Codex: The Path of Carmad

Welcome to the Codex! Every Friday, we will focus on one topic from one of the upcoming books, or one of the books that have been published. The Codex will review what is commonly known about that topic in the world, even if just at a scholarly level. There will still be mysteries, but if you are interested in learning more about something you read in the book or in another blog post, the Codex is the way to go.

The Path of Carmad is a metaphysical, as well as physical path stretching through several Wandering Planes. It was created by the Ledhrorn, at the beginning of their reign, and they established it as the only possible way to enter Tresis, the Library of Knowledge they had created to store all the knowledge they could not or would not destroy, but which was too dangerous to their continued rule to allow being free.

The Path is marked by Seven Archways of purest white marble. The Archways can only be crossed in order - while all of them could be conceivably found on their respective Plane if one knew where to look, they would be inert unless two conditions were met:

1. The Path of Carmad is open (the various Planes are aligned, which happens once every 10,000 years);

2. The traveler has crossed through all the previous Archways in the Path.

Of note, there are two entry points into the Path, two "First Archways". This is because the Thelalorn and Iranorn didn't trust each other with custody of the only entrance to the Path, and so the leader of each of the two pantheons guarded one of the two copies of the First Archway (which, from a metaphysical standpoint, are two instances of the same First Archway, which technically exists in both worlds at once).

The Path of Carmad passes through the Planes of Enu, the Battle-Swept Land; Sisteri, the Land of Immortals; Tiogair, the Dying Sea; Londìr, the Garden of Earthly Delights; and Sheere, the Gift of Death before reaching Tresis, the Library of Knowledge.

From Tresis, the Library of Knowledge, one last Archway leads to Seminell, the Kingdom of Dreams, to the place where the Trienorn once slept, now a different Plane called Dorwyn, the Plain of the Dead.

Since the various worlds were chosen for their speed relative to each other and to the Twin Worlds, the Path of Carmad is fully open only once every 10,000 years, although before that time, two or more Planes can be aligned in a way that allows part of the Path to open. But because it is necessary to cross all previous Archways before entering the next one, it is not possible to wait on Sheere, the Gift of Death until Sheere and Tresis are in alignment, for example, and simply pass through the Sixth Archway to get to the Library of Knowledge.

The Archways of the Path of Carmad are also known as Ningaer; each of them has a name, although its meaning is lost in the mists of time. Ever since the creation of the Path of Carmad, only the wyldervay and the Worm That Walks that precipitated the events of the War of Saints successfully completed the Path.

The meaning of the Path's "metaphysical" definition is unclear, though Hethner was quite clear that this was an important element of the Path. The wyldervay later posited that the Path's structure would lead the petitioners through Planes that would test them and their resolve, forging them into worthy visitors to Tresis and weeding out those whose spirits and minds were not strong enough (or trustworthy enough, perhaps) to entrust with the knowledge of the Library.