Baubles

The invention of the spell that creates baubles was created because of the peaceful nature of the elves, even in a time of war. As the elves saw the escalation of the human technology that began to get the upper hand on them in the great war, they saw the technology and the people that used them as neither good nor evil. They saw them rather as obstacles.

In their way of thinking, the ideal in a time of war would be to remove the threats that you face while having no innocent victims. As long as soldiars are drafted agains their will, the ancient elves saw them as tools in the hands of evil men, not themselves deserving destruction.

So it was that one Garufin Willowhand, an ancient elven wizard (even by elven standards) at the age of 1300 created one of the most powerful spells ever developed, the bauble. The use of this spell encases the target object in a dull black sphere. The sphere is inpenetrable to any force or spell known to man or elf alike. The only person able to open such a bauble is its creator, who holds a code of sorts to open it.

The downside to the use of baubles is that the wizard casting the spell is forever linked to the bauble, even in death. A silver thread that extends from the bauble to its creator exists in the etherial plane, forever connecting the two. Only the opening of the bauble can break this tie. The spellcasters knew of this, and what is more, their immortal souls cannot truly pass from this world until such time as their restraining threads have all been detatched. They exist in a sort of limbo of sorts.

Within the bauble, time is at a standstill. The practical use of the bauble is to put the offending party, machine, or area in a stasis until such time as the reintroduction of the offending thing would cause a minimum of disturbance. It was thought that once the war between the elves and humans was concluded one way or the other, the war over, the people inside would have no more reason to fight. While in principle, this was a good idea, the reality of it is that people emerging from the baubles have a hard time adjusting, and still think that the war is on, no time having elapsed for them personally.

So it is that their reintroduction has been put off so long, but the wizards on the other side grow weary of their burdens and seek to move on to the next phase of their existences. It is for this reason that they have chosen one to begin the process of reintroducing the offending contents of the baubles into JERA. The wizards have chosen Diana Tinderflame to begin the process of "hatching" the baubles. No other has the gift to communicate with the wizards beyond the veil to know how to open the baubles. Each one has a different "code," known only by the wizard that cast them.

Baubles are scattered throughout JERA. Most of them are covered over with dirt, sand, or vegetation, but there are a few that nature seems ill able to bury. The larger baubles covered entire buildings and military complexes. Some encased power plants or missile silos. These will probably be the last of the baubles to be opened due to their dangerous nature.

Diana travels from place to place, opening the baubles as she is directed by the spirits. They have a plan which entails opening the less dangerous baubles first, working towards the most dangerous. The process of integrating the ancients into society is made worse by the fact that their entire civilization as they knew it was decimated by the elven wizards preceding their exodus from JERA. No humans alive besides the Seekers of Knowledge know what really even happened to their race. The elven elders know the truth, but hide it in their shame over what their ancestors did. The punks begin to realize the truth in looking back on JERA's history through powerful scrying spells, one of the ways that they have learned so much about technology in such a short amount of time. They believe that they look forward in time, but there are those among them that are discovering the truth. These archeologists go out on expeditions to try and gather evidence to verify their theory. Soon the punk mindset will begin to change towards the truth of the matter.

Grunburg's New Military