Musings on Leyline Balance and Purpose

Delia Finstropp

I find myself pondering the relationships between the leylines we as an academic community discovered a mere two years ago. I keep coming to the same conclusion: While the general theory is that the leylines balance each other and keep their oppositional alignment in check, I do not believe this is the correct view... or at least not the entire story. We know at the very least there is at least one more leyline... given the disturbances noted recently about two day's journey west of Stormbane

Life & Death, Day & Night, Nature & Cosmos, Time & Nether... none of these are truly oppositional forces. Instead they are complementary. Until recently, scholars have believed that the opposing leylines keep each other in balance. We've come to believe the Guardians exist in order to defend against forces that would destroy their very essence... the leylines themselves. I propose something else: There is a world of some sort beyond they leylines. One we can't even perceive, let alone understand. We have heard Guardians speak of higher beings than themselves that are more tightly wound to the fabric of the ley.... deities of sorts. I think beyond the leylines these deities are engaged in something different. The powers that seep into our world from theirs are merely residue of some sort of collaboration... or conflict. This may be something we never have the answer to, given our inability to enter the ley itself, but perhaps the new study of harnessing the ley for "magic" may yield the answers.

I would like to take a look at each leyline pairing for a moment, if you'll indulge me and analyze them not from an oppositional, but a complementary standpoint.

Life & Death

This one is simple. Death feeds life, life feeds death. Life itself is meaningless without Death and Death lacks any bite without Life. They surely have no meaning without each other.

Day & Night

Day and Night are similar to Life and Death. Without each other, they have no meaning. The Night does not conquer the Day, it is merely another half of it. Day is always present, just not always to everyone. Both serve a need, both help the world feel complete. We can see this just by the relationships of their Guardians. While Itia and Myulla have their disagreements, it is always on specifics, never their place in this world.

Nature & Cosmos

I find this is where it starts getting interesting. The concepts of Nature and the Cosmos are not quite at odds, but all data shows these as oppositional leylines. While pondering why that is, I came across an idea. Perhaps the nature of opposition in regards to leylines isn't in how they are viewed in a positive light, but when taken to their worst extremes. Nature, as a concept represents growth... beauty... eternal possibilities. To me, the Cosmos can represent the very same thing, but to a pessimistic view, the Cosmos can perhaps be a vast nothingness... The absence of beauty and life entirely. I wonder if a more complete view on the leylines is what is needed in order to understand their balance.

Time & Nether

Ah yes, both the most fascinating and yet least misunderstood pair. Time, for its part at least, is fairly simple... we know what time is. The progression of the world from one state to another. As such, we would imagine that its opposition is stasis, but strangely so, Nether............

[The page is too worn to read beyond this point.]