wardenraime

1234 - Lords of the Storm Lands III

“What?!” Gwarim boomed.  “Jors-kil!”

The Strategos in question, who had been quietly speaking with Strategos Jagan, looked over, a smile fading slightly when he noticed all of the Despots staring at him.

“Get over here!” Gwarim thundered as he waved the man over.

Jors-kil excused himself and crossed the room, leaving the Strategoi and joining the Despots.

1233 - Lords of the Storm Lands II

Leon’s blood turned to ice as he processed Triyr’s question.  It was one he was expecting to have to answer, but not so soon.  But he only needed a moment to kick his brain back into action.

“Found it in a ditch somewhere,” he quipped.  “Thought it was nice.  Took it for my own.”

Triyr glared dismissively at him.  “Yet another uncouth newcomer�...

1232 - Lords of the Storm Lands I

As Storm Herald returned to reality, the magic that transported her deep into the base of the Great Strand of Lux bleeding away into the Void, she was greeted by a spectacular sight: a city glittering in the darkness, bands of Lumenite stretching from its heart like spider silk and connecting it to outlying bastions covered in weapon emplacements and vast fortifications.

The grea...

1231 - Silver Masks

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1230 - Jors-kil

“You all right?” Alix asked, her voice smashing against his migraine like a sledgehammer against theater glass.

A long, pained groan rumbled from Daryun’s throat and pushed past his lips.  Despite that, he still croaked, “Never better.”

A lie, to be sure, but with the creature dead, the vise grip it had upon his mind had vanished, and his recovery had already started....

1229 - Pincer Attack

Finding a place in the fortress’ battle wound to safely disembark turned out to be harder than Daryun had initially estimated.  Having Alix there was a gift from the gods since she was able to get better angles and maneuver around better than the larger transport ark.  Unfortunately, none of the blasted halls were large enough for either the Ulta suit or the transport, these decks a...

1228 - Dead Fortress

Almost immediately upon exiting the portal back into the Void, Leon’s small force turned and began powering up their jump drives.  Leon could sense the magic building within them, but what he found fascinating was a similar thing happening with Archelaus, who was still outside of the arks riding his clockwork octagon.

Beneath the glossy surface of the octagon, thousands of rune-ins...

1227 - Leaving for the Games

Magic pulsed within the comms room, rippling slightly as it brushed up against the privacy wards, and then concentrated in the large slate in the center of the room.  Light shone from the slate’s face, resolving into the figure of Justin, Valeria’s father.

“King Leon,” he whispered deferentially.  It had been a long time since Leon had pulled him from Nestor’s veritabl...

1226 - The Greatest Threat

Leon stepped back, letting Alix’s blade bite nothing but air, and in the next move, he darted back in, lunging forward with his training sword.  Alix swiveled away, showing her grasp of House Raime’s fighting style by taking hits as infrequently as she could in favor of dodging or deflecting.  In a further showcase of her skills, she fought hard not to be put on the defensive, smo...

1225 - Triumph Before the Games

The entire Artor Valley shook like the Nexus itself was tearing itself apart twenty thousand years early, but rather than Reconstitution, it was the roar of Artorion’s people that caused the tremors.  Thousands of their warriors had returned home, carried upon the arks that now circled over the city’s many streets and plazas.  They brought with them victory, adding four more plane...

1224 - Territorial Princess

The ethereal jellyfish slowly undulated over Westmount, closely watched not only by Leon’s arks but also Red from her lair.  Not that Leon thought it was up to anything nefarious, but it always paid to be cautious.

The Princess herself had yet to make an appearance, leaving Leon some time to get her welcome ready—or rather, for his people to get her welcome ready as he remained w...

1223 - History

For several days, Leon allowed Archelaus to stay at his palace.  The Despot hadn’t indicated a desire to leave, but neither did he present any kind of serious threat to Artorion as far as he was concerned.  He simply wandered the palace almost aimlessly, occasionally stopping to stare at something with strange intent for hours at a time.

As Leon, Ipatameni, and several of his ...

1222 - Power of Will

The design was simple, so simple he could put hammer to anvil and make one such blade in moments.  He could almost do it in his sleep.

Like the popping of a bubble, Leon’s lips parted and released a long, frustrated sigh.

He couldn’t just call upon his magic and turn forged metal into the blade he envisioned—or rather, he could, but such was not his curr...

1221 - Draconic Truth

The tension of the moment was palpable, and the air in his soul realm—as much as his soul realm had air—seemed sluggish, as if it too could sense how momentous of an occasion this was.

Leon stood in the center of his soul realm, in front of his throne, with Xaphan to his left and the Thunderbird to his right.  In the far distance, past thick curtains of gray mis...

1220 - Wonder in a Dead Heart

“… and fourteen separate projection matrices.”  Nestor looked up, his faceplate having been pressed almost onto the surface of the Ancestor Gem he was examining it so closely, folded his arms, and brought one of his hands up to his chin.  “My golems use more than thirty of such matrices…”

Leon frowned as he scrawled Nestor’s findings down in a nearby notebook. ...

1219 - A Clan United

Leon’s return to Artorion came much earlier than expected, but the celebration was just as bombastic as his last return—in fact, as Storm Herald landed at its designated arkpad close to Flash Fortress, the celebrations had already begun.  Word had been sent back before Storm Herald and the rest of the ancient arks had even made it through the Lion’s Portal that he w...

1218 - The Sun

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The departure from the dead plane came quickly, especially since Leon had practically locked himself in ...

1217 - The Dragon's Words

“You have disturbed me,” the Great Black Dragon growled.  “What do you want?”

Leon smirked.  “Disturbing you was the point; I’ve already gotten what I want.  But so long as you’re here, I was hoping you could answer some questions for me since you’ve been surprisingly helpful these past few hours.  I mean, you’ve gone from not helpful at all, to being...

1216 - Great Sky Dance

“By the Ancestors…” Leon whispered, momentarily awestruck by the vision before him.

The Thunderbird, her form ethereal, intangible, stood before him by the power of the gem in his hand.

“While it’s always nice to be acknowledged and praised by my descendants, as is only right and proper no matter the occasion, in this case, Leon my boy, this has nothing to do with me.” 2025-04-28 15:00:23 +0000 UTC View Post

1215 - The Ancestor Gem

The gem was like an empty abyss, a vacuum that sucked up magic power uncontrollably.  Leon’s magic was ripped from his flesh, flooding his mind with such pain that he fell to his knees and let loose a hoarse scream.  Lightning burst from his fingers, some flash of instinct or a side effect of the gem’s hunger; with his mind so consumed by pain Leon couldn’t tell which.

Lig...

1214 - The Umbral Plane III

The Souleater made for an impressive sight as it emerged from the gloom surrounding the desiccated city.  It was first and foremost enormous, stretching from head to tail more than a thousand feet.  Its head and body were rather fishlike, though harsher and more angular than Leon would’ve expected.  Twelve black tentacles waved through the air beside it, while a fishli...

1213 - The Umbral Plane II

The doors to the iridescent tower were large, though on the enormous structure, they appeared rather miniscule.  Still, Leon landed in front of them, hopped out of his Ulta suit, spared the pile of bones not too far away a brief glance, and then approached the doors.

“So,” Marcus said as he and the rest of Leon’s group followed, “palace?  Temple?  Anyone want to mak...

1212 - The Umbral Plane I

Splitting the blackness of space with the darker blackness of a spatial portal, Leon’s smaller task force of ancient Thunderbird arks emerged into a world in ruins.

Much like the expeditionary force’s approach to the Yun Cluster, they had appeared a good distance away from the plane that had become a Souleater’s nest, allowing them to approach in a manner of their own choosing. ...

1211 - Dark Quarry

It was just brought to my attention that Apple recently forced Patreon to go through Apple’s payment system on all transactions using Patreon’s IOS app. This means that all pledges made through the IOS app after November 2024 are 30% more expensive than on other platforms, such as going through Patreon’s website. Existing pledges from before November shouldn't be affected...

1210 - Imperial Honors

Backroom deals, threats, and assurances of rights filled Leon’s hours as the set date for announcing Yun’s death crept closer.  The death of their ruler had stricken many of the established powers in Yun’s Empire with terrible anxiety, fear sprouting within them that under more direct rule Leon might interfere in their business more than he might’ve with Yun serving as his Prince.&...

1209 - Death in the Palace

“… and they’ll be demanding answers at some point.”

“We can tell them whatever we wish!  If they argue too much, let them answer to our arks!  Let them hear the wailing of their Ancestors as their lines come to an end!”

“How long will that take?  How much blood and time must we expend on these planes before they’re brought into line?  A few words ...

1208 - End of the Eunuchs

On the morning of the fourth day of the siege of the Imperial City, Leon’s army prepared for their assault.  They had promises that at least one gate would open, but Leon prepared for the worst, anyway.  Giants, Ulta suits, MALLs, loose formations of infantry interspersed with war beasts commanded by transformed Tribal officers, and all supported by batteries of enormous Raven-built...

1207 - Decisive Victory

As Leon’s order to begin the attack was relayed throughout the advancing armada, arks began spreading out like flower petals.  They had the numbers to envelop their enemy, and they were going to use them to surround the enemy from every angle they could without risking friendly fire.  At the same time, the largest weapons in the armada began to speak, with great lightning bolts erup...

1206 - From Emperor to Prince

The armada was set to arrive in the Voidspace above Yun’s Empire a day after Leon made his offer of vassalage.  That was how long Yun had to make his decision.  In the end, however, he only deliberated for three hours.  He had his pride as an Emperor, and for that, Leon gave him due respect.  However, his situation was such that he had little other choice than to accept Le...

1205 - King and Emperor

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And if you feel like giving this story a little more support, then please head over to 2025-04-02 15:00:11 +0000 UTC View Post