> *“Even if you do think yourself a god, you would be wise not to delude yourself into speaking like one. The very fabric of all we know shudders and rips at such a hubris, and woe to those who reach for the sun so. There is nothing more terrible than finding what you desire within your grasp.” —Magós Dušan Cipris in a letter of warning to a young apprentice.* No one truly understands the origins of the God Tongue, but those who use it rightfully connect it to the fabric of [[Creation]]. It exists less as a language of speech and more as a language of *making*, where ideas expressed as words of power reshape reality through the art of [[Magic]]. Its actual use is very rare, as even those who claim to know it hold incomplete and sometimes corrupted understandings, if they even know anything at all. Even [[Fire-Speaking]] practitioners barely know enough to fashion collars for their djinn, only enough to be dangerous. While Eastern traditions teach that the God Tongue is a gift invented by and passed down from the five deities who remain in their pantheon, some scholars posit that its name has an alternative meaning: the language itself and true comprehension of it is what makes [[Aimti]], [[Mode]], [[Nessa]], [[Sol]], and [[Tek]] gods. It should be noted that this is a heretical theory on its face, but several Leyan mages have eagerly put the theory to the test and burned out in spectacular fashion, usually in pursuit of breaking one of [[The Seals of Magic]]. There are always rumors that the God Tongue contains the power to shatter them forever and there are plenty of aggrieved fools willing to try. [[Elves]] and their records suggest that the God Tongue exerts a heavy toll for its use, however. Several writings preserved in [[The Vale of the Undying]] warn of the danger, suggesting that one can be overwhelmed and undone by their own words, that even the strongest will can be broken by an equal and opposite reaction, and that Fate itself does not smile on those who seek to twist its paths. Indeed, practitioners of magic in the East are often schooled into a healthy dread and awe of the tool even if their tradition uses some fraction of it, as a simple mispronunciation of a single word can have catastrophic consequences. This is part of the reason [[The Ashen Tower]] did not permit those who failed their exams to live, a tradition continued by [[The Embershard]].