Thaniifarri, The Remnants

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  1. AD INFINITUM

    AD INFINITUM Watcher from The Void Ex-Staff Gold Donator

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    The scattered, yet persistent. remains of a once great and bizarre people who seek to return to their rightful glory.


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    The frozen anchor world of Undas’Hiith was once home to The Remnants, a snowball planet, boasting glaciers that spanned down into the tropics with a violent global ocean along its equator. Its sun small and red, giving off only enough tender warmth and light, but frequently angry, blasting down its rays in periodic tantrums. The only refuge from encroaching the cold was the volcanic hotspots along tectonic plates that burned with a violent rage beneath the ice, creating oases of meltwater and hot springs around which life flourished. Vast black jungles of moving trees and fields of fungal fruits stretched along the surface where permafrost had not yet taken hold, and the sky full of planktonic spores tinting the clouds a lush brown, with towering monolithic cities reaching so high they threaten to breach them.
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    Skimmers soaring over the Stormway, Undas'Hiith's equatorial ocean.
    This world is now lost, sundered from a great catastrophe made at the hands of the Remnants at the height of their civilization. Its frozen remains now cold and lifeless in an empty void of space, lost to its vastness, its location perhaps never to be discovered.



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    Appearance
    Remnants are long serpentine humanoids with curving spines, strangely jointed limbs, and smooth yet thick skin serving almost as a soft exoskeleton. Their long tails are tipped with hard sharp blades like the tails of dragons. Their limbs are long and powerful, decorated with a colorful crest-like structure along their forearms and ankles, and tipped with long curved claws. Their faces are narrow and noseless, with three large eyes, two of which wide and snakelike with dark patterns along their edges, the third like a crystal that never blinks. In place of hair they have long hanging tendrils and quills that grow behind their crested heads and jaws down to their back.

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    A typical, Traditional Remnant, boasting the colorful frills of a broodmaster.
    Remnant skin is vibrant, coming in beautiful desaturated blues, greens, and sometimes violets, with reds being the rarest of them all. They have much brighter highlights along their many crests, and darker patterns that shift and flash with the color and shape of the chromatophores within their skin. Their hair shares much the same colors, though often brighter with simpler patterns. Their skin itself looks semi-opaque, with the flow of fluids visible to keen eyes just below the surface, ranging in thickness; least so in the crevices or joints, and most in the places between, Often callusing with age into a jointed look akin to those of centipedes.

    More extravagantly are the Broodmasters: Remnants who, after establishing themselves as the leader of a harem, go through a hormonal change that alters their appearance. Though largely looking like the typical Remnant, Broodmasters stand taller, boast larger muscles, and their crests have grown much bigger, more rugged in shape, and more vivid in color as a signal to other Remnants of their stature. To the common man, it may be easy to attribute male characteristics to Broodmasters, and Female characteristics to their harem, but as a species Remnants have no gender dichotomy, as Broodmaster is a temporary metamorphosis bestowed upon the dominant individual, with any and all Remnants capable of becoming one.

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    Tilon(left)'s hideus mutation, as opposed to Namilaan(Right)'s glorious mask.
    The rarest morphs of all are the Namilaan and the Tilon, whose stature is even more imposing than any Broodmaster. Namilaan are said to be so beautiful that to look upon them is to go blind in their heavenly light, and thus always covered in the finest of clothes, obscuring their true form. Conversely the Tilon wear their cursed forms with pride, with twisted anatomy, vestigial and additional limbs, discolored and warped patterns. Just as large, powerful, and imposing as the Namilaan, yet kept to darkness.

    Unique Anatomy
    Remnants have no internal skeletons beyond a thick cartilaginous spinal cord that spans their entire length, instead their bodies are supported by their skin and the push and pull of thick fluid between spaces in the body that act as both support and muscle for the whole. This of course means too much pressure or injury could rupture their skin, and lead to a loss of structure and motor function should their biomass escape.

    Around the eyes of all Remnants is a permanent dark marking that cannot be changed or gotten rid of, known as The Sigil. These markings are unique to the individual and can be cohesive swooshing forms, or scattered messy dots. Across the rest of their skin are chromatophores, which blink periodically and form the basis of their body patterns. These cells hold darker pigments, and in the blink of an eye can alter the entire color of the Remnant, often necessary under their sun’s radiation.

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    Preserved pecimens of young adult Remnant, eggs, and child, showing life stages and general anatomy.
    The brains of remnants span their entire bodies, with each cell having its own reduced neuron communicating with the other cells in a dense webbing of impulses that travel to thick clusters of neurons along the spinal cord, like smaller brains for every section of the body in constant communication, culminating in the forebrain which listens to what the rest of the body has to say, and acts upon it like a collective being.

    Having such a plastic and responsive body allows remnants to mold their bodies into different forms with enough time and practice. Known as Tetanturani in their native language, body modification can bring about entire new limbs, heal injuries much quicker, and significantly alter their looks into faces and forms they desire. This however has its limits, and is not true shape shifting, for their internal anatomy can only be pushed so far.

    The last notable adaptation resides on their face, their third eye, lensed and compounded like that of an insect, filled with many tiny fibrous nerves floating in cells of fluid that are drawn to the charges in the world around them, moving with the wavelengths along the electromagnetic spectrum to offer a sense of true north and keen electroreception without the need of water.

    All this neurological activity comes with high demands, meaning Remnants need a lot of energy, a lot of calories. To help, Remnants have long complex digestive tracts with chambers for numerous bacterial cultures to maximize the nutrients squeezed out of everything they eat, leaving very little waste behind.

    Combat Adaptations
    In the heat of combat, Remnants prove to be challenging opponents; With their fluid filled bodies proving to be very dense and heavy, powering their blows but also requiring them to throw their weight around, slowing their ability to change their follow through in a moments notice, leaving them vulnerable to attack in such windows. Along with this, Remnants are equipped with all the weapons of a predator, with sharp teeth, clawed hands and feet, and their razor-like tail tip that can be lashed around like both whip and sword.

    Being adapted for freezing cold temperatures, going so far as to have antifreeze in their blood, Remnants do not fare well in high temperatures, and will actually begin to melt when the ambient temperature exceeds eighty fahrenheit. And as mentioned earlier, a single rupture could cause their biomass to spill out, which is far more likely in such a state. To compensate, Remnants can safely drop their limbs and tails in jointed segments and close off the portion of their body from spilling, though this can create more problems than solutions. Of course, should the rupture come at the hands of concussive weaponry, which tears through their flesh with ease, there may be no hope for survival.

    Lastly of course, with the ability to control their bodies so thoroughly, skilled individuals may have much faster rates of healing through sheer mind over matter. Though Remnants may not be able to heal injury mid-encounter, they will take much less time to recover after the fact.


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    Behavior and Personalities
    Many remnants are described as oozing hubris as if it were sweat. This comes as a byproduct of their religious belief that they are designed in the image of perfection, going so far as to say that they are both descended from, and the progenitors of, various gods. Most remnants thus have an amazing ego, with sympathy for other species coming in the form of pity if anything. Of course, this does not hold true for every individual, though the preconceived notions may still afflict them regardless of their outlook on others.

    Due to these beliefs, Remnants simply refuse to acknowledge that other sapient species could be deserving of the same rights and privileges that they do, and that it is perfectly acceptable to treat other species less humanely than they would their own kind. Of course these traits all vary from individual to individual, and the subculture they surround themselves with.
    Remnants in general are typically conservative traditionalists, choosing to preserve the systems of yore in order to maintain power, unity, and identity. As such, they are all too eager to share and teach their ways with the youth and the foreign, and pass it down the generations with vigor. Though many younger generations born on worlds with better infrastructure may abandon older lifestyles in favor of chasing hedonism. Despite this, these deviants, and remnants as a whole, will rarely ever give up their beliefs.

    Unfortunately when placed in foreign situations, this detachment into their perceived reality leads to a slew of issues; Having difficulties adapting to other cultures, recognizing foreign authority having any power over them, and recognizing when their behavior is morally incorrect. One may gain the respect of the Remnants though, and be given their own sigils; a permanent tattoo along their eyes that signifies their welcoming into a clan. Such individuals are treated as though they themselves are Remnants, and put on the same pedestal.

    Among themselves Remnants value honor and chivalry, where one is expected to pursue greatness regardless of cost, but also to adhere to the duties bestowed upon them by both caste and faction. It is no matter of pride in this regard, but a matter of spiritual fulfillment; with one’s purpose though both individualistic and selfish in nature, seen as beneficial to the whole as they as a people seek ascension through their efforts.

    Faith and Ideologies
    There are a number of belief systems that Remnants adhere to, but the foundation of them all is the concept of Balance, wherein all things have an equal opposite, from actions, items, people, and ideas. Another fundamental building block of most faiths is the Hierarchy of Souls, which states that all things have a soul, but the complexity of the soul is tied to one’s closeness to ascension, with ascended beings such as gods at the top of this ladder, and the inanimate at the bottom. All too conveniently, other sapient races are placed below Remnants on this spectrum.

    The two most common religions present in Remnant society are Viitiis-Ensenaan (One with The Balance) and Lokyr-Aihk’Veus (Words of the Old Prophets). These two faiths had schismed many centuries ago, but built on a similar foundation:
    In the time before existence there was The Void Teluur stretched eternal, and The Song, the rhythmic Hymn of Everything. The Song forced itself upon the void, and made it birth Omnes; Substance and Stability, and Viitiis; Force and Change. The siblings grew under fear that The Song would hurt them as it had Teluur, but as they aged and wisened realized Teluur was afraid of disruption of his domain and was holding back the necessity of Creation. Omnes and Viitiis then mated, and together they created Balance, and birthed The Universe, banishing The Void to the spaces in between.
    Omnes is often described as being the whole world, and Viitiis as the forces that act upon it, thus making Omnes Body, and Viitiis Soul. Having both is necessary for maintaining balance, but not all things are balanced, and thus the Hierarchy of souls, where at its end is apotheosis into godhood.

    Viitiis-Ensenaan is the most widely practiced in modern times, and is a patchwork of older beliefs tied together in a unified temple that now dictates much of Remnant society as a whole. The major difference between it and its sister faith is that Viitiis-Ensenaan adheres to the philosophy that all beings can ascend, and that The Last Council have all ascended to godhood after defeating the old gods who have wronged them, making them now the keepers of The Balance.
    Lokyr-Aihk’Veus however believes that Remnants cannot reach ascension through brute force, and that the old gods are wise to The Divine Way to reach true apotheosis and they as a people have strayed from the path. Thus, believers deny The Last Council’s godhood and remain faithful to the old gods, seeking redemption. Lokyr-Aihk’Veus is far less finely structured than Viitiis-Ensenaan, with a stronger focus on natural forces and one’s place in creation.

    Social-Political-Economic Structures
    Remnants on a lower level organize in family units consisting of a single Broodmaster, his harem, and their offspring, who control territories of land and engage in commerce and exchange of heirs with one another. Historically, heirs would leave to form their own harems away from their parents, but civilization has allowed harems to coexist and tie their lineages together to form massive hereditary autonomous clans rich in diversity and culture.

    On a societal level however, Remnants organize themselves in a series of socio-political factions in the form of The Six Estates: The Royals, The Clergy, The Mystics, The Warriors, The Artisans, and The Common People, ranging in power and notoriety from high to low respectively.
    The Royals are the smallest percentage of the population, and consist of the God-King, the spiritual and political leader of the Thaniik world, the Ordained heirs, who eagerly await their opportunity to rise to Godking themselves, and the Patriarchs who head every great clan below them.
    The Clergy consists of all those who dedicate themselves to the faith and managing society on every level, for the church is inseparable from the state, as the priests, oracles, and inquisitors fundamentally ran the hedgemonic empire of yore, and still maintain their posts in modern populations. The Clergy also is home to The Council of Six.
    The Mystics are the leaders of industry and innovation, who invent new technology, put existing technology to use. These are the Viisals who study the anomalous arts, and the Roen breeders who produce organic technology.
    The warriors consist of the entire military forces of the Thaniik world, headed by champions who have proved themselves worthy of blessing and thus leading armies in the name of the church.
    The artisans are the working class, who create fine art, food, industry, and the like. Meanwhile, the Common People are all those who cannot afford a rank, are enslaved, or simply too impoverished to make something of themselves.

    Before the fall, a centralized empire was headed by the God-King and The Council of Six, who ruled over six kingdoms led by the Great Clan in a form of representative hegemony. Each kingdom would produce a single profound individual who was selected by strict meritocracy to represent their kingdom and take a seat on the Council of six. In modern times, the empire has long since fallen, as have the six kingdoms and the council. The highest form of governance Remnants now partake in are their clans, who still adhere to their faction and caste within when possible, though some are lucky enough to reform new kingdoms.

    Architecture and Fashion
    Remnants have a distinct taste for the decadent and ornate, boasting ludicrous amounts of fine jewelry and textiles on their person, as much as they can afford. Swooping jagged patterns decorate their buildings and articles in the form of engravings, embroideries, and guildings. Entire hymns and religious texts carved into vast monoliths. Truly, wherever space may provide, they will fill it with examples of their grace.

    Cities built by Remnants are notorious for their verticality, reaching high into the clouds and deep into the sediment for sprawling was rarely an option with unfrozen land in such short supply. Thus, great skyways branched between towering monoliths adorned with great murals and carvings, meanwhile pillars and walls broke the strong equatorial winds allowing peace throughout the elevation of cities. Without access to proper wood, the only equivalent being a weaker fungal bark, fine masonry provided for the bulk of every building’s composition, even the smaller ones.

    Clothes worn by remnants come in layers, with the innermost being the most comfortable and tight, with each subsequent layer becoming more decorative and loose fitting. Layers are added and removed to signify wealth and faction. Common outerwear consists of ponchos, capes, and cloaks. Armor as well does not escape the knack for beautification, for it is produced to instill fear, intimidation, and strength in their enemies, while still providing protection as best it can.

    The most important piece of attire someone can wear however is a mask. Masks are always bestowed to individuals by the clergy or inherited to a worthy successor. These items are extremely ornate, depicting elements of various gods, patron saints and spirits, or other creatures of spiritual significance to the individual. The significance of masks lie in the deeds of the individual wearing them, as they are only given to individuals who are deemed worthy by the clergy due to some act the individual has done in the name of the gods or all Remnant-kind. Common individuals to receive masks are the royals, the council, champions, and archpriests, though anyone may be granted a mask regardless of faction or caste, or even species.

    Technology
    On the galactic scale, Remnants are considerably low-tech, at least in terms of conventional technology. The volatile red sun over Undas’Hiith would frequently disrupt any attempts at creating fine electronics, leading to their uselessness to remnants. Instead, an alternative means was sought out.

    Genetic modification through the use of mutagens and selective breeding was conducted on a number of domesticated organisms to make them into tools that could be utilized by the Remnants, but none other were as influential as the cultivation of Roen through Roen’Tenlet, or Gel Vaulting.
    Fundamentally, Roen is a complex superorganism made up of countless cells like those of Remnants and other life from Undas’Hiith that can communicate to one another through innate neuron organelles allowing for amazing organization, but also allowing for interfacing among other species to directly control the Roen colonies themselves.
    As such, Roen is used in almost every facet of Thaniik technology, with specific breeds for transferring information long distances, converting biomass into fuel, distribution of fuel to other Roen colonies, simple computation, manually powering and controlling mechanical constructs, but most remarkably of all, Interfacing.

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    Interfacer delicately removing themselves from its Hollow, while its Homunculus comes to inspect for injury.
    Interfacing is the use of Roen symbiosis to control external organisms. Individuals who need to interface will have special ‘ports’ placed strategically along their spinal cord for Roen pseudobrains to connect to and begin tapping into the nervous system, observing and parsing activity from one body to the other. Once a symbiosis is established, the Remnant may now interface with any prepared organism, known as a Hollow, and take full control over its body as if it was their own.
    Hollows are mindless engineered lifeforms custom tailored for specific tasks such as construction or travel. Hollows are maintained through feeding them nutrient dense slurries and keeping them otherwise healthy when not being controlled, as they cannot react to stimuli without a host.
    Interfacers require years of training prior to their first connection, as the sudden influx of new information can become overwhelming. Furthermore,during connection, interfacers must sedate their native body and exercise how to properly wield their Hollow so as to not damage it or themselves. It is far from a simple profession, and the production of a Hollow must be tailored to its interfacer to work most safely and efficiently.
    Hollows exist for almost any function, be it simply recreation, transportation, or hard industry, with the organisms spliced together from various gene pools and expressions, combined with mechanical components where needed, and fed through the massive vaults of nutrient rich Roen slurries. As such, Hollow armors, suits, vehicles, and even spacecraft have been achieved at the height of Remnant Civilization.

    Another breakthrough in Roen’Tenlet is in the form of the Roen Homunculus, a blossoming intelligence bred to lead lesser Roen. Capable of learning, understanding, and even communicating when given proper apparatus, Homunculi are the loyal living computers of Undas’Hiith. Truly free thinking Homunculi may be possible, but is very rarely ever intentionally allowed to exist, with most cases coming from neglect or accident. Preventative measures of free or even rebellious homunculi include therapy, lobotomization, and further modifications to punish or promote behaviors. Homunculi are often given mechanical bodies to help them perform their duties.

    Beyond Roen and other organic technology replacing our more conventional ideas of technological development, Remnant civilization has barely passed the industrial milestone as we know it, with a preference for martial arts, fine craftsmanship, and tradition over much innovation or mass production, relying on their crafts for most everything.


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    The History of the Thaniifarri is one steeped in legend and faith, where the line between truth and story is blurred beyond recognition. Recorded first as word of mouth from generation to generation, to being carved into stone and ice itself to remain for all of time, the lucid and proud past of the Thaniifarri denotes a long age of growth, success, and great loss time and time again.

    Pre-Collapse
    The origin myth of the Thaniik people tell a story of a god by the name of The Blessed Mother, who came to Undas’Hiith after countless eons travelling the expansive universe to birth her successors in the great tundras, a people who would be made perfect in every way, who could experience The Song and The Balance like no other, in ways not even the god itself could. These successors were to overcome many obstacles and tragedies on their journey to ascension, thus beginning The Divine Way. This was the preordained destiny of the Thaniifarri, The Remnants.
    History begins with lost tribes enduring the great tundras as nomadic hunters, endlessly pursuing food and shelter in the harsh world around them, until one day a mother, laden with eggs, sought paradise, else she or her children may die. Named Saint Ibabapehktu, she is said to have been the first to consort with The Blessed Mother and was led to the lush fissures and seasonal jungles of the equatorial coasts. Ibabapehktu’s children grew strong on the fruits of this eden, and went back to the tundras once of age to bring others to Paradise, to Antem, the first city.

    Population grew steadily, feeding on domesticated fungus, slime, and animal alike, creeping along the warmer coastlines, and up the volcanic springs, and meltwater rivers along rift valleys where the crushing cold had not seeped into the soils. Cities grew rich in resources and culture as the global ocean provided the perfect means of trade and travel. Ancient empires would rise and fall for many a century in this epoch of growth and discovery, with this age of kingdoms ending only with the dawn of The Witching Year.

    The first awakening occurred in a clan elder, Saint Vassallian, after a prophetic vision of the Blessed Mother told him of the ways of creation, and to use his gifts to spread this holy word to the rest of the world.Saint Vassallian pioneered the study of the universe, of souls, of the balance, revolutionizing science and philosophy in his works. An enlightenment followed, with it theologians began writing a new faith, one that wished to teach them the true nature of all things, of The Divine way, and the purpose of the Remnants in the grand scheme of creation. A story of the Remnants ascending beyond their gods of old, a grand path of apotheosis that would lead them to their ultimate destiny as protectors of creation from the spiteful wrath of the void at the end of time. Needless to say, it was adopted steadily with great sensation.

    The new faith created unity across the kingdoms, guided by belief in their ultimate destiny. The Blessed mother spoke a final time, telling that she was proud of what they are and will become, but now it is time to slumber as ancient age takes her in her great tomb deep within the moon. She gave to the world a child, The Radiant Ahkzul, to be their final guide, who united the six great kingdoms together under their flag as God King after emboldening the faith and church. A leader of each kingdom would be chosen to form The First Council to advise the God-King.

    The years following the creation of Ahkzul’s theocratic endeavor was one of both light and dark, as the empire roge a crusade throughout the other cities and tribelands of Undas’Hiith. All that would not convert to the faith would be destroyed, erased from the earth to make room for expansion. Those compliant were welcomed into the empire with open arms, consumed into one of the six kingdoms. Despite the endless crusades, within the empire came great innovations in technology and society, seeing the cultivation of Roen taken to new heights, the processing of other organisms into new things through means of tampering. Ultimately though, to be within the factions of the empire was to live a life of prosperity.

    The mantle of God -King was passed down to chosen heirs, and the seats of the council changed time and time again over generations of growth and wealth. This golden age powered by rampant militant expansionism, growing the trade networks and overall available resources for several centuries, the empire sprawling across the continents of Undas’Hiith like an all consuming parasite. The church had a stranglehold over society as inquisitors patrolled the streets as police, and priests served as judges, their ranks almost synonymous with the larger functions of the empire’s government, always seeking out more ways of control and adherence to the orthodoxy.
    Technology had progressed substantially in the years of the empire, with highly derived Hollows the likes of which made survival in even the most inhospitable of places permissible, and unlocked new avenues of exploration. Piloted as vehicles or suits through land, air and sea, what came next was an arduous act spurred on with religious fervor; visiting the tomb of their deity. Some time under the rulership of the fifth God-King did Hollow technology advance enough to breach the atmosphere and send Remnants into the stars on slow moving, short distance crafts. With the moon of Undas’Hiith the holiest of grounds, no being was permitted to set foot on it but those chosen by the oracles, and thus, in its orbit, always in view of Undas’Hiith as a dark beacon in the reflection of its moonlight skies, was the ultimate temple constructed, The Exalted Temple of the Fourth Eye.

    The temple brought with it a renaissance of high art and culture as the idea of being closer to one of one’s gods was exhilarating. Pilgrimages were frequent, though much of the temple was kept secret, quarters of the archpriests and archives of ancient lore. From the depths of the temple’s hidden chambers came a most coveted and mysterious substance, The Blood of Seht. Its origins kept a tight secret, and its distribution controlled exclusively by the clergy, the blood was given to the Seventh Council, who underwent a transformation into the Namilaan; better, stronger, and importantly more perfect than their contemporaries. It soon became tradition for every new councilor to drink the blood and accept their blessing into a form more capable of leading the empire and the species. Good times however, were nearing their end.
    Those who drank from the blood and were said to be rejected became the Tilon, cursed and feared creatures of darkness and void and wished to pull all those away from The Divine Way. Despite their reputation, Tilon became lords of the underground, pulling great schemes of subversion and subterfuge on the empire, its kingdoms, and their peoples. Devious shadow governments under the eyes of the church who sought its destruction. The Council and the Tilon factions warred on and off for decades through wealth, infrastructure, and ultimately violence, weakening the empire over time.

    The day came for The Last Council to form; Sylvacena, Malasaetha, Viit-San, Moravi, Iirden, and Dicarre. The last Namillan, in their rulership over a weak and splintering empire. Through strategic raids, inquisitions, diplomatic ventures, and infrastructure improvements, the last council managed to salvage some previous glory, snuffing out many Tilon shadow organizations along the way. They were heroes of the people, seen as saviors of those still loyal to the divine way. This however, would not save Undas’Hiith or its people for what was to come. The Tilon circles cried out that they have been given the truth by the god Plug as to the true nature of the purpose of the Remnant people, of their mother Sulaseht’s true intentions, that they were little more than an experiment, kept and coddled closely, sheltered from true greatness in the dark beyond, being pushed towards a destiny they did not choose, without will of their own. Sensational outcry followed, and with it, anger at the gods, anger at their blessed mother, and anger at the church and the council. As if in response to their anger and heretical betrayal, The Drywinter fell upon the empire, a plague of epic proportions that spread first from the temple of the fourth eye from Damned Seer Plehksus. Millions fell to the plague, turned into seeming stone as their mummified corpses froze in the lifeless cities.

    The empire had fallen, the last God-King Alliir murdered, his heirs dead of the plague. The last council remained untouched by the dry winter, living to see the ruinous state the world has become. Cities burned, clans exterminated, ancient lineages ended suddenly. The kingdoms broken apart, conquered lands sieging their oppressors. The council saw that the age of empire was over, the church crippled, the population significantly reduced, and those who remained fighting over ideals, resources, and security. The Tilon rose to full power, seceding territory to form their own on the edges of the old empire. The Council could no longer rule in Antem, and fled with their remaining loyalists to the region of Somarri, a relatively untouched peninsula and once bountiful center of commerce, to build their new kingdom. A strange new era began, as The Kingdoms of Somarri, Antem, Nekruul, Eranor, rebuilt their lands and became new powers on the world stage, with many squabbling lesser cities and tribelands between them. In a controversial move, the last council sided with the Tilon kings, proclaiming Sulaseht had risen from her slumber and in her wrath had abandoned them, with the Dry Winter was proof of their divine rage. This created a final schism in the church between those still loyal to the old ways, and those who adopted the words of the council out of fear or hope.

    As Undas’Hiith recovered, The last council, its kingdom, and the others forged a new faith, Viitiis Ensenaan, and with it a new era of peace, shaky though it may be as the population divided between distrust of the old gods, and distrust of the Tilon and the Council in their beliefs. The Council continued their work improving society, reconstructing what once was, shamed but never defeated. After decades, many began to realize they may never flourish again whilst angry gods bear down on them from their moon and stars. Despite their new reign, the Tilon were still regarded as cursed beings, and have strayed too far in their corruption to continue the path of ascension. As the last Namilaan, it fell on the Last Council to do the impossible; break away from their imposed destiny and ascend on their own terms.
    So began The Ritual, a long and exhausting endeavor to seek out the means of ascension without the consent of those above them. It consumed years, lives, resources, burning thinner an already scarcely held together society, but a great device was built in the old council hall of Antem, and upon its completion, the Last Council conducted the mysterious act, and were never seen from again in the mortal plane. The World went quiet, while worshipers of Viitiis-Ensenaan proclaimed that The Council had risen above into the otherworld out of hope and desperation that salvation may yet come.

    An unease filled the world for the following few years as tremors began shortly after the ritual, growing in veracity with each passing. Conflicting accounts rise about what follows; The Viitiis-Ensenaan claim that the council waged a great crusade, a war in heaven over The Balance, for the spiteful Sulaseht hexed Undas’Hiith, swearing to rip it asunder and destroy the council’s precious people. The council would prolong the destruction as much as they could, but their newfound strength was only so much compared to the ancient deity, and so the people would need to go on an exodus to a world safe from the old gods. Meanwhile, the Lokyr-Aihk’Veus tell a different story, of Sulaseht sending down a great cataclysm to cleanse Undas’Hiith of the heretical and the deceivers that follow the Council’s Apotheosis, leaving only the worthy to prevail on a world renewed.
    Regardless of viewpoint, tectonic activity on Undas’Hiith rose dramatically over only a few short years. Many cities that once called the warmth of the fissures and springs home now topple and melt in unholy fire as the very ground beneath breaks apart and spews magma from its maw like a violent beast. Earthquakes and tsunamis follow every abrupt movement, battering the coastal cities, threatening to take them into the depths. Facing apocalypse on all fronts, The Remnants broke into war of ideologies, blaming each other’s gods on tampering with the way of things, taking all down with them out of selfish desire to be right, only serving to take more lives that the disasters themselves had not yet claimed. The wealthy and high in power fled on ships with their families, sailing off into oblivion, leaving the rest to squander in the ruin of their once glorious world now turned Hell.
    On the final day of Undas’Hiith, at the setting of the sun, the lowly slave turned Saint Barohim made a deal with the old god Acteloth; salvation in exchange for a mysterious toll; to take them away from Undas’Hiith, away from the fighting, away from the death and disaster. The old god listened to the pleas of the saint in what became known as The Exchange. Portals were open, and the price payed. Caring not for what was lost, the desperate Remnants entered the portals, and scattered across the galaxies in a wide diaspora, leaving behind their fractured home.

    Post-Collapse
    The Remnants arrived some centuries ago, scattered haphazardly across worlds and stars. Some were able to bring with them pieces of their old world; literature, technology, crop and livestock, a family, but others weren’t as fortunate. Many worlds landed upon by Remnants were inhospitable, with atmospheres too overbearing or not bearing at all, worlds far too hot, far more still lifeless and barren, unbreathable, or toxic. Countless more would see death, the Remnant’s numbers dwindling dramatically over the coming years as colonies tried and failed for they had nowhere else to flee.
    The mysterious and rare Midnight Worlds stand testament to the cruelty of the universe, for brave adventurers have discovered ruins of would-be thaniik settlements, monuments, or shrines, but as for the Remnants who once lived there, little remains but traces of genes in the hellish fauna of these dark inhospitable places. Perhaps it was a fate worse than death.

    Despite the harsh reality that was this great filter, life still prevailed. Small colonies on unassuming worlds toil away at recreating the glory of their past, living lives and making stories untold in the isolation of the unknown of space. And yet, by sheer luck, three worlds saw the upheaval of Remnants from Refugees to conquerors once again.

    On the planet of Purgatory Majoris, deep in its cavernous undercrypt a portal opened in the frozen wastes of Boreas. This planet was alive, and its pits settled by many aberrant forms competing for space and resources, but they were prepared to handle such adversity. With them came some trophies of the old world that would help them plant their feet in the permafrost; Hollows and Roen, scripture, seed and beast. They traveled for many rises and falls of the glow before discovering land where ravines crossed and warm steam from layers beneath blew upward. They made the treacherous journey to a plateau amidst the ravines, where the geography would protect them from many threats, and over the centuries built the great City of Nur’Turax. At its height, the city was colossal, spanning high into the windy skies of the cavern and spanning across the ravines, with very pieces of the city carved into the ice and stone and hanging from bridges and skyway alike. It was ruled by the great clans Efret, Relantiil, Havemorre, and Hkovan, who saw the state their people were in and worked together tirelessly to ensure their survival. As generations passed by, the Borean’s grew thick and sturdy, with muscular forms and dense armor-like skin to protect from the many dangers of their home. As a society however, the Boreans proved to be stalwart realists, never taking anything for granted, and fighting desperately for their survival, yet most importantly also never losing grasp of what was important, their will to survive. Nur’Turax proved to be a new golden age, however brief and uneasy it may have been. Later on when the surfacers of Purgatory broke into the Undercrypt, some left Nur’Turax to go with them, becoming the Snowskins, assimilating into greater Purgatorian culture, while still influenced by their heritage, forming small ‘thaniitowns’ in the corners of cities.

    On the cursed planet of La’Megoth, where disease, bloodthirst, and the FEV run rampant, Remnants found its erchius rich waters to be poison, and its native Drakablod adversarial. The beginning was difficult, but their cold forms protected them in the vast bogs from predators that hunted by heat, an edge above all others on the nightmare world. They lived largely as nomads, only building encampments in areas safe from Drakablod attack, with sparse permanent settlements far out of reach from all but the most sojourned. Unfortunately, it would not be long before the notorious virus made its way into their bodies, twisting and contorting them as with all other afflicted. Every subsequent generation cemented the disease further and further, allowing more change, until the Remnants of La’Megoth became The Thankless: Smaller and more lightly built than before, with better agility for traversing the boglands and thinner skin for twisting through the claustrophobic roots vines and trunks of predatory trees. The Drakablod took a liking to the myths and legends and tongue of the Thankless, adopting it into their very own, corrupting it along the way, building churches to strange variations of Thaniik gods. As time went on, The Thankless were increasingly welcomed, given rights, and recognized as people by the native government. While many remained nomadic and independent in the bogs, many more flourished in the opportunities provided of becoming citizens of the empire, joining the madness of Drakablod society as an older, wiser, sister culture to its people, their clans welcomed as houses both greater and lesser; Dicamiian, Haselunabe, Lasvaeus, Mortaen, Viitlas, and Vehkagne.

    The final world upon which the survivors had thrived was one long abandoned by the Grey, its technology left behind, its corpses and graves open as if not given the time to flee whatever catastrophe had resulted in its current condition. This provided a unique opportunity, for the survivors were of a determined cult of the new Tilon God-King Dyvros. The cult, known as An’Dyven, believed in true purity above all was the means of ascension, which the chosen Dyvros to be the purest of all. They spared no time abusing the resources given to them by the forebears of this world, building temples deep within the metal catacombs as they studied the technology, and pieced together the greatest piece of Thaniik technology to ever grace the Milky Way; The Void swimmer. A massive mothership of hybrid technologies, a traveling city, with all the necessities of life in the very void itself. The husk of the grey world was left behind as the great journey of An’Dyven began, following the traces of portals to other settlements to scavenge from and harvest the less fortunate.
    In their predatory crusade, An’Dyven recreated the Dry Winter, and unleashed it upon the unwilling worlds while keeping its cure to themselves, but after such prolific use, the Dry Winter escaped their control, and quickly spread across the galaxy in the form of Thaniik Blight. Catastrophe followed as it tore out Remnant populations across the galaxy, sparing only the strongest few of Boreas -nearly wiping out Nur’Turax-, and the many immune of La’Megoth, as well as An’Dyven themselves and small isolated pockets away from contact.

    As the blight ravaged across the galaxy, An’Dyven traveled deep into populated space to harvest the surviving colony of Veviit of its resources, only to be met by vitriolic resistance at the hands of the local celestial powers. The Void Swimmer was destroyed in the ensuing battles over the protection of the local civilizations, and the survivors of An’Dyven taken and enslaved by some, and tossed aside by others, lost to time as their captors too eventually met their end.
    All that remains of An’Dyven now live as refugees under the roots of Haven’s Yggdrasil district, becoming nocturnal to escape the heat of day, and never fully assimilating into Haven’s culture, remaining a distinct minority with access and understanding of modern technology like few other Remnants.

    Modern Day
    Sparse and nomadic populations still float about the galaxy, eking out a living in the shadows amidst empires and conquerors, with successful establishments few and far between. Following the Blight, many burning embers were snuffed out, leaving only the few, the strong, and the twisted behind. Of those that remain, the most populous in spite of adversity are the Boreans and Snowskins of Purgatory, The Purist Refugees of Haven, and The Thankless Houses of La’Megoth, yet others may come into the light, gods willing.
    Remnants remain, persevering despite adversity, refusing to go down any other way than kicking and screaming. What will you do, survivor, in this strange new galaxy?


    [​IMG]
    Remnants provide players the experience of being endlings; people who face the turn of the tide and can choose to triumph over the odds, or fall into despair. Haunted by the ghosts of their past, a past they still are prideful of, and can’t quite move on from, not without catharsis. For the curious player, they may delve deep into the mysteries of the Remnant’s mythical past, unbury lost history, piece together a much larger puzzle, and perhaps through their combined efforts, even save the Remnants from oblivion.

    Cosigners
    zecon125
    Iamnotanumber1000
    Trireef
    Padlock
    Teldrassil
    Cheffy
    Roren

    Join the Undas'Hiith Discord for resources, Q & A, and more
     
    Last edited: Oct 27, 2021
  2. Pinkbat5

    Pinkbat5 pocl v3.6.7 Staff Member Moderator Diamond Donator

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    Um. Okay. I'm thinking this is pretty epic.
    First pass (and i'm going to try to find somebody on staff who can second it, since zecon, one of our main species graders, is cosigning)
     
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  3. WowGain

    WowGain Bara King Staff Member Administrator Bronze Donator Event Builder

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    seconded
    i like the roen stuff, makes me think of evangelion meeting na'vi
     
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