New Dawn and Etc Magic and Monsters System

The 317th

Stars of the fourth novel and an upcoming RP on this very site, the 317th is a group of soldiers Matthew encounters as early as Book II. At first lead by someone that inherited his position via familial lineage, this individual, while well intentioned, did not know how to lead his group into battle. He died in Book IV, during the battles with Elijah Gibbs' forces, and bequeathed his position to Matthew, as well as knowledge of a machine located in the Sanfield Underground called the New Protocol device, opposed to the malevolent device Black Protocol 09.

Using this device was virtually the last resort, as it had been forbidden and locked away by Aleister Crowley himself for good reason. Affecting the teenagers who joined Matthew's resistance and entered that room, it was revealed the whole underground section was New Protocol. It changed the young men who went into it, granting them traits and skills held by Matthew himself, due to his designation by the computer.

They quickly developed the instincts and combat abilities of a trained warrior over the course of two mere weeks, an unusual series of events even in this universe. It is hinted, though, that this quickness of development was due to energy held from the last time the Protocol was used. Subsequent uses for the benefit of new recruits showed much slower results.

Using the Majitek that the old 317th could never use due to a combination of factors, the young soldiers became a vanguard of the Esper Association and defenders of their beleaguered home town against the forces of Elijah Gibbs. Using the armor allowed them to fight just as easily in the air as upon the ground, and insulated them from harm. The young soldiers returned to the surface, staving off the latest of the incursions from Elijah Gibbs' forces, and rescuing a large number of people holed up in the school building.

Organizing themselves like an army in some ways, they were led by Matthew as their "Grand Commander", even though he utilized elections to try to select a more capable man than himself. Although reluctant to lead his peers in such a way, Matthew decided he could at least deal until Elijah Gibbs' forces were routed. What ensued was a long, at times hopeless seeming war between forces aligned with the burgeoning Anti-Magical Faction and the magical forces as exemplified by the 317th.

The Founding

• Founded during the Second Mage-Vampire War, the 317th was the three hundredth and seventh unit constructed for the purpose of fighting in the air just as well as upon the ground. Its founder, though his name was forgotten in time, contributed much to lore. His sword, called Exarchia, and his Holy Book Naemis are both treasured items in the Association even today. Apparently an incredibly religious man, he is said to have been an individual who was tested ruthlessly and frequently, rising above the spite of society to lead young men into battle regardless of their backgrounds or economic status. Be you peasant or noble, the Founder would accept you into his army.

• Known for its ferocity on the battlefield, the 317th would charge forth into battle for the sake of their loved ones, who all too frequently were land-locked or caught up in warfare. Even the Vampiric Royalty acknowledged the ferocity of this group after one of the Higher Kings of the Vampires was struck down by The Founder after a heated battle. Their fortunes after the war were less than ideal. Shifted around after the Founder's death, disbanded and reassembled multiple times, the original meaning of their group was long forgotten...until the ancient New Protocol device in the present day's action.

Unit Structure

• Grand Commander: Matthew
• High Commanders: Daniel, Miles, Adrian and Samuel
  • Note, though, even though they arrayed in terms of 2nd Commander, 3rd and et cetera, they are a company of equals, simply designated for the order in which they completed their training.
• Unit Commanders: Brandon and Allen Hawkins, Unit Commander Davis, and others.
• Sergeant
• Private
• Note: Much later in the time line, Privates were known as Initiates, and Sergeants called Aelim. The reason for this change in unit names is currently unknown.

• New Recruits: In order to ensure that they got good recruits, extremely strenuous trials were implemented for prospective recruits to the 317th, and initiates were encouraged to remain a unit no matter what kind of trial was thrown their way, even if it might seem easier to split off and do their own thing. These trials were created by Sheena Ain-Soph, and designed to encourage a brotherly mentality just as well as it encouraged other good traits in these new, Magic World soldiers. In order to complete the trial, recruits would traverse the Underground, crawling with monsters as it is, and make their way to the New Protocol Device. Once there, in order for admission to be guaranteed, the prospective recruits would engage in one last exercise...
  • Earning Your Wings: In order to earn ZX Wings, a further strenuous trial was required that called for fighting in a reduced gravity chamber and killing sixteen summoned fiends while being limited to your combat knife and small Mana-Gun. Later additions to the trial also added turrets on the walls, and a sadistic AI operating them all.

Life in the 317th

• Being that the soldiers, even with the strange additions by the machine, were and are teenagers, there is a level of dysfunction to be expected, though they come together surprisingly well when a threat emerges. For a combination of reasons, the soldiers in the 317th look up to the Grand Commander, and it is made evident that Matthew, although he feels he does not deserve their devotion, returns the sentiment, and refuses to abandon anyone in his army - nobody gets left behind, a stark defiance of his father Kyrio's doctrine. Within the 317th, helping the community in more ways than just the armed defence of it is encouraged. Otherwise, studies are encouraged, as Matthew does not want his soldiers to neglect their continued education.

Further down the line, this translated into a great appreciation for texts and liberal arts, as well as preservation of old works of art, even when the powerful New Light Church was attempting to destroy old works of art out of a belief that it offended God.

• The Fall: Matthew Streika is far from a perfect individual - trained from the age of seven as a Mage Slayer, a monstrous act by Kyrio Streika that had numerous long running consequences, one of the most grievous being The Fall. Rather than transport over a second persona, the New Protocol device glitched and transmitted a dangerous neuroses into each young man affected by the underground device. Upon reaching a certain level of emotional upheaval or rage, they would become afflicted with the Fall, and attack any and all those around them as the forgotten memories of Matthew returned as pain, rage and horror. Normally completely irreversible, the afflicted will strike out in a feral fashion even at their own friends and closest kin. The Fall is dreaded by each member of the 317th, even though they charge into battle showing precious little fear. It is this all consuming, personality-deleting rage that frightens the men often said to have nerves cast of steel.
  • The Fall, Later: Three hundred years down the line, and still, nobody knows how to cure it, nor even what brings it on. Just that it exists, and is a dire threat. Not even the oldest of the Commanders have much of a clue about it, even though one of them has had a personal encounter with it.

edited 5th Mar '14 2:53:28 PM by NickTheSwing

Inspired by a list of people fighting ISIS currently, here's the New Dawn Unmasqued version;

Anecdotes from the Frontline;

Gods of New Dawn - What are They, Who Are They?

Now, in my villain and hero submission thread posts, I mentioned Dark Gods, and on rare occasion the Light Gods. The latter in Shane's Hero Submission Thread post, mentioning a "Light God of the Hunt".

But right now I'll focus on explaining who the pantheon is, how they became divine, and what is going on in their Realm.

It starts out in a prior universe, where everything basically went to hell in a hand basket. The Old Gods, previously worshipped by that old world's inhabitants as part of a religion called Nandianism, turned out to be totalitarians who wanted to create a new world called Xanadu and drastically decrease the size of the universe.

For the sake of this, they basically distorted and warped the Earth and other inhabited worlds into Xanadu, fusing them roughly together. This created not only a false Utopia where the Old Gods ruled like petty tyrants, but a profoundly strange culture.

Sixteen people one day got together after a number of calamities befell them for one reason or another related to the Old Gods, and decided enough was enough.

They gathered power to themselves via the Ancient Cores of their old worlds, which were left bare by the Old Gods but were cast aside as heretic magic. The Sixteen basically took into themselves all the Mana in their worlds and others left bare by the Old Gods.

Waging war on the malign lords of Xanadu, the Sixteen and their allies struck down the forces of oppression, with a youth named Khaos leading the way along with his old friend / rival Jenon.

The problem was, this was just one universe in a cycle, and as the Old Gods went down, something called The Fell Chaos showed up and needed to be dealt with too.

In order to prevent a similar cycle from happening again (creating Old Gods to lead eventually to a Gotterdammerung Scenario and the release of the Fell Chaos), the Sixteen then took up the hearts of the Old Gods and forged the first Vesper Cores with them.

As a consequence of this action, the Sixteen became Gods of the New Universe.

They weren't called Gods of Dark or Light yet.

But they started to look into what kind of portfolio they wanted with their new position. The fight against the Old Gods resulted in quite some characters uniting and forming relationships. For example, Silmarul formerly Silas Marin believed only his despair allowed him to become powerful enough to generate the plagues and deathly winds he used to destroy Old Gods.

As all this was happening, Khaos met with tragedy.

Zeufonis, a jealous ally of his, turned against him and kidnapped Lady Lishana, who Khaos loved very much.

Khaos brooded on this, knowing Zeufonis was Jenon's twin brother, and that most likely Jenon would believe Zeufonis over him, for that was Jenon's truest flaw. That was when Vicelogia, Varancain, and Silmarul appeared to Khaos.

Vicelogia implored him to remember the constant and withering disdain Zeufonis had shown him, even in the heat of battle, and crafted a story of Zeufonis desiring the same kind of tyranny the Old Gods employed.

Silmarul encouraged his dear friend to remember the fetid corpses of his friends, who died protecting Lishana from Zeufonis, and whether it was Justice to allow Zeufonis to get away with this.

And it was Varancain, now called Varancain the Deceiver, Dragon God, who spoke of a vile rape by both twin brothers upon Lishana. A despair stricken and wrathful Khaos believed the sordid lie of Varancain.

Barging into Zeufonis' Domain, The Indwelling of Lightning, Khaos wielded the power of Ancient Darkness to almost beat the life out of Zeufonis, in a battle that shattered the very fabric of the universe, producing The Dread Maw leading into the Dark God Half of the Realm of the Gods.

Jenon was outraged by this intrusion and the damage his old friend wrought, and with his own allies' inspiration, thus started the War of the Gods, the Eternal Jyhad.

Both sides created Demons and Angels, sought the alignment of Men and Great Beasts, and waged near constant warfare through agents and endlessly reforming masses of soldiers.

Thus, the state of the Pantheon of the Sixteen.

The Dark Gods, to focus on them for a moment, to give a listing of what was decided as far as Profile.

• Khaos, Dark God of "Dark Justice" aka vigilantism, Sacred Darkness, Protection by Darkness, Vows of Defence, and Vengeance. Khaos believes that justice fails only as long as it is bound by Law. One must be willing to act, unsupported by Idols, Gods or Laws to create his own Miracle and find Justice. As such, he gives only tangential support, but when Khaos does decide to give you his support, it will be felt and seen.
• Silmarul, Dark God of Despair, Transformation, Mutation, and Transcendence. A believer in the "sacredness" of filth and degradation, that transformation, mutation and despair as they degrade the body inspire the spirit to rise above. Moving through horrid despair allows one to transcend it and become "truly beautiful". Silmarul supports those who are determined, no matter what, and in tremendous pain and despair.
• Azekred, Dark God of Power, Promises, Deals, and Devils. Azekred believes solely in the value of the Promise. Of heeding one's need and giving, but only as far as the letter of the deal. He is the originator of the "Deal with the Devil", bargain with Azekred at your peril. He uses his bargainers as Champions, and rarely does he choose a Scion.
• Zayufur, Dark God of Inversion, Impurity, Pain / Weakness, and Violation of Sanctity. Zayufur is a strange being. She is known as God Queen of Inversions, and it is said she takes pleasure both in Inverting people (turning them to their opposite in many ways) through pain / weakness exploitation, and in obscuring and obfuscating the plans of her fellow Gods. She chooses Scions based on who has came the furthest in their Inversion.
• Varancain the Deceiver, Dark God of Dragons. He rules over every trait and deviation associated with dragons. He rules greed, destruction without meaning, burnt crops and ruined livelihood, deception without an end goal, and vicious cruelty. He knows this. He accepts it, as it is a role he had to have, with no other choice. He chooses Scions based on who follows and emulates the Dragon Image the best.
• Vicelogia, the Dark God of Knowledge, the Void, Coldness, Academia, Study and Distance. Knowing almost everything, Vicelogia the Prince of Knowledge rose through cold-hearted deceit of his own friend and ally. Unable to value or be valued, much like true knowledge at large, Vicelogia proliferates That Which Man Was Not Meant To Know, more or less for its own sake. He chooses Scions who are Distant, who respect Academia and the Coldness required for "true learning".
• Shiryu the Eternal Slayer, Dark God of War, Murder, Blood, Rage and Pillaging. Shiryu the Eternal Slayer was an already immortal warrior, cursed by the Old God of Warfare with an undying body so as to make sure Shiryu could not die against a worthy foe, as a final curse upon him. Shiryu as such wages war, and is within all War, in hopes of finally doing the dying instead of the "eternal slaying". He chooses his Scions based on those who have reached a point comparable to Shiryu's own when he was Cursed in terms of Rage.
• Daeth the Diamond Wyrm, Dark God of Fate, Destiny, Appointment, Time and Destination. It is said Daeth observes all possibility at once, due to carving out his own eyes and sewing the empty sockets shut with special thread cut from the hair of the Old God of Time. Totally insane and mostly unconnected to the Great War, Daeth instead busies himself righting the time line whenever it goes egrigiously wrong. He chooses his Scions...mysteriously.
  • What Is A Scion?: A Scion is someone or something a God bequeaths a lot of power to, and gives Blessings to. The Scion or, alternatively titled, Champion, is not a singular position by nature, but some Gods have had only one Scion for a very long time. Scions are tested in many cases, and met by the God interested in them. Scions have a lot of authority over forces affiliated with the God in question.
    • Scion of the Eight?: It is vanishingly rare, but occasionally the Gods get together and decide to elect a singular Scion of the Dark / Light. The test is rigorous, and the Gods often call the Scion to their presence, to test whether he is truly worthy of standing in their presence directly. This Scion of the Gods is extremely, extremely powerful and mythical in nature (even the Magic Gods do not know much on the Scion). Traditionally, they wear a specialized suit of Old Universe Powered Armor and have a selection of Hallowed / Unhallowed Arms associated with the Gods in question whom they serve. Caine for example wields the Nihility Demon Claws, a set of powerful claws forged by Shiryu from the body of an extremely powerful and dangerous Nihility Demon which Caine had to kill (and yes, the crazy daydream believer actually killed the Nihility Demon). He also has Kugalatach and Anatheme, detailed later on.

edited 29th Dec '17 3:34:28 AM by NickTheSwing

• Lishana the Daughter of Heavens - Who is She?: You might have noticed the presence of Lishana in that bit of lore, and well, she's not a Dark God or a Light one either. It deserves to be mentioned many millenia passed between the end of the Old God War and the events leading to the Pantheon Split, but Lishana remained youthful and eternally beautiful.

There is a good reason for this.

She is what is referred to as the Fourfold Impossibility, a descendant of four different pantheons of gods, and then with the patronage of extremely obscure "Messengers".

She is descended from the Old Gods, the Terran Gods, the New Terran Gods, and somehow the Incorporeal Beings called the Deluvians that were involved in some extremely ancient events.

What does all this mean for her? She was somehow born of beings that were dead around the time of her conception and which did not exist yet. Lishana was however merely the one Khaos loved, when many others viewed her as a curiosity to be studied.

He was not alone in his affections. Jenon had become smitten with her as well, and some element of a competition surfaced between the two head gods. Zeufonis claimed likewise to be smitten with her, but inside he was fascinated by her stranger qualities and believed she could do something related to the Souls of the people from the Last Universe.

Zeufonis' fascination became an unmitigated obsession - and it took very little egging on from Vicelogia for him to decide to seize Lishana.

One lie from a dragon later, and Khaos came running into Zeufonis' domain. It is said Lishana was gone however from his Keep even as Khaos almost killed the Light God of Lightning.

Some say she walked through one of the walls and disappeared, while others say she was rescued by Shadow Shadofang, and currently lives in his Demesne in the European area, working on something top secret. She has been sighted as a ghostly being / Angel, inspiring a large number of religious groups / cults.

One of the most enduring was the Knights of Majesty, which even in the modern day - 1000 years after their founding in Bulgaria - remains functional. Worshipping the "Heavenly Lady", they made use of Spells she granted them. Only...those aren't Spells in the same sense anything else is.

They don't use Mana that can be observed, and have the unique Heaven Step ability that lets them move through solid objects and teleport.

Whatever she did to them however it has left its own effects - its said the Knights were changed in a fundamental way, becoming less or more than human. According to Scatha the Eternal Wyrm, she furthered their evolution "several hundred millenia".

She did something utterly impossible on any level, and there is no Magic in the setting that does anything like that.

So I ask you - what is Lishana?

• An In Depth Look at the Pantheon: Zayufur
  • The "Queen of Inversion", Zayufur is a strange Goddess to be certain - those who worship her are often times known for their dark and miserable deeds, for Zayufur is known just as well as a Goddess of Despoiled Purity. In some ways however she also stands for contrary values and norms - and in some cases when the established values and norms are unhealthy, then Zayufur enters a more sympathetic light.

Her Scions across the years have usually been people who have come dropping down the slippery slope, becoming their own anti-thesis. It is this sort of ideology - of inverting your original personality - that Zayufur finds alluring. For her it represents a sort of unique pleasure, and she encourages her followers to help others indulge in it.

Inversion represents becoming something new, a sort of rebirth that promises a new beginning and renewed life. Some say Zayufur through this is also a Goddess of Rebirth, but this interpretation is seldom invoked.

Also mentioned above is the fact she is a Goddess who obfuscates the plans of other Gods. She does this primarily for her own amusement and because its explicitly expected for her to play along with their plans. So thus, instead, she ruins their plans purely for the sake of her own devotion to being contrarian.

It is known that the likes of Vicelogia curse her for her continued interference. At one point Vicelogia attempted to trap Khaos in a mortal body, but Zayufur created the Unhallowed Vessel to return Khaos his powers. When Vicelogia demanded an explanation, she simply told him "I did it because you expected me not to."

The Umbral Horde: Who and What?

The Umbral Horde as an organization has existed in a number of forms before Caine made it into what it ended up as in Book IV - the commonalities are that it is always led by a Grandmaster, and usually whenever a member of the Horde becomes powerful enough, they seize power from the current Grandmaster or die trying. This guarantees both the Grandmaster keeping himself sharp and aware of all potential threats within, and that there is a constant drive for power among the underlings.

However, it has also resulted in a drastic lack of cohesion, and without forces of personality the Horde often splinters off into smaller groups, and only gets back together once a new Grandmaster is designated.

And given that such requires the approval of all Eight Dark Gods, when conducted outside of the usual Klingon Promotion, and a lengthy election process, this results in some lengthy periods of inactivity.

Caine, however, represented a departure from the norm, namely, because he managed to create something of an internal truce - suspend ambitions until the current war is won. That, and he had quite a unique cast of characters to work with.

• Malevolent, the Iconic Heretic, was originally a Roman Legionnaire called Antonius Lucidius, known for his piety. However in the face of the tremendous injustice of the deaths of the Gracchi brothers, he switched over and worshiped the Dark Gods. Persisting through the years due to a grant of power by his patrons, he was something of a recurring foe for those involved in the Magic Side across the years. Then came the 1890s, which saw his influence and power crumble entirely after centuries of stagnation...and, in the present day, this once upon a time threat found his second wind. He leads Umbral Horde Carta, which focuses on theology, trade and morale. Caine attempted to get Malevolent to name them the Wordkeepers, but Malevolent was adamant that he keep the old name of his faction, for the sake of his old friends.

• Aaron Cascade, Scion of Shiryu, was originally a small time bully and steroid / cocaine addict. Unable to function much, he nonetheless possessed a terrifying rage simmering under the surface. During the prior book, he found himself finally able to act out his fantasies in an illusion world...until the end of that world due to Matthew. He was then approached by Shiryu, Dark God of Bloodshed, and made Shiryu's Champion. He leads the Landbreakers / Umbral Horde Ragos, a large group of mercenaries with his old best friend Kerron Casteller as his second.

• Tobias Hainemann, Scion of Silmarul, was at first merely a sickened boy who dreamed in the Blessed Tear's fantasy world of being hale and healthy, yet the Tear's collapse mutilated him beyond recognition. Approached by the God of Mutation, Despair and Disease, he accepted the position of Champion, becoming the hideous "Rancid Reaper", a terrifying creature swaddled in cloth and armor, wielding a scythe that to most is a guaranteed One-Hit Kill. His group is called the Banded Krait Knights, and primarily deal in biological / chemical warfare.

• Elwood Sexton, Scion of Zayufur, was simply the local "playboy", womanizer, and love freak...until one too many humiliations dealt to him for his ways resulted in him developing an increasing, hidden resenter complex, as well as lengthy and disturbingly sexual revenge fantasies. He acted them out in Blessed Tear, but upon its deletion by Matthew, he pledged his services to Zayufur, becoming leader of the horrific Violators. Priding themselves as breakers of morale and "unconventional fighting", they exemplify the very worst fleshy excesses of war. It is considered common place to keep POW's as "pets" in the Violators - treatment of them is absolutely vile beyond words.

• ...And there is also Reiji, Scion of Vicelogia. A sorcerer and "product" of the demon called The Harpy, he left the roost to avoid her heinous treatment and joined Vicelogia as a Scion. He has always hungered for respect - falling in with the likes of Caine and Dhakar due to his emotional immaturity. He is proud of the fact he has a million spells he can cast, and similarly his Umbral Horde faction, bequeathed to him by Caine, is called the Scarlet Brethren or, as Reiji prefers, Umbral Horde Fina.

• Notably, Caine intended for there to be another segment led by Jackson White's emergent alter-ego, called the Titanium Grip Legion, but due to Jackson White's alter-ego being defeated and forced back down, and the boy's sacrifice against Caine, this planned legion was scrapped, and the plans for it were only discovered after a dump of the flags and iconography was found. It was also possible he intended to give it to the Scion of Azekred, but Azekred opted to stay out of the conflict's most physical aspects.
  • A bit later, strangely, Jackson White came back from the dead - and promptly announced the Titanium Grip's formation, and gave it the alternative title Umbral Horde Ferrum. However, outside the knowledge of the Umbral Horde's main members, Jackson White maintains loyalties mysteriously, some times seeming to be loyal to someone else entirely, and despite his affiliations, he never makes use of any blessings from the Dark Gods, using Magitech entirely. Combined with his armor's dark silver and light blue color scheme, its intentionally ambiguous as to who or what he's really working for.

Caine Himself: The Scion of the Eight and the Grandmaster is a perplexing and bizarre figure. Not incompetent but definitely not sane, Caine believes in a sort of Truman's Delusion along with strong elements of being a Daydream Believer - he believes life is itself just one part of fiction, intersecting with it on many levels. People are just plot devices with varying reasons for existence, and him so much as disapproving of someone's plot relevance is reason enough for him to attempt to murder that person. He believes he is an incarnation of numerous fictional villains, and while he doesn't explicitly say who he's "channeling" at any given moment, to the astute it can be pretty obvious. He occasionally refers to himself as "The Warmaster", and believes he is destined to "eviscerate Matthew the Angel's innards in front of his father". That this does not jive with reality just means he needs to force it to. It is quite telling that even the Dark God of Destiny believes Caine's idea of destiny is deranged, and the leader of the Dark Gods, Khaos, while unable to do much due to the eternal war of the Gods, at least tries to keep the atrocities down.

• The Blackened Praetors: Caine's personal troops, the Praetors are no nonsense, and are both consummate professionals and professional sadists. They have some elements in common with their leader, being The Fatalist by and large, and believing in a warped theology that paints Caine as a Dark Messiah who is destined to slay a great figure of light. They are tremendously dangerous, and in Book IV, take less than five percent casualties throughout the war.

edited 3rd Feb '17 11:35:02 PM by NickTheSwing

A Magnifying Glass; Tobias

Tobias Hainemann was not like a number of the other newly recruited Dark God Champions - he was not antagonistic in the least before that event, and even came off as totally pitiful. A very sickly boy, his medicine taken and used by his narcissistic parents for a quick high, he was mostly invisible in school by his own choice. He did not want to burden anyone else with his despair, and he felt that those around him would just do as his parents did and take advantage.

In the events leading up to his turn, his illness went terminal and he ventured to the Blessed Tear with Aaron and Elwood, desperate not to die. In the Tear he saw a hale and healthy version of himself, but when the Blessed Tear collapsed, his dream became a nightmare.

He was mutilated beyond recognition, and due to his new form, he could not die easily and thus languished in utter pain. This proved to attract the Dark God of Despair and Mutilation, Silmarul. Crafting a deal with Silmarul, Tobias became known as the Locus of Plagues. His very presence in an area capable of rotting people away in a toxic onslaught.

He jumpstarted his new role in the story by visiting his parents, controlling his "aura" so as to simply leave them alive, but in tremendous pain and unable to be cured. Silmarul heartily approved, and gave him a scythe / staff called the Tainted Blackstaff. The lightest tap from this gnarled old weapon is lethal even to people shielded from the worst of Tobias' other disgusting effects on an area.

His first meeting with Caine was quite...rocky. Tobias found the Scion to be worryingly insane, and while he said nothing to disagree with the references the man made, in private Tobias confided this "obsession with fiction was going to lead our Umbral Horde astray from common sense." In particular, Tobias worried the madness would upset Khaos enough to bring about his intervention.

Tobias' unit given to him by Caine and Silmarul was the Banded Krait Knights, named after an incredibly venomous species of snake, which features on their coat of arms. The Banded Krait Knights are known primarily for their use of chemical and biological weapons alongside attrition tactics.

While known for attacking with disease during a siege, once a place is obtained, the Knights prefer withdrawing the worst of their offensive and concentrating on enemy combatants. As far as Tobias is concerned, his Knights are not a weapon against noncombatants and the weak. As Tobias was once himself weak and invisible, he believes anywhere under his influence must be a place where the weak and despairing are given sanctum and rest.

He utterly refuses to partake in any attack or operation that would let Elwood undertake his activities.

edited 27th Feb '17 9:58:22 PM by NickTheSwing

Bad Powers, Bad People? Curse Type Magic

When Curse Type magic is used in New Dawn, the most common imagery involves a torrent of negativity, vengeance, corruption, or other unsavory things forced into physical form and then sent at the foe. Most often Curse Type Magic stains its target permanently unless its caster is very careful - there have been reported cases of Curse Spells persisting for years, either claiming someone's life or turning them into horrors.

Curse Type Magic, when festering, does indeed tend to draw a peculiar creature that is aligned with the Dark God Khaos - resulting in a number of tendrils and eyes forming as these creatures add their presence to the infection. Who, thus, would be so cruel as to potentially turn other living things into little more than writhing masses of hate and vengeance?

There is a tremendous stigma against using Curse Type Magic - most of its more famous (or infamous as the cases may be) users are unsavory people at best and either sadistic tricksters such as Wolfang Richler or would be overlords at worst. The Magic Type, due to a lack of knowledge, is assumed to generate the little monsters, and even the most hard line of the Magic Side's Mad Scientists frown at the very idea of using Curse Type Magic.

Yet, despite popular ideas, there is absolutely no negative effect on the mind from using Curse Magic at least inherently, and there are teachers willing to instruct in its use if one looks. And they first and foremost teach self control - for if there is one thing nobody wants, it is a Curse Mage losing control.

Related to the Above - The Dying Slave

Part of what makes Curse Magic so unpopular is that occasionally, a lot of residual Curse type energy, as well as the wriggling creatures derived of the Dark Gods, will combine with Stagnant Mana and certain fantastic creatures to form what is called a Dying Slave. Most often, these are formed around magical creatures usually called upon for human benefit, and when they interact with this harmful residue, it creates the horrific flying abomination called a Dying Slave.

Each time this horror has appeared, it almost broke the Masquerade spell keeping the Magic Side and the Mundane Side of the world separate. Capable of tremendous devastation, Dying Slaves usually thankfully only appear once every 3-to-500 years, though it has been mentioned "we're due for a Dying Slave...any day now, any week now, any month now."

They pollute and degrade everything they touch, turning it into smaller versions of themselves, and advance toward unspeakable goals. Whenever telepaths enter the same area as a Dying Slave, they hear "mind-screams", and the suffering of the noble being that has been now perverted into becoming the Dying Slave.

Dying Slaves use perversions of the natural magic their original selves used, Healing Magic now inflicts cancer and malignant tumors, Defensive Magic now crushes someone beneath barriers, and so on.

Their forms are variable, some resembling tremendous, multi-eyed insects, while others resemble terrible pseudo-dragons and beasts.

Umbral Horde - The Blackened Praetors

The Blackened Praetors were Caine Dekeren's personal force, being half bodyguards and half elite soldiers, modeled by and large on the Roman Praetorian Guard in terms of their overall armor structure, including a cape and an intricate helm in most cases. The Praetors were recruited from the downcast and the disadvantaged - Caine would go so far as to raid prisons and county jails for new recruits, bringing them on so long as they swore a binding oath to serve and begin training as soon as possible.

The effectiveness of the training and the brutality of his most common recruits shows in how terrifying this group is to fight - they are well known for their brutal fighting style, no nonsense approach to battle, and yet an odd sense of brotherhood even in the midst of their worst excesses.

As a gesture of loyalty to their Scion, the Blackened Praetors even then emulated him - Caine used Nihility Demon Claws and a sword or axe, so his Praetors used only Magitech Claws, Swords and Axes, though some allowance was given for permutations on those weapons, such as a pole axe.

They also embraced their Scion's odd view on reality at least in a majority of the Praetors. As such, they believe in the notion that reality and fiction are connected, and that through such means as created works, destiny rehearses itself. Hence, they have this odd tendency to quote famous works, viewing it as exalting the finer points of reality.

In connection with Caine's likes, they also took to changing their names - see Commander Anthony Winthrop, or, as he prefers to be known, Warlord Vedarius Catonus. Some of them actually know enough Latin to compose clever names for themselves, others...others make for oddball comedy with their naming conventions.

The Praetors have a lot of gratitude toward Caine for bringing them out of squalor even if it is to serve as soldiers in his war effort, and as such even after he died a number of them kept on trying to be what he seemed to want them to be.

This bunch, led by aforementioned Vedarius, are called the Masque Branch. They are...enthusiastic, to say the least - they are zealots, using cults and followings to achieve their ends. They believe that in following Caine's lead, they can eventually revive him from the dead to lead their factionated "legion" to a glorious return to prominence as head of the Umbral Horde factions. Pity Caine's Deader than Dead.

Then you have the Ascendant Branch, led by future Big Bad Nathan Kreene aka Nahath Asaropael. Pragmatic and departing from the fiction references, they are less eager for a fight and focus more on infrastructure, creating things, and picking smart fights rather than trying endlessly to expand territory that'll be taken back a year later. Asaropael has a horrifying reputation years later, but personally he is iron-handed if completely pragmatic and fair to his underlings.

Asaropael focuses on alliances and relationships before launching any of his plans for conquest, due to Ascendant not being as numerous as Masque, Glayswane or Myrkah Branches.

Lemures is a branch focused on the dead - they're viewed as creepy necromancer-alchemists who transmute dead bodies and souls into a number of servitors and valuable items for their activities. They believe that the reason the war was lost was because resources were not adequately used, so they combined Necromancy and Alchemy to create one field.

They mostly sell their services to other Branches and other factions of the Umbral Horde, as they are more technicians and creators than fighters.

Glayswane Branch is one of the oddballs of the bunch - and that is saying something for a group that contains Masque Branch. Devoting themselves primarily to Khaos, the Glayswane Branch focus on vigilante justice and prosecuting those they see as having erred or who have cheated justice. They are numerous but content themselves with a number of causes moment by moment, not really committing much to actual war. Not to say they're peaceful either - when a county found a certain man not guilty when he transparently was, the Glayswane Branch tracked down the jurors and the judge and ritualistically sacrificed them, before doing the exact same to the guilty party and his immediate family.

Myrkah Branch, largely living out of the icy north and south, believe that the reason the war was lost was because they all misinterpreted Caine's Edicts. Myrkah Branch believes that Caine was using the whole fiction thing to teach them that the Dark and Light are never going to get along, and as such it is on Myrkah Branch to live in and adapt to places the "Lightlings" (read; everyone else) refuses to live in. They recruit from crazy survivalist types, and believe that society itself is inherently corrupt and about to collapse. And when it does, the sheer chaos will bring Caine's soul back together and Myrkah will come back and destroy the Lightlings.

Despite their differences and frequent disputes, the Branches all realize they sprouted from the same tree so to speak, and should an Umbral Horde group or another Branch of the Praetors need help, they're very fast to offer it. See; Vedarius helping Reiji start to rebuild Avistia after it was horrifically destroyed, and refusing any payment for helping rebuild.

The Heart of Gillianos - Sometimes Its Better to Leave Things Alone

The Heart of Gillianos is the enigmatic and strange device / organ which was torn straight from the chest of the dead god Gillianos - who was neither a Light God nor a Dark God, but participated in the War with the Old Gods nonetheless. Nobody really knows much about Gillianos, some hypothesizing he was the Old God of Creation gone rogue, or that he was some embodiment of a trait of the Universe at large.

What matters is that shortly after the war, Gillianos participated in creating the physical universe again...but included something or someone that made the 16 Gods tear him apart - according to the Light Gods he introduced a number of flaws in the physical plane, but according to the Dark Gods, Gillianos had the audacity to trick the Light Gods into helping him make the physical world and the "flaw" was that humanity did not require the Light Gods in their lives.

Despite his death, due to his link to reality, the Heart of Gillianos remained alive despite being dead - and was found to have an intrinsic link to observable reality. Since the Heart exists, Reality exists - and since Reality exists, the Heart exists.

It quickly proved itself a vastly powerful magical artifact, numerous people hungry for its power seeking it out over the years. To give an idea of how powerful it is, just one drop of the Heart of Gillianos' blood, when seeped out on to the world, created the Holy Dhacryma Crystal, another extremely powerful magical creation that has at numerous times threatened to obliterate everything within a 270 kilometer expanse around itself.

The Heart of Gillianos was first used by the Vonnic Kingdoms of Atlantis - and some attribute the madness that would afflict Vonnic Kings to their extended contact with the Heart of Gillianos - some of the more mad kings alleged they heard it talking to them at all hours.

The Heart would cause the Doom of both Cities of Atlantis - the spectacular destruction of the second kingdom incited by the Heart sinking it beneath the ocean after one dangerous experiment too many.

The Dark Elves would likewise find their misfortune began after trying to make use of the Heart - they started out as a proud race of warriors and scholars, and believed they had the right to use the Heart, now that the first Kingdom of Atlantis was gone.

They elevated their middling sized kingdom to a massive size using the power of Gillianos, extricating samples of its power to make their cities float and have perpetually generated power. The Dark Elf kings even went as far as to make themselves Demi-Gods by drawing on the Heart themselves, designing eight devices so as to better control the results; Khaos' Dagger, Silmarul's Cudgel, Zayufur's Stave, Varancain's Fang, Daeth's Eye, Vicelogia's Hammer, Shiryu's Axe and Azekred's Stylus.

The Dark Elves became ever more haughty in their power, believing they had become Masters of this heart of a dead god. The other races would find their arrogance chafing, some having stories of barbarism and disgusting activities committed by the Dark Elves.

Yet, nothing they could have done would justify what would happen to the Dark Elves.

The Heart of Gillianos went out of control and obliterated their capitol city when the Dark Elves "Quintinium" attempted to make themselves well and truly immortal beyond the ability to die. The result devastated the manifold cities of the Dark Elves, and reduced what had been a thriving empire to naught but a small series of groups, hoping to rebuild.

The Quintinium exiled themselves from reality, so it is said, out of sheer guilt.

The result was hatred and prejudice against the Dark Elves which would last even to the modern day.

Nobody knows where the Heart of Gillianos is now, the oldest documents indicate it fell through the chamber the ritual was being conducted in, and down into the frozen arctic areas, embedding itself in a glacier.

So, with the glaciers melting, who knows how long it might be until someone digs up this most ancient instigator of doom - and likewise, who knows how long they'll last in the Heart's presence.

World Building is for asking specific questions. If you just want to share what you've written and maybe get some feedback, you should be posting this in Writer's Block.

Huh. I was told the exact opposite when I initially made this thread, and it got moved here, from Writers Block.

Yeah, I saw that and I don't really understand why this got moved.

World Building, very specifically, is for getting help with world building (i.e. asking questions about how to do world building or whether and/or how something would realistically work), not sharing or getting general feedback or critique on stuff you've written (that's what Writer's Block is for) even if what you've written is background for a world you're building.

That's not your fault, of course.

Yeah, so should I get it moved back to Writers Block?

I'd recommend shooting a PM to BetsyandtheFiveAvengers and/or chihuahua0, the mods for World Building and Writer's Block respectively and asking them what to do.

Because at least one mod has seen fit to move this one already, but said mod was not the mod of either of the two sub-forums and might not be up on the proper distinction between the two.

But it's just as possible that there's been a shift in policy where, now, asking for critique on world building is supposed to happen in World Building and that this change simply happened at some after I got the automated welcome PM.

I would not suggest PMing Betsy and/or Chihuahua for guidance; neither has been active on the site in years.

Although posting specific questions about your content will be more likely to get people to post in this thread, not posting any specific questions that you want answered doesn't mean this thread belongs in Writer's Block, let alone the Constructive Criticism thread. The CCT even specifically disallows the submission of worldbuilding and other supplementary content for critique. The thread's fine here.

I stand corrected on, and agree with, all of the above...

Except, perhaps (and I stress: perhaps), about this thread being fine here.

Nick, you've been posting your work in this thread bit-by-bit for years now and you've probably noticed you're not getting many replies. World Building and Writer's Block are both meant to help writers improve their craft and I think you should ask yourself (and then tell us) what you want from this thread that will help you to improve your writing.

And before you answer 'I just want to see if anyone has any questions/critique', I feel I should point out that it is very hard, in fact functionally impossible, to critique world building unless it's really, really flawed (and yours doesn't fall under that category), because someone's world is exactly that: their world. If another writer telling you how they would have written their world differently doesn't really tell you much about how to make your world fit what you want out if it better, it just tells you about their world.

Keep in mind that 'I just want to share what I've written with someone' is a perfectly good reason on its own if you think it will help you be a better writer. As long as we, the other people on the forum, know what you want out of this thread that you feel will help you improve.

Well, in as far as what I want from this, in addition to this being the lore of my books, I occasionally make RP's on here set in the same world as my books. So I guess this could function as a lore guide for people who join any RP I make set in my verse.

Specialized Umbral Horde Units;

• Abyss Hawks: People in dark red, purple and black armor, fitting their bodies but never giving away what gender or indeed what these people are, exactly, they primarily wield long and thin blades that run along their fingers and further off of them, in the style of Wolverine Claws, but with a slight bend to the blades forward near the ends. They wear face masks themed after raptor birds, most commonly hawks and falcons, the beak likewise giving the impression of a plague doctor. They make use of wires and blades attached to them, along with a steam system in their armor, to jet around extremely quickly - most people mistake the movements of the Abyss Hawk for teleportation due to how fast they move. One could be right behind you, slit your throat, and then be gone in the time it takes for others to turn around and look at the horrific result. They can likewise make use of razor sharp wires to rip their foes to pieces should their claws fail to make a dent. In order to conceal their identity and more efficiently perform as assassins in addition to combat troops, their helmets are enchanted such that if someone looks in the eye-holes, all they'll see is a vast empty darkness. The Abyss Hawks regard all their targets as little more than prey they can either kill immediately or throw around and maim so long as the prey ultimately ends up dead; much like some of the actual birds their helmets emulate. They most often operate alone when functioning as assassins, but occasionally two of them are sent to do the same job. They are often seen just out of the corner of your eye, and if they get too close, then it could be said it is too late for you.

• Umbriel Darklings: There are exactly seven of these guys, and their job is basically Bodyguarding a Badass - every Scion of the Eight Dark Gods has these guys making sure they live through assassination attempts by enemy forces, or, in the case their appointment to the position of Scion is preordained, making sure that person lives to take the position. They make use of dark flame imbued two sided voulge type weapons, along with a saber at their side that holds a powerful evil spirit within it sworn to serve the Darkling that wields it. They are never sworn to one Dark God, but instead serve the Umbral Horde as a whole so as to prevent any influence of political games between the Gods from harming their efficiency. They were first assigned to this role by Mordred himself, selected from seven of his most faithful underlings. Rumor has it they occasionally need to switch a member out due to age or complications unrelated, but how they replace these members is a matter of secrecy. Their armor is demonstrably more ostentatious looking, but not to an extent that impedes function.

The Abyss Gazeth Back Into You, Anatheme, the Seven Star Soul-Slaying Sword

Of all the cursed weapons of the Umbral Horde, few equal the sheer malice and destructive potential of the Anatheme. Created by Corpheus Scyllo, the sword was made to be wielded by Caine Dekeren, Scion of the Eight Dark Gods. However, after his death the sword traveled the globe and realms beyond, hand to hand, weaving devastation and scenes of carnage in its wake.

Though loathe to explain it, Corpheus created the sword via a number of profane and terrible rites, including pouring waters from the Sea of Mortal Hatreds into the mixture due to become Anatheme. The Sea is composed of every single hate or grudge humanity ever felt, and he made use of the darkest waters - every genocide in history and the hatred that motivated them was poured into one blade.

Other ingredients so to speak included the blood of an Old God and the obliterating breath of Dragon God Varancain, followed by forging it in the accursed Black Protocol device.

The sword that emerged was so utterly wretched and horrific no light will shine on it - sunlight swerves and electric lights fail when trying to shine on it. Every drop of blood spilled on it is immediately eaten by the sword. It is so utterly anathema to life that it consistently tries to never miss, swerving back to try to at least draw some blood...the wound created immediately growing gangrenous.

It is receptive to the malice of its holder - if someone says a full name along with any nicknames they have to the red sphere at the pommel, it will quiver and shift. Then, should it stab that person, the blade completely consumes them into itself as if it had become a hungry black hole.

The Light Gods regard the sword as a cancer on reality - an insult to existence and a perversion of everything that life is, was, and can be. They attach the highest priority to destroying it - all their servants bound to at least attempt it.

Those that hold the sword are immediately impressed upon by its destructive power - a single swing to slay 1000 in a wave of death, and are compelled to wield it, more and more. To act on every grudge and hate they ever felt. To sharpen its blade with their hatred - and through this, heighten its strength.

It does not so much have a malevolent intellect as an instinct - it compels annihilation, it begs to be wielded, to be used, to see those you hate tortured, smashed, crushed and slain - it is willing to be any and every kind of blade depending on your need. In every way, it is a sword - the power of destruction.

Even when planted in the ground, it cannot be contained - everything around it becomes more malicious, seeking to inflict pain. Thorn bushes become horrible creatures crawling along, animals ascend into carnivorism if only to taste blood, and humans become more prone to fighting and war.

edited 11th Dec '17 1:12:42 AM by NickTheSwing

The Sword That Severs Dimensions, Kugalatach

The twin to the above Anatheme, Kugalatach is its twin in appearance, destructive power, and ruinous origins - forged by the Old God of the Forge, Zaleleth in the last days of the Old Gods, it proved to be his last creation. Kugalatach was created using Zaleleth's grudge and hatred for the Old World Matthew that plunged the entire paradise of Xanadu into repression.

Being made in such a state, and with equally auspicious ingredients, Kugalatach emerged from the forge hungry for blood and rejecting the world around it in the case it was not allowed its feast.

Hence, it moves and twists between dimensions to allow itself to act on the hate that gave it life - even creating new blades and extensions of itself to strike at foes from portals.

The edge of Kugalatach is keen, and any wound it inflicts seems to bleed more than it should. Death follows this weapon like an aura around it, even seeming to move in advance of the weapon itself. Nothing is immune to being split asunder by Kugalatach - Top God Khaos wielded it during his move for vengeance against Light God Zeufonis.

Despite Zeufonis' mail having been blessed with immunity from every physical object, Kugalatach split the armor as if no such blessing was placed on it, and hungrily sapped the blood from Zeufonis' body.

This weapon is like Anatheme viewed as an aberration and a horror that blights the world the longer it stays in existence. It is however not quite bequeathed with an intelligence and more a guiding emotion - grudge and hatred.