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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

The Dead and Dying Races of Tyranix

There have been many victims of The Order's Great Crusade, and many of them have not survived to tell their tales. From the ambitious Vampires to the passionate Flamekin, The Order does not tolerate any dissidence and will go to any lengths to protect itself.

Aven

Once the primary spritual leaders of The Order, the Aven have fallen far from their lofty perch. A fractious race, they had never had any strong leadership, and their lack of unity was their downfall.

An intellectual race, they had a tradition of debate, believing that all options must be explored before a decision could be made. They were unable to adapt to the needs of war in time to save themselves, and they have been dying out for the last 1000 years.

Flamekin

Filled with a passion for freedom, the Flamekin never could have bowed to The Order. They were one of the three primary races that resisted The Order, and they paid the price. Their stronghold, a volcano that was once the greatest source of red mana on the plane, was the first target of the Vedalken's massive enchantments, which killed the volcano itself. Starved of the mana that they needed to survive, the Flamekin fell to the forces of The Order. As punishment for their resistance, they all died, and their bodies were put into a great crypt in the city that The Order built in the caldera of the dead volcano, the only remaining hint of their existence a monument celebrating their death.

Vampires

In the beginning the vampires claimed to be supporters of the First King, while always looking to their own profits. Legend says that they grew bold and attempted to assassinate him, and this bold act drew his wrath. Other, less common stories say that there was no provocation, and the First King simply found their magic distasteful. Whatever the truth, they found themselves in a war they were unsuited to. They were the second to fall to the Vedalken's great enchantments, and they surrendered soon after.

While most of the vampires were executed immediately, a select few were shown mercy and allowed to remain. These vampires are the only remaining examples of their species, not allowed to turn any others and only allowed to exist because their mastery of necromancy is useful.

Elves

The Elves were an ancient and wise race, living in the depths of the oldest forests. They did nothing in the early stages of the Great Crusade, believing they could stay out of the war as they had all previous conflicts that had raged across the plane. This neutrality proved to be their undoing, as the First King decided that those who had not joined the Great Crusade were enemies of The Order, and he directed his armies into the forests to find the elves' stronghold. It was at the Life-Tree, thought to be the source of all green mana, that the elves were forced to make their last stand. They were able to stop The Order's advance for a time, but they had heard of the atrocities committed at the flamekins' volcano and the vampires' necropolis, and they knew that it was only a matter of time before they too were murdered. Unknown to the vedalken, at the last moment the elves cast a last, desperate spell, pouring their very lives into moving the green mana away from the Life-Tree. While this ensured that it would continue to exist, the enchantment still partially worked, stopping the flow of green mana for centuries. It is only recently that a new wellspring of mana has appeared, and the elves are no longer alive to see it.

Other Races

There are other races that do not have heroic or tragic ends. The Snakefolk waged a successful guerilla campaign against The Order, but eventually the simple weight of numbers killed them. The Merfolk never fought a single battle, but the loss of Blue and Green mana made the water incapable of supporting life, and they slowly died out. The larger species of animals are mostly gone, with the world being unable to support them. Angels are rare, but they still support The Order in various ways. Nobody has reported any Demons in years, but it is suspected that the few that remain have become more subtle.

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