The Ashen Keeper

Chapter 117

It was through the One Reborn that she gained a lot of knowledge about the city of Yharnam. The bloody history was something that was as fascinating as it sounds.

There were so many corpses mixed into this abomination that she nearly gained the knowledge of all of Yharnam. She sat down on the ground to stay still and digest them.

Everything begins at Byrgenwerth. An old institution of learning, Byrgenwerth was built in a peaceful, secluded area away from the neighboring city and close to a Great Lake. It is here that a group of individuals studied and explored the depths of human knowledge.

Byrgenwerth is where the beings known as the Great Ones were studied, though in practice this seems mainly to have been a study of how to make contact with them. Byrgenwerth is the name of both the building and the institution that began the study of human transcendence.

Such heresy was something she had never seen since the likes of Anor Londo. It was astounding, the depths of human depravity. Maybe that was why Gwyn feared the dark of humanity left unchecked. The very gods might be studied like animals one day.

The world of Yharnam was a very complicated world much like any other world. It even seems to be even more complicated than her own world. In this world, the focus was neither the dragons nor the Gods. It was Humans, Pthumerians and the Great Ones.

So, what exactly were the Pthumerians. They were in a way, supernatural beings that resembled humans. While early humans stayed on the surface, they built their magical civilization underground.

There must have been a pthumerian mixed among the corpses because she gained some knowledge of them. Although it was only some flashes it was more than enough for her to string together a story.

Before Yharnam existed, an ancient civilization existed in the place that will come to be called Yharnam. They resembled humans to a great degree with some noticeable differences. They were tall, pale and lanky with a very pale complexion. They resembled ghosts in stories.

They had a sacred duty and it was to communicate with the Great Ones. The Great Ones were the gods of Yharnam and it appears that Yharnam had a very distant connections to their gods. They were also beings that cannot be comprehend by the mortal minds.

They found themselves in communion with Great Ones, and their civilization was built around protecting and praising them. They have all gone extinct but their influence can still be seem among these accursed ruins.

After a time, they chose to be ruled by a Queen to oversee their civilization and one who would presumably be their foremost communicator with the Great Ones.

Much of this was achieved through the use of the old blood of the Gods. A few selected pthumerians had the same type of blood as the Great Ones and Queen Yharnam was seen as having particularly potent blood.

So potent was it that fellow Pthumerians would see it as an honour to be granted it. After a time, the Pthumerians were simply lost to history, though already many of the inklings of their society remained even after a long time.

Ages and eons passed and humans have come to this world of the Great Ones. And as human nature dictates, they must taint whatever they touch. The dark of humanity that never truly bloomed in Lordran thrived in this place.

The university of Byrgenwerth was established. A place of learning, it also doubled as a place of research. It was the first step of humanity into depravity and darkness.

The scholars of Byrgenwerth explored the massive labyrinths beneath the surface that housed countless lost histories, both of their own civilization and of others. These old labyrinths were carved out by the Pthumerians to hold the secrets of the Eldritch truth.

This must have also been the reason why they were so pale. To carve a fully underground civilization was no easy thing without the light of the sun. Creatures that worship the moon and were forsaken by the sun.

It was like they were counterparts. The Sun region supreme in Lordran while the Moon reign supreme here in Yharnam. An interesting contrast that she noted for now. It may come in handy later on.

At some point in time the Pthumerians discovered slumbering Great Ones in the earth. When humans tend to find something they don't know they tend to try and kill it. This does not appear to be the case for the Pthumerians.

The early Pthumerians were mere humble servants of the slumbering Great Ones, their descendants felt entitled to name themselves a leader. They guarded the slumbering Great Ones from the humans above the surface. It would not be wrong to say that they feared humans.

A reasonable fear, she would say. Even the gods of Lordran feared humans. Yet, they guarded the slumbering Great Ones for some reason she still has yet to discover. And as always they were nearly close to being wiped out.

They were in battle with an order of early hunters called the Holy Blades. Of course no matter how grand they once were they were no match for the craftiness humans. But, there was one thing she was astonished to discover.

They were laying siege to the city of the Pthumerians with not blades but with cannons. A cannon seemed very out of place in such environment. There were no such things as guns and cannons back in Lordran.

She connected something else once more. Could the darkness of humanity be the technological knowledge? Her world no matter how long has only ever advanced in sorceries and never in technological changes like firearms.

She denied that theory. Even the most advanced weaponry of humanity on the current Earth could not threaten the gods. But, who could tell about the future? The current humans were insignificant in the current world.

Maybe somewhere around 40000 years later, humanity will be the ones invading alien spaces with their might unmatched. May humanity reign over a million worlds in the future. Even if she was no longer one, she still consider herself human.

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This is Chapter 117.

I will go a lot into bloodborne lore in these chapters. Also, hope you don't mind the info dump.

A small part of Warhammer is there at the last paragraph because I like it and had to urge to put it. It has no relation with the story.