Numerous beings are hiding in the deepest darkness bellow the floating worlds. The living inhabitants of these worlds are very fortunate that most of the creatures of the Deep never venture from their dreadful abodes to enter the daylight. And yet, from time to time, some mad daredevil will risk his life entering these remote places that echo with the melody of the death’s-head song; places where the black bloodless veins of the mighty descendants of the darkness pulsate in the obscurity.
Korkontoi – “Ravenheads”
(singular: Korkontos)
Those who walk the world of Uruloka and descend into the mirror-like beauty of the Deepest Hall will meet with the Korkontoi, the Predators of Darkness. To the eyes of mortal men, the Korkontoi may look like humans with the head of a raven; they speak with a remarkably normal human voice and their speech is human as well, though riddled with tricks and cruel lies. Yet in an instant, they can reveal their true form: that of winged darkness with a steel beak. Having donned on their real appearance, they then revert to constant shape-shifting – one moment, they can resemble a black-feathered dragon with eight mighty wings, while the next they turn into a gigantic feathery octopus with a monstrous steel beak in the middle of its bulbous head. Even the creatures of darkness fear them for their cunningness and treacherousness surpassed only by their ravenous hunger. Most Ravenheads are vassals to Hunger, and herein lies a way to outsmart them. Some of the Korkontoi, however, are able to control their ravenous nature; these are by far the most dangerous of their kind – they are often found in the services of powerful demon lords or the Rulers themselves.
Thonauroi – Death-Moths
(singular: Thonauros)
The Death-Moths are the wing-rustling brothers of the Korkontoi. They are sneakier and quieter than their Ravenhead brethren, though no less terrifying. Their existence is even more fluid and changeable and their being consists of the tiny bodies of the death’s-head moths. While the nature of the Korkontoi is somewhat feathery and predator-like, the Thonaroi resemble swarming insects. They can take on shapes of practically any living thing but an experienced observer will recognize them by certain traits: their eyes are the compound eyes of moths, their face but mimicry on the insects’ wings, their voice brims with buzzing undertones. Their nature is similar to that of Dusk and Darkness, and they manage to walk these realms with ease. Many inhabit the evil recesses of the Moon Hall.
Horazilim – “Princess and Princesses”
(singular: Horazilš)
The origin of the Horazilim is described as follows. How much of it is true only the eye-witnesses of these events can tell.
Once upon a time, many centuries before the fallen Seer Fillardus set upon this very path, mighty and noble mages put to sea from the legendary Aurilion to sail across the Universes. They descended through all of the profound Halls and their snares; they sailed through the wayward Mirrors of the Deepest of Halls; they survived the devastating and seductive power of the Ocean of Dreams, dove into the cosmic Maelstrom at its profundities, aiming at reaching the Primordial Mirror to fulfil the holy command of their esoteric teachings. They returned home completely changed, supposedly transformed into ideal, immortal beings, and became Supreme Rulers of the whole universe. Their rule was so demonic and perverse in nature that various forces, until then fragmented and sorely scattered, united against them, and the tyrants eventually found themselves surrounded by the living will of all beings of Grand. They fled the face of heaven, descending into dark depths where, cocooned in their own immortality, they entered into a profound lethargy, quenching their auras to avoid discovery. But the bedrock of the universe is subject to constant slow motion and circulation that from time to time bring up things from the immense abysses below the very surface, and this indeed happened. The Horazilim emerged in Grand and one of them, Saurahan, rose from the self-induced lethargy, shifting the course of history.
As to their physical appearance, the true face of the Horazilim is too dreadful to behold; they look like creatures disfigured by Inversion, but unlike other beings, they underwent the process in its entirety and became winged deities with seven eyes and seven fingers or toes on each of their limbs. Similarly to other creatures of the Deep, they can take on the human form if they wish.
Uluath – “The Spawn of the Archons”
(singular: Uluuth)
It is said that every victory of the Archons (also known as the Zilaths) is celebrated as a grandiose marriage of the defeated to the Darkness. The offspring of such union is materialized death and the hopelessness of marred lives: a creature both living and dead, the Uluuth, an embodied scream of despair. Just as in the world of the living, it is tradition to build a tropaion, or trophy, on the battlefield, a symbol of victory to let men and gods know a territory has been brought to heel, a sign to forever coin a memory of a battle fought, the Rulers devised their own version of this custom. In their case, the tropaion is brought to life; it is not built from the shields and armour of the defeated enemies but their necromanced souls. The beings fallen under the power of the Order of the Uluath are subjected to many different fates. Most usually, the Archons not only defeat but also completely eradicate their rival, destroying his land and leaving it abandoned. In such cases, the Uluuth becomes the embodiment of the whole nation doomed to a living death – hiding forever in dark, desolated lands, a permanent threat to anyone who would wander into those regions. Sometimes, however, the Archons merely bring their opponent to their knees, subduing them. The Uluuth born of such subjugation is often made either the secret or overt lord of the defeated nation to serve as the permanent embodiment of its pain and defeat.
As to the appearance of the Uluath, their basic form is pure dread and ruination concentrated into one place. The presence of these fundamentally immaterial things is so great that when the Uluath is near, boundaries between individual senses crumble and dread and ruination gain physical forms – these are frequently co-created by the psychical dispositions of those encountering the Uluuth. Due to their fundamentally non-bodily appearance, the Uluath most often cannot influence material objects directly. Therefore, they use living mediators to do this as on the contrary, they have no problems whatsoever to subdue any living creature through their will or with the help of dread, despair or other similar mental states. The solitary Uluath, hiding in depopulated lands fallen to destruction, will often use the so-called “living swords” – mysterious blades come to life that, unlike ordinary weapons, lends the Uluath direct control.
Qiwirtu-igigaloth – “Vezantian Retainers”
(singular: Qiwirtu-igigalum)
In times of Ancient Vezan, a realm that spread from present-day Sirania to Havdaur in the west, from Kaal Charmat in the north to Lake Sgallen in the south, there was a legendary “Peacock Phalange”, whose men walked the path of the Supreme Will. Their leader was an ancient prince – the Peacock Brotherhood successfully guarded his identity throughout its existence, simply calling him the “Teacher”. Legends have it they placed their will into an oath that forever bound them in service to their captain.
In these times, the Gods still watched fully over the binding-power of wows and oaths, vouching for them with their divine hands. Moreover, the will of these warriors was such that by the words of their oath they bound themselves in service for all eternity. They weren’t defeated even when Vezan fell into ruin; they became the last warriors of Ancient Vezan, fighting on for a realm that no longer existed, relentlessly ambushing the victorious hosts of Qasalgon. Eventually, when Qasalgon fell into the hands of the Zilaths, they became the first victims of an attack of dark magic. The Phalange fell to the last man in a final heroic battle.
Some say their defeat was a result of dark treachery, others claim it was their invincible Will itself that brought them to ruin. Many argue their souls, having left their mortal bodies, did not walk the traditional path of the deceased but instead kept falling for centuries in a slow descend through the Halls, eventually diving into the Ocean of Dreams, humming below all reality, where all forms dissolve into thousands of dream-like drops. But their terrible oath would not let them dissolve, so instead they were smoothed by waves like pebbles until only the diamond core of their merciless Will remained, waiting for their Captain to once again call them to their duty.
In the world of Grand as well as the neighbouring worlds, the Retainers are invisible to the mortal eye since they are pure Will. To observers endowed with Second Sight, they can seem as tranquil faces of the drowned surrounded by the alabaster web of the Will. Their power is often likened to that of the Maghavans, though no one knows if this comparison is accurate, nor whether they are tools of their oath or tools of fate itself. Their Will is harsh and merciless.
