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[✓] [World Lore] The Nine Archons


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Origin

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The Nine Archons, commanding a legion of dreadknights under Setherien’s banner prior to their conversion.

 

The Undying Sahir
The story of the first silit begins with the twilight years of the first strigae court.  Hazm Alhazred, a delegate in the Alnorid Sultanate, was a powerful wizard and scryer famed amongst his contemporaries as court mage to the Emirs and even the Sultan himself.  His fame attracted a striga agent to turn him to consolidate power in the region amongst the ruling human nation. As the years passed and more were turned, it became increasingly apparent to the Unseen that with each passing generation of striga their influence waned more and more. More elders were deployed and more still turned their backs in pursuit of their own ambitions. Hazm was no exception.  

 

The Unseen cult reached its peak in the sands of Alnorid some time around the fourteenth century though to Hazm it had felt like many more. The taste of blood had run sour. His great talents in the cosmic arcane had been lost in his exchange for eternity, his influence amongst the Farfolk nobility squandered and his position reduced to that of an outcast, a monster forced to roam the deserts of eastern Abu’Khourn in wait of another wisened generation’s passing.  

 

His experiments, which he once had tackled with such ambition and cruelty, had now all either been concluded or simply bored him. The immortal’s servants had all outgrown him once he’d figured out how to grant them his own blessings and now sought only to impress the Unseen. It’d been at least three cycles of awakening since Hazm himself had last cared to meet with the next Unseen arising from their fifty-year slumber, a task he’d since deferred to other distant elders who undertook such with religious vigour. After many years of absence to the moots of strigae, he had hoped himself dead and forgotten in the eyes of his estranged brethren. 

 

He had sought immortality and fulfillment and found only the former. What good, he’d oft ponder in his great dusty halls and libraries, is an eternal life of yearning? It was then that Hazm eventually decided to search for a way of furthering his condition, hoping to restore the great magical prowess he’d once known.

 

It was a long line of black sacraments and secluded studies that then led him to try and understand the Unseen’s power and its relation to mortals, with hopes to subvert it and remake himself anew: a wizard of flesh who had cheated death. Such things led him far from Aeldin into the company of the dragon Setherien and his band of sorcerers after his mortal lineage had passed onto Anthos and one such descendant sought him out. As prestigious as he had once been perhaps it was they who could unlock the secrets of volatile energy found in the blood of man.

 

The Stone Serpent
In the years following his arrival, Hazm had become a figure of interest to the drake Malghourn. Setherien’s former general had rounded up Hazm and his nine followers after their and the harbingers’ defeat. Each of the cabal was an archon of ancient blood magic who the enlightened drake sought to experiment upon. 

 

Desperate to prevent his own grizzly fate as corrupt stone and fearful of following in his old master’s footsteps and falling mad, Malghourn had become fascinated with the what exactly the Unseen had done to create Hazm, both for the potential it had to spare himself and to bolster his own ranks. After the drakaar’s death upon the Golden Lance Hazm had been seduced by Malghourn’s promises of restoring his magic, and the blood mage cabal had too been seduced by Malghourn’s promise to gift them each with immortality, unending power and riches, and a realm of their own for privacy, seclusion, and dominion.

 

In the year 1461 Malghourn made good on his promises to the nine archons though Hazm’s fate had been far more grizzly. The Red Nexus, some had dubbed it, was an ancient lexicon of blood magic. It’d come into his possession following Setherien’s death, though even Malghourn wasn’t sure if it was his or made by an even earlier dragaar. With its extensive insights on blood magic and with the bohra his late master had captured for conversion Malghourn conceived a grand ritual where the boarfolk would serve as a font of power. The final remnants of their flawed race were exsanguinated to fuel the great feat, their blood poured into a field where the Red Nexus and great many runes laid. Hazm, without his magic, could only sit atop the great crimson stone and watch the drake and his occult company practice their ancient craft. It was when the last sacrifice’s blood had been let that he felt it. 

 

Searing pain filled the ancient elf, his body being torn apart first. Immortal, he was less concerned given his previous deaths and reformations until he noticed the sensation hadn’t stopped. The striga’s incorporeal spirit screamed and cried as it was split into ten upon the Red Nexus. The lexicon beneath him fractured and broke into ten, one still considerably large gem with nine shards floating off of it. Each swallowed the pieces of his soul whilst flurries of scarlet mist travelled between his followers and a shard of their own alongside Malghourn and the largest remaining piece. The last thought to pass through Hazm Alhazred’s mind was those of betrayal, as he had been made into nought more than a blueprint. 

 

The Nine Archons
By the time they awoke from the ritual the nine archons felt changed. Each came to notice the silence within them, their genus-awakened minds finding no pulse, and thereafter became aware of an ease in movement, weightlessly hovering in place where they had each once stood. They could see clearly despite the dark blizzard shielding away the sun and soon noticed that the pieces of the nexus they had broken off for themselves were gone, bar the largest which Malghourn loomed over. His draconic body, once withered and in parts calcified, had been reborn anew. They could see walls of muscle quaking beneath his scales, now a heavy crimson, and the dragon’s fangs had grown significantly. Something about the serpent to the nine seemed menacing. The smell of fear hung in the air that they shared with him until finally they were addressed.

 

“Traitors.” Malghourn spoke, rumbling a blizzard of rock-salt out of the surrounding cliffs around them with his sheer volume. “Your dear friend… torn apart by his own company’s avarice.” The archons exchanged glances, guiltily. They were struck with the realisation that they had been approached and bargained with individually by Malghourn. Each had been given the same promise in secret and each had taken it; all of them had been as willing to betray their master and, with the exception of Numir and Carical, each other more than likely. It became increasingly evident that this was intentional. 

 

“You are immortal as promised. You still have your powers as promised. What I demand is your recognition. Your souls are bound to the blood shards which I have carefully scattered. Fear not, my children, for your bonds to the shards are as ethereal as the libraries they contain; if destroyed they shall reform inevitably by my hand if not by my unwitting apprentices. Know this: I can undo what we have done. The lovers shall be sovereign and for me build a world of troops and cattle. This trio,” he indicated with pointed claws, “shall bear tasks of their own to empower my forces, and the strays - the weakest among you - you must earn my favour.”

 


 

Details

 

And thus began the nine bloodlines of the first siliti. True to his oath, Malghourn ensured each archon was gifted a realm coupled with its own duties:
        

[Sovereign] Numir, the King
Once human, Numir was a lowborn stablemaster from one of the scattered proto-Raevir peasant branches that would unify years later under the Kingdom of Aesterwald. Of suspiciously fair hair and skin, the young Numir was mistakenly believed to have been of high elven descent by marauding dreadknights and taken before the old order of blood with hopes of being utilised for his potent genus, in light of Haelun’orian scarcity during its isolationist period. 

 

Whilst such lineage was not found, the enslaved Raevir did show promise in deciphering the runic script and esoteric spells of the order, being taken in and recognised as a blood mage prodigy amongst Setherien’s ranks prior to falling into the  Stone Serpent’s inner circle. 

 

It was under Malghourn’s stewardship that Numir was introduced to the farfolk magistress Carical, with whom he soon became infatuated. When tasked with finding the elusive strigae to bring before his draconic lord for means of study, Numir followed Carical’s lead to western Aeldin.

 

By way of blood rifts their journey led them to the Undying Sahir, Hazm, with which Numir soon developed a deep respect and fraternity as a pseudo parental figure, spending some years in good company together once they returned to Anthos.

 

One of the more comprehensive to Malghourn’s suggested betrayal, Numir eventually caved to the idea of sacrificing Hazm in exchange for the chance to rule his own realm as king, an opportunity no magic nor dragon could have offered in his homeland. Such plagues Numir to this day as one of his greatest regrets, to the extent that his and Carical’s shared dominion was named in the sahir’s memory.

 

Numir now maintains the courts of the Kingdom of Hazmstadt as its king, his own realm being interwoven with his spouse’s: one a farm-world of human livestock, the other a world-spanning kingdom of siliti subjects and nobles. The two keep the true ownership of each realm a secret between them lest one’s authority be questioned. It is from the Kingdom of Hazmstadt that most siliti hail and also part of the reason why the siliti tend to overwhelmingly be former humans, with occasional human livestock winning an elder’s favour and ascending to become siliti, as well as the cultural centre of all siliti. Over centuries of near total isolation among the stars, the Night Courts of Hazmstadt came to perceive themselves as godly in contrast to their mortal fare, adopting the holy tongue of flexio as their own, albeit bastardised by qualasheem and raev influences that resulted in the 'Immortal Tongue' that is Hazmeză, widely spoken throughout the Kingdom whilst also adopted as cultural code by many vampires on the mortal plane.

 

Upon their dual thrones of Hazmstatd, Numir and his Queen, Carical, are protected – or perhaps watched – by an elite order silit warriors known officially as the Cavalerii Sângeri (the ‘Blood Knights’) and more colloquially as the ‘Dreadguard’. At times ordained by Malghourn himself, the Dreadguard’s members arise from groups of Hallin Kord’s choosing, on a last-man-standing basis from a recruitment pool of what some speculate to be hundreds of the silit soldiery’s most skilled warriors. Their unofficial title comes from the strange custom of donning the cursed armour of Setherien’s great dreadknight legions of yore, as well as adopting the pseudonym of historic dreadlords that once reigned over the fallen dragaar’s soul-bound army. Whilst usually acting in the best interest of the Nine, common gossip amongst Hazmstatd’s courts suggests their true loyalty is to Malghourn alone, serving to keep the Trio – including even Hallin Kord himself – in check. 

 

Numir's bloodline has strong will and are expert liars; their body language cannot betray their intent and always seem to be telling the truth.

 

 

[Sovereign] Carical, the Queen

Once human, Carical belongs to the long line of Alhazred, distantly descended from Hazm himself and hailing from eastern Anthos. She now maintains the courts of the Kingdom of Hazmstadt as its queen, her own realm being interwoven with her spouse’s: one a farm-world of human livestock, the other a world-spanning kingdom of siliti subjects and nobles. The two keep the true ownership of each realm a secret between them lest one’s authority be questioned. It is from the  Kingdom of Hazmstadt that most siliti hail, and also part of the reason why the siliti tend to overwhelmingly be former humans, with occasional human livestock winning an elder’s favour and ascending to become siliti.

 

(This Archon’s origin and motives are left undefined at present, as it is our intent to allow ST interested in using this character for future events to reach out to us and collaborate on a story befitting their purpose)

 

Carical's bloodline has a matronly disposition and tactful minds; their charm is immense, allowing them to use the rite of restraints on siliti to stage 1.

 

 

[Trio] Hallin Kord, the Quartermaster

Once human, Hallin Kord now oversees Malghourn’s armies as his lieutenant. He is infamous amongst the  Kingdom of Hazmstadt as Malghourn’s drafter, often coming to the realm to conscript siliti recruits for another of the dragon’s campaigns from which, near immortal as the siliti may be, very few often return. Fiercely loyal, his realm is not truly his, but in fact a base of operations for the stone serpent’s militia, scattered with countless fortresses and training camps.

 

(This Archon’s origin and motives are left undefined at present, as it is our intent to allow ST interested in using this character for future events to reach out to us and collaborate on a story befitting their purpose)

 

Hallin Kord's bloodline has a penchant for honor and enhanced muscle memory, allowing them to learn physical crafts and techniques twice as fast.

 

 

[Stray] Cadmium, the Witch 

Once human, Cadmium was a sorceress who taught in the late years of Rivel after its castle had been sacked by the old dwarves of Urguan’s Hall and its flying citadel was fractured by Aeriel and Iblees’ vicious battle at the end of Aegis. Raised amongst the multicultural mage community that lingered in the ruins there, she was dear friends with two others of the splintered college, that of the dwarf Solomon and human Nirta. Their lives with their families upon the scattered floating islands of lost Rivel were harsh at times but the vast wealth of knowledge that lingered in the castles gave them the tools to prosper. Cadmium grew to be a brilliant mage by gleaning information from the troves of books scattered throughout Rivel where her fascination with the legendary Rasmot began and even learned of blood magic by tutelage of Nirta’s father. 

 

Despite increasing numbers and prospects for reuniting the shards of Rivel and rebuilding the lost college, the corruption of a man’s heart proved disastrous to their eclectic clan. In a night where Cadmium and Solomon had ventured off to plunder the great libraries they had returned in a panic where the community had been laid to waste in gorey fashion with carnage rampant between the homes. Before a great, spiraling gate of red mercury stood Nirta wailing into the night as her father dragged her into the portal, flanked by a pair of Mori’quessir, otherworldly dark elves in the eyes of Cadmium and Solomon. Panicked, they scoured the remnants of Rivel just briefly where they found everyone slaughtered to fuel the rift. Disheartened, they gathered their essentials and with confusion, terror, and bravery took to the portal in search of Nirta if not only for revenge upon her father. Spat out into a black cave, the pair were lost and slowly ventured out to find themselves lost in the realm of Asulon where they grew and learned more of the world.

 

There they met a far superior court of blood mages who, given their talents, inducted them and treated them as their own. Cadmium gained a silver tongue and mastered summoning rituals, once unleashing a horror upon the frozen village of Skravia and in turn one of her students eventually conjured a now-famous horror, Achan-Chatla. Amongst this court she was granted one of the first marrows which allowed her unnatural life but a far cry from immortality which also granted her extremely fluid movement, her peers mockingly calling her a witch that haunted the halls.

Eventually she and her childhood friend came into the service of Setherien and warred on his behalf, there meeting the sentient drake general of his, Malghourn, where they mingled with the other blood mages. Their cooperation after Setherien’s demise led to the Night of Ten Treacheries where Malghourn had swayed her with promises of the power to finally locate Nirta and her father, to rebuild her home, and to even rival Rasmot. Accepting his deal and taking part in the ritual she saw the fault in her judgement which struck her with shame for not only had she been willing to sell out her peers but even Solomon and he, her.

 

Cadmium then took on her title as the Witch and toiled away in her realm, the smallest of the nine, a twisting castle of endless chambers, stairwells, and halls with no exterior. Repeatedly underestimated by Malghourn thanks to her silver tongue - one of the few able to deceive him - she hides her true power and keeps to her mission: her chambers contain sets of gateways into different planes where she desperately searches for the great wizard Rasmot, thinking perhaps he if anyone could assist her.

 

Cadmium's bloodline has a keenness for theatrics, art, and expression and extreme flexibility and grace, that of dancers and contortionists and keen hand-eye coordination.

 

 

[Trio] Mictlanti, the Turnkey

Once a dark elf, Mictlanti was among the first of Malin’s line to set foot on Asulon, second only to Zanunder after having been ambushed by orcish slavers and chased through Nemiisae’s portals to the Verge and then upon Asulon with his Laurelin scouting party. There he fought hard to sustain a family in that accursed land, struggling against the elements and many hostile factions and beasts. His work as a craftsman was only so valuable when his small group of peers were more concerned about eating and finding shelter.

 

Disgruntled by their situation while squatting in a ruin amongst colossal trees, Mictlanti whittled away at an interlocking wooden ring, a gift he intended to offer a wood elven woman who had his eye. Then instructed to forage by his company’s officer, Mictlanti hid his carving and reluctantly ventured deeper into the great wood. Unfortunately for him he was soon after come upon by venturing Mori’quessir who hunted in the shade of the grand canopy wherein he was soon taken below and inspected, a rare sight.

 

The high priestesses were unsure of what to do with the elf for he was obviously no child of Nemiisae and inherently of lesser worth as a male. When his carving tools and gift were seized from his pockets however, they did find value in him. Mictlanti was enslaved as many were by the Mori’quessir and he served as a carpenter and learned the ways of gemcutting and jeweling from a poor male Mori relegated to the smithy. He quickly showed great skill for such crafts and was regarded as a master - but still a slave - within two years. Turmoil erupted in Menocress during the Terafil rebellion where Mictlanti was nearly killed for having last made a dresser for a Terafil noble were it not for a high lord of the Malachai stepping in to spare him, making light of his skill. During the conflict Mictlanti’s master was slain and soon after the same high lord bought him to be his personal craftsman.

 

Under his wing, Mictlanti was treated with uncommon grace and taught artificery and the ways of enchantment. As the confidence in their relationship increased and the elf produced remarkable works the Malachai leader revealed himself, dismissing an illusion which revealed him to be a human. Deeply confused, the man informed him of his magical talents and saw great potential in Mictlanti, willing to invest in him by teaching him of powers greater than mere Voidal enchantment but of the raw power hidden in the blood of mortals. Intrigued and bewildered, he accepted. As the years passed Mictlanti showed an equal knack for the dark art, their union creating objects of power of great use. His affinity also proved tainting as his mind deteriorated the more his skills were refined and Mictlanti forgot compassion and peace.

 

Years later, the Mori imposter was discovered either fled or was slain by the Mori’quessir, Mictlanti did not know. What he did know was that his position was therein compromised and when the guard came for him they were outmatched. Having plundered his master’s home for their many artifacts and objects of power, Mictlanti made a bloody escape through Menocress before eventually emerging from the waterfall entrance. He was met in the dark wood by an ominous bunch, a collection of blood mages come to aid their previous member. All they knew was that he was gone and in turn there before them stood a prodigy of his tutelage; the court inducted Mictlanti and he, a free man once more, reveled in his newfound capabilities. 

 

Amongst the court he became a specialist in invention, using creation rituals to craft the wildest of relics. His services were employed by Setherien once the court came under his dominion and he served as an architect in the Red Realm where he aided in the invention of the Black Scourge’s war machines and grand, wicked structures. With only mild appreciation for his peers amongst the court, taking to Eireamhan and Numir the most, he did not hesitate much to take Malghourn’s deal. After the ritual however he most especially lamented his decision upon realizing his true feelings for Hazm, a man of true gentile quality. 

 

As an Archon, Mictlanti became the Turnkey, Malghourn’s judicator which sparked his invention of the rite of rest and the creation of crimson coffins. He became more jaded and cruel after repeatedly being tasked to extract information from prisoners and his self hatred ate at him for his dismissive betrayal of Hazm, leading Mictlanti to spiral to become a bitter misanthrope, believing himself among the worst. Mictlanti broods within his realm of endless cells, cages, coffins, tombs, and dungeons in a labyrinth without exterior where he tends to prisoners and sealed away relics and monstrosities Malghourn wishes to torment, await execution, or be locked away and forgotten for eternity.

 

Mictlanti's bloodline has a fine appreciation for music and are inherently composed and are comfortable being statue-like - still and silent - for as long as they wish without going mad or getting tired, an invaluable skill when imprisoned. 

 

 

[Stray] Solomon, the Scholar

Once a dwarf, Solomon is rumoured to have invented the first dreadknights before the blood mages first surfaced in Asulon. An alchemist, philosopher and inventor, Solomon’s realm is a far-stretching taiga on which an odd blend between a factory and a college exists. There he reluctantly builds siege engines and other science-magic hybrid machines and tools for Hallin Kord’s soldiers. 

 

(This Archon’s origin and motives are left undefined at present, as it is our intent to allow ST interested in using this character for future events to reach out to us and collaborate on a story befitting their purpose)

 

Solomon's bloodline has a keen eye and appreciation for detail, to the extent of being able to envision the texture and makeup of alchemical reagents (as well as potions if they are already masterful alchemists) without the need of an ocular apparatus. This only functions on items within one block, for the sole purpose of deciphering signs and symbols.

 

 

[Stray] Illia, the Collector

Once a high elf and the weakest of the archons in terms of both physical and magical prowess, Illia’s realm is both a library and museum rivaling even those of Ixli, the spirit of forbidden knowledge itself. Pacifistic and quietly unwilling to fight for Malghourn, she is often found visiting the mortal plane disguised as an old wise woman, pinching books from libraries and tricking mages out of their artifacts in order to have them gather dust in her halls, all the while operating on the pretence to be ‘curating tools for Malghourn’. She has a deep rivalry with Solomon, whose blueprints and inventions are hoarded in his own realm. It is from Illia’s vast collection that the Dreadguard will source it’s armour, the bowels of her hoard rumoured to contain a thousand fallen dreadknights, whilst some speculate there are even weapons capable of granting Malghourn power beyond godhood in her collection but are buried so far beneath an ocean of useless trinkets that the Stone Serpent hasn’t bothered to check nor could most attempt to begin a search.

 

(This Archon’s origin and motives are left undefined at present, as it is our intent to allow ST interested in using this character for future events to reach out to us and collaborate on a story befitting their purpose)

 

Illia’s bloodline possesses the psychic ability of ‘dowsing’ wherein they can locate mundane objects (or written words) through supernatural means within 1 block (such as finding a desired object in a cluttered drawer or desired line in a passage) instantly. They are commonly covetous and hoard things.

 

[Trio] Krogak, the Headhunter

Once an orc, Krogak is a former devout of Enrokh, a shamanic warlord whose bloodlust is said to have remained constant since even before his time amongst siliti. Even more universally hated by the other siliti than Hallin Kord, during the years following their transformation he is the only of the Archons known to have visited the mortal plane and hunt descendants in the desert, unafraid of even the Unseen present there. Maddened by his thirst and the most physically imposing of the archons, the Headhunter serves Malghourn out of bloodlust with an affinity for violence, sent to eliminate the Stone Serpent’s enemies and begrudgingly deliver some to Mictlanti’s prison alive at times. Fresh siliti and the children of the  Kingdom of Hazmstadt are commonly told to check for a ‘Krogak in the closet’ before bed.

 

(This Archon’s origin and motives are left undefined at present, as it is our intent to allow ST interested in using this character for future events to reach out to us and collaborate on a story befitting their purpose)

 

Krogak’s bloodline has poor empathy yet find purpose easily to which they cling and possess ivory teeth as well as 2 extra pairs of retractable fangs, one on top and one on bottom. 

 

 

[Stray] Eireamhan, the Hermit 

Once a wood elf and perhaps the least known about of the archons (so much so that residents of the  Kingdom of Hazmstadt often believe there to be only eight), Eireamhan’s abilities and talents are unknown. Rumour has it that Eireamhan attempted to liberate the siliti from Malghourn but was backstabbed by Mictlanti, whilst other stories suggest he only slighted the Stone Serpent and Mictlanti wasn’t involved at all. One thing that is certain is that Eireamhan’s realm has become his prison for at least three hundred years where he is trapped in a sprawling plane to wander alone in its wilderness.

 

(This Archon’s origin and motives are left undefined at present, as it is our intent to allow ST interested in using this character for future events to reach out to us and collaborate on a story befitting their purpose)

 

Eireamhan's bloodline is unknown as he has been exiled to his plane for centuries and no known siliti come from him.

 

 

The archons mostly frequent the outer planes for safety for whilst Malghourn is their maker and requires them for errands and duties they are by no means safe from him or from one another. 

 


 

Red Lines


-The nine Archons can only be played by ST given managerial approval.
-The information in this post can only be learned through legitimate roleplay, tightly kept among silit circles.
-Using the word ‘siliti’ is the draconic term for slaves, used by Malghourn and viewed as too taboo to echo by the nine Archons. In this sense using silit / siliti in roleplay is metagaming, period.

 

 

Purpose

 

The nine archons solidify the aesthetic of ritualistic blood magic and mystical vampires as an alternative fashion to the old Dragon Age super-mage we’ve seen time and again where the actual magical properties are balanced and roleplay friendly while still allowing for the more ridiculous possibilities for ST events. Focusing on a conflict with dragonkin, each other, and the communities they enter, the nine are much more public and interactive vampires as opposed to striga which can more easily enable vampire hunting style events and roleplay. In the same vein, healthy conflict can arise between the two breeds of ‘vampire’ (should it be desired) as well as between the nine as internal struggles, given their thematically appropriate split in wants and desires.

 

As world lore, nine archons tie off the loose ends of the Asulon blood mage eventline and Anthos Black Scourge eventline by folding the 2.0 and 3.0 antagonists into the conclusion of the bohra extinction while adding a solid foundation for future event lines and old narrative conflicts. It opens the door to future tie-ins with ST projects regarding mystical, fantastical vampires, Hazmstadt (or the other eight realms and their respective characters), and the future schemes of Malghourn.

 

 

 Citations

 

Pale Blood Magic

Strigae
Malghourn
Siliti

 

Credits:
Mordu (Co-author)
Zarsies (Co-author)

 

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giphy.webp

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If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times already in response to this attempt by the blood-magic community to apprehend and abuse Striga lore assets. So because nobody on the ST thought to point it out to you before you posted this I’ll just spell it out.

  • Read Aeldinic lore, ‘Helgraen’s first court’ would have occurred during the time of Elven Empire on the continent and would have been a neolithic and hunter-gathering stage for humanity. He picked Humans exclusively because they were a stupid species he could control, not other elves, and not for any actual skill.
    • I.E TWO SIMPLE THINGS
      • 1 – THERE WOULD BE NO ALNORID SULTANATE TO HAVE A DELEGATE IN.
      • 2 – (edited here, looks like it was fixed or I just read it wrong. I have both the old and new posts in mind so that might have been muddled from two into one here, my b.)
  • STRIGAE CANNOT RE-LEARN MAGIC; very basic principle here. It’s a direct subversion of pre-established lore and exposing of the agenda here to try and create something oppositional to the very core of the lore your using to try and justify this blood magic equivalent.
    • MORE SPECIFICALLY: THERE ISN’T AN EASY REASON TO BE HAD FOR WHY HE WOULD SEEK IT OUT. The culture is of obedience, Helgraen wouldn’t have turned someone who used to have magic powers to begin with, there are a multitude of reasons for why this is unfeasible but those are just a few of the larger plot holes here.
      • To drive that home even further, there would be simply no reason to cross the sea in this instance, Aeldin is a massive continent (hence why isolationism was the policy until it’s discovery by outside forces). It existed in a vacuum save for the Drakkem who migrated MUCH later, like millennia after just before the Imperial Age.
  • Lastly, but much less critically, even if one Striga could somehow manage to get far enough to be incorporated in some capacity by this giant blood-dragon. It doesn’t seem likely that he could just be ripped apart and sacrificed. Much to everyone’s surprise I know Striga are enabled by Deific Magic, and IF YOU CAN’T DISSECT A DRUID OF IT’S CONNECTION TO THE ASPECTS then you can’t rape a Striga for it’s curse from the Unseen.
    • also just as a side note, the time-frame for all of these archon characters seems in question, for instance Waldenians didn’t have a proto-archetype. They’re an offshoot of northern Rhoswenii (I.E they were just Highlander White Rose OGs. Not a people with an ancient history.

 

I just want to point out here at the end of this comment that I’m not unopposed to blood-mages having their own set of vampiric vibes. In fact, while I was opposed to Dreori before I’ll actually come out now and say that they weren’t that bad and could have been easily integrated (because they didn’t bother adding a ridiculous backstory). All I ask, like I did with the last iteration of this crap with Drakul is that you KEEP STRIGA LORE OUT, and if you want to include it actually consult someone from the community who knows the lore well (an Esterlen, a Bagley, a Malaise, me).

 

What I don’t understand is why this is so hard to get through, it’s very easy to do without Striga, they aren’t necessary, you don’t even need a bloody blueprint (forgive the pun) that bit is really just poor story telling; bad plot device in my opinion.) Blood Mages already absorb and work with genus; they already have the compatibility to do their own thing. So work with the potential of your own lane, instead of ruining someone else’s. I would have said this was inadvertent too, but this lore makes the same damn mistake that everyone had a problem with the first time. A strung together narrative with a very clear preconception: ‘how can we piggyback of of the Strigae creature to create our own blood magic equivalent.’ 

Edited by methuselahs
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Wtf i expected voidal magic Archons this is a bait Mordu not cool

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“usInG THe NAme Of tHe LoRe PieCE Is mETAgaMIng”

 

Why name the creature siliti if you have the redline that using that name is metagaming? I like the lore but that’s stupid.

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0/10 not actual voidal magic Archons. get off the stage boooo

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13 minutes ago, Ug said:

Wtf i expected voidal magic Archons this is a bait Mordu not cool

 

Fun fact, Voidal archons were originally named Transcendents and were forcibly renamed by the LT because “it sounded cool”. When they did that they didn’t take into account that blood mage coven leaders were always called Archons and the overlap has stuck around since. 

 

11 minutes ago, BonesOfTheEarth said:

“usInG THe NAme Of tHe LoRe PieCE Is mETAgaMIng”

 

Why name the creature siliti if you have the redline that using that name is metagaming? I like the lore but that’s stupid.

 

Bait, essentially. The name is an insult by Malghourn so the Archons and their bloodlines wouldn’t refer to themselves as such (”slaves”), and IRP will likely use another term if not just a word (vampire or something akin). Because of that, if the word every appears in-game it can be immediately called out as metagaming and ideally acted upon.

 

 

Response to Jacko is pending, tryna make it thorough

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14 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

Such things led him far from Aeldin into the company of the dragon Setherien and his band of sorcerers

 

By the by; just noticed the lack of sailing my b. The autistic classicist in me took a leap and bound there. Whats tickling me now is the use of the lore. I’m thinking now just as an example:

 

14 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

The last thought to pass through Hazm Alhazred’s mind was those of betrayal, as he had been made into nought more than a blueprint. 

 

Taking the Strigae out of this. If it was a Druid, Paladin, ext. In most scenarios it wouldn’t fly in their place to take a specimen from one piece of lore and reverse engineer them into another existing pillar of server lore. Food for thought. I’ve never seen it legitimized in regards to any other community, Thuleanism being probably the accepted equivalent example of this. So I suppose a more reasonable question is why is this piece is acceptable by comparison to other projects which at a minimum had to achieve a synergy with existing standards.

Edited by methuselahs
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5 hours ago, methuselahs said:

If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times already in response to this attempt by the blood-magic community to apprehend and abuse Striga lore assets. So because nobody on the ST thought to point it out to you before you posted this I’ll just spell it out.

  • Read Aeldinic lore, ‘Helgraen’s first court’ would have occurred during the time of Elven Empire on the continent and would have been a neolithic and hunter-gathering stage for humanity. He picked Humans exclusively because they were a stupid species he could control, not other elves, and not for any actual skill.
    • I.E TWO SIMPLE THINGS
      • 1 – THERE WOULD BE NO ALNORID SULTANATE TO HAVE A DELEGATE IN.
      • 2 – THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN BARELY ANY WIDESPREAD TECHNOLOGIES AVAILABLE TO ACTUALLY SAIL TO ANOTHER CONTINENT AT THAT TIME. (speaking as a classicist here, if the Romans couldn’t do it this discount Helgraen can’t do it realistically in the setting, sorry.)
  • STRIGAE CANNOT RE-LEARN MAGIC; very basic principle here. It’s a direct subversion of pre-established lore and exposing of the agenda here to try and create something oppositional to the very core of the lore your using to try and justify this blood magic equivalent.
    • MORE SPECIFICALLY: THERE ISN’T AN EASY REASON TO BE HAD FOR WHY HE WOULD SEEK IT OUT. The culture is of obedience, Helgraen wouldn’t have turned someone who used to have magic powers to begin with, there are a multitude of reasons for why this is unfeasible but those are just a few of the larger plot holes here.
      • To drive that home even further, there would be simply no reason to cross the sea in this instance, Aeldin is a massive continent (hence why isolationism was the policy until it’s discovery by outside forces). It existed in a vacuum save for the Drakkem who migrated MUCH later, like millennia after just before the Imperial Age.
  • Lastly, but much less critically, even if one Striga could somehow manage to get far enough to be incorporated in some capacity by this giant blood-dragon. It doesn’t seem likely that he could just be ripped apart and sacrificed. Much to everyone’s surprise I know Striga are enabled by Deific Magic, and IF YOU CAN’T DISSECT A DRUID OF IT’S CONNECTION TO THE ASPECTS then you can’t rape a Striga for it’s curse from the Unseen.
    • also just as a side note, the time-frame for all of these archon characters seems in question.

 

I just want to point out here at the end of this comment that I’m not unopposed to blood-mages having their own set of vampiric vibes. In fact, while I was opposed to Dreori before I’ll actually come out now and say that they weren’t that bad and could have been easily integrated (because they didn’t bother adding a ridiculous backstory). All I ask, like I did with the last iteration of this crap with Drakul is that you KEEP STRIGA LORE OUT, and if you want to include it actually consult someone from the community who knows the lore well (an Esterlen, a Bagley, a Malaise, me).

 

What I don’t understand is why this is so hard to get through, it’s very easy to do without Striga, they aren’t necessary, you don’t even need a bloody blueprint (forgive the pun) that bit is really just poor story telling; bad plot device in my opinion.) Blood Mages already absorb and work with genus; they already have the compatibility to do their own thing. So work with the potential of your own lane, instead of ruining someone else’s. I would have said this was inadvertent too, but this lore makes the same damn mistake that everyone had a problem with the first time. A strung together narrative with a very clear preconception: ‘how can we piggyback of of the Strigae creature to create our own blood magic equivalent.’ 

 

 

Howdy! First and foremost as I can’t tell if you’re of genuine ill mood or it’s just my interpretation given your response and jabs, please don’t be riled up by this. The blood mage community I assume you refer to doesn’t exist, blood magic was wiped out by the Lore Games and the only genuine remnants are Mordu and myself given we wrote the lore to replace it (pale blood magic, a sad and weak feat variation with no supermage blood fetish to the dismay of dark Gary Stus everywhere); the people who may have offended you probably aren’t us. With that, we aren’t apprehending or abusing striga lore as striga aren’t losing anything and the closest thing to be abuse would be misunderstandings on our part which, as per the point of me making this response and doing edits, we are willing to address because we know we aren’t perfect, don’t know everything, and have no ill will towards you, the striga group, or striga lore. I am fond of you and aren’t looking to rile or distress anyone. Additionally, the ST as a group weren’t involved in this, just Mordu and I, and they weren’t consulted as per their irrelevance to writing this and even if they were I doubt any of them could pinpoint your same issues.

 

Regarding Aeldin lore, all we had to go off of outside of what is discussed IRP was the wiki page and this thread accepting it into the canon. Because the wiki doesn’t give any reference to a timeline not self-contained to Aeldin (e.g. “the Imperial Age started in 1355”) it was hard to narrow down when things occurred so by saying Hazm was a product of Alnorid and thereafter immortal gave us leeway to fit him into the timeline assuming all that was prior to 1461, ideally even earlier though. The original striga lore didn’t provide more clarity, nor did the new striga lore

 

Because of  this time inconsistency and the notion that Helgraen wouldn’t turn a wizard could be amended by distancing Hazm from Helgraen to fit him into the proper timeframe for when the Alnorid Sultanate existed and closer to 1400 or so, that way Carical’s familial relation isn’t too far fetched (and she’d probably be moved from being born on Aeldin to born in Anthos but of the Alhazred line) and another striga would have turned him, likely without Helgraen’s influence whatsoever and more care for his sahir position in a court rather than his magic abilities (which he lost because of being turned). And while sailing is never referenced, only “led him far from”, “led to western Aeldin”, and “spending some years together both in Alnorid and on the perilous journey home”, we can in turn edit it to be more clear that Hazm was fetched by Numir and Carical via rift and their time spent together would be while on Anthos.

 

Regarding Hazm relearning magic, I think you misread. Hazm’s immortality made his life dull and his interests flat because he had lost his magic (which, of note, would likely make him anathema which, were the story to come to light to the striga IRP could help stir conflict where they see siliti as derivative rats) and yearned for it again. This want is what Malghourn exploited him with and enabled Malghourn to easily kill him via the ritual. Hazm is the only striga in the whole story and he never regains his magic, he only was promised it and by buying into it he was betrayed.

 

While the distance of Aeldin isn’t relevant I think your point on that isn’t all too concrete given how Velia came to be last map (Niccum’s Roman colonists) and how nobles roleplay going back to visit Aeldin although the roleplay of such people doesn’t invalidate lore if it is indeed lore. Regardless though, the distance doesn’t matter due to teleportation and Hazm left with Numir and Carical, not by himself sailing.

 

Regarding the viability of the ritual, I don’t know what you’re referencing with the dissection of a druid for their Aspect connection. Could you elaborate? In that vein however, because of the distinction between mortal blood magic (second generation BM, third generation BM, awakened BM; essentially BM accessible to Descendants and therein players) and ‘event’ / higher being blood magic (2.0 BM antag, Voidal horror events i.e. Achan-Chatla, Setherien’s bloodshards with the Black Scourge, Malghourn events post-Vailor, most recently pale blood magic / Malghourn lore albeit not yet canon) it is reasonable to say Malghourn had powers even at that stage that the ancient blood mages (the Archons group but also the other unnamed groups out in the world) did not (which, of note, goes both ways since no entity knows or has ALL of BM, not even the Malghourn I wrote). The ritual was powered by the extinction of a race’s remnants and assisted by nine blood mages besides Malghourn himself w/ Setherien’s lexicon (technically the Red Nexus wasn’t the Red Nexus until after the ritual); not to participate in the lore tradition of writers having a big d*ck swinging contest as this isn’t about absolute power, but that situation definitely had the power to deconstruct Hazm, split and imbue his soul, and create a marrow-curse upon all ten parties. He was used as a blueprint and none of the Unseen’s curse was actually transferred over, only mimicked and then reshaped / ‘bastardized’. It should be clarified here also as it seems this has been misinterpreted: siliti are a product of blood magic (just like dreadknights and other ritually created beings and enchantments from old blood magic) and its runes, and in no way ‘draw’ or ‘steal’ power from the Unseen. Malghourn used Hazm as a template to draw inspiration from in conducting his ritual, as well as for his own personal uses, and little else.

 

Regarding the consistency of time with each Archon’s introduction into the group it is indeed spread out and not dated (maybe we should change that?) but I can assure you they do line up. The humans had to be born close to the year of the ritual (1416 at the earliest, 1441 at the latest) to line up with Anthos’ and Setherien’s timeline so they (Numir, Carical, Hallin Kord, Cadmium) are situated as such, Numir and Cadmium being the ones with the most detail. Numir being proto-Waldenian (describing characters of a germanic culture in the years shortly prior to Aesterwald’s inception) lines up with their roots in Anthos. Cadmium was born on Rivel after Aegis was already destroyed which wiped out the Athera dwarves and shattered Rivel’s floating island and Solomon and her going to Asulon lines up with the Mori being involved with Nirta’s father (who is referenced as Mictlanti’s master among the Mori, assumed to be disguised amongst them as a blood mage agent within the Asulon blood mage court which they all later join and his fate is unknown) with Cadmium’s long life explained as a product of a marrow she gains.

 

On account of Dreori, Archi worked off of the initial Drakul draft Mordu and I posted and after we reviewed it and pinpointed all its issues he opted to join us when we at the same time finished writing siliti. Dreori had their own problems, the largest of which was their lack of a backstory. We are keen on thorough, consistent lore tie-ins for the interconnecting of the LotC canon so having the backstory this expansive was important to us in order to incorporate numerous other subjects and not be a self-contained, isolated lore piece. On that note, I’ll elaborate on the topic (which, again, your wording worries me that you’re genuinely upset by innocent mistakes or perceived injustices and that isn’t the relationship either of us want to have with you or the striga crowd, let alone anyone):

 

Striga absolutely HAD to be involved and it would be unreasonable and itself a cop out / poor storytelling to NOT incorporate them at all. Yes, we should have consulted someone other than who we did (Josh and Joel, albeit not to extreme depth) and on that front I apologize, the points that are relevant and fair we will address where appropriate. However, it would be lazy and subpar to write lore for vampires without at least referencing the already canon vampires and create the lore in a vacuum of purely self-contained, unconnected, and in a way random fashion. LotC’s canon is what it is, everything that is a part of it has to coincide and work together, so by using striga as a part of the foundation to reason another breed of vampire we validate striga and build on them without taking away anything (albeit in that process there can be mistakes as the things you’ve pointed out which, again and obviously, we’re committed to fixing). Yes, it would be easy to write another breed of vampire without striga, in fact involving striga made this much more difficult as we did our best to not step on their toes with themes, abilities, or backstory and tried very hard to make them vampires on the opposite side of the spectrum as we didn’t want to overshadow or invalidate them - we want them to coexist. Building off striga is the opposite of poor storytelling and a bad plot device, it’s inclusive, harmonious, and blatantly the best place to start for writing new vampires, something Dreori ought to have done. Not the original strigae writers, yourself, nor anyone else has a monopoly on vampires as a concept, which seems to be the source of much of this. No one owns striga, vampires, or lore in general, so there’s no territory to be crossed - no lane to break in or out of: this isn’t a judgement about you but rather the statement, that idea is highly toxic and otiose which is the opposite of productive for the betterment and further development of the LotC canon and roleplay. The implication that lore which builds off others and is interconnected ruins another is a very unhealthy mindset - and we worked off what is canon by what we could find in lore implemented lore (which, to be fair, Aeldin has no implemented lore which is very bad and whoever is the most familiar - you, Esterlen, Cracker? I genuinely don’t know - should make a full world lore submission for it. Aeldin and similar off-screen worlds are super cool and deserve to be seen in full breadth). Case in point, our originally draft, Drakul, was tweaked greatly because in someone’s headcanon Helgraen was an extremely powerful Dracula-esque character, something not elaborated on whatsoever in the lore, and because it wasn’t written or made known we intended on using him as the catalyst that Hazm became to serve the purpose of a blueprint. We didn’t want to deprive the striga of anything as we thought it was purely historical and we still don’t want to deprive them of anything. We ditched him and came up with a previously nonexistent striga as to not ‘take away’ anything. In the same vein we’ll make changes to the new lore to accommodate more.

 

Last but not least, and for a third time I reiterate that none of this is an attack at or subversion of striga, their community, you in particular, etc, this isn’t derivative. We aren’t piggybacking. The only reason striga were incorporated were because they came first, that’s it, and it’s a requirement for lore to be cohesive to best fit into the existing canon. We aren’t stealing, cheapening, or perverting striga. If anything, the three pieces add more story hooks, event and roleplay potential, and depth to LotC than striga ever did and I don’t mean that as a jab.
 

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4 hours ago, Zarsies said:

 

 

Howdy! First and foremost as I can’t tell if you’re of genuine ill mood or it’s just my interpretation given your response and jabs, please don’t be riled up by this. The blood mage community I assume you refer to doesn’t exist, blood mag

ic was wiped out by the Lore Games and the only genuine remnants are Mordu and myself given we wrote the lore to replace it (pale blood magic, a sad and weak feat variation with no supermage blood fetish to the dismay of dark Gary Stus everywhere); the people who may have offended you probably aren’t us. With that, we aren’t apprehending or abusing striga lore as striga aren’t losing anything and the closest thing to be abuse would be misunderstandings on our part which, as per the point of me making this response and doing edits, we are willing to address because we know we aren’t perfect, don’t know everything, and have no ill will towards you, the striga group, or striga lore. I am fond of you and aren’t looking to rile or distress anyone. Additionally, the ST as a group weren’t involved in this, just Mordu and I, and they weren’t consulted as per their irrelevance to writing this and even if they were I doubt any of them could pinpoint your same issues.

 

Regarding Aeldin lore, all we had to go off of outside of what is discussed IRP was the wiki page and this thread accepting it into the canon. Because the wiki doesn’t give any reference to a timeline not self-contained to Aeldin (e.g. “the Imperial Age started in 1355”) it was hard to narrow down when things occurred so by saying Hazm was a product of Alnorid and thereafter immortal gave us leeway to fit him into the timeline assuming all that was prior to 1461, ideally even earlier though. The original striga lore didn’t provide more clarity, nor did the new striga lore

 

Because of  this time inconsistency and the notion that Helgraen wouldn’t turn a wizard could be amended by distancing Hazm from Helgraen to fit him into the proper timeframe for when the Alnorid Sultanate existed and closer to 1400 or so, that way Carical’s familial relation isn’t too far fetched (and she’d probably be moved from being born on Aeldin to born in Anthos but of the Alhazred line) and another striga would have turned him, likely without Helgraen’s influence whatsoever and more care for his sahir position in a court rather than his magic abilities (which he lost because of being turned). And while sailing is never referenced, only “led him far from”, “led to western Aeldin”, and “spending some years together both in Alnorid and on the perilous journey home”, we can in turn edit it to be more clear that Hazm was fetched by Numir and Carical via rift and their time spent together would be while on Anthos.

 

Regarding Hazm relearning magic, I think you misread. Hazm’s immortality made his life dull and his interests flat because he had lost his magic (which, of note, would likely make him anathema which, were the story to come to light to the striga IRP could help stir conflict where they see siliti as derivative rats) and yearned for it again. This want is what Malghourn exploited him with and enabled Malghourn to easily kill him via the ritual. Hazm is the only striga in the whole story and he never regains his magic, he only was promised it and by buying into it he was betrayed.

 

While the distance of Aeldin isn’t relevant I think your point on that isn’t all too concrete given how Velia came to be last map (Niccum’s Roman colonists) and how nobles roleplay going back to visit Aeldin although the roleplay of such people doesn’t invalidate lore if it is indeed lore. Regardless though, the distance doesn’t matter due to teleportation and Hazm left with Numir and Carical, not by himself sailing.

 

Regarding the viability of the ritual, I don’t know what you’re referencing with the dissection of a druid for their Aspect connection. Could you elaborate? In that vein however, because of the distinction between mortal blood magic (second generation BM, third generation BM, awakened BM; essentially BM accessible to Descendants and therein players) and ‘event’ / higher being blood magic (2.0 BM antag, Voidal horror events i.e. Achan-Chatla, Setherien’s bloodshards with the Black Scourge, Malghourn events post-Vailor, most recently pale blood magic / Malghourn lore albeit not yet canon) it is reasonable to say Malghourn had powers even at that stage that the ancient blood mages (the Archons group but also the other unnamed groups out in the world) did not (which, of note, goes both ways since no entity knows or has ALL of BM, not even the Malghourn I wrote). The ritual was powered by the extinction of a race’s remnants and assisted by nine blood mages besides Malghourn himself w/ Setherien’s lexicon (technically the Red Nexus wasn’t the Red Nexus until after the ritual); not to participate in the lore tradition of writers having a big d*ck swinging contest as this isn’t about absolute power, but that situation definitely had the power to deconstruct Hazm, split and imbue his soul, and create a marrow-curse upon all ten parties. He was used as a blueprint and none of the Unseen’s curse was actually transferred over, only mimicked and then reshaped / ‘bastardized’. It should be clarified here also as it seems this has been misinterpreted: siliti are a product of blood magic (just like dreadknights and other ritually created beings and enchantments from old blood magic) and its runes, and in no way ‘draw’ or ‘steal’ power from the Unseen. Malghourn used Hazm as a template to draw inspiration from in conducting his ritual, as well as for his own personal uses, and little else.

 

Regarding the consistency of time with each Archon’s introduction into the group it is indeed spread out and not dated (maybe we should change that?) but I can assure you they do line up. The humans had to be born close to the year of the ritual (1416 at the earliest, 1441 at the latest) to line up with Anthos’ and Setherien’s timeline so they (Numir, Carical, Hallin Kord, Cadmium) are situated as such, Numir and Cadmium being the ones with the most detail. Numir being proto-Waldenian (describing characters of a germanic culture in the years shortly prior to Aesterwald’s inception) lines up with their roots in Anthos. Cadmium was born on Rivel after Aegis was already destroyed which wiped out the Athera dwarves and shattered Rivel’s floating island and Solomon and her going to Asulon lines up with the Mori being involved with Nirta’s father (who is referenced as Mictlanti’s master among the Mori, assumed to be disguised amongst them as a blood mage agent within the Asulon blood mage court which they all later join and his fate is unknown) with Cadmium’s long life explained as a product of a marrow she gains.

 

On account of Dreori, Archi worked off of the initial Drakul draft Mordu and I posted and after we reviewed it and pinpointed all its issues he opted to join us when we at the same time finished writing siliti. Dreori had their own problems, the largest of which was their lack of a backstory. We are keen on thorough, consistent lore tie-ins for the interconnecting of the LotC canon so having the backstory this expansive was important to us in order to incorporate numerous other subjects and not be a self-contained, isolated lore piece. On that note, I’ll elaborate on the topic (which, again, your wording worries me that you’re genuinely upset by innocent mistakes or perceived injustices and that isn’t the relationship either of us want to have with you or the striga crowd, let alone anyone):

 

Striga absolutely HAD to be involved and it would be unreasonable and itself a cop out / poor storytelling to NOT incorporate them at all. Yes, we should have consulted someone other than who we did (Josh and Joel, albeit not to extreme depth) and on that front I apologize, the points that are relevant and fair we will address where appropriate. However, it would be lazy and subpar to write lore for vampires without at least referencing the already canon vampires and create the lore in a vacuum of purely self-contained, unconnected, and in a way random fashion. LotC’s canon is what it is, everything that is a part of it has to coincide and work together, so by using striga as a part of the foundation to reason another breed of vampire we validate striga and build on them without taking away anything (albeit in that process there can be mistakes as the things you’ve pointed out which, again and obviously, we’re committed to fixing). Yes, it would be easy to write another breed of vampire without striga, in fact involving striga made this much more difficult as we did our best to not step on their toes with themes, abilities, or backstory and tried very hard to make them vampires on the opposite side of the spectrum as we didn’t want to overshadow or invalidate them - we want them to coexist. Building off striga is the opposite of poor storytelling and a bad plot device, it’s inclusive, harmonious, and blatantly the best place to start for writing new vampires, something Dreori ought to have done. Not the original strigae writers, yourself, nor anyone else has a monopoly on vampires as a concept, which seems to be the source of much of this. No one owns striga, vampires, or lore in general, so there’s no territory to be crossed - no lane to break in or out of: this isn’t a judgement about you but rather the statement, that idea is highly toxic and otiose which is the opposite of productive for the betterment and further development of the LotC canon and roleplay. The implication that lore which builds off others and is interconnected ruins another is a very unhealthy mindset - and we worked off what is canon by what we could find in lore implemented lore (which, to be fair, Aeldin has no implemented lore which is very bad and whoever is the most familiar - you, Esterlen, Cracker? I genuinely don’t know - should make a full world lore submission for it. Aeldin and similar off-screen worlds are super cool and deserve to be seen in full breadth). Case in point, our originally draft, Drakul, was tweaked greatly because in someone’s headcanon Helgraen was an extremely powerful Dracula-esque character, something not elaborated on whatsoever in the lore, and because it wasn’t written or made known we intended on using him as the catalyst that Hazm became to serve the purpose of a blueprint. We didn’t want to deprive the striga of anything as we thought it was purely historical and we still don’t want to deprive them of anything. We ditched him and came up with a previously nonexistent striga as to not ‘take away’ anything. In the same vein we’ll make changes to the new lore to accommodate more.

 

Last but not least, and for a third time I reiterate that none of this is an attack at or subversion of striga, their community, you in particular, etc, this isn’t derivative. We aren’t piggybacking. The only reason striga were incorporated were because they came first, that’s it, and it’s a requirement for lore to be cohesive to best fit into the existing canon. We aren’t stealing, cheapening, or perverting striga. If anything, the three pieces add more story hooks, event and roleplay potential, and depth to LotC than striga ever did and I don’t mean that as a jab.
 

 

There are a couple things that I’ve taken as simple standards that I think have come across fairly well. The first being that if the date isn’t specified new lore should not be based in that period. So I’m glad that gotten through. The second is that I perceive ill intent. 

 

4 hours ago, Zarsies said:

I can’t tell if you’re of genuine ill mood

 

 

Now because this a lore post intent is irrelevant to the question. The lore itself already suggests that the point of this piece is that it be an ‘evolution’ of current Striga. The idea that I’m personally VERY OFFENDED isn’t something you have to worry about; this is a game after all and nothing about writing is personal outside of the road to get to a finished product. What I am is passionate about the subject itself, and continuity in particular. The concern in my view is really the nature of the theme as I explained previous and how this piece utilizes one set of prior structures to create a new (and frankly lesser continuity). If that wasn’t the case then yes, Striga lore would not have to be involved at all in the slightest it’s perfectly feasible using preexisting blood magic structures to create vampires. (Which would be fine btw).

 

Expanding on that the problem and I’ll again iterate, is in how the prior lore is being used. If what your referencing in your own work can’t reflect the spirit of the first it shouldn’t be mentioned at all. What needs to be done is to prioritize the use of existing structures something the lore piece definitely doesn’t do. If the goal is to create a different variant of vampire it should logically also reflect how that would be feasible within the sphere of associated lore. The primary material should be referenced and built upon. What I’m getting at here is that vampires aren’t at center stage here. What is glorified seemingly is Malgourn and blood magic instead, not how both this dragon and his field of study can add to and change the vampire niche as a whole. What is instead the case is that Hazm is the deus ex machina. The only tentative connection this piece has to actual vampires on lotc. If this indeed to be looked at in any other light than catching a ride then that probably needs to change.

 

As for the Dreori I had an epiphany after having a talk with Joel in the Lore discord which really changed my mind on the subject. The lack of a background actually proved to be a boon in my opinion, because the variety of stories which could be conjured to explain them was so vast, and thus also the possibilities of how they could be accept in role-play. There was a lot more opportunity for growth, for example then there is here. They could have been of a weaker generation, they could have evolved down a history completely different and that was frankly really cool to consider after the fact.

 

Instead the only actual vampire in the story is used as a crutch to explain how Malgourn created his own Striga 2.0 without the aid of the Unseen. Which conveniently segways into my clarification of the third minor point I made quite nicely. That is that there are no other acceptable examples of lore being used this way. It is unacceptable for example, that someone be able to manipulate nature without a connection to the Aspects. It is also therefore similarly concerning for Paladin-ism to be used by someone without a connection to Xan. Equal to those, as it stand to reason: it is a concerning thing that creatures born of the Unseen (by blueprint, or blood-magic whatever term of the month is being used), can have vampiric boons without being beholden to the implemented standard (I.E. the curse itself.) Even Thuleanism (which is a turbulent example I know) required someone to be connected beforehand.

 

All these points are ultimately spurred on with one focus in mind. New lore in this segment should compliment the continuity we have, new mechanics can fit into the existing vampiric pre-conditions. There doesn’t need to be an evolution of one into the next.

 


 

The second topic I’ll contest, but I do think it’s funny since distance has taken sort of a back seat. Distance and interaction over time is very important in my view, and needs to be purposefully addressed. If something is ambiguous it should be meant to be that way, at least where story telling is concerned. Mechanics have a generally increasing need to be specifically fleshed out, and that’s something that is very hard to get right. Ultimately something I enjoy a lot, as it’s something that’s been accomplished very well.

 

If the story itself breaks the suspension of disbelief it’s no longer a feasibly enjoyable story for a wide margin of folks. This is mainly the problem I have with this, because we’re talking about a span of time essentially now in (like 1070s) to essentially when Helgraen would have begun taking disciples, which if not practically date-able, would have been during Aeldin’s antiquity in the Second Era (which is there for you to find in the wiki). I had to do a lot of condensing for the accepted rewrite, the old one which described humans in the era of Helgraen’s ascension as being little more than heavily tribal. They were essentially then, from that measurably Neolithic. Like just barely agricultural. That means a few certain things, because these variations of growth have certain attributes: no nation-states, no really unique cultures, and really just living day to day to grab what you can nab.

 

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It was a little ambiguous to me whether Hazm was an Elf or Human. But my point was really that in either case the likelihood that he would have been experienced and yearned again for magic would be low given those circumstances. It’s confusing to jump multiple places and times. It’s far more sensical to have one place be primary and branch out from there. It’s one of the key themes that are evident in the beginning of a creature in a far off place. In vampiric society our own setting is the frontier which people travel to, and this one of the more critical things to understand when trying to conceptualize the grand narrative. The linchpin of command and reverence isn’t with us ourselves, unique specimen make their way here from other places for their own goals and ambitions and build from there. That’s the heart of lotc if ever there was one. There is the potential for all manner of bloodsuckers spread out from Aeldin, or from migrants to another land.

 

Maybe Hazm searched the world, started his own lineage and then some of them made their way here to begin a new life. Instead the vein of the story reflects what will be considered widely too: That one vampire followed a red-herring, got butchered by a dragon, who then used his blood crystal pop out his own variant that was kind of the same thing but not really

 

Maybe it’s a difference of direction, or a miscommunication of how things should be handled, but /expansion/ rings far more with me personally than anything else. An expansion that builds on the lore that came before and encompass far more in the future, not to create some weird adjacency.

 

Idk, in the end I’m just here to make a few good points and a few decent quips.

 

 

Edited by methuselahs
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17 hours ago, Zarsies said:

Fun fact, Voidal archons were originally named Transcendents and were forcibly renamed by the LT because “it sounded cool”. When they did that they didn’t take into account that blood mage coven leaders were always called Archons and the overlap has stuck around since. 

That’s interesting – didn’t know that before.

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This Lore has been accepted. Moved to Implemented Lore, it will be sorted to it's appropriate category soon. Please note that if this is playable lore, such as a magic or CA, you will need to write a guide for this piece. You will be contacted regarding the guide (or implementation if it isn’t needed) shortly.

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