Elegy
I am the bone of my sword
NOTE: Any questions or suggestions you have, please relay to me through either PM or OOC, thank you.
Setting
The current year is 2044. And in this year, the human race is projected to become extinct.
Three years ago, seven massive pits extending hundreds of kilometers in diameter yawned upon upon each continent. As if the earth itself was opening its maw to hungrily feast, these pits suddenly opened. There was no warning, no seismic tremor. The pits themselves caused massive damage upon the human race, swallowing up countless cities in a single instant. The world was sent into an uproarious panic and shock as investigations were hurried towards the emergence of the pits. At first, there was no sign of any sort of malicious event to occur. There were only the ominous presences of these massive pits that seemed to be harbingers of ruin. And indeed they were.
After three days, massive seismic disturbances were detected within each and every pit. Tremors shook the entire world as it seemed as if the very earth itself was vomiting up impurities hidden away within it.
On the fifth day, the beginning of the apocalypse began. Monstrosities and beastly figures of multitudes upon multitudes of varying complexions, sizes, shape and build screamed out from these pits in quantities that blotted out the sun. They were unstoppable. As if acting with one mind, the colossal swarm of monsters ravaged cities and countries within days. Humaity was too shaken to fight back and too disorganized. When they finally came to, they had lost too much. Nevertheless, the strength of human tenacity is not to be trifled with. Through various sacrifices painted with glory and valor, the world's combined military might was able to force back the inexorable swarm with whatever they had on disposal, most of these items being nuclear weapons. The monsters retreated back, gathering their numbers once more by each passing day. Humanity had lost over seventy percent of its population, and four out of five continents had been completely overrun by the time the monsters were stopped. Stopped would also be an incorrect term. Every day a swarm of monsters of raiding parties would attempt to fell the remaining cities and countries, now fortified to heavy extents, but these swarms were always pushed back.
In the advent of the second year of this destruction, Humanity gained a single ray of hope. They were special beings that could utilize a source of energy that had become forgotten to the human consciousness long ages past. Rallying these specialized humans to a fortified defensive position, the remaining humanity held out. However, humanity had never truly won, and each passing week heralded to loss of a small fraction of the remaining broken human lands. These added up, and now in the beginning of this third year of conflict, humanity is at its most desperate and final stand. No matter how long they defend and how many creatures they slay, more are simply spewed forth from the land from the yawning pits of hell.
You are a surviving human within the continent called North America. It is the last stronghold of humanity, and people from around the world have flocked to it in escape of their dying lands. In reaction to the countless attacks, the remaining humans have created a single, massive city fortified to extreme extents christened the United. United has become the representation of humanity, with people from all around the world running towards its safety and contributing to its defenses. However, as each day passes on, the prospects of survival become bleaker and bleaker. The remaining paltry population has become to small to sustain quick enough growth to replenish troops, and each special human lost severely hurt the survival of humanity. However, there seems to be a single ray of hope at the end of the tunnel of human extinction. It came in the form of a last words spoken from the lips of a dying old man that numbered among the few special humans. He had ventured within the pit and had come back through unusual circumstances, and his only advice he had to give before passing on to the Cycle was that survival lay within the pit itself.
Thus with one last stand, clinging on to a single, faltering ray of hope, humanity gathers its absolute best to venture into the source of everything.
WORLDBUILDING
Age of Gods
Before the advance of civilization, there were myths. Legends. Tales of fantastical creatures and people. But these tales were not just fantasy, they were grounded in absolute reality. The Age of Gods is the time period that spans from the cradles of civilization from the Mesopotamians to the start of the era of globalization that began with the discovery of the Americas. During this time, deities from several different regions and belief systems existed and reigned, hence the term Age of Gods. In addition, the heroes and creatures of myth and folklore detailed in modern history also existed during this time. During this age, people were much stronger physically than people are today, being able to perform superhuman feats of strength and agility with those being exceptional to an absurd amount even among these people of old becoming recognized heroes. Magic and sorcery was a common practice in this age, with the gods teaching their mystical arts to mortals and mortals themselves experimenting and learning how to manipulate their spiritual and mystical energies to perform feats of magic that would be deemed impossible in the modern age. Just as exceptional heroes existed, so too did exceptional monsters. Monsters of myth that struck terror in the hearts of men long ages past, monsters of legend that ravaged lands and caused mass destruction, monsters of the gods themselves that acted as agents of oblivion. However, with the era of globalization and the advancement of scientific thought, the historical records of this glorified age became dustier and dustier, until the legends of old were merely discounted as fanciful stories.
The Cycle
The Cycle is a spiritual realm that holds the memories and experiences of every human being that has ever lived or died. It is essentially a massive library, storing away the sum total memory of humanity within its vast and ever expanding archive. When a human dies, his or her soul is transferred to the Cycle where all of its “data” is taken and recorded in the cycle. The now empty and clean soul is then sent out back to the physical realm where it seeks a newly formed physical body to inhabit again. Additionally, the Humanus within souls is extracted and given in the Cycle. When a soul is created, it’s Humanus energies are specially engineered and crafted to lean towards different specialties which created diversity among people. Due to these variations in Humanus, there were people that were strong, people that were smart, people that were adept in magic, and so forth. Additionally, one can pass down his or her Humanus form through the form of descendants, who receive physical bodies imbued with the unique characteristics of the progenitor. The Cycle is unreachable to almost any physical being with extremely few exceptions, most of these exceptions being creatures of abstract concept that do not have a definite physical form. The Cycle is an extremely powerful source of raw magical energy, but it cannot be accessed by any regular means as it is beyond the realm of the physical. It is, however, closely attuned with Humanus, and its energies can thus be obtained through a powerful activation or usage of Humanus. However, opening a strong connection to the Cycle is an extremely difficult task impossible even for the few people that can activate Humanus, but a small minority of even these few Humanus users can activate a powerful connection to the Cycle through what is called an Aspect. The Cycle itself looks like a massive, endless library with a ghostly aura to it. It also appears slightly futuristic, representative of the shift to science and technology of the human race. The Cycle is also managed by a being called the Librarian, an enigmatic figure that usually appears as a disembodied and mellow voice but can take the physical appearance of anything it wants. The Librarian supposedly manages and sorts the "books" of human history and authorizes entry or opening of connections to The Cycle. The library itself looks oddly unkempt and extremely damaged for unknown reasons.
Humanus
Humanus is the mystical energy representing the history of mankind and its will. This is the name of the inherent magical power imbued inside every single human being alive. It is a conceptual attribute representing the sum total history of the existence of humanity. It is also additionally what gives humans life and rational thought. Humanus has been sealed away for most people of the modern age, but in the Age of Gods, the conversion of one’s Humanus to create raw mana to form magical spells and artifacts was a common occurrence. Humanus is a raw, malleable energy that has no distinct signature until it is awakened by its user. When it is able to be materialized by a few gifted individuals, Humanus shapes itself to become attuned with it’s host’s history. Humanus strengthens its hosts physical capacities and grants them, if their bloodline was descended from a line of magic users in the Age of Gods, the ability to learn and cast magic. Humanus essentially pulls forth the bloodline of the host and draws forth energy from the records in the Cycle that contain the power and experiences of the user’s ancestors.The user’s Humanus is then able to siphon power from these records and temporarily grant them to its user. Since specialties derived from Humanus are inherited, there are very few cases where an individual is able to switch between specialties( E.G. One who can gain extreme physical powers and then switch to a magically adept set of skills). However, this connection to the Cycle to mimic what one’s ancestors in the Age of Gods could so is merely a cheap imitation. All abilities and powers, physical attributes and enhancements, are degraded and become much weaker due to a weak connection to the Cycle. However, very few individuals can subvert this weak connection through what is known as an Aspect. Humanus is a finite resource and can be drained through excessive usage of it, causing the temporary connection to the Cycle to become weaker and weaker before closing off. Humanus gathers up through rest, bodily nourishment and mental fitness.
Aspect
An Aspect is a mystical attribute that only manifests within specific Humanus when the host’s ancestor has a distinct and strong historical or record of his or her ancestor from the Age of Gods. Myth, folklore, legend, epics, stories, tales or history are all records that place an Aspect within an individual Humanus. An Aspect is essentially concentrated Humanus not from one single individual, but from many other people that is gathered when a historical record of a figure is created. When this historical record is created, it gathers Humanus from the memories and will of all those that remembered and continue to remember this recorded figure. The older the historical record is, the more Humanus gathered and the more potential energy the record gathers. An aspect is essentially the gathered Humanus formed by the existence of this historical record. Aspects lie dormant in the descendants of these recorded figures, but when their humanus is awakened, so too does their Aspect. When an Aspect awakens, it opens a powerful connection to the Cycle through built up Humanus and searches for the specific records of the historical figure recorded in the Aspect and bestows upon the Aspect’s host all the powers and strengths derived from their ancestor without any sort of tarnish or degradation in power level. Aspects only become powerful enough to open a connection to the cycle and pull out specific records when they are from the Age of Gods, any later than that and they become near useless. Aspects are far greater than regular usage of Humanus to siphon power from the Cycle because they carefully pull out all the specific attributes of the Aspect’s historical figure and copy them onto the keeper of the Aspect. This allows for any mystical artifacts or legendary weapons to also materialize in the physical world, as well as pre – existing magical capabilities, spells, and bodily attributes in exact detail. Additionally, since Aspects gain more power the longer they exist, older Aspects are prone to even enhancing the strength of the recorded figure in the Aspect. Humanus fuels Aspects, and since they have an ample amount of Humanus, they can create a connection to the Cycle for extended periods of time, although using high amounts of energy will still force closure. An Aspect is an attribute that resides within the very souls of its hosts, and is not a physical object. It is simply a spiritual "mark" upon one's Humanus that allows for greater access to The Cycle.
Magic and Sorcery
Magic and sorcery are arts that have long been lost to the human mind, sealed away forever through the collective human rejection of greater use of the energy of Humanus. Instead, man has turned to the triumphs of the mind instead of the body, creating inventions and technological advancements. Nevertheless, the age of science and technology is far younger than was the age of legend and myth, and thus the power obtained from the heightening of the mind is comparatively much weaker to the powers of supernatural caliber perpetuated in the Age of Gods. The most common of these supernatural powers was the usage of Magic.
Magic is a diverse and extremely versatile art that is best described, in simplest terms, as the shaping of one's natural energy, Humanus, into a physical form to act as a fuel source to create displays of wonder. Humanus is a "blank slate" type of energy, something that can be easily shaped into whatever the user is most comfortable or attuned with. However, Humanus is also a set energy that cannot be changed or have its limits reformed easily, and this is why many mages in the Age of Gods focused on one specific form of sorcery to work upon.
Sorcery is the term for Humanus that has been fine tuned to be shaped into a specific form. This form is highly specific, and for most mages it took the form of an elemental affinity where a mage's natural humanus would be automatically shaped into the element that they were most attuned with. That is to say, this was not the only way Humanus could manifest. Humanus, due to its exceptional versatility, could be shaped into countless branches such as curses, bodily strengthening, Runic magic, creation of golems, alchemy, healing sorcery, etc.
What separates good mages from great mages is the ability to more efficiently use their Humanus. The more they can get out of every tiny bit of Humanus, the stronger their sorcery becomes, and this can only be achieved through constantly exhausting and replenishing Humanus levels - Essentially training. By replenishing and restoring Humanus, one does not increase his or her Humanus levels, but increases the efficiency of the Humanus able to be used. Every human is born with an equal amount of Humanus, but it is dedication and training that distinguishes mages from others. However, if one has divine blood in them, one can receive a huge boost to his Humanus reserves allowing for the creation of more large - scale and powerful sorceries that would normally exceed the total Humanus level within a regular human through divine heritage expanding the cap on the amount of Humanus.
Naturus
Magic and Sorcery practiced by non humans are created from their very life force or connection to the earth's strength if these creatures are beasts. They have what is called Naturus, essentially what Humanus is but an energy source gathered from the environment around them and stored or within their very life force and blood. Thus monsters and nature spirits such as fairies and nymphs tend to have a high rate of Naturus replenishment as it constantly is absorbed from the very air around them, while their maximum amount of Naturus tends to be lower than that of humans with Humanus. When a being with Naturus couples with a being with Humanus,a hybrid is formed that can utilize the best of both energies, including the greater versatility Humanus offers while having the faster replenishment rate of Naturus.
Divinus
The energy that gods and divine spirits use is called Divinus. It acts just like Humanus in that it has a rather slow rate of replenishment and has exceptional versatility in shaping it. However, Divine spirits have extremely large amounts of Divinus within them that would put the greatest of mages to shame. Additionaly Divine spirits tended to have a large variety of specialties and could drastically change the nature of their energies hence why many deities had many abilities and sorceries attached to them. When a divine spirit has offspring with either a Naturus or Humanus being, the Divinus is converted into Naturus or Humanus instead of retaining the divine energy. Enchantments and general sorcery created from Divinus will always trump the other energies in an engagement where both sides use an equal amount of their respective energies. One weakness of Divinus is that it relies on the power that both Naturus and Humanus grant it, reaped from the beliefs of the people that revere the deities. Additionally, Divine spirits reside in separate dimensions from and must expend energy to leave their dimension to enter the Earth as a physical being. The expense for this materialization is very high, so few divine spirits desire to materialize in the physical world as they will not be able to go back to their respective pantheon's dimension due to their power being crippled by lack of belief in them.
The Monsters
They are creatures of infinite variety that spawn endlessly from the pit. A keen observer would see that they are in fact, mythological creatures for the most part. The creatures seem to have no mind of their own and heed to the call of a greater being in a hivemind like function. They all appear to run on Naturus completely, and it seems that the creatures also have a deep connection with the earth, able to replenish their energy reserves within seconds after expending them. It should be noted that whenever a large horde of them traverses over earth that has been reshaped by man, an infusion of flora and land appear to undo whatever change was made to the earth. The monsters also seem to retain intelligent functions and basic instincts as they will react to pain and foreign objects and are capable of analyzing their environments and rationalizing. However, none of them are capable of speech and appear to communicate with each other with some form of mental connection. Additionally, it has been observed that this mental communication has a range and sufficient isolation can work to sever help from a single monster. The monsters will also simply sink into the ground and fade away into wither a muddy substance or into dust.
Classes
Monsters are divided into classes by special Humanus users that practice clairvoyant magic. These clairvoyants can assess the overall strength of a monster with a single glance. Overall strength is determined by both magical capacity and physical capacity. The ranking are as follows:
F - Monsters of extremely low strength that tend to be in high amounts of numbers. Individually, they can be taken by a trained, regular human.
E: Monsters that can overpower regular humans with ease but cannot handle heavy machinery and fire.
D: Monsters that are powerful enough to overpower and destroy tanks and heavy machinery. They are capable of handling high power artillery and require an organized squadron of soldiers backed by heavy firepower support. These monsters are the foot soldiers of the monster army, being numerous and expendable, but not quite as proliferate as the E and F class monsters. A Humanus user would easily be able to dispatch one of these monsters.
C: Monsters with significant strength and history, often able to be recognized by those well versed in mythology. They often have unique abilities that can cause significant damage much higher than their rank suggests. Additionally, their physical and magical capabilities are much higher than the before mentioned classes, requiring at least five Humanus users to take down. They are extremely dangerous and are usually unfazed by conventional land based military strength.
B: These monsters are all able to be recognized as being part of myth, legend, history or folklore. They have unique and special attributes and abilities attached to them, often corresponding with their myths and legends. They are exceptionally deadly and require an Aspect user to engage them in single combat. They otherwise are able to slaughter regular Humanus users in single combat with ease and require complex battle plans and strategies to overcome. However, they are few in number and can be considered the elites of the monster force.
A: These monsters are those that are distinguished even in myth. They are often the creatures that some hero of old killed in a quest through a long struggle. Their powers are diverse and powerful and even Aspect users will have trouble dealing with them as they are the monsters that challenged the strength of the heroes that the Aspect users imitate.
S: Only one specimen has been recorded, and it is currently inactive under Mount Etna. It has apparently been there for many millennium, and will probably continue to be there as it is bound by some form of power. Its power is so vast that it has not been quantifiable by the Clairvoyants that attempted to gauge its strength. It is thought that even a Divine Spirit would have trouble against such a being. However, the inactivity of the monster makes it a non - threat for the time being. It is possible that there are other S class monsters that have not yet been revealed yet.
*Very likely that more is to be added*
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