Lusuium

A single day of travel away from Tyria Rupes lays **Lusuium**, a hellish fortress from which beast fighting in the capital's colosseum are imported.

Lusuium is primarily run by a group known as the beastmasters who are specialised catching and taming powerful monsters. They also have developed their own subcategory of magic known as biomancy. Biomancy is a form of necromancy which specialises in living rather than death tissue. It was developed with the aid of a few necromancers who were shunned by Hilalian school of Necrotic Powers for their *unconventional* ideas. Those beastmasters who are especially gifted in the art of biomancy are known as biomancers. These biomancers like to put magical enhancements on creatures to make them even more powerful and to create an new and exciting show for their audience. The cruellest of biomancers even craft extra limbs and other spare parts on their beasts to create truly horrifying monsters that will wow the crowds back in the capitol.

## Description

### Outside

Outside the fortress is a large harbour filled with all types of ships loosening their precious cargo. This cargo is primarily made out of metal cages, filled with all types of creatures, both large and small, trying to take down anyone coming to close to their bars. When all the cages have been placed the beastmaster's wagon. which is pulled by one or more tamed cave beetles, the poachers are payed their due and the beasts are taken deeper into the stalactite-covered cave until they come upon a set of large iron gates. These gates are large enough to allow a taniwha inside and are engraved with the likeness of several powerful creatures. Especially noticeable are those of the snow lion and dragon in the middle of each door.

### Primaris

Behind the large iron gates is the first layer of Lusuium, Primaris. At this layer the soldiers of Lusuium can be seen training day and night for the glory of the Imperium. Most of the beastmasters makes their home here as well, although they usually work further bellow. Between the beastmasters, soldiers, and their retinue the layer of Primaris can, to a certain extend, be considered a large town in its own right. Hanging down from the ceiling of Primaris are thousands of small growling cages, reflecting the torches below to look like stars in the night sky.

### Secondis

Further bellow is the layer of Secondis where the beastmasters prepare the creatures that will fight in the imperial colosseum. First they have to be broken, before the beastmasters can build them back up. Most creatures break simply from the glare of their cruel new masters after spending months in a cargo hold. But those beasts noble enough to stand their ground are forced into submission by the lash of the barbed whip, the hot embrace of the branding iron, and whatever other deprived form of torture its new beastmaster can think of it. It is on Secondis that the beastmasters have build their biomancy laboratories. In here the biomancers use arcane means to break those rare and powerful beasts that have proven themselves to be unbreakable to traditional means.

### Tertaris

The captured creatures are stored in the deepest layer of Lusuium known as Tertaris. Here also stands the testing arena where beasts are tested against each so the beastmasters might judge the capabilities of different species. It is also here that the biomancers like to hold tourneys between their creations to see who is the best biomancer in Lusuium. Many of these biomancers still speak about a spectacular fight during the tourney of 1496 where a boodie lightning bolt enchantment on its tails defeating a giant shark who had the legs of a bonesnapper crafted on.

## Astrorignis

Astrorignis life as a noble dragon ended before it ever had a chance to begin. In 1331 AD a group of powerful adventurers slayed Astrorignis's mother and sold her eggs to a dwarven merchant, through which it would eventually reach the hands of the master biomancer Brachus Carnem. Brachus was determined to be the first beastmaster to ever break a dragon to his will, and with this little egg he would. The then Kaiser Skipius was obsessed with hosting ever more extraordinary colosseum fights and continuously ordered Brachus to bring him something new to impress him and Brachus hoped that a dragon would finally satisfy his liege. First he enchanted the egg with dark incantation that would redirect nutrients meant for the brain unto the rest of the body. The small black dragon born from this was more powerful than anything Brachus had ever seen, able to break out through iron bars after only three months and through tiberite bars after six months. The fire produced by this hatchling shone with many different colours, burning even hotter than normal thanks to Brachus's incantations. Because of this colourful breath weapon Brachus called the hatchling Astrorignis, or "his little starfire" in private.

Astrorignis grew up steadily, but as dragons are want to do slowly. For a matter of fact he was growing up to slowly for Brachus liking and he continued to increase Astrorignis's growth at the cost of its mental development. After only 18 months Astrorignis's body had grown to be the size of an adolescence dragon. Brachus considered him ready for the arena in Tertaris and set him up against a pack of trained dingos for his first fight. Brachus disappointment was immeasurable when his little starfire ran whimpering into a corner from beasts three times smaller than it. As punishment Brachus used Astrorignis to find out how long it takes to flay the scales of a dragon's back. It took weeks before the dragon finally began reluctantly fighting the enemies his dwarven masters lay before him.

One night the beastmasters began hearing weird whimpering voice coming from Tertaris. It said broken sentences such as "*Not... More...*" and "*No... Want... Fight...*" . Eventually one of the beastmasters found the source of the voice: the now two year old black dragon Astrorignis. Despite all incantations the creature had still become intelligent enough to speak. This freaked the beastmasters out so much that on the next morning the crafted seven tiberite nails with which they hoped to lobotomise it. Now that the last remaining spark of sentience had been stabbed out of Astrorignis only bestial rage and blood lust remained. Brachus finally had his beast, and the dragon proved unbeatable in battle. Brachus got the fame he always had hoped for and died twenty years later as the biomancer who broke a dragon. But eventually the public grew bored of their unbeatable champion, and nowadays Astrorignis is only allowed out of his private habitat in Tertaris during important festivals. In this private habitat he spends his time with his rage, only being visited by the carcass the beastmaster drop him as food, all alone without even someone to call them their little starfire.