Alexandra creates a third moon - this one smaller and imprinted with her face. Small moon acts as a regulator between the other two, regulating and calming the tides.
And there is a third moon that balances the other two, stabilizing their orbits. Her face now looks down serenely upon the world below, bestowing a radiant peace and hope upon it, bringing order of a fashion where there had been none, regulating the air and the waves in a way that makes life beyond elementals possible.
Alexander swirls her fingers in the water close to shore and creates primordial ooze, then watches to see what will happen.
And a third kind of life is born, single celled organisms, the first truly 'living' things rise forth from the primordial ooze and spread rapidly. From the perspective of time for Titans or even elementals this form of life is blindingly fast, and as it runs into the Boiling Sea and the energy of the Chaos Star within it, it accelerates rapidly, becoming several different kinds of life including simple plants and jelly fish like creatures as well, though all still very primitive.
Sawda-Saiph creates dark matter.
And so it is that Dark Matter is created, infusing the world, and the stars and the moons thereof. Only the sun is spared since its firey heat instantly incinerates the material. Often buried beneath the earth it slowly eats away at all matter though only in tiny microscopic amounts, but in relatively short order a few of the Earth and Fire elementals find it and begin to play with it, instinctively realizing its potentially destructive properties.
Χαος develops a split personality. Several more Obelisks rise up out of the earth across the lands, each glowing a different color.
Twelve are the obelisks that rise up. Order, Chaos, Mind, Might, Light, Dark, Fire, Earth, Air, Water, Machine, and Magic, each slowly but subtly influencing the minds of the elementals near it, further changing them.
Tiitloc's presence within the star accelerates the sun's aging. The massive blue orb pulses and sheds the blue shimmer. The energy wafts through the universe leaving residual radiation on solid mass as it passes. The unnamed planet is bathed in blue radiation as Tiitloc blesses the orbiting rock with a magnetic charge. At the equatorial surface of this rock, a blue pillar of stone is erected and stands upright reaching for the sun.
Behind the blue veil, as the planet witnesses the evolution of its orbital anchor, the sun expands a hundred fold to become a red giant. Tiitloc wrangles the core of the sun, directing solar flares at passing celestial bodies and hurls one of the giant's tentacles at the planet. The red giant's light pulses and fades as it attempts to ravage the surface of the planet; however, deflected by the planet's natural wards, the magnetic fields warp his blow save for a feint pillar of red light which is able to reach his temple. Red fades from Tiitloc's sun, much of its mass consumed in Tiitloc's leisure, but the pillar previously placed is wrapped in an oxidized red sheath.
With the sun now considerably smaller, and glowing a bright white-yellow, Tiitloc creates standardized and measurable units of time.
Along with the obelisks, directly on the opposite side of Mount Agni, a titanic blue pillar appears that is literally miles high, reaching up out of the atmosphere. It is a marvel to behold, and it generates a magnetic field that instantly charges the atmosphere. Earth elementals can inherently sense this force and are able to navigate within the earth with much greater ease and thank Tiitloc for the gift.
The sun expands to a fantastic degree. A symphony of solar flares plays out kissing the flames of the planet, which would have been roasted to a cinder but for the magnetic shield provided by the Blue Pillar. But the display in the heavens is unparalleled by anything they have ever imagined or concieved and all the elementals stop their pilgrimages to or away from the obelisks to simply stop and stare.
The blue pillar turns red.
And for the first time, Time is measured. And the elementals begin to count the years. For each year, a hundred makes a century, and a ten of centuries makes a millenia, and ten thousand millenia marks an Age, but one among them prophesies of an acceleration of time and declares that eventually the Titans will fall. He is killed by the other elementals for his blaspheme.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
The Book of Soapus
(From the First Twilight Game I played some time in 1997....)
--The Book Of Soapus--
(with WB's original editor's notes)
Editor's Note: I did not edit this crazy thing, nor would I try to. When I copied it from the e-mail message, the margins were all screwed up. As a result, it seemed to be fifty-seven pages long, even though it's really only about 16 (according to MaSTR HaQR). However, I feel the need to point out a few important things:
1. Brillo Merge, the author of this history is a descendant of the great Rotan Merge, a very powerful mage and pioneer in the field of Astral Physics, among other things.
2. This chronicle uses the Soapasianized versions of several names. The "Vrshankel" were actually known as the "Vrashkel" and their god was "Vraskh." The "Torpathi" were actually "Torphathi" and their god was "Torphathe," and the "Eloi" are actually "Ealoi" (their god was Ealos). In addition, the "Veral Rockets" mentioned later are actually "Viralite Rockets."
3. The Soapasians liked to name their children after cleaning products. Proctor and Gamble were two famous Soapasian figures, if I recall correctly. And let's not forget Barsoapus the Mech Pilot.
With that said, enjoy a history of the first Twilight world as written by the actual player--Soapus the Clean, God of the Clean Ones and All-Around Fun Guy--through the eyes of his chronicler, Brillo.
Year of the Tree: 501021 It has been millennia since the founding of the golden age, whence the Alliance Races broke free of the planar barriers and the Cycles of everlasting warfare with the Torpathi and other aces. Thus, with such golden times, the beginnings of the age are often shrouded in mystery. The lessons of the past teach that those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. Thus it is with this in mind that I present the most recent and modern translation of the Book of Soapus, as originally believed to have been written by Alexander himself, though skeptics maintain this is more of an allegorical than an actual history. Efforts by Time Viewers to see into the past of the Plane of Origin have proved fruitless. It is suspected that early experiments in dimensional theory by deities in he tangential planes, as well as the frequent use of Manaroids and other weapons of mass destruction prevent an entirely accurate count, nevertheless there is, in each of us, a more romantic part that wishes to believe these things are true. Regardless, they are of some worth to be read, if nothing else than to learn the methods of thought of those early peoples and how they perceived the world.
Humbly Yours,
Brillo Merge
Year: Genesis
"In the beginning, the Clean Ones had no minds. They came to life at the same time as their lord, Soapus in the middle of a vast and beautiful plain with towering mountains to the south and to the northeast. In the center of this plain there lay a great lake, Crystal Lake, with a giant Crystal Island in the center. Soapus had a vision in which a beautiful city of wonder and perfection.
His first act was to give the Clean Ones deep and clean thoughts...this proved to be a wise act, for their intelligence and cleanliness would ever after be established. However, he made a critical error, in that he did not teach them spiritually until after he taught them of things temporal, and thus...left room for flaws of spirit to enter.
Still, though they thought deep and clean thoughts, this would not teach them, and so Soapus created the Linking Tree, a tree which would establish a connection between all living things and the Clean Ones. This was very draining, but it worked. From it, the Clean Ones built a village like the beaver and burrowed into the ground like the ant, finding copper metal. They quickly learned fire and began to slowly forge tools that would help them build.
Eager to build the city, he attempted to teach them many things at once, but alas, they were still learning slowly but surely. Thusly, he sought a leader, and left a box to test their intelligence. The one who could figure out how to open the box would be the next leader of the people. One fellow, not knowing what the box was took it and used it for firewood...and at the same time, happened to open the box.
Soapus laughed and was pleased. He named this fellow Alexander and thusly Alexander became the first Avatar. Soapus told Alexander to study the animals and learn the nature of magic. He reported that this would take some time...but nevertheless he began.
Soapus then began to slowly teach them. He taught them of math, a science at which they later excelled. He taught them of beekeeping and oil. He taught them of carpentry and gave them an alphabet. He taught them of silks that they might make fine linen with which to clothe themselves. He taught them many, many things about agriculture. Above all, he taught them of soap and cleanliness, thusly they were free of disease and impurities. So happy were these people, that they built a marble statue to Soapus for the simplicity of their lives. Thus was Soapus pleased for he did not wish to impose religion upon his people, but rather that they would chose him of their own free will. He taught them then the seven runic virtues, Order(Cleanliness), Preparedness, Justice, Balance, Honor, Kindness(Mercy), and Faith.
Alexander continued to study magic. The first thing he learned was the way of Grass, to bend like a reed in the wind. A simple spell, what some would call useless...but a spell that would prove critical later on. Later, he learned the way of the Dolphin to swim under water...and the way of the Turtle, shielding his body by making it harder to kill. With time they grew in power and Alexander took apprentices.
The construction of the great Crystal City was well underway, built of marble with sprawling streets and great arches. There were large amounts of silver, with well running sewers and indoor plumbing and an aqueduct to a well preserved water supply. The Clean Ones were content. They were building their city and their lives were prosperous. Then the stranger came.
The Year of Reunion:
The name of the stranger is lost in antiquity. He claimed that he did not know of any other nationalities, but he was helpful. With the aid of a magical communication spell, he was fascinated with the magic of the Clean Ones, primitive though it was. In exchange, he agreed to teach them Martial arts and took on several students. Using the meditative techniques of the Way of the Grass, these Adepts grew in mental power and cunning...and became the Soap Ninja.
Soapus realized that it was necessary to pay attention to the world outside, especially when a message broadcast across the planes, "I am Torpath. I will have all your lands." This caused him to worry, and thus Soapus created the Rangers and sent them to the four compass points to begin mapping his lands. He created several colonies and the empire of the Clean Ones began to expand. Still worried, Soapus established Kel Arhman, the Mountain Fortress...a fortress so powerful and vast that in this history of Walrus World it was never taken.
The Stranger eventually left, while the Soap Ninja continued to study their arts. From the north, across the mountains, a group of pointed eared warriors came, tall and proud. Through the magical communications spell, Soapus learned that these people were called Hyberites, disciples of the god Hyberios the Storm Bringer. Fearing the aggressive nature of Torpath, and not knowing where this person might be found, he joined in an alliance with Hyberios, thus forming the Holy Alliance, consisting of Hyberites, Clean Ones, and Vrshankel. The Vrshankel lived in a desert to the south of the Hyberites and were masters of magic, forging magical axes. A trade agreement was struck and a road was begun over the mountains to link these two peoples.
Hyberios wanted to expand the Holy Alliance and looked for allies. One calling himself Tyrus, the God of the Forge said that he was sending a party to trade and meet with Hyberios. But alas, this was a ruse, and the Hyberites were caught unawares by the foul Torpathi who took this opportunity to attack Hyberios and steal half his lands.
Quickly, word spread up and down the alliance that war had begun. The Soapasian military mobilized. Catapults, accurate to an incredible degree with their terrible greek fire, Soapasian Iron Phalanxes (the first to use Iron), Soap Ninja and Nukeru, giant terrible cats were ridden by armored knights known as Nukeru riders. These joined with Hyberite and Vrshankel forces in a terrible series of trench warfare.
Trying to go over the wall, Soapus sent gliders hopscotching across the mountains to the edge of the Hyberite territory where a glider base was established. There the gliders began to reign terrible death and destruction on the trenches, but at a terrible price. Still, Soapasian glider technology was improving, including a mesh made of Steel Salve Silk, that would make a mesh as hard as steel to protect them from the Torpathi arrows. The Torpathi were cunning however, and stormed the base, stealing the secret of the glider from the Soapasians.
In an attempt to still command the skies, Soapus taught them how to make a balloon out of silk, and attempted to have them create a cycle powered engine to drop greek fire down on the Torpathi from high altitudes. The Clean Ones were not capable of this fine a work however of gears and pulleys, so Soapus spent his divine will and shaped it himself. His work exceeded his expectations however, and it became Steam Powered. The Clean Ones studied this well and learned a great deal that day.
The Soap Ninjas took back the glider base and the war began anew. Still, despite every attempt no progress was made until the humble Alexander cast a rain spell, filling the trenches, allowing the Alliance to storm the wall.
Torpath was not easily beaten however, and from behind the wall a mighty Crimson Storm, hundreds of improved and powerful Hand Gliders stormed over the wall and attacked the alliance forces. Before Alliance forces could blast the wall however, giant meteorites came down from the sky and blasted the land. This was the beginning of the Year of Starfall.
The battle was fierce, but without their trenches to hide behind, the Alliance forces were still more than a match for the Torpathi, powerful warriors though they were and they were slain. Torpath was wroth and blasted the land, turning the western third of the Hyberite's land into a warped and twisted place where foul creatures ran amok. Still, there was much celebration that day, for though it was with great cost, the Alliance had won and driven Torpath from that land, and thus it has been celebrated ever since.
The Year of Starfall:
The Vrshankel had discovered and perfected a powerful weapon called an Energy Rifle, powered by a crystal called Ferion. This weapon was very helpful in the final battle of the First Torpath War. This caused the Soapasians to begin experiments in gun powder, for Soapus was worried about dependence up`on a material such as Ferion for the defense of the Alliance. It would prove that his foresight would be quite accurate. Thus, experiments led from rockets, to primitive cannons. The Soapasians went directly around the inefficient musket, directly developing the Rifle. These technologies continually improved over time.
Probably the biggest change of paradrigrim of the age came from the study of the dirigible however. Upon studying the engine of the airship (which had been shot down during the battle but recovered) they learned how to replicate it...and further how to generate a primitive anti-gravity drive(partially derived from magic) that allowed the creation of Hover Cars. The demand for these hovercars was so strong that the Soapasian economy entered the industrial age, and began to replicate these cars in large numbers. Further, their use was immediately seen for military purposes and they were quickly applied to Gravity Tanks. These bulky machines were extremely heavy at first, guarding only the caravans that crossed the great road between the Hyberite and Soapasian realms, but eventually expanded in functionality until they could travel in other areas. Eventually combined with the Hyberite Masher and the Vrshankel Land Crawler these heavy war machines increased Alliance land based military power substantially.
Immediately after the victory upon Torpath, the Alliance began gearing for war. They were angered at the actions taken by Torpath, and were determined to put their technological superiority to good use and began seeking for the city of the Torpathi. Eventually this city was found, and an expeditionary force of Alliance Units set out across the forest on the western edge of the Vrshankel realm to begin attack against this city. The Vrshankel had made a treaty with a powerful magical race known as the Eloi, who laid claim to this forest. The Eloi were masters of magic and extremely isolationist in their manner. They wanted no part of the alliance and threatened dire consequences upon any who violated their domain. Nevertheless, they permitted the Vrshankel to build an outpost near their forest to obtain wood.
Upon arriving near the Torpathi city, a fortress was begun. Trenches were dug and a small glider ramp was being set up. The Vrshankel had improved upon the Soapasian glider in several ways, including installing magical controls and a vertical lift so that they no longer required the cumbersome glider bases (thus allowing them to be used away from the mountains).
The Soapasians began a tunnel from this forward fortress of the expeditionary force in an attempt to tunnel under the Torpathi (from the middle of the forest where the Expeditionary base was located) and take them by surprise. This tactic was not to be given a chance however, because the Torpathi attacked the advanced base. At first they were destroyed in great numbers, but then once again these troubling psychotics proved to be quite adept at adapting(much like cockroaches) having duplicated the Vrshankel energy rifle, and additionally improved upon it, such that the Torpathi Energy Rifle was capable of firing several shots per Ferion crystal whereas the Vrshankel was only capable of one. The Torpathi numbers were overwhelming. In addition, initial expectations of Torpathi strength were highly understated.
Soapasian Ranger and Vrshankel advanced scouting units reported that there was not simply one Torpathi city, but dozens. The numbers quickly overwhelmed the Alliance who in the interest of preserving their forces against such overwhelming numerical odds called a retreat.
Soapus was loathe to abandon his tunnel however, and ordered it sealed and hidden. He then had his mages work on a method of teleportation to allow the tunnel to continue with the eventual hope that perhaps a teleportation gate might be built. The mages went to work and eventually discovered the Astral Circle. The Astral Circle allowed mortals to enter the astral plane and teleport in a one way direction, much akin to the concept of Hyperspace. The drawback of this was that only trained mages, and of them only a few could make this journey. The mage responsible for this advance was Rotan Merge...and we shall learn more of him, and his wisdom later.
The Alliance, realizing that it was heavily outnumbered sought to expand its power base by taking in new Allies. At this point, Soapasian airships discovered movement high in the mountains between Soapasia and the Hyberite Western Frontier. Upon landing, they discovered nothing, and despite a thorough investigation could find none of the signs of life they had initially spotted upon their overpass. Just when they were about to leave, a group of medium sized reptilian people with three eyes showed themselves.
They called themselves the Glenflendings and that their god was known as Arcanos, god of Magic. The Soapasians and the Glenflendings rapidly became friends, and the Clean Ones began to show the Glenflendings the wonders of civilization, showing them blacksmithing, reading, writing, mathematics, philosophy, and several other sciences. In return, the Glenflendings showed the Soapasians a metal they called Koldfish, which the Clean Ones began experimenting with. It rapidly became apparent that this metal was highly toxic to Clean Ones and most of the other alliance races as well, but for some reason the Glenflendings were immune to its deadly effects. The Soapasians got around this by building lead suits which allowed them to experiment with this metal.
The Soapasian initiative to expand the alliance was not limited to the Glenflendings however. A minor people, the People of the Emerald Valley, a warrior like race who physically resembled the Hyberites was approached by the Soapasians. The Soapasians invited to increase their technology base and build a railroad to their country, in exchange for troops to help fight the Torpathi. The Alliance was leery of giving these foreigners full status in the Alliance until they had proved themselves in blood as had the founding three members, and thus the Alliance Foreign Legion was established, based in Hyberia and along the massive front being constructed along the Hyberite and Vrshankel border. The Soapasian had a similar project, building a massive wall all the way from the mountains to the North East, to the Hyberite Mountains to the west. A brief sojourn by the Torpathi up north towards Crystal City had been crushed before, but had taught the Soapasians the need to defend their own lands.
The Valley People were grateful for this aid, and gave the Soapasians two secrets. The first was a metal called Teken, basically useless except as an ablative armor it was very crumbly. The second was FAR more useful however.
The People of the Emerald Valley had had a secret trade pact with the Masquites, a race of small white beings who lived in an endless network of tunnels underneath the Alliance lands. These tunnels also extended to the Lands of the Torpathi and were used to scout out the lands of the enemy. The Masquites also joined the Alliance Foreign Legion.
Trade and Commerce in the Alliance was expanding like never before. Technology continued to increase. The Vrshankel made incredible discoveries in magicoloy, while the Soapasians continued to rapidly progress down the field of science. The Hyberites were the master engineers as well as the leaders of the alliance, taking Vrshankel and Soapasian discoveries and enhancing them into more practical applications.
The Soapasians began several ambitious projects during this period. Once the Soapasians saw the value of the great river in the Hyberite realm to their economy, the Soapasians began a work of truly staggering proportions, building a canal OVER the mountains toward the Hyberite plains and river. The canal would take generations to complete, but would remain one of the great wonders of the Walrus World in terms of construction. The Soapasians also increased in their knowledge of electricity and developed a Soapasian power coil to create Broadcast Power, and giant fifty foot tall Collosi.
Mages created Shield Stones that protected them in battle. The Soap Ninja studied and expanded their Chi, learning the magical art of disguise and of invisibility. The Rangers began the use of the explosive bow. Rapid Firing gatling guns called Draino Guns were also placed up and down the front lines. Once again, however, it was the Vrshankel who pushed the limits of science with magic. The Hyberites and the Vrshankel skipped biplanes altogether and created a magical jet. The project was massive and difficult, but with the discovery of a new element called Stagen Crystals, the massive power needed to fuel the engine of these magical jets was created. Soapus was shocked (though pleased) by this development. He had long thought that his people would be the ones to dominate the skies in the alliance, having been the ones to discover flight. The Vrshankel were the ones who had pushed back the preconceived barriers however, and Soapus, being prudent, had the Soapasians study the Vrshankel methods and create factories in the north like those in the south that the Soapasians would be able to make jets of their own.
It was the Hyberite creation of the Veral Rockets however(massive rockets capable of traveling hundreds of miles by magically guided and powered engines) that Soapus truly saw the potential of these new technologies and had his people begin working on the discovery of Liquid Oxygen. This was not to prove an easy task however, since it appeared the laws of physics for Walrus World were slightly different from those of our own, and thus was proving extremely difficult. It was more than a matter of sheer pressure. He had them continue researching in this area however.
The jump ahead in aerial technology offended the Soapasians. They had become, over time a very conservative people, and thus Soapus began to see the error of not teaching them spiritual things before he taught them temporal things. With the advancement of technology, also came the advancement of Culture. The Soapasian senate began a wide base series of labor laws , banks, music, dance, theatre, and architecture. Crystal City was truly a wonder to behold and was the largest city in the entire Alliance.
Soapus inspired a new kind of music, Soap and Roll (much like the rock of the fifties). The Hyberites quickly followed suit with their own type (Kjorn and Roll) and the Vrshankel with a magically powered Heavy Metal. The Hyberites and Vrshankel, finding more in common with each other than their pacificistic cousins to the north, created the sport of Telnocking, a violent game that was a combination of rugby and polo using the skull of an enemy bound in a leather ball that was beat about with a stick. When the Soapasians found out about this Telnocking, and when a Vrshankel Heavy metal concert was played in one of the more conservative villages, a large portion of the Soapasians became outraged (the unsanitary habits of the Vrshankel such as urination in public streets didn't help matters).
On the senate floor Senator Stroap Thurmond decried the Vrshankel, calling them a bunch of filthy scum, dirty by nature and that they should be thrown out of Soapasia. He said that he understood the need for the alliance, but they could still be part of the Alliance without having Vrshankel in their nation. A large number of the Soapasians agreed with him. The Vrshankel were none too pleased with this statement, and the Hyberite Monarchy ordered the recently formed Hyberite Secret Police to begin a public defamation campaign against the Senator as a result (done through two Hyberite newspapers, the Truth and the Inquisitor).
Soapus was gravely worried about this. This kind of behavior by his people was not something he expected. Short of slavery, he had taught them that racism was a high religious crime. This was not punished by law however, for Soapasia was the most religiously tolerant of the Alliance lands. Determined that something must be done, Soapus spoke to Alexander (now quite aged) and had him deliver a speech decrying this kind of attitude to the Soapasian people. He spoke of the great contributions that had been made by Vrshankel, and how Vrshankel blood had spilt next to Soapasian in the war against the Torpathi. This convinced many of the error of their ways. Still, Soapus began a program to educate the young called the Clean Scouts in an attempt to have future generations avoid this kind of behavior in the future.
Both the Hyberites and the Vrshankel had elite priests with magical powers. Soapus considered this and decided to create a magical race of priests of his own and formed the H.O.O.O.C.J.F.C.A.P. (Happy Order of Obsessive Compulsive Janitors for Cleanliness and Peace). This sect later became known as the Psycho Janitors for short. Possessed of magical cleaning powers almost beyond mortal kin, they proceeded to clean up Soapasia and the large amounts of waste that had been built up by the industrial revolution there (though this was far FAR less in Soapasian than in the other Alliance lands).
Soapus sent these janitors to the Laeryn to the west. The Laeryn were a people of sailors and traders. The Laeryn had established an alliance early on with the Hyberites, but unlike the Soapasians and the Vrshankel had refused to send troops when the call for aid came from Hyberia. Now that the Alliance was strong in might and power, thought was being considered to punish the Laeryn for their refusal to honor their agreement. Soapus, being pacifist in nature, decided to use a different tactic, and have them annoy the Laeryn. After all, they had benefited as much as the rest of the alliance by the victory against Torpath(their lands having been saved due to the victory in Hyberia) The Laeryn had built a great wall however, preventing the janitors from entering. The janitors then began making paper airplanes and sending them over the wall as petitions to allow them to enter the country. This proved a valuable method of treating the insane (compulsive cleaning) among the Clean Ones, and gave the Janitors something to do until a better use could be discovered for them.
Surprisingly, the Laeryn suddenly all vanished, having fled across the sea in their magnificent white ships. Not wanting land to go to waste, Soapus had the Clean Ones colonize this land, thus giving them access to the ocean, doubling the size of the country and making Soapasia the largest country in the Holy Alliance.
Things were going so well for the alliance, that a message was sent forth by the three gods across the astral plane(though Soapus, cautious as ever was worried about this...and as usual proved to be correct in his worry) that the Alliance was undefeatable and that to join the alliance was the best course of defense against the psychotic Torpathi. The response to this address was not entirely what they expect however. Shortly thereafter, a giant meteorite was seen in the sky, headed toward the Hyberite capitol. Upon closer examination, it was discovered that this was not in fact a meteorite, as the previous had been, but a Manarite, a huge ball of destructive divine essence directed toward Hyberia.
The three gods combined forces, hoping to deflect the manaroid, but their efforts were not successful. However, they were not a total failure, and they were able to divert the course of the manaroid away from the capital, only to have it crash into the Alliance's only source of Ferion. Accompanying this impact in which hundreds of innocents lost their lives was a taunting message by the god Paygan, claiming that he had struck to strike down the Alliance for their impudence in attempting to make an alliance.
Shortly thereafter, the god Arcanos mentioned that he was going to go into negotiations with Pagan, pretending to be his friend, but in fact getting ready to double cross him and be on the side of the Alliance. This set off all kinds of alarm bells in Soapus's mind, for if he would act a false friend to one, why not to many? Still, despite these reservations, Soapus continued to have his people teach the Glenflendings more and more Soapasian technology. Indeed, Rotan Merge took on a few apprentices from among the Glenflendings including Sparkyfish, a young Glenflending who would prove to be of remarkable intellect.
Shortly thereafter, there was another sighting of Torpath forces near the outpost of the Vrshankel in the lands of the Eloi. The village was taken by ambush and many lives were lost. The alliance quickly rallied their forces and marched on the approaching Torpathi. A fierce battle resulted, the Alliance having recently discovered the secret of repeating energy rifles by accident when a Soapasian jeweler had properly cut a gemstone of Ferion, though the Ferion reserves were rapidly dwindling, it seemed like the Torpathi had an unlimited supply of both Ferion and troops. The war might have turned out differently, had not the Vrshankel revealed a secret weapon, the Blue Mist Machine, a weapon of tremendous sonic devastation that, when mounted on the jets, laid utter waste to the Torpathi forces. There was a great celebration throughout the Alliance Lands.
Many of the captured Torpathi were taken to Soapasia, where again the danger of the darker side of the Soapasians was shown, as Senator Thurmanond had several Torpathi placed in arenas and despite Soapasian pretenses toward passivity and peace, enjoyed watching the Torpathi fight to the death and fight creatures for blood sport. Soapus considered calling down lightning from the sky then and there to destroy these blood thirsty beasts who would call themselves his people, but was momentarily distracted, allowing his temper time to cool.
In the lab of Rotan Merge, while trying to supercondenser air using cold fish and magic to make Liquid Oxygen, a massive explosion occurred and a small hole was opened up to another time line...seeing through this, Soapus saw a land wracked by war. Demons flew in the skies, the Alliance troopers, Pagan and Torpath were scattered to the four winds and badly beaten. The gods themselves were wounded in one fashion or another, though not dead. The skies were black and it was clear doom was near. One spoke through the portal,"Beware the Black God..."
Oddly, there were no glenflendings in this timeline...something that might have made the difference in the true timeline.
Year of Deus Negrum:
When the Torpathi had been pushed back, and this new warning of doom was issued, it became apparent that there was more need for uniformity among the member nations of the Alliance. The three members of the Alliance, as well as two of the lesser ones, the Valley People and the Masquites merged their units into regular army garrisons known as "Boot Troopers" "Heavy Mechanized Divisions" ect. with a unified Alliance command in a heavily fortified base in Hyberia. Several other precautions were taken. The Hyberites set up a super secret lab for example, to prevent any outside powers from gaining information on their research projects. The Soapasians also set up several secret labs, including a top secret biological warfare lab deep within the Masquite Tunnels.
Operation "Snatch Em" was an attempt to kidnap several live Torpathi to learn their biological nature. All previous attempts to infiltrate their society had been futile due to a system of divine "ID's" used by their priest cast. Essentially, each race had a natural divine scent that was detectable by the Torpathi priests. As a result, the Soap Ninjas acquired the ability to alter their divine scent. This could fool all mortal magics, but was unable to fool a god who was actively scanning for them, thus preventing infiltration of their society. Without the ability to infiltrate Torpathi society, intelligence gathering of any kind was severely limited. Thus, the objective of Operation Snatchem was to duplicate Torpathi behavioral patterns, language and custom. They were absolute religious fanatics however, and the majority of the captives bashed their heads against the walls of their cage. A few simply went brain dead. The ones that were still alive but brain dead were healed. An attempt to make "magical puppets" using the bodies of the still living Torpathi also failed due to internal bleeding. It was suspected that Torpath killed them to keep this from happening, but the exact cause of death is still unknown.
Due to these failures, the Biolab began work on a charm and amnesia virus, as well as a divine scent scrambler. The Scent Scrambler in particular was successful, the idea of which was to randomly scramble the divine scents in the Torpathi society, thus breaking down their ability to perform internal monitoring on who was and who wasn't a Torpathi.
Soapus was worried about the threat posed by the Black God and began efforts to maintain a hidden colony. Deep within the Masquite Tunnels, a massive library was established, with large numbers of machines and other items to allow a rapid restart of civilization should it collapse. This would prove to be a very forward thinking initiative.
Another project was the creation of an Undersea city and primitive biological submarines (turtles) by altering Sea Turtles via the linking tree. An under sea colony was created and the Soapasians began to learn all kinds of things about the world under the oceans. The Hyberites performed underwater research on their own, and came up with a more standard submarine which was copied by the Soapasians at a later point.
Pagan was finally found, once a comprehensive map of the Alliance and surrounding lands became available, however at the caution of Arcanos (who was supposedly spying) the Alliance did not immediately attack. It turns out, that Pagan and Arcanos had been in communication with each other long before the Alliance gods even existed. They were both Elder Gods. The Elder gods were Ealos, Torpath, Arcanos, Yodus(A mysterious goddess whose people were never found, nor learnt of by the Soapasians...though they were known of through the Glenflendings who apparently had dealings with them.), and Pagan.
Pagan had designs to take over the whole of Walrus World, and while at first Arcanos considered these ideas, as his people were given more and more technology he began to reconsider this. He took the threat of the Black God extremely seriously and thus convinced Pagan not to attack the Holy Alliance as well. Thus gaining information from both sides, his people acted as unknowing (to the others involved) middle men ferreting information back and forth between the two camps.
Still, because of hints of this that Arcanos had made during his communications, including references to the lethality of Koldfish to Soapasians, Soapus suspected a betrayal. This worry was compounded by an experiment involving a Soapasian powercoil made of Koldfish which produced an atomic explosion. Soapus was extremely worried about this development of technology, lest it fall into the wrong hands, and for the first time in the history of his people decided not to share this technology with the other members of the Alliance lest enemy hands get ahold of it.
Further, in an attempt to throw Arcanos and Pagan off balance, Soapus used half truths he had obtained from other sources such as Ealos, and convinced them that he had created an All Seeing Eye, a device that allowed him to see anywhere in the world and observe what was going on. Arcanos appeared worried about this, and explained that his people were indeed among the Paganites, but this was only part of the ruse that he was using to place Pagan in a sense of slumber.
The final straw was a rent in the astral plane through which a communication between Arcanos and Pagan leaked, in which Arcanos revealed some of his plans to Pagan and insisted that they do not attack the alliance, but did give Pagan vital and secret information about the Alliance. Soapus was now convinced that Arcanos was planning to betray the Alliance. Ironically, while this had been a possibility, Arcanos was now more than ever a firm member of the Alliance.
Then, at this the worst of possible moments, Pagan attacked. Massive numbers of Paganites poured into the lands of the Vrshankel from the southern edge of the desert, having used magic to make themselves into giants. They raped, and pillaged and burned the Vrshankel lands, but most importantly, they stole much of the alliance technology (their own being extremely primitive.)
Soapus was wroth...particularly by the fact that the Paganites had raped the Vrshankel women. Because of this, he sent the Soap Ninjas in amongst the Glenflendings (who were very friendly with the Soapasians) with a statue of a Glenflending and a Paganite with a koldfish nuclear device inside. The thing was timed to go off in a few hours. Soapus, deciding that the people were not necessarily responsible for the acts of their god, had the Glenflending's warned...and all fled. The bomb went off and the Paganites were blasted back into the stone age. Thus, Soapus took revenge for the alliance.
Still, Soapus was worried that the Glenflendings were planning an attack...and that they were going to take revenge for what he had done to Pagan. Soapus wanted to strike before Aracanos woke from his slumber...and thus, was moments from telling the Soapasian forces to strike the Glenflendings by surprise. He even issued the order for them to attack, but something told him this was a very bad thing to do...so at the last minute, he told the senate not to launch the attack. But the damage had been done.
For despite the distrust of Soapus toward Arcanos, and despite the initial possible plans of Arcanos, the Glenflendings and the Clean Ones were the closest of friends and at the news that Soapus wanted the Clean Ones to attack the Glenflendings, a large number of the Clean Ones in the Senate went insane at the prospect.
Ashamed at his error, Soapus erased their memory as if the act had never happened. Arcanos returned, and Soapus confronted him with what he had learned. Arcanos took the wisest action, and admitted the complete truth...Soapus believed him and the Alliance was healed. They have been the staunchest of allies ever since. Indeed, at that moment, Sparkyfish, apprentice to Rotan Merge, discovered the long sought after device to allow the conversion of Liquid Oxygen.
With the completion of this Device, Soapus began work on a giant space cannon that would allow the Clean Ones to enter space. Indeed, this device took a great deal of time, but it was worth it, for after much work and much careful planning, the cannon was completed. And a test was prepared. A satilite was loaded inside and launched into Orbit. It was known as Soapnik I. As it tumbled back toward the earth a gaping hole opened up in the sky and swallowed it. Someone had stolen the device.
As time passed, the alliance developed more and more technology. The Lightning Cannon was completed, which the Soapasians began to use in their machines. The Radio and the motion picture industry were born.
The pinnacle of Soapasian military achievement however, was the Xotak. This MegaCollasi, with muscles made of converted steel salve silk gave it the strength of a hundred Collosi. With magical shield stones and dozens of weapons.
Thus, the Second avatar entered into service. His name was Brink. He had been turned into a living Nukeru during an accident in a lab, making him look like a Feline. He was given the Xotak and sent on a mission to see what the Paganites were up to. Heading south, he tracked several of them to some caves where he was unable to follow. Eventually, he found another group lead by a General Bragg, a mercenary who was offering his services to whatever bidder would take them. Brink and the general got into a fight, causing the forest to burn. The Eloi were upset at this, for they considered this their territory. In a fit of rage, they sent Brink and the general to another plane of existence.
The Glenflendings then offered their services abroad as mercenaries, stating they could take on any race once they had been given the opportunity to bind themselves to the land. The Torpathi were incensed at this and attacked the Glenflendings. The Torpathi had made a mistake. A handful of Glenflendings used their magical battle prowess and autokannons to lay waste to the Torpathi hordes that attacked them.
Arcanos was very pleased with this. Torpath was not and launched a manaroid at Arcanos's valley. Furious at Torpath, Soapus launched three manaroids of his own back at Torpath. Arcanos tried to turn the course of the manaroid, but was unable to do so. The Glenflendings however, combined their powers, splitting the thing in two. One half fell into Soapasian lands, the other falling into the forests of Ealos. Ealos blamed Torpath, sending a wave of destruction that, while damaging Alliance lands, ignited the vast supplies of Ferion underneath the Torpathi lands causing massive explosions...as far as the Alliance knew, the Torpathi were no more.
These were the high days of the Alliance. With Torpath gone, the Alliance had a feeling of power, that they could actually accomplish anything. Technology thrived, culture thrived, indeed, it was a time of great peace. Of course, it was not a time of TOTAL peace. The Hyberites had colonized a land across the ocean called Smeggabonia. The natives (called Smegs) were not pleased with this. They launched an attack upon the Hyberite colony there, burning it and killing the innocents. The Soapasian airforce worked with the Hyberite army to repel this attack.
There was also an incident involving the Laeryn. The Laeryn had been discovered on a distant island out on the ocean. They welcomed the Alliance dignitaries with a chest salute and a heil. The Hyberites believed this to be a symbol for a dictatorship (and also possibly had a grudge because of their previous behavior in refusing to honor their treaty of Alliance). The Hyberites launched an invasion of the Laeryn, in a remarkably calculated strike, their paratroopers took over the island in a short matter of time. The Laeryn were determined not to let anyone invade their island, and detonated a nuclear device on their own territory.
The Laeryn appealed to the Soapasian senate. The Soapasian people disliked this invasion and some of their more radical members sent humanitarian aid to the Laeryn, though the Senate honored the alliance by not sending any official aid, the aid still made it because of the innate Soapasian luck. In the end, the Eali acted as intermediaries of the dispute and the matter was settled. The Laeryn were so greatful to the Soapasian's aid, they gave them a book on advanced Quantum physics from some strange place called "Earth".
The Soapasians began construction of a space station. Eventually, this was expanded to become an Orbital Lightning Gun platform, capable of raining death upon those who would attack the holy alliance. Spy satilites began to fill the skies.
And it came to pass that the queen of the Hyberites, daughter of Otik the mighty was slain. This began a mighty civil war between the various Hyberite states as demons of the Black God infilitrated all aspects of Hyberite society, causing massive chaos and civil war. Vrshank remained behind the core Hyberites, while the Valley People and Masquites each chose sides. Soapasia remained neutral, feeling this to be a purely internal hyberite matter...until raiders attacked the canal. Then the Soapasians moved in to stop them.
While Hyberios was slowly putting his domain back together, disaster struck. Two avatars, one a demon of the black god, another of Torpathe entered the small city of Melange, and began to attack, hurt and destroy. Soapus sent his own avatar after him...they at him. Then the glenflendings came...and their magic was so powerful it ended up nuking the place. But these avatars were teleported away. Thus, Soapus sent his two most powerful servants, Barsoapus and Brink to hunt them down. The Torpathi were not dead, as had been suspected, but were in fact very very alive. Wave after wave of the psychotics began to attack. The Orbital Lightning guns killed thousands, tens of thousands but Torpathe cared nothing for his followers and on they came. The Soapasian front line finally collapsed...but help was too far away, for Hyberios and Vrshank were busy with the Hyberite civil war. The Glenflendings helped immensely, but then Arcanos pushed Torpathe too far. In his rage, Torpathe swore the destruction of Arcanos and the alliance....
It is unknown how Torpathe got the sudden advanced technology to make rockets and atomic devices...but somehow he got them...and used them. The alliance had no choice and responded in kind. What was left, was a charred hulk of rubble. Walrus World was in ruins. No one had won.
The Tribes
--------------
The aftermath wasn't pretty. Most of the Soapasian cities were in ruins. Crystal City, wonder of the age, was in ruins. Slowly, Soapus began to call his people together at two gathering places, the Shrine of Runic Virtues-Klensar in the west, and the mountain fortress in the east. A group of the more conservative Soapasians blamed technology for their woes...and wanted to burn all books and knowledge. Soapus was insulted. The technology he had given them was now rejected by them? Finally, he told them to choose. They could become True Ones, and remain at the Mountain fortress, stop their racism, stop their evil ways and listen to the Seven Runic Virtues...or they could go to the west to the Shrine, and be in a part of the land he had set aside for them.
The Conservatives were insulted, and renounce Soapus as their god, much to his sorrow...and left for the East. There, they built a mighty craft...and left. Where they went, and their story is contained in The Book of the Spheres. Suffice to say, this tribe became yet more tribes-and those tribes more tribes still. Soapus's dream had come true...the Clean Ones were at last free of the cyclical tendrils of Walrus World. They had conquered the stars at last.
With no tribe was this more true than the third tribe, The Lunarians. In the explosions of the nuclear war, the space station, and the craft they were building to go to the moon were knocked out of orbit and onto the moon. This moon was capable of supporting life...and the scattered colonists pulled themselves together and made a new city, based in the ruins of the space station. More of their story is found in the Book of the Moon, the Book of the Avatars and the Second Book of Soapus.
Suffice to say, the Lunarians eventually returned...and the Soapasian society was born anew. The fourth tribe were the Janitors. The remnants of the Psycho Janitors they went insane and turned the fruitful plains of the racial birthing into a desert with their cleaning. More of them also can be learned in the Second Book of Soapus...yet they were driven away...and Crystal City was rebuilt. Soapus returned...and thus begins the Second Book of Soapus.
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Here it is...in all it's glory...Book I of Soapus. The Book of the Spheres, The Book of the Moon and the Book of the Avatars are all future projects...the Second Book of Soapus is of course being written in the Returning...more projects to come....
Hope you enjoyed it...
--The Book Of Soapus--
(with WB's original editor's notes)
Editor's Note: I did not edit this crazy thing, nor would I try to. When I copied it from the e-mail message, the margins were all screwed up. As a result, it seemed to be fifty-seven pages long, even though it's really only about 16 (according to MaSTR HaQR). However, I feel the need to point out a few important things:
1. Brillo Merge, the author of this history is a descendant of the great Rotan Merge, a very powerful mage and pioneer in the field of Astral Physics, among other things.
2. This chronicle uses the Soapasianized versions of several names. The "Vrshankel" were actually known as the "Vrashkel" and their god was "Vraskh." The "Torpathi" were actually "Torphathi" and their god was "Torphathe," and the "Eloi" are actually "Ealoi" (their god was Ealos). In addition, the "Veral Rockets" mentioned later are actually "Viralite Rockets."
3. The Soapasians liked to name their children after cleaning products. Proctor and Gamble were two famous Soapasian figures, if I recall correctly. And let's not forget Barsoapus the Mech Pilot.
With that said, enjoy a history of the first Twilight world as written by the actual player--Soapus the Clean, God of the Clean Ones and All-Around Fun Guy--through the eyes of his chronicler, Brillo.
Year of the Tree: 501021 It has been millennia since the founding of the golden age, whence the Alliance Races broke free of the planar barriers and the Cycles of everlasting warfare with the Torpathi and other aces. Thus, with such golden times, the beginnings of the age are often shrouded in mystery. The lessons of the past teach that those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. Thus it is with this in mind that I present the most recent and modern translation of the Book of Soapus, as originally believed to have been written by Alexander himself, though skeptics maintain this is more of an allegorical than an actual history. Efforts by Time Viewers to see into the past of the Plane of Origin have proved fruitless. It is suspected that early experiments in dimensional theory by deities in he tangential planes, as well as the frequent use of Manaroids and other weapons of mass destruction prevent an entirely accurate count, nevertheless there is, in each of us, a more romantic part that wishes to believe these things are true. Regardless, they are of some worth to be read, if nothing else than to learn the methods of thought of those early peoples and how they perceived the world.
Humbly Yours,
Brillo Merge
Year: Genesis
"In the beginning, the Clean Ones had no minds. They came to life at the same time as their lord, Soapus in the middle of a vast and beautiful plain with towering mountains to the south and to the northeast. In the center of this plain there lay a great lake, Crystal Lake, with a giant Crystal Island in the center. Soapus had a vision in which a beautiful city of wonder and perfection.
His first act was to give the Clean Ones deep and clean thoughts...this proved to be a wise act, for their intelligence and cleanliness would ever after be established. However, he made a critical error, in that he did not teach them spiritually until after he taught them of things temporal, and thus...left room for flaws of spirit to enter.
Still, though they thought deep and clean thoughts, this would not teach them, and so Soapus created the Linking Tree, a tree which would establish a connection between all living things and the Clean Ones. This was very draining, but it worked. From it, the Clean Ones built a village like the beaver and burrowed into the ground like the ant, finding copper metal. They quickly learned fire and began to slowly forge tools that would help them build.
Eager to build the city, he attempted to teach them many things at once, but alas, they were still learning slowly but surely. Thusly, he sought a leader, and left a box to test their intelligence. The one who could figure out how to open the box would be the next leader of the people. One fellow, not knowing what the box was took it and used it for firewood...and at the same time, happened to open the box.
Soapus laughed and was pleased. He named this fellow Alexander and thusly Alexander became the first Avatar. Soapus told Alexander to study the animals and learn the nature of magic. He reported that this would take some time...but nevertheless he began.
Soapus then began to slowly teach them. He taught them of math, a science at which they later excelled. He taught them of beekeeping and oil. He taught them of carpentry and gave them an alphabet. He taught them of silks that they might make fine linen with which to clothe themselves. He taught them many, many things about agriculture. Above all, he taught them of soap and cleanliness, thusly they were free of disease and impurities. So happy were these people, that they built a marble statue to Soapus for the simplicity of their lives. Thus was Soapus pleased for he did not wish to impose religion upon his people, but rather that they would chose him of their own free will. He taught them then the seven runic virtues, Order(Cleanliness), Preparedness, Justice, Balance, Honor, Kindness(Mercy), and Faith.
Alexander continued to study magic. The first thing he learned was the way of Grass, to bend like a reed in the wind. A simple spell, what some would call useless...but a spell that would prove critical later on. Later, he learned the way of the Dolphin to swim under water...and the way of the Turtle, shielding his body by making it harder to kill. With time they grew in power and Alexander took apprentices.
The construction of the great Crystal City was well underway, built of marble with sprawling streets and great arches. There were large amounts of silver, with well running sewers and indoor plumbing and an aqueduct to a well preserved water supply. The Clean Ones were content. They were building their city and their lives were prosperous. Then the stranger came.
The Year of Reunion:
The name of the stranger is lost in antiquity. He claimed that he did not know of any other nationalities, but he was helpful. With the aid of a magical communication spell, he was fascinated with the magic of the Clean Ones, primitive though it was. In exchange, he agreed to teach them Martial arts and took on several students. Using the meditative techniques of the Way of the Grass, these Adepts grew in mental power and cunning...and became the Soap Ninja.
Soapus realized that it was necessary to pay attention to the world outside, especially when a message broadcast across the planes, "I am Torpath. I will have all your lands." This caused him to worry, and thus Soapus created the Rangers and sent them to the four compass points to begin mapping his lands. He created several colonies and the empire of the Clean Ones began to expand. Still worried, Soapus established Kel Arhman, the Mountain Fortress...a fortress so powerful and vast that in this history of Walrus World it was never taken.
The Stranger eventually left, while the Soap Ninja continued to study their arts. From the north, across the mountains, a group of pointed eared warriors came, tall and proud. Through the magical communications spell, Soapus learned that these people were called Hyberites, disciples of the god Hyberios the Storm Bringer. Fearing the aggressive nature of Torpath, and not knowing where this person might be found, he joined in an alliance with Hyberios, thus forming the Holy Alliance, consisting of Hyberites, Clean Ones, and Vrshankel. The Vrshankel lived in a desert to the south of the Hyberites and were masters of magic, forging magical axes. A trade agreement was struck and a road was begun over the mountains to link these two peoples.
Hyberios wanted to expand the Holy Alliance and looked for allies. One calling himself Tyrus, the God of the Forge said that he was sending a party to trade and meet with Hyberios. But alas, this was a ruse, and the Hyberites were caught unawares by the foul Torpathi who took this opportunity to attack Hyberios and steal half his lands.
Quickly, word spread up and down the alliance that war had begun. The Soapasian military mobilized. Catapults, accurate to an incredible degree with their terrible greek fire, Soapasian Iron Phalanxes (the first to use Iron), Soap Ninja and Nukeru, giant terrible cats were ridden by armored knights known as Nukeru riders. These joined with Hyberite and Vrshankel forces in a terrible series of trench warfare.
Trying to go over the wall, Soapus sent gliders hopscotching across the mountains to the edge of the Hyberite territory where a glider base was established. There the gliders began to reign terrible death and destruction on the trenches, but at a terrible price. Still, Soapasian glider technology was improving, including a mesh made of Steel Salve Silk, that would make a mesh as hard as steel to protect them from the Torpathi arrows. The Torpathi were cunning however, and stormed the base, stealing the secret of the glider from the Soapasians.
In an attempt to still command the skies, Soapus taught them how to make a balloon out of silk, and attempted to have them create a cycle powered engine to drop greek fire down on the Torpathi from high altitudes. The Clean Ones were not capable of this fine a work however of gears and pulleys, so Soapus spent his divine will and shaped it himself. His work exceeded his expectations however, and it became Steam Powered. The Clean Ones studied this well and learned a great deal that day.
The Soap Ninjas took back the glider base and the war began anew. Still, despite every attempt no progress was made until the humble Alexander cast a rain spell, filling the trenches, allowing the Alliance to storm the wall.
Torpath was not easily beaten however, and from behind the wall a mighty Crimson Storm, hundreds of improved and powerful Hand Gliders stormed over the wall and attacked the alliance forces. Before Alliance forces could blast the wall however, giant meteorites came down from the sky and blasted the land. This was the beginning of the Year of Starfall.
The battle was fierce, but without their trenches to hide behind, the Alliance forces were still more than a match for the Torpathi, powerful warriors though they were and they were slain. Torpath was wroth and blasted the land, turning the western third of the Hyberite's land into a warped and twisted place where foul creatures ran amok. Still, there was much celebration that day, for though it was with great cost, the Alliance had won and driven Torpath from that land, and thus it has been celebrated ever since.
The Year of Starfall:
The Vrshankel had discovered and perfected a powerful weapon called an Energy Rifle, powered by a crystal called Ferion. This weapon was very helpful in the final battle of the First Torpath War. This caused the Soapasians to begin experiments in gun powder, for Soapus was worried about dependence up`on a material such as Ferion for the defense of the Alliance. It would prove that his foresight would be quite accurate. Thus, experiments led from rockets, to primitive cannons. The Soapasians went directly around the inefficient musket, directly developing the Rifle. These technologies continually improved over time.
Probably the biggest change of paradrigrim of the age came from the study of the dirigible however. Upon studying the engine of the airship (which had been shot down during the battle but recovered) they learned how to replicate it...and further how to generate a primitive anti-gravity drive(partially derived from magic) that allowed the creation of Hover Cars. The demand for these hovercars was so strong that the Soapasian economy entered the industrial age, and began to replicate these cars in large numbers. Further, their use was immediately seen for military purposes and they were quickly applied to Gravity Tanks. These bulky machines were extremely heavy at first, guarding only the caravans that crossed the great road between the Hyberite and Soapasian realms, but eventually expanded in functionality until they could travel in other areas. Eventually combined with the Hyberite Masher and the Vrshankel Land Crawler these heavy war machines increased Alliance land based military power substantially.
Immediately after the victory upon Torpath, the Alliance began gearing for war. They were angered at the actions taken by Torpath, and were determined to put their technological superiority to good use and began seeking for the city of the Torpathi. Eventually this city was found, and an expeditionary force of Alliance Units set out across the forest on the western edge of the Vrshankel realm to begin attack against this city. The Vrshankel had made a treaty with a powerful magical race known as the Eloi, who laid claim to this forest. The Eloi were masters of magic and extremely isolationist in their manner. They wanted no part of the alliance and threatened dire consequences upon any who violated their domain. Nevertheless, they permitted the Vrshankel to build an outpost near their forest to obtain wood.
Upon arriving near the Torpathi city, a fortress was begun. Trenches were dug and a small glider ramp was being set up. The Vrshankel had improved upon the Soapasian glider in several ways, including installing magical controls and a vertical lift so that they no longer required the cumbersome glider bases (thus allowing them to be used away from the mountains).
The Soapasians began a tunnel from this forward fortress of the expeditionary force in an attempt to tunnel under the Torpathi (from the middle of the forest where the Expeditionary base was located) and take them by surprise. This tactic was not to be given a chance however, because the Torpathi attacked the advanced base. At first they were destroyed in great numbers, but then once again these troubling psychotics proved to be quite adept at adapting(much like cockroaches) having duplicated the Vrshankel energy rifle, and additionally improved upon it, such that the Torpathi Energy Rifle was capable of firing several shots per Ferion crystal whereas the Vrshankel was only capable of one. The Torpathi numbers were overwhelming. In addition, initial expectations of Torpathi strength were highly understated.
Soapasian Ranger and Vrshankel advanced scouting units reported that there was not simply one Torpathi city, but dozens. The numbers quickly overwhelmed the Alliance who in the interest of preserving their forces against such overwhelming numerical odds called a retreat.
Soapus was loathe to abandon his tunnel however, and ordered it sealed and hidden. He then had his mages work on a method of teleportation to allow the tunnel to continue with the eventual hope that perhaps a teleportation gate might be built. The mages went to work and eventually discovered the Astral Circle. The Astral Circle allowed mortals to enter the astral plane and teleport in a one way direction, much akin to the concept of Hyperspace. The drawback of this was that only trained mages, and of them only a few could make this journey. The mage responsible for this advance was Rotan Merge...and we shall learn more of him, and his wisdom later.
The Alliance, realizing that it was heavily outnumbered sought to expand its power base by taking in new Allies. At this point, Soapasian airships discovered movement high in the mountains between Soapasia and the Hyberite Western Frontier. Upon landing, they discovered nothing, and despite a thorough investigation could find none of the signs of life they had initially spotted upon their overpass. Just when they were about to leave, a group of medium sized reptilian people with three eyes showed themselves.
They called themselves the Glenflendings and that their god was known as Arcanos, god of Magic. The Soapasians and the Glenflendings rapidly became friends, and the Clean Ones began to show the Glenflendings the wonders of civilization, showing them blacksmithing, reading, writing, mathematics, philosophy, and several other sciences. In return, the Glenflendings showed the Soapasians a metal they called Koldfish, which the Clean Ones began experimenting with. It rapidly became apparent that this metal was highly toxic to Clean Ones and most of the other alliance races as well, but for some reason the Glenflendings were immune to its deadly effects. The Soapasians got around this by building lead suits which allowed them to experiment with this metal.
The Soapasian initiative to expand the alliance was not limited to the Glenflendings however. A minor people, the People of the Emerald Valley, a warrior like race who physically resembled the Hyberites was approached by the Soapasians. The Soapasians invited to increase their technology base and build a railroad to their country, in exchange for troops to help fight the Torpathi. The Alliance was leery of giving these foreigners full status in the Alliance until they had proved themselves in blood as had the founding three members, and thus the Alliance Foreign Legion was established, based in Hyberia and along the massive front being constructed along the Hyberite and Vrshankel border. The Soapasian had a similar project, building a massive wall all the way from the mountains to the North East, to the Hyberite Mountains to the west. A brief sojourn by the Torpathi up north towards Crystal City had been crushed before, but had taught the Soapasians the need to defend their own lands.
The Valley People were grateful for this aid, and gave the Soapasians two secrets. The first was a metal called Teken, basically useless except as an ablative armor it was very crumbly. The second was FAR more useful however.
The People of the Emerald Valley had had a secret trade pact with the Masquites, a race of small white beings who lived in an endless network of tunnels underneath the Alliance lands. These tunnels also extended to the Lands of the Torpathi and were used to scout out the lands of the enemy. The Masquites also joined the Alliance Foreign Legion.
Trade and Commerce in the Alliance was expanding like never before. Technology continued to increase. The Vrshankel made incredible discoveries in magicoloy, while the Soapasians continued to rapidly progress down the field of science. The Hyberites were the master engineers as well as the leaders of the alliance, taking Vrshankel and Soapasian discoveries and enhancing them into more practical applications.
The Soapasians began several ambitious projects during this period. Once the Soapasians saw the value of the great river in the Hyberite realm to their economy, the Soapasians began a work of truly staggering proportions, building a canal OVER the mountains toward the Hyberite plains and river. The canal would take generations to complete, but would remain one of the great wonders of the Walrus World in terms of construction. The Soapasians also increased in their knowledge of electricity and developed a Soapasian power coil to create Broadcast Power, and giant fifty foot tall Collosi.
Mages created Shield Stones that protected them in battle. The Soap Ninja studied and expanded their Chi, learning the magical art of disguise and of invisibility. The Rangers began the use of the explosive bow. Rapid Firing gatling guns called Draino Guns were also placed up and down the front lines. Once again, however, it was the Vrshankel who pushed the limits of science with magic. The Hyberites and the Vrshankel skipped biplanes altogether and created a magical jet. The project was massive and difficult, but with the discovery of a new element called Stagen Crystals, the massive power needed to fuel the engine of these magical jets was created. Soapus was shocked (though pleased) by this development. He had long thought that his people would be the ones to dominate the skies in the alliance, having been the ones to discover flight. The Vrshankel were the ones who had pushed back the preconceived barriers however, and Soapus, being prudent, had the Soapasians study the Vrshankel methods and create factories in the north like those in the south that the Soapasians would be able to make jets of their own.
It was the Hyberite creation of the Veral Rockets however(massive rockets capable of traveling hundreds of miles by magically guided and powered engines) that Soapus truly saw the potential of these new technologies and had his people begin working on the discovery of Liquid Oxygen. This was not to prove an easy task however, since it appeared the laws of physics for Walrus World were slightly different from those of our own, and thus was proving extremely difficult. It was more than a matter of sheer pressure. He had them continue researching in this area however.
The jump ahead in aerial technology offended the Soapasians. They had become, over time a very conservative people, and thus Soapus began to see the error of not teaching them spiritual things before he taught them temporal things. With the advancement of technology, also came the advancement of Culture. The Soapasian senate began a wide base series of labor laws , banks, music, dance, theatre, and architecture. Crystal City was truly a wonder to behold and was the largest city in the entire Alliance.
Soapus inspired a new kind of music, Soap and Roll (much like the rock of the fifties). The Hyberites quickly followed suit with their own type (Kjorn and Roll) and the Vrshankel with a magically powered Heavy Metal. The Hyberites and Vrshankel, finding more in common with each other than their pacificistic cousins to the north, created the sport of Telnocking, a violent game that was a combination of rugby and polo using the skull of an enemy bound in a leather ball that was beat about with a stick. When the Soapasians found out about this Telnocking, and when a Vrshankel Heavy metal concert was played in one of the more conservative villages, a large portion of the Soapasians became outraged (the unsanitary habits of the Vrshankel such as urination in public streets didn't help matters).
On the senate floor Senator Stroap Thurmond decried the Vrshankel, calling them a bunch of filthy scum, dirty by nature and that they should be thrown out of Soapasia. He said that he understood the need for the alliance, but they could still be part of the Alliance without having Vrshankel in their nation. A large number of the Soapasians agreed with him. The Vrshankel were none too pleased with this statement, and the Hyberite Monarchy ordered the recently formed Hyberite Secret Police to begin a public defamation campaign against the Senator as a result (done through two Hyberite newspapers, the Truth and the Inquisitor).
Soapus was gravely worried about this. This kind of behavior by his people was not something he expected. Short of slavery, he had taught them that racism was a high religious crime. This was not punished by law however, for Soapasia was the most religiously tolerant of the Alliance lands. Determined that something must be done, Soapus spoke to Alexander (now quite aged) and had him deliver a speech decrying this kind of attitude to the Soapasian people. He spoke of the great contributions that had been made by Vrshankel, and how Vrshankel blood had spilt next to Soapasian in the war against the Torpathi. This convinced many of the error of their ways. Still, Soapus began a program to educate the young called the Clean Scouts in an attempt to have future generations avoid this kind of behavior in the future.
Both the Hyberites and the Vrshankel had elite priests with magical powers. Soapus considered this and decided to create a magical race of priests of his own and formed the H.O.O.O.C.J.F.C.A.P. (Happy Order of Obsessive Compulsive Janitors for Cleanliness and Peace). This sect later became known as the Psycho Janitors for short. Possessed of magical cleaning powers almost beyond mortal kin, they proceeded to clean up Soapasia and the large amounts of waste that had been built up by the industrial revolution there (though this was far FAR less in Soapasian than in the other Alliance lands).
Soapus sent these janitors to the Laeryn to the west. The Laeryn were a people of sailors and traders. The Laeryn had established an alliance early on with the Hyberites, but unlike the Soapasians and the Vrshankel had refused to send troops when the call for aid came from Hyberia. Now that the Alliance was strong in might and power, thought was being considered to punish the Laeryn for their refusal to honor their agreement. Soapus, being pacifist in nature, decided to use a different tactic, and have them annoy the Laeryn. After all, they had benefited as much as the rest of the alliance by the victory against Torpath(their lands having been saved due to the victory in Hyberia) The Laeryn had built a great wall however, preventing the janitors from entering. The janitors then began making paper airplanes and sending them over the wall as petitions to allow them to enter the country. This proved a valuable method of treating the insane (compulsive cleaning) among the Clean Ones, and gave the Janitors something to do until a better use could be discovered for them.
Surprisingly, the Laeryn suddenly all vanished, having fled across the sea in their magnificent white ships. Not wanting land to go to waste, Soapus had the Clean Ones colonize this land, thus giving them access to the ocean, doubling the size of the country and making Soapasia the largest country in the Holy Alliance.
Things were going so well for the alliance, that a message was sent forth by the three gods across the astral plane(though Soapus, cautious as ever was worried about this...and as usual proved to be correct in his worry) that the Alliance was undefeatable and that to join the alliance was the best course of defense against the psychotic Torpathi. The response to this address was not entirely what they expect however. Shortly thereafter, a giant meteorite was seen in the sky, headed toward the Hyberite capitol. Upon closer examination, it was discovered that this was not in fact a meteorite, as the previous had been, but a Manarite, a huge ball of destructive divine essence directed toward Hyberia.
The three gods combined forces, hoping to deflect the manaroid, but their efforts were not successful. However, they were not a total failure, and they were able to divert the course of the manaroid away from the capital, only to have it crash into the Alliance's only source of Ferion. Accompanying this impact in which hundreds of innocents lost their lives was a taunting message by the god Paygan, claiming that he had struck to strike down the Alliance for their impudence in attempting to make an alliance.
Shortly thereafter, the god Arcanos mentioned that he was going to go into negotiations with Pagan, pretending to be his friend, but in fact getting ready to double cross him and be on the side of the Alliance. This set off all kinds of alarm bells in Soapus's mind, for if he would act a false friend to one, why not to many? Still, despite these reservations, Soapus continued to have his people teach the Glenflendings more and more Soapasian technology. Indeed, Rotan Merge took on a few apprentices from among the Glenflendings including Sparkyfish, a young Glenflending who would prove to be of remarkable intellect.
Shortly thereafter, there was another sighting of Torpath forces near the outpost of the Vrshankel in the lands of the Eloi. The village was taken by ambush and many lives were lost. The alliance quickly rallied their forces and marched on the approaching Torpathi. A fierce battle resulted, the Alliance having recently discovered the secret of repeating energy rifles by accident when a Soapasian jeweler had properly cut a gemstone of Ferion, though the Ferion reserves were rapidly dwindling, it seemed like the Torpathi had an unlimited supply of both Ferion and troops. The war might have turned out differently, had not the Vrshankel revealed a secret weapon, the Blue Mist Machine, a weapon of tremendous sonic devastation that, when mounted on the jets, laid utter waste to the Torpathi forces. There was a great celebration throughout the Alliance Lands.
Many of the captured Torpathi were taken to Soapasia, where again the danger of the darker side of the Soapasians was shown, as Senator Thurmanond had several Torpathi placed in arenas and despite Soapasian pretenses toward passivity and peace, enjoyed watching the Torpathi fight to the death and fight creatures for blood sport. Soapus considered calling down lightning from the sky then and there to destroy these blood thirsty beasts who would call themselves his people, but was momentarily distracted, allowing his temper time to cool.
In the lab of Rotan Merge, while trying to supercondenser air using cold fish and magic to make Liquid Oxygen, a massive explosion occurred and a small hole was opened up to another time line...seeing through this, Soapus saw a land wracked by war. Demons flew in the skies, the Alliance troopers, Pagan and Torpath were scattered to the four winds and badly beaten. The gods themselves were wounded in one fashion or another, though not dead. The skies were black and it was clear doom was near. One spoke through the portal,"Beware the Black God..."
Oddly, there were no glenflendings in this timeline...something that might have made the difference in the true timeline.
Year of Deus Negrum:
When the Torpathi had been pushed back, and this new warning of doom was issued, it became apparent that there was more need for uniformity among the member nations of the Alliance. The three members of the Alliance, as well as two of the lesser ones, the Valley People and the Masquites merged their units into regular army garrisons known as "Boot Troopers" "Heavy Mechanized Divisions" ect. with a unified Alliance command in a heavily fortified base in Hyberia. Several other precautions were taken. The Hyberites set up a super secret lab for example, to prevent any outside powers from gaining information on their research projects. The Soapasians also set up several secret labs, including a top secret biological warfare lab deep within the Masquite Tunnels.
Operation "Snatch Em" was an attempt to kidnap several live Torpathi to learn their biological nature. All previous attempts to infiltrate their society had been futile due to a system of divine "ID's" used by their priest cast. Essentially, each race had a natural divine scent that was detectable by the Torpathi priests. As a result, the Soap Ninjas acquired the ability to alter their divine scent. This could fool all mortal magics, but was unable to fool a god who was actively scanning for them, thus preventing infiltration of their society. Without the ability to infiltrate Torpathi society, intelligence gathering of any kind was severely limited. Thus, the objective of Operation Snatchem was to duplicate Torpathi behavioral patterns, language and custom. They were absolute religious fanatics however, and the majority of the captives bashed their heads against the walls of their cage. A few simply went brain dead. The ones that were still alive but brain dead were healed. An attempt to make "magical puppets" using the bodies of the still living Torpathi also failed due to internal bleeding. It was suspected that Torpath killed them to keep this from happening, but the exact cause of death is still unknown.
Due to these failures, the Biolab began work on a charm and amnesia virus, as well as a divine scent scrambler. The Scent Scrambler in particular was successful, the idea of which was to randomly scramble the divine scents in the Torpathi society, thus breaking down their ability to perform internal monitoring on who was and who wasn't a Torpathi.
Soapus was worried about the threat posed by the Black God and began efforts to maintain a hidden colony. Deep within the Masquite Tunnels, a massive library was established, with large numbers of machines and other items to allow a rapid restart of civilization should it collapse. This would prove to be a very forward thinking initiative.
Another project was the creation of an Undersea city and primitive biological submarines (turtles) by altering Sea Turtles via the linking tree. An under sea colony was created and the Soapasians began to learn all kinds of things about the world under the oceans. The Hyberites performed underwater research on their own, and came up with a more standard submarine which was copied by the Soapasians at a later point.
Pagan was finally found, once a comprehensive map of the Alliance and surrounding lands became available, however at the caution of Arcanos (who was supposedly spying) the Alliance did not immediately attack. It turns out, that Pagan and Arcanos had been in communication with each other long before the Alliance gods even existed. They were both Elder Gods. The Elder gods were Ealos, Torpath, Arcanos, Yodus(A mysterious goddess whose people were never found, nor learnt of by the Soapasians...though they were known of through the Glenflendings who apparently had dealings with them.), and Pagan.
Pagan had designs to take over the whole of Walrus World, and while at first Arcanos considered these ideas, as his people were given more and more technology he began to reconsider this. He took the threat of the Black God extremely seriously and thus convinced Pagan not to attack the Holy Alliance as well. Thus gaining information from both sides, his people acted as unknowing (to the others involved) middle men ferreting information back and forth between the two camps.
Still, because of hints of this that Arcanos had made during his communications, including references to the lethality of Koldfish to Soapasians, Soapus suspected a betrayal. This worry was compounded by an experiment involving a Soapasian powercoil made of Koldfish which produced an atomic explosion. Soapus was extremely worried about this development of technology, lest it fall into the wrong hands, and for the first time in the history of his people decided not to share this technology with the other members of the Alliance lest enemy hands get ahold of it.
Further, in an attempt to throw Arcanos and Pagan off balance, Soapus used half truths he had obtained from other sources such as Ealos, and convinced them that he had created an All Seeing Eye, a device that allowed him to see anywhere in the world and observe what was going on. Arcanos appeared worried about this, and explained that his people were indeed among the Paganites, but this was only part of the ruse that he was using to place Pagan in a sense of slumber.
The final straw was a rent in the astral plane through which a communication between Arcanos and Pagan leaked, in which Arcanos revealed some of his plans to Pagan and insisted that they do not attack the alliance, but did give Pagan vital and secret information about the Alliance. Soapus was now convinced that Arcanos was planning to betray the Alliance. Ironically, while this had been a possibility, Arcanos was now more than ever a firm member of the Alliance.
Then, at this the worst of possible moments, Pagan attacked. Massive numbers of Paganites poured into the lands of the Vrshankel from the southern edge of the desert, having used magic to make themselves into giants. They raped, and pillaged and burned the Vrshankel lands, but most importantly, they stole much of the alliance technology (their own being extremely primitive.)
Soapus was wroth...particularly by the fact that the Paganites had raped the Vrshankel women. Because of this, he sent the Soap Ninjas in amongst the Glenflendings (who were very friendly with the Soapasians) with a statue of a Glenflending and a Paganite with a koldfish nuclear device inside. The thing was timed to go off in a few hours. Soapus, deciding that the people were not necessarily responsible for the acts of their god, had the Glenflending's warned...and all fled. The bomb went off and the Paganites were blasted back into the stone age. Thus, Soapus took revenge for the alliance.
Still, Soapus was worried that the Glenflendings were planning an attack...and that they were going to take revenge for what he had done to Pagan. Soapus wanted to strike before Aracanos woke from his slumber...and thus, was moments from telling the Soapasian forces to strike the Glenflendings by surprise. He even issued the order for them to attack, but something told him this was a very bad thing to do...so at the last minute, he told the senate not to launch the attack. But the damage had been done.
For despite the distrust of Soapus toward Arcanos, and despite the initial possible plans of Arcanos, the Glenflendings and the Clean Ones were the closest of friends and at the news that Soapus wanted the Clean Ones to attack the Glenflendings, a large number of the Clean Ones in the Senate went insane at the prospect.
Ashamed at his error, Soapus erased their memory as if the act had never happened. Arcanos returned, and Soapus confronted him with what he had learned. Arcanos took the wisest action, and admitted the complete truth...Soapus believed him and the Alliance was healed. They have been the staunchest of allies ever since. Indeed, at that moment, Sparkyfish, apprentice to Rotan Merge, discovered the long sought after device to allow the conversion of Liquid Oxygen.
With the completion of this Device, Soapus began work on a giant space cannon that would allow the Clean Ones to enter space. Indeed, this device took a great deal of time, but it was worth it, for after much work and much careful planning, the cannon was completed. And a test was prepared. A satilite was loaded inside and launched into Orbit. It was known as Soapnik I. As it tumbled back toward the earth a gaping hole opened up in the sky and swallowed it. Someone had stolen the device.
As time passed, the alliance developed more and more technology. The Lightning Cannon was completed, which the Soapasians began to use in their machines. The Radio and the motion picture industry were born.
The pinnacle of Soapasian military achievement however, was the Xotak. This MegaCollasi, with muscles made of converted steel salve silk gave it the strength of a hundred Collosi. With magical shield stones and dozens of weapons.
Thus, the Second avatar entered into service. His name was Brink. He had been turned into a living Nukeru during an accident in a lab, making him look like a Feline. He was given the Xotak and sent on a mission to see what the Paganites were up to. Heading south, he tracked several of them to some caves where he was unable to follow. Eventually, he found another group lead by a General Bragg, a mercenary who was offering his services to whatever bidder would take them. Brink and the general got into a fight, causing the forest to burn. The Eloi were upset at this, for they considered this their territory. In a fit of rage, they sent Brink and the general to another plane of existence.
The Glenflendings then offered their services abroad as mercenaries, stating they could take on any race once they had been given the opportunity to bind themselves to the land. The Torpathi were incensed at this and attacked the Glenflendings. The Torpathi had made a mistake. A handful of Glenflendings used their magical battle prowess and autokannons to lay waste to the Torpathi hordes that attacked them.
Arcanos was very pleased with this. Torpath was not and launched a manaroid at Arcanos's valley. Furious at Torpath, Soapus launched three manaroids of his own back at Torpath. Arcanos tried to turn the course of the manaroid, but was unable to do so. The Glenflendings however, combined their powers, splitting the thing in two. One half fell into Soapasian lands, the other falling into the forests of Ealos. Ealos blamed Torpath, sending a wave of destruction that, while damaging Alliance lands, ignited the vast supplies of Ferion underneath the Torpathi lands causing massive explosions...as far as the Alliance knew, the Torpathi were no more.
These were the high days of the Alliance. With Torpath gone, the Alliance had a feeling of power, that they could actually accomplish anything. Technology thrived, culture thrived, indeed, it was a time of great peace. Of course, it was not a time of TOTAL peace. The Hyberites had colonized a land across the ocean called Smeggabonia. The natives (called Smegs) were not pleased with this. They launched an attack upon the Hyberite colony there, burning it and killing the innocents. The Soapasian airforce worked with the Hyberite army to repel this attack.
There was also an incident involving the Laeryn. The Laeryn had been discovered on a distant island out on the ocean. They welcomed the Alliance dignitaries with a chest salute and a heil. The Hyberites believed this to be a symbol for a dictatorship (and also possibly had a grudge because of their previous behavior in refusing to honor their treaty of Alliance). The Hyberites launched an invasion of the Laeryn, in a remarkably calculated strike, their paratroopers took over the island in a short matter of time. The Laeryn were determined not to let anyone invade their island, and detonated a nuclear device on their own territory.
The Laeryn appealed to the Soapasian senate. The Soapasian people disliked this invasion and some of their more radical members sent humanitarian aid to the Laeryn, though the Senate honored the alliance by not sending any official aid, the aid still made it because of the innate Soapasian luck. In the end, the Eali acted as intermediaries of the dispute and the matter was settled. The Laeryn were so greatful to the Soapasian's aid, they gave them a book on advanced Quantum physics from some strange place called "Earth".
The Soapasians began construction of a space station. Eventually, this was expanded to become an Orbital Lightning Gun platform, capable of raining death upon those who would attack the holy alliance. Spy satilites began to fill the skies.
And it came to pass that the queen of the Hyberites, daughter of Otik the mighty was slain. This began a mighty civil war between the various Hyberite states as demons of the Black God infilitrated all aspects of Hyberite society, causing massive chaos and civil war. Vrshank remained behind the core Hyberites, while the Valley People and Masquites each chose sides. Soapasia remained neutral, feeling this to be a purely internal hyberite matter...until raiders attacked the canal. Then the Soapasians moved in to stop them.
While Hyberios was slowly putting his domain back together, disaster struck. Two avatars, one a demon of the black god, another of Torpathe entered the small city of Melange, and began to attack, hurt and destroy. Soapus sent his own avatar after him...they at him. Then the glenflendings came...and their magic was so powerful it ended up nuking the place. But these avatars were teleported away. Thus, Soapus sent his two most powerful servants, Barsoapus and Brink to hunt them down. The Torpathi were not dead, as had been suspected, but were in fact very very alive. Wave after wave of the psychotics began to attack. The Orbital Lightning guns killed thousands, tens of thousands but Torpathe cared nothing for his followers and on they came. The Soapasian front line finally collapsed...but help was too far away, for Hyberios and Vrshank were busy with the Hyberite civil war. The Glenflendings helped immensely, but then Arcanos pushed Torpathe too far. In his rage, Torpathe swore the destruction of Arcanos and the alliance....
It is unknown how Torpathe got the sudden advanced technology to make rockets and atomic devices...but somehow he got them...and used them. The alliance had no choice and responded in kind. What was left, was a charred hulk of rubble. Walrus World was in ruins. No one had won.
The Tribes
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The aftermath wasn't pretty. Most of the Soapasian cities were in ruins. Crystal City, wonder of the age, was in ruins. Slowly, Soapus began to call his people together at two gathering places, the Shrine of Runic Virtues-Klensar in the west, and the mountain fortress in the east. A group of the more conservative Soapasians blamed technology for their woes...and wanted to burn all books and knowledge. Soapus was insulted. The technology he had given them was now rejected by them? Finally, he told them to choose. They could become True Ones, and remain at the Mountain fortress, stop their racism, stop their evil ways and listen to the Seven Runic Virtues...or they could go to the west to the Shrine, and be in a part of the land he had set aside for them.
The Conservatives were insulted, and renounce Soapus as their god, much to his sorrow...and left for the East. There, they built a mighty craft...and left. Where they went, and their story is contained in The Book of the Spheres. Suffice to say, this tribe became yet more tribes-and those tribes more tribes still. Soapus's dream had come true...the Clean Ones were at last free of the cyclical tendrils of Walrus World. They had conquered the stars at last.
With no tribe was this more true than the third tribe, The Lunarians. In the explosions of the nuclear war, the space station, and the craft they were building to go to the moon were knocked out of orbit and onto the moon. This moon was capable of supporting life...and the scattered colonists pulled themselves together and made a new city, based in the ruins of the space station. More of their story is found in the Book of the Moon, the Book of the Avatars and the Second Book of Soapus.
Suffice to say, the Lunarians eventually returned...and the Soapasian society was born anew. The fourth tribe were the Janitors. The remnants of the Psycho Janitors they went insane and turned the fruitful plains of the racial birthing into a desert with their cleaning. More of them also can be learned in the Second Book of Soapus...yet they were driven away...and Crystal City was rebuilt. Soapus returned...and thus begins the Second Book of Soapus.
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Here it is...in all it's glory...Book I of Soapus. The Book of the Spheres, The Book of the Moon and the Book of the Avatars are all future projects...the Second Book of Soapus is of course being written in the Returning...more projects to come....
Hope you enjoyed it...
Thursday, January 26, 2012
The Three Aeons - Day 8
Χαος's Obelisk surges with corruscating energies, engulfing the minds of the newly created dragons and communicating deep with their souls. "You are the chosen children of Chaos. Drink from my well of knowledge and learn the secrets of the world. Call upon my powers and command the fear and loyalty of all those around you. Lead these lesser beings to the Truth."
Power and vitality flow into them, increasing their size and enhancing their physical traits. Knowledge and intelligence expand their minds, giving them free will and ambition. A connection is formed between the dragons and a small sliver of Χαος's power, allowing them to affect the world as they see fit and resist direct influence from other Titans.
Satisfied with his work, Χαος settles back to watch the actions of his chosen ones.
Χαος blesses the race of dragons giving them strength, free will, ambition and the ability to call upon a portion of his powers.
The Dragons become stronger, faster and more driven. They also gain a portion, or rather a minor replication of the power of the titan, a form of exerting their will upon the world, a controlled version of the chaos that Χαος exerts simply by dint of existing or being near something.
The Dragons immediately begin to organize themselves and establish dominion over each other and the other elementals. Being closer to chaos at this point, it is really more of a pecking order of who is strongest, but the dragons are the strongest of them all. Still, numerically speaking all the Changed are vastly outnumbered by the 'regular' elementals who are disturbed by those who are different, but not enough to put aside their differences in fighting each other to take on the 'abominations.'
It also seems that as Dragons are to the changed, the changed are to the elementals, and thus there are vast range differences in power and intelligence.
Meanwhile, the crystals formed from Χαος's initial foray into the desert continue to spread and soon dot the entire planet, absorbing sunlight and self replicating. It seems there is a second form of life in the world now entirely separate from Elementals.
Power and vitality flow into them, increasing their size and enhancing their physical traits. Knowledge and intelligence expand their minds, giving them free will and ambition. A connection is formed between the dragons and a small sliver of Χαος's power, allowing them to affect the world as they see fit and resist direct influence from other Titans.
Satisfied with his work, Χαος settles back to watch the actions of his chosen ones.
Χαος blesses the race of dragons giving them strength, free will, ambition and the ability to call upon a portion of his powers.
The Dragons become stronger, faster and more driven. They also gain a portion, or rather a minor replication of the power of the titan, a form of exerting their will upon the world, a controlled version of the chaos that Χαος exerts simply by dint of existing or being near something.
The Dragons immediately begin to organize themselves and establish dominion over each other and the other elementals. Being closer to chaos at this point, it is really more of a pecking order of who is strongest, but the dragons are the strongest of them all. Still, numerically speaking all the Changed are vastly outnumbered by the 'regular' elementals who are disturbed by those who are different, but not enough to put aside their differences in fighting each other to take on the 'abominations.'
It also seems that as Dragons are to the changed, the changed are to the elementals, and thus there are vast range differences in power and intelligence.
Meanwhile, the crystals formed from Χαος's initial foray into the desert continue to spread and soon dot the entire planet, absorbing sunlight and self replicating. It seems there is a second form of life in the world now entirely separate from Elementals.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
The Three Aeons - 6 and 7 Days
Alexandra begins arranging clusters of stars into constellations.
Alexandra spreads forth her power and arranges the stars into a series of constellations that make up various shapes. These shapes will shift and blur depending on what is relevant to the world at any given time. Right now there is one for each Titan and the four elements.
In one corner of the universe, a binary of stars get too close in their orbits. The attractions accelerate, the heat intensifies, and the radiation amplifies until suddenly there's a burst of immense energy. However, perhaps due to a dark substance present here as well, instead of producing a glowing explosion, the light ceases, and the energy collapses. Sawda-Saiph, the Dark Sword, comes to be.
Sawda-Saiph, the Dark Sword appears in a fantastic shimmer of light and power looking down upon the world. The light is so bright that it actually catches the attention of the elementals in the world below who have now seen the power of a titan up close, as they gape in awe at the magnificence of the sight.
Χαος abandons his orbit and manifests on the world. Appearing as a hulking, black Obelisk, Χαος roots himself into place at the impact site of one of his stars. His presence seems to amplify the glowing energy being emitted from the ground.
A giant glowing obelisk appears on the ground, manifesting energy, chaos energy which begins to change the world around him in strange and fantastic ways, creating all kinds of new minerals and rocks and crystals in a giant area that covers the ground and shimmers in colors and wonder.
Χαος's senses quest out to find nearby elementals. Lightly touching their minds, he quells their desire to fight, and replaces it with a compulsion to journey towards his Obelisk.
From all around the world, elementals begin to journey to the Obelisk. Those nearest surround it and bank rocks and bits of dead elementals as they move around it in fury, confusion and awe. However, the chaos energy near the obelisk changes many of them, making four elemental types become sixteen and then sixty four again, with new sub types of elementals gaining in intelligence, or size or strength. Some are of a particular size and shape, such as giants or behemoths others with wings such as djinn or a phoenix or dragons.
Alexandra spreads forth her power and arranges the stars into a series of constellations that make up various shapes. These shapes will shift and blur depending on what is relevant to the world at any given time. Right now there is one for each Titan and the four elements.
In one corner of the universe, a binary of stars get too close in their orbits. The attractions accelerate, the heat intensifies, and the radiation amplifies until suddenly there's a burst of immense energy. However, perhaps due to a dark substance present here as well, instead of producing a glowing explosion, the light ceases, and the energy collapses. Sawda-Saiph, the Dark Sword, comes to be.
Sawda-Saiph, the Dark Sword appears in a fantastic shimmer of light and power looking down upon the world. The light is so bright that it actually catches the attention of the elementals in the world below who have now seen the power of a titan up close, as they gape in awe at the magnificence of the sight.
Χαος abandons his orbit and manifests on the world. Appearing as a hulking, black Obelisk, Χαος roots himself into place at the impact site of one of his stars. His presence seems to amplify the glowing energy being emitted from the ground.
A giant glowing obelisk appears on the ground, manifesting energy, chaos energy which begins to change the world around him in strange and fantastic ways, creating all kinds of new minerals and rocks and crystals in a giant area that covers the ground and shimmers in colors and wonder.
Χαος's senses quest out to find nearby elementals. Lightly touching their minds, he quells their desire to fight, and replaces it with a compulsion to journey towards his Obelisk.
From all around the world, elementals begin to journey to the Obelisk. Those nearest surround it and bank rocks and bits of dead elementals as they move around it in fury, confusion and awe. However, the chaos energy near the obelisk changes many of them, making four elemental types become sixteen and then sixty four again, with new sub types of elementals gaining in intelligence, or size or strength. Some are of a particular size and shape, such as giants or behemoths others with wings such as djinn or a phoenix or dragons.
Monday, January 23, 2012
The Three Aeons - Day 5
Alexandra creates another moon.
Alexandra creates another moon, this one a silver sheen in color. With no particular direction from the Titan, the moon appears in the exactly opposite orbit of the first moon. It is the same size and shape but the color of the first is white and the second is silver, reflecting visible at dawn where it fills the sky with a wonderful way of mixing with the gold of the sun.
The effect on the tides is immediate and titanic, as they change. Massive storms now begin to wrack the the world in the fall season. In the boiling sea of chaos the tides actually manage to cause the perpetual storm there to wash out in calmness one a year for a month. The tides begin to wash against the edges of the Mountain of Fire washing against it, which now erupts like clock work once every hundred years.
The Unknown, sensing that movement of Χαος is critical, summons the life force from all around her and uses that force to put Χαος into orbit around its sun.
The Unknown sends forth her power and temporarily moves her fellow titan to a stable orbit around the sun. She knows instinctively, that the titan could move back with only a willing thought and not even an exercize of power but a simple narration of his intent. But at the same time, two remarkable things happen.
First, while it had not previously existed, now life force fills the void, clashing with the chaos. Wherever this happens, the souls which had already been sparked into existence form elementals. There are now four kinds in the world; air elementals, water elementals, wind elementals and earth elementals.
Second, all of the chaos stars that had been flying off into the deep void that hadn't hit any particular stars fall into orbit. Furthermore, the chaos stars that had already been orbiting the sun fall into much more stable orbits.
The elementals are still relatively primitive in mind, but fight each other when they encounter others that are different from their kind. This is particularly true of the elementals that are opposite each other.
Alexandra creates another moon, this one a silver sheen in color. With no particular direction from the Titan, the moon appears in the exactly opposite orbit of the first moon. It is the same size and shape but the color of the first is white and the second is silver, reflecting visible at dawn where it fills the sky with a wonderful way of mixing with the gold of the sun.
The effect on the tides is immediate and titanic, as they change. Massive storms now begin to wrack the the world in the fall season. In the boiling sea of chaos the tides actually manage to cause the perpetual storm there to wash out in calmness one a year for a month. The tides begin to wash against the edges of the Mountain of Fire washing against it, which now erupts like clock work once every hundred years.
The Unknown, sensing that movement of Χαος is critical, summons the life force from all around her and uses that force to put Χαος into orbit around its sun.
The Unknown sends forth her power and temporarily moves her fellow titan to a stable orbit around the sun. She knows instinctively, that the titan could move back with only a willing thought and not even an exercize of power but a simple narration of his intent. But at the same time, two remarkable things happen.
First, while it had not previously existed, now life force fills the void, clashing with the chaos. Wherever this happens, the souls which had already been sparked into existence form elementals. There are now four kinds in the world; air elementals, water elementals, wind elementals and earth elementals.
Second, all of the chaos stars that had been flying off into the deep void that hadn't hit any particular stars fall into orbit. Furthermore, the chaos stars that had already been orbiting the sun fall into much more stable orbits.
The elementals are still relatively primitive in mind, but fight each other when they encounter others that are different from their kind. This is particularly true of the elementals that are opposite each other.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Three Aeons - Day 4
The shapeless Tiitloc, hibernating within the calm center of this unnamed sun, stirs at sensing the neighboring chaos. Tiitloc's essence expands, slowly at first, but at an increasing rate. As Tiitloc's girth meets the surface of the sun he halts his growth. The sun darkens as Tiitloc materializes dark tentacles of energy which flare and flail about the surrounding celestial bodies and bathe them in radiation.
And so it is that radiation is created, the world is bathed in all kinds of heat and warmth and color and light and radiance. Tiitloc's radiance is not Order, per se, but it still has far more order to it than the chaos that exists, and as such it slowly begins to create sparks the order and chaos forging a spark of life which is like a soul. These souls are not connected to anything though and float throughout the ether.
Zawadi....the blessed..
And a new Titan enters the heavens.
Alexandra creates the moon.
And so the moon is created, showing in the heavens like a giant green ball of light and solid matter. This immediately makes tides appear in the oceans, though it also causes some earthquakes.
And so it is that radiation is created, the world is bathed in all kinds of heat and warmth and color and light and radiance. Tiitloc's radiance is not Order, per se, but it still has far more order to it than the chaos that exists, and as such it slowly begins to create sparks the order and chaos forging a spark of life which is like a soul. These souls are not connected to anything though and float throughout the ether.
Zawadi....the blessed..
And a new Titan enters the heavens.
Alexandra creates the moon.
And so the moon is created, showing in the heavens like a giant green ball of light and solid matter. This immediately makes tides appear in the oceans, though it also causes some earthquakes.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Three Aeons - Day 3
Χαος: Floating in the depths of space, the shapeless form that is Χαος begins to pulse. Deep, rythmic beats like some lethargic celestial heartbeat. With each pulse, a large meteoric object is expelled from Χαος in seemingly random directions.
Some head in the general direction of the newly formed World; others towards the most remote reaches of the Universe. Each object trails a faint essence of Χαος as they hurtle through space.
After a short time, Χαος falls silent once again.
Χαος creates several essence-filled meteors and sends them in various directions.
Streaking through the sky the Chaos Stars go in all kinds of random directions. Some simply go on forever lost in the darkness of space. Some fly into the sun and as they do so they cause strange eldritch storms and spots to appear on its surface though they are instantly incinerated in its heat. Some impact the stars themselves, and these lesser stars are not hot enough to burn the Chaos Stars so change the stars themselves, causing them to shift in color from bright yellow to Red, Blue and even Silver. It is beautiful but has a slightly ominous feel to it.
Some stars hit each other, and of these that do, they form comets that begin to orbit the Sun in relative degrees to the world. There are three of these comets.
Three more slam into the world. One impacts the sea, causing one of the seas between the continents to turn blood red and boil with toxic vapors. Clouds that pass this way often become more furious and intensify storms that hit them.
One impacts the land and causes strange glowing energy to emit from the ground slowly rolling forth in waves.
One breaks up in the atmosphere, causing bits of chaos to sprinkle everywhere and nowhere.
Some head in the general direction of the newly formed World; others towards the most remote reaches of the Universe. Each object trails a faint essence of Χαος as they hurtle through space.
After a short time, Χαος falls silent once again.
Χαος creates several essence-filled meteors and sends them in various directions.
Streaking through the sky the Chaos Stars go in all kinds of random directions. Some simply go on forever lost in the darkness of space. Some fly into the sun and as they do so they cause strange eldritch storms and spots to appear on its surface though they are instantly incinerated in its heat. Some impact the stars themselves, and these lesser stars are not hot enough to burn the Chaos Stars so change the stars themselves, causing them to shift in color from bright yellow to Red, Blue and even Silver. It is beautiful but has a slightly ominous feel to it.
Some stars hit each other, and of these that do, they form comets that begin to orbit the Sun in relative degrees to the world. There are three of these comets.
Three more slam into the world. One impacts the sea, causing one of the seas between the continents to turn blood red and boil with toxic vapors. Clouds that pass this way often become more furious and intensify storms that hit them.
One impacts the land and causes strange glowing energy to emit from the ground slowly rolling forth in waves.
One breaks up in the atmosphere, causing bits of chaos to sprinkle everywhere and nowhere.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Three Aeons - Day 2
Heat and ash from Tiilocs celestial romp fill Eloras eyes. She cries down tears from the heavens to form the salty seas.
Tiiloc's tears slowly fill the heavens as clouds which pour down in unending rivulets. The giant rifts and valleys forged by fire in the world make seas which now also makes islands and continents. The world is a shining jewel in the heavens.
Agni takes an interest in this new world and births himself a body within the molten core. Like the world itself, Agni's skin is rocky and jagged, covered with fissures exposing the fiery lava beneath. Agni tunnels away from the core to the planet's surface and creates the first volcano.
Mt. Agni forms in the world, bursting forth with lava, some of which hisses and steams as it meets the newly formed sea. The earth shakes and fire erupts as it thrusts up from the Earth itself, a giant fiery eye that pierces the clouds and stares back at the sun menacingly. Then it calms slightly but still spews forth lava from time to time.
Χαος: As Order begins to permeate through the Universe, existence starts to strain at the imbalance. Fraying at the edges, reality seems to twist as Χαος coalesces into being in the chasm between the stars. A dark cloud of Chaos and Uncertainty slowly begins to spread, righting the balance once again.
Chaos enters the world first in the form of lightning that begins to form from the clouds, striking the earth and leaving eldritch marks. The sun begins to storm as well, the occasional flare reaching out unfathomable distances in the heavens. The concept of probability and entropy also creep in with it, and now all things hence forth after this will affected by Chaos and uncertainty. The world, the sun, Mt. Agni and the sea being the only certainties in an uncertain world.
Traveling through the great cosmos looking for a place to dwell, The Unknown, a great spirit, comes across this newly formed world and decides that this will do. The Unknown can make herself seen to other beings when the time is right, but for now, The Unknown wishes to observe her fellow inhabitants of this new world unseen and unfelt watching with great interest to see how she can use her influence to create a world of her liking.
The Unknown spreads her influence into the world, partially unseen. They can sense her vague presence but know nothing about her, her form or her location. And she watches, and waits, and ponders.
Tiiloc's tears slowly fill the heavens as clouds which pour down in unending rivulets. The giant rifts and valleys forged by fire in the world make seas which now also makes islands and continents. The world is a shining jewel in the heavens.
Agni takes an interest in this new world and births himself a body within the molten core. Like the world itself, Agni's skin is rocky and jagged, covered with fissures exposing the fiery lava beneath. Agni tunnels away from the core to the planet's surface and creates the first volcano.
Mt. Agni forms in the world, bursting forth with lava, some of which hisses and steams as it meets the newly formed sea. The earth shakes and fire erupts as it thrusts up from the Earth itself, a giant fiery eye that pierces the clouds and stares back at the sun menacingly. Then it calms slightly but still spews forth lava from time to time.
Χαος: As Order begins to permeate through the Universe, existence starts to strain at the imbalance. Fraying at the edges, reality seems to twist as Χαος coalesces into being in the chasm between the stars. A dark cloud of Chaos and Uncertainty slowly begins to spread, righting the balance once again.
Chaos enters the world first in the form of lightning that begins to form from the clouds, striking the earth and leaving eldritch marks. The sun begins to storm as well, the occasional flare reaching out unfathomable distances in the heavens. The concept of probability and entropy also creep in with it, and now all things hence forth after this will affected by Chaos and uncertainty. The world, the sun, Mt. Agni and the sea being the only certainties in an uncertain world.
Traveling through the great cosmos looking for a place to dwell, The Unknown, a great spirit, comes across this newly formed world and decides that this will do. The Unknown can make herself seen to other beings when the time is right, but for now, The Unknown wishes to observe her fellow inhabitants of this new world unseen and unfelt watching with great interest to see how she can use her influence to create a world of her liking.
The Unknown spreads her influence into the world, partially unseen. They can sense her vague presence but know nothing about her, her form or her location. And she watches, and waits, and ponders.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
[PBEM] The Three Aeons - Day 1
Lonely after searching the cosmos for life, Elora takes dust from the stars and forms a sphere that she breathes life unto.
While there had until that time been neither stars, nor dusts, nor spheres, Elora, first of the goddesses, takes the dust in her hands, and the stars begin to shine in the heavens, distant but beauteous in their wonder, and there was a world. It was a lifeless rock at this point, but the world is now in existence, and a perfect sphere it is as well.
AND lo! The heavens pulled like no time before with forces yet unnamed! Wrenched, from the fabrics of the fractured void is born the titan Tiitloc: the son of shattered veils. Bound by matter, the deposed Tiitloc subjects himself to (the force known as gravity) and slumbers at the center of an azure sun.
In the center of the void a giant star, dwarfing all the others flares to life. Since neither gravity, nor mass yet exist, both the world and the sun merely sit there, but the light radiated from the sun and the heat cause the world on one side to become slightly warm, and the other side to become slightly hot.
Time passes, and this increases but not significantly, but eventually one half of the world begins to glow with the embers of lava as the rock melts, though only a few inches at this point, whilst the other half of the world is denied Tiitloc's light.
Then, as Tiitloc himself begins to slumber into the sun, a burst of activity takes place, initially the world hurtles towards the sun, about to consume it, only to miss and sling shot around into an orbit. The orbits are tight at first, causing the entire world to become almost a second star as it radiates the heat, but the orbit slowly becomes more stable until the world itself begins to rotate around equally heating both sides, cooling it.
In the process, mountains and valleys have been forged, albiet very rough ones. The center of the world now has its own molten core.
While there had until that time been neither stars, nor dusts, nor spheres, Elora, first of the goddesses, takes the dust in her hands, and the stars begin to shine in the heavens, distant but beauteous in their wonder, and there was a world. It was a lifeless rock at this point, but the world is now in existence, and a perfect sphere it is as well.
AND lo! The heavens pulled like no time before with forces yet unnamed! Wrenched, from the fabrics of the fractured void is born the titan Tiitloc: the son of shattered veils. Bound by matter, the deposed Tiitloc subjects himself to (the force known as gravity) and slumbers at the center of an azure sun.
In the center of the void a giant star, dwarfing all the others flares to life. Since neither gravity, nor mass yet exist, both the world and the sun merely sit there, but the light radiated from the sun and the heat cause the world on one side to become slightly warm, and the other side to become slightly hot.
Time passes, and this increases but not significantly, but eventually one half of the world begins to glow with the embers of lava as the rock melts, though only a few inches at this point, whilst the other half of the world is denied Tiitloc's light.
Then, as Tiitloc himself begins to slumber into the sun, a burst of activity takes place, initially the world hurtles towards the sun, about to consume it, only to miss and sling shot around into an orbit. The orbits are tight at first, causing the entire world to become almost a second star as it radiates the heat, but the orbit slowly becomes more stable until the world itself begins to rotate around equally heating both sides, cooling it.
In the process, mountains and valleys have been forged, albiet very rough ones. The center of the world now has its own molten core.
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