[X]Laqurnas, the predator, a spirit bound and shaped and moved by clever and cunning things, one who strikes from the dark and from the shadow and from the mist. He is marked by Ulgu.
[X] Menleth, a spirit of the father who returns to the den with food to feast and the mother who hunts for her kits, at times male and at times female and at times neither, who has journeyed with the King in the Woods whether material or incorporeal at the time. They are marked by Ghyran.
[X] Ehfeyos, a wanderer who journeyed deeper into the aethyr than any other would or could and then when that was not sufficient she incarnated herself into the material world the better to learn from mortals. She understands magic as a scholar, and is a thing of Qhaysh at heart.
[X]Minathpa, the clever thing, the den digger, a spirit of the clever and the cunning beasts. The beast that thinks, that plans. She is marked by Chamon.
Well, we currently have a tie between Dererhan and Minathpa, something someone should probably break before the vote ends.
At this point, with the amount of time left, Ehfeyos, Menleth, and Laqurnas are pretty much sure things, and given that, I think we need Dererhan more than Minathpa, we have a scholar and while an engineer would be nice, given our situation, I think we need a soldier. If the top three were different, it might be a different situation, but with things as they are...
EDIT: And the tie has been broken, at least for the moment.
Well, 45 minutes have passed, I suppose I'll start a vote count now.
Adhoc vote count started by DeadmanwalkingXI on Oct 3, 2023 at 6:19 PM, finished with 84 posts and 50 votes.
[X]Laqurnas, the predator, a spirit bound and shaped and moved by clever and cunning things, one who strikes from the dark and from the shadow and from the mist. He is marked by Ulgu.
[X] Menleth, a spirit of the father who returns to the den with food to feast and the mother who hunts for her kits, at times male and at times female and at times neither, who has journeyed with the King in the Woods whether material or incorporeal at the time. They are marked by Ghyran.
[X] Ehfeyos, a wanderer who journeyed deeper into the aethyr than any other would or could and then when that was not sufficient she incarnated herself into the material world the better to learn from mortals. She understands magic as a scholar, and is a thing of Qhaysh at heart.
[X] Dererhan, a beast, a true warrior, who has been summoned many times as a soldier by mortals, often heeding the calls of wizards and mages who were to face Chaos. A wrestler and champion as much as a spirit, he has the rage of a beast, and has the trophies to prove it. He is a spirit of purest Ghur.
[X]Minathpa, the clever thing, the den digger, a spirit of the clever and the cunning beasts. The beast that thinks, that plans. She is marked by Chamon.
[X] Hoygor, an odd spirit. One unintentionally summoned by the Astromancers of Cathay, one who was influenced by them and learned Azyr from them and integrated it into his nature.
[X] Qasarat, a spirit of that which is hot and bright and furious and lusty and loving and joyful and a thousand other things within nature, from animal to beast and back again. Many times he has been called upon to consecrate a wedding for mortals, particularly by the Kislevites. He is marked by Aqshy.
[X] Talmor, the scavenger, the wild thing, the omen. A spirit born of that which feeds on the dead and on the dying, who has incarnated many times to feed on the energy of dead mortals, kept at arm's length but used to expel the restless dead. She is marked by Shyish.
[X] Liad, a singer often summoned by the Maiden to provide art and glory for her servants, and has been sent to do so in return for companionship. He is marked by Hysh.
Scheduled vote count started by Voikirium on Oct 1, 2023 at 6:18 PM, finished with 85 posts and 50 votes.
[X]Laqurnas, the predator, a spirit bound and shaped and moved by clever and cunning things, one who strikes from the dark and from the shadow and from the mist. He is marked by Ulgu.
[X] Menleth, a spirit of the father who returns to the den with food to feast and the mother who hunts for her kits, at times male and at times female and at times neither, who has journeyed with the King in the Woods whether material or incorporeal at the time. They are marked by Ghyran.
[X] Ehfeyos, a wanderer who journeyed deeper into the aethyr than any other would or could and then when that was not sufficient she incarnated herself into the material world the better to learn from mortals. She understands magic as a scholar, and is a thing of Qhaysh at heart.
[X] Dererhan, a beast, a true warrior, who has been summoned many times as a soldier by mortals, often heeding the calls of wizards and mages who were to face Chaos. A wrestler and champion as much as a spirit, he has the rage of a beast, and has the trophies to prove it. He is a spirit of purest Ghur.
[X]Minathpa, the clever thing, the den digger, a spirit of the clever and the cunning beasts. The beast that thinks, that plans. She is marked by Chamon.
[X] Hoygor, an odd spirit. One unintentionally summoned by the Astromancers of Cathay, one who was influenced by them and learned Azyr from them and integrated it into his nature.
[X] Qasarat, a spirit of that which is hot and bright and furious and lusty and loving and joyful and a thousand other things within nature, from animal to beast and back again. Many times he has been called upon to consecrate a wedding for mortals, particularly by the Kislevites. He is marked by Aqshy.
[X] Talmor, the scavenger, the wild thing, the omen. A spirit born of that which feeds on the dead and on the dying, who has incarnated many times to feed on the energy of dead mortals, kept at arm's length but used to expel the restless dead. She is marked by Shyish.
[X] Liad, a singer often summoned by the Maiden to provide art and glory for her servants, and has been sent to do so in return for companionship. He is marked by Hysh.
With those four I'll note we sort of have a 'bright mirror' thing going as compared to the Chaos Gods. Menleth being Nurgle's opposite, Dererhan mirrors Khorne very directly, and Ehfeyos mirrors Tzeentch. That leaves Laqurnas opposing Slaanesh, which isn't as good as the other three, but it's still not a bad set of parallels (swapping Laqurnas to mirror Tzeentch and arguing that Ehfeyos's curiosity mirroring Slaanesh is also an option).
With those four I'll note we sort of have a 'bright mirror' thing going as compared to the Chaos Gods. Menleth being Nurgle's opposite, Dererhan mirrors Khorne very directly, and Ehfeyos mirrors Tzeentch. That leaves Laqurnas opposing Slaanesh, which isn't as good as the other three, but it's still not a bad set of parallels (swapping Laqurnas to mirror Tzeentch and arguing that Ehfeyos's curiosity mirroring Slaanesh is also an option).
I don't know where they're from, but I am fairly sure they aren't south east asian, lmao. They seem woodsy, If I had to describe them in one word? they're somewhat tribalistic, and they look like the kinds of names you'd see on say, beastmen or forest spirits. Hoygor just sounds beastman, tbh.
What even is a "tribalistic" name, anyways? I mean, names and words from languages that don't have an extensive history of romanisation frequently tend to look awkward purely due to the fact that they're raw, systematic phonetic transcription; since places that have only more recently made contact with Mediterranean culture frequently tend to get described as "tribal" (take a good look at the age of exploration and guess why), one might argue that undeveloped and systematic romanisation could be taken as a "tribalistic" visual characteristic in a name. But there's probably more going on here than just that, to explain the popular conception and its roots.
You joke, but this seems like a totally realistic interaction for the Khorne/Dererhan conflict.
I kind of want to see Dererhan do this with a Bloodthirster then proceed to wreck it. Ghur can totally let you wreck a Greater Daemon in melee if you're powerful enough with it (probably by turning into a dragon).
You joke, but this seems like a totally realistic interaction for the Khorne/Dererhan conflict.
I kind of want to see Dererhan do this with a Bloodthirster then proceed to wreck it. Ghur can totally let you wreck a Greater Daemon in melee if you're powerful enough with it (probably by turning into a dragon).
Khorne Daemons be seeing Dererhan turn into a bonegrinder giant to suplex a bloodthirster and saying, "Look, he is too weak to fight in his true form."
Khorne Daemons be seeing Dererhan turn into a bonegrinder giant to suplex a bloodthirster and saying, "Look, he is too weak to fight in his true form."
[X]Laqurnas, the predator, a spirit bound and shaped and moved by clever and cunning things, one who strikes from the dark and from the shadow and from the mist. He is marked by Ulgu.
[X] Menleth, a spirit of the father who returns to the den with food to feast and the mother who hunts for her kits, at times male and at times female and at times neither, who has journeyed with the King in the Woods whether material or incorporeal at the time. They are marked by Ghyran.
[X] Ehfeyos, a wanderer who journeyed deeper into the aethyr than any other would or could and then when that was not sufficient she incarnated herself into the material world the better to learn from mortals. She understands magic as a scholar, and is a thing of Qhaysh at heart.
[X] Dererhan, a beast, a true warrior, who has been summoned many times as a soldier by mortals, often heeding the calls of wizards and mages who were to face Chaos. A wrestler and champion as much as a spirit, he has the rage of a beast, and has the trophies to prove it. He is a spirit of purest Ghur.
The Deepened Forest quakes as its many boughs are felled by ax and fire and hate. Tall and mighty trees, here red mulberry thick and low and offering shadow to lurk in, there sequoia that stands tall and proud as support for the great flying beasts, the spirits of dragons and wyverns and eagles and more, trees that have stood forever warp and twist, spewing hot fire—no, becoming fire, eternal pillars of it, an inferno bound in time like some insect trapped in amber, all by the will of something Infinite, perverting the Aethyr to be more like It. Brass skulls tear down rock and stone of thought and emotion, the certainty of instinct and nature, in an inferno that is rage and rage that is inferno, as black clouds vomit overhead and break the ground with their roars and their acid eats the stone, turning the not-quite-rock into a sludge of rage and mud and anger and acid that burns to the touch and drives those who so much as brush against it into a rage. Violent lightning blasts apart the Lakes of Simple Pleasure, making them into naught more than steam and mist as the Stormbringer of Nippon makes his rage clear, shifting face and form to better suit his wants. Eight-hundred-and-eighty-eight-thousand daemons, repeated eight-hundred-and-eighty-eight-thousand times, flow forward, led by the eight Princes, each crafted in emulation of one of his faces. The amber clouds that yet remain are split by red columns of fire erupting from the earth beneath their very feet, seeping blood and skulls as the Wild itself is carved by The Axe, perhaps the sole constant that is he. Mortals say that it is rage, but that is not so; that it is the weapon of the first death, but that is not so.
It is Murder.
And the forest itself, its victim.
But it does not die quietly. Beasts, spirits of that which have walked the wildplaces since long before the Malignant began their quest to devour all, advance forward, stag and wolf and eagle and things much the worse ripping and biting and tearing and clawing, as the Deepened Forest itself rebels, violently, like a cornered animal, against the interlopers, the trees spewing forth a nearly endless tide of spirits. One moment two-legged, the next loping on all fours. The reflections of great-jawed hard biting predators sink teeth deep into hard brass flesh. Skulls are taken and shattered as the Beasts fight for nature itself, fight to be more than slaughter and bloodshed and hunger, and who knows what else when Obsession and Ambition and Acedia arrive after their brother?
It will not be enough.
They have accepted this.
All but one.
The foxes are nowhere to be found in battle.
For instead they gather in the Den, an unfurling expanse of tunnels dug into Something that leads Somewhere. They are all gathered, brought by instincts to that place.
Clever beasts, thinking beasts, broad beasts. In manifold states and shapes, bipedal, quadrupedal, horrifying and beautiful, beautiful and horrifying, aberrant. Are they clever because they are foxes, or foxes because they are clever? Who can say?
Their forms twist and loop and turn and shift and move and change, ever changing, as the Beast ever changes.
And of them four stand brilliant among the rest, four spirits of the fox.
Their forms constantly shift and twist and turn and change, manifold forms free of foibles of flesh. They do not speak, for words are but mere distractions. But they communicate all the same in the stuff of thought and feeling, freed from the limit of the flesh, the ideal of the Fox. For now. But that is swiftly changing, swiftly shifting, swiftly morphing; for here, there can be no victory. Not now.
Four leaders emerge from them. Their voices strong, clear, crisp. They are not kin nor kith, have few if any bonds. But in this singular moment a bond is forged, as they make their cunning case to the spirits.
As they present a notion in the Den, the last notion it will ever hold.
That there is a way forward. There is a hope. There is a chance.
Mortality. For the foe has offered theirs up, and what has been offered can be claimed.
Four plans, shared between the whole of the group from the greatest of them. But in the end, only one can be done.
[] The Huntsman Comes: Dererhan shall take up his spear and bow and slay the Eight Daemon Princes, and take their mortality for all the Foxes, and save them all.
[] Calm Over Rage: Taking up the magic that oscillates and burns and vibrates under the assault of Khorne, Ehfeyos will take the power that fills the mortals intruding upon immortality, and with that bring the spirits to the material.
[] Predate and Take: Laqurnas will advance in shadow and take the mortality bound in treasures from the eight in blood, brass, fire, lightning, water, fruit, acid, the horns and the beasts, and break them, and sprinkle them around, and give that wasted mortality to the spirits.
[] A Final Kindness: Menleth shall heal and soothe what remains of the Daemon Prince's truth, whatever mortality remains in them, and at least free them from the prison of Chaos; and in the doing they shall make the world again.
Moratorium for two hours just so I can answer questions, sorry it took so long, bad week. I'd have preferred it longer but I wanted to be sure I got something out tonight and needed to relax a little.
[] A Final Kindness For I Shall Take Heart) Menleth shall heal and soothe what remains of the Daemon Prince's truth, whatever mortality remains in them, and at least from them from the prison of Chaos; and in the doing they shall make the world again.
[] The Huntsman Comes For I Shall Hold the Spear) Dererhan shall take up his spear and bow and slay the Eight Daemon Princes, and take their mortality for all the Foxes, and save them all.
[] Calm Over Rage For I Shall Make the Path) Taking up the magic that oscillates and burns and vibrates under the assault of Khorne, Ehfeyos will take the power that fills the mortals intrude upon immortality, and with that bring the spirits to the material.
[] Predate and Take:For I Shall Prove Able Laqurnas will advance in shadow and take the mortality bound in treasures from the eight in blood, brass, fire, lightning, water, fruit, acid, the horns and the beasts, and break them, and sprinkle them around, and give that wasted mortality to the spirits.
[] A Final Kindness:For I Shall Take Heart Menleth shall heal and soothe what remains of the Daemon Prince's truth, whatever mortality remains in them, and at least free them from the prison of Chaos; and in the doing they shall make the world again.
For I Shall Take Heart) Menleth shall heal and soothe what remains of the Daemon Prince's truth, whatever mortality remains in them, and at least from them from the prison of Chaos; and in the doing they shall make the world again.
