Shattered Planes Archives (Seasons 4 & 5)
The Hub => The Library [ A R C H I V E ] => Staff Updates => Dossier => Topic started by: Ragnar the Red on February 24, 2012, 11:02:06 PM
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Creation of the Heliphlein
The Heliphlein race started as with an exploratory mission gone wrong. A group of Bellicus were out in space, searching for new land, and new resources they could use to their advantage. They got more then they bargained for. They got Niiv. Niiv, a lover of error, decided to have a little fun with them. He cursed them, he made their magic at the mercy of their emotion. They were all terrified, and caused a lot of destruction to their vessel and each other. Eventually they got a hold of themselves, and returned home. Unfortunately, there they would find the greater effect of the curse. Niiv had also cursed their reproduction. As they had children, the children would have insanely chaotic presets. As the cursed Paxan interbred with normal Paxan, the children would come out powerful, and inconsistent. Some would have a seven hundred year lifespan, and others only a decade. To make matters worse, they would still have a complete magical tie to emotion. They were a menace to the Paxan society.
To make matters worse, Niiv followed the Paxans home, and tormented them further. Roughly seventy years after the return of the cursed Paxans, a rival of Niv, Aser, came and chased him out of the system. Not wasting any time, Aser transported the cursed Paxan to Utalia, a moon of the gas giant Helios. Aser quickly put a spell around the planet and it's moons to hide the cursed Paxans from Niiv and to keep them from interbreeding with other non-cursed races. The curse, being only effective when unaffected Paxan bred, began to stabilize. After several generations, their gene pool settled, and the cursed Paxan had changed significantly from the original Paxan form, and would forever be known as Heliphlein.
Origin of Enrakni and Heliphlein Rivalry
On Utalia it would turn out there was another race already inhabiting the moon. They were called Enrakni, and they naturally fed on magic. The Heliphlein did not like this, and began to fight the Enrakni. The Enrakni developed a practice of capturing Heliphlein sucking the magic out of them, and enslaving them. This traumatic experience of dozens of hands reaching for you and taking your talents was so horrible, the emotion stayed with the Heliphlein their whole lives, and because when this practice was rampant when the curse on the Heliphlein had yet settle genetically, the Heliphlein who faced this process bore children who had no magical talent. The Heliphlein were both angry and afraid of the Enrakni after this began, and began having raids to free the slaves. An all out war of blitzkrieg broke out, and after several generations of war the Heliphlein had destroyed almost all Enrakni culture everywhere but on the continent of Enris.
Aser returned to check up on the moon, and was shocked at what he saw. Horrified at the amount of chaos and destruction, he set things right, and split the two warring groups apart. He also gave them nine swords to remember him by. This did many things, and was done for several reasons. Three of the blades where harder to use. They were combat ready, but they were designed to be just as effective in other areas than combat as well. They were each given to a Heliphlein mage. Three blades were made to be great accents to a powerful and skilled warrior who was no mage. They made great fighters out of any wielder, magical or nonmagical. Appropriately, they were given to three Heliphlein who had had no magic. The last three were designed for the silent being. They were weapons that could help a victim get away from trouble without causing any more. They were perfect for the three Enrakni who were trying to keep away from the attacks of the Heliphlein.
Each sword in its own way brought balance, not only to its race, but also to its wielder. Each individual sword helped it's original wielder by increasing a skill for them that was not something they were initially good at. However, many believe the main way it created balance was because it was a reminder that Aser existed, and that he was watching. The races living on Utalia were never quite so openly brutal with each other again, and it appeared things would be peaceful between the Heliphlein and the Enrakni. However the two races never forgot what the other had done to them, and a mutual racism began to form between the two races.
Bladed Union and the War of the Khopesh
Zechretiah, the original owner of the blade of chaos, took Aser's guidance to heart. Later in life he would become the greatest advocate for aequivalism, or the worship of Aser and all he stood for, but immediately after leaving Zechretiah would be advocating for peace between the Heliphlein and the Enrakni. His solution was to make the wielders of the Aserical Blades advocates for each type of being. The plan was for an annual meet up where peaceful relations and, if need be, negotiations would arise. This ended up being both a blessing and a curse. Putting three groups of people in a room who hate each other is always dangerous, but for the most part Zachretiah was able to keep violence beyond the petty skirmish from occurring. Unfortunately, this ended thirty one years later with Zechretiah's death from what modern Heliphlein believe to have been illiepises, a disease resulting in a high fever.
When Zechretiah died, he left blade of chaos to his son Malcoy, but to those outside of Zechretiah's close circle, this was unclear. An Enrakni Chiefton named Yeklstevir, claimed the blade for himself. The magical Heliphlein were outraged by this, not so much because it belonged to Malcoy, but because it belonged to the magical Heliphlein. The Magical Heliphlein declared war on the Enrakni, and the nonmagical came to their aid as allies. By this point, the Enrakni had grown strong again as a people, but they knew they were no match for both nations, so they retreated to Enris, loosing minimal numbers as they did. The Enrakni set up defenses on Enris, but were to cocky to believe the Heliphlein would be able to make an effective attack from sea. Unfortunately for them, they misjudged the Heliphlein. In the years since the last great war, the nonmagical had developed the first real Heliphlein warship, known as a Heliauq. The ships were a great addition to the battle, but the true victory came when the Heliphlein general Filurial exploited the Enrakni defenses by sending a team in through a waist dumping area in the wall of a large port city called Vernera. As the team attacked from the inside, it pulled the attention away from the outside, and allowed the Heliphlein to land and invade the city, and eventually raze it entirely. One the Heliphlein had a real foothold on Enris, the rest would fall easily.
After the fall of Vernera, the Enrakni quickly swallowed their pride and put out a high bounty on Yekstevir. In their eyes, this war was his fault, because he had been the one who had stolen the blade of chaos. As he quickly turned from great hero to notorious villain, Yekstevir did the only logical thing to do: he ran. He boarded his luxury vessel and escaped in the night. He was never seen again. Several hundred years after that, the blade of chaos was found on the small island of Cyrit by a random merchant vessel, along with the ancient corpses of six Enrakni who had been burried there. Though there is no way to be sure, it is believed by most historians that he ran aground and was unable to return because of it.
On Enris, the Heliphlein pillaged various bits of land to show they were serious before, much to their surprised, they were invited to the capital. The Enrakni King Likildo made a truce with the Heliphelein, and after enlightening them on the loss of Yekstevir signed a devastating treaty called, "The Treaty of Vernera" in honor of the first city destroyed. Here is a list of the Treaty's terms:
1. From Henseforth there will be no quartering of criminals in any Enrakni territory or by any Enrakni peoples. Anyone who does so will themselves be considered criminals of the same level as those they hide.
2. Until the blade of Chaos is returned to its rightful owner by Enrakni hand, the people of Enris must pay tribute to the Ephlangar nation. This tribute must be greater then or equal to forty five percent of that years collected tax. Failure to do so will be considered an act of war.
3. Any Heliphlein who commits a crime in Enrakni territory is subject to Heliphlein law, and will be tried and punished as if his crimes had taken place on Ephalan.
4. No Enrakni shall be allowed to disguise himself as another Enrakni, Heliphlein, or other undiscovered race within one heliuptor of a Heliphlein city.