{Book 4: Raising the Azmeri} Drain a cup of Azmerian tea and then try to read your future in the leaves. You’ll find that your Vaalish will come in mighty handy. Our literature was conceived and born within the Azmeri’s cultural marriage with the Vaal. Prior to Vaal contact some 2500 years ago, the Azmerian culture had a purely oral tradition of story and record keeping. Afterwards, their literary culture blossomed, along with just about every other aspect of their fledgling civilisation. From the moment the first Vaalish embassadors set foot upon the rugged slopes of the Azmerian Ranges, the Vaal civilisation held the hand of the Azmeri as they grew from a primitive tribal existence into a cohesive culture of settlement and agriculture. Yet while the Vaal were generous with their knowledge and guidance in many areas, there is one subject upon which they were notably silent: the Tears of Maji, now known as Virtue Gems. Despite an exhaustive search, neither account nor passing reference can be found regarding gem usage amongst the early Azmeri. Though they described the Vaal as having flesh adorned with glittering crystals, our Azmerian ancestors were never privy to the gems’ potentials or powers. At least, not until the first Vaal refugees came knocking five hundred years later. { -Trinian - Intellectus Prime}