>Additions to Magi'i file:
>Pears and praise also apprears in fragments on pages 35 and 488 of Scion
>Should I Recall the Rational Stars also appears as a fragment on page 264 of Scion

**Paradox of Empire**
*Bern'elth, Magus First Cyad, 157 A.F.*

If Cyador be the paradox of Candar, and supporting that paradox be indeed the duty of each of the Magi'i of the Quarter, then how must each magus approach that duty so as to support the way to the Steps of Paradise?
One scholar magus might say, 'Support the Emperor of Light, for he is the one who must balance the Mirror Lancers and the Magi'i against each other, and against the growing might of the merchanter clans, who know but the greed for gold and the pleasures of the moment.'
A magus who tends the chaos-towers might declare, 'Take care that the chaos-towers endure while they may, for without the towers, Cyador is no more than any other land set upon our world.'
Still another might claim, 'Set forth rules for the Magi'i that they may lead all by their example and purity of devo- tion to chaos and the people who revere it.'
For all that the Magi'i descended from those of the Rational Stars, the ways in which the duty of a magus could be set forth are myriad, and like unto chaos itself, often resembling itself, yet never the same and always changing. Each magus, from the most to the least devoted, will have a vision of that duty. Some will hold that by increasing their personal mastery of chaos, they will serve Cyador, the Magi'i, and chaos in the best fashion possible. Others will declare that mastery of chaos must always serve others first, for the magus who places himself before duty will always be corrupted into believing that what is good for him is good for all.
Yet neither be right, for a magus who serves only others will fly from one master to another, for each who asks of him becomes a master. A magus who elevates his mastery above all, would make all others his servant. Thus, a magus must be neither master nor servant, but one who walks the narrow path between. A magus without dedication to chaos will have no soul, and one who worships it blindly, no sense. That dilemma sets forth the true paradox of the Magi'i, that we must master chaos without being mastered by it …
(Scion of Cyador 5-6)

**Personnel Manual [Revised]**
*Cyad, 15 A.F.*

Because the core of a fully-functioning tower maintains an isochronic/isotemporal barrier of approximately 1,000 nanoseconds, this temporal 'dislocation' effectively provides not only the points of energy polarity which generate the raw power, as described above, and an insulation from the local temporality, but what can also be loosely described as a recharge impact on local spatio- temporal random-amplitude 'chaotic' energy events …
Observation indicates that proximity to the lower engenders a sensitivity to and an ability to impact and/or manipulate local spatio-temporal random amplitude events … Such sensitivity, if not disciplined and trained, could adversely impact the continued operation of the towers.
 … Oversensitization and disciplined training must be rigorously monitored in view of the macular cellular degeneration already observed among personnel with high exposure within the operating confines of the basic tower system. This is, as noted previously, in contravention of previously established principles and tolerances …
In addition to degenerative effects caused by excessive proximity to the towers, similar effects have been observed in those individuals among the non-technical cadre with an aptitude for manipulating such local spatio-temporal random-amplitude events. It is recommended that such individuals be placed so that they also can be monitored, and, if necessary, disciplined, in order to assure maximum operating continuity for the remaining tower cores.
Establishment of a hierarchial social structure may prove necessary, should these effects persist, since the conditions and infrastructure for continued technical education and understanding may be limited …
[Recommendations]
(Scion of Cyador 28-29)

**Meditations on the Land of Light**


The city, Cyad, lost light like a star,
The dream, Cyad, guiding near and far.
[fragment]
(Scion of Cyador 11)

Chaos, and the promise of light, 
Order, beckoning lady of night … 
Should I again listen to which song? 
We have listened oh so long. 
Should I again fly on learning wings? 
We have learned what yearning brings.
(Scion of Cyador 33 617 [fragment])

Cyad is no home for souls of thought, 
who doubt the promises they have bought, 
for the Magi'i offer Chaos as a Step to all. 
The lancers back with fire their call, 
their faces of cupridium's silver-white 
reflect each other's chaotic light.

Should Sampson pick this temple,
here too, he would be blind,
his eyes untouched,
his simple trust
lost in the reflections.
(Scion of Cyador 34 567 [fragment])

I hear the lonely Magi'i
imprisoning their chaos-souls
in the corridors of their quarter,
forging firewagons, ships, and firespears
to ensure an old world never reappears.
I hear the altage souls lifting lances
against what the future past advances,
while time-towers hold at bay
the winters of another day,
what we would not face
what we could not erase …
until those towers crumble into sand
and Cyad can no longer stand.
(Scion of Cyador 67 264 [fragment])

In this season, the stones are sharp and clear, 
from decisions once made in hope and fear, 
those traditions grafted from stars long lost, 
distant battles fought without thought of cost 
lands wrenched from the grasp of order's dead
hand, that refugees could build a fruitful land.

Cyad, from your green and streets of white stone 
will come the first peace this poor land has known.
From the Rational Stars and the three ways 
will follow hope and justice for all days …
[Fragment of longer work]
(Scion of Cyador 68)

I wish that
in this twisted land
there existed a prayer
as solid as my disbelief,
or failing that,
as solid as my
uncertainty.
(Scion of Cyador 201)

I look to the hills whence cometh no aid; 
my god is not divine, for he is made – 
made of man, made of fire, filled with salt. 
His eyes are a single star long since set. 
He does not praise the lame and halt. 
He judges not, nor yet does he forget.
(Scion of Cyador 255)

We stand in a world we did not know
reaping lives and deaths we did not sow.
Some reach for roses of another place,
a world beyond chaos in time and space.
Some race copper blades, strangely graced,
To destroy new truths that cannot be faced

Chaos is, as the river and the hills,
and I will live my life as chaos wills,
for Mirror Towers have fallen from the skies,
and venerated truths become but lies
when held as orders from our ill-starred past,
talismans to recall what cannot last.

To build what must be built, and raise new halls, 
to guard what must be held in shining walls, 
to slay the demons of unreasoning hate – 
all those, and more, have come to be my fate.

Do I regret the stars that cast me here? 
No more than knowing life is fragile, dear 
and fleeting, or that my words die unread, 
for words cannot contain what souls have said. 
(Scion of Cyador 299)

Merage, altage, elthage, all bow to thee, 
from Rational unity come these three, 
and neither chaos, nor the lance, nor gold 
shall seize this city of the stars foretold, 
for Cyad holds the fate of all this earth, 
and all of soul and skill that is of worth. 
So shine forth both in sun and into night 
bright city of prosperity and light.
[last stanza of larger work]
(Scion of Cyador 300 715)

Virtues of old hold fast. 
Morning's blaze cannot last; 
and rose petals soon part. 
Not so a steadfast heart.
(Scion of Cyador 415 489)

Though some will find their fears in depths of night, 
noon's pitiless sun brings the deepest fright. 
While they who sing of good and truth, and praise
bright chaos for the coming light of days, 
then cite the Mirror Towers of a distant earth, 
yet forget their children's and their gardens' worth,
I strive in this strange sun's chaotic light, 
to lift from souls war's endless bitter blight. 
So elthage men turn their eyes to glasses, 
blank silver for the future as it passes;
those of chaos hold altage high above
as though alone white fire kindled love.
Yet their white-lit chaos will bring with rue,
but destruction to those whose way is true.
Like sunstone walls, the truth will also fall,
for the future lies beyond any wall
in the green skies, open fields and dreaming nights, 
where unfettered thoughts are free for endless flights.

I can but strive, and act with flame and blade, 
to break down bitter truths that time has made, 
and striving, lay my soul before the fire, 
in hopes of exceeding mere vain desire.
(Scion of Cyador 415-416)

The sages honor the chains of duty, pride,
How they uplift those who live, those who died

What think they of the death of love and care? 
Of the children women will never bear, 
a dry-eyed consort too bereft to cry, 
a mother who will see her sons but die, 
a consorting suit that never will be worn – 
these weapons of the forgotten and forlorn 
pierce bright cupridium and chaos fire, 
flaming honor to ashes of desire.

Speak not of honor, you who command hold, 
nor bright ballads write of your days of old, 
when, in age, you put your pen upon the page 
and claim that all you did was meet and sage.
I have claimed the same, and yet well I know 
that to that chaos I created will I go.
(Scion of Cyador 618)


Ashes to ashes
and dust to dust
will not bring back the dance
nor the dancer.
Chaos to order and back to flame
brings back no songs without name.
For the lesson that I have learned 
is that there is none. 
No one else will sing those songs, 
nor dance, nor smile that smile, 
because one less one is none.
(Scion of Cyador 802 402 [fragment])


I would be remembered in the morning breeze,
in a single daffodil above late snow,
in slanting sun through trees, 
and distant hills where cold winds blow.
Do not wear mourning green;
Ypu have seen what I have seen
(Scion of Cyador 815-816)