Vaultstones
The massive stone-like guardians of the deepest sections of the Eternal Record, who keep its most dangerous and forbidden knowledge from the unworthy.
Overview
The Vaultstones are the guardians of the Eternal Record. They stand at its deepest sections and keep the most dangerous and forbidden knowledge from being reached by the unworthy. Under them are the Indexers, which file what arrives, and the Censors, which seal away what must not be read; among the stacks they guard wander the Forgotten, the Record-bound Echoes of people erased from the world.
Appearance
A Vaultstone is massive, three or four times the height of a man, and looks like a statue carved from grey-brown stone: a seated or standing figure, heavy and squared, with a face worn smooth like an old tomb effigy, and hands resting on a sealed book or a door. Lines of faded script run across its body like veins in marble. It does not seem to move, until it does, slowly, with a grinding of stone and a fall of dust. Its eyes, when they open, are dull gold. Its voice, rarely used, is a low rumble felt through the floor. It smells of dust and cold stone.
Habitat and Range
They stand at the thresholds of the deepest and sealed sections of the Eternal Record, each at its own door, for as long as the Record lasts.
Behaviour and Temperament
A Vaultstone does nothing but guard. It lets the worthy pass and stops the unworthy, and what it counts as worthy is its own judgement, rarely explained. It does not pursue anyone who turns back. It cannot be bargained with.
Abilities
It is all but immovable and very strong, and it knows what lies behind its door. Trying to pass one, or to reach a sealed section, can end in being erased from existence.
Uses and Dangers
They keep the deepest knowledge safe, which some travellers count a mercy, since reading too much in the Record can crush a mortal mind. Their danger is to anyone who decides they are worthy when the Vaultstone does not.
Lore and Belief
Scholars say there are rooms in the Record no one has entered, guarded by stone giants, and the tale is close to the truth. Some believe the Vaultstones were once great scholars who read too much; nothing shows it.
Treasure-seekers who go into the Record after lost knowledge speak of passing a seated stone giant with its hand on a sealed door, and of what happened to the one who tried the door.
Where It Appears
- The Eternal Record
- Writers' Guide: The Planes
In the Writers’ Guide
- Censors A Bestiary of Caeldon
- Indexers A Bestiary of Caeldon
- Vaultstones A Bestiary of CaeldonLore and Belief