For Those We Could Not Save

Sanasha spent years trying to learn crafts from her father, while her mind was sharpened by lessons from her mother, each pushing her to be their successor. Presented at balls as a fine woman, suitors were thrown her way, though her muscles strained against the fine dresses she was forced to wear.

One day, Sanasha grew tired of the pressure and the courting. She gathered her work tools, supplies, and a fine great axe her father was crafting, and snuck away in the night to find her own adventure. Departing Dorlgenol was a trial; she was unwise to the roads. But she quickly made her way to Gol’luk and paid passage to set out into the Xoraxan waste.

Dorlgenol was a fairy tale compared to the wastes. Days were hot, nights were freezing. Beasts halved her food stores on the first night; she fought them and bandaged her wounds. She cowered like a child from a near encounter with a purple wyrm, hiding in a stone outcropping until it passed. Less than a week in, hungry and weary, she was set by bandits.

This was the first moment she felt what she would become. As they demanded all she had to her name, her eyes went red. When the moment passed, three were dead; two more ran. She was stained red with blood, her axe caked with viscera, but she was badly cut herself. She marched forward, holding herself together by pure force of will, each step a test of endurance.

Sanasha didn’t remember falling, nor how long she lay bleeding in the sand. The last thing she saw was the strong blue eyes of her savior. The human Liliana, staunched her wounds. As she lost consciousness, only to reawaken in the grove.

~

Okay, I need to bring myself back to the present. I stand before my own judgement. As I put the words down, the foundation of my life sits sundered. Am I still the foolish girl who set out thinking she was capable of surviving anything because of stories she read as a girl?

Deception

Contras promised that the suffering of those we love would be eternal once he learned of our attempts to find a way out of his vile deal. The cold steel of that threat crushed my heart as much as the chain of the watch. Yet, the thought of Momma, Poppa, and sweet Liliana suffering chilled me even more profoundly.

And so, we chose. We chose to set off and commit this horrible deed. We chose to hold the ones we loved above the fate of an entire kingdom. Every path we explored to change our fate led to nothing; we were resigned to do this.

We each set off to complete the heist. We were guards, caterers, and performers. Naoki and I stood before King Mozerag,  somehow pulling off an impromptu performance that utterly wowed the apparent buffoon king.

The catering crew worked the room; somehow, this led to a man bursting with magical energy before being burned away. Percy used these distractions to wrench the Eye of Arudtkahim  from the heart of the tree. We had succeeded. Now, we just needed to survive the success.

Betrayal

And then it happened. Mozerag, in his full, resplendent form as a gold dragon, stood before us. I called out to Contras... and he came.

The moments that followed were a nightmare. The dragon king twisted and distorted into a sword. The edicts of Casmir collapsed. The chain of the watch extracted from my body, cold steel snaking away from their death grip.

Then, as his army set out into the grand city of Qyradell, Contras’s final, sickening betrayal was laid bare. We were of no more use to him, and our reward would be destruction.

Disaster and Shock

As Contras moved to destroy us, he was challenged by the gods themselves. In a flash of light, Revalor, god of Retribution, appeared, firing his pistol at Contras. He was joined by Torra, god of Discovery, and Casmir, god of Protection. All three heroes out of legends become gods.

Casmir yelled at us to run before Contras flung him through the crystal tower, and run we did. We rushed through the burning city of Qyradell as innocents died and devils emerged all around. We tried to save who we could, before we were stopped in our tracks by a horned devil and a pack of monsters.

We fought. I lost memory of most of it—the first time since I almost died in the wastes I was overcome with rage. As I came back to my senses, the horned devil’s head was split open. My dress was burned and torn, I was covered in ichor and blood. 

Then, the victory ended. Revalor crashed through a building, gold blood leaking from his wounds. Torra, horribly wounded, appeared before his fallen companion. The Seekers—now gods—had failed to slow Contras down. Torra flung us through a portal as the golden sword that was once Mozerag flew forward. Percy’s holy symbol shattered..

Denial & Anger

We were thrust into a grassy field, and I was still overcome with rage.

Rage at the Veiled Vanguard for allowing this to happen. Rage at us all for failing to find a way out. Rage at Contras for forcing us into this. Rage that I valued Liliana more than an entire Kingdom!

They are all in denial. They claim there was no other choice. They claim they did what they had to do. They all insist we can find a way to undo the damage.

I am complicit in this. As much as if I had signed the deal myself, as much as if I were the one who pulled the eye out of the tree. We are all to blame, yet they are all ready to move on, refusing to sit in this guilt. My rage is hot and focused on them, on us.

Bargaining & Depression

We made camp in the tall grass for the night. While on watch, I spoke with Emelyne, trying to process my feelings.

How can I look the people I love in the eyes knowing what I did? Will I hide this evil truth and keep their respect, or tell them the truth and give up everything? This is the core of the bargain I am making with myself, hoping to mitigate the damage.

Contras appeared one last time. He thanked us for our assistance, for giving him Dorgenol as his new kingdom on the mortal plane. He bragged that Casmir, Torra, and Revalor are too badly wounded to challenge him for some time.

We are broken. How can we possibly move forward? The weight of the destruction, the failed gods, and Contras's victory settles over us. There is no hope in the immediate aftermath.

Acceptance

As Contras left, a twisted Firbolg approached us, inviting us to his home for shelter. We are in the Sanguisian Empire now. Our host is Ashus, an Undertaker who revives bodies to work his farm.

Percy asked to have his holy symbol repaired, Emelyne tried to mend the pieces but it resisted the magic. Percy lamented that Torra may be gone.

Then, a voice called out to Renatus—the voice of Ielna, Goddess of Burials. She appeared and demanded he repent for his sins. Renatus stood his ground and denied the siren's call, seeing through the deception. The false images of his goddess melted away.

Now, we stand at our precipice. This is the new reality. Is it possible... can possibly find absolution for our sins?

Building descriptions for Osheous

The Chantry of the Veiled Star (Temple of Nexus)

The Temple Description

Location: The Chantry of the Veiled Star is tucked away in a small, quiet square adjacent to the Grand Necropolis of St. Vane. It is not easily seen from the main thoroughfares, suggesting a worship that prizes contemplation and seclusion over public display.

Architecture: The Chantry is a classic piece of pure Gothic architecture. It is built from polished black marble instead of the local soot-stained stone. Its most unique feature is the roof: instead of a single spire, the roof is flat and covered by a massive, hemispherical copper and glass dome—a Victorian astronomical observatory fused onto a church.

Exterior Vibe: Somber, cold, and strangely beautiful. There are no statues of the goddess outside, only elegant, bronze plaques etched with verses praising the darkness and the cold light of distant stars.

The Interior Nave: Inside, the air is still and silent, scented with frankincense and ozone. The central nave is vast, with thin, tall pillars. Instead of stained glass depicting holy figures, the Gothic windows are paneled with heavy, lead-veined, opaque blue-black glass that prevents any sunlight from entering, plunging the interior into eternal, soft darkness.

The Steampunk Altar: The focal point is the altar, which is set beneath the great dome. The dome itself can be opened during the dead of night by an intricate system of brass clockwork gears and steam-driven pistons, allowing the pure, unadulterated light of the night sky and the stars—the eyes of Nexus—to fall directly onto the obsidian altar stone. This mechanism is known as The Unveiler.

This Chantry serves as a genuine place of worship for the pious and a sanctioned meeting ground for the undead elite.

The Followers of Nexus (The Veiled)

The followers of Nexus, often simply called The Veiled within Osseous, represent the city's most accepted religion. Their doctrines blend reverence for the night sky, acceptance of shadow, and a calm, fatalistic view on life, death, and undeath.

Beliefs and Dogma

The Great Dark: They believe that night is the truest state of existence and that the dark is not an absence of light, but a fullness of potential. They treat the shadows of Osseous as sacred.

Cosmic Fatalism: They teach that all souls, living and undead, are merely small motes of dust under the vast, uncaring gaze of the Cosmic Void (Nexus). This fatalism encourages both piety and a detached form of ambition.

Sanctified Undeath: Unlike churches that preach against undeath, The Veiled view vampires and other sentient undead as creatures chosen to guard the sacred night. They believe the Blackshires are sanctioned by Nexus to rule in the city of shadows.

The Clergy (The Stellars)

The priests and priestesses of Nexus are known as Stellars (after the stars).

Role in Society: Stellars are influential. They officiate rites for both living and undead, perform ceremonies to bless the new moon, and act as official record-keepers, often mediating disputes between the living populace and the undead authorities.

Appearance: They wear long, heavily embroidered black robes, often with silver threading that mimics starlight. Their faces are always shadowed—often wearing a silver, stylized mask or simply employing deep hoods.

The Silent Stargazer (Statue of Nexus)

Location: Inside the main nave of the Chantry of the Veiled Star, directly beneath The Unveiler (the clockwork observatory dome).

The statue of Nexus, known simply as The Silent Stargazer by her worshippers, is a work of immense, unsettling beauty. It is carved from a flawless block of polished obsidian, giving the entire figure a depthless, jet-black surface that seems to drink the light of the room.

Form and Presentation

The goddess is depicted standing tall, draped in robes that fall in heavy, simple folds, giving the impression of total stillness. Her face is serene, stylized, and utterly blank—it lacks features, embodying the silent, unknowable void. Her hands are extended slightly forward, palms facing up in an eternal gesture of offering or acceptance.

The Celestial Hair

The most remarkable feature is her hair. It is not made of the black obsidian like the rest of the statue, but of thousands of meticulously arranged fragments of polished meteoric iron and deep-blue lapis lazuli. These tiny, dark pieces are set into the stone in a complex, cascading arrangement, giving the impression of a heavy, flowing mantle that covers her shoulders and back.

The Effect: When the Chantry is lit only by the flickering candles or the narrow yellow gaslight, the meteoric iron fragments catch the light, creating the impression of a thousand miniature, cold, white stars scattered across a flawless, abyssal night sky.

The Zenith Moment: When the dome of The Unveiler is opened at midnight, moonlight (or the cold, distant light of the actual stars) falls directly onto the statue. At this moment, the metallic dust and polished iron shimmers, making the hair look less like stone and more like the living, swirling darkness of the cosmos.

This statue serves not just as a symbol of worship, but as a chilling reminder of the vast, cold emptiness of the universe—the power from which the Blackshires draw their sanctioned might.