The Black Archon and the Shackling of Aarami
the Black Archon was one of these paragons of the art of magic. even among the other Archons, powerful spellcasters all, he stood out as being singularly gifted, not only in raw talent but in his mind for expansion and exploration. he was never content with doing what others had been doing (even if he did it very well), he wanted to do new things, form new spells from new words he himself discovered. He sometimes drew ire from his peers, always taking the road of uncertain progress over safe conservatism, and sometimes he failed. but his attitude of reaching ever higher, ever further, made him quite popular with the public.
unfortunately, it was this ceaseless drive for more, more, more that made him into the monster he is remembered as today. countless days of research, theorizing and experimentation made the Black Archon arrive at a singular, terrifying thought: "I don't have enough time to see it all done. Regardless of my successes, I will die in time, as all things must, and my work will have to exist without me. I will no longer be here to steer it and to shape it, because I am a mortal man and it has ever been our fate to leave the things we made for the coming generations". So he had an idea, an idea he kept to himself: "What if I did have enough time? What if my mortality didn't spell certain doom at road's end?"
This is how the Black Archon's greatest and most horrible work began; a spell that would grant not just him, but all mortals, the grace of infinite time on earth with which to do the things we love. Little by little he advanced in his research, ever so slowly bringing more and more people into the fold. It turns out that the idea of immortality was a pretty easily sold one, especially when delivered by such a good salesman. many hands make light work, as the saying goes, and the Black Archon soon had contacts all over the land, and access to resources and knowledge of all kind.
work was halted when the Archon had to admit to himself that he couldn't actually piece together the words to make immortality a real thing, but he wouldn't let that stop him. instead of making everyone immortal directly, he would just shackle the forces of death. if you lock up the grim reaper, then nobody is going to take you away, at least in theory. at this point, his position as Black Archon came in very handy. studying and exploring the sphere of magic that was death was his job, after all, and now it was a job he took to with more vigor than ever before.
after years of half-clandestine research and the building of connections, the Archon finally saw his work done. approaching 60 years of age, he had begun feeling the effects of his limited, mortal time, but this merely spurred him on.
the plan was as simple as the spell was ruthlessly complex: he would summon Aarami, the god of Death, and imprison him in an unbreakable cage. thus would the ruler of the afterlife be incapable of enforcing his laws upon mankind, and everyone would be free to live for what, and for as long as, they wanted.
unfortunately, as the massive magical undertaking began to take form, the Black Archon's work was discovered by one of his peers who wasted no time dragging him before the others to receive judgment. The Black Archon took to the stands, fearless, and proclaimed that "this is a course of action I believe in wholeheartedly, and many people stand with me. Strike down my research if you must, but mankind's continued suffering under the yoke of mortality will be your responsibility to explain to the people, not mine." and to the surprise of some, two additional Archons turned to stand with the Black, having been convinced at some point prior. simultaneously, a huge crowd of people had gathered outside the Spire of Minds, cheering and chanting in support of the Black Archon and his work. it was all pretty well planned, it has to be said.
in the end, the four unconvinced Archons realized they could not stop the gears from turning. the exact words spoken have of course been lost to time, but the four Archons stepped out of the way of the ritual, saying that they wouldn't stop it, but they wouldn't assist in it either. the crowd of people outside were soon surprised to see four Archons leaving the Spire.
Never to return, it turns out.
with the ritual underway in one of the most powerful places in the world, backed up by a chorus of hopeful yet ignorant civilians, the Black Archon finally achieved his multi-decade dream of shacking Death himself and keeping him away from the hopes and dreams of mankind. the world would never be the same.
it didn't work out as intended, of course.
if the stories are to be believed, the ritual initially worked. Aarami was indeed conjured forth and imprisoned in... something? somewhere?
every storyteller has a different idea of what the cage looks like as well as where it is. some say it's a trinket like a ring or an amulet, some think it's an actual cage made out of some kind of super rare elven metal. its not known.
the Black Archon did however step out onto the great balcony of the Spire overlooking the city, and proclaimed that his project was a success, and that "death no longer holds sway over you and your loved ones." people were happy and looked forward to their endless futures.
for about a week, anyway.
reports of people very much still dying began hailing in, but that wasn't all. every time someone died, their spirit inevitably stuck around to haunt whatever was left. some people even spoke of shambling corpses moving about on their own, going after the living like rabid dogs.
the remaining Archons repeatedly assured everyone that things were under control, and that the scary stories people heard were either greatly exaggerated or complete fiction.
they were not.
in broad strokes, the ritual was a failure.
death was certainly shackled, but that didn't mean immortality, it meant a closed off afterlife and a plague of undeath. this got worse and worse, compounded by the fact that nothing was actually done. the powers that be simply said "don't worry" over and over again, electing to shore up the walls of the Spire City and pretending that the outside world didn't exist. in turn, the smaller cities and villages found their cries for help blatantly ignored, and so they had to find ways to help themselves. breaking tradition, people began to dismember and burn the bodies of the dead to prevent them from rising, and every dubious figure who claimed to know how to keep ghosts away suddenly found their less than totally legit businesses booming.
Today, things are worse than ever. People keep dying, you see, and the ghosts and zombies created by that fact have been piling up for several decades now. the Spire City has been inaccessible for that entire time, with shut gates and "trespassers will be shot"-signs 100 feet from the wall itself. people who go there don't come back.
unknown to everyone outside, the Black Archon and his allies are still in there, slaving away over a way to fix the spell and actually become immortal. why dont they just undo the spell? because they're obsessed beyond belief. the entirety of the Spire City is basically fueled by this obsession at this point; everyone lives in a constant, feverish delusion that "they will fix it soon." the people there are husks of their former selves, and the ones who speak out are done away with by the oppressive guardsmen. understandably, there aren't that many people left.
at one point, people began to wonder "hang on, people aren't dying THAT often, where do all these undead things come from?" turns out that when you shackle the god of death, you upset the natural balance of the magics. necromancy, the magic of death, is currently going absolutely nuts as there is nobody to direct the flow anymore. as a result, the world is now perfused with the magic of death, and as a result, strange things happen on their own sometimes. old corpses pop out of the ground, unnatural plagues strike from nowhere, and people wake up with an unsettling and unquenchable thirst for blood. things like that. villages and towns with sizable graveyards became, well, graveyards very quickly, and sites of mass death are now avoided as much as possible.
also, because of this whole necromancy overload thing, using the magic of death is both easier and harder than it used to be. its easier because there's just so much of it, but its harder because its harder to wrangle than before. basically, the risk and the reward are bigger than they used to be. the other six magics are pretty much the inverse; less effort and less effect go hand in hand.
unfortunately, it was this ceaseless drive for more, more, more that made him into the monster he is remembered as today. countless days of research, theorizing and experimentation made the Black Archon arrive at a singular, terrifying thought: "I don't have enough time to see it all done. Regardless of my successes, I will die in time, as all things must, and my work will have to exist without me. I will no longer be here to steer it and to shape it, because I am a mortal man and it has ever been our fate to leave the things we made for the coming generations". So he had an idea, an idea he kept to himself: "What if I did have enough time? What if my mortality didn't spell certain doom at road's end?"
This is how the Black Archon's greatest and most horrible work began; a spell that would grant not just him, but all mortals, the grace of infinite time on earth with which to do the things we love. Little by little he advanced in his research, ever so slowly bringing more and more people into the fold. It turns out that the idea of immortality was a pretty easily sold one, especially when delivered by such a good salesman. many hands make light work, as the saying goes, and the Black Archon soon had contacts all over the land, and access to resources and knowledge of all kind.
work was halted when the Archon had to admit to himself that he couldn't actually piece together the words to make immortality a real thing, but he wouldn't let that stop him. instead of making everyone immortal directly, he would just shackle the forces of death. if you lock up the grim reaper, then nobody is going to take you away, at least in theory. at this point, his position as Black Archon came in very handy. studying and exploring the sphere of magic that was death was his job, after all, and now it was a job he took to with more vigor than ever before.
after years of half-clandestine research and the building of connections, the Archon finally saw his work done. approaching 60 years of age, he had begun feeling the effects of his limited, mortal time, but this merely spurred him on.
the plan was as simple as the spell was ruthlessly complex: he would summon Aarami, the god of Death, and imprison him in an unbreakable cage. thus would the ruler of the afterlife be incapable of enforcing his laws upon mankind, and everyone would be free to live for what, and for as long as, they wanted.
unfortunately, as the massive magical undertaking began to take form, the Black Archon's work was discovered by one of his peers who wasted no time dragging him before the others to receive judgment. The Black Archon took to the stands, fearless, and proclaimed that "this is a course of action I believe in wholeheartedly, and many people stand with me. Strike down my research if you must, but mankind's continued suffering under the yoke of mortality will be your responsibility to explain to the people, not mine." and to the surprise of some, two additional Archons turned to stand with the Black, having been convinced at some point prior. simultaneously, a huge crowd of people had gathered outside the Spire of Minds, cheering and chanting in support of the Black Archon and his work. it was all pretty well planned, it has to be said.
in the end, the four unconvinced Archons realized they could not stop the gears from turning. the exact words spoken have of course been lost to time, but the four Archons stepped out of the way of the ritual, saying that they wouldn't stop it, but they wouldn't assist in it either. the crowd of people outside were soon surprised to see four Archons leaving the Spire.
Never to return, it turns out.
with the ritual underway in one of the most powerful places in the world, backed up by a chorus of hopeful yet ignorant civilians, the Black Archon finally achieved his multi-decade dream of shacking Death himself and keeping him away from the hopes and dreams of mankind. the world would never be the same.
it didn't work out as intended, of course.
if the stories are to be believed, the ritual initially worked. Aarami was indeed conjured forth and imprisoned in... something? somewhere?
every storyteller has a different idea of what the cage looks like as well as where it is. some say it's a trinket like a ring or an amulet, some think it's an actual cage made out of some kind of super rare elven metal. its not known.
the Black Archon did however step out onto the great balcony of the Spire overlooking the city, and proclaimed that his project was a success, and that "death no longer holds sway over you and your loved ones." people were happy and looked forward to their endless futures.
for about a week, anyway.
reports of people very much still dying began hailing in, but that wasn't all. every time someone died, their spirit inevitably stuck around to haunt whatever was left. some people even spoke of shambling corpses moving about on their own, going after the living like rabid dogs.
the remaining Archons repeatedly assured everyone that things were under control, and that the scary stories people heard were either greatly exaggerated or complete fiction.
they were not.
in broad strokes, the ritual was a failure.
death was certainly shackled, but that didn't mean immortality, it meant a closed off afterlife and a plague of undeath. this got worse and worse, compounded by the fact that nothing was actually done. the powers that be simply said "don't worry" over and over again, electing to shore up the walls of the Spire City and pretending that the outside world didn't exist. in turn, the smaller cities and villages found their cries for help blatantly ignored, and so they had to find ways to help themselves. breaking tradition, people began to dismember and burn the bodies of the dead to prevent them from rising, and every dubious figure who claimed to know how to keep ghosts away suddenly found their less than totally legit businesses booming.
Today, things are worse than ever. People keep dying, you see, and the ghosts and zombies created by that fact have been piling up for several decades now. the Spire City has been inaccessible for that entire time, with shut gates and "trespassers will be shot"-signs 100 feet from the wall itself. people who go there don't come back.
unknown to everyone outside, the Black Archon and his allies are still in there, slaving away over a way to fix the spell and actually become immortal. why dont they just undo the spell? because they're obsessed beyond belief. the entirety of the Spire City is basically fueled by this obsession at this point; everyone lives in a constant, feverish delusion that "they will fix it soon." the people there are husks of their former selves, and the ones who speak out are done away with by the oppressive guardsmen. understandably, there aren't that many people left.
at one point, people began to wonder "hang on, people aren't dying THAT often, where do all these undead things come from?" turns out that when you shackle the god of death, you upset the natural balance of the magics. necromancy, the magic of death, is currently going absolutely nuts as there is nobody to direct the flow anymore. as a result, the world is now perfused with the magic of death, and as a result, strange things happen on their own sometimes. old corpses pop out of the ground, unnatural plagues strike from nowhere, and people wake up with an unsettling and unquenchable thirst for blood. things like that. villages and towns with sizable graveyards became, well, graveyards very quickly, and sites of mass death are now avoided as much as possible.
also, because of this whole necromancy overload thing, using the magic of death is both easier and harder than it used to be. its easier because there's just so much of it, but its harder because its harder to wrangle than before. basically, the risk and the reward are bigger than they used to be. the other six magics are pretty much the inverse; less effort and less effect go hand in hand.
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