JeVondair Family/Rania Eastersand

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Rania Swordswoman of the Eastersands.jpeg

Rania Eastersand
Character Portrait
Continent Beluaterra
Family JeVondair Family
Class Warrior / Hero
Age 99 years
Honour 152
Prestige 26
Rank Noble
Region [[]]
Duchy [[]]
Realm Irondale
Character Description
As a native of the Desert of Silhouettes in Dwilight, the Oracle of Obeah cuts a striking figure. Tall for a woman, dark-featured, toned, slender of frame but strong of build. Her hands still bear the fading scars of a career swordswoman. She holds the bearing of a mystic, a queen, and an eminently capable sorceress. Now middle-aged, her hair is streaked here and there with silver.

Description

The Oracle of Obeah was a striking figure. Tall for a woman, splendor of frame but strong of build. At age 50, she wouldn't be fighting anymore duels, but to look at her was to gain the impression that she certainly still could if the need arose. As she had in Creasur, Rania wore the stately white robes of her vocation. Sapphire jewelry wrought in mystic shapes brought splashes of color to her neck where she wore the Grand Chancellor's chain of office, her hair where she wore her ducal circlet, and her hands where she bore the Ring and Seal of the Sacred Realm. Hands that also bore the fading scars of a career swordswoman. Across her face she wore a symbolic, ceremonial veil of religious office denoting her allegiance to the Veiled Goddess. In short, she looked like the woman she was rumored to be: A priestess, a queen, and an eminently capable sorceress.

– Rania addresses the Senate of Fronen 11/17


DISCLAIMER

Dear Friends and Fellow Players,


Rania is a unique character. Normally, I consider all the information on my character's wiki as "Public Domain" or "In-Game Knowledge" That any of your characters might be aware of. However, in order to record Rania's story, I have to share things here that your characters would have no way of knowing. Please keep in mind that unless you have a character who has physically interacted with Rania, or witnessed her in-game messages to the realm, your character would know very little of her at all save for her name and where she is from. Your character would know nothing of her dealings with Daimons.

You. Know. Nothing.

Thank You

– JeVondair


Summation

Letter from Rania Eastersand JeVondair (1 hour, 12 minutes ago)

Message sent to the Rulers of Beluaterra (9 recipients) Diadochia Yao Ling,

If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that you are responding to a question about me that was not addressed to me. I would also guess that the only person interested enough to ask about the powers I've wielded is the one who I am most likely to employ them against. but to both of you, If you wanted to better know the real power that stands behind me, you've only to ask. Her name is Obeah, Veiled Goddess of Magic and Mystery. And you, Yao Ling, were one of the few alive today to witness Her power. Empress Maya of the Shattered Vales was another. I remember your presence as clear as spring water: A lone priestess who walked fearlessly among sleeping daimons to protect the modesty of the lone, unconscious woman [me] in their midst.

Your overall summation, however, contains several embellishments and omissions that I would like to correct. The first was there was no army of Nothoi present yet, just Daimons and their human thralls, though your army was on their way and did eventually arrive, and did so to a city purged of the Netherworld's control in the most awe-inspiring magical act I've ever heard of before or since. Some of my top lieutenants and advisors were members of that Nothoian liberation force, Lavitz Gildre, for example, who was a . Perhaps you would appreciate their testimony. You may also ask Empress Maya. She was at my side when The Blast transported me from Ete City to Keffa. Finally there is the matter of our home in Keffa. Nothoi was not a good neighbor. Your predecessor, Hadrian Chamberlain, was openly hostile to us. Gotland threatened to invade us. And Jomorosh promised to destroy us...which he very nearly did. We were very much alone, save for then-General Whilhelm offering to come to our defense. When his slavering horde of Jomorosh's daimonic hoodlums, some 40,000 strong (a force that no single realm, much less a city-state, could stand against and hope to survive) literally ate their way through Gotland to reach Keffa's walls. Aye, Obeah's magic enslaved daimons to protect her human followers in our holy city, but I diid not and do not have the ability to summon and control more....and even if I had, those defenders were utterly wiped out by the evil of the Netherworld. 6,000 of our people were consumed when Keffa fell, the rest of us barely escaped with our lives. I would hardly call that "slipping away." And still the daimons pursued us, until his dying day Jomorosh clearly hated us above all and it was only through the Grace of the Veiled Goddess and the mercy of Fronen that relocation was even made possible for us. Since then, our magical arsenal has increased dramatically, and I am prepared to use it in defense of ourselves and our allies.

Finally, twas not I that perished, but my twin sister whom you allege not to remember. Her name was Mavia Eastersand JeVondair, the Silk general, Imperatrix of the Empire of the Ivory Vales appointed by their first Empress, Selenia herself. She was slain, her body decapitated, and then resurrected as vile undead by Akkan to attack Reeds...but her spirit was stronger, and she instead defended Reeds against Akkan until I begged Hadrian Chamberlain to order her unit of undead, whom he command, to be put to their final rest. I have asked you for her body so that she might be buried with honor where she is remembered. Perhaps your memory will recall her now? I would still like to see to her proper burial as the Daishi do not honor her as I feel she deserves.

Now that we've clarified my personal history, and now that I am certain you will, in the spirit of friendship, do everything in your power to deliver my sister's body, I will end with a return to the discussion at hand: That of the proposed realm based in Keffa and Firbalt. We, the faithful of Obeah, could always found a colony realm in Keffa if that's what you're getting at by sharing my history. We have the nobles, and our claim is more recent. In fact, we have the gold to do so as well. It could be arranged with little trouble, and it will be good to see our holy city back in the hands of those who venerate the Veiled Goddess.

Under Her Eye,

– Rania to Assembled rulers after her connection to Daimons was questioned


New Blood

After being knighted by Rynn, Rania separated from her twin sister, Mavia, for the first time to being her career in the Obsidian Isles of the East Continent where she was swiftly recruited to the Royal Obsidian Dragoons to aid in the defense of the realm against invasion.

D'Hara

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair
Message sent to everyone in your realm (21 recipients)
It was stormy in Nebel. Strong westerlies off the surf beat at the shutters of the comfortable dwelling of Lord Gaidin. Rain pummled shingles and even the moon seemed to fear the great storm clouds. But to a D'Haran, life was a constant weathering of the storm. And so it was that Lord Gaidin was comfortable ensconced in his favorite chair, warm by the fire when an unexpected knock at his study door roused him from contemplation.

"My Lord," one of the serving women poked her head in and curtsied at his unspoken question. "You have a visitor.."

The Lord's expression shifted from inquisitive to incredulous, considering the strength of the gale assaulting his keep, and the servant stammered an explanation. "I Understand, Excellency, but....your visitor was most insistent to see you concerning claiming the old estate at The Bleak Tower."

"And does this mystery stormcaller have a name?" he asked impatiently.

"Yes, milord. Though only the surname was provided...JeVondair."
Rania Eastersand JeVondair


Letter from Rania Eastersand JeVondair
Message sent to everyone in your realm (21 recipients)
Your Majesty,

The clan connections and politics of the sandborn are...intricate, to say the least. When Duke Rynn was but a knight, his entire immediate family was wiped out by monsters swarming from the unsettled lands surrounding the Dessert of Silhouettes. Most of the clans only survived by hidnign or fleeing to the foothills. Only the Duke's sister, Duchess Kalixta, survived. Duke Rynn had a brother, but we do not speak of him. Unfortunately, both he and Kalixta died young. Even his wife, Duchess Khari Kye of Golden Farrow, was not long for this world. And when Duke Rynn joined them in death, his claims and holdings passed to my clan, the Eastersands, to hold until Duke Rynn's trueborn children reached majority. To maintain those claims, and ensure the safety of the JeVondair Legacy, it is my mission to find the children and take them on as squires, protecting them until they come of age. For this, i must find Le Drake.

Thank you for your summary of events that have transpired. It is a shame, although hardly surprising, to see the war with Luria continue. I wonder what reasons support it now, so many years after it began? I was but a girl when it started.
Rania Eastersand JeVondair (Dame of Port Nebel)


Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair (4 days, 20 hours ago) Message sent to everyone in your realm (21 recipients) "Please, take a seat, Dame Rania," Gaidin said, offering her the chair next to his, while ordering Milayne to bring them some food and wine. "I am more then pleased to see a new face in our great Realm, certainly when she carries such a name as you do. You will however understand I have questions. Before I get to that though, let me offer you this." Gaidin reached down his sleeves to reveal a red rose, which he gave to Dame Rania.

Rania gracefully accepted the rose, hastily plucked from Lord Gaidin's personal, storm-wracked garden. The servants had not even had the time to cut away the flowers thorns. She smiled at such a fitting mental self-portrait and deftly maneuvered the rose tuck it neatly behind her ear as Lord Gaidin appraised her. Pleased by his gallantry, she allowed it.

Rania was a full-blooded sandborn woman. Her skin was dusky as a sunset, and her hair was such a deep brown it was almost black. Unlike most of her kin, however, she eschewed the intricate braids denoting clan and rank, preferring instead to let her tresses fall freely. Despite being over 30 years old, their was not a gram of fat on her. Her wiry frame exuded a certain solidness, though little of it was exposed in her evening robes. High cheek bones and a rounded chin framed almondine eyes, gold flecks catching the firelight as she patiently awaited the end of the inspection.

"It is the custom of my House to meet beauty with beauty, so I hope you accept this gift." Lord Gaidin said at last. "Now, onto my curiousness. May I ask you who you are, what brought you here, what you plan to achieve in your future and how you expect me te be of any assitance in this all? And perhaps as important as my previous questions, we will have to discuss what I expect from you as Dame of Nebel."

"As you wish, my lord" Rania bowed her head. "Your servant did a fair job of it. I am Rania of the Eastersands, inherent clan of the House JeVondair. I have served as a general in Beluaterra and a banker in the colonies, though neither suited me well. Unlike my kin, I have little to my name save my name itself. It was decided some time ago that I should return to D'Hara to squire His Grace's children. To that end, I have already endeavored to join the JeRavosi, though I wonder if that will do me any good..."

She trailed off as she looked about the study, her eyes alighting on the brandy, but she moved on with an inhalation. "How well did you know His Grace, my Lord? I admit, I was never able to meet him in person, having been shipped abroad well before his fall."

Luria

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair (18 days, 23 hours ago) Message sent to everyone in your realm (36 recipients) But for her brief stay in a Lurian jail cell, Rania's journey to Oute Giask had been relatively uneventful, even pleasant, all things considered. A few exciting squalls had delayed here ferry from Port Nebel, and it took almost a full day at the customs house in the capital exchanging her D'Haran gold Dragons into Imperial Marks, setting up her estate, and the other necessities of taking up life in a new realm. She was amazed and grateful that her arrival had not caused a fuss, considering her surname.

Of course, the transition was hardly something that Rania was not used to. As a girl, her clan had wandered from oasis to oasis in the Desert of Silhouettes. As an adult noblewoman her life had been much the same: Moving from one realm of interest to another while her own achievements were eclipsed by her sister and cousin in Beluaterra, which grated on her more than she'd ever admit to another living soul. Nevertheless, with the death of Rynn JeVondair, she'd been given new purpose.

She was in Giask when she received Ellyn Coquard's 'invitation' and prepared to leave, tipping the courier to return Outer Giask and inform the Lady of her arrival. Gathering her belongings was a swift process, she had little enough that she could carry it over her shoulder. She took greater time with her appearance. She was tall for a woman, 5'10 with long legs and hair so brown it was almost black. If her dusky skin was not enough to denote her Desert origins to the casual onlooker, the intricate braids denoting clan and rank falling in a dark queue down her back would do the job. Rounded facial features and almondine eyes marked her as a JeVondair. She favored darker clothing: A sleeveless leather jerkin with buckles of weathered bronze over a deep blue ruffled blouse. Serviceable leather boots climbed up her calves where simple black pants were tucked, secured at her waste by a sword-belt boasting a rapier and dirk.

It was a fine enough day outside, and Rania resolved to walk rather than purchase a horse or carriage. She took great pride in her athletic form, and days on a ferry had disrupted her exercise routine. So she set out at a brisk pace, exiting Giask by the Southwest Gate. A few more hours, and she would be with kin for the first time in many years.

And she was prepared for anything...

The Duel

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair (10 hours, 12 minutes ago) Message sent to everyone in your realm (38 recipients) Dawn.

Rania was awake, as was her habit, long before first light. The sun rose at her back as She made her way to the town square in Outer Giask and was surprised to find a crowd awaiting her. Everything from brown rags to flashes of silk and steel. They grew silent at her approach, parting like fog to allow her forward. She'd never had an audience before.

It was eerie.

Tileni was already there, waiting for her. Her armor shined. Rania was not an expert on armor, the sandborn eschewed metal in favor of leather, and could not tell if the armor was freshly purchased, but she could tell that regardless of its origin, the Ranger had cared for it well, oiling the metal to a blinding sheen. She affected a haughty smile as Rania stopped before her, the crowd closing in behind. Tileni was not a small woman, nor was she unlovely, but her skin had the weathered look and scars of a tough life lived. She was reminded that this woman used to slay monsters for a living.

Of course, Tileni had never faced any monster like Rania before...

Rania smiled.

Taking the smile for the challenge that it was, Tileni looked her up and down. "You're late, sandeater." A few laughs and a catcall or two rippled through the crowd. There was no love for D'Harans here. Rania expected insults, but what she did not expect was the coldness of it. It was not said so much in anger as it was specifically calculated. Something to throw Rania off balance. Rania revised her gauge of Tileni upward while the other woman went on playing to the crowd. "I knew I said I had a pig to spit, but I never imagined how closely you'd fit the image. I might have walked instead of taking a quick boat to get here. Then maybe you'd have had time for a bath!"

More chuckles, louder this time. Rania ignored them. Stripping down to her fighting leathers. She had changed into the only other outfit she owned, black and red leather armor, segmented for flexibility and named for a particularly nasty breed of scorpion back in the Desert of Silhouettes. The long, intricately braided queue of black hair was tucked into the back. If the outlandish outfit gave Tileni pause, she overcame it, readying another insult when the town official stepped forward.

"A Challenge has been issued and accepted," The old man rasped."Today, honor can only be satisfied by blood-"

"Aye, in the highest tradition of true knights of Luria," Tileni spat. Rania ignored them both. Stretching, working her shoulder sockets, bending her knees, cracking joints to loosen them up. Then stood absolutely still, watching with eyes that seemed to blink too much.

"By the power vested in me, By His Glorious Majesty Emperor Sholan, by the light of the-"

"Shut up old man, get out of the way and ring the bell." Tileni interjected. "Breakfast is waiting."

Intimidated, the old official scurried to the side, raising his hand to signal the tolling of the bell. And the moment the hammer struck brass, Rania aggressively leapt into action, momentarily surprising Tileni and forcing her back before she rallied and the fight was on!

Rania had not been idly waiting in Outer Giask. She had studied everything she could about her opponent. Reviewing Tileni's infuriating letters, seeking out information on her family, interviewing Lurian nobles. So she knew what a formidable opponent Tileni could have been. Just as she knew that Tileni's pride would be her own downfall.

Blades clashed in the dawn light as Tileni applied every trick she'd learned over years. The two women were evenly matched in size and speed, even in age. But armed with her knowledge of her opponent, Rania grew more confident of her victory with every strike and parry. Her research on Tileni had revealed one constant fact: The Ranger was a woman who believed she'd earned the right to arrogance. She was proud of her achievements, even more so of her skills in warfare. And to a swordsman, that means one thing. Any mediocre swordsman will tell you that their are a few basic forms of combat. The aggressive, the neutral, and the defensive. A more skilled bladesmith will have learned the overrun strategy, while true masters of the blade are so in tune with themselves and thier steel that they can perform tricks of the blade that would leave an opponent stunned as well as dead. Tileni was truly a master swordswoman and, apparently hoping that Rania's bark was worse than her bite, had opted to display her most advanced skills.

The crowed oohed and ahhed as Tileni went to work. Her blade a latticework of reflected sunlight. Her feints surprised even Rania.

Until Rania brought the Ranger back to basics.

Step, slash, step, stab, step, riposte. Rania countered Tileni's dexterity with vicious ferocity, forcing the other woman towards a wall. If Tileni was growing desperate, she did not show it, continuing to redirect Rania's thrusts at the last possible moment to buy herself some time.

Step, swing, block, step upper-slash, pommel strike. That last glanced of Tileni's pauldron harmlessly as the ranger spun to the side. Suddenly, Rania was perplexed to find a boot in her chest, propelling her backwards towards the center. She stumbled, keeping her sword in front of her as she tracked Tileni. Wincing. Tileni noticed and smiled a wolf's grin, somehow knowing that her kick had fractured one of Rania's lower ribs. She feinted high, drawing Rania's sword upwards, only to hook a foot under Rania's own, pulling the sandborn off balance. Rania fell. White pain stabbed through her chest as she hit the cobblestone. She rolled, just in time to hear steel strike the stone where she'd been.

"And now, desert vermin, I am going to crush you like the insect you are," Tileni taunted as Rania rose to her feet, her breathing labored. "Come then, you well-bred bitch" Tileni scoffed, "Let me show you what the dirt is like.

Rania obliged.

Back to basics. Step, swing, block, step upper-slash, pommel strike. Glance off pauldron. Wait for it-

Rania performed the same aggressive attack combination, knowing how Tileni would react. Sure enough, the ranger went for a kick to the chest. The same trick-move that had caught Rania earlier. Rania pinned Tileni's leg underneath her arm, locking it there and lifting with her legs, throwing the other woman into the ground and, riding her momentum, Rania thrust forward with all her strength and ran the Ranger through armor and sternum. A cry went up from the crowd. Tileni's eyes widened with shock, legs kicking spasmodically as she struggled with lungs that refused to work around so much steel.

"I swore I'd teach you a lesson, Ranger" Rania whispered, breaking her silence for the first time into Tileni's dying breaths the rangers hands tearing at her armored chest. "Welcome back to the dirt."

Teleni's struggles grew weaker as Rania laid the other woman's head, curiously gently, respectfully, to the ground. Surgeons rushed forward, but it was already too late...

Rania staggered to her feet, turning towards the inn. She felt no elation of victory. She felt tired, her chest hurt like hell, and most of all, she felt...dirty.

Nothoi

The journey from the Far East had been a cold one, bitterly so. Ice drifted freely through the currents with great dark forms slithering silently beneath the waves, trailing the ship. Snow fell regularly, and savage wind cut to the bone.

But hatred kept Rania Eastersand JeVondair warm.

She was Mavia's twin sister, together since birth and alike in both form and temperament until the elevation in their noble ranks placed continents between them. Mavia found a home in Melhed, a vanished country in northern Beluaterra, rising swiftly to become Duchess of Fronepu and later of the Ivory Vale. Mavia had pent most of her life as a courtier, fond of the ways of wealth and the halls of power before an age of strife transformed her into a general, an Imperatrix of the Vales. There was a love, a connection between the two that only those who shared a womb might understand. They were an intrinsic part of one another. And now Mavia, the gentle one, was gone...

Rania was a different sort of creature all together. And one that had finally been given purpose.

The path she walked was one marked by war, and by death, and by impotence. Rania had traveled the world, training her body as Mavia trained her courtly skills. Like Mavia, she was a sandborn native of the Desert of Silhouettes in Dwilight. Her dusky skin, dark hair, and almondine eyes marked her as exotic. But the whipcord, toned, visible muscles and graceful gait marked her as eminently lethal. One look at her was enough to know she'd killed before...and that she hungered to so again.

As the ship docked and her boots touched Beluaterran soil at last, her lifelong meandering journey ended, and her warpath for revenge began as she found the road to Creasur. No one that played a part in Mavia's death would escape her vengeance, be they peasant or Empress, the killing would begin.

And Mayhem wold know her name.

To Walk in Darkness

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair (just sent) message to all nobles of Nothoi


The walls and towers of Reeds were less splendid they once they were as Rania Eastersand, Dame of Weigie, passed through the heavily defended city gates. Peasants and the battered guards of passing noblemen streamed in from the countryside, baring with them tales of carnage and horror. Gaunt eyes and grim expressions no doubt hid tears of desperation, but Rania was unmoved, striding through the Nothoians as if they were not even there. She was tall for a woman, 5'10 with long legs and hair so brown it was almost black. If her dusky skin was not enough to denote her exotic Desert origins to the casual onlooker, the intricate braids denoting clan and rank falling in a dark queue down her back would do the job. Rounded facial features and almondine eyes marked her as a JeVondair. She favored darker clothing: A sleeveless leather jerkin with buckles of weathered bronze over a deep blue ruffled blouse. Serviceable leather boots climbed up her calves where simple black pants were tucked, secured at her waste by a sword-belt boasting a rapier and dirk. Every step was a graceful economy of motion, denoting years of training akin to that of the finest of dancers...or the most lethal of warriors.

This was not her first time to the Capital of Nothoi. She'd been here once before as a General of Fronen many years ago. She avoided bringing that up, however, preferring to enter the city quietly. The guard at the gate gave her a professional once-over before waving her through, but Rania barely even noticed. Her thoughts were focused on what had called her halfway across the world... Mavia Eastersand was killed in a duel against Valhael today.

Mavia, Rania's twin, had been the best of the JeVondair line. A Lady of the Ivory Court, a consul of Empresses, an accomplished General, sacrificing everything for the Empire she'd help build and lead. There were no words to describe how much Rania had loved her. On the other hand, Valhael Mayhem, by all reports a self-absorbed little man, Rania had learned from the Knights of the Shattered Vales who called him a traitor, too late, and cast him out. But she could care less about who he was or what drove him, for in her mind he was already a dead man, and the the thoughts of dead men matter little. No, there were no words to describe how much Rania had loved Mavia, as their were none to describe the pain of having someone who'd shared the womb with you...suddenly gone.

By the end of the combat, Valhael severed her head and put it up high on a pike. The pike with Mavia Eastersand JeVondair's head was displayed in front of Creasur's Castle.

Her hunt, however, had ended in the Vales when she found that Mayhem had been captured by the Netherworld and imprisoned far, far beyond her reach. As she walked through the refugee-crowded streets of Reeds, Rania allowed herself to slip back into the comfortable, seething hatred that fueled her journey here. She walked, unseeing, as the rage that engulfed her when she'd first heard what that bastard had done to her sister's body flared anew. All she wanted to see was Mavia's smiling face. Smiles from her were so rare, but Rania had always had a knack for finding them. But now, even squinting her eyes shut, all she could see was that lovely smile, the mirror of her own, dissolving into the macabre desecration, the crime, that Mayhem had committed. When Rania closed her eyes, the severed head of the only person she loved in this world stared back at her, damning her. Around her, though, the tenor of the crowd changed into cheers as town criers ran through the streets. "HE'S CAPTURED!" They said, spreading the word like wildfire, "The Demon Prince Akkan is captured and brought to Reeds in chains!"

An ear was cut off from her severed head and sent to Owain Bolton with a note: Traitor, do not let your woman fight your own battles!

Suddenly needing to get away from the noise and stink and cathartic happiness of the crowd, Rania turned into an allyway heading uphill. She needed someplace dark and quiet to calm herself as she'd learned to do on the Obsidian Isles. She let her feet guide her on their own while she wrestled with the mental imagery that both drove and consumed her. She would never know how much time had passed before she stepped through an alcove and into what could only have once been private nook for a minor noble. It was cramped, as city spaces usually are, with a fountain featuring carved faces spouting water into a half-basin below, a stone bench, and a few songbird bushes, now terribly overgrown. Rania sat, collapsed more like, against the stone. It's cold surface seemed to leach the hat and the pain, leaving her numb and exhausted from her travels. Mayhem was gone, roasting in some demonic pit as he certainly deserved...but was nevertheless safely beyond her vengeance. It was as if there was something about this thrice-damned island that conspired against the JeVondair family at every turn: Duchies ripped from them, titles cast down, lives lost in petty squabbles. No doubt if she stayed, she would wind up like Mavia and Kalixta, her aunt: Dead. Dead and with nothing to show from it. This island, its fetid population of desperate, backstabbing, two-legged rodents. They didn't deserve Mavia, they deserved to be consumed. It was as if the coolness of the stone was draining her of her fire, leaving hopelessness in its wake.

Or was it?

Rania rose from the stone as a new thought struck her. Beluaterrans had proven themselves to be indifferent, shortsighted, ungrateful and unworthy of her sister's life or death. None of them cared why Rania was here, but there was one in the city now that might. One who might see them for the sum they all must be, as she now did. And this same one might be her only link, her only chance, of slaking her vengeance in Mayhem blood.

Akkan...

After a week of planning, Rania was finally ready. There was only one being within her grasp that would understand her need for revenge, and help her attain it. The Demon Prince Akkan that was captured and interred beneath the citadel in Reeds.

Rania would free him.

Once she committed herself, it was easier than she might have imagined to prepare. The Demon, a being of pure, dark magic, could only be being kept in the enchanted prison beneath the keep. As a Dame of Wieghie, she could easily manufacture an excuse to enter and leave the castle. No one would question her too closely if she established a pattern of visiting. So over the course of several days, she did exactly that. She browsed the recruitment centers, ostensibly to pick up a new squad of warriors to fight for Nothoi...and loudly proclaiming that each batch was less worthy than the last. She visited tax functionaries, complaining that they were skimming her estates incomes and making a general nuisance of herself. But all along, she was mapping the guard rotations and discreetly inquiring which among the prison guards was going through hard times...

After several days, her plan was mapped and the guards she'd bribed had made sure to all be on the same watch at midnight. She'd lied to them of course, stating that all she wanted to do was study the arcane spells binding the demon the better to improve upon them. Without bothering the Ruling Council of Nothoi to get permission. They were so busy defending the realm, after all.

Rania was ready.

As the sun set, commoners anyone without business in the castle left, flowing through its gates, but Rania stole way. Out of sight, she stripped her normal clothes,revealing the tight-fitting, midnight-black assassins garb she had earned in blood while training on the Obsidian Isles in the East. She hid, still as death, for the castle to ease slowly towards slumber...and then she moved, gliding through the shadows like an oil slick, her footsteps the very whisper of the wind itself. Twice she froze as wandering noblemen crossed her path. One looked directly at her, but they saw nothing and moved on.

Traversing the tunnels that lead to the demon's prison were simultaneously easier, and more risky, for while there were far less people, there were also far less places to hide. Fate, however, was with her and she soon found herself outside the enchanted ward. The long stone hall terminated in a single heavy wooden door. A special knock announced her presence and identity and the prison door swung inward, admitting her into the antechamber where the watch bided their shift. There were 6 of them waiting for her. Beyond them, another locked door, this one of iron, that surely lead to the arcane doors that were the prison's strongest mystical defense.

"Awright you" the Sergeant-at-Arms, Fridend, said. He looked her up and down, surprised at her garb, but confident that he was in control here. "We took yer money n' here you are. Have yer gander n get along before the watch changes"

Rania smiled beneath her mask and nodded. "How about you have those two- "she gestured in the vague direction of the other guards "-watch the hall and turn away any visitors while you take me the rest of the way?" She spoke sweetly, despite the tone being completely at odds with her appearance, but she knew he would by it. Foolish men rarely worry about themselves about women, even noble ones.

"Awright," he conceded. "Jeffers, Dregin, take tha hall would ye'? Make our lady benefactor hear feel a might more comfortable, ya? Rigen, Leren, might as well stay bide here a bit, cant fit more'n 3 men down that way any'ow. Sakrin, tag along-" The Sergeant turned and unlocked the iron door, leading Rania deeper into the prison through a hall lined with torches. Sakrin, barely out of his youth, tagged along. "Close the door behind ya, boy! Been beggin me to come down here ever since ya took up with the watch n the first thing ya forget is protocol?"

Sakrin reddened visibly in the torchlight, but turned to close the door. He was a young man, quick to anger, but that isn't why Rania had selected to bribe him. He was an awkward, unlovely man-child...but he was also a virgin...

Before long, they reached the final portal. It glowed with arcane sigils of warding, likely placed there by a passing sage or mystic at the nobility's request. Rania studied the rooms while the Sergeant crossed his arms impatiently, not noticing how Sakrin's eyes darted about wildly, or he white-knuckled the hilt of his sword...

"Awrght e'ere miss," The Sergeant said after some time had passed. "You've had yer fun, ya? time to go and make good with the rest of the gold you promi-"

"Now, Sakrin" Rania said in a disinterested tone, without turning. Steel hissed against leather.

"Wha th-" but the sergeant's word died in his throat..along with his body. Rania did not turn until she heard his body crumple to the floor. Sakrin stood, breathing heavily and covered in the Sergeants arterial blood. Eyes wide and frighted, but he looked at her with the most intense, lustful desire in his eyes.

Rania smiled.

"Come to me, Sakrin" She cooed, lowering her mask and biting her lip for him in a display that no young man could resist. He was there in an instant, bigger than she, wrapping her up awkwardly. She allowed herself to melt against his body, letting the blood on him soak into the midnight black of her assassin clothing, lifting her leg to wrap around his skinny hips and using it to pull him close, flaring his passion. He started to speak, but she ended his words, darting under his chin and letting her tongue play about his throat as her hand roamed him... Sakrin's hand's gripped her tightly at the waste, working desperately to find her. "Not yet, love." She replied coyly, letting her leg fall and parting from him. "Business first. And then- " she caressed him "pleasure. The Key?" Sakrin nodded stupidly, rooting around the Sergeant's corpse for the iron ring that held the Arcane key. "Come" she cooed again. "Do it for me, do as you promised, and I will do as I promised" Rania let her voice fall to a breathy whisper of suggestion...and it worked like a charm. Sakrin hesitated only slightly before fitting the key to the lock, but when he felt Rania's hands at his waste, her breasts pressing into his back, her breath at his neck, he found the motivation to twist the key and open the door to Akkan's prison...and at last they laid eyes upon the form of the Ambassador of the Netherworld...

Rania and Sakrin beheld the form of the Demon Akkan, Ambassador of the Netherworld and Bane of Man. His form was humanoid. Lime green. Stout legs planted firmly to ground. She imagined that when he walks, the ground shakes with the increasing tremors of his passing. Long arms with claw-hands that are a bit of a cross between crab claws and hands and Taller than humanity by enough that he must bend over/down quite a bit to get in their face. Noxious gasses rose from his skin. He opened his mouth as if to speak, only to reveal a proboscis stored in his throat that he could uncoil to drink blood. His body was chained at the wrists and ankles by cold iron in-graved with glowing runes. Light seemed to pulse from the demon's form out down the chains and into the stone of the wall where they were anchored, dissipating the nether energies. Akkan's form seemed...desiccated, no doubt a result of being bled of his power. The Demon's nostrils flared and his jaw seemed to unhinge as he focused on Sakrin.

Sakrin the manchild, the virgin, was rooted to the spot, terrified, unable to look away from the horror before him...which made lifting the cell keys and slipping around behind him all the easier. He must have noticed, or at least sensed the change around him because he started to turn and look back at her just as she planted her foot firmly into the small of his back and kicked mightily. Sakrin was surprised, unblanced...helpless. He toppled forward, his face colliding with the demon's chest. He screamed, but barely had a chance to start flailing before Akkan's muscular proboscis shot forth, drilling through the unfortunate Sakrin's neck and piercing his heart.

The sound that followed as Sakrin died was unlike anything Rania had ever heard, or even imagined.

Akkan closed his eyes in pleasure, drinking the virgin blood. As he did so, a light was drawn up and out of Sakrin's body and into Akkan's.

Sakrin's soul.

The runechains that bound Akkan began to smoke as they struggled to contained the Demon's renewed strength...but it was too much. They exploded in glittering clouds of magic-enhanced shrapnel. One of which tore itself through Rania's abdomen. She went down, bleeding heavily, her last vision an image of him striding triumphantly towards her, the ground quaking at his approach, steaming with every footfall.

A brief spike of terror.

Then, Darkness.

Hours later, the city bells began to ring after it was discovered that the Ambassador of the Netherworld had escaped.


Avenging Mavia

Valhael had accepted her challenge, a duel to the death, their fates to be decided at sunset.

How appropriate Rania thought to herself.

The city was burning, humans cowered in fear, locking themselves behind doors or in cellars, only traveling in large armed groups, hunted by demons in their own city streets. Everywhere the twin cries of misery and terror rose, teeming against the cacophony of war. Buildings burned, corpses of soldiers and civilians alike littered the ground. But no demons. No, those bodies burned to ash when they died, leaving behind the mutilated bodies of their 'prey' as the only evidence they'd been here at all.

That, and the sulphur.

Rania walked alone. Proud and tall as ever, and curiously unafraid. She'd blacked out, blood pouring from the wound she'd suffered from the force of freeing Akkan, Supreme Commander of the Netherworld, from the prison the Nothoian's kept him in below their keep. She awoke in a glade, some miles from the city and hidden from sight. Her wound had been completely healed. More than that, she felt...energized. But most curious of all, the demons did not bother her.

They did not even come within 50 feet of her.

She should have been scared, the small, primal, rational part of her mind railed against her calmness, against the smile that crept at the corner of her lips. But Rania felt more empowered, more alive than at any point in her life. The Beacon of Light pulsing into the sky above the city barely warranted her notice, so focused was she. Even as she strolled toward the meeting place where it might end. Toward her vengeance.

Again, she only smiled.

Sunset cannot get here soon enough.

You were attacked! (just in) personal message You are surprised by a dark figure suddenly emerging from the shadows just as you are going to sleep. Desperate, you take out a dagger, the only weapon within reach, and face your attacker. You can parry most of the attacks, but one gets through, wounding you. Fortunately, your guards arrive before your attacker can finish the job. The guards are unable to prevent the attacker's escape.


Rania checked the slash across her left arm, which she'd used instinctively to deflect the blade that thrust at her form the shadows. The wound was not deep, she still had full mobility. But even as she looked, she saw the skin slowly, unnaturally start to knit together.

She smiled, slow and terrible, then looked about for her assailant. But she'd was so focused on her goal, and it all happened so quickly, that she barely knew what had happened or where he/she might have gone.

But she could guess.

In a flash, she was off, springing after the 'unknown' infiltrator...

Rania prowled through the streets, hunting the shadowy assailant that accosted her- This is all wrong, you were all seduced by daemonic power!!!

Her smile grew as she ran. She knew that voice...and it was far too close to be a coincidence.

Swift as Death, she closed in on where she'd heard Valhael Mayhem's voice...

There he was!

Rania sped into the square where Valhael was standing. He turned at her approach, eyes widening as the expression she wore. Rania slowed to a walk, feeling as though she'd at last cornered her prey, and began to stalk towards him.

"Lady Rania!" Valhael said, "I know we have our differences but Humanity must be saved! There is this evil ritual against Humanity and we must stop it at all costs! Instead of a pointless death, whoever loses has to walk into the Light! Fight for Humanity at the daemons home! They came in by a Portal! What you say?"

Rania stopped, still a respectable distance from him, looking at the besieged city around them as if to consider his words. Valhael made as if to speak again, thinking perhaps he'd forstalled her, but Then she looked at him, and he knew that nothing would.

"Our...differences?" The word seemed to slither from her mouth like a poisonous viper. "Pointless DEATH?" she hissed, advancing on him. "Did you give Mavia that chance before you struck her down? Did you think she'd have more to contribute to humanity" she spat the word "with her head mounted on a PIKE? Her ears. Sliced. OFF?!" She shouted, her voiced booming through the square.

"No, Mayhem, I don't expect you did." Rania stopped barely 10 feet away from him.

"This city can burn"

She drew her dirk, looking at the red line on her arm where the assailant, Valhael she was certain, had wounded her. It was all but gone, and she smiled.

"Humanity can burn"

She drew her rapier, rolling her shoulders and neck.

A moment passed between the two. A silence that was not silence. A stillness that only the warrior knows. Rania closed her eyes, breathing deeply, opened them, focused like a wyvern on the hunt with all of her intensity focused on Valhael. She barely noticed the flaring in her abdomen...

"I want my sister back you sonofabitch."

"-NOOO, poor girl! What are you doing, tomorrow we will fight and you stabbed yourself?? Why??" Valhael said in what my charitably be described as a coo, reaching out for her-

"DON'T YOU EVER TRY TO TOUCH ME" Rania shouted, reversing her grip on the dirk in her left hand and stepping inside his reach to launch a controlled punch, connecting with Valhael right in his face. Rania was tall for a woman. 5'10 with the strength and agility of a master swordswoman that belied her otherwise wiry frame. She could pack a surprising amount of power into an attack with great speed...

Valhael took Rania's punch like a champion boxer. Valhael was silent for a moment, rubbing his jaw tenderly "What are you??? Gorilla fingers???-" his jaw seemed to rack powerfully as though he'd set it back into place..."-You know... when you said about sliced off ears? Well, I would trade sliced off ears instead a huge iron mallet to the head anyday!

He smiled at her.

"You know I will blow your head with this - " he pointed to the iron mallet that Rania had not noticed before and laughed aloud. "Also I think you should know something..." he cupped his hand around his mouth as though sharing a secret. "When my blade went through her chest, it feels like I was impailing a mallard duck, it was natural to her body!"

Valhael began to laugh again, and Rania drew her swordarm back to stop that laughter...forever. Neither had a chance to finish either, however, as a new cacaphony of otherworldy screams screeched through the city, forcing both nobles to their knees, dropping their weapons and cupping their ears in a vain attempt to protect themselves as they suffered through the full dualistic auditory pain of low and high sound frequencies wreaked upon the locals as, unbeknownst to the two combatants, portal stone after portal stone was obliterated by eldritch bolts of energy.

Power without end ripped through Reeds in a Vortex, scything through the souls and sanity of the city's inhabitants. Still on her knees before the onslought of magical power Rania whimpered in pain. A barely audibal sound of frustration and hopelessness to have come so close to avenging her sister. Her shoulders wracked with coughs and her abdomen burned anew, forcing her to double over as she heaved with sudden nausea. There, at her lowest point, Rania felt an urge that had been alien to her since childhood.

The urge to pray.

It took everything she had to weather the auditory storm brought on by the screaming Daishi souls, her prayer began as a wordless hum. Weapons on the ground, arms wrapped around her abdomen as she rocked back and forth, Rania began to poor her frustrations and her pain into a wordless tune of supplication, wrath, heavy with sorry and intense desire. The unkown song suffused her, growing stronger with every breath. It is a prayer for strength, victory, and vengeance. A bloodlust so intense as to equate to a new star in the night sky. Her faint prayer rose, to on the wind, no, but on the flowing etherea that deeply magical beings are attuned to.

And one of them answered.

Valhael sensed...something...and was able to gather himself enough to look in Rania's directly. Over the whirlwind of power from the portal stones and Yao Ling's spell, he saw Rania on her knees screaming. But..not in pain? She was smiling, laughing even, eyes rolled back in her head and hair tearing loose from her tight braids like tentacles with a mind of their own. Her entire form outlined by strange, oily darkness like smoke, but surrounding her the way the light of a setting sun outlined the form of a mountain.

That is, if the sun had turned black...

To Rania, it seemed as though the screams of the Daishi souls were slowly ordered, bending themselves into tortured melodies at once horrifying, and oddly beautiful. And beyond them, a single note, deep and dark as the see, thrumming through the screaming song with purpose. With...offering...In her mind's eye, Rania saw herself reach out toward that dark, deepness of the song as if it were right there in front of her. Huge and powerful and oddly...familiar? Rania could not understand, but she did not fear. The pain in her abdomen eased as she drew toward the Song, which reached out to her. She, in turn, reached out to it with her hands as if to grasp it...but her hands grew heavy with real weight...weighing her arms down. Keeping her from the song. She wanted to let go, to drop everything and bound forward-

"Take it. Take it now!"

Against her will, her hands closed tightly around solid objects and the vision of the Song began to fade to the point that Rania could here the sound of her own voicing, laughing and sobbing, until the song and the screams had faded entirely. Her long dark hair, normally so intricately and tightly braided, and impossibly torn themselves loose. But even more impossible were the two items she held in her hands. One was a ring forged of white gold with a stone so dark it hurt to look at. The other was a perfectly balanced Saber, impossibly sharp. But instead of steal, it appeared to be made entirely from...bone? It's hilt looked uncomfortably like a human femur...but for all that, it felt good in Rania's hand. Natural, even. She put the ring of power on the ringfinger of her sword arm, a cold breeze writhing through her mane of hair as she did so and gave the Bone saber a few experimental swings and thrusts.

Rania.

Felt.

Good...

And then her gaze fell upon Valhael Mayhem

Duel Postponed (38 minutes ago) The duel between Rania Eastersand JeVondair, Dame of Weghie and Valhael Mayhem, Knight of Reeds is being postponed because Valhael is not fit to fight.


"Get up" Rania muttered at Valhael. "Get up and meet me. Face Me. FIGHT ME!" Her words ended in pitched screech as she kicked at him.

Rania moved to kick Valhael again, but stopped as a figure rushed to the side of her nemesis, crouched down by the target of her rage and laid a hand to the fallen man's throat. He tossed Rania a lopsided smile as he spoke, "He might yet Lady, but it won't be today. His pulse is weak but stable. I can't see what laid him low, but from what I can see, he'll be out for awhile."

Drawulf stood up, cradling his wounded arm. "Don't suppose you could tell me what in the Abyss just happened could you?'

Rania's chest heaved as she exhaled explosively. This boy, barely 18 by the looks of him, was no threat to her. She shouldn't just kill him. She closed her eyes, rolling her head as if to shake the murderous thoughts loose. Better to simply get him out of her way. Muscles in her arm bunched with tension as she visibly restrained herself from pushing the lad aside to gleefully chop Valhael apart where he laid . A tick at her temple pulsed as she struggled against new and fearsome urges.

All of these thoughts and emotions flew across her face in the handful of seconds it took for her to calm herself, drawing upon a lifetime of lessons as a swordswoman. She was tall for a woman, 5'10 with long legs and hair so brown it was almost black. If her dusky skin was not enough to denote her Desert origins to the casual onlooker, the intricate braids denoting clan and rank falling in a dark queue down her back would do the job, or would have, had they not been torn into a main by the magical surge of energy that swept the city only minutes before. Her rounded facial features and dark, almondine eyes marked her as a JeVondair. She favored darker clothing: A sleeveless leather jerkin with buckles of weathered bronze over a deep blue ruffled blouse. Serviceable leather boots climbed up her calves where simple black pants were tucked, secured at her waste by a sword-belt boasting a rapier and dirk. When after a few moments time she opened her eyes again, her breathing was more or less under control. But anyone who'd know either her or Mavia, her twin sister, would notice that her dark eyes now had a very distinctive ring of gold around the pupils, giving her a piercing, otherworldly gaze.

"I do not know you...Sir" she said to Darwulf at last, picking out by his speech that he was clearly of good breeding. "But either put a weapon into that man's hands-" She gestured at Valhael with her new Bone Sabre of Julma Jaune's Femur, "-or get out of the way of mine..." She finished meaningfully.

Darwulf knew he'd have to think fast to talk her down, or get a lot more help, because this woman was intent on her kill and he couldn't be too sure, by the look in her eyes, if she cared who she killed...


Valhael got tired of discussing with Rania, he spoted a confortable corner to lay and went there.... draw his elven pipe from his pocket and some herbal mix and started to prepare...

Then, very calmy, he said "Rania, it is time for my elven pipe. Tomorrow we will fight!"

Out of nowhere... Rania came in with her strong leg and kicked Valhael by his legs, not hurting him but been extremely annoying...

Valhael looked to Rania for a moment, with a expression of "are you serious?" But didn't say anything and went back to his preparation... after a while... he lighted up the pipe, took a hit and then extended his hand with the pipe to Rania and said.

"Take a hit and chill!"

-LATER: After the Siege of Reeds was one and the Duchy renamed to represent it as the new Holy City of Daishi-


Drawulf evidently hadn't come alone, and Rania, seething, was forced to watch as Valhael was taken to a nearby infirmary where he was said to have finally awakened. It was a wonder they would not let her be about her business. Why bother healing that thick-headed sadist if he was only going to die soon anyway?

Oh yes, Rania was livid, the fuel for her anger without end only only exasperated by the knowledge that her sister's body, headless, and be disinterred to lead a force of undead in the defense of Reeds. She could not yet bare to bring herself to deal with THAT particular problem, and so she'd waited, day after day. Duel Postponed (34 minutes ago) The duel between Rania Eastersand JeVondair, Dame of Weghie and Valhael Mayhem, Knight of Reeds is being postponed because Rania Eastersand is not fit to fight.

Suddenly

Test yourself that I may know you have a Discipline for Truth. Jactosh

Rania heard the command as a base thrum, vibrating seemingly from both outside and within her vary core. The power was a familiar one, but a tone she'd not yet heard, a flavor she hadn't tested.

Hesitently, she probed the inward depths now open to her mind. A warm darkness within herself that connectd her to a power that was beyond the confines of her mortal senses.

Tentatively, she reached out, deep within her own mind, to query the new Song...

What must I do to learn this Truth? My prey yet lives...

Seek those who roam without ties to land. Use them to gather scrolls from wizards. Healing is what you need now. Let this be a lesson to prepare. Prepare in all things. Seek adversity. Defeat is an opportunity for the Victor worries about the Strong, not the Defeated. And in this Human Vanity fails them. Jactosh

Roleplay from Jactosh (22 hours, 28 minutes ago) Bizarrely, Rania stumbles upon a large cache of eggs, and plots a dastardly deed.

End of Eastersand

Duel accepted (1 day, 1 hour ago) Valhael Mayhem, Knight of Reeds has accepted your challenge. Meet him in the same region and the duel will be resolved at the next sunrise or sunset.

Roleplay from Velskud (20 hours, 13 minutes ago) Message sent to everyone in the region Reeds (38 recipients)

      • Velskud was near the arena when Rania and Valhael clashed.

Rania appeared as a tall lady with a very athletic body, in a golden armor resembling the JeVondair armor. (Velskud knew this because he had presenced Valhael against Mavia at Creasur in which Mavia was wearing a golden plate with similar engravings). The crowd was cheering for Rania, everyone was saying "Rania, I know you can win!" , "Defeat the Mayhem traitor!", "Honour the Vale and Honour your Sister!"...

Everyone was looking happy, drinking good wine, laughing and making jokes.

Shield Maiden of Rania said "Mayhem scum will get what it deserve! " The crowd laughed very loud... everyone took a frenzy into diminishing the Mayhem name. Could be heard "The traitor will die!" from "I will make a carpet with the Mayhem skin!" and the crowded continue to laugh...

Until Valhael showed up, he was surrounded by a mighty aura or something, at the moment he was first spotted an old lady screamed in fear "aaah!" and ran to hide... Everyone, everyone! looked to see what was going on and at the moment they spotted Valhael there was absolute silence.

Not a single sound could be heard, not even a sip. Flies were flying around and everyone become still and pale like it was a graveyard and there was a burial happening.

The image of a complete brute silenced everyone in fear, his armour barely fit his extravagant muscular body. The plate was mainly black with some red details, the Mayhem hourglass symbol on the chest along with a red cape. His presence change the feeling the air violently, those celebrating almost become in tears by his sole presence.

Then he began to walk, towards the arena, and without a word he positioned himself to start. Rania went to her position as well.

Valhael unsheeted a silver bladed sword with black and red hilt and the Mayhem hourglass symbol on the center. At the moment he draw his sword out a bolt of light struk into the golden hilt reflecting into the crowd blinding them momentarly, there was also something engraded into the blade of the sword, near the hilt but I couldn't read at that time, by that time I was hidden among the crowd as a noble.

Then everyone was very silent for a moment, both duelists positioned and sweating knowing of the inevitable fate.

The combat began!

Rania was enfuriated by her rage and she charged against the brute while shouting a warcry. Valhael took a defensive stance and defended her blow.

Rania stroke again, and again, and again. Valhael was very defensively and was dodging and parrying her blows.

Rania became tired for a second and Valhael stroke at her.

Rania defended, moved back and counter attacked Valhael by his legs wounding him and taking him down. Valhael tried to get up but Rania kicked him in the face, taking him down violently to the ground.

At the time it looked like it was lost for Valhael, he became still in the ground while Rania was kicking him by his side. Kicked his sword out of his hand, at that moment I saw the engraving at Valhael's sword and it was written "Holy Guardian Arkady" on the silver blade.

At that part, the crowd started to smile, everyone was very happy to see the lady taking down the brute.

Rania began to say: "You killed Mavia JeVondair! You are a traitor of the Vale! You killed my sister!

She began to round Valhael while he was on the ground.

Said again: "You killed Mavia JeVondair, you are a traitor and you will pay for your crimes!"

Rania stroke swiftly to end Valhael aiming for a blow to his head, Valhael quickly reached for his sword and swung his blade back at Rania. As Rania was falling down towards Valhael, Valhael sword was raising towards Rania's arm and torso...

Valhael's sword went through her arm, through her torso stopping only at the inner end of the other arm. Making her instantly drop the blade which fell into Valhael's face, scaring him but not killing him.

As Rania realized what happened her torso started to fell off from the rest of her body, her arm fell off, her sword dropped... she was on the ground, bleeding... then her lowe legs fell and she knew that was her end... as she was bleeding to death...

Valhael got up and smiled.

Then he shouted to a soldier in the ground: "Gimme the Mallet", three soldiers carried the mallet but dropped only near him.

Valhael then went and reached for the iron bat hammer thing.

He picked that up and neared Rania's detached body. Rania was coughing blood badly by that time.

Valhael raise up the iron thing and prepared to end Rania, when then Rania reached her sword and struck Valhael's belly wounding badly, falling into the ground just next to Rania, facing down.... unconscious....


Duel (1 day, 1 hour ago) Valhael Mayhem, Knight of Reeds meets his challenger Rania Eastersand JeVondair, Dame of Weghie for the agreed duel till death. Rania Eastersand has decided to use the 'overrun' strategy while Valhael has chosen the 'defensive' strategy, giving Valhael the advantage. The duel goes as planned, then badly for Rania Eastersand. She suffers several slight wounds, then a final, fatal blow. The healers hurry, but they are too late. Since there was a bounty out on her, Valhael gladly collects. Valhael, although the winner, also received a serious wound.

Unique Items Lost (1 day, 1 hour ago) In your last moments, you regret that you will never be able to pass on any of your unique items to your heirs, as they are being taken from your cooling body.

Duel Death (1 day, 1 hour ago) Rania Eastersand has suffered a fatal blow in a duel against Valhael. She died quickly.

Knight temporarily absent (1 day, 1 hour ago) Valhael was seriously wounded in a duel against Rania Eastersand today.


Cage of Death

Roleplay from Akkan Jarbosh (46 minutes ago) Message sent to everyone in the region Reeds (25 recipients) Valhael had been taken to the local sanitarium to recover whilst Rania's headless body lay wrapped in shrouds at the docks waiting to be received by the JeVondair family. Yet another slain upon Beluaterra; another JeVondair who had lost their head. The dockyard lay quiet as a breeze gusted by, causing the shroud to ripple. But it would remain no breeze, gathering speed and fluttering the sheets covering Rania's body with crescendoing intensity.

And just as Akkan stepped through this whirlwind-teleportation, the shroud flew off JeVondair's split-corpse. Akkan towered over the body for a decent time, without any care for humanity seeing him, perhaps for 30 to 50 minutes, occasionally providing a barely perceptable head shake. The body that did remain was torn into two pieces by Valhael's sword. There was nothing to be done for a head obliterated by such a mallet; some criminals were no doubt cleaning the blood from the square now. Whatever had once been Rania's skull was most assuredly kaput.

Eventually, with a snail's pace, Akkan picked her two body pieces up and carried her to the end of the pier, sliding her into the river. He spoke some short words in daimon-tongue to initiate the healing process. A moment later, Akkan stepped from the pier onto the water as if he could walk on water, but instead plunged feet-first into the water after Rania's headless remains.

Had anyone actually been watching, they would have later seen Akkan walk out of the river on the other side, in Haffemet, carrying her corpse once more, this time in one whole piece. But still headless. He set her body down upon a sandy beach. And yet after what had seemed tender attention until then, the daimon then plunged his claw into Rania's stomach, opening it to expand the wound, and digging deeper.

Giggling in the way only a daimon could, with discordant chalkboard-scraping/cheesegrater-peeling-your-flesh gaiety, he left the Seeds of the Future within Rania, withdrew his claw, and spoke daimonic-words to heal the wound. Having been kneeling over her upon the beach, he now stood, and spoke again, louder.

Without hesitation, Rania's body rose and stood, lifeless as undead. Alive, but without head, will-less, deaf, mute, and blind. Unlike regular undead, her heart beat, she shuffled nowhere, and she did not seek to gather with fellow undead. Just stood, heart beating, awaiting the only instruction she knew. They had entered Haffemet underwater, they returned across the bridge. Which had been fortified since Haffemet's daimonic occupation.

But whose guards were found sleeping on duty. Again. The executioner had begun to wonder if they were intentionally seeking to be hanged for dereliction of duty so as to avoid being slashed, grilled, or otherwise slain by daimons.

As Akkan and Rania slipped by the guardpost as nonchalantly as a daimon and a headless corpse walking the streets of Reeds could manage, they stumbled upon a young maiden who had slipped out past curfew to meet her beau. She never would.

Akkan led Rania back into the river until the waterline was equal to the top of Rania's height,, barely flowing across her scabbed neck. Placing the young maiden's still-dripping bloody head upon Rania's neck, with the waterline between them, Akkan daimon-shouted as he walked in a circle around Rania, fighting against the flow of the river. With each completed circle, head and body fused into one as the river held them together. And so Akkan continued circling Rania within the river, until Rania regained mind, sound, voice, and sight.

As Rania sputtered to Life in confusion, Akkan prepared to depart back across the river. As she had released him from the Reeds Dungeon, he had released her from the Cage of Death.


The Darkness Without / The Darkness Within

Roleplay from Hadrian Chamberlain (28 minutes ago) message to all nobles of Nothoi His men ushered him into the lower chamber, Rania sat before him, dark and tawny, quite unlike her kinswoman Selenia.

She eyed him suspicion evident in her gaze. The marks of battle were heavy upon her.

"Sad to say we have not met before today Rania, I am Hadrian of Nothoi. " He paused seeing her tan succumb to the briefest palor. "Rumours spoke of your death Lady, I had even begun letters patent to your kinswoman, a dear, well friend we shall say, who now resides across the seas" he paused, "how good to see you so... well?"

She looked uncomfortable, his healers had 'in kindness' assisted her to wash and dress, but to such a honed woman, he doubted greatly that the comforts they had given her would make her content as she sat unarmed. She said nothing, her lips moved clearly searching for words but finding none. Hadrian sat back allowing the silence and discomfort to stretch as sweat beaded her brow. Turning to his captain: "Where are my manners, Nicodemus, some refreshments if you will, I believe the lady and I have much to discuss..."

He had affection for Selenia, and respect for Rynn, for this alone he had secluded the woman accused widely in the streets of corruption. Benefit of doubt was her only luxury, and she was fortunate in that Hadrian believed in debts of kinship and the possibilities of doubt. In these secret chambers she would be safe for a time to tell her story.

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair (11 minutes ago) (Personal message to Hadrian Chamberlain) Rania was still in a daze, sitting quietly on the riverbank staring at her reflection when Hadrian's men sequestered her. Her gold was gone, her weapons were gone, and her face...her failures...

It was all she could do not to plunge into the water and end it right there.

But now, when she contemplated her own mortality, her arms would reflexively wrap around her stomach and the Song would grow discordant, as though angry. Her mind scurried away from such thoughts now with great fear.

And great self-loathing.

And so it was that she did not put up a fight when she was taken, nor say a word when she was 'treated' and dressed before meeting with the duke. She was midly surprised when a man of his stature and power was ushered into HER presence, but her mind was too preoccupied to comment on it. Before she could rise, Hadrian waved her down and sat himself, gazing at her kindly. "Sad to say we have not met before today Rania, I am Hadrian of Nothoi. " He paused seeing her tan succumb to the briefest palor. "Rumours spoke of your death Lady, I had even begun letters patent to your kinswoman, a dear, well friend we shall say, who now resides across the seas" he paused, "how good to see you so... well?" She said nothing, her lips moved clearly searching for words but finding none. Hadrian sat back allowing the silence and discomfort to stretch as sweat beaded her brow, noting the somewhat puzzled look on her face. Turning to his captain: "Where are my manners, Nicodemus, some refreshments if you will, I believe the lady and I have much to discuss..."

Rania, who'd been a general and, formally, a lethal swordswoman was unused to being anything than utterly confident. But now she was sweating. She struggled with the question of why. She'd never before worried about her own well being. What else could it b-

A sudden cramp interrupted her thought process. She lurched, hands flying to her abdomen as though to massage the pain away. Through gritted teeth and breathing harshly, she replied to Hadrian...

"The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated..."

"Exaggerated?" he sat back in his chair. "You live and breathe Lady Eastersand, though there are many who say you should not," the woman was clearly in pain, but Hadrian knew that he was currently standing between her survival and her being hunted. "Try the goat, in these most austere times the chefs of Reeds have become creative... the fig stuffed goat is one of their... better creations." The Lady winced in discomfort, regarding him with a mixture of incredulity and suspicion. Smiling to himself he took some of the meat, she gingerly followed suit. "Lady Eastersand.... may I call you Rania... yes?" He didn't wait for her to reply. "I'm not going to have you poisoned, if I wanted you dead I need only have left you in the streets. Now the Empress of the Vales was an ally and you are here for the esteem and affection I had for her." The brief flare of irritation passed and he returned to his usual level of composure.

"The story goes you fought Valhel Mayhem and he bested you, sending your head to look at parts of your body that should only be seen by others... currently he lies in a state of delirium from the wounds you inflicted upon him. No doubt if this was not the case he would already be rallying for the hunt. The healers too proclaimed your death, yet here you are, and my own healers tell me intact, so far as their eyes can see." She raised her eyes inhaling deeply ready to answer but was stopped short as he raised a hand to quiet her: "Think carefully on your next words Rania, because there is another story, that the Daimon priest Akkan was seen tending to your body and putting breath back in your lungs. This leaves more and more questions that only you can answer."

He poured wine for them both dismissing all from the room. He regarded her in silence as she fingered the rim of the goblet: "So then?"

"So then what?" Rania snapped angrily, her old flames stirring. "Its fair to say that I have had a HELL of a day, Duke Chamberlain. I don't even quite remember what happened. But I do remember Mayhem. I remember him knocking me down, I remember skewering him in the gut, and I remember the two of us being the only two of noble birth present when I blacked out. The next thing I knew I was awake, cold and alone and hurt on the riverbank. My armor: Stolen. My gold: Stolen, My Weapons: Stolen. Now I'm to believe that the Supreme Commander of the Netherworld himself walked into the Holy City, patched me up, and then left me here? For WHAT?!"

Her voice had risen to a shout, though she probably did not notice it herself, her shoulders wracked with retrained sobs as she gripped the edge of her chair, no longer caring for the game of appearing strong."

"For what?" She said again, averting her gaze as though speaking to another. "I came here for one purpose, and I failed. Impossibly, I failed. Mavia's killer lives and you" She pierced Hadrian with a steely gaze "-you allow that headless desecration of her flesh to guard your walls. If you were such a friend to that peasant bitch Selenia, why haven't you put her greatest general to rest?" She did sob then, completing her appearance as a woman broken, wrapping her arms around her stomach and rocking back and forth as she did. When she had looked at him, however, Hadrian had noticed the thin gold ring around her iris. It was like nothing he'd seen before, both exotic and intimidating for its oddness. He wondered if Mavia, Rania's Twin, had shared the trait...it was not the sort of thing one left out of a description...

Hadrian took Mavia's distraction as an opportunity to reevaluate what he knew. The town criers had proclaimed her death, that much was certain. But no one of trustworthy note had actually seen the killing blow... And while it was confirmed that Akkan himself had indeed visited Reeds for purposes unknown, Rania had not taken the bait of his bluff when he said the Daimon lord had been observed with her, healing her/ She was either cunning, he mused, or she genuinely did not know a thing. But Hadrian knew JeVondairs, having personally met the most notable members of that line. He was therefore unprepared to toss out cunning and simply chalk the whole thing up to strange coincidence. Regardless, he still had no tangible evidence connecting her to Akkan, and probably would not until Vahael awakened and could be questioned. Without that evidence, accusing a noblewoman of consorting with daimons would have unpalatable consequences even to one of his rank and power.

Or any idea of what he would do if his worst suspicions turned out to be true...

Meanwhile, what he did have on his hands was a distraught noblewoman of a distinguished line only 5 years his junior and suffering a very real anguish of some kind. Hadrian sipped from his goblet as he considered his next course of action, marveling briefly at how different this woman was from the warrior queen he'd taught to dance in Shifgrethor years ago in another time.

He was taken aback, the ladies of this household found ease in perplexing men it would seem, or perhaps they simply shared a passionate disposition. She was clearly distraught, or aping such. No, her pain was genuine, the sobs a release of grief that had been penned in anger. He had privately vowed that he would render what help he could to the 'peasant-bitch' upon meeting her in Shifgrethor, her awkward grace and anxiety in the face of friendship had evoked feelings of protectiveness that he would extend to these women, no matter how capable they were.

He had not met Mavia, he had corresponded with her on one or two occasions, but he found himself doubting she left the world quietly judging by her kinswomen. he caught his own hand reaching to offer comfort and instead leaned forward in his chair arcing his hands and fixing her with a look that he hoped held no signs of the pity and longing he felt.

"That your sister suffers such indignities in death seems unthinkable." She flicked those oddly beautiful eyes toward him, cold fury battling with the pools of self loathing that she had failed in her efforts at vengeance. "Creaseur is not, well... not currently, my jurisdiction, and I find it odd to believe Empress Maxwell would allow a notable such as your sister to have her body desecrated on the walls of the city. I will of course contact her to be sure this is not the case." He found himself picturing his niece, not of noble birth but of noble soul, her body battered and abused standing sentinel at the portal of Weghie, her eyes forever looking unseeing into the depths of that which she had attempted to close. Thinking of her he felt the portal stone pulse in the pouch on his belt. drawing it forth he emptied the bag onto the table.

The stone danced with golden flecks around a strange glyph and the curling text renderings of Charlotte's name. Rania drew back instinctively. Hadrian lifted the warm pulsing rock in his hand: "It was a portal stone, now a Daishi soul stone... I can't say what it does, but I feel I should give it to you." He placed it before her, immediately feeling its loss as it appeared so far from him. Rania's sobs subsided and she reached out tentatively stopping short of touching the stone, her anger beset by an anxious curiosity. He stood back from the table. "I owe the 'peasant bitch' on a level most would not understand, for this I give you my impressions and two options."

"Though it was commoners who witnessed what appeared to be your death, the rumours have spread widely. That your body was tossed into the river, although unforgivable in many ways, may be your chance of explanation of some events. What Valhel might say may be more problematic, though he is a boastful man, again to your favor. Akkan. I can't say why a daimon would come to an enemy city merely to assist a human noble, but the implications if this were true would be dire. Is it a divisive game, or do you have some compact?" Indignant anger flaring she pushed back from the table, her mouth snarling to speak. He raised his hand and fixed her with a glare of his own, trying vainly to see her soul. Hadrian was not known for raising his voice, he was generally mild in his approach, but now he commanded: "Sit down." and she did, he breathed deeply the edges of exhaustion creeping on him. "I have great respect for your family and as I said I offer you two options." Crossing the room he turned from her moving stones and decorations in the Eastern wall. Silently a dark doorway became evident.

"This door leads to the sewers beneath Reeds, I have placed torches at intersections that you may find your way from the city. If you choose this dark path, I will allow you 12 hours to leave my lands, after which you will be banned. If you are found by nobles of Nothoi and taken into custody, I will not interfere with the justice deemed necessary." He returned to his seat, her eyes flicked restlessly between the stone on the table and the doorway. "The second option, you take my neice's soul stone, we leave here together, we go to the temple plaza, you are seen walking through the warded doors to the temple of Daishi, and you fall to your knees in thanks to the armoured Gods that you have another chance to serve humanity. No more vengeance until the sun shines only on the heads of men..."


Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair Message sent to everyone in the region Reeds (26 recipients) Tears had run tracks down her face, but apparently her mood had swung again. It was a cold fury that burned in those odd, gold-highlight eyes of hers, this time directed purely at Hadrian.

"Your choice is no choice at all. You force me to appeal to gods I do not know, who are not mine, and who have done nothing for my family. You seek to keep me from the vengeance that is due my family. More than that, you force me to bow to some-" She struggled for words "Unsubstantiated rumor spread by commoner filth and, in so doing, you insinuate that I am some kind of traitor to humanity while harboring scum like Valhael Mayhew. However you may wrap it up in a guise of passion, that is what you are doing. You'll forgive me, my Lord, if I choose not to accept your...kind offer."

Rania stood, gathering herself. It was apparent that she was still in pain, but this time she let none of it show on her face. "If I am leaving this city, then I am leaving out of the front gates. I am a noblewoman, Your Grace, a former general in my own right, not some commoner felon to be rushed out through secret means. Whatever you hoped to gain by bringing me here, now would be a good time to speak plainly."

Hadrian took the moment she offered to consider his options. What had he hoped to gain in the end? Had Rania agreed to walk the path of Daishi and give up her old ways, what would he do with her then? What use would she be without that inner fire that fueled her? And though his own intuition and suspicions tugged at him, he could not fault her logic for refusing what was essentially an ultimatum: Convert or be Banished. And banished on what grounds, exactly? Being found alive when she should probably be dead? Unpalatable. So he took stock of what he had. Rania was a beautiful noblewoman from a fine bloodline, of that there was no doubt. ANd while a pall had gathered around her prowess with a sword (dying, apparently, can have an effect on that sort of public opinion), there was no doubt as to her lethality as a warrior. To say that she seemed a bit unhinged by recent events would be an understatement, but the city HAD been sieged by Daimons and suffered through the explosion of unprecedented magical energy. It had effected everyone somehow. And yet, he wondered, what good is logic if she really did come back from the dead? Hadrian sensed that his actions here, secluded with Rania, would have far-reaching ripples.

Rania watched him tensely, but the enrgy she'd drawn upon seemed still to come furtively in spurts. Her very presence seemed to shrink a bit, as did her defiance when her stomach growled. The sound was loud, awkward, unexpected, and snapped the tension in the room. Resignedly, Rania sat back in the chair, reaching over the Daishi Soulstone to tear a piece of goat off the plate that Nicodemus had brought.

"Mavia isn't in the Shattered Vales" she said, bringing the meat to her lips." She's here, in Reeds, protecting humanity from Demons and monsters and undead, even in death. A sentinel, like her broken army in the south. Forever watching, never resting. I can't stay here with her like this, and I can't destroy her. I would have left without your asking." Rania began eating then, nibbles at first, but slowly giving in to a ravenous hunger she'd kept at bay.

Dying, apparently, was hungry work.

Arrogance, it was a trait that surpassed hauteur and became truly unappealing.

He breathed deeply not wishing to succumb to temper. "Rania..." he began then again calmer with the speaking, "Rania, I think you should remember to whom you speak and ask yourself why you are here and not simply going about your business..."

"Nothoi is a democracy, we rule the people with their consent, your words against those I am pledged to protect and to serve are unappealing to say the least." He paused hoping his words may give her pause and insight: "The word of the peasants may mean little in the cultures you are accustomed too, but the undertakers Parker and Rose carry some weight with their names. The Order of Thanatos have wide influence among small folk and nobles alike."

"Perhaps my delicacy has served you badly. You are right there were no nobles present at your death other than yourself and Valhel Mayhem. Afterwards there have been many have seen you, some recognised you by your sisters likeness. A woman whose head lies apart from her body is widely considered to be dead. Your body was attended by the Sisters of Thanatos, Parker and Rose prepared you for transit from the city. I have done them great slander by having my agents disperse the story that your head was not fully severed and you were dumped in the river. The Daimon Akkan is a gruesome sight. He was seen with your remains and now you are whole. Dismiss the people if you are fool enough to do so, but frankly I cannot."

He took the last of the wine from his goblet "My agents brought you here for your own protection, you are marked with the Daimon's brand on the back of your neck where he put head back to shoulders." The meat fell from her fingers as she sought the back of her neck. "In a city, little goes unseen, or uncommented upon. Indeed some even suggest you may have involvement in one of the Daimon's many escapes... that you are his agent and Valhel Mayhem is some holy hero." At this idea he could not hide his own distaste.

"You feel I offer you no choice. I am not asking you to become a supplicant, I am giving you the opportunity to show your soul is without taint, to show you have the faith of the man the people look too in the darkest hours. I am offering you the chance to leave on your feet not to be pursued by whispers for the rest of your most likely shortened life. Daimonkin cannot enter the holy sanctuary of the temple. My niece's soul stone would have shielded any corruption that may or may not have been there to allow you access."

"As to exiting via the gates, the guards are already on alert to apprehend you for questioning. You may slip past them... you may not. But as I say, people are always watching, your leaving will make many suppose you return to Akkan or perhaps the Cattamites... in either circumstance you will be banned in absentia from re-entering our lands and warrants will be issued."

"This is not an ultimatum... or maybe it is... but think of it as an opportunity. Akkan has given you a second chance at life. My niece offers you the opportunity to cleanse your soul, and I am offering you the potential of freedom and self determination." He sighed. "these are your choices."

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair Message sent to everyone in the region Reeds (48 recipients) Hadrian watched for the effects of his words as they settled in on Rania. Watched as her hand came away from exploring her neck. He'd allowed his displeasure at her tone and demeanor show through clearly, as a disappointed parent or headmaster might to an adolescent that should know better. As he waited, he was surprised to find that the meal which had been laid out for two was gone.

All of it.

Rania licked the fingers of one hand while the other rubbed the fabric over her belly in a pleased, if protective, gesture. Her lightning mood swings, from hysterics to brooding to abrasive to this contemplation were not unlike watching a thunderstorm made flesh. Hadrian could only wonder which side of this woman he would see next, and he did not have to wonder long.

"Your Grace," she said. "I beg your pardon, but put yourself in my place for a moment. You were beaten by a ignoble waste of humanity, failing utterly in your purpose. Then you wake up on a riverbank, robbed and alone and hurting only to be sequestered and told that you died. But not only that, but that Akkan, the Supreme Commander of the Netherworld himself decided to come and revive your...remains-" Rania spat the word, "-for reasons known only to him, apparently allowing himself to be seen doing it, then left you there to be found. Imagine what that must feel like, Your Grace, because I assure you, whatever you come up with will fall short of the reality." She did not mention how she felt about having an entirely new head, but he did not need to know that...

"If not for the gravity of your word and personage, I would laugh in your face or kill you for a liar. Such is my disbelief that what you say is true. But whether its because of this Order of Thanatos or this Parker and Rose, or even you, Your Grace" Now rumor will follow me wherever I go no matter what I do that I am somehow tainted when the only thing I've done wrong is somehow loose to that scum, Mayhem. And if I am touched by Daimon magic as you say, than what would be the point of this dest? Wouldn't the alarms go off the moment it started? Or is it testing that I actually AM a Daimon? What would be the point if you're right and I do this and they try to kill me anyway when I didn't-"

She was getting worked up again, she could feel it, and she made a visible effort to calm down again. She knew that what came next would be of critical importance.

"I'll take your soulstone and walk through your temple, though having to dishonors and insults me. But I will not abase myself before your gods. I will not change who I am to suit the will of the pathetic peasant mobs who need their gentle fears coddled. And when, or should I say if I have passed your test, I am still going to walk out of the front gates of Reeds and leave this city behind of my own free will. That is my choice." She'd lowered her tone, but the steel was there again. She would not, could not budge. "All I want right now is to be left alone. So if I have to go through this...this farce to make it happen, so be it."



MEANWHILE


Roleplay from Valhael Mayhem (7 hours, 51 minutes ago) message to all nobles of Nothoi Valhael barely woke up from his severe wounds...

When the nurse spotted one of his eyes was open she calmly and gently says: "Welcome back Sire Valhael!"

... Valhael could barely move his head...but then opened the other eye and took a better look at the girl that was in front on him. A pretty nurse by the way, and Valhael smiled back at her but could not understand single word of whatever just came out of that young girl's mouth.

A moment passed, the nurse helped Valhael to drink some water until he regained more strengh... until heavy steps in the corridor outside could be heard, almost like a running but in a formal way...

Suddenly knocks at Valhael's door.

  • Knocks and a voice*

-Here is the Captain, Sire! I got your sword and I have news!

Valhael realized he was without his father's sword. Then he nod to the nurse let the man in, the nurse gently opened the door.

The Captain was outside and promptly entered (nurse leaves the room) and said: -Sire, congratulations on your win! There is no match for you or any Mayhem!

  • brief moment passed*

-Sire, I also bring you news, some are very disturbing sire! ...

Valhael was in bad shape and could barely move himself, talking was a pain but he was firm and said: -Go ahead.

Captain returned to talk: -Rania is alive Sire.

  • Hearing such obnoxious thing Valhael immediately leans to the side and throws up*

Captain oddly returns to talk: -I apologize sire, but that is not everything. Rumours that somehow Jactosh and Ruler Hadrian are involved in her return to life.

  • Valhael threws up some more*

Captain outwordly still continues to say, like he does not care if Valhael is losing all his body fluids: -There is more sire!!!

Valhael didnt say anything.... then... after a while he finally regain his breath and says* -What is this time Captain??? Hadrian is in love with Jactosh? Are we dead? What else could have happened? *Valhael looked extremely shocked at the Captain*

Captain: -Well Sire, looks like they want to remove the duels. Maybe even banish you Sire.

Valhael gathered all his strenght and said: -Thank you Captain.

  • Captain exists the room and the nurse come in again*
  • Still in bed, without a word Valhael turned to side and looked through the window... hoping to understand the situation*

BACK

Roleplay from Hadrian Chamberlain (5 days, 17 hours ago) Message sent to everyone in the region Reeds (24 recipients) and to Rania Eastersand JeVondair Dealing with the woman was exhausting, and he was beginning to believe, far more than he should have bothered to try. But he had carried the stone and learned from Yao Lings library that its purpose was to remove corruption from the soul. It felt right that it should end its journey with this woman, whom, corrupted as she was, had not become so for her own choices but out of a debt to her family. He too owed a debt to this family, though if he expected thanks for its payment he was sure that he would be disappointed.

"Rania, I will leave you to your thoughts, but I must tell you this is not a test. A test permits failure. This is for you an opportunity, a chance to move forward." His hand strayed to the platter finding it surprisingly bare. "You walk into that temple, through the warded gates and the same rumor mill that speaks of your daimonic corruption will be changed to the Armored Gods saving you to fight another day. The words of the few will be out-weighed by the words of the many..." He returned to the portal, absently reworking the codes to hide the door once again. "Keep the stone close, you will feel when it's work is done. It could be hours, days, weeks or years, I don't know..."

He crossed to the main door turning back to the woman briefly, she looked exhausted: "I'll see you at the temple at sunrise?" she grunted briefly, barely looking in his direction. "Two more things... you should thank Selenia when you are next in touch with her..."

"And I agree, you should leave Nothoi..."

He strode from the room, Nicodemus falling into step beside him.

And Rania left without another wasted word.

Noble banned! (4 days, 8 hours ago) message to all nobles of Nothoi Garrett Anderbliss, Demokritos of Nothoi, Royal of Nothoi, Duke of Cairn Carmel has declared Rania Eastersand JeVondair, Noble an enemy of the realm and will issue a ban on her shortly. He has given the following reason: You are nothing but a reanimated corpse, an abomination in the eyes of humanity and Daishi. Begone foul beast!


Visit personal message While you rot in your cell, Aletha visits you and says:

As you are a Rogue noble, I have no interest in dealing with you.

Roleplay from Jactosh (28 days, 21 hours ago) Jactosh learned that Rania was still imprisoned since he had first learned of her imprisonment. He thought to commune with Aletha again, but there are all this snow to contend with, perhaps the secret to northerner resilience. It must be melted.

Set free! personal message Aletha has come to your cell with good news - she is setting you free.

Letter from Jactosh (24 days, 1 hour ago) Eat an eye of commoners who do not obey you. Jactosh

New Beginnings

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair all nobles of Shattered Vales Rania arrived in Creasur on foot. Her journey from Reeds would have been a nightmare for anyone after she was captured by Daimons of the Netherworld. For 7 days she'd waited, rocking back and forth, arms cradled protectively over her pregnant stomach as her ears were assaulted by the screams of noblemen being tortured...or worse.

Prison Grapevine (3 days, 2 hours ago) A fellow prisoner has yelled the following words through the dungeon: Screw all you Daimonic bastards!

His screams had been the worst...

Her escape had not been easy, but even Daimons make mistakes. Her banishment from Nothoi meant she could not return there, and her pregnancy kept her from pursuing Valhael Mayhem, her sister's murderer, to Spearhold. No, she would go south where her family had friends and a home.

Through some effort, she'd managed to convince a petty scribe send letters of introduction for her, lacking as she was in pens, parchment, and couriers. Now she sat on the porch outside the Cracked Stone, a cheap inn just within the city walls where rented room, contemplating her failures, and her future...

Roleplay from Kethan D'Espana (24 days, 16 hours ago) message to all nobles of Shattered Vales (Disclaimer: Reply to JeVondair's RP)

Kethan walked slowly down the walls, a little tired after nearly half a day of attentive surveillance of the surrounding lands. Most of the time, his eyes wandered off to Ypsilanti, the land that he was bound to protect as per his oath and holding of his estate. It made him sick that it was now suffering the wrath of the Daimons, which even being so weak that they could hardly wound a soldier, were found in such overwhelming numbers that it was impossible to defeat them by sheer force. He caressed the few parchments that he kept right under his robes, kept in scroll holders to better protect them. He had thought many times to release their magic on the darkspawn creatures, but he had not been told to do so, and thus he kept them still sealed. Soon, he promised himself. Soon enough.

It was then when he saw the Cracked Stone, and memories of earlier times started flooding his mind to the point that he almost missed the woman sitting outside. Almost.

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair (24 days, 15 hours ago) message to all nobles of Shattered Vales As she had been noticed, so to did Rania notice the young scout returning from his duties. Her eyes narrowed as she studied him, wrapping her arms over her pregnancy protectively. This one wasn't a mere scout, but a nobleman, she could see it in his bearing.

She nodded cordially, but made no effort to get up from her rocking chair. Her skin was dusky as a sunset, and her hair was such a deep brown it was almost black. Unlike most of her kin, however, she eschewed the intricate braids denoting clan and rank, preferring instead to let her tresses fall freely. Despite age and her pregnancy, there was not a gram of fat on her. Her wiry frame exuded a certain solidness, though little of it was exposed in her evening robes. Instead of the high cheek bones and a rounded chin framing dark, almondine eyes, Rania's new face had the bone structure of a Nothoian with the coloring of a sandborn. Her eyes were round now, still dark, but with a solid ring of gold outlining the iris. A feature as unsettling as it was enchanting.

She looked very different from her twin sister Mavia. At least she did NOW, anyway, after what she'd gone through in Nothoi...A familiar rage welled up inside her at the thought, but she swiftly quelled it as she watched the young man.

Roleplay from Kethan D'Espana (22 days, 21 hours ago) message to all nobles of Shattered Vales Well, now that was an intriguing woman. He was not really sure about her possible origin, as he could recognize several distinct features in her facial and corporal frame. He did not know why, but it almost seemed... unnatural. He could not neglect her eyes, and his steps were less wide and confident as he slightly changed his course to meet the strange woman. Was she pregnant, by any chance? Who was she, and what was she doing here?

Unaware of her sudden burst of rage and her efforts to quell it, he made a simple nod, and observed her for a second more before speaking to her, a hidden note of inquisitiveness and caution in his voice.

- "Excuse me, miss, but I have not been able to resist my curiosity since I spotted you from the walls. I am Kethan D'Espana, Knight of Ypsilanti and a loyal nobleman of the Empire of the Shattered Vales . May I know your name?"

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair (21 days ago) message to all nobles of Shattered Vales

Kethan meets Rania [CONTd]

​ Unaware of her sudden burst of rage and her efforts to quell it, he made a simple nod, and observed her for a second more before speaking to her, a hidden note of inquisitiveness and caution in his voice.

- "Excuse me, miss, but I have not been able to resist my curiosity since I spotted you from the walls. I am Kethan D'Espana, Knight of Ypsilanti and a loyal nobleman of the Empire of the Shattered Vales . May I know your name?"

"I am Rania Eastersand JeVondair, formerly of Nothoi and Luria Nova, blood of the Desert of Silhouettes in D'Hara and lately a guest of the Netherworld's prisons." She extended her hand for him to kiss, but did not get up. She was indeed pregnant, although her clothing hid just how far along she might be."

"To find a D'Espana here is...a great fortune to me, especially now while I am so..."she looked down at her belly, "...so vulnerable." She allowed some of the sadness and rage that stormed within her to inflect her voice. At a glance it was clear that Rania was accustomed to an active lifestyle. And though know weapons were visible on her person, the calluses on her could only have belonged to a warrior of great skill. He brushed his lips past her knuckles in the courtly manner he'd grown up learning as she composed herself and continued.

"I knew your sire, Sir. Lord Ghaundan of D'Hara, who has long been the foremost ally of my family. It is a great relief to meet one of his own blood so far away from home.

Kethan listened, but his mind whirled. He had known Rania's purpose on this continent, to avenge the death of her sister Mavia who had been his Imperatrix before the fall of the Fourth Vale. He had known that the two were twins, but Rania's face was different, and her eyes even more so. There was something...otherworldy about them...and her. He quickly looked aside lest he be scolded for staring...

Roleplay from Kethan D'Espana (20 days, 14 hours ago) message to all nobles of Shattered Vales

Kethan meets Rania [CONTd]

Kethan listened, but his mind whirled. He had known Rania's purpose on this continent, to avenge the death of her sister Mavia who had been his Imperatrix before the fall of the Fourth Vale. He had known that the two were twins, but Rania's face was different, and her eyes even more so. There was something... otherworldy about them... and her. He quickly looked aside lest he be scolded for staring...

Had she said that she had been a guest to the Netherworld's prison? Perhaps some of the evil magic of the godforsaken place had tainted her. He allowed himself yet another quick and discrete look to her swollen belly, trying to no avail to estimate how much time had gone by since she became pregnant. Perhaps... the baby... could have been... He slowly shook his head in disbelief. Better not to think about that, at least not now.

"My dearest and most sincere condolences for the loss of your sister, Imperatrix Mavia Eastersand JeVondair." - he said in a low, quiet tone. - "She was the first in sheltering and welcoming us when we fleed to Ete City searching for refuge and a home. I am indeed far away from home, as you are. Perhaps in a better time and place we can get each other updated on our whys and hows. But for now..." - he suddenly kneeled in front of her, taking her hand again in a completely courteous gesture - "...please let me honour the memory of my father, Lord Ghaundan D'Espana of D'Hara. I vow to protect you in this time of need and vulnerability until you release me of this oath or your husband comes to takeover his duty, which I temporarily accept as mine as per the strong bond between our families."

He knew she would not like it, a woman of action as she obviously was being protected by a complete stranger, but he also hoped that she would act in the interest of her baby and accept it for the time being. She was right: she was too vulnerable now, and this was not a proper time to show any weakness at all. So there he stood, his hazel eyes respectfully searching hers, waiting for her answer.

Rania, who had long ago mastered her facial expressions, nevertheless allowed her surprise to show. She was a woman who rarely smiled, but the corners of her mouth ticked up and might have blossomed further if not for what happened next...

"Yes-" she said, reaching out to grip his hand. "-I-" but her expression suddenly changed from pleased to pained as she snatched her hand back, doubling over and groaning as she wrapped her arms around her pregnant form. After a moment, the cramps must have subsided. Although her breathing was ragged, she was able to lift her eyes again...those strange, strange eyes. She smiled and started to open her mouth as though to offer an explanation or apology that would never come. Kethan, looking right at her face, watched as her the gold ringing her irises flared, suddenly expanding to encompass both of her eyes fully like orbs of sunlight before seeming to role up and back. Rania fainted. Her body going limp as she fell.

Kethan, with all the speed of youth, caught her as she fell. The Inn's clientel, along with the innkeeper, rushed on to the porch, their alarm clearly surprising Kethan whose expression asked the question before his mouth could.

"We saw a bright flash, milord..." The innkeeper stammered. "Aye" said one of the patrons, "We all did!"

It was at that moment that Kethan realized he hadn't imagined what he'd seen. Looking around, he saw onlookers clear across the street gazing around with the same confused look the innkeeper had. Many had seen the golden light. And in his arms he held the comatose source...


But it wasn't the time to think and meditate, but to act. Empowering himself with his nobility, he fiercely looked to everyone surrounding him with his hazel eyes, as if challenging them to dare to question his orders. Fortunately enough, they knew better than to confront an armed nobleman that could have his soldiers just at the other side of the corner. Real good news for Kethan and Rania, as he had ordered them to wait for him at the Margrave's palace.

Promptly barking a couple orders, a few lads that were present at the inn were very soon running in front of Kethan, opening him the way to carry Rania to the palace and the healers that were inside. Some very tiring minutes later, an exhausted Kethan arrived to his destination, still carrying the young lady and sweating buckets because of the effort. The lads had already alerted the palace guard, and a few of them were waiting just at the entrance of the palace. His face completely red, he shouted with his last tiny bits of breath:

- Take me to the physician right now! And dispatch a courier to Margrave Rythan Songslayer, and tell him that her Dame Rania Eastersand JeVondair is... is... in trouble! Don't look at me like that, do what I've ordered you, and do it NOW!

Notably shocked and confused, the captain of the palace guard swiftly dispatched a courier to his Margrave and one of his soldiers to guide Kethan to the physician's ward. He was not going to leave her in the hands of a random nobody, so he rushed after the guard to put her in expert hands as soon as humanly possible. A breathless prayer to the Armored Gods echoed as they made their way, Kethan too worried and tired to think about the previous incident for now.

Roleplay from Ehrich Weisz (13 days, 8 hours ago) Message sent to all nobles of your realm in the region Creasur (10 recipients) An interest in the arcane had led Sir Ehrich to purchase an obscure scroll, yet despite some inexpert research it remained a mystery to him. Rumours were that such things were becoming increasingly useful and Baron Kethan might have greater knowledge and contacts to utilise the potential of the scroll. So Ehrich arranged to attempt its exchange. After paying respects to the busy lord, the younger noble unravelled the scroll, enthusiastically pointing out some arcane symbols he thought he could decipher.. Only when Ehrich's attention was drawn to some other ancient manuscripts did Baron Kethan tactfully turn the scroll the right way up and contemplate its actual meaning.

Roleplay from Ronan O'Deathh (13 days, 1 hour ago) message to all nobles of Shattered Vales “There have been disturbing rumours and concerns regarding Lady Rania’s well-being,” Ronan’s nomad healer advised him, “somewhat extra-ordinary scenes which defy the senses!”

Ronan mused upon the news for a while, it was vexing but he was little known in these parts so wondered how best to express concern and learn of how troubling this news might be.

“Go with my official seal and extend your services as a trusted physician of the Heenic desert. I will light a candle and offer my prayers. Maybe a vigil will be held which I can join without intruding,” Ronan concluded.

The physician began frantically gathering a few potions and tonics, before extremely carefully arraying the scorpion venoms which in precise dose could sometimes offering regenerative effects.

“Perhaps today is not the day to introduce these southerners to the benefits of your more exotic remedies. Offer our sincerest concerns, but respectfully extend offer of your healing services only as invited. No doubt they have their own learned healers already but who can say what the best course is with such strange symptoms,” and with this advice the physician was sent hurriedly on his way and his master turned to prayer.

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair (12 days, 22 hours ago) message to all nobles of Shattered Vales

Lord's Quarters Estate - Home of Margrave Rythan

Magic in the Air (just in) The ravens fly and the sky is changed. Someone has cast a magic spell in the vicinity.

Rania stirs, but does not wake, her pregnant form shifting on the bed Kethan laid her upon. But even that slight movement is a drastic change from the stillness that fell upon her in the inn. Muscle groups tense, sweat beads her brow, but she does not wake.

Roleplay from Rythan Songslayer (12 days, 19 hours ago) message to all nobles of Shattered Vales Unsettling times had befallen Creasur of late, beyond that of the unrelenting tide of Netherworld fowl.

Concern grew over the strange magical aura, for Rythan new its power, not long past had all his bones been broken and he had been left for dead by one of those beasts... They had to be stopped.

He grew worried for Rania who lay still in her chambers, very pregnant, very.

Word spread that in unexplanably large number of births had occured in Creasur which seemed unprobably due to the near starvation that haunted the lands... perhaps these new children were a blessing from some unknown source? Is Rania's unborn child a part of this?

Who knows... but as Rythan looked out of his chamber window he saw another magical scroll be cast and light up the night sky...

Strange times indeed... but this is surely the beginning not the end...


Population Boom in Creasur (1 hour, 55 minutes ago) Your seneschal brings you word of an inexplicable population boom in Creasur. 1003 babies have apparently been born recently.


Magic in the Air (1 hour, 55 minutes ago) The ravens fly and the sky is changed. Someone has cast a magic spell in the vicinity.


Light from Night

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair (3 hours, 30 minutes ago) message to all nobles of Shattered Vales

A week had past with Rania lying, unmoving, in Lord Rythan's manor. A pair of midwives, themselves a mother and daughter, kept a steady watch over her, worried that her pregnancy might be in danger. Every so often, someone would peak in and check on her. Nurses changed her sheets and bathed her. Healers came and went, flustered. Sir Kethan would stop by every once and a while when his duties allowed, but for the most part the insensate mother-to-be was left alone.

It was during the younger midwife's shift that Rania went into labor.

The nights had been quiet since Aletha and her demons had left Creasur; it was wildly known that the daimons had been steadily loosing their power. Some even whispered of an end to the invasion. In her absence, the Empress and most of her men-at-arms had also left the city walls to recapture lost territory. The city was emptier than it had been in months. Most of the castle had gone to bed. Unbeknownst to the people of the Shattered Vale, Aletha lay dying beneath the walls of Reeds. And it was in that rare silence that Rania stirred.

It was just a tremor at first, the younger midwife, Pella, dozing at Rania's bedside, was not even roused to wakefulness until the dame's low moaning rose in pitch and vigor. Pella gazed about sleepily, accustomed to Rania's silence. Her bewilderment did not last for long, however, and she determined in short order that although Rania herself still slept, her child had awakened in her womb. "IT'S HAPPENING!" She yelled to summon help as she grasped Rania's hand. Pella looked at Rania, whose expression fluctuated with pain, and wondered briefly what dream or fever could keep a mother from missing the birth of her own child.

A full day passed as Rania's child struggled without the help of it's mother. Rania looked exhausted, her sheets soaked with sweat, and STILL she had not awakened. The staff were little better, and weighed down by helplessness. Pella's mother Escaba, the senior midwife in Creasur, had arrived within hours and stayed throughout. "There is nothing we can do but wait," She'd said heavily. "If we cut, we'll loose the mother, sure as sunrise. If we try to force the child, it will get stuck without the mother to push."

"But mother," Pella interjected, "if we do nothing for too long, the infant is at risk of choking itself with it's own cord."

"I know, child, I know." Escaba patted her daughters hand, clearly worried. Even she had never seen anything quite like this.

And then the ground shook.

It was a gentle thing at first. Barely perceptible. Not unlike how Rania had slipped into labor. On the other side of the world, a wrath like the Hammer of a fiery titan split the South Island asunder. Thousands were suffering, dying, screaming. And in the moment of their greatest suffering, as know one in Creasur could possibly know, Rania screamed with them. Blazing into wakefulness and in a world of pain. Her mouth was dry, her throat was hoarse. She was weak and clammy and hot all at once. As if sensing it's mother's wakefulness, the child seemed to redouble its efforts to be brought into the world. Hands grasped at Rania's wrists, pinning her down. She fought, weakly, but relentlessly.

"Push"

She didn't know who was speaking, and there was a sort of animal terror in her otherworldly black/gold eyes as they darted about.

"Push, Dame Rania!"

Rania focused on Escaba. The senior midwife's voice was calm, but commanding. She was a stranger to Rania, however, who did not seem to know where she was or what was happening.

"Breath, Dame Rania! Your baby is wanting to be born! Calm!"

But Rania was not listening. She was already withdrawing back into herself, back into the dream. Reaching for the Deep Song that had become the core of her since the day she'd died.

Rania

She heard her name and new she was close, in her mind, she hummed in tune with the Song, following it to its source, away from the world again.

"Mamma-" Pella yelled as Rania's eyes rolled back into her head. "We're loosing her again!"

"The baby's too far...If she goes out, it will be stuck. If that happens..."

The song roared through her, filling her up again with light, gold and warm and sweet as sunlight. "Go now. Bring them all to me. Share the Song"

"Hold her down, Pella," Escaba commanded. The daughter obeyed, securing Rania as best she could.

"Wake up, Dame Rania!" Escaba slapped her.

The Song fades, the Light grows brighter.

"Wake up!" <SLAP>

You will show them, prepare the way for me.

"WAKE-!" <SLAP!>

Bring me into your world.

"UP!" <SLAP!>

Go

On the other side of the world, a great KABOOM ripped the South Island apart. In that instant, in the guest room of Creasur's Manor, Pella and her mother Escaba were thrown from Rania's bed by a force they could neither see nor explain. Every candle went out and their heads cracked against the walls of the room. For the briefest instant, Pella's vision went gold, and she could not tell if it was from the impact or an actual source of light before she lost consciousness. Both women crumpled to the ground, unmoving.

In the sudden darkness of the guesthouse, the squalls of a newborn baby rang out...

Roleplay from Kethan D'Espana (3 days, 13 hours ago) message to all nobles of Shattered Vales Kethan was tired. He had spent the last week going between Ypsilanti and Creasur, studying his scrolls and books and visiting Rania in the sparse moments that his duties allowed himself to leave his region. That woman... He slowly shook his head, considering for a while if he had done well in swearing to become his protector. He technically had only stated that he would protect her until the father arrived or the baby was born, but even he could not delude himself: if the father did not arrive after the baby's birth, he would be forced per the ties between the D'Espanas and the JeVondairs to become the guardian of mother and son alike. A woman with a child would not last long if left alone in such a hostile environment as Beluaterra had become. Besides, lacking a fatherly reference would mark a definite tough childhood for the kid. No, he would have to step in and, at the very least, become his tutor and keeper.

But still... What about Rania's strange relationship with magic? He had began investigating about similar circumstances, and even though he had not found much yet, he knew he was on the right track. The way she reacted to even the slightest touch of ambiental magic was no doubt out of this world, as he had discreetely checked in one of his visits. And he hadn't even talked about it with his dear Ravyn. Would she be angered once she learnt that he was going to protect a different woman, or would she understand that he had no other choice, given Rania's situation and both of their relative's friendship? He hoped it was the second one, but he knew there was no other way around it, He had to tell her, but not before confirming that Rania's baby was coming out well and alive. Yes, that was it. No point in raising an uncomfortable discussion if it was all going to fade away, right?

He slightly nodded to himself, spurring his horse to travel the last few miles before reaching Creasur. He had received very worrying news about a really weird event in her delivery, something about flashing lights and a couple of midwives badly hurt after being thrown around by an invisible force. Well, that was something he had to see by himself. And the baby, he concluded. Besides, there was a certain special forces unit from Jaekind that he had every intention to check on...


The Half-breed

11/2016 Age: 43


Since her 'escape' from the dungeons of the netherworld after being expelled from Nothoi on charges of Witchcraft, Rania had confined herself to Creasur. It was there that she at last gave birth to her precious, precious child, the daughter of the daemon lord Akkan, Supreme Commander of the Underworld whom Rania had freed and devoted herself to in exchange for a chance at vengeance. Though she lost, and was indeed killed, Akkan had other uses for her.

And so their daughter, Stheno, had come into being.

Three years had passed since her half-breed daughter had drawn her first breath. And Rania had spent every waking moment with the child, using her considerable skills as a warrior and training as an infiltrator to protect her daughter and secret her true nature. But the nobles of that Shattered Vales were more interested in survival. None questioned Rania's fatherless babe. Indeed, few even new of her.

As the years passed, Rania heard nothing from her Lord. The Song of Chaos, once so thrilling and clear in her mind, had been silent for a long time now. Sometimes, even in the deepest and darkest recesses of her heart, she wondered if it had all been a dream. But Rania had only to look into her face to know the truth of it: For she now bore the face of a Beluaterran woman, rather than the Dwlightian Sandborn features she'd been born with. But even without that blatant reminder, she had only to look into Stheno's eyes...black scelera marked by dark gold irises, that hinted strongly to her mystical, infernal heritage. But for that though, Stheno seemed a normal, if quiet child. And Rania found fulfillment in motherhood as she never had in vengeance.

But all gifts came at a price. And hers came to call as Rania returned to Creasur from a defeat in Eg Tutu against a force of monsters and undead some 20,000 strong. Rania sensed it the moment she pass through the fortress-city's outer walls. The Hum. The Call. The Song of Chaos.

The magic of the Netherworld.

She rushed home, galloping full-tilt through the narrow city streets she'd learned so well and was at her estate in no time. The gates had barely opened before she'd leapt of her horse and beelined straight for her room where Stheno still slept. The Song was growing stronger as she approached. When she opened the door, she found the room empty and her daughter sleeping safely in their bed. Relief washed over Rania...until she noticed that the Song was growing stronger. Peering within herself, she traced the Chords...and her eyes widened as they lead her to Stheno as they had done with her father before. THere was a sort of connection, like a key sliding home into a lock, and her daughter, still asleep, spoke with a voice that was not hers...

The Child is Well. Healthy and Safe, you have done well...

Selenia recognized the voice of her Lord and fell to her knees in deference.

The Time has come. This Child shall be the Vessel for Our Ambitions. But you, my servant, will be the spark that starts the wildfire. And from that inferno, the Daishi will burn, and our Glorious Triumph will come at last...

"Command me, Master" Rania said simply.

You have had visions of the one you named Obeah. You thought this your own creation, or one of my tricks. It was neither...but the one to whom even I must answer. A being of power greater still than any you have encountered. You and our daughter will help to bring this being to dwell on your material plain, and Obeah will usher in Our Great Destiny.

"Master, I have no power of my own. How then am I to serve you?"

A way shall be prepared for you, my servant, my love. You will found a church for the humans to worship Obeah. We will harness the mystical energy of their prayers to bring our liege into this world, and to weaken our enemies for The Arrival...

The chord snapped, the Song was broken. Akkan's presence was gone. Stheno awakened to find her mother at her side, freshly returned from days of battle.

"Mommy!" The child squealed and embraced Rania with all of her 3 year-old strength.

Rania hugged her daughter back, and marveled at the glorious destiny placed before her.

Before them both...

Some Weeks Later

Roleplay from Akkan Jarbosh (Personal message to Rania Eastersand JeVondair)

A hum began to arise within Rania's mind.


Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair (Personal message to Akkan Jarbosh)

As usual, Rania was in her home. She'd taken on more and more of the administrative responsibilities to keep Creasur in good shape and was working on survey administration when she felt the tantalizingly familiar hum of power in her mind.

Her Lord was reaching for her...

It had been years now since she'd last felt his touch upon her mind. Weaker parts of her had feared he'd been slain or banished, but Stheno's episode some weeks ago had proven otherwise, and that she need only be patient. Now, at long last, he remembered her.

Rania immediately stopped what she was doing and cast out all of the attendants that surrounded her, ordering every door shut and every window closed. It was easier to focus in the dark. She made herself still and hummed her range, increasing and decreasing harmonal frequencies until she found the chord that resonated with the one in her mind, with her master. Having captured it, she fell silent and brought all of her attention to bear on the task at hand. Following the chord was never simple, the dark magic and infernal minds behind it were not natural for a mortal to navigate. In her mind's eye it was akin to navigating a stormy straight. But rather than sail through as a human woukd think to do, one had to cast oneself into the roiling chaos and swim down, fighting the wind and the waves and the currents until one reached the calm, crushing depths where the dark powers dwealt.

And Rania was more than merely mortal now. Her Lord had seen to that. And with her half-breed daughter nearby, it was easier than ever for her to receive the Will of Akkan.

I am summoned, my master, my love. She cooed mentally.

The Herald of Obeah

March 2017

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair (23 days, 8 hours ago) Message sent to: Jomorosh The Sentinals had been defeated, shattered once again by the infernal hosts of the Netheworld. Dozens of daimons, ancient beyond mortal reckoning, reaped a bloody swath through the human ranks.

The Felheralds of Obeah were among the fallen.

Rania had built her unit carefully, selecting only the best men and women from the Empire's special forces to accompany her into battle. Rania had grown silent as she entered middle age, following orders and caring for her precious daughter who remained at home and protected in the capital. With the rest of the Sentinals, she'd stood against the daimons in Sandlakes, where she was forced to watch as they fed upon the flesh of their victims, her soldiers, while they were still alive, consuming them body and soul. Then they came for Rania.

She remembered nothing after that.

It was just before dawn a day later that she finally awoke she was wounded, and the human army was gone, but she was not alone. One of her Felheralds, Captain Boris, remained standing. He had dragged her and 13 other wounded and hidden them in an abandon barn as the Daimons feasted on the dead and dying. They were feeding still, and the sound of it was hell on Earth. Boris brought her some water, her throat was so dry! She asked him to explain what had happened. At first, he couldn't, but Rania would not denied. He gave her the battle report. Rania's eyes wandered as he spoke. She could see the horror in the eyes of the survivors, the guilt, the desperation as the howls grew closer. And they were getting closer, Rania could see it in the sudden stiffness of Boris's shoulders. Daimons consumed everything in their path, but something that was alive, that could still scream, those the daimons savored above all others.

Captain Boris drew his sword, placing himself between his charges and the door, ready to meet his end as a man of the Vales. He was so focused that he flinched when Rania touched him on the shoulder as she walked past him toward the door. He tried to stop her, to warn her, surely her wound must have fevered her mind? But when she looked over her shoulder, her eyes burned a fierce hot-iron gold and damned if it wasn't the second most frightening thing he'd ever seen, and certainly the first from a human. He fell from her reflexively and scrambled backwards as she opened the barn door catching a glimpse of what awaited her. It was dark outside, the sun had yet to crest the hills, and in the colorless gloom, massive shapes moved, eyes aglow with malice and burning with power, the same power that Rania now summoned about herself, it coiled from her eyes and slithered about her form in glowing chains of energy and, for the life of him, Boris felt in his bones that for all the daimon's malice, they'd met their match in his Lady...who then closed the door behind her, blocking his view.

Boris snapped out of it and made for the door, fully expecting to hear her screams and resolved to go out fighting alongside her. He could see flashes of her power glowing through the creases between the doors' wooden planks. Then, he heard Rania lift her voice. Not in a scream of pain or a curse, but in song...


Holy water cannot help you down

Hours and armies couldn't keep me out

I don't want your money

I don't want your crowd

See I have to burn

Your kingdom down


Holy water cannot help you now

See I've had to burn your kingdom down

And no rivers and no lakes can put the fire out

I'm gonna raise the stakes, I'm gonna smoke you out


Seven devils all around you

Seven devils in my house

See they were there when I woke up this morning

I'll be dead before the day is done


Seven devils all around you

Seven devils in your house

See I was dead when I woke up this morning

I'll be dead before the day is done

Before the day is done


And now all your love will be exorcised

And we will find you saying it's to be better now

And it's an even sum

It's a melody

It's a battle cry

It's a symphony

Seven devils all around you

Seven devils in my house

See they were there when I woke up this morning

I'll be dead before the day is done


Seven devils all around you

Seven devils in your house

See I was dead when I woke up this morning

And I'll be dead before the day is done


Before the day is done

Before the day is done

Before the day is done


They can keep me high

'Til I tear the walls

'Til I save your heart

And I take your soul

And what have we done?

Can I be undone?

In the evil heart

In the evil soul


Seven devils all around you

Seven devils in your house

See I was dead when I woke up this morning

I'll be dead before the day is done

Before the day is done


Obeah deliver unto your kindred

That which you have promised.


Light, blinding light, flared through every nook and cranny of the barn, illuminating as though the sun itself had landed just outside. There was a sound then like nothing Boris had ever heard before.

The Sound of Daimons screaming.

And then it was done. Boris opened the door just as Rania's Light dissipated, replaced by the normal pre-dawn of the coming morning. The Daimons were gone, and beyond, Sandlakes had quited. Rania's sorcery had banished the entire Jarbosh Menagerie and saved them all. She turned at his approach and seemed about to smile before she swayed and collapsed, blood flowing freely from her wound. He rushed to her, catching her by she shoulders as she fell and easing her to the ground. Her breathing was harsh and uneven, she was sweating heavily and the power in her eyes had gone. Boris said nothing, still awestruck. He'd heard of such magic before, but only in legends and myths. And while daimons were well enough, he'd never imagined he'd see it for himself. Despite being the captain of the FelHeralds of Obeah, he had never questioned the name before. Nobles tended to name as they please. But now he wondered what Obeah was to imbue his Lady with such ability. More, he wondered what Rania was, but resolved that it did not matter. Be she a sorceress or a holy woman, he would protect her with his life.

He hadn't realized that Rania was looking at him, watching his mind turn over. When he did, she smiled weekly. "Obeah watches and waits, Captain."

"Obeah, milady?"

"Yes, but I am tired now. Take me home, I wish to see my daughter."

Letter from Ehrich Weisz (23 days, 14 hours ago)

message to all nobles of Shattered Vales A truly formidable feat against the daemon lord, Dame Rania Easterand. Your mastery of those scrolls was more powerful than anything I have seen, and I have spent some time investigating such matters. Sunrise may herald another momentous day, godspeed with your dangerous pursuit.

If the army can be successful in catching the remaining daemons before they can over-run our defences that can be crucial too. If they do not reach Iato before we can, we will benefit from the walls and militia. It is an 8 hour journey for a mobile unit so we stand a chance based on their previous seemingly steady rate of advance. Should they get ahead of us we should watch for any militia rallying in Iato as that again should grant us access to the walls I think.

Fortunes protect you all in these dangerous days.


– Ehrich Weisz, Earl of Iato, Marshal of the Impassioned Iato Army


some time later

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair (2 days, 6 hours ago) Message sent to everyone in the region Ete City (17 recipients) Akkan! I've come to bargain...

""A battle ensues, but rania and her special forces are able to infiltrate Ete City""

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair (1 day, 20 hours ago) Message sent to everyone in the region Ete City (18 recipients) The Felheralds of Obeah, with Rania at their center, sprinted through the dark of Ete City. They'd tried to infiltrate the beleaguered fortress at sunset, the better to avoid unwanted attention from human thralls and sentries that willingly served the Daimons, but they were spotted. In the ensuing ambush, 3 of her special forces were killed outright. Another 8 were wounded, but still mobile. It was a minor miracle that they were able to make it over the walls and into the guts of the city itself.

Dominorum patrols prowled the main thoroughfares, forcing her small contingent to keep moving. The netherworld stench tainted the Jade capital. Rania knew it intimately. She'd been in Reeds when the Daishi made their stand, she'd even been captured before, and she'd had the misfortune to meet Daimon Lords face to face. If she lived a thousand years, she felt she'd never be rid of the smell.

The Felheralds ran and hid, ran and hid, all through the night, narrowly avoided detection and spiraling further and further away from the infernal forces that had cordoned off the rest of the army. Knowing that the enemy was just waiting for them to make the mistake of trying to sneak through. Instead, Rania did what they would not expect, leading her troops deeper into the city, to wear the burning, ionized ozone reek of the netherworld was strongest, the seat of their power.

Unable to reach refuge with their comrades, the Felheralds of Obeah would switched from prey to predator.

Akkan was in the city...and Rania would find him before he found her....

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair (20 hours, 25 minutes ago) Message sent to everyone in the region Ete City (15 recipients) Akkan had eluded her. In fact, Rania was starting to nurse the opinion that the Daimon Lord was fully aware of her presence and lead her on a marry chase through the dangerous city, firing eldritch spells as he went. Luring her deeper, running her to exhaustion. It was only by a fortunate turn of fate the Heralds encountered a squad of Imperial scouts. Knowing her hunt had grown futile, Rania allowed them to direct her to where the army was setting up their lines. And not a moment too soon. As she arrived, the sun set beyond the horizon. Howls rose to greet the coming darkness, laced by soul-shriving laughter and the deep drums of human traitors.

The battle was swift and brutal. Human thralls through themselves at the Imperial lines and were cut down in droves like cattle. Though the men of the Vales were forced back that night, it was with the knowledge that with the coming down came the chance of victory.

Marshal Ehrich found Rania after the fight to offer magical healing . Despite her wearied condition, she command the strongest Imperial contingent left in the city, and he wanted her Heralds in best form for the dawn assault. Rania accepted, and as the spell took shape, she delighted in the rejuvenating energies that washed her exhaustion away. She stretched as the magic settled, slowly going through her old dueling forms as she contemplated the coming dawn. Everything was coming together, just as her visions had foretold. She could feel it reverberating through her very bones that tomorrow would be a Day of Destiny, where the deliverance she had been promised would finally come.

She smiled. Despite the miasma of daimonic energy and wounded men and women all around her, she smiled.

Roleplay from Akkan Jarbosh (3 hours, 54 minutes ago) Message sent to everyone in the vicinity of Ete City (19 recipients)

The battles for Ete were lost, with the soldiers of the Shattered Vales all but wiped out, bleeding out and dying even as the great Daimon Lord Jomorosh razed their homes in Fheuvenem and Creasur; monsters and undead literally ate their way through the Empire's poor villages and poorer defenses.

Striding confidently across the killing field, Akkan's body brimmed with the power of his spellcasting. Strands of magic crackled around his hideous form, blackening the earth where he stomped. Where Jomorosh had just drained Ete City of its magic, the Vales' usage of scrolls had brought it back, drawing Akkan towards Ete City and strengthening his power.

The Daimon Supreme Commander was a horror to behold, but one emotion was clear across his infernal visage: pleasure. The delight he took in the dead and dying was palpable, as he fed upon them. Any who had the misfortune of finding themselves in his way had the very life snatched from them as Akkan wandered, searching, hunting for something...special.

Rania was there, shoulders square, with her expression frozen between intense pain and determination. Behind her, humans scattered, ruled by their terror.

"Ah my dear Rania," the Daimon couched his voice into an intimate croon, as though they were lovers on a picnic rather than enemies on a battlefield, "You look well, considering-"

He gestured at a bleeding pile of eviscerated corpses, whose eyes flashed open and mouths curled into macabre smiles. Huddled humans behind Rania reacted with further fright.

"Have you considered my offer? Serve me, and the deliverance you crave will be yours, your struggles will end. Even your daughter will be safe..."

Though Rania did not move, a nerve had obviously been struck.

"Ah yes", he continued, "we know about her...as we do about your 'visions'." Akkan chuckled, the sound as if a bull were being choked to death, "You are strong, for a mortal, but you could be powerful, a Queen. Don't make me destroy you for something so stupid."

Rania said nothing, but she appeared diminished, as though Akkan's revelations had drained her of her last remaining Hope. But there was something else within her that helped her steady her breath and draw her useless sword against him. Akkan's nostrils flared wide open, his pupils whitened, his vision shifting to beyond mortal sight, and he saw what it was; the woman was drained, save for one golden thread that held her up.

Her faith.

Akkan's proboscis-like tongue uncoiled from deep within his body and began flicking the air to detect regional measurements. Sprinkling some of Scherzer's ashes upon the Scintillating Staff of the Doomed, Akkan raised the staff and tongue-flicked an ancient daimonic language upon the air. An astute listener might have even heard a faint whistle, if not for the thud of feet, crackling fires, and collapsing buildings. Akkan paid no mind to Rania and the Heralds rushing him with mortal weapons extended.

Slamming the Scintillating Staff onto the ground, the ashes poofed into the air, and a blue-ish light exploded from Akkan in the following instant. When that instant ceased, the ground, buildings, and numerous bodies lay charred and smoking in a 100-foot radius where the explosive light had reached. Yet the magic that crackled throughout the city was drained again.

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair (2 hours, 12 minutes ago) Message sent to the Rulers of Beluaterra (9 recipients) The Daimon Lord’s power roared forth, a black cyclone of unbridled power and rage of such strength that its casting drained Ete city of magical energy. There was nowhere for Rania to run from this, nothing for her to do save to meet her doom like a sandborn. She resigned herself, relaxing her shoulders, lowering the point of her sword to the ground. If this was the fate that Obeah had led her to, then so be it.

“Obeah, deliver me to sit with you in Obia'Syela” she quickly whispered, and then the infernal wave was upon her, burning, freezing, tearing, and constricting her body and soul all at once, shredding armor, clothes, and flesh alike. In the space of a blink, she experienced a lifetime of pain that was shared, she knew, by the remaining Heralds that stood behind her. She could feel Akkan consuming their souls one by one until on she remained, herself at the brink of death and her body reduced to barely more than a skeleton with skin. “DELIVER ME!” She managed one final scream, yearning for heaven as the Netherworld’s blackness disintegrated her body, the force of the Daimon’s spell exploding the ground around. As Akkan drew her soul from her flayed body, Rania’s last thoughts were of her daughter Stheno, safe in Creasur...

Suddenly, a burst of brilliant power burst around her, bathing her in an intense, calming blue. Scintillating magical energy crackled, rebuilding her body and strengthening her spirit, slamming her soul back where it belonged. The energy of the Daimon Lord’s attack was captured, redirected, and transformed into…something else. Rania had one moment to register Akkan’s scream of rage and denial before losing consciousness.

Mysterious Lights

(2 hours, 58 minutes ago) message to everyone on Beluaterra It is said that as one, daimons across the continent keened and screeched. Mystics and Sages alike collapsed to the ground as a colossal conflagration of eldritch energies exploded over the skies of Ete City and Keffa. Clouds of pitch black so dark they were visible even against the night sky swirled over both, thrumming with thunderous power that shook window panes throughout Beluaterra, and pierced by a shaft of radiant blue light.

And then there was nothing, gone as soon as it began.

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair (13 minutes ago) Message sent to the Rulers of Beluaterra (9 recipients) Rania awoke, blinking back memories of pain and storms. Stars twinkled above her, their cold light competing with the ruddy glow of torches, which was confusing. Not just because it was only sunset a moment ago, but because it was quiet.

That and she was fairly confident that a Daimon Lord had just blasted her into oblivion.

Was this the afterlife? A gentle breeze caressed the skin of her breasts and stomach, so now, on top of all this weirdness, apparently she was naked, too. Maybe she was in heaven? She tried to move, groaning loudly as her sore, but intact, body protested. Never in all her years of training had her muscles hurt so. Every centimeter of her was an epicenter of hurt. Maybe she was in hell.

“SHE’S AWAKE!” A disembodied voice shouted. Rania heard the sound of shuffling over gravel and rania sighed, disappointed that apparently she was still on Earth. Naked. With who knew how many people gaping at her. With a determination that was characteristic of her bloodline, she sat up, abs and buttocks screaming in protest. She shut her eyes against the effort and through her arms behind her with the intent to prop herself up, but her hands connected with something solid. Not that Rania cared, anything would do. With a grunt, she dragged herself backwards and up. The effort took a small eternity to complete, but once she settled on her makeshift chair, she sighed in relief and open her eyes, tracking from the sky downward.

For a long moment, absolutely nothing of what she saw made any sense. That the sun and changed places with the moon was the least of it. She sat in the center of a crater that must have been 100 ft. wide and ringed by the stonework buildings of a city, some of the buildings were bisected into perfect cross-sections where the crater began as though someone had taken a glass pane to an anthill for study. Save that all the glass windows she could make out were shattered. She even thought she could make out a fully clothed leg hanging from one of the upper rooms. The crater was surrounded by hastily erected torches. Between the moonlight and the firelight, she could clearly see dozens, hundreds of humans gathered around the edges, staring fearfully at her. Waiting.

Given the circumstances, Rania supposed she could understand that fear, but even that sharpened into crystal clarity as she switched her focus from beyond the crater to within it. Rania had been a General in her time, she could take in numbers at a glance. Aside from her naked form, Rania shared the space with no less than ten dozen daimons.

One of which she’d decided to sit on.

It is possible that someone, somewhere, might have found it amusing to watch as a naked noblewoman who’d literally exploded on the scene leap a meter into the air as though her rear-end were on fire, but that person was nowhere near the crater. Rania didn’t scram so much as she screeched in shock. In reaction, all the townsfolk ringing the crater screamed as well. Rania’s pain was forgotten as adrenalin flooded her system, and she managed to land without connecting with another one of the infernal beings, but it didn’t move, none of them moved.

It seemed as though they were…sleeping?

Rania was a strong woman, all the women of her line were, but this was getting to be too much. Maybe this was neither heaven nor hell nor earth, maybe she’d just gone insane. Regardless, she was who she was, and that meant setting priorities. She twisted around, the muscles in her chest and neck objecting as she inspected her rear for any offense the slumbering daimon might have caused. Thankfully, there was nothing but the imprint of gravel and reptilian scales. She took stock of the rest of her, everything seemed intact. Amazing, considering that she could distinctly remember being torn apart in Ete when Akkan-

Rania’s spine straightened as though struck by lightning, memories flooding her mind. The defeat in Ete, confronting Akkan, her prayer for deliverance, the strange blue power, the explosion…Obeah!

Obeah had saved her, delivered her. It was the only explanation. She’d been torn apart, a Lord of the Netherworld was literally ripping out her soul with all the magical energy of Ete at his behest, what power could resist save one not of this world?

Rania fell to her knees, not even noticing the new scrapes the sharp rock inflicted as she closed her eyes sang a prayer for her patron. Rania’s voice rose and fell like the wind. It was not perfect, and her voice was hoarse and pained like the rest of her, but her melody was strong, golden and genuine as she repeated her last prayer, “Obeah deliver me. Deliver me to Obia’Syela. Bring me to your heaven...”

As if in answer, her pain receded further and a calm like she had never known descended upon her. Her song crooned to a halt as she stood. She breathed deeply, centering herself, clothing herself in nothing but her faith. Again, she heard the shifting of gravel, this time much closer and accompanied by a rumbling through the earth that she felt through her bare feet. When she opened her eyes, she stood face-to-maw with a very awake Daimon, surrounded by 119 of its very awake kin, no too were alike save for their frightful presence and otherworldy stillness, their attention rapt upon her. Some wen’t on two legs, others on four, some had none at all, and yet there was no doubt as to their infernal origin. But Rania knew no fear. She reached out to the creature and it bowed before her, as did the rest. They did not bear Akkan’s mark, nor were they marked by recent fighting, which told Rania that they did not come from Ete. They must have been here, wherever here was, when the blast heralding her arrival rocked this place. Rania, like the rest of the humans of Beluaterra, had been fighting Daimons for years, she’d seen them up close, she killed them and suffered at their claws. She’d seen eyes of black and gold and hellish tones of orange and red. But never, in all her years, had she seen eyes of cobalt-blue. The very same hue and shade as the power that had saved her.

Obeah’s power.

Her power. A gift for her faith. These were her creatures now, taken by Obeah and made to serve.

Rania stepped, and the Daimons melted away, forming a path for her towards the waiting humans. The people of this place were rooted, paralyzed by fear and awe as any sane person might be, given the surrealistic situation. Rania looked around, feeling better and stronger with every moment, and her gaze met the eyes of a child hiding behind her mother’s skirts. Rania approached, whatever spell her presence wove keeping the mother frozen as Rania stopped before her and looked down at her little girl.

“Child” Rania said, her vocal cords still dry and hoarse. “What place is this?”

“Keffa” the girl replied after some hesitation, and Rania smiled.

“Not anymore, child. Not anymore…” Rania raised her voice. “THIS IS OBIA’SYELA! OBEAH’S HEAVEN! I AM RANIA, AND AM LIVING PROOF THAT THE FUTURE OF MAN BEGINS HERE. AND. IT. IS. PROTECTED!” Her shout had taken on the tone of celebration and resolute challenge. “ON THIS SACRED GROUND I WILL BUILD A TEMPLE TO OBEAH!”

“KNEEL!” This came from behind her, the surprising sound of a Daimon’s voice was jarring after Rania’s own, but everyone, Daimon and mortal alike, dropped to their knees and prostrated themselves before the Herald of Obeah.

Meanwhile, in Spearhold

Roleplay from Gythrul Attano (25 minutes ago) Message sent to the Rulers of Beluaterra (9 recipients) Word had spread from the faithful in Keffa. A woman had forged a realm and defiled sacred beings to her will.

A priest approached the study of Harbinger Gythrul, the door flanked by two armoured guards bearing glaives. The steward accompanying him informed the guards of his need to see the Harbinger, and they let him pass.

The study was large, two of the walls held bookcases, filled with everything from historical accounts to folklore. The wall furthest back housed a fire place, and the wall to the door's right led to the tower balcony.

"Your Majesty, one of your priests is here to see you." The steward said as she entered, bowing.

"Permit them." Gythrul said, sitting at a desk near the fireplace, looking over an assortment of documents.

"Your Majesty, I bring word from Keffa." He said, and related the events. He saw Gythrul's knuckles whitened and eyes fill with rage.

"You may go." Gythrul commanded. The priest bowed and swiftly left the room.

Gythrul lept up, knocking the chair back. "Heresy! Blasphemy!" He roared, swiping everything off his desk. His rage not sated, he slammed his fist into the table, wincing with pain.

This heretic would pay.

War! (24 minutes ago) Spearhold has declared war on Obia'Syela!

Back at the Crater

Roleplay from Yao Ling Pryde (just in) Message sent to everyone in the region Keffa (3 recipients) Yao Ling had entered the city to prepare it for the liberation to come and been moving carefully through the streets for hours.

And then the explosion of light had changed everything. It had come over the city like a shockwave and the magical energies had been some of the most powerful Yao Ling had ever felt. And she'd been at the heart of conflagration in Reeds. It was amazing and terrifying. It was empowering and weakening. It was enough to make her feel faint with power and weakness, and she nearly collapsed as she stood tall and saw everything around her at once.

Then the impossibilities of those diverging feelings faded away as the magic flow came to an end. Yao Ling blinked and looked around in confusion, wondering what had just happened.

And so she began to explore, moving slowly towards the epicenter of the magical flow. Though it had ended, she knew exactly where it was. It had been burned into her mind, and she moved towards it with a mixture of trepidation and...something else. Wonder? Terror? Conviction? Confidence? She wasn't certain. The emotions came and went faster than she could fully understand them, but she knew something had happened here that was not normal. And she had to find out what it was.

She found the crowd of people soon and moved through them slowly. Then she saw the frozen Daimons and the single woman amongst them in the crater at the heart of where the magical storm had raged. And finally she saw the other Daimons. The ones that didn't act like Daimons. She couldn't put her finger on it exactly, but they were not the ravening beasts of most Daimons she had seen over her lifetime. They almost looked like they were waiting for...the woman? Maybe. She'd seen Daimons follow humans before, but they'd always been Daimons. And no Daimon she'd seen in decades would have allowed this crowd of people to remain unmolested like this. Not unless they had an ulterior motive of course.

Then the woman woke up and everything changed. Yao Ling recognized her as Rania and watched her sit on one frozen Daimon, then recoil as she realized what she was doing. Rania seemed scared. And confident. And far more emotions went over her face and Yao Ling almost smiled. She understood how emotions could get out of control when magics ran like they had here. And no human was entirely happy to be surrounded by Daimons. “Child” Rania finally asked of the girls in the crowd after a time, her voice dry and hoarse. “What place is this?”

“Keffa” the girl replied after some hesitation, and Rania smiled.

“Not anymore, child. Not anymore…” Rania raised her voice. “THIS IS OBIA’SYELA! OBEAH’S HEAVEN! I AM RANIA, AND AM LIVING PROOF THAT THE FUTURE OF MAN BEGINS HERE. AND. IT. IS. PROTECTED!” Her shout had taken on the tone of celebration and resolute challenge. “ON THIS SACRED GROUND I WILL BUILD A TEMPLE TO OBEAH!”

“KNEEL!” The Daimon’s voice echoed off the city walls and everyone, Daimon and mortal alike, dropped to their knees and prostrated themselves at the command.

Everyone but Yao Ling. She was the high priest of Daishi. She had walked in the fires of magic. She had seen things that would make most mortals tremble.

And she had a staff. A good staff. A staff that had seen her through a lot of dangers and thumped a lot of knuckles. Tears exploded from her eyes as the mental command to kneel slammed into her, but she held onto that staff and somehow remained standing. Then she shook her head and looked around the crater to see only Rania still standing.

Two women, surrounding by kneeling humans and Daimons. Yao Ling wasn't certain if she had ever seen anything quite like this before in her life.

She pulled in a long breath and aimed the steadiest gaze she could manage at the moment towards Rania.

"I welcome you to the city," Yao Ling said through raspy vocal cords. Then she cleared her throat and tried again. "You seem to have quite the entourage here. Might I ask who you intend to fight with it?"

The old woman's voice was a surprise, rasping like wind through Reeds in a city where at the moment you could here a pin drop. "I know this voice." Rania said aloud as she faced the its owner. She could not decide if she was more surprised to see the High Priestess of the Daishi standing there, or not at all. Rania, after all, knew who this woman was. She had been there in Reeds all those years ago when the old woman had, through the mystic power of the Screeching Ring of Daishi Souls, dealt the Netherworld a grievous blow. Considering the odds of her being here to witness Rania's dramatic arrival, the one mystic alive who might appreciate the energies involved, must have been beyond the realm of mere coincidence.

It was clearly fate.

As Rania took note of Yao Ling, so too did her Daimons, the very thought of such a sentence rocketed through her - forcing her visibly resit the urge to fall to her knees in praise of her mighty patron. The crowd, desperate to avoid the daimon's gaze, scrambled away from the High Priestess. Confident in her venerable age, experience, and mystical abilities, Yao Ling appeared unfazed. Were their places reversed, Rania knew she wouldn't have been. Rania realized she must have seemed...manic, but the magic was still coursing through her. She had neither the wherewithal, or the clothes, to truly affect a a replica of the older woman's of coherent composure. Nevertheless, she took a deep calming breath in an effort to try before answering the High Priestess.

"An instant, a year, a moment ago, I was fighting. I know not how much time has passed, but to me, I was in Ete City only a moment ago, being killed in the most painful way you can imagine by the archdaimon Akkan himself. I was hunting him, I meant to banish him, I thought I had the power. His was greater than mine...but not greater than She who delivered me here and possessed these lesser infernal beasts to my service, it seems." Rania's tone was almost that of a question. Clearly, the younger woman was still reeling from the implications. No one had ever gone through what she had. To say that she was disoriented would have done injustice to the term. "But who do I plan to fight with these? " She gestured to the possessed daimons, "I will fight anyone that would harm or enslave me and mine at the behest of Jomorosh and his lackeys. Any child of a mother's womb is mine to protect from damnation, I feel this is the service I am called to. Yes...YES. And to do it, to protect them forever, I will call forth Obeah to this plane. You saw it, didn't you? You felt it? Of course you must have or you wouldn't be here. And how ARE you here? You, of all people? Surely it is more than chance..."

It wasn't mania...not exactly. You could see it in Rania's dilated eyes as she began to pace, holding her head as thoughts careened across the hills and valleys of her mind. The way she, a woman of noble birth, had completely forgotten her own very public nudity...along with the prevalent, infamous scar encircling her neck. She was exhausted, in shock, running on pure adrenaline and by all the gods who wouldn't be? If she did not rest, then she would surely collapse. And whose to say whether or not these 'pet' Daimons of hers wouldn't relapse to their original natures on the spot, smack in the middle of all these innocent people, without Rania? A quick glance at the beast revealed that they seemed to share their mistress's agitation. Forked tongues hissed, fangs dripped venom, claws sheethed and unsheethed as talons raked the gravel. Whatever the nature of their link, it was undeniable, and Rania herself was clearly a conduit of a power the likes of which Yao Ling had never experienced in over 100 years and a lifetime dedicated to the mystic ways...


Roleplay from Yao Ling Pryde (just in) Message sent to everyone in the region Keffa (3 recipients) Yao Ling smiled as the ground around her became empty. It seems no one wanted to be near her if someone chose to strike her down for not kneeling.

She didn't blame them for that. She wouldn't want to be nearby if someone chose to do that either.

She kept her eyes on Rania and pursed her lips. Then she nodded. The truth was best answer.

"I came here to prepare Keffa for the liberation that would come. We have surrounded it once again, driven the Daimons back, and mankind was preparing to retake the city." Yao Ling shrugged. "I came first. And so I was here to...witness what happened here. It really is rather amazing, isn't it?"


Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair Message sent to everyone in the region Keffa (3 recipients) Though Yao Ling spoke, Rania did not hear her. She'd at last zeroed in on the source of her irritation deep within, a fraying of power...that which kept the Daimons bound to her. Even now, their infernal spirits raged against the magical chains Obeah, through Rania, had trapped them in. These reins were meant to be held by beings of power, not flawed mortal conduits. If Rania slipped any further, or worse, if she fell asleep, the chains would break.

"BEGONE!" Rania whirled on the Daimons and shouted, pouring every ounce of her Will and the last dregs of her power and vitality into it. Her command was equal parts verbal, mental, and spiritual. An absolute compulsion against anything that bore Daimonic taint. As one, the daimons began to move, streaming for the city gates as though entranced. Stranger still, they did not go alone...

"Esa? Esa, husband, where are you going?" a woman cried out, her voice pitching into a scream as her man, mindlessly compelled, joined the Daimonic exodus of the city. He was not alone. Dozens of other poor souls went with him. People of all walks who'd either spent too much time under the Netherworld's boot and broke or those whose nature was always dark to begin with. Rania's compulsion affected all tainted beings, irrespective of their origins, to leave.

Not even the children were immune.

The outcry was tremendous as stricken friends, family, even pets, hopelessly tainted, joined the infernal march. Even the mother of the little girl who'd first informed her she'd arrived in Keffa. Through gritted teeth, Rania spoke to Yao-Ling, her expression haggard, "Warn your people, High Priestess of the Daishi. I won't be able to hold them for much longer..."Rania struggled mightily to remain conscious. If she lost control before daybreak...before every single evil thing was locked outside the city walls...

But Rania did not break. She COULD not break.

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair Message sent to everyone in the region Keffa (9 recipients) When at last dawn came, Rania finally collapsed into unconsciousness, safe in the knowledge that every tainted creature in the city had been expunged by divinely-fueled spell. Unbeknownst to her, however, her Grand Compulsion had an unexpected side effect. Just as it identified the undeniable taint in all things and forced them from the city, it discovered the in others and catalyzed it. Lessor daimons, smaller and weaker individuals than those of Jomorsh's ilk whom Rania had dispatched, corrupted by her Will and Obeah's power, streamed into the city, congregating in the great crater where Rania had first exploded onto the scene.

Awed and inspired, the citizens of Keffa immediately set about erecting a temple, statue, and monument to the unchallenged miracle they had just witnessed. Inspired to a frenzy of faith in what they saw as an undeniable expression of the divine.

Although none of them, not a single one, was brave enough to approach the unconscious Rania, protected as she was by hundreds of daimons of every description...

Roleplay from Yao Ling Pryde (6 hours, 26 minutes ago) Message sent to everyone in the region Keffa (9 recipients) Yao Ling had been an old woman once. The conflagration of Reeds had made her young again, but she still remembered what it was like to be old. And she knew how to act like it too.

Granted, today it was easier to act old than other days. Acting harmless was probably one of the smarter things she could do at the moment, surrounded as she was by a magical event such as this. And the Daimons as well.

She didn't move as they fled the command, not wishing to get their attention. She simply remained in place and watched Rania send them away. And then she watched as more, lesser creatures came in to the crater and surrounded the young woman. She watched as the townsfolk built a small temple devoted to their new god and frowned. Religion could be a dangerous weapon if used by the wrong people for the wrong ends. She hoped Rania wouldn't be one of those people, but there was no way of knowing at the moment. She was still watching when Rania slipped down and fell asleep on the hard crater floor.

Yao Ling watched for several minutes, old eyes peering at the monsters defending her from any threat. And then she made her decision. Perhaps some human kindness could help matters here.

Using her staff as a guide and a support, Yao Ling made her slow and careful and very, very aged and harmless way towards the crater and the young woman.

(OOC - If allowed to approach, this is what will happen. If not...consider it a possible future that didn't pan out. hehehe)

Yao Ling made her slow and careful way through the ranks of monsters and lesser daimons. She felt their eyes on her, but none stopped her by force, so she continued to wend and wind her way through them. She finally stopped before the woman and nodded at the inner ring of defenders who gave her their full attention. Then she very slowly removed her cloak and laid it over the still form, careful not to make any sudden moves that could make the defenders twitchy.

Roleplay from Drawulf Abjur (5 hours ago) Message sent to everyone in the region Keffa (9 recipients) The young noble known as Drawulf picked his way carefully through the streets of Keffa. Something about the city smelled off. He had left his Hunters on the edge of the city and slipped his way toward where the action seemed to be: a crater surrounded by lesser Daimons. Looking around, he spotted a place on a roof high enough to serve as a good vantage point, and soon he was scrambling up a wall like a lizard to get it. He had been sent to this shadow haunted island to investigate the Daimon situation here, and while these corrupted weak things that dared to call themselves Daimons and their heretic human worshipers did not impress him, his Masters would want him to witness and report. His Masters were to be Feared Above All, so he settled into place in time to see a familiar woman try the Daimon swarm. What was her name? Ah yes, Yao Ling Pryde, Sophia of the Daishi zealots known as the Nothoi. He also noticed what looked to be a woman laying in the crater. Drawulf drew his large knife and tested it's edge, his face splitting into a crooked grin. Yes, he would wait and watch and learn, then he would report what he learned to his Masters in the Abyss...

Roleplay from Lavitz Gildre (15 hours, 23 minutes ago) Message sent to everyone in the region Keffa (6 recipients) Lavitz had watched the clouds and lights with awe. He beheld Rania drive the evil from the city. He witnessed the... others come to protect her. He had gazed as Yao Ling courageously stepped through the Daimon crowd to lay a cloak upon the still form of Rania.

Now, Lavitz sat on a barrel, thinking about the things he had seen the past few days. Rania had brought the light of Obeah to Keffa, and had wielded power never before seen. She spoke with a holy clarity which could not be denied. His heart had fluttered in panic as she had expelled the wicked and evil souls from the city, but he had breathed in relief when his legs did not move.

He had passed a test. His heart had been judged, and found pure. Rania had indirectly granted him a place with the righteous and good of the world, and he knew in his heart he would never venture in the dark and shadows of his soul.

He stood from the barrel and picked up his spear. With a deep breath, he strode towards the collection of Daimons around Rania. The Daimons did not move to stop him. He stopped, and turned outwards to take up a position of guard, standing with the Daimons. As he stood, white cape fluttering in the breeze, a few citizens ventured into the street to look at the knight standing with the Daimons. The good and pure of Keffa could feel Obeah touch their hearts. Soldiers picked up their arms, and collected behind Lavitz.

"Do not stand with me on impulse, brothers and sisters," he called to those who had rallied, "for those who stand with me will dedicate their lives to fighting for the Heralds of Obeah. Only the pure and righteous will stand, the devils of men shall be cast out! Those who stand with me for Obeah will be known as The First Knighthood, and the evil will fear the sound of our approach!"

Lavitz and The First Knighthood stood in service and protection of Rania Eastersand JeVondair and the Heralds of Obeah.

Roleplay from Gedrid Venture (34 minutes ago) Message sent to everyone in the region Keffa (9 recipients) Gedrid arrived to Keffa with the dawn's first light, when he heard the talks about what were happening there he rode as fast as the horse allow him... and when the horse falled down with his mouth plenty of froth the lord of Watto kept running.

But the nobleman who was running was not actually the noble of Nothoi... His mind returned for a instant to years ago, when he was a value member of Shattered Valles, when he could not avoid the died of one woman that he really appreciated.

Her death was over his mind, pressuring him in all his movements with the persistence of a hammer that is hitting an anvil, Gedrid was completely sure he saw that woman one time more inside the eyes of another member of her family... inside Rania Eastersand.

And the announcement of those happens was the last thing needed for breaking his nerves. He could not allow to himself does not make nothing again.

Thus he ran with the feeling of his heart would explote anytime, hearing every beat in his temple, he moved the commoners off of his way, pushing them if it was necessary...

And after a last effort that looked as eternal the circle of Daimons with blue eyes was visible to him. Gedrid stoped suddently and he control his impulse of drawing his sword, they looked... different.

The High Priestess of the Daishi was walking in the direction of these daimons, Gedrid tried to shout and warn her but when he open his mouth he lost his breath, who was inside the circle...?

The shout was replaced by a short whisper, and only a word went away of his mouth

- Mavia...

Some disoriented steeps later Gedrid collapsed over his knees nearby of the protective circle of daimons. They would kill him without problems if they want, but his thoughts were in other place.

And even though his mind was shouting that this woman was not who Gedrid met time ago, the noble ignored that internal voice and kept waiting the wake up of that woman over his knees.

Roleplay from Yao Ling Pryde (21 hours, 22 minutes ago) Message sent to everyone in the region Keffa (6 recipients) Yao Ling watched the daimons carefully as they watched her carefully and slowly unshouldered her travel pack. She laid it on the ground near Rania and removed the bedroll. It wasn't much, but it would be better then this rocky ground in the bottom of this crater. She unrolled it next to Rania and then rolled the woman over onto it. All the while giving off the most harmless feelings she could generate towards the watchful daimons.

She didn't trust them. They were daimons. But these seemed different. She hoped that was a good thing, though she did not know. And the only way she knew to find out was to watch and wait.

Then she grasped her staff and walked out of the crater. She moved through the streets to meet the army of Nothoi that had come in the night. And she related to them all that she had seen. Well...maybe not all of it. She may have been vague of exactly how much Rania was wearing. In fact, she may not have mentioned that at all. She was rather specific on the rest, though.

"Here is no battlefield for us to fight today, it seems," Elured said afterwards and Yao Ling nodded.

"I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing," she returned. "But it is a thing. The city appears to have been liberated from the Daimons...well...from the Netherworld at least. I don't know what the future will entail here, but we may have a new ally here. Or a new enemy. I don't know. Either way, there is no reason to fight here today, I think. I will stay here to investigate for a time."

Meanwhile

(OOC: We'll say that the following occurred as a result of Rania's arrival. She is now unconscious, protected by her Daimons and Yao-Ling.

You preach to the masses for 10 hours, reaching a total audience of 933 listeners.

22 pagans and believers in local folklore appear to be convinced and you formally convert them to Heralds of Obeah in a small ceremony. There are 63 followers of other faiths that swayed and converted to Heralds of Obeah .

There are now about 80 believers in your faith Heralds of Obeah in this region. That is about 0% of the population. After finishing your preachings, you are attacked by enraged followers of The Portal. You are beaten up and suffer a few light wounds before some of your followers can drag you to safety.


Battle in Keffa (21 hours, 31 minutes ago) Nothoi vs. Obia'Syela Estimated strengths: 110 men vs. 450 men Defender Victory!

Wounds Worsening (21 hours, 31 minutes ago) Unfortunately, the healers say your condition is deteriorating. You are still wounded, and the healers say you should make a full recovery, as long as you stay in bed for a few more days.

Battle in Keffa (9 hours, 33 minutes ago) Nothoi vs. Obia'Syela Estimated strengths: 40 men vs. 580 men Defender Victory! Wounds Healing (9 hours, 33 minutes ago) The healers say your condition is improving. In fact, they think you're well enough to be allowed to resume limited duties. You are recovering from your wounds, and able to act and send messages, though you can't do as much as usual in a day.

Roleplay from Ehrich Weisz (20 hours, 11 minutes ago) Roleplay from Ehrich Weisz (29 minutes ago) message to all nobles of Shattered Vales Ehrich suddenly appeared in Creasurs’ great library where he had for a long time held an estate. Any drama of the entrance was lost in the empty archive aisles of the arcane collection, and only loose papers were disturbed by his mysterious arrival.

His mind raced as Ehrich set to a number of tasks, recruiting only trusted men and seeking out very specific things. His new healer was dispatched to find the fairest child of a certain age amongst the refugees, whilst he considered the more important task of how best to approach one of the now vacant estates - almost vacant? His scribe was dispatched to gather a few ancient books looking for any reference to a new name now being spoken across the continent. Apparent eccentricity had disguised for too long something powerful that had been housed within this resolute city, something it now seemed had been foretold.

Back at the Crater

Roleplay from Rania Eastersand JeVondair (29 days, 22 hours ago) Message sent to everyone in the region Rines (1 recipients) The Oracle stood near the crater that marked her magical arrival to the city. She had not left that spot, seeing no need as the Duchess was busy seeing to the city's defenses. When the townsfolk decided that she was no witch come to kill them, they gathered around Rania and listened to her speak. They asked her of the Veiled Goddess and Rania answered.

“I am told that men do not change. Rather, they simply reveal more of themselves over time. If a man does evil, it is because evil was always at their core. Similarly, if they do good, it is because they were always good. Elders and respected people nod sagely at the wisdom in this.”

“But I decry it as ignorant, arrogant, and dangerous. Heed my words, for one of the Veiled Goddess’s mysteries has been revealed to me.”

“To believe in the predetermined nature of man and our immortal souls is to give up our great strength: The notion of free will. The idea that it is we who determine our own fate. Perhaps this is why the human soul is of value, for alone in all creation it is we who can determine the course of our destinies…and there is great power in that. Perhaps this is why the Daimon’s covet our spirits, our devotion, and our lives. Perhaps this is why Obeah, our Veiled Goddess of mystery and magic, moves her hand to shield us as a gardener protects valuable blossoms from pests.”

“To believe that a man who has done evil should always choose to do so is a falsehood of the fearful. It is a judgement of the ignorant and an assumption of the arrogant. A supposition of those who have not walked the same path as he. Well I say that let he who is without sin cast the first stone lest he be measured and found wanting. We have, all of us, done harm in some way. Some to a greater extent than others, to be sure, but be it one sin or a thousand, a sinner is still a sinner. But are they damned for all time for what they have done?

“The Veiled Goddess is Salvation. Therefore, she is forgiveness. She must be, in her aspect as a Holy Mother, she has to be. Just as a woman forgives a child’s missteps and guides them down the correct path so that they may grow, so to does Obeah forgive humanity for the hatred and pain they bring one another so that we may see, through the eys of forgiveness, that the path to peace and brotherhood can be forged in more than blood.”

“I know this, because I stand before you as living proof. I am not without sin, far from it. I have harbored hatred, despair, and wrath toward my fellow man. I have ignored pleas for help. I have killed, spilled noble blood and commoner alike. I still remember a day in Luria where I goaded another to her death, taunted her into fighting me and slipped steel between her ribs for no better reason then that she annoyed me. Her name was Tileni. She had just earned her knighthood after years of struggling life as a common adventurer. And I killed her. Such was the difference in our skill that I think back on it now as no less than murder. Cold, premeditated. Evil. I did evil that day and more. I robbed someone of their life, a stole a daughter from her mother, her family, and for what? My pride? My satisfaction? What, I ask you, could be more evil than that?”

“And yet here I stand, some of you may say, with the audacity to preach goodwill towards all. You are right. Even in my private moments, forgiving myself is hard. And it would never come if Obeah had not already done so. I drowned in my own wretchedness before she lifted me up and delivered me to you. To show you the way, that there IS a way, and to be your guide.”

“We all have evil in our hearts. We have all succumbed to evil thoughts and desires, we have all acted upon them in some form. None of us are perfect. But similarly, I stand as a testament that none of us are beyond redemption. There is Hope. Reach for it, grasp it tight, and allow Obeah’s Light to cleanse you. Serve, and try to be good. Even if our walls fall down around us, try to be good.”

The Netherworld cannot abide forgiveness. The Daimons hate that we can hope. The want us to believe that our paths are set…damned. They feed on our self-loathing. Deny them, Heralds of Obeah, starve them in your righteous understanding and you will do more to hurt them than could an army. And through it all remember this: Obeah Forgives.

That is the Path to Salvation.

Death of Akkan

Public Execution (just in) The dishonourable Akkan of Netherworld was publicly tortured to death in Fronepu earlier today. Background info on this family.

Report from Enrico Mozzoni (45 minutes ago) Message sent to the Judges of Beluaterra (10 recipients) You descend down into the dungeons, where prisoners of the realm are held.

Pretending to speak of something private with your prisoner, you dismiss the guards and enter the cell alone, and they're just right there - the Scintillating Staff of the Doomed, the Vial of Scherzer's Ashes, the Salivating Shield of Salion's Swollen Tongue, the Sweaty Sari of Scarlet's Skin, the Grody Booklet of Galt's Skin, and the Band of the War Island - carefully borne by Akkan on his person. You threaten him to surrender to you whatever items of value he bears, and he complies like a fawn. You are now in possession of the Scintillating Staff of the Doomed, the Vial of Scherzer's Ashes, the Salivating Shield of Salion's Swollen Tongue, the Sweaty Sari of Scarlet's Skin, the Grody Booklet of Galt's Skin, and the Band of the War Island, unique items of unparalleled rarity. Your "secret" robbery is, however, still witnessed by some damn guards while you are on your way out, and your Honour is tainted by a loss of 20 points. Enrico Mozzoni Judge of Ar Agyr Count of Seven Rivers


Roleplay from Enrico Mozzoni (11 minutes ago) Message sent to the Judges of Beluaterra (10 recipients) You descend down into the dungeons, where prisoners of the realm are held.

Torturing your prisoner Akkan, the following information is revealed. However, words of your actions spread quickly, and you lose 2 points of honour and 1 prestige.

In a public execution, you end Akkan's life.

There was a bounty of 10400 gold on his head, which you gleefully collect.

Enrico descend down into the dungeons ready to make Akkan pay for his past abuses. Akkan tortured the judge twice and the scars will remember him the pain til the day he dies. Akkan visited the dungeons of Fronepu in the past but escaped before Enrico could meet the daimon lord. This time it was different and Akkan suffered an intense pain for a long time. He was stripped of all his possesions, 7 magical items with great power, the best (or worst) the daimons were able to manufacture or steal. He revealed all his communications. And finally the pain was too much for him, the screams suddenly stopped and he breathed for the last time.

It was supposed to be a secret, but immediately a rumour started to spread across Bellaterra for the joy of humans: Akkan is dead!


Roleplay from Jomorosh (just in) Message sent to the Judges of Beluaterra (10 recipients) With Akkan's death, it was time for Jomorosh's behavior to change once again - the Final Solution. But he would pursue no half-breed daimon-human children, as Akkan had sought. For most of his time upon Beluaterra, he had sparingly used teleportation, but now, the last remaining daimonlord would find it an invaluable tool.

There still remained much to do. For instance, Netherworld's capital remaining within the hands of the executors of Akkan and slayers of Jactosh. Fronen still survived after expelling Spearhold from Rines. The Golden Feather and Daishi remained, even as the Heralds fells. Much magic remained in northern lands to be used, even if southern lands had been mostly depleted.

Yet there were also successes. A thousand humans had been slain in a single battle - even if it had cost over a 100 lesser daimon lives. Keffa had declared itself loyal to Spearhold after Jomorosh had left. Those who had given blood within Jidington continued to serve the Netherworld's purposes in the Shattered Vales and Nothoi, allowing armies to be dashed upon walls and realms split asunder. The Heralds' Inquisition had been Infiltrated.

Jomorosh began playing a mournfully-cheerful tune upon his Sickening Flute, as he turned towards Agyr.

Fronen and Rines

Letter from Nyx Harte (29 days, 1 hour ago)

GrandMistress Rania,

I think it would perhaps be wise if your pilgrimage joined Fronen for the time being. Duchess Lanesra has gone missing in the Rines and we haven't anyone close to the city to take care of it. If you and your people joined Fronen, we would give you safety as well as resources to eventually secede the Rines. Joining Fronen you will also have access to our recruitment centers and could help us produce a strong tax in our wealthier regions.

Not only would your people help Fronen in her military TO of Wudenkin but it would be an easier transition of the Rines. We of Fronen would get to talk and learn much about Obie-Syela and what your faith means. It would be an excellent way to introduce a new religion to our mist and bond as allies.

I am glad my idea has grown in size and support. I only needed to prod our Doge Bastian a bit in the read to get him to agree with your support and eventual ownership of the Rines. We have no desire to implement an authoritative figures in your realm to keep you in check and loyal to the banner of Fronen - you may do as you want. We only hope that you'll remember all of Fronen's support throughout the relocation of Obie-Syela and return the favor in years ahead.

I look forward to our acquaintance. Yours,


– Lady Nyx Harte Governor of Dyomoque


Welcome, Sir Janis, to the theocratic realm of Sacred Obia'Syela.

We are people who have overcome many adversities to be here, having nearly been destroyed by no less than the daimonic overlord Jomorosh himself. We serve the Veiled Goddess whose name is Obeah: A deity of Magic whose Will is set against the Netherworld and its daimons. her priesthood and faith are the Heralds of Obeah who speak her Word and enact her Will. All of our knights are part of the Temple - Templars serving as it's protectors. All of our ruling council positions are available, but only for the priesthood...full heralds of Obeah. To stay, you must join to the Temple. To advance, you must serve.

You will also find a guildhouse for the Inquisition, whose foremost member in the realm is currently Inquisitor Zacharie. This holy order is dedicated to rooting out the adherents of the Portal, and evil faith that the daimons of the Netherworld have blighted the land with. Presently, we lack the men and the gold to coax our neighboring regions into submitting to our rule. So what we cannot do with swords, we hope instead to accomplish with faith.

It will be some time before you are situated enough to be considered to join the priesthood, if that is your eventual desire. In the meantime, we have great need of police in Rines as we recently moved our capital here and need help maintaining control. We also suffer from regular rogue attacks that your men can help with. There is no gold to be had at the moment. you come to us on the ground floor of our greatest enterprise.

I hope that one day your name will join your fellows in our history.

Obeah's Blessings be upon you,

Description

She was a tall, slim woman of dusky skin and tresses the color of dark chocolate fell unbound around her shoulders and down her back. Creases at the corners of her shapely lips and almondine eyes hinted at her middle age. All of her body was hidden in the midnight and light blue robes she wore, the cool colors only accentuating her desert-born features. Her hands, though, bore the fine, tell-tale white scars of an experienced swordswoman. But above this all was Rania's aura. If the tales were to be believed, she'd been touched by a goddess of magic and was indeed the foremost sorceress in all the world. Her every breath could be a spell lying in wait. One could even imagine the very air about her crackling with power.

Of course, that would only be if they were inclined to believe that she was anything more than just a woman.