MagisterCultuum
Great Sage
I probably would have released an update yesterday had Kael not asked me to help him edit a full History of Erebus google document, including the events of the Age of Invention and the Age of Ruin that followed. It go me thinking of making some more changes to fit the new lore.
I am not supposed to share the document so I cannot reveal too much, but did at least get his permission for a pedia update for Gaelan.
I also learned where the Unraveling were locked away, and how the Four Horsemen were unleashed. It did not happen until the Age of Ruin, after the Matronae have fallen.
The main change in Gaelan's story is that he did not summon Hastur, but rather a Root of Fear, one of the Seven Aspects of Mammon. It also however references a mind palace be built in the dream world of Euphoria, a world created by Condatis and Hastur before the Godswar, back when the two archangels were lovers, and ruled by their daughter Caer.
Stephanos was imprisoned within the Heron Throne, before the Patrians found it and made it the seat of the Order, long before they gifted it to Falamar and Rhoanna. Once it is destroyed by Belphegor (the son of Agares and Bhall, a Prince of Hell greater than any Archangel, who was summoned into the body of Flauros by a group of possessed by demons which Gosea had released from Basium's maul), The White King escapes and proceeds to conquer.
Buboes was locked within the Murderer's Blade, which Badb had locked away in his wandering castle. One of Belphegor's servants unleashed by Gosea kills Badb with this blade, unleashing Buboes, who took the blade and caused war wherever he went.
Yersinia is imprisoned within Seven Urns or Rotting Flesh. A plague is released whenever any is opened, but they must all be opened for Yersinia to escape. Another of Belphegor's servants unleashed by Gosea does so.
Ars Moriendi is locked inside the Heartstone. After Belphegor seduced Sarabride, she destroys the Heartstone and the Lilim for refusing to give it to her, unleashing Ars Moriendi.
Abbadon, Lord of Locusts was bound in a pit in the Underhome. In later ages the dwarven city of Vallum is built atop this pit. The Vigil of the Deep and the Umberguard make sure Abbadon is never released. Belphegor sends servants to unleash Abbadon, but they are caught and executed.
Meshabber of Dis was bound within the City of Dis. Gosea herself tried to return to hell to release him, but Basium intercepts her. At the Throne of Hell, he reclaims his maul and defeats Gosea and myriad demons she unleashed against him.
Apophis the Endless Hunger wanders Erebus as an immortal goat, who seems like a normal animal except that anything he eats is utterly destroyed. He is bound in that form by a bone circlet that lies at the bottom of the black sea beyond the razor-glass plains of Naraka. Belphegor sends an agent to retrieve it, but she is killed by Wraiths.
Another unrelated reveal that I think I can share is that the Masks of the Coven of the Black candle are not merely magical artifacts, but True Angels. The Masks are the Seven Aspects of Esus, the greatest of his servants besides the archangel Iaegus. The Compact does not apply to the Seven Aspects of any god. Presumably wearing one of his Aspects is the loophole Esus used in order to get around the Compact and enter Creation on his own.
I'm thinking that in order to reflect this lore in my modmod, I'm going to allow evil players to summon the Four Horsemen on their own (if their events have not introduced them as barbarians already).
I'd probably make them permanent summons that require Sundered (making this easiest for the Sheaim, although Gosea has the promotion too and anyone can train her as the Coven* hero) as well as the appropriate equipment promotion.
(I made the Heron Throne into an item that can be dropped into or picked up from a city, like Mokka's Cauldron or the Crown of Akharien. It has art based on the Statue of Zeus wonder, but with Zeus himself made invisible and the rest of he model desaturated and brightened.)
At first I was thinking each Unleash Unraveling spell should just have an AC requirement of half of the associated unit's Armageddon event, but that might let the Sheaim summon Stephanos way too early. I'm thinking now that it should require Malevolent Designs, and am wondering about whether to include an AC prereq at all.
I don't want the spell to be able to create multiple versions of each Unraveling, so I'd only let the spells work if none has appeared yet. I think I'll increase the AC requirements for the Four Horsemen to give the player a chance.
I'm thinking I may also add Apophis, Abaddon, and Abaddon's Pit to the game.
* The document says that Ceridwen's religion is named "The Masked Coven," but also called "The Between." It is "a small religion of mostly sorceresses whose spirits, minds and occasionally bodies explore worlds beyond Erebus." Technically the Emrys and the Chainbreakers are separate cults, although they also serve Ceridwen.
I just changed the name of the religion from "The Chainbreakers" to "The Between," with "Coven" used as the adjective form of the religion's name.
I changed Chainbreakers to be a religious champion, available at Fanaticism like Paramaners and Crusaders. They can ignore border restrictions, stir up Servile Revolts, target slaves, convert slaves to more Chainbreakers. The art is a recolored Repentant Angel, with a whip of chains, plus a dark hood and cape based on the Sons of the Inferno.
The Emrys is the Sheaim replacement for the Chainbreakers, available at Sorcery.I changed the art to a recolored Son of the Infero, with a Svartalfar Druid Crescent moon staff and the religion icon halo. The Emrys can now move through rival territory and steal arcane units from rivals without war.
I'm thinking I may make Mobius Witches into the clerics of The Between, allowing any civ to train them and letting them spread the faith. The Sheim would still get them for free through planar gates, and would likely found the religion through such a Mobius Witch.
I altered the art of the Satyr Beastmaster, Druid, and Yvain. The beast master has the same head and sholder covering as the human beastmaster. I used that same nif model and added a cape for Yvain and the Druid
I included new art for a variety of Items so that is is easier to tell equipment apart when it is dropped. I spent way too long trying to figure out how to make the body of a Lanun maceman invisible just to use his boots. I never did discover how, but instead opted to flip him upside down so that everything but the boots would be rendered below ground. I took a similar tactic on Pelian's Pallium and the Umbra Cloak, using part of the Malakim immortal art that also includes a spear which I could not eliminate but could change the coordinates so that ti would be hidden underground. Unfortunately it still shows up if dropped on hills or mountains. I couldn't make the model low enough to always hide it and not sometimes hide everything else. For the Heart of Stone I tried really hard to use just a single gem from the Dragon's Hoard, but the gems were in groups of multiples and trying to resale things and hide most underground prooved too hard. I ended up using an old druid staff/club with the handle hidden underground, as I could not figure out how to make it invisible.
I am not supposed to share the document so I cannot reveal too much, but did at least get his permission for a pedia update for Gaelan.
I also learned where the Unraveling were locked away, and how the Four Horsemen were unleashed. It did not happen until the Age of Ruin, after the Matronae have fallen.
Spoiler :
The main change in Gaelan's story is that he did not summon Hastur, but rather a Root of Fear, one of the Seven Aspects of Mammon. It also however references a mind palace be built in the dream world of Euphoria, a world created by Condatis and Hastur before the Godswar, back when the two archangels were lovers, and ruled by their daughter Caer.
Stephanos was imprisoned within the Heron Throne, before the Patrians found it and made it the seat of the Order, long before they gifted it to Falamar and Rhoanna. Once it is destroyed by Belphegor (the son of Agares and Bhall, a Prince of Hell greater than any Archangel, who was summoned into the body of Flauros by a group of possessed by demons which Gosea had released from Basium's maul), The White King escapes and proceeds to conquer.
Buboes was locked within the Murderer's Blade, which Badb had locked away in his wandering castle. One of Belphegor's servants unleashed by Gosea kills Badb with this blade, unleashing Buboes, who took the blade and caused war wherever he went.
Yersinia is imprisoned within Seven Urns or Rotting Flesh. A plague is released whenever any is opened, but they must all be opened for Yersinia to escape. Another of Belphegor's servants unleashed by Gosea does so.
Ars Moriendi is locked inside the Heartstone. After Belphegor seduced Sarabride, she destroys the Heartstone and the Lilim for refusing to give it to her, unleashing Ars Moriendi.
Abbadon, Lord of Locusts was bound in a pit in the Underhome. In later ages the dwarven city of Vallum is built atop this pit. The Vigil of the Deep and the Umberguard make sure Abbadon is never released. Belphegor sends servants to unleash Abbadon, but they are caught and executed.
Meshabber of Dis was bound within the City of Dis. Gosea herself tried to return to hell to release him, but Basium intercepts her. At the Throne of Hell, he reclaims his maul and defeats Gosea and myriad demons she unleashed against him.
Apophis the Endless Hunger wanders Erebus as an immortal goat, who seems like a normal animal except that anything he eats is utterly destroyed. He is bound in that form by a bone circlet that lies at the bottom of the black sea beyond the razor-glass plains of Naraka. Belphegor sends an agent to retrieve it, but she is killed by Wraiths.
Another unrelated reveal that I think I can share is that the Masks of the Coven of the Black candle are not merely magical artifacts, but True Angels. The Masks are the Seven Aspects of Esus, the greatest of his servants besides the archangel Iaegus. The Compact does not apply to the Seven Aspects of any god. Presumably wearing one of his Aspects is the loophole Esus used in order to get around the Compact and enter Creation on his own.
I'm thinking that in order to reflect this lore in my modmod, I'm going to allow evil players to summon the Four Horsemen on their own (if their events have not introduced them as barbarians already).
I'd probably make them permanent summons that require Sundered (making this easiest for the Sheaim, although Gosea has the promotion too and anyone can train her as the Coven* hero) as well as the appropriate equipment promotion.
(I made the Heron Throne into an item that can be dropped into or picked up from a city, like Mokka's Cauldron or the Crown of Akharien. It has art based on the Statue of Zeus wonder, but with Zeus himself made invisible and the rest of he model desaturated and brightened.)
At first I was thinking each Unleash Unraveling spell should just have an AC requirement of half of the associated unit's Armageddon event, but that might let the Sheaim summon Stephanos way too early. I'm thinking now that it should require Malevolent Designs, and am wondering about whether to include an AC prereq at all.
I don't want the spell to be able to create multiple versions of each Unraveling, so I'd only let the spells work if none has appeared yet. I think I'll increase the AC requirements for the Four Horsemen to give the player a chance.
I'm thinking I may also add Apophis, Abaddon, and Abaddon's Pit to the game.
* The document says that Ceridwen's religion is named "The Masked Coven," but also called "The Between." It is "a small religion of mostly sorceresses whose spirits, minds and occasionally bodies explore worlds beyond Erebus." Technically the Emrys and the Chainbreakers are separate cults, although they also serve Ceridwen.
I just changed the name of the religion from "The Chainbreakers" to "The Between," with "Coven" used as the adjective form of the religion's name.
I changed Chainbreakers to be a religious champion, available at Fanaticism like Paramaners and Crusaders. They can ignore border restrictions, stir up Servile Revolts, target slaves, convert slaves to more Chainbreakers. The art is a recolored Repentant Angel, with a whip of chains, plus a dark hood and cape based on the Sons of the Inferno.
The Emrys is the Sheaim replacement for the Chainbreakers, available at Sorcery.I changed the art to a recolored Son of the Infero, with a Svartalfar Druid Crescent moon staff and the religion icon halo. The Emrys can now move through rival territory and steal arcane units from rivals without war.
I'm thinking I may make Mobius Witches into the clerics of The Between, allowing any civ to train them and letting them spread the faith. The Sheim would still get them for free through planar gates, and would likely found the religion through such a Mobius Witch.
I altered the art of the Satyr Beastmaster, Druid, and Yvain. The beast master has the same head and sholder covering as the human beastmaster. I used that same nif model and added a cape for Yvain and the Druid
I included new art for a variety of Items so that is is easier to tell equipment apart when it is dropped. I spent way too long trying to figure out how to make the body of a Lanun maceman invisible just to use his boots. I never did discover how, but instead opted to flip him upside down so that everything but the boots would be rendered below ground. I took a similar tactic on Pelian's Pallium and the Umbra Cloak, using part of the Malakim immortal art that also includes a spear which I could not eliminate but could change the coordinates so that ti would be hidden underground. Unfortunately it still shows up if dropped on hills or mountains. I couldn't make the model low enough to always hide it and not sometimes hide everything else. For the Heart of Stone I tried really hard to use just a single gem from the Dragon's Hoard, but the gems were in groups of multiples and trying to resale things and hide most underground prooved too hard. I ended up using an old druid staff/club with the handle hidden underground, as I could not figure out how to make it invisible.