have in common, and what might the Third Gift be that builds upon them?

My speculation is that skyships plus blastpowder put us two-thirds of the way towards rocket ships that can travel into outer space. With electromagnetics, flying ships, solid fuel, and skilled Alterian inventors, we may be missing just one ingredient before having space ships. I'm not sure what that particular ingredient of the Third Gift is. Perhaps it's control over sealing air (which would not only enable trapping air for breathing but also might facilitate the burning of solid fuel in the rocket). Perhaps it's something about the design of the rocket engine. Perhaps it's some other concept needed for space travel. Regardless of the precise Third Gift, this is a common thread I see between the first two Gifts as I project to predict the final goal of Althares for His people's use of these gifts.

Why space travel? Maybe it is to enable Men to reach the Dark Moon. It is there on the Dark Moon, several stories indicate, that the Other (Umor) was imprisoned at the end of the Gods' War. The Dark Moon was the setting for an enigmatic interaction between father and son in the Epilogue to the original 2001 printing of the CODEX ARCANIS (p.160) -- an epilogue so special that Henry Lopez intentionally didn't tell his business partners about it before the book's printing and which did NOT get into the 2007 reprinting of the CODEX ARCANIS. Set in a temple on the Dark Moon was a vision of 12 clerics surrounding a glowing orb that storm crows granted to many personages after heroes went on a suicide mission to the Blessed Lands (from the official Living Arcanis short story "The Storm"). It is the Dark Moon, a possible future indicates (Living Arcanis Hard Point 5-2 "To Peel the Veil of Lightness and Dark"), that may eventually shatter. Perhaps we need eventually to get there to finish what the Gods began. On a more sinister level, perhaps it is not actually Althares but instead Umor who speaks to the Altherians and grants these Gifts so that he can escape imprisonment. Regardless of why Althares wishes to grant His people the Gift of space travel, Umor's presence on the Dark Moon likely means that the Gods left incredibly powerful arcane wards preventing magical travel there; and therefore physical travel may be the only way to reach it. Alternatively, maybe space travel will be needed to escape the world of Arcanis when the Silent Darkness comes and Oblivion destroys the world.

[As an aside on space travel, Scott Charlton, creator of the Kio and their Sky Citadels, once told me that he intended that the Kio originally worshipped Umor before they came to Onara. This was never made official in any published material, and although Scott said it was his intention, I got the impression that he hadn't necessarily cleared it with Henry, and thus this aside may be moot. A Living Arcanis Metra module confirmed that the Kion Sky Citadels were effectively spaceships, and thus it would fit that Umor had one previous set of worshippers who had spaceships, and now he's impersonating Althares in an attempt to get spaceships to free him from the Dark Moon. But this aside is not the primary point of this posting.]

Thus, I speculate that the Third Gift of Althares will combine with the first two Gifts to enable space flight with the possible goal of reaching the Dark Moon.

In character, I doubt I would know enough to devise this theory. Out of character, it seems plausible to me. I welcome not only feedback on this particular theory but also other speculation on the Third Gift and the theory that the three gifts combine to form something greater.

David Thomas Chappell
17 June 2014