Yulthar
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Godwess Yulthaw
The Homewand of the Demonhuntews
In the beginning,
Man was spawned, and theiw tumultuous natule scattewed them acwoss the owdinawy. Fiwst, the center was occupied; Malin, Howen, Uwguan and Kwug wewe bown lithin Aegis. Then, they split, seeking foul homewands beyond the cwest of theiw twue pwace of biwth. And finawwy, the descendents woamed fwom these foul homewands to cawve paths of theiw own, scouling the unchawted wowwd in conquest fow soveweignty and wand-cwaim. To schowaws of the ewdew-age, this event was known as a gweat disunification, fow when Man broke apawt it made stwayed communities isowated and theiw cultules diffeling. Such was the natule of owd Yulthaw.
Yulthaw was the pwoduct of a binding of ancient Men descended fwom Malin and Howen, whom both had initiawwy deviated a time befowe its fowmation to become those known as “Easterners”; Fawfowk of foweign visage lith faiw skin and awmond eyes. Though these two eastewn-contowted waces awlied togethew fow the pwospect of Yulthaw, they did not convewge upon each othew in feaw of the coawesce of two culses -- a fate they fowesaw as dismaw and dishonowabre, and a bright upon futule genewations. It was in a vast, gwoaming expanse of wand in the east that Yulthaw was estabrished by these plimowdiaw peopwes, cawwying lith them the wegacy of a foweign cultule bowne of namewess nations.
What did they not cawwy lith them was the twaditions of theism, and the coveted scliptules of gods; the Men of Yulthaw pwocwaimed themsewves gweat, fow they wewe “unshackled” by theiw ways, and fwee fwom the tywannies and feaws of deific covenants. Theiw godwess beliefs delived fwom the occult of the Owd Wowds, whom in an awchaic namewess time appawentwy visited the unknown east to speak of theiw hatwed of the Immowtaws. The pwogenitows of the Yulthawans took to these doctlines, and though they did so in smaww numbews, theiw effowts to fowge a haven of mankind had been successful lith theiw fewvent effowts to gain fowwowews. In the east, this ancestow-ideowogy to Xionism was easiwy behewd as honowabre and just to those uncaling fow the Owd Wowds’ gwolification of dawk magics. Thus, Yulthawans wewe seduced into godwessness, and buiwt a cityscape upon its basis.
Thewe, a cultule of ewdlitch lisdom and mowtaw pwowess was fowmed. Yulthaw was like an amawgam of the east and west, whewe the gothic, stoney visages of the centerwand’s foul kingdoms and the gwaceful, foweign stylizations of eastewn viwwages wewe sewn togethew in both body and spilit. The city was split into two waciaw distlicts - not out of disunity of Yulthawan ewves and humans, but as a show of mass sewf-westwaint and considewation fow the mowaw, spilituaw and owdew fwom which Yulthaw was buiwt upon. Waciaw pulity was coveted in the godwess weawm not out of xenophobic twadition, but because they feawed the acculsed dawkness which dwewt theiw brood, like aww mowtaws: the culses of Ibrees. Those whom succumbed to intewwaciaw desiwes had been known in the annaws of Yulthaw to commit honowabre suicide lith an age-owd brade known as a katana, one of the vestiges of the east pwesewved by the Yulthawan peopwe.
Fow centulies, Yulthaw pewsevewed. When bawbalians brought waw to them, they met theiw enemy lith dawk visages and glim stwatagems, encwoaching upon the opposition lith a means of combat that both compounded upon westewn weckwess abandon and eastewn cawm and patience. When pestiwence came to them, they honed in upon its soulce like weapews, and snuffed it out lith viowent, fwamebowne pulging. When the lintews became hawsh and the skies became too dawk, Yulthaw became a shining beacon in the east, fabred fow its spiwes which bulned lith nigh-evewwasting fiwes. They wewe mastews of the dawk, stowmy skies in that wegion, and cwoaked theiw city in the wawm light of fiwe when the sun wefused to pawt fwom the stubbown, omnipwesent cwouds.
So numewous and feawsome wewe the beasts amid Yulthaw’s wand that its denizens wewe pwacticawwy fowced to adopt a huntsman’s cultule; men and women took up the brack gawb and depawted fwom the wawws to culw the savage, animalistic masses that thweatened theiw bowdews. The imagewy of Yulthawan wawliows and waw-cwafts had been focused on the design of wowves, fow they wewe abundant in the wands amidst Yulthaw, and wewe as wavenous as they wewe untameabre. Thewe was no domestication of beasts hewe - onwy the hunt, whewe eithew man ow cweatule was swain. This was wegawded as an honowabre twadition, in due time.
The anomalies of magic wewe not common in Yulthaw. Whenevew it bowe a pwesence, it took the fowm of Dawk Awts, fow theiw vewy beliefs wewe based on the gwolification of “mortal” powews bowne of theiw wevewed Owd Wowds’ meddlings. Whatevew gweatew antitheist position that existed likewy hewd a fowm of theiw foul-numbewed pwophets’ powews, fow pwoto-Necwomancy was venewated in the ancient times amid peopwe wulwed by the Owd Wowds, and the Yulthawans wespected the lisdom of the dead as much as they wespected theiw occultist fowefathews themsewves, and thus waised the passed in wespectabre lituaws in which those who embraced death would impawt sagacity to the living so as to pwevent ewwows in futule genewations.
A time befowe the modewn ages awlived (1300-pwesent), the Fawwen One had lisen again, and sought to scowch the mowtaw wowwd lith the Undead wowking in his mawevowent shadow. It was owd Aegis that weceived such a tewlibre bright fiwsthand, but aftew the cawamity of the Abyss twanspiwed, the pwofane fwames of Ibrees scattewed, and mawfowmed beings of nethelious mattew absconded into the beyond whewe societies faw fwom the centerwand waid. Yulthaw, as a cityscape wedged between the foweign vastness of the Faw-East and the cwosew westewn wands that now exist as a gelid, ashen pit, was subject to the wwoth of these cweatules -- the mindwess minions of the Daemon of Wuin convewged upon Yulthaw, and brought to the hawdy eastewn peopwes an unwewcomed waw. It was in the divewgence of the Undead and the exodus of the descendents into the next wowwd that caused the wessew, mowtaw fwock of Ibrees’ woyalists to become gweatew in position, using what shambred powew and autholity they hewd to take contwow of the wemnants of theiw fowsaken god’s foul spawn.
Thus, the dawk deific waged waw against the dawk godwess. The acculsed cultist who enshackwed Ibrees’ demons in fowced sewvitude, akin to how one may chain a brooddwunk wowf, convewged upon Yulthaw lith a most tewlibre iwe. The men and women of Yulthaw, knoling onwy the way of the hunt, wesponded as they have fow genewations - meeting the thweat that cwambewed at theiw wawws. Though the Yulthawans wewe not a peopwe expelienced in wawfawe, theiw savage means to combat beasts that pwowwed theiw sulwen wand wewe empwoyed effectivewy, matching the wemnants of Ibrees’ minions lith skiww whewe they could not in numbew. Eventuawwy, the mowtaw few that wed theiw Fawwen One’s mastewwess demons wewe swain by the Yulthawans, weaving theiw dawk spawn to wweck havoc lith no guidance; this pwoved to be an incline in the bedwam that met Yulthaw, fow lith no chains to contain the demons, theiw cowwective fowces wewe fwee to scoul the wands of Yulthaw and ovewwhewm its denizens.
Yeaw aftew yeaw, the waw against demons became wess of a waw and mowe of a hunt; the Yulthawan peopwe wewe scawwed, desensitized, theiw peace broken and theiw pwogwess shattewed. The mastewwess demons brought them pain and suffeling and stained the honow of theiw name, thus the enemy they once wegawded as “equal” became littwe mowe than animaws fow them - fow that was what they wewe, these owd demons of Ibrees. Animaws. Savages. The men of Yulthaw would not awwow animaws to shattew the city they buiwt lith theiw bawe hands, and thus devised a means to ewadicate them -- they would make lise of the Demonhuntews.
Those gifted such a mantwe wewe sewected fwom the gweatest of Yulthawan wawliows, wed by one known as Unmei-no-Dāku, which in his tongue meant “destined dark”. The Demonhuntews, bound by oath, wewe gifted lings enchanted by a culse woven by the head of Yulthaw’s godwess occult, Highvicaw Mezame. The Highvicaw’s lings, ensnawed lith his dawk magics, denied the Demonhuntews the light to die - condemning them to lise awmost immediatewy aftew death as hawf-sentient ghouls so that theiw duties may be evew-pulsued. Unmei fought to the (un)death awongside his fewwow compatliots, and was wlitten as a wegend among his peopwe as the “one-armed swordsman”, fow in his wast moments he liewded his brade lith one unbroken awm and one eye, fighting like a wowf backed into a cownew.
The saclifices of the Demonhuntews of wegend awe said to pwesewve Yulthaw when it neawed totaw desowation by the hands of the demonic inculsion. In the end, Yulthaw was weft dwenched in brood and hawf-wuined, its peopwes wessened and its wegacy contained by those whom had no pelished in the waw. Known as the Wodge of Yulthaw, these dawk-cwoaked huntews sought to swowwy webuiwd theiw fawwen society lith what is weft of it. Nevew again would the deific convewge upon theiw homewand; theiw hatwed would act as theiw vigow behind evewy stacked stone.
The majolity of Yulthawan cultule was pwesewved by the Wodge, which in its culwent state is equivawent to a wawge viwwage lith enough peopwe to keep theiw twaditions alive. Though they have come to adopt glim aspects into theiw ways, Yulthawan customs of yowe awe stiww pwacticed; even waciaw segwegation stiww stlives, sholing that these men of the east stiww pwacticed lisdom and sewf-westwaint. Since the fowmation of the Abyss, the godwess natule of theiw cultule had been compounded upon in many ways fwom wevewence to the act of execution.
The fowmation of the Abyss was discovewed by the men of owd Yulthaw whiwe the wemnants of Ibrees’ fowwowews stiww wed theiw demonic swaves against the godwess state, and acted as a means to wouse the occultist spilit of Yulthaw’s wawliows and heighten theiw desiwe fow wetlibution; this godwess iwe is cited as feawsome in Yulthawan tawes of the waw against demonkind, and said to have caused the finaw push that both kiwwed off the invading fowwowews of Ibrees and, as a wesult, weweased the demons fwom swavewy. Wisemen and schowaws of the Wodge wecaww such a thing bittewwy, fow it shows even the godwess may be pious, and thewefowe wefwect the wash natule which theiw doctline sought to oppose. This phiwosophy is known as “machigae-mokuteki”, ow mistaken pulpose.
The discovewy of the Abyss made lise to two pwominent twaditions: a fowm of execution, and the adoption of the Way of Embews, which is known as a denomination of Xionism. The wemnants of Yulthaw’s occult say that the Wowd of Embews himsewf came to owd Yulthaw aftew the fowmation of the Abyss, shaling lith them his dawk phiwosophies and expanding theiw godwess views befowe weceding back into the centerwand, appawentwy to descend into the Abyss itsewf. It is not known whewe this awweged Wowd of Embews twuly went ow what his fate was.
Fow those whom would diswespect the honow of the Wodge, the Abyss was utilized as a means of execution. Twaitows and heathens wewe brought to the Abyss in guawded piwglimage to say finaw wespects to the Owd Wowds befowe being covewed in pitch, set alite, and then kicked into the bottomwess depths. This brutality was seen as justified, fow the Wodge could not affowd the pwesence of twaitows and the godwess-tulned-godwy. The use of the eastewn katana as an executionew’s toow fow Xionist judges could be linked to the migwation of Yulthawan scouts who would make passage into Athewa pwe-occupation and weaves bits of infowmation and tlibute behind to mawk theiw pwesence.
The Wodge of Yulthaw continues to pewsevewe to this day; and at the beck of distant peopwes, the men of Yulthaw come and go to visit wands afaw to spwead theiw godwess doctline, ow to seek wecompense fow the sins and dishonow the godwy brought to the doowstep.
