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Aysle is one of the most robust and ever-changing of the realms involved in the Possibility Wars. True to its nature, it has metamorphosed continuously, losing a High Lord and a Queen, and gaining new ones of each. This is an exciting and powerful realm,
and one of the remaining original invading realms.
Contents:
Aysle since the Possibility Wars
Aysle has undergone little change, short of the deaths of Pella Ardinay and Uthorion. Shortly after the collapse of the Aysle realm on Earth, the cosm fell into a short-lived revolution which ended with Tolwyn and the entire House Tancred assuming the throne. Tolwyn refused to become queen, though, since she feels she can best serve Aysle by serving at the front, as she always has. Instead, House Tancred appointed a new Queen, Arielle Cosmos, who also happens to be the queen of the unicorns. For a while, it seemed as though the light would finally win in Aysle, until rumours of a vicious necromancer named Thanatos began to come out of Bar’aan island. Stories of armies of horrible creatures, some unrecognizable results of hideous magic, caused Arielle to send over some spies to investigate. They never returned. Before she could be warned, they invaded, and the southern end of Aysle island ran red with the blood of many good men. This new army was strong, indeed, and it had the strength to easily overthrow all the good in Aysle, which it began to look to be a strong possibility. Thanatos used the corrupted houses of Tancred, Daleron, and Vareth to his advantage. The three houses now openly side with him in an effort to further heir families’ lands and wealth.
Then, as if overnight, the armies of the dark halted, and then just disappeared!
What actually happened was that Thanatos was an invading Highlord, coming into Aysle from his homeworld, Mortos. While he was making war on Aysle, he was transformed by a soldier who used to fight for the light during the Possibility Wars on Earth. Even though he now belonged to the cosm of Aysle, transformation took none of the fight from Thanatos, who crushed the soldier and his army. His Darkness Device changed itself to meet his new axioms, although his cosm still remained in its former axioms.
Shortly after, the Gaunt Man came to him and offered him a partnership. He wanted aid in breaking Terra and getting his revenge. Thanatos considered carefully, and finally decided to go ahead with it. He left no troops to hold his lands, knowing he would enjoy taking them all over again when his partnership with the Gaunt Man was done. Only his Ayslish recruits remain, although some opted to stay in his armies.
Shortly after it was revealed what Thanatos was and where he had gone, Arielle Cosmos gathered her armies and decided to follow. She had come to hate Thanatos, and vowed to see such a corrupt and vile creature removed from existence. She has set up her new throne in Windsor Castle. Under the axiom wash, it has regained its former glory. She has given House Liandar control over southern England, House Gerrik control of Wales, and House Bendes control of Eastern England. Central and Western England she has given to her unicorns. Thanatos, contrarily, has given House Daleron Ireland, Scotland to House Tancred, and Northern Europe to House Vareth.
The patchwork aspect of Aysle once more exists, as honor and corruption vie for control of the realm.
The Highlord, Thanatos
Thanatos is far crueler and more evil than Uthorion ever was. He resembles the depiction of death: he is a lich astride a jet black nightmare which he feeds ghosts. He wields a scythe in battle which is said to cut through even dragon armour. It is also said that he collects the souls of every person he kills to make undead to build his army. All of these things are true. Normally, one cannot see his face, only twin pinpoints of hellish red light deep in the folds of his hood. Thanatos delights in the rumours that he is death incarnate, and even feeds these rumours. He is assisted by the corrupt gods of Corba’al, Borl, and Arthuk, although since his transformation, he worships Corba’al above all other gods. This is strange to him, since where he was from, there were no gods. In fact, on Mortos, he is the only thing close to a god.
Thanatos’ armies consist mostly of the undead, but since his invasion of Aysle, many creatures of all persuasions have joined him as well: evil giants, dwarves, Buthidae, and dragons, just to mention a few.
Mortos, Thanatos' Home World
Not much is known about this evil place, but the following report was taken from a short interview with a hero who recently participated in the Dragon War. (The Dragon War was started not long ago when Thanatos teamed up with the White Witch and three powerful evil dragons to summon the long-banished spirit of Corba'al.)
"We fought our way across the island, which looked pretty much shattered and dead. There, in an empty field, we saw Thanatos' bridge. It looked like it was made out of skulls. We stole across the field to access the bridge when we were ambushed by thousands of Thanatos' soldiers, made invisible and waiting for us. It was a slaughter. I teamed up with Al and Aslinn and the others and we managed to make it up the bridge while the troops fought on below. At the top we were greeted with a terrible sight: Thanatos' world was just like our stories of The Abyss, which is where evil souls go to be punished. It was an endless world covered with fine, grey ashen sand, and populated with stunted, thorny trees. Skulls moulded here and there in the dirt. The air was thick and couldy, but upon second glance, one could tell they were ghosts, not clouds. The sky was filled with them. Nearby he has some sort of "darkhouse,": for lack of a better term. It worked like a lighthouse, sweeping a beacon across the landscape, but instead of light it was darkness. And when that dark beam touched you... well, several of our finest soldiers were melted instantly. And then, across this grat plain, we could see Thanatos' tower, surrounded by thousands of his undead troops. It was nearly a mile tall, seemingly made entirely of skulls, but with narrow, glowing windows here and there randomely across its face. A hundred-foot-tall drawbridge was up and closed, like a great mouth. Little did we know that behind that drawbridge was the largest damn undead dragon conceivable. I wish I had known."
The theory is that Mortos is actually The Abyss the soldier was talking about. This would account for the fact that during the Dragon War, when the reality of Mortos slowly swept across Aysle, no stelae were used or needed, even though transformation still worked the same, but there was no danger of contradictions.
The Darkness Device, Cremaner
Centuries ago, Thanatos’ agents recovered for him an artifact of timeless antiquity, always thought to be nothing more than a relic of magical power. It turned out to be a Darkness Device. The relic was the Cremaner, which in the original tongue, meant “The Ebony Kris.” With this Darkness Device, Thanatos was able to tame the half of his own world which eluded him, the sunside. After this, it was a simple job to invade other worlds. Aysle was the third one Thanatos invaded with the help of the Cremaner. The others were quickly broken, and offered very little possibility energy.
The Cremaner is a kris knife, the kind with a wavy blade. The blade itself is about a foot long, and exceedingly sharp, giving a +15 to damage, but no bonus to hit. For this reason, he uses his enchanted scythe in battle instead.
With the aid of Corba’al and a General who once worked under Uthorion, Thanatos has copied Uthorion’s Gospog and bridges. The Gospog remain the same as detailed in the Aysle sourcebook, as to the bridge and stelae.
The Queen, Arielle Cosmos
After Ardinay’s death, the position of queen was open to Tolwyn of House Tancred, but she refused. Instead, it has gone to Arielle Cosmos, the former queen of the unicorns. The unicorns are now ruled by a new queen, Darinne Starr.
Arielle is a wingless unicorn, who has lived for a hundred years. Although she is old by human standards, for a unicorn she is very young -- early to mid twenties. She is highly intelligent and beloved of all peoples of the light. She makes an excellent queen. Unicorns, although peaceful creatures, are also powerful fighters, so Arielle has no qualms about leading armies into battle against Thanatos’ undeads.
Arielle is tall (6’0) and has shoulder-length blonde hair which curls in at the ends. By any standard she is very very beautiful, and is thus the object of many suitors.
The center of Arielle’s queendom is Windsor castle, west of London. The entire town, not to mention the castle itself, is fortified and well protected both from ground and air. It is a splendid sight, indeed. Colorful banners stream from towers and well-kempt grounds surround the palace with grassy swards and fountains. Unicorns play in special gardens to the south and in a maze near one corner of the castle. Arielle is in love with beauty and so orders everything around her grounds to be splendid.
Running Aysle in Torg 2000
Since there have not been many changes, including where Thanatos chose to invade (England and Northern Europe,) not much needs to be changed to how a G.M. would run it. The Army of the Dark holds most of Scotland, and have been stopped by Hadrian's Wall, where Tolwyn's Army of the Light holds them. Arielle Cosmos has re-instated the Queenswrath documents, in an effort to draw Stoem Knight assistance from around the globe.
Aysle is the classic fantasy world, and most adventures involve a quest of some kind. The best way to run Aysle is to keep in mind all the fantasy movies and books you have seen, and set the characters on a lengthy, multi-stage quest for an object or person of great power.
Recommended Materials Movies: Dragonslayer Willow Dragonheart Ladyhawke Legend Labyrinthe The Hobbit Lord of the Rings Books: Fritz Leiber, the Lankhmar series (Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser) Robert Jordan, The Wheel of Time series Dennis McKiernan, the Dark Tower Trilogy Margret Weis and Tracy Hickman, the Dragonlance Chronicles (Any more? E-mail me with suggestions!)
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