[World Lore] The Sunless Sanctum

[Wretched 2038]

The Sunless Sanctum

 

 

“Where light casts; a shadow trails in wake.

Where lives passed; borders there do break.

Where death lasts; the fury of a drake.

Where souls fast; atone for our mistake.

 

Where dead sing; ashen will be done.

Where birth brings; the dark is to none.

Where spiders sting; webs will be spun.

Where smog rings; Radiant, the Black Sun.”

 

The Sunless Day

 

The day of oblivion, the birth of the Abyss. With Iblees’ destruction of Aegis, the cataclysm that followed carved a fracture deep into the fabric of the material plane, an expanse of hollow emptiness, where not even the light of the sun may reach. And so it was that the Abyss was formed, and its tender dark did lure creature and man of the same morals to inhabit its depths, to lurk within its crepuscular domain. The Sunless Day marked an end and a beginning, for in the darkness there was silence, and in the silence there was sanctuary. For this was a place of absolutes, in the pitch there existed unquestionable clarity, an absence of the light most blinding gathered the entities of its opposite, and there a unity was formed. So it was that the Abyss become a haven, alas, a creature would need to tame it, to lead it. This creature is known only as Mordring, a Drakaar aged to a most frail state, the flesh fallen from his brittle skeleton - only the husk of himself remains, but his abilities do not extend to the body, but to the void. His magic would usher in the gift born on the Sunless Day.

 

The Sanctum

 

The Sunless Sanctum of the Abyss, a haven of the dark and the enfouled, exists near the very bottom of the vast chasm. This hallowed place had not been occupied by the Drakaar Mordring, but constructed by he and his Darkstalker fellowship, the remnant Greyscale Knights. It is said in the annals of the dark Sanctum that the temple was forged from pieces of the fallen Old World; that which once stood where the Abyss would malform, only known as the ancient land of Aegis. It is as though the fragments of Aegis, once the domains of the old racial monarchies, had been made to converge where the Sanctum now stands -- taking them all and piecing together one unified tribute to the dark of the Abyss.

 

Mordring the Ashen, it’s hallowed Drakaar master, presides over the Sanctum and the occult wardings set over all that it encompasses. Within, those meant to roam the temple and visitors of the location alike are unable to be harmed, or harm each other. There exists a sensation of peace across the wretched plane, similar to the aura of the well-known Cloud Temple.

 

The Sanctum exists as the Cloud Temple’s counterpart, for now souls of a darker orientation find themselves drawn to its tempting grip. Creatures of death and undying have found a great discomfort in the road of souls walked by all others, the one of holy origin that is shepherded by monks of a light magic. The process of their revival was often painful and confusing, for if the monks did not return their souls to mortal form through the burning agony of holy magic, then the creatures would have to reform by their own means - but now an alternative, the warm embrace of a dark revival, one easy on the soul and body.

 

Though only dark and lifeless beings may bind themselves to the Sunless Sanctum, there lies exceptions to some mortal few. Dark Arts users, who too bear a burning weakness for holy magic, find the aura of their souls burnt and and pained under the conventional revival of the monks, although they find it more tolerable than true creatures of undeath - these dark arts users may choose between the two forms of revival, be it to stay aligned to the Cloud Temple, or to submit their souls to Mordring.

 

To go and leave the Sunless Sanctum, Mordring created a great portal known as ‘Mordring’s Gate’, which itself reeks of the power of the Abyss. This portal can be displaced and relocated in the world above at any time.

 

The Drakaar

“My Immolating Flame, within, was suffocated by the Abyss…

And now the dark is all that I am.”

 

Once known as the Radiant One, Mordring was praised in the ancient times as a venerable lord of light by those who glorified the Dragonkin, making rise to obscure orders and brotherhoods dedicated to the Radiant One’s grand, goodly and unifying ideals. The Grayscale Legion, an ancient band of knights, had been responsible for constructing altars all across old Aegis and the lands beyond; enchanted with lost magics in order to turn them into means to contact the Dragaar himself. The Grayscales were known in legends to embody their revered Lord’s ideals, but fell into disorder and darkness after Mordring disappeared, leading them to worship and hunt the flesh and blood of Dragons in place of their missing idol.

 

After a long age of suffering and failed self-repair, Mordring became a true Drakaar after descending into the Abyss in hopes of swift death. What is known as the Immolating Flame withinhim had been suffocated by the dark of the Abyss, and displaced by the peace of shadow and ash; allowing him to linger on as a corrupted Drakaar, but without the will to ensue chaos. Mentored by the lord of the Abyss, Malkaathe, he learned the ancient arts of the occult while mending in the lightless chasm for over two centuries before constructing the Sunless Sanctum, the sanctuary of the dark.

 

The Drake

“My pet, my child. Spread your wings and soar.”

 

Under the control of the Drakaar, Mordring, a single, black-scaled drake does patrol the floor of the Abyss and it is named ‘Satar’. Satar is deeply corrupted, much like his master, but as an enslaved drake its madness is somewhat contained by the will of the same master. The Drake actively protects the Abyss and the creatures that inhabit it, but visiting creatures not of the Abyss should surely fear the creature, for in this realm of peace it is the only destructive force. Foreigners of the Abyss should ensure their stay upon the dark realm is brief, lest they fall into the gaze of the dreadful Satar and his immolating breath.

 

Satar can be summoned to the Sunless Sanctum within the Abyss via activation of an obelisk located somewhere within the Sanctum. Should mortal men bring trouble to the dark sanctuary, then the corrupt serpent may be summoned to drive them from the Abyss. To bring Satar forth to the Sunless Sanctum, an occupant of the Abyss must place their palm upon the altar and utter a phrase known to only a few amongst the residents of the Abyss. If slain, the Drake’s duty does not cease for as long as it lingers within the Abyss - with its close proximity to its Drakaar, while Satar exists inside the Abyss he may reform endlessly after death, but should the creature depart the Abyss, its death will be a permanent one. For as long as the Drake remainds bound to the Drakaar, no force may claim its mind as their own, be it a tome of power or another Greater Dragon.

 

The Black Sun

The Black Sun is the symbol of the Abyss and its mark may be found all across its dark terrain. But more than this, it is the secret to returning to the Abyss. When one has their soul bound to the Sanctum, or choose to be bound, then on their person will appear an amulet shaped as the Black Sun. This soulbound magical artifact can take many forms, a necklace, a ring, a brooch - it may be discrete or entirely obvious, and should the holder desire, hiding it would not be difficult. To return to the Abyss, simply clutch the amulet tightly and set your mind on home, your soul will be drawn to the black in but mere moments. Alas, similar to the Soulstones of the Cloud Temple, one must have peace in their heart if they are to enter this realm of peace, thus the amulet cannot be used to escape conflict of any kind.