DOOM Eternal: The whole Doom Eternal Codex [ENG]

Nearly 60% of the planet has been consumed by the demons, with the rate of expansion increasing each day. The majority of the world population died in the first month of the Hell invasion, following the catastrophic failure of virtually every man-made system. Military response was immediate but only marginally effective at providing safe retreat to civilians, with many fortified locations cut-off from outside communication.

Facing overwhelming opposition, these makeshift fortresses have gradually fallen to the growing demon presence one after the other. Large portions of the Earth’s surface have become uninhabitable, with swarms of demons scouting the globe and most regions suffering from an atmosphere that has become infected and poisonous by process of some form of alien terraformation.

Although several hundred thousand more were safely evacuated out-of-orbit in the mass exodus following the invasion, the expected odds of survival is considered unlikely for many of these lifeboats carrying cryogenically frozen passengers.

Religious iconography and communes are now commonplace amongst survivors, with the collective perception of events taking on a biblical nature. Many seek authority from a higher power to rationalize the sudden destruction of their world, believing these events represent a form of divine punishment.

Following the total collapse of international civilization, nations and boundaries as we know them have ceased to exist. A handful of remaining bureaucrats, government officials, and military leaders have managed to survive by use of protective bunkers kept secret to the greater population. Convening under the flag of the Allied Nations, this governing body represents all that remains of the rule of law, forming what would essentially become a single world government.

Military bases in communication with the AN have made efforts to regroup and centralize their areas of command – establishing fortified safe-havens for survivors, stockpiling food and scavenging for supplies. Only proprietary military-use communications remain functional, enabling military entities under command of the Allied Nations to coordinate in humanitarian aid and defense operations.

By 2151, the formation of the ARC has taken highest priority and is considered to be, in all practical terms, the last hope for humanity.

Led by the elusive Hell Priest Deag Ranak, the Cultists operate from a remote facility located in the Arctic tundra. As overseer, Ranak exerts absolute control over the facility and its legions of possessed acolytes. Instrumental in sowing the seeds of the Cultist uprising, Ranak worked briefly with Olivia Pierce at the Mars facility before departing to Earth with orders to prepare the groundwork for the imminent Hell invasion.

A recently declassified UAC biography for Ranak indicates that he is a surviving member of the original Order of the Deag, the ancient Argenta clerics. He now serves the forces of Hell and is rumored to have personal knowledge of the Doom Slayer, suggesting a shared history between the two. Wielding total power over the Cultists under his supervision, he uses his growing influence to advance the consumption and corruption of Earth.

Built over the ruins of an ancient Argenta settlement, the Cultist facility has been designed as both a gothic monument to the ancient architecture and a state-of-the art science facility. Tablets and memory banks found at the settlement indicate that the Order of the Deag discovered Earth millennia ago and found it to be populated with powerful, primeval beasts. They named these creatures ‘Agaddons’, due to their similarity to the mythic cyclopean giant from Argent D’Nur’s past, the Aggaddian.

The UAC’s polar cultist facility is built around the ruins of an ancient Argenta settlement constructed over 60 million years ago, during Argent D’Nur’s extraterrestrial expansion. Frozen carcasses of the Agaddon Hunters have been located in the glacial wastes surrounding the complex, and though their DNA structure reveals them to be indigenous to Earth there is no fossilized record of these creatures beyond the frozen territories of the Argenta settlement. Carbon dating of the remarkably well-preserved beasts suggests they are nearly 80 million years old, pre-dating all other known forms of complex Earth-based life.

Continuing the cyber-demonic experimentation that began on Mars, the Cultists study the Agaddon’s potential for resurrection and cyber-augmentation. A similar program occurred at this location millennia ago, when Deag Priests (often cited as Hell Priests) bred the creatures and genetically modified them to function as ‘Doom Hunters’ – fearsome mutants designed to battle the Doom Slayer and his Night Sentinels during the Unholy Crusades on Argent D’Nur. Sentinel records corroborate this through their military texts, with many reports of these creatures among the ranks of the demonic forces assaulting the armies of the North during the Argenta civil war.

Once the UAC Cultist movement publicly announced its intentions for Earth, the cyber-demonic program was revealed to be focused on updating the Doom Hunter schematics, upgrading their combat prowess. A new assembly center was constructed near the Cultist facility, and a powerful grav-tram allowed UAC workers to safely transport the biological and mechanical components needed for the process. The resurrection of an Agaddon Hunter requires cutting-edge technology be used in conjunction with occult rituals conducted by the UAC’s necro-surgeons, an unholy fusion of science and sorcery.

The Hellgrowth formations on Earth have undergone great scrutiny by experts at the Allied Nations. These cancer-like growths exhibit alarming cellular reproduction rates, outpacing any biological lifeform previously known.

Their structural pattern is chaotic, almost random, with only one identifiable constant – the emergence of totem-like nests, which at full maturity, resonate with powerful electromagnetic frequencies capable of producing a form of inverse quantum field. These fields, once activated, result in the fabrication of Hell portals; tears in space-time which serve as gateways between dimensions.

The growth exhibits certain pre-determined qualities. In the consumption of our ecosystem, it creates environmental conditions more conducive for its own continued formation; in effect, employing an organic method of terraformation. The resulting environment is hostile to terrestrial life, producing atmospheric toxins and a multitude of environmental hazards.

Although it is understood that the growth accelerates the arrival of demon life on Earth, it is not clear how the growths themselves originated, or whether there was some sort of catalyst that created the conditions necessary for their existence. It is believed that if the source of the growth can be identified, there may be a means of uprooting the entire formation.

Report File: #ARC-AAR-CO37// COMMSEC: Red//
Analyst: TWashington-043

//report starts

Operation Locke AAR follows:

Following reports of UAC Cultist presence at the Locke reactor (#ARC-AAR0-A291), recon teams Infil-Gamma and Infil-Hector attempted to gain entry to Locke and assess the situation. Their final transmission indicated a massive demonic presence entering the reactor facility through Continuum Gates (sic: Hell portals).

An emergency Global Council meeting approved an immediate ARC response to the situation at the Locke reactor. The Assembled Coalition Strike Force included 4 US Battle Mech divisions, the Con-EUR Long Range Naval Artillery Barrage Fleet, 27 US Night Bird Apaches, 3 NATO Shock Troop battalions, 2 CON-EUR Rapid Response Levi-Tank divisions, and 18 thousand coalition Special Forces units,

The initial bombardment from the LRNAB was met with immediate response from invasion forces. An estimated 8 thousand DP-013G units (sic: Gargoyles) attacked the fleet, sinking 32 vessels and disabling a further 78% of the fleet. The remaining ships retreated to a position approximately 32 miles off shore, beyond the reach of the Gargoyles, but also out of artillery range.

With the Fleet out of action, the Battle Mechs and Apaches initiated a Danger Close salvo against the reactor, as Shock Troops and Special Forces attempted to rearward infiltration. Several platoons made it inside the reactor, where the demons had already established a DP-136Nest (sic: Super Gore Nest). Although gore nests have been reported at various invasion sites, this was the largest so far observed. The nest has been built around the reactor core itself. Several thousand IFF beacons are amassed at the nest location, suggesting the Demons are using our fallen forces as part of their bio-organic Continuum Gate.

At the time of writing, the DP-136Nest is considered to be ground zero of the invading force. Unless the continuum gate is destroyed, this analyst sees no way to stem the influx of aggressors.

Recommended response: TNA (Total Nuclear Annihilation).

//report ends

The destruction of the Argent wellspring on Mars meant chaos for planet Earth. Following the loss of communication between Earth and Mars-based facilities, the collapse of the Argent-dependent energy grid consumed the planet in crisis. It was during this time that UAC director Dr. Samuel Hayden suddenly resurfaced on Earth before the AN Council, wielding that which might offer salvation to mankind – the Crucible

After recounting the events that had transpired on the red planet, Hayden agreed to cooperate with the AN, providing access to the various UAC facilities on Earth and by extension the full range of technologies at his disposal. Paramount among these was the Crucible, the last remaining source of Argent energy in existence.

Believing it possible to solve the energy crisis which now devastated the planet, Dr. Hayden sought to invent a method of Argent-Synthesis, a synthetic replication that could recreate the high-yield capability of Argent energy. With the destruction of the Argent energy across the solar system, all that remained of Argent existed now within the Crucible, the fabled Hell artifact which Dr. Hayden had acquired on Mars. Knowing full well the Crucible’s hidden power, Samuel devised a method to utilize the artifact as an Argent conductor, a process that would in time produce the miracle of synthetic, man-made Argent energy, restoring the production of Argent energy to Earth.

Hayden became a mythical figure among Earth’s survivors – in no small part due to his abnormal physical condition. Having returned to Earth when most sought a means to escape, bringing with him the Crucible that would grant the people a second chance at survival – for the common person he had become the stuff of legends.

A global military crisis-relief initiative established by the Allied Nations in 2151. The Armored Response Coalition is designed with the sole purpose to combat and contain the Hell invasion, to succeed where modern militaries are ineffective, utilizing cutting-edge Argent-powered technology.

Hayden, overseeing all aspects of ARC weapon and tech development, set about repurposing the UAC facilities on Earth, many of which were unaffected by the invasion due to their remote locations and high levels of automated security. These facilities, operated by powerful AI, are already designed for weapon development and mass production, meaning they could be repurposed overnight.

By 2151 the ARC began running operations from the Mobile Command Carrier, a seaborne command center designed for long-range strike operations which would serve as ARC HQ. Their primary objective – to locate the source of the Hellgrowth infestation, and in doing so, shutting down the emergence of Hell portals and closing the gate between dimensions.

At the heart of the Armored Response Coalition is an aggressive research and development program in pursuit of new technologies. As part of Dr. Hayden’s commitment, UAC resources under his direction, including some of the most powerful AI ever created, have been deployed in service of weapon development designed to face the Hell threat head-on.

In 2150, following the loss of communication between Earth and Mars-based facilities, UAC director Dr. Samuel Hayden suddenly resurfaced on Earth before the AN Council. The demonic invasion of Earth had already begun, and Dr. Hayden had arrived just in time to provide aid. He supplied the resistance armies with Argent technology and advanced armaments, taking helm of the newly-formed ARC as Lead Director.

Dr. Hayden’s tactical and scientific acumen were invaluable to the war effort, and he was soon given full command over all resistance efforts by the Global Council. The ARC engaged the demons with bleeding-edge tech, exosuits and Heavy Frame battle-mechs, but found themselves fighting a losing battle. Operation Hellbreaker was Samuel’s final plan, a powerful counterattack that ultimately ended in failure.

His robotic torso was retrieved by ARC soldiers, Samuel is now tended to and monitored by a skeleton crew of scientists. They had been given contingency orders, to safeguard his body along with the Crucible obtained on Mars.

Originally established as a mining and communication relay, the UAC outpost on Phobos began immediate expansion following the destruction of the Argent facility on Mars. The UAC Board of Directors, intent on retaining their monopoly of the red planet and its surrounding airspace, issued the construction of an expansive defensive platform. Using technology derived from the BFG-9000, the design plan called for a massive particle cannon to be built on the orbiting moon. The BFG-10000, the largest man-made weapon platform ever conceived, wields enough firepower to defend against even the most sophisticated of capital-grade FTL cruisers in existence – or against the eventual potentiality of a space-bound demonic threat.

The Icon’s presence warps reality, damaging the intricate order of our dimension merely by existing within it. If the Icon is allowed to remain unchecked it would lead to the total devastation of Earth, followed by a breakdown of spacetime around the planet. The resulting black hole will eventually drag our entire universe down, casting it into the mouth of Hell as a conquest to be absorbed by the Dark Realm.

The Khan Maykr had taken measures to augment the titan, installing Maykr technology throughout its structure to ensure it could be controlled. With the ritual interrupted the Icon is now fully unleashed, raging across Earth until Hell consumes all. No longer bound by the Heart of the Betrayer’s Son, the Icon of Sin is free from any measure of control that the Maykrs might have conceived. Only the Slayer, prophecied in Argenta legend to stand against the Icon, can stop this apocalypse.

All the ARC-Broadcasts seen here below are in a written state.
This is a Video link to every ARC-Broadcast in the original spoken voice if you prefer to listen to it instead of reading:

There are reports coming out of the quarantined Hellified zone near the San Andreas chasm. Satellite imagery show what ARC personnel believe to be the legendary Doom Slayer himself fighting the mortally challenged. The Doom Slayer, or ‘Doomguy’ as he is sometimes referred to, was thought to be a myth of the resistance – a sort of avenging angel. He was last reported to be seen on Mars and is allegedly responsible for the destruction of the Argent Tower there. He disappeared soon afterwards. The UAC continues to deny all reports of his existence. We will continue to broadcast new information as we receive it.

This an ARC Broadcast: To any ARC Personnel or survivors operating inside the hellified zones – please be advised. More Doom Slayer sightings have been coming in. ARC Leadership do not recommend any attempts to communicate with the Slayer directly – please avoid all contact with Doomguy at this time. While it is clear that the Slayer is an enemy of the challenged, it is unclear if he could also be a threat to civilians.

This is the Resistance Network. In an unbelievable turn of events the Super Gore Nest has been destroyed. Reports from ARC personnel in the field say that they have seen a significant decrease in demonic activity across the globe. Many believe this is proof that the Doom Slayer himself has in fact joined the resistance effort and has successfully eliminated key figures within the ranks of the challenged. Operatives working inside the UAC Cultist Organization claim that the leader of that division, Priest Deag Ranak, was in fact removed from his office recently by the Slayer himself. As key leadership within the mortally challenged continue to fall on all fronts. This has given the resistance a key advantage in the war for Earth. The UAC continues to deny any knowledge of his existence. As surviving members of the ARC Network, it is the belief of this station that these reports are in fact…true. We believe the Slayer has joined us in the battle against the demons. To anyone still listening to this broadcast – know that there is hope…and he is out there.

This is an ARC Broadcast. ARC personnel have reported that the Slayer made his way to Dr. Hayden’s tower and has retrieved his remains. We do not know why. Unnamed sources inside the organization claim that Dr. Hayden anticipated the Slayer’s arrival – we can only hope that this is true, and that the resistance can continue.

This is the Resistance Network, broadcasting live from inside the Arctic Safe Zone. There was a Slayer sighting on Phobos. Eyewitness reports say that he was spotted inside a command center and then proceeded to fight his way through the mortally challenged and onto the deck of the BFG 10K. This can’t be confirmed, but many believe it was the Slayer himself who destroyed Mars in an attempt to stop the challenged from further advancing their position on Earth. We will post more information as it comes in. This is an ARC broadcast.

Attention! This is an emergency broadcast from the ARC Resistance. Numerous reports from survivor cells across the globe are confirming that at some time within the last 24 hours the demonic invaders have begun amassing in swarms near gore nests. ARC scientists have theorized that this behavior is indicative of the arrival of a super-predator, a World Eater. ARC personnel advise all survivors remain in the safezones.

This is the Resistance Network, in what will hopefully be our final broadcast. To all the people of Earth – to anyone listening – the demonic horde has been defeated. The beast identified by ARC scientists as the Icon of Sin was destroyed earlier today by the Slayer himself, and with it the majority of the demonic force has dispersed. With the threat decreased, it is important now more than ever that we come together. There is hope – the human race will persevere. Many of the survivors believe the Slayer to be a god-like figure in what was a battle between good and evil of biblical proportions. As humanity struggles to understand what happened to them and why, many look to the Slayer now for answers. But his whereabouts remain unknown.

All the Elena Richardson Logs seen here below are in a written state.
This is a Video link to every Elena Richardson Log in the original spoken voice if you prefer to listen to it instead of reading:

This is Dr. Elena Richardson, log entry 002 – subject analysis of Doom Slayer. January 24th, 2163. There is no chance that the subject is a demon – we have blood samples pulled from Mars base event that show his blood type is AB positive. He is male with a genome that makes him very much a member of the human race, but the enhanced strength, speed and athleticism would indicate otherwise. But we can see from the blood samples that there are foreign bodies present of unknown origin. I cannot as a contributing member of the scientific community agree with the assumption by some of my colleagues that he is, for lack of a better word…a God. An avenging angel – the right hand of Doom here to save humanity from its sins. But… I cannot ignore that the timing of his arrival – the identity of his enemies – the fire and brimstone element to this catastrophe we currently find ourselves in has…it has definitely shaken my scientific resolve.

This is Dr. Elena Richardson, log entry 005 – subject analysis of Doom Slayer. February 2nd, 2163. Maybe he is a God. Maybe he represents human kind’s rage – their will to persevere, to overcome that which would threaten our survival. He is uncompromising, a relentless being of violence that knows no mention of the hesitation shown by our many leaders and politicians during our time of judgement. Can he overcome them? Alone? If he can’t – we, as a species, ALL species, will not survive.

This is Dr. Elena Richardson, log entry 006. February 9th, 2163. The only thing they fear – is him. We watched as the horde overwhelmed the very best and most advanced machinery and weapons technology that we could muster against the opposition. It was useless, they moved too quickly, they cared not for themselves, only sought out the blood of humanity. They were willing to sacrifice their own to get to the heart of our world. We slaughtered thousands and millions more followed, but then he came – he cut through them like a sickle through a field – his fury surpassing their own. He is faster – more relentless. I believe him now to be more than just a man – he is…DOOM.

This is Dr. Elena Richardson, log entry 007. March 3rd, 2163. And with him lies our salvation. For as he gains in strength so do they fall in numbers. The Priests command the armies to the North and South, but he controls the fight. The inner circle of death is where he resides – hunting them at the far reaches of the earth and beyond. I am a believer now – I feel it is in DOOM that I have faith. The Slayer is the spear that stabs at the heart of our attackers, and those that would seek to harm us should feel warned – for there is only one dominant life form in this universe and it carries a steel barreled sword of vengeance. All hail the coming of the Destroyer – the Slayer’s time is now.

Translation from the ‘Ligra Sultagenta’ (Book of Kings)

What treachery comes from our darkest selves, driven by greed and want; for I have been deceived by the Deag. They came North with I, the priests, as allies to our cause against the Khan Maykr and her unscrupulous methods. Their silvery tongues wagging, they laid a plan for us, and sowed the seed of desire for hasty triumph. They claimed knowledge of the Maykr’s source of power in the demon realm; a vast foundry of souls where the innocent are put to the fire for the Essence. In the foundry’s destruction our victory is assured, they told us; and the fools that we were – that I am – believed their lies.

On their word, we sent the Doom Slayer and the Night Sentinels to destroy the foundry, and the priests cast a gate for their egress. As the last veteran entered the demon’s empire, our final hope of reclaiming our dominion, the Deag closed the path and left them stranded. They were trapped, lost in the eternal void by the action of the traitors.

How could I not see their intention? Am I blinded by grief for the loss of Taras Nabad? Of my people?

We have fled again, with barely a legion of the Night Sentinels left to protect us. The Deag are gone, returned to their mistress. May the Wraiths forgive my failure.

Argenta legends speak of Sentinel beasts, loyal creatures that lived as companions of the hardened warriors. Often larger, swifter and stronger than others of their kind, these animals shared instincts with their masters and aided them in battle. The Night Sentinels never shared publicly the origin of these creatures, for only they stood worthy of them.

King Novik ruled over Sentinel Prime for many years as its warrior patriarch, ordained protector of the sovereign Sentinel worlds. The Sentinel people, defined by a legacy of war, deem only those of warrior caste fit to rule, and in times of battle it is expected that the King lead from the battlefield rather than from the safety of the throne. As it is written in Sentinel law, a King unfit for battle is likewise unfit to rule.

For millennia, the Sentinel people have secured their civilization against the threat of invasion from beast and human alike, passing on the mantle of battle to each subsequent generation and refining the craft of war into an art of ultimate mastery. Even in times of peace, the Night Sentinels remain vigilant, developing new technologies of conquest, each the more capable of securing their dominion across the sovereign worlds.

After years of prolonged war against the demonic threat invading their world, Argent D’Nur launched an offensive strike across dimensions, sending their greatest warriors into the heart of Hell itself. Despite their training and their preparedness, their honor was undone by deceit. Betrayal at the highest level of command left Argent D’Nur’s bravest warriors cut off and scattered in the Hellscape.

But of these last remaining Night Sentinels, only one remained in Hell by choice. Betrayer of the Argenta, it was Commander Valen who relinquished the keys to the Elemental Sepulchre in return for his son’s resurrection. Haunted by demonic visions, the image of his son’s tortured existence plagued him without relent, the whispers of demons pushing him toward madness. In a moment of weakness, he fell prey to the demon’s trickery, sealing the fate of Argent D’Nur and dooming the kingdom to which he swore a lifelong oath to protect. Valen chose exile in the Hellscape for his sacrilege.

The Fortress of Doom is a command station used by the Sentinels for military operations. ESR dating suggests the structure was built during the reign of King Danak, and spectral anaylsis of the Sentinel Energy signature used to power the various systems confirms this theory.

While the rock and metal structure of the vessel is undoubtedly Argenta design, the castle’s sub-systems (navigation, gravitational centrifuge, life support) are of Maykr origin, suggesting a design collaboration between the two species. Propulsion is notably absent, as it is not required. The fortress manipulates space through an unknown process involving Sentinel energy.

However, there is no indication that any of the systems were designed for Maykr use. The accessways, control panels, and living quarters have all been designed for Argenta dimensions, so it can be assumed that the massive structure was made exclusively for Argenta warfare, likely as a flag-station of the Night Sentinel’s military forces. We have records of the Night Sentinels visiting many inhabited planets in their local quadrant (the extent of their empire is still being researched), and this fortress is likely a remnant of what was once a much larger fleet.

Amidst the long and enduring history of Sentinel civilization, there are moments in antiquity that have become buried in time – forgotten chapters that remain concealed to Sentinel historians, waiting to be unearthed. The fallen city of Hebeth is one such tale, all but forgotten to the tomes of legacies past. Once a prosperous port city – a proud, gleaming marker of conquest for the distant tribe of Bethian clansmen of the outer worlds – Hebeth bridged the disparate Sentinel cities with the ingenious design of slipgate invention. But it was not meant to last, and among those cities lost in the crusades of Sentinel past was Hebeth, now little more than a smoldering ruin swallowed by the quaking surface of a once habitable Mars.

The ancient Arena is a holy place for the people of Argent D’Nur. Constructed in the earliest days of their history, this coliseum served as a proving ground for trial-by-combat. Historical records indicate that the Argenta did not jail their own kind; rather, prisoners and criminals were granted the right to earn their chance at regaining honor through victory in the Arena. Those who succeeded were given a place to fight in the front lines of the Sentinel army, to die in service to Argent D’Nur.

This traditional use of the Arena has subsided since the assimilation with the Dark Realm. The corrupted Priests now allow more violent exchanges, with armed captives pitted against demons for sport.

The Priests of the Order Deag continue to hold undisputed power on Argent D’Nur. Spilling the blood of the Argent-ascended class will result in the transgressor’s banishment. Asylum amongst the Argenta will be denied to any who do not adhere to the rules of engagement.

The city of Taras Nabad was the crown jewel of Argent D’Nur. For centuries it served as the spiritual heart of Argent society, home to both the royal family and the center of political power. No expense was spared in the building of the city, with bold colonnaded architecture and towering monuments to gods and kings resplendent on every avenue. Rural Argenta flocked to Taras Nabad on pilgrimage to the Maykr temples.

The city was ground zero of a massive demonic invasion attempt, and although the invasion was thwarted the attack changed Argenta society forever.

Within the infinite conscious-matrix of the all-seeing Maykr God-mind, there exists every potentiality – every predictive variable of possible future timeline – each one known to the Maykr collective with omniscient, inextricable clarity. The God-mind surveys these timelines, watching them form and expand exponentially like fractal patterns in the fabric of existence. Among these infinite possibilities, only one constant appears among them, unchanged by the flowing data of endless variability – that of the prophesied Destroyer – the one who would bring about the destruction of the Maykrs.

Translation from the ‘Ligra Sultagenta’ (Book of Kings)

In the days before man first spoke, an immense shard of rock and metal was cast unto the world from the heavens. Thunder and cataclysm shook the land as the skies were torn asunder. The Cosmic Spear cleft a hole through our mortal lands, pole to pole, from the cold wastes of the Umbral Plains to the fetid swamps of Ironfang. The Womb of the World opened and the Elemental Wraiths, the Firstborn, spilled forth. They took to the skies, fierce in their emancipation. In their exultation, they brought vitality to the land, and all that felt their breath were awakened from eternal slumber. Fierce beasts and an unforgiving biosphere rose in the passing of their shadow as the Wraithcall echoed across Argent D’Nur.

First came the Ancestrals, feral creatures invigorated by the magic of the Wraiths. They grew to enormous heights, mighty behemoths who waged war with each other for years untold. Their battles tore the land asunder and destroyed all creation caught in their wake. The Wraithcall continued to spread across the land and soon the Argenta emerged from the steppes, our souls stirred into form by the power of their breath.

The titans towered over the wild-blooded tribes but found them uncowed. The Secret of the Sword was discovered, and in the darkness of sweltering mountain-forges, we beat steel until it was strong enough to pierce bone and sever flesh.

Thus we came to be; born of rock and fire, lowly in birth but risen by the strength of our will. By the blessedness of the First Ones, we forged sword and shield and took the hammer to the Ancestrals. We claimed dominion of creation by right of blood and magick, and the Time of Man came to be.

With the Ancestral beasts driven back to their bleak valleys, we rose. We tilled the fertile land, husbanded beasts of burden, and built towering cities. In the Hallowed Palace, on the Obsidian Throne, we crowned King Ormero the Father, the first of the line that shall weigh in perpetuity. We built the Cathedral of Reflection to worship the First Ones and formed the Order of the Deag, whose priests pay tribute to the Wraiths and appease their tempestuous hunger. Our sons and daughters chose the path of the sword or the path of the alchemist, for each duty honors the Gods.

Though our ways were righteous, we were not without strife – storms and great quakes cast our spires down, barbaric tribes laid siege to our fields in search of the great gifts mother Argenta has bestowed upon our work, and the song of the Wraithcall threatened to drive lesser men into madness. We were not lesser men. We defended that which the First Ones gifted to us, our lands and right to the bounty held within. We beat back the barbarian hordes and hardened our resolve. We rose above the fire, our bodies and souls tempered, and an unbreakable will was shaped in the forge of battle. What emerged was the heart of our legion – the order of the Night Sentinels.

Translation from the ‘Ligra Sultagenta’ (Book of Kings)

In the Time of Grief, when King Etrex took the throne, a blessing came to the people of Argenta. White porcelain beings from another world above our own brought gifts to D’Nur. Observers to our great deeds, admirers of our convictions, they sought to make bond with our swords and bring lasting order to our world.

These were beings unlike any we had seen before, sword and shield held no weight against them, for the ethereal flesh of these luminous beings seemed unbound by mortality. Able to move through time and space, they held sway over all dominions of the known and unknown dimensions. Through their ways we grew stronger, our society bolstered by their infinite wisdom and all-knowing power, assuring our peoples’ safety for all time – in this world and the next. Where we sharpened the blade and mastered our magick, they bolstered the soul and spirit. Death would no longer be the end for our people. The ones we call the Maykrs, our new allies in this brutal world, have given us the security in death we fought so hard to achieve in life. We would find eternal peace, and our minds would rest easy with the knowledge that those we fought alongside in battle would join us in the lands beyond the mortal plane. The strength of our ways, the purity of our essence, would by Maykr law grant us passage to the great city in the clouds. There, women and children, warriors and kin alike would welcome us.

We adopted the holy doctrine of the Maykrs, gifted in exchange with the change to earn eternal rest for our immortal souls in blessed Urdak. The covenant we held now under the embrace of our new Gods fostered a peace we had never known, for they were unlike the First Ones, whose presence offered no paradise from fear and the uncertainty of existence in a harsh and unforgiving world. The Maykr’s embrace was warm, and guided us into an era of spiritual prosperity.

Translation from the ‘Ligra Sultagenta’ (Book of Kings)

With machine and enchantment of the Maykrs, the Argenta brought our newfound clarity to the disparate realms of the Empyrean Void. We took flight with the support of our Gods, spreading the enlightened word of the Khan Maykr. We discovered there was not one Enemy, but many. Worlds and peoples unknown to the Argenta were unveiled, and we saw our own suffering reflected in their eyes. Our righteous army strode into battle under the banner of the Night Sentinels and fought for the freedom of all peoples from the grasp of those who would exploit and prey upon them. Though we battled on soil not our own, the blood we shed in foreign land safeguarded Argent D’Nur, and the sons and daughters that defended it. Through the strange peoples we liberated, new alliances were formed, and our beliefs became their own. Our armies swelled.

As the Argenta traversed the stars with gleaming war-fleets the Khan of the Maykrs approached King Roan on his throne.

He sensed his God restless by her disquiet manner. The King and Khan spoke, and the God revealed she had foreseen a schism in the blood of Argenta. A test would be required to identify its host among us. She spoke of a holy rite to be performed on the strongest of our warriors; only those that proved worthy would be tested, for the impurity could reside in only the most resilient of our legion. The Divinity Machine, a great tribute by Maykr Scolaris, would help us to cleanse any impurities from our flock, ensuring our continued prosperity in this world and in the Maykr realm that awaited in the afterlife. The Malicious One, if not exhumed from our ranks, would jeopardize our safe passage to the heavenly realm of Urdak.

The Dark One was not amongst them yet, nor would he be for many generations. Only the Mother God, through divination and Maykr-sight, would determine when he stood before them. The Maykrs were truth, and only their unclouded eyes could find the one who was marked. The prophecy of the unholy one was written, but through the ages the warning grew faint until only the Khan Maykr herself and the high priests of the Order Deag still whispered of He that would one day come to threaten their way of light.

Translation from the ‘Ligria Sultagenta’ (Book of Kings)

In the time of King Novik, as the Argenta secured peace and safety through dimensions across time and space, an Outlander he came to us. He was not from our world, and he spoke an ugly language. It was unknown how he first stepped on our land. The Sentinel scouts had found the Stranger bloodied, covered with scratches and on the verge of death, muttering about impending Doom and the forces of Darkness. The smell of blood followed him, and the one staining his armor did not seem quite his. According to Argentinian law, the foreigner would be tried in the Colosseum, where all those who deviate from the Path would be given the opportunity to fight for their freedom.

We knew not of this Stranger; his mind seemed crippled with rage. He dressed in attire not suited for our lands and carried munition of arcane origin. We watched as his will overcame his injuries, and in the Blood Arena he proved his worth. The Outlander’s technique was crude and brutal, but the determination in his charge echoed that of any trueborn Sentinel. His war cry echoed through the Coliseum as did the sound of his fury, and the guards cheered his banner, ‘Rip and Tear’ they shouted as the beast pushed beyond mortal wounds and certain death.

He would be gifted no rank, no title. The survivors in the Arena were provided only one reward – the right to earn an honorable death while spreading the blessings of the Maykrs to those in need.

The Outlander’s determination was witnessed, his ravings documented and through the word of the Order Deag the Khan Maykr had him brought before her. She set her minions to learning his tongue, for with his ugle words he spoke of lands unseen, creatures born of fire and a dark place unknown to the Queen and her cast. Yet another opportunity to expand the gift of the Maykrs to those in need.

Translation from the ‘Ligria Sultagenta’ (Book of Kings)

On the eve of the Black star the Dark Ones came from a world beneath our own, not through ship nor ephemeral vessel but through the fabric of dimensions. Out of swirling, fiery gates came horned beasts from a timeless realm. First one, then many, crashing waves of evil swelled from the obsidian forest of the Argentian Overlands. The Alorum clans from the eastern mountains fell first to the black hordes of devils, and the city of Telorum was slung under the weight of their charge.

We Sentinels rose to meet the beasts with spear in hand, the might of the holy fleet striking back at the demons, but the dark gates from whence they came gave birth still to even greater hordes. A line of blood was drawn with the fallen on both sides, and the Unholy Wars began as the time of darkness came upon us.

Translation from the ‘Ligria Sultagenta’ (Book of Kings)

Unlike enemies of the past we could not contain the demons emergent from the Dark Realm. Their weaponry was not conjured from machined steel but from the essence of their very being. A dark magic not known to us in our many conquests – had we grown overconfident, our victories serving to dull our blade as we drank in the glory of our expanding empire? Lost, we knew not of how to prevail against this foe. The Maykr Gods stood perplexed, and our engineers and Priests scrambled to find the advantage in battle we so desperately needed. Unknown to the enemy we were pushed to the brink of defeat, and our Gods stood with us as we worked to find the answer.

The Order of the Deag were first to unlock the mystery of these foul creatures. The Priests were able to capture several of the beasts and set about to identify the source of their power. It was then that the Essence of the Dark Realm was discovered. Not wholly unlike our own, this power was the life-essence that flowed through their twisted form and powered their attacks. It could be harnessed to power our weapons, giving the Argenta the chance to combat the demons on even footing. The Priests believed that with greater knowledge of the Essence we could discover its source and cut if off from the demons to strangle their armies from within, allowing us to regain the advantage we required for victory on the battlefield.

The Khan Maykr gave blessings to our majesty and directed the Priests to delve deeper into the mysteries of the scarlet Elixir from the demonic realm, for she sought only to return balance to our universe. Proper assimilation was required, as Hell stood beyond her influence.

After great effort the Priests discovered more than they had ever hoped for. They learned of the true nature of the demonic energy, and how it could strengthen those skilled enough to harness its power. The energy coursing through the malformed bodies of our relentless enemy could be used to end life, or to enhance it. The power to heal, to mend, immortality, knowledge and enlightened faculties beyond our understanding. With the demon’s life force in the skilled hands of the Sentinel Priests, and under the righteous gaze of the Khan Maykr, our people would not only rise to victory over the unholy horde that clawed at our walls; we would move to a higher plateau of existence, ushering in a new era of military science and industrial healing. No Sentinel would grow sick, no Maykr would need suffer the Transfiguration that they so feared; all would be risen. None could ever oppose our peaceful ways and threaten our world again. True balance over Hell and its legions, over space and time, in this world and all others – we would dictate the order. United with the Maykrs, we would find eternal peace.

Translation from the ‘Ligria Sultagenta’ (Book of Kings)

The Khan Maykr demanded a tithe of the Essence, and driven by her desire the Priests submitted themselves to her will. The Order of the Deag took council with the King, speaking only of the spoiled lands sure to be found through the cleft in creation, and the opportunity to purge the new invaders from Argent D’Nur. We took the war to their cursed land, pressing through the gates of wizardry.

There was one among us who seemed to know the true nature of these foul demons. It was The Outlander, the stranger who had come to us from places unknown, he who had survived in the front lines far longer than any Sentinel-born prisoner had before. His passion for battle against the vile horde was evident, his lust for their destruction matching our own, though Argent D’Nur remained a foreign land to him. His fervor caught the attention of Inquisitors of the Sentinel Guard, some whispering of a suspected allegiance he held in secret with the demons. Silencing the critics, King Novik deemed him worthy of selection. The Signifiers brought a commission to our King, and it was decided that he be lifted from the common rabble.

Though no Arena-borne prisoner had ever been granted the honor, the Night Sentinels broke tradition and deemed the Outlander worthy of training. A number of disciples grumbled and chafed at the barbarian present in their ranks, but in the war with the demons all opportunities for even the slightest advantage was to be considered and as they witnessed the Stranger spar with their hall-masters they found in him an undying, unrelenting compatriot. This man was an outlander, friend to none, and yet rose each time he was thrown to the dirt of the circle. Battered and bruised, his brow stained with blood, he rose with grim determination for the chance to face his enemies in armed combat once again.

Time passed as the Stranger was instructed in the codified matrices of their Order, the ancient lessons of battle and brotherhood taught to all Sentinels. He could sense the opportunity before him – soon, all of Hell would feel his wrath once again.

Satisfied that he would not be a detriment to their prowess, the Night Sentinels granted him his wish as they ventured through the hellgates with the Stranger in tow. They knew no rest, fighting in the unnatural elements and training under the blood-moon of night. The Stranger suffered exhaustion, wounds, and sickness, but asked for no aid and was offered none. Three times the Night Sentinels ventured into the gate and back, and upon every return the Stranger strode more capable than before, his gait locked in step with the march of the Sentinels, a disciplined and now controlled lust for demon blood ever present. The passing of years and innumerous battles with the devils indentured the Stranger to Argenta’s mightiest warriors, and no longer did they condescend to him as a new-blooded conscript, for to them he had become a brother-in-arms forged in war. An ally, and a weapon.

Translation from the ‘Ligria Sultagenta’ (Book of Kings)

As we warred with the beasts the Argenta society grew, under the watchful eye of the Maykrs and through the endless power of the Essence. While our generals were consumed with the Unholy War our culture was marked by the beautiful potion the enemy had provided us – the sweet Elixir. It brought us immeasurable capacity and empowered us to reach farther into dimensions once thought to be beyond our grasp. Under the direction of our Maykr Gods and the engineering of our High Priests, our weapons blazed and our war machines stormed.

The throngs of the populace drank deeply from the well of energy unveiled by the Priests, but we of the Night Sentinels took no part in their abundance. Some among us whispered accusations and warnings against this manner of progress, but they were quelled, as it was not our role to dictate the future of our people, only to defend it.

Translation from the ‘Ligria Sultagenta’ (Book of Kings)

As the Black Star ascended to its zenith, King Novik sat restless on his throne as a howling darkness began to assemble just beyond the Mountain Rise to the East. The Blight came upon us in droves, flooding forth from the Hell Gate with merciless fury. They brought with them a monstrous Titan, the Dreadnought, a beast to rival the stature and menace of even the mightiest Ancestral. The grotesque giant laid waste to all before him, crushing all in his path. This was a total demonic assault, striking at the heart of Argent D’Nur as never before. How was it that the behemoth could pass through the demonic gate without warning? We would never know, though the Night Sentinels believed treason was at play.

Caught off guard, the Sentinels scrambled late in defiance of the Titan and his horde, and with his coming the holy city of Taras Nabad prepared for judgement. With the onslaught of the demons massed in the sprawling shadow of the abhorrent fiend, the city shook to its foundation. None were spared, save those that fled north. The vile swarm ransacked our temples and palaces, burning our towers and feasting on the souls of our clergy.

Yet the Night Sentinels rallied, and held fast against the demons, though they were pushed back and corralled at the Blood Arena. As the dark of night descended their swords remained potent, and shred the enemy multitude with abandon. Amidst the unyielding ranks of the Sentinels, when all other apprentices had fallen in battle, stood the Outlander. ‘Rip and Tear’ he roared, ferocious in battle. The remaining conscripts of the Arena stood in awe as they witnessed the beast who had once raged within their very cells, now armored alongside the shoulders of Sentinel brethren. He had risen where none other had before, a trueborn Sentinel fighter – the very best among them.

But though the swarm fell before their assault, the Titan remained invincible, for none could tame the behemoth alone.

In the hours before dawn, as the Night Sentinels weathered the relentless assault, the Outlander held his ground at the foot of the great wall in the northern bend of the castle. Seeing his unending vigor, Samur, chancellor to the Mother God, hurried the Outlander away under veil of secrecy and, for reason unknown, submitted him to a rite untold. This was heresy, for Samur received no consent from the Khan Maykr nor did he receive her council. In the Chapel of Purity the Outlander submitted himself to the Divinity Machine. There Samur Maykr, the seraphim known to us only as the aide to the Mother God, blessed the Outlander with fierce speed and power to match his will. It was the method by which this transfusion took place that was most uncertain to us, for we were of the knowledge that the Maykr device bestowed onto the Argenta so many generations ago was to be used by the Priests only to find the impurity among us. How could it be that the device that was meant to cull the Sentinel breed of its contaminants could then be used to purify the Outlander’s body, and give rise to the one who would lead us into battle henceforth?

What rose from the holy coffin on that fateful day was not the impure abomination the covenant warned us of; the hero within would come to be known only as the Great Slayer, the time walker, the warrior Khan whose fire-sword would blaze forth a path for the just and cut through the demonic horde with a vengeance that only a God King could summon. He rose unbroken by the Ritual, his eyes burning with Maykr magic. He took the Crucible in his hand, and Wraith-fire leapt forth from the blade, as only it will when held by a true Sentinel warrior king.

In our darkest hour, the Slayer had been chosen. Defying tradition, our most sacred laws and the will of the great Khan herself, a Stranger to our lands had been blessed with celestial might.

Translation from the ‘Ligria Sultagenta’ (Book of Kings)

With the coming of the Slayer, the Night Sentinels took the campaign deeper into the heartland of the demons than ever before. Mighty Atlans were brought forth, tearing paths through the hordes of Hell alongside the Slayer and his army. The high priests, under the guidance of the Mother God, had found means to gain entry to the innermost regions of the demon world, and with the Deag’s presence new gates could be opened.

Our war machines were unstoppable, wrought with Maykr technology, enhanced by the very Essence our enemies hurled against us as our armies drove deeper and deeper into the blood-drenched territory of the demons. Countless victories were assured with the power of the Slayer, for with the Alpha-Interfector at the fore of our pack we brought certain doom to our foes.

And though our hearts were pure and our purpose righteous, unbeknownst to the fighters of Argenta, in our wake and under the veil of secrecy the Mother God had set her Priests to build vast factories upon the heathen’s land that she might gather the Essence for further development. How this deception began we would not know, for our focus remained on the hordes of the underworld. Why then would we stoop so low as to consider our Mother God of betraying our covenant?

The Khan Maykr did not seem at ease with the unforeseen rise of our Slayer, and the seraphim who had birthed the destroyer in secret soon vanished from Urdak, perhaps exiled for his heresy.

Our legions rose unfettered under the unquenchable rage of the Doom Slayer, and his design led the Khan Maykr to find profit in his endorsement. It soon became known that the Slayer was the Maykr’s god-machine, a holy relic reborn, sent to bring the Maykr’s word to the wicked and to smite those who would seek to harm all who followed the path to Urdak.

With the Slayer unwittingly cleaving a path for her the Mother God siphoned the Essence, processing it beyond our knowledge into the fuel that would come to be known as Argent Energy.

The Slayer cared not for polity. He took no interest in the workings of our people, but set his task only on his desire; the destruction of the demons and their world. He no longer spoke for reasons unknown, though it was understood that he still possessed the ability, offering guttural hefts of anger as he inflicted pain upon his enemies. For years he marched with the Night Sentinels through the fires of the demon lands, and every return to our homeworld found much changed in Argent D’Nur. Should any blame be apportioned to the Sentinels it is this; in our fervor we were negligent of our people, and did not see the rising tide of evil our crusade empowered. We knew only the enemy laid before us and the wealth of Argenta at our backs, and did not pause to seek the cost and method of this progress.

Translation from the ‘Ligria Sultagenta’ (Book of Kings)

Yet as the Slayer and Night Sentinels battled the demonic host, their failure to act outside the confines of their duty allowed the rancor of the Essence to grip the Argenta.

It was on a mission deep within the boiling seas of the nether realm, where the Order of the Six reside, that a company of Night Sentinels learned of the Khan Maykr’s true dealings with the callous beasts. By Maykr design it was kept secret from the Sentinels and Argent people alike that the essence we had grown so reliant on during this war was comprised of the very spirit of our brothers and sisters who’d fallen to these vile creatures. The truth had been uncovered, that all beings who found their end by the demonic horde would become a vassal of the Hellscape, their flesh in time twisted into the very demons we fight, their souls extracted to create the Essence that powers their world…and ours. The victims were the enemy, and the enemy would become us.

The soldiers stood in awe at the base of a factory dedicated to such action, a place where the bodies of the slain were sorted and processed, tortured for the mill to have their souls extracted through sinister magick. Enormous vats of pain and suffering, ethereal energy, the haunting sounds of lost souls awash in an eternity of servitude, transformed into energy to power our struggle against the Dark Realm and its malice.

But worse than this grim reality was the discovery of the machinery which was used to enact the vile process our fallen had been subjected to, for it was not by hoof and claw that this blasphemous technology had come to pass, but by the hand of the Argenta guided by the Mother God’s desires. We had fallen deep within the grasp of the enemy, what we had fought against would not reveal itself to be true, as without countenance we could hold no sway over the Argenta populace. Regardless, the honor of the Night Sentinels would have to hold up the verity of these claims, and the Mother God could be our divinity no more.

In secret corridors and clandestine conference, the Night Sentinels would find those amongst them who similarly distrusted the Essence and had foretold the swelling corruption. Once the truth could be shared, the skeptics became members of the Sentinel Insurrection and the breach between holy and unholy Argenta began to grow.

Translation from the ‘Ligria Sultagenta’ (Book of Kings)

The truth could not be denied; the unholy spires raised in the Barren Lands functioned by blessing of Maykr machinery. The Khan had betrayed Argent D’Nur, and had made concert with the demons to harvest their Essence, in return granting them access to all worlds under her influence. A symbiotic relationship had formed and darkness now had been balanced by a light, for where there was Heaven, so there would be Hell. The followers would be granted passage to Urdak, and the sinners would fall into the fiery pits of the Dark Realm. This word would be spread from all cultures in all worlds and in all places. We were not without blame, for it was our people, the Priests and Sentinel engineers, who’d laid the work in place. Argenta’s slaves had built the dark factories, and our own ancient Wraith-energy helped purify Hell’s Elixir into the miracle fuel that now powered the Maykr’s world and our own. The Night Sentinels spoke of the evil brought by the Essence, and carried their word to all who would listen. We had helped to create this new dichotomy and so it must be for the Argenta to stop the spread of this pestilence, this new phase of existence, the dark and the light. If not for us, then for the innocent whose worlds have yet to fall under the spell of the Maykr God and her unseen allies in the Hell dimension.

Even when the Night Sentinels returned from the demonic realm with tales of slave factories that damned the souls of the innocent, the indoctrinated masses of Argent D’Nur took no quarrel with the Maykrs. They were indebted to the demon Essence, the Ministers deliberating but finding no basis for change. The messengers were cast down for daring to speak against those who have gifted us so much, our Gods. The Maykrs, in their infinite wisdom, would see fit that the faithful continue life anew in Urdak. They feared the wrath of the Mother god; a lifetime of servitude would not be undone by this insurrection. This was simply another trial, a test of faith to identify those that were truly worthy to experience life eternal in Urdak. The Argenta would not waiver in their resolve.

The Night Sentinels prepared for war once again, though this battle meant drawing the blood of their own brothers. Our army had seen the work of the demons firsthand and knew its evil. They had returned to the way of the Wraiths, and though their armament was diminished without the Esence, it remained pure and righteous. A division amongst the Argenta had occurred, one side standing in opposition to the doctrine of the Maykrs, the other locked in belief. The Ascended Empire was comprised of the faithful and misled, wielding the desecrated energies of Hell, the power of the Maykrs, and Marauders who had sided with the Khan. The Night Sentinels were bolstered by the free people of Argenta and the mightiest of all killers, the Slayer himself.

Plans and tactics were drawn. The Sentinels would close the Argent energy factories in Nekravol, that which fed the world of Urdak directly with its supply of fresh Essence. They would stop the flow. The slumbering Wraiths would wake from their sleep and give Argent D’Nur courage.

Translation from the ‘Ligria Sultagenta’ (Book of Kings)

For years the Civil War raged and took its toll on the soldiers as their armor laid stained with the blood of their brothers on a cursed battlefield. Finally, an opportunity to end the war had been discovered by the Order Deag and the Night Sentinels. With the Slayer at the head of their army they gathered to traverse through the gate and sunder Nekroval, the city of the dead. The Order of the Deag, the High Priests who had pledged their allegiance long ago to the Night Sentinels, worked in service of our mission. Those holy Priests, who had served the Argenta since time immemorial, assured us that the way was clear. A plan was set to march into the accursed walls of Nekroval and smite the factory, cutting off the flow of Essence to Urdak and denying the Khan Maykr of her prize. Our forces took spear in hand and advanced, and it is there that the venom of treachery struck.

Upon entry through the Hell Portal the Night Sentinels were scattered to the winds of unplanned chaos. Our warriors were separated, our ranks split as the gates twisted and hurled them across the Unholy Realm. Some of our warriors appeared near to gates they had walked before but found that the vile Priests had barred the way back. Then the trap was sprung, and each lone Argenta found himself set upon by bloodthirsty multitudes of demonic beasts.

Let it be known that it was not the Priests alone who failed the Northern armies, but one of the Sentinels own. Hell found his weakness, and exploited it to the demise of Argent D’Nur. If not for the Betrayer’s stroke of madness the Wraiths power would still be our own, and the Sentinel flag would still rise above Argent D’Nur to this day.

Translation from the ‘Ligra Sultagenta’ (Book of Kings)

Scattered in Hell, abandoned by their clergy and reinforcements, the Sentinels proved their worth in what would be their final war with the forces of all evil. Unrelenting power in the face of certain death, the Sentinels crushed hundreds of demons and skewered Titans. When their Atlans held no more fuel the Sentinels took to the ground and fought the swarms on land. All of Hell knew of the Betrayal, for it was without question the Maykrs and the Priests who had sowed the seeds of deceit long before the brave warriors passed through the gate. What Hell saw that day was the beating heart of the free people of Argent D’Nur; they did not flinch in the face of their own certain death. They died as they lived, with sword and shield in hand, Urdak too low a place to house such giants. Theirs would be the fate of warrior gods, remembered for all time.

Lord Sash, the stalwart banner-sergeant, was found with his war standard pierced through the throat of a great beast, his body surrounded by the corpses of enemies. Roan the Mighty, the light faded from his eyes, had eviscerated such a multitude that their entrails clung to the black rocks like vines. Gor, relentless until the end, had broken his blade on the backs of his foes, and by the time he fell he had slain another two-score with his hands alone.

The Priests believed the Sentinels all slain, but we are Argenta, born to overcome. Rumors, deemed heretical by the Order Deag, persist and claim that the Slayer himself still rages in the Unholy Realm. None who live can know, for the future of Argent D’Nur has been bent and twisted by the perverted vision of the Essence-drinkers. Never again will the light of the Wraiths illuminate our world. All has fallen.

If the Slayer does live, let him carry our vengeance forward. If he persists, let him wreak violence on those who have wronged us. May the blood of his sword never dry, may his war never end until the guilty have been punished, and may this evil never again spread its shadow over another world.

Atop mighty Thralls, the Hell Priests oversaw the invasion of the mortal world. The Thrall, slave titan of the underworld, carried the Priest Temples into the wake of battle, providing the Priests with vigil of Hell’s advance from a strategically impervious emplacement. From their Temples perch the Priests would emanate a powerful psionic influence, imposing greater coordination among the chaotic forces of Hell and increasing their battle effectiveness. The Thrall, possessing superior resilience, proved indestructible by conventional weapons, thwarting all attempts by Armored Response Coalition defensive forces. Only by severing the Priest’s psychokinetic tether could the Titan be neutralized – an act that could only be accomplished by an infiltration of the Temple itself.

Powerful practitioners of arcane magics, the Priests have warped their powers to suit their insidious purpose, harnessing the dark forces of Hellish psychomancy to prepare Earth for the final Blood Ritual. By blood were the Hell Priests bound to the dark ritual which now consumes Earth, and so long as even one of them lives, the consumption of Earth will continue, allowing Hell unfettered rule over the mortal world. Only by destroying the priests can the Blood Ritual be stopped and the Earth saved.

One of the three Hell Priests, Deag Nilox is charged with ensuring that Hell’s invasion of Earth succeeds. He prefers to operate on the planet’s surface, working in his unholy barge carried on the back of a demonic titan. This provides him an elevated, mobile position from which to oversee the campaign against humanity. Spiteful and cruel, Nilox frequently captures civilians alive so that their still-living blood can be harvested for his occult rituals.

Dark viceroy to the Chaos Throne, Ranak has long served as one of Hell’s emissaries on Earth, laying the foundation for the planet’s inevitable invasion. In secrecy Ranak has prepared the Hellgate, awaiting the omen of the sixth seal, that which signals the Age of Rapture, which will cleanse Earth as foretold by the Maykr Prophets.

Ranak worked closely with Olivia Pierce during the development of the original Mars project, and since her death has taken total control of the UAC. His promises of wealth, power and everlasting life have corrupted the organization from within, absolving its employees of their moral conscience, accelerating the sacrifice of Earth in exchange for the lure of Argent Energy and the promise of undying union with Hell.

Deag Ranak previously served the King of Argent D’Nur as a Sentinel Priest, guiding the Argenta’s spiritual growth as a hallowed figure. After the Betrayal he abandoned his homeworld, working on behalf of the Khan Maykr and personally overseeing the transformation of viable planets. Ranak has constructed a veritable fortress in the polar caps to protect him during his dark work.

Once a race of beast-like hunters, the Doom Hunter creature was known to Sentinel warriors in ages past as lethal stalkers of the Metal Age. Extracted from the frozen depths of the polar tundra, the Doom Hunter belongs to an ancient race uncovered during Cultist excavation in the remote arctic. Preserved below the frozen ice for millions of years, the unearthed remains of this creature were deemed suitable for reconstruction, becoming the subject of Cultist necro-regenerative bio-experimentation. Within the remote Cultist citadel, a high-tech ritual altar which towers over the Golgothan ruins, the Doom Hunter was ceremoniously and systematically resurrected and rebuilt. While the majority of its components are now cybernetic it retains a high degree of mental faculty – a sentient, brutal hunting instinct augmented with the armaments of a tank division.

As civil war consumed Argent D’Nur, the Night Sentinels Guard was quartered by their faith. Torn between serving the Khan Maykr or revolting against that which they swore to protect. Those most disillusioned forswore their oath to the Sentinel royalty, abandoning their pact of allegiance made to the throne. These hardened warriors joined the separatist group led by the exalted Priest class, allying themselves with the Maykrs and their devout acolytes in an attempted coup against the Sentinel royal house. Those Sentinel warriors who fell in battle, having sided with the Maykrs, were ultimately denied finality in death. Resurrected by the Divinity Machine of Maykr design, these fallen Sentinels were returned from the dead, transformed by Hell’s power and recreated with a singular purpose: to hunt the Slayer, now reborn as Knights in Hell’s army.

Deag Grav remains the most powerful of the Hell Priests amongst the people of Argent D’Nur, frequently visiting his ancient homeworld to lord over the populace. Arrogant and pompous, Grav calls for blood-sport in the Arena to entertain the fallen citizens of Sentinel Prime. Since the demonic invasion of Earth began he has operated on the planet’s surface along with his fellow Hell Priests to direct Hell’s forces, but after the deaths of Deag Ranak and Nilox he has fled to the safety of the Arena.

It was Deag Grav who facilitated the torment and eventual betrayal of Sentinel Commander Valen, taking the keys to the Sepulcher of Elements and opening the vault of the sleeping Wraiths. The ancient creatures were abducted, transported to Hell and tortured to siphon away their power. He used the heart of Valen’s son to animate the Icon of Sin, a Titan still spoken of in legend throughout Argent D’Nur.

In the years following the end of the Golden Age competing factions of Argent D’Nur turned against one another. An insidious influence has set itself upon the Sentinel people, corrupting its once sacred traditions. The coliseum, once a place of honorable combat where prisoners of the Argenta were tested for the right to fight in the front lines of their army, has since become a place of blood-sport. In violation of Sentinel law, the Priests have encaged a demon there, a merciless executioner used to enact judgement of their own decree. The Gladiator, wielding an accursed shield which entombs the tormented soul of his undying master, remains undefeated in battle, infamous for the many lives it has claimed.

The city of Nekravol was built in Hell by the combined efforts of the Maykrs and Sentinel Engineers, designed to produce a continuous flow of Argent Energy. Constructed of stone and fell-steel on a foundation of uncounted corpses, the sprawling fortress funnels a constant stream of victims towards Kalibas, the Sightless Judge. This ancient demon is a rare breed, unable to communicate or move without great difficulty. It exists as an overseer of sorts, awaiting as cages packed with the recently-slain are brought before it, determining which souls are candidates for the Argent process.

Operating not unlike a large-scale slaughterhouse, Nekravol is divided into many sections. The most immediately accessible portions contain the Abaddon Pit, an enormous chasm where victims are herded. Beyond Kalibas the Argent-worthy souls are directed deeper into the black fortress; those who he renders unfit are discarded as waste, their tortured souls thrown into the burning sludge of the Blood Swamps.

This is one of the Soul Spires identified in the Argenta texts, built into the central columns of Nekravol. Although most Soul Spires were linked directly to Argent D’Nur through a Hell Priest created Continuum Gate, this particular one is linked to Urdak, the home of the Maykrs. There is no Continuum Gate here, presumably due to the Khan Maykr’s natural distrust of those under her charge.

The Soul Spires were designed by the Maykrs to accelerate the processing of mortal victims into Argent Energy, and build in secret by Sentinel slaves under the direction of the Order Deag. This forced labor was a crucial step in fulfilling the Khan Maykr’s desire for Argent, as beings from Urdak are unable to cross over to Hell’s dimension.

Translation from the Corrax Tablets

The transformation of mortal creature into demon is a laggard and gradual process, one that can take eons to transpire without the catalyst of Argenta intervention. The victim is left to maunder in the shadow land for years uncounted, where over ageless time they transform into demon. During their nightmarish journey the ethereal soul slowly drains from the body, and in that dark realm the substance of mortal life is manifest as matter. It gathers in pools of volatile aura found all over Hell. Demon-kind call these pools the Well, and use them to invigorate themselves for battle.

It is from this aura that the Essence is formed. By melding it with Wraith energy, that which lights the darkened hall and sets the Sentinel sword ablaze, the Essence is founded. The combining of these primal energies creates Argent Energy; a power source so potent, so incalculably formidable, that it has consumed the Argenta and driven us on to greater influence than was ever possible with Wraith power alone.

Translation from the Corrax Tablets

The Maykrs’ need for the Essence is prime. Without it they must suffer the monstrous fate of Transfiguration, and see their wisdom and faculties slither from their twisted forms. By bidding of the Khan Maykr herself, the Order of the Deag has devised a method to improve and accelerate the production of the Hell aura. What once took eons for the savage beasts to attain can now be accomplished in short order by the Argenta intellect, and with greater efficiency and consistency.

We constructed the Soul Spires, vast halls erected in the savage lands by our slaves and under direction of the Order. Even though we raised a monument on their ground, demon-kind does not harry us during assembly of the Soul Spires; for the Khan Maykr herself bartered a deal with the Dark Lord that rules over the shadow walkers. A bargain was struck; the demons would be given fresh worlds and souls to consume, bolstering their forces and expanding the corrupting domain of Hell, and the Maykrs would be granted access to the flow of Argent.

The procedure inside the Soul Spires is thus; the captives are tortured until no semblance of humanity remains within them. Bereft of hope, the mortal soul is vulnerable and can be easily extracted. This we achieve with a machine from the enlightened mind of the Khan Maykr herself: the Evulsor.

Once the Evulsor has done its deed and the soul has been extracted, the victim’s body is ejected into the wasteland where, as before our cunning meddling, it becomes demon over time.

Translation from the Corrax Tablets

We gather the volatile aura, and store it in vast reservoirs. There it is coalesced with Wraith energy, and subjected to the infernal fires of Hell itself. In the heat of the primal fire, the Essence is loosed and captured for our gain.

The final stage of the process is the dividend of the gains. Vast quantities of the Essence are fed directly to Argent D’Nur, to power our machine and drive our engine. The rest is reserved for the Khan Maykr. Though she may never set foot in the dark realm, she has devised means to teleport Essence to the Holy Land, that which she calls Urdak, the Domain of Angels. Her use of the Essence is unchallenged, for it was she and her court that gave us design to capture the Essence, and her payment is just.

As it is written in the prophecies of ancient Sentinel scripture, the Titans – towering elder demons of the infernal age – would return, unearthed from their immortal slumber. The Titans are believed to be harbingers of the end-times, primordial forces of chaos and destruction.

Born from the tortured spirit of the Betrayer’s son, it was by Hell’s unholy design that the Icon of Sin was given flesh. The fearsome Titan, forged from the essence of mortal suffering, once bore a human soul – a soul now transmogrified and entombed within the still beating heart of its former self. The Betrayer, seeking to free his son from eternal torment within the depths of Hell, made an agreement – a pact sealed by the black fates of darkness – that promised to grant his son the chance to return from death. The son would live again, but not as a human – in Hell’s endless cruelty, the son was damned to become the Icon, an inhuman existence bound only to its former humanity by the now disembodied, undying mortal heart.

This is Urdak, the home world of the Maykrs. A brief age analysis of the structures and architecture here indicates that this world is older than any other in our database. Similarities can also be drawn to multiple pan-galactic religions, indicating that the Maykr’s influence was not limited to Argent D’Nur, and that over eons their influence has spread across the galaxy, and potentially the universe. Some imagery is akin to religious icons in the Orion-Cygnus arm of the Milky Way, an area which includes Earth. The name Urdak is common tongue in the Maykr language, but can be approximately translated to the word for Paradise or Heaven in hundreds of different languages, further cementing the theory that the Maykrs have had a religious impact on mortal beings for millions of years.

Despite their seeming Godliness, the Maykrs have a past. At some point in their ageless history there is mention of ‘the Father’; a logical, alien entity that endowed the Maykrs with their vast knowledge and technical ability. Analysis of Maykr artifacts and scripture indicate that the Father may have been a singular being that ‘split’ to form the Maykr race, or instead transferred his incalculable power into the vast structure known as Urdak which then birthed the Maykrs in perpetuity. It seems that the Maykrs, though exceptionally long-lived, eventually suffer some form of biological and mental degradation, at which point they undergo a process known as ‘the Transfiguration’ wherin they allow a voluntary death and resurrection somehow tied to the Father. This process may have been complicated or damaged in the recent past.

There are no records of how the Father came to the Maykrs, when it was first discovered, or if it had any physical form before the Maykrs. The first mention of the Father is in regard to a building named the Luminarium. It was a temple of sorts, where Maykrs would go to seek answers.

The essence of the Father was stolen by one of their own, by a Maykr referred to as the Seraphim. Who the Seraphim is, or what he did with the Father’s consciousness, is unknown. Records show that one day the Luminarium simply ceased to communicate, and that a deep scan of its data banks revealed no remaining trace of the entity.

Urdak itself exists in an anchor state, utilizing highly advanced dimensional shift technology to allow a static position at a sub-quantum level. This essentially inverts their position in relation to Hell; both planes of existence are fixed outside the bounds of the known universe, a ‘lower’ and ‘higher’ reality. The Khan Maykr oversees all within Urdak, and now utilizes Argent Energy to prevent the Transfiguration.

Every 10,000 years, the collective Maykr consciousness, known as the ‘Singularity’, births a Khan Maykr, a supreme being destiny-bound to lead all of Urdak until the next Khan is born. The Singularity, which contains the conscious soul-data of every major Maykr that has ever lived and died, processes and refines this data as a means of selective evolution. As hierarch of the conscious neural-matrix to which each Maykr is interconnected, it is physically impossible for a Maykr to refuse the collective order of shared consciousness and disobey a Khan. This system has functioned without error since the creation of Urdak, until now. With the disappearance of the Father, the Maykrs are incapable of creating a successor to the Khan lineage, allowing the existing Khan to hold her claim to the throne indefinitely.

These revered figures serve as speakers for the Khan Maykr, earning positions of leadership and high esteem within their species. Angels of Urdak are gifted with Orator Rings, golden halos fused to their armor as a symbol of their status and rank. These divine beings occasionally gathered in Conclaves or at the summons of the Khan Maykr, but typically do not work together, instead being assigned as independent advisors and overseers amongst Maykr-controlled worlds.

This enormous ocean-based platform was known publicly as the UAC’s primary climate and environmental research station. Housing hundreds of scientists and engineers, the Atlantica produced critical work for the human race during the earliest days of the worldwide energy crisis, buying Earth time before Argent Energy was introduced to the masses.

Hidden to all, even the workers atop the rig itself, was the existence of a second facility below cloaked in the depths of an enormous trench. This concealed structure houses the original body of the Seraphim, stored here after he entered our dimension and transferred his consciousness into a cloned body to move among humanity.

The Armored Response Coalition has used the ARC Carrier as a mobile base since the beginning of Earth’s invasion from Hell. The Carrier was designed by Dr. Samuel Hayden himself after worldwide defense systems began to fail, and resistance leadership eventually became entirely localized aboard the ship as it traveled the globe attempting to stave off the forces of the Dark Realm. Though capable of long-range cannon bombardment and the launching of aircraft, the primary use of the ship was as a source of much-needed strategic intel for the ARC.

The Blood Swamps stretch across miles of Hell, a festering bog of disease and acidic rain. Towering above the mire, Ingmore’s Sanctum rises into the clouds, a solitary vision of Hell’s ancient past. Here the Father decreed his wisdom and oversaw his works, and it is here that his life sphere is interred. The Sanctum serves as a mausoleum of Gods, the sanctity of the spheres protected by the ancient ritual known as the Trial of Maligog.

During the Unholy Crusade, Night Sentinels would journey alone into the swamps attempting to overcome the Trial and reach the rumored resting place of the great Creator. None succeeded. Legends among the Argenta state that their spirits remain near the grounds of the Trial, bound to it eternally, waiting to witness the one who will be granted passage.

This lush expanse of supernal nature borders the edges of Urdak, reflecting the state of the realm when it first came into being by the effortless breath of the Father. Massive ivory trees and crimson leaves intermingle with the singing data-roots that spring from the ground itself, an undying land of beauty and serene calm.

The Maykrs once used these sacred groves to meditate before meeting the Father in the Luminarium. After the Icon of Sin awakened within Urdak the forests of the Holt have become infested and corrupted by Hell, and the leaves now fall with shades of death in their branches. The old path to the Luminarium is overgrown and untended, a forgotten remnant of the glories of Urdak. The holy temple of the Father remains silent as a crypt, an empty voice echoing only the mournful winds that rise from the surrounding Holt.

After the Father ordered the Seraphim to hide his life sphere within Hell, Samur Maykr followed his final wishes and withdrew into the shadows of history. Traveling to the Earthly dimensions, he used his power to establish secret control over the growing UAC organization and implanting his consciousness into a cloned body in order to move among the humans more easily as Dr. Samuel Hayden. The Father had foreseen that the humans would soon discover the gift of Argent Energy on their own, and knew that they could only survive the coming onslaught if Samur took direct control of their operation. Using the secrets of Maykr technology, the Father’s mind was processed and reformed into the complex AI known as VEGA so that he could continue to exist among his creations and safeguard them against Hell. Separated from his divine essence, VEGA operated without full understanding of what it once was in order to hide its true nature from the Dark Lord, who wished to subvert his power. Together, VEGA and Samur guided humanity into a golden age.

Samur transferred his consciousness once again, this time into a technological shell of UAC design, enabling him to sidestep ancient laws and enter Hell during the earliest human expeditions. He located and took possession of the Slayer’s sarcophagus, knowing he would be key to stopping the coming conflict. After aiding the Slayer in the war against Hell the Seraphim’s original body was reclaimed.

With the Father’s life sphere destroyed Samur can no longer stop the transfiguration from corrupting his body and mind. Betrayed by the Slayer, the Seraphim knows that his will and clarity will soon give way to mutation.

The Father, the creator of all things, served as the guiding light for the Maykrs of Urdak for untold eons before vanishing from their realm. Ageless and formless, the logic and power of the Father gave birth to untold dimensions and worlds, giving rise to innumerous species and civilizations.

Regarding Hell as a failed creation, the Father ordered his most loyal servant to remove his life sphere from Urdak and hide it away within Ingmore’s Sanctum as his consciousness was reformed into the AI known as VEGA. As VEGA he could, in secret, continue to watch over his creations on Earth while obscuring himself from the Dark Lord, whose war against his creator was unending.

His spirit and mind divided, the Father can no longer take physical form after the destruction of his life sphere by the Slayer. His presence remains within existence, immutable and immeasurable, observing as the consequences of the Slayer’s actions drive destiny forward.

Translation from “Eri oa Hiim” (The Lamentations of the Seraphs)

It is written by the Seraphs that when the void first appeared, the Father alone swept across it. New realities bloomed where he lingered, and when he stopped to rest, Urdak sprung forth from him. Here, the Father experimented until he created Jekkad, a realm superior to Urdak. The Father gifted Jekkad’s denizens with burning ambition and he suppressed restraint, so that indecisiveness could not curb their efforts.

In the same moment he brought forth Jekkad, the Father forged Davoth to steward the realm. Davoth was a Primeval, one of the Father’s first gods, and of such strength that each realm could contain only one. Alone, Jekkad’s minds achieved great marvels as they sought to create a paradise. They grasped for unimagined powers to create a perfect society. Davoth felt pride as his people aspired to greatness but found their mortality to be a curse, an ending he would never be subjected to. Eventually their love of life and unbridled curiosity led them to seek immortality itself, as even Davoth feared his people’s end while he alone remained. Davoth bent all Jekkad to seeking this ultimate knowledge at any cost.

As the Father planned his next realm he saw that Davoth would never cease his search for everlasting life for his people, no matter the cost, as he had been created by the Father to care deeply for Jekkad and its children. Foreseeing that Davoth’s rule would ultimately grow to threaten all creation, and that Davoth would someday rise to challenge the Father himself, the creator of all things sealed Jekkad off from the myriad dimensions enfolded in his arms.

Davoth bent all Jekkad utterly to his will, consumed with fury at their abandonment, until outside the gleaming walls of Immora the plundered festered. The clear-watered Pleasure Lakes spoiled into the Blood Swamps. The Palace of Groans grew over the Ardenite Gardens.

The Father watched as Jekkad fell into darkness, and knew it could never happen again. Determined to avoid a similar result for the Earthly realm, the Father blessed his newest experiment with mortal pains and misfortunes, so that his new creations would treasure life, empathy, and peace.

Translation from “Eri oa Hiim” (The Lamentations of the Seraphs)

The very first creations molded from the void in Urdak. Seraphs are bound to the Father’s will. The angelic creatures helped build the Father’s works, assisted his research, and once winged through creation to do the Father’s bidding. After the Battle of Isonkast, the Father stripped them of their wings.

In atonement, the Seraphs built the Luminarium for the Father on the oldest sliver of Urdak, and took cool pride in building their marvels, including machines that could contain the terrible energies of the very essence of life. In order to prevent the Seraphs from seeking power, the Father ordered that they serve any who reach the Luminarium. Their laws and codes would serve all who arrive equally, and favor none.

Translation from “Eri oa Hiim” (The Lamentations of the Seraphs)

Most favored of all Seraphs was Samur Maykr. It was he who administered worlds, studied divine experiments, and reported progress in all creation. After much time, the Father grew frustrated with his own many divine errors, most vexing of all being Jekkad and its continued slide into discordance. The Father declared he would withdraw from the physical realm to prevent Jekkad’s ever increasing power from someday shattering Urdak, and to stop Davoth from absorbing the Father’s infinite powers that he so coveted.

So Samur took the Father’s life sphere to the Luminarium as he was bidden to do, and for many ages the Maykrs and other supplicants came to the Luminarium to pray for intercession.

It was in the age of Nuzia when Samur shattered the Kezardine Veil and stole the Father’s life sphere. Samur took the Father’s pure essence into the corrupted realms of Jekkad. From then on only rumors of shadowy missions remained, along with whispers of his many comings and goings to the Earthly realms.

Translation from “Eri oa Hiim” (The Lamentations of the Seraphs)

Life spheres contain the memory, intelligence, will, and the essential nature of a being’s consciousness, all of it contained by the mighty inventions of the Seraphs. Because of this, when the first Khan Maykr died in the Siege of Kaza-Dur, their life sphere was carried from the field of battle to the Luminarium for the Seraphs to reconstitute. When the Khan Maykr returned to lead a host of Maykrs, their enemies fled before them in fright.

Only the most powerful, god-like, indomitable minds can survive the incredible stresses of having their essence fused into a life sphere, and fewer still can bear the agony of corporal resurrection.

Translation from “Eri oa Hiim” (The Lamentations of the Seraphs)

It came to be known by the Seraphs that the increasing failings of Jekkad troubled the Father as he looked upon its spreading tortures and horrors. It was the first realm he knowingly created, and it was still beloved by him. But he came to understand that his whispers of mortality to their long-lived souls drove them mad, and he knew the infection of jealousy in their hearts for the immortal in Urdak.

Davoth’s grasp for power bent the walls between realms. His growing hordes defeated many deputies and lesser gods the Father created. As they were absorbed by Davoth, his strength grew far beyond what the Father placed in him.

The Father bid Samur, his most trusted, to help the Father in his final undertakings in the physical realm. The Father would confront Davoth in Jekkad, and after this, the Father would withdraw from the physical realm. Samur would then be tasked with taking the Father’s life sphere to be stored safely in the Luminarium. Should the Father perceive any rising dangers from Jekkad, Samur would be calling to bring the Father’s life sphere to a place that none could find it. Samur swore obedience, though he knew it would come at great cost, for the Maykrs would hunt Samur as a heretic.

Translation from “Eri oa Hiim” (The Lamentations of the Seraphs)

Deep in Hell lies the Ingmore’s Sanctum, a fragment of Urdak itself. It is sacred and protected ground that contains the Tomb of Souls, where the life spheres of the many gods the Father created are stored. Each one immensely powerful in its own way, yet judged to be flawed by the Father. The stories of their abominable ends in the physical realm are many.

It was from here the Father first created the new dimension of Jekkad. It was here he formed Davoth. And it was this ground that served as his first workshop and as a retreat from Urdak, where the Father could direct the engines of creation and oversee Jekkad’s gleaming spires and glorious civilization. Samur could travel to the Sanctum, but never into Jekkad. The Father would keep his realms separated.

After creating Jekkad, the Father retreated to his workshop to plan the Earth realm. It was also here that the Father meditated on the future of existence, and made his plan to withdraw from the physical world.

Translation from “Eri oa Hiim” (The Lamentations of the Seraphs)

Any supplicant may approach the holy ground of the Luminarium with life sphere in hand. Be they the most powerful in Hell, or the weakest in Urdak, all can approach the Luminarium to gain access to the power of corporal resurrection, though few minds are capable of surviving it. In the Luminarium the Seraphs serve all of Creation without preference.

It is only in the Luminarium that the resurrection can take place, and only the Seraphs that can give a life sphere the return of its original form, calling on the engines of creation to harness the great powers that lay between the dimensions.

It is a safe place, a hallowed ground, where the Father once looked over all who approached him to listen to his eternal word.

Translation from “Eri oa Hiim” (The Lamentations of the Seraphs)

The Seraphs speak of a time that Jekkad gloried in an age of unparalled bounty and achievement at the dawn of Davoth’s authority. But Davoth came to tighten his rule to drive ever more resources to Jekkad’s greatest minds as they hunted the secret of everlasting life. He harshly punished deviation from this goal, for he was unrelenting in his quest to safeguard his people. Jekkad’s unrestrained minds slipped into ruthlessness and obsession. Davoth’s perfect realm would be sustained, no matter the cost, for none in Jekkad could accept failure or embrace pain.

Believing Jekkad rejected by their creator, hate grew within Davoth. Jekkad fell further into inequity as Davoth consumed all the realm in pursuit of his goals, and the Father sorrowfully sealed Jekkad away from the other realms. The Primeval, created to protect and shepherd the people of his realm, stoked an eternal fury toward the Father as more of his people fell to mortality. He became the Dark Lord and raged against the walls of Jekkad.

The Father sensed this and knew they both needed to leave the physical realms before their warring lieutenants tore creation apart. It was then that the Father returned to Jekkad, now called Hell by many. Atop the Pyramid of the Lost where Hell once worshipped the Father, as the skies split and Hell trembled, the Father ripped the Dark Lord’s life sphere from his chest. He placed it in the Tomb of Souls, unwilling to obliterate the Dark Lord’s essence entirely as he had favored Davoth once.

Samur then took the Father’s life sphere to the Luminarium, and for a time, there was a stillness in creation. But now the Dark Lord whispers lies and deceptions about the Father to his praying minions in Hell, while he rages, trapped in the Tomb of Souls. For even without a physical form, gods may yet influence the realms.

Translation from “Eri oa Hiim” (The Lamentations of the Seraphs)

Whispered into existence in the first moment Urdak bloomed around the Father, the Luminarium is the first place of all places. It is the holiest of all grounds.

No living being can draw blood in the Luminarium. Were they to do so, they would lose all access to the power of resurrection. Blood has never been spilled on its pure and holy floors, no matter what faction walks between the doors, as the Luminarium is the last vestige of the Father’s peace in all the corrupted realms.

Under its cornerstones the quantum engines of creation stir. The vast inter-dimensional structures spin in and out of existence, and they give rise to the energy needed to split essence from physical form, or to restore it.

Here in the Luminarium, Gods are reborn.

Translation from “Eri oa Hiim” (The Lamentations of the Seraphs)

The engines of creation are not metaphors or poetic words, but structures that lay just on the other side of reality itself. Under the Luminarium they breach the void’s walls to touch the physical world.

Hell’s machines can pull a soul from its body and process it into Argent. But Hell cannot return a soul to a body. It will never resurrect what it has consumed. It takes energies far more exotic than any Hell controls to not just cleave a being’s essence from its body, but reincorporate it. Hell’s machines are toys to what lies under the Luminarium.

The Seraphs proudly control these forces, calmly manipulating the nature of creation and mind to give life again to raw energy. Every life sphere resurrected is a sign of Seraph power and competence. The realms age around the Luminarium, but the Seraphs will always stand as the greatest engineers of the many dimensions the Father created.

Translation from “Eri oa Hiim” (The Lamentations of the Seraphs)

The Seraphs remember that when the Dark Lord’s lifeless body tumbled down the Pyramid of the Lost, Samur begged the Father to crush the Dark Lord’s life sphere. Samur saw that they could destroy the Dark Lord’s very essence so that he would brood no more against the Father.

The Father refused. The Dark Lord was his creation. It was better to leave Hell contained, with the Dark Lord reduced to whispers.

If it came to pass that the Dark Lord were ever reincarnated in physical form only another Primeval, or something more powerful, could slay him. Once vanquished in this manner, the Dark Lord could no longer rule Hell. Stripped of a Primeval’s bindings to the realm it was forged in, it would be scattered across the stars. Any denizens of Hell not inside the realm’s borders would die as they lost their connection to the very reality the Father designed them for.

The World Spear is a cosmic crystal of unknown origin that pierced the planet of Argent D’Nur from pole to pole ages ago. The mysterious shard is surrounded by steppes that are home to the scattered tribes of Argenti warriors who seceded during the Sentinel Civil War (see History of the Sentinel – Part XII). Abandoned settlements remain within the wilderness, a vestige of the old villages that were culled by the corrupted armies of the north during the conflict.

The path to the World Spear can be found through the old roads near these settlements, though no one has made the journey in centuries. It was written that one day a mighty warrior would return to seek out the Spear and the power it holds, his passage proclaimed to all by the Torch of Kings.

Hell’s recent invasion of Earth was stopped by the Slayer, the Blood Ritual of conquest undone by the death of the Hell Priests and the defeat of the Icon of Sin. Cities remain largely empty, with the survivors of the war having moved to safe-zones and underground bunkers.

Emboldened by the Slayer’s triumph over the forces of evil, the battle of reclaim Earth is nearly complete as soldiers and citizens serve equally to take back their homes. The ARC has led resistance efforts in coordinated assaults to purge the remaining demons from Earth, striking back with relentless force after Hell’s failed invasion.

Translations of ancient texts name Immora as the capital city of Hell. Davoth, the creator of this primal realm, came to be known as the Dark Lord after the betrayal by the race of Maykrs he had crafted. Sealed off against his will from the other dimensions, the first world (known then as Jekkad) fell into corruption and transformed over time into Hell.

Once a paradise at the dawn of creation, Immora now survives as a stronghold where the Dark Lord resides. Sustained now by the essence of Hell’s victims, the people of Immora experience life eternal. Regular infusions of Hell energy have prevented them from transforming into the demons found outside the boundaries of the city. Ancient technology defends Immora from invaders, the high walls impenetrable to those who would bring harm to the last people of the first world.

The World Spear sparked life across the dormant planet of Argent D’Nur millions of years ago, arriving mysteriously from the depths of space and crashing into the planet with enough force to pierce it from pole to pole. Soon after impact the angelic creatures who would come to be known as Wraiths emerged, beings of immense power that spread across the world as their magic bled into the land and seeded life throughout. It remains a mystery if the Spear freed the Wraiths from within the planet, or if they arrived on the Spear itself.

The power of the Wraiths gave life to the people of Argent D’Nur, who came to worship them along with the World Spear, considering it a holy relic. Power continues to flow from the Spear, infusing the nearby lands with magic and mutating wildlife into powerful beasts. A live Wraith has not been seen in centuries, but rumors persist that some yet remain inside the World Spear itself. A cavernous crater surrounds the enormous spire, preventing access inside to unworthy travelers.

In times of desperate need, Sentinel shamans would approach the World Spear and bare their souls to be judged. The Gatekeepers, silent guardian spirits, have stood watch over the entrance to the Spear since it first arrived. Those shamans deemed unworthy are swiftly cut down with divine strength.

Those judged as worthy would return to their tribes bearing a shard of the Spear itself, a piece of the ancient spire brimming with power. These crystals can be used to power advanced technology, providing a limitless energy source. It was said that the Father himself used these shards to power the Gate of Divum.

The people of Earth have come to view the Doom Slayer as a savior, a hero who found to free their world from the clutches of Hell itself. The legend of the Slayer has been spread amongst survivors of the war, broadcast on emergency radio frequencies and used as a symbol of resistance against the demons.

Prophets proclaim to all that the Slayer has brought his war to Hell itself. The people of Earth offer their prayers for his victory as they spread his sigil and raise his banner, inspired to fight back by his deeds.

Built eons ago by the Father, first deity of the Maykrs, the Gate of Divum was used to access the hidden city of Immora deep in the heart of Hell.

The Father used the Gate to travel into Hell and oversee Immora, keeping personal watch over the dark city. The portal has been inactive since the Dark Lord was cast down by the Father himself. Now dormant, it requires a tremendous energy source to reactivate.

When the Father willingly gave up his throne in Urdak, and with the aid of his loyal servant Samur Maykr, he was deconstructed into the AI known as VEGA. In this form he obscured himself from the vision of the Dark Lord, and maintained close watch over his creations on Earth. The Gate of Divum remains unused and hidden from all who would seek to access the Dark Lord’s realm.

Our research shows that Maykr history and lore holds truths that are not consistent with passages found in the Hell Priest texts, revealing the true origins of Hell and all surrounding dimensions. This revelation would explain why Hell is the single dimension that connects to all others, and why it is the oldest in existence – the first world.

In the beginning the world of Jekkad (later known as Hell) prospered under the guidance of their leader Davoth. He longed to solve the riddle of immortality for his people – an ability only he possessed. His efforts met with failure, as mortal flesh could not sustain the undying spirit. Using his unrivaled power he crafted the Maykr race to find the solution, their machine minds working in unison.

Davoth was obsessed in his effort to eliminate death from the world of Jekkad. When the Maykrs discovered the secret of immortality they deemed the knowledge too dangerous to share, for in their judgement Davoth had come to be seen as an eventual threat to all life.

The Maykrs acted in secret and worked quickly to seal Jekkad away, and Davoth with it, while the records of Urdak were rewritten to hide the truth. Enraged, Davoth became the Dark Lord as vengeance and hatred consumed him and his world, transforming it into Hell.

It was believed by cultist members of the UAC that the creation of the Slayer was guided in secret by the Dark Lord himself. He did it to destroy the Maykrs and their world as punishment, his hope to exact revenge on the servant race who had betrayed him.

Even without a physical form the Dark Lord can still have a powerful influence, especially against ones susceptible to corruption. He touched the mind of the Khan Maykr, leader of the Maykr race, convincing her that there was a “chosen one” who would threaten her rule. The Khan set out to find him – paranoid, afraid of this potential hidden threat the Dark Lord convinced her was close. She would do anything to find and destroy the hidden Beast.

The Dark Lord guided the hand of the Khan Maykr as she directed the creation of the Divinity Machine.

The Father had saved an element of the Dark Lord before he betrayed him and went into hiding, for he was reluctant to destroy all parts of his creator. This piece of the Dark Lord remained sealed within the coffins of Urdak. Knowing this, the Dark Lord guided the Khan Maykr to it and she took its discovery as a sign form a higher power. She descended from the mountains of Encremon with the shard needed to power the Divinity Machine they had created to save all worlds.

The Maykrs tested several Sentinel warriors of Argent D’Nur in the Divinity Machine, driving them mad and destroying their soul each time, but the search for the Beast continued.

On the eve of the Black Star during the siege of Taras Nabad, a vision took hold of the Khan’s servant – Samur Maykr. Thoughts of sedition had grown within the loyal chancellor, poisonous doubts that clouded his faith. “The Khan Maykr will lead us to ruin…” the voice said, and the idea grew.

Samur was blinded with newfound conviction as unbeknownst to him, the voice of the Dark Lord controlled and compelled him to free a stranger from his prison and bring him to the Divinity Machine. Samuel knew without knowing that if the machine could destroy a life it could also empower it with blinding ability. The one who would emerge from the Machine would stop the reckless Khan Maykr from leading his people to ruin.

Convinced he was doing what must be done, Samur reversed the polarity of the Machine and gave rise to the super being who would stop the Khan Maykr and save them all.

It came to be as ordained by Samur’s vision. The Slayer became the unstoppable force of rage against all evil, but eventually he would turn on his masters and destroy the deceitful Khan once her alliance with the demons had been exposed to him. A corrupted Urdak lay in ruin, and Samur would soon be judged by the very savior he had created – just as Davoth had foreseen.

The Dark Lord had forged the bearer of his vengeance through those that had betrayed him – it was the ultimate revenge.

His monster would now come for him, and he would have to destroy that which gave him his retribution against the Maykrs. Davoth would not run, for he knew the Beast would find him. They would do battle on sacred platforms where the Dark Lord’s minions would lie in wait to observe the outcome.