[Golemus Golemicarum]Vaul Of Vulcan

[Vaul]

Hi all... As there is no detailed description of this forum, I'll make my own post here and introduce myself... I've done this at the "Say Hello" topic, but I'll rather do it here (as the "primary" introduction) because I think the role I have made for myself best suits the concept of the realm known as Golemus

So, here's my story, it looks quite long, but it really isn't that huge, the eye is quicker than the pen I'm sure you'll agree

I had written this story of mine before I started exploring the forum, so I'm glad to see that several elements from my concept corresponds with certain MD concepts, particularly those of Golemus.

There are also some concepts in my story that might enrich the future development of Golemus and all the MD world, some of those being an outer-dimensional invasion, (truly) sentient independent machines, personal magic augmentation etc...

Regarding the style of writing, the story has some elements of a dialogue, where I as the storyteller respond to your (you as my inquisitive companion) fictional responses and questions. I triend not to make it too much narrative and dry... Hope I succeeded... I should also point out that I have been somewhat (heavily haha) influenced by the Warhammer fantasy and 40k worlds, so bare with me if you're not a fan... It's really a minor influence on the story.

So, here it is, hope you like it, and I would very much enjoy feedback, either in form of modification suggestion or downright merciless criticism Thank you for your patience... And I repeat, don't let the apparent length scare you, it's 10mins tops




[b]Peace and prosperity to you traveller!

My greeting is strange to you? Yes, my friend, I see how you would have seldomly heard it in these orderless lands... You are interested in more of my story? Haha, you are an inquisitive one aren’t you... I like that... Come! Sit with me, and I shall tell you all you want to know...

I think you might want to try some of this... Drink, it won’t bite! Well perhaps it will... Hahaha, strong isn’t it? Don’t be embarassed, few is the hero who can gulp down a cup of my home brew and live to tell the tale haha! Where is home exactly? Ahhh that is a long story... If you’ll believe it!

I, my friend, am not of this world... You don’t seem surprised? My name sounds foreign to these lands? Haha aye, that it is! I was named after the God-Smiths of old, creators of all worlds, venerated in the Golden Halls of my glorious nation for countless millenia... What is it? You seem pale? Have some more brew hahaha! No, I have not decended from the heavens, fear not my friend, I shall tell you more of this world.

It is... beautiful...
Vast and bustling with diversity, as if the God-Smiths manifest their wildest imagination... It is a masterpiece of the Gods, verily! Oh, mountains of marble cutting the clouds, forests of borders unending, seas of depths unimaginable... But for all its beauty, it holds in its crown a jewel more shining than any other... It holds – order.
I am of a proud and mighty people, created by the God-Smiths to bring stability, balance and ultimately peace, to all living things. To us there is no promise more rewarding, no goal more valuable than the veneration of order. For millenia, we marched towards our eternal goal, though it be by word or weapon, our number never diminishing, our road never straying, our Imperium spanned all continents! The skies themselves were conquered, as our passion for creation and innovation consumes us from our mother’s wombs themselves. It is by this divine nature that we have subjugated all creation! Or so we thought... Bah, enough history! I’ll come to that later, I see you wish to know more about my people... We seem strange to you, dont we? I suppose I understand... It is hard to imagine a world with a single purpose, devoid of conflict, a global society unified under a single Imperium, a state of complete order, of perpetual peace and prosperity... a condition of... perfection... I am sorry, my thoughts often wander to home... Yes, I shall tell you more about me and my people!

I was born a millenium ago, in the great southern Forge-city of Vulcan. I know this must not mean anything to you, as you have heard of no such thing... But you do not understand! We are bound to our origin as the Gods are bound to their creation! It is a source of great pride...and comfort... for my people, knowing where one comes from, that one has a legion of brethren behind him whatever one might encounter. Ahh, if you could see Vulcan... Its great crimson towers, seen from a sea away... It’s Golden Halls, dwellings of the God-Smiths, oh how they glisten in the morning Suns. The sound of a million hammers as they fall in the vast forges of the Lower City... Why, the ground itself trembles as the Gods smile upon their worthy children! Still I wander, my apologies, friend... You see, the Forging is a holy matter for us of Vulcan. For the patronage of the mighty God-Smith Vaul, Creator Of The Mountains, we pay a daily tribute of forging a million hammers, the holy symbol of our Patron. Each day a million hammers are forged by the million of the day before... This is our sacred wow, the banner of my culture, the duty of all our ancestors that have passed and all our children to come. Judge us not too harshly haha, we are a serious folk, driven by duty and honour, but we enjoy leisure just as much! Famed is our passion for our brews, and legendary are our skills at the Grath’koral, ritual dance of Vulcan! Many are the moonless nights when the Azure Dancers mocked the dark hahaha... And it is where my life comes to focus, as I bear the most holy of the Sacred Duties of Vulcan... I am born an aristocrat. Yes, I was named after our Patron God, as is custom with all first sons of the First Noble House. Fathered by the Praetor of Vulcan, I was destined to become first of the city’s nobility. My childhood was typical of our Caste, I was instructed in the Forging by the most acomplished of Craftsmen, thought of the ancient Songs by the most expensive of Tellers...I shan’t bore you with the details of Vulcan upbringing-What? You want to hear one of the Songs? Very well, a short one perhaps...Ah yes, this was sung by my venerable mother at my bedside, I shall try and translate it for you:

“[i]Love the Emperor,
For he is the salvation of Mankind.
Obey His words,
for He will lead you into the light of the future.
Heed His wisdom,
for He will protect you from evil.
Whisper His prayers with devotion,
for they will salve your soul.
Honour His servants,
for they speak in His voice.
Tremble before His majesty,
for we all walk in His immortal shadow.[/i]”

Hahaha, not very poetic, is it? Yes, I know what you mean, we are not a very poetic people haha! It is an Imperial hymn, sung to all our children throughout our world. Mankind? It’s a translation of the literall term “Children of the Smiths”, but that would ruin it, wouldn’t you agree? Who is the Emperor? He is the protector of our glorious Imperium and leads our nation from the beginning of the Imperial Age. He Who Stands With The God-Smiths he is called, conqueror of all continents, the Bringer of Order... If we were in my world, we would both be kissing the ground in veneration at the mention of His holy person... But we’re not, are we? Hahaha here, have another sip of my brew, to get us through the night! The night is young, my friend, drink haha!

Ah, His Imperial Majesty... Few have seen Him... or should I say “It”. Legend says that he has been mortal once, like you and me... Yes, I know I am ancient compared to creatures of this world, but I assure you, for all our long life we have come to know death on countless occassions. For as we do not wither and fade as you, we are still of fragile form and can be broken. We devised ways of mending our broken forms, and I myself have seen the veterans from the ancient Holy Wars, more metal than flesh, mindless, monstruous forms blessed...or cursed...to serve the Imperium for all ages. I was one of the selected few who would see His Majesty. When I came of age and forged my own Hammer, I left for the Imperial Capitol to study the arts of politics... You see, we of Vulcan are rarely seen within the realms of August Councils and High Courts, as we are at our best within the Holy Forges, mending broken forms or building anew, ever tinkering, ever devising how to improve all forms of creation. Alas, I was of noble blood, and as such destined to commune with all of the Imperium, as our global society is a vast balanced machine, and we are all singular parts, but none of us a whole. For centuries I have studied in the White Halls of Law, learning methods how to direct the hearts of men, giving them purpose by ensuring their unity... These are the Sermons of our Beloved Emperor, and I have come to wisdom. But my heart was not satisified. I yearned for more, the intangible form of Imperial Law did not fulfill my soul as it was required to... As I have later learned, I have heard the Calling of my mighty Patron... My heart was drawn to the manipulation of forms, not the minds... I resigned form the White Halls, much to my father’s furious objection. I look back today and think that he might have understood my choice better than anyone then... He must have heard the Call many a time during the centuries of his noble duty to the Imperium... My place at the White Halls was taken by my brother centuries later, whose path I have not come to witness, to my regret, but I hasten too much... My life has taken quite a different turn, oh yes, very different. As I said, I was well versed in the arts of the Holy Forging of Vulcan, but this was not the only school of Forging... No, there were many arts venerating the manipulation of forms, the highest of them in the Imperial Capitol, the Silver Halls of Forging. It was reputed that the Silver Masters forged life itself, perhaps tapping into the powers of the very God-smiths! Oh, I was young and eager, hungry for power and knowledge, and there was much to be had, my friend, much that could be learned, much still waiting to be discovered... I have since learned that little glory comes without a heavy price. Be that as it may, I embarked on a voyage that would bring me to this very table, spekaing to you now.
It was 7 centuries ago, by our reckoning, by yours I would amount it to twice that number. Alas, the Silver Halls were closed to me, as I have forfited my noble claim to a position within the Capitol’s great learning centres... I would have to earn my position... And so decades passed, and I travelled the vast and glorious Imperium, taking to study within all the great Forge-Cities... I have mastered the arts of Earth Divination, as I could sense the divine matter from wich all Forging takes purpose as well as method. I befriended the Soul-Smiths of Vior, great Forge-City of the North. Such was their craft that I learned to bind my own living essence to that of my forgelings! What a horrible spectacle that was, to share existence with one’s own creation, making it breathe as you yourself breathe... Making it feel as you fell... I feared and respected these crafts, but as much as they gave me power so did they give me my purpose, for I felt the Calling was never stronger than it was before. Yes, I was at my best back then.... My knowledge of the Forging Arts was never richer, but there was still one more barrier to cross, the creation of life... Soul-binding was an imitation of life, as the forgeling lived only as long as its creator, serving him in a mindless state... To truly touch the divine, a Craftsman must ignite the fires of life within the creation itself... Such awesome power was beyond my reckonig, for all the wonders I have witnessed, for all the powers I held at my command, I was but a hubmle mortal under the heavens of the Gods, with but a suptle glimpse of their unfathomable essence.

Have I bored you, my frined? Or has the brew gotten to your wits! Hahaha it’ll do that, aye! Easy now, slowly... Continue? Haha you’re a sturdy one! My father would have enjoyed your company at our table, as I live and breathe! Yes, I can continue, if you can...hahaha....

As I was saying, almost a century passed and I earned my postition in the Imperial Capitol’s Silver Halls of Forging, by recommendation of my worthy Mentors. This was my brightest hour, to come to the Capitol once again and find glory that has forsaken me for so long... The glory that was my birthright, only this time it was not awarded to me... I had conquered it myself! Hahaha the arrogance! The youth! Yes youth, for our people is a mighty breed, and centuries pass with little baring on our forms. You look pale again, my friend, ahaha! So I was, centuries ago, enternig the Silver Halls to take my place amongst the High Creators of the Imperium, the Silver Masters. But I was ahead of myself, as always. The Rites of Ascension were many and each more rigorous that the last... Life was hard in the Halls, colleagues non-cooperative to say in the least, and the Mentors... If I had my way with them, the Masters would be hard-pressed to glue them back together, aye! Decades still passed, mere moments to my kind, but countless eternities for myself, as I have suffered a thousand pains through each of the Rites... But I held my own, and reached the end... It was a good day, and I now praise my Mentors, for they thought me lessions that proved most valuable for the trials ahead of me... I remember a maxim that my old Mentor, Sulimo, dictated continuosly: “[i]Death and pain are illusions of the weak mind[/i]”. I sometimes wonder if Sulimo was granted the gifts of the Seers, who were reputed to divine the God-Smiths’ mechanisms that underly the surface of existence... Gibberish?! Now I know the brew has invaded your blood! Ha, yes, I suppose it does sound like gibberish, although I would rather you used the term “foreign”. No worries, my friend, no offense is taken.

So, I finished my Ascencion, and I was on my way to unravelling the secrets of the Silver Masters. I found that what I had previously learned, little did it apply in my education to come... The Masters, it seems, have taken quite a different approach to interpretation of the Divine Creation. I was reluctant to accept these new teachings, but I soon found that as they unlocked hidden poperties of material forms, so did they unlock various properties of the living forms as well. I started to percieve matter combinations as a singular entities, not comprised of different parts, but as if every divided part of realitiy was in itself somehow unique, as one rock is not even remotely simmilar to any other rock in the whole of Creation. Many students of these Deep Arts took badly to its teachings, as it was taking a toll on their souls, draining them, diminishing them... It is under these pressures that we came to truly understand our mortality, a revelation not frequently achieved since the ancient Holy Wars. Yet, I persevered, may it have claimed my spirit, I would have conquered its secrets!

As I progressed in my learnings, and as more and more of my colleagues fell to the madness, I was being initiated into the more shadowy circles of the academy... Ah, you’re back! I got your attention now, don’t I? Hahaha, to tell you the truth, I was getting a little “under the influence” myself, arrrgh, we’re closing on the bottom of the flask! This would be a most sad day in Vulcan ahahahaha, eh, I’ll make more tomorrow! Where was I? Ah yes, the secrets of the Halls... It was about this time that I met the first of the Silver Masters themselves... Glorious creatures... Huge, almost lumbering, statues of men, embeded by the metals they commanded, bound to them by forces unknown to scholarship, augmenting them in ways mysterious, transforming them to a Holy Relic of the God-Smiths, a conduit of their unimaginable power. What? My hand is shaking? Bah, it must be the brew! The bottom tends to be hard on the bones! Ah, the Masters, so valuable was their gift to me... So damned for it I was... You see, they saw in me the potential for greatness, perhaps even the ability to surpass their efforts in a particular area of Forging. This was known amongst them as Reality Transcendence... I shall not trouble you with the technicalities of the matter, it is sufficed to say that the Masters found Reality to be composed of infinite layers, each one different but at the same time simmilar, having the same principles of function as the other one, as they were all of the same Creators, praise the God-Smiths in their wisdom! You have a glimpse of these inter-reality links in form of your “Magic”, and this world, albeit a pale comparison to the beauty of my own, is blessed by the Smiths and I venerate it. How I came to this world? Yes, yes, I’m getting to it, enhance your calm my friend! Patience is the mark of divinity, so say the Seers of Vulcan... ... Oh... Well, the Seers wouldn’t have liked to hear that, my friend, not at all ahahahaha... Back to the Masters, shall we? As they became aware of countless realities, they devised ways to explore them... With their God-Craft, they amplified the abilities of Seers to sense the properties of these different layers of reality. They were each found to contain complexity as much as our own, filled with creation and forms in infinite combinations... For centuries the Silver Masters archived this information, revealing countless worlds in all their countless forms... But they were all revealed to have one ovewhelming flaw... They were without – order. In their search, the Masters sought to find the Primary Reality, a state of absolute order, a source of perfection, the Heavens as they called it, and indeed such a place was simmilary imagined and called in many worlds. But they found none. The closest to the ideal of perfect order as they could find was their own world, where all creation coexisted in peace and prosperity, the Sacred Balance... It was because of this that the Masters factioned on the matter. Some believed that the Heavens were yet to be found, but some, like my own Mentors, came to believe that our world was the Primary Reality, the source of all layers. In their arrogance, however, they went furhter, and professed to spread this state of perfection onto other worlds. It was said that the Emperor himself sanctioned their efforts, an incentive that I have come to doubt over the years... Form this philosophy they took to devising a means of transportation between the layers, via portals that could be manipulated by the highest Arts of Forging. Having spent centuries upon centuries of researchng and archiving, they were ready for testing... And this, my friend, is where I come to the story. Hailing as the brightest student of the Silver Halls, the Masters selected me for their hope in transgressing the Barrier, the great division between layers of reality. Imagine the glory that would be mine, to carry the banner of our Imperium to other worlds! To see our Blessed Emperor bring order and peace to all of the Divine Creation! Things, however, turned out to be a lot less glorious for me... You see, for all their wisdom and craft, the Silver Masters could not forsee the effects of the transgression process, and if things went badly a replacement would be easily found... If things went according to plan, I could be counted on to carry it out perfectly. Half to half, good odds for any son of Vulcan ahaha! Why this world, you ask? It was selected because of two things... Firstly, and by now you might yourself guess, it was the utter absence of order! The Masters sent several “emissaries”, as we were called, and I was their brightest hope... so I was sent to what was percieved the worst of the discovered worlds. Hahaha take no offense my friend, the radical mind is seldomly gracious in its assesement of things haha. You must try to fully understand the mind of the Silver Masters, they are ancient creatures detached from their origins... They have evolved past compassion! The most powerful thing that remains under their augmented shells is dogma! And behind dogma there is always fear, for they fear what they can't control! The other reason why I am here is the unusual occurance of the God-Smiths' manifestation... Your “Magic” is a unique pehnomena amongst the discovered worlds, and this intrigues the High Creators... In it they see chaos, and where there is chaos, they will soon shape order... It is their purpose. You tremble, friend. Perhaps you should... For if anything is certain, it is that their graces the Silver Masters, High Creators of the Imperium, know not defeat, nor reluctance, they do not tire nor does their resolve ever fade... Rest assured, my friend, they are coming...

Arrgh, I'm ruining the mood! And you're right, I did skip ahead of myself, yet again! Well I came here through the portal the Masters forged in the Silver Halls of the Imperial Capitol... The transgression was a terrible ordeal, it was as if my mind was violently separated from my form, and then as if a deeper essence of me was further separated from what remained of my mind... Like shattering glass one might call it, and the thousands of pieces of my being were splintering, dividing infinitely... and then it all stopped! In a momment it all ceased as instantly as it began, and I found myself in a wooden structure of some sort, barely material, barely conscious, barely...alive, I suppose. As if a spirit... Yes, that was long ago, and not shortly afterwards did I find myself already affected by this “Magic” that consumes this world, walking the thin line between the material and the immaterial... Such...disorder... Needless to say, my form adapted to your reality, and I found most of my hard-learned abilities lost to the nature of your world. I wonder if the Masters forsaw such an effect...
You're not asking why am I still here... Well, as I might have hinted before, the trangression went wrong... terribly wrong... Although few things might be considered “wrong”, after my experience... Let's say it went...unpredictably... So what do we do now, my frined? You know my story, I am, in essence, trapped in this this reality, waiting for someone to locate me, to return me to my world... If it can be done at all.. How do you think one might help it? Should I try and make myself famed? Perhaps imbue myself in your songs and legends, make my name known throughout all your realms... attempt to draw attention of the noble Seers? I wonder... yes, there might be a lot that might help my “entrappement”... hmmm...

Don't get me wrong, my friend, I like your world! It has beauty of its own, and complexity that would intrigue the most scholarly of minds... And this Magic is infinitely baffling to one such as I, ignorant and foreign to it as you might find yourself to the countless wonders of my home... And I never did achieve my first and last of ambitions, the secret of cretaing life itself! The divine bonding of the material and the immaterial to produce the blessing of the God-Smiths, oh imagine the possibilities! Perhaps the Magic could... Friend? Hahaha, the brew has taken you finally! Truthfully, I was beginning to think you would best even myself! You are of sturdy making as well, cretures of this world... Perhaps there is good reason the Masters should fear you! Sleep, my friend, sleep well, for morrow brings new stories! And new BREW ahahaha, aye! Now, where did I find that special ingridient...

[/b]

Edited October 29, 2010 by Shadowseeker

[I am Bored]

RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RUN FROM THE SCARY STAR STREK PERSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (if you don't believe me then read the topic name) RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Frosty]

WOW!!!!! im not even going to try and read through that post!!