Crillion Comet

somewhere inside the comet

 Every 77 years, the skies of Bal-Kriav are graced by the Crillion Comet, every 311 years the gloomy clouds of Stygia are lit by forces ancient. Many worlds see the passage of these comet, yet few know what it truly is.

From afar, the Crillion Comet looks like a comet, an enormous rock burning through the Void. Behind this veil is a sleek cylinder, miles long, with a cross-section half of that. It is an ancient voidship, considered the first vessel able to carry its crew across the vastness of space. In the Dawn Era, Bruh Kreniik, an unrivaled Creationist of the ages, tasked the Lith-Crillion with its use. This highly advanced race were to observe the quick evolution of worlds, monitoring them for any primordial influences or other disturbance that may upset a world's natural development. This observation effort began in the Age of Creation, a time when worlds were forged from the energies and matter of Chaos. This was all new stuff, so Creationists like Bruh Kreniik went to great efforts to make sure that the efforts were not in vain. Creation resulted in the Dawn War, and the Dawn War led to the Demon Spawn War. This left behind war materials, dangerous spells, null mines, and other items considered too powerful to be left lying around. In addition to cataloging, monitoring and analyzing worlds, the Lith-Crillion were tasked with recovering things deemed problematic to an area's natural course of development.

Even though it was Bruh Kreniik's ship, the Crillion Comet did not escape the aforementioned wars. On dozens of occasions, the Crillion Comet and its Lith-Crillion crew, the only race that can pilot it, found themselves pressed into service, as a military transport or a refugees ship for those near extermination by a demon army or a world being torn apart by an aberrant monstrosity of the likes of the Nine-Tongued Worm.

After the wars, the Lith-Crillion continued to travel the stars. They continued the work of cleaning up, cataloging species, monitoring for ill influences. On some worlds they were known simply as the Inspectors, angelic and mysterious, perhaps even the gods themselves. They came and went, not seen again for decades. On other worlds, they set-up permanent bases, interfering in the affairs of the natives when they deemed it necessary (c.f. Maziggandîm Conflict). To reach so many distance places, the Crillion Comet was made to travel the Void in haste and secrecy. Even today, most see it only as a comet.

Until the Second Epoch, the Nil Koraaviik, authorities on matters pertaining to the stars, listed the Crillion Comet as a natural comet. They and other interested parties at Galzara's Watch, sponsored an expedition to proof this theory. In 1457, the Marching Twenty was commissioned to explore the phenomenon. Those that returned lasted mere days, each perishing from an incurable degenerating disorder. The majority never made it off the comet. The group's expedition journals describe one area to be taken up by strange apparatuses, thousands of them, and an assortment of cloning tanks, birthing ponds, maturation chambers and things rumored to be the province of Creationists. One theory for the Lith-Crillion's later disappearance is that the ship's birthing ponds quit working. Later research and expeditions to the ship gave good evidence that the Lith-Crillion made more of their kind only on this ship. It also gave credence to the idea that Lith-Crillion only experience the world around them as adults.

In 1534, the Golden Elite explored a section of the ship. They were on a mission to find one of the ship's Rift Spanners. After they found this ancient relic, it was used to get close to Merioss, where they launched the Elder Orb of Wyrms into the star.

It is an ark, a research enter, a flying ship, but most importantly a place to study the insects below. An engineering feat only matched by a score of gods or an entire race of supra-genius, highly advanced humanoids.

- Zarrek Lukko, from the Golden Elite Archives - "Crillion Comet, a Lith-Crillion Lab"

 

The Crillion Comet has strict safeguards in place for its use. To pilot, it requires a Lith-Crillion of balanced thoughts and of his or her own mind. When not piloted, which has been the case for thousands of years, the ship follows it last course, hopping across the vast reaches of the Void on Rift Spanners.

In the Lith-Crillion Era, the Crillion Comet served as a supply ship and collector of knowledge and relics. It supplied the Lith-Crillion research centers scattered across the Nawirrûs system. It served as transport for staff to new lands, but most importantly collector of lore and dangerous relics left behind from the Dawn War and the Demon Spawn War. Much of this stuff now lies in one of Bruh Kreniik's mountain vaults on some mysterious world. A place unnamed, hidden from the prying eye of even the gods. The Crillion Comet is still believed to have things that never reached storage, powerful items and lore that might cause problems if put into circulation.

Square Nails

Square Nails

Square Nails is an ancient tome penned in the God Era. Written by Demogorgon, for a long time it was
thought to be a war journal. Many reading it for its insight on his war strategies, supplying a demon army numbering twenty legions, and his ideas on the conflict his enemies called the Demon Spawn War. On reading, Square Nails does not come off as one written by one of the Abyss's most brutal and evil demon lords.

Demgorgon writes, "most of us wanted a prosperous land of our own, away from the evil tearing apart Piranoth's Steps." When Demogorgon retreated from Bal-Kriav, returning to what most of his kind called the Abyss, he left Four Nails in the hands of a trusted mortal. The book eventually found its way into someone who could appreciate its value. It was a good read for both historians and war planners, and even interesting to the casual reader. Having looted it from its previous owner, an orc grunt of the Gud-Mortoth tribe came into possession of this book. He passed it on to his war shaman who copied the book and then passed it on to his chieftain, who in turn made copies and passed it on to his sub-commanders. The reprints were the problem with these books. Once someone had copied the words to another book they took on a slightly different meaning. This changed to be something more about Demogorgon's greatness and his desire to raise up the downtrodden and the oppressed. These copies became the books of Demogorgon's first proselytizers.

In the First Epoch, various churches began burning these books. This was based on evidence that the copying process cursed the writer into becoming a Demogorgon cultist. People stopped making copies. Even so, six millennia had passed since the first reprint, thousands of copies were out there. Furthermore, those who made copies spared no expense in getting the book out into the wilds, enlightening the barbarians to the words of Demogorgon.

It is a problem, a serious problem. Square Nails does not portray its writer as a demon, or a pitiless monster bent on destruction and the vilest of deeds. He comes off as a freedom fighter. Reading his flowery words, his great stature, poise, and unmatched strength, you would think he is attractive looking, when in fact he is one of the most hideous of the demon lords.

- Giracian, commenting on the book Square Nails - "Bal-Kriav Affairs, 1890 HE"

Lightless Cyst

Monstrous Slime

The Lightless Cyst is an area of deep darkness where the light of ghostly lichens only functions if the area's master is away on business. This master is the magical staff Eldacil's Vine. When this sentient item is home, buried in the pulsating mass of a colossal-sized ooze, it keeps the area in darkness so deep that only those of advanced sight can make their way around. It does this because the hill-sized mound of goo that it inhabits, was once the body of the demon lord Juiblex. One of the favored attacks of this sickly ooze demon was lurking in an area of impenetrable darkness, savoring the panic of those that could not see into it.

Late in the Demon Spawn War, the Covenant general Melrith cornered Juiblex in a long unnamed cavern. In the ensuing fight, hundreds of twig blights charged upon Juiblex, throwing their bodies into certain doom. Hiding among the charging soldiers was Melrith and a staff designed to re-balance the energy composition of others. Melrith, distant from Covenant operations for the past decade, a product of the growing darkness inside her, boldly took on Juiblex alone. Luckily she had enough body shields around her to take most of the blows. Melrith succeeded in driving Eldacil's Vine into Juiblex. The power staff devoured the demon's energies, but like four times before in the Demon Spawn War, the body was killed, but the mind escaped.

Melrith could not believe the amount of energy the staff absorbed. She had a telepathic link with the weapon, but could not reach it. Next to the battle, she had set the staff's many faceted tip to Dark Nature Energy. She had hoped to use whatever energy the staff absorbed in her experiments. Melrith was never able to retrieve the staff. The caustic juices of Juiblex body kept her away. This was unusual because in previous kills, Juiblex's body would go into demoniac death throes. Forced to leave the Mortal Systems in the Angelic Departure, Melrith left Eldacil's Vine in a still-living blob; Juiblex's 7th Incarnation. Many years later, Melrith learned that it was the staff's sentience, Eldacil, that was keeping the body alive. The goodly nature of Eldacil was such that she did not like taking lives, so she kept the unthinking mass alive by feeding it. Somewhere during this process, the Dark Nature Energy the staff was holding, an enormous amount give that Juiblex was a demon lord, corrupted the staff. Not so good anymore, Eldacil used one of the pseudopod of Juiblex's 7th Incarnation to turn the staff's facet to an empty slot. This begin the release of the staff's energy into the area around it.

In the next age, the Lith-Crillion Era, the staff and mound grew to be one. Using Juiblex's stolen energies, nearly all converted Dark Nature Energy, the staff went to work spreading a vast root system outward. This corrupted Underdark fey in the process. Myconids, shriekers, and any other subterranean plant-life that came within range had their Nature Energy replaced by its antithesis. Some of this made it to the surface, bolstering the Dark Nature of Emeldimir's three blighted forests.

Near the center of the Lightless Cyst is a vine covered hill that still pulsates. This mound is Juiblex's 7th Incarnation. It and the staff are responsible for making Velkyn's northeastern reaches a place of Dark Nature.

The Lightless Cyst is a Focus for Dark Nature Energy. Because of its dark nature focus, all druidic spells using dark nature energy are 25% stronger and have a have a +4 to their difficulty checks.

Even though Juiblex has no connection with its old body, oozes, slime and puddings are attracted to this area.

Gambriath

Dark Treant

Gambriath was once a grassland hemmed in by two swamps and their two mountain rivers. In the Demon Spawn War, after the Covenant war against the demons moved to faraway areas, members of the 9th Deception Wing under Melrith made it their home. In Covenant records, the 9th DW-M as they coded it, was a brigade sized-unit of sprites. They were noted for being mischievous tricksters, and to be kept away from more organized and lawful minded units. Ares wrote that they are best used for stirring up trouble behind enemy lines.

Around 1800 HE, a Theegan warrior, an Araj ex-patriot, retired to this area. He was the first of a couple dozen those that would come to this area. What they all had in common was a distaste of the growing numbers of horse-cultists taking over southern Emeldimir. This part of the valley was home to Theegan settlers, frontier breakers on the northwestern fringes of Araj's contested claim. Influenced by the valley's unicorns, many of them took to worshiping horses. Two centuries later, in the start of the First Epoch, these cultists became the faces of the Jara race.

To reach Gambriath, the ex-patriot Tel'kaut had to cross lands claimed by the city-state Antokepf. Goblins mounted on black unicorns, Antokepf's elite patrols, told Tel'kaut that he was free to settle in Gambriath. Araj had long been at odds with Antokepf, leaving Tel'kaut surprised at their sincerity and friendliness. They were up front to him, stating the area ahead has a more recent name, one less known, the Wood of the Lost Fey. They said early in the Horgon Era (845 HG to be exact), their ancestors, Antokepf's founders, passed through this area on a northerly route. It was a harrowing journey leaving hundreds of dead and wounded spread across a hundred miles. Tel'kaut wrote of this meeting.

Then looking off in the distance at the setting star, then back at the looming forest ahead, the goblin lieutenant nervously said, "as Merioss began to wane, the sprites would come out drunk and belligerent. This led to some fighting. The worse though was all the stealing they did, leading to dissension in our own ranks. Our own accused each other of theft, and sometimes proven true with the wily sprites planting one's gear in another's wagon or pack. These sprites, who we now know as the descendants of Melrith's 9th Deception Wing, were consummate pranksters, loosening straps and tack with their magic. Much time was spent gathering up livestock lost in the night. They applied their fey magic in annoying aways, but nothing overtly aggressive. Some took it upon themselves to dole out reprisals, leading to our worg riders setting ablaze our foe's tree cottages, or vengeful arcanists leaving fire trap spells in them. Sprite attacks became more bold. They captured some our children, taking them off to be slaughtered, strangely to raise them. Things turned for the worse, when necromancers were employed to raise the dead. They positioned sprite zombies and our own fallen, on the edge of the march, the first line of defense for a thousand men, woman, children looking for a new home. Luckily for them, the sprites, perhaps seeing a dark omen in their kin raised as zombies, ceased hostilities.

 - Tel'kaut, from a personal journal - "12 Temporal 1801 HE"

What the guards did not tell Tel'kaut, was that decades after the founding of Antokepf, 869 HE to be precise, a goblin necromancer named Kyvile returned to Gambriath. In the crossing, he had lost his entire family to the sprites. Now a seasoned necromancer, he came back for revenge. He killed nearly a hundred of them before tiring of the slaughter. Before he left, he burned the sprites in a massive funeral pyre. Unbeknown to him, this was a violation of the sprite's sacrosanct burial practice of letting the dead lay where they died. A few of the dead sprites, their soul energy still wandering aimlessly about Arcadia, pleaded to the gods for revenge. Melrith answered, returning a baker's dozen to Gambriath as ghosts, the Lost Fey. These sprites had hoped this would be something on the order of reincarnation into something more dangerous like an elder treant, but instead they became wisps of negative energy with the power to take over the bodies of the living.

When Tel'kaut came to the area, one of these ghosts took possession of his body. It was not done out of maliciousness, but to experience living one again. The sprite that took possession of Tel'kaut was named Tin'tat. When the sprite was a mortal, he enjoyed gardening. He was never a warrior, only getting killed in the fighting because he was drunk. Tel'kaut the Possessed went to work on his gardens, using his magic items and his great wealth to build something so expansive and grand that it would come to cover all of Gambriath with trees, briars, a multitude of plants that has been called part-maze part-city in its layout. In the early stages of all of this, Tel'kaut befriended the area's mischievous sprites, convincing them through his possessor, that he could be trusted. Tel'kaut had one of these sprites carry messages to some of his Theegan friends, telling them of the good life to be had in his new home. Frontier types did come, but they too ended up possessed by the Lost Fey. These other ghost sprites were jealous of what Tin'tat had. They could see his enjoyment at once again acting like the living, experiencing things they now greatly missed. When their hosts died of old age, sickness, or other causes, these Lost Fey took to finding others to continue "living" through another.

In the First Epoch, the Rúmil came to the lowland forests south of Gambriath. They learned of these ghosts and saw the effects of over a millennium of their dark deeds. The grassland had become a deep and tangled forest, one built by many application of the druid plant growth spell and similar plant enhancing magic.

Gambriath is a Focus for Dark Nature Energy, a home for dark treants, evil fey, and undead. Except for the Lost Fey, the area is devoid of sprites. Because of its dark nature focus, all illusion, charm, domination and influencing magic cast in Gambriath have a +2 to their difficulty checks.

Sal'rurg the Castrated

Sal'rurg was a very charismatic, cunning and power hungry dao. During the time of the Tinnanguth Empire, his beginnings were like many other Earthen, pulled from their home world Granitoid to serve under Sussgurd masters.

Sal'rurg Thad

At the age of 15, he was yanked from his world, pulled across the vastness of the Void in but an instant. He found himself on a mortal world, staring in the face of a lone Sussgurd wizard. It was a surprise, but not unexpected. Back on Grantoid, word was spreading of this type of magic. Sal'rurg had heard a wise one talk nervously of this, "a remarkable mortal achievement, binding something outside the Mortal Systems and then summoning it to you. They have come far since our [the primordials] invasion rifts dotted their worlds like honeycombs."

In 410, magically summoned to Bal-Kriav, Sal'rurg was given a magical adamantine amulet called a Holentur Hook. This device made it so that the duration of conjuration spells, and the Earthen summoned, lasted years instead of hours. Sal'rurg's amulet was not unique. He joined a dozen other dao and hundreds of earth elementals as diggers. In the decades that followed, these numbers would grow ten fold. Sal'rurg was the first of Tinnanguth's Earthen workforce that improved his station. He became a bodyguard for a merchant then an administrator of his master's home, then overseer of a Holentur adamantine mine. After his master's mysterious death, he was imprisoned for six years under suspicion. The investigation came to a stop when it was learned that the state was running an project to determine the ability of dao in roles other than digging and building. After being released, he was picked up by a new master. Sal'rurg was picked up to serve as a harem master. In this role he was to watch over his master's concubines, preventing others from defiling them, and keeping the concubines from escaping or have dalliances with the staff. Under the cover of magic, Sal'rurg went on to bed many of them. He did this in the guise of a temporary cook, cleaner, or other that took care of his master's palatial dwellings. It was only after he had given up his carnal desires of mortals, pledging allegiance to Geb, and becoming known as The Castrated One, that he learned he was again playing a part in an experiment. It was another of Tinnanguth projects, this one to see if half-elementals could be created from magic and nature intercourse. His treatment and that of many others were an impetus of the Dao Insurrection.

In the Dao Civil War, Sal'rurg's cunning led to him becoming the master of the other dao warlords. On 21 Temporal 840, he established the Rilirthad Empire, with him its first Dao Khan.

Mauhúl

Dire Zebra

The Mauhúl valley is dotted with ancient ruins of a time when angels and their mortal allies battled an Abyssal invasion. Since that time, nobody has sought to build a settlement in this area. This is because of extreme measures taken, Mauhúl became a disease-ridden place of sickness and decay where only the hardiest of creatures can survive. For centuries, only plant-life existed here. Eventually, the animals that did manage survive and give offspring, gave rise to those of exceptional constitution, toughness, and strength; what some call Dire types. Theologians of Gimhak, particularly those following the god Naraz-Nâru, consider this "beast-only blessing" the work of the god Silvanus. They claim that it was his way of giving thanks to those that once fought alongside the Covenant and great commanders like Silvanus and Naraz-Nâru. There is another group on the other side of this thinking that said such perversion of the truth is said to discredit Silvanus, for he was neutral, father of the idea that nature should be left to take its course. They say if Silvanus was involved in this matter, then it was merely to enhance creatures to survive in a changed environment.

Mauhúl was a hotly contested area in the Demon Spawn War. This was because the highlands flanking it on the east, Bileddanul, are laden with mithril veins. The demon invaders were not interested in the resources, only that someone was in their way. The forces positioned here were Turkûn-Khâl serving under then archangel Naraz-Nâru. His opposite were under the command of Ahnuthall; who in turn answered to Orcus. Facing the typical numerical superiority of their enemy, the Covenant decided to take extreme measures. There is no record of who gave the go, today's priests of Naraz-Nâru will tell you that their god was adamantly against it. He had warned his Covenant superiors, "the greatest risk is of it getting out of control, once it is in the wild, it is wild, no longer under our control." Even today, the use of disease to debilitate your enemies is often taken as a last resort. This is because of the unpredictability of diseases. The Covenant's deployment of RT-12 Leech ended up spreading to both armies. Because of its virulence, and for the rest of the war, neither side sought to hold the valley. Both retreated away from it. Ahnuthall went east to deal with a threat in the Bowkrak hills. Izanargam on the edge of disease-ridden valley, continued to supply ore and arms to Covenant soldiers for the rest of the war.

Oddly enough, today's Blighters got their start from the research that went into making the RT-12 Leech. Blighters, a bane to civilization today, had their beginning as a team of druids assisting alchemists developing a disease that would wreck havoc on their enemies. Since the agent they were working on could not be safely deployed in the enemy lines without risk of affecting their own, the research team came up with a way of melding RT-12 Leech into plants. This made it so that every season, during the plant's pollination time, the disease would be released onto the land around it. For whatever reason, Covenant decision-makers behind this germ warfare did not consider streams and brooks, and the Foronir river, and the movement of seeds from one area to another by birds and critters. Eventually, plants affected by the RT-12 Leech were taking root in and behind the Covenant strongholds dotting Mauhúl.

In the valley's southern parts, it is often wet and pocked with fog banks. In some areas, the fog is perpetual. This is most noticeable near the Idrongrun bog.

Talos Cleft

Ice Mephit

Talos Cleft is a fog shrouded plateau at the center of Angvild. In the Dawn War, the island Angvild was dragged into this world by team of primordials. They pulled it from Chaos, through the Web of Magic and then to the world Bal-Kriav where it came to rest in the waters of Morwuld Briin. When the primordials finished this monumental feat, they turned to shearing away part of its highlands. The work of separating the area from its base was overseen by a young upstart primordial named Talos. Most of the hard labor was done by hundreds of storm archons, storm giants, cloud giants, and thousands of ice mephits. The latter creatures were forced to expend all their energy freezing rock and then having it blasted apart by bolts of lighting. The primordial Geb also helped in the task by supplying a powerful rock boring device called the Earthspear. When the valley and mountains were separated from their base, they left a rugged plateau overshadowed by a massive island. This floating island, buoyed by the entropic energies of Chaos, was named Krarkauk. Nearing the end of the Dawn War, Talos was captured and banished from the Mortal Systems. Before he was caught, he set Krarkauk adrift on the clouds. The plateau left in its wake became known as the Talos Cleft.

Talos Cleft is almost always shrouded in cold fog. The fog and the chill in the air are the residual energies of all the ice mephits that perished separating Krarkauk from Angvild. Thousands of these creatures were forced to kill themselves by expending all their cold energy against the rock. This "sacrifice" was oversaw by storm archon taskmasters which promised either eternal suffering in Piranoth's Steps or a release back to Chaos where they would be reborn into something greater for their sacrifice. After the Dawn War, most of the primordials and their minions were captured or driven away from the mortal realm, yet some remained. The ice mephits that once lived under the whip of Talos's taskmaster were considered no threat to the world, so the gods and angels left them on Angvild. These ice mephits tend to stay in the highlands of the island and preferably in and around the chilling temperatures of the plateau. Some of the mephits have been convinced to live in Mechantus where their cold radiance is put to use in refrigeration.

Apoxlin's Sentence

Apoxlin

Apoxlin is a powerful female angel serving under Phalgas. In 1485, a hell knight named Raxcvillibus Dumu'loc was sent on an important mission for the god Thasmudyan. This mission was actually a trap set by aforementioned god and the mortal Ta'khar Jagg. Instead of being assassinated, Apoxlin and her team captured Rax, then hauled him him back to Lunia.

He was taken to the Hall of Edicts where he stood trial for soul destruction. He was charged with other lesser things like being a leader of the Black Tide. These lesser charges did not stand up in court for they were affairs of the Mortal Systems and not universal crimes like destroying souls.

Raxcvillibus's sentencing was presided over by Danzar-Khâl and Athena. They were there to monitor Apoxlin to make sure she was impartial in the affair, and following the letter of the law.

Rax lost the trial. It was easily proven that his weapon Grarg was a Cairn Scythe, a forbidden class of weapons, and under questioning, the sentient weapon proudly admitted to devouring what it called "enemy souls". Apoxlin's sentence was read out to the charged. It took the form of a powerful curse stating that the defendant must serve nine years in the Hells and then he would return back to Bal-Kriav to serve out the next nine years, then repeating until the sentence finished. The sentence started in 1485, and ended 198 years later in 1683.

The prosecution thought Rax would die in his first rotation to the worlds of the Hells system, but he survived, and continued to survive. He actually came out mightier than when he stood in Nawenglorûs's highest court of law.

As part of his sentence, Raxcvillibus would go to the worlds of the Hells system eleven times. Of that time, he served nearly 30 years under Hells diabolical overlord Asmodeus. The most difficult part for Raxcvillibus during this time was that he would only remain in the Hells for nine years and then be yanked back to Bal-Kriav where he would live for nine years before repeating. As a result, he had no permanency for what he had done or accomplished; he would return to find all that he had built was gone or taken over by someone else. As a result, he became mercenary in his ways, offering his martial and leadership skills to those across Midrêth and when away in the Hells, to fiends.

Another aspect of Apoxlin's Sentence, a holy curse that he was bound to oblige by, was that each time he went to the Hells it was to be random on which world he arrived. Sometimes, it took a couple years to reach his master from where he was teleported in. Not even the awesome might of Asmodeus could help him. This was because Rax's divine curse made him invisible to things like crystal balls. The hardships were many, often having to blaze a path through enemy territory, or hiding for weeks on end as they camped nearby. Even in the hells, he was a dangerous appearing foe; a hell knight, donned in ancient ornate armor and bearing legendary weapons, was a sight to think twice before making any sudden movements.

Another part, was while Rax was doing time in the Hells, his sword Grarg was forced to remain behind. The rule of Apoxlin's Sentence prevented the sword from joining Rax in the Hells.

The Ackairon

Two units of the Pillars of Horns are the 1st and 2nd Ackarion Squads.  They are the ship's light flying infantry, the outer screen for a enormous ship described as ponderous and slow-turning.  The Pillar is a battleship of the skies, built like a floating castle.  Some would say it is foolish to take a battleship out with escorts, but Rax did it anyway. 

---

Talon, of 2nd Ackarion Squad

Ackairon, is the collective name for the bird-like humanoids of Moredhel. They have been living in this valley since the God Era.  After the Covenant victory in the Demon Spawn War ended, the Ackairon on and other mortals of that fought in the ranks of the angels and gods were left to make their own way in the world.

Over the next two eras, the Lith-Crillion Era and they God Era, Moredhel's Ackairon tended to favor their avian side over their humanoid one. This meant that a pair of them would take a large territory and try to keep it as animals would. This behavior, or what some might call cultural regression, kept their population low.

In the First Epoch, they were forced to band together. They took a unified front against the refugees created by the Great Minotaur Revolt. Having gained their freedom from the First Khazarkar Empire, the minotaurs sought unclaimed lands east, they figured that central Moredhel was for the taking being that it had no settlements. This humanoid incursion was nothing new. The Ackairon were already dealing with Gatiranda encroachment from the south. The minotaur crisis would end up with more mouths to feed, so the Ackairon decided it was to be for their mouths, so they encouraged, forcibly when necessary, the minotaurs to continue west.

In 1696, forces led by the Ba'lith Emperor Raxcvillibus conquered them in what some call the Ackairon Subjugation. Up until this time, they had resisted all that came against them. There was never a real concerted effort to push them out, since most feared Moredhel's closeness to the Broken Lands. Raxcvillibus took this area because he wanted them as soldiers. At first, they resisted, but when their fledglings were taken from them, sent to military schools, they joined the empire as reluctant citizens. In Ba'lith's military crèches where after a decade of military schooling they became soldiers. For many, this life as a soldier is all they know. After nine years of military service, they are free to go back to Moredhel. Most stay with Ba'lith's air force, where they serve as fast scouts or in the light flying infantry.

Sarurkane Branda

A running plot of GS1 (Godspawn) and GS2 (Godspawn - Awakening) involves Sarurkane Branda.  Rax believes that this head banker of the Bank of Paradomea and member of the Council of Nine (aka finance minister of the empire of Paradomea) is out to see him fail.   So, I ask you - Is Rax just paranoid or is Syndic Sarurkane Branda plotting to have him offed ?

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Syndic Sarurkane Branda

Sarurkane Branda was a merchant master of Paradomea City before it became the capital of the Paradomea empire. He became a Syndic of the Council of Nine on 19 Bliss 1290. As part of becoming a Syndic, he gave up his mortality by embracing lichdom.

For most of his first century on the Council he achieved little. This was largely because of the cost of bribes and naval action with the pirates of the Buccaneer Archipelago. In 1388 he forged the Westerlies Agreement, a trade agreement between Paradomea and Ivory Asylum. With it, joint policing of trade routes was started between the northern coasts of Izagunbar and the southern coasts of Hells Womb. For Ivory Asylum and Paradomea, this began a period of prosperity that lasted more than seventy years. This started to decline in the Black Tide War with trade dropping hard in 1465 when Ivory Asylum lost their colonial capital Ivory Ward.

Sarurkane gained notoriety and prominence on the Council of Nine in the Black Tide War. Rather than get involved in something he figured would burn itself out in a few years, he pushed for neutrality with the Black Tide. His plan of neutrality and growth from war production, was unanimously approved by the others. In 1466, a deal of neutrality, the Nullattîm Balance, was signed between the First Dead Council and the Council of Nine.

The Black Tide War ended up going on longer than anyone expected. The Black Tide of Thasmudyan did not run out of soldiers as the Council's Warmaster had predicted, instead they gained strength as their undead armies pushed into the Lands of Purity.

Chaos Ruins

chaos infused Erchinor

Mentioned in the book Godspawn:

Chaos ruins are areas that have been chaos infused with energy from Chaos. In the Cinazn Front, the cities Hareldocáno, Erchinor, and Sakarumân were warped by the passing of the 1st Horde of Chaos. The valley Idân was also ravaged. In the cities, streets shifted, with some ending against a building, or stacked in piles of rubble, while others were seen floating in the area as debris field. The buildings suffered the same fate, with some floating about as earth motes. There are also unusual eddies of air, water flowing in the opposite direction, and many other anomalies that one would expect from Chaos.

One of the oldest chaos ruins is Bor. It became chaos infused after an earthquake weakened the wards and seals protecting the labs underneath the city.

Once an area has been warped with chaos, there is nothing that can be done to revert it back. Sages assert that time or some powerful relic of law may be the only things that could bring stability to a chaos ruin.

Tân'ndith

Tân'ndith

Tân'ndith, also known as Tomb Rift, is the place of burial for those Minâth that served the Khazarkar Empire with distinction. It is sited just past the southern walls of the Khazarkar city Mirkathân. These walls are called the Tomb Cordon.

The more important dead that come to Tân'ndith, and not just those from the city next to it, but from across the empire, are buried in small pyramids and mausoleums. It is forbidden to enter these structures without orders from the Pharzîmrâth. In times of great need, Mirkathân's necromancers raise undead from this burial ground and send them off to the front.

Tân'ndith is guarded by numerous constructs, gargoyles, and magical beasts. Even if looters get past these guardians, they must overcome deadly mechanical and magical traps.

Near the heart of this rift is an enormous vault-like structure called Athullazîr. This vault holds a very old and massive sarcophagus. In the Lith-Crillion Era, explorers from Herfarel plundered the sarcophagus. The only thing they found inside of it was a single dried seed. This seed turned out to be the heart of a dead god, the artifact Tarfilerquar.

The undead created in Mirkathân and in this rift are more powerful than normal. It is believed that this is the result of an evil taint left on the area from the Tarfilerquar seed.

Godspawn Release

Eight months since my last posting on Blooger.  Sorry, been busy writing a book.  I used the material on my website to expand upon the story of  Raxcvillibus Dumu-loc.   Check it out -  Godspawn (see on Amazon).

Rax awaits the arrival of the Pillar of Horns

Below is a link for deeper reading or just general interest on the background of the characters, crew of the Pillar of Horns and other Bal-Kriav lore.

Godspawn - Additional Reading

Leza-Sîk

Leza-Sîk

In the Demon Spawn War, when forces under Loki and Silvanus were battling Graz'zt, the Ark'toan valley served as a camp for a fey army serving under the archangel Silvanus. Many battles were fought here and fortifications built. The most notable of these is Leza-Sîk. Before it became a formidable bastion it was a hastily built stockade meant to fend off a demon army. The Walking Palm army, a unit under Silvanus, was greatly outnumbered in this battle. Silvanus asked for treant volunteers to serve as a stockade, meaning that they would root themselves to the ground and then be petrified by spells to turn their trunk, limbs and branches into something as hard as stone. This petrified treant stockade saved the Walking Palm army from being wiped off the map, yet many of these volunteers perished in the process. This was because the battle resulted in much of the stockade being turned to rubble - un-petrifying something that is only half left is death to most creatures, including plant-life like treants.

A few months after the battle, Asmodeus ordered a bastion built here to protect the petrified wood. The fortifications of this keep were built atop these petrified timbers with viewing areas scattered all about the first and second floors of the walls and towers.

Silvanus named the place Leza-Sîk in honor of a centaur champion who died fighting Graz'zt's demons. The death of nearly 50 treants, and the way they died, has left a slight taint on the area. For fey creatures, this means they may experience mixed emotions and for the weak-willed these psychic impressions typically result in fleeing the area.

In the Lith-Crillion Era, 620 LC, two years after the founding of the Radiant Cross, the place was cleared of monsters and turned into the order's headquarters.

Buldapulax

Buldapulax

In the Dawn War, the treant Buldapulax was an agent of Silvanus's spy network Roots of Núlananya. This agent was captured snooping around Eysveig's army which was preparing to attack Tiwa'erra. This happened on Šadullu in the last great battle of that continent before it was ripped asunder by the Nine Tongued Worm. Luckily for Buldapulax, he was too important to remain in the area of fighting, so a day earlier he was shipped off to a secret location. In Eysveig's Infirmary, a nightmarish place where the friendly and enemy wounded were experimented on, Eysveig's mindbenders and regular torturers tried to pry the secrets of the Roots of Núlananya from Buldapulax's mind. This proved unsuccessful with the primordial's interrogation techniques unable to break the link between Buldapulax and the spy network. As long as this link of nature energy was in place, it would be impossible for the captive to divulge anything about the spy ring. A more dangerous course of action was adopted. Buldapulax was taken into the deeps of Bal-Kriav and bathed in the entropic energies of the Decomposition String. As an agent of the Roots of Núlananya, he already had a bit of warp matter in him, so this bathing in the Decomposition String was like an overdose. Buldapulax was sickened bodily and had his mind corrupted making him even more chaotic and now evil. With his body sickened and constitution reduced, he suffered the effects of warp touch. This turned his body more humanoid-like, yet still having the hallmarks of having once been a treant. He was to learn later that by devouring the essence of feys he could recover his constitution and grow much stronger; without them he would continue to wither and degenerate.

Buldapulax proved to be a powerful minion of the primordials, rising to the rank Primordial Lord after only two centuries. As a Primordial Lord, he was charged with causing havoc in Sphere 411's regions Grashakh and Miradelgûn. This theater of the Dawn War was so large that he had little hope of holding the entire area. He suspected that this was the intent with those even mightier than he, other Primordial Lords jealous of his quick rise to power. One of the most lasting things he did in Miradelgûn was his creation of the Sea Breach.

Buldapulax died in the Dawn War battling Golruwyrm. His was tore apart in melee combat with this dragon yet his psyche remained. He waited patiently for his minions to get to him and dose him with bottled fey essence. This desire went unfilled, because when Golruwyrm perished from overwhelming numbers she breathed her last breath. This breath was a cataclysmic storm of sand that reduced Buldapulax and a multitude of others to near nothingness. These tiny particles, no larger than sand, were then carried on the winds and spread across a landscape that was to become known as the Sands of Hell.

History of the Dawn War is found in the Plaques of Aphalur. They would have you believe that Buldapulax was extinguished, but as Silvanus once said, nature finds a way. It is my theory that the high concentration of mischievous and evil fey on the fringes of the Sands of Hell are fey corrupted long ago from parts of Buldapulax. Today, the winds of the Sands of Hell blow eternal. We must warn the untainted fey of Durgat, Maar Gosvah, and Thithanorn of this potential danger carried on the Winds of Golruwyrm.

- Spring Flower, regional report at a Glade Summit - "Nature Finds A Way"

Sea Breach

Dil'lufeykro

The Sea Breach is a sheer cliff at the heart of sector Celedhrel. The fact that there is a cliff is here is not unusual, but 1500' down from the top of these sheer cliffs is rapid flowing sea water. This area is an extra-dimensional body of sea water called the Sea Tunnel. The only way to get down to this fast flowing sea channel is by flying or jumping; the latter an act of foolishness since the height of the fall will kill most creatures. Those at the bottom have an even harder time getting out because the water down there flows at 20 knots making anchoring very difficult and then you need to find a way up. These cliffs are not naturally formed, so they are sheer and smooth affording no footholds. Normally, the only thing coming up and out of the Sea Breach are those on the wing.

The Sea Breach was created in the Dawn War when the primordial lord Buldapulax had ten primordial sand worms slain here. The death of these creatures with their rift guts to Chaos, coupled with bursts of entropic energy resulted in a rift between the Prime and the inter-dimensional location of the Sea Tunnel. Buldapulax's objective was to damn up the Sea Tunnel by filling it with earth and rock, thereby preventing its use by the aquatic armies under Sashelas. Fortunately for Covenant forces, this did not happen with the falling debris forming no more than a few islands of broken rocks and some dangerous reefs. Since that time, these islands have become havens for various flying creatures, seals, and sea lions.

One can see stand on the edge of the Sea Breach for days and see nothing but flowing water and be sometimes harassed by harpies and wyverns, but if you are lucky you may be amazed, and perhaps befuddled, when you see a ship sailing north by west along the Sea Tunnel.

- Phoslomor, excerpt from the book "Phoslomor's Survey of Midrêth, Ch. 3-2"

Warm humid air travels along the Sea Tunnel from its main entry point, a thousand miles away, at the whirlpool Typhoon Nexus. The climate of this place of sector Enkii Jusk is reflected on the surface around the Sea Breach. This is in the form of a verdant jungle for many miles in all directions outward from the cliffs. In the Lith-Crillion Era, researchers out of the Sands Pyramid of Power transplanted jungle creatures to this area. After the Lith-Crillion were long gone from Bal-Kriav, and into the Horgon Era, the jungle became home to the green dragon Dil'lufeykro. This very old wyrm sought to turn the entire area into a jungle maze with the maze's core serving as her lair. Traces of this jungle maze are still visible today if one flies high over the area.

Khilgand

Bones of Khilgand

Castle Khilgand is north of the Branchard hills. It is the abode of the red dragon dracolich Nveryioth. This beast has been around since the Horgon Era, and even though it is a dracolich, she spends a considerable amount of time sleeping. This is not an unguarded sleep, because she is served by the cultists of Sos Vrii, a regional cell of the Cult of Dragon.

Khilgand was built in the Horgon Era by those that worshiped Nveryioth as a god, along with thousands of slaves. She had the mortar of the place mixed with the powdered remains of a primordial sand worm named Khilgand. The petrified remains of this worm, one slain when Golruwyrm perished in the Dawn War, were plundered from the Sands of Hell and then carted and carried nearly 400 miles to the construction site.

Late in the Horgon Era, the forces of Khilgand threatened as far north as Belêth-Kazîr where they were checked by the eldritch giants and their army of mages, golems, and magical creatures. By the beginning of the Second Epoch, Khilgand laid claim to territory as far west as Sareon and always were in some sort of conflict with the minions of Rilthang. Later on in the Second Epoch, Nveryioth was no longer the aggressor with the Orchish Empire proving too big to tackle. The High Command forged a treaty with Nveryioth that alloted her gold for maintaining Khilgand and other expenses. In return, she would aid the Orchish Empire in any conflicts in sector Thingrorn. As time went on, Khilgand became a place to support the Cult of Dragon rather than a marshaling area for conquest.

Khilgand's garrison is comprised of several hobgoblin tribes which given protection to the place and in return have a dragon at their back, or at least the threat of one. Khilgand's defenses also include a skeletal legion which is mainly used to occupy the vastness of the place and deter any who seek to plunder its rumored riches. These rumors are often spread by Nveryioth with the intent of luring adventurers into her lair.

Nelaryotar

Reborn Rock Golem

Nelaryotar is a magical forest of northern Miradelgûn. It came about in the Lith-Crillion Era from rogue experiments performed at Belêth-Kazîr. In this crystalline tower, an insane Lith-Crillion used a forbidden magic called temporal shunting to phaze a part of the Feywild into the Prime. The forest that was here was shifted to the Feywild, and the one on the Feywild world Kriav was moved here. This was supposed to only work temporarily, but for unknown reasons (perhaps a breakdown in the arcane energies of the Web) it was a permanent temporal shunt.

Nelaryotar is an exotic otherworldly forest made even more maddening in what can be found here. Arcanists who have studied the area say that disruptive arcane energies abound here. In some form or another all of the energy types can be found here. Nelaryotar is home to both normal and magical creatures. Here you can encounter nearly any magical creature ever conceived, disenchanters, digesters, lamia, dragonne, displacer beasts, living spells, arcane oozes, and constructs to name just a few. This latter group can range from as small as the homunculus to huge constructs like iron and blutium golems. These constructs were former guardians or servants of Gimir-Zarun. They were made thousands of years ago, have been destroyed an untold number of times, yet are always reborn as a amalgamation of their surroundings. A stone golem broken and destroyed by time or foes might look like a rock golem with living plants growing out of it and leaving a trail of water behind it from an attached watermote.

Some of Nelaryotar's vegetation have been seen spontaneously catching on fire, only too regrow in their entirety from their ashes. Even rarer, are those comprised of living metal that usually only be found on the plane Mechanus. Sprouts and saplings of this stuff are much sought after for sale to those who can afford their exorbitant price. The anomalies of this forest go far beyond just these with many having not yet been recorded. This is because exploration of the area is extremely dangerous with all the area's magical dangers.

The arcane energy coursing through this forest makes it a Focus for the Arcane. The means that any arcane spell cast here has a +4 DC and is treated as if it was empowered (as the feat Empower Spell). Casters also recover spells with only half the normal period of rest.

Howling Halls

Howling Marauders

Howling Halls is the abode of werewolves, dire wolves, normal hounds and slave pens holdings humanoid food stock. One unit of this place are the Howling Marauders. They act as bandits during the day and beastly predators at night. Much of their activity is focused on the heavy traffic coming and going from the Shadow Rift.

Howling Halls is a mighty fortress, constructed long ago by the Umahanbad. They named the place Bazundabil, building it over a very rich silver mine. To get this ore back to the markets of Naram-Gunal, caravans had to travel though the deeps woodlands of Singarban and Maegorion. This was a hazardous road to travel with frequent attacks by packs of wolves and leucrotta. The latter of these are descendants of abyssal-born hounds that fought alongside Demogorgon's armies in the Demon Spawn War. To cull this population, hunting parties were sent out to reduce the wolf and demon dog population. The hunters were overzealous, soon forming hunting lodges, and doing it for sport rather than predator management. The god Silvanus took affront to this and in violation of the rules of The Balance, gifted some of the wolves with the curse of lycanthropy. After a decade, werewolves were running amok in the forest and infiltrating Bazundabil. On 19 Lunar 1118, a rare event happened when all of Bal-Kriav's moons were in full phase. The werewolves powered by four full moons, were unstoppable. Bazundabil fell to the hunger of werewolves and ever since has remained in their control.

Today, Howling Halls is manned by a crack garrison of lycanthropes and dire beast pets. A number of shadow giants, acting as assassins and spies, serve the beastly leaders of this place. Numerous caves and hideouts are located in the rocky slopes surrounding the Howling Halls. The more savage and reckless werewolves and bandit forces live in these places.

Anglor Hellion

Anglor Hellion

This pearl colored walled and aquamarine domed bastion sits half-submerged in the waters of lake Lethiel. It was built in the Second Kizan War as a counter to the increasing threat posed by Geb's Chosen. Anglor Hellion has watery passages and underwater gates for its aquatic inhabitants. There is no access to the place by land. When boats arrive, travelers and supplies are raised to the entry-ways on steam powered elevators. For the help of Anglor Hellion's first lord in the Second Kizan War, these steam engines were gifted to them from the people of Rumaktharga,

Anglor Hellion is the regional church for followers of Lokestant. She was the first lord of Anglor Hellion. Construction on the first church to her began when she was elevated to godhood on 22 Bliss 1335. This church is at the heart of Anglor Hellion and like her other churches a waterfall serves as the altar.

Some of Anglor Hellion's most powerful guardians are water elementals and water weirds. Some of these creatures are leftovers from the re-routing of the river Guirfeint. As it was too much trouble to round them up and send them back to Chaos, they were left in the lake. During times of trouble, be it hostiles or natural like forest fires, they are either hired or convinced by Anglor Hellion's priests to give aid.