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| | '''Lanos, Lord of Truth''', embodies the search for Truth and the expungement |
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| ==Lanos, the Lord of Truth==
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| Lanos, Lord of Truth, embodies the search for Truth and the expungement | |
| of those agencies that seek to obscure the Truth. Some mortals under Lanos' | | of those agencies that seek to obscure the Truth. Some mortals under Lanos' |
| guidance seek Truth through crusading, some through scholarly study and | | guidance seek Truth through crusading, some through scholarly study and |
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| worlds behind Him with His Sword of Truth. His presence, now released from its prison, has found a | | worlds behind Him with His Sword of Truth. His presence, now released from its prison, has found a |
| new mortal host and been transformed into Lord [[Damariel]], the Unbound. | | new mortal host and been transformed into Lord [[Damariel]], the Unbound. |
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| {{GodPage}} | | {{GodPage}} |
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| == The Sacrifice==
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| <pre>
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| On the 25th of Khepary, year 60 of the Midnight Age, did Lanos, Lord of
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| Truth most nobly sacrifice Himself to the fiends of the Shadow Plane,
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| fighting them back that He might seal the breach between the two planes
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| with His sword of Truth. A transcript of the evening's spectacle as seen
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| by mortal eyes follows:
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|
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| ----
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|
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| You think you hear the toll of a distant bell, a faint but pure tone
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| hovering on the night breeze.
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|
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| You are sure of it now - a clear metallic ring, but it grows louder
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| rather than fading as a bell would.
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|
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| The tone sounds more familiar now, and gently textured, as the rapid
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| unsheathing of steel blade from scabbard.
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| Suddenly, a shower of silvery sparks bursts in the heavens, illuminating
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| the dusky gloom with millions of tiny motes. A huge sword seems to rend
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| the very air, and the glowing figure of Lanos, Lord of Truth steps
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| through.
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|
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| Lanos, Lord of Truth's voice resonates overhead, "Mortalkind, hear Me
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| and be enlightened!"
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|
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| Lanos, Lord of Truth's voice resonates overhead, "Your offerings have
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| given Me strength needed to break free of My adversary. Four years have
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| I battled, engaging a hideous and nameless foe."
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| Lanos, Lord of Truth's voice resonates overhead, "Four years it has been
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| since I sensed a threat to this realm of the direst kind. Four years ago
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| did I discover an otherplanar intruder, a vile and contemptible entity
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| forged of purest shadow."
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|
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| Lanos, Lord of Truth's voice resonates overhead, "Though Who engineered
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| it I have not yet determined, a tear was rent in the veil between
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| dimensions, a porthole to a plane of darkness and shadow, where Truth
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| skulks in unknown crevices while Deceit and Obfuscation reign."
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| Lanos, Lord of Truth's voice resonates overhead, "Through this loathsome
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| gateway did I sense a dark presence, a being of pure darkness and
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| concealment, surely My nemesis. In defense of the realm did I beset the
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| fiend with the weapons of Truth and Justice, but it fought back,
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| assailing Me incessantly with Shadow and Untruth."
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|
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| Lanos, Lord of Truth's voice resonates overhead, "Ultimately, our
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| struggle was a draw, though I lacked the strength to break free of the
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| conflict until now, such was the power of My nemesis in its own shadow
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| realm."
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| Lanos, Lord of Truth's voice resonates overhead, "I return to seek the
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| aid of My Divine Brethren in this battle for Truth, for I fear for the
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| fate of the realm!"
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| Very faintly, on the edge of consciousness, there is heard an undeniable
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| screech of triumph and a throbbing pain assaults your ears.
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| A heart-sickening sound suddenly tears through the air, and in the sky
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| overhead there appears a ragged gash, as if the firmament itself is
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| rending.
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| The rim of the gash in the sky slowly peels back, the frayed edges
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| appearing as those some hideously diseased wound, and from it an inky
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| blackness begins to seep.
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|
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| As the seeping shadow accumulates, it begins to writhe and take shape
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| into a great tenebrous cloud, growing with shocking speed.
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| The ragged hiss of a feminine voice is carried on a cold wind through
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| the realm. At last, a new world to smother and consume. My children will
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| feast upon this place.
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| From afar, the sounds of thousands of elated screeching cries are heard.
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| A ragged, hissing feminine voice seems to echo from all around. You
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| speak with such confidence, and yet you do not know my power here. There
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| is much to consume, and thus much that will strengthen me. I have lain
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| idle for millennia in my realm, starving, and yet I was able to cripple
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| you even then. Here is a feast, and when I gorge myself I will become
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| unstoppable.
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| Lanos, Lord of Truth's voice resonates overhead, "The realm of Aetolia
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| shall not be allowed to diminish beneath your vile obfuscation, creature
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| of shadow! I will defend this realm to the last, and you will be undone
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| by My hand if you remain."
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| For a moment, the sky brightens as a blaze of lightning races towards
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| the looming shadow. An indignant hiss emanates from the inky mass, and
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| it recoils slightly.
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|
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| Then, with renewed fury it billows forth towards the Vashnar Mountains
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| and the Pillars of Heaven, and silhouetted against the darkening
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| horizon, the armor-clad figure of the Lord of Truth strides from the
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| Garden to meet the shadow.
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| His longswords reflecting the bolts of lightning that rip across the
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| heavens, Lanos slashes the shadow with a whirl of the magic blades. In
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| an instant, the being lashes back at the God with surprising strength,
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| stunning Him momentarily.
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|
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| Surging towards Lanos, the shadow seems to take hold of the Blade of
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| Justice, though it screeches in agony even as it does so. Nonetheless,
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| it does not relent, and despite Lanos struggle the blade is wrenched
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| away and devoured by the darkness.
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| Lanos seizes the opportunity afforded by his foes momentary
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| preoccupation with consuming one sword, and plunges the second, the
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| Blade of Truth into the inky blackness with a mighty battle cry. The
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| Gods own cry is instantly drowned out by a shriek of pain from the
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| shadow being, and it reels backwards slightly, Lanos holding the sword
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| in place.
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|
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| The Shadow writhes in frustration, trying to knock the God away, but He
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| drives the blade ever deeper, pushing the being back towards the gash
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| high above.
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| At last the shadow is poised within the gash again, and with a final
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| heave of His strength, Lanos forces the creature back to the other side
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| of the tear, stepping through Himself. For a moment more He is visible
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| silhouetted on a field of infinite night within the gash, and then He
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| wrenches the sword from the shadow being and plunges it back towards
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| Sapience.
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| A dolorous wail descends from the heavens, a cry of dismay and despair
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| cut short as a brilliant flash appears overhead.
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| When the flash has faded at last, only a bright star is visible
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| overhead, a shaft of steel embedded in the firmament.
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|
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| ----
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| So went Lanos, Lord of Truth into a realm of shadow, never again to
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| return lest the seal between our world and the Shadow Plane be rent
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| asunder, unleashing the fiends therein upon us all. His only legacy the
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| tip of his longsword, the Sword of Truth, now known to mortals as the
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| Star of Truth, sealing the hole between worlds and preserving our safety
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| from that dark realm.
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| </pre>
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