#faction: thanatos syndicate

[agreaterworld]

some memes from me and @doujicat‘s writing-verse-world-whatchacallit

[greaterarts]

OC-tober day 6: symbol!

Here are four of the factions in my lore with their corrosponding symbols.

Top left is the Thanatos Syndicate, a private military organisation with it's own king, diplomats, spies, and healers. They hold sway over a portion of the Cradle, offering protection against the many other warring peoples and monsters that call the land home.

Top right is the Great Noble House of Damask Rose, one of the three Great Noble Houses of L'Incarnat. They have been ruling L'Incarnat for generations and trace their lineage back to the Champion Rose, purported as the strongest sorceror of all time, one of the three chosen of the late god known as the Stargazer.

Bottom left is the Tenkubashi family, the oldest family in Kasaiwari and the undisputed rulers. The Tenkubashi come from a mortal woman, Kushinadahime, and a kitsune, Tamamon. They are said to be the bridge between mortal and yokai, between earth and heaven. They continue their legacy as hanyo by marrying a kitsune into the family every few generations.

Bottom right is The Order, is the governing body of Terra Aurea. Under instruction from the Heraldic Gods, the Order controls the country almost in its entirety. Everything is shaped by the priests and paladins of the Order. They do everything from organise festivals to protect the populace from the rot, a disease especially troublesome to Terra Aurea.

[majestyrising]

man it’s funny i’ve never had a full full plague faction til pulpa artifex because the syndicate/thanatos has always been... not plague. they were shadow, then lightning, then ice. it’s just that for uhh maybe 4 years they’ve been IN plague, that’s where their base is. but writing actual full dirty gross disgusting flesh-weaving evil nasty bitches is so fun

[majestyrising]

FACTION ROUNDUP

I have only been nominally active for a while and whilst being fully active again is a lot of fun, I have a lot of factions with a lot of characters so I figured I’d give a brief summary of each. I hope it’s readable and if you do read it, I hope you enjoy it!

The Thanatos Syndicate.

Founded by Koschei Urusov and currently led by his eldest son, Rho Urusov, the Thanatos Syndicate is a private military company situated in the eastern Wasteland, primarily located inside a massive cathedral. It was originally located in the Icefields, but after a chain of events beginning with a coup and ending with their old base, a hollowed out glacier, sinking into the ocean, they moved over to Plague. 

Their primary objective is, of course, to take mercenary contracts. Rho holds a very tight leash on what the Syndicate will and will not do, and as such, they are seen as a very elite and expensive force for the most part. That being said, the expertise and therefore, expense, of their mercenaries varies from person to person. They are not simply a band of sellswords, however, and operate more akin to an autonomous community, having their own medics, ambassadors, and information network.

The Syndicate’s primary alliance is with the Sawyer Gang, an unlikely friendship born out of a truce made once the two groups stopped warring with one another. They can often be found working in tandem, with the Gang riling people up and the Syndicate squeezing protection money out of them in turn. 

(TLDR: An Ice Private Military Company living in the Wasteland. Genre is fantasy and sort-of adherent to site lore.)

The Great Noble House of Damask Rose.

On the northern shore of the Isles lies an island just barely cut off from the mainland, connected by the ebb and flow of pink salt flats. This is the City of Lys. Long ago, the Great Noble House of Damask Rose was driven from their grandiose palaces and chased all the way to Lys, where their enemies hoped to sever their influence and power. It did not work as intended.

The City of Lys is small, but densely packed, a tourist destination for it’s beautiful landscape and quaint, rococo architecture. At the top of it’s spiralling cliffs, buoyed by magic which lifts parts of the massive building into the air, is the Damask Chateau. From here, the relatively small family and their army of servants, chevaliers, and indebted nobility rule over their island. Primarily, this falls to Grand Duchess Seraphina de Damascena, as her husband, the ‘true’ head of the family, the Duke, mostly keeps to himself, engrossed with his studies and experiments.

Many years ago now, the chevaliers of Damask identified and abducted a man with great magical potential- Mortimur Sawyer, the preacher for the cult village of Haven. Over time, he became completely invaluable to them, with Seraphina falling in love with the man. It seems that history might repeat, recently Quincy Damascena, the spare to the family, brought Malachai Sawyer home with him.

(TLDR: A noble house inspired by the French nobles of the Ancien Regime. Genre is political drama, fantasy, and eldritch themes.)

The Provinces of Kasaiwari.

Hidden from the outside world, embraced by a mountain range on one side and the sea on the other, lies the Provinces of Kasaiwari. Situated in the north border of the Waste, it has a long and complex history, having land saturated with magic which has always been the home to yokai of all kind. The ancient leaders of this land, the Tenkubashi, have kept the peace throughout the provinces for many years. It is a hub of unique and beautiful art and culture, in touch with the world around them. At least, until their whole world exploded.

After all, it has only been peaceful for the dragons- for they have been pushing the yokai out ever since they first came down from their god. The last of the Qirin, the King of Yokai, Shikitsuhikotamatemi, finally reached the end of his rope and attacked a congregation of all the province’s leaders. In one fell swoop, he destroyed every single leader, and the yokai swept out across the entire land, intent on getting rid of the dragons.

It has been a lifetime since then, but the scars are still healing. Under the leadership of their new Empress, the Divine Avatar Kuroharuhime Tenkubashi, she has proclaimed an edict- the yokai’s transgressions will be tolerated no longer, and she will not rest until they are completely eradicated.

(TLDR: A Japanese-inspired secret land fighting with Yokai. Genre is high fantasy with shades of historical fiction.)

Sancti Sepulchre.

When the world was new, before the Icewarden was the Icewarden, he shaped two children from himself and gave them life. They were Panteleimon, the God of Compassion, and Zima, the God of Justice. Together they would form the Urusov Dynasty, which would rule the northern Icefields for these early years, pushing back incursions from Arcane and Fire. Eventually, though, these outside pressures would overwhelm the Dynasty, and they would succumb, driven out or killed.

The survivors, and their leader, Vsevolod Urusov, ran to the southern most point of the Icefields, a truly inhospitable land where the blizzards never stop raging. There they would lick their wounds; but as the years continued, the family grudges would rise again, keeping the family stuck in their exile, arguing among themselves for perceived injustices. 

It was here that Koschei Urusov was raised, and where he ran from as a young adult. He had no way of knowing that his departure would be presumed as murder, and that it would kick-start events which threaten to reveal the Urusovs to the world once again. Their leader, for the moment, remains Tsar Didier Urusov, a towering, beastly man with a vendetta and a temper to match it- but how much longer everyone will suffer his wrath remains to be seen.

(TLDR: An ancient Ice lineage struggling to survive in harsh conditions. Genre is high fantasy with a grimdark edge.)

LUCKY ST4R.

Just a blip on the map of Neo Necropolis, a high tech mega-city located in the paradoxically desert-swamped and futuristic Expanse, is an innocuous repair shop. It was a blimp, once, which fell from the sky and has since been decorated and secured into something of a bunker. This is the LUCKY ST4R, the hideout of a once notorious businessman named Seven. He and his friends (or coworkers, depending on who you ask) run several different not strictly legal businesses out of the little shop.

From prototype modifications to ultra powerful guns to scripts that’ll double your cryptocurrency, you can have all sorts of itches scratched by the LUCKY ST4R. But it’ll cost you, and if you don’t keep your mouth shut, they’ll find some other way to make sure no one powerful enough to stop them gets keyed in to what’s happening. Pay what’s owed and you’ll get what you want, and maybe you’ll also get a box of noodles for your trouble. 

(TLDR: A cyberpunk-vaporwave city and the tales of it’s inhabitants. Genres include, well, cyberpunk, as well as some crime/thriller elements.)

Pulpa Artifex.

An old wives' tale in the Scarred Wasteland talks of a band of terrifying beings, barely mortal, who can twist and warp the flesh of others like wet clay. Unfortunately for those who cross into their path, it is not just a story told in the dead of night around a flickering campfires, but a terrifying reality.

The small band of criminals known as Pulpa Artifex are based around an ancient manifestation of death and decay known as Bragi who inducts other unfortunate people into his cursed work. The fleshweavers find and capture wayward souls to fuel their own powers and prolong their lives. What could be written off as a sick cycle of life and death is destroyed by the simple fact that Pulpa Artifex sees themselves as artists of the highest calibre, exploring an artform denied and derided by all others.

(TLDR: A gross group of nasty mages in the Wasteland. Genres include horror, especially body horror, and some contemplative thoughts on death.)