Faction What Is A Soul? (Pantheon of Zaathru)

[Dev Ossian]

The featureless sand dunes seemed to stretch on endlessly in all directions, save one. In the southeast, two silver spires rose from the dust, surrounded by several smaller towers. The sunlight looked strange against their metallic surfaces, gleaming but not reflective, almost as if the light was being manipulated somehow. In the Force, this effect was much more prominent—the monoliths practically radiated pure evil.

This was the City of the Muses.

It seemed to take a supernaturally long time to reach the City, with the distance between them and the abandoned metropolis only seeming to lengthen the longer they walked. Several nights passed before they were able to glimpse the rest of the ruins, tall and spindly structures much lower and more densely packed together than the central towers. The sense of Darkness became more oppressive, to the point where the sun seemed less bright and a chill descended over the desert in the middle of the day.

Dev Ossian, sitting astride his mount as they marched upon the City, turned to look at the others. Anhur and Mercurius had come, along with General Tollak. They had each supplied something to the war effort, whether it be troops or funds or supplies, creating quite a formidable force.

But make no mistake: this was not like Adamanthea’s crusade against the tribes of slavers. This was a personal conquest through which both deities stood to gain something. The God of War, consumed with lust for the little goddess Aoede, had insisted they bring an army to the City to exact revenge against the members of her cult, whom she claimed had imprisoned her. And the God of Prosperity, who had recently gained the desert lands the City was built upon, apparently intended to settle there once it was cleared of undesirables.

In Dev's opinion, they were all fething insane. But madness was the name of the game in the Pantheon. They were all infected with their own egos and hubris, determined to carve up his homeworld and each take a piece of it for themselves. Dev hated it, and yet he couldn’t help but also be entertained by their antics. Plus, he enjoyed all the killing that went with these sorts of things…

As the army approached the City, the troops’ marching began to falter. The oppressive Darkness emanating out from within tended to have that effect, stirring the mind to horror. Dev wasn’t exactly keeping a head count, but hadn’t there been more troops over there on his left just a minute ago? Well, they were gone now, fleeing in terror.

The City itself also appeared to be empty, with no sign of the people Aoede had described. “The cultists have probably retreated into the ruins,” Dev said. “They know how to evade its defenses and traps.”

Spoiler: TL;DR

The City of the Muses is the site of the most powerful Force Nexus on Zaathru. The miasma of the Dark Side can be felt from a distance, and the closer the armies get to it, the more the soldiers will start to panic, with some inevitably deserting. The cultists living nearby have taken refuge within the ruins in hopes of surviving the invasion.

Aoede Forrest Dinn Darien Cordel​

 

[Darien Cordel]

They had been marching for days. Days which felt like weeks. Marchin in the Desert was taxing enough on its own but this trip was particularly hard. All there was to see was the towers in the distance that never seemed to get closer and an expanse of nothingness. The area was devoid of life that existed in the lands around Mercuitie. They had not seen a village since the fourth day of their trudge. Perhaps there had been villages here until the grand crusade of the gods of Sky and War but equally perhaps not. The area did not seem ripe for sustaining life.

They were a sizable party and that had delayed them but there was more, almost as if the city itself was lengthening the desert and even with an army Darien had not expected it to take this long. The distance should not be so great. At first, he thought perhaps the Shaal was misleading them, he seemed the sort but they were not going in circles and their path was straight. That left only the City itself. It was plainly a structure of great darkness. Darien could feel it and its effect on him. He was short-tempered now and disinclined to mercy.

Dev might not have been keeping a head count but Darien had. His people maintained records of everything, every soldier, every weapon, every crumb of food.

Night by night their numbers grew thinner as people fled the army. Not fled in fact... for there was no conquering enemy to flee from ... deserted. Darien could not speak for Forrest's men but for his own and Arcturus' he was clear "If you catch any deserters or attempted deserters execute them, if they steal supplies send orders to confiscate what assets they have in their home cities or villages" He had become harsher disciplinarian the closer to the city they came. It was like being in hell and he could not escape an angry feeling and a desire to do violence.

After long days under a diminished and cold sun, which somehow still aggravated his skin and long nights of missing Theryn they finally seemed to be nearing the city. The cultists it was said had abandoned their outposts and villages and fled into the city itself. At the edges of their army, he could see people fleeing even now and his lieutenants were powerless to stop it. Some of them were even among the deserters. How could cowardice be so infectious?

Closer and closer they drew, numbers thinner and thinner and yet nothing came to meet them. He left the speaking and planning to the general and the god of war, he was here only to assist and to manage their supply line. That was his expertise.

 

[Forrest Dinn]

Forrest did not remember the forboding feeling that took place as they fot closer and closer to the City of Muses. Anger for what Aoede had been through, the fact he has to leave her with Theryn and Dariens guard without him, and the fact they were losing warriors the closer they got. Well, that Dev and Darien were losing warriors. He had no say in what they did with their troops but Forrest had made it clear if his troops were going to fear anything in these desserts it bad better be him.

As he noticed the first of the deserters in his ranks he had called a vicious and firerce storm and lightning had struck down the wave of deserters before they had even been able to get out of sight. He went to his troops, enhancing his voice with the force and addressed them all before it could get out of hand. "Hear me warriors. If the darkness coming off this city scares you, then remind yourself of the true horror in your lives. If you should fear anything during this fight it should be me. You were chosen as the best of the best and I will not have you fleeing in fear back to the city you think will offer you protection. I am Anhur, God of War and you have been chosen to ride with me. If anyone else should decide to run from this fight, you will be struck down just as the cowards who ran just now we're. Make bo mistake, weather in battle for the city or running scared you will fight for your lives. At least in the city you have a chance to live. This will be my final and ONLY warning. If you any to see your families again, do what you were brought here to do."

The display of his powers had seemingly been enough to keep the superstitious fools in check. He had counted his troops daily since the fleeing bad begun and other than the handful that he had killed, no one else ran. His men knew he was a man of his word, and they also knew that Forrest would lead a charge into battle in front of them, not just with them and that has been enough to garner enough respect for them to stay, and his actions during battle had also garnered their fear. He knew as long as he remained alive, his men would fall in line.

He felt the anger growing inside him the longer then traveled and the closer they got. He relished in it, basked in the dark power the city out off. This would be a glorious battle and Anhur relished the coming of it. Pulling his chariot between Dev and Dariens as they for closer he spoke for the first time to the Ossian.

"You know more of this city than any of us. What should we expect when we get there, and what is our best option to breach it? I need as much information as I can get if I'm to make a sound strategy for the coming battle, and I refer to your knowledge for that, despite my personal feelings toward you and your ambitions, you are our best hope for survival. So Dev, here is your opportunity to impress me, not that you care to."

 

[Dev Ossian]

Both Anhur and Mercurius dealt with the deserters harshly, either ordering their deaths or the seizure of their property. Dev noted that they were still losing troops, but it was nowhere near as bad as it had been initially. They weren’t bleeding out, so to speak.

He couldn’t help but notice that the soldiers who showed no signs of shrinking from the horror of the nexus were also the most brutal looking of the lot. Male Shaal whose horns were as large as Dev’s own, their faces tattooed with a tally of the lives they had taken, their eyes searching hungrily for prey. There were no women amongst them or fresh-faced boys.

"You know more of this city than any of us. What should we expect when we get there, and what is our best option to breach it? I need as much information as I can get if I'm to make a sound strategy for the coming battle, and I refer to your knowledge for that, despite my personal feelings toward you and your ambitions, you are our best hope for survival. So Dev, here is your opportunity to impress me, not that you care to."

“Expect the unexpected,” Dev replied with a fanged grin, which faded rapidly into a scowl. “The City is a labyrinth full of traps and guarded by giant automatons who can reduce a man to ashes with a single blast of their heartfire. Your only real option is to overwhelm its defenses with your sheer numbers. Your casualties will be great, but the results will be greater.”

Arcturus Dinn Forrest Dinn Darien Cordel​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Viggo and the Rhan-Tegoth knew well the allure of the Darkside. They were each sensitive to the Force, had been raised to wield it, bending it to their will, but even they could admit that the energies pooling forth from this region of the desert were beyond unholy, beyond unnatural. Oppressive as the desert heat ought to have been, it took sheer power of will to keep their heads on straight.​

​

Unfortunately for the General, the Rhan-Tegoth's numbers were not so great. There was only a score of them present, great man all of them but hardly an army, and the individuals they led, those natives they'd been training, were not as well suited to withstanding corruption. Along the way several had descended into madness, fleeing into the sands without so much as a skin of water on their persons, others became frenzied and began to fight among themselves.​

​

Viggo had put a stop to that, but in tearing the offenders apart limbs had been lost and casualties left behind. Whether they would survive the Valkyri could not say for sure, he'd instructed one of his better field medics to remain back in order to tend to their injuries, with the express permission to put a mad dog down should sense flee them once more; unlike the Lords Dinn and Cordel, he did not look to threaten the remaining men into compliance. Instead he drew upon his noble blood and instilled valour into them through the Force, strengthening their resolve and bolstering them as a unit.​

​

Along the way the Rhan-Tegoth quietly recited bardic epics to marching beats, a steady drum upkept by a fellow Valkyri, Viggo's brother-in-arms Sune, and together they kept the Force flowing. It was far from perfect, there were those who still turned tail and ran, but those that remained were hardened and eager. ​

​

Where the others rode beast or chariot, the General walked at the head of his men, among them he could get a better feel for their state of mind, even as his own threatened to slip. "Father Odiir, protect us" he said quietly, voice filled to the brim with resolve. He may have been stationed on a world with man-turned-Gods, but he had a faith of his own which far outdated this Pantheon and it was not the likes of Arcturus or his Wife that Viggo looked for his blessings, for his aide. ​

​

The City lay ahead of them now, and the beating of the drum seemed mightier for it. While it was true that his army had shrunk along the way, there was still a good amount of men making their approach; add that to the others', and he had reason to believe that they could outmatch whomever lay within the city if they were cautious and strategic about it. After all, everything he had heard pointed to the fact that the majority of this place was a ghost town, right? Ancient devices would pose great hindrance, but maybe once they broke through such the rest would come crashing down.​

​

Reaching into his pocket, Viggo thumbed a small crystalline pebble and through it brokered a mental connection to his liege. My Lord Arenaceus he began, the moment he sensed Arcturus' presence in his mind, We have made it to the city. Be warned, deserters have spread into the outlying desert, they may seek to return to Celephaïs maddened.​

​

After being assured that such would be tended to, and instructed to focus on the task at hand as opposed to what may become of those who had turned tail, Viggo approached the trio and bowed deeply, turning his attention to Darien specifically. "My men and I are at your command, My Lord."​

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Darien Cordel Forrest Dinn Dev Ossian ​

 

[Darien Cordel]

The three ... perhaps four ... of them seemed to have stemmed the bleeding of men. They had maintained a sizable force but there was less innocence in the faces which now stared back at him. Gone were the fresher eyes of the young recruits. Only cold eyes and bloodlust stared back. He only hoped they were loyal as well as vicious. That this was not some elaborate trap. Dev gave them much to distrust from his actions and even with his limited knowledge of Dev's history with the pantheon, it was clear he was far from a loyalist. He seemed more an ally of convenience.

That would be fine so long as they remained convenient but Darien feared with their division they would not.

That made it imperative that Darien and Forrest showed a united front. General Viggo too, albeit to a lesser extent. Darien and the general had not met prior to this expedition but there was a foundational trust there. The general seemed loyal and he had Arcturus' trust which was enough for this expedition's purposes. He had kept a good handle on the men and accepted orders. Those sorts of men would be needed if they were to face the grim task that Dev seemed to suggest would meet them in the walls of the city.

Great casualties were promised.

"I am no military man I defer to Lord Dinn, the general and you" he said nodding at Dev "But it seems to me that there must be a safe route of some kind to the place they were holding Lady Aoede ... They were feeding her yes? The food had to come from somewhere, I'd venture from the cultist's outposts" He ran a hand through his hair "Did your former master never take you within?" he asked the great red Shaal.

He frowned in thought and listened to the force for signs of truth or lies from Dev and to a lesser extent the others in their conclave "If there is a way to avoid a slaughter we should do our best to find it"

Perhaps it was good that the fresher faces were gone. The men that remained had hopefully learned to die and lived lives full enough to bring comfort in the waxing moments of mortality.

Dev Ossian Forrest Dinn Arcturus Dinn