Ignatius Campbell, the White Chess Player, should have been the worldly extension of the greatest power in this world. Instead, in the name of royal and divine authority, he brutally interferes with the mages' internal decisions and suppresses their actions.
Though his justifications sound noble, everyone knows he is greedy. He seized power not to create prosperity, but to fill the emptiness within himself.
So, to prove that his glory and mission are a desecration of order, people enter the barren wilderness of his mind, hoping to find evidence that he is insane or possessed.
But his wilderness is not a desolate wasteland. It is flourishing, like a garden. People conclude that he and the shadows are faking the glory of the Temple of Life to deceive the mages. Just as the mages prepare to take further action against him, the garden's guardian appears.
With a single crow, it can break through the blessing of the Temple of Life and plunge people into nothingness and nightmares.
"In the name of the Temple of Life, I command you to clear the way and reveal the truth."
The mages try to break through the obstruction by invoking this command. The golden rooster flaps its wings and lands on a twisted tree trunk.
It crows again, then speaks like a banshee foretelling death:
"In the name of the Temple of Life and the Temple of Time, and by the solemn oath of the glory of the Temple of the Hexagram, I forbid you to take another step."
As the truth they had held onto is revealed to them, the golden rooster's furious cry rings out from the sky again:
"My will stands above yours, for I am the supreme holy being of this place."
*Detailed introduction to the foundational worldbuilding. All characters and plotlines serve the world itself, not the characters.
*An expansion of Ignatius Campbell's personal storyline, explaining in detail the omitted content from Chapter 75 of The Strange Tale of Lucia Davide.
*The main focus is the Pillar of Mental Magic and how mental magic affects people.
*Emphasizes spiritual creations, while minimizing and downplaying material life.
Theme: It's so messed up, it's an existential crisis. We're doomed.
