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.
Contents
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 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 three 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, scorpion, and 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 though not quite common. 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.
Natives of Erlik
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.
All the natives of Erlik enjoy living standards Far above what the ensnared Void Cultists do. The very least of them share eight person 'Comunes' similar to Kamak and the city's most trusted mortal legates, his 'Black Nonitate Council' have residences in the flukes of the squid body right in front of it's scorpion tail where they live with staffs of handpicked slaves. Erlik's human scale champions also have their apartments here, with their own staffs of slaves and mechanical servants.
The Demiurges of Erlik
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. Their 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 and break their will so that they will perform the blasphemy that is being asked of them. The capture of demiurges is a high priority for Erlik and he devotes a significant amount of resources to it, even going so far as to break his own rule of not allowing outsiders to have more status than his natives in this one instance. The Five or more Demiurges are accorded status similar to the city's Ruling Council and have their own apartments with a staff of slaves for their pleasure: Erlik understands that while the stick may be more fun and satisfying the carrot is more effective over the long term.
Just in the past few years he has had the devils own luck and managed to secure 5 Demiurges who have become Void Cultists and willingly come to Erlik. He is currently running through 200 years of backlogged resources in exalting fresh batches of 'Champions', pausing only to secure the necessarily heroic souls to make the process work, for which he is capturing and killing people from all of the eight nations but especially Nurad who he thinks possess the requisite sternness of spirit. Ironically among these batches of Champions Soulsteel Castes such as himself are rare, since Soulsteel is the material he himself requires to build and repair his body and charms and they also pose the risk of consuming the heroic soul used to exalt them, so he only attempts to exalt a Soulsteel caste if he has a soul that he is both certain will serve for that purpose and is also certain will not serve for any other. The other four castes by contrast are common since he possesses large reserves of the other types of magical materials.
The current demiurges of Erlik are as follows:
Tyrian
Once a member of the Prolific Scholars of the Furnace Transcendent in Trantek, second greatest city of Kamak: Tyrain began experimenting with soul steel after being assigned to do maintenance on the Ephemera Storage Manifold and eventually realized that the alien faces in the soulsteel of Autochtonia belonged to some race which the great maker had condemned to destruction. This realization of the great maker's utter ruthlessness turned him into a Void Cultists, and with his research notes in tow he hooked up with a group headed for Erlik. On the journey he was identified as a Demiurge and singled out for special indoctrination. When he reached Erlik he found himself whisked away from the rest of the convoy and placed in a private suite with automaton and human servants. He is surprisingly humane for a void cultist and treats his slaves well. His motivation is known to many in Erlik, find a way to release the alien souls trapped in Autochthon's Soulsteel.
He recently has received a leg up on this: one of Erlik's scouting parties captured a small party of beings who look just like those strange people, and brought them to Erlik for experimentation. Tyrian immediately petitioned Erlik to place them under his authority, as they could be key to his work, knowing that he needed the man Erlik agreed, and within a few months Tyrian had learned their language. Now with their help he is working on a method that could in theory allow him to finally release the souls of their forebears from their soulsteel matrix, the problem being this: to do it would require both Celestial Circle Sorcery, God-Machine Protocols, and to place another soul into the soulsteel, which he is sure that Erlik will not allow. Erlik has a use for soulsteel and human souls, he does not need the souls of the Ereta'een
Jamri and Larvos
These two demiurges came to Erlik out of Nurad, not captured as many have been but willingly, on the run from their own city's Tripartite assembly. They were born as twins to the same mother, but in their previous life were lovers, and for some reason their previous incarnations personalities have carried over to their current lives.
Jamri's role in Nurad was as one of the Glorious Luminators of the Brilliant Rapture, a post she did fairly well in but not exceptionally. She was passed over for promotion many times but her one solace was...
Larvos: her twin brother, and ultimately lover. He had been slated from a young age to be one of the Meticulous Surgeons of the Body Electric and did well in that post, but could never fully deny his inappropriate feelings for his sister.
The two danced around the disturbing attraction that they felt for each other since they were teenagers, but it was not until Jamri was passed over for promotion within the Luminators for the fourth time that she broke down and stole the access codes that would allow her to check her and her brother's soul records.
What she found shocked them both, their souls had been recycled out of Kamak, a pair of high ranking tripartite members who had had an affair outside their mirages and then when discovered committed suicide togehter by diving into a vat of liquid nitrogen. They had been found together locked in a permanent kiss when the vat was drained, and the events surrounding it were even now being unraveled to be made into a morality play about infidelity.
Confronted with the source of their unnatural attraction the two gave in, and began to clandestinely have carnal assignations, until they were discovered by the Perceptors. However the Perceptors made a key mistake and let them go thinking they would lead them to an incestuous Void Cult they had been tracking. Instead they drove the pair into it, and when they followed them, some of Erlik's 'champions' were waiting.
With the Perceptors Dead Erlik's champions and Millitate spirited the whole cult away into the blight zone and thence to Erlik, where the majority met the ususal fate, but the Pair of Demiurges found a life of luxury and connubial bliss. They are now Erlik's fanatical partisans, and have just received the happy news that Jamri is pregnant for the first time. Erlik's other Surgeons warn them not to get their hopes up, the soul shortage in Autochtonia is growing steadily worse and many children are stillborn these days for lack of souls, not to mention that even with their vaunted status Erlik will not continence a deformed or retarded child, but the couple have faith that The Gods of the Void will not allow that to happen, their baby will be born hale and sharp witted, and will perhaps one day become part of Erlik's Tripartite.
Witlindine
Unlike the three demiurges presented above Witlindine is here against her will. Captured in a raid against a community of tunnel folk on the fringes of the blight zone she was identified as a Demiurge and separated from most of the rest of the slaves. Erlik had the wit to keep her with her parents, but this may have backfired as her parents drilled into her head that she was supposed to be a kind an gentile person and never do anything to hurt anyone. Erlik now dances a careful dance with her of trying to turn her away from 'good' and 'kindness' to serve his aims as a Demiurge, while not tipping off her parents what he is doing so they will push back and force him to take drastic measures. He sees it as an immensely complex game of gateway in five and six dimensions, and it amuses him to play it, for now.
Witlindine is a slight girl of 11 years, with a false soul gem glued to her forehead, and with cherry red hair and green eyes. Had she been born in Nurad instead of a tunnel community she would have been one of the Pious Harvesters of the Hallowed Flesh, as several of her ancestors were before being banished, but she wasn't and all of Autochthonia may pay the price for that. She dresses in greens as befitting her new station in life, and Is learning the arts of a harvester from the elderly void cultist Harvester that Erlik has recruited.
She misses her home in the tunnlefolk town where she grew up, and if given the opportunity to escape Erlik with her parents would leap at the chance. Unfortunately for her and everyone else Erlik's subtle manipulations have already erased almost all loyalty to anyone but her parents from her personality.
The Others
Like with the deathlords this author leaves the personages of some of Erlik's demiurges up to the ST to fill in. There are eight of them in total, and they are not unified in their reverence for the dread city that harbors them. Two of the remaining four are willing converts but the other two were abducted and brought here at sword point, and all of them are powerful allies for an Alchemical in Erlik, if they can just promise and deliver those things the Demiurge most wants, be that an attractive new slave, the health and well being of their child, or their freedom.
The Champions of Erlik
At present Erlik has about 27 champions, a fantastical number for a single city to field. Of those 7 are the survivors of the previous batches of exalted he has created himself, 9 are void lords that have pledged themselves to him, 5 are the new batch which he has just exalted at the point where the PCs meet the Dark City, (Or perhaps are the PCs themselves and the fellow members of their first assembly...) and 6 are left wholly up to the Storyteller to play around with.
There are two classes of 'Champions' who serve Erlik, those that the dark city exalted himself and those that have come to him from outside and pledged themselves to his Service. As with all else Erlik does this division is more sharp than might be imagined.
The Outsiders
The Natives
The New Blood
There are two versions of this section, which this author refers to as types Alpha & Omega.
Type Alpha is for the new batch of exalted to Be the Players Characters, the players start off right from the beginning as void lords in service to Erlik.
Type Omega By contrast is when you use Erlik as presented here as an adversary: the five freshly exalted 'champions' with their voidtech already thrumming rushing to defend their city and master.
Both options will be given a full presentation bellow.
Type Alpha
A Type A game is much like an Abyssal or Infernal game, with one key exception, Type A games characters are irrevocably damned. If they were to uninstall all the voidtech which Erlik has built them containing they would briefly be able to experience clarity instead of Dissonance. And then the other 'Champions' of Erlik would kill them. It therefore is advised that you only embark on this game with players that seriously WANT to play the bad guys and do a lot of nasty, vicious, mean-spirited, and heinous things, and also that you keep such a chronicle short lest playing such a role permanently effect a weak minded players psyche.
If you do embark on this chronicle, knowing the dangers and problems you will face along the way, the following outline may be of help.
Stage 0: Char Gen.
Character generation is accomplished as normal, except that characters may take any voidtech submodules for free and must have at least one charm which is voidtech or has a voidtech submodule installed. Advise the characters that they ought to take Strain Resistant Chasis modification a few times to survive what comes next. As an Alternative to taking the Strain Resistant Chassis Modification Consider using the rules variant found HERE.
Stage 1: Learning your place.
The characters exit the vats and are 'jumped in' by the existing exalted, taking a single barehanded punch from each of them who are in the city at the time and not colossi. This will probably roll them over into lethal damage, but if they fight back they will be killed, as they have already been warned. The then are escorted to their apartments and allowed to take their anger out on their slaves as they heal. Over the next few weeks they learn that as far as Erlik's Exalted go they are at the bottom of the heap in a society that considers casual cruelty the 'nom-de-regur' and that they have to struggle for almost everything they get. During this time they will be expected to patrol the city for escape attempts, assist the Nonartite in whatever way is required, and help with defending the city from Destroyer attacks.
Stage 2: Play out the leash.
The characters will eventually be paired with several of the other exalts and sent on missions deep into the reaches, after Erlik thinks he has leverage to make sure they will report back, even for him the characters represent a significant investment. Misisons can include retrieving Void Cultists to replenish the population, murdering or kidnapping tunnlefolk, and scouting missions into Nurad. The characters will be expected to report on each others activities and play mutual commissar. This will be the longest phase of the chronicle, and ends only as Erlik at last breaches Nurad's cavern chamber. During this phase Erlik will exalt more 'champions' and the PCs will be expected to monitor and control the next set of 'New Guys'.
Stage 3: The Fall: of Nurad; or Erlik?
The last part of the chronicle will be a bitter war betwene the champions and army of Nurad and the same forces of Erlik. The two will fight in a bitter and epic struggle for supremacy as Erlik's terrible engines of destruction and dark champions lay waste to Nurad's structure and landscape.
Even if Erlik 'wins' at the very last the ST is advised to have him lose: when he at last takes his place in the ruins of what was once Phrygea he has his people try to cannibalize and install the charm which was to allow her to interface with the great maker, hoping to kill Autochthon with one psionic blast of hatred, but instead he is destroyed as his former mentor was. When a man, or a city, embarks on a path of vengeance, he should first dig two graves.
Type Omega
In this type of situation the party of Exalts has located Erlik and is ready to attack the dark city with a substantial force. In a desperation move Erlik exalts one last batch of dark champions to aid in it's defense and attempt to repulse the invaders. the final five champions which Erlik creates at this time are given rough outlines bellow and links created to their full sheets^.
^(Footnote: At the present time none of these sheets are finished, or in point of fact started. This footnote will be edited to reflect this authors progress with creating the characters in question. It is my intent to eventually have full sheets for all of them so that they can be pulled out and used by the ST at a moment's notice. Two types of sheet will be provided: a 'quick NPC' sheet and then as time permits a full sheet with all details, the ST should chose one of the two to use and stick with it due to the inherent incompatibility of the two approaches. If the ST chooses to use these characters in her game she is requested to copy whichever sheet she chooses onto a page under her own account and edit it from there to reflect what happens in her game rather than use these sheets to track such things. All edits by persons other than myself will be reverted and the action reported to the moderators.)
Arc of Void Lightning
This orichalcum caste champion's previous incarnations include a succession of polar mutants and a handful of Lumitors. She also was once a member of the Militate in Erlik, some 105 years ago who died at barely the age of 18 facing down a destroyer who had come to attack the city during it's long crawl to fight Nurad. In her incarnation as a champion she fights with a Shield and Daiklave of orichalcum and Gunzosha armor.
Chains of the Profane
This Starmettal caste is the second of the five alchemicals to emerge from the vats. He is a martial artist who uses a fighting chain and wears discreet essence armor. In many of his past incarnations he has been a martial artist as well, and some of that training has carried over into his perfected lotus matrix granting him the charms of a MA style used with a fighting chain up to the form type.
Barbed Vengeance of the Void Gods
Barbed Vengeance of the Void Gods
Perceptor of the Gathering Dark
Perceptor of the Gathering Dark
