"His eyes fell to the rune inlaid on the table before him, its ebony luster almost matching the dark skin of his sinewy hands. His finger, seemingly with a will of its own, began to trace the inlay. His eyes strayed to the other runes around the table until he found himself staring at the Island in the center. He regarded the obsidian stone, its slopes, the crevasse that ran down one edge of the mountain to the garden... The room turned dark. Unseen winds moved through the room. Nameless forces buffeted him. He willed his gaze further north..."
The Emperor's Table is a massive circular table carved of dark wood with a hallow center, surrounded by seventeen chairs and one high seat for the Emperor. The Runes Major, each representing a discipline of magic, are engraved into the surface of the polished wood, one before each chair. Gallidon's rune, representing rune-weaving, is inlaid before the high seat. In the center of the table stands a miniature of the Imperial Island carved from obsidian.
Within the stronghold of each of the seventeen Greater Houses sits an exact duplicate of the Emperor’s Table. When seated before the table at the appropriate rune representing their magical discipline, an adept may look at the events in distant places – the more skilled they are, the more detail they can see. When more than one adept is seated at a table at one time, they are aware of each other and may converse freely as if seated within the same room.
The eighteen Emperor's Tables were powerful relics created by Gallidon, House Kotar and House Vakur. The Tables were used by the Emperor Gallidon to stay in close contact with the Greater Noble Houses and view events as they happened throughout his Empire. The Nobles also used them to maintain contact with each other and take council among themselves. They are powerful instruments of communication and information.
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