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One way or another, you have found your way to I, too, am in Acheron, alternatively known by it's Latin title of "Et in Acheron ego". This is an RP set in the Underworld, modeled somewhat after Greek mythology and Dante Alighieri's Inferno.

This is a mature RP. What I mean is that players are essentially allowed to do whatever they want, within reason. There most likely will be depictions of graphic violence, sex, and profanities.

If you are interested, then by all means please visit The State of Death, which is the subforum that contains all of the background information on the RP. If you are still interested after that, then please go to Charon's Laws and read the rules. Then go on ahead and write a character to be reviewed.

I hope you like what you see at Et in Acheron Ego. If you have any questions, then by all means contact me by AIM (doublehex168), MSN (doublehex@gmail.com), Skype (d0ublehex), or email (doublehex168@gmail.com).

Take your time, and be sure to have a very enjoyable Eternity.

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13. The Other Supernatural Races of the Underworld
Topic Started: Apr 10 2010, 10:08 AM (233 Views)
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The Underworld is too vast and infinite for it to be occupied by just the spirits of the dead. The Rivers have gone down crevaces that have not been charted, the shadows hide secrets that should not be discovered. The Shades take up the majority of that which populates Acheron, but they are not absolute. They are an infinite amount of residents, but there are those that are more prominent than others.

First, the Revenants. They too are the spirits of those that had passed from life, but unlike Shades they did not assume a physical form. Instead they possessed a suit of armor. Their ghostly energy flows through and out of the armor, and the slits glow a beautiful haunting hue. More so than Shades they desire to return to the Above-World: they have a distinct connection to their formal life, and they have a hunger to satisfy something.

Then there are the Angels, or the Celestials as some call them. The Angels, and their rivals the Demons, were here when the gates to Heaven and Hell disappeared. Seperated from their home, their divine powers have been removed from them. They are now trapped in a realm of the dead, but they have improvised. Seperated from their Lord, they are starting to become less divine and more human in nature. Of course, not a single one would degrade to common thievery, name calling, or murder for the sake of it. But they will sin in the name of the greater good. They are heavily involved with the Faithful, giving them guidance and control. Guided by their Virtue, they are above the common man, ghost, or other ghastly thing in the Underworld. They are Right.

The Demons were once Angels too. But they have Fallen. Their lord, Lucifer, led the revolution against God, and he was defeated. For their transgressions, the Demons were thrown into the Inferno. Hell became their domain. The phrase "Better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven" describes them perfectly. They do not believe in order, for that breeds servitude. They have no masters, just those they respect and honor. Anarchy is the best way to govern, for then every man is king and can best decide how to settle crisis. They are conflicted with their Torment, that which binds them from seeking redemption. Most Demons are not ugly, deformed, or monstrous in nature. In fact most of them look just like Angels, except they have dark wings. Only those Demons that have lost all traces of morality thanks to their Torment become the stereotypical imagery of Demons.

The guardians of the world are the Shifters. Their creation is full of controversy, contradictions and mystery. The exact method and the hand that guided their beginnings is, for the most part, unknown. That is irrelevant, however. Their purpose is very clear: to prevent armageddon with the end of Destruction itself. According to the teachings of these shape shifters, Destruction is just as much an aspect of nature as it is an alien entity that has a mind. It encompasses every end of anything in the world. Rot, rust, death, the shattering of bones, the collapse of a building. These are all a part of and add to Destruction. A fraction of Shifters have come to a startling conclusion: Destruction and the Nothing are one and the same. And so the Shifters are coming to the Underworld, to bring the battle to the End. They are at more of a disadvantage in the Underworld than they were in the Above-World: their connection to the World is all but cut off. They can still morph into their chosen creature, but it is very painful and exhausting, and it takes weeks time before they can do so again.

Finally, the Vampires. Caught in a limbo between being alive and dead, it is only natural for some Vampires to be in the realm of the dead. There are a multitude of reasons as to why the scores of Vampires have traveled to the Underword. Tired of being restricted to the night, the younger vampires being repulsed by the dictatorial ways of their elders, being able to talk freely and openly in the midst of other supernatural beings, many Vampires sees the Underworld, Acheron in particular, as a liberating place from the confines of the Above-World.
Edited by Doublehex, Apr 10 2010, 02:26 PM.
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Revenants are the brothers of Shades in many ways, mostly in terms of origin. It is debatable as to what determines the dividing lines between a Shade and a Revenant, although the general consensus is that Revenants have a much stronger Passion than the typical Shade does. In fact, one could argue that is much more along the lines of an obsession. The Passion is almost entirely all that a Revenant thinks about: if there is an opportunity to deal with the Passion, Revenants will go on an almost suicidal course.

The curious thing though is that Revenants are not nearly as vulnerable to the status of their Mementos and Passions as a Shade would be. At worst, Revenants will go into an almost animalistic rage if their Passion is made unresolvable, but they will not become a more vulnerable target to the Nothing over it. What they do need to worry about is the state of their Armor. The Armor represents their conviction that they possessed when they were alive. If the armor is destroyed, then they themselves are nearly reduced to Nothingness. It is possible for the Revenant to recover: mostly in finding another armor similar to what they had before, or repairing their old armor.

The first solution is very difficult because the Sigil, a symbol unique to each Revenant, must be transcribed from the old to the new. This can be a very lengthy process, and during this time the Revenant can be taken by the Nothing. The second solution also has this issue, but it takes even longer than the first. Repairing of armor is usually implemented only when another similar armor can't be recovered.
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In the beginning, there were only the God and His Angels. Before them was laid infinite potential. Anything was possible. God told his Angels that they would create a realm most magnificent and wondrous. And so the World was created. Over what Man would call centuries, God crafted the World. From His will He forged plants, the seas and the skies, and the beasts of the World. But the last thing He did not create alone. Taking inspiration from the Angels, He forged the body of the first man. Into Adam He breathed a fragment of his soul, the Breath of Life. And so Man was born.

It did not take long for God to see that Adam needed a partner, a mate, a wife. So He made Eve from Adam's ribs. Not his head nor his legs: in this they were both equal, neither inferior nor superior to each other. The Angels fell in love with Humanity, and the thoughts of what humanity could do conquered each of their thoughts. But they saw something horrible: Adman and Eve did not seek to master paradise. They just sought to revel in it.

God had instructed that the Angels were not to interfere. Man must come out on his own. But the Angels saw no sense of advancement. So many, a third of all the Angels, with Lucifer Morningstar leading them rebelled against the orders of the Almighty. They taught Adam and Eve. Thus the Fall came about, and so the Celestial War began.

The Demons, the Fallen, the Blasphemers, were defeated, and were cast into Hell. That place of Nothingness, of absolute Silence, and ultimate Torment.

It was the way, of course. It had to be done. For the crime of defying God, what other punishment could there be?

So while the Demons are afflicted with their Torment, the Celestials are uplifted by their Virtue: that goodness that keeps them separated from all lowly beings. That commitment to that one aspect of Goodness, above all else. Each Angel has only one Virtue: despite there being hundreds upon thousands of Angels, it is rare for two Angels to ever meet another with the same Virtue. If two Angels with the same Virtue ever do meet, it is said they form a bond that can't be severed: closer than brothers, kindred spirits, two parts of the same hand.
Edited by Doublehex, Apr 11 2010, 06:13 PM.
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First there was God and His Angels, then came Man, and then the Fall. The Celestial War came swiftly, and ended just as quickly.

During which the Fallen marched under Lucifer's banner against the Celestials. At first they were brothers and sisters, but now they were eternal enemies. It was worse than a civil war: it was souls destroying each other outright. The Demons did many terrible things to their angelic brethren in the name of the Rebellion. This created their Torment that now binds them from redemption. How can they receive grace when they did such horrid things?

A Demon's Torment is no mere guilt. It is the Demon wrestling within their soul the atrocities they performed within the Celestial War. They are consumed by their Torment, and it was only worsened in Hell. It mutated from something that can only affect the Demon inside to also have the potential of turning his body into something monstrous. The Demon's of stereotype are not what the Damned were originally, nor are they the majority: those Demons are those that been totally mutated by their Torment.

The Celestial War came to an end, and they were thus banished to Hell. It was not fire and brimstone, but Silence. A vast nothingness that gave no response to any furious cry. The worst part was not even that: it was that they had to admit the departed souls of the dead that did not worship God there. If they had allowed Man to discover wonders on their own, it would not have been like this. There would be no Hell, no Underworld: only Paradise.

In truth, those Demons that were outside Hell when it's iron gate vanished rejoiced. Their Celestial brothers weeped when the Pearly Gates disappeared from reality.
Edited by Doublehex, Apr 11 2010, 06:17 PM.
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To know the Shifters, it must first be made clear that every thing is personified. Love is real, as is Death, Pride, Lust, Faith, and all other categorizations. So, Destruction is also quite real. It is not simply an adjective: it is an idea, a force of nature, an entity that is a part of all things. And like everything else, it thinks. It conspires, it manipulates and torments. It is not content with the destruction of Alexandria or the fall of Rome. It wants the entire world.

That is why there are the Shifters. They are the chosen protectors of Earth...by something. The Shifters debate with themselves about their precise origins. They may be human in form, but the celestial hand of God did not touch them in the same way He did Adam and Eve. Some say it was the Universe itself that made them, to protect it from Destruction. Others suggest that it was the Earth, for the very same reason. A rare few suggest that it was Destruction that made them, so that it may have a grand rival.

The Shifter's creation is covered in mystery and debate, but their purpose is not. The Shifters have a single, grand objective: Destruction must be defeated. It is not known if it can be killed, but there is certainly a way to defeat it. It has a realm, a place where it resides. If even one Shifter can enter that realm, there is the chance they can do battle with it, and then Destruction will be no more. It is debated as to what kind of realm Destruction resides in, or even if it can be entered in the normal sense.

Destruction has spawned many monsters that further their master's goals. The Shifters themselves have many unique gifts to aid them in the fight. The first is their ability to shift into a beastial form of their choosing, chosen at an Initiation into adulthood. It is common for them to choose something fierce, such as an ape, wolf, or bear, but there are many Shifters that see the necessity of subtlety. Mouse, hawks, snakes and spiders are also possible choices. Beasts of the sea are much rare but there are Shifters out there that choose such forms.

There are four stages of transformation a Shifter can decide on. The first is their Human form. Next is a Human-Beast hybrid, where it is the Human that dominates the characteristics of the Beast. The one after that is a Beast-Human hybrid: common perceptions of the Werewolves are best used to describe what this form looks like. Finally, there is the Beast form, where the Shifter takes the shape of a normal animal.

Shifters are also granted a special ability or artifact called a Boon. Endowed upon them by the force that created the Shifters, a Shifter's boon grants them an almost unparalleled control over some aspect of nature. The downside is that a Boon exhausts the Shifter, draining them of energy for several days at the very least. As one can suspect, the Boon is meant only to be used in moments of peril.
Edited by Doublehex, Apr 11 2010, 07:22 PM.
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Monsters. Demons. Tormented souls. The Damned. These are all good descriptions of the Vampiric race, all based on interpretation and perception. The Vampires have been in existence for as long as civilization: some could argue as long as man. There is some discussion as to their precise origins. The idea that Caine was the first Vampire, cursed by God for being the first murderer. Others suggest that Longinus was the first real Vampire in the common definition, transformed by a single drop of blood from Christ that landed on his lips. Others suggest that the Vampires were just mankind's natural predator. There is always somebody higher up on the food chain.

In blunt honesty, most Vampires don't give a damn how exactly the Vampiric condition came about. The point of the matter is that they are here, and they need to make do with it. It helps that Vampires are not nearly as vulnerable as most people would believe: crosses mean nothing to a Vampire. In fact, it is not that uncommon for Vampires to be of the Christian faith. Garlic does nothing, and sunlight will not burn them to ashes: it will just grandly reduce their powers.

There are two big things that Vampires need to worry about. The first is that they do not need to suck a human dry to quench their hunger. In fact, unless they have gone years without drinking even a drop of blood, even just licking an open wound will be enough to keep them settled for a couple of days. Secondly, they must make sure to keep hold of their Humanity. It's not so much the possible killing of humans as it is making sure you see things as a human would. Vampires usually settle on some aspect of the human condition, such as love, ambition, desire, to keep them in check.
Edited by Doublehex, Apr 11 2010, 07:02 PM.
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