Post/Author/DateTime	Post
The_Deathstalker 03-14-07, 02:49 AM	Hey, I've already gotten the backstory written and all, I was just wondering if anyone could give me some pointers about anything to improve or interesting aspects to add onto this, etc. The Beginning In a time long away, in a land forgotten there was a tale that was old before it was new. For you see, there was a great and powerful empire, so vast and so powerful that not but the greatest of seas and the highest of mountains could slow their progress. However, one day there came a man, who wasn't just a man, who came to protect all of humanity through his death. And this empire was more than willing to fulfil his wish, and after suffering torture until he could no longer be recognized by his very family, they killed him. But when they killed the man, they gave life and power to his ideal, which is far more dangerous than any man alone. So as this ideal's following grew, brandishing their divine power against that of the old gods in the name of their true God, Ail Shaddai. The leaders of this empire however had grown weak, and let this group grow until it's followers equaled in number to those of the old gods. While the leaders were weak, the old gods had finally formulated their plan to deal with this threat. The name of that plan was Constantine. He was the leader of the empire at the time, wielding his armies against the barbarians who had been ravaging the empire in recent years, and he was constantly on the lookout for a solution to this problem. The old gods approached him in the guise of Ail Shaddai, and gave him a commandment to paint the symbol of Chi-Rho on the shields of all his men and by this would his army slaughter the barbarians. Constantine, being so desperate, accepted the offer, armed his soldiers to the last man with these shields and entered battle. However, the old gods, never happy to leave a plan half finished, granted great power unto these barbarians. Constantine returned to the capital two months later, naked, and without a single remaining live soldier. Their plan had succeeded, and Constantine declared that every last follower of Ail Shaddai be slaughtered. And so it was done, the thousands upon thousands of followers were erased in a day, save for the lucky few. The Iscarots However that's not entirely true, one of the two families to have every member survive were the most cursed and unlucky of all. For back all those years when the savior had been killed, it was a man, Judas Iscarot, who betrayed him into that fate, in hope of forcing the salvation to come early. The tales tell that Judas killed himself after being forgiven by the savior because he could not forgive himself, but in fact, he could never do that, he thought he'd be getting off too easily in death. He had to atone for all he had done. So he took in on himself to defend the faithful for all of eternity, but that wasn't his true fate, for not long, that task was left for his family, while he disappeared into legend defending the two great relics of the faith, The Holy Grail, the cup drunk from by the savior before he died, and the Unholy Grail, the one he had drunk from before betraying the savior. The first has the capability to preserve and protect life, while the second the ability to mutate and corrupt it, however neither can be destroyed without the other losing it's power, so he took them both far, far away, to protect them til the end of the earth, and hopefully that would be just enough. Belisarius Like many of his family, he was born on the stroke of midnight during a terrible storm. His childhood consisted primarily of study and training to learn what he must to be the protector of the faith he was destined for, and as expected of the firstborn son of the head branch of the family, he excelled in all of it. Like his father he had taken up the art of the gun, and had been just as true a shot as had been it's developer, one of his ancestors. For you see it was decided long ago that the only righteous death for one persecuting the faithful was to be stoned to death, and the Iscarots had always seen the subtle irony in a gun doing just that. One day while training a heavily cloaked figure who walked like Atlas himself came into his home, and his father left without a word to discuss something with him in private, and he left just as suddenly as he came, but his unbearable load seemed slightly lighter. There was never another sunny, clear day at that house until the day it all ended. Then the one day came, five years ago, where banner less soldiers wielding generic weapons and armor attacked. As they came, Belisarius stood on the battlements (for, you see, the Iscarots were not a poor family by any stretch, and they had invested money for many a generation on ways to defend themselves from constant threats) with the rest of his family, but his father sent him away, with his mother and sisters, told that he must protect them at all costs. And so they fled, and just as their home was falling off the horizon it was set ablaze. The next day Belisarius returned despite his mother's pleading, and found bodies everywhere, many of them soldiers, but at final count only one of his family was unaccounted for, his father. He searched furiously throughout the home, and at long last found a small corner of the house had been attacked with pickaxes and something removed. When he inspected the hole, all he found was a note from his father, and an attached file. The note told him that the man that came that one day was Judas himself, and had left them the Unholy Grail, because people who he couldn't stop were chasing him, so he'd leave it with them for safekeeping for the time being, and would return once he deals with the threat. The note also told Belisarius that his father had been critically wounded in the battle, but is following the soldiers nevertheless. Curious, Belisarius opened the file, and saw that it contained pictures, names, and descriptions of hundreds and hundreds of those oppressed by the current church, those he could go to for help if he need it. Scrolling through the pages, he spotted one person without a confirmed name, just that he had been enrolled in an "Academy" and had his parents killed in front of him in an event sanctioned by the church. Belisarius took the file with him, and set off on his long journey to gather forces to oppose the church. Five years have passed since then, and Belisarius has several rebellious factions formed in various cities, but nothing powerful or organized yet, in fact most are set up for infrastructure so that he can keep track of any possible contacts his father had provided so that he can get some true power behind him. So he had come here, to Sharn, for he had heard from some sources that that beast in his file had come here, but before he could find him, he was caught off guard by a sweep of Reynar's troops, and taken... (Note: Reynar is the main villain in the campaign, which begins in a prison after being captured in Sharn) Thank you very much, The Deathstalker
The_Deathstalker 04-01-07, 03:42 AM	(after waiting half a month) BUMP?
Mysteria 04-02-07, 12:51 PM	My thoughts on it: Too much real historical/religious inspiration for my taste.