FOLLOWING IS A BRIEF excerpt from the ancient writings of the Order Renrulai and their philosoph y of cosmic and moral determinism. These writings were first published in the Fifth Age by the Brotherhood of Renrul in the far north and were met with great opposition by several contemporary philosophers of the time, but have since found favor among scholars for their observations. THE UNIVERSE, HOWEVER VAST, is ultimately finite. This is particularly relevant because it limits the possible material outcomes of any given decision. Furthermore, the laws of known physics dictate that certain phenomena are impossibilities. This is a limit of material nature. A human, however he may desire or will it, can do nothing to make himself fly. He may by means of an apparatus soar through the air, but nothing in his nature allows him to fly apart from some mechanical process that would enable him. No man may make himself a duck. Beyond material limitations imposed upon the will are
BILLOWING WERE THE STACKS of smoke that arose in the streets of the city where Tiffes, Katphiera and Olyv had made their homes. Red was the sky and black the clouds that hovered like devils over the scorched ground. Tiffes found himself engaged in a struggle against the Synthoid, a creature that bore the vague likeness of a Man, but made of abominable materials engineered by a brutal concoction of magic and science. And though it may appear on the surface to be human, his struggle was not against flesh and blood. Presently, he found himself pinned beneath the massive weight of the creature, its caustic saliva-esque secretions oozing between its steel teeth and burning holes in Tiffes's shirt. He pushed against it with all his might, gritting his teeth and straining his muscles to push the beast off of himself. He succeeded and scurried to his feet, panting and gasping for breath, his back covered in dust and his front singed and stained with blood and sweat. The Synthoid cra