Dire Intelligence

Leshrac, Tormented Soul, is a body ragged from the heart of nature, a luminal being that exists half in one plane of reality, half in another. His incisive intelligence is such that he can never overlook for a moment the agonizing horror at the heart of all creation. Once a great truth-seeker who sought the meaning of existence, he examined the profundity of nature with the [Read more…]

Among the supreme Demons with unequivocal access to this world, Doom rarely bothers with the affairs of Noninfernals and Lesser Spectral Consorts, while Shadow Fiend passes through almost exclusively on accumulating expeditions. The Shadow Demon, however, has always taken a profound and abiding curiosity in the material plane, as if sensing that mastery of this gnashing dimensional nexus might be [Read more…]

In a time of vast pestilence, a vague monk of dark inclinations, one Rotund’jere, found himself sanctioned to the rank of Cardinal by the quick death of all his superiors. While others of the order went out to aid the ill, the newly proclaimed cardinal secluded himself within the Cathedral of Rumusque, busily conniving to acquire the property of dying aristocrats, promising them spiritual rewards [Read more…]

Each young acolyte to the Dezun order must carry out a series of rites before becoming a shadow cleric. The final sacrament, the rite of shades, is a disturbing spiritual journey through the Nothl Realm, a volatile province from which not all visiting spirits return. Of those who do, some return crazy. Others return with weird propensities. However, all who go there are changed [Read more…]

Settled atop the entry to the Narrow Maze are the looming shapes of sneering gargoyles, the conduits into the ethereal forever in their gaze. Beasts and birds, men and ogres, all creatures that die and desire to travel beyond must someday pass beneath their sight. For an untethered spirit, the decision to journey all the way through the veil of death is permanent. When [Read more…]

One of a noble and magisterial race, Harbinger stalks the boundary of the Void, solitary surviving guard of an outpost on the world at the rim of the abyss. From this serrated crystalline Outworld, eternally on guard, he has observed for eternities the heavens, attentive for any rousing in the unlimited night beyond the stars. Imprinted deep in the shining lattices of his intellect lays a resonant blueprint akin to [Read more…]

In the kingdom of Pugna’s birth, near the vents of the Nether Reaches, there stood a lamasery dedicated to the Arts of Oblivion, which drew its dominance from the nether energies. The Grandmaster of the temple had himself passed into Oblivion several years prior, leaving his conservatory without a leader. From the instant of their master’s death, the regents of the temple began rites of divination to recognize their [Read more…]

Kaldr, the Ancient Apparition, is an representation projected from outside time. He comes from the cold, unlimited void that both predates the universe and anticipates its end. Kaldr is, Kaldr was, Kaldr shall be…, and what we distinguish, powerful as it appears to us, is but the faintest weakened echo of the true, everlasting Kaldr. Some consider that as the universe ages and moves toward its final moments, the brightness, and power of Kaldr will deepen–that the Ancient Apparition will grow younger and stronger as eternity’s end draws nigh. His hold of ice will bring all substance to a stop, his image will cast [Read more…]

Krobelus was a Death Prophet-she told destinies for the wealthiest of those who desired to look beyond the veil. However, after years of probing on behalf of others, she began to seek signs on her own fate. When death repudiated to yield its secrets, she tried to buy them with her life. Nevertheless, the ultimate price proved inadequate. Death disgorged her repeatedly, always holding back its genuine mysteries. Her suspicion grew. Others could die for eternity–why not she? Why must she alone be cast back on the shores of life with such tedious regularity? Why she was not [Read more…]