The Prophecy World Compendium

[Dark Jack]

Since the OP of the RP The Prophecy was nearing the maximum post length on this forum, this will now serve as an expanded storage of information related to the RP.

THE WORLD

Limiters of Relevance
Obviously, the continent of Kirirak is larger than what is depicted in the map above, but there are certain geographical traits that severely limit the relevance of the lands past the borders of the map.
The western border of the relevant areas of Kirirak is marked by the geographical phenomenon widely known as Yawning Gorge, a twenty miles wide and three miles deep canyon stretching all the way from the sea of Keth Tylûm, at the westernmost border of the Qetemak Steppes, and all the way to the depths of the mostly shunned region of Balazth. The extraordinarily steep sides of the Yawning Gorge makes it virtually unscalable, plus the fact that there is a violently gushing river at the bottom with frequent waterfalls of varying size, plus widely distributed sharp, jagged rocks that make venturing into the river suicidal. The river runs from the Keth Tylûm and into the Balazth, where it supposedly continues southward underground. West of Yawning Gorge is the stretches of land popularly referred to as the "Savage Fields", though the lands there are not too different from those in the relevant areas of Kirirak. There, large empires of different kinds and races, and many even larger than the fearsome Catolohne Empire, constantly battle for supremacy, giving the Savage Fields a reputation in the relevant Kirirak as a land of warmongers with nothing on their minds aside from battle.
To the south, the route is mostly blocked by Balazth and the Malith Jungle, which are both very rarely traversed by northerners and mostly unexplored, just as the lands south of them are. Balazth is a land with exceedingly little water, except in its most southeastern parts, resulting in that most of the notorious Balazth are vast reaches of flat, rocky plains where very little aside from the hardy Rilon's Mockery can grow, and where survival for virtually any kind of animal would be unthinkable. In the more fertile areas of Balazth, the land is mostly covered with low-growing shrubs and brush, in which many small predators have their hunting-grounds, including a multitude of venomous snakes and poisonous insects, and, supposedly, tribes of pygmy goblins.
The Malith Jungles are, as the name suggests, a country of wild, lush jungle in which civilization has no place and savage nature has irrefutably claimed the land. Aside from playing host to great numbers of exotic, unidentified plants and herbs, just about a third of everything in the Malith is poisonous, and half of those poisonous things are dangerous enough to cause a reaction just by touching them. In addition to the untamed landscape, many monsters are said to hide in the Malith that are unlike anything known from the northern regions - terrified explorers have reported giant trolls, even larger and far more ferocious than the ones from the north, tribal lohks and colossal serpents. The only people that dare travel the Malith - though not beyond it - are communities of black-skinned native humans, who have evolved to be durable, strong and fast, and who are known to have very high values of honor and praise few things more than the skills of the warrior and of the hunter - much like the tarken of the north.
To the east, the relevant areas are half-limited by and half-including the humongous Desert of Desperation - an enormous area stretching from the Boiling Sea to the north and farther south than has ever been explored, and reaches hundreds upon hundreds of miles to the east. The desert is widely considered an insurmountable obstacle, as the great reaches of almost identical dunes of sand in all directions make it exceedingly difficult to navigate by any other means than sun and stars. Water is an extremely rare commodity there, available only from a scattered handful of oases throughout the desert, and rain is practically inexistent, so thirst is the most common reason of death when traveling through the lands of sand that are scorching hot at day and freezing cold at night. The second most common reason of death, then, is for people to be eaten by the vicious chinoid race that dwell there. The Desert of Desperation is so massive and inhospitable that not even the strongest red dragons or the fastest white dragons have managed to cross to the other side, and it is said that only the quick and resilient legendary black dragons have ever managed the trek, at the end of the Age of Darkness when they fled across the desert to escape the vengeful masses of mortals.
To the north, Kirirak actually ends, as the sea takes over and stretches north, east and west in great mostly unmapped oceans, with great numbers of scattered islands, but none of any significance aside from Melenaoth. The Melenians, most notably the Regal of Arkanoz, strive to explore and map the oceans, determined to either find other continents hidden beyond the waters, or at the very least manage the long voyage around the Boiling Sea and down to the easternmost shores of the Desert of Desperation.

Nations
Northern Wegam Fermos
Though originally known as Gevras Gûlastein, translating to "Anvil of the People" signifying the place where the race of the penin were "forged", the old name of northern Wegam Fermos has been all but forgotten since the war against the Gazzeral and the founding of Rodoria and southern Wegam Fermos. When the humans and deigan decided that they would invade the land of the Gazzeral, they also found that the most advantageous point to start the invasion from would be from the mountains of northern Wegam Fermos, and so the penin living there were halfway involuntarily drafted into the war and were made join the invasion. After the years-long struggle that ensued and the Gazzeral were defeated, the deigan went to the penin to thank them for cooperating and helping them, and swore the penin their eternal gratitude. As a sign of this gratitude, the deigan offered to honor the penin by naming their homeland after the newly founded deigan nation, Wegam Fermos, and join the two countries as one in friendship. Naturally the proud and isolationistic penin strongly disliked the idea and opted to keep everything as it had been before, but the deigan insisted, wanting to prove their gratitude and not realizing that they were doing anything wrong - rather they thought it must be an honor for the little penin to be associated with the mighty and beautiful deigan. And so, despite the penin's best efforts Gevras Gûlastein gradually came to be known as a part of Wegam Fermos, and within a century even the younger penin spoke of their realm as this, and only the older penin stubbornly held on to their country's old name. In the end, however, all they could do to save their nation from being swallowed by the deigan was to mark the distinction between the two countries by calling their country "northern" Wegam Fermos, and the deigan nation "southern" Wegam Fermos.
Northern Wegam Fermos is a mountainous region, mostly consisting of rocks and cliffs and with little fertile ground to cultivate. On top of this, the elevated terrain, the mountains and the fact that the country stretches even farther north than Melenaoth does, it is also cold, wet and frequently the site of violent storms and hurricanes that can sometimes last several days or even weeks. This, plus the large population of some of the fiercest and most monstrous creatures in Reniam, makes northern Wegam Fermos one of the most inhospitable civilized countries of Kirirak.
Northern Wegam Fermos is the ancestral home of the penin race and has been for thousands of years, leading to the theory that the penin were either created there or settled and united there very shortly after their creation in the Dawn of Time. There has been speculation that the penin originally came from beyond the Yawning Gorge, but there has been no proof to support such theories, and none living east of the Yawning Gorge know whether there live penin west of the Gorge or not. The penin flourish in northern Wegam Fermos because of the wealth of the region in minerals and ores, and otherwise survive within great fortresses both beneath and above the ground, tenaciously defending their homes from any that would threaten them.
The most common monsters of northern Wegam Fermos rank: ore-lizards, lohks, goblins, wyverns, trolls, vulgors and dragons.

Southern Wegam Fermos
Though originally part of the old massive realm governed by the Gazzeral, southern Wegam Fermos was taken from the reptilians when the humans, deigan and penin invaded and the land was granted to the deigan to do as they wanted. Originally named simply Wegam Fermos, the "southern" part was only added later on when the penin of northern Wegam Fermos wanted to emphasize that the two lands were still separate nations, and not (as the deigan had originally wanted) united as one. Wegam Fermos translates to "Vanguard of Harmony", signifying that the deigan considered the founding of this country in unison with northern Wegam Fermos and the newly founded Rodoria as the beacon that would lead the world to an age of universal peace. Ironically it was not long after founding southern Wegam Fermos that the long-persisting enmities between the ascended deigan and the true deigan flared into open conflict, and the ascended deigan ended up seizing complete control of the country, forcing any true deigan to flee, hide or die, and only tolerating the free deigan because they seemed eternally neutral, thus unlikely to help either side, as well as having absolutely no interest in ruling southern Wegam Fermos themselves.
Southern Wegam Fermos is a large country that varies from a warm temperate climate at its northern border, facing Rodoria, to a near-subtropical climate in its southernmost parts. It is a highly fertile country lush with both plant- and animal-life, and though the forests of the region are usually huge, often spanning hundreds of miles, trees are oddly isolated in these forests and hardly any can be found outside them aside from a few scattered ones and those planted in orchards or otherwise cultivated by the inhabitants. Outside the forests, southern Wegam Fermos consist almost entirely of enormous plains of grassland and shrubbery on remarkably leveled terrain, though as one goes westward the climate becomes more humid, and the landscape even alternates to large areas covered by swamps and marshes. Furthest to the east where southern Wegam Fermos borders the Drylands, the climate develops adversely, becoming steadily drier and less fertile until the landscape is mostly dominated by wide steppes and prairies. Overall, southern Wegam Fermos is one of the most balanced countries in Kirirak, with warm summers and dry, but cold winters, and is generally considered a very nice place to live.
The most common monsters of southern Wegam Fermos rank: goblins, lohks, trolls, ore-lizards, wyverns and dragons.

Jevog Denûm
An ancient natural region of Kirirak, Jevog Denûm might once have been something else than what it is now, though if that is the case, it has been forgotten even by the ancient records left by the Gazzeral. It is said that long ago, at the end of the Age of Darkness, the black dragons saw that Kreshtaat was being defeated by the Nomad and fled east, using their fiery breath and destructive magic as they did so in an effort to make the terrain behind them impassable, thus stopping any pursuers. Whether this is true or not, it is known that Jevog Denûm was named by the penin during the early Barbaric Age, its name literally translating to "Dragon's Trail", at the very least suggesting that the penin were convinced that the tale of the fleeing blacks was true. Since then, Jevog Denûm has been a mostly ignored part of the world as it is both inhospitable and has little natural resources of value aside from some scattered deposits of gemstone. Some hundred years ago the Fire Clan has took up residence there on the slopes of the colossal volcano known as Inferno Mountain, but not even they have tried to claim the region as their own.
The region is a large barren landscape dominated by reaches of ash-covered wasteland that stretch for miles and miles, the monotony of the black, gray and white ash and soot only broken by the many darkened mountains and volcanoes of the area, spewing out black columns of smoke that make an almost constant and impenetrable barrier against the sky, all but blocking out the sun. As if this was not enough, the mountain range known as the Ashen Jags - known to be dark with moisture on slopes facing away from Jevog Denûm and white with ashes on ones facing towards the region - prevent virtually all precipitation from the west and south to blow into the land, and nothing but hot, dry air blows in from the east where the vast Desert of Desperation looms. That means that the only rain the wasteland get is from the north, in the Boiling Sea, and even this tends to be far from drinkable as the water mingles with ash while still in the air - some have even reported of it sometimes raining acid. Naught but the resilient Rilon's Mockery is known to grow successfully in Jevog Denûm, so survival there would have to rely on hunting the fierce and dangerous beasts that inhabit it.
The most common monsters of Jevog Denûm rank: ore-lizards, belagons (exclusively at the coast to the Boiling Sea), goblins, wyverns, lohks and dragons. It is said that hunting chinoids can occasionally be encountered near the eastern border, though such occurrences are very rare.

Melenaoth
Melenaoth, sometimes referred to as the Melenian Isles, is a small country consisting of five main isles and some scattered smaller islands, including minor Melenian colonies spread over the entire Melenian Ocean. Though unknown to the mainland races until the early Age of Civilization, when it was discovered by the human seafarer Timothy Shark, Melenaoth has presumably been the home of the feline race of the Melenians since the Dawn of Time, or at the very least since the Age of Darkness. Secluded and protected by the sea, the Melenians did not interact with the other races for millennia - though they are thought to have ventured to the region now known as Rodoria at some point, only to be scared off by the predatory appearance of the reptilian Gazzeral - and consequently grew to be a introverted and xenophobic nation. Though not many details are known of the history of the Melenians, it is known that they ventured out on the seas centuries before the mainland races had even invented the sail, and that the internal conflict between the two Melenian factions battling for supremacy of the isles - the Regal and the Unseen - has likewise lasted for many centuries. History of the nation is only known in detail after Timothy Shark's discovery of the islands and the subsequent war between Melenaoth and Rodoria. Little has occurred during this time, however, as the Melenians remains as disdainful towards the other races as ever and keeps to themselves, intent to concentrate on handling their own problems.
Though actually quite fertile land and surrounded by waters rich with fish, Melenaoth can be a difficult place to live as the weather there is fickle at best, and though drought and famine are practically unheard of there, they regularly have to deal with violent storms, monsoons , hurricanes and tornadoes. When the weather is calm, Melenaoth enjoys cool summers and mild winters, and is actually considered a rather pleasant place to live as long as one has shelter for the occasional extreme conditions and if one manages to stay away from the bloody war of the Regal and the Unseen. Exotic animals live there along with many unnamed plants that scholars travel far to study.
The most common monsters of Melenaoth rank: ore-lizards, goblins, wyverns, lohks and trolls. There have been no reports of dragons in Melenaoth since its discovery sixteen centuries ago, and one must presume that dragons have either never lived in the isles or have either abandoned them or been thoroughly exterminated. There have been reports of various uncategorized and mysterious creatures dwelling in the Melenian Ocean, some supposedly even larger than dragons, though there has been no proof to support such claims.

Being one of the oldest working mortal forces in northern Kirirak, and the most powerful actor in continental politics and warfare, the Catolohne Empire is not something that can be easily ignored, regardless of where in Kirirak one hails from. Even those that live apart from the mainland, like the Melenians, know of and fear the relentless and warlike Catolohne, and even the Gazzeral, a once-mighty society, dreaded nothing more than that the Catolohne would eventually work their way north into their realm. This section is meant to give you the information that many have, and most who has, fears, about the vast power of the Catolohne Empire.

Although some claim that the roots of the Catolohne Empire can be traced back almost all the way to the Dawn of Time, making it even older than the otherwise unprecedentedly ancient society of the Gazzeral, it did not emerge to interact with the rest of the world until late in the Age of Darkness, and the name "Catolohne" was not used until the late third century of the Barbaric Age. Be that as it may, however you look at it, the Catolohne remains if not the oldest, then one of the oldest major coalitions in the history of Reniam.
Supposedly, the bloodline that would later become the Catolohne Imperial Family had its roots in the now mostly deserted Drylands all the way back in the Age of Darkness, where these early ancestors of the great future rulers were already chieftains of a relatively small tribe of nomads, which mainly survived by moving and hiding at the edge of the Desert of Desperation where few others lived and therefore were mostly spared the war between demons and gods. Even in those days, these progenitors of the future empire bore some of the qualities that came to define them in the future. Living in lands where water and food were scarce and fierce monsters were the only game about, the early Catolohne people were tough and skilled survivalists, said to hunt and kill even the fearsome chinoids and to have, on more than one occasion, fought off and defeated packs of demons that ventured too near their ever-moving settlement, suggesting that they were not only bred hunters, but extraordinary warriors as well.
Only once word reached their tribe that an Avatar of Gaia had arisen - the one who would for all future generations be known as the Nomad - did this original tribe begin to expand beyond simple survival, and allow themselves to aim for power and easy living to replace their generations of hardship in the Drylands. One by one, the first Catolohne tribe conquered the other tribes of the Drylands until hardly any were left. Members of defeated tribes were given a choice: to integrate themselves into their tribe, or to be left to wander the desert alone. The Desert of Desperation were just as much a death-sentence in those days as it is now, so few chose that option, and the Catolohne tribe grew considerably.
Eventually the tribe grew to such proportions that the Drylands could no longer sustain their numbers, as no matter the skill of their water-finders and hunters, they could not find or hunt what was not there in the first place. And so, in the middle of the third century of the Barbaric Age, the tribe left the Drylands behind and ventured into the fertile lands of the west. There they found that the demons were long gone and the war over, and that in the meantime, the people living in the fertile lands had grown relatively soft and lax, whereas the tribes of the Drylands retained their strength from the Age of Darkness, preserved through the hardships of surviving in the Drylands. Leading his tribe forth into the forests of the green lands, the chieftain of this time managed to use his unequalled warriors to brush away the feeble societies established there, and seized himself a nation - a nation which was dubbed Catolohne, and this chieftain became Xilen no Vak - Chosen by History. He is considered the First Catolohne Emperor.
Over the course of the next several decades, the Catolohne kept warring on their softer, laxer neighboring nations, the hardened Catolohne warriors obliterating any army that stood in their way, seizing the power of realm upon realm and adding their lands to their own, giving the inhabitants of these conquered areas the same choice as they had to the tribes of old: integration, or the desert.
So the Catolohne grew from a nation to an empire, growing and growing, war only rarely and briefly being disturbed by an interlude of peace as none could stand before the strength, skill, discipline and near-fanatic fervor of the Catolohne warriors. This development has continued even to this day, although now the Catolohne Empire faces, perhaps for the first time since the Age of Darkness, worthy adversaries. Although individually Golerin, Sathenolíhm and Frehklahem would be no match for the legions of Catolohne warriors, the Catolohne would not be able to invade any of them openly without earning the victims of such an invasion assistance from other, more powerful forces, such as the other deigan realms and perhaps the penin, too, Kátimit, Kirkin and last but not least, Rodoria, of which especially the latter would pose a significant threat to even the Catolohne Legions if united with one or more of their other rivals. Instead they have been expanding southward for a number of years, even into the Balazth and the Malith Jungle, establishing a number of provinces there that retain relative sovereignty, and enjoy the protection of the Catolohne Legions in return for paying taxes to the Catolohne Emperor and conscript a certain percentage of their populaces to the Catolohne Legions, all to support the continued expansion of the Empire.
However, with one of the greatest threats to the Catolohne Empire - Rodoria - having recently been struck with crippling plague and civil war, chances are that the Catolohne Empire will not remain peaceful for much longer. But that is for the future to show.

The culture of the Catolohne Empire carries traces from the many societies that have been absorbed into it, but is mostly defined by its roots as a tribal force coming out of the deep Drylands, as a people that pride itself in having bested both demons and the desert. One of the most notable differences between the Catolohne and the rest of Kirirak is their view on religion, especially the Spirits of Union, mostly because of the fact that they do not believe in the Spirits of Union at all. Rather than accept the common belief, the Catolohne Empire considers the five Spirits merely different manifestations of one omnipotent deity, an entity which they call Nok, the Creator. Likewise they do not believe in the same God of Mercy as the majority of Reniam, as they seem incapable of accepting that one of the most powerful gods is female - rather than Reina, Goddess of Mercy and Goddess of Humans, they therefore have Rein, the God of Mercy and God of Men.
That is another major difference between the Catolohne and the northern lands: in then Catolohne Empire, women are considered inferior to men and are subjected to the rule of men. Any man can marry any number of women he pleases, whereas a woman is only allowed one husband - a husband which her father chooses for her, and she has no say in selecting. A woman is not allowed to own anything - everything she has is the property of her father or husband or, in cases of widows, sons. Women are not allowed to serve in the Catolohne Legions, they are not allowed to have any kind of official position, and obviously, a woman can never rule the Empire. Even the wives of the Catolohne Emperor are considered powerless, property of the Emperor in line with furniture rather than people. A man there cannot be punished for any act committed against a woman, unless it damages her and lessen her value to her owner (father, husband, son, etc.), whereas women are punished harshly for even slight violations of Catolohne law or even just present a slight annoyance to someone with the power to dish out punishment. All women are required to only ever cover their faces, breasts and pelvis - and this only if their owner allow it. Any other clothing worn by them must be see-through.
This firm belief that men are superior to women even carries into their religion, where the Catolohne consider their single Creator to be a male entity (despite at least three of the five Spirits of Union being female and the gender of the Spirit of Good being unknown), and consider all female deities inferior to the male ones. Himyth is not even considered a deity at all there, but is perceived merely as a lesser demon, obviously sent to Reniam and ruled by the will of Kreshtaat, an acceptably powerful (male) deity.
The main drive of the Catolohne Empire is, interestingly, their unquestioning faith in their Emperor. The Catolohne believe that their Imperial Family did not become a ruling bloodline, nor were they bred or chosen to be so - no, according to Catolohne belief, the Creator spawned the Imperial bloodline for the singular purpose that this one bloodline was to rule all of Reniam. The Catolohne call their Emperors Nok no Vak - the Chosen by the Creator, and their will is indisputable. What a Catolohne Emperor says can only be the truth in the ears of his subjects, and whatever he wishes for is bound by law to happen.
This leads us on to perhaps the only goal the Empire has that ranks above the will of the Emperor. Because in truth, the Catolohne approve very highly of the Nomad, and even consider him a sort of deity - after all, he was a human man, granted the power of one of the aspects of the Creator in order to purge the world of the demons so that the Catolohne could rise from their humble beginnings. Consequently, the Catolohne also take the Nomad's Prophecy very seriously, with focus on the warning that the world must unite in preparation of a great future threat. The Catolohne interpret this somewhat liberally, deciding that this can only mean that the Nomad meant for them, being the strongest of his fellow humans, to unite the rest of Reniam under the rule of a single will: that of their Emperor.

Even though the Catolohne Empire has many things about it that makes it stand out from other nations around Kirirak, no other single thing about it is as infamous and feared as the four Catolohne Legions: an army consisting of over one million highly trained and almost fanatically loyal soldiers, each one issued with the highest quality equipment the Empire can afford.
Before going into detail about the Catolohne Legions, there are some general things that should be noted, such as that the Catolohne have a great deal of respect for their origins, and acknowledge that their people were forged and given strength through their roots in the Drylands. That is why even today, Catolohne recruits are sent off to the Drylands, where they are organized into groups of four or five dozen men in each and are then left to learn from the hardships of the region, and be reminded the lesson their people were taught in the Age of Darkness. While they are cast into the Drylands like this, the Catolohne men have only one order, only one law: survive. This is what they learn while there: to overcome the Drylands, one must be able to find moisture, or thirst; to track down and slay the monstrous wildlife, or fall to famine. And through all of this, each group of men must compete with numerous other groups cast into the Drylands at the same time, to best them the way the Catolohne tribe once did: by being better hunters, better water-finders, better warriors. It is fairly common for Catolohne men to kill each other during this time, or for groups to disband or merge, and it is estimated that less than half of the men sent into the Drylands ever return to join the Catolohne Legions - which only makes the sheer enormity of the Catolohne military all the more terrifying.
Upon joining the Legions after their grueling initiation in the origins of the Catolohne, every man is evaluated and is assigned to the Legion which suits his skills the best, but they are first all given the yellow sleeveless gowns which serve as their uniforms, and a set of two unusual devices that are unique to the Catolohne warriors in that only they know how to effectively use them. These devices are a sort of heavy vambraces of which the main component is a single sheet of iron designed to cover from the knuckles, down the back of the hand and all the way to the elbow, being secured to the arm with a number of leather straps. While these are rather heavy and makes it impossible for the wearer to bend their wrist, it also offers additional weight to their blows, even if unarmed, and an extra deflective surface to block with in combat, like a sort of miniature shield. Furthermore, as time passed and things became more advanced, these devices were developed to be somewhat customizable. Some of these vambraces double as arm-mounted crossbows, with the limbs of the bow folded against the arm until the need to use them arises, whereas others are capable of having blades or even lances mounted as an extension of the arm, negating the strength of one's fingers as a factor when handling these weapons. In some cases entire shields have even been mounted on these.

The first of the Catolohne Legions is the Ten no Vak, the Chosen by Eye. These are the ones amongst the recruits that make the best water-finders and trackers, and as such, these become the scouts of the Catolohne army, men who are trusted to be able to find their way wherever they go and survive in hostile lands alone, all while finding the enemy and making it back to report what they see to the other Legions. In combat the Chosen by Eye work as ranged support units, wielding bows and crossbows as well as taking responsibility of the ranged siege weapons of the Legions. Most Chosen by Eye have their vambraces modified to have built-in crossbows, and they are granted gowns reinforced with chainmail that also extends down their otherwise bare arms, and they are given chain coifs to protect their heads.
The second Legion is that of the Erin no Vak, the Chosen by Foot. If a man remarked himself as a hunter and slayer of beasts in his time in the Drylands, this is where he will find his place. The Chosen by Foot are lightly armored agile soldiers, required to be skilled in melee and ranged combat alike and are perhaps the ones with the greatest skill of all Catolohne warriors. These men have one of their vambraces modified to mount sword-blades in extension of them, and the other to have an arm-mounted crossbow, while their gowns receive leather padding and are given black cowls and cloaks. These men serve as both assassins and as a strike force during combat, specialized in seeking out weak points in enemy defensive lines and cutting through to take out priority targets like enemy commanders or siege weapons, and otherwise open the way for the other Legions' advance.
The third Legion bears the name Ol no Vak, translating into the Chosen by Hand, and are the men that even in the Drylands remarked themselves mainly as warriors, who even in the face of desperation still had the strength and courage to fight and kill other men. Of all the Legions, this is the largest - numbering approximately six hundred thousand men - and most feared, and the one which represents the brunt of the Catolohne military strength. Their vambraces are modified to mount blades or lances onto them, or to have shields mounted on them, whereas their uniforms are reinforced with heavy scalemail, with plate rerebraces and pauldrons added to the vambraces and given barbute helmets to protect their heads. This means that they are extremely heavy and relatively slow at moving around on the battlefield, but also very difficult to hurt past all their armor. Many Chosen by Hand are also made cavalry, as they are the ones best suited for this task, but otherwise serve as plain warriors and infantry, their role shifting depending on the situation, but it always being something which requires them to fight the enemy face-to-face.
The fourth and final of the Catolohne Legions is different from the others, because its members value fundamentally different skill sets than the three first Legions. This Legion is the Caanan no Vak, the Chosen by Lip, and they are all the Catolohne men who show signs of being talented with magic, banded together in a single unit. This Legion is the smallest of the four, yet probably still comparative in power to that of the Chosen by Hand because of the undeniable might of sorcery. As the only of the four Legions, the Chosen by Lip do not wear their vambraces as they need to be able to move their hands to weave the sigils needed to cast spells, but they are in turn all given bladed staffs for self-defense if the struggle ever forces them to face their enemy in melee. Chosen by Lip are the only magi in the Catolohne Empire - no one else are allowed to practice magic, and women doing so is obviously utterly abolished - and are given every magical resource available to the Empire, which is quite a lot. No school of magic is prohibited: when the Chosen of Lip enters a battlefield, the elements, the dead, and even the Planes and its denizens themselves are said to rise and turn against the enemies of Catolohne.
Any man who takes up arms for the Catolohne Empire during war, but has not yet been forged as a warrior worthy of the Legions by the Drylands, is considered an Avak - an Unchosen. These are considered expendable by the Empire, and function as little more than shock troops, earning no armor and only basic weaponry by their volunteering, and claiming very little value to the army. No efforts are made to recover Unchosen cut off from the rest of the army, nor do the Catolohne negotiate for Unchosen prisoners of war. Unchosen are meant for one thing only: to cause as much damage as they can before they die.
Of course the Catolohne remember how the chieftains of their own tribe had risen to become their great Emperors, and such they make sure to note who lead the groups of survivors, to make these naturally selected leaders the commanders of their armies. These commanders are given helmets with decorative extended dragon wings on top of them to signify their rank: Fed no Kal are Commanders of War, and have local authority over the first three Legions. These have red dragon wings. The Wai no Kal are the Commanders of Essence, have authority over the fourth Legion, and have green dragon wings. Finally, the Qon no Kal are the Commanders of the Horde, who wear white dragon wings and have superior authority to the other commanders, similar to the generals of other countries. The Commanders of the Horde will usually direct war efforts of the Empire on site, but in rare cases they are joined by the only person who is their superior: the Emperor, who is the only one wearing a black winged helmet, and who has all of the Catolohne Legions at his beck and call.

Finally, it should be noted that the Catolohne are the sole producers of katana and wakizashi in Kirirak, and that they use these - along with a wide selection of other weapons - in their army with specialized skill. Granted, the Catolohne were not the original manufacturers of these weapons, nor were they their inventors, but the country which was became assimilated into the Empire centuries ago.
The Catolohne do not restrict themselves to using these weapons, however, but are known to partake in any and all weapons-designs they deem useful from all over Kirirak. Their siege weapons are somewhat inferior to those of the northern nations, however, since unlike most other lands, the Catolohnehave never had good relations with the ingenuous engineers of the penin, and have had to either steal the plans for their weapons or make up designs on their own. As such, the Catolohne Empire is known to not use ballistae, but rather stick to relatively primitive versions of catapults and trebuchets for their ranged siege weapon needs, whereas they have actually improved upon old designs for siege towers and battering rams, reinforcing the structure of the towers significantly and building mobile cover like movable houses around their battering rams, as well as making the rams themselves significantly heavier and sturdier.

The depicted size of each Plane is an approximate interpretation of their number of inhabitants.

Reniam
The world of mortals, pure and simple. It encompass an entire world, although whether it is flat or a globe is yet undiscovered. Large regions of the world are still unexplored, especially what lies past the sea. The only known continent (to the ones on the continent, obviously) is the one the plot takes place on, called Kirirak. It is pretty much like Earth with some added spices.

Lower Plane, Underworld, Hell
The Plane formed to be the eternal prison and home of the demons. It is a vast world in which there exist only extremes: completely dry or flooded, scorching hot or freezing cold, crushing thunderstorms - a world designed specifically to make those in it miserable.

Upper Plane, Heaven
The Plane formed to be the sanctuary from which the gods could watch over the mortals, as well as the reward that awaits those that go through life nursing their Seed of Good. It is a realm of light and warmth, and honest, but sparingly strenuous labor, where one can continue working for the sake of good for all things, complete the things one failed to do during one's life, and otherwise use the free time to indulge in the fulfillment of mortal desires.

Union Plane
The place Ismyel, Liya and Gaia retreated to with the end of the Age of Darkness.

Spirit Realm
This Plane is a mystery, especially to the Spirits of Union, since none of them seem to want to admit to have created it. Rather the Spirit Realm seems to have grown out of Reniam on its own accord, like a benign tumor. It is where all mortals' souls go when they sleep and dream (except tarken, who don't dream). It is a chaotic realm, with a shape and nature that is constantly changing due to the fact that it seems to either adapt to the dreams of mortals, or be the dreams of mortals. It seems to exist in three stages: the first being the Dream, which is exactly what it sounds like. Each time someone dreams, a new Dream is born. The second stage is the Psyche, which is are areas of the Spirit Realm that are each dedicated to a single mortal, and which are each designed in their appearance by how the mortal they belong to would imagine it looks. The third stage is the Raw Spirit Realm - a vast Plane of endless constantly changing reaches, where nothing is constant except change. The Raw Spirit Realm continuously warp itself to adapt to the thoughts, feelings, hopes and fears of all mortals. It is a mix of the minds of all mortals.
The Spirit Realm is also where magical energy seems to enter mortals when it has been spent in Reniam, so one must assume that it contains massive amounts of magical energy.

The Divide
This is not really a Plane, but rather just a barrier to keep the Lower Plane apart from everything else. The Divide is not completely tight, though, but can only be affected from the side Reniam is on - meaning that mortals in Reniam can summon demons from the Lower Plane, and demons can be tossed back into the Lower Plane or return as they want, but demons cannot pass from the Lower Plane to Reniam on their own.

Stupor
The infinite emptiness of Stupor is rather the absence of Planes than a Plane of its own. Stupor is simply nothingness: a vast emptiness that reach eternally in all directions, an all-consuming blackness that fill the void between the Planes and beyond. There, one can do nothing but float about aimlessly, unable to act at all and inevitably lost in the unlimited reaches of absolutely nothing. There was no sensory input – one could not even hear one’s own voice, feel one’s own breath or sense one’s own heartbeat. Time does not exist there, one does not age, thirst, hunger or die, and every moment feels like the passing of an eternity. It is outside of existence… simply nothing.

Time

The calendar in Reniam is different from the one we know from Earth, as well as certain astronomical details are slightly different - none so much that it has any greater significance, though. Some things, such as the length of seconds, minutes, hours and days, stretch over the same amounts of time as on Earth. The rest of the measures we normally use without really thinking about it, are different.

Weeks
The week only has five days, named Day of Gaia, Day of Liya, Day of Good, Day of Ismyel and Day of the Wanderer, naturally named after the five Spirits of Union that created Reniam, in the order they play a role in a person's existence. This means a slight difference in both the measure of time and the civilization itself, with each day being committed to the deity they are named after, except the Day of Good, since the Spirit of Good has vanished without a trace. The Day of Good is instead considered the same as our weekends.

Months
In Reniam the length of months are determined by the shifting phases of the month, with the first of every month having a new moon. In Reniam, however, the lunar cycle is shorter than on Earth, so that the process from full moon to new moon, and back to full moon again, only take approximately twenty days. Thus, the length of each month in Reniam is exactly twenty days, with the first of every month being a Day of Gaia.
Day of the month - Day of the week
1st (New moon) - Day of Gaia
2nd - Day of Liya
3rd - Day of Good
4th - Day of Ismyel
5th - Day of the Wanderer
6th - Day of Gaia
7th - Day of Liya
8th - Day of Good
9th - Day of Ismyel
10th - Day of the Wanderer
11th (Full moon) - Day of Gaia
12th - Day of Liya
13th - Day of Good
14th - Day of Ismyel
15th - Day of the Wanderer
16th - Day of Gaia
17th - Day of Liya
18th - Day of Good
19th - Day of Ismyel
20th - Day of the Wanderer

Years
While the months are shorter in Reniam, the years are not, as the seasons chance just as fast as on Earth, so the basic length of a single year is only slightly different from the one we use here. Because the length of the months is more constant in Reniam, a year has been set to be 360 days instead of our 365 or 366 every fourth year – in other words, in Reniam, a year is eighteen months. Of course, this also means that the inhabitants of Reniam do not see the seasons as three months each, since there are four seasons – which are no different from the ones on Earth – and eighteen is not dividable by four. Instead, the seasons of spring and autumn are five months long and summer and winter only four, because the former pair seasons are not considered real seasons because of their similarities, but rather transitional ones in the variation to the opposites of summer and winter.
Start of Year
First Month of Spring
Second Month of Spring
Third Month of Spring
Fourth Month of Spring
Fifth Month of Spring
First Month of Summer
Second Month of Summer
Third Month of Summer
Fourth Month of Summer
First Month of Autumn
Second Month of Autumn
Third Month of Autumn
Fourth Month of Autumn
Fifth Month of Autumn
First Month of Winter
Second Month of Winter
Third Month of Winter
Fourth Month of Winter
End of the Year.

Ages
There is no simple way of describing the length of an age. Like with Earth, the length of an age is usually determined by some great accomplishment or another, so the length might appear rather random at first. However, unlike on Earth, the inhabitants of Reniam consider the transition to a new age a complete switch between two different worlds, ascending one step closer to perfection, and thus they restart the number of which year they are in each time they enter a new age, starting over with year 1 and working its way up from there.
The Dawn of Time was the age where the Spirits of Union created Reniam and everything in it, and despite what some followers of the various Spirits might think, they did not make everything in a single day. In fact, the entire process of shaping the world is speculated to have taken thousands upon thousands of years.
The Age of Darkness, the time when the war between the demons and gods was waged openly on Reniam and brought untold suffering, quite simply started at the beginning of the war and ended with the banishment of demons and gods from the world of mortals. The calendar was not established back then, but scholars guess that it lasted between three and ten thousand years.
The Barbaric Age is a lot easier to figure out, since at the coming of this, although chaotic still a lot more orderly than the Age of Darkness, meant that mortals started working out the current date-system and started developing a calendar and counting the years. Because of this, it is known with some certainty that the length of the Barbaric Age was almost exactly two thousand years.
The current age is the Age of Civilization, and the date at the beginning of the roleplay is the Day of Liya, the Second Day of the Fourth Month of Autumn, year 1630 of the Age of Civilization.

In the beginning, longer ago than any mortal in Reniam could even begin to comprehend, there was but one plane in existence. The infinite emptiness of Stupor was everything and nothing, and filled with naught but chaotic nothingness. It was here that the Spirits of Union either came into being, or existed all along. Where they came from is a complete mystery, but an unimportant question. All that matters is that they were there, and that it was them who brought Reniam into being.
It was Gaia, the Spirit of Nature and Neutrality who was the first of the five to feel that she needed something more in her existence than just floating about for all eternity, trapped in perpetual darkness. She decided that in order to do anything productive, she needed a place to stand - and at her command, ground came into being, and a world of rock and dirt shaped under her feet. Next she thought that she needed to be able to see what she was doing, so she lit a bright flare of her essence and placed it on the sky, bathing the newly shaped world in light.
When the other four Spirits arrived in Reniam, they were astonished by their sister’s creation, and all decided that this was far preferable to the oblivion of Stupor. Liya, the Spirit of Life, even was so touched by the beauty of the world that she shed a single tear, and this was the first time anyone ever wept. As her tear met the ground, her essence gave birth to a tiny plant, which Gaia instantly came to adore and named it as her own. But in time, the plant dried, and in her distress Gaia experimented and brought oceans of saltwater and lakes and rivers of fresh water into being, until she found that the plant could be watered. Then she realized that the plant was cooked by the light she had placed on the sky, so she made it move across the sky and to the other side of the world every day, allowing the plant to cool in soothing night. To be able to see in the darkness of night, Gaia plucked a tiny piece of the sun and placed it in the night.
Now that the plant was safe and thriving, Gaia began to wonder if she could not cover her world with plants like this, and the thought grew to be an obsession. But Gaia did not have power to give life, so she could not create plants. Instead, she filled the plant with her essence, allowing it to grow until it was an enormous tree with leaves and flowers in all colors and shapes. She then split it into smaller, but still gigantic parts, and spread them over her creation, and she marveled, for where she put these Trees of Life. Soon after, the Trees of Life came to bear fruits, berries and vegetables of all shapes, colors and sizes, and as these grew ripe, the Spirits ate some and discarded others on the ground. But in these fruits were the essence of Gaia and of Liya, and new plants grew in the image of the fruit they grew from. Gaia rejoiced, for now plants spread all over Reniam.
Now the other Spirits began to envy their sister, for they all recognized that she had created something wondrous. They spoke together, and eventually the other four agreed that they needed to know what their powers were as well.
Liya, whose tear had birthed the first plant, already suspected her power, so she began. She went to a river and scooped up mud, from which she formed with her hands and poured her essence into them - but now, instead of a stem and leaves, fur, scales and skin grew on the outside, and the inside became squishy and alive. From her hands came the other living beings in Reniam.
The Spirits of Union were terrified of this, however, for they all realized that these new beings were like themselves, eternal and immortal, and could ultimately even become a threat to the Spirits. Therefore the Wanderer, the Spirit of Death, touched these beings with his power, and they became mortals, craving food and water to live, having a limited lifespan and were susceptible to outside influence in ending their existence. They realized, of course, that this would mean that it was only a matter of time before these creatures went extinct. To counter this, Liya blessed the mortals a second time, allowing them to convey her power into themselves and copy her miracle.
Thus mortals could reproduce and die, and Reniam became inhabited by more races of beings than even the Spirits could count, but still they remained unsatisfied, as the mortals were dull and uninteresting, lacking will and motive to do anything beyond the bare necessities to ensure their survival. The turn had come to the two last Spirits, Ismyel, the Spirit of Evil, and the Spirit of Good whose name has been lost to the passage of time. Each of them took part of their own essence and shaped them into seeds, which they planted inside the mortals. As the Seeds of Good and Evil grew in the hearts of men and beasts, they came to possess a soul, to know feelings and desires, and came to gain the power of free will. Both of the Seeds rested within all mortals, allowing them to choose which Seed to nurture and grow on their own, shaping their own personalities.
With this, the Spirits of Union were finally satisfied with their creation, and all five of them enjoyed watching over Reniam and the mortals for what is thought to be the longest of ages, as the mortals developed civilizations all across the world and fought each other both for the Spirits’ approval and to rule as much of the world as they could.

But the peace did not last. Eventually, a dark being spawned from the depths of Stupor and found its way to Reniam - one which was not like the Spirits, but not mortal either. It was immortal, but lacked the power of creation, and both the Spirits and the mortals feared this creature, for they did not understand it.
The creature sought out Ismyel, for it sensed the evil that filled her and instantly felt kinship with her, and she felt drawn to it as well. It explained that it was a demon from another world that had ended longer ago than even the Spirits remembered, that he was purely and solely evil, and that he took the name of the Grand Master of Evil. Ismyel was intrigued by this, for not only did she feel an evil in this creature that matched her own, but also a power many times greater than that of any mortal. He was weaker than the Spirits, but Ismyel’s greedy, ambitious mind immediately imagined that these demons, in great enough numbers, could overwhelm the other four Spirits of Union and claim the rule of Reniam in her name.
She went to Liya and told her of her plan, while naturally leaving out her true intentions of spawning an immortal army. Ismyel said that she felt lonely in her evil, and that she and Liya could create an evil friend for her to remedy her solitude. Liya had seen what mortals influenced by their Seed of Evil were capable of, however, and was wary of Ismyel’s request. She spoke to the Wanderer, Gaia and the Spirit of Good, and they all agreed that to spawn an immortal being driven by greed and ambition would be a mistake that could cost them the fruit of their hard labor.
Enraged by the other Spirits’ decision, Ismyel pulled out fire from her essence and melted Reniam to its core. She plunged her hands into the magma, pouring her own black essence into it so intensely that the stone was given unholy life, with hearts filled solely with malice. She formed several of these minions, spending as much of her power as she dared, but she saw that no matter how hard she tried, her creations were never as powerful as the Grand Master.
However, as Ismyel forged and discarded demon upon demon, the Grand Master lurked in her shadow and whispered promises of power to the spawn of darkness, luring them to forget about their creator who had abandoned them and submit to him instead. The demons threw themselves at the mortals, blinded with ambition, a killed many, but captured more. Those which were captured had their Seeds of Good ripped from their hearts and then abandoned, the same as the first demons had, allowing their now-supreme Seeds of Evil to fester until their bodies came to reflect their sinister nature, becoming demons themselves.
Leading an infernal legion of immortal soldiers, the Grand Master descended upon the mortals of Reniam and easily conquered it, making the mortals his slaves. He constructed a foul tower, so tall that its tip touched the borders of Stupor and with a top that was shaped like a skull with burning eyes. The Skull Tower became the center of his Infernal Empire, and the Grand Master named himself emperor of all things, marking the beginning of the Age of Darkness.

The Spirits of Union saw the demons' advance and distressed, for although the Spirits cherished all of their creations - including the demons - their hearts were filled with sorrow as the spawn of evil brought destruction to everything they had worked to create. It was then that Gaia turned to the others and spoke with the unbiased voice of neutrality, and established that there needed to exist a balance between the Spirits' domains, or else Reniam would tear itself apart as they were witnessing now. Although skeptical at first, the other Spirits eventually agreed.
The nameless Spirit of Good then borrowed some of the light of the moon and sun, and infused this light with her own magnificence the same way as Ismyel had given birth to the demons. The result were the diametric opposite of the demons - creatures that were powerful and immortal like them, but being purely good instead of purely evil.
The gods went to Reniam, and in a single decisive battle they managed to retrieve the Seeds of Good that had been torn from those that had been turned into the demonic legion. The gods planted these Seeds in vessels formed from their own essence, and soon they grew to come alive as an army of angels.
Witnessing the gods, demons and angels clash time and again, it soon became clear that although the demons and gods created by Ismyel and the Spirit of Good were evenly matched, the Grand Master upset this balance by being the most powerful of them all. Desperate, Liya decided to offer what she had at first denied Ismyel, and as both the Spirit of Good and Evil brought a Seed of their own essence, Liya gave each of them life with her power, making them different from any other immortals. These entities became Reina, the Goddess of Mercy and the Daughter of Liya, and Rilon, the Blood God, the less popular Son of Liya.

With all of these new powers added to the struggle, the war finally started to come to a standstill, with both sides being equally powerful - just as the Spirits had wanted. However, the unconditional hatred between the two opposing alignments was something they had not foreseen. Despite that gods and demons were all immortal and could never defeat each other, but only fight an eternal war, the immortals maintained their struggle, and wherever immortals clashed, Reniam was shredded by the massive powers unleashed there and mortals perished to such an extent that entire species went extinct from one day to the next. All the Spirits had managed to do was to start a conflict that would inevitably result in the end of all things.
But then, just as the Spirits' sympathy for the mortal races, something inexplicable happened. What exactly happened remains a mystery, even today. Some say that a member of the human race stumbled upon an unknown and extremely powerful magical force, which has never been activated since. Others say that he was simply a freak of nature, destined for his fate. Yet others speculate that Ismyel might have been the one to cause the change. But nothing is certain - all that is known for a fact is that a human one day underwent a transformation beyond the comprehension of even the Spirits of Union, and that this human became an immortal demon with power on an entirely different scale than any other immortal - almost powerful enough to compete with even the Spirits of Unity, although he lacked their power of creation.
This demon became known as the Lord of Darkness, Kreshtaat. With almost dull ease, Kreshtaat swept aside the Grand Master and his generals, and overnight the Infernal Empire was disbanded and replaced by a horrid Death Clan, lead by Kreshtaat's cruel hand. The forces of good were chanceless against this new dark champion, and Kreshtaat crushed them almost singlehandedly.
Once more the Spirits distressed, confused and frightened by the appearance of this creature that possessed a strength they did not understand. They went to the Spirit of Good and begged her to do something - anything - to restore the balance in a final, desperate attempt at saving their world. But the Spirit of Good was adamant: she remembered personally forging the Seed of Good that had been placed in the human Kreshtaat had once been, and she claimed that this goodness remained somewhere in the demon's soul, and that one needed only reach out to find it. She went to speak with Kreshtaat to try to make him see reason and to beseech him to end his wicked reign and spare the world of further suffering. Once more the details are uncertain, but the most popular version is that Kreshtaat laughed in the Spirit of Good's face, and as punishment for her naivety threw her back into the depths of Stupor. Whether this is true or not, the Spirit of Good was never seen again, and those seeking her Favored power had their prayers ignored.

With a loss amongst their own, the Spirits of Unity were now instilled with such fear that they retreated to the edge of Stupor and dared not return to Reniam. Ismyel, Liya and the Wanderer decided that Reniam was a lost course, and that they could do nothing to save it - in fact, it was foolish to risk their own eternal existence when they could just travel to a different region of Stupor and start over. The Wanderer even proposed that he could simply harvest the souls of all the beings of Reniam, erasing their mistakes and allowing them to start over right then and there.
But although her peers had abandoned hope, Gaia felt too strongly for her creation to simply give up and let it face destruction for the mistakes they had made. She told the others that Reniam was their responsibility and that it was up to them to see this mess through to the end.
And so, in a final act of desperation, Gaia showed herself to one of her mortal followers - a young ranger, skilled in both combat and magic and from the same human race as the fiend, Kreshtaat, had spurred from. He had lead his tribe all over Reniam in an effort to avoid being caught in the conflict between gods and demons, and was completely impartial. She told him that this world had been torn apart by good and evil, and by the hand of the immortals, and that she had decided that the only way to redeem the world was through the power of neutrality and by the hand of a mortal.
So she granted all of her power to this ranger, making him her avatar, more powerful than any god or demon. She told him that the fate of the world - whether it be in the favor of good or evil - was up to him, and him alone to decide. And the ranger discarded his name to become an entity that was neither mortal or immortal, and became the Nomad.

The Nomad entered the eternal war, and by his hand the Death Clan fell, and the gods - awed by this - bowed to him in submission. After an age of endless nightmares, the Age of Darkness finally came to an end, and the Spirits of Union - with the exception of the absent Spirit of Good - returned to Reniam to undo their mistakes.
It was clear that the gods and demons could not coexist peacefully, nor could someone so superior to the mortals exist in Reniam - but at the same time, the Spirits figured that the immortals were their creations just the same as the mortals, and had the same right to live as they. The immortals could not be destroyed, but neither could they be allowed to remain.
So the Spirits decided to separate gods, demons and mortals. First Gaia reached deep beneath the crust of Reniam, far below the depths of magma from which Ismyel had shaped the first demons, where she formed a prison for them to endure eternal punishment. This was the Lower Plane, the Underworld, or Hell. Then she reached above the clouds, past the sun, moon and stars, and formed a place of light and bliss for the gods and angels, from which they could watch over and protect the mortals. This was the Upper Plane, or Heaven.
Finally all four remaining Spirits united their powers to forge an incredible barrier between the Lower Plane and the other worlds, called the Divide, to ensure that the demons would never again come to enslave the mortals.
Finally, as order seemed restored to all things, the Spirits decided that one thing remained in Reniam that would forever be a threat to the mortals: themselves. The Spirits of Union vowed that they would never again interfere directly with the affairs of Reniam, and would retreat to another world in the depths of Stupor.
But although the others left, the Wanderer was burdened by such a heavy guilt for having contemplated to end all life that he decided to stay. He decided that mortals were now to transcend even his death, and sentenced himself to an eternal punishment, in which he would have to gather up the souls of the dead mortals and - based on the growth of their Seeds of Good and Evil - carry them to either the Upper or Lower Plane for them to have the afterlife they deserved.

Although it seemed that things had settled after this, it was not long after the Spirits' departure that a forgotten threat resurfaced once more. Having reduced to hiding from Kreshtaat and the Death Clan, the Grand Master and his demonic generals had managed to avoid the Spirits' judgment and stayed in Reniam, even as all other demons had been banished to the Lower Plane. The Grand Master thought his victory complete, as he and his commanders were now the only immortals left in Reniam.
But although the Spirits had left, the Nomad remained. His powers had been drained from the fight against Kreshtaat, but even so he remained the avatar of Gaia and defeated the Grand Master as well. By this time, however, he was so weakened that he could not send the demons to the Lower Plane, and the Spirits of Union were bound by their vow, preventing them from doing it. Thus the Grand Master could not be banished, nor could he be destroyed.
Instead, the Nomad imprisoned the Grand Master in the very Skull Tower that had been the seat of his rule, and used the power of the five demonic generals to place a powerful seal on the Tower, preventing the demon lord from escaping, and finally rendering it so that the Skull Tower faded from sight so that no one would be able to seek out the Grand Master. He then imprisoned the five generals in crystal prisons of their own, and scattered these to the corners of the Land in the Middle, where he ensured that they would remain guarded for all generations to come.
What happened to the Nomad after this is another mystery, for he was never seen again. It is conceivable that he died - he was a mortal, after all - but many think that he is still alive, walking amongst the mortals without them knowing, biding his time for when Reniam would need its champion once more.

Deo’iel
Throughout the entire northern continent it is likely that there are no other single group of people that are as widespread, numerous and respected as the famous Order of Deo’iel, the Order of the Brightest Light in the ancestral language of the deigan. The deo’iel were founded in the early 300’eds of the Age of Civilization by the ascended deigan Vilhej the Righteous, a warrior and heroine with a legend of almost mythical proportions. Vilhej was one of the few ascended deigan who chose to follow the way of the warrior, brandishing a sword instead of a staff or a scepter, and venturing out into the world rather than staying in the safety of the deigan cities. Her most famous accomplishment was the legendary battle in the Melenian Ocean, where she - during a voyage to Rodoria back from an adventure in Derisstahn - was assaulted by a colossal abomination from the depths of the sea, yet she managed to drive off the beast and save both the ship and its crew, thus forging a legend that would last millennia.
According to the records of the deo’iel it was soon after this that Vilhej brought together like-minded individuals, and the deo’iel was born. The deo’iel is an organization spanning over several countries in northern Kirirak, known to accept anyone who can defend themselves amongst their ranks - they even offer criminals pardon for their past deeds in return for becoming deo’iel. The purpose of the deo’iel is to hunt down and exterminate any dangerous creatures, thus often getting them involved in terrible battles against fearsome beasts. Since this tends to attract both those eager to gain renown and those with a desire to keep the innocents of the world safe - in addition to great numbers of outlaws running from the law or seeking redemption - the deo’iel have incredibly varied members, spanning across alignments, faiths and beliefs, races and occupations.
Until the mid-1350’ies in the Age of Civilization the deo’iel consisted of six “circles”, with each numbered circle signifying a rank in the order, with one being the lowest and six the highest. After Vilhej the Righteous’ death at this time after her failed attempt at purging the Land of Eternal Night, however, a seventh circle was added to the ranks, the seventh circle signifying the heir of Vilhej’s leadership.
Deo’iel of a rank of fourth circle and below are usually matched in teams of four deo’iel in each, each team lead by a member of the fourth circle. These teams are hand-picked by the seventh circle-member of the order and assembled in groups with the purpose of having them compliment each others’ abilities the best way possible. Members of the fifth circle travel in pairs and handle the more difficult assignments, and the larger the monster that is meant to be slain, the more likely it is that fifth circle deo’iel will be present at the battle. The sixth circle is the elite deo’iel, who work alone or in groups of their own choice. Aside from having full authority over anyone from the fifth circle and below, sixth circle-members choose their own missions, but often resort to just wandering the land randomly and uprooting and destroying any dangers they happen across. The only duty that is forced upon a sixth circle deo’iel is to hunt down and either capture or kill deo’iel deserters. Other than that, they might be called upon to avenge a comrade who failed to vanquish a creature somewhere - but even this is voluntary.

Knighthood of the Will
Although this old Nightwalker-knighthood was officially disbanded nearly a hundred years ago, its reputation persists in common lore, just as rumors of remnants of the knighthood are frequent, although no Knight of the Will has announced its position publicly since the knighthood dispersed.
The main reason for this particular knighthood is so famous is because of how exclusive it was - not just limited to Nightwalkers, but to only the very most skilled of their kind in combat. Every single Knight of the Will is required to train with an existing Knight of the Will before joining the knighthood, submitting to apprenticeship that can last forever, unless the apprentice’s master decides that the apprentice is ready to be promoted to Squire of the Will. After this step, the squire can continue to train with its master for as long as it pleases - for the only way to rise to the rank of Knight of the Will is for the squire to defeat a full knight in a duel that lasts until one of them is incapacitated or surrenders. Any squire can attempt as many duels as they want, but there are very few records of there being more than one duel per squire, as the duels are fought with real weapons. Even squires that survived failing a duel tend to be so discouraged that they abandon the knighthood altogether, and often seek out membership in less exclusive champions of the innocent, such as the deo’iel.
The Knights of the Will are known to follow a codex which values honor, justice and general goodness, and which despises anything that goes against these principles. The knighthood was not very organized - one of the main reasons that it was eventually disbanded, as the knights simply could not cooperate nor respond to the summons of the leadership of the knighthood. Each knight traveled their own path, usually accompanied only by their apprentices and squires. Knights of the Will are known to be less selective on what evils and injustices they decide to stop than the deo‘iel, having no problem with killing monsters nor corrupt and evil civilized creatures. Even so the deo’iel have cooperated with the knights in the past, and occasionally clashed with them as well, only to learn that the lone wandering knights are easily a match for a while team of deo’iel.

Crusader’s Guild
Halfway bandits and halfway cultists, the nefarious Crusader’s Guild is one of the greatest immediate dangers in Rodoria at the moment. The Guild is lead by the immensely powerful high priest Lord Kevalorn the Holy and his second-in-command and tactical- and military advisor, Gibbs Goldheart. Apparently fanatic to the point of insanity, Kevalorn serves Hazzergash, the demonic Lord of Fire, and preaches the demon’s will to his men frequently. Fancying himself a prophet, allegedly having been granted insight in future events by Lord Hazzergash, Kevalorn founded the Guild just a decade ago with the sole purpose of “ridding first Rodoria, then all of Reniam of those with tainted blood” - and by “tainted blood”, he means anyone of any non-human race.
His message of the non-humans being the cause for the destruction of all of Reniam in the future is obviously misguided and a product of madness, yet he - with the help of his brilliant and cunning second-in-command - has managed to gather a host of almost five thousand men and women from all over Rodoria. It is only a small portion of these crusaders that actually care about Lord Hazzergash, however, and there are even fewer that actually believe in Kevalorn’s prophetic visions. What they do believe in is the wealth that the Guild has managed to accumulate by murdering and robbing non-humans, as well as what was abandoned in the old Cave Bear’s Keep where they have their headquarters. Other than the lure of wealth and the thin promise that they would be doing the will of their “god”, many also join the Guild simply for the chance to plunder, rape and murder while being protected from the consequences by an army of comrades.
This the Crusader’s Guild are mainly composed by mercenaries and common brigands, supplemented by a few militiamen that are actually concerned with how the non-humans are supposed to end the world, and a number of priests and clerics sworn to the service of Hazzergash. Elite crusaders are promoted to Goldheart Templars, being assigned directly to Gibbs Goldheart’s command and are - despite lack of faith - granted certain Favored powers from Hazzergash. Despite their hostility towards non-humans, the Guild are known not only to have cavalry riding horses, but also a number of crusaders mounting the fierce beasts known as belagons and, even worse, several men willing to risk riding fearsome wyverns into battle. Between the riders of beasts, the Favored Ones and its substantial numbers, the Crusader’s Guild is extremely dangerous, not only to non-humans, but also anyone else that get in their way.

Claw of Kirirak
Amongst the countless mercenary-guilds in Reniam, the Claw of Kirirak is definitely one of the most feared, respected and well-paid. Named after the Melenian name for the continent, the Claw is unusual by how it is composed solely by Melenians and tarken branded as frehken by their kinsmen. Being a guild of part mercenaries and part bounty hunters, the Claw are known for being notoriously effective and relentless in the fulfillment of their contracts. Many stories tell of them going to extraordinary lengths to claim a bounty - a frequently mentioned one is when a band affiliated with the Claw burned an entire village to the ground to find a fugitive the villagers had been hiding - as well as of them giving their lives to fight for their employers. With the brutal strength and raw prowess of the tarken supported by the quick and agile skill of the Melenians, the Claw of Kirirak is definitely a force to be reckoned with - and one that you do not want to get on the bad side with.

Crimson Dawn
The Crimson Dawn is the cult dedicated to the service and worship of the foul Grand Master and serve as his agents outside of his prison, as he is prevented from acting against Reniam directly by his imprisonment by the Nomad. Clad in uniform blood-red monk-robes, the Crimson Dawn has cells stationed all over Reniam - some small and minor, with as little as just three cultists, others so large that there can be found hundreds of red-clad zealots there, ready and willing to murder anyone standing in their way.
Aside from the customary worship that Favored Ones normally have to do in order to maintain their Favored power, agents of the Crimson Dawn have two specific goals that they have been bestowed by the Grand Master himself. The first is to bargain on behalf of their Lord, at once by selling their own souls to him and by seeking out anyone with a weak will or a strong greed and either persuade or trick these into selling their souls to the Grand Master in order to see their desires fulfilled - or convince these to join the Crimson Dawn themselves, thereby earning the Grand Master both a soul and a servant. The second and most important purpose of the cult is for the agents to do anything within their power - even if it means sacrificing their own lives or the lives of their comrades - to halt or slow the advance of Kreshtaat and his forces.

Death Clan
Originally founded and lead by Kreshtaat himself, the Death Clan is the name never spoken, yet thought by all those that serve Kreshtaat, or those who serve Kreshtaat’s generals, thus serving the Lord of Darkness by extension. Dating back as far as the Age of Darkness, mortals always flocked to Kreshtaat’s side - after all, he was not just a source of fear, wealth and power, as the Grand Master had been, but something infinitely more appealing: a symbol of the ultimate evolution of the greedy and powerful. In its founding-days, the Death Clan was mostly composed of hordes of demons - and it still is - but these are not active in Reniam anymore and are thus not officially considered members of the Death Clan anymore. But even with the banishment of the demons, many of Kreshtaat’s mortal servants remained loyal to him and his course, some by fanatic loyalty, others because of the wish of following in his footsteps and becoming a powerful, immortal entity themselves.
There are many today that consider themselves members of the Death Clan - sadly, most of those are in their adolescence and only give lip service to the demons as a means to rebel against society. Serious adult cultists still exist, however, and these are the ones that are truly dangerous. Moving through the ranks of all other organizations, governments and communities, the agents of the Death Clan spend most of their time hiding in plain sight, cloaking their true ambitions and allegiances with false identities. True agents of the Death Clan are far more dangerous than mere soldiers, as many of them have managed to worm their way to high ranking positions all over Reniam, and when the time is right they use their influence to further Kreshtaat’s quest to return to Reniam.
Several Death Clan agents in black, tight and hooded outfits have been sighted lately - but each time it has proven impossible to apprehend these specialists in stealth, deception and combat. Corresponding deaths of people searching for a cure for the Withering has lead many law-enforcement organizations to believe that the Death Clan are actively trying to prevent the Withering from being cured - a definitely unwanted additional hindrance in an already difficult task.

The Wardens
The Wardens are those that have the dedication to serve and protect religion to become Favored Ones, yet have their faith split between multiple deities and thus cannot become Favored by any of them. Many of these people wondered why it was necessary to submit wholly to one deity, when there were others that demanded one's faith and loyalty in equal measures? How could one honor Liya, the great Spirit of Life, without also owing allegiance to Reina, the Goddess of Mercy? This is at least what the Wardens think. The Wardens are made up by those that wish to serve the immortals in body and soul, but which have failed to gain Favored powers to do so. To compensate for this, they developed the Art of the Warden - a martial-arts type of magic the means of how to use they keep a well-guarded secret, learned through days, weeks and months of meditation and self-searching, thus acquiring the strength to protect their lieges that they were missing.
Serving under the religious leaders throughout Reniam, the Wardens have no true ranks within their order, nor do they have a leader - they are incorporated into the religions they serve, as their protectors, each group of Wardens having been assigned to their own center of spiritual pursuit. The Wardens are divided into three main branches: the white-wearing Peace Wardens, who serve and adore all gods; the black-wearing Chaos Wardens, who are committed to the service of all demons; and finally, the violet-wearing Balance Wardens, whose loyalty is spread past the boundaries of good and evil, and who serve gods, demons and Spirits alike.

Note that not everything here is commonly known in the populace. Mostly only parts of the below information are related as stories and myths, while the Conclusion sections are almost exclusively known to adventurers and those that actually make a living fighting these monsters, or those who have happened to hear an unusually accurate story about them or otherwise have experience with them.

Creatures of Northern Kirirak
The fauna of the northern part of the continent of Kirirak that are usually considered hazardous.

Ore-lizards
Occurrence: Common in underground caves, tunnels and mines. Numbers seem to grow proportionally with the amounts of metals or ores available. Are rarely seen on the surface unless all ore of their home has been exhausted, in which case they venture out from their hiding place in search of metals (usually near civilization) to devour. Unlike what is commonly believed ore-lizards do not actually draw nourishment from the ore they eat, so the presence of moisture and vegetation are also necessary.
Appearance: Has an average length approximately the same as a common house-cat, but as they are reptilian in build and not unlike regular lizards they have short legs and move around on their smooth bellies. They have six legs instead of four, their tails are nearly the length of the remainder of their bodies plus the head, and instead of sets of smaller teeth they have hard toothless jaws. As they eat and synthesize metal or ore, their unique organs purify the metals and use it to slowly form metal scales around their entire bodies, naturally varying in appearance and properties depending on the metal they have eaten. Like dragons, ore-lizards have no known finite lifespan and can live for millennia, and like dragons, ore-lizards never stop growing, meaning that they can grow without limit.
Danger: Ordinary ore-lizards are little more than a nuisance in small numbers, but represent a considerable threat when they infest caves and mines by the hundreds, as they weaken the structure by digging through the walls in search for ores, thus increasing the risks of cave-ins. Older, larger ore-lizards are very dangerous as they tend to have metal-scales thicker than most armor and jaws - meant for chewing on rock and metal - that can easily crush a man.
Conclusion: Regular-sized ore-lizards can be considered vermin, and wherever they are discovered they should either be exterminated or their population should be diminished in order to negate the risk of cave-ins. While these ore-lizards are so frail that they can be killed by whacking them with a shovel, larger ones are to be handled with caution. The eyes are the only weak points in its armor, but targeting these placed one ominously close to the creature’s jaws. Drowning is the best way to eliminate them, as their armor is too heavy for them to swim.

Goblins
Occurrence: Anywhere that they can find prey and some sort of shelter, mostly in forests or caves. Tend to live in tribes that can vary in size from dozens to hundreds, usually lead by an especially big and vicious goblin or some other stronger, more intelligent creature that has earned their leadership. They tend to hoard anything shiny, much like ravens.
Appearance: Average size of three to four feet tall. Have the appearance of small black-skinned humanoids that have loose-seeming scaly hide, with claws on hands and feet, long and sharp chins, stubby noses and disproportionally large ears with shape similar to bat-wings, pointing downwards instead of upwards. The top of their skulls are unusually round, they are bald, and their bodies tend to be thin and scrawny. Their legs are unusually short for their size, they have short, useless lizard-like tails and their eyes are completely black with eyelids that close diagonally instead of horizontally. They have teeth like shards of glass, and despite their deceptive size they are sinewy and strong. Mercifully tend to wear loincloths, the only known sign of intelligence amongst goblins. There has been found no way to tell female and male goblins apart without removing their loincloths.
Danger: Although lone goblins are tremendously stupid and relatively weak, slow and frail, they are only a threat if they catch one by surprise or manage to attach themselves to one’s back, tearing at one with their claws and teeth or beating at one with makeshift weapons or weaponry stolen from more intelligent races. They are significantly more dangerous in large numbers, however, as not only do goblins tend to amass fearsome numbers, but they are simply incapable of feeling fear. They fight out of pure bloodlust, finding violence and bloodshed endlessly amusing, and often fight in a manner that is literally suicidal, with absolutely no regard for their own lives. They will try to overwhelm their prey with their numbers and tear them apart, only to eat it afterwards. They are infamous for - once choosing their victim - never giving up their hunt until either they or their prey is dead. Although they appear to have some kind of primitive language, enabling to communicate with each other, they do not understand Rodorian or any other language used by civilized races.
Conclusion: Goblins are a menace that one should not face alone, but optimally only engage in combat with at least three allies. They are easy to kill when alone, so if possible they should be divided and isolated from one another before initiating battle. One must never allow oneself to be surrounded by a tribe of goblins, or they will eventually wear one down. Wearing heavy armor is advisable. Using destructive magic with a wide area of effect to dispatch several goblins at the time is preferable.

Lohks
Occurrence: Lohks tend to live in caves, and often will male lohks live together with their brothers in groups of two to five, while the females live alone and only seek out groups of male lohks to mate. They live in a wide variety of places and can be found through all of Rodoria and its adjacent countries, but are especially common in rocky areas, often near mountains. Because of lohks aggressive nature and their liking of alcohol, they often raid settlements near their homes, and if everything in said village that even remotely seems like liquor is missing, it is fairly likely that the villains were lohks.
Appearance: Male lohks stand over ten feet tall and have gray skin almost as thick as that of an elephant. They have unreasonably short legs compared to their formidable size, causing them to waggle oddly when they move and make then move slowly compared to their size, though they can still manage a faster sprint than any human-sized being. They are extremely muscular, but have a genetic high probability for obesity, often leaving them with a gut that practically drags across the ground. Their faces seem humanoid, although bestial, and they have pink eyes. They have extremely long white horns mounted on the top of their skull, curving backwards and often reaching past their shoulders on their backs, and large blade-like extremities of a white bone-like material that grow naturally on the back of their arms, giving them a natural weapon. Female lohks bear many of the same features, but have some significant differences. They are markedly larger and burlier than male lohks, and although the females do not have bone-blades on their arms, their hands are big enough to fit the torso of a grown man on their palms. While male lohks only tend to wear loincloths, female lohks like to scavenge furs, pelts and clothes from their victims and tear this apart, only to crudely put them together as a kind of suit that can cover their entire sizable bodies. Their horns are shorter but thicker than male lohks', and point straight forward instead of curving backwards, and just as female lohks like to decorate their bodies, they also like to gather jewelry from their victims and fit this onto their horns.
Danger: All lohks, regardless of gender, possess formidable brute strength and, in addition to the natural blades of the males, they tend to gather up large man-made weapons and otherwise wield clubs or rocks, their pure power making up for their lack of intelligence. Male lohks are relatively easy opponents, although even these are difficult to harm through their thick skin, and even harder to kill, and are capable of landing bone-crushing blows with ease. Females are by far the most dangerous of them, being notably stronger and more durable than the males as well as seemingly possessing more intelligence. When females are among males during mating-season, lohks are far more dangerous than any other time, as the males will often try to impress the female in order to win the right to mate with her, usually by having her witness them perform sadistic acts of cruelty to weaker beings or by looting fine items for her, and if someone invades the lohks home during this time, they throw themselves into a fit of blind rage and fight with even greater ferocity than otherwise.
Conclusion: Lohks are better left alone entirely during mating-season, as they are simply too dangerous and violent during this period to even risk fighting at all. Instead they should be targeted while males and females are separated, when they are relatively docile - at least as docile as their thoroughly aggressive species get - and less sadistic than otherwise. Using ranged weapons against lohks is useless, as one can simply not put enough force behind a projectile to pierce their rock-hard skulls unless one happens to carry around an arbalest, and bolts and arrows simply do not do enough damage aimed at the body to do any more than annoy them. Powerful spells might be able to wound or stun them, but once lohks are enraged enough they will not even let this slow them down. The best way to defeat lohks is by either trying to maneuver so that they accidentally attack each other, or by either aiming at their legs or climbing their bodies, somehow reaching their heads and aiming a strike at their relatively fragile temples.

Trolls
Occurrence: Trolls are quite rare in Rodoria, but common in the southern regions of southern Wegam Fermos and the lands past northern Wegam Fermos to the west. They live mainly in deep forests, where they feel that they can live in peace, and will inhabit caves in these areas when possible. They usually live together in couples of a male and a female, and sometimes their progeny as well, but it is rare to find more than two trolls the same place. Although trolls are quite docile and actually tend to shun away from civilization, they are extremely territorial, and sometimes might venture near settlements to steal livestock.
Appearance: Trolls are huge by all standards, having the appearance of thirty feet tall piles of long dark-brown hair, beneath which these beasts have a build that is somewhat similar to that of an extremely large gorilla, with short legs and long arms which they all use to move around in an ape-like fashion, using their knuckles for support. They have foot-long claws on fingers and toes, sharp and strong enough to shred metal, and massive teeth like swords, and equally capable of severing a person's head with ease. Males and females appear identical because of their long fur, but the males tend to be slightly larger.
Danger: Although trolls are not actually aggressive creatures, they can become extremely dangerous to anyone that settles near their homes and otherwise be a nuisance to farmers, as a troll can easily devour an entire ox, yet be hungry for more the very next day. They possess incredible rock-shattering strength, and their claws are capable of tearing a man in half as an afterthought - so despite their passivity and reluctance to even be around civilized races, except rangers and druids, trolls are - once they have been agitated enough to attack - one of the most dangerous species in all of Reniam.
Conclusion: Fighting trolls is best avoided entirely, as not only are they nearly impossible to defeat, but also harmless as long as they are left alone. Even so events occur when greedy people wants the lumber of the trolls' forests or well-meaning foresters just have to venture into the trolls' domain, and when this happens, deaths are inevitable as trolls will do anything to protect their homes. If one absolutely has to fight a troll - and pray to all gods, demons, Spirits and the Planes that you only have to face them one at a time, and not in pairs - one had better not be alone, and one had better stay at a distance, either trying to light its fur on fire or tire it out enough to manage to get close to its head and deal a killing-blow. Unless one is extremely lucky, and the troll unlucky, chances of besting a troll are slim at best.

Vulgors
Occurrence: Vulgors live exclusively in the northernmost regions of Kirirak and often even on slopes of mountains in these regions - the colder the climate is, the more likely it is that vulgors live there. They will make their home in caves in these regions, living alone with males and females only meeting in the mating-season, and never stray too far from their home. One can tell where a vulgor is very likely to live by looking for large areas where the snow has melted, or deep, sizable footprints melted into icy surfaces. Relimonian merchants have also been known to capture vulgors and transport them to Rodoria, using them to pull larger loads than oxen are capable of while frequently showering them with water in order to keep them cool. When they are not in commission and staying in Relimon, they spend their time swimming in the Melenian Ocean, causing water to evaporate and causing massive fog-banks to appear.
Appearance: Often mistaken for a breed of the draconic race, vulgors are actually mammals, only with completely naked and gnarly skin. The reason for the confusion is that, while vulgors are mammals, they move about on their bellies like lizards, have lizard-like tails and their heads, with a bit of imagination, also look reptilian, although they bear more resemblance with predatory fish, being long, thin and with a giant mouth filled with frighteningly large teeth. Like reptiles, they have no visible ears, but only little holes in their skull. Vulgors are warm-blooded, though – in fact, they are extremely hot inside, and it is this unhealthy body-temperature that forces them to stay in cold regions. They can measure up to forty feet in length and are truly hulking beasts.
Danger: Though no undomesticated vulgors can be found in Rodoria, it occasionally happens that someone - mostly misguided hunters - attack them in the northern frozen regions of northern Wegam Fermos, only to be butchered themselves. Otherwise the only time vulgors can be a danger is if one of the tame ones somehow gets loose and reverts to its feral instincts. Although vulgors are herbivores, their teeth and jaws are large enough to crush a man between them, and while they move quite slowly their paws also have some nasty claws. The main danger of vulgors remains their inner temperature, however, as this makes their breath hot enough to turn steel red-hot and literally cook creatures alive.
Conclusion: While it is rarely necessary to face a vulgor, they are quite easily defeated as long as one stays away from their heads and their extremely hot breath. The main problem is that their size make them quite difficult to mortally wound. It is advisable to assault the region around their necks with bladed weapons and hope that they will bleed to death before they can return the favor.

Wyverns
Occurrence: Although wyverns were once quite common in Rodoria, as they used to infest all of Kirirak with numerous colonies, the efforts of the royal and ducal soldiers, heroic adventurers and the deo'iel has meant that many wyvern nests have been destroyed and the swarms there exterminated. Several swarms remain in Rodoria, though, and countless nests can be found amongst the mountains of northern Wegam Fermos. Wyverns live in mountains, making their home on perches on the cliff sides and in small caves that are too high for earthbound creatures to settle in. Wyvern nests can usually be found by the sheer amount of carcasses scattered about their domain. A swarm of wyverns typically consist of twenty to a hundred wyverns.
Appearance: Having an average size of twenty feet from snout to the tip of their tails, wyverns have a distinct insatiable ravenous bloodthirst in their orange, reptilian eyes, their vertical pupils seemingly always narrow slits with hatred for everything around them. Their snouts are long and pointed like beaks, but filled with small, sharp predator-teeth and with their long, green tongues always playing and always dripping with the deadly toxin they produced in such abundance that it run in a steady flow from their jaw at all times. A row of long spines extend along the middle of their backs, and their bodies are long, thin and frail-looking, but are in fact filled with such tense muscle-growth that one would have to struggle to get a blade into vital areas of their bodies, even if one should get through their tough green hide. They have no front-legs, but instead have a pair of wings with a span close to thirty feet that can propel them to amazing speeds, making them one of the fastest creatures in Reniam, second only to the alacrity of the scarce white dragons. Their hind-legs are long and powerful, and on each foot they wear flesh-shredding talons that are meant to be able to grip and lift any unfortunate creature these ferocious hunters target. Even their tails are deadly, with the growth of spines continuing down along the slender shape of the flexible extremity, and with a single whip, they can probably tear a man in half.
Danger: Wyverns are by many considered the perfect hunters, and in the days when they existed in Rodoria by the thousands there were no greater danger to any living thing, man or beast. Their numbers and ability to fly and move with nearly unsurpassed speed and agility make them virtually impossible to outmaneuver, but moreover they are capable of exhaling clouds of deadly toxin, and they talons and teeth are quite lethal. Furthermore, wyverns have orange acidic blood that can disintegrate nearly anything in a matter of seconds, with the exception of the extremely durable metals ghiril and Sartal. It has actually been decreed that wyverns are best exterminated as quickly as possible, as their ravenous hunger and large population make them a fearsome menace to all other creatures, attacking everything near their nests indiscriminately.
Conclusion: Wyverns are definitely best faced with some means of ranged attack, either magic or a ranged weapon, since getting near them not only runs the risk of inhaling their potent venom, but also means that one will with all likelihood be sprayed with their blood when they are wounded and consequently melt and die. One should only ever even attempt melee combat against wyverns if one is armed with both a shield and a weapon made from either ghiril or Sartal. It is best to face wyverns in groups, obviously, since wyverns always travel in swarms, and try to kill them quickly, lest the beasts swoop down over one and kill one with their breath, talons and blood.

Dragons
Occurrence: Dragons are vastly individual beings, like any other intelligent race - and dragons actually happen to be amongst the most intelligent and civilized beings in Reniam. They like to stay in the occasional scarce cave that is large enough to hold their enormous forms, in forests and generally stay away from populated areas. They only gather together in larger numbers when a White is born, where they protect and serve these rare wonders, but can otherwise live together in small numbers as they please. Although there once existed many dragons throughout Kirirak, including in Rodoria, and that the dragons were one of the most powerful races in all of Reniam, dragon hunters from the late Barbaric Age and early Age of Civilization - when there was both a widespread fear for them and a lack of understanding of the fact that not all dragons are cruel murderers, as well as a high demand of dragon-hides, scales, claws and teeth - have changed this, as they have hunted down and slain most of these majestic creatures. Today dragons are exceedingly rare, with only a dozen or so living by themselves scattered over Rodoria and Wegam Fermos, and with merely a couple of colonies left, where their numbers have dwindled to less than thirty. Precautious from the long onslaught lead against their kind, as even today dragon hunters remain, dragons tend to hide their presence and strive to conceal their lairs the best they can.
While green, red and white dragons all remain in the western lands, the final, separate breed of dragons - the Blacks - retreated to the east after the Age of Darkness, and supposedly settled past the Desert of Desperation. They have never been seen since.
Appearance: Dragons come in four different kinds, of which the three - Greens, Reds and Whites - share the same bloodline and are of the entirely same species, while the Blacks are a different race altogether. Greens and Reds are the most common of normal dragons, with them being different although they are the same species, and their appearance having nothing to do with their blood. For instance, a Green and a Red can mate and have progeny just as well as two dragons of the same color, and two Greens can easily have Red hatchlings. Whites are the offspring of the Reds and Greens, but are sterile themselves. Whites are also the rarest breed of dragons, yielding from less than one out of a hundred eggs. All dragons share some features that define their race as a whole. They all have smooth scales on their hide, which harden and become shinier with age until they look like a suit of glittering gemstone. They have four legs, of which they can rise to their hind-legs and use their front-paws as hands when necessary, complete with fingers and thumbs. Each toe and finger is clad with massive claws, and they all wear a set of grand leathery wings on their backs and have long and slender, almost serpentine necks, ending in a grand reptilian head. They have two sets of horns on their heads, one placed above the other, of which the top set curves slightly upwards and the bottom set curves downward, and a fifth single, smaller horn placed on their snout, just before the nostrils, and their faces are capable of showing emotion through expressions that remind surprisingly of humanoid facial expressions. Their size varies, not only between breeds but also with age, as dragons seemingly have no finite lifespan, but rather live for millennia - during which they never stop growing, but only become larger and more powerful.
From there on the similarities end. The red dragons - or Reds for short - are the largest of the normal breeds of dragons, reaching the length of fifty feet from snout to the tip of its tail when it reaches maturity. As the name suggests, Reds have bright-red hides and wings. Greens are the second largest, at a size of about thirty-five feet at maturity, and have green scales. Whites are finally the smallest of all dragons, barely reaching fifteen feet before maturity - and furthermore, Whites, unlike their brethren, stop growing once they mature, remaining smallest regardless of their age. As the name suggest, their scales are white as snow. The separate race of the Blacks are the largest and most powerful of all dragons, being eighty feet long at maturity and having scales like obsidian.
Danger: Although we know today that many dragons are wise, peaceful and friendly beings that would not care to harm others except to catch a few animals once in a while to eat, there are still dragons that are violent, either because they want to raid and pillage settlements to gather wealth for their treasure-hoards or because they hate the civilized races, because of their past persecution or other reasons. All breeds of dragons can be counted the most dangerous opponent anyone could ever face, short of a deity, and each is capable of breathing fire, wielding awesome magical power, has incredible physical prowess, can fly and has nearly impenetrable scales that can be harder than any compound of steel. Reds are the most physically powerful of the normal dragons and has the most devastating breath, as well as they tend to be easier to anger and have a stronger urge to hoard treasure than their brethren. Greens are the most powerful wielders of magic of the normal dragons, capable of summoning magical power that can match that of even the best amongst the short-lived races, but they tend to be more peaceful than the Reds and rely more on diplomacy than force. Whites are the weakest of the normal dragons, both concerning physical strength and breath, but have slightly stronger magical powers than Reds, although not at the level of Greens, and are the fastest flyers in all of Reniam. Finally, Blacks are more powerful than normal dragons in nearly every way, with superior physical might, breath and magic, and being the third-fastest flyers in Reniam, inferior only to wyverns and Whites. Blacks also seem inherently cruel, sadistic, greedy and violent, and are without comparison the most dangerous of all species of mortals. However, since Blacks no longer live in the western world, they are a threat that has been all but forgotten and which can be mostly ignored.
Conclusion: Dragons should only be faced if they are the kind that are violent and vicious towards lesser races, and even so they should be fought with extreme care and only when they are greatly outnumbered - even the specialized dragon hunters always face dragons in bands of hundreds, and always count on losing most of their comrades just to bring down a single dragon. There are no tactics that can be used against dragons - they are powerful in every way, fast and extremely intelligent, and can have the advantage of millennia of experience. One simply has to keep attacking and dodging and hope that one manage to hit the dragon hard enough to cripple or kill it. It is not known at all if it is even possible to kill Blacks, but luckily their absence means that doing so is not necessary, either.

Belagons
Occurrence: Live almost exclusively in Jevog Denûm, especially in the northern regions near the Boiling Sea. Are also found on various islands off the coast, even in the Melenian Ocean. Cases have been seen where belagons have been captured and kept near civilization, where they are fed with raw, preferably partially rotten meat. Attempts at domesticating have all failed, but if someone manages to mount a belagon, it seems to obey its rider, only to revert back to its bestial instincts the second that rider is removed.
Appearance: Belagons' torsos are built in almost exactly the same way as those of horses, with strong chests with fierce organs residing within and the ribs clearly marked against their black, seemingly bald skin. They also have four legs, like horses, only instead of the graceful extremities of the ordinary horses, these are not straight and equally long. The front legs, fit on shoulders that are far too wide for a horse, are significantly longer than the hind ones, and thicker and more muscular as well, which make the entire creatures' back curve downwards, requiring a special saddle for any who would wish to ride them and not to simply fall off. Instead of hooves, these beasts also have wolf-like paws with short, but lethal claws that can tear a man to shreds. Their tails are bald as well, and measure nearly half the length of the monsters' bodies, and are slim and constantly whipping about in rage. Their heads are like those of a large dogs, with teeth that are always bared in what seem like a furious snarl and often drip with yellow froth. They have small, soulless eyes, and are nearly twice as large as an average horse.
Danger: Belagons are extremely aggressive and physically powerful, but lack intelligence, so while they have significant destructive tendencies they are relatively unchallenging for an experienced monster-hunter. They are ravenous and relentless, however, and whenever belagons are found near populated areas it is highly recommended that they are promptly exterminated.
Conclusion: The best way to kill belagons is from a distance, as while they are capable of charging with great speed and force, they need time to build up this speed because of their heavy bodies. In close quarters, it is best to keep moving when facing a belagon, as one should always stay away from the front-legs, head, hind-legs and tail, as any of these can be considered dangerous. One should try to flank them and aim attacks for the base of their ribs and their spine. Optimally, a melee fighter should try to mount the beast, completely removing oneself from the range of its attacks and being in a perfect position to slay it quickly.

Chinoids
Occurrence: Chinoids live exclusively in the Desert of Desperation, where they burrow in the sand to protect themselves from the merciless sun, and only come out at night to seek out water and feed on unsuspecting creatures that foolishly wander into their territory.
Appearance: Chinoids are monstrous insects with a hind body built much like a centipedes, a front body that is round and heavily armored like a crab, and long front-extremities with scorpion-like pinchers on them. Normally, insects are too little of a threat to be mentioned here, but since chinoids can grow to be thirty feet long, they were deemed hazardous enough to at least be mentioned. Numerous foot-long poisonous spines protrude from their centipede-like hind-body, and they have no less than ten round black eyes on stalks.
Danger: Chinoids are only dangerous to someone stupid enough to enter the Desert of Desperation, in turn they are truly dangerous to these fools indeed. Aside from each of their many spines containing deadly venom, its pinchers are also capable of cutting through bone and steel and can easily squeeze a man in half. They are capable of burrowing and surfacing rapidly, going through the process in less than twenty seconds despite their enormous size, and they can move with great speed thanks to their many legs. Although chinoids can go without food or water for months at the time, they never let a chance to feed pass and will inevitably devour anyone they notice. With their front-body protected by nearly impenetrable exoskeleton and their hind-body by its poisonous spikes, chinoids are virtually impossible to kill.
Conclusion: The best thing to do if one encounters a chinoid is to try to distract it somehow, and then flee as quickly as one can before it starts hunting. If a battle cannot be avoided, it is best to try to remove as many of the chinoid's eyes as possible, although it is likely that not many can be cut off before the chinoid retract all of the stalks into its head, thus protecting its remaining eyes. The only relatively vulnerable spots on a chinoid is a tiny area in the transition between front- and hind-body, where neither armor nor spines protect its soft tissue, and its belly, which is unprotected.

Yths
Occurrence: Though yths originally only inhabited the regions in the southernmost of the current provinces of the Catolohne Empire, the sharp increase in trade between countries - especially after the Catolohne took over the area - has sadly lead to yths being spread over the entire northern Kirirak and have even managed to get themselves shipped across the Melenian Ocean to infest Melenaoth. Adult yths tend to live in communities of five or more individuals, having a preference for dark places like caves, cellars or, quite unfortunately, storage areas, finding artificial constructions more to their liking than natural caves, and thus have largely migrated from their natural habitats to infest populated areas, where they hide themselves and only emerge to hunt. They can only rarely be found in the wilderness anymore, but have proven a growing problem all over the civilized world as it seems neigh impossible to contain yth-infestation and prevent them from spreading. The yth-population in any given nesting area is usually determined by the amount of space available to them, with every eight cubic feet or so of available space increasing the default size of yths in the colony by one.
Appearance: Yths hatch from tiny orange spherical eggs with a partially translucent shell, and the hatchlings appear to be little three inch long worms or snakes, thinner than a human's pinky and lime-colored. However, these seemingly harmless little worms go through stages in which they increase in size rapidly, growing one pair of front-legs without toes and with a single humanlike elbow-joint when they are about ten inches long, located about one fifth of the yth's body-length from the head. When they are twenty inches long, their front-legs will start to grow three fingers on each leg, each consisting of two joints and adorned with small curved talons. At this stage they also grow a second pair of front-legs, still toeless, and start to develop soft, useless snakelike fangs. When they are around thirty inches long their second pair of legs gains fingers the same as the first pair, and a third pair of legs grow from its body behind the previous two pairs. It will also start to grow scales on its previously soft and unprotected body, changing its color to mint-green. At this point it also develops its visual sensory organs and opens its ice-blue eyes for the first time. When around forty inches long an yth reaches adolescence, signified by its third pair of legs growing fingers, its talons, fangs and scales hardening, and the production of a highly potent paralytic venom beginning within itself, enabling it to hunt on its own. A fully grown yth can be as much as five foot long from head to the tip of its tail and with a ten inch width at its thickest, with each of its three pairs of legs (which are used as arms as often than legs, with it maintaining the ability to slither as a serpent) typically being around three feet long and easily as thick and powerful as average human arms. Their talons will have grown to about five inches in length and become sharp as daggers, and their fangs will be seven inches long and dripping with venom. Their scales are very large (around the size of the palm of the average human hand) and tough as leather. Their tongues are pointed and pink, and their mouths are very snakelike and large enough to fit a man's head between their jaws. Rather than hiss as one would expect a snake to, though, yths tend to either maintain complete silence at all times or, in the rare event that they actually make noise, emit something that sounds more like a guttural growl than anything else.
Danger: Although yths tend to hold a much lower profile and to be far less ravenous and disruptive, the deo'iel consider them to be perhaps the second greatest monster-threat against the civilized races of Reniam after wyverns. Yths are dangerous creatures to fight, being capable of dealing debilitating and lethal lacerations with their hooked talons and otherwise strike with their arms with strength similar to that of the average human, and with their greatest weapon being their venom - which can terminate all muscle-control of most races in little more than ten seconds, with tarken being able to last maybe five seconds longer and penin being the most resistant, capable of lasting forty seconds at most before succumbing. These weapons, combined with the potential size of yth-colonies, make them daunting foes to face. But this is not the true threat, for while yths are dangerous, they are little challenge to an experienced deo'iel. What makes them so dangerous is not their strength in combat, but their behavior.
Female yths start to lay eggs from the moment they reach adolescence, which are then inseminated by whichever adolescent male yth gets to them first, but if the population of yths in the given nesting area has already reached the highest acceptable density, the eggs will not hatch but simply lie dormant for as long as five months, at which point the fetuses in the eggs will die rather than overpopulate the nesting area. Yths will not usually attack creatures larger than themselves (penin beware) but rather hide from them as long as there are other sources of sustenance available to them, and as yths are about as omnivorous as they could get, being able to live off of virtually any organic material, be that resident vermin or pets, stored food, leather, paper or even wood. Consequently, yth-colonies can exist for many months or even years without ever being discovered if enough nutrition is available to them, and during this time they will continuously lay eggs, preferring to store these eggs in small cracks and fissures (especially those between wooden boards or between sheets of papers, with book-pages making for a perfect place to store eggs). This means that the oblivious owner of the house yths reside in might unwittingly enter their basement, not seeing the grown yths hiding from the potential threat of a larger predator, and remove objects from there in which the tiny, barely noticeable eggs are hidden. It is thus that yths were spread across Kirirak in the first place, as many traders shipping wares north unknowingly also transported yth-eggs, which lie dormant until they are left in a dark, quiet area. Only when at a suitable nesting ground do these eggs hatch, and a new yth-colony is quickly founded.
While full-grown yths might opt to swallow small animals and organic objects whole, their kind are incapable of immediately consuming anything larger than their mouths, as they lack the ability to stretch their jaws usually found in snakes and have no teeth aside from their fangs, meaning that they cannot chew. In order to consume things larger than their mouths, yths are capable of adjusting their saliva-production at will, coating their tongues in it and then darting out to smear it onto whatever they want to eat. Also unlike venomous snakes, yths have two separate sets of glands for their venom and their saliva, allowing them to produce two different substances. While their saliva is not paralytic, then, it is unusual in that it is much more effective at breaking down organic matter than human saliva. When an object (or creature) is smeared with yth-saliva it will continuously dissolve this matter, practically digesting it before they have even swallowed it yet, allowing yths to consume it once it has become semi-fluid and easily separable from the larger organism and quickly and easily absorb the needed nutrients in it.
Yths only ever attack prey larger than themselves if they have spent all the nutrition available in their nesting ground, at which point they will prefer to attack only one target at the time, using their venom to paralyze this while keeping it alive for as long as they can, only slowly and gradually consuming their prey bit by bit, making it sustain them for as long as possible. If food is extremely scarce, yths may even opt to leave their nesting grounds to hunt and bring back prey, though they only ever leave at night, as their eyes are sensitive to light and they are much more visible. Not only does this make it all the harder to even realize that there is an yth-infestation anywhere, let alone where this is, but it also allows yths to spread further, finding new nesting grounds while out on hunts, allowing their numbers to multiply.
Yths are also very difficult to exterminate, seeing as one has to destroy every single egg in a colony to wipe them out. If one fails to do this, the until-then dormant eggs will hatch once the situation calls for it, and the hatchlings will then reach adolescence (and forty inches in length) within merely two weeks, and adulthood after three, meaning that even if all yths in a colony are killed, the colony might be restored in just a couple of months if even a few eggs were overlooked.
Conclusion: If it had not been so wholly unlikely that such a thing could ever be accomplished, it would be preferable to completely exterminate yths as a species due to how massive a threat they pose to the civilian population of the world. Seeing as it is likely impossible to manage to find and destroy all yth-colonies in the world, with all the places they could be hidden, though, it seems that the most we can hope for is to discover yth-colonies wherever they might surface and dispatch them as quickly as possible, before they can become a serious threat and spread the infestation further. Anywhere found to be inhabited by yths is recommended to have its entire inventory burned to ashes and have the area sealed, preventing resurrection of the colony and spread. Caution is advised while fighting yths, especially in regards to their venom, as yths strike and bite with quickness and precision comparable to that of vipers. Although their six legs, which can all be used for debilitating and lethal attacks, are dangerous, they are of secondary concern, especially since it has been observed that yths are incapable of moving in any other way than short leaps once it has risen to use its legs as arms. Destruction of their habitat is preferable to confrontation.

Dekkun (Property of Shienvien)
Occurrence: Common dekkun typically frequent areas with warmer climate, and therefore are seldom encountered in the northernmost parts of Kirirak. They are however also used as mounts, and as such might sometimes travel as far as up to the grounds of Rodoria, even reaching the coast of the Melenian Ocean.
Other than the average temperature, common dekkun seem to have little preference over the region they pick for living as long as they can find enough food to sustain themselves - they equally inhabit jungles and areas of sparse foliage, flatlands and mountainous areas. They however tend to avoid soft terrain, such as swamps.
It seems that rather than being territorial, each individual is wont to move from region to region, gradually covering significant distances. They are usually solitary or move in small groups of up to five dekkun, but occasionally - supposedly during the mating-season, which doesn't seem to follow any identifiable pattern - form temporary loose packs of up to over a hundred seemingly completely random dekkun.
[Other species of dekkun can typically not be found in the area of Kirirak limited by the Desert of Desperation, Malith Jungles and Yawning Gorge, and thus are of little relevance to the people inhabiting the region. There have been claims of sightings of larger but sleeker dark-colored dekkun-like creatures near the Malith Jungles, and of creatures somewhat akin to either abnormally huge or unusually small common dekkun in the areas adjacent to the Yawning Gorge, but those are few and far between.]
Appearance: Dekkun are large quadruped mammals who stand from six to quite impressive eight and a half feet tall at withers, and measure a bit over thrice that from snout to the tip of the tail, with the tail making up about a third of their full body-length. They appear agile despite their respectable size, with their bodies being elongated and, though strongly built and muscled, remarkably flexible.
Their long tails are sleek, almost perpetually held high and horizontal to the ground, and shaped slightly like those of some lizards; their heads in return are very mildly reminiscent to those of horses' in shape, but with longer, mildly beak-tipped snouts and strong jaws filled with distinctively predatory teeth effortlessly capable of crushing bones. Where the ears would be positioned on a horse's head are actually two short, smooth, backwards-extending horns; their actual ears are mostly invisible against their maned necks. They also have small and almost unnervingly intelligent deep-set eyes.
Dekkuns' legs (and respectable shoulders and hips) structurally most closely resemble those of large cats. Instead of having paws, they however have long, thick fingers and toes covered in hard, resilient plating, and usually walk on the backs of their middle phalanxes - something which might on the first look leave the false impression of them being hoofed. This setting however also permits them to stretch their digits forward and use the length of those combined with the sharp, mildly curving claws they possess to climb impossibly steep cliffs and even trees, given that the latter are sturdy enough to support a dekkun's massive weight. Furthermore, their well-developed strong-clawed digits make very effective tools for tearing stuff (or beings) apart and digging, as well as give them some ability to hold things in hand, though the lack of proper opposable thumbs makes dekkuns' feet unsuitable for more complex tasks.
On rear feet, all five digits are used for walking, however on the front legs, only the three middle ones have the purpose. The outer digit of each of dekkuns' front legs has turned into a slightly curving, up to two feet long extendable blade, which is usually flipped back against the lower foreleg, and the inner one - the equivalent of thumb on human hand - has turned into a rigid downwards-curving spike hosting very strong, paralyzing chemical.
Their bodies are covered in hard plate-like formations deriving from fur on the face and lower limbs, whereas on the rest of their bodies those formations become longer and start to overlap, with the back end of each 'plate' splitting into many softer and more flexible strands forming a quite functional fur-coat atop of the protective plating. On the neck, this topmost layer of fur becomes especially long and extensive, giving common dekkun almost lionlike manes. At the very tips of their tails, the plates often do not fully split into fur, but retain some of their rigidity.
Dekkuns' coloration varies greatly, with those found in areas of dense foliage being generally smaller and brighter-colored (patterns of green, dark red and dark blue) and those of plains being more massive and duller in color (patterns of dull yellow or light green, brown and blueish gray).
Danger: Despite their distinctively predatory build and stalking manner of moving, common dekkun are omnivores rather than pure carnivores. Their relatively long history of living side-by-side with humanoids and the practically inevitable frequent mingling of mount-dekkuns and wild dekkun have furthermore ensured that most of them never attack humanoids unless extensively provoked or very desperate to catch any prey. While they are too intelligent to be properly tamed and often only properly obey a single rider of their own choosing, they can typically be considered fairly harmless outside of being ordered to attack by the rider. (Particularly annoyed dekkuns might very gently bite or otherwise punish the offender, though, and they have excellent memory in case they do not immediately get the opportunity. "Gently" in this case meaning heavy bruises and a bit of drawn blood - which is a small thing compared to getting a limb - or worse, head - simply bitten off.)
When a fully grown dekkun is sighted in the wild it is however advisable to stay away from it, since a hungrier individual might not always hesitate to target a particularly unfortunate intelligent being. In addition to that there are known cases of dekkun starting to actively seek out cattle and other domesticated herd-animals as fairly easy prey, and on some very rare occasions even specifically picking out unarmed and/or solitary humanoids or outright turning against the smaller intelligent races, methodically slaughtering them and destroying their settlements where they spot an opportunity.
When one is in danger of being assaulted by a dekkun and isn't overly prepared for such confrontation, the best scenario would be getting out of its way, either by hiding or fleeing - normal, hunting dekkun are not very persistent even if they technically could catch their prey with some extra effort. A good horse might be capable of leaving a dekkun behind on flat terrain; on more complex terrain or in dense foliage, however, a healthy dekkun will almost always be able to outrun any horse.
If there is no way of removing oneself of the situation or the dekkun is enraged enough to keep trying to reach its victim whatever the cost, then one has to consider their bone-crushing jaws which make biting someone's arm off an easy task, their amazing maneuverability and ability to make mighty leaps, their adeptness at climbing over or breaking through obstacles, their relative intelligence, the natural 'armor' covering their bodies, their tail, which can easily fling a person down with enough force behind the hit to break multiple ribs, and finally all of their four legs with the sharp claws, the blades on the forelegs and especially the two paralyzing-poisonous spikes.
Conclusion: Usually it is not necessary to fight dekkuns outside of when they are used as war-mounts; the only times other than that are those rare occasions where a dekkun has started to specifically target domesticated animals or the members of intelligent races. Hunting them for any other reason is strongly discouraged - mainly because it has been speculated that the majority of the cases where dekkun have methodically started to kill humanoids for other than acquiring food have been due to nothing else but insatiable animalistic vengeance, usually rising from a blotched attempt at killing the creature. On those occasions, dekkun are furthermore known to stray from their common pattern of not tracking their prey for longer periods, and can keep following and waiting for the right opportunity to assault for days, weeks, or even months and years. Given their relative intelligence (while dekkuns are no match for humanoids in abstract thinking, they are well capable of simpler tactical problem-solving, and plenty of dekkun are capable of recognizing common weapons and detecting when they are aimed at or targeted), physical might and comparatively long lifespans which can near two centuries, a single unstopped rogue dekkun can end up causing significant harm over time.
If one has to fight a dekkun, there are few preferred methods outside of the generic advice to first limit the targeted dekkun's ability to move about freely - their mobility is one of their greatest strengths. This can either be achieved by tangling or trapping the creature in something which cannot be immediately torn apart by the animal's strength or bitten through or slipped out of, or by managing to cripplingly hit the wrist-, elbow-, knee- and ankle-areas or the creature's limbs - the users of bladed weapons should furthermore try to pick the side from which each joint is little protected by the plating -, or by - if mages are present - using stunning, weakening and disorientating spells.
One has to keep in mind that dekkun have natural armor beneath their fur, which is bound to deflect or at least weaken many forms of attack - such as common arrows and bolts are bound to do only marginal damage and contribute little to quickly bringing a dekkun down, meaning that those should only be used when a position which the animal cannot breach can be assumed and the ammunition is abundant. Since dekkun are good at tearing things down, leaping and climbing, higher places are usually not safe, and all but the sturdiest of wooden and loose barricades will be quickly torn down. Poisoned arrows or bolts would be a wiser choice, provided that the toxin used is fast-working and potent enough for a generally resistant creature of this size.
The weakest place on a dekkun's body is the underside of its lower jaw, above the mane-covered throat, but since dekkun generally hold their heads with snouts tilted downwards, accessing this area is highly compromised. A meleé-fighter can still try targeting it, but any maneuver which sets one close enough to reach it will also position the one in the absolutely worst possible place where one can be in relation to an attacking dekkun.
Especially being stabbed by the poisonous thumb-spikes is to be avoided at all costs, since even when the poison itself doesn't kill, it would render even an enraged tarke completely paralyzed and utterly helpless in less than a handful of seconds. The chemical's effect will slowly start to wane after two or three hours, before which usually little can be done for the victim aside of arranging them in a more comfortable position and making sure that they can breathe freely. It is perhaps also worth noting that while the toxin completely removes all control of muscles from the responsive mind so that the victim appears to be in deep coma, it does actually not dim one's consciousness or block off one's senses, meaning that the victim often retains full awareness through the experience.

Liches
Occurrence: It would be to oversimplify things to categorize liches as just another undead creature, yet one can say that they are not entirely alive and are irrefutably tied to necromancy. A lich is formed through a secret and forbidden ritual of transformation, of which the only ones currently alive that know the method of are the Black Tribunal. The basics of the transformation are that the most powerful necromancer that has ever lived, Delian Gilmah, came to realize that mortality is not tied to the soul - which lives on in an afterlife even after the body perish - but can be blamed on the fragility of the mortal vessels. She personally developed the ritual so that it transferred all of the necromancer’s magical energy - down to the last, most rooted shreds of the soul - into something else, thus moving the anchor for one’s existence to another vessel - a phylactery. Objects of precious metals or other materials that do not deteriorate over time are most commonly chosen for the phylactery since these tend to last longer, though some choose by practicality, and some are even known to transfer their souls to living creatures, although this rather defeats the purpose of the ritual. Supposedly the ritual can be performed repeatedly if the need arises, moving the lich’s soul from one object to another to ensure its survival. A lich’s skill in necromancy, and often either elemental or arcane magic as well, should always be presumed to be far superior to that of any other magus as the ritual is doomed to fail without the appropriate talent and experience. This is because, as is commonly known, the body dies without magical energy, and thus the lich’s body dies with the transfer. The lich is only capable of acting in its unlife through necromancy. A lich’s instinctive ability to move its own body is rendered useless, and it must consciously move itself through necromancy alone.
Appearance: A lich is only truly tied to its phylactery, which can be practically anything that is not alive, or which at least is not an intelligent kind of life. When existing solely as a phylactery, however, the being is not considered a lich. It is only considered a lich when it possesses another body as an extension of its phylactery, most frequently a dead body, preferably a skeleton to avoid experiencing their vessel rot. Many necromancers choose to use their own mortal bodies as their vessels for purely sentimental and romantic reasons, although this usually means having them go through the entire process of seeing - and feeling - their own flesh decaying, until all that remains are their bones - something which is supposedly both extremely and constantly painful and which puts substantial mental strain on them, inflicting many liches with madness. In any case, the only constant in a lich’s appearance is that it has a dead body, and that its eye sockets are lit by a couple of glowing spheres in the color of embers.
Danger: Liches are just about the most dangerous opponent someone might face, aside from demonspawn with remarkably destructive innate abilities and greater true immortals. On top of almost assuredly possessing incredible magical powers, the very purpose of lichdom is to ascend to pseudo-immortality. Once a lich’s body is reduced to bones it has no nerves and cannot feel anything, including pain, and on top of that it cannot be killed no matter how many bones are broken - in fact, as long as their phylactery remains intact they can possess a different dead host body, even if their former vessel is completely destroyed.
Conclusion: Liches are extremely dangerous opponents to face, yet even more dangerous opponents not to face, as they are likely capable of raising an army of undead at their command if left alone. It is best not to allow a lich respite, to leave it no time to cast spells or analyze the situation, but advisable to close in and face it in melee combat as quickly and efficiently as possible. The only way to effectively identify its phylactery is by methodically removing items and ornaments from its body one by one, as the one that causes the lich’s vessel to become inanimate with its removal is most likely the phylactery. The only way to permanently kill a lich is to destroy the phylactery, removing the anchor of its soul to this world and forcing it to pass on to an afterlife.

Ghosts
Occurrence: Contrary of popular myths, ghosts seldom appear in cemeteries unless they have a specific reason to haunt there. Otherwise ghosts appear where the souls of the deceased are kept in Reniam by bonds of hatred, love or desire that are powerful enough to transcend death itself. The places they haunt can be tied to locations, objects, people or even be invoked by the intention of doing a certain thing, all which are usually connected to the person the ghost was in life. Alternately they can be formed of residue magical energy after a person’s death through necromancy.
Appearance: Ghosts are incorporeal and technically have no fixed appearance, yet tend to assume certain appearances according to their mood. Ghosts that are calm tend to manifest as partially translucent versions of their living selves, either clad in ghostly replicas of their favorite clothes, the clothes they wore when they died, or no clothes at all. When agitated by rage or madness, however, ghosts’ form change into terrifying, twisted apparitions that are not translucent at all, but resemble floating skeletal beings, usually clad in white or gray rags, with black eyes and mouths wide open, often screaming in mindless fury. When they are dormant - namely when the reason they haunt Reniam does not call upon them - ghosts disperse their magical energy, losing visible form and can only be sensed by a chilling fear with no apparent reason.
Danger: Left alone, ghosts are usually only dangerous to those that were tied to them in their life or resemble those that were, and otherwise only attack threats to its own continued existence. Since they are ethereal, they cannot be hurt by conventional weapons, despite of them being quite capable of hurting the living, both by inflicting physical injuries and touching them with their deadly chill presence, which can both stun and paralyze areas they touch. Only pure iron and common salt can cause ghosts to temporarily disperse, forcing them to reassemble their magical energy before they can manifest again. Magic also seems effective against them. The only way to permanently destroy them is either through magic or by destroying the object their soul to Reniam.
Conclusion: Unless one is a mage, or preferably even a necromancer so that one can use necromancy to destroy them, facing a ghost in battle is highly inadvisable, since their form automatically gives them the advantage. Rather than face a ghost, it is better to try to discover the reason it haunts Reniam and remove that reason while using iron and salt to prevent it from killing oneself. The object of haunting is best burned completely to ash, so that there is nothing left for the ghost to haunt, hopefully granting it peace. If no object can be found, ghosts are best left avoided until a specialist arrives. If the ghost is the minion of a necromancer, dispersing it once should suffice as it will not reshape. Defeating the necromancer will also cause the ghost to disappear.

Specters
Occurrence: Specters only occur when someone - most frequently as a result of reckless use of magic - have their soul drained of all its strength, killing the body while leaving the soul too weak to pass to an afterlife.
Appearance: Specters are almost identical to common ghosts in their enraged form, except that their resentment over their inability to escape from their horrible undeath seem to color their rags black rather than gray or white. Unlike ghosts they never relax, however, and never become dormant - they are always visible and filled with rage and bloodlust.
Danger: Specters are significantly greater threats than ghosts in that they do not care who they torment as long as they can cause those around them suffering and misery. “Young” specters that retain some of their sanity tend to be relatively docile, preferring to hide from sight rather than face their victims in person and torture them more subtly, either by simply allowing others to feel their numbing presence or by moving or breaking objects to annoy and frighten others. “Older” specters lose themselves completely to madness and attack anyone and anything, thus making themselves easier to locate and identify than ghosts but also means that they are a danger to everyone. They are not bound to any single place or object, and can only be destroyed with magic or by striking them with salt or iron enough times that their magical energy weakens too much for it to manifest anymore, in which case it “dies” a second time, passing on to an afterlife. Also, since many specters were magi in life, many of them retain some of their magical abilities and recall some spells - these spells frequently the ones they used that resulted in their unfortunate condition.
Conclusion: Specters require a less specific means to defeat than ghosts, yet they are no easier to fight and are far more urgent to defeat than them. Unless one is a magus, or optimally a necromancer, one had better prepare for a prolonged battle before facing a specter, as they will need to be dispersed by iron or salt several times before they disappear permanently.

True Undead
Occurrence: Undead rarely occur on their own, as this would require the occurrence of a ghost or specter with an almost fanatically strong bond to a dead mortal body, in which case this ghost or specter would possess this body - be it their own or someone else's - and use it for their own designs, behaving much like ghosts or specters usually would. More commonly undead occur when a necromancer seizes the lingering soul of a deceased and forcibly shove this soul into a dead corpse, with the same end result albeit the state is in this case reached against the will of the deceased.
Appearance: Like that of whatever corpse has been animated, which obviously can have a very great range of appearances depending on the individuals appearance in life, its state of decomposition and possible damaged parts that might have played a part in its death, and (especially) what race or even species it belonged to before dying. The soul inhabiting the body has little influence on the appearance of the body, and so telling a true undead apart from an animated corpse can be very difficult.
Danger: Unlike animated corpses, undead are dangerous not only because of their tenacity, but because they actually have minds of their own and are capable of thinking and acting without direct guidance of a necromancer. While the power an undead usually relies on the soul inhabiting it, its strength can be bolstered by necromancers the same as the strength of an animated corpse can, thus potentially making undead much more powerful. In addition undead might be able to wield magic, if their souls could do so in life.
Conclusion: The best and fastest way to defeat undead would be through magic, as this is most likely to disrupt the energy that animates them - however, as is also the case with ghosts and specters formed from the souls of the dead, this will merely delay undead, not destroy them. They are liable to reanimate themselves once their souls reconstructs themselves, although undead created by necromancers against their own will are unlikely to do so. The situation is even worse with those not gifted with magic, for animated corpses feel no pain, and no matter how badly they are mauled and crippled they are liable to fight on. It should be noted that fire and lightning are particularly effective against undead, as lighting is uniquely proficient at disrupting magical energy, and a burnt corpse make for a poor vessel. In any situation at all, one had better have a necromancer on one's side to either destroy or at least weaken the animated corpses through necromancy, and if the undead is enslaved by an enemy necromancer, this one is best neutralized as soon as possible to break its hold on the undead, freeing it and potentially making it so that it is no longer hostile.

Minions
Occurrence: Minions are a phenomenon that occurs when a mage - usually either an arcane magus or an elementalist - uses magic to create an elemental servant from lifeless objects in Reniam.
Appearance: The appearance of Minions vary greatly depending on what element they manifest, but always depict the element they are the embodiment of. A Fire Minion will be an apparition of flames, for instance, and a Water Minion will be made from water. Rock Minions, also nicknamed golems because they are the most popular variety, are living statues, and Lightning Minions will be glowing shades of electricity, etcetera, etcetera.
Danger: Minions are mindless beings that exist solely as an extension of their creator's will and magic, and thus they are only dangerous if their creator is. Each kind of Minion is dangerous in its own way, although they act without intuition and are often clumsy.
Conclusion: Minions can be destroyed quite easily with magic, since they are simply an embodiment of magic themselves, but can alternately be destroyed by penetrating a point of shifting location in their structure which is called their "hearts" - the point which is directly connected to their creator, channeling the magical energy from the creator to them, fueling their existence. With their heart penetrated, the spell will be broken. Finally, if Minions' creator is incapacitated, thus robbing them of their source of magical energy as well, the Minions will disappear.

Animated Corpses
Occurrence: An animated corpse quite obviously occurs when a necromancer infuses a dead body with its magical energy, thus reanimating it. So basically, where there are dead bodies and necromancers, there is a high possibility of there being animated corpses. It should be noted that the larger and more complex a corpse is, the harder it is to animate.
Appearance: Like that of whatever corpse has been animated, which obviously can have a very great range of appearances depending on the individuals appearance in life, its state of decomposition and possible damaged parts that might have played a part in its death, and (especially) what race or even species it belonged to before dying.
Danger: The danger represented by animated corpses is quite dependant on the cunning and power of the necromancer they are controlled by, as they are mindless beings that exist solely as an extension of their creator's will and magic, and thus they are only dangerous if their creator is. They are quite similar in nature to the Minions that can be created through arcane, elemental and black magic in this, but while animated corpses do embody any element and do not wield magic, they also lack many of the weaknesses of Minions, making them far more difficult to effectively destroy. Animated corpses have no vital areas or particular physical vulnerablities, and in addition to their tenacy they often draw strength from the body they possess, with stronger, better conserved bodies usually being stronger than small ones reduced to bone and little else. Reanimated large monsters that were powerful in life, such as lohks, trolls and dragons, tend to be just as brutally powerful as corpses as they were in life, and as such these corpses are highly sought after by ambitious necromancers.
Conclusion: The best and fastest way to defeat animated corpses would be through magic, as this is most likely to disrupt the energy that animates them, but seeing as powerful necromancers tend to raise vast hordes of corpses to keep themselves safe, for a mage to have the energy to destroy every single animated corpse is rather unlikely. The situation is even worse with those not gifted with magic, for animated corpses feel no pain or fear, and no matter how badly they are mauled and crippled they are liable to fight on. It should be noted that fire and lightning are particularly effective against animated corpses, as lighting is uniquely proficient at disrupting magical energy, and a burnt corpse make for a poor puppet. In any situation at all, one had better have a necromancer on one's side to either destroy or at least weaken the animated corpses through necromancy, and otherwise always go for the enemy necromancer itself, as neutralizing the necromancer - even just rendering this unconscious - will end their vile magic and cause their lifeless servants to become inert once more.

Vampires
Occurrence: Vampires tend to keep to dark places where the sun cannot reach them, preferring structures with covered windows, but willing to settle for caves and crypts when nothing else is available. Since they are intolerant to sunlight they only leave their lairs at night to conduct their business and to hunt - biting humans and deigan to drink their blood, which they need to sustain themselves. A vampire is only created when a human or deigan drink a vampire’s blood, or when their blood is mixed with that of a vampire.
Appearance: The appearance of a vampire is almost exactly the same as their appearance before they were inflicted with vampirism, with just a few differences. The first and foremost difference is the growth of fangs, which are similar in build to that of a poisonous snake in that they fold along the top of the mouth when the mouth is closed - however, they do not contain poison, and their only real purpose is to allow vampires to penetrate skin more easily by biting their victims. Furthermore their nails blacken and their hair or feathers turn jet-black while their irises assume a crimson hue. Because of their inability to touch sunlight they also inevitably grow pale. When a vampire, or a part of them, such as a dismembered limb, dies, it is reduced to its base elements and dissolve into viscous black slime.
Danger: Despite being intolerant to sunlight, vampires are actually quite formidable opponents. The affliction of vampirism makes them more than twice as fast and strong as they were before becoming vampires, as well as a vampire’s blood has healing properties, healing any injury it touches at accelerated rate - meaning that each time a vampire is injured, they seemingly regenerate instantly after, making them nearly invincible as long as they have blood. Although they retain their personality and intelligence from before they became vampires, they are driven by predatorily instincts to hunt and survive, and will likely do anything to kill or escape those meaning to harm them. The only known ways to kill a vampire is with blessed weapons, by stabbing their heart with a wooden stake, burning them to ash or by decapitating them.
Conclusion: Vampires are a tremendous challenge when alone and even more dangerous when multiple together. Most spells are practically useless against vampires since they regenerate so quickly, although it has been noticed that one can effectively burn vampires, since flames seal the wounds, preventing blood from flowing out and causing the wound to heal. Even so magic will have a hard time wearing down one of these beasts. The best way to defeat them is to face them during the day, when they usually sleep, and kill them while they are defenseless. Otherwise one’s best hope is to either keep wounding the vampire until it has suffered such blood-loss that it can no longer regenerate, or otherwise hope for another opportunity to either burn it, stab its heart with a wooden stake, decapitate it or force it into the sunlight. And always remember the most important rule of slaying vampires: if it does not melt, it is not dead.

Harvesters
Occurrence: Harvesters are so rare that only a chosen few even know of their existence, let alone their nature. Being a Harvester is a sort of disease or genetic anomaly that occurs irregularly, unpredictably and extremely rarely amongst all races. Likewise, the few that are born act unpredictably, thus leaving no way to tell what they will do or where they will go.
Appearance: Harvesters are impossible to tell apart from any regular member of the races. The only common feature amongst them seem to be that they are bald.
Danger: Harvesters occur so rarely that they are hardly any real threat - only one every five centuries or so is born, and usually when this happens, they are killed shortly after, never giving them the chance to grow up and become dangerous. Harvesters have no feelings and no instincts, and will usually just sit still and do absolutely nothing until they are killed. Even so, legends tell of times when a single Harvester - nicknamed the Sineater - perchance defied the thoughtlessness of these beings and actually did something - the result of which was the greatest disaster and onslaught in the history of Reniam since the Age of Darkness, in which every single inhabitant of an entire country, including an entire chapter of the deo'iel - down to the last man, woman and child, and not even animals were spared - were killed. Sineater was never defeated, but just simply disappeared after the obliteration of the country, and was never seen again.
Conclusion: No real conclusion can be made, since next to nothing is actually known about Harvesters, their abilities or how to defeat them. All that can really be deduced from the occurrence with Sineater is that they are apparently more dangerous than anything else - indeed, possibly more powerful than even deities - when allowed to grow up. Therefore Harvesters should always be killed while infants, so that another Sineater will never be.

Wraiths
Occurrence: Wraiths occur solely as a result of summoning magic where only the soul of an immortal is summoned, and mostly bound to its summoner’s will.
Appearance: Since wraiths are the souls of immortals called to Reniam while abandoning their bodies in their own realm, they have no set appearance. However, rather than assuming ethereal forms like the similar ghosts and specters, wraiths - seeing as they are technically still alive - prefer to build bodies for themselves just so that they have an appearance. They can do this with anything available - dust, sand, ash, dirt, water, pebbles, and various random objects that might be nearby. Their form then ultimately depends on what they manifest themselves as, rather than what they actually are.
Danger: Wraiths are extremely dangerous, as although the summoned immortal does not have its full power when it is separated from its body, greater demons summoned like this can still be at a level higher than any ghosts. Additionally, although wraiths have substance they are not actually the objects they produce bodies from, and cannot be killed simply by attacking their bodies. On top of having demonic or divine power - depending on the summoned immortal being demon or angel, or even - in case of exceedingly insane summoners, deity level demons and gods - wraiths are both physically and magically powerful, and definitely opponents to be reckoned with. They can only be hurt through magic, although it has been recorded that wraiths seem to have something akin to an allergic reaction to alchemic silver.
Conclusion: The best way to dispose of wraiths is to defeat their summoner, as this will cause the wraiths to regain their free will. Mostly wraiths with their freedom restored will be unsatisfied with existing simply as a wraith and return to their own Plane on their own accord - however, there are cases when mischievous wraiths consider their partial presence in Reniam a chance to cause as much havoc as possible. Alternatively, wraiths can be destroyed with magic or alchemical silver, hopefully allowing one to get close enough to the summoner to prevent this from summoning any more, or at least pressure this enough so that it becomes desperate and summons a deity level immortal. Deity level wraiths are virtually impossible for summoners to dominate - at least unless several summoners cooperate - and are liable to simply punish their summoner for having the nerve to call upon them before returning to their own Plane.

Shard of Sin
Occurrence: Though often confused with demons, Shards of Sin are something else entirely and perhaps even more gruesome than the evil immortals, possibly even more so than the Grand Master of Evil himself. This is because that while demons are beings with only Seeds of Evil, Shards of Sin are Seeds of Evil, and nothing else. They are not born, but created through the unfortunate difference between the Seeds of Good and Evil. While Seeds of Good tend to grow slowly and gradually, since there are limits to how much kindness a mortal is even capable of showing, there is virtually no limits to how absolutely evil a mortal can act - no matter how wicked they are, they can always inflict more pain, suffering and misery upon others. On rare occasions, mortals act so unspeakably maliciously that their Seeds of Evil cannot keep up its growth to match its host's actions, resulting in what scholars refer to as the "Flood Effect", which means that the evil is so great that the mortals overflow with it and "spill" evil rather than contain it all. The evil that is expulsed can then condensate if left alone, resulting in the unholy spawning of a new Seed of Evil, which becomes the core of a Shard of Sin.
Shards of Sin are mercifully extremely rare most of the time, and records show that there have been periods of up to half a century in which one is never reported and thus it is likely that the Shards of Sin are simply exterminated during these intervals, only to then reappear. It is very difficult to predict where and when a Shard of Sin might appear, as acts of unbelievable evil can be committed anywhere and at any time. They were especially common during the Age of Darkness, but also during the darker eras of the Barbaric Age, when it was common practice of war to raid innocent settlements and perform horrid crimes against the people there, of which murder is often considered one of the least gruesome. Back then, a single battlefield might give birth to hundreds of Shards of Sin - something that undeniably made an already cruel age even worse.
Appearance: Though Shards of Sin are beings of raw magical energy and are actually mere fragments of souls, they are somehow capable of manifesting themselves in physical form. Predictably, these incomplete beings assume the appearance of the mortal whose evil spawned them, being identical in proportions and color, even with the same hair, tattoos, scars and holes for piercings. They appear naked when they first solidify, but it seems regular practice that they soon after becoming aware of themselves seek out clothes. It has been reported that Shards of Sin seem to have pupils that shift slightly within the confines of their shape, as if the blackness is swirling and alive. The easiest way to recognize a Shard of Sin is to simply be near them, as their very presence will be felt as a fierce murderous intent, and their breath is reported to be cold enough to cause frost burns at direct exposure.
Danger: Shards of Sin are incredibly dangerous as not only are they often capable of (though they rarely have the desire to) mask themselves as normal mortals, but they are also nearly unstoppable when faced in combat. Not only do Shards of Sin retain all of the skills and abilities of the mortal they spawned from, but they also possess monstrous physical strength that defies logic, rendering them capable of punching through solid rock, let alone fleshy mortals and puny armor. Presumably because they are actually made from raw magical energy they are also completely immune to magic, they do not burn or freeze, and any injury inflicted upon them seem to repair itself almost instantly. They do not age, hunger or thirst, are immune to all known poisons and diseases (except, possibly, the Withering (unconfirmed suspicion)), and thus they are ridiculously hard to kill, perhaps more so than any other mortal in Reniam - even severing the head of a Shard of Sin will not kill it, rather the severed limb will dissipate into black smoke (similar to the one witnessed when demons are vanquished), and a new limb will rapidly grow in its place. The only known way to destroy a Shard of Sin is to somehow destroy its heart, where it stores its Seed of Evil and core of its being. Upon shattering the Seed of Evil, the Shard of Sin will lose substance and be reduced to invisible, pure magical energy, which then returns to the Spirit Realm. If anyone is closer to the Shard of Sin than thirty feet at the time of its destruction, the released magical energy will instead enter that person permanently taking residence within it and substantially increase its new host's pool of magical energy. No ill-effects have been observed in connection to this, and it is highly advisable to take advantage of this perk when killing a Shard of Sin.
The natural behavior of Shards of Sin is to keep committing acts of unfathomable malice, growing their Seed of Evil, and since this is the very core of their existence, growing themselves and their power.
Conclusion: Obviously the best way to counter Shards of Sin is to prevent acts of horrid evil from being committed in the first place, and in the event that this is not possible places tainted with evil should be cleansed by Favored Ones or magi before Shards of Sin can manifest. Failing to prevent Shards of Sin from being spawned at all, they must be hunted down and destroyed as quickly as possible as they are sure to commit acts so wicked that they far overshadow the crimes that gave them birth - coincidentally, destroying Shards of Sin can also empower the one slaying them, making hunting Shards of Sin both a vital part of the deo'iel duties and a means to make strong deo'iel even stronger. Only masterful warriors should face Shards of Sin, both strong, fast and accurate as they have to deal with the creature's massive strength and regenerative abilities while at the same time trying to reach and shatter its heart.

Mah'kiri
Occurrence: A Mah'kiri has not been witnessed in Reniam since the last remaining one from the Age of Darkness was destroyed in the year of 472 of the Barbaric Age, and thus all that remains of these beings are the recorded warnings from millennia ago in case another should ever appear. Supposedly Mah'kiri are created when dozens upon dozens of Shards of Sin gather and inflict their evil upon the world together, until the Flood Effect occurs again and the evil overflow even from these beings of untarnished malice. When this happens, the dark essence spilled from the Shards of Sin comes to connect them, draw them together and finally combine all of the Shards of Sin into one unimaginably horrid being: a Mah'kiri.
It is a widespread belief that many of the demonic deities that exist in current age were once Mah'kiri, only they became so powerful from their actions and the actions of others that they ascended from being near-immortals to being full-blown immortals, with power enough to be counted amongst the deities of the world.
Appearance: Unholy beings born from the suffering of hundreds, if not thousands, Mah'kiri have no specific appearance but rather seem to be made from a colossal shifting mass of the bodies of the Shards of Sin it is made of tangled with one another, tainted black by the depravity that caused its existence. They are shapeless and maddening to look upon, their very presence reeking of such vicious disdain towards everything that even the otherwise fearless goblins come to know true horror before them. Their tangle of bodies is said to constantly cry out shrilly in madness and pain, each of a Mah'kiri's bodies having its own voice, the sound of which is supposedly enough to obliterate the sanity of even the strongest minds.
Danger: As is to be expected from a being made of masses of Shards of Sin, Mah'kiri possess unreal power and are almost impossible to destroy. Translating from Fermian, Mah'kiri means something along the lines of "Wicked Punisher" and is often mentioned in myths as a being arisen from the sins of mortals as a sign that they have become far too depraved, and the Mah'kiri is there to exact retribution for their wrongdoings. True to the myths, Mah'kiri spend their entire existence in one ceaseless reign of death and destruction, leaving nothing - beast or man, flora or fauna, animate or inanimate - intact in its passing, and entire landscapes are said to have been changed by these creatures. Like the Shards of Sin Mah'kiri consist of, they are immune to magic, heat, cold, poison, disease (again with the possible exception of the Withering) and age, and they are capable of mending any and all damage inflicted upon them in but a blink of the eye. Mah'kiri possess the collective abilities of all the Shards of Sin they consist of, including several elemental affinities at once, and they wield an impossible amount of magical energy that seem to recover faster than a Mah'kiri can use it. Each of a Mah'kiri's bodies has its own heart and Seed of Evil that needs to be destroyed, and as they are, the body which has its heart shattered dissipates - but the magical energy it consists of is immediately absorbed by the Mah'kiri again, meaning that it is not actually weakened - rather, with each of its bodies that is destroyed it becomes more dense, the magical energy being compressed into a smaller and smaller form until the Mah'kiri reaches the peak of its power when the might of many Shards of Sin is concentrated within the form of one. As with Shards of Sin, destroying every last body of a Mah'kiri will cause the full extent of its magical energy to be released all at once, either to dissipate into the Spirit Realm or to enter the body of a nearby being - causing this new host to its power to become immensely powerful, like a god amongst mortals. Though the acquisition of the Mah'kiri's essence in itself seems harmless, the experience of obtaining such incredible power is recorded to often drive the host insane.
Conclusion: Firstly, it should be stressed once again that a Mah'kiri has not existed in millennia and hopefully never will again, and thus worrying about the occurrence of one is deemed useless - rather, one's efforts should go to preventing it to even be possible for one to spawn by eliminating all Shards of Sin that can be found in Reniam. If a Mah'kiri was ever to actually occur... well, Spirits help us, even the combined forces of the deo'iel might not be enough to destroy it.

Notable Flora of Northern Kirirak

Ghostwood
A exceedingly rare and slow-growing kind of tree that remarks itself by being white through-and-through, and being unusually hard and durable, as well as seemingly never rotting or allowing growths on its surface. It has long, string-like leaves that hang like tattered rags from its branches, as if it had been dead, and are likewise white. Ghostwood is a very expensive kind of wood, and only the richest nobles can afford buying ghostwood-furniture. Followers of Reina traditionally bury their dead in coffins made from ghostwood.

Fiendmoss
A yellow kind of moss that seems to be able to grow anywhere, on any surface, as long as there is even the slightest bit of moisture in the air. Fiendmoss is poisonous and inedible, and when burned, the flames and smoke will be yellow and sulfurous.

Rilon's Mockery
Small, thorny bushes with no leaves, Rilon's Mockery remarks itself by growing only where nothing else will grow. For instance, Rilon's Mockery is the only plant capable of surviving in the Land of Eternal Night, and therefore grows there in abundance.

Quiltbark
A quite common kind of tree, quiltbark remarks itself by having completely smooth and soft bark and by having oddly square leaves.

Jaderoot
Another common growth in Rodoria, jaderoot trees, which remarks themselves by having bright-green roots that seem to crawl across the surface rather than burrow into the ground.

Goldberry Bush
Goldberry bushes are known to grow exclusively in the northern duchies of Rodoria, despite numerous attempts at growing them elsewhere. They remark themselves by having diamond-shaped leaves and growing berries at the size of chicken-eggs that are blood-red and extremely sour at first, but once they ripen they turn golden and are the sweetest known fruit in all of Reniam. Goldberries are very popular all over Rodoria and Wegam Fermos and are used for both wine, ale, juice and pies.

Drakehorn Tree
Drakehorn trees have short, chubby trunks, gnarly bark and low-hanging boughs that make them easy to climb, and have red and orange jagged leaves. They grow all over Rodoria, but are especially common in the southern regions and southern Wegam Fermos. They are famous because drakehorn trees grow the very popular drakehorn fruits, which are ashen in color and start in a point and extending in a long curve, growing plumber until they end in a rounded shape. The fruits are crunchy and surprisingly filling, and have a spicy and only slightly acrid taste. Drakehorn-wine is loved throughout Rodoria, and some places they even beat common apples in popularity.

Bonebloom Tree
Bonebloom trees are exceedingly rare in Rodoria because when they are found, they are immediately cut down. Bonebloom grow to become massive, seemingly adjusting their own size in order to reach just above the tops of its adjacent trees. Their bark is a nasty shade of red that make them look like they are bathed in blood, and although the base of their trunks are slim and branchless, they grow numerous far-reaching boughs further up where they can span over a large area above other trees, and have crimson leaves. From the end of every single twig of a bonebloom sits a single thorn, from which hands an incredibly thin, nearly invisible thread that reaches all the way to the ground. When something - anything - touches these delicate feelers, the thorn attached to it is launched downwards like a tiny missile, potentially impaling whatever was unfortunate enough to touch the feeler. Then the bonebloom reels the thorn - and the creature stuck on it - back onto its branches with a thicker, stronger thread. Once the corpse is pulled to the tree, a slow process begins in which the bonebloom wraps the carcass with green vines, draining it of all the nourishment it can get, until nothing but bones remain. As gruesome as this sounds, the vines - once the corpse is completely digested - start to grow several flowers the size of fists in the colors of pink and purple, which are considered some of the most beautiful and exquisite flowers in all of Reniam. Followers of Liya use bonebloom flowers in many of their rituals, as they consider these to hold some of the essence of the life that was taken to grow them.

Tree of Life
These are supposedly the first plants in Reniam and the origin of all other plants, holding the essence of Gaia and Liya, and have the power to grant life to the lifeless. Trees of Life are huge - larger than any other tree - and exist only with thousands of miles between them. Their boughs seem to hold the leaves, flowers and fruits of all trees and bushes in Reniam, and their roots are encircled with all the weeds and low vegetation that exist. Whether it is because of the Trees of Life or an effort from Gaia to protect said Trees of Life is unknown, but whatever the cause it seems that the trees that fill the forests around Trees of Life are far larger and sturdier than variants of the same trees found elsewhere... and furthermore, these trees gain a combined consciousness and become capable of moving, both adjusting their branches and uprooting themselves, physically moving themselves to a different spot.

Living Woods
The tarken call them Drelith grenethon, "Places Where The Trees Eat Men", or simply "Predator Forests", though they are more commonly known as Living Woods. These are simply put the result of a place where the corpses of many sapient creatures have been left, and where plants have grown on their resting places. When there are just a few dead, this has no discernible effect, but what happens is that the dominant plant (the strongest in terms of soul, which is often the one that can potentially grow the largest, trees in particular) feeds not only on the physical remains of the corpse, but also absorbs the residual magical energy left at death the same as it would any other ambient energy - and as it does this, the same as it would when absorbing the energy of a dead plant, it would inherit the experiences and general personality of the person it feeds on. Such plants are stronger than other plants, their magical energy more alive and active, they grow larger than usually possible, and they have awareness far beyond any other plant. When more of these plants accumulate, however, they recognize each other as similar and link with each other, joining their awareness and consciousness into one and gaining complexity and strength as a result. Once several dozen of them have linked, they are easily just as sapient as the mortal races, and as their strength grows, they become able to invoke magic of their own, manifesting as the ability to bend their limbs in ways trees should not be able to, and generally move to the point where they can uproot themselves and crawl around on their roots like animals. Ultimately they can even use the wind to communicate with other creatures, and wield the ambient energy around them to teleport objects from one place within their domain to another. Many Living Woods are wild places that occur unintentionally when dead bodies are left in the wild, and these wild Living Woods are often untamed, ruled by the emotions and memories of the random people they have absorbed. Wild Living Woods are often aggressive and violent, letting animals that lack sapience traverse within them unobstructed, but targeting any sapient intruder with the intention of murdering it and using it to grow more trees, for the Living Wood to gain further complexity and strength. Alternatively, Living Woods are intentionally grown in strongholds of nature where druids and rangers dwell in numbers, as it is tradition for druids and rangers to be buried and the sapling of a tree planted atop their grave, so that this sapling can absorb the essence of the dead. This results in a relatively tame Living Wood, as it will be defined predominantly by likeminded individuals, servants of Gaia, which will grant these Living Woods more stable, peaceful personalities. Tame Living Woods are powerful allies to druids and rangers, and tend to be very loyal to and protective of the residents within itself. Anaxim Forest is a Living Wood, and a very ancient one at that, and has full awareness and experience that spans untold eons. To hurt a Living Wood is the same as hurting a person.

Immortals

Recorded Non-Deity Denizen-Types of the Lower Plane
Since the discovery of summoning magic following soon after the end of the Age of Darkness, mortal summoners have eagerly sought the aid of the immortals residing in the other Planes, with the demons of the Lower Plane being particularly popular because of their vast numbers, variety and dangerous capabilities. Since enslaving a deity-level immortal is practically impossible and that attempts to summon is almost guaranteed to end in horrible failure, demons below those measures of power are most often seen in Reniam. Since demons are easily as dangerous than any creature from Reniam - perhaps even more so - they obviously need to be mentioned here.
All demons bleed black, and dissipate into black smoke upon "dying" and return to the Lower Plane, leaving nothing of the physical for or magical energy behind to be studied, so knowledge of some types may be lacking.
It does seem that the weaker and more numerous a type of demon is, the more each individual seem to blend in with its kin, with each demon being almost identical to others of its type. Higher-ranking, more powerful and with fewer numbers seem to be more individualized and unique than those of lower rank, as well as they appear to possess greater free will compared to their lessers.

Frentits
Occurrence: Appears in Reniam only when called here by a summoner. These are presumed to be the lowest-ranking of all beings of the Lower Plane, the overall weakest of the demonic types and by far the most numerous type amongst their hordes. Because there is plentiful supply of these beings, and because they are weak and relatively easily enslaved, frentits are by far the most common demonic servant found with summoners. In the Lower Plane, spiritualists and scholars have speculated that frentits are the result of mortals that have lived lives based on petty crimes and minor evils, like unscrupulous thieves, muggers or bandits, which have regardless of their lesser crimes managed to grow their Seed of Evil more than their Seed of Good.
Appearance: When standing erect, frentits seem to all have almost identical measures of size, standing 4' 11" tall, though they mostly move hunched over. Their features seem to have distinct reptilian features, such as the unusually long smooth, pointed tail they have, this being easily as long as the rest of their entire body and have been witnessed to have great flexibility. Their torsos are quite small and scrawny, with their ribcage being approximately the size of two average human fists, and their abdomen, pelvis and shoulders have proportional sizes, but their arms and legs are ridiculously long, similarly to spiders, but still with only one joint in each limb that seem to be like mortal elbows and knees. Additionally, frentits' extremities are irrationally thin and feeble-looking, further enhancing the resemblance to insects, and it has hands and feet with long toes and fingers, each equipped with inch-long razor-sharp claws. Their skulls seem twisted and misshapen, with very wide and sharp jawbones but a pointy, equally sharp chins, noses that seem more like pig-snout than anything else, inward-slanted eyes that glow orange-yellow and mouths that seem to nearly split their heads in two, the corners of their mouths being only a couple of inches from the base of their spines on either side, allowing them their jaws to gape more widely open than any known mortal species. They are bald, with very large ears nearly the size of the rest of their heads, with a jagged edge. Their main feature is their proportionally massive leathery faintly bat-like wings, having a span of thirteen feet and fitting about where the shoulder blades would be with mortals. Their skin is bluish-gray, their claws and teeth jet-black, and the only distinctive feature that seem to tell groups of these apart are the brands upon their chests that show the symbol of the deity-level demon they serve. Frentits appear to have no sexual organs, urinary or anal openings, and seem to generally be asexual.
Danger: Obviously frentits are most often only dangerous to those who are the enemies of the summoner they have been enslaved by, but in the rare case where one might have escaped enslavement they are a menace to everything in Reniam. They are physically weak and frail and move on their feet clumsily because of the unbalanced proportions of themselves and their giant wings, but when flying, their wings and light weight allow them to rapidly accelerate to amazing speeds, yet maintain staggering maneuverability, and a common tactic of these demons seem to be to keep distance from their opponents, evading attacks in air, and then perform quick hit-and-run strikes, lashing out with their claws before retreating to safe distance, all within the space of a few seconds. When swarms of frentits cooperate, often under supervision of a single experienced summoner, they will try to overwhelm their enemies through sheer numbers and tear them to shreds.
Conclusion: All demons are exceedingly dangerous and need to be slain on sight. The best way to fight these creatures seem to be to stay at close range and prevent them from having the advantage of their swift flight, optimally immobilizing them entirely, as they pose a low risk without momentum. If frentits are already airborne, it is best to save one's strength and simply wait for it to attack, only to lash out when the demon inevitably tries to ambush one. Alternately, find cover that will force the frentit to land in order to pursue. When fighting several frentits, one's best chance is to simply attack the creatures rapidly and wildly, as they are fragile and relatively easily destroyed.

Thalks
Occurrence: Appears in Reniam only when called here by a summoner, though myths tell of thalks having achieved to pass through the divide on their own. A mid-ranking demonic servant, thalks are popular amongst the most experienced and powerful summoners, and often is considered a test of strength by these to see if they are capable of summoning greater demons. Because thalks have extremely strong wills compared to their level of power, they are very difficult to enslave, perhaps even more so than some of their demonic superiors - this also means that summoning thalks often ends in failure, though summoners are mostly capable of dispatching their rebellious servants on their own. In the Lower Plane, spiritualists and scholars have speculated that thalks are the result of mortals that have been mainly methodically evil through their lives, letting their choices be dominated by greed and ambition but acting only through others so that they might never face the consequences of their actions. Ironically, most summoners are thought to end up as thalks in their afterlife.
Appearance: Thalks seem to vary only slightly in size, standing an average of seven mighty feet tall, and seem to have a frame that is remarkably humanoid compared to many of their fellows from the Lower Plane, having an almost completely human stature and features that seem dominantly human. Their shoulders are wide, but their torsos lean, and their arms are of regular length, but whereas their upper arms are bony-thin, their lower arms are unnaturally thick and burly, bulging in a highly deform manner, and each finger on their otherwise humanoid hands end in a crooked claw. Their legs appear entirely humanoid in design, though their toes bear claws as well. Their faces, however, literally look like skulls, with skin clinging closely to bone in a form very similar to a human skull. Thalks have no lips, showing uneven dagger-like teeth in a perpetual wicked grin, and have no eyelids, but only two round green-glowing orbs for eyes. They have no nose or ears, but just the holes that would usually be in a skull, but they do all tend to wear oddly random tufts of gray, sickly-looking hair distributed about their scalps. Their skin is smooth but dry, and has a distinct blood-red color. Unlike most immortals, thalks all seem to be dressed, donning dark-gray loose-fitting hooded robes that can almost completely conceal their inhuman features.
Danger: Obviously thalks are most often only dangerous to those who are the enemies of the summoner they have been enslaved by, though often thalks are just as much a threat to their summoners as they are to everyone else. Thalks are known to generally be wily and cunning, and often even thalks that manage to resist enslavement of its summoner will feint obedience, only to wait for a favorable moment to rid itself of its would-be master and claiming free reign in Reniam. Thalks are especially dangerous because their humanoid appearance and natural disguise, allowing them to blend in with mortals, infiltrate societies and spread havoc about them for a long time before anyone recognize them for what they truly are. Aside from being intelligent and deceptive, thalks also seem to possess an innate ability to command an uncategorized sort of magic that seem to require no incantation, but has effects similar to those of arcane-, black- or even elemental magic. They furthermore seem to be capable of casting these infernal spells almost indefinitely, suggesting that they have truly monstrous stores of magical energy. They move slowly, either because of physical deformity or some other reason that mortals could never hope to comprehend, but possess physical strength in levels about the same as well-trained humans, but seem to have no unusual resilience to damage.
Conclusion: All demons are exceedingly dangerous and need to be slain on sight. The first and often most problematic step in fighting thalks is to identify them as such, which can most often be done by looking at the lower arms of those suspected of being such, their hands, feet, or their faces. Once combat has been initiated, it is definitely best to end the battle quickly, as it is imperative to not allow the demons to invoke their magical abilities. Destroying a thalk is no different from killing a human, and often striking a fatal blow to the torso, neck or head will result in the thalk's defeat.

Gahrls
Occurrence: Appears in Reniam only when called here by a summoner, though gahrls have a tendency of escaping control of their summoners frequently. Though not particularly physically or magically powerful by nature, the gahrls' unique abilities gives them almost limitless potential and make them extremely dangerous opponents, as well as presumably puts them amongst the greater non-deity demons. In the Lower Plane, spiritualists and scholars have speculated that gahrls are the result of mortals who have lived their lives preying on others' misfortune, either waiting for others to fail or causing them to do so and then immediately taking advantage of the situation. Unscrupulous looters and scavengers are obviously amongst these, and namely almost every grave robber are thought to face an eternity as gahrls as well.
Appearance: Though their height varies, gahrls are frequently described as "twice the size of a common man", which would presumably cause them to range from nine to twelve feet when standing erect, though these vile creatures mostly move on all fours like beasts. Their torsos and pelvises are covered in long, venomously green fur, making guessing at the volume of these useless, but their arms, legs and heads are all bald, though still with pale-green skin. Their extremities are long and slender, but sinewy and powerful nonetheless. Their hands are humanoid, but their feet seem rodent-like - in fact, what they seem to resemble the closest would be the feet of a bat - and all fingers and toes have sturdy, yet viciously sharp and lethal curved claws. Their heads are rat-like in appearance, with a long pointed snout, large pointed ears and sharp fiery-red glowing eyes. They have tails that are nearly as long as the length of the gahrls' bodies, of a curious design of segmented bone-plating that make the tail look like a naked continuation of the spine. Their tails end in a nasty spike, shaped more like a curved blade than a stinger, and when in combat the tail is often lifted above the body in a manner similar to how a scorpion behaves.
Danger: Obviously gahrls are most often only dangerous to those who are the enemies of the summoner they have been enslaved by, though their abilities make them a double-edged sword, meaning that the more useful they would become to the summoner, the more likely they are to break from the summoner's control. Gahrls have the unique ability to draw strength from the residue of corpses, meaning that the more dead bodies that are around them, the stronger, faster and more durable they become, but as their power grows, so does the chances that they will gain the might to resist their master's enslavement. When left on their own, gahrls often seek to cemeteries or old battlefields where there are corpses in abundance, and where their power reaches fearsome levels where they can regenerate lost limbs in mere minutes and allow their claws to shred iron easily. Gahrls are also capable of merging with the residue of corpses - meaning that they are capable of completely concealing themselves within the dead, disintegrating their own bodies to hide all signs of their presence aside from strange unnatural twisting shadows around the corpses they are in, and a lingering eerie sense of dread that will often force any mortals that venture near them to flee in terror. When in the presence of large amounts of corpses, gahrls can even travel through dead that are near one another rapidly, producing a characteristic noise of vibrating bones as they pass through the dead. Like this, gahrls can vanish into the dead, only to manifest again within one or two seconds somewhere else to land a surprise-attack. They often prefer to strike from concealment, hiding within corpses only to manifest part of them - like a single arm or their tail - to lash out at their enemies from safety. When forced out of concealment gahrls rely on equal measures of speed, agility and raw power, moving quickly and attacking with their hands and tail and, when their opponent is worn down enough, they favor knocking them over and placing themselves on top of them, pinning their enemy down while using their feet to tear it apart.
Conclusion: All demons are exceedingly dangerous and need to be slain on sight, but gahrls are especially dangerous, perhaps even the single type of demon that has claimed most lives over the ages. They can be very hard to discover because of their ability to hide in the dead, but the best way to find them is to seek out places with large concentrations of corpses, and if an atmosphere of nightmarish horror is felt, one must not give in but keep invading the gahrl's territory until it is forced to reveal itself. Gahrls like to ambush their enemies from hiding, manifesting only one or two limbs to attack while remaining shielded - to prevent this, it is vital to kick aside any visible bones or corpses nearby and force the gahrl to manifest in order to defend itself. It is then preferable to lure the gahrl away from any dead it might be drawing strength from, but if the gahrl is unwilling to leave its territory, one must simply aim for the head - inflicting wounds anywhere else are liable to be in vain. One must never let one's guard down before these creatures, and one must always beware of attacks against one's back, as gahrls are fast - especially when corpses are available to travel through - and frown upon the very concept of a fair fight.

Orlgarhi
Occurrence: Appears in Reniam only when called there by a summoner, but are rarely actually controlled by summoners once they are here. These demons are for many summoners considered the epitome and peak of their magic, as orlgarhi are considered the most fiercely powerful of all non-deity demons, at least that have been discovered thus far. In the Lower Plane, spiritualists and scholars have speculated that orlgarhi are the result of mortals that have gone through their lives without making any effort to restrain themselves, but have given themselves over entirely to their Seed of Evil. Those who remorselessly rape, murder and destroy simply for the pleasure of doing so are thought to become orlgarhi.
Appearance: These hulking abominations, ranging from nine to fifteen feet in height, seem to all be either male or asexual, though their deep masculine voices and demeanor tends to suggest the former. They are as muscular in built as tarken, if not more, and though their torsos, arms and hands seem faintly humanoid, the freakish volume of their muscles and the sharp, black bony protrusions from their elbows, shoulders and knuckles negate this. Their skin is pale white, but from the waist and down they are covered in thick, almost woolly grayish fur, and their legs seem goat-like, with inversed knees and black hooves instead of feet. They have large heads and scalps covered in oddly silky grayish hair, beak-like noses, wide mouths full of teeth like shards of glass, and small, deep-set eyes that glow a dark violet. They also wear great curving horns upon their heads, protruding directly outward from their temples only to curve upward over their scalp, ending in a deadly point between one and two feet over their heads. They all seem capable of summoning and dismissing great flaming double-bladed axes at will, made of an unidentified black metal which is thought to be nearly as tough as Sartal, but far heavier.
Danger: To say that orlgarhi are only dangerous to those who are the enemies of their summoners would be foolish, as ninety-nine percent of the time when they are summoned, orlgarhi brush aside their would-be masters and immediately go on a murderous rampage. Though lacking the refinement of thalks or gahrls and the mobility of frentits, orlgarhi has discarded all of this simply they do not need to fear mortals. They possess titanic strength and are capable of tearing down buildings with their bare hands, and though their mass makes them accelerate slowly, they can charge with terrifying speed once they have picked up momentum, and they are nearly impossible to stop. They move quickly when in combat, and do not only wield formidable strength that would likely make them a match for trolls, or maybe even dragons, but can also conjure nearly indestructible great axes shrouded in infernal flames, and furthermore have access to considerable innate magical abilities similar to those of thalks. Orlgarhi crave death and destruction and will stop at nothing to achieve this, though they are known to occasionally pause before particularly attractive mortal women only to molest and kill them - though not always in that order.
Conclusion: It is unfortunate, but even these awesome opponents need to be slain on sight, as they are the bane of all that is good and living. Even more troubling is that they surface every other year or so, whenever an overambitious summoner tries to call one forth and almost inevitably fails. Mercifully, one will almost never encounter more than one orlgarh in one place - if there were more of them, defeating them would be nearly impossible. The most reliable way to defeat an orlgarh is to have a powerful summoner banish the demon back to the Lower Plane, but if one such is not available, the only way one might hope to stand a chance against these beasts is to bring numerous allies into battle, and aim all attacks at the orlgarh's head.

Recorded Non-Deity Denizen-Types of the Upper Plane
Though these immortals of the Upper Plane - angels, as they are commonly named - are mostly benign due to their good nature, it sometimes happens that summoners seek out these instead of the more popular denizens of the Lower Plane. An enslaved angel is just as dangerous - if not more so - than a demon, and as such it is necessary to know how to fight them - if nothing else then for their own sakes. Despite their benevolent nature, they are soldiers nonetheless - warriors for the eternal war between the Upper and Lower Planes that must inevitably continue one day.
It seems that when angels are wounded, they leak a kind of glittering silver vitae, and when they die they dissipate into white smoke and leaves nothing behind, physical or spiritual, to be analyzed. Like demons, angels do not actually die when killed, but simply return to the Upper Plane.

Angels of Justice
Occurrence: Rarely venture to Reniam for other reasons than having been summoned, or as a messenger of a god. Spiritualists and scholars have speculated that Angels of Justice are the result of mortals who have lived their lives devoted to rooting out evil, punishing the wicked and slaughtering those who threaten the innocents of Reniam.
Appearance: Angels of Justice are hard to describe because their features are almost indistinguishable, as they do not actually seem to have physical form, but rather be beings made up entirely by extremely hot blue fire. They seem to have a remotely humanoid shape, with long flames rising from what would be their heads that seem similar to hair, a great billowing blaze down their back that look like a fiery cloak, and bright glowing white lights that seem to resemble eyes. Their form also makes for all the normal humanoid extremities - they even seem to have five distinguishable fingers on each hand. They seem capable of calling forth and dismissing red-tinted claymores at their will.
Danger: Angels of Justice are only dangerous to those who are enemies of their summoner, or in rare cases when the angel acquires its freedom, to any wicked mortals near them - but an Angel of Justice would never harm an innocent willingly. But when enslaved, Angels of Justice are truly fearsome opponents. Even just touching their scorching aura is enough to reduce flesh to ash in seconds and melt steel in less than a minute, and the powerful and holy fury with which they use their swords make them great warriors. Furthermore Angels of Justice seem capable of levitating, granting them highly increased mobility, just as they do not seem entirely limited by the laws of physics that apply to mortals.
Conclusion: It is naturally best to not face angels entirely but instead aim to end their summoner, but in case a confrontation cannot be avoided, the most vital thing is to keep one's distance to avoid getting charred by the holy avengers' incinerating presence or skewered upon their deadly blades. The best way to fight an Angel of Justice would be to either have another, more powerful summoner banish it, or to attack it with water- or ice-based spells. Otherwise one's only hope is to stab at the angels wildly and quickly retreat before its blazing aura can do any damage, hoping to injure or kill it.

Angel of Mercy
Occurrence: Rarely venture to Reniam for other reasons than having been summoned, or as a messenger of a god. Spiritualists and scholars have speculated that Angels of Mercy are the result of mortals that have lived their lives devoted to kindness , going out of their way to help those in need. For obvious reasons, most Favored Ones of Reina are thought to be destined to become Angels of Mercy.
Appearance: These strange creatures are at once puzzling and mesmerizing to look upon, as they possess a kind of otherworldly beauty to them though they, by mortal standards, would be considered abominations. Standing between six and seven feet tall, Angels of Mercy have only remotely humanoid form in that they have torso, arms and legs, but otherwise they seem more like a kind of bird than anything else. They are clad from top to ankle in long luminescent feathers ranging from golden to silver-white in color and wear great feathery wings on their backs, with a span of thirteen to fourteen feet. Their feet are yellowish and like those of a bird, with long talons on each toe, and their heads are equally bird-like, with a white beak similar in shape to that of a condor and round, glossy black eyes. Their hands seem humanoid though covered in feathers, and each Angel of Mercy seem to carry a silver rod with it.
Danger: Angels of Mercy are only dangerous to those who are enemies of their summoner - in fact, they are mostly not even dangerous then, as Angels of Mercy are not popular because of their fighting-strength, but because they are extremely powerful healers, allegedly capable of mending any wound with a power at the same or greater level as a High Priest of Reina. When they are forced to fight, Angels of Mercy will mostly try to take advantage of their ability to fly, attacking with their talons and silver rod, neither of which are particularly dangerous.
Conclusion: ] It is naturally best to not face angels entirely but instead aim to end their summoner, and it can actually be advantageous to avoid killing Angels of Mercy, as they will often offer their powers to those that need it once they have been freed, and obviously the aid of an Angel of Mercy can save people even on the verge of death. If one has no choice but to confront an Angel of Mercy, the fight still will not be very difficult, as Angels of Mercy have very limited offensive abilities and virtually no natural defenses. The best tactic would be to stay out of range of the angel's talons and rod entirely and attack from a distance, crippling its wings or killing it with ranged attacks. This is best, but even if facing an Angel of Mercy in melee combat, a skilled warrior should be able to relatively easily best it.

Angel of Vigilance
Occurrence: Rarely venture to Reniam for other reasons than having been summoned, or as a messenger of a god. Spiritualists and scholars have speculated that Angels of Vigilance are the result of mortals who have lived their lives for the sake of protecting the innocent and those dear to them, working as defenders of the weak and helpless against those who would harm them.
Appearance: Angels of Vigilance are likely the most human-like of all immortals in terms of shape and size, though there are details that irrefutably set them aside from humans. These details include that Angels of Vigilance are either clad or made entirely from heavy sheets of iron, making them look like men or women (their form makes gender undistinguishable) clad in extremely heavy platemail, with their heads (or helmets, if the armor is not actually part of their form) having the appearance of a sallet helmet with two bright white spheres glowing behind the visor as its eyes. They wield great rectangular scutum shields in one hand and heavy flanged maces in the other, though which hand holds which seem to vary, suggesting that even immortals have main- and off hands.
Danger: Angels of Vigilance are only dangerous to those who are enemies of their summoner, or in rare cases when the angel acquires its freedom, to those near them that would try to hurt an innocent, who would soon come to feel the angels' righteous wrath clashing down on them in the form of a devastating mace. Angels of Vigilance are very physically powerful, and though their heavy bodies (or armor, if that is what it is) makes them slow and ponderous in their movements, each strike dealt by them has bone-shattering, steel-crushing might behind it. Their form makes them nearly invulnerable to physical damage, as well as they all seem to act like highly trained warriors, meaning that they are formidable adversaries in melee combat.
Conclusion: It is naturally best to not face angels entirely but instead aim to end their summoner, but in case a confrontation cannot be avoided the best one can do is to try to use the limited mobility of an Angel of Vigilance against it, keeping one's distance while trying to deliver hit-and-run attacks, hoping to eventually actually hurt something behind its apparently impenetrable sheets of iron. The best way to face an Angel of Vigilance would be with magic, but even with this manner of approach Angels of Vigilance are nearly indestructible, and the best one can hope for is to stun the creature for long enough to get to its summoner. To kill an Angel of Vigilance is almost inconceivable.

Angel of Fidelity
Occurrence:Rarely venture to Reniam for other reasons than having been summoned, or as a messenger of a god. Spiritualists and scholars have speculated that Angels of Fidelity are the result of mortals who have lived their lives thoroughly dedicated to a few or a single other being, devoting themselves in both body and soul to live for their sake. It is thought that one might devote oneself wholly to either a mortal being (family supposed to be the most common) or a (good) deity, and either would qualify to result in one becoming an Angel of Fidelity.
Appearance: The true appearance of an Angel of Fidelity can only be guessed at, since one cannot actually look directly at one without being blinded. The Angel of Fidelity is shrouded in such searing white brightness that looking into it is comparable to looking at the sun. It has been estimated that they are between four and six feet tall, but ultimately any description of one of these enigmatic creatures is a guess.
Danger: Aside from the obvious danger of going blind from looking at an Angel of Fidelity for more than a couple of seconds at the time, they are only dangerous to those who are enemies of their summoner otherwise. Angels of Fidelity appear able to move rapidly somehow, and those that have fought them report having heard a "soft flutter of wings" when they move, suggesting that they can also fly. But the main feature about Angels of Fidelity that makes them dangerous - aside from their blinding radiance - is that they have an innate ability to invoke spells without incantations, which seem similar in effect to those of arcane-, black- or elemental magic, and they seem to be able to do this inexhaustibly.
Conclusion: It is naturally best to not face angels entirely but instead aim to end their summoner, but in case a confrontation cannot be avoided the best one can do is to throw a flurry of attacks - the wider spread of effect the better - in the angel's approximate direction, hoping that one hits the creature behind the glow and kills it. Otherwise the blinding light of Angels of Fidelity make them very difficult to face, and one can only to one's best to dodge their spells until one can deal a fatal blow to either the angel or its summoner.

Fermian
Avalz: A good deity; referring to a god, all gods or the Spirit of Good.
Brelai: A modest or humble way to speak in first person.
Calahuneth: Miracle, a deed of great good or a legendary accomplishment.
Deo: Means ‘light’, ‘illumination’ and ‘brightness’.
Emet: Belonging to, to be of or coming from something or someone.
Fakarhn: Similar in meaning to ‘friend’, expressing great respect and trust in the person spoken of.
Fermos: Harmony and peace, referring to this both as a physical condition within and between communities and the state of inner serenity and calm. Can also refer to a meditative state of consciousness.
Gethelahn: Means something similar to ‘highly honored’, and is an expression of sincere reverence. Has similar significance to ‘Lord’ and ‘Lady’, though not used as loosely. More accurately, it could be translated to ‘Your Highness’.
Grethlamahn: Sanctuary; a place where one can seek protection no matter what one has done or what one's past is. Is also the name of the nation that once belonged to the true deigan, though the persecution by the ascended deigan and repeated assaults from Frehklahem and the Catolohne Empire has left few true deigan there, and it has mostly become a battlefield for the Catolohne Empire to fight its wars on.
Hamaneth: To be bored with something or tired of doing something. Mainly used to describe laborious or repetitive tasks.
Holiethanathas: A birthplace or point of absolute origin of something. Often considered to have an affectionate sound to it. Is also the word used about the ancestral homeland of the deigan race, Holiethanathas Deigan: Home of the Deigan.
Iel: Mainly used by suffixing it to other words, in which case it means that the word it is suffixed to is in its ‘strongest’ positive form – ‘strongest’, ‘biggest’, ‘brightest’, ‘best’, ‘closest’ and so forth. When suffixed to a name, it means ‘saint’.
Il: Tree.
Jehla: Uncovered, free of obscuring influences. Can refer both to something being plainly visible or blatant, something being completely honest, or someone being naked.
Jehlavreh: The Shining One, the Lightbringer, the Lifegiver, the High Hearth. All of these are Fermian aliases of the sun.
Jihni: Forbidden, outlawed or in some cases just socially unacceptable.
Kilah: A neutral way to refer to oneself. First person, singular only.
Kinderil: Tree of Life.
Kiri: Means the purging of evil, mainly by violent methods. When suffixed to a name, it means ‘hero’ or ‘knight’.
Mah: Something that is thoroughly evil.
Mehkeralihn: Directly translates to ‘progeny of multiple generations of race-mixing’. Considered an extremely offensive insult.
Milhinosahl: High-ranking government official chosen by the ruling council of the ascended deigan to oversee a smaller region of Fermian territory.
Naath: Instead, rather, or, the act of switching two things with each other.
Nabathalon: Roughly translates to something along the lines of ‘good luck’. More accurately could translate to ‘may your endeavors succeed’.
Nai: Means to rise out of nothingness and come into existence. To appear, to become visible, to emerge.
Sathenolíhm: Freedom, lawlessness; to not be restricted by anything and free to follow one's whims. Also the name of the nation of mostly undisturbed nature that was granted the free deigan.
Sulooth: To follow the leadership of someone without question, or to worship someone, most frequently deities.
Qetemak: Considered a very crude and primitive word and is rarely used. Translates into something similar to physical toughness.
Quetheliomez: An arrogant way of referring to speak in first person, implying that the speaker is far superior to the one spoken to in one or more ways.
Vilhej: A term describing great beauty, though mostly only used in reference to people, and almost exclusively to women or very feminine men.
Wegam: A vanguard, messenger or a very high-ranking soldier acting in offensively to defend something of great value to it.
Wethenaryhn: To be.

Tarahn
Demon: Shorik. Can also be suffixed at the end of a name to express a strong loathing towards the person, or to describe them as despicable.
Forest: Grenethon. More accurately translates to ‘Place With Trees’ and can also mean an orchard or anywhere with trees. Can also be used as a descriptive term about a single tree, meaning that the said tree is unusual in some manner.
Guide: Narak. An honorary title used mainly in the military given to pathfinders and scouts. When suffixed to a name it either refers to this title, or that the person is guiding the speaker somewhere at the moment.
Heart: Tarkir. Refers to both the organ and a warrior’s chosen weapon, ceremoniously considered its heart.
Leader: Gereh. The highest military rank that is possible to achieve in tarken society. When suffixed to a name, it can either be a matter of the speaker referring to the person’s rank or an expression of a personal opinion. In private use, gereh is a person that the speaker regards extremely highly and which it values the opinion of more than it does its own. Can also be translated to ‘master’ or even ‘teacher’.
Outcast: Frehken. A term used about tarken that have betrayed their Clan or their race in one way or another, earning them exile from their settlements. Is only suffixed to names of those already bearing the title of frehken.
Predator: Drelith. More accurately translates to ‘That Which Kills Men’ or alternately ‘That Which Eats Men’. Is mostly used by suffixing to names of exceptionally dangerous creatures that have killed and/or eaten hunters. A rare use is as a descriptive term towards robbers, murderers or other violent outlaws.
Tree of Life: Minither.

Penin
Bat: Something very durable. Alternately can mean "indestructible".
Cûgan: Something of great size.
Daigh: Tooth. Especially fangs.
Denûm: Trail.
Dremedín: Dike/Dam/Barrier.
Dûn: Shadow; darkness; the general absence of light.
Fethé: Haven; sanctuary; a safe home.
Gevras: Anvil.
Gûlastein: "The People" - an alternate reference to the penin race.
Gvenir: Triumph, success, gloating.
Keth: Carrier/Messenger/Wielder.
Kor: Fire or the state of something burning or producing fire.
Mûklos: A pale gray color. Especially used about gray stone.
Jevog: Dragon.
Ruutin: Arm.
Tylûm: Stone/Rock/Minerals in general.
Vo: Means "to be". If no subject is present in the sentence, means "this is" or "it is".

Devil's Tongue
Bond: Biehl. Refers to connections between things or beings, binding them together.
Chaos: Thelos. The lack of system and control, especially in regard to things being unorganized.
Death: Gaath. Murderous intent and the desire to take lives, as well as the appreciation of dead bodies.
Excitement: Witai. The thirst for escaping the trivialities of the mundane and experiencing the extraordinary.
Fate: Qyth. Refers to the possible futures tied together in the web of fate.
Gluttony: Blath. To be unnecessarily wasteful.
Greed: Thrysh. Also insatiability and the act of collecting or hoarding many objects together at the same time.
Hatred: Raloth.
Hunting: Vleck. To track and chase one's prey, and eventually emerging as the victor.
Libido: Krethos. More accurately means the sating of sexual desire of any kind.
Life: Bethaath. Refers not to the creation of life (which would be 'birth'), but rather the continuation of it. A more suitable translation might be 'survival'.
Power: Voohl. More specifically the desire for power of all kinds.
Pride: Vannis. Also supremacy and any kind of arrogant or boastful behavior.
Punishment: Veehn. Also 'retribution' and 'vengeance'.
Violence: Noléc. Also aggressiveness and behavior relating to this.

Arcane
Ball: Meethal. Causes various spell-effects to manifest in a spherical shape.
Bloom: Thagir. Actually refers to explosions. Is used to add explosive properties to a spell.
Box: Xarthliir. Causes various spell-effects to manifest in a cuboid shape.
Change: Kohrx. Can either mean the property of being malleable and/or flexible, or can simply refer to something being alterable in nature.
Chaos: Dhnirhilk. More accurately means the lack of order or control over something. Can be used for a multitude of effects depending on the context. Standing by itself, its main effect is that of disrupting flows of energy and spells and potentially even destroying incorporeal creatures, such as ghosts, Minions and planar wraiths.
Copy: Lemesatheli. Simply causes a spell to replicate itself a number of times, increasing its power and energy-consumption exponentially.
Demand: Usth. Is used in some cases to create a connection between the spell being cast and a previously cast spell so that the current spell alters the effect of the previous spell or draws on its energy to fuel itself. Is most frequently used in reciting the mage’s law: power demands sacrifice.
Earth: Grumert. Refers to the element of earth, including minerals such as crystal or stone and regular soil.
Eternity: Nogith. Causes spell-effects to last longer at the price of vastly increased energy-consumption.
Extract: Thoph. Also "summon" and "reveal". Is used to draw something before the caster. This word is used in all summoning spells.
Fire: Dregoth. Also includes all other effects relating to flames or increased heat.
Flat: Eren. Simply means a shape made more two-dimensional.
Hardness: Smaiwe. Refers to the quality of being hard and solid. Can also mean the comparative "harder" or superlative "hardest", depending on the spell.
Light: Brijhal. Light in its simplest meaning. Mainly used for illumination-purposes.
Lightning: Atonakuv. Refers to the element of lightning and the principle of electricity in general. When used in connection with Grumert, the combined effect is related to magnetism.
Liquid: Vanedth. Causes spell-effects to manifest as liquid. In combination with Dregoth, it creates acid.
Location: Peigein. A word rarely used except by exceptionally powerful and skilled magi. Is mainly used for travel or to cause spells to manifest at long distances. Often used for teleportation.
Owned: Gohn. Refers both to the quality of belonging to something else and simply to be affiliated with it.
Penetrate: Caihl. Can either mean to pass through something, the property of being capable having a sharp, narrow point or simply to create a hole through something.
Power: Cowath. Is occasionally used as a word to amplify the effect of a spell at the expense of more energy, but otherwise has no practical uses. Is most frequently used in reciting the mage’s law: power demands sacrifice.
Projection: Setogar. Is used to create false impressions to someone, deceiving their senses. Can also be used in relation to Brijhal to create light only visible to those of the caster's choosing.
Protection: Bragar. Also shielding and resistance, and practically any kind of avoiding or reducing received impact.
Release: Harteor. More accurately means ‘activate’ or ‘act’. Is used as a means to specify that more abstract or untested spells are complete, to unleash the effects spurred by the arcane words uttered previously. Is also used in relation to tergrim to command whether the magical object should begin or end the release of energy.
Restrain: Dweneth. Is the word with the effect to cancel that of harteor, and can also be translated to ‘seal’ or even ‘lock’. Prevents further expending of energy from a magical object or dispels maintained spells.
Sacrifice: Unim. Rarely used except in self-sacrificing magic, in which it refers to the sacrifice of health or life in order to bolster the power of a spell. Otherwise its most frequent use is in the reciting of the mage’s law: power demands sacrifice.
Seal: Tergrim. Also glyph, rune, symbol and any etchings relating to that, or occasionally even just objects infused with energy or capable of channeling energy. Is most frequently used as a descriptive factor to make spells more reliable.
Shadow: Gothor. Is often used to banish light and leave an area in concealing darkness. Has strong connections to illusionary magic. Also has some unique effects in special spells, such as Shadow Image.
Shrink: Tuagar. Has a diminishing effect on the power and energy-consumption of spells, sometimes altering the nature of the effect altogether to greatly reduce energy-consumption. When used in special contexts, it can also weaken the caster's enemies or shrink them to a more manageable size.
Self: Jhoon. Refers to the speaker itself. Is often used to create a lasting connection between the spell and the caster.
Solid: Sonedth. Causes spell-effects to manifest in solid form.
Sound: Baadas. Simply creates sound. In combination with dweneth, it can mute a person. If this is added Setogar, a deafening effect is causes instead.
Unity: Brega. More accurately refers to the close connection between individual entities. Is most frequently used as a means to affect another individual directly with spells rather than aiming with projectile-type magic.
Water: Maaez. The element of water. Can also be used to conjure ice and steam, depending on the context.
Wind: Menrirl. Refers to the element of air in general and all effects related to it.

The Human Cipher

[Dark Jack]

THE CHARACTER

Humans
Both one of the oldest, most widespread and most ambitious of all races, humans amass far greater numbers than any of the other races, having a faster cycle of reproduction than that of, for instance, deigan and penin, while the longer lifespan of humans compared to tarken allow them to have more offspring during their lifetimes and thus increase in numbers faster. That aside, humans are actually the civilized race of Reniam with the second shortest lifespan (the only race with a shorter lifespan being the tarken), rarely making it to turn eighty years old. Yet humans, because of their numbers and their ability to develop great measures of raw power, agility and wisdom with some work, as well as their quickly evolving civilizations, has become one of the most dominant races of Reniam, spreading out and mixing with all other sentient races' areas of specialty, although never matching the specialized races' masters of trade. Exactly where humans originally lived is unknown, as already during the early Barbaric Age had managed to spread over most of the continent, with the main concentrations of their population being in the southern and western nations compared to Rodoria, and they have only spread more since.
The appearance of humans is we are hopefully all familiar with, although the race possesses great variety in both dimensions, hair- and eye-color and even the color of their skin. Humans from northern regions of the continent (such as Rodoria) tend to have a fairly light complexion, whereas the further south one goes, approaching the tropical areas, their complexion darkens, sometimes as much as to dark brown and black.

Deigan
Possibly one of the longest lived creatures of Reniam, deigan have an unusual way of aging compared to other humanoid races. They are born after a pregnancy that tends to lasting well over a year, only to take approximately forty years to mature. However, once they have completed adolescence and become adults, they simply seem to stop aging and remain in their prime for hundreds, or with the very oldest deigan even thousands of years without deteriorating physically at all. As far as is known, no deigan has ever died of old age, which has given room for speculation that they really have an unlimited lifespan - and if they have not, then it is so incredibly long that it might as well have been. The deigan are one of the ruling races of Reniam, although not nearly as dominant as the humans due to an unfortunate issue arising with their apparent immortality. To the deigan, if a member of any other race dies, it loses a finite number of years that can easily be estimated by looking at its age. The deigan, on the other hand, stand to lose an eternity of years in which they likely could have kept living, never aging or dying. Consequently, deigan tend to be very careful with their lives, reluctant to take risks and terrified of sudden changes. They also tend to have unusually long names, both firstname and surnames, that almost always carries a deeper meaning to them, and which often needs to be shortened down for other, "simpler" races to remember.
Rather than being divided into a number of nations like humans do, deigan are divided by their blood, as they have somehow been divided into three branch-races, each with its own physical and psychological differences and each of them keeping their distance to the two others. Crosses between the branch-races are rare, but happen nonetheless, but the offspring of these unions tend to inherit their features almost solely from one of their parents, resembling only one of the branch-races rather than a mix of the two, or only with very slight traces of the second half of their bloodline. These crossbreeds are usually shunned by the other deigan societies and usually end up living a comparatively sad existence amongst the short-lived races.
Despite their differences, the three branches have several features in common. Deigan tend to be of a slender and feeble frame, possessing an exotic beauty that is well-known for utterly mesmerizing humans, sometimes to the point where they lose interest for their own race altogether. They grow no hair, on their heads or otherwise, but instead, feathers grow on their heads, swept backwards down their back where it grows in a trail that only ends a short way above the rump. Their ears are droplet-shaped and point straight backwards, away from their face, with the point - having a similar significance to deigan to the earlobe to humans - varying from less than half an inch up to over two inches in length. Another common feature is that they have small indentations in the palms of their hands - hollows that render the hand so thin that there is practically only room for the bones. This at once makes their hands more frail and less physically powerful than those of other humanoids, but make up for it my functioning as a sort of magical catalyst, allowing deigan to draw out magical energy more easily than other mortals.

The most common branch of deigan in Rodoria are the so-called ascended deigan, for which the most obvious physiological difference is their golden eagle-like feathers and their uniquely silver-colored irises. They are slightly taller than their fellow deigan, having an average height that is slightly higher than that of humans - although the height of deigan vary far less than that of humans. They also tend to be the feeblest of the three, and are consequently commonly perceived as the most attractive. The ascended deigan are relatively often seen in Rodoria because they inhabit southern Wegam Fermos, and thus are situated directly at the southern border of the human kingdom. Ascended deigan have a tendency to be the most pompous of all deigan and like to flaunt wealth, beauty and welfare, both to each other and other races. They like to build tall structures in materials of light colors, white marble being a favorite, and strive to make these buildings as exotic and interesting as possible by handling every detail like a work of art. Very few ascended deigan fall to poverty, as they tend to be very helpful towards one another (after all, who would condemn another to an infinite life of misery?). They are lead by a council of seven, chosen by the people to make decisions for their society, but which can be replaced very quickly if the population disagree on an action taken by them. Ascended deigan loathe violence, thinking it too barbaric for their civilized manners. They are the most talented in magic of the deigan breeds, making them some of the most excellent magi in all of Reniam, and rarely resort to using weapons - although when they are forced to, they tend to prefer spears and bows. Their names tend to have a lot of "th" sounds and apostrophes, signifying that their names are actually two or more words joined by said apostrophes.

The second most common breed is that of the free deigan, who are special in that they do not actually have any place that they call a common home, but prefer to either wander the countryside and travel the world or settle in places of nature, especially favoring lush forests. A free deigan's feathers are brown and more robust than the other breeds', and their irises are green. They are slightly shorter than the average human, but also the stoutest of the deigan branches (meaning that they are a little closer to human dimensions, but still sleek in comparison) and tend to be the most physically powerful of the three. Free deigan are known for their wanderlust, and unlike their cousins tend to discard wealth and worldly property since this just tends to tie them down and limit their freedom. They are the least condescending of the three (although the racial haughtiness towards other "inferior" races remains), and it is not unusual for a free deigan to socialize with other humanoids, often welcoming the company on their travels and hungering for stories to sate their curiosity. They are the least talented with magic of the deigan (making them an only slightly higher potential than humans), but are known to be exceptionally quick and light on their feet and having great control over their movements, making them ideal for using dexterous fighting-styles and very accurate archers. Free deigan prefer to use light swords and longbows. Their names tend to sound crude in comparison to those of their more sophisticated kinsmen, often using "k", "g", "j" and "ahm" sounds.

The one that is naturally least common of the three, then, are the ones who call themselves the true deigan. They are the shortest of the deigan, the feathers that grow on this last breed of deigan are raven-black and longer and more delicate than those of the other deigan, and their irises are fiery red. Although the true deigan are not quite as arrogant as the ascended deigan when amongst their own kind, they have such a low opinion about all other races that they tend to treat them with scorn - and when an ascended and a true deigan meet, it is bound to end in open hostility. The reason for this is that for generations (which to deigan are quite long), a terrible blood-feud has raged between the ascended and true deigan because of the vast difference between their civilizations and norms. While ascended deigan value camaraderie, despise violence and think that none should be left to fend for themselves, the true deigan believe in individuality where the strongest must climb to the top over a mountain of corpses of those who stood in their way. True deigan are divided into small communities living in underground cities, each which is lead by a patriarch, chosen by a committee of the best true deigan of various trades in that specific city. To true deigan, however, that only means that they have to assassinate enough members of the committee and place enough of their own allies there to be elected themselves. Poisoning and hiring assassins is socially acceptable amongst true deigan, as they always hunger for more power and wealth, as well as they are very lax when it comes to enforcing the illegal kinds of magic. Their cities tend to be grand, built in dark materials (most likely for the sole purpose of spiting the ascended deigan) and crafted in crazy, exotic designs with curving and twisting columns and structures of completely irrational shapes. Their relative rarity can be owed to the ascended deigan, who have had the upper hand in the feud the last couple of centuries, leaving many true deigan cities abandoned or razed to the ground. True deigan are especially dangerous due to their balanced attributes compared to the two other branches, with them being quite capable with magic and with dexterous fighting, favoring daggers and shortbows. Their names tend to have many "i" and "n" sounds, and tend to be shorter than those of ascended deigan.

Another somewhat minor common feature of all deigan is that they lose their feathers as their health deteriorates, and deigan superstition states that once a deigan starts losing its feathers, it is a countdown towards their death, with their lives supposedly being forfeit when the last feather falls. This is nothing more than superstition, however, as plenty of deigan have gone bald over the ages without dying. Still, the myth remains, and most deigan are terrified once they start losing their feathers, thinking that it is a warning of their impending death.

Penin
Often considered blunt and distrustful, penin is a race that keeps mostly to itself, only admitting to interacting with outsiders when conducting trade with other races, or in the odd event when unwelcome strangers manage to stumble too near one of their cities in the hostile regions of northern Wegam Fermos, where there are plenty of mountains in which to build settlements and even more plentiful resources of ores and stone. The penin boast of their bargaining-skills, and their boastfulness is well-earned, for they are amongst the most stubborn and headstrong creatures in all of Reniam, but at the same time also some of the most indulgent and merry once they know that they are amongst friends.
A penin is a humanoid of modest height, rarely even growing to be four feet tall, but are very proportionally broad and powerful for their size. While most of their bodies are built the same way as that of any other humanoid, there are certain differences, such as the fact that both their heads and hands are incased in a tough naturally occurring bone-armor, appearing to be a sort of exoskeleton that covers all except their eyes, nose and mouth. The extra skull makes the penin's heads almost impossible to crack, and the bone-plates on their hands enable them to handle things that are too sharp or hot for unprotected hands without any discomfort. On top of this natural armor, the penin enjoy a remarkable constitution and amazingly durable bodies (proof of that is the fact that they enjoy drinking the beverage they call Finest like humans drink ale, despite of Finest literally being able to melt a person's hair, skin and eyeballs if getting in contact with them), making them notoriously hard to kill - especially since most non-lethal injuries just tend to piss them off. It was supposedly their very durability which caused the natural development of their mastery in the forging of weapons, as well as them being able to handle red-hot metal with their bare hands. Starting out hard to kill, penin naturally needed better weapons than other races in order to kill each other, and in order to protect against these better weapons, better armor was needed, etcetera, etcetera. Today, the penin have the greatest masters of metallurgy, masonry and carpentry in all of Reniam, and their forges are the origins of the finest weapons and armor in the world.
In battle, penin tend to take advantage of their hardiness, making tight formations to prevent their enemies from passing by them when forced to fight and hiding behind massive walls and siege-engines when trying to outlast their opponents - the latter being their favorite manner of achieving victory. Although penin - with habits that lead them to drink, fight and generally be in rather life-threatening situations during the practice of their crafts - rarely live to die of old age, they can live to be up to three hundred years old.

Tarken
Tarken are exceedingly rare in Rodoria, as their homeland lies in Derisstahn far to the west of the human kingdom, past northern Wegam Fermos and with all but its easternmost tip with either the Qetemak Steppes for the northernmost part of the border, or the Tokif Wilds for the southernmost part of the border - but they are even more so because the tarken are infamous for their extremely conservative culture. Tarken are giants by human standards, averaging a height of almost eight feet and a width by their shoulders of more than three feet, and possess a racial brute strength that renders them capable of bending steel with their bare hands, and easily being able to tear a human's head right off its shoulders. They have very long and muscular ape-like arms, with hands that have only four fingers, including the thumb, each more than twice as thick as human fingers and each finger ending in three inch long bear-like claws. Although their shoulders and chests are huge, their waists tend to be amazingly slender and out of proportions, and they have legs that are quite short for their size - only about the length of human legs - with four-toed and clawed feet. They tend to have long, pointy chins and narrow heads, beak-shaped noses and very wide mouths, the latter full of sharp predatory teeth. Their ears are very long and pointy, their eyes are droplet-shaped and have black irises, and they are completely bald. Oh, and they have yellow skin. The only visible difference between male and female tarken are the female tarken's bosoms (although these tend to appear small and hard to notice in comparison, thanks to their huge and muscular frame) and their sexual organs. Unless they are naked, they are nearly impossible for all but other tarken's to tell apart.
Despite their grotesque appearance, tarken are far from monstrous and are actually amongst the honest of the races of Reniam, valuing honor almost as much as they do pride and glory in battle. Many who have never met a tarke mistakenly think that they are slow-minded creatures that are little more than animals, but this perception is mainly based on their bestial appearance and the fact that their society has not changed at all since the early Barbaric Age. The tarken remain barbarians and pride themselves being powerful and valiant warriors, as well as skilled hunters.
The reason that the tarken have not changed in the last two millennia is their depressingly slow lifespan. When a tarke is born, it matures completely within twelve years, and once it reaches maturity it is expected - no, required to contribute to the tarken community to its fullest, as they rarely live to see an age of fifty. Thus the lives of tarken are so short that their entire culture strives to make full use of each individual tarke before it dies, leaving little to no time for the schooling and development the other, longer-lived races have known. Tarken that derivate from the very strict norms of the tarken community, or which leave their home for personal reasons, are instantly branded exiles and called frehken - tarahn (the language of the tarken) for "outcast". Tarken despise frehken passionately, and they consider it the greatest possible dishonor, naturally making tarken extremely careful not to be named one such.
The tarken community is build up by a number of clans, which the tarken members inherit their surnames after, but they have a rather unusual system of leadership. Any tarke's worth is determined by their tarkir - tarahn for "heart", but which really refers to their weapon of choice. Any tarke with a tarkir of better craftsmanship or power than another's enjoy superior social status. Thus the leader of each clan is the tarke with the greatest tarkir, and a clan's authority over the other clans is determined by the clan-leader's tarkir. Thus, the tarke with the best and mightiest tarkir is the leader of all tarken. These tarkir are usually tarken-made weapons that are quite unique in design, but can at times also be remarkably powerful weapons crafted by other races - penin-made weapons are naturally popular amongst these.
In battle, tarken are renowned for their reckless manner of fighting and utter disregard of danger and pain. This is due to two things in particular: that tarken almost never stop to consider their next step before taking action, but rather tend to act spontaneously and thus often thoughtlessly, and their unique ability to go utterly and completely berserk. Tarken have two hearts and two sets of veins and arteries - a main heart, which is always active, and a secondary heart which only starts beating when the tarke is agitated or if the main heart suffers failure. This means that in battle, tarken pump out such outrageous amounts of adrenaline in their bodies that they basically become mindless engines of destruction, knowing no restraint or mercy but tearing through enemy ranks with all of their barbarism. It also means that they can sustain great damage to their bodies, as they will not really feel it as long as they are in this state of blinding rage, and that if one heart fails, the other will compensate. Tarken often throw away their lives by fighting like this, but each tarke is almost guaranteed to kill numerous enemies before getting taken down.
A final racial property about the tarken is their lack of affinity for magic. The souls of tarken are tied so closely to their physical bodies that it is practically impossible for them to perform any magic requiring their own magical energy, but at the same time, this grants them an uncanny resistance towards magic used against them. Being unable to use magic themselves, the tarken tend to be distrustful towards it, and sometimes even hostile towards mages. They think that magic is a means by which physically weaker races ease their own existence, and that those using magic only weakens themselves in the long run, making them lazy and undisciplined. In reality, though, most of their distrust is born from fear of what they do not understand.

Melenians
This is the race that has its home in the islands of Melenaoth, situated to the north of Rodoria in the Melenian Ocean. They are also known as the cat-people and the Children of the White Tiger, and they are one of the latest discovered species of sentient creatures. Melenian culture is significantly different from that of the races that dwell on the mainland, since as the Melenians have developed their entirely own values and society that they aim to uphold despite of their bad luck after meeting with the mainland races. Still, the Melenians uphold a civilization where the females are the largest, strongest and most dominant, while the male Melenians are often considered of little value at all by the females, and are mostly used only as servants for mundane and simple tasks or as frontline infantry in battle, and occasionally, when the females feel like it, for mating. The Melenians are known to be masters of traveling at sea, having the largest known fleet in Reniam, and are the unchallenged rulers of the Melenian Ocean. Yet their specialty is actually being unheard and unseen, making them ideal for illegal activities and spying. Around Melenaoth, pirate ships amass to rob anyone daring to trespass into their territory, and on top of that, Melenian smugglers, thieves and assassins can be found all over the continent, and after their war against Rodoria in the early Age of Civilization, Melenian slaves can likewise be found all across the world.
Although the Melenians tend to have their hate towards the mainlanders in common, their society is too weak to actually commit any aggressions towards them, since it is constantly weakened by the unending civil war in Melenaoth, between the two different factions of Melenians. The one group, with their main settlement being Arkanoz of the Melenian isles, calls themselves the Regal and are lead by a Clan Mother and several Huntresses who work as her law-enforcers. The other group, which is mainly situated in Tigrola, are the Unseen, lead by an anonymous character only known as the Fence. Since the Regal stand for law and order, and the Unseen is largely just an advanced criminal organization with a city of their own, the war between the two factions has been ongoing for as long as the Melenians has recorded their history. Currently, however, an even more significant problem for their race is the very frequent use of the drug piaan, which makes the imbibers ridiculously huge and strong the longer they drink it, but at the same time is extremely addictive and causes their brains to degenerate. As they get larger and stronger by drinking piaan, they also lose their intelligence, eventually turning feral and ultimately dying.
Melenians are just a little shorter than humans, their average height varying only a few inches from that of the average human. They stand on their hind-legs like humans, have arms and hands, but remain very feline in appearance. Their head and tail are those that of a cat, and their feet are paws, and although they have developed fingers on their hands, these still have feline claws. They also have full-body fur, varying greatly in color and patterns, big, pointy ears and eyes with pupils that vary from being regular circles or vertical slits. Melenian males are significantly more like cats than the females, walking hunched over when they stand and sometimes even resorting to walking on all fours. The females, then, are remarkably more human-like than the other gender. They stand perfectly straight, their heads held high and proud, but their most famous property is how much their physiology reminds of that of an attractive human woman, as female Melenians have genetically slim waists and wide hips, and very human-like (although furry) breasts. The female Melenians' resemblance to attractive women has caused many human slave-owners to abuse their female slaves - a mistake that is almost always the last one they make, as virtually any of the prideful Melenian females would rather die than allow someone to get away with having them suffer such an indignity.
Melenian males has an average lifespan of seventy years, while females easily live to be ninety. The quick reflexes and racial agility makes Melenians good warriors and assassins, and they tend to favor daggers, rapiers and falchions, and usually only use bows and crossbows when preparing to board another ship at sea.

Nightwalkers
Amongst the rarest of the sentient races, yet almost as widespread as humans, are the Nightwalkers. These are a breed of creatures quite unique in many ways, yet surprisingly similar to humans in appearance and nature. They vary as greatly in height and volume as humans do, as well as the color of their hair and skin vary, although Nightwalkers are often found to be unusually pale, as their nature bids them to remain out of the sun to prevent them from going blind. The most obvious difference between humans and Nightwalkers is that Nightwalkers have eyes that consist solely of pupil, having no iris, which means that Nightwalkers’ eyes sense any light in their surroundings, even when there is none visible to races with lesser dark vision. In turn, even weak sources of light burns their eyes, and if exposed to bright light, they can go temporarily or permanently blind, depending on the brightness of the light and the duration of the exposure. Nightwalkers also has an interesting culture, since they traditionally live by the code ‘death before dishonor’ and are willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of their own honor or that of their home and family. This code, which to many Nightwalkers is an obsession, is probably part of the reason for their decreasing numbers.
Nightwalkers live for around two hundred years, reaching maturity around the age of twenty-five. Although they age the exact same way as humans, they age considerably slower. Their civilization is almost nonexistent, since their few numbers mean that they only gather in a few villages that dot the lands, and otherwise just live amongst humans, since that is the race with the strongest semblance to their own.
Nightwalkers are not much different from humans when it comes to fighting, as they can use just about any weapon a human can with the same natural affinity. Even so, a certain order of Nightwalker warriors existed, and although it was reputably disbanded a century ago, the Knights of the Will are still famed for their skill, dedication to good and justice, and the development of a sort of 'sixth sense', which allowed them to 'feel' the presence and actions of their opponents even when they could not be seen and heard, allowing them to counteract accordingly. There are also a few mages, but these rarely wield much success in their field, and they are known to be useless archers as even the least flicker of light can ruin their aim.
Supposedly, the Nightwalkers were once far more abundant and powerful than they are now, and even had a sizable empire of their own to the far south of Rodoria, possibly in the regions now belonging to the human Catolohne Empire. Myths tell that, in these days, Nightwalkers possessed a mysterious power that was greater than any known type of magic, and which allowed them to create and destroy anything at their whim, and reputedly had even discovered a secret to obtaining immortality. If this was ever true, the Nightwalkers has long ago lost this power for one reason or another, no trace remains of their empire, and their numbers have been drastically decreased. Historians theorize that the ancient Nightwalkers were seduced by their own powers and in an effort to gain more turned on each other, effectively causing their empire to turn on itself until it was utterly obliterated. As for the absence of the power, there is no explanation to be had, and scholars can only guess, just as they can only dream to finding the secret themselves.
Nightwalker-blood also has some special properties, most noticeably concerning vampires. Though virtually all humanoid races are susceptible to be inflicted with vampirism, Nightwalkers have somehow either developed or always been in possession of a rather unique defense against this dark condition: rather than simply letting the vampire drink the Nightwalkers blood and turn the Nightwalker into a blood-drinking beast itself, Nightwalker-blood causes a very strong allergic reaction to the vampire-curse. In other words, a vampire making the mistake of feeding on a Nightwalker will be struck with terrible pain, attacked from the inside, and die as if the blood was poison. Unfortunately, the Nightwalker bitten - with the vampire-curse in its veins - will suffer the same fate as its assailant.
Nightwalkers are one of the few races capable of mixing with certain other races - more specifically, Nightwalkers and humans are capable of breeding and producing a sort of cross-breed offspring, popularly referred to as "Daywalkers". These half-Nightwalker, half-humans have a shorter lifespan than Nightwalkers, but longer than humans, as well as they maintain some of the unique properties of the Nightwalker blood, such as the intolerance towards vampirism. Daywalkers have human/Nightwalker appearance, as the two races are much alike already, except for the eyes, which resembles neither. Daywalkers have completely white eyes - thus earning their name. Superstition claims (because of the eyes and their name) that Daywalkers are the opposite of Nightwalkers - that they needed very strong light to see instead of as little as possible. This, however, is but a legend. In truth, Daywalkers are completely and utterly blind - after all, they have no pupils.

Gazzeral
The Gazzeral is a race that is surprisingly similar to the Melenians, only being a race of reptilian humanoids instead of feline, retaining the scales, head and tale of a lizard. They were the original inhabitants and rulers of Rodoria and roughly half of southern Wegam Fermos, but were nearly exterminated by an alliance of humans, penin and deigan. Driven into hiding, the few survivors of the race now live in caves and deep, untamed forests. The Gazzeral are a thoroughly peaceful race, frowning upon all killing. As a proof of their pursuit of harmony with all things, the culture of the Gazzeral decided that they - despite being carnivores by nature - would strive to be vegetarians, living off the land while caring for the plants and animals, causing the regions they inhabited to be some of the most lush in Reniam. Not much is known about the Gazzeral, except that they make excellent sorcerers and healers, and that they were apparently once even more civilized than the ascended deigan are now. Now, however, the Gazzeral live in hiding, keeping their locations and lifestyles secret from the world. The only ones seen are known to have devolved to a more savage state, walking on all four and hunting prey from their caves like predators. These are not referred to as Gazzeral, though, but rather just as reptilians.
Male and female Gazzeral differ significantly in built, as male Gazzeral tend to be more compact than the females, whereas females are very thin and long in almost every aspect of their being. One could say that male Gazzeral mostly resemble humanoid lizards, while females rather look like humanoid serpents. Their tongues can be both regular and forked, and the color of their hide varies greatly, depending on the environment in which they hatched from their eggs. Their pupils are narrow slits and their nostrils are mounted directly on their snout, as they usually are on reptiles. How long it takes for a Gazzeral to mature is not entirely certain - estimated to around eighty years - but it is known that they can live for more than three thousand years.

Demonspawn
Truth be told, not many details are known about demonspawn, since whenever they are indentified, it is exceedingly rare that both demonspawn and the other survives the encounter. Demonspawn are the unholy result of the female demon Himyth - the only demon lord known to have ever conquered the Divide between Reniam and the Lower Plane - mating with a mortal. The progeny is demonspawn: part demon, and part their mortal parent. The appearance of these creatures is the most varied of all races, as there are practically no limits to how they can look. Demonspawn has been known to possess qualities of various mortal races, but at the same time have developed various inhuman, monstrous and demonic features that seem completely random. The only feature they all seem to have in common is that their eyeballs have mirror-like surfaces with no pupils or irises (which strangely does not seem to worsen their sight the least), but which opens a circular hole in the middle similar to a pupil when the demonspawn uses its powers, with the hole radiating a glow of apparently any color, but with which the color seems to be determined by the demonspawn's power.
All demonspawn have an inherently high probability of turning out evil, and even in the rare even that one of them manages to defy this trait, their infernal blood will tempt them to commit dark acts to sate their lust for death and destruction. Even so, demonspawn long not solely for this - quite the contrary, all demonspawn are not as much motivated by the evil in their hearts as the craving inflicted upon their minds by their Dread Mother. Upon their birth, all demonspawn receive a very specific drive: a desire that inevitably becomes the catalyst of everything they do, and a desire that they will spend their entire lives trying to sate. This desire can be various things, a few examples being hatred towards all things, thirst for violence, wealth or power, an urge to feel superior over all else or even just to hoard together as many random objects as possible... a truly freakish instance of such a desire could even be a vastly increased libido. No matter what they do, and no matter whether they wish to give in to their wicked heritage or not, demonspawn cannot resist this characteristic that defines who they are.
Another trait that seems just as irregular as everything else with these unique demonspawn is their powers. Demonspawn are incapable of performing traditional magic, but are instead granted individual powers that tend to be quite specific in their use but remarkably potent in that specific use. These powers, again, seem to be anything - examples include the ability to generate electric currents from their own body, ignite fire at their will, control and shape minerals in the ground, moving metal by magnetism-like means and even accelerating and reversing aging of creatures and objects. While these powers are great, they come at a grave cost. Demonspawn do not drain magical energy from their souls when they use their magic, as other mortals do, but rather activate their power by giving themselves over to their infernal half, allowing their demonic heritage to roam their bodies. Consequently, the more they use their powers, the more demonic they become - both physically and mentally. They will develop more and more monstrous features, just as the evil in their souls grows fiercer and harder to resist. However, as they become more demonic, their power becomes greater as well. A truly evil circle: as the power is used, it becomes greater and getting more tempting to use. And at the same time, the demonspawn becomes more evil and more susceptible to the temptation of its own power. Therefore, demonspawn that use their powers once are rarely able to stop using them again, and end up malevolent beasts for which there is no salvation other than death.
Due to all of these extreme dangers connected to demonspawn, most governments aim to exterminate their kind rather than live with the risk of them trying - and failing - to adapt to the world.
One last detail - as yet another result of their demonic heritage, as they mutate into increasingly demonic forms, their blood turns yellow and toxic. Furthermore, when a demonspawn dies, its body instantly dissolves into a cloud of sulfur.As might be relevant with more demonspawn near one another, all demonspawn are capable of sensing one another's nearness whenever the other demonspawn uses their powers, as the invocation of other demonspawn's infernal power speaks to the fiendish heritage in all demonspawn. This does not communicate what the other demonspawn's power is, though - rather, when one is using its power, other demonspawn will feel their dark desire and be able to tell its relative strength and what its drive is.
Finally, all demonspawn are born with the Devil's Tongue already in their minds, capable of speaking it fluently (presuming that they have mouths, tongues and vocal cords, which may not be the case with all of their kind).

Niin
Though seen extremely rarely in the lands north of the Catolohne Empire, Frehklahem and Grethlamahn, it occurs once or twice every decade that one or more of the elusive Niins venture into the northern regions, and sometimes even make their way to Rodoria, where practically no-one has even heard of their race. Mainly living in small societies scattered to the far south and otherwise only found on the other side of the Yawning Gorge, the Niin race still manages to stand out quite remarkably, as their appearance seem far from that of any other humanoid creature of the northern lands - except possibly from mutated demonspawn, which can have virtually any appearance. A Niin is, as stated before, humanoid, and most of their appearance takes after this. They have humanlike skin, though this is often very dark, comparable to a very strong tan, and they grow hair the same places as humans, and have the same organs, diet and man- and lady-parts, though their women's curves are almost always petite and their frames frail to the point where they eternally look like children. The men are only slightly more muscular than the women, but notably more wiry to look at, whereas the women tend to be rather fair to look at, and attractive Niins will mostly be labeled "adorable" in a childlike fashion rather than beautiful or handsome. They are a relatively small people, ranging from four to five feet in height, and mostly have clear blue eyes, with rare cases of them having sharp green and sometimes even orange irises. Their hair is mostly black or dark brown, though Niin redheads are not altogether uncommon either. They have large, but humanlike ears - approximately one and a half times the size of average human ears - but otherwise, the form of their heads and bodies do not differ notably from human bodies, though their voices are usually several pitches shriller than human voices, both in males and females. What truly and thoroughly sets them apart from the other races, however, is the fact that they have two sets of arms, usually with unusually long, thin fingers - and all four arms appear to move with such practiced ease that it is almost as if each arm has a mind of its own.
Physically, Niins are known for the unusual manner their joints work - in a manner, actually, rather similar to cats in that none of the joints of a Niin's body is actually stationary, but can be turned, twisted and moved in ways that might seem unnatural, allowing Niins to squeeze through just about any openings big enough for their head (like cats) and otherwise perform impossible moves, in combat and otherwise, that would likely have snapped the bones of less flexible creatures, or at the very least dislocated their joints. This, combined with their light builds and four hands, would have made them perfect thieves and infiltrators... had it not been for their even more infamous psychological properties.
Firstly, Niins are notoriously curious to such a degree that their curiosity has come to define them as a race, and it generally overrules any other feeling they might have - sometimes even their instinct of survival. The phrase most commonly used by any Niin is "What is that?", and hearing this spoken with a squeaky voice usually automatically causes people familiar with Niins to hide their possessions somewhere secret and inaccessible, check their pockets and immediately dive for cover, as a Niin will go to just about any length to see their curiosity sated - and they are liable to become curious about every single new thing they hear about, be this a type of dish, an animal, magic, country, or the feeling of losing a limb. Generally the only way to stop a Niin from pursuing something that has caught its interest is to distract them with something else that might interest them, hopefully causing them to forget their previous obsession, only to chase this new idea relentlessly. In turn once their curiosity is sated, they lose interest instantly and stop caring about what they might previously have gone to their deaths for without hesitation. This is also the reason that Niin don't understand the concept of "owning" something very well, as they are used to their kinsmen visiting their homes frequently simply because they are curious about what is happening inside, and when they do this they will often pick up things from each others' homes and take with them to examine them in closer detail. They don't understand the use for doors, either, as they see no reason to keep others out of certain areas, and thus has no hesitation picking locks and breaking into otherwise secure locations. In fact, the more secure a place is, the more obsessed a Niin become with what might be inside - just as the more a person tries to hide a piece of information, the more inquisitive a Niin will become (which is why an unspoken agreement exists between everyone that has even heard of Niins that one is never to mention black magic to them, as such an interest could have consequences of cataclysmic proportions). This - plus the fact that Niin are largely incapable of empathy and consequently don't realize what angers others - has caused Niins to be branded as thieves and troublemakers, though they do not actually do these things on purpose. It is simply in their nature.
Secondly, Niins are always eager to share what they have learned through the pursuit of their curiosity, and will often be seen stalking random people on the street, giving lengthy, but greatly enthusiastic descriptions of things they have "discovered", even if these things are generally perceived as mundane. This also causes them to pretty much announce it to everyone they meet when they have broken in somewhere or stolen something, which makes them quite lousy criminals. While it might seem like they would make perfect spies, this is not true either since they would actually eagerly tell everyone they got near of their assignment, as well as unscrupulously reveal the identity of their employers and everything they knew about them.
As Niins mature relatively early - about when they are twenty years old - have a lifespan of almost three hundred years and are pregnant a mere ten months before giving birth, one might suspect that their population was growing uncontrollably and that a horde of Niins would eventually outnumber the other races. Mercifully, while this might be the obvious theoretic outcome, it is not the case in reality. Firstly, Niins very rarely get to die from old age, as their curiosity tends to send them to early deaths when they get obsessed with things such as what is at the top of the highest trees, the nature of large predatory beasts or how far they can bend forward over the ledge of a cliff. Secondly, Niins practically never stay in their small societies once they mature as they tend to get curious about what can be found past the horizon or hear about distant lands and start wandering off, and thus Niins only really ever return to live in these societies when they manage to grow more than two hundred years old and their curiosity starts waning (a bit) with old age. Many think it is a miracle that the Niins have not gone extinct yet because they are experts at getting themselves into trouble, let alone that they maintain a somewhat stable population despite their racial suicidal tendencies.
While Niins make incredibly good dexterous fighters, they have no real armies and thus no soldiers, and generally they do not even have any interest in fighting at all. Even put in a situation that would force other races to fight despite their disinterest in this, Niins are liable to just wander off regardless in search of new things to discover. Niin only very rarely bond with other living beings or objects - but when they do, they become ferociously loyal and protective about the thing of their continuous interest, and are even known to fight to defend these things even against impossible odds. A Niin that has developed such a bond is considered extremely dangerous - perhaps even more so than a berserk tarke.
Finally, while Niin curiosity is infamous for being relentless, and for having been cause for murders and even wars in the past simply because information best left unknown has been unearthed by them, there is one thing that the other races fear even more. If any sensible being that knew about the Niin ever heard one utter the words "I am bored", panic ensues. Seriously. Entire cities have been evacuated for less and imperial armies mobilized to ward off the consequences. A bored Niin is the incomparably most dangerous occurrence in Reniam, ranking just above the return of Kreshtaat and a new Age of Darkness, because a bored Niin stops at nothing to find an interest to entertain itself.

Xuhrl-njok Sprynes
Although practically never seen on the eastern side of the Yawning Gorge, let alone Rodoria, it occasionally happens that single individuals or small groups of these creatures stray to those regions by sea, intentionally or accidentally. But while eastern civilization knows virtually nothing of them, the farther west you go - especially once you enter the so-called Savage Fields past the gaping chasm - the Xuhrl-njok will be mentioned with exponentially increasing frequency, and with greater and greater fear in the voice of the speaker. They are known by many names: dark spirits, doombringers, soulrenderers, the Scourge from the West and simply The Enemy being the most commonly used. Few actually call them by the name they have given themselves, both because their language is difficult to pronounce for most and out of almost superstitious fear that speaking the dreaded name would somehow conjure the beings it describes. In their tongue, "Xuhrl-njok" means World-Child or World-Sapling and refers to their race as a whole, and "Spryne" means Nation and refers to an individual or group of their species.
Xuhrl-njok have slate gray skin that is not affected by sunlight, but which tends to darken to near-black when wet, and are completely hairless, their skin being smooth to the touch but also disturbingly chill compared to other mammal species. They are typically between six feet and eight feet tall, and their legs are somewhat human-like in shape only with their bones being half the thickness of average human bones, and their feet are very long and narrow - only about two-thirds the width of what one would expect a human foot to have, yet likely one and a half times as long - with only two toes, each adorned with a short, dull claw. Their torsos are likewise humanlike in form, and their arms - thin like the legs - are of recognizably humanoid structure, albeit one-third longer than human arms normally are, with three-fingered hands (including thumb) and very long, bony fingers, tipped with black fingernails. Their heads have strangely flat and elongated droplet-shaped faces with long chins that always end in a point and their noses being only discernible as a pair of slits above the mouth, below a seemingly unoccupied area of the face. The corners of the mouth are downturned by nature, giving them a perpetually displeased expression by human standards, their lips are the same color as their skin and they have teeth that are a combination of incisors, canines and molars, just like humans. Their eyes are narrow but large, slanting inward, with a round pupil surrounded by irises that range from near-white to pale blue, venomous green and fiery red. Their ears are batlike in shape but humanlike in proportions, and are capable of closing to shut out unpleasantly loud noises. Finally, Xuhrl-njok possess three sets of long, thin white extremities, similar to insect-legs with three joints, consisting only of bone as an exoskeleton, sinew and a little bit of muscle to allow them to move. Each of these extremities is about four feet long, and they are placed symmetrically in three pairs: one pair set on the sides of the hips, one pair on the shoulders, and one pair on the elbows of their arms.
Rather than their physical properties earning them their place as the Scourge from the West, however, the fear and resentment towards their race comes from other things, one of the most important factors probably being the unique innate affinity for magic that every Xuhrl-njok Spryne is born with, making every single Xuhrl-njok Spryne a mage of equal or greater natural talent than the best that the other races have to offer. Magic comes so easily to the Xuhrl-njok that their race discarded the need for their legs many centuries ago, and has since moved around solely by magical means, deigning not to touch the ground but rather levitating an inch or two above it, and when they speak, they prefer to do so without moving their lips, but producing words and noises magically to tailor the sound to their wishes. Their scorn for physical activity and reliance on the forces of magic is so great that Xuhrl-njok consider all body-mass a bothersome burden, be that mass fat or muscle, and opt to both eat and move as little as possible to minimize either, further emphasizing their bony, fragile nature. Naturally, building their entire lives and society around magic requires the Xuhrl-njok Sprynes to have a considerable amount of magical energy at their disposal, significantly more than the average human or deigan, but luckily that is not an issue for them, as Xuhrl-njok are not only in possession of souls that from birth have twice the capacity of average human souls, but they are also immune to the health-degradation that usually comes with soul-expansion and can increase their energy-capacity without regard for their physical condition.
But what is all the more fearsome about their magical abilities is that the Xuhrl-njok are not only containers for magical energy, but act as superconductors of it as well. If they spend too much of their magical energy they are able to enter a meditative trance, albeit only after preparing themselves, which can take anywhere between five minutes and several hours depending on the talent of the Spryne in question, which allows them to form a direct connection between the Spirit Realm and Reniam, funneling limitless magical energy into their body until the meditation is ended. Even more worryingly Xuhrl-njok are not limited to drawing magical energy from the Spirit Realm but can, and will, draw directly upon the ambient energy of Reniam as well. Xuhrl-njok are actually capable of wielding magic without even tapping into their own reserves by using the naturally occurring magical energy of the world around them - a sight which can be extremely demoralizing and downright terrifying to spectators, as this will effectively result in the death of first any nearby plant-life, and then the extermination of more simple-minded creatures, making it seem like Xurhl-njok Sprynes stand in the center of a spreading shroud of death. They are even capable of drawing magical energy from smarter animals and sapient creatures if they obtain physical contact with them and their will proves stronger than that of their victims.
Another main reason for the fear that the Xuhrl-njok has earned from the other civilizations in the Savage Fields is that they are, quite simply, a race of sociopaths. Xuhrl-njok are wholly incapable of empathy with members of other races and their own alike, and care for nothing but what they themselves feel and want. Sympathy and compassion are concepts beyond what they are capable of understanding, which is why the Xuhrl-njok's word for "individual" and "nation" is the same: because each Spryne exist only for itself, feels no camaraderie, fellowship or loyalty, only ally with others for selfish reasons, and only breed because their instincts dictate that they must. They feel no pity and have no mercy: to fight against Xuhrl-njok is to try to fend off annihilation, an army that murders without remorse and leaves the land dead and barren wherever they are fought. Not all Xuhrl-njok Sprynes agree with the general beliefs of their race - namely that they are superior to all others, and that the other races therefore should serve as their slaves - and may not be hostile towards members of other races, but their base nature is undeniable: they exist only for themselves, and will fight and kill anyone - be they complete strangers or close relatives - that stand in their way. That is also how the Xuhrl-njok function as a group rather than as scattered individuals: the strongest one dictates what the weaker must do, and anyone that questions the directions of the leader is left no option but to fight for the right to defy it.
The insect-like extremities of the Xuhrl-njok might have served another purpose previously, before the race abolished physical activity and decided that all matters were better solved with magic, but today they are used instead of the hands and fingers to trace glyphs in the arcane language and Devil's Tongue to invoke magic. The fact that a Xuhrl-njok Spryne can weave six patterns at the same time like this means that they usually have to concentrate far less than other races when using magic, as the same glyph traced six times is highly unlikely to have any inaccuracies significant enough to cause the spell to fail - but at the same time, it means that the more masterful of the Sprynes are even able to cast multiple spells at the same time, and the greatest of the Xuhrl-njok master mages are capable of weaving six different spells at the same time, and - speaking through magic as they do - recite the incantations vocally as well. Doing this clearly means that spell failure is much more likely and inevitably drains enormous quantities of magical energy, but at the same time one of these masters is often able to obliterate small armies in merely the time it takes a common mage to cast a single spell.
It is fortunate that the Xuhrl-njok are extremely physically frail, or all of Kirirak - if not all of Reniam, if there truly are other continents out there - would fall to their dominion, and all the races would be reduced to slaves. Xuhrl-njok grow up quickly and age fast, too - a Spryne is usually considered an adult at the age of eight, and they rarely live past thirty years, making their lifespan even shorter than that of tarken... or it would have. However, the Xuhrl-njok are capable not only of stealing the magical energy of any creature they can dominate with their will, but also of converting this energy to pure life-force and using it to rejuvenate themselves, postponing age and adding years to their lives. Thus the Xuhrl-njok take slaves not because they need them for labor - they can easily do such things with magic - but because they need lesser beings to feed on. As long as they feed on others' souls, Xuhrl-njok Sprynes can prolong their existence indefinitely.

Before going into detail about how magic is used, a little explanation as to what it is might be required. Although magic is a great many different things, depending on how it is wielded, it actually all originate from the very same thing: the elemental entity known as magical energy.
All living things - even immortals like gods and demons - hold magical energy within themselves; they are part of it just as it is part of them. To simplify, magical energy can be described as the energy of the soul... a sort of spiritual blood, so to speak. When drawing out magical energy from oneself, that energy is taken from the soul, weakening it, which inevitably leads to certain problems. To simplify once more, the soul can be considered as an indicator of the best possible health a person can be of (meaning that a person with a naturally weak soul will be constantly tired and sickly, and a person with a strong soul will have a good immune system and large reserves of stamina). As the soul weakens with the draining of magical energy, the health of the body deteriorates, going through a number of phases. The first phase of "magical exhaustion", all one begin to feel is a lack of energy in one's limbs and general fatigue. In the second phase, one will experience that one's throat feels sore and lungs ache, sometimes accompanied by incessant fits of coughing - painful, but not a serious problem. In the third phase, the pain from second phase intensifies to crippling agony, and there is a chance that the mage will start coughing up blood. Going any further than to third phase of magical exhaustion is extremely dangerous - mostly it will simply cause the magus to lose consciousness, its mind and body drained to the point where there is a fair chance that it will lapse into a coma. Alternatively - if the mage somehow manages to remain conscious long enough - the soul can be depleted completely, resulting in the grueling fourth and final phase. In the fourth phase, the soul is utterly powerless - there is simply not even a morsel of magical energy left in it, and it is only just barely maintaining its own existence. Yet, with no strength left, all bodily functions stop working - breathing and heartbeat both stop. In other words, the body dies. Meanwhile, the soul remains alive, and even as it slowly recovers its magical energy, the body remains dead. The incorporeal soul is inevitably driven mad by its half existence, its mind possessed by hatred for the living. It becomes a specter - a kind of ghost-like creature, for which the only hope for salvation and release is to be destroyed.
Magical energy regenerates itself when the mage sleeps, as the soul passes into the Spirit Realm when the body is sleeping, where it recharges itself - the longer the slumber, the more energy is restored until the mage has fully recovered. However, even as the soul recovers quickly once its magical energy is returned, the mage's body does not. The soul only determines the best possible health - not the worst possible. Thus even though magical energy is gained, the body needs time to heal on its own, and the mage will only gradually recover from magical exhaustion, going back through the phases - unless the permanent fourth phase is reached - until full recovery.
Although the strength of every individual's soul differs from the moment of conception, defining potential and initial power, it is possible to "train" the soul to increase the maximum amount of magical energy it can contain by repeatedly and continuously exhausting one's soul - the greater magical exhaustion, the more effective the training will be, as the soul tries to compensate for the lack of energy by evolving capacity to store more of it. But doing this has a downside: training one's soul will lower the body's health over and over, and as the body suffers such punishment so often, its permanent condition will deteriorate. This can happen in a lot of ways, ranging from just suffering from acne or asthma to inexplicably gaining or losing excessive amounts of bodyweight. In unlucky cases, it can even cause crippling deformities and deadly tumors. One could say that the weaker a sorcerer looks, the stronger it is likely it is.
Magical energy is unique from individual to individual, having various affinities for types of magic or elements. Mages are forced to "attune" to magical energy in order to use it to fuel their magic, and thus they are often able to sense the presence of other mages by noticing unusually strong magical energies. If there are very many magic-wielders gathered in the same place, or if there are someone with an utterly monstrously huge amount of magical energy nearby, even non-mages can sense it, though they might not recognize it or identify its origin. Rather, it will simply feel like the air is tingling, sort of like the feeling just before a thunderstorm, only without the smell of ozone. With even greater magical energy, the density might become so overwhelming that it becomes hard to breathe, it feels like one is being crushed by the very atmosphere, and sometimes just sheer intensity of magical energy can stop a person's heart.
All kinds of normal magic - except Favored power, which is really another topic entirely - rely on magical energy, and no magic can be performed without spending some of the strength of one's soul. Likewise, Favored power cannot be used without paying some kind of price either. Because of these universal truths about the two paths of magic, mages simplified all of this into one sentence - a sentence which is known as the First Law of Magic. As it is said in the arcane language:
"Cowath usth Unim." "Power demands sacrifice."

The Laws of Magic
The Laws of Magic are almost as an additional rule set for Reniam as fundamental as the laws of physics, and which are adhered to in the same unbending scale. Mortals are completely and inescapably bound by the Laws of Magic, whereas lesser demons and angels are only partially bound, deity-level demons and gods able to circumvent them in many cases, and the Spirits of Union, as the Creators of the Planes, are able to mostly ignore them. Demonspawn are in a unique situation because they are mortals with immortal blood, and as such certain demonspawn might have powers that enable them to bend or even ignore one or more of the Laws of Magic.

First Law of Magic: Power Demands Sacrifice.
The most important and general rule of all magic, this Law of Magic states that the use of all magic requires that something is given to gain it - for instance, magic of the self is fueled by magical energy, Favored power is only granted to those who commit themselves to their deities, and so forth. Many magi take this Law of Magic even further and transfer its meaning onto the rest of reality, stating that nothing is gained in the world without giving something in return, whatever form this currency returned might take, be it money, effort, material, health, or even luck.
The First Law of Magic is not one of equivalent trade, simply one of cause and effect. In magic, for instance, it is practically impossible to cast a spell expending only as much magical energy is needed for the spell. Even the best necromancers and most disciplined Wardens do not have the extreme control it would demand to prevent additional energy to be vented along with the spell, going to waste. More skill means less waste, but this amount of wasted energy never reaches zero. This the Law of Magic can be expanded to say that not only does one need to spend something to gain something, but one needs to spend more than one gains.

Second Law of Magic: Something Cannot Come of Nothing.
As potent and unreal as magic might seem to most, especially those uninitiated into its secrets, it is far from omnipotent. The Second Law of Magic can also be formulated thusly: Magic cannot create, only alter what is already in existence. An excellent example is to look at summoning magic at work, as one will see that when one expends nothing more on a summoning than magical energy, only the immortal’s soul is conjured, and not its body, and in order for the immortal’s physical form to be called forth, flesh and blood needs to be sacrificed. This rule applies to all magic: flames cannot exist without air to feed them, one cannot call forth water out of nothing (though there is water in the air, so this is virtually omnipresent), earth and stone are not made, only manipulated, and so forth. Only the Spirits of Union are capable of Creation, and not even the gods and deity-level demons are capable of escaping this, let alone puny mortals.

Third Law of Magic: The Spirits’ Work Cannot Be Undone.
According to this Law of Magic, all that is alive was formed by the hands of the Spirits of Union, and as such its form and function are permanent and unalterable. To elaborate, magic cannot be used to change one’s form, neither physical nor spiritual, nor can it change the form of others directly (obviously if something is set on fire it will change, but then the fire will change it, not the magic). All deities are excluded from this Law of Magic, and some lesser immortals as well.

Fourth Law of Magic: Time Is Absolute.
Magic cannot be used to change the course of time. To specify, age is not considered an aspect of time, and age is not what this Law of Magic speaks of. Rather, the Fourth Law of Magic speaks of the aspects of Past, Present and Future, and that these three cannot be touched by magic. This means that magic cannot be used to travel through time, that past events cannot be altered and that the flow of time cannot be stopped or slowed (one‘s perception of time, however, can - the two should not be confused), and that one can never fully know the future. None, not even the Spirits of Union, are capable of defying time, and only Nilick, the Oracle, is allowed to know the future.

Fifth Law of Magic: Life and Death Are Beyond the Reach of Magic.
Exactly as the Law of Magic states, magic cannot manipulate life and death, meaning that magic cannot create life, cannot reverse death, and cannot kill. Many young magi are confused at the last part of this, and argue that magic, with its vast potential for destruction is obviously more than capable of killing, but just as magic does not directly change the living, magic cannot directly kill either. There is no spell that simply kills the target, and though magic might conjure up fire or lightning or some such effect that lead to a mortal passing on, magic only created the fire or lightning, but did not kill. Only the Spirits of Union are capable of ignoring this Law of Magic entirely, though deities can bring back the dead and kill directly - but even gods and deity-level demons cannot create life.

Sixth Law of Magic: Change Cannot Exceed What You Know.
Magic cannot affect that of which the caster has no knowledge, meaning that one cannot cast magic (for instance, bestow a curse) upon something one does not have a grasp of the existence of. For example, a mage cannot direct the magical energies to control the elements in a place this mage cannot see, nor can one bestow a curse upon a person that one cannot fully identify in one’s mind (unless one happens to have photographic memory, the best way to do this is to be in the target’s presence - alternately, one can channel a curse through the blood of the target, a severed limb (if available) or a highly valued personal possession of the target). This part of the Sixth Law of Magic is especially important for the masterful, powerful few magi in Reniam capable of teleportation, as one needs to have an accurate image of one’s destination in mind in order to teleport there.
Another part of this law is that a magus has to know what it is trying to manipulate - for example, a mage cannot control fire if it does not know what fire is (though simply having seen a flame would qualify as knowing it). That is one of the main reasons that many magicians are also scholars, as they hope that by expanding the scope of their knowledge, they also expand the control they wield over the things they study.

Arcane Magic
This is likely the most energy-effective kind of magic of all, as well as the most reliable and the one with the most varied possibilities when it comes to results. Arcane magic is performed by forming commands in the arcane language while at the same time pouring magical energy into the spell. These incantations always have the same effect when the same words are used - only the magnitude of the effect is altered by adding more magical power than necessary. For instance, if one uses the arcane command to create a fireball, a sphere of explosive flames will always be created - but more magical energy will mean a more explosive fireball.
These spells are many and varied in nature, and can be expressed in a number of ways: they can be spoken, weaved in the air with one's hands or fingers, or even written on something - as long as the command is there, the magic will work. However, there is always a possibility of failing the spell one is trying to cast - a possibility which is extremely large. Even a single syllable mispronounced, a symbol traced wrongly or a tiny drop of ink rendering a glyph imperfect, the spell has a high risk of failing - that is why mages almost always use at least two of the options at the same time (reciting the spell in words is almost mandatory, with the two others being supplementary) so that if one make a slight mistake with one way of invoking the spell, the other might compensate and stabilize the effect. If a spell fails, the magical energy poured into it might either just go to waste, dispersing into nothing, or it might result in the spell turning on the caster with explosive force, injuring or killing the caster and anyone who happens to be nearby. Thus only exceptionally skilled and confident magi would rely on one method at the time - but in the rare event that such a genius arises, they can invoke magic with just a whisper or by tracing an arcane symbol with the tip of a finger.
Arcane mages who do not such a good and accurate memory as is required to recall the arcane language with the precision needed are usually called Rune Mages. Although it has a different name, rune magic is practically just a branch of arcane magic, with the only difference being that a Rune Mage has a set of arcane symbols, already carved in metal or stone, on their person at all times. They then only have to remember these few runes for a few spells to perform quite less varied magic.
Zerulic Rune Mages are given rune-swords: man-sized cleaver-shaped swords that are too heavy for any regular person to use. These rune-swords have special crystalline handles which allow the wielder to channel magical energy into the sword with relative ease. The glyphs carved into each rune-sword is designed to its wielder, but they all have a "Brega"-rune - translated to Unity, which makes the weapon seem weightless to the Rune Mage.

Their hilts are made from transparent and glasslike crystals, and the guard, made from the same crystal, seem to consist of a number of crystalline spikes that arc from where the blade originates and point their tips inwards, surrounding the hand wielding the sword. The handles are usually made so short that one could not possibly fit two hands on it, which might seem strange, considering that the massive blades ordinarily are five feet and three inches long and look like it could easily weigh over a hundred and fifty pounds, with the blade being shaped oddly, with the tip being flat and completely impossible to stab with. The swords only have one sharp-edged side, but are extremely thick and blunt on the other (the volume being the main cause of the weight) – a weapon meant for cleaving rather than traditional cutting, like a wood-chopping axe or a giant meat-cleaver.

I probably should also have explained the nature of of the sword becomes seemingly weightless to its wielder. As mentioned earlier, the arcane rune causing this effect is the one translating to "Unity", which of course is not a word chosen randomly for the function. Rather than the sword actually being weightless - since it remains huge and unwieldy - the Unity-rune makes it so that the wielder simply does not feel the weight, the same as if the rune-sword had been an extension of the wielder's own body, like an extra limb or something similar - and just as we don't consciously feel the weight of our arms and legs, Rune Mages don't consciously feel the weight of their rune-swords, either. The weight still very much applies in how it can be wielded, just as the weight of one's own body applies to how one can move about, but is capable of causing truly massively powerful impact because of its large mass.
Naturally this effect constantly requires magical energy from the wielder and slowly drains them, taking more energy the longer they are wielded, but they are designed so that a single rune - namely the Unity one, which is somewhat mandatory, since otherwise most Rune Mages would not even be able to lift their weapons - can be activated for long intervals of time without requiring much energy, and a Rune Mage with an average quantity of magical energy can probably have just the Unity-rune activated for 48 hours before they even reach first phase of magical exhaustion.

In my novel, the effect released from the rune-swords is also usually tied to the sword itself. Once again making referrence to one of my main characters there wielding a rune-sword with six runes (including the Unity one), he has one that lights the blade on fire, one that causes a sort of gale to appear around the blade, enabling it to cause powerful gusts of wind when swung. It also has one that makes powerful lightning spring from the blade and shoot from the tip, one that forms a sort of magical barrier from the blade to act as a shield for the wielder, and a final rune that causes the blade to disrupt flows of magical energy near it.
All of these effects are notably quite far from those I've witnessed from William, since his rune-sword seems more like a burst-type than one for maintained effects. It should be noted that it is also possible to release multiple runes at the same time, combining their effects into a new, possibly more powerful one, though it should be noted that each time an additional rune is released at the same time as the others, the energy drained is not simply the cost of the two runes combined - rather the cost increases exponentially, and it takes an exceptionally powerful Rune Mage to release more than three runes (Unity-rune included) at the same time without immediately killing themselves.

Elemental Magic
Sometimes also referred to as "primal magic", elemental magic is considered to be an inferior branch of magic amongst those that rely on the magus' own magical energy. Whether elemental magic is any better or worse than the other branches would be up to the individual mages to decide, however, because like all things, it has its pros and cons. Unlike arcane magic, elemental magic does not require an excellent memory, as elemental magic does not rely on incantations, or anything related to the arcane language, for that matter. Rather, elemental magic is controlled purely by the elementalist's mind. It works by the elementalist using great concentration and willpower to seize control of their own magical energy, and literally force it out of their bodies and make it manifest as an effect in the real world. The effect is controlled by the elementalist's will as well, making elemental magic somewhat diverse in its manifestation - but at the same time, it can only manifest as the element that the mage has the greatest affinity for (thus the name).
Elemental magic is significantly less energy-effective than most other kinds of magic, but makes up for this by being limited in power and effect only by the imagination of its wielder. Once, a number of clans existed where elementalists with affinity for the same element gathered to share their experiences and help each other evolve, but as with so many other cases in the past, these clans ended up battling each other to prove which element was superior. Today only the Fire and Ice (named so only because ice is considered the most useful form of water-magic) Clans remain, with the Ice Clan being based on Mount Zerul and the Fire Clan near Inferno Mountain in Jevog Denûm.

Art of the Warden
Although this specific category does not actually qualify as magic, it is still included because the Art of the Warden is still dependant on magical energy, although Wardens tend to refer to it as spiritual energy instead of its traditional name. Taught almost exclusively to the semi-religious orders of the Peace Wardens, Balance Wardens and Chaos Wardens, the Art of the Warden is used by manipulating magical energy and controlling it with great precision - however, unlike all other kinds of magic, this does not release the energy from the body, but rather keep it within the body and merely concentrate it in specific places. This is due to the fact that, as mentioned earlier, the strength of the soul is partially what defines the strength of the body. Wardens have learned to disturb the balance within themselves, making their soul stronger in some areas than in others, thus boosting their own physical attributes temporarily. Examples of effects this could have would be to empower muscles - sometimes to the point where a Warden might punch through a solid brick-wall - enable faster and more accurate movements, or even cause a sort of inner protective barrier beneath one's skin, granting someone a kind of natural armor.
Controlling magical energy within oneself requires great mental stability and focus, however, and can actually be one of the hardest types of magic to master. It takes a lot of practice just to be capable of manipulating the inner flux of energy to one's will without entering a meditative state first, and even longer to maintain the effects for longer intervals of time.
It should be noted that whenever a Warden uses magical energy like this - strikes a blow with enhanced muscles, moves with increased speed or receives injury while being protected by magical inner armor - magical energy is expended to create the effect, and naturally, the greater physical enhancement the Warden wants, the more energy is required.

Necromancy
Unlike what is the common perception of necromancy, it is by no means an evil branch of magic, nor is its main purpose to spawn undead minions - that is merely what it has been perverted into by overambitious necromancers. Actually, the main principle of necromancy is merely a refined version of elemental magic, in which the main difference is that the necromancer - relying heavily on logic, intelligence and mental focus rather than 'brute' willpower - does not force the magical energy expended to manifest, but rather control it in its purest form where it remains intangible. This gives necromancers a far better 'sense' for other magi's magical energy, as well as it makes necromancers capable of hiding their own energy from others.
Even so, the predominant use of necromancy predictably is to animate the dead. Ancient necromancers mainly concentrated their efforts on releasing ghosts and specters from their eternal torments of undeath, and otherwise only brought back the dead - calling back the magical energy of a dead body, temporarily reviving it - to commune with them in order to benefit from their experience and insight. Modern necromancers, on the other hand, primarily uses their abilities to infuse corpses with their own magical energy, animating them not as the people they were before their deaths, but as mindless servants. Powerful necromancers are even known to be capable of enslaving ghosts and specters by gathering the residue magical energy they consist of and overwhelming it with their own.
Because of past cases with necromancers going mad with power - Delian Gilmah and the Black Tribunal being a major reason - necromancy was made illegal in Rodoria and Wegam Fermos approximately two thousand years ago, and remains illegal to this day.

Black Magic
If any sole sort of magic can be considered evil, this would be it. Having been outlawed since soon after the Age of Darkness - approximately thirty-six hundred years - it is the most hated and feared of all magic. Black magic is sort of related to arcane magic, as the two are essentially similar, yet the opposite of one another. Naturally, this requires some explanation.
Initially, a similarity between black and arcane magic is that both requires an incantation for the magic to be invoked, of just about the same kinds - either verbal, woven in the air or written in runes. The difference would then be that black magic does not rely on arcane language, but the sinister Devil's Tongue which is the native language of demons.
Another similarity is that with both kinds of magic, the length of the spell will often define how powerful it is - only while arcane spells will usually be more powerful the longer the spell is, black magic reacts the opposite, becoming less powerful and more controlled the longer the incantation is used to invoke it. Thus someone wielding black magic might need several sentences and gestures in the air to just light a candle, but might reduce entire cities to rubble with but a single word.
Lastly and most importantly, both kinds of magic naturally requires the caster's magical energy to fuel it... only while the mage has to consciously pour that energy into the spell with arcane magic, in black magic, the magical energy is removed forcefully with the invocation of the spell, regardless of the caster's intention or willingness to part with this.
Because of all of these things, black magic is perceived as incredibly dangerous for both the caster and everyone around it, since it is disturbingly easy and tempting to learn - as just one word is essentially enough to invoke spells beyond the ability of common wizards - and extremely difficult to control. In the wrong hands, black magic might unleash incredible destructive power while at the same time instantly depleting the caster's magical energy all the way to fourth phase of magical exhaustion.
Very few practitioners of black magic remain, and these becomes fewer and fewer with every generation, as just about every scripture found on black magic is promptly destroyed, rendering the knowledge on how to perform it mostly passed down from one black mage to another.

Summoning Magic
The second most feared kind of sorcery in Reniam, outlawed soon after black magic in the early Barbaric Age. The function of summoning magic is actually quite simple: to conjure immortals from the other Planes to Reniam, and (hopefully) binding them to the summoner's will. Of course, both the summoning and enslaving of immortals requires an extremely powerful magus, since immortals tend to be far superior to mortals in terms of raw power, and often these summonings go awry. Many tales exist of ambitious summoners that have tried to call forth a greater demonic entity, only to fail to enslave it and get butchered by it, leaving the demon free to go on a murderous rampage in Reniam until it is brought down by someone powerful enough to defeat it - and most of these tales are true.
As an alternative to enslaving the summoned immortal, one could always try to bargain with it, of course. This would make for much less reliable control over the immortal, since it would keep its free will and only obey the summoner if it chose to, not because it had to, and since there is absolutely no guarantee that the summoned immortal is even interested in making a bargain. Having made a deal with a reliable entity, however, summoning such an immortal can be highly useful, as it will take but a fraction of the effort enslaving one would and, after having made the deal, the summoning would be risk-free.
A summoning is usually performed within a binding-circle - a pentagram adorned with arcane symbols - in order to make the enslaving of the immortal easier. However, a toll is required for an immortal to pass into Reniam, and it is up to the summoner to pay this toll. It is possible to summon an immortal using only the summoner's own magical energy, but if it is done so, only the immortal's magical energy - its soul - will only arrive in Reniam in the form of a wraith. In order to give the summoned immortal physical substance, a greater sacrifice is needed - one with physical substance itself. Some summoners use animals for these blood-sacrifices to gain blood-and-flesh immortal servants, but practically all summoners are inevitably corrupted by their own seemingly infinite power and will eventually begin using intelligent life as sacrifices. This - and the aforementioned risk of the summoned creature running amok - is the reason summoning magic is illegal, and punishable by death.
Lastly there is a rarely used and, to the caster, far riskier way to summon an immortal in a form stronger than that of a wraith, but without blood-sacrifices. This is simply done by summoning only the soul of the immortal, as when making wraiths, only instead of having the soul build itself a makeshift vessel, one places it in one of one's own choosing. Such a vessel must be alive, though, and it must be mortal. Doing this will cause the immortal to occupy the host-body alongside the original inhabitant of the body. Such a thing is called an avatar. Once summoned, one of two things is going to happen inside the avatar: either one of the wills of the two souls inhabiting the avatar will dominate the other, gaining control of not only the body, but also the full power of the other soul, or the two souls in the avatar come to an agreement that allows both of them some degree of autonomy, basically the same as the above described deal-making between summoner and summoned. An avatar can be very powerful and dangerous, but can be made anywhere and at any time, since the summoner's own body is a conveniently fitting host to become one an avatar. The immortal inhabiting an avatar can be unsummoned just as well as any other summoned immortal.
It should be noted that even though one could technically summon a deity like this and become the avatar of that deity, this would be far from optimal, since mortal bodies are not meant to hold such power. The body suffers from being the avatar of any immortal, but especially so with immensely powerful deities. Simply by being the avatar of a deity, even if the deity lies dormant, the host-body will age three to ten times faster than it otherwise would (with ageless races, this will manifest mainly in continuously degrading health), and both fat and muscle will fade quickly, generally reducing deity-avatars to skeletally thin wrecks in just several months, regardless of how much they eat or exercise. When the deity invokes its power through the avatar, however, the body suffers far more, the strain increasing depending on how much power the deity invokes. In worst case scenario, an avatar can age decades in the span of seconds, or the body can downright start to break down or burn up from the sheer strain it suffers. Non-deity immortals apply only a tiny fraction of this strain, though if one frequently (or constantly) acts as avatar for one, one might notice an inevitable loss in body-mass and slightly higher rate of aging after a year or so.

Favored Power - divine magic, druidic magic and infernal magic
Finally, standing apart from all other branches of magic, is Favored power. This is the magic of priests, clerics, paladins and druids - collectively called Favored Ones. It is vastly different from the other kinds of magic, as Favored Ones do actually not expend their own magical energy at all - rendering them able to continue invoking their power indefinitely... in theory - but are instead granted their powers by the deity they are sworn to serve. All that is required to invoke Favored power is that one's heart is filled with unconditional faith on one's immortal benefactor when one speaks a prayer to it, and the benefactor will lend the Favored One a portion of its power. What Favored power can actually be used for differs depending on which deity one serves - for instance, a Favored One sworn to a demon might not make a good healer, while someone serving Reina, the Goddess of Healing, cannot rain death upon its enemies.
The tricky part, then, is to become a Favored One in the first place. Firstly, a Favored One is required not only to be completely loyal and have faith in its benefactor, but also live by the principles that deity stands for. Only a tiny portion of Favored power is rewarded to a Favored One who only has loyalty, faith and acts in accordance with their benefactor's principles, however. These are what are generally termed priests. In order to gain greater Favored power, a sacrifice is needed - a sacrifice which, once more, differs from deity to deity. Once this sacrifice is made, and as long as one remains true to the deity, greater power is rewarded. These ascend to the title of clerics, and ultimately, if they show fierce dedication for enough years, their power grows until they reach the title of high priest. If one loses faith or defies their benefactor's will, however, one is stripped of all Favored power instantly, until one is once more in accordance to one's deity.
Divine magic covers those Favored by gods or the Spirits Liya or Ismyel, whereas infernal magic refers to someone Favored by demons. All of these generally follow the rankings priest, cleric and high priest, with paladins being another branch in which the Favored Ones divide their focus between faith and skill in combat. The paladin-equivalent to the high priest is the knight-paladin.
Favored Ones using druidic magic are simply called druids, and they all serve the Spirit Gaia.
The last two remaining Spirits of Union - the Wanderer and the Spirit of Good - are known never to accept Favored Ones, and thus they are not included in any of the categories.

Sniffing
Though many think Sniffers a sort of fiendish mind-readers, the concept of Sniffing is actually amazingly simple: a practitioner of Sniffing, called a Sniffer, excels beyond all other magi at sensing magical energy, determining the raw power and potential strength of souls and even sensing the nature of these, both in an elemental sense and in a more spiritual sense. Not even vastly skilled necromancers are capable of concealing their magical energy from a Sniffer. Moreover, aside from a Sniffer being capable of immediately telling if someone is a mage just by being in their presence, a further examination allows a Sniffer to gain an almost clairvoyant level of understanding of that person, coming to comprehend others' personality, motivations, spiritual strength and willpower. They are also capable of sensing others' talent at manipulating magical energy.
Being a sort of magic that shares a great deal of characteristics with other sorts of magic based on manipulating magical energy in its purest form - like necromancy or the Art of the Warden - Sniffing is considered something else entirely. The main reason for this is the fact that in order to become a Sniffer, a person is required to undergo certain changes, which - for instance - locks away the Sniffer's own magical energy, thus effectively makes it impossible for it to use any other sort of magic, except possibly Favored power. Additionally Sniffers need to be tattooed all over their bodies with symbols that are both arcane and things even more exotic in nature, which enables them to "receive" the magical energy all around them more easily, to a point where they barely even have to concentrate. In theory, they are inversed magi. One could say that instead of the natural flow of their magical energy being directed outward, allowing them to unleash the magical energy of their own souls as spells, as other sorcerers do, Sniffers have their natural flow directed inwards, causing them to suck even trace magical energy from their ambience into themselves, allowing them to detect and analyze this thoroughly.
Because of the obvious drawback of Sniffing that it prevents would-be mages from ever actually wielding magic, very few people are ever actually made Sniffers by their own choice, though the few who choose to become ones are often either revered or loathed for their sacrifice, depending on one's viewpoint. Otherwise, Sniffers are especially common in Seclyr and Zerul, which both have quite obvious reasons for needing Sniffers. In Seclyr, any Seclyrian showing signs of being magically talented (or being identified to be so by another Sniffer) are forced to become a Sniffer, and are treated by the Seclyrian army as something like a guard-dog or hounds for hunting down the wizards that the Seclyrians hate and fear so much. In Zerul, Sniffers are a vital part of discovering new magical talents for training and deciding which branch of magic they would be best suited for, and what their natural affinities might be. For this they have few voluntary Sniffers, but otherwise rebellious mages, or those who have severely violated the legal restrictions on magic without actually committing crimes against Zerul are punished by being turned into Sniffers, thus removing potentially dangerous magic from their grasp and allowing them to be of use to the society at the same time.
A quite common problem with Sniffers is that they tend to lose grasp of their own morals, thoughts, feelings, and even their own soul, because they receive such vast input from all other living things around them. While this makes many Sniffers distant, sometimes to the point where they seem more like automatons than people, it also often results in Sniffers simply going insane - so great is their grasp of their fellow beings that their minds simply cannot cope with the enormous amounts of information they receive just by being in the same room as others.

While there are many assorted substances in the Planes with special properties and unusual ways to react to magic, such as magical crystals and various Spirit Favored conduits, one should take notice of the special relationship between magic and metals.
In general, what makes this relationship can be separated into two different properties that all metals exhibit towards magic in various degrees: magical resistance and magical immunity. While these traits might sound like they are the same thing, they are actually almost opposites of one another. Metals with a high magical resistance (of which silver boasts as having the highest at all, significantly higher than that of copper) are not, in fact, resistant to magic at all, but rather insulates against its influence. A magically resistant metal remarks itself by being very proficient at absorbing and/or reflecting the magical energy of spells, which means that while a magically resistant metal can easily enough be affected by magic itself, it will prevent the passage of magic past it, enabling it to block or weaken magic more effectively than other materials, and penetrate magical barriers more easily. Notably resistant metals include (listed highest resistance first) silver, copper, gold, aluminum and iron. It should be noted that Sartal, although an alloy rather than an element, has a magical resistance almost comparable to that of silver, though the vast majority of its resistance comes from absorbtion rather than reflection.
Metals that possess magical immunity work in a completely different way. Predictably, while magical resistance prevents passage past the metal but does not protect the metal itself, magical immunity does not prevent the passage of magic, but does render the metal itself much harder to affect with magic, both in terms of damaging the metal and enchanting or cursing it. A metal with high magical immunity is fiendishly difficult to affect with magic. Notably immune metals include (listed highest immunity first) platinum (which is practically impossible to affect through magic), palladium, ghiril, gold, titanium and lead.
The keen observer will note that gold ranked highly as both a resistant and an immune metal, which is one of the reasons it is such a highly valued metal, seeing as golden currency is difficult to affect and replicate through magic, making the production of counterfeit gold coins harder than anything else (since platinum, palladium and ghiril are much too rare for it to be realistic to use it as currency), and gilded armors and weapons will offer more protection and greater magical penetrative properties than they otherwise would, unless coated with (or made from) silver or copper.
Finally, it should be noted that a metals resistance and immunity, regardless of what metal, both depend not only on the metal in question, but also the purity of the compound. In an immune metal, this is because although the metal itself might be difficult to affect, the impurities are not. With resistant metals, normal, unpurified iron, and steel (which contains carbon), will lose all the resistance that pure iron has, and while impure silver might manage to barely affect magic, alchemical silver can pass through all but the strongest barriers even in small quantities. This is because magic meets resistance that is proportional with the how much of the resistant metal a spell has to pass through in a given area, and impurity will mean that the metal itself will be present in the mix less frequently. Of course, this also means that a larger area (that is, a larger quantity of the metal) will yield a proportionally higher magical resistance.

Enchanting is, as the term would suggest, to use magic to imbue objects with unnatural properties beyond what it would have ordinarily, but one might be tempted to think that enchanting something is a simple task performed just by casting a spell upon the target object, that is far from the case. Enchanting is, no matter which sort of enchantment one desires to perform, a notoriously complicated and difficult thing to do, which is one of the reasons why enchanted items are both rare and extremely valuable, and the greatest artifacts of legend are always either actually enchanted or assumed to be so.
To simplify enchanting, it can be divided into three different ways of enchanting, each difficult in its own way and potentially both useful and dangerous, but with vastly different ways of manifesting themselves. The first of these three ways of enchanting is that which is known to professional enchanters as alteration, or elemental manipulation. While this sort of enchanting is the one of the three that typically result in the least powerful enchanted objects, it is perhaps the most difficult of them to learn, nigh-impossible to master by even the greatest enchanters, and is often necessary for enchantments of the two other kinds to be effective. When an enchanter alters an object, the enchanter uses its own magical energy to change the object in ways no craftsman could ever hope to, not by affecting its shape, but by changing the very nature, the essence of the object, so that it becomes something else than it originally was. Many are confused at this and few understand the true extent of this kind of enchanting, mostly because they cannot see how such magic could adhere to the Second Law of Magic, but the truth of the matter is that alteration does not create anything, but merely rearranges that which already exists in new patterns with new properties. This kind of enchanting is often used by professional enchanters to harden or soften materials, taking mundane substances only to infuse them with new properties through magic.
although alteration might seem like an almost omnipotent force in its quality of being able to change the fabric of reality on such a fundamental level, alteration is still limited by the Laws of Magic and is thus imposed the same restrictions as any other magic. In accordance to the First Law of Magic, it takes enormous amounts of magical energy to alter even small quantities of material, and the more one needs to alter the base composition of the material in question, the higher the demand of energy is. The Second Law of Magic is self-explanatory in this: one can only alter that which is already there, not create new matter. The Third Law of Magic means that alteration can only ever be used on inorganic substances, in other words things that have never been alive and never had a soul. The Fourth and Fifth Laws have limited relevance, but the Sixth Law of Magic if perhaps the single greatest limitation that alteration faces. In order to alter a substance, one has to know and understand not only what one is actually changing, but also how it is changed. This, more than anything else, prevents alteration from making anything but minor adjustments to an objects composition, and more often than not alteration reinforces qualities already in an object rather than infuse it with new ones. It is an extremely powerful and intricate way to use magic, but nevertheless makes the base of all other enchanting.
The practical applications of alteration can be found all across the world, though they might not always be obvious to the observer. The most common use of alteration lies in the creation of the useful magically superconductive crystal (or just magical crystal, in layman's terms) that, amongst other things, are used as the hilts of rune-swords and generally as a major component in equipment made to be wielded in conjunction with rune magic to make the flow of magical energy more easy and natural. This crystal is again what is altered into both the crystals often used by magic academies across the world to determine the elemental affinity and magical talent of potential students, and it is also what can ultimately be altered to become a Crystal Prison. Other than that, virtually any magical artifact that is made of a material that cannot be readily identified as any mundane one is liable to have been crafted with the use of alteration. Alteration is also necessary to purify ghiril ore and to make the rare black steel of Klorr (obsidite), and it is also strongly suspected - especially taking the natural magical affinity of deigan into consideration - that alteration somehow plays a role in the making of the mysterious Sartal alloy.

The second type of enchanting one can engage in is imprinting. This can be done in various different ways, although the most common and most basic kind of imprinting that can be done upon an object is to prepare it for use in conjunction with rune magic. Imprinting, then, is basically to weave a magic spell into the enchanted object, causing the object to gain magical properties as though a spell had been cast upon it. However, an imprinted weapon merely holds the spell within itself but no means to cause the magic to manifest on its own. In other words an imprinted object is reliant on magical energy from an outside source - such as its wielder - in order to exhibit any kind of supernatural behavior. Most enchanted objects are imprinted ones, because imprinting is actually the simplest, easiest and least draining of the three kinds of enchantment, and although imprinting more advanced and powerful spells is usually more difficult and draining than doing the same with lesser spells, it is still significantly easier than the two other kinds of enchanting yet can produce some awesome magical effects when supplied with the energy to do so.
By far most common enchanted objects are imprinted ones, taking strength from its wielder to empower themselves, but these rarely become as famous as those made through the final kind of enchantment. Legendary imprinted artifacts include: Omni, the Demon Prisons, the Master Key and the Chaos Engine.

The last kind of enchantment is predictably also the most powerful and dangerous one, and is by enchanters referred to as infusion. In many ways, infusion is similar to imprinting in that one weaves a magical spell into the very fabric of the enchanted object, and thus the method for infusing objects is mostly the same as for imprinting them. However, to enchant a truly infused object, one must not only weave a spell into the object, but also grant the object the power to wield its own magic without outside influence. An infused object is an object that is truly and thoroughly wreathed in magic that never fades, an object with power that only ever wanes if the object is disenchanted or destroyed - and sometimes not even then.
Naturally there is a downside to infusion that is the reason for infused objects being as scarce as they are, and an explanation as to why infusion is both far more difficult than imprinting, and that even those capable of infusion rarely make more than one or two artifacts during their entire lifetime. This is because - as is common knowledge - magic cannot manifest without magical energy to fuel it, and for an object to be able to manifest magic indefinitely, it also needs access to an endless supply of magical energy - and this energy has to come from somewhere. The place that energy comes from, then... is a living soul, either a piece of the enchanters own soul - a piece that is gone forever, and can never be regenerated - , or a soul trapped in a Crystal Prison. Only a soul has access to virtually limitless amounts of magical energy because of its natural regeneration, partially from the ambient energy of the world and partially through its natural connection to the Spirit Realm. This naturally means that the power of the infused object is reliant on the size of the soul-piece in it, or the strength and number of souls it is infused with. It can be said somewhat reliably that the most powerful artifacts of Reniam are likely to have been infused with dozens of souls, if not hundreds in extreme cases, which is to many a highly revolting thought.
While infused objects are far, far rarer than imprinted objects, an infused object is almost guaranteed to sooner or later acquire significant renown because of its innate power, and thus most of the truly legendary artifacts are, in fact, infused objects. Legendary infused artifacts include: Barbarian, the Fury Blade, Noble, the Orbs of Zhakos and the Sand of Eternity.

If you would like a deity of your own design added to the below list - it can be anything except a Spirit of Union, for obvious reasons - you can submit how you want it to be to me in a PM and, if it makes sense, I will add it to the appropriate category.
Deity-names are in the format: Name or title most used - Other titles and names.

The Spirits of Union
A Spirit of Union is a being that - despite how it may sound - is actually a higher level of being than either gods or demons, and are more powerful than either. The Spirits are what created the Planes (with exception of the timeless void of Stupor) and all that live within them, including gods and demons.

Liya - The Spirit of Life
Liya is the source of all life and signifies birth and the act of reproducing. Although her alignment is tied to neither the side of good nor evil, she has been known to lend her aid to either side of the eternal struggle when their cause seemed to benefit her values. Her followers dress themselves in white, and favor the materials white marble, diamond and ghiril for decorations, and despite Liya's unbiased nature when it comes to good and evil, her followers - through the dedication to preserving life - tends to act selflessly to protect and heal.
Priests of Liya are mainly granted healing powers, although these are inferior to those of priests of Reina, but otherwise have small roles of significance other than performing public rituals in her name. Paladins of Liya can only heal superficially, but can in turn invoke her power to fill their weapons and allow them to face otherwise invulnerable creatures, such as ghosts, specters and wraiths.
To become a Cleric of Liya, the requirement is to parent a child, as this is considered the greatest possible invocation of her blessing. Clerics are granted scepters with a shaft of ghiril and embedded with a fist-sized diamond on their tips, which serves multiple purposes. The scepter is a symbol of the cleric's rank, but is also a necessity since the sheer amount of power conveyed by a cleric is too great for their own bodies to sustain it - instead the scepters act as conduits, and when prayers are spoken, Favored power fills the diamond, causing it to glow with golden luminance. Clerics of Liya are significantly better healers than the priests, though still not on par with those of Reina. Aside from their power-filled scepters being capable of illuminating darkness in emergencies, clerics can also use them as maces of sorts, with the diamond being capable of withstanding great force and the Favored power allowing it to harm ethereal creatures and being capable of briefly paralyzing the one hit. Becoming a high priest improves all of these powers further.
Knight-paladins are granted the same scepters as clerics, although they are still expected to wield weapons, and receive almost the same set of abilities as clerics, only with emphasis on the offensive powers rather than the healing ones.

The Wanderer - The Spirit of Death, the Grim Reaper, Death
The Wanderer represents the volatility of life, and is the one who holds sway of the lifespan of all mortals. He signifies the end of life - death - and more accurately stands for the natural death, but not death by other means. He is supposedly eternally wandering Reniam (hence the name) in a realm of existence that is beyond the perception of mortals, seeking out all dying mortals to gather up their souls and Seeds of Good and Evil to thereafter send them off to a fitting afterlife. He has no interest in good or evil, and is known not to help either. Followers of the Wanderer are known to wear dark gray, and favor the materials blackened steel and citrine for decorations. His followers has no inclination towards good or evil either, but tend to have an excessively gloomy and depressing view on the world and everything in it.
The Wanderer does not accept Favored Ones of any kind, presumably because of the immense stress he undergoes in order to be present personally every time a mortal dies.

The Spirit of Good
This Spirit, whose name has been lost and forgotten as her existence faded from Reniam, is the pillar of love, kindness and faith in one's fellows. Not much is known of her aside from this, as she disappeared during the Age of Darkness and is speculated to have been tossed into the farthest depths of Stupor by Kreshtaat as an act of defiance. The Spirit of Good has no true followers, since it is impossible to believe in something that is not even there, and as she has no followers, she naturally has no Favored Ones either.

Ismyel - The Spirit of Evil
Ismyel is the one who poisoned the minds of mortals with the feelings of greed, hatred and arrogance, but is also the origin of the desire to improve oneself - both in the form of healthy aspirations and relentless ambition. Ismyel is exceedingly selfish and easily grow jealous of others that somehow manages to accomplish something beyond her power, and constantly strives to be superior of everything else. She cares only for evil and despises anything selfless and good, and takes great pleasure in seeing things with these qualities destroyed. Her followers are clad in black, and favor ebony and obsidian for decorations. Obviously her followers tend to have the same personality as Ismyel, being egoistic, greedy and vengeful, although they rarely do anything thoroughly evil to avoid entering conflicts with those stronger than themselves.
Priests of Ismyel have humble abilities of healing, but in turn possess the power to inflict doubt and fear upon their enemies, as well as filling their minds with corrupting thoughts of greed and ambition, potentially turning their enemies upon each other. Her paladins can do none of these things, but in turn can bless their weapons with Ismyel's wicked essence, causing those struck by them fierce agony.
To become a cleric, the Favored One needs to find a person whom they hate wholly and passionately and either murder this person or someone the person cares for. As with Liya, Ismyel's power as a Spirit of Union is too great for a mortal to sustain when it is turned up to the power-levels of a cleric, and they are granted a staff to act as a conduit and insignia of rank. These staves are crafted from ebony and have three-inch blades attached to either end carved from obsidian, which are filled with dark-violet light when they are filled with her power. A Cleric of Ismyel retains its weak abilities for healing, but becomes capable of striking their enemies with crushing horror and despair, as well as enables them to grow even fiercer ambitions in others' hearts that last for a longer time. Those cut by the blades on their staves while they are infused with Ismyel's power are wrecked with blinding pain. High priests are slightly better at healing than their inferiors, being almost at the level of a priest of Liya, but become capable of inflicting dread, misery and corruption upon several people at once, and the pain inflicted by their blades becomes so intense that the strong-willed lose consciousness and the weak perish from pure agony.
Knight-paladins are given spears instead of staves, with longer ebony-handles and only a single obsidian blade, although this is twice the size of the blades of the clerics' staves. Ismyel surrounds her champions with an aura that instills dread in anyone that even gets near them, and grants their infused blades the power to enslave anyone they cut, completely stealing their free will, for the knight-paladin to command to fight or to die.

Gaia - The Spirit of Neutrality and Nature, Mother Nature
Being the creator and designer of Reniam, as well as the maker of the Upper and Lower Planes, Gaia is by many considered the most powerful of the Spirits of Union, though many claim that the power to create and form living beings is greater than that to create and form worlds. Gaia stands for wisdom and logic, as well as being the deity and designer of all flora and fauna of nature. She stands unbiased before the contesting extremes of good and evil, and will help or fight either side if it seems to endanger her creation. Her followers wear brown and green, and prefer products of nature - wood, flowers, weeds, vines, etc. - for their decorations. Like Gaia, her followers tend to care little for what happens in the "civilized" world, as long as it does not end up involving sanctuaries of nature such as the great forests where the followers dwell.
Unlike all other deities, Gaia does not set some Favored Ones over others, but rather neutrally distribute Favored power to all of her faithful subjects in relatively equal measures, with the actual power granted depending on the depth and longevity of their faith and loyalty. All of her Favored Ones are referred to as druids, which use simple sturdy wooden staves to convey Gaia's great Favored power, although these staves tend to grow sprouts and leaves over time, as if her essence brings the wood to life anew. Druids have substantial powers of healing, easily the level of a cleric of Liya, and are known to have a greatly increased affinity for curing poisons and diseases. Furthermore they are capable of making inanimate plants move with prayer, using nature itself against those that would harm it. When they are in places of nature, druids are gifted with a constant sense of tranquility and well-being - but this fades when they leave these places, and often its absence will make them nervous and distracted, especially in larger cities, as these are the furthest from nature.

Gods
The last kind of life brought into being by the Spirits of Union, gods are the deities that dwell in the Upper Plane as a reward for their efforts to stop the demons during the Age of Darkness. The term "god" used to simply mean a thoroughly good immortal, but with Rilon joining their ranks this description is no longer fitting.

Reina - The Goddess of Mercy, the Daughter of Liya, the Goddess of Humans
The deity of mercy, generosity, selflessness and healing, Reina is amongst the most popular of the gods. Unlike all immortals but herself and her brother, Rilon, Reina was created not purely as an infusion of the essence of an alignment, but given life by Liya, acquiring her second title. During the Age of Darkness, it is said that she did not battle alongside her peers against the mightiest demons, but rather joined the mortals fighting for the immortals, assuming the appearance of the most numerous kind - the humans - and restoring even those on the brink of death to full health to save as many from falling in the war as possible, thus earning her third title as Goddess of Humans. Reina stands firmly on the side of good, although she is loathe to use violence against others and would rather see a peaceful resolution to the eternal conflict with the demons. Her followers wear white and prefer silver for their decorations. Her followers are the greatest healers in all of Reniam and are foresworn to help anyone who comes to them for aid, although they would never kill another being.
Priests of Reina are granted the greatest powers of healing amongst any priests, being capable of mending practically any non-fatal wounds completely, although deep, previously untended injuries might leave scars. In turn, they have no other Favored powers than healing. Paladins of Reina are likewise solely healers, although their power tends to be weaker than that of priests as their occupation essentially requires them to be willing to hurt others.
To become a Cleric of Reina, one is required to give up all of one's worldly possessions except the priestly gown and their silver medallion of the symbol of Reina, committing themselves fully to helping others. Clerics are then rewarded with substantially improved powers of healing, superior to even high priests of any other faith and capable of mending even shattered bones completely and healing wounds that would otherwise have been lethal. High priests are naturally even more powerful, capable of bringing anyone back from even the brink of death. High priests of Reina are also the only healers powerful enough to nullify the deterioration of one's health once inflicted with the Withering, but even they cannot cure it, and even their power can only delay the inevitable.
Knight-paladins of Reina are given healing-powers at the level of priests of Reina, but are otherwise superior to regular paladins of Reina in experience and prowess only.

Laon - The God of Night
As his title suggests, Laon is the god with power of the night, meaning both the darkness, the stars and the moon. Thus Laon stands not only for the unseen, but also the illumination and revelation of the hidden. Standing firmly on the side of good, the method of which Laon battles evil is unknown and, like the night, hidden behind a veil of shadows, but whatever he does has the demons curse his name under their breaths. His followers wear midnight blue and often use moonstones in their decorations. Laon has followers of various kinds, not always limited to those in the service of good, but rather anyone - good or evil - who values the property of being unseen, thieves and assassins in particular.
Priests of Laon have are capable of invoking their Favored power to make themselves blend in with shadows almost completely, making them practically invisible to unless their hiding-place is illuminated. Instead, paladins are granted the ability to conjure a wisp of light as an alternate light-source, which illuminates darkness near them and partially negates invisibility, making those concealed by any magic easier to notice.
For a Favored One of Laon to become a cleric, it is needed to spend an entire month, starting with the First of the month - the day of the new moon - going out under the open sky every single night without fail and reciting verses of adoration for every phase of the moon. Clerics then gain the ability to become one with darkness, rendering them completely invisible as long as they stay in the shadows, and gives them the ability to see in the darkness the same way Nightwalkers can - and, if the cleric is a Nightwalker, making these able to see in the light without hurting their sensitive eyes. High priests gain even greater dominion over light and shadow, being able to either engulf the entire area around them in enchanted darkness or banish all shadows at their will, as well as being able to dispel invisibility completely once they know that someone invisible is present.
Knight-paladins of Laon gain the ability to blend with the shadows the same way priests of Laon does, and additionally become able to not only cause any object they hold in their hands to glow with soft luminance for as long as they hold it, but are also capable of producing flashes of extremely bright light, potentially blinding their opponents.

Arhoun - The God of Fertility, the God of Water, the God of Precipitation
Arhoun signifies the element of water, more specifically in its life-giving properties, and represents the tides of the oceans, rain, snow, hail and the growing of crops. Standing firmly on the side of good, Arhoun battles evil from the clouds and the sea, bombarding them with shards of hail and crushing them with grand tidal waves. His followers typically dress in azure, and their ornaments are often decorated with sapphires. Followers of Arhoun are typically farmers, hoping for fortune in raising their fields so that they can have a good harvest, and seafarers seeking to be sheltered from the wrath of the oceans. They can be of any alignment, although they tend to lean the most towards goodness, as most thoroughly evil followers turn to Arhoun's arch nemesis, Gervolt.
Favored Ones of the rank of priest in the service of Laon are able to keep crops alive with prayer and gardening alone, even during a drought, and are capable of conjuring up small amounts of water. Paladins become able to encase their weapons with ice, reinforcing them and making them heavier for more powerful strikes, as well as causing them to leave traces of ice on anything they hit.
To become a Cleric of Arhoun, one is required to last two weeks without eating or drinking anything save pure ice and water. They then become capable of nourishing entire fields through prayer during drought, and while they become capable of conjuring larger quantities of water than before, the main difference comes in the ability of causing it to freeze into solid ice. High priests are able to cause the weather to change, having it start and stop raining as they please, as well as granting them almost complete dominion over the sea, enabling them to quell the waves to ensure safe voyage or arouse them to crush their enemies.
Knight-paladins improve their ability to surround their weapons with frost, but moreover gain the ability to cause any nearby water to move by their will and cause it to vaporize, potentially burning their enemies, causing pain and, if aimed correctly, blinding them.

Frenis - The God of Wealth
This is the god of currency, trade and merchants. He represents the pursuit of riches, but also the greater cost of one's actions to acquire said riches. Of all the deities created during the Age of Darkness, Frenis was the only one that looked upon the battlefields, littered with more dead than any could count, and cared only for all the glittering and precious things that could be found on the corpses. According to the myth, when Frenis joined the fray, he looked upon the slaughtered mortals and saw others - demons and mortals, both man and beast - lurking amongst the dead, robbing their bodies. Frenis was enraged by this, as he had wanted these items himself yet had abstained from stealing them out of respect for the deceased, so he cursed them, transforming them all into the first of the savage, suicidal creatures known today as goblins. Frenis is not quite as adamant in his dedication to the good in all things, but rather has a tendency for his allegiance to turn blurry and uncertain whenever large amounts of valuables are involved. His followers wear the rich colors of purple, yellow and orange, and cherish gold and amethysts above all else in their decorations. His followers are mostly merchants and mercenaries, and basically anyone hoping to gain wealth by honest or dishonest means, and as such they have no real connection to either extreme of good and evil, but rather tend to always be quick to change their loyalties as one side or the other gets the upper hand.
Both priests and paladins of Frenis are in an unusual position because their deity is unusually generous to them when it comes to offering them Favored powers, giving them reign over a grand variety of abilities including limited healing, the ability to fill someone else's mind with greed and the ability to cause steel to harden significantly. This is a wider assortment of powers than most offer, but Frenis, the cunning business-god he is, demands that his Favored Ones throw away a golden coin with each prayer as payment, or he simply refuses to respond. And if the Favored One goes to retrieve the gold coin afterwards, Frenis punishes their greed by causing the coin to melt in their hands and seep into their skin, leaving them with a golden mark on the palm of their hand for the rest of their lives as testimony of their greed - and, if they try betraying his deals again, he causes the gold to harden with each time until both hands are left still and useless, so that they may never fold their fingers around a precious item again.
In order to become a cleric, Frenis' followers are required to gather a six feet tall pile of gold and donate it to one of his temples so that it might smelt it and add it to the size of his constantly growing golden statues, which can be found at any place of worship dedicated to him. Their reward is that they no longer have to pay the price for every single prayer and are awarded improved healing, more passionate greed and the ability to harden steel even further. Frenis, being the greedy entity that he is, requires the sacrifices to repeat every five years, or he demotes his clerics back to priests. For high priests this is no longer any problem, as these gain the fabled ability to transform lead into gold by the power of their prayers - after that, the only problem is to keep finding lead.
Knight-paladins, unlike clerics and high priests, are required to continue paying one gold coin with each prayer for as long as they remain of the paladin-branch of Favored Ones. Even so, knight-paladins gain the power to temporarily turn their opponents' weapons and armor into relatively soft and heavy gold, hindering their movements with burden and allowing it to be broken more easily, as well as the ability to briefly transform their own weapons and armor to relatively light and durable diamond.

Deliph - God of Victory, the Divine Marshal, the God of Orderly War
Deliph is the commander of the gods' army of angels, and in the Age of Darkness he was the one who coordinated the efforts of the other gods as well. He is represents the art of tactical warfare, soldiers and honorable combat. Deliph is not only either as or more firmly dedicated to the pursuit of good - he loathes all that is evil passionately and wishes nothing more than to destroy it, and during the Age of Darkness, Deliph could always be found on the frontline of battle, directing the divine armies while fighting as well. His followers wear maroon and gray, and favor steel and alexandrite for their decorations. Followers of Deliph are soldiers, officers and warriors of all alignments, each hoping for their own fortune and survival in the battles to come or at least for a glorious death, though those that are thoroughly evil tend to prefer Deliph's demonic counterparts and fellow deities of battle, Gervolt, Grimolt and Hazzergash.
Priests of Deliph are granted the ability to inspire soldiers with renewed valor and morale, even in the face of seemingly certain defeat, and give them the courage to fight until the last drop of blood, as well as strike enemies with uncertainty and hurting their morale. Paladins of Deliph can invoke his power to either give bladed weapons a divine edge, causing them to become sharper, or blunt weapons to gain divine mass, inflicting greater impact with each blow. In either case the blessed weapon becomes deadlier.
For a priest to become a cleric under Deliph's leadership, they must be locked in a room with a lohk, armed only with a dagger, and survive to escape the chamber, either by killing the beast or cunningly discovering a way out of there. Once the cleric has faced the brutal might of a lohk and lived to tell the tale, Deliph rewards them with the power to strengthen not only their soldiers' spirits, but also their bodies, making them able to bolster their comrades' muscles through prayer - making them faster and stronger - while at the same time accelerating their natural regeneration. All of this is naturally temporary, but is enough to turn the tide of battle even against a superior foe. High priests furthermore become able to restore worn and broken equipment temporarily to prime condition, enabling them to arm an entire army with rusty old relics, yet cause these to become sharp and sturdy for the duration of the battle.
Knight-paladins of Deliph are his champions, and aside from being able to bless their weapons and armor to become even more effective they also gain an aura that encourages the allies near them, filling them with the strength and vigor to fight for as long as the knight-paladin still stands, while striking his with extraordinary awe.

Rilon - The Blood God
Rilon is the foul being that dwells amongst the gods, but who signifies vengeance, independence, bloodthirst and undead. Being created with the help of Liya, like his sister Reina was, Rilon was born a demon - completely and truly evil, and despised the gods, including his sister, from his very first moment in Reniam. Yet as he came to the battlefield, Rilon saw how the demons were all enslaved by first the Grand Master and later Kreshtaat, and he decided that he would have no part of it - he would rather live freely amongst gods than as a slave amongst demons. He fought his own kin to escape thralldom, and in return he was named a god and sent to the Upper Plane instead of the Lower Plane when the Age of Darkness came to an end. Supposedly, Rilon assumed the form of a fearsome beast during the war and threw himself at the mortals serving the demons, only to be overcome with bloodlust. The gorged upon the blood of his enemies, taking delight in every last drop, and then discarded them without a second glance - these mortals, derived of their blood, are said to have been awakened by his foul essence as the very first vampires. Rilon's followers wear crimson and black, and use carnelian and jet for their decorations. Not many would openly admit to worshipping Rilon, as these tend to be either vampires, necromancers or cannibals, but the few who do take great pride in doing so and tends to flaunt that trait about themselves, and although Rilon's desire for independence swayed him to the side of good rather than evil, his followers tend to lean more towards the latter.
Priests of Rilon are capable of inflicting their enemies - or their allies - with blinding bloodlust, throwing them into a mad berserk with no concern for their own survival, as well as moderate healing abilities. Paladins of Rilon can bless their weapons with Rilon's presence so that each time they land a blow on an opponent, Rilon notices and rewards his paladin briefly accelerated regeneration, and whenever a paladin of Rilon kills an opponent their wounds are completely healed.
To become a Cleric of Rilon, one predictably have to swallow a goblet of blood from their own race, and they are not allowed to vomit from doing so, thus proving their deep and primal thirst for blood. Once they have acquired this rank they ability to heal and inflict berserk strengthens, and they become able to create the illusion of the sky turning red and raining blood, thus severely demoralizing their enemies. High priests furthermore become able to raise the dead briefly as ravenous ghouls, which will assault their enemies with bestial ferocity until they are destroyed.
Knight-paladins of Rilon further enhance the rewards for injuring enemies with blessed weapons, as well as they become able to conjure up a dread set of Armor of Rilon - a suit of platemail crafted from Rilon's own very blood, holding his essence, thus being significantly lighter than steel yet almost indestructible.

Xoril - The Goddess of Wisdom, the Goddess of Scholars/the Scholar Goddess (Symbol pending)
A goddess that signifies not only knowledge itself, but also the pursuit of understanding and the dedication to scholarly goals, Xoril is considered something like the immortal equivalent to a quiet, introverted outsider - what in today's society is often referred to as a 'geek' - who is content to withdraw into the background while other, more extravagant deities steal the limelight so that she might continue working on her own goals in peaceful solitude. Although Xoril is generally perceived as good, and tries her best to be as good as possible, she often ends up obsessing over little details that can make her question whether an action is truly good in the greater scheme of things, and thus, because she tends to over think everything before acting, she is considered more as a neutral deity than a good one. The followers of Xoril, or rather those of her followers that actually come out of their homes or libraries enough to care about other people recognizing them, dress in sky-blue colors, and their ornaments are of bronze and pearls. Obviously most of Xoril's followers are scholars themselves the same as their goddess, devoted to studying and learning, and although there is no restriction of alignment as to who looks to her for guidance, her followers are mostly good. Scholars and magi that actually care about the extremes of good and evil turns to Xoril, whereas those that care only for the supreme brilliance and potency of their deity - aspects that often lead mortals down the path of evil - tend to look to her demonic counterpart, Valderoth, instead.
Priests of Xoril - often referred to as Wise Ones by other followers of Xoril - gain a profound ability to pray to Xoril for clarity of the mind, allowing them to erase all emotion from themselves for as long as they should so desire, letting them ignore the feelings of hunger, thirst and sleepiness so that they might concentrate on the important things in the world, things that are best not subjected to bias or distractions, like studying, or casting spells. Paladins of Xoril are obviously rare, as scholars are rarely also fighters, but they exist nonetheless and those that exist are rewarded for their service by being able to invoke their prayers to gain insight about something they are physically touching. This might be used on people to learn which maladies they are afflicted with, on scriptures to quickly understand the underlying purpose of the written word within, on objects and materials to learn their elemental composition (this ability is especially popular with the penin, who are grateful for people capable of quickly and easily identifying metal ores and of telling diamond from zircon) and on weapons and armor to learn their balance, strengths and weaknesses.
To become a Cleric of Xoril, all one has to do is to read the entire Firmament of the Planes, a Study of the Three Planes and the Truth of Stupor - an extremely factual and boring six-thousand page tome, allegedly originally authored by Xoril herself - in one sitting. After having demonstrated such outstanding dedication to the pursuit of knowledge, the Favored One can call upon Xoril to not only clear their mind of distractions, but to also allow them to briefly have perfect memory - which is to say, the cleric is capable of remembering every last single detail of everything it has ever experienced in its entire life, its own birth included. This is obviously a very useful ability for scholars, and especially for wizards, who can use this to recall every spell they ever learned flawlessly. Ultimately, High Priests of Xoril gain an awesome ability commonly referred to as Enlightenment, which is perhaps one of the most fearsome abilities granted by any deity. With Enlightenment, High Priests of Xoril become capable of effortlessly - and with one hundred percent reliability - tell truth from lie and real from fake. Any lie, whether they read it or hear it, they instantly know to be so, and the same with truth. Thus the only way to trick a High Priest of Xoril is with half-truths and omitted details, as these do not register upon the senses of their Enlightenment, but even if one understands their ability, defeating it is extremely difficult.
As paladins become knight-paladins in the service of Xoril, their insight and understanding of the world around them grows and they become able to quickly analyze their opponents themselves just by looking at them, allowing them an almost prescient ability to act and react to their opponents' actions before they have even committed them. In extreme cases they can even invoke their prayers to momentarily gain true prescience, being able to tell not only where an opponent is and where it is going, but exactly where the opponent will be at any given time and how they will try to defend themselves, allowing the knight-paladin to counter all efforts to dodge, parry and block their attacks and be practically certain that their blow hits. It takes extreme levels of skill to survive such a strike by a Knight-Paladin of Xoril, and obviously the more proficient a warrior the knight-paladin is, the harder such a prescient strike is to successfully endure.

Demons
Black-hearted immortals that were created to be solely evil, demons were banished to the Lower Plane and thus prevented from interfering with the affairs of mortals. They take infinite pleasure in suffering, violence and destruction, and eternally strive to obtain greater and greater power, no matter the cost.

The Grand Master - The Lord of Lies, the Infernal Emperor, the Buyer of Souls, the Foul Merchant, the Ancient One, the Lord of Skull Tower, the Guardian of Hellfire
The only being in all of the Planes not created by the Spirits of Union (aside from the Spirits themselves), the nefarious Grand Master is a symbol of lies and deception and the well-mannered evil. Having once been the lord of all demons, the Grand Master is second in power only to Kreshtaat himself and second in evil to no one, reputedly not even Ismyel herself. His allegiance is to himself alone, to rebuild his wicked empire and steal back the domain that Kreshtaat and the Nomad took from him in the Age of Darkness. His followers wear crimson and use sunstone for their decorations. His followers are those that seek the paths of ambition and evil, yet resent Kreshtaat and his goals for some reason or another. Followers of the Grand Master also seem to more frequently sell him their souls, since they have utter faith that he will not betray them.
Instead of having traditional Favored Ones such as most other deities, the Grand Master prefers to lend his power to those that would serve him otherwise. He acts as an infernal merchant of power, trading things that mortals have for what they want - most commonly they pay with their souls, although he is also known to bargain for their freedom, making them his servants, their health or he might even merely demand a single favor that always turns out to his advantage. In return, the Grand Master can supposedly offer almost anything - power, the ability to ignore the passage of time (also known as pseudo-immortality), wealth, servants, and just about whatever his customers want. Despite that many are skeptical about him and his reputation as a masterful deceiver, the Grand Master is actually bound by a bond that not even he can break once a contract has been signed between him and his customer, ensuring that he always fulfill his end of the bargain as long as the customer fulfill their end. However, he is known to be cunning and treacherous in designing his contracts, sneaking in loopholes that he can use to his own advantage to cheat his customers, so one should always pay close attention to the details, lest one wants to end up with nothing and the Grand Master with everything.

Hazzergash - The Lord of Fire, the Swallower of Worlds
One of the Grand Master's five generals. Hazzergash stands for the destructive properties of the element of fire, blind rage, fighting with fury and fighting just for the thrill of the fight. Hazzergash is a brutish, unrefined demon lord that does not care for his leader's schemes and would rather see the world burnt to ash than rule over it. His followers traditionally wear scarlet and use gold and rubies for decorations. Followers of Hazzergash tends to be rooted just as deeply in his desire for destruction as the demon himself, channeling their lust for destruction to the cause of evil.
Priests of Hazzergash gain the ability to summon masses of black flame to incinerate their enemies, while his paladins are capable of wrapping their weapons in wicked black fire that not only burns what it touches, but also devours any magic it meets.
To become a Cleric of Hazzergash, one simply needs to brand his symbol on one's skin in five different places - each forearm, the chest, the back and on one's forehead. After that the cleric is capable of calling forth even fiercer infernos of sinister black flames and become able to wrap their own bodies in a protective blaze that does not hurt the cleric, but which scorches anything that gets near them. High priests can finally create the fiercest conflagration of all, and gain the ability to heat metal armors - turning it red-hot - and animating them, turning them into something like undead minions that can only be stopped by killing the high priest.
Knight-paladins improve the properties of their black-flamed swords, and additionally gain the same ability to animate armor as high priests. They can also infuse their own armor with heat, turning that red-hot as well, to grant them increased strength in turn for weakening the metal through heating.

Gervolt - The Lord of Water, the Maw of Doom
One of the Grand Master's five generals. Gervolt represents the destructive properties of water and ice, as well as lucidity and adaptability in demeanor and goals alike. Gervolt is not one to commit to causes or remain loyal to a liege out of sentiment, but rather change allegiance and standards as the flow of water changes when something block their path. The only real reason that he has remained a part of the Grand Master's army is that Gervolt prefer the Grand Master's intelligent and deceptive approach to dominating Reniam to Kreshtaat's goal of conquering it with raw power. Followers of Gervolt dress in indigo and cyan, and they prefer aquamarine for decorations. The followers of Gervolt tend to be thoroughly dedicated to evil, but being content to move behind the scene, subtly manipulating their way to power and wealth.
Both priests and paladins of Gervolt can conjure up medium quantities of water, only to cause the enchanted water to freeze solid or vaporize at the moment of their choosing.
To become a Cleric of Gervolt, one has to be completely submerged in icy water for five full minutes and survive. In turn, clerics of Gervolt can not only conjure more water which they can still control the phase of, but they can also cause this water to move, shape and reshape at their will, even after having frozen to ice, which is particularly useful in forming icy spikes from the ground. High priests furthermore become capable of causing water and ice to levitate, enabling them to use water and ice as deadly projectiles.
Knight-paladins of Gervolt can invoke prayers to form a powerful platemail and shield of ice, as well as they become capable of blessing their weapons with Gervolt's essence so that any metal they strike rust instantly where the weapon touches it.

Grimolt - The Lord of Earth, the Crusher of Souls
One of the Grand Master's five generals. Grimolt represents the destructive properties of the ground, his domain extending to both the soil and the minerals resting within it. He also stands for the unchanging, stubbornness, persistence, brute strength, durability and constitution, and is considered a deity of defensively oriented combat. When Grimolt was created, he joined the Grand Master's ranks just to follow the general flow of the demons around him, but when Kreshtaat arose to steal the Grand Master's throne, Grimolt - loathing all change - refused to change sides, figuring that he would rather stand by his initial decision and lose than bend to another's will and win. Followers of Grimolt wear dark green and teal, and favor all kinds of stone and gemstones for decorations, often combining many different kinds in a single work. Grimolt's followers are mainly the tarken, who perceive him as a god rather than a demon, presumably because of their brunt physique, and other warriors that rely almost solely on superior muscle-power to win their battles.
Priests of Grimolt are capable of causing allies' skin to harden until it is almost like stone, sacrificing mobility for durability. Paladins are capable of invoking the same transformation, only on themselves instead of others.
Not many manage to become Clerics of Grimolt, as this entails that the aspiring cleric lets itself be buried alive, and then has to dig its own way out of their own grave to survive - a grueling and mind-breaking experience for anyone. The few who manage become capable of controlling minerals of the ground, enabling them to use these as weapons, either by making them leap out of the ground beneath an opponent or by drawing them out and using them as projectiles. High priests finally are favored enough to invoke Grimolt's personal attention to matters, allowing them to call upon Grimolt to create a guardian Rock Minion to aid the high priest in times of need.
Knight-paladins become able to expand their stone-skin transformation into an entire armor, rendering them virtually indestructible until the layers of stone are crushed, but further slowing and hindering their movements. They can also invoke Grimolt's blessing upon themselves to gain tremendous strength briefly, making them powerful enough to punch through stone walls or deal an especially devastating blow in a decisive moment.

Bolgar - The Lord of Air, the Voice of Judgment
One of the Grand Master's five generals and "twin" in power to Balgor. He controls the destructive properties of the wind and weather, as well as he signifies the properties of being unpredictable and uncontrollable. Although Bolgar and Balgor were markedly weaker than the Grand Master's other generals and most other deities, when the two of them are together their combined powers grow exponentially, making them far more powerful than their respective powers combined and more dangerous than almost any other demon, save possibly Kreshtaat himself. Supposedly just bringing the two of them near each other causes the sky to erupt in monsoons and thunderstorms, and will cause tornadoes and hurricanes. It is said that they decided to remain loyal to the Grand Master purely out of spite and for their own amusement. Bolgar's followers wear beige laced with yellow, and like to use aventurine and platinum for their decorations. Followers of Bolgar are often people who act completely irrationally, often those gripped with insanity or insatiable curiosity or wanderlust - many traveling bards and other storytellers swear homage to Bolgar. They are not necessarily evil, but almost always dangerous.
Priests of Bolgar gain dominion over the wind, being able to produce gusts of wind through prayer with the power of a strong gale. Paladins are capable of making themselves and their equipment lighter by reducing the air-pressure around them, making them faster and nimbler than before.
In order to become a Cleric of Bolgar, one needs to be tied to a pole and left out during a mighty hurricane and survive - and an amusing fact is that since hurricanes are occurrences beyond the priests' control and happen quite rarely in the regions adjacent to Rodoria, one can often find several would-be clerics left out whenever there is one, lined up in a row and tied to poles, trying to endure the storm. In the event that someone manages to become a cleric, the wind they can generate increases in power to a violent storm and they become able to remove the air in the vicinity of their enemies, choking them to death unless the cleric is pacified or allows air to return. Once cleric become high priests, they can finally conjure the force of a hurricane in their gusts of wind and become capable of summoning and dismissing clouds on the sky as they please. In addition to being able to remove the air around their enemies, they are now also able to make the air implode back into the vacuum, smashing their enemies with lethal force that often leave them as a shapeless semi-liquid mass.
Beside of feeling even lighter and faster, knight-paladins become able to bless both their weapons and armor so that either emit rapid short-ranged waves, increasing the destructive power of their attacks and causing the waves to slow down and soften incoming blows.

Balgor - The Lord of Lightning, the Roar of Fate
One of the Grand Master's five generals and "twin" in power to Bolgar. He controls the destructive powers of thunder, lightning and electricity in general, as well as signifies swiftness and ambushes. Although Balgor and Bolgar were markedly weaker than the Grand Master's other generals and most other deities, when the two of them are together their combined powers grow exponentially, making them far more powerful than their respective powers combined and more dangerous than almost any other demon, save possibly Kreshtaat himself. Supposedly just bringing the two of them near each other causes the sky to erupt in monsoons and thunderstorms, and will cause tornadoes and hurricanes. It is said that they decided to remain loyal to the Grand Master purely out of spite and for their own amusement. Followers of Balgor wear yellow laced with beige and favor topaz and platinum for their decorations. Most of Balgor's followers are highwaymen and common bandits, although many have been lead astray by Balgor's twin's madness and have turned to the Lord of Lightning as well. Balgor's followers are not necessarily evil, but tend to be dangerous nonetheless and especially remark themselves by having exceedingly little respect for the laws of mortals.
Priests of Balgor are capable of producing audible claps of thunder, as well as channeling petrifying electricity through their own bodies to anyone and anything they touch. Paladins can bless their weapons to emit booming thunder with each successful strike, at once hopefully distracting their opponents and demoralizing them.
Clerics of Balgor are the very rarest kind of clerics, and as very few dare even attempt at the requirement to achieve this rank, let alone survive. Obviously, one has to be struck by lightning and survive. The chosen few who are proven to be truly favored by Balgor come to wield the power to conjure mighty bolts of lightning and launch them over distance to strike down their enemies, and high priests furthermore becomes able to call down even mightier lightning from the clouds (if there are any).
When knight-paladins bless their weapons, they not only cause it to emit thunder with each blow but also sends a constant current of electricity through it, electrifying their opponents whenever they are hit.

Kreshtaat - The Lord of Darkness
Kreshtaat has no equal and is the uncontested most powerful the immortals. Through his ascension to immortality he came to represent the hunger for power and the eternal desire of mortals to defy their mortality. Born a mere human, Kreshtaat somehow discovered an unknown way to cast aside his humanity and become an immensely powerful demon, making him strong enough to throw down the Grand Master and his Infernal Empire and establish his own Death Clan. He is thoroughly evil, and supposedly cares about nothing more than to shatter the Divide and lead his demonic legions into Reniam, fulfilling the Nomad's Prophecy and forever leaving Reniam in blood-soaked darkness. Followers of Kreshtaat join the mortal leagues of the Death Clan and are clad only in black, and serve no other cause than to bring back their Lord.
Kreshtaat does not care enough about petty mortals anymore to lend them Favored power from him, which he thinks better focused on trying to find a way through the Divide. Instead, he has promised that all that serve him loyally right to the time when he stands as the Lord of Reniam, he will share his secret with them and reveal how to gain his immense power and immortality.

Himyth - The Dread Mother, the Victor of the Divide, the Temptress
Himyth is one of Kreshtaat's entrusted subordinates and is the only deity level demon to have ever managed to slip through the Divide, and which still remains in Reniam. She signifies seduction and temptation, sexual arousal and desire, as well as cunning trickery. Himyth is the dark entity that lurks in Reniam, changing her shape and appearance as necessary to ensure that she is not discovered, all while she secretly works to further Kreshtaat's cause and build an army of her own by mating with mortals and giving birth to her unholy progeny: the demonspawn. Her followers prefer tight and revealing clothes in dark gray and rose-red, and like to fashion their ornaments from gold and garnet. Although there are some few every now and then that serve Himyth out of a wicked desire to commit evil and use her seductive powers to their own advantage, by far the majority of her sizable flock only take her as their liege to earn entry to the wild orgies her followers frequently host.
Priests of Himyth are not only capable of invoking tempting thoughts in the minds of their enemies, as well as involuntarily awaken their sexual desires, but also enables them to conjure up bolts of explosive dark energy consisting of the very essence of Himyth, wielding significant destructive power. Paladins are similarly capable of filling their weapons with the essence of Himyth, greatly increasing their destructive output, as well as they send out waves of arousal from themselves, greatly distracting their opponents.
For a Favored One of Himyth to become a cleric, it needs simply to fornicate with someone and then murder its partner in the moment of climax. Afterwards they are rewarded with the ability to conjure up more powerful bolts of darkness, and they gain the ability to change their own appearance through prayer. High priests can call down entire volleys of explosive charges of dark energy, but also gain an almost irresistible charisma that inevitably makes those around them believe in their words and, if the high priests desires it to be so, fall in love with them.
Knight-paladins do not only gain destructive power when they bless their weapons, but also adds a venomous effect to any injury it inflicts, incapacitating the injured person in a matter of seconds and killing it in a matter of minutes. Their waves of arousal also become all the more powerful, and they become able to warp their equipment, causing weapons and armor to shift and change with their prayers.

Valderoth - The Slothful One
Despite of much ridicule and the quite disgraceful title, Valderoth is actually Kreshtaat's most trusted advisor and the greatest of his subordinates. Valderoth represents all magic in the world, as well as general laziness, but also genius and intelligence. He follows Kreshtaat mostly out of convenience since being on anything aside from the obviously winning side is too troublesome. Besides, Kreshtaat only really wants to make use of Valderoth's genius, which is the greatest amongst all immortals, and either does all the work for Valderoth or has someone else do it for him - meaning that Valderoth does not have to lift a finger. Valderoth's servants dress in all kinds of colors - it is too bothersome to pick out a dress-code - and make their decorations in bronze and opals. His followers are often too lazy to actually try to accomplish anything, although those that worship him for his supreme skill in magic and unsurpassed brilliance can be quite ambitious, although they are restricted to no single alignment.
It is too much of a bother for Valderoth to let others use his power, so he does not accept Favored Ones - yet many enter his service anyways, claiming that just being in his service grants them a profound peace of mind and improved focus for their magic.

Myrtoloin - The Lord of Decay
One of the few demonic deities that has chosen to separate themselves entirely from both the Infernal Empire and the Death Clan, and stand on his own entirely. Myrtoloin signifies the rot and decay of all things, both in the physical and moral meaning of corruption. He fancies himself a rival to both Kreshtaat and the Grand Master, and although he stands alone and has power inferior to the two greater demons, Myrtoloin remains determined that he will emerge victorious and claim the glory and power all for himself. Myrtoloin's followers wear cadaverous orange and green, and likes to use bones and shriveled organs for their decorations. Although Myrtoloin is a relatively minor deity, his followers are amongst the nastiest of all, being more twisted and evil than most of the Death Clan, taking pleasure in killing and tormenting others and causing the corruption of society.
The Favored powers granted by Myrtoloin rely on simplicity, yet are undeniably quite effective. Priests of Myrtoloin can inflict their enemies with diseases, and a paladin's blessed weapon causes wounds that are instantly infected and inevitably becomes riddled with disease.
Once a priest devour a piece of maggot-infested meat, they ascend to the rank of cleric, gaining the ability to violently make their enemies sick and force them to abruptly vomit. High priests are able to make their enemies decompose while still alive.
Knight-paladins weapons can be blessed to cause the person struck with them to instantly fall unconscious, and if they can capture an enemy and manage to hold them in their grasp they can "drain" their health, transferring their own wounds to their captured enemy.

Other
There are some entities that are considered deities by some, yet are unable to bestow Favored powers and are neither true gods or demons.

Klorr - The God of Crafts, the God of Penin
Klorr is considered to signify all honest trades in the world, those of invention and production in particular. From the late Barbaric Age and the early Age of Civilization, Klorr was a penin craftsman, inventor and blacksmith of legendary skill, and many of the most powerful items that can be found all across Reniam today are of his making. But although penin can live for half a millennium, Klorr eventually faced the problem that his time was falling short, and soon he would be victim of his mortality. To remedy this, he invented an incredible device that allow him to live far past his natural lifespan, but which prevents him from moving from his seat in the Grand Forge of Klorr in the Nomad's Canyon in northern Wegam Fermos. Even though he is obviously still mortal and penin, many penin regard him as a demigod and worship him all the same. His followers wear iron-gray and use decorations of steel. They are mainly penin, although some craftsmen belonging to other races can occasionally be heard uttering prayers to the demigod as well.

Djubei - Source of the Mist, King of Squids
Thought to be a patron deity for misfits and mutants all over the world, Djubei is most definitely neither a god nor an immortal, but a quite tangible horrendous beast that dwells in the deep caves that reach far below the roots of Mount Zerul. Earning its titles because of the fog-like air that seems to exhume from its very being and because of its tentacles appearance, Djubei is certainly a monster unlike any other in Reniam, and it is likely that the only reason many civilizations still exist today is because of the fact that Djubei is simply too enormous to leave the caverns it dwell in. Rather than a god or demon, it seems the last remnant of some disgusting race that went extinct during the Age of Darkness, or perhaps it is a first failed attempt from the Spirits at creating life. Whatever it is, some people are crazy enough to worship it, wearing clothes sown from furs and pelts and ornaments made from horns, antlers and bones.

Nilick - The Oracle
A creature of uncertain heritage, alignment and nature, practically nothing is known about the Oracle aside from the fact that it lives in the Lower Plane - either imprisoned the same as the demons or kidnapped by them for them to take advantage of her power. The other thing that is known is that the Oracle sees and knows everything that has ever happened, happens and can ever happen in the future. She is all-knowing, but for some reason is only awake for a single day at the time, sleeping exactly one thousand years between each time she awakens - and each time she awakens, great things happen in the Planes. Her one rule is that any single person can only ask her one question during that single day, but that she will answer that question it its fullest. Last time she awoke is recorded to have been in the year of 601 in the Age of Civilization... in other words, she will awaken approximately one year after the start of the roleplay.

Player Created Deities
Koraakan - The Balancer, the Bloody Weighter (Property of "Shienvien")
The beast-god of balance, neutrality and truth, the beast-god of all. Alternatively recognized as either the god of bargains and hence the god of all traders and merchants or, as becomes more frequent on darker times, as the god of sacrifice and mercilessness, hence also being the god of the desperate, the mindless and the vengeful.
Albeit usually listed alongside the lines of the gods, Koraakan actually stands apart from the remainder of them, amongst other distancing properties having came to being much later than the rest. Presumably risen from unanswered pleas and the blood shed on both sides instead of being a heir to the Spirits of Union, if not originating from some unknown source entirely, Koraakan is the god of all who turn to the one or have no-one to turn to, without discrimination. Whilst the one has taken the task of keeping the opposing halves even to an extent, the one doesn't prefer the good to the bad or the bad to the good, but will equally listen to all and fulfill all prayers- but only as long as the individual contacting the beast-god has got something of equal value to give in return, which is why the god has come to be known as the god of both bargains and sacrifice. In addition, the god will only grant what was asked, not what the asker would truly want; requesting the god thoughtlessly has its dire cost one might not immediately realize- and whilst the asker can trade off what you have received, then the bargains can never be reversed without a toll.
The beast-god is physically depicted with an elongated reptilian head slightly resembling that of a crocodile, with the added nuance of having six eyes and sometimes showing to own another two pairs of internal mandible-like jaws hidden inside its mouth. The head is usually surrounded by a wide frill and rests on top of mildly humanoidic body uniformly covered in a mosaic pattern of scales. In addition, the beast-god is also always shown to own a crocodile-esque tail, wings which are either spread wide or folded against the back like a cape and not two, but four strong arms. Usually, each of the hands is holding something- most commonly the diagonally opposite hands are holding identical objects, pointing in the opposite directions- more often than not the arms are folded, one diagonal pair of hands holding long daggers, the other sickles. Seldomly, the one might be pictured holding a set of scales, or even two separate sets.
The followers of the beast-god Koraakan are hard to identify- some carry motives picturing either the scales, sickles and daggers, the six eyes or a red droplet of blood, though. The only exception to this are the high priests of Koraakan, Karakon- beings who have sacrificed their former selves to the beast-god, being at once granted something akin to immortality and a more powerful secondary form slightly reminiscent to the god oneself by looks, in addition to being able to tap in the god's knowledge at all times- but losing their feelings and emotions in return, along with their will to do anything on their own initiative, retaining only the memories.

Whenever a mortal is on the verge of death - that is, when its heartbeat and breath has ceased, and its soul starts to slip away from the body - the mortal will experience a vision wherein they stand in a world like the one they know, only shrouded in eternal twilight, and accompanied only by the Wanderer himself. Here, in this mystical realm that exists upon the precipice between life and death, the Wanderer will converse with every single dying mortal personally, trying to comfort them and persuade them to accept their fate and allow him to take them to an afterlife. Some mortals are easily convinced, and their souls slip away quickly, leaving their bodies empty shells. Others cling stubbornly to life, and may be resurrected up to several minutes after their "death". While in this state, however, the mortal's soul will have no living vessel to occupy and its energy will progressively be drained from it in an effort to postpone the irrevocable demise of its body. One who does not accept the afterlife has a chance of resurrection for as long as they remain, but run the risk of weakening themselves to the point where they cannot preserve the spark of life anymore, nor do they have the strength to reach an afterlife. In other words, resisting the Wanderer for too long can result in one becoming a ghost.
Those that have been on the verge of death but recovered will return to Reniam with the memory of their meeting with the Wanderer intact, and from accounts of these people it has been deduced that the Wanderer - and presumably the other Spirits of Union as well - do not possess any single appearance, but appears before each individual as an altered and perfected reflection of themselves, the only common trait described about the Wanderer being male and clad in a hooded cloak, wearing the clothes of a traveler, high boots and thick gauntlets, and carrying a giant exquisite scythe. Everything else, from his size and built to his coloring and even his race, differs and seems to adapt to appear as familiar to the witness as possible.
Those who do not recover, but either passes on to an afterlife or fade to become ghosts, forget their meeting with the Wanderer for unknown reasons.

[Dark Jack]

RODORIA & NEIGHBORS

First off, the civilization in all of Rodoria is somewhat similar to medieval north-European culture in terms of building-design, clothing and weapons. Crossbows and ballistae are the highest technology publically available. Although some sexists exist, as they always will, the genders in the kingdom are generally perceived as equals, although there is a slight tendency for men getting positions of leadership over women. Both men and women can serve as soldiers and can educate themselves. Otherwise, is really dependant on which duchy one is in, with each having different views and values.

Wenal - Inhabitants referred to as Wenalics
Represented by the color gold and the royal crown.
There is not much to be said about the duchy of Wenal's history, although the it is rumored that the very capitol of Rodoria, Wenal City, was built on the ruins of largest of cities left behind by the Gazzeral after their defeat. After the short, but rather bloody war against the Gazzeral, Wenal City became the seat of the first council ever consisting of a union of deigan, penin and humans, which then elected the first king of Rodoria, Roland the Ambitious. As one could expect, this makeshift council of the three races quickly dissolved after this, and the deigan and penin left the kingdom to rule itself, although it remained closely observed by the two halves of Wegam Fermos.
Today Wenal is in a rather unique situation compared to the other duchies, since Wenal is the only duchy without a duke - nor has it ever had one. It is really only called a duchy as a means to simplify the relationship of the ten parts of Rodoria. Instead, with the royal family extinct, it is now run by a council of noblemen and women from the most prominent families of the duchy, supported by officers of the Rodorian army, which try their best to keep the population from running amok. Wenal has rather impressive military resources, in particular in force of impressive cavalry and an assembly of royal knights, but they refuse to get involved in the civil war raging amongst the duchies. They believe that none of the dukes should get to rule Rodoria, even if they prove the strongest. Instead they sit tight and undertake the extremely challenging task of trying to make the everyday life in Wenal continue as if nothing had happened, allowing their residents to live in decadency while they send out agents in the search of remnants of the royal bloodline. They believe that only a descendant of Roland the Ambitious could claim the throne of Rodoria in a lawful manner, and thus end the civil war.
"Even as the world falls to chaos, order will remain our virtue."

Etlon - Inhabitants referred to as Etlonians
Represented by the color red and the organized and militaristic gorilla.
Etlon is one of the two only duchies established after the foundation of Rodoria. The seed for the creation of Etlon were sown after the defeat of the Gazzeral back in the Barbaric Age, shortly after the kingdom of Rodoria had been formed and the duchies were still being planned. In this time, a single commander in the armies of the humans brought to Roland the Ambitious’ attention that the human armies had more than proven their superiority during the war against the Gazzeral, and pointed out that it was clear that there was no reason for their new kingdom to degrade itself by naming deigan and penin their equals when humanity had the potential to become their superiors. This human commander was named James Etlon, and is famous for supposedly being one of the greatest tactical minds and leaders in the history of Reniam. James recommended the king that they mobilized their new Rodorian army and defeated their non-human competitors. King Roland turned down the request, however, stating that they owed a debt of loyalty to their allies for helping them conquer this new land, which had been generously granted to them. James was enraged at this, thinking that leaving an opportunity unexploited was foolish. He left the Rodorian army and instead gathered mercenaries, peasants and young adventurers around him, using his skill and knowledge to train them to be a powerful militia of organized soldiers. With his new personal army at hand, James lead a campaign against southern Wegam Fermos - the farthest they could get from the restricting reach of Wenal City - and before King Roland could interfere, James had already conquered large areas the neighboring country, forcing deigan forces backwards and taking a piece of land larger than even the duchy of Wenal. Seeing this, King Roland was impressed, but he knew that the violation of the alliance between Wegam Fermos and Rodoria would infuriate the Fermians, yet King Roland was reluctant to give away this new addition to his kingdom. In a cunning move to keep this new land, he immediately named James Etlon as the duke of the area, founding the duchy of Etlon, thus legally making it property of Rodoria. Meanwhile, to ensure peace with the Fermians, King Roland finally had James Etlon arrested and charged with treason. James was executed for his crimes, but his title of Duke of Etlon passed down through his bloodline, thus keeping Etlon under Rodorian rule.
In present day, the duke of Etlon, Arognar Etlon (who was nicknamed the Crimson Duke instead of the traditional Red Duke because of his relentless desire to conquer the surrounding duchies) is called the equal to his ancestor when it comes to tactical expertise, and thus he is reputedly the most skilled commander of the entire Rodorian army. When the Withering broke out and eradicated the entire royal house, however, the Crimson Duke took that as a sign that the days of the weakness that the kingdom had suffered since the death of James Etlon, and that it was time for the throne to be passed on to those who truly deserved to lead Rodoria. Under his command, Etlon quickly expanded their borders into the territories of Nemhim, Anaxim and Pelgaid, establishing three military outposts there to keep their enemies in check. Citizens of the duchy are reduced to cogs in a greater machine, with everyone serving a function to fuel their war-efforts. Everything is done with militaristic efficiency, and anything that threaten to weaken the combined strength of the duchy is quickly removed or reassigned to where it can do no harm. Etlon has the largest, most organized and varied army of all the duchies, will stop at nothing to conquer all of Rodoria.
"My voice is the sword, my will the shield, and my army an extension of both."

Gilmah - Inhabitants referred to as Gilmahin
Represented by the color black and the slithering and deadly viper.
When humankind was given the control of the land that became the kingdom of Rodoria, several the eight original duchies were formed when Roland the Ambitions divided his domain to his companions from his adventuring days. One of these companions was Reg Gilmah, who became the duke of the duchy of Gilmah. Reg was not a companion that King Roland had chosen by his free will, but rather out of necessity because he, during his adventurous youth, had been in need of arcane knowledge and magic power. Reg possessed both of these in abundance, being one of the most powerful wielders of necromancy of the Barbaric Age. Unfortunately, Reg’s bloodline inherited the rule of Gilmah only for a couple of generations, until the time came for Reg’s granddaughter, Delian, to wear the title. Delian Gilmah's knowledge necromancy exceeded that of her grandfather, and through dark rituals, Delian undertook the first recorded transformation of lichdom and, gathering like-minded necromancers, soon after founded the Black Tribunal. She is known be the enchantress who cursed the Land of Eternal Night to its current state, and was the reason that necromancy became outlawed in Rodoria. Since Delian’s betrayal of Rodoria, Reg's bloodline appears extinct, leaving the title of duke of Gilmah vacant. To remedy this, a duke is now elected by the people each time the last one perishes, rather than inherited through bonds of blood.
One of the duchies with a darker history, Gilmah is nevertheless also a rather powerful force within Rodoria, as it is the place where everyone who wishes to seek out the darker secrets of the world goes. Gilmah is the only place aside from Fokon where demons and Ismyel are openly worshipped, and as a result, a sinister atmosphere rests over the entire duchy. Unlike those of the other duchies, the Gilmahin army has no real specialty, but is rather a somewhat mediocre entity. However, rumor has it that Gilmahin sorcerers secretly practice forbidden magic, thus making up for their relative weakness by possessing powers that none of the other duchies will be prepared for. Gilmah does not wage war against the other duchies to put their duke on the throne (since in Gilmah, the title of duke is considered worth less than in the other duchies), but because they wish to make Delian Gilmah and her Black Tribunal the rulers of Rodoria. Their main goal is to defeat the duchy of Pelgaid, thus releasing the Black Tribunal - and the undead horde under their command - within their walls.
"Fear the embrace of darkness, for in darkness, all secrets are left untold."

Pelgaid - Inhabitants referred to as Pelgaidians
Represented by the color white and the loyal and cooperative wolf.
Pelgaid is the newest of the duchies, being established almost a full century after the defeat of the Gazzeral. When the former duchess of Gilmah, Delian, undertook the transformation into an immortal lich, the necromancer sought to the borders of Jevog Denûm to the east where she used her dark power to awaken a host of undead, starting the struggle known as the War of Bones with the goal of conquering all of Rodoria. The new threat quickly alerted the rest of the kingdom, however, and with one of the only joint efforts of all of the duchies (except, naturally, Gilmah), they managed to hold back the tide of undead. But the king soon saw that the unholy forces under Delian’s control would only grow in power, as more and more necromancers joined her ranks in the Black Tribunal, and that it was only a matter of time before the Rodorian army would fail. It was then that a paladin of Liya, Eremus Pelgaid, stepped forth to offer that his holy order would move forth to fight the undead horde, occupying it while the other duchies seized the opportunity to wall in the enemy to prevent them from spreading. The king accepted this offer, and Eremus and his order of paladins fought bravely against the Black Tribunal while the duchies all sent as many men they could spare to raise a mighty wall around the battlefield. The War of Bones lasted almost half a decade before the wall was completed, and only then could the paladins retreat from the cursed Land of Eternal Night. Although Eremus received a mortal wound during the exodus, the king saw fit to grant him the title of duke before he perished, taking land from Anaxim and Zerul to reward him a duchy of his own to pass down through his bloodline. Ever since then, the dukes of Pelgaid have protected Rodoria from the undying threat from the Land of Eternal Night, where Delian and the Black Tribunal patiently wait for the day when they can bring the War of Bones to the end they wanted.
Pelgaid is probably the single place in all of Reniam where the inhabitants are the most determined to battle evil, and despite of the rest of Rodoria being thrown into civil-war, Pelgaid has no interest in conquering more land. Instead they concentrate on keeping the undead in check, but now that they have lost the support of the surrounding duchies - since these now spend all of their efforts on fighting each other - Pelgaid stand alone, and is weaker than ever towards the forces of the Black Tribunal.
"Through all calamities, we will stand vigil. In the name of Liya, you shall not pass!"

Anaxim - Inhabitants referred to as Anaximites
Represented by the color green and the tree, completely in synch with nature.
When the union of humans, deigan and penin invaded the lands of the Gazzeral, they were surprised to find that other creatures than the lizard-people had made their home in the region. In fact, in the great Anaxim Forest - the largest forest in all of Rodoria - they found other humans and deigan who had lived there for generations. They were druids, barbarians, mages and rangers, who claimed to guard the forest by any means necessary, even if it meant turning against their own kind. King Roland thought the determination of these guardians was admirable, and so he decreed that Anaxim Forest should remain theirs, and not a single tree should be harmed. In order to further ensure that Anaxim Forest would remain untouched, he named his companion, Sevol Greenmark, who was a ranger himself, the duke of the duchy that shaped around Anaxim Forest.
As time has passed, the dedication to nature and the passion for archery has stayed with the Anaximite people. Their duchy is one of the most internally peaceful and stable in Rodoria, and even as they go to war they strive to uphold traditions such as the annual archery contests and the introduction of the beauty of forests and nature to the children of each generation. Aside from that, the people in Anaxim lives by the same idea as many other duchies does: that their own duke is the one best fit for taking the throne of the chaotic remains of Rodoria. However, the military in Anaxim is not armed for warfare on a larger scale. Their soldiers have taken up on the ways of the rangers, using light armor and wielding light weapons and bows, thus rendering them inferior to the might of most other duchies in direct confrontation. Instead of fighting open battles, the Anaximites fight their neighbors by ambushing their platoons with archers and robbing their trading-caravans.
"We have no fear, for we serve nature, and nature is the greatest force of all."

Fokon - Inhabitants referred to as Fokonians
Represented by the color pink and the tranquil and ponderous tortoise.
In the southern part of the humans’ new territory, they found an area where vegetation seemed to flourish even more magnificently than in the rest of Rodoria, and the people figured that it had used to be something like the Gazzeral's old main field for growing herbs and crops of different kinds. This place was by far the most fertile in all of Rodoria, and King Roland decreed that such a vast resource and a place of such incredible beauty had to remain untouched by the bloody hands of battle. In order to ensure this, he formed a duchy there and granted it to his old companion, Hans Fokon, who was a priest serving Reina, the goddess of mercy. Hans made good use of his new position and took good care of his new responsibility, lovingly tending to both plants and soil. He and those who shared his legacy maintained what was known to be the most beautiful thing in all of Rodoria: the Famous Flower Fields of Fokon!
Over time, Fokon became the main site of worship of deities of both good and evil, and soon the Joint Temple of Immortals was constructed, dedicated to all gods, demons and Spirits of Union. The inhabitants there does not care about the civil war around them, since they are pacifists, but instead maintain their lifestyle from before the Withering. They merely wish to be left in peace, trusting in their while their herbalists are at work with brewing elixirs of their many different herbs, hoping to find a cure for the plague. Fokon has no army and no guards, but rather trust in the Wardens and the Favored Ones tied to the Joint Temple of Immortals to take care of whatever problems could arise. They specialize in healing, both medicinal and magical, and are foresworn to aid anyone in need that comes to them - something not all of the other duchies approve of.
"War begets only violence and death. Serenity is what gives us the joy of living."

Nemhim - Inhabitants referred to as Nemhimians
Represented by the color orange and the quick and cunning rat.
Another one of King Roland’s companions, Erik Nemhim, was the thief of the old band of adventurers. As all of King Roland's other companions, Erik was granted a duchy of his own upon the foundation of the kingdom. There is not much more to be said, except that Erik died a mysterious death only months after having received the title, a death that was supposedly caused by poison and that had Erik's son claim the title suspiciously quickly.
Over the years, Nemhim has become the one of the duchies that has the lowest moral of all, harboring more criminal activity within Nemhim City than in the other nine duchies combined. The guards there are lazy and corrupt, and as a result, the citizens have learned to fend for themselves. While speaking in high praises of the others' efforts and keeping on good terms with them all and keeping the Nemhimian soldiers within the borders of Nemhim, their spies and agents lurk in the other duchies and assassinate important officials, sabotage armories and otherwise powerful defensive structures, and often even steal things right out of the other duchies' treasuries. And all the while they are doing this, the Orange Duke plots to become the new king of Rodoria himself, but rather than send his own men into battle, he cunningly play the other duchies against each other, hoping that the civil-war will bleed them all out to such a degree that Nemhim will eventually be able to steal away victory from their weakened countrymen.
"Why bother when it is so much easier to let someone else do it?"

Seclyr - Inhabitants referred to as Seclyrians
Represented by the color yellow and the tenacious and fearsome wild boar.
Another duchy without any remarkable history, this place was also granted to a companion of Roland the Ambitious, Seclyr the Barbaric, a mighty warrior who was said to wield incredible prowess in battle. An interesting fact about Seclyr, however, would be that it was the first of the duchies to put restrictions on the study of magic. Instead they have focused their efforts on training the finest and strongest warriors in all of Rodoria, having every skilled fighter train ten more whenever they became skilled enough, as well as the duchy hold annual tournaments with grand prizes for the winners in order to motivate their inhabitants to train their skills to the utmost. Naturally, the best place to do that is in the army.
With the outbreak of the Withering, the duchy of Seclyr very quickly came to the conclusion that the horrid sickness was definitely of magical nature, and thus they concluded that magic was obviously an evil and unpredictable force and was best left unused. The Yellow Duke increased the enforcement on the restrictions of magic, as well as outlaw not just a couple of types, but making all magic illegal in Seclyr - the punishment for practicing any kind of sorcery being death by burning on a stake. While the forces of Seclyr easily can keep the few unfortunate magicians within their borders in check, methodically executing them as they are discovered, they turn their awesome warriors - each soldier being a master of its field and handling their weapons with practiced expertise - against their surrounding neighbors. The Yellow Duke is determined to defeat all of the other duchies and seize the throne, just for the sake of making the law against any kind of magic countrywide, completely hindering its use in Rodoria.
"We strike with our arms, not our swords, and cut with skill, not a blade. The strongest survive, and none are stronger than us."

Zerul - Inhabitants referred to as Zerulics
Represented by the color blue and the wise and attentive owl.
Yet another of Roland the Ambitious companions was given this duchy out of gratitude from the king, this one to a sorceress called Sylvia Zerul, the only one able to contest with the necromancer Reg Gilmah’s knowledge of the arcane. As such, Zerul took after its duchess' preferences and became the seat of magic, knowledge and education in Rodoria.
Culture in Zerul is rather aristocratic in nature, with the majority of the population being scholars and students that come from all over Rodoria in search of knowledge. Zerul City is almost exclusively inhabited by these learned men and women, along with magi, while peasants are mostly reduced to living outside of the city, tending to mundane businesses such as farming, mining and trading. Like the 'brutes' of Seclyr, as the magi of Zerul refer to them, the wizards of the Zerulic population very quickly came to the conclusion that the sudden appearance of the Withering, as well as the very nature of the way it affected its victims, pointed to that it was a product of magic. Instead of banning the use of magic entirely, they intensified their studies in sorcery, logically assuming that if magic was what had caused the plague, it was only natural that magic would wield the final cure. So while their modest army patrol the borders of the duchy, supported by mages wielding the awesome power of their arcane wisdom against any intruders, their scholars and wizards research in the Great Library of Zerul to discover a possible cure for the plague.
"The wise shall inherit Reniam, and wisdom is our trademark."

Relimon - Inhabitants referred to as Relimonians
Represented by the color purple and the greedy and intelligent raven.
The smallest of all the duchies, the Relimon peninsula was granted to King Roland's councilor and former companion, Frank Relimon, who was a wealthy merchant who took care of the boring business-part of the adventurous group. The merchant lead on his legacy in his new domain, where he quickly established a powerful trading-empire, drawing further success from the Grand Relimon Harbor, from which he sent out ships to all the duchies and several countries along the northern coast of the continent. It was also a ship from Relimon that discovered Melenaoth, and a duke of Relimon that lead the battle on sea that finally ended the war with the Melenian people.
For the other duchies, the safety of the Melenian Ocean ended quite abruptly when the Withering broke out. The Purple Duke, after having stationed numerous guards and mercenaries at the one and only connection between Relimon and the mainland, made a new deal with Melenaoth. In return for a continued trade between Relimon and Melenaoth, the Melenian pirate ships were once again allowed to attack any Rodorian ship that did not fly the banner of Relimon, giving that duchy monopoly on all seafaring in the Melenian Ocean. In Relimon, they believe that fighting the other duchies would be a waste of both time and money. Instead of meddling with the others' war, they sit tight and concentrate on their trade routes, and make a nice additional profit by selling resources and weaponry to the other duchies to fuel the civil-war and keep money coming. They are confident that the only right way to take the rule of Rodoria is to let the other duchies bleed each other out, and when Rodoria was practically bankrupt from the war, Relimon would step in and use its accumulated wealth to literally buy the entire country.
"War may be cruel, but it is good for business."

These first few listed artifacts are just the ones that are legendary in Rodoria and its surrounding regions.

Barbarian
The weapon known as Barbarian is a massive double-bladed axe, with a handle longer than a human man's arm and bearded blades that are larger than a common man's torso. Its appearance seems rather plain aside from its unwieldy size, with the entirety of the weapon being almost uniformly iron-gray and unpretentious, clearly made with practicality in mind over decorativeness. It is currently in the possession of Robert Seclyr, the Duke of Seclyr.
The mighty axe Barbarian is actually one of the oldest objects in Northern Kirirak that has achieved the status of artifact, hailing all the way back from the early Barbaric Age. Back then, Barbarian was forged by the dominant tarken tribe of Derisstahn at the time, thus explaining the huge dimensions of the weapon, as it was meant to be wielded by the giant westerners. For a time, Barbarian was wielded as the tarkir of the tarken grand chieftain of the tribes, until the chieftain was struck down during a raid by human barbarians and Barbarian stolen. The tribal humans found that they were incapable of wielding such a massive weapon, yet kept it with them as the decades passed, and their tribes gradually migrated away from the tarken lands. Eventually these tribes came to be the founders of Kátimit, where Barbarian once more became a symbolic weapon belonging always to the chieftain of the tribe that had it. It was not until the middle 1600ths of the Barbaric Age that the tribe possessing Barbarian managed to secure a trading relations with Holiethanathas Deigan, and a deigan ambassador happened to notice Barbarian and offer the barbarians to have the weapon enchanted. Later, Barbarian was eventually passed down to Seclyr the Barbaric, who wielded Barbarian in his adventures with Roland the Ambitious and in the war against the Gazzeral. Today, Barbarian is the heirloom weapon of the Dukes of Seclyr, and even now remains a symbol of the people's prowess and glory.
The enchantment placed upon Barbarian by the deigan sorcerers is one that is remarkably simple, yet very powerful and seemingly impossible to replicate. Being in the same category as the enchantment of the Unity rune on rune-swords, the magic imbued in Barbarian does not simply negate the weight of the axe, but increases the might of its wielder even further. It is said that whoever wields Barbarian will have his strength augmented more than tenfold, granting a common human warrior the might of a lohk for as long as he wields the axe. Furthermore, it is said that the edge of Barbarian is enchanted as well, and that it can cut through virtually anything, save the extremely durable metals of ghiril and Sartal.

Omni
It is difficult to describe the... object, one must called it, bearing the name of Omni, because its appearance is ever-changing. It does however always consist of part ebony and part emerald, though even the volume of each material might change. The current location of Omni is unknown, as it was lost sometime during the War of Bones. Some think that the Order of Liya destroyed the artifact, but many argue that the Order did not possess the power to destroy something as powerful as Omni.
The reason that a great many things are unknown about the artifact known as Omni can be mostly attributed to the fact that it was created and wielded by none other than Delian Gilmah, the last heritable Duchess of Gilmah. Supposedly crafted from little besides the raw materials and powerful magic, Omni is a tool designed specifically to be used by skilled necromancers, as the object can be manipulated freely in size and shape by channeling magical energy through it, causing it to morph to its wielder's will. Whatever other dark enchantments the mistress of the Black Tribunal might have placed upon it remains a mystery, and all that is known is that whenever Delian made a public appearance previous to being sealed in the Land of Eternal Night, she would wield Omni in the form of an ebony staff tipped with emerald. It is currently little more than a myth, though recently there have been rumors of a black-robed figure bearing a staff in the likeness of Omni's original form. Whether this is truly Omni or merely a similar staff is unknown.

The Fury Blade
The legendary weapon of Felgon Dragonslayer, it is a longsword crafted of a single body of metal that has a strange reddish hue to it. Its hilt is plain and its guard in the form of a shell that come to surround the hand in all other directions than where the wrist enters, fashioned to look like a surface of hardened lava. Its blade is single-edged and straight, a simple construction for practical purposes, but is engraved with a series of arcane glyphs that are a deeper red than the rest of the weapon. The Fury Blade is currently in the possession of the Champion of the Grand Tournament of Seclyr, Samuel Self-Namer.
Being an artifact that has seen might use since it surfaced upon being discovered by the Nightwalker hero Felgon Dragonslayer in the year of 615 of the Age of Civilization, the Fury Blade has changed hands many times since the death of its discoverer, and over the centuries been used for various purposes. Although no one seems to know where exactly the Fury Blade came from before it was added to the hoard of the red dragon Aliostar, several things can be deduced simply from its appearance and its properties. It is the product of collaboration of penin craftsmen and deigan enchanters, the result of which is a sturdy weapon with an exquisite and powerful enchantment. The edge, infused with magic, is known to heat when the sword is swung, and when it strikes, the Fury Blade unleashes a directed and concentrated burst of flame which - according to the legend of Felgon Dragonslayer - is capable of breaking through even dragon scales.

Noble
This weapon is an extravagant slim claymore, its hilt golden and shaped as if the metal has been braided, with an unusual pearl-like stone inserted in its pommel that glow with a dim gray light. Its guard is shaped like a pair of beautiful women with their feet resting on the handle and their arms stretched over their heads, naked aside from sparsely covering shawls. The double-edged blade of steel is long and slender, being narrow at its base, widening towards the middle and then thinning again into a pointed tip. The current location of Noble is not officially known, but many suspect that it is stored in the Pelgaidian treasury and kept a secret heirloom of the Pelgaidian ducal family.
One of the few remaining artifacts of the ancient Nightwalker Empire, and most likely the only such artifact to have strayed as far north as to Rodoria, Noble is undeniably an extraordinary weapon imbued with very powerful magic, serving as physical evidence of the past greatness and might of the Nightwalkers. Though the ability for the blade to unleash a mighty and destructive current of lightning through itself and into anything it touches, what makes Noble truly remarkable is its ability to sense the nature of its wielder. The true power of Noble is only ever released if its wielder has a noble soul, whereas someone with characteristics not particularly noble will only be able to use Noble as a ordinary claymore. Someone thoroughly immortal with no sense of nobility at all may also access some of the power of the sword, though, as when they grasp the hilt, Noble will electrocute them for their insolence - not enough to cook them alive or scorch their skin, but just enough to stop their hearts.

The Bow of Anaxim
This iconic weapon is perhaps one of the most exquisite wooden arms ever made, and a source of pride for both the ducal family of Anaxim and the servants of Gaia. It is a recurve longbow, crafted from a peculiar green-stained dark-red kind of wood shaped with intricate designs up and down the limbs, most of which are amazingly lifelike portrayals of plants and animals. Each recurved tip of the limbs are formed in the likeness of the extended wings of birds, and the bowstring extending between them is actually an odd elastic, but durable, pale-green vine, embedded into the wooden limbs themselves in either end. The Bow of Anaxim is currently in the possession of Belinda Anaxim, the Duchess of Anaxim.
Although many believe the tales of the creation of this bow to be nothing but myths to make it seem more mystical, both the ducal family of Anaxim and the servants of Gaia persistently insist that it is true. It is said that in the year of 1786 - five years after the end of the war against the Gazzeral, Sevol Greenmark finally succeeded in gaining entrance to the great Anaxim Forest, and achieved an audience with the leaders of the forest. These leaders - supposedly having referred to themselves as the Guardians of Anaxim - negotiated with the founder of the duchy of Anaxim for several weeks on end, forming the basis for the future coexistence and cooperation between the ducal forces and the forest. At the end of it all, the Guardians are said to have spoken a prayer to Gaia for her to let them show their appreciation of Greenmark's wisdom in working with them rather than against them. After that, the Bow of Anaxim grew out of the ground - already given the form it has today and ready for immediate use.
Whether the myth of its creation is true or not, the Bow of Anaxim remains a unique and powerful artifact, and many argue that this, and not the Staves of the First Wood, should be named the Creator Relic of Gaia. The properties of the Bow of Anaxim are unlike that of any other bow in recorded history, with both limbs and string of the weapon being incredibly durable, capable of withstanding even bone-crushing blows and strikes with cutting edges, yet remarkably elastic, and although the bow is estimated to have a draw weight of more than two hundred pounds - which is more than even most tarken longbows - even a common human can wield it. This is attributed to the fact that the entirety of the bow, if the myth is true, is actually a miniature Tree of Life, thus explaining the extreme durability and draw weight. The bow is also said to be alive, somehow, and that it is the bow itself that assists its wielder in drawing back the string, and even guides the shot to be eerily accurate. Because of this, the Bow of Anaxim has been banned from use in the Anaximite Archery Tournament. The Bow of Anaxim is an heirloom artifact of the ducal family of Anaxim, and has been so since the founding days of Rodoria.

The Spellmaster Tomes
The Spellmaster Tomes are in fact not one artifact, but two - a pair of ancient spell books that has virtually nothing in common, save being equally old and equally powerful, and both being written in an ancient variant of the Junian language. One Spellmaster Tome belonged to Reg Gilmah, and is bound in black leather; the other belonged to Sylvia Zerul, and is bound in naturally colored leather covered by blue canvas. Both has Junian lettering on their backs, and both are inscribed with arcane sigils of sealing which makes their contents only accessible to magi capable of dispelling the seals. The Black Spellmaster Tome of Reg Gilmah is currently locked away in the Gilmahin treasury, and the Blue Spellmaster Tome of Sylvia Zerul is in the possession of Marcus Zerul, the Duke of Zerul.
It is said that when Roland the Ambitious eventually recruited both Reg Gilmah and Sylvia Zerul to his band of adventurers, the two legendary masters of magic joined their research into spells and each began the process of creating new spell books, each obviously recording whatever magic in their own book that they intended to use later on. Written in the language of the ancient Junica of the distant southwest, the Hegemony of Magi, and inscribed with powerful seals, Gilmah and Zerul each went to great lengths to ensure that no one else could easily steal the powerful secrets they stored therein. It is said that each of the Spellmaster Tomes not only contain some of the most powerful and dangerous arcane spells in existence, but also the exquisite invocation techniques of Gilmah and Zerul that are said to allow any capable mage to greatly increase its own power. Additionally, Gilmah supposedly recorded many secrets of necromancy in the Black Spellmaster Tome, and that his great-granddaughter Delian Gilmah's discovery of the ritual of lichdom is said to have been achieved mainly with the Tome's help. The Blue Spellmaster Tome is now an heirloom of the ducal family of Zerul, and the Black Spellmaster Tome lies unused and unseen within the treasury of Castle Gilmah, waiting for a suitable inheritor of its dark secrets.

The Orbs of Zhakos
It is uncertain exactly how many of the legendary Orbs of Zhakos still exist, scattered throughout Reniam, and estimates of how many were once created range from less than a dozen to almost a hundred. Whatever their numbers, the Orbs of Zhakos are all identical spherical gemstones that are a little larger than a human head, bearing a bright-pink color and giving off a soft glow, whilst their interiors are filled with what appears to be a churning mass of pink-hued smoke, and it has been said that it looks as though a thunderstorm is trapped within them. Each Orb also had a pedestal crafted for them, made from golden metal and formed in bent and twisted spiraling patterns, with their entire surface inscribed with arcane runes. No one knows where the Orbs have been hidden away, as whoever manages to acquire one of these priceless artifacts tend to guard them - and the knowledge of their existence - jealously.
Long ago, before the differences of culture between the true deigan and the ascended deigan escalated into a centuries-long war and the persecution of the true deigan, the true deigan still lived on the surface rather than underground and inhabited their given homeland of Grethlamahn, with their grand capital there being the great city of Zhakos. It was in Zhakos that the true deigan patriarchs and matriarchs met at regular intervals in an effort to make their highly individualistic people seem at least sort of united, and it was here that they received word that orders had been given by the assembled [I]Milhinosahl[/B] of the ascended deigan to begin their hunt for their raven-feathered cousins. Upon hearing this, the true deigan leaders came to realize that the ascended deigan were far more powerful than themselves, and that the only way the true deigan would stand a chance in the coming war would be if they could somehow ensure that the true deigan armies could arrive and combine anywhere at but a moment's notice. To facilitate this, each of the patriarchs and matriarchs brought their best magi and Sel'wai - Nameless, the true deigan practitioners of forbidden magic - and with combined efforts, they created the Orbs of Zhakos, each Orb given a magical connection to all the other Orbs, allowing anyone with the knowledge of how to use the artifacts to teleport almost instantaneously from any one Orb to one of the others.
Although the true deigan were defeated anyways, as by far most of the patriarchs and matriarchs betrayed their kinsmen for personal gain and decided to withhold their forces despite being summoned, the Orbs of Zhakos worked flawlessly, and ultimately the Orbs were even used by the true deigan to teleport entire cities - buildings included - elsewhere as they were forced to flee the ascended deigan inquisitors. Most of the Orbs were ultimately lost to the true deigan because sadly, although anyone and anything can travel through an Orb of Zhakos, the Orbs themselves stayed where they were, meaning that each time the deigan utterly abandoned a location through the use of an Orb, the Orb used to evacuate was left behind. Others have been stolen and looted, or even sold by desperate fugitives.

The Demon Prisons
There are five Demon Prisons in total, each containing a general of the Grand Master of Evil. They are all thin splinters of crystalline material, not unlike the rare Crystal Prisons, but virtually indestructible. They are about as long as a human finger and perhaps half an inch at their thickest. The Prisons glow a different color depending on the demon captured within: the Demon Prison of Hazzergash glows red, that of Gervolt glows blue, that of Grimolt glows green, that of Bolgar glows white, and that of Balgor glows yellow. The Demon Prisons were hidden throughout the Land in the Middle, which later became Rodoria, and their locations remain unknown to this day. Only the Demon Prison of Bolgar has been discovered, found in the ruins of the old Gazzeral capital, and is currently stored in the Royal Treasury.
At the end of the Age of Darkness, after the defeat of Kreshtaat and his Death Clan, the banishment of the demons and the retreat of the Spirits of Union, it was discovered that the Grand Master and his five generals had managed to avoid detection and had not been imprisoned in the Lower Plane. As the Nomad did not have the power to send the Demon Lords across the Divide, yet knew that he could not let these immensely powerful entities roam about freely, he did the next best thing and trapped each of them in a prison of their own. While the Grand Master was hidden away in a prison of an entirely different make than those of the rest, the Nomad forged extremely powerful Crystal Prisons for the five generals, in which he sealed their power. It is said that the Demon Prisons work almost exactly the same as regular Crystal Prisons, and that if a mage were to acquire one, that mage would be able to channel the power of the Demon Lord within and wield the terrifying power of a deity as their own. However, it is also said that doing so is even more risky with the Demon Prisons than the Crystal Prisons, because the Demon Lords' power is so that they are almost guaranteed to overpower anyone trying to access their might and possess them, subsequently freeing themselves from their imprisonment and unleashing their full power upon Reniam.

(It should be noted that Klorr was extremely productive in his days as a craftsman, even by penin standards, and almost every item he created through his nearly four centuries of occupational activity was a masterpiece. Because it would be unthinkable for all of Klorr's many creations to be famous, only the most unique of them are mentioned amongst those that have gone down in legend. It should also be noted that followers of Klorr will most likely be offended at speaking of Klorr's masterpieces as artifacts, as they would insist that they are Relics.)

Vo Bat (The Unbreakable)
The Vo Bat is actually just a relatively small heater shield, being merely twenty inches tall and sixteen inches wide, and wears no decorations at all, but is rather an utterly plain construction of smooth silvery metal, with a small steel handle soldered onto its back. Despite of being centuries old, however, the shield does not have as much as a single dent or scratch either, though, and appears to be in as perfect condition as the day it was made - only the handle seems worn, as though time has ignored everything but that. The Vo Bat is currently believed to be held in Sadona, the hidden capital of the penin, and is considered a possession of the penin High Lord.
Though the great craftsman Klorr managed many things throughout his long and career before abandoning his mortal existence and achieving pseudo-immortality, one thing that always bothered him was the fact that he, with all his legendary accomplishments, had never been able to create something as durable as the priceless Sartal of the true deigan. However much he tried to create an alloy with at least equally formidable as this, even as he poured great resources and magic into it, he found that no metal he could forge ever qualified as being what he would call "indestructible", as the word Sartal meant. But one day, Klorr finally succeeded in creating a metal compound that was black as obsidian, heavy as steel and more durable than anything he had ever seen before. With this new metal, Klorr forged a mighty kite shield, which he called Gvenir - "triumph".
Presenting the shield to the world, Klorr addressed the Sartal Smiths throughout Reniam and boldly claimed that he had finally rendered their precious alloy obsolete, claiming that his new alloy was superior. Not a week passed after this declaration before a hundred true deigan marched into the Grand Forge of Klorr, each one either a warrior or warlock, escorting no less than three of the fabled Sartal Smiths of their people, the ones entrusted with the secret technique to make Sartal. These three Sartal Smiths faced Klorr together, but rather than demand the penin to retract his statement about Gvenir, they issued an offer and a challenge to Klorr: the three of them would borrow Klorr's forge, and with it, they would prepare the Sartal alloy so that Klorr might craft a Sartal weapon for himself, as was tradition. In return, they only wanted that the Sartal weapon Klorr made was to be tested against Gvenir, so that they could once and for all establish which was superior - they alloy, or Klorr's.
Accepting the deigan's offer, Klorr proceeded to prepare a mold into which the Sartal could be poured, and all the deigan were surprised to find that Klorr did not want to make a weapon, but a shield. They allowed him to do so nevertheless, and together, the Sartal Smiths and Klorr forged a Sartal heater shield.
For months thereafter, the Sartal Smiths stayed with Klorr, as the four of them subjected the two shields to almost every conceivable test of durability. Of those that are recorded, both of the shields were struck with battering rams and smashed with great weights lifted high above them and dropped. Both were subjected to a dragon's breath, beaten by a dragon's paws and chewed on by a dragon's jaws, and both were almost completely submerged in molten magma. Powerful magi of the deigan, penin and humans were called there to bombard the shields with fierce magic, and even summoners were called upon to conjure demons and angels to assail them. But no matter what they tried, it seemed, neither Gvenir nor the Sartal shield would dent the least, and barely a mark had been left on either of them. So great were their efforts, it is said, that entire mountains crumbled while the shields endured.
After half a year of this, the Sartal Smiths were prepared to accept that the contest would never end and that both alloys were truly indestructible, but even as the Smiths and their escorts returned home, Klorr remained obsessed with finding a way to break one or both of the shields. Finally, after numerous more vain attempts at destroying the shields, Klorr called upon his people to subject the shields to their final test. Fitting each shield to the end of a battering ram, Klorr then had hundreds of penin take turns at banging the shields against one another for many days, and it is said that the rhythmical booming of Gvenir and the Sartal shield colliding could be heard in from Rodoria to Derisstahn - yet neither shield would budge. Desperate to resolve the question of which was stronger, Klorr went back to his forge and created a small spike of his black compound, pointed in both ends, which he then fitted to chains and hang from the ceiling, suspended directly between the two shields. Ordering his brethren to put all their strength into one final collision, the shields hit the spike from either side, and it is said that Klorr wept, not with sadness, but joy, as Gvenir shattered while the Sartal shield remained unscathed.
Klorr is said to have taken the shield down after this, held it up and exclaimed "Vo Bat!" at the top of his lungs, meaning to announce "It is unbreakable!" His followers interpreted the words as "The Unbreakable", however, and assumed that it was his name for the shield.
Though Vo Bat is arguably not one of Klorr's greater creations - and barely even something that can be attributed to him at all - it has still found a place amongst his creations of legend, mostly because of the popular story of its origins and that it symbolizes not only the durability of the penin body, but also the persistence of the penin mind that had Klorr labor for more than half a year to destroy the Vo Bat, yet ultimately failing. It is not known to have any traits that set it apart from anything else made from Sartal, though some myths claim that the many trials of Vo Bat, especially its subjection to powerful magic, left it containing yet-undiscovered and untapped might.

The Hammer of Klorr
Being exactly what it sounds like, the Hammer of Klorr is perhaps the most ostentatious of all of Klorr's creations. It is a great maul, being about the size of common human war hammers but being very large by penin standards, with a massive cylindrical head that weighs easily seventy pounds, thus making it almost a prerequisite for its wielder to have the stable poise of the penin to swing it without staggering oneself in the process. While the weapon is actually made from a powerful steel-alloy, its entire surface has been gilded and polished, and both the long handle and the heavy head are heavily decorated with mainly rubies and sapphires, with the main decoration being a fist-sized black diamond at its pommel. It has the penin rune for "absolute leader" (by humans often interpreted as "king" or "emperor") carved into its handle. The Hammer of Klorr was last seen in the hands of Vilhej the Righteous in 1355 of the Age of Civilization, when she lead the charge into the Land of Eternal Night and ultimately perished. The hammer is thought to be there still.
As famous and revered as Klorr is today and has been for centuries, many often forget that even he came from humble beginnings, the son of an engineer that ended up crippled after blowing himself up, his mother just one average penin blacksmith amongst the many. None of Klorr's many legends tell of him growing up and studying and training hard to learn the crafts of blacksmithing and engineering, as well as exploring the realm of magic - the combination of fields of expertise that allowed him to create his many masterpieces - nor that at the beginning of his career, he was just a penin boy sweating over a normal forge. Klorr did not rise out of obscurity until he was nearly a century old, when Jakim the Bearded - the penin High Lord of the time - issued an order for every able and willing penin craftsman to attempt to create a fitting regalia for the High Lordship of the penin. While hundreds others than Klorr submitted scepters, staves, crowns, rings, necklaces, cloaks and many other things, Klorr still put all of his meager wealth and resources into crafting a mighty hammer.
After a while of consideration, Klorr is said to have been summoned by Jakim to the great throne room of Sadona, where the High Lord waited with the hammer - at the time still plain-looking rather than extravagant - and asked Klorr why he would suggest a maul as the regalia of the High Lord.
To this, Klorr replied: "You are the High Lord of the Anvil of the People (Gevras Gûlastein, the original name of northern Wegam Fermos), the one who forms and hones our people as we would do a blade. Penin are craftsmen, and you are the crafter of men; it is only fitting that the Greatest Craftsman has the greatest hammer."
Apparently pleased with this reply, Jakim had handed the hammer back to Klorr, along with a key to the treasury of Sadona. He ordered Klorr to take whatever he needed from the treasury, and stated that the High Lord of the penin could not very well be seen bearing a regalia that was plain and gray. After this, Klorr made the Hammer of Klorr look like it does today, coated in gold and beset with gemstone. Jakim was so pleased with the final result that he ordered the construction of what is today known as the Grand Forge of Klorr, and decreed that Klorr should be named the lord and master of this place from that day until his death.
Though highly decorative and a powerful symbol of the penin people, the Hammer of Klorr has no real and practical power aside from being very heavy and durable. Its significance is mostly symbolic, as the High Lord of the penin would wield this weapon for centuries, until it was stolen and lost, only to eventually be rediscovered by Vilhej the Righteous and subsequently lost again in the Land of Eternal Night. The Hammer of Klorr has enormous value with the penin, and many a treasure hunter has journeyed to Pelgaid City with their minds set on retrieving it - only to find themselves deterred by the sight of what lies beyond the Inner Wall of the city when they get there, and find less suicidal endeavors to engage in. None that have actually gone into the Land of Eternal Night to search for the Hammer have ever returned.

Cûgan Ruutin (Great Arm)
The Cûgan Ruutin is, quite simply put, the most gigantic and unspeakably powerful catapult ever built. It is a mountainous trebuchet so huge that almost every part of the construction are made of several combined trees rather than carved from single trees, and an entire small forest was cut down just to get the wood for the arm. It is said that Cûgan Ruutin is so colossal that Klorr had to erect an artificial mountain around it to prevent it from being spotted from many miles away. It stands somewhere near the centre of northern Wegam Fermos, concealed by walls of rock.
Around the transition from the Barbaric Age to the Age of Civilization, the time came when a new High Lord - Goran Fistslinger - was put on the throne of Sadona, and almost immediately contacted the favorite craftsman of his predecessor: Klorr. As it turned out, Goran proved an exceedingly paranoid and distrustful High Lord during his time as the penin ruler, and when he called upon Klorr, it was because he feared just about everyone else. What Goran demanded of Klorr was that the master craftsman built a weapon that could be used to destroy any threat against Sadona anywhere in northern Wegam Fermos. And so, with him and his followers toiling for years, Klorr constructed the Cûgan Ruutin.
Although the concept of the trebuchet was hardly new at this point of history, with penin having used the mighty siege engines for nearly three centuries before then, the challenge in building the Cûgan Ruutin was not in the general design of the weapon, but rather how to assemble something so huge and how to make it so that it would not break apart the first time it was launched. The result is perhaps the most powerful siege weapon ever made, as the Cûgan Ruutin is capable of hurling projectiles weighing several tons as far as any border of northern Wegam Fermos. Perhaps even more genius is the concealing mechanism Klorr built around his weapon: a hollow artificial mountain whereon the top half can be slid down to allow the Cûgan Ruutin to fire. An obvious problem is that it is notoriously hard to actually aim at something that is hundreds of miles away, but even so the knowledge that the Cûgan Ruutin can bombard anywhere within northern Wegam Fermos has been enough to deter any and all that might have dared attack the penin since.

The Master Key
Contrary of what one might think, the artifact known as the Master Key has nothing to do with keys, and does not even faintly resemble one. Rather, the Master Key is a sort of unusually designed fist-weapon, consisting of two pieces: a sort of bracer-like piece of metal that covers the arm of the wielder from wrist to elbow, and a second odd item that extends a sheet of metal from the wrist and over the back of the hand, ending in a large clump of metal resembling something like a large hammerhead, worn across the knuckles like an oversized knuckleduster. There is also a small handle of sorts, extending from the metal on the back of the hand to go around to the palm just above the thumb (the Master Key is designed to be wielded on the right hand) and then all the way across the palm of the hand so that all fingers might close around it. The entire weapon is made from the famed black metal of Klorr's destroyed shield, Gvenir, which is nearly indestructible. The back of the bracer-piece, the edges of the backhand-sheet and the entire flat part of the knuckle-clump are etched with arcane glyphs. The Master Key is currently stored deep within the Grand Forge of Klorr, where Klorr himself guards it.
During a time when the penin experienced a brief shortage of metal ores, Klorr developed a fascination with mining and began to sympathize with his brethren who worked tirelessly in the mines with pickaxe and shovel so that craftsmen like himself might have what they needed for their creations. Thus Klorr decided that he would help make the miners' work easier by creating new and more effective tools for them. But alas, as Klorr worked this project it became painfully clear that doing so was not so simple a task as he had first thought, and no matter what designs he came up with, he discarded them immediately, grudgingly stating that they were merely alternate versions of the pickaxes and shovels he meant to replace.
Then one day, Klorr supposedly came abruptly running to his followers, excitedly waving about a hand covered in mud. He told them that he had pondered the conundrum of how to help the miners, and that he had then found himself sitting idly and sifting dirt between his fingers while he thought. While doing so, he had accidentally knocked over a goblet of milk, which spilled onto the dirt, rendering it into clingy mud. When his followers remained confused about their master's excitement, Klorr told them that sand would always slip away through one's fingers, unless it was moistened, in which case it would hold together without slipping away. That a pile of bricks would collapse easily, unless mortar was added to bind them together.
"What if everything is like that?" he is quoted to have said. "If you grind stone against stone for long enough, even the hardest rock turns to dust. Could it not be that even metal and stone are really just grains of sand or dust being held together by something? And that if this thing was removed, it would crumble?"
Excited with his discovery, Klorr went to work under the assumption that since everything could be manipulated by magical energy, then perhaps this unseen force binding dust together to form larger wholes was also magical energy, or something similar. To test this, he crafted an odd fist-weapon that was designed to harness the magical energy of its wearer and, when striking something, releasing a pulse of energy that would negate any other magical energy in that area.
Supposedly, the first time the artifact was seen used by anyone but Klorr was when he struck the door to his private quarters from the inside, causing the entire thing to crumble to dust. It was thus that it earned the name of the "Master Key", as Klorr's followers jokingly stated that he had certainly built a key that could open any door.
What the Master Key does, then, is that it dissolves anything it strikes into fine dust in an area of a little more than one foot, but only something that is the same as the thing stricken. If one were to hit a wooden door with a metal handle, for instance, the wood would crumble if hit, while the handle would remain unaffected. Likewise, striking rock with the Master Key would have the rock crumble away, but leave any ore or gemstones intact. It was the greatest achievement the mining industry had ever seen, he claimed, and immediately stated his intention to produce hundreds of these amazing contraptions.
Of course, Klorr did not even get to craft a second Master Key before one of his followers "borrowed" the original one, and used it to kill another penin. As it turned out, the Master Key was naturally also an extremely potent weapon, as wielding it would allow one to disintegrate anything one hit - be that weapons, armor, clothes, skin, flesh or bones. Basically, almost any opponent could be defeated in three punches or less.
Realizing this, Klorr grew furious and took back the Master Key, locking it away in his Grand Forge and refusing to having anything more to do with it or the concept it was built upon - not because he was a pacifist, obviously, but simply because he had not meant to create a weapon, only a tool to make the life of miners easier. The fact that the Master Key was just as powerful a weapon as it was a mining tool (and door-opener) had not occurred to him, and to him, ruined the entire concept. He has been requested to lend out the Master Key many times since, but has always refused, arguing that it was not meant to be used as a weapon, "and Stupor take it, I'm not going to let anyone use it as one!"

The Sand of Eternity
This unpretentious, small and plain object is perhaps the most misleading artifact Klorr ever created. The Sands of Eternity are actually two halves of a normal hourglass, one half filled with white grains of sand, the other with black grains, and each has its flat bottom attached to a silver chain, signifying that they were intended as pendants. The location of the Black Sands of Eternity is unknown, whereas the White Sands of Eternity are kept at the Grand Forge of Klorr, guarded by Klorr himself.
During his most ambitious time, right after he had turned three hundred years old, Klorr found himself contemplating on the power of the immortals, at Favored power and the differences between mortal, infernal and divine magical energy. For decades, Klorr is said to have studied this, enlisting the assistance of mages and summoners to help compare the three different kinds of souls, until Klorr thought he had come to understand the true nature of each of these mysterious forces of nature. And so it was that Klorr came to create what many call the most powerful thing ever spawned from Klorr's hands, and perhaps the single most powerful object in all of Reniam: the Sands of Eternity.
What the Sands of Eternity do is relatively simple: the grains within each half of the hourglass are actually synthetic divine and infernal magical energy, each grain containing overwhelming measures of power. When wielding the White Sands of Eternity, one would be able to call upon incredible divine power as if it was one's own, without having to rely on a deity to do so or tiring oneself in the process, and would furthermore also render the wielder utterly immune to the powers of any divine entity. The Black Sands of Eternity, then, do the exact same, only for infernal power instead of divine. However, as each of the halves of the hourglass are used to either protect against or invoke power, the grains of sand within them will run out of them - but with each grain running out of one, a grain runs into the other, regardless of where the two halves are compared to one another. As the White Sands of Eternity empties, for instance, the Black Sands of Eternity will fill, and vice versa.
Combining the two halves, then, would restore the hourglass and enable one to wield the full power of the Sands of Eternity, granting one limitless protection and use of both divine and infernal power, making anyone wielding it basically a mortal combination of god and demon lord.
Only after having created the Sands of Eternity did Klorr realize just how terrifyingly powerful this artifact was, and immediately sealed away the White Sands of Eternity in the depths of his Grand Forge, while he sent out a group of his followers to hide the Black Sands of Eternity far away from there, where no one would ever find it. It is said that even today, Klorr keeps watching the White Sands of Eternity diligently, dreading the day when he sees the half hourglass begin to fill as this would signify that the Black Sands of Eternity have been found, and a mortal wields power that should never have been given into mortal hands.

The Chaos Engine
A device unlike any other in Reniam, with the exception of the Infinity Engine, the Chaos Engine is basically a sixteen feet tall and four feet wide cylinder of black metal, fitted onto a square platform with nearly the same dimensions as the device it carries, with three reinforced wooden wheels on left and right sides. The cylinder has an odd large disc on the top (not unlike a satellite-dish from Earth) mounted on a short metal arm. Tubes of segmented metal rings run up and down the length of the cylinder, and at about three feet from the bottom run four additional tubes come out at the front, though the ends of these four tubes do not lead anywhere. There are also a small number of levers at the front of the device, for controlling its functions. The Chaos Engine is currently thought to be held in Sadona, a possession of the current High Lord.
When asked about the Chaos Engine, Klorr related that he first thought of the concept when he had lived about three and a half century, when he discovered his first wrinkles visible past his exo-skull and, upon checking in an anxious fit, finding that his hair and beard both were starting to gray. Klorr, having devoted nearly every waking moment of his life to his work as a craftsman, realized only then how long he had lived, and that no matter how efficient he was, he would never finish all the projects he had in mind before he was too old to work anymore, or died. Curiously, he did not seem to have any regrets when it came to him having pretty much abandoned his family and that he had never fallen in love - his only thoughts were about his work, which says much of how devoted, or obsessed, Klorr is with his crafting.
In any case, the realization that his time was running out came as a shock to Klorr, but rather than be discouraged, he worked only more fervently in his efforts to defy time itself. "The deigan are ageless, dragons live for millennia and we live for centuries," he is said to have told one of his followers after having time to contemplate. "Yet humans live much less than a single century, and tarken only a few decades. Why do we age, I wonder, and what makes us age at different rates?"
To discover this, Klorr turned his attention to his research in magic once more, as he began to suspect that magical energy had something to do with aging - after all, he reasoned, one of the known possible consequences of expanding one's soul was premature aging. Thus he ended up theorizing that if one were to continuously permeate a being with abnormal amounts of magical energy, it might do the opposite and slow or stop the process of aging entirely. After months of working under this theory, Klorr finished crafting the Chaos Engine, though at the time he called it the Infinity Engine.
What the Chaos Engine does is quite simply to harness any magical energy in its vicinity, both draining the ambient area itself and whatever other energy nearby that is only loosely bound to something, process and refine it to its purest form, and then inject it into the person connected to the tubes at the front. It was supposed to basically supercharge the person it was being lead into, making that person universally superior to anything it had ever been - once, a short time before the completion of the Chaos Engine, Klorr is even supposed to have commented that the person wired to the Engine would be "like a god".
Of course it should be pointed out that this was long before Melenaoth was discovered by the mainland races, and before anyone knew of piaan and its effects. Needless to say, the captured goblin that was first connected to the Chaos Engine did not survive - in fact, eyewitnesses described the scene as "the goblin splattering all over the place". After this failure, Klorr abandoned the Chaos Engine and went back to the drawing board.
Others have found a use for the Chaos Engine since, though. While it has always fatal consequences for any creature receiving the full intensity of the energy supplied by the Engine, it was discovered that it was highly effective as a war machine for use against magic users. First the Chaos Engine removes all natural magical energy in the area so that magi - especially necromancers - cannot draw upon this, but it also tears away any loosely bound energy... which can mean energy woven into a spell, Minions, planar wraiths, undead and even liches, all of which would either simply disappear or weaken considerably upon the activation of the Chaos Engine. And after that, it unleashes all that accumulated magical energy from its four frontal tubes, subjecting anyone hit by the magical pulse to intense purified energy. While the pulse is usually not fatal unless one is hit point-blank where the energy is the most intense, it does have extremely disruptive effects on everything magical, eradicating all magic that was not immediately drained away at activation and often causing anyone caught in the blast to feel extremely ill, often getting violently sick. Although the Chaos Engine is now deemed a weapon by the penin, it is very rarely used because it is considered inhumane.

The Infinity Engine
A device unlike any other in Reniam, with the exception of the Chaos Engine, the Infinity Engine is basically a fifty feet tall and twelve feet wide cylinder of black metal. The cylinder has nine odd metal-spikes extruding from its top, like metal antennae. Tubes of segmented metal rings run up and down the length of the cylinder, and at about three feet from the bottom run numerous additional tubes come out at the front, though the ends of these tubes do not lead anywhere. There are also a large number of levers at the front of the device, for controlling its functions. The Infinity Engine is currently located at the Grand Forge of Klorr, and is a very much private possession of Klorr himself.
After his first catastrophic failure at achieving longevity through the Chaos Engine, Klorr had to rethink everything he had presumed about why some races aged faster than others, and how to utilize this difference in the creation of something that would allow him to stop aging. Though his first attempt failed miserably, Klorr remained certain that aging had something to do with magical energy, and thus the solution to avoiding the maladies of age also had to somehow be connected to this. It is said that Klorr was so desperate during this time that he actually commented to one of his followers that he wished that he could consult Delian Gilmah about this, as she - being the first lich - was the one he knew of that had gotten closest to unraveling the secrets of immortality. But alas, at this time Delian had already rebelled, and the War of Bones already ended with her being sealed away. He had to find another way.
Desperate, Klorr called upon all the connections he had made throughout his long life and employed whatever help he could get to figure out why different races aged differently. Several decades passed like this, Klorr studying especially deigan and tarken races, the two being the respectively the races with longest and shortest lifespan.
Then one day, his followers claim that Klorr flew out of bed after a night of fitful sleep, and went straight to work on crafting something new rather than researching. "Tarken don't dream," he is said to have repeated over and over again as he worked, all while his followers just stood by him and awaited instructions they never received. "Tarken cannot use magic and are resistant to magic because their souls are so tightly bound to their bodies that almost no magical energy can leave or enter," he explained when asked many decades later. "That is also why they don't dream. Deigan are the most naturally talented wielders of magic in Reniam because they can easily access their magical energy. Deigan expend and exchange magical energy automatically in everything they do - tarken go through their entire lives with almost the exact same energy in their souls when they are born and when they die."
And so, Klorr built the Infinity Engine - a massive construction meant to mimic the function of the Chaos Engine, only being far more intricate. Firstly, the Infinity Engine does not drain its vicinity at all, but is rather designed to tap into the Spirit Realm, where almost unlimited magical energy can be found. From there, it draws upon limitless resources and can function constantly rather than in bursts. Secondly, this Engine does not only add magical energy to the person connected to it, but also drains it away at the exact same rate, leaving a constant amount of magical energy in the person, equal to the starting capacity of the person's soul, thus neither weakening it nor overcharging it. All the Infinity Engine really does is constantly exchange the magical energy in the person wired to it, removing old and adding new.
As it turned out, Klorr was right. Ignoring his followers questions and warnings, he did not allow anyone but himself to get near the Infinity Engine, but simply plugged himself in immediately and turned on the device. As we all know now, Klorr did not die - nor did he continue aging. The Infinity Engine worked perfectly, and for as long as Klorr remains connected to it, he does not age. He is now nearly two thousand years old, and by far the oldest penin ever - all because of the Infinity Engine.

Although deity-level immortals rarely feel any necessity to engage their enemies in mortal battle, as simply unleashing their incomprehensible power upon those who opposes them is usually sufficient to destroy anything without any problems, there are times when even deities have been known to fight like mortals, with spells, weapons and materialized forms, so that they might test each others' skill as well as their sheer power. Furthermore, although deities usually lend their power to mortals in the form of Favored power, there are times when deities favor one mortal over all others.
In case of either of these occurrences, deities are known to bring forth Relics - objects forged from their own very essence, and are thus often called the manifestation of their power. The Relics are the ultimate form of a deity's might, and any mortal wielding a Relic is said to be almost certain to have its name passed down through the ages.

Tears of Life
The sacred Relics of Liya, the Spirit of Life. They are exactly what they sounds like - drops of clear liquid, nothing more, nothing less, though they are usually contained in small specially blessed crystal vials. No Tears of Life are known to still exist.
The ultimate manifestation of Liya's power, the Tears of Life are literally tears shed by the Spirit of Union, just like the one that is said to have spawned the first Tree of Life. Each tear can only be used once before it disappears, and its effect and application are both very simple. With a Tear of Life, a mortal can do what only the Spirits of Unity have done - create life. Whatever one pour a Tear of Life onto is given life, including but not limited to inanimate objects. Not life as in calling upon a planar wraith, not undeath, and the result is not an automaton - the Tears create true life, with everything this entails. The Tears are thus amongst the single most precious and powerful Relics in existence.

Scytheshard
The sacred Relic of the Wanderer, the Spirit of Death. The Scytheshard is an extremely old and worn-looking knife, the handle made from ancient-seeming yellowed humanoid bone and its blade being something reminiscent of raw iron, riddled with scratches and cracks, its edge dull and chipped. The Scytheshard is currently believed to have returned to its master, awaiting its next appearance in Reniam.
While many myths exist about the Wanderer lending mortals the use of his scythe to reap the souls of the living, no one other than the Wanderer himself has ever touched, let alone wielded, the scythe, which seems more like a symbol of his role in the world more than anything else anyways. However, while the scythe has never seen mortal hands, it is said that every now and then, someone does something that is of enormous assistance to the Wanderer, most often acts that maintain the balance of the Planes and the flow of the dead from Reniam to the Upper and Lower Planes. These helpful individuals are said to be at once blessed and cursed, as the Wanderer might take a piece of his scythe, form it into a knife, and bestow it upon those he deems fit to wield it.
As far as pure destructive power goes, the Scytheshard is probably the single most gruesome weapon one can ever put one's hands on. When the Scytheshard is given to someone, they are allowed to use it once only - but that one time unleashes power unlike anything else. The latent power of the Scytheshard is unlocked simply by using it to stab someone, but although the blade appears to enter the victim, it does not cut flesh. The Scytheshard can do no physical harm, but it shears the soul of whatever it is plunged into utterly to pieces, dooming the one stabbed to perpetual unimaginable agony, in life and death alike. At the same time as it shreds the victim's soul, the Scytheshard shatters, unleashing an invisible explosion of sorts affecting anyone within several hundred yards - instantly and indiscriminately killing everything within range, simply snuffing out their lives. Only the one stabbed is allowed to survive, doomed to eternal torment, while only the wielder of the Scytheshard is completely immune to its power. Once the Scytheshard has exhausted the immense power stored within it, its shattered form crumbles to dust until nothing remains to suggest what its original form might have been - supposedly returning to its master to merge with the Wanderer's scythe anew.

Wicked Embrace
The sacred Relic of Ismyel, the Spirit of Evil. As seem to be the common trait of Creator Relics, the Wicked Embrace bears no signs of being extraordinary, but is quite simply a thin black silken hooded cloak of pristine quality, the size of the cloak varying with each tale of it, as it always seem a perfect ankle-length fit for the person wearing it, be they tarken or penin. The Wicked Embrace is currently believed to have returned to its mistress, awaiting its next appearance in Reniam.
Just what Ismyel actually reward others for doing is uncertain, and although many have guessed at why she deity of greed, hatred and arrogance would bestow the ultimate manifestation of her power upon anyone but herself, no one knows for sure. Every now and then, the Wicked Embrace simply seems to fall into the hands of seemingly random individuals, only for these individuals - after receiving the cloak - rise to become entities of dread and agony of incredible scales. It is very possible that Ismyel actually selects the bearers of the Wicked Embrace solely based on the potential for evil within them, waiting to be unlocked and corrupted by the power of the Creator Relic.
Curiously, while one might expect the Relic of the Spirit of Evil to be the single most destructive item in existence, its properties are not offensively oriented at all. Whoever wears the Wicked Embrace seem unchanged to the naked eye, but in truth the cloak alters their very existence to the core. For one thing, the Wicked Embrace completely masks the soul of its wearer, making it undetectable through anything but the five basic tangible senses - magical senses, intuition and other, less concrete senses do not catch the wearer's presence at all. Although this might seem a mundane and unimpressive trait, consider that the wearer of the Wicked Embrace walk straight down a street filled with people and approach its target in the open, weapon in hand, yet the victim is likely to not notice the danger until it is far too late, because the Wicked Embrace prevents their instincts from recognizing the wearer as a threat. A hunter might wear the cloak and approach its prey plainly, as the prey will hear, see and smell the hunter, but not sense any danger. The ability to sense danger, to have awareness of where a threat might be present, is a massive part of the ability to survive - and the Wicked Embrace neutralizes that.
The second, most powerful and most corrupting property of the Wicked Embrace is that it renders its wearer invulnerable. Witnesses tell of wearers of the cloak leaping from tall cliffs and rooftops, submerging themselves in water for hours, plunging their hands into fire and stabbing, clubbing and cutting themselves with all sorts of weapons and tools - and in all these stories, the wearer emerge unscathed. The wearer of the Wicked Embrace cannot be harmed by anything, they feel no pain, they become immune to all diseases... in short, they become virtually indestructible. The only reason that the wearers have not all risen to god-like status amongst other mortals is that firstly, the Wicked Embrace prevents the wearer from being harmed, but does not protect it from age, and secondly, while the wearer is indestructible... the cloak itself is not. The Wicked Embrace is immensely powerful, yet fragile, and if the wearer is no longer wearing the cloak, they return to their detectable, vulnerable original selves.
Most that have defeated wearers of the Wicked Embrace have tried to prevent it from reaching a new wearer, by burning it to ash or sealing it away, but no matter how it is protected or destroyed, someone else always seem to eventually come across the intact Wicked Embrace.

Staves of the First Wood
The sacred Relics of Gaia, the Spirit of Neutrality and Nature. Staves of the first are quite plain quarterstaffs of peculiar green-stained dark-red wood, completely free of decorations of any kind and with smooth, flawless surfaces. They have been remarked to be perfectly balanced and with just the right measures of weight, length, hardness and flexibility to be the prime specimens of this type of weapon. There exist an uncertain number of Staves of the First Wood throughout Reniam, distributed across the world - they are difficult to track, as new Staves are relatively frequently created and that the Staves are not indestructible.
Though Gaia is often considered the most powerful of the Spirits of Union, her Relics are remarkably amongst the weakest of all - yet they are also the most numerous. Although bearing no enchantments or magical properties whatsoever, the Staves of the First Wood are still revered by followers of the Mother Nature for the simple reason that they are not made out of any conventional sort of wood, and only granted to champions of nature. More specifically, Staves of the First Wood are exactly what their name imply - weapons made of the same essence as Trees of Life. The Staves are conjured rather than crafted, as druids can invoke prayers to Gaia for her to create a new Staff for a worthy champion, after which a fully crafted quarterstaff might simply sprout out of the soil.
Although technically powerless and impermanent, the Staves of the First Wood are not only the epitome of all properties a quarterstaff might ever have, and nothing short of perfect specimens of weapons. The wood of a Tree of Life is hard but flexible, making it extremely durable while not downright unbreakable. No blade can cut through a Staff of the First Wood, and it takes tremendous brute strength to break it. Once, tarken greatly favored Staves of the First as their tarkir, as they were amongst the few weapons in existence durable enough for them to use without their sheer innate might wearing them down rapidly. Although modern tarken tend to prefer heavier weapons of metal rather than wood, there remain those that faithful to the use of the Staves.

The White Rose
The holy Relic of Reina, the Goddess of Mercy. The White Rose is a sixty-three inches long staff made from an absolutely pure white material that does not quite feel like it is made from wood - specifically the famed white ghostwood - or ivory, but rather some weird mix of the two. Whatever its composition, the White Rose is irrefutably a piece of exquisite art, the shaft of the staff being carved in smooth and soft shapes that are a blend of abstract patterns and finely depicted imagery, yet without making gripping the staff difficult or uncomfortable. The butt of the staff is rounded, with the very bottom of it being just flat enough to offer support for someone leaning on it, while the tip is adorned with a magnificent blooming rose, made of a material different from the rest of the staff, something more reminiscent of glass than wood. The apparent frailty of the flower only adds to its beauty, though, and there is a general agreement amongst lovers of art throughout Reniam that the White Rose is one of the most visually pleasing objects in existence. The White Rose is currently located in the Cathedral of Reina in Wenal City, where Reina's Favored Ones hold, guard it and protect it.
Not much needs to be said about the White Rose, as Reina only ever bestowed this Relic upon mortals once, giving it to a group of her most faithful followers, and it has been held by the Church of Reina ever since. Aside from being uniquely aesthetically pleasing, the White Rose also has unique and powerful properties that are at once superior and inferior to the power of a High Priest of Reina in that it has almost limitless healing properties, but only affects exactly that which it touches. To further expand on this, one could imagine that a patient had lost an arm and a leg, and that a bearer of the White Rose then approached. If one were to touch the severed leg with the White Rose, the leg would actually grow back, but the arm would not. If one were to touch the arm, that would grow back. If one touched the chest, neither arm or leg would be affected. The only known limit of the White Rose is that it cannot bring bad the dead, but if a patient is anything short of completely dead, they can be restored by the Rose. The White Rose is also one of the few things that can completely remove the symptoms of the Withering, but even if all the graying blotches are removed, the Withering never seems completely cured and always returns to ravage the victim anew.
The White Rose has been moved from Church of Reina to Church of Reina many times over the centuries, having had its stay in nearly every country in Kirirak before it ended at the Cathedral of Reina in Wenal City, a colossal church meant to enshrine the holiest of all symbols of the Goddess of Mercy. Those that go to the cathedral might be "lucky" enough to be so severely injured to give High Priests of Reina pause, and have the White Rose used on them. Whether the White Rose's presence in the Cathedral of Reina is but a sojourn or if it is to be a permanent place for the Relic is unknown, but already followers of Reina in other countries are asking for the staff to be sent to them.

The Black Thorn
The holy Relic of Rilon, the Blood God. Undeniably a beautiful object in contrast to the deity to which it belongs, the Black Thorn is an exquisite longsword with a forty-eight inches long leaf-shaped double-edged blade of black metal, and rather than being perfectly smooth, the blade is somehow... veined, with leaf-like veins stretching from the center of the blade to the edges. The handle of the sword, long enough to accommodate even two fairly large human hands, is smooth and pleasant to touch, whereas the guard is covered in numerous inch-long razor-sharp curved protrusions, as though covered in metal thorns. Both handle and guard are a pale bone-like white, with only a hint of yellow. The pommel of the sword is a crimson rose of a material that appears to be a kind of extremely durable glass, and which can reputedly vary from being a bud to being a full blossom. The Black Thorn was last seen in the middle of the Barbaric Age in Kirkin, but supposedly returned to its master after that and has not been seen since.
Granted by Rilon to those he feels would use it the most diligently and bring about the most death and bloodshed possible, the Black Thorn is a weapon that weighs the same as iron, but is presumably indestructible, making it an extremely powerful weapon in itself - but of course, with a Relic there is more power to it than mere superior physical properties. In regular use, the Black Thorn carries a perpetual blessing of Rilon that allows the weapon to harm ethereal creatures, as well as the weapon is said to recognize its rightful wielder, and will harm anyone that touches it that is not approved by its master.
But even so, none of this is the true power of the Black Thorn. The sword shares its creator's bloodthirst, and while the rose at its pommel is said to always start out as a bud, it is said to blossom more and more as it is used, the weapon itself reveling in taking lives and bathing in blood. How long it takes for the rose to blossom seems to differ from tale to tale of this Relic, but when the rose is in full blossom, it will start to emit an ominous dark red radiance from deep within its glasslike form, informing its wielder that the time has come for the sword to reward its frequent use. The wielder can then smash the pommel onto anything, shattering the otherwise durable rose and unleashing the power of Rilon's thirst. Whenever the burning rose of Black Thorn is shattered, the ground is said to quake as black, thorny vines burrow through the ground, floors and walls, emerging all around the wielder of the Black Thorn like vicious tentacles, attacking anything near them. The area and duration of this effect also differ from retelling to retelling, but after of maiming and murdering, the vines crumble to dust, and a new rosebud forms at the pommel of Black Thorn, awaiting to have its bloodthirst quenched anew.

Moonlight
A holy Relic of Laon, the God of Night, and the sibling Relic of Starshine. Moonlight is a light-gray crescent saber with a blade that seems to consist of pure light, its guard a white crescent shape bending inward toward the handle, and the handle being unadorned and black, and the pommel being a small yellowish orb. Moonlight is currently believed to have returned to its master, awaiting its next appearance in Reniam.
Unlike other deities, Laon is known to have created not one persistent Relic or many temporary ones, but two persistent Relics, the sibling weapons Moonlight and Starshine, which he is said to have dual-wielded with skill superior to even the other deities. Moonlight was Laon's right-hand weapon and is said to have physical properties very similar to those of Sartal, only even lighter and more durable than the legendary metal. It is said to be capable of slicing through almost anything, and can harm the ethereal. Aside from this, however, Moonlight is said to have no extraordinary properties, making it one of the less impressive Relics of the Immortals.

Starshine
A holy Relic of Laon, the God of Night, and the sibling Relic of Moonlight. Starshine is a curious sword with an unusually wide straight double-edged blade, being nearly six inches wide and forty inches long. The entire blade appears to be made of thousands upon thousands of tiny glittering gemstones, making the weapon a truly dazzling display of light and colors when light falls upon it. It has a straight cross-guard with pointed tips, as well as the handle ending in a point rather than a pommel. Starshine is currently believed to have returned to its master, awaiting its next appearance in Reniam.
Unlike other deities, Laon is known to have created not one persistent Relic or many temporary ones, but two persistent Relics, the sibling weapons Moonlight and Starshine, which he is said to have dual-wielded with skill superior to even the other deities. Starshine was Laon's left-hand weapon and is said to be heavier than its sibling Relic, and just as durable. Not only can Starshine deliver heavy blows that are said to be able to slice through almost anything and can harm the ethereal, but the entire length of the blade, including the flat of it, shaves flesh and tears it apart. Aside from this, however, Starshine is said to have no extraordinary properties, making it one of the less impressive Relics of the Immortals.

Eclipse
A mythical Relic of Laon, the God of Night. No one knows what Eclipse is, what it looks like or if it really even exist, but ancient myths from all the way back in the Age of Darkness tell of desperate situations in which Laon was surrounded by hordes of demons, only to combine the sibling Relics Moonlight and Starshine into one weapon, unleashing unspeakable power of unknown nature. Many hunt for Moonlight and Starshine simply for the sake of acquiring both of the sibling weapons, hoping to thereby find a means to combine them and unlock the truth and power of Eclipse.

Growth
The holy Relic of Arhoun, the God of Fertility. To describe Growth is no easy task, as it has the ability to morph between two different forms, depending on whether it is being wielded or not. Ordinarily, Growth is a small, delicate band of light blue crystal, meant to be worn as a ring on a finger, and known to adjust its size to a perfect fit of whoever is its chosen bearer. When worn, however, the crystal band begins to rapidly grow vine-like extrusions from it, extending across first the finger of its wearer, and ultimately the entire body and head, enveloping everything but the wearer's eyes in a tough featureless wood-like inch-thick material of dark-green color. Growth is currently believed to have returned to its master, awaiting its next appearance in Reniam.
The first thing one has to understand about Growth is that it is, in every sense of the word, alive. It senses and thinks on its own, and while it is the creation and servant of Arhoun, many think that it is ultimately Growth itself, not its creator, that chooses its wearer. When Growth is worn by an acceptable champion, the ring envelops the wearer in a suit of living armor - a suit which flexes with the body and does not hinder movements at all, yet which has no joints and no weaknesses, being hard as oak and actually offering quite formidable protection. Not only that, but when wearing Growth allows the Relic to bond with its wearer in more ways than the obvious. For one thing, Growth breathes for its wielder - or perhaps even produces air for the wearer by itself - preventing its wearer from breathing in toxic fumes and filtering away especially repulsing smells, while still allowing the wearer to speak even through the cover of the wooden mask. Finally, Growth not only flexes and moves with its wearer, but actually reinforces the wearer's movements - meaning that whoever wears Growth becomes faster and stronger, on top of enjoying the protection of the wooden skin.
Removing the crystal band from one's finger causes the living armor of Growth to crumble and disappear, only to grow back when Growth is returned to one's finger, making it easy to equip and unequip on top of everything else. Many consider Growth the single most practical of all Relics, and it is one of the most sought-after objects in Reniam.

The Coin of Fortune
The holy Relic of Frenis, the God of Wealth. Quite simply is a small golden coin of dimensions slightly larger than an average Rodlin, with a symbol of Frenis printed on either side, with one difference: on one side, the only the left of the circles within the symbol is there, and on the other, only the right circle is present. The Coin of Fortune was last seen in the hands of a Nemhimian nobleman in early 1630 of the Age of Civilization, but shortly after this nobleman was found murdered, and the Coin has been missing ever since.
The power of the Coin of Fortune is simple, yet absolutely terrifying in its scope and the consequences it can have for both its wielder and everyone else. To use the Coin of Fortune, all one has to do is to flip it, like one would flip any coin, and let it land on the ground so that no cheating can be done concerning the result. If the Coin lands with the "Happy Coin" side up (the one with only the left circle), the Coin of Fortune directly affects the intangible luck of the one who flipped it, making that person temporarily unrealistically fortunate - a person who has just gotten a Happy Coin can confidently walk past an entire squad of firing archers, knowing that every single arrow will miss, knowing that everything they do work out in their advantage. If the Coin of Fortune lands with the "Sad Coin" side up, however, (the one with only the right circle), the effect of the Coin is the opposite, and the one who flipped it is struck with unbelievably bad luck, ensuring that for a short time everything that can go wrong, goes wrong - something few carriers of the Coin of Fortune survive.
The Coin of Fortune is thus perhaps at once the most useful and dangerous of all Relics, as it can work miracles both for and against its carrier, ultimately leaving success and failure in all things up to chance alone. It can save a man from a hopeless situation or turn even the greatest advantage into a disadvantage... all (ironically) dependant on the carrier's luck.

Glorious
The holy Relic of Deliph, the God of Victory. Glorious is a mighty spear, having a smooth wood-like shaft of eight feet and two inches, on top of which is added an impressive two inch wide sixteen inches long blade, with thin three-inch long metal protrusions on either side of the base of the spearhead, meant for parrying. The wooden parts of Glorious are a typical light-brown wooden shade, whereas the metal parts seem like common steel. A small length of cloth, maroon hemmed in gray, dangles from below the spearhead. Glorious is currently believed to have returned to its master, awaiting its next appearance in Reniam.
Glorious' design makes a formidable weapon with an impressive reach, with the spear weighing about what one would expect from such a spear made from wood and steel but being virtually indestructible. But even so, this is but the most basic use of the mighty weapon of Glorious. For one thing, when one thrusts with Glorious, the blade strikes with a divine edge that is much sharper than any mortal weapon and capable of, slicing through most armor, and when one swings it, the spear strikes with divine mass, knocking prone virtually anything caught in its path. It is designed to be a perfect weapon, rendering its wielder the single most lethal thing upon the battlefield.
The most unusual property of Glorious is not even this, though, but the fact that its range is even longer than one might think. If one raises Glorious over one's head, aims, and makes a motion as if to hurl the spear without actually releasing one's grip on the weapon, Glorious launches a bolt of energy at the optimum of the movement. This bolt travels along the same distance and route as the spear would have, had it been thrown, only to explode upon impact with enough force to shatter wood within ten feet of it and knocking prone anyone within several dozen feet. Used to launch these repeatedly at range and using the spear itself in melee, this is said to be the best offensive weapon in existence and a symbol of great military leaders and tacticians.

Mindhaven
The holy Relic of Xoril, the Scholar Goddess. It is an amulet, quite simply, made of a metal that seems like bronze and embedded with a pearl the size of a chicken egg on its pendant. It is not overly flashy, and does not flaunt the power within it, but seems like a quite ordinary piece of jewelry that would be fitting for upper- to middle-class citizens. Mindhaven is currently believed to have returned to its mistress, awaiting its next appearance in Reniam.
While many of the other deities' Relics have intricate and/or specific properties, the Relic of the Scholar Goddess takes after its creator in being simple enough to understand, yet extremely powerful. What the Mindhaven does, then, is to render its wearer completely immune to all magic. All magic, including that of even deities and the Spirits of Union. The wearer is still quite vulnerable to being stabbed in the gut while they are trying to finish the page they were reading when they were attacked, but still, it is pretty impressive.

Ecstasy
The unholy Relic of Himyth, the Dread Mother. Ecstasy is a graceful, slender dagger with a ten-inch slightly curving blade of a grayish golden hue, with a hilt modeled in the likeness of a skeletal demon head, with the horns curving out and up along the blade as a small guard and the handle extending from the jaws as a long forked tongue. The skull itself is white, the horns black, and the tongue-handle is... well, tongue-red. Witnesses have claimed to have spotted Arognar Etlon with Ecstasy on occasion, but whether these stories are true or just vain attempts at staining the hated Crimson Duke's reputation further is yet unknown.
While small for a weapon, Ecstasy is known to be capable of striking as hard as a sword several times its size, while at the same time being as light and quick as its size would suggest, and presumably indestructible. The dagger is designed to strike quickly and fatally, meant to kill in one hit but also capable of being used in advanced fencing, as suggested by the fact that it has a guard. The true power of Ecstasy lies beyond its physical properties, however - one power the weapon has is that one who is as much as pricked with the tip of Ecstasy is poisoned by its power and gradually, in a period that can vary from seconds to days, comes to desire the wielder of the dagger more and more, until this desire becomes unbearable and drives the victim to either become a willing slave of the wielder or to committing suicide. Furthermore, slashing with Ecstasy whilst pressing a thumb against the front of the demon skull of its hilt causes each slash to unleash whirling sickles of dark energy in the direction slashed in, the sickles varying in size depending on how widely one slashes, but always capable of slicing through steel and flesh alike.

Horror
The unholy Relic of Myrtoloin, the Lord of Decay. Horror is a... well, if it were to fit into any category of weapon without inventing one of its own, it would have to be described as a spiked mace, or a flail. More exactly, it is a humanoid skull with numerous unevenly distributed old, rusty three-inch long nails protruding from its surface, fitted onto what appears to be a similarly humanoid spine. Ancient rotted flesh still clings to the bones, even as the weapon has existed for millennia, and the foul stench of death always surround its wicked form. Horror is currently believed to have returned to its master, awaiting its next appearance in Reniam.
More than any other, Horror is - as the name would suggest - the single most gruesome of all Relics, and perhaps even the most abhorrent weapon in all existence. Unlike most other Relics, which appear to be made from ordinary materials rather than the essence of a deity, but have entirely different properties than common matter, Myrtoloin has gone in the opposite direction of his fellow deities. While the others have tried to make their Relics as supernatural as possible, the Lord of Decay worked hard to make his Relic to be as authentic as it gets. Horror is not indestructible, light, heavy or in any other way deviating from what one would expect from a skull on a spine - it has the weight of bone, feels like bone and is brittle like bone, and by the Planes, it smells like bone! One wield Horror by grasping the spine anywhere one wants, and then swinging the weapon as one would a mace... except that the spine has not been stiffened, and will bend about as the bones allow, making its movements rather unpredictable.
While Horror is fragile and unwieldy, yet not heavy enough to actually allow a powerful impact, it is a truly fearsome weapon. Each of the nails protruding from the skull is infused with a different disease engineered by Myrtoloin himself, and when the skull shatters, it unleashes a cloud of plague, more deadly than a wyvern's breath. It is a short-lived, but terrifyingly sadistic and effective weapon. Although there exist a great many artifacts more useful as weapons, most will be dissuaded from even trying to fight someone wielding Horror. It is a tool guaranteed to inflict horrid, agonizing death upon any it is used against. It is a weapon so ghastly that it has made people abandon violence forever. It is the undiluted stuff of nightmares.

Rage
The unholy Relic of Hazzergash, the Swallower of Worlds. In a case of unexpected grace from this mad and brutish deity, Rage actually has the appearance of a quite impressively crafted halberd. The handle is dark brown, seems wooden and is sixty-five inches long, whereas the head is of red-hued metal with a rather rough surface, with a wide axe-blade on one side and a long downward-curving beak-like blade on the other, with the spike on top of the head being eight inches long and edged, allowing it to cut as well as stab. Additionally Rage has another red-hued metal spike at its butt, this three inches long and edged. Rage is currently believed to be sealed away together with Hazzergash, and it is presumed that the Relic cannot return to Reniam without its master.
This halberd is of a surprisingly sound concept considering that it came from the essence of a demon who prefers to kill and destroy rather than dominate, and whose greatest pleasure lies in burning down as much of the world as possible. Not only is Rage indestructible, but while the wooden shaft is light, the metal-parts of the weapon are as heavy as if they had been made from lead, allowing for quite powerful strikes. The metal at the butt of the halberd functions as a counterweight against that of the head, allowing the wielder to use Rage with both speed and dependability - and, with no less than three edged blades on its head and a fourth at its butt, Rage is also quite versatile, making for a weapon suitable for many different situations.
Where the aspect of the Lord of Fire is expressed is not in its form, but its power. Filled with Hazzergash's fury, the head of Rage constantly emanates scorching heat close to the temperatures that would ignite the very air of the atmosphere, adding the ability to incinerate anything struck with Rage on top of inflicting regular wounds. When swung, the heat of Rage is actually so intense that it lingers in the air it passes through for several seconds, creating sorts of ephemeral barriers in its wake that burns whatever dares trying to passing through. Even getting close to the head of Rage is enough to leave a person with severe burns.

Reach of the Frozen
The unholy Relic of Gervolt, the Maw of Doom. Gervolt's weapon of choice is a short-limbed decurve bow, with limbs made not from wood but a mysterious material that is curiously soft to the touch, and has even described as being covered by a fine layer of fur. The bow itself is white as snow, with the center of back and front of the limbs being decorated with dark-blue abstract patterns. The handle is wide enough for two hands to rest there side by side, and is actually covered in visible white fur that is about half an inch long and makes gripping the bow alluringly comfortable. On one side of the handle of Reach of the Frozen is a thin protruding pin of metal, barely an inch long, with a crescent shape at its end, the opening of the crescent facing away from the bow. The string is pale blue and somewhat thick for a bowstring, and has also been described as strangely soft and almost furry to the touch. Reach of the Frozen is currently believed to be sealed away together with Gervolt, and it is presumed that the Relic cannot return to Reniam without its master.
A weapon almost as difficult to understand as the deity it was made by, Reach of the Frozen is said to be indestructible, but for a bow its properties are otherwise somewhat plain. The design of the bow would suggest that it has a very small draw weight, requiring little strength to be fired and projecting similarly little power into the fired arrow, it is made to be fired easily and quickly. It is not enchanted to make firing easier, nor is the projectiles fired from it propelled with any more power than expected - in fact, aside from being indestructible, the properties of Reach of the Frozen are quite plain.
Here is what makes it unique, however: Reach of the Frozen does not require arrows. When an archer wields the bow and draws back the string, it will actually manifest lethally sharp spikes of ice on it between the bowstring and the crescent pin at the handle, which can be fired in limitless numbers. Though no additional force is added to each shot, the shape and weight of these icy arrows allow them to fly farther than most common fletched projectiles - and, upon impact, they will snap-freeze the immediate area of whatever they hit.

Lumbering Might
The unholy Relic of Grimolt, the Crusher of Souls. This is the single most massive of all Relics, a great rectangular tower shield, nearly fifty inches wide, eight feet and six inches tall, over an inch thick and weighing close to a hundred and ten pounds. The entirety of the shield is made from rough dark-gray stone rather than metal, the front of the shield being covered in fist-sized bumps placed haphazardly across the entire surface, whereas the back is plain aside from there being two handles there, allowing for the wielder to more easily use both hands to lift this enormous piece of protective gear. Lumbering Might is currently believed to be sealed away together with Grimolt, and it is presumed that the Relic cannot return to Reniam without its master.
Simple and brutish as its creator, Lumbering Might is undeniably ridiculously unwieldy for anyone not freakishly strong, but also utterly impenetrable by any force known to the realm of mortals. The bumps at its front are mainly there to prevent slashing strikes to pass over it easily, working as obstacles for a blade running across its surface, possibly stunning the attacker and chipping its weapon. Furthermore, when Lumbering Might is set on the ground by its wielder, the shield remains standing by its own power and serves as indestructible and completely immovable stationary cover. Only the wielder of Lumbering Might can move the shield once it has been set down, and until then, no force can make it budge even an inch.

Left Hand of Judgment
The unholy Relic of Bolgar, the Voice of Judgment, and sibling Relic of the Right Hand of Fate. A padded, soft left hand-glove of beige cloth, adorned with the symbol of Bolgar on the back of the hand with yellow stitches. Left Hand of Judgment is currently believed to be sealed away together with Bolgar, and it is presumed that the Relic cannot return to Reniam without its master.
Alone, Left Hand of Judgment is likely one of the weakest of all Relics. Aside from the glove being indestructible and softly padded, protecting the wearer's hand, the only special property about it is that when one punches or slaps someone else with it, the glove adds a small shockwave to the impact, offering such unarmed blows increased staggering force. That is it.
When worn together with Right Hand of Fate, however, the two Relics reveal their true power. While each individual Relic is relatively weak, one might unleash fierce destructive powers with the two of them together. By clapping one's hands while wearing both gloves, the Relics emits a massive shockwave from their wearer, powerful enough to smash through walls of stone at close range, hurl people a dozen feet away through the air with force as though hit by a battering ram, often with fatal consequences, and knock prone anyone within a hundred yards. When one removes the glove-wearing hands from one another, searing white lightning arcs between the fingertips of the two Relics - lighting that might be used by touching someone directly, pretty much instantaneously roasting the unfortunate victim and charring the flesh touched, or one might ball one's hands into fists to break the electric current and cause the lightning to explode outward, striking anything within several feet with bolts of lightning that are sure to severely injure or kill. Though many question whether the power of these two sibling Relics truly is as overwhelming as people make it out to be, any such wonders are usually dispelled with another question: "How quickly can you clap?"

Right Hand of Fate
The unholy Relic of Balgor, the Roar of Fate, and the sibling Relic of the Left Hand of Judgment. A padded, soft right hand-glove of yellow cloth, adorned with the symbol of Balgor on the back of the hand with beige stitches. Right Hand of Fate is currently believed to be sealed away together with Balgor, and it is presumed that the Relic cannot return to Reniam without its master.
Alone, Right Hand of Fate is likely one of the weakest of all Relics. Aside from being indestructible and softly padded, protecting its wearer's hand, the only special property about it is that a weak electric current flows through the exterior of the glove, shocking anyone that touches it but its wearer - not enough to actually cause any harm, but just enough to stun them momentarily. That is it.
When worn together with Left Hand of Judgment, however, the two Relics reveal their true power. While each individual Relic is relatively weak, one might unleash fierce destructive powers with the two of them together. By clapping one's hands while wearing both gloves, the Relics emits a massive shockwave from their wearer, powerful enough to smash through walls of stone at close range, hurl people a dozen feet away through the air with force as though hit by a battering ram, often with fatal consequences, and knock prone anyone within a hundred yards. When one removes the glove-wearing hands from one another, searing white lightning arcs between the fingertips of the two Relics - lighting that might be used by touching someone directly, pretty much instantaneously roasting the unfortunate victim and charring the flesh touched, or one might ball one's hands into fists to break the electric current and cause the lightning to explode outward, striking anything within several feet with bolts of lightning that are sure to severely injure or kill. Though many question whether the power of these two sibling Relics truly is as overwhelming as people make it out to be, any such wonders are usually dispelled with another question: "How quickly can you clap?"

Some people might be renown in their own local communities, organizations and duchies, but it takes a person that has accomplished something truly remarkable to become known across all of Rodoria, beyond the borders of duchies and sometimes even to other countries entirely. The people mentioned here are those: people who did something that made their name pass down in history, to be known widely across the kingdom and the adjacent nations, either by all or select groups. Or, they might be people still alive, but who has already left such a visible mark upon the world that their names are on the lips of people throughout the northern continent. They are vastly different, some famous for their great accomplishments, others infamous for nefarious deeds - yet they are all remembered and known all the same.

Roland the Ambitious 1748 - 1799 of the Barbaric Age
Born in the ancient human patriarchal authoritarian dictatorship of Kirkin, Roland's tale is one that has brought inspiration and encouragement to many over the centuries, though how much of the legends of the first King of Rodoria is true and how much is exaggeration is not entirely certain anymore. What is known is that Roland was born a mere peasant, the son of a poor farmer who lost his estate when he failed to meet the outrageous demands of his corrupt landlord, resulting Roland and his family becoming homeless. After his father died in a failed attempt at exacting revenge against his former landlord, the very same landlord captured Roland, his mother and his siblings and sold them off to Catolohne slavers. Out of a stroke of luck, when the slavers traveled through the savage region of Kátimit, their caravan was ambushed by human barbarians, the Catolohne men slain and the slaves detained once more to be made slaves of the tribe. After having challenged the chieftain of the tribe to a test of mettle, Roland won his freedom, though not that of his family. In turn, the chieftain of the tribe - Seclyr the Barbaric - resigned from his position, awed by the Kirkinian man's prowess and mercy for having let him live, and followed him loyally ever since.
Over the course of his life, Roland the Ambitious then journeyed back to Kirkin - where he avenged his family and himself by finally killing the landlord that had wronged them - and through it to the Tokif Wilds, northern Wegam Fermos (though at the time known as Gûlastein Gevras) Holiethanathas Deigan and eventually the small human kingdom of Golerin. Though the details of his ventures are hazy at best, Roland became quite renown even in his own time, having a good standing with both the deigan and penin communities, as well as the kingdom of Golerin. He also gathered a band of companions, expanding the original group of him and Seclyr the Barbaric with Hans Fokon, Sevol Greenmark, Reg Gilmah, Erik Nemhim, Sylvia Zerul and Frank Relimon - all the future founders of the original Rodorian duchies.
In 1772 of the Barbaric Age, Roland the Ambitious and his companions joined forces with Golerin, the deigan and the penin, and invaded the Gazzeral-occupied area that would later become Rodoria and southern Wegam Fermos. After being named the first King of Rodoria by the three races, Roland the Ambitious' adventures ended, and though he lived on to be a vastly popular king, intent on avoiding Rodoria become anything like Kirkin, the remainder of his life was unremarkable. He died of natural causes just on the threshold of a new century, and was the first to be laid to rest in the fabled hidden Tomb of Legends.

Seclyr the Barbaric 1738 - 1776 of the Barbaric Age
Known to be one of the greatest warriors of his age, Seclyr the Barbaric was born in the marshlands of Kátimit, where he was trained as a warrior according to tribal tradition from a very young age, and taught to make fighting an art and glory a way of life. At the age of seventeen - outrageously young, and one of the youngest in the history of Kátimit - Seclyr killed the former chieftain of his tribe and claimed leadership for himself. For years thereafter, Seclyr lead his tribe of battle-hardened warriors into numerous battles against contesting tribes and in ambushes against the hapless people from foreign lands that thought to slip through Kátimit unnoticed.
After having met and been defeated by the young Roland the Ambitious, Seclyr surrendered his title as chieftain and became Roland's first and most loyal companion, lending the future King of Rodoria his strength in the adventures to come. It is said that during the invasion of the Gazzeral-infested northern lands, Seclyr charged ahead of the entire army of thousands of humans, deigan and penin, howling like a wild beast so mightily that many of the enemies quit the field out of awe, and that during the bloody war, none felled more enemies than the barbarian.
After having been made the first Duke of Seclyr (though the duchy was at first simply called "Seclyr's Duchy", the name was shortened down to be more similar to the others over the following decades), Seclyr summoned his old tribe all the way from Kátimit and had them become Seclyrians, sharing their valor and skill with Rodorians from other territories and adding their great blood to the duchy's ancestral sources. Seclyr was eventually killed by his own son in accordance with barbaric customs so that the son might inherit his leadership, though the legend says that the great barbarian could never have been defeated, but allowed his son to kill him out of love. Whether this is true or not can only be speculated.

Sevol Greenmark 1753 - 1813 of the Barbaric Age
A ranger from the Tokif Wilds, Sevol was actually renown throughout his homeland even from his early teens, before he even met his future companion Roland the Ambitious. Though known then only to the populace as the Jihni'kiri - the Heroic Outlaw - Sevol kept to the forests, living amongst the plants and animals there with almost no contact with fellow humanoids aside from druids and other rangers. As Sevol roamed the wilderness there, he was known to find any injustice done in his presence irresistible. He became a vigilante hunting for "bad people" and killing them indiscriminately, until he met Roland the Ambitious and made the mistake of assaulting him. After suffering a humiliating defeat and learning that his judgment of Roland and his followers had been faulty, Sevol offered his aid to the future king, as long as Roland stayed true to Sevol's ideals.
Being the youngest of the original Rodorian dukes, Sevol Greenmark was scrutinized and distrusted by his peers, but he proved a well-loved and benevolent ruler nonetheless. It is said that through his entire life, Sevol's talent for archery was so great that he never once missed a target until the day of his death, when an untimely sneeze supposedly ruined his aim, resulting in the first Duke of Anaxim's demise at the hands of an enraged lohk. There was no body left to bury, but a memorial was risen in his honor in the middle of Anaxim City, bearing the inscription "In the hope of a perfect world".

Sylvia Zerul 1734 - 1795 of the Barbaric Age
Coming from an old and highly respected noble family from the Catolohne Empire, Sylvia was born to wealth, privileges and education that was denied poorer inhabitants of the empire, and only barely had the young Sylvia learned to read her own language before she began studying others, displaying her brilliant mind by quickly mastering the Fermian, penin and Golerinian languages before even turning twelve. Once the common tongues had been added to her vocabulary, Sylvia was introduced to an entirely different kind of speech, one which could alter the world itself. Obviously, the arcane language fascinated Sylvia greatly, and it was not long until she could conjure simple spells and began to rapidly grow in skill and power.
Even so, being a woman in a patriarchal society, Sylvia's father had no patience for her ambitions to study magic and wanted her to marry another nobleman to reinforce the Zerul-family's standing in the empire. Though Sylvia protested, it was not her decision, and she ended up married to the rich Catolohne merchant Frank Relimon. However, while Sylvia's father had been blind to her talent, the opportunistic merchant noticed Sylvia's gift quickly, and his wealth soon bought her access to some of the best resources of studying magic she could ever have wished for. Granted great, unexpected freedom by her husband, Sylvia grew to become an exceptionally powerful sorceress, and when Frank Relimon went to Golerin, where he met Roland the Ambitious and joined his band of adventurers, Sylvia went with him and became a highly valuable asset to the group.
Known to have used her magic to turn the tides of several battles during the conquest of Rodoria and southern Wegam Fermos, the council of deigan, penin and humans wanted the great mage to become Roland's queen, but Sylvia declined and Roland prevented the council from insisting, protecting the equality and freedom that Sylvia had missed in the Catolohne Empire. Though she and her husband received neighboring duchies, Sylvia and Frank rarely met privately after that and both eventually remarried, agreeing that - in this kingdom where men and women were to be equals - an arranged marriage could not be defended, no matter how favorable it had proven.

Frank Relimon 1726 - 1788 of the Barbaric Age
Mostly known for having been the husband of Sylvia Zerul, Frank Relimon was a Catolohne merchant and nobleman who ran into Roland the Ambitious in Golerin by chance, and was only drafted into joining the band of adventurers as his wife did so. Even so, Frank proved valuable both to the group and, later, to the fledging Kingdom of Rodoria, as his affinity for diplomacy and persuasion allowed the merchant to end many conflicts with words and coin rather than steel and blood. It was also Frank Relimon who established the Rodorian currency, Rodlin, and by the time of his death he was considered one of the wealthiest people in all of Reniam.

Erik Nemhim 1748 - 1801 of the Barbaric Age
Orphaned at his birth, Erik Nemhim grew up in an orphanage in Golerin with a quite unusual leadership. The owner of the orphanage had the children brought there trained as thieves and assassins from a very early age, to use them for his own gain as they grew up. Even though Erik was practically indoctrinated to follow the owner's orders, the young boy did not just see targets when he was first sent into the city to earn his keep - he was possibility. Unlike many of his friends, Erik saw these people and realized that they were actually carrying around all the money and valuables he snatched from their pockets, and that they were leading much better lives than him or anyone else at the orphanage. Erik, wanting this kind of life for himself, managed to store away a some of his loot each time he was sent out to steal, saving up money to one day free himself from the owner's service.
When he tried to pick Sevol Greenmark's pocket, but was caught while doing so, Erik was involuntarily introduced to Roland the Ambitious and his companions, and the opportunist immediately saw that this was his chance at freedom. Whining to the adventurers about the owner's cruelty - some things true, others cunningly made up on the spot - Erik manipulated Roland into facing the owner, resulting in a confrontation ending with the owner's death. Drunk with his own success and freedom, Erik joined Roland the Ambitious and served in the following years as their stealth-specialist.
In the war against the Gazzeral, Erik supposedly managed to cause an entire stronghold of Gazzeral to turn on each other, resulting in hundreds of the reptilians killing each other and likely hundreds of the invaders' lives being spared. Though Erik made a quite selfish Duke of Nemhim and was generally disliked by his subjects, he managed to live to die of natural causes solely due to his own familiarity with shady dealings, as he was capable of foiling any attempt at assassinating him - but it was certainly not for lack of trying.

Hans Fokon 1725 - 1774 of the Barbaric Age
One of the few denizens in the tyrannical Kirkin that actually remembered such things as compassion and generosity, Hans was an acquaintance of Roland the Ambitious before Roland was propelled into his turbulent life of adventure. Hans was, in fact, the doctor that had assisted in Roland's birth, and was his friend through his childhood. When Roland returned to Kirkin after having been sold as a slave, Hans readily joined him in his quest to seize greatness.
It was Hans Fokon that issued the order that instead of a capital city, the duchy of Fokon would have a Joint Temple of Immortals at its center, and instead of an army or a Ducal Guard, they would host a chapter of Wardens.

Reg Gilmah 1730 - 1781 of the Barbaric Age
Reputedly one of the greatest masters of magic of his age, Reg learned about magic partially through books he either stole or tricked his way to acquire, or by trial and failure. Though necromancy was permitted in Kirkin, where Reg grew up, and necromancer actually revered as a sort of conduit through which the populace could communicate with the deceased, learning necromancy was extraordinarily difficult because there were very few willing to teach it. Reg taught himself both arcane magic and necromancy, his efforts fueled solely by his own mad ambition, until he eventually became so powerful that he began to raise an army of undead minions - the first horde of undead to ever be created. After months of terrorizing the people caught within his newly seized domain, all the while raising more servants, Roland the Ambitious returned to his homeland. After seeing his army destroyed by Roland and Seclyr the Barbaric, Reg Gilmah grew curious about the power that granted them the strength to best such opposition, and joined them to learn more.
Though Reg Gilmah was rumored to be amongst the greatest magi to ever live, his reputation has been sadly overshadowed by his great-granddaughter. In fact, Gilmahin resent their founder more than anyone, because they consider him weak for having surrendered to Roland the Ambitious when he had the power to rule the world on his own.

Eremus Pelgaid 1858 - 1571 of the Barbaric Age
Though born and trained as a paladin in Golerin, where Eremus came to possess a high rank and influence, he only achieved to become a legend after he left his homeland and journeyed to Rodoria. Being the leader of a chapter of Paladins of Liya, Eremus lead his men to Rodoria immediately after having heard of Delian Gilmah and the Black Tribunal's treachery, and as soon as he got there he offered his and his men's efforts to contain the undead threat.
Countless tales are both told and sung about this mythical War of Bones, in which Eremus, his paladins and various volunteers displayed great courage and strength as they defiantly held back the tide of the undead. Though Eremus died from grievous wounds before he could reap the rewards for his service to Rodoria, he is still considered the founder and champion of the Duchy of Pelgaid and one of the greatest heroes of the northern continent. After Eremus' death, Golerin demanded that his body be returned to them, since he was technically their "property" and thus the glory should be theirs, but the Rodorian king refused. To prevent anyone from trying to steal Eremus remains, and as a final grand reward, he had Eremus buried in the exclusive Tomb of Legends where he could rest amongst naught but the greatest champions of Rodoria.

James Etlon 1743 - 1779 of the Barbaric Age
Originally trained in combat and educated in leadership to join the legions of the Catolohne Empire, James was the son of an accomplished general that had aided the empire greatly in its conquests, and as such great things were expected of him. Truly, James proved capable as a soldier, but far more so as an officer, showing vast skill in the fields of combat-tactics and training. He was quickly picked to become a future commander of the legions, and was imprinted the Catolohne traditions that the best defense was an effective offense, and that the best way to keep their powerful empire grand and strong was to invade and eliminate them, and add their lands to their ever-growing nation.
Though little aside from James' talents were remarkable up until the year of 1772 of the Barbaric Age, when the time for the united efforts to defeat the Gazzeral, James Etlon was the representative the Catolohne Empire decided to send, along with a detachment of troops. James is said to have contributed more than anyone else to the triumph over the Gazzeral, as his strategic foresight and tactical cunning won the invaders many victories - as a matter of fact, some believe that had it not been for James Etlon, Rodoria and southern Wegam Fermos might still have been Gazzeral territory... which in hindsight might not have been such a bad thing.
What ultimately immortalized James' name was not the war against the Gazzeral, however, but the time afterwards. As the new kingdom of Rodoria was still settling and its newly crowned king getting used to his duties, James went to King Roland and urged the retired adventurer to not rest on his laurels and let the Rodorian army - composed partially by Kirkinian, Kátimitic and Golerinian soldiers, as well as James' own from Catolohne - get lax. James wanted to defy the other nations involved and take even more land for Rodoria before the borders felt too firm. Roland, however, refused this.
True to the Catolohne philosophy, James was outraged at this and promptly left the Rodorian military, taking only a few of his most loyal troops with him. In the following few years, James gathered many of the new Rodorians - mercenaries and militia - and formed a personal army, trained by himself and his men in Catolohne manner. Though most of his men lacked experience, and his army was hopelessly ill-equipped, James lead a brief, but highly effective campaign against southern Wegam Fermos, claiming a considerable area of the country before the deigan there could even muster a proper defense. King Roland came to covet this conquered land, despite his past statements, and in the last moments reinstated James as a marshal in the Rodorian army, and made him duke of the land he had taken. However, due to his crimes against the Fermians, James was executed shortly after - but his duchy, Etlon, was passed on to James' son, and has thus remained a valuable addition to Rodoria to present date.

Delian Gilmah 1853 of the Barbaric Age to present date
The great-granddaughter of Reg Gilmah and a former Duchess of Gilmah, Delian is an entity with a fierce ambition that far surpasses that of her ancestor. Quickly learning Reg's magical techniques, Delian took to developing them even further to harness greater and greater power and wield more exquisite control of her energy, until she became the first person ever to undergo the transformation into a lich, gaining awesome power and immortality. Though considered an abomination by many, Delian had done nothing strictly illegal by the laws of her time and thus no one intercepted as she recruited other young ambitious minds and began to teach them necromancy, and, when these grew in skill to become true necromancers, formed her Black Tribunal.
Only when Delian and her Black Tribunal began their conquest of Rodoria - intent on completing the task her great-grandfather had failed at - did people realize her true corruption and moved to stop her, only it was far too late. Only thanks to the efforts of Eremus Pelgaid and his chapter of Paladins of Liya was Delian restrained for long enough to imprison her and her horde. Even today she remains in the Land of Eternal Night, her power always growing and always finding new, horrible ways to twist magic into doing her bidding.

Vilhej the Righteous 148 - 1356 of the Age of Civilization
One of the most universally known legendary heroes of Reniam, Vilhej the Righteous - he full name being Vilhej'deo'calahuneth, translating to "beautiful bright miracle" - was an ascended deigan born in southern Wegam Fermos as a daughter to one of the families with multiple member as Milhinosahl of the nation, and as such enjoying a rather high social standing in the country. Though Vilhej was tested - as all ascended deigan were - for having great magical affinity or talent, her magical energy was abnormally unresponsive to any attempts to awaken it. It was strong, offering her good health, but could not be raised to fuel spells.
Even so, Vilhej's parents wanted their daughter to have a chance to make something of herself, and soon after she had reached adolescence had her enlist to the service of a Temple of Liya in the hopes that Vilhej might be suitable to be chosen as a Favored One, and through her service to Liya almost inevitably offer them grandchildren. However, as the years ticked by quickly as they do for the long-lived deigan, Vilhej became restless. She took the teachings of Liya to heart, adopting a strong desire to protect and save lives, but having no intention to devote her life to the Spirit of Union. Instead, at the age of forty-eight, Vilhej left the service of the temple, using what wealth she had accumulated from her work and her parents to equip herself. She became an ascended deigan warrior - something in itself remarkable - and left her home, setting out seek ways to protect life on her own.
The tales of Vilhej's achievements during her life were great and numerous. Her greatest accomplishments include driving a pair of trolls away from a village in northern Wegam Fermos singlehandedly, slaying a whole pack of breeding lohks armed only with a spear, and, naturally, the popular story of when she journeyed from Derisstahn to Rodoria by ship and was attacked by a colossal abomination from the depths, only to fend it off, saving herself, the ship and its crew all at once. However, oddly enough, there is never a mention of what the exact nature of this great beast of the Melenian Ocean is, and many speculate that this most commonly known story of Vilhej - and a number of others that seem impossibly impressive - are made up rumors spread by Vilhej herself to generate greater reputation for herself and earning her fame as a hero and monster-slayer.
These suspicions were born mainly from the fact that, shortly after supposedly having defeated the monster of the waves, Vilhej founded the organization known all across Kirirak as the deo'iel. Rallying like-minded individuals to her side, Vilhej lead a continental effort to hunt down and kill everything and anything that threatened the lives of innocents, and in the ensuing centuries innumerable monsters died by her hand, either literally or by extension of her followers. By the 1300th century of the Age of Civilization, the deo'iel had become the vastly powerful organization it is in present time, its agents numbering in the thousands and scattered all across northern Kirirak.
In the year of 1355 of the Age of Civilization, Vilhej the Righteous happened upon a gang of bandits, which she and her valorous followers dispatched as they had with hundreds of others, and coincidentally found the legendary Hammer of Klorr amongst the brigands' possessions. Though the Hammer was of vast value to the penin people, being a symbol of reverence to Klorr and a traditional artifact to be wielded by their High Lord, Vilhej decided that she would not return it immediately. Instead, she was convinced that the Hammer was destined to find her hands, and that it would provide her the power to purge the greatest stronghold of evil in Rodoria: the Land of Eternal Night. She vowed to return the precious artifact to the penin after what would have been her greatest feat.
However, as legendary as the Hammer of Klorr is, it was not sufficient. Vilhej's charge into the Land of Eternal Night is told to have been glorious, and that her battle against the hordes of death - alongside hundreds of her deo'iel - was one easily a match for Eremus Pelgaid's stand in the War of Bones. Even so, every single deo'iel that entered the Land of Eternal Night fell, including Vilhej the Righteous. It is said that her soul still lingers near her corpse, her skeletal fingers still clutching the handle of the Hammer of Klorr, but none have dared enter this forbidding deadly land to retrieve it, and remains even at present date.

Grulog the Bold - 1549 - 1574 of the Age of Civilization
Grulog was one of the rare tarken that came to realize that the way the tarken society functions is destined to end badly for their race, and vainly trying for years to change how things worked internally in the tarken Clans. Having only a weak tarkir, however, Grulog never accomplished much in this as no one would take him seriously. Instead he was branded a frehken and banished from the Clans, to live amongst the other races and away from his own kind, where he could not cause trouble.
After his exile, Grulog the Bold was discovered by the deo'iel, which he joined soon after. Though Grulog the Bold only offered brief service to the deo'iel, as tarken generally do, he accomplished many great things during his short life. The tarke is especially known for actually having fought a malicious young green dragon, wrestled with it to protect his comrades and survived the encounter, earning the gratitude of his fellow deo'iel. Grulog the Bold is also known for having lead a group of merely four deo'iel into the bandit-infested Cave Bear's Keep and purged it, leaving it vacant until it was occupied by the Crusader's Guild decades later.
Famous for being the only tarke to ever having become a deo'iel of the sixth circle, Grulog eventually died, ironically, in a fight against a band of frehken who had resorted to banditry. According to popular myths, the villainous frehken felt such an awe at realizing who they had killed that every single one of them committed suicide immediately afterward, to honor their dead kinsman's glory.

Timothy Shark - 34 - 102 of the Age of Civilization
One of the most famous sea-farers of the world, Timothy Shark was the first denizen of Kirirak to discover Melenaoth and live to tell the tale, though obviously many had found the Isles before him, only to be subsequently attacked, kidnapped and/or killed by the feline inhabitants of the islands. When Shark returned to Rodoria to report his monumental findings, the king sent Shark back to Melenaoth to act as an ambassador for the mainland in an effort to negotiate peace between Rodoria and the matriarchic civilization of the islands. However, though the Clan Mother accepted the offer of peace, it was not long before the Melenians felt that they could no longer tolerate the mainlanders and betrayed the that peace, launching a surprise-attack on the Rodorian coasts, starting the short but brutal war between Rodoria and Melenaoth.
During the war, Shark escaped his captors in Melenaoth and managed to commandeer a Melenian ship, and fled back to his homeland. After his flight, Shark's crew rejoined him, and they joined with the Rodorian fleet in facing the fearsome Melenian fleet. Shark is famed for having sunk no less than six Melenian vessels before his own ship was overwhelmed, and Shark was taken prisoner once more, this time to be securely locked away until the end of the war.
When the war ended, Shark was finally freed from his imprisonment and granted lands and noble title by the Rodorian king, as well as he was rewarded with a number of fresh Melenian slaves. As an old man, Shark finally met his end by the hands of a Melenian, as he - fascinated both by their strange attractiveness and culture - tried to make an advance on one of his female slaves, resulting in the Melenian violently murdering him.

Felgon Dragonslayer - 1461 - 1514 of the Age of Civilization
A legendary Rodorian Nightwalker and one of the last Knights of the Will before the knighthood faced extinction, Felgon Dragonslayer is known to have performed countless heroic deeds, many which were considered impossible before he accomplished them, mostly including slaying various extremely dangerous beasts in Rodoria and its adjacent countries. He earned the nickname "Dragonslayer" when he performed the tale portrayed in the jolly song, the "Ballad of Felgon Dragonslayer", and supposedly slew a great red dragon singlehandedly, as was witnessed by his uncle and the composer of the ballad, Raethec Silverthumb.
Shortly after earning his title, Felgon retired as a Knight of the Will at the same time as his son, Telagon, was born. After training his son through the stages of Apprentice and Squire of the Will, Felgon was murdered - a crime which his son was accused of, as Telagon was perceived as too weak and far from skilled enough to defeat his father in a duel to beat his Test and ascend to knighthood.

Reeshna Bloodclaw - 1599 of the Age of Civilization to present date
The current leader of the Claw of Kirirak, Reeshna is a female Melenian known for being extremely ruthless and vengeful in her general demeanor, and to often draw in her mercenary army to resolve her own personal issues. She is also known to accept virtually any mercenary-contract for her and her men recently, and to have close ties to the leader of the Unseen of Tigrola, the Fence, and is strongly suspected to be a major piaan-smuggler. No proof of this has arisen, however, and Reeshna has actually managed to avoid getting into open conflict with the law, despite undertaking numerous questionable endeavors.

Kevalorn the Holy - 1559 of the Age of Civilization to present date
Although he is known mostly only as the High Priest and leader of the nefarious Crusader's Guild and is supposedly an Avatar of Hazzergash, much about Kevalorn is unknown. He was originally from the small southern kingdom of Golerin, but came to Rodoria with his parents during his childhood. For long times, records show little significant happening in Kevalorn's life aside from his parents having another son, Kevalorn's brother, Tyson. However, twenty years ago, Kevalorn abruptly sought to Zerul, insisting to study magic, only to learn that he had absolutely no talent when it came to magic and only a very humble supply of magical energy, and as such could never hope to become a mage. About at the same time, Kevalorn's parents and brother all mysteriously disappeared without a trace, and soon after Kevalorn went into a mad berserk, somehow swiftly acquiring powers similar to those of a High Priest of Hazzergash, where after he proceeded to murder numerous people, both Ducal Guards, outlaws and random innocents, in gruesome and imaginative ways.
Slowly accumulating followers, it was not until he was joined by Gibbs Goldheart that Kevalorn took the name of Kevalorn the Holy and founded the Crusader's Guild, taking Cave Bear's Keep as his home and headquarters of the Guild and announcing his intention to exterminate every other race in Reniam aside from humans.

Gibbs Goldheart - 1600 of the Age of Civilization to present date
Originally just a common Wenalic soldier in the royal army, Gibbs quickly proved himself to be far out of the ordinary as he rose quickly through the ranks, up to the point where he was considered for promotion to general and was even due to receive a noble title. Aside from him being born in Wenal, virtually nothing is known about this man until he joined the army - his origins is an enigma to all but himself, as are his true motives. What is known is that Gibbs was following much the same path as the legendary military leader, James Etlon, two millennia before him, and compare Gibbs great tactical skill to that of the ancient founder of Etlon.
On his final mission before being given the rank of general, a noble title and land of his own, however, everything changed. Gibbs was in command of a sizable unit of royal soldiers, and was sent to chase down and capture a handful of suspected Catolohne spies. As Gibbs tracked the spies to a small town in Wenal, he and his men began a tedious search, only to discover that if there truly were any spies in the town, then the townspeople were helping them hide. The search progressed only for less than a day - after that, Gibbs gave the order to have the entire town burned to the ground and every citizen killed.
After this event, Gibbs was relieved of duty, but soon after followed in James Etlon's footsteps once more, gathering a band of mercenaries of his own. Soon he discovered Kevalorn the Holy, and together with the supposed Avatar of Hazzergash, Gibbs founded the Crusader's Guild.
Currently the second-in-command of the Guild and the one in charge of most practical issues with the sizable military organization, Gibbs is just as feared - perhaps even more so - than Kevalorn the Holy, for though he lacks the power of the leader of the Guild, Gibbs is a genius only second to Arognar Etlon, the Crimson Duke. He is very well-known amongst the populace of Rodoria - both for his deeds in the royal army and in the Crusader's Guild. His allies feel a surge of valor whenever they hear the name of such a brilliant leader, and his enemies tremble with fear at the prospect of facing an army guided by such a talented tactician. For obvious reasons, gossip of Gibbs is especially rampant in Wenal City.
He is said to be decisive, yet methodical and wise. But most of all, he is known for being notoriously impatient, for never missing a chance at gaining the upper hand, no matter the cost, and for never accepting defeat. He is a thoroughly dangerous person, and most credit the great success of the Crusader's Guild to him rather than Kevalorn.

Samuel the Amazingly, Incredibly, Unbelievably Awesome Undefeatable Champion, also known as Samuel Self-Namer - 1596 of the Age of Civilization to present date
An amazingly skilled and powerful Seclyrian swordsman, winner of the Annual Grand Tournament of Seclyr for seven years in a row, and the owner of the mythical and rather powerful longsword, the Fury Blade. His success in the Seclyrian Tournaments have earned him great fame and wealth, though most generally dislike the man for his humongous ego.

Arognar Etlon, also known as "The Crimson Duke" - 1602 of the Age of Civilization to present date
The current Duke of Etlon, Arognar, is probably the most remarkable duke the duchy of Etlon has seen since its extraordinary founder, James Etlon. Arognar is known to be unsurpassed greatest tactical mind to govern Etlon since his distant ancestor, and some even claim that Arognar even surpass him. But even with these remarkable details setting him apart from the rest, Arognar seem to be unique in every way. Though his father was the previous Duke of Etlon, his mother was from Golerin, and Arognar is named by their traditions. He is also albino, and shortly after reaching the age of seventeen seem to have adopted an unusually flamboyant demeanor, dressing in shocking colors, wearing makeup and, though he showed no such tendencies previous to this abrupt change, prefer the... "company" of men and shows no interest in women or marriage - something greatly unsettling to the Etlonian nobility.
After being named Duke of Etlon at the age of twenty-five, at his father's death, Arognar has earned the title of "Crimson Duke" - derived from the usual title of Red Duke used to describe the Duke of Etlon. This is done because of Arognar's unusually reckless and merciless tactics and style of leadership. Though he has won every single battle the Etlonian army has gotten involved with, many fear him as he is known to have any deserters - or any he suspect to desert - executed harshly, and he has been known to repeatedly have given orders for his soldiers to burn down settlements reserved for civilians. He is respected, but feared and hated even more, and is subject to almost weekly attempts at assassination.

Frederick Pelgaid - 1606 of the Age of Civilization to present date
The current Duke of Pelgaid. Frederick is known to be a kind and merciful ruler, but to have an unusually fierce hatred for anything that is wicked and unjust. Though not a paladin as his ancestor was, Frederick is a powerful warrior and a skilled swordsman, and in his early years as duke lead several campaigns against the Land of Eternal Night. Eventually Frederick came to realize - as all Dukes of Etlon must - that trying to attack the undead hordes of the Black Tribunal was a futile endeavor. Since, Frederick has focused his attention partly on the unending task of maintaining defenses on the Inner Wall around the Land of Eternal Night, and partly on hunting down brigands and demonspawn in his domain, mercilessly putting them to justice. He is betrothed to Selene Zerul, the daughter to the current Duke of Zerul.

Ubert Fokon - 1582 of the Age of Civilization to present date
The current Duke of Fokon. He is known to be a kind, but otherwise unremarkable ruler of Fokon, and has not tried to change anything about the conservative pacifist duchy. He has been showing a great deal of interest in experiments to allow people to enter the Spirit Realm consciously, however, and have supported the Fokonian chapter of the Wardens greatly in this.

Marcus Zerul - 1563 of the Age of Civilization to present date
The current Duke of Zerul. A remarkably powerful wizard, Marcus is known to be a somewhat passive ruler of Zerul, leaving all but the most important decisions to the nobles of the duchy and the Mage's Council of Zerul, while Marcus himself tends to delve into studies and forget about his ducal duties.
A major reason for concern is the fact that Marcus is quite old - sixty-seven years old - yet he only has one child, his daughter Selene Zerul, who is engaged to the Frederick Pelgaid. What happens to the duchy of Zerul when Marcus expires is unknown, and the Wenalic nobles acting in place of the empty throne of Rodoria wonder whether Pelgaid and Zerul should merge with one another, if Selene should be forced to abandon her to-be husband to become duchess, or if a new ducal family should be elected for Zerul.

Robert Seclyr - 1593 of the Age of Civilization to present date
The current Duke of Seclyr. A great and mighty warrior, Robert is even more fanatical in his distrust towards all magic than his predecessors ever were, and at the first chance he had - with the outbreak of the Withering - he completely outlawed all magic in Seclyr and set the punishment for practicing magic - or for just being recognized as a mage by the Seclyrian entities known as Sniffers - to burning at the stake. Otherwise he is very single-minded in his desire to fight the other duchies, concentrating his efforts at taking the greatest rival of Seclyr, their neighbors, Zerul.

Annette Nemhim - 1611 of the Age of Civilization to present date
The current Duchess of Nemhim. Though many were outraged at Annette gaining the rule of Nemhim at such a young age - and on top of that, being a woman (old habits die hard, and though Rodoria is supposedly an enlightened kingdom, rulers are still preferred to be men) - Annette has actually served Nemhim better than many of the latest dukes, and have had a record-low rate for assassination-attempts against her for a ruler of Nemhim. Annette is especially known for not only having increased recruitment for the lax military of Nemhim, but also roused the Ducal Guard in the region, though the guards remain very easy to bribe and generally liable to ignore crimes. Their efforts are not for law-enforcement, however - an endeavor that would be hopeless in Nemhim anyways - but in order to give Nemhim a fighting chance in the civil war.

Belinda Anaxim - 1598 of the Age of Civilization to present date
The current Duchess of Anaxim. An excellent archer, who has won the Anaximite Archery Tournament three years in a row, but otherwise unremarkable in her governing of her duchy and her achievements.

Giles Relimon - 1582 of the Age of Civilization to present date
The current Duke of Relimon. Aside from being one of the more successful merchants in the Relimonian ducal bloodline, Giles is also renowned for his efforts to ensure good relations with Melenaoth to his duchy immediately after the outbreak of the Withering and the start of the civil war. Otherwise he is not a very remarkable character.

Dennis Remdal - 1574 of the Age of Civilization to present date
One of the most prominent Zerulic nobles, the head of the Mage's Council of Zerul and the personal advisor to the Blue Duke, Dennis Remdal is likely second to power in Zerul only to the duke himself, and generally takes care of all of the ducal duties for him. Remdal is known to be a quite powerful, but only averagely talented magus, and many suspect that he and his bloodline is likely to be the ones to inherit Zerul once the current duke dies, as the Remdal-lineage can be traced back to the ducal family.
Dennis Remdal is well-known for, despite his high social standing, having married one of his servant-girls - a woman who even already had a child, which Dennis graciously adopted as his own, and soon after had a son of his own with his new wife, called Thomas Remdal.
About seven years ago, Dennis was part of a major scandal as he, failing at casting a spell, caused an explosion and an ensuing fire that burned down a large portion of the Magic Academy of Zerul. The details of the incident have been hidden to the public, but Dennis' stepson disappeared without a trace after this.

Paul IV - 1563 - 1619 of the Age of Civilization
The Last King of Rodoria, but otherwise a quite unremarkable person as he never achieved much in his rule before he and his entire family was claimed soon after the outbreak of the Withering.

[Dark Jack]

OTHER

Currencies of countries near Rodoria
The currency of Rodoria is called Rodlin, and are silver coins with a value roughly equal to ten US dollars. The currency of southern Wegam Fermos and all deigan-ruled countries is small shards of quartz, the value of about three Rodlin. The currency of the penin are coins of steel, which are worth about half of a Rodlin. The currency of Melenians are copper coins, worth about one fifth of a Rodlin.

Common Languages
In Rodoria, the national language is Rodorian. To deigan, their native language is Fermian. The language of the tarken is called tarahn. Penin, Melenians and Gazzeral all have languages named after themselves.

Metals that are not from Earth
Ghiril is a rare metal, which the penin have made their trademark to work the best. It is light as a feather, yet stronger than steel but flexible, making it good for armor and extremely powerful bows. Its appearance is unusual in that it shifts between shades of gold and purple with the light.

Sartal is an alloy that is known only to a few select blacksmiths amongst the true deigan. The name of the alloy is Fermian and means "unbreakable", and indeed, Sartal is without a doubt the strongest metal in Reniam. Weighing only one tenth of steel but being unbending and impenetrable, Sartal is used only for crafting weapons and sometimes shields, as the metal is simply too difficult to handle to use it for crafting armor, and too stiff for the person wearing it to move properly. Once the final ingredient in the Sartal-compound is added, the craftsman has exactly forty-six seconds before the alloy cools down - no matter how one tries to heat it up again, it will not melt - and become unbendable. That is how long one has to shape and sharpen the weapon before it becomes eternally unchanging, never breaking, chipping or growing dull and never yielding to magic nor heat. According to the true deigan, a Sartal weapon can only truly be yielded by the person who forged it, as every Sartal weapon is said to hold a little of its maker in it for all time, thus they make it so that only the greatest of true deigan are ever allowed to craft one of these indestructible artifacts. Sartal has an appearance similar to silver.

Obsidite is perhaps even rarer than Sartal, mostly because its creation is only possible in the Grand Forge of Klorr with the guidance of Klorr himself. Obsidite is a compound of steel that is nearly as indestructible as Sartal, but weighs as much as ordinary steel would but generally having almost identical traits as Sartal, mainly due to the fact that obsidite was made specifically for the purpose of making a compound that was superior to Sartal - a pursuit which ultimately failed. Its greater weight has made it preferable to Sartal in most larger weapons, though, and the fact that obsidite is significantly easier to mold means that it can be used for much more intricate designs, including armor and even jewelry. Obsidite is black as obsidian (thereof the name) and typically with a dull rather than shiny surface.

The Withering
I won't say too much about the disease yet because it would reveal some of the story, but it affects all races except tarken and demonspawn. It first started twelve years prior to the start of the RP. The effect of the Withering is initially the appearance of gray "withered" blotches on the victim's skin, which will itch and ache, and if pressure is applied to a withered spot, it will turn black and extremely painful. The blotches grow and spread, and over an average duration of five-six days they will have claimed about half of the victims body, with the withered areas centered on the initial blotches. Over the course of this time the victim is rapidly weakened, drained of strength and energy as well as wrecked by ever-increasing agony. When half of the victim's body is infected, death is imminent, and the victim dies within one day.
In Rodoria, during the twelve years the Withering has ravaged the land, more than two million - or about one fourth of the population - has fallen to the plague.
Although the information has not yet been passed on in its entirety, it was recently discovered by the Companions that the Withering is of a different nature than other diseases altogether. In fact it seems that the Withering is a disease not of the body, but of the soul, caused by an as of yet unknown demonic invasion of the victim's soul that causes its energy to gradually drain, causing a sort of allergic reaction to demon-essence at the same time as it inflicts the symptoms of magical exhaustion.
The very most terrible discovery made by the Companions was that this process apparently continues until the victim's soul is utterly depleted, yet the process does not cause the victims to return as specters. The conclusion, as disturbing as it might be, is that those claimed by the Withering are in fact utterly destroyed in both body and soul, denied both life and afterlife. Whether this conclusion is true or not is uncertain as of yet, but it is the most likely theory so far.


Notable Expressions
Swearing, such as our "damn it!" or "shit!" and other similar remarks are not used in Reniam. Instead, Kreshtaat's name is exclaimed. "Kreshtaat!"
Exclamations such as "for God's sake", "oh, God, no!" and so on are not used. Instead the common exclamations include "By the Spirits!", "By the Planes!", "By the gods!", "By the demons" or, in cases of extreme emphasis, "By all of the Planes, Spirits, gods and demons!". In cases where the name of a particular deity is invoked, it is usually coupled with a defining characteristic about that deity. Examples include: "Reina's mercy!", "Rilon's thirst!" and "Frenis' greed!"
Alternate, emphasized versions of the simple "what", such as "what the hell?" and "what the fuck?" are not used. Instead the phrases also used as exclamations are simply added a "what in the name of" at the beginning, although the phrase "what in blazes?" as known from Earth is also used occasionally. In the case of "the Planes", both "What in the name of the Planes?" and "What in the Planes?" are used.
Alternate, emphasized versions of the simple "where" are all replaced with the phrase "where in the Planes?".
Insults, such as "bastard", "bitch" and "son of a bitch" are not used. Instead common insults include "son of a tarke!", "demonspawn" (though this is not much of an insult when used about an actual demonspawn) and "goblin manure". The usage of more descriptive insults, such as fool, idiot and moron, are the same as we know them to be.

Piaan
Invented by the island-dwelling Melenians and only discovered by mainlanders when they first reached the shores of Melenaoth in the late 300'eds of the Age of Civilization, piaan is the most widespread, addictive, powerful and illegal drug in all of Reniam. It is a liquid of a strange mix of orange and green in color, with the consistence of pure water but surrounded by a vile stench similar to that of mold, and tastes like common mud. The exact means on how to produce piaan and its ingredients is a jealously guarded secret of the Melenian Piaan Mistresses, who serve under the Melenian criminal leader known only as the Fence, and which control the distribution of piaan all over Reniam.
Despite it being highly illegal both to sell, own and drink, piaan-smugglers always manage to make their way into any community to spread their wicked goods and make more people addicted, as just making someone taste piaan a single time is usually enough to cause a life-long addiction.
Aside from working as a powerful euphoriant and analgesic, the true effect of piaan - which is what causes all other effects, and which is the most important factor in the addiction - is that piaan gives the imbiber a massive boost of magical energy. Thus, many professional wizards that use their magic in combat carry around small vials of piaan, as just a couple of milliliters of the drug is enough to completely remove even phase three magical exhaustion and reenergize them completely, though at the cost of mental clarity. To those not affected by magical exhaustion, however, the boost of energy builds up as excess power in the imbiber's soul - one could say that the soul becomes overcharged, containing more energy than it is meant to. This has two different effects: firstly the body tries to adapt to the new levels of power in the soul, even though this enhanced power is only temporary. Thus even full-grown men will experience that their bodies with grow, both in tallness and in muscularity, until they reach dimensions that should have been impossible for their race - naturally, just drinking small quantities of piaan will not cause any visible difference, but continuous use of the drug will cause this, and the more frequently one drinks it, the faster and more freakish the buildup of physical power becomes. The other effect of overcharging the soul, however, is that one's soul is "stretched thin", so to speak. It is a great strain for the soul to hold more magical energy than it is meant to, and gradually as the body strengthens, the mind will deteriorate. The imbiber's intelligence, memory and intuition will waver until it is reduced to a feral state, with even its personality being erased by the piaan. Ultimately the imbiber, after years of addiction, will become entirely unable to think and act on its own, similar to the state of one who has undergone lobotomy. Inevitably, the addict's soul will be stretched so thin that it can no longer even hold itself together, and the addict will die.
Piaan is also sometimes used as poison, although it is expensive and less potent than actual poisons. This is because drinking more than a centiliter of piaan gives such an explosive boost of magical energy that half of the population of Reniam would simply have their soul instantly shattered by it, killing them. The other half would only have their soul horribly crippled, likely putting them in a coma for the rest of their mortal existence and reducing them to drooling vegetables if they ever wake up.

Stones of the Doom Mage
Crafted through some of the darkest and most feared aspects of black magic, Stones of the Doom Mage are simply little pieces of a metallic substance of unfathomable nature that has been infused with malicious energies. The appearance of the Stones is that they are utterly and completely black, but not in the traditional sense - rather, it seems as though the surface of the Stones is merely a transparent shell that holds the energies within, and the blackness only exists inside the Stones, moving like a living thing or lazily swirling liquid. To touch a Stone of the Doom Mage is produces an icy chill that pierces one to the bone as the Stones suck away all warmth and life in their vicinity. Simply touching a Stone of the Doom Mage for several seconds will be enough to cause the body nearest the Stone to go hurt and go numb, and being in contact with a Stone for extended periods of time is often cause of gangrene.
The sinister and forbidden ways the Stones are created aside, there are other reasons that the Stones of the Doom Mage are considered dangerous and highly illegal, and are thus destroyed whenever dutiful individuals happen upon them. The reason for the name of the Stones is that when Stones of the Doom Mage are crafted into artifacts, such as rings, amulets and such, the one who wears one such artifact takes upon itself the aspect of the Doom Mage, and the power that comes with it. As the Stones are the ultimate incarnation of black magic, the effect of wearing one is also rather similar to the forbidden art, yet even more wicked. A Doom Mage gains immense magical power upon donning a Stone, unlocking the full extent of their potential and releasing all boundaries that hold back their magical energy, letting it flow and be consumed freely. A Doom Mage does not feel the usual effects of magical exhaustion, but can continue using their power without being exhausted or their health deteriorating at all. The Stones of the Doom Mage also renders concentration unnecessary, as they tear the magical energy forcibly from the caster's soul the same as black magic does, and even a spell that would otherwise have failed due to forgotten or mispronounced incantations are given form by the Stones, making them even more powerful than the complete spell originally would have been.
The downside of this explosive power is obvious: the Doom Mage will continue unleashing its power to its fullest until they deplete themselves completely of magical energy, consequently dying and becoming specters. Black mages argue that this is merely the price one must pay in accordance to the First Law of Magic: Power demands sacrifice, and ultimate power demands the ultimate sacrifice. Once one dons a Stone of the Doom Mage, one seals one's own fate - one will shine brightly for a short time and then burn out, like a shooting star.
An alternate, only slightly less grim way to use Stones of the Doom Mage is by embedding them into weapons, in the part of the weapon meant to strike one's enemies. Weapons with Stones of the Doom Mage inserted into them are known as Banes, and because of the foul enchantment of the Stones, Banes injure both the target's body and soul, dealing wounds that never heal and permanently weaken those they are inflicted upon. Furthermore Banes are said to be capable of damaging and killing any living creature, and are some of the few corporeal things that can actually harm the ethereal and utterly destroy them. A hard enough strike with a Bane - no matter where it is aimed - can supposedly kill anything in one hit. Because of the baleful nature of the Stones of the Doom Mage, however, creating Banes is illegal, and though using a Bane is not exactly prohibited, it is frowned upon. Many argue that Banes are inhumane and sadistic in the way they deal wounds, and that it is not fully known what consequences injuring or killing someone with a Bane has in the victim's afterlife. Whatever happens after the victim's death is unknown, except that it is certain that they do not return as specters... but it does give a hint that even immortals fear Banes, suggesting that even eternal beings can be hurt by them - permanently.