About Raxus Half-bloodMale Outsider (Augmented) Half-Giant Tulpa Gestalt Berserker Brutal Pugilist Hurler Barbarian 5
Background:
Raxus doesn't talk much abut his past, but it's clear that it was a brutal upbringing. He has the memories of many half-giant children born in the wastes and captured, taken back to the Defiler's enclaives and experimented on. Whatever they did to those children created Raxus. Not a child. Not really alive. A mosaic of many lives and memories, taken apart and stitched back together into an immortal servant. They needed to test him. They knew he could not die, so they put him in the pits. Even with the body of a nine year old half-giant child he was still larger than most men. He won, so they did it again. He kept winning, and growing, and winning. Eventually the crowds became bored with his fights. He never got the hang of playing to the crowd. Instead of being a celebrity, he began being treated more like a captured animal who was brought out when the masters wanted to punish a rising champion. They dressed him in scales and furs rather than armor, gave him no weapons, treated him like a beast, and still he won, leaving a trail of broken bodies in his wake. The last straw was when he broke one of the obsidian pillars of the grand Arena of Tyr with the body of one of his brethren. Seventeen people died as the sharp obsidian crashed down into the crowd. The Arena masters withdrew their invitation to have Raxus participate in their games. He retired undefeated after more than a decade in the fighting pits. An unheard of achievement that was so unbelievable that the arena masters assumed there must have been a mistake in the records. Instead of immortalizing him in the Hall of Champions, the bust carved of him was put in the Hall of Beasts alongside the taxidermied body of a famous bright red Ankheg and the skull of a massive Sand Howler. By then years had passed, and the internal politics of the Defiler enclave had shifted. In spite of being a successful creation, Raxus was a vestige of the old guard. Defilers did not share their secrets, and his original creator had long since died. The new leaders of the enclave did not care about the successes of those they'd overthrown. Since they could not easily kill him, Raxus was quietly sold. Now he spends his days as something of a novelty, brought out to ensure cooperation and security during tedious or dangerous trading. Description and Personality:
Raxus is enormous. Huge even for a half-giant, he tops eight feet and is thickly proportioned. His features are almost comically masculine, but somehow his eyes, lips and cheeks have an element of softness to them. He would be an attractive man if he were half as large, but the combination comes across as simply odd. His eyes are a deep red and his skin a dark honey-brown reminiscent of well-cured leather. He has very little body hair, being both naturally bald and unable to grow facial hair. His muscles do not have the intense definition of one who exercises regularly. Instead he has the figure of one who keeps in shape by working. His hands are calloused and scarred but rarely ever dirty. In spite of his brutish appearance he seems to be careful about his cleanliness and hygiene. Raxus is a gentle soul at heart, but when his anger is roused he is a titanic monster capable of twisting grown men into pretzels and hurling them the length of an arena. Recently he has begun to feel sadness when he kills another person, but he does it anyway. He knows nothing else. The best way to think about Raxus is that he is something akin to a Genie. He is a perfect servant, but instead of granting wishes, he kills people. Defense:
Wounds: 74 (con x2, +5 toughness, +con Deathless)
Vigor: 56 (12 barbarian base, +29 barbarian, +15 mythic) Deathless HP: 46 Barbarian Temp HP: 10 Berserker Temp HP: 8 ...+7 temp Vigor each round when Berserk
AC 17 (+3 Studded leather -1 size, +4 dex, +1 enhancement)
Flat Footed: (+3 Lamellar, -1 size, +1 enhancement) Touch AC: 14 (+4 dex, -1 size, +1 enhancement) CMD 29 (10, +4 bab, +10 str, +4 dex, +1 size)
...see flow chart for additional Grapple contingencies +11 Fort (+4 conscript, +6 con, +1 resistance)
+9 Ref (+4 conscript, +4 dex, +1 resistance) +10 Will (+4 conscript, +3 wis, +2 iron will, +1 resistance)
Offense:
Init: +6 (+4 dex, +2 mythic) Move: 30 BaB +5
+24 Grapple (+16 CMB, +1 size, +2 imp grapple, +2 greater grapple, +1 enhancement, +1 pit fighter, +1 mythic grapple)
+18 Bull Rush/Drag/Reposition (+16 CMB, +1 size, +1 enhancement)
+17 Cahulaks, 2d4+16, x3 crit, reach (20'), double, trip, weapon chain (modified: Tactically adapted [performance]) +1 enhancement
+16 Armor Spikes, 1d6+11, x2 crit
+16 Unarmed Strike, 3d6+11, x2 crit
Shove, 11 damage, +Battered
+15 Hurled objects (improvised thrown weapon, resolved as melee attack), ranged touch attack, (inflicts damage as falling object +str bonus, +power attack) 100' range, no max (10' range lesser hurling, +10' range hurler, x5 ' limitless). DC 20 reflex for 1/2 damage
Consumables:
Wrist Sheathes (swift action retrieve)
Bandoleer (move action retrieve)
Basic Attack Flowchart:
Initiate Snag as Swift action touch attack. Success = Battered. Hit = free Bullrush/Drag/Reposition (follow through) Up is an option (hostile movement) Successful Bullrush/Drag/Reposition into creature/wall deals damage to both (see Hammer ability) Successful Bullrush/Drag/Reposition into other creature triggers free trip against that creature (dominoes). Successful Bullrush/Drag/Reposition triggers Free grapple (or trip) attempt. (takedown as Swift action or Mighty Flex as AoO if target is within natural reach, see grapple flowchart) Creature death triggers free action attack against any other creature I can hit with the weapons in hand (reaper's momentum) AoO Flowchart:
20' reach. Infinite AoOs. Each successful AoO triggers free Bull Rush/Drag/Reposition (follow through). Up is an option (hostile movement) Successful Bullrush/Drag/Reposition into creature/wall deals damage to both (see Hammer ability) Successful Bullrush/Drag/Reposition into other creature triggers free trip against that creature (dominoes). Successful Bullrush/Drag/Reposition triggers Free grapple (or trip) attempt. (takedown as Swift action or mighty flex as AoO if target is within natural reach) Creature death triggers free action attack against any other creature I can hit with the weapons in hand (reaper's momentum) Grapple Flowchart:
+24 grapple Initiating Grapple
When maintaining grapple
When Grappled
Creature death triggers free action attack against any other creature I can hit with the weapons in hand (reaper's momentum) Throwing Things Flowchart:
Ranged attacks are resolved as Melee attacks (crushing thrower) May add Brutal Strike and Power Attack to Thrown weapons. Add 1.5 str when throwing with two hands (barbaric throw and crushing thrower) Throw objects of up to Medium size as normal attacks. Damage is resolved as falling object. (lesser hurling plus barbaric throw) Throw Grappled enemies with successful Grapple check (uncanny grappler) All range increments multiplied by 5. No max range increment. (limitless range) 1 Mythic Power = Swift Action ranged attack. Ignores cover/concealment, adds tier to damage, bypasses DR (distant barrage) Free attack if enemy is killed by/with a ranged attack (reaper's momentum) Traits and Feats:
--Traits-- Gladiator: Proficiency with Kahulaks, +1 to AoOs with it, +1 to performance checks Maneuver Trained You have long trained in a variety of combat maneuvers. You gain a +1 trait bonus to your CMB. --Proficiencies--
--Feats-- Feat Tax bonuses
Toughness (half giant bonus)
--Talents--
--Mythic Feats--
Spheres:
Battered (condition) Heavy blows have left a creature with this condition vulnerable to further attacks, imposing a -2 penalty to the creature’s CMD and preventing them from taking attacks of opportunity provoked by a creature performing a combat maneuver. Some talents have different effects or activation times against battered creatures. The battered condition can be removed by taking the total defense action, or through the restore ability of the Life sphere (see Spheres of Power), the lesser restoration spell, or similar effects. When inflicting the battered condition on a target that is already battered, the rounds stack when determining duration. Brute Sphere
You may perform a shove in place of the attack granted by a charge, although this does not grant the extra movement. When you successfully perform a bull rush, drag, reposition, or overrun combat maneuver (assuming the target decided to block you and did not simply move out of the way), you may apply the effect of one (manhandle) talent you know to that creature. (Manhandle) talents cannot be applied to maneuvers performed as a free action. Takedown (manhandle) You may make a grapple check against the creature as a swift action. Follow-Through Whenever you hit a target with an attack action, you may make a bull rush or reposition maneuver against the target as a free action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. You may use your weapon to perform this maneuver, meaning your weapon’s enhancement bonus, as well as spells that increase attack bonuses or feats such as Weapon Focus, apply to the maneuver. Dominoes: When you bull rush, drag, or reposition a creature into another creature, you may make a trip attempt as a free action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity against the second creature, even if that creature is not within your reach. If you fail the trip attempt by 5 or more the creature cannot make a trip attempt against you in return. Hostile Movement When performing a bull rush or drag combat maneuver, you may move the creature one space left or right (relative to the direction of motion) for each square moved by the maneuver. Additionally, when performing a bull rush, drag, or reposition combat maneuver, you may place the creature in an intrinsically dangerous space (including repositioning a creature into the air and dropping it). Hammer As long as you have martial focus, whenever you would bull rush, drag, or reposition a creature into a space occupied by a wall, creature, or object no more than one size smaller than the creature, the target of the maneuver stops its movement in the adjacent space and both the creature and the wall, other creature, or object suffer bludgeoning damage. The amount of damage dealt is determined by the size of the creature being bull rushed, dragged, or repositioned, as indicated on the list below: Fine 1d2, Diminutive 1d3, Tiny 1d4, Small 1d6, Medium 1d8, Large 1d10, Huge 2d6, Gargantuan 2d8, Colossal 3d6. This damage is increased by the listed amount again for every 5-ft. square the creature would have traveled beyond the wall, other creature, or object. Break Defenses Whenever you successfully use a bull rush, drag, overrun, or reposition, combat maneuver against a creature, that creature provokes an attack of opportunity from your allies (but not you). Associated Feat: Greater Bull Rush, Greater Drag, Greater Overrun, Greater Reposition. Equipment Sphere
Berserker Sphere
Brutal Strike As a special attack action, you may make a melee attack against a target. Creatures damaged by a brutal strike gain the battered condition until the end of your next turn. You may expend martial focus to have the attack deal additional damage equal to twice your base attack bonus. Each brutal strike may be modified by a single (exertion) talent. Reaper’s Momentum As long as you have martial focus, whenever you reduce a creature to 0 hit points or fewer with a melee or thrown weapon attack, you may immediately make a bonus attack against another creature with a melee or thrown weapon. If you are capable of drawing a weapon as a free action, you may draw such a weapon as part of making this attack. You may only make one extra attack per round with this talent, increasing by 1 time per round at 7 base attack bonus and 14 base attack bonus. Associated Feat: Cleaving Finish. Shatter Earth: You may attack the ground around you with a savage blow. You may make a brutal strike against the corner of a square within your reach as a full-round action. You may reduce this to a standard action by expending martial focus. This attack automatically hits and deals damage normally. If you manage to deal more damage than the floor’s hardness, you cause a 5 ft. radius, 10 ft. cone, or 15 ft. line (your choice) to become difficult terrain. Radius’ increase by 5 ft. per 10 base attack bonus, cones by 5 ft. per 5 base attack bonus, and lines by 10 ft. per 5 base attack bonus. A square can be cleared as a standard action (provoking an attack of opportunity) or repaired with a spell or effect such as the mending spell or the repair ability of the Creation sphere to no longer be difficult terrain. Creatures within the affected area become battered for 1 round. If a creature is already battered, it must make a Reflex save or be knocked prone. If your attack is enough to destroy the floor, you may activate the Shrapnel talent, if you possess it. If the floor has a set thickness (for example, attacking the floor on a building’s second story), destroying the floor eliminates the targeted area, opening a hole. If attacking a floor with no set thickness (for example, the ground outside), treat the floor as being 1 ft. thick when determining its hp, and if destroyed, the difficult terrain cannot be cleared away unless the ground is repaired. You may choose to leave the floor at 1 hit point instead of destroying it. Barbaric Throw You can use brutal strike with thrown weapons. Additionally, throwing two-handed weapons no longer takes a full-round action, instead taking the same time as any other thrown weapon attack. When you expend your martial focus as part of a brutal strike, you can treat any melee weapon wielded by you that you’re proficient with as a thrown weapon with a range increment of 10 feet for that action. Associated Feats: Throw Anything, Two-Handed Thrower Deathless As long as you have martial focus, the number of hit points you can be reduced to below 0 without dying is doubled and you may choose to act as if you were disabled, rather than dying. You must make this decision as soon as you are reduced to negative hit points (even if it isn’t your turn). If you do not choose to act as if you were disabled, you immediately fall unconscious. When using this talent, you are staggered. You can take a move action without further injuring yourself, but if you perform any standard action (or any other action deemed as strenuous, including some swift actions, such as casting a quickened spell) you take 1 point of damage after completing the act. If your negative hit points are equal to or greater than twice your Constitution score, you immediately die. Associated Feat: Diehard. Wrestler Sphere
Any time you initiate or maintain a grapple, you may apply 1 (slam) talent as an immediate action in addition to the normal benefits of initiating or maintaining a grapple. Greater Grapple As long as you have martial focus, you may maintain a grapple as a move action. Associated Feat: Greater Grapple. Clinch Strike (slam) You may make a melee attack against the creature that deals damage as normal, plus an additional 1d6 nonlethal damage, +1d6 per 4 points of base attack bonus you possess. Talented Tie-Up As long as you have martial focus, you do not take a -4 penalty to Dexterity or a -2 penalty on all attack rolls and combat maneuver checks and are treated as though both of your hands were free while grappling a creature. In addition, as long as you are the one who initiated the grapple, the creature grants you soft cover against all attacks while you are grappling them except attacks made by the grappled foe. Skills:
Class Skills: Acrobatics (Dex), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str). +3 of choice (perform, sense motive, x) Skill points: 24 Barbarian ACP: +9 Perception (5 ranks, +3 class, +3 wis)
+ Acrobatics (5 ranks, +3 class, +4 dex, - ACP)
+8 Diplomacy (-1 cha, +8 tulpa)
+5 Craft Weapons (2 ranks, +3 class) Racial Abilities:
Starting Stats: 17 16 15 13 15 10 +4 str, +4 con, -2 int, -2 wis, -2 cha +1 str at 4th
+4 str tulpa
Favored Class Bonuses
Racial abilities:
Tulpa Abilities:
Creator Link (Su): A tulpa has a special link with its creator or a creature that it treats as its creator. By concentrating for 1 minute, the tulpa can sense the direction and relative distance of its creator, as long as they are both on the same plane. Mental Form (Su): A tulpa is capable of existing in an entirely mental state, ceasing to exist as a physical creature and taking refuge within its creator’s mind. The tulpa can attempt to enter this mental form as a full-round action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity as long as it is within 60 feet of its creator. The tulpa’s creator may attempt a Will save (DC = 10 + 1/2 the tulpa’s Hit Dice + the tulpa’s Intelligence modifier) to prevent it from entering the creator’s mind with this ability. If the creator succeeds at the saving throw, she cannot be affected by this ability for 24 hours. While in its mental form, the tulpa’s physical body ceases to exist, and it cannot be affected by attacks, spells, or other abilities. It perceives everything that its creator perceives (and is limited to the senses that its creator possesses, rather than using its own senses). While the tulpa is in its mental form, it is treated as though under the effects of a riding possession spell, although the effect lasts indefinitely, and the creator does not gain another saving throw if the tulpa casts a mind-affecting spell on the creator. The tulpa is also able to read its creator’s surface thoughts, as the detect thoughts spell, but the creator does not get a saving throw against this effect. The creator can attempt to force the tulpa out once per day with a new Will save. A tulpa that leaves its mental state appears in an unoccupied space of its choice within 60 feet of its creator. Sustained by Thought (Su): Tulpas sustain themselves on and gain their power from the mental energy of living creatures concentrating on the tulpa itself. Tulpas do not heal or regain psychic energy naturally. Instead, whenever a living creature spends at least 10 minutes mentally picturing the tulpa, or interacting with it in some way, the tulpa heals 5 hit points and gains 1 point of psychic energy. A creature other than its creator can’t provide more than 5 hit points and 1 PE to the tulpa per day with this activity, but its creator can feed its tulpa indefinitely, granting 5 hit points and 1 PE for every 10 minutes she spends in this way, up to the tulpa’s maximum hit points and PE. A creature that regularly spends time mentally picturing or interacting with the tulpa may eventually forge a powerful link with the tulpa, and effectively be treated as though she is the tulpa’s creator (though this does not supplant the original creator or other creatures treated as the creator by use of this ability). A creature other than the creator that focuses on the tulpa enough to provide it with psychic energy each day for 7 consecutive days must succeed at a DC 20 Will saving throw or forge such a link. Even when killed, a tulpa is not truly banished as long as its original creator still lives. Most tulpas come back to their creator within a month of the tulpa’s physical death. If a tulpa’s original creator dies, so does the tulpa. The original creator can also get rid of a tulpa either by completing an occult quest, the details of which are specific to the creator and its tulpa, or by means of a wish or a miracle. Psychic Spellcasting:
Mind Linx x2 per day (wild talent) Psychic Energy pool equal to 3 + HD Burst of adrenaline (1 PE)
Conscript Abilities:
Indomitable Will (Ex) (1 point): A conscript’s base Will save bonus from his conscript levels is equal to 2 + half his conscript level. Brute Specialization
Never Outmatched (Ex): At 8th level, the conscript ignores the size bonus to a creature’s combat maneuver bonus and CMD when performing or resisting a bull rush, drag, reposition, or overrun combat maneuver. Giant Physique (Ex): When the conscript reaches 20th level, he gains a +4 bonus to his CMB and CMD when performing or defending against a bull rush, pull, reposition, or overrun combat maneuver. In addition, the conscript doubles his critical threat range when performing a shove or a bull rush, pull, reposition, or overrun combat maneuver that deals damage.
Barbarian Abilities:
--Rage Powers--
Raging Grappler: As long as you are raging, whenever you succeed at a check to start a grapple, you can choose to deal damage as if you had also succeeded at a check to maintain the grapple. In addition, while raging, whenever you succeed at a combat maneuver check to maintain a grapple, you can choose to give yourself, the target of your grapple, or both the prone condition as a free action while continuing to maintain the grapple. Pit Fighter (Ex) At 3rd level, the brutal pugilist has learned combat tricks from fighting in pit brawls and gladiatorial arenas. She selects one combat maneuver (grapple) and gains a +1 insight bonus on her CMB or to her CMD in that maneuver. This bonus increases to +2 if the barbarian is wearing no armor (shields are allowed). At every three levels after 3rd, the barbarian may select another combat maneuver and add this bonus on her CMB or to her CMD. This bonus can be applied to each maneuver no more than twice, once on CMB and once to CMD. This ability replaces trap sense. Improved Savage Grapple (Ex) At 5th level, the brutal pugilist takes no penalties to Dexterity, attack rolls, and combat maneuver checks when she has the grappled condition. She also is treated as one size larger than her actual size when determining whether she can be grappled using the grab ability or swallowed by another creature This ability replaces improved uncanny dodge. Planned for later: Hurling, impelling disarm --Class features-- Berserk Strike: Whenever the berserker uses his brutal strike ability, he may sacrifice 3 of his daily rounds of rage to add 1 additional (exertion) talent to the attack. Skilled Thrower (Ex) The hurler is skilled at throwing objects in combat. Increase the range increment of any thrown weapon or object by 10 feet.
Rage (Ex) A barbarian can call upon inner reserves of strength and ferocity, granting her additional combat prowess. Starting at 1st level, a barbarian can rage for a number of rounds per day equal to 4 + her Constitution modifier. At each level after 1st, she can rage for 2 additional rounds. Temporary increases to Constitution, such as those gained from rage and spells like bear's endurance, do not increase the total number of rounds that a barbarian can rage per day. A barbarian can enter rage as a free action. The total number of rounds of rage per day is renewed after resting for 8 hours, although these hours do not need to be consecutive. While in rage, a barbarian gains a +4 morale bonus to her Strength and Constitution, as well as a +2 morale bonus on Will saves. In addition, she takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class. The increase to Constitution grants the barbarian 2 hit points per Hit Dice, but these disappear when the rage ends and are not lost first like temporary hit points. While in rage, a barbarian cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate, and Ride) or any ability that requires patience or concentration. A barbarian can end her rage as a free action and is fatigued after rage for a number of rounds equal to 2 times the number of rounds spent in the rage. A barbarian cannot enter a new rage while fatigued or exhausted but can otherwise enter rage multiple times during a single encounter or combat. If a barbarian falls unconscious, her rage immediately ends, placing her in peril of death. Savage Grapple (Ex) At 2nd level, the brutal pugilist takes only half the normal penalties to Dexterity, attack rolls, and combat maneuver checks when she has the grappled condition. She can make an attack of opportunity against creatures trying to grapple her even if they possess the Improved Grapple feat or the grab special attack. If she hits with this attack of opportunity, she gains a +2 circumstance bonus to her CMD against the grapple attempt. She cannot make these attacks of opportunity once a grapple has succeeded.
Mythic Abilities:
Champion 3 -Champion Strike-
-Path abilities-
Uncanny Grapple (Ex) Upon making a successful grapple combat maneuver check against a creature you are grappling, you can perform one of the following actions: throw, crush, or swing. For a throw, you can throw the target of your grapple up to 10 feet per tier; if the creature strikes a solid object before reaching this distance, it takes 1d6 points of damage per 10 feet of the remaining throwing distance and lands prone. For a crush, you deal 1d6 points of non-lethal damage per tier. For a swing, you can use the target as a weapon against another creature, treating the grappled creature as a twohanded weapon. If you succeed at a melee attack against an opponent adjacent to the target, both that opponent and the grappled creature take 1d8 points of bludgeoning damage from this attack + 1-1/2 × your Strength modifier. (2nd) -Base Mythic Abilities- Ability Score: Upon reaching the 2nd mythic tier, an ability score of your choice permanently increases by 2. At 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th tiers, another ability score of your choice permanently increases by 2; this can be an ability score you've already increased or a different ability score. (str) Hard to Kill (Ex) Whenever you're below 0 hit points, you automatically stabilize without needing to attempt a Constitution check. If you have an ability that allows you to act while below 0 hit points, you still lose hit points for taking actions, as specified by that ability. Bleed damage still causes you to lose hit points when below 0 hit points. In addition, you don't die until your total number of negative hit points is equal to or greater than double your Constitution score. Mythic Power (Su) Mythic characters can draw upon a wellspring of power to accomplish amazing deeds and cheat fate. This power is used by a number of different abilities. Each day, you can expend an amount of mythic power equal to 3 plus double your mythic tier (5/day at 1st tier, 7/day at 2nd, etc.). This amount is your maximum amount of mythic power. If an ability allows you to regain uses of your mythic power, you can never have more than this amount. Surge (Su) You can call upon your mythic power to overcome difficult challenges. You can expend one use of mythic power to increase any d20 roll you just made by rolling 1d6 and adding it to the result. Using this ability is an immediate action taken after the result of the original roll is revealed. This can change the outcome of the roll. The bonus die gained by using this ability increases to 1d8 at 4th tier, 1d10 at 7th tier, and 1d12 at 10th tier. Amazing Initiative (Ex) At 2nd tier, you gain a bonus on initiative checks equal to your mythic tier. In addition, as a free action on your turn, you can expend one use of mythic power to take an additional standard action during that turn. This additional standard action can't be used to cast a spell. You can't gain an extra action in this way more than once per round. Recuperation (Ex) At 3rd tier, you are restored to full hit points after 8 hours of rest so long as you aren’t dead. In addition, by expending one use of mythic power and resting for 1 hour, you regain a number of hit points equal to half your full hit points (up to a maximum of your full hit points) and regain the use of any class features that are limited to a certain number of uses per day (such as barbarian rage, bardic performance, spells per day, and so on). This rest is treated as 8 hours of sleep for such abilities. This rest doesn’t refresh uses of mythic power or any mythic abilities that are limited to a number of times per day. Equipment:
Automatic Bonus Progression (level +2) 1) Resistance +1
Unslotted: Masterwork Weaponrack backpack
Carrying Capacity:
Light: 1064
While Raging Light: 1864
Notes:
About three weeks ago, in the city-state of Balic The great city of Balic is in several respects unique among the other urban centers of the Tablelands. In the most distant era of the Green Age, millennia before the rise of Rajaat and his genocidal Champions, the peninsula in the Estuary of the Forked tongue upon which the metropolis would eventually stand was an isolated oasis in a vast frontier region. In this verdant recluse, an ancient race, now vanished from the world, breathed, and loved, and fought, and died. They were not human – the ancient cave paintings from this unnamed era which survive in the secluded grottoes beneath the teaming streets of Balic depict lion-like creatures of terrible aspect. Legend accords them various names – ‘nemeans’, ‘liitorians’, ‘walwai’, among others. With the aid of their weird sorceries and servants, they erected enormous rings of standing stones on the smoking mountains that ringed the two clear-watered lakes whose cool, sweet waters blessed the forest-laden peninsula upon which these beings made their home. They spent their days divining the world of the spirits and ghosts by means of the vapors which wafted in the high caves of the isthmus’ smoking mountains. Indeed, their increasing visitations of the darkness that would one day become known as the Black emboldened theses creature’s naturally savage ways, changing their shape and nature. Their manes receded and their teeth lengthened, and they began to stir with an awesome and terrible rage. This sickness led them to draw the unorganized tribes of nomadic humans which populated the hinterlands of their territory to their rule. Slowly, the uncivilized humans were taught the ways of their masters, until they had mastered them, and determined to once again live freely. In the wake of the slaughter which ended their master’s uncounted days of rule, the tribes that would become known variously as the Tarḫunz or the Taquan, lived under their kings in peace. However, they remained less free than their legends might suggest, for the seers among the tribes had been seduced by the power of their masters’ sorceries, and so continued to live with and among the ghosts of those who had taught them the hidden knowledge of the black arts. This deep knowledge was passed from initiate to disciple for a hundred generations within what would come to be known as the Cult of Mitra. The rule of the Tarḫunz was ended by the migration of the Anaeans, a pastoral people who uprooted the kings of the ancient tribes and established a new republic on the ashes of the peninsula’s previous rulers. Under Anaean rule, the Tarḫunz dwindled, becoming a small minority within what was once their sovereign domain. They continued to persist chiefly as seers who maintained their ancient rites, and the enigmatic divinations of the Cult of Mitra continued to be transmitted from one generation to the next, and the most ancient rulers of the twin lakes and the smoking mountains looked on from their endless lives in the depths of the Black, and they took some satisfaction in the shape that history had taken. As is the way of all things, the Anaeans were themselves overthrown by the arrival of the Peliades from in a vast armada from across the sea. They hailed from a distant land across the sea, to the east, where merchants ruled in place of nobles. This flotilla convened by the ravenous forces of the lesser merchant houses of their homeland destroyed the Anaean city and port, and established a new capital, Balic, with triple walls and a great circular dock known as the Chthon within the crystal-watered bay embraced by the city’s new defenses. And finally, the Peliades themselves were overthrown by the arrival of the Dictator Adrophinus in the closing days of the Cleansing Wars. A serpent-tongued beguiler, Adrophinus conquered the city by deception and intrigue, having himself first elected the head of the Great Council before effectively abolishing its independent power. And thus he has ruled since the day when the sun was tinted red and the sands consumed the green earth. Though the ancient paradise of the Green Age is long lost, several of its features remain evident in the current shape of Balic. The two lakes remain, and are a guarded reserve of the city, as does the smoking mountains where the ancient seers of humans and their precursors plumbed the mysteries of the Black. The rule of Adrophinus has always been harsh, but the impositions of the last decade have stirred a new spirit among the people of the city which has long been absent from aught but song. Murmurs of discontent grow, and the members of the Great Council have begun to chafe at the Dictator’s hard yoke. It is this same spirit that animated the House of Nicephorus, the noble Peliadean family to which Leonidas was sold as a young boy. Intended as a companion for the young heiress of the house, the lady Arsinoe, the now-departed patriarch of the house, Nicephorus Alcibiades XIV, was also intrigued by the youth’s connection to the ancient Cult of Mitra, into which his parents had inducted him before extended privation in the odorous under-reaches of the Grand Promenade forced them to relinquish their only child. In time, Nicephorus’ designs against the Dictator were discovered, and his head removed for the offense, leaving the patriarch’s wife Persephone, and her daughter Arsione, un-armored against their enemies among the servants of the sorcerer-king. Even now, Adrophinus’ Templars hunts the pair, seeking either their capture or death. Leonidas followed their trail with difficulty, tracking the pair on the trade routes headed west for several weeks, and now stands at the doors of ancient Kalidnay’s ruins. Is this where they have fled? Night draws on quickly, and the spirit-haunted seer finds himself on the outskirts of an ancient temple hidden in a gulch beneath a towering rock bluff. The roof of the structure is illuminated by an intense violet radiance that reveals the shapes of some two dozen figures congregated on its wide rooftop precipice. Perhaps the beginnings of an answer may be found within the first evidence of living creatures he has seen in several days while approaching the ruins…. ------------------ Though a faithful servant of mistress Arsione of House Nicephorus of Balic throughout her young life, the recent, disreputable actions of the young lady and her mother have incited a crisis of conscious in her servant of heretofore unwavering fidelity. Members of a faction of Balic's Veiled Alliance known as the Pistoi Angeleollenikoi, the 'Stalwart' or 'Faithful' in the common Trade Tongue of the Tablelands, their motives and methods have increasingly diverged from those of their confederates. Determined to directly oppose the tyrant Adrophinus, the members of the Pistoi Angeleollenikoi have secretly cultivated their own power within a camp hidden deep amid the ruins of ancient Kalidnay. There, in concert with mysterious powers, they have begun to breed, raise, and circulate the abominations known as the beetles of Shafqat-Rekhta, a genus of insects whose presence dampens nearby psionic and magical abilities. The Pistoi Angeleollenikoi hope to employ these creatures in a violent coup against the Tyrant of Balic. Their machinations have intertwined their operations with those of enigmatic visitors from another world, who called themselves the 'slassans'. These latter have arrived recently from another world, and established themselves in a massive domed city beneath the ruins of the lost city-state. Their corruption is evident to Raxus, and he can no longer abide his mistress' role as the chief emissary of the Pistoi Angeleollenikoi to the slassans. |
