framalam

most chars are dropped into the world with nobody and no connections and it helps with nobility bloat

i’ve only had the forums for roleplay for two months. i do not think it’s fair to portray the forums as used maliciously because ‘its better’ or ‘its easier to get more people to agree with you’. i had far more success lizardposting irp than i ever have on the forums. the forums, and i think ppl like kunuk (despite the repfarm chudjaks) and royalcrafter show it best, are pure writing and engagement within the narrative. people who use the forums for the purposes you accuse them of are bound to do the same in discords and /messages anyway, and devaluing it for those pesky metapushers is 1. not gonna do anything and 2. unfair. the dissemination of ic info is admittedly kinda crazy though. granted im a newgen so maybe im wrong.

“I cannot believe they would cut off their own ally’s hand to forge a lie about an angel.” Lucien mutters to his favorite dead rat, perched against the wall.

Lucien Aldricson, the most Lucienist Lucien to live since Lucien II, gently scratches his cell stone. “Redemption… redemption… for the penitent. Oh, Saint Lucien, shepherd our crusaders, take my blade!” he cries, sobbing into his own knees.

“DEATH TO TYRANNNYY!!! LOOONGGG LIVEEE THE REPUBLIIIC!”

THE INNATE KOBOLD SIN OPENING PRAYER FROM THE VENERABLE FATHER PACO DO I RECITE THIS PRAYER TO SAINT NAFISUS THEODERNESIS, LORD VANDALORE OF VANDORIA. ‘Creator of man, overseer of all things right, Whose powers none can resist, Save and deliver us, we beseech, From the hands of our enemies, By granting us dominion over them, Show us the path to victory, That we might produce it in Your undying name. AMEN’ AUTHORS NOTE IN THE MONTHS SINCE MY PREVIOUS PUBLICATION I HAVE BECOME SOBERED TO MY OWN HATRED. AFTER ALL, IT WAS MY INITIAL FANATICAL SHILLING TOWARDS THE AZDRAZI THAT HAS ME IMPRISONED TODAY. THE LACERATIONS ON MY PERSON GROW REDDER, RAWER. MY COUNTENANCE IS HALF AS IMPOSING AS IT ONCE WAS BECAUSE OF THEM, LET ALONE ADELMAR. I WOULD NOT SOONER BLAME THE GUARD THAN MYSELF FOR THE PUNISHMENTS DONE UNTO ME. THIS IS REDEMPTION. SO, AS I DEEMED THE AZDRAZI TO HAVE AN INNATE SIN, SO TOO DID I RAISE THE QUESTION AS TO WHY? I MUST ADMIT, STARVATION, MALNUTRITION, AND DEHYDRATION, HAVE ALL PROFOUND IMPACTS ON MY THINKING. I AM NOT THE MAN I WAS NEARLY A DECADE AGO, JUST AS I AM NOT THE MAN I WAS AN HOUR AGO. I FIND SOLACE, THEN, IN ANGER, IN RAGE. THIS IS FLAWED. I SHOULD INSTEAD EMBRACE MY IMPRISONMENT AS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR HERMITAGE AND MARTYRDOM: TO WHICH CAUSE I KNOW NOT YET. I DO NOT WISH TO BE A MARTYR FOR THE LIZARD. THIS TEXT IS PRODUCED BY, I WOULD DECLARE WITH A HIGH CERTAINTY, THE SINGLE MOST EDUCATED MAN ON THE AZDRAZI TO BE INVOLVED TO A LARGER EXTENT WITH THE FAITH. I SERVED AS INTERIM COMMANDER OF THE JUDITES, NOW THE HOLY ARMY, I FOUGHT FOR THE FAITH, AND I LOST A GREAT DEAL FOR THE FAITH. SO TOO HAVE I LOST A GREAT DEAL FOR THE NEPHILIM: MY SIGHT, MY LEG, MY FREEDOM AND MY STANDING AS A TRIBESMAN. I WAS IN THEIR LIBRARIES FOR HOURS ON END, THROUGHOUT MY CAREER. OWYNIST SCRIPTURE I COULD NOT FIND ELSEWHERE WERE PREVALENT WITHIN THEIR LIBRARIES: PONTIFICAL LETTERS TOO. BUT, BEYOND THIS I INTERACTED WITH NOT ONLY THEIR TEXTS, BUT THEIR DRACONIC SELVES AND THEIR DEVOUT. MANY A DAY DID I GO THROUGH THEIR GATES, AND INTO THEIR LIBRARIES, AND CRANE MY NECK UP TO SOME LIZARD A FOOT TALLER THAN I. SO, I WOULD ARGUE, AND TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE, THERE IS NO SINGLE CLERGYMAN WHO HAS HAD MORE, OR LONGER EXTENDED, PEACEFUL, INTERACTIONS WITH AZDRAZI THAN I. CREATION, AND FIRST SIN MY FIRST INTERACTION WITH THE AZDRAZI WAS ONE FROM TOR’PRAETH. IT WAS A HERALD, WHOSE NAME I KNOW, WHOSE FACE I KNOW, AND WHOSE THROAT WILL BE FIRST UPON MY BLADE WHEN I AM A FREEMAN ONCE MORE. IN FACT, GIVEN THE STATE OF CURRENT POLITICS, I WOULD SAY IT IS RELEVANT TO REVEAL THIS HERALD TO BE A LURINITE CITIZEN: I FEAR REVEALING ANY BEYOND THIS WOULD HAVE MY QUARRY STOLEN. THEY STRUCK ME WITH CURIOSITY. I WAS CURIOUS. I FOLLOWED THIS HERALD, ALONG WITH TWO OTHERS, OUTSIDE OF NEU VALDEV, WHEN I WAS BUT A HEDGE KNIGHT. AND, AFTER PEDDLING ME SOME POTIONS, THEY PROMPTLY BEAT ME TO UNCONSCIOUSNESS. I WAS DRAGGED TO A MOUNTAINTOP, SICKLY BLOOD TRICKLING FROM EVERY INCH OF MY PERSON, AS IT DOES NOW. AND THERE I SAW A TRUTH THAT WOULD TAKE ME TWO DECADES TO RE-LEARN. SEE, THE HERALD, WAS ONE OF THREE EVILDOERS. I WAS THRUST ONTO A STONE, AND WOKE ONLY TO THE CLEAVING OF MY LEG FROM MY HIP. I SAW TWO: ONE OF HEXICANUM, ONE OF TOR’PRAETH. THEN, I SAW NONE. PROMPTLY, THE HERALD GRABBED MY SKULL (after I had attempted to bite at the neck of the Iblees-lover) AND DUG HIS PLATED GAUNTLET INTO MY EYES, UNTIL I, ONCE AGAIN, SUCCUMBED TO MY BLEEDING. IN AN ODD ACT OF MERCY, OR RATHER, DESIRE FOR INFAMY, I WAS DROPPED UPON THE GATES OF NEU VALDEV. ONLY THE VICAR OF GOD GRANTED ME MY LEG AND MY SIGHT. MANY YEARS AFTER, THEN, DID I VENTURE TO TOR’PRAETH. WHY? I WAS CURIOUS. I HAD SEEN AN EYE OF AZDROMOTH ETCHED INTO THE ESHTAELITE CHURCH OF LURIN. A PLACE OF SEEMING PURITY, DEFACED. AND SO I WAS GIVEN AN UM’EI, SOME ESOTERIC RIDDLE, AND SO I WAS GRANTED ENTRY, AND SO I SAW HIM AGAIN. THE VERY HERALD. AND HE SHOWED REMORSE, BUT HE KNEW HIS CRIME, AND HE WITHHELD IT: HE NEVER CONFESSED TO THOSE ABOVE HIM. THEREIN MY POINT. EMBRACE YOUR KOBOLDHOOD. YOU ARE NOT MEN. YOU WILL NEVER BE MEN. YOU FORSOOK YOUR G-DLILY-ORDAINED MANHOOD WHEN YOU KILLED YOURSELVES, AND CHOSE TO BE BIRTHED OF ASH, AND NOT G-D. THIS IS THE FIRST AZDRAZI SIN. IN THE TABERNACLE OF HOREN THERE IS NO ROOM FOR A SWORD. THERE IS ROOM FOR MALIN, THERE IS ROOM FOR KRUG, THERE IS ROOM FOR URGUAN, BUT THERE IS NO ROOM FOR A SWORD. YOU ARE WEAPONS. WHY HIDE IT? WAS YOUR CREATION NOT EVIDENCE ENOUGH? FOR WHEN AZDROMOTH CAME ONTO THE STUDENT ERESAR, A NAME I HOPE NONE DEVOUT READING THIS KNOW, IT WAS TO FURTHER HIS OWN GOALS. SELFISHLY. BEFORE ADELMAR CONFISCATED IT, ONE OF YOU LIZARDMEN WRAPPED A TREATISE AROUND MY BARS. ONE BY THE AN-GHO. ONE ASKING WHY WE, SONS OF MAN, HATE THE DRAGON. WE DO NOT HATE THE DRAGON. WE HATE THE HERETIC. WE HATE THE EVILDOER. WE HATE THE SINNER, AND WE HATE THE ABOMINATION OF THE DEMONIC. THIS IS YOUR FIRST SIN, NEPHILIM*. YOUR CREATION. YOUR ABANDONMENT OF MORTALITY IN FAVOR OF AMBITION. ALL AMBITION, ALL FEATS, ALL GRANDEUR, PALES IN COMPARISON TO THE LORD. KNOW HUMILITY, AND KNOW MORTALITY. FOR ALL OF YOU, ALMOST, YOU DID THIS KNOWING YOU WOULD ACCEPT THE TAINT OF AZDROMOTH UPON YOUR SOUL. AND NOW YOU TRY TO RENEGE YOUR BELIEFS, CLAIMING YOU WERE ALWAYS GOOD? WHY, THEN, ACCEPT THE TOUCH OF IBLEES? BUT YOU HAVE SOOK PENANCE, AN-GHO, IF FOR NOTHING ELSE, FOR THIS. *Your first Sin as Azdrazi. You, of course, prior to your death, were all Men, prone and victims to the Sin of all Man, that of the First Woman, and that of the Saulican, and that curse of Iblees. WORSHIP, AND SECOND SIN FEAR NOT, ABOMINATION. AS SAID YOUR PRINCE, THE LORD IS MERCIFUL. EVEN IF YOU WERE BORN DEMONICALLY, AND YOU ARE ABOMINATIONS, AFFRONTS TO G-D, G-D IS ALL LOVING. HIS MERCY KNOWS NO BOUNDS, AND HIS JUSTICE IS THE TRUE JUSTICE. HIS ORDER IS THE TRUE ORDER. HIS FATE IS THE TRUE FATE. HIS CONVICTION IS THE TRUE CONVICTION. THUS, NEPHILIM, WHY WORSHIP YOUR FATHER ANY MORE THAN I WORSHIP MINE? HE BROUGHT ME TO LIFE, AND FOR THIS, HE IS DUE NOTHING MORE THAN HE OWES ME. HOWEVER, ANTITHETICALLY, YOUR FATHER DOES OWE YOU, AZDRAZI. AND YOU DO OWE HIM. THIS IS, IN AND OF ITSELF, SINFUL, AND QUITE FRANKLY, HYPOCRITICAL. IF AZDROMOTH CALLS FOR THE ABANDONMENT OF AENGULDAEMONIC INFLUENCE UPON THE PLANE - A VIRTUOUS GOAL NO DOUBT - THEN HE SHOULD FOLLOW THROUGH, AND ASCEND TO HIS REALM ALL HIS HERALDS, AND ALL HIS NEPHILIM. BUT, HE DOES NOT. WHEREAS THE ST. ARCHANGEL MICHAEL, AND THE ST. ANGEL RAGUEL, REBUKE WORSHIP, DISALLOWING IT TO THEIR STUDENTS, AZDROMOTH DOES NOT. BUT, I HEAR YOU SAY, DEAR LIZARD, MY FATHER DOES NOT CALL FOR WORSHIP! BUT IT DOES NOT MATTER THAT HE DOES NOT CALL FOR IT, IT MATTERS THAT HE ALLOWS IT, AND DOES NOT SCOLD YOU FOR PARTAKING IN IT. IN HIS PRIDE, HE HAS FALLEN FROM ANGELHOOD, WHICH HE CAN MOST CERTAINLY RETURN TO WITH THE ABANDONMENT OF HIS EGO, AND BECOME WHAT HE ALWAYS HAS BEEN: DEMON. SO PRINCE, IT IS NOT DEMON WE CALL YOU, BUT YOUR FATHER, AND IT IS NOT DRAGON WE CALL YOU, BUT HERETIC. YOU ARE THE LEADER OF YOUR FLOCK, PRINCE. THERE ARE CANONISTS, ONCE GOOD, ONCE DEVOUT OWYNISTS IN YOUR FLOCK. AS THE LORD GALAHAD SINS THROUGH HIS REFUSAL TO EXULT THE PROSELYTISATION OF OWYN, SO TOO DO YOU SIN BY ALLOWING THE WORSHIP OF YOUR ‘FATHER’, THOUGH I WOULD RATHER USE THE TERM ‘Creator per imitationem’. SO YOUR SECOND SIN, KOBOLD, IS THAT OF HEATHEN WORSHIP, AND ALLOWING THE SAULICAN SERPENT TO WHISPER LIES INTO YOUR EARS. IF YOUR FATHER DOES NOT DEMAND WORSHIP, DO NOT WORSHIP HIM. IF THOSE AMONG YOU WORSHIP HIM, SILENCE THEM, AND DELIVER THEM AS AS PENITENT. HE IS NOT YOUR FATHER. YOU CHOSE TO BE BIRTHED BY A DRAKE THAT KILLED COUNTLESS MILLIONS. YOU CHOSE TO DENY DEATH. AND YOU CHOSE TO BE ABOMINATIONS. AND FOR THAT, YOU ARE CULPABLE FOR THE SINS OF YOUR FATHER. IF I CHOOSE TO SWEAR MYSELF ETERNALLY AND IMMORTALLY TO A LORD THAT I KNOW IS SWORN TO THE DECEIVER, AM I NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT? IF YOU WISH TO FEIGN IGNORANCE, DO SO, BUT DO SO AT RISK OF DISCREDITING YOURSELVES AS SCHOLARS. TO SWEAR YOURSELF WILFULLY UNDER A MASTER WHO DIRECTLY SOUGHT RUIN, FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF GAINING POWER, OR FURTHERING THAT VERY GOAL OF UTTER DESTRUCTION; LACK OF ORDER; DISDAIN AGAINST THE PALADINS; YOU RENDER YOURSELVES JUST AS WRONG AS THE X*NNITES YOU SWORE TO DESTROY. DECEPTION, AND THIRD SIN I AM ADRIAN OF ASCALON. I AM RAGUELMAN. I AM PAN SLAWOMIR LIS. I AM ILDRIUNN OF ALDRIC’S MILL. I AM LUCIEN ALDRICSON; LUKAS VON BERKHOVEN. YET, THE FIRST THREE NAMES I GAVE, ARE NOT MY NAMES AT ALL. RATHER, THEY ARE LIES. THEY ARE DECEPTION. I MORPH MYSELF INTO ANOTHER MAN, INTO ANOTHER FORM, SO I MAY CONTINUE MY WORK. I CONSULTED SUCH A MATTER WITH THE PATRIARCH VILLORIK MANY YEARS AGO, WHO SAID THAT SO LONG AS I DID THE LORD’S WILL WHILE IN THESE FORMS, ANY HARM I DID THROUGH DECEPTION WAS REDEEMED. YET, YOU DECEIVE. I KNOW YOU TO DECEIVE. IN THE SAME PIECE I ADDRESSED EARLIER, ONE ‘SETTLING THE DRACONIC QUESTION’ (that somehow arrived in my cell, to Adelmar’s dismay), YOU STATE YOUR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE OF ANY CONSPIRACY. GRANTED, THIS WAS MANY DECADES AGO. I KNOW NOT OF ANY CONSPIRACY. YET, I KNOW THIS: YOUR NEPHILIM ARE EMBEDDED INTO GOVERNMENTS ACROSS AEVOS. YOUR NEPHILIM SPEAK WITH THE VAGYARS, YOUR NEPHILIM WORK WITH THE VAGYARS. YOUR HERALDS ARE SPREAD ACROSS AEVOS, HIGH RANKING CLAN MEMBERS, LANDOWNERS, SECESSIONISTS, COMMANDERS. THEY ARE HIDDEN. WHY ARE THEY HIDDEN, PRINCE? WHY ARE YOU NOT PROUD OF WHAT YOU ARE? YOU ARE CORRECT. YOU ARE NOT MAN. YOU ARE NOT LIKE US. YOU ARE LIKE DRAGON. WHY DO YOU HIDE AMONG US? WHY DO YOU CLING ONTO YOUR HUMANITY, THAT WHICH YOU FORSOOK WHEN YOU KILLED YOURSELVES? BECAUSE, FUNDAMENTALLY, AS I DID WHEN I WROTE MY FIRST PIECE ON THE AZDRAZI, YOU KNOW THAT WHAT YOU DO IS WRONG. YOU KNOW THAT TO LIE, TO DECEIVE, TO LEAD THE WORLD TO BELIEVE YOU ARE NOT WHAT YOU ARE IS INHERENTLY WRONG. I UNDERSTAND, THOUGH; I UNDERSTAND IF YOU REVEAL YOURSELVES YOUR POWER WILL SLIP. YOU SPEAK OF THE MANIFESTATIONS OF SCHEMES OF YOUR BROTHERS AS IF YOU DO NOT SHEPHERD THEM, AN-GHO. YOU COMPARED YOURSELF AS LEADER OF YOUR FLOCK, AS RO’EH TZON IS LEADER OF OURS. DO YOU FEEL ASHAMED WHEN HIS HOLINESS REINS IN THE SINNER, THE WARMONGER, THE SCHEMER, AND YOU SIT IDLY WHILE YOUR BROTHERS SIN? IF NOT SIN, STRAY FROM THE PATH THAT YOUR FATHER SO DILIGENTLY SET? IT IS NOT YOUR POWER THAT IS BEING LOST SHOULD YOUR BROTHERS REVEAL THEMSELVES, SO I RESPECT YOU, PRINCE. IT IS NOT YOURS TO LOSE, SO IT SHOULD NOT BE YOURS TO ENFORCE: BUT IT SHOULD. YOU LEAD YOUR FLOCK. LEAD THEM WELL, OR DO NOT LEAD THEM AT ALL. IN THE SAME PIECE, IN THE SAME VEIN YOU TOLD ME YOU WOULD SERVE MAN, YOU PRESENTED YOURSELVES AS PENITENTS. YOU ARE NOT PENITENT, NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU ASSURE US YOU ARE. JUST AS WE GENERALIZE THE EVIL IN THE NEPHILIM, AND YOU CRITIQUE THIS, SAYING IF ONE MAN ERRS, IS ALL MAN SINFUL? YES! BUT THEN SIMULTANEOUSLY, YOU WISH US TO BELIEVE THE PENITENT FEW KOBOLDS, YOURSELF INCLUDED, SHOULD BE REPRESENTATIVE OF KOBOLDKIND AS A WHOLE! WHY? WHY NOT SEE YOU ALL AS A COLLECTIVE EVIL, BUT THEN DO SEE YOU ALL AS A COLLECTIVE GOOD? CULL YOUR HERD PRINCE. CULL THE SINNER, CULL THE DECEIVER, CULL THE HERETIC, AND SHOW YOUR FLOCK TO BE A PENITENT FLOCK. THEY ARE DECEIVERS, SERVANTS OF A ONCE-SERVANT OF THE DECEIVER. SO LONG AS YOU WALK IN SKIN NOT YOURS, SO LONG AS YOU PARTICIPATE IN GOVERNMENTS NOT YOURS, CULTURES NOT YOURS, TONGUES NOT YOURS, WARS NOT YOURS, YOU ARE SINFUL. AS SAUL TOOK THE GUISE OF HOREN BY IBLEES’ WILL, SO TOO DO YOU FRAME YOURSELVES AS EVERYMEN. THE COMMON MAN SECRETLY BEING AZDRAZI IS JUST AS HARMFUL TO THE OPERATION OF SOCIETY AS THE DECEPTION OF LIZARD LEADERS IS. YOU INSTILL DOUBT, AND UNCERTAINTY AMONG MAN TO HIS FELLOW MAN. THE VERY WHISPERS OF SAUL. REVEAL YOURSELVES. YOU ARE CORRECT, PRINCE. WAVES OF SWORDS AND ARROWS WILL CRASH UPON YOUR SCALES AS SOON AS YOU DO. IT WILL HURT, WOE! AND YOU WILL PERISH MANY TIMES. BUT YOU DO NOT PERISH, PRINCE. YOUR PEOPLE DO NOT PERISH. YOUR KINGDOM, YOUR KING, YOUR ARMIES, YOUR VASSALS, YOUR LANDS. NEAR NONE PERISH. SO BE PENITENT. SEEK PENANCE. DO YOUR PENANCE FOR THIS SIN, AND STOP. HOW IS IT VIRTUOUS TO LIVE AS SAUL, AND LIE, AND SAY YOU ARE NOT WHAT YOU ARE? CONCLUSION I STRIVE TO LIVE IN AS TRUE OF AN IMITATION OF THE EXALTED AS I POSSIBLY CAN. I STRIVE TO BE MERCIFUL, I STRIVE TO BE FORGIVEFUL, AND SO I FORGAVE YOU, PRINCE, WHEN YOUR MEN CHOPPED ME TO BITS. AND SO I FORGAVE YOU, WHEN I WAS THREATENED, AGAIN, AND AGAIN, WITHIN YOUR HALLS, FOR I TRUSTED YOU. FOR I FORGAVE. ALL MAN CAN FORGIVE. YET, WE CANNOT FORGIVE A THING THAT DOES NOT WANT TO CHANGE. YOU DO NOT CHANGE, YOU, OR YOUR FLOCK, PRINCE. YOU MERELY SAY, ‘TAKE US AS WE ARE, O’ MAN! WIELD US!’ YOU TALK OF THE PACT OF HOREN. OF DRAGON STOOD SENTRY OUTSIDE JOHANNESBURG, A SIGHT I WAS NEVER ALIVE TO SEE. I AM INCLINED TO BELIEVE YOU, YET YOU MUST CHANGE. YOUR BAPTISM, EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE ABOMINATION, IS VALID. CANON LAW IS UNIVERSAL. YOU MUST MERELY ABIDE BY IT. ABIDE BY THE LAW OF PONTIFICAL INKING, WHICH FORBIDS YOUR HERALDS. SPEAK THEIR FLAME INTO LIFE ELSEWISE. BRAND THEIR MINDS WITH KNOWLEDGE AND FERVOR, AND NOT THEIR BODIES IN RECONDITE ETCHINGS. BAPTISM IS NEVER DISSOLVED, SAVE BY THE COMMAND OF RO’EH TZON OR THE INCUMBENT BEARER OF THE LAUREL OF HOREN HIMSELF. WHILE YOUR HEART MAY HAVE SEEMINGLY BEGUN TO BEAT PURE, AND MERCIFULLY, THE HEARTS OF YOUR PEOPLE DO NOT. THE HEARTS OF YOUR PEOPLE BURN WITH THE AMBITION OF THEIR FATHER, THEIR MAWS CACKLE WITH HIS PRIDE. THIS, ABOVE ALL, IS YOUR FATAL FLAW. YOU MUST TEACH YOURSELF, AND YOUR PEOPLE, TO BE HUMBLE. YET, DESPITE ALL YOUR DESPERATE DESIRE TO BECOME A PENITENT, PRINCE, YOUR PEOPLE PROVE UNWILLING TO CHANGE. FOR THIS, I DO NOT HATE YOU. I PITY YOU. I PITY YOUR IMMORTALITY. I PITY YOUR BANISHMENT FROM THE SKIES. AND IN PITY, I IMPLORE YOU TO ROUSE CHANGE FROM SLEEPING STONE. YOU HAVE MADE YOURSELF A LAYMAN. SO, PRINCE, I DO NOT HATE YOU, BUT THE HERETIC IN YOUR RANKS, AS I HOPE FATHER TREVOR DID NOT HATE YOU, BUT THE HERETICS OF HIS TIME. IN READING HIS WORKS, I SEE MUCH OF HIM IN ME, AND MUCH OF ME IN HIM. WE KNOW YOUR SIN. NOW, YOU KNOW YOUR SIN. ADDRESS IT, LAYMAN OF THE FAITH. BECOME THE PENITENT YOU SO DESIRE TO BE, AND CHANGE. ABANDON WORSHIP OF YOUR FATHER, AND HAVE YOUR BROTHERS ABANDON IT, OR SEE YOUR KIN SLAUGHTERED FOREVER, AND EVER, BE IT BY THE CONCORDIAT, OR BY CANONDOM. THERE IS NO PEACE IN STAGNATION AND INACTION. THERE IS NO REDEMPTION IN IMMUTABILITY. YOU MUST CHANGE OR YOU WILL BE FOREVER AS YOU ARE: NOT DAMNED, NOR FORGIVEN, BUT LOST. MAY THE LORD GRANT YOU THE WISDOM TO SEE CLEARLY IN HIS INFINITE MERCY, AND SHOW YOU THE PATH TO SALVATION. LUCIEN ☺

A crazed man continues his rambles, sitting still as to not agitate his many deep lash scars. ”MANIFEST… DESTINY. MANIFEST DESTINY MANIFEST DESTINY. MANIFFFEST… DESTINY… DOWN WITH THE HERESIARCH…”

"mods ban this guy for trolling on my post please mods please pleaaaaasseeeeeeeeeeee pleaaaseeeeee" says john horen

THE LEGITIMACY OF THEIR BAPTISM OPENING PRAYER FROM THE VENERABLE FATHER PACO DO I RECITE THIS PRAYER TO SAINT NAFISUS THEODERNESIS, LORD VANDALORE OF VANDORIA. ‘Creator of man, overseer of all things right, Whose powers none can resist, Save and deliver us, we beseech, From the hands of our enemies, By granting us dominion over them, Show us the path to victory, That we might produce it in Your undying name. AMEN’ PRAEFATIO I HAVE NOT BORE WITNESS TO THE EVENTS THAT WHICH I DESCRIBE HEREIN. I HUMBLY WORK OFF THE WORK OF OTHERS TO EXAMINE A BAPTISM I ONCE STRUGGLED SO HARD TO ACHIEVE. THE PRINCE OF THE NEPHILIM, THE AN-GHO, WAS BORN A RAEVIR, CAPABLE OF VIRTUE. HE DIED A HERETIC. HE WAS REBORN, AND IN HIS REBIRTH, FOREVER FORSAKEN FROM THE SKIES. THUS, I MAKE THE CASE THAT WHATEVER MAN THE AN-GHO WAS, HE IS NOT THE DRAKE WHO IS. A SON OF HOREN IS CAPABLE OF SIN, AS THEY ARE SWORN TO VIRTUE AND FAITH IN THE COVENANT OF PURITY. IN MY TIME AS A FREEMAN I HAD THOUGHT TOO THE NEPHILIM DOUBLY CAPABLE OF SIN AND VIRTUE. HOWEVER, THROUGH REJECTING THEMSELVES FROM THE SKIES IN IMMORTALITY, THEY HAVE INHERENTLY SINNED. THEY HAVE THE ORIGINAL SIN, BUT ALSO AN INNATE SIN OF KOBOLDKIND. THOUGH THE CASE NO LONGER, THEY TOO HAD THE TAINT OF IBLEES, AND AS IS THE CASE NOW, THEY CARRY THE SINS OF THEIR FATHER, AND THE SINS OF HIS WORSHIP WHICH SO MANY CLING TO. TO THESE KOBOLDS: I INVITE YOU TO FOLLOW IN YOUR PRINCE’S FOOTSTEPS. REPENT TO THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITY, FOR IT IS BETTER TO TRY YOUR BEST AT VIRTUE, THAN REJECT IT AT ALL. IF PENANCE IS YOUR DEATH, SO BE IT - MINE MAY SOON BE. YOU ARE IMMORTAL. I AM NOT. DIE FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE, FOR YOUR SIN. YET, A BAPTISM IS THE CLEANSING OF INHERENT SIN AND A WELCOMING INTO THE TRUE FAITH. I WITNESSED FIRST MY OWN ABLUTION, THEN THAT OF MY BROTHERS. ABLUTION CLEANSES ORIGINAL SIN. THE INHERENT SIN OF THE FIRST WOMAN. IT IS NECESSARY FOR SALVATION. SO IN THIS ‘WORK’, IN TRUTH A BRIEF EVALUATION OF EVENTS AND THE OPINION OF AN ACOLYTE, I WILL EVALUATE THE LEGITIMACY OF THE BAPTISM OF THE RAEVIR-PRINCE, THE AN-GHO, BY SAINT ANGEL RAGUEL, MESSENGER OF G-D. EVALUATION HENRY A HARPER THE FIRST BAPTISM TO TAKE PLACE WAS THAT OF THE EXALTED HOREN BY THE ANGEL TESION IN THE GROTTO OF GAMESH. SO, IN IMITATION OF THIS BAPTISM, THE FIRST BAPTISM, OR CONVERSIO, IS COMMITTED. ABLUTION IS DONE THROUGH A CLERGYMAN MARKING THE PENITENT’S FOREHEAD WITH A CROSS OF ASH, BEFORE SUBMERSION IN HOLY WATER. ALAS, SOMETIMES CIRCUMSTANCE CALLS FOR DIFFERING METHODS. FOR INSTANCE, AND KEY TO THIS EVENT IN PARTICULAR, ABLUTION IN EXTREMIS INVOLVES THE SPRINKLING OF HOLY WATER ONTO ANY PENITENT WHO PROFESSES THEIR FAITH. THOUGH PERHAPS LESS OFFICIAL, PERFORMABLE BY ANY BAPTISED CANONIST, ABLUTION IN EXTREMIS IS VALID ALL THE SAME. THE SACRAMENTAL EFFECT IS HELD, DESPITE THE POTENTIAL LACK OF A CLERGYMAN, SO LONG AS THE RECIPIENT BELIEVES THEIR ONLY OPTION IN THIS ‘EXTREME’ (hence in extremis) IS A BAPTISM. ALL THE SAME, THE BAPTISED IS URGED TO SEEK A PRIEST IF THEIR BAPTISM WAS NOT HELD BY ONE. SO I HAVE PROVIDED THE NECESSARY INFORMATION FOR INDEPENDENT JUDGEMENT OF THE AN-GHO’s BAPTISM, AND SO I WILL DELIVER MY JUDGEMENT. THE BAPTISM, BY THE DEFINITION OF WHAT WE KNOW A BAPTISM TO BE, IS VALID, AND YET UNJUST. CRUELLY SO, UNJUST, AS IT WAS NONE OTHER THAN THE ANGEL OF JUSTICE WHO PERFORMED IT. IT IS NOT JUST, TO MAN, THAT THE NEPHILIC PRINCE MAY BE FORGIVEN, CLEARED OF SIN, AND REGRANTED ENTRY TO THE COVENANT OF HOREN AND THE SKIES FOR SO LITTLE. THIS LACK OF REDEMPTION IS ALARMINGLY UNSURPRISING. SO, THOUGH I BELIEVE IT TO BE TRUE, AND VALID, I DO NOT BELIEVE IT IS COMPLETE; AZDROMOTH KILLED MILLIONS. MILLIONS OF AZDRAZI MUST DIE AS PENANCE. HOPEFULLY, THE AN-GHO’S SOUL HAS PASSED TO THE SKIES, FOR G-D IS ALL-LOVING AND WILL ACCEPT THE VIRTUOUS ALL THE SAME. JUST AS HOPEFULLY, THOUGH, CAN HE REANIMATE (unG-Dly) AND INSPIRE THE HYPERSUICIDE OF HIS RACE. TAKE YOUR LIFE, KOBOLDS, SO YOU MAY BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND THE WEIGHT OF YOUR ACTIONS. YOU ARE SCHOLARS. I KNEW YOU WELL ENOUGH TO KNOW THIS. INVESTIGATE THE SINS OF YOUR FATHER, OF YOUR ELDER BROTHERS, AND OF YOURSELVES, AND COME TO MY CONCLUSION. HOWEVER DOUBLY MUST WE EXAMINE THE CIRCUMSTANCE OF BAPTISM. FOR THE PRINCE WAS NOT COERCED, BUT RATHER STEPPED FORWARD; FOR IT WAS NOT A PRIEST, BUT AN ANGEL, AND ONE OF JUSTICE; FOR HE DIED SHORTLY AFTER. SO, AS HE WAS HOPEFULLY CLEANSED IN LIFE IN ONE BAPTISM, PERHAPS HIS SINS IN HIS UNG-DLY UNDEATH WERE CLEANSED IN HIS SECOND? THERE IS LITTLE, IF ANY, PRECEDENT FOR AN ANGELIC, UNDEAD, DRACONIC BAPTISM. FURTHERMORE, IF THE ANGEL ST RAGUEL IS A SERVANT OF G-D, AND NOT A DAEMON FALLEN TO SELFISHNESS LIKE HIS BROTHER, WHY WOULD HE STRIKE DOWN A CANONIST IN COLD BLOOD? FOR TO BAPTIZE THE AN-GHO IS TO INCORPORATE, PARADOXICALLY, A KOBOLD INTO OUR FAITH. IS BAPTISM HIS SALVATION? IT CANNOT BE SO SIMPLE, I WOULD THINK. ALAS, I AM BUT A HUMBLE MAN, AND A LOWLY SERVANT OF THE LORD ON HIS EARTH, WHILE THE SAINT RAGUEL SERVES HIM ON ANY AND ALL PLANES. I RAISE THIS COUNTERPOINT: PERHAPS THE AN-GHO’S DEATH WAS PART OF HIS BAPTISM. PERHAPS G-D WILLS THE HYPERDEATH OF THE LIZARD RACE. I BELIEVE, AND PLEAD TO YOU, AN-GHO, TO COME BEFORE THE ANGEL RAGUEL SHOULD YOU WAKE FROM ASH. COME BEFORE HIM. KNEEL DOWN. BE BAPTISED. DIE AGAIN. DIE HOWEVER MANY TIMES G-D WILLS. CALL YOUR BROTHERS TO DO THE SAME, OR BE A VIRTUOUS MARTYR FOR YOUR PEOPLE AND DIE A MILLION DEATHS. ALTERNATIVELY, YOU MAY ALL KILL YOURSELVES SO YOUR FATHER KNOWS YOU HAVE REFUSED HIS CURSE, AND ACCEPTED THE LORD ALMIGHTY. TO THE OWYNISTS AMONGST YOU: WALK THE PATH, THEN KILL YOURSELVES OR ACCEPT DEATH. OWYN WOULD DETEST YOU. THE LECTORS WOULD DETEST YOU IF THEY KNEW WHAT YOU WERE. THE FIRE OF THE DRAKE IS NOT THE FIRE OF MERCY. IT BURNS, WHILE G-D’S MERCY DOES NOT. As always inviting any scholarly or angelic input, LUCIEN ☺

gulp

levy juking the one shirechud that went after him is #1 lotc highlight oat

sort of following onto what kunuk’s saying interactions w dragonsflame should be listed as well as its feasibility for armor wear

lack of research

solution is disregard your absence and act like you were there nobody knows the name of fleeper #12034 nor will they care. if they do care they're weird metaplayers for criticizing your character for being absent in a mechanical solution to an in roleplay conflict

ooc consent is a good point. again, i'm not going to rewrite this and will LIKELY self reject. PKs should not be only a human thing, PKs should, in my honest opinion, be the default outside of RDM. it is less seen in other communities, i would wager, because the characters either have the potential to, or have gone on for months and months if not years and thus players grow oocly attached to those characters. priority should always be the narrative and in a magic that is meant to be flavorful and conducive to self driven/independent roleplay, this was what i was trying to go for - i think PKs are if not necessary, better to include than not in this regard. lifting a curse SHOULD be a risk.

Sir Vander Horen, firstborn of his emperor’s kingsguard gives an absent scowl to the defamation of his rightful and true emperor Raqirer I Horen.

only wowj i mean the skies is meant to be infinite anima. youre not tapping into the whole thing nor can your body even handle the whole thing, that was the idea behind the t5s. i think exorcism spells are needed but i dont like healing magic that goes “alakazam! you are healed!” so i thought it was a cool way to do it

hi i wrote this is in 3 hours and will not edit this in the slightest but i respect your dedication to critique it: 1. only incompatible with magics that change the soul’s destination. BM should be on this list, but u are right, i did not research AT ALL, so. 2. yes it is fleshed out on later on with the only mechanical difference being which T5 spell they can use. i HATE ARCHETYPE MAGIC so, instead of making 3 different magics, this is my solution. this, with most kf the magic, is just meant to be an additive to flavor, and to broaden its potential users from just “haha priest”. 3. I forgot to write exhaustion because my references were a pre lore gmaes magic and the seven skies lore page and i am also slow 4. this is a wider issue w the write as a whole where my intent for a spell is brutally different to how i describe it. this was meant to be cool “follow the will’o wisps!” ability, in line with the lesser interactions the souls might have w mortals regardless 5. this is lowkey non chronological but the point of the lore recaps is to give enough to the reader had they not already read the ss lore page. a lot of people (human rpers) KNOW abt the skies w/o reading thr page itself. 6. because you have 60 bajillion souls whisperijg into your ear about what each of them want you to do i thought that would make most people go schizo imo idk 7. so it does indeed lack this section. not really much more to say. the stresses are the passives, i thini the whaipers thing should have been separate from the abilities section, BUT, emboldened is in templar abilities so idfk. souls whispering down cause it’s cool as **** - its a collective patron rather than an infividual, each soul wants to lead their mortal puppet man to acheive THEIR desires and emotions. 8. yes i forgot to write exhaustion 9. spell requires ooc consent to use, and i dunno how lying would suddenly change your emotions more than yapping about something you like would 10. everything has to do with rhe skies its human shaman realm and replay spells are cool as fuxk. the reason it’s passive is because i’m stupid and read the templar page a few too many times and conflated non combative/combative with passive/active. i thought i specifically wrote against the perfect recollection of anything, and there should be no distinct features other than “yes there was a fight here.. dance my shadows and let me tell stort and chang and whatnot” 11. people not roleplaying metal durability is a them issue i’m not gonna not reference it when its a very well illustrated part of almost all material lore. my bad for the no casting strength im just a lil bit stupid. it can be recast even though it can be cast once per combat encounter because i have bad memory 12. im p sure i said ‘like’ thaumbuen, which i stand by, because ur overdrawing from the patron and thus on the precipice of just blowing up. 13. because they are big spooky powerful spell and i dont want people spamming exorcisms. that would be lame. suicide bomb spell should have a cooldown because similarly i dont want people running into combat and blowing themselves up for maximum effect 14. the pk is there to introduce stakes because i know damn well otherwise people are going to flock to these guys to get curses cleared. a cursed child literally cursed by ixris, if you even TRY to lift their curse, is basically a death sentence, so, the PK is there because 1. pk clauses are cool as **** and 2. consequences 15. i thought i said scion. i knew that lore. I Guess Not. t5 hearthsoul can do that where no other deific magic can befause no other deific magic empowers their patient to push out curses. collective patron win. they get rejected cause hearthsoul is vessel of skies, so skies fsil to exorcise, so skies say no, u are too dangerous to be made an exception for and to come in 16. this spell does NOT do nothing, a blasting pot is capable of gravely injuring on direct hits. 17. never hurts to write against nepotism. combat it at every turn… 18. demon cannot get it because demon is sworn to the high hells on pk. exorcised demon turned NORMAL could get it. 19. to my knowledge this varies from deific to deific and is not a generally, stacking followed rule of thumb. 20. by the end of writing this i got lazy so, malflame for 3 is all there is. with hindsight i’m not really sure i’d add anything else, it’s a mostly noncombative magic and they dont need to be any weaker than *stabs* *dies*. also widens the scope of who can use, or would want to use 21. yes you are correct it is both half done and hardly researched. i merely wanted to plague the lore team and their backlog. gonna be honest more of a formatting splurge and hail mary for a collective patron magic than anything

It should be by my logic but it’s never getting passed so I’m leaving as is