Before the newcomer stands a tall figure holding a scroll: Cassius, keeper of the official record. His is the Ingress Document — the parchment where the lineage, bearing and marks of each who crosses are set down and, above all, the name by which they will be known. "This name will echo through the realms," he says as he closes the record.
A Name Set in Ink
Without this document, no stranger crosses the walls of Cripta. Entry to the city — and to the open world beyond it — depends on bearing a name and a record. It is a hard law, but an old one: every dweller of the Forgotten Realms arrived banished, exiled or fleeing from somewhere, and every awakened who reaches the gates carries a history no one knows. The record is what keeps a city of such people from dissolving into the chaos they came from.
For the awakened, the document means something more. They woke with nothing — no memory, no lineage, no title. The Ingress Document is the first thing in Vashrath that is truly theirs. The name written on that parchment is not what they were called in the world above; it is what they choose to be called in this one. It is the first stone of the legacy they will build.
The Scribe and His Scroll
Cassius receives the newcomer soon after Commander Sirius, at the forward camp described in The Awakening Rite. Where Sirius makes sure the body is ready, Cassius makes sure the name is written. He is unhurried and exact, as scribes tend to be, and he treats every record with the same gravity — for he knows that some of the names he pens will one day be spoken in every market and hall of the five cities.
Choosing Your Name
In the game, the Ingress Document is the moment you choose and formalize your hero's name. This is the name the realms will know you by: the name other players see in the streets and markets, the name attached to your deeds, your victories and your reputation across the valleys. The document gives shape to the anonymous awakened, turning them into someone recognizable wherever they go.
Choose with care — a name in Vashrath is meant to last. It will follow you through every hunt, every trade and every rivalry, and if you rise high enough, it will be the name others remember when they speak of what was done in these lands.
The Warning That Follows
It is also Cassius who delivers the first hard truth of the valleys. As he closes the record, he warns the newcomer that a name alone is not enough to live by in Vashrath: here, one must also choose a side. Three forces vie for the valleys, and life without a declared creed grows harder with each passing day.
That warning is the doorway to the next threshold of every hero's beginning — the Faction Oath, sworn before the gates of Cripta finally open.
Figures of the Record
- Cassius — the scribe who pens the Ingress Document.
- The Awakening Rite — the opening rite in which the record takes place.
- The Faction Oath — the step that follows, announced by Cassius himself.