User:GoldenYak/Vegathis

Related to the Into the Void Expansion Concept

Vegathis is a zone located in the western Voidlands. Vegathis is a land of parched red sands and the ruins of an ancient race. A blazing sun formed of elemental flame burns constantly overhead.

Land of the Sacred Flame
The planet of Vegathis was visited early in his life by the Titans, who explored the young world in the hopes of finding one of their nascent kin growing within. While they detected no worldsoul within Vegathis, the Titans brought order to the world, balancing its elementals spirits and fostering life across its surface, and then left. The dominant sentient race, the vegathi, beheld the Titans as they worked their will and departed. The image of the Titans was deeply impressed upon the vegathi cultural memory, and even after their departure the vegathi worshipped them as gods. The vegathi were consumed with curiosity about their deities, and explored their world searching for evidence of the Titans shaping. They uncovered structures and machines the Titans had left to monitor Vegathis, and by studying them the vegathi improved their knowledge and understanding.

The vegathi copied the architecture of the Titans and built their cities and temples as monuments to their makers. They became skilled at calling upon the balanced elements of their world, summoning beings of elemental power and binding them to their will. However, despite their advancements, the vegathi were not satisfied. All their accomplishments paled before the works of the Titans, and the vegathi hungered to reunite with their gods and learn more from them.

The Forging of Gods
The vegathi could not discover a way to truly commune with their deities - their sorcerer-priests conducted rituals to draw their attention, sending arcane messages out into the stars, raising great temples and monuments to draw their gaze back to Vegathis, but the vegathi were simply beneath the Titans notice. Some sects grew desperate and turned to violent means, conducting bloody sacrifices. Divisions struck through vegathi society, creating schisms and holy wars that led to extended periods of conflict and strife. Studying the Titan relics on their world, the vegathi teased out a fraction of knowledge about their ultimate purpose, discerning that the Titans were somehow waiting for a new Titan to be raised from their world. With their limited understanding, the vegathi seized upon a plan - if the Titans wished to see new gods on their world, the vegathi would make them.

Using all of their arcane knowledge, the vegathi crafted huge effigies of the Titans, great statues formed in their image. To bring their constructs to life, they began to experiment with different applications of elemental energy. Eventually, the vegathi discovered the secrets of elemental ascension, transforming a mortal being into an elemental one. Here, they believed, was the key to creating the perfect deity - transforming one of their own into a pure elemental being with the indomitable spirit of the vegathi themselves, the perfect bridge between mortal vegathi and immortal divinity.

The sorcerer-priests conducted the rites of elemental ascension with the vegathi monarchs, transforming kings and queens into elemental beings and infusing them into the avatars. The process succeeded - the avatars were stable and retained the spirits and personalities of their former mortal selves, enhanced by their new bodies to become more intelligent and powerful. The newly forged gods, the Ascendant Titans, transformed vegathi society almost overnight - within a few generations, their civilization grew by leaps and bounds, elevated far beyond its former glories.

The new vegathi civilization soon faced its greatest test - one night, a shower of meteors lit up the night sky. Many vegathi marvelled at the spectacle, some taking it as sign of approval from the Titans that their ways were divinely ordained. But the falling stars were not a sign of good fortune, but the herald of a dark evil. Where the stars fell, a strange and terrible foulness blackened the land, a blight that leech the vitality from the soil and twisted living things into abominations. Soon, a strange and horrible alien infestation spread from the fallen stars - a landscape of organic vileness, turning stone to flesh and water to blood. The creeping contagion turned every living thing it touched into a fleshy horror that served only to spread the infestation farther. The vegathi were appalled at this rapidly growing flesh-plague, and turned all of their efforts into stemming its growth. But those who fought the plague were often consumed by it, turning on their fellows. Slowly, the plague grew and began to consume more and more of Vegathis.

The Flesh-Plague
In their battle against the growing flesh-plague, one faction, the Servants of the Sacred Flame, saw the element of fire as the most potent weapon they could wield - it was the spark of life, the flame of passion, the motive energy of body and mind. Their queen and high priestess, Incendra of the Sacred Flame, underwent ascension to become an Ascendant Titan powered by elemental flame. Incendra outshone all those who had come before her, and her powers began to stem the growing tide of the flesh-plague. Still, the contagion infested much of Vegathis, and Incendras followers could not be everywhere - the flesh-plague consumed their people faster than they could replenish their ranks. The high-priest of Incendra, Agnitus, poured over the collected knowledge of the vegathi people, struggling to find a way to aid his god-queen and save their people.

One day, a wandering vegath named Tichus came to the city of the Sacred Flame to meet with Agnitus. Tichus explained that he was an ascetic and a scholar, who had travelled the world and learned of ancient lore than even the wisest of the vegathi did not know. He had come to aid in the battle against the flesh-plague that threatened the entire world, and he shared some of his knowledge with Agnitus to prove his words. Tichus became first an advisor and then a trusted ally of Agnitus - always Tichus would share a seemingly minor kernel of wisdom or insight with Agnitus, but the high-priest would inevitably find that pondering Tichus' words would lead him to a great breakthrough. The new sorcerous arts and battle strategies that arose from their discussions led the vegathi to turn the tide against the flesh-plague, new weapons and tactics slowing and finally halting the growth of the contagion. Agnitus was showered with praise by both Incendra and the vegathi people, with Tichus humbly refusing Agnitus' offers to share the glory and placing all the credit with the high priest. Emboldened, Agnitus vowed to finally purge his world of the flesh-plague once and for all.

Soon however, Agnitus began to despair of fulfilling his vow. While his knowledge had prevented further growth of the flesh-plague, every effort to push back the contagion failed - some new mutation would arise from the plagued lands and thwart all his efforts. Agnitus grew angry, feeling that he had lost the acclaim of his people, even blamed Tichus for with-holding further insights out of jealousy. Tichus took his friend's accusations solemnly, and finally revealed to Agnitus that there might be one way to free Vegathis from the flesh-plague once and for all - though it would require a great sacrifice. Prepared to pay any price to fulfill his ambitions, Agnitus readily agreed. Tichus then began to teach Agnitus of the one magical discipline that could truly overwhelm the flesh-plague's twisted power of life - the magic of death. Necromancy.

The Ashen Arise
Tichus began to teach the magic of necromancy to Agnitus, the art of channelling the power of death. Tichus explained that life itself was the vector that the flesh-plague used to grow, and life could only be outmatched by the power of death. Agnitus was fascinated with this new dark power, and Tichus' words slowly stoked his desire to master it. Life was nothing before the power of death - even the so-called gods, the Titans who shaped life, had not granted their loyal worshippers the powers needed to save them - indeed, the flesh-plague was a foul expression of life in and of itself. The power of death was greater - indeed, it would be the salvation of Vegathis!

Agnitus concocted a plan - hundreds of great arcane engines designed to contain vast amounts of magical energy were crafted to the specifications of Tichus, and imbued with elemental flame by Incendra herself. Agnitus' loyal followers, many of whom had been inducted into his teachings of death magicks, also filled the engines with necromantic energies and carried them across the kingdom of the vegathi to the edge of the plagued lands. Agnitus had devised the engines to project blasts of elemental flame melded with necromantic energy into the infested lands of the flesh-plague, burning out the contagion and ensuring it would not take hold again. Believing the engines to be the fulfillment of Agnitus' promise to purge the flesh-plague, the vegathi people thronged to the site of the arcane machines, eager to see them in action. At the appointed hour, Agnitus triggered his engines, unleashing a blast of elemental flame imbued with necromantic energy. The energy of the engines rolled across the lands of the flesh-plague, blasting them to ash. The plague withered, burned out by the elemental flame and life-devouring energies of the wave. Agnitus had succeeded in all his ambitions - Vegathis was free.

However, the joy of the vegathi people turned to horror as the rolling wave of flame and death reached the edge of the plagued lands and then continued. The necromantic flames did not burn themselves out - instead, they fed off the life of the plague and grew. Rolling out into uninfested lands, the flames devoured the life there as well, growing and growing, swallowing up more of Vegathis than the flesh-plague ever had. Agnitus stared in horror as a roaring storm of fire and death rolled back towards his kingdom, his people screaming in horror, the Ascendant Titans striding forwards to try and vainly hold back the rolling tide. Agnitus turned to his friend Tichus, desperate for an answer that would save them. But Tichus simply opened his hands wide in a shrug.


 * say

Tichus rose slowly into the air before Agnitus' horrified gaze. The vegath's body twisted and unfolded like a growing shadow, great webbed wings unfolding from his back, his legs twisting into cloven hooves, black curling horns sprouting from his brow and long fangs erupting from his lips. For Tichus was in truth Tichondrius, the Darkener, a dreadlord of the nathrezim, a demon and destroyer of worlds, who had brought ruin to Vegathis all for his own dark pursuit of knowledge.


 * say
 * say

Flexing his wings, Tichondrius sailed up and away from the cloud of death, soaring on magical currents high above Vegathis, where his brothers waited to congratulate him on his success. They watched in fascination as the necromantic cloud snuffed out the life force of everything on Vegathis, leaving it a scorched and lifeless desert. Soon after the cloud began to fade with no more life to feast on, the burned and blackened corpses of the vegathi began to twitch and stir - having soaked up the necromantic energies, the vegathi rose, their dead bodies reanimated. The dreadlords looked with satisfaction on the state wrought by the death magic, and named it 'undeath'. Properly applied, it could be of immense use to them. Having concluded their experiment, the nathrezim departed back into the Twisting Nether.

On the scorched surface of Vegathis, the undead form of Agntius looked upon his people and howled with fury and despair. Thus were the vegathi extinguished, and thus were risen the Ashen.

Into the Void
The Ashen had barely come to terms with their new state when a great darkness began to shroud the world. The vast expenditures of life energy had sundered the veil of reality about Vegathis, causing the power of the Void to bleed into the universe. The entropic darkness of the Void was drawn to the dead world of Vegathis, enclosing it in its dark grip. The Ascendant Titans, who had barely survived the storm of death themselves, could not hold back the darkness and were consumed along with their lands. In their final moments, they turned their fury upon Agnitus, blaming him for the calamity. The last surviving Ascendant was Incendra, whose fury burned brightest of all, flowing out from her form in great waves of elemental power that gave the closing darkness of the Void itself pause. Agnitus, his anguish spent, all emotion burnt from his mind and soul, saw in that instant the way to salvation. Acting with the cold logic of the dead, he reached out with his mind, using his knowledge of death magic to touch all of the Ashen around him, and gave them one command - "Seize her."

The Ashen arose in a great tide, overwhelming the weakened Ascendant Incendra. Agnitus bid the Ashen bring her to his laboratory in Incendra's citadel. There, he fashioned a new form of engine, using all of the knowledge he had gained from his studies with Tichus. Finally, the device was ready, and without hesitation he activated it. The device drew the howling Incendra out of her statue-vessel and sealed her burning spirit within, bringing the engine to life. The engine directed the energy of the Ascendant outwards, projecting it into the sky above in the form of a huge sphere of elemental flame, a miniature sun blazing over the former lands of the vegathi. The burning orb held back the ravaging darkness of the Void, which consumed the rest of Vegathis. Beneath the light of the spell-forged sun, the Ashen were spared.

The Black Flame Burns
In time, Agnitus' hold over the Ashen slowly diminished, the Ashen reasserting their own will and regaining their sense of self. Nevertheless, Agnitus retained a powerful influence over his people, and even those who loathed him still came to see him as the only leader that they could possibly follow. Within the Voidlands, a dark and dreadful kingdom of undeath took shape. With the memory of that rolling cloud of death that had doomed his people and secured his place among them as king, Agnitus named his new empire the Kingdom of the Black Flame.

The Ashen spent centuries rebuilding their former civilization into a dark reflection of its former glory. No more was honor given to the Titans, the shapers of life - only death and flame held any value to the Ashen. Any living being that strayed into Vegathis from other realms was put to the flame. Void beings that manifested there found a realm already scoured of life and were driven away by the blazing sun overhead. Agnitus lorded over his dark kingdom unchallenged, his rule cold and unfeeling. One day, a report came from his patrols, one that once again sparked emotion within Agnitus - the dreaded flesh-plague, the very thing that had started him down this road to misery, had somehow reappeared in the southern lands, spreading from another worldshard and once again creeping unchecked across his domain, turning ash-choked sands to flesh and blood. Deep within Agnitus, anger was stoked, and ignited. The plague of life would be eradicated. First in Vegathis, and then... everywhere beyond.

Geography
Vegathis is a realm of death - the crimson sands are streaked with black ash, and huge swathes of desert are choked with the bones of the dead. Undead are the only inhabitants, wandering the dunes forever on guard for the intrusion of the living. Overhead, a blazing red sun of elemental flame burns eternally, holding back the darkness of the Void. But the sun's dreadful radiance only serves to cast the realm in a ruddy, blood-tinged hue.

The crumbling ruins of the lost vegathi civilization are scattered throughout the land. These are inhabited only by the ashen and their bound elemental servants of flame and earth.

Dungeons
- Temple of the Black Sun - This ashen temple is the source of the elemental sun that illuminates Vegathis.

- The Whisperfane - An ancient vegathi temple that lies in the heart of the flesh-plagued lands of the south.

The Red Land of Death
The Alliance and the Horde track the mysterious undead beings known as the Ashen to their worldshard of origin, the dead land of Vegathis. The Ashen have been making incursions into other worldshards, using elemental flame to purge the surrounding area of life - this crusade of omnicide threatens the campaign against the forces of the Void, and so the Ashen attacks must be thwarted. Venturing into Vegathis, adventurers find a land of death - red sands choked with ash, clouds of death blowing across fields of burnt bones. Overhead, a baleful red sun of tainted elemental flame burns, its radiance holding back the darkness of the Void.

The power of death has saturated Vegathis, and the dead walk the land in countless forms. From wandering skeletons to ghost wraiths of smoke and flame, Vegathis is a nightmare.

Haddema, Noctarch of Elementals
While the red sun of Vegathis is a potent ward against the entities of the Void, the Voidtouched ethereals under Ahriman's rule are more resistant. A small army of ethereals led by Haddema, the Noctarch of Elementals, has infiltrated Vegathis and is using a Void Auger to enslave the native wild elementals. Elementals of flame, dust, ash, smoke, and sand are twisted into entities of the Void, dark reflections of their natural selves. Haddema is slowly building a growing army within Vegathis, intending to devour the realm from within. While Vegathis holds little value and grave threats to the realms beyond its borders, the Void cannot be allowed to consume an entire worldshard and add an army of elementals to its ranks. Adventurers storm the Void Auger and shatter the device, forcing Haddema to retreat. The freed elementals warn the Alliance and the Horde that the Ashen the too have captured many elementals for their own goals, and are engaged in war with an even greater threat than Haddema.

The Black Flame
The mightiest force in Vegathis is the Kingdom of the Black Flame. Led by High Priest Agnitus of the Ashen, the Black Flame is all that remains of the civilization that once dwelt on Vegathis, before the dark disaster that transformed them all into undead and snuffed the light of life from the world. Agnitus and his intelligent undead followers have bound spirits of elemental flame to their service, using them as power sources for arcane machinery found throughout the realm. These Black Engines empower constructs, create elemental portals between worldshards, and maintain the blazing sun that preserves Vegathis from the Void. If these engines could be shut down, the Ashen would be weakened. But the Ashen are many in number and their powers over fire and death make them strong. The Alliance and the Horde would be hard pressed to defeat them without allies.

The Sons of Silence
Adventurers make contact with a faction of seemingly benign Ashen known as the Sons of Silence. Worshippers of an Ascendant Titan called Zoma of the Starry Night, the vegathi goddess of wisdom, the Sons of Silence were ancient enemies of the Black Flame from before the death of Vegathis. Zoma and her followers had cautioned against the use of death magic and encouraged the study of the flesh-plague to better understand it, but were branded as heretics by many and were not heeded. The Sons of Silence explain the arcane workings of the Black Engines, and that the most powerful engine within the Temple of the Black Flame contains the imprisoned fire goddess of Vegathis, Incendra of the Sacred Flame. With the aid of the Sons of Silence, the Alliance and the Horde are able to make their way to the Temple of the Black Flame, intending to shut down the engine and free Incendra.

The Curse of Flesh
Far to the south, where the worldshard of Vegathis meets with another, unidentified worldshard, a horrible alien contagion has taken root. A vast landscape of twisted mutation flows across the land, turning sand to blood and stone to flesh. A garden of fleshy growths sprouts up, driving those who approach it mad. The growths are identical to those found within the depths of Algol, removing all doubt - it is a manifestation of the Curse of Flesh, one more virulent than any other the Alliance and the Horde have ever witnessed, giving rise to a Cursegrowth that will smother the Voidlands. The Sons of Silence are the only beings it seems who can pass through the Cursegrowth unaffected, citing their service to the goddess of wisdom Zoma as the source of their resistance. Within the heart of the plagued lands is an ancient temple of the vegathi people, once devoted to the worship of Zoma. The Cursegrowth has encircled the edifice, but not yet overtaken it. The Sons of Silence claim their goddess Zoma slumbers within - if she can be rescued, perhaps her wisdom may yield answers about the Curse of Flesh and how to stop it.

Questlines

 * Lands of Death - Wild undead plague the sands of Vegathis. Skeletons, ash-wraiths, wicked fire spectres, and revenants of death haunt the dunes. Put the dead to rest.
 * Noctarch of Elementals - Stop the Noctarch Haddema's plans to create an army of Void-tainted fire elementals.
 * The Black Flame - The Ashen of the Black Flame rule Vegathis unchallenged. They will burn all the Voidlands of life if they are not stopped.
 * The Legion Lingers - Demonic presence remains within Vegathis, monitoring the results of their vile experiment. Wipe out the last of these nathrezim servants.
 * The Sons of Silence - These Ashen seem reasonable, and have lent their efforts to the Alliance and the Horde. Learn the secrets of the Sons of Silence and their goddess of wisdom, Zoma.
 * The Cursegrowth - The Curse of Flesh has manifested in its most hideous form yet in southern Vegathis. What could this mean for the Voidlands?