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