Okay, I think it's fairly creepy that as soon as I wake up and check /tg/ this is the second post on the front page.

I'm gonna go get some grub, and then I'll start contributing and helping to figure things out.

Oh, and after each death of each Dawn Queen, the kingdom goes into a year-and-one-day period of mourning for her. Once she is found again, the country celebrates for the same amount of time - this mirrors Myrhan's death period, and the rejoicing that followed after he returned from the grave.

>>9697606
Haha, I think we've hiveminded.

I just woke up, too. My breakfast is of the liquid kind.(coke, dearlord caffieeenneeeee)

>>9697573
ALSO GUESS WHO CAN'T FUCKING SPELL. MAYBE WAKING UP WOULD HAVE BEEN A GOOD IDEA.

Idea: The period of a year-and-a-day of celebration is a time for the Queen to tour the kingdom, getting to know her people on an intimate level. This also helps the people familiarize themselves with a new queen, since the old one was around for a long time (say, up to 80 years). It also lets the memories of the previous Queens sink in, and for the new Queen to get used to them.

Bump from anon with no content?

>>9697618
>>9697606

Haha, you guys just woke up, while I just got back from a family outing. Creepy.

ANYWAY, reposting something I posted at the end of the last thread, and it didn't get much response before the thread died.

--

The Dawn Queen. We've mostly decided, it looks like, that she has some limited (or not so limited) control over positive energy, but we don't know how to do that exactly. Well, it was posted a while back that the Millennia Emperor might eventually become a demigod because of the nigh-worship of the people. Well, why can't that work for the Dawn Queen? In a way, she's more revered than the Millennia Emperor, and her apparent reincarnation will give rise to a certain level of faith. This faith, while not worship, could give the Queen her power.

Also, would Risen all look the same? What I mean is, would criminals and normal Risen be given the same appearance? I was thinking maybe normal Risen could have the jewelry given by the family, and a silver/gold mask, while a criminal would have only a porcelain mask. While this might disrupt the "equal in death" vibe, there also seems to be a tradition of honoring those who willingly donated their bodies, and criminals who were Raised unwillingly wouldn't get these honors.

>>9698029
It's been covered that the family leave "presents" for the deceased family or friend who is to be Risen, namely small peices of jewlry like bracelets and necklaces, and in some cases a mask. If one isn't donated by the family, an ornate one is made that fits the family's wants.

I do beleive the Conscripts would have plain ones, perhaps made of ivory - seeing as, even though they're the enemy, they are still afforded respect and honor in death. A semiprecious material would help announce that to the populace, I feel.

>>9698074

Yeah, I knew about the trinkets, but I was more asking what /tg/ felt about distinguishing Willing Risen from Conscripts, or if they'd rather keep up the "equal in death" thing.

>>9697881
That's a good idea. So basically the potential Dawn Queen goes through the process with the Acolytes to make sure she's the right kind of material, the Millennia King lets her know what she's getting into and makes absolutely certain (with the aid of magic) that she wants to get into this, that she's doing it of her own free will and for the right reasons... because the weight of the memories and feelings of all the other Dawn Queens is a hell of a weight to bear.

And after she goes through the ritual to become the Dawn Queen, then they make the announcement public. If she changes her mind it can be undone, but a part of the public ceremonies is to infuse her with the power that is hers by right of her title.

>>9698091
It is a good point to make - but I think the populace would like a distinction between "our dead" and "the Conscripts", at least while they're up and about doing things - once they go to the Spire for thier eternal rest it no longer matters, after all. So a porcelain mask (perhaps detailed with that blue ink, like fine china) that announces who they are, or even an ivory or moonstone (moonstone might work, "Under the watch of the Millennia King", who is most often seen as the night to the Dawn Queen's day) mask would also fit.

>>9698136
I feel the populace might get a little ... not angry, what's the word I'm looking for - with the Dawn Queen if she backs out. But I think they'd respect her decision, and would go into a shorter period of mourning, perhaps? As a sort of "farewell" to the Dawn Queen that wasn't. The girl would be accepted back into her family, and the family might be given recompense?

Friendly bump.

>>9698373
thanks kind anon. I'm writefagging in Word at the moment, and didn't want to fill the thread with my useless tripfagging :>

>>9698169
No, that's why they don't make it public until after she's accepted it and undergone the ritual of memory. Up to that point it's kept quiet, so that if she backs out then, Grandfather doesn't have to worry about everyone going 'oh look it's the queen who said no'.

>>9698403
Didn't even think of that, did I? Nooooo. Fuck this cold. And your right, of course. Millennia King man wouldn't want to have his people pissed at the girl.

>>9698423

Yeah, Grandfather's a pretty cool guy.

Also, any opinions on my explanation for the Dawn Queen's power? Admittedly, I'm not very familiar with exactly how much faith is enough faith to give a being power, but hey, it makes sense to me.

I imagine if a girl goes through the process and then changes her mind once she gets the memories and truly KNOWS what she's gotten herself into, the memories can be removed, as I said before. She might go through life with a vague sense of emptiness after having the other Dawn Queens' memories removed again, but she keeps everything of herself. And for the trouble the Grandfather probably makes sure she's watched over for the rest of her natural life. (There's a plot hook for you: adventurers pass through village, some marauders start trouble, and when they attack a particular house suddenly Acolytes appear out of nowhere in ritual masks and wipe out the marauders and nobody knows WTF is going on.)

>>9698453
I don't know if the Millennia King and the Dawn Queen would actually get enough 'juice' (such as it is) from the people in the kingdom worshipping them to be demigods, but when she is infused with several lifetimes' worth of memory, she'd basically get just about everything the previous Dawn Queen(s) had in terms of character level and abilities.

I'm thinking, however, that Myrhan and his sister had a link to the positive/negative planes of energy. That explains why he is able to animate the dead while basically ignoring the usual limits (so long as they are given the proper bindings) and why her spirit is able to keep coming back instead of moving on. It's very well possible that part of the ritual that makes her the Dawn Queen (after the memories, anyway) establishes a similar link for her, or simply strengthens it if it's actually the sister coming back. Mechanically there would be no difference in the two.

>>9698464
Yeah, he'd station guards (not necessarily in her town, but perhaps with wards and shit to inform them and teleport them out to her) to keep an eye out and make sure she stayed safe.

>>9698453
I'm not sure how we were handling the faith issue, but yeah, it'd probably empower her further. (THe Millennia King wouldn't become a demigod, we've decided, he already is too duty bound to leave his people or accept such power from them) and she is probably a cleric of some sort, who doesn't exactly worship a deity but the season itself? She would hold power to influence the harvests and such, being a beacon of such energy. Not sure what else, actually. Perhaps while she's about winters are less harsh and summers and springs are more enjoyable? (Better crops, more abundant everything) And while she is gone, it's the reverse, but not to EVERYONE DIES IN WINTER level, since the Millennia King is quite partial to his people.

Doop doop some sort of writefaggery nonsense;

The warm, yet cold-looking room was filled with light. Normally, it would have been closed off inside the Spire, the heavy wooden door affixed with sigils and pendants of safekeeping. Today, however, was a special day, and the Adept who was airing the chamber with the scent of myrrh knew it. He said the words of the Rite of awakening under his breath, a sort of reflex action. He knew who slumbered here, and wished that he, too, would one day become great enough to become a Sacrificed.

He bowed to the semi-altar, upon which lay a human figure wrapped in precious cloths. Silk, satin, even the finest of cloths, the Whisperweave, created a threefold shroud.
“One for the sacrifice, one for the duty and one for the honor” the Adept whispered, pressing his clasped hands to his chest and then opening them out slowly in the traditional end to a Rite. He stayed there for some time, kneeling before the altar, before he heard it – a soft sigh, the barest of whispers. He looked up, startled by the sound, to see the cloths slide away from the body, and he quickly averted his gaze. He drew a deep breath, and began the Rite of Awakening.

>>9698601

Tir woke up. Perhaps woke up is not the best way to describe it; she hadn’t exactly been asleep, but nor had she been “awake”. The world swam sharply into view as she opened her spirit eyes, tiny blue lights flickering into being over closed eyelids wrapped in crisp white linen. She took a non-existent breath, and listened to the Rites as they were intoned. She spent that time returning to herself, remembering who she was and why she was there, in that tiny crypt. By the end of the Rite she was speaking it with the boy; words issuing from closed lips wrapped shut by the same wrappings that covered her head and the whole of her body. The clean white linen, not showing the signs of age or decay, were inscribed with a multitude of runes and sigils meant to protect and strengthen the undead body. As the Adept came forward with her mask, a beautiful thing wrought of fine gold and deep red gems he spoke the last words of the Rite, which she mirrored with her dead voice.

“One for the sacrifice, one for the duty and one for the honor.”

Tir is a Sacrificed, one who had chosen duty to the Millennia King and her kingdom above all else. She sacrificed her afterlife, binding her own soul to her dying body. She underwent the year-and-a-day long Vigil with the Millennia King himself, and learnt the secrets of her undead existence straight from him. She bound her duty to her body, written for the entire world to see on her wrappings, her history and her devotion plain to any who looked. She was honoured in return, and was sent into the Sleep-that-is-not-death for a year and a day. And now she awoke, to take up her duty and serve for as long as she was needed.

On Risen of various flavors:

If they're still going to end up being skeletons (which is probably ideal for various reasons) they're not going to have their faces exposed. Your standard-issue Risen would be given masks of a reasonably inexpensive but durable material, probably bronze, while their body is properly adorned with whatever material is best, to keep their appearance from being frightening to the citizens and any visitors.

Sentinels would be clad in armor -- honestly the main difference in appearance between the living Sentinels and Risen Sentinels would probably be their headgear, so that a person could tell the difference. A mask of ... I'm thinking Damascus steel, with the patterns, each one unique to that Sentinel.

As addressed, the Sacrificed are special and their masks are made of gold and silver with various ornamental jewels affixed to it. Part of the initial ritual to become Sacrificed involves making the masks alongside the forgesmiths. They do not have to have very good skills to do it, which is why they work with the smiths, but they create their mask and bring it before the Grandfather for his approval.

Conscripts don't get anything terribly fancy. Even their bodies are treated with a degree of respect and they receive porcelain masks, but generally these masks are made by individuals as practice to learn the trade before they begin making masks for the Risen out of more permanent materials.

>>9698780
I was thinking there would be some Risen who retained flesh, even it was just for a few years before it was removed, or something. Just my take on all the discussion that happened in the first thread.

But sooner or later, yeah, skeletons. I think that the "thinking undead" of the Sentinels would keep their flesh, treated to keep it from rotting and stuff.

>>9698882
Yeah. It would probably be too much for most of the Risen to keep their flesh, the Acolytes only have so many spells to go around and burning them all on something meant for preserving the bodies would kind of be a problem.

As far as the Sacrificed and soulbound Sentinels (who are probably spending time before joining the Chronus Guard or something of the like), they probably have the honor of retaining their flesh and take good care of it.

>>9698938
Of course.

Sentinels who are gunning for a position in the Chronus guard would start training while alive (living sentinels who've done great things are automatically considered), and would get to keep thier flesh when they become undead sentinels. Then the training would really begin, "How to use your undead body 101"

You know, there's nothing really inherently different about this society from a civilized elven society aside from the widespread use of unintelligent Risen; any soul-bound Risen end up being old, but I doubt Arran'ak has been around so long as to make it seem like they're more experienced than random elves who are old as hell.

Course... when you end up with an old elf that decides to become Sacrificed, it gets kind of fuzzy, and I would not be surprised if they had a few among their ranks.

>>9699149
In what way are you speaking? All the massive changes that come about ARE due to the Risen, and I highly doubt any elves would consider the use of the undead as a labour source.

>>9699218
Undead, no, but I would be surprised if there wasn't a society that didn't use golems to that end.

Hell, they might inspire a different kingdom with a magical elite to animate golems to use them as such.

>>9699218
Mostly I just meant that the soul-bound Risen wouldn't have any abilities that are terribly out of kilter with an ambitious or long-lived character.

>>9699271
Golems? Yeah, didn't think of that either. I dupr the hurp today. Wood golems come to mind for the elves.

And wouldn't it be awesome? Perhaps a mage-country goes "Hey guys, look at that. We won't use the dead though because EW, guys, but look." and then they build golems and stuff, and bam. Wouldn't be surprised if the Millennia Emperor takes a look and goes "S'cool idea guys." Cue highfive.

>>9699298
With a different bent, most people who are driven are doing it out of selfish desire, the soulbound Sentinels and other Risen are "for the good of my people and my country" as we discussed.

>>9699330
Yeah, exactly. They end up retaining the edge because of the people who end up staying around basically forever.

Still, makes me wonder just what effects such a kingdom would have. They get it easy because the Millennia King has a link to the negative energy plane and can animate his undead that way, anyone else wanting to use undead, golems or whatever to that end would need to do it the hard way. But in the end, it could still be worth it for others to do what they do, to a limited extent. Especially when some golems can be smarter than skeletons and the like.

>>9699381
You wouldn't need as many golems, because of the intelligence deal, but it would be much harder to get enough of them to support even a small country.

The Millennia King has a HUGE advantage, with his intricate connection to the Negative Energy Plane. He can bypass all the hurdles that involve raising undead, and uses it not for selfish desire but out of a sense of duty to his people. If another necromancer (or even lich) tried to do that, they'd eventually get swamped under with too many undead to controll.

Not to mention the fact of the Initiates, Adepts, Masters and Sacrificed, who basically do the controlling and caring for the undead. The Millennia King may have started it and keeps the connection to the Neg Energy Plane open for his people, but he's not bogged down with all that detail.

>>9699467
Yes. That's an important part of it right there -- he's not power-hungry, though he came close early-on to going down that road. He has no qualms about sharing his secrets (most of them anyway) with the Acolytes. Hell, he likely has some contingency plans in place, in case something goes terribly wrong and he is somehow killed -- that way, the Acolytes can pool their power, keep the Risen going and maintain things the way they have it, without having to worry about becoming a cabal of necromancers who only want power.

>>9699521
At least for the period until he regenerates, assuming his Phylactery remains intact.

I have a feeling that to begin with Arran'ak would be a very, very busy country, what with neighbors trying to invade to "stamp out that necromancy foolery". THe Millennia King wouldn't want war, but he'd defend his people by any means necessary. Eventually, though, the countries would settle down and come to peace. Of course, there'd still be dissenters, who do NOT like the undead being used in any way, paladins and the like.

At least until they witness it first hand, and don't go smitecrazy.

>>9698074

I dunno about adornment for Conscripts. They're really just fodder. They're kept moving between hotspots and fed into whatever meat grinder needs blunting. They're not in population centers for long enough to really interact with the citizenry. They're also intended as shock troops, so the terrifying visage of the undead is a boon, not a detriment.

>>9699637
A faceless enemy is also just as terrifying - but you do make a good point. The whole "equal in death" thing was thrown out when it comes to the conscripts, at least until they've served and are to be interred in the Spire.

>>9699580

He's shown he can be ruthless as needed. Whoever was dumb enough to be the first to invade after unification got stomped flat. Made an example of. That would give pause to the next in line, and the next, and the next.

After that... an alliance between a couple of nations, aiding and funding the Cremationist uprising?

>>9699722
I wouldn't be surprised, and this also gives logical explanation about the Cremationist movement. Good job, anon!

Conscripts are not like the Risen in general, though. While all are equal in death by default, earning enough merit in life could get you a spot among the Sentinels if your body is suitable for it, serving among Sentinels in life gets you consideration for the Chronus Guard, and Acolytes who wish to serve and have the proper ability can become Sacrificed.

If we have plenty of masks around for Conscripts to wear and some cheap armor to hide their bodies beneath, they're suddenly not an army of skeletons, but an army of faceless men who never speak, never tire, and never question the orders of the Millenia King... which is potentially more frightening in itself.

A country who picks a fight with them might have problems if their army isn't aware of the nature of the Conscripts among the Eternal Army, and suddenly in the fighting realizes they're fighting a force that is comprised in large part of undead.

>>9699760
Especially during the early years, when everyone wanted to stamp out Arran'ak. The faceless, tireless, deathless army would provoke alot of terror in any opponent.

>>9699749

God help me for pulling real world into this, but I look at them like the teabaggers. They're a real groundswell movement, but SOMEONE is funding and encouraging them. Could be the Great Houses, annoyed at the ascendancy of the Millennia Emperor. It's telling that a higher-than-average number of nobles are part of the movement; even in death, they abhor the thought of laboring like a commoner. Or it could be nations that fear to strike at the ME directly, and so rile up the dissidents to divide and conquer.

>>9699863
A mix of both - some nobles in the Great Houses are all "FUCK BEING A COMMONER IN DEATH YO" and get outside funding from kingdoms that want the ME dead/gone/whatever.

>>9699921

As to who is actually masterminding the whole thing, THAT'S WHAT THE ADVENTURERS ARE PAID TO FIGURE OUT. Perhaps some sort of special investigative division of the Chronus Guard?

>>9699863
Well, keep in mind that while everyone's equal in death, the Millennia King and the Acolytes do not make everyone in the nation Risen after their death, only those who have expressed their desires to be such.

The Cremationist movement operates by spreading disinformation and propaganda. Everyone who does not wish to be Risen is interred in the Spire where the Grandfather can be certain that no unsanctioned necromancers can defile their remains, but of course the Cremationists are saying that he's doing this so that he can turn them into his undead slaves (or undead army depending on how big they are on crazy talk) when he wants to. In the end, though, cremating your remains is an empty and pointless gesture, and anyone who cares to do the digging can find that out -- it's just that, in some circles, the propaganda goes further than the word of the Acolytes.

>>9699984
Maybe. More likely you've got outsiders who could come across Chronus himself while he's bar-hopping (because a cheerful drunk skeleton with glowing blue eyes a la Mr. Bones is just plain cool), so that the players aren't necessarily tied to Arran'ak and can make up their minds about how they think things work there. Plus it gives anyone running the campaign more flexibility.

>>9699985
This, this, this. Propaganda would be a huge sword in the Cremationist movement's hands. This would attract paladins and such to the cause, too, which would further enrage the Millennia King. Who the fuck would dare threaten his people? is what he'd be asking.

On that note, the Cremationists would get a lot of peasants into the movement, especially during the early years, due to being uninformed/disinformation and the whole speel of propaganda would inflame them.

>>9700090
In the early years, the citizens of the countries that initially tried to annex Arran'ak (and whose countries got annexed BY Arran'ak instead, causing the surrounding nations to shit gold bricks) probably had all kinds of rumors going about the Millennia King which ran the gamut up and down the line. The formation of the Acolytes and seeing the Risen do their work would offset the more rural population from thinking he's got anything in mind but their best interests. Anyone in the Golden City... well, they see him -out and about-, and they know what his deal is. And the Acolytes are simultaneously working as what are basically government-sponsored secular clerics who can also help spread positive propaganda for the MK and aren't running around saying 'my god is better than your god' but instead preaching tolerance and helping everybody, large and small, without regard to who's better off than anyone else. With the Risen helping fill the country's coffers, being able to provide a minimum standard of living for anyone is also helpful to that end.

However, the people who don't get to see the Risen too often are more likely to end up being Cremationists or being sympathetic toward their views. This includes some merchants and crafters whose trades don't involve using the Risen to deal with any boring and repetitive tasks, nobles, and some of the people of the larger cities in Arran'ak.

>>9700226
Everything here is Grade A material. The Dawn Queen would later take up the "propaganda" thing, essentially spreading good word amongst the kingdom about the Mk and the Risen and his Acolytes.

>>9700226
>This includes some merchants and crafters whose trades don't involve using the Risen to deal with any boring and repetitive tasks

I've been thinking about what trades the Risen would be sack-of-doorknobs useless for. Most blacksmithing tasks beyond hauling coal and bar iron are out of their league. Hell, stoking the fire is something of an art. Furniture-level carpentry; they could probably handle framing a house. Glazing, throwing pots, jewelry-making... just about anything that's an artisan craft will be beyond their abilities.

>>9700381
farming would be something they could do (repetitive motions, ploughing, reaping grain, etc.) Milling and grinding of grain, too.

Blacksmiting they would be limited, as well as any "fine" artisan crafting. I think they'd be useful in the carpentry business, carrying peices and holding them so they can be finished, etc.

Mining, too. Any mines in Arran'ak would be worked by Risen, watched by overseers and directed by certain acolytes and people.

>>9700381
Exactly. They are basically ideal for unskilled labor, and nothing but. They can help build, and I imagine Arran'ak probably has some damn good roadways between cities if the Risen are building them and tending to them. Mining is possible, so long as you've got people managing them, but they won't be able to do that on their own. But any skilled trades, there's no chance at all. They're not going to make anything but the lowest-quality arms and armor, so there's no point in that except for having them outfit the Conscripts; no adventurer is going to buy anything like that. You might find Risen with the right kind of gloves stitching together clothing, but it would end up being baseline quality and no better, so clothiers would still have themselves quite a profession without having to manage sweatshops. And while they can aid with construction of buildings and the like, they cannot do it on their own. They need skilled draftsmen and carpenters and masons to keep an eye on them, make sure everything is being done properly, and even at that there would be plenty of jobs building things where the Risen are just not suitable enough and you need to use the living instead.

>>9700449
Okay, this hivemind business is starting to scare me a little.

>>9700492
ARE YOU NOT PLEASED? THE HIVEMIND WILL ENCOMPASS ALL.

>>9700449
>>9700478

And for some of the crappier living-only jobs, there's prison labor. Stuff like stoking the forge, firing the kiln, and separating iron ore from fossilized donkey turds.

>>9700535
Yeah, this is what people do when they've been bad. Not terrible enough to be Conscripted, but bad enough to serve punishment time.

>A necromancer with zombies, access to a quarry and Stone To Flesh. By having his minions tirelessly bring stone to his workshop, crafting that stone into statues, then casting Stone To Flesh, he has body-shaped chunks of body ripe for animation.
>This probably isn't technically legal, but could be handwaved as a GM, or perhaps some similar legal alternative could be found.

I'm totally stealing this, for one specific reason: When the Conscripts are not needed, they can go to whatever barracks they belong at and the Acolytes can Flesh-to-Stone them. They are thus preserved, gear and all, as stone skeletons without having to worry about the possibility of any of them going rampant. If they are needed for the defense of Arran'ak, the Acolytes can Stone-to-Flesh them, and they're skeletons again just waiting for animation so that they can go on the march again.

This is also a good way to make sure that no one's soul is bound to them accidentally, since if they're not a skeleton anymore, there's nothing for the soul to be bound to and it's free to leave.

>>9700628
The Acolytes take great care to ensure there is no soul bound in the first place, but this method prevents tampering by outside sources even further. Very nice, anon.

>>9700628
This is actually something I'm going to use in my campaign setting. There is a long-lost dwarf fortress that was lost in a siege with some unknown force. Recently discovered, one of the rooms the PCs discover will be filled with petrified dwarves -- when they start being revived ("if", I suppose) then players can opt to choose to play the more ancient dwarven race, with unique statistics and perspectives.

>>9700663
That's a pretty good way to do it. This is a different implementation here, if they end up with too many Risen, instead of breaking the connection to the negative energy plane and destroying the skeleton, they turn it to stone so that they can use it again when it is needed, and it's safe from any idiot who decides to walk along, come across a crypt and start trying to turn the skeletons to his own ends. It ends up being further insurance against unsanctioned necromancers in Arran'ak.

That's got to be a pretty neat way to intro a race, though. I wish you luck with that.

>>9700835
Further further insurance being they become housed in the Spire, which is probably the most magically protected and physically protected area. Not to mention, loads of free room if it needs to house the populace to kee them safe from attack.

It's my night off, and I'm going to get some rest for a while. I don't really expect this thread to be here, but that's okay; it's not quite sufficient for archival IMO but I have saved it and I'll work on transferring it to 1d4chan later on so that anyone who wants to use it will have all the resources at their fingertips.

>>9700986
Well, this was supposed to be an expansion of the Queens duties, and an expansion on Sentinels and Sacrificed.

Hopefully some extra anons come in. :o

>>9700972
That's probably one of the purposes of the Spire itself, emergency housing of anyone who needs it in time of war. Acolytes can create food and water, and I think much of the inside is actually empty space waiting to have a purpose. Whether they're just massive empty halls meant to house stone conscripts or chambers for the Acolytes... honestly, the Spire is a MASSIVE structure and I can't imagine more than maybe ten stories of it being used by the Acolytes and the Millennia King, generally. Beside, Acolytes also have their own buildings beside the Spire, even in the Golden City itself. Secular temples and the like.

>>9701029
Yeah, pretty much this. The Spire would be the place of gathering during war or special events, but there would be many more temples dotted through the Golden City for the Acolytes to meet at. Perhaps the masters of each meet up at the Spire every few weeks to discuss what's going down, etc.

Also goddamnit /tg/, bump, don't disappoint me now. We had two serious fuckawesome threads, we need a third.

>>9701141
Not to mention the temples elsewhere throughout Arran'ak. Perhaps not every town has them, but the major cities (there have to be at LEAST two elsewhere, probably the former capitol cities of Florin and Guilder, if not more than that) have certainly got temples for Acolytes to operate out of.

Honestly, other than maintaining the Risen, Acolytes would likely run their temples more like hospitals; it's very possible that they use necromantic magic in combination with non-magical healing. Kill non-magical diseases with targeted death effects. If a limb is damaged beyond repair, rot it and remove it before gangrene can set in to threaten the person's life, and then see if can be regenerated from there once you have a healthy base to start from. And the more traditional magical healing of magical disease.

I imagine each major temple is headed by one of the Sacrificed, with a number of Acolytes under them of various ranks. This does pretty much mean that Acolytes can travel two paths, though. Either their primary job is tending to the Risen as sanctioned necromancers, or tending to the living and trying to keep them that way as long as possible, as clerics.

It's already been stated that the summer and winter solstices are holidays in Arran'ak. As such, those also make for a convenient time for all the Sacrified around Arran'ak who lead temples to come to the Spire, meet with the Grandfather, and discuss anything that they need to discuss or bring to his attention. Once he knows of it, he can delegate it to the right person. Nobles getting uppity? We can have Chronus go bar-hopping until he finds the right adventurers. Cremationists attacking and desecrating the Risen in the countryside? More Sentinels will be dedicated to that area as well as more Acolytes to show them that they are mistaken and misguided, as a child might be, because they do not understand. And so on.

>>9701279
Yeah, a Sacrificed in each temple does make sense, especially away from the Golden City and the Spire. Acolytes having the choice to split into the paths is a good idea, not every one would want to be fully devoted to caring for the dead. Would there be a seperate line of progression for those dedicated to the living?

>>9701332
For the most part there probably would be. Becoming one of the Sacrificed means that you have to master both paths and balance them, though. Not only do you need to be able to control the undead, but you also need to know how to help the living, both with and without magic.

Acolytes could also leave Arran'ak... I imagine there could be diplomatic missions sent out, simply so they could gain experience in the field helping people and rooting out the cause of infestations of hostile undead, so that they too can rest peacefully.

>>9701371
Definately. Acolytes would quickly become known as the face of Arran'ak, and I beleive eventually there would be a seperate force of them for diplomacy. Not necessarily acolytes, perhaps, but known as Acolytes to the outside world.

This is easily one of the best ideas the grea/tg/uys have spawned in a very long time.

>>9701620
Why thank you. We need more anon joining in, though, so it seems less of wankery between two namefags. Also, anons bring ideas.

>>9701630
stuff this awesome is far from namewankery.

>>9701630

A lot of the stuff seems to have been covered. What are we interested in fleshing out at the moment?

>>9701665
Well isn't that awesome? Still, anons bring ideas and discussion, which helps solidify the whole thing and makes it fit neater and appear better.

>>9701693
How the dawn queen works, how the other kingdoms view Arran'ak, general daily life, and what the duties are that the Acolytes and Sacrificed perfom, exactly. Probably lots more.

Writefagging now.

>>9701735
Blackheart! Good to see you again, I'm about to put some stuff up myself.

>>9701728

>How the Dawn Queen works

Hum. That -is- kind of a toughie. Well, as far as her powers, it seems to be established that she has a connection to the Positive Energy plane, while the Millennia King has a connection to the Negative Energy plane. How these connections formed I have no idea.

As for how she affects Arran'ak as a whole...she'd probably be the shining face that they show everyone. She's the shining, flighty presence that warms everyone's hearts, while the Millennia King is the firm foundation that gives the kingdom confidence. I figure if foreign dignitaries show up, then the Dawn Queen is the one who welcomes them and helps them get used to the workings of the city before they're subjected to the Millenia King's intimidating presence. Should there not be a Dawn Queen that generation, then someone else in the government could easily take up that task.

I'm not exactly sure what else she might do that wouldn't disrupt the government should the Dawn Queen not appear for a generation.

Okay, what I've got on the Dawn Queen.

The Dawn Queen was originally the Millennia Kings sister, who died before he could reach her when his country was overrun. She made a promise to him to never leave him while he walked the earth. Due to contingency planning beforehand, this soon became an important fact – as a Lich, he would never die, and thus she would never leave him.

So every generation the Dawn Queen is reborn, without conscious knowledge of who she is. The Millennia King is somehow able to sense this, and a search of the kingdom is commenced. This usually happens when she “comes of age”, or hits puberty or something. Girls who give off the same “vibe” as the Dawn Queen are brought to the Spire, and girls who are presented by the Great Houses and such are brought along, too. A series of non intrusive “tests” are done, with the Millennia King holding “interviews” (of a sort) with each girl, to determine if their intentions are true, etc. Since the MK was once human and is thus fallible, he will sometimes chose the wrong girl, even if she matches to what the Dawn Queen should be.

Once a girl is chosen, they hold the Rite of the Dawn, in which the Millennia King and Dawn Queen are “wed”. This wedding is not the literal sense, but of a spiritual kind. The Millennia King is the night, and the winter, and the death (not evil death, impartial, etc) to the Dawn Queen’s day, and summer, and life. The ceremony mirrors that, with the Dawn Queen offering the bounty of the summer and spring, and the Millennia King returning the gifts of autumn and winter.

>>9701928

The Rite of the Dawn infuses the new Queen with partial memories and emotions of all the Queens that have come before her, without overwriting her own personality and thoughts. This reinforces the bond the MK and DQ share, strengthening the duality of roles they play. Once the Dawn Queen is announced to the kingdom, a period of a year-and-a-day celebration occurs, with the Queen touring the country to become accustomed to her people and her role as a ruler. This lets her get used to the feelings and thoughts she has been infused with.

Once the period is over, she returns to the Golden City, where she sits on the council, and helps rule the kingdom. She is the public face of the twin rulers, especially to the outside world, a living; breathing Queen is easier to accept than a dead, lich King. She might go in severely important diplomatic missions to neighbouring kingdoms, if the situation warrants it. She also presides over important holidays, namely Summer Solstice, the Harvest Festival and Passover.

She is the link to the Positive Energy Plane, just as the Millennia King is the link to the Negative Energy Plane. As such, while she is present and alive, harvests are richer, winter is milder and there are fewer droughts. (Despite being the Dawn Queen and presiding over Summer, she is more akin to a harvest goddess, and drought is bad for the harvest).

And that's what I've got. She wouldn't have ABSOLUTE influence over harvests and the like, but she might "boost" the crop intake and the like.

>>9701728

>How the other kingdoms view Arran'ak

Distance would be a HUGE factor. The kingdoms nearby would probably be the most at-ease with Arran'ak. "They're strange, but they've greatly enriched our kingdom and is unlikely to be the instigator of any hostilities."

As you get farther and farther out, information about Arran'ak starts to get harder and harder to obtain, and what you do get will be distorted. Kingdoms across the sea might hear of the "Dread City, Arran'ak, where the dead roam the streets with the blessings of the twisted inhabitants."

>General daily life

Would it really be that different from other kingdoms? They would ply their trade, they would hold festivals, not really particularly odd. Aside from having visual reminders of their prosperity and the Millennia King's devotion to his people in the Risen and Sentinels, I don't think the citizens would lead a life much different from other kingdoms.

Save for when a loved one dies, of course.

>>9701975
This is pretty good, especially the part about the kingdoms further away. Writefaggery, if any could be obtained, would be quite good on this.

I might get some done, dunno. Cold meds are wierd, bro.

What should I do if I'm writing too much? Because I'm over a page long in Word and still just getting to the Asylum...

>>9702175
Subprocessor dumped 30k worth of words in thread 2. WE LOVE THE LENGTH BRO.

someone should go ahead and start archiving this...

>and what the duties are that the Acolytes and Sacrificed perfom, exactly.

F-fuck. Um. I haven't been paying a lot of attention to the Acolyte info. Though aren't Acolytes just a rank? Or is it a rank, yet also a broad term for any State-approved necromancer? We should probably separate them, if so.

I think the Acolytes are mostly day-to-day things; preservation and maintenance of undead, while furthering their own education. How are new necromancers trained? In a school-like setting? Under a master? Under several masters? We should look into that; we've got ranks, but not any real structure, as far as I've read.

The Sacrificed, if I recall, are mages who have sworn to become liches to serve Arran'ak and the Millennia King? (Or is it Millennia Emperor? Fuck, I can't remember, there was some debate about the usage of King and Emperor and it confused me)

What I gathered was the Sacrificed do most of the raising, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense since there probably aren't that many around. Do they just do the Raising of important people? Would they handle the raising of Sentient Undead, or would the Millennia King tend to that personally?

Haha, I'm asking a lot of questions, but hopefully they'll just help us flesh out Arran'ak more.

>>9702301

>Though aren't Acolytes just a rank? Or is it a rank, yet also a broad term for any State-approved necromancer? We should probably separate them, if so.
As far as I can tell, Acolytes are the broad term applied to any state-approved necromancers. There were Initiates, Adepts, Masters and then Sacrificed as the rank structure, with initiates doing the general learning, adepts doing specialised learning, Masters teaching and Sacrificed doing the really, super important stuff.
The Millennia King personally attendted to the raising of Sacrificed, and Sacrificed attended to the raising of sentiant Sentinels and Chronus Guards (Chronus Guards also got looked after by MK himself)

>How are new necromancers trained? In a school-like setting? Under a master? Under several masters?
I see the necromancers getting trained by several Masters in the monastaries and temples and stuff. Sacrificed might have a hand in thier final training. This could use discussion~

>The Sacrificed, if I recall, are mages who have sworn to become liches to serve Arran'ak and the Millennia King?
This is pretty true. They don't become liches, instead the bind thier soul to thier own dead body, and undergo several Rites to strenghten that bond. They serve Annar'ak and the Millenia King eternally.
The Millennia King is also known as the Twilight Lord, Millennia Emperor, etc. Lots of names for the one guy.


>What I gathered was the Sacrificed do most of the raising, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense since there probably aren't that many around. Do they just do the Raising of important people? Would they handle the raising of Sentient Undead, or would the Millennia King tend to that personally?
Touched on before. Sacrificed do the raising of important, sentient undead, along with the MK. The Millennia King raises Sacrifced personally. Sacrificed and MK attend to the raising of the Chronus Guard.

Hm, what else.

The acolytes learning both strands, taking care of the living and caring for the dead, is a really good idea. Only those able to maintain both become Sacrificed, as stated by Subprocessor earlier.

Well, I'll start posting, mind you, I just woke up.

"Kaver so hated field assignments… less time for research, less time for study, and quite a high chance for a horrid death at the hands of some fool with notions of heroism or a sociopath hunger for power.

Today’s flavor was of the second sort. A renegade practitioner of the Art , though using it differently then his order, in a rather unscrupulous way involving horrid death and undeath as a screaming, suffering wretch for all eternity. He surprised himself with how angry that thought made him.

Regardless, this was not the time for day-dreaming and action was going on in the small homestead near the border of the empire. An outsider necromancer and his bodyguard entered the realm seeking artifacts of necromantic power, and after discovering that anything that could interest him was in the Spire promoted him to plan a siege on the capital city, and as preparation he started raiding villages for… bodies.

Needless to say Grandfather was not amused and a small army was dispatched to deal with the outsider. After a few week long campaign his army was defeated and he tried to escape from the empire. Kaver and his group of loyal Sentinels and a few Initiates caught up with him and now a small battle was raging between the outsider’s zombies, the unnaturally skilled bodyguard and the Sentinels backed up by a pair of Initiates, while Kaver was, uh, organizing his thoughts and planning his tactics! Yes, not like he was scared or anything, even a newly appointed Adept has power, potent and mighty, skilled both in arcane and divine magic, while the outsider was weak and injured, and perhaps he’ll even surrender!

And so Kaver finally convinced himself that dodging lightning bolts isn’t something that he’ll probably have to do and burst into the house with his group of bodyguards.

First sight that greeted him was the trashing body of a young boy on the ground of the kitchen and the quickly closing door to the living room. He motioned one of the Sentinels to drag the boy into a corner, he’ll deal with that later and quickly went after the escaping necromancer with his bodyguards. He barely kicked the door open when the lightning bolt came.

The house turned stark blue and reeked of ozone for a few seconds after which Kaver noted two things. First: running forward like a brutish barbarian probably wasn’t that smart. Second: he hurted like hell, which was kind of good because it meant he survived. The outsider necromancer reentered the kitchen twirling his hands around, probably casting some sort of spell that’s meant to force him into missing his next birthday. Kaver reacted instinctually and cast his own spell. Humble little darts of scarlet magic flew right into the necromancer, burning parts of his body but not really doing too much damage, it did break his concentration however and made him quite angry. The fire bolt that one of the surviving Initiates laying on the ground cast at him and promptly immolated him probably made him even more angrier and quite dead.

Kaver stood up and surveyed the damage. Most of the Sentinels were gone, mere dust in armor, a horrible tragedy, losing warriors who fought who knows how long for the Empire, probably for more then a lifetime, only to die again in some no-name farm by the hands of a megalomaniac… Out of the two Initiates that came with him, one was a scorched mess, causality, but perhaps still can be Risen. The other, who cast the fire bolt lay with his back to the wall, Kaver shambled over and used whatever healing magics he could to ease his suffering and put him to sleep, the boy from earlier quietly suffered in the corner, seemingly undamaged.

Well, that’s done Kaver thought, but the frenzied sound of metal clashing against metal convinced him otherwise. After tending to his own wounds, which seemed pretty grievous but at least reminded him of overdone stake, he shambled out of the house. The grounds were littered with the hacked up corpses of zombies, a few broken sets of armor of the Sentinels and a small mound signaling the body of one of the Initiates, the other weekly playing on a flute while sitting next to her. The still standing troops formed a circle of steel, in the middle the bodyguard of the deceased necromancer. The Sentinels chopped, slashed, stabbed and the bodyguard twirled and twisted with uncanny reflexes, dodging and parrying almost every sword that struck out against him. Almost every sword. He was riddled with cuts that, strangely, didn’t seem to bleed, and it was clear that the undying Sentinels were wearing him down till finally he slipped and fell on the ground, and a sword came down right at his face. Then he HISSED. Kaver was sort of amazed as the creature turned into a bat and dodged the sword, flying up into the sky, but his amazement didn’t stop him from throwing a ball of pure fire at the escaping bat. The fireworks were pretty in his opinion.

While tending to the injured Initiate a thought nagged him. What WAS that thing? Supernatural speed, strength, shapeshifting… he was sure he read something about that, some sort of rare shapeshifter perhaps?. And those glowing eyes…

“No…” Kaver rushed back into the house with a pair of Sentinels flanking him just in time to see the heaving and groaning boy reach up for the throat of the unconscious Initiate he left in the kitchen.

“Hold him!” he ordered his deathly soldiers who grabbed the boy by the legs, dragged him back and then promptly kneeled on his arms. Kaver went closer to inspect the screaming and trashing, but bound boy. He twisted and turned as if in pain, but the acolyte couldn’t see any injuries on his body, but his face… it seemed ill, twisted and bestial, his mouth open too wide filled with too long fangs, then he saw the pair of black, festering puncture wounds on his neck and the budging mass of throbbing veins. Suddenly the boy became motionless, as if spent, then slowly looked up at Kaver and stared with glowing eyes right into his, the Acolyte felt as if he was punched and staggered back, grabbing hold of a counter to support him. Then the boy took a few ragged breaths and screamed so loud the house seemed to shake.

“IT HURTS!”

Kaver felt sick.

Now I go eat breakfast and put on pants.

>>9702425

Alright, so--

Initiates handles the menial every-day tasks. Cleaning the Raising chambers, maintenance of Raised and Conscripts, taking action should something begin to smell, etc. When they're finished with their duties, they would begin their daily studies.

I'm thinking Initiates would be trained in an Academy sort of setting, with those who become Adepts being apprenticed to a Master (or three), to weed out the unmotivated, the unskilled, and the ones who don't realize what necromancy really entails.

To become a Master, the Adept would probably be tested by a Sacrificed. To become a Sacrificed, a Master would likely be tested by the Millennia King himself.

The Adepts would assist their Master in their duties, learning what will be expected of them, and gaining practical experience. Would Adepts be trusted off the bat with raising Conscripts? Or is that where their apprenticeship would start?

Would Masters handle the bulk of the Raised, while the Sacrificed handle raising Sentinels, and the Millennia King handles the raising of Sacrificed? Or would Adepts be able to progress to raising Raised as part of their duties?

So in other words

Initiates: School
Adepts: Raising Conscripts
Masters: Raising Raised
Sacrificed: Sentient Undead, Sentinels
Millennia King: Sentient Undead, Sacrificed

Or would both Conscripts and Raised eventually fall under the purview of Adeps?

>>9702938
I'd say that's a pretty good distribution of things.

>>9702938
>Initiates: School
>Adepts: Raising Conscripts
>Masters: Raising Raised
>Sacrificed: Sentient Undead, Sentinels
>Millennia King: Sentient Undead, Sacrificed

Pretty much this; the Initates help the Adepts in thier duties. The Adepts care for the dead during the year-and-a-day period before they are raised, the the Adepts helping Masters in the duty of actual raising.
Eventually, Adepts coming to the last third of thier apprenticeship begin raising Conscripts alone, actively assisting the Masters in raising the Risen.

Masters would be teaching Adepts and Initiates, with the Adepts assissting them in the duties of raising the dead. Masters would also oversee the care of the undead in the Adepts hands, making sure things are going well.

Sacrificed teach the Masters to raise Sentinels and "lesser" forms of sentient undead, i.e sentient Sentinels.

Sacrificed assisst the Millennia King as he raises Chronus Guards.

That's what I've got :|

>>9702773
>>9702788
>>9702801
>>9702818
>>9702841
This is very nice, poor vampire kid. Will there be more of this?

>>9702938

Forgot to mention, Adepts would assist their Masters in raising Raised. They wouldn't be doing the raising, but they'd assist in the ritual. This helps get them familiar with the additional traditions and honors that Raised are given, as opposed to the likely rather sparse ritual of the Conscripts.

>>9703202
Yep, probably in this thread, or the next one. I'm now eating delicious sandwich and crap so not now, but there will. The actually Asylum part come now, this was just the intro.

>>9703242
Yep. :>

>>9702928
Skip the pants
make pictures
Post
PROFIT

>>9703276
Well this thread has a while to go before autosage and we're keeping it from falling off. So all we need now is more information and discussion~

>>9703185

I figure Initiates would have a fairly firm grasp of, at least, the Conscript ritual by the time they become an Adept.

I figure messing up the honors of a Conscript isn't a particularly huge deal, as long as it doesn't become habit. Messing up the honors of a Raised, however, is a much bigger problem, and as such would require tutelage; namely, assisting their Master in the rituals, learning the extra stuff that goes into a Raised.

I didn't think of Initiates helping the Adepts with their duties; that's a good idea, as it would help build companionship and camaraderie between the necromancers.

I expect Adepts would need to prove mastery in the Conscript ritual before being allowed to assist in the Raised ritual, though.

>>9703356
Initiates might have to properly raise a Conscripted to become an Adept?

That might be a good "test" of the Initiates grasp of his duties.

Thread is now archived on suptg.

>>9703502

Yeah, that sounds good. That way they can start assisting their Master with the Raised ritual as soon as possible.

I think the general structure of the necromancy ranks is fine, but there was talk about specialists? Like, diplomacy, healing or raising, stuff like that? Would that just kind of be the occupation of a Master?

>>9703685
Yeah, I think a Master would become specialised. Some might become diplomats, others might chose to become master healers and the like.

Of course, to become a Sacrificed, they have to master both the living side and the dead side of thier skills.

Fond bump.

El bumpo.

Bumping with something vaguely useful.
The Chronus Guard

Trained by the very first of the order, Chronus himself. They are the very best of the Sentinels, who continue special training after they have mastered their Sentinel duties. They learn advanced combat techniques, and battlefield tactics, along with a very select form of magic training. They are all sentient, and most are very, very old.

A few who were great mages in life continue a specialised training regime after becoming a Chronus Guard, honing their combat magic to new heights and learning more defensive forms of their art. Those who had little in the way of the art are taught rudimentary combat magic’s, and are intensively trained in the defensive and counter-measure arts.

Chronus Guards are trained to jam and immediately counteract an opponents spells, turning them against the caster or snuffing them out within seconds. This usually causes great pain to the spell casting opponent, as the counterspells taught to the Chronus Guard are a special form that takes the counteracted or halted spells energy and throws them back into the opponents face. The actual spells used to do this are a closely guarded secret taught to none but the Guards, and were handed down by Myrhan himself

I was thinking about statting up a Sentinel class for use in a DnD campaign or something. I'll see what I think after dinner.

ANON, WE NEED MORE AWESOME GUYS IN HERE.

Gah, you guys did another thread while I was in bed? Fuck! Now I have to catch up!

"The court recognises Earon of Mountjoy, ambassador from Goneril." The lich's voice was like the slam of a coffin lid, strong and clear despite the obvious disadvantages of his lacking lungs, lips or tounge to form the words. The diplomat, clad in hues of violet and midnight blue, stepped forward towards the two thrones. On the left, seated on a marble throne, was Myrhan, the Millenial King, Twilight Emperor, the Grandfather. Myrhan wore funereal robes of black and grave-dust grey, with a silver crown on his skull. On the right, on a throne of shining brass sat the current Dawn Queen, in a dress of lustrous green. Her burning red hair was tied back and set under a crown of gold.

"Thank you, your majesties." The diplomat bowed, sweeping his cap low to the ground. He knew what the presence of the lich meant for their relations.

"What news from your nation, herald?" Myrhan had a way to make everything seem like a threat somehow.

>>9705281

"I regret I cannot bring my King's warmest wishes, your majesties. He desires you to cease your.. activities.. and return the land to what he considers to be the 'rightful rulers'." He winced at the words, half expecting one of the silent bone guardians flanking the hall to close on him and rip him to shreds for having such impudence as to report his master's bidding.

"I sense the ambassador has his own opinion on the matter?" The lady asked softly, her voice carrying better than her volume should have suggested. "Tell us, man, why is your new king so.. unhappy with the rule of Arran'ak? Our two nations were ever buxom allies. Is the trade between us not filling his coffers as much as he would hope?"

"No, your majesty. Speaking frankly... the young king is idealistic, his head filled with romantic notions of heroes and villains. The Archbishop has his ear, and has since the King was but a whelp. I fear the Bishop has poisoned him against you." The diplomat seemed to be unclear as to which one of the two monarchs to look at - on the one hand, she was much easier on the eye, but on the other.. well, he didn't quite feel comfortable letting the King out of his sight.

"So, your holy men are stirring the trouble?" The lich rested his skull on his knuckles. "I have had trouble with holy men before, more than I care to remember. While this nation was young, hardly a season passed that some.. paladin or other was striding into this very room, seeking to smite me in the name of goodness and justice, as if I was the epitomy of vice."

He would have carried on were it not for a gentle fleshed hand placed on his robes. "Yet times are peaceful now, and we should endeavour that they remain so."

>>9705388

Mountjoy sighed and raised his head. "The King is convinced you are a.. forgive me for saying, but a tyrant, sire, who rules through fear. The Archbishop is surely the one who has placed such a blatantly false notion in his mind. I know the King would see sense were he just to visit you and yet... it seems he will only now do so at the head of an army."

"Let him come."

"Myrhan-" The Queen began, but a bony hand was raised to silence her.

"Let. Him. Come. He says I am a tyrant and yet he is the one that shall see his living subjects brought low for nothing. He is the one that shall march husbands, sons and fathers away from their families into the jaws of death. Not I." The lich thought for a moment and then stood from his throne. "Follow me, Mountjoy. I have something to show you. A message you might take back to your King. If he still believes me some horrible tyrant for him to vanquish like some fairy-tale hero, then it is out of my hands." The King got off the raised dais on which the thrones stood and walked off to the left.

"Certainly, my Lord. What is it you wish to show me?"

"My army."

>>9705281
>>9705388
This is very awesome. Sorry for starting a new one, man. But, well, here we are.

>>9705437

The King of Arran'ak stalked through the halls, the Ambassador walking briskly behind him to keep up. It was hard to read the lich's mood, with no face to go by. As such, the King tended to adopt more extreme mannerisms and now.. the arms crossed behind his back, the hunched shoulders.. The King turned a corner and led Mountjoy in a high roofed room.

"Come and see." The two of them were stood on a granite balcony, looking over a high, narrow room. The King gestured off the edge of the overhang, and Mountjoy moved forward so his gaze might follow the bony hands. Stretching out below them was the largest crypt Mountjoy had ever seen in his life - a dozen rows at least of carved stone shelves, each standing higher than ten men. In each shelf lay stone sarcophagi and wooden coffins, some with likenesses of those entombed within fashioned on the lid. Each shelve must have contained at least a hundred men, and there were hundred shelves.

"This, Mountjoy, is where we rest the honoured dead. Those who did not wish to become Risen, and we do not begrudge them their choice. However, should your King choose to bring his army to my door, all it shall take from me is one word and all these tombs shall fly open. All these bodies shall rise to take up arms, join their brothers already Risen and defend their people. And this is but one room of hundreds throughout the Spire." Mountjoy was staggered by the scale of it - truly, he could believe this necropolis had so many dead in it. The Spire was a palace the size of a mountain - he'd assumed that it had been carved into the mountain face, but now he wasn't entirely sure.

"How many does your army number?" He asked, finding his mouth very dry in this mortuary air. He thought how many men the King could muster for his army - perhaps half a million, three quarters if they weren't too picky about recruiting youths.

>>9705575

"In truth, I know not. Two, perhaps three million currently stand Risen and wait for service. The dead do not go to waste in Arran'ak, Mountjoy." The King stood overlooking the crypt and shook his head softly, to express reluctance. "I promised that these bodies would sleep peacefully, as they have earned. Yet if your King is willing to break the peace to please his faith, I am willing to break my word to save my nation. It has been long since I last waged war, but I have not forgotten how."

"Your sister yet desires peace; I am sure my King would be willing to leave Arran'ak in peace if she becomes sole monarch -"

"So he may woo her and bed her? Put a whelp of his on my throne?" The lich suddenly turned, something between aner and jealousy in his tone. Then he turned back to overlook the interred. "No. No, he may desire the summer but he cannot deny the winter. I may be... moribund, but I am no tyrant. All I do, I do so that those who yet live may live the best lives they can, untouched by war or grief. But I wish for you to carry one last message to him, Mountjoy. If he still desires war, let him come."

"What is it, your Majesty?"

"Tell him I do not fear him. To me, death is a resource to be used and utilised. This is what the Risen are, a resource that your King stubbornly refuses to use himself. And so this is why I do not fear him. Would your army, arrayed in steel, fear a foe who willfully fought in bronze instead?" And with that, Myrhan turned one last time to Mountjoy. "If your King wishes to see me defeated, he shall have to become what I am and beat me at my own game. Now go, Mountjoy. Off to Goneril with you. For what it is worth, you are a good man and I hope that when we next meet it is during better times."

>>9705575
>>9705710
Fucking. Yes. Inthepants. Yes, Myrhan would be terribly sad to break his vow to his people, his promise that those who did not wish it would not be Risen. But should something threaten those living, he would break it in an instant to keep his people safe.

>>9705710

"You are kind, your majesty."

"If your King gets his way, I shall not have that luxury much longer. Now leave." The ambassador bowed and shuffled away, practically breaking into a run as soon as he was out of the crypt.

A few moments later, Myrhan heard softer footsteps approaching, steps he knew well. They entered the room and a pair of warm hands laid themselves on his shoulder. "You are troubled, my brother."

"The last time I had to wage war, I had lost you." He turned to look into his sisters eyes. This time, they were green. "And now, now you have to wear another face every few decades. And we have to weather idiots like that new whelp Goneril has wearing it's crown, calling us blasphemers and abominations."

"Be calm, brother." She placed a hand on the robes above where there had once been a human heart, still warm and beating. "Whatever Goneril may say or do, know that I and the people both love you. You keep them safe. You keep the fields tilled and the laws kept. Thanks to you, there are none living today who have lost family to war. Whatever Goneril says, brother, you are a good man."

>>9705789
Oh god that picture is win.

>>9705789

"Sometimes, I wish I could believe that." He watched her face a while, feeling sharply the loss of eyes that might look into hers, lips that he might push them into a smile. Failing that, he placed a cold hand on one shoulder and steered her aside, walking towards the door. "But circumstance forces me to play the villain now. And so I must arm myself and raise my horde of undead horror. I am sorry, sister, that your fields may be stained with blood in the weeks to come. But I shall do what I can to keep this war short." He lingered one last moment before turning away.

"Wait..." She knew her brother's mind to well and her face fell when she realised the implications of what he was saying. "Wait, Myrhan, what are you planning? Myrhan!" She ran out of the room and looked around the hallway - but he had gone.

END. That was sort of cooked up on the fly, hope it went well.

>>9705856
It was absolutely perfect. A nice look into how Myrhan would react to a threat of war (and a veiled threat to his sister). And a good look at how the Dawn Queen would react to it, too.

>>9705856

I like heem. Well done.

>>9705448

Don't apologise - I'm more angry at myself for missing it because of, you know, pussy reasons like sleep.

>>9705900
DURR SLEEP. I have not been getting enough of it, so angry.

>>9705917

Well, it's 11:50 AM where I am, so I woke up to this thread. a few hours ago and was like "HOH SHIT TIME TO GET SOME WRITEFAGGING DONE"

Oh yeah, I've been collecting the writefaggotry of these threads, as well as some salient setting details, and am at around 20k words worth of content. Nice one, /tg/.

>>9706039
S'agood number. Most of the solid details come right out of discussion, but it seems like I and Subprocessor are doing all the "finalising" with him making SO MUCH MORE sense than I do.

I hurp the durp apparently.

>>9706072

You guys do seem to be devoting a lot of time and thought to it, which is awesome.

I know I only recently arrived at the thread, but I'm going to have to leave - probably for the rest of the day. Off to university to play with my gaming group - D&D 3.5 - followed by pub after, so you know, it's a good reason.

Plus I know at least one guy who goes on /tg/ there, so I'll big this up to them there and see if I can't muster some local interest in Arran'ak.

>>9706209
If things go well, try to get people interested in playing using Annar'ak as the kingdom they party goes to/is based in. It would be awesome.

And awesome. I won't be around much tomorrow, but I'll be lurking here and there. Stuff to do and all that jazz.

>>9706072

I'm helping, too. ~_~;

>>9706253

Be fair, without a trip it's hard for us to acknowledge your contribution. But thank you nonetheless.

>>9706233

I'm not going to get the GM to change settings or anything, just big up the idea for this setting to see if people are interested in it.

I know there are a few setting purists and rule lawyers that would be quite "BAWW UNDEAD MUST BE EVUL" though.

>>9706253
You're not a namefag so I can't tell you apart (and yes you helped alot why am I such an asshole I'm SORRY WAAAH)

>>9706275
HATERS OF TEH UNDEAD? We could use thier view on this kind of country!

>>9706275

I'm Another Writefag Appears!, Subprocessor π, and a full half of the anon posts in any given thread so far.

>>9706328
Well you are mighty useful to us. COME, JOIN THE HIVEMIND.

I mean. Your contributions are very awesome, and highly useful.

>>9706300

They tend to be the types of guy who go "I don't care if you're making it 'just a story' HERE IS WHAT TEH BOOK SEZ" so I'm guessing they'll say Myrhan HAS to be evil and so on and so forth and that the only way the Risen COULDNT be evil is if they were bone golems etc etc.

But I digress. Now is when I dress to leave. I bid you adieu, Internet Think Tank, and hope you're here when I return.

(Also; since this seems to be something a small circle of us are doing and making, perhaps we should get in touch off of 4chan? I've included my email address if you want to get in touch)

>>9706515
Subject is mine. Ignore the emofaggery of it. Lvlz.

Free for emailan about this.

This is still open for discussion, just so Anon knows. I'm off to bed right now, as is everyone else (or out doing things like NORMAL people). But discussion is important, AND VITAL TO ARRAN'AK! DEVELOPMENT IS IMPORTANT.

I FEEL ASLEEP

No, seriously, I slept the entire night where normally I'm wide awake, what the hell's up with that. And I ended up dreaming on Arran'ak. That's just... really kind of creepy.

I just wish I could remember more than the barest bits of what I dreamed.

>>9707323
Man you ditched on me. :<

>>9707334
I did. I got insanely tired because I only got a few hours' sleep over the past couple days, I caught up last night.

I'm gonna have to ditch again because of Mother's Day too.

>>9707356
Yeah, insomnia sucks. I might get a thread up tomorrow (er, tonight for you?) so more discussion can happen then. Or something.

>>9707334
I did. I got insanely tired because I only got a few hours' sleep over the past couple days, I caught up last night.

I'm gonna have to ditch again because of Mother's Day too. But I can at least e-mail you two.

...okay apparently I'm still asleep because I didn't realize I posted that once already. the hell.