Last Stand of the DNA Cowboys

As the legend is told, the metaphysicians of Krystaleit made their ultimate breakthrough in the short space of time between the destruction of their city and the overthrow of their refuge at Palanaque. This is yet another point where the oral tradition takes its leave of what is plausible. Metaphysicians all over the Damaged World had worked for nine centuries on the problem of nonreversible discorporation and a malleable afterlife. It scarcely seems possible that after such lengthy and concerted effort, the goal should be achieved by a handful of individuals under the most stressful and makeshift conditions in just a matter of weeks. A much more likely explanation is that the ultimate breakthrough was made much earlier but its mechanics were not widely employed until the days immediately before the Final Cataclysm. If this is indeed true, it says a lot about the metaphysicians' faith in their discovery.

— Pressdia Vishnaria