Supremacy

The Tempering of Souls The Fi’ who so wander this world are not those who had done so in the past. The ancient art, riddled in mystery and ritual had been lost to time— lost to the gradual dispersion of the once proud Elibar’acal. And yet, the Golden Veil cracks. There was wealth to be found in this realm of Vailor, and not wealth of jewels… But wealth sealed within a Golden Tomb. The Lifting— Sacrifice It is not the act of the ancient Golden Owls to tear a soul from a freshly butchered corpse. Nor is it the way of them to kill a stranger. The acts of the Golden Owl was one of deep sadness, and wickedness. A life taken was no stranger. A life taken was done so for the one purpose, tied up upon a Soul Altar and— with a blade infused with the power of Fi— their very life essence harvested from them. Torn from their mortal being and into eternal servitude within the soul of their master. It is tempered and placed. It is without this ritual, without the very precision of the Ancient Elibar’acal, that a soul reaped is but a fraction of the use of one taken with proper method. The Tempered and Untempered Soul Without such the practitioner is limited to the simple, familiar mist of the Fi— but with it… The possibilities become a far more interesting affair entirely. It is the Untempered Fi’ practitioner who may, in truth, be able to output a more raw flurry of power. But he who has sacrificed and bound the soul, the Tempered user, who can forge things far more useful than initial apperances would ever reveal. Thusly there finds a split amongst the Fi’ mages— those who temper their souls and those, perhaps unaware of the Ancient Ways— who do not (ikur). The Tempered (thill) soul has lost its true essence. The true soul passes on, or ceases, and it is merely the apparatus of the soul which is used. The true individual is lost. Thusly this harvest’s end result is a knife to the heart. A death. Strictly speaking there is nothing unholy about a Tempered Soul, at least to the degree that any murderer is not unholy. Simply… A horrific person. It has been harvested to be bound separate to the practitioners own soul, yet in harmony with it— no longer truly separate. The Tempered Practitioner (thill) finds themselves, at the expence of raw power also found at a second disadvantage. That their captured soul, in the destruction of itself is weaker— and so must be fueled. Strictly speaking it is not a soul. The soul is gone. It is a conduit for a second connection. All magic is poured through this window. Thusly non-standard magics can be drained too. As a consequence of this, the Fi’ practitioners with Tempered souls find themselves capable of infusing weaponry with magics-bane qualities and need not split themselves between holy and voidal magics. They are, however, still restrained to only practicing Fi' and are still physically weaker than their non-magical counterparts. They retain all abilities of the "normal" Fi' mage. The Binding Stone The Tempered Fi’ practitioner finds themselves with a ravenous imperfect soul bound to them, something which must be fueled. It is such that a Binding Stone is forged— an object in which the essence of incomplete, and, sometimes completed souls must be harvested. This is seen, most often through the harvesting of the essence of Soul Shadows and Fragments. Whereby the Fi’ practitioner seeks out ghosts, gravens and apparitions— along with other spectral beings— to harvest them of their power. It is notable that this, in and of itself, is no particular immoral act. For it is known, quite plainly, at least to many practitioners of the Ancient way, that these souls are fragments— not true souls. Thusly the act is a release for something that is not sentient or true. Often times the stone itself is placed in a Lantern or other such object. Strictly speaking— energy may be harvested from live souls too. It is the act, however, of the more violent Fi’ for many are high elves— finding violence distasteful. Undesirable. Essence Libraries A Fi’ practitioner is capable of keeping what might be deemed a collection of souls. For just as one can harvest souls and feed them into a binding soul— so can one leave a soul. Thusly, should one capture more than one soul— it can be… swapped in and out. This is little use for tempered souls (for they are dead), however, in this way somewhat of a “library” of untempered souls could be made. Partial Binding Spirits and other similar spectral beings can be partially bound. Their soul essence not fed into the binding stone, but rather isolated in a separate one. Should the binding stone crack the creature could be freed. However, the more "powerful" the soul, the more difficult it is to contain. None-the-less... Such spectrals can sometimes be bound, and sometimes even used. The Rending The Rending is a ritual of extracting a part, but not a whole, of an individual's soul. Often used to tear corruption from within, the method has been employed against shades. It, however, required repeated use to truly tear corruption from the soul. ((OOC consent, temporary or permanent removal of soul afflictions)). It can, more maliciously, be used to tear the essence of an individual out of them— creating a husk of what lay there before. Polyessence Strictly speaking it is possible for a Fi’ practitioner to contain more than one essence at a time. However, the taxing components of fatigue, dizzyness and headaches increase exponentially. Thusly it is inadvisable and weakening. On Morality While it is the untempered Fi’ mage who is, by their own nature, unholy. It is the Tempering of souls which shifts its nature elsewise to something entirely, depending on its use, moral.. The Tempering of an unholy individual’s soul is a purge. They pass on, without chance of resurrection by the monks. Now… Of course… If you’re just killing monks and children, you’re still unholy. But if you’re systematically purging necromancers, apparitions and others— then you are not. For this purpose it allows a dichotomy. "Holy" or at least good and unholy. To be entirely honest— the purpose would be to make a "good" or "holy" order to purge evil spectral creatures (i.e. Apparitions). So at least for what I might want to do with it— it might be Holy of sorts.

If you want the roll 14 clause, it cuts both ways.

Your justification written above is not a valid justification for a CONQUEST— escalation of violence must occur. However, I have had a proper justification PMed to me. Thus it seems that, pending snow elven comments, a conquest WC is justified on this occasion.

I'll be dealing with this. Though I just woke up, there is one obvious thing that can't be enforced; You can not force a PK on anyone on LotC. As a final thing, if you would justify your conflict at all? Why are they offended? Why does being offended justify conquest as opposed to pillage.

We are not accepting new races at this timeOvertly sexual themes are not for LotC Sadly this lore has too many issues and can not be accepted. A small portion of which are listed above. We, the lore team, appreciate your effort but sadly this cant be put on LotC at this time. Sorry :( If you have any questions PM me.

Itharel gain power by detatching themselves from a mortal coil— like Undead, Ascended and so on. They are simply a Superior soul. Volcanoes and Rivers might have a SPIRIT (Spirit Realm) Spirit if that fits the Spirit Lore, but that's a spirit— not a soul. Spirits have superior souls, I assume. And I can't answer questions about dragonkin for various reasons.

It functions simply to explain phenomena in LotC. Why do we explain the void? Because we can, and to deepen the world of LotC. This simply condenses soul lore— though it was not written for that purpose. It was written to fit Druidism into the spectrum of souls, so that the issue of if plants and animals had souls could be put to rest.

Souls are that which find themselves inextricably inserted in every being which roams this earth with some form of sentience or another— and even those without. But what is a soul exactly? And what separates the insect which can cast not spell or think, and the higher mortals who can create such powerful eldritch feats? The most elementary type of thing is obviously something with no soul. A rock. A pile of dirt, but what so happens when we go beyond this level? Soul Essence: The most primitive form of near-soul, possessed by the plants of the forest. These creatures do not truly have a soul, or possess any form of sentience. Rather they have but the potential to be granted limited sentience by Aenguldaemonic or other magical means. The flowers and plants empowered by a druid behave in such a way, only gaining any sentience when communed with— when the energy of the aspects is funnelled into their soul essence. Inferior Souls: The souls of the least intelligent but still soul possessing creatures. Insects and lesser animals possess no higher functions, unable to exhibit true thought or connect to the void or higher powers of Aenguldaemons. Lesser Souls: The souls of higher animals and other such creatures. These creatures are capable of functional thought, but just as all lower souled creatures lack the higher function of void or Aenguldaemonic functions. These are the first of any souls capable of forming a soul shadow— that which forms spectral creatures alone or in combination such as a ghost or apparition. Though they are less likely to do so. Superior Souls: The souls of mortals and other higher order creatures. These creatures are capable of higher Aenguldaemonic functions and are more likely to form soul shadows than any other order of Souls. They are the highest of all souls, for all sentient beings beyond this level function not with souls, but with something of a higher essence. Includes eldertrees, which may empower the plants Soul Essence of the forest around them— thus they are literally the soul of a forest. [REDACTED]: [Redacted]

Such is attached to the pamphlet. No magic is to be conducted in Oren until licenses have been obtained from the Conclave of Magi. The Hearts head the law of all nations when in their territory.

Author/s: Lago REGION 7: Primora Jungle The Primora Jungle is the large jungle near the orcish lands. It is a place teeming with life, but not the sort of life a traveller would want to encounter. Beneath its canopy are giant ravenous ants, parasitic wasps, stalking feline predators and huge carnivorous birds reminiscent of the Kharajyr’s Gw’aka. The jungle has never been tamed, with most ruins found on the outskirts. A few rope bridges connect the many islands but nature has long swallowed the paths in the relentless battle between the denizens of Primora for survival.

Author/s: Supremacy REGION 3: Thumbleweed's Tower Poor Old Thumbleweed: The poor “Wizard” Thumbleweed was a halfling who by virtue of his aspirations to become the most grand wizard the descendants had ever seen found himself estranged from his other halfling kin who were much more fond of feasting and froliking than the eldritch arts that Thumbleweed persued. It is said that when he became of age, the precise age that a halfling became of age being a mystery to the author, he traveled far from his home so that he might study the arcane and make a name for himself. With the small amount of gold that the poor halfling had he settled on a cliff and built himself a home. A tower, he thought, would be appropriate for a soon to be powerful wizard like he. And so his home was made and so his studies began. Day by day and night by night the poor halfling toiled away in his tower searching desperately for a sliver of the magical realm they call “the void”. But day by day and night by night the poor halfling failed— Perhaps his dwarven blood prevented him from finding the arcane realm or perhaps not all descendants are capable of finding it. None the less, as time went on the halfling grew increasingly desperate and spent more time each day on his futile task. It is said over many years the halfling wasted away; impoverished and dejected. A Scrap of Paper Found in Elven Lands: Thumbleweed the fool, Sitting in his tower, Passing every hour, Searching for the sorcerer's tool, Thumbleweed the failed, Gazing into his book, Looki— *The scrap has no more writing on it* *Someone else’s writing appears below* This, Aldereki, is the poorest work I have seen in years. Your assignment is not even complete. — Iyathir Aereos

Author/s: Lago REGION 6: Mount Thahn Bloody Research Notes: Mount Thahn Day 1: Today I begin my trek to Mount Thahn, the colossal mountain in the centre of Athera. It is an intriguing target for scientific study as it is a frozen tundra, yet is surrounded by temperate to hot lands. This is a mystery I shall solve, and which will catapult me to recognition in the guild and that fool Havery will finally see me as a proper rival. Day 3: Arrived at Mount Thahn. Was rudely thrown out of dwarven city built the upper slopes for attempting to enter the Remembrancer’s library. Apparently the dwarves take issue with having their doors broken open with axes, but they shouldn’t lock their knowledge away like that! Not from me, anyway. They can lock it away from Havery all they like. Day 4: A little prospecting soon deduced why: the mountain stone is rich in thanhium, the heat-absorbing magical ore famously used by the Harbingers of Setherien when they invaded us in Anthos. The ore has many useful magical properties including use as a power source for enchantments. I will hire some miners at once! Day 5: Unfortunately, setting up a thanhium mining operation could prove difficult. The dwarves have discovered and claimed the thanhium. All of it. They haven’t actually dug up but a foul smelling mountain dwarf informed me at swordpoint that it’s all theirs. Should I attempt to steal it from under their noses, they’ll likely respond by force of arms. I will search for a place where we could potentially mine the ore without them noticing. Day 8: I discovered a cavern today. It seemed to warm as I went down, as if the thanhium were… missing. Surely there should be more of it as one goes down? It’s as if it’s already been dug up, but the dwarves live on top of the mountain, not below it. I will venture deeper tomorrow. Day 9: I discovered a huge door at the end of the cavern. It looks dwarven, but different, like it’s centuries of architectural development ahead. Could the dwarves have developed time travel and invaded the past? I wouldn’t put it past them. That being said, stealing their time machine and claiming it as my own invention… Forget beating Havery, this could send me right to the top! I must open this door. Day 13: No luck opening the door. Day 17: Still no luck opening the door. This sure is an low technology door for future dwarves. Day 20: It has occurred to me that the future dwarf theory is, to put it as the orcs would, a load of skah. The door isn’t a future door, it’s an ancient one. Have the dwarves devolved? I could believe that, they must have lost their brilliance with their height. Still no luck opening the door, but I suppose we could tunnel around it. Heard what sounded like people skulking around. Day 21: This discovery is remarkable. I can’t write it down for fears I will lose these notes and Havery will steal my discovery. We collapsed the tunnel we dug and I will hire a full expedition to loot this place. We need to get out quietly though. The dwarves are onto us. I’ve heard they can be so quiet that they can sne *The journal stops abruptly here.* ANCIENT VERSE The boarman walked on the mountain high To the altar they built long ago He knew in his heart twas his time to die For the shaman said it was so But his heart did not race in fear He knew why he must now go Up on the slopes of the mountain high To the altar they built long ago Sick he was not, nor old in age Barely past his twenty-first year Yet he went to the altar to gods of rage Of flame, fury, fire and fear. He climbed upon the icy peak The altar lay just ahead It was time to discard this body weak He would die but would not be dead He carved the circle in frozen mud In the center a dwarven bone He marked the ring with elven blood Intermixed with the thanhic stone He struck the ring with his ancient spear And the altar lit in voidflame The thanhium burned purple and clear And thus over the mountains it came Huge white teeth and huge black wings Hellish thunder in flight Archon of terror, devourer of kings The dragon flew through the night The boarman stood with spear in hand As the mighty beast did near He stood in thanhic ring of flame His heart devoid of fear The dragon swooped and in one sweep Consumed the boarman whole But this was not sign of boarman weak For this battle was of the soul The dragon writhed, its mind aflame Two minds fought for control The beast did falter in infinite pain Conquered by boarman’s soul Victorious he roared with fiery breath His new wings took him to the sky And then he tumbled and fell to his death For boars know not how to fly Mount Thahn is the great frozen mountain. Its frigid peaks stand apart from the temperate lands around it, and on its steps and ridges and beneath its surface the Dwarves of Urguan make their home. Mount Thahn is named for the huge veins of thanhium beneath it. Thanhic ore absorbs heat, powering its many powerful yet dangerous magical properties, and any area with significant deposits of thanhium is trapped in an eternal winter in defiance of the climate around it. It is rumoured that in its deepest depths lies a Forgotten Dwarf thanhium mine similar to the cave of Khaz’Ardol in Anthos, but the Dwarves of Urguan have so far only scratched the surface of the mountain. The Atheran mainland is mostly free of dragon roosts: they know better than to nest amongst the mortal races and most live either in secluded parts of the Uncharted (the wildlands) or out on the floating islands over the Abyss and are only seen when they fly over looking for food. At the peak of Mount Thahn is a dragon shrine and artifacts resembling those of the ancient Bohra. The historical implications of this remains unknown, but it could easily develop into a chain of events for the dwarven people. (Moved to Mount Thahn) Forgotten Dwarf Varak City, Lago: “A Forgotten Dwarf city is built underground here. It is completely deserted but filled with fiendish traps. On the fifth and lowest level is a large chamber containing a floating, glittering red crystal, with the skeletal bodies of the city’s former residents around it. Next to it is a bookcase containing the last notes on it. (This is a new Varak, seeing as someone locked the last one up so that people couldn’t RP with it any more)”

Author/s: Supremacy REGION 8: Rivel “The city state of Rivel lies on the border between Aegis and the Old Lands of Athera. Founded in the first millenium after the first sealing of Iblees, Rivel was a mageocracy where those unable or inept with magic were an underclass that served the whims of the scholary yet brutal elite known as the Spellcrafters. The Spellcrafters were mostly elven and the underclass of Rivel were mostly human with a few orcs who were treated as little more than pack animals. Rivel was hostile to outsiders, fearing a loss of control over its non-magical underclass if the “propaganda” of the nonmagical civilisations of Aegis was allowed to reach it. It engaged in a minimum of trade with the Aegisians and very few even knew it existed, although a few Aegeans did wander into the Atheran lands. When the Undead War broke out in Aegis in the early 1300s Rivel cut off all contact with the outside world in the hope that they were remote enough to avoid Iblees’s notice in time for them to find a way to defeat him. In 1325 the Spellcrafters were approached by Garzardiel, who offered them a way to defeat Iblees: an ancient dwarven device known as The Seal. Garzardiel let them to the Grand Archive of the Forgotten Dwarves under the mountain known to the Spellcrafters as Mount Thahn. The archive confirmed the existence of the Seal, but failed to specify if it was even completed. The relevant books from the Archive were pillaged and taken to Rivel. The idea that the machine could possibly work was ludicrous to the Circle of Governance, led by Spellcrafter Archon Artorias dismissing it as rambling fiction and a waste of resources they should be spending researching a way to defeat Iblees before the Undead were at their gates. However, those Spellcrafters that had begun to draw on Garzardiel’s aengudaemonic power also found their wills had been bent to Garzardiel’s desires, and their studies of the Archive’s tomes led them to the location of the Hall. The records of their studies and the Hall’s location are still in Rivel to this day. When they found it they discovered it was sealed by the ancient rune magics of the Forgotten Dwarves. Under a manifested Garzardiel’s direction they sought out the keys within a year had the Hall open. Within they discovered a dormant army of soul harvesting constructs (the ones that were possessed and wiped out the last of the Hall’s Forgotten Dwarves) and The Seal itself. Garzadiel deduced that even a thousand mortal souls could not trap an archdaemon in the pocket dimension the Seal designed. To hold an archdaemon, he needed an archaengul. The Spellcrafters of Rivel that had assisted him were a loose end: the Seal had to return to the state of being completely unknown for his plan to work. By now Garzardiel had complete mental control over the Spellcrafters that followed him. He activated the soul harvesting Construct Army to march on and wipe out Rivel while the minions he had bent to his will were used to reseal the city and distribute the keys amongst the land once more. When the construct horde smashed through the gates of Rivel, the Circle of Governance was helpless to intervene. The underclass was almost entirely wiped out before the Spellcrafters defeated the ancient army. They spread propaganda about this being an attack by nefarious dwarves that they had routed to calm the surviving populace and prevent an uprising. When Aegis finally crumbed Rivel was destroyed along with it. The wards of the Spellcrafters protected the city from becoming a blasted husk like the Shards but it was cut off from the world. Realising they would starve and die the Circle of Governance sacrificed the few surviving, traumatised members of the underclass and resorted to lichdom. They remain in the city to this day. The Spellcrafters that had become minions of Garzardiel remain so and have been his mad cultist minions for about two hundred years. When the Aegis survivors aboard the Perea settled Deus Proditor it was these minions that Garzadiel used to annihilate the populace.” Further Reading

Author/s: Lagomorphia REGION 17: Urguan's Hall The ancient city referred to nowadays as Urguan’s Hall was the capital of the prehistoric dwarves (known to scholars as the Forgotten Dwarves) and the centre of their civilisation. During the Iblees War, the dwarves experienced a schism. The dwarf known as Urguan led a faction of dwarves to join up with the other races. The larger body of dwarves were distrustful of the other races and prideful on their own abilities. They sought their own solution to Iblees’ invasion of Athera. They united their best runesmiths and technomancers and over ten years built their masterwork with which to defeat the Fallen One. The huge device is known as The Seal, a room-sized machine capable of creating a pocket dimension. The machine has four parts. Two colossal engines called Planeforges generate the pocket dimension. In the centre of the room is a huge horizontal gateway into the pocket dimension. On the far size is an enormous spherical disc known as the Ethereal Magnet. With enough power, it can draw any aengudaemon that corporealises in the city into the machine’s maw. In the corners of the room are massive arcane towers known as Soul Capacitors. They are aptly named, for the power draw of this machine is so great it requires living souls. Many, many living souls. The Forgotten Dwarves tested this machine extensively. The power draw to create another world is colossal, and a huge number of dwarves had to be killed and their souls harvested to power it. In the first stage, only criminals were used, but soon the dwarves were slaughtering their own people en masse. A civil war broke out as the population resisted, but the death only provided more fuel for the machine. The architects of the Seal tested it extensively. Firstly they used one of their own people. The test proved the machine worked, but as the pocket dimension was empty of everything it proved fatal to the dwarf they tested it on too. Later, they managed to deceive a minor aengudaemon and test the machine on it too. The wrathful entity broke free: the machine was not strong enough to hold it. The few Forgotten Dwarves left realised that more power was needed, more souls, and began to plan to raid the surface to bring back more sacrifices. They began building an army of golem constructs. However, the Seal machine was damaged during the aengudaemon’s escape. Vengeful souls managed to manifest as spectral creatures, possessing the dead, the golem constructs and some of the machinery. The surviving dwarves, consisting of the machine architects, the lords and king and the few surviving military were too few to fight them and were killed. The spectral manifestations of the sacrificed dwarves decided that the Seal could not be allowed to consume more souls. While they could influence the world, they did not possess the power to destroy the machine. Instead, they sealed the city and took the five keys to the Hall of the Ancients to the far corners of the world so that the city could never be opened again. Later, Garzardiel would deceive Aeriel and trap her in the soul capacitors. An archaengul provided more than enough power to operate the machine. Garzardiel then used the Ethereal Magnet to capture Iblees in one last battle and sealed him into the pocket dimension, where he could not interact with the outside world at all. Aeriel soon realised Garzardiel’s gambit: while Aeriel could easily escape the soul capacitors, doing so would break them, freeing both Iblees and a countless bodiless dwarven souls which Iblees would then consume and reach his full power once more. She either had to stay and be the force holding Iblees out of the world, or unleash him wielding untold power (and that’s relative to archdaemon power). So Aeriel stayed, slowly reaching out to the Ascended, hoping that her servants would find a way to free her without bringing about the doom of the world.