Itrimidis - the Master of Etheris
The giants of Ior are tinkerers and inventors by nature. They will often spend decades or centuries on a single project, even to the point of self-destruction. Most of the time the works of the giants would go unnoticed, lost in the halls that became their tombs, as the creators toiled away until their deaths. One giant, however, mastered his chosen art, shared his inventions with the world of mortals, and is still known by his name centuries later.
Itrimidis is known as the creator of Etheris, an arcane energy source which could be stored and used to power innumerable creations. Though much of the items and machines which used Etheris have been long since destroyed, the legacy of this invention lives on even in an era when arcane instruments are rare.
Etheris is a pure replication of the potent magicks which flow through the Ley lines of Ior. While previous attempts to harness and use such magicks could weaken, deplete, or even catastrophically overload a ley line, Itrimidis was able to artificially copy the energies without compromising the integrity of the ley line itself.
How, precisely, he did this has never been fully understood. As with many others of his kind, Itrimidis was not known for his clear and concise communication. Giants do not keep secrets for the sake of secrecy, but for the lack of even the most basic social skills. Still, Itrimidis did share his discovery with mortals, specifically the Deep Elves. Without a total understanding of the how, the deep elves were able to duplicate the mechanisms Itrimidis created to copy and store the ley line energies.
With this first step, Itrimidis led the deep elves into a renaissance of arcane powered invention. From this, the power of Etheris spread beyond to dwarfs, humans, and the other elves. For a hundred years, no major city was without arcane wells, fountains, lights, and palanquin all powered by Etheris.
Even after the Fall destroyed much of the arcane power and connection that the mortal races had, many of Itrimidis' inventions survived. After a thousand years, only so many people know how to use the Etheris instruments but those who do are highly sought after by scholars and mage cloisters.
Itrimidis is assumed dead, but the lifespan of giants is not understood by the mortal races. Some giants sleep for a thousand years before waking to tinker again. Many scholarly circles hope that Itrimidis will be one of those wakers, and usher in a new age of arcane mastery for the mortals again.
Fantastic article, really enjoyable read! I want to go and explore the rest of your world now :D
Follow me on Bluesky for more pixel art :D
Thank you! We've got a lot of stuff we're working on, it's just a slow process. XD