Lore

To see the lore around the battlegrounds, click Arena Lore

## About Rival

RIVAL is about the neverending battle between Kel's Crimson children and Pandaemos' corrupt Ealdra that has been fought for thousands of years. A world ravaged by wars, witnessed by long dead races, now resolves its conflicts in the Arena games.

As the player, you are a team builder or talent scount who strives to build the strongest team.

## Kel

Kel is the world in which RIVAL takes place.

## Crimson and Chaos

Crimson is red

Chaos is blue

## Dead Hands

What began as an Ealdra Cult less than a century ago has spread like a plague across villages and tribal nations. Founded by Ixsamesh, apprentice to Raz'el the Mystic prior to his abandonment of mortals, she believed herself a reincarnated Ealdra Elder and convinced her followers that Kel needed the Ealdra. Ixsamesh taught that the Ealdra's potential made the old gods uneasy and and thus sought to diminish their powers. Without their interference and The Order of Zakem's oppression, every being could be an immortal with the power that rivaled a god. If they conquered Kel, they could use the power of all the life springs to call forth He-Who-Whispers, the Ealdra that guided Ixsamesh, and all would be restored to their Ealdra forms. The Ealdra cult began to "gather followers" by kidnapping children and exploiting the weak or sick, but when they razed the Red Bastion, a remote citadel of the Northern Kingdom, The Order of Zakem opted to get involved. When caught by The Order's hunters, they managed to cut off Ixsamesh's hands before they were murdered by her followers. Without her hands, she could not use magic and Ixsamesh soon "perished," but not before Marlog, a repulsive and brutal cult Marauder, claimed to hear the voice of He-Who-Whispers. Marlog instructed the cultist to shroud their faces and hands, for as He-Who-Whispers had instructed, they were to serve as the Dead Hands of Ixsamesh. Their macabre experiments and false promises have allowed them to form a fearsome military that will soon rival the power of the Empire.

## Eyes of Dawn

The nation of Dawn is renown for its lush abundance and skilled archers. During the fourth Spring of their lives, trainees are gifted their first bows by the Elite eye who will train them, The trainees only have 6 springs to master the bows. Failure to do so may result in the deaths of their masters and exile from Dawn. To pass, the girl must fire a single Arrow Storm to remove 13 grains of rice placed throughout her master's body during the trials of their tenth Spring. Missing a single target, or injuring their master, is an instant failure. If they cannot pass the Summon trials, both trainee and trainer are considered failures and exiled from the land. Normally graduates train rigorously for years as watch guards. When all slumber, they are the Eyes of Dawn. But the Dead Hands have begun to invade their lands in recent years. Due to this, the best graduates are immediately thrust into battle with other Elite Eyes, often the very masters they trained with. Many Eyes have closed since the invasion began, but the Eyes of Dawn will never surrender. Even some of the men have begun to leave the Order of Dawn to lend the fight their magic.

## First Ealdra War

Soon after the first beings first appeared on Kel, Pandaemos the Divider tainted their lives with fragments of his soul. By latching onto their hosts, the Soul Binders were able to pour Pandaemos' godly malevolence and power into them, until each was so corrupted that they transformed and became Ealdra. Seen as an abomination by Kel the Protector, she gathered her valkyrie and Archons to rid this world of its infection, thus the First Ealdra War was sparked. For eons they warred, until Kell fell in battle. Greatly weakened, the surviving Valkyrie and Archon hid among the ruins of Kel, vowing to continue the fight and protect the new beings that had begun flourishing while the Ealdra had been distracted by the war. Because the last of Kel's essence was absorbed by the world, the Valkyrie named it Kel, in homage of the god that fell trying to help it.

## Great Ealdra War

When Kel the Protector died, she fell upon her namesake world. Over time, the body transformed the landscape, while the last of the essence began pooling into life springs. Members of each race drank from the life srpings for many reasons: healing properties, slowness of aging, and personal beliefs. Each generation grew wiser and stronger without realizing it, until each had a champion that rivaled the strength of an Ealdra Elder. The Vampires, Giants, Harpies, the human Vanguard, some of the Elementals, and each of their Champions, all united under Primus, the first and wisest Champion born among the Vampires. The Valkyrie and Archon that had remained were ever watchful of the budding races. As they saw the races unit, the realized the Champions could be their greatest allies and offer a true chance to defeat the Ealdra hordes. Together, they attack the Ealdra and began the Great Ealdra War. When a Valkyrie or Archon fell in battle, the allied forces were weakened. But when a Champion fell in battle, they were replaced by a younger and stronger one, and though the loss was felt, the allied forces were strengthened nonetheless. The war raged for generations, but of the original fighting force, only two survived to see the end of the war and the Ealdra: Primus and Zakem.

## The Mark of the Empire

The Mark of The Empire pays homage to its great legacy, the vampire ruled Lewelente Imperium. After the Great Ealdra War, the sheer numbers and near immortality of vampires allowed them to flourish and established the first kingdom on Kel. Founders of The Empire claimed descendancy, made a slightly changed to the Lewelente crest, and proclaimed it their royal seal.

## The Order of Zakem

3500 years ago, Zakem gathered the surviving champions of the Great Ealdra war and trained them to look for signs of the Ealdra's revival. She set the first champion to fight in the war as the Order's Commander, and bestowed upon him her ancient knowledge. Before the Commander's death, he transcribed all he could into tomes, ensuring future Commanders would know what to do should the Ealdra return. Over time, the Order of Zakem has disbanded and been reunited to fight Ealdra remnants and threats to Kel. With the return of over abundant life springs and the popularity of the Arena battles, the current Commander has begun searching for new champions among them.

## Life Springs

The only remnants of Kel the Protector.  When Kel's body fell upon our world, her death throws reshaped the landscaped, but in doing so the life force that remained became part of it. The Valkyrie and Archons believed this world represented a new form of the goddess. Thus they stayed and watched over the beings that had been overlooked by the Soul Binders and the First Ealdra war. Since then, life springs have appeared throughout Kel as natural pools. They gave the old races the power to defeat the Ealdra, gave rise to the first Champions, have been the sources of power and conflict for kingdoms and races throughout history, and now are the prime locations for new arenas.

## Obscura Stones

Grown layer by layer, much happens to Crimson before it becomes an Obscura Stone. Arena turret contain chambers in which crimson is placed during construction. As the turret draws elixir from underground life springs, Crimson extracts the raw energy, and collects it until it is discharged as a energy bolt. The power of a bolt is determined by the size of the turret and the amount of elixir that fills the Crimson chamber. With each elixir bath, a new layer forms atop the old, altering and compressing the crimson over time until it only serves as the core for the rarest stone on Kel.

## The Scientist

His involvement in history is both legendary and mostly unknown. The only vampire scientist that lived through the Great Thirst, he carries the knowledge of hundreds of macabre experiments. As the Great Thirst ravaged the Lewelente Imperium, he and many of his colleagues tried desperately to preserve the knowledge of the Vampires.
When every attempt failed to preserve even a single life and only 10% of the Imperium was left, he and his colleagues made a final attempt. The Scientist believed the essence of a vampire could be transferred into an inorganic being, and this would allow them to continue living as near immortals. But each Gargoyle they created awoke with no memory of being a vampire and immediately began attacking and killing those near it. They had failed, and only The Scientist survived the final experiment. Soon afterwards, the Lewelente Imperium collapsed. Most Vampires rotted away while still alive and became walking skeletons, while the few that survived lost their near immortality and became severely weakened. Some managed to procreate before they died, but the children were merely human, with little semblance of vampire blood in them.
The Scientist would have died like the rest, but knowledge of the final experiment preserved him. Though he was unable to transfer his essence, once he had become weak enough, he performed the Gargoyle imbuing process on himself and managed to keep his body from rotting further by entering a "stone season." Like the Gargoyles, turning into stone rejuvenated his body. Unlike the Gargoyles however, the stone season could last for years. Though Prince Iscariot was the only other vampire known to survive the Great Thirst, The Scientist felt obligated to continue his research in hopes of presenting it to him one day. Centuries passed and human kingdoms rose. Desperate to continue his work, he presented himself to royal courts across Kel until one finally accepted him.
Yet, The Scientist resumed his attempts to create and preserve life. Each new being gave him hope that he had found a solution to a problem that no longer needed solving, but his life would be wasted if he did not find the answers nonetheless. But when he created Gregor, his hosts were disgusted, labeled his work a crime against the natural laws, and exiled him. Once more he came close to death, but he knew he could survive the new challenge. He has toiled away in his hidden, cave laboratory for more than two generations, creating incredible and deadly machinery that eventually finds its way into the arena games. Clearly, exile has worked in his favor. Should he wish, The Scientist could easily equip himself with his greatest works and walk among society once more. Why this has not happened is a mystery to the few that know of who and what he is.