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    \_|                     Heart of the Ether                          |
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      |  The obsidian walls of the Heart of the Ether rise stark and    |
      |  silent deep within the hidden recesses of the ethereal planes, |
      |  forever out of reach to most mortals.  Little is known about   |
      |  how or why the castle was removed to such an isolated          |
      |  existence outside the material world, but it is apparently     |
      |  used as a base of operations for the somewhat elusive          |
      |  Ascendere, who are as often misunderstood as their remote      |
      |  fortress. The few outsiders who have managed to locate it      |
      |  speak of an indefinable yet overwhelming presence that makes   |
      |  even the skeptical think twice about the existence of forces   |
      |  that may exist outside human perception.                       |
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