Colonial God

The Extraplanar God-Lords Who Ruled First Age Materia

We could speak at length about their immortality, the mobility of their essences, their warbodies, their sometimes cataclysmic magical aptitude. But I think the root of their power lied in their entitlement. There was no doubt in their mind that their lot was to rule, that planar affairs were best left in the hands of an involved sort of god. They genuinely believed they were bringing a gift to Waking Materia, that the Insurgent Gods fought not for justice, but to poison the plane's sense of gratitude.

The strength of their false conviction was as a force of nature.

— The Inula'an Dialogues

Silence, boy! How dare you speak to a god like that?

— Moro
Princess Mononoke

The Colonial Gods are the Lichlords who arrived on Waking Materia for the purpose of planar colonization. Their efforts were countered, semi-successfully, by the Insurgent Gods.

While the terms 'Lichlord' and 'Colonial God' are often used interchangably (and indeed they mostly overlap), not all Colonial Gods were liches and not all Lichlords were allies to the Colonial pantheons.

Though they are colloquially called gods, the Lichlords (like their Insurgent counterparts) were not True Deities, but rather Ascendant demigods, with more limited, regional divine power.

The arrival of the first Colonial Gods, namely Inum'indiron'aravaut and his Šaru'um lieutenants, marks the beginning of the First Age of Meranthic Civilization, or I.M.0 (zero years Intra-Merantha) on Materia's Yasnan Calendar.

The Colonial Gods of Lorgain

The First Empire, often called the Kelpeater Empire or Alanthan'aravaut (actually its capital) arrived on Waking Materia under the command of the warlord, corsair and archmage Inum'indiron'aravaut, originally from the plane of Lorgain.

The lesser Lichlords were given the title Šaru'um ("Great Lord") under Ina'ut, the Šar'šara'ani ("Lord of Lords"). In polite company (or anywhere their ishka'ri inquisitors might be listening) their names were given the suffix "-ʑu". How exactly this sound is pronounced is unknown, but third-party accounts confirm some Ula'thau'la consonants involve bodily percussion (typically on the chest) with their second pair of vestigial arms, so this may be one such sound.

There was no differentiation between Kelpeater religion and the ruling Lichlords: they were worshipped as landed gods, and practice of any outside Material or Duskscape religion was suppressed, violently if necessary.

The Lichlords of Alanthan'aravaut were as follows:

Inum'indiron'aravaut

Full article: Inum'indiron'aravaut

Later shortened to Ina'ut, God-Emperor and supreme ruler of the empire. While much of the rule was delegated to lesser, regional Lichlords as Alanthan'aravaut expanded, Ina'ut's rule was absolute and no major decision was made without confirmed alignment to his divine edicts. His divine swords were called ishka'ri and his divine staves called tsuna'am.

Šaru'um Kozu'e

Full Article: Lichlord Kozu'e

Ina'ut's mysterious and rarely-seen Number One. Not known to take other bodies aside from her mortal form, Kozu'e was slight to the point of being almost childlike, with pale skin and a thick mane of white hair which inspired half of her famous title, "The White Death".

Šaru'um Indu'una

Full Article: Lichlord Indu'una

The first of Ina'ut's Two Fists, Indu'una was a warlord of near-unparalleled skill and wit. His specialty was the taming and breeding of megafauna for warfare, for example anzu/drakes as flying mounts, or rampaging wurms & baloths as forward troops. His elitemost troops, who also rode domesticated megafauna, were known as Devastators.

Šaru'um Io'a

Full Article: Lichlord Io'a

The second of Ina'ut's Two Fists, Io'a was a calamitously powerful druid-barbarian who specialized in exploration, tracking and the colonization of new territories. Sometimes titled the Ur-Predator and The Inevitable, he and his troops were usually the first thing seen by those about to become new subjects of the Kelpeater Empire. He would eventually defect and start his own, independent nation named Iyō.

Šaru'um Na'ashu

Full Article: Lichlord Na'ashu

Ina'ut's lead diviner and spymaster, unusual in that she was not at all secretive; indeed, she was a fashionable and gregarious member of the crown-pantheon, as eager to attend parties and dicussion salons as she was to play cat-and-mouse with the empire's enemies (usually via crystal ball, from the comfort of her study). Unlike the stouter, Kelpeater Šaru'um, Na'ashu was often portrayed as tall and lithe, indicating she may have been closer to a typical Meranthic person.

The Colonial Gods of Rozsa

Later in the First Age, two more Lichlords, this time from the plane of Rozsa would arrive to compete with Ina'ut and further split the efforts of the Insurgent Gods (though the two empires would clash directly). They were the siblings Nir and Nef, who would found the empire of New Rozsa, which would eventually split into Nireau and Nefirot.

The Lichlords of New Rozsa held the title "Vierix" (plural: Vierices; no known translation). Unlike the Kelpeaters, New Rozsan society was largely secular, with the Lichlords Nir and Nef ruling over a complex web of councils, senates and courts. They were seen more as (extremely powerful) nobles rather than gods to be worshipped, which by all accounts was their design.

Undeath was a daily reality in New Rozsa, with mindless undead making up a large part of the nation's labour and military force. This made them dire enemies of the death gods Overshepherd Rom and the Skull Knight, who represent the sanctity of the deceased. Lichdom was also granted to more nobles and Nir and Nef didn't hold these secrets as tightly as Ina'ut. The known lesser Lichlords are as follows.

Vierix Lakodalmas

Full Article: Vierix Lakodalmas

The Listener at the Edge. A mysterious and reclusive figure, said to be among the eldest of the Rozsan immortals, possibly older than Nir and Nef. Generally portrayed as an ancient black dragon gilded in golden skin grafts. It is unknown whether he was an actual dragon by birth or the shape was simply a Warbody that he never shed.

Vierix Echidna

Full Article: Vierix Echidna

The Ebon Hand. The first of two major Nireauan warlords, charged by her twin god-emperors to explore and secure the myriad islands voidward of Nireau. Echidna’s writings would remain the canon of First Contact methods for centuries. Unlike her glory-driven counterpart Adepticus, the Ebon Hand was as content to use subterfuge as she was to use violence, though if a fight was necessary, she was well ready: known as the Volgirre, her elite guard were masters of survival, infiltration, psychology, swordsmanship and blood magic.

Vierix Adepticus

Full Article: Vierix Adepticus

Glad-O-War; The Grinning Lion. The second of the Nireauan army’s two supreme commanders, Glad-O-War was responsible for the Coreward front while Echidna's forces explored Voidward. Adepticus lived and breathed warfare: nothing thrilled him more than a strategic disadvantage to be overcome, a new enemy general to outwit or a new weapon to test.

Vierix Chelicerax

Full Article: Vierix Chelicerax

The Red King. Initially a top-ranking enforcer of the Empire's Ex-Nihilo paramilitary: a politically invisible task force the Lichlords reached to for the most politically delicate of operations. At any rate, the Empire loosened his leash a little too much, and so the Red King ran his scorpion-man (called chelierans) army on a merry raping and reiving across the Beta Quarter, nearly bringing out the world war he was previously employed to protect, before being personally dispatched by Lichlord Nef himself.

Vierix Ionia

Full Article: Vierix Ionia

The Dread Star of Heaven. Arch-paladin of a minor but inluential Nireauan religion known as The Three-Pointed Dawn, which in part was a Hyperion Cult of Overshepherd Rom. Ionia is generally portrayed in a simple but dignified suit of bright-white mythrilweave and a gold, featureless mask that covered her entire head. While Nir & Nef were unfond of the Seraphite church and their political meddling, it seems apparent that antagonizing Ionia and her alabaster armies was less convenient than including them in Nireauan statecraft.

Vierix Orgonon

Full Article: Vierix Orgonon

The Sagacious; The Flavour of Morning. Another sort of religious leader in the odd Nireauan reckoning of things, Orgonon was a monk initially dedicated to the physical and mental cultivation required to explore the Duskscape, teaching meditative techniques to resist fear, enchantment & illusion and martial arts to compensate for the sometimes odd behaviour of material weapons in quasi-reality.

Vierix Xandalphon

Full Article: Vierix Xandalphon

Generally portrayed as a handsome, muscular, light-complexioned man with a strong dislike of clothing. Accounts on this Lichlord are varied and less agreed-upon by Scholars of the Canon, painting the picture of a man possessed of either great subtlety or great eccentricity, with erratic loyalties and indefinable politics.

In actual fact Xandalphon was an avatar of the first local ascendant and goddess of night Asphodel, acting as a mole within the empire that was decimating her nation-cult at the time. Whether the Night Lady was ever successful in exacting revenge on her subjects’ killers is unclear; certainly Alanthan'aravaut would undergo a series of sharp declines in the coming centuries, however it’s difficult to prove what of that was Asphodel’s holy work.

Vierix Euphraxia

Full Article: Vierix Euphraxia

The Ashen. Euphraxia of the Long Arm. Famous nemesis of Vierix Clymenikari and the Hecath Queen, Raggedy Azra. Perhaps the most polarizing and controversial of the Nireauan Lichlords, The Ashen appears to be regarded by scholars as either a messiah or utterly insane, with few opinions resting in between. Similar to Orgonon the Sagacious, she was both a ruling councilmember and a religious leader in her own right, but that’s where the comparison ends. Until the collapse of the Nireauan Empire, Euphraxia desired only one thing: to create the Philosopher’s Stone, an arcane catalyst that can allegedly grant an entire coven magicks equal or even greater in power than those of the arcane demigods. Where Orgonon’s followers cultivate mental and physical fitness for exploring the Twilight Eternities, Euphraxia’s cultivated these things to provide the most quintessence when they commit ritual suicide at the Altar of the Stone Philosophers, paving the way further to realizing Euphraxia's unlife-long obsession...

Vierix Pramanix

Full Article: Vierix Pramanix

A reclusive genius in a similar vein to God-Empress Nir herself, very little information has survived on Pramanix, who seemed to disdain fame or empty conversation. Art is generally of a plain-looking man in his 40s or 50s with rounded spectacles and a hunch (unusual in that the Lichlords had access to bioengineered eyes and spines). Much of his work seemed to revolve around the meeting of the physical and metaphysical, the barrier between life and death, alchemy and magic, hoping to find a consistent underlying model of all things.

Vierix Clymenikari

Full Article: Vierix Clymenikari

Seemingly the latest of the Vierices, Clymenikari was unusual in that she seemed to have more access to Nir than nearly everyone else save for the God-Empress's brother. She would being news of the outside world to the reclusive Nir, whereupon they would allegedly discuss every subject under the Wyld.

Clymenikari was a biologist, anthropologist and social theorist who was the lead liaison between the New Rozsan Empire and the intelligent, non-humanoid Hecath. She was able to befriend a particularly gregarious Hecath Queen by the word-name of Raggedy Azra. They developed a shared sign language as humanoids were incapable of the Hecath's scent-based language, and across decades exchanged untold amounts of cross-cultural information.

Vierix Phaedra

Full Article: Shelas Ob'Silexia

A famous medium and channeler, especially sensitive to the spirits of the drowned, Phaedra would eventually become the feared Material God of predation and sea monsters, Ob'Silexia. Even as an insane god-monster, she seemed to retain her hatred of New Rozsa's rival empire, Alanthan'aravaut; indeed, she may have been personally responsible for the Alanthian decline in nautical power in the late First Age.

Vierix Arcturinox

Full Article: Vierix Arcturinox

The solemn, tireless, unstoppable march of justice. Arcturinox is minor Rozsan demigod from a time before the empire's colonization of Materia, an ascendant hero of a great war where Galateids threatened to overtake organic humanoid civilization. Arcturinox regards himself as generous, like a veterinarian bravely shoving the medicine in the biting maw of a frightened animal. Both his hand and organic humanoids will then heal.

Vierix Oleander

Full Article: Vierix Oleander

Most High Pontifex of the Sanguine Vow. Seemingly the latest of the Vierices prior to the fall of Nireau, Oleander achieved her lichlorddom upon taking over the leadership of the Sanguine Vow, a semi-independent protectorate of estrié who were ostensibly loyal to the twin god-emperors. Accounts seem mostly to rate her as an unimpressive High Pontifex, more preening and shallow than her predecessors, though there is the occasional suspicion that this was a persona meant to obscure the political movements of the Vow.

Vierix Echidna, the Ebon Hand, God-Queen of Xois, supreme commander of the Volgirre.

The Colonial Gods

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Type

Religious, Pantheon

Related Historical Events

• 2852 I.M.
  The Wars of Finality
• 1210 I.M.
  The Dragon Wars

Vierix Lakodalmas, the Listened at the Edge, Sultan of Furia.

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Šaru'um Na'ashu, the eyes and ears of God-Emperor Inum'indiron'aravaut.

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Šaru'um Io'a, the Ur-Predator.

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Šaru'um Kozu'e, the White Death.

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Mea Maxima Culpa, famed Greyguard and one of the great mortal heroes who campaigned in the Wars of Finality, to bring an ultimate end to the Lichlords.

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Vierix Adepticus, the Grinning Lion.