Tiny, flying, glowing, they vanish into the air and the rocks, they cease to be seen before watching eyes can guess where they will land. Helda’s seeds are seeds of magic, seeds of life. Where they do not fall there are dead, unremitting places, dark wildernesses of imaginationless wind-torn sand. And sometimes they land. Ranging in size from the knurled warm gobbets clutchable by kobolds to the venerable Monolith of Saesse, Helda’s seeds are impregnably tough and deeply mysterious. Some say they are the reason for Life. Some say they are the reason for living.

The legend takes many forms and is ubiquitous in folklore and childsong. For the cities in the Askharnn mountains, Helda was the supposedly unfaithful wife of Msenes who punished her alleged adultery by cutting out her ovaries and forcing her to cast her eggs over the world so that their power might be consumed by mortals. For the elves of Lysriya, Helda is the cold queen of the four moons who likes to corrupt and toy with men by offering them great power. For the men of Erezzi, she is a vague, forgotten legend who gives her name to the magical stones so sought after by thieves and Kings. Of course, the men of Erezzi have only seen the tiniest twisted seeds and they also call them fragments of meteorite, fallen from the firmanent, gifts from the Benevolent Father. The gnomes perhaps know Helda best. For them she is Wyschaschkiya, the Lady of Stones, and to them she has imparted several of her hugest stones, buried safe in their mazelike kingdom.

Those who have studied the stones know their true nature. The Seeds of Helda are magical stones that have fallen from a void we call the Heavens, where it is their fate to wander forever in search of their partnerstone. Sometimes they are unlucky enough to fall to earth, and they can never find what they are looking for. Such a life of floating in the hopes of such an unlikely encounter may seem empty and hopeless to humans, but it is better than a life confined to an orb where they cannot continue their search. The Stones want to escape but there is nothing they can do, save try to communicate with people.

The Great Seeds of Helda are very few, but sought after by the greater powers who may lie waiting many centuries for them to arrive: Dragons, Kings, Enchantresses, forgotten beings. Their powers are subtle but great, and easiest described by example.

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