Qethos

Qethos as it appears on the Io World Map

**Qethos** is a continent on the planet of Io. Once joined with the Alabhastar Ark, the Shattering split Qethos in twain, with its southern half retaining its original name. A land of rich history intrinsically tied to gods old and new, Qethos has seen much conflict and faced peril many times, but has nevertheless endured to the modern day. It has become a completely urbanized continent, acting as Io's commercial, political and industrial powerhouse. From its capital city of Llwendolyn, Io's governing body, the Ionian Senate, holds session, debating and deciding on legislation to shape the planet and its people.

## Appearance

In times past, Qethos was a greener landmass with a temperate climate, boasting many plains, forests, pastures and more. Since the Shattering of Io, Qethos has transitioned into an entirely urban environment, with the entire Ark become a massive metropolis, with the exception of the pre-existing mountain ranges. Each of the different cities on Qethos have their own distinct look and character, though many share common features such as skyscrapers and shard towers.

## History

### Early History

Qethos likely came into being as part of the terraforming process undertaken during the Auroran Repopulation Project. When first created Qethos and Alabhastar were connected as one continent, going by the name Qethos. The two were superficially separated by an enormous wall that ran east to west across the center of the continent, simply called the Great Wall. When the new inhabitants of Io were released onto Qethos, they began to create their own civilizations, with the kingdoms of Llwendolyn and Alabhastar emerging as the most prominent. Under the guidance of the gods DIV and VOID, the civilizations created religions and cultural traditions based on the whims of their deity.

### The Crusades

Eventually, the friction between DIV and VOID came to a head, and open war was declared between the two. The resulting conflict became known as the Crusades, which engulfed all of Io. DIV and VOID gathered Radiant and Void-Touched individuals to their cause and each elected a person to serve as their Champion, Muralia Shurto representing DIV and Kas Dominius representing VOID. Under these champions, Qethos was plunged into war in which many were killed or displaced in the name of the gods. A notable casualty was the entire Kingdom of Alabhastar, which was left in utter ruin as a result of the fighting and its surviving people lost to time.

Eventually, the conflict came to a stalemate, with neither side able to overcome the other. While life returned to normal, the feud between the gods did not abate and the two continued to vie for supremacy through more subtle means. In addition, many of the old grudges between Radiant and Void-Touched remained, with both being subjected to varying levels of discrimination from the other side.

### The Reign of the All King

Some time after the Crusades, the kingdom of Llwendolyn in Southern Qethos, which officially proclaimed itself as devotees of DIV's Radiance, came into powers as the dominant political force in all of Qethos. To represent this, the King of Llwendolyn began to expand the influence of the kingdom northwards into the lawless lands left in the destruction of Alabhastar. He demanded the fealty of independent settlements by using his military to threaten them. The Holy City of Atlas was one such vassal, submitting itself to Llwendolyn's rule in exchange for protection and some measure of self-governance. With order forced upon these lands, the monarch then proclaimed himself the All King of Qethos, effectively ruling the entire continent.

The first All King eventually died and was interred in a grandiose mausoleum with his most prized treasures, such as his personal maul and the Ruby Eyed Scepter. In the subsequent centuries, Llwendolyn's hold over the rest of Qethos waxed and waned, with several rulers declaring themselves All King to reclaimed the northern territories only for another generation to lose them again. In the decades preluding the death of the gods, Llwendolyn had lost these territories and its current ruler, King Tenebraum, sought to ascend to the status of All King once again. A fervent supporter of DIV, he enforced worship of the Radiance and suppressed all things VOID related. This resulted in DIV becoming more powerful and influential than VOID, disrupting their precarious equilibrium.

### The Rise of Tenebraum

Tenebraum's wish came to fruition with the fortuitous arrival of some notable individuals. Tenebraum had sent knights out to search for his wayward daughter, only for them to return with a wizard who had impersonated her and a Radiant cleric. While the wizard was tossed in jail, the cleric Bronn Luxprin recounted a tremendous tale of victory over VOID. In the ruins of Alabhastar, the Wise One Ghaspar had summoned a Voidstar, only for he and it to be defeated by Bronn Luxprin. While the truth was that Bronn had considerable help in the form of nine more individuals (including the imcarcerated wizard and Tenebraum's daughter), that was irrelevant to Tenebraum. What he had been gifted was a warrior who shared his faith in DIV and struck a great blow against their god's enemy.

Bronn was the perfect tool to hasten Tenebraum's rise to All King and he wasted no time in doing so. He inducted Bronn into the Knights of Tenebraum and publicly declared him to be the Starslayer, chosen by DIV herself. Not long afterwards, Tenebraum gathered enough favor to publicly announce he was taking the mantle of All King to bring DIV's glory across the continent. However, through yet unknown means, Tenebraum's reign became undone when he came into conflict with his daughter and her allies, resulting in his death and cementing his status as the last All King of Qethos.

### The Death of the Gods

Not long after Tenebraum's fall, the Fallen Heroes, as they would come to be known, turned their attention to the gods themselves, viewing them as the ultimate source of all the world's woes. With aid from the High Pope of Atlas, they lured the gods to the Holy City and simultaneously destroyed them. The Fallen Heroes were then pulled away by a mysterious light, with all but one disappearing from Io. The city itself then ascended into the sky and disappeared in a flash of light.

Across the rest of Qethos, all sentient life went into a dormant state, deprived of the energies of the gods that made up their essence. Eventually, the people of Qethos adjusted to this new paradigm and began to restructure their societies anew. Through flashes of memory, they were able to piece together what happened to the gods and move on, though some were reluctant and clung to the old ways. In southern Qethos, Llwendolyn reemerged as the principle society, but the end of the royal line demanded a serious change in how it was governed. It was decided that a senate would rule Llwendolyn from hereon out, elected by its citizens. In addition, the kingdom would abandon its expansionist ambitions and focus on building up their own nation in the south of the continent. This would become the status quo for the next 500 years or so.

## Phase 2 Story

### The Quest for the Ruby-Eyed Scepter

In the year 735, a broker named Mr. Mephisto was tasked with obtaining the legendary Ruby-Eyed Scepter from the Crypt of the First All King. Though the request was supposedly made by the senate, Mephisto was instead told to deliver it to the Royal Court in Asmodia in secret. In order to met this request, Mr Mephisto hired four adventurers to retrieve the Scepter and return it to him. Leading this mission was none other than Bronn Luxprin, going under the alias of Abel Avlys. Under his leadership, the quartet successfully navigated the crypt only to find that the body of the All King had been stolen and the Scepter along with it. Using the leyline left behind, the group enlisted the help of a goblin mage to follow the thieves.

Their journey took them to an encampment in central Qethos, where a group of cultist known as the Order of the Crow resided. Upon being taken to one of the cult's grandmasters, they learned that the cult was infusing the stolen corpse with VOID energies to create an Avatar of VOID so they might take revenge on the society that rejected them. Bronn and his allies managed to escape the grandmaster's clutches and found the body at the edge of a massive pit of VOID energy called the Maw. There, they interrupted the ritual and claimed the Scepter.

Though their job was done, Bronn had other designs for the body and conducted a ritual of his own, resurrecting the last All King Tenebraum using the body as a vessel. Tenebraum resolved to retake his title of All King and rule Llwendolyn once more, wearing everyone to secrecy regarding his resurrections. The refusal of the party's druid, Kua, to comply with Tenebraum's demands lead to an altercation that resulted in Tenebraum being thrown into the Maw and Bronn beating Kua within an inch of his life. His work undone, Bronn and his shell-shocked party members teleported back to Llwendolyn.

### Trouble in the Mines

While Bronn's party were searching for the Scepter, Mr Mephisto was tackling a new job regarding missing miners in the Sidsworth Mines. He had hired veteran adventurers Nissa Wanderlust and Sogu Madur for the job, but was short of a full group. At this point, Sachi and Bophades returned with the Ruby-Eyed Scepter and relayed all that had happened to Mephisto. Alarmed at the presence of VOID in southern Qethos, he decided to send Sachi and Bophades with Nissa and Sogu to investigate the mines with the added task of search for traces of VOID Corruption. The two agreed and the group set out for the mines the next morning.

While in the Sidsworth Mines, the party, with their newfound allies Petra and Terasolum, found that the miners had been abducted by Deep Gnomes for grotesque experiments, which included infusions of VOID. They discovered the gnomes had found pockets of VOID under Qethos and has successfully siphoned only for it to being corrupting their taskmaster and infecting the facility. Clearing out the lab and rescuing the last surviving miner, the party found a pair of unusual creatures calling themselves Flumphs. The Flumphs, born as parasites from the blood of DIV, had been fighting the VOID Corruption unsuccessfully for some time now, and sought outside help. Sachi and her friends agreed, and followed the Flumphs back to their village.

On route, a slight detour with an enigmatic magi managed to grant them the ability to further enhance their own essence with Radiance. They also freed a supercharged Flumph that the gnomes had forcibly evolved, granting the Flumphs more power in fighting the VOID. While working with the Flumphs, the party were offered the chance to remove their impurities in a sacred pool to help fight the VOID. The process, unbeknownst to the group, took months to complete and ended in a dramatic failure than nearly killed the group. However, during the purification process, Sachi's desperate attempt to fight through resulted in her transformation into a Radiant entity.

### The Starslayer Returns

Meanwhile, as Sachi and her fellow warriors were being purified, Bronn Luxprin had returned to Llwendolyn. He discovered his Radiant powers had returned to him in conjunction with the rampant revival of DIV and VOID's energies. He demonstrated this power to great effect against a raiding party of corrupted mudmen who attacked the city. With this act, Bronn proclaimed his identity to the people of Llwendolyn and rallied his fellow worshippers to his side. With the newly formed Faithful at his back, Bronn began to undermine the senate, declaring them to be incompetent and unable to handle the VOID crises that was now threatening the south. To further prove his point, Bronn lead his fellow clergy to infected sites, purging them of VOID corruption and winning him even more favor.

One of the sites he and his Faithful went to was the Sidsworth Mines, where Bronn was reunited with Sachi and Bophades. Since their awakening, much had happened to them. Freeing themselves of the Flumphs saw them whisked away to an academy in the Astral, where they were tasked with hunting down an undead VOID dragon in Northern Qethos. Returning from the academy to them mines saw them cut ties with the now fanatical Flumphs, who were attempting to kill an amnesiac by the name of Leask Laell. Saving Leask, the party learned the young man was equally composed of Radiance and VOID thanks to the Deep Gnome's experiments. They adopted the young man into their party and left them mines only to run into Bronn. Giving Bronn some of the information they had gathered, Sachi informed him about the VOID dracolich terrorizing the north and recommended he and his Faithful handle the threat. Bronn agreed without hesitation and the two groups went their separate ways.

### The VOID Reborn

Sachi's main reasoning for passing her responsibility to Bronn was twofold. Firstly, it removed the threat of Bronn from her and her allies, especially towards Leask Laell. Secondly, Sachi had begun to develop a potentially different approach to handling the worsening crisis, spurred on by her own transformation and the unique condition of Leask. She brought her party to met the goblin mage once more to consult him. There she revealed her plans; if DIV and VOID could not truly be destroyed, their energies would only become more powerful and more out of control. Thus, in Sachi's mind, the best solution was not to fight back and purge these energies, but to harness the energy for the benefit of mankind. She cited herself and Leask as prime examples of how such energies could be harnessed. She and the goblin mage theorized it was possible to do this and bring back the old miracles, but further research needed to be done.

To do so, Sachi and her allies traveled to her old school, the Jaksu Academy, via a pleasure cruise ship run by the goblin mage's friend. There, they met her old teacher Professor Hanio, who explained that the Exodus Academy had drained their school of students and staff. She expressed interest in Sachi's idea regarding DIV and VOID and brought them to the library. However, the young girl Petra was waylaid by a mysterious door and, in following her, the party became trapped in a confluence of memories. Hanio confessed she had been experimenting with the Memory of one of the Fallen Heroes which the old headmaster possessed. Petra also shared in the Memory of a different Hero and the two reacted with one another trapping them in this plane. To escape, the warriors faced off against the memory of a Voidstar, which displayed a worrying amount of self-awareness. During the fight, the Voidstar successfully possessed the djinn Terasolum and escaped the memory. The warriors and Hanio immediately gave chase.

Back in the Prime Plane, they found themselves in the midst of a massive storm of VOID energies, generated by the new VOID Reborn. Sensing a powerful source of VOID in Northern Qethos, the VOID Reborn instructed its vessel to fly there. The warriors attempted to teleport away, only for the spell to go wild, separating them from Hanio and landing them in the village of Alyswell. Fortuitously, this meant they were able to intercept the VOID Reborn, but it simply set a VOID-infused elemental on them to cover its escape. As it traveled over Qethos, the mere presence of the VOID Reborn acerbated the spread of VOID Corruption, causing it to affect areas where it was previously dormant, such as Etropa. As the surrounding storm left devastation in its wake, the VOID Reborn flew speedily to its final destination; the Crater of Atlas.

### A Bitter Homecoming

Following the trail of destruction, the Qethosian Warriors' pursuit of Terasolum was interrupted by a large creature corrupted by VOID. The party managed to slay the beast and upon further investigation realized it was once human, specifically a clergyman. Looking through the foliage, the group spotted a large church in the distance, with evidence to suggest the creature had come from there. Unable to keep pace with the VOID Reborn, the party agreed to seek answers in the church and continue their pursuit shortly after. Outside the building they found a number of derelict building with no signs of life. As they ventured into the church, Leask Laell began to get an unsettling sense of deja vu.

During their exploration, the party found stacks of cages, mutilated corpses, fountain pools filled with blood and more deformed monsters roaming the halls, all pointing to something terrible having occurred here. In the depths of the basement, they found a mad priest raising a golem from Radiant blood. Despite his delirium, the priest recognized Leask and attempted to welcome him home, only to be swiftly dispatched by Nissa. The party managed to destroy the golem, and took the body outside for Sogu to perform a séance. From the high priest's spirit, they learned that this community was once Leask's home, where DIV worshippers had congregated in secret. Though part of the cult, Leask himself was considered to be too impure to be truly counted amongst their rank. After Leask's abduction, the church began to implode on itself, with the high priest starting to sacrifice its own members to accumulate Radiant blood for unknown purposes. Leask's father was revealed to have been the creature they fought in the forest, while his mother was sacrificed with the rest.

This revelation greatly upset Leask and caused him to suffer from serious mental imbalance. While their friend was having his breakdown, the rest of the party concluded that, no matter how revolting the means to obtain it were, the pool of Radiant blood held power that they should use to their advantage, if only so as to ensure the sacrifices made here were not in vain. They used the pool to scry their quarry Terasolum and were able to deduce his location and his destination of the Crater of Atlas. With this knowledge, Sachi and Sogu were able to manipulate the Radiant blood to create a two-way portal between the church and the crater in Northern Qethos. The party then left the church behind to stakeout the crater and prepare for the arrival of the VOID Reborn. During their week-long wait, Leask used the portal to return home briefly and perform a proper burial for his parents and the rest of his community.

### Deliverance

A few weeks after the arrival of the VOID Reborn at Atlas, the VOID crises gripping Qethos finally began to abate. With the combined efforts of Bronn and his Faithful and the Flumphs, the corruption was held at bay and gradually forced back. In addition, when the reborn DIV and VOID in the Ziggurat of Xenocrates were slain by the Qethosian Warriors, the raging energies of the dead gods began to wane, preventing the further spread of corruption. With the VOID crises finally under control, the Kingdom of Llwendolyn and other settlements in Qethos began to recover. As part of a treaty made with Nue-Alabhastar, the Faithful eased their fomentation against the senate and curtailed their influence in the south in favor of building their new headquarters in Northern Qethos. For the next 500 years, Qethos and its people continued to flourish, unburdened by any other major threats or emergencies.

## Phase 3 Story

### The Shattering of Io

When Lagos, the Emissary of the End, attacked Io 500 years after the Shadow Invasion, the continent of Qethos was caught up in the resulting catastrophe. However, Qethos, along with the rest of Io, was saved by the new gods, who held the planet together via chains of energy constructed from the Deitic Veil. The Shattering split the continent in half, separating Northern Qethos and Southern Qethos into two distinct landmasses. With the renaming of the northern half to Alabhastar, the southern half of the continent became the sole bearer of the name Qethos. Thus Qethos became one of the many floating Arks that were anchored to Io's core, allowing life on Io to endure and adapt to this new paradigm. Qethos swiftly became an urban continent, with multiple cities spanning the land. Its capital city, Llwendolyn, also became the seat for the Ionian Senate, making it one of the most important cities in all of Io.

## Notable Locations

### Llwendoyln

The capital city of Qethos, Llwendolyn has existed since the early days of Io, making it one of the oldest active civilizations. Once the seat of the All King, the Kingdom of Llwendolyn ruled over the entire continent with the blessing of the God of Radiance, DIV. This hegemony over the land lasted until the death of its last monarch, Tenebraum, and DIV's subsequent vanquishing by the Fallen Heroes. After the death of the gods, Llwendolyn came to be ruled by a senate and its influence became restricted to the southern half of the continent. Though the senate's authority was challenged by the Starslayer, Bronn Luxprin, the kingdom remained a democracy even up to the Shattering of Io. Post-Shattering, Llwendolyn has become one massive cityscape, and acts as the seat of power for both the Qethosian government and the Ionian Senate, cementing its status as the cornerstone of the Qethos Ark.

### Xiros

A shining city of prosperity, Xiros is located directly east of Llwendolyn, connected to the capital by the Honor and Valour Bridges. Twenty years ago, the city was terrorized by the deranged killing spree of Façade, whose disappearance remains a mystery to this day. Since then, Xiros has been experiencing a time of peace made possible by the city's capable defense force. Xiros is also home to one of the highest security prisons on Qethos, the Vault, which is suspended beneath the Ark itself.

### Klaybury

To the southeast of the Qethos Ark is the city of Klaybury. Klaybury is the industrial heart of Qethos, housing most of its manufacturing plants as well as VOID Town, where refuse is condensed into Voidium Ingots. Despite or because of this heavily industrialization, the city is poorer and less developed than its neighbors. Many of its citizens resort to underworld dealings, pit fighting, sifting through junk and other unsavory tasks in order to make ends meet. As Klaybury toils away, much of its land has been bought up by the capitalist edifice that is the Zeon Corporation, who claim that they look out for the people of the city in place of the Qethosian government.

## Historical Locations

### Alyswell

To the east of Llwendolyn was once situated the small fishing village of Alyswell. Alyswell was normally a quiet place which relied on the sea for sustenance, blissfully isolated from the woes of Llwendolyn. However Alyswell was not without its own troubles. In the Year 735, the town was subject to a haunting by the murdered wife of a blacksmith and became a battle site between a group of warriors and a lightning elemental after a storm of VOID energies raged through it. However, those issue were soon resolved, allowing the town to return to its peaceful state. With the increased urbanization of Qethos, it is unclear what became of Alyswell.

### Jaksu Academy

On an island southeast of Llwendolyn once stood the Jaksu Academy, a institution of magical education. It was once one of the most important schools on Io for aspiring mages, with Sachi Ko being one of its most famous alumni. However, in the year 735, it went into decline as a result of the meteoric rise of the Exodus Academy as the world's leading academic body. With the loss of staff and students to their Ishtarian rival, the headmaster resigned, leaving only one professor and the buildings as testament to it ever existing at all. Some time soon after the Headmaster resigned, the Academy was destroyed by the sporadic appearance of a storm of VOID energy. It is unclear if the site was ever reclaimed or left to nature.

### The Old Tower

At the very north of Qethos, just before the ruined wall, stood a lonely tower nestled in a dense thicket. Once the home of a trio of Hags, the Tower was the location of one of the Fallen Heroes' battles. During this fight, Oswin the Magus died, only to be resurrected by his then ally Bronn Luxprin. The tower was abandoned for some 500 years, until a cult that worshipped VOID made it their home. The Order of the Crow, as they were known, discovered a great pit of VOID Corruption they dubbed the Maw nearby. Their attempt to use its power ended in failure after a group of warriors infiltrated their encampment. It is unknown what became of the Maw or the Old Tower in the centuries after this event.

### The Church of DIV

A sheltered community hidden in the forests north of Alyswell, the Church of DIV was once home to worshippers of Radiance who isolated themselves from the rest of society. They built a large church to their god, filled with holy scripture and gothic architecture. However, the cult began to turn in on itself when their prayers to DIV continued to go unanswered. Led by the mad priest Ingra Kaz, the community was sacrificed to a man to accumulate Radiant Blood and manifest its power. Only one person is known to have survived the doom that befell his community; a young man named Leask Laell.

## Campaigns

The following campaigns and events take place on the continent of Qethos.

# **Deadbeats X Pipe Dreamers**

## Mechanics

*Main article: Technical Details*
The world of Io is a heavily homebrewed setting with many experimental mechanics working at the same time. As an example, there are mechanics that apply only to a single campaign, and there're mechanics that are shared between multiple campaigns.

## Etymology

"Qethos" appears to be an original name designed for the World of Io setting.

## Trivia

* Qethos first appeared in Voidstar Act 2. It first appeared on stream in All King Episode 1.
* Qethos is the first continent to be revealed in the World of Io series.