SSNES: Fall of Wu'di

[RemThe]

The Awakening

It was dark and cold. He could feel the death around him. He opened his eyes for the first time in 36 666 years. And he was in the place he had laid down to rest. The ancient tomb was as dark as it had been those many years ago. Now the world was ready for his second coming. None of the now living would remember his reign and that would be their downfall. The word living brought a taint in his head. A door opened and he walked out of the crypt, looking down in the white snow.

Outside the cold would have killed a man in just minutes. But he had no life to loose. He was not really dead but he had never lived. And when he looked up and out on the landscape he saw death walking. He could remember a time when he had more followers. But this had to be bad times for the humans. Still the seed he had planted so many years ago had worked well. The death of man had brought him followers.

In the sky above an eagle flew. Under was a mass of dead bodies. They where moving towards something. It was a monument twice the size of a normal man. It was black as night and it was looking right at the eagle. The eagle flinched and began to dive to the ground. It suddenly began to spread its wings and flew up to the clouds. Now it had goal, a mission and a stench of death.


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I’m back

 

[Betrayed]

I bet Silver Steak's head is going to blow up for having 3 stories before update....

 

[Kozmos]

The Awakening

It was dark and cold. He could feel the death around him. He opened his eyes for the first time in 36 666 years. And he was in the place he had laid down to rest. The ancient tomb was as dark as it had been those many years ago. Now the world was ready for his second coming. None of the now living would remember his reign and that would be their downfall. The word living brought a taint in his head. A door opened and he walked out of the crypt, looking down in the white snow.

Outside the cold would have killed a man in just minutes. But he had no life to loose. He was not really dead but he had never lived. And when he looked up and out on the landscape he saw death walking. He could remember a time when he had more followers. But this had to be bad times for the humans. Still the seed he had planted so many years ago had worked well. The death of man had brought him followers.

In the sky above an eagle flew. Under was a mass of dead bodies. They where moving towards something. It was a monument twice the size of a normal man. It was black as night and it was looking right at the eagle. The eagle flinched and began to dive to the ground. It suddenly began to spread its wings and flew up to the clouds. Now it had goal, a mission and a stench of death.


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I’m back

What the hell are you playing?

 

[RemThe]

What the hell are you playing?

Hm... well you will soone find out. SS and i have been talking about this for some time. And if you read the updates and stories. Well. Then you should have a qlue as to what my story describes. I can say one thing. Its something to the faaar east. And south. Im not a nation. That much i can say.

 

[Reno]

The Undead that are packed there, I guess.

 

[Azash]

Cleric, Solidus.. Uhm.. Lol Not my image of Seth Dethos!

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Cleric, Solidus.. Uhm.. Lol Not my image of Seth Dethos!

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The Wyrmspine was as desolate as Azganoth had imagined it to be. Withering trees showed the only signs of life in the barren landscape, except for the humans which were, nonincidentally, gathered here.

The Disciple beheld the cavernous cliffside before him, wherefrom flashes of scarlet fire burst out, the small yet deadly fires tracing their way toward Azganoth. Even as he whispered, "Dragonkin be hailed", the arrows slowed down, disappated, nothing but a feeble trail of smoke to remind of their existence. And even as they were gone and the Disciple advanced, a great creature hulked forwards him; a mountain of deep blood red. Its great voice boomed, echoing within the confines of Azganoth's mind.​

Azganoth.. Greetings, mortal friend. My brother awaits thee anxiously as always. I sense his awareness of your potential, but as is to be expected, I am wary.

Azganoth dipped a bow. I would not have it any other way.​

"You are most welcome, young one." The beckoner was a seemingly young man, with great, slightly twisted horns of blackened stone shooting forth from his forehead and backwards. The speaker was robed in black, red ornaments and similar leather pouches covering the edges and belt. His hair was a reddish black, two small stripes of beard shooting from the edges of his mouth and downward, ending in two points which hung from the edge of his chin. Shezmon Dragonkin, perhaps the most heroified Dragonkin in Shaemar, lay comfortably in a great armchair, a heavy tome resting in his arms. It was entitled Dragoncall, as far as Azganoth could see, and was bound in scaly leather.

"It is an honour, Grandmaster."​

The elder mage scoffed. "No need for such reverence. I am what I am, and no title shall change that."

"Very well. May I ask why you have summoned me?" As Shezmon gestured to another chair, the younger conversationist moved over to it and seated himself.​

"Over the recent months, a great wave has spread throughout the former Wu'dean lands. The people wish to choose their rulers and thus make their will true. I understand the principle and uphold it, but a centralized power must rule over these representatives of the people. Those, I believe, shall be Dragonkin in reverence of the tradition Shaemar has."

A careful silence settled between the two. Azganoth pondered the words for a moment, then realized where Shezmon was heading. "What does this have to do with me?"​

The elder mage smiled simply and said, "I wish for you to be one of the five. I watch not experience or luck - what I see is great, raw power, and I know where to find it. You " - he pointed slightly at Azganoth - "represent greatness like few people I have met before." He silenced the refusal by Azganoth by waving his hand. "I shall have no objections. I care not how much power you exercise amongst the five of us, all I wish to see is your membership."

The younger man frowned slightly, thinking it all over very carefully.​

"But why are you in charge of this?"

There was another smile. "Simple. You know of the great Draconic Embraces, the most recent of which allowed us to use our magic without the cumbersome Academy? I am the Draconic Embrace Second. Mephistopheles granted me the very keys to Draconic spellcasting. I accepted them, and every Dragonkin chose to access their magic through me. It sounds strange, I know, but in a complex way, I became something more than a Dragonkin human. I could easily become a Humankind dragon, if I wished."​

"Am I supposed to believe this?", Azganoth asked with clear skepticism. Shezmon only smiled, and said: "Follow me to the courtyard, please."


The inexperienced Disciple watched with disdain at the arrogant old mage standing a hundred feet before him. But even as he raised his voice to inquire, Shezmon's features dulled, somehow. The air around him flickered, and there was a quiet rattle of fire as the older mage slumped together, falling face-first into the ground.

Azganoth started forwards, worried of what had befallen this legend. He did not take more than a step before a voice echoed in his mind, stronger than that of Nur'mek'zasha, or Azganoth's own dragon companion.​

I told you. I have thus left my body, it being simply an empty shell for my return. Yet I can manifest myself in our draconic magics, command them at will, make them turn against their users. Do you understand now?, the voice added in a quite kind undertone. As the voice faded and Shezmon rose from the ground, wiping the dust off him, Azganoth could only nod very stiffly.

 

[Azash]

Hey wow, players playing undead. Where have I heard this before?

 

[Silver Steak]

GAA! What is happening to the NES? What's with the story boom? Oh dear, I am so HAPPY! *head pops*

 

[Silver Steak]

Oh, BTW, remember that you need to send orders as well, not just write stories. Update will be done on Friday, DL Thursday. I hereby confirm that RemThe is playing the undead. He will not be doing much diplo in the sense that he isn't really a nation. Still, you will get highlights about his undeads through his stories.

 

[Kozmos]

Orders ack tomorrow perhaps.

 

[Reno]

List of important staff in the Academy of Cha'dra:

Grandwizard Corkoran: Headmaster
Wizard Dench: The Academy's Accountant
Wizard Finn: Teacher of Fire Conjuration and Control
Wizard Wermacht: Teacher of Animal Communication
Wizard Therkel: Teacher of Nature Summoning
Sokuram: The Academy's Gatekeeper

The Academy of Cha'dra was getting ready for a new term. After Magic Minister Sulimann had realized that she could not run the magical affairs of the state and the academy at the same time, she has left the running of the academy to older wizards. When some of those older wizards had been lost during the Shaemar campaign, the rest had realized how dangerous war campaining in old age was and had retired. Now the academy had recovered the fire magic scrolls from Shaemar and had begun teaching it alongside Nature magic. The academy was now also run by many younger wizards, most of which had very little experiance in teaching magic (They however were skilled magicians themselves) and much less running anything.

The Grandwizard Corkoran had been elected as the headmaster of the academy as he seemed to be the only one in the council of the nine, who had spare time in his hands. Corkoran was most likely the weirdet wizard that one could ever meet. Under his flimsy wizard's robe he kept a, weird looking Westshirian invention called, t-shirt and a very colorful tie. His hair cut was a total mess and, unlike older wizards, he had no beard. Although, the rule of wizard having a beard had been discarded a long time ago, since it interfered with spell casting.

"We have raised the academy fee, again, in responce to the fewer amount of new students. I'm confident however, that with the new subject of Fire conjuration and control, we should be seeing more and more stundents arriving during the next few terms." - Wizard Corkoran began his opening speech in the teachers conference room.

"In the long term, however, raising the fees could be a big mistake." Wizard Dench, the accountant of the academy, interupted

Corkoran had gotten used to those similiar pharases that Dench always repeated. So, he ignored it and continued. "We can of cource ask the council for more funds, since the academy isn't doing so well financially. But we can also send letters asking for money to the parent of new students. To achieve that quickly, I could send a mental image to the students parents."

A great silence followed, after which Corkoran added. "I could maintain it myself during my freetime."

Another silence followed, since everyone knew that Corkoran spent all of his freetime to make plans for his trip to the moon, though no one knew how was Corkoran going to achieve that.

"Well, then. If that's settled, I'll have to attend another council meeting." - Corkoran said and left.

The first day of the term was marked by any sudden and abrupt incidents in Wizard Finn's fire magic class, as many students had trouble in concentration and as such nearly caused a few of the important fire magic scrolls to burn.

 

[Silver Steak]

No, really! This is too much! Thank you! You are too kind! Thank you! No more applause, please! Thank you! Thank you! Very much! Really!

 

[Silver Steak]

Reno, make sure to tell me what kind of Adepts you want to recruit.

 

[Reno]

Reno, make sure to tell me what kind of Adepts you want to recruit.

Will do. I'll also have to commence the search for that missing Air academy. Time to reactive the Magic Detectors.

 

[Silver Steak]

Er, fill me in on that project again in a PM. Seem to have forgotten what it was, I have.

 

[Reno]

Er, fill me in on that project again in a PM. Seem to have forgotten what it was, I have.

I will, once I send my orders, they'll come tomorrow.

 

[Silver Steak]

A note to all: remember that Academies are, although they can be, not inherently magical. This means the Academies contain written materials that are meant for aiding spell-casters in accessing more spells than they can memorize. In essence, the Academy acts as a databank from which every Adept can find spells and store in their memory. Since the scrolls and books themselves are magical, they contain magical energy, and are recognizable by any Adept for what it is and not mere writing/drawings.

When the first Adepts began recording their spells, it enabled them to experiment in a vast range to design and develop countless spells at once, since they did not have to use their capacity to maintain spells in their minds. The product of an extensive research prior to the disappearance of Wu'di was stored in large vats or canisters. New spells were constantly being poured into this database, until it was revealed that they were weakening. Then, some of the spells already made were recorded on parchment, but most of it was lost or discarded. Finally, the research for new spells also ended as Academy scribes focused more on preserving and copying the increasingly old parchment rolls and books for future access.

For an Adept, such a scroll or book is obviously magical (they appear to glow in a purplish green color) but the spell may be undiscernable due to the different magic languages (which were intentionally developed to avoid the Academies being seized by rebels ) Still, it does not take an Adept's hand or magic to imbue the scrolls.

This is a paradox that has furrowed many a scholar's brow, and remains a mystery. One theory is that magic is ever-present, but may be tapped in more refined forms through a magic language. This theory has a point in the sense that Adepts can tap a raw and wild sort of magic without Academy training. In short, through studying magical languages (which screw with Adept minds in a way that sparks their senses to detect magic visually) Adepts are able to maintain a finely tuned technique of channeling magic that produces a set effect each time. This is also the definition of a magic spell, that it has a written form and casting it causes precisely the same effect every time.

 

[RemThe]

I need to ask this question then. How can the princes of Wu'di use magic without the academy? can they remember it all?

 

[Kozmos]

They are kind off demi-gods.So that means super memory as well.

 

[Silver Steak]

Good question. The above is mostly concerning the nature of Academies, and most Adepts. There are, as always, exceptions to the rule. One is the Princes of Wu'di who harness the magic of one branch each. This means they can cast magic tied to a certain branch without casting spells. They can do whatever they want with the magic they have, granted that it is possible to do the same through normal spells.

As for other exceptions, there are magical creatures (like ents and dragons) who naturally have magical properties (like the ent's nature command and the dragon's fiery breath) that also gives them innate links to magic, just like the Adepts. The new Red Dragon Disciples of Shaemar have through extensive research found a way to gain this link through their draconic augumentation, combined with the guidance from the dragons themselves (The Adepts and dragons have mind links that enable communication at a more wholesome level) This means the only difference between an Adept casting spells and dragons breathing fire is that the dragons grow up with spells "programmed" in their minds from birth. By learning the way the dragons wield their magic, the Red Dragon Disciples have become more dragon-kin than human in another sense - not just their extraordinary affinity for magic.