#nowhere itself

Stories of a creature with unfathomable power, that appears human only from afar. That patrols the skies, looking for trouble and havoc.

The north star.

No one knows exactly what it is. It appears human, but where there should be a face, a visor is there covering all but it's mouth. It's skin is gray and featureless, and it's body is a poor impression of that if a human, only a vague shape, uncovered, smooth like a doll and with a personality to match.

It's name comes from the one thing out of place on its skin. A symbol, of two stars overlapping, one larger than the other, on its left shoulder, a sign that you aren't simply dealing with some techie messing around with old world or experimental tech.

Many have encountered the north star in the wastelands, and in every instance trouble followed. Monsters would be unearthed from the ground. Corporate armies march into villages. If you see the north star, chaos was sure find its way to you.

Only few have had close encounters with the star. It rarely speaks, flying from far above the ground with its visor displaying its words instead of a voice, and on rare occasions, their own voices are parroted back and projected into their own mind, a grim reminder of its strength where even your mind could be bent to its will.

Many fear the day they may encounter the north star, because even though it is ambivalent towards humans, -the ones who don't bother it atleast - it is a force of nature.

Those lucky enough to survive a close encounter speak of floating weapons, the earth being ripped beneath their feet, gates that seem to rip through reality itself, and forces with no clear origin. Its torn through armies in moments, gigantic beasts in minutes.

It is no wonder then, that stories of the star are traded, if not for wonder or amusement, then as a warning. A warning that when someone is unlucky enough to see it, they know what to do.

Star: are you flirting with me right now?

Them: what? No?

The Land of Arbit was one rich in natural resources, and low in beasts and territorial disputes. Having risen from ashes of the land of dread, it's land was one of the very few where aspects were revered rather than feared.

The land was ruled by a monarchy, and the royal who sat on the throne was decided by bloody selection where siblings who wished for the strength to rule put their lives on the line, and the current queen, Anara, the second youngest of 5 of her siblings, rose to the top.

Upon taking the throne, Anara commanded her people to delve into The Land and to unearth the treasures hiding below the surface, and decreed the mines to be managed by her right hand. Vast mines and tunnels were dug into the land, unearthing jewels and precious metals to be traded with the other nations for technology and rare artifacts.

However, while gold and gems were traded for artifacts outside the borders, one more powerful than she could conceive would soon be discovered.

In the deepest of the mines a trio of Men worked tirelessly, their caverns having not born any fruits in weeks, the the crown was growing tired waiting for their pledges.

"wouldn't it be easier to just blow this place wide open?" Asked the demolitionist while they toiled by pick and lamp light

"the soil is too weak, any detonation could bring a tunnel down under us" spoke the engineer, as he prepared another brace for the ceiling

"not to mention we might destroy anything of value. Can't risk that when the crowns blade is watching us closely" reminded the foreman.

The trio worked deeper and deeper into the mine, going deeper than any other tunnel into the land

"you sure this is the right direction? We're going into harder rock" the demolitionist whined

"I had a geologist scout this tunnel. Said there should be some geodes deep in the soil. Said she detected something precious with her aspect" said the foreman

"you hired a vessel to scout geodes? You know most of those guys are duds right?"

"not this one" retorted the engineer "worked with her on the royal mine before I lost my arm. She'd point, we'd dig a tunnel, and then hit record breaking veins. Only did this job cuz she owed me a favor"

"let's hope she's right. I'm not sure my arms can take much more" the demolitionist whined again

What seemed like hours passed, and the stone only grew harder and harder, their picks starting to grow weaker and their points dull. Just when they were ready to throw in the towel however, they hit denser rock, the kind no pick could get through, only explosives.

They were smart and started small, the demo knew more about explosives than he did about the men beside him. Stress in the rock was pinpointed and lined with small explosives, fused and set. The blast shook the mine, but the rock stayed firm

"maybe we go around? The mine can't handle much down here"

"for once I agree, that boulder hasn't a scratch on it. As much as I wanna blast through it I'd rather not trade my life to save my energy"

The foreman shook his head "no, this has gotta be it. The vessel said whatever was down here was surrounded by stone stronger than she ever felt. Plus, we don't exactly have time to try anything else. It the mine doesn't take our lives, whatever fate the crown has for us likely will"

With the reminder of what was at stake the men returned to work. The engineer and demolitionist worked together to reinforce the mine and prepare the blasting charges. However their second blast was unsuccessful and behind them the mine shook, almost roaring at them to turn back. But with their lives on the line, they decided to take one more chance, to throw everything they had at this boulder, to uncover the riches inside so they may live another day.

The demo used every charge they had, and every reinforcement that could be made was done. The men all knew this was their last chance, and the mine could swallow them whole regardless of their success, but the sun was surely rising, and the crowns men were certainly going to be waiting on the surface for tribute. With no choice, they lit the final fuse, and prayed it was enough

The explosion rocked the mine, causing tunnels behind them to collapse, dust filled the air and the men were thrown by the force of the shockwave of the mine all around them caving in, all expecting death. The men however, did not expect to awake again, and inside their quarry of all things.

"fuck.... I think my leg is broken I can't move... How about you two? Are you still breathing?"

"I'm alive" said the engineer "the foreman is out cold but he's breathing, might have a concussion"

"just our luck! So what's the plan .... I can't exactly move here"

"my legs are still working. Let me try and move around"

The engineer took a few steps, the cracking of precious gems could be heard under his feet

"wait! Sounds like you're stepping on something, lemme light a match" the demo lit a match, with the lamp destroyed in the explosion it was their only source of light.

"holy shit..." The engineer marveled at the cavern, it was lined floor to ceiling with precious gems and minerals of all kinds, pillars of gems extending like a web to the center, holding something

"wait what's that? Is it an artifact? Looks like everything here is coming from it"

"yeah I see it. Lemme climb up there and get a better look"

With the match slowly burning to the demos fingers, the engineer climbed the ladder of precious gems, treating them as lesser to the treasure at the center of the massive geode. Climbing with a single arm was difficult but eventually he made it

"it's... A ring? Maybe? It's just some weird stones kinda shaped like one... Never seen anything like it"

"think you can grab it? Maybe we can try and make a tunnel out of here with it? If it made all these gems surely it can do something as simple as a tunnel"

"yeah lemme see if I can pull it out" the engineer got a good foot hold and tugged and tugged but nothing made it move. However, while trying to get a better grip, a finger slipped through the ring, and like all of its kind, the ring changed size to fit its host, but without structure the geode collapsed.

Upon the surface the collapse of the mine was felt, and the enormous geode following was assumed an after shock, and the men were thought to be dead. The Queen's Men stayed by the entrance, waiting for something. And as if almost on queue the trio emerged from the earth. Carried by The engineer, who's missing arm was constructed from beautiful crystal.

"these men need help! Quick!"yelled the engineer, barely phased by the collapse.

The soldiers however, did not move, their leader, the feared, every loyal right hand of the queen, stepped forward. "The ring. Give it to me"

"what are you doing!?? These men need help you can get your stupid ring after!"

The hand stayed still "do you think I'm a fool? We both know what you've slipped your finger onto. Hand the ring over, and there will only need to be one dead man today"

The engineer looked to his colleagues, the demolitionist had been pierced through the heart by the second collapse, he was dead before he even surfaced. In a fit of rage the engineer attacked, wanting retribution for the life that was traded for the artifact. He lunged at the Queen's loyal hand, wanting to trade one more life today.

-------

"well where is it? You better not have tracked blood and dirt into my court for nothing" Queen Anara barely paid attention to the man in her court, skimming royal decrees and trade agreements.

"they found it as I predicted your highness. They found a ring"

The Queen set her papers aside "let me see it. Has anyone touched it?"

"one of the miners" the man presented a piece of cloth and unwrapped it, presenting the ring "I disposed of him when he attempted to fight back. He had only worn it for moments so he did not know the extent of its power."

"hm." She waved for her right hand to bring it closer, and he did as she wordlessly commanded. She picked up the ring and inspected it. "I was hoping for flame. I would much like to have that predictive power of yours for myself. But I suppose controlling land will do"

The man bowed "it is already yours my queen, so long as I live my sight will be yours to use"

The Queen slowly placed the ring upon her finger, one she had left bare of royal jewelry in preparation for this day. "And use it I shall. When we're finished, all the banners of the world will hold my emblem"

A collection of different snippets and stories from different settings

Asks not directed to any specific character will be answered by whomever I feel like!

#tale - general tag

#nowhere itself - posts from the nowhere setting specifically

"very interesting" uttered dread, it looking through it's vessels eyes as the field of death it had wrought

The rat King, now with the power of dread behind it, had achieved it's revenge, it's kin who sought to cannibalize him for his meager strength lay in ruin at the claws of violence they had never before seen. For they, in comparison to the king, were now meager.

It wasn't enough, thought the king. For even with the blood of his enemies now watering the earth there was still more to be done. Those who watched with apathy as he clawed for his life as a runt, those who stole what little scraps he had, and those, who simply were yet to acknowledge his new strength

"you wish to be a king of this meager race? I will grant that, but, you must make them *suffer*" the ring bargained. The king accepted, for suffering was already on his mind, his subjects to be will know the pain and hardship he had once known, and they will all beg for forgiveness, only to learn that the kings mercy had long been cannibalized by the very ones who now beg.

Somewhere in the wastes where no one could quite pinpoint, lay a pile of junk. Piles of random crap were nothing new in the wastes, they could be filled will old world tech, a manuscript in a dead language called "English", and pictures from worlds that no longer seemed to exist (or maybe didn't exist yet). This pile however was different. Among the scraps and pictures of worlds past, lay a ring, the ring. The one that was created to seal the evil inside it. A ring so important to create, it was worth the risk of creating lines to each aspect.

This ring, one made of an almost pitch black alloy, one that seemed to consume all light, with a small transparent inset which seemed to contain a red vortex of blood, contained none other, than dread itself.

Dread itself wasn't even quite sure where he was. He knew he was in a pile of random crap, and that it had been hundreds of years if not more spent sitting in this pile.

However, today something was different. Rats frequented these piles, searching for scraps of food and mates, and the junk provided. Dread was familiar with these rats, and they often ignored the ring entirely. However, for some reason, a rat stuck it's head through the band, and as the rings do when worn, it adjusted to fit the rat perfectly.

"what's this? A rodent wishes to wear me? How amusing" dread spoke directly to the rat, the direct line making the two perfectly understood by the other.

This rat, unlike the other rats, was not afraid of the ring, or the malice it exuded. Dread was surprised by the rats' knowledge of the terror the ring contained giving him a newfound respect for such lowly beings, perhaps he'll employ some...

"you're a runt aren't you? I cannot see much in this prison but I have been able to detect the general size of your kin, and by far you are the smallest"

The rat affirmed dread's observation. Its was the king of the runts, that is to say, the only runt. It's species often cannibalized the smallest in a litter, but either luck or a curse decided this one should live abandoned by it's mother before she could feed.

"and you have sought me out... Why little rat?"

The answer was simple, the same answer anyone who sought dread had. Power. The runt traveled for weeks to find this pile, almost dying several times in the process. It wished for revenge, to prove the runts could rise above what was thought possible, to prove with a mighty paw that they were more than just fodder.

Dread is the manifestation of hatred, suffering, anger, any most importantly a desire for revenge. Dread first manifested in an icon who envied the world changing powers that the icon of space refused to wield. This hated soon gained a mind it's own as a corruption in the world infected the icon, killing them in the process but their hatred remained.

No longer bound this hated grew and grew, bidding it's time and working from the shadows to steal the icon of space's power, but once they learned it could never be theirs, it instead wishes for one thing: total destruction.

Somehow this hated prevailed, stealing a line artifact attuned to space they wished to destroy the aspect all together, however in its foolishness and anger, it almost destroyed the material plane in the process.

With the material plane fractured and having lost the artifact in the process, they waited once again, this time with a new goal. If they could not destroy space without taking themselves along with it, they would instead elevate themself to the status of an aspect itself, and destroy space from higher dimensions.

This plan was successful to a degree, having forced the icon of space to change reality in their favor. However the icon could not fully ascend the newly reborn dread, and instead could only bind them to the material plane. This binding granted the newly titled dread abilities similar to that an icon may have, however they longer possessed physical form and thus could only act through scions and thralls.

With it's ascension dread learned he gained power from the suffering of others, and hatched a new plan. To create suffering on the scale of the entire material plane, in the hope it would be the final step to ascension he needed.

Millennia passed and dread slowly built their empire of suffering on a secluded continent which eventually would be known to be associated with him. Here, he aimed to force the rebirth of the icon of space and control them, using their world bending powers to remake the world in his image with suffering never seen before and finally elevate him.

However, he was arrogant and the icon proved more than he could handle and with time, she became the very thing that would end his empire. The icon bound dread and all other aspects to physical forms, creating the lines. Dread, however did not allow himself to be defeated so easily, and in its last moments it spread seeds of dread all across the land, which would stay buried and wait for his return.

An aspect is many things, but the best way to describe it, is something that the threads of reality have attuned to. There are many aspects, but not every single one is always expressed in the world, in most cases however, the three elements aspects (Flame, Earth, water) and the two primal aspects (time and space) are always expressed.

What is a vessel?

A vessel is a general term for anyone who is attuned to an aspect. In most cases this attunement occurs by birth or lineage, but it is known that interacting with icons or artifacts can imbue someone with an aspect. This attunement gives the vessel a power of some sort. This power tends to differ from person to person, and it's exceedingly rare (with the exception of icons) for a vessel to gain new abilities from their aspect.

These powers however, are not innately understood by the vessel, a vessel may go through their entire life unaware they are attuned to an aspect such as fire and simply assume that characteristic burn resistance was merely a stroke of luck. Even a vessel who is aware of their powers does not entirely understand them either, one attuned with water may assume their ability to filter water may not have any other use except for filtering from the tap, when in reality the are purifying the water and if properly trained, could even create a water so pure it can assist in healing the wounds of those who drink it.

What's an icon?

An icon is the physical environment of an aspect. While it varies from aspect to aspect, most tend to pick from their vessels to be elevated to icon status if they prove worthy to the aspects standards.

Others however, may choose their icons another way, such as space whose icon is reincarnated time and time again, often with no memory or awareness of this cycle. Time, who rarely intervenes in the physical plane, chooses their icon from a branching timeline, often there the lack of an icon of time leads to the timeline's Doom, and the new icon must then travel to the main timeline, likely being out of place and in an unfamiliar time.

What are artifacts?

Artifacts are objects infused with the power of an aspect. Each object can be referred to in two tiers, a remnant, or a line. A remnant type merely has scraps of an aspect, and like a vessel of a similar nature, the artifacts effects, or the powers it can grant are heavily limited.

A line however, is a direct connection to the aspect itself, similar to what an icon experiences, these artifacts always take the shape of a ring with unique or impossible designs. anyone who wears one of these rings may find themselves ascended to almost iconic status as they wield the abilities granted by a direct connection to an aspect.

This connection may linger even after the ring is taken off, however it will become more akin to the connection a vessel experiences.