Nation Building The World of Ioria {Lore}

[KhalZhavvorsa]

PLEASE DO NOT POST HERE WITHOUT PERMISSION!!!
Cosmo
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Main Thread: https://www.rpnation.com/threads/the-world-of-ioria.353922/
OOC: https://www.rpnation.com/threads/the-world-of-ioria-occ.353925/#post-8185877
CS: https://www.rpnation.com/threads/the-world-of-ioria-character-sheets.353937/
KS: https://www.rpnation.com/threads/the-world-of-ioria-kingdom-sheets.353929/

 

[KhalZhavvorsa]

Cults

The Green Carnival

One of the most bizarre of the cults, and one of the most easily distinguished, the Green Carnival, or Carnivals truly, are massive 'host' of wandering gypsies often horribly disfigured and most tend to be horribly bloated and sickly looking as if all are suffering from some unknown blight. Many villages and towns have invited the Carnivals in only to realize their mistake, days later, when disease and sickness runs rampant through their populace, those that do not die are driven insane as their bodies are wracked by disease and they too join the Green Carnival. Despite warnings and efforts of the nations to stomp out these Carnivals, more and more seem to emerge as they cut a decaying path through the countryside laughing and caroling as they dance their jig of pestilence.

The Martyred

The Martyred are a morbid lot. They believe that only through pain can the sins of the world be forgiven. Self-mutilation and bondage run rampant among them as they seem to take strength from their pain, many even seeming to take pleasure in it. For some reason, unexplained by any Martyred 'interrogated' they use a disturbing six-legged insect as their symbol and it isn't uncommon for members to mutilate their bodies to resemble this symbol. The terror of the Martyred comes from their victims for pain must be shared and those that do no embrace the pain or those who embrace only sin must be punished to redeem the world, they torture and maim these people and, most often, tear open their chest mutilating their ribs to create their six legged symbol.


The Magistrate

The Magistrate are the most violent and warlike of the cults. They are formed in large 'groups', a Magistar and their Justicars. The Magistar tends to be a mage of some skill while the Justicars are heavily armed men and women from all races, sometimes in the form of a band of fanatic, dirty peasants other times in well armed men-at-arms, but they are all very dangerous with strength that defies their appearance and a ferocity that few can ever match. These groups wander the land dealing with 'injustice' in hastily put up courts. Sometimes, these turn out rather well.. but mostly, they do not with the Magistar claiming grievous and injustices done for even the smallest of crimes or mistakes and often, for the Magistrate, the only way to pay a crime is through blood. It is said that the Magistars bathe in the blood of their 'criminals', but if that is true it is unknown, but the fact the Magistars always reclaim the bodies of the condemn does lead some to wonder..

The Sisterhood

An all female cult, this cult is the most selective and secretive of the bunch. They do not go around murdering or burning their way through the world, instead, they prefer a more.. subtle approach. Their members are expert spies and assassins and they 'offer' their service to others in return for 'favors'. What these 'favors' are no one truly know as any of their clientele that speak tend to be swiftly removed as are the ones they speak to. There are whispers that their demand is in young girls and female babes ripped from the arms of poor mothers or orphanage, so far, the only common feature they all have is they wear metallic mask, the color and design likely having some symbolic purpose, but what that purpose is.. no one truly knows.

The Path

Members of the 'Path' are called 'Walkers', and the practitioners preach that only through giving up life's chains in the form of family, friends and physical goods can one truly be free and enlightened. It is highly 'encouraged' to give up one's life possessions to the 'temple' as, after all, the 'temple' does require funds to feed and clothe its walkers. As the walkers tread their path, often in large groups behind a 'mentor', they can move 'up' in the path to various 'degrees' of enlightenment, often needing them to give something or preform a certain service and as they grow higher in ranks, the more extreme these demands become. A Walker of the Eighth Path, the second highest rank, returned back to her birth city and burned the home of her parents to the ground with them chained inside, 'releasing', her from the last of her bonds and attaining the Ninth Path. It is rumored that members of the Ninth Path return to the hidden location of their temple and are never seen again, but, as with all cults.. these are just whispers.​

 

[The Fluffiest Floof]

History of Ragnavar

About 400 years before the stories time, there was a gigantic beast, the Krashtar, who set ablaze the country, brought death and destruction. Ragnavar was known as Galadarnad back then. It had been a pure mining kingdom. But they had dug too deep, they had awoken something that had not been awoken since the lands creation. A creature of fire, gigantic and with the power to destroy the whole kingdom. It resembled what your people call a "dragon", yet way more powerful and a whole lot bigger. It had ravaged the lands and the people were at the brink of extinction. THat was, when Iluvitar Lightbane faced the beast. Iluvitar, a single man, took it on in a fight. And he won. However, the creature that was known as the Krashtar, was immortal. Iluvitar could only seal it away, hoping that nobody would ever again awaken it. The remaining people called Iluvitar a hero, they made him their king. And Iluvitar accepted, planning to create a utopia. He named it what would mean "Burning Earth" in the language of their home. Ragnavar. Over years and centuries, the kingdom´s surface stayed barren, but the underground cities grew and got fertile, a culture arising in what were the ruins of their ancestors. Iluvitar build his castle over the dungeon he had sealed the monster in, to protect it himself. The task of protection got passed from king to king. That was, how the Krashtar got defeated.


Iluvatar Lightbane facing the Krashtar

 

[KhalZhavvorsa]

{To Be Determined}
The Green Carnival's Disease

Transmission
There is no current concrete evidence on how it is transmitted, the current theory is that the disease is spread by the 'carriers', those that did not die but, instead, were driven to insanity by the rampaging disease, or, in turn, by the bodies of those who did perish to the disease and were improperly handled by those disposing of the bodies. There have been no reports of any insects or animals carrying the infection, although they, themselves, are no more resistant to the effects. Many people believe the land is left 'blighted' after large numbers people have been infected and dead, and while there is no documented case of this being true, reports do indicate that the nearby ground and waters do have a slight emerald sheen to them.

Symptoms
The Symptoms vary drastically based upon the biology of the creature effected. In general, less.. fleshy creatures such as Wights, Golems and other such creatures tend to suffer from 'structural integrity' issues be they bone rot, decaying of the substance they are made off until they, quite literally, fall apart and despite efforts to reinforce their 'bodies' or 'heal' them using magic, rituals, runes or other such remedies have had no visible effect. As for more.. fleshy targets, according to research by more... inquisitive nations have found that it tends to develop in four stages.
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Stage 1 - Incubation Period​

During this period, no real symptoms are visible, but the second they contract the disease, they become infectious carriers. The time before symptoms start vary randomly, but it tends to take three to eight hours before the first symptoms begin.
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Stage 2 - Prodromal Period​

The early symptoms have no real distinct from many common sicknesses and illnesses, the being will develop a fever, nausea and sores will begin to form on the body.
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Stage 3 - Acute Period​

Within 24-72 hours, the symptoms of the disease are in full swing and it is during the later periods of this stage that the 'divide' appears between the infected. Lesions and sores will spread across the body as well as large sections of skin will bloat that tend to leak large amounts of puss and other fluids out of their various sundered skin sections. Extreme nausea and sweating plague most of the afflicted, and some will start to have delusions and hallucinations as their minds start to betray their body, many have been seen reportedly mutating their bodies and whispering various phrases often centered on a 'woman'. Initial reports assumed they were hallucinating their mothers or other maternal figures given how they held themselves and, well, the obvious literal usage of 'mother'. The ones that suffer these mental illnesses are the ones who have survived, so far, no one that has not suffered from the mental has survived.
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Stage 4 - 'Ascendancy'​

After a week, all the afflicted are either dead or 'changed'. Named the 'Ascendancy' after the ravings of the afflicted near the end of their Acute Period often begging someone, or something, to 'embrace' them, often including a 'mother'. Those one driven insane seem 'changed', while they regain critical and rational thought, a core 'part' of what made them.. them seems to have been altered as while they still use the same name, have the same voice, their personality is.. tweaked, as if it is a distorted, mutated versions of the people they once were. They still show their bodily symptoms from before such as the lesions and sores, but it no longer seems to bother or hinder the afflicted in any recognizable way, and more worryingly, it seems those that 'ascend' are far tougher and more 'resistant' to injuries then before as if their bodies simply no longer 'need' their major organs to function. Death still comes if given enough physical trauma, but reports of wounded 'Ascendants' carrying their severed limbs or moving despite massive lacerations. ​