Pages 11 - 21Do we have weapons of Air or Water?Author�s Notes: I have heard of three different engagements with Irrad. In one, an army of FOrest runners engaged him. He fought alone. Alone, he decimated nearly the whole of the army. One man, alone, armed with a magical mace, actually brought Irrad down, albeit for a very short time. I have not been able to get more details about the weapon that dropped him. It may have been lost after that battle. I have heard he came North for a short time, looking for something, though I have gathered little information about that encounter. I have also heard he �swallowed� Da�Oud and Arkan once, plunging them deep into the earth. Treatise: Cont: Mind: This aspect is probably among the most mysterious of them all. Corruption of the mind seems to lead directly to insanity and evil, senseless acts. Some argue that these things are not a corrupted aspect, but merely symptoms of the condition into which we are born. Poverty, starvations, violence, pestilence, and fear can far more easily breed the supposed characteristics or corrupted minds than some supernatural force. Nevertheless, thought a thousand years of corruption a woman known only as Nasnie (pronunced Naz-nee) has appeared time and again to send men and women alike into fits of violent rage with but a touch. She has been seen with the Erl-King. By all account she is the Warlord of the corrupted Mind. where she treads order and peace die out. Those she thuches lose their minds. Unlike her brethren, Nasnie does not command legions of corrupted creatures. She is to be feared more for her allure, for the temptations she presents. Those who fall pray to her summons claim to live out some wild fantasy, but those who witness them in their fantasies know that the victim falls into a violent rampage of bloodshed and destruction. 10/5/03- Addendum- Mind random thought What is corruption of mind? Is it insanity? Is it lies? Is it misrepresentation of perception? If it is lies, then the answer to purification is truth. The best lies are founded in truths. Questions answers. Think. Evaluate. Reason. Nasnie makes these she touches berserk. Is calmness a weapon against her? Battling the Ethereal with the physical� can it be done? Author�s Notes: Having so little information to work with makes it difficult to make educated guesses about the creature. I, however, have run into this creature at least once, possibly twice. It delight in instilling fear. It�s arrogant. It lies, but with enough truth thrown in as to make it hard to tell. It is well informed, smart, and devions. It learns quickly. Its aspects, mind, encompasses knowledge. What are is weaknesses? What does it look like? What is it origin? 11/5/03 Nasnie is of descibed as a naked woman with blond hair. Forest runners will warn people not to look at her in the the eyes. Nasnie is arrogant. Nasnie�s �Kingdom� is Loch Torce. Treatise: Cont: Magic: Magic is the pulse that beats in the veins of the northland. In the Lost Kingdoms magic is the foul and coagulated ichor which pollutes the unseen pathways. Once it was the most fabulous tools known to mankind. Now those who delve for the secret arcane quickly find themselves in service to the Erl King. This is no idle threat. The allure of mystical power is perhaps more tempting in the Lost Kingdoms than elsewhere. One cannot pick up a sword and hope to prevail against the all-consuming corruption. The metal of the blade corrodes and blunts. The slashing and stabbing exhausts the wielder. The enemy has no heart to be pierced, no keystone general to fell. But magic, magic presents a wealth of options to those who live in a world of constant fear and oppressive despair. The subtlety of magic is the Lost Kingdom is that it oft grants power without cost, but there is always taint. There is always a residual corruption left in the magic user. If that build-up should become too great the unfortunate caster may be forced into battle of will with the Warlord of Magic of possibly overwhelmed outright. Sometime the caster wins, but usually he is completely subverted. This subversion is made all the much easier if the caster is open to the ambient magicks of the region. It is almost clinched when the caster attempts to call upon his or her deity for a boom. In explanation of this it can only be said that the pathways of magic in the Lost Kingdom are all guarded by the Erl-King�s Warlord of Magic and these spiritual means that some have become accustomed to are inexorably blocked. In point of fact it is known that Eris of the Fire Ladies has not been able to grant boons with the Lost Kingdom. The extent to which the Kal en Dral, Munuke and Rani can influence or act has get to be determined. The Warlord of magic is literally an etherial threat. His presence is best known in his corruptive influence over magic-users. Usually called Kytsim (pronounced Kite-sim), he is believed to have been the Archmage of Sothron, Vaesyrio. In one story this man betrayed the King of Sothron and summoned that may well have been the Erl-King from beyond the veil of our world. It is quite probably fiction, but is is the only surviving record of the night that Sothrom fell. Historically this marked the beginning of the Spirit War, which was the Erl-King�s rise of power. If and when Kytsim appears to mortal it is as a sturdy human male into middle age. He wears blue robes and bears a staff. He is also translucent. Thus far he has never been defeated and no evidence of weakness exists. But he seldom gives opportunity to ascertain such things. The minions of Kystim, beyond those unfortunate mage he subverts, are called Phantoms. They, like their master, appear as translucent humans. It is speculated that those subverted by Kytsim slowly turn into Phantoms, but such cannon be proven as yet. Phantoms seem to be faint echoes of Kytsim�s power. They wield powerful magicks in small doses. A peculiarity of Phantoms is that they are not sentient creatures perse. They might better be classified as spells. They seem to move and act like aggressive creatures but protective magic such as the Protection from enchanted beings spell does not hold them at bay. However, resist magic and circles of protection will nullify any Phantom�s actions. A spell of disenchantment will obliterate a Phantom completely. Despite their raw magical nature, Phantoms are also completely normal in most respects. A sword will defect them. If they strike out they can harm you. Most often they appear when magical energy abounds or when the forces of corruption are required to harass a sizable group. Phantoms do not appear to have any means of communication, nor can they pick up or steal away objects. Thus they are never found to have items on them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Author�s Note: I have very little information. It is suspected that Kytsim was the High Mage of Sothron, named Vaesargio. He may have been directly responsible for bring the Erl King to the world. I further suspect that Vaesargio was offered the power of a god (specifically over all thing magical, and immortality) in exchange for his aid in bring the Erl King here. I would caution against using any form of regional magic whilst in the Lost Kingdoms- it would likely result in unnecessary trouble. 10/5/03 Addendum Magic- Random Thoughts How can Magic be corrupt? How can you uncorrupt magic? Certainly, most magic can be unwoven by objury. Disenchant, disrupt, enfeeblement, but this to, is magic. Is the �corruption� of magic simply abusing it to evil ends? Or is it rather using magic to break the rules of Nature? Isn�t magic, by definition, breaking Nature? Another ethereal threat. How do you combat it? It is the case that heavy metals seem to hamper magical abilities (ie: Chain mail and magic don�t mix) Reason, fact, logic, this also seem to break down �magic� in the less formulaic, more �wonder/dream� sense. How comment the magic is spirituality? Faith? Miracle? How do you define magic? What does it encompass? Spirit: Treatise. Cont Of all the corruptions this is definitely the most devastating. In studying the history of the Realms, one sees that at the darkest hours it is not ingenuity, magic or strength of army that prevails, but rather faith, courage and hope. It is from the spirit that these things flow. The Erk-King stuck his most effective blow when he corrupted the essential spirit of humanity. Of all the effects this caused the worst was the despondency into which we are born. Children are raised with a sense of doom encroaching. Life is hard work,suffering and finally death. One might go so far as to say that never has the human race been so oppressed that they actually believe in little more than survival for the sake of reproduction. One can see the similarities between this and cattle. The Erl King�s general of the Corrupted Spirit is Ang. An austere and attractive woman, Ang carries herself with the haughty regality of a queen. She is the maker of pacts for the Erl King, and tormentor of souls. While many gods collect soul for various reason it seem that the Erk-King leaves such things to Ang. She is almost as rarely seen a Kytsim and Plth. She has no known weaknesses. As reasonably non-violent as Ang seems, her domain, that of the corrupted spirit, is the one that produces the shock troops of corruption. From the remains of any unpurified, unprotected person she can raise monsters that are commonly called Laughing Dead. they are dead and they laugh, unpleasant lunatic-like. Ang created Laughing Dead in small squads, usually three to ten bodies. They are particularly resistant to weapons, but all manner of weapons seem to have some effect on them. The problem is that those tortured souls are not to be so easily silence. They will always return to unlife in relatively short order. They do not loot corpses or mutilate them unless specifically order to do so. They work as a group, neither angering, nor boring of their appointed tasks. They can speak, but will usually just laugh as the Laughing Dead are wont to do. When they do speak it is often to hurl curses at the living. The only thing that will destroy the Laughing Dead is the proper telling of a joke. The most difficult part of this is finding the right joke, as each band of Laughing Dead is raised with a specific joke. No other joke will suffice. The peculiarity of this solution has long been debated. It is believed that the souls that animate the corpses are so tortured, are so despairing of peace that the humor of the Joke provides exactly enough levity to dispel their anguish, if only long enough to break free of Ang�s grasp. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Author�s Note: What weapons have been brought to bear against Ang? Is SHE affected by a specific Joke? Is the remedy to Ang, hope? If it is, how is it used against her? If I am correct, and each of the Walrods was once a human, who was Ang before she became a Warlord? Ang may once have been Meribeth, the daughter of Dregdam Quinn. The King of Tantarill. 10/5/03 Sprit Random Thoughts Reader. I have given you examples of how I tear apart a problem. Do this for yourself. Add your thought, your belief, your will. Think for yourself. Act for yourself. BE. Treatis: Cont. Water Often noted as the spirit of the Natural world, water is grievous loss to corruption. It carves stone, douse fire, sustains all life and has a place in nearly every understood cycle of nature. Next to Spirit, perhaps exceeding it, water pervades so much of everything we deal with that is impossible to ignore it presence. Polth is the name of corruption�s avatar of water. She appears as a bloated, drowned woman who walks and talks. She is horrible to behold, and terrible to confront. Like so many of her brethren she is unapproachable in combat. Her very nature is that of water. Swords do not cut her. Fire is pointless suicide against her, and magic seemt to be profoundly useless. Once, several hundred years ago, the combined efforts of the four Elder of the forest runners brought an elemental wizard to the Lost Kingdom. He was a master of commanding water through his art. He and the forest runners of the time pitted themselves against Polth. He summoned elements. He coordinated great tsunamis. In the aftermath his battered broken body was found, drowned in the remnants of one of his elementals. Polth, it seems, is either protected from elemental magic or above it. No survivors reported her even flinching under the onslaught of elemental magic. Polth is very seldom seen, but her children are not so rare. They are usually called Skalds of water demons. They are the most highly intelligent creatures in the service of the Erl-King. When one of the warlord does not lead an army, a Skald will. They are assassins, doppelgangers, creatures of the foulest malignance. It is said that they are soulless things who sustain their existence on hatred. Be that as it may, their ways have been studied and much is known about them. They may either mimic human form or appear as a water elemental. Either way they are the same. They are remarkably vulnerable, but since they are seldom in direct combat this becomes moot. They can mimic unknown person or even appear as someone well known. They are known to use poison, and are sometimes capable of piercing armor. Unlike the vast majority of the forces of corruption, Skalds will always skalp their kills. When they are killed, Kalds instantly revert to water and seep into the earth. They can do this while alive as well. It is believe that they can tap into underground waterways to travel quickly. Nevertheless, when they die they leave behind the most recently attained scalp. If a circle of protection is quickly applied, the person who enchants the protection may demand a particular scalp. The theory is that if a Skald runs out of scalps to give up, it is finally gone for good, but the downside to this is that Skalds probably do not age, and each one has existed for hundred of years. The number of such trophies even one Skald might have is an unnerving thought, and there are records that suggest hundred of Skalds exist. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Author�s Note: I have been given a bit of prophecy regarding the defeat of Polth. It was given to by by a reliable source. The prophecy is: �You have to sill all the waves before you can calm the ocean You�ll have to take down a goddess to bring down the devil.� 10/10/03 Water Addendum Random thoughts What is the corruption of water? IS it simply dirty? Stagnant? Fold? How do you clean it, purify it? Cleanse it? Water is our life�s blood. Water cleans, nourishes, adapts, it can destroy. It can wear away stone. It can drown. It can be hard, or soft. It can freeze, or burn. Air destroys water. Earth can contain water. Fir can boil it away. We already have the key, thankfully, to destroying Polth. We need to destroy her �children� first, the Skalds. Theatise: Cont: The Erl-King As was noted earlier, definition become everything when trying to explain the inexplicable. What is a god? It has been made clear to me in the northland that the term �god� is entirely subjective. That is, meaning changes from person to person. Aurora. The Five Ladies. Arioch. Hades, The Dark One. These are Northland gods. They all have different localities. Hades holds little power in the Borderlands. Aurora is hardly a going concern in Creathorne. The Dark One is sacrilege in Chimeron. If the general term god is applied to all of these being then the Erl-King too must be a god, a god that walks the Earth. The Lord of Corruption draws his power from, the very corruption he creates. Where heavenly gods seem to grow through a following of mortals performing deed in their name, the Erl-King does his own work. Every cycle of nature that erodes due to his efforts, every mind that snaps under the pressure of his regime, every pond that stagnates with his filth, every person that despairs of ever living to see a world without the Erl-King is an offering made to this god. The Sylvan Elves of our lands refuse to talk to mere human of such matter, but there have been rebellious one among them. There are still some Sylvan�s left who can remember the Erl-Kings Ascension, it is whispered, sometimes to Forest runner ears, that this is the second coming of the Erl-King. That he is a thing from beyond the world, a thing that seeks only the slow, torturous death of the natural order. Thought the stories are never completed for our scholars, it is the consensus of a great many over the ages that the Erl-King is not here in this world by his doing. Rather it was a mortal that summoned him, ostensibly the Archmage of Sothron, if one story is to be believed. The Sylvan�s lend no credence to this theory. There are many speculations on how one might go about expelling him from this world, or utterly destroying him, but as with so much about him and his armies, nothing is certain. It has been the endeavor of the Sacred Order of the Woods to purify this world of Everything about the Erl-King for some one hundred generations and then some. Thought that time we have many different pieces of information, but they are as incongruous as dreams. Outright war has proven futile. Clandesine strikes have been disastrous. How does one kill a god? How indeed? Could we call gods of other land to do combat with this thing? Should we? It is not this Author�s place to color such meditations with his own beliefs. Rather, I will say that in the sacred order of the woods we have a creed. It begins thus: �By steel, By reason, By magic, By fire�.� Recorded in high and late summer of the year 1001 by Northern Reckoning. Reeve 10/10/03 Note and Random Thoughts- The enemy Chess. Quite a metaphore. Fly. Also telling. What does this creature want? What is it goals? What does it seek, desire, strive for? That knowledge will help us know where to strike, what to protect, what to guard against. It is said it eats children, babies, infant. Why? Why does it want children as tribate? Why the death and destruction of babies seem to enthrall it so? Does it seek to corrupt, or destory? Children represent so many things. They are innocent They trust The love They are our future They are our hope. The enemy destroys them. Delight when we sacrifice them to it in our fear, greed or ignorance. 10/10/030 Random thought- Continued It seems to me that the creature is bored. It make game for itself, to amuse it. Like a cruel boy, pulling the legs off a fly or kicking over an ant hill to watch the squirming, the action, the struggle. It delight in our misery. It delight in making us it�s willing puppets, or unwitting pawns. Anger- Wrath- Polth Lust- Wasnie Greed- Kytsim Gluttony- Maggot Sloth- Pride- Ang Envy- Irrad Aspects of Nature In the mythos of the Lost Kingdom, there are six aspect of Nature: Magic, Stone, Water, Flesh, Mind and Spirit. In the Mythos of the Kal en Dral, there are 8 and 9: Water, Fog, Air, Light, Fire, Stone, Earth and Mind. Lastly, the fashion of all is spirit. Clay is sometimes equated to Flesh. Fog/Cloud to Magic Light/Smoke to Enlightenment/Mind Air to Knowledge If the two philosophies are intertwined, the enemy hold 6 of the 9 aspects. Air may be corrupted as well as Light is, by Naznie. Irrad may hold both Stone and Earth. Which leave only fire uncorrupted. I have heard a theory that fire is uncorrupted only because the Erl-King could find no way to corrupt something of such pure destructive ability. Is Air corrupted? Yes Is earth corrupted? Is spirit corrupted? It has been said that the corruption of the world begins at its �source�. Where is the source? How does one purfity this source? Chess: 8 pieces in the back, 8 pawns, 2 sides. 32 pieces. King: Erl King Rooks: Irrad and Maggot- Seem the most �direct� Bishops: Magic and Mind- Only �affect; certain �aspect� of reality. Logical Intuition Knights: Spirit and Water- act �indirectly� and can strike randomly Is there a �queen� piece? Pawn, Queen, King, Bishop, Knights, Rook= 6 different kinds of piece. Sothrani high rules, and much of their high magical arts are based in chess. Unlike most rune sets, where each �symbol� represent a sound, word or sometime a phrase, sothrani high runes are either concepts or sources of magical power or create spell-like or magical effects. From my understanding, every rune varies according to the mage that creates it.l It can take months to craft a rune of power. Care in choosing what to inscribe the rune onto , or with is also important. There are roughly 70 different marks in the Sothrani High Rune Set. It takes several marks, generally, to create a single rune. Each mark corresponds to a move in chess, and the color of the piece that makes that move. (I may hate that confused.) Like a chess game, it is generally a white �Piece� that move first. The next mark would be read as �black� and so forth.  |
Created by Janna Oakfellow-Pushee
at 06-13-17 09:20 PM
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Last Modified by Janna Oakfellow-Pushee at 06-13-17 09:20 PM