Wild Walkers
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Our planet is changing, we must change with it. We must adapt.
The
Wild Walkers started as simple elves living in the forests of western Auriga, and their gift with Dust was to form rocks and trees into great monuments and buildings. This process was called the Sharing, and not only was it the pinnacle of their craftsmanship, but it allowed one to feel and experience the untamed and wild energy of their chosen totem animal. An elf who Shared often, however, carried the risk of having the spirit of the beast burst like a violent flame- losing control of their bodies and minds during moments of stress. However, in spite of this, many Elves sought to bind themselves to increasingly savage beasts in order to feel Sharings of a greater intensity. Stuck between losing their populace to the wild spirits of nature and the civilization of their towers, the Elves forswore the Sharing, renamed themselves the Wild Walkers, and set out to build their towers and monuments away from their darker history.
Only time will tell if the Sharing still beckons.
Broken Lords
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Survival is not the same as life. What is more important- our honor, or our bodies?
The Broken Lords were once the Lords of the Amber Plains, located in central Auriga. They were an aristocratic society and believed in such things as virtue, honor, and justice. To protect the weak, to champion what is just- these were the ideals by which these noble warriors lived. And yet now they live merely as spiritual beings of energy wrapped in dust-enhanced armor- for their race was fading when it discovered a deadly secret; by consuming the lifeforces-the Dust- of a sentient being they could extend their own lifespan. They now appear to merely be incorporeal energy living in suits of armor that sustain them. These rites of consumption are, obviously, a betrayal of their principles and their history. As such, it has always been a goal for the Broken Lords to develop magic to sustain themselves and their Dust-fueled armor without taking another beings life.
But the question remains, and has haunted their thoughts: Even if a cure was found, would they want to give up such a powerful gift? Their morals beg "yes", but their hearts are much less clear.
Vaulters
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Courage and knowledge will drive us- we must look to a better future.
This is a time of great change for the Vaulters. For centuries they lived as loosely confederated clans in the labyrinths and tunnels that littered the subsurface of Auriga. Their skills at mining and crafting had made them comfortable, and their study of ancient artifacts were beginning to unlock the secrets of Auriga's past. Though their own origins are steeped in legends and myth, they had found solidarity and peace in the deeper reaches of the planet.
However, an event called the Great Quake shook their very foundations- cracking their walls and crumbling their roads, even entire cities were not pardoned. As their towns fell around them the Vaulters fled to the surface- taking with them technological relics and artifacts that their ancestors had left behind that the Great Quake revealed. As a nation used to tradition and foreign to such change, the surface is a frightening place.
Torn between the secrets of the planet, their traditions, and their need to survive, the Vaulters have struggled, but their courage and quest for knowledge will not allow them to fade or surrender.
Drakken
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History will repeat itself- looking to the past will save Auriga.
A very old southern faction that are few in number but exceedingly powerful, the Drakken have been around since the cataclysmic civil war that brought life on Auriga to its knees. As such, the Drakken do not seek war, but rather relationships, information, and knowledge. Histories, ruins, and artifacts are highly prized among the Drakken while wealth, military power, and technology are viewed as insignificant. The impending doom of the planet has not escaped the attention of those who know Auriga's rhythms better than any other, however, and they understand that should another cataclysm come that their first duty is to preserve what the Endless left behind, so that one day, maybe in a hundred years, maybe a hundred thousand, their great teachers' creations will still endure.
Ardent Mages
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Embrace Auriga's pain to embrace power. We will make agony our servant.
A northern faction of primarily mages and sorcerers, their primary power source comes from pain and anger. Having survived a long history of starvation and slaughter at the hands of the Necrophages, the powers that the Ardent Mages discovered- and that let them survive- are based on pain, Dust magic, and rage.
Though they control great powers, they pay a terrible price to do so. To manipulate the powers of Dust, an Ardent Mage must dissociate mind from body. To do this they have developed elaborate pain rituals, for the more they are able to withstand agony and ignore discomfort the deeper their relationship with Dust becomes. Pain has become such a pinnacle of their society that even their children are taught at a young age to withstand it.
Stoicism is seen as important as intelligence, and one's tolerance of pain is their way of measuring an individual's worth- be it an Ardent Mage or a stranger.
Roving Clans
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Commerce and Negotiation will keep Auriga livable.
Traders, explorers, and adventurers, the Roving Clans are nomadic and mercantile. They are seeped to far into trade that hardly a transaction happens in Auriga that the Roving Clans somehow don't get a cut of. Wherever the great beasts of burden the clans built their cities upon traverse, commerce blooms, and the strange and wondrous goods from the strange and wondrous peoples of Auriga are traded. In war they should not be underestimated, however, as their rapid, mounted warriors give them an advantage in speed and make them frustrating targets. Even their cities can move, built on the back of the humongous Setseke Scarabs- a feat matched by no other faction.
The Roving Clans bring sophistication-and manipulation- to the peoples of Auriga.
The Cultists of the Eternal End
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Our will shall be carried out through the lesser peoples of Auriga.
The Cultists are led by two beings that are remnants of the Endless- the Queen, seated in her invulnerable throne in the Cultist's single, capital city, and the Unspoken, a wandering and perhaps insane being of great power. Left alone on their planet for countless millenia, the Cultists have sworn to destroy every trace of their former existence on Auriga- so believes the Queen that she will save her planet. The Queen's power from the Invulnerable throne is projected across Auriga through conversion and proselytization of lesser tribes when the heroes and faithful servants of the Cult convince them. Regardless to whom they may have previously sworn allegiance, when a tribe joins the Cultists, it does so until its death. Because of this, the Cult has been met with much distrust, though they claim their intentions are for the good of Auriga, and they have been barred from the Tribunal, or so they'd have you believe.
Necrophages
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We will consume Auriga to save it.
The northern-most nation, being kept at bay by the Ardent Mages. A hive-people that survive by ingesting or converting others as they infect them with their plague, the Necrophages are a nation of scavengers and survivors. The original inhabitants of the planet seeking to return to former glory by consuming all other nations, the Necrophages are a scuttling monstrosity that must be crushed under the weight of one's heel like the mutated cockroaches they are- or so the Ardent Mages, Vaulters, Broken Lords, and Wild Walkers would have all others believe.
The Necrophages themselves don't share this view- in fact, they share very little views other than feed, fight, propagate. They have found a niche in their environment, they will win with numbers; by elevating the colony over the individual; by constant warfare. Somewhere between a hive insect and a zombie horde, they produce by laying eggs in the corpses of their fallen enemies.
Emotionless, relentless, and driven by biology,the Necrophages do not waste time with diplomacy and commerce.
