The Ascendant Throne Item in Dark Epoch | World Anvil

The Ascendant Throne

Thrones. Crowns... the symbols of rulership. A person wears a crown and sits on a throne must be a King or Queen or Emperor. They may add a dash of God to the title to make it more impressive. God-King. God-Emperor. Look on my works yee mighty and despair. And a lot of time it works. People accept it. Maybe the one sitting on that throne has the army behind them or the support of the common folk who let's be honest outnumber their so called betters by an order of magnitude. But when that illusion starts to fail and people stop seeing the throne and just the person sitting on it, that's when dynasties fall and nations burn. The Ascendant Throne... that's different. Its true power. The power to command legions and ships with enough firepower to turn worlds to ash. But not just anyone can sit on the Ascendant Throne. You have to be special... plenty tried before it disappeared. From the lowest born to the highest. They all tried and they all turned to dust. So if you do find the throne and you plant yourself upon it and it doesn't reduce you to carbonized dust... you have the power to change the course of history."

 
 

The Ascendant Throne is an relic found within The Ascension a moon sized Elnorian vessel once used in the Uprising. The Ascension was the flagship and mobile base of the Ascendant Emperor who led the alliance of races against the Shai'Nari during the Uprising and afterward used it to solidify the nascent Ascendant Imperium. The Throne itself functions as a control point and key. Possessing an intelligence of its own the Throne and indeed the Ascension deem whoever sits upon it worthy or not of control. The true power the Throne confers is the control of the Eternal Legion; a vast force of Elnorian Golems, a terrifying assemblage of military might that potentially has no equal.

 

Origins

The Ascendant Throne, like all Elnorian relics, was built in the days of the great Empire and with it the Elnorian Masters were able to pacify the wild chaos of Otherverse at the time. As with all their technology it remains a marvel and the possessor of the Throne and thus the Ascension was invariably the most powerful of the Masters, the ruling elite of the Elnorian people. The Eternal Legion were used against the Shai'Nari hordes and were at the forefront of the campaign to wipe out the Elnorian nemeses outright.

But as time passed and the ennui set in the Elnorians dwindled in number and many of their great works were abandoned as some sought a new life beyond the physical or, in some cases, regressed to more primaeval and wild states. This allowed the remnants of the Shai'Nari to emerge from hiding and build for themselves an Empire. The Ascension was thought lost in the Dark Reaches, that region of Otherverse filled with the most dangerous beings and forces.

 

Rediscovery

The Ascension was found by the man who would become the Ascendant Emperor. A High Guard of the Shai'Nari this man was tasked with exploring the Dark Reaches and so he led a great expedition into that damned area. What happened next is unknown save that an Elnorian was discovered who, seeing in humans some trace of his own people, offered a chance for freedom from Shai'Nari dominion. The man accepted and the Elnorian showed him the Ascension and led him though its numerous defense's to the Throne.

That the man was deemed worthy and took command of the Ascension, the Throne and the Eternal Guard is well known. It was the beginning of the Uprising and the fall of the Shai'Nari empire. With the Shai'Nari gone the Ascendant Imperium would rise and a new era for Otherverse would begin. For a time the Ascendant Emperor used the Throne to control the Eternal Legion, wielding it as a weapon of ultimate sanction and to enforce peace between fractious parties.

When the Ascendant Emperor disappeared and the Imperium fell, the Ascension and the Throne disappeared. As did the Legion, suggesting the Emperor had abdicated the Throne which leads to many questions. Why did the Emperor seemingly abandon the Imperium and not use the might of the Legion to keep control? As with everything to do with the Ascendant Emperor, it remains an enigma.

 

The Throne Itself

Located deep within the Ascension, the Throne sits with a room devoid of details and filled with flittering insect sized machines, a defensive measure that will descend and dissect any who show hostility within the room. To reach the Throne Room one must survive the myriad defense's in place, many of whom contains tests of various sorts and navigating the changing tunnels and chambers of the Ascension, and then simply sit down upon the Throne. The Throne connects itself to the applicant, a painful process as organic and machine become conjoined. Those the Artificial Intelligence deem worthy are linked to the device and the ship and given command of the Eternal Legion. The Throne Room comes alive and changes form, pillars rising from the floor and descending from the ceiling, screens and other machines with pertinent information. What the Ascension sees, so does it the Ascended now sat upon the Throne. The worthy become changed. Their bodies are flooded with nanites whilst their brain undergoes rapid metamorphosis. They become stronger, faster, more durable. They think faster. They become a hybrid. They become part Elnorian.

Those that fail are quickly, painfully, reduced to dust by the Throne.

Records suggest that once the Throne was simply a control device during the Elnorian Empire. Yet it underwent a change after the Fall and during its long absence from known space. It seems possible that the mysterious Elnorian found by the soon-to-be Ascendant Emperor may have altered the Throne in preparation for an heir, a way of continuing the legacy of his people through their successors.

 

Present Whereabouts

As of now the Ascension sits in the Korivan System under the control of the Mesitori League. It is lifeless and around it has grown a small port wherein the League pay salvagers or force criminals to explore its depths, salvaging relics and charting its interior. The League wants the Throne but so far, despite hundreds of lives, they have not. The Ascension seems to change its interior layout to vex invaders and it still has a host of defensive systems as well as an abundance of lethal fauna that now call it home.

Item type
Unique Artifact

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