Fate of the Immortals
Heroism and Sacrifice within the Stairway Tower
Narrative Type: Heroic Legend
Purported Date: September 12th, 973 PCE
Location: Stairway Tower, Manhattan Island
Cultural Origin: Laradan
Purported Date: September 12th, 973 PCE
Location: Stairway Tower, Manhattan Island
Cultural Origin: Laradan
The Five Tribes would never return to Nehark until the Stairway Seat could be challenged and the Princes of Heaven driven from the earth! But how can mortals challenge the will of gods? Our people waited for a savior that would dare to climb the Stairway, to walk the bridge between earth and sky, and reclaim the power of the Precursors for humanity.
When Lord Fredrick and his Immortal Riders came to Skyhome, we knew our saviors had arrived. But immortality bears a heavy price. No man lives forever. Only the memory of a famous name can endure. That is the legacy of Lord Fredrick. In our legends, the Savaran and his companions will live forever.
The heroic exploits of Lord Fredrick and his Immortal 99 are widely celebrated in many cultures. For the Skyhome peoples of the North American continent, however, Fredrick's victory at the Battle of New York and subsequent sacrifice against Prime Tetrarch Jost Desaad instantly elevated him to mythical status.
Background
Merikan lore has long sustained belief in the presumed divinity of the Princes of the Hidden Hand, which may explain why the Hidden Empire was able to maintain control of Gamorod for so long. Gamorod's slave society, convinced of the invincible godhood of the Princes, never dared to imagine the downfall of their immortal overlords. The neighboring city-states of Skyhome shared belief in the godlike invincibility of the Stairway Tower and its immortal masters but nonetheless yearned for a day of deliverance from the Shadow of Princes. In search of a saviour, the Skylanders turned to prophecy.
Gamorod Diaspora
Taking refuge in the Outlands of Larada, the Five Tribes of Nehark were driven from Gamorod in 506 PCE after being forced to aid construction of the Stairway Tower. Survivors of the Gamorod Diaspora clung to the belief they would one day return to their homelands, and their unifying conviction gave rise to a prophecy among the Laradans that a hero would emerge to destroy Gamorod and expel the Princes from Skyhome. This so-called “Star Seeker Prophecy” anticipated the return of a champion from the past named Yves Olivoix, “the Star Seeker,” who had borne a legendary weapon known as the Star Staff and saved Skyhome from invading Vril Badlanders around the year 420 PCE.
Outlander prophets and sages spread folktales claiming that Yves Olivoix and his Sentinels would eventually return to defeat the Princes of the Hidden Hand and once more liberate Skyhome from tyranny as they had done during the first Vril Incursion. When it was revealed that Fredrick Brasden bore Olivoix's ancient Star Staff (which he called the Star Rod), Fredrick came to be seen as the inheritor of Olivoix's salvific role in the prophecy. Bearing the harnessed power of the stars, Fredrick would use the will of heaven to break the Princes' God Staff and end the Reign of Princes.
Event
After winning the field at the Battle of New York, Fredrick and his companions entered the Stairway Tower in pursuit of Desaad and the other Princes. According to Laradan Lore-Keepers, Fredrick ended the Princes' power by striking the God Staff from Jost Desaad's hand and shattering its crystal shard. Denuded of divine power, Desaad then suffered a fatal blow from the Star Rod.
According to legend, the release of the Prime Tetrarch's immortal strength unleashed a destructive shockwave of energy that toppled the pinnacle spire. While the Princes were instantly killed in the ensuing conflagration, the gods saw fit to spare the Four Heroes from immolation by stellifying them as a new star known as "Maelchon," "the quick brightness."
Historical Basis
After The Battle of New York the Immortal 99, led by General Rollon Leroux and Sir Taylor Meddowes, entered the pinnacle chamber of the Stairway Tower and engaged the Myrmidons of the Steel Legion while Lord Fredrick pursued the fleeing Princes.
Meanwhile, Fredrick's friend and boon companion Lord Harold Mayfield issued a challenge to Desaad's champion, the deathless Prince known as XHAN, who abandoned Desaad's side in order to face Harold for a third time in single combat.
Fredrick then confronted Desaad, upon the gangway of the Stairway Sky Anvil and matched Star Rod against God Staff in a battle of wit and will for control of the Stairway itself. Without his cybernetic bodyguard, Desaad finally fell in honourable combat.
Star Rod
This artifact is a component of the Cosmic Apparatus, a powerful array of relics created in the Precursor kingdom of Orad.
During the struggle, a mighty explosion tore through the roof of the Stairway showering the sky with scattered flares and smoking debris. As the smoldering embers fell to the earth, a column of white smoke arced into the sky streaming upward beyond the blue manifold of the heavens. Upon the Tetra Arch, the glyph of the fourfold covenant faded from view signalling the capture of the God Staff and the death of Jost Desaad.
Every member of the Immortals was killed in the explosion. Lord Fredrick and the rest of the Four Heroes were counted among those lost in the event, which also claimed the lives of the remaining Princes: Kalix, XHAN, and Desaad. Goland Revize, Archon of the Rising Phoenix Order, personally investigated the wreckage of the Stairway's ruined pinnacle and subsequently sealed the tower and forbid access to the unveiled secrets of the Hidden Empire. Archon Goland would go on to rename his organization the "Order of the Golden Phoenix" and establish a new global empire based in the ancient Precursor city of Rome. The tower remains closely guarded by Merikan troops.
Spread
This legend is common to all Skyhome cultures throughout the North American continent. It is most widely promulgated and fervently believed by the Laradans and Nehark tribes, who consider Lord Fredrick to be an ascended divinity, which they call "Savaran," so-named for Lord Fredrick's birthplace in the far away lands of Pershahr.
Variations and Mutation
Cultures that do not worship the Laradan pantheon hold differing views. For example, evangelical Christians of the nascent Merikan Union do not accept the idea that Fredrick became a god at the The Battle of New York and instead assert that he and his comrades were merely subsumed into paradise.
On the other hand, the Silver Clans of the Forbidden Zone view the sacrifice of Lord Fredrick with antipathy, for to them Prince XHAN had been no tyrant but rather a hero in his own right during the Hidden Hand's campaign against the Vrelland Badlanders in the Merikan Crusade of 820 PCE.
“Take the first step in faith,
my friends.”
Its a great article, thats all there is to say. Great premise, you found a good way of combining the facts behind the myth with the more legendary elements. The theme and pictures you used fit really well. All in all it reads really well, looks good, gives a look into an interesting world and defenitely makes one want to read more.