Rakil

- Darklands.

- The Second-to-last Chain

- Black Stone Quarries.

- Edge of the World.

- Rakili Warriors.

Rakil, is the homeland of the Rakili Shadow Men, otherwise known to the people of Eljuk as Demons. The land was crafted by unknown means by a mysterious figure known only as "The Builder" . At some point, the delicate balance between the people of the realm was broken, and war began to spread so far and so wide, that the very foundations of their world was nearly utterly destroyed.

## ***Landscape:***

Rakil is a blackened landscape of giant towers and nearly bottomless quarries, and is uniquely a place where the world is finite, but only just. Each day, the edge of the world grows larger, an arm's length at a time. Over the centuries, this has led to an expansive landscape of dark mountains, shadowy valleys, and more Nameless spawned from the hills.

## ***People:***

The Rakili are unlike any man or beast truly seen by the eyes of the people of Eljuk. Their only closest relative are the nature spirits of Eljuk, the Jann, whom they are distantly related to. The people of Rakil can be divided into roughly two groups; that is, the Minors and the Raj-kin. While the two groups are different in many ways, they are similar in their baseline appearance of humanoid shadows with solid colored glowing eyes, often used to show the alligence to one Raj or another.

### ***The Minor Rakili:***

The Minor Rakili are the most numerous, and are both incredibly deadly in a straight fight yet with very clear weaknesses that can be exploited by those of efficient cunning. Firstly, their lust for immaterial gain means they will prefer to bargain or make pacts in exchange for greater authority rather than physical riches. Secondly, their lack of skin to protect their bare spirits mean they are incredibly vulnerable to firelight, sunlight, and the glow of forged Amobi. They are strange creatures to the people of Eljuk, mainly in the fact that they are completely lacking a body. Instead, they manifest themselves as a black mist, rendering themselves immune to all weapons, although their unnatural agility would allow them to dodge an arrow midflight.

There is a strange subspecies of the Minor Rakili that do not have any glowing eyes, rather they are true shadows. These Rakili are known as the nameless, and are seen as below even the Minors, and are often forced to become slaves in the great stone quarys.

### ***The Raj-Kin:***

The Raj-Kin Rakili are the ruling leaders of the Rakili people, and are by far the most dangerous. The most common variety of the Raj-Kin are a Raj's spawnlings, or alternately their Children. Such occurences of new Raj-Kin are not conceived via mating with members of the opposite Rakili sex, but rather through asexual duplication, where a Raj would rend a piece of themselves and through a powerful spell, allow it to grow and become a powerful vassel. These Children, share a powerful connection to their parent Raj, often able to be possessed and acted through by the parent, or even consumed by the parent again should they feel the desire. However, it is documented that the Children of a Raj are able to break away from their parent, as seen when the eldest child of the Raj of Hate broke away from his father and devoted himself to the Raj of Madness. The Raj-Spawn, however, do not possess any powers of their own other than incredibly durrable hide that can only be pierced by an Amobi blade, allowing them to walk in sunlight. Should their Raj wish to, they can gift knowledge of abilities to their children, but such powers can be taken away should the Raj find themselves displeased.

The Raj themselves, are small in number but monstrous in their abilities. Possessing skin that shatters any weapon - demon or mortal - that it encounters. The Raj also possess incredible powers of possession, shapeshifting, imitation of another's voice, and an incredible sway over magic. Additionally, there is a more mysterious power that required all of the Raj to participate in; the crowning of a fellow Rakili as a Raj. It is unknown if more than one occurance of this has happened in the history of Rakil, but regardless it is well known and documented that Glichiti, Minor Rakili of second guesses, was elevated to Hav-jhoyo, Raj of Death.

## ***Government:***

The Rakili operated under a fudalistic theocracy, with Raj ruling stretches of the Black Spires and the black stone quarries, but all of the Raj were theoretically answerable to the Avatar - or Hukraj - of the Builder, who ruled Rakil under the authority of the Builder and his Staff. There has only been one true Avatar, Methu, Raj of Fate. It has been widely accepted that the title of Hukraj made one sacrosact, and untouchable by the petty squables of the other Raj. However, it is quite clear that Raj Inovkan managed to pursuade his vassels and allies otherwise, as Methu was overthrown at the conclusion of the Shadow War. It is said that Inovkan tried to rule as Hukraj with a council of his fellow Raj, to better bring peace to Rakil, but his experiment with ruling did not last long. After Inovkan was banished to the realm of Eljuk, the Raj of Rakil began to rule cruely and harshly, with anyone who dared to speak out against them sent to Eljuk until summoned back by another Raj.

## ***Culture:***

Rakili culture is defined by the landscape. Blasted, blackened stone as far as the eye can see in a great oval, with the realm extending an arms length every passing day. The Rakili people recall when their world was made, the being known as "The Builder" stepped down from the heavens and created them, and so the natives of Rakil build great spires in their quest to follow their maker upwards. However, their culture is also defined by war, and strife. For the great bottomless quarreys of black stone are valuable, and constantly fought over by rival Raj. Therefore, it is not an uncommon tragedy to see a tower erected over the course of five hundred years be toppled in a decade. However, the wish to climb back to the heavens was shadowed by the discovery and eventual common knowledge of the new realm of Rakil, with many forced Minor laborers beginning to see new opportunities in deliberately disobeying their Raj, and being sent to the new realm where they might be able to ravage and dominate as they once were.

## ***History:***

It is unknown when Rakil was created or discovered, but it is known that it has existed for well over five hundred thousand years. It is said that the people of Rakil awoke to a strange being known as the Builder, who breathed life into them and told them to enjoy the world he had made. He crowned one of the first Raj, Methu, as his Avatar and ruler over the realm, before handing him his scepter, a white staff of Amobi, the only tangible material able to harm the Rakili, and was told it was to be both a symbol of his rule and of his authority to punish. However, once he had left and the beings had lived for a time, the people wished to follow The Builder back from where he had come, the sky. Several Raj have led the efforts to build great towers to reach the far distant realm of the Builder (or so it is belived). In the first year of the Wraith's reckoning, Methu discovered a gateway left behind by the Builder, that led into the void outside of the realm. In this void, he crafted his own land, Eljuk, and stayed there for many years.

In his absence, the Raj began whispering, and by the time he returned nearly five hundred years after he had left, the Raj had raised many armies, and were seiging his lands. Ultimately, many sacred towers were destroyed and Methu was overthrown; his banished spirit fleeing through the portal back to Eljuk to live in exile, a place that the Raj were too fearful to go through.

The leader of the rebellious Raj, Inovkan, claimed the title of Hukraj, and attempted to establish a council of Raj to better govern and aid his people. However, the Raj were less interested in Inovkan's idealist dreams and were more interested in the portal and it's potential as a weapon. The False Hukraj, Inovkan, was overthrown and thrown into the portal one year after The Great Winter had begun, with the remaining Raj ruling from the old temple of the Avatar with fists of iron.

Soon, minor spirits who were deemed too dangerous to the Raj elite, were sent through the portal as a form of eturnal banishment. However, one of the Raj, the Raj of Madness Gek-Gizon, discovered a way to manifest himself and return to the realm of Rakil. It is unknown how he managed this, however.

Soon, it became clear that the realm was spoiled and made useless by the medlings of an exiled Raj Inovkan, who shaped the world irreversibly after his banishment. The Raj, feeling responsibility, elected one of their own to remain in the realm and govern the spirits of nature and to ensure that the two realms were not to bleed together again. And from there, the portal was destroyed, and the realm of Eljuk would never again hear from the Raj of Rakil.