Zarsies

This is a prophetic vision accessible to seers, naztherak, farseer shamans, vivification clairvoyants, and mystics with hexing per Prophecy lore. A vision in sleep or a waking daydream, you are swept away to distant fathoms and drawn out from your body to the ether. In the swirling nebulas of the future your mind fixates on a ripple that rides across the sky and between worlds, a subtle wavering pitch that leads you through stars to an alien source. A whisper? A cry? A prayer? Babbling brooks and bursting bubbles. A trickling, slurring sound in a broken rhythm calls to you like a birdsong. The waves carry you closer, the slippery noise devolving into a wet churning. Pitter-patter. Broadcasting sticky whispers. Nothing matters. Woebegotten orphans, no whiskers. The omen breaks into a vision; sprawling monuments of beastial heads, palatial ziggurats and silk-draped sandstone temples, and streets carved with canals and elaborate irrigation arches. Sparse cloud cover, a mixed blue sky, and a looming full moon upon an encircling sea. A capital befitting a theocratic empire. From the water breaches an immense carbarum trident wrapped in blood-soaked linen at the handle, sapphire as thanhium yet lustrous. Diviner of the full moon. Followed. Designer of apex predators. Swallowed. In a flicker the sea becomes putrid oil, the temples are gnawed, clawed, and painted in slime, and the monuments twist into unidentifiable beastial features. The sandstone melts. The sky oozes. The buzz that called you resonates. The immaculate trident is replaced by a fetid gas that revolts all senses. Thinking organs stuffed in jars. Spying eyes hide between stars. Atop the ziggurats shiver mucus-laden brains with abominable mouths that suck and spit the song that drew you. They writhe with dark limbs, eel-fleshed and toothed. A mere glimpse delivers a shred of doubt in what defines monsters. Chorus of horror, sing your jubilations. Scrawled in twisting ink; lamentations. Sinking below the oily sea and the monumental temple structures lie networks of catacombs, vaults, tombs, and stelas. Hidden among them skulk mummified figures, feline heads bound in linens and lace. Mortal pariah. In death, basking forever. Immortal messiah. A sacrificial endeavor. One such embalmed and dressed spirit violently flees through labyrinthine tunnels from a squelching, gibbering monstrosity with its dozen arms grasping and many more dozen eyes glimpsing. The mummy stows away in a deep cavity of forgotten tombs and frantically whispers a prayer, its hoarse voice a grave chant in your psyche. Mother, hear me now Past and future. How, Could the all-seeing be consumed? Send us a hero; violent. White-furred with your trident, For we spirits entombed. Space and Time. The impossible climb. Save us Mother from maw and slime. Black and Yellow, the Kings war, For ancient tomes we abhor. Cleanse this plane of infestation. Behold Time, Beauty's attestation. The prayer repeats as your perspective draws up and away, shifting through layers of sandstone and marble temple infrastructure before settling upon a flickering image. Nauseating clouds linger around a pale-stoned pyramid whose bricks peel away to bizarre masonic fingers. The tide of putrid sludge and glossy oil coats the banks as they slither back and forth. Looming far above obscured by clouds is an amorphous black shape, tendrilled and eyed. At the heightening gravity of this figure’s scale and true shape, abject disgust and horror fills your belly like a rotten hot meal. Then from the stupor you wake, nauseous and likely to retch due to a sense of minnows swimming in your guts. What nightmare was this? A cry for help or an omen of doom? Perhaps puzzled, perhaps inspired, the prophecy leaves you nonetheless burdened with a glimpse of occult knowledge.

A blue devil gawks at the surnames on the missive and begins her hunt. Woebegotten father, she thinks, I will avenge you. I will find our Provident.

I can confirm wonks were built into this map's lore and there are canon threads (map lore events) that would explain their return as well as explain why they wouldn't be identical to wonks encountered before (behaviorally / culturally). That said their return hinges on the success of hou zi.

A devout Acaelanite readies himself for duty. Anything, he thought, for the good Sul aen Sov.

my cuteputer needs more gigglebytes ! Anything for Squash.

The Hells rage. The blasted sky screams and weeps. A horned host treks far to Natla zu'Zathka, a city of burning spires and devastated cliffsides.

Woopsies! Fixed. Anyone could wield or wear it, it just benefits some spooks. Metals, no, not any more than normal folks. Magic swords, somewhat, they tend to curse or hex their weapons but they aren't particularly relevant to combat and tend to be out of combat sort of effects.

Good point. Fixed. :)

A crude chunk of morion ore. MORION Shadows hoard secrets and in the blackest pit they hide in abundance. It was thus fate for the Lord of Umbrage to uncover hidden truths and treasures in Aegis’ corpse for Malkaathe, the unliving epitome of darkness, was one with its element. Morion was yet another verity of the nature of Darkening, the Banks, and coil of mortality. To many, corruption. To the occult, honesty. An inevitable extinguishing of light and righteousness in its absence; holy and natural shadow. What was it, the Lord wagered, if not proof of providence? Morion is a tier 4 material and is represented by coal. Raw, the metal is obscured. Morion Ore (Raw) Where the Banks of lifeforce flow unbidden by oppressive miles of earth lay the blasted remains of Aegis. In the continent-sized pit sprawl all the bounties of the earth, including aurum, yet this gold is mutated beyond recognition on account of its conductivity of the dark energies of lifeforce and by extension ectoplasm. Morion ore is raw aurum which has stewed in the Abyss for centuries and, having conducted actively flowing lifeforce in unlimited abundance for that entire span, has become one with it. This appears as a raw, irregular black metallic core body encrusted with fragile black crystalline structures. The core may have a labradorite-like shimmer and thus possess a blue, green, and/or violet luster whereas impure morion skews golden. Its crust is always jet. Because of its complete impregnation of lifeforce the body of morion ore is dense like ferrum. Additionally, it passively accumulates patches and clusters of inert lifegems like sweat, creating a thin and fragile coating akin to broken glass. Touching this material bare handed risks scratches and splinters. Additionally, undead sense the Abyss within and passively feed on its nostalgic, soothing nectar allowing those who wield or wear morion to vividly recall sensation - breath, touch, smell, pain, hunger, all the hallmarks of life they’ve lost - as well as benefit from an increase in lucidity, an inclination to a peaceable nature, and the ability to embrace and savor a feeling of comfort. Red Lines -Morion is found exclusively in the Abyss. -Undead who wield or wear morion benefit from its soothing quality does not make them sane or otherwise cure them of their mental agonies as undead, only ease. Lifeforce leaking from a morion blade in ribbons. Harvesting Method Morion ore is found exclusively within the Abyss, be it an exposed seam or veins in its many chasms or sheer, mountainous edges. As such deposits are not found on other continents. Should such a deposit be found it can be excavated by typical mining practices albeit miners will be showered with sharp, glassy shrapnel with their every swing. This necessitates appropriate protection unless already bereft of flesh as many are in the Abyss. Because it is found solely in this inhospitable and remote place morion is most commonly a material acquired through the current master of shadows, Mordring, the King Beneath. Red Lines -To mine morion ore requires an individual to be capable of venturing into the Abyss and capable of surviving in the Abyss. -Morion ore often has had centuries to accumulate crust and thus are hidden behind layers of lifegem shards. To mine it is to rupture that crust and be violently showered with every strike. -Morion ore is almost exclusively acquired through events due to the inaccessibility of the Abyss. A pale deathknight bedecked in morion mail. Refinement Once the ore body is cleaned of its crust it may be worked. Uniquely, heat need not shape morion on account of its supernatural imbuement. Necromancers, mystics, and both necrotic and spectral undead can connect with the element within and find their energetic manipulation may coax the physical material to move. This tainted, dark gold is both physical and energetic. With unfettered attention and prolonged, meticulous labor the occultist can sculpt rather than smith morion. In this shaping process the occultist may hone their control and forcefully shape hardened, gem-like crystals from the crust. In doing so they may create permanent black crystals on the piece for decoration which are not fragile and will not flake off or shatter. As such morion may be shaped into both metal and gem design, ideal for jewelry or other ornamental purposes. Should morion be subject to heat sufficient to melt aurum then so shall it, however in doing so its stores of lifeforce are expelled as a fetid dark smoke and it is purified back into aurum. Impure morion lends a golden touch. Morion (Refined Form) Morion armaments are lent a sharp quality thanks to their accumulation of inert phylacterian crystal. Per month (IRL day) a morion armament may shatter its crust through 3 strikes before regrowing. Armaments lose a strike whenever they are struck, be that a morion sword against another sword or a mace denting morion armor. Weapons deposit glassy shards into wounds they cut and necessitate acutely painful extraction. Until removed, the shrapnel will slice the wound more through any localized movement and impede healing. Armor bursts with small sprays of glassy shards around it in a 1 block radius around the wearer. Such a shower will pierce up to cloth and stick into the very surface level of skin, lightly lacerating those nearby. Red lines: -Morion armaments cannot use their shrapnel effects more than 3 times per IRL day. Uses are lost regardless of their success, meaning a morion blade striking a shield will cause it to lose a use and send harmless shrapnel to the ground. -The shrapnel in of itself cannot be weaponized as a projectile and, for example, two morion axes could not crash together to send shards flying at enemies. It must be delivered through a strike in order to breach any protective attire like a normal weapon would; the armor’s spray is barely forceful and cannot cut deeper than the most surface level of the skin. It’s painful, not deadly. As such the shrapnel effect of the armor cannot inflict damage more than superficial injury. Necromancers with their mastery over lifeforce, mystics due to the fundamental components of ectoplasm, and both necrotic and spectral undead with their innate connection to lifeforce and ectoplasm can tap into morion. This allows them to not only shape it but unravel it and therein lace back together in the same form. Occultists who wield or wear morion may unsummon it into a dissipating black haze where it becomes metaphysically stored to then summon it back in its shape where they wielded or wore it, coalescing out of grainy smoke. Weapons require 1 emote to unsummon and 2 emotes to summon. Armor requires 2 emotes to unsummon and 3 emotes to summon. Because this unraveling of morion reduces it to its source power, only sympathetic energies can be retained. Lifeforce and ectoplasm. Morion will retain enchantments of a necrotic or ectoplasmic origin throughout its transposition. If morion is enchanted by another energy be it Voidal, divine, another dark power, or otherwise, then that morion item loses its ability to be unsummoned and summoned. Red lines: -Only necromancers, mystics, ghouls, dragaur, darkstalkers, liches, ghosts, paleknights, and wights can utilize the unsummoning and summoning feature of morion. -Unsummoning and summoning cannot be performed in tandem with any spellcasting emotes or CA active abilities and requires the occultist’s full attention. They cannot perform this ability if they are pained or stunned in a way that would interrupt or prevent casting. -If a morion item becomes enchanted it loses its ability to be unsummoned and summoned. This is not true for enchantments from necromancy or mysticism, their effects are retained. In immense quantities and by masterful necromancer collectives or by grander powers can this blighted metal be shaped into architecture. Structures may be erected out of morion and by the same sculpter(s) can it be unsummoned and summoned again. This quality has proven advantageous to Mordring and the forces of the Abyss who may fluidly build structures but moreover for fabricating such things as mobile towers of sorcery and Abyssal gates. Red lines: -Sculpting morion into structures as well as unsummoning and summoning them is restricted to ST use or when permitted by ST. Lich-wights, or atzumenro in Al’tahrn-Durngo, are entities who shed their mortal coil twice over and live as unions of the necromancies, necrotic and ectoplasmic, are masters of both realms of death. They may tap into morion in a way none other can and not only shape it but galvanize it. Such empowered morion items are known as conduits. A conduit possesses all the previous properties of morion in addition to acting as a bolstering font to necromancers and mystics who wield them. Conduits used by necromancers allow their wielder the ability to extend morion’s unsummoning and summoning quality onto dead organic material. Thus the necromancer can unsummon corpses and summon them from the ether again. This requires 3 emotes. Conduits used by mystics allow them to tap the font for more energy and bolster their magic. This is expressed as the wielding mystic’s deadbreath casting as though they were in water, an effect expanding their deadbreath radius by 4 blocks. Red lines: -Morion conduits may only be created by ST and therefore can only be acquired through events. -Necromancers can only unsummon and summon dead organic material, they can only unsummon what they’re capable of animating at their tier, and summoned corpses do not appear already animated. -Mystics’ deadbreath is no better than normal deadbreath when using a conduit, they merely benefit from the in-water effect of the spell which extends the radius by 4 blocks. This does not stack with being in water, the effect can only be applied once. Abyssal knights march on a paladin sanctum. Purpose When I wrote the Gifts of the Red Prince one of my favorite parts was rokodra. Giving naztherak their own material for any and all demonic purposes satisfied a vivid fantasy I had and now I see a lack for that among the dark arts. Nazgul deserve representation so here we are with goth knight armor. As well, I’ve found frost salt to be successful in its combative application(s) so I wanted to facilitate something of similar power and usefulness - mechanics that are competent but not competitive - for these weapons. Therein I also saw room for other mechanical buffs to necromancers and mystics, that being the part on conduits, and foresee that being effective loot/bait for events. What evil would you commit for a fancy black rock? Wraiths of the Abyss adorn morion armaments, their coveted vessels. Citations Zarsies - Writing

Mysticism smells like wet dog and patchouli.

"By the grace of Acaelan," repeats a jaunty elf.

This is a prophetic vision accessible to seers, naztherak, farseer shamans, vivification clairvoyants, and mystics with hexing per Prophecy lore. You slip into the snug dark of sleep or a hypnagogic trance and your mind’s eye drifts in and away to distant fathoms. This void is bespeckled with twinkling sands, the dim glow of stars, and their light is consumed as you plunge into a pit. The vision clouds with black vapors, the stringy haze of lifeforce, and through its thin threads you glimpse fragments and flashes of an omen. Mangled time-gnawed corpses bend out from under rubble and ash while twilit phantoms leak from rough hewn rock and broken skeletal remains. The dead stir in this pit, its walls mountains and its valley abyssal. They whisper in their horrid limp tongue of crackles and hisses which carry on the black winds in moans, their cries slithering through abounding ruins of ancient Aegis. Your perspective flies over crumbs of civilization until the ground disappears at a black beach. Beyond, a vast sea of oil. The dead sing and their quiet chorus ripples past you. A midnight ocean. Frothing. Ripples. Gurlozgvor daz’tertha. Xion’sek hakav urk’infinst. “Heaven floods. Xion’s drowned memorial.” A thin winged frame looms below the surface. Al’Sanz Grum gurtabrclon ku’sek daz’lutzuta garnak. “The King Beneath doffs his mourning sartorial.” Clear waters lap around a distant isle. Below, cries. Al’dazhkaev kfurl daz’khae, grum nal’ve twezek urk’qaril “The living guild wails, muted under her Third Bell.” Hellish and undead figures assemble in shadow. Du’urkthykzan daz’overrdalk garzu. Al’Fiktmerinek kknotoskhae. “A horned host rises. The Jailor’s deathknell.” Black limbs amass into a twitching specter. Dunru ot’zubrikas. Al’Kfurl’sek shai, urk’lakzut. “End of an era. The Synod’s work, complete.” A crown. A staff. A throne. A seed. Basul pelosr undere skutur. Al’durngo-lott gathan. “Soul and bone coalesce. The blackest feat.” The omen repeats as the dead sing its praises. Their chorus melts away as shadow consumes all sensation and you lazily drift back to consciousness. What lingers? Aegis, the harping dead, their King Beneath, its horned host, or the spirit weeping under the sea? Perhaps puzzled, perhaps inspired, the prophecy leaves you nonetheless burdened with a glimpse of occult knowledge.

OOC ((MC Name: Zarsies)) ((Discord: Zarsies)) ((Timezone: EST)) IN-CHARACTER What is your name? Til Why seek membership to the Mages Guild? I crave to understand the world and the stars beyond. What arts, if any, do you currently practice? In mundane arts I am a practiced gaffer. What position do you desire to attain upon acceptance? Practicus. When should you be contacted for an interview? I may ride where needed within the month.