Broken Empire
24-09-2007, 04:33
The Holy Empire has ceased to exist in one great cataclysm, and the dead now march with the living. A fragment of a star has fallen into the sea, bringing an unknown, alien species to the world, who have started to expand aggressively in the east, taking the ancient Celestial Empire of T'ien Ch'i by surprise and forcing the forces of the awakening Pangaea to retreat deeper into the woods.
It is a world torn apart by wars of faith. Magic and steel walk hand in hand. Grand armies are rallied, only to be crushed by an even grander display of power as flames fall from the sky and burn everything in their path. The life of man or any other creature is near worthless as beings of nearly limitless power march on the blood drenched battlefields of the world, leaving entire armies dead in their wake.
Blood slaves, female virgins, are sought out for gruesome rituals of blood to call upon the Infernal forces, who come forth to aid those unscrupulous gods whom have no trouble with killing their own followers. It is not uncommon for the gods of the different nations to order their forces to kill entire populations for strategic gains of some kind, be it crippling the income of their enemies as they no longer have anyone to pay them tribute or punishing the populace for whatever unfathomable reason.
Yet the same people they see fit to kill in a blink of an eye follow them nearly blindly.
Indeed, it is a world where armies of men clash with those of the dead, the demons of Inferno, beings from the Arcane planes and beyond. All this for only one true goal - to destroy the forces of those who follow the pretender gods, to bring about their destruction and to place their own God, the One True God, as all of them see it, to the hallowed throne of the Pantokrator.
--
There are ten distinct nations on the world. Here's a short description on each:
The Broken Empire of Ermor (hence this NationState's name), the Feudal Theocracy of Marignon, the Kingdom of Ulm, the Emerald Empire of Pythium and C'tis "know" each other. Marignon, Ulm and Pythium are splinters of the old Ermorian Empire, which used to rule much of the "known world". They never really had much to do with the wild creatures of Pangaea, and weren't even aware of their existence until this new age of wars in the west which, due to the coming of gods, will escalate into a war between all nations of the world as it goes on.
Ermor is a relatively young as an empire, but as a nation it has a long history. All that is pointless now, however, as after the Cataclysm the Holy Empire fell to dust and a new Empire which is called the "Broken Empire", came forth. It is controlled by the Thaumaturgs of the Death Cult which managed to stop Ermor's complete destruction when Death was let loose. The Broken Empire had one goal before - to restore order in the lands the old Holy Empire commanded. But after the coming of the Lich Queen, they came to the realization that they would have to go beyond that, if only to appease Death, and to stop the destruction of the Empire. If this is not done, it is prophetized that another cataclysm will come and Ermor shall not survive again. In the last year or so the Empire lost some ground to the wild Pangaeans and the western part of the Empire now has no connection to the eastern parts of it.
Marignon is a theocratic nation run by the Inquisition. There all heresies, be it real or imagined, are purged with vigor. It is through this religious zeal that Marignon survived the aftermath of the Cataclysm, and so far their near-insane fanaticism has served them well. They have sworn to destroy the unholy filth of the Ermorian Empire, and where ever their paths cross, it always leads to a bloody conflict. Their God is what is called a Baphomet, which manifests itself as a gigantic burning head - a powerful sign indeed for those who see holiness in the fires of their eternal pyres.
Ulm, however, is a different story. There people do not believe in magic, but rather in steel, and as the only nation on the world the Ulmians know the secrets of black steel, giving them an edge on both armor and weaponry. It has been said that they have the best smiths in the world, and it is quite true. Where others would bring forth armies of undead or demons, the Ulmians would bring armies of men armed to the teeth, clad in black steel armor and wielding black steel weapons, giving them a very distinct look.
C'tis is a nation of lizardmen whom were subjugated by the Holy Empire in its hayday. The C'tissians themselves are herbivores, but they have a species of predatory lizardmen under their command as well. It was under their Sauromancers that the Ermorian Augurs learned the dark magic of death, and it was due to them, in the end, that the Holy Empire fell. All of the C'tissians except the ones whom helped to stop the destruction of Ermor were forced out of the lands the Broken Empire controlled.
Pythium is a nation which retains much of what once was. It is like the Holy Empire, but with its own unique characteristics. Such as, that they do not have horses, which forces them to use the lizards from the Pythian Swamps as steeds. From the very same swamp come the Hydras which were mostly used in the many arenas within Pythium in the Ermorian times, but the old ways of using them in warfare has resurfaced. In time, they managed to retake much of the lands which were lost mostly due to Ermor's fall. They follow an emperor who has taken a claim for godhood - now his full title is the Divine Emperor, and he, just like the rest of the gods, seeks to become the Pantokrator.
Abysia, which is south of Pythium, is quite new as a nation, and its people are new as, well, a people. The original lavamen were only barely humanoid and lived rather long lives but are long dead, while the younger generations only live short lives (35 years and they are old aged, after which they will live up to 40-50 at most if they are lucky). They have been secretly driven into wide use of blood and strange experimentation with their and other species by the Infernal forces. Their newest achievement is the human-Abysian hybrid, which they call "humanbreds", which not only live longer than true Abysians do, but they also breed much faster. They follow the Great Warlock, the leader of the Warlocks of Abysia, who came forth from the Smouldercone and made his claim for godhood.
To the east of C'tis lies the realm of Caelum, a magocracy of winged humanoids. They live on whichever mountains they can find. There used to be three Clans, but now only two, the High Caelians, whom also live on the highest peaks of mountains. They are thin and light. The other Clan are Spire Horn Caelians, whom live somewhat lower on the same mountains. They are of heavier stock. The third one is the Raptor Clan, but they have been banished from Caelum after a civil war due to their usage of the path of death. Their God is an Arch Seraph, whom is also the de-facto leader of Caelum.
Even further east lies the Celestial Empire of T'ien Ch'i. For ages it has been at peace, and during that peace evolved a bureaucracy of great efficiency. Skill is why ministers and officials whom rule the Empire are chosen, not to which family they happened to be born in. This same bureaucracy has instituted a conscription policy which has been quite successful, although it has not been enough to stop the incoming hordes of R'lyeh. Only after the coming of a Celestial General, whom now is considered godlike by the people of T'ien Ch'i, have they begun actually winning battles, although it is in part of things which had been reinstituted some time before of his arrival. But now the Celestial beings brought forth by the Celestial Masters of T'ien Ch'i fight the strange mindless creatures of R'lyeh.
R'lyeh. It has, unbeknownst to the other nations, infested all the seas of the world, but is only active in the east for reasons unknown. They have enslaved the fledgling kingdom of Atlantis and crushed the attempts of the Tritons to form up a nation of their own. The Starspawns bring forth more and more creatures from the Void within the mind-bending city of R'lyeh. The Void Lord slumbers.
Pangaea is not a nation as such. It is a loose conglamorate of the once-wild, yet sapient, creatures whom have lived in the forests of the world for eons. Now times have changed. The forests are diminishing and the wilderness is dying. The once-wild creatures, such as centaurs, have developed civilized societies and they wear armor. Not too long ago did the Panii realized that it is time to act to protect their dwindling habitat - and as the first thing the forces of Pangaea did was to cut Ermor in half.
Map of the world (http://sensori.soldats.net/kuvia/Ermor/world.png)
--
Really OOC part:
Still with me? If some of the parts seem kinda hazy, I'm sorry, it's because I'm hella tired and I'm stupid this way. Back in the day I did the same mistake, started typing real late and... I ramble. So, back to program. As you can probably see, I'm aiming to do a thread (or maybe a series of such if I can keep myself and others interested) about a war that'll end up spanning an entire planet. This is fantasy, but I'm thinking that anyone of any tech level can show up. BUT! Here's the catch: for Future Tech, you can't use your weapons/shields/whatever here with the your regular efficiency, so they get reduced to the level of what's being used here. Consider it the power of the living gods. Any attempts at ortillery will be reduced into things that can level armies but can't, for instance, destroy the planet. Modern Tech, your ranged weapons will end up being as efficient as crossbows. Although, for FT, if you want to know to what level your thing has to go to, talk to me and we'll work something out - the magical powers can get kinda wacky. I guess same goes for (P)MT to some degree.
Someone might wonder why I'm doing this. I've done pretty much the same thing (twice) before, but I never found them too satisfying. And I always seemed to get stuck in those stupid OOC faction things. Those sucked, too. I just want to try one more time. As a result I'm here. I just want to do this closer to what I had in my mind before instead of screwing it up on my own. So this time I'm trying to see if there's any interest out there to help me out to actually get things done instead of hitting my head in a brick wall and getting myself to a point where I quit doing stuff.
So how could people take part in this upcoming thing? Well. FT: You find a planet that's in a completely weird place and inside some kind of distortion field and make a planetfall. Why? Because you can, or because you must. Or something. MT: Well, this thing doesn't go too much in MT, but still. You either find a portal of some kind or get stuck in some kind of distortion in the timespace blah blah and get thrown through things here. Think Bermuda triangle that actually takes you somewhere. Fantasy: Pretty straightforward. You tellyported/portaled/whatever there. Or you can talk to me about taking over one of the nations and play as it. Note that it's also technically possible for an outside force to take over a nation, although if that side would end up winning the world war, the chosen original God will ascend instead of your choice unless your choice beats the real one in a duel (starts as one anyway, summoning is allowed!) to the death.
It is a world torn apart by wars of faith. Magic and steel walk hand in hand. Grand armies are rallied, only to be crushed by an even grander display of power as flames fall from the sky and burn everything in their path. The life of man or any other creature is near worthless as beings of nearly limitless power march on the blood drenched battlefields of the world, leaving entire armies dead in their wake.
Blood slaves, female virgins, are sought out for gruesome rituals of blood to call upon the Infernal forces, who come forth to aid those unscrupulous gods whom have no trouble with killing their own followers. It is not uncommon for the gods of the different nations to order their forces to kill entire populations for strategic gains of some kind, be it crippling the income of their enemies as they no longer have anyone to pay them tribute or punishing the populace for whatever unfathomable reason.
Yet the same people they see fit to kill in a blink of an eye follow them nearly blindly.
Indeed, it is a world where armies of men clash with those of the dead, the demons of Inferno, beings from the Arcane planes and beyond. All this for only one true goal - to destroy the forces of those who follow the pretender gods, to bring about their destruction and to place their own God, the One True God, as all of them see it, to the hallowed throne of the Pantokrator.
--
There are ten distinct nations on the world. Here's a short description on each:
The Broken Empire of Ermor (hence this NationState's name), the Feudal Theocracy of Marignon, the Kingdom of Ulm, the Emerald Empire of Pythium and C'tis "know" each other. Marignon, Ulm and Pythium are splinters of the old Ermorian Empire, which used to rule much of the "known world". They never really had much to do with the wild creatures of Pangaea, and weren't even aware of their existence until this new age of wars in the west which, due to the coming of gods, will escalate into a war between all nations of the world as it goes on.
Ermor is a relatively young as an empire, but as a nation it has a long history. All that is pointless now, however, as after the Cataclysm the Holy Empire fell to dust and a new Empire which is called the "Broken Empire", came forth. It is controlled by the Thaumaturgs of the Death Cult which managed to stop Ermor's complete destruction when Death was let loose. The Broken Empire had one goal before - to restore order in the lands the old Holy Empire commanded. But after the coming of the Lich Queen, they came to the realization that they would have to go beyond that, if only to appease Death, and to stop the destruction of the Empire. If this is not done, it is prophetized that another cataclysm will come and Ermor shall not survive again. In the last year or so the Empire lost some ground to the wild Pangaeans and the western part of the Empire now has no connection to the eastern parts of it.
Marignon is a theocratic nation run by the Inquisition. There all heresies, be it real or imagined, are purged with vigor. It is through this religious zeal that Marignon survived the aftermath of the Cataclysm, and so far their near-insane fanaticism has served them well. They have sworn to destroy the unholy filth of the Ermorian Empire, and where ever their paths cross, it always leads to a bloody conflict. Their God is what is called a Baphomet, which manifests itself as a gigantic burning head - a powerful sign indeed for those who see holiness in the fires of their eternal pyres.
Ulm, however, is a different story. There people do not believe in magic, but rather in steel, and as the only nation on the world the Ulmians know the secrets of black steel, giving them an edge on both armor and weaponry. It has been said that they have the best smiths in the world, and it is quite true. Where others would bring forth armies of undead or demons, the Ulmians would bring armies of men armed to the teeth, clad in black steel armor and wielding black steel weapons, giving them a very distinct look.
C'tis is a nation of lizardmen whom were subjugated by the Holy Empire in its hayday. The C'tissians themselves are herbivores, but they have a species of predatory lizardmen under their command as well. It was under their Sauromancers that the Ermorian Augurs learned the dark magic of death, and it was due to them, in the end, that the Holy Empire fell. All of the C'tissians except the ones whom helped to stop the destruction of Ermor were forced out of the lands the Broken Empire controlled.
Pythium is a nation which retains much of what once was. It is like the Holy Empire, but with its own unique characteristics. Such as, that they do not have horses, which forces them to use the lizards from the Pythian Swamps as steeds. From the very same swamp come the Hydras which were mostly used in the many arenas within Pythium in the Ermorian times, but the old ways of using them in warfare has resurfaced. In time, they managed to retake much of the lands which were lost mostly due to Ermor's fall. They follow an emperor who has taken a claim for godhood - now his full title is the Divine Emperor, and he, just like the rest of the gods, seeks to become the Pantokrator.
Abysia, which is south of Pythium, is quite new as a nation, and its people are new as, well, a people. The original lavamen were only barely humanoid and lived rather long lives but are long dead, while the younger generations only live short lives (35 years and they are old aged, after which they will live up to 40-50 at most if they are lucky). They have been secretly driven into wide use of blood and strange experimentation with their and other species by the Infernal forces. Their newest achievement is the human-Abysian hybrid, which they call "humanbreds", which not only live longer than true Abysians do, but they also breed much faster. They follow the Great Warlock, the leader of the Warlocks of Abysia, who came forth from the Smouldercone and made his claim for godhood.
To the east of C'tis lies the realm of Caelum, a magocracy of winged humanoids. They live on whichever mountains they can find. There used to be three Clans, but now only two, the High Caelians, whom also live on the highest peaks of mountains. They are thin and light. The other Clan are Spire Horn Caelians, whom live somewhat lower on the same mountains. They are of heavier stock. The third one is the Raptor Clan, but they have been banished from Caelum after a civil war due to their usage of the path of death. Their God is an Arch Seraph, whom is also the de-facto leader of Caelum.
Even further east lies the Celestial Empire of T'ien Ch'i. For ages it has been at peace, and during that peace evolved a bureaucracy of great efficiency. Skill is why ministers and officials whom rule the Empire are chosen, not to which family they happened to be born in. This same bureaucracy has instituted a conscription policy which has been quite successful, although it has not been enough to stop the incoming hordes of R'lyeh. Only after the coming of a Celestial General, whom now is considered godlike by the people of T'ien Ch'i, have they begun actually winning battles, although it is in part of things which had been reinstituted some time before of his arrival. But now the Celestial beings brought forth by the Celestial Masters of T'ien Ch'i fight the strange mindless creatures of R'lyeh.
R'lyeh. It has, unbeknownst to the other nations, infested all the seas of the world, but is only active in the east for reasons unknown. They have enslaved the fledgling kingdom of Atlantis and crushed the attempts of the Tritons to form up a nation of their own. The Starspawns bring forth more and more creatures from the Void within the mind-bending city of R'lyeh. The Void Lord slumbers.
Pangaea is not a nation as such. It is a loose conglamorate of the once-wild, yet sapient, creatures whom have lived in the forests of the world for eons. Now times have changed. The forests are diminishing and the wilderness is dying. The once-wild creatures, such as centaurs, have developed civilized societies and they wear armor. Not too long ago did the Panii realized that it is time to act to protect their dwindling habitat - and as the first thing the forces of Pangaea did was to cut Ermor in half.
Map of the world (http://sensori.soldats.net/kuvia/Ermor/world.png)
--
Really OOC part:
Still with me? If some of the parts seem kinda hazy, I'm sorry, it's because I'm hella tired and I'm stupid this way. Back in the day I did the same mistake, started typing real late and... I ramble. So, back to program. As you can probably see, I'm aiming to do a thread (or maybe a series of such if I can keep myself and others interested) about a war that'll end up spanning an entire planet. This is fantasy, but I'm thinking that anyone of any tech level can show up. BUT! Here's the catch: for Future Tech, you can't use your weapons/shields/whatever here with the your regular efficiency, so they get reduced to the level of what's being used here. Consider it the power of the living gods. Any attempts at ortillery will be reduced into things that can level armies but can't, for instance, destroy the planet. Modern Tech, your ranged weapons will end up being as efficient as crossbows. Although, for FT, if you want to know to what level your thing has to go to, talk to me and we'll work something out - the magical powers can get kinda wacky. I guess same goes for (P)MT to some degree.
Someone might wonder why I'm doing this. I've done pretty much the same thing (twice) before, but I never found them too satisfying. And I always seemed to get stuck in those stupid OOC faction things. Those sucked, too. I just want to try one more time. As a result I'm here. I just want to do this closer to what I had in my mind before instead of screwing it up on my own. So this time I'm trying to see if there's any interest out there to help me out to actually get things done instead of hitting my head in a brick wall and getting myself to a point where I quit doing stuff.
So how could people take part in this upcoming thing? Well. FT: You find a planet that's in a completely weird place and inside some kind of distortion field and make a planetfall. Why? Because you can, or because you must. Or something. MT: Well, this thing doesn't go too much in MT, but still. You either find a portal of some kind or get stuck in some kind of distortion in the timespace blah blah and get thrown through things here. Think Bermuda triangle that actually takes you somewhere. Fantasy: Pretty straightforward. You tellyported/portaled/whatever there. Or you can talk to me about taking over one of the nations and play as it. Note that it's also technically possible for an outside force to take over a nation, although if that side would end up winning the world war, the chosen original God will ascend instead of your choice unless your choice beats the real one in a duel (starts as one anyway, summoning is allowed!) to the death.