Enzo: Hello? I think this is working. Yes. My name is Dr. Enzo Quint, professor and researcher at the Basentia Omnia. My primary fields of study are in Edification, and, more specifically, the physical manifestation of Threads. My research as of late has been regarding the severance of threads and the natural phenomenon that occur at the moment of separation. A rather dour topic, but Professor Cullpepper and I noticed some rather interesting energy readings when severing an Edifice last month, and the results have pestered me since then.

Since this line of enquiry is somewhat… frowned upon by the Argent, I have decided to record my findings so as to not leave a paper trail. It will be much harder to acquire the means to play these back then it would be to read any notes. At least, that is my theory anyways.

I have not conducted any new tests as of yet—I feel that I must tread lightly and with caution here— it is only prudent that these avenues of research be precluded with thorough reference works. Only fools seek knowledge without comprehension, as my Father used to say.

Enzo: Ahem. As I was saying. I have been scrubbing the archives for any studies dedicated to quantifying the severance of threads, and unfortunately came up rather short. Unsurprisingly, there are exactly zero scientific papers published on the topic. The Church has not wished to have such things be brought to light, for fear of retribution or some other reason I cannot fathom.

However… I did find…

Enzo: …a historical record of a cult that operated around 2800-2850 Prime, calling themselves The Church of Aphothis. The record states that they inhabited the know ruined city of Mehnateruna, once the jewel of the Kingdom of Lashana some three hundred years earlier. What I find so curious is that their belief system that has been described in this document does not seem to align with the proto-Argent idealogies that began to become popular at the time. Many of the Kingdoms in Northern Selar at this time began to merge their beliefs into the Pentarian structure we see in modern Argentia today.

But... Aphothis was something else entirely. They worshiped Aphothis, some sort of diety, although no descriptions are offered of its appearance, ideals, or any sort of doctrine. What is made clear, however, is that Aphothis’ followers enacted human sacrifices to appease their god, with a particular focus on severring the thread of their chosen. There is a crude an incomplete diagram here…. but I am unable to make any sense of it. The runes are not familiar to me. This Church… is truly barbaric. To take away Threads in such a brutal fashion. But… I wonder. The older I get, the more I realize that knowledge is not a permanent state. Information is so easily lost, only to be rediscovered a hundred years later. And then lost again, and then rediscovered again. Could this... cult have known some wisdom of how to utilize a Thread’s power? Perhaps not. Perhaps they were simply twisted individuals throwing lives at a false diety. But I am not so sure. In any case, further research is required.