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The transcripts of the Xionist way made their way into the public by the hands of dark-clad messengers; declaring to the world, by word and by offering the good book of Xion, that Xionism has come again, but it has come again in it's greater, true form. [ This is not yet public IC, only OOC. Knowledge of this ideology cannot spread unless by direct word of mouth -- until release, that is! This has been a project of many months, slaved over in collaboration between Zarsies and I in an effort to introduce a new system of beliefs to both the normal character and those of darker orientation. Xionism provides a wide spectrum of yore to fit many profiles in hopes that all leagues of the community may take after this time-be public information, and thus introduce a new form of roleplay in the server. Everyone IC may find a book of Xion containing these expansive details and believe in it as they would any other public faith. The project is nearly complete, and may be updated in the future, but for all intents and purposes, it is finally released. Enjoy! ] Xionism The Faith of Primeval Man "We are born by the Dark; Made Men by the Dark; Undone by the Dark; We fear the Old Dark." - The Adage of the Old Lords Excerpts The Dawn of Creation - i The Exegesis of the Banks; 1.1 The Exegesis of the Old Ones; 1.2 The Exegesis of Calor Mors; 1.3 The First Ages of Man - ii The Exegesis of Man; 2.1 The Exegesis of the Lordsake; 2.2 The Intrusion of the Immortals - iii The Desolation; Xion - iv The Fates of the Lords; 4.1 The Foundation of Xionism - v The Basis of Xionism; 5.1 The Denominations of Xionism; 5.2 The Power-Scales of Xionism Practices of Xion; 5.3 Glossary - vi Terms and Definitions; 6.1 Names, Titles, and Legends; 6.2 ~:;:~ The Dawn of Creation, i In the beginning, there was only darkness; an endless emptiness where time did not exist, and the abyss was infinite and unshined. This place was known as the Void, where chaos controlled all things: where everything and nothing took place at the same time. As said in the accounts of the wizard Availer, there was a great flash of light in the Void, and from a shining breach in its abyss came the nameless Creator. It was from him that the cosm of Creation was formed; that a grand veil was shaped around his essence, keeping the chaos at bay while laws and structures were applied to the Creator’s empty realm. The breach in existence continued to shine upon Creation, strengthening the Veil and keeping the horrors of the Void from entering. From his endless banks of power, the Creator shaped two prime elements: light, which reflected raw Creation, and dark, which stood as it's shadow and reflection. From light, the Creator shaped the immortals, whom directly descended and bore fractions of their father’s power. To them he gifted the realms of light, known now as the Seven Skies. From dark, the Creator shaped the soul, as well as Aos and Eos. From the clay and water of these material realms, creatures of sentience were born to inhabit the lands, granted the lesser souls of beasts. From the cleanest essence of the seas and from the sturdiest stones of the mountains, four men and four women were shaped, and then blessed with the souls of Men; the greatest embodiments of the dark, of which the four men were deemed the Four Brothers. Upon the centerpoint of the realm Aos, Aegis was deemed their birthplace. The Exegesis of the Banks “In a dark time, the eye begins to see, I meet my shadow in the deepening shade; I hear my echo in the echoing wood-- A lord of nature weeping to a tree. I live between the heron and the wren, Beasts of the hill and serpents of the den. What's madness but nobility of soul? I am quintessence; darkness, what light can never cull.” As equilibrium was settled upon the realms of light and dark, with Men in their mortal realms and immortals in their skies of light, the Creator recognized that the realms of dark did not reflect that of light in the means that gifted the Four Brothers and the one race of Man bore no power of Creation. Thus the Creator recognized this weakness, and fearing that the mortal realms would succumb to chaos and undoing, he granted to these realms the banks of life: massive collections of a pure quintessence of dark, known as lifeforce, of which brought order and balance to each mortal world by the laws of the Cycle of the Banks. The Cycle was deemed the true moderator of the mortal realms, for upon every living being was a tie to the banks and the lifeforce that lingered them. Lifeforce itself was what caused life itself to function; without lifeforce, the heart could not beat, and thus Men would be condemned to flesh of cold stone and blood of brackish water without it. With the banks to breath life into the realms of Man, it communed with their mortal souls and made them compassionate, it gave them reason, and it made them alive -- bringing to light the formation of all organic life destined to sprawl across Aos and Eos, forms plentiful and never few. The Aspects, immortals claimed to be the rulers of nature, are condemned as false lords: for they sought to usurp the control of the banks for themselves, and thus rule all of life; but could not pass the jurisdiction of their Creator, therefore dwarfing heavily their control on the true Cycle of things. The Exegesis of the Old Ones “That is not dead which can eternal lie; And with strange aeons, even death may die.” When the Creator shaped the quintessence of dark, he was uncertain of it’s power; fearing what it would do to his mortal children, the Four Brothers, should he cast it upon both them and all the desolate, lifeless world. So the nameless Creator looked beyond his cosm of light and dark, his Creation, and reached past the veil; snatching from the precipices of the Void two great terrors, with one of graceful, drifting make of merciful spirit, and the other a maddening coil of limbs wrapped around a knowing mind. The Creator offered to these otherlings souls to imbue them to a world greater than that of the Void, and an essence to bring them the contentment of the dark; and thus they accepted, for they did not know of the Creator’s true bindings. For the amalgam of wisdom and limbs, he granted unto it the name Widukind; and shaped it into a seed, planting it deep into the ground. The Creator condemned Widukind to an existence of stillness, with limbs to grow again as stiff roots imprisoned deep within the mortal earth, and all around it. Thus Widukind became the first tree -- and thus became the herald of all trees and green life to come. For the graceful and drifting one, he granted unto it the name of Dresdrasil; and shaped it into a great angel of the flesh, bound for the sea, and thus plummeted it into the endless oceans. The Creator condemned Dresdrasil to the existence of a water-wayfarer, imprisoning her within the depthless deep. Thus Dresdrasil became the mother of all beasts of the waters of all seas: the herald of depthless horrors, and forebear of the simplest of shoreline dwellers. But the Creator was not satisfied, for more work was to be done upon the mortal realms. Thus, he reached down and tore a great root from the earth, cursing Widukind to bleed eternally and writhe in pain for a year; causing the worlds to lurch, and shape mountains, hills, deserts. Thereafter, the Creator granted a soul to the stolen root; naming it Feldamfir. Feldamfir awoke enraged, for the lifeforce of Widukind dwelled him, and the first tree’s spite of the Creator therein carried on into his soul. So Feldamfir was recognized for his fury and was set upon the world with the task to carve them grand caverns and canyons. Thus, Feldamfir became the World-Eater, and was condemned to a millennium of slumber after his duty was complete in soon time. Thus the trifecta of the beyond became the heralds of all greater shape in the mortal world, but retained promise in their gifted souls to take revenge upon their oppressor in the end and tear the cosm asunder. The Exegesis of Calor Mors “There shall be three years of terrible winters, and summers of black sunlight; Divided man will lose all hope, and succumb to sin, accursed interbreeding, and war; Fêldamfir, the World Eater, shall come lunging from the earth - buckling the mountains and folding the realms; Dresdrasil, the Mother, shall go into a frenzy, and drown all life with the ocean’s tides; Iblees, the Betrayer, will come flaming across the cosm to destroy the Seven Skies; The Immortals shall enter the realms of mortality one last time to do battle with the rebelling Old Ones; Gazardiael will slay Fêldamfir, but die from it's bite; Widukind’s scorched roots shall twist in panic, and crush the remnants of the mortal world; And finally, the fiends of the Void will seek the Creator’s shining breach in existence, and devour the sun.” The exegesis of Calor Mors bears a prophecy that foretells of the cosmos’ utter destruction, and death for all whom inhabit it. It is the point in existence when the immortals whom sacrifice themselves to become stars run out of incandescent power to light up all of Creation in the wake of the sun’s transition to night, and when the sun itself, being the tear which the Creator came from, begins to flicker and darken as the Veil, the wall that separates the Void from Creation, is breached by the limitless Voidal horrors beyond it. Upon the darkening of the stars, Fêldamfir the World Eater, whom had devoured a majority of Athera, will go mad and seek to desolate the mortal planes of Aos and Eos. As all of mortality die in this undoing, they die cursed as their wretchedness remains as their sole legacy. By some means, Iblees shall gain power from this cataclysm and break free from his prisons to bring mayhem to the realms of the immortals. He will occupy all that Creation does not fill with fire and shadow, and after the oldest known of the immortals, Gazardiael, comes down to battle crazed Fêldamfir, he shall slay it but die from the wounds it afflicted upon him. Widukind, the Child of the Wood, shall be burned by Iblees’ fires, and crush the mortal planes around his hold in alarm. Dresdrasil, the mother of the seas, will will the waves to drown the remnants of life. The crescendo of Calor Mors transpires when the Immortals fail to overpower all of the Old Ones, wherein their distractedness causes the sun to be swallowed by invading Voidal horrors; thus utterly erasing all light and Creation and restoring the gap it formed in the endless abyss. “Calor Mors” means “light death” in the supposed tongue of the immortals, referencing the undoing of the sun. It is a prophecy said to happen many eras - thousands and thousands of years - after the dawn of Creation, and is inescapable, for the immortals who sacrificed themselves to become stars to keep the Veil protected from the Void did not realize their endless power was able to be nulled, thus snuffing out their light. The cause of this sudden lack of power is said to come when the essence of chaos overtakes that of all structure and order in Creation, causing cosmic laws to either become distorted or defunct entirely. The Black Nexus, the artifact that empowers the existence of the Khôrguul (the Dark Wraiths) was feared in the past by Xionist seers for it's possible destruction, for the raw essence of chaos dwelled it's containment, and upon the Nexus’ destruction would be released into the mortal world; bringing about events similar to Calor Mors, but on a much smaller scale confined only to the mortal realms. The First Ages of Man, ii “Their faces were not made for wrinkles, their pure blood to stagnate, their great hearts to fail; The blank grey was not made to blast their hair, But like the climes that know nor snow nor hail, They were all summer; lightning might assail And shiver them to ashes, but to trail a long and snake-like life of dull decay was not for them—they had too little clay.” In the beginning, when the Creator shaped the Four Brothers and their wives, he named unto them the race of Man. As the Four Brothers were shaped in one similar, humanoid image, the Four Brothers and their primeval descendents all bore a similar, perfected visage; as though fragments, all pieces of one great image of mortal flawlessness. Horen was of a sturdy heart and of the greatest compassion, but was neither tall nor short, nor strong nor weak. Malin was lithe, taller than his other brothers, and with a mind brimming with intellect and kindness. Urguan was stocky and honed, chiseled like a statue, but with kind eyes and an honorable soul. Finally, Krug was like a tower, brutish and huge, but of all Four Brothers he bore the greatest wisdom. It is said, in the first year before history, that the Four Brothers bore flesh of cold stone and blood of brackish water, for their God forged them of the darkest of four souls, the greatest of four Lordsakes, but without the warm aura of life. So the Creator brought forth the quintessence of lifeforce to the mortal worlds and blessed the Four Brothers before their stoney existence was passed on to their unborn sons. For an age - the age of Man - the Four Brothers and their descendents lived in peace, for the warm darkness of their souls did not yet know of sin nor strife. The Exegesis of the Lordsake “And that was our business -- war. We bought our daily bread with coin paid to us for conquering; perhaps us getting killed was just balancing the scales.” When the essence of souls and the essence of life were formed by the Creator, he applied unto the souls of all Men an inherit power that reflects the actions of mortality to very present day; the power of Lordsakes, shadowed shards of cosmic authority that stood as the very core as mortal charisma -- the very push and pull of a lord’s ways, of a king’s ways, and the reason that their ultimate word held great sway over kingdoms and empires of future fragmented Men. The Lordsakes were no artifacts, nor any enchanted items, nor any arcane power, but merely the way of mortal will; how the passion of a king can drive forth his kingdom, and how the rites of succession shall pass such power down to both sons and conquering foes. There lies an old legend detailing the nature of the Lordsakes, and their exact origin, reading as followed from ancient texts; As the Creator forged Man, gave him life, and imbued him with a soul, he set upon each of them - the Four - four Lordsakes to match the number of the brothers, and as these Lordsakes were set upon their soul essences, an existential scale coiled around the berth of the mortal planes. The Lordsakes were destined to deem the Four Brothers as sole rulers of the race of Man, yet, there were four Lordsakes -- not one. The old Seers of Aegis said, “the one who controls the sole Lordsake, controls the world”, for the nature of the Lordsake was to be singular, wielded by one king and one king alone; the king of kings, the king of Men, and the lord of the planes of dark. But the Creator feared this prospect -- he feared it for it destined Man to make rise of a king powerful enough to match his own cosmic authority, for the Creator was the king of all light, and bore no right to stand as the king of Men when he himself was no mortal at all. So the Creator shattered the one Lordsake into four pieces, and gifted them in secret to the Four Brothers recently forged. This was the intention of the Lordsakes; to remain with the Four Brothers so they may retain reign forever more. However, blackness came upon them, usurping them from their thrones whenever history marked them to fall. So the four Lordsakes descended to rest as the burdens as the next four kings to take the brothers’ places. But with the passing of the Fallen One’s First Sin, Man’s hearts had been tainted by their disunity and the unseen aura their first enemy exuded; causing havoc, rebellion, and inner-conflict to sprout within the four kingdoms of remnant Man. So the four Lordsakes shattered, by nature, into smaller pieces; all clinging to the souls of the rebel lords throughout ancient history. Each generation brought different rebel lords, or dukes who attained kingship through abandonment of the state their loyalty lied in; and each generation, the Lordsakes broke down until they were tiny pieces, held by all remnant Men who stood as leaders of other many Men under their banners. But the Seers of the Dissentuous Way foretold this prophecy: one day, a true descendant of the race of Man shall rise up, and take claim to the world -- conquering all known lands and thus attaining the sole Lordsake, the right to rule all of mortality. The right to mirror the light of the Creator, and to stand in his shadow as his equal in the dark. The Intrusion of the Immortals, iii “‘Whom the gods love die young’ was said of yore, And many deaths do they escape by this: The death of friends, and that which slays even more— The death of friendship, love, youth, all that is, Except mere breath; and since the silent shore awaits at last even those who longest miss the old archer’s shafts, perhaps the early grave which men weep over may be meant to save.” The old Daemon Iblees grew curious of mortal contentment, and thus stepped down from the Seven Skies to embrace the peace of the dark; not knowing his mortal essence of light was not meant to become one with its’ counterpart. So the dark that clung to his being shrouded the light of his existence, and corrupted the mortal quintessence he embraced. Iblees became fallen; in limbo between the light and the dark, embodying the very precipices of chaos that lingered outside the cosmic veil of Creation. This is written as the First Sin; for from his foolishness, Iblees became a bastion of ill will and sin, which tainted the centerland of Aegis with each step he took upon it. His curiosities turned to spite, wherein he tried to trick the Four Brothers with promise of false glory and power. Krug, the wisest, saw through the ruse, and was quick to wage battle against the fallen Immortal; but was burned whole by his counterstrike. From this, the race of Man was destined to be tainted by evil, for when the Fallen One committed the First Sin, it’s malignant fallout breached all souls of mortality and sprouted like a cancer. Thus, they discovered war, and waged it against Iblees for thirty years. In time, the Fallen One fell to their mortal powers, but in turn cast a spell upon each of the Four - declaring them cursed as such; Horen’s sons shall be short-lived, with the burden of time’s scythe lying heavy upon their shoulders. Malin’s sons shall suffer sparse sons, and seek companionship of the oaks in search of lives less lonely. Urguan’s sons shall be born shorter than he, and shall not inherit his kindness, but black greed. Krug’s sons shall be born burned, with his blood-bound wisdom shrouded by blood-born fury. But it was not the curses that Iblees hoped to break the Four with, but the undoing of their unity. No longer were they mortal man, but were mere mortal humans, elves, orcs and dwarves; splintered and factionalized by the Fallen One’s affliction. The dawn of this disunity falls not only upon Iblees, however, but also upon Aerial - for she came down to bless their curses away with false promises and hollow magic. The fragmentation of the race of Man under these Immortal methods was deemed the Second Sin. Aerial’s blessings were falsehoods, for she gifted to the descendents what they already bore: She blessed Horen with the ascension to the Seven Skies upon death, condemning the souls of his mortal sons both alive and unborn to dwell a plane of existence in which they do not belong. This promise tainted the human race, and cursed future generations to faith in Immortals an a Creator ever-absent; leaving their prayers to fall upon deaf ears, and to leave them both ignorant and unanswered. She blessed Malin with long life, shrouding his mind with impatience, for life under her magic became a breeding stigma and the conception of an elderly, tired culture obsessive for the sparse chance of children. She blessed Urguan with strength, when they were already mighty - leaving the dwarves to question their ire and collect within great clans of the earth to put a shroud over their false weakness. She blessed Krug with honor; that which his children already had, therein clouding their wisdom further with backward barbarism and tribalistic ways, for they aligned their honor with the uncertain spirits in desperation for another font of wisdom to guide them. The intrusion of Iblees and Aerial caught the attention of the other powerful Immortals who, though it was against their father’s wishes, saw merit in mortal meddling; some seeing the broken race of Man as malleable, and others looking upon them with pity. This brought forth the Third Sin; when the Immortals meddled with the mortals like puppets, condemning all humans, elves, orcs and dwarves to the scourge of deific agendas, and generations of shadowed proxy wars. The Desolation; Xion, iv “Remember Aegis; may the Abyss whisper up to you from its’ ageless darkness, ‘Go tell the dissentuous, passerby, that here by Immortal law, Xion shall lie.’” At the peak of the war of the Ascended and the Undead, Aegis was torn asunder and sickened by the miasma of the Fallen One. Little could the Ascended do but offer false hope; leaning on crutches and depending on the races of remnant Man in order to charge into battle, leaving their white visages untouched by the grime of war’s spilt blood and battlefield soot. The four great seats of the descendents had fallen threefold, with Malinor the only bastion remaining. As remnant Man plunged themselves into the Nether in a frenzied search to destroy the source of Iblees’ power, his trap had already been readied; they destroyed the nexus of the realm of fire, and released it upon the centerland of Aegis. All of it was scorched black by a fire that would not die; leaving mortals still living to flee to the ports of another mortal world, entered by a portal heralded by the white wizard Availer. But even as the remnants of Man escaped hellfire and Immortal fury, the desolation continued-- for the Aengul Aerial descended onto the charred land of Aegis in order to make battle with Iblees, the Fallen One, whom rose from the hellfires unleashed by his destroyed nexus. Those that heralded the old Dissentuous Way beheld the battle themselves-- the Lord of Embers and the Lord of the Dark, whereas the Nameless Lord and the Lord of the Oaks were far beyond the wasteland of Aegis; unable to behold the blinding visage of the battle that the Lords of Embers and Dark beheld. It is said by the Lord of Embers, the herald of the Way of Embers, that before the fallout of the Immortal duel unraveled his soul, he escaped into the darkest of caverns; catching only a glimpse of the terrible cataclysm that the Immortals set upon the sacred mortal centerland. And thus the Abyss was born -- a giant scar which encompasses all that Aegis once had before it. Horrified by the destruction of Aegis, the Lord of Embers cursed the name of the Immortals, and proclaimed the Abyss as the damned realm of Xion. And thus the name Xion was born, and Xionism arisen, for beneath the earth and upon the edge of Xion itself, the Lord of Embers coveted it’s doctrines in wait for one to claim them. The Fates of the Lords After the first ages of Man passed and as the 30 year war made it’s dawn, four lords under Horen sought to combat the Fallen One with a power as great as his own; and thus they set out and found the gift of a Draakar, rejected by all but them, for they recognized it’s potential. From the artifact came great knowledge and the power of darkening - to steal away immortal power, and then shift it from a magic of light, to dark. They used the darkening to steal away Iblees’ corrupted essence and transform it into an art of worldly alignment and higher truth, lending the four lords the powers to manipulate life itself. With this, they achieved mortal transcendence, and affixed upon their souls an everlasting nature. But as the next millennia came to pass, the lords grew less fond of the descendents, for they were fractured and fragmented by the old Fallen One’s curses. So within this millenia they forged the Dissentuous Way - to dissent against the immortals. It was by this way many primeval mortals lived, for in the old times the words of the transcendent lords could be heard unbiased; untainted by the present day hold in which the immortals have upon the remnants of Man. Thus many came to follow the lords and their ideology. But their followings faded overtime, with the Dissentuous Way less of an occult presence, and more of tribal faith. The seers of the old times guided descendents who would heed their grim wisdoms, and it was through these seers that the ways of the lords were kept alive, even as the lords themselves secluded themselves to darkness. Thus they watched the world through the millennia, shrouded by night and the shadows of day. Soon, time waned upon them, and in due time, the four lords became three, for the one known as the Nameless Lord set off north to forge great glories, and was never seen again. So the three lords lingered until the desolation of Aegis by the coming of the Undead. As great catacalysmic fires fell upon the centerland upon the first condemning day of the great exodus, a great fear fell upon the three lords; and while one, the Lord of Oaks, walked in the shadow of remnant Man and followed them into the Verge, the other two remained near their homeland, wishing to see it fall as they saw it rise. The one known as the Lord of Embers fled to the lands of Urguan to the east and beheld a battle of immortals take place upon broken Aegis, but was forced to flee beneath the earth as the hellfires of divine war reached far and blinded the lord. But the Lord of the Dark remained within charred Aegis itself, and as Aegis came to shatter and become the Abyss, the Lord of the Dark sank with it; becoming one with Xion while his brother would tell of the great sin from afar. The Foundation of Xionism, v “Xionism hath been deemed Xionism in tribute to the land of Xion; all that encompasses the Abyss and it's scars. But the name it is a scar itself; like flesh distorted by fire, it is different. It hides the true name of what once lingered, and what now stands as the Wound of the World. The ancient Lord of Embers spoke of brilliant lights and deafening booms when he dwelled the old lands prior to the Abyss' forging. It was only after the gaping maw had been shaped that he realized what had taken place. It was then he realized that two divines invaded a realm they do not belong to, to wage a battle upon land they hold reign over, to settle a score they wrought in their own skies. They brought their destruction to Old Aegis and undid it. It was not enough that the fires of the Betrayer had scorched it black -- they thought tearing it asunder like the sandpit of a child was appropriate action. As if the world would not notice. If one wishes to regard any sin as the greatest it would be this one. The centerpoint of this estranged, unexplained cosmos had been wiped clean from the slate. The first thing that the absent Creator created had been eviscerated by His children. And now we are cursed with a cycle; to occupy land, destroy it, and move. To act as the malignant nomad, unaware of our ways. This is the core of Xionism; vengeance. We few seek vengeance for what hath been stolen. The world was not meant to endure such sorrow, as to witness the end of the First Creation.“ -The Origin of Xion “Mortality -- a term used to define man. Any who was born of life is defined as mortal, regardless of state among the spectrum between life and death, all defined as one under Mortality. Deities, however, are born of immortality and without the potential of death, only imprisonment or weakening. They are not of Mortality, rather Immortality.” -The Origin of Xion The Disiples of Xion, referred to as Xionists, are those who adhere to the ideology of Xion. Adherents cite the Aenguls and Daemons as the source of destruction, as they are otherworldly and invade our realm in order to weave destruction. Some outright kill, some weave plague and woe, others oppose mortal powers. All oppress mortality and have taken the throne as ruler of ourselves. Each commit sacrilege against the likes of mortality and desecrate our world. Xion seeks to usurp them, to regain control of ourselves and eject the deceivers from their stolen seats. The manner in which said removal is to be performed is through unification. The gods act as parasites: they require worship in order to uphold additional scales of power. By spreading the ideology of antitheism and Xion, it instills a stigma and disdain for godly worship. In this awareness, said worship will dwindle in popularity and draws mortality closer to usurping the gods by weakening them. However the gods are few, and Mortality is many, yet the power is divided still. Only through unification of all mortals to fight the gods may, as together we are mighty but alone we are lesser. Unification can only come through conversion, thus Xion seeks to add to its numbers hugely by spreading its truths. Another facet of Xionism is the definition of Dark and mortal powers. Mortality, due to their relation to death, are thus the most related to it and therefore embody it via living or otherwise; mortal beings are dark by their very nature due to their likeness with death. Deities, however, are embodiments of light in relation to mortality’s darkness out of their polar state of lacking death entirely. This delimits the conflict between the two, contributing to the validity of the statement that the divines are few, bright lights in a sea of black. Out of this nature, that man is dark and gods are light, that mortal powers are called dark arts. They are the magics in which earthly substances -- lifeforce, blood, and ectoplasm -- are manipulated, making for such magics to be revered as sacred and hallowed. When these magics are wielded by man -- mortal powers for mortal use -- threaten the tyranny of the gods and hence lead to their suppression via calling them shameful, chaotic, and inherently deadly. Albeit, this is untrue when properly used within the doctrines of Xion, where dark arts are not abused to give legitimacy to these claims and rather come to uphold the points of dignity, order, and glory. The way of Xionism is rooted in the older ideology of the way of Dissent, or the Dissentuous Way; a sect of beliefs based on the separation of mortal and immortal worlds. Upon the creation of accursed Xion, the faith of man took new shape, Xionism. Hatred and the desire for vengeance has forged anew the Dissentuous Way, with anger toward the Seven Skies, among all other meddling deities, keeping the ideology anchored and alive. To be one with Xionism is to be one with the mortal worlds - to reject all otherworldly influence and seek the prosperity of remnant Man, and to seek a reshaping of the race of Man at the peak of this success. The Creator had created the cosm of Creation and halved it for a purpose - one side was aligned with light, to be inhabited by the metaphysical Immortals. The other sideways material and real and alive, to be inhabited by mortals. Light and dark were designated as primeval aspects of the universe, not scales of moral alignment; it is order and chaos which dictates truest moral scale, and it is by Xion doctrine that the intrusion of the Immortals into the realms of dark is deemed a display of chaos - chaos and havoc, in a universe destined for order and structure. Only by equilibrium may such terrible errors be reversed, even though the Immortals have left their mark on the realms they were not allowed to linger. Equilibrium is the universal status of balance, wherein light and dark are separate in the cosm - where the immortals remain in their planes of light, and the mortals in their planes of dark, with neither intruding in the opposite. And it is by separate ruling - where each realm is ruled by the greatest embodiment of the realm’s primeval aspect - that equilibrium may be truly sought. It is said in ancient legends that the one king of Man shall rise up and proclaim himself the Provident, and meet with the Creator upon the line where dark and light meet to agree to terms in which universal equilibrium is based upon. Such a prospect has never been sought, for the Immortals have actively tried to prevent mortal independence; shaping factions and appointing false kings and stirring puppet wars in order to keep mortality without its one true king, the Provident. Only when the factions are erased, and all of remnant Man rally under one ruler, may he cry “I AM PROVIDENCE”, and banish deific invaders from his kingdom of dark - the mortal realms. It is by the acclimation of the one Lordsake - the right to rule all of mortality with no opposing factions present - that the Provident may come and assure equilibrium. On a final note, Xionism is not a religion. Rather, an anti-religion, or system of beliefs. Most Xionists hail the Creator, however denounce the rape and molestation of Mortality acted out by His divine children The Denominations of Xion Within the Xionist ideology are four sects of faith dedicated to the four lords of the old times whom heralded the Dissentuous Way, the ideological forebear to Xionism. Each denomination is named after the titles of their respective lords, and their written details here are written interpretations of the personal dogma and ways of each lord over each denomination. As all denominations bar the Way of Embers have yet to be fully explored and understood beyond the prophetic sayings of the Lord of Embers in the land of Xion, the denominations are summarized into the scriptures presented as thus: The Way of Embers The Way of: Fire Herald: The Lord of Embers Emblem: A shadowed flame. Championed by: Xionist Seers, whom take after the traditions of the wise men of yore whom followed the ways of old four lords with great fervor and bore the power of prophetic foresight through the arcane of cognatism. Primary Beliefs: - Advocates the removal of all divine influences (Aengulic and Daemonic, false-deific, and spiritual) from the mortal realm via force. - Seeks utmost equilibrium in the ancient cosmos by keeping the Creator's differing children in their own designated lands, so one side may not invade the other -- e.g. divines meddling or attacking the mortal realms and so-forth. - Covets fire as an embodiment of this equilibrium, revering it as a balance between both light and dark and how they may so easily coexist with one-another. "The greater the flame, the deeper the shadow". - Reveres man itself and envisions a mortal world ruled by mortality alone and by the faith invested in the magnificent powers of mortality (as displayed with lifeforce, blood and ectoplasm -- the latter mostly being more of a worldly element, similarly to lifeforce). - Establishes undead kinas transcendents, or noble races. They are deemed proof that man may rule the existential forces planted by the Creator and shed themselves of mortal weakness and into the spectrum of unlife without the power of divines. - Advocates godly servant prosecution or conversion, not godly murder. - Seeks an “Age of Fire”, where all things are equal again and man no longer suffers the plight of divine interaction. Proper Tribute: Ashes of the dead, candles, funeral pyres, broken deific relics, volcanic glass, and charred stones from the land of Xion. The Way of the Dark The Way of: Umbrage Herald: The Lord of the Dark Emblem: A black sun. Championed by: Darkreavers, whom are practitioners of the great mortal powers and masters in the understanding of the cosmos. They actively oppose any immortal or deific servitude they come across, and dedicate themselves to unraveling both the four curses and undiscovered means to transcend mortality. Primary Beliefs: - Advocates the utter removal and then complete destruction of all divine or nonmortal powers in the Creator's cosmos, allowing transcendent man to rule it entirely instead. - Disagrees with the concept of mortality itself, and instead suggests the notion that all races should become Transcendents and thus "unbound from the shackles set by a mistaken maker". - Believes the sun itself should not exist, and that the raw power and quintessence of primeval humanity - lifeforce - should be willed to rise up from the universe's nigh-limitless banks to utterly cloud the cosmos in darkness, thus shielding Transcendents from the light and giving them constant, endless fuel. - Establishes the cosmos itself was shaped to be explored and it's puzzles solved. This involves a heavy involvement with all types of dark magic, most prominently dark arts, and an abundance of astronomical study, observations, and experimentation, as well as Void meddling and Horror-communing. - Reveres darkness as the greatest force that exists, only hampered by the dying light of the Creator and his remnants. The quintessence of man, or lifeforce, is thus revered as practical divinity, as is the Void for its vastness, it's potent arcane secrets, it's antediluvian and sacred denizens, and it's own darkness. The Void is believed to be eternally dark, as it is directly referenced in the Wandering Wizard's origin stories that all things were simply darkness before a bright light suddenly appeared in the Void (the event of Creation). - Seeks an “Age of Umbrage”, where the Transcendents rule all things and the Dark is the sole power in the universe; mimicking the timeless peace that "existed" in the Void prior to the Creator's coming. Proper Tribute: Soulless phylacteries, black silk, the blood of dragonkin, skulls, and both crow and raven feathers. The Way of the Oaks The Way of: Harmony Herald: The Lord of the Oaks Emblem: A decrepit, sagacious willow. Championed by: Weirhents, pseudo-Druids whom wield the power of life control to nurture the land, understand it's plights, and safeguard the coveted cycle of the banks. Primary Beliefs: - Bears the same anti-deific basis as the other covenants, but reveres peaceful approach and pacifist outlooks on the matter instead of outright force. - Covets lifeforce as the true ruler of mortal existence, defining it as an omnipotent function in which all life is controlled. It is suggested that he who controls lifeforce, controls the world, and thus accepts the same mantle as lifeforce itself -- keeping the world alive and balanced. This is best described as a truly natural alternative to Druidism. Brandhean "Druids" are called Weirhents: life force manipulators who solely use the power of lifeforce control to move lifeforce around the land to where it's needed and able to nurture naturally. - The eternal banks of lifeforce are described as the greatest gift of the Creator, and that they had been breached unnaturally via the Creation of the Abyss or Xion -- shaping them their own unique reason to despise the gods. - Instead of mortal man simply existing without the tainted presence of divines, the Weirhents advocate for complete reversion of the mortal races, where all actual races are nullified and the Four Descendants may simply become Man, one and united and without the distortions of racial distinction and divine curses, which have caused cultures and differing races to clash countlessly throughout history. Achieving this is foretold to initiate the "Age of Harmony". Proper Tribute: The branches of old birch trees, vials of healthy soil, a fresh bounty of old meat, raw hides and furs, berries, and antlers. The Nameless Way The Way of: Strife Herald: The Nameless Lord Crest: A shattered sword impaled into a bonfire of bones. Primary Beliefs: - Embodies the struggles of man and the erosion war brings. - Fire is coveted as the raw embodiment of change, which relates to the basis struggle or warfare, in which the basis of Dark and Light is defined: two aspects of existence which were designed to nullify each other. Thus, the inheritors of these aspects (men and gods) are fates to conflict. - Does not advocate for the removal of divines, but rather an eternal struggle against them where neither side is truly destroyed and where their conflict forces an unsteady equilibrium. The battle can never end, because if one aspect was to exist, the cosmos would then be imbalanced and the victor element would grow stagnant with nothing to challenge. - Reveres battle, courage, wisdom and history. History is coveted a great deal, as it retells the mistakes made in the past, and defines the greater truths and wrongdoings committed in the primeval yore. - Pays lesser mind to lifeforce and magic, regarding them as doctrine-diluting properties which only lessens the glory of battle with unnatural trickery. The magical forces of Man, such as the power of blood and lifeforce, are explained to be what allows man to function as he does, and are better of not tampered with. - Agrees with the basis of racial distinctions, unlike Lord of the Oak’s doctrines, as it invites strife and thus battle, allowing the same equilibrium of conflict to take place in the mortal realms. - Seeks the Age of Dissention, where the entites of light and dark lock the cosmos in unending battle -- wedging this conflict between the two realms of existence and thus assuring peace for either planes (immortal and mortal) while retaining a battleground in which every man and god may prove their worth. Proper Tribute: Broken armaments of war, ashes of a battlefield, the blood of a solider, helmets, the crowns of conquered lords, gold coins and the scales of dragonkin. Each Old Lord deserves respect and tribute for their establishments of Xionism each take admirable goals; those who agree most with a given Herald of the denominations may pay tribute to them most while those who disagree mostly with a given Herald may give tribute very rarely. It is an expectation within Xionism to study the Heralds, regardless of denomination, and appreciate their ideology. In this, it is easiest to define one’s self as a certain denomination once all sectors are fully understood. However, note that there are cross-denominations. One may align with The Way of Embers on all parts but not so much in the realm of force, thus they fall onto the Lord of the Oak’s beliefs of pacifism.There are, of course, those who graze on the denominations and have their stakes in each sector. Those who believe this are called Xionists as they lack any conforming set to name themselves from the Old Lords. Generalized Xion is most often taken in the regard of pacifism, antitheism, and dark alignment. The Power-Scales of Xion Xionism houses the dark arts. This is primarily in the sense of containment for civil protection; they are volatile, powerful subjects which are devastating if misused and therefore in common interest are collected in the sake of safety. The scales below list what is held and in what view. Revered Scale ("mortal" magics, or dark arts solely aligned with Xionist ideals): - Life Control - Mysticism - Blood Magic These magics are honored and taught with much discretion in order to have their names and powers kept noble. Average Scale (common and generally impotent or irrelevant dark arts): - Soul Puppetry - Contract Magic These magics are generally ordinary and are not pinnacles of mortal power, rather familiarities with the aforementioned revered magics. Forbidden / Lost / Unstable Scale (Taboo matters and magic that is deliberately self-harmful or enables anti-Xionist conglomerates): - Dark Shamanism - Shade Magic - Fi'hiiran’tayna -Harbinger Arcane These magics offend Xion directly by its core, as Dark Shamanism relies on orcish spirits -- labeled akin to Aengulic and Daemonic powers, Shades are extremely violent and unpredictable if not dominated and are direct byproducts of Iblees, and Fi’ acts as a bane against the dark arts much like holy magic. The Primeval Laws of Xion As rewrit from the Lord of Embers, passed down to the Lord of Ashes, and then scribed unto this tome, the ancient laws of Xion are thus: i (o) - The presence or influence of all forms of deities shall be opposed, aggressively or passively, in the midst of the mortal realms. ii (x) - All powers granted by all forms of deities shall be rejected if offered, and discarded by those who bore them when taken into the way of Xion. iii (x) - Any alignments to all forms with deities shall be broken, and pacts with those who seek to become False Gods shall be ignored. Fallen Gods, too, shall be ignored. iv (o) - All fictitious or otherwise unproved or unprovable deities shall be condemned as falsehoods. v (x) - Powers of direct descent from deities, having not been touched by the ancient magic of darkening, shall be studied and judged, and if found to draw from deific sources, shall be condemned. vi (x) - Conflict shall be waged with all maleficar should they not passively surrender their blind ways, powers and alignments. vii (x)- All deific-born races, or races of deific descendent, shall be captured, judged and condemned to either death or confinement (imprisonment). viii (x) - Relics and artifacts of deific power shall be destroyed or contained (imprisoned) if unable to be reverted by the lost power of darkening. viv (x) - Servants or beasts born of deific power, malicious or benevolent, shall be hunted and therein destroyed or contained (imprisoned) until they condemn their corrupt existence and align with Xion. x (x) - Deific idols and tributes, upon discovery, shall be either destroyed or put under the watch of Xionist jurisdiction, preserved and contained and inaccessible by all. xi (o) - All denominations shall follow a pact of neutrality and never incite war with other denominations of Xion. All disagreements shall be settled in duels of either to death or incapacitation, and denomination-wide feuds shall be settled upon duels between the designated leader of each sect of Xion. xii (x) - Arcane and dark arts of mortal origin shall never be used to assist and empower any deities. xiii (o) - Xionists shall never inflict harm upon, steal or harbor ill-will for other Xionists, and all feuds between individual Xionists shall be settled with honorable duels. xvi (o) - The names of the four lords of Xion, if ever learned, shall not be uttered by mortal or transcendent tongue, and may only be spoken by Xionist seers of new generations. Each numeral stands as an officiated law of Xion. The primeval laws follow a sectorial system; when a law is sectorial, certain denominations based on their specific interpretations of the Xionist way can be excluded from following the primeval law. Laws marked as nonsectorial are mandatory, and must be followed by all denominations. Sectiorial laws are marked with a turned cross (x), and nonsectorial laws are marked with a cycle symbol, or a circle (o). Laws are subject to alteration and addition based on the counsel of officiated Xionist covenants and sects. Laws designated as sectorial are laws ii, iii, v, vi, vii, viii, viv, x and xii respectively. As each denomination is allowed to choose which sectorial laws to abide by, their default choosings are as thus: The Way of Embers agrees with laws: ii, iii, v, vii, viii, viv, x and xii. The Way of Embers disagrees with and/or does not abide by with no present laws. The Way of the Dark agrees with laws: vi, vii, viii, viv and x. The Way of the Dark disagrees with and/or does not abide by laws: ii, iii, v and xii. The Way of the Oaks agrees with laws: ii, iii, v and xii. The Way of the Oaks disagrees with and/or does not abide by laws: vi, vii, viii, viv and x. The Nameless Way agrees with laws: ii, vi, vii, viii, viv, x and xii. The Nameless Way disagrees with and/or does not abide by laws: iii and v. The Practices of Xion Traditions pertaining to the ways of Xion, and amid all it's denominations, are as thus; Lords' Days; Within every Provident's Year are four Xionist holidays which consist of at most a Provident's Week-long span of celebration, all upon different dates, and all celebrating a different denomination. Among these Lords' Days are the Days of Embers, in honor of the Lord of Embers, the Days of the Dark, in honor of the Lord of the Dark, the Days of the Oaks, in honor of the Lord of the Oaks, and the Nameless Days, in honor of the Nameless Lord. As the Lords' Days are separated into these Provident's Week-long holidays, they all bear differing distinctions, all accustomed to that of the lord they venerate. The Days of Embers [ The week of Christmas; December 20th-25th ] In honor of the Lord of Embers, Xionists of both the Way of Embers and any denomination are called to gather together to exchange gifts expressing gratitude to their fellow man and ally, and pay respects to the Lord of Embers by facing the direction in which ruined Athera lies, and presenting a gift of ones' own upon the shores of any land occupied by the remnants of Man. It is in this act that the Lord of Embers himself is honored by this generousity, for he still lingers the decimated remains of Athera, and vanguards the land of Xion along the Atheran Abyss. The Days of the Dark [ The week of Halloween; October 26th-31st ] In honor of the Lord of the Dark, Xionists of all denominations are called to shrines dedicated to the old Lord of Dark, and to pay respects to the fallen dead and past Xionists whom sacrificed themselves as martyrs to keep the Dissentuous Way alive, by text, by word, and by action. A great sacrifice of animals is also hosted in order to draw blood and lifeforce from them, as to properly pay respects to the lords' shrines with such offerings of mortal essence. The Days of the Oaks [ The week of Thanksgiving; November 20th-24th ] In honor of the Lord of the Oaks, all Xionists are summoned by those of the Way of the Oaks, or its' champions, the Weirhents, to partake in a grand hunt, and thereafter participate in a great feast fueled by the glories of the prior event. It is a day to pay respects to both the true cycle of life and to that of the Lord of the Oaks, whom may be honored by the catching of worthy and bountiful prey upon equal measures, pitting beast against man in primal chase. The Nameless Days [ The week of Easter; March 23rd-27th ] In honor of the Nameless Lord, Xionists are to convene together to declare a worldwide spectacle of honor, of which may consist of organized battles between those of any nondeific faction, as well as tournaments, in order to prove the worth and mettle of mortal contestants. It is merely by the glory of battle, struggle and victory, and good honor practiced through these things, that the Nameless Lord may be respected and venerated on his designated days of remembrance. Dark Congress; An ancient measure of pacifism that had been practiced by ancient Seers of the Dissentuous Way, a Dark Congress is a reinvigorated Xionist tradition based on the peaceful meeting of both leading or prominent figures of Xion and those they conflict with, of which are primarily those oriented with deity-worshiping factions or others whom waged feuds and war against the Xionist people for long periods of time. It is by the honor of congress measures that the meeting is organized by a prominent figure of Xion, and that all patrons of the Dark Congress come without armaments and ill-will against either side. A Dark Congress can consist of both solely Xionist meetings or Xionists and other factions and parties equally. Those that seek to dishonor a Dark Congress and deter it with violence and spite risk punishment, primarily by those whom organized the gathering, as it is by the honor of the way of Xion that a Dark Congress my take place. Grim Convergence; When no other options are viable, those whom control the Xionist conglomerate and others its' denominations may gather and determine if a Grim Convergence, otherwise named a Converging, is a reasonable option to take. A Grim Convergence is the act of amassing a great army under the call of Xionist leaders to march upon and conquer either a specific location or group of opposing individuals. It is not a brand of campaign dedicated to the eradication of one singular form of opposition, but rather all whom are determined as directs threats or embodiments of dishonor toward the Xionist ideology. Both those of light or dark alignment may suffer the wrath of Grim Convergence if they are considered a great enemy or agents of limbo, or chaos; the greatest of all threats to the mortal worlds. A Grim Convergence is also especially dedicated to the eradication of worldly perils, such as the invasion of False or Fallen Gods. Twin Harmonization; The act of twin harmonization, otherwise known as "throat singing", is embedded in Seerist culture as a form of expression. Those well learned in the way of twin harmonization are often Seers or denomination champions like them, whom may use this throat singing to express an art form relative to Xion (sorrowful tones used mostly for remembrance) among other acts such as public protest or even the intimidation of the enemy. It is said tribes aligned with the Dissentuous Way in the ancient ages very much utilized the art of twin harmonization in order to strike fear into enemies, for a singing army bellowing such tones could be heard for miles and all around a battlefield. Glossary, vi Terms and Definitions Xion; The solemn holyland, it encompasses all of the Abyss and what remains of Aegis. Xion is Aegis - reborn. Aegis; The ancestral realm of the race of Man, and the birthplace of the Four Brothers. First Sin; The sin committed by Iblees when he was the first Immortal to come down and induce imbalance upon the cosmic equilibrium of light and dark, for his immortal presence was wrong amid a world of mortals. Second Sin; The corruption of the race of Man, the embodiment of the dark, via the meddling powers of both Iblees and Aerial; Iblees, whom cursed the sons of the Four Brothers and fragmented the One Race into four, and Aerial, whom sought to fix her fallen brother’s corruptions with her own hollow, further-condemning magics -- even binding the souls of one remnant race to the immortal realms upon their physical demise. Third Sin; Otherwise known as the Immortal Intrusion (or invasion), the Third Sin was a collective crime, for when Iblees and Aerial first paused their mortal interloping, all other Immortalkind sought to converge upon the remnants of Man and use them to their own means; further breaking down the universal equilibrium of light and dark (of immortals and mortals) that the Creator put in place. The Race of Man; The unified One Race, which composed of the collective sons and daughters of Horen, Malin, Urguan and Krug. The race of Man had only one distinction, and that was of mortal visage; but they were split into different forms by immortal blessings and curses, akin to subraces to the old kindred. Remnant Man; The descendents as they are now - the remnant races, or the four races. Darkening; The ancient power to take immortal powers and turn them mortal. It is said the old four lords held the power of darkening, and stole Iblees’ essence in the 30 year war in order to obtain the way of lifeforce manipulation. Mortals; All that bears a soul and dwells the mortal realms as natural denizens. The remnants of Man are often referred to, primarily, as “the mortal races” or simply mortals. They embody the dark, and cannot truly align with the light. Immortals; Those that dwell the Seven Skies, existing without physical coil and with worldly totality and power over that which they inhabit. They embody the light, and thus cannot truly align with the dark. They are often identified as Aenguls and Daemons. Lordsakes; Existential fragments of power which wills Man to follow those whom assume positions of leadership. A Lordsake lingers the soul of every monarch, even as small as they may be. Calor Mors; The prophesied end of Creation, said to be the work of the Void’s chaos finally breaching the veil of the cosmos. Creation; That which the Creator made; his cosmos and all things that linger within it, safe from the chaos of the Void. Light; One primeval aspect of Creation, of two. The immortals embody the aspect of light, and as does the Creator himself. The aspect itself is the pure embodiment of creation, infiniteness, knowledge and understanding. Dark; One primeval aspect of Creation, of two. The mortals embody the aspect of dark, and as does the Magnate (the prophesied one keeper of the unfragmented Lordsake); reflecting the power and cosmic jurisdiction of the Creator. Limbo; The status of existence in which a primeval aspect is corrupted by the other, turning the embodiment of that aspect into a distortion of what it was. Just as Iblees suffers from limbo as per his embracing of the dark as an immortal, a mortal whom would embrace the light, too, would suffer from limbo, and become an agent of chaos with no side to align. Quintessence (Lifeforce); The pure essence that wills of the realms of dark to live, and a catalyst for mortal virtues. Banks; The ancient vessels which exist deep within the mortal realms, containing all lifeforce which follows the natural cycle of life. The Dissentuous Way; The ideology which acts as precursor to the way of Xionism, first formed by the four lords in the old times. Transcendents; Those whom transcend past the limitations of mortality to become something greater, and without deific intervention. Transcendents remain among the mortal realms and are shaped by the ancient mortal powers of the dark, but do not usually stand, as per Xionist doctrine, as entities viable for worship, nor do they attain any automatic right to lordship or authority unless earned by their own struggles. Deities; A term which encompasses all beings which meddle with the mortal realms and seek to establish themselves as greater or godly. The term of "deity" encompasses the terms of immortals, spirits of the spiritual realms, fallen gods, and false gods. Fallen Gods; Beings of other realms whom had been corrupted by the chaos of limbo, warping their essences and distorting them into agents of havoc. Iblees, the Betrayer, is a prominent agent of chaos and fallen god, for his essence of light, in the old times, was corrupted by the dark of the mortal worlds upon his attempt to embrace it's shadowed peace. Fallen gods seek the undoing of all order, for their corruption aligns them with the madness of the Void. False Gods; Those that gain enough power to assume a greater status over other mortal beings, and therein declare themselves as deities. Setherien, the Black Wyrm, stands as a prime example, for he displayed similar powers to invasive deities; able to granted powers to others, and forge wretched servants with his foreign arcane. Order; The existential groundwork and structure which makes up all of Creation, allowing for cosmic laws and primeval aspects, such as dark and light, to exist dynamically. It is the opposite of chaos. Chaos; Often identified as bedlam or havoc, chaos is that which controls all beyond the cosm of Creation, or the Void. Within the Void, there is no structure, laws or defined aspects of existence, and instead is a realm of everything and nothing, where all things and no things exist at the same time. The Void is referenced in the prime Xionist adage; "Fear the Old Dark", for it is said in ancient annals that before the Creator's coming, there was but darkness and the chaos of the Void. Thus, the volatile and destructive nature of the Void is said to be feared, for without the protective boundaries which surround the cosm of Creation, the Void would devour it whole and shatter it's established order. Maleficar; Mortals in the world whom are identified as sages who cast the magic of deities. The term can also apply those who merely worship deities, as well. Spurionblooded; Otherwise known as Immortalborne or merely "spurion" or "spurious", the term is used in distinguish those descended directly from deific means from the rest of the races of Man. Primarily, spurionbloods exist as Mori'quessir or Kharajyr; but other semi-mortals, like the Ascended or other such flesh-being Immortal servants, may also be coined with the term. Provident's Day; The term designated for an extended period of time which encompasses nearly an entire week; a reflection of terminology such as Elven Day, Stone Day and Saint's Day, of which all bear the same meaning. A Provident's Day may also be referred to as a Dark Day or Old Day. The usage of "Provident" may also be applied to other scales of time, such as a Provident's Week or a Provident's Year. Names, Titles, and Legends The Lord of Embers; One of four transcendent lords whom heralded the Dissentuous Way and later the Way of Embers hosted by Xionist doctrines. Among the four lords, the Lord of Embers stood for leadership, charisma, worldly balance, and the rights of primeval Man. The Lord is Embers is said to linger the forsaken land of Xion in the form of a raging fire, having survived the rampage of Feldamfir upon Athera, and dwells on in isolation in wait for worthy Xionists willing to make pilgrimage to meet and behold the lord and hear his wisdoms. The Lord of the Dark; One of four transcendent lords whom heralded the Dissentuous way and later the Way of the Dark hosted by Xionist doctrines. Among the four lords, the Lord of the Dark stood for cosmic and magical understanding, astronomical curiosity, knowledge, the universal dominion of the dark, and mortal transcendence. It is said the Lord of the Dark perished as the conflict of immortals on Aegis caused the land to sink into the Abyss, which therefore took the lord with it. The Lord of the Oaks; One of four transcendent lords whom heralded the Dissentuous Way and later the Way of the Oaks hosted by Xionist doctrines. Among the four lords, the Lord of the Oaks stood for worldly purity, mortal naturalism, the abolishing of the Four Curses and the restoring the race of Man, and expunging deific influence from the natural mortal world. It is said the Lord of the Oaks lingers the shadow of the descendants, following them through every exodus into every land, unseen. The Nameless Lord; One of four transcendent lords whom heralded the Dissentuous Way and later the Nameless Way hosted by Xionist doctrines. Among the four lords, the Nameless Lord was said to stand for warfare, honor, the struggles of man, and worldly equilibrium through everlasting conflict between the aspects of light and dark. Legends say the Nameless Lord trekked north of Aegis in the ancient times to forge a grand kingdom, and did not return. The Creator; The maker of the universe and the greatest embodiment of the primeval aspect of light. The Provident; The prophesied king of Man, keeper of the unfragmented Lordsake, and the greatest embodiment of the primeval aspect of dark. The Gloomgazer; The mortal prophet of the old Dissentuous Way, whom was the first to be passed the doctrines from the four Old Lords. It is said he was once a Monk of the Aegisian Cloud Temple, and was the first to become a prophetic Seer of the dark ideology. The Gloomgazer plucked his eyes from his head and used his lack of vision to heighten his power of cognatist foresight, inspiring future traditions of yore among the Seerist folk. Though the Seers were not formed as a dedicated role in the newer times of Xion, the mantle was revised and deemed a champion classification for the denomination of the Way of Embers by word of the Lord of Embers himself. The Seers; Those whom had dedicated themselves to the doctrines of the Old Lords, and dedicated their lives to shepharding those whom followed the Dissentuous Way through struggles and grim times. Through the power of ancient cognatism and the sacrifice of one of their senses, the Seers were capable of feats of foresight and farseering, and were often masters of the manipulation of life as well. The Seers take after their prophetic forebear, the Gloomgazer, first of their kind. The Weirhents; Those whom follow the doctrines of the Lord of the Oaks, utilizing the power of life manipulation to tend to the land and mend earthly disasters. They put faith in the banks of life, of whuch they believe heralds the true cycle of life, and stalwartly condemn the ways of the Druids, whom they believe are misguided and disillusioned by the trickery of the deific Aspects. They stand as the champions of the Way of the Oaks denomination. The Darkreavers; Disciples of the Way of the Dark, they are champions of the denomination and dedicate themselves to the mastery of the dark mortal powers, the study of astronomy, mortal transcendence and magic, and fervently seek conflict with those who align themselves with the ranks of immortals or nonmortal deities. The Gravelords; A name implying lordship once held by the Wraiths of Anthos, now without use and displaced by the "Dead Lord" title; the term Gravelord has been implemented into modern Xionist doctrine to define saint-like beings whom, in life, achieved grand feats with their mortal arts or stood as such a prominent godless influence that they would deserve to be considered equals to the old Gravelords in death. The Old Lords; The four transcendent lords of the Dissentuous Way and of Xion. The Old Ones; Voidal Horrors said to have been plucked from the plane of chaos to become aspects of creation by the will of the Creator in the times in which the cosm was forged. There are three known to exist, with one having been given life from the roots of Widukind. Widukind, the Child of the Wood; An Old One which was formed into the first seed by the Creator and planted to become the first tree. The roots of Widukind sprawled across the world and heralded the growth of all green, flourishing life and the greatest of oaks. Feldamfir, the World-Eater, was made from a severed root of Widukind, and given sentience by the gifting of a soul. Widukind is said to know all aspects of mortal history and can predict the future based on this immense knowledge, for through his roots he has beheld the annals of the antiquity of Man. Feldamfir, the World-Eater; The maker of all caverns, canyons and underground anomalies, Feldamfir was made from the quintessence of life, a mortal soul, and a great root of Widukind, and took the shape of a massive, worm-like beast of unending hunger. After forging the underworld, Feldamfir was condemned to a millennium of sleep. Dresdrasil, the Mother of the Deep; The forebear of all ocean life, Dresdrasil was plucked from the Void and given the shape of an angelic being of flesh, and tasked with bringing life to the seas and the dark depths which occupy them. Dresdrasil is said to be a master of all known arcane and spread this knowledge through her otherworldly descendants, yet this tradition was lost as her grandchildren were born deformed through the ages until they became mere fish. Dresdasil is known as a master of dreams, and this power was passed down to the greatest of her cosmic children of the deep.

LORE PROPOSITION - TINFOIL ARMOR A Harian Tinfoil Warrior, Circa 1600 In a world where magic runs rampant alongside the growth of an ever present aura of paranoia, it is of the utmost importance to defend oneself against mind probing huns. Innocent men and women are becoming deceived by such vile magicians, leading them to believe that they are the opposite gender if not already resulting from their pineapple illatian pastries. Tales of such illusory and probing have spread far and wide, and thus the demand for magic resistant armor is high. As a result, smiths across the land, most notably Haskill of the Freeman’s forge, have taken to pressing melted tin to a papyrus thin state so that it may be molded with ease. With this invention, denizens across the lands may sleep in peace- and in tin, to ensure that their internal viscera is not morphed to that of a bestial creature. Tin foil equipment will allow the user to deflect magical influence and attacks without flaw depending on its crumpled state. Akin to sound proofing, the more crevices and bumps a piece of tin armor holds the more resistant to magic it is. For example, a smooth sheet of tin would be useless to magic whereas its crumpled counterpart would be impervious. Despite its extreme defense to magic, it's delicate and thin state makes it quite useless against any other form of attack. To provide balance to magic users, quite literally anything (bar magic) can destroy this armor. Arrows can pierce it, fingers can poke it, and more importantly, one could rip it by simply walking. Despite its detriments, however, tinfoil armor remains the go-to headwear for those fearing illusionists. Waldenian Soundproofing, circa 1364 To craft Tinfoil Armor, one must gather tin through roleplay means, melt it, and then press it into its thin state. Once this is accomplished, one must then carefully craft it through roleplay means. Should you roll anything less than a twenty in its careful construction, the armor will be torn. Once in combat, should the armor be damaged or torn, the exposed area would then become vulnerable to magical attacks once more. Mechanically speaking, it may be possible to statgen base chainmail to have hugely negative defensive debuffs (practically none) with its durability also being modified to be destroyed within two hits. Furthermore, due to its light nature, if a mechanical armor set were to be created it would hold no speed debuffs. The way one would determine whether someone was wearing tinfoil armor or not is purely dependent on their skin, which should look something along the lines of: Should this lore be accepted, I believe it will add an additional level of role-play not yet seen on any medieval fantasy server. This document is purely science based, and now that the current year is 1600, a time in which pirates roam, the need for tinfoil equipment is necessary. However, should this lore not be accepted, I truly believe people will still craft such equipment through roleplay means even if it woiuld not provide the additional magical protection as they would hold the belief that it truly does. I have kept this short and sweet, like an innocent child, for I believe I've nailed my points across rather effectively. For those who are too lazy to read, I shall summarize in a tl;dr. Tin Foil Armor should be magic resistant depending on its crumpled state (coating your armor in tin will not do anything unless it is pure tin!). Tinfoil headgear should prevent illusion magic and mind probing from affecting the wearer. To craft a single piece of armor, or the tinfoil itself, smiths must roll a perfect 20/20 in role-play to provide validity to the tin foil's stability. Tin Foil armor has no durability nor defensive buffs to ranged or melee.

(As I've been creating and PKing several personas lately, I've decided to make this thing here and put more effort into my personas. Enjoy reading!) John was born at felsen at the year of 1538. His mother was taken as a snaga when he was seven, and his father was killed by an orc raid when he was 15. He stands at 5"10, He is muscular and pretty smart. he hates Uruks, and wants to become an honorable man. He is stubborn, Pleasant and not too racist. Good with a sword, can barley use a bow. And now, his journy begins!

Recruitment Does thou seek the path of the righteous man? Does thou want to be a man of the woods? Think to yourself, are you skilled with a bow? Can you track and can you hunt? Do you want to be a simple man with a good life? Do you match these things? Well if you do. The Alrasian Rangers need you! Ranks! ~Commander~ Overall leader of the corps, listens only to the King and Knight. | ~Captain~ Second in command of the corps listens to the Commander, trains the new recruits. Has the right to initiate new rangers and brief them on there jobs. | ~Sergeant~ The respected members of the corps whom have proved themselves to the captain's and the commander, very rarely given. | ~Ranger~ The standard rank within the ranger corps, initiated and has taken the oath. | ~Apprentice~ The un-oathed and un-initiated. Lowest rank within the corps Application process: (OOC) Mc-Name: How long have you been on the server? Skype/ts3? (RP) Name: Age: Gender: Past military experience?: