The Fourth Law

Chapter 1 - End Notes

The four Crests of Power are a gift from the Creator to Humanity, the race he created in his image as a part of the reality he created. Originally, all there was was the Creator and the Power. But the Power has no concepts attached to it, and is shaped by comprehension; And even a creature such as the Creator could not comprehend something that had no concept. So he created four Crests with the power over the course of a time infinite and, yet, instantaneous. For the creator, there was no time, as there was no universe, so it is senseless to describe the "time" it took for him to do anything, really, but as this is how humans conceptualize reality, this is how it must be explained to humans. Each crest was created as a focus for one of the four fundamental principles which the universe the Creator made was founded upon: Creation, Law, Chaos and Destruction. In the New Age, these crests are called, in order of left to right, the Crest of Creation (or the "First Crest"), the Crest of Order (or the "Second Crest"), the Crest of Entropy (or the "Third Crest") and the Crest of Destruction (or the "Fourth Crest"). Every human being is born with some amount of potential for the Power, and as such, the Creator gives every human one of these four crests at random, at the time of their birth, though it is only visible on their body when they are touching the True Source, and the Power flows through them. In the Age of Legends, it was possible to test individuals to determine what their crest was, but such knowledge was lost in the Collapse. In the New Age, it is impossible to predict what crest someone may have before they first touch, making it extremely dangerous to train new individuals in the use of the Power; if they use the wrong mental exercise for their crest, consequences could vary from burning or blinding oneself to burning the ability out of oneself, to totally destroying the body or mind.

The clothing worn in the Kingdom of Jetan typically consists of one of two kinds of robes, with a jacket worn over it, and a cloth belt. For underclothes, they wear a shirt, short pants and long stockings. The country gets fairly cold in the winter, and doesn't get particularly hot come summer. On the left here, you can see an example of a karei. On the inside, it laces up from the armpit down to the waist, and on the outside it overlaps to run down at an offset from the center of the chest down to the level of the hips. On the right, you can see an example of a duroi, an outfit designed for work or riding which has the legs divided into two long sleeves or pants that gather above the ankles. On both articles of clothing, the sleeves are gathered with laces on the level of the forearms, though some worker's outfits gather instead at the biceps or at times may lack any sleeves on the arms at all. For footwear, boots or sandals are often worn; boots during the winter and colder months, sandals with raised platforms during the warmer months when rain turns the fields and roads to mud. In the Kingdom of Jetan, most men wear their hair long, tied back in a high ponytail or bun or braided into one long braid which runs down their back. Women tend to wear their hair in intricate buns or braids that gather their long hair in the back and keep it out of their face.

The knot which one ties with their belt can mean many things, and there is a whole culture in the Kingdom around it, with local "dialects" which include different knots in their repertoire or which may call certain knots by different names. Sometimes one knot can have a vastly different meaning in one part of a kingdom as opposed to another. One example of such would be the knot seen on the belt of the figure on the right in the image above. In the village of Adjura and its surrounding settlements, that knot is called the Rosefall knot, and symbolizes that the wearer expects a confrontation that day and expects to come out the victor. However, in the Capital, though it is given the same name, it is often worn by individuals who have either been recently widowed or whose long term relationship was otherwise recently terminated.

Dark hair is rather rare in the Kingom of Jetan, but Ben possesses it. Most individuals' hair comes in shades of blonde. Some individuals dye their hair black for certain festivals, though. Dark hair is a rather sought-after trait. Most individuals have almond-colored skin, but some individuals have skin on the darker side, as is seen above. Most locals in Jetan have eyes of either a green or blue coloration. An epicanthic fold is a common trait among locals, as well as a slightly narrow chin.