It's all a blur... My father was the chief Arkhon for High Templar Venarius - a cruel and pernicious ruler. Venarius wished to hold the world ransom with his occult relics from the rubble of Wraeclast, he believed they could venerate him even higher in his status.

My father was forced to experiment on the map device for him, in hopes that he would uncover some kind of weapon. I don't need to tell you that my father found something worthy of attention. And instead of handing it over, he made sure its power could not be misused, a surety that cost him his freedom and me... my childhood.

I returned to Oriath with one of the early survivor fleets, excited to finally have the opportunity to put my knowledge to good use. During the rebuilding effort, we stumbled across the golden device -- a device I later learned once belonged to my father.

I'd hoped that it might be useful in the resettlement effort at first, but when we discovered the Elder, it became clear that what lay beyond the device's portals was more likely to harm than help. I assembled a team in absolute secrecy, comprised of exiles who had proved their combat know-how in Wraeclast, and set to work sealing the Elder away. We were successful. The relief I felt... it was indescribable. But...

The Atlas is a dangerous place. It assaults both body and mind. It makes Wraeclast seem positively tame. My team, my friends, they were deeply affected by the journey. The allure of power finally caused them to lose their grip on reality.

And it was only a matter of time until I joined them.

This map device is a miracle of both engineering and thaumaturgy. It's truly astounding.

Given the right coordinates from a map, this device can take you to places that... well, honestly I think it's easier for you to see for yourself just what it is capable of.

What lies beyond is dangerous, but so are you. Yet even the godslayer may not be dangerous enough.

Take a Map and use it in this device. I'll wait for you on the other side.

I first started exploring the Atlas as a way to grow closer to my estranged father. I had no idea just how close I would get to him, though there was not much left of his mind by then...

Looking back, I think I was overly optimistic about what the Atlas could mean for... well, for everyone. Imagine limitless worlds, limitless resources, limitless open space in which to live.

But now I understand that it all comes at an insurmountable price. To dwell there is to leave yourself vulnerable to unspeakable madness. It's inescapable and insidious. It taps into your greatest desires, offering you a glimpse of what might be, and that temptation... it's all I could do to stop myself from falling into the same patterns as my friends...

The work we're doing is important, but it's also risky. Please, if you start to feel your sanity slip away, you need to tell me.

バラン: 祈りが彼の修行の中心だ。食事や睡眠も含めて他の活動は自由だが、祈りの時間は絶対にずらさない、膝が悪い。

ヴェリタニア: 毎晩のように読書に勤しむ。どこで本を手に入れたかは不明。どうでもいいか。寝言を言う。ただの音だけで聞き取れる言葉はない。

ザナ: 何か重要なことを隠している。まだ何かはわからない。おそらく、前のグループに起こったことに関係しているのだろう。私たちをチェックし続けている。

ドロックス: うるさい奴だ。夜遅くまで武器の訓練をしている。早朝にキャンプ周辺をパトロールしている音を聞くこともある。寝ているはずだが、いつ寝ているかはわからない。

No... Sirus is still alive? Gods, I thought he was dead! He took the brunt of the energy released when we sealed the Elder. How did he survive?

Sirus was the leader of the group of Exiles I recruited. Brilliant and determined, and a force to be reckoned with even before we travelled the Atlas together. We... grew close. I was distraught when he vanished with the Elder. At first I thought the other Exiles were looking for him as I was, but perhaps they knew he was still alive...

I have a terrible feeling that Sirus may be tied to the madness of the others. Or perhaps he is just as mad as they are. We need to find and stop him -- if the others are looking for a way out, I'm certain he is too.

That creature you encountered out in the maps, he was... shaping things. Perhaps he's the architect we seek.

There was something off about him exile, something I can't place... Perhaps... no. This "Shaper" may have the answers.

Continue in your explorations, track this mystery man down once more and question him, so that we might be able to learn what exactly these worlds are for.

My dearest Zana,

Where are you now? I hope, as a father often does, that you are happy and tucked away in the safest of places. I hope you grow up kind and strong, that you love and are loved. It is my life's greatest regret that I will not see you again, but I must do what I can to protect you from the evils of this outer dark.

I have failed against the Elder. To be honest, I never had a chance. The creature was too strong, too well versed in the shaping ways. If Venarius had not damaged the weapon I built, that day he arrested me in my study, then perhaps I could've opened a void, forced it from its physical shell and out of this reality. But I no longer possess such a device and the Elder has suckled at my mind so many times now, that I fear I could not remember how to rebuild it, even if I tried.

My war with the creature is far from over however. I've no upper hand. But like a cornered animal, I will bite until I am gone. I've attempted to sleep and awaken in Oriath, many times. Hoped that one night I might get to hold you in my arms once again. But instead of my study, I dream of nothing.

I know this letter might never reach you, but I write it anyway – if not for you, then for the sake of my own fragile wits. I love you my darling daughter, and hope the best for you, far away from all this... cosmic darkness. You've made me very proud, and I've considered each day a blessing that I've been able to call you my daughter...

I must keep moving. I must keep fighting. Perhaps one day, if the gods allow it, we shall see each other once more. I love you greatly.

Your Papa, Valdo Caeserius

It appears my Father encountered this "Elder" sometime before his entrapment in its lair. Many of his most recent diaries make reference to the creature and his learnings around it. There wasn't much, just second-hand myths from the research journals of the Watchers of Decay.

One concept however, came up time and time again. This Elder is not a lord unto itself. It serves a greater master, or... a greater purpose... I'm unsure. It's confusing; both my father and the Watchers refer to the Elder as "coming from the nothing" while also being "a carrier for the nothing." There are also mentions of an unholy desire to spoil and decay... perhaps it all relates somehow to those fungal growths we've seen in the maps...

I've been doing more research into the Elder and its battle with the Watchers of Decay. It's truly mortifying the things they've endured at the creature's hands.

These Watchers, they were all... parents. It seems the Elder prefers its prey young. These men and women fought tooth and nail to avenge their children, perhaps even succeeding for a time... But the Elder has been free for the better part of two decades. Its taste in food could explain the steady disappearance of children in the upper class of Oriath.

What if those children are still here, in this place? Twisted, tormented creatures, clinging to whatever fragments of happy memories they've left... We must alleviate their sufferings.

バランが神の話をしていたので、私は「日誌を書きに行く」と言った。テンプラーの訓練を受けるとこんなにもつまらないやつになるのは何故？彼はいいやつだと思う。やつの話術を武器にできたらいいんだけどな。悪魔を永遠に眠らせるのに使えるかもしれない。

昨日、俺はグループのためにイノシシを狩った。今日、ドロックスが2頭のイノシシを持って帰った。明日、俺は3頭連れて帰ってやる。あの大口の大馬鹿やろうに誰がトップハンターか教えてやらないとな。

ザナには、ドロックスと俺の間にある緊張感が伝わっているのだろう。俺が彼女とシラスとの間の関係に気づいているのを彼女は知らないと思うj。彼女がシラスを見るのを見たことがある。シラスが彼女を見るのを見たこともある。二人共お互いが興味を持っていることをわかっていないのだろう。

ヴェリタニアが笑顔で話しかけてきたので、俺に気があるのかと思ったが、俺の唇にイノシシの血がついていて、それが赤い口ひげのように見えたのを面白がっていただけだった。口の周りを拭うと、彼女は読書に戻っていった。

黙れバラン。うるせえよ。黙れ。黙れ。

俺の負けだ。やつの勝ち。俺はベッドで寝る。

I think I understand it now... This Atlas, these maps... they aren't so much worlds as they are like the performance stage in the Theopolis Amphitheatre. These worlds are merely disguises for what truly lies behind the curtain.

This place... this is the nexus of the Elder's worlds, the place from which all its hunting grounds are formed... We are close to the void from which it was birthed, yet my Father has chosen this as his home. Curious indeed. Hiding in plain sight perhaps? Though, what captain regularly frequents the bowels of his ship? Maybe the Elder rarely visits this place. It is busy, I suppose, hunting and feasting elsewhere in the maps...

Exile, I will ready my Father's memories. You go on ahead, scout this place, find my Father, but be wary of what horrors might lurk down here in the belly of this evil machine.

父さん、私よ！あなたを助けさせて！

His memories... of me... gone. Devoured by that abomination! Curse it! My Father will... he'll never know me again.

At least... At least I got to speak with him one last time. He recognized me. Did you see that, Exile? He knew my face! ...and now he's in torment once again.

If we cannot restore his memories, then we must free him from this prison. I can't believe I am to ask this of you, but we must defeat this Elder. Perhaps with it gone, my Father will give up his ghost and be finally laid to rest.

You're fast on your feet exile. I'm glad you have decided to stick through this with me. Look, it seems my concerns were... justified. The Decay we've seen throughout the Atlas, it's here. Perhaps our activities in the Atlas might have weakened the barriers between this world and the maps. Without my Father's full strength to keep it at bay, the Elder's true master - Decay - is seeping through.

I promised you a reward for helping me find my father, well here it is - an item from my Father's secret study. Please, take it and stay on this journey with me - there is yet more we can accomplish together.

I remember almost everything now about my Father's studies into the map device. I remember how he locked himself away to work on this weapon. I've managed to read his notes on the weapon while I was waiting for you to arrive. The science is... incomprehensible at best. Nearest I can tell, the Arcana exhibits a blast of wrath once it has been fully charged, and when directed at the Elder will force it to take on the form it held before it entered our dimension.

We know that form to be, as my father puts it, non-corporeal. In short - that which is not physical cannot exist in a dimension of physics. It will be forced out and back to where it belongs, hopefully unable to return. As I said, it is tenuous, but I trust my father, and this is the only hope we have.

密輸業者にありがちなことだが、私はこれまでにかなりの距離を旅をしてきた。奇妙な光景を目にしたこともある。パブで飲んでいた時に、家庭的な人間にも無愛想な人間にも本当に恐ろしい人間にも会ったことがある。彼らと同じように自分は勇敢だと思っていた。

今日見たものは私を心の底から驚かせた。それは何もないところから現れたんだ、水辺から立ち上る霧のように、何十もの形を持たぬ...物体を従えていた。心臓が凍りつきそうだった。身体中に鳥肌が立ったんだ、本当に身体中至るところに。その腕は絡まっていて、何本も生えていた。その口は果てしない黒い深淵のようだった。それは私たちが追い求めていた怪物だった。

その時ほど怖い思いをしたことは今までにない。その場にいるだけで、砂糖が水の中に溶けていくように、私の生命が削り取られていく感触がした。

今や危険がどれほど大きいか理解することができた。私は目的が欲しかった...今、私はそれを手に入れたのだ。

It's happening, isn't it? The Elder is on its way. We are at the end of the road, Exile. Does it look off into success? Or does the horizon hold nothing but death and decay? I hope you're ready, my friend.

We need to weaken the creature before the Cosmic Arcana can do its job. I wish you luck, and should we not meet again... it's been an honour to fight by your side.

この手紙の発見者へ、

この奇妙で歪んだ領域で起こったことは、理解を超えている。時間よりも古くから存在する邪悪なものがこの地を徘徊し、オリアスの息子であるヴァルド・シーザリアスの記憶を糧としていた。

彼を食べた悪魔は計り知れないほどの力を持ち、私たちが発見した「腐敗」と呼ばれるものを広めるという欲望に揺るぎはなかった。どれだけの期間、悪魔を追い続けたかは知らない。私の仲間が狂気の兆候を見せ始めたほどだ。シラスの勇敢なリーダーシップと... 犠牲がなければ、我々は間違いなく悪魔に敗北していただろう。

何度やっても悪魔を倒せず... ヴァルドの娘が悪魔を封じる方法を見つけたが...そのためにザナの父親が犠牲になった。彼の魂に安息あれ。シラスがいなければ、我々の作戦は失敗していた。悪魔は屈せず、ザナの装置から這い上がってきた。シラスは... その上に飛び乗った。悪魔が彼の身体を掴み、装置を掴んでいた手を離した。シラスと悪魔は罠に捕まり、この現実から消え去った。二人共この世界からいなくなった。

そして、シラスは再びそこにいた。その姿を見た者はいない。目は動かず、瞬きもせず、その呟きは...。狂おしく、絶え間ない。そして、黒い魂に取り憑かれた男にだけ見うけられる風に、彼の顔は歪んでいた。彼は何度も何度も私たちに襲いかかってきた。私たちは彼を抑えることができなかった。私たちはその場から逃げ出さなければならなかった。その時、私たちは帰り道が封印されていることを知った。ヴァルドの娘が我々の帰還を妨害したのだ。

どれくらいの間ここに閉じ込められていたのかわからない。少なくとも数週間。もしかしたら数年かもしれない。アトラスでの時間は蜃気楼のようなものだ。

どうか読者諸君、少しでも分別があるのなら、ここに留まってはいけない。オリアスに帰れ、あるいはどこから来たのか知らんが来た場所に戻れ。シラスの勇敢さと犠牲を伝え、彼と我々を、発見した秘密とともに死なせてくれ。

信仰無き者バラン

We did it... It's over... it's finally over. My father, wherever he is, I can sense him. He's at peace... Thank you, exile.

The Arcana! It worked! And I wasn't worried for a second! Though... The Elder and the Decay... Although we have banished them both, the encounter has... changed me somehow. I feel the creature, scratching at the skin between our dimensions. It's desperate. It's hungry. It's... trying to find a way back in.

I don't think I'll sleep again for a long while. I need to make sure we are prepared in case it returns. Perhaps I'll restore the Watchers of Decay to guard our world... This place - the Atlas, is of the Elder. With more research it could give us further clues to the exact nature of the Decay. If you wish to, you're free to study and explore these worlds alongside me. Perhaps you could still do some good in this place - the Elder's victims - all those children... there must be thousands of them, wandering these lands, twisted and corrupted, alone - perhaps even afraid. Like my Father, they beg to be set free from their torment. Killing them would be an act of mercy. You could be an agent of that mercy, my friend.

For now, I must leave you. I need to prepare for my next expedition.