The Tribunal

## Introduction

The Tribunal began as three powerful psychics who combined into the most powerful psychic being in Eternity. They joined forces against a powerful being who deceived them, only to be tricked again and left powerless in a stasis to prevent their own destruction. The Tribunal's powerful psychic abilities provide various types of attacks and buffs to your party. These skills will take time to master, as it took her time to master them herself. However, once mastered they will provide an incredible compliment to other party members attacks. You must find her on your journey, and free her from her comatose state to see if she will join your quest.

## Backstory

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The powerful psychic entity known as the Tribunal began life as three separate individuals: Faedrin, Nikul, and Siane. The three were members of the Council of Fate, an organization brought together by the gods of life to protect the peace and prosperity of the inhabitants of Eternity. They stood in opposition to the corrupting presence of Moragh, the vile draugr, and his cult of death worshippers. Moragh sought to bring about death and destruction on behalf of the gods of chaos.

The members of the council made a pact to never directly interfere in the affairs of Eternity lest they become tyrants themselves in the name of the greater good. They instead spread their influence using willing magical surrogates called wizards. Each wizard was psychically connected to one council member and traveled the land providing aid to the common folk, wisdom and guidance to leaders, and at times, performed miracles empowered by their sponsor.

Though wizards were often renowned as heroes, they ultimately lived mortal lives and passed from the world, at which time the council member would select a new champion. Wizards arose from all walks of life and from amongst all peoples and persisted in their position as long as they were dedicated to the cause of righteousness. No one kingdom or people could control the wizards, for they were a force unto themselves, beholden only to the secretive council.

Though the people of Eternity never truly appreciated the nature of their silent protectors, the wizards of fate were a renowned, near-sacred order. Over hundreds of years, people came to understand the mountain where the wizards often met was the source of this power and protection. The temple at the mountain’s peak always remained sealed to outsiders, but many took it upon themselves to leave gifts as a show of gratitude or to curry favor in their future endeavors. The council quietly accepted the tribute but lived in enforced solitude, afraid that too much exposure would sway them from their duty.

Over time, the fourth member of the council, Xyria, grew weary of isolation. She saw the world only through the eyes of her wizards, a thousand years of their struggles and triumphs, hates and loves, and longed to share that experience more directly. She lobbied her council members for a brief reprieve, and they agreed that her many years of loyal service was worth a quiet trip outside.

Xyria spent a 6-month sabbatical amongst the people of Eternity. She reveled in the sights, sounds, tastes and smells she had only known at numbing distance. What stuck with her, however, were the deep imperfections of the world. Despite their efforts, poverty and disease could be found everywhere. Poorly-run kingdoms inherited from one incompetent leader to the next created terrible conditions for the people at large. Many regions were one bad harvest separated from widespread starvation. The tragedy of war persisted. Not all of this was Moragh’s influence, but rather, the natural folly of sentient beings.

Xyria returned to the council with a determination to do more. She called a meeting and made her case that they should take a direct role in the affairs of Eternity. With their thousands of years of experience and knowledge, they could surely create a better world if they stepped into the open and took on the yoke of leadership.

Faedrin, Nikul, and Siane were all taken aback. They argued that the risks and temptations of mundane life were too great. The gods of life had charged them with keeping balance, but, for good or for ill, to leave living creatures to decide their own fates. Voted down by the rest of the council, Xyria left the meeting in a fury.

It was in this moment of weakness that Moragh reached out to her.

At first, Xyria rebuffed him—the draugr couldn't be trusted. But as he persisted, she began to consider. Moragh sought death and chaos, but she could use his offer of power to defy the other members of the council. After uniting the races of Eternity under her cause, she could work to exterminate him and his cult once and for all. It was a fine line to walk, but anything was better than the miserable grind of balance in which the world had languished so long.

Moragh had long been working on the perfect spark to ignite chaos across the face of Eternity. His target was a king who ruled his people with justice and benevolence. The king loved his people, and in return they gave him their respect and loyalty. It wasn’t Xyria’s first choice—the king’s famous Echelon of knights had long been a force for good—but Moragh was insistent that it be him for them to enter into their agreement.

Breaking those bonds between people and king would throw the land into disarray. That was exactly the revolting outcome Moragh was seeking, but Xyria was confident she could step into the power vacuum, restore order, and turn the tables on the draugr before he could capitalize on the situation. Knowing the rest of the council wouldn't understand or approve of her plan, she kept her communications with Moragh as secret and sparse as possible.

With the help of Moragh, Xyria began softly whispering in the king's mind. It began with a suggestion here, a murmur there, a nudge in the right place at the right time. At first the king resisted, but steadily their voices began to consume him.

The process went on for months. Xyria and Moragh increased their influence over the king’s mind and pushed him to harsher and more violent extremes. As their psychic whispers steadily transformed the king into an instrument of cruelty, so too did Moragh whisper into Xyria’s mind, made vulnerable by their growing connection. Xyria found herself drawing satisfaction from how she could provoke the king and steer his choices. Less and less she lived through her wizard, and more she lived through the king as he plotted against his own knights. Her anticipation of the day she would take command of his kingdom for herself steadily grew.

After the better part of a year spent weakening the king’s mind, Xyria prepared herself for the final blow. She bore into the center of his self and manipulated his memories, breaking every mental link she could find, and in the process breaking his sanity.

Less now a man and more a collection of malicious, disjointed urges, the king was furious, jealous, and paranoid. He slaughtered the knights that resisted his new edicts and purged the kingdom’s noble families of those that opposed him. He ordered his armies to attack his neighbors who he was convinced were preparing to invade. Inside the kingdom, chaos reigned. The Mad King, once loved by his people for his wisdom and generosity, was now feared as a ruthless dictator.

The other council members and their wizards felt what she had done. The attack was so powerful that it left a mark on the psychic landscape of Eternity, like a beacon of psychic evil pulsing from the King’s mind. The council members quickly confronted Xyria in the Chamber of Fate about the violation, not only of the pact, but of their trust.

Xyria knew this moment would come. With the help of Moragh's additional power she struck out at the three other council members. The ferocity of the attack knocked them back and slammed them into the chamber floor.

Faedrin recovered first. She reached out telekinetically and pulled a table from behind Xyria, catching her in the legs. The others threw chairs and books in her direction, then fled the room as Xyria tore apart the furniture with her aura alone.

Faedrin led them to the Immortal Library beneath the temple, and, working with Siane, sealed the entrance. Xyria’s power thundered against the other side, but she alone was not able to overcome them aware and working together.

The nature of their battle made clear how tainted Xyria’s power had become. It was only a matter of time before their hated foe, Moragh, came to assist her. Nikul, the keeper of the immortal library, scoured the tomes to find a solution to fight back against Xyria and her newfound strength. The books included many studies of power gifted to them by the agents of light along with more dangerous magic they locked away from the mortal world with the help of their wizards. Eventually, he happened upon a book called The Tribunal.

The Tribunal described an ancient ritual that would allow them to combine their powers—and their bodies—into a singular, powerful being. Though they hesitated to give up their individual selves, they had been left with no other options.

A few days into their work they found the space between their psyches that would allow them to begin the transformation. They pushed their minds together, inching closer with each wave of their power. The mountain quaked beneath them in time with the ritual.

Xyria exulted in her new powers but grew frustrated when she was unable to penetrate the library. Moragh was all-too happy to have a council member be the tool of the council’s own destruction, and he sent her a magical crystal known as the Crystal of Dissonance. When struck like a tuning fork, the crystal disrupted psychic connections between any nearby beings and created focused psychic power for the holder. Unbeknownst to Xyria, the crystal would become the final link in the new psychic chains that bound her mind and bent her to the draugr’s will. With her new weapon, Xyria made her way back to the immortal library to force open the door and seal away the foolish council members that sought to hold her back. Perhaps, once she had met her goals and squashed Moragh, she would let them see the glory she had brought to the land.

Xyria reached the library only to see the door already open. Hovering before her was humanoid creature unlike any see had seen before. The newly-formed Tribunal towered over Xyria and declared in a thunderous wave of power that she was now to be judged for her betrayal of the people of Eternity. Xyria struggled against them, but even her enhanced abilities were no match for the combined strength of her former friends. They forced her back and cut her off from her psychic power, rendering her helpless.

Knowing his newest servant was in danger, Moragh directed a whisper of inspiration to her. Xyria fell to her knees and bowed in a show of subservience. She apologized for breaking their bond and promised to accept any punishment if they would spare her life and, perhaps one day, offer her a second chance.

The Tribunal paused, uncertain, and debated internally. Though it was now one being, three distinct voices persisted inside its body, and it hadn’t had time to adapt to its new form. While the Tribunal was distracted, Xyria withdrew the crystal from its pouch and tapped it on the ground.

A single chime echoed through the library. The Tribunal’s thoughts became scrambled and confused, and the power it was using to suppress Xyria crumbled. At the same time, Xyria’s power amplified tenfold. The crystal fully opened her mind to Moragh's influence, and his tainted power burned away the vestiges of morality holding her back. Where once she came to suppress the other council members, she now intended to destroy them permanently. She constructed a spear of psychic energy and shot it at the Tribunal’s head, intending to annihilate their minds.

The Tribunal was moments from destruction, but they had one final defensive option: the creation of a psychic barrier. Unfortunately, a barrier strong enough to withstand the attack would cut them off not just from the incoming energy, but the world around them as a whole. Despite the risk, all three voices of the Tribunal were in agreement. They sealed themselves within a shell of psychic power, nullifying the psychic spear and entering a state of physical and mental stasis.

It was in this moment that the four wizards of fate found Xyria in the depths of the library, standing before the frozen Tribunal. She turned toward the wizards with sadistic glee, preparing to deal with them next…