New Peoples Encountered During the Tournament of the Ancient One
The Tournament of the Ancient One at present is one of the few truly international events upon Avernus at present, with the saurus sending out invitations to every known people on every continent.
With tens of thousands attempting to compete and thousands involved in the main tournament itself, this list attempts to pare down some of the more stand-out peoples encountered.
For the most part diplomatic contact was made by diplomats familiar with alien species, their number primarily drawn from younger generations of Avernites, who tend to be more comfortable with inhuman kinds. Nevertheless there was a constant undercurrent of tension and racism, surprisingly from both sides in this case. For humanity, this was most palpable when older generations of Avernites appeared, but for the Peoples encountered there was a great deal of anger when it was learned that the fifth god of Chaos was the result of human action. Only relying on the diplomatic weight of Lin's actions with the Lizardmen as well as the People's remembrances of Areatha and (to our surprise) actions by Vlad, who have apparently been trying to ease peoples into the revelations, has kept diplomacy possible with several peoples.
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The familiar - this refers to peoples already vaguely known to humanity but were encountered first at the tournament.
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Three new Siren Queendoms
With the three local queendoms (Azure Isles; Deep Sea; Turquoise Sea) sending several contenders, Avernus was first introduced to representatives of three new queendoms. With these new additions humanity has encountered six of the eight queendoms in total.
The new additions identified themselves as hailing from the Frigid Oceans, the Searing Sea, and the Ethereal Sky. The final refused to elaborate on what that meant.
Between them, the Sirens managed to make impressive progress with several of their warriors making it to the quarter- and semifinals thanks to their almost excessively runic equipment and powerful personal abilities. Most tellingly was the Azure Isles champion, who utilised the aquatic technology given to her people enhanced by runes to give herself an advantage over early contestants and managed to go far further than expected, although she was ruthlessly eliminated by the Deep Sea champion (the final siren eliminated.)
In order, the Frigid Ocean sirens appear to specialise in song-weaving and as their name implies live in the oceans around the north of Avernus. The sirens here were eliminated early in the tournament, but appear to take cues from the Guardian Penguins on the most effective use of their powers. Their song-weaving, when taken as a whole, is oppressively more advanced than that of even other sirens, explaining their early elimination in these one-on-one bouts.
Decidedly hostile to the Azure Isles sirens, the other siren representatives encountered by Avernites were impressed by humanity's performance in the tournament and the peace Lin brought to the Lizardmen, although they are not confident that it will last. Although they state that they will not seek us out, if we head north to meet with the Stoics (their word for the penguins) they would be interested in opening more formal relations and guiding us to them.
The Searing Sea sirens live close to Avernus' tropical belt and seem to specialise in enchanting. According to a brief examination of the champion's weapons and far closer inspection of a single example purchased at a relatively low cost from a siren merchant, this type of psychic power is a variation of runecrafting with a focus on conceptual, exotic, and esoteric effects. For humans, given the existence of runes like Luck, the difference may seem academic, but it is striking. The item purchased from the merchant is an unblemished belt that is apparently a common trinket produced by the queendom for surface dwellers. When worn by a creature that requires oxygen to breathe, they find that they are able to, so long as they are in a position to fill their lungs. This effect essentially allows the wearer to breathe underwater, but testing revealed that it works just as well even if the wearer has no possible access to oxygen at all (such as in a vacuum). An extraordinary effect, but paling in comparison to their champion's glaive and armour. The enchanted runes purportedly made the blade unerringly accurate and able to bypass any defence while the armour was supposed to make the wearer unhittable. Whatever the truth of the matter the siren user was eventually eliminated after encountering Dame Hopit.
Seemingly more mercantile than their brethren, the Searing Sea sirens were seen eyeing the technology of the Azure Isles and Deep Sea siren with some envy. Although uncertain, their champion mentioned that they could see about setting up some kind of trade route. Apparently, their Queendom is split into many factions and some will be against associating with those that birthed a new Chaos God, like they would be for their starbound cousins.
The Ethereal Sky sirens as already stated did not give any details on where they live. Their specialisation appears to be general psychic powers, a specialisation that took them to about mid-rank within the tournament until eventually, the level of psychic resistance was enough to trump their increasingly creative workarounds. From observations, their degree of skill and control in all known areas (as well as several unknown disciplines) seems to be beaten only by Avernus' great heroes, with their champions especially matching and surpassing all save for Ridcully. It must be noted that these are the exemplars of their people. However, even if their people are even significantly worse than them, then they will still be formidable.
Although approached the Ethereal Sky sirens refused to talk much to Avernite representatives, or indeed anyone. Their only statement was that humanity could talk to them more if they could find them. Although asked, Vlad assured us that when dealing with these sirens it is usually better to go along with them rather than to try and circumvent their puzzles.
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The Fae
The documents written by Areatha and testimony by Vlad prepared Avernus for the Fae in theory, if not in practice. Tens of thousands of Fae were present at the tournament, and while they did attempt to cajole, accost, or otherwise wheedle all present into deals much of their nature was muted. For the warp-bound creatures, the memory of the Saurus burning the NeverNever is still strong. The exception to their people's revels was the honour guards of the Fae's main competitor who stood in icy silence alongside Queen Mabd of the Court of Deepest Winter.
As the Fae were not acting in their traditional role this report focuses more upon Mabd who calmly became one of the top fifteen competitors demonstrating all the advantages of her otherworldly nature, the innate powers of the fae, and millennia of martial prowess in one terrifying whole. This culminated in her two final bouts by summoning the "essence of cold", one of the few attacks in the tournament that bypassed the Engines of the Gods that protected the stands.
Queen Mabd also dealt humanity a personal defeat, bringing down Arbiter Oakheart near the end of the tournament, with her greater experience and physical attributes finally outclassing the inevitable slayer of the damned.
Although Mabd was finally eliminated in the next round by the Earthsage, but before that cataclysmic clash she offered Lady Oakheart an intriguing bargain. According to Lady Jane, Mabd offered to make her a "knight" of her court, a favoured mortal servant. Mabd stated that this was made partially as thanks for Lady Oakheart's exceptional service against the forces of Chaos, but also out of a desire to take that strength for herself.
At present, Lady Oakheart has declined that offer.
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The Sakarians
Encountered rarely by explorers, the Sakarians were mostly known through Euryale trade networks. Until recently a single empire that was destroyed in the second incursion by the personal attention of Skarbrand. As is understandable this was a civilisation shattering event and has plunged the Sakarians into a dark era. This may have been even worse had it not been for the intervention of first the Ancient One, who routed the remains of Skarbrand's hoard, saving the Sakarians from extinction and Areatha who used her immense social influence to push the Sakarians to reorganise while helping organise survivors. Despite this, she is no politician and it shows. Several vassal peoples have pulled away from the Sakarians, while the empire has broken down into small fiefdoms. The majority are trying simply to remain afloat with only the most powerful managing to do otherwise. Those exceptions are split either between rediscovering the lost glories of the empire or advancing in other ways, such as by integrating people psycic powers, or technological innovation. It was these kingdoms that managed to send merchants although any champions they possessed failed to attend.
Most groups proved to be friendly when encountered and presented a wide variety of interesting goods. However, it was clear that all were present more to forge connections with other avernite powers and expressed an interest in opening communications with humanity, especially after we demonstrated our purchasing capacity.
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Khoswe
Rat men encountered by a few human explorers with a long history of selflessness and collateral damage, the Khoswe proved to be very friendly with humanity after we provided ample demonstrations that we were not all "evil god of selfishness creators." Their merchants proved to be selling an astounding variety of devices from their stalls. These ranged from trinkets to potions, to full-scale armaments like their rightly infamous blink rifles.
Although this is far from enough to reverse engineer from base principals, a positive connection has been opened and they seem interested in creating stronger ties with humans, some even considering migrating and starting a warren in our area should permission be given and we assuage their many concerns. We did, after all, create a god of Tyrants. They are also very put off by our belief in human supremacy, finding it excessively nonsensical.
However, their greater interest was in the nynye, in whom they seem to find a kindred spirit, although their belief in the greed of non-Khoswe was...confused in the Nynye. Even then they believe Nynye Alkahestry and the Khoswe's disciplines could be combined to great effect.
Their main representative in the tournament was a White One by the name of Tarkasa, who is presently testing what he believes to be the start of the fourth discipline, a type of incredibly energetic warp lightning that caused one of the few double knockouts in the tournament when his capacitor pack failed. The blast of immense and utterly destructive lightning was directed for a moment, successfully obliterating his opponent (A Saurus Oldblood) and then broke free killing him in turn. Were it not for the miracle of the Engines of the Gods both would have been dead permanently. Instead, both were eliminated and Tarkasa was admonished for unleashing an attack that would have been soul-killing if used outside the arena even if it was due to an accident.
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Frost Trolls
One of two species encountered by Tormod during his misadventure with the Fae, the Frost Trolls are a related species of the more well-known mountain troll. A northern species, the Frost Trolls have a different biology to their rocky brethren, which allows them to move through ice instead of stone, and possess powerful cryomancy instead of geomancy. This creates many key differences between the species. As opposed to mountain trolls, Frost Trolls can all use cryomancy to at least a limited extent, even as a form of self-regeneration. In exchange, they lack the tactile telekinesis that makes them so deadly against any metal using species.
Primarily making their residence within large ice sheets, the trolls seem to be generally cautious around outsiders and protective of their territory. This may in part be due to their primary people neighbours being giants, whose weight is enough to crack the ice they live in.
Apparently, if a troll is melded with the ice and it is broken then the troll can be severely injured.
Their unique discipline appears to be macro cryomancy, much like the macro geomancy of their mountainous cousins. This is especially terrifying as they have demonstrated the capacity to flash freeze the blood and flesh of their enemies, requiring a large amount of resistance to warp effects or powerful wards. Without these then their cryomancers can instantly kill or cripple whomever they fight. This is beyond the more expected cryomantic powers of summoning ice storms, creating and sculpting it as well as more esoteric effects similar to the known species.
Until recently the Trolls were extremely aggressive and expansionary on account of a king who had made a deal with the Fae. This troll was engaged in a hostile takeover of the surrounding region, the goal seemingly to unite it in preparation for the next incursion. Not a bad idea in theory, but their aggressive means of going about it soured many troll tribes and angered the independent giant tribes.
Although the King was ultimately slain the kingdom he had created lives on. The ruling council of chiefs he created has elected a new high king, who has similar ambitions to the previous ruler, but is far more diplomatic about how they're going about it.
The ice troll champion seemed to be a shaman so ancient that their form had completely turned into ice. Despite their apparent age they successfully made it to the midpoint of the tournament, through remarkably adept circumvention of wards and resistances. In the end, they were defeated by a Lizardman Elder, who shattered their body with a hammer before the Engines of the Gods resurrected them.
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The Orkwings
Not contestants, but rather an observer the Orkwings were first mentioned by the Sirens centuries ago, but have been unremarked since. However, during the tournament, an entire tribe arrived much to the surprise, and slight fear, of the humans.
On initial examination, Orkwings appear to be unstooped, thinner orks from a distance albeit with feathered wings protruding from their shoulder blades. At closer examination, however, this is not the case. In both temperament and in appearance they are quite distinct, being decidedly non-aggressive (they are primarily scavengers in light of their region's exceptionally deadly wildlife), highly communal, and friendly to outsiders.
The reason for this temperament is on account of what we can best call a proto-Waaagh field, lending more credence to the idea that Avernus was either involved in the creation of the Eldar and Krork, or was allowed to experiment with aspects of their design.
In either case, the Orkwings are one of the oldest species on Avernus, at least as old as the Sirens with the two having a long and occasionally bloody history.
Their powers appear to be a combination of overwhelmingly developed and powerful aeromancy, backed up by the collective power of their psychic field which amplifies their abilities and powers in proportion to their emotional state and numbers allowing them to perform feats and rituals simply not possible under most circumstances.
According to other avernites there are few things more terrifying than a large number of emotional Orkwings.
Their field does seem to have its drawbacks after a fashion, with the traditionally communal nature of Avernites amplified to the point that isolation is considered utterly terrifying to Orkwings, who will avoid it under all possible circumstances. It's for this reason that practically an entire tribe migrated together to visit the tournament, even before the issue of safety was considered.
The Orkwing tribe (known as the Hikarijaka) did not compete as previously stated. Their method of combat is not conducive to the kinds of battles fought in the tournament. However, they were quite eager to meet new people and trade various extremely powerful creature pieces, including the feathers and claws of Rocs - titan-sized birds that live in their region whose components are prized for their power.
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The Unknown - these are entirely new peoples encountered at the tournament, albeit only a selection of them primarily focusing upon those with a top tier contender.
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The Dugr
Represented by a single entity that apparently consists of the entirety of the surviving species, the Dugr were a civilisation of tall crafters that had cultivated a civilisation for thousands of years, engaged in stargazing and honing their arts. A stratified caste society, the Dugr were apparently able to manage a degree of movement between castes thanks to a specialisation in psychometry. In most human psykers this skill is not particularly valuable, mostly showing disjointed flashes of an object's existence. For a Dugr touching, an object would show its entire history in a comprehensible format, including how it was created. They'd taken their power to the point that it could be used on living beings, even to the point of using it as a type of effective telepathy. Touching a non-Dugr, they could learn memories although how much depended on the skill of the Dugr and the willingness of the target to let them in. When two willing Dugr touched they could share almost anything including skills, allowing Dugr to learn new skill sets at an accelerated rate.
While this society had many advantages it also left them vulnerable to information loss when too many Dugr died, as they neglected written records.
Now there is only one remaining.
It seems that in the recent thousand years the Dugr came upon a remarkable avenue of research that quickly bore fruit. From descriptions, this seems similar to the process involved in Solis Obliatum and the Sun Beetles, although it may simply be coincidence. Whatever the case is it allowed the Dugr to create solar infused weapons that were more potent than almost any heard of, and especially lethal to daemons.
The proof of their lethality is evidenced by the increased focus the Dugr received during incursions, gradually wearing at their defences. In the end, their destruction came at the hand of an Exalted around one thousand years ago, although its victory was short-lived. Weakened by the Dugr's last stand, it was easy prey for the Ancient One, who broke its legions of servants to slaughter it.
The last surviving Dugr goes by the name of Bardek, and although he was taught the secrets of the warriors in his people's last days his caste was that of the scholars. Even so, Bardek has taken up the star mace, the mightest relic of his people and one of the most powerful artefacts ever seen on Avernus period. Since then he has ventured across Avernus with the singular goal of finding a means to resurrect his people.
From this, his reasons for entering the tournament were clear, albeit different than most. Instead of seeking to prove himself, he sought knowledge from the Ancient One, hoping that the Eldest being, taught by the Old Ones themselves would have insight into his quest. As the eventual winner of the tournament, we can only wonder at what the Ancient One whispered into his ear in their bout.
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The Razikori
Emerging from a desert waste the Razikori are known as the makers of life. An artificial species of homunculi created by a long-dead species as a living legacy.
Formed from clay, metal, bone, and dozens of other substances, they appear to be silent copies of other species although always with some defect that seems to mark them as a type of Razikori. Slight stature, short-lived, feeble minds; all can mark a Razikori, but the sacrifice they take always comes with its own advantages. Indomitable strength, impossible intelligence, vast psychic power; these are some of the more common marks of a Razikori, who constantly study their own paths and those of other peoples, hoping to gain insight into how to improve their craft further.
Due to certain interactions, we have learned that their goal is to eventually create a "perfect being" equal to, if not greater than the Ancient One, to try and relieve him of some of the burdens he carries and thank him for saving their people from destruction when they were newly made.
Although they are not there yet if this latest homunculus is any indicator they are making surprising progress; a single towering champion, clad from head to toe in emerald green armour, silently bearing a vast war axe.
Their representative, named Vasarhil, named it the Protathlitís, their greatest combat class warrior.
Each time the Razikori have come to the tournament they have deployed a new variation of these Protathlitís, short-lived and impossibly potent fighters, who sacrifice almost their entire life span for overwhelming power. And although the Razikori's participation is sporadic, each time their Protathlitís has participated it's made it further and further in the rankings.
This time was no exception as the Protathlitís performed so well that it actually outlived its allotted lifespan, the Engines of the Gods extending its time so that it could finish its duty. Fighting its way to the semifinals it was finally defeated by the Bane himself after a battle that pushed even that legendary warrior. The champion of the Lizardmen offered the Razikori his congratulations at refining their warrior even further.
This may have been taken as an insult by some, but it seems the Bane has defeated the last two Protathlití as well, providing valuable information to the Razikori each time it has happened.
This comes to the interesting events of humanity's interactions with the Razikori, as no species was more eager to talk to us than them. It seems the Razikori are especially interested in humanities skills in genetic engineering theorising that these techniques could greatly assist their own goals. They are even willing to teach us the secrets behind their own creative process and to help to adapt them to humans in exchange although there are problems.
Given their demonstrated abilities this is tempting and given the purchase of incredibly powerful augmetic limbs and other items of value. Thankfully lessons learned from the Quartok came into play, and they were warned not to attempt to mimic the human form, else it would be seen as a desecration.
This is just one of many problems in this proposed deal, as the Razikori seemed bemused by this request, even if they did comply, and their enthusiasm was significantly tempered by the revelation of the Abomination's origins. On the human side, there are debates raging about the efficacy of using xenos witchcraft to create pseudo humans, with Baron Esmund of the Oversight council (Vanir origin) declaring that he would never allow such a deal to go forward, and that it and the Razikori were abominations.
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The Altjira
A surprise connection, the Altjira at this time are one of two species modern-day humans have met from the legendary "hidden" continent.
Furred, marsupial mammals, with extremely powerful hind legs, strong arms, and a muscular tail for balancing, the Altjira prefer to move by hopping on their legs and can seemingly do so for hours with no complaint whatsoever.
So far, human interactions with them have determined that they all exhibit traits associated with experienced cavers, and state that they consider being off their home continent to be a nice holiday. In part because of this, they seemed to not care particularly about the Abomination by the standards of Avernite xenos, reasoning that "What's done is done,'' with one stating "Eh, don't do it again mate."
Their special power...is unclear. Capable of feats of supernatural strength, endurance, speed, and other abilities in excess of even the most powerful biomancy there is currently no explanation for how they manage to do what they do. Questioning them on the subject has yielded no straight answer, with them saying that it's all willpower.
In spite of being unhelpful in that regard, they proved to be quite willing to talk about their home continent, confirming many of the horror stories we have received from the elder Avernites as well as helping to organise festivals during the tournament. They were also willing to sell their beer, although at present only high-level biomancers (and one Leman Russ) can drink it without causing immediate, catastrophic brain damage.
Their champion, by the name of Jarz, apparently trained for this occasion by wrestling Bunyips, and the effects are visible. Darting around the arena at speeds high enough that even most diviners couldn't keep track of him, and striking hard enough to cause explosions of displaced air, he seemed unbeatable. In the end, his defeat came at the hands of the disguised Leman Russ after a battle that threatened to damage the protections on the arenas' stands themselves.
In the end, Jarz was beaten, and Russ won. However, with his entire rib cage shattered, spinal cord broken in several places, arms pulverised, skull in fractures, one and three quarters of his hearts destroyed, and a long list of other assorted injuries that likely would have killed him shortly afterwards if not for the arena's protections.
Likely because of this (and because it seems Russ found in their brews alcohol that equals his personal variants of Mjod), the two seemed to part as friends, although Russ left the tournament and then planet shortly after due to unforeseen circumstances.
Even still it is likely that had Russ not been here then Jarz would have been the ultimate victor.
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God-Beast
Only a single example of this creature entered the tournament and refused to speak to anyone that we could see, forcing investigators to ask around for information.
What we have learned is that the hive spire sized entity known as Itra has participated in every tournament for the last 50,000 years starting from when it was smaller than a human, to its now awe-inspiring height, steadily combining growing experience with ever-increasing power.
Its species supposedly is a native of the hidden continent, a point made clear by it and Jarz's visible acknowledgement of each other's presence. Questioning the Altijira revealed that the creature's species has no single name, but many, most of which seem to be used to communicate their vast power. Thankfully they are also extremely rare, and none even come close to the might of Itra, a fact humanity should likely be grateful for. In its first bout against a veteran siren contender, Itra did not even bother to fight its foe physically, instead choosing to bellow with enough force to crush the interloper into the dust.
Afterwards, the titan went on a rampage eliminating all set before it, even another member of the top tiers, until finally being defeated by Queen Mabd.
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The Frogmen*
*They have a name for themselves, but it is currently unpronounceable by human mouths, instead of sounding like a large array of croaking at a high number of frequencies and pitches.
One of the odder species, the frogmen appear to be to the people what the nog is to most animals. That is to say, extremely weak.
Appearing as anthropomorphic amphibians from a marshy region to the west of human-occupied Avernus, the frogmen so far seem to lack many innate advantages aside from what boons their amphibian nature grants them.**
**Many of these come back as disadvantages as well, such as a reliance on freshwater to not dry out.
Unlike the nogs they are compared to, the frogmen take this weakness in stride. 'If the world has not made them strong, then they will use what abilities they have to make themselves stronger than anyone else,' goes their logic.
This logic seems to be well-founded as frogman adventurers are a common feature in many people's legends, as are tales of their gallantry, honour, and prowess.
These abilities were displayed in full in the tournament by their champion, Dame Hopit, the self-proclaimed best blade on Avernus.
Although both Oakhearts were eliminated before they had the opportunity to cross swords with the Dame, both agreed wholeheartedly that she was their superior, indeed, outmatching foes several times her strength with nothing more than sublime skill. In the end, her defeat against the colossal Itra came more on account of her succumbing to exhaustion, which allowed the God-Beast the opportunity to crush her. Even then, despite being armed with a sword a little larger than a big dagger, the creature had suffered horrific wounds.
Further talks with Dame Hopit and her people revealed them to be much as the legends surrounding them suggest - more Avernite than human Avernites; extremely cheerful and decidedly honourable. Their various kingdoms have expressed some interest in journeying to visit Avernite cities, while Dame Hopit has decided to stay for a short time to duel with the Oakhearts.
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Diamond Backed Gorillas
Knuckle-walking, intimidating apes that make their homes in the jungles in a region adjacent to the Lizardmen, humanity's first contact with these people almost started in a brawl between Jacob Oakheart and their champion Kunaloo.
Meeting in one of the many watering holes that sprang up in and around Xhotle, with access to alcohol capable of surpassing both of their enhanced constitutions, it seems the Helguard champion and Kunaloo fell into arguing about whose style of fighting is superior. For the Gorillas, fighting with one's hands is roughly equivalent to sword fighting.
Egged on by similarly drunk patrons the inebriated duo almost started a fight before the Kroxigor and Saurus guards came, arrested the entire establishment and threw them into holding cells.
Sharing the night in a cell next to Kunaloo, a fae, and a Karthid (praying mantis type species), the pair started to share experiences and memories while their drinks drained from their systems.
It seems the two departed the cells not as friends, but certainly with a mutual understanding of one another. It seems Kunaloo shares Jacob's past as a prodigal fighter, trained to be the best under all circumstances. He apparently even shared an incredibly lethal and strict parental figure and teacher...until recently that is.
Both kept a sharp eye on one another during their matches in the tournament, especially when it seemed inevitable that they would be matched together.
In a seemingly fated encounter, both proceeded to tear the other to shreds, the strength of the Oakheart style clashing with the flowing, dancing martial arts of the Gorillas.
Double knockouts are rare in the tournament, but they do occur when both contestants die at the same time as determined by a panel of experts and the Engines of the Gods. Other factors like the White One's soul-killing can also play a factor.
In this case, Jacob was able to project a telekinetic blade down Gravity's Bite that managed to sever Kunaloo's head. However, Kunaloo successfully grazed Jacob's neck with a finger, destroying his terminator armour at the same time.
The panel it seems argued for hours about who killed who first, but eventually determined with the use of temporal measuring technology that both killed the other at the same time.
Content with the draw, the two made peace with each other's preferences and choose to sit together in the stands making wagers and speaking about their peoples.
This is why we have a comparative excess of information on the Gorillas. It seems that their main power is not in their imposing size or immense strength, but instead in their fingers and toes. These remarkably dexterous digits are not just effective at letting them navigate their jungle home, they are also some of the most impressive tools ever encountered by humans. Able to manifest a variety of effects, they can be utilised in limitless configurations to perform any task one can think.
This obviously includes killing. For example, the touch that allowed Kunaloo to destroy Jacob's nervous system is a common power used by all his people (albeit only their masters can even attempt the effect Kunaloo can manage with ease.) A combination of acupuncture, targeted electricity, and supernatural precision allows the gorillas to target their enemies' nervous systems, blocking them, manipulating them, and killing through them all with a touch. This allows them to negate armour and, in general, always do damage so long as their enemy has something that can be defined as a nervous system. They apparently have other techniques for daemons and the like.
Meeting with the greater people, they seemed intrigued by humanity's advanced technology and although disappointed Kunaloo did not advance further in the tournament, they seem content with his loss and glad that he made a connection with Jacob.
Due to their relative closeness, discussions to open formal communications are already open.
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The Warforged/The Clockwork/The Industrial
Perhaps one of the strangest and most divided groups encountered in the tournament, the trio of people insist they are all one species, albeit with very different interpretations of how to utilise the gifts of the world.
Their Skalds proved very eager to launch into their own accounts of how this split occurred, but as far as we can tell the common elements are these.
- The initial form of these people known as, the unforged are created within a massive volcano known as Skalof's Heart.
- The Unforged, lacking in direct purpose other than opposition to Chaos, thought about how best to go about this. Many ideas are debated, but eventually, they each unite behind one of three charismatic leaders.
- Although there is nearly bloodshed (in some versions of the story there is) they agree to go their separate ways, swearing to return to Skalof's Heart every 300 years to try and convince their people that their way is superior.
Over long millennia their differing ideologies have branched into highly different species, although retaining the same immediately obvious physical characteristics, they are made of metal, and many similar cultural affectations such as honour, chronicling, and the keeping of oaths.
The Warforged are supposedly closest to the Unforged in appearance and character, stocky humanoids whose bodies are entirely strong and unnaturally flexible metal. Into each of their skin is carved tattoos and tales of their victories and defeats. They claim that as they do this, they imbue the tale into their flesh so that it never forgets, doing the same to their weapons as well. The end result is that their bodies and arms are all intricate and beautiful works of art. Their power appears to be far more conceptual, although it is not clear in what way exactly. The closest we are able to tell is that the stronger a foe a Warforged defeats in comparison to their current strength they gain an increase in power.
Organised into nomadic tribes, Warforged followed the Unforged who claimed that to defeat Chaos they must prove themselves against great trials. As such they test themselves against a variety of foes while acting as mercenaries, guards, and sometimes settling down entirely in areas of interest.
Their champion Al-as-grim-bor was apparently selected after a tournament within the warforged themselves.
Sporting a dual bladed sword, the Warforged made considerable progress, although they were eventually brought down by the Deep Sea champion.
The Clockwork differ very obviously; their bodies seem to be made of whirring interconnected gears that constantly spin and twist. They appear to be primarily psykers some of considerable power, with a speciality in transmutation. As a demonstration, a junior research fellow casually turned a lump of steel into lead, then gold, platinum, an unknown element, and then with more effort, adamantium. This transformation has not worn off after over a year of observation.
They seem to use this power to create seemingly whatever they need from the earth around them, which seems to make a certain degree of sense. The Unforged they followed claimed that to defeat Chaos they needed to understand the world around them. As such, they study seemingly everything. In fact, they were one of the few species able to outbid humans in the many bazaars that sprung up around the tournament through access to rare Avernite resources and almost as much raw gold.
Their achievement outside of transformation seem to be in the form of psychic technology like their cousins, albeit with an emphasis towards exotic effects. The most obvious example of this was their delegation riding into Xhotle on the backs of dozens of clockwork (but seemingly fully sentient) horses.
Their champion, High Philosopher Trak, was taken out midway into the tournament. Rather impressive considering that he was apparently crippled in the last incursion turning a Second Circle Archangyl into gold and could no longer wield his weapons. While he attempts to create a surgery or cure for his condition, the resolutely cheerful Philosopher managed to make stirling progress, experimenting with "the transmutation of the flesh" until he was eliminated by Itra.
Finally the Industrial. Appearing at the tournament in some kind of massive land tank, the Industrialists bletch smoke and steam wherever they go, and seem to be very interested in humans. Their internal systems run on coal, and other burnables and so far they seem to be the most technologically sophisticated Avernites, possessing technology of a Tier 2-3 species...which in practice operates like that of one several times more advanced.
Where the Warforged are warriors, and the Clockwork witches, the Industrial are true engineers. Their Unforged stated that to fight Chaos they needed to turn all resources available to them to that end. As such the Industrial have exploited the infinitely replenishing resources of Avernus to fuel their military and economic complex. They seem to have an innate understanding of technology and then how to enhance it further with psytech "overclockers." How exactly these devices work is unclear, but it seems by burning coal and otherwise sacrificing materials to them, they will cause drastic improvements in any machine they are attached too, with a risk of catastrophic burnout.
This includes the Industrial themselves, who claim to have converted themselves to run on steam power to make use of these overclockers themselves despite the risks.
Equipped with an arsenal of weapons the Industrial's champion Il-tahn-kezar was eliminated quite early on, and was heard grumbling that a wave of artillery fire was infinitely superior to one on one combat anyway.
So far all three groups seem interested in and disturbed by humanity. As one they are disturbed by humanity's past, but interested in its future. The Warforged respected Jane, Jacob, and Horatius, the Clockwork our psykers and the concept (if not the long-standing execution) of the quest for knowledge, and the Industrial seem extremely interested in our technology. Hopefully this will be a foundation to build a future relationship off of.
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Rainbow Serpents - the Children of Sotek
Not a participant in the tournament, but a species theorised, but not proven to exist until recently. Seen meeting several times with various Lizardmen, these feathered serpents live within the warp space around the Lizardmen's temple cities. Hostile in the extreme to the Fae and rather terrifying to the aforementioned, these entities manifest as beautiful, scintillating serpents possessing an array of beautiful plumage alongside iridescent scales.
Although they seemed far more interested in talking to the Lizardmen, we were able to establish some form of communication with them, even securing a gift from one of them for study.
Now that we know of them however, the Lizardmen were more than willing to tell us of the legend of the Sotek.
This legend goes back millions of years between 30-50 million in fact when Avernus was struck by two incursions at the same time. Nurgle and Tzeench, ancient enemies and rivals simultaneously launched an assault on the World, each wishing to claim credit for destroying either the Eternal Enemy or the First City of Itza.
Two exalted crashed into the World, and although they competed and fought with one another their power was enough that even the Ancient One was forced back step by step as the World roused its prototype Great Ones to its defence.
Entering this is the serpent, an early creation of the World intended to as a test for conceptual poisons. A far cry from the World's masterpiece that was the Death's Head, but an impressive first showing given that this was a creation from tens of millions of years ago.
During this cataclysmic battle, a single serpent of the world crept forwards, fangs bared in hatred towards the Exalted and in a critical moment struck at the Lord of Change, its poison infecting that which could not be infected, distracting it for a single instant as it was born high into the air, its fangs keeping it secured to its body.
The Exalted known as the Lidless Eye fell dead, the spear of the Eldest One tasting its never shed blood. But the spiteful sorcerer of Tzeentch cursed the snake and all those of its kind with its dying breath. Never again could they touch and hide upon the ground, lest they perish at its touch.
This would have been the end for the serpent, but the Ancient One caught them as they fell, and carried them around his shoulders even as the rest of its species died, and with his burden fell upon the remaining exalted forcing it to flight.
Yet even still the Serpent known as Sotek is the last of its kind and doomed to die besides. So in that ancient time, the last of the Firstborn entreated the World to intercede.
As a reward for its bravery, and the sacrifice of its people Sotek was reborn anew, no longer a creature of scales, but one bearing the marks of divinity to be the eternal ally of the Lizardmen.
This was the start of the Rainbow Serpents, the progeny of the first serpent that birthed them all.
Even to this day millions of years later the curse of the Lidless Eye remains unbreakable. Should a Rainbow Serpent make contact with the ground then they will perish instantly and permanently. It is their curse and their greatest weakness that they have borne unflinchingly. It is for this reason that they spend a majority of their time in the warp, where there is no earth to threaten them. When they do appear in reality they prefer to fly high above the ground meeting with the Lizardmen atop their ziggurats.
What exactly their powers are is unclear, however, one of their younger members, the Poisoned Heart, gave a gift to humanity for our actions in the third incursion, a sample of his venom.
According to him, this venom is amongst the most potent anti-demon substance in the galaxy and his statement seems to be accurate. More than that it is impregnated with a kind of power, which according to Grandmaster Ridcully isn't quite divine, but is far closer than just about anything he's ever encountered before.
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Huanglong: The Shepherds of the World
Known to humanity only due to stories and the eyes of Grandmaster Ridcully, the Warp Dragons were the only Guardian species to emerge during the tournament.
Not competitors, several Dragons were identified by the Grandmaster in various guises observing competitors. Several were acting as teachers and guardians to a number of them, most notably one who was coaching a Sakarian youth quite intensely.
Further details were expected to be not forthcoming, before one of the Dragons willingly approached the Grandmaster to explain, apparently wishing to head off any misunderstandings with one able to pierce their disguises.
The Huanglong, as they are known themselves, were a member of the wider Draco genus that all known Avernite Dragons belong to. Where the majority of the genus are intelligent, but ultimately animalistic, the Huanglong and the Therondy Dragons both became peoples, albeit with very different focuses. The complete mythology would take far too long to go through in detail, but the broad strokes was a royal amongst the Huanglong was almost slain, but was saved by a much weaker people. In gratitude the royal taught the people many things in gratitude. Instead of returning to his people the Royal traveled the World, teaching and developing a philosophy as they went until at last they had come back to where they began.
Finding the People they had taught flourishing he brought his philosophy and the tales of adventure and teaching to their people, encouraging them to go out into the world and do the same.
Whether or not this story is literal, allegorical, or has become distorted with time is up for debate.
Whatever the truth of the matter is, the Huanglong did develop into a civilisation with the traits the world was searching. Apparently when the World is in need of a Guardian it will first search the Peoples for any that fit its criteria before creating one, and the Huanglong fit perfectly. The role of troubleshooter and guides, hidden agents aiding and shepherding its peoples, ensuring that threats are dealt with before greater force needs to be presented, and creating new heroes to fight back the darkness.
As part of this, the World turned the Huanglong into beings of the immaterium to better facilitate their duties, allowing them to travel where they needed to quickly and enhancing their already puissant might.
Since then they have acted as stewards and guardians to the potential of Avernus, as well as the Planet's internal eyes and ears, while their brethren the Border Lions look outwards.
This neatly explains why they were at the tournament, scouting for issues and looking for talent.
Their representative, who identified himself as Yushe, explains that they've been cautious about how to approach the problem of humanity. On the one hand they explain that there is much potential there for them to foster, but the tales from Vlad and He-Who-Walks-Obliquely about modern-day humanity have made them take a slower approach.
In terms of powers, Yushe was quite happy to avoid revealing anything beyond what was already determined by the High Grandmaster, a degree of shockingly potent shapeshifting. However, he also discovered that the Huanglong likely possess psychic strength rivalling if not surpassing their brethren in the Therondy Dragons, making even one of them a dangerous foe.
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Hopefully, some make the cut.
Give great praise and thanks to all that helped me with this, they are good people,
@Andres110 @random_npc @Execute/Dumbo
And of course the great and the good
@Durin
