//------------------------------//
// Aftermath - Magnus Chartophylax 
// Story: The Void Rift Crisis 
// by Visiden Visidane 
//------------------------------//

	It should come as no surprise that the Void Rift Crisis had, and continues to have, a significant impact on the Eternal Herd, such as the attitudes of its alicorns, and the steps that had to be taken by our new King.

The Herd was saved, let there be no doubt of that. We continue to exist because we successfully prevented the Agamanthion from destroying us all, but our heavenly realm was badly damaged as a result of our struggles. Only the power of our Throne has what it takes to repair our world, and the King and Queen are the only ones who can focus its power.

That task alone, with absolutely nothing else interfering, is difficult and time-consuming enough, but fate would not make it so easy now, would it? Our King and Queen must deal with with volatile, sometimes petty, situations arising from within the Herd and outside it.

Very early into the Sixteenth Cycle, the Wolvenaar made an inquiry regarding our state. They sent emissaries, they smiled their toothy smiles, and asked if we needed assistance. I highly doubt that they did so out of a deep concern for our well-being. The Q'tzal followed suit. Our patrols also noticed an increase of wandering creatures in Vestibulum, feeling about our borders, checking if we responded as readily to their little threats after the Void Rift Crisis as readily and as aggressively as when we did before. Even if we were weakened, the likelihood of an otherworldly invasion is very very slim. Still, we must continue to show a united and strong front, partly out of dignity, and partly because even a very very slim chance should be eliminated. Since the First Cycle, there has never been a war between realms, and we have no intention of providing a reason for one.

His Majesty has shown a remarkable degree of restraint in this matter, far more than I had expected of him. I was afraid that he would listen to every one of General Gravitas' aggressive proposals, but he has been cordial with all our guests, and surprisingly subtle in his displays of power. Our brethren have been inspired, and follow his lead. I suppose that is to be expected of the Lord of Sunlight. As the sun, he naturally radiates power without ever appearing that he is trying.

Far more poignant and worrying is the effect of the Void Rift Crisis within the Herd, particularly the Seekers of the Sixth.

Before the Void Rift Crisis, the rest of the Eternal Herd was, more or less, sympathetic to the cause of the Seekers. We cannot even begin to fathom what it is like to know so little of the cycle you were born in. Though many of us wouldn't go so far as to join them in their wanderings and obsessive studies, we were happy to lend some assistance, and there were indeed those not of the Sixth Cycle who did take up the Seeker's mantle. 

Once the circumstances involving the Agamanthion came to light, however, that sympathy cooled into suspicion, scorn, or simply apathy. General Gravitas, clearly displaying his bottomless source of self-righteousness, continues to call for the punishment of all the Seekers involved with the Agamanthion, including those who were already untimely diminished by the crisis.

The Seekers have responded by shutting down. At first, they were willing to argue with those who accused the Sixth Ascendant of causing these horrific events. They posited that the Agamanthion was misused, resulting in a malfunction. They argued hard against Gravitas' motion to eradicate every last one of the Sixth's artifacts. Recently, they won't even bother anymore. They guard these artifacts fiercely, submitting only to His Majesty's commands that every possible precaution should be made before even the most minor undertaking.

You are very fortunate in tracking down, and speaking to Ignis Cordo. She is among the very last of the Seekers still willing to speak of anything regarding the Agamanthion. You'll find that trying to speak with the other Seekers will be nearly impossible. The few that remain here to study what is left of the Agamanthion have become extremely guarded. More and more of the Seekers that were not diminished have taken their quests to Vestibulum, and the other heavenly realms. I suspect that it is to escape the shame that will likely haunt them forevermore. If this matter still does not seem grim to you, colt, I must remind you that nearly all Sixth Cycle alicorns are Seekers. Not only have we lost the Sixth Cycle historically, we may have well lost the actual generation.

In this matter, I consider His Majesty to have been very prudent as well. He has made no attack on the Seekers as an organization nor decreed the destruction of what little physical remains there are of the Sixth Ascendant's reign, proving himself a friend to History, and certainly more than earning the gratitude of the Hall of Records, and the Circle of Knowledge, if not the Seekers of the Sixth as well. His Majesty understands that we need to know more of the Sixth's legacy especially because of what happened with the Agamanthion, not in spite of it. Perhaps, most telling of this commitment is that he allowed Prince Oceanus to study the Sixth's notes on Necromancy, despite the worried outcry from many of his subjects.

I also believe that the reason for this also has a personal aspect. Turbo Pinnae dedicated himself to the Seekers' cause, for good or for ill. To destroy what is left of the Sixth's legacy is to render everything Pinnae has done, and the sacrifice he and all the other Seekers have made, meaningless. It is easy to see that, despite all that has happened, His Majesty still highly regards his old friend.

And then, there is the most direct result of the void rift...

You have not heard of this? You must try to keep up with current events, it caused quite an uproar. It is a curious thing. Quite recently, Prince Oceanus traveled to Vestibulum to try to gate into the place the void rift led to. Many of us thought it was madness. Even I thought it was an incredibly risky act. But His Majesty agreed if it was in Vestibulum, and that Prince Oceanus was not to enter.

To our wonder, Prince Oceanus reported that, despite his meticulous calculations to make sure that it was the void rift's destination he was gating to, he did not find the endless blackness that his father saw in the Agamanthion's core. He spoke of seeing a lush world filled with strange scaly beasts with wings. More observations were quickly made after this report. We know that this world is fairly new, likely no older than the Sixteenth Cycle. It is also...limited in some ways. It has no layers as our heavenly realm does. We do not know what happens to its inhabitants upon their deaths. 

A wave of frenzied speculations have followed. A popular theory is that this was the void that the Agamanthion was feeding, that it was a device that ripped a world's very essence from it to create a new one. Prince Oceanus himself has stated that it appears to have materialized shortly after the Sixteenth Cycle began. The timing either fits or is an incredible coincidence. He suggesed that the strange properties, and lack of layers is because it is not fully formed, that whatever process of creation has been interrupted. 

Others believe that Prince Oceanus simply opened the wrong gate, and that this is just an unexplored world with strange properties. 

His Majesty has forbidden all meddling with it, let alone entry. All the Herd is limited to very distant observation. Now, some in the Council of Elders have been saying that if this was the result of the Agamanthion's process, then this world is rightfully part of the Eternal Herd and should be populated as one. His Majesty has rejected such a proposition. I do not know how well this will fare. It might be that the other heavenly realms have discovered it already. They might make a move, and we would have to respond.

For now, I have a feeling that this matter will become the center of great events just like the Agamanthion was.