Quintak's Burden

A novella by Dan Potter focusing on the Item Law Makers Guild (ILMG) and what happens when Law 1 puts all of Battal into jeopardy.

Summary

The Item Law Makers Guild has been around for a long time. For eonicles they have been the supreme authority on magical items, and that authority has spilled over into all other aspects of life in the realm. The rule of the ILMG is law. It is within this context that Grand Chief Itemstrator Quintak Hoch finds that he's run into a problem. A problem that no one must know about.

The ILMG is running out of item names.

It all started when an unassuming memo appeared on Hoch's desk, informing him that within the year they were going to run out of unique item names. This was a threat to the whole way of life of the High Item Law Makers. For thousands of years they've dictated what's gone on item wise, but by the end of the year, they'll be little need for them. Sure, a few would remain to maintain the Item Tracking Database, but huge group of higher ups who have the responsibility of creating and enforcing laws will be out of work

Meetings were held and tons of ideas where thrown out. Things like, creating new words, taking words from other languages, creating a secret group to destroy items only to remake them to keep up the idea that new items were being created. That's when High Item Law Maker Strofe had an idea. What about looking into Dark Elemenstaion?

This would of course have to be done in secret. That the ILMG was working with the Dark Elemenstors to create new items from their words was not something that they wanted the general populace to find out.

Without anyone noticing, Hoch began slipping books on Dark Elemenstation into the Name Tomes, under the guise that they were old books of different types of good elemenstation. The Name Finders, who search the tomes for legal item names don't question, they're just happy to have work and due to the sheer number of Name Tomes that exist, they really never "catch on" as it were.

Most Elemenstors who purchase the items are so caught up in merely collecting more and more magical swag (each one is different, gotta get 'em all!) that they never notice when a few seem to be a little off.

It was this situation that, once setup, sets the stage for the self depricating High Elemenstor Anglewood Merriment, who purchases the recently crafted Kago's Enchanted Necropuppied Circlet of Witherance. The darkly suspicious nature of the item leads him to begin asking questions.

This leads Anglewood into a web of intregue and lies that bring him under the full wrathe of the ILMG itself.

Trivia

• It is in the resolution of this story that Law 49 and Law 50 are introduced.
• No mention of removing the darkly enchanted items from the market is ever made in the story.