#nirael about

[goddesstrolls]

Speaking of healing, we've been talking a lot about Nirael and what exactly he wants/needs in terms of his own healing.

He's bitterly noted several times now that he's near-universally hated and that even those closest to him have left, but he has zero desire to really be less of an asshole, generally speaking. He doesn't care about most people's opinions and isn't going to try to be a kinder person overall.

He's not necessarily asking to be loved in spite of this, or for others to tolerate his behavior. Because he does change his behavior for those he cares for, works on himself.

His regret is that this isn't enough, and that leaves him feeling fundamentally broken.

It's still difficult to pin down what exactly he needs. Because you'd say like, he needs a different hobby. But he's tried things. Even if there's some satisfaction there, it's still hollow and there's no enjoyment.

I think even what enjoyment he gets out of tormenting others isn't so even enjoyment, but just a confirmation of how he views himself. He's a conqueror, a living weapon, someone to be feared and hated.

He's started to / come to realize that he doesn't want to fight anymore, but he doesn't really know what to do with those feelings and chalks it up to him being rusty; A weapon, yes, but a broken and damaged one.

[goddesstrolls]

Nirael served the same lord for about 200 sweeps through multiple wars. He actually reached a pretty high status, part of the lord's elite soldiers, though he lacked the noble ranking to be knighted. He would have been knighted after the war for his loyal service, but unfortunately his lord did not win that war.

Nirael was a prisoner of war for a sweep, desperately holding onto the hope that his lord would be able to pay or trade for his release. Unfortunately the enemy knew his power and demanded a high cost, not realizing Nirael's lord was unaware of his massively destructive capabilities, so the offers were never accepted. Additionally, Nirael's captors hoped to turn him to their cause in order to make use of his ability, through force or otherwise.

Eventually Nirael learned that his lord's city was sieged and sacked and that his lord was dead- Everything he had spent his entire life fighting for, was gone.

Took him a few months to come to terms with that, rotting in a prison cell, but eventually he did, and he decided to fight for himself alone. He broke free, and completely obliterated the city he had been held in. Just wiped it off the face of the earth.

And that was his first step towards being known as Cataclysm, natural walking disaster, conqueror of Alternia.

[goddesstrolls]

nirael comes from a time when his blood color was simply rare, and seadwellers were valued for their physical strength and longevity.

he was a foot soldier from the age he was old enough to fight and often treated like a workhorse. some treated him like he were exotic.

he became a condescending, conceited fuchsiablood flaunting his wealth and power before it was even a thing.

being a soldier at heart, he's rude and crass. as powerful as he is, he doesn't give a fuck who he offends. hell, he's never been religious because he's seen enough horrors that he doesn't believe there can be a single god out there- himself included among the horrors, if there were any gods he's sure one of them would have come down from the heavens by now to smite him.

[goddesstrolls-archive]

I like Nirael's design, how's their name pronounced and what's his view on hamsters

thank you ;v;

i pronounce it near-ee-ell. almost rhymes with cereal

he has a neutral view on hamsters and rodents in general. they don’t hold his interest, for sure, but he doesn’t hate them or anything.

[goddesstrolls-archive]

Nirael is, as i’ve said, Kairos’ ancestor, and a very powerful mage. He’s currently undead- Whether he’s a lich, or just undead, I have no idea. But, he’s been around for a very, very long time, and Tosiol as well. Both of them are from a pre-Condy era, which has basically been erased from nearly all histories. 

As one of his titles, Cataclysm, suggests, he was literally a natural disaster in troll form. His power is almost exclusively sheer destructive force. He used this power to create his own empire, forcing his enemies to yield under threat of complete destruction via small-scale (but nonetheless destructive) natural disasters and general fucking-up of everything.

At this point, however, the only people who might know of him are hardcore history buffs who’ve managed to get their hands on some truly ancient texts, or those who have been around since his time (or at least, since before the empire wiped everything before condy)

[goddesstrolls-archive]

Cataclysm probably also did that shit to create, essentially, a bomb, if in the case that his castle fell. It’d basically curse the entire area, it’d be overrun with undead and ghosts and they’d just keep coming no matter how many you exorcised.

which is a cool concept but Extra and completely unsurprising considering its Kairos’ ancestor

[goddesstrolls-archive]

i was thinkin about the catacombs beneath the castle tbh and

Kai prefers to do their necromancy down there because the sheer evil presence is ridiculous and it. helps them focus

Cataclysm the souls of his enemies there. Every official and/or ruler of every township, city-state, and country he conquered. Anyone he considered important enough or disliked enough. There’s at least a couple hundred individual spirits which are all absolutely livid

its been so long too that its festered and become such an intense aura that even those with absolutely no magical sensitivity at all will feel it very strongly. It feels like something squirming, the very air itself is writhing yet stiflingly still and cold, and in a normal person would instill the most primal desire to turn and run at so much as stepping foot at the entrance

Before Kai died they couldn’t spend more than an hour down there without the risk of being possessed or worse

It’s well-contained, though. You might get some sense of foreboding upon entering the castle but Cataclysm’s containment/suppression spells are still very powerful, and part of it is that theyre contained by the castle itself

[goddesstrolls-archive]

Because I just had to go digging to find what kind of magic Pharin specialized in

Kairos specializes in necromancy and, by extension, healing magic. They are also proficient in enchanting and channeled magic (Casting spells or commanding raw magic/magical creatures via staffs or wands). Their source is lunar and sacrificial energy (Sacrificial is a similar method/offshoot of soul energy)

Cerres specializes in glamour and transformation/illusion magic. She’s also proficient in destruction/elemental, as well as channeled, and has studied other schools of magic in order to teach them. Her sources are lunar, tectonic, and natural.

Lyn, similarly to Pharin, is proficient in enchantments and alchemy, but specializes in channeled. He is also skilled in portal/teleportation magic. His source is volcanic and lunar, mixed with just a bit of natural.

Nirael, Kairos’ ancestor, specialized in destruction/elemental magic and dabbled in necromancy and mind/body control. His sources were volcanic, tectonic, and soul + sacrificial.

Aeleia, Cerres’ ancestor, specialized in enchantments, specifically on people, aka curses/blessings. She also was very proficient in glamours and illusion/transformation magic. Her sources were sacrificial, lunar, and volcanic.

Pharin, Lyn’s ancestor, was skilled in enchantments, specifically rune magic, and alchemy. His sources were once lunar and natural, but now he’s linked only to natural. Due to his curse draining his own magic, he can easily exhaust himself or subject himself to magical overload, and thus cannot rely on more powerful sources than natural.