Aaronar's Background: Part 1

Post here with tales of your in-game adventures, as well as any special events, quests, or invasions.
User avatar
Aaronar
Adventurer
Posts: 174
Joined: Tue Jun 01, 2004 2:31 am
Location: Vancouver, WA
Contact:

Aaronar's Background: Part 1

Postby Aaronar » Sun Jan 02, 2005 5:20 am

As I promised, the first part of my background


Looking out over the battlefield, the setting sun tinged the sky a crimson almost as deep as the blood soaked ground below. Thousands upon thousands of bodies lay strewn about in various mangled states. Both sides had suffered many casualties, but as the dust settled, a clear victor had emerged. Surveying the carnage with a wicked grin was the one responsible for the horror below.

Standing six feet tall, his armor was black as night, while his ensorcelled robe was red as blood. A brooding sense of evil radiated from him in waves that could kill the weak of will. His helm was a skull from a mighty beast, reinforced with some strange metal. In his hand he held a cruel staff, with a massive mace at the head while the tail end tapered to a point that could pierce the thickets armor like it was paper.

Issuing orders to his lieutenants, the Warlord & DeathMage Ran'Oraa felt a burning desire for more killing, more carnage. Hated by all the free Kingdoms, feared by his own men and his Demonic allies, Ran'Oraa held them all in contempt. Nothing but pawns to be used to further his own goals, which soon would be realized. With this victory all that was left was to assault the Temple of Virtue, disable it's defenses both mystical and mundane, and claim the reward that he sought.

That reward being the infinite power he desired. For beneath the temple was a nexus, but not just any nexus. This particular one was the only convergence of all major ley lines, in a cavern only accessible from the temple above. At the center of all this, was a crystal formed solely out of magical power, acting as a reservoir of all the magic flowing into it.

Long ago the clerics who built the temple learned to harness the power of this nexus, and were able to use it to protect the temple from the forces of evil. This caused the Temple of Virtue to become a bastion of good, and the location for the spell that was cast, sealing the Demonic Hordes away in their own realm. Nothing is forever, and the Demon's were able to find a way to break through. Not physically, just communication. And this is where Ran'Oraa came in. With promise of great rewards, the Demon Lords aided him with what they could so that he may lead an assault on the temple and free them from their isolation. They even agreed to give Ran'Oraa the Nexus Stone, but had no intention of following through with such a promise.

Ran'Oraa was no fool, he expected that the Demon Lords would betray him, and planned accordingly. When the temple was his, and the seal broken, he would use the power of the nexus to keep the Demons out, until he had time to absorb the power of the Nexus Stone, becoming strong enough to challenge the very Gods themselves.

The next morning, an hour before dawn, his assault began. It was a long battle, and even Ran'Oraa himself was nearly worn out, but he was triumphant. The clergy and their defenses were beaten and broken. In one day, the Temple of Virtue had fallen, and defiled beyond redemption. Ran'Oraa had lost more of his men than he had anticipated, and his plan to counter the Demon's plot was almost for naught. With few modifications, both the counterspell to break the seal, and his ploy of protection worked. When the temple was taken, it caused subtle changes to the flow of magic, which would allow for Ran'Oraa's ultimate undoing.

When the bargain was made, the Demon Lords knew what Ran'Oraa would do with the Nexus Stone if he got hold of it. While it would give him more power than the Demon Hordes could contend with, it would also destroy his mortal body, literally disintegrating him. Once he was dead, the barrier that would surround the temple would fall, the rabble within would be dealt with. All that had to be done was wait, they never expected him to find a way to cheat death.

Shortly after starting the absorption process, Ran'Oraa knew how he had been tricked. The very prize he longed for, was a death sentence that had been sprung upon him. Once begun it could not be undone, and he was wracked with pain as the very fabric of his being was torn asunder. Even with the aid of the nexus, at most he could stretch his life out a few weeks before there wasn't enough of him left to be held together. With such intense pain, he found it easier to focus his thoughts, and almost immediately devised a plan to not only keep him from being destroyed by his newfound power, but also allow him to keep and use it to it's utmost ability.

If his body wasn't capable of handling the strain, he would just make himself a new one that was capable. In his army, one of his lieutenants was a strong female warrior who would serve no one that wasn't stronger than her. Unknown even to her, she was Ran'Oraa's daughter, and only her father knew of her true heritage. Her mother was killed while she was still a babe, and growing up with no family gave her an inner strength that would never submit.

Ran'Oraa ordered her to conceive a child with his most trusted lieutenant, which she did without protest. For even in his weakened state, she knew she was no match for the DeathMage. The nexus was prepared with powerful rituals to receive the unborn child, and saturate the host with pure magic. In a weeks time, the nexus was ready to accept it's charge, and the unborn was violently ripped out of his mother to be placed inside. Her death was agonizingly slow and painful, a fact that Ran'Oraa barely noted.

While within the nexus, the host was subjected to a temporal aging effect, to bring it to physical adulthood in a very short period of time. Also, and most importantly, a unique enchantment was laid up him, to keep the host's soul from bonding permanently to the body. When the time was right, Ran'Oraa would transfer himself into the host, displacing the original soul with his own. The body would live as it would have a soul at all times, and Ran'Oraa would survive his death sentence at the expense of another.

This type of preparation was shortly known by all his troops. And what his troops knew, the Demon spy knew. For the Demon Lords found a way to slip one of their own in undetected. This spy relayed the information to his lords and they were panicked. For one Demon alone could not get close enough to kill Ran'Oraa and stop the process. As they were about to flee the area and hope they could outrun the monster they had unleashed, a low ranking Demon came up with an idea. One that could work. If their spy could cause the enchantment preventing permanent bonding of the host's soul with its body to end, it would cause Ran'Oraa's infusion to fail, killing their foe. Timing would be important in such a feat, but it was the only chance they had.

Within days, the host was ready and so was Ran'Oraa. He began the spell immediately, as there was only hours before his own body would no longer be. The Demon spy secretly made his way to the nexus and was able to hide almost long enough to do his appointed task. However, a guard spotted him, causing the Demon to cast his spell before it was time. Ran'Oraa seeing this, felt victory slip out of his fingers, and tried to counter the Demon's spell. Unfortunately he couldn't maintain control of the different spells going on at once, letting loose more of the Nexus Stone's power than was safe. Chaos ensued as uncontrolled magic of monumental proportions went everywhere, resulting in a cascade of explosions that utterly destroyed the temple and nexus. The ley lines were fractured and dislocated. All life was obliterated for a hundred miles in every direction.

There was however, one survivor. A man, with no history, no past. Not a single memory of his own. Thrown throughout space and time, he awoke for the first time far from where he started. The knowledge and power of Ran'Oraa was locked within him, trapped by the explosion that devastated a world. Wearing only a tattered tunic that was covered in runes from the failed transfusion spell, the unchecked power treated the cloth like a negative, in essence reversing what was written. The only word that could be read, and the first writing that this man ever saw for some time was simply aarO'naR...

Return to “Tales of Adventure”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests

cron