Elementals: Aurennian Commandos In the beginning, before the world of mortals was born, there was nothing but Jaehlhadon, the Allfather. The God of Creation, floating endlessly in the void. But one day, Jaehlhadon became lonely. From his divine essence, he drew Nine great souls from him. First, he created the Loyal Host - the Eightfold Gods of Creation. These eight were made up of Pryastar, God of Fire, Hydrata, Goddess of Water, Terestark, God of Earth, Boaltist, God of Lightning, Veridaelia, Goddess of Nature, Froenstia, Goddess of Ice, Aewiallia, Goddess of Wind, and Ferruoston, God of Metal. But there was one last God to be drawn from Jaehlhdon's essence - Tenaembra, the King in the Void. It is unknown how or why, but Tenaembra grew tired of his role in creation. Perhaps he was given too much responsibility, or rather too little. Regardless, one day...he rebelled against his father, attempting to use the power of the Void to surpass the other Gods and dominate all of creation. This started a cataclysmic war in Heaven, which lasted for eons and time immemorial. The Loyal Host and their Angelles fought bitterly with Tenaembra and his Daemon hordes for centuries. The war was won by the Loyal Host, but only barely. Knowing what needed to be done to stop Tenaembra from starting another war with the power of the Void, Jaehlhadon sacrificed his Divine and Perfect form to bring form and shape to the seething, chaotic void and to transform it into an orderly, peaceful universe that the Loyal Host could fill with their own creations. As a final act before this new universe was created, Jaehlhadon created one last God: Caelstion, the Shining God of Light. And thus the Universe was born; Terestark and Ferruoston forged the planets, Hydrata filled the basins of the rough spheres with her Water, Pryastar made boiling lakes of lava beneath the earth, and blazing balls of Fire in the space between the planets, which Caelstion lit up to ward off darkness and death from the planets. Veridaelia covered the land in lush, viridian forests brimming with life, and Aewiallia tenderly pulled the rain clouds across the skies. And once the universe was physically formed, there was one last act of creation the Loyal Host undertook; to create man. Taking attributes from all their Elements they combined them into two beings that walked upright the same way the gods and goddesses did. But Tenaembra had not accepted final defeat, and vowed to continue his war against his brothers and sisters. The Black King in the Void sent his own creations to attack the world of Gaiaca. First came the ferocious, beast-like Demons, commanded by the Daemonnes; beautiful, cunning creatures that looked like men and were far more powerful than their savage counterparts. And for thousands of years they fought against the Angels and Angelles of Caelstion, and the magical superhuman servants of the Loyal Eight, the Elementals. Finally, the cycle of divine war came to a cataclysmic end. Both sides sought a final, supreme advantage over the other, and the winner of the celestial arms race would either save Gaiaca or turn it into a ruined husk. Sacrificing nearly the entirety of his Dæmonik army on Gaiaca, Tenaembra reforged his foul creations into an unholy abomination, the Dæmonic Behemoth. The mindless monstrosity lived only for destruction, obliterating everything in its path. At great cost the monster was stopped by one of the mightiest Elementals and his army, the Scarlet Legion of His Imperial Majesty, Olbruni Villdera the Great, the emperor of Galllia, but at a terrible cost. The emperor, and most of his army, including Olbruni's three remaining heirs were slain by the foul beast. With the end of the Villdera dynasty and the losses they had suffered in the other parts of the world the age of the Elementals ended; the mythical race of superhuman heroes had been too depleted fighting the war. Caelstion's host continued to guard Gaiaca from the Heavens, stopping any further Demon kind from reaching the world of men. A thousand years passed, as the Galllian empire slowly stagnated and crumbled without the might of the Villdera dynasty, losing its grasp on the Elcrescian continent and the isle of Eresiln over time. Magic faded away the world as the Elementals that used it found themselves blamed and persecuted by the common men for all the ills of life, and either hid their powers or fled into the wilds, away from civilization. For a time peace seemed restored on Gaiaca as the Great Dæmon War had lone since faded into the forgotten stories of old men, but it would not last. Tensions between the numerous kingdoms that now covered the face of Galllia flared, and war erupted once more. Battle after battle dragged on, with cities and provinces constantly changing hands to no avail. No end was in sight, nothing could make the awful war worse. Or so the suffering Galllians thought. From out of the Void came one of Tenaembra's most fearsome servants, with an army at his back: Demon King Kayarost. The most powerful, cruel, remorseless of all the creations of the Black King in the Void, Kayarost quickly went to work pillaging and destroying the land, sweeping aside the technologically sophisticated humans with the sheer might of his innumerable host. As the Demon King marched on Villdernheim, the mighty island fortress-city that had been home to the Galllian emperors so long ago, it seemed there was nothing to stop him. No human army dared fight against Kayarost's dark army; to do so was suicide. Resigned to their inevitable defeat, the defenders of Villdernheim evacuated the civilians of the city while preparing for their deaths. They waited for days, and days, and no army came. The men of Villdernheim sent forth riders to find Kayarost's host. They did not succeed in that endeavour. Instead, they found the crushed remains of the Daemonic army, their foul black blood soaked into the earth like the rainwater of a hurricane. Mountains of Daemonik corpses burnt in pyres, with ash cloaking the ground and choking the air. And in the very epicentre of the carnage lay Schwarterong, Kayarost's dark sword, shattered to pieces. It was the only thing left of the Demon King, as his body was never found. Amazed by whatever divine grace had saved them, the states of Galllia put an end to their war, forming a confederation called the United Galllian Federation, and began rebuilding. Fifteen years passed, and the world seemed at peace. But peace...is a fragile thing. Yes, Kayarost and his armies had brought the land together to band against what was expected to be years and years of invasions from Hell. But after it became clear that there were no more hellspawn marching upon the world, then the old rivalries and grudges of Gallia rose to the surface once again. The South and North were tied together loosely to begin with, and slowly and surely, these ties began to fray. Economic disputes joined the fray, ranging from regional income inequality to slavery and child labour. Isolationism became the Galllian foreign policy by default, as no consensus could be reached as to which of the competing alliances the old states had forged should be kept. Topping it all off was the rise of a revolutionary group known as the Watchtower Society. They preached that the Elementals were responsible for all the ills of the world, and that the nobility, being descended from their magical hierarchy, needed to be violently overthrown. Ridding Gaiaca of her Elementals was the only way to ensure the Hellspawn would never attack again, as they would have finally triumphed over their ancient enemies. Their main activities seemed to be stirring up trouble in town squares, but in secret they carried out horrific biological research. It is unknown what was the fatal spark that set the powder keg alight truly was, but many claim it was the secession of Aurennia from the United Galllian Federation. They had grown tired of the taxation and corruption of the Southern government, Constitutional confusion followed for days as the Federal Council debated over whether secession was legal, and if it was whether Duke Bismarke could unilaterally make such a declaration on his own without consulting his own nobility or the other states in Galllia. Chancellor Jeffron Van Eldharch, the head of state, finally announced their decision via telegram and a public address on the 5th of June in the capital that it was in fact illegal, and that the United Galllian Federation was going to stay united as long as there would be a continent of Galllia. The Rupture of the North had begun. House Aurenheim made good use of the head-start their federal foes had given them, securing the loyalty of most armed forces currently within their lands. The structure of the U.G.F's army was such that divisions were generally comprised of soldiers from the region where they were stationed, meaning the divisions in Aurennia were almost entirely Aurennian. Proposals had been made in the past of integrating men from across the federation into assorted divisions, but the disparities in transportation across the continent made the idea too expensive to the Federal Council, and thus the Federal Army remained largely an extension of the old state armies and noble household retinues. Bismarke Van Aurenheim continued to use his title from the federal army, Commander of the Armies of the North, and called for the other northern states of Albrion and Erillia to break away with Aurennia. And the continent exploded into war. For a time, the two combatants were at a standstill. Then, in the Southern Forces, the secret spread of Watchtower paramilitary units into the structure of the Federal Army began. They were zealous and bloodthirsty, with an all-consuming hatred for Elementals, and their created monsters were too tantalising for many Southemen and Garmiccian commanders to resist deploying. On the few occasions that Federal-Imperial propaganda would mention the Watchtower Society it would paint them as passionate pursuers of reason and progress, contrasting with the superstition and backwardness of the brutish Northemen. In reality, though, Watchtower unleashed hideous and unnatural beasts upon the field, creations with no purpose but to slaughter and maul. But who does the North have to stand against such unworldly forces? That...would be the Aurennian Commandos. Who are they, you may ask? Well, it's quite confidential. But you've heard the rumors. A special unit, comprised of the boldest and brightest Elementals, meant to find and destroy whatever facilities responsible for unleashing these horrors upon the world. The tide of the war is turning against the North. The situation grows more dire by the day. But perhaps, with the blessings of the gods, the bravery of men, and a touch of luck...the tide may turn yet again. RP Guidelines If you're reading this, then thank you! I really appreciate you making your way through all this lore. You, and whoever else may join, are now members of the Aurennian Commandos, fighting against the Watchtower paramilitary units of the South. As you may have been able to tell, the war is going badly for the North. Though there appears to be divine intervention, your characters will be outanned and outgunned for most of the story. A few notes: Elementals, as in the one that Const is running, is primarily an drama-comedy. Elementals: Aurennian Commandos sort of strikes the comedy bit. That isn't to say that the RP is full grim-dark, but characters can and will die. It's taking place during an active war, after all. I'm not going to randomly just merc anyone's character out of nowhere (that would be terrible OPing and I'm not here for it), but if you write that your guy tries to take on an entire brigade by themselves...I'll roll a couple dice and see what happens. This story is significantly more condensed than OG Elementals as well. As you may or may not know, Elementals 3 crawls along at a snail's pace, an undying vampire casually strolling down to the pub. That's not the case here, though. I'm hoping that folks can post at least once a week so we can move along rapidly. A key for this is to leave a hook in your post for another player to latch on and respond to so we can keep the ball rolling. Also, I don't expect novels for posts. While more description and length in a post is great, having things happen quickly is even more important. Just a couple of general notes: You don't have to play as a Gallian (who are predominately British-inspired). If you want to take inspiration from somewhere else, you can be a mercenary Elemental from one of the many other nations of Gaiaca. Gaiaca has three main continents. Galllia in the west, Elcrescia in the east, and Sahranjja to the south, along with a smattering of islands everywhere. There's presumably other islands further out at sea, but what's shown on the political world map in the OP is what makes up the known world. Galllia is split between the United Galllian Federation in the south and west, and the breakaway Commonwealth of the North in the northeast. The Commonwealth of the North also includes the island nation of Eresiln, which is at an equal tech level to Galllia. Elcrescia is less advanced, and is split into eight different countries at the moment. The continent of Sahranjja is all ruled by the empire of the same name. Culture-wise Galllia is comparable to a viking Great Britain, which used to be the equivalent of the Roman Empire a thousand years ago, with gratuitous German names thrown in. Elcrescia is roughly Europe. Sahranjja is a mashup of China and Egypt. I expect players to be civil and polite. We've never had an issue with that before, so I don't expect there to be any issues. If any questions pop up as you're making a character, or at any time really, ask away. There's a lot of lore in Elementals, but you really don't need to know that much of it! All you really need to know is that there's a war, your character is a Sorcerer/Cleric hybrid (or a regular fantasy knight that can keep pace), you're fighting cultists and demons, and it's Fantasy Rogue One. It might look complicated, but there's nothing to be intimidated by. Application
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