Signal Tower Bronze Mirror Fragment

The Ascendancy's genius was infrastructure. Their signal tower network could relay a message from the citadel to the farthest province in under an hour — using nothing more than sunlight and polished bronze. This mirror fragment is a piece of that ancient internet.

Inscription

Flam kremat noxus. Ferkus strukat fortis. Legus markat, legus deviktat. Serat kremum ashum te-at.

/flam kɾemat noksus | feɾkus stɾukat foɾtis | legus maɾkat legus deviktat | seɾat kɾemum aʃum te.at/

Translation

“The Flame burns the darkness. Iron builds the fortress. The legion marches, the legion conquers. Burning Serath gives its ash.”

Interlinear Analysis(click to expand)

Form	Gloss	POS
Flam	flame.NOM — the One Flame	noun
kremat	burn-3SG.PRES	verb
noxus	darkness.NOM — enemy territory	noun
Ferkus	iron.NOM — the metal of conquest	noun
strukat	build-3SG.PRES	verb
fortis	fortress.NOM — stronghold	noun
Legus	legion.NOM — organized force	noun
markat	march-3SG.PRES	verb
legus	legion.NOM	noun
deviktat	de-vikt-3SG.PRES — conquers	verb
Serat	volcano.NOM — the divine mountain, god itself	noun
kremum	burn-UM — burning, zealous	adjective
ashum	ash-UM.ACC — the remnant of the divine fire	noun
te-at	give-3SG — gives [you]	verb

Script: left-to-right

Description

A large curved bronze mirror fragment, approximately one-third of the original parabolic reflector used in the Serath Ascendancy military signal tower communication system. The concave surface is still partially reflective despite centuries of burial. An iron mounting bracket is riveted to the back, designed to pivot on a tower-mounted axle. The edge shows a clean break along a stress fracture, likely from the tower's collapse.

Scholarly Analysis(click to expand)

Professor Asante used this fragment's curvature to calculate the original mirror diameter at approximately 90cm — large enough to produce a focused light beam visible at 15km on a clear day. The iron mounting bracket shows the same bolt-and-lead-socket technique as the league-stones (APO-2026-00015), confirming standardized military engineering. The bronze alloy is notably different from Kethari bronze — higher tin content (14%) produces a whiter, more reflective surface. This suggests the Ascendancy specifically optimized their bronze formula for signal mirrors.

Provenance(click to expand)

discoverer: Professor Kwame Asante
discovery date: 2025-08-10
condition notes: Broken into three large fragments — this is the largest and best-preserved. Concave surface retains approx 40% reflectivity. Iron bracket heavily corroded but structurally intact. Tower collapse debris preserved the fragment from further damage.
excavation team: Royal Archaeological Society Field Team
discovery location: Signal Tower 23 ruins, Northern Highway ridgeline