Taken from “The Histories” by the Bard Keto

That brings us to Illithimar.  The Last Landian has been vague with the properties of this metal, the only pure example I’ve ever seen being in the shards of the Sword of Lehn that he carries.  I think this may be born out of a lack of his own knowledge vice any inclination to hide facts, after all the soldier rarely know the crafting of his tools and Quartes has rarely shown any skills for creation save for the bows he has crafted.

The lack of information not withstanding, Illithimar seems to had have an almost religious significance to the Landian clans.  It seems that the Landians viewed the metal as their static counterpart in the world.  Though even as I wrote those words it’s not entirely clear to me what it is that I mean by that.  However, delving into the Landian’s own creation myth, I think there are some hints which can enlighten us on this topic.  I’ve noted before that Landians own creation myth marks them as brought into Illithiust by the Seven Sisters in order to stabilize the creation that the Goddesses had made.  With memories that can recall the smallest detail, Landians were ideal for binding the unlimited creativity of Illithiust by imposing order on it.  While I’ve argued that may have been a method of their development, the point here is to see how this reflects on Illithimar.  If Landians viewed themselves as meant to stabilize Illithiust, than perhaps Illithimar is similar, the bones of the world meant to give it a frame to both build on, but also impose some limitations.  Indeed when I have talked about the metal with the Last Landian it’s interesting that he notes that the Sword of Lehn was the only blade ever made from pure Illithimar.

It’s true that weapons of Illithimar-alloys exists, and are potent weapons against dragons and their chaos, but it seems that pure Illithimar itself will only take one shape and that the duty of the crafter is not to form the metal but reveal its shape.  It’s interesting to think that mix Illithimar with another metal and you can create whatever you want, much as a truth can be mixed with grandeur, flair, even outright falsehoods to twist it to whatever the teller desires.  Perhaps then, Illithimar in its raw form is meant to help define the world but in the face of the chaos of dragons, this one true purpose was insufficient and something…grander had to be made…I wonder if they or the Last Landian ever thought of that?

It seems to that at least some of the Landian clans, Falden for sure, settled on their homes due to the proximity to plentiful deposits of Illithimar, though why the world would need greater strengthening in some places vice others is not something I’ve been able to figure out.  Perhaps the mountains need greater strengthening to hold their shape?  Perhaps they are simply upshots from deep within Illithiust where most of these “bones” reside.

The last thought I’ll note here is something I think the Last Landian has thought about but has never considered.  If Illithimar can only be what it was ‘meant’ to be, and the Sword of Lehn is pure Illithimar then what does it say that the blade broke?  Was it meant to do that or is it instead some sign of the breaking of reality?  Was the blade’s truth watered down in some way such that it could not longer hold as a fact?