Erlik

Erlik in a Nutshell: Erlik is a legend within Autochthonia, a mythological place where an Apostate Alchemical has managed to grow into a city. Below are presented three versions of the 'City of Ten Thousand Blasphemies', each more horrific than the last.

Warning!

The Content of this page is purely an exercise in theoretical mechanics and hypothetical social constructs: It should be included in actual games with utmost caution and complete awareness that it will be disruptive to established content.

You have been warned.

The Three Versions of Erlik

Herein are outlined the three Versions of the Erlik phenomenon each one designed to build upon the legends of the dark city to make them something that the Storyteller of an Alchmicals game can actually use.

In "Code Name 'Erlik'" the original 'City of Ten Thousand Blasphemies' is long dead, destroyed by the protocol 'Retribution of Mog' but it was far from the last of it's kind. 'Erlik' is now used as a secret code name for any Apostate who manages to ascend to the status of Pattropolis/Matropolis, of which there have been several but fortunately never more than one at any given time.

In "Erlik: the City of Ten Thousand Blasphemies" The original Erlik is still alive and a menace to all of Autochthonia. This is perhaps the easiest of the three potentialities to use, but far more Horrific is...

"Erlik: the Dark Nation." In this version Erlik is not one Apostate city, it is an entire nation of ascended apostates from which void cults spring and to which those apostates who escape the retribution of their loyalist fellows congregate.

Code Name 'Erlik'

Many among the citizen's of Autochthonia have heard the legend of the apostate patropolis of 'Erlik'. It's legend is known to nearly every Void Cultist across the Octet, and it's dark flag is shown to every Regulator and Arbitrator as a symbol to watch out for when conducting investgations as a sign of treason and Heresy. What no one but a few elder champions and the members of each national Tripartite Counsel Know is this: Erlik is dead, killed these more than 1000 years hence by the Soulsteel Caste champion Truthful Architect of Peace through the God-Machine protocol 'Retribution of Mog'. The survivors of the multinational force that had been sent to destroy Erlik reported back to their tripartites and passed on a decision that had been reached on the long march home through the reaches: There should never be more than one 'Erlik'; that word should become a code name for any apostate who achieved patropolis or matropolis status. The national tripartets consulted with one another in secret and agreed upon this plan: ever since any time such an event occurs 'Erlik' is the codename used for the dark city until it too can be hunted down and destroyed.

A Terse History of 'Erlik'

The Original Erlik arose in 3815 DA from a champion who had been part of the hunt for Blade of the Apostate. Having been impressed by Blade of the Apostate's strength and determination in the face of the force hounding him Garmand; the Wandering Factory reverse engineered and installed several of Blade of the Apostate's void-tech charms. Back then no one knew why Blade of the Apostate had gone mad and turned against the great maker, so Garmand did not realize what he had done. However it was not long before the gremlin syndrome infection seized full control of him and he disappeared into the reaches.

Garmand had been ready to begin the journey to become a Patropolis for years, and shortly gathered together many of the more crazed tunnel folk and voidbringer cults from the spaces beyond Claslat and started the trek deep into the reaches. After more than 40 years of wandering they came to rest at what would in later days become the location of the Patropolis of Xexas.

Renaming himself "Erlik" based on a word in the language of one of the tunnelfolk tribes his followers had enslaved for a gremlin custodian Garmand transformed himself into a Patropolis and began to produce vehicles and weapons to exploit the riches of the pole of smoke. Some 17 years later his people attacked Gulak and did significant damage to several towns. This was to prove their undoing. Gulak communicated with the other eight nations and assembled a force to hunt down Erlik. After five years of searching and exploration they located, besieged, and destroyed the renegade city.

Three more times over the next thousand years or so an 'Erlik' has come into existence and been destroyed. The Second 'Erlik' was born from Masanta; city of blessings when she attempted to build a municipal charm that could purge gremlin syndrome from those infected. The Third 'Erlik' was formed by the infamous Apostate Tarnished Moonsilver Needle decades after she had been thought killed, but was exposed when she exalted her first batch of champions twenty years later. The fourth 'Erlik' appeared only 100 years ago and had the misfortune to settle on the borders of Estasia, being destroyed in a matter of months.

'Erlik' Today

It has been noted with distress by the tripartites of the Octet that the time between appearances of 'Erlik's is growing less and less. Even now reports are filtering back from the borders of Jarish that there may be a fifth 'Erlik'. These reports talk of an area in the reaches where a blight zone is forming and apostate champions have been seen gathering in tunnel folk and attacking exmachina. With all the dangers Jarish and the other members of the Octet face these days it is unclear how soon a force to destroy this new 'Erlik' can be assembled.

Erlik: the City of Ten Thousand Blasphemies

Blade of the Apostate was the first known Apostate Alchemical, but was not the first Apostate ever. Many centuries before him the being that would become Erlik: the City of Ten Thousand Blasphemies would grow mad in despair of a lost age of glory and turn to the dark, setting in motion a chain of events which would lead inexorably to the dire straights now facing Nurad and threatening the other nations of the octet.

A Terse History of Erlik

All members of the learned classes of the Octet know the story of Phrygia and the end of Nurad's First Progressive Era, but what is not commonly known, or at least not acknowledged is the darkness that was born when that light was snuffed out.

Erlik at the time was an essence 5 soulsteel caste alchemical called Dutiful Burning Guardian in service to Nurad's tripartite. When the rioting was over and the Luddites had won he could not accept the end of the glory for which his 'mother' and mentor Phrygia had fought so long and so hard. Gathering about himself those still loyal to Phrygia's ideals he left Nurad on a journey of self improvement and development.

Centuries passed as he and his band wandered the pole of metal, and year by year he saw more of the knowledge he had sought to preserve lost. Still they pressed on until they found a suitable site to build a town which would some day become a city far from the other nations. As the years wore on however his people began to suffer sickness and hunger and seeking a way to provide Dutiful Burning Guardian designed a charm which could grow meat laced with potent medicine to keep them fed and healthy. This may have been the first Void Tech charm ever made and it drove Dutiful Burning Guardian mad. What was worse is the onset of gremlin syndrome occurred mere months before he began his ascent to the status of Patropolis: had he displayed more patience he might well have been able to provide for his followers without becoming a monster.

At First the new patropolis of "Erlik" seemed fine, but over time he slowly warped the culture of his citizens into something inhumane and evil. Power came to be the only thing people respected and all manner of depravity reigned. The dream of a new progressive era was warped into a dream of vengeance and annihilation of the nation that had turned it's back on Phrygea's ideal. In time other apostates found their way to Erlik and embraced this image of destruction and vengeance and the city experienced a sort of prosperity for a time.

After centuries of research Erlik's people constructed a terrible voidtech charm which allowed their city to move, cutting it's way through the body of the great maker and tearing apart his sacred systems so that they could crawl their way closer to Nurad and the fulfillment of their eternal Vendetta. That was 200 years ago...

Erlik Today

The blight zone encroaching on Nurad is not a natural part of the broad collapse of the Maker's systems due to his long isolation from the resources of creation and the Wyld beyond. At it's heart lies the fabled dark city of Erlik.

Erlik has unique Voidtech charms which allow him to extract useful resources from the chaos of blight zones, charms which he has used to provide for his people for the past 200 years and more. He also tears apart the makers systems with adamant tipped drills as he delves through his body, pulling out magical materials and nutrients. He constantly is in search of fresh nutrient feeds to tap for his hungry citizens and magical materials to power his relentless drive to improve his military resources in preperation for the final assault on Nurad.

Erlik is a highly unsafe environment for humans to live in. There is nothing like any kind of safety codes there for Erlik, for the dark city revels in each death due to his systems and would never tolerate a 'waste' of resources on preserving human life. He controls his lust for suffering ruthlessly however, hovering at around Dissonance 3 or four, and does not let it rule his decision making. Even so Erlik has negative population growth under normal conditions, it's population only increasing due to a constant influx of Void Cultists from across the Octet.

Structural Erlik resembles a cross between an immense squid and a scorpion or centipede, it's Adamant tipped tentacles leading the way trough the structure of the great maker while its core structures scuttle behind on thousands of Soulsteel legs. Inside the core body portion live and work the almost 100,000 people who call the Dark City home, almost 50% of them void cultists from across the octet spirited away to Erlik by his champions to live and die in his nightmare realm of industry, greed, and power games. The other 50% include all the members of his dark Tripartite, for he will not brook an outsider of any description having power over those born within the confines of his blasphemous bulk. Those who come to Erlik from the rest of the octet are led to expect a Paradise of leisure and casual depravity where they will be leaders of dozens of native void cultists, only to find that they are slaves to be worked to death in the dark city's service. Their dismay and anguish is as wine and chocolate to Erlik's pallet. The barracks of the city are violent crowded places where life is cheap and cannibalism unremarkable. The convoys of void cultist that are brought to the city are implanted with multiply redundant digital devices which will kill them if they attempt to escape, or if Erlik simply feels like killing someone in an agonizing way. They then are assigned to one of the 20 barracks zones and probably will be dead within 7 years.

The People of Erlik, those born there, largely fall into one of three groups: The Militate, the Tripartite, and the Populat controllers. Those who come to Earlik from outside, no matter their station before, are treated as populat of the city. Their shift leaders and the like are drawn from the people born to the city who's soul profiles indicate they are to be part of the Populat. The Militate of Erlik are not like those of Estasia: they are trained not for raiding but for bitter and brutal WAR, total war where the goal is destruction not the capture of resources. They are fantastically equipped, with individual speeder bikes and universal power armor. They too live but a short time, as the moment they turn 16 they are implanted with Aegis Inset Amulets so that they can interface with their artifact equipment. Even with all the equipment Erlik is able to provide them with the tend to die long before they would grow old while facing down the frequent attacks on the city by destroyers and the Adamant Caste.

One secret kept well by the rulers of Erlik is that there has not been a Demiurge born into the city since it's inception. Thier champions must constantly hunt out and capture them from among the tunnel folk tribes across Autochthonia and drag them back to Erlik in chains in order to let Erlik continue to produce his blasphemous batches of 'champions', and that the timing of these exaltations is not so much to do with resources or the city's needs but rather when they can assemble the five demiurges they need to complete the process.