picking through text files I found a partial AAR
The game it was about has apparently been deleted, but I thought it made for an interesting read, and since I havn't been here in awhile I figured I'd post it.
And here it is:
Journal entry 1, year of our lord 86-
It is with great trepidation and more than a little fear for my own life that I open this journal but I feel that if I do not chronicle the events of our mighty nation none will know the true history and tragedy of our people.
It has been 86 years since the gods were cast out of heaven to our mortal world, and our lord almighty Tzeentch, the changer of ways, the smoking mirror, came unto our people and raised us up to glory. Much has happened in that time, both good and ill, much that needs to be remembered, but I fear will not be. Where should I start? After more than 70 years of service events become somewhat muddled, especially with the dozen or so rejuvinating baths I have undergone in the blood of virgins, to keep my body young and my powers at their greatest. When Tzeentch first came unto our people I was but a babe in swadling so I remember none of it, It is said that he immediately raised up Amimitl to status of most high priest king, and then further raised him up as Prophet and divine mouth of his will. He found and brought forth another priest king as well, and Itzlacoliuhque the high priest of rains, To these, his first 3 high priests his orders were to find those among our people worthy to be priests of our lord, and to find also those among us who are both virginal and possessed of the pure blood so treasured by the powers of beyond. Whence before it would be uncommon for more than 3 or 4 sacred virgins to be found in an entire year, with the power our lord granted his priests they were able to seek out and find the sacred sacrifices with ease, and then use their blood to attract a small number of fiends to our cause. He set forth with his army of fiends, and with steel and flame and darkness and venom did he carve out a small kingdom for his chosen people and search out sites of powerful magic to provide more power for our budding empire.
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 limits 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. 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.
The threat to our north had abated, our Devil lord of ice driving the enemy back unto their castles, but Amimitl was not satisfied, greater and greater were his demands for purebloods, and one by one all the devil lords were called forth. When I first started to feel unease was when Bifrons was called forth, Bifrons whose powers of the mind equal mine, Bifrons who was then included in the great council while I was not. It was shortly after this that Itzli, Priest king and second only to Amimitl fell victim to the great wasting and died.... while Amimitl remained untouched. Then our scientists reached a new plataeu of knowledge and we began to call forth the mightiest devils of flame and fury, the Arch Devils of the abyss. And our Sun Priests (for now we had several, but still was Amimitl above them) began calling forth devils to serve them. Soon we had driven the lizards back to the northernmost corners of their lands, and our forces were battering at the gates of Mulhorand and the City of Shadows, ready to slay their weak lizard god and end this curse upon our people. And still did our Lord and God rant and rave in his private chambers, though sometimes he would converse lucidly with the slave girls we would send him, before suddenly changing into a giant jaguar and rending their flesh. Before long all the high priests save Amimitl were no longer on the council, it having devloped into something of a triumverate between Amimitl, Bifrons, and Magoth, the wisest of the Arch Devils, whose powers of mind surpassed even Bifrons and my own.
Still did I hold the course, for Amimitl said he had uncovered knowledge of a great ritual of Nature that would bless and heal our whole people, even restoring our lord to his former might. And so, while our armies ground the nation of Lizards into dust, slaughtering their god while he was holed up in his fortress and ending the great curse, though not removing its afflictions, we did conserve and save our nature gems, while Amimitl did forge items that would give him power enough to cast this great spell. And the day came when we had the necessary gems and we did wait for an auspicious time to cast the ritual, and Amimitl did gather all the gem-power unto himself and begin the crafting of the spell. And just when it seemed it would be cast and we would have our lord back among us, the ritual dissolved into chaos and Amimitl was blasted backwards, his task unaccomplished. It seems (had I not witnessed his failure with mine own eyes, I would believe not a word from Amimitls mouth) a great nature mage or god in a faraway land, one mightier even than Amimitl, one who sought harmony with Gaia instead of power bent to the control of will, had cast the mighty ritual at the same time as Amimitl, and with far more potency. Our dream of a healthy people and god was to remain unfulfilled, and I will admit to no small amount of personal bittereness at this, for the great wasting had robbed me of my right arm, and left me blighted and weak. Twice more have we tried and failed to bestow the gift of health upon our people, once with Amimitl trying again to overpower the spell, and once with Magoth using great numbers of astral gems to try to unweave the casting already in place, both times with no success.
And eventually our armies erased all traces of the lizards from the world, though we could not erase their handiwork, our strongholds sprouted over their conquered lands, and our temples became plentiful. Vast numbers of purebloods flowed into our hands, and from our hands to gibbet, altar, and block, Calling upon pacts made with like minded Circle Masters and Conjurors in the south a great number of Skull Mentors were created to help with our research, magical constructs made from the skulls of dead and gone sages, that whisper their knowledge to those patient enough to listen. And new plataeus of knowledge were reached, contact and an uneasy truce were made with giants to the far north, and the first of the Mighty Heliophagus joined our council of Evils. For a brief moment false hope did enter my heart when Quetzalcoatl the Legendary Feathered Serpent returned to our people as he had promised, for as powerful as Amimitl had become, and as much influence as the lower planes now had in the running of our empire, none could deny the legendary founder of our people his place on the council. Ahh but Amimitl is cunning, cunning and without scruple. Citing the desperate need our people had for nature gems with which to cast our great healing miracle, he sent Quetzalcoatl to the farthest corners of our realm, searching for sites of magic power.
Which brings us close to present day affairs in Lurien, seat of power for the people of Mictlan, First step upon the Divine footpath of our Lord Tzeentch, the changer of ways, the smoking mirror, who our people believe has retreated to his heavenly abode until he is needed again, sometime in the future. Amimitl still heads the council, though what holds the infernal have upon his soul I could not say. With him sit Bifrons, Magoth, and Gorilon, necromantic master of the Heliophagus, though Mastema, the highest master of Blood magics in our realm and another Heliophagus, sometimes sits for him. Scattered around our realm should they be needed are the various Arch Devils, with their hordes of fiends and devils, though Baab sits on an icy throne in the far north of our realm, practically the law unto himself in his provinces. Amaimon; Heliophagus and wielder of the flaming whip sits in Lurien as protector and champion, girded head to toe in magical regalia, and our researchers are getting ever closer to attaining final knowledge over Blood and sacrifice. The knowledge to contact Demon Lords… With our God still unable to wield his mighty will for us, and his Prophet and Champion Amimitl caring for nothing but power…. I fear for us all.
Journal Entry 2, year of our lord 110
I knew before the official word was passed. I knew from the excited whispers of the junior priests as they went to their studies. I knew from the too-easy smiles and gleams in the eyes of Magoth and Gorilon as I passed them on their way to a council meeting. I knew from the trumpeteers oiling their instruments in preparation for a great announcement. They have breached the final seal of knowledge, the most mighty of blood magicks are available to us. There was partying and jubilation in the streets, and the prayer bells tolled their message across the land for 66 hours straight. Mastema, Heliophagus master of blood magic commissioned a mighty forging, 20 slaves would die to make him a blood thorn, another 40 to make him an armor of souls, and 20 would die to make him a brazen vessel, and 75 would be sacrificed so that he could fuse their power to his own. He would become the mightiest blood mage our land has ever seen, able to reach out by power of will, fueled by 150 more souls sent screaming into the abyss and contact one of the three Demon Lords. Steeped in blood my hands may be, but still I am human, and my soul cries out in horror. With relative peace with our neighbors to north and west, the only way we could expand is southwest, so we sent Buriol the Arch Devil, wielding a hellsword and with dragonscale plate forward on his own to lay siege to the wizards and sorceresses of Halruaa. While he was laying siege, an army of Spider Mounted warriors appeared and attacked him, but with so much ferocity did he lay about himself that they broke an ran before him. Such is the might of the Arch Devils. Now Furcas, another of the Arch Devils, with a host of fiends, devils, and frost fiends, has gone forth to crack the gate of the citadel at halruaa, and deliver it unto us.
Journal Entry 3, year of our lord 127
The citadel of Halruaa has fallen to our devils as has most of the countryside around it, the spider-riders have been pushed out of halruaa, and Belial walks among us. The corrupter himself, well… I’d imagine their arent many souls left un-sold in lurien. Once again we will try and cast the great gift of healing, but this time it will be Belial wielding the artifacts of nature, for his will is the strongest I have ever felt, and his knowledge of nature is extensive. I would not seek to owe Belial the slightest of favors, but now our whole country will owe him for a miracle. It is not a pleasant thought.
Journal Ends.
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