Guzademor - The Doom of Azragan

Oh Azragan is not dead, my dear. The Kingdom lives on. And I mean that quite literally.

— Monrik the Mad Raider

Mana is powerful. That is a simple truth of the world and most people learn it by the time they become an adult. However, few can even begin to imagine what the energy known as the "Blood of Gods" is truly capable of. And that even their worst nightmares pale in comparison to what it can create.

Eldritch Energy

The people of Azragan, a small kingdom located in the northern reaches of the World's End Wall, learned this on a cold winter night over a thousand years ago. What exactly happened is unknown, the only sign of the kingdom's fall being a massive Mana burst that gained the attention of Dvergari Mages all across the world. It was clear that something terrible had occurred, but it would be a year before an expedition could be sent north. What they uncovered was beyond their wildest imagination: Azragan had been transformed into a titanic fungal creature.

Beyond Imagination

When people think about Guzademor, the "Ever-crawling Terror", they usually imagine a monster sitting deep within the catacombs of the old dwarven hall. They are wrong as it is not just a singular creature, the city itself had been transformed.

Titanic Organism

Azragan, its halls, walls, buildings, and everything within, has in essence become a mixture of stone, glass, iron and fungal material. Said mass is ever-changing and pulsating with unholy life. Caps, heads and tentacles constantly grow from the mass, release spores and sink back down to be consumed by the main body. Spikes burrow into surrounding stone and release an acid liquid to break down the surrounding stone. Originally thought to be a few hundred meters long and wide, it is now assumed to have consumed the entirety of the mountain that once housed Azragan. This means that it is easily the single largest being in existence.

Ominous Sentience

Perhaps the most unsettling aspect of Guzademor is that it appears sentient in a way. Its expansion seems directed, always in search for mineral deposits or sources of water. Any intrusion is immediately noticed and closely followed. Defensive actions are taken should said people prove too curious or threatening. Spore clouds, spikes, acid bombs and lakes, sinkholes and worst of all, a long wail of a growl that will emerge from deep within the mountain. Some explorers have even reported seeing eyes and mouths within the pulsating mass and many an individual too curious has vanished down a seemingly stable corridor never to return.

Active Mana

As if the idea of mountain-sized, sentient fungus was not nightmarish enough it also seems to possess powerful magical abilities. The very air around the creature is saturated with the energy and closer examination of its "body" will reveal glowing veins that are filled with the eldritch energy. Its abilities range from reinforcing its spikes and shooting small projectiles to summoning powerful storms that lift even boulders up into the air. How much Mana the creature possesses is unknown.

Growing Disease

by Ede László

Guzademor would be nothing more than a horrific obscurity, a fascinating oddity situated in a far-off valley if not for one terrible fact: it and its zone of influence are growing. Fungi all around the mountain have shown increasing mutations in the past millennium, growing to levels previously unimaginable.
These growths can happen slowly or in sudden bursts and they have been known to consume isolated villages in the wider vicinity. As the creature grows larger it seems to produce smaller organisms to help defend it. Reports from those watching over Guzademor claim that shapes wander among the writhing mass and that strange cries emanate from within. For the past three centuries, the area has been sealed off via Magic and is under constant watch by a complement of Dvergari Mages.

That humming you can hear? That is its voice. Quite interesting to listen to really. As if it were chanting something.

— Enrik Stormbril after the Second Expedition

Scientific Name

Mana Mutation/Eldritch Creation

Geographic Distribution

• Ruined Kingdom of Azragan

Related Ethnicities

• Hen-Azragani

Discovered by

Monrik the Mad Raider

by Ede László

Tormented Expedition

While the upsurge of Mana in Azragan caught the attention of almost every Mage in Dvergar, there was little they could do in response. Most of them were caught up in the ongoing Reef Wars and it would take nearly a year till a response could be formed. Led by the infamous tomb raider Monrik Blackbone and accompanied by then Acolyte Endrik Stormbril, an expedition explored what had happened to Azragan. They barely made it out alive, half of their 100 strong group perishing.

Survivors

For the longest time, people believed the Azragani to have perished. Until three-hundred years after the calamity, a small group emerged from a mine many weeks travel away. They claimed to have been a mining expedition that had been cut off from the city. When the monster emerged, they fought it off with fire while desperately searching for a way out. A natural cave eventually brough salvation, but by then the Azragani had changed, henceforth known as Hen-Azragani.

I cannot imagine the force that could create such a monstrosity.

— Adarn Steelbrow, High Mage of Dvergar

Mystery

Whatever caused the Doom of Azragan is unknown. The fact that the High Kingdom has began to enforce its ban on Fleshcarving more strictly may indicate that they know more than has been made public.

by SAM RisovaL