(OOC) The Primeval Dark

[Stevesciguy]

There are characters/creatures out there that do hunt Veilbeasts and other horrors, some that even survive off them as a source of sustenance (refer to IC page 1). The majority of characters who do hunt such creatures aren't anywhere near as strong as Kaslin, but they possess vasts amounts of knowledge and experience which set them apart from other, more powerful warriors in the world. Namely knowledge of cures to various curses, and entire profile summaries of their quarry. They're well versed in the different features of the specific tainted regions they hunt, and defeat their enemies with their preparedness, skills, and bringing the right tools to the fight which are required to kill their otherworldly enemies.

If you want to see an example of such a character, you can read further back in the game to some of the exploits of the Harrier Captain, Iron Hawk. During her and Asiresh's prison break she slayed a named Veilbeast, and later during a different event, led an attack and defeated Stella Astral (forg99rules main character). She's only 4th level, with about 8 Harrier potentials, relying mostly on mundane equipment and blitz tactics to strike hard and fast. While far weaker than miss Crowe, she's a more efficient combatant versus a larger range of tainted creatures, as Kaslin only excels at dealing with one particular type of enemy. Thus, it's less of a matter of mechanical power, and more one of knowledge and experience. If you don't know how to deal with certain creatures or survive their lairs, you won't be doing much hunting of them regardless of how hard you might hit. At least in terms of First World characters, but we haven't gotten to that yet.

Alright, so it's more about knowing your enemy than being the fightiest fighter that ever fought. Got it.

Well, to answer that we'll have to go back a bit before the Witch Hunts and emergence of the Purifiers. As the vast majority of the known world either died or was isolated during the Long Night, most places which existed in general isolation become, well, hellholes. Virtually no life existed in the more remote regions of the world following the Night, and thus the Purifiers made no efforts to venture out to places they considered 'too isolated'. Areas which could not create large bastions of continuous light over the course of the Long Night were washed away beneath endless hoards of monstrosities, where were later called the 'Hollowed Tide'. After the Night, these 'dead places' became a haven for those looking to escape the law or influences of the re-emerging civil world, but survival out so far from civilization was hard and dangerous. While some Harriers fled to these reaches to further refine their training, those who actually lived in far-flung regions which had been hit the hardest mostly subsisted off of scavenging and salvaging what they could from ghost towns and abandoned villages.

The Land of the Linnorm Kings was one such place, considered 'good as dead', yet unbeknownst to the Inquisition life still remained here. Kalsgard mostly withstood the year long siege, but nearly all of the smaller holdings throughout the country had been lost, or were abandoned, to be later rebuilt. Most travel and communication in or out of the region came to a complete standstill as the Uttercold first emerged from Irrisen, creating deathly storms of magically animated frost which killed anything caught in its way. Virtually nothing could move between the span from Hoarwood Forest to Losthorne during the most tame period directly following the end of the Night, or they'd be consumed by the arcane frost. In the months which followed, the storm only intensified, before breaking off into large roaming storm cells which spread death and havoc at an unprecedented degree. Those who stayed, holed up in Kalsgard. Those who left, fled directly south into Varisia, further westward into the Ironbound Archipelago, or those most daring souls pushed further north, toward the Crown of the World. The whole of the frozen reaches became a land more savage and barbaric than even the collapsed regions of Iobaria. In more recent years during the 'thaw' of the deathly storms, rebuilding had begun, but it remained a remarkably hostile place.

Ok, so Erik could have fled North, but he'd have to have been a tough bastard to survive there, and potentially would have needed to be even tougher of a bastard in order to make it there in the first place? Am I understanding that right?

What about the concept of the Linnorm Kings themselves? Do people still look to defeat a Linnorm to claim the title, or have things become so messed up there that that's not how things work anymore?