the Jester
Legend
This story hour will follow right on the heels of Great Conflicts.
WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE
The material plane of Cydra has been at the center point of a devastating Great War of Ethics for centuries, but in the last few years it has truly heated to a boil. This Great War pit Law against Chaos throughout the multiverse, but on Cydra things reached a particularly fevered pitch, and, eventually, a climax.
The champions of the side of order were known as the Arrows of Law, and they included both Asmodeus, the Lord of the Hells, and the God-Emperor Prayzose, ruler of the Forinthian Empire and high priest of the Church of the Light. The champions of Chaos, on the other hand, have no set name or membership; they consist of an ever-shifting band of incredibly powerful adventurers (our heroes, the pcs and npcs making up the party that this campaign revolves around). Recently, the party managed to destroy Asmodeus with the help of his predecessor, Lucifer, whom they let free from eons of bondage. This shift in the balance of powers amongst the Arrows led Emperor Prayzose to secretly offer the vacant Arrow’s position to Inoke, a member of the party. After hearing Prayzose’s honeyed words, Inoke was persuaded, though he swore that he would not fight his friends, and Prayzose agreed to his condition.
Eventually, the conflict between our heroes and the Arrows of Law came to a head. In deadly combat, the party managed to defeat all of the Arrows, slaying and soul binding most of them (though they could not manage to soul bind Prayzose). Inoke, who had not yet been installed as the seventh Arrow, managed to escape in the end. In the finale of the conflict, Prayzose gated in his god, Galador Himself, to fight against the fierce forces that the party had brought to bear (including Tiamat, on loan from Lucifer). But our heroes, prompted by the so-called “New Gods” of Cydra (who were actually old gods from a previous multiverse that had been devoured by a terrible entity called Tharizdun), were waiting for just that- and gated in a god of their own: Vandreu, with his black sword and black shield. Vandreu and Galador began to battle mercilessly, and Vandreu warned our heroes to flee from the divine forces being unleashed. They did so, but had managed to destroy the Bastion of Law, which was the fortress that metaphorically represented Law, kill all of the Arrows and call down the wrath of Vandreu on Galador. It was as complete of a victory as they could hope for.
Amongst the loot they found were both Prayzose’s crown and the rod of the Dark Emperor- a symbol of authority over the Dark Empire of Strogass. Our heroes have long put the idea that he should become the Forinthian Emperor into the head of Thrush, one of their number, the foremost swordsman of their age; and now that Prayzose is dead, he is ready to move forward with that ambition. When the loot was split, Dorn Wankerman, Xaositecht and cohort of Gerontius, took the rod of the Dark Emperor, and it has kindled the idea in his mind that he, too, could rule an empire. And who could stop him? For our heroes are now the most powerful people on all of Cydra.
Yet they still have enemies. What political rivals or military problems they might face due to the imperial ambitions of Thrush and Wankerman are, as yet, unknown; but they have unfinished business with the King of Bile and the Queen of Guts at Bile Mountain, and they know that two more Angels of the Apocalypse have ‘come through’ to Cydra from the ashes of the old multiverse.
And there are other threats, too, that they do not yet comprehend- from an underwater island of horrors to the far-flung plan of Lucifer that relies on major victories for the demons invading the Nine Hells to the void disciples at the bottom of the multiverse....
WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE
The material plane of Cydra has been at the center point of a devastating Great War of Ethics for centuries, but in the last few years it has truly heated to a boil. This Great War pit Law against Chaos throughout the multiverse, but on Cydra things reached a particularly fevered pitch, and, eventually, a climax.
The champions of the side of order were known as the Arrows of Law, and they included both Asmodeus, the Lord of the Hells, and the God-Emperor Prayzose, ruler of the Forinthian Empire and high priest of the Church of the Light. The champions of Chaos, on the other hand, have no set name or membership; they consist of an ever-shifting band of incredibly powerful adventurers (our heroes, the pcs and npcs making up the party that this campaign revolves around). Recently, the party managed to destroy Asmodeus with the help of his predecessor, Lucifer, whom they let free from eons of bondage. This shift in the balance of powers amongst the Arrows led Emperor Prayzose to secretly offer the vacant Arrow’s position to Inoke, a member of the party. After hearing Prayzose’s honeyed words, Inoke was persuaded, though he swore that he would not fight his friends, and Prayzose agreed to his condition.
Eventually, the conflict between our heroes and the Arrows of Law came to a head. In deadly combat, the party managed to defeat all of the Arrows, slaying and soul binding most of them (though they could not manage to soul bind Prayzose). Inoke, who had not yet been installed as the seventh Arrow, managed to escape in the end. In the finale of the conflict, Prayzose gated in his god, Galador Himself, to fight against the fierce forces that the party had brought to bear (including Tiamat, on loan from Lucifer). But our heroes, prompted by the so-called “New Gods” of Cydra (who were actually old gods from a previous multiverse that had been devoured by a terrible entity called Tharizdun), were waiting for just that- and gated in a god of their own: Vandreu, with his black sword and black shield. Vandreu and Galador began to battle mercilessly, and Vandreu warned our heroes to flee from the divine forces being unleashed. They did so, but had managed to destroy the Bastion of Law, which was the fortress that metaphorically represented Law, kill all of the Arrows and call down the wrath of Vandreu on Galador. It was as complete of a victory as they could hope for.
Amongst the loot they found were both Prayzose’s crown and the rod of the Dark Emperor- a symbol of authority over the Dark Empire of Strogass. Our heroes have long put the idea that he should become the Forinthian Emperor into the head of Thrush, one of their number, the foremost swordsman of their age; and now that Prayzose is dead, he is ready to move forward with that ambition. When the loot was split, Dorn Wankerman, Xaositecht and cohort of Gerontius, took the rod of the Dark Emperor, and it has kindled the idea in his mind that he, too, could rule an empire. And who could stop him? For our heroes are now the most powerful people on all of Cydra.
Yet they still have enemies. What political rivals or military problems they might face due to the imperial ambitions of Thrush and Wankerman are, as yet, unknown; but they have unfinished business with the King of Bile and the Queen of Guts at Bile Mountain, and they know that two more Angels of the Apocalypse have ‘come through’ to Cydra from the ashes of the old multiverse.
And there are other threats, too, that they do not yet comprehend- from an underwater island of horrors to the far-flung plan of Lucifer that relies on major victories for the demons invading the Nine Hells to the void disciples at the bottom of the multiverse....