Unkindness

Unkindness is a force, spirit, or entity of unknown nature, with great power that can, under the right conditions, be harnessed by people. Unkindness stands in opposition to both Coherence and Unfolding - it has been described (by Nemnu Ula) as a kind of de-coherence in relation to the Six Kinds, or nature, of things. It stands outside both the ordinary cosmology of the Corps and the beliefs of the Hulti, Luetkans, and others, although it has relations to all of them. It has connections to time, space, stone, Kinds, and the Source magic of Sigillants.

The best-known form in which Unkindness is experienced is through Unkind Stones. An Unkind stone appears as fluid inky black rock that makes a low moaning noise. They are entities or artefacts created by Nemnu Ula, in conjunction with Her allies at Nemnosti and the Emperor Eluli Ula, at or around the time of the Great Purge. In order to strike fear into the organs of her enemies, Nemnu developed the Stone based on ideas She had first developed in life, and later in her early sainthood. The Unkind Stone's most immediate effect is petrification upon touch, whereby an individual is turned completely to a kind of grey stone with no consciousness. While, as a magical effect, this is reversible, its more potent effect, from which the Stone draws its name, is to permanently remove the Kind of whatever it touches, even after petrification is reversed, rendering the victim an Un-kind, or non-person. Such an individual can sometimes be perceived magically to have a fine grey mist or smoke coming from their body, but is otherwise indiscernible from an ordinary person. While there is no known cure or reversal from Unkindness among the living, it is known that the stoneguard's power to lay an individual to rest does transform the Unkind dead into ordinary Ancestors, who can thereafter be communicated with in the ordinary manner.

Two Unkind Stones are known to have been created and still exist. The first is located high in the Ghengom, in the hills west of Gil Hargush where the Hulti were most numerous at the time of the Purge. It was used several times during the Great Purge, but specific memory of it survives very poorly among Ombans and Ravre, although the Ravre from the high hills treat the area as if it were haunted and very dangerous. One fragment of stone arm was recovered in that area in 653 by Fezef Takovenga, and preserved at the treasury at Nemnosti, where it was later recovered by Kuspir Vabaseli. That Unkind Stone thereafter lay buried in the earth until released in 768 through the removal of an iron dagger buried under a hill-shaped terraced Hulti temple. At that time, an earthquake released it. Azolte Rumnoska (Ishikande Sarguni), a follower of the saint Sargunel Ula, was petrified at the site and rescued from the Unkind Stone, during which fight the bubun that was formerly Ghevra Gorga was also petrified. Upon de-petrification, Azolte was apparently normal at first but then experienced a complete psychotic breakdown and was eventually killed at Nemnosti by Kuspir Vabaseli and Marga Gago. Ghevra, upon de-petrification, did not become an ordinary Ancestor, and thus could not be interred and spoken to by the Voice of the Dead.

The second Unkind Stone was also created during the Great Purge and was provided by Nemnu to Eluli Ula, in his status as Emperor, for his use. The location of this second Stone is unknown but presumably is still fully under the control of Eluli. It has been used an unknown number of times, but most notably (according to Nemnu) on Sargunel Ula, born Sargunel Rumnoska, a saint who opposed Eluli and who was thus eliminated around 677. It is unclear what effect an Unkind Stone could have on a saint, but Nemnu believes that it could destroy Her. The exact nature of Sargunel's opposition to Eluli remains unclear. His lineage (the Sarguni, who now go by His birth-clan of Rumnoska) used rumours and half-truths about the Unkind Stone either to seek out Sargunel's (presumably) petrified remains in the Ghengom, or to learn more about Unkindness, at the location of Nemnu's Unkind Stone.

Some variety of Unkindness is present at a strange crack that emerged in the Fingerprint, a strange piece of cave art sacred to the Nadenigh lineage, deep within that clan's iftibal. This crack emerged immediately upon or after the depetrification of Azolte and Ghevra, and is related to it. It is speculated that the release of Unkindness sought out a home in powerful sigillant stone. That crack of Unkindness has some of the properties of sentience and has a connection to Jevai Nadenigh in particular. It has described itself as 'nothing' but apparently has emotions and sentience different from that of the Unkind Stones, as far as can be told.

Some relationship exists between the concept of Unkindness and the related concept of Abyss, as exemplified by the psychic magic of Alai Vegru. Alai's magical investigations revealed that "Unkindness is Abyss", potentially meaning that Unkindness is a younger or variant form of a more fundamental Abyss. It also revealed that the Blue Storm, the Luetkan rebellion of the last century, led by her ancestor Aathuvansi Leu, drew power from Abyss, a fact confirmed by Uvragaz Vegru, Alai's elderly adopted grandmother.

In attempting to enhance her sight before going to investigate the Unkind Stone, Ifa Nemni experienced an unusual and powerful magical backlash that rendered her blind, or rather, capable of only seeing tendrils of gray, black, and silver. Using Abyssal magic, Alai was able to draw the blindness out of Ifa, which took the physical form of a black ichor which they stored in a jar. After that point, Ifa retained some ability to see these tendrils, which are hypothesized to be Unkindness as they are strongest around areas such as the Unkind Stone in the Ghengom.

Some relationship exists between the concept of Unkindness and the special realm in which Eng-dur Chuchuru is currently trapped, and into which apparently some Hulti, specifically Gunuremai, are able to travel. While the Unkind Stones are both of Nemnu's creation, there are at least two sigillant megalithic doors with some connection to Unkindness. The first are the Lanky Stones within the ulajeta walls at Nemnosti itself, to which Eng-dur's spirit appears to be bound, and through which he can appear to Jevai every new moon. Eng-dur became trapped after investigating the Unkind Stone in the Ghengom, upon the recommendation of Saza Gago, a sigillant now in an alliance with the Hulti. Attempting to create an Unkind Stone of his own, using the resources of the library at Nemnosti that Jevai accessed for him, he tried and failed, and became trapped. With her special restored vision, Ifa can now also see and communicate with Eng-dur.

Some relationship exists between the Unkindness present in the Unkind Stones and the capacities of the megalithic door known as the Crease, or Musune's End. Located deep within the forest of Musune at the far northern edge of the province, near Gil Hargush but even further removed from civilization, it is operated, not by a keyword, but by a pair of iron daggers - one being that buried under the Hulti temple and that apparently caused or released the earthquake that freed the first Unkind Stone. The Crease, which serves as a kind of celestial map, may have the capacity to allow transport into the same realm where Eng-dur resides. It also confirms, along with the timing of Eng-dur's appearance, some likely relationship between Unkindness and celestial bodies.