User:GoldenYak/Bysmault

Related to the Into the Void Expansion Concept

Bysmault is a zone located in the Voidlands north-eastern regions. Manifestations of the deepest Void walk freely here in this storm wracked nightmare realm. The entire region is suffused with Void energy, and the realm is on the verge of crumbling into oblivion.

The majority of Bysmault is restricted to the Alliance and the Horde - only a small region that lies before the fortress of Darkvault can be accessed at first. The rest of the zone will become accessible in a later content patch.

Coming of the Legion
The world of Bysmault was a young one, formed in the remote reaches of the cosmos around a bright and shining star. The elemental forces of creation were highly abundant and almost perfectly balanced within the world, resulting in the formation of a Titan worldsoul. As the worldsoul drank in the element of spirit, the elementals of Bysmault were left imbalanced and arose in chaotic strife, warring against one-another as was their nature. Bysmault drifted in its distant corner of the Great Dark Beyond, brimming with possibility.

Sadly, the potential of Bysmault would never be realized. The shining energies of the world drew the hungry eye of the Burning Legion, their eternal quest to destroy the universe having carried them to even the distant start of Bysmault. The demons descended upon the world and engaged its elemental population. Armies of mo'arg and doomguard warred with creatures of earth and flame. Nathrezim and eredar matched wits and sorceries with cunning beings of air and water. Had the Legion fought with only their conventional forces, the elementals of Bysmault might have held them off indefinitely. But in time, a terrible shadow arose to blot out Bysmaut's sun - Sargeras the Destroyer had arrived.

The Destroyer
As the demon forces pulled back to make way for their lord, the elementals of Bysmault felt fear for the first time in their existence. Sargeras looked down upon Bysmault, listening to the dreams of the worldsoul within. The nascent Titan's dreams had been disturbed by the presence of demons and the fervour of the elementals. With Sargeras' arrival, the worldsoul was stirred near to waking by the overwhelming presence. The thoughts of the Titan reached out, sensing a being like itself, but recoiled from the fel corruption it felt within its dark kin. As Sargeras readied his dread blade, the Titan within Bysmault struggled to emerge, its instinct to survive surging forth.

Sargeras sensed his kin within Bysmault striving to be born. He appreciated the nascent Titan's desire to live, to survive, and admired the young being's strength - indeed, if it were allowed to awaken, to fully come into its cosmic powers, it might surpass even Sargeras himself. But the Titan would never appreciate Sargeras' reasons for unmaking existence - it would naturally oppose him. And so, it could not be allowed to survive.

With a sweep of his blade, Sargeras smote Bysmault with a colossal blow. The world shuddered and groaned as fel energy lashed through it, burning it from the inside out. The nascent Titan within cried out in anguish, its promising existence devoured by the fel. Sargeras watched impassively as an immense hand reached out from within the split and burning ruins of Bysmault... then fell back, fel flames licking across it as it crumbled away.

Uncharacteristically, Sargeras did not allow his demons the time to celebrate among the broken ruins of their latest conquest, which typically followed a Legion victory. Instead, he ordered them back into the Twisting Nether almost immediately, demanding that they find him more worlds to destroy.

The Heart of Darkness
Torn free of its orbit, the ruins of Bysmault tumbled through the Great Dark Beyond, the murdered worldsoul within cold and dark. After the departure of the Legion, tendrils of absolute darkness reached out, the questing limbs of the Void. Devouring broken Bysmault, the Void pulled it into its dark grasp. Within the darkness the Void Lords sought for a sign that something of the worldsoul lingered within Bysmault, hoping to exploit its power to make their dream of crossing over into the material universe come to pass. To their frustration, the Void Lords found nothing but death in Bysmault's ruins.

Out of spite, the Void Lords turned Bysmault into a monument to their hatred of the Titans. Within the Void Bysmault's remnants still float, wracked by storms and prowled by beasts born of darkness. The immense body of the broken Titan, lifeless and ravaged, lies strewn about, its colossal visage frozen in a scream of stone. The Void Lords gaze upon Bysmault and dream of a time when a nascent Titan will fall under their sway, that they may use it to work their dark will in the realms of light and life, and make every being in existence scream forever in praise to their dark majesty.

Geography
Bysmault is a dead realm, a landscape of broken mountains and cracked canyons overlooking the yawning black depths of the Void. Storm-clouds rage across the sky and crackle with lightning. Currents and geysers of dark energy wrack the land, and fragments continually break off and drift into the Void. Islands of ruined stone drift around Bysmault's largest land-masses, continually sending rains of meteors crashing down across the landscape. But by far Bysmault's most striking features are the colossal ruined fragments of its dead Titan - one mountain-range is a broken arm, its immense hand forming a frightening horizon. A split visage, half of the Titan's face with a mouth frozen in a howl, drifts overhead like a twisted moon.

There are no native inhabitants to Bysmault - the armies of the Void hold sway here. Void manifestations take form in great ranks, armies of darkness preparing to invade other worldshards. Beasts and monsters born of the Void's depths prowl the wilderness - some manifestations of Void-life even form strange and twisted 'forests' of swaying tendrils and glowing eyes. These growths are unlike the twisted organic chaos of the Old Gods - instead they seem smooth and sleek, ordered, almost artificial.

Dungeons and Raids
- Fortress Nox - A foreboding stronghold formed by the Void, the Fortress of Nox lies in the shattered nightmare-realm of Bysmault, where the Void holds full sway. The voidkin hordes fill the walls of this fortress and flow into the Voidlands, seeking to unmake the last holdout of reality in the heart of endless darkness. The master of the Void's armies, Void Primarch Ahriman, has stationed some of his mightiest servants at this fortress, making it the great shield of the Void in Bysmault.

- Darkvault - The greatest stronghold of the Void located within Bysmault. Within Darkvault, Void Primarch Ahriman directs the armies of the Void, sending them out to conquer the Voidlands and drag all things down into oblivion. To drive the Void's armies from the Voidlands, the Darkvault must be conquered.

The Darkvault
Upon identifying the worldshard of Bysmault as the center of operations for the Void Primarch Ahriman and his legions, the Alliance and the Horde gather their forces and approach the foreboding land. They find the only entrance to Bysmault completely fortified by a colossal black fortress, constructed by the Void itself - the Darkvault. An immense walled structure built into impassable mountains, swarming with the Void's strongest servants, Darkvault is seemingly impregnable. Darkvault itself is reinforced by satellite fortresses that surround it, making it an even more formidable obstacle.

The Alliance and the Horde decide to first focus their efforts on the nearby satellite fortress of Nox. Taking this Void bastion may provide the armies of Azeroth with the means to push further into the Darkvault itself.

Voice of the Void
Beyond Darkvault, the Void's strength is absolute. Bysmault remains inviolate for now. The Alliance and the Horde must consolidate their victories elsewhere and seek out a way to drive the Void completely from the Voidlands, before darkness engulfs them all.

Questlines

 * Bastions of Darkness - The Void holds full sway in Bysmault. The only regions that the Alliance and Horde can explore are the lands immediately before the great Void fortress of Darkvault and the lesser fortress of Nox.