Difference between revisions of "User:Qmasterflex86/Project Dwi 01/Overview"

From BattleMaster Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
m (Created page with "Dwilight, the wild, untamed continent, filled with roaming packs of ravenous beasts, plagued by the relentless undead who find no rest, and occupied in dark foreboding recesses b...")
 
m (Revised organization of the Overview)
Line 1: Line 1:
 +
'''Introduction'''
 +
 
Dwilight, the wild, untamed continent, filled with roaming packs of ravenous beasts, plagued by the relentless undead who find no rest, and occupied in dark foreboding recesses by shadowy and mysterious daimons, saw a storm when those powers, once so chaotic, no longer floated loosely along the currents of fate.
 
Dwilight, the wild, untamed continent, filled with roaming packs of ravenous beasts, plagued by the relentless undead who find no rest, and occupied in dark foreboding recesses by shadowy and mysterious daimons, saw a storm when those powers, once so chaotic, no longer floated loosely along the currents of fate.
 +
 +
'''Monsters'''
  
 
The wild beasts gained awareness of their lives, their surroundings. Filled with new feelings and a strange sense of the vastness of the land and their relative smallness in comparison, the newly conscious monsters began joining together with fellow beasts. Many spread across the wilderness, seeking the farthest corners of Dwilight to discover just how large the land truly was. Some sought to understand the workings of themselves and their surroundings, dedicating themselves to the study of the natural world, and the workings of their own bodies. Others who gained a sense of possession lusted after the prospects of having all the fields bountiful in prey and open range to themselves. United under their common identities as the young progeny of Dwilight, the monsters, whether explorers, or researchers, or conquerors, moved as coherent gatherings across Dwilight, seeking new lands, and encountering strange and horrifying enemies.
 
The wild beasts gained awareness of their lives, their surroundings. Filled with new feelings and a strange sense of the vastness of the land and their relative smallness in comparison, the newly conscious monsters began joining together with fellow beasts. Many spread across the wilderness, seeking the farthest corners of Dwilight to discover just how large the land truly was. Some sought to understand the workings of themselves and their surroundings, dedicating themselves to the study of the natural world, and the workings of their own bodies. Others who gained a sense of possession lusted after the prospects of having all the fields bountiful in prey and open range to themselves. United under their common identities as the young progeny of Dwilight, the monsters, whether explorers, or researchers, or conquerors, moved as coherent gatherings across Dwilight, seeking new lands, and encountering strange and horrifying enemies.
  
−
Long ago in a lost age, men indeed ruled Dwilight, though such men were much different than those now alive. Yet even in the ancient past, men's hearts were no different than they are now, and the many vices of humanity, the numerous sins plaguing mortals, sent the once-great kingdoms into ruin, with the empty halls of great cities like Darfix, Golden Farrow, and Giask, as monuments to a era faded into oblivion. But not all the kingdoms were lost to time, for some endured by means unknown both to those who encountered their restless unceasing remains, and to their own tormented souls. Their souls were preserved for many eons past their deaths, though their bodies were long scattered into the earth. With their enigmatic powers, they learned at length how to manipulate the very earth to which their bodies had returned, to form new bodies of bloodless flesh. As the undying regained their abilities to walk among the living of Dwilight, they looked towards their old kingdoms, some fallen into decay, and others more alarmingly occupied by vile creatures they knew in their time as savage beasts.
+
In the barren wastelands surrounding the one foreboding volcano at the western coast, no beasts dared to stay long. Explorers among the monsters told harrowing tales. They spoke of several fearsome beings, some surrounded by flames that never ceased to burn, some behemoths of bone and blood, some dark, shadowy entities that could only be felt by the cold fear passing through one’s blood. There were weaker creatures, those of flesh and blood like the monsters. But those monsters foolish enough to harm or eat the mortal creatures soon found themselves turned to ashes. In time, the beasts that settled around Rettleville learned to avoid the lands they called “The Fiery Wastes”.
 +
 
 +
Though the forests of Nark and Thysan provided ample cover and homes for the monsters, there were forests to the east that no beast made as its home. Weinschenk and Eisenik, the dark woods surrounding the dark city Unterstrom, were rumored to be cursed. Monster explorers were few to such a foreboding place far from their comforts in the west, and fewer still were those who returned. The survivors spoke of bodies of humans, dead ones that walked despite their conditions of decay. There were many walking corpses, weaker even than they were in life, and fragile. The monsters could easily shred them with their claws, but whereas the muscles of beasts tired and felt pain, the dead were hindered neither by fatigue nor sensations. And they were many, for many had died throughout the ages, and their bodies supplied a seemingly endless amount of soldiers. Worse still, the many corpse soldiers were led by beings of cold metal, whose hollow shells indifferent to the monsters’ claws and fangs. The immortal metal bodies were relentless and merciless, killing the beasts as perceived savage animals unfit to live. Many monsters began to worry about the growing undead and their claims to restore their ancient kingdoms. Many more were glad only that those enemies were far away, hoping never to encounter them.
 +
 
 +
But time passed, and the monsters, mortal by nature, passed through many changes. In time, they degenerated to their savage ways, roaming in loosely organized packs across Dwilight. But the spark of sentience, once lit, always has a chance to reignite. Among the many wild beasts that thought of no more than their next meal, a few special beasts began to awaken to consciousness.
 +
 
 +
'''Undead'''
 +
 
 +
Long ago in a lost age, men indeed ruled Dwilight, though such men were much different than those now alive. Yet even in the ancient past, men's hearts were no different than they are now, and the many vices of humanity, the numerous sins plaguing mortals, sent the once-great kingdoms into ruin, with the empty halls of great cities like Darfix, Golden Farrow, and Giask, as monuments to an era faded into oblivion. But not all the kingdoms were lost to time, for some endured by means unknown both to those who encountered their restless unceasing remains, and to their own tormented souls. Their souls were preserved for many eons past their deaths, though their bodies were long scattered into the earth. With their enigmatic powers, they learned at length how to manipulate the very earth to which their bodies had returned, to form new bodies of bloodless flesh. As the undying regained their abilities to walk among the living of Dwilight, they looked towards their old kingdoms, some fallen into decay, and others more alarmingly occupied by vile creatures they knew in their time as savage beasts.
 +
 
 +
All around the restored monarchs beheld scenes of chaos and depravity. Rogues, thieves, and all sort of criminals paraded through Unterstrom as though they were kings. Filthy animals preyed on weaker animals all around the fertile plains. The dead kings recalled with disdain the creatures that long ago plagued their kingdoms, slaughtering their peasants, killing their warriors. Seeing so many alive and prospering led the ancient monarchs to decide to exterminate the monsters from all of Dwilight. It was a decision based on cold calculations rather than any non-existent passions. The monsters could not be forcefully raised by the powers the dead kings possessed, and so long as they lived, they were threats to the undead’s numbers and plans. And so the masses of the dead rose from the earth, silently and unceasingly hunting the monsters, never stopping to eat or sleep, all in pursuit of destroying the most prevalent threat to their dreams of restoring their kingdoms.
 +
 
 +
Rumors spread, and among the dead who were many and present across the entire land, such rumors reached the dead kings quickly. The western lands once more felt the presence of the darkness and fires of a different world. Some of the dead kings recalled the power of those beings, and the destruction they caused to their lands. They recalled the trail of flames and blackened earth, the charred corpses of peasants, warriors, courtiers, and nobility alike. Though the undead no longer felt the crippling fear that assaulted all living beings that encountered the fiery ones, they still burned to ashes, and the metal bodies of the ancient monarchs would still melt under the arcane flames. Thus the undead bolstered their ranks, increasing their numbers, preparing for the day that they would march as a sea of corpses against the destructive fires.
 +
 
 +
But through the passage of time, all things that decay must continue down the path to oblivion. The materials that held the dead kings’ bodies in the living world were not immune to the constant deterioration that plagued them all. The reanimated corpses soon crumbled back to the ground from which they were uprooted against the natural order. Yet the curse that bound the dead kings never to have rest persisted, and though they had no physical forms, they remained. They were powerless for many ages, but slowly the magic that allowed them to break the normal rules of life and death, that reversed the constant decay of the world, returned. One day, the ancient monarchs would return and finish their plans to restore their glorious kingdoms.
 +
 
 +
'''Zuma'''
  
 
There were men of old, who may have been contemporaries of the ones who ruled over the great ancient kingdoms. These men inhabited the barren wastelands of the western coast, around the Volcano Nightscree. Whether by their own design or by those greater than they, mysterious and powerful beings were summoned to the mortal lands of Dwilight from some other world. The daimons they were called, and they were varied in form, from those who appeared much akin to those who summoned them to their world, to formless shadows of darkness, to towering behemoths engulfed in flames. Their goals were incomprehensible to all but themselves, their fury unstoppable, and their bodies indestructible through any means known to the mortal world of Dwilight. Given the unknowable nature of the daimons, at times Dwilight was beset by surges in storms of fire and death, and other times forgot there ever existed such beings at all.
 
There were men of old, who may have been contemporaries of the ones who ruled over the great ancient kingdoms. These men inhabited the barren wastelands of the western coast, around the Volcano Nightscree. Whether by their own design or by those greater than they, mysterious and powerful beings were summoned to the mortal lands of Dwilight from some other world. The daimons they were called, and they were varied in form, from those who appeared much akin to those who summoned them to their world, to formless shadows of darkness, to towering behemoths engulfed in flames. Their goals were incomprehensible to all but themselves, their fury unstoppable, and their bodies indestructible through any means known to the mortal world of Dwilight. Given the unknowable nature of the daimons, at times Dwilight was beset by surges in storms of fire and death, and other times forgot there ever existed such beings at all.
  
−
When the spellcasters who once held dominion over the entire span of reality fell to their own arrogance and abuse, many were forever erased from existence, and very few true masters of reality survived. The very few survivors who learned from their mistakes, once the many planes of reality returned to equilibrium, formed an unbreakable pact among themselves and in contract to the very collective of reality. Never again would any being gain the means to master the bare essence of the worlds, to avoid the risk of destroying all that exists, as the Masters were so close to achieving. But the Masters did not seal away all their knowledge and lore, for they taught the very few who displayed the proper skills and mindset, both the aptitude and the responsibility, to inherit an infinitesimal amount of merely the surface of their powers. In the mortal world of Dwilight, such a group existed as protectors of the balance of the world. Their teachers had left them the ways to banish the terrifying beings from other worlds, and to bring forth pure light to put eternally to rest the undying. Armed with their scrolls and the ability to bind the magic around them into these vessels of paper and script, the protectors of balance feared neither daimon nor undead. But their gravest enemies were those of living flesh, for against the monsters and their fellow man, the protectors of balance had nothing but their blades, their skills, and their valor.
+
And in the shadows of the daimons lived mortal men, born not of fire but of earth. They lived lives in harmony with their surroundings, taking only what they needed from the land, and giving back what they owed. Soon, however, the peace was broken by the beasts that killed them for food and sport, and the mutilated corpses of their fellows who rose to fight against their brethren. The people despaired, but the powerful ones who wielded the sacred flames came to their aid, burning away the predatory creatures and the undead corpses to ashes. The people gave thanks and offerings to their mysterious saviors, thankful to return to their normal lives.
  
−
With the passage of time, with many wars and hunts, the land was torn asunder, the fields scorched and trampled, the very life of the earth drained. The four powers on Dwilight at length withdrew to their respective borders where they were strongest. The monsters hid in the dark woods of Odona, Thysan, and Nark, forming their own cities in Rettleville and Twainville, where they bred and grew to a fearsome yet concealed force. The undead once more lost their hold on their many kingdoms save for the cursed dark city of Unterstrom and its haunted woods where they swelled their ranks with the souls of the dead and strengthened their hold on the undying curse. The daimons remained in the barrens with their summoners who came to be known as the Zuma, spreading their darkness over the Ruins of Walfurgisnacht to Overroot and Underroot where they watched over the mortals for ages to come. The protectors of balance retreated to the lofty mountains of Balance's Retreat where they honed their skills for the day their powers would be required again.
+
In time, the daimons seemed to had vanished, for their presence was no longer felt nor feared, and the lands once burnt black by their flames recovered from those scars. The Zuma children learned of such powerful beings only in stories passed down by their elderly storytellers. Still, the rituals were never lost, and the daimons never gone. By whatever design, one day the beings enshrouded in flames and darkness would return to the barren lands of the Zuma, though for what purpose would forever remain a mystery.
  
−
In the West, the monsters gained numbers and power, but where once they thought to roam freely through the plentiful plains, now they were reduced to living in fear of the Zuma's powerful guardians. While the daimons furthered their incomprehensible plans, the Zuma could only wonder at the hidden maw in the forests to their south, and the distant enemies in the east.
+
'''Balance'''
  
−
In the East, the undead knew of the wizards who lived in the mountains, who could smite their unholy forms with purest light from the heavens. Yet they plotted and waited their time, time of which they had an unlimited amount, for the time when they would return to reclaim and restore, once and for all, the lands of the kingdoms they wrought. The protectors of balance saw with concern the increasing threat to the great balance of the world, present in the unnaturally persisting souls of the undead who would break the world's very rules on the divisions between life and death, and the alien daimons whose strange ways and odd but indiscriminately violent and destructive magic threatened the well-being of the mortal world.
+
When the spellcasters who once held dominion over the entire span of reality fell to their own arrogance and abuse, many were forever erased from existence, and very few true masters of reality survived. The very few survivors who learned from their mistakes, once the many planes of reality returned to equilibrium, formed an unbreakable pact among themselves and in contract to the very collective of reality. Never again would any being gain the means to master the bare essence of the worlds, to avoid the risk of destroying all that exists, as the Masters were so close to achieving. But the Masters did not seal away all their knowledge and lore, for they taught the very few who displayed the proper skills and mindset, both the aptitude and the responsibility, to inherit an infinitesimal amount of merely the surface of their powers. In the mortal world of Dwilight, such a group existed as protectors of the balance of the world. Their teachers had left them the ways to banish the terrifying beings from other worlds, and to bring forth pure light to put eternally to rest the undying. Armed with their scrolls and the ability to bind the magic around them into these vessels of paper and script, the protectors of balance feared neither daimon nor undead. But their gravest enemies were those of living flesh, for against the monsters and their fellow man, the protectors of balance had nothing but their blades, their skills, and their valor.
  
−
In time, this was all forgotten. The monsters degenerated to their savage ways, the undead were washed away by unrelenting changes of the world, the daimons retreated into their mysterious silence, and the protectors of balance vanished believing the balance was restored. But the spark of sentience never truly dies, and in these descendants of the monsters, there are hidden knowledge and passions, such as would lead those of mortal flesh and blood. The curse that bound the undead never to have rest was ever present, and though the undead loomed as no more than faint shadows, their memories would never decay, and once their powers returned, they would move once more to reclaim what they think to be rightfully theirs. The daimons were summoned onto the mortal plane once more, or perhaps they never truly departed, and whatever their motives might be, they would be governed by their whim, or by some unknown directive. And those who swore to protect the balance always watched, even if they did not act, such that they were always preparing for the day that their arcane rituals of banishment and holy light would be required once more to protect the mortal world from the strains imposed to reality by the unnatural powers of the daimons and undead.
+
In the chaos of war, the Keepers of Balance intervened in select places to restore equilibrium in the universe where they were able. In time, the conflicts faded, and the Keepers withdrew to their fortress of Balance’s Retreat. But the Keepers were mortal, and the generations that followed slowly lost their discipline and their focus, eventually becoming no greater than other mortals. While the tradition remained in religious texts and practices, the banishment and holy light rituals were lost to the descendants of the Keepers. But not all of those entrusted with the Old Masters’ will forgot their grave duty. They remained in secret, far away from the distractions of worldly matters, honing their skills in body, mind, spirit, and soul, for the day that the world would need their powers to restore balance.

Revision as of 23:38, 3 October 2010

Introduction

Dwilight, the wild, untamed continent, filled with roaming packs of ravenous beasts, plagued by the relentless undead who find no rest, and occupied in dark foreboding recesses by shadowy and mysterious daimons, saw a storm when those powers, once so chaotic, no longer floated loosely along the currents of fate.

Monsters

The wild beasts gained awareness of their lives, their surroundings. Filled with new feelings and a strange sense of the vastness of the land and their relative smallness in comparison, the newly conscious monsters began joining together with fellow beasts. Many spread across the wilderness, seeking the farthest corners of Dwilight to discover just how large the land truly was. Some sought to understand the workings of themselves and their surroundings, dedicating themselves to the study of the natural world, and the workings of their own bodies. Others who gained a sense of possession lusted after the prospects of having all the fields bountiful in prey and open range to themselves. United under their common identities as the young progeny of Dwilight, the monsters, whether explorers, or researchers, or conquerors, moved as coherent gatherings across Dwilight, seeking new lands, and encountering strange and horrifying enemies.

In the barren wastelands surrounding the one foreboding volcano at the western coast, no beasts dared to stay long. Explorers among the monsters told harrowing tales. They spoke of several fearsome beings, some surrounded by flames that never ceased to burn, some behemoths of bone and blood, some dark, shadowy entities that could only be felt by the cold fear passing through one’s blood. There were weaker creatures, those of flesh and blood like the monsters. But those monsters foolish enough to harm or eat the mortal creatures soon found themselves turned to ashes. In time, the beasts that settled around Rettleville learned to avoid the lands they called “The Fiery Wastes”.

Though the forests of Nark and Thysan provided ample cover and homes for the monsters, there were forests to the east that no beast made as its home. Weinschenk and Eisenik, the dark woods surrounding the dark city Unterstrom, were rumored to be cursed. Monster explorers were few to such a foreboding place far from their comforts in the west, and fewer still were those who returned. The survivors spoke of bodies of humans, dead ones that walked despite their conditions of decay. There were many walking corpses, weaker even than they were in life, and fragile. The monsters could easily shred them with their claws, but whereas the muscles of beasts tired and felt pain, the dead were hindered neither by fatigue nor sensations. And they were many, for many had died throughout the ages, and their bodies supplied a seemingly endless amount of soldiers. Worse still, the many corpse soldiers were led by beings of cold metal, whose hollow shells indifferent to the monsters’ claws and fangs. The immortal metal bodies were relentless and merciless, killing the beasts as perceived savage animals unfit to live. Many monsters began to worry about the growing undead and their claims to restore their ancient kingdoms. Many more were glad only that those enemies were far away, hoping never to encounter them.

But time passed, and the monsters, mortal by nature, passed through many changes. In time, they degenerated to their savage ways, roaming in loosely organized packs across Dwilight. But the spark of sentience, once lit, always has a chance to reignite. Among the many wild beasts that thought of no more than their next meal, a few special beasts began to awaken to consciousness.

Undead

Long ago in a lost age, men indeed ruled Dwilight, though such men were much different than those now alive. Yet even in the ancient past, men's hearts were no different than they are now, and the many vices of humanity, the numerous sins plaguing mortals, sent the once-great kingdoms into ruin, with the empty halls of great cities like Darfix, Golden Farrow, and Giask, as monuments to an era faded into oblivion. But not all the kingdoms were lost to time, for some endured by means unknown both to those who encountered their restless unceasing remains, and to their own tormented souls. Their souls were preserved for many eons past their deaths, though their bodies were long scattered into the earth. With their enigmatic powers, they learned at length how to manipulate the very earth to which their bodies had returned, to form new bodies of bloodless flesh. As the undying regained their abilities to walk among the living of Dwilight, they looked towards their old kingdoms, some fallen into decay, and others more alarmingly occupied by vile creatures they knew in their time as savage beasts.

All around the restored monarchs beheld scenes of chaos and depravity. Rogues, thieves, and all sort of criminals paraded through Unterstrom as though they were kings. Filthy animals preyed on weaker animals all around the fertile plains. The dead kings recalled with disdain the creatures that long ago plagued their kingdoms, slaughtering their peasants, killing their warriors. Seeing so many alive and prospering led the ancient monarchs to decide to exterminate the monsters from all of Dwilight. It was a decision based on cold calculations rather than any non-existent passions. The monsters could not be forcefully raised by the powers the dead kings possessed, and so long as they lived, they were threats to the undead’s numbers and plans. And so the masses of the dead rose from the earth, silently and unceasingly hunting the monsters, never stopping to eat or sleep, all in pursuit of destroying the most prevalent threat to their dreams of restoring their kingdoms.

Rumors spread, and among the dead who were many and present across the entire land, such rumors reached the dead kings quickly. The western lands once more felt the presence of the darkness and fires of a different world. Some of the dead kings recalled the power of those beings, and the destruction they caused to their lands. They recalled the trail of flames and blackened earth, the charred corpses of peasants, warriors, courtiers, and nobility alike. Though the undead no longer felt the crippling fear that assaulted all living beings that encountered the fiery ones, they still burned to ashes, and the metal bodies of the ancient monarchs would still melt under the arcane flames. Thus the undead bolstered their ranks, increasing their numbers, preparing for the day that they would march as a sea of corpses against the destructive fires.

But through the passage of time, all things that decay must continue down the path to oblivion. The materials that held the dead kings’ bodies in the living world were not immune to the constant deterioration that plagued them all. The reanimated corpses soon crumbled back to the ground from which they were uprooted against the natural order. Yet the curse that bound the dead kings never to have rest persisted, and though they had no physical forms, they remained. They were powerless for many ages, but slowly the magic that allowed them to break the normal rules of life and death, that reversed the constant decay of the world, returned. One day, the ancient monarchs would return and finish their plans to restore their glorious kingdoms.

Zuma

There were men of old, who may have been contemporaries of the ones who ruled over the great ancient kingdoms. These men inhabited the barren wastelands of the western coast, around the Volcano Nightscree. Whether by their own design or by those greater than they, mysterious and powerful beings were summoned to the mortal lands of Dwilight from some other world. The daimons they were called, and they were varied in form, from those who appeared much akin to those who summoned them to their world, to formless shadows of darkness, to towering behemoths engulfed in flames. Their goals were incomprehensible to all but themselves, their fury unstoppable, and their bodies indestructible through any means known to the mortal world of Dwilight. Given the unknowable nature of the daimons, at times Dwilight was beset by surges in storms of fire and death, and other times forgot there ever existed such beings at all.

And in the shadows of the daimons lived mortal men, born not of fire but of earth. They lived lives in harmony with their surroundings, taking only what they needed from the land, and giving back what they owed. Soon, however, the peace was broken by the beasts that killed them for food and sport, and the mutilated corpses of their fellows who rose to fight against their brethren. The people despaired, but the powerful ones who wielded the sacred flames came to their aid, burning away the predatory creatures and the undead corpses to ashes. The people gave thanks and offerings to their mysterious saviors, thankful to return to their normal lives.

In time, the daimons seemed to had vanished, for their presence was no longer felt nor feared, and the lands once burnt black by their flames recovered from those scars. The Zuma children learned of such powerful beings only in stories passed down by their elderly storytellers. Still, the rituals were never lost, and the daimons never gone. By whatever design, one day the beings enshrouded in flames and darkness would return to the barren lands of the Zuma, though for what purpose would forever remain a mystery.

Balance

When the spellcasters who once held dominion over the entire span of reality fell to their own arrogance and abuse, many were forever erased from existence, and very few true masters of reality survived. The very few survivors who learned from their mistakes, once the many planes of reality returned to equilibrium, formed an unbreakable pact among themselves and in contract to the very collective of reality. Never again would any being gain the means to master the bare essence of the worlds, to avoid the risk of destroying all that exists, as the Masters were so close to achieving. But the Masters did not seal away all their knowledge and lore, for they taught the very few who displayed the proper skills and mindset, both the aptitude and the responsibility, to inherit an infinitesimal amount of merely the surface of their powers. In the mortal world of Dwilight, such a group existed as protectors of the balance of the world. Their teachers had left them the ways to banish the terrifying beings from other worlds, and to bring forth pure light to put eternally to rest the undying. Armed with their scrolls and the ability to bind the magic around them into these vessels of paper and script, the protectors of balance feared neither daimon nor undead. But their gravest enemies were those of living flesh, for against the monsters and their fellow man, the protectors of balance had nothing but their blades, their skills, and their valor.

In the chaos of war, the Keepers of Balance intervened in select places to restore equilibrium in the universe where they were able. In time, the conflicts faded, and the Keepers withdrew to their fortress of Balance’s Retreat. But the Keepers were mortal, and the generations that followed slowly lost their discipline and their focus, eventually becoming no greater than other mortals. While the tradition remained in religious texts and practices, the banishment and holy light rituals were lost to the descendants of the Keepers. But not all of those entrusted with the Old Masters’ will forgot their grave duty. They remained in secret, far away from the distractions of worldly matters, honing their skills in body, mind, spirit, and soul, for the day that the world would need their powers to restore balance.

Retrieved from "https://wiki.battlemaster.org/index.php?title=User:Qmasterflex86/Project_Dwi_01/Overview&oldid=144568"