Avacyn

No, you're right. Fertility and the Hunt are both sorta just different ways of describing the two sides of that natural 'cycle', Life and Death respectively. Their views conflict but Eshtael herself isn't concerned with the micromanagement of the natural world: she sees to it simply that the large forces at play do not permanently annihilate one another from the game board.

The idea that the Aspects represent balance itself is mostly a falsehood and a religious belief of their Druids-- they are first and foremost the sovereigns of the natural world and more concerned with their own 'aspects'-- Fertility and the Hunt.

This piece is to serve as a preliminary example for a project the LT will be undergoing in the near-near future to clean up, correct, and update all the Aengudaemonic lore we have in a simple but informative format. Eshtael had a severe lacking in actual written canon, and so I began with her. These pieces will be purposefully simple in nature and serve mostly as a quick reference for anyone needing information about the Aengudaemonic deities we have in our universe. Eshtael, Aengul of Balance Image credit to Winona Nelson Canonized Name -- Emma Sigil -- Balanced Scales Naturally the most neutral of all her brothers and sisters, the Aengul Eshtael represents the worldly aspect of Balance in its manifested forms: some reason her to be the provisioner of the Heavens, evenly distributing things like births and deaths among the mortal populace alongside other material dealings. In truth, Eshtael makes it her occupation to keep the very world itself in check. The eternally warring forces of dark and light, moral and immoral, nature and progression are all her business (though their outcomes are not so important, as she sees to it only that all things eventually keep their balance) and she has kept an ever-watchful eye upon them throughout the ages. It was She who bid to the rest of her kin in council to not destroy but chain the Betrayer in the end of the First Age and thusly became a steadfast voice of judgment among the Aenguls, She who chained the terrible Titan Azdromoth within her realm when he was sure to lay waste to all of Malin’s folk, and She whose hand has always been there to guide and serve the Balance of all things. A depiction of the First War, a victory resulting in Iblees' containment at Eshtael's urging. Depicted within mortal artistry as a female seraph with a staff of radiant light (and known among some human circles simply as Emma), Eshtael has descended on scarce occasions to conduct business upon the earth. The few to encounter her or be unlucky enough that she seem them a threat to the balance of things see her as an ineffably otherworldly figure before they are spirited away to her realm, Bastille. The Bastille Eshtael, like all her kin, resides mostly within her realm: a place called Bastille, it is said (those who do stare upon it tend not to leave) to appear quite like a city of massive spires and towering parapets of silver and gleaming white resting upon the clouds. It, however, is deceptive in appearance. Bastille is not a city but a prison constructed to house anything and everything Eshtael sees as too dangerous and harmful to the balance of the world at their moment in time. Eshtael does not kill, but instead places these threats and detriments within a sort of timeless stasis within the towers of Bastille. It was here that the Titan Azdromoth spent so many years, roaming the boundless white skies of the realm, unable to ever find his way out of the perfect prison Eshtael constructed until the day came that she saw Azdromoth fit to return to the waking world, and spirited him back to it. Just who exactly has been snatched up by the Aengul and locked within Bastille’s confines is mostly unknown, for Azdromoth is the only known to ever leave the impregnable penitentiary; some whisper that the Lady of Balance has locked up great horrors in its depths, waiting for the day that the world must come to an end. Others say that perhaps a fellow Aengul of hers who fell far from grace rests inside Bastille in chains. Whatever may be inside, Eshtael has kept them there for the sake of the world’s balance. Following Unlike many of the other Aenguls, Eshtael carries no faithful following among mortality. She offers no powers to any would-be acolytes and trifles not with the machinations of theology among the masses. Her business in the world is her own and as a result she lacks the raw strength and power that others like Xan carry with themselves. Instead she makes work of the nature of the realm she built in order to see to it that all things find their balance. Present Day It is difficult to discern what exactly Eshtael is concerning herself with at any time, as most of her influences are just about removed from palpable existence upon their imprisonment, but it is rumored among some that the smoke and ash rising from the West has drawn her attention. Role note: I would like to add one of these to every piece we update and release justifying the role this specific Aengudaemon plays within the sensibilities of our canon. Eshtael is a plot device and a means of event agency that opens a variety of avenues (that are permitted, of course) for the development of storylines. Bastille, specifically, is quite like an 'event playground' and offers our creative teams a means to introduce long-lost and forgotten things. Authorship Archangel_Avacyn, Writing and Concept Fitermon, Concept Whoever the original creator was, Concept

Kha are considered Descendants when discussing Superior Souls (unfortunately).

In the end, it doesn't so much matter to me. Superior Souls are the only ones with Blueprints and that's how it is-- if what you described above is Soul Puppetry's explanation, then by all means, go ahead. As for the monks matter, a lot of things that were RP'd or happened in Aegis or even regarding the monks are pretty nonsensical and don't hold much canon weight to what we use contemporarily in the lore.

No, because the Blueprint isn't a tangible, knowledgable thing people should be speaking about or understanding in-character and from what I understand of Soul Puppetry is entirely inconsequential to how your magic functions, i.e. there is no actual difference in what you do whether we say you connect to the Blueprint or just Soul. Also, changing the entire canon nature of what a Blueprint's function is (giving persistence beyond death, which only Superior Souls have) just to suit the arbitrary use of a term for one magic subtype doesn't seem like a necessary endeavor in my opinion.

I thought about using some obscure phrase like I've designated for the other processes specified, but those aren't things that are usually referred to by their name alone: Blueprint isn't really a great "immersive term" but it's already used enough that trying to use anything else would be an effort in vain.

This clarification is just changing what the Blueprint means, exactly-- it's not that much of a task for us to backtrack now and say with Soul Puppetry that the Blueprint isn't what you're necessarily connecting to. This Clarification would let you go and edit your lore accordingly to remove mention of needing to connect to the Blueprint. I hardly call out any magics in particular with this clarification and when I do its just for example of certain things. Also, Metasis wouldn't carry on any actual connections or **** from the parents, it's basically just a Soul-friendly explanation of how depositing genes works when you make a child.

Nothing grinds my gears more than monk lore, so we're going to leave it at 'monks make your body as the blueprint is'. Superior/Lesser Souls have been outlined previously, but to put it here: Descendants and Dragons have Superior Souls. As for Soul Puppetry, while I'm admittedly not an expert, I'd imagine the Soul Puppeteer's abilities at the moment aren't within the realm of entirely twisting another person's Soul Blueprint or even Soul, so I simply believe you can effect anything with one, Blueprint or not. Lacking a Blueprint just means you lack the mortal complexities: ability to cast magic/connect to Deities, perseverance beyond death, etc.

The lack of a blueprint means they have no persistent definition beyond death-- they do not return through any means. The Soul Essence they are made up of is shaped together at their inception and remains that way until they die. Think of the sculpture analogy: they're simple sculptures that didn't have diagrams drawn up prior that they continuously adhere to.

This was a discourse upon the Superior Soul most specifically-- I briefly mentioned animals when discussing Soul Essence. Connor's lore is already apt description and explanation for those buggers, though it can be assumed they undergo a process quite similar but much less complex seeing as Metasis refers specifically to re-filling portions of the Soul Blueprint, which those creatures don't have.

Never said any of these processes were exclusive. 0-;

The following is a clarification and rationalization/update of currently canon lore. It simply details the structure and nature of souls in a way that should help to clarify future questions and interactions relating to the soul. This dissertation makes use of a handful of terms related to the Soul and its structure, specified as below: Soul Essence: The raw and ineffable material which makes up the Soul. It has one singular point of origin: the Creator himself, who gave up a portion of his heart in the Beginning of All Things. All Soul Essence is a remnant of the Creator. Blueprint: The colloquial term referring to the the frame that Soul Essence is built around in order to construct a living, functional Superior Soul. Only Superior Souls bear Blueprints, and they determine everything about the one that possesses it. Metasis: The innate ability of a Superior Soul to repopulate itself with more Soul Essence. All Superior Souls have this, explaining why the Soul can be damaged and have fragments taken only for it to heal over time. Transmogrification: Any unnatural change within the Soul Blueprint, oftentimes called ‘Warping’. Examples of Transmogrification: the Fjarriauga curse, Wightdom, Wraithdom. Metanoia: Any restructuring of the Soul Blueprint in an authentic and correct manner. Examples of Metanoia: Nephilim, Archons. Relegation: Any displacement of a Soul to another location while keeping it tethered to the hosted body. Examples of Relegation: Liches, Keepers, Soul Tree Druids. To understand the soul from our perspective, the analogy of a sculpture is used. Soul Essence is clay. A raw material that, when compounded together and treated (firing it in a kiln or, to the Soul, giving it lifeforce and the means to bear a vessel) takes on solidity and clarity in its form. The lesser creatures and life of the surrounding world are quite like simple sculptures of clay. They have been shaped and given bodies but lack the detail and size of the Superior Soul. This Soul is the apex of the sculpture gallery: beautiful and awe-striking, titanic and miraculous in their form and impossible to understand what exactly inspired the artist and how they went about making such a statue. Of course, one can assume they sculpted it from clay, but what techniques did they use? How did they achieve such stunning definition and detail? Mortal hands have never been able to create such. The Superior Soul is this grand, incredible figure of art: a monument to the glory and miracle of our world’s creation and the Incomparable Light of the Creator. The Superior Soul is indeed made of Soul Essence, just as the cattle that roam their pastures or the birds that take nest in the trees, but what exactly has made the Superior Soul so different from them that its holders, the Descendants and other similar folk, so unique in the scope of the world? The answer lies in its origin: The Superior Soul is the statue, and there have only been three artists in the history of the universe as we know it who have been able to comprehend the celestial technique involved in its sculpture. They are the Creator, the Composer he made to aid him in the shaping of mortal Souls, and the Daemon Dragur: the Lord of Knowledge, it was only he among all his brethren who hungered for the secrets that lay hidden in the origin of mortalkind and eventually found where they lie. There he made the first of Dragonkind, and their Souls are as genuine and divine in make as any of the Descendants’. Metasis is a miraculous trait of the Superior Soul to regenerate itself and lost Soul Essence. Some forces in the world are capable of tearing away portions of it for their own devices, and in this event the Soul is able to, over a period of time increasing with the severity of the lost fragment, replace the missing piece with new Soul Essence it generated itself. Metasis also explains the mystery of childbearing among the Descendants: two mortals able to mate with one another, when they successfully do so, plant the beginning seed of a new Soul within the female. It grows as the child does until they are ready, the newborn now bearing a brand-new Soul Blueprint formed of the parent’s Soul Essence deposited during coitus that reproduced itself during gestation. If the Superior Soul is a sculpture, its Blueprint is the framework that the sculptor drew before compounding the Soul Essence. Within the Blueprint is every single painstaking detail: The height, weight, health, sex, hair color, eye color, skin color, memories, and injuries of the person it belongs to. Some of these details may change over time as the mortal grows naturally from childhood to adolescence and finally adulthood, or they may find themselves wounded and gain scars. The Blueprint will at times adhere to these injuries: sometimes adapting itself to these lost limbs, or even something as trivial as a haircut. These details will shift and change and accompany the Soul through death, remaining constant when and if they eventually return to life. The Blueprint will at times undergo larger changes to its structure, and there are three distinct types of this. The first is Transmogrification, and it is the forced and improper ‘warping’ of a Soul. It is commonly observed among forces of dark nature. Let us return to the analogy of the sculpture and take for example the curse of the Fjarriauga: the sculpture has had new pieces of clay attached on top of what currently exists or had pieces ripped out and replaced. To any capable of viewing and inspecting the statue, the distortions and damage are noticeable. It changes the very nature of the Soul, as seen with the Frost Witch’s hunger for male flesh, icy complexion, and other alterations. Anything warping the Soul in such a manner displays a misunderstanding of the Soul and the techniques needed to properly create and change it without causing it damage. Most instances of Transmogrification are irreversible because of their nature of ripping the original soul apart. Were they to be removed the Soul would simply collapse and die without the integral pieces, so it makes itself resistant to reversal in such a manner: this is why the Fjarriauga curse has not had a legitimate cure found for it. The second is Metanoia, and it is the opposite of the former. A Soul that undergoes Metanoia has been changed and rebuilt with proper technique. The Nephilim are an example of Metanoia: in the sculpture analogy, it is a proper and graceful modification to the original statue in order to make it something new. The same clay has been used, but it has been reshaped correctly and retains no damage or twisting. The Nephilim are the souls of Descendants who have been, through the indirect power and influence of Dragur and his children, reborn as Dragons themselves: their Souls are broken down and rebuilt through the ritual necessary to make one into a Nephilim. Metanoia, just like Transmogrification, is hardly ever reversible: none living or willing have the knowledge and ability to undo such a vigorous restructuring without simply warping the Soul. The third and final is Relegation, and most often does not result in a true change for the Soul but instead a displacement of its location. A notable example is the Keeper’s Soul but the sculpture analogy, unfortunately, does not hold up as well here. The Soul has been moved elsewhere: for the Keepers, this place is Xan’s realm. A tether remains between the Soul and the body it holds, so the mind and consciousness of the Soul is still able to pilot the body as normal. Those versed in Souls like the Ascended are able of obviously detecting a Soul that has been Relegated. To finish, Soul Essence is a material very rare but still possible to find. The Creator’s Heart was plentiful in it, and over the Ages of the world the Descendants have populated the corners of the earth they walk upon and filled it with even more Soul-bearing folk. Soul Essence can be acquired and shaped by beings of Deific power from dead (or not-so-dead) mortals, though the creation of Superior Souls with Blueprints is a power reserved to the three ‘artists’ listed earlier. The extent of its nature is still a mystery to mortalkind, though some like the Ascended bear a (relatively to what there truly is to know) rudimentary understanding of it and the Blueprint and are able to manipulate it on simple levels.

oh very good very good very nice

Azdrazi Smithing Dralachite “Ta’ coalmoiners call et ‘Dragon-stone’. If ye foind it yer too far feckin’ deep.” To the inexperienced eye, one might mistake this elusive ore for simple volcanic stone. The amateurish in geology should, however, not be mocked for this error for it is an understandable correlation to make seeing as they share two distinct similarities: their dark, glossy color and their tendency to appear in igneous areas of the world’s caverns and deep places. It does carry a distinct difference from other magmous rocks in that it always bears orange, sulfurous veins running through it and it has an extreme resistance to heat. Due to its high melting point, it cannot be utilized in mundane smithing and is therefore disregarded as having no practical use as an ore as a result of those qualities and it being naturally brittle alongside the fact that it is only found in volatile environments. Dracanium "A weapon befitting a dragon." An alloy created from the intensive fusion of raw Dralachite and steel, Dracanium’s creation has only ever been observed and recorded by the Drake-smiths of the First Age. Its rarity is chalked up to the fact it necessitates intense amounts of heat in a very brief period of time in order to fuse the steel and dark ore together, and so only Azdrazi have conventionally been able to smith it thanks to their innate gift of dragonfire: a flame that bellows with sweltering heat from their very bodies. The steps to create the alloy were marked by the ancient smith Anestrasz in the book Heat of the Heart: Dragonsmithing, written in the Draconic tongue. I. Place the Dralachite within cast-iron, enough to make up half the ingot. II. Do the same with your steel, making up the other half. III. Bathe the steel in your flame until it smolders and flows like the blood of the mountain. IV. Let the Dralachite be swallowed in your fire: make this quick, and as soon as it slickens pour it into the molten steel. Dragon-stone will brittle and lose all value if left to the cool of the air for too long, so this must be hasty. V. Once both have settled and become one, pour the ingot-mold and let set. Thus results in the creation of a single ingot of the alloy. The would-be smith must make as many necessary for the weapon they are forging. Once they have enough, they must create their quenching: it is a mixture of dragonblood (which the drake-smith does possess within themselves) and simple water. The ratio is nine parts water to one of blood, so not much is needed for a barrelful and it carries a deep, ocherous and reddened hue once mixed to sufficiency. The smith must then simply forge their weapon as any other: their own dragonfire will be necessary to re-heat the metal enough for shaping, but it is important to keep on quenching it within the barrel of dragonsblood. Enough treatments gives the weapon an innate resistance to heat, making for fine material for the Azdrazi to light aflame without worry for the armament’s integrity. The Binding "Henceforth, the two of you are now one." The final step in the creation of an Azdrazi’s personal weapon, which binds it to them for their (indefinite) lifetime, the Binding is relatively simple in practice: whosoever holds the title of the Immaculate Blade must take the sword and, with a mallet and a chisel warmed by their dragonfire, etch a name into two places upon the weapon. The first name is the Azdrazi’s ‘true’ name, the one they take on upon their rebirth. The second is the weapon’s: this is something the drake-smith chooses when it is created. Once both names are etched into the metal the Immaculate Blade bestows it upon its new owner, and in that moment a link is established between the draconic blade and the Azdrazi’s soul. From then on, they are never to be parted. An Azdrazi without their Vehement weapon will feel unmistakably miserable and dreary, and in the instance that they are slain it shall turn to ash along with their body and regain its form as its owner does as well. The Binding imbues no other effects into the weapon besides this: in combat, it is a regular armament to bear. Red Lines -A Nephilim or Dragon must use their dragonfire to smelt the Dracanium alloy. -A Vehement weapon has no magical properties other than the fact it crumbles away when its owner’s body does, too. -The Immaculate Blade (or the equivalent for any other possible Nephilim flight) must be the one to etch the names and establish the bond between owner and weapon. Authorship Archangel_Avacyn, Concept and Writing Bagley, Concept and Writing

this seems like a trap Also Changelog 5/16/17 +Added the necessity of an implement for the remote summoning, along with ways to interrupt it +Added Keeper-oriented redlines for command

Xan’s Hallowed Vanguard Paladin Constructs “Blessed are they who sacrifice the peace of sleep in order to serve once more. The Hallowed give up rest so that they might raise their blades for their Lord one last time and are owed the utmost respect for it.” Among the Paladins of Xan, it is known that your duty to protect the order of the world is your life: it takes precedence above all other things, and a fledgling paladin has a strong sense of it instilled in them from the beginning of their training. For some, however, duty is not only for life but unlife as well. When a paladin passes away in service of Xan and their soul eventually reaches his Golden Realm, they are offered a seat at the Aengul’s ever-growing table of vindicators, knights, and other sorts of warriors alike where they watch their living successors from on high in the heavens, passing silent judgment on their actions below. Their vigil is a serene one, for fighting in the Lord of Sunlight’s name and dying for it earns one a noble and peaceful afterlife, albeit not all take it: some paladins die without finding satisfaction upon the worldly ground and leave business yet unfinished, a service ended prematurely. These are known as the Hallowed, and for them duty is eternal. A paladin in the material world is able to send a call to arms to Xan’s realm (with the correct knowledge on how to do so, of course) and request the resurrection of a deceased paladin in order to serve the Aengul of Order upon the earth once again. Their return is not true life, however: their soul is kept bound within a forged core and contained in the confines of a single suit of armor, leaving them a being of unadulterated light and considered a Construct of Xan’s power. While in this form, they are known as a Hallowed Knight or a Hallowed Hunter, depending on their chosen form of combat: Vindicator or Wyrmstalker. Hallowed speak in a hollow, resounding echo. They do not retain any memories that do not relate to their term of duty during their life: emotions, personal relations, and any period before their beginnings as a paladin are wholly erased from memory upon their worldly return. Their personality is also shifted as well seeing as their only reason for existence is to enact their duty again, along with the singular Virtue that the paladin who summoned them etches into the inside of their hauberk before calling them. This is a driving trait that shapes the way the Hallowed behaves. One granted Mercy will be stiffly resistant against ending a life, while another given Valor will be brazen and selfless in the face of battle, ready to sacrifice themselves. A Hallowed of Perseverance will continue fighting even if loss is certain, and so on. The behavior of the Hallowed follows a set of strict rules they abide by in a code. I. To defend the lives and sanctity of Descendants. II. To repel darkness when it threatens Order. III. To uphold Order whenever else possible. The Hallowed will never do anything that might break one of these tenets, even if explicitly ordered to. Additionally, they will not move themselves unless ordered to another location by their summoner. It is important to be entirely specific with them or they may find themselves getting lost and taking a wayward path to their destination. They can be ordered to repeat a particular patrol path and will continue to do so unless stopped, obstructed, or drawn away in order to uphold one of their tenets. They possess strength proportional to the size of the armor they are bound to, which must be relatively similar to their stature in life: though the summoned soul of an Orc may fit into human-sized armor, the reverse is impossible and will result in a failed summoning. Their endurance is just like a construct’s as well, and they lack stamina or the potential to tire themselves. Their major weakness is attacking the Vessel at the core of their body: located where their mortal heart might be, it contains their soul and fracturing it will result in an immediate shutdown of the construct. Destroying it entirely banishes their soul back to Xan’s realm and necessitates another summoning ritual by a paladin. Fi magic is also effective, causing a Hallowed exposed to it to quickly vanish along with their Vessel and leave behind an empty suit of armor thus requiring their summoner to find them a new set to re-bind them. Their martial capabilities are at peak condition and they find themselves able to quickly adjust to wielding nearly any weapon placed into their hands. Their magical capabilities are severely limited: A Hallowed Knight is capable only of imbuing their weapon with Xan’s light, just like a Vindicator, and a Hallowed Hunter can fire holy bolts from a ranged weapon like a crossbow. Most peculiar is the Hallowed’s ability to be remotely summoned by the paladin who initiated their resurrection. They need only draw a circle upon the ground: this can be scraped into the soil, marked with chalk or anything else imaginable so long as the circle is clear. The paladin then must hold something iconic of Xan himself above the circle; this can be a pendant of a lion, perhaps, or a statue set within its boundaries. The paladin then simply utters the Hallowed’s name which causes the circle to take on a clear holy glow and the summoner must maintain a channeling of their magic for the duration of the summons. Physical interruption of them, the icon, or the circle itself will result in a failed summon. When this is all done and if the Hallowed is disengaged and vital they will come careening down from the sky in a manner of minutes and land with seismic force befitting their fall upon the marked location. They achieve this by briefly transporting themselves to Xan’s realm through their soul’s inherent connection to it, and then emerging from the sky above the location they were called to. Some Hallowed have been observed to bear wings of holy light during their descent, their landing marked by a flurry of ethereal feathers. The summoning and binding ritual requires access to two things in particular: A Chancery in order to fill the Vessel with its waters, and a paladin versed in Holy Alteration in order to create the Vessel and etch the binding runes and Virtue into the Hallowed’s armor. The Vessel is a glass bottle filled with the waters of a Chancery and then attuned by the Holy Alterationist for containing the departed paladin’s soul. It cannot be covered in more than a half-inch of material for protection or else the Hallowed will not be able to form itself outside of the Vessel. The armor itself must be of metal make: stone or other materials cannot be properly etched, and each individual piece must be imbued by the Alterationist. They must also inscribe the chosen Virtue on the inside of their chestplate. Once all the materials are prepared, the armor is laid out upon the ground. The paladin must then hold the Vessel within their hands and raise it towards the open sky and invoke a prayer to the Aengul. “What once served you and dutifully did fight, I call to arms again from beyond sunlight.” If everything has been done correctly, Xan will hear the call and send one of his Vanguard down in a narrow beam of luminescence and thusly seal their soul within the Vessel. The paladin then places the Vessel within the chest of the armor, and soon after the newly-christened Hallowed will inhabit the armor with their physical light and begin their second term of service to Xan. Redlines: -Cannot break any of the Tenets described. -Must obey the summoner’s orders unless it would break one of the Tenets. -Able to be ordered by any Keeper of Xan, though not against the tenets. -Must adhere to the Virtue inscribed into their armor. -Possesses no unnatural size, strength or speed: simply endurance as a result of being made of metal and not having stamina. -Has the equivalent of a T3 spell in their possession, nothing more powerful. -Summoning a Hallowed from the sky takes one emote to invoke the name, and four more for them to arrive and finish their fall. They cannot break through roofs or solid materials above, a circle must be exposed to the sky. -Fi magic shuts them down completely. -A paladin can only have one Hallowed bound to them at a time. -Requires a CA to play, the underlying race is ‘Construct’. Authorship Archangel_Avacyn, Core concept and writing Lerical, Consultation KnghtArtorias, Consultation Tsuyose, Consultation Changelog 5/16/17 +Added the necessity of an implement for the remote summoning, along with ways to interrupt it +Added Keeper-oriented redlines for command

Changelog update: + Added Malices and their effects on Malflame. + Malflame now generates Maleus. + Added description of Malflame's weaknesses. - Removed Afflictions. - Removed Inscription. - Removed Soul exhaustion.

After talking with Smawton, the Dark Shamans have since just about replaced Inferis since their last rewrite. I understand your iffiness, seeing as that was detailed in the Inferis lore, but do note this isn't pet-like obedience: it's cruel slavery and containment and nowhere does it say these things obey commands like puppy dogs. No matter how chaotic the Inferis, they're not able to defy engineered and forceful means of being chained. Ixli could maybe be a means of implementation, but this lore just outlines explicit function and boundaries.

Naztherak The Mortal Princes Primer: https://www.lordofthecraft.net/forums/topic/146136-inferis-the-demons-among-men/ Image credit to Halycon 450 on DA. “Of all that crawl and fly through the world we call our own and the many beyond, none are as foul to the very core of their spirit as the wretched Inferis. Any who might see themselves lording above such putridity are infinitely blacker of heart and soul.” To harness and control chaos is a charge oxymoronic by its very nature, though not entirely impossible. It is a means to an end for those willing, and often those willing are ambitious enough to walk down a path as crooked as the Naztherak’s, the mortal Princes of the Inferis. Among the beasts of chaos known as the Inferis there is an upper echelon made up of the Greater Inferis who have clawed their way to power among the tumult of their kin. They are known in their foul tongue as the Zentherak, or ‘Prince’, for the lesser Inferis they subjugate along their climb to power all become part of their Court. The Court is the Prince’s personal warband, an army of enslaved Inferi at their command who do their bidding, albeit begrudgingly and only out of necessity to survive. They find their way into the Prince’s service through a ritual sometimes called The Branding where the Prince subjugates a lesser Inferis by giving the creature a name. To those unaware of the extent of their nature, such a trivial method of binding might be scoffed at. However, the Inferi are beings of unbridled Chaos who reject even the slightest institution of order and forcibly giving one a name, accompanied by scrawling the name upon parchment using a particular kind of ink made with an infusion of Maleus, a soul-based energy that the most knowledgeable among the Greater Inferi are capable of producing. Where Essence is the unpalpable material that serves as the clay for a mortal Soul, Maleus is the chaotic and unlawful substance that makes up the Infernal Soul. Princes collect it by draining fragments and portions from the Inferis of their Court, but are also capable of warping clean Essence and simply exposing it to a prior-existing pool of Maleus, most often kept in a personal container most often fashioned as some sort of lantern or lamp. It aids them in a variety of rituals and spells, including the conjuration of chaotic, soul-burning flame, manifesting the physical avatars of the Inferis of their Court, or afflicting another with the roil of Chaos. The Naztherak Image credit goes to Aleksi Bricot. Ambition is an immense force of the heart: capable of banishing away all fear and rationalities for the chance of realizing one’s desires. Ambitious are the Naztherak, meaning ‘False Prince’ in the Chaotic tongue, the mortal souls who seek to claim themselves Princes of their own Courts just like the Infernal Zentherak before them. They do, however, lack some of the qualities and abilities that a full-fledged Inferis has but this does not do much to impede the willing warlock. Rules have their loopholes and solutions, and the Naztherak are masters of these. All Princes take up a Malice upon the beginning of their path. The Malice is a driving aspect of the Prince's newfound nature and grows much more exaggerated within their personality and person as their power and their Court grows. The Inferi under the Prince's binding are slightly affected in their behavior and disposition as well, but most prominent is a change in the properties of the Prince's sorcery itself (expanded upon later). The known Malices are as follows: Havoc, Lies, Revolt, Temptation, Woe, Desolation, Agony, and Madness. A Princes styles themselves after the Malice they take up, leading to titles such as 'Prince of Lies', 'Prince of Madness', and so on. Maleus A foul energy composed entirely of warped Soul Essence, Maleus is an essential ingredient in just about all of the Prince’s practices. Its formation is something mostly non-autonomous, as all Infernal Souls are composed of it in its entirety and their creation is an unnatural accident and a result of Chaotic corruption. Thusly, the claimed soul of an Inferis is a fertile source of it, albeit finite for unlike the Mortal Soul, the Inferis’ does not replenish itself making the fate of becoming a Prince’s source of fuel a death sentence. A Prince who binds an Inferis to their will (elaborated later) are capable of sacrificing a bound servant and depositing their broken-down Maleus into their personal container for it, known as a Cistern. The Cistern is an object that can be opened and closed with ease, personally chosen and fashioned by the Naztherak for use. It is prepared to store Maleus through a simple ritual where the object is filled to its brim with the blood of a freshly-slain Inferis and then allowed to stagnate over the course of three days’ time until it is ready for containment. Maleus has no tangible volume, and so the amount the Cistern can hold is hypothetically infinite; however, it bears no outstanding material properties by itself so it can be smashed or destroyed with relative ease which results in all the stored Maleus simply dissipating with nothing to host it any longer. It can also be used for the creation of new Maleus from pure Soul Essence. It can be deposited into the Cistern by the Prince from slain animals, plants, and Superior Souls scorched by Malflame (elaborated on later). Once the Prince has a sufficient amount of Maleus stored up, they may draw it out and infuse it into any simple, ichorous substance (such as ink or even blood for the more macabre) in order to create what is known in the Chaotic tongue as Rakir; the ink with which all princes, True or False, scribe their spells within their Grimoires. Red Lines -Maleus ceases to exist outside of an Inferis or the Cistern, vanishing in vibrant sparks if it ever leaves either uncontained. -Any substance that can be drawn/painted with can be infused with Maleus to create Rakir. Malflame and the Grimoire “Studious are the princes, always carrying such large books around with them.” The most formidable tool in the Prince’s arsenal is their Grimoire, a seemingly innocuous tome whose pages bear unearthly power. The Prince is both its keeper and its author, the pages blank at the beginning of their path and becoming filled with incantations, runes, and the names of the Prince’s Court all written with the Rakir of their own making. Each page is hand-bound to the book by the Prince, the parchment needing to be treated within a basin of Inferis blood in order to give it the necessary properties to hold a scrawling of Rakir. A rune scrawled onto a page of the Grimoire is capable of unleashing the chaotic energy nested within the Maleus used in the Rakir’s creation in the form of a violent, combustive fire known as Malflame. It is the raw stuff of chaos, Infernal magic incarnate and manifested in a form befitting their burning nature. It blazes with vibrant, unnatural hues depending entirely upon their scribe: shades of violet, sickly green, putrescent pink, and other similarly blinding colors have all been observed among embers of Malflame. It does not bear the heat and glow of light that worldly fire exudes and it is incapable of setting things alight or warming another. Instead, Malflame directly attacks the soul; it ignites the portion of the soul blueprint where upon it struck the victim, and then inflicts agonizing pain that wracks the body at that point and ebbs at the flesh leaving it blackened, sickly and burning with the Flame’s afterglow. A burning wound inflicted by Malflame is also a source of Maleus for the Prince. It flakes and drifts away from a scorched soul quite like ash. Slow-searing immolations leave Maleus plentiful to be harvested, while more violent and impactful uses of Malflame don't leave much behind. The Inferi are capable of conjuring it with ease, but for one not possessing an Infernal Soul, the process is much trickier and necessitates the Prince scribing a spell within their Grimoire that in the Chaotic tongue describes the Malflame’s purpose. Once the Rakir’s message has dried the Prince is capable of using their mana to draw out the spell’s power from the page and then expel it towards their desired target. A Prince can be quite creative with the Flame: their only limits are the inherent properties it already bears, and the time and effort needed to draw out larger portions of it. Conjurations, immolations, bolts, whips, and firestorms are all possible, along with a plentiful variety of other spells. Malflame needs to touch bare flesh in order to start singing. It has no effect against cloth and armor bearing no kinetic force by itself and simply dissipates into smoke and sparks, so the use of the Prince's Court is essential to opening up areas of opportunity for striking the foe. Additionally, the chosen Malice of the Prince, once they reach Tier 3 of their learning, begins to offer them unique effects they may apply to certain written spells with their Malflame befitting their chosen inclination of discord. Each Malice has a correlative effect that stacks on top of the Malflame's initial effects, as follows: Havoc: Malflame casted can gain kinetic, solid properties, causing it to collide with solid surfaces and ricochet off of them with force. The weakest infusions will bounce just once, and the strongest (needing much more time to prepare) can sometimes continue ricocheting until they make contact with an exposed body and begin to burn. Lies: Victims struck will feel the compulsion to speak and answer dishonestly for a period of time ranging with the severity of the spell. The simplest of spells will simply result in the afflicted feeling the need to answer basic yes or no questions untruthfully, but larger and longer burns of Malflame can gradually warp their perception of the truth to the point of blatant dishonesty. At maximum potency, the affliction lasts for a day. Revolt: A Prince of Revolt's Malflame has altogether explosive qualities when imbued. It can shatter and burst on impact with a surface, and the Prince's Inferi can even be violently sacrificed by being lit with Malflame and then sent to quite literally explode. Temptation: A spell imbued with this Malice will leave the victim feeling an innate compulsion to pursue something of their immediate desire. This can manifest in many different ways and simply varies with the personality of the afflicted person: some might immediately hound after it, while others might just grow vocally obsessed. The severity and duration of the compulsion also increases with the size and power of the spell. At its most potent, the victim will remain compelled for a day. Woe: Another psychological invocation, the Malflame of Woe will cause a resurgence of particularly sad and melancholic memories within the afflicted's conscious along with a subtle sense of depression that grows more and more dreadful with the spell's power. One of the shorter-term afflictions, its effects wear off after about four hours with the strongest of attacks. Desolation: Perhaps the strangest of all the Malices, one afflicted by Malflame imbued with Loss will find their short-term memory becoming increasingly hazy and unfocused as their soul continues to burn. Memory is impossible to erase entirely, but the most powerful of spells can leave someone entirely catatonic with forgetfulness and nearly amnesiac for about a day. Agony: The most straightforward, Malflame imbued with Agony inflicts exaggerated pain upon the point of contact. The actual damage being caused is unaffected, simply the sensation of suffering. A well-charged attack will also cause those within 3 yards of the afflicted (the Prince included!) to suffer mutually in pain with the victim. Madness: The most dangerous to the victim and the Prince themselves, one afflicted with Madness begins to experience odd compulsions to act out violently. As the size of the Malflame spell increases, so does the severity of the compulsion, burning until the victim abandons all rationality and starts to wildly lash out at everything nearby regardless of friend or foe. The effects last roughly an hour. The effects of Malflame are all easily expunged with exposure to holy magic of any sort. The soul-burning and even the physical wounding can also be halted by methods of physical healing directed at the point of ‘burning’. All mortal wielders of Malflame suffer from an inevitable crippling of the form, strength and muscle atrophying quite similarly to one connected to the Void. Under normal circumstances, the Malflame would also burn and rot the hand used to draw it from the page’s notation but Princes are able to etch a sigil into the back of their casting-hand using the Rakir that provides protection from its destructive effects on the body. Red Lines -Malflame isn’t hot. It can’t light things on fire, it doesn’t provide warmth or light, and it cannot be held or contained. -Malflame must be drawn and casted using the sigil-inscribed hand, else the hand will suffer the same fate as any other flesh struck by it. -Malflame cannot be moved or manipulated beyond the form it was initially cast in. -Malflame doesn't burn through cloth or armor and needs to hit skin or body. -Casting a spell from the Grimoire necessitates an emote to begin drawing it from the page, and then the emotes required vary with the nature and size of the spell. Immolations and fireballs can be expelled the emote immediately after they are drawn from the Grimoire, but these attacks are roughly fist-sized. Anything larger necessitates additional emotes of charge. A full-body immolation takes five uninterrupted actions to draw out the full power of the spell and then expel it upon the victim, but these immolations will burn the soul to death rather swiftly and painfully. -Imbuing a spell with your Malice necessitates an additional emote of charge from the norm. -Malflame that ignites the body will continue to burn and scorch until the affected area has nothing left to burn through and degrade, or halted through other means. The speed this occurs at varies with the size (and thusly emotes necessary) of the spell. It will not spread beyond the area impacted. The Court Image credit to Wizards of the Coast. “Even under the shackles of slavery, the minions of chaos cannot resist the delight of a party.” The Prince makes their Court, and the Court makes the Prince. They are only as powerful as the subjugated Inferi beneath them, and so all Princes strive for only the greatest to call their minions. To bind one to their will, the Prince must utilize their Grimoire and their Rakir. These come together in the ritual of The Branding where the Prince physically (or magically, depending on their preferred method of combat) subdues the Inferis, tethers them with a rudimentary Grimoire spell called Shackle that establishes a blazing chain of Malflame between the Prince and the Inferis, and then connects this to a rune upon a blank page of their Grimoire before they bestow a new name upon the creature by writing it out with fresh Rakir. The Inferis’ soul is thusly sealed to the rune and their physical avatar broken down, ready to be re-manifested by the Prince in the same spellcasting manner as their Malflame. Though the very nature of their creation and being is chaotic and does not abide by the rules of nature, there are 3 distinct classifications that can be broadly applied to the shape and power of the Lesser Inferis and then a 4th for the Greater Inferis. They are as follows: I. Zevn, ‘Imps’ Image credit goes to Jesper Eising. Rather common; all pint-sized Inferi fall under this category, regardless of their outward appearance. Their stature is the deciding factor in their labelling as Zevn, or ‘Imps’. The largest of Imps have been known to grow to a size of roughly three feet tall. Most retain some humanoid qualities in their shape, though entirely bestial forms are not unheard of for Inferi of their size. Some might have wings, making them capable of brief bouts of flight, albeit never enough to carry them to great heights or long distances. Imps themselves are capable of rudimentary Malflame conjuring, often in the form of coin-sized fireballs or gusts of blazing breath. A few are dextrous enough to wield simple rudimentary weaponry like clubs and maces. They are the first type of Inferis a Prince will learn to bind to their will, and despite their altogether basic nature in the hierarchy of their kin they are not without their uses, especially en masse. They possess small amounts of intelligence and their behavior is often mischievous and spiteful without much deliberative intention behind their acts of wanton havoc and cruelty. II. Zekul, ‘Beasts’ Image credit to Blizzard Entertainment. Less common than their smaller brethren, Zekul are all sorts of Inferis that take somewhat bestial or animalistic forms. They behave as they appear, though some semblance of intelligence isn’t impossible. Their size and shape varies quite dramatically, with the largest known to be the same size as the largest of the world’s common animals. Steed-like Inferis can make for wild, albeit powerful mounts if kept properly bridled and subjugated. Zekul are capable of Malflame like any other though lack the means to throw it magically, instead opting to spew it or simply let it burn off of their forms. They are more difficult than Zevn to subdue and bind and make for an intermediary addition to the Prince’s Court. III. Zar’ei, ‘Twisted Ones’ The rarest and most frightening to behold of the Lesser Inferis, the Zar’ei are the wretched souls who retain the largest portion of their former mortality after their chaotic transformation. They are thusly the most intelligent, making them difficult to subdue and bind like the other Lessers as they are formidable fighters and crafty thinkers. All Zar’ei take on a recognizably humanoid shape despite their corruption and mutations and are capable of using Malflame to a much further extent than the others, sometimes conjuring firestorms or throwing large bolts at their foes. Their new forms also grant them varying capabilities, some bearing wings and others tails, many limbs, and a plethora of other possible developments. IV. Zar’kiel, ‘Twisted Lords’, or Greater Inferis Image credit to Peter Mohrbacher. “The foul kings of their kind, with hunger befitting their lordship. I would pray with all my heart I never come face to face with one.” The apex of the Infernal form, the Zar’kiel are the most powerful of all the Inferi. They have consumed enough mortal souls to grow to massive stature and strength, both physical and magical, and are terrifying things to behold. The greatest among them are the Zentherak, the true Princes of the Infernal Courts, and they hold reign over their own bands of Inferi. To subdue one of the Zar’kiel is no task to scoff at, unlike the Lessers of their kind: They are cunning and capable of great feats of sorcery, both of the Malflame and even of normally-mortal arts. That being said, the Zar’kiel have a mutual understanding of the power nested within mortal sorcerers as well, and can at times be coaxed into contracts. Often the Lord will ask for a favor from the would-be Prince, and if completed, will agree to let their name be scrawled within the Grimoire for a one-time use. Of course, the Prince may simply opt to combat and subjugate the Zar’kiel instead, and if successful, will be able to add them to their Court. The Zentherak themselves, however, are not so easily goaded. Their terms of contraction are much more severe. It is common for them to request something dear and precious to their person: perhaps a limb, their sight, or for the most powerful and egotistical among the Zentherak the contractor’s soul in return for their aid. Just like the lesser Zar’kiel, too, a Prince may simply try to defeat the Zentherak in combat which is a titanic feat. They hold control of their own Courts and sorceries and fight with unearthly strength, but the reward for subduing one is ineffable. A Prince may bind a subdued Zentherak to their Court’s service, or they may choose a far darker path and consume the soul and skull of the fallen Inferis and undergo Metamorphosis. Image credit to Peter Mohrbacher. The Princes who consume a true Zentherak are forevermore bound to lead cursed half-lives as Zar’akal, ‘Twisted Kings’, or Archprinces. Their souls become warped with the raw, unabated Maleus of the Inferis they devoured and they take on physical mutations similar to the ones the Inferis had. They become physically susceptible to all forms of Holy magic and can even be harmed more heavily by Shamans due to the nature of the dark spirit that has fused with them. With this corruption comes new boons, however: no longer do they require the inscriptions of the Grimoire for their Malflame’s casting and can conjure it from their very being. They gain the Malice of the Prince they devoured, opening up opportunities for new effects for their Malflame. Gone also is the physical degradation of the form that results in manipulating Malflame, and the Zar’akal additionally become self-sustaining sources of Maleus and only need their Cistern for large amounts of it. Redlines: -The first two tiers of Inferis can be ‘self-roleplayed’ in their capture and need no outside help. -Zar’ei need an ET or LT to roleplay them during their capture, and afterward a normal player may submit a CA to play the Zar’ei in the service of the Prince. The Zar’ei’s underlying race is Necrolyte. -Zar’kiel need an ET or LT to roleplay them during their capture and in the service of the Prince if such is required. They need a CA as well and if the applied player ever departs either team then the application can simply be passed on hereditarily. -The summoning of an Inferis from the Court necessitates one emote to draw the magic from their inscribed name in the Grimoire and then face succeeding emotes depending on the size and classification of the Inferis. Imps may be formed with one more. Beasts take anywhere from two to four: hound and dog-sized needing the least, and creatures the size of bears needing the most. Zar'ei need four, themselves, and Zar'kiel need five. Afterward they may function as normal, though at first they may face some disorientation if summoned by amateur Naztherak. -Inferis’ appearances can vary greatly and is mostly up to the Prince whose Court they belong to, though the source of their formation (see: Inferis lore) has an effect on their appearance. -The Zentherak can only be encountered and interacted with by T5 Naztherak, and need an ET or LT to play them. Due to their powerful and unique nature, however, there are a limited number: 5 to begin with, kept in a private document. A written submission must be sent to the LT overseeing the document describing the name, appearance, power, and other possible details of any new Zentherak. -Zar’akal need a CA to be played. The underlying race is Necrolyte. Authorship: Archangel_Avacyn, Core concept and writing KnghtArtorias, Consultation and ideas Aelesh, Consultation and ideas Swgrclan and Hellfiaz, Creators of Inferis lore Changelog: 5/15/17 + Added Malices and their effects on Malflame. + Malflame now generates Maleus. +Added description of Malflame's weaknesses. - Removed Afflictions. - Removed Inscription. - Removed Soul exhaustion. Magic update: Teleporting Malflame is no longer possible. Teaching update: Tier 5 users can teach (via TA application).