The Ashen Covenant

A Realm of Shadow and Forbidden Knowledge

  The Ashen Covenant, feared across Aldria as the Empire of Twilight, is a dark and enigmatic realm where knowledge is power, and power is the key to eternity. Unlike other empires ruled by kings or warlords, the covenant is governed by a council of immortal archmages, each a master of the forbidden arts. These sorcerers have long abandoned mortal limitations, extending their lives through magic, pacts with eldritch entities, and necromantic rituals.   Their vast lands are cloaked in perpetual twilight, a result of ancient magic that blots out the sun in many regions. Within this eternal dusk, shadowed cities thrive, their spires reaching toward a sky illuminated only by arcane lanterns and spectral moons. The capital, Vel Sotha, is a city of eerie beauty—its streets lined with obsidian towers, floating spires, and rivers of luminescent ether.  

The Ashen Legions: A Force Beyond Death

The military might of the Ashen Covenant is unlike that of any other empire. Instead of vast armies of living soldiers, the Ashen wields forces of the dead and the damned.  

• The Shadow Legions: Armored wraiths and cursed warriors, bound to eternal service, striking swiftly and vanishing into darkness.
• The Pale Host: Undead warbands commanded by deathlords, reforged from the fallen enemies of the dominion.
• The Abyssal Conclave: Warlocks and voidmages who wield dark sorcery, tearing rifts in reality to summon creatures of the beyond.
• The Dreadbound Knights: Fallen champions who have sworn oaths to the dominion, their souls trapped within their cursed armor.

Unlike conventional armies, Ashen forces do not tire, do not feel pain, and do not fear death. For within the covenant, death is not the end—it is merely the beginning of servitude.  

Power, Intrigue, and the Pursuit of Immortality

The Ashen Council is made up of the most powerful archmages, each ruling over a different domain of magic. Their internal rivalries are legendary, as each vies for more power while maintaining the fragile balance that keeps the dominion intact. Beneath them, noble houses of warlocks, necromancers, and dark scholars scheme, each seeking forbidden knowledge to ascend beyond mortality.   In addition, the Ashen Covenant does not submit to gods or lords. Instead, they worship the Veiled Beings, enigmatic entities of fate, shadow, and the beyond. Temples to these eldritch deities dot the land, where priests chant forgotten rites and weave spells that bind souls to their masters. The covenant teaches that power is the only truth—and only those willing to seize it will endure.  

The Twilight War: Ashen vs. Valtheria

For centuries, the Covenant has been locked in an endless war with the Valtherian Empire, the two forces standing in stark opposition. To the Ashen, the God-King of Valtheria is a false idol, a tyrant shackling the world under his so-called divine rule. To the Valtherians, the Ashen are an abomination, a blight that must be purged by holy fire.   Both empires wage war not just with steel, but with belief. Where Valtheria sends its Sunforged Templars, the Ashen respond with Dreadbound Knights. Where Valtheria burns heretics, Ashen enthralls inquisitors with dark whispers. Their conflict is more than just land and conquest—it is a battle over the very soul of Aldria.   Yet, even as the Ashen fights its holy war against Valtheria, darker forces stir beneath its lands. Deep within the Black Nexus, something ancient waits—something even they very much fear.  

The Covenant Stands Eternal

To outsiders, The Ashen Covenant is a realm of nightmares, a place where the dead walk, shadows whisper, and power corrupts absolutely. But to its people, it is the last refuge of knowledge, the only empire that refuses to bow before blind faith and mortal weakness.   For in The Ashen Covenant, the strong do not fade into dust. They rise, eternal.