Grijs

SACRILEGE WAR (Grimdark Fantasy NRP)

Also, for the sake of your own health and time-schedules, all your IC posts don't actually have to be as long as the intro-post. Because that one was pretty ridiculous in length imho.

SACRILEGE WAR (Grimdark Fantasy NRP)

roleplayerguild.com/topics/165144-sac…

SACRILEGE WAR (Grimdark Fantasy NRP)

Collab by Serp, Grijs, ArchZero, DrunkConq, WillyVereb


“Painted red is earth and sky by the blood of Ashenlur… The sacrilege war has begun.’’
- Yuwan, Goddess of Magic and Prophecy

289 years ago

Tramontan, Central Materia - 11AWH

Left, right. Left, right. A million feet marched from the west. The stars, each an image of a celestial being's soul in the night sky, were choked out by fume clouds. The clouds of dust uprooted by a column of men, women, and beasts gathered from across the whole of the West, as it marched through lands of ice, shadow, and sand. Justice had called forth a host to fight the final war, against the great Demiurgic enemy, the enemy that lied in the East, in the decadent halls of dethroned Gods and their followers, clad in gold and silver as they were; coated in all things from bronze to runes telling of past glories better left forgotten.

Through the darkness of night, following the brightest star that shone through the dust, Justinian’s own Pale Star of the West, the host announced its existence as it passed frightened villages, not by courier or messages but by the light of many thousands of torches. It did so with the deafening rattle of armour as they marched onwards. The sound of their feet clashing with the ground, the sound of the friction between their swords, their shields, and their spears culminating in a thousand-column long, hundred warrior-wide, thunderous cacophony of revolution. The waking villagers were met with the presence of the West armed with wood and steel, fire and sword. It was one of the largest armies they had ever seen, and what they lacked in the glittering weapons of the easts elite, they made up for in undying zeal. They saw it, within the eyes of the Western Hordes every soldier, as they marched onwards, one could see the spirit of a new dawn and the flames of the forge which will reshape the world flickering to light.

They were the rebellion, they were the freedom fighters of this modern age, and so they proclaimed, and so proclaimed their newborn God, who led them forwards; the Justinian. In the night skies beyond the thick layers of fumes that surrounded this great host, arrived the soaring Sun made manifest. Beyond the clouds and what would have been starry skies, the golden light of the Justinian’s avatar gleamed upon the army and embraced the land, turning night into day. Justinian’s form was that of a pale ghostly, almost-human like in figure, towering over normal men covered in cloth and unworldly armour. Levitating in the sky with a great halo behind its head and radiating light and heat. In its left hand it held a sword, burning in flames. In the eleven years since its deicidal war in heaven, Justinian had reached the centre of the world personally, now pushing its Western hordes onwards towards the gatehouse of the East, and from there the last bastion of the Old Pantheon; Yuwan and her followers.

The host of Justinian, while marching under the command of Justinian itself, was shepherded by numerous mortal heroes. Lexiticanus Pax, Glorion Rex, Justianus Apollon, and many others... they called these men and women the apostles, the first heroes to champion Justinian’s cause. Kingdoms and Empires had fallen under Justinian’s crusade. Old monarchies and ancient aristocratic bloodlines extinguished. The heroes of Justinian rose from obscurity. Former human slaves to their elven masters. Serfs. Self-declared prophets of the newly formed ‘clerisy’, even powerful merchant-lords, willing to fill the power vacuum in the New World Order to come, one of which was the great Merchant-Lord of Amyrion, newly named Empyraeos of House Gloria.

Empyraeos. A name that even 300 years later lives on as a name of global significance. The to-be founder and first Exaltarch of Archonnen had provided much for this great hosts march. His vast household guards marched with him and the host, the very same guards that in that same year would become Archonnens vaunted Infinite Army. His household guards were armed and armoured like knights, the old elven pantheonist aristocrats armour adorning his human troops. He took pride in knowing that humble merchants and town freemen had triumphed over them in the west, and now wore the spoils of war, the boons of faith and the wealth he had acquired.

He looked on from the left flank, riding with mounted Household Guard and Merchant cavalry, looking out from the artificial daylight towards the strange cosmic event before him and the great host of Justinian. Where along a line in an open battlefield where night and day clashed, so too would the armies of east and west. It was appropriate, knowing that the forces of light would surely triumph over the darkness of the east.

To the east waiting under the night sky stood the armies holding the banners and standard of the lone surviving Goddess, Yuwan. They had risen to face Justinian’s horde, elite armies from lands as far away as Lamash and Yllendthyr joining together. As they looked on to the ever-closer approaching false dawn, their mood grew ever more sombre. Today they make a last desperate attempt to halt the Justinian advance towards the sovereign empires of the East. A pitched, decisive battle. The last battle. Today, the War in Heaven, and Justinian’s Sacrilege War, would end.

The armies of the East assembled, horns and deep melodious music announcing their arrival to each other and the enemy.

The shadows of the Gryffn squadrons from Yllendthyr were the first to make their presence known over the Tramontan soil.Threatening to block the skies Yllendthyr well lived up to their name of Heavenly Empire. Aside from the Gryffn riders with the prestigious Sky Knights at the lead, several other types of flying creatures belonging to an unique province of the great Empire of Yllendthyr each. They spared no resources as the fate of the entire world was at stake. This view was exemplified by mobilizing their entire fleet of Sky Barges, ships utilizing the country’s best kept secrets to magic that allows them to send even entire warships into the skies. With the end times near the army was led by none other than Emperor Ilehnaed IV, riding the mighty white dragon Yldizvleugel. Be it mortal or gods, none shall stop them!

While the world was in awe of the Yllendlen might in the skies, over a hundred thousand soldiers followed them. Advance parties of conventional cavalry scouted ahead, securing the area for the rest of the army. Among them the Arqwyen earns special mention. Minor nobles of Yllendthyr rode on Aewnurin, giant runner birds with speed surpassing the capability of horses. Miles behind them marched the infantry, mostly composed of humans and kobolds. Albeit of low status they were the backbone of Yllendthyr’s grand army. If Sky Knights are the hammer the infantry were the anvil to hold the target in place. Meanwhile elvish infantry stealthily advanced through the cover of woods. Unlike regular infantry the elves on the ground preferred ambushes and mobility. While never remembered fondly by the enemy the methods of Rangers were certainly effective.Behind the infantry a row of carts, attendants, artisans, healers followed them close by. Mixed with them those with keener eyes may have noticed the artillery of Yllendthyr. Ballistae, catapults and arcane warmachines provided an unique sight. What didn’t catch the eye of the commoner were a group of strangely elongated bells called Drakons. They used a recently developed alchemical mixture, not to breathe fire, but to develop enough pressure to hurl large projectiles at the enemy with speed previously thought impossible. These engines had yet to revolutionize warfare but their performance in this war was the beginning of their journey to popularity.

From the realm of Lamash came the army of Padishah Zirgun, answering the call of the Last Goddess. For what will take place this immortal day in Tramontan is the reason of their Ascension. Already battle hardened by -- and fresh from -- their victory over the Naga, the holy Lamashi armies marched under the banner of the winged lion. Rank upon rank of foot soldier armored in scale, mail and plate. Flanked by similarly armored horses and the mighty Karkadanns; the colossal domesticated rhinoceroses the Lamashi have used as mounts since time immemorial -- the beasts that have often won them the day over their foes. Towering Lamashi covered in silver steel carried the holy banners aloft while winged Lamassu (colossal winged lions with human heads), Peris (celestial fairies) and Pegasi flew overhead.

At the head of this large host rode Zirgun in his gilded, lion-headed armor, atop Utuwa, the great armored Karkadann. Behind them came the vanguard, composed entirely of Lamashi, armored and armed as shock troops. Followed by the vast bulk of the army, composed of common humans who fought and marched as infantry. In the rearguard were the Naga, led by Sarhdar Usum, who led the few of that race to have willingly followed Yuwan. The flanks were led by Suh, Zirgun’s favorite daughter, who commanded the heavy cavalry composed of both horse and karkadann, while the light riders were commanded by a host of lesser nobles and heroes of the Empire.
Playing no small part on the Yuwanist side were also the elephant riders of Gushawar and Daggers of the Midbari desert kingdoms, such as Mala al-Tafub, infamous for her ability to invoke suffocating sandstorms.

With the armies of Yuwan accounted for, the marching stopped. A brief and heavy silence on the eastern side followed as the Justinian army continued marching towards them - the western horde outnumbering them at least three to one. They knew the battle was against them, even with all their experience, air-knights and proper equipment. Many of their forces were stuck fighting in Drakma or other rebellions. They are chosen to fight here, despite the disadvantage, because Justinian could not be allowed to take control of Tramontan and the Agur, the broken heavenly sword. The anomalous abomination had to be stopped here. The Justinians were now spreading their columns into lines, so many of them that they stretched across the horizon, from right to left, the false sun’s blinding light obscuring the approaching masses of yet more soldiers behind them.

The Air-knights of Lamash and Yllendthyr, thousands of them, flew forward, their winged mounts gliding across the diminishing no man’s land. The elite Elven swordsmen, forest archers - The Lamashi human and naga pikemen and karkadanns - The Gushawar elephant riders - They looked up and saw two formations like a pincer charging towards that false sun that surely brought certain doom. Those brave knights in the air would be the first to fall.

The air-knights formations, thousands strong on both sides moved closer to the now charging Justinian vanguard. They saw a mob of screaming men and women wearing cloth and leather, others with chainmail or gambeson. Most wielded shields and swords, clubs or maces. The elite air-knights did not bother to engage but instead flew past, pelting the screaming enemy vanguard with arrows and spells. Whole scores of Justinians collapsed under the weight of the arrows. Others screamed as their bodies were sliced open or lit on fire or blasted apart by spells. The air cavalry flew on, dodging the return fire from archers and crossbowmen in the Justinian formations.

Disengaging, the Air-knights turned, reengaging again. Swooping by, yet more Justinians fell. A field of arrows and craters had already spawned across the no-man's land, bodies littered across it. The Air-knights had tested the resistance of the Justinian forces, and knew now their plan may work. They disengaged again, the two formations both flying over the Justinian army, nearing the household guard and its cavalry wings.

The Justinian cavalry, seeing the cloud of enemy pegasi and other flying mounts began moving, but soon after arrows and magic were being thrown on them as well. The Air-Knights realised that the Justinians seemed to have no air cavalry deployed at all, figuring this was due to most of the western pegasi having been owned by Old Pantheonist aristocrats that died at the start of the war. The Yuwanist confidence however was short lived, because just as they were encircling the Justinian cavalry, a bright, white light engulfed them.

Like a comet, The Justinian had shot across the sky. It did not even bother to engage the Air-knights in close quarters. It simply flew through their formation… and the air burned. The charging Justinian army below them, now slamming into the Yuwanist vanguard raised their shields to deflect the burning debris of what used to be the body parts and armour of air-knights and their mounts, now blackened like charcoal, the armour glowing red with heat. Pulses of light and energy foreign to this mortal world soon followed. As the two vanguards’ shields smashed together, they saw on the edge of their eyes flashes of light so bright that their shadows were briefly forced to extinction. Those who dared look in the sky had their eyes burn or were otherwise blinded forever. All of those who survived would be afflicted with strange decay and disease for decades to follow.

What was left of the first Air-Knight formation, shattered. They were given a reminder again of the battle between Justinian’s avatar and the Red God Longthirung five years before, and brutally reminded that grouping together against this celestial abomination was suicide. The Justinian turned, racing towards the second formation of Air-Knights, which also fled. The Air-Knights from then on were fighting an impossible hit and run battle with a flying ball of light and heat, sacrificing themselves to distract the living god. Those that continued to fly on, passing Justinian and the blinding light would instead see an endless stream of soldiers. Monsters and more ominously; titanic giants. Justinian did not need air cavalry. With so many soldiers -- with impossibly large monsters somehow converted -- and with its own impossibly powerful avatar in the sky, Justinian appeared to have secured victory.

The Air cavalry fled as the flying Lamassu, ever the most enduring and elite, retaliated by pelting the Justinian with bolts of lightning. Though their spells and projectiles were ineffectual and they quickly turned to withdraw with the other air units. The formation while fleeing Justinian was ‘retreating’ further behind the Western Hordes frontlines, towards the towering figures of titans in the distance. If they were to die distracting Justinian, they may as well force the god to destroy its own army with its immense attacks.

Justinian was pursuing them with determined single-mindedness. They had no time to reform their formation or attack the ground forces, and instead took part in a one-sided dog-fight, where The Air-knights dared not look behind them into the glaring pulses of light, dared not look as members of their formation one by one were picked off by an accelerating ball of fire, its sword striking their members down like flies, waves of heat and spears of light incinerating those too slow to evade.

Yet of those remaining Pegasi and Lamassu, their elusiveness kept them alive, their ability to evade a god… seemingly beyond the power of mortals, for try as the Western God did, he could not manage to hew down a single one. They dodged explosions in the air, Justinian’s spears of light with ease, dipping low to the ground, forcing Justinian to either fire upon his own followers or draw closer.

Of those Air-knights who had miraculously survived, those who had no idea what they were doing and only following the lead of their commanders insane strategy, it seemed impossible. How were they actually doing this? How were they succeeding where ten Red Gods failed? Their commander, showing powers far beyond what they remembered her capable of, fired off arcs of lightning and blue and green flames upon the Justinians, killing hundreds in seconds, even as the enemies god chased them, its own magical attacks missing them entirely, exploding harmlessly in the air or even hitting the troops on the ground.

Others of the formation had joined in now, showing impossible power, throwing away their enchanted bows and casting magical strikes from their hands. How? How did they do it? Half of the formation had since run out of magical reserves and were depending on the last residue of theurgia contained in gems crafted into their armour. Were they heroes, champions of Yuwan? None of the Air-Knights ever remembered any heroes in their formation. Certainly not their commander, their elven commander had even performed the normal ritual sacrifices before the battle, to gather theurgia.

The commander now was, impossibly, speeding up. Her Pegasus was reaching speeds that no Pegasi had ever reached before, speeding ahead to the front of the formation, heading straight for one of the Western Hordes’ titanic giants, the naked fur-covered thing reacting in anger, stomping on its own allies to charge the formation and the speeding commander. The titan… did not stand a chance. The commander somehow fired a spell so powerful, it lit the titans entire head on fire, going berserk and crushing more of its own allies as it flailed.

The Air-knights, those who had since run out of theurgia and were also now reaching speeds they knew their own steeds could not reach without any intervention of their own, realised something. They realised just as the Western God realised. Their commander, something had happened to her, something that hadn’t happened for those who followed Yuwan in a long, long time.

Those same Air-knights watched as members of their formation broke off, members that similarly had endless reserves of theurgia and remained eerily calm throughout this struggle of life and death with a god, acting completely alien to how they once were.

Suddenly, the commander was slowing, as were they all. Their mounts no longer listened to the Air-knights’ commands, doing whatever the commander did. Perhaps they had been doing whatever the commander did the whole time. They looked to their commander who was turning around to face Justinian, ignoring the blinding light. What they saw confirmed their prior realisation. Her eyes glowed green. Her skin was also glowing, a tint of gold growing stronger, Aura of light shining off of her. While as an elf, the commander was already considered beautiful before, but now it was beyond mere beauty.

‘’Y-you are Yuwan?”

The commander did not speak, instead smiling, before vanishing like vapor. The air-knights that had broken off from the formation too vanished into vapor, just as Justinian had flown into the middle of the circle they had formed.

Emerging from the vapor where the commander once was mounted on her pegasus, now stood a giant, levitating in mid-air. A woman, skin of pure gold draped in otherworldly garments, and six dark moth wings sprouting from her back. A crown floating above her head made of what seemed to be green stars. Hundreds of relics orbited around her. Ornate gems, staves, staffs and scepters. Urns and bejeweled containers. With them were yet hundreds more wards and magical shields, layers of blue transparent light surrounding her.

Yuwan stood before Justinian, gods facing each other in the material plane for the first time in perhaps all of known history. With her, the vapor clouds of the others forming the circle revealed ascended celestial beings. To her right was, Arkshtrân the Bright Angel. And behind him Iallril Iorthoniith Isyranshara, Archpriestess of Yllendthyr. And Malice, Mistress of Courts. And Neferhata, Acolyte of Dusk and so countless other heroes of past Cycles.

The Justinian had stopped charging, floating in the middle of the circle of Yuwanist divine beings. The fiery ball dissipated, revealing the levitating form of the New God, clad in ethereal robes and armour, still burning and shining with light. The Justinian raised his flaming sword, pointing it at Yuwan.

‘’Illusory False-Pantheonist.’’

The JUSTINIAN spoke, and its… no THEIR voice echoed for miles. A clamouring of a thousand voices finding an eerie harmony with one another. The voices of old men, bitter by ancient losses. Young men, heroes of millennia past that died too young. Maidens, crones, beggars and lords. Ancient Elves, stout Dwarves and even the raging cry of Dragons. The united, collective consciousness of many thousands of mighty souls.

The Justinian turned to the left, and then to the right, as if to glare at its many nemesis’ surrounding it.

“Children of the Demiurge.
From elusive reaches you came, and fought well you had. But it has availed you nil.’’

The Justinian raised both its arms, apart, as if in praise.

‘’You, in false hope, sought to outnumber us O great and false God. You sought to ensnare us here -- but within this…. form, WE are LEGION. WE have slain your brethren in such number that the Cycles of the Demiurge be severed, forevermore. For you, bringer of ill-omens, there is no chance of returning Materia to its invalid foundations’’.

The Justinian lowered its arms, bringing its burning sword down again to face Yuwan.

‘’O great liar, daughter of the dead Deceiver, you presumed to use your schemes to deceive the JUSTINIAN here. Even in your wisdom… you could not perceive that WE, in this mere material state… were as but lure to finish what was started in heaven a decade ago.’’

Yuwan gave no reply, but motioned to her Celestial retainers to prepare the spells she had previously laid out for them. It is time for the Justinian to be driven back to the Celestial Plane. And they set on Him like a pack of heavenly wolves. They fired bolts of thunder and whirlwinds of ice. But it does little to deter Him.
The Justinian moved calmly through the aether. Its fiery form and blinding light returned, golden wards absorbing the strikes of thunder and ice. Yuwan turned her head to look behind her, seeing her onetime mortal companions-in-arms looking upon her in religious awe.

‘’Young defenders of Materia. We shall not meet again. Go now, and you will see the dawn rise again tomorrow.’’

The Air-knights, whose eardrums were already shattered from the booming voice of the Justinian were awed to hear their goddesses light, musical voice ring firmly through their minds. Speaking to the very instincts of the winged mounts, they cast off carrying their riders to safety, for they themselves were paralysed by the godly theatre in their mortal gazes. They would be the last mortal eyes to ever lie upon the form of the Goddess Yuwan.

The only one unimpressed by Yuwan’s disposition was her anathema, the Justinian, and he soared at her with a fell swoop to strike her down. Yuwan’s ascended pantheon-to-be however proved ready to fight the New God even in its realm of domination… melee combat. United, they charged, firing spells and incantations as they went. Harassed and slowed, Justinian was forced to halt his charge, instead turning to cut down the nearest Celestial - the first to move against him.
The celestial servant, wielding an ornate scythe saw his weapon deflect the Justinian’s fiery sword, but the force of the strike was such that the scythe’s blade became deformed, bent inwards and molten.

The second Celestial servant’s strike was deflected by Justinian, and the third, and the fourth. The celestial servants maintained their offensive by virtue of striking together, The Justinian’s sweeping blade of such strength that some of the servants weapons were cleaved in half or lit to flames. The Justinians golden wards buckled under the sustained fire of many dozens of spells, one by one.
Surrounded, the Justinian attempted to ascend to the stratosphere. The celestial servants did all they could to pin him down. Yuwan fired a barrage of spells above Justinian, blocking him further from ascending. Even if the Justinian’s goal was to lure them out to slay them all at once, by keeping the Justinian low to the ground, he would be cautious to avoid destroying his own followers in his army below them.

Struggling to make room for itself as its wards fell, The Justinian struck with even greater might. Its sword cut through a second celestial servants weapon, this time a sword, cutting through the celestial servants wrist as well. The Justinian took this moment to grab hold of one of Yuwan’s celestial servants by the neck. The Celestial struggled frantically as the Justinian's inhumanly tight grip strangled her.
At that moment, the Justinian flared with light. The Celestial screamed as her body was lit in an inferno of a thousand suns, a great burst of light and flame engulfed her. As Justinian had done to the air knight formation, as the Justinian had done to Yuwan’s own retinue of Celestials. The sky lit up with white light, the shadows cast across the ground disappeared. The still marching Justinian armies were blinded by the light, many thousands that survived the battle would die in the decades to come of an unknown affliction given to them that day.

Yuwan’s Celestials, most having survived but with shattered wards, others singed, retreated slightly from Justinian giving it the space needed to ascend and accelerate upwards. Having recovered a bit, the celestials gave chase, Yuwan the first among them, already firing devastating hurricanes again at Justinian's wards and healing her servants.

Justinian ascended, higher and higher. Dodging and weaving as Yuwan’s increasingly powerful spells detonated in the aether. The clouds parted as Justinian and Yuwan pushed through them, followed by a trail of Celestial servants, all ascending in chase with great speed to the very roof of the universe.
The engaging Gods looked down upon the bowl-like world from the stratosphere between the material plane and the endless void it floated within, Justinian held steady and waited for its challengers to meet in this distant place far from the mortals that fought below. Behind Justinian, only one star shone, the Pale Star of the West.

The first Celestial was in sight now, rushing towards the Justinian. Unrestrained by earthly matters, the Justinian battered the Celestial aside with such force he spiralled erratically until disappearing into clouds. Three more Celestial servants followed, immediately engaging in close quarters. Another burst of light, incinerating heat. More fantastical buckling wards, yet no mortal’s eyes to see.
Justinian struck quickly, cleaving a Celestial in half just as the majority of the others arrived, followed by Yuwan, who had held behind as she charged another spell. Justinian’s own wards were finally being reduced to their final layer, who instead depended on regular bursts of light to defend itself. Yuwan chose this moment to fire a green comet from the palm of her hands, breaking through Justinian’s wards entirely.

Justinian was struck by the comet; cracking his armour and knocking him backwards, which was soon followed by Neferhata, one of Yuwan’s Celestials, successfully stabbing Justinian’s shoulder, running a golden naginata through it. Justinian, seemingly undaunted, grabbed hold of Neferhata’s wrist and then runs her through with his sword. Swinging her body around as a bludgeon, now lit on fire, Justinian forced the servants back.

Pulling the sword out of Neferhata’s chest, Justinian dragged out a trail of blood; blood that levitated in the air. The stream of levitating blood circled around Justinian, followed by expanding out as more blood flowed from the burning, screaming Celestial. The blood moved in the air by the will of Justinian. It took shape, a perfect circle with geometric shapes within. In one hand, Justinian swatted away other Celestial, and with the other held its hand out above the circle of blood.

‘’Forces of Justice. Now return unto me, and so let Justice be done.’’

The Celestials watched on as the blood circle glowed, spinning, the geometric shapes within becoming ever more intricate. Yuwan saw the transmutation circle, one of a complexity she had never seen besides her or Eudeye’s own machinations, how the abomination knew to make such a circle was beyond her -- but right now it did not matter. Yuwan in that immortal moment, understood what had to be done.

“Let Knowledge be Thy Power!” Yuwan shouted to her fellows, knowing full well that whatever it was that Justinian meant to do; it must be stopped. She fired another comet at Justinian, this time Justinian dodged it, the circle moving with him, blood spiralling and stretching as the stream continued from the now dead Neferhata’s partially charred corpse, her eyes glowing red, the same shade as the transmutation circle.

‘’BEHOLD, O ANATHEMA!’’

Justinian shouted, its many voices proclaiming to Yuwan, now desperately trying to shoot the Justinian down. From Tramontan far beneath, a red dot appeared, crimson light gleaming through the clouds.

For on the surface, where the battle over Tramontan raged on, the Justinian warriors began to glow red. The battle ever since the gods left had become a chaotic struggle. Justinians that had managed to mount the gryphons of slain Yuwanist riders duelled against the remaining Air-Knights and Ilehnaed, the Yllendlen Dragon-riding Emperor. The Titanic giants of the West stomped through the two armies, kicking aside elephants and golems; crushing friend and foe alike. Piles of horse and knight laid on the side, remnants of charges hours ago where Empyraeos and Suh of Lamash battled, now the household guards and Lamashi aswaran fought on foot. The heroes, knights and endless number of mere men and women watched as a red glow emanated from the eyes of every single Justinian in the battle. Those who had their consensual curses tattooed on their faces or otherwise visible had those symbols glow the brightest -- the curse symbols bleeding and crackling with deathly energy. The Justinians became silent then. Eerily, impossibly silent. War cries, shouted orders and screams of fear and even of terrible pain faded away. They fought in silence as their red glowing eyes and markings deepened, blood emerging from the sockets behind their eyes as though they were tears. A deep, low throbbing hum shook through the earth.

‘’BEHOLD, O ANATHEMA!’’

the Justinian army all chanted together, in collective unison and to the bewilderment of the Yuwanist forces, who gazed upon them in the dread of disbelief. Red light started to tint the sky, like a pillar that rose up into the clouds.

From the stratosphere, Yuwan and her remaining celestial servants watched as the single red pillar emerged from Tramontan.

“You would sacrifice armies of your faithful only for my death?’’

Yuwan whispered harshly in disbelief.

‘’A million souls is insufficient to vanquish---’’

Yuwan stopped then. For she saw on the horizon another red pillar that rose up through the clouds. And another behind it. Across the western hemisphere of Materia, red pillars were rising through the clouds that smothered all sight, save for the fierce Pale Western Star blazing through as a solemn eye. Huddled together in temples, hundreds of mediating Justinians all glowed red. In villages, glowing men and women sat gathered around the idol of Justice, awaiting paradise and the final battle. A young boy, dreaming to be a paladin looked up in the red sky and smiled as his eyes bled. With so many sacrifices… Yuwan realised there could only be one possible reason the Justinian would dare give up this number of souls.

‘’Demiurge’s Messenger… Thou shalt not abscond Justice a second time.’’

Justinian and many millions of red-glowing mortals spoke in unison across the Material world.

‘’Stop the Justinian! Stop them now!’’

Yuwan cried with a tempest, now desperate to stop what would surely be a cataclysm of irreversible consequences.

In the interstice, the unknown unworldly plane between planes, a hole was beginning to form. Aether spilled through, swirling energy of the celestial plane. The first of the glowing Justinian's were dropping as their sacrificed souls powered the opening rift.

The celestial servants charged Justinian. Justinian parried and deflected them, while some successfully slashed its form. Justinian, as if in a trance, ignored the damage. Even as Yuwan successfully blew off Justinian’s sword arm, the flaming sword vanishing into the clouds, Justinian did not seem to care.

Yuwan knew then that to avert catastrophe, she had no choice. The Goddess placed her hands together, open palmed. A whispered, melodic chant followed as her orbiting artifacts gathered before her open hands. Urns divulged their contents, translucent, colour-changing water seeped out. Infused with theurgia harvested from the celestial plane, Yuwan crafted a ward; a ward stretching as a half-sphere before her. She walked towards the scar in the interstice, red light gathering around it as it grew. The hint of a vast and cataclysmic mass of power on the other side, but moments from coming through.

Her celestial servants assailed the now swordless Justinian, leaving the lone Goddess to do what she came all this way from the Celestial Plane to do. And she stood before the rift. Moving the ward forward, raising her hand to touch the rift already emanating a power that so decisively vanquished the Old Pantheon a decade ago.

She saw Justinian racing towards her. Somehow, impossibly, the Justinian had broken free of its assailants. A celestial servant, a hole through its chest caused by a hand being pushed through it fell behind Justinian, dead. The Justinian itself raced on, one-handed, one legged, its head being blasted in half and dangling on a strip of throat.

But, thankfully. For Yuwan. For millions of souls and the entire world, in Yuwan’s eyes at least… Justinian was too late. In that moment, Yuwan, clad in the translucent light refracting ward, touched the rift, pulsing the greatest counter-curse that all her collected knowledge had given her. In that instant, a white light engulfed her, Justinian and any celestial servant nearby. An explosion akin to a supernova detonated high above Materia, parting not only the clouds but the air. The avatar of Justinian, Yuwan and those others engulfed in the blast vanished, the red glow across the world dissipating away. The two gods left the Material Plane once more.

While their forms were destroyed, the gods continue their war. On that day of 11AWH -- Justinian and Yuwan -- the great gods of this world fought for the destiny of Materia. Their struggle remained inconclusive. No Great Reconvergence occured imminently after, nor did Yuwan’s Emerald star in the east fade. Another 289 years of bitter conflict and never ending struggle as the mortals of this world carried on that all consuming conflict.

The War In Heaven was over. Now is the age of Sacrilege War.

289 YEARS LATER

"When the war of the giants is over the wars of the pygmies will begin."

SACRILEGE WAR (Grimdark Fantasy NRP)

UPDATE: Still recruiting! We're particularly in need of more Justinian factions in the West and Red Pantheonist factions (perhaps loyalist to the Old Pantheon) in the north! More Yuwanists also welcome. everyone welcome!

Note: This is Sacrilege War III, names and themes that appear to be the same as ones created by Flagg, are actually from Sacrilege War II(GMed by Flagg) and Sacrilege War I (GMed by Serpentine88) and as such it was Serp who created the names and themes originally.

• (Grim)dark fantasy setting, high-magic (lots of magic, creatures, etc).

• Gods actually exist and actively intervene in the setting.

• Everyone is involved in a global proxy war between gods. Factions are determined by religion, which is pre-set because the religions gods are actually real and controlled by the GM (or in the case of the Red-Pantheon, semi-controlled by the players with restrictions).

• World is a single earth-sized pangaea, logistical issues are solved by magical portal gates and air-transportation. The world is also literally flat (well, technically a convex bowl shape).

• The world has a material and a celestial plane, though the latter has never been successfully entered while still alive.

• All magic comes from gods, the vast majority of it distributed by existing gods to their servants and followers. There is some leftover magic in the material plane distributed long ago by dead gods but is a finite (and running low) supply.

• In general, technology should be 15th-16th century for all factions

• Most magic is gained from gods giving magic in return for the sacrifice of souls. In this setting, a soul is a non-physical element of the mind which accounts for ‘consciousness’. As such, any intelligent being as well as any conscious animal has a soul.

• Each Celestial Entity is represented by a star in the sky, a god’s mirror reflection from the Celestial Plane, with Red Gods having smaller and more faint Red Stars (where their name originally came from). Justinian’s star is known as the Pale Star of the West, and is by far the largest, enough so that Justinians call it the New Sun. Yuwan is represented by a smaller yet brilliant Green Star in the East. Which has long since been called the Celestial Emerald.

• Genuine possibility this world will end in an apocalypse. RP will increasingly become more like a horror story as events unfold.

TECHNOLOGY:

• Overall, the three factions should have technology revolving around the 15th century, with some advancements into the early 16th century. In other words, a military period somewhere around between the War of the Roses and the French Wars of Religion.
• Full-plate (gothic armour) is available to all factions, though it should be assumed that not all factions will have it in equal amounts (e.g: Arctic barbarian raiders should not all be decked out in full plate).
• Guns exist, the three factions have hand-bombards/culverins, culverins, bombards, serpentines, ribaults and other 15th century artillery. Early-mid 16th century artillery may be plausibly achieved but would be more experimental the later it is, this including basilisks, sakers and falconets (16th century).
• Demi-culverins, late-16th century cannons will not be useable as they are too much a staple of the pike-shot era of renaissance warfare.
• Matchlock and wheellock muskets/pistols exist however shouldn’t dominate the battlefield. There is likely not enough guns in production yet to form proper pike-shot formations yet. Heroes could potentially wield guns.

The Nationsheet Template:

[Name Here]
[Flag Here]
NATIONAL INFORMATION:
-Population: (This setting allows for improbable population sizes due to the presence of literal gods providing divine intervention for agriculture and other population boasts. The typical nation should still be below 25 million people, however some enormous empires can go up to around 50-100 million people. Another thing to note are the reproduction rates of species)
-Faction: (See Factions for info)
-Capital:
-Government Type:
-Government Description: (at least a paragraph)
-Head of State:
-Currency:
-Language(s): (Note that Justinians tend to speak either Sancthiyin Elvish or Aemarine, both of which are globally prominent languages besides local ethnic/national languages. In the east, the Edhelywlin Elvish tongue is the lingua franca though there are many other languages as well. Due to the similarities of Sancthyyin and Edhelywlin Elvish languages, there is a common translatable language between eastern and western diplomats, though these languages are not commonly spoken by either sides peasant populations. Sancthiyin is the official language of the Justinian Clerisy in Sacrosanctia and is expected that Clerics and elites can speak it)

[Short-History Here]
A couple/few paragraphs summarising your nation's history. If you desire to make a novella-length history, write down the full version in ‘extra information’. This short history should summarise your nation in connection to major world events such as the War In Heaven, the Axohar Rebellions or major internal events such as shifts in religion (e.g: mass conversion to Justinianism) or invasions and so on (e.g: Ouroborasia falling to Justinian crusaders in 157AWH).

UNIQUE ATTRIBUTE INFORMATION:
(In here, list a number of interesting factoids about your nation that makes it what it is. This could be specific cultural practices, certain applications of military technology, a unique government form, a signature magic style or certain locations. Overall, here is where you should ‘fluff out’ as well as make note of special advantages or disadvantages you have. It is expected that you should have at least one advantage and one disadvantage. I will monitor this section closely to ensure fairness)
Disclaimer: Your 'unique' attributes may not actually be unique.

GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION:
[Map Here With Claim, possible additional internal map with locations inside territory wanted but can be skipped]
-Major Locations of Interest (Castles, Cities, Walls, Temples, Mountains/Forests/etc of note)

RACIAL(species) INFORMATION:
-Majority race: (Note if ruling class or not, include demographic percentage. Give description of the species)
-Minority race(s): (Note if ruling class or not, include demographic percentage. Give description for notable minority species)
RELIGIOUS INFORMATION:
-State Religion: (Should align with faction. If Justinian, Canonical/Orthodox/Heterodox/Anathema should be noted.)
-Patron Deity: (Should align with faction unless Red Pantheon, where you should choose/create one independent of a God. Yuwanist Nations each have their own Patron Deity as an Angel that is subservient to Yuwan. Red Pantheonist states can have multiple Patron Deities. (max 3)
-Religion Demographics: (What percentage of your population is devoted to what God?)
-Major Holy Relics/Artefacts in Possession: (There are Bound Artefacts and Masterless Artefacts. Both intensely magical, with Bound Artefacts belonging and borrowing the magic of a still living God, and only working when said God allows it so. Whereas Masterless Artefacts containing the magic of a dead God, can be used by anyone and against anyone. Magical items are useful since they allow the user to cast a spell with absolutely no knowledge of magic and get constant results, with Masterless Artefacts turning the wielder into an inheritor to the Dead God’s craft, and making the Magic His.
Justinians do not allow the possession of Masterless Artifacts to anyone aligned to the state, and require all enemy Artifacts, as well as Masterless ones, to be sent to the Golden Armoury in Archonnen for either safe keeping or disposal.
Yuwanist Artefacts will mostly belong to your Nation’s respective Yuwanist Patron-Deity rather than Yuwan herself. Each Nation may not possess more than two Holy Artefacts, though if both Artefacts are Bound, you are are allowed to take a third one that is Masterless.
Minor Artefacts need not be specified in the NS. I don't feel that a magical sword that cut deeper, or an armor that's more resistant, count as legit Holy Relics.)
-Holy Site under Control: (One per Nation. Not necessary for minor powers. If your empire has a hold of one of the holy cities, take note of this as well, as they are the most important and powerful holy sites you can possibly hold. Generally; your Holy Site is the nr.1 location where your god's magic and direct influence is the strongest. A place where the Material and Celestial planes almost overlap. Think of the Altar in the empire's largest cathedral, or an ancient and magical tree. A mystical oasis. Naturally there are more Holy Sites than just one, but this one in particular is the most significant and revered.)
-Notable Magical Institutions: (Justinian Paladin academies, Justinian Oratoriums, Red Pantheon secret societies or coven buildings, Yuwanist magi schools or guilds, Yuwanist universities or magical library-observatories, etc)
-Religious Interpretations/Culture :(Local views of the religion, possible schisms/heresy, include various local religious-cultural practices, beliefs, traditions, rituals, festivals, etc. Mandatory for anyone playing as Heterodox Justinians)

MILITARY INFORMATION:
Total Military Size: (standard states maxed at 150,000 with an average of around 80,000-100,000. Powerhouse/empire/large nations-type nations should be around 200,000-250,000. Ridiculous mass-breeding species and improbably large empires (such as the Riglirs and Archonnen respectively) may have more, though will need personal oversight from the GM. Due to the apocalyptic nature of this perpetually enduring war, the replenishment rate for lost troops is quite rapid in countries already in a state of total war or facing extinction, even more so for rapid-breeding or magically fabricated species)
Listed Heroes: (The names of your active heroes in a list. Does not require character profiles though it is suggested that characters you use often in IC posts should go in the Dramatis Personae while others are either just super-elite soldiers or ‘heroes of another story’. Players have a maximum of 15 heroes unless certain exceptions are given, such as holders of holy cities or given close divine mandates/oversight which may allow up to 20-25 heroes)
Military Doctrine:
Military Units: (including air cavalry and navy)
DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
[Notable characters go here, including national leaders/royalty, military leaders, commonly depicted heroes and other people of interest. This can be expanded in the future if players want to cut down on too much information at the start. The character sheets can either be proper character sheets or short paragraph-based]

EXTRA INFORMATION:
[optional stuff you may add]
Full History: (Your nation’s history following the major eras/cycles. Remember to align it with the settings history, as it is hard for nations to live in an isolated bubble here)
List of Historical Grievances: (Who are your historical enemies at the start of the RP)
Relations: (What are the established relations at the start of the RP; this can either be simple as “Hostile, Cold, Neutral, Warm, Friendly” or a detailed explanation of each relationship per nation)
Cultural Notes: (Anything cultural of note or unique about the nation that isn’t mentioned under religious interpretations/culture)

CONCEPT INTRODUCTION:

The world, known as Materia is a world of divine cycles. An imperfectly designed world created by very real yet equally imperfect gods. Doomed to die. Since time immemorial, pantheons of gods have risen, ruled, and changed the world, though each as incapable of fixing the world as the last and so are then inevitably destroyed as they were replaced by new gods. Each cycle the world has decayed further… ever onwards, ever downwards… in entropy towards a final darkness.

It has been exactly 300 years since the fall of the ‘Old Pantheon’ of gods, beginning an age of global warfare and strife. This time however, the conflict has reached unprecedented levels as this time the cycle has failed, occurring in a broken half-finished state, perhaps indicating that the entropy of the world is approaching its final end. Rather than forming a new pantheon to rule over the world, the gods remain divided, no unifying force ruling the heavens. Rogue angels have assumed the role of fake gods, one of the Old Pantheons gods still somehow lives... Furthermore, rather than a new pantheon of gods, only one new god was formed. Justinian, a god that declares itself of mortal origins and which intends to end this world, replacing it with a new, perfect utopia.

Justinian slaughtered most of the Old Pantheon in a great heavenly deicide known as the War In Heaven, but because it failed to kill all the other gods, the world has been plunged into 300 years of holy war as the remaining gods turn to their mortal instruments to destroy each other. This mortal proxy war is known as the Sacrilege War, and so 300 years ago, the three-way global war begun, the mortal races by divine providence commanded to annihilate the faithful of other gods.

So as they fought and continue to fight, the world is drenched in magic; powers in exchange for sacrifices handed to mortals to bolster the war effort. Divine miracles are a daily affair, the existence of gods an almost universal truth - even as the gods declare each other false and themselves as the only true gods.

This is the story of a doomed world… and the near endless numbers of mortal sacrifices that will be consumed in the name of its last ruler. Yet salvaging Materia is never out of reach for those that dare.

FACTION GAMEPLAY:

There are three supranational factions that each player-nation belongs to, these factions divided by religion - that is service to a very real god or goddess. Gods are the source of all magic in this world and regularly perform miracles. Some gods such as Justinian are so interventionist that they are essentially the religious leader of their own religion. It is expected that players will all have common histories and cultural elements due to the world's history and faction system (though the third faction, the Red Pantheon, are the most customisable - including the ability to make your own custom national deity, though in exchange are also the least united and objectively the weakest faction)

APOCALYPTIC THEMES:

The world is also filled with secrets and hidden lore that players will gradually discover over time. The world also has a number of preset methods to which an apocalyptic event may be triggered by either players or by world events. As the story goes on and the likelihood of an apocalyptic event increases, the genre of the RP will gradually shift from grimdark military high fantasy to something more along the lines of a cosmic horror story.

SETTING:

This setting is also a very deep, complex one with a great deal of world-building, particularly since Sac War has been built up in previous versions over the years, hosted by both Serpentine88 and Flagg. Of note is a detailed cosmology concerning the gods and the ‘heavenly’ cycles as well as the detailed magical system this world abides by. Players are expected to take some effort to read through or at least skim through this information so they understand the kind of world they are RPing in. It is also suggested that they at least read the mythos and mechanics of the faction they join, as each god and their associated faith have unique attributes and ideals which you should consider when joining that faction.

SPECIES:

This is still essentially a high magic setting and allows most of the traditional ‘races’, elves, dwarves, centaurs, giants, etc. It is suggested to stick to the more typical fictional species if you don’t want your species to be criticised and judged by the GM (searching for min-maxing nonsense). Note that some species such as dragons and elves have a significant presence in the world-building lore so you need to take previous history into account when adding your own. It should also be noted that some species are banned. This includes;
-Undead (Necromancy does not function the way most fantasy settings do because no god will give the magic needed to perform necromancy. You can animate corpses in the same way you could animate a fork or chair, but you cannot return a soul to the living world after it has died. An attempt at doing so without a god will result in you being hunted down and ‘lightning’d’ by one or all gods, even if they are fighting each other).

-Angels/demons/djinns etc (You can use angel and demon looking people, particularly Justinians who may have individuals that are magically altered by their god to make them appear like angels with wings and so on. However, actual angels/demons are restricted due to cosmology issues).

-Ectoplasmic entities (An ectoplasmic entity would require enormous amounts of magic at a constant rate to exist, which is highly impractical. Thus a whole species of them is pretty much impossible. Ectoplasmic entities as such do however technically exist though)

-Animated inanimate people (While golems and animated objects exist, they are not sentient and cannot be made sentient, as such you cannot play as elementals, golem-people and so on)

MAP OF MATERIA

(with established nations at present)

Map

The centre east and west of the world, those lands without names attributed to them, are place-holder NPC nations. New players can choose to hijack/take over or replace an NPC region if they so wish.
The majority of the arctic far-north of Materia is still empty space, and those regions are still up for grabs to whoever is crazy or desperate enough to claim them.

THE FACTIONS:

There are 3 factions to choose from, all (mostly) fighting in a 3-way conflict. Factions are determined by religion, which is extremely important in this setting since the gods are not only very real, but very active (some more so than others). Two of these factions are focused around holy cities located to the far west and far east, both of which emanates out a sphere of influence from these nexus points, however they also have influence over any region with sufficient amounts of their followers or magic is distributed. The third faction (the Red Pantheon) are far more decentralised, acting as smaller localised spheres of influence, mostly in areas where the two greater factions have little control.

Each faction is at war with all others in this global conflict known as the Sacrilege War, a 300-year long holy war directed by the gods themselves, the gods ordering their mortal followers to desecrate and/or destroy the religious icons,constructs and holy sites as well as convert or kill other gods followers.

The three groups each have their own ideologies, histories, beliefs and powers as explained below, but in summary the three factions are:

-Justinianism: Followers of the God Justinian (Also known as Justinius or Justice or a thousand other local cultural names), based in the West, where its holy city sits. Emphasis on holy paladins; witch hunters, possessed hosts acting as demi-avatars of their god (represented by individual dead historic heroes), blatant orders from their god, monolithic clerical bureaucracy and religious military orders. Rejects the material world for an ideal spiritual one and wish to remake the world with a “Great Reconvergence”, creating a perfect utopia. Infamous for totalitarianism, mass surveillance and occasionally committing genocide.

-Yuwanism: Followers of the Goddess Yuwan, based in the East, where her holy city sits. Emphasis on magi, vague visions and dreams from their distant secretive godess, ancient schools of collected knowledge and excessive use of magic. Fights for the status quo and stability, balance between the celestial/spiritual and material world… even if it means sacrificing millions to maintain it. Infamous for mass slavery and mass unwilling sacrifice.

-Red Pantheonism: Followers of the Red Gods, rogue ex-celestial servants of previous pantheons based in their own respective locations. Emphasis on witches, monsters, curses, corrupting existing institutions, selfish whimsical deities, demi-god bastards and a lot of blood sacrifice. Many care little for the spiritual world and care for personal pursuits in the material one. Infamous for corrupting civilisations and treating mortals as expendable playthings and tools, and generally advocating nihilism and social darwinism.

As can be seen, it should be said that each god is not particularly likable. The gods of this universe are not pure benevolence and sunshine. The factions are grim and commit heinous crimes regularly… that said, each faction does have their positive sides. Justinian is genuinely fighting for the creation of a utopia via the Great Reconvergence, and tries to create a high standard of living for its followers. Yuwan believes in positive liberty, so while she allows her followers to enslave each other, she usually likes giving her followers free will and the choice to decide how to live and make decisions rather than forcing ‘enlightenment’ on them. She also indirectly assists in improving the livelihood of her peoples’ societies and often acts as a teacher of sorts, attempting to allow her followers to reach enlightenment themselves. Red Gods are capable of personal relationships, differing from Justinian who is too impersonal and Yuwan who is too distant… and as such they can actually feel respect, friendship or even love for mortals. While each faction views the Sacrilege War as a white and black morality conflict (particularly the Justinians), its actual morality is determined by the players.

JUSTINIANISM

“Justice be done”

Mythos: The Canonica says that the world has existed for aeons, but not an infinite time. It says that it was created by a monstrously cruel god known as the Demiurge - the first false god and creator of the material world. This tyrannical creator-deity trapped the timeless and pure souls of all conscious beings within this material plane, once of the eternal and infinite celestial plane like itself. In the material world the souls felt mortality for the first time, and they would grow, decay and die as the Demiurge commanded. To further rule over the now mortal souls, it created and begun the system of distribution of celestial power, the means to which the material world gains magic… The price however being sacrifice. This first contract would see countless souls destroyed for the false gods whims.

It is said however that this wicked creator-deity was neither wise nor omniscient, despite possessing near total control over the universe. Eventually it created new beings in the heavens, and eventually the Demiurge was destroyed by these beings, its ‘children’. These Demiurgic False Gods then ruled from the stolen seat in heaven, just as wicked and many times more arbitrary as their creator.

The world has since suffered under the tyranny and abuse of the Demiurgic False Gods for untold millennia. They have since corrupted and twisted the original souls into many forms and numerous races, created in their image or on a whim. The false gods have repeatedly defiled the heavens and fought amongst themselves, distributing magic to destroy each other and creating a cycle of war and chaos every millennia as the old false gods are overthrown by the new false gods.

The false gods have even co-opted the mortal souls, forcing subservience and adherence to nonsensical edicts, distributing magical powers so to turn the mortals against each other and forcing heroic individuals to become immortal slaves in the heavens, forever chained to the false pantheons whims.

This was until the War In Heaven, three hundred years ago. Nearing the end of their millennia of rule, the great Demiurgic King-of-Gods Ashenlur and his ‘Old Pantheon’ ruled the mortals with such injustice that their immortal hero-slaves would suffer it no more. No new pantheon would replace them this time. No longer would Axohaan rise again in a futile and meaningless war between false gods and the long since corrupted servants of fallen, dead gods. This would be the final cycle.

The mortal heroes, once dead and ascended to heaven achieved a means to remove their individual chains and fuse together as one being. A new consciousness was born in heaven, pure and uncontrolled by the Old Pantheon. Mortal souls now sovereign again in heaven formed the new, Nascent True God, self-begotten by its constituent souls rather than the designs of the Demiurgic forces. It named itself Justice (now known as Justinius or Justinian due to the influence of the Clerisy of Sacrosanctium). It named the Old Pantheon Demiurge, and declared the War In Heaven, an effort to destroy the current world and remake the old perfect one where all souls were immortal. It created a heavenly god-slaying weapon, the Epilogean Sword, created through the fusion of the legendary weapons of every heroic soul that created Justice. With it Justice struck down the false gods.

The god of war was struck down. The goddess of fertility and love, cut down. God of the Ocean, Goddess of Hearth and Home, the twin gods of the Sun and Sky. Even Ashenlur was destroyed, his heavenly sword Agur cut in half and sent spiralling into the material world.

Every single false god of the Old Pantheon was purged, but Yuwan. The false goddess of prophecy, knowledge and magic escaped her fated destruction through unknown means. Her cheating death and escaping Justices supposedly all-destroying blade has had catastrophic consequences for the heavenly and material worlds, which have ever since been plunged into the 300 year long global holy war known as the Sacrilege War.

Justice’s great mission, the Reconvergence of the celestial and material planes cannot be fully completed until the last Demiurgic False God and rogue angel is dead. Until the heavens are united, the promised utopia of what is known as the ephemeral plane where all living and dead souls are reunited in immortal paradise cannot be fulfilled. So long as Yuwans minions resist there can be no peace. So long as the so called ‘red gods’, former servants of the Old Pantheon or previous false gods who did not join Justinian sow chaos across the world, there can be no peace. So long as the treacherous anathema corrupt Justice's words, there can be no peace.

And so, we must fight. A single year after the War In Heaven, Justice descended before us in the material world, taking form through an avatar vessel and reshaping the world around it as it landed. Here in the holy city of Sacrosanctium, Justice delivered its proclamation before a council of men and women whom would become the first Clerisy. It called on all mortal souls to arms, to march forth in a final war against the minions of the false gods, wicked rogue servants and any apostate that rejects the call.

Thus, the Sacrilege War begun. This war saw the first Justinian holy warriors march out from the western holy city of Sacrosanctium to conquer the world and establish Justice’s utopia. As they marched out, roughly a third of the world rose up too, casting down the Old Pantheon and converting to Justinianism, guided by the direct intervention of Justice itself.

Now, for over three centuries this global conflict has raged between the servants of our own Nascent God and the puppets of the False Goddess, rogue servants and apostasy. Justice, now more commonly known as Justinius has directly made its presence known across the world, intervening regularly from heaven as well as having parts of itself appear in the mortal world, old long dead heroes returning in the bodies of mortals selected as hosts and known as demi-avatars.

Our 300 year march to conquer the world cannot be stopped. The cycle is broken, the last false goddess hides behind vague visions and lies as The Justinian shines in the sun. The so called Red Gods are not even actual gods, fakers and liars that prey on the weak. The apostate mortals are fools, parasites and cowards to follow these false deities and who cannot accept the truth, instead preferring to dabble in the obscene and meaningless whims of the false gods or their own personal lies. We alone are the true inheritors of the universe and will bring forth an eternal utopia.

We cannot be defeated.

MECHANICS:

• Justinianism forbids the sacrifice of their own fellow Justinians against their will, however does allow the sacrifice of followers of other gods (particularly witches/magi) and allows Justinian followers to sacrifice themselves or be sacrificed by other Justinians with their consent.

• Justinianism in its orthodox form believes and spreads the values of honesty, order, loyalty, faith, fortitude/determination, altruism, charity, asceticism and justice (of their own kind). Asceticism in particular is an important value of life, as Justinians reject the material world as a flawed and evil creation of the Demiurge. Self-indulgence, hedonism, laziness and overall materialist views are considered evil or impure.

• Justinianism comes in numerous forms, depending on the believer's relationship with Justinian and the Clerical establishment. Canonical Justinianism is the most absolute, following a literal interpretation of Justinian’s and the Canonica’s laws and ideology, it is generally restricted to either those living in the far west (near Sacrosanctia, the holy city) or those who personally follow the orders of Justinian itself. Orthodox Justinianism is a step down, fulfilling the required criteria needed to fit into what Justinian itself sees as Justinianism. Heterodox Justinianism is a divergent view of Justinianism altered by mortals that either adds or removes elements beyond the criteria of Justinianism, it usually appears in areas far away from Justinians sphere of influence and thus its ability to communicate with its followers. Finally there is the Anathema, those declared heretical by The Justinian itself, and essentially excommunicated by god. Anathema are essentially at war with all Canonical and Orthodox Justinians as well as any hostile Yuwanists/Red Pantheonists (though may switch over and convert to another religion if they make a bargain). Anathema are usually marked due to certain actions that diverge significantly from the word or spirit of Justinianism (E.g: high treason).

• Justinian self-sacrifice includes sacrificial ritual suicide, sacrificial mass-suicide, suicide-attacks, ritual euthanasia as well as (particularly for Justinian societies against suicide) consensual sacrificial curses (Known as the Consensual Curse).

• Justinian and the laws of the Canonica strictly forbid slavery. A Justinian society that practices slavery will be automatically considered heterodox at best and anathema at worst, the latter designation likely resulting in a purge or crusade ordered by The Justinian itself against you. Blackmarket slavery is possible though, so just because it is illegal doesn’t mean it is non-existent.

• A Justinian consensual curse is one where after ‘coming age age’ (most Justinian societies consider the coming of age to be around 14, give or take) a Justinian follower may take a rite of passage which has them branded with a sacred vow. The curse gradually destroys their soul overtime, decreasing their natural lifespan slightly but in return on the moment of death, the soul will auto-sacrifice them. The curse can also be supercharged so that it gradually sacrifices them, though this will drastically decrease their lifespan.

• The Justinian (The deity) is not a singular identity and is neither male nor female, but a collective consciousness of former heroes that ascended into the heavens. Many Justinian societies typically refer to Justinian in male terms ‘him, his’ etc despite this due to typical human patriarchal society norms. That said, any Justinian nation that follows a closer purist/canonical form of Justinianism must accurately depict Justinian as an ‘it’, ‘they’ or more commonly “The Justinian”.

• The Justinian as a whole is an inhuman entity with little capacity for human emotion, instead being an artificial-intelligence like construct which is guided by the common wills of its constituent heroic identities, the most strongest of these common wills is to destroy the other gods and create a utopia to bring salvation to all life. That said, The Justinian is capable of brief moments of emotion if one of the heroic identities within it is able to come to the front. It is also able to delegate individual hero identities to become demi-avatars.

• Justinian demi-avatars are mortal hosts that were born usually to be in the image of a past hero that now makes up Justinian (including appearance). They are not the same person however so are not a true reincarnation. These hosts are heroes and are typically chosen to act as vessels for individual heroic identities that split off from The Justinian’s collective consciousness to possess the mortal host. While possessing the mortal host, the demi-avatar hero possesses an individual identity and the memories of their past self, though are still linked to The Justinian collective consciousness. While possessed, the demi-avatar is extremely powerful, significantly more so than a normal mortal hero. Demi-avatars can also become full avatars if the collective consciousness decides to assume control of the whole host.

• A Justinian avatar is a host much like the above but acts as a vessel for the entire collective consciousness. The avatar does not have an individual identity. Typically the mortal's soul is destroyed in the process and The Justinian takes permanent control. A Justinian Avatar is one of the single most powerful entities in the entire world, to face it in battle is to be almost certainly defeated, even for (multiple!) Red Gods.

• Most Justinians take part in a ritual/ceremony known as the “Epiphany of the Perfect World”. This ritual is where the individual is brought to a Clerisy Temple and put into a trance and then brought into a dreamscape designed by Justinian. The Justinian uses these created dreamscape to show the individual a representation of the Empyrean and essentially uses this experience to explain the Great Reconvergence and its goals. The Epiphany is also an international security system, as it allows Justinian total access to the memories and thoughts of the individual undergoing the epiphany. As such, all military, clerical and government/ruling figures must undergo the ritual, and a promotion must follow a mandatory epiphany to root out high-profile heretics or foreign agents. Not all Justinians have undergone the Epiphany, though these are usually isolated peasants and individuals out on the frontier. Most Justinians have at least had one epiphany in their life (usually during their coming of age/ritual vows).

• Justinian nations are typically more supranational in their foreign policies, with most Justinian nations essentially being forced into a large-scale collective defence agreement and usually an alliance by their gods own interference. Blatant war between Justinian states is highly difficult as Justinian is capable and willing to intervene. Conspiracy and espionage between Justinians is possible however, though difficult if in the Justinian heartlands where celestial surveillance is very high.The exception to this rule is warfare between Orthodox and Heterodox Justinians as the latter may be considered heretical enough where Justinian supports war against them.

• Each Justinian nation must have a religious secret police/inquisition/witch-hunter organisation known as the Oratorium, consisting of Orators. The absence of this organisation while still being Justinian will automatically set your nation to Heterodox status. The Oratorium is an institution part of the same hierarchy as the Clerisy, being above it. There are two levels of the Oratorium, a national Oratorium for each nation controlled by the players and an international Oratorium - The Justicarti Oratorium, which is based in Sacrosanctia and led by the Justicar Orator-General, takes direct orders from Justinian itself and is legally the superior of each national Oratorium.

Criteria to meet the standards of Orthodox Justinianism:
1: Must acknowledge Justinian as the true and only god of the universe besides the deceased Demiurge, the evil creator god of the primordial era - the great antithesis and root of all evil.
2: Must acknowledge and accept the Great Reconvergence as desirable, necessary and inevitable.
3: All celestial entities that are not Justinian (demiurgic entities) must be destroyed, following them is treason.
4: The Justinians word and mandate is absolute.
5: Accepts and takes part in self-sacrifice and the consensual curse
6: Acknowledges and accepts the existence and role of the Oratorium, allowing them the right to carry out their duties and operate within your borders.
7: Accepts and takes part in the Epiphany of the Perfect World.
8: Acknowledges and takes part in fighting in the Sacrilege War. There can be no peace until the Great Reconvergence is completed, as such this will be our final war.
9: Acknowledges Justinians divine intervention and miracles, as well as the magic delegated to the mortals.
10: Acknowledges Asceticism and the inherent impurity of the physical world and as such officially rejects materialism.

YUWANISM

“From Wisdom comes Power. From Power comes Right.”

Mythos: Through the gathering of the gifts of knowledge Yuwan and her fallen brethren have bestowed upon us, her mortal followers, it is known that in the beginning there existed a single plane where both the heavens and the material world resided, but within this singular plane both were woefully incomplete. A surreal and broken world, half-empty and afflicted with countless and obvious flaws existed instead. This plane of existence was trapped in this state by its then ruler and creator, the original king-of-gods whose name has since been long forgotten.

This nameless creator god is said by the scriptures handed down by the temples of Yuwan to have been a blind idiot, an omnipotent deity who despite this was incapable and lacking any presence or sight, trapped in his own dreams and prophecies of creation. Other beings existed in this half-finished world, the first creations and souls of the blind idiot god, wanderers without direction, lost due to the incomprehensible nature of the world created by the idiot dreamer. All possessing immortality but no means to interact with anything else, perfect awareness in a world of darkness, emptiness and incomprehensibly slowed passing of time.

The nameless creator in its incapacity eventually lost itself in the depths of its own created realm, leaving all its tools of creation unguarded and unused… and so the first godly pantheon was formed, the very first souls to swarm to the first glimpse of light in countless aeons becoming the first gods. These gods wielded the tools of creation and came to an agreement that a new world would be born, the flawed discrepancies of the nameless creators negligence repaired.

The many souls born in the unseeable abyss looked on and heard for the first time, “let there be light”.
And so the planes of existence were split, the material and celestial planes formed and for the first, the world completed - or so it was believed. The first godly pantheon could not complete the Nameless Creators work, for the moment they took hold of the seat of power together, omnipotence was forever lost, even if omniscience was gained. And as such, the souls of existence were made flawed and limited, doomed to failure. Errors in existence remained, holes in the workings of reality. All things were doomed to die and decay, a march ever onward and downward… entropy too, with a true observable existence, was born.

So many aeons later, and the gods continue work towards maintaining this paradise that was created so long ago. The material world is a gift given upon the world by the first pantheon, while imperfect, it is a promised land compared to what once was. The gods too, cursed with entropy fade away as the millennia pass, but always rise again as other great celestially born souls share the idiot gods creating powers between them.

Yuwan, our own patron goddess has been with us across the millennium. She as her brethren before her guide the mortals to peace, wielding the great heavenly tools of magic and miracles to keep balance and always slow the march of entropy and the inevitable return of the blind idiot gods mistaken world. While a member of the Old Pantheon, Yuwan was the Goddess of Knowledge, magic and prophecy… however more importantly like all gods she was a god of order. Of stability, balance and peace. By maintaining the world through careful control of life and death, controlled exchange of souls and magic through sacrifice.. .all things were as they should have been.

Ever since the rise of The Justinian, an anomalous entity three centuries ago, the world has been engulfed in chaos. They call it the Sacrilege War, and they should, for all that is sacred and right in the world is being torn down by the forces of chaos. The Justinian's followers follow a mad celestial abomination formed by the collected errors of the system of ascendance, a mad entity that demands the end of all things and the return of that empty nameless place. It has slain Ashenlur, the former King-of-the-gods and destroyed the Old Pantheon which has in turn spread war and suffering across the celestial and material planes both. It has created a vacuum from which self-interested former mortals have risen to power as heavenly usurpers, spreading nihilism and fighting for meaningless petty causes of their own designs and whims.

We have been chosen to be weapons to which the fate of universe depends on. We are the only bulwark between a world where compassion, love, touch, sight and words matter and one of horror beyond the reckoning of men.

MECHANICS:

• Yuwanism permits the sacrifice of their own fellow Yuwanists against their will, and in fact is expected to have an official apparatus dealing with the mass sacrifice of slaves or certain ‘sacrificial’ castes, depending on the Yuwanist society.

• Yuwanism in its traditional form believes and spreads the values of harmony/stability, balance, traditionalism/conservatism, patience, wisdom and rationality - while typically advocated as an orderly religion, Yuwanism does have its tolerated heresies that suggest a more innovative form, advocating idealism, creativity and self-enlightenment. Yuwanism typically rejects both extreme materialism and idealism, believing a balance between the spiritual and the material is required for a healthy self, society and in extension world. Yuwanist societies typically fear radical change since the most established revolutionary ideologies in the world currently are either the extreme-idealism of Justinianism or the extreme-materialism of Red Pantheonism.

• Many Yuwanist societies are slaver societies, both due to the residual influence of the pro-slavery Old Pantheon under Ashenlur (supported by traditionalism) and the Yuwanists need for vast amounts of magic from forced sacrifice to fight the world-conquering threat of Justinian.

• Yuwanist societies where slavery is not legal it is expected instead that to keep up their ‘sacrifice tithe/quota’ through other means. They may take part in designating a certain caste of their populace for mass sacrifice. This could be the elderly, a certain racial group or any category so long as they meet the implicit quota expected by Yuwan.

• Yuwan is typically a more indirect goddess. She does not rule her holy city directly and tends to often delegate tasks to other individuals, including celestial entities (ascended heroes) that work under her. When she wishes actions for mortals she sends visions or omens of various kinds. She typically allows freedom of thought and mostly of action, though she does have her own motives and will punish or hinder those who are acting against her or her interests. Specific implicitly banned actions will result in harsh divine intervention.

• Yuwanist states possess some of the most comprehensive and well established magical and academic institutions in the world, having the once goddess of magic and knowledge as their patron. Furthermore, many of these institutes have been standing for centuries and have vast stockpiles of collected knowledge. On average, Yuwanist magi tend to be more knowledgeable in ritual design and efficiency than their Red Pantheonist Witch and Justinian Cleric counterparts.

• Yuwan has mastered a form of prophetic power which is essentially psychohistory, or the use of vastly complex mathematics and sociology to predict the actions of civilisations and, using her godlike power, even people. When combined with her great deal of hidden knowledge and nigh-omniscience (though not actual omniscience), Yuwan is capable of limited control of causality and can make precognitive/predictive visions of the future to a significant degree of accuracy. Yuwan furthermore can delegate this predictive precognition to ‘oracles’, a special branch of Magi trained in mathematics, sociology, probability and various precognition-related magics - including reading visions of the future from Yuwan. It should be warned that these images are not perfect and in particular are based on decisions and actions - so if someone decides to drastically change their planned actions, the precognitive vision will need to be redone. (In terms of RP: If using precognition, Yuwanist players are allowed to use planned information provided by other players)

• Yuwanist nations are each given a celestial servant to watch over it. A celestial servant is a hero/champion that has died and ascended to the celestial plane, becoming a celestial entity (like an angel) that is under the command of their patron god, being Yuwan. The player may create their own celestial servant. Celestial servants are roughly equivalent to a Justinian demi-avatar in level of power, though a Yuwanist celestial servant is incapable of becoming a true full avatar of Yuwan since celestial servants are not the same entity as Yuwan (but split off as an aspect) as Justinian demi-avatars are. In exchange, Yuwanist celestial servants often have more autonomy than a Demi-avatar of Justinian and thus can act more freely, though they are still in the end chained to Yuwan.

RED PANTHEONISM

‘’‘’Mortals... Can become anything’’’’

Mythos: This world is built upon lies. The lie of greater purpose and universal meaning, the lie of invisible ‘spiritual’ things that make meaning of what exists. The lie that this world and its people were created for any other reason than the whims and desires of the world's inhabitants…

And the greatest lie of them all. The lie of the all-powerful and unknowable god.

‘God’, an interesting word. What is a god? Is a god a being with total control over causality and creation? They do not exist, as otherwise we would not exist. Is a god immortal? All gods, as do all things die. Is a god wholly benevolent? Omniscient? From beyond this world? Is a god perfect?

If all these things are to be what defines a god… then there are no gods.

We, the so called ‘Red Pantheon’, would define a god in a far more real way. A god is a being which has taken the title of a god, and has enough power to force the feeble minded beings of the material plane, the so called mortals, to believe that we are in fact gods.

And what of the demiurge? It matters not if there was a creator of this world, for he or they were both incompetent and now long dead, their flawed and decaying creation breaking down over the eons, one day to join them in the abyss. That world is now a plaything of those willing to take one of the few things that actually matter in this world. Power.

We like all so called gods were once ‘mortal’ beings like yourself. The Infantile Amalgam of the West even acknowledges its own mortal origins, while that old bat in the East still is keeping up her air of infallibility and other-worldliness by doing nothing.

Surprised? I am truly shocked young human,elf or whatever you are. I thought your cherished Infantile Amalgam wanted to break the lies of those wicked ‘false gods’?

The law of cycles, the celestial harvest. It is the oldest and ought to be one of the worst kept secrets in existence by now. Man gives sacrifice to their so called ‘gods’. Those gods, exploiting the broken system long created before them, gives Man magic. Man is made a champion, a ‘hero’, hehe.

Their soul chained to their ‘god’. They die and so we are born.

A celestial entity like myself is nothing but a Man that once sought and obtained godly power. We celestial entities then exploit this world's endless flaws, and every millennia renew the heavens, a celestial harvest destroying and replacing the former ruling gods, themselves merely those exploited the same… ‘glitch’, as it were, a millennia before that.

Those of us who are ‘Red Gods’ as you mortals call us, we are simply those entities that decided to remain outside that cycle and are now free. The foolish entities that take part in the cycle obtain their celestial seats of power, but are inevitably vanquished by a following harvest.

Oh? Then how did the Old Bat, Yuwan survive? She’s a tricky bitch that one. But they’ll get her eventually... just like the old man before her.

So, you ask, what is it I want from you? Why, isn’t it obvious? It is what all gods want, the only thing all gods alike want, and why we are named “Red Gods’.

Sacrifice - preferably bloody, but any death is fine.

In exchange - yes in exchange. It’s a contract see? In exchange, I will reward you with magic. And with it you can do whatever you wish, whatever you can create for yourself. Kill thy neighbour, covet, adulter. Worship me if you must, I am a ‘god’ afterall…

So, how about it? I offer you power, freedom and the right to create for yourself whatever purpose you wish to create for yourself. You can finally unchain yourself from the infantile amalgam, the nasty little hypocrite with its delusions of perfection.

So how about it, little ‘mortal’. From one former hero to another…. How about a contract?

MECHANICS:

• The Red Pantheon has variable laws on the sacrifice of their own followers depending on the Red God in questions personal preferences. All Red Gods allow the sacrifice of non-Red Pantheonists, most Red Gods allow the sacrifice of followers of other Red Gods and a plurality accept the sacrificing of their own.

• Red Pantheonism has no orthodox form, however historically Red Gods either have not bothered to endorse any values (as they do not see themselves as dealers in philosophical nonsense or interested in ‘teaching’ their playthings/tools/food/etc) or for those that do, usually they have respected the values of strength, self-sufficiency, willpower, craftiness/cunning, egoism (or conversely submissiveness, depending) and in some cases even physical attractiveness or racial/familial favoritism. Red Gods themselves usually value survival, freedom and following through on whatever personal philosophy (or lack of one) they have - they may bother to share their beliefs with mortals if they bother, otherwise they will just treat them as tools to be used for their own personal ambitions. A popular Red Pantheonist ideology is materialism, that is to say rejecting spiritual forces and favouring the material world and its traits over the celestial one (or a spiritual/theoretical empyrean one).

• Players are allowed to create their own personal Red God for their nation, or alternatively follow one of the more powerful Red Gods with presence in multiple nations. Red Gods can also join loose coalitions with each other to rival the more powerful Justinian or Yuwan. The most powerful such coalition is the Axohar Faction in the south.

• The school of thought suggested by the Red Pantheon mythos represents the historical precedent of what most Red Gods were like. Red Gods do not necessarily have to be satanic faustian demon-gods, however many of them are, or at least are selfish and jaded beings often out for themselves. Some only care about petty hedonism and survival while others are more driven, either seeking personal goals (such as revenge) or somewhat more ideological (usually materialist) ones, such as bringing down the celestial system of the world. The vast majority of Red Gods though tend to prefer the material world to the celestial one, otherwise they wouldn’t be Red Gods (As they would have joined the cycle and become actual seated gods during the harvest rather than go rogue).

• Red Gods can only maintain one personal avatar at a time, though they can have multiple hosts in storage/prepared for them. Most Red Gods cannot split themselves into numerous aspects like Justinian because they possess only a singular identity. Red God avatars can be either full or demi, the latter meaning the hosts consciousness/soul remains intact while and after possession, those is usually damaged and traumatised by the experience.

• Red Gods while existing in the Celestial Plane like Justinian and Yuwan have a closer affinity with the material plane. They can more easily enter and exit their avatars, even if they are significantly weaker. Red Gods can put more of their essence into an avatar, however the more they put in the greater the danger that they will be destroyed completely if their avatar dies.

• A Red God can also manifest itself in the material plane completely, at great sacrificial cost (as needed to create a hole large enough between the celestial and material planes). A physically manifested Red God will be roughly as powerful as a full avatar of Justinian unless their summoning was imperfect. It is a dangerous process that should not be taken lightly or without serious consideration of risks.

• All Red Gods are former/ex celestial servants of a previous ruling pantheon of Gods that have survived the fall of their patron pantheon. A player-created Red God must be a former servant of one of these pantheons. Possible pantheons includes the Old Pantheon(1300-300 years ago), the Ancient Pantheon(2300-1300) and the Elder Pantheon(3300-2300). Red Gods that are over 3000 years old suffer from significant soul decay/entropy and typically show signs of mental instability as they come to the latter stages of their souls life. It is not possible to be a former celestial servant of Justinian because Justinian has no servants, as all its ascended heroes on death are fused with itself.

• Each Red God often has their own personal preferences to which kinds of magic they favour and as such this affects the ritual efficiency used by their magic using followers. A Red God for example who wants to corrupt and twist life in the world will likely favour transmutation and homunculi-creation magics and thus followers of such gods will perform magic of that kind better.

• The Red Pantheon technically is not a real pantheon or even a faction as the Red Gods are actually not really aligned to each other as they are a category of celestial entity. On the positive side, this gives considerable customisability… with the downside being that your faction is very fickle and disunited and very capable of infighting, since the Red Gods that lead you are also fickle and disunited and very capable of infighting. Another downside is that overall, the Red Pantheon is the weakest of the three factions.

---

MAGIC & METAPHYSICS:

What is magic? - In Sacrilege War, all magic is essentially a kind of reality-bending power distributed by gods to their mortal followers. It is a very limited and structured form of the godly powers used by said gods regularly, though is still significantly more powerful than most mundane technology and so most militaries are dependent on its use for survival. Magic also has many non-military applications.

Theurgia, what is it? - Theurgia is the substance actually distributed by gods to their mortal followers, given in exchange for sacrifice. Theurgia is basically the magical ‘fuel’ used to cast spells. Theurgia can be distributed to either the sacrifice-giver, a container designated by a curse/magical signature or to another person if marked by a curse (such as the witch curse). Theurgia like fuel is consumed when performing the actual magical acts.

Sacrifice, what is it? - Sacrifice is the act of sacrificing a soul to a designated god or celestial entity in exchange for theurgia (magical energy). Sacrifice requires a ritual of some form which acts as a focusing act. Sacrifice also requires the sacrificer to be thinking about sacrificing and to which good in conjunction with creating the ritual. The ritual could be anything from drawing symbols on a corpse or under a corpse, a certain dance (or other body movements) or a verbal chant. The complexity of the ritual has some influence on the receival of theurgia and is also important in ensuring how and where the theurgia ends up.

What is a soul? - Each soul is an aspect of magic in its own right, and a focal point for their god to give and channel magic through. Sacrificing a soul to a god is additional fuel to the god. In the context of Sacrilege War, a soul is a ‘state of consciousness’, being the state of awareness or thought usually affiliated with most forms of life. It should be noted that this does not mean sapience or intelligent life; many animals have souls as well, though (ordinary) plants and germs do not. A soul is not a physical substance and as such is a metaphysical one; however it can technically be influenced through manipulation of the senses and mentality of those with souls. The direct modification of souls is banned by all gods, who are the only ones who can modify and elevate souls.

Are souls equal? - Souls are separated into three groups (roughly). Bestial souls, Intelligent souls and Celestial souls. Bestial souls are souls held by ‘dumb’ animals and while can be sacrificed, give significantly less theurgia in return. Intelligent souls are the souls of all intelligent people (from humans, elves, centaurs, smart!dragons, etc) and are typically equal in theurgia value, though gods may provide additional theurgia based on personal favoritism outside of this (e.g: A dwarven god that hates elves may provide more for elves than dwarves even though the god receives the same amount of sacrifice from either). A god’s Chosen mortals (Champions and heroes) have enhanced souls and thus capable of more potent spells, channeling direct magic from their god. These enhanced souls are already in the process of becoming Celestial souls. Celestial souls are those held by celestial entities including celestial servants (ascended heroes), Gods and so on. Celestial souls are much stronger than mortal souls and decay over a longer period of time. In matter of fact; Celestial souls are the very Source of all Magic in both the Material and Celestial planes.

Soul fraying (Law of Entropy), What is it? - All things in this universe are in a state of natural decay/entropy enforced by the flawed metaphysics which the universe follow, that is to say that entropy was supposedly not intentionally designed and instead an inherent flaw in all things. Because of this entropy, all souls fray and eventually die. Even gods’ souls will eventually fade away. Humans still live to their natural lifespan of around 70 or so years, however all mortal beings have a maximum lifespan of 1000 years and cannot exceed this maximum. Dragons have a maximum lifespan of 1000 years before they drop dead on the millennia mark. Regardless how well they maintained their health. Celestial entities souls are somewhat more complicated. Due to the ‘celestial harvest’ (the cyclic event where gods are killed and replaced) that happens every millennia, most celestial entities have a lifespan of 1000 years. The celestial entities (old Red Gods) that runaway from this cycle and go rogue may live longer, with the longest living Red Gods surviving to around 3000-4000 years before their souls fade away. Red Gods and mortals that live to their maximum possible lifespan (or close to it) show signs of increasing degeneration before eventually dying.

What is the casting ritual? - The casting ritual is a ritual performed to give the theurgia direction and purpose, that is to say to turn the idle magical energy into an actual action by consuming the theurgia. The casting ritual is necessary so that the consumed theurgia causes the correct (desired) action for the caster. The more complex/intricate a ritual is the more efficient it is at consuming theurgia for the desired effect. That is to say, a short spoken or hand-motion based spell will have a far weaker effect than a city-sized transmutative circle that took 3 months to prepare.

What is a catalyst? - When casting a spell, rituals can be made more complex to become more efficient, however technically speaking all spells in existence do not actually work by themselves as it needs one more component. Because the mortal magi/cleric/witch has an imperfect understanding of the natural universe and how it works, they require a form of divine intervention by their patron to subsidise their casting and fill in the holes in their understanding. This is important because certain gods are better at subsidising for different types of casted magic (e.g: Red Pantheon with Transmutation, Justinian with Counter-Curses and Wards, Yuwan with Clairvoyance, Precognition and Teleportation among other things)

What is a curse? - A curse is a unique kind of casted magical spell that after the initial sacrifice and casting of the curse, the curse can maintain itself after hitting the target by embedding itself directly into the target’s soul, to keep the casted spell alive. Curses can provide a number of different effects, ranging from injury, misdirection, a form of body-puppeting geas (the Familiar Curse), directing sacrificed theurgia to other people (Witch Curse) and even positive buffs and protection (such as Active Wards). Casters of curses can even cast curses on themselves. All curses drain the souls of the target of a curse and as such their total lifespan is degraded, the more curses one has on them stacking the drain on their soul. There are many creative ways to make use of curses.

What is a hero/champion? - A hero/champion is a mortal individual who has been given patronage by a god, that is to say given boons in return for servitude and acting as agents for their patron god. Heroes/champions do not require to perform sacrifice to gain theurgia and are instead given a nearly unlimited amount from their patron god (though they still have a maximum capacity they can hold at once). Heroes are closely linked to their patron god, including having their souls modified. Their god is usually closely monitoring them and giving them personal directions (depending on the personality of the god). Heroes upon death achieve ascendance, joining their patron in the heaven as a newly born celestial servant (Note: The exception is Justinian heroes. Justinian heroes do not ascend to become celestial servants and instead fuse with The Justinian itself, being a collective consciousness).

TIMELINE AND THE PASSAGE OF TIME:

Empyreal Calendar: The Empyreal Calendar was established by the Justinian Clerisy soon after the War In Heaven and the beginning of the Final War. Its base year is set at the War In Heaven, thus AWH/BWH. The current year is 300AWH. All Justinian states use the Empyreal Calendar. As the War in Heaven was an universally significant event, even non-Justinian tend to use the Empyreal Calendar - save only for the most orthodox of Yuwanists and Red Pantheonists.

Cyclic Calendar: The Cyclic Calendar follows the pantheonic cycles, the date is the numerical representation of the cycle age followed by years since the beginning of the age, the beginning of the age represented as APR (After Pantheon Rise). The Cyclic Calendar has the ruling pantheon of the day set the base age at ‘1’ and all previous cycles being higher numbers. The current age is therefore 1, whereas the age of the previous pantheon was 2, and the pantheon prior to that 3, etc. The Justinians have ceased to use the Cyclical Calendar, for they perceive it as archaic, legitimizing false and dead Gods. As such Justinian made its own and new calendar signified by the usage of ‘After/Before War in Heaven’(AWH/BWH).

300AWH/1-300APR: The Present Day.

---

As for months; the world does not have 12 months and normal 'seasons' don't function as the world is neither a globe in a real star system (the sun is an illusion and the stars are magical signals representing gods) nor does the environment work normally as gods can modify the weather in whole countries with sufficient influence. Instead, the months are based on the cardinal and ordinal points of a compass concerning the position of the illusionary sun in the sky.

As such, (The names being modified versions of the IRL words for the compass cardinal and ordinal points), the months are as follows:

Tramont, Grecon, Levan, Sciroccon, Ostrob, Libercon, Ponent, Maestrov.

So eight months. Each month has 45 days each, thus a total of 360 days per year.

The current month is Ostrob (month 5, representing the cardinal direction of South) of the year 300AWH. When writing IC posts, please take this into account.

The movement of time will follow two rules:
#1: Creative ruling, that is players can indicate the passage of time in their IC posts using day timeskips to allow events to move along. They can also enable short timeskips of weeks or (rarely) months. If insistent to ICly skip towards the next month you need the permission of a GM or Co-GM.
#2: GM ruling, this concerns mostly unifying IC post positions in time and accounting for major timeskips, if we ever agree as a RP group to have a major timeskip. The GMs can also dictate the current date when announcing world events.

The Search for Elvarren

If anyone wants to make a reaction post for socializing or getting to know the other characters a bit; now is the last chance.

The Search for Elvarren

KAESAR

‘’Lighter? What is a lighter?’’

…No reply came from the shady adolescent.

‘’Why are Horus and Luci dangerous?’’

‘’Are you fucking retarded?’’ Kaesar hissed under his breath in a surge of anger -- he could only do so much to restrain himself. ‘’Keep your voice down, or one of these days it’ll get you killed. Fucking retard.’’
It appears I will not have much to fear from these two newbies seeing that one is extremely timid and shy, and the other is probably severely mentally handicapped by the looks of it. But respect is due where respect is due; he can grow a better beard than me.

“I do not know what this Wi-Fi is but I don't think I want it”
Kaesar doesn’t bother giving a reply. It was just a light-hearted joke. But the fact he’s not heard of it suggests that this guy has been living under a rock. In fact; by the way he dresses… probably literally, too.
“I am unaware of this third friend you speak of, but it would be wise for us to go inside”
Finally some sense out of him. And Kaesar decided to point out as much, since he’s probably already gotten on his bad side by calling him a retard.
‘’Finally you say something sensible, stranger…’’ And he holds open the door to let them in. Once they’ve finally gotten inside, Kaesar turns to his usual quiet brooding by retreating towards a corner. But before he does he tosses one remark – one that is less passive aggressive for once: ‘’You two better introduce yourselves to the others. You don’t know what’s going to happen. Plus I have a gut-feeling something’s going down soon. There’s someone hostile to us in the area. AM is saying so.’’

Time passed on. Sadly there wasn’t much to do because there aren’t any sockets in this building to charge up dead batteries. So Kaesar can’t even listen to his favourite Satanic Black-Metal for crying out loud. So as to not die of boredom he just overhears the small talk happening in the room, occasionally replying to something, occasionally making a joke to show goodwill, and generally just watching out of the window for any sign of Dusk returning.
Aries has come into the room, and later Jay. Jay. The green haired chick, whom AM told was a threat that was out to kill him. Was AM serious about that? Well, the damage is already done. Kaesar briefly makes eye contact with her, and greets her. ‘’Good to see you’re in better shape…’’ He grunts with a faint short-lived smile. The greet was more a test than anything else. Because it appears that she doesn’t remember him. It’s for the better. Kaesar doesn’t plan on telling her what exactly happened to her . It’s sad; she has such a pretty face and Kaesar regrets having done damage to it. Even if it was for survival… right?
IS THAT DOUBT I SENSE? HOW UNBECOMING OF A TYRANT…

Dusk enters the room.
Damn, what timing. And Kaesar didn't even notice. He was about to stand up from his seat to approach and welcome him. But who better to be the first to welcome the mysterious leader than his good friend and equally mysterious right-hand man? Aries walked up to him and said something to him. Something secret. What? The two mysterious leaders are keeping secrets from their retinue? But of course they are.
And Dusk gave a reply he could not quite overhear, but it was paired with a nod, so whatever Aries just said to him --- Dusk agreed. And then Aries left into the woods.
Than Dusk spoke with the handicapped man with the beard for a bit, before a voice came from the back of the shack.
"Don't you think maybe it's time to discuss what we know about Elvarren?"
Kaesar looks at the girl.

‘’Elvarren…’’ Dusk speaks. ‘’It is the key to our survival and the explanation of the powers at work. Not just how we got these abilities, but also why those ‘Men’ are after us.
Our voices know more about it, but for some reason they cannot tell us.’’
That was exactly what Kaesar didn’t want to hear. More of Dusk’s typical cryptic bullshitting. He always manages to say much while conveying oh so little.
‘’But, I know that you people want more concrete information as to what is going to happen to us.. Or what I am planning to do. So I will tell you, firstly, that I know where Elvarren is, and how we can find it. But we have to work together! By myself there is no chance I’d be able to reach it. So it’s not like I gathered you people out of pure charity and concern. Though that also plays a part. I need you guys as much as you need me.’’

Kaesar would be moved by that little talk, but at the moment he cannot be arsed. He really needs that smoke, and nobody’s given him a lighter. Maybe Pup’s dragon is capable of breathing fire? If so, would it be any good at lighting cigarettes? The Bulgarian decides to ask her while she’s still alive.
‘’Hey. Can your dragon breathe fire? If so, can you tell it to light a cigarette?’’ Kaesar has an impatient and, even eerily anxious look on his face, enough so for Pup to notice. Is he really that desperate to have a smoke? Talk about addiction…
Though, as soon it’s out of the way, Kaesar hurriedly heads for the door to move outside ASAP.

‘’Where are you going?’’

Dusk notices.
‘’...Going outside for a smoke. I will be back momentarily, relax.’’

---

Meanwhile everyone inside the lodge can indeed sense based on their Perpetuals, that there are people.. or things.. outside of the shack, and they are closing in.

The Search for Elvarren

It's not dead but I have other things forced on me now, haha. I still have a half-written post for this RP that I need to finish. So I should AT LEAST post that one. Also; me and Windy were planning on something big to happen next post.

SACRILEGE WAR (Grimdark Fantasy NRP)

OOC is about done. Will post soon.

SACRILEGE WAR (Grimdark Fantasy NRP)

@The Nexerus
discord.gg/5rTeCN

SACRILEGE WAR (Grimdark Fantasy NRP)

We're aiming for next week. In the meantime feel free to visit our discord channel. Link is at the bottom of the thread.
@Captain Marvel