CreeXLR — Roleplayer Guild

This is an RP I ran on a forum a few years back. Material is still there, so decided to prod the waters. Here's the info, but beware, there's lots of it.

Summary


Heart of the Beast RP

Nobody knows where the titanic beasts known as Azuri came from, but one thing is for sure, they have always been there for as long as this world stood. The first races of the world lived in constant fear of the mighty beasts destroying their tiny lives, and it seemed that this balance would remain unchanged forever. One by one the ancient races perished, by the hand of time, the wrath of gods or the claws of the Beasts. Soon only the crafty Cauhri remained. Hidden in the darkness of the forests and the cold dampness of the caves they were destined to eventually meet the same fate as the one that had befallen the mighty Grato and majestic Fartrey races before them. Or so they thought, anyway. Nobody remembers how many thousands of years ago the first Beastmaster was born – a hero whose name is lost to time, who fought and tamed the first Great Beast. Soon other Beastmasters were born, and finally after an untold number of eons the world seemed to calm down.

Or did it?

Using the overwhelming strength of the titanic beasts the Cauhri Beastmasters soon conquered the entirety of the Karadun continent, taming the wild beasts and killing those too wild, eventually building an empire to rival the gods themselves. But great power bears great temptation. As centuries past, the Beastmasters have begun to see themselves as far superior to the normal Cauhri. Their armies and wealth grew at the expense of the lower classes. Eventually they decided that the entire world must belong to them. The eastern continent of Zengar did not stand much of a chance against the overwhelming power of the new Xelith Empire, and was swiftly conquered, despite its massive size. The few lucky enough to escape found their way to the tiny continent of Raveros in the west. Separated from the empire by a violent sea and having no beastmasters of its own it remained relatively safe.

Despite being unable to get their powerful land beasts across the sea, the Xelith Empire still continued to furiously assault Raveros using flying and sea born titans. Forced into an endless war, the kingdoms of Raveros banded together and built a great wall, which lined the entire continent on all sides. However the Empire, convinced of its divine right, never stopped trying to conquer the Walled Kingdom. That assault is still going on even now, a thousand years later. The current year is 1247 Of the Empire and my name Arbos Xell – the spectre that’s seen the end of time.

The story begins in a small village Eriuir , to the north of the Zengar continent. The village is set very close to the Venoire mountains where the Empire mines a big bulk of its Null Crystals – magical stones that possess the ability to absorb and store elements and effects, to be used later. Tired of having most grown men and women worked to death in the mines, the main protagonist rises up against the local garrison and, with a help of a few trusted friends, kills them all. Surprised at his/her own abilities the hero consults the village’s Shaman, who unveils unto him/her that he/she is a Nullomancer – a person capable of imbuing the Null crystals into their bodies and recharge them over time, thus allowing them to be used multiple times, as opposed to a single discharge. Recognizing that some of his/her friends have similar abilities the Hero aims to set out on a quest to crush the empire that oppressed his people for so long.
As a blessing the Shaman then gives the Hero a magical ring, in which lies sealed a spectre – the guardian of the village for the last 200 years. She explains that 200 years ago Arbos used to be a genius master thief and a Nullomancer much like the hero himself. In his time he found a way to store shadows and whispers in the crystals and used that ability to rob even the most powerful of beastmasters. Eventually Arbos found a way to store the very night itself, creating a powerful artefact known as the Moonstone, that would immediately cause the night to fall once used. However the God of the Sun Janur became enraged at this disturbance to the natural order and burned away Arbos’ body, condemning him to forever lurk the earth in the shadows as a ghost, an incorporeal spectre that cannot live in the light. Distraught, Arbos returned to his home village and asked his friend – a shaman, to seal him away until such a time that he can come up with a way to reverse the curse. The Shaman agreed and bound Arbos to a crystal, which he then had the blacksmith imbue into a warded ring. The wards on the ring would allow Arbos to survive in the light once summoned. Arbos questioned the shaman’s decision to defy the gods, to which the shaman promptly replied with a snort that maybe he’d give a gnoll’s ass about the gods if he was a cleric, but as a shaman – spirits were all that mattered.
Arbos then fell into a two centuries long slumber inside the ring, waiting for such a time that he’d be able to regain his former self.
Such a time has come now. Armed with the knowledge of the Nullomancy, and with the wisdom of a spectre at his aid, the Hero and his friends will now set out on a journey to reshape the world. But which route will they take? Will they head south, to try and rouse the other villages into an all-out rebellion? Or maybe they will head east, to try and cross the sea in order to join Raveros in their fight? Who knows, maybe they will head north, to where the fabled free beasts roam in order to try and tame one? Or maybe… they will head straight to the west, into the heart of Xelith, to try and shake the empire from within, hoping to set the Bestmasters against one another? Only time will tell.


World Map

The map is purposely mostly empty so that players could fill in their own locations for origins and personal stories. Warning: Large size.



Nullomancy


The main element of the world of HotB is of course, the Null Crystals. Magic crystals that can record and store anything they are exposed to. So how exactly do they work? Well, quite simply, really. 

A Crystal can store a charge, of whatever it is most prominently exposed to. It can be anything ranging from wind, fire, water and electricity to sounds, winds, shock-waves and, as shown by Arbos, shadows and the Night itself. 

Normal crystal acts like a bottle. You fill it up with whatever it is you want, and then once you release the charge - the crystal is empty once again, and needs to be charged. On their own crystals have no magic properties all their abilities come from the charges stored in them. 

Nullomancer is a person who can embed the Null Crystals in his body. Once the charged crystal is embedded in a nullomancer, it will recharge on its own in time. Meaning that unlike the normal crystals, the charge of the embedded crystal can be used multiple times. the amount of time it takes for the stored effect to recharge depends on the size of the crystal (smaller=faster) and the complexity of the charge. (So if you stored a bit of fire, it will recharge in, let's say, 3 seconds. But if you (hell if i know how) stored the fucking APOCALYPSE in your crystal, it will take quite a a bit longer. Maybe a few days.) Nullomancers have only three rules about them:

The charge of the embedded crystal cannot be used to charge other crystals.
Embedded crystals multiply the power of their charge 2x compared to normal crystals.
Once removed from the body the embedded crystal will function just like a normal one, and empty out after releasing the charge.


Now how DO you charge the crystals exactly? Well, they follow a set of the most simple rules ever:

The predominant effect will be stored.
Time required to store will depend on the element/effect.
The purity of the charge will depend on the amount of "interference".
If exposed to constant change of conditions the common denominator will be stored.
If suddenly exposed to a new affect it was not exposed to previously, in sufficient amount, the crystal is "shocked" into storing it.
Physical contact>Force Affect>Abstract Effect.
If exposed to several physical elements at once - the one with the highest area of contact will be stored.
The crystals will become "rigid" towards storing affects or elements they were continually exposed to for long periods of time without showing dominance. E.g. the crystals are by default rigid towards storing still rocks and air, due to being always exposed to them in the caverns as they were growing.


Keep in mind that the movement of the element is also part of the equation. So "still air" like the one in the cavern will not be stored on its own. But "moving air" such as wind, will be stored, as it is different. 

Now we come to the more complicated part, the interference, concentration and purity. 
Seeing as the crystals are capable of recording anything, any and all affects or elements it is exposed to during the charging will act as interference. In order to get a charge of 110% return purity one would have to remove as many of the unneeded affecting factors as possible. For example 99% of all chargers include some form of a vacuum chamber, in order to eliminate the interference of air, sound, light and atmospheric pressure. When coming up with your chargers try to eliminate everything, except for the affect you want stored. 

If you successfully eliminated all unnecessary interference you should get a crystal with a high purity charge. Why is that important? Very simple - the purer the charge - the more powerful it is and the more of it you can store in a crystal. Purity is determined by the return percentage - the amount of charge released in relation to the amount of charge stored. High purity charges can get up to 145% RCP, due to crystal resonating and generating more of the charge upon release. E.G. You stored 100 litres of water in a crystal, with a 110% RCP, so when you release the water from the crystal you will actually get 110 litres back. This allows you to use one crystal for charging other crystals. Simple!

Concentration only applies to charges of physical elements (ground, air, water.). In order to store water or air, once you removed all the impurities by filtering, you would put it under high pressure (remember that ph.contact trumps the force effect, so you would store water, rather than pressure) thus raising the water's "concentration". Meaning there are more water molecules per square mm of crystal surface. Very simple.

Those are the basic rules for Null Crystals. What you store and, more importantly, HOW you do it is the very point of you growing as a character. Do research, find materials, work towards building that insanely complex charger and in the end you will be rewarded with very rare charge that will break the world!


Hokay, now that we have more or less covered the crystals, time to delve deeper into the principles by which this worlds most awesome magic works. (Don't worry, this part is actually easy as fuck)

Alright, so we all remember that normally null crystals can only be used once before needing to be recharged again, meaning their charge does not replenish itself. Nullomancers don't have that problem.

A Nullomancer is a person who can embed a charged Null crystal in their body and use it's charge several times. The embedded crystal will recharge itself back up after some time (depends on the charge). Awesome, ain't it? Yes, it is.

So why not go around embedding everything? We'll be completely baws, right? Eeehhh... no. Bad idea. Let me explain why.

First of all, in order to use the power boost (explained below) and recharge, the crystal must be Embedded. How do you do that? Simple: You take a knife, cut your arm/leg/back/arse/skin open and then insert the crystal (charged) into the wound. You then Bandage the thing up. It will always take between one and two days for the wound to heal and the crystal become usable. If you use the crystal before it is fully healed in it will expend the charge and won't recharge back up. The process cannot be sped up using medicine. Ugh... not exactly the most pleasant process, now is it?

Well alright, you are one bodaciously badass bro, and some itsy bitsy cut won't stump your manly bro-ness. After all you can always just rip the damned thing out and replace it once you found a better crystal, right? Right? Wrong. Every time you use an embedded crystal it gets more and more "integrated" into your body. Going so far as to form blood paths within itself, much like a tumor would. While the crystal will never cause you pain, unless you stored some kind of parasitic effect, removing older crystals becomes a very hard and painful task. That's why it is not recommended to embed the crystals any deeper than in your skin.  So choose wisely what to embed or what not to, after all, there's only so many crystals one can embed before running out of skin. 

Well, don't be disheartened, my dear bodacious dude. There's some radical pros to embedding as well. Every crystal, once embedded will significantly increase it's power and capacity. The usual increase to both, once embedded is x2. So for example if you stored 5 cubic meters of fire at 900 degrees, once embedded your crystal will power up to 10 cubic meters of fire at 1800 degrees. Now that is one bigass fireball right there. 
But you might ask me, Cree, what if my charge does not have the aspect of "power" to it? Good question, kid. Charges used to store physical elements, such as water, rock, or air that only use the "capacity" form, will instead of powering up x2 power up to the power of 2. So if you for example had 100 litres of water stored in your crystal, once you embed it that number will jump to 10,000 Litres. Holy fuck, right?! Just think of the things you could do with this much water!? That would be one massive wet t-shirt parteh! 

Now a cautios person will ask: "Cree, i remember that a charged crystal can be released by contact with an empty one. That's how all crystal based appliances in this world work. Should i hide my crystals under clothes or armor?" Good catch little dude, but you don't have to worry about that. Once embedded the crystal cannot be released by contact with an empty shard! Moreover as long as even the non-embedded crystal remains in contact with a Nullomancer it cannot be released physically. So nobody is gonna whack you into your fire crystal and make you go BOOM my friend. Also the Imperial Fire arrows won't work on you either, since (say it with me) once the crystal release tip comes in contact with you it cannot be disharged. Woo! Btw, Nullomancer can release crystals at will by contact without using an empty shard. 

Another important thing to remember is that a Nullomancer's release cannot be used to charge other crystals. Nullomantic magic gets mixed in with teh charge when you release it and gets in the way of that. So sorry, no imba infinite copying your most powerful charges. Go make a charger, you lazy ass. 

HOKAY, now on to control of your bodaciously radical super imba magic known as Nullomancy. 

Nullomancers have fairly good control over their released charge. Let's take fire for example. You wouldn't be able to make a tiny dancing fire pony or a fire elemental for you to control. But you can control the release rate and form. So if you want you can release the flames in a stream which you could then control, much like Goku can control his released Kamehameha. Or you could make a fireball. Whatever yo.

With the exception of some contact type charges your point of release can be anywhere within 1 meter of your body. This will of course be different for some charges, but 1 meter is a solid average. So you don't have to release your charge from the embedded crystal. That means you can embed crystals on your back or wherever, without getting inconvenienced it battle. Mind you there are some types of charges that will require to be released ONLY from the embedded crystal and on contact. So before choosing a place to embed your crystal i strongly recommend consulting a professional. He might be a dick after sleeping for 200 years but if you ask nicely he should help you. Or, yanno, you could always bribe him with boobs. And i don't mean in-game only, hyuk hyuk hyuk. 

Nullomancers can also use several crystals at once for different combination effects. Play around with that to get the most power out of what you have. But again, i recommend speaking to the spectre first. Wouldn't want to accidentally wipe out your entire team because yout though that mixing in oxygen into your fireball while it's still in your hand was a good idea.

Smaller crystals will hold smaller charge but also recharge much quicker, so as a benchmark aim to embed several smaller shards instead of aiming to get one bigass crystal embedded. Not only will it be more comfortable and less restrictive, but there are also more practical benefits. Let's say you take the standard size shard and charge it with fire. With high enough purity it should hold a sizeable fireball and have a recharge time of roughly 3 seconds. So you take 15 of those shards and embed them. Congratulations, you can now fire 5 fucking fireballs per second. Fucking Radical. 

P.S. charged crystals change color depending on charge and also glow as they release it, so you can seriously makes yourself look like a human (cauhri) disco ball, hahahahahhaa.


Pantheon


In the centre of the world lies the Forbidden Isle where gods reside. They're a very... colourful bunch. Some might help you, some might curse you, some are just bored out their minds. Personally it's the latter ones I'm afraid of.

The world of HotB is filled with a great number of various gods and deities, reminiscent of the Greek pantheon. Here are some that were charted. Please do create your own, even if you don't use it for your character in any way! It might inspire others to great ideas.  Enjoy~

Janur - The God of the Sun
One of the four elder gods Janur has the second biggest following. Generally unpleasant and wrathful bloke. Supposedly has a big crush on the Moon Goddess, but will melt off your face if you ever mention it. Very rarely appears outside of the Forbidden Isles. His physical form is unclear due to his blinding glow getting in the way of anyone getting a good look at him. According to Arbos, however, he has "the dorkiest freckles this side of Jaw Pass".

Valeria - The Moon Goddess
One of the four elder gods. Calm and quiet Valeria has never appeared to any of her adepts, however many claim to have seen her wandering the still nights. She's described as a beautiful woman with long flowing white hair wearing a long black dress. The only mortal ever recorded to have spoken with Valeria is Arbos, possibly due to him using the Moonstone. However details of the conversation are unknown, and the spectre refuses to ever talk about it. 

Say - The god of the Earth
One of the four elder gods. Very little is known about him, due to him living underground. According to the legends, Say was the one to create the Grato race. Same legends claim that following their extinction he secluded himself underground in disappointment.  Say still however continues to watch over miners and diggers, with many stories telling of him saving workers from cave-ins and earthquakes. His physical form is that of a white rock golem, however he''s known to appear as an old man with a shovel, too. 

Erios - The God of the Wind
One of the four elder gods. Erios often appears a blond kid, flying through the fields and forests. He's very laid back and cheery, often making incredibly lame puns that his adepts religiously document. Arbos says that half the stuff Erios says is incredibly stupid just for the sake of messing  with his followers.  However despite his appearance and attitude he is actually the eldest of the four gods, and the guardian of Life. Erios was the one to create the race of Fartrey. 

Dasius - The God of Beer and Debauchery
Although technically a lesser god, Dasius has the single largest following on all three continents. There really is not much to him. He almost never stays on the Forbidden Isles, instead travelling from city to city, visiting parties and getting drunk. If Dasius appears on your party and you tell him a good joke he hasn't heard before - he will reward you with a bottomless barrel of beer, that will never run out as long as you don't try to sell it. 

Matal, God of the Kill.
He is an ancient god who's obscure lore is scarce and largely ignored. He is a stalker of beasts and a slay of monsters and men and though his iconography seems intimately related to blood and slaughter doesn't seem to lean toward evil or sadism. The motive behind the choice of his prey, though often undecipherable, does not seem to be mere bloodlust and number of his accounted appear to have prevented major disasters.
He takes the form of a huge man with snow white skin and extremly long and messy black hair and eyes with dark orange eyes. He is most often represented wearing a kilt and cape made out of the freshly flayed skin of beasts, still dripping with blood and carrying a bladed weapon of any kind.
He is also sometimes represened as a large bipedal wolf with the horns of a goat, the fangs of a snake and hawk talons for paws.

Hemat, Goddess of Lust
She is the goddess of carnal and carnivorous lust. Often associated with the thirst for blood and sadism she serves as a figure of deity for those too far gone to pretend to any other forms of morality and piousness.
She takes the form of a beautiful seductive woman with a porcelain skin, grizzled hair, yellow eyes, wearing black lipstick a fastuous red and gold dress with long black drapes wrapped around her shoulders.

She is sometimes represented as a massive male deer with large blood dripping antlers, fangs, snake eyes, a crocodile's tail and the sharp talons of a carnivorous flightless bird in place of hooves.

Hethus  - God of fire, volcanoes and the forge
Oh poor Hethus, born to the powerful and popular sun god Janur. But so ugly he was that he threw him all the way from the sun down into the earth. Not only did it mess up his face even more, it created the largest volcano in the world. Mt. Hethus!  Here he lives and works his forge. A small amount of pilgrims find themselves a way to this place every year. But one can never hope to meet the god themselves, unless they are capable of descending into the lava pits.  For none but those who can withstand the greatest heat are allowed to see the face he is hiding, both ugly and scarred. 

Nyxis –  goddess of shadows and night
Why she is called a goddess is beyond me at times. All she does is help her mother, Valeria, a little by turning the lights out.   Other than that, she often keeps tabs on her mother, making sure no mortal shall ever near her unless Valeria herself wishes so. But is her eye absolute? Well why should I tell you, puny mortal? Oh, and some say she creates every shadow cast in the world from her black hair that is many times longer than herself, as a method to pester “uncle” Janur a little. 

Somna and Revus
Twins.Somna’s appearance is that of a rather fragile girl that only barely reached adulthood. She sleeps eternally on  a bed of golden flowers, hidden somewhere in the underworld. The opposite of lively, and very moody during the rare occasions she is awake. It is said that the sound of prayers works as a lullaby for her. However, those with prayers that are not honest or otherwise disturbing, disrupt her sleep. Those who do this are said to sometimes be cursed with eternal insomnia.  

Revus is the god of dreams, both good and bad. He randomly appears at the bedside of sleeping people and blesses them with great dreams, or he gives them a terrible nightmare. This depends on the mood of Revus himself. Quite a creepy fella if you ask me. 

Thanatos – god of death (Unchanged from greek, for I refuse to rename him xD)
Well, with a title like that most things kind of speak for themselves do they?  He’s the grim reaper who drags those down to the underworld where they will be judged.  He keeps Elios in check when It comes to the protection of life.  Now, the real interesting thing is that he has an undying(HA!) love for Somna.  Crazy fella once tried to crawl in her bed.  And you wonder why death never sleeps?!

Marus - messenger of the gods,god of traders and thieves
Here’s a fella that spectre guy of yours would like! He is involved with what involves both traveling and speed. He enjoys watching a cat and mouse game between traders and thieves more than once a day. Some say it’s Marus’ hand that guides thieves to their targets and influences their luck. He decides the fate of every thief and therefore you want to befriend him! He also delivers messages from the elder gods to anyone they ask. He doesn’t always seem to like his job as delivery boy though, poor fella. 

Aleron- Wisdom, scholars and sanity
OH NO NOT THIS SUCKER. He tends to the wise and makes sure that science thrives. Nothing much to say about this one I assure you. He lives in the library of infinity, where one is certain to find the knowledge he seeks. However, some say you are only allowed to seek wisdom here once, and only about one topic. Other than that, this is just your stereotypical old goofy with a long grey beard. Move on. 

Seto god of tricks, deceit, conspirations and insanity
FINALLY, IT’S MY TURN. Well you see I like pegasi, gorgon blood juice mixed with grapefruit along with some hyrdra eye snacks. … not what you wanted to know?
Well all right then, I aid those who seeks to cause chaos in this boring world! I am the one associated with a great amount of trickster spirits and other creatures willing to pesters others for their own pleasure.  But I also revel in chaos caused by war and any form of confusion.  Those who anger me are to be caught in an unsolvable puzzle, having to try solving it until they go mad. 
I have a small cult of followers people call the doomsayers. Madmen and madwomen who spout hellish prophecies everywhere they go. One part is truth, the other part blatant lies! 
My form changes wherever I go. But my face bearing an ever hellish smile never changes. My usual form is that of a blood-covered jester laughing at other’s misery!

Oh, and Dasius and me have this kind of feud going on. I kind of ruin some of his parties.

Nevael, Goddess of the forests
Daughter of Erios, Nevael is the Goddess and the protector of all forests, woods and trees, including the creatures that live within. She is sometimes spotted as a young, beautiful woman with oak leaves in her long light green hair clad in a green robe walking among trees with a staff. In most cases she sends the spirits of the trees to talk to her followers. Most think of her as a kind and loving Goddess, however she does not tolerate those who destroy her forests and will curse them as punishment. 

Irtha – god of judgement, gatekeeper of hell

The god stationed just beyond the gate of the underworld. Cerberus lies next to him as watchdog.  Every new soul to enter must first stand before him on a pedestal. The motionless blind god can only see the life of those standing there. Based on the actions of their life he points them to a specific path into the underworld, leading to different sections.  Anyone who tries to go against his decision becomes a snack for the gargantuan dog  He also stops anyone from entering the underworld who doesn’t belong there.
Remember good boys, go to the bad side of hell, that’s where the bad girls are!

Aluthea – goddess of beauty, Love and birth

This lass is basically the wet dream of every goddamn cauhri out there. She usually does not deal with mortals directly. She has many minions and messengers to watch over her followers. What she does herself... is rather unknown.

Nautilus - God of the ocean
The grumpy old guy living in a sea palace, likes his own shack and hates the land.
Despises land dwellers trying to traverse the sea. Basically every man eating sea monster out there is his mate. Mermaids are said to be the daughters of this god. They are really kind creatures really, as long as you aren’t a mortal, sucks to be you eh?

Tristers, god of Fair Chance and Balance

-- From the anonymous reports stored in the Great Central Library of Kern, chapter 7 / year 157 --

The first mention of this god was found in the personal diary of a 25 year old woman, found beheaded near the White Caves, at the southernmost point of the Raveros land:
She described him as her only friend, who would help her each time she was lucky. For every dangerous situation she found herself in, he would stop the time and come to her, roll a dice, and give her enormous amount of power the value was above 3.
The second mention was found inscribed in a plaque, near the grave of a 25 year old man :
Do Not Listen to its whispers, Do Not Look at him, and whatever the situation you are in, never let Tristers roll the dice for you
Upon enquiriy at his family, it appears that this late man was driven mad in his last year through paranoia (quote : "he jumped at every sound, and kept muttering something about losing his luck and that he was coming for him"), he apparently wrote in his own blood the text found in the plaque.

Several other indication of this god, Tristers, have been found in various place in this continent. The only connection are the age of death, 25 year old, the mention of "Luck running out", the time stopping and the roll of dice.

We are inclined to think it is an evil god, only by looking at the horrible deaths of each person involved. Not one reference to him talk about how it first made contact, and without any more information, we cannot make any real conclusion.

Kitanar: Seer of Visionary Whispers

Essentially a forgotten lesser god, he was never worshiped by a huge following in the first place. While not a major player on the world stage, he generally knows anything and everything that will happen. Although he was specifically worshiped only by a few, nobody's sure what fully happened to them or even where they were based.

His followers (if they had his favor) would sometimes have visions of things that hadn't happened yet, or receive cryptic hints on things they may need to know. If it was serious enough, he would sometimes go out of his way to inform them himself.

Nirjhiana -- goddess of Names.

-- From the anonymous reports stored in the Great Central Library of Kern, chapter 8 / year 255 --

Although we are certain this is a lesser god, and younger than the 4 Elders, Nirjhiana must have appeared at the same time the concept of names was created for the mortal races. She is the one who approves the Name chosen for any new born. Several reports indicate that for each time she did NOT approve the chosen name (usually from drunken or irresponsible parents), the new born died in his first year.
It appears that, along with the apparition of the goddess, a significant power linked to the Names was created (more information in the chapter 31 / year 220).
Upon fervent prayers and a full-time dedication to her, Nirjhiana would bestow upon its priests and priestess the power of the Names, but coming with that, the life force of the priest(ess) would run out many more times faster, and no child could be born from a practitioner. We believe that last fact is due to the hate Aluthea express for Nirjhiana (as evidenced in the memories of the deities, chapter 28 through 35), and thus forbidding any follower of the last to have the blessings of the first.

Between the heavy restrictions accompanied to being a Nirjhiana practitioner, and the open war with the Order of Nature (Shamans and Druids alliance), the sect has almost been eradicated.
We suspect that at least two priests/priestesses are within the high rank of Nobility in the Xilinth Empire.

Aluthea's Shepherds
Aluthea is a goddess who chooses to do her own thing for the most part. But she does not want to abandon those who pray to her either. That's why she has her servants watching over her faithful 'sheep'.
The only thing the shepherds are obliged to do is watch. The shepherd is allowed to decide for himself what kind of future it wishes for it's sheep. If they do choose for some kind of interference, their options aren't limited. Some choose to unconsciously guide their sheep towards their future. Others choose to interfere through dreams. Some may actually dislike their sheep enough to guide them upon a wrong path leading to a worse fate than if the sheep had been left alone.  Their actions can be seem as whimsical, irrational or completely illogical at times.
Not much is known about the shepherds. If they do choose to appear they take on a form that is not theirs. It can be wondered if they even have a true form. Their numbers are not known either, though there are at least several of them. Their real voice, if they choose to reveal it, betrays their likely gender, which again differs per shepherd. The shepherds are enigmatic beings, only answering to Aluthea herself.

Liarna
The youngest goddess. Protector of druids, she governs medicine. According to the legends she was once a forest deity, who was first to give the then young Cauhri race the gift of medicine. Since then her easy going attitude and her love for all things living have earned her hundreds of thousands of devout worshipers. That earned her the respect of Erios, who in gratitude for all the care she gave the world ascended her to godhood less than 150 years ago. She is the only goddess in teh current pantheon to have never met Arbos - for she was not yet a god when he visited the Forbidden Isles.


Other Magic

Due to existence of gods and numerous mythological creatures various other magic beside nullomancy exist. However they are incredibly rare, never practised by more than a few dozen people at a time. Two that stand out are shamanism and power of the names. 

-- From the anonymous reports stored in the Great Central Library of Kern, chapter 31 / year 220 --

The Science Department has finally come to a conclusion regarding the “influence” the priests from this mysterious sect can exercise to a relatively close group of people. Below is the un-tempered report we got from them:

This power we have been investigating is only given to the highest branch of the sect – only 5 high priests and 2 high priestesses are concerned. According the agent we planted, the more prayers and sacrifices they do, the more influence they can have on someone.
There are 2 requirements one must meet in order to enter their cult (our agent had to go through this too): do not believe in any other gods or have their benediction, and give your name to one of the high priests.
From these facts (and others we linked from the agent’s reports), we can safely assume that to have any influence on someone, the victim must willingly give out his name, and not benefit from the graces of any god or goddess.
The agent described the influence as a voice that appeared in his mind, barely a whisper at first. As years went by, the whisper became a voice that could give him direct, albeit short and simple, orders. We believe the time required to be able to give a direct order (that would directly go against the will of the target) is approximately 10 years (it depends on the amount of time the high priest accord to this influence). From what we could gather, only two of the high priests were able to give direct orders to a target under 1 year of influence.
One high priest can influence, on a lower scale -- one example was making a coward person go completely paranoid, up to a hundred targets.
We believe the source of this power is the life force of the caster: every time they use that influence, their body visibly ages. The oldest high priest alive cannot walk nor eat by his own.
--- CONFIDENTIAL ---

From this report, we can safely assume those conclusions:
- The power uses your life force as a catalyst
- Once you willingly give out your name, a high priest can open a “canal” of communication to your subconscious, influencing it.
- If a canal has been opened for more than 8 years, the high priest is likely to give order to your conscious part, influencing the actions of your body
- You are protected from this power if :
 o You have the protection of any god or goddess
o You have the unyielding will of a Shaman
o You have the protection of the nature (protection most likely found in the Druids, or the Selkie race)


That's short (lol) rundown of it all. There's more info on races and stuff so ask away if even remotely interested. 
CreeXLR Member

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