EMPYREAN

While traversing the glacial highlands of Arandor, the landscape becomes deceivingly dreamy, leading unwary travelers in the embrace of the unrelenting cold.

Another attempt to depict the wildly changing climate of Arandor in a single shot. From the Desolate Wastelands in the basins and valleys of the world, to the Glacial Highlands in the higher altitudes.

Ydris the Strong is a legendary Arandorean hero and one of the first Empyreans of Arandor. Together with other Empyreans she rose defiantly against Akronas and the Hexad long ago. It is said that it was Ydris who destroyed one of the original overlords in a duel, and she and her allies nearly defeated Akronas before he could ascend into godhood. Sadly, it didn't come to pass. Tragedy befell the ancient heroes, and a terrible fate lay in store for those among them that were taken captive alive. Chained in torpor inside giant suspension tanks, the great heroes were used as batteries producing elixirs for the immortal gods of the hexad, and their chosen. Ydris was given as a gift to Nalatoth, the overlord of Anatheras, and through the hundreds of years that she remained imprisoned in the palace vaults, her memories sunk into oblivion. Then, one day, a sudden and unexpected power surge ripped through the palace vaults, destroying the suspension tanks. Some of the forsaken captives ...

Background Kaltos led a peaceful and relatively unassuming life, in the small subterranean settlement of Atias, deep in the bowels of the citadel of Anatheras.  He helped run the settlement's church, lending moral, psychological and physical support to those that needed it. Although he was hardy and strong-willed, he didn't have the violent spirit needed to practice in martial ways. When a gang tore his settlement apart in a brutal rampage, Kaltos was among those who fell first, but died last, after much pain and torture.  When Kaltos returned from death, he was still in agony, and had to pull himself out of the terrible torture that the gang had inflicted on him. He could not remember exactly what had happened. He gazed in disbelief at his healed wounds, and gasped at the new sensation of a godlike flame living inside his chest.  One would think that it was a sensation of pride and excess, but it was quite the contrary. A humbling and reverent sensation - ...

"In pale frost, the land entire lay covered in the days of old. The Elder Race built their Empire, all across the ancient world. Their cities ruined, the frost was gone, melted before mankind ascendant, The Ancients hid, became forlorn, sleeping the dreamless sleep eternal. But mankind fell, from lofty peak, for all their dreams of glory, and in their sundered world they hid, paying the price of folly. Weary, the sun, in fury cast, his last dying breaths of flame, and thus the Elders, did at last, return their world to claim. Covered in frost, the mountain peaks emerge among the ruins of old. Then he'll return - their ancient King, to lead the conquest of this world." - Legacy of a Dying Sun Forlorn Prophecies

Anatheras is one of the oldest known names, its origin lost in time. Its meaning remains obscure. Some sources claim it means "Summer Palace", due to the alleged archaeological site of the old Arkenassian palace, buried somewhere deep in the bowels of the citadel. Others suggest the world relates to "Bane" or "Monster" due to the alleged presence of a slumbering ancient horror, sleeping in the depths of the sea near the citadel. What remains certain is that Anatheras is a place with a rich history and a lot of development. Sadly, most of the old sites are sealed under the citadel proper. But to understand Anatheras in its current state, one must comprehend the notion of the Arandorean Citadel. The Citadels were first built at least a thousand years ago, before the rise of the gods of the Hexad, with technology that is probably now lost forever. They are colossal behemoths, remnants of an era that is now long gone. They were built to secure million...

Mankind fell. It toppled from its high-perched seat, where it once gazed upon the universe with boundless ambition. Now tyrant-gods reign in gigantic citadels, whilst free men and women have turned into subjugated worshipers, or survive as marauding mutants, daring the new perils of the warped wilderness and the red desolation. This is the Age of the Fall. Six Tyrants now rule over thousands of Chosen, and millions of human slaves, worshipers and sacrificial victims. Together they are known as the Hexad, and are agreed upon as the official and only religion of Arandor. The Hexad have designated themselves as gods, bestowing gifts upon their chosen, rescuing their faithful from their tremendous ire, and punishing all other gods, seen as false. For a thousand years they’ve reigned, destroying all knowledge of the past, and completely rewriting the world’s history to suit them. They are fickle, whimsical gods. They are cruel, sadistic beings. But who can d...