Cynosure (construct)

Cynosure was a construct that commanded sorceries embedded throughout Stardeep in service of the Keepers of the Cerulean Sign stationed there. It had also helped Kiril Duskmourn and Nangulis, the Keepers through, create the blade Angul.

Description
Cynosure Prime, the main physical body of Cynosure, possessed a copy of the Cerulean Sign emblazoned on its chest. It was a construct made of crystal, stone, and iron, long since rusted and pitted, and nearly tall. Its eyes glowed with sinister red light when inhabiting its body. It had other, lesser statues it could animate. Its least body was a small statuette, inanimate and without joints, made of jade.

Personality
Cynosure liked to prank Delphe on occasion. The Keeper, in turn, viewed him as too unimaginative.

Abilities
When not gathered into the Prime body, Cynosure's mind was spread across thirty-some nodes in Stardeep. Cynosure could deactivate point-to-point transfers, control the Causeway's opening and closing, and employ animate instances for tasks such as combat. Its instance in the Chamber of Surveillance was also capable of using an effect similar to regenerate. While extremely powerful, it was not expected to stand against the might of all the Empyrean Knights.

Cynosure's abilities were limited by the destruction of Sildëyuir and Stardeep after the Spellplague. However, it still remained capable of long-distance communication with Keepers of the Cerulean Sign such as Raidon Kane, and even of teleporting them across Faerûn, though this consumed great amounts of energy.

Activities
Before the Spellplague, Cynosure managed most of the higher functions in Stardeep, such as opening or closing the Causeway, transfers between unconnected locations, and was the first line of defense to prevent the Traitor from escaping.

After the Spellplague, Cynosure couldn't really do much of anything until it managed to connect to Raidon Kane. Though the construct was to aid Keepers of the Cerulean Sign, it considered its duty to the charter of the Cerulean Sign higher in priority than his duty to Keepers.

Relationships
Cynosure had told Kiril, even before Telarian became Keeper, that he possessed a keen mind and strategic sense.

He lost connection to all Keepers and Empyrean Knights after the Spellplague, only regaining later the ability to communicate with Raidon Kane due to his merged Cerulean Sign.

Early History and Nangulis Incident
Cynosure had been the guardian of Stardeep, and its first line of defense against the Traitor's escape attempts, since its inception 1000 years prior, in the mid-to-late 4th century DR. After some prototyping, it was incorporated into all of the defenses of the stronghold-prison.

During a breach in the mid-14th century DR, Cynosure and the two Keepers were forced to build a sword using the soul of Keeper Nangulis, so as to be able to stop the Traitor from escaping; using the blade Angul, Keeper Kiril Duskmourn was able to recapture the Traitor. Cynosure preserved the remainder of Nangulis' soul after the forging of Angul.

Telarian Incident
Some of its memories were locked away by command of Telarian, the next Keeper of the Outer Bastion, starting in or around early, two years prior to a later incident. Cynosure had watched Telarian unearth a prototype node from the repository, access the armory, forge the blade Nis with the remainder of Nangulis' soul, and enter and re-enter Stardeep very often. Telarian had also directed Cynosure to lie to Delphe. Despite this level of control, some of Cynosure's commands were too fundamental, and gaining complete control over the construct was not possible.

On Midwinter of, Cynosure helped Delphe quell an escape attempt by the Traitor, but she began to have doubts about its continued function. At one point later, Delphe inquired with Cynosure why Commander Brathtar wanted to contact her. It replied that Brathtar was presently in an attack ordered by Telarian, who, in turn, was in a freshly delved chamber, the Epoch Chamber of Stardeep, just outside the edge of the Inner Bastion. She immediately called upon the construct to transport her to the Chamber.

Simultaneous with Kiril's later appearance outside the Causeway, Cynosure became temporarily unavailable during one of the Traitor's breach attempts; it appeared only at the end, after Delphe had managed to contain the Well-born avatar that had showed up. After closing the Causeway gate and teleporting back all the knights out there, Cynosure admitted to finding his own functioning sub-par as of late. Delphe commanded it to disengage itself from all higher functions and retreat into the Cynosure Prime body.

Cynosure Prime remained inviolate, per Delphe's reckoning. The three of them decided to reinject Cynosure into the command loop in controlled steps. Days after, with Telarian gone, Cynosure suggested reintroducing him to a limited number of nodes, known to be clean. Delphe agreed, after clearing two thirds of the nodes; while in the loop again, Cynosure found that some of his memories were locked away by command of Telarian, starting two years prior. Delphe authorized re-integration of those memories; Cynosure related afterwards that they had a problem with Telarian. Cynosure had watched Telarian unearth the prototype node from the repository, access the armory, enter and re-enter Stardeep very often, and even slay Captain Brathtar, without Cynosure being able to discern as much. Together, Delphe and Cynosure determined that Telarian had left for the Underdungeon.

Cynosure sent five instances to the Underdungeon in order to stop Telarian and perhaps negotiate with him. They were destroyed almost immediately. Once Kiril and Telarian arrived at the Parade Hall, Cynosure concluded from their apparent association that Telarian's blade had the power to confound even the otherwise relentlessly discerning Angul. He connected Delphe to Kiril; the latter accepted, if only to stall Delphe.

When Kiril and Telarian arrived at the Throat thanks to Raidon Kane's meddling, Cynosure activated its instance in the Throat for the first and last time. Cynosure's last-ditch effort to discourage Telarian was pointless. However, the construct was able to heal Delphe before engaging the other keeper. Telarian annihilated Cynosure rather quickly with the rejoined blade.

After the battle, the construct explained that unless reinforced swiftly, the boundary layer would fail soon and the Traitor would be released. It explained afterwards that the separated blades would release their half-souls into the afterlife if left alone, and recommended Kiril allow Nangulis to fade away with Angul, as Nis was already gone.

Post-Spellplague
Raidon began to perceive a voice some time after awakening from stasis in. The voice was Cynosure's; it began acting after it rescued him from a fight against a Shou mob in Nathlekh. It explained that it contacted him through the Cerulean Sign now fused to him. Afterwards, the construct convinced Raidon to aid in preventing the rise of Xxiphu, guided Raidon in awakening the rest of the Cerulean Sign's powers, and sent him to the Vilhon Wilds so that he may retrieve Angul.

The construct accompanied Raidon as a perceptible presence, speaking in his mind. After they reached the sword, Cynosure had some difficulty recalling Raidon from the Chalk Destrier's abode afterwards. It finally teleported the monk to the vicinity of its own half-buried body; a final message from the construct confirmed that it had ceased to be, or expected itself to be. It bade Raidon combat the kraken Gethshemeth, and instructed him on how to teleport into the monster's abode.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Stardeep • Plague of Spells