Mariwa: An Ivian Tale

"The first thing you should know Holly is the state of Ivias when the Colossus rose.

"A loooooong time ago, nobody knows how long really, Ivias was a wasteland, filled with dry earth and strange, hostile flora. It was inhabited, that much we have evidence for, but we don't know by who! Many are the societies who claim to have been born whole cloth from the ground here, and most of them we know for a fact weren't.

"But regardless, they had to come eventually, right? The Dashi.

"You said you didn't know what the Dashi are, don't you? And I bet you believe that too! The Seven Kinds Under the Light, Holly, the people of this world, Humans included of course, but also Gobans, Murmurs, Xilofena... You get the picture. For all their differences, they think alike, and they can breed with one another, they- we can talk about that later, just give me a moment.

"One day, obviously, they arrived to our shores, probably coinciding with the time of the first forests and the growth spurt of the mountains, quickly populating the archipelago. They built societies, became empires and nomadic warbands, joined their blood to the veins of Ivias!

"Now, now, I'm not going to be touching on every player on the board, many of them just weren't very relevant to this story I'll be telling. What would be the point of bringing up Amavias, the Ebony, and its Towerlands when they mostly stuck to themselves across history? What would be the point of bringing Kelevias and the Argent when their mess doesn't start until around a century ago?

"What else did I have to talk about...

"Oh! So, Holly, what do you think of this map? Pretty cool, isn't it?! Drop dead gorgeous! The illustrations, the calligraphy, the color! the moment I saw it I knew I had to have it! Unfortunately, it's a bit hard to read, and kind of just wrong in general. The archipelago bends points to the north and east, it's not a line from left to right! Buuuuut since it already gives us the opportunity, I'll be dividing it into left to right, up to down, for ease of reading! Any objections? Good!

"So, this big island in the middle, that's us, Ivias. It's upper and lower halves are almost separated by the Ivian Chain, which when grouped with it's surroundings is called the Mountainous Region. Up here by the left shore, yes, close to the Higher mouth of the Hollows, is the Wind Region, so called for the sudden, unnatural bouts of strong wind it's plagued by.

"Here once laid one of Ivias' oldest nations, who through its life held many names, fracturing and rejoining and unmaking and reconstructing itself until its very end. See this di- this long necked fellow with the helmet? that's them. Out of their many names, most probably know them as the Indolent Empire, but we'll be using a different one.

"The Citrine.

"They weren't great. Slavers, lovers to despoilment and corruption, cannibals, xenophobes, honestly the whole gamut! They lived by the dogmas of an ancient religion, dictated by a god whose very texts claimed had vanished from the physical world, but that didn't matter in the least to them, depraved creatures they were! They're gone now, but their cults to bestial pleasure remain to some extent.

"To the north they were kings, but the south belonged to others. See this squishy fellow here? Really cute, with its hollow eyes and its soft curves... E-excuse me, the Tyrian, a thousand societies led by a thousand gods of the same making, once referred to as the Yida. They dominated everything down the Chain, from here in the left at the Southern Light Region to the other tip, The Lost Forest Region, though the real core of their rule has always been the Sacred Forest Region, this lush place in between.

"And they were strong! Not as individuals, though some were, but because there were so damn many of them! Thousands of tribes and towns and wandering clans, each under the thumb of one Yida and one specially blessed warlord, usually. Their fight for dominance was endless! It was said that if two scouts from two different groups happened upon the same unripe fruit in the forest, dozens would die fighting over it. And their gods, always watching from the undergrowth, reveled in that state.

"And between Tyrian and Citrine, this knobbly thing that you shouldn't think about too much, the Temple of the Breathless God, the Smaragdine. In one word? Grotesque. They lived like parasites, infiltrating the other two and converting as many as they could to their cult before fleeing in the night to their hidden sects. They could kill hundreds of innocents a year, captured or tricked, all asphyxiated in the name of their unborn deity.

"All these were human, but humans aren't the only Dashi with a say here. At some point after the first two, different traditions cite different timelines, the Gobans arrived and settled here in the upper right side, the Northern Light Region. Nowadays we call this place the Goban Territories, as the Gobans here don't really form nations the traditional way, they are more like... city states, I suppose. They unite when they need to, but otherwise each group minds its own business. They'll be this rock here since I broke their figurine a couple days ago, sorry about that.

"Then, the last of the old guard. Some insist we still call them the Gin Inri, or Gwin Inni if you want to sound modern, but it pretty much just translates to the name everyone else calls them, the Brave Sailors, The Azure.

"And now, Skawla. They-

"Oh, You know Skawla?! Nope, not surprised at all, it is called the Gateway to Ivias for a reason it-

"Yeah, yeah, I guess we can talk about that later too. As I was about to say, they were pirates and pillagers, until time and loss mellowed them out, but during this age they still stuck by their old ways. Their figurine is oddly beautiful, don't you think? We used to call her the Lady Siren back at the Sect... Doesn't matter anymore, I guess.

"The Crimson came later, represented by this three-branched tree. Keritists, Followers of the Sun, followers of their 'Father' Kerit. I think I don't need to introduce them, but if you want to know more I do have some material on hand. What is relevant is that they arrived from the continent and insisted they would create their holy land here, and burn those who say otherwise!

"These were, for the longest time, the main factions here. There were other, smaller societies, but the ones that survived were the ones who knew not to stick out. These six lived not only at each other's throats, but their own as well, fighting in a stalemate that seemed as if it would last forever.

"But it didn't. Things are about to get worse, Holly, because for all the horror it bred, Ivias has always been a beautiful island with some very interesting goodies buried beneath.

"You must have seen it by now, how I kept this one figurine out of the map. Yes, it's made of stone! And painted too! No no, all compliments to Swordlight, alright? I'm just the one who stole it. Anyway, you must also have found it a little strange that I didn't talk about Galehold so far when they are so old, right?

"They called themselves the Yine Empire back them. Ruled by the Lion Dynasty, they conquered anyone who stood in their way, coming to reign over the shores of the Lesa Sea, which is this one at the bottom here. They were big players for a game Ivias could never even hope to join, and once they took notice of us, our days seemed numbered.

"See, they were fighting on too many fronts, even for their standards, and wanted something to lessen the burden just a tiiiiny little bit. So, what did they think would help them? Why, weird metals their enemies had never seen.

"You must have seen this black metal here- Wow! Careful, you'll-

"Ouch. I'm not going to shove it in your face Holly, don't worry, goodness! Here, give me your hand.

"Good, where was I? So, this is demonium, named for its... interesting properties, and it can only be produced by Mountain Guts, that is, only in very select places, like Ivias and nowhere else close. Besides this, we also had towerbone, living iron and steel, madmen's silver, all which could make very strong, very difficult to defend yourself against weapons.

"When they arrived, it was like nothing else the archipelago had ever seen. They took Amavias like a toy from a child's hand, they massacred the Tyrian until they were less than a quarter as plentiful, they made the Smaragdine disappear as a presence for many years, and destroyed the unprepared Citrine so thoroughly it led to the Yellow Night, where their capital and several of their larger cities disappeared in thin air with a burst of golden light, never to be heard of again, and leaving the rest of their people at their enemy's mercy!

"They eventually got as far as razing a third of the Goban Territories down and poking the Azure until it started to sweat but, to put a very complex series of events short: the front they neglected the most cut a path right to their heart, their emperor died in battle, and the crown prince fled with whatever remained of the nobility here, but had to give up his name and claim to continental territory or be scorched to cinders.

"And many years later, the prince became emperor, got assassinated, the Bear Dynasty rose, and Galehold gained its name! Hooray!

"Tensions got worse. There was a new giant now, the Golden Bear, licking its wounds but still hungry for what it once failed to take, while the Tyrian's territory only became bloodier and more broken as their need to unite clashed with the deep seated hatred and distrust their gods held for one another, and the scattered pieces of the Citrine either succumbed or turned to darker, older rituals to survive. Meanwhile, the Crimson grew unchecked and spread in all directions, while the Azure and many of the Goban Territories scaled their armed forces, paranoid over what was to come.

"At least it was peace, of a sort, for a while. The Toothpick Column, I think they used to call it.

"In that scenario, a certain discontent rose, not one against any one group in particular, but against the very state of things. People questioned how things could have gotten this way, surely that couldn't be natural state of things?! There had to be some infection somewhere, something that could be excised!

"During these starting years, this group had no name, but their reach grew. Through the cracks in between their nation's vigilance, people started talking, learning about one another, comparing faults and patterns. They were scholars, witches, soldiers, philosophers, people from all over without much power but enough connections to slowly widen the web.

"The first conclusion they came to is one I'm sure we both can tell is as clear as day: The gods were to blame!

"After all, who first made and taught the laws Ivias followed, if not its once living gods? They dictated how things moved, and where they went, even for those built without a deity to cater to: the Goban territories were an open feast for the other cults, who could preach of safety under their wings to the very reviled and lonely Dashi; meanwhile, I could tell you all about how the Smaragdine, subtle as it was, wormed its way into the arteries of the Golden Bear to reach its hungry, scared nobility, but I might just as well explain how using the practices of their enemies to drive fervor and conscription had always been a tactic of the good ol' empire.

"The second conclusion was that there was nothing they could do about it.

"Not as they were anyway. They were barely rebels, barely together! And their goals, of course, were the worst of taboo. Changing the ways of one nation would be nothing short of a miracle, imagine all of Ivias!

"Then one of their members was caught. The news spread wide, and suddenly they saw their numbers captured, tortured, executed! They were pursued from all sides, the few lucky enough to avoid suspicion, or skilled enough to evade it, saw themselves forced into exile, to leave their families and friends behind bearing the brunt of their betrayal.

"The survivors gathered as they could, fleeing to uncharted territories as a last resource. Assassins, bounty hunters, apparitions and beasts from all walks of life dogged their every step, leaving the already wounded group no more than a meager chunk of what it had once been.

"It's quite... something, isn't it Holly? Because even after all this violence, their love for their homes, for their neighbors, never died. No matter how many died, they gathered and brainstormed a plan to save Ivias, knowing that soon the Toothpick Column would give, and the island would burn bright.

"But if they couldn't do anything back when they weren't known, what could they do now?

"They needed something else, something stronger, something larger, something that could actually oppose the gods.

"So, as desperate people are known to do, they turned to rumors!

"They turned to a monster.

"There is one more ef- I mean figurine I have to add to the map.

"... No, it's not a stick. Nor it is a pillar, nor a cylinder, nor a container for the real figurine, if you thought that too. But it's very important! The most important here, even.

"As the Yine colonized the island, something awakened. Nobody knows where he came from or why he came here in particular, but the scars left in his wake were obvious. Few were those who managed to glimpse him and survived, fewer the ones willing to tell the tale.

"He would arrive like the wind, they said, silent until he was right above you, them the storm would crash. He was as tall as a palisade, so strong his blows made entire forests shake, so fast not even the best marksmen could catch him! Armies and blockades alike where nothing but dust under his might, and the gods he hunted were helpless to even scratch his thick skin! What he wished to kill, he would kill, and then disappear into the night as if he had never been there in the first place.

"He struck many times, always successful, always leaving no tracks, always promising to return, until one day he simply didn't. Never seen since, the few who tried to search for him eventually all came back with empty hands.

"Until that nameless band, that is. Not like they had other options anyway.

"The search was grueling. Cobbling together what little in way of clues they had, they braved wilderness and fellow Dashi, were stalked by the living and the dead, and lost many of their comrades. Devoid of supplies, they starved and overheated, went mad with disease and thirst, and eventually caught so many wounds and parasites some of them didn't even resemble human beings anymore!

"We don't know how many left in this fruitless journey, but it is said only twelve made it to the end.

"Their will the sole anchor keeping their legs steady, they eventually came face to face with a clearing in the forest. At the middle of this clearing laid an enormous tree hollow, its shriveled roots carpeting most of the area.

"He was right there, peacefully resting under its shade, almost as if waiting for their arrival, a grotesque club of impossible metal right besides him, skewered into the earth to its middle and still taller than any men. They carefully approached, but he didn't stir until they were but five paces away from him. Immediately, they fell in prostration, finally recognizing what they had found.

"When I said monster, Holly, I meant it. An abomination! A living mountain of muscles bulging like tumors, limbs both unevenly sized and unevenly jointed, head gone and torso cracked to his stomach with wounds and teeming with a strange dark ooze. His weapon whispered cruelties into the ears of those poor romantics, telling them of all the terrible fates they would suffer and mocking their terror.

"For years, little was known about him. Even his true name was a mystery, the few others he had earned, such as the Colossus, meant to fill the gap.

"They soon learned that this kind and wise creature was called King Eligor.

"His first command to his subjects was to be at ease, then to introduce themselves. Their told him of their stories, of their suffering at the hands of their people, their exile and lethal journey here. Then, he asked their objective, which they gave right away of course. He asked of their homes, of their families, of their dreams, and soon they were speaking to the abomination as if he was an old friend they had come to visit.

"Eventually, as the sun began to set, the King excused himself and went hunting, preparing a great feast from local delicacies. for the first time in many weeks or months, the nameless band ate and drank to their hearts content, crying tears of joy. When they fell asleep, the King himself cradled their bodies and brought them to safety, letting them soundly rest the night away.

"The next morning, he gave his next command: 'Follow me.'

"...Thanks, I worked really hard on that voice.

"Cough cough! As I was saying, they had proved their resolve, but their skills were not to par. Before they had even thought of that, however, the King had already moved to rectify the mistake.

"The King brought them to a cave, said to be somewhere around the base of Mt. Tremor, or Mt. Shulgan as some will insist you say. Guiding them deep into its bowels, he spoke again: "Here lay your dreams, by your own hands you will create it.'

"What follows are the most intense years of the nameless band's lives. Eligor was a gentle liege but a fiend of a teacher, or in his own words: 'If you wish to partake of my kingdom, you will be perfected or you will be mourned.' They were made to learn combat against the mountain's enormous vermin, to survive its dripping acid and venom ridden walls, to eat its flesh and drink its diluted blood, all in the name of self-improvement!

"And they excelled. Soldiers became unrivaled warriors, witches twisted the world around them with a thought, tacticians learned to predict the flow of battle before the enemy had assembled.

"And so finally, they were allowed out back to the surface. Nobody knew how many months, or even years, had passed, but none of them cared. They had just taken the first step in the right direction, and their King recognized them.

"Next came the trial by fire.

"With weapons and armors hastily crafted from what they had found within Mt.Tremor, they fought the gods for the first time. Against the Ember Blossoms, against the Yida, against the Grand Flesheds of the Citrine and the wandering priests of the Smaragdine, they battled without fear nor mercy, persevering no matter the wound! And they won, of course, again and again.

"They eventually named themselves in honor of their King.

"The Faceless Band.

"The King was overjoyed at his new companions, and watched closely their rise to fame. Still, he mostly allowed them to fight their own battles. Experience is always good, right?

"One day the King brought them together, having received some pretty bad news through his own means: The Neverborn, the Breathless God of the Smaragdine, would soon start the creation of a vessel that could hold its might. Should that happen, that would be it for Ivias.

"And worse? He didn't know where, other than that it was within Galehold's border, the cult already irreparably enmeshed with its upper society.

"Didn't make them hesitate even a little though. I read some documents retelling of their nightly raids and let me tell you, they could sure be... pragmatic, let's say. They hit cults one after the other, stopping rituals and cutting the source of power for the vessel bit by bit. Their violence was noticed, not by the Smaragdine but by Galehold's own military, the strongest Ivias had at the time.

"The climax comes during the famous Siege of Blossomcourt. You might have had heard of this one Holly, it was really famous and got a lot of stories based on it! It goes something like this:

"The Faceless Band struck the town of Blossomcourt one evening, but didn't expect the cult to have bled to so many people. They fight, most of the town ends up dead, dealing a huge blow to the Smaragdine but allowing the Yinian army to rush in and surround them! Over the course of a few days, the army tries to breach into the town, but every time they come out the losers. And, this is very important, they lose thousands of men but don't kill even one member of the Band!

"Things are going south fast, and the Royal Army might arrive any time now, but the King refuses to cut his way through his enemies, so he sends out a request for parley, not just to anybody, but to the Emperor himself! At first, the Band doesn't expect any answer, until somebody actually approached the fortified town.

"Now, if you learned about Prince Padrion III from history books or such you might end up with a sliiiiightly unfavorable view of him, so let me tell you that despite everything he always had the best for his empire in sight. Who else besides him rode to the gates of Blossomcourt that afternoon, after all?

"They talked until the next morning, Prince and King, at which point the Prince left and told the surrounding forces to give the Band way. What exactly they talked about nobody knows, but the effects are still felt to this day.

"For example, for decades the empire had tried to work demonium in vain, until the Prince came out with the method, and made the industry boom. It wasn't long after that the first proper demonium blades were forged and given as gifts to a select few generals.

"I'll tell you the story of how that went another time. What's important right now is that such revelations had a price of course. While the King worked from outside, the Prince sabotaged the Smaragdine from within, and tried to locate their base of operation.

"Feels weird telling the story to someone who doesn't know the twist before it even comes. It's a pretty well known fact between us Faceless that the reason the Wind is the Wind Region at all is because the Smaragdine had already tried, and failed, to summon their god centuries earlier.

"Coincidentally I'm sure, the name Galehold had come from the original name for the castle that now housed the Imperial family. Can you guess why?

"It took a couple years of preparation before the final price was paid. By that point, Galehold had been left destabilized as the those in and out of the cult fought one another, but the way was clear and the Faceless Band was finally allowed into the heart of the Empire's capital.

"What happens next, you'll get a lot of differing opinions on. It became known as the Long Night, that night when the empire's forces were taken by surprise and thousands died. The castle was broken into, and even the Royal Army was too slow to act, being forced to retreat at the number of casualties. If there is one thing you can learn about Prince Padrion III from casual conversation, it's his participation in that event.

"Inside the Castles bowels, they followed an unnatural draft to the deepest reaches of the its dungeons, where they found the entrance to a cave system, six times the height of a man and growing wider the further down it went. At its very bottom, thousands of paces beneath the earth, laid a chamber that could fit a citadel, entirely repurposed for the needs of the Smaragdine.

"Hundreds of sacrifices paved the way to the center of a great ritual circle. where the Neverborn now stood. They were too late.

"On one hand, their efforts paid off, the god was obviously weakened and its vessel so badly mutated it was bursting at the seams! On the other, the moment the Faceless band laid eyes on a true god for the first time, they broke. It was all it took for them to understand the severity of their mission, the creature stronger than they had ever imagined possible, a thing that should have never been allowed to exist.

"Its presence was all it took to send them to their knees. They knew then that struggling would be worthless.

"King Eligor, however, felt differently.

"It is said that there were no words traded between the both, no moment of hesitation or planning, the instant the Neverborn and the Colossus laid eyes on one another they immediately charged and did battle!

"And that battle was... impossible to describe for us lowly beings. It's said the city above trembled as if the island was parting in half, that great storms battered the nation, that tornadoes pierced the countryside and broke against one another! The Faceless Band, occupied fighting the lingering remnants of the Smaragdine, never spoke much about it, but they made it clear it was the kind of grandiose battle you only hear from the biggest wars in history, the kind that defy even mythology, like those during the Starlight War or the Murmur Revelry.

"It lasted until the next morning.

"Battered into pulp, the Neverborn finally faltered and shattered. Not sure if it's truly dead or not, but what little remains of the Smaragdine has never tried bringing it back again.

"And the King, standing over its corpse, held on to his weapon and wordlessly succumbed to his wounds, never falling.

"A dream died that day, and so did the Faceless Band as a united group. There was no avoiding that despair, the thought that everything they had worked for had been for naught. Diminished as they were, half of them gave up on saving Ivias and left. If their King couldn't do it, nobody else could.

"The other half wasn't satisfied with that conclusion. They had been exiled, pursued, starved, beaten, slandered, maimed, killed! they suffered a life that could, should have have broken them, all for the sake of their beloved homelands, only to give up now? They grieved, yes, but they would not let their suffering be in vain.

"Carefully, they lowered their King and his weapon, quickly carrying them out and away from Galehold. Where they took his body I can't tell you, but it was somewhere safe, somewhere untouched by men or god. There, they would undertake his funerary rites, as worth of such a being as they could make it.

"And it was during those funerary rites they made a frightening discovery.

"Their King was hollow inside.

"Now, the one thing everyone who knows about the Faceless can tell you is about the Mark of Eligor, our void, our head pouches! Back then, however, the Faceless didn't exist. The Faceless Band had never seen their King use it, and would never have dared lay hands on him or disrespect him with impertinent question while he still lived.

"Inside, they found eight great slabs and one scroll.

"Each of these great slabs had been created from a different colored materials, some which could be found in Ivias and some which couldn't, and each carried a story, a Tale, many which stunned the Band as they recognized the words of their enemies, many which they had never heard before.

"A mad god's plea for its followers to go out and spread their feral and debauched ways. The Citrine Tale.

"The end chronicles of a declining race of ancient creatures, predicting their return and multiplication until they controlled all lands. The Tyrian Tale.

"The primordial contact with something from beyond, what it wished to turn our world into, and how it could be made into flesh. The Smaragdine Tale.

"The last words of a forlorn oceanic goddess, the dreams of a future where her children inherited her domain and rose above all others. The Azure Tale.

"The genesis of humanity and the prophecy of a creator god who would one day reincarnate as his own son. The Crimson Tale.

"A completely nonsensical but extremely violent screed, aimed at all life. The Argent Tale.

"The visions of a matriarch, a dream in which the world outside her home was scorched black and only her people survived. The Ebony Tale.

"And, at last, a blank slate. The Ivory Tale.

"Disturbed, they opened the scroll, hoping it would enlighten them.

"Mostly, though, they found secrets.

"The origins of the King, which they took to their graves, and what he understood about his birth.

"How to work the Filthy Devil's Lead, or as it came to be known, Diaborium. You've seen Hagan, right? Yeah, that's the reaction. Please don't touch it again.

"How King Eligor came to receive that name, and the sixty-seven other similar names he brought with himself.

"And finally, parting words for his subjects.

" 'These are seeds, each will one day inevitably germinate, but are ultimately all fellable. To my dear comrades, embrace this dream and bring an era these Eight Tales are mere fancy. To this purpose, I bless you with my knowledge and the means to use it. Now, make of it your blades.'

"And so, the once Faceless Band set to work.

"This was their own seed, and they nurtured it with gentle care. They expanded their web again, and made a partnership with the reformed Galehold; they began the creation of the first Faceless, knowing they would not be the ones to complete it; they kept eyes ever vigilant, and made sure no gods would ever rise again, and that the few who walked the land would know they no longer stood at the top.

"And that, Holly, is the dream we Faceless are born to nourish. It's the reason we are taught to fight, to plan, to sneak and hunt. We're the children of that dream, of that scroll, of all those scholars and soldiers who dared hope and sacrificed themselves in body and mind to achieve it.

"That was King Eligor and the Eight Tales, and the rest is history.