OVERVIEW
In ending the Soul Wars, King Leocadius created his own world: the nine quarreling Kingdoms, with Wuuheim at their center.
With no great conflict keeping them apart, they gradually came together, contracting in. Their world became the only world, and anyone who thought otherwise was pushed to the fringes of society.
Some fled to the Badlands, in the wild north. And one way or another, these wanderers found their way into the shadow of the Aeon Ruins...
CHARACTERS
RENEGADE THEGE
Profile:
A fugitive from Lencoter, for the crime of not abiding by the will of Lencoter's Smithing guild, specifically by accepting customers from any Kingdom, including Qero and Yannia.
He doesn't really care about the conflicts between the Kingdoms, or the Phantasm.
Quest:
Thege has no quest.
DIALOGUE
FIRST CONVERSATION AND ONWARDS (IF A MEMBER OF LENCOTER)
"Oh... uh... hello there. You're with... Lencoter, aren't you?"
"A blacksmith? No, no, I'm definitely not a blacksmith."
"I just... like the sound of metal on hot metal, alright?"
"What's your problem? Don't judge me!"
FIRST CONVERSATION (IF NOT A MEMBER OF LENCOTER)
"You got Souls on you? I figure you must, if you're an Explorer."
"Name's Thege. I'm a blacksmith of sorts. I don't give a damn what Kingdom you're from, as long as you've got a swollen wallet."
"If you need weaponry, I'm your best bet."
SECOND CONVERSATION
"I don't do any fancy shmancy smithing techniques. I forge the weapons and blow the Bellows, nothing more, nothing less."
"But I'm good at what I do, and cheap at that. You won't find anyone who'll work for a lower price than me!"
THIRD CONVERSATION
"I used to be a smith of Lencoter. A slave to the guilds."
"Everything's regulated over there. A nice and neat system, with no room for growth or ingenuity."
"They didn't like it when I sold weapons to people they didn't like, so they ran me out of town, and I've been running ever since. Branded a renegade."
"Oh, well. The quarrels of the Kingdoms are less than nothing to me."
"I just want to carve out a life for myself, without having to worry about who hates who."
"But, I digress. Lencoter's a mess, and I'm never going back."
FOURTH CONVERSATION
"I left my brother James behind. He was a better smith than I, and he didn't take lip from anyone. I looked up to him, when I first started out."
"But he always did what the guilds told him, without question. ...Couldn't stand it!"
"I wouldn't be surprised if he's down here too. You Explorers could probably make use of his skills."
"That is, if you're interested in shiny baubles and flashy weapons. Ugh."
FIFTH CONVERSATION AND ONWARDS
"Y'know... I sort of like it down here. It's cool, and quiet."
"Is it just me or... are there others? Who don't fear the Phantasm that chased us all down here?"
"I don't know. To me, it feels like the fall of Wuuheim might have been a good thing. This place... it feels like home."
SPECIAL DIALOGUE
GREETING
"Nice to see you alive. I don't get many customers 'round here."
INTERRUPTED
"Get back here! We're not done yet, are we?"
FAREWELL
"Oh, is that all?"
CRYOMANCER OSRICK OF THE BADLANDS
Art by Krekian
Profile:
Osrick used to be a member of Addol nobility, until he became disillusioned by the rampant corruption, and left in self-imposed exile.
As he lay dying in the Badlands, unprepared for the outside world, a master Cryomancer came upon him, and decided to take him under his wing.
Under the condition that he reject the flame and become a Son of Ice, of course.
Osrick showed much promise in the art, and admired his master, who admittedly was not the kindest of people.
But one day his master met with a mysterious man with a glass eye, and they both disappeared into a cave in the Arctic north. Osrick followed...
Quest:
JOURNEY TO THE WIGHT'S SANCTUM
Osrick came into the Ruins long ago in pursuit of his master, but found him in a dismal state, transformed into a demon at the center of the Abyssal Heart.
He calls on the player to put him out of his misery, and if shown the Frost Wight's Soul, he will agree to perform Cryomancy Soul Synthesis.
DIALOGUE
UPON APPROACH (IF A MEMBER OF ADDOL)
>Attacks on sight
"You... damn slave of the fire!"
"I had hoped to never see one of you cretins again..."
"Your schemes and 'honor' shall not avail you here. Prepare to die!"
FIRST CONVERSATION (IF NOT A MEMBER OF ADDOL)
"This is a mad sort of place, isn't it? And you're a mad sort of man, to come here."
"I am Osrick, one of the Sons of Ice. Have you heard of us? We Cryomancers of the Badlands?"
"Ahead is the very brink of reality, where Souls are pulled through worlds like water through a sieve. But I am staying here."
"If you have a flame, cool its rage here, and turn it into a wellspring of beauty: a Cryomancy Shard."
"That is, if you do not hold foul prejudice against us."
SECOND CONVERSATION
"Much to my embarrassment, I was once a member of the Addol nobility."
"You will not meet a more vile bunch of psychopaths... they own the Kingdom of Flame. The Blaze Knights and the Warrior-King are mere puppets."
"I would have no part of it. Neither with the corrupt upper-class, nor with the dim-witted knights."
"I left Addol altogether, with nothing but the flame in my hand and the clothes on my back."
THIRD CONVERSATION
"I was unprepared for the Badlands... short-sighted and foolish."
"Brigands stripped me down to the bone, left me for dead in the woods."
"But then my master came. A powerful Cryomancer. He took me in, taught me the art, made me a Son of Ice."
"In the north we lived, in the arctic tundra. But one day, someone strange came to our coven..."
FOURTH CONVERSATION
"A glass-eyed man came to the north, and my master regarded him with familiarity, taking him into an old cave. But they never came out."
"After a time, I followed them, and found myself here. Or rather, above, in that hellish heart..."
"The glass-eyed man was gone, but..."
"There was a great frozen beast, writhing in a lake of blood. It did not resemble him, but somehow I knew... it was my master."
"Please, if you can... end his misery. That is all I ask."
FIFTH CONVERSATION
"I... I don't know how long I've been here. Time doesn't seem to work here."
"I have not slept, nor ate. Neither have I felt the urge to do either."
"Years could have passed by on the surface. But, isn't this place a kind of 'surface' as well?"
"I can see the sky, just outside the window..."
"What is this place, anyway?"
SIXTH CONVERSATION AND ONWARDS
"I sometimes wonder why ice fascinates me. Funny, isn't it? That a Cryomancer would say that?"
"Flame and frost... they both burn at their most extremes. But when faced with water, one is extinguished and the other rises. And so, isn't the sea the master of us all?"
"My fingers are numb... and my flesh is frigid as the grave. And yet my body is so suffused with cryomantics that I fear that I would melt before a fireplace..."
"I will never be warm again, and yet I long for a world where heat would not destroy cold..."
"With the certainty in my mind that such a thing could only ever come to be in a world of madness."
"Yes... certainty. Inevitability. Solidity. Maybe that is why ice hypnotizes me so..."
SPECIAL DIALOGUE
GREETING
"Do you require the ice of ages? Come forward."
INTERRUPTED MENU
"Hmph. Rude."
FAREWELL
"Nurture the cold in your heart. Make your will unshakable."
AFTER KILLING THE FROST WIGHT
"...That Soul. My master has found peace at last."
"Have you found peace as well? I can grant it to you, if you accept it."
"Bring me Souls, Explorer. Powerful Souls, that I can freeze into powerful Cryomancies."
"With my master gone, I have nowhere to go, and no meaning in my life."
"I might as well pass on my knowledge, to those who have some greater goal, and nobler purpose."
