[Cheezeninja]

It was during this time I was found not only to have the pure blood, but to have the willpower and determination necessary to turn it to my bidding, I remember it well because within the span of a week I went from normal teenage life, to butchers block, to palace luxury and glory in the service of our lord. I served our lord well, searching out those of the pure blood and when the need arose sacrificed them to call forth the dedication and fervor of righteous worship our lord demanded. And in time our empire expanded. To the west until we met a race of horselords, small asian men with great numbers of horses and bowman. They seemed content to let us be, and we had other avenues of expansion, so we let them be. To the north we met a race of lizard people who were well versed in the necromantic arts, and used weapons of poison and disease, with them too did we achieve an uneasy peace…for awhile. It was during this time I was raised to first, and only (to date) high priest of the moon among our people, and taught the secret fell rituals for binding fiends of darkness to our service. I was powerful indeed, 5th in the service of our lord after both priest kings, and both high priests of rain, and in those days we held council, our lord speaking from the mouth of Amimitl while he was out waging war. It was then that we raised up our first High Priest of the Sun to sit at the right hand of our lord and know glory. I have since come to believe that this was where the seeds of doom were first planted, because while the Priests of the Sun are the most sacred and powerful of our order, still was Amimitl a priest king, and still was he also Prophet and voice of our lord and thus the leader of our people in the absence of our God.
Eventually, we had conquered all our nearest neighbors, building our cities and setting our priests and kings in rulership over the people there, and as the number of pureblood virgins in our labratories increased, so too did the number of fiends marching beside our lord. Then came the great wasting.

It was our Lizard neighbors to the north that brought it upon us, in one mighty fell ritual their greatest sorcerers came together and cast a great pall over the entire world, causing unnatural aging and weakness in all people. Our people were filled with the righteous anger, and many were the purebloods who turned themselves in, to sacrifice their own lives (though to be sure, they each held the hope of being found to posess the willpower necessary for priesthood) that we might call up a mighty host of fiends and make war upon the snakes until we found the mage responsible for this foul spell, and slew him, ending our curse. And our lord did leave the gates of Luiren (for that is our land) and jorney forth to the limites of our domain, with a great host of fiends, to conquer and lay low the lizards, but it was on this journey that tragedy did befall our nation, tragedy that would shape our future forever. Our lord, our god, our master, did fall himself victim to the great aging… somehow. Perhaps it found its way into his being from some injury he had obtained during his wars, Perhaps it was simple luck on the part of the Lizards, or perhaps, tho I hesitate to commit it to writing, perhaps Our lord Prophet Amimitl had something to do with it, for his knowledge of poisons and diseases is great indeed, and of all us on the original council of priests only he has remained untouched all these years. In any event, our Lord set forth a conquering general at the head of a mighty host, and returned to us a fever maddened wretch, weakened, and feebleminded. If ever the destruction of our nation teetered close to the brink of reality it was then, for not only had we lost our God, but our most powerful mage, and the only person in our empire capable of controlling great numbers of fiends in battle. And our Tribal Kings, unmindful of enfeeblement of our Lord, proceeded forth with their legions of slaves, and were slaughtered to a man within a year. For all the misery and depravement I may lay on the threshold of Amimitl, it was here that his star shone most bright. He immediately thrust the mantle of leadership upon himself (ha! And with great regret!) and called upon Itzlacoliuhque the high priest of rains to bathe in the blood of 75 virgins, and go through certain rituals that would focus the power of many water gems into his being, causing his powers to increase by a full half their original potency. Then with this new might did he slaughter many purebloods and engage in the most infernal of contract negotiations with a mighty frozen lord of devils, and thus did Gaap, Lord of Cold and Bitter winds, Wielder of the Hellsword Avenixus come to dwell among us and lead our armies. Which he did with great ability, driving the lizards before him.