The Story So
Far: href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week1">Part
1 | href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week2">Part
2 | href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week3">Part
3 | href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week4">Part
4 | href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week5">Part
5 | href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week6">Part
6 | href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week7">Part
7 | href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week8">Part
8 | href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week9">Part
9

Travels Through Telara

By Padraic



Greetings, dear reader. If you cast your mind back to last week's
missive, you will remember that I was acting as a poet for dear, simple
Bran, feeding him lines of love that he could repeat to a local barmaid
who had stolen his heart.



Unfortunately, said barmaid happened to have a husband, and he didn't
take kindly to two men hovering outside their window trying to woo his
wife.  This has led to a certain amount of running on our
part. Running and hiding. A lot of running and hiding. Now, for
instance, I am perched up a tree in the forest while I can hear the
husband and his friends some distance away thrashing through the
undergrowth. Once this is all over I'm going to have a stern word with
Bran, I'll tell you that for nothing.



But all this got me thinking a little bit about death. Which, in turn,
made me realize I have made a grave (pardon the pun) omission in my
journal entries thus far.



I hadn't talked about the actual Gods of the Blood Storm. You know, the
ones who are trying to destroy our world. So this week, while I wait
for our pursuers to lose interest, I will remedy that situation.

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style="font-style: italic;">Maelforge

First of all, there is Maelforge, the Flame Sire. Maelforge comes from
the Plane of Fire. He is Chaos incarnate. He spreads dissent and
distrust. But it is not just destruction Maelforge wants. He revels in
pain, suffering. His goal is to break the world down to within an inch
of complete destruction, and then allow everything to regrow simply so
he can do it all over again. He gets pleasure from watching things fall
to pieces. Maelforge is totally focused on the eternal cycle of death,
regrowth, and renewed destruction. He is a nihilist God, utterly
self-indulgent in his desire to see others suffer. He is also selfish,
and this is why he turned against his brethren when it came time to
destroy Telara. He wanted it all for himself.



Next is Greenscale. Greenscale come from the Plane of Life and is the
complete opposite of Maelforge. Greenscale wants nature to take
control, for the wilds of the world to rise up and devour all of
civilization. Greenscale is utterly against structure and rules. He is
untamed nature personified. Kill or be killed. Survival of the fittest.

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style="font-style: italic;">Greenscale

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Greenscale is also closely tied with the minions of Faerie. These
creatures are also about wild, untamed nature, so it is no surprise
that they would find common ground. What is a surprise is how quickly
some of the High Elves have switched allegiance for Tavril to
Greenscale. But I talked about that in one of my earlier journals so I
will not repeat myself here.



Excuse me for a second. I hear running feet in the leaves below.



Ah, it's Bran. He has finally caught up with me. I lean out of the
tree. "Psst!"



Bran skids to a stop, then trips over a tree root. He rolls onto his
back and stares up at me with relief. I urgently gesture for him to
climb the tree; I can hear his pursuers close by.



Right. I've finished glaring at my shame-faced sidekick for the moment.
On with the entry.

 

 Akylios comes from the Plane of Water. He is the God of
secrets, of magic, and is utterly insane. Not much is known about him.
He is the most inscrutable of all the gods, because who can ever
understand madness? At least the other Gods have some reasoning behind
their desires, misguided and evil though these reasons are, but Akylios
is beyond understanding. We interest him because he likes the sound of
our screams. That is what keeps him going. The desire to inflict pain
on us so he can hear us cry out in horror.

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style="font-style: italic;">Crucia

Next up is Crucia. She is the dragon goddess from the Plane of Air. Of
all the Gods, it is actually Crucia who disturbs me the most. She is
the fleeting change of emotion, the whispering voice that cajoles
seemingly normal people to acts of violence. She burrows into your
mind, whispering, promising, until you can no longer tell her thoughts
from your own. And once she has you, she will bend you to her will,
ordering you to murder family, friends, parents, children. That is
Crucia’s control. She was once the mate of Regulos, but it was Crucia
who was the first to rebel against Regulos's desire to devour Telara.



Next is Laethys, the dragon goddess from the Plane of Earth. She is the
Queen of Avarice, with scales of gold and eyes of diamond. Laethys
simply wants to possess everything, to be worshipped by everyone. She
joined Crucia's rebellion because if the world was destroyed, who would
worship her? Who would being her offerings of jewels and gold? But that
doesn't mean she and Crucia are allies. Far from it. Crucia preaches
unthinking obedience and devotion, whereas Laethys wants passion and
lust. They are totally opposites.



And finally we have Regulos himself, the Destructor, the Dragon of
Extinction. Regulos comes from the Plane of Death, and although he is
the strongest of the Blood Storm Gods, he is also the simplest in his
desires. He wants an end to all things. To destroy all life. As simple
as that. Perhaps ironically, his body was actually destroyed during at
the end of the Blood Storm Wars, and it is his desire for revenge
against the people who did this to him that currently drives him.



And there we have it. These are the Gods who are responsible for all
the problems in the world. Well, not quite. I mean, Bran is pretty good
at getting us into trouble as well, but on a slightly smaller scale.



In fact, it sounds as though our pursuers have headed off in a
different direction. I think we will wait another hour or so and then
get going. We are making our way to the capital city of Sanctum, you
see. A long walk lies ahead.

The Story So
Far: href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week1">Part
1 | href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week2">Part
2 | href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week3">Part
3 | href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week4">Part
4 | href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week5">Part
5 | href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week6">Part
6 | href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week7">Part
7 | href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week8">Part
8 | href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week9">Part
9