Editing Setting:Tabula Gloria/Benalor/The Ebony Tower (section)

=The Heavenrider Program=
Soon after, the Benalorans tried to invade the Central Lands to stem an incoming Vashialian advance, only to be locked into a war of attrition with the magical army. It would be a battle in which they lost gravely, retreating the scant remains of their troops back into the mountains. With Benalor terribly disgraced from the failed attack and with the government facing intense opposition from its people, it commissioned the College to devise a machine which would ascend into the '''Heavens Above'''. Strapped on funds after the war effort, the College postponed production on all of their other projects in order to complete what would come to be called the '''Heavenrider Program'''. Numerous tests would prove that the machine could both ascend into the Heavens and come back to Benalor unharmed, prompting the government to allow specially-trained ambassadors to board the machine, along with a highly classified box of cargo. The launch was successful and Benalor was in uproar - perhaps something could be gained by this trip to restore Benaloran prestige.

The College served as mission control for the Program, using the complex spells etched into the machine to track its location, the integrity of the hull, the health of the ambassadors, so forth and so on. The ride went smoothly until they reached a particular point in which the Imperials would later call the '''Heaven's Horizon'''. Once it reached there, a heavy pocket of mana interfered with the machine's spells, cutting off communications with it and its crew. This was somewhat expected, as the tests showed a brief lack of communication at this point, the spells on board calibrated to adjust accordingly. However, communications never resumed and the machine never returned to Benalor. After waiting for hours, the mission had to abort, the Heavenriders on board assumed as killed in action.

History knows the rest of the story from there, the story of the '''Wight's''' fall to Benalor and the cataclysm which ensued. The Tower was summarily destroyed in the event.