[Lore] XXIX: The Abyssal Cult

 

  While most would run or cower in untold fear when confronted with horrendous nightmarish spawn that come crawling up with the tides, or burst forth out of rifts to wash over villages, dragging off innocent villagers without a trace, there are those few who stop and listen. They hear the faint sounds, the soft whispering of an almost heard voice beneath the crashing of the waves, the growls of the profane monsters, the roaring of the riftspawn. They hear a strange, familiar yet unfamiliar song, something they can almost understand, if they but listen a little harder, come a little closer. These are the first of the Abyssal, men and women of Telara who turned from their beliefs and the safety of their homes to dedicate themselves to Akylios, dragon god of the Plane of Water, for the promise of understanding and unlocking the deep mysteries and darkest secrets the world has to offer.

     The Abyssal are the mad followers of the mad Akylios, who was driven insane eons ago. They are the hoarders of all knowledge dark and twisted, always seeking answers to hideous and profane secrets. They form cabals of insane priests and Tidelords, claiming to hold the promise of the world's knowledge if only the unenlightened would look far enough and deep enough into the crushing deep of the Abyss that Akylios represents. They are a tight-knit, extremely secular cult made up of different cabals or 'cells' within the cult. Each cell is headed by a Tidelord, who conducts the business and direction of each cell differently from the others. Even though they are all part of a whole and acting toward an overall common goal, each cabal has it's own separate goals and desires as well, with each Tidelord seeking his or her own knowledge and secrets of the dark. Since each cabal is completely separate and located in different parts of the world, if one falls, it is nearly impossible to trace it to another cabal. And thus the Abyssal are the hardest to discover and unearth among the citizens of Telara, since they are very good at pretending to be ordinary, innocent Telarans. They are adept at infiltrating a village and replacing the villagers with their own followers, converting and killing where it's needed in order to accomplish their goals. They are swift to violence, unpredictable, and are powerful casters. They act more for their own desire for power and profane knowledge rather than because of a sound plan of attack or an organized battle strategy.
     The leader of the Abyssal Cult, Tidelord Jornaru, can be found plotting against the Ascended in Abyssal Precipice and in Hammerknell Fortress, striving always to free his lord and master, the great Akylios.

     Another famous member of the Abyssal is the Faceless Man, who is now the leader of the Unseen, a group of assassins and spies in Meridian who protect the Defiants secrets and work to bring information to and from the Defiant headquarters in order to best deal with the threats to Telara. The Faceless Man was once a Tidelord of an Abyssal cult that controlled areas of Freemarch before he betrayed his dark master to the Defiant.

     The Abyssal Cult are all quite insane, driven mad by their burning desire to unearth the dark secrets of the worlds. To try to understand the innermost workings of the Abyssal is to court madness yourself. No culture or race is exempt from these mad cultists, who come from all manner of place and status. Compared to the other cults and followers of the Blood Storm gods, the Abyssal contain the most scholars, magi, academics, and professors of the arcane arts.
     Rank among the Abyssal is dependent upon one's individual knowledge, power, and level of insanity, rather than status in Telara. The Tidelord leaders are all recognizable by the distinctive horned helmets that cover the face. The helmets hide the disfigurement they voluntarily undergo in order to better 'see' the deeper knowledge that Akylios grants them. The ritual to become a Tidelord is an arduous task that only the most faithful, and the most insane, undergo. They give up their names, their memories, their very identities, to better serve Akylios, who promises greater arcane and eldritch knowledge in return for such devotion. He delights in the madness of others, and the more insane, the better. In return, the Abyssal cultists gain mad genius and knowledge best left forgotten in the depths. The more knowledge they gain, the further they fall into insanity. And thus the Abyssal have the reputation of being the most secretive, but also the most incomprehensible dragon cult. Their tomes and scrolls, if found by an unsuspecting person, can lead to madness and death just as easily as enlightenment or power. Or both.

     They seek neither treasure, wealth, or fame, nor power for its own sake, but wish only to learn. To learn everything that the dark Abyss can teach them and beyond. To gain the secret powers of the hidden arts. The one uniting force that drives the Abyssal other than the desire for knowledge is the desire to free Akylios from his watery prison, where he lays dreaming beneath Hammerknell Fortress. Many nests of the cult have apparently wormed their way into the outskirts of Telaran society, setting up shop in rural villages and disguising themselves as professors of arcane knowledge or traveling scholars. They undermine the efforts of the Ascended, convert others to their cause, and always seek ways of freeing Akylios. They readily interact with and ally with the riftspawn that come through the rifts, summoning Deep Ones, Fathomlords, profane many-eyed monsters and other planar ilk to do their bidding guard their secrets. The Abyssal are the ultimate Lovecraftian model in Rift, with themes of madness, desire, knowledge, unfathomable secrets, insanity, cabals of arcane practitioners and themes of water, nightmares, tides, darkness, and the Abyss. By the time one figures out that the knowledge and answers they sought lead to nothing but darkness and insanity, it is far too late to turn back.

    Despite their evident insanity and warped minds, don't underestimate the Abyssal cult and its insane leaders, because the clarity that madness brings can be just as effective and deadly as a sound battle strategy.


References: Information on the Abyssal is just as mysterious as the cult itself, and hard to verify. A lot of this was learned by talking to the Faceless Man and reading through clues in quests and artifact sets. The names of leaders was found in the Abyssal Precipice dungeon and by combing through the forums! All information is not mine, I'm just writing it for my own purposes since there's so little actual intel on Rift and its lore.

[Karazhan's Story] 2.13: Something Fishy In Lakeside

      I was in the Meridian library, reading a fascinating book on the Endless Court when a man dashed past me and activated the magitech device in the middle of the room that allowed one access to different floors. Of course I'd already investigated the fascinating piece of technology earlier and had enjoyed myself immensely flitting between different levels of the library until the head librarian had told me to knock it off. So, feeling like I was a novice again, I'd settled down on the second level and decided to dive into reading up on the threats I'd be facing when protecting Telara. I rather fancied the idea of being a hero to the people, and my new body was specifically equipped to handle any situation. I'd even begun mastering other spells that the various other souls housed inside had employed themselves. I'd learned a few healing spells, which would no doubt come in handy for helping out those injured or in need of aid, and I'd also gleefully played with a few new weather and even fire spells. Yes, I was definitely having a good time in Meridian, learning so much about this time period and the goings on of the great world of Telara. It was a larger world than I'd ever dreamed of! But I'd distracted myself again.

     I watched with avid curiosity as the man activated the device for the top floor and quickly blinked out of sight. I pondered the device a moment before getting up from a pile of cushions and setting my novel aside, placing a shred of cloth between the pages to mark my progress. The top floor, I'd learned, belonged to the Unseen, a shadowy, covert part of Meridian's military that was dedicated to espionage, intel, and investigation of suspicious activity. I hadn't even realized I'd been getting restless from all my sitting in Meridian until a flare of excitement had me quickly heading toward the teleportation device as well. If there was some urgent matter that this man was bringing to the Master of the Unseen upstairs, than I definitely wanted to be in on it. I'd learned that these Defiants and their allies were so in awe of me and my kind, and so unsure of what our rank and status was in the war against the planes, that it seemed I'd become a de facto leader. Or maybe just someone of high standing and authority? Whatever it was, it came in quite handy when I wanted information, or when I wanted to be included in some clandestine action. I set the dial on the machine, activated the switch, and felt the tug at my breastbone that signaled travel through space. An entirely different sensation from traveling through time that was for sure! Moments before I disappeared I caught sight of Alyete still reading that Abyssal tome avidly in the corner and I frowned. I didn't think it was healthy to spend such an amount of time poring over such a suspicious book. She'd even confessed to me earlier her obsession to learning the secrets contained within. I'm pretty sure that's what led to many joining the Abyssal cult to begin with, since I'd heard they were big on promising you knowledge and arcane power. I can only hope her road to knowledge doesn't lead to madness.

     I arrived on the top floor with a slight jolt, keeping my feet quite easily. I glanced around and spotted the man talking animatedly to the Faceless Man and Kira Thanos. Yep, the Kira Thanos that everyone at the Kelari refuge down by the ocean had been going about. They called her the Azure Viper and named her a remorseless assassin, but what I saw when I looked at her was someone who had grown cold because she'd had no other defense against the harsh reality of the world. It made me sad, although I would never say that to her. She was Ascended as well and I really have no desire for a knife in the back. The Faceless Man was another interesting enigma that I remember from my "days of future past" as I'd amusedly started calling my time at the end of the world. He was so odd and mysterious that it begged to be asked about, but again, self preservation was a strong motivator for keeping my questions to myself, since he also wasn't the friendliest of men. Well, no matter, I remember seeing a historical scroll on the Abyssal cult down in the library; I'd have to read it sometime. He himself even admitted that he was a former Abyssal cultist after all.

     "Ah, Karazhan, how good to see you." Uriel Chuluun, a beautiful Bahmi woman standing behind Kira said as I walked over. Uriel kind of gave me a strange feeling, like goose bumps along the arm, when I was in her presence. It wasn't exactly a good feeling. She felt like death magic, and that was one type of magic I'd sworn I'd never mess with. Nothing good came from learning the dark arts. I smiled a greeting at everyone and waved at Kira. She gave me cool, assassin eyes back.

     "Sorry if I'm interrupting." I began. "I saw him head up here and thought, if there was something going on, maybe I could offer my aid?" The Faceless Man turned his horn-helmeted head in my direction and I was again thrown by the fact that I couldn't see his expression, or even his eyes very well, to gauge his reaction.

    His voice, when he spoke, echoed oddly inside the mask. "Yes thank you Karazhan. Since you're here, I might as well inform you of what's going on. You could be a valuable asset." I preened, grinning, and Kira rolled her eyes with amusement. "I have ways of keeping track of my old...compatriots in the Abyssal cult, and I believe something is afoot in Lakeside. It's a small village to the east of here. One of my Unseen, Ziara, had been stationed there to keep an eye on the Lakeside docks, since that is a likely route of attack by sea, and she has reported some troubling findings about the villagers acting oddly, and strange attacks in the night, but she doesn't have any concrete proof and she can't blow her cover, so I need someone to go investigate these things and find out what's really going on. Be warned, the villagers aren't a friendly lot and don't agree with Defiant occupation here in Freemarch so they may be hostile and unfriendly to a machineborn such as yourself." He gestured vaguely in my direction and I glanced down at my self. I did rather stand out in my long heavy fabric robes, exotic enchanted gloves and glowing staff.

     I nodded. "Understood. I'll go look into things at Lakeside and see what's going on. Anything I find out, I'll report to Ziara and she can send a letter here to you." The Faceless Man nodded in agreement, and I turned, feeling anticipation surge through me. An actual mission! Finally some action, something positive I can do to help out the Defiants and Telara! And of course a chance to try out my new spells and abilities. I felt a thrum of eagerness from the other souls and grinned.

     I activated the machine and teleported back to the second level, where I quickly picked up my discarded book and tucked it back into its niche in the wall, marking the location in my memory so I could come back and read it later. The head librarian also seemed to frown upon absconding with books to who knows where and I didn't think she'd like it if I took it with me on my adventure. Oh well, it would be here when I returned. Not many of the scholars or the various people who lived in Meridian read in the history section of the library, having already learned most of it as they grew up. I suppose you could call that a failing of the Kelari, in that we/they were quite the xenophobic race and none of the priests and priestesses ever cared to teach world history in their lessons.

     The porticulum system that the Defiants modified for their own use wasn't connected to anywhere near to Lakeside, so I ended up walking to the village. Not that I minded in the slightest since it actually turned out to be a nice day. Outside, the breeze was light, even if it carried it with it the faint hint of planar magic, and the sky was blue and cloudless. The sun shone down brightly onto the vibrant green of Freemarch and I could well believe it had once been known as the Emerald March back when it was in the hands of the Mathosians. I'd definitely learned a lot while reading the history books in Meridian. I took a deep breath at the foot of the stone dais that led to the city proper and noted the well traveled highway that led to the east. It made sense that the road would eventually lead me to Lakeside, since it was a rather prominent village in Freemarch. Not the most populated town of course, that was Smith's Haven, Freemarch's capital, but still, quite a few Freemarch natives lived in Lakeside. Over the years since it had been first claimed, Freemarch had known many masters, and as such, the citizens were quite diverse, sporting Mathosians and Eth working side by side, as well as elves and I'd even heard there were a few Dwarves who had set up craft shops here. I wonder what the more religiously inclined raced thought of us Defiants setting up shop here. Well, too bad.

     Several hours later I slowed as I saw a town ahead. That had to be Lakeside. As I grew nearer, I could feel the wrongness in the air. There was definitely something fishy about the village, Ziara was right. Speaking of the Unseen spy, I wonder where she'd holed up. She'd want a good view of the goings on, but the Faceless Man had said that the villagers were a suspicious and withdrawn lot, so she probably stayed out of the village. I let my eyes wander idly over the landscape, and spotted a high ledge of rock overlooking a crossroads of the highway up ahead. If I were her, I'd camp out there. Perfect spot to keep an eye on both the village and the roads leading up to it. The highway branched off in different directions right below the ledge, and I peered curiously down each fork before shrugging and making my way up to the top of the ledge, huffing slightly at the exertion. I was a mage, not a mountaineer, for spirit's sake. At the top, I got an eyeful of the business end of a magitech gun and blinked, slowly holding up my arms. The short, thin woman at the other end of the gun eyed me with sharp eyes, looking wary.

     "Uh, hi." I said, striving to stay calm and neutral so I didn't end up shot. Not a priority of mine. "Don't worry, I'm not a cultist, or anyone wanting to cause trouble! I was sent here by the Faceless Man in Meridian. Are you Ziara? He said he had a contact out here that I should collaborate with on the investigation of Lakeside." I bit my lip as I waited, hoping I didn't just blurt this all out to a member of Lakeside instead of the spy. The woman eyed me up and down slowly, as if taking my measure, before her gun slowly lowered, and I felt myself relax. Staring down the barrel of such a device was pretty intimidating.

     "Prove you are who you say you are." The woman demanded, backing up a step but still keeping me in sight. I licked my lips and frowned. "Well, my name is Karazhan and I was granted a new body after being raised from the Soulstream by Sylver." The woman didn't look impressed and I realized that didn't exactly prove anything. "Oh and um, Sylver really fancies Asha, even though she's really in love with Zareph Mathos. It's all rather tragic really." I trailed off as I indeed thought it was tragic. Poor Asha. The woman finally relaxed and nodded.
     "I suppose that will work. You said your name was Karazhan? I'm Ziara. And I was indeed set up here to watch Lakeside. I don't really care about whatever special abilities you got from that crazy scientist Sylver, I just want to make sure you can handle yourself in a fight and you won't end up a liability to me." She gave me another once over, and I resisted the urge to fidget.
     "Rest assured, I know my way around a battlefield." I replied, feeling slighted. If she only knew! And Sylver was a brilliant man!

     Ziara smirked, as if she knew how much her words needled me, and set her gun down. She rubbed her chin and turned to gaze down at the village beyond the crossroads. I cautiously came up and stood beside her. From here all I could see here the straw and thatch roofs of the village. Since Freemarch was quite far south, the climate was quite humid and warm and there was no need for fires, so I could see no smoke. I opened my mouth to ask for details about the situation when Ziara started speaking, as if sensing my curiosity.
     "Something strange is certainly going on here. The way the Abyssal works, though, makes it difficult to tell if there are actually cultists stirring up trouble in the village or if it's just the villagers being their usual hostile, mysterious selves. Everything the cult does is hidden beneath layers of secrets and occult mysteries. I've seen...very strange things here of late. I don't even want to understand what I've seen because when I try, it starts nagging at me mercilessly, like a voice in my head that won't go away." As she finished speaking, Ziara began rubbing her temples and wincing, as if just the reminder caused her headaches. I gazed at her curiously. Maybe her solitary position was getting to her?
     "The Faceless Man seems to think the Abyssal is operating here, do you have any proof of that?" I asked finally when she wouldn't say anything else. Her words just sounded confusing, and I wanted to make absolutely sure before I went and confronted and/or possibly maimed someone for being a cultist. Ziara hesitated, and dragged a hand through her hair.
     "It's hard to say. I was definitely skeptical at first, but people seem to be acting really strange in the town lately. And I always feel like I'm being watched by unseen eyes. I need a fresh face to look at the situation and analyze it better. Sorry I can't offer more than that." She did indeed look sorry for not having any concrete information, and I just shrugged.
  
     "That's fine, it might be better if I went in without any bias coloring my investigation anyway. I'll go talk to some of the villagers and see if I can find anything suspicious or overtly cult-like." She raised an eyebrow at my words and said "Cult-like?" with a chuckle. I grinned. The tension between us seemed to dissipate and I relaxed more. "But hey you know, I haven't had lunch yet. How about we eat and than I'll go snoop around?" I offered, and started to open my pack. "I have quite a few tasty treats packed from the markets in Meridian that I bet you don't get way out here." Ziara's eyes lit up with excitement and she practically started salivating.
     "You bet I don't!" She exclaimed, laughing. "Thank you Karazhan, for sharing."

     We settled down on the ledge and shared a meal of mild cheeses, boar sausages and a chilled berry wine. It was quite satisfying, as was the expression on Ziara's face when she ate. It felt good to help someone out, even if it was something as simple as sharing a meal.

[Lore] XXI: The Blood Storm

     When the gods created Telara, the world was plentiful, full of rich bounties, vastly differing climates, and many different life forms. This was due to Telara being in the unique position of being the center of the Planes-powerful dimensions ruled by a single element made manifest in the physical realm. These 6 elements converged at a point in the center called the Nexus and Telara was at its heart. When the Planes touched Telara, they left behind incredible deposits of a raw material called Sourcestone. Sourcestone had the potential for vast and powerful wonders. It could be refined and shaped to do just about anything, including resurrection and creating a special matrix that can house multiple souls (Defiant Ascended). Unfortunately for the young and innocent world of Telara, this powerful material gave off an equally powerful and specific kind of resonance that caught the attention of some particularly evil beings. The Blood Storm.
     The Blood Storm were elemental entities who gained dominion over their respective Planes and amassed deadly armies of Planar foes. Eventually they grew so lustful for control and power that their reach extended even beyond the planes they conquered. They were drawn to other worlds in the vast cosmos, cracking them for their sourcestone like marrow from bone. When they discovered Telara, the Blood Storm eagerly descended upon the unsuspecting world, rampaging, destroying, enslaving and reshaping it to their own desires and will. They unleashed disasters and monstrosities of unimaginable horror. Their mere shadows drove men mad. Though the peoples fought back, they had been unprepared for such a threat and individually, the many races were overwhelmed and conquered by the seemingly unstoppable dragons. Civilization, historical records, and society was lost to the chaos and fear that became known simply as the Age of Dragons, where survival was the most important, and indeed the only, subject on Telaran minds. Wayward mortals became drawn to the dragons' promise of power, willing to help unmake the world for a mere taste of the vast potential the Blood Storm offered as well as a place under their great leathery wings.

     Telara seemed lost. The dragons ruled over the planet with iron fists, remaking it into the image of their own lust and greed. In the end though, it was the dragons themselves that proved to be their downfall. They splintered, driven by their own base desires to see Telara in each individual's image. Each of the dragons saw in Telara an image of their own dreams and desires. Destruction, complete control, wild chaos, a great empire of riches and greed, knowledge and profane nightmares, and Regulos's claims were the darkest. He desired total annihilation of anything living. The complete opposite of life, renewel, growth. The opposite of anything else the other Blood Storm members desired. If Regulos had his way, there would be no Telara for the other dragons to rule over. Seeing this, Crucia, knowing that Regulos's true form was beyond her to defeat, set up the other dragons to be pitted against him, hoping they would all destroy each other and leave everything for her. And thus, the Blood Storm fell to infighting, each determined to keep Telara for their own dark reasons.
     While the dragons waged a terrible war above Telara, the peoples of the world finally saw their chance. They rallied all the races together and fought back, taking the Blood Storm by surprise with their determination and ferocity. Distracted as they were with each other, the Blood Storm retaliated too late, unable to comprehend that these mere mortals posed any threat to them and unable to present the unified planar front of before. During the early years of the Blood Storm Wars, the Eth began experimenting with sourcestone, creating incredibly effective war constructs and machines of incredible power to help battle the dragons and their new cult followers, while the High Elves employed their ancient arcane wisdom and combat skill and the Dwarves built many war weapons and designed increasingly effective battle strategies and fortresses. All the races contributed to the defeat of the dragons, refusing to relinquish their world to the hungry planar beings.

     The Age of Dragons lasted for hundreds of years, yet when it mattered most, the dragons were too embittered, ambitious and selfish to join forces against the Telarans, a threat they didn't take seriously until it was too late. One after another, the great leviathans were overcome and imprisoned in powerful, unbreakable chambers beneath the earth in various secure locations around Telara, sealed with a king's ransom worth of pure planar sourcestone opposite their own element. Specific guards were set, the dragon orders, to safeguard the prisons (The Icewatch, The Dragonslayer's Covenant, etc.), and the cultists were hunted down through the centuries to ensure they would not rise up and attempt to free their dragon masters.
     Despite the horror, devastation and death that the Blood Storm wrought on Telara during the Age of Dragons, they accomplished one thing that had never happened before or since. They united the many differing clans and factions and races of the world together under a single banner. After the defeat of the dragons, the gods also joined themselves into a single entity, calling themselves the Vigil. They aided the mortals in the protection of Telara by constructing the Ward, an impenetrable barrier around Telara to keep the Planes from touching the world and sealing off the dragons from their powers. This also ensured that the spirit of Regulos, which had been severed from his physical form, would be unable to return to Telara. After this, the gods fell silent and were unable to be reached directly, instead handing down edicts through their messengers. Peace of sorts settled over Telara for centuries, with the cults rising up and than falling again, causing strife and chaos but ultimately being thwarted throughout history, until the cataclysmic event known as the Shade War, brought about by King Aedraxis Mathos, who broke the Ward, fused his body with the Avatar of Regulos, and unleashed the planes again upon Telara, thus waking the other dragons and allowing them access to their planar power. The Guardians were created by the Vigil worshipping races of Telara as a unified front against the evils of the cults and the planes, and as a reward, the Messengers of the Vigil returned their fallen heroes to them as Ascended-immortal warriors-thus fulfilling an ancient prophecy. The Eth, who had refused to give up the potential power of sourcestone fueled technology, joined forces with the Kelari refugees and their close friends the Bahmi, creating the Defiant faction and succeeding in perfecting their own form of machineborn Ascended that rivaled the Vigil's gift to the Guardians. The two factions never see eye to eye, but separately, they work to keep Telara safe from the newly awoken Blood Storm.

     Eventually, revelations and successful battles against the cultists lead to the chilling fact that Crucia, the Blood Storm dragon of Air, had merely played both her fellow Blood Storm and the heroes of Telara, pretending to be trapped in her prison, when she could easily control her minions and followers through mind control and air magic, which is the most elusive and hard to control element. She waited until the Ascended heroes had effectively neutralized the other dragons before making a play for domination, manipulating events across Telara to her own advantage so that she could steal a powerful engine called the Infinity Gate and take over once and for all. Also revealed is the discovery that Akylios is not actually the true dragon of the Plane of Water at all, but a maddened usurper who banished the true dragon ruler, Izkinra, and seized control. He is found to actually be what is called a lesser Akvan-a herd of multi-eyed shark creatures. The dragons are more complex then can be conceived by the mortal mind, which is why they could not be truly defeated until the Ascended were created with the powers to properly comprehend their forms. Anyone who tried to understand the true nature of the Blood Storm before the arrival of the Ascended would go mad from the effort.

Status of the Blood Storm:

• Greenscale-The epitome of survival of the fittest. The first of the Blood Storm to be permanatly vanquished by the Ascended. After his true death, a new avatar of Life comes into being, taking on the name of Tasuil.
• Akylios-Not a true dragon. He is actually an unsettling herd of multi-eyed sharks who, acting as one being, conquered the Plane of Water, banished the real dragon, and became a member of the Blood Storm by default. The second dragon to be killed by the Ascended.
• Maelforge-Chaos incarnate. Is revealed to be a pwn of Lady Glasya, the Queen of Flame on the Plane of Fire, who has enslaved Woragrath, the true Dragon of Fire. Maelforge is the 3rd dragon to fall to the Ascended.
• Laethys-What she wants, is what she sees. Laethys wants everything. Her form on Telara is molten gold in the form of a dragon. Her true physical body is still on the Plane of Earth. Is the 4th dragon slain, alongside Maelforge. (Or is she truly, completely dead?)
• Regulos-The only dragon who could rival Crucia in terms of power. His true nature is actually two beings. One is the dragon offspring of Azdah and the other is a spirit/avatar that has the ability to reincarnate on Telara. These two beings finally merged to become the true God of Death and is permanently killed in the Endless Eclipse, leading to a new and terrifying revelation for the Ascended.