recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
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[[Category:Backup]]
Magic circle

Magic circles

* used for anti-demon magic; banishment & entrapment seals
* warlocks in Sitaram spellcast with powdered [mana substance] which they sift artfully into magic circles, which they then empower with mana to activate the drawn glyphs. The circle is then consumed and vanishes, leaving no trace of the design before.
* » mandala circle
* » alchemy circle
Myrna

**Myrna** is the lover of the warlock Jeseride, supposedly abducted by the Arais Emodun years before. He claims she is a princess of a lost kingdom.

## Biography

Myrna and Jeseride were both born from the kiss of the succubus.

## Involvement

The ArEm prefect Cireias Lorring explains that his therapy sessions with a girl rescued from a warlock's den in Salavia turned him onto Jeseride's scent. He describes how Jeseride tortured her to practice his necromancy, repeatedly killing and reanimating her to fine-tune his art of resurrection.

The warlock Jeseride is on a mission to rescue Myrna from Amadi Cais, the capital of the Arais Emodun which he intends to bomb on the command of Irreipej.

## Trivia

* Jeseride's saying, "Put it aside, put it away", came from Myrna, to help calm his ailments.
Creation Spell

The **Creation Spell** (also called the '**spark of life**') is the theoretical catalyst that can create life.

In theory, the only supposed instance when the Creation Spell has ever been performed was before time itself by God Himself, inspiring life into the beings He created from matter and magic.

## Controversy

The Creation Spell falls into the realm of pseudomancy, due to its theoretical and undocumented nature. It is not acknowledged as a true art by the Grand Arcanum.

The Creation Spell features prominently in the context of the Undead Question. Necromancers motivated by New Life thinking have posited that the Creation Spell is in fact real, and that true resurrection is achievable by using it. Research into the typographic expression of the spell makes up the groundwork of every necromancer's scholarship, practicing with different ward systems to fashion masters marks.

Many magi argue that they are within arm's grasp of creating life, with modern science having deduced the body to its base chemical components. Having been able to successfully recreate a facsimile of an individual's animus outside of the body (a homunculus), theorists believe that if combined with the physical components essential to an organic body, the Creation Spell would animate the two together. The mana signature of the homunculus would then, theoretically, organize the raw matter into a simulacrum of a living body according to the genetic schematic logged into its memory, with the energy and will of the Creation Spell uniting all aspects of the Three Estates to inspire a living being.

## Involvement

> "The secret? Suffering. That's what life is, that's what you're looking so hard for. You don't have to look hard, it's all around you."
>
>

Jeseride is believed to have innately discovered the Creation Spell, having proven the unparalleled ability to restore life to the dead (Myrna). His disturbed upbringing and troubled adolescence are thought to have contributed to Jeseride's psyche's development, developing along a deviant perspective which ultimately prepared him solely to understand the incommunicable, complex nature of life.

Narangheer-Meine becomes obsessed with Jeseride when he suspects that the warlock has unlocked the secret to immortality, and the lich wants to possess the Tivar's mind to inherit his special perspective on life.
Demonology

**Demonology** is the school of research dedicated to the study of the various demonic species, their history and traditions, and their presence in Hephestia and beyond.

## Medieval Demonology

Based on Purgation Era catalogues and grimoires, heavily rooted in religious speculation.

– Byreon Demonization of Ioheman Pantheon

## Modern Demonology

Based on physiological examinations and research and heavily rooted in scientific classification.
Oguhavak

**Oguhavak** is the afterlife for worthy souls according to followers of the Vederada religion. It is described as a village or city constructed out of smokeless fire, and its inhabitants are similarly infernal spirits of the deceased, living flames. The ancestors of the Janican People are believed to come here after death.

In Janican myth, Oguhavak was founded by the hero Ogur the Almighty, a formidable warrior of the People who shed his mortal body to walk as living fire. After performing many great feats in Janica, Ogur ascended into the heavens to pursue greater challenges, joining the stars as a constellation. Daytime is his sleep, and Ogur is said to retire into his blazing hut in the sky to rest after a weary night of hunting. When one looks up, one can see the round house of Ogur burning brightly and lighting the world—the Sun.

## Entry

For a soul to enter the gates of Oguhavak and reap the bounties of the afterlife, an individual must be branded with the *naavsuga* mark to be recognized as *gapaki* ("worthy of death"). The physical body must be cremated for the soul to be released, carried by ribbons of smoke into the sky where they are reignited and welcomed at the entrance to Oguhavak by its gatekeepers.

Lost souls who die in dishonor are cursed to dwell in the dark spaces outside of Oguhavak, the dark and forbidding cold of the Black Field where no light or warmth reaches. These wretched ghosts are called *gahuli*, starved of comfort and envious of the searing light that scalds them to touch.
Forbidden Arts

The **Forbidden Arts** are an index of spells prohibited by the Arais Emodun for mainstream use and are taught only in private courses by the Protectorate. The Magisterium teaches *Restricted Arts* to specialized disciplines.

The spells are cataloged according to the perspective of the Grand Arcanum and evidence of a mage performing these arts outside of sanctioned practice can be used to prosecute them.

## Forbidden Arts

* **Blood magic**, including live or animal sacrifice to fuel spellwork.
* **Transfiguration**
* **Affliction**
* **Psionics** (previously forbidden; now many sub-arts are classified as restricted)
	+ **Telepathy** (Restricted) - spying on other people's private thoughts was deemed unethical. Can be used for intrapersonal communication and long-distance relay.
	+ **Compulsion** - influencing other people's values and thoughts is illegal.
	+ **Disruption** - using magic to damage or disorient the sacred mind is illegal.
	+ **Memory** (Restricted) - using magic to alter one's lived history. Can be used to reduce the effects of psychological trauma.
	+ **Hypnosis** (Restricted) - using magic to control or condition a person's behaviors. Can be used to reduce the effects of psychological trauma.
* **Sorcery**, also known as the Dark Arts or Black Magic; any kind of spellwork through sorjin-channeling.
Kubuk

**Kubuk** is the bodyguard and lieutenant of Loriv Thieodin. His tongue was cut out, making him mute.

## Involvement

Kubuk faithfully accompanies Loriv while he is stationed in the Ushanran capital of Usharbanipal.

When Loriv departs the city on a holy mission for Empress Baharra, he leaves Kubuk behind with the orders of killing {Keyara?}.
Tree goblin

* Athletic, sinewy, energetic, mischievous.
* Arboreal lifestyle; long arms and short legs.
* Tree goblins were the only goblinoid species to evade enthrallment for the longest time, due to their guile and agility. They swarmed the high canopies and out-of-reach branches of the [Australian] jungles, dropping coconuts and rocks on trespassers and invading ogres.
* Occasionally cooperate in battalions together when convenient, such as during times of food shortage when numbers accounts for something, but jungle goblins for the most part prefer to harass and cheat other, so these alliances are temporary.
* Larger male alphas can sometimes form their own battalions and harems.
Rays of the Sun

The **Rays of the Sun** are an independent revolutionary group that came to be after the Treaty of Serez to oppose the Jelil'them and the Ushanran Cabal. Their practice of kidnappings, arson, and live immolation has categorized them as a terrorist group.

## About

The end of the Valpriot War was dated with the signing of the Treaty of Serez, which detailed the official prohibition of slavery in the Ushanra Empire and ordered the immediate manumission of all chattel slaves with the abolition of the surdannoi. Opponents instantly raised up against the Cabal and Kailar Himasser, but their control of the Ushocon—composed of mostly converted slave soldiers—enabled the unhindered initiation of the Jelil'them, forcibly liberating slaves from their masters who refused to acknowledge the emancipation.

In their opposition of the anti-slaver Cabal, the disparate faction of slave-owners, -traders, and -catchers syndicated in support of the restoration of the traditionally pro-slaver House of Ushar. Calling themselves the "Rays of the Sun", these vigilantes seek to disrupt the Cabal's usurpation of the Grand Diaar and bring the Rumsa back to power, serving as the spears of Her Radiance that would burn away all the shadows working against her.

## Involvement

The Rays of the Sun have been operating itinerantly throughout the empire, with incidents flaring up in random locations. Burnings of Ushocon soldiers and imperial officials is their means of terror, and the recent abduction of two high-ranking Cabal leaders, Quirin i-Durem and Solam i-Mand, has the Kailar fretting.

## Behind the scenes

The Rays of the Sun are being endorsed by the former Dimuwari shuridanyr Vanut mo-Martaga to oppose the Cabal.
Aetherization

**Aetherization** is the reaction between the competitive magical energies of **mana** and **aether** when they are exposed to each other. When the two energies clash, the reaction can simulate kinetic, electrical, or thermal energies in the release as the reagents are broken down and consumed, a phenomenon called **Magic** in Hephestia.
Revenant

A **revenant** is a corpse reanimated by magic. They are also referred to as **undead** and are sometimes derogatorily called **ghouls.**

## History

Towards the close of the Orc Wars, the Okaramog experimented under the guidance of demons with creating undead soldiers out of fallen vereskars to continue the war effort. The orcs called these troops *gahuli* ("ghouls") and proved to be crude and ineffective.

Years later, the scholar Aller Dreer adapted the masters marks of the Janican *gahuli* with his advanced warding knowledge to produce a more sophisticated version, disregarding the term ghoul and introducing his creation as a *revenant*, to differentiate between the historically vilified monstrosities of the orcs and their demonic architects which informed the archmage's work.

## Notable revenants

* **The Reanimated Man**
* **Emar Yengec**
* **Hakan**
* **Gurat "Shackles"**
* **Stoat**
* **Streuer**
* **The Herd**
* **Evelyn Dorsen**
Witness

The leader of the Stephedist Vistern is known as the **witness**. The witness is elected by the College of Diviners and serves for life, at which time the nominated candidate adopts a new name representing the thematic objective of their administration. There is no limit to the amount of times a name can be recycled, and often their names are reiterated by successors.

The witness governs the Vistern from the Grand Observatory in Burstadt, Austen.

## Notable Witnesses

* Witness Joy
* Witness Truth
* Witness Courage
* Witness Prosperity
* Witness Benevolence
* Witness Piety
* Witness Gratitude
* Witness Peace
* Witness Prudence
* Witness Charity
* Witness Clemency
* Witness Sincerity

The War Witnesses:

* Witness Victory
* Witness Mercy
* Witness Temerity
* Witness Severity
* Witness Strength

## Involvement

The current reigning leader of the Vistern is Witness Order XI.

## Trivia

* The Stephedist witness is an analog to the Roman Catholic office of pope and the patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Shadir

> *"All that is green breathes."*
>
>

Shalmoren **Shadir ao Weldfan**, or **Shadiraoweldfan**, also known as **Shadir the Great**, the **First Shalmoren**, and to Stephedist Tivar elves the **First Oracle** or **Oracle of Life**. Shadir is the legendary founder of the Liashan Concert and the world religion of Agriagas which is practiced by millions around the world. His life and teachings have informed the belief systems and politics of the Besperian elves for centuries.
Summoning

The majority of demonkind in Hephestia, the Marooned sorjachani, reside west of the Velvet Curtain where they reign supremely in loosely affiliated fiefdoms of their self-defined Underworld. For a demon to travel beyond his domain requires guaranties of safety and a worthwhile return on the expense and risk of the journey into ArEm-administrated lands. Some magi in the East **summon** demons in the hopes of learning arcane or unknown knowledge from the demons, or else (insanely) aspire to practice dark magic under them. Demon lords will often have proxies intermediate on their behalf to negotiate a meeting with the summoner once all security measures have been satisfied.

Summoning demons is prohibited by the Arais Emodun, as it directly relates to the crime of conspiring with demonkind. An entire department is devoted to monitoring correspondences arranging demon summonings.

Prefects of the Arais Emodun often stage false summonings to lure powerful demons out of their protected domains in the Underworld. These can be undercover operations lasting months, sometimes involving the prefect join with the cabal or triune serving the targeted demon(s).
Sittonio ti Orosto

**King **Sittonio ti Orosto**** was the last King of {Rose Kingdom} in the Ephidel Empire.

King Sittonio was a legendary warrior, outshining the cultural despots of the Soliflor Dynasty and the wealth of the coastal alfarae with his sheer popularity. Sittonio was a favorite of the Ephideli and he championed the Tivar fight against the Eastern powers.

During the EIGTH Reclamation, Sittonio rallied the kings of Ephidel to meet Emperor [Alexander]'s armies. Weary of war, Sittonio was abandoned on the field by his allies and was crushed by the Austeners. [Alexander], cheated of the legitimacy to his greatest triumph, vowed to avenge his respected enemy and hunt down the conspirators who betrayed Sittonio. With the war reignited, the garden lords threw up their hands and brokered an alliance with the Ushanrans to help them against the Lugaria Empire to the south, while [Alexander] pressed his heels into their eastern marches.
Mount Shardam

**Mount Shardam**, or ***Shardamaran*** (Pnardic), a massive semi-dormant cinder cone volcano. It is famously known as the cradle of Pnardic civilization. Beneath the mountain once existed the ancient *grade* known as Korsahn City, the capital of the Shardam Empire and the center of secular learning and arcane knowledge for centuries. The legendary Quolvode was located within the *grade*'s vault.

The Libraries of Shardam

x Baghdad

x Alexandria
Bloodstone

A **bloodstone** is the common name for a condensed form of ioun pearl derived from inside a promafer's body and congealed with blood. They come in different varieties, depending on the mana it transmuted from, and are the preferred opiate for low-income victims of hypomana.

Bloodstones often feature in the exercise of blood magic.

## Health risks

By ingesting a bloodstone for its mana, one can expose themselves to all manner of blood-born pathogens and bacteria.
Subjugation mask

**Subjugation masks** are face-covering headpieces enchanted to inhibit the wearer's spellcasting ability. The interior of the mask is heavily enchanted with complex wards so as to block psychic messages, and by extension the mage's ability to invoke their animus using their mind. Subjugation masks restrict a mage's ability to independently ventilate excess mana as well, causing discomfort or serious side-effects.

These masks were used in the past as punishment or torture device for magi. The mage's active animus would be allowed to grow and fester, generating painful, tumorous crystals in their bodies. The mask-wearer had to rely on another mage to channel out their excess mana before it coalesced in their bodies.

The thaumaturges wore subjugation masks.

## Removal

If the mask is removed by force, a security mechanism on the mask will activate the wards inside, vaporizing the mage's skull and leaving them a headless, smoking husk.

The only way to safely remove a subjugation mask is to use the key made for it.

Otherwise, one would have to trust a mage versed in Promatlean to magically lock-pick them free.

## Involvement

The warlock Jeseride is imprisoned with a subjugation mask by the Lavmorans.
Wayfarer

*"\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_"*

> *- Recruiting slogan*
>
>

The **wayfarers** were a historical agency endorsed by the Cremalian Congress and the Continental Congress. Wayfarers operated like multi-service mercenaries and responded to work postings by private individuals or local governments to resolve minor problems.

The wayfarers were the spiritual precursors to CATO and the legates.

## History

### Wayfarer Act

- license

- intent; Cremalian spirit of independence; "do it yourself"; hero mentality

- inspired by the Botiac Clerics of antiquity, protecting people and recovering lost treasures

### Repeal

* too much disorganization
* lack of work in Cremalia as national armies became formalized meant the outsourcing of their labor, and many guilds relocated outside the incorporated zone, finding contracts as mercenary companies outside of Cremalia. While operating under the aegis of the Senate, these wayfarer guilds hedged on ethics for their faraway employers, particularly in Liashan and Janica, and cast the Continental Congress in a bad light.

## Wayfarer Guilds

* military companies
* zero oversight, no allegiance
* high discrimination policies and recruiting practices
	+ race and religion; highly anti-necromancy (disposable fighters eliminates the need for professional soldiers

### Problems

* mafias
* no accountability
* far too easy to get a license
* corrupt wayfarers: extortion, burglary, treasure-hunting

## Cultural impact

The Wayfarer archetype – cowboy, lone wolf, dragonslayer, monster-hunter, hero.

## See also

* Wayman's Almanac
* Waystation
Scalping

**Scalping** is a form of trophy-hunting enjoyed by warriors of the Liashan forests and the Janican plains in which the scalp of a defeated (presumably dead) enemy is sliced off, hair and all, and saved by the victor.

## Background

To the elves, hair is seen as the manifestation of individual memories growing out of the person's head, and thus the coalesced history and identity of that person. The barbaric practice of scalping takes on a much more insidious intention with this context in mind, as the scalper is seen as collecting the souls of their victims.

While widely practiced, scalping is not always approved of in Liashan society.
Five Signs of Doom

The **Five Signs of Doom** are portents that oracular scholars have extrapolated from the text of Martan's Oracle to be indicative of the impending event of Doomsday.

Today, the Five Signs are not observed by mainstream Stephedists, and would have remained an obscure fact of history if not for the resurgence in Martanist belief with the growing power of the reformed Palatine Order.

## The Five Signs

### Waking of the dead

> "They will rise from their tombs, yawning in the grey mornings with gaping mouths and empty eyes."
>
>

### The Revelator

> "I now shall speak of the chosen one before the end of days,
>
>
> A prophet of doom conceived through sin
> Born of a succubus's kiss,
> His mother a witch and his father a ghost,
> This cursed child shall be born and be saved by God,
> And by His touch, his brow shall open and show his third eye,
> From which he shall survey events gone by.
> He shall see the past as clearly as the sun above his head,
> And he shall see the way of all things,
> As they have been as they truly are.
> The Revelator he shall be, and from him shall be a prophecy of devastating Truth.
> Across the lands he shall go, and cast off the illusions trapping Man.
> He shall reveal the glory of God's Truth and All shall beware the ghosts of their falsehoods,
> For they shall haunt them in the daylight and in the nighttime stalk their dreams,
> Until the darkness falls and all is Void,
> And Mankind regrets its deceitful pride."
>
>
>
> – Oracle of Martan

One of the Five Signs of Doom is the arrival of the Revelator, an agent of God who will herald terrible, concealed Truths to mankind before darkness falls onto the world.
Duck Hunt

The **Duck Hunt**, or **duckhunt**, is a covert commission assigned to an International Liaison Team of legates by the Senate of the Continental Congress to investigate the mastermind behind the Naeoleis Incident.

## Objectives

The Duck Hunt has two objectives:

1. Track down and subdue the terrorist responsible for Naeoleis, the Serag leader Urdankar.
2. Find and disarm the stolen mana bomb.

### Side objectives

The Arais Emodun believes a wanted necromancer is collaborating with the Serag and was responsible for the Naeoleis Incident.

## Name

The name *duck hunt* is a euphemism to disguise the nature of the legates' assignment from the public. It refers to their mission of subduing Urdankar, which shares some letters with 'duck.'

## Members

### Team

* Vandra Sloan, the adjutant leading Duck Hunt.
* Roetten Strom, a legate from Doban.
* Freyhe Geris, a legate from the Ushanra Empire.
* Cireias Lorring, a prefect of the Arais Emodun.
* Noretaid du Hasheil, a legate from the Liashan Concert.
* Nero, an engineer of the mana bomb paroled as a consultant.

## See also

* [First Team], an ILT commissioned before Duck Hunt's recruiting.
* [Christmas] Massacre, the contiguous investigation of a separate ILT also being adjured by Sloan.
StealMyPants

**Sarah Piper**, aka **/u/StealMyPants** is a horror aficionado and contributor to /r/NoSleep and /r/LibraryofHorrors. She is likely most recognizable for her story **The Oddkids**. She lives with her boyfriend of many years and spends much of her time playing Minecraft and wondering why she isn't writing.

## Body of Work

### Horror/Dark Fiction

The Oddkids - A man recounts an experience from his youth with a girl his age and a mysterious urban legend. (Featured on S05E12 of The NoSleep Podcast)

Gristle - When people go missing in the town of Sutton, a girl wonders if a supernatural entity is responsible. (Featured on S05E13 of The NoSleep Podcast)

Elegy - A vignette of a space explorer landing on a dead world.

Beneath the Surface - A woman uses a numbers station to cope with tragedy.

Chill - An account of supernatural snow.

Demons - A family tries to live a normal life after one is murdered by a demon.

### Other

Underdogs - PAYDAY 2 fanfiction, a glimpse into the off-the-clock life of a Dozer.

## Contact

Sarah can be reached on Reddit by sending a message to /u/StealMyPants or by email at smpwrites@gmail.com. She can also be followed on Twitter if one happens to be of that proclivity.
Undead Question

The **Undead Question** is a phrase used to describe the topic of necromancy ("What qualifies something as undead?").

## Issues

* Organ preservation (for medical use)
* Regenerating tissue (for medical use)
* Reanimating cadavers (for military use)
* Restoring brain function posthumously.
* Communion with the dead (for criminal investigation)

The Arais Emodun has been evasive on the topic of necromancy, receptive to arguments for its medical advantages but also confined by Stephedist morality to invest in its legal research and development. As of now, necromancy is a crude science endeavors by amateurs or mystics in the West, or illegally and in secret by Eastern magi.

Because of ArEm's inconclusiveness on necromancy, the Senate has been similarly disengaged in establishing a further-reaching legal precedent beyond Daval Crestock's ground-setting precedent.

— ArEm has recently rejected the assertion that necromancy is a demonic art, acknowledging its arcane principles and the logic of its theory.

— The Palatine Knights advocate that necromancy is demonic in origin, branding all necromancers are demon-worshipers, while many are in fact devoutly Stephedist or even Diabran. Canvary dislikes ArEm for its passive stance towards necromancy and has refused to allow it to extend its jurisdiction in arcane affairs to their territories beyond special consultants.

"Those necrophiliacs in ArEm."

## Involvement

The discovery of a revenant at the site of the Naeoleis attack predicated its classification as an incident, and piqued the outrage of the Palatine Knights from Lavmoor. In Dome, renewed demands for the Proconsul to outlaw necromancy flared in the wake of the tragedy.

Eleza's unauthorized presence in Canvary, a mage of the Arais Emodun, was another issue, especially since a few Palatine Knights were killed during [First Team]'s covert commission in the area.

The discovery of the Awakener compound in Valprus by legates proved that the cults there had begun to experiment with reanimation, collecting cadavers from graves and testing reanimating ward-tattoos (identified on their bodies when inspecting the massacre). This refreshes the discussion of necromancy in the Senate as Canvary presses the issue.
Trolls' blood potion

**Trolls' blood potion** is a common term for disputably fraudulent tonics, balms, and remedies made using troll blood as its main ingredient and variously purported to treat a myriad of medical conditions, from hair loss, libido, infertility, restoration of youth, and even the regrowing of lost limbs.
Sword and Shield Saga

## Locations

### Politics

#### East

* Austen
* Drayden
* Lavmoor
* Modeon
* Roysion

#### West

* Canvary
* Ushanra

### South

* Gueza
* Liashan

### Geography

#### Continents

* The Esterlands
* The Westerlands
* Grand Augustan
* *Australia*

## History

* Sorjachani Invasion
* Julidus Massacre
* Great Purge

Wars

* Hundred Years' War
* Orc Wars
	+ First Phase
	+ Second Phase
* Liashan Civil War
* Valpriot War
	+ Liberation of Levan
	+ Liberation of Canvary

### Historical Figures

* Byreon the Lightbringer
* Ban'Sangra
* Ishanah du Gibrin
* Arukain do Gibrin
* Alcer Deirse

## Setting

### Religions

* Agriagas
* Diabranewa
* Stephedism
	+ Martanist Stephedism
	+ Neo-Stephedism
	+ Eastern Orthodox
	+ Coptic
* Vederada

### Organizations

* Continental Congress (CC)
* Arais Emodun (ArEm)
	+ Protectorate
	+ Magisterium
	+ Inquisition
* Continental Senate
* Continental Advanced Tactics & Operations (CATO)
* Order of the Palatine Knights

### Races and Cultures

#### Hephestian native species

* Dwarves
* Elves
* Human
* Orc
* Itzhin
* Ogre
* Goblin

#### Nonnative demonic species

* Dromut
* Imp
* Gnomes
* Gnoll
* Fandray
* Qurit
* Numoi

### Magic

* evolution & science
* Spellcasting

* Animus
* Warding
* Channeling

* Necromancy

## Story

### Main Cast

* Duck Hunt
	+ Freyhe Geris (POV)
	+ Cireias Lorring (POV)
	+ Nero
	+ Noretaid du Hasheil
	+ Roetten Strom
* Vandra Sloan (POV)
* Fiona Hale (POV)
* Keyara ai-Ledasy (POV)
* Baharra ai-Shunra
* Jeseride
* Bystander POVs
	+ Emar Yengec
	+ Gassat Buren
	+ Conroy Fay
	+ Oben Thewell
	+ Yelastim do Siyazin
	+ *Rasputin*

### Other

* Irreipej
* Urn Chagall
* Loriv Thieodin
* Mascad i-Apsa
Waystation

"<slogan that's been the same for centuries>"

The waystations of Cremalia are a franchise of government-subsidized hospices.

* - owners: waykeeper
* - stables; parking lots
* – stablemaster & groomsmen
* - food & lodging
* - hotels
* - legate privileges; private lounges

- a waystation is a microcosm of the area it is nestled in, an exaggerated condensation of all the local cuisine and culture.

- size, location, aesthetic & interior decoration, layout, foods, and amenities offered differ on location

- café or restaurant sections in more upscale waystations

- some waystations (usually if the owner is dwarven) have built-in bathhouses

- social hubs; job postings, bulletins

- common room

- people will often elect a local waystation as a meeting place, business or social. They are common, populous, well-kept, easy-to-find, and open all hours.

larder

## Related

Barge-towns, Lavmoran ocean-based floating towns for busy sea lanes

x caravanserais
Urn Chagall

**Urn Chagall**, currently **Urdankar**, is an orc from the Kingdom of Drayden and a citizen of the Ushanra Empire, for which he fought for during the Valpriot War years ago before deserting under unordinary circumstances. More recently, Urdankar has distanced himself from Imperial Ushanra to enterprise his own politics.

As of the Naeoleis Incident in DATE, Urdankar been identified as the shadow leader of the organized terrorist group the Seragikhulwatha.

## Biography

### Expatriation

#### Janica

Urn traveled to Janica to *find himself* and rejected his "human name" to embrace something more orcish, settling on "Urdankar."

#### Ushanra

Urdankar enlisted into the Ushocon as a foreign convert, nominally swearing his Diabran faith and hurling himself into the rigors of war for a chance to avenge his People against the Modeans that decimated their culture. Urdankar was trained in combat and espionage by Loriv Thieodin in his Owl Corps, training alongside Freyhe and Gamaron.

### Valpriot War

Urdankar served under Loriv during the war.

At its end, he was arrested by his comrades after lethally assaulting a fellow soldier after proclaiming his relief when he heard the news of the Treaty of Serez. In jail for a week, Urdankar escaped his guard and has remained missing ever since.

## Behind the Scenes

### Operation Eclipse

While under Loriv's command, Urdankar became enthusiastically involved in the insurrectionist plot to assassinate Empress Mizaara and take power in Usharbanipal. However, the pacific end to the Valpriot War under the Kailar's administration left the embittered Urdankar embroiled with dissatisfaction, and he angrily quit the Ushocon to enterprise his own means of terrorizing the East.

### An unknown benefactor

Urdankar and the Serag are secretly being endorsed by the Ushanran minister of the Dimuwari orcs Vanut mo-Martaga.

## Trivia

* Unbeknownst to him, the name Urdankar that Dorofan awarded to the Vankish emigrant is an insult ridiculing Urn's handling of his initiation rituals. In Vadadoka, *urdan akar* translates to "sorefoot."
Yelastim do Siyazin

**Yelastim do Siyazin** is a Weldfan freedom-fighter who is a leader of the Free People's Army in the Liashan Civil War known for his tactical savvy and ruthless guerrilla warfare, making him both feared and admired by all sides embroiled in the bloody conflict for supremacy in the rainforests of the Grand Augustan.

## Characteristics

*"If there was one thing Yelastim was intimately familiar with, it was scars. His round face was a patchwork of violence, pale etchings crisscrossing the ruddy tan of his skin."*

Yelastim observes that the majority of Jeseride's scars are self-inflicted and old—from childhood.

## Involvement

The Yellow Eel has recently become the prisoner of the Lavmoran Navy, who sequestered the elven rebel on a prison-ship kept hidden from the public.

While incarcerated on the prison-ship, Yelastim began to network with his fellow captives to eventually plot their escape. Among the newest arrivals is a warlock with an iron mask, whom Yelastim hopes to recruit to his scheme.
Transfiguration

The **Transformative Arts**, or **Transfiguration**, is a branch of the Grand Arcanum concerned with the study and practice of altering the physical form of an organism through magical processes, ranging in extremity to their physiological or cosmetic profile. The more advanced, mythologized version of transfiguration is known as *shapeshifting*, an ability the early succubi and incubi were thought to possess. The misconception of transfiguration is that alterations can be easily reversed, which is not always the case, especially concerning complex organic materials such as skin tissue and bone.

Transfiguration can be pursued for various reasons, mostly medical (such as reconstructive therapy), but the more familiar example of the art is in physical restructuring, when mages use magic to alter their facial and body features to artificially enhance their attractiveness. The stereotype that all mages are inhumanly beautiful is in fact rooted in this, with transfiguration being among the few arcane subjects forbidden to young mages for study by the Arais Emodun, who still manage to experiment with it as a rite of passage with the discreet aid of senior peers.

## Disfigurement

The risk of deformity is ever present, and botched transfigurations have been notably horrific—and ruefully irreversible. Effective transfigurations require that the mage performing the spellwork have a reliable majesty and an aesthetic intuition to create realistic augmentations to the flesh.

Many mages overly augment themselves, deliberately or by incident of extreme hypomana, and their physical features are distorted beyond recognition, especially among the superficially obsessed who take their vanity to grotesque extremes.

### Symptoms

A receding nose is a sign of extensive transfiguration, making the skin and cartilage of the nose draw back and giving the nasal cavity the appearance of slits, like a snake. They have flat, haunted faces. This feature is especially common amongst sufferers of extensive hypomana, such as sorjin-channeling *omathi* in Sitaram and the mana-starved winnowed.

#### Examples

The Pnardic runemasters of old (exclusively male eunuchs and women) were known to have severely "indwarven" visages, ghoulish and pale-skinned and harrowed with strange vascularity. Their skin would have a bluish tint and their noses would almost recede into drawn, skull-like features. They isolated themselves in the sacred, dark depths of the grades and cave systems of the Anduvins, leading tunneling and spelunking expeditions further deeper towards the "Womb of the World" where it was believed the truest source of magic resided. Primitive magic radiation and a singular environment altered these dwarves' physiologies to metabolize slower, see in the dark, live longer, and survive with little food or water for lengths at a time. These changes were interpreted as progressions towards enlightenment—incarnate asceticism from holy treks deep into the earth, becoming even more "holy-looking" the more often they leave to contemplate the stone.
Pelepa ai-Shunra

**Pelepa** **ai-Shunra** is a minor member of the Ushanran House of Ushar.

## Involvement

When Baharra and Keyara first return to the Wirashom, one of the first people to greet them is Pelepa, a distant cousin of Baharra's from a minor branch of the family.

Later, Pelepa approaches Keyara in private and offers her eyes and ears in the harem.

Keyara asks Pelepa to entreat the Imperial Treasurer Dezmen for his financial support. Pelepa returns later badly bruised and shaken, explaining to Keyara that Dezmen raped her when she came to his chambers asking for his aid, "providing" her his generosity. Pelepa also presents the silver coin he 'paid' her as alms, the only weight of money he would lend to Baharra in exchange for the use of her girl. Enraged, Keyara promises to avenge Pelepa's disgrace, and contacts the shapeshifter [Caliban].

## Lilishmi

 **Affiliations** | Lilim

In truth, Pelepa is a succubus named **Lilishmi** disguised as the deceased princess.

When Lilishmi reveals herself to Keyara, her deception about Dezmen's abuse comes to light as a manipulation fed to her to compel Keyara's extremity to contact a demon.

Lilishmi explains that in all her time helping Keyara to serve Baharra's interests, she was shrewdly observing her and studying her behaviors and personality with the ulterior motive of ultimately usurping Keyara's identity and discreetly replacing her as the Rumsa's aide and confidante. After assessing the flaws in possessing Baharra or making a puppet out of Lyrra, the demons discovered ripe potential in Keyara and envied her privileged access to the imperial seat, conniving a plot to worm into her good graces by giving her a loyal and loving ally in court.

Lilishmi casts a veil of Keyara's appearance, impersonating her when she returned to Usharbanipal to advance the triune's goals to manipulate Baharra.

While disguised as "Keyara", the succubus treaded the halls of the Wirashom while it was under siege by the combined threats of the Rays of the Sun and the Serag. The bitter Dimuwari gulam Vanut then murdered Lilishmi and her protectors as he stormed the harem, confusing her for Baharra's favorite cousin, unintentionally foiling his own allies' entire plot in his blind anger.

## Trivia

* The name Lilishmi is based on the Judeo-Christian demon Lilith and the Hindu goddess Lakshmi.
Scrying

**Scrying** is the ability to view otherworldly things beyond normal means.

## In magic

Also called *seeing through Solemn's veil.*

*Scrying* in an arcane context refers to the use of magic glass to detect magical energies. Scrying through a lens of magic glass gives the spectator a view of the metaphysical world, including mana and aether, which take the silhouette of the matter they've infused and suffused, respectively, which has given the aethosphere the reputation of an eerie ghost world.

## In religion

*Scrying* in the context of Esshianism and the Solemnic religions refers to the practice of divination. Scrying is a form of augury used to survey the world or receive visions from God.
Sargat

The greater demon **Sargat** (*sahr-gat*) was a mysterious entity from ancient history, known by name only from Sorjachani lore which describe it as an enemy to all life. It is accused of destabilizing and crippling the sphere of influence of the Sorjachani in East and North Mannea and was destroyed by the gnolls of Sitaram.

## Behind the scenes

After Sargat's creation, the demon grew uninhibited, maturing healthily into an inexplicably malevolent creature who dominated the minds of its creators and the surrounding area with powerful mind control. Described as whispers "scratching in the back of their minds", demonkind and mortals alike heard the call of Sargat throughout Salavia, rejected as cursed (and contagious). As the demon grew in physical size, Sargat's sphere of influence also grew, luring its victims on a national scale to their deaths as they trekked to the mourasta's gaping maw and threw themselves willingly--promised by this dark god to be the only release from its torments.

The Sorjachani in North Mannea evacuated or died, fleeing to Sitaram and the protection of the demon lords in power there.

At the same time, the Great Purge was underway in East Mannea, and coincided with the event known as the Consecration of Salavia by Stephedists.
Underworld

The **Underworld** is a metaphorical name for the unrecognized land claims and territories of all the various demon lords around Hephestia, primarily in Sitaram, the black market arcane economy, and the demonic society associated with the *Marooned* Sorjachani.

## Notes

* demonic triunes
* crimson-robed priesthood; warlocks
* constant territory wars between the most powerful archdemons vying for countries and the lowliest urban triunes competing for the local beat.
* corrupt upper class indentured to demonic overlords
* demonic pact economy
* lower slave class
* favelas & government corruption
* blood magic & live sacrifices
* extreme poverty and resource deprivation
Seven Signs of Love and Devotion

The **Seven Signs of Love and Devotion** is a ritual of courtship in Ushanra performed by a suitor (gulam) to the Rumsa to earn her approval for marriage.

## Origins

The first empress Shimera said she would know her husband only when she saw seven signs from God that would show her who she should marry. During her lifetime, not a single suitor successfully courted her, but her successor, Usha, continued the tradition with less rigid standards.

## Tradition

When a new shuridanno is declared, Ushanran tradition expects the suitor to try and court the Rumsa for her affections and choose him for a husband, regardless of whether an arrangement has been settled beforehand. These gestures are typically grand, public spectacles meant to generate momentum with the empire's citizens more than with the empress herself, promoting their own romantic and compassionate personas to gain the support of the people. In Ushanra, the rumsa is a vital cultural figure in every day life, and no one would support a marriage with a mate unworthy of their Sun.

The fiction of romance is a key aspect to the almost theatrical courtship ceremonies and is handled delicately, with both the prospective suitors and the empresses expected to play their parts. At the end, the rumsa is meant to publicly accept a final gift of offering from her suitor and then be overcome with such emotion that she takes him for a gulam, to the applause of the crowd.

### Seven Signs

1. Selflessness / Generosity
2. Humility / Modesty
3. Protectiveness
4. Kindness
5. Gentleness
6. Honesty
7. Faithfulness

## Involvement

After Baharra marries Hishah and is impregnated with the Amerani neeam, Kailar Mascad declares his intention to show Baharra "seven signs of love, humility, and devotion" and establish the Itzhin shuridanno he has dreamed of.
Sisterhood of the Sibyls

The **Sisterhood of the Sibyls**, also known as the *Sibylline Sisters* or *Sibyls*, are an ancient all-female order of missionaries and priestesses devoted to living in ascetic purity, collecting alms, helping the needy, and performing auguries on behalf of querents. Some choose the cloister life and live together in austere convents. The Sisters evolved from the disciples of Yelen who consulted crystals to scry the Future.

Each sibyl carries with her a moonstone bauble which she can utilize to perform divination. Many wear theirs on a chain around their necks.
Andrei Bizet

**General** **Andrei Bizet** is the Canaveran commander of the Palatine Knights occupying the Kingdom of Lavmoor in support of King Jean-Marcus Laurie.

## Involvement

General Bizet has been purging the provinces of Lavmoor of mages suspected of practicing forbidden magic, particularly members of the Healers Union.

The night before the attack on the rebels, Bizet is pursued by Jeseride in his fortress just outside of Concordia. Cornered, the Palatine commander is beheaded by the warlock and the royals' support from the knights disintegrates in the sudden void.
Types of spells

Below is a list of **types of spells**.

* (Instant)
* (Sustained)
* Curse - a contagious/hereditary spell. The directive of the spell can copy itself onto unscripted mana and pass on the spell's expression.
* Hegemony - an psychic expression of mental domination, where the target's psyche is directly influenced by another's directive's.
* Hex - an affliction spell that hampers the production of certain organic chemicals, debilitating the individual. For example, a hex can cause a weakened immune system or fatigue, or be designed to disable the digestion of certain compounds. Hexes are often cast as curses.
* Illusion - a psychic expression of cognitive distortion where the target's sensory receptors are manipulated in concert to fabricate a situation or its details.
* Charm - an enhancement spell that targets the stimulation of certain sensations or organic chemicals, like adrenaline, serotonin, dopamine, etc.
High Road

The **High Road** is a major trade route that spans the breadth of Upper Cremalia, connecting Mannea to Lower Cremalia and by extension the Eastern Isles. In the past, during (the age of the Hundred Years War), the High Road was the most prosperous commercial highway in the world for Arcana. Its counterpart is the **Low Road**, which lies south of the Anduvin Mountains.

Beginning in Korsahn City under Mount Shardam, the High Road connected many dwarven colonies across the Bagharn and for a time established an economic hegemony over the East for so long as the dwarves controlled the magic trade.

The end of the Hundred Years War in DATE resulted in the decline of the High Road and the gradual recession of the Bagharn, both culturally and financially.
Pyromancy

The **Combustive Arts**, or more commonly its historical name of **Pyromancy**, is a branch of the Grand Arcanum focused on the localization and control of temperature and heat. The term *pyromancy* is a technical malapropism, as it describes only a slight aspect of the (more appropriately termed) *thermal arts*. Combustion, the identifying ability associated with the art, is the manipulation of a material's burning, boiling, or melting points. Using magic, a mage could warm a kettle of tea, scorch a piece of wood, melt a hole through an iron shield, or even superheat the aer around them.

## Cryomancy

Cryomancy is a debunked art. Channelers later learned the secret to cooling and freezing when they finally comprehended the science behind hot and cold. Instead of adding cold, the mage had to remove heat. Heat is energy, and cold is the absence of it.