Chasm of Souls
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The Chasm of Souls, A Geoplanar Theory by Darion Valhai Ashara
Dark, mysterious, frightening, bemoaning, visions of terror… these describe the Chasm of Souls to a “T”. From the scrolls that were pieced together from the ancient writings and visions on the walls, a tale is told… a dark tale of how everything fell from light, to darkness, to death.
From the very appearance, it was at one point an ancient castle, a protectorate of lost information and knowledge, of high knowledge, much as what the Library of Souls is to this day. In ancient days, before the houses were even formed, the Chasm of Souls was a place intended for the study of the more advanced arts for the Soulmaster, and the Fatesender, such as “Razorwind”, “Abjure”, “Vampiric Draw”.
The plane was originally created by two ancient Dreamwrights, Callandra, a SoulMaster of slender body and meek disposition, and Var’Kisa, a very boisterous and mischievous old Fatesender. In this case they made the Endeth Citadel, named after their teacher, Gerriel Endeth, between the planes of Lambent Flats and Edgeward Barrows. Since the Gatekeepers and Dreamseers already had advanced arts of invisibility and ward, the Soulmasters and Fatesenders of advanced sphere wished to study the powers of resilience and lucidity. Through the happy tutelage of these two Dreamwrights, The Citadel flourished and all were happy at the results of the efforts of these two geniuses.
Seeing their work blossom, and growing both tired and old, Var’Kisa and Callandra both departed for the OverLight, leaving their most trusted apprentices to oversee the efforts of The Citadel.
A side note, if I may, the old Endeth Citadel is mostly unchanged on the outside walls for the most part… most of the original architecture is still present… with the exception of a few depictions of the happenings. The inside on the other hand, was vastly transformed with the creation of new and deadly arts… and devastating battles.
Two arts were invented within The Citadel that began to change things for the worse… “Firestorm” for the Fatesenders, and the lost art of “Vampiric Draw” for the Soulmasters. These arts were tested and used in preparation of dark rituals and for war. Both arts were hideously devastating to behold, and began to turn the Endeth Citadel from a place of learning for the sake of thee improvement of the dream, into a place where less scrupulous dreamers could research and experiment in the ways of the darker dream arts.
The Soulmasters who were once the pride of Callandra became known as “Le Cirque du Mort”… the “Circus of Death”, a dark society of necromancers who used the arts of life to pervert it’s beauty and change it into the macabre elegance of decay and ruin. The Fatesenders who were once mischievous and boisterous like their old teacher, Var’Kisa, turned into malevolent and deadly manipulators of fire, known as the “Sorcerer Flame”.
While these two societies lingered in the Endeth Citadel, notable transformations took place… the walls that were once bright and cheerful became dark and gloomy. The halls that rang of cheer and good fortune became silent, and still. Through the areas dominated by the necromancer Soulmasters, darkness and gloom reigned. The sorceress and deadly Fatesenders transformed their controlled areas into places of fire, flame and magma. Such places such as Spiked Crossing and the Rings of Woe are their legacy, places were dread experiments and dark rituals took place.
This was not however, the final fate of the Endeth Citadel…
One day, one of the necromancer Soulmasters of the Circus of Death wandered around the cavernous halls of The Citadel, and met face to face, with a large serpentine creature of hideous black scales and a dull white under body. With bat-like wings that spread a span of seven feet and it had a length of nearly ten feet, with seven of it upright.
The Soulmaster ran in terror, for this type of creature had never been seen in the dream before, for this was the day that the nightmares were unleashed upon the dream by the deeds of the Entropy Coalition.
Yes folks, that’s right, the poor sap who was a fourth sphere dreamer ran away from an emphant. But in doing so, he ran straight into a Shamblix, and the being… spoke to him “Are you afraid, Shalak Vel’Thun? You should be!” and proceeded to fire volley upon volley of paralyzing flame upon the poor man, collapsing him, then devouring his life essence… leaving a chunk of his soul within the floor.
Many had died in this fashion, being collapsed then having their life essence devoured, only to have their sentience and awareness trapped within the floors of The Citadel itself.
The worst of the lot, was the nightmarish demon that was the son of the banished and corrupted Dreamwright known as Horron, the dread beast that is the lord of the Darkmares, born within the depths of the Chaos itself, Tehthu.
He and his fellow nightmares devoured many souls as they scavenged the temple for survivors. Many of the dreamers were powerful enough to drive away these abominations if they merely united their forces. Unfortunately for them, panic and terror reigned, as these creatures were beings of the unknown, sent to devour and destroy… as is their nature to do so.
During this day, many images of the battle were flashed upon the walls by the searing heat, and part of the Citadel's interior was destroyed and made into almost a mountainous range… of which one can see the boundary… the very chaos itself may very well be visible. Either the chaos itself, or a vacuum of void.
The stain of the chaos left it’s impression within the walls, as no living thing remained that was of the dream, and not of the chaos itself remained in the Citadel. Yet by this act, the citadel was no more, replaced by the silent moans and screams of those semi-souls trapped within the very floor, and the visions of battle and terror. The last vestiges of order had left this dream and those who had caused death were slain themselves. A vicious cycle had ended and another one had merely begun.
The walls now show the battles in full, the souls being either devoured or sent away. The scarabs were a sign of the old Circus of Death, the caverns of fire, a testament to the Sorcerer Flame. The Deep Cavern and other places, a covenant of the power of the Nightmares that entered and the terror that followed in the brief battle that was less of a battle and more of a sweeping annihilation.
Strangely enough, the sole sanctuary of The Citadel remained standing, though the flashes of battle outside transformed its appearance as well. Yet it now stands as a living reminder of the devastation of that day.
The Endeth Citadel had transformed into what it is today, into the dread Chasm of Souls.
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