[OOC] Demon Sunrise

[NewSun]

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What hellish creatures do cast their eyes upon our fragile, perfect world? There is but one choice left to us: unite under the strong, or be crushed under the savage. We must be ready to combat this horde that bears upon us, we must not crumble under the weight of their lies and schemes. We must be ready to show these Lords of the Outer Planes that we are stronger than they ever could be, and we will be their doom.

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W h a t I s D e m o n S u n r i s e ?

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Welcome to the world of Demon Sunrise, an original fantasy universe in which the realm of Men is simply one of many planes of existence. It is perhaps the least turbulent of all the realms, the least maddening and evil. All of the planes of existence are centrally linked by a mysterious and masterless realm known as Exáría, The Nexus: the world through which all must travel in order to reach their parallels.

As a player, you have a choice. You may choose to play as a Human Warlord or Saviour, a Prophet or Legendary Warrior and his followers who have united in defence of their world against an ever growing threat from beyond the veil that separates worlds. You can take control of your own hold, city or stronghold and mount your defences and rally allies in the Mortal World in order to combat a common enemy...
...Or you may choose to claim an Outer Plane, taking control of a Demon Lord or Champion whose strength grows by the day. Some say that these creatures are the remnants of The Old Princes of Ruin, the primordial Dark Gods who existed from the beginning of all things. These Champions maintain their own stronghold within their plane, and their power brings hordes of fiends and spirits and monsters and a whole host of otherworldly creatures to their cause: domination of all Planes, and ascension to Godhood.

Will you ally with your fellow Human Saviours, or make pacts with Demon Lords to gain the upper hand. Will you fight alongside your fellow Planar Champions to crush the Humans, or will the desire for conquest lead you to the gates of your fellow Demon Lords?

There is to be one Plane per player, and he who claims a Plane can designate it's geography and details as they see fit. The exception here is the Mortal Plane, which can have multiple players inhabiting it, and it's geography will be partially already designated; it's creatures will also have harsher restrictions, as players choosing to inhabit it are restricted to playing as Humans (albeit magical ones).

Beware, however, those who choose to establish themselves as a Lord of an Outer Plane, for these Planes do not belong to you, and if the forces that created them were to ever return, they would surely not respond to your assumed dominion well...

This RP adheres to 'Advanced' guild standard.

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T h e P l a n e s

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These sprawling yet empty halls speak of times before Ruin; a time in which Creation was peaceful and unified. It is only through Exáría that the denizens of our universe can traverse the infinite void between Planes. The megastructure has no known limits, with a titanic super chamber at it's heart that holds a separate gateway to each of the realms. Men are said to marvel at the silent awesomeness of such a sight, for this central chamber's roof is as high as the clouds, and it's intricate and encrusted floor spans further than any battlefield. It is said that armies in times past have met here, and that some of the greatest battles in history have been fought between the Portals. You can sense the unease in a place like this. You know that armies will clash still, and the fate of everything will hang in the balance.

-You cannot claim this plane-

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A plane of eternal shadow and unrelenting darkness. Aárdu Lyásí is supposedly the mighty abyss between worlds, yet none have ever been able to prove such myths as true, for none who have wandered unwittingly into this mighty umbra have ever been able to navigate their way to the sunlight once more. Some claim that Aárdu Lyásí is an abyss in more than just name, and is in fact the deepest recess of an ancient scar in creation where the darkest of creatures reside; others are adamant that it is the realm of a greater power who was cast down before light could be cast upon his mighty plane. Here you may find creatures of the dark stalking the dizzying heights and claustrophobic paths of a world without light.

Themes
Darkness
Shadows
Disrepair

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A supposedly infinite plane of tainted life. Towering trees and mysterious waterfalls stretch far beyond the horizon - one can easily find themselves lost within the haunted undergrowth, where the sun is quickly blotted out by a canopy that is as thick as it is imposing. Fél Válásí may have once been a land dedicated to life and all it's wonders, but if true, that no longer so. None can say what spirits, beasts and twisted creatures lurk within the never-ending maze of the Verdance.

Themes
Beasts
Natural Spirits
Nature
Life

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The stories say that this is a land where the souls of the dead will go to find peace. The winds howl with a certain ferocity here, colder than any other. The eternal moon casts blue over the sea of gravestones and macabre castles filled with lamenting souls. They say that every star that can be seen in the ghostly skies of Iíoá Yuávíór is the fading light of a different soul, and the incandescent pillars that can be seen rising above even the most mighty stronghold of souls are constructed as conduits for some greater power to harness power from souls that find their place in the Wraith Lands.

Themes
Death
Spirits
Souls
Wraiths
Undead

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A fragmented plane of shifting, nightmarish design. The plains bend and shift in ways that defy logic, with creatures of similar illogicality roaming the land of a thousand twisted lights. Places will change on some unknown whim, and areas the size of a castle to a continent will simply break away from others to float into a black, starless sky on some arcane winds. It has been called the Garden of Puzzles by some, and the Consuming Madness by others. It is a place not meant for weak willed mortals and their ilk. Indár Sólásí is a plane built by a truly insane deity, indeed.

Themes
Madness
Change
Illogicality
Fear

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A realm of fire, bone and pain. This land is what most would consider 'Hell.' Pillars of corpses can be seen for miles, rising into the smokey sky like titanic monoliths dedicated to some long lost god who revelled in suffering. Screams fill the air in this plane of fire, the heat able to drive the stoutest of men mad before bringing about their swift end. It is said that each death across all the realms simply adds to Féron Khól's already mighty display of seared bones.

Themes
Pain
Fire
Anger
Blood

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This is the world of Mortal Men. They are a brave, noble species, more tenacious and determined than any other. They are perhaps the most complex creatures in all of the Planes, capable of both evil and good, and of incredible strength and devastating weakness.
Between the towering snow capped mountain ranges, lush valleys thrives amidst clear glacial rivers and ancient, dilapidated carvings of heroes from times past. Villages dot the expansive landscape from the Frigid Northlands to the fertile Southern Sea, and strongholds of the brave and the powerful stand mighty and proud above all else. But this land is the one most ravaged by the fearsome denizens of the Outer Planes, and the Humans have grown disheartened in recent generations; lacking the will to continue to resist. But heroes of the age have risen up to unite the clans and warbands and guilds and tribes of the Mortal Lands, heroes that impossibly outclass their fellow Men in every respect. These great warriors will no doubt be the saving grace of the Mortal Lands, if there is such a thing at all.

It is often assumed that the Mortal Lands are simply another plane of existence, just like the others; rather than a focal point through which all others are dependant on. This would of course mean that Humans are in fact a very specific form of Demon, as much as they would like to deny. This would explain their magical sensitivity and the potential for the most powerful few to become equals of the mighty Demon Lords.

Map
Pending.

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They say that all of the coldness in one's heart can be traced back through the veil to Vórós Khástar. This land is as unforgiving as it is mysterious; a world bleak and desolate indeed. It has been said that no mortal nor God has ever seen to the hellish bedrock upon which this gargantuan mountain range rests upon, high above clouds of ice and malice. Snow falls inexplicably and without mercy, never relenting, reducing sight to almost nil and disorienting all those who attempt to navigate these twisting mountain pathways that are littered with forboding fortresses carved by some unknown being in the likeness of his own screaming skull. Few know what lies at the heart of the Frigid Scar, and fewer still would gamble their life on finding out.

Themes
Ice
Cold
Winter

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In Fél Várást, you may find an eternal conflict, a never-ending struggle for power. The once beautiful plains are now simply battlefields, serving as a theatre for a war that has long since lost it's purpose, along with any reasoning that may have spawned it. Now, the barbaric denizens of this land turn upon one another, each with an agenda of their own, plotting to overthrow and conquer his peers in brutal displays of betrayal and scheming - all in the name of glory and power. Hundreds of fortresses are erected upon this plain daily, and hundreds are shattered to dust by siege weapons of immense proportions. It would seem none are able to gain a footing in this land of war, where alliances run skin deep, and the lust for conquest takes root deep within the soul.

Themes
Glory
Combat
War
Domination

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Rhul Tháar, The Garden of Filth, is widely considered a mistake. It is a pox on creation; a vile, foul, despicable place of putrid decay and rotting disease. This Plane was intended to be a system of caves that would span for hundreds of thousands of miles, with caverns the size of cities and a network of tunnels so vast that not even it's creator would have been capable of committing it all to memory. But something wrong has happened in this mysterious world, and what was once a grand design is now the embodiment of rot and disease. The very walls spout boils, and pus leaks from the floor. Mucus floods some chambers, and rotting flesh hangs from others. Creatures lurk within the decaying squalor, feasting and scattering at the sight of the more ferocious and utterly repulsive monsters than have been known to stalk these halls.

Themes
Rot
Decay
Disease
Filth

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There is a place in which a soul will never wish to find itself - the Desolate Labyrinth. A plane as bare as can be, a flat expanse of dirt, illuminated by some unholy perpetual light. To the observer, this land is empty, with no redeeming factors. Only those mad enough to venture forth will begin to see the Labyrinth: a towering maze of rock and bone, whose halls are impossible to navigate from once entered. There may be cities and fortresses nestled within the maze, but if so, none without the permission of this realm's master to enter would ever stumble across them.

Themes
Loneliness
Loss
Terror
Desolation

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The Mirror of the Wind is a beautiful sight to behold, where the 'sun' is always just upon the horizon, casting a golden dusk upon this boundless world of wind and sky. There is little solid land in this world, and 'up' and 'down' have no meaning. There are occasional city-sized chunks of rock hurtling through the skies, upon which great strongholds have been constructed. Some say that the centre of the Grand Mirror is the Gate to the Nexus, whose magic is so powerful that it compels this howling realm around it.

Themes
Air
Sky
Wind
Liberation

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Somewhere in Creation is a swirling quagmire of screams and iron, an incomprehensible storm of pain. Somewhere within this godforsaken pit is a chain whose proportions are unlike anything else, larger than a Mortal may dare to imagine; seemingly without end, and without beginning. Some malevolent entity has constructed upon the length of this hanging Spine of Iron an endless system of torture and slavery platforms the size of cities, each one clinging to it's unholy support construct through some unknown means. Upon these platforms take place dark rituals indeed - truly the one true prison in all of Creation.

Themes
Incarceration
Slavery
Trapped
Torture

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The infinite plane of Void and Matter where negative and positive energies dance to harmonious quantum resonance. The edge of its expanse travels faster than the light chasing it through space, a surging wave of potential energy. Sentient Stars of Light arrange themselves in constellations to govern terrestrial bodies with their heavenly guidance, gliding on ellipses and spirals in perfect arrangement set in the eternal filament. It is known to few whom the Stars are the great benefactors of; it is said that when one communicates with that inner voice they believe to be themselves, they are in fact communicating with Thul Ithílíá.

Themes
Resonance
Matter
Stars
Time

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The Pit of Sorrows was supposedly once a part of the much larger Spine of Iron, functioning as the apparent end of the Central Chain, separated from it by a gargantuan wall of chains that was adorned with innumerable hanging shackles that seemed to harbour a host of incredibly dark creatures who dwelled in the dull pits below. Legend has it that the Pit was forcefully ripped from the rest of the Chain, allowing it to free fall through the void, between all the other Planes. It is said that over time, the Pit of Sorrows became it's own Plane entirely, and the strange and horrifying creatures who still dwell there are testament to this.
The Plane is suspended entirely from a fettered roof, that was once the wall between the two sections of the Spine long ago. Below is nothing but the empty void itself. Anything that survives in this terrifying land has had to build it's home upon the hanging bonds; enduring physical punishment and the harsh energies of the Void itself.

Themes
Evil
Void
Neglect
Binding

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C r e a t i n g A F a c t i o n

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If you wish to apply, please create your faction (bear in mind this is split up in to smaller sections to keep things manageable) using the sheet below. The sheet to use will vary depending on whether or not you wish to play as a Human Faction, or if you wish to claim an Outer Plane and become a Demon Lord.

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H u m a n S h e e t

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Champion

Name: (The name of your hero. This character is your leader, and is going to be essential in the times to come)
Appearance: (Pretty self explanatory. Pictures or Description. Both preferred)
History: (A little something something about the history of the Hero. How have they gotten to the point at which they have been able to unite enough Humans to lead a faction)
Personality: (Does this leader rule through fear or charisma? Displays of power, perhaps? How does he treat his followers)
Armaments: (What equipment does this hero usually carry? This can be a listing of all his legendary and magical armour and weapons, along with any significant trinkets that may influence or improve his abilities)
Abilities: (What natural talents does your hero possess? What magical abilities do they have control over? Heroes are incredibly powerful, on par with Greater Demons, so feel free to go a little wild with this, though I will let you know if you go too far. Just be reasonable.)

Stronghold

Name: (What is the name of your stronghold?)
Type: (Is it a small city? A fortified town? A Castle or keep? Let us know, you prune)
Location: (You may ignore this until a map of the Mortal Lands is complete.)
Description: (Tell us all about your stronghold. it's layout and design, it's function and capabilities. Everything. Damn it, everything.)

Faction

Name: (What is your faction called?)
Size: (How many people are considered a part of your faction? this usually varies between 100-5000, and any number of them can be military. Remember, it's a faction, not a nation!)
Hierarchy and Culture: (What is life like within your faction? How does one advance, and what ranks are there? How are people treated and trained? What is their reason for founding?)
History: (Tell us of the founding of your faction)
Military Capabilities: (List all your unit types, and their capabilities. This is mostly to help others grasp the feel of how your faction will fight - this category is not a power play, so don't be a shart.)
Banner: (Totally optional)

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O u t e r P l a n e S h e e t

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Location

Plane: (Which Plane is your faction located in? Your Lord and Faction must be in some way linked or similar in style to the Plane in which you choose to reside. It is a necessity that your faction in some way incorporates one of the themes of your chosen Plane. Fuck this up and chances are i'm going to get you to make a lot of heavy changes, so think hard. Also, check the OOC to ensure your chosen plane hasn't already been claimed, as this could save you a lot of time. There can only be one faction per Outer Plane.)

Lord

Name: (The name of your Lord. This character is your leader, and is going to be essential in the times to come)
Type: (What is your Champion? A particularly powerful Demon or Spirit? An unnatural beast of unnerving leadership capabilities? A Demigod of some description?)
Appearance: (Pretty self explanatory. Pictures or Description. Both preferred)
Personality and Drive: (What drives your leader to do what he does? What is his ultimate goal?)
History: (A little something something about the history of the Lord. How have they gotten to the point they are at, and how did they create their host?)
Armaments: (Does your Lord even carry weapons? If so, tell us here. If not, tell us what they usually use to kill stuff. (Unless those means are magical, in which case ignore this and place in category below)
Abilities: (What powers does your Lord have? This includes magic or anything of the sort. Demon Lords can be pretty damn powerful, so feel free to play around. I will be taking special notice of this category, however, so don't be a brat with this freedom.)

Holding

Name: (What is the name of your holding?)
Type: (What is your holding? A demonic fortress maybe? A conjured tower of flames? Tell me!!)
Description: (Tell us all about your Holding. it's layout and design, it's function and capabilities. Everything. Damn it, everything.)

Host

Name: (What is your host / warband called?)
Size: (How many creatures are considered a part of your host? this usually varies between 100-5000. Remember, it's a faction, not a nation!)
Hierarchy and Culture: (What is life like within your warband host?? How does one advance, and what ranks are there? What is their reason for following your Lord?)
History: (Tell us of the founding of your Host)
Military Capabilities: (List all your unit types, and their capabilities. This is mostly to help others grasp the feel of how your faction will fight - this category is not a power play, so don't be a shart.)
Warcry: (Totally optional)

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O t h e r I n f o r m a t i o n

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I would just like to bring up some basic contextual and gameplay points in regards to this RP: namely that, like all RPs should be (though NRPs manage to find a way to fall out of this) an exercise in collaborative storytelling. There is a plot, and I will be unrolling it over time, with each player getting something different out of it, as it will be pretty personalised; but as with all things, how much enjoyment you get from this RP will be directly proportional to how much you put in. What I mean by this is that I highly encourage you to open dialogues with your fellow players and develop your own internal plots and subplots, schemes and plans. Have your own story outline planned in your head too, and you will have a good time fighting for your corner of Creation in this RP. If you 'just wait' for something to happen, you may be bitterly disappointed. So get out there and start some fires.

Something I would also like to address is how NRPs can often become simple power struggles between players, waving their electronic faction penis at others and trying to be the best. Now I know everybody who has read this far is as much against this sort of play as I am, but i'm going to say it anyway: Combat and battles are a story device. Only. Any combat that the writers cannot resolve between them will be resolved by me, and you will probably like the result less than you would if you agreed with one another. So play nice, it's just a story. Plus you seem way cooler if you put the story first, and an elephant like myself never forgets that.

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C l a i m e d P l a n e s

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Claim a Plane by completing an application and having it accepted. You can hold a plane temporarily for yourself by submitting an application with substantial content for a Plane that has relatively little application competition, even though it may not be complete yet.

The Mortal Lands [ X ] - Maximum 5 player capacity - Flagg, Terminal, Saint, Vahir, ASTA
The Ashen Abyss [ X ] - Claimed - GreivousKhan
The Eternal Verdance [ X ] - Claimed - TwistedSun
The Nightmare Steppes [ ] - Unclaimed
The Wraith Lands [ X ] - Claimed - Raptorman
The Searing Wastes [ X ] - Claimed - MonkeyPants
Eternal Judgement [ X ] - Claimed - Sigma
The Frigid Scar [ X ] - Claimed - Peace Keeper
The Garden of Filth [ X ] - Claimed - Palamon
Sea of Stars [ X ] - Claimed - Milieu
Spine of Iron [ X ] - Claimed - The Fair Lady
Desolate Labyrinth [ X ] - Claimed - Marra Mistborn
Mirror of the Wind [ X ] - Claimed - Legion020
The Pit of Sorrows [ ] - Unclaimed

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C u r r e n t F a c t i o n s

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-Human-
The Human Factions - Terminal, Flagg, SaintArey
The order of the Tower by Vahir
Magnum Xea by ASTA

-Outer Plane-
Children of Night by GreviousKhan
Servants of the Imprisoned by Peace Keeper
The Decay by Palamon
Legion of the Exalted One by Sigma
Gemini Sigma Alliance by Milieu
Emyra's Embraced by Marra Mistborn
The Grey Legion by Legion020
The Radiant Legion by Raptorman
The Eternally Tormented by Monkeypants
Eèl Hétrya Válásí by TwistedSun

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N P C c h a r a c t e r s

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The Wanderer

There is a Man who wanders the farthest shores of Iíoá Kháldór, a man who can be seen in every city and every town; he is said to appear at the corner of your eye when you feel most vulnerable and defeated. There have been tales told of this figure, presenting him both as fact and as some perverse modern mythological creature - but they all point to the same, mysterious Man. Every account of the Wanderer is generally universally the same: hooded, dark, tall, exuding an aura of dread. Those with the misfortune of seeing the Wanderer in the distance all claim that they could have sworn that he wore an inhuman grin, framed by eyes of fire that pierced the shadows. It is as if he was waiting for them.

And all those that have the misfortune of seeing this Man all end up in the grave before long.

The Moonlit Beast

Before the Night Mother began her rise to power in the Ashen Abyss, a much more primal monster lurked in the ineffable umbra. The Monster that lurked in the deepest recesses of the abyss is still said to do so, never being able to be purged by the Night Mother or her forces. Perhaps this monster is a greater embodiment of the night than even she. The Moonlit beast is supposedly the spawn of the darkness itself, the very spirit of Aárdú Lyásí; a horrifying amalgamation of solid shadows and claw, with a roar that could shatter mountains and reach from the very depths of the abyss itself to chill even the stoutest of Demon Lords.

Beware, the Moonlit Beast is a cunning and most frightening foe, who can only wish to reclaim its seat as the most feared Demon of the Abyss.

Rimeheart

The glacial Rimeheart was once a simple Ice Behemoth before the rise of Eredun, when the Ice Wraith who took it upon himself to enslave all the native beasts of the Frigid Scar. This is the only known case of a creature of the Winter not only to be able to resist the effects of the Pendant of Winter, but to be empowered by it. What was once a simple behemoth became a true terror to behold; Rimeheart’s face twisted and distorted from the power he found himself controlling, his body bulged and hardened, his skin forming a layer of indestructible magical ice. Wings spouted from his back, huge and foreboding, blocking out what little of the thin light in Vórós Khástar existed. He is now said to walk upon the great plains of the Scar, calling out with unimaginable sorrow to the horizon, hoping to find more of his kind that maintained their freedom. Of course, none of his brothers are free - it is only he.

One simply cannot imagine the lengths such a creature would go through to free itself from an existence as lonely as his.

Serpent of the Gardens

It has often been a misconception that the most powerful of beings walk tall, towering above those that they presume to call their inferiors. The existence of the Serpent is testament to the folly of this notion. A slender, cunning creature slithers through the vile undergrowth of the Gardens of Filth, thriving in the uncleanness and dominating the furthest reaches of the Gardens. If you were to be able to find a way to communicate with the denizens of the unclean realm, they would tell you that a power struggle is obvious to all but the Lord of Decay; a powerful creature indeed, but whose domain is closed on by all sides by an arguably much more sinister beast. It is said that the serpent merely wishes to corrupt all that he sees, a fittingly biblical goal for a serpent with eyes that reflect the very essence of decay and rot.

The Serpent’s influence grows ever stronger, and it's hungering eyes are set upon Toruz Mak; a city that it would see fall into even greater disrepair.

The Walking Mountain

Rival Warlords have been in conflict in this realm for as long as any Demon Lord can remember. Some rise and fall with such speed that their names are not even registered in the annals of history. But some are so legendary that they are feared even beyond the Plane of Eternal Conflict; in this case, the Walking Mountain is a perfect example of such. It is sad that he controls over half of Fél Várást, though there is some dispute as to whether or not this is actually true. He commands a legion of followers, whom he rules purely through fear. The Mountain is given his name because he stands taller than any other, his titanic form stretching miles into the arcane clouds. His fists can shatter the very earth, and his feet leave sundering fissures stretching to the horizon with every step. Like all of his realm, he exists to conquer - and the Demon Lord Tyranthos has proven to be his most worthy adversary yet.

The Mountain’s war machines march ever onwards. War has always been in this Plane, but War is about to become more fearsome and bloody than it ever has been.

The Black Star

Where there is light, there is a pit of darkness from which no light may escape. While some Demon Lords may present themselves under moral righteousness, their opposites will exist, and they will seek to bring an end to the light.
Eta Carinae’s opposite takes the form of the Black Star, the darkest of bodies found at the very edge of the Sea of Stars. The stories say that he was once a Firefly, much like Admonition and Grace, but one that burned black with envy at every ounce of joy that his species would feel without him. He was solitary, and to this day remains so. None can say precisely what his motive truly is, other than to consume all the light of Eta Carinae and it’s subordinates. It cannot stand that they are loved and adored, and he is not. After all, is he not just as magnificent and powerful as they? Does his lightless expanse not inspire mystery and enigma in those who look to him?

There are always beings like this: those that are set in their ways; those that know that if they cannot attain the love that their peers command, then they would have to take it by force.

The Lost Poet

There was a man once loved in life as the greatest poet and bard that the world had ever known. Women would swoon at his every word, and each lyrical note from his lips would inspire the greatest of emotions in all those whom he surrounded himself with. When he was slit at the hands of a jealous assassin, he found himself not in the lands of Death or Fire, but rather in the endless maze of a Demon Lord who craved love in greater quantities than he could inspire. His death had turned him enigmatic, and he seems untouchable by the roaming creatures of the Labyrinth, even by the deadly embrace of Emyra herself. Death can turn a man bitter, and whispers can be heard that claim he is not a loving individual, but rather the greatest deceiver that creation has ever known; and that he is willing to use his gifts and talents to manipulate even Emyra for his own ends.

One must be careful diving into love. It is a double edged sword that the Lost Poet wields it with masterful grace.

The Rider

Where there is beast, there is master. Or so the Rider adamantly believes - especially when confronting Kohoran, the Ancient Dragon. This inter-planar Demon Lord takes pride in the hunt, his origins unknown. He currently rides an Elder Dragon named Echelon, a great beast of iron and stone, but he seeks bigger game; to the break the spirit of a fellow Demon Lord. He circles the thin clouds on the outer reaches of the Mirror of the Wind, constantly watching, biding his time, devising his grand scheme so that he may claim the Plane for himself, and become an unstoppable force at the same time.

The Rider will stop at nothing to tame the legendary Kohoran, and his vicious determination will show through as he becomes more obsessed with the idea.

The Survivor

It is said that a single soul did escape the grasp of Evarast during his ascension to Demon Lord, where all others were consumed by his hunger. The resilience of spirits is well known, but no others have ever demonstrated it to such an extreme beforehand. The unnamed spirit, called ‘The Survivor’ by some, was said to break free from Evarast’s grasp only to assimilate his own host of spirits, detracting from the flow that was empowering the Wraith Lord, and diverting them to a construct of spirits who would resist his touch. Presently, the Survivor is the very embodiment of resistance to Evarast’s influence, freeing spirits where possible and sowing discord within his ranks wherever the opportunity presents itself. The Survivor is not only cunning, but powerful, and every soul who desires freedom within the Wraith Lands can find itself empowering this Lord exponentially.

Evarast must act against the Survivor soon, or he may see his work undone and his power dissipated back to the Plane.

The Searing King

Some prominent Demon Lords are newcomers to their Plane, and while their rapid power increases are incredible and rare situations, they can often be in the shadow of Demon Lords who have resided in their Planes for magnitudes longer. The Searing King is one such example of this, especially in comparison to the Sufferer. The Searing King sees this newcomer as a rebel and a nuisance, but not a real threat; the King of the Wastes sits upon his throne, laughing to himself and watching every vengeful move of his newfound rival.
His throne of flames grows more intense by the hour, and his smouldering mace hungers for the blood of his demonic brother; his empty eyes and seared crown speak of untold desire for destruction and pain. But he waits, and he watches, and he subtly influences his Plane to give the Sufferer the greatest chance to become powerful, before he can strike him down and feel the rush of victory against a worthy foe one last time.

The Searing King is powerful and utterly ruthless, but his arrogance could be his folly. That said, his arrogance is substantiated - perhaps more so than any other Demon Lord alive.

The Planekeeper

Some beings exist between the Planes in order to preserve some kind of balance. At least they hope to.
All things are tied to the Nexus, and extreme fluctuations that simply should not exist are often answered by the most arcane of creatures who seem to reside in the grand Central Plane. The arguably sacrilegious actions of the Haunter, Magnus Xea, have attracted the attention of a creature that is neither Demon Lord, nor Dhalvori, but something different entirely: a sentient guardian that seeks those who abuse the non-consensual summoning of souls from one world to the next, a warden against the consumption of natural souls and the devouring of the essence of any of the Dhalvori.
They call these beings Planekeepers, and they were said to once have been for a much greater purpose than to hunt particularly dangerous creatures who do not seem to be at home in any Plane of existence. But as of recent years, they apparently have lost that purpose, and have devoted themselves to the much more menial task that occupies them to this day.
These creatures are legendary - almost mythical. With the power to match a Demon Lord and the cunning the outwit a Human Champion, the Planekeepers are a terrifying foe to behold. But this nameless individual has made it his personal goal to bring an end to this particular Haunter, watching the fluctuations from within the nexus, biding his time, waiting for the perfect opportunity to possess a summoning spell of Xea and put an end to the killer for good.

The Grand Sagestalker

They say the spirit of a great individual lurks somewhere deep within the forest of the Verdance. He may have once been known as the wisest of sages, the most spiritual of leaders, the most attuned of elders. The story goes that he would have done anything to protect his beautiful land from the ravages of the corrupting poison that inexplicably seemed to creep across his world, and called upon the purest powers left in the natural world to take on a new shape: that of a grand beast, with immaculate fur of white, lined with dashes of umbral black; he is said to have claws the length of men, and fangs even more fearsome. Such a creature would be capable of being utterly ferocious of it's own volition, but the Grand Sagestalker is something else entirely. They say that he retains his mind from days past, and often speaks to those lost in the forest, offering guidance and counsel for any who desire his aid. He wishes to protect the beauty of his land at any cost.

Those who find themselves at the receiving end of his fearsome territoriality will often find themselves subject to a test of character, often in the form of riddles or a game of wit. Those who fail his trials are more often than not torn apart by the unnaturally powerful Beast, who is empowered not only by his nature, but by a pure magic that is found almost nowhere in Creation

Sunder

It is said that the creature who tore the Pit from the Spine of Iron was a mighty serpent, miles long with teeth borne of foul solidified void - an embodiment of the emptiness beyond worlds, the incarnation of evil. There are some still who say that Sunder, He Who Gnaws at the World, is not Dhalvori, but even more primal still; a natural opposition of the original twelve who created the worlds of Dhalari. If this were to be true, then the beast who swims through the deep blankness would be more dangerous that it would be safe to imagine.

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Chatzy

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[GreivousKhan]

Theme

A plane of eternal shadow and unrelenting darkness. Aárdu Lyásí is supposedly the mighty abyss between worlds, yet none have ever been able to prove such myths as true, for none who have wandered unwittingly into this mighty umbra have ever been able to navigate their way to the sunlight once more. Some claim that Aárdu Lyásí is an abyss in more than just name, and is in fact the deepest recess of an ancient scar in creation where the darkest of creatures reside; others are adamant that it is the realm of a greater power who was cast down before light could be cast upon his mighty plane. Here you may find creatures of the dark stalking the dizzying heights and claustrophobic paths of a world without light.

Location

Plane: Aárdu Lyásí– Ashen Abyss

Lord

Name: Uzthys Akeroths, Mother Night
Type: Aspect of Night

Appearance:

Uzthys is 8 foot 1 inch tall, with a fit, if somewhat thin body and rippling with muscles all over. Her face is human in shape and structure, with shiny black skin similar to onyx. Her eyes themselves are pure night black with no visible pupils. A set of razor-sharp, retractable teeth fill's her mouth and gives her visage a slightly angular appearance when she chooses to make them appear. In contrast to this, Uzthys face always reveals a jaw-droppingly feminine shape with full, pouting lips lined as midnight, an adorable nose, and long, beautifully dark eyelashes. Her head possess flowing locks of raven-dark hair that is roughly shoulder length, and it accentuates her features well. Beyond this, Uzthys further reveals her inhuman features in the form of a slowly undulating tongue which occasionally slips from between her lips. It hangs nearly two feet long when she lets the whole thing slide out, though she often retracts it to appear normal. When in her more night wing form, two horns protrude from her skull, the two horns stand almost eight inches long upwards and a little forward, further magnifying her frightening appearance.

Uzthys possess a fairly standard humanoid shape with the usual torso, arms, hands, and fingers. Large leathery wings stretch from her back, the joints of which are laced with razorlike claws. A simple muscle-twitch, can extend them, and thus allows Uzthys to soar gracefully through the air. She wears a revealing gown of diaphanous silk and razor-studded leather straps, and she idly toys with a glittering and sparkling scourge made of fine adamantine spiked chains. A narrow sinuous tail ending in a thin curved spike completes the image of demonic beauty, the tail curls down from her well, toned backside, wrapping around her legs sensually at every opportunity. Her lithe legs are capped with flexible clawed feet. Sharp black nails grow where a humans toe-nails would have, giving her fantastic grip.

Personality and Drive:
Uzthys motives are for the most part, beyond human or mortal comprehension. However, her goals, unlike many other outworlder lords, are not wholly evil. Uzthys seeks to expand her powers and influence beyond her own plane, thus spreading blessed night throughout all existence, seeking to end the strife and chaos of mortals by making all her children of night. Thus, Uzthys shes the other outworlder lords as evil influences that must be purged, and the resistance of men as not but a petulant child seeking their own will often to their own demise.

History:
No one knows for certain where Uzthys first came from, how she was born or brought into existence. There is a tale however, that sheds some light on how Uzthys came into being, but it is now obscured or lost to the trails of time. All that is known of the Dark Mother is thus, some decades ago, a new warlord rose up among the many denizens of Aárdu Lyásí. With manipulation, ferocity, intelligence, and unnatural ability, this new figure began to assimilate many of the lesser and minor lords of the ashen abyss, taking within herself their power and nature. Soon she became powerful enough to challenge even archdemons of considerable might and power. In the time it took for them to realize the threat, it was already too late, and a portion of the Aárdu Lyásí was already within Uzthys's grasp. The other Lords of Darkness within her sphere of influence either were defeated, or bent the knee of their own accord. All were eventually morphed and forever changed by the power of the now self proclaimed Mother of Night.

Whatever the truth of her origins, Uzthys influence over a sizable area of the Abyss cannot not be ignored or misinterpreted. In present times, she now consolidates her powers and holdings, seeking to spread her form of peace and darkness beyond Aárdu Lyásí.

Armaments:
Umbral Awn- (Shadow Hand)
Umbral Awn is a simple-looking dagger of the sort that a young martial adept might take to his first academy. But although it appears relatively ordinary, closer observation reveals that it never seems to reflect light of any sort. The wielder of this weapon can always be cloaked in shadows at will, as well as travel from one shadow to another if both shadows are large enough.

Blackrazor-
Blackrazor is a wave designed greatsword whose blade resembles a piece of the night sky studded with strange stars that is roughly seven feet long, though its size can be changed at will. The weapon is in fact a black blade-shaped planar rift of pure darkness, created from a great explosion of magical force that sunk a continent. The weapon is capable of cutting anything living or not, and can even strike ethereal and incorporeal creatures as if it were a force effect. The weapon can also cut through any magic barriers given enough time. On a successful critical hit, the target suffers the effects of a disintegrate spell in addition to the unholy damage from the blade, anything struck or killed by this blade is entirely disintegrated, leaving behind only a trace of fine dust. The blade cannot be harmed by physical attacks, but a sphere of annihilation, or a rod of cancellation can affect it. The weapon was so feared within Aárdu Lyásí that many of the lesser dark lords would rather surrender than face it in combat. It also has the ability to detect living creatures within a 60-foot radius; but it can determine only the presence or absence of creatures (whether conscious or not) and how many, not their mental strength or their surface thoughts. In addition, the sword can cast haste upon its wielder, and it grants its wielder immunity to mind-affecting spells and effects. Blackrazor communicates telepathically, and it can both speak and read a variety of languages. Blackrazor has a special purpose: to consume souls for Mother Night. It is not finicky about whose soul it consumes, and under certain circumstances it will happily feed on allies. Whenever the weapon kills a creature, it drains the soul of the slain and feeds that power to the Uzthys.

Abilities:
Passive Abilities- Unlike many creatures of Aárdu Lyásí, Uzthys Akeroths can bear the touch of natural sunlight, though is still weakened by it to an extent. Like many Lords of her station, she is immune to mundane poisons, weapons, and diseases. She also can heal much faster then any mortal, mending wounds in a matter of seconds, or near instantly if submerged in absolute darkness. Uzthys invokes a powerful aura of pure blackness in a sphere around her at all times without thinking, she can thus extend this aura beyond its normal fifty foot radius by focusing her powers. Aside from this, her natural strength is closer to that of a giant, with speed and agility comparable to he vast physical might. Uzthys is also always surrounded by a powerful spell of Desecration, which taints an area where she walks. Aside from these, the Mother of Night can mold darkness into a weapon at her will through powerful black magic that seems mysteriously ingrained into her very being. She can also become pure Darkness. In this form she has various powers, such as God-like strength, creating black holes, creating blades out of darkness, and even move like shadows to hunt down her enemies. She also has the ability to create giant demon arms of shadow to impale enemies.

Spell-like abilities
Light to Night- Uzthys can darken the day to that of midnight for two whole days, unless dispelled or she leaves the area she invoked the power.

Blight of Night- Uzthys can spread her own corruption and power on other creatures, usually mortals, that are very close to her or in her embrace. This can be used on other lords or beings of similar power only if they have been significantly weakened, or accept the gift of night.

Armor of Darkness- The spell envelops the warded creature in a shroud of flickering shadows. The shroud can, if the caster desires, conceal the wearer's features. The subject can see through the armor as if it did not exist and is also afforded darkvision with a range of 60 feet. The armor absorbs light and hostile magic energy until it is overloaded eventually.

Apocalypse from the Sky- Uzthys calls upon the darkest forces in all existence to rain destruction down upon a wide area.

Damning Darkness- This spell is similar to darkness, except that those within the area of darkness also take unholy damage as it drains their very essence. The spell creates an area of total darkness. The darkness is impenetrable to normal vision and darkvision, but creatures of darkness can see normally within the blacklit area. Creatures outside the spell's cannot see through it.

Seductive Gaze-Those who meet Uzthys’s gaze and fail to resist are overwhelmed by her otherworldly beauty. Allowing her to dominate their mind thus turning them into her minion.

Profane Beauty- Uzthys’s otherworldly beauty causes her enemies great difficulty when trying to harm her, as they struggle to do her harm, a power that effects even other Demon Lords, but is specially effective against mortals. Those unable to strike her slowly weaken as their souls are infused with her corruption, which heals Uzthys.

Kiss of Dark- Those dominated by Uzthys's otherworldly beauty can be drained of energy and further tainted with a kiss or other act of passion.

Holdings

Name: Vault of Night, Erelhei-Cinlu
Type: Fortress-city with a Great Tower

Description: Erelhei-Cinlu, deep within the Vault of Night, is a wondrous sight, brooding in the absolute darkness of the Vault, surrounded by a massive wall made of polished black basalt and studded with guard towers. The city is every bit as chaotic as its natives, with structures ranging from the ramshackle tenements of artisans to the extraordinary buildings in the Ghetto of Scholars. Day and night are a purely outworlder concept, so the city is busy at all hours, teeming with illithids, dark elves (also known as drow), nightshades, shadar-kai, their slaves and servants, and outlanders of many races. The dark inhabitants are notorious for their kinship with darkness, which developed as a result of their self-image and the dictates of their Mother Dark. Nowhere is this relationship more obvious than in the streets of Erelhei-Cinlu. To the casual observer, this realm might seem like a hedonistic paradise—in a way, this is exactly what it is. The problem for visitors is that it serves only as Uzthys’s paradise, and the Monther of Night often takes great pleasure in the torment, corruption, and ruin of her guests. Uzthys is served in her Tower palace by numerous incubi and succubi, along with a cabal of 13 lilitu bards called the Radiant Sisters. These lilitus do not exhibit their kind’s notorious intolerance for other lilitus or succubi, and their songs can be heard throughout Uzthys’s palace at all times, haunting and erotic melodies that can have unwelcome effects on those whom Uzthys has not invited into her realm. Lamias, harpies, and half-fiend nymphs serve her as well.

The city is divided into eight ghettos or districts, each under the control of a different Nightshade overseer. The Uzthys chosen children do not live within the city’s enclosing wall, dwelling instead in palatial estates on a plateau to the north that is accessible only by way of the Flying Bridge.

An enormous wall of black stone surrounds the city, at once protecting and imprisoning its inhabitants. Crafted of polished basalt, it is apparently seamless, a continuous piece of stone describing the perimeter of Erelhei-Cinlu. Like just about every other crime in the city, scaling the wall is an offense punishable by death or enslavement. The very center of the city holds the Tower of Night, where Mother Night often resides.

Host

Name: Children of Night
Size: 3380

Hierarchy and Culture:
Reth-dekala (translated; Shadow-children/child) are highly disciplined and hierarchical. They do little for individual gain, and they follow the orders of their superiors with unswerving faithfulness. Although they now choose to serve Mother Darks champions, they did not do so without lengthy and explicit oaths that clearly spelled out exactly what the reth-dekala will do for their mistress—and what their mistress must do in turn. In the lowest of social standing and hierarchy of the Night hoard, are the vicious and greedy Vril, who serve the many day to day needs of Erelhei-Cinlu, such as manual labor, maintenance of the city and tower, as well as keeping the Vault clean. They serve in all the duties to dirty for the hands of Uzthys Akeroth's favored children. Most vril are brutally trained as warriors by the nightshades to weed out the weakest specimens.

Then there are the disciplined and honor bound reth-dekala, who serve as bodyguards, watchers, soldiers, and the general fighters of the Children of Night. Reth-dekala serve the role of the enforcers, and general muscle of the Children. They may not be spawns of the mother directly or indirectly, but are seen as he beloved adopted children. Reth-dekala, though, were once mortal humanoids, their long bondage in the abyssal plane and the corruption of Uzthys have transformed them into true outsiders. They require no sustenance or rest, and they do not die unless slain in Aárdu Lyásí. The most unusual feature of the reth-dekala is the foul magical flame that once perpetually consumed their bodies—the remnants of the curse bestowed on their race by their former master. Their lower torsos now simply trail off into a sickening light eating vapor. These shadowy onyx flames smolder here and there all over their bodies, as if the flesh itself is frozen in the midst of some awful disintegration, but the shadows themselves are part of the warriors’ bodies and loosely conform to the shape of the missing trunk and legs. This “shadowfire” combines some of the properties of both acid and darkness, sickening living mortals who come in contact with it.

The reth-dekala think of themselves as a strictly governed order of warriors and champions for Mother Dark. They do not see themselves as an army; they are a brotherhood of knights, and even a common reth-dekala expects to be treated as an overlord and conqueror by any lesser being. The reth-dekala are bound to follow the orders of their superiors, many of these being Nightshades, and they undertake few missions or tasks on the Mortal Plane unless ordered. Most reth-dekala are known as dekarchs; above these are the ur-dekarchs (Translated; mothers-child), the thaumakarchs (favored), and the high thaumakarchs(highly favored). To earn the title of thaumakarch, a reth-dekala or Nightshade must learn to complement its martial abilities with sorcerer spellcasting, so the highest-ranking Children of Night are dangerous sorcerers as well as martial foes. Exacting oaths of fealty and behavior dictate their behavior toward one another, creating a complex hierarchy of fealty and obligation from the common dekarch all the way up to the High Lord Thaumakarch of the Ebony Citadel, who is currently the first Son of Darkness.

The Nightshades, are the direct children of mother dark, and hold most of her favor. They handle the management and organization of The Children of Night, serving as commanders and minor dukes.

History:

Long ago, a race of mortal warriors known as the reth-dekala sold their souls to an infernal power within Aárdu Lyásí in exchange for the power to destroy all who opposed them. For a time, they were the scourge of the mortal world, undisputed masters over the wide lands they had conquered—and when they died, their debt came due and they were enslaved by the archdevil who had aided them. The reth-dekala served their master as fierce warriors, fighting in the endless wars of the lower dark planes, but when the archdevil turned them against their own mortal descendants, the reth-dekala rebelled against their dark lord. The archdevil cursed his faithless warriors, setting in their very flesh the perpetual torment of his corrupt flames—but the reth-dekala destroyed their former master and took his ebony citadel on the iron pits of Aárdu Lyásí for their own. The reth dekala then existed as cursed infernal warriors, eternally tormented by the sorcerous flames that consume but do not kill them. In the time of Uzthys rise to power, she happened upon this Ebony Citadel within the iron pits, which would soon become the Vault of Night. While she did not possess the power to undue the curse upon their mortal forms, she instead reshaped them into new beings, turning them into Nightshades, which in turn caused the flames that ate at their bodies to blacken into shadow fire. Freed from their eternal torment, the reth-dekala swore unyielding obedience to their new mistress. Becoming the first Children of Night, forming the core of her growing army.

In the time that has passed, the reth-dekala still make up the elite fighting core of the Children of Night, which is now supplemented by creators spawned from Uzthys Akeroths herself. The Nightshades are born of her, and from there many Vril have been enslaved to her will.

Military Capabilities:

The Children of Night, thanks to the influence of the reth-dekala, are one of the most well organized demon host among the outerplanes. The warbands of Mother Nights children are typically formed into combat elements of reth-dekala acting a vanguards, with the smallest of these called drokk (meaning "fist"; usually 4-8 reth-dekala strong) supplemented by the luth's (meaning "throwers" and are made up by 2-4 drokk comprised of vril; totaling up to 32 Vril), these contingents support vholk reibe, (meaning "iron Wall" and are often 100 reth-dekala strong) it takes five such vholk reibe's to make a strong luth'ol ( meaning "spear"). Thus, a luth'ol is often made up of 500 reth-dekala, with bands of luth's on the wings as skirmishers and support. A drokk, or fist, who act as vanguards are often armed with large two handed weapons, such as wave great swords, or even two arm bladed scythes. These units, with the aid of vril, aim to disperse enemy formations, thus making way for the heart of the army, the vholk reibe. While rarer sights on the battlefield, nightshades do make a strong presence when present. Nightwalkers march between the gaps between larger reth-dekala formations, using their great reach to help shatter the opposition. While nightcrawlers will often create large pits on the flanks and rear of the enemy host, thus allowing vril units to flank and sow further confusion against the enemy.

The Children of the Night greatest strength is that of their extremely disciplined and fearless reth-dekala, who form the core of the army as super heavy infantry. The vril thus fills the all important niche of light infantry occupying the roles of scouts, raiders, skirmishers, and pursuers. Nightwalkers form a powerful heavy arm of the Children of Night with the support of the reth-dekala, breaking enemy formations where they resisted the efforts of the vanguard forces. The host of Mother Dark thus excel in the rough terrain like those found in the abyss, as reth-dekala can keep cohesion regardless of the ground thanks to their natural ability to air walk. In such environments, and further aided by sorcery such as their darkness ability which allows them to sow chaos and confusion, opening up gaps in the enemy line for groups of elite reth-dekala or nightwalkers can exploit with their often more formidable one-on-one fighting capabilities. With thaumakarchs providing magical support.

The host greatest weakness lies in their complete lack in any real long range missile units, as well as a complete lack of mounted units, and to a lesser extent air units. With most of the warriors within the Children of Night being susceptible to daylight, this limits their range of operation in other planes.

Vril-

These imp-like creatures are imbued with innate sonic ability and can alter the consistency of their own flesh thanks to the malleable power of darkness. Vril were created as shock troops, scouts, and defenders of Erelhei-Cinlu, and they are descended from the wanton sex of Mother Dark's children, so hold a very small trace of her blood. From their masters they have acquired an inherent sense of devious tactics and dirty fighting. If given the opportunity before battle, a vril spends some time observing its enemies to determine what sort of weaponry most of them wield. It then uses its skinshift ability to offset the applicable type of damage before closing to melee. It readies a shriek attack, waiting for enemies to bunch together. A group of vril tries to space those with a powerful Dazing Shriek as evenly as possible through its forward line to create overlapping areas of effect. Once a significant portion of the foes have been dazed, a second rank of vril charges into battle to slaughter as many as possible. Particularly favored vril wield keen or wounding weapons from the Forge of Darkness just for this purpose. If their own position is disrupted or overrun, they attempt to spread out and use their shrieks to deal as much damage as they can to the enemy.

Reth-dekarchs-

A reth-dekarchs contingent might be a single dekarch bodyguard, or a company of such elite battle-champions numbering in the dozens. They usually take service in groups of two to five individuals called fists. In addition to their enforcement work, a reth-dekala is often engaged in various missions, raids, or quests dictated by their adopted Mother of their race in the Tower of Night. A fist of reth-dekala might be tasked with recovering some item of value, seeking out new recruits, or hunting down and exterminating any who pose a threat to Mother Dark. Regardless of its role, a reth-dekala excels in melee combat, and works best if paired with a companion creature that relies on magic or ranged attacks, such as packs of vril. Two or three reth-dekala working together can be quite formidable, since they are highly disciplined and cooperate well, mixing ranged and melee attacks to defeat their foes. In battle, a reth-dekala often uses its air walk ability or its death from above maneuver to avoid battles with “dishonorable” foes (rogues, skirmishers, or minions) and seek out a suitable captain, champion, or commander to duel in melee. It usually hovers about 5 feet above the ground, giving it a significant height advantage. The creature uses its shadowfire blast only when confronting enemy spellcasters or archers who avoid close combat.

Ur-dekarchs-

Ur-dekarchs are the elite warriors of the Children of the night in terms of pure martial ability. Such fighters can easily fight several mortal humans at once with little difficulty. They tend to lead Fist as captains as mortals would understand them. The kiss of Mother Dark has granted them the power to darken a large radius wherever they go, thus granting them both an advantage to other beings who would be blind in this magical darkness, while protecting themselves and brethren from the harsh light of the sun of the Mortal plane.

Nightshades are powerful demons composed of equal parts darkness and absolute evil. Their chilling malevolence hangs heavily about them, along with the smell of an open grave on a winter’s morning. Nightshades can read and understand all forms of communication; however, they communicate with others by telepathy. Each and every true Nightshade was born directly from Uzthys Akeroths, often from coupling with other powerful archdemons.

Nightcrawler-

A nightcrawler is a massive behemoth similar to a giant worm, though utterly black in color. A nightcrawler measures about 16 feet in diameter and is often 450 feet long from its toothy maw to the tip of its stinging tail. They often weigh about 155,000 pounds. A nightcrawler attacks by burrowing through the ground and emerging to strike, often attempting to shallow entire men or demons whole. Sometimes, even entire groups. Only eight such creatures are currently known to exist and they serve as the vanguard in any true assault. Although the nightcrawlers might appear to be little more than an immense and frightening vermin, with its centipede-like body and numerous glowing eyes, it is actually incredibly intelligent. When not cleansing the deep caverns of the abyss of life, the nightcrawler spends its time plotting how best to carry out its own private stages of the overall Mother Night plan to expunge untainted life from all worlds, conferring with its undead minions and, when necessary, observing living creatures from afar while invisible to learn about hidden enclaves that its depredations might otherwise have missed. It would be one thing if the nightcrawlers remained in the deep caverns, for these regions are rife with foul life the world is better off without. Yet unfortunately for those who dwell upon the surface, nightcrawlers often crawl up through the tunnels to bring their devastation to the night above. Although they always retreat underground before the first tentative rays of dawn color the eastern skies, they can spread an incredible amount of ruin in the span of a few short hours each night.

Nightwalkers-

Nightwalkers are human-shaped horrors that haunt the darkness of Erelhei-Cinlu. A nightwalker grows to about 20 feet tall and weighs about 12,000 pounds. Nightwalkers lurk in dark areas of a battlefield where they can almost always surprise the unwary, as they move with startlingly little sound despite their massive size. The nightwalker's are exceedingly intelligent foes that makes the best use of all its abilities. It favors using its spell-like abilities to divide and disable its enemies, then closing to melee with opponents it has isolated from their allies. They possess the power to darken 40 feet in absolute blackness regardless of light sources. Worse still they can turn invisible at will, and can dominant the minds of lesser mortals. Their most feared power comes from after they have slain a foe, as those slain by a nightwalker rise again as a new child of the night, utterly devoted to Mother Dark. They remain the most commonly encountered nightshade, always resembling giant-like beings. These powerful foes lead armies of undead and shadow fiends against mortals, but unlike most mortal generals the nightwalker is not content to stand back and observe the battles from safety. The undead-like creature is ever eager to put its tactics and plans to the test itself, and takes part in battles in every possible occurrence save for those that the creature has determined are self-destructive. This is not to say that the nightwalker never sacrifices its troops to gain a tactical advantage—just that these attacks are the only ones the monster feels no urge to participate in directly.

Nightwalkers enjoy inflicting despair before death, particularly by destroying valued objects or murdering loved ones before delivering the final blow to a foe.

Nightwings-

Nightwings are batlike flyers that hunt on the wing. A nightwing has a wingspan of about 40 feet and can weigh about 4,000 pounds. Nightwings prowl the night sky and dive onto their victims. They are all but invisible, detectable only because of the stars they obscure in their passing. They are some of Mother Dark's most favored children, serving as the most powerful of high thaumakarchs. Trained from birth by the most skilled reth-dekala, they serve as generals on any battlefield, telepathically communicating with the rest of the Children of Night while using formidable black magic of their own. These powerful creatures rarely step onto any battlefield themselves. Though they are the least of the known types of nightshade, the nightwing is nevertheless a deadly foe. Nightwings often serve more powerful nightshades, or Mother Dark herself, as aerial support. A nightwing found on the Mortal Plane not in the employ of a more powerful master is typically encountered in rugged terrain where there are numerous locations that can provide shelter when the sun rises. The monsters prefer caves and abandoned buildings for this purpose.

L'Velkyn
The Children of Night are the fighting arm of the forces of Mother Dark, however, while their task is the physical enforcement of Mother Dark's power, there exist a small less seen element that is no less important to her goals. The L'Velkyn, or The Unseen in the human tongue, are a special sect of succbi, incubi, and other creatures of darkness who's soul objective is the requisition of human souls and the spreading of corruption throughout the planes. The task of the L'Velkyn are many fold, as they act as spies, moles, assassins, or even scouts for the Children of Night. Those within L'Velkyn are masters of their craft, and are highly independent, unlike the strict hierarchy of the Children of Night.

Nabassu

The demon’s body is tall and sinewy. The head is long, with small horns and ears like a bat’s. Its teeth are practically tusks, set in a mouth that seems too large for its head. Its eyes glow with a hateful yellow light. Its long fingers end in equally long talons, and scales cover its wings and skin. Tufts of black fur stud the tops of its shoulders. The demon’s back and arms are dull black, while the chest and belly are a sickly dirty gray.

The nabassu is a gaunt, demonic assassin with strong ties to the undead and darkness. Unlike most demons, it must spend part of its existence on the Material Plane to realize its goals. Nabassus are unusual in that they are the only true demons who are forced to live a significant part of their lives on the Mortal Plane. As a result, these sinister creatures bear a particular hatred for those that dwell there, as if they blame the denizens of the Mortal Plane for the humility of this exile. A nabassu that survives life on the Mortal Plane often lives the rest of its immortal life as a demonic recluse within its Abyssal fortress. Those few nabassus that escape this mental trap often become assassins or spies for Mother Dark, as they have learned from countless decades the art of subterfuge by hiding under the noses of mortals. Nabassu that please her are often granted loyal human slave minions of their own to use as they please. They are capable of camouflage by changing the coloration of its flesh between various shades of black, gray, and brown. They feed off the life force of mortals to become more powerful and mature, possess a death gaze capable of killing weaker minds, and can summon globes of darkness at will. Nabassu are said to be spawns of Mother Dark's lesser children.

Succubi

These creatures are stunning, statuesque, and extraordinarily beautiful, with flawless skin and raven hair. Her form, so tempting, also has an otherworldly side. Large bat wings unfurl from her back, and her eyes glow with sinister desire.
Succubi are the most comely of the spawn of Mother Dark, and they live to tempt mortals. A succubus is 6 feet tall in its natural form and weighs about 125 pounds. They serve as spies, primarily, and often position themselves in the ranks of nobility or other high ranking individuals- all the better to further Mother Dark's agendas.

Lilitu

This demon could easily be mistaken for a beautiful woman at a glance, a lithe and graceful figure destined to inflame desire in those around her. A closer look, however, reveals sharp talons, vacant white eyes, and cloven feet, distorting and perverting that beauty into something far more disturbing. Burnt and broken fragments of wings protrude from her back, and her four writhing, ten-foot-long, sting-tipped tails give testament to her ruinous nature.
The sly and seductive lilitus are masters of mocking the divine. They infiltrate temples, corrupt priests, and slowly convert their victims to the worship of the demon lord Uzthys. Lilitus subsist on the profane joys of corrupting priesthoods and twisting the worship of the faithful to that of Mother Dark, and it was they who helped give birth to the Merciful Night. Their natures shield them from most forms of magical detection, and their ability to pose as powerful clerics goes a long way toward allowing them to gain an impressionable town’s gratitude. A lilitu is born from the ashes of a slain succubus. The ritual of transformation and ascension to lilitu form is different for each succubus but always involves a decadent and shocking ritual that culminates in the sacrifice of an entire congregation of faithful worshipers who believe they are worshiping a benign deity. The succubus must be able to cast divine spells and must lead the ritual (which is usually disguised to resemble a harvest ritual) to its climax—the burning of the church and its faithful in a fire set from a portal opened to one of the deepest furnaces of the Abyss. Typically, this portal is created by means of a gate (usually a spell cast by the succubus from a scroll). The succubus’s body is consumed in a blast of supernaturally hot fire, but she is reborn from the ashes as a lilitu.

A lilitu spends much of her time in an assumed form, usually that of a specific attractive humanoid who plays an increasingly important role in the local religious scene. Once she has corrupted a particular temple and its faithful to the worship of Mother Dark, she leaves the temple in the able hands of a dominated minion and moves on to her next target. Over time, a lilitu creates a vast network of interconnected cults, outwardly worshiping different deities but in actuality paying homage to Mother Dark. She might need need to teleport back and forth to renew domination's, but eventually her minions succumb to her influence so completely that when they learn the truth about their faith, they accept it gladly. Lilitus regard other lilitus as competition, even if they are working for the same demon lord. A lilitu that learns of another’s proximity turns all her resources to that interloper’s destruction. Lilitus treat succubi with similar disdain, since any succubus can become a lilitu, given time. Most lilitus ascribe to the “kill them before they become trouble” approach to dealing with succubi. Some lilitus have even been known to hire adventurers to hunt down and destroy succubi—they take delight in the delicious irony of a group of do-gooders unknowingly working for an evil greater than that which they are sent to end.

Erinyes

A fierce and beautiful woman, with a statuesque build and flawless skin. She has large, feathery wings and red, glowing eyes. She wields a longsword, and a shining red bow is strapped across her back.
Rumor in the Abyss tells that the first erinyes were angels who were taken from Thul Ithílíá because of some temptation or misdeed. Now, the skies of the Abyess are litterered with their descendants. Erinyes serve as scouts, servants, and even concubines for Mother Dark. Unlike other devils, erinyes appear attractive to humans, resembling very comely women or men. They’re not above taking advantage of being mistaken for the Angels that legend says they once were. An erinyes often stands about 6 feet tall and weighs about 150 pounds.

Warcry: “The Night is young and full of terrors!”

[NewSun]

But you have a beautiful heart :'(

No but in all seriousness, this could have been finished like 2 days ago but I have about 7 PMs to myself just trying out different layouts and they all sucked. Remaking so many graphics so many times is just a ball-ache.

Also, hi! Welcome!

[GreivousKhan]

I hope you suffered.

Also, quick question, what do I put in the first part Plane? I assume just the name of the plane my faction inhabits? It feels like it wants more due to it being in it's own category.

And a warning to everyone, I have my eyes set on the Darkness/shadow plane, touch it at your own peril! SO HELP ME SUNNY!

But ya, looking forward to RPing with all of you. ^^

[NewSun]

Yes, literally just the name of the plane, in biiiig bold letters, so it's obvious. It has it's own section because it's pretty much the first thing I need to know, and it doesn't quite fit in the other sections.

[Terminal]

888888888888 Terminal's Faction 888888888888

Andromache versus the World
Name: Andromache

Appearance

Apparently being buried underground for 40,000 years is hell on your complexion. Who knew?

The Legend of Andromache

(This section will be updated as events in the IC unfold. There are elements of Andromache's past and overarching story which are not currently discussed here, and will remain obscured until the information has been revealed in-story.)

Andromache has a storied past, one that begins long ago, during the Lost Age.

The Lost Age is considered by most to have been a golden period for humanity, a time of widespread peace, prosperity, and justice. Like all societies, the exalted empire had crimes and sin, arbitration, and punishment – and since the powers commanded by humanity in those days was so great, great was the depth of their depravity and great was the severity of their punishments.

Andromache committed a crime so grave, that a mark of condemnation – the Mark of Sathanas – was carved upon her brow. A sign to all who might look upon her that she had offended that gods themselves with her hubris and folly. She was then buried alive far beneath the Earth, to never see the light of day again, locked in suffocating, intractable darkness for all eternity. By some twisted miracle, Andromache was not permitted the mercy of death. As the millennium passed, the tossing and turning of the Earth and its bones tore at Andromache. The worms and maggots and creatures of the Earth penetrated and defiled her body. The molten blood of the depths burned her, and the dire chill of its tears bit into her flesh. The fibrous roots of plant and fungi alike took sustenance from her flesh, and even her mind. Lifetimes passed, and Andromache lost all knowledge of her life prior to her entombment, forgot her native tongue - with only her own name remaining. Even as the Earth itself bestowed suffering upon Andromache, deeper and deeper was she buried as topsoil, rock, and sediment built atop her tomb. The Ancients had been wise in their choice of prison for a degenerate of her ilk; no force existed that might free her save the Earth itself, which was theirs to command.

The Ancients did not forsee their own decline, however, nor the decline of magic and the closure of the currents of power that ran through the world...And they did not forsee the day the planes would once again come into Conflux, reawakening these currents and stirring the Earth with such force that Andromache would be freed from her tomb.

Personality: Andromache has returned to the world anew, after 40,000 years of being buried alive, having forgotten the entirety of her past life. Who can say what her temperament will be like?
Armaments: Andromache starts the RP with only her name.

Powers

In the days of the Lost Age, Andromache was a mere novice, naturally gifted in magic but with little experience and no training. She has a great deal of raw magical power, but has yet to develop the means to wield it effectively. She does possess a number of innate gifts, however...

-Inhuman Strength- Andromache can beat armored knights to death and tear down stone walls with her bare hands.

-Preternatural Toughness- Only the strongest or keenest of blows can even begin to injure Andromache.

-Ineffable Grace- Andromache heals at an accelerated rate, and can recover from injuries that a normal mortal could not. While the rate at which she heals is slower than some other Champions or Demon Lords might be capable of, the extent of injury she can recover from is far greater - she is thus, harder to truly kill. Even traumatic head wounds are not certain to fell her. Such injuries, naturally, can still leave her unconscious, comatose, or otherwise incapacitated until she heals.

-Empyrean Pressure- Andromache has been imbued with a measure of divine power - enough to put her on-par with Demon Lords. Amongst other things, this grants her access to an overflowing pool of magical power. Andromache also exerts a field of divine pressure about her, which suppresses and resists magical effects, abilities, and other forms of opposing force. She can use this pressure as a weapon, using it to crush those in her immediate vicinity or to augment her strikes with additional force.

Stronghold

Name: The Fissure
Type: Geographical Anomaly
Location: The New World, in the center of the Crescent Savannah.
Description: The Fissure is a vast cleft in the Earth which is miles deep and wide. A few scattered remant ruins from the Lost Age lie revealed in the lower portions. Most of the landscape is upturned topsoil, rocks, and dried mud, with vast pools of ground and river water flowing downwards and stratified layers of crust forming the walls. The Earthquake which form the Fissure was recent enough and the inner terrain loose enough that an individual can climb up and down through the depths without the use of tools...though they had best watch their step in the loose and soggy inclines, least they lose their footing and fall.

Faction

Andromache is currently alone and without any allies...it is her, and her alone, versus the world.

888888888888 Flagg's Faction 888888888888

The Lord of the Diadochi
Name: Dionysius the Golden, God-King of Dis, Lord of the Diadochi

Appearance

Dionysius adorned in his royal raiment.


Dionysius armed and armored for battle.

History

(This section will be updated as events in the IC unfold. There are elements of Dionysius' past and overarching story which are not currently discussed here, and will remain obscured until the information has been revealed in-story.)

Dionysius is truly ancient. He first rose to prominence in the Lost Age, where he held the office of Divine Arbitrator and Hierophant in an ancient empire long forgotten.

Through his studies of the tides of magic, the ravings of oracles and the configurations of the stars, he divined that the gods would soon withdraw from the trans-mortal planes, but believed in their promise to give mortals a divine-king who would lead them hence forth, protecting them from the depredations of demons and saving them from chaos and entropy. Determined to see the prophecy fulfilled no matter what, and to serve both his gods and all of mankind, Dionysius gathered 200 of the most skilled mages in the land. They then worked dark and obscure magics in order to imbue themselves with divine power, gifting themselves with eternal life in their efforts to realize which one of them might become the messianic leader of all mankind. They ultimately failed, but pledged to protect and guide mankind nonetheless, uniting to become the Diadochi.

As the ancient world decayed and collapsed, the Diadochi became rulers of city states existing in the ruins of mankind's former splendor. Far from ruling as gods, they slowly degenerated into a clique of sorcerous despots, continually feuding among themselves and waging wars on the barbarians all around them. They were worshiped by the denizens of their territories, but many were cynical about the decadence and degeneracy of their 'mortal gods'.

Despairing and bitter, Dionysius has left his fellow mage-lords to their scheming, intervening only in the most exceptional circumstances but otherwise content to moulder in his Temple-Palace in the massive city-state of Dis, studying magical lore and arcane philosophy, meditating - often for millennia at a time - and begging the gods to return and lead men as they had once promised to do.

He is incredibly hostile to the denizens of the demonic planes, and he and his fellow Diadochi have united countless times over the centuries to push back minor demonic incursions, most prominently in the War of Night, in which the Diadochi banished - at great cost- an avatar of the demonic lord, Night Mother.

In the cities under their control, magic use is highly policed (children with magical potential are usually offered to the Diadochi, who either train them into elite cadres of battlemages or drain them of their power). It is rumored, however, that the Diadochi themselves have struck secret deals and compacts with various Planar Powers over the millennia.

Now, they are determined not lose their domain to the lords of the Planes, and fight tooth and nail to drive back the extra-dimensional invaders of the mortal realm.

Personality

Aloof, arrogant, bitter and proud, Dionysius has not allowed centuries of rule as a virtual God-King to dull his wits, and he retains a great capacity for manipulation and subtlety. Though condescending towards and often contemptuous of lesser mortals, his self-image depends on remaining a protector and guardian of Mankind and thus there are limits to his ruthlessness.

He despises (most) of demon-kind, considering them mockeries of the gods he once served, and holds a special disgust for the minions of Mother Night. Moreso than any other being though, there is one entity he fears and loathes above all others - though the only one who knows this is the only other surviving Diadochi from the Lost Age, Knossos the Deathless.

Armaments

Armor of the Golden King: Forged in ancient times for a mighty emperor long forgotten, this suit of gilded armor is inscribed with ancient runic devices and blessings. It is usually worn by Dionysius in royal audiences and of course, into battle.

Hephaestus: Dionysius' longsword, personally forged by him from an alloy of magically-attuned metals and crystals. Serves as a conduit for his sorcerous power.

The Heretic's Dagger: A blade of dark iron with a refined and honed edge of obsidian, and a handle of lead. The nature of this blade is a mystery to all but the Diadochi, and the form of its power unknown - the only thing known for certain is that it originates from the Lost Age. It is aglow with a faint, golden halo of light. Shimmering ichor is dappled upon the blade, refusing to be washed off. Injuries dealt by this blade do not heal, and the blade steals power from the victim, bestowing it upon the wielder. It pierces through flesh and armor alike with ease, and parts magical barriers like cobwebs.

Abilities

Master Magus: A sorcerer of almost unparalleled power, Dionysius can control the elements with ease, and has mastered arcane arts few thought possible, such as local teleportation, the binding of lesser demons and the deployment of powerful magical shields.

Lich: Through unspeakable use of dark and obscure magics, Dionysius has discovered a means of granting eternal life through stealing the power of others. As such, all of the Diadochi - Dionysius foremost among them - are masters of dark and forbidden arts centered around draining life and magic from others and in order to prolong their own unnatural existences. It is even rumored they regularly eat human flesh in order to preserve their deathless state.

Augury: Dionysius can peer into the ever-shifting web of the future, and is often able to anticipate an opponent's move, though too much reliance on augury is ill advised, since nothing in the future is certain.

Arcane Charisma Dionysius is a potent telepath, able to manipulate others through the medium of his voice and to dominate lesser minds, both mortal and demonic.

Stronghold

Name: Dis
Type: Walled City
Location: Located on a small, rocky mountain above the River Phlegethon

Description: A large, walled city, home to between 60 and 90 thousand people. Dis is dominated by the Temple-Palace of Dionysius the Golden. Known as the Tower of the Sun and Moon, it is a soaring, fortified ziggurat occupying the central hill of the city. Dis is filled with marble temples to the old gods of Creation, as well as a massive library.

The city is formed in two concentric rings, with the Outer City surrounded by a staunch curtain wall replete with towers and parapets. The Inner City is likewise protected by a smaller wall, and is home to Dis' grandest buildings and upper classes.

Beyond the outer walls, the Phlegethon river valley is filled with peasant farms, minor villages, small forts, and trading-stations.

Faction

Name: The Diadochi and the Order of the Sun and Moon
Size: approx. 5,000
Hierarchy and Culture: The faction is led by the six mage-lords known as the Diadochi. They are also known as the Deathless to the common folk. There were originally 200, but most of them have died over the past 40,000 years due to battles, accidents, and 'accidents.' Until 41 years ago, there were seven Diadochi remaining.

Dionysius the Golden, Leader of the Diadochi and the Order of the Sun and Moon
Knossos the Pensive (other than Dionysius, Knossos is the last of the original Diadochi)
Acheron the Enlightened
Aeschylus the Morose
Sarappamon the Mad
Orpheus the Dreamer (youngest of the Diadochi)
Serbonith the Inquisitive, the seventh of their number, is deceased. Slain by Absalom during the seige of Vanares.

Each of these powerful sorcerers commands an elite personal guard of battle-mages. Dionysius' bodyguard is composed of approximately 700 elite spellswords known as the Order of the Sun and Moon. The Order serves as an internal secret police and inquisition within the cities of the Diadochi, rooting out demonic influence, illicit magic use, and heretical cults. Below them are the City Guard of Dis, a force of assorted hoplites, peltasts and archers. The faction is allied to the various armies of the Successor Cities, and military forces loyal to the individual Diadochi, but these will be NPCs not under Flagg's direct control.

History:[Also refer to Dionysius' history for further information]
The Diadochi have been intricately involved in the history of the mortal realm since their 'ascension' into semi-divinity. Before the onset of the Dark Ages, they strove to control the various empires of man, but their internecine feuds contributed to the fall of the old kingdoms and the onset of the dark ages. Almost alone among the denizens of the mortal realm, the Diadochi were able to sustain significant magical power via dark and twisted blood magics during the long Dark Ages of magic in the mortal plain. Over the millenia, the undying, self-proclaimed Successors to the Gods have done much- serving as advisors to king and emperors, ruling great nations, striving with various Demonic Champions for mastery over the mortal realms. Originally numbering two hundred, the number of Diadochi has dwindled to a mere six over the many millenia of their existence. Only Dionysius and his ever-loyal advisor and lieutenant Knossos remain of the original two hundred, while the other four Diadochi have been elevated to their current state along the long intervening period between the Lost Age and the present.

Over time, the remaining came to rule the so-called Successor Cities, ten city states in the desert land of Varyon. Internally fractious, the Successor Cities and their mage lords have united dozens of times to drive back various extra-planar invasions, most significantly in the War of Night, against the demonically-inspired human Empire of the Merciful Dark.

Military Capabilities: The six diadochi are powerful mages with a wide range of magic-based combat abilities. Likewise, they employ a powerful force of spell-swords and battlemages as their personal guards, and beneath them, a small army of hoplites, skirmishers and archers. The Diadochi depend primarily on the fortifications of their cities and their magical power to defend their holdings against the vastly more powerful and numerous demonic hosts at their gates.

888888888888 SaintArey's Faction 888888888888

Uniter of the Golden Valley
Name: Absalom Herluin

Appearance

Age: 105 but has the appearance and body of a 30 years old man.

History

Born in the city of Vanares of unknown parentage Absalom grew as a street urchin, suffering harsh lessons of the metropolis’s streets. Ageing normally till 18, Absalom was no different from any normal man, belonging to the extensive criminal underbelly of the city, smuggling, assassination, and larceny were his trade. Gradually, his power began to develop, rising through the ranks of Vanaresian organised crime.

Eventually he came to be noticed by the Mage Lord of the City, named Serbonith and was plied with riches into the petty and grand wars of the Diadochi overlords. For the next 30 years, Absalom fought for many masters across Varyon and the colonial states of the New World. Absalom grew in both fame and infamy as well as wealth, amassing treasures to rival petty kings, apart from the gifts of gold and lands, artefacts of the Lost Age were bequeathed to him. Among the ancient weapons and armour there were texts of great philosophers and religious texts which then to Absalom where coveted simply for their rarity.

Defeat was more or less unknown during the ascendancy of Absalom, his masters growing increasingly brazen till, in their hubris (53 years before the present day) they were deceived, coerced and seduced by unknown powers (Knossos) to encroach of the City Sate of Dis. The incursion was practically over before it started, Dionysius himself leading his troops, devastating the invading armies. The retinue of Absalom marching defiantly into the frontlines, past the mass route of allied forces into direct confrontation with Dionysius himself. The duel that ensued was short and unworthy of history books. Absalom lay bloodied and near death as his treasures where looted and his retinue slaughtered.

Waking not to the deathly void or the desolation of war, Absalom found himself aboard a wagon train of refugees fleeing the horrors of combat, the only thing of his old life remaining being the ancient philosophical texts. In the care of the commoners and the guidance of the lost philosophers of a forgotten age, Absalom came to realise his sin and was undone.

For 12 years he wandered Varyon in penance as a hermit and supposedly dead, he tried to promote the ideals of stoicism and morality throughout the city states and the barbarian peoples, preaching the philosophy of the Lost Age. He saw a world corrupted, the tyrannical Diadochi oppressing their own citizens and fear people of the tribes who would in turn commit terrible acts of resistance against the forces of their overlords. Once again he turned to the sword. Remerging as a now lawful warrior he toured the interior of the continent gathering the tribes together in preparation for revolution against the Diodachi Warlords. His assault of his old home of Vanares was met with success, even slaying the foul Mage-Lord of the city at great cost to his forces. However, his tactical victory was met with moral defeat the lessons he taught the tribes succumbing to the greed of conquest, his troops engaging in wanton looting. By the time interventionary Diodachi forces arrived Absalom had all but surrendered. His disarrayed and rapine army stood little chance and was massacred mercilessly. In the chaos of defeat Absalom boarded a ship fleeing the conflict for the New World, its inhabitants hoping for a better life.

Absalom travelled without meaning through the wilds of the New World, content to die but he would not. His body was too strong to succumb to extremes of nature or starvation. Eventually reaching the distant north of the continent he came across the Ururyon Mountain ranges which small population was caught in a bloody war. Weary of war but aware of the otherwise innocence of the society Absalom intervened ending the war. For several years now he has resided as the guardian of the Golden River Valley and the secrets of Mount Ila.

105 years before present: Absalom is 'born'.
87 years before present.
53 years before present: conspiracy rebellion
41 years before present: The Tribal Revolution, led by Absalom
11 years before present: Absalom reaches the Ururyon Mountains
7 years before present: Absalom ends conflict in the reigon, making his home of the Golden River Valley where he remains to this date.

Personality: Despite his grim exterior, a testament to his violent past. Absalom has become a silently caring man, who rules through fellowship and morality.
Armaments: All artefacts of power were stripped from him following his defeat save for the writings of the Lost Age which are stored atop Mount Ila.
Abilities: His strengths played well to the pursuit of War his skin being able to deflect volleys of all but the sharpest arrows and thrust of pikes and a sword arm strong enough to fell whole ranks of infantry in a single blow. His body is resistant to the extremes of the environment, starvation and thirst.

Stronghold

Name: Nameless, just referred to as ‘The Fort’ by the people of the Golden River Valley.
Type: A stone fort.
Location: Atop the very peak of Mount Ila in the Ururyon Mountains.
Description: Built by Absalom following peace in the Gold River Valley, the castle is relatively small being crude in design and appearance. However, as a defensive structure it is highly functional. It serves as the last line of defence of whatever great and mysterious power lies beneath the summit of Mount Ila. The Fort also serves as a quasi-religious site for the Ururyons who often make pilgrimages from all over the mountain ranges.

Faction

Name: The Golden River Valley
Size: 5000 give or take a couple of hundred.
History: is in everything else I have written.
Military Capabilities: Sparse, untrained but determined would best describe the military of the Golden Valley. There are only about 50 full time soldiers based in the fort atop Mount Ila who patrol the valley and fight in more serious engagements (such as against raiding parties) or against beasts too large for the Militia to overcome. The Militia number about 150 and are generally just farmers with weapons and armour. They serve as day to day guards and rangers, they are moderately well armed. number upwards of 1000 and can be mobilised if needed. Do not equate their lack of training and equipment to a lack of experience. Most are veterans of the last war and have seen a fair share of combat, making for good, if untrained light infantry.

888888888888 History of the Mortal Realm 888888888888

Mortal Plane Timeline

(To put things in perspective - Anatomically Modern Humans are thought to be 200,000 years old IRL, with the first civilizations having arisen ~60,000 years ago.)

~40,000 years ago: the Mortal World was the center of a Planar Conflux, a result of the discovery of a specific artifact: Díorá Exáriá. Legendary creatures walked the Earth, and powerful sorcerers worked epic magics with the help of the discovery to create wondrous works and utopian societies. This time is generally known by historians and scholars as the Lost Age. Ruins and artifacts of this period, if they exist at all, are buried under miles of topsoil and rock by this point. Discovering traces of the Lost Age is like finding either the Pyramids of Giza or the Tower of Babylon...Underground. Relics from the period are probably beyond priceless. The Nexus Gate is the most prominent of these incredible findings, and serves as the Mortal Lands' access point to and from the Nexus, and, as a result, the Outer Planes as well.

~39,000 years ago: Planar Conflux ends, the Age of Decline begins. Large populations of mythical beings still exist, and magic still thrives - however, epic magics and great works become irreproducible, and no more Mythical beings arrive. Some may even leave the Mortal Plane. This is as a result of the Nexus becoming less magically active as a result of Gods (of both Ruinous and Virtuous nature) disappearing from Creation for some unknown reason. The Diadochi seize control of the Thearchy of the Sun and Moon, one of the most powerful empires to dominate the mortal plane, and begin several wars of conquest simultaneously. So begins the 10,000 Year War between the Archmages and Emperors of the Ancient Empires and the Thearchy, ruled by the Diadochi.

~35,500 Years Ago: The Age of Spirits begins. Using previously unknown magics now known as the soul arts, a cadre of nobility including the youngest son of the emperor of the Voldraxean Empire stages a coup. The prince decrees himself Evarast, the Radiant Arbitor and takes over as the new emperor. The new emperor imposed a draconian law code and reforms swept acrosss the empire and announced the foundation of the Radiant Legion, powerful magus knights. Concerned by the sudden rise of Evarast and offended by his blasphemous soul-magic, Dionysius the Golden and the Diadochi declared war upon Voldraxis. Centuries of intermittent war followed, with the balance of power changing hands many times. Eventually Dionysius gained the upper hand through guile and Art, and the capital city of Voldraxis was besieged by the Diadochi. In an attempt to strike before Evarast could gather the strength for an attack,the Diadochi launched a full scale attack on his stronghold. A force of the ancient liches themselves were sent in to head the assault. The attackers were led into a cataclysmic massacre as the Emperor unleashed a final spell. From atop the tallest tower and aglow with heavenly light, the Emperor brought down a hammer of light from on high and smote the whole of the city, and all its inhabitants. All the armies that had been poured into it, and dozens of the Diadochi, were all obliterated. Voldraxis was no more, countless lives had been lost, and a number of priceless artifacts from the Lost Age that could never be replaced had been destroyed. Dionysius the Golden withdraws for almost seven millenia into the precincts of his temple-fortress, in disgust with a war largely of his own making.

~35,000 years ago: The last mythical being thought to live in the Mortal Plane dies. Magic bottoms out in its decline. The shattered lands of the Voldraxean Empire fragment into numerous subpolities which immediately fall into infighting even as the Diadochi conquer them, one by one. The unity and order of Evarast's rule is all but forgotten.

~27,000 years ago: The last lands waving the banner of the Voldraxean Empire cease to exist. The Age of Spirits ends, and the Age of Darkness begins. The last vestige of the golden empires of old crumble into several independent polities. Thousands of years of chaos follow, marked largely by the destruction of existing infrastructure and the splintering of several organized societies into geographically and culturally distinct subgroups. Knowledge of magic remains well preserved, but many architectural, chemical, medicinal, and many more sources of knowledge are lost. The Diadochi, in control of a small empire along the river Phlegethon, fall into the first of what will become many periods of prolonged internecine war.

~12,000 years ago: The height of The Dark Age. The Empire of the Merciful Dark, a human super power worshipping a demon known only as Mother Night, emerges.They swiftly conquer many of the successor states of the ancient empires. At the same time, Dionysius the Golden emerges from seclusion, uniting the Diadochi, who engage in a two-century long war with the empire, eventually defeating several Champions and even an Avatar of Mother Night at the Battle of Nemsethus. The avatar of Mother Night, deciding to not go down without striking a tremendous blow against her enemies, created a planar rift in an effort to destroy the Diadochi in one fell swoop, resulting in the partial submerging of a continent into the sea and the creation of the Blackrazor. Mother Night's agenda within the Mortal Realm remained unknown, though it was commonly agreed to be a simple bid for domination over the realm. The cult of the Merciful Dark splintered into individual cells and polities, and the remainder of the Dark Age was defined by the struggles between these fractuous elements and the surviving Diadochi. Dionysius the Golden withdraws to his Temple-Palace in the ancient city of Dis, and does not emerge for nearly 7,000 years.

~11,500 Years Ago: In the wake of the wars with Mother Night and her cult of Merciful Dark a new threat arose. A failed summoning by a young neophyte in training brought a piece of the demon lord Emyra into the mortal plane. She consumed the poor soul, creating a fascimile under her control. In secret her servant consumed others, spreading her influence. It was slow at first but then it began to spread like wildfire as her spawn consumed others and their numbers grew immensely. The Diadochi were busy dealing with the chaos after Mother Night's assualt and it wasn't until one of their number was slain that they realized the plague was a threat to them. By then an entire city had fallen. The scope of the infection drew the attention of Dionysius himself. He established a quarantine around the city and then personally entered it to investigate. He fought his way to the center of the dead city and found an untold horror. Countless thousands of the infected were joining together in a terrifying union of flesh. Before his eyes he saw an avatar of Emyra herself take form. They fought in the ruins of the dead city until Emyra gained the upper hand. Her compulsion filled the ancient lich's mind and for a moment he surrendered to her siren's song. She embraced him but unlike the others he fought and struggled free of her, and stuck her with the Heretic's Dagger, slaying the avatar. Dionysius emerged from the battle troubled and disturbed, and withdrew once more into his sanctums in Dis while the remaining Diadochi scrambled to secure order and power once more, quickly forgetting the incursions to fight amongst themselves. The Order of the Sun and Moon, charged with detecting and defeating demonic incursions, is thrown into an uproar by their inability to safeguard against Emyra's invasion - out of a mixture of fear and outrage, the Order adopts a much more tolatarian approach, and begins enforcing the use of arcane tattoos amongst the citizens of the city-states in order to better detect and stop demonic incursions before they begin.

~5,000 years ago: The Dark Age Ends with the complete erasure of the cult of Merciful Dark, and the Age of Abeyance begins. The leader of the Diadochi, Dionysius, begrieved by the loss of so many of his compatriots over the mellennia, emerges from his isolation and begins to restore the weakened order by raising several followers to the status of Diadochi and reclaiming the city-states along the River Phlegethon. While ruling the city-states of Varyon, the Diadochi fall into interminable internecine squabbles, occasionally with the intervention of Dionysius, who nevertheless remains mostly indifferent to political matters. The Successor Cities of Varyon nevertheless prosper over the long and fractious rule of the Diadochi, and remain one of the few centers of civilization to survive the Dark Ages. Entreated many times by his followers to rebuild the glorious empires of old, Dionysius declines, and is viewed by many as immobilized by boredom and indifference bordering on despair. While there is much truth to this, Dionysius is in fact devoting much of his time in study of the Demonic Planes. For thousands of years, the land remained in relative peace. 53 years prior to the Age of Incursion however, there was a massive rebellious movement which abruptly rose out of nowhere and swept across the continent. Cities were raided and pillaged, and even Dis itself was attacked - the apparent leader of this rebellion was a brilliant warlord by the name of Absalom. Thought to be slain by Dionysius in a duel during the siege of Dis, the Diadochi were alarmed when he appeared to have cheated death and raised a second rebellion a mere 12 years later - this time, Absalom even managed to slay a member of the Diadochi, Serbonith the Inquisitive - something that had not occurred since the Dark Ages. The Diadochi mounted a ferocious counterattack, shattering the rebellion in a decisive rout - but Absalom himself escaped, and remained at large. Concerned that they may have been facing the
champion or avatar of another demon from the outer planes, or even Mother Night herself, Dionysius made several attempts to scry the location of the warlord, but failed time and time again.

Increasingly frustrated and worried as he sensed the impending conflux of planes, Dionysius called an emergency council of the Diadochi at Dis in order to prepare for the impending crisis, where all of his worst fears would become reality.

Now: Age of Incursion. Planar Conflux Occurs. Triggers several high-magnitude Earthquakes and Volcanic eruptions. Magic begins to wax. Uninvited Guests arrive.

888888888888 The Geography of the Mortal Lands 888888888888

The Mortal Realm is host to three continents and one subcontinent. Each individual continent has multiple hub-portals connecting to Díorá Exáriá at various locales, and vice versa.

The Sunken Land

The Sunken Land was once a lush, temperate paradise rife with ancient, forgotten cities from the Lost Age. In the height of the Dark Age during the War of Night, the Planar Rift created by Mother Night caused the continent to sink below the waves of the sea. Now what's left of it is mostly marsh and swamp - completely unarable and filled with death. Even before it sank, the continent had been rife with secret, underground sanctuaries and vaults from the Lost Age far greater and more widespread than anybody had suspected - in the wake of the Conflux, massive shifts in the Earth caused these lost sites to rise from the Earth once more, creating semi-flooded ruins filled with magical wonders and guardians. The Planar Nexus Gate is located here, and this continent will be the source of most major demon incursions into the mortal realm. There is also a series of lesser hub-gates leading to various locations on the other two continents and subcontinent.

Notable Sites:
The Nexus: The Gate itself is a giant inverse pyramid that stays balanced by some inexplicable force. It would have once been encrusted with a host of powerful magical gems that would surely have made the gate glisten in the light with a certain dvine incandescence - but alas, the gems have since been plundered and looted, leaving this once incredible sight a featureless, rough construct. The balanced point of the gate holds a faintly glowing area of light on each of its four sides, and contact with these gates of light will see an entitiy transported through the veil of Creation to the correspondng gate within the Nexus.

Populations:
Swamp and Marsh Critters
Death

Starting Factions:
Demon Hordes
Lost Age Superweapons

The New World

An untamed wilderness, filled with indigenous tribes - similar in nature to the affairs of the Americas prior to colonialism. The landmass is oblong in shape with several large bays and a number of long island chains stretching away from it. The continent is temperate with several different biomes, but the central region is predominantly filled with a mixture of tropical jungles and large, open savahnahs, with mountain chains to the East and North. There are a number of developed, modernized cities scattered around the coastlines as colonial extensions of the Diadochi city states. The majority of the populace reside in archaic metropolis scattered across the breadth of the continent, with countless semi-nomadic tribes and villages interspersing them. Small scale raids and warfare amongst these metropolis and people is common, but trade is also frequent despite the lack of cultural unity between each city.

Notable Sites:
The Ururyon Mountain Chain: A chain of Mountains on the Northern end of the continent, with a number of prosperous vales between them. The mountain chain contains Ila, an unremarkable mountain with a disproportionate number of legends surrounding it (See the faction sheet for the Golden River Valley for more information).
The Crescent Savannah: An extremely large, fertile savanna in the center of the continent, home to hundreds of individual tribes and bordered by five independent metropolis.
The Fissure: A vast cleft in the land left in the wake of the Planar Conflux. This ravine is miles deep, revealing the depths of the Earth. Several ruins and sites from the Lost Age are scattered within...Including the tomb of Andromache.

Populations:
Indigenous Natives, Primitive Tribals, Archaic Religious Cities (NPCs)
Ururyon Valley Folk (SaintArey)
Diadochi Colonials (NPCs)

Starting Factions:
Andromache (Terminal)
Golden River Valley (Saint)

Note: The Mountain Range is not a continent (being a part of the New World), but is a sufficiently large area of important landscape meriting a detailed description.

Ururyon Mountain Range/Chain

Located to the far north of the New World, a thin, isolated and seemingly desolate strip of mountain range intersped with hidden fertile valleys have, for the most part separated the Mountain folk from the wider world for almost a thousand years. The men and women of the Ururyon Mountains have been long accustomed to the fierce conditions of the windswept and treacherous peaks but choose to settle in the comfort of the verdant lowlands as they can only compete with the elements for so long. The extreme landscape has led to both isolation from the outside world and among the mountain people themselves the terrain splitting the small population into small valley bound communities. Society is generally, simple and idyllic. Small agricultural villages subsist in the valleys caring for the land. However, some groups have grown to know war conducting raids on other valleys for produce, materials and even people.

Notable Sites:
Mount Ila (iLa). The Uryuron Mountains were once a place of grandeur like the seven great cities. However, that time has long since passed and the ruins of that forgotten kingdom lay scattered amongst the heights of the land. The Mountain folk general pay little attention to the legends save for one. It is generally accepted that beneath the outwardly average looking Mount Ila lays an object of immense power, its nature unknown it has been coveted by many who have been known to fight bloodily over the peak. If it were not for a weary outsider known as Absalom, who possessed considerable power, bringing peace to the Mountain and Valley below. If he had not Ururyon society could well have collapsed. (P.S There is a small stone fort atop Mount Ila built by Abslaom at the end of the last war.)

Population: Mountain People. Assumed around 25 thousand all split into pocket communities. They are fairly adanced having knowledge of agriculture and metalworking unlike the other tribes of the New World. They are likely descended from the survivors of whatever mysterious, advanced, lost civilization preceded them.

Starting Factions: Gold River Valley (and Mount Ila), the largest of the communities numbering around 5000, the vast majority being lowly farmers.

Varyon

A large, Australia-like continent with relative fertile, temperate boundaries filled with barren desert within the interior. A series of major rivers crisscross this desert, with the Diadochi city-states interspersed along them. There exist small, isolated tribes in the deepest and most desolate areas of the desert, and they are widely considered to be a culture apart from the people of the city states. Off to the East, there is a Subcontinent connected to Varyon by a small land bridge, called Ethica.

Notable Sites:
Ten Cities
Dis, Fortress-Temple of Dionysius
Axander
Malossus
Nova Gathos
Sovenes
Cleon's Folly
Amphipolis
Vanares, a sprawling yet poor metropolis on the coast to the far south east.
Diothrien
Hrerpolis
Numerous Ancient Ruins half-buried in the desert.

Populations:
Men of the City States[/u] (NPCs)
Interior Tribals (NPCs)

Starting Factions:
Dionysius the Golden, Leader of the Diadochi (Flagg)

Ethica

A triangular subcontinent roughly a fifth the size of Varyon, Ethica has a lush Northern climate filled with temperate forests, with drier plains and rolling hills to the south. The subcontinent is dominated by the Alexian Monarchate, an Oligarchical superpower governed by a series of wealthy mayors who hold the economic reigns of each region. Though the Monarchate has no true capital, the city of Telflamm is the largest and most prosperous city outside of Varyon, making it the unofficial ecomonic and political center of Ethica. The Monarchate is also reknowned for its powerful navy, the largest in the world.

Notable Sites:
Telflamm is a large fortress-city and the largest settlement in Ethica. Its approximately 23,500 inhabitants under the apparent rule of their King Windyn Balindre The Young, though behind the scenes it is in fact the Shadowmasters, a thieves guild, who run the city.
The Shyn Wood is an ancient forest in the center of the continent, remarkable for a largely intact remnant of the Lost Age in the form of a cultivated temple to the old gods residing therein. Members of the local populace regularly maintain and worship there as part of a Druidic subculture.

Populations:
Ethicans; mostly farmers, serfs, and merchants.

Starting Factions:
Alexian Monarchate (NPC)

[NewSun]

Terminal said
Reserving this spot for the Mortal Planes post Flagg and I are working on. Expect it within a day or so.

if you can, PM me what you have so far.

[Raptorman]

So does this predate or come after ruin? Seeing as you say that some say the beings that rule the outerplanes are remnants of the lords of ruin?

[NewSun]

Predate. Don't worry about the references to Lords of Ruin, that will all become apparent and handled. They're not the same as the Princes of Ruin.

[GreivousKhan]

SHould have my sheet up tomorrow.

[Tatsua Aiisen]

My Indar Solasi sheet is on its way. I hope you guys don't mind me taking the title of "First inanimate object to command an army."

[Sigma]

Hmmm, this really looks interesting, has so much potential. I'm thinking of possibly of choosing between Fél Várást or Rhul Tháar.

[Tatsua Aiisen]

Illias, the Madness Catalyst

---

Type: Sentient Demonic Artifact
Plane: Indár Sólásí
Appearance: Illias is a maddeningly beautiful fragment of crystalline substance that, when shone on with light, releases an awe-inspiring rainbow of ever-changing colours. While at the moment it is only precisely four inches in length, its size and beauty seem to only grow the more minds that it touches. Looking inside of Illias allows you to see yourself reflected on all of the crystal's innumerable surfaces, although doing so is said to have a strange effect on one's mind.

Personality and Drive: Illias is an evil being. No matter how pure it may appear or act, its most important goal is to spread its madness to as many entities as possible. It wishes to grow, to nourish its dark powers with the minds of others, but to what end? What could a crystal possibly desire? Its origins cloaked in mystery, not even its most loyal servants are quite mad enough to understand its true motives. All anybody knows is that its core is an ever-changing prism, and that its beauty is matched only by its cruelty.

History: Long ago, Illias was little but a tiny, glittering speck, lost in a great cavern deep beneath the surface of Indar Solasi. Ages passed in those dark depths before a lonely demon, shunned by the world, stumbled upon it out of sheer chance. The demon was entranced, it watched the tiny point of light in its hands, watching it glow solemnly through the emptiness of the abyss. There they sat, the demon staring into Illias's light for what felt like an eternity. And as it stared into the tiny shard of crystal, the crystal whispered sweet, soothing words into the demon's mind, bending its will, slowly driving it into obsession...

Until one day, the demon stole the speck from its dark prison. It took Illias and brought it up to the surface, to the beings that had made him an outcast, and told them of what he had found. Those creatures wanted nothing of the demon's speck, and attacked him, but the demon was not the same individual it was before. Having spent an age filling itself with nothing but the speck's dark light, the demon suddenly grew up to twice its size and struck down the leader of the creatures. The others of its kind cowered before the demon's dark might, begging for mercy. But instead of showing them mercy, the demon showed them what it had found in the depths, and the creatures looked into it oh-so eagerly, not understanding what horrible fate awaited them...

Abilities: Illias has the power to cast potent illusions, tricks of light and mind that fool mortals and demons alike into believing something of the crystal's evil design. Those who gaze into its depths for too long will quickly find themselves trapped inside of it, their minds refracting through the dark prism endlessly before returning to their own head as something not quite like how it was originally. Those who experience this phenomenon find themselves obsessed with the crystal, they hear it whispering into their head, driving them insane with the need to show the crystal to others. After they are maddened, the carrier of the crystal becomes Illias's "Host", somebody empowered by its dark light to preform tasks in its stead.

Ordinarily, Illias requires a host in order to channel additional dark magics, but from time to time it is able to forge spells on its own, usually in order to protect its existence. When this happens, it must take a while to rest or it risks shattering under the strain. The magics it wields are varied, they revolve mostly around emitting demonic light to inflict madness and chaos upon those who dare challenge it. It may create constructs of light, strengthen those it favours with an aura of power, protect itself from other demons using a radiant barrier or even, in times of dire need, completely shatter the mind of its host to convert the entirety of their existence into pure, demonic energy, leaving them naught but an empty husk afterwards.

Host

Name: Only ever called the Cult of Illias.
Size: Illias's cult consists of nearly two thousand followers of limited combat ability and species, in addition to several hundred special cases. It should be noted that the Cult of Illias is capable of greatly increasing its size, given Illias's nature.
Hierarchy and Culture:

History

After being consumed by the dark light of Illias, the outcast demon became more than it once was.

Military Capabilities:
The Shadows of Illias

While their numbers are limited, these monstrous beings from deep beneath the surface of Indár Sólásí serve as her primary source of raw military might. Each of these tremendous fiends possess the strength to cull numbers many times greater than their own, and the sheer terror their presence brings to their foes is enough to break the willpower of all but the most battle-hardened warriors.

They are however quite large, and thus rather easily targeted. Additionally, the fact that they are almost entirely two-dimensional means that they have trouble covering large distances quickly. They have the ability to greatly shrink themselves, and possess an extraordinary resilience towards mortal magic.
(List all your unit types, and their capabilities. This is mostly to help others grasp the feel of how your faction will fight - this category is not a power play, so don't be a shart.)
Warcry: (Totally optional)

Holding

Name: The Prismatic Sanctum, Tava'xilus (Xilus for short.)
Type: Temple
Description: Xilus is a glittering sanctuary of crystal and stone that sits hidden from watchful eyes in the depths of an immense crater. The largest part of the temple is the church itself, where prospective or particularly devout followers of Illias come to be bathed in its wondrous light. At the far end of the church, an intricately carved pedestal sits where Illias may be placed. A single ray of light filters through a hole in the ceiling, always shining perfectly on the place where Illias would normally sit.

There are also living quarters for Illias's most trusted caretakers, and while they are not present in the church itself, Illias's demonic light shines easily through the carefully crafted walls of crystal, radiating through their minds even in their deepest rests.

[NewSun]

Looking sweet so far. I'll put The Nightmare Steppes on lock for you.

[Milieu]

Ooo this looks incredibly interesting. Can I play?

[Terminal]

Milieu said
Ooo this looks incredibly interesting. Can I play?

By all means. Take a peek at the OP up above, figure out if there's a particular Plane that catches your eye. If you don't care for any of the ones available, perhaps make a suggestion to Newsun - they've stated a few times that they may create new planes if there's enough interest.

[Terminal]

*The Forum Continues to have Issues with Double Posting, Surprise Surprise.*

[NewSun]

Milieu said
Ooo this looks incredibly interesting. Can I play?

Certainly can, we're pretty open at this stage.

Also, Term, if I could get you to PM me your plans for the Mortal Lands so I can run them over, that would be dandy.

[Terminal]

NewSun said
Certainly can, we're pretty open at this stage.Also, Term, if I could get you to PM me your plans for the Mortal Lands so I can run them over, that would be dandy.

Flagg and I are still hammering stuff out. There was a bit of a scheduling blip over the weekend, but we're making good progress. You should have it soon™.

[NewSun]

I'd still like to follow the progress if that is okay, so any kinks can be ironed out earlier. I'm going to be starting the mapping process some time soon, so any info would be marvellous.