Out-of-character note: This is intended as a rough summary of the main points of the EM-run story arc, known as Blood Feud, and the EA-run story arc, known as In the Shadow of Virtue. At the very least, they are clearly connected at some way. This is my attempt to hit the main pints of both, and help potential newcomers to the event cycle.
-Galen's player
-Galen's player
My fellow citizens of Britannia, subjects of Queen Dawn:
I thought I'd write down what's been going on lately, about the Bane, and the Demon Conclave, and about the kidnapping of Queen Dawn's husband. I know there's been a lot of confusion out there. And, while secrecy has its place surely, I think we're past that point. Too much is known already, and too much is being speculated about, rumored about, or lied about. Honesty will hopefully serve us where prudent secrecy has failed thus far.
I can only hope my memory serves me well; I surely have no wish to add to the confusion and misinformation out there.
The Demon Conclave is the best place to begin.
For some time now, we have faced a group of demons, known as the Demon Conclave, that were initially based out of Hythloth but have since spread.
Various groups have been affiliated with the Conclave. Two important examples have been the Evening Star Ninjas from Tokuno, and the An-Kal-Lem, who are evil gargoyles, traitors to Queen Zhah and the Gargoyle Way.
The Demon Conclave first came to our attention via complicated path. The whole thing began when our battles against the evil Lithos, the Elemental Titan of Earth and also known as the “Mountain King,” led us to picking sides in a blood feud among an ancient family of Elemental Titans. These Titans have long had an affiliation with the Demon Conclave. Especially Pyros, the Elemental Titan of Fire (we haven't met him yet) and Stratos, the Elemental Titan of Air. (Its Stratos' side we basically took in the Titans' blood feud.) Pyros's affiliation with the Conclave isn't clear, at least not to me, but Stratos' is. Many years ago she stole from them an artifact known as the Scorched Ruby. The demons have been hunting for it ever since, and it's very important that they never get it.
The head of the Demon Conclave is unknown to us. Some have speculated that it's actually Pyros.
What little we do know about the head of the Conclave, regardless of who he actually is, is as follows. His gargoyle name is Ben-tas Jux-Lem, which means something like Opponent of Virtue, or Defiler of Virtue. His demonic name is IxaKaz. Demon names are, we have read, almost always two words. So for example they will have names that translate to something like “City Destroyer” or “Blood Eater.” The word Ixa is not known to us. We think, but are not certain, that “Kaz” means “Bane.” Our source for that may not be entirely reliable, but we've got no immediate reason to doubt him either. We also have good reason to believe that his English name starts with the letter “V.” We know this from orders he's left for his Generals. For now, we'll call him “V.”
V had, or has, three demonic generals: A General of Knowledge, a General of Nightmares, and a General of Bloodlust. The General of Bloodlust is still alive, his name is Buldur. The first two are dead, but may have been replaced by other demons. Seems they have no difficult filling positions.
The Demon Conclave largely follows, or is guided by, the vague and grim prophecies in an ancient tome called the “Principa Daemonis” (I'm probably spelling that wrong). This book is written in an ancient demonic language. With the help of a traitor to the demons, we've been able to translate it. It is a mix of the demonic version of world history, and instructions to perform various foul rituals. Many of these involve the Scorched Ruby, or Magincia, or both.
Two things which are almost definitely related to the Conclave occurred during our ongoing fights with the Conclave.
Firstly, the Bane Chosen appeared in the Lost Lands, then migrated to Ilshenar, riding demonic dragon mounts and threatening genocide upon “uncivilized” races. Some of us helped them in their war against the evil Ophidians, remembering the unjust war the Ophidians fought against us years ago (known as the War of the Zenith Scion) and their constant harassment of the City of Papua, but since then the Bane have gone to Ilshenar and have tried to enlist us in attacking our allies, the Meer. And more recently, they have invaded the island of Magincia itself, assisted by demons and evil mages.
That the Bane Chosen and the Demon Conclave are affiliated in some way, and share resources, seems at this point to be beyond question. V has indirectly referred to the Bane Chosen as his forces, the Bane Chosen is represented on a prophetic game board that we have stumbled across, and the Bane Chosen were collecting Blackrock and power crystals just before the recent appearance of Blackrock Golems. Those Golems have since been fighting at the Bane Chosen's side, and were also present for the attack on Britain, when the Crystal of Duplicity was stolen.
The question, to my mind, isn't whether or not the Bane Chosen and the Demon Conclave are involved with one another, but how close the involvement is. Are the Bane Chosen working directly for the Demon Conclave? Or are the forces behind them simply allied with the Conclave temporarily? If the latter, at what point will that unknown enemy fully reveal itself?
The second thing, aside from the appearance of the Bane Chosen, was Queen Dawn's attempt to use an artifact called the Crystal of Duplicity to overcome the demonic magics that prevent large-scale rebuilding in Magincia. We have reason to believe that the Scorched Ruby is either the same thing as the Crystal of Duplicity or that the Scorched Ruby is somehow contained within the Crystal.
Queen Dawn, as we all know, followed the Virtue of Honesty to its logical, if absurd, conclusion, and decided to put the Crystal on display in the Throne Room of Castle Britannia. The Demon Conclave attacked the city, and the Crystal was stolen. However, it's since been made clear that the Conclave didn't actually get the Crystal, though they were clearly after it. The Crystal was actually stolen by an unknown third party.
What the Conclave DID get in their attack, however, was Queen Dawn's blood. They need the "Blood of Queens" for a foul ritual involving the Ruby in some way. Luckily for us, the Queens also have to die for the ritual, and Dawn is a great fighter who survived the attack on Britain.
Unluckily for us, however, the Queen of the Conclave's traitorous gargoyle allies, the An-Kal-Lem, willingly sacrificed herself to help her allies perform their ritual.
Aside from their not physically having the Scorched Ruby at the moment (and we can assume they'll be able to get it sooner or later), Queen Dawn's life is likely the only thing standing between the Conclave and whatever it is they want to do with the Scorched Ruby.
The Conclave, very recently, attacked Yew. The Conclave's General of Bloodlust, Buldur, was seen at the attack, and certain orders from V to Buldur were intercepted. The Conclave was, strangely enough, after Ricardo, the imprisoned, seemingly-mad thief and legendary lockpicker. Ricardo, as many will remember, was aware of the Crystal of Duplicity's location long before most of us were. Indeed, he'd been after it since before his thievery inadvertently started the war between ourselves and the Ophidians.
The Conclave seemed to think Ricardo had something they wanted, and were instructed to look for hidden objects in the Yew Prison. There is no evidence the Conclave actually got their prey, and indeed a note left by Ricardo implies pretty clearly that he's in the wind.
He's escaped us, and escaped them. At least I think so.
The Conclave had a secondary goal, however: To let Queen Dawn know that they, through the Bane Chosen it seems, have Queen Dawn's husband, the hapless, good-hearted Ors. Whether they kidnapped him or cajoled him into coming with them isn't relevant at the moment. The enemy is quite clearly using him as a pawn to pressure Dawn.
So that's where we are. I've left out a lot of details. For example, there's an important role being played by the dungeon home of three gargoyle brothers whose story is tragic to say the least. Also, an important role was played by Zhah's sister, the ambitious Erah, and a gargoyle colony she founded in the Lost Lands.
But, what I've relayed above is I think most of the essential elements.
Now, the most important unanswered questions are as follows.
One: Are the Bane Chosen working for the Demon Conclave, or some other foe?
Either the Chosen are working for the Conclave, or they are working for some unknown third party. I think the former, the ever-knowledgeable librarian Martyna thinks the latter. If she's right, we need to identify that third party as soon as possible. Exodus, the ancient, half-mechanical half-magical evil that claims residence in Central Ilshenar, is a good bet, if the librarian is right (and indeed, she's publicly declared that Exodus is her guess). If she's right, we may find it prudent to drive a wedge between the Conclave and the Chosen's master.
If she's wrong, though, then striking the Conclave down might solve both problems at once.
Two: Are the Evil Mages in Magincia working for the Conclave, or for yet another affiliate group?
If the latter, we may find ourselves with another enemy, even after we've defeated the Conclave. Assuming we can.
Three: Who has the Crystal of Duplicity?
This is probably the most important question of the hour.
If the Bane Chosen aren't working directly for the Conclave, but for someone else, whomever they are working for is an excellent bet for possessing the Crystal. If this is right and we can confirm it, that's an excellent way to drive a wedge between the Chosen and the Conclave.
Another under-rated possibility is Ricardo the Thief himself. He knew where the Crystal long before most of us had heard of it, and he'd been been after it for a very long time. Also, when he appeared to go crazy some time ago, didn't it seem a bit sudden to anyone else? He sure seems to have recovered his wits enough to evade us and the Demon Conclave during the recent attack on Yew. And V's orders to Buldur and the armies of the Conclave were very clear: They were to search for Ricardo and anything he might have hidden in the Yew Prison. That means they thought he had something to hide there in the first place. Also, the Crystal was stolen in a stealthy manner; no one actually saw who took it, and it was stolen under our noses and those of the Demon Conclave.
Working against this, though, is the fact that Ricardo was supposed to be in jail at around the time the Crystal was stolen. This should be looked into. Also of course the fact that Ricardo as far as we know couldn't have known when the Demon Conclave was going to attack works against this theory.
One possibility which looked strong until very recent events was the An-Kel-Lem gargoyles. Their own Queen's sacrifice of herself for the Conclave's cause, however, is a powerful reason to think this theory was entirely wrong.
Four: Can Queen Dawn govern with her husband in enemy hands?
This question, sadly, needs to be asked if we can't find Ors, and soon.
We need to figure out a way to get out in front of this, and soon. Chasing the enemy down won't work here, I don't think. We need to get in front of them somehow.
The volunteer staff of the Britannian Ministry of Security meet at 9pm Eastern every Tuesday night, and things happen at other times too. Look for announcements, and listen to the wind.
-Galen
Antiques Dealer
