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"...It is said that one should never feel safe to walk those streets in the day. Such is the spiteful light of the morningstar that, via reflection, those unused to it are blinded and easy prey for cutpurses and undesirable sorts. Keep to the night. Let the moon light those streets softly and guide you."
The text is the introduction in the discover bok of a hidden Criminal fraternity disguised as a religion, they also worship exercise, healthy livin and protecting the environment.

The first book was found in the Eastern province of Virginio.


"We need to get Brigadier Clemenza to confess to these charges or else the Synod will rendition us and disappear our families.."
 
"We need to get Brigadier Clemenza to confess to these charges or else the Synod will rendition us and disappear our families.."
--Tian Han to Abdun Sel.
128 years befor the rebellion, after a great heist which saw 7 highly prized holy artefacts of the Duhneri's religion vanish from one of their temples.
Tian and Abdun were stationed in Dune during the incident with Brigadier Clemenza, who was a suspect in the ruthless investigation that followed.
Since the Duhneri Theocracy was rather powerfull at the time, not many kingdoms wanted to antagonize them. It was the surprising intervention of Exalt Themophilius, who was known for protecting people from unjust persecution that kept them from a horrible fate at the hands of the Duhneri Inquisition.
Unfortunately, this created a diplomatic incident which soured the Kingdom's relationship with the Duhneri and eventually ended in the terrible war between them.


"As you can see, the people of the Sen island have adapted to their surroundings.
The webbing between their elongated fingers and toes makes it easy for them to propell themselves through the shallow waters, inflatable bladders let them stay afloat without exerting themselves and their skin and eyes are well suited to the slightly acidic waters of the island.
It is suspected that some of their towns and cities are situated in caves one can only enter via underwater entrances only those able to navigate the murky waters of their homeland can reach."
 
"As you can see, the people of the Sen island have adapted to their surroundings.
The webbing between their elongated fingers and toes makes it easy for them to propell themselves through the shallow waters, inflatable bladders let them stay afloat without exerting themselves and their skin and eyes are well suited to the slightly acidic waters of the island.
It is suspected that some of their towns and cities are situated in caves one can only enter via underwater entrances only those able to navigate the murky waters of their homeland can reach."
From The D'ardio Enciclopedia of the known and unknown world. Where it's priceless first edition is kept on watch in The Thalido Library, which is also owned by the house of Thalido.
 
Post your Interpretation
From The D'ardio Enciclopedia of the known and unknown world. Where it's priceless first edition is kept on watch in The Thalido Library, which is also owned by the house of Thalido.

Nice one Snake/Eater, but you forgot to add a quote of your own.

To all you who contributed so far I just want to say that I appreciate you all taking part in this. This has turned out to be really interesting and went in directions I never thought it would.
I'll give it some more time and then I might start a compendium where I collect everything we know about our world so far.
If things continue to go well I might even run a quest at some point in this world we have created.

Also, since the world already has a basic outline and history, if people want to write down their interpretations of it all I'll be excited to read them and to see how your thoughts differ from- or are similar to mine.

Just put them in spoilers please, so that those who want to keep an open mind can do so.
 
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Nice one Snake/Eater, but you forgot to add a quote of your own.

To all you who contributed so far I just want to say that I appreciate you all taking part in this. This has turned out to be really interesting and went in directions I never thought it would.
I'll give it some more time and then I might start a compendium where I collect everything we know about our world so far.
If things continue to go well I might even run a quest at some point in this world we have created.

Also, since the world already has a basic outline and history, if people want to write down their interpretations of it all I'll be excited to read them and to see how your thoughts differ from- or are similar to mine.
Just put them in spoilers, so that those who want to keep an open mind can do so.

A compendium would be most useful. I'm already having trouble keeping track of it all. (My Frog Father prayer was supposed to give insight into The Laughing Order.)
 
I'll happily admit that turning the travel spiel into a tearful and somewhat obfuscated sendoff to a ruler's progeny was...a spur of the moment thought.
I just thought...
"Wow, this could be a guy trying to get his kids out of the country!"
 
Hmm, I'll see about getting started on that compendium. Not sure if I should organize it by location or by event though.
I'll leave Snake/Eater another day or so to give their quote, then I'll provide the next if he hasn't by then.

Ok, this is how I interpreted everything up to this point. Please note that this is NOT "CANON"! It's just how I see things at the moment. Not only will it change with further quotes being added but I urge you all add your own ideas, as that makes all this fun and interesting.

Anyway, in broad strokes:
Right now we have the kingdom that is more or less ruled by the order. The monarch is selected from their ranks and their exalts sit in high positions. The order also seems to be rather rich, wielding political, military and monetary might.
They also posess lands and powerbases like their stronghold in the conquered Duhneri Lands.
They rose to power about 130 years ago, when the Duhneri Theocracy decleared war on the kingdom and they stepped in, turning the tide of the war and leading the troops of the kingdom to victory and a brutal extermination war.
It is implied that they might even had a hand in starting the war (see the theft of the 7! artifacts and the diplomatic incident Exalt Themophilius caused).

Some of their most sacred holy sites are the 7! stones/stone rings.

The central kingdom seems to have a feudal system with noble houses having great influence.
They also seem to have an abundance of spy rings and secret societies with the corset spy ring aiding the rebellion and the spirit court seeing themselves as guardians against some unknown threat to civilization.

Meanwhile the NEC (who in my mind are a bit like the east india trading company) is conquering the island of Sen and the hidden cities of it's native inhabitants (or at least trying to).

As for geography: The south has the tundras and the citystates, the north has the desert and the Order fortress the west has the coast, the sea and eventually the island of Sen and the east is still undefined.

Anyway, one of the great mysteries I was trying to hint at with the inexplicable rebellion and the little poem about ysgith and the high stones is that there might be something going on with the order and the stones. Something not exactly of that world. Some sinister secret the order is keepig.
Maybe the seven holy artefacts that were stolen (by them?) are connected to the high stones. Maybe they found something magical or dangerous in the excavation and thats why they stopped the digging (officially?). Who knows?
(My Frog Father prayer was supposed to give insight into The Laughing Order.)
To be quite honest, I was not sure if you meant your quote to be said by the Senavar Troops or by the Order/NEC troops. As I saw it the Frog father is one of the animal spirits the Senavar republic worships.

"Wow, this could be a guy trying to get his kids out of the country!"
And it was beautifull, especially since it leaves the option of following the kids stories later on.
Which is exactly what I wanted out of this: The possibility of adventure. Maybe we'll see those children pop up again, ready to take back their birthright. Or they might end up merchants, bandit kings, mercenaries or even witches and wizards.
 
Hmm, I'll see about getting started on that compendium. Not sure if I should organize it by location or by event though.
I'll leave Snake/Eater another day or so to give their quote, then I'll provide the next if he hasn't by then.

Ok, this is how I interpreted everything up to this point. Please note that this is NOT "CANON"! It's just how I see things at the moment. Not only will it change with further quotes being added but I urge you all add your own ideas, as that makes all this fun and interesting.

Anyway, in broad strokes:
Right now we have the kingdom that is more or less ruled by the order. The monarch is selected from their ranks and their exalts sit in high positions. The order also seems to be rather rich, wielding political, military and monetary might.
They also posess lands and powerbases like their stronghold in the conquered Duhneri Lands.
They rose to power about 130 years ago, when the Duhneri Theocracy decleared war on the kingdom and they stepped in, turning the tide of the war and leading the troops of the kingdom to victory and a brutal extermination war.
It is implied that they might even had a hand in starting the war (see the theft of the 7! artifacts and the diplomatic incident Exalt Themophilius caused).

Some of their most sacred holy sites are the 7! stones/stone rings.

The central kingdom seems to have a feudal system with noble houses having great influence.
They also seem to have an abundance of spy rings and secret societies with the corset spy ring aiding the rebellion and the spirit court seeing themselves as guardians against some unknown threat to civilization.

Meanwhile the NEC (who in my mind are a bit like the east india trading company) is conquering the island of Sen and the hidden cities of it's native inhabitants (or at least trying to).

As for geography: The south has the tundras and the citystates, the north has the desert and the Order fortress the west has the coast, the sea and eventually the island of Sen and the east is still undefined.

Anyway, one of the great mysteries I was trying to hint at with the inexplicable rebellion and the little poem about ysgith and the high stones is that there might be something going on with the order and the stones. Something not exactly of that world. Some sinister secret the order is keepig.
Maybe the seven holy artefacts that were stolen (by them?) are connected to the high stones. Maybe they found something magical or dangerous in the excavation and thats why they stopped the digging (officially?). Who knows?

To be quite honest, I was not sure if you meant your quote to be said by the Senavar Troops or by the Order/NEC troops. As I saw it the Frog father is one of the animal spirits the Senavar republic worships.

And it was beautifull, especially since it leaves the option of following the kids stories later on.
Which is exactly what I wanted out of this: The possibility of adventure. Maybe we'll see those children pop up again, ready to take back their birthright. Or they might end up merchants, bandit kings, mercenaries or even witches and wizards.
Perhaps that's what the king was alluding to with "you should tell me about it when you return" - instructing them to keep records of their time in foreign lands, that they may be inscribed at his resting place upon their triumphant return.
But then, perhaps he was just being subtle, sentimental, and sad as fuck when he said that.
 
OC: Here is my quote.

Ic: "They built their cities of Empires, Republics and kingdoms a long time ago on our people's backs.

For Seven centuries we have waited for this moment, we will have a homeland again and they will pay for every second of it.

Tomorrow, the Faith will claim a new wild and harsh land and it will thrive!

Then our Children will have their revenge!"
 
OOC:
Perhaps that's what the king was alluding to with "you should tell me about it when you return" - instructing them to keep records of their time in foreign lands, that they may be inscribed at his resting place upon their triumphant return.
But then, perhaps he was just being subtle, sentimental, and sad as fuck when he said that.
Maybe it was both.
It reads almost like a fairytale when you put it like that:
The three youngest children of a ruler whose land is overrun set out on an adventure with the goal of returning home someday.
The eldest of the three met a sorcerer and learned the mighty magics of the world. But all that power made him grow wicked at heart and tried to summon a demon which took him up to ysgith's halls.
The second went to the great tundra and took a job with the great merchant kings of the city states. He grew rich and decandent and was stabbed to death in his sleep by one who had pretended to be his friend.
The youngest however never lost sight of his goal to return home someday and kept his heart noble and pure. His travels were full of adventure and all sorts of wondrous tales.
But those are stories for another time...

"They built their cities of Empires, Republics and kingdoms a long time ago on our people's backs.

For Seven centuries we have waited for this moment, we will have a homeland again and they will pay for every second of it.

Tomorrow, the Faith will claim a new wild and harsh land and it will thrive!

Then our Children will have their revenge!"
--Frangil the snake-tongued, during the fall of the great Tu Heirn Da empire, instigating the greates slave uprising their empire had ever seen. 798 years befor the rebellion and the invasion of the island of Sen.


"From what our historians could piece together about the Tu Heirn Da civilization it seems that their culture studied the heavens intently, mapping out the patterns the celestial bodies traced above their heads and naming many of the stars and moons.
In fact, when we began to studie the night sky we just used the Tu Heirn Da's names for most of the celestial bodies we studied.
That formation over there, the ring of stars with the bright one in the middle, is one of the few that does not move from it's position with the passing of the seasons and is refrenced often in the writings we have uncovered.
They called it the court of stars and it seemed to have had some significance to the Tu Heirn Da as they gave every one of the stars that make it up a name of it's own.
Clockwise from the top we have Jagarath, Levsenoth, Grimorgio, Thalmut, Zurinand and Findolmgau.
And the bright one at the center is called Ysgith.
Interestingly, they flare in brightness every summer and that flare seems to get slightly brighter every year."
 
"From what our historians could piece together about the Tu Heirn Da civilization it seems that their culture studied the heavens intently, mapping out the patterns the celestial bodies traced above their heads and naming many of the stars and moons.
In fact, when we began to studie the night sky we just used the Tu Heirn Da's names for most of the celestial bodies we studied.
That formation over there, the ring of stars with the bright one in the middle, is one of the few that does not move from it's position with the passing of the seasons and is refrenced often in the writings we have uncovered.
They called it the court of stars and it seemed to have had some significance to the Tu Heirn Da as they gave every one of the stars that make it up a name of it's own.
Clockwise from the top we have Jagarath, Levsenoth, Grimorgio, Thalmut, Zurinand and Findolmgau.
And the bright one at the center is called Ysgith.
Interestingly, they flare in brightness every summer and that flare seems to get slightly brighter every year."

Notes on the ruins discovered by Gelwin the Mad's expedition, before the expedition first started to suffer unexplained losses.

"What manner of knight fights with a rusty saw?"
 
Notes on the ruins discovered by Gelwin the Mad's expedition, before the expedition first started to suffer unexplained losses.

"What manner of knight fights with a rusty saw?"

Tiabolt, duelist for hire in the free City of Variez, to a vagabond criminal claiming to be a knight who chose trial by combat. A few minutes later Tiabolt was beheaded by the rusty saw he mocked. Despite his long and storied career Tiabolt was remembered as the first challenge to be overcome by the great and mysterious hero "The Knight of the Rusty Saw!" in the decades and centuries to come.

"Stance low! Snap kick! Sweep kick! Uppercut! Burst! Good, again! Snap kick! Sweep kick! Uppercut! Burst! Snap kick! Sweep kick! Uppercut! Burst! Snap Kick! Sweep kick! BURST! Rush in! Stomp, Stomp, Stomp!!!

"Tan, Mira, good work. The rest of you, which part of expect the unexpected didn't you get!? Get up, try again!"
 
"Stance low! Snap kick! Sweep kick! Uppercut! Burst! Good, again! Snap kick! Sweep kick! Uppercut! Burst! Snap kick! Sweep kick! Uppercut! Burst! Snap Kick! Sweep kick! BURST! Rush in! Stomp, Stomp, Stomp!!!

"Tan, Mira, good work. The rest of you, which part of expect the unexpected didn't you get!? Get up, try again!"
--The old crone of Miller's crossing.
Miller's crossing was renowned for the old woman who sat there, day in, day out for as long as anyone could remember, telling stories to kids and adults alike.
Most of her stories were fantastic tales of adventure and mystery and at the heart of all of them there always was a young woman she called Erinya the fool.
In her tales Erinya bested knights and monsters, and none could match her skills in combat.
One young boy, an orphan by the name of Bilal listened to her stories whenever he could and after listening to her for over a year challenged her to a fight, requesting that if he won she would reveal her true name, for he suspected that she was Erinya herself.
Despite her age and the youthful energy of her opponent the frail old woman handily beat Bilal and in doing so, confirmed her identity to him.
Impressed by the orphan's trick she agreed to take him in and train him in all the arts of fighting she knew of.
Together they restored the abandoned mill that gave the crossing it's name and lived there. Over time other children came to her and Erinya took them all in, training them in her art as only she could.
Bilal has long since left but Erinya still teaches the orphans that come to her how to fight at the school of miller's crossing.


"We call our world the unnamed world. That, of course, is a bit of a contradiction as that in itself is a title, if not a name. Now, who can tell me how this name, or should I rather say this description, came to be?
Yes, Seldana, I know you know the answer. Anyone else?"
 
"We call our world the unnamed world. That, of course, is a bit of a contradiction as that in itself is a title, if not a name. Now, who can tell me how this name, or should I rather say this description, came to be?
Yes, Seldana, I know you know the answer. Anyone else?"
Gaemnomut, in a shameless attempt to get us to name his world for him.
Arch-dean Iosef of the Highcrown Royal Academy, chair of the Philosophy and Existence covens.

"For almost 30 years we have sent the brightest minds in the kingdom to join the Covens at Highcrown, and in turn they have 'plumbed the depths of the universe's secrets' for us, as they put it. We would not be the power we are now without them, but sometimes this wound of mine acts up and I wonder... whose Igni-damned idea it was to name the scholar circles after those cursed witches?"
 
"For almost 30 years we have sent the brightest minds in the kingdom to join the Covens at Highcrown, and in turn they have 'plumbed the depths of the universe's secrets' for us, as they put it. We would not be the power we are now without them, but sometimes this wound of mine acts up and I wonder... whose Igni-damned idea it was to name the scholar circles after those cursed witches?"
Archminister Tindle, Advisor to the King, Former Arch-Dean of the Highcrown Royal Academy, Former Ballroom Dancing Enthusiast

"I can't believe all these idiotic moon cultists. Don't they realize that the moon they worship so much is just an illusion, a magical projection designed to hypnotize us unwary folk? No, the REAL MOON is hidden behind the projection. And behind that is ANOTHER, SMALLER MOON, made out of pure, irradiated Platinum! And on the back side of that is a secret government facility where they perform a bunch of kooky experiments. Mostly moon-based hypnotism stuff. It's where they take you if you know too much. It's all one big damn conspiracy!"
 
Archminister Tindle, Advisor to the King, Former Arch-Dean of the Highcrown Royal Academy, Former Ballroom Dancing Enthusiast

"I can't believe all these idiotic moon cultists. Don't they realize that the moon they worship so much is just an illusion, a magical projection designed to hypnotize us unwary folk? No, the REAL MOON is hidden behind the projection. And behind that is ANOTHER, SMALLER MOON, made out of pure, irradiated Platinum! And on the back side of that is a secret government facility where they perform a bunch of kooky experiments. Mostly moon-based hypnotism stuff. It's where they take you if you know too much. It's all one big damn conspiracy!"
Alba Suqari, Chairmen of the Divine institute for truth.

There is no word on what they do as they are part of the Ziqebesi Ministry of Military intelligence.



"There is enough pointless talk going aboot lately, The Fatty Crab spy ring has made a pact of support with The Pirate-Emperor's fleet for unknown reason'n.

There are reports in the west of freak storms of acid rains and the Senate is consider'n changinger the law that murder is a natural act of God so they can stop paying insurance fees to the victims families.

And someone is stealing all my pickled onions!"
 
"There is enough pointless talk going aboot lately, The Fatty Crab spy ring has made a pact of support with The Pirate-Emperor's fleet for unknown reason'n.

There are reports in the west of freak storms of acid rains and the Senate is consider'n changinger the law that murder is a natural act of God so they can stop paying insurance fees to the victims families.

And someone is stealing all my pickled onions!"
--Marogor the fat, tradelord of the southern tundra cities.
Marogor always liked to eat when he talked to people, for when he talked with friends he could share with them one of his greatest pleasures and when he negotiating with adversaries he could distract them with eating in front of them while not offering any or offer up the finest bits, watching them sweat as they ate meals they were sure were poisoned (Even though they never were. Opinios were divided if it was because he wouldn't stoop so low or if he just couldn't bear to do that to his precious food).

As a tradelord Marogor talked with a lot of people and so, when he died, he had thoroughly earned his moniker.


"Hey, hey! What do you think you're doing here? This is a restricted Area!

What the …?
By the stones and the star, ITS THEM! SOUND THE ALARM!"

Gaemnomut, in a shameless attempt to get us to name his world for him.
XD
Well, actually the unnamed world is kinda the official title for this. Its in my sig and everything ;-)
You can, however, take up a different job:
Finding a reason for this name.

Anyway, I just finished a project that took up a large amount of my time, so I'll hopefully get around to putting together that compendium soon.
 
"Hey, hey! What do you think you're doing here? This is a restricted Area!

What the …?
By the stones and the star, ITS THEM! SOUND THE ALARM!"

Berthold of the NEC upon realizing that the elite Senavarian unit "The Blessed" had infiltrated their armory.

"HAHAHAHAHA! No, Don't mind mee hehehe! It's just, ha ha, the Laughing Star, ya know. I finally get the joke. (Manic laughter, trasitioning into sobs)"
 
Quote-Compendium of the Unnamed World
So I finally managed to find the time to make this. I tried to sort them into practical categories, so I hope this is easy to navigate. If anyone has any suggestions for how to make it better, then please tell me.
Some quotes are in there twice if they fit into more than one category so its easier to find them.
I have to say, it was fun reading through them all again.

Quote-Compendium of the Unnamed World


  • The Order of the Laughing Star, their war with the Duhneri and the Mystery

    "People said, afterwards, that Carlisle faced the Regent down with stoic courage and unshakeable resolve. Well, let me tell you, that 'stoic courage' was leaking through his trousers, and his resolve was the only part of him that wasn't shaking."
    --Frederic Baldwin, Royal advisor, to long time family friend Sylvia Moranday. 3 years after the rebellion.

    "It was truly inspiring. Who could have guessed that so many should come to our aid? That the warning of the dreadful hour should be heeded by every single member of our Holy Order? Truly, the stars did laugh that night."
    Grandmaster Yun of the Sacred Following of the Star Gods after the Night of Maiming. The Laughing Star Order, acting on an anonymous tip, put one of the Following's main hidden strongholds to siege. When Yun sent out a call for aid he expected enough reinforcements to cause some confusion so he and his inner circle could escape, torching everything they couldn't carry. He could not have foreseen an army strong enough to inflict 2/3s casualties upon the besiegers, routing the remainder.

    "You didn't think I'd survive, you spirits dammned traitor! Well, I did, and now, before I kill you I want to know why. Why, why, why? You were our brother, Damien."
    Carl Hubert, formerly of the Royal Musketeers, confronting the traitor and ursurper Damien Helswroth.

    "For all the extent of this land, we must not forget that it's true worth is not in the horizontal, but in the vertical. Dig deep, my brethren, for it is in the deeps that we shall find true wealth."
    --Gelwin the Mad, at the opening ceremony of her ruinous excavation to the center of the planet.

    "Gelwin, I am sorry to tell you this but we are closing down your excavation. What we found down there... No, I can't tell you what it is or why its important. I can only tell you that the order has demanded that the digging stop immeidiately and only members of the order be permitted to enter the tunnel.
    I'm sorry, I truly am but please do not fight this. For some reason the Exalts are nervous about this and you know what happens when Exalts get nervous."
    These were the last words spoken by Lady Erline Bancisi that evening, she not been seen since. to this day no one knows what is inside that hole in the ground that is guarded by a entire fortress built around it.

    "I wonder what was up with Gelwin's excavation. They were bringing up all kinds of precious metals, minerals and ores. They even charged all the scholars a fortune to examine the findings. Then one day she just says its not profitable anymore and shuts it all down.
    I don't get it, she was obsessed with that project, giddy like a little kid when they finally started.
    And now they just walled it off and only the occasional exalt goes down there for research or something.
    Its a real shame..."
    Unknown high-ranking Laughing Order member to Agent Peacock, Spirit Court spy.

    "Three days. We have three days of food left, no more. Plenty of water, but if we don't find food or rescue soon, we're done for."
    Colonel Halvord of the 3rd regiment. He led a group of scouts that was attached to the first expedition into the tunnels that Gelwin's excavation breached. They were sent to examine a tunnel that followed an underground stream, but were cut off when a cave in collapsed the tunnels behind them.
    The expedition, led by Exalt Carahal, eventually cleared the cave in, but by that time the scouts had long since ventured deeper into the network of caves, hoping to find another way out.

    "Praise be to the lords below,
    as we to the freeing go.
    Never shall the high stones fall,
    or all will end in Ysgith's thrall."
    --Mantra common among the monks of the Order of the Laughing Star.

    "We offer you a choice, men and women of the Dune. Surrender, and your families will live to labor in our mines. Or continue to resist, and see them sent to our larders."
    --Quahodron Sullivanister, exalted war priest of the Order of the Laughing Star.
    At the Siege of Calahno, the great temple city of the Duhneri.

    "Mr Helswroth, you can't be serious! What you are proposing is nothing short of treason and rebellion to the crown!

    I don't like that stuck up egomaniac from the order anymore than you do but you have to be carefull when you speak of such things. They have their spies everywhere!
    Although, if you can manage to get the military on our side and we take the capitol before they know whats happening....

    Hmmm
    This might be doable!"
    Duchess Palleta, wife of the Ambassador Duke Y'etiz of the house Thalido, Founder and Spy mistress of the corset spy ring.

    "Of all the holy sites in the world, the high stones are by far the most mysterious. The order prevents all outsiders from visiting them, and even of the order, only the king and the exalted are allowed in for prayer."
    - Acadia Neumann, religious scholar, speaking of the seven mountaintop temple complexes maintained by the Order of the Laughing Star, all located within the core territories of the Order.

    "IF. If your newies open up on us."
    Ostro the 17th, Pirate-Emperor Of the exiled Feldgrau fleet, he said these words beforee his fleet broke his former lover's blockade around the western Kakou bay.

    "Ostro is the only member of the rebellion that is still alive, and that only because the corset found out Vivian had compromised them all and he legged it.
    The guy was badass and charismatic as hell though, he led the Feldgrau fleet for over a decade and when he defected he took almost all his men with him.
    Anyway, what I'm getting at is this, he might be the only one still alive who knows the initial reason for the rebellion. I just don't buy that it was just lust for power on their part. Something else was going on there, I'm sure of it."
    Axelia of Kesselven, a possible spy for The Pirate- Emperor of the Feldgrau fleet and a ruthless business woman with powerful ties to the Xani Crime cartel.

    The conversation was observed by old Birdy, Barmaid and Spy for the Della'yori busness syndicate.

    "Run, they've found us! Bilal must have betrayed us! I always knew that bastard wasn't to be trusted."
    Old Birdy, just a young thieving magpie at the time, in over her head stealing from the Della'yori. She and her gang led their pursuers on a merry chase before being captured or killed. Once captured, Birdy negotiated the location of the stolen goods for her remaining friends lives. When her torturers delivered her message to their superiors, they were so surprised and impressed by her resourcefulness, her gumption, and most of all her loyalty that they agreed on the sole condition that she work for them. Poor thing still thinks she saved them.

    "Is that Birdy?! You thieving magpie, I haven't seen you in ages, how's the old gang?"

    "You!" *pulls knife*

    "Woah! Hey! *disarms her* Why are you trying to kill me?"

    *slips out another knife* "When did you learn to fight, betrayer?"
    -- Conversation between Bilal and Old Birdy after they met at 'Birdy's Bar', many years after they had last seen each other. This took place when Bilal noticed the Tavern's name and decided to stay for a drink and a hot meal on his way south after leaving Erinya.
    Their meeting, even though it starting a little rocky, was a hearty one and the two old friends talked about their adventures for many hours. Afterwards, Bilal left to head further south and Birdy, who's suspicions that the Della'yori had not kept their word to spare her friends had been confirmed by Bilal resolved to destroy her employers.

    Bilal had been the youngest member of a gang of street urchins which begged, tricked, conned or outright stole from anybody that entered their territory. They even pulled off some surprisingly daring and clever heists by breaking into the manors of wealthy citizens through the servant entrances or the sewers. On one such occasion they stole from the Della'yori busness syndicate, who did not take kindly to it and used their considerable resources to hunt down the gang of kids. They captured them and even managed to get Birdy to work for them.
    They managed to capture all of the gang, exept for Bilal, who was detained on his way to their meeting point by a member of the city watch who had recognized him after the gang had liftet his coin purse in the week before.
    When young Bilal finally escaped after a thorough thrashing he found that all his companions were gone and that he was once again alone. After failing to find them for over a month Bilal moved on until he finally met the old crone of Miller's crossing.

    "Spirit Court. Corset spy ring. Fatty Crab spy ring. The Tinker Tailors. More besides. I remember all the signals, the counter-signs, the dead drops. What I don't remember is how long I've been doing this, or how many organizations I report to, or who I'm actually loyal to."
    -- Vivian Sawsmith, writing in her journal.
    After she died her landlord cleaned out her quarters and found journals in which she recounted her strange dreams among other things. Dreams of an endless white desert, dreams of moss covored toombs, dreams of an armada of ships crossing the sea. Bizarre and wondrous were the stories written in them. The landlord, who knew that Vivian had had no family and almost no friends sold most of her belongings and burnt the rest. He kept one of them though as a memento of the woman that he had known for many years. As nobody wanted the books filled with an old woman's ramblings, All but (that) one of Vivian's journals went up in flames and she was soon forgotten by the world at large.

    "We have been at war from the moment your nation existed.

    If you want ever lasting peace, then you must pay us 1/4 of your nation's tax revenue.

    But if you forget this kind offer, here's a reminder.

    We are graveyard of nations!"
    --Nedragan Nightbringer, Duhneri Emmisary. 126 years before the rebellion and the great expansion of the NEC into the island of Sen.
    To Lelpharion, ruler of the Kingdom that is now home to the Order of the Laughing Star.

    Lelpharion was the last ruler that wasn't selected from the ranks of the order, which rose in power and influence after their success in fending off the Duhneri invasion.
    In the great counterattack that followed, the order razed many Duhneri cities to the ground and established one of their greates strongholds in the ruins of Calahno, where the high temple of the Duhneri Theocracy was located.


    "1. In The Beginning, there were The Stars and they blanketed the whole of Creation in their shine. 2. And from this shining, blinding, tacky and glimmering light, came the first Shadow, reflected upon by the humble Stone. 3. The Stars were displeased with this, repulsed by that which they had not seen beforee. 4. "Are we not the most beautiful things in Creation?" 5. They Said. 6. "Should we abide that such perverseness be in our presence?" 7. And The Stars hissed and snarled and writhed, for The Stars are vain things. 8. And so, The Stars pressed down upon the small and humble Stone, seeking to blind its darkness with their illustrious forms. 9. But even the brightest candle can cast a Shadow, and somtoo do the Stars, whos light and dark clashed and mingled above the Earth and Sky and Oceans of Creation. 10. And so The Stars shrieked at the revelation of their own consequences, of the falseness their vanity had lead them to believe that they were superior to everything else and unique in all forms. 11. The Stars are no different then us except in their assurance to move past and accept, for they were so perturbed by their realization that they fled Creation alltogether to hide amongst the Heavens in a vain attempt to prove their light was eternal and untouchable. 12. But the humble Stone sat, for it was content with its darkness, and so was Creation."
    --The Thalionopsis, acient prayer book of the Tu Heirn Da.

    "We need to get Brigadier Clemenza to confess to these charges or else the Synod will rendition us and disappear our families.."

    --Tian Han to Abdun Sel.
    128 years before the rebellion, after a great heist which saw 7 highly prized holy artefacts of the Duhneri's religion vanish from one of their temples.
    Tian and Abdun were stationed in Dune during the incident with Brigadier Clemenza, who was a suspect in the ruthless investigation that followed.
    Since the Duhneri Theocracy was rather powerfull at the time, not many kingdoms wanted to antagonize them. It was the surprising intervention of Exalt Themophilius, who was known for protecting people from unjust persecution that kept them from a horrible fate at the hands of the Duhneri Inquisition.
    Unfortunately, this created a diplomatic incident which soured the Kingdom's relationship with the Duhneri and eventually ended in the terrible war between them.

    "From what our historians could piece together about the Tu Heirn Da civilization it seems that their culture studied the heavens intently, mapping out the patterns the celestial bodies traced above their heads and naming many of the stars and moons.
    In fact, when we began to studie the night sky we just used the Tu Heirn Da's names for most of the celestial bodies we studied.
    That formation over there, the ring of stars with the bright one in the middle, is one of the few that does not move from it's position with the passing of the seasons and is refrenced often in the writings we have uncovered.
    They called it the court of stars and it seemed to have had some significance to the Tu Heirn Da as they gave every one of the stars that make it up a name of it's own.
    Clockwise from the top we have Jagarath, Levsenoth, Grimorgio, Thalmut, Zurinand and Findolmgau.
    And the bright one at the center is called Ysgith.
    Interestingly, they flare in brightness every summer and that flare seems to get slightly brighter every year."
    Notes on the ruins discovered by Gelwin the Mad's expedition, beforee the expedition first started to suffer unexplained losses.

    "HAHAHAHAHA! No, Don't mind mee hehehe! It's just, ha ha, the Laughing Star, ya know. I finally get the joke. (Manic laughter, trasitioning into sobs)"
    -- Nerigan Lofthus, historian and researcher for the Divine institute for truth, just before he shot himself.
    His suicide note was mostly covered in blood and thus unreadable only a few fragments could be deciphered:
    ...Tu Heir.......
    ..high st....
    ..ith will decend ag...
    ...almost no hope at all if...
    don't figure out...
    ...can't bear...
    ...od luck.

    "My lord, my lord, something terrible has happened!
    Somebody has breached the perimiter around the temple of the sixth stone. We don't know anything for sure yet, but whoever it was, they killed all the guards. Slaughtered them.
    And when we got to the sanctum, the seals were broken.
    Exalt Trienus sent me to inform you while he investigates how bad the damage is but he fears the worst.
    He urges you to reinforce the guards at the other high stone temples at once and to send word to the conclave that the time might have come."
    Willis Jag, Exalt Prenominative, twenty years before the rebellion, during The Forth Attempt. The time hadn't come after all and the breaking of the seals on numerous stones, while dangerous locally, meant nothing in the long run. It merely served as a grim reminder that mortal forces who know all that the Order do and welcome "That Which Must be Fought" exist.

    "When the stars forged thought into the pittyful creatures that roamed the earth and thus gave us the ability to think and reason they set a contract with all mortals.
    It stated that they would give our life meaning and guide us into a better world. In turn it also stipulated, that for every star, one of ours per generation would be born without a soul, and thus be available as a vessel for that star. Now you see, we can live perfectly fine without a soul, the only differnce is that the vessels cease to exist when they die instead of carrying on to whatever afterlife they would normally go to, so finding these vessels is not an easy task. Luckily we have the blood of the last vessels Lord Ysgith and his court inhabited, so we will not be completely blind in our search.
    In ancient times the stars could enter and leave their vessel freely but with the high stones keeping them out that hasn't been true for a long time.
    But now, thanks to the continued efforts of our brothers and sisters we have weakened the stone's protection enough that, if we had the right vessel, we could perform a ritual to allow one of our lords to take what is theirs and walkt among us once again!"
    Elder Tao, member of the Sacred Following of the Star Gods, to his apprentice, Yun, who would go on to become the next Grand Master of his Most Holy Order.

    "Those people that have been hunting you for half your life, they are called the Followers. The reason they are after you is the same reason they are after me, you see you and me, we're special. You see, when you heard my friend back there joke about me being a soulless bastard, he was actually telling the truth, at least about the soulless part, you see, I have no soul, and neither do you."
    An extract from the 'Memories of a Soulless One', a nameless runner to Valiant Reboute, who would go on to found the city state of Corint, safe haven for soulless people.
    The Sacred Following of the Star Gods is tenacious in hunting down those blessed without a soul by their gods, so that they can be sacrificed in a ritual to permit them to enter the material plane through their body. They just can't understand why people wouldn't want to be sacrificed in the name of a higher entity...

    "Valiant? Valiant Reboute? I haven't heard that name in ages. And my memory isn't what it used to be. Come to think of it, I'm also a little dehydrated. What say you about buying me a drink and maybe I'll remember something.

    ...

    Ahh, that hits the spot. Best ale in the land they've got here, I tell you. Tastes like a warm night by the fire and kicks like a horse.
    Hmm, so what do you want from ol' Val then?
    Family business? Can't remember that he even had family anymore. Thats just like him, he never told us anything. He was right quiet all the time.
    Oh, another one? I won't say no to that, to your health!
    Val, yeah, last I heard he was heading off to the uncontested lands to find some place Mosirat... no Mosirastu, no thats not right either. Mosaraktu! Thats what he called it. 'Sposed to be some kind of krypt or so.
    Wha.. you're leaving already? Come on buddy, at least finish your drink, it would be a shame to let it go to wast...
    ..
    Ok then, ima gonna finish it for you, I never say no to a free drink...
    ...
    Mos-ahhh-raak-tu ... sounds funny, I wonder who called it that."
    Valiant Reboute, Explorer Extraordinaire and Master of Disguise (quite useful in avoiding members of the Sacred Following), trying to learn about his new would-be apprentice before officially meeting her. Thus far all he knows is that she's a crafty interrogator with a one track mind.

    "As agreed, the first 5000 now, the other half when Alehi Il'uDavann and his houshold are dead.
    But make sure it can't be connected to you, make it look like the rebels did it or something like that. With all the shit thats going on in the city at the moment that shouldn't be hard."
    -Words attributed to Atarl of the scales. Who's dedication to maintaining the peace of his city was as legendary as it was terrifying.

    "Mother, what have you done?"
    - The Lady Danielle. 'On the eve of Rebellion' Act 2 scene 5.



  • The Island of Sen, it's invasion by the NEC and the Senavar Republic

    "If it walks, shoot it. If it flies, shoot it. And if, by the grace of the lord, it teleports willy-nilly, shoot it twice."
    --Nalia Vasques, division leader of the Newland Expedition Corps (NEC), welcoming a squad of new troops to the island.

    "I have conquered a Republic but I have not been able to conquer myself, Frog Father Save us all.''
    --Farfarian the Prideful, as he witnessed the remains of the massacre of High Hill, shortly after his refusal to surrender to the NEC.

    "Not this day and ne'er again, so long as lead and steel stay in hand, shall the beasts lay claim over our fair land."
    Originally as a sign over the entrance of the NEC HQ in the town of Mescoto, in the conquered province of Galavia.
    Now also used frequently on recruitment posters.

    ''Frog Father, we will pray for you to give us your wisdom and strength for victory agains the apostates!

    We will end this error and begin a new era for our faith.''
    --Fangofur, high general of the Senavar Republic. During a speech to his troops before the battle of the forgotten marshes.
    The NEC didn't find his corpse after the battle, but presumed he died in one of the first volleys the Nexlor-Winnet Automatic Archers (NeWiAAs or the common shorthand: Newies) rained on the battlefield due to the Senavar troops breaking disciplin shortly after the battle began.

    ''Nothing makes a election more fun then a few scandals, a murder and a couple of white lies.''
    --Farfarian the Prideful, Primorious of the Senavar Republic, shortly after being elected for the third time.

    "Even though the NEC employs the NeWiAAs in their ranks, there is always need for more manpower.
    First of all, the Newies are expensive to produce, so there are never many in any given battalion.
    Secondly, while their usefulness has been proven in the battles against the Senavar Republic, there are still many jobs they cannot perform and duties that call for expirienced soldiers that are able to think on their feet."
    Sere Kom'um Bear, exiled Military historian. Of the house Wutsom.
    Excerpt from his lecture tour.

    ''The Senavarnese are only a republic in name only, they are actually a tyrannical theocracy that hijacked their culture only 200 years ago that worship animal spirits.''
    --The island of Sen, paradise or pandemonium?
    Pamphlet circulated on the mainland during the NEC conquest of said island, ca. 1 year into the campaign.
    Although mostly propaganda, the majority of it was still true, if slightly exagerated.
    One of the incidents it cited was when the results of the "reelection" of Farfarian's predecessor were somehow published beforee the election had even started. The scandal and the resulting uproar led him to retract his candidacy and destabilized the Senavar Republic for weeks.

    "Alright boys, bow your heads!

    "Dear Frog Father, we pray to you mere moments beforee our finale battle to ask only three things:
    That our enemies be weakened by our stand so that our brothers in reserve can rout them!
    That the friends and family we leave behind remain safe!
    And that we die with JOY and MIRTH on our lips!
    By Rage and Stone
    By Blood and Bone
    This I PRAY!
    RAH!

    "Rouse yourselves boys! That rumbling means they're upon us! Here they come! Ready your hearts! CHAAAARRRGGE!"
    Templar Captain Yuani Bell of Mellen, one of many small provinces in the Senavar Republic.

    She is a living legend for her duty of guarding the border of the Republic and her bloodlust in battle.

    ''Something new has come from hot west across the ocean..

    Mother Eagle, don't let the storm come.''
    --Lerian the wise/Lerian the Traitor
    One of Farfarian's wives. She was known for being kind to the common folk and providing him with good council. Her moniker of "traitor" was given her after she urged the Senavar Republic to welcome the first NEC expeditions instead of driving them off by force.

    She was also deeply religious and a fervent believer of the prophecy that fortold a great cataclism for the island nation which would be preceded by a "storm from the east".
    The dry, hot eastern winds from the coast, known as the Memnoa, were often detrimental to many of their activities. It inhibited the growth of their main food source, the bog bloom, which needed moist air to properly develop and irritated their skin.
    Thats why anything coming from the east was regarded with suspicion and especially the Memnoa was seen as an ill omen.

    Incidentally, the mainland only became aware of the island to the west of it after a trading ship was blown off course by a storm, stranded there and somehow made it back. The sailors never encounted the island people though and thought the land was uninhabited.

    "There is reports of merchants finding an entire city of gold full of skeletons and shallow Graves.''
    - Colonel Xin Crager reporting on happenings at the first Senavar colony upon the small set of islands, now colloquially referred to as 'The Teeth' in reference to their shape on maps and peculairly shaped mountains and the hard nature of actually living on these islands. The colony wpuld last for only a few months, seperated from the rest of civilization (this was in the early days), and eventually contact was lost altogether. The colony has not been found again.

    "As you can see, the people of the Sen island have adapted to their surroundings.
    The webbing between their elongated fingers and toes makes it easy for them to propell themselves through the shallow waters, inflatable bladders let them stay afloat without exerting themselves and their skin and eyes are well suited to the slightly acidic waters of the island.
    It is suspected that some of their towns and cities are situated in caves one can only enter via underwater entrances only those able to navigate the murky waters of their homeland can reach."
    From The D'ardio Enciclopedia of the known and unknown world. Where it's priceless first edition is kept on watch in The Thalido Library, which is also owned by the house of Thalido.

    "Hey, hey! What do you think you're doing here? This is a restricted Area!

    What the …?
    By the stones and the star, ITS THEM! SOUND THE ALARM!"
    Berthold of the NEC upon realizing that the elite Senavarian unit "The Blessed" had infiltrated their armory.


    "There are many creatures that dwell in the forests and swamps of Sen, all with strange and exotic appearances and capabilities.
    One of the most fascinating is an animal that was dubbed the blue pawed kalincat. These nimble creatures are excellent climbers and live in nests that they build in large trees.
    While their fur can have a variety of colours, their paws are always blue, which is how they got their name.
    Most interestingly though, is their ability to teleport small distances which they use to hide, hunt and to move rapidly through the treetops.
    They usually hunt either alone or in small packs depending on the size of their prey and use a frankly terrifying venom to kill their targets which they can spit a distance of up to two strides.
    I say the venom is terrifying because once it touches the prey it eats through the skin until it reaches the bloodstream, at which point it will spread through the body causing terrible pain followed by paralisis and death.
    They are usually peaceful and curious, only getting agressive if one approaches their nests.
    Although a single spit is not enough to kill a human it is still advised to wipe the venom off as quickly as possible as you will have a very uncomfortable few days if you do not."
    The first passage on the blue pawed kalincat, from the journal of mistress Jurah bon Tremurila of Muval.

    "Guess what kind of eggs these are? Kalinkat! I figure we can train and domesticate and breed them as warbeasts. That should give us an edge I think. Why are you guys so pale?"
    -- Jonas Freeweather, Junior Infantryman in the NEC
    While he was a loyal and capable soldier and well liked by his entire company, nobody would dispute that Jonas was a bit dim and sometimes had some amazingly stupid ideas.
    Even more amazing was the fact that the idea to breed Kalinkats as battle mounts actually paid off big time. While they never got large enough to ride and were far to unpredictable in battle the adorable terrors kept the camp vermin free and provided quite the morale boost once people stopped shitting their pants at the sight of them.
    Later known as the Kalinkat Company, Jonas' brothers and sisters in arms even smuggled the three surviving Kalinkats back to the mainland when they were recalled, which led to quite an interesting series of events.
    But that is a story for another time.

    "We won't Give the temple of the Rat sister to be used as a bordello of sin and greed. we will not give you our libraries, our forest and our freedom. if you want it, come take it!"
    --Rinkina, Island of Sen, 15 years before the rebellion
    Rinkina was the Clan mother of the Treetop clan of Sen-Karan. She took over the clan at a youg age and led them for a long time.
    Her clan was the last to hold out against Farfarian's (the Prideful) unification movement which attempted, and eventually succeeded, to integrate all the smaller clans and their holdings into the Senavar Republic. By force if necessary.
    The Republic's capitol, the cave city of Sen-Kalef, has, to this day, a permanent "honoured guest" in Rinoka, Rinkin's daughter to ensure that the Treetop clan does not attempt to secede or revolt.

    "Silence, silence all of you! We are the Lords of this land, not a howling mob! There is work to be done!"
    Lord Nocev Bell, uncle to Captain Yuani Bell and Elder Lord of the Bell/Merduc Province in the High Senate of the Senavar Republic. During the unification, when this was spoken, there were times that they truly were more of a howling mob than anything else. Historians agree, for good or ill managing to force through the unification past all opposition is one of the few things Farfarian could truly take pride in.

    "Participation in at least ten battles. Notable performance in at least one. Surviving at least two weeks alone in the swamps. Proof of mastery in at least one melee and one ranged weapon. Usually those last two come after this point, but this is pretty much the infoscroll definition of, "situation dictates". Still, you've finally made it to the interview. So, why do you feel you should allowed to join The Blessed."
    Lomme ''Stamper'' Xuda, One of the many feared handlers and recruiters among the Blessed, he's different among his peers in his soft interview approuch of verbally and emotionally abusing recruits to test their strength of will.

    "So Master, it's been many moons since we parted ways the day the Servile rebellion started. I know it's hard for you to speak as death so very close now.

    "What do you want Frangil?, there is no way for you leave Kinzu alive, your army is far away and your alone."

    "Father, for everything you have taught me, you forgot the most important lesson of all.

    If you rule by fear, then lead away from away from the idea of hope."

    I have made the Empire afraid of the idea of killing me and invited me here to see if there is any chance of peace by letting me say good bye to you."

    "Will there be peace?"

    "....Never"
    Discussion between Frangil and his father, Firgahax the one eyed who was a prisoner in the impirial palace of "Bluerock" in the Tu Heirn Da Capitol at the time. 798 years and 5 months before the rebellion

    Frangil had been invited there to find a peacefull solution to the slave uprising that gripped the empire. He was such a polarizing figure, that killing him would have definitly ignited civil war, as even parts of the upper casts respected him and his goals as noble.
    Frangil however, who had lost his daughter to the empire's chains years ago, never wanted peace and only went there as a distraction.
    While his army of liberated slaves withdrew and solidified their positions, Frangil himself intended to smuggle a nest of white Jira-Snakes, which were infected with the dreaded Laruvian Fever, directly into the impirial palace. The palace was the centre of the Tu Heirn Da's political power and he hoped to wipe out enough of it's command structure to leave them vulnurable.
    Even though everybody, even Frangil himself, expected him to die, he was saved by a group of slaves that had escaped the slave legions on their own.
    They were all veterans of countless battles and had been in the capitol many times. When they heard that Frangil was there and the talks were going badly, they rushed there and, led by a young man named Silharas, managed, against all odds, to spirit him to safety. Amazingly, none of them was infected.
    In the skirmishes that followed Frangil came to rely heavily on Silharas and the support of his regiment of elite soldiers which ended up with them having a great deal of prominence and influence after the war when the slave uprising established its new home on the island of Sen. They formed the honour guard of the spiritual leaders of the revolution and took up the moniker of "The Blessed"
    Over the last centuries the Blessed have taken up different roles on the island of Sen, but their political influence remains formidable to this day.
    They have their own hirarchy, traditions and even their own patron animal spirit which they worship.

    Frangil's army never really did exploit the opening that he had hoped to create because the Laruvian Fever was not contained in time. Instead of 'only' infecting most of the high ranking members of the court and the senior military leadership the disease spread like wildfire. As scouts reported seeing whole towns depopulated by it, the former slaves realized the danger, turned their backs, left the continent and built themselves a new home across the waves, vowing to never go back.
    The Empire however, collapsed almost completely under the strain of both civil unrest and the waves of death that eminated from the nations capitol, leaving their portion of the continent a lawless mass grave for almost a a hundred years.
    And while Frangil was heralded as a hero by his people, his name was cursed on the mainland for a long time.

    "Ahh, Varhira Verhar Varotasa, fancy seeing the great grey witch of old here.
    How old are you now? 600 years? 900? over a thousand? It doesn't really matter anymore, you'll always be little Var Lesar to me.

    I even heard you met your little princess again. Who'd have guessed that the Tu Heirn Da's little pet project would outlive them.
    Their perfect warrior, unstoppable assassin, general for their armies and instrument of death to guard their empire all in one.
    What was it they would have called her?
    Ah yes... Shar Aineth, war incarnate.
    Those fools always dabbled in things that should be left alone, and you were no better after all, you helped them create her.

    And for what?
    You must have known that she would come far to late.
    In the end she only ever saw the broken remnants of the empire she should have served eternally, the Laruvian Fever saw to that.
    I know.
    I watched.
    I watched as the sickness gnawed on the empire's bones until there was nothing left but ashes and decay.

    Well, in the end she found her slice of happiness, and I find you here, on the good old shores of Sen, digging for ancient gems. Fancy that."
    His living followers know him as Alpha Omega, many in Senavar's army and government would recognize his form as Fangofur, but Varhira Verhar Varotasa knew him as her childhood friend Frani aka Frangil the snake-tounged. His hatred of the empire saw him working to ensure it would never rise again. This in turn led to knowledge of the Star Gods and the modification of the "vessel-filling ritual" to turn him into a body hopping spirt, the birth of Biomancy.

    "Where did you hide it?"
    "Burried it, in Salacji's Grove on Sen. Under the big piramide shaped rock next to the river."
    Mistress Jurah bon Tremurila of Muval, speaking to her daughter Minerva about the dangerous Ziqebesi gem that she found. After discovering them gem's horrible secrets, Jurah left it behind on her beloved Sen.

    Minerva learned of the gem's existence from her mothers stories, which she made the mistake of telling to an old lady who was quite... let's call it insistent on Minerva learning the exact location of the gem.

    "I'll tell you, Senn must be such a wonderful place. I hear it heals body and mind from all manner of ills. Apparently, meditating on it's shores clears the soul of all evil or something like that.
    Mistress Jurah bon Tremurila of Muval is the most prominent example. After returning from some travels a few years ago her mental state slowly detiriorated until she suffered a psychotic break. We were all really concerned about her. She barely left her estate, wouldn't even see her daughter and we heard frankly shocking rumors about her. But then she took another trip, this time to Senn.
    And when she came back she was completely transformed, almost good as new, right as rain. Barely had a problem since then..."
    Unimportant member of the Order of the Laughing Star giving Agent Peacock info on the location of a certain dangerous gem.

  • The southern tundra of Jin, the city-states and the Tradelords

    "And with this, the war is over! After the Accords of Variez are signed, all this sensless squabbling will finally be done."
    Imperator Yunny LenoViz of the free City of Zhuliroal.
    "You should travel. The world is wide indeed and full of marvels. You need only pick a direction and start walking.

    To the north are the desert plains of Hanloth where the Duhneri used to live. Under the searing eye of the sun life is sparse. But beauty is not. Never in my life have I seen greater wonders than the colourful sands of those lands or the twisted reliefs on the cavern walls that run underneath it.
    There you will also find the ruins of the Duhneri temples. Especially at night, they exude a primal, haunting beauty.


    To the south are the Berenor Mountains with their snow capped peaks and if you should find yourself on the other side of them you will reach the tundra of Jin, the kingdom of city-states of which the free City of Zhuliroal is the biggest.
    In it's markets you will find exotic goods the likes of which you have never heard of, strange and wonderous things. When I strolled through I saw telescopes from the tower of stargazers, poisons and medicines of all kinds, bizarre animals from the far corners of the world and jewelry of the highest quality. I even saw a jar whose seller claimed that it contained a wind spirit.


    To the west, you will find the sea and all the boundless marvels it contains. Sail out onto the sea and you never know where you might land. From the glittering waves on it's surface to the sunken treasures in it's depths the sea is as dangerous as it is beautiful. You may even see one of the Leviathans.

    To the east, ...
    Well, I have never been to the east.
    Perhaps, if you go there you can tell me all about it when you come back."
    Archfuurst Alehi Il'uDavann of the since annexed Archprincipality of Low Waters, tearfully advising his children to flee the realm beforee the rebellion spread to the capital and saw them all beheaded. Of his children, the youngest three have no known location.

    "You want to talk to the Lani, are you mad? They will kill you on sight! And you, you really think they would help us? They will probably gladly watch us all burn.

    Hmrf, if you really want to throw away your life for this madness I won't be able to stop you.
    Go to old Hannerman's pass in the Berenor Mountains, I heard a hermit lives there that might still know about some of the old tunnels that lead down to their gates.
    And take this with you, I know it doesn't look like much but this knife has been in my family for 60 years and it got me out of a few tight spots in my own travels.
    And take my winter cloak, it gets cold up there in the mountains.
    And I'll pack you my old map of the pass.
    And,...
    take care.
    If it looks like it won't work turn around.
    And come back safely, ok?

    .....


    ....


    ...


    Your father would be so proud..."
    Archfuurst Alehi Il'uDavann's firstborn (adopted and very self-conscious about it) son to his twin youngest siblings. He was caught and killed seven months later, certain he sent them to their doom.
    The twins, on the other hand, have accidently incited the Lani towards invasion of the surface. Things have gone just a tiny bit completely out of control, but they're doing a pretty good job riding the tiger. They'll probably survive whatever comes and even have plans (mediocre though they are) to betray the Lani once they've defeated the usurpers... who've already lost.

    "Silka, Naha sirathul! Sol Sangruhl bekhania mor tahu grana Doxithon. Raharua, unmania tel tamok!"

    (Stop, you may go no further! You stand before the Sangruhl, the gate to the grand city of Doxithon. State your name and your intentions, turn back or die!)



    " Tifniha solma, orhal seblerro Terionla zin. Onlada mago ig surka sol kanazu ter harua bohileo sinm.. or! .... hmm... Or, uh..., bohelio! Harua bohelio sinmahi Vinganza, iltenki mohigihu gerako vert ter gerato lorka."

    (Good greetings, we are here with blessing of Terionla. Our names not important, but we seek intercourse wi.. no! ...hmm... No, uh.., audience! We seek audience with the great Vinganza in a matter urgent that must discuss we with only him and him alone.)
    Il'uDavann's sixth-born daughter, translating for her near identical twin, the second-born son. She was a young prodigy, a polyglot who loved to learn languages, living and dead. Despite speaking a dialect of "lizard speak" of at least three centuries old, she managed to more or less figure out the Lani's current speech after listening to the guards for several minutes.

    He was a naturally brilliant speaker and leader. If not for the rebellion the very existence of the second-born son would have ensured a civil war in spite of his own desires. It is only the belief that her brother could talk his way into godhood if he so chose that allowed the sixth-born to suggest seeking the help of the Lani.


    "There is enough pointless talk going aboot lately, The Fatty Crab spy ring has made a pact of support with The Pirate-Emperor's fleet for unknown reason'n.

    There are reports in the west of freak storms of acid rains and the Senate is consider'n changinger the law that murder is a natural act of God so they can stop paying insurance fees to the victims families.

    And someone is stealing all my pickled onions!"
    --Marogor the fat, tradelord of the southern tundra cities.
    Marogor always liked to eat when he talked to people, for when he talked with friends he could share with them one of his greatest pleasures and when he negotiating with adversaries he could distract them with eating in front of them while not offering any or offer up the finest bits, watching them sweat as they ate meals they were sure were poisoned (Even though they never were. Opinios were divided if it was because he wouldn't stoop so low or if he just couldn't bear to do that to his precious food).

    As a tradelord Marogor talked with a lot of people and so, when he died, he had thoroughly earned his moniker.

    "I assure you, reports of my death were completely accurate. But, as they say, "Vengeance is Eternal!""
    -- note pinned to the chest of Lorcul Sinabar, the head torturer of Imperator Yunny LenoViz. He was found dead in his home one morning.
    It was signed simply with "B".

    "MONSTERS! HELP! MONSTERS! I saw them, coming up from the ground. At least sixty! I don't know what they were but they were horrible. We have to go, we have to leave and run and hide and warn the others and... Are you listening? We need to go RIGHT NOW!"
    Silc, merchant princess and wife to the powerful Tradelord Xibeth after watching her entourage of Jerries (highly skilled and disciplined slave warriors) get messily devoured. She spoke to some random man on the road back to the city-state Quath, only notable for the rusty saw he carried. They parted ways as he walked toward the danger she had just escaped.

    And so the first attempt to "Unify" the Tundra of Jin by Desecrater of Life, master of the Dark Art of Biomancy was stopped in it's infancy, unnoticed by history and not even a footnote in a certain knight's legend. Her second attempt, on the other hand... well that's another story.

  • The Tu Heirn Da Empire and it's Fall

    "1. In The Beginning, there were The Stars and they blanketed the whole of Creation in their shine. 2. And from this shining, blinding, tacky and glimmering light, came the first Shadow, reflected upon by the humble Stone. 3. The Stars were displeased with this, repulsed by that which they had not seen beforee. 4. "Are we not the most beautiful things in Creation?" 5. They Said. 6. "Should we abide that such perverseness be in our presence?" 7. And The Stars hissed and snarled and writhed, for The Stars are vain things. 8. And so, The Stars pressed down upon the small and humble Stone, seeking to blind its darkness with their illustrious forms. 9. But even the brightest candle can cast a Shadow, and somtoo do the Stars, whos light and dark clashed and mingled above the Earth and Sky and Oceans of Creation. 10. And so The Stars shrieked at the revelation of their own consequences, of the falseness their vanity had lead them to believe that they were superior to everything else and unique in all forms. 11. The Stars are no different then us except in their assurance to move past and accept, for they were so perturbed by their realization that they fled Creation alltogether to hide amongst the Heavens in a vain attempt to prove their light was eternal and untouchable. 12. But the humble Stone sat, for it was content with its darkness, and so was Creation."
    --The Thalionopsis, acient prayer book of the Tu Heirn Da.

    "From what our historians could piece together about the Tu Heirn Da civilization it seems that their culture studied the heavens intently, mapping out the patterns the celestial bodies traced above their heads and naming many of the stars and moons.
    In fact, when we began to studie the night sky we just used the Tu Heirn Da's names for most of the celestial bodies we studied.
    That formation over there, the ring of stars with the bright one in the middle, is one of the few that does not move from it's position with the passing of the seasons and is refrenced often in the writings we have uncovered.
    They called it the court of stars and it seemed to have had some significance to the Tu Heirn Da as they gave every one of the stars that make it up a name of it's own.
    Clockwise from the top we have Jagarath, Levsenoth, Grimorgio, Thalmut, Zurinand and Findolmgau.
    And the bright one at the center is called Ysgith.
    Interestingly, they flare in brightness every summer and that flare seems to get slightly brighter every year."
    Notes on the ruins discovered by Gelwin the Mad's expedition, beforee the expedition first started to suffer unexplained losses.

    "They built their cities of Empires, Republics and kingdoms a long time ago on our people's backs.

    For Seven centuries we have waited for this moment, we will have a homeland again and they will pay for every second of it.

    Tomorrow, the Faith will claim a new wild and harsh land and it will thrive!

    Then our Children will have their revenge!"
    --Frangil the snake-tongued, during the fall of the great Tu Heirn Da empire, instigating the greates slave uprising their empire had ever seen. 798 years before the rebellion and the invasion of the island of Sen.

    Where most races looked to the stars and saw wonder in the softly twinkling lights, they saw the darkness between them and raised swords in defiance."
    --The Thalionopsis, ancient prayer book of the Tu Heirn Da.
    Chapter 2, the fall and ascendance of the first. In which the first see that darkness is ever present and no matter how bright one shines the far corners of the unending universe will always be shrouded in the blinding unknown.

    "While the minor change to theology came to late to stop the riots, which just had to be allowed to burn themselves out, it did help insure no more occurred. Very few of the rioters liked the elegant solution, but only the most intractable refused to accept it."
    -- Historical scholar Timothy Ramson, talking about the early years of the great slavers empire of the Tu Heirn Da.
    The riots he mentiones took place 997 years before the rebellion.

    "The sword is Mine! The Spear Is MINE! AND THE GIRL IS DEFINITELY MINE! NOBODY TOUCHES MY Thi-ngs...?"
    --Fidel Denostro, Collector of rare art and Tu Heirn Da history enthusiast. He was regarded as kind, if a little excentric, even though most people who got to know him mentioned that he could be very intense at times.
    Legend has it that the three artifacts, the Green Sword of Betrayal, the Spear of the left handed Fisher and the statue of the girl known as the Warrior Princess are connected. It is said that the statue of the girl is an actual girl that was cursed all those centuries ago and if one could return her weapons to her she would be freed and walk among the living once more.
    Fidel and his friend Timothy Ramson had spent half their lives looking for the artifacts and the other half trying to aquire them for their collection. When they had finally managed to get all three artifacts together Fidel turned on his colleague and proclaimed them to be his and his alone.
    He never noticed the statue behind his back slowely and silently come alive until the girl in question stabbed him through the back. HIs lifeblood running along the green blade of her sword was the last thing he ever saw.

    "The Library of Nostaprim.
    You know, when I first heard about it I didn't believe it actually existed. A huge underground library, full of ancient texts and collections of prized artifacts? Sounds almost to good to be true.
    Even you have to admit that sounds like the product of an overactive immagination.
    And now I'm really here, I still can't belive it...

    Yeah, yeah, I know we need to hurry, just let me savour the moment."
    Timothy Ramson, thanks to a family friend who was recently raised to the rank of exalt, was brought along on an expedition to look into some newly discovered Tu Heirn Da ruins. They hit the motherlode. Unfortunately the natives held the ruins sacred, especially the statue of a woman that Timothy was adamant they needed to take.

    "So Master, it's been many moons since we parted ways the day the Servile rebellion started. I know it's hard for you to speak as death so very close now.

    "What do you want Frangil?, there is no way for you leave Kinzu alive, your army is far away and your alone."

    "Father, for everything you have taught me, you forgot the most important lesson of all.

    If you rule by fear, then lead away from away from the idea of hope."

    I have made the Empire afraid of the idea of killing me and invited me here to see if there is any chance of peace by letting me say good bye to you."

    "Will there be peace?"

    "....Never"
    Discussion between Frangil and his father, Firgahax the one eyed who was a prisoner in the impirial palace of "Bluerock" in the Tu Heirn Da Capitol at the time. 798 years and 5 months before the rebellion

    Frangil had been invited there to find a peacefull solution to the slave uprising that gripped the empire. He was such a polarizing figure, that killing him would have definitly ignited civil war, as even parts of the upper casts respected him and his goals as noble.
    Frangil however, who had lost his daughter to the empire's chains years ago, never wanted peace and only went there as a distraction.
    While his army of liberated slaves withdrew and solidified their positions, Frangil himself intended to smuggle a nest of white Jira-Snakes, which were infected with the dreaded Laruvian Fever, directly into the impirial palace. The palace was the centre of the Tu Heirn Da's political power and he hoped to wipe out enough of it's command structure to leave them vulnurable.
    Even though everybody, even Frangil himself, expected him to die, he was saved by a group of slaves that had escaped the slave legions on their own.
    They were all veterans of countless battles and had been in the capitol many times. When they heard that Frangil was there and the talks were going badly, they rushed there and, led by a young man named Silharas, managed, against all odds, to spirit him to safety. Amazingly, none of them was infected.
    In the skirmishes that followed Frangil came to rely heavily on Silharas and the support of his regiment of elite soldiers which ended up with them having a great deal of prominence and influence after the war when the slave uprising established its new home on the island of Sen. They formed the honour guard of the spiritual leaders of the revolution and took up the moniker of "The Blessed"
    Over the last centuries the Blessed have taken up different roles on the island of Sen, but their political influence remains formidable to this day.
    They have their own hirarchy, traditions and even their own patron animal spirit which they worship.

    Frangil's army never really did exploit the opening that he had hoped to create because the Laruvian Fever was not contained in time. Instead of 'only' infecting most of the high ranking members of the court and the senior military leadership the disease spread like wildfire. As scouts reported seeing whole towns depopulated by it, the former slaves realized the danger, turned their backs, left the continent and built themselves a new home across the waves, vowing to never go back.
    The Empire however, collapsed almost completely under the strain of both civil unrest and the waves of death that eminated from the nations capitol, leaving their portion of the continent a lawless mass grave for almost a a hundred years.
    And while Frangil was heralded as a hero by his people, his name was cursed on the mainland for a long time.

    I've been a princess ,a knight, minstrel, clerk, and a whore. You ask me what kind of life magic and tomes and runic formulae can be? I say it's not a life.

    It's many.
    Varhira Verhar Varotasa to Galahan Kolejinu Worldwriter, travel companion and long time friend of Baron D'ardio.

    D'ardio and Worldwriter met her as they explored the caves in the canyon that lies to the east of the Tundra of Jin.
    They found a cave with several tunnels branching off of it and all those tunnels were filled with rows and rows of shelves stuffed full with books.
    The age of the woman living there was impossible to determine. She was bald and her tanned skin was covered with ritualistic scars and painted with strange patterns.
    Strangest of all was a band of unidentifiable runic script that seemed to loop back on itself as it wound around her body, forming an endless repeating chant.
    Despite her solitude and appearance she seemed perfectly sane and invited them in for tea.

    She told them little about herself but she elaborated a little about her tattoos and even let them browse through her library before they left. To their wonder they found books that were centuries old and written in all kinds of languages, some were even written in the ancient language of the Tu Heirn Da.

    "So you got your sword and spear back, and come to challenge me again, hm? Didn't work out so well for you the last time, didn't it?"
    Varhira Verhar Varotasa to the reawakened Warrior Princess. Their battle did go much differently this time, partially because spending centuries as a completely aware living statue gave Princess a bit of a death wish but mostly because Varhira Verhar Varotasa had outlived her life of villainy ages ago. Varhira Verhar Varotasa deliberately lost forcing Princess to face the prospect of living on without the one person who might understand her. Neither died that day.

    "I think a century and a half is a full life as a hermit. I shall live the life of a mercenary once more. Would you like to come with me, "Princess?""
    "Just answer me a question if you would. Was I a princess at all? Ever?"
    - Excerpt from the Memoirs of one Aliandre Lesar, famously known as the Warrior Princess. Suffering from a peculiarly selective form of amnesia, she would spend the next decade accompanying Varhira Verhar Varotasa in her journeys, seeking to discover the truth. They parted following an encounter with Bilal, whom Aliandre later married.

    "Ahh, Varhira Verhar Varotasa, fancy seeing the great grey witch of old here.
    How old are you now? 600 years? 900? over a thousand? It doesn't really matter anymore, you'll always be little Var Lesar to me.

    I even heard you met your little princess again. Who'd have guessed that the Tu Heirn Da's little pet project would outlive them.
    Their perfect warrior, unstoppable assassin, general for their armies and instrument of death to guard their empire all in one.
    What was it they would have called her?
    Ah yes... Shar Aineth, war incarnate.
    Those fools always dabbled in things that should be left alone, and you were no better after all, you helped them create her.

    And for what?
    You must have known that she would come far to late.
    In the end she only ever saw the broken remnants of the empire she should have served eternally, the Laruvian Fever saw to that.
    I know.
    I watched.
    I watched as the sickness gnawed on the empire's bones until there was nothing left but ashes and decay.

    Well, in the end she found her slice of happiness, and I find you here, on the good old shores of Sen, digging for ancient gems. Fancy that."
    His living followers know him as Alpha Omega, many in Senavar's army and government would recognize his form as Fangofur, but Varhira Verhar Varotasa knew him as her childhood friend Frani aka Frangil the snake-tounged. His hatred of the empire saw him working to ensure it would never rise again. This in turn led to knowledge of the Star Gods and the modification of the "vessel-filling ritual" to turn him into a body hopping spirt, the birth of Biomancy.

    "I'll tell you, Senn must be such a wonderful place. I hear it heals body and mind from all manner of ills. Apparently, meditating on it's shores clears the soul of all evil or something like that.
    Mistress Jurah bon Tremurila of Muval is the most prominent example. After returning from some travels a few years ago her mental state slowly detiriorated until she suffered a psychotic break. We were all really concerned about her. She barely left her estate, wouldn't even see her daughter and we heard frankly shocking rumors about her. But then she took another trip, this time to Senn.
    And when she came back she was completely transformed, almost good as new, right as rain. Barely had a problem since then..."
    Unimportant member of the Order of the Laughing Star giving Agent Peacock info on the location of a certain dangerous gem.

  • The Lani and their underground empire Raxia

    "Our people embarked in the greatest exodus in the history of our species! We fled before those conquering daemons and forged a paradise out of a dying world! Now, centuries after their victory, the time is nigh for our revenge! People of Raxia, with me! We will teach those butchering monsters the meaning of FEAR!"
    Vinganza, Ruler of Doxithon, High King of the Underground Empire Raxia. Raxia is home to the Lani, the dominate race on this nameless world before they were driven underground by the rise of humanity.




    "You want to talk to the Lani, are you mad? They will kill you on sight! And you, you really think they would help us? They will probably gladly watch us all burn.

    Hmrf, if you really want to throw away your life for this madness I won't be able to stop you.
    Go to old Hannerman's pass in the Berenor Mountains, I heard a hermit lives there that might still know about some of the old tunnels that lead down to their gates.
    And take this with you, I know it doesn't look like much but this knife has been in my family for 60 years and it got me out of a few tight spots in my own travels.
    And take my winter cloak, it gets cold up there in the mountains.
    And I'll pack you my old map of the pass.
    And,...
    take care.
    If it looks like it won't work turn around.
    And come back safely, ok?

    .....


    ....


    ...


    Your father would be so proud..."
    Archfuurst Alehi Il'uDavann's firstborn (adopted and very self-conscious about it) son to his twin youngest siblings. He was caught and killed seven months later, certain he sent them to their doom.
    The twins, on the other hand, have accidently incited the Lani towards invasion of the surface. Things have gone just a tiny bit completely out of control, but they're doing a pretty good job riding the tiger. They'll probably survive whatever comes and even have plans (mediocre though they are) to betray the Lani once they've defeated the usurpers... who've already lost.

    "Silka, Naha sirathul! Sol Sangruhl bekhania mor tahu grana Doxithon. Raharua, unmania tel tamok!"

    (Stop, you may go no further! You stand before the Sangruhl, the gate to the grand city of Doxithon. State your name and your intentions, turn back or die!)



    " Tifniha solma, orhal seblerro Terionla zin. Onlada mago ig surka sol kanazu ter harua bohileo sinm.. or! .... hmm... Or, uh..., bohelio! Harua bohelio sinmahi Vinganza, iltenki mohigihu gerako vert ter gerato lorka."

    (Good greetings, we are here with blessing of Terionla. Our names not important, but we seek intercourse wi.. no! ...hmm... No, uh.., audience! We seek audience with the great Vinganza in a matter urgent that must discuss we with only him and him alone.)
    Il'uDavann's sixth-born daughter, translating for her near identical twin, the second-born son. She was a young prodigy, a polyglot who loved to learn languages, living and dead. Despite speaking a dialect of "lizard speak" of at least three centuries old, she managed to more or less figure out the Lani's current speech after listening to the guards for several minutes.

    He was a naturally brilliant speaker and leader. If not for the rebellion the very existence of the second-born son would have ensured a civil war in spite of his own desires. It is only the belief that her brother could talk his way into godhood if he so chose that allowed the sixth-born to suggest seeking the help of the Lani.

  • The Diade, their culture and their afterlives

    "I have something for you, a job to finally prove you are worthy of the title of master.
    Let me give you a little history lesson:
    The society of the Diade was once the dominant culture in the northen deserts before the Duhneri wiped them out. Now they are spread everywhere and nowhere. Homeless wanderers that meet in old sacred places.
    Their leaders are known as the Diachan, who in turn elect the Nos Diacha, or 'First Servant', from their ranks. The Nos Diacha is responsible for the wellbeing of all the remaining clans, and their word carries great weight in the Diade society.

    Each tribe also has a spiritual leader known as the Olgahi or 'Black Shaman'. The identity of the Olgahi is a closely guarded secret that only members of the tribe or very dear and trusted friends ever have the honour of being told about.

    Now, the reason I am telling you all this is because the Olgahi also select one amongst their number to act as a leader of sorts, known as the Mor Olgacha. I haven't found a proper translation for that yet but the literal translation is roughly 'Enlightend Jailer' and as far as I found it means something like 'Keeper of sacred Secrets'.

    Anyway, thats all not important, whats important is that the Mor Olgacha is the custodian of something called the Malachant, some fancy Diade amulet. It is their most holy posession and an unbroken line of Mor Olgachas has guarded it since the fall of their culture.

    I want you to steal it!"
    - Atarl of the Scales. Acting the part of a freelance contractor Hired a cadre of expert thieves. Who, wearing the colors of the House Arii, absconded with the The Malachant and placed it within the families vaults. It's recovery bringing about the near total destruction of the free city of Golithi, a rival trade port on the Seloa Peninsula. The Clans of the Diade have been a passive if monitored people ever since.

    "Why have you come to this place, man of Sakan? You should know well that neither your laws nor ours allow such intrusions. For you to stay or leave is unconscionable. You will simply have to...disappear... but before that, you shall state the reason for your transgression."
    dAYBREAK fURY, guardian of the Gate of Darkness, the portal to the first afterlife (basically a giant waiting room) in the Diade religion. Spoken to Tiabolt, who was hired to duel every psychopomp necessary to save a merchant princess's lover. Tiabolt succeeded in this.

    "He is our only hope, only his blood can open the Gates of Eternity, pray your friend comes back soon or we will face utter destruction."
    -- Sinalan the ageless to Damian, while fleeing from the hollow guards during his great escape from the desert of ash, the sixth afterlife of the Diade.
    The sixth afterlife is sealed by the Gates of Eternity, which will only let those leave the cursed desert that carry living blood in their veins.
    The friend mentioned is TiaboltTiabolt, who, in his quest to rescue Damian (he was hired to do so) ventured willingly into the Diade afterlives by having a black shaman of the Diade send his soul there while his body slept.
    When he reached Damian, he found out that he had befriended a man called Sinalan and refused to leave unless TiaboltTiabolt took him with them as well.
    Unfortunately, neither Damian nor Tiobald knew that Sinalan was not what he seemed, but a terrible dream demon that had been banished from the world of the living by the black shamans centuries ago. When they finally reached the world of the living again, the demon revealed to them their folly and and left to gorge himself on the hopes and dreams of mortals once more.
    Furious at being tricked, TiaboltTiabolt enlisted the aid of the black shaman that had helped him before and together they set out to banish Sinalan once again.
    In this, Tiabolt suceeded as well.

    "Do not worry Sinabar, it's not the end of the world. Just your's."
    --Valiant to a possessed Varandu, former black Shaman of the Diade, after mortaly wounding him.
    7 years before the rebellion

    Varandu, had been hunting a dream demon that had been preying on the village people along the coast. When they clashed, the demon, who called himself Sinabar the Tyrant, found that Varandu lacked a soul. While he put up a good fight, without a soul Varandu had little natural defences against possession and succumbed quickly. Sinabar had never encountered a mortal he could control so completely and so he gleefully took him over, using his new and powerful host to sate his desires.
    Naturally, a series of townspeople being found dead or as mindless husks drew the attention of the Followers (who always investigated such strange incidents in their search for the soulless) and thus also that of Valiant, who had been shadowing some of them to learn of their plans.
    When Valiant found out that the Followers were this close to finding a vessel for one of their gods he decided he had to act. In a daring act of bravery he confronted Sinabar and managed to kill him, although he almost died in the fight.
    Sinabar, to his dismay, found that since he had nested himself so deeply into his new host, he couldn't extricate himself quickly enough and expired with his victim.
    As his essence was dragged into the void, the power of his defiant rage turned Varandu's body to ash. In a moment of compassion, the grieviously wounded Valiant gathered it up and took it with him. When he had recovered from his injuries he sought out the shaman's clan to returne his remains to his family and told them of Varandu's end.
    Valiant's act of kindness earned him their trust and friendship and although they mourned their loss, they acknowledged that Varandu had already been dead long before Valiant killed his body.

  • The eastern Empire of Ziqebe, behind the treacherous salt wastes

    "How are Dawnbreaker and Duskbreaker related?"

    "A good question. Dawnbreaker definitely has control of Duskbreaker, but their relationship is never made clear. Sometimes Duskbreaker seems like a POW, others like a son, at times a servant or slave. Our wisest priests and priestesses are those who spent decades figuring out the answer. They know but do not share the knowledge with us. It is, after all, the pursuit of knowledge that is truly important! At least in this case."
    Yandaret asking Legetaris Zhim, religious schollar and apprentice searcher, about his faith. In the heartland of Ziqebe, during the first weeks of the rebellion.

    The most prominent Ziqebesi religion, Legetaris Zhim's faith, is centered around the mythical beings known as Dawnbreaker and Duskbreaker.
    Their legend started when Bathaloma Yahas, the first of the great practitioners of the arcane methods the Ziqebesi simply call "the art" came down from mount Orak after their seven year meditation, and told people of his expiriences.

    He spoke of two distinct beings, whose precense he had felt whenever his senses sliped through the cracks of our reality into the great beond. he called them Dawnbreaker and Duskbreaker for he never felt them both at the same time. One would always emerge once once the last rays of sunlight had vanished, only to slowly fade and give rise to the other when the orb of the sun had finally cleared the horizon completely.
    It seemed to him that he were comunicating with each other, although what he were saying he could not comprehend.

    In time, some of the other practitioners, known as the Searchers, also managed to unshackle their senses enough to percieve the endless maelstrom of shattered thought and cracked light the two resided in and reported similar things.
    The vast beings never reacted to the Searchers and showed no discernable sign of that they even noticed them and yet philosophy and theology was in turmoil in the lands behind the salt wastes.
    After decades of cultured discussion turned angry debate turned cultural divide turned almost civil war, the situation normalized again and a large religion worshipping the unknowable beings formed.
    They filled their pantheon with other, lesser deities as well which some of the searcher claimed to have seen.
    Among others it contained the Dawnbreaker's four wives, the Blue Maiden of the Onward Journey, Sehelinis the great Oblivion and Fincharvin the static, the great enemy.
    Fincharvin was told to be Dawnbreaker's eternal rival, a nexus of crystaline stillnes that sought to end all in neverending uniformity.
    In the centuries since then, a great tapestry of stories, morals and accounts of searchers have been woven together to form the religion it is now.

    The enlightend people of Ziqebe, at least those that are members of the church, debate the finer points of their religion with each other to this day and will probably do so for evermore.

    "Ah you are awake. No, don't get up, your body is still weak, I had to carry you to my home. Here take a sip of water before you try to talk.
    ...
    What was that? Ah, you, my friend, have reached the great eastern empire Ziqebe, where the wise embrace truth in all it's forms and we seek to taste of all the realities that lie between happiness and sorrow.
    ...
    Who am I?
    I am Nölaska, salt wanderer and time seer. I saw that I would have a guest from a far away land soon and set out to greet you.
    I felt you would not reach us if I did not help, and it is good that I came for you, for I found you passed out almost three miles from here.
    I have to say, to brave the treacherous salt wastes is no mean feat indeed.
    It has been a long time since one of our own ventured westward and longer still since we last had a visitor from the west.
    The woman who left for your lands was hailed Erinya, and she left almost three hundred summers ago.
    Do you, by chance, know if she ever arived in your lands?
    ...
    No? A shame, many here would like to know what became of her.

    But enough of this, tell me about yourself traveler!
    Who are you and why have you left your home to come to such a faraway place?"
    - Nölaska "the Midwife of Tears", disgraced advisor to the Emperor of Ziqebe, speaking to the delirious and half dead firstborn daughter of the late and Archfuurst Alehi Il'uDavann. She would later regain her advisorial status by convincing the princess to join the imperial harem.

    "HAHAHAHAHA! No, Don't mind mee hehehe! It's just, ha ha, the Laughing Star, ya know. I finally get the joke. (Manic laughter, trasitioning into sobs)"
    -- Nerigan Lofthus, historian and researcher for the Divine institute for truth, just before he shot himself.
    His suicide note was mostly covered in blood and thus unreadable only a few fragments could be deciphered:
    ...Tu Heir.......
    ..high st....
    ..ith will decend ag...
    ...almost no hope at all if...
    don't figure out...
    ...can't bear...
    ...od luck.

    "I can't believe all these idiotic moon cultists. Don't they realize that the moon they worship so much is just an illusion, a magical projection designed to hypnotize us unwary folk? No, the REAL MOON is hidden behind the projection. And behind that is ANOTHER, SMALLER MOON, made out of pure, irradiated Platinum! And on the back side of that is a secret government facility where they perform a bunch of kooky experiments. Mostly moon-based hypnotism stuff. It's where they take you if you know too much. It's all one big damn conspiracy!"
    Alba Suqari, Chairmen of the Divine institute for truth.

    There is no word on what they do as they are part of the Ziqebesi Ministry of Military intelligence.


    "You should be burned at the stake for what you just said, you daemon worshipper! I don't know who told you these lies, filthy heretic, but I assure you our Great Golden Lady is the only Goddess to ever bless our people with Her presence!"
    Shouted by an unknown zealot during a "religious debate" that preceded empire-wide riots in Ziqebe. Originally their god Duskbreaker had four wives, each one representing virtues Dawnbreaker himself, and thus the religion as a whole, held dear. They were: the Great Golden Lady, nobility and excellence; the Silent Silver Woman, wisdom and humility; the Beautiful Bronze Girl, Beauty and Innocence; the Indomitable Iron Maiden, martial skill and steadfastness.

    Of Course, the inevitable question was asked, "Who was his first wife? Whose virtues are more important?" Dawnbreaker did not answer, the priests and intellectuals had no answer and so the masses tried to answer for themselves. During the worst of it, different factions refused to admit the other wives ever existed at all.

    "You always ask what we see.

    Failing lies the Queen, A victim of foreign lies.
    Rage like fire grips the household.
    From the lowest, to most high.
    Broken Sits the king, A corpse light in his eyes.

    You never do like the answers..."
    -- Yagar Beherimot, the "Harbinger of Grief"
    She was one of the oldest of the old in the faraway land of Ziqebe. She had delved so deeply into her esoteric arts that her thoughts moved in strange spirals and her mind was a palace of crystaline laughter. Feared and Revered in equal measure, many people came to her to learn from her wisdom and hear her advice.
    Most only visited her only once, and never spoke of it afterwards.

    I saw them then, coming from the mists. The weak rays of a morning sun giving their serried ranks a touch of shine.
    A horn blast sounded to the rear of the besiegers. Another.
    "Ho there, how fares The King."
    Salvation had come.
    An excerpt from a tattered book found in a ruined section of the Library of Nostaprim, believed to detail an early victory during the final slave uprising or the breaking of a riot some two hundred years prior. In both cases the king's castle was besieged, then taken back by a force of soldiers in the early morn.

    "Joke... joke... got it! A Tinker Tailor agent walks into a bar and says, "Ow." A few minutes later a Fatty Crab agent walks into the bar and also says, "Ow." Mere moments later a Corset agent walks into the bar saying,"Ow." The Spirit Court agent slash bartender who set up this intraagency meeting looks at the other three bemusedly before asking flatly, "Couldn't any of you have ducked?" Giddit, do ya giddit?"
    -An eerie song popular among the children of Ziqebe, sung to the tune of Death lies Beyond the Hill. Supposed to have originated from the tale of a beggar, when the children who heard him—fascinated by the accent of a foreign land—began repeating it until it took on a life of its own.

    For many in Ziqebe it remains a primary source for knowledge of the Westlands. The Spirit Court has reportedly sought to extinguish it, but to no avail, their inexperience among the Ziqebe people frustrating all efforts to remove their secrets from the public eye.

    "You were hired to kill Atarl of the scales?!
    Well, I guess somebody wants you dead pretty badly... "
    -Apocryphally attributed to the Knight of the Rusty Saw, supposedly to a member of the Spirit Court. In certain parts the phrase "hired to kill Atarl of the scales" has become a euphemism for suspicious disappearances.

    "In due time, those heretics shall see their folly. For now we do our best.

    Now hurry up. Bring me the next Tome."
    --Karn Vol, Ziqebesi searcher to his loyal servant Harrunhin, during the civil war of Ziqebe as one of his rivals' troops stormed his last sanctuary.

  • General history and miscellaneous information

    "Man, can you immagine how awesome it would be if we manage to pull this off?"
    --Gary Nexlor, co-creator and first victim of the Nexlor-Winnet Automatic Tailor.

    "Hey, I'd like to file a complaint. The newy I bought last month, its acting really strangely. Every time it completes a task, instead of going into standby mode or returning to me for further orders it tries to wander off. It's really annoying!
    And I thought you at Nexlor-Winnet automatons prided yourselves on high quality."
    Andrew Hexaltrek of the NEC speaking of the new model of newy Nexlor-Winnet recently produced, a pure labor model. It was actually based on a failed attempt at creating magically crafted life. Andrew was given a new newy and full refund while his old newy was taken for "processing". Life tests are inconclusive.

    "Security for this project is your responsibility, Lord gaf-Welnr. I know it's a bit low for your rank and skills, but given what happened last time, another such breach would be completely unacceptable."
    -- Lord Crendal Winnet, Cofounder of Nexlor-Winnet Enterprises. To his friend and Board Member Lord Trevor gaf-Welnr after an 'incident' in the level four research labs at NWE.
    Lord gaf-Welnr was 68 years old at the time and could look back on a long life filled with bloodshed, backstabbing and political maneuvering.
    He had served some time in the army, stationed first at an outpost guarding the border to the south, then as a captain in the disciplinary corps he hunted down traitors. Later he trained new members of the corp as an instructor and then spent his final years before he retired from the army in charge of the disciplinary corps' prison citadel Fort Thrioton.
    It is even rumored that he was a member of the Fatty Crab spy ring and that he still has some connections to the organization.
    The gaf-Welnr had been wealthy for generations but with Trevor's connections to the upper echolons of the army and the court, and later his involvement with NWE, they had made the jump to very rich and powerful.
    He is also the brother of Sylvia Moranday.

    "People said, afterwards, that Carlisle faced the Regent down with stoic courage and unshakeable resolve. Well, let me tell you, that 'stoic courage' was leaking through his trousers, and his resolve was the only part of him that wasn't shaking."
    --Frederic Baldwin, Royal advisor, to long time family friend Sylvia Moranday. 3 years after the rebellion.

    "You didn't think I'd survive, you spirits dammned traitor! Well, I did, and now, before I kill you I want to know why. Why, why, why? You were our brother, Damien."
    Carl Hubert, formerly of the Royal Musketeers, confronting the traitor and ursurper Damien Helswroth.

    "For all the extent of this land, we must not forget that it's true worth is not in the horizontal, but in the vertical. Dig deep, my brethren, for it is in the deeps that we shall find true wealth."
    --Gelwin the Mad, at the opening ceremony of her ruinous excavation to the center of the planet.

    "Sure you could use a ship to cross the sea, but riding a leviathan does have a few advantages.
    First of all, no pirate will come within a mile of you.
    Secondly, even if they did, that just means you don't have to feed her it for the day.
    And most importantly: Its unbelievably coool!"
    Baron D'ardio the explorer, of the house Thalido.

    "We offer you a choice, men and women of the Dune. Surrender, and your families will live to labor in our mines. Or continue to resist, and see them sent to our larders."
    --Quahodron Sullivanister, exalted war priest of the Order of the Laughing Star.
    At the Siege of Calahno, the great temple city of the Duhneri.

    "Hey, precious, whats a pretty girl like you doing in a bar like- ooof.

    What the hell! What was that for?"
    Unknown speaker. An excerpt from the memoirs of Edward Sullivars, footman and companion to the Lady Knight Tamra of Faber, from his first encounter with her.

    "Mr Helswroth, you can't be serious! What you are proposing is nothing short of treason and rebellion to the crown!

    I don't like that stuck up egomaniac from the order anymore than you do but you have to be carefull when you speak of such things. They have their spies everywhere!
    Although, if you can manage to get the military on our side and we take the capitol before they know whats happening....

    Hmmm
    This might be doable!"
    Duchess Palleta, wife of the Ambassador Duke Y'etiz of the house Thalido, Founder and Spy mistress of the corset spy ring.

    "Of all things above and below the earth, none has brought greater benefit to the learned races than this humble swamp tuber."
    -- The D'ardio Enciclopedia of the known and unknown world.
    Chapter 14, on the methods of hunting the swamp tuber and how to extract it's digestive fluids which have numerous uses in modern medicin.

    "Even though the NEC employs the NeWiAAs in their ranks, there is always need for more manpower.
    First of all, the Newies are expensive to produce, so there are never many in any given battalion.
    Secondly, while their usefulness has been proven in the battles against the Senavar Republic, there are still many jobs they cannot perform and duties that call for expirienced soldiers that are able to think on their feet."
    Sere Kom'um Bear, exiled Military historian. Of the house Wutsom.
    Excerpt from his lecture tour.

    "I wonder what was up with Gelwin's excavation. They were bringing up all kinds of precious metals, minerals and ores. They even charged all the scholars a fortune to examine the findings. Then one day she just says its not profitable anymore and shuts it all down.
    I don't get it, she was obsessed with that project, giddy like a little kid when they finally started.
    And now they just walled it off and only the occasional exalt goes down there for research or something.
    Its a real shame..."
    Unknown high-ranking Laughing Order member to Agent Peacock, Spirit Court spy.

    "IF. If your newies open up on us."
    Ostro the 17th, Pirate-Emperor Of the exiled Feldgrau fleet, he said these words beforee his fleet broke his former lover's blockade around the western Kakou bay.

    "We have been at war from the moment your nation existed.

    If you want ever lasting peace, then you must pay us 1/4 of your nation's tax revenue.

    But if you forget this kind offer, here's a reminder.

    We are graveyard of nations!"
    --Nedragan Nightbringer, Duhneri Emmisary. 126 years before the rebellion and the great expansion of the NEC into the island of Sen.
    To Lelpharion, ruler of the Kingdom that is now home to the Order of the Laughing Star.

    Lelpharion was the last ruler that wasn't selected from the ranks of the order, which rose in power and influence after their success in fending off the Duhneri invasion.
    In the great counterattack that followed, the order razed many Duhneri cities to the ground and established one of their greates strongholds in the ruins of Calahno, where the high temple of the Duhneri Theocracy was located.

    "Lady Knight Tamra of Faber, I hereby welcome you into the ranks of the Spirit Court. You have proven your dedication and loyalty to our cause many times and we hope you will continue to do so for many years.
    Our's is not the privilege of announcing openly that we are saving the world. No, the members of the Spirit Court work in secret, chained to the shadows of lies and misdirection so that others may live in the light without fear of what the darkness may hide.
    We are not many, but all our members have proven themselves to be exemplary, and from the lowest dregs of the slums to the highest reaches of society, none may hide from our sight.

    It is we who realign the axis around which the world turns when it is out of balance.
    We who fight the monsters no one sees, and we, who root out the seeds of ruin beforee they take hold.
    We do what we must, even if we do it with a heavy heart."
    Agent Sky, third in line to the title of Baba-Yaga (second*) possible** leader of the Spirit Court, to Tamra newly christened Agent Peacock.

    *There are no less than three Baba-Yaga's, all of whom are accepted as the absolute leader of the Spirit Court.
    **There are also two "leaders" with the title Phoenix and three more calling themselves Kitsune. The true leader is a cipher, if they exist at all.

    "Ostro is the only member of the rebellion that is still alive, and that only because the corset found out Vivian had compromised them all and he legged it.
    The guy was badass and charismatic as hell though, he led the Feldgrau fleet for over a decade and when he defected he took almost all his men with him.
    Anyway, what I'm getting at is this, he might be the only one still alive who knows the initial reason for the rebellion. I just don't buy that it was just lust for power on their part. Something else was going on there, I'm sure of it."
    Axelia of Kesselven, a possible spy for The Pirate- Emperor of the Feldgrau fleet and a ruthless business woman with powerful ties to the Xani Crime cartel.

    The conversation was observed by old Birdy, Barmaid and Spy for the Della'yori busness syndicate.

    "Run, they've found us! Bilal must have betrayed us! I always knew that bastard wasn't to be trusted."
    Old Birdy, just a young thieving magpie at the time, in over her head stealing from the Della'yori. She and her gang led their pursuers on a merry chase before being captured or killed. Once captured, Birdy negotiated the location of the stolen goods for her remaining friends lives. When her torturers delivered her message to their superiors, they were so surprised and impressed by her resourcefulness, her gumption, and most of all her loyalty that they agreed on the sole condition that she work for them. Poor thing still thinks she saved them.

    "Spirit Court. Corset spy ring. Fatty Crab spy ring. The Tinker Tailors. More besides. I remember all the signals, the counter-signs, the dead drops. What I don't remember is how long I've been doing this, or how many organizations I report to, or who I'm actually loyal to."
    -- Vivian Sawsmith, writing in her journal.
    After she died her landlord cleaned out her quarters and found journals in which she recounted her strange dreams among other things. Dreams of an endless white desert, dreams of moss covored toombs, dreams of an armada of ships crossing the sea. Bizarre and wondrous were the stories written in them. The landlord, who knew that Vivian had had no family and almost no friends sold most of her belongings and burnt the rest. He kept one of them though as a memento of the woman that he had known for many years. As nobody wanted the books filled with an old woman's ramblings, All but (that) one of Vivian's journals went up in flames and she was soon forgotten by the world at large.

    "1. In The Beginning, there were The Stars and they blanketed the whole of Creation in their shine. 2. And from this shining, blinding, tacky and glimmering light, came the first Shadow, reflected upon by the humble Stone. 3. The Stars were displeased with this, repulsed by that which they had not seen beforee. 4. "Are we not the most beautiful things in Creation?" 5. They Said. 6. "Should we abide that such perverseness be in our presence?" 7. And The Stars hissed and snarled and writhed, for The Stars are vain things. 8. And so, The Stars pressed down upon the small and humble Stone, seeking to blind its darkness with their illustrious forms. 9. But even the brightest candle can cast a Shadow, and somtoo do the Stars, whos light and dark clashed and mingled above the Earth and Sky and Oceans of Creation. 10. And so The Stars shrieked at the revelation of their own consequences, of the falseness their vanity had lead them to believe that they were superior to everything else and unique in all forms. 11. The Stars are no different then us except in their assurance to move past and accept, for they were so perturbed by their realization that they fled Creation alltogether to hide amongst the Heavens in a vain attempt to prove their light was eternal and untouchable. 12. But the humble Stone sat, for it was content with its darkness, and so was Creation."
    --The Thalionopsis, acient prayer book of the Tu Heirn Da.

    "You should travel. The world is wide indeed and full of marvels. You need only pick a direction and start walking.

    To the north are the desert plains of Hanloth where the Duhneri used to live. Under the searing eye of the sun life is sparse. But beauty is not. Never in my life have I seen greater wonders than the colourful sands of those lands or the twisted reliefs on the cavern walls that run underneath it.
    There you will also find the ruins of the Duhneri temples. Especially at night, they exude a primal, haunting beauty.


    To the south are the Berenor Mountains with their snow capped peaks and if you should find yourself on the other side of them you will reach the tundra of Jin, the kingdom of city-states of which the free City of Zhuliroal is the biggest.
    In it's markets you will find exotic goods the likes of which you have never heard of, strange and wonderous things. When I strolled through I saw telescopes from the tower of stargazers, poisons and medicines of all kinds, bizarre animals from the far corners of the world and jewelry of the highest quality. I even saw a jar whose seller claimed that it contained a wind spirit.


    To the west, you will find the sea and all the boundless marvels it contains. Sail out onto the sea and you never know where you might land. From the glittering waves on it's surface to the sunken treasures in it's depths the sea is as dangerous as it is beautiful. You may even see one of the Leviathans.

    To the east, ...
    Well, I have never been to the east.
    Perhaps, if you go there you can tell me all about it when you come back."
    Archfuurst Alehi Il'uDavann of the since annexed Archprincipality of Low Waters, tearfully advising his children to flee the realm beforee the rebellion spread to the capital and saw them all beheaded. Of his children, the youngest three have no known location.

    "...It is said that one should never feel safe to walk those streets in the day. Such is the spiteful light of the morningstar that, via reflection, those unused to it are blinded and easy prey for cutpurses and undesirable sorts. Keep to the night. Let the moon light those streets softly and guide you."
    The text is the introduction in the discover bok of a hidden Criminal fraternity disguised as a religion, they also worship exercise, healthy livin and protecting the environment.

    The first book was found in the Eastern province of Virginio.

    "We need to get Brigadier Clemenza to confess to these charges or else the Synod will rendition us and disappear our families.."

    --Tian Han to Abdun Sel.
    128 years before the rebellion, after a great heist which saw 7 highly prized holy artefacts of the Duhneri's religion vanish from one of their temples.
    Tian and Abdun were stationed in Dune during the incident with Brigadier Clemenza, who was a suspect in the ruthless investigation that followed.
    Since the Duhneri Theocracy was rather powerfull at the time, not many kingdoms wanted to antagonize them. It was the surprising intervention of Exalt Themophilius, who was known for protecting people from unjust persecution that kept them from a horrible fate at the hands of the Duhneri Inquisition.
    Unfortunately, this created a diplomatic incident which soured the Kingdom's relationship with the Duhneri and eventually ended in the terrible war between them.

    "They built their cities of Empires, Republics and kingdoms a long time ago on our people's backs.

    For Seven centuries we have waited for this moment, we will have a homeland again and they will pay for every second of it.

    Tomorrow, the Faith will claim a new wild and harsh land and it will thrive!

    Then our Children will have their revenge!"
    --Frangil the snake-tongued, during the fall of the great Tu Heirn Da empire, instigating the greates slave uprising their empire had ever seen. 798 years before the rebellion and the invasion of the island of Sen.

    "From what our historians could piece together about the Tu Heirn Da civilization it seems that their culture studied the heavens intently, mapping out the patterns the celestial bodies traced above their heads and naming many of the stars and moons.
    In fact, when we began to studie the night sky we just used the Tu Heirn Da's names for most of the celestial bodies we studied.
    That formation over there, the ring of stars with the bright one in the middle, is one of the few that does not move from it's position with the passing of the seasons and is refrenced often in the writings we have uncovered.
    They called it the court of stars and it seemed to have had some significance to the Tu Heirn Da as they gave every one of the stars that make it up a name of it's own.
    Clockwise from the top we have Jagarath, Levsenoth, Grimorgio, Thalmut, Zurinand and Findolmgau.
    And the bright one at the center is called Ysgith.
    Interestingly, they flare in brightness every summer and that flare seems to get slightly brighter every year."
    Notes on the ruins discovered by Gelwin the Mad's expedition, beforee the expedition first started to suffer unexplained losses.

    "What manner of knight fights with a rusty saw?"
    Tiabolt, duelist for hire in the free City of Variez, to a vagabond criminal claiming to be a knight who chose trial by combat. A few minutes later Tiabolt was beheaded by the rusty saw he mocked. Despite his long and storied career Tiabolt was remembered as the first challenge to be overcome by the great and mysterious hero "The Knight of the Rusty Saw!" in the decades and centuries to come.

    "I have something for you, a job to finally prove you are worthy of the title of master.
    Let me give you a little history lesson:
    The society of the Diade was once the dominant culture in the northen deserts before the Duhneri wiped them out. Now they are spread everywhere and nowhere. Homeless wanderers that meet in old sacred places.
    Their leaders are known as the Diachan, who in turn elect the Nos Diacha, or 'First Servant', from their ranks. The Nos Diacha is responsible for the wellbeing of all the remaining clans, and their word carries great weight in the Diade society.

    Each tribe also has a spiritual leader known as the Olgahi or 'Black Shaman'. The identity of the Olgahi is a closely guarded secret that only members of the tribe or very dear and trusted friends ever have the honour of being told about.

    Now, the reason I am telling you all this is because the Olgahi also select one amongst their number to act as a leader of sorts, known as the Mor Olgacha. I haven't found a proper translation for that yet but the literal translation is roughly 'Enlightend Jailer' and as far as I found it means something like 'Keeper of sacred Secrets'.

    Anyway, thats all not important, whats important is that the Mor Olgacha is the custodian of something called the Malachant, some fancy Diade amulet. It is their most holy posession and an unbroken line of Mor Olgachas has guarded it since the fall of their culture.

    I want you to steal it!"
    - Atarl of the Scales. Acting the part of a freelance contractor Hired a cadre of expert thieves. Who, wearing the colors of the House Arii, absconded with the The Malachant and placed it within the families vaults. It's recovery bringing about the near total destruction of the free city of Golithi, a rival trade port on the Seloa Peninsula. The Clans of the Diade have been a passive if monitored people ever since.

    "Why have you come to this place, man of Sakan? You should know well that neither your laws nor ours allow such intrusions. For you to stay or leave is unconscionable. You will simply have to...disappear... but before that, you shall state the reason for your transgression."
    dAYBREAK fURY, guardian of the Gate of Darkness, the portal to the first afterlife (basically a giant waiting room) in the Diade religion. Spoken to Tiabolt, who was hired to duel every psychopomp necessary to save a merchant princess's lover. Tiabolt succeeded in this.

    "He is our only hope, only his blood can open the Gates of Eternity, pray your friend comes back soon or we will face utter destruction."
    -- Sinalan the ageless to Damian, while fleeing from the hollow guards during his great escape from the desert of ash, the sixth afterlife of the Diade.
    The sixth afterlife is sealed by the Gates of Eternity, which will only let those leave the cursed desert that carry living blood in their veins.
    The friend mentioned is TiaboltTiabolt, who, in his quest to rescue Damian (he was hired to do so) ventured willingly into the Diade afterlives by having a black shaman of the Diade send his soul there while his body slept.
    When he reached Damian, he found out that he had befriended a man called Sinalan and refused to leave unless TiaboltTiabolt took him with them as well.
    Unfortunately, neither Damian nor Tiobald knew that Sinalan was not what he seemed, but a terrible dream demon that had been banished from the world of the living by the black shamans centuries ago. When they finally reached the world of the living again, the demon revealed to them their folly and and left to gorge himself on the hopes and dreams of mortals once more.
    Furious at being tricked, TiaboltTiabolt enlisted the aid of the black shaman that had helped him before and together they set out to banish Sinalan once again.
    In this, TiaboltTiabolt suceeded as well.

    "Oh this? It's the story of a great hero. Largely forgotten now, I'm afraid. I met him once, when I was younger, though you would be hard pressed to tell! I admit, our fight was... disappointing. I caught him on a bad day, I think."
    -- Corso Peliando, retired soldier that went on to become a highwayman, to Cecilia Warga.

    He was talking about a book that chronicled the story of the enigmatic figure that would come to be known as the knight with the rusty saw. They never actually fought but it was actually Corso who had taken the man's original sword when he robbed him, taking his armour and horse as well, while the former was in the woods to relieve himself.
    Left with only his normal clothes, a rusty saw and a rather distinctive green cap that Corso had lost in his haste to carry off his stolen loot he wandered into the nearest city where he was mistaken for the infamous Corso and forced to stand trial for his crimes. His choice of trial by combat lead to his duel with TiaboltTiabolt, which cost the latter his life.

    Incidentally, since everybody believed him to be Corso no matter what he said, the real Corso used this oportunity to take on the identity of the fallen knight and enter the service of Imperator Yunny LenoViz of the free City of Zhuliroal who had never seen either of them before. When his victim atained fame for his unconventional weapon and his skill in using it, he tried to find out as much as he could about him to help keep his cover intakt, which meant he knew exactly who he was dealing with when they met again many years later.

    "Stance low! Snap kick! Sweep kick! Uppercut! Burst! Good, again! Snap kick! Sweep kick! Uppercut! Burst! Snap kick! Sweep kick! Uppercut! Burst! Snap Kick! Sweep kick! BURST! Rush in! Stomp, Stomp, Stomp!!!

    "Tan, Mira, good work. The rest of you, which part of expect the unexpected didn't you get!? Get up, try again!"
    --The old crone of Miller's crossing.
    Miller's crossing was renowned for the old woman who sat there, day in, day out for as long as anyone could remember, telling stories to kids and adults alike.
    Most of her stories were fantastic tales of adventure and mystery and at the heart of all of them there always was a young woman she called Erinya the fool.
    In her tales Erinya bested knights and monsters, and none could match her skills in combat.
    One young boy, an orphan by the name of Bilal listened to her stories whenever he could and after listening to her for over a year challenged her to a fight, requesting that if he won she would reveal her true name, for he suspected that she was Erinya herself.
    Despite her age and the youthful energy of her opponent the frail old woman handily beat Bilal and in doing so, confirmed her identity to him.
    Impressed by the orphan's trick she agreed to take him in and train him in all the arts of fighting she knew of.
    Together they restored the abandoned mill that gave the crossing it's name and lived there. Over time other children came to her and Erinya took them all in, training them in her art as only she could.
    Bilal has long since left but Erinya still teaches the orphans that come to her how to fight at the school of miller's crossing.

    " Look Ma'am- I mean Old Lady! Old Lady! Just look, see things from my point of view. If you can't tell just from how I speak, I'm not like the other kids. I'm analytical, logical. I can't just feel this stuff out. Explain in no uncertain terms what it means to "Burst", what happens within your body, show me a few dozen times. It's the only way I'll learn."
    -- Bilal, third month of training under the crone of old miller's crossing. Still struggling with the fact that "old lady" was a proper honorific as far as his teacher was concerned.
    At that point they were still a little unsure of what to expect from each other and their pupil/teacher relationship, but over time they grew to respect and like each other very much. Some might even say they loved each other in a certain way.
    He was the only one of Erinya's pupils that learned from her some of the secret arts of her people from across the salt wastes and she, in turn, was the only person Bilal ever told of his strange, almost vision like dreams.

    "Is that Birdy?! You thieving magpie, I haven't seen you in ages, how's the old gang?"

    "You!" *pulls knife*

    "Woah! Hey! *disarms her* Why are you trying to kill me?"

    *slips out another knife* "When did you learn to fight, betrayer?"
    -- Conversation between Bilal and Old Birdy after they met at 'Birdy's Bar', many years after they had last seen each other. This took place when Bilal noticed the Tavern's name and decided to stay for a drink and a hot meal on his way south after leaving Erinya.
    Their meeting, even though it starting a little rocky, was a hearty one and the two old friends talked about their adventures for many hours. Afterwards, Bilal left to head further south and Birdy, who's suspicions that the Della'yori had not kept their word to spare her friends had been confirmed by Bilal resolved to destroy her employers.

    Bilal had been the youngest member of a gang of street urchins which begged, tricked, conned or outright stole from anybody that entered their territory. They even pulled off some surprisingly daring and clever heists by breaking into the manors of wealthy citizens through the servant entrances or the sewers. On one such occasion they stole from the Della'yori busness syndicate, who did not take kindly to it and used their considerable resources to hunt down the gang of kids. They captured them and even managed to get Birdy to work for them.
    They managed to capture all of the gang, exept for Bilal, who was detained on his way to their meeting point by a member of the city watch who had recognized him after the gang had liftet his coin purse in the week before.
    When young Bilal finally escaped after a thorough thrashing he found that all his companions were gone and that he was once again alone. After failing to find them for over a month Bilal moved on until he finally met the old crone of Miller's crossing.

    "Brother, I send this letter because I've found HER. The one who broke Grandah's underworld empire, right before breaking him. SHE's in Hanloth at some nowhere crossroad near the south called Miller's Crossing. I know you're more concerned with the future than the past but SHE's building an orphan army. Imagine two dozen mini-HERS who hold no loyalty to any except HER.

    You've built something great over this past dozen years brother. I'd just be a shame if something happened to it is all."
    Lieutenant Jonathan Lord's letter to General Marcus Lord of the Imperial Army, two weeks before the failed attack on retired warlord Maria Doomhammer's Orphanage for Crippled Children.

    "Ah you are awake. No, don't get up, your body is still weak, I had to carry you to my home. Here take a sip of water before you try to talk.
    ...
    What was that? Ah, you, my friend, have reached the great eastern empire Ziqebe, where the wise embrace truth in all it's forms and we seek to taste of all the realities that lie between happiness and sorrow.
    ...
    Who am I?
    I am Nölaska, salt wanderer and time seer. I saw that I would have a guest from a far away land soon and set out to greet you.
    I felt you would not reach us if I did not help, and it is good that I came for you, for I found you passed out almost three miles from here.
    I have to say, to brave the treacherous salt wastes is no mean feat indeed.
    It has been a long time since one of our own ventured westward and longer still since we last had a visitor from the west.
    The woman who left for your lands was hailed Erinya, and she left almost three hundred summers ago.
    Do you, by chance, know if she ever arived in your lands?
    ...
    No? A shame, many here would like to know what became of her.

    But enough of this, tell me about yourself traveler!
    Who are you and why have you left your home to come to such a faraway place?"
    - Nölaska "the Midwife of Tears", disgraced advisor to the Emperor of Ziqebe, speaking to the delirious and half dead firstborn daughter of the late and Archfuurst Alehi Il'uDavann. She would later regain her advisorial status by convincing the princess to join the imperial harem.

    "I can't believe all these idiotic moon cultists. Don't they realize that the moon they worship so much is just an illusion, a magical projection designed to hypnotize us unwary folk? No, the REAL MOON is hidden behind the projection. And behind that is ANOTHER, SMALLER MOON, made out of pure, irradiated Platinum! And on the back side of that is a secret government facility where they perform a bunch of kooky experiments. Mostly moon-based hypnotism stuff. It's where they take you if you know too much. It's all one big damn conspiracy!"
    Alba Suqari, Chairmen of the Divine institute for truth.

    There is no word on what they do as they are part of the Ziqebesi Ministry of Military intelligence.

    "We call our world the unnamed world. That, of course, is a bit of a contradiction as that in itself is a title, if not a name. Now, who can tell me how this name, or should I rather say this description, came to be?
    Yes, Seldana, I know you know the answer. Anyone else?"
    Arch-dean Iosef of the Highcrown Royal Academy, chair of the Philosophy and Existence covens.

    "For almost 30 years we have sent the brightest minds in the kingdom to join the Covens at Highcrown, and in turn they have 'plumbed the depths of the universe's secrets' for us, as they put it. We would not be the power we are now without them, but sometimes this wound of mine acts up and I wonder... whose Igni-damned idea it was to name the scholar circles after those cursed witches?"
    Archminister Tindle, Advisor to the King, Former Arch-Dean of the Highcrown Royal Academy, Former Ballroom Dancing Enthusiast

    "The spirit court? You have got to be kidding me! They are a myth, boy, they don't exist! There are so many wild tales of the spirit court that if every one of them were true we would be so badly compromised that the we could all quit our jobs.
    Apperently they have been around since the Tu Heirn Da or even longer than that.
    Apperently they have spies and agents in every organisation on the continent.
    Apperently you want to be on latrine duty for the next year since you continue to disturb me with your gullible ramblings and idiotic fary tales.
    Every unexplained incident that happens around here gets pinned on the damm "spirit court", as if there weren't enough real problems we have right now.
    Get out of here and bring me some intel of actual value before I send you to investigate the swamps of Sen."
    Templar Captain Yuani Bell responding to the report of an interrogation of a scullery maid. The captain was right inasmuch as some especially unscrupulous hired guns were claiming spirit court affiliation to scare her into acting as their pawn.

    "I assure you, reports of my death were completely accurate. But, as they say, "Vengeance is Eternal!""
    -- note pinned to the chest of Lorcul Sinabar, the head torturer of Imperator Yunny LenoViz. He was found dead in his home one morning.
    It was signed simply with "B".

    "Why did you think he's called the "Scorpion Lord"? ...What? No it's not because he wears scorpion styled armor or because his army rides giant scorpions into battle or even because he has a scorpion on his flag. All that just follows the real reason, because he has a scorpion tail growing out of his butt! It's very dangerous, watch out for it.

    "Now, we payed you good money to duel him. Get to work!"
    Maximus Grandair, captain of the Snarling Wolves, to a renown mercenary of high skill before a battle against the Scorpion Lord, the most fearsome bandit to ever pass through the uncontested lands with his band of savages.

    "Our people embarked in the greatest exodus in the history of our species! We fled before those conquering daemons and forged a paradise out of a dying world! Now, centuries after their victory, the time is nigh for our revenge! People of Raxia, with me! We will teach those butchering monsters the meaning of FEAR!"
    Vinganza, Ruler of Doxithon, High King of the Underground Empire Raxia. Raxia is home to the Lani, the dominate race on this nameless world before they were driven underground by the rise of humanity.

    "You should be burned at the stake for what you just said, you daemon worshipper! I don't know who told you these lies, filthy heretic, but I assure you our Great Golden Lady is the only Goddess to ever bless our people with Her presence!"
    Shouted by an unknown zealot during a "religious debate" that preceded empire-wide riots in Ziqebe. Originally their god Duskbreaker had four wives, each one representing virtues Dawnbreaker himself, and thus the religion as a whole, held dear. They were: the Great Golden Lady, nobility and excellence; the Silent Silver Woman, wisdom and humility; the Beautiful Bronze Girl, Beauty and Innocence; the Indomitable Iron Maiden, martial skill and steadfastness.

    Of Course, the inevitable question was asked, "Who was his first wife? Whose virtues are more important?" Dawnbreaker did not answer, the priests and intellectuals had no answer and so the masses tried to answer for themselves. During the worst of it, different factions refused to admit the other wives ever existed at all.

    "Oh this? It's the story of a great hero. Largely forgotten now, I'm afraid. I met him once, when I was younger, though you would be hard pressed to tell! I admit, our fight was... disappointing. I caught him on a bad day, I think."
    -- Corso Peliando, retired soldier that went on to become a highwayman, to Cecilia Warga.

    He was talking about a book that chronicled the story of the enigmatic figure that would come to be known as the knight with the rusty saw. They never actually fought but it was actually Corso who had taken the man's original sword when he robbed him, taking his armour and horse as well, while the former was in the woods to relieve himself.
    Left with only his normal clothes, a rusty saw and a rather distinctive green cap that Corso had lost in his haste to carry off his stolen loot he wandered into the nearest city where he was mistaken for the infamous Corso and forced to stand trial for his crimes. His choice of trial by combat lead to his duel with Tiobalt, which cost the latter his life.

    Incidentally, since everybody believed him to be Corso no matter what he said, the real Corso used this oportunity to take on the identity of the fallen knight and enter the service of Imperator Yunny LenoViz of the free City of Zhuliroal who had never seen either of them before. When his victim atained fame for his unconventional weapon and his skill in using it, he tried to find out as much as he could about him to help keep his cover intakt, which meant he knew exactly who he was dealing with when they met again many years later.

    "Those people that have been hunting you for half your life, they are called the Followers. The reason they are after you is the same reason they are after me, you see you and me, we're special. You see, when you heard my friend back there joke about me being a soulless bastard, he was actually telling the truth, at least about the soulless part, you see, I have no soul, and neither do you."
    An extract from the 'Memories of a Soulless One', a nameless runner to Valiant Reboute, who would go on to found the city state of Corint, safe haven for soulless people.
    The Sacred Following of the Star Gods is tenacious in hunting down those blessed without a soul by their gods, so that they can be sacrificed in a ritual to permit them to enter the material plane through their body. They just can't understand why people wouldn't want to be sacrificed in the name of a higher entity...

    "The sword is Mine! The Spear Is MINE! AND THE GIRL IS DEFINITELY MINE! NOBODY TOUCHES MY Thi-ngs...?"
    --Fidel Denostro, Collector of rare art and Tu Heirn Da history enthusiast. He was regarded as kind, if a little excentric, even though most people who got to know him mentioned that he could be very intense at times.
    Legend has it that the three artifacts, the Green Sword of Betrayal, the Spear of the left handed Fisher and the statue of the girl known as the Warrior Princess are connected. It is said that the statue of the girl is an actual girl that was cursed all those centuries ago and if one could return her weapons to her she would be freed and walk among the living once more.
    Fidel and his friend Timothy Ramson had spent half their lives looking for the artifacts and the other half trying to aquire them for their collection. When they had finally managed to get all three artifacts together Fidel turned on his colleague and proclaimed them to be his and his alone.
    He never noticed the statue behind his back slowely and silently come alive until the girl in question stabbed him through the back. HIs lifeblood running along the green blade of her sword was the last thing he ever saw.

    "Gelwin, I am sorry to tell you this but we are closing down your excavation. What we found down there... No, I can't tell you what it is or why its important. I can only tell you that the order has demanded that the digging stop immeidiately and only members of the order be permitted to enter the tunnel.
    I'm sorry, I truly am but please do not fight this. For some reason the Exalts are nervous about this and you know what happens when Exalts get nervous."
    These were the last words spoken by Lady Erline Bancisi that evening, she not been seen since. to this day no one knows what is inside that hole in the ground that is guarded by a entire fortress built around it.

    "This Warship is the product of Years and Countless wealth on her research and construction. the Hull is made of newly discovered light weight but durable Red metal that will help make this ship fast and hard as it rams into her wooden foes. what also makes her a real nightmare is that we have made her big enough to carry a new record of 38 cannons, which are based on the latest and most effective designs stolen from the Far northern Nations. This ship runs on coal and strength to keep her moving without having to rely on the wind.

    What the discovery of Numbers has done to society is Equal to what this ship does to War, we have conquered and defeated Nature. she will turn the seas red!"
    Grand Fleet Captain Velaar gaf-Ti'ign, just before the launch - and only a bit longer before the sinking - of the Ship-of-the-Line VRS Steam Goddess. She was right that the vessel turned the sea red, but only for a day or so, and only in that harbour.

    "You want to go down there because your elder sister asked you for a favor?! Are you simple?! Have you forgotten what happened the last time she asked you for a favor?! Well I haven't! THERE WERE ONLY THREE SURVIVORS!!!"
    -- Harvey Tophor to his brother in law Howard Long
    Debating the merits of the idea of a diving expedition to retrieve a chest from the remains of the VRS Steam Goddess' bridge. The fact that Long's sister would not explain what was in the chest did not help to convince Harvey that it was a good idea.
    Long later hired some help and tried anyway only to find that a leviathan had found the sunken ship and had decided it was a perfect place to rest for a year or two. They did manage to get the chest but the Leviathan was less than happy to be woken and the venture had, once again, only three survivors.
    When Long's sister later asked him for one more tiny favour he declined.

    "So, the good news is we have no need to fear our southern neighbor becoming a naval superpower. The sabotage was a success. Bad news is, I didn't get the plans. The copies I made were destroyed as I left, the captain burned her set in despair, and the only set of plans left were on the Steam Goddess herself. We're gonna need more patience, I'm afraid."
    Feorjess Goold, recently-former cultural attache for the Wallaminan Embassy to the Court of Sankt-Vantic, two and a half weeks before said southern neighbor, the Crown of Vanetica, announced the results of their investigation into the sinking and explosion of the VRS Steam Goddess (and offers a reward for any information leading to the capture or death of the saboteur) and one week before divers from the Vanetican Royal Navy secretly retrieved the ship's safe, containing the plans to the Steam Goddess.

    "So Master, it's been many moons since we parted ways the day the Servile rebellion started. I know it's hard for you to speak as death so very close now.

    "What do you want Frangil?, there is no way for you leave Kinzu alive, your army is far away and your alone."

    "Father, for everything you have taught me, you forgot the most important lesson of all.

    If you rule by fear, then lead away from away from the idea of hope."

    I have made the Empire afraid of the idea of killing me and invited me here to see if there is any chance of peace by letting me say good bye to you."

    "Will there be peace?"

    "....Never"
    Discussion between Frangil and his father, Firgahax the one eyed who was a prisoner in the impirial palace of "Bluerock" in the Tu Heirn Da Capitol at the time. 798 years and 5 months before the rebellion

    Frangil had been invited there to find a peacefull solution to the slave uprising that gripped the empire. He was such a polarizing figure, that killing him would have definitly ignited civil war, as even parts of the upper casts respected him and his goals as noble.
    Frangil however, who had lost his daughter to the empire's chains years ago, never wanted peace and only went there as a distraction.
    While his army of liberated slaves withdrew and solidified their positions, Frangil himself intended to smuggle a nest of white Jira-Snakes, which were infected with the dreaded Laruvian Fever, directly into the impirial palace. The palace was the centre of the Tu Heirn Da's political power and he hoped to wipe out enough of it's command structure to leave them vulnurable.
    Even though everybody, even Frangil himself, expected him to die, he was saved by a group of slaves that had escaped the slave legions on their own.
    They were all veterans of countless battles and had been in the capitol many times. When they heard that Frangil was there and the talks were going badly, they rushed there and, led by a young man named Silharas, managed, against all odds, to spirit him to safety. Amazingly, none of them was infected.
    In the skirmishes that followed Frangil came to rely heavily on Silharas and the support of his regiment of elite soldiers which ended up with them having a great deal of prominence and influence after the war when the slave uprising established its new home on the island of Sen. They formed the honour guard of the spiritual leaders of the revolution and took up the moniker of "The Blessed"
    Over the last centuries the Blessed have taken up different roles on the island of Sen, but their political influence remains formidable to this day.
    They have their own hirarchy, traditions and even their own patron animal spirit which they worship.

    Frangil's army never really did exploit the opening that he had hoped to create because the Laruvian Fever was not contained in time. Instead of 'only' infecting most of the high ranking members of the court and the senior military leadership the disease spread like wildfire. As scouts reported seeing whole towns depopulated by it, the former slaves realized the danger, turned their backs, left the continent and built themselves a new home across the waves, vowing to never go back.
    The Empire however, collapsed almost completely under the strain of both civil unrest and the waves of death that eminated from the nations capitol, leaving their portion of the continent a lawless mass grave for almost a a hundred years.
    And while Frangil was heralded as a hero by his people, his name was cursed on the mainland for a long time.

    "As agreed, the first 5000 now, the other half when Alehi Il'uDavann and his houshold are dead.
    But make sure it can't be connected to you, make it look like the rebels did it or something like that. With all the shit thats going on in the city at the moment that shouldn't be hard."
    -Words attributed to Atarl of the scales. Who's dedication to maintaining the peace of his city was as legendary as it was terrifying.

    "Mother, what have you done?"
    - The Lady Danielle. 'On the eve of Rebellion' Act 2 scene 5.

    "Silka, Naha sirathul! Sol Sangruhl bekhania mor tahu grana Doxithon. Raharua, unmania tel tamok!"

    (Stop, you may go no further! You stand before the Sangruhl, the gate to the grand city of Doxithon. State your name and your intentions, turn back or die!)



    " Tifniha solma, orhal seblerro Terionla zin. Onlada mago ig surka sol kanazu ter harua bohileo sinm.. or! .... hmm... Or, uh..., bohelio! Harua bohelio sinmahi Vinganza, iltenki mohigihu gerako vert ter gerato lorka."

    (Good greetings, we are here with blessing of Terionla. Our names not important, but we seek intercourse wi.. no! ...hmm... No, uh.., audience! We seek audience with the great Vinganza in a matter urgent that must discuss we with only him and him alone.)
    Il'uDavann's sixth-born daughter, translating for her near identical twin, the second-born son. She was a young prodigy, a polyglot who loved to learn languages, living and dead. Despite speaking a dialect of "lizard speak" of at least three centuries old, she managed to more or less figure out the Lani's current speech after listening to the guards for several minutes.

    He was a naturally brilliant speaker and leader. If not for the rebellion the very existence of the second-born son would have ensured a civil war in spite of his own desires. It is only the belief that her brother could talk his way into godhood if he so chose that allowed the sixth-born to suggest seeking the help of the Lani.

    "Well nothing for it then, Tis a Bloody day lads, Run up the guns! Lets show'em a Century free of slavery! Let's show'em what a navy really is!"
    Senior Post-Captain Sondr Ha'ign, commanding VRS Sankt-Vantic, at the start of the Battle of the Namras Strait. Though he would be martyr'd in the battle, his example rallied the outnumbered Vanetican forces, and lead to the most humiliating defeat that the Wallminan Navy had ever suffered. In the end, the losses at Namras hurt Wallmina far more than Vanetica, costing them the war, and leading to the fall of the Third Dorint Ministry, which had promised a 'short, victorious war' with their southern neighbor, and delivered a long, bloody debacle. Captain Ha'ign would have been disappointed to learn that the incoming Wallac Ministry did not outlaw slavery as the Vaneticans had, though that day did eventually come.

    "Have you ever been to the Seloa Peninsula? Great land I tell ya. They have walking mountains, no joke. Called Behemountales. Huge as the king's palace they are, with big ears and and huge scales. Some of them even have plants growing on them. Some even have trees! I tells ya, them really big one's they be scary. Many eyes, tusks and six legs they have, some even have eight.
    They all looks different though, them people there tell me they never saw two that looked alike.
    Believe you me, those are scary buggers, glad we don't have them here."
    - Kalimbath. Famed for Kalimbath's Colossal Creature Compendium. Was considered an excellent travel guide writer but not a very good natural philosopher. The 'Behemountales' referred to are in fact the name collectively given to several ancient species of reptile given new life and form through magic. And while quite massive not nearly the size of palace, much less a mountain.

    "Three days. We have three days of food left, no more. Plenty of water, but if we don't find food or rescue soon, we're done for."
    Colonel Halvord of the 3rd regiment. He led a group of scouts that was attached to the first expedition into the tunnels that Gelwin's excavation breached. They were sent to examine a tunnel that followed an underground stream, but were cut off when a cave in collapsed the tunnels behind them.
    The expedition, led by Exalt Carahal, eventually cleared the cave in, but by that time the scouts had long since ventured deeper into the network of caves, hoping to find another way out.

    "How are Dawnbreaker and Duskbreaker related?"

    "A good question. Dawnbreaker definitely has control of Duskbreaker, but their relationship is never made clear. Sometimes Duskbreaker seems like a POW, others like a son, at times a servant or slave. Our wisest priests and priestesses are those who spent decades figuring out the answer. They know but do not share the knowledge with us. It is, after all, the pursuit of knowledge that is truly important! At least in this case."
    Yandaret asking Legetaris Zhim, religious schollar and apprentice searcher, about his faith. In the heartland of Ziqebe, during the first weeks of the rebellion.

    The most prominent Ziqebesi religion, Legetaris Zhim's faith, is centered around the mythical beings known as Dawnbreaker and Duskbreaker.
    Their legend started when Bathaloma Yahas, the first of the great practitioners of the arcane methods the Ziqebesi simply call "the art" came down from mount Orak after their seven year meditation, and told people of his expiriences.

    He spoke of two distinct beings, whose precense he had felt whenever his senses sliped through the cracks of our reality into the great beond. he called them Dawnbreaker and Duskbreaker for he never felt them both at the same time. One would always emerge once once the last rays of sunlight had vanished, only to slowly fade and give rise to the other when the orb of the sun had finally cleared the horizon completely.
    It seemed to him that he were comunicating with each other, although what he were saying he could not comprehend.

    In time, some of the other practitioners, known as the Searchers, also managed to unshackle their senses enough to percieve the endless maelstrom of shattered thought and cracked light the two resided in and reported similar things.
    The vast beings never reacted to the Searchers and showed no discernable sign of that they even noticed them and yet philosophy and theology was in turmoil in the lands behind the salt wastes.
    After decades of cultured discussion turned angry debate turned cultural divide turned almost civil war, the situation normalized again and a large religion worshipping the unknowable beings formed.
    They filled their pantheon with other, lesser deities as well which some of the searcher claimed to have seen.
    Among others it contained the Dawnbreaker's four wives, the Blue Maiden of the Onward Journey, Sehelinis the great Oblivion and Fincharvin the static, the great enemy.
    Fincharvin was told to be Dawnbreaker's eternal rival, a nexus of crystaline stillnes that sought to end all in neverending uniformity.
    In the centuries since then, a great tapestry of stories, morals and accounts of searchers have been woven together to form the religion it is now.

    The enlightend people of Ziqebe, at least those that are members of the church, debate the finer points of their religion with each other to this day and will probably do so for evermore.

    "Silence, silence all of you! We are the Lords of this land, not a howling mob! There is work to be done!"
    Lord Nocev Bell, uncle to Captain Yuani Bell and Elder Lord of the Bell/Merduc Province in the High Senate of the Senavar Republic. During the unification, when this was spoken, there were times that they truly were more of a howling mob than anything else. Historians agree, for good or ill managing to force through the unification past all opposition is one of the few things Farfarian could truly take pride in.

    "Have you ever been to the Seloa Peninsula? Great land I tell ya. They have walking mountains, no joke. Called Behemountales. Huge as the king's palace they are, with big ears and and huge scales. Some of them even have plants growing on them. Some even have trees! I tells ya, them really big one's they be scary. Many eyes, tusks and six legs they have, some even have eight.
    They all looks different though, them people there tell me they never saw two that looked alike.
    Believe you me, those are scary buggers, glad we don't have them here."
    - Kalimbath. Famed for Kalimbath's Colossal Creature Compendium. Was considered an excellent travel guide writer but not a very good natural philosopher. The 'Behemountales' referred to are in fact the name collectively given to several ancient species of reptile given new life and form through magic. And while quite massive not nearly the size of palace, much less a mountain.

    "MONSTERS! HELP! MONSTERS! I saw them, coming up from the ground. At least sixty! I don't know what they were but they were horrible. We have to go, we have to leave and run and hide and warn the others and... Are you listening? We need to go RIGHT NOW!"
    Silc, merchant princess and wife to the powerful Tradelord Xibeth after watching her entourage of Jerries (highly skilled and disciplined slave warriors) get messily devoured. She spoke to some random man on the road back to the city-state Quath, only notable for the rusty saw he carried. They parted ways as he walked toward the danger she had just escaped.

    And so the first attempt to "Unify" the Tundra of Jin by Desecrater of Life, master of the Dark Art of Biomancy was stopped in it's infancy, unnoticed by history and not even a footnote in a certain knight's legend. Her second attempt, on the other hand... well that's another story.


    "It's all about waiting for juuuust... the right... moment..."

    "..."

    "So-" "Ssss, not yet!"

    "Now! CHAAAARGE!"
    Theodore Manswell, known to most as 'the scorpion lord', shortly before his band of savages attacked one of merchant caravans.
    Riding with the merchant caravan was Marogor's newest wife to be, Silvestra Grandair, niece of . At first the beautiful maiden was seen as a great prize, but soon they found her to be so charming and so firece that they addopted her into their ranks.
    Silvestra, who had always wanted a life of adventure and much prefered Theodore to Marogor loved her new life and with her wits and education quickly proved invaluable to her new family.
    When Theodore died hunting down the sorcerer who had cursed him with his monstrous appearance, Silvestra took over the gang and continued raiding until the legend of Silvestra, the merciless Bandit Queen who coated her blade in scorpion venom, was known through all the uncontested lands.

    "Velchar, you don't need to do this! I swear what they told you isn't true. They lied to you. I never even saw him! Don't be stupid, Halvord will get us out of here. Don't do anything you'll later regret!"
    the 3rd of the 17 Diaries of Lady Erline Bancisi, unredacted and held within the classified Mitan vault of the Order. This Vault is only known with the top inner circle of the order.


    "Emperor, Operation Crimson Mist has succeeded but there is a problem."
    "What is it Gerzel, what happened, We have managed to move and Salvaged a sunken metal ship within a very hostel nation's military seaport without being seen or heard. what has gone wrong?"
    "The Engineering crew of the Steam Goddess is .. is still alive! Sir."
    "Impossible, they have been down in that dark cold pit for for more then a decade!"
    --Emperor Dafoll of the Wallaminan Empire and his Master of Spies Gerzel, talking about Operation Crimson Mist. 43 years after the rebellion.
    The crew, who were clearly still alive, even if they didn't react to any attempt to wake them, were locked in a deep vault under Tarrol's Hall, one of the empire's many research divisions.
    Their existence was kept a closely guarded secret.
    Days later, when researches opened up the vault to start studying them, they were gone, leaving no trace of themselves behind.
    Dubbed the "Ghosts of Tarrol's Hall" they were soon forgotten, especially since the empire surpressed any information about the incident.
    Only one of the researchers who had initially seen them, Hiram Burro, secretly never gave up on gathering information about them.

    "Where did you hide it?"
    "Burried it, in Salacji's Grove on Sen. Under the big piramide shaped rock next to the river."
    Mistress Jurah bon Tremurila of Muval, speaking to her daughter Minerva about the dangerous Ziqebesi gem that she found. After discovering them gem's horrible secrets, Jurah left it behind on her beloved Sen.

    Minerva learned of the gem's existence from her mothers stories, which she made the mistake of telling to an old lady who was quite... let's call it insistent on Minerva learning the exact location of the gem.

    "Do not worry Sinabar, it's not the end of the world. Just your's."
    --Valiant to a possessed Varandu, former black Shaman of the Diade, after mortaly wounding him.
    7 years before the rebellion

    Varandu, had been hunting a dream demon that had been preying on the village people along the coast. When they clashed, the demon, who called himself Sinabar the Tyrant, found that Varandu lacked a soul. While he put up a good fight, without a soul Varandu had little natural defences against possession and succumbed quickly. Sinabar had never encountered a mortal he could control so completely and so he gleefully took him over, using his new and powerful host to sate his desires.
    Naturally, a series of townspeople being found dead or as mindless husks drew the attention of the Followers (who always investigated such strange incidents in their search for the soulless) and thus also that of Valiant, who had been shadowing some of them to learn of their plans.
    When Valiant found out that the Followers were this close to finding a vessel for one of their gods he decided he had to act. In a daring act of bravery he confronted Sinabar and managed to kill him, although he almost died in the fight.
    Sinabar, to his dismay, found that since he had nested himself so deeply into his new host, he couldn't extricate himself quickly enough and expired with his victim.
    As his essence was dragged into the void, the power of his defiant rage turned Varandu's body to ash. In a moment of compassion, the grieviously wounded Valiant gathered it up and took it with him. When he had recovered from his injuries he sought out the shaman's clan to returne his remains to his family and told them of Varandu's end.
    Valiant's act of kindness earned him their trust and friendship and although they mourned their loss, they acknowledged that Varandu had already been dead long before Valiant killed his body.



    "Hah, I never thought I'd see you of all people here. What an astonishing coincidence!"
    - A quip usually uttered in Walaminian(sp?) stage comedies a sort of tongue in cheek hint as to a characters importance. Interestingly it is a verbatim quote from the days of the Walaminion civil war attributed to a spymaster to his wife also a spymistress. The two operating for the same king with no knowledge of reach other.

    I've been a princess ,a knight, minstrel, clerk, and a whore. You ask me what kind of life magic and tomes and runic formulae can be? I say it's not a life.

    It's many.
    Varhira Verhar Varotasa to Galahan Kolejinu Worldwriter, travel companion and long time friend of Baron D'ardio.

    D'ardio and Worldwriter met her as they explored the caves in the canyon that lies to the east of the Tundra of Jin.
    They found a cave with several tunnels branching off of it and all those tunnels were filled with rows and rows of shelves stuffed full with books.
    The age of the woman living there was impossible to determine. She was bald and her tanned skin was covered with ritualistic scars and painted with strange patterns.
    Strangest of all was a band of unidentifiable runic script that seemed to loop back on itself as it wound around her body, forming an endless repeating chant.
    Despite her solitude and appearance she seemed perfectly sane and invited them in for tea.

    She told them little about herself but she elaborated a little about her tattoos and even let them browse through her library before they left. To their wonder they found books that were centuries old and written in all kinds of languages, some were even written in the ancient language of the Tu Heirn Da.


    "So you got your sword and spear back, and come to challenge me again, hm? Didn't work out so well for you the last time, didn't it?"
    Varhira Verhar Varotasa to the reawakened Warrior Princess. Their battle did go much differently this time, partially because spending centuries as a completely aware living statue gave Princess a bit of a death wish but mostly because Varhira Verhar Varotasa had outlived her life of villainy ages ago. Varhira Verhar Varotasa deliberately lost forcing Princess to face the prospect of living on without the one person who might understand her. Neither died that day.

    "I don't have a name. My family was destroyed before I was old enough for the naming ceremony, before any of us were. My title is Secondborn Daughter of Archfuurst Alehi Il'uDavann yes that Archfuurst. As you can plainly see, you can't ransom me and I know you won't kill me. As I'm wanted simply dead you can't even collect the bounty. This leaves you with two choices: let me go or let me join you. If you let me go, I'll just follow you. Tee Hee!"
    --Ekatharina, secondborn daughter of Archfuurst Alehi Il'uDavann to Silvestra Grandair, bandit queen of the uncontested lands. At that time she had been on the run from her persuers for weeks and without water for days. She had been sepperated from the rest of her family during the initial frantic flight from the capitol and would not see any of her siblings again until almost two years later when she happened upon the younger twins.

    "I'll tell you, Senn must be such a wonderful place. I hear it heals body and mind from all manner of ills. Apparently, meditating on it's shores clears the soul of all evil or something like that.
    Mistress Jurah bon Tremurila of Muval is the most prominent example. After returning from some travels a few years ago her mental state slowly detiriorated until she suffered a psychotic break. We were all really concerned about her. She barely left her estate, wouldn't even see her daughter and we heard frankly shocking rumors about her. But then she took another trip, this time to Senn.
    And when she came back she was completely transformed, almost good as new, right as rain. Barely had a problem since then..."
    Unimportant member of the Order of the Laughing Star giving Agent Peacock info on the location of a certain dangerous gem.

    "I think a century and a half is a full life as a hermit. I shall live the life of a mercenary once more. Would you like to come with me, "Princess?""
    "Just answer me a question if you would. Was I a princess at all? Ever?"
    - Excerpt from the Memoirs of one Aliandre Lesar, famously known as the Warrior Princess. Suffering from a peculiarly selective form of amnesia, she would spend the next decade accompanying Varhira Verhar Varotasa in her journeys, seeking to discover the truth. They parted following an encounter with Bilal, whom Aliandre later married.


    "It's not like I even carry it around with me anymore. Why can't anyone let it go?"
    -- Mistress Jurah bon Tremurila of Muval, at the age of 79, to herself.
    In her later days, the poor woman once again had bouts of madness, rambling incoherent nonsense when provoked. After her daughter caught her burying her jewlery in the garden she took a stand and sent her away to be cared for in St. Lebioda's Hospital. She spent her final days there and died in the loving company of her three daughters.

    "You were hired to kill Atarl of the scales?!
    Well, I guess somebody wants you dead pretty badly... "
    -Apocryphally attributed to the Knight of the Rusty Saw, supposedly to a member of the Spirit Court. In certain parts the phrase "hired to kill Atarl of the scales" has become a euphemism for suspicious disappearances.

    "In due time, those heretics shall see their folly. For now we do our best.

    Now hurry up. Bring me the next Tome."
    --Karn Vol, Ziqebesi searcher to his loyal servant Harrunhin, during the civil war of Ziqebe as one of his rivals' troops stormed his last sanctuary.


    "Ahh, Varhira Verhar Varotasa, fancy seeing the great grey witch of old here.
    How old are you now? 600 years? 900? over a thousand? It doesn't really matter anymore, you'll always be little Var Lesar to me.

    I even heard you met your little princess again. Who'd have guessed that the Tu Heirn Da's little pet project would outlive them.
    Their perfect warrior, unstoppable assassin, general for their armies and instrument of death to guard their empire all in one.
    What was it they would have called her?
    Ah yes... Shar Aineth, war incarnate.
    Those fools always dabbled in things that should be left alone, and you were no better after all, you helped them create her.

    And for what?
    You must have known that she would come far to late.
    In the end she only ever saw the broken remnants of the empire she should have served eternally, the Laruvian Fever saw to that.
    I know.
    I watched.
    I watched as the sickness gnawed on the empire's bones until there was nothing left but ashes and decay.

    Well, in the end she found her slice of happiness, and I find you here, on the good old shores of Sen, digging for ancient gems. Fancy that."
    His living followers know him as Alpha Omega, many in Senavar's army and government would recognize his form as Fangofur, but Varhira Verhar Varotasa knew him as her childhood friend Frani aka Frangil the snake-tounged. His hatred of the empire saw him working to ensure it would never rise again. This in turn led to knowledge of the Star Gods and the modification of the "vessel-filling ritual" to turn him into a body hopping spirt, the birth of Biomancy.


    And after that bombshell something fluffy.
    "My love, whatever I did to deserve you, I swear it wasn't enough."
    "I beg to disagree, but I get the feeling that you're pretty determined to win any "love you more" fights.
    "I'm serious!"
    "So am I! I've never seen you back down, ever! Can't risk it."
    -A conversation recounted by Lian, one of Bilal the Peacebringer's sons, in relating the tale of his parent's enduring love. Later included, verbatim, in an adaptation of their tale by the playwright Amalier. A Weapon of Peace is considered a timeless masterpiece despite its controversial nature.

    "Silence! ...I will not see this court overturned by mere sentiment. The time for such things has passed. Now is the time for the truth."
    - Cyril The Lion. His last words, his last act. Considered a noble traitor among the coastal cities. Those who've taken the mantle of The Lion have been treated with the Respect and caution ever since. For in taking up the title those men have given up everything in the name of exacting a terrible justice. For his last act Cyril The Lion strode into the court of the King Leopold II and slew him. Not through a trial or by way of accusation. He ran him through with a blade. Leopold's royal father's blade in fact.
    It had been a gift to Cyril from Leopold I following the marriage between Cyril and the Princess Elise. Leopold II sister. Leopold II was a notorious womanizer and never married as a result, becoming increasingly obsessed with a personal legacy as he aged, and some say descended into madness. he had his sister and three of her four children killed in an attempt to secure the throne for one of his bastards. Cyril and his youngest daughter were as fortune would have it out that morning. Cyril would find evidence of his brother-in-law's complicity and vow to see his family's murderer brought to Justice. Regardless that the man was a king.

    "My mother is a banker's daughter certainly. But you don't know my father. Ill give you a hint. My father is this city. You don't know his name, but you all whisper of him in the night. Do not for a second think me a bargaining chip, Do not for a second think that I am locked in here with you. By morning your entire organization is going to claw itself apart, my father won't need to have lifted a finger and my dowry will be enough for a prince."
    -"The City's Daughter" the night that the Red Talon crime syndicate was found horribly and brutally murdered.

    "I've had a Eureka moment that I must put down to blueprint, but all my papers are neither print nor blue. TO THE LAB!"
    - Lord Crendal Winnet's second son Erstwhile Winnet, better known as "Erstwhile the Deranged". The words were recorded by his wife Faithful Winnet nee Saliban the day he was locked away for his own good. Said she, "I don't even know what a 'Eureka moment' is! Do you?"

    "It was truly inspiring. Who could have guessed that so many should come to our aid? That the warning of the dreadful hour should be heeded by every single member of our Holy Order? Truly, the stars did laugh that night."
    Grandmaster Yun of the Sacred Following of the Star Gods after the Night of Maiming. The Laughing Star Order, acting on an anonymous tip, put one of the Following's main hidden strongholds to siege. When Yun sent out a call for aid he expected enough reinforcements to cause some confusion so he and his inner circle could escape, torching everything they couldn't carry. He could not have foreseen an army strong enough to inflict 2/3s casualties upon the besiegers, routing the remainder.

    "Joke... joke... got it! A Tinker Tailor agent walks into a bar and says, "Ow." A few minutes later a Fatty Crab agent walks into the bar and also says, "Ow." Mere moments later a Corset agent walks into the bar saying,"Ow." The Spirit Court agent slash bartender who set up this intraagency meeting looks at the other three bemusedly before asking flatly, "Couldn't any of you have ducked?" Giddit, do ya giddit?"
    -An eerie song popular among the children of Ziqebe, sung to the tune of Death lies Beyond the Hill. Supposed to have originated from the tale of a beggar, when the children who heard him—fascinated by the accent of a foreign land—began repeating it until it took on a life of its own.

    For many in Ziqebe it remains a primary source for knowledge of the Westlands. The Spirit Court has reportedly sought to extinguish it, but to no avail, their inexperience among the Ziqebe people frustrating all efforts to remove their secrets from the public eye.


  • Persons of Interest

    -- Gary Nexlor, co-creator and first victim of the Nexlor-Winnet Automatic Tailor.
    -- Lord Crendal Winnet, Cofounder of Nexlor-Winnet Enterprises.
    -- Erstwhile Winnet, Lord Crendal Winnet's second son, better known as "Erstwhile the Deranged". Was eventually locked away for his own good. Happily married to his wife, Winnet nee Saliban.
    -- Lord Trevor gaf-Welnr, 68 years old and Board Member of Nexlor-Winnet Enterprises. He had served in the military for most of his life and built the gaf-Welnr familiy into a powerhouse at the royal court. It is even rumored that he was a member of the Fatty Crab spy ring and that he still has some connections to the organization. He is also the brother of Sylvia Moranday.
    -- Sylvia Moranday, brother of Trevor gaf-Welnr and friend to Frederic Baldwin. Still alive 3 years after the rebellion.
    -- Frederic Baldwin, Royal advisor, long time friend of Sylvia Moranday. Still alive 3 years after the rebellion.
    -- Carl Hubert, formerly of the Royal Musketeers, confronted the traitor and ursurper Damien Helswroth.
    -- Damien Helswroth, instigated the rebellion against the crown with Duchess Palleta
    -- Gelwin the Mad, started a ruinous excavation to the center of the planet which was closed off due to mysterious circumstances.
    -- Lady Erline Bancisi, has not been seen since she informed Gelwin of the fact that the order was closing down her excavation. Was part of either the excavation or the order. (Or both)
    -- Nalia Vasques, division leader of the Newland Expedition Corps on the island of Sen
    -- Baron D'ardio of the house Thalido, explorer and writer of the "The D'ardio Enciclopedia of the known and unknown world". Traveled with Galahan Kolejinu Worldwriter and met Varhira.
    -- Galahan Kolejinu Worldwriter, traveled with Baron D'ardio and met Varhira.
    -- Farfarian the Prideful, Primorious of the Senavar Republic, ruled during the invasion of the NEC and at one point refused to surrender to them. Married to Lerian the wise. Came into power when his predecessor was forced out of office due to scandal. His unification movement brought all the smaller clans unter the rule of the Senavar Republic, which had its capitol in the cave city of Sen-Kalef.
    -- Lerian the wise/Lerian the Traitor, one of Farfarian's wives. She was known as kind and intelligent. Was dubbed 'traitor' after she advocated for welcoming the NEC peacefully.
    -- Quahodron Sullivanister, exalted war priest of the Order of the Laughing Star, was present at the siege of Calahno, the great temple city of the Duhneri. Lived 127 years before the rebellion.
    -- Edward Sullivars, footman and companion to the Lady Knight Tamra of Faber
    -- Lady Knight Tamra of Faber, operative of the spirit court and known as Agent Peacock among their ranks. investigated the closing of Gelvin's excavation.
    -- Duchess Palleta, Founder and Spy mistress of the corset spy ring, wife of the Ambassador Duke Y'etiz of the house Thalido.
    -- Ambassador Duke Y'etiz of the house Thalido
    -- Acadia Neumann, religious scholar, spoke of the seven mountaintop temple complexes maintained by the Order of the Laughing Star, all located within the core territories of the Order.
    -- Imperator Yunny LenoViz of the free City of Zhuliroal, largest of the city-states of the tundra of Jin.
    -- Lorcul Sinavol, the head torturer of Imperator Yunny LenoViz. He was found dead in his home one morning with a note pinned to his chest, which was signed simply with "B".
    -- Sere Kom'um Bear, exiled Military historian. Of the house Wutsom. Held a lecture tour where he spoke of the Newies
    -- Ostro the 17th, Pirate-Emperor Of the exiled Feldgrau fleet, he said these words beforee his fleet broke his former lover's blockade around the western Kakou bay. Was Admiral of the navy and then part of the rebellion against the crown. When his wife betrayed him he fled, taking most of his men and ships with him.
    -- Nedragan Nightbringer, Duhneri Emmisary. Lived 126 years before the rebellion and the great expansion of the NEC into the island of Sen.
    -- Lelpharion, ruler of the Kingdom that is now home to the Order of the Laughing Star. Last ruler that wasn't selected from the ranks of the order.
    -- Agent Sky, third in line to the title of Baba-Yaga (second*) possible** leader of the Spirit Court, welcomed Tamara into their ranks.
    *There are no less than three Baba-Yaga's, all of whom are accepted as the absolute leader of the Spirit Court.
    **There are also two "leaders" with the title Phoenix and three more calling themselves Kitsune. The true leader is a cipher, if they exist at all.
    -- Templar Captain Yuani Bell of Mellen, bloodthirsty and dutyful in guarding the Republic's borders. Vocally denies the existence of the spirit court.
    -- Lord Nocev Bell, uncle to Captain Yuani Bell and Elder Lord of the Bell/Merduc Province in the High Senate of the Senavar Republic
    -- Axelia of Kesselven, a possible spy for The Pirate- Emperor of the Feldgrau fleet and a ruthless business woman with powerful ties to the Xani Crime cartel.
    -- Colonel Xin Crager, reported on happenings at the first Senavar colony which was then never heard from again.
    -- Archfuurst Alehi Il'uDavann of the since annexed Archprincipality of Low Waters, advised his children to flee the realm beforee the rebellion spread to the capital and saw them all beheaded. Of his children, the youngest three have no known location.
    -- Archfuurst Alehi Il'uDavann's firstborn. His firstborn daughter however is known to have crossed the great salt waste to the east and joining the Ziqebesi Emporer's harem after meeting Nölaska.
    -- Archfuurst Alehi Il'uDavann's firstborn son(adopted and very self-conscious about it), was caught and killed seven months after parting ways with his younger twin siblings.
    -- The twins, children of Archfuurst Alehi Il'uDavann, accidently incited the Lani towards invasion of the surface. They were near identical and very close. They had five older sisters and on older brother. She was a young prodigy, a polyglot who loved to learn languages, living and dead, and he was a naturally brilliant speaker and leader.
    -- Ekatharina, secondborn daughter of Archfuurst Alehi Il'uDavann. Captured by the bandit queen Silvestra Grandair.
    -- Brigadier Clemenza, Tian Han and Abdun Sel were stationed in Dune during a great heist which saw 7 highly prized holy artefacts of the Duhneri's religion vanish from one of their temples. Lived 128 years before the rebellion.
    -- Exalt Themophilius, was known for protecting people from unjust persecution, his intervention in a diplomatic incident indirectly led to the war with the Duhneri Theocracy. Lived 128 years before the rebellion.
    -- Frangil the snake-tongued, instigating a slave uprising during the fall of the great Tu Heirn Da empire and used the dreaded Laruvian Fever to depopulate it's capitol. Under his leadership, the Slave rebellion settled on the island of Sen. Lived 798 years before the rebellion and the invasion of the island of Sen by the NEC. Used a modified version of the vessel filling ritual to bodyhop and develop biomancy. He is still alive and known as Alpha Omega by his followers. Knew Varhira Verhar Varotasa as "little Var Lesar" when she was a child.
    -- Fangofur, high general of the Senavar Republic. Fought the battle of the forgotten marshes. Presumed dead. Was in reality one of the incarnations of the body hopping entity known as Frangil.
    -- Silharas, the first commander of the Blessed. Rescued Frangil from the Tu Heirn Da capitol during the slave uprising.
    -- Varhira Verhar Varotasa, the great grey witch of old. As a child she knew Frangil, whom she met again hundreds of years later on the shores of Sen, where she was digging up a dangerous, ancient gem. Helped the Tu Heirn Da create the warrior princess. Met Baron D'ardio and Galahan Kolejinu Worldwriter when they found her sanctuary during their travels. Very old and has many strange markings on her body.
    -- Aliandre Lesar, the Warrioir Princess, a cursed girl from the Tu Heirn Da Empire. She was artificially created as a living weapon with Varhira's help, when she turned against her "mother" she was cursed. The curse turned her into a statue. She was awakened several centuries later by Fidel Denostro and Timothy Ramson and promptly killed Fidel for his trouble. The curse also affected her memories. After meeting Varhira and traveling with her for a while she met Bilal, whom she fell in love with and later married.
    -- Timothy Ramson, historical scholar, talks about the early years of the Tu Heirn Da empire. Has a friend who was raised to the rank of Exalt in the Order and visited the Library of Nostarprim with him.
    -- Fidel Denostro, Collector of rare art and Tu Heirn Da history enthusiast. He was regarded as kind, if a little excentric, even though most people who got to know him mentioned that he could be very intense at times. Was stabbed in the back by the warrior princess
    -- Lomme ''Stamper'' Xuda, One of the many feared handlers and recruiters among the Blessed, he's different among his peers in his soft interview approuch of verbally and emotionally abusing recruits to test their strength of will.
    -- Tiabolt, duelist for hire in the free City of Variez. Succeeded in duelling dAYBREAK fURY in his attempt to rescue Damian from the Diade afterlife. During the rescue Tiabolt freed a dreamdemon, which he later banished again with the help of a black shaman of the Diade. Was eventually killed by the knight with the rusty saw.
    -- Corso Peliando, highwayman who stole a nights belongings and assumed his identity. While he would go on to be emplyed by the by Imperator Yunny LenoViz of the free City of Zhuliroal, the knight would be forced to stand trial for his misdeeds. The two would later meet again.
    -- The Knight of the Rusty Saw, great and mysterious hero. Was thrust int this role when Corso Peliando stole his belongings and people assumed he was Corso. He was forced to stand trial and chose trial by combat. He faced off against Tiabolt and killed him. Near the city-state Quath he stopped an atempt to comquer the tundra of Jin by the desecrator of life.
    -- Damian, lover of a merchant princess, was rescued from the Diade afterlife by Tiabolt.
    -- dAYBREAK fURY, guardian of the Gate of Darkness, the portal to the first afterlife (basically a giant waiting room) in the Diade religion. Lost a duel to Tiabolt, who was hired to duel every psychopomp necessary to save a merchant princess's lover. Tiabolt succeeded in this.
    -- Erinya, the old crone of Miller's crossing, legendary combat instructor and mentor to the orphan Bilal. Was a warlord at some point and was known as Maria Doomhammer during that time. Came from the eastern empire over 300 years ago.
    -- Bilal, orphan and street urchin. He ran with Birdy and some other kids until they were caught stealing from the Della'yori busness syndicate. While the Sydicate caught all the othe members of the gang, Bilal escaped and went on alone until he met Erinya, the old crone of Miller's crossing, and convinced her to train him. The two formed a close friendship and she taught him some of the mystical arts of her people while he confided in her about his strange almost vision like dreams. When he left to travel south he met Birdy once again in her bar. Married the warrior princess, Aliandre Lesar, whom he dearly loved and had had more than one son. Later known as Bilal the peacebringer.
    -- Lian, one of Bilal's sons.
    -- Old Birdy, Barmaid and Spy for the Della'yori busness syndicate. Was convinced to work for them after she and her friends had been caught after stealing from them. Was friends with Bilal when they were both kids living on the street.
    -- Iosef, Arch-dean of the Highcrown Royal Academy, chair of the Philosophy and Existence covens.
    -- Archminister Tindle, Advisor to the King, Former Arch-Dean of the Highcrown Royal Academy, Former Ballroom Dancing Enthusiast
    -- Alba Suqari, Chairmen of the Divine institute for truth which is part of the Ziqebesi Ministry of Military intelligence
    -- Marogor the fat, tradelord of the southern tundra cities.
    -- Berthold of the NEC, fought the elite Senavarian unit "The Blessed"
    -- Nerigan Lofthus, historian and researcher for the Divine institute for truth, shot himself after figuring out something about the laughing star.
    -- Vivian, former lover of Ostro the Pirate. Betrayed the Rebellion, died as a confused old woman, unsure of who she was loyal to. In her lifetime she filled journals upon journals with her strange dreams and stories. Unfortunately all but one was burnt.
    -- Lieutenant Jonathan Lord of the Imperial Army, brother of General Marcus Lord. Instigated a failed attack on retired warlord Maria Doomhammer's (the old crone of Miller's crossing) Orphanage for Crippled Children.
    -- General Marcus Lord of the Imperial Arm, brother of Lieutenant Jonathan Lord
    -- Nölaska "the Midwife of Tears", disgraced advisor to the Emperor of Ziqebe, saved the firstborn daughter of the late and Archfuurst Alehi Il'uDavann from dying in the great saltwastes. She would later regain her advisorial status by convincing the princess to join the imperial harem.
    -- Yagar Beherimot, the "Harbinger of Grief"
    She was one of the oldest of the old in the faraway land of Ziqebe. She had delved so deeply into her esoteric arts that her thoughts moved in strange spirals and her mind was a palace of crystaline laughter. Feared and Revered in equal measure, many people came to her to learn from her wisdom and hear her advice.
    Most only visited her only once, and never spoke of it afterwards.
    -- Rinkina, clan mother of the Treetop clan of Sen-Karan, resisted the Farfarians unification movement but lost in the end.
    -- Rinoka, Rinkina's daughter, hostage in the Republic's capitol, the cave city of Sen-Kalef, to ensure that the Treetop clan does not attempt to secede or revolt.
    -- Sinalan the ageless, a dream demon that Tiobal inadvertedly freed from his banishment in the desert of ash when he set out to rescue Damian. Was banished again by Tiobalt and a black shaman of the Diade after a year of gorging himself of on the dreams and hopes of mortals.
    -- Sinabar, a dream demon that possessed the black shaman Varandu and was killed by Valiant Reboute after going on a feeding spree. 7 years before the rebellion.
    -- Varandu, a soulless that was taken over by a dreamdemon called Sinabar.
    -- Elder Tao, member of the Sacred Following of the Star Gods, taught Yun about how the followers planned to use a vessel to allow one of their gods to walk the earth.
    -- Yun, elder Tao's apprentice, would go on to become the next Grand Master of the Sacred Following of the Star Gods. Was there at the night of maiming.
    -- Vinganza, Ruler of Doxithon, High King of the Underground Empire Raxia. Raxia is home to the Lani, the dominate race on this nameless world before they were driven underground by the rise of humanity.
    -- Exalt Trienus, Investigated the damage done to the high stone in the sixth temple after the fourth attack on the temples.
    -- Willis Jag, Exalt Prenominative, lived twenty years before the rebellion, reported on the Forth Attempt to destroy the high stones.
    -- Maximus Grandair, captain of the Snarling Wolves, hired a mercenary to duel the scorpion lord.
    -- The scorpion Lord, the most fearsome bandit to ever pass through the uncontested lands with his band of savages.
    -- Valiant Reboute, Explorer Extraordinaire and Master of Disguise was also a soulless vessel for one of the stars and thus hunted by the followers. Wrote the 'Memories of a Soulless One' and would go on to found the city state of Corint, safe haven for soulless people. Played a drunk to find out more about a woman who would try to become his apprentice.
    -- Jonas Freeweather, Junior Infantryman in the NEC, got a hold of some Kalinkat eggs and managed to hatch, and even train them to a degree. Those animals would give the Kalinkat Company it's name.
    -- Grand Fleet Captain Velaar gaf-Ti'ign, launched the Ship-of-the-Line VRS Steam Goddess which promptly sank.
    -- Harvey Tophor, brother in law to Howard Long
    -- Howard Long, brother in law to Harvey Tophor, went on a diving expedition to get a chest out of the sunken wreck of the VRS Steam Goddess for his older sister.
    -- Feorjess Goold, recently-former cultural attache for the Wallaminan Embassy to the Court of Sankt-Vantic, was involved in the sabotage of the Steam Goddess and the retrieval of her plans.
    -- Atarl of the scales. Who's dedication to maintaining the peace of his city was as legendary as it was terrifying. Hired thieves to steal the Diade's Malachant, which sparked a chain of events that led to the near total destruction of a rival city. Notoriously hard to kill. In certain parts the phrase "hired to kill Atarl of the scales" has become a euphemism for suspicious disappearances.
    -- "The City's Daughter" Was captured by the Red Talon crime syndicate who were all found murdered the day after.
    -- Senior Post-Captain Sondr Ha'ign, commanding VRS Sankt-Vantic, died in the Battle of the Namras Strait. Was strongly against slavery.
    -- Colonel Halvord of the 3rd regiment. He led a group of scouts that was attached to the first expedition into the tunnels that Gelwin's excavation breached. They were sent to examine a tunnel that followed an underground stream, but were cut off when a cave in collapsed the tunnels behind them.
    -- Kalimbath. Famed for Kalimbath's Colossal Creature Compendium.
    -- Yandaret talked with Legetaris Zhim about the Ziquebsi religion
    -- Legetaris Zhim, religious schollar and apprentice searcher
    -- Kalimbath. Famed for Kalimbath's Colossal Creature Compendium
    -- Bathaloma Yahas, the first recorded person to witness the great beings he called Dawnbreaker and Duskbreaker. Accomplished practitioner of the arcane methods the Ziqebesi simply call "the art".
    -- Cyril The Lion. Killed king Leopold II after the latter had had his wife and children murdered.
    -- Karn Vol, Ziqebesi searcher. Lived during the civil war of Ziqebe.
    -- Harrunhin, loyal servant of Karn Vol. Helped evacuate his sanctuary during an attack.
    -- Mistress Jurah bon Tremurila of Muval, lived to a very old age but suffered from unknown mental disorders for which she was sent to St. Lebioda's Hospital. Said problems were probably induced by a strange gem she had in her possession for a while. After burying the gem somewhere on the shores of Sen she soon felt much better. Had three daughters who loved her dearly. The Order also knew about this from their spies.
    She spent some time on Sen and even wrote about her expiriences. Her writings detail her knowledge of Kalinkats among other things.
    -- Silc, merchant princess and wife to the powerful Tradelord Xibeth. Met the knight of the rusty saw and told him abouta monster attack.
    -- Desecrater of Life. She was a master of the Dark Art of Biomancy. Tried to Unify the Tundra of Jin twice . The first time she tried it with monsters and was stopped by the knight with the rusty saw after she managed to kill a company of Jerries (highly skilled and disciplined slave warriors).
    -- Theodore Manswell, the scorpion lord. Captured Silvestra Grandair and eventually let her join his group of bandits. Left after a while o hunt down the sorcerer that had cursed him.
    -- Silvestra Grandair, was on her way to marry the tradelord Marogor, but was captured by the scorpion lord. Eventually joined his gang and worked her way up to leader and continued raiding until the legend of Silvestra, the merciless Bandit Queen who coated her blade in scorpion venom, was known through all the uncontested lands.
    -- Hiram Burro. Researcher at Tarrol's Hall. Secretly looks for clues about the ghosts of Tarrol's hall.
    -- Emperor Dafoll of the Wallaminan Empire. Ordered operation Crimson Mist
    -- Gerzel, Master of Spies to the emporer, reported about the still living sailors of the steam godess.

 
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"HAHAHAHAHA! No, Don't mind mee hehehe! It's just, ha ha, the Laughing Star, ya know. I finally get the joke. (Manic laughter, trasitioning into sobs)"
-- Nerigan Lofthus, historian and researcher for the Divine institute for truth, just before he shot himself.
His suicide note was mostly covered in blood and thus unreadable only a few fragments could be deciphered:
...Tu Heir.......
..high st....
..ith will decend ag...
...almost no hope at all if...
don't figure out...
...can't bear...
...od luck.


"The spirit court? You have got to be kidding me! They are a myth, boy, they don't exist! There are so many wild tales of the spirit court that if every one of them were true we would be so badly compromised that the we could all quit our jobs.
Apperently they have been around since the Tu Heirn Da or even longer than that.
Apperently they have spies and agents in every organisation on the continent.
Apperently you want to be on latrine duty for the next year since you continue to disturb me with your gullible ramblings and idiotic fary tales.
Every unexplained incident that happens around here gets pinned on the damm "spirit court", as if there weren't enough real problems we have right now.
Get out of here and bring me some intel of actual value before I send you to investigate the swamps of Sen."
 
"The spirit court? You have got to be kidding me! They are a myth, boy, they don't exist! There are so many wild tales of the spirit court that if every one of them were true we would be so badly compromised that the we could all quit our jobs.
Apperently they have been around since the Tu Heirn Da or even longer than that.
Apperently they have spies and agents in every organisation on the continent.
Apperently you want to be on latrine duty for the next year since you continue to disturb me with your gullible ramblings and idiotic fary tales.
Every unexplained incident that happens around here gets pinned on the damm "spirit court", as if there weren't enough real problems we have right now.
Get out of here and bring me some intel of actual value before I send you to investigate the swamps of Sen."

Templar Captain Yuani Bell responding to the report of an interrogation of a scullery maid. The captain was right inasmuch as some especially unscrupulous hired guns were claiming spirit court affiliation to scare her into acting as their pawn.

"Brother, I send this letter because I've found HER. The one who broke Grandah's underworld empire, right before breaking him. SHE's in Hanloth at some nowhere crossroad near the south called Miller's Crossing. I know you're more concerned with the future than the past but SHE's building an orphan army. Imagine two dozen mini-HERS who hold no loyalty to any except HER.

You've built something great over this past dozen years brother. I'd just be a shame if something happened to it is all."
 
Templar Captain Yuani Bell responding to the report of an interrogation of a scullery maid. The captain was right inasmuch as some especially unscrupulous hired guns were claiming spirit court affiliation to scare her into acting as their pawn.

"Brother, I send this letter because I've found HER. The one who broke Grandah's underworld empire, right before breaking him. SHE's in Hanloth at some nowhere crossroad near the south called Miller's Crossing. I know you're more concerned with the future than the past but SHE's building an orphan army. Imagine two dozen mini-HERS who hold no loyalty to any except HER.

You've built something great over this past dozen years brother. I'd just be a shame if something happened to it is all."
Lieutenant Jonathan Lord's letter to General Marcus Lord of the Imperial Army, two weeks before the failed attack on retired warlord Maria Doomhammer's Orphanage for Crippled Children.

"Where most races looked to the stars and saw wonder in the softly twinkling lights, they saw the darkness between them and raised swords in defiance."
 
"Where most races looked to the stars and saw wonder in the softly twinkling lights, they saw the darkness between them and raised swords in defiance."
--The Thalionopsis, ancient prayer book of the Tu Heirn Da.
Chapter 2, the fall and ascendance of the first. In which the first see that darkness is ever present and no matter how bright one shines the far corners of the unending universe will always be shrouded in the blinding unknown.



"Ah you are awake. No, don't get up, your body is still weak, I had to carry you to my home. Here take a sip of water before you try to talk.
...
What was that? Ah, you, my friend, have reached the great eastern empire Ziqebe, where the wise embrace truth in all it's forms and we seek to taste of all the realities that lie between happiness and sorrow.
...
Who am I?
I am Nölaska, salt wanderer and time seer. I saw that I would have a guest from a far away land soon and set out to greet you.
I felt you would not reach us if I did not help, and it is good that I came for you, for I found you passed out almost three miles from here.
I have to say, to brave the treacherous salt wastes is no mean feat indeed.
It has been a long time since one of our own ventured westward and longer still since we last had a visitor from the west.
The woman who left for your lands was hailed Erinya, and she left almost three hundred summers ago.
Do you, by chance, know if she ever arived in your lands?
...
No? A shame, many here would like to know what became of her.

But enough of this, tell me about yourself traveler!
Who are you and why have you left your home to come to such a faraway place?"
 
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--The Thalionopsis, ancient prayer book of the Tu Heirn Da.
Chapter 2, the fall and ascendance of the first. In which the first see that darkness is ever present and no matter how bright one shines the far corners of the unending universe will always be shrouded in the blinding unknown.



"Ah you are awake. No, don't get up, your body is still weak, I had to carry you to my home. Here take a sip of water before you try to talk.
...
What was that? Ah, you, my friend, have reached the great eastern empire Ziqebe, where the wise embrace truth in all it's forms and we seek to taste of all the realities that lie between happiness and sorrow.
...
Who am I?
I am Nölaska, salt wanderer and time seer. I saw that I would have a guest from a far away land soon and set out to greet you.
I felt you would not reach us if I did not help, and it is good that I came for you, for I found you passed out almost three miles from here.
I have to say, to brave the treacherous salt wastes is no mean feat indeed.
It has been a long time since one of our own ventured westward and longer still since we last had a visitor from the west.
The woman who left for your lands was hailed Erinya, and she left almost three hundred summers ago.
Do you, by chance, know if she ever arived in your lands?
...
No? A shame, many here would like to know what became of her.

But enough of this, tell me about yourself traveler!
Who are you and why have you left your home to come to such a faraway place?"
- Nölaska "the Midwife of Tears", disgraced advisor to the Emperor of Ziqebe, speaking to the delirious and half dead firstborn daughter of the late and Archfuurst Alehi Il'uDavann. She would later regain her advisorial status by convincing the princess to join the imperial harem.

--

"Why have you come to this place, man of Sakan? You should know well that neither your laws nor ours allow such intrusions. For you to stay or leave is unconscionable. You will simply have to...disappear... but before that, you shall state the reason for your transgression."
 
"Why have you come to this place, man of Sakan? You should know well that neither your laws nor ours allow such intrusions. For you to stay or leave is unconscionable. You will simply have to...disappear... but before that, you shall state the reason for your transgression."

dAYBREAK fURY, guardian of the Gate of Darkness, the portal to the first afterlife (basically a giant waiting room) in the Diade religion. Spoken to Tiabolt, who was hired to duel every psychopomp necessary to save a merchant princess's lover. Tiabolt succeeded in this.


"I assure you, reports of my death were completely accurate. But, as they say, "Vengeance is Eternal!""
 
"I assure you, reports of my death were completely accurate. But, as they say, "Vengeance is Eternal!""
-- note pinned to the chest of Lorcul Sinavol, the head torturer of Imperator Yunny LenoViz. He was found dead in his home one morning.
It was signed simply with "B".

"There are many creatures that dwell in the forests and swamps of Sen, all with strange and exotic appearances and capabilities.
One of the most fascinating is an animal that was dubbed the blue pawed kalincat. These nimble creatures are excellent climbers and live in nests that they build in large trees.
While their fur can have a variety of colours, their paws are always blue, which is how they got their name.
Most interestingly though, is their ability to teleport small distances which they use to hide, hunt and to move rapidly through the treetops.
They usually hunt either alone or in small packs depending on the size of their prey and use a frankly terrifying venom to kill their targets which they can spit a distance of up to two strides.
I say the venom is terrifying because once it touches the prey it eats through the skin until it reaches the bloodstream, at which point it will spread through the body causing terrible pain followed by paralisis and death.
They are usually peaceful and curious, only getting agressive if one approaches their nests.
Although a single spit is not enough to kill a human it is still advised to wipe the venom off as quickly as possible as you will have a very uncomfortable few days if you do not."
 
"There are many creatures that dwell in the forests and swamps of Sen, all with strange and exotic appearances and capabilities.
One of the most fascinating is an animal that was dubbed the blue pawed kalincat. These nimble creatures are excellent climbers and live in nests that they build in large trees.
While their fur can have a variety of colours, their paws are always blue, which is how they got their name.
Most interestingly though, is their ability to teleport small distances which they use to hide, hunt and to move rapidly through the treetops.
They usually hunt either alone or in small packs depending on the size of their prey and use a frankly terrifying venom to kill their targets which they can spit a distance of up to two strides.
I say the venom is terrifying because once it touches the prey it eats through the skin until it reaches the bloodstream, at which point it will spread through the body causing terrible pain followed by paralisis and death.
They are usually peaceful and curious, only getting agressive if one approaches their nests.
Although a single spit is not enough to kill a human it is still advised to wipe the venom off as quickly as possible as you will have a very uncomfortable few days if you do not."
The first passage on the blue pawed kalincat, from the journal of mistress Jurah bon Tremurila of Muval.

"We won't Give the temple of the Rat sister to be used as a bordello of sin and greed. we will not give you our libraries, our forest and our freedom. if you want it, come take it!"
 
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Oh, nice, I didn't think anybody would post here again. I'm glad this thread hasn't been completely forgotten :)

Anyway, I have been toying with the idea of maybe writing a story or running a quest in the setting we have created once I have a little more time.
So if anybody has any good ideas or prompts or if you have a character you would prefer to read about, I would love to hear about it.

Also, since almost any post that follows the rules of the game advances the story I guess it would count as a "significant contribution". So please don't be afraid to post here, even after the one month deadline has come and gone. I will always be glad to see the unnamed world expanded with new ideas.


"We won't Give the temple of the Rat sister to be used as a bordello of sin and greed. we will not give you our libraries, our forest and our freedom. if you want it, come take it!"
--Rinkina, Island of Sen, 15 years before the rebellion
Rinkina was the Clan mother of the Treetop clan of Sen-Karan. She took over the clan at a youg age and led them for a long time.
Her clan was the last to hold out against Farfarian's (the Prideful) unification movement which attempted, and eventually succeeded, to integrate all the smaller clans and their holdings into the Senavar Republic. By force if necessary.
The Republic's capitol, the cave city of Sen-Kalef, has, to this day, a permanent "honoured guest" in Rinoka, Rinkina's daughter, to ensure that the Treetop clan does not attempt to secede or revolt.


"My lord, my lord, something terrible has happened!
Somebody has breached the perimiter around the temple of the sixth stone. We don't know anything for sure yet, but whoever it was, they killed all the guards. Slaughtered them.
And when we got to the sanctum, the seals were broken.
Exalt Trienus sent me to inform you while he investigates how bad the damage is but he fears the worst.
He urges you to reinforce the guards at the other high stone temples at once and to send word to the conclave that the time might have come."
 
Oh, nice, I didn't think anybody would post here again. I'm glad this thread hasn't been completely forgotten :)

Anyway, I have been toying with the idea of maybe writing a story or running a quest in the setting we have created once I have a little more time.
So if anybody has any good ideas or prompts or if you have a character you would prefer to read about, I would love to hear about it.

Also, since almost any post that follows the rules of the game advances the story I guess it would count as a "significant contribution". So please don't be afraid to post here, even after the one month deadline has come and gone. I will always be glad to see the unnamed world expanded with new ideas.



--Rinkina, Island of Sen, 15 years before the rebellion
Rinkina was the Clan mother of the Treetop clan of Sen-Karan. She took over the clan at a youg age and led them for a long time.
Her clan was the last to hold out against Farfarian's (the Prideful) unification movement which attempted, and eventually succeeded, to integrate all the smaller clans and their holdings into the Senavar Republic. By force if necessary.
The Republic's capitol, the cave city of Sen-Kalef, has, to this day, a permanent "honoured guest" in Rinoka, Rinkina's daughter, to ensure that the Treetop clan does not attempt to secede or revolt.


"My lord, my lord, something terrible has happened!
Somebody has breached the perimiter around the temple of the sixth stone. We don't know anything for sure yet, but whoever it was, they killed all the guards. Slaughtered them.
And when we got to the sanctum, the seals were broken.
Exalt Trienus sent me to inform you while he investigates how bad the damage is but he fears the worst.
He urges you to reinforce the guards at the other high stone temples at once and to send word to the conclave that the time might have come."

Willis Jag, Exalt Prenominative, twenty years before the rebellion, during The Forth Attempt. The time hadn't come after all and the breaking of the seals on numerous stones, while dangerous locally, meant nothing in the long run. It merely served as a grim reminder that mortal forces who know all that the Order do and welcome "That Which Must be Fought" exist.

"Why did you think he's called the "Scorpion Lord"? ...What? No it's not because he wears scorpion styled armor or because his army rides giant scorpions into battle or even because he has a scorpion on his flag. All that just follows the real reason, because he has a scorpion tail growing out of his butt! It's very dangerous, watch out for it.

"Now, we payed you good money to duel him. Get to work!"
 
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"He is our only hope, only his blood can open the Gates of Eternity, pray your friend comes back soon or we will face utter destruction."
 

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