Who are these people?

[overlordoftime]

Who are Buboes, Stephanos, and Ars Moriendi?

 

[Darksaber1]

3 of the 4 hoursemen of the Apocalypse. The other is Yersina.
Buboes-War
Stephanos-Conquest
Yersena-Pestilance
Ars Moriendi-Death

The 4 hoursemen are the fears of the gods made manifest. I'm pretty sure Magister will be able to explain further.

 

[Kael]

. .

"i am unborn of flesh, untouched by death, the enemy of peace and rest. That weakness in a sword yet unbroken, that would fail its wielder in battle and cost his life, or crack that will form in the capstone under to much pressure and cause the house to crumble."

"in that age any thought of the gods was mirrored in creation. Trees were sucellus’s green musing on the golden pillars of heaven, butterflies the scattered whims of gentle amathaon. But these gods knew fear as well, and even their fear became manifest. I am their fear of war, of the battles, rage and pain that even they are victim to."

"bound and hidden, as is their fear, i am still a part of creation. And if unbound i will act out their fears upon the land, and erebus will crumble under my sword."

- buboes

 

[loocas]

Between these guys, the Avatar of Wrath, the Infernals, Ragnarok, and whatever the Overlords got going on, I'd say Erebus is holding nothing back in shooting for that Most Unpleasant Apocalypse Ever award.

 

[cyther]

I am Ars Moriendi

Parih stood unmoving, surrounded by the chaos of the battlefield. The screams and clash of weapons were only distant echoes to him. Soldiers fought and died for the ground he stood on, but he did not budge. They pushed through him, and he could not feel it.

His broken body lay before him, covered with blood and indistinguishable from the corpses of enemies that lay around him. The Hippus had appeared so different to him, like another breed of men, before now. A lifetime of stories meant to turn hearts against them, extolling the differences in their culture and history. But now they looked the same, battered and bloody.

The world faded around him, it would be as if Parih's vision grew worse except he felt so real and the world seemed to be nothing but a dream. The sounds of battle were replaced by the whispered prayers of the soldiers. A few requesting protection, most asking for the death of their enemies, all scared.

"Are you prepared for death?"

The words reached into Parih, seeking the answer, touching every dark thought he maintained. A man on a pale horse rode toward him and though Parih felt evil from the man he was unable to lie.

"I'm scared."

"Do not be afraid of death, you have been dead before. Do you believe that time began when you were born? Do you believe your soul to be immortal?"

Parih was unable to answer. The demon smirked.

"You are not the catalyst of creation, flesh is an unfit and temporary vessel for a soul. If you know that your soul exists after your life ends, shouldn't you believe that it existed before your birth? And if your soul existed in a place before your birth, why would it not return there after your death?"

The demon paused, reading Parih's thoughts, making sure this was the correct moment.

"Take my hand mortal and I will lead you to the afterlife."

Parih reached out and took Ars skeletal hand. In that instant the memories of his life were lost and he was reborn as one of the mindless Mane legions of hell.

"That soul was not yours to claim demon!"

Ars turned to see a Valkyrie with her weapon drawn. She paled when she recognized him, instinctively stepping back even though he hadn't made any move towards her.

"I am unbound, and claim any I choose."

He rode forward and the Valkyrie moved out of his way.

 

[overlordoftime]

3 of the 4 hoursemen of the Apocalypse. The other is Yersina.
Buboes-War
Stephanos-Conquest
Yersena-Pestilance
Ars Moriendi-Death

The 4 hoursemen are the fears of the gods made manifest. I'm pretty sure Magister will be able to explain further.

I looked up those names on the internet and buboes, yersena, and ars moriendi all seem to have connection to the black plauge or at leaset ars and buboes do.

 

[evanb]

Ars Moriendi ("The Art of Dieing") is a book written during the Black Plague, and Yersinia Pestis is the Latin name of the bacterium that causes the plague, AFAIK.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Buboes - an inflammation/infection of the lymph nodes. Kael has stated it means swollen testicles, but it actually inflamed lymph nodes anywhere on the body. That is a major symptom of the bubonic plague, and were it gets it name.

Stephanos - Greek for Crown, the garland kind worn to mark a victorious athlete or conqueror rather than the gold kind marking royalty.

Yersinia - genus of bacteria that includes the one that causes the plague.

Ars Moriendi - Latin for "the art of dieing," and the name of a 2 books (and long and sort version) popular during the plague, which was supposed to help people accept death gracefully and hopefully help them get to heaven. A shortage of priests meant laymen often used this book rather than having the last rites performed properly.

 

[Kyzarc Fotjage]

How is the Avatar of Wrath coming to Erebus not breaking the compact? He's an archangel and I thought they weren't allowed. Of course so is Cassiel and Sabathiel, but Sabathiel technically isn't on erebus because he's in a small pocket dimension, and Cassiel's God doesn't care enough to stop him. So why aren't the other gods complaining?

 

[KillerClowns]

We still aren't sure, what, exactly, the Avatar of Wrath is. I've heard him called both Camulos' archangel and the physical manifestation of all the hatred, fury, and despair of mankind come together in a single abomination, a monstrosity that horrifies the gods (even the Evil ones). I like the second one better, since archangels are not all that impressive compared to the Horsemen; ergo, it's logical to assume the AoW is some creature similar to the Horsemen, not created by the gods and thus unbound by their pacts.

 

[loocas]

OTOH, we don't know what exactly happens during Armageddon. The events are due to the horsemen's arrival. Are the bonds of reality broken so much that they can enter from wherever they were, or are they created then? What ways are there for an archangel to enter creation? AoW might relinquish his title, or he might just break the compact. It is the end of the world after all.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I too like the second one better too, but that was retconned out when he was named an archangel.


Archangels are not banned from entering creation, they are just limited in what they can do there. (Sabathiel is bound to a very strict interpretation of the Compact that means he cannot enter Creation proper, but Junil is the only god who sees things that way. No one had a problem when Cernunnos chose to dwell in Erebus with the Ljosalfar during the Age of Ice (between his god's death and his ascension), as he only gave then advise and did not use his supernatural abilities to crush their enemies and end the civil war.) As far as the Compact is concerned, mortals are the property of the gods' whose precepts they have chosen to let dominate their personalities. Gods, angels, and demons can do pretty much anything they want to those who are property of their precept, but cannot interfere with those who belong to someone else. As such, a Balor has the right to torture and kill a follower of the Ashen Veil but cannot lift a finger against a righteous monk of Sirona (well, with some exceptions, like maybe when acting on behalf of a corrupt mortal. I get the impression that general areas are protected more than individuals, so a good man living in a wicked land is a prime target). The Avatar of Wrath could have come back to Erebus at any time, but he chose to stay out of things until mankind was corrupt enough for its innocence to no longer protect it.



The Avatar of Wrath may be Camulos's archangel, but he does is not his god's servant; submitting to the god of chaos goes against the nature of the sphere. All of Camulos's demons want to kill their god and take his thrown, and the Avatar of Wrath is the one with the best chance of doing it. Camulos is bound to the Compact, but his demons don't listen to him any more than Basium listens to Arawn. However, I believe that Basium, Brigit, and Odio have had their Aras withdrawn from them by their gods and are thus not nearly as powerful as they once were, while Wrath still has his. (I don't think that Agares has withdrawn his ara from Hyborem, so he really should be much stronger than he is in the game. His relative weakness could be explained as a side effect of the rituals Os-Gabella had performed to bind him to the plane of Erebus in the hope of keeping him here until he had destroyed the world, or just by him needing to be extremely careful to not violate the terms of the Compact. In my version I prefer to represent this by making him way stronger, but unable to leave hell terrain.)

 

[loocas]

Seems a sensible explanation to me. Thanks Magister.

 

[Rasta69]

Hooray everyone hasn't died on the lore forums, was beginning to wonder where everyone had gone...
So on the horsemen, what are their entrances to this world like? Im assuming its not like ingame where they suddenly appear, but are they born as mortals and grow up to be badass? Dosn't seem to fit their image particularly well, or do they just appear with a puff of fire and brimstone? I suppose that fits best being representations of the gods fears, but one might hope they had a bit more style than that...

 

[Kyzarc Fotjage]

Spoiler :

And the angel clothéd all in white opened the Iron Book, and a fifth rider appeared in a chariot of burning ice, and there was a snapping of laws and a breaking of bonds and the multitude cried "Oh God, we're in trouble now!

Discworld apocalypse...
Well, we're still waiting for MC to post a question in the trivia game, and there haven't been many new threads...
I'd guess ground being torn asunder, raining fire, huge hole being ripped through to hell, you know; the usual.

 

[Rasta69]

But rains of fire and seas of blood are sooooo Revelations:36 darling, we need to get you some new threads! Still could probs write some interesting stuff bout the horsemens arrival in the world.

The Avatar of Wrath could have come back to Erebus at any time, but he chose to stay out of things until mankind was corrupt enough for its innocence to no longer protect it.

So would this mean that people say who worshipped Sirona would be pretty much untouchable to demons and the like until the world was well and truely up @#$%creek already? (In which case mortal veil worshippers would probably have already lopped off their heads or something more fiendish) Or are lesser demons less constrained than arch-angels?

 

[hockeyrox38]

For anyone who's intersted, they are described in the Bible, Revelations 6:1-8

 

[thomas.berubeg]

I always imagined a Splitting of the sky, accompanied by Wails of a choir of the damned, with any mortal within earshot/ seeing range obliterated in an instant. The Horsemen always travel, in my mind, in a roiling cloud (which, when I asked Sezereth, is impossible in CIV only because of the low frame rate. otherwise, it'd be awesome.)

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I get the impression that the Horsemen were created from the gods collective fears long, long ago, perhaps even before Agares stole the gems of creation from the true heaven. I think they were (by the consent of all the gods, as no god had yet fallen and no one wanted Creation to fail) locked away in storage dimensions (similar to those the gods used for their dragons once the compact was signed, where the prisoners are not meant to be conscious, where time has little meaning, and where no one even has a real physical form) where the gods could put them out of sight and out of mind. The barriers separating their prison worlds from Erebus held though all the ages of the world, but just as Eurabates mind was able to break free and find a host to help him restore his former form, so too did these spirits of destruction. Perhaps the rituals performed to break the dragons freed weakened these bonds as well. Perhaps the spirits of the horsemen merged with mortals the way Eurabatres did with Cardith, in order to open the gates further and let them regain their full glory. I could picture Stephanos at least starting out this way, although for the others it seems a bit more odd. It could be that the first horseman came ahead to open up tears in reality through whcih the next three would emerge.


Yeah, they would pretty much be immune, if they resist the myriad attempts to corrupt them and don't put themselves in danger by living among the wicked. Associating with those with other values is probably interpreted as accepting a share of their treatment though. Followers of Sirona are driven to seek out those in need in order to help them, which means they would tend to willingly accept punishment for the crimes of others. Not being willing to risk oneself for those undeserving would likely weaken one's bond to Sirona, so unless those loyal to her accept some unjust punishment from which they deserve to be protected they would likely not deserve such a high level of protection.

This protection doesn't just go for worshipers of Sirona, but of any good (and possibly neutral) god, as well as righteous but non-religious people. The Luonnatar are probably the safest of all, as those devoted to The One would be marked as belonging only to him and thus off limits to interference by any god. (I prefer to think that this is why the Luonnatar are magic immune, rather than just saying that Junil didn't want them harmed.) (Note that that would be a two edged sword though, as good gods couldn't intervene to protect them either.) Superficial religiosity would be completely useless, as it isn't rituals but core values that matter. Almost no one considers himself a worshiper of Mammon, yet Mammon owns more mortal souls than any god.