Succubus Breaches

All the sin and adultery committed in the Witchelven empire has lead to different Succubus outbreaks around the territory. The breaches directly lead to differently sized succubian necropoles if you manage to climb all the way down to hell.

## The portals to hell

Near the border of the Witchelven Empire, travelers are warned about the dangers of the feared “breaches”. Many stories come from those travelling from or to the land of excess, speaking of the creatures and horrors that can be found in them. Travelling to the breaches is a dangerous proposition, since space tends to twist and turn in unpredictable ways: in one moment, you are crossing a grassland of unusual color and smell, and in the next, you are walking through hellish landscapes not meant to be seen by mortal eyes. These areas are the realms of the succubi and many other demonic entities, which make a mockery of society within their realms. They are a source of danger for everyone nearby, and the populations near the breaches have had to live with frequent succubi raids near their borders for centuries now. The current slow convergence of the three major breaches towards each other is making every nation in the world fear the consequences what that could entail.

## History

To understand the history of the Succubus Breaches, we have to understand the history of the witchelven. This elven race have lived near the Bone Lakes for millennia, though their origins and culture before the expansion has been poorly documented. Small kingdom and nations of witchelven began popping up around the lakes after Azan suffered great instability after the Battle of Empires. With a considerable portion of their military strength lost in the Cardammon Plateau, the azanese victory caused quite a lot of insecurity within their borders, making them quite vulnerable to witchelven raids, the first time they began pushing into the azanese borders. However, after a couple of decades of crisis, Azan managed to shift their strength and reinforce the vulnerable borders, regaining some form of stability relatively soon. But by then, the witchelven had tasted the spoils of war, and the witchelven began organizing to raid more and more. Unfortunately for them, after a couple of centuries Azan was once again in the ascendance, and while they had abandoned the territories near the Cardammon Plateau, they had begun expanding their territories to the west and southwest. This also coincided with what’s known as the “Central Giantstep Awakening”, a quick expansion of civilization in areas that were previously dominated by tribal societies, in the shape of the city-states of the Urgun Plateau and the twin cities of Aquilea and Caprea. This growth began slowing down with the Wars of the Blind Hawk, and finally ended with the birth of the Witchelven Empire.

For the time being, though, the witchelven began receiving counter-raids from the azanese border patrols, who sought to end the threat of the witchelven before they could reach the borders. The frequent contact with other civilizations made the witchelven find different sources of magic, and in particular the summoning kind. They began perfecting their dark crafts, seeking strength in terrible entities from other planes, and that in turn began to corrupt the already violent witchelven. This was a slow process, since for many centuries the witchelven from the Bone Lakes were relegated to raiders, thieves and murderers, nothing that could really threaten the powers of Azan or the city-states of central Giantstep.

All of that changed with the arrival of **Morwenna, Prophet of the Succubus Queen**. A particularly charismatic summoner, she began congregating the witchelven to her cause. And since she was seen by the other witchelven as an oracle of pleasure, in contact with the mysterious being that ruled the other realm, she began coalescing great numbers around halfway through the 19th Century ABE. By 1.909 ABE, Morwenna had created a powerful and unified nation around the Bone Lakes, and quickly set up to jump against their old enemies. Morwenna’s timing was excellent. The azanese empire did not expect an expansion of witchelven on that scale, and they had to redirect a lot of efforts to their eastern borders to try to slow them down. A couple of years later, the “Drow Uprising” in the west managed to drive azanese forces from their holdings in Scimitarian and the Isle of Wizards, dividing once again their forces, and allowing the witchelven to expand further into azanese territory. And by the time the azanese forces seemed to be rallying to push back against the witchelven’s gains, the Azanese Civil War started, crippling their ability to end the witchelven threat once and for all. Of course, this expansion also clashed with the Central Giantstep’s city-states. Aquilea and Caprea managed to resist valiantly thanks to their great fortifications and tools to nullify the summoned creatures from the witchelven, but it was a crippling blow for the city-states within the Urgun Plateau. Already mauled by the Gökmavi, the cities of Ghülam and Bashur were the only entities who could rally the human forces against the witchelven. After many decades of conflict, they managed to push back the witchelven, mostly due to the inconveniences that resulted in crossing the desert lands in search for slaves.

This successful expansion was not done through mortal means alone. Morwenna urged her troops to begin expanding their knowledge of summoning and demon bidding, inflating their forces with otherworldly beings. The areas where they experimented their great summonings would eventually see a thinning of reality within them, eventually becoming self-sustainable and creating the succubus breaches we know today.

## The nature of the Breaches

The way the Succubus Breaches behave has been highly documented, by both the witchelven, the populations nearby and institutions like the Ancient Order of Most Practical Wizards. This is something of the highest importance for all of the people involved, since the danger that can be spewed from the breaches can threaten even the witchelven themselves. There are differences in how this behavior has been described, however.

The witchelven believe that the breaches are just portals to heaven, and see the succubae and other demons as kindred spirits who enjoy pain and torture as much as they do. For them, the breaches are a gateway to the worthy, opening the eyes of those who deserve to experiment with the limits of mortal pleasure. The witchelven who enter in the breaches will actively power up the dimensional split to reach the **Succubian Necropoles**, the great “cities” where the succubae reside. For this, they will create orgies, sacrifices and, usually, a mix of both to try to find the trail to the wanted necropoles. This feeding of the breaches is what some consider is the main source of their growth, thought they long ago stopped needing outside interference for their expansion. The succubae do not exclude their witchelven allies from their tortures, though. While they serve the same master, the succubae and other demonic entities see the witchelves as just upstarts, mere mortals that are way over their heads with what they are dealing with.

The populations nearby see the breaches as nothing but abject abominations on reality, a crime against nature itself, and the main reason why the witchelven should be destroyed and banished to the hell they created. These nations and city-states monitor the activity of the breaches, to stop the demonic invasions that come from within. They usually can predict with some time when the breaches will overflow with demonic entities, as the wizards in these areas can measure the level of foul magical energies coming from within. This helps them prepare against the onslaught, to renew the seals put in certain areas blocking or slowing down the magical expansion towards the outside, and of course, to reinforce the many fortifications near the border. The less powerful succubae will not be able to materialize to their full strength thanks to these precautions, and will be dealt with relatively easily, with the main problem being the masses of witchelven and succubae coming towards the walls. However, every once in a while, a fully powered succubus will be summoned, and will take a great deal of effort from the local wizards and soldiers to push it back to its dimension. Killing a succubus is possible, but difficult, as it needs to be mortally wounded with a magical weapon of certain power. This means that the local populations will arm their best soldiers with all the magical gear they can, and send them to duel the monsters to death. Of course, the local populations do want these encounters to be as one-sided as possible, so they will pelt the Greater Succubae with long ranged weaponry or high level spells and curses before throwing their heroes to strike the finishing blow. Many tales of heroes have been written about these battles, and have become a form of literature shared in the areas nearby the witchelven.

Such a magical threat has brought the attention of the Ancient Order of Most Practical Wizards. The archmages of the Order have studied the magical fluctuations within the breaches for centuries now, and have keep a register of the annual patterns they tend to follow. Many of their representatives live all year long within the garrisons of the populations at the border, both to study the magical elements closely and to help them fend off the worst from the attacks. They were the ones to discover that the breaches weren’t growing outwards or inwards, but instead towards each other, slowly but surely surrounding the lands of the Witchelven Empire. This was forwarded to the leaders of the witchelven, who immediately dismissed it as either baseless lies from the wizards or as a blessing waiting to happen. What exactly will happen once the breaches reach all the way to each other and fully encircle the land, nobody knows. At certain moments of their history, the Order has argued to close the portals once and for all, since the risk of creating a truly monumental rift that could swallow the entire Witchelven Empire could spell disaster to the entire continent of Giantstep, not to mention the rest of the world. However, the wichelven have stated that trying anything of the sort would be seen as an act of war, and the nearby nations have long stopped having enough power or interest to wage a war of such scale, even if allied together. They see contention as the best possible option, despite the warnings of the Order.

## Gomorrah Breach

The **Gomorrah Breach** was the first of the Succubus Breaches documented to exist. It began to grow around 2.191 ABE, and coincided with an invasion of changrilese territory right after the Azanese Civil War. It is believed that the many sacrifices brought by the witchelven were the key to open the first of the breaches, and forced the changrilese armies to counter waves of succubae as well as witchelven. This wouldn’t be as dire as one may think at first: since this was the first time the witchelven summoned such a quantity of succubae, they had little capability to direct them against their enemies. Thus, the changrilese army managed to trick the succubae, funneling them into traps where they could be dealt with more safely. It was a bloody conflict nevertheless, and it contributed to the instability Changrila had to deal with during the first centuries after its founding.

As the breach grew towards the north, it reached the borders of Azan, the Troll Wastes and the lands of the Great Magpies. Over the years, Azan has invested a great deal of resources in the province of Hasteria to stop the succubae attacks, from magical wards to fortresses and walls. The dangers of living in Hasteria has made many civilians abandon the province in search of safer places. This has been used as a way to motivate the troops, giving the abandoned lands to the soldiers’ families. It has reached the point of Hasteria being a province fully ruled and administrated by the azanese army. To protect the area near the Timavo River, however, azanese authorities decided to hire troll mercenaries and chieftains. This would allow the azanese troops to focus on the more important areas, while leaving the brutal trolls the defense of the wastes. The trolls would be difficult to deal with, however, and they require payment of different sorts to keep them from being a nuisance elsewhere.

As for the lands of the Great Magpies, the succubae have tried to attack the birds during their nesting periods, with invariably bloody results. The magpies do not care whether their enemies are of flesh and blood or magic, they just see them as threats for their spawn, and treat them accordingly. Butchered witchelven and succubae litter the land every time they attack the magpies, a reminder for everyone the dangers of threatening their nesting grounds and their eggs.

## Sodomia Breach

The **Sodomia Breach** was the second breach to be documented, appearing around 2.552 ABE. This particular breach caused a physical fissure in the land, from which waves of succubae spewed. It was this fracture that caused the fall of the city-state of Caprea, despite their magic nullifying technology. The breach slowly grew towards the north, but its expansion was blocked by the Cursed Battlefield. The dark nature of the Cardammon Plateau conflicts with the magic of the succubae, and thus the demons do not dare to go in.

The witchelven and succubae raids concentrate against the land of the automata. The Republic of Abandoned Automata has repelled both the advances of the Bog Witch and the witchelven and its demonic allies for centuries now. They are not an easy target for raids, and many succubae and witchelven have fallen under the mechanical golems and automata from millennia ago.

The other area that is sometimes attacked by the succubae raids is the Snoloth Country. However, the rate of attacks to the poisonous moors of the Snoloths are extremely rare and far between. Many have argued that the toxic landscape is too much for even the succubae. This is only partially correct: While it is true that the more corporeal the succubae become the more vulnerable they turn to the toxic fumes and gasses, it is also true that the succubae also share the witchelven’s innate distaste for snoloths. Their strange biology is simply incompatible with their lustful nature, and thus they avoid contact with the snoloths whenever possible.

## Lustrus Breach

The **Lustrus Breach** was the latest breach to be documented, around 2.777 ABE. Lodged between the Handprint Mountains and the Witchelven Empire, its only exit is the Urgun Plateau. The frequency of the attacks made the cities of Ghülam and Bashur ally together to create many blockades to the succubae, such as wards against magic that slow down the rate of spawning. While the wizards of the cities have become pretty efficient at dealing with the demons, the witchelven raids are still a dangerous threat. The birth of the Lustrus Breach means that their previous connection with the rest of the world was cut, leaving the region incredibly isolated.