Divine Tithe

Whilst mortal heroes can come in many forms, from wise scholars to noble kings, wild adventures to lorded singers, perhaps the greatest and most valiant of them all are the myriad and numerous individuals who give themselves over to the Divine Tithe. It is a military force unlike any other, for in it are accepted people from all the world alike, men and women who might otherwise be on opposite sides of a war can stand side by side in conflict of arms here. All that matters to them within the Tithe is service to the Tithe.

In simple terms, the Divine Tithe is an army collected from volunteers of every nation and creed on Confluence. Wizards, with centuries of learning, will find themselves working alongside exiled tribesmen of Griesbachia, who in turn may find themselves assisted by alchemists from the heartlands of the Theocracies, few are turned away from service and fewer still find themselves with no place to be found here. All who are able and willing to fight are accepted, those that cannot fight but wish to help will find themselves assigned to one or more of the countless support roles the Tithe desperately needs filling. For this is an army unlike any other within mortal history.

The Tithe itself does not hold loyalty to any crown or banner besides its own, its leaders defer to the Ungod, Vorpal, but once their time of service is ended the loyalties to them fade into history too. Instead the forces of the Divine Tithe make up the vast bulk of the Confluence representatives within the Bellum Aeternum, fighting that most terrible of wars against each and every threat. Primarily the Tithe itself operates within the Divine Gate, fighting to preserve the control over the primary pathway between Planes lest the myriad forces of destruction overrun it and pour wholescale into the material plane. It is a conflict that has raged since the Divine Gate was first established and will likely reign on for all eternity, for the importance of holding just one side of the Divine Gate cannot be understated.

Headquartered within the many fortresses that ring that colossal edifice of the Gate, the Tithe enjoys a position of power with one foot in the material plane and one within the pathways between Planes. These great edifices of stone and sorcery house the many men and women sworn to fight for the protection of the mortal realms, here they find everything they might need, from grand and opulent feasting halls to libraries of arcane lore, vaults of powerful artefacts that will guard the strongest of their numbers and the countless many barracks that would house them. Everything from fuel to food, clothing to stables, smithies to chapels can be found in ample supply in the many halls and defences that line the exterior of the ever present Divine Gate. Most would consider their posting in these keeps to be a time of less active service, for threats breaking through the extraplanar defences are rare though not impossible, so it is here that the wounded and weary rest, the fresh recruits train and learn the threats they may face or those enjoying a moment's reprieve from the fighting will return to their home plane to recover from the conflict raging beyond.

Across the dimensional veil, a pale mirror of the ring fortress sits, for both the material and Divine sides of the Gate are well maintained. These keeps and castles however are not homes of knowledge and ease, little more than what is needed is kept within these halls, their stores are full of food and supplies yet little in the way of luxury. The walls are tall and strong yet undecorated and the countless scars of the millenia of conflict line them. These are fortresses against the encroaching endless tide of war, little more and so they cannot afford to give themselves over to luxury and excess of resources. Where in the material world there may vaulted halls for banquets and feasts, with great fireplaces roaring and bards filling the air with song, here instead are short and squat halls, where soldiers take a brief moment that they can to fill their aching bellies with food before the next inevitable conflict. Where in the material there may be space for each new recruit to enjoy some small measure of privacy, their quarters either entirely their own or shared with a small number of their companions, here they find themselves forced to endure the cramped enclosed space of a castle built of the edges of a war that has waged since before the battlefield even existed. There is no room for luxury or comfort, there is no space for ease or enjoyment when within the Divine Gate, the Tithe simply cannot waste the time to enjoy itself or allow its soldiers more than is needed in this most dangerous of landscapes.

The individuals who make up the forces of the Divine Tithe are many and varied, from heroes of note through to regiments of seemingly mundane soldiers, each find themselves drawn to this most sacred of tasks for individuals glory, fame, knowledge at arms or a sense of duty. What brings them matters little compared to how they may serve and their strengths far and away outweigh any measure of scrutiny for their reasoning of serving in the first place. Though the Divine Kingdom keeps a steady supply of soldiers flowing into the bastions of the Divine Gate, they are not the only ones to do so, with the Theocracies also supplying men and arms into this endless boiling pot of battle.

These mundane troops are bolstered alongside living legends and wonders, the great empires of the world lending their own terrible strengths. The airships of both the Empire and Marolia patrol the warped skies within the Divine Gate, with Imperial warmatons operating from within their own floating fortress, endlessly building and repairing their own numbers. The Marolian arcanists have proven vital time and time again at bolstering the defences and strengthening the armour of the men and women who guard the walls. They stand in contentious line alongside forces that might otherwise be seen as enemies, with the Dukes Own, a legion of the best and brightest progenies of the noble houses from across the Ducial League striving for a place of excellence alongside their esteemed allies. Hawkeyed inquisitors from the heartland of Sland root out fiendish saboteurs that would work to undermine the Tithe and police the interior of Tithe defences, ensuring that no threat within can remain in the shadows. The mighty Dragonlance, a wing of dragon riders led by the majestic lunar dragon Vilmathor, serve as a hammer of pure, raw force that can break even the most steadfast of the enemy defences. The Primalist of Rinana rip away the very metal of their foes, warping it into vicious elementals that lend their aid to the cousin plane even in this most dire of places. Here these legends and more stand together, for to stand apart would be to allow the endless tide of the forces of destruction to swarm over their watchful bastion and from there spill across every living being that calls Confluence home.