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. 

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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.