User:GoldenYak/Darkvault

Darkvault is a raid instance in the Into The Void Expansion Concept. It features 7 bosses and is the second of two raids in the Void-1 raid tier, having greater difficulty than the Dreadlords' Citadel. Darkvault is the great stronghold of the Void located within Bysmault.

Background
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.

Solovun, Noctarch of Legions
Solovun is master of the innumerable legions of the voidwalkers and other Voidborn entities. Solovun also commands the Voidtouched ethereals full forces. His strategies have made the Void better equipped to devour the worlds of the living universe. Solovun will call forth rank after rank of Void entities to aid him in combat, intending to smother the invading forces under waves of darkness.

Dormin, Noctarch of Giants
Dormin oversees the manifestation of Void Giants from the Deep Void. Of all of Ahriman's Noctarchs, he commands the fewest number of followers, but his giants are among the most formidable soldiers the Void can bring to bear. Dormin stands astride the great Void Giant Devoculus in combat, directing the fiend's actions. Dormin is capable of empowering the Void Giant with his own Void-tainted life-force.

Hakhan, Noctarch of Beasts
The Noctarch of Beasts, Hakhan shapes creatures and monsters from the energies of the Deep Void, molding it into the forms of feral animals. His monstrous creations are intended to replace the ecosystems of all the worlds across the living universe, one unified form of life born of the Void in an infinite variety of shapes.

Baaz, Noctarch of Dragons
Noctarch Baaz rules the Voidflight, her own creation. Entities formed in the manner of dragons, the Voidflight are nothing more than entities of the Void formed in mockery of a true dragonflight. Baaz battles astride the largest and most terrible of her creations, Culgax.

Haddema, Noctarch of Elementals
Shaper of Void elementals, beings created from tainting elemental energies with the Void, Noctarch Hadeema has blended the natural energies of the living universe with the essence of the Void. As the beasts of Hakhan are meant to replace the living creatures of nature, so too will these Void-based elements replace the elementals of living worlds. All things born of Light and Void will be remade with only Void as their underlying essence.

Urahema, Noctarch of Machines
Noctarch Urahema is the lord of machines. She uses re-purposed ethereal technology to draw up the power of the Deep Void and spread it into the material universe. She also wields the Monad of Authority, a Titan relic designed to bring a measure of life to otherwise unliving constructs, instilling them with a spark of soul and sentient awareness. This device, once used to create living machines, has been corrupted to bring life to twisted fabrications of darkness.

Void Primarch Ahriman
The ruler of the Voidtouched ethereals and the mightiest servant of Nigh. Ahriman personally selected the Noctarch Conclave members from the ranks of the Voidtouched to direct the forces of the Void. Ahriman unleashed the Void upon his homeworld of K'aresh, and since that day when he was devoured and beheld the dark majesty of the Void Lords, he has labored to bring the entire universe under their control. Ahriman was touched by the essence of the Void long ago, and now exists as little more than an extension of the Void Lords themselves.

Storyline
Within Darkvault, Ahriman's chosen servants, the Noctarchs, have gathered. Having suffered numerous defeats at the hands of the adventurers all across the Voidlands, they are eager to exact their revenge on the defenders of Azeroth. The Noctarch are revealed to have once been agents of the Shandarm, the peace-keeping authority of K'aresh who once pursued Ahriman and attempted to prevent him unleashing the Void upon the areshi homeworld. In their failure, they were devoured by the Void and beheld the true powers of the Void Lords. Now, they are empowered to work the will of the Void Lords, and stand ready to wipe out the champions of Azeroth and lead the forces of darkness to victory.

The Court of Darkness

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The mustering ground for the rank and file of the Void's legions, the Court of Darkness throngs with Voidtouched ethereals and manifestations of the Void itself - voidwalkers, voidcallers, and other dark entities. The Noctarch of Legions, Solovun, directs the formations of the Void's armies, preparing to lead them into a new campaign of conquest into the Voidlands. The defenders of Azeroth must weathering an all-out assault and use their newest weapons and strongest allies to win through.

The Umbral Thundering

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A plateau of black stone overlooking the rest of the Darkvault, the Umbral Thundering is where the terrifying void giants manifest themselves, congealing into being out of the raw power of darkness. Dormin, Noctarch of Giants, guides the formation of these most terrible Void manifestations.

Preying of the Abyss

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In the depths of the Darkvault, the Noctarch of Beasts, Hakhan, keeps the war-beasts of the Void. Vast kennels, pens, cages, and stables hold the fauna of the Voidlands, beasts and monsters twisted by the powers of darkness into creatures who prey on all things of the Light.

The Stygian Roost

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The towering spires of Darkvault have become the lairs of the creatures of Baaz, Noctarch of Dragons. Having forged creatures of pure darkness in the image of great dragons, Baaz now oversees her children in the Stygian Roost. The Void entities are not true dragons, but mirror the genuine article - whelps, drakes, mature dragons, and even great Void wyrms have all emerged from the Void, a parody of a true dragonflight. Black egg masses sprout from dark corruption as the energy of the Void takes on physical form, birthing a host of abominations to darken the skies of a thousand worlds.

Maelstrom of the Void

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The Maelstrom of the Void is a space within Darkvault created by Haddema, Noctarch of Elements. Here, the elemental powers of fallen worldshards have been stolen and twisted by darkness, taking on strange and terrible new forms. The power of the Void is one that taints and transforms, turning all things into nightmarish new shapes, and even the very essence of the elements is not immune. Earth, fire, air, and water have all mutated into new Void-forms, spawning monstrous elementals unlike anything that has ever been seen before - a taste of what will happen to all worlds if the Void consumes the material universe.

The Umbral Machine

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Within the bowels of Darkvault is the Umbral Machine, a sprawling network of huge mechanical constructs and devices powered by the energy of the Void. Great Void Augers drill through the fabric of reality, spilling the essence of darkness out into the Voidlands. Re-purposed ethereal technology is used to create weapons and warrior-constructs the serve the cause of the Void Lords.

Here, Urahema, Noctarch of Machines, holds sway, using the Monad of Authority stolen from the mekkanoi of Nachitar to create ever more powerful and advanced machines.

Throne of the Night

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At the pinnacle of Darkvault, the Throne of the Night, the leader of the Void's armies awaits - Void Primarch Ahriman himself. Ahriman's throne is built atop his Void Auger, the original machine that pierced the veil of reality and plunged K'aresh into darkness. Ahriman has been empowered by the Void Lords themselves, and uses the Void Auger to summon powerful entities from the depths of the Void to aid him in combat. Ultimately, the defenders of Azeroth prove more than a match for the Void Primarch, and are able to overwhelm his power and destroy the Void Auger.

Powerless, Ahriman collapses, and the darkness of the Void rises up to engulf him. Ahriman promises the defenders of Azeroth that his defeat means little, and that the Void Lords will be victorious in the end, before the darkness consumes him and he disperses into non-existence. The skies overhead manifest the same dark entity that the adventurers witnessed during the assault on Xoroth - this time the entity takes greater form, revealing itself as Nigh, the avatar of the Void Lords, an entity formed from their collective will to carry out their plans.

Nigh unleashes a colossal blast of darkness in an effort to obliterate the the adventurers, but the attack is turned aside at the last second by the sudden arrival of Nodensius, who unleashes a counter-attack of his own and drives Nigh away. Nodensius and the adventurers look out from atop Darkvault at the worldshard of Bysmault - a nightmarish landscape of horror and darkness where the Void holds sway, further guarded by great Void-forged bastions even more imposing than the Darkvault itself. Nodensius warns that the Void's power is growing in Bysmault and something even more dangerous than Nigh is taking shape there. The defenders of Azeroth must rally their strongest forces to Darkvault for the campaign to forge deep into the very heart of the Void's power in the Voidlands.


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