The Fifth History

The Noble and Ancient Guild, devotees of the Anvil, who were among the first to feel the impact of the Hour's demise (aside from the unfortunate souls in the Sixth History, of course). The tragedy caused a deep schism in the society, splitting it into two factions. The Guild Reforged has pledged its allegiance to the Engine of Cycles, seeing the events of the Sixth History (or as much as they could glean of them from second-hand accounts) as a natural course of things, the new supplanting the old. Their devotion borders on fanatical - where the old Guild prioritised the well-being of its members first and foremost, along with steady progress towards ascension, the Reforged have no qualms about feeding themselves to the Engine, trusting it to transform them into either something new and greater or perhaps a part of itself.

The split between the Guild Reforged and the old guard drew in the attention of the Hours. The Engine was young, but that also made it vital and ambitious. Eager to stake its place among the greatest of Hours, it was quick to intervene on behalf of the Guild Reforged. And it was an Hour of many things, but subtlety was not among them. The Engine’s gifts come in different forms, no conjurings, no summonings, but inspiration, unusual tools unearthed and built. As the last of the old Guild conjured their master’s old Names in a desperate struggle, the Engine came up with a host of new weapons and creations to mop up the final loyalists of its victim. Intrigued by the young upstart who had broken, opened so much, the Snake Tail with Appendages descended from its lairs in the dark corners and shattered doors and walls of the Mansus and devoted its aid to the Engine’s cause. This drew in the attention of the Anaconda, who continuing its war with the Tail, offered its aid to the old-guard of the Guild. Two Hours against one meant that initially, the Engine made great strides forward in the war, but soon, it became angry. The war it had begun to make its name as a great power and elevate the people of the Fifth History had become just another skirmish in the proxy war between the Tail and the Anaconda. It turned suddenly on its nominal ally, devouring it as it had two other Hours. But the Tail is a curious entity. Its ending was far less final than that of the Maker and Anvil. It emerged from Nowhere mere minutes later, furious at its former ally, and cracking, veritably emanating fissures in reality itself. This sudden defeat of one of the Mansus’s foremost Hours accomplished what the Engine hoped its war would have. It established its position as a powerful Hour. It also elicited the interest of many Hours, and they descended, to stake their interest.

Here, the Harvester saw its first conflict, in the Engine’s great betrayal of its erstwhile ally. It was not a careless Hour, and when going against one of the oldest Hours of the Mansus, it took every step possible to ensure victory. In the small manufactory that in the future would become the Factory Devouring, the greatest blight upon the face of the Wood, it went to work on a weapon, one it put a part of itself into. With a laugh, a cackle like the roar of a consuming fire, it burst into life. The Engine invited the Tail to its seat of power to marvel at its latest creation, and trapped and devoured it with flame and steel. While it consumed most of the Tail, it tossed scraps to the Harvester. Fatefully so, the Engineer and Tinker believed. Perhaps, here, even at its initial construction, the seeds of its betrayal were sown as it feasted on flesh drenched with the highest of natures.

The Apple-of-the-Eye, the Hour that lives on the footsteps of the Glory, had always feared both the Tail and the Engine. Soon, the emissaries of the Tail were joined by the Lie’s crystalline servants, who pushed them to rail against their treacherous, mechanical ally and to join with the old Guild and their Anaconda-patron, who still held at least a semblance of honour. The Tail was held in check by the Anaconda, always, but the Engine had never known restraint. If the serpent-Hours were to unite against it, then maybe it could be devoured. The Anaconda itself had all but tied itself in furious knots to hear of the Tail’s defeat. While the Anaconda wished the Tail defeated and gone, it demanded that it alone be the one to strike the killing blow, not some upstart machine that did not know its place.