The Ancient Giantess is a colossal primordial entity of the gem-world Vala Cristalis, born of the ancient volcanic deities that protect the natural order. Freed around 1812 AE from beneath Star City, she crushed the Pope Borg before his lichification, then vanished.
| Type | Deity (primordial) |
| Spanish entry | La Giganta Antigua |
Nature
She is a minor deity of the primordial light pole, tied to the gem-world’s volcanic geography: Caldero and its Phoenix Nest, and Star City with its Great Obsidian Plaza, among other nodes. Her function is to protect the natural order; when the negative pole threatens the balance, she acts against it. Her loyalty is to that order, not to any papacy, empire or city.
Imprisonment
In remote times she was sealed in a sanctuary beneath the Great Obsidian Plaza, under a seal only a prophesied act could break. This served the negative pole: successive Borg Popes could pursue lichification at less risk. It did not foresee the pilgrims’ kiss.
Liberation
The traditions of the people of Caldero taught that kissing the center of the obsidian star would open the way to a deeper plane, a magical test in the style of the primordial platforms of the stars of Alpha Centauri. During the Pope Borg’s ritual, pilgrims bearing relics of the martyred prophet burst in and kissed the star; in a green-blue flash the ground gave way, and they found and broke the seal.
Breaking it required a triple coincidence: the martyr killed by the Pope’s agents, pilgrims bearing his relics, and the ritual under way.
The crushing of Pope Borg
Her emergence shook the city’s rings and cracked the plaza. She drew in the mystic energy around the Pope, quenching his spell, and toppled the obsidian pedestal of his metamorphosis; the shockwave scattered his henchmen and his instruments. The Pope, crushed, imploded, leaving a small crater — the episode known as “Papa Don’t Lich”.
Vanishing and the golden ash
Her mission done, she vanished among the volcanic vapors, leaving a trail of golden ash that many took as a sign of divine liberation. This was a return to her primordial state, not death; she emerges only when the light pole summons her.
The people keep the ash as a relic, an offering in the Pope’s crater, carried by the wind through the city. It is also a warning: any new Borg Pope attempting lichification there will find golden dust on his portable throne. Possibly for this reason, later Borg Popes, if any, would work with an industrial-magical rather than medieval aesthetic, and elsewhere — the Obsidian Tower of Valanthru, the Twin Towers of Titti Frame.
By 1824 AE (the present cycle) she is absent from the mortal world.
Conflicting accounts
- She struck the Pope with the Sword of Judgment.
- She struck with her stony fist.
- She used both at once.
Open questions
- Who imprisoned her, and when (earlier Borg Popes? a joint action of the negative pole?).
- Whether she will return: yes, if the negative pole attempts a new classic lichification, or if the Cageewrights complete the ritual of the Thirteen Marks in Caldero; no, if later Popes work through poles outside her jurisdiction, or if the summoning was spent in 1812 AE. The hypotheses are not exclusive.