State of the Alliance

ATTN L.D.: This chunk of info will give you the history and current events of any number of issues and nations. It will take me a bit of time to write it that I would otherwise use for my school so please read it all. Reply to this email with what you would like to do in regards to each topic if anything.

The New Blood Alliance:

The First Vampire war: started during the Second Tyrillion War (The War of Long Nights.) At this time the known population of Arkendrose was enslaved to the dragon elite known as Tyrillions, Ty-really-on. Their nation was called Tyrillia and their capital, present day Crestgrath, was called Tyrilor, Ty-ri-lor. The world had been enslaved by the Tyrillian’s for longer than recorded memory. Earliest accounts of this time are composites of spoken stories that were later recorded during the second Tyrillion war.

Vampire kind at that time was young. Humans, Dwarves, Barbarians and the Elf races were already grouped into semi civilizations at this time. The Vampires were Acuma’s second creation. His first was the A’basys, Ah-bah-sys, (A humanoid with slight relativity to venomous snakes.) After considering it a flawed experiment, Acuma forgot about the A’basys and made Vampire. Vampire was more in his own image. He had stolen some ideas from the Blood God to do so but without the full comprehension of the Blood God’s domain he faltered slightly making the new Vampire race co-dependent of the blood of others for sustenance. This only amused Acuma.

Acuma, The father of Vampires: As the vampires became more plentiful Acuma himself got stronger through their worship. While the rest of the world was hiding in dark places while they fought their Tyrillion rulers, the Vampires were hunting. They were hunting the rest of the world. When Acuma made vampires he made them with the Tyrillons in mind. Tyrillions hunt during the day and tend to ignore the night bound. So, the Vampire god had created the ultimate race of the night. His intent was to make a race powerful enough to rule the night. He was in direct competition to Obsile’s chosen (The Dark Elves.) But this came later.

Acuma himself was not very powerful when he started creating his own races. Much of his ideas were stolen from other gods and mixed with his own to complete his racial projects. His creations were not perfect nor were they intended to be. When he created Vampire he did so without the sanction of the Counsel of the Spirit Realm (The divine ruling society.) His intent was to improve upon his creation over time.

His first Vampires were made to be demi gods themselves or close enough to the concept of Arkendorsian divinity. The idea was that his Greats (Greater Vampires, Lords) would gain strength through sovereignty, majesty and lineage, going forward. Their power would increase with age, holdings of people and those who would be born or created of them by them. This made them self-sustaining. Acuma could sit back and watch his creations grow. And so he did.

                First Vampire War (Cont.) Vampires in Tyrillia were a vicious nomadic people. They free roamed in small covens raiding population centers openly at night. Their life was one of plenty and the rest of Arkendrose’s humanoid races paid for it in blood. The masters of these covens would say they were only living as they were created, without fear or regret. They were surviving as the predatory animals they were. Of course the rest of the world did not agree.

During the War of the Long Nights the Arkendrosians were attempting to band together to defeat their Tyrillon overlords. The Vampires did not share, the others concern for freedom as they were not affected by Tyrillon leadership. As the rest of the world planned and fought the vampire covens hunted. This made it hard for the rebel uprising to gain sure footing against the Tyrillions.

So, the people of Arkendrose trained hunters to illuminate the vampire threat. The First Vampire War ensued. The Vampire covens were hunted and killed, sometimes with the sanction of their Tyrillion Regents who did not wish to lift a claw themselves to help their slaves. This war lasted for centuries, as did all the old wars. Some believe the first war never ended, that the second war is simply the return of power to the vampire side.

In truth the original hunters all but entirely illuminated the vampire race during the first war. Acuma was not strong enough to throw down the Counsel supported races with divine power so he fielded himself (This is only possible for a god when they have large amounts of direct worshipers.) In the later years of the war Acuma fought alongside his creation. Ultimately he too fell to the gods and man. (See Apocalypse.)

Apocalypse: (1) Acuma’s power was not anywhere close to as strong as it is today during the First Vampire war. But neither was the gods. The Tyrillions were originally created as protectors and care takers of Arkdendrose but they soon felt superior to that which they were meant to protect. They rose up and took the world for themselves. They smashed the temples and the shrines of the creators in doing so thus weakening them. Also, during the age of Tyrillia the world population was not so much, perhaps a few hundred thousand or a million people. This meant that there was less worshipers to power them. Then you add Tyrillion worshiped restrictions and the gods get even weaker.

The reason for my writing this part is to tell you what it would have taken to put someone like Acuma down for good. The gods had to ban together their power into a large ritual which they then had to somehow deliver to capable mortal hands. The signing of the divine scrolls was an immense task nearing the physical difficulty of creation do to their lack of power at that time. But they managed it and the ritual was completed. Acuma was destroyed.

This action marked the end of the First Vampire war. The surviving Coven Lords disappeared, retreating into areas less hostile to their kind. Over thousands of years they slowly resurfaced taking on new faces; the faces of lords and masters. They reshaped the lands they had lived in into something new, different. These lands and the people in them were vampire friendly. The culture was built around a vampire hierarchy. Some nations took longer than others to convert, Sycon for example. In the end a network of Vampire supporting nations was built.

But there was still one thing missing that these nations needed to band together. The Vampire God.

                The Priests of Apocalypse (Originally the Priests of the Resurrection): This was a name given to them in jest and in fear. A small group of three scholarly vampire priests were responsible for the resurrection of Acuma. They first researched the possibilities for centuries before presenting their findings to the Vampire Counsel and the High Priest of Acuma (See Vampire Counsel and the Church.) This is when the earned the title, Priests of Apocalypse.

The idea that was presented called for a massive amount of power that would have otherwise been unfounded before the Hell Mouth (Often referred to as the Fury Hole) opened. The mountain in the center of Keta was home the massive gateway for as long as there has been a hell to speak of.

Ignyon (ig-nee-on) is one of two hell gods. His primary worship base is within the lands presently under the New Blood banner. His interests, at the time, were in conjunction with that of Acuma’s new ruling class. To keep his worship base prevalent his priests worked alongside that of the Acuma’s. When the Priests of the Resurrection told the High Priestess of Ignyon of their plan she promptly opened the hell mouth. Now there was enough power to make ready the massive ritual the priests would need to resurrect Arcuma.

The Ritual: Called for a very large sacrifice of people, which later amounted to 33% of the known world population, a host for the resurrected Acuma and several items of power needed to give the Priests the power to withstand the awesome power the ritual would call forth. Lord Damian chose his younger son Prince Damian, A unique freak of nature, to be the host of Acuma. Damian was unaware of his father’s intent during all of this, and later killed him for it.

The newly created Star Alliance did everything they could to stop this ritual from happening as soon as they got wind of it. They sent two special operations teams to Keta and several armies, including the entire military of MistMoor to pave the way. They were even given a ritual to suppress the powers of Ignyon by the gods while they killed the Priests. They failed.

The Apocalypse itself came in the form of fallout from the completed ritual. When ritual went off, nearly every living thing on the Island of Keta died instantly including the armies of the Star. The Star Alliance teams survived because of their ritual and so did the Priests but that was all. The overall power needed to bring back Acuma after so long a death was overwhelming. It caused the world to suffer greatly. Today the effects of the initial, not the last, resurrection can still be felt in the form of, The Fallen, the Demon’s Madness and the acid storms.

The Second Resurrection: Yes the second. In the first two years of Acuma’s rebirth he was put down again by some of the same members of the initial team, Lucifer Spite, Zervia Hoc and Slim of Terra. Also these same people traveled to hell to get save their friend, Damian Spite’s, soul. Damian was reunited with his body and Acuma was put down once again but not properly. Acuma was just too powerful to be destroyed by conventional means and his following was too persistent to allow him to stay dead.

                                Acuma’s remains were found and removed. You may ask yourself now what remains if Damian was reunited with his body. That is a good question. We know the truth but those who killed “Acuma” do not. The (God) they fought was only a demonic manifestation of himself. It was used to buy the Priests of the Resurrection more time to find an acceptable host for Acuma after Damian was saved by his friends.

                                The actual re-resurrection was performed in the forest of Voy. (See Voy) The forest is mostly Coastaarian (Dark Empire) territory but is particularly important for many reasons. New Blood factions roam it regularly trying to learn more or its secrets. One such was the presence are a particularly large node (See the Flow.) This is where they brought Acuma back to life, this time with the support of Pyra, the god of Fire and Chaos.

                                The Star Alliance, the Demon Slayers and the Empire of Coastaar all tried to stop the ritual and failed. Coastaar because it was being performed within their territory and the Star because they are in everyone’s business. The Demon Slayers, Under Lucifer Spite, were there to thwart further Vampire achievement and to insure the work he started was truly finished. It was not of course as Acuma is alive and well.

Government: The New Blood Alliance is more like a consortium which is ruled by an elected official called the Lord Director who acts like a sort of president. Then there is the Church who presides over all issues related to the gods of the people. Last you have the Vampire Counsel which was created after the Inhalation of the WareVamps to govern the proper use of the Vampire Gift.

The Lords: The Lords refers to the nobility of the various New Blood nations. While varying nations have varying cultures their leaders all share relatively the same power as other nations depending on their own status within their own nations. For Example the King of Beckorone has the same say as the A’basys King of Grerkly. Another example is Lord Salvo who has the same authority as the Baron of Verania in Sycon. Salvo is better known however. The lords, not the people, elect from one of their national leaders, a Lord Director who is free to step down at any time. Currently the King of Jargon is the Lord Director.

The Lord Director is like a president in some cases but I think it would be easier to explain his position by thinking of New Blood as one nation.  In this example the varying nations of the alliance are mere provinces ruled by dukes. The dukes have to answer to the Lord Director but they can advise him and object to his decisions openly. But they have to follow his orders regardless.

The Church: The Church is the second form of government within New Blood. It holds its own hierarchy system similar to that of real world Christianity. The difference being that there are more gods to worship. Their (popes) are called High Priests. They are said to converse directly with their lords and are granted special powers as a result.

                The High Priest of Acuma: The High Priest is chosen from among all the other priests by Acuma himself. This priest operates under the direct guidance of Acuma at all times.

                They High Priestess of Ignyon: Lilith is the name given to all Ignyon’s High Priestesses. Each one is chosen from the Bishops of Hate and Strife.

                Other Church’s: Other faiths are represented within New Blood but are not part of the ruling class. They have a voice at meetings but are not given direct authority. Although in recent years the High Priest of Sect, Darloth, has been very persuasive.

The Vampire Counsel:  As stated above this counsel was created to govern vampirism after the WareVamp uprising. New Blood as a whole does not maintain recorded history on the events of the uprising. The council does. They prefer to keep the details of that secret on to themselves. Their order was formed when the Rowan Empire still existed. It was an official Senate Committee sanctioned by the Emperor of the time and has been the presiding authority on vampirism ever since. King Lyric, the first vampire and past Lord Director, is the only identifiable member. The council is a secrete organization. Lyric acts as their speaker.

Trade (House Mindredence): Trade is the biggest problem the Alliance faces today. Since the conception of New Blood over ten years ago the alliance has been driven into the ground financially. The nations of New Blood are two far apart for some of the larger nations, including your own, to efficiently trade with each other. All nations of new blood, accept Row, are either near the poverty line or bellow it. There is no more money for government projects and the people feel the burden of continued war.

Yes it is important that New Blood’s enemies are defeated by right now there is no money to fund the construction and maintenance of armies. The last war, which the Church now finds completely pointless, against the Empire of Coastaar was particularly damaging to the economy of the West. There is no money for rebuilding projects. Those nations are far too week now to embark on further military campaigns though Kind Diego of Beckorone will say otherwise, he is just proud.

The primary issue with trade is the distance of travel between west, central and Jargon regions of the world.  The travel must be made by sea and as we have seen over the past ten or so years, sea travel is dangerous. There are pirates in abundance but more importantly there are enemy nations whom do long allow New Blood vessels to pass. The Star Alliance maintains that ships within their trade lane are subject to search and seizure. The Star’s trade laws do not allow trade from New Blood nations at all. So, they strike New Blood ships down, Military or otherwise, if they see them. Do to the geography of the world New Blood traders have to cross some Star and East trade lanes. The east has a similar stand point when dealing with New Blood nations.

If the first New Blood campaigns had been better chosen and more fruitful than this issue would not have arisen. But they were not. New Blood did not gain much territory during the ten or more years of continues fighting. Beckorone gained West Bri in the beginning years of the fighting and Row took Hesvich back from Celtica but that is bout it.

There is no plan to date on how, Mistmoor, Sycon, Beckorone will become better connected. Mistmoor is in special bad shape considering their total isolation from the rest of New Blood. Jargon is similar to Mistmoor in that respect. Sycon can trade with central New Blood but they have to use the arctic lanes to do so which take their trade ships past White Mountain through pirate ifested waters then again past through the main Star Alliance trade lane before getting there. Beckorone has to travers Coastaarian waters past Mobien's (See Mobien) lands to get to Sycon to do the same. Jargon must do likewise from the other side of the world.

Central New Blood consists of Rigen, Lorace, Row, Grerkly, The Fury Lands and Florence (The Byzantar.) The capital of New Blood is in Florence, Blood Moon. Also, House Mindredence has its seat of power as the lords of Lothellese Florence. They, being a very powerful crime syndicate, have started to disguise Florence trade as Similan. Lord Artoro, the Don of House Mindredence and the Lord of Lothelles, (This equates to the rank of Baron but his holdings say much more) has been working closely with Lord Salvo Ter’ak of AEbin, Lord Dralnu Mordigen of Nhliastan and recently even Lord Malro Corroli of Va’lahn. Trade, under the protection of the Mindredence, will sail, illegally (Similan law states trade must first go through customs in Ju’sem before trickling down to the other islands), into the ports belonging to the lords. The cargo is then off loaded into a ware house where it is sold to Similan traders, under Mindredence contract, who then move the product, whatever it may be, through the Similan islands north into the Great Trade Lanes (Which are owned and operated by neutral nations, Star nations and East nations.)

This is risky business but the project seems to be working within the Order of Florence at least. If it were not for the open war with the Heltalni it could likely do even better (See House Mindredence of Lothellese and House Heltani of Claverane Florence.) Some New Blood lords, who know about this, frown upon it. They see it as a degradation of their principles. But Artoro did not ask them for permission, he just started doing it.

Mobien’s Lands (Moe-be-in): Throughout the world there are some vampire covens that have not bent the knee to New Blood. Mobien is the most powerful of those. His holdings are as large as a kingdom. His lands sit far to the west near the Costaarian territory they call the Northern Empire. Mobien is, relatively speaking, close to both Beckorone and Sycon. He could be an important link in the chain between the Empire of Sycon and the Kingdom of Beckorone but he has refused all New Blood attempts of conversion.

House Mindredence of Lothellese and House Heltani of Claverane Florence: While their home territories border each other the two have been rivals for hundreds of years. Each of these great houses has fought tooth and nail over the criminal underground for as long as they have been involved in it. As history books tell us, House Heltani were once sworn vassals of the Mindredence but broke away some three hundred years ago denouncing the then Mindredence Don and naming their own Lord of Heltalani as Don.

Over the past ten years each house has taken a dramatically different approach to their craft (More so the Heltalani.) Heltalani have invested themselves in Star Alliance nations more thoroughly. They have even been known to associate with Star Alliance officials and rules more personally. Damos Himself does not partake directly in these practices but his under bosses do. The Heltalani were not as globally influential as the Mindredence until recently.

When the great tsunami hit the island nation of Chee and the Fallen took it for them, its people were forced to leave. But where would they go? Chee was home to one of the Star Alliances greatest financial and military assets. With their lands lost they had to go somewhere. The Empire of Bri agreed to temporarily house them in their new northern territory but that was all. If they wished to stay it would have been as part of Bri and the land was not fruitful to the Cheein Company, Chee Tec.

The Director of Chee Tec. Was forced to make a difficult decision. All of the economic giant’s wealth was spent or lost during the evacuation of its people. They were forced to cut a deal for a large amount of money and support with someone. They chose the Heltalani even though Claverane fielded soldiers in the Florence army against Chee’s allies regularly. Demethyl Heltalani cut the deal with Chee and helped to organize a further deal for abandoned land in Daklavan, another Star Alliance nation.

With Demethyl Heltalani as partner, the Cheein people moved to the region of Kos. To assist with the documentation of the deal between, Chee, Chee Tec , the Heltalani and Daklavan, they brought in another specialist, Simmer Shoresweel. Simmer is a well-educated aquatic elf and ambassador of the mercenary army known as the Soldiers of Simoon (Sie-moon.)

The Mindredence focused more on the neutral nations and their illegal global trade operations. The two great houses began to really but heads after you (The Lord Director) pulled Florence’s army back to Blood Moon. The army has yet to return to the country side. Since the army has been there the two began to stab at each other more directly.

After several assassinations and attempted assassinations, the two fielded personal armies in open combat with each other. They fighting is mostly over territory of influence in the country side of Florence. These are the primary areas of conflict and the situations there:

                Plunth: After the initial fighting started in Blood Moon, Plunth was the first major region to get hit by the fighting.  The region is traditionally partial to Lothellese considering its close proximity to it. Since the fall of Fort Plunth during the Star and Eastern Alliance invations Plunth has been under the protection of House Mindredence. While Plunth has lords but most are indebted to Artoro.

Damos’s son Brezin led the force that attacked there. The fighting was bloody but quick. Mindredence defences were not prepared for the assault. Artoro sent a force of a few thousand in retaliation before the Heltalani had enough time to dig in. After several days of fighting, and the addition of a large force, the region was taken back under the control of the Mindredence.

                Lothellese: The home of House Mindredence. Their territory is well secured by a series of defenses both in the valleys and in the passes. No large scale assault has been launched on the region during the conflict.

                Quentaris: This region is heavily contested as of right now. (2/7/1012.) Beforehand the region had more Heltalani than Mindredence but it has become the focus of the Mindredence’s counter offensive.

                Rislawdon: Rislawdon is closer to Blood Moon. As a result of that most of your information about this conflict comes from there. The leaders of Rislawdon vary in their loyalties. Those closer to Rislawdon proper have been known to violently object to Heltalani or Mindredence presence. However the farther away from the center you get the more influenced the lands become to the two warring families. Mostly the region is used to recruit soldiers  and/or mercenary’s to either side of the conflict.

                Claverane: The home of the Heltalani. In the be beginning the Mindredence tested the defenses of Claverane. They soon learned that the region was as well defended as their own and have since stopped any and all attempts to fight their enemy there. (Now if you decide to do anything about this let me know.)

Mistmoor: I bring up this nation to explain their plight. Mistmoor was once Star Alliance but when Acuma was first resurrected their armies perished at the foot of Mountain of the Fury Hole (I should change that name.) This left the Halfling nation defenseless. The vampire lord Nosfairatis, swept in and took the nation by force vamping much of its citizens. Mistmoor fell quickly to the old vampire. (Nosfairatis is one of the first vampires who survived the First Vampire war.)

After this, Lord Nosfairatis had excavated portaling machines attached to transport ships. He armed the fledgling vampires and sent them to war around the world using these ships to move the troops quickly. The nation has lost much of its original number in the ten years it has been New Blood and its food supply is dwindling slowly. What is worse is where the armies go.

When a large force of Mistmoorian troops embarks on a combat mission they require a large amount of food (blood.) This food is mostly found were ever they are staying during the conflicts. If more offecive cases they can feed on their fallen enemies but in cases like the Calmar conflict where they cannot move forward they run out of food. (What to do what to do?)

The Calmar Conflict: This has been going on for somewhere near eight years. Sometimes there is fighting and sometimes not. Your last pushed ended in dead lock with countless dead on both sides. (J)

The Whisper Project: This is a Jargon specific project. If you remember correctly Jargon has a special weapons division based on the taming, enslaving and militarizing of wear creatures. The Corgan (East) region of Whisper borders East Jargon. It is also home to a large population of Ware Wolves. For many years Jargon has sent a combination of operatives from this division and N.B.S.O to Whisper in a prolonged conflict between ware wolf and vampire. Even with the cease fire agreement this has continued. Corgan ignored it and so did the rest of New Blood. There has been little success.

The Fallen of East Falnore: This is a large problem that has already begun to seep south of Seenitory’s wall into Jargon territory. Between the city of Tempest and Carf there is a large marsh that is now all but impassible do to demon activity. It’s the only road to Carf. 

The Lord of Tempest has sent Jargonian Srykers north of the wall to track the military efforts and maneuvers among other things. He has collected considerable data on the subject none of it looking promising for Jargon in the future.

Currently the Fallen are waging all-out war on the Wild Elf population of the Wild Wood (A stretch of forest not controlled by Seenitory.) They are also fighting heavily in the Whispering Wood and Guenhavar region. (Guenhavar is home to the second highest ranking Seenitory lord, the Duke Plantir’.)

If the Fallen take the Wild Wood and the Cursed Forest, (to the east of the Wild Wood) South Wind province and Seenitory’s wall will be left undefended and blocked off from the Star Alliance aid. This could be very dangerous for us. If the wall and South Wind fall there will be nothing left between the Fallen and Jargon.

Sect: The Churches have decreed that Sect is our ally. While it may be hard to stomach so too is Sect’s ally Obsidle. By connection of worshipers that means that the Empire of Coastaar is as well. This is not something the Lords like very much as the Black Elves were like responsible for the First Vampire war. It is an ongoing issue.

Lorace (Hell Spire): Lastly we have Lorace. Yes you retook the holy city of Baath from the Fallen but they still have a presence there. To the west of Baath is a Hell Spire. Some 5,000 demons still roam the country side. This will be a problem in the future if it is not taken care of.

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