Riarda Legends

Riarda Legends by Lucid
	Chapters 1–2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4;
	Discussion;
	April Fool's edition;

Fantasy adventure fun.

Part of a big original setting Lucid is/was working on.

Characters


Roqan & Mark


Shyen & Joshua


Jryuv

Roqan'Kotaj

A Vataruk Xyphor trained in the art of sneaking, spying, and finesse fighting. She and her partner Vol’qel man one of the many sentry camps along the border of Vataruk territories in the Ceretar Mountains. She awakes one morning to find her friend missing and sets of to find him…

Chord'valtuk and Gozan'falkud

Fellow sentries who Roqan meets while investigating Vol’qels’ disappearance. Chord is a helpful Xyphor, armed with a sling and ranger training, while Goz is a stubborn as hell Vedur.

Joshua Eceart

Dashing Slime Bard cursed with the worst curse for any minstrel, the lack of a story to tell. Armed with a nice hat and his trusty harmonica he sets of in search of adventure…immediately stumbling upon a maiden, singing as she bathes alone in the lake.

Shyen

Said bathing maiden, Behemoth Monster kin maiden to be exact. While initially annoyed by the Slimes presence, she is amused by his enthusiasm (and maybe a little flattered by some of his comments), and decides to take him to her village.

Mark

Panicy Hugavid. He’s the Dullahan pilot of the Ceretar force occupying Shyens’ village. Currently being dragged around by Roqan.

Jryuv

Cute Vataruk and one of Riarda's most renowned scholars. He’s so far been used as a framing device for the quest, and provider of delicious setting lore in questdis.

Setting

Races/Species


Choose your species

During the War of Creation, the four Dragon God siblings sought to prove to the Lord of Creation that they were just as powerful, if not more so that he. They set about creating their own mortal races. First came the dragons, as the gods of the Elemental Masters pantheon had commissioned them for powerful generals to lead their armies. Then came the Vataruk. Many Vataruk don't wish to believe this, but the Dragon Gods were not pleased with us, their creations, labelling us as a failed experiment. Historians are not entirely sure why, but theorize it had something to do with the accursed Nantuka Qabre, or "Dark Elders" of our past. They then made the Dragon-kin, mimicking the Lord of Creation's Monster-kin.

Human (Hugavids)

The hugavids, or humans, of Riarda are the most wide spread species of humanoid. There are three major kingdoms of humans; Ceretar, Thogania, and Shobleathe. Ceretar, for many years, was locked in a struggle to defend itself on multiple fronts. In the time of Great War, Ceretar was wrapped in a conflict with us, the Vataruk, Thogania was attempting to expand it's borders into Ceretar land, and the technological kingdom of Shobleathe declared war on Ceretar when they allied with the "magical races" that inhabit the Shobleathe desert. The humans of Thogania and Ceretar greatly improved the designs of the elvish inventions the "Dullahans." The humans of Shobleathe, shunning the use of magic, developed technological devices instead, using vehicles they call Tanks, and walking vehicles called Tech-shells.

Half-Blood

The Half-bloods, or commonly referred to simply as "Elves" are a peculiar species. The Half-bloods are descendants of the ancient elves known as "Pure-bloods." Pure-bloods were the last species created by the Lord of Creation, a sort of hodge podge of spare parts as some history books describe them, as such, they ended up being a strange smelting pot of DNA. The Pure-bloods had a peculiar trait in that they were capable of successfully breeding with nearly any creature, producing a viable hybrid. As such, these creatures eventually gave way to the hybrids we call Half-bloods today. Most are diluted elf blood with human blood, but there are some strange combinations out there. This is also where the people of Shobleathe explain the Monster and Dragon-kin races came from.

Monster kin


Behmoth Monsterkin

The Monster-kin were one of the Lord of Creation's later works. According to legend, during the War of Creation, the Lord of Destruction, lacking any means to create an army of his own, discovered a way to develop his army while, at the same time, adding insult to injury, as it were, to his rival. By using his power and corrupting the Lord of Creation's creatures he would force his rival to battle against his own children. Many animals were easy to corrupt with their simple minds, even the mighty Spirit Dragon Zurkan fell to his corruption, resulting in the Dragon of Destruction. But these twisted and monstrous abominations that the Lord of Destruction released into the world spread quickly. Their new forms and power allowing them to gain an edge over the native creatures.

Some of the animals fled, retreating to the Lord of Creation, pleading for his help. They were not able to contend with the monsters Destruction had released. Saddened by this turn of events, the Lord of Creation made a decision. He selected species of beast from each region and granted them new forms, forms that may grant them an edge over the new minions of Destruction.

From the sand swept deserts, he selected the Desert Runners. From the thick forests, he chose the mighty Behemoths. From the mountains, came the resourceful Tunnelers. From the windy plains, the cunning Trackers. The Jungles, the wily Amarans. Patrolling the night skies, the vigilant Tangle Moths. Keeping watch over the day lit skies, the swift Rocs.

The form he bestowed upon them was reminiscent of his previous creations the humans. They now walked upright on two legs, their front claws vaguely resembling hands. Though in many cases, these "hands" were not capable of much more than bludgeoning or slashing. They still resembled the forelimbs of their bestial cousins. For this reason, they were also given an additional ability. The ability to transform. Monster-kin posses an innate ability to reshape their bodies into an even more humanoid form. Their claws retracting, forming more digits on their fingers, and gaining opposable thumbs, their legs reshaping into plantigrade forms. This transformation is most commonly accompanied by the sounds bones snapping and reshaping in a fairly grotesque audible display, causing severe discomfort for observers within ear shot.

The Monster-kin were tasked with the protection of the Lord of Creation's creatures during the War of Creation. Some still cling to the old ways, dedicating themselves to the protection of the wild life and their home wilderness. They tend to band together into tribes of their own breed. Behemoth Monster-kin stay with behemoth monster-kin, Trackers with Trackers, etc. Their animal nature and appearance often times is the cause of forms of prejudice from other races. Some don't expect certain breeds of Monster-kin to be particularly capable of rational "human" thought, or even capable of anything other than standard bestial instincts.

Monster-kin are capable of interbreeding with one another, but in most cases, it only results in the offspring taking after one of its parents. In very rare occasions a hybrid may be born, displaying traits from both parent species.

Dragon kin


Earth Dragon kin

Dragon-kin were the product of the Dragon God siblings seeking to prove their superiority to the Lord of Creation. They reshaped their previous creations, the Dragons, into humanoid forms, mimicing the creation of the Monster-kin. Dragon-kin come in seven breeds, based off the dragon types they were made from, each corresponding elemental master, excluding Time and Death.

During the time of the War of Creation, the Elemental Masters commissioned the Dragon God siblings to create for them powerful generals to lead their armies. These generals would eventually come to be named Dragons. Each Dragon God sibling made designed dragons for two of the elemental masters, placing their own personal spin on their designs. Kelthulak created the serpentine Water and Shadow dragons, Goratesh designed the massive Lunar, and solid Earth dragons, Apudis designed the chitinous Fire and thunderous Storm dragons, and Nupsung designed the brilliant Light and the singular Time dragon. When the Siblings sought to prove themselves better than the Lord of Creation, they made followers. We were the first, but ultimately deemed a failed experiment by the siblings. They sought to create another race of worshipers while simultaneously showing up the Lord of Creation at his own game. They used their creations, the dragons, as a jumping off point and, much in the same way as the Lord of Creation did with Monster-kin, reshaped them into more humanoid forms. These Dragon-kin as they called them could shift between a more draconic form and a more humanoid form which even more closely resembled humans than many of the monster-kin.

While in their draconic form, the Dragon-kin have access to abilities very similar to those of their dragon ancestors. For instance, the Earth dragons and kin are able to turn their bodies hard like stone, and create spikes of rock extending from their backs and limbs, and, unlike most of the other breeds, are incapable of flight, however, possess the ability to meld with earth or stone to travel through it like water. Lunar dragons and kin are the largest of the bunch, are capable of flight, despite their bulk and lack wings, because their bodies house an innate ability for gravity manipulation, and are even capable of limited teleportation. Fire dragons and kin possess wings and are thus capable of flight, can breathe fire, and possess a smaller set of secondary limbs for close quarters combat. Storm dragons and kin possess wide, moth-like wings and the ability to replicate an "Anvil-to-ground" or "Positive lightning" bolt looking to originate from their mouth. Water dragons and kin possess long, serpentine tails and large, wide fins. The dragons tend not to have any legs, while the Dragon-kin do have limbs. They are capable of remaining underwater indefinitely and can fire a powerful jet of water from their mouth that is capable of blasting stones apart! Shadow dragons and kin are similarly serpentine with the full dragons not possessing any limbs. They cannot fly, but are capable of passing through shadows and creating dense clouds of black smoke from their bodies. Light dragons and kin have brilliant white and gold scales and large majestic wings. They can fire a searing beam of light from their mouths. Commonly referred to as "Divine Dragons" they are highly revered among the Vataruk and even races like humans. The Dragon God siblings were unable to create a dragon-kin inspired by Na'zarosh, the Time dragon, as she mysteriously vanished shortly after creation along with Chronos, the Master of Time.

After the Dragon God siblings were routed at the end of the first Dragon Crusade, the vast majority of Dragon-kin abandoned their creators, instead falling to worship the Elemental Masters. This would come back to haunt them during the second Dragon Crusade millennia later.

Vataruk (Daragon)


Goz (right) is an example of a Vedur, while Roqan and Chord are the more typical Xyphor

When the War of Creation ended, a new conflict arose. The Gods battled with each other for dominance and territory control. The Dragon God siblings remained unified and launched what is known as the "Dragon Crusade," seeking to eradicate the other Gods. As the four Dragon Gods marched on the temples of the Elemental Masters, the Vataruk were formed the initial waves. Whipped into a blind fury by the powers of Apudis the Fury Dragon, they cared little for their own survival. Many died simply by throwing themselves into the flaming body of Pyron, the Elemental Master of Fire in the first wave of the assault.

The assault on the Temple of Fire proved successful, the Master of Fire had been slain, however, for unknown reasons, the Nantuka Qabre began to fall to infighting. The Dragon Gods left the Vataruk behind to deal with their problems alone and pushed onward in their crusade. It was this divine choice that led to the Vataruk becoming as strong as we are today.

One Vataruk stepped forth, Ijol'Toqan, and took command of the now leaderless and confused masses. He led them away from the temple, and the conflict, leaving the Nantuka Qabre to battle amongst themselves. The Nantuka Qabre were a natural progression of our development, with very potent magical power, including the ability to use our Rune Magic without requiring any surface to inscribe the runes on, but had a negative side effect of their minds degraded. The Nantuka Qabre had a twisted and alien outlook toward the world and living creatures. Ijol'Toqan had rounded up the remaining Vataruk and through a ritual, placed a curse upon them. The curse shortened their life span and stunted their growth to prevent any of them from aging into the accursed Dark Elders. The Vataruk then began a life as nomads, wandering the world in search of their wayward gods. Centuries later, under the rule of king Dreman'Holtir, the Vataruk settled down in the Ceretar Mountains, believing it to be the resting form of Goratesh, the Mountian. while settled, Holtir's rune priests had stumbled across a ritual that would possibly give the Vataruk a means of circumventing the ancient curse put on them, and still avoid the corruption of the Nantuka Qabre. This ritual caused a Xyphor, or an adult Vataruk, to mutate. It was a painful transformation and altered their form permanently, but extended their life span and gave them new power. The results of the mutations were the Hopek-joqar, or "Royal Lords" which all kings and their chosen queens are subjected to, Vedur, or "Guards" (much larger and more bestial than a normal Vataruk) and Kabeke, also known as "Mages." Un-mutated Xyphor, are still the most common form of Vataruk, appearing as hunched, tan skinned, humanoid reptiles, with purple shells along the head and back. Their hand claws are rather clumsy and as a result nearly all Vaturak attach some form of weaponry or tool to their wrists.

As the decades went by, a conflict began to arise with the neighbouring citizens of Ceretar. Scouting parties had raided nearby villages for supplies not available on or in the mountains, when the villages fought back and killed the scouting parties, the Vataruk responded with force. The conflict would continue to escalate with the human kingdom of Ceretar, eventually leading to the death of king Dreman'Holtir. His eldest son would take up his reign in the time of war.

Nah’Goda

The Nah'Goda are commonly referred to as "Snake men." They believe they spawned from the blood of the Hydra. Historians believe they initially stemmed from a Half-blood, or possibly even a Pure-blood who made a "union" with a serpent demon.

Slime

The Slimes were initially considered just mindless beasts that inhabited swamps and dank caverns. Roughly two centuries ago, the Slimes gathered together and came forth, demanding rights, and to be treated as equals to the other sentient races. Slime society is ruled by the Masked Slimes, massive aggregate slimes that wear a skull or similar mask representing a "permanent" head. Slimes reproduce by combining with another slime with desirable traits or genetics. The two then begin to divide into offspring. The parents are lost in the process, but their memories and personality traits are passed down into their offspring.

Dwarf

Dwarfs are diminutive, stout humanoids. They have a penchant for wild inventions and sparks of inspiration. Some of the best designed and built Dulahans were created by Dwarfen hands. But the Dwarfs were not particularly magically inclined, so powering the Dullahans. As such, then messengers from Shobleathe arrived at the Ceretar workshops, promising efficient, non magical power sources for their inventions, the Dwarfs quickly relocated to the Shobleathe desert, where they have drastically advanced the Shobleathe army's Tech-shell technology.

Pantheons

There are three pantheons of gods worshiped throughout Riarda. The Dragon God pantheon is primarily worshiped by Vataruk and a few sects of Dragon-kin. The Elemental Masters pantheon is the most wide spread belief including most of Ceretar and Thogania, while the Hydra is worshiped by the Nah’Goda

Dragon Gods


Dragon Gods

The pantheon of the Dragon Gods

Miyerine: the Brood Mother. The Spirit Dragon, and progenitor of the Dragon God siblings. She judges the dead and takes them to their final resting place.
Zurkan: the Corrupt. Dragon of Destruction and sire to the Dragon God siblings
Kelthulak: the Void. The Null Dragon, a void of anti-magic, and eldest of the Dragon God siblings
Goratesh: the Mountain. Dragon of Construction, his size and appearance mimic that of a mountain range, his every movement reshapes the earth. Second eldest of the Dragon God siblings
Apudis: the Fury. The Fury Dragon, with control over the emotions of mortals, second youngest of the Dragon God siblings
Nupsung: the Dreamer. The Ether Dragon, existing between the waking world and the realm of the mind, the youngest of the Dragon God siblings.

Elemental Masters


Elemental Masters

There are 9 gods in the Elemental Masters pantheon.

Angol: Mistress of Gravity and space, she resides on the moon, watching from her lofty perch.
Chronos: the Master of Time. Little is known about him as he rarely makes his presence known in historical accounts. Another interesting note is that there has never been records of any mortal ever being able to use his power.
Mephisto: the Master of Death. In ancient times he attempted to expand his empire into the world of the living. As punishment for his hubris, the Lord of Creation fused his body with a massive mountain of flesh, imprisoning him in his own realm for eternity.
Pyron: the Master of Fire. According to historical accounts, the original Master of Fire was slain during the Dragon Crusade. It is unknown if a new master took his place or if his power simply persists even in death.
Lucifer: the Master of Darkness. Lucifer controls the elemental forces of shadow and darkness. Attributed for banding the other Elemental Masters together to stop the Dragon Crusade.
Golem: the Master of Earth. Physically powerful and in complete control of the land. He avoided the assault on his temple during the Dragon Crusade, apparently by seeking refuge inside the cavernous back of Goratesh the Mountain dragon.
Riale: Mistress of Water. Mistress of the seas, all bodies of water bend to her will.
Myrrna: Mistress of Light. It is said that she must never open her eyes, for if she saw the world in it's current state, she would become tainted and light would fade from the land.
Zephyr: Master of Wind. The breath of life.

The Elemental Masters were created and appointed by the Lord of Creation so watch over his world and maintain balance. Each given reign over an element, each given a foil in the form of another master.

Hydra

The third pantheon isn't really a pantheon, but a single god. The Hydra, which is mostly worshiped by the Nah'Goda. They believe that they all formed from the blood of the ancient beast simply known as the Hydra. They have developed a type of "blood magic" as it were to symbolize this link to their god.