Reality's Plaything 3: Eternal's Agenda

by Will Greenway

  In the aftermath of the conflict, it was a general consensus of the pantheon lords that they would all withdraw their primary influence to the outer planes, in order to prevent any further such conflicts. This was not only a direct result of Loric’s efforts but an increasing pressure from a number of other sources.

  Unknown to the lords, Loric had invested his essence into a secluded location, placing it within one of the five great krillglobes of his creation. Several millennia later, Cassandra Kel’Ishtauri found the globe and discovered the great mage’s essence within. The lady mage used her powerful magics to recreate a body for Loric and place his essence within the shell, restoring the ancient Numanorian to life. This last violently forceful vacation had taken most of the fight out of the great mage, with the pantheon lords having withdrawn to the outer planes there really wasn’t much left to fight about. Loric spent a great deal of time in seclusion, healing, and regenerating his lost powers. In the meantime, Cassandra was fascinated by this powerful man, both by the possibility of gaining his lore, and learning from him, and the romantic idea of associating with this legendary figure. Loric was, of course, alone and lonely, Cassandra was hungry and enticing. Eventually, the youngster wore down the elder’s resistance and the two of them developed a more intimate relationship. They were finally engaged in 1074 N.I.S. after five years of persistence. They were finally married in 1079.

  Loric is the patriarch of the clan. The gods tolerate his new existence but remain wary that he might start his old tricks again. He has three boys by Cassandra (born as triplets) Loric II, Radian, and Celek. He has a single son by Desiray (his second wife) named Farveth.

  See Also: Felspar, Desiray Illkaren, Felspar, Cassandra Kel’Ishtauri, krillar

  frell — Frell is a common curse in the Ring Realms. The compiler of the glossary leaves it up to the reader’s imagination as to what ‘frell’ refers to. It can be conjugated in a number of ways: That’s really frelled. What the frell?! You frelling made that up!

  Frielos, Aarlen — Supreme Magistrix of the 4th Alliance territories. Engaged to Regaura Targallae. Aarlen’s exact age is unknown (even to her) but historians agree that she can be no less than 45,000 cycles old. This member of the grand elder elite is descended from Territaani branch of humanoid stock. Aarlen was magically and technically enhanced by her Father in order to create a living weapon. Abused and tortured throughout her childhood, she eventually turned on her Father who had already killed her mother and sister. Unfortunately for the then twelve cycle old Aarlen, the cycle of violence did not end there. Mishap, misfortune, and aggression over a span of years eventually turned the white-haired woman into a brutal killing machine. She became proficient in all the major martial and magical arts, and mastered many forms. The a millenniums long series of bloody conquests she hacked out the territory of space now known as the fourth alliance.

  During her rise to power she made many enemies which include Elsbeth Crowninshield, Vulcindra Skybane, and the Trackazoid and Eddorian empires. During her thousands of cycles of life, Aarlen has begotten children for purposes of having agents under her direct control. She has thirteen acknowledged children still living. The Frielos family has some 12 recognized generations of relatives that number close to 75,000 members. Though it seems hard to believe, with a life that spans over 1000 generations, Aarlen’s distant relations likely number in the hundreds of millions.

  See Also: Targalle, Beia {Regaura} (Queen)

  Frielos, Drucilla — Daughter of Aarlen Frielos. Elder elite and member of the D’klace guild of assassins. Being “into” everything, she even plays in an all-girl musical group with Luthice and Arabella. She is the silent sister to Sindra Frielos.

  Something to note about Drucilla and her sister is the fact that while they are to a certain extent evil, and definitely self serving, these two never became the unredeemable black that many of Aarlen’s creations became. This seems to be a deliberate happenstance on Aarlen’s part, presumably so that they would be more effective as spies and seductresses.

  Drucilla is married to Annawen Kel’Ishtauri Felspar. The elder woman has been teaching Annawen the etiquette and protocols of the 4th alliance high court, as Annawen seeks to conduct law there.

  See Also: Felspar, Annawen Kel’Ishtauri

  Frielos, Sindra — Daughter of Aarlen Frielos. Elder elite and member of the D’klace guild of assassins. Being “into” everything, she even plays in an all-girl musical group with Luthice and Arabella. She is the speaking sister to Drucilla Frielos.

  Something to note about Sindra and her sister is the fact that while they are to a certain extent evil, and definitely self serving, these two never became the unredeemable black that many of Aarlen’s creations became. This seems to be a deliberate happenstance on Aarlen’s part, presumably so that they would be more effective as spies and seductresses.

  Sindra is married to Cassin Kel’Ishtauri Felspar. Being the “voices” of the two sets of twins its not uncommon to see them paired with the other twin. Why they didn’t simply marry that way is still something of a mystery…

  See Also: Felspar, Cassin Kel’Ishtauri

  Frielos, Thanos — Thanos is Aarlen’s last child, and relatively young by elder standards (around two thousand cycles old). He is the misunderstood child of the Frielos family, something of a black sheep that never got much respect because despite his name, he simply wasn’t evil enough. Thanos is a gentlemanly charmer trained like his older sisters, Sindra and Drucilla, to be an assassin. Thanos is the D’klace twin’s “baby brother” and there is no-one else that they dote on or show affection toward (aside from Cassin and Annawen). The relationship between these three is fairly complex, as there is definite signs that Sindra and Drucilla shielded Thanos from Aarlen in a deliberate attempt to keep him from becoming totally evil as many of the Frielos clan are. Thanos is still bad, but not an irredeemably evil despot, that others like him have become.

  Since the change in Aarlen, Thanos has become more accepted. Beia Targallae and Thanos share an uneasy truce, as he does not trust the Myrmigyne, and feels a certain amount of anger toward her over the pain his mother has had to endure. Why he chose Beia as the target for this upset is unknown, as she had nothing to do with Aarlen’s capture by the eternals. Some of it may be jealousy because when Aarlen was finally able to show affection to someone, it was to a stranger, and not one of her children.

  See Also: Felspar, Annawen Kel’Ishtauri, Felspar, Cassin Kel’Ishtauri, Myrmigyne, Targalle, Beia {Regaura} (Queen)

  — G —

  G’yaki — The G’yaki are together a race, a culture, and a guild rolled into one. The G’yaki are night warriors that hire out as mercenaries and sometimes assassins. They share many common characteristics with monestarial sects, gathering together in strictly governed colonies which dedicate themselves to self discipline, martial training, and enlightenment.

  G’yaki masters are renowned for their stealth and ability to escape, able to vanish through means of indirection, and pseudo-psionic disciplines. They are vicious warriors, their master-level fighters able to shatter a wall with a single punch. The G’yaki are most notable for their advances in tao-disciplines and spiritual-hardening. G’yaki devotees can over time develop spiritual properties similar to savants. Vera, the woman who serves as the Felspar Clan family cook is a G’yaki master. The little woman has demonstrated extraordinary combat abilities, able to single-handedly hold three Frielos family Sen’Gen at bay.

  See Also: Felspar Clan, tao

  Gaea — The name for the female creator-force. Legend has it that a coupling between Alpha and Gaea gave rise to all the living things in Eternity. Gaea is the patron of Wren Kergatha. She is known to many as the ‘green mother’ and there are many legends of this cosmic fertility goddess interacting with various heroes. The diaries of Wren Kergatha cite having met and received boons from this powerful immortal creature.

  Genemar — CLASSIFIED. Sorry folks… not letting this one out. We have only Rak
aar’s reference. ‘Creation run amok…’

  Gladshiem — The outer plane where Asgard, Niflheim, and the other realms ruled by the Aesir and Vanir can be found.

  god — Generic term for the immortal pantheon lords and ladies who make their homes in the outer planes.

  goddess — Generic term (female gender) for god. See god.

  guild — In the generic sense, any of several organizations that represent various craftsman. Mages, thieves, and warriors all have representative guilds (sometimes more than one in the bigger cities). When spoken of as ‘THE guild’, it is generally assumed to be the thieves or assassins guild.

  guilder — A member (usually referring to a thief) who is a member of a guild.

  — H —

  Hades — The outer plane where many ‘under-realms’ of demons and creatures of the dark can be found.

  Hecate — Pantheon lord, goddess of magic, death, and the moon. Hecate is an outcast even among her own kind. She pursues the ultimate power, Tan’Acho, and is willing to go to any lengths to achieve it.

  See Also: tan’acho

  Hella — Pantheon lord, goddess of death who guards the domain of Niflheim. In the story of ‘Neath Odin’s Eye Hella joins with Daena Sheento to become a first one.

  heterotropic — Of or pertaining to the power generated by living things.

  Hethanon — Initially an avatar of Set, who was the cult leader of a thieves guild called the Dagger. Hethanon destroyed the guild of Brethren in Corwin. Desiray Illkaren Felspar and Wren Kergatha mounted a counter assault and drove him out. Hethanon eventually lost face with Set after failing twice in to recapture Wren Kergatha. Hecate eventually opted to make Hethanon her avatar for purposes known only to her. After his acceptance into the cult of Hecate, he changed his name to Nystruul. See Nystruul.

  See Also: Felspar, Desiray Illkaren

  Homeworld — Actually, a gigantic ship in space. The Kriar homeworld actually encompasses and entire star. The entire structure is mobile and has wandered the multiverse for untold millions of millennia. The Kriar have two homeworlds the Fabrista homeworld (from which most of the Kriar in the realms hail) and Karanganoi homeworld which has been over-run by Baronians. Characters such as Senalloy, Luthice, Alloy, Rakaar, and others essentially hail from Karanganoi homeworld.

  See Also: kriar

  Hoshihana, Virasama Takara {Vera} {Su’Ko Tai} — One of the little known members of the Felspar clan, but undoubtedly one of the most essential to its smooth operation is Virasama or Vera. She is the cook, the housekeeper, the caregiver, the seamstress, the lady’s maid and a host of other functions. Vera is an energetic, respectful, and oh-so-correct servant of Loric gifted with extraordinary abilities. How this diminutive lady actually manages to do all the things she does is largely a mystery to most of the members of the household, but over the cycles they have grown accustomed to Vera’s “magic”. That include such things as being able to pour nine different drinks out of the same pitcher, or just happen to provide a new person with their favorite food.

  Vera is rarely idle and almost never seems to sleep. She is a extraordinary chef that provides the family with flavorful, no-nonsense, “country cooking”. Many are the times that some of Loric’s elder guests have tried to hire Vera away, but she always declines.

  The truth of Vera’s magical abilities lay with Loric, and his desire to make his huge household manageable for his trusted follower. Over the cycles, he has developed house magicks which respond to Vera’s unique mental talents, allowing her tao-like spiritual strength to manipulate the environment of the citadel to her wishes. Since few creatures save savants have a tao, it was safe for Loric to create these magics.

  Vera’s tao abilities come from her training as G’yaki assassin. Vera is a master level G’yaki with more than a century of combat experience. Upon passing rites of a master Virasama was given the alias Su’Ko Tai as her ‘true name’ and identity as a ‘true’ G’Yaki. Vera functioned in this capacity for several decades. It was only when she refused to take her own life after the death of her husband that she was dishonored and expelled from the G’yaki clan in which she lived. This dishonor lives with her to this day, and is why Vera feels herself only worthy of the trivial position of house maid.

  Vera has the exceptional combat skills acquired from decades of training as a G’yaki stealth master. In addition, she has the birth advantage of coming from region surrounding Tralondizaar, a location of one of the ancient Kriar gate systems. This particular gate was malfunctioning and leaking chronal energy into the environment. Over the millennia, the G’yaki family that lived in area were affected by these energies. Making them able to “slip” ticks in time creating an illusion of extraordinary speed. These “slipped” or bypassed ticks also extend one’s lifespan, prolonging their already tao-advantaged life forces.

  Vera hides her G’yaki training unless there is an emergency or there are special circumstances. When she “becomes” a G’yaki, her whole persona undergoes a change and she becomes a vicious machine with a mission. She does not speak while in this state, and communicates only with hand gestures and head shakes. She is a truly formidable fighting machine, able to stand off three of Aarlen Frielos’ technically armed Sen’Gen while sustaining only minor injuries.

  Vera’s tao-enhanced physiology gives her near superhuman endurance, and she needs little sleep. She is two to three times as strong as a well honed athlete of her height and weight. Her ability to “slip” time gives her phenomenal speed exceeding the reflexes of highly-enhanced immorts. G’yaki mind disciplines and close to two hundred cycles of life give her formidable mental skills as well. Vera is immune to most mind affecting magics.

  See Also: Felspar, Loric, Felspar Clan, kriar, tao

  — I —

  Idun — Pantheon lord of the Aesir, goddess of immortality. Idun is one of the more powerful goddesses of the Aesir. In mythology she tends the fruit which grant the Aesir longevity. As a pantheon lord of the Ring Realms she is the keeper of fruits which have restorative powers on pantheon lords that also can temporarily imbue a mortal creature with immort strength, resilience, and magick.

  Idun is the mother of Euriel Kergatha Idundaughter, and grandmother of Liandra Kergatha.

  immortal — Any of class of creatures which have effectively infinite life-spans. Immortal in the greatest sense can mean almost impossible to kill. The pantheon lords fall into this category being able to heal back from the most fearsome of wounds. In later stories, Bannor tests just how far “immortality” goes.

  implant — (specific to Cyberware c.f.) In reference to a particular techno-enhancement placed in the body. The implant has experienced shutdown.

  interdimensional — Of or pertaining to alternate realms of existence and their access.

  Ironfist, DacWhirter Varon {Dak} — Sometimes known as the Warmaster of Kron. Member of the Band of the Crescent Moon. DacWhirter hales from the Kron hills in the Kingdom of Coormeer to the east of Ivaneth. This hardy dwarf has taken part in a great deal of the lore of Titaan. He has been rumored dead several times only to reappear summers later as though nothing had happened. Through what magic he accomplishes this is still unknown.

  There are those who theorize that he is an agent of Moradin, who favors him with renewed life after sacrificing himself in the cause of protecting life in the Ring Realms. If this is the case, DacWhirter has never favored anyone with his secret. Measuring 16 hands tall and weighing over 22 stone DacWhirter is one of the biggest dwarves recorded in the realms. DacWhirter is an 9th ranked WarMaster and veteran of 20 All-World’s tournaments. He has at times qualified and made it to the final rounds the unlimited class tourneys. These inconsistent showings in tournament play have raised the question if there might not be more than one dwarf baring the name of DacWhirter Ironfist.

  Ishtarvariku, Dorian Degaba — Dorian’s history is long and complex. She started life in another guise, as a man named Gondor Degaba. Gondor’s life was one of adventure. He foraye
d against slavers, and giants, and evil elves. As a skilled mage he was injured many times but had never really met his match. It wasn’t until he joined up with the Band of the Crescent Moon in their fight against a Lich Lord named Ceta that he met with real defeat. The undead creature made everyone’s life hard. Her minions killed two of the band outright and Gondor himself was turned into a vampire which the party was forced to destroy in order to continue their quest. Through some powerful magics Gondor’s lifeforce was preserved, but he was an unembodied spirit. The band had undertaken their quest at the behest of the Aesir pantheon lords, and it was lord Loki who decided to take a hand in providing a new form for Gondor. The god bound Gondor into the body of a woman. From then on Gondor became Dorian. This made life difficult as during the course of their adventuring Gondor and Cassandra had already become close and sworn to each other. It wasn’t until a few months later they discovered how close they had become, because Cassandra was pregnant. Gondor/Dorian’s life was only beginning to get complicated.