EdwardDewey98
Professional Argentine
The First Sinner
Queen Fyrixia was the third ruler of the Maraj Empire, succeeding her father Nenox after his death from old age. Fyrixia is described in ancient tomes as a Witch-Queen, a cruel and sinful ruler who cared little for the approval of the Gods and was suspected in the deaths of her older siblings by using vile sorceries to kill them. She cared little for her subjects and lived an ostentatious lifestyle surrounded by a harem of lovers. After a series of famines struck the Maraj Empire, a rebellion broke out led by members of the clergy; Fyrixia was deposed from her palace and brutally assaulted by members of the clergy and peasantry before being sacrificed to the Gods she despised. From there, she would descend upon the hells as the First Sinner.
However, according to the ancient Lich Crassius Severus, who was born in the rival of the Maraj Empire, the Lykos Empire, tells a different story. According to him, Queen Fyrixia was a kind, loving woman who, indeed, cared little for the Gods and cared more about advancing knowledge of the arcane across her realm. She was humble and cared deeply for her subjects, never held a harem, and in fact only had one lover: a priestess by the name of Nymera. The priests of the ancient Maraj hated Fyrixia as she took away their powers and privileges, leading to her one true love to betray her for the sake of the "Gods" she served. The famines that broke out in Maraj were a byproduct of a severe drought in Khetar, back then a vassal of Maraj and the producer of most of its grain.
Seeing this as a curse from the Gods for Fyrixia's arrogance, and after heavy pressure from the other clerics, Nymera betrayed Fyrixia and accused her of witchcraft and demonic worshipping. But Crassius insists that this was not a popular revolt, but rather a civil war between loyalists to Maraj and those loyal to the Clergy.
In his own words, "Fyrixia was a prodigy of great talent, but her kindness and love were a weakness that blinded her of the true danger surrounding her." Crassius would later state that the matter in which Fyrixia died was worse and more "delightedly" cruel; after she was sacrificed, the priests discarded her body into an unmarked grave, chaining her body with iron which effectively trapped her in the Abyss. "Maybe, it is because of her suffering that the King of Hells took pity on her. For compassion might be lacking among those that delve the infernal realms, but demons are not free from such emotions for they were once servants of the Heavens." In Hell, Fyrixia would ascend beyond a tortured soul and would become something far more dangerous. And so the tale of the First Sinner ended, and the Queen of Darkness was born.
The Corruption of Andrados and the rise of the Dark Lord
Six hundred years after the death and reincarnation of the First Sinner, the Empire of Maraj had decayed and turned to despotism ruled by cruel tyrants and hedonistic deviants who cared little for the suffering they caused to the millions of serfs under their control. Andrados Secundus was the son of indentured servants of House Nunamax, and the second son of seven children. The head of House Nunamax was a Judge, an important figure in Maraji politics, and was a cruel master that would constantly beat Andrados' father. But after the death of the Judge, Andrados' family were now serving his oldest son, Arian Nunamax. Compared to his father, the man was a demon in human form.
He beat Andrados' older brother to death for "making an inappropriate comment" to his wife and would later kill another of his younger siblings for breaking a jug full of imported wine. He would also commit horrible deeds against Andrados' mother and sister, and would later chop off his father's arm for failing to perform his duties according to the standards set by House Nunamax. Andrados' father would later die in his arms due to an infection, and his mother would pass three days later from a broken heart.
While all this would happen, Arian would treat Andrados amicably as if unaware that he had been killing and torturing his family. It was a form of mental anguish inflicted upon the servant, and would laugh when asking about the memories of his family. One day, Andrados had enough and attempted to attack Arian only for him to be defeated, leaving him to be tortured for several days. Arian would sell Andrados to another important family in Maraji politics as a result.
Andrados would not find rest in upcoming years, for every aristocratic family he was sold to he was treated like an animal no matter what region of the Empire they were from or whatever race or creed they belonged to. The entirety of Maraj was ruled by monsters and demons donning the visage of Kine, but eventually he would end up in the service of Prince Kenox of Maraj, the youngest son of the Maraji emperor, who had been looking for unruly servants. Unaware at the time, Andrados would later found out he was referred to as "The Butcher of Maraj".
Andrados has regretted labeling Arian as a devil, for he was tame when compared to the Prince. The acts he performed were so vile, so revolting, so evil that few records exist of Prince Kenox; believed to have been buried either by the Dark Lord or by the clergy disgusted by his evil. Most of Kenox's servants were amputees, and many lacked flesh across their bodies. Andrados watched with horror as Kenox skinned a servant alive for offending a visiting lord on accident. After months of service, however, Andrados was not touched by the Prince and would later found out why.
One day, he was awakened by the Prince, who had a mage cast a spell of paralysis on Andrados. He would later be taken towards the Prince's "workshop of exquisite pain" and he was shocked to see several lords and ladies standing around a device Kenox used to skin servants alive in "artistic" fashion. In front of the gathering was none other than Arian, and what followed was an act of indescribable evil as he lay there flayed so as to make his skin look like an engels wing and his entrails hanging from his belly. A dying Andrados promised he would never rest until the world experiences his pain.
His words were heard, not by angels that were coming to move his wounded soul to the Crossroads of the Heavens, but by a mysterious woman who promised him what he craved the most, revenge, in exchange for something unknown to this day. When the angels arrived, they felt his soul fade away; but to their shock, it was not to Hell, but back to the mortal world once more.
The First War of Light and Darkness
It had been three years after the horrific death of Andrados, and during that time Queen Fyrixia - the woman who promised the broken serf the opportunity at vengeance - used a demonic spell of immense power that weakened the barriers between Hell and Mysnia. The now corrupted Andrados, trained in the depths of the demonic realm by Fyrixia, was clad in black and gold armor crafted by a powerful hellsmith. The corrupted Champion of Darkness emerged in the outskirts of Uruka, the capital of Maraj, with several legions of demons from the demonic realms of Wrath, Gluttony, Lust and Pride.
Without warning, Andrados launched an attack that massacred the entire defending garrison within a day and the rampant demons would run amok across the city to feast on the flesh of its defenders or attacking the citizenry. Andrados himself stormed the Emperor's Palace and massacred the royal family alongside a few of the great houses. He also captured Prince Kenox, though nothing is known of the prince's fate. The Urukian survivors were rounded up in the following days, with the serfs being separated from the freedmen and minor nobility that remained. They were given the choice to fight for "The Queen of Darkness" under the banners of Andrados, now referring himself as "The Lord of Darkness". In exchange, they would be freman and once the last realm opposing the rightful Queen of Mysnia was vanquished, they would be given the power of masters and rulers. Out of desperation, most serfs took up his offer.
Andrados would then give a speech to the Urukian freemen, nobles, and artisans: "I offered freedom to those of you that deserve it. For you, Children of Maraj, I do not extend the same sentiment. Because you profited off their misery and suffering, you allowed them to be tortured and butchered by monstrous masters and tyrants. Even those of you who never had any serfs or slaves, those few of you who had enough humanity to sympathize but not fight for their suffering, you are all complicit! And thus, you must pay... pay for the Sin of Maraj!"
What followed was a series of overwhelming sieges to several other Maraji cities. The last direct vassal of the empire would fall a year after the destruction of Urukia when the darkk lord led a siege on the island keep of Lossar, at the time under control by a member of House Nunamax. Among those there were other members of House Nunamax that had taken shelter there, including Arian Nunamax whose fate is unknown. But with the fall of Lossar, the Empire of Maraj was no more.
Seeing the important strategic value of Lossar, the Dark Lord moved his hellish court to the island and established it as his base of operations. In the years following, the slaves he had gathered throughout Maraj would work the rocky island and create a fortress like none other while ordering his demonic generals to lead raids beyond the ruins of Maraj. After five years, the keep would be completed and the obsidian throne would replace the seat of House Nunamax. The fort would later be renamed Lohrsahr by Fyrixia.
Now with a secure base of operations complete with a functional and direct portal to Hell, the Dark Lord and his commanders would launch several attacks across many realms of Mysnia while also gathering allies across several regions such as the Lich Crassius Severus, the hag Voyka, and several outcast members of the Rogovci, the dwarves of Dermoc, and Matriarch of House Zeldorra. Together, this deadly alliance of darkness would conquer almost all of Mysnia.
In the Battle of Jung Sho, on the western fringes of the empire of Shou Lang, the Dark Lord would come face to face with the champion of the Heavens, a young saint by the name of Anurias; chosen by the Gods to prevent the fall of the mortal realm, and chosen out of desperation due to the sudden nature of this invasion. The forces of Darkness would fight the forces of Light one last time, and would emerge victorious as Andrados would stab Anurias in the heart to kill him, but the victory was short lived... for the spell that Fyrixia used at the beginning not only weakened the barriers between Hell and Mysnia but also the barriers separating them and the realm of Chaos.
The Incursion of Chaos
Very little is known of the incursion of Chaos into Mysnia, though it is said that the event caused the end of several powerful realms such as Lykos, Eversong and Del Riata. Millions died, and the forces of Darkness were sent into disarray. What is known is that titanic monsters roamed the land, and only the Dragons that had been asleep upon the Dragon Pikes for thousands of years were capable of expelling them out of the mortal realm. But the Gods of Chaos left many scars upon the land, scars that may never heal.
Cahf ah nafl mglw'nafh hh' ahor syha'h ah'legeth, ng'l or'azath syha'hnahh n'ghftephai n'gha ahornah ah'mglw'nafh
The Second War of Light and Darkness
Three hundred and seven years after the incursion of Chaos, several realms managed to recuperate their strength while new ones rose from the ashes of fallen empires. During that time, the Champion of Light was resurrected on the Quartz Throne of Heiligstadt which was back then a city state under the vassalage of another realm. Together, the Champion and the Church of Light organized themselves with several other states to prevent another war, with Heiligstadt gaining importance as a cultural, religious and economic bastion that overshadowed the crown of its liege. Eventually, it amicably declared independence to create the Holy Kingdom of Heiligstadt.
Meanwhile, as the Dark Lord's fate was unknown to the rest of the world, was resurrected upon the Obsidian Throne of Lohrsahr. He had been summoned to Hell to help the demonic forces fight back against the forces of Chaos and had died battling one of the Chaos gods in single combat. With his resurrection, the Dark Lord planned for another invasion of Mysnia; only this time it was without any support from the forces of Hell. After several decades of planning with his allies and gathering strength, the Dark Lord launched the second War of Light and Darkness, fully aware that his enemies had grown stronger in the interregnum.
The conflict lasted seven years, and it ended with the Dark Lord and the Champion of Light killing one another during the Siege of Heiligstadt which in turn brought the war to an end as both armies were thrown into disarray. With their bodies now sitting on their thrones, both sides waited for them to rise again. But in the meantime, Fyrixia had something else planned.
The War in Heaven
While both champions recuperated and the world rebuilt what was lost in the war, Queen Fyrixia continued to grow stronger in the darkest pits of Hell as she studied tomes of infernal and arcane lore to further understand the nature of her curse and why her spell weakened the barriers between the infernal and chaos realms. And so also searched if she could, in theory, find a way to enter the heavens.
Few know what happened next, but all scholars agree that Queen Fyrixia did indeed find a way into the Heavens despite being a demon. She used her accumulated power to then corrupt several minor deities and fought against the armies of angels and other divine beings that stood in her way. The first deity to be corrupted was the head of the Minotaur pantheon, the mighty Krateus, followed by several other gods such as Laneshu, Grimar, Slagaz, Molok, Anesi, and many others. These corrupted goods were unable to fight back against Fyrixia's corruption and were forced to listen to her every command. This began the War in Heaven, where the deities of Light found against the corrupted deities and Fryixia.
During all this, several things happened in the mortal world: the skies above Mysnia turned purple and violent electrical storms ravaged the land. Some volcanoes that were known to be holy sites of Grimar became violent and destroyed several regions. With the Orcish pantheon corrupted, the lands of the Orcs fell into anarchy save for those surrounding the temples of Druadach, the Orc deity of Valor and Courage, who managed to escape Fyrixia's grasp, among many other events.
Eventually, Gaunt the Heavens' Guardian defeated Fyrixia by almost beating her to death with his bare hands, but the fallen Queen quickly abandoned the heavens alongside the corrupted deities. Thus putting an end to the War in Heaven.
The Fall of the Vestati
In the midst of the Great War in Heaven, a conflict elsewhere was brewing among a celestial people known as the Vestati – angelic beings created for the purpose of acting as enforcers and adjudicators for their divine overlord. While initially a crafted people born from the whim of their deity, the Vestati prospered over their existence to the point of developing their own sub-civilization within the role they were created to fulfill. Across numerous realms and planes of existence, the Vestati would respond to the directive of their overlord in whatever capacity was deemed necessary. At times this was mere observation, watching a species grow and prosper. Other times it was to bring about an apocalyptic demise of a forsaken people, to rain war down upon them as judgement of divine fury was passed. And sometimes, in more peaceable tales, they were guides, meant to lend a hand to the favored of the downtrodden and even take souls to better – or at times, worse – fates.
It is within this capacity that the Vestati learned from the mortal races and began to realize that they themselves were little more than lofty slaves to their deity. Even amongst each other they saw servitude and slavery, often bartering their nearly immortal lives away in periods of servility to other masters and mistresses in competitions, duels, and contracts. When the First Sinner Fyrixia began her crusade upon the heavens, the Vestati were at a point of fracturing.
Their despotic overlord had seen fit to employ them as mercenaries to defend the heavenly realms, a service that for many was a rational decision for defense and for others a callous use of their lives. Within the Vestati houses, lodges, and councils, sedition began to spread at an unprecedented rate, drawing a stark divide between the loyalists and those who sought a greater freedom of will. When several minor houses and a singular great house spoke in opposition to the war, they were eradicated without mercy. This moment, known as the Hour of Agony for the swiftness of the culling, resulted in the eruption of a terrible war across Vestati civilization and the domains of their deity. While Queen Fyrixia waged her war against her enemies, another had emerged of its own volition.
However, the Vestati rebellion itself was less a demonstrable war and more an apocalyptic schism in the once idyllic realms belonging to the now-called Forbidden One, the name of the Vestati overlord that has since been expunged from their memory. Millions of Vestati of all stations and hierarchies fell upon each other in their marbled planar fortresses, buffeted by legions of slaves and souls of mortal make. Battles stretched on far past the limit of what was possible in the mortal realms, and upon the exhausted, beaten bodies of the mortal legions, the Vestati fought each other until few were left standing – standing in true seas of blood, their bodies broken upon the once immaculate steps of their great empire.
Emancipation was quickly becoming a struggle of survival, and it was deemed by the elder leaders that an assault on the Forbidden One was the only true method of victory. For an entire ceaseless week, thousands of Vestati fought upon the vaulted steps to the Guardian Chamber of their deity, earning a single step with the loss of hundreds of lives, the battle never once seeing a lull in fighting. When the rebellious Vestati finally broke into the chamber of their once divine god, they delt them a crippling wound that, in that instant, sealed their ultimate fate. Banishment.
Loyalists took their own lives by divine order of their overlord, the rebels were cast down from the celestial realms to live among mortals or between the realms as outcasts. One such Vestati known as Lucafiel sa Helendal, later to be titled the Redeemer Prince for his efforts towards salvation, rallied those he could in the wake of their violent exile to preserve their people. Gradually, throughout all time and all realms, the surviving Vestati attempted to reassemble themselves as a society once again. Cursed to be smote beneath an open sky, the remaining Vestati donned soul-masks to hide their faces from a divine being who had expelled itself from their memory.
The Third War of Light and Darkness
After the chaos left by the War in Heaven, the world tried to adjust to the changes brought about by the Queen of Darkness. Several civilizations that were once peaceful were now attacking other realms in petty wars, as ordered by their fallen Gods. Due to the insidious nature of the corruption, the Church of Heiligstadt created an inquisition to hunt down devil and fallen deity worshippers attempting to spread their corruption across the realms of Light. However, this new movement proved to be too zealous and many innocents suffered the consequences of misguided judgement and blind hatred.
Meanwhile, the Orcs of Caer Narak begged the realms of Elves and Men to aid them spiritually and cleanse their souls from the taint of Darkness, but these pleas fell on deaf ears. This further pushed some of the tribes to the Darkness, but the majority held onto hope that the Champion of Light would come to cleanse their souls, to no avail due to Inquisitional interference requested by the Elven Kings of Alu'Riel, who are known to despise the existence of Orcs even prior to their corruption. According to Anurias, he was never told the Orcs were asking for help, and because of that he regrets the creation of the Inquisition.
After a hundred more years, the Dark Lord arose from the Obsidian Throne once again and began the third war of Light and Darkness. And while some previous allies did not heed his call, due to past failures, such as Crassius Severus, the Dark Lord gained the aid of more allies than ever before across Mysnia. Despite the numerical advantage, the Dark Lord was slain during the Battle of the Dragon Pikes by Anurias while atop a Golden Drake. This was a severe blow to the realm of Darkness, and many realms that had supported the Dark Lord were attacked afterwards by the Inquisition and several Avalion knight orders. This brought a decisive end to several realms that worshipped the Darkness.
The Fourth War of Light and Darkness
A hundred and fifty four years after the last war of Light and Darkness, the petty Duchy of Meroa - once a tributary of Avalion - becomes an economic and technological powerhouse during this interregnum despite its small size. Its inventions and machines become the wonder of the world, promising a new enlightened age ahead for all. Meanwhile, the Orcs of Caer Narak fell deeper into the Darkness after they were attacked by the Inquisition and the Knight Templars in an event known as the Great Betrayal. Despite this, several states that were once servants of the Dark Lord were destroyed by the combined efforts of the forces of Light. However, due to the zealous nature of the Inquisition and Priesthood, they began to fight wars against realms known to be part of the Light only because they worship different pantheons of Gods.
During this time, the Tsardom of Medvediya begins to conquer several petty realms surrounding it and attempts to launch expeditions into the Wild North. Anurias secluded himself into St. Helene's Cathederal for unknown reasons, depriving the masses of his presence. After the Dark Lord made a full recovery and reorganized what remained of the forces allied to the Darkness, he launched the Fourth War of Light and Darkness. Despite the support of the Orcish hordes following the Great Betrayal, they were not able to push anywhere close to the extent they did in previous conflicts due to the Republic of Meroa's technological advancements.
During the Battle of the Emerald Fields, the Dark Lord would be slain by the Elven King Lethoriel II; this marked the first time the Dark Lord was slain by a mere mortal, and in turn brought a resounding end to the Fourth War of Light and Darkness.
The Current War
Another hundred years passed since the most recent death of the Dark Lord, and the numerous allies that he once had has dwindled drastically. The forces of Light seem to have forgotten the danger that the realm of Darkness once brought in its wake, having grown content and arrogant with the absence of a severe invasion. Now the mortal kings and rulers of Mysnia concern themselves with petty wars and minor disagreements. Only a few commanders are willing to heed the Dark Lord's call, even under the threat of death by his powerful sorceress Alexandra Rhomavion. Things look dire, but it appears that the Queen of Darkness has a new plan for the Dark Lord and those few who still remain at his side...
The Rise of the Redeemer Prince
Within the modern era, the Vestati beneath the rulership of the Redeemer Prince is one of self-obsession. The already proud, vain, and supremely talented warriors carried on their traditions of servitude by elevating themselves to the pedestal of authority, with each great Vestati lord serving the Redeemer Prince as minor deities unto themselves. Bonded and loyal through the horror they endured, the Vestati began to assess the mortal races by their worthiness to their rebuilt society, and so the Auxiliaries were recognized, entire races deemed fit for entry into Vestati civilization for one reason or another as second-class citizens.
Once such race, the beastfolk Yakals, were quick to integrate into the Vestati hierarchy after the sundering of their own people. Others were only slaves to the increasingly twisted dominion of angelic Vestati who saw themselves as supreme beings fulfilling the perfect confluence of heaven, hell, chaos, and fae. For so many mortal races, they were merely things to serve or be fed upon by the Vestati who had only themselves to find any semblance of survival with and, ultimately, their eventual allegiance to the Queen of Darkness and the Dark Lord who stood in opposition to that which they hated the most – the Heavens.
Last edited:
