Planet Zar: Nexus

Challenge & Claims

Cassimir desires power and prestige. He wishes to become the supreme deity of Lomeelas and in order to do so he's started a campaign to destroy the temples of all the other gods.

He starts with War. Cassimir challenges Direkes (Lomeelian god of War) to a contest: If Cassimir's army defeats Direkes', Cassimir will lay claim to Direkes' power and temple. Terms are agreed upon, with the single limitation that neither High Priest is killed.

The agreement is for a war, not merely a single battle. Cassimir isn't used to plotting in the long term. He sends his high priest, Zhicius, to command his troops.

Zhicius' army is no match for the far more disciplined and talented ranks of Direkes. They are ambushed and all but decimated. On the eve of a skirmish, Zhicius abandons his soldiers and begins the long journey back to Cassimir, defeated but unwilling to sacrifice his own life.

During his trek, near death from exposure and hunger, Zhicius is accosted by a strange creature he's never seen before. The beast introduces himself as "Cocytus" and informs Zhicius he's here to collect the high priest et al to bring to the Twisted Fate.

Cocytus teleports himself and Zhicius to Cassimir's temple, where Cassimir gladly agrees to attend the Fate's beast clutch. His army is destroyed. Perhaps the Fate has an answer to his needs.

Dragons & Destruction

Cassimir bonds the highest ranking Beast hatched from the clutch, Chaos Blood Kjarror'khan.

Zhicius bonds two beasts. The lovely Rhakunara'cza and a lower ranked slime named Kjaran that Kjarror insists be called "isan" only.

Pleased with the outcome of the clutch, Cassimir and Zhicius return to Lomeelas where they await Direkes' troops.

Rhakunara expresses disinterest in battling, but both of her brothers are eager for blood. When Direkes arrives, Zhicius leads Kjarror and Isan - still children - onto the battlefield.

Direkes is horrified that Cassimir would offer kids instead of an army. He sends his High Priest to negotiate terms. Kjarror kills the priest in a fit of rage. He wants things to destroy.

Reluctantly, Direkes sends his army against Cassimir's three soldiers.

Kjarror shifts into his dragon form and Isan takes wing. Together (with some aid from Zhicius) they destroy Direkes army. They're no match for a dragon - even a young one - as powerful as the Infernal x Beast hybrids.

The battle won, Direkes charges into Cassimir's temple, furious of the outcome. Several of his soldiers are in Cassimir's custody (alive, but being tortured).

Direkes wants to break the agreement. Cassimir promised not to kill the High Priest. Cassimir responds that he didn't. Kjarror did, and against orders to boot. He parades Kjarror and Rhakunara in their human forms, where they appear barely older than 12. These are the soldiers he wants Direkes to kill.

Direkes forfeits the war. He loses his army, his powers, and his temple. Cassimir grants him the mercy of freeing the captured soldiers.

Kjarror wants to kill Direkes but discovers he cant. Cassimir informs him "only a god can kill a god." Servants & Soldiers

Rhakunara re-establishes that she's not a warrior, nor does she wish to be one. She kills without artistry or prolonging. She wants to be a queen.

Cassimir, enamored with her and her powers, agrees to grant her the title of "Lady Death" and acquire servants for her. He is also in need of more soldiers. The other gods will know his tricks now.

Cassimir returns to the Twisted Fate, awaiting appropriate clutches for Rhakunara to stand at.

Meanwhile, Cassimir sends Zhicius, Kjarror, and Isan off-world in search of allies and troops.

Zhicius and the beasts end up on Venial - a world which functions as an afterlife for a species of sapient wolf-like creature. It's ruled by a being known only as The Lord.

Zhicius and Kjarror find and capture another beast, purged from the Twisted Fate - Joroch'isan. The little ash is cunning and proves useful in earning the Lord's favor.

Zhicius, Kjarror, and Isan are discovered by some of the Lord's servants and brought to him, with Joroch in tow as a bargaining piece. The Lord wants nothing to do with Cassimir's war - he has his own issues on Venial. He strips Kjarror and Kjaran of their powers and imprisons them.

Joroch is being held captive as the Lord's pet. He agrees to help Zhicius in exchange for his own freedom. Joroch concocts a plan: Help the Lord defeat his enemies on Venial and he's sure to grant Cassimir the use of his soldiers. Joroch implores the importance of being subtle. Make the Lord believe he thought of this.

The Lord falls for Joroch's plan and agrees. With Cassimir's permission, Zhicius and the beasts take arms against Venial's rebels and destroy them.

Meanwhile, Rhakunara stands for her first clutch and sponsors the nightmourner-mutt Foxfire. Foxfire proves just as cunning as Joroch, but utterly devoted to her mistress and more interested in furthering her magical prowess than making enemies.

Death & Disaster

The Lord and Cassimir form a temporary alliance. Cassimir brings the Lord and his wolves to Lomeelas, where they rain disaster on Cassimir's home continent of Conflict.

The only remaining temple on Conflict is that of Sumuura, the death god. Sumuura's temple is inaccessible to those who are alive. Fortunately, the Lord's army of wolves are dead, as Venial exists in an afterlife plane. They spill into Sumuura's temple and obliterate everything within it. Sumuura's priests use their death magic against the wolves but they are vastly outnumbered, and while they decimate the creatures' ranks they are eventually overpowered.

The Lord follows his army into the temple and Sumuura realizes he's capable of annihilating her.

She, and her high priestess, flee. Sumuura manages not to be stripped of her powers, but outside her temple she cannot use them until her appointed month. She remains on Conflict, watching and weary, but incapable of fighting back. For now.

Cassimir claims the Temple of Death as his own.

The Lord intends to return to Venial with the wounded remains of his army, but first he wants his pet returned. He asks for Joroch.

Rhakunara has become enamored with the snake. He's charming and obsequious and she wishes to keep him as one of her servants. Zhicus, too, intends to keep his promise to Joroch, although he's not certain how much freedom the worm will have in Rhakunara's grasp.

The Lord is furious. Joroch is his. The tenuous entente between him and Cassimir is broken. The Lord has the power to end Cassimir and his beasts, and Joroch knows this. He intervenes and offers a different solution: a test of strength, perhaps? Between a chosen fighter of the Lord and one from Cassimir, to avoid the deaths of any much more powerful, important beings. He hopes Cassimir will send Kjarror into the fray. He doesn't trust his volatile brother and if Kjarror was mortally injured, Joroch's life (as well as Zhicius') would be easier. In the event the battle goes awry, Joroch intends to flee, just as he did to escape the massacre of his hatching.

Cassimir surprises everyone by sending Rhakunara to fight. Rhakunara is appalled. Joroch and Foxfire are horrified. Zhicius is terrified.

The Lord, intrigued, sends his most trusted servant: Five.

Rhakunara demands time to prepare. Five is bloodthirsty and ready to fight immediately. Reluctantly, both Cassimir and the Lord agree to grant Rhakunara time to gather herself, but for every day that passes, the Lord will imbue Five with an additional power. Rhakunara agrees.

Love & Loyalty

Rhakunara is furious with Joroch, she knows full well the worm thought up this plot. Joroch is beside himself with apologies. He truly wishes to remain with Rhakunara and serve her, and he does not want to see her injured. Or killed.

Foxfire is delighted to offer a solution. She's become a master at her illusion magic and narcotics. She could simply trick the Lord and Five. She could make it appear as if someone else was Rhakunara, and fighting in her stead. To this she eyes Joroch pointedly.

Joroch cannot fight. He will not. He would not survive the battle.

"I'll find a suitable soldier for you, my lady," he suggests, instead.

"As quickly as you can," Rhakunara replies.

Joroch takes his leave and begins the search. He has very little time but now that he has full access to his powers he can expedite his search through teleportation. He makes inquiries and hears of a clutch of phoenix-dragons that might suit Rhakunara's needs.

The thought that he could escape and never be seen by Cassimir or the Lord again occurs to him, but his sense of loyalty to Rhakunara is strong. She is, perhaps, the only one of his siblings that Joroch cares about at all. Joroch realizes that Rhakunara could have simply forfeited the fight and allowed Joroch to be taken by the Lord, but she didn't. Joroch cannot let this kindness go unanswered.

He returns to Rhakunara with his findings and she, Joroch, and Foxfire leave for Carramba High as quietly as they can.

The clutch has since hatched and many of the phoenix-dragons have bonded or been sponsored, but one remains. Lharoth-mai Chxalli whose powers of invulnerability match Joroch's cunning and Foxfire's illusion magic.

Rhakunara charms Lharoth, who quickly becomes smitten with the beautiful gold dragoness. Lharoth agrees to return to Lomeelas with her, as her sponsor, and fight in her stead.

Joroch informs Cassimir and the Lord that Rhakunara is ready. Five is brimming with powerful energy and Joroch wonders how Lharoth will fair against her, invulnerability or no.

Lharoth, disguised as Rhakunara, enters the battlefield. Foxfire follows behind her. Joroch tastes the familiar sweetness of her narcotic magic, turning the air thick and cloying. Ah, he thinks. This is how we'll defeat Five.

The battle is difficult to follow. Between the mists of Foxfire's narcotic fogs diffusing around them and Five shifting between myriad powers (size-changing, pain touch, illusions of her own), the field is chaos. Joroch uses his telepathy to glean how Lharoth should react to many of Five's attacks and relays this information to her.

In the confusion, Rhakunara herself teleports to the field in her draconic form. Five is taken aback, surprised. She doesn't recuperate quickly enough. Rhakunara deals the death blow, impaling Five on her tail spikes.

Cassimir is delighted - he wanted to see if he could bring Rhakunara's bloodlust out.

The Lord is enraged. But the rules of the bet were followed and he's lost his claim to Joroch. The Lord returns to Venial with what remains of his army.

Foxfire dismisses her illusions and Lharoth introduces herself to the others as Rhakunara's personal bodyguard.

The continent of Conflict is Cassimir's and the battle for the rest of Lomeelas has begun.