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[Yellow Pixel]

Historic Chronicles:
The First Century (2/2)

Hamsterfolk:

Spoiler: Ardent Believers of Dorath (Year 12-75) (click to show/hide)

At the beginning of the first century, some Hamstermen adopted a sedentary lifestyle and started setting up overland farms in the broad river valley situated in the southwest of the Western Continent. They profited a few years later of commercial relations with the Slugmen Duchies, after a sizable road had been built to connect their territories. Those significant developments were followed with the coming of ambitious Hamstermen who wanted to play a greater role in the organization of their society. A number of them was blessed with divine visions of Dorath, the God of Order, Industry, Ambition, and Authority. He learned them techniques of metallurgy in exchange for becoming his preachers and this effectively gave them a prominent role among their people. However, because of its fear of the obscure secrets of the world, a fraction of the population preferred to give its faith to The Stranger, God of Mysteries, Unanswered Questions and the Unknown.

The emergence of a strong religious creed and of more solid figures of power laid the foundation of the Hamsterfolk society, but its stability was already undermined in the year 30, because of the encroachment of the eastern desert and the raids of the Slugmen nomads living there. As the daily existence of the population was getting increasingly difficult, conservative voices were soon heard, asking for a comeback to a simpler way of life, closer to the needs of common people, and of old shamanic practices. Those demands were considered unacceptable by the officialdom, who insisted that innovation and technology were the keys to solve the situation, so the nation felt into civil chaos. It resulted into a bloody fratricidal war, that endend with the victory of the regime in place and the confining of the shamans and their defenders in the north of the territory.

Therefore, with most opponents taken away, the worship of Dorath became the sole guiding principle of the state, the Dorathine Kingdom. At its head standed Dorathine I, the first priest-king, who sacrificed his past identity to be enthroned as the direct intermediary of Dorath in the mortal realm. All the forces that had brought his triumph were also maintained, namely a robust organization, the fanatical soldiery and the technological innovation through the Smiths. The time was then ripe to make an important social reform: the implementation of the first code of laws, defining crimes and their appropriate punishments.

In parallel, the Justicars came into being, to whom the task of enforcing rule and order was given. They were constituted of well-armed veteran troops, leaded by the War-Smiths, who made up most of the Garrisons in the early Dorathian Kingdom. The appearance of their forceful corps was menacing the long-term survival of the traditional Hamsterfolk living in the north, but they were for their part slowly and secretly enhancing their shamanic powers. The traditionalists so gained many more small, quick and quiet abilities and rituals to affect the world in unseen ways and betterly protect themselves.

Nine years after, in 42, a dorathian Smith discovered how to produce bronze through hard work and "religious experience". The promising sturdiness of the tools and weapons he forged spurred a national initiative to find more copper and tin, bolstering a nascent bronze industry. With their improved metal gear and aided by the discipline of their centralized government, the Dorathine Hamstermen began the construction of the Great Valley Mound. It is a massive and extended wall made both of stone fortifications on the inner side and of a thick layer of dirt on the outer side, overgrown with a variety of drought-resistant plant life. The intention behind that great architectural work was to put a stop to the nomadic raids and the ceaseless encroachment of the desert.

Once completed, the Mound secured trade along the large road linking the Valley of the Hamsterfolk to the Slugmen Duchies, that was already flourishing, and in 53, it is manifest that the wealth of the Dorathines and the Hamstermen Shamanists had substantially increased, wich also came with a territorial expansion. The settlements along the road crossed over by the merchants became bustling cities, surrounded by smaller hamlets and farmlands. Afterwards, in 72, the treasury of the Dorathine Kingdom was replenished and many new infrastructure projects were made possible, such as improved roads, irrigation systems, riverboats and the reinforcement of the Great Valley Mound.

These developments, coming alongside a more pronounced urbanization, induced a growth of the population and of the size of the army. There were consequently a greater number of skilled and disciplined soldiers, so the Templaris, a professional military arm, was created. They were known to fight in devastating phalanxes, orderly structured with rows of warriors brandishing long spears, wich reflected the principles of Dorath. The religion was thus part of the functioning of the military, but it was also the case in many other social spheres, and every important profession had its own sect with a unique way to worship Dorath. The first to appear had been that of the Smiths, and the architects, masons, lawmen and more formed their respective spiritual regroupments, the process ending in 72. Thereafter, in 75, serious earthquakes shook the Dorathine Kingdom, leading to widespread panic and the damage of many buildings, but since the base of the society was robust, it soon recovered from the unfortunate event.

Red Elves and Brüdines:

Spoiler: Cold Hearts and Boiling Blood (Year 2-87) (click to show/hide)

Nearly after the creation of the world, a taiga appeared in the north of the Continent of Dragolia, and over its vast expanses, a strong Nature magic was lingering. There lived giant mammalian beasts, such as the dire bear, a rhinoceros-sized ursid. From the supernatural energies of the moors, one of them, named Brün, became sapient. He was mounted by Hrvalda, the elven Goddess of the Hunt, who had been miraculously generated at the same time as him. On his back, she spent her time chasing and killing dangerous wild creatures. Their union ultimately begot two races: the Red Elves, who are agile and stealthy bow-hunters, and the Brüdines, who are mighty and fierce spear-hunters resembling humanoid bears. They constantly had hostile relations and were even willing to eat the members of the other race.

For a long time, they kept nomadic lives, but they eventually formed villages and towns. That process was however disrupted by the invasion of The Risen, bringing few casualties to the Elves but many to the Brüdines, who were fighting too similarly, and so lost important parts of their territory. They were saved in extremis by a northern patrol of Dragons. In 75, after many years of diplomatic deliberations, the seven tribes of the Red Elves founded a large Fortress-City, in wich they traded and settled disputes. The Brüdines for their part, because of the destruction caused by The Risen, had more difficulty to reorganize themselves, but they were able to construct small scattered forts.

More than a decade was still going to be necessary for the Red Elves to establish a proper nation, the Alliance of Blood, and this major event was underlined by the edification of a cathedral dedicated to Hrvalda. Many elven bounty hunters and mercenaries known as the Red Hunters, bearing the blessing of their goddess, emerged thereafter. Concurrently, the conflicts with the Brüdines grew in intensity and the ursine people conducted frequent raids and guerillas against the Red Elves.

Dolphinmen:

Spoiler: In the First Steps of Civilization, Striken by Disaster (Year 44-87) (click to show/hide)

Far away in the northern islands of the Continent of Dragolia, in 44, a group of Dolphinmen went out of the sea and began colonizing the insular lands. Their people kept a very primitive lifestyle for years, and in 51, they essentially had only learned the use of fire, the making of stone tools and the building of makeshift shelters. For that reason, they were completely unprepared for the onslaught of the Risen and were near utterly decimated by the corrupted creatures in 60.

After the cataclysm, only a few dozens of Dolphinmen subsited. In their ensuing state of despair, they turned their last hope to the power of The Stranger and in 87, in a small fortress they builded, they attempted to make a great ritualistic sacrifice to the occult god and asked It to bring back their folk to life. At the end of the century, the religious ceremony still showed no signs of success and their long-term survival thus remained much uncertain.

Foxfolk:

Spoiler: Fighting to Keep their Way of Life (Year 50-93) (click to show/hide)

Whithin the coastal forests situated on the southern side of the eastern extremity of the West Continent, primitive tribes of Fox-people formed a council of chiefs in the year 50. Their territorial expansion was rather slow for more than fourty years, but then, they initiated a migration to the north, further from the ocean shores. An attempt to take absolute control of all the tribes was made simultaneously by Thuris the Red, who declared himself king of the Foxfolk.

This action provoked a clash in the loose confederation that was in place, the western islands and villages taking his side and the rest of the Fox-people joining forces against him. The subsequent war was largely inconclusive for Thuris and he was assassinated soon after. At last, some of the tribes living in his area of influence became controlled by his offspring, but the majority of the fox men and women stayed under the authority of their original chieftains, so they mostly remained disunited.

Løkhunds:

Spoiler: The Dogmen from the North (Year 64-95) (click to show/hide)

On the largest northern island of the Continent of Dragolia, some years after the conflicts with The Risen, tribes of dogmen named Løkhunds undertook to settle on the icy soil. They are distinctive for their fondness of the sea and their propension for war and raiding, but in spite of this, they are remarkably easy to befriend. In 70, a fundamental innovation marked their nascent history: the construction of longships made of wood and of the bones of large whales called Upjær (up-year). These particular boats provided them a way to colonize other isles and to raid other tribes living over the North Sea.

For uncertain reasons, Donkebab, Goddess of the Heaven, visited them in 81 disguised as a Løkhund and gave them a few air dolphins, that were going to represent, at least for some decades, a second important means of transportation for them. Chaos the Archdemon came in its turn to their lands fourteen years after, and because it liked them, it gave them dark powers that made them more fertile and bloodthirsty. In parallel, whenever they killed an enemy, their life was prolonged and they grew bigger, faster and stronger.

It is however noteworthy that in 107, their faith went mainly to the Northern Pantheon, formed by the goddesses Hrvalda and Valkyra. The powers given by Chaos to their kin then faded away, except for the Red Pirates who constituted an independent faction of Løkhunds, swearing fealty to the three Archdemons and Jakuvia, the God of the Underworld. Thereafter, this group of dogmen began to live mostly from raids and plunders, using air dolphins and demonic weaponry.

Humans:

Spoiler: God-Seekers (Year 49-88) (click to show/hide)

The human people materialized in 49 from a magic portal generated by Boran Boriborus, God of Humans and Squares. It wasn't long though before they completely lost interest in their divine creator and tried to find more inspiring deities to venerate. So they turned their attention to the impressive Dragons and Piyerta-collou, the Crab-Titan born in the dark seas under the Floating Continent of Dragolia.

Some people living on that continent formed small cults in 75 to worship the Titan, as it was spotted in the north. Afterwards, by unknown means, their beliefs were efficiently transmitted to groups of Humans, but also the Gospel of Tiamat, the Dragon Goddess, taught by manakete missionaries. The precepts of that second religion weren't often accepted as they were, but rather gave birth to minor sects led by so-called "dragon tamers". These sects even brought some close relationships between a few humans and Manaketes, who had half-dragon children.

Firbolgs:

Spoiler: Mysterious Giants, Adepts of Magic (Year 90.1) (click to show/hide)

Unbeknownst to any civilization, the Firbolgs, giants living through mountains and forests in the north of the Western Continent, arose from the will of The Stranger around the year 90. They have very unique habits and customs since they build deep underground halls, they herd wooly mammoths on the surface and they gather every few years to settle disputes and elect a High King or Queen, mandated to administrate their people until the next meeting.

In addition, they rapidly got very skilled in magic and craftwork, although they were going to be outmatched for that matter by other nations more than two centuries later. This doesn't alter the fact that they became for many decades renowned among smiths for their fusing rituals and spells they used to forge weapons and tools, creating powerful artifacts.

[Strik3r]

  Holy heck you actually did it!

As i promised, i have put a link to the chronicles in the encyclopedia.
Who knows, maybe there will be more pages in this thread.

For anyone else reading this and wondering WTF happened? I got burnt out, hard.

[King Zultan]

Are you going to wait a bit and come back or is the game finished unless someone else takes over?

Ether way I enjoyed while it lasted.

[Strik3r]

Notices and Summary:

Its been so long, i forgot what i was supposed to write here.

Also, i want to thank everyone who has ever played this game.

TURNS:
( King Zultan : Year 361.2 )
A group of researchers from the university explore the Silent Lands, Meet up with Wülfhærd's Crew and discover the disturbing truth of the Silent Lands.

( Yellow Pixel : Year 361.3 )
Orsal Yond, despite numerous setbacks, creates what is apparently a magical Spirit Crystal.

( Naturegirl1999 : (Year) 361.4 )
The Slugman Duchies on the coast of the lake begin building ships and nets to allow them to fish

( Yellow Pixel )
The Chronicles of the first century.

( STRIK3R : YEAR ? )
Wülfhærd [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED].

( STRIK3R : YEAR 362.5 )
The Elysians' first Azure Sky ceremony takes place.


WORLD STATE:
The Cloudrock Clan can no longer enlarge their island.


Rolls

University's mages explore the Silent Lands

Code: [Select]

1d20=18


What they found,

Part 1: Dread

The magi set out straight northward from the University, toward the Silent Lands. After days of traveling, they were greeted by groves of trees with sickly yellow-orange leaves and gnarled trunks. The stench of rot wafted through the air. Travel through the Silent Lands proved more difficult than a trek through normal wilderness. After about two weeks of relatively slow progress the magi spotted a plume of smoke rising from the north and followed it to find a campfire with Wülfhærd and his crew of Løkhunds and Elysians sitting around it. With the goals of the two groups being largely the same, they agreed to travel together deeper into the Silent Lands.

Determined to discover what happened to the lands, the magi poked and prodded at every tree and leaf along the way, usually using magical spells,  in an attempt to discover the answers they sought as the group traveled toward the ancestral home of the Brüdines in the north. As they did, they began to see sights ever more grim. Old, rotting ruins of Brüdine civilization, entire villages abandoned, yet unclaimed by nature. The planks of their homes seeped sap in some twisted imitation of life. The deeper they got the more frequent such sights got.

Eventually they began to spot the occasional animal, the ones who could not escape the the Silent Lands in time.
Like all things in the Silent Land, they were not truly dead, but also not alive; Emaciated and rigid, yet somehow alive, forever trapped in silent agony and unable to die. The only sound they made was a grim and hollow wheezing as they attempted to breathe. No attempt to put them out of their misery was successful, and it only served to make their suffering worse.

Food was scarce in the corrupt, Silent Lands, but with Water and Earth magics of the Magi, they were able to sustain the group as they traveled ever further northward.
It was difficult to navigate those woods and as they traveled, everyone in the group, The Løkhunds, Elysians and the Magi could notice Wülfhærd's health begin to worsen, hacking and coughing violently, often coughing up blood, yet the healing spells of the Magi could do little to help him and they weren't even sure whether it was so because of the Silent Lands, or because Wülfhærd's condition was beyond help, whatever it was.
Dread filled them all, that he too would suffer the same fate as the animals they saw.

Part 2: Regret

Their worst fears soon became true as they at last found the lands where the Brüdines still lived, though it was hard to tell that those lands were much different from the abandoned ruins they saw before. The only real difference were that some Brüdines still lived in the villages there, as haggard and miserable as they were, surviving off what little the worst of the silent lands provided. They were no longer the great hunters they once were, they barely acknowledged the Magi and their friends. But provided magically condensed water and grown food, they told of a great mound that now sits at the center of the remnants of their civilization. The Magi and the others could find none of the... "Un-Alive" within or close to the villages, and the implications were immediately obvious.

They traveled further, toward the Kings' Barrow, with Wülfhærd's health steadily worsening as they traveled. Many times they saw the black shadow of the Silent Lands pass over them, one of the great immortal dragons, one who lived there when the Silent Lands appeared. Its behavior was remarkably similar to that of the Brüdines they encountered, it paid no attention to them, just going about doing whatever it was doing. It might have had something to do with the explorers still hearing the raspy, hollow wheezing of the unliving, despite not seeing any, anymore.
Once they reached Kings' Barrow, they met what might pass for the leadership for the remnants of the Brüdines, although how much was there to rule was debatable. The proud hunters, brought so low. The old man regaled to them how the Silent Lands came to be.

"
Crimson tears in a midnight storm...
Brüdines went to war...
Ancient woods of the Old Elf God...
Brüdines went to war...
Bloodjarl song of the Red Ones' fall...
Brüdines went to war...

To war...
Clawed feet and iron spears atop our ancient bones...
Brüdines went to war...
Filled the red ones' well with blood their own...
Brüdines went to war...
The words now carried by howling winds:

Brüdines went to war..."

Part 3: Sorrow

The old bear told that he believed the silencing of the lands to be a curse, one that can not be broken, and told them to leave those accursed lands lest they suffer the same fate that all there did.
Especially Wülfhærd. The miserable state of the silent lands was beginning to affect the group of explorers too, Especially Eís, the Elysian counterpart to Wülfhærd, normally just as chipper as he was, she had begun to grow close to Wülfhærd in a sense and all could see the worry in her eyes.

Despite these warnings, Wülfhærd refused and decided that they would head far to the west, to the old lands of the Red Elves.
Their travel was as uneventful as ever, with Elysians acting as the scouts and the University's magi constantly studying the cursed flora, and at times fauna of the land. The truth of the curse still eluded them, but a grim hypothesis had begun to form among the magi, that would soon be seen proven, in a way no one expected.

Wülfhærd, despite his waning strength, wished to see what had become of the Red Elves and hoped to perhaps spend the last of his days on the western edge of Dragolia, overlooking his home, Nordica.
But it would not be so, he grew weaker with each passing day, and it would not be long until he could barely stand up, but he still maintained a weak, but warm smile whenever his companions looked to him.
But one morning, he simply found himself too weak to properly even lift his arm anymore as he laid there on his back. The Løkhunds and the Magi were arguing over what should be done, but the Elysians were crowded around him, Wülfhærd met their big, teary eyes with the biggest smile he could still muster. Eís knelt down to embrace him, tears flowing freely from her eyes, but as she did so, something... snapped within her.

Eís' expression twisted into something between pain and anger, and markings on her back and tail lit bright enough to make the other Elysians around Wülfhærd wince in pain.
Her thoughts unknowable to anyone but herself, a brief expression of shock flashed across the faces of all those present, before she placed her hands onto Wülfhærd's body and did... something, its not known what, but a bright flash of light erupted from Wülfhærd's body and then he... evaporated into blue, luminescent mist. The shocked expressions suddenly returned and Eís, when she came back to her senses, took off into the forest running, sobbing uncontrollably. By the time her companions had processed what had happened, she was nowhere to be seen.

The other Elysians attempted to call out to her, but she did not answer, thus they set off, following the subtle tracks in the vegetation and mud that she left. The others, the Løkhunds and the Magi, having no better recourse, followed them. Thus began their search for their lost friend, who now believed that she had committed some grave sin. Despite the urging of the others, the magi continued to be mostly focused on their research, and eventually realized that the little incident had inadvertently provided proof of their hypothesis:

What they found, was that within the silent lands, the souls of living beings can not pass on; Something here is forcibly keeping them in their bodies. Suddenly, the magi themselves had a motivation to find Eís: To find out how she managed to circumvent whatever curse has taken this place.

Orsal Yond attempts to produce Spirit crystals

Code: [Select]

1d20=12


a Great Experiment:

Meanwhile in the university, Orsal Yond was attempting to find a way to produce spirit crystals. From the onset, Orsal Yond's efforts were fraught with setbacks, first in acquiring the dreamites, as they do not readily present themselves and wait for a wild animal or a mage to to scoop them up. Most of the time during the day, they hide in the undergrowth or in the hidden corners of peoples' homes. Dreamites are really only active during the night when they go to feed, which they most frequently do in houses, although they can be spotted scurrying outside during the night, especially after feeding, when their glowing abdomens make them exceptionally obvious, but another problem arises then, as a well-fed adult dreamite is quite large, surpassing most normal arachnids in its size, making transport in large quantities a bit of a hassle, but getting them was still more difficult. At the same time, juveniles were rarely seen and could easily be mistaken for a common mite.

As a result Orsal ended up spending much more time trying to acquire the specimens and ended up going back to the university with far fewer than he wanted. He realized, to have any chance at success, he would have to have multiple instances of the slow, tedious experiment running at once, each with a different formula, and even then, the amount of the dreamites' juice he could get from each one was quite low, not helped along by the fact that the messy crushing process produced fluid that was frequently highly contaminated by the dreamites' innards and ichor. Most of the dreamites' bodies were quite mundane, only containing the faintest spark of magical energy, thus not useful to Yond's goals. However, the thing that he sought for his experiment, was stored plainly as a fluid within the dreamites' abdomens, a sort of luminescent liquid.
How the Dreamites produced this substance is unknown but Yond to considered that perhaps this was just some kind of waste byproduct of their "digestion" of dreams, a highly magically charged material rich in spirit energy.

Whether true or not, this eventually gave the idea to Orsal Yond of siphoning the valuable liquid from living dreamites, without killing them. However, this idea came to him late, while he was waiting for the nine total batches of the solution to "cook". One silver lining, if one can call it that, is that Orsal Yond inadvertently introduced Dreamites to the areas in and around the University, ensuring that he or anyone else wishing to experiment on them would never run out of Dreamites, although some magi would've preferred to keep their dreams. Orsal Yond however, got plenty of time to experiment and evaluate his hypotheses, thus he did end up discovering a way to collect the fluid from Dreamites, by the way of a purpose designed syringe inserted into the rear opening of the dreamites' abdomen, still not a pretty process, but at least it was kinder to the dreamites as it didn't result in their death, and the resulting substance was far cleaner too, requiring less purifying.

Indeed, Orsal Yond had much time to contemplate while the experiment was progressing and he waited for the crystal formation to take place, each day worrying whether his experiment would be successful.
He spent most of that time drafting up ideas on how to improve and speed up the process, assuming at least one batch will be successful.

After several months, having nearly forgotten about the original experiment altogether, it was time to crack the lid and see what, if anything his experiments produced. He was only reminded of it by another mage who asked him about how the experiment was going.

Upon opening the vessels, he discovered that only alembic number 6 produced anything other than a combination of bad odors and sludge. Even then, the only apparently successful instance of the experiment produced a single, small and unremarkable crystal, a sort of a cloudy crystal filled with numerous impurities. It looked nothing like the other known varieties of magical crystal, and looked like nothing more than a piece of common quartz.

Inspecting the uninteresting gemstone, Yond, disappointed in the results, laid the piece of crystal on his desk, declaring the experiment a failure, and went about carrying out further experiments, attempts to implement the ideas he came up with to improve the process. It sat there for several days, until one morning, where Orsal Yond discovered that the crystal had taken on a strange, unearthly glow, a kind of a pale green, with a bit of blue mixed in. The only other thing he discovered was a dead mouse, its throat having been ripped out, probably by one of the University's resident cats.


Year... Somewhere before Year 362.5...?

How it feels to be born

Part 1: The End

Wülfhærd laid on the forest floor of the Silent Lands, he smiled weakly, looking up at the teary eyed Elysians surrounding him, his body too weak to move and filled with pain. Eís knelt down to embrace him, tears flowing freely from her eyes, but then, he saw her expression change, to one of something between pain and anger. She laid her hands on his shoulders. Then he saw only bright white for a split second and felt a sharp pain shoot through his body...
And then, there was nothing, until suddenly there was darkness, yet it was all that Wülfhærd could see. He wasn't even sure whether his eyes were closed, open or whether he even had a body anymore. If he did, he couldn't move it... No matter what commands he gave it, it would not or could not move, he could feel the muscles contract yet nothing happened. That, combined with the fact that he could not see messed with his mind, he wasn't sure of anything anymore. It wasn't helped by the fact that he felt like he was upside down, and he was sure he could hear distant, muffled noises, but wasn't sure whether it was real or not.

So, he sat there in the darkness, unsure of anything, his thoughts constantly wandering from one thing to another or randomly, as he mulled over his life, over what had happened and what became of his friends.
He was there that way for a long time, but he wasn't sure for how long and while the isolation and sensory deprivation certainly distorted his perception of time, he still felt like he had been there for very long, more than days, certainly. Weeks, probably even months, maybe a year or two... He couldn't tell. He couldn't even tell how much of that time he spent sleeping, if at all.

Eventually, long after he had resigned to his fate, whatever held him began to slowly weaken and he could begin to move parts of his body. First his digits... Though he felt as if he was... missing a few. Then he could wiggle his lower limbs and tail. Then his upper limbs and his neck and head... and indeed, he was very much upside down. Then soon thereafter, whatever substance held him gave away completely, releasing him and hardening, turning brittle, fragments breaking off as he moved his body free from the bonds. Finally, with some effort, he forced his eyes to open too... To discover he could still barely see anything, being able to only make out the most vague of shapes, but he understood that he was packed inside something rather tightly, with his body curled up.

With the sticky substance now having hardened instead into more of a hard, smooth wax-like substance and no longer holding him or supporting him, he was now resting on his upper back, shoulders and neck, not exactly a comfortable position. So, with only a little bit of effort, he flipped himself over, into a kind of sitting position, and began thinking of ways to break out. In reality it only took a couple of punches before he broke out into the open air. He could see light peeking through the hole, he withdrew his arm that was up to the elbow in the hole, and moved to peek through it.

Part 2: The Mystery


On the other side, he saw what looked like a massive, quite brightly lit cave. He couldn't see any walls or a ceiling. It was dark above yet the horizon was bright. He saw the cave floor below, no more than 2 feet below where his butt was. He saw some... cocoons... Weird, blue, almost heart-shaped cocoons(?). All apparently hanging from the ceiling he could not see, with more of the material that made up the cocoon stretching into the darkness above. It wasn't a great mystery that Wülfhærd was inside one of these too. Using both of his hands, he tore the hole he had made asunder, tearing a rift in the cocoon from top to bottom, ejecting himself in the process.

It wasn't much of a hard fall, but picking himself up off the floor and brushing himself off, he was shocked to discover that his body was not at all how he remembered it. The first thing he noticed, was that he only had three large fingers on each hand. Then the fact that his fur was completely pure white. Then the weird little pouch on his belly. Then the skin stretched between his limbs. The realization finally set in; He was an Elysian! Wülfhærd, being himself, wasn't really upset or distraught. Yet, there was something that caused him unease, and with some anxiety he brought his tail around, only to discover that there were NONE of the Elysians' usual patterns on its dorsal side. Needless to say he was confused. But with nothing else to do, he began to explore his environment.

The place looked like a cave, but as stated before, he could not see a ceiling or any walls, only the almost flat stone floor. As he continued to explore, soon he began to encounter what looked like pools of greenish-blue water or some other liquid, although on closer inspection, he noticed he couldn't see the bottom. There was no thought of jumping in, rather, they seemed to repel him and he felt uneasy and nauseous just looking at them.
He thought of walking toward the light on the horizon only to quickly realize that the light was all around him, the entire horizon was lit up the same way, almost as if there were two separate layers to... wherever he was. The only other way was up, into the endless darkness, and the only way he saw up, was to climb along the thick... strand holding a cocoon. He turned around, to discover the one that he was in, was right in front of him, despite having explored for hours.

He only climbed at most 50 feet before he quite literally and very suddenly found himself outside in a bright, verdant plain, dotted with the occasional tree. The sky was a saturated yet light blue, an "aqua"-like color, yet no sun was to be seen anywhere. Off in the distance he could see mountains, green all the way to the peak. The grass and the leaves of trees swayed in the gentle breeze. There were a fair few Elysians around, and they were mostly playing with eachother, with some of them just lazing about, laying on the grass or in the shade of a tree, the trees' shadows were as if the sun were directly overhead, yet there was no sun. Despite the pleasantness, Wülfhærd felt as if some kind of presence was watching him, something of incredible power.

Part 3: The Truth

In order to get his bearings and figure out what was going on, Wülfhærd approached one of the Elyisans laying about on the grass. He found that despite barely understanding Elysians before, he could both understand and speak their language without any difficulty naturally. They also didn't seem as naive or child-like as the Elyisans seemed before to him.

The Elysian he talked to happily explained that they were in the "Dream"... The Elysian Dream. The "roots" of Elyisan... society. A spirit world. He was told that this is the place where ALL Elysians go when they sleep, no matter how long they sleep. The place "below" is where Elysians without a body in the waking world go to rest and heal their souls. Below that exists the endless green sea of raw soulmass, the so called "Cradle". The "Cradle" is from where new Elysians come from. At the same time, Only the most hopeless, depressed and broken can overcome the barrier and dive down into the green sea, where they will disintegrate and dissipate, becoming one again with the formless mass of souls. Occasionally a "malformed" soul will swim up to the surface of the Cradle. it is those that live within the various animals on Elysium, and are sent straight back into the sea of souls, should their bodies die.

Upon learning of Wülfhærd's condition, the Elysian, who Wülfhærd learned was Aún, one of the Elysian Nomads, speculated that Wülfhærd's soul was willfully brought to the Dream as if it had been an Elysian one, when he died. Such a thing had never happened before so he could only guess at how it happened, suggesting that an Elyisan wouldn't do such a thing without great cause and even then, they would likely consider their own acts sinful, even if no one else would.

Finally he was explained that if he goes to sleep in the Dream, he'll return to the waking world. Also that Elysians must want to sleep to go to sleep but they don't need sleep.

Wülfhærd spent a while longer in the Dream, playing with other Elyisans or just relaxing. Before boredom and outright curiosity got the better of him and he curled up and willed himself to sleep.
He woke up once more in darkness, curled up, upside down and covered in sticky stuff. But this time he felt smaller... much smaller. He kicked around a bit, felt... whatever he was in this time falling, then hit the ground, followed by a bit of rolling before it came to a stop. He lifted his head upward and saw an opening, with a bit of light peeking through it. He pushed his head into, and through it. after a bit more pushing, he got the rest of his body out of the... pod.

Wülfhærd rolled onto his back, and looked at his body in dismay. He had just barely gotten used to his body, and now he's an Elysian larva... Or whatever the small forms were called. He looked up, and saw the Great White Tree of Elysium, and felt a powerful presence watching over him, a feeling of warmth and comfort, like the world's softest and thickest blanket was wrapped around him. He laid back and sighed, resigned to his fate, yet again.

Spoiler: here's a small, silly little extra image (click to show/hide)

Year 362.5

In the Azure Skies

Part 1: Anticipation

With the coming of the summer of the year 362, a few Elysians were being seen longingly looking in a particular direction, with the number steadily increasing every day as the summer went on, always looking in the same direction, towards Elysium. It was most obvious in the lands of the Waterstone clan, where the Elysians would go up to the surface and then just sit on a hill, sometimes multiple of them, just staring at seemingly nothing.

Even the remaining Elysians of Wülfhærd's crew would be caught just... staring, and had to be snapped out of it. It caused concern for all whom the Elysians lived alongside of, such as the dragons of Vilutra's Enclave and the Bleg.

This behavior reached its fever pitch on a hot midsummer day in the afternoon, where just about every Elysian dropped whatever they were doing, found high vantage points and collectively began to gaze toward Elysium, even though most of them could not actually see the floating island. This strange behavior made little sense to those far away from Elysium and many joined the Elysians in doing so.
But for those on whom the light of the White Tree of Elysium shined, things got much stranger than just the Elysians' odd behavior... As the sun began to set, the blue leafed plants, wherever they grew, began to emit a soft, blue glow that only grew brighter as night fell, and midnight approached.

Many within the Avarrian Empire and the University looked on just the plants alone with wonder. Despite no attempts by the Elysians to get people of other races to watch with them, many did anyway for one reason or another, Some because of curiosity, others because of uncertainty or fear. Many Avarrians and Bleg did so. Meanwhile Tiél and Επιστάτα had reached just beyond the Avarrian Empire, and Tiél too basked in the white tree's light and looked toward it, despite Επιστάτα's insistence to keep moving northward. When Επιστάτα questioned Tiél about it, she replied with "Can't you feel it? The warmth of her light?". While Επιστάτα hadn't noticed it before, Tiél was right; The pull toward Elysium was stronger than it had ever been before.

The Elysians on Elysium itself climbed to the treetops or sat on hilltops in large crowds to look toward the White Tree, they were everywhere, in every direction one looked.

Even Tahar, despite having no connection to the Dream like Elysians do, could feel something BIG approaching, and too looked toward Elysium, eagerly waiting for whatever is to happen.
It did at midnight, with only a small warning for those who could see the White Tree of Elysium, as it the star it carried between its branches rapidly began to grow brighter, almost blinding at its peak.

Part 2: Admiration

And then, it erupted. In a flash of blue-green light that lit the midnight sky and clouds, seen all the way to Waterstone Clan and Vilutra's Enclave.
So did the blue leafed plants, where they had been merely glowing before, they were now lit up in bright white and held upwards, gently swaying as if some spirit wind was blowing upwards from beneath them.
The entire island of Elysium was lit up as bright as day as every leaf on a tree and blade of grass glowed at once. And so were some parts of the Moss Troll Isles as well, as the orbs that were made to catch the Elysium's light burned with far greater ferocity that they had before, even the blue leaves found on some of the Moss Trolls themselves lit up too.

The Elysians close and on Elysium watched on in awe as massive streams of magical light flowed out gently from the White Tree's large orb. They were like geysers of magical energy, starting from a small point on the sphere and slowly dispersing as they flowed across the sky, the stars of the night sky shining through them made them look like nebulae. The Magi of the University were scrambling to record every detail of this event, scarcely having the time to admire the unparalleled, indescribable magnificent beauty of it. Even imagination can not conjure a image as awe-inspiring as that night was, but it would become even more so.
Yet, many others flew into a panic and ran in terror, Avarrians, Bleg, even some dragons in the enclaves close to Elysium... No one had seen a sight such as this before.
Zoithor and even the Aetherials along with The dark elves further to the west in Dark Ukalia saw the sky lit in azure flame. The twisted creatures of Chaos winced in pain at the sight of its magnificence.


Soon, the magical streams would begin coalesce in the sky to form many rings of aurorae of teal, green and magenta, sprawling across the sky, with the White Tree at their center, even the dragons to the far south saw them.
So did the people of Eudenland, it was quite a sight for the patrons at 'The Grand Puffin'. The aurorae sprawled over the silent lands too, a pleasant, relaxing sight for the Brüdines, barely surviving the harsh, unnatural world of The Silent Lands.
And many sailors sailing the seas west of Dragolia were too treated to the sight of several banks of bright, strange aurorae, stretching across the sky. It brought a jolly mood to many a sailor and old songs could be heard far from the ships.

Throughout it all, a lone young Elysian sat upon a cliff's edge, looking toward the white tree afar and the glowing terrain and numerous Elysians below. Watching as the tree continued it's brilliant display of light and magic, his thoughts turned to his friends that he had left in the Silent Land and wondered what became of them. It's not that Wülfhærd minds being an Elysian, but he did miss his old friends.
And at the same time, Eís, the Elysian, she who sent Wülfhærd's soul to the Elysian Dream, looked at the aurorae flowing across the night sky with tearful eyes, alone in her sorrow. She did not know that it was without cause, and that her friends, Løkhunds, Elysians and Magi, searched for her tirelessly, even through the ceremony.

On the ground, on and near Elysium, the magical energies coalesced into banks of luminescent blue fog.

The Great Scar, that was now quite literally spewing out flames, when the mystical fog hit them, turned to blue.
Irayam The Phoenix discovered this for himself. He wanted to see Elysium from up close, very close. Now an adolescent, his "father" Irahan was powerless to stop him as Irayam made a running start and took off toward Elysium, his wings carrying him far faster than those of any mortal being could. As he ascended to the height of Elysium, the mystical aura ignited in blue flame as it touched Irayam's feathers, leaving a trail of smokeless, cold fire in his wake. He looked like a shooting star as he circled over the floating island.

The Moss Trolls on their isles, who had gathered around their orbs and sat on the glowing grass could frequently hear children laughing and giggling, seemingly an echo from nowhere and would occasionally and briefly see small, glowing white figures dart through the undergrowth.

Part 3: Aftermath

The whole event lasted until morning, until the sun came up over the horizon, then everything returned to as it had been before, the only indication that the event had ever taken place, being the aurorae which could still be seen faintly in the sky for several weeks.

Although the event was just a harmless lightshow of magical energies, it still caused some casualties in the the form of various magical devices. Chief among them, the Cloudrock Clan Sky-ship's arcane tether.
The crew had anchored the ship onto Dragolia for the night when the initial flash occurred. It somehow overloaded the ship's arcane tether, causing it to tear itself apart. The ship itself was fine, but the tether was rendered unusable and in desperate need of repair.

The event caused serious problems for the University, with many of their arcane devices and rituals temporarily ceasing to function. The disruptions to magics was felt as far away as the waterstone clan.

What are the long term effects and consequences of the event are yet to be seen, but it is certain that Elysium has announced its presence to the world, and quite boldly so.
One Day Later

While in the wake of the event, the spirits of many were high, the mood in the University had soured... Its not known how but a group of magi figured out exactly that the northern half of Dragolia will shatter in the year 364.3!

Map and Legend

=> Link to The Encyclopedia/Quick Guide <=

[TankKit]

It lives!

[Yellow Pixel]

What superb stories, what wonderful post! You've done it to the perfection... It was so much worth the wait!

[Yellow Pixel]

Year 360 / 362.6:

The first days of the Antars' investigation to save the Nurse Iryz, kidnapped by Nisvanis's henchmen, weren't much succesful. In fact, in the beginning, the five White Antars sent to do the rescue operation in Dalai's capital had much difficulty to find informations about Nisvanis's organization. They did find of course some sellers of Vision Dust in shadowy corners of the big city, but they had much trouble to question them about their drug supply. It was blatant that the five sentient insects were strangers, wich didn't help to win the trust of any black market worker. Moreover, their knowledge of the slugmen language was limited and their supposed interest in drug consumption wasn't very convincing: they weren't at all the usual type of junkie.

So they started to follow at night suspicious figures wandering the streets, but their first attempts weren't very effective. Their own behavior was no less suspicious and the white color of their fur was very contrasting in the darkness, so they were easily noticed, and much of the time, they were only tracking drunkards returning home. They had therefore to improve their investigation techniques and to find a disguise to become more discreet. They decided to this end to visit the workshop of a kind Slugman weaver who accepted to make and sell them cloaks made out of black linen cloth: they could cover the body, they had six holes at the bottom to allow the Antars' legs to move freely, a fastening at the top to free the wings too and a fitting hood with two extra holes for the eyes and antennae, plus an other for the mouth. The result wasn't really esthetically pleasing, especially with the protruding mandibles, but it didn't matter since at least this outfit was going to make the white insects far less visible in the dark. The final thing they needed to complete their costume was to blacken their legs and mandibles, so they also bought a bucket of charcoal to rub their limbs and mouthparts with. This way, they were going at last to come and go unseen overnight.

In the next months, they took advantage of their somber dresses, but they didn't limit themselves to roam the streets like any Slugman: they also fully benefited from their flight abilities. Thus, till dusk to dawn, the five Antars became the winged shadows of Dalai, flying over the metropolis totally unnoticed. While most of the citizens were sound asleep, they were watching from the sky all the movements of the figural night birds and of those who thought they were free to act in complete secrecy. They also settled to dispatch every night their team in different town districts to increase their research efficiency, and when they detected a suspect person entering a filthy back alley or a sleazy tavern, they posted themselves on the edge of a roof to observe more closely the shady individual under the gloomy light of a distant torch. It was definitely a sluggish process, but the aerial inspectors became eventually aware of many nocturnal activities of the Dalians living in the capital.

Any significant clues about the traffic of Ambrosia were still hard to come by, but a female white Antar ultimately got a stroke of luck. She suddenly saw someone open a door to give a package to a seemingly unimportant slugman passerby. She then followed him from high up and even used her air magic to conjure up a cloud around her, becoming a misty dark shape to the eyes of anyone who would look at the sky. The slug guy quietly crawled in the direction of a large residence of imposing architecture, its lawn bordered with a steel fence, that certainly was belonging to a rich personage.

When she saw that he was going along the side of the large house toward a back entrance, she swiftly but cautiously flew behind the back wall where he couldn't see her. And while he was putting a key in a lock and then opened the creaking fence door, she had a perfect occasion to hide in a bush situated very close to the side gateway of the property. From that moment, she only had to wait and see what was going to happen. So the Slugman knocked on the door just aside the Antar on the lookout and when it opened, he gave his package to an elegantly clothed figure who ripped the top of it to peer inside.

She was unfortunately unable to see the mysterious content, but all of a sudden, she had a feeling that drived her to stick her sensitive antennae out of the bush that concealed her. It was without the shadow of a doubt a familiar feeling, a sensation that reminded her childhood memories of a sweet delight coated with euphoria-inducing pheromones: Amber Paste, that Slugmen call Ambrosia! She didn't linger on such agreeable thoughts though and she promptly folded away her pair of feelers. It was the right thing to do, because the delivery Slugman turned his head toward her without warning, thinking he had perceived a movement, but he didn't spotted her. He returned afterwards from where he came from at the same slow pace and when he was far enough, the Antar took flight again, hastening to tell the event to her colleagues.

The other Antars were very pleased to know they finally had a good catch, even if they were still far from reaching their goal. In the following few weeks, the five investigators found some hiding spots around the building from where the Ambrosia was coming and they eventually watched the same delivery procedure as before. One of them, using a heap of boxes as a covert, also managed someday to observe another Slugman leave the building and slither toward some ill-famed parts of the city. The flying insect then followed him stealthily from above until seeing him entering a dusty store. After several watches around the place, it became clear that some Ambrosia was stashed there, even if the Nurse could very well be detained somewhere else. And the night came for the five Antars to break into the store.

Just as the owner was about to close, they hurried inside at full speed and caught him completely unawares. He tried to open a drawer of the front desk as fast as he could, probably to grab a weapon, but he didn't get the time. The five White Antars, all magical adepts, combined their power to summon a mighty gust of wind in his direction, that projected him on the back wall and made him collapse on the floor in pain. Afterwards, when he attempted to get back on his feet, two of the sentient ants separated themselves and started to continuously blow a strong air current that paralysed him on the back wall. Two other Antars began to use their air magic to create a whirlwind in the room, that threw around the furniture and objects alike, for maximum scary effect. At the moment the fear was well instilled in the mind of the Slugman, wich was well shown by his expression, the fifth Antar (the same who spied the Ambrosia delivery), approched him and climbed on him, until her moving mandibles were right next to his face. It was at this very instant that she aked to her trembling hostage, in an awkward but spooky clicking voice:

"Who is-ct respon-ctsible for the smugg-cling of Ambrosia ? I kt-now you kt-now them!"

"I can't tell you! ... I can't! D-Don't kill me!"

"Tell me or I'll shre-ctd you to pieces!"

"F-Fine, fine ! It's... It's Rio... Rio Duran!"

Out of the blue, while he was saying these words, a silver comet coming from behind pulverized the faceted vision field of the female Antar, who dodged it at the last second, hitting instead the Slugman pressed against the wall. It was a throwing knife that pierced his left lung and made him collapse on the ground, gasping in his death throes. Right after, the four other Antars stepped backwards and gathered around their friend as fast as they could, because six hooded figures were entering in the half-light of the store. They were all Nisvanis's hitmen, armed with short swords and daggers, who where somehow after them! The White Antars were cornered and had no choice but to fight!


((I have used a slash to precise the years at the beginning, to show that the events are happening somewhere between two different years, since it logically happened before the date we are now at. I will find a way to catch up with the passing years at the end of the whole series of events.))

[chaotick21]

OMG this is so amazing! The story, the images, perfection.

[King Zultan]

Its back! Also HYPE.

[Naturegirl1999]

I can’t find what Mah E Gal is, I tried searching it but nothing showed up

[Yellow Pixel]

It's normal that you can't find it, the writing of the name is rather complicate: Måh Ę-Gål.

The events concerning it happened in 323 (p. 58), in 333.3 (p. 60) and a strange occurence about it happened in 336.7 (p. 62).

But to have all the informations about the black Ziggurat, you should also refer to Strik3r's telling of the Griffon scouts exploring Dragolia in 328 (p. 60).

[Naturegirl1999]

((Thank you))
Year 363
Elgo, a young dragon, became curious about this Måh Ę-Gål he’s heard other races talk about. So he flies below Dragolia and finds a deep blue pyramid like structure, and hears a voice telling him to come to it, so he does. As Elgo draws closer, the structure opens like a mouth. He flies in, and the wall closes behind him. For a moment, everything is dark, then the inside starts to glow dark blue like the walls on the outside. Eventually Elgo gets tired of flying and lays on the ground of the structure, at which point he begins hearing voices, thoughts? Måh Ę-Gål would like an avatar, a moving creature who can fulfill the wishes of those who live in the deep, the Sharkpeople, the Kani callou, and many others. There needs to be balance within the sea
”How am I to do that? I can’t breathe underwater”
Sleep here and you will be able to even when not within me Elgo hears coming from the walls. At this point he focuses and realizes that yes, he is underwater right now. He didn’t remember going underwater, there must be water in the pyramid already. Elgo, too tired to lift his wings, drifts off to sleep.

Elgo is swimming away from a group of Sharkmen, darting through numerous small holes they can’t fit through

He is building an underwater home with fellow Kani-callou, to ensure that the eggs aren’t stolen again

He is struggling to break free from a worm he thought was food, but turned out to be sharp, he’s being pulled to where he can’t breathe

He watches other Sharkmen hunt, while he watches the boats from below, admiring their shapes

Thoughts of various creatures of the deep flow though Elgo’s head like dreams until he wakes up in Måh Ę-Gål.
I feel different, more at home, but why?
Elgo tries to fly back out, but he can’t seem to leave the water. His wings have turned into fins, as have his legs.
AAAHH! What happened? What have you done?
Well, you can’t help us if you go mad from the curse you had. Since you no longer have wings or legs or breathe on land, the curse no longer considers you a dragon, you could call yourself a hexafin, since you have 6 fins now in place of your limbs, but you can call yourself something else too if you’d rather. I think your immortality is maintained, though this is the first time I’ve tried something like this.

Meanwhile, on the other continent
M’Ova decides to explore somewhere new he hasn’t been. Roll for how well this goes and where he goes

[Strik3r]

((i apologize in advance for the bluntness of the following rant, but it is the truth.

The reason this game pretty much died again without getting going again and why it hasn't gotten an update in the last month and a half is simply because there hasn't been anything to update. This time, the shoe was on the other foot and had little to do with me, aside from demoralizing me. I got no actionable turns, no rolls, nothing that would change the map, hell, up until today, Pixel's turn was the only one in that entire month.

Indeed, i made that massive post in the last update solely because it had been so long since the last one and i hoped it would revitalize the game and inspire players both old and new to make turns. Instead i got a few posts of empty, meaningless praise and that was it, aside from Pixel's turn.
To me, greatest praise is seeing people be inspired by my work... In this case, people making turns, playing the game, meaning that i had succeeded in inspiring people, but i guess it wasn't good enough to do that, huh?
Needless to say, i was crushed, furious even. All that effort, wasted. It can't be hard to see why i might not even want to touch the thread again.
I honestly hoped that it would never be posted in again. But since Naturegirl(Hey, good to see you back on the forums BTW ) did necro it, lets see where this goes and what happens.

I've long since gotten over that now and I don't blame anyone for it happening. I wouldn't, not for people not playing a fucking forum game. But if you're gonna try to guilt trip or w/e me over making this rant: Shove it, i don't fucking care. I just wanted to get it outta my system.))

((As an aside, i noticed that NG set her turn in the past, and so did Yellow Pixel, meaning the current date is still 362.5... Plus one day. ))

[Naturegirl1999]

Will edit date
Also, I can add a second action with something for you to roll for

[King Zultan]

Year 363.1
With the splitting of the continent on the horizon the mages at the Great Scar University start to go around and look over everything making sure every thing in the university will stay in place when the continent shatters. Roll to see if they find any flaws in their plan to keep the university in one piece once the continent shatters.