User:GoldenYak/Rakari

Related to the Into the Void Expansion Concept

Rakari is a zone located in the Voidlands. The bleak forested peaks of this realm are battered by constant gales and storms due to elemental instability. Murky lowland canyons are infested with hives of the vile myrmec race, who worship an evil power in their subterranean lairs.

The Savage Land
The world of Rakari was a young world by cosmic standards, recently born of the energies of creation and still rife with elemental imbalance. The abundant life energies of the world gave rise to many savage and primal creatures of flesh and blood as well as chaotic beings of purely elemental power. Wild Gods born of the world's natural energies prowled the forested peaks and clashed with elemental giants, just as beasts fought and hunted in the deep woods. Life on Rakari was short and swift like lightning, and the primal struggle for survival defined the existence of the few sentient races that arose there.

First and mightiest of the world's children were the rakai, feline hunters of terrifying strength and swiftness. They worshipped the Wild Gods that arose from their world's nature, and paid homage to the spirits of air and forest. So intune were they with the natural realm that they instinctively sought out the smallest source of imbalance and restored the natural order of things, whether it was the destruction wrought by a rampaging elemental giant, or the eradication of a disease that threatened the ecosystem of a single forest glen.

The Darkness Between the Stars
Rakai story-tellers speak of the day that the darkness between the stars, jealous of the grand life that existed on glorious Rakari, came down from the sky and sought to take the land for itself. The darkness fell like a star from the sky and struck the land, knocking down forests and breaking mountains, before rising up like a mountain itself, a mountain made of flesh and claws and eyes and sickness. The rakai of that age shuddered in horror, feeling the sickness flow from the darkness and into the land. But the land of Rakari was powerful, too powerful to be cowed by the darkness, and it called all its children to defend it. The rakai and the other races of Rakari joined together with the elements and the Wild Gods and swarmed to defend their home, falling upon the darkness with tooth and claw. The darkness fought back, unleashing its own children upon the children of Rakari - creatures like giant insects and great slimy masses of flesh. But the darkness and its spawn were no match for Rakari - while the mortals and beasts tore apart insects and fleshy fiends, the elementals and the Wild Gods struck at the darkness itself, battering it with fists of stone and storm and sinking fangs and claws into its vile bulk.

The darkness shuddered in fear at the savage onslaught, and finally fled - it tore itself free of the crater of its landing and sailed back up into the stars, shrieking terrible curses. The children of Rakari rejoiced, their cheers and howls drowning out the bellows of the darkness and breaking its curses before they could do any harm. The world was safe. The children of the darkness who survived burrowed deep, hiding beneath the surface in fear of those who had bested their maker.

The Breaking of the World
Centuries passed, and the story of the war with the darkness became legend. Life continued its savage cycles on Rakari. But unbeknownst to all, a terrible threat grew at the heart of their world. The insect-spawn of the darkness thrived below the surface, building their sprawling hive-lairs in hollowed-out caverns. The insects built their temples and carved obelisks with icons of power, calling out to the darkness that had borne them and beseeching its return. The darkness heeded their call and sent more flesh-horrors and living shadows to serve them, letting them dig deeper and deeper into the pulsing heart of Rakari. The darkness seeped into the core of the world, tainting all things in unseen ways.

On the surface, the elements began to fall into greater and greater disarray. The Wild Gods grew darker and more savage, preying on the races that once honored them. The rakai sensed the great underlying wrongness in the world, but it was beyond their ability to correct. Soon the land began to shudder and groan, beset by earthquakes that split the land with canyons. Darkness spilled up from within the world, poisoning forests and mutating the wildlife. One terrible day, the sky grew darker and darker, swallowed by the darkness. Shadows walked and slew at will, devouring all light and life. The rakai quailed in fear as sun and stars vanished. The world of Rakari was pulled into the Void.

Watchers in the Void
Rakari hurtled into the depths of the Void, slowly crumbling apart as the entrophic powers of darkness worked their destructive ways. Wild Gods and elementals were powerless before the denizens of the Void, who consumed and corrupted both. The insects and flesh-spawn that had nested with Rakari left their dark homes and danced upon the surface, exalting in the ruin of the world even as the Void plucked them up and devoured them as well.

The rakai huddled in their forests, waiting for the Void to consume them as well. Suddenly, the sky was filled with lights, small and twinkling faintly like the now-lost stars, but a welcome sign of radiance in the utter blackness of the Void. The rakai gathered on tall hills to watch the lights, and as some came closer the rakai saw their true nature - strange flying beings with bat wings, whose bodies glowed with marks and runes seemingly carved into their stone-like hides. The creatures were unlike any the rakai had seen on their world, and many drew back in fear, certain these creatures were some new evil that had come to destroy them. The winged beings were only the heralds of an even more astounding sight - emerging from the darkness was a giant figure made entirely of stars, brilliant and beautiful. The winged ones flitted around the giant, seeming almost like pets to the great being.

The star giant came to stand upon the crumbling surface of Rakari, and spoke words of power in a language no rakai knew. At his call, the winged ones dove to the ground and began to work - they carved great pillars of stone and inscribed them in glowing runes, raising them up from the ground where the giant commanded. Again and again the giant and his servants repeated their task, rising pillars up across what remained of Rakari. As more pillars rose, the devouring darkness was held back, the quaking of the world calmed. When the giant's work was finished, what remained of Rakari was safe - only a fragment of the world was left, but the hungry darkness took no more.

The Titan's Hand
For generations, the rakai endured in their broken land. Still they honored the elements and Wild Gods who remained, still they hunted and howled, still they survived. Others had survived as well - the debased descendants of the insects who had broken the world. Over the years, the insects emerged in great numbers and struck at the pillars made by the star giant, seeking to destroy them. The winged servants of the star giant would flock to their defense, but while the insects would always retreat and breed more warriors, the winged ones numbers only dwindled. Soon, the winged ones were overwhelmed - the insects reached the pillars and began tearing them down, extinguishing their power. Seeing this, the rakai rushed to the defense of the pillars to aid the winged ones, but while the insects were driven back for a time, the rakai too lacked sufficient numbers to defend them all. The rakai tried to speak with the winged ones, but were simply ignored. Many brave rakai sought to find the star-giant, but none succeeded.

Over time, pillar after pillar has fallen, and more of Rakari crumbled into darkness. Now, five pillars remain to preserve the worldshard. The rakai continue to endure. But hope on Rakari dwindles, as the darkness grows more profound.

Geography
The worldshard of Rakari is a mountainous realm of hardy evergreen forests and tall peaks, battered by constant windstorms and rain. Fragments of the realm drift like clouds overhead, suspended both by the unnatural energies of the Void that suffuse them and by the adbundance of elemental air that remain in the worldshard. Dark canyons split the land.

The rakai people wander the land and have few permanent settlements, with even these being little more than camps. Scattered throughout the realm are structures of Titan design, though most have fallen into ruin and been largely abandoned. The myrmec race make immense dwellings of dried mud, usually in the deepest canyons.

Noteworthy Locations

 * Grove of Whispers - This strange woodland is located high in the mountains, surrounding the Throne of Nodensius. The trees are unlike any others on Rakari, and indeed are not native to the world, for they were grown by the ghanti when they settled on the worldshard. The ghanti dwell here, and may share their secrets with those who seek knowledge.

Dungeons
- The Dark Hive - The myrmec hive-cluster of Chozek'Myr, their largest lair. Much of it is located beneath the surface.

Arrival
After securing K'aresh against further Void incursions, the Alliance and the Horde push forwards into the Algol Expanse and the worldshard of Rakari. Beset by storms and gales, the armies of Azeroth seek shelter in the heavily forested zone. Before long, Azeroth shaman are able to establish contact with the spirits of air and the wild, determining that Rakari is a world on the brink, beset by elemental imbalance. The air elementals in the region have been stirred into a frenzy by the encroaching Void, and are preparing to unleash a hurricane that will likely destroy the worldshard before the Void does. While dealing with the air elementals, the Alliance and the Horde will come into contact with the surviving natives of the worldshard - the rakai people. With their help, the aid of the surviving Wild Gods of Rakari can be enlisted to further stabilize the region.

Infestation
While the elements in the area have been calmed, others throughout the worldshard contain to rage. The rakai explain that the presence of an evil race known as the myrmec is responsible - the insectoid creatures build crude altars in the deep forests that radiate a miasma of darkness and corruption, twisting nature around them into unnatural ways. Even other tribes of rakai have fallen under the dark influence of the altars. The myrmec must be purged from the forests of Rakari before balance can be restored. While their altars burn and crumble under the onslaught of Azeroth's armies, the insects shriek out curses of vengeance in the name of He Who Shapes.

The Queen of Air
The last elemental lord of Rakari is Ailerith the Stormsinger, a colossal elemental dragon made of stormclouds and lightning. She has unleashed her children upon the region to ravage and destroy at will, intending to go out in a gale of elemental glory in the face of the encroaching Void. Venturing to her roost, the adventurers discover that the air dragons in Rakari have fallen under the control of Noctarch Baaz, one of the Voidtouched ethereals and a servant of Ahriman. She is using the power of the Void to transform the elemental drakes into Duskwyrms - Void-energy dragon creatures. Baaz has captured Ailerith and successfully transforms her into a Duskwyrm, unleashing her upon Rakari. Adventurers are forced to destroy the rampaging corrupted elemental, spoiling Baaz's plans and forcing her to retreat.

With Ailerith slain, the elemental imbalance in Rakari ebbs, and the rakai reveal to the Alliance and the Horde the reason why Rakari survived in the Void as long as it did - mysterious pillars seemingly of Titan make scattered around the worldshard, whose power slows the entrophic growth of the Void. The rakai explain that the pillars were built long ago, and the builders dwell in the tallest peaks of Rakari. The secrets of the pillars may be discovered there.

Watchers in the Void
Adventurers searching the tall northern peaks finally find the lair of the ghanti, winged gargoyle-like creatures of living stone whose bodies glow with runes. The ghanti are cold, almost mechanical beings, more construct than living creature, speaking in sharp, broken sentences. A handful among them possess a higher degree of reasoning, and can be convinced to communicate with the Alliance and the Horde. The ghanti eventually direct adventurers to their master and creator - Nodensius the Observer, one of the constellar who serve the Titans as watchers. Nodensius reveals that his duty was to watch over a world that was swallowed by the Void and destroyed. Haunted by his failure, Nodensius and his ghanti servants chose to remain within the Void and study it, wandering its dark currents and observing other worldshards that had been swallowed.

Nodensius and the ghanti traveled through the Void for millennia, until they beheld Rakai being consumed. Nodensius was moved to aid the world, directing the ghanti to construct Titanic pillar devices across the world to prevent its collapse. For a time they succeeded. However, Nodensius grew despondent after learning of the fall of the Titans, and could no longer muster the spirit to maintain defense of Rakari. With their master falling into despair and with no way to propagate their numbers, the ghanti lacked the means to preserve the pillars. The more intelligent ghanti recognize the hope that the Alliance and the Horde bring, and they too hope that the adventurers may rouse Nodensius from his despondency.

The Hand of He Who Shapes
By fighting the myrmec and preserving the remaining pillars on Rakari, the Alliance and the Horde reignite a spark of hope in the surviving races. Uniting rakai, ghanti, Wild God and elemental, adventurers and their allies push back the latest myrmec advance, driving them back into their underground hives. Nodensius himself takes to the field to combat the largest broodforms of the myrmec. Nodensius expresses his shame at his failures, and how the mortal newcomers to Rakari have inspired him. He promises to renew his efforts to save Rakari, and all the other worlds devoured by the Void. Nodensius also reveals a way for the adventurers to put a final end to the myrmec threat - the location of the myrmec queen, who lurks in their largest hive-cluster, Chozak'Myr, the Dark Hive.

Questlines

 * Arrival in Rakari - The adventurers forge into a new worldshard from Algol, the stormy realm of Rakari. This worldshard is even more unstable than the last, battered by gales and tornadoes.
 * The Rakai - The rakai people are a race of tribal hunters, and not the friendliest sort. Some tribes aren't happy to see newcomers to their world.
 * The Myrmec - If you thought the rakai were unfriendly, you haven't seen anything yet. These insectile beings insect the lowlands of Rakari, building crude altars to darker powers.
 * Lords of Air - The elemental power of air is in ascendancy in Rakari, without the other elemental powers to balance it. Elementals of all kinds manifest from storms, including great elemental dragons. Their queen, Ailerith the Stormsinger, is going to take a lot of convincing to end her rampage, especially when the Void-touched Ethereals begin transforming the dragons into servants of the Void.
 * Watchers in the Void - The enigmatic ghanti have wandered the Void for millennia, and know many of its secrets. For years they've preserved Rakari from destruction, but recently they've stopped their efforts. Adventurers must find out why if Rakari has any hope of survival.
 * Nodensius - One of the Titan's servants, Nodensius may hold the key to stopping the Void - if he can be convinced its worth the effort, that is.