The Chronicles of Kelsha: An idea for a future event (LONG POST)
Some saris still remember the days when talk of the noble race of wolf-men, the lupis of the Southern shores, fisherman who once lived in the region now held by the lizard-men, was common. However, the talk was not good. ?Worthless litter,? some saris called them; ?miserable waste of fur and bones,? others said, feeding the ancient fire of acrimony between the two races. As far back as either could remember, a tribal dislike for the other was ingrained within. This long-standing feud and hatred eventually grew until it erupted into a great and terrible war--a war so vicious, it more than halved the numbers of both races. Vast green plains were tinted with blood; tranquil forests were littered with arrow-ridden corpses; once bustling cities of activity fell into ravage and ruin. The great war had made its mark upon the lesser lands of Aradoth.
But ravage the lands as it did, few on either side were willing to come to reasonable terms in the better interest of all. And some, fraught with the desire to crush the other, contrived their stratagems at any cost. Lieutenant Nero ?Amber-eye? Fjenrick of the lupis legion, eager for final victory against the saris foe, finally led his armed forces up the coast of Lesser Aradoth, to engage the saris in what was to be the deciding battle of the war. In a series of strategic moves, his army held the advantage for a brief time, for their strength was in their swords and shields, until they were struck from behind by thearrows of the quicker and wilier saris, so they found themselves soon overwhelmed, and Nero's company was forced into surrender. The battle?and the war?had been lost. Under the conditions of the saris?s victory, the prisoners would be spared, though they and the remainder of the lupis race were forced into exile, compelled to embark onto their small boats, scarcely wrought for more than fishing, and cast out to sea, to the mercy of the pitiless gods. There they drifted long and away, surviving by their limited grasp of the open seas, floating at last to the icy northern waters of the unknown where they waited for slow death to rescue them from the darkness of their bitter defeat. But death did not come. For one day, after many weeks of drifting among the fog and ice, a large landmass suddenly appeared from the gloom. They made for it with their remaining strength and will, and upon reaching its shores, they found a land that looked untouched, and abundant in resources for their survival. It is said that Istaria herself had taken pity on them when their own god had abandoned them to the frozen ravages, and she had created the hospitable land for them. And it is here that they took up their homes and thrived, unmolested further, where their numbers once more grew and their race flourished. Their harsh experience on the sea had wizened them to its wiles, and they learned to build boats of better make and size and speed. And with these, they sailed to the lesser islands around them, further harvesting their resources and hunting their prey. And in the crisp, arctic wilderness, they grew stern and disciplined, and a formidable culture burgeoned, isolated from the rest of the world. But all was not so idyllic in the new and pristine world of the wolf-men. For though most considered that this new life was superior to their years of endless strife with the saris, many could not let go of the resentment for the enemy who had forced them into exile. Some even vowed to exact revenge against the saris, though for long years, these dissenters were unsuccessful in finding a way to amass a force large and strong enough to brave the trip across the sea and ultimately annihilate their foe. And so the resentment passed from one generation into the next, and that into the succeeding one, and so on until a racial memory of hatred was borne foremost in the hearts of the children of those who had been long ago defeated.
Long centuries have passed since the lupis were known in Aradoth, and knowledge of their race has largely faded from memory. Among the learned and the wise, the lupis have been for many ages dismissed as a dead race, long ago vanished. But the old enemy of the Saris were not dead, and were soon to make their reappearance in ways that no one could have anticipated. For back in the arctic lands of the wolf-men, in a small village among the outskirts of the main city, dissent had been long brewing in the heart of a young soldier. Titus was a distant descendent of Nero Fjenrick. He had grown up feeling ashamed that his ancestor had surrendered to the saris, forever tarnishing his family name and condemning his race to exile. As he grew, he became more and more passionate about the notions of bitter hatred and revenge held by small factions of the community. He began speaking to others who shared his views, keeping their company and making a name for himself within their circles. Titus was a passionate and charismatic speaker, and soon he began amassing a group of followers who felt the time had come at last to exact this revenge. Yet Titus was shrewd as well as he was sharp-tongued, and knew that he could not amass a large enough army to assure defeat of the Saris with the limited number of his following--the greater faction of his people wanting little to do with him. And so he watched and he waited. ?Opportunity will present itself,? he said to himself. And indeed, opportunity did?in the unexpected form of the malevolent Withered Aegis. At first he, along with the rest of the lupis considered the otherworldly Withered Aegis a vile abomination and threat, an enemy to fight against as the foul ranks reached the shores of his isolated home and began their deadly assaults. Yet as more and more took up arms against the evil invaders, Titus strangely began to see something new and alluring in the cruel artistry in the Aegis, and a dawning awareness of their irrepressible forces began to occupy his thoughts. He wondered how far their legions extended, how great were their numbers?how much of an edge they might have against an ancient enemy. And then one day the notion took him fully, filling him with both excitement and dread. He would join forces with the Withered Aegis, and with their numbers, he would deal the saris the anguish they had long deserved! And so he defected to darkness and ruin, taking a third of his people with him, and under the Aegis?s dark command, they returned over the sea to begin their assault on the living. There the lupis began to be seen once more, prowling with the ranks of the withered, slavering for the death of their enemy of lore. Yet strangely, working for the Withered Aegis soon began to change the once noble wolf-men in unspeakable ways: they became more savage, more beast-like, and unmanageable. Their postures grew bent; their fur became perpetually ragged. They seemed to quickly lose their ability for higher thought and reason, some even forgetting their original purpose in joining forces with the Aegis, and merely become single-minded in killing all the living. They had as a whole forgotten their higher aim and were reduced to no more than snarling, mangy beasts. And when Titus himself disembarked for the first time on the docks at Dalimond, he himself had grown so rabid and fierce, so lost to the ravages of the Aegis?s mindless cruelty, that he could little more than lead a frenzied yet disorganized attack against the human city as he fought in vain to find his way to his ancient rival. There he fell near the shores of Dalimond, he and his vile followers, never to realize the revenge they had for all their lives hungered and sought. And though Titus did not succeed in his endeavor, his legions nevertheless soon began infesting the land with their bestial types. Some of these ?werewolves,? as they began to be called, lead their own reigns of terror, including one particularly notorious individual and former devotee of Titus named Oris, who gave himself the nomen ?Fang the Tormenter,? and went about for long months terrorizing the lands and citizens of Aradoth. Yet for all their terror, few of these fallen wolf-men remembered their more ancient cause that had originally driven them to forsake all and seek a foolish entanglement with the Withered Aegis. And in that, they can be said to have tragically failed. Yet if those who had chosen the path of the Withered Aegis had met a fate less successful than they would have liked, those who had rejected it had not fared much the better. For back on their homeland, the Aegis had plowed through the settlements of the wolf-men, and with a third of their numbers now defected to the side of the enemy, the remaining could not hold. Though on they fought, they were losing ground every day against the onslaught of the enemy. Soon their great ships were burned and the plains and forests of their home blighted, so that even their resources to fight back were made useless. At last, so desperate became their plight, that they looked back into their memories, and remembered the home they had left long ago, and an ancient enemy who no longer seemed as fell. So they swallowed hard their pride, and hatched out their final, desperate plan. And in the secret of night, they sent an emissary in a small, inconspicuous vessel to make his way through the icy seas homeward, and to beseech help from those who might remember them. And when at last the emissary arrived upon the shores of their former home, the liege of the saris was most astounded to hear his tidings (though not adverse to a bit of racial gloating at being given the opportunity to mark the lupis?s dependence upon the saris for survival) and agreed to speak to the other leaders of Istaria in order to see what might be done to release the mythic lupis from the Withered Aegis?s hold. Yet with the emissary?s arrival, there came something more?something quite extraordinary and not seen among the likes of the gifted for many ages. For along with the note was a blueprint marked with strange and complex plans for the building of a great sea vessel of the superior make and kind used by the lupis. The note asked that the ship be built to the order and specifications of the plans, that it might bring aid from the greatest defenders and warriors of Aradoth back across the sea where they might aid their brethren in need. And so the leaders of Aradoth bowed their heads in debate, spoke grim and secretively, and finallyacting as one, they rose and went forth unto their lands, beseeching all to their call: ?Spread word to all of Istaria,? they said. "Summon every worthy artisan and champion. We haven?t much time.?
--Kelsha
Saris Chronicler
__________________________________________________ ________________ This is an idea for a future event in Istaria. I think it?s a good idea, since we all know how much we are needing new quests and game lore. Why not the lore of a new race and an event to release them? The freeing of races in Istaria has a great reputation and history for getting the player community excited and involved. And if we have ever needed excitement and involvement, it?s now. Why a wolf-man race? Well, I?ve played a variety of MMORPGs and general RPGs, and one thing I?ve noticed is the great lack of any anthropomorphic race of canine-men (or lupine-men ?with the exception of the Vulmanes in Vanguard: Saga of Heroes) as a playable option. Yet, feline-men are greatly common, (i.e. ?Khajits? from Morrowind, ?Vaa Shir? from Everquest, and ?Rakshasas? from Dungeons & Dragons.). I?ve always thought ?why not a wolf-man race?? And so I wrote this story, actually collaborated on it with a friend, to suggest the notion. The way I see this ?event? as unfolding would be in two phases: The first phase involves crafting. The ?blueprint? mentioned above would allow crafters to build a large sea-faring ship. The ship should require an abundance of tier IV and V wood, metal, and cloth. When all the ?units? are finally applied, the ?lupis emissary? will announce the completion of the ship via global message; he will then begin to pilot the great ship back and forth between Dalimond and the lupis continent. This is where the second phase begins. Adventurers would prepare themselves and board the ship as it leaves Dalimond. Upon landing on the lupis continent, players would discover that the Withered Aegis have already ravaged the lands, and taken over the main city so that adventurers would have to storm the stronghold now held by the Aegis and fight to win it back over?maybe killing a big boss guy in the middle of the city or something. If successful, this would lead to the release of the prisoners of war and remaining fugitives. Upon destroying the Withered Aegis? hold on the lupis race, players would get the option for playing a lupis as a character. The benefits of an event like this: 1. It would allow the implementation of ships and boats. 2. It would allow the implementation of a seige on a city. 3. It would allow the implementation of a new race. 4. It would allow for a possible game expansion for the future: a new continent would be disovered and made available to explore and conquer. Note: I chose the name of ?lupis? more as a placeholder than an actual name; it is a bit on the obvious side. I actually wanted something that sounded vaguely Nordic, since I?ve strongly based these guys off the Vikings?minus all the pillaging and plundering. I like to think that something like this is a possibility for the future of Istaria. We have long been needing something to strive for, something epic and challenging especially. It?s been a long time since the gifted were rattled out of their resource fields and shaken from their crafting benches for the sake of great adventure. The call is going out. My guess is that many would answer.
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Originally Posted by Cobal
