[Creature Lore] - The Ancients

[MeteorDragon]

-] The Ancients [-

“Even in my slumber, that face remained. That terrible face.” -A man moments from death

- Knowledge of The Ancients existing is considered Common Knowledge among Scholars, though everything else is considered to be Rare Knowledge and thus known by very few -

The Origin

Before the creatures now known as mortals roamed the realm, it was a place being constructed by The Gods. Through their endless creation, the world came to be full of endless life, and endless joy. However, none are truly perfect with their creations and so, a blight began to grow in secret. Writhing masses of flesh and bone crawled within the darkest depths, slowly creeping around, out of sight, unknown to those so-called brilliant Gods. However, this state of unknowing was one-sided as these vile creations knew those who roamed the lands above. As the years passed, the minds within them grew, their intellect was sharper than the life above, and their magical prowess grew alongside this intelligence. And so, in secret, the minds of these creatures reached out to The Gods so they could steal from them, thieve their mana for themselves.


Centuries passed and The Ancients continued to grow, not only in strength, but in number as well. Slowly, they began to pop up around the world, bringing their blight to all who were unlucky to come across them. The ground quaked as they roamed, lava spat up from the ground with the wave of their hand, and tsunamis heaved with their breath. Their chaos didn’t go unnoticed by The Gods, though they even found it difficult to deal with The Ancients as they became akin to Gods. For many decades, these abominations were hunted, many being slain. Though, it was impossible to deal with them all. Some were trapped in vaults to keep them from escaping while others hid away to plot a new return.


Even with their disappearance, the realm was forever changed by the existence of these False Gods. Rarely, a story would be heard, telling of a vile creature hiding away in rubble, speaking in the mind of a Mortal. Others even told stories of seeing odd people wielding magics that had never been seen before, magics that The Gods denied creating.

Physicality and Mentality

Each Ancient is different in its own right, though they all hold some similarities. Their first appearance is one of a mass of writhing flesh that moves akin to a slug, a parasite that feeds on the world around it. However, as they grow in strength, their bodies begin to change and take on a form unique to themselves, one unlike any Ancient before them. In addition to this, they can use their magical prowess to alter their bodies to look like almost anything. For these reasons, it’s nearly impossible to identify an Ancient by looks alone. However, some victims claim that their presence is enough of a tell when they aren’t actively hiding it.


In the rare event that an Ancient does die, their body will return to its normal form, usually being the size of a mountain. Should not be used to stop this transformation, the area around the corpse will become corrupt with the magic once held inside the creature. This will taint the world, placing a near-permanent stain upon the realm that life avoids. Any unfortunate enough to be in the area upon the creature’s demise will find themselves permanently corrupt as well.


None know what the Ancients want and it’s thought that they don’t know either. However, they all seem to be drawn towards destruction. Another commonality is that Ancients don’t truly reproduce and the only way for a new one to come around is for the Eldest of them to create a new one. However, this has not successfully been done since The Ancients were slaughtered by The Gods.

Abilities

“I saw an eyeless man open a maw of a hundred teeth, and with those jaws, he swallowed the light.” -Unknown witness to an Ancient

The Ancients steal power from The Gods and corrupt it with their own, innate, energies. Though, how they do this is an unknown process. What is known is that they are beings of immense magical strength and are thus capable of performing feats that would normally be thought impossible. Each Ancient is different, though they all can manipulate their bodies, including shrinking and growing themselves to an extreme degree. Some are even able to disguise themselves as Mortals and roam the world in secret.


All Ancients are capable, to some degree, of granting abilities to other beings. Though these abilities are known to corrupt the body and mind, sometimes being so unstable that a person would die should one of these abilities be forced into their body. Due to the terrible nature of these abilities, they are known as Dark Magics.

Redlines:

-The Ancients existing is Common Knowledge among scholars. Though, most of everything else is Rare Knowledge and must be learned IRP.
-The Ancients may only be played by Event Team Members with direct permission from a Manager or Admin.