PureNES: Years of Excelsior

Yzuoi

Ruler / Player: Yuzarchs / Silver Steak
Government: Tribal Council consisting of family chiefs
Religion: Blood Worship/Yuzuism
Technology: Early Bronze Age
Culture: The Yuzoi are a nomadic herding people, migrating all over the northwestern peninsula. They follow the seasons, drifting south to the savannas during the rainy months, and back north to the warm forests for the winter. Being constantly on the move, they are quintessential survivalists, known for getting the most out of any situation. Tough, mobile and excellent scouts, the Yuzoi are also a force to be reckoned with in battle.
Economy: (leave blank)
Military: (leave blank)
Infrastructure: (leave blank)
History: The Yuzoi have been herding their cattle for centuries, constantly moving to new grazing fields. They have lived on the northwestern edges of the cradle for half a millennium, the area being particularly fertile and spacious enough for their huge herds. In recent times, a new religious belief has emerged, preaching of a promised land where the Yuzoi will finally settle permanently and start a new era in the people's history.
 
[1]Both named after Roman emperors. 10 jalapeno_points to anyone who can name both of them and determine why I chose them.

Deads ones...their dead.

Do I win?

******​

Kingdom of the Harungen
Ruler / Player: Autarch / Kal'thzar
Government: Fuedal Monarchy
Religion: Harungen Pantheon
Technology: Early Bronze Age
Culture: Given to excess and extremes of emotion. This has been combatted by adopting a highly structured and organised system of fuedal control. Concerned more with the axis of Order and Chaos over that of Good and Evil.
Economy: (leave blank)
Military: (leave blank)
Infrastructure: (leave blank)
History: This is the Second Kingdom to have grown on these lands, the first fell due to taking its excess to extremes, and after a period of Barbarism, the Kingdom of the Harungen arose (Harungen lit; Chained Ones).


Edit: looking at jds he seems to have taken a similar tack. I.e. insperation in the Eldar (and even if its not the case, it looks terribly like it :p) . I hope to take mine in a slightly different direction than his I think, hopefully we'll see two different interpetations of the same origianl source :p

Anyway, will fill out the History and the etc once I have finished my work (in another 4 hours :) )

Oh map position; the dot slightly south of centre. (you want me to post a map?)
 
Okay, now I have to get off my butt and write a story.



The Teacher and the Prophet

I apologize in advance for this story. I had serious writer's block. Don't worry, it's not meant to be a joke civilization. I just thought that this way of starting a religion would be interesting (read: I couldn't think of anything, God help me, so I wrote in this manner).

Warning: OTL Quote
"The way to make a million dollars is to start a religion."
-L. Ron Hubbard


The arid desert. In retrospect, it was probably not the best place to start a civilization. However, they would find themselves with no choice. Having been pushed out of all the nice, fertile, and easy regions to live in, be it by barbarians or new fledgling civilizations, they were forced to take up residence in a desert.

Fine, they thought. But we'll come back.

And so life continued twenty or so years, until one person asked the chief a very important question.

"Hey, Chief, why are we working so hard to improve ourselves in order to take back what is ours, if we won't get to do this stuff ourselves?"

The Chief tried to explain how work was necessary to build the foundations for the ancestors, the same answer he gave to everybody else. But this man wouldn't accept it. He thought that if it were inevitable, then he shouldn't have to do anything. So the Chief thought quickly.

"Well, actually...look, here's a secret that I've been waiting for the right time to reveal. Will you come with me inside my tent?"

The man agreed, and they entered. The tent was squalid and dirty. Apparently, the chief, who extolled the virtues of cleanliness, was a hypocrite! The man was about to point that out, but the chief preempted him.

"Ah, it's a mess because I'm still shaken from the, ah, divine revelation that the gods have given me."

"The gods have given you a vision?"

"Yes. Yes indeed. They told me this:

"People will reincarnate over and over again. That is the way of the world. They are unfit to reach lyrven (heaven), so they come back as mortals again. However, what they come back as depends on the actions they took during their mortal lives. The good come back as better things; the bad come back as bad things."

"Well, that's very nice and all, chief, but, if that's the case, won't some of us come back as them? We were conquered by others; that makes them better, right?"

"Wrong! They wrongfully took from us what was ours."

"So you're telling me to work hard so I can live in this waterless wasteland?"

"Yes. Like it or not, you have no choice. You see, the gods have bound each and every person to a specific region. You are bound to live with us forever. The difference between "good" and "bad", which I perhaps should have expounded upon earlier, is that "good" means you come back as a "higher" human. "Bad" means you come back as a "lower" human.

"How can we know?"

"Well, obviously, only the best and the brightest can be "higher", and all the cripples and the stupid are "lower". The gods have seen it fit to designate the chief (that's me) as the Chooser, with a council to help me decide who goes in which class. The only guidelines I have been given have been what I have outlined and that there are to be three levels, with sublevels in each one.

"And, sir, since you have been the first to hear these words, I deem you The Teacher. You are the first one to hear the words of god from The Prophet."

The man gasped. He was divinely touched. He had always known he was built for good things. And now, he was going to be somebody important!

"I'd better get this recorded," he said.

"Go to it. Gods' speed to you."

And so it came to pass that a religion was born, founded by one man who did some very quick thinking. This religion he would later name "Jykmorum", after the head god "Jykmor", which he also made up later.

--

Exilia
Ruler / Player: The Prophet/LightFang
Government: A religious monarchy. The leader of the religion leads his people along with his council, all of whom are devout followers of said religion.
Religion: Jykmorum
Technology: Early Bronze Age
Culture: Everybody has an insane inferiority complex, driven into them by teachings. They are obsessed with regaining what was lost and becoming stronger at any cost. Life is also stratified, with three basic levels of existence.
Economy: (leave blank)
Military: (leave blank)
Infrastructure: (leave blank)
History: They were chased out of fertile lands centuries ago. Ever since then, they have been obsessed with bettering themselves to reclaim the land. They have settled an arid wasteland, but it has access to water enough for their needs.
 
OOC: my starting position




The history of the Harungen Peoples (lit: Chained Ones). Began in a period of Warlords and Barbaric acts. And it came after the Fall of a Great Kingdom.

The Great Kingdom
"Get me a new toy, this one is broken,"
-Hythian, last King of the Great Kingdom, on a slave he had recently procured from market and killed by suffacting him on his families severed fingers.

The Great Kingdom was also said to have been founded during a period of Warlords. But the barbaric acts where not so great before their coming. As the Great Kingdom was the herald of these.

Indeed prior to the Great Kingdom, the Harungen had shown only a mild addiction to excess. A love of wine, food, good talk and sensual pleasures. The Great Kingdom changed this. Some suggest that it was merely a twisted Warlord that was willing to go further than others to receive a thrill. Others beleive that the Phoenix had his hand in this matter.

This Warlord or King, named Khaine expressed his pleasures through the act of taking life, of maiming and hurting others, riding into battle with feelings of sensual pleasure washing through him, he fought with such eagreness that his enemies fled before him. And as such the various other warlords were gradually brought beneath him. As he was willing to Crush, to massacre those who chose to stand against him. Those who survived, fled or swore alleigance.

And much like an infectious disease, this ideology of taking pleasure in such acts, of excess and chaos soon spread to his followers and the First Great Kingdom was born. And if anything the depravity of the peoples worsened.

The Great Kingdom expanded rapidly in the period of its early Kings. And the Kingdom Accumulated many slaves and wealth beyond their dreams.

Then the expansion stopped, for the King and the other peoples no longer cared for more war, they were too busy constantly having parties, creating intricate moments of pain [1], losing themselves in seeking a Thrill, of betraying their families for the moment of pleasure when they saw their faces upon their realisation of who had betrayed them.

Order broke down and Chaos ruled supreme, and whilst the rule of the King was absolute, no one cared any longer, too caught up in their whims and pleasures where they, and the King no longer cared for exerting his power in any way other than to serve his whims [2].

The Great Kingdom at the extent of its power:


[1] The Great Example of this "intricate pains" is that of a wealthy warrior who raised an orphaned boy as his own son. Taught him the ways of war, of Politics. The meaning of Honour and Loyalty. And then broke him, informing him that he was the man who had orphaned the boy, killing his parents on his day out hunting. And showed him their stuffed heads, informing the boy that they were his best prey.

The Boy fled and from here began a great war between two peoples, the Boy had been taught well and was a good match for the Warrior. Even when they fought for the last time, the Warrior still took pleasure in his art. The Boy eventually won the battle, but lost the war. The Warrior broke him further informing him that he was his true son, noting all the caprcious acts and the pleaure he had taken in them, that he rationalised it as worthy in the name of revenge was irrelevant.

The Boy was broken, the Warrior had left him all his possesions. It is said that the Warrior also kept a Diary, detailing his minute manipulations of his 'son', denying the Boy the refuge of denial.

That this Boy went on to precipitate this same level of art on two villages is considered to be this Warriors greatest legacy.


[2] The levying of a 'slave tax' because the king liked the face of a boy and other such uses of his Kingly powers.

OOC: that was fun :D
 
The Rise of the Autarchs

"One must follow the path, only when one commits to the path may we as a peoples survive"-The Autarch

Thus, the Old Kingdom fell to warlordism, it just simply ceased to exist, no-one was intrested in "Glory" or "Good", neither were they concerned much with "Evil". No the dichotimy arose over Stablity. What reigned was Chaos. What the people wished for was a sense of Order and thus stability. Wether this was to be acheived by Good or Evil deeds was quite irrelevant to them, for it was more imporatant to know what the future might bring, rather than being kept in a limbo over it.

Now it is said that the Autarch was merely a product of his times, not the Divine Instrument. It is said that he took pleasure in other warlords pains, and realised that to frustrate the other warlords of their freedom, to bring order to the land would be the greatest pain he could impart on these warlord.

This is irrelevant, and such people should be dealt with appropriatly for they put that which is "good" above that which is "evil". What matters is that he brought stability, he brought Order. [1]


What the Autarch formulated was the concept of a path. To give yourself wholly over to one idea, to one persuit, until one has mastered it. Thus the warlords of old, who sought to sate every desire, to fullfill ever whim. To eat every forbiddon fruit. Would be controlled.

The Autarchs lands soon prospered, his retainers and family undertaking this path, and soon the Autarch was surrounded by a cadre of the smartest and best minds of his time. But their expertise was narrow, so it was only together that they could succeed. Thus the Autarch was chosen to tread the path of the Leader. And as he grew in mastery he was able to conquor those around him, bring them under his formal rule.

Either these warlords were shackled to his path by their own choosing, or they were enslaved and toyed with. They had chosen the path of slavery. And Thus he grew in power. And his Sons continued this path, assuming the mantle of Leadership, of Autarch.

Map of the Kingdom of Harungen at the extent of their current power:


Shown: Expansion to the north


[1] Obviously the earliest recorded instance of Order being prevailant over Chaos, no matter the "cost".
 
Deads ones...their dead.

Do I win?
No. :p

Edit: looking at jds he seems to have taken a similar tack. I.e. insperation in the Eldar (and even if its not the case, it looks terribly like it :p) . I hope to take mine in a slightly different direction than his I think, hopefully we'll see two different interpetations of the same origianl source :p
I don't really know which Eldar you're referring to, and I definitely didn't think of them when designing my nation.
 
jesus christ, I'm drawn to almost playing this...
 
Times of Troubles

"I cannot walk a path I cannot comprehend,"
-Prince Rulius

The Times of Troubles began as the effects of walking the path took hold. For such a system to be imposed on the peoples of the Great Kingdom, it did not hang well with many people. Some rejected it outright, becoming wanderers, Others simply attempted to walk and failed, often falling to great depths of depravity.

Much of the gains of the previous Autarchs were lost, as bandits and such ravaged the land. Like a structure unsupported, vast swathes of land simply broke away, the Current Autarch no longer able to maintain control.

Those who walked the path of the exile, born into order and lost to chaos. Few survived, fewer returned.

The Autarchs only managed to gain some measure of control when the perception of the Gods changed.[1] Their interpetation of the World was slowly imposed on the peoples around them. Either by work of the Priests, or Autarchs raising great effegies in praise of their Gods.

One by one the various vassal Princes were again brought under the heel of the Autarch, but this time, not only was the path imposed upon them, but also a new religion. Or a new interpetation of older gods. The Harungen Culture flowered and spread.

And thus the Autarchs entered a New Age.

[1] Basically, all aspects of peoples prior perceptions of the world have to change
 
Bah, I want points :(

and ok, its just that I've been studying these Eldar for a bit, and I noticed some similar trends in your stories. Must be Coincidence :p
Which Eldar? LOTR or Warhammer?

@Xen: Yes! Do it!
 
The Harungen Pantheon is divided by a line. Not between Good and Evil but between Order and Chaos.

The Gods of Order are:

The God of Death; Ynnead
Death is merely a natural progression in ones life acceptance of this fate is the greatest form of worship, for it shows true conviction. The God of Death is either a benevolant God, or a merciless taker. The choice of what he is, is merely your perception of Death.

The Goddess of Fertility; Isha
New Births, New Life. Another progression of Order. Wife to Ynnead. That which cannot be created, cannot be destroyed. That which cannot be created or destroyed is unsightly, for it has no beginning or end, no logic to it.

The God of Wisdom; Hortar
Thinking, judging. Being able to act in ways seemingly contradictory to your aims, but gaining the results that you seek. Also considered by many to be God of the Path. For undertaking the Path is the wise choice, for it brings Order, and thus stability. Also the God of War, Strategic war, Tactical war.

The Gods of Chaos are:

The Phoenix;
The Greatest Abberation; For after death, to be reborn. To live contiuously. What came first? A dreaded God of chaos, that pushes and infulences other people, changing them, altering their perceptions to that which is Chaotic.

But such worship is ill-placed, no Chaotic God stays with its play things for long. [1]

The Goddess of Time; Itha
The Biggest Trick ever pulled by the Goddess of Time, was convincing the people that their lives were unimportant in the context of the ever flowing nature of time. What the people did not realise was that the greatest Importance was the relevance of Time to their life.
[2]

The Goddess of Magic & Deamons; Lillith
The World is goverened by rules, Magic and Deamons break these rules, their very presence is abhorrant, fleeting. But also Devestating. Rules have never Constrained Lillith, and thus she has acted upon impulse, on emotional Whim for her entire existance.

There are Two Gods outwith this existance
The Creator God;
For He who created something that had never come before, gave birth to the Gods. And thus imposed an Order on the World. But he also contains elements of Chaos for he himself is everliving, Time itself can bend to his will.

Only by not using his power to dictate the matters of the World has he imposed any Order upon the Universe.

The God Of Life; Pithis

The wanderer, he unlike the Creater God is not above the divide, but constantly crossing over. When he heeds the advise of the Gods of Order, he becomes happy. However the mythos mostly revolves around the times when the Gods of Chaos manage to hold some measure of sway over him, putting him through much hardship for eventual misery, ususally ending in him eventually returning to Order.


[1] The Phoenix was the main God of the Great Kingdom.
[2] I'm Having a hard time with this actually. Conceptulising Order vs Chaos in terms of my world view. Anyway, the concept of time being a Chaos god is that well time isn't really under her control. She deceives peoples Perceptions of things, if one cannot comprehend the 'correct'[Order] view, you are lost to chaos.

See how hard that above makes conceptulising this :s
 
Alystr
Ruler / Player: Alystr IV / Grombar
Government: Divine Monarchy
Religion: Creator Worship
Technology: Early Bronze Age
Culture: Religious people that make their way through life trading and expanding. Expansion through peace and assimilation when possible, war to bring the Creators light though when needed. They strive to do good in their lives to give praise to the Creator and tend to stay away from the evil since that would open the gates to the Keeper.
Economy: (leave blank)
Military: (leave blank)
Infrastructure: (leave blank)
History: Started out as a tribe of nomads. Eventually found this fertile land near the base of the mountains and settled down. Started to expand around assimilating the other local tribes and bringing what they call the creators light to the heathens of the other tribes. The kings through their relationship with the Daughters of the Creator believe they have the divine right to rule these lands.

Story from Preview thread:
The city gathered in groups along the path to the ceremonial mountain where the new king would be consecrated and married to the “daughter of the creator [1]”to fulfill the ancient rights to keep the keeper at bay. The procession started in the farthest town in Alystr and wound its way through the land so all people would have a chance to see the new King and know that the creators light would yet again shine on their nation to keep the keepers dark hands away. Through rain and shine this man was lead through town after town until they arrived at the grand city of Alystr.

He was a man of roughly 18 years, tall and muscular, dark sun-tanned skin and wavy brown hair that had lightened in the sun – he was known as Alan Alystr soon to be just known as Alystr IV. His father Alystr III had died not 2 weeks before while defending against an attack by some of the closer tribes that would not bow down before the heavenly Alystr throne and join with the Alystr nation. The local tribe’s leader had been better at the dance then Alystr III had been and had slain the king. For this Alan avenged his father and now would be crowned King in his place.

As the procession reached the top of the ceremonial mountain Alan saw his bride to be, she was the newest confirmed “DotC” and was a wisp of a girl at the age of 15, hardly yet grown into her womanly figure. Alan himself would have waited on marriage longer but even if he wasn’t being confirmed king he was well past the age that he should have found a bride. Now that his father was dead he had no choice, she would be as good as any, from what he had heard she was a quiet one but also a deep thinker. This would be a good match.

As the morning passed and the afternoon came the ceremony was begun. The rites would last until the last vestiges of sunlight drifted away, just before the keepers hands closed upon the sun for another evening where only the night watch dared to roam. The high priestess in all her wrinkled glory (not many people lived past the age of 50 and the high priestess of the “DotC” was said to be 83) stepped upon the stone and began the rites of passage from boy to man, from girl to women, she spook the rites of marriage and all they entailed and finally she spoke the rites of Kingship, of Alan’s duty to his people, to the throne, to the Creator.

Tonight Alan would consummate his marriage with Helena and through that act pledge his soul to the Creator and since he was also king would pledge his nation to the Creator, thus paving the way for another generation of bright times and fortune for the people of Alystr believed that when you are with the Creator and have his blessing than the Keeper can not touch you.

[1] Daughters of the Creator (DotC) are women devoted to doing the Creators work and the only ones that may interpret his acts. The girls are taken when they are young and taught all there is to know about the Creator and doing his works. The agreement bound in ancient law (as the DotC see it) is that the King of Alystr must marry a virgin DotC to bind the people to the Creator for the length of his life otherwise on plague and famine will greet the king and his reign.
 
Confirming Vardis in aforementioned location (the borders of the taiga)

Vardis
Ruler / Player: Magister Aerik / Nylan
Government: Oligarchy
Religion: Lumos / Ordara
Technology: Early Bronze Age
Culture: Vardis is a curious blend of two opposing cultures/religions: Lumos and Ordara. Those who follow Ordara live very structured lives, and glory in solitude, order, writing, nature, and art. They are the more sophisticated of the two. Those who follow Lumos love to dance and to sing, to frolic and play. They also have a very violent streak and love everything from hunting and fire to war games and bloodshed. They are extremely proficient combatants. The only reason they have not attacked their Ordaran brethren is a commandment to hold their violence until the Demons should command it. The Ordarans believe that it is the desire of the Angels that both they and their evil brethren should live together as one people so that the Chaos may be bleached from the wayward Lumosians.
Economy: (leave blank)
Military: (leave blank)
Infrastructure: (leave blank)
History: The tribes who followed Lumos lived on the grasslands, as farmers and hunters, in great clans. The tribes of Ordara were forest dwellers, gatherers more than anything. The two fought for many years until the Lumosians were miraculously subdued. Since then the two tribes have lived together as one, with a hierarchy akin to a class divide, but not quite the same, and without hostility.

I will edit if its deemed too long a description.


First story:

Vardis
I

The Demons of Light descended from the fires of Nagash to make their home in the grasslands of Deis, and after blinding the disciples of Order who had brought them gifts and welcomed them with open arms, they opened up the gates of Nagash and spewed forth great destruction upon all those who embraced the night.

During these times, the Great Destruction, the fires of chaos ravaged the land, both grass and tree, plains and forest. However, none of the Demons could withstand the cold, nor the night. During the winters, they burrowed deep in the earth to protect themselves from the harsh cold of the Nibosh, whose mighty trees blocked all sun and harbored those disciples who had not yet fallen to the Great Destruction. Many praises were offered unto the Angels of Darkness that this was so.

For the Demons of Light possessed mighty spears that could pierce the strongest hide and impale the largest Kudluskk cleanly, and darts that could fell a man from seven hundred paces. They built a mighty city in the northwest, the White City of Tjaris, whose splendor and might rivaled the mightiest mountain and the tallest forest. The disciples of Darkness were pushed back, and soon there were none left save those who had escaped to the Nibosh, and even they were in grave danger. The children of the Night cried out mightily to the heavens for salvation, day and night, for many years, hoping to be freed from their fallen state.

In time, the keepers of Order were blessed with the might of the Angels, who brought a great cold to the land and drove the Demons out of the forests and onto the open grasslands of Deis. There they battled, Angel and Demon, Order and Chaos, Darkness and Light, for the fate of the world.

The Demons were pushed back, their spears of Light and their blinding darts unable to defeat the double blades of the Angels, who smashed through their Legions of Fire and smashed Tjaris into the dust without leaving a trace. The disciples of Order celebrated as the Great Destruction came to an end. Peace and prosperity reigned in the land, and all were joyous. But just as suddenly as they had come, the Angels vanished, taken up to high heaven to watch over their children, and ever-ready to defend their creations should they ever cry out again in distress.

The Angels gave the Dark Ones power over the followers of Chaos, subjugating them into their tribes to suffer for their crimes. They also left the great Oak as a symbol, a reminder of the past and a beacon for help. It is said that anyone who partakes of the bark of the Oak shall…

Sounds of the Night
(Manual of the Temple of Order at Ardis)
Preface​




*************​



In the First Age of Man, there was great peace and prosperity. The children of Light prospered under the direction of their creators, the Demons. The Demons taught them of the best ways to gather, and to build, and to hunt. They did this out of the goodness of their hearts, asking only for three years of service by each able-bodied man in exchange for the powers of Nagash, the Sun. Together, The Demons and the children of Chaos built a mighty civilization, fashioning buildings of stone and learning of the secrets of the Sun and the Day in the great city of Tjaris. They lived in harmony for many years, until the coming of the children of Darkness.

The Dark Ones spewed forth from the Dark Forests of the Nibosh and spread across the whole face of the land, killing and plundering as they went. They cared little for the possessions nor the settlements of the followers of Light. They lived where they liked and they took what they liked. They would take a man’s land, his livestock, and his wife as it pleased them, by force if necessary. There was much suffering across the land and the Night held sway over the sky.

The children of Light and the Demons rallied together to fight against this Dark menace. They achieved many victories by the powers of the Sun, the fires of the Great Forge. In time they managed to push the Dark Ones back to the Nibosh from whence they had come. They celebrated their good fortune and marched forth to defeat the Night for eternity, but alas, the Demons of Chaos could not survive in the harsh cold of the Great Winter. This Winter had been much colder than all others before it, and all afterwards. The Demons were forced to dig deep underground to protect themselves from this evil in the hearth of Light and Life, leaving the children of Light alone to fight these great enemies.

It was during the Great Winter that the Angels appeared. They marched forth, their blades of Shadow cutting down many of the followers of Chaos, mercilessly destroying all in their paths as they approached the Demons. It was there, in the grasslands of Deis, that a mighty battle was fought. For a time the Demons had the advantage, ripping through the Armies of Shadow and engulfing hundreds in fire. But alas, the Night did come, and in this combined Night and evil Winter the Angels were able to defeat the Demons. They were forced to the shores of the sea and departed on the horizon, sailing home to the sun. The Angels then forced those who followed Chaos into the tribes of Order, the tribes of the Dark Ones. This tribal Order, this structure of bonds, was great torture for those of Freedom and Light.

For many years those of Chaos have been forced to reside in Order, living as one with those of Darkness. The Angels did hope that the Chaos would be bled out of the children of Light, that they would forget the ways of goodness, Freedom, Life, and Light. The children forgot all that they had been taught, and melted into the culture of the Dark Ones.

But hope still remains. There are still those who follow Light in Vardi, and they wait for the day when the Demons shall return from the seas of the Sun to vanquish…

The Glass of EnLightenment
(Scripture of the Clan of Light at Vardi)
Introduction​

 
Your Nagash and my Nagash are not the same. This is because I was not aware of any Nagash that you would have overused. This Nagash is a creation of my own mind and keyboard.
 
What coincidence that I've also written about Nagash today. Just check up th' ol' SSNES thread. Written the second last chapter. ;)
 
I'll point out I wrote this story some time ago as evidenced by the preview thread, and on a computer without internet to boot :p

So who/what is this Nagash of which you speak?
 
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