The Prophecy

Introduction

Long have the shadows of time crept over the Prophecy of Malcom drak’Martys. The legacy which lies in the library of Storm Keep I find to be an inaccurate insult to his memory, and a distraction from the pursuit of the goal of the Shadowknights of Necrucifer.

I capture this to set the record straight as the true legacy of our Prophet so that we do not lose the Singularity of our purpose.

Ibiza le Toad.

History of the Prophecy

To understand the Prophecy we look to the personalities of the time and events of ancient history to the Purist War.

San Gohdam was the Lord of the Knighthood of Serpantol. According to the mythical Sunset Dawn he spurned Serpantol, and set up Eclipse to reflect Knighthood, only with Necrucifer in the place of Austinian. Gohdam attempted to build Eclipse with the virtues and morals of Serpantol, but he found many challenges and conflicts in his dealing with those of evil, who were not noble and honourable by nature. Although he brought with him many from Knighthood who were noble and true to his values of Higher Evil, most of his following comprised of those of Lower Evil from the Sons of Malice who saw no value in Gohdam’s vision. The Sons of Malice wanted to take what they wanted and slay whom they wished, to be free of the leadership of Eclipse. Gohdam could not control the Sons of Malice who slew him in his tent as he slept.

After the brutal murder of Gohdam by the Sons of Malice, Malice split from Eclipse in pursuit of pillage and murder. Targetter of Eclipse set about his plan for the domination of Algoron. He knew Eclipse were too few in number to challenge Serpantol, so he took a decision. Up till now, the war between Knighthood and Eclipse had been a human affair. Evil humanity was not enough to win victory. An alliance must be struck between other races to overcome Serpantol. The opportunity fell into his lap when Sah’ron the Demon summoned Targetter and matched Eclipse with Ogres and Minotaurs, and a plan to steal the Draconus, the magical, ancient artefact which allowed mortals to control dragonkind. In the interests of Eclipse he joined with them in the Triple Alliance in hope that together they could defeat the Empire of Serpantol. As history shows us, this was not to be. After the coup of stealing the Draconus, and the domination afterwards, victory seemed all but assured. Alas, upon its loss and the loss of control over the dragons, the Triple Alliance was overcome by Serpantol and their allies.

To the Purists, Targetter was a traitor to the human cause joining with Ogres and Minotaurs, and even taking a dark elven wife. It was these things that Shay, Ishamael, Gedral and Malcom found in the archives of Eclipse. Inspired by the history, Malcom experienced his divine revelation and shared his Prophecy with Shay, Ishamael and Gedral. The seed was sown.

The Purist War was fought because of a difference of opinion of what Eclipse ought to be. After the Triple Alliance, Eclipse had become a bastion for all races that were evil, but there were those within who felt that it ought to be true to the vision of San Gohdam. Purists sought a return to the roots of humanism where they had succeeded challenging Serpantol. To them, the multiracialism had failed to win the Dragonwars. The Purists wished to return to an order based upon the Knighthood of Serpantol, rather than what had been spawned from lesser, tainted values.

The Purists challenge to Eclipse took the leadership completely by surprise. Ishamael slew Highlord Vokkyn, and Keeper Martyr relinquished control of the Keep to save his own life. Those non-humans of Eclipse were given the choice to stay as a slave, or be cast from San Gohdam Keep.

The battle had been won, but not the war. The non-humans attempted to reclaim San Gohdam Keep by force. The Purists faced impossible odds in the Purist War and fell according to the songs of the warstorian Terrance Harpman.

Yet they were not defeated. Their faith in their purpose was so strong, that Necrucifer himself recognised this strength as an asset to his cause, moreso than any other he possessed – including his previous jewel of the Eclipse. As such, he granted the Shadowknights of Necrucifer his blessing, and our fortress of Storm Keep.

Many fell in the Purist War, and during the time of Exile, even prominent purist Gedral Sehin. But the ideals of Gohdam were resurrected by Shay Kayen and his following in the Shadowknights of Necrucifer. Shadow which would outlive both the Sons of Malice who had brought about Gohdam’s demise and Eclipse which had not lived up to Gohdam’s and Necrucifer’s expectations.

Shay Kayen – Extinguishing the Sun

“Enlightenment. Unification. The end of Anarchy. The end of Chaos. The end of balance.  Submit or die.“

Shay Kayen was the leader, the rock which brought the founders together. He took Gohdam’s premise, tied it to drak’Martys’ dream, and made it into something all men of Necrucifer could follow. Kayen was the charismatic leader all would follow to Hell and back. Before Kayen, others thought drak'Martys was a crackpot.

Having come from Gareth Keep, Shay sought to have an order of Honor, It was more important to be honorable than anything apart from the Prophecy of his Seer Malcom.  He never considered Shadow to be evil, and insisted that he was doing the right thing in the name of the darkness of Necrucifer.

Kayen led a fractured movement from inception, those who would follow honor, and those who cared little for it. He held honor as secondary importance to the Prophecy, although there were many which only cared for seeing the Prophecy fulfilled, and cared not for the nature of how it was achieved. Kayen himself learned from Necrucifer himself that the Prophecy was above all else, even his wife – Sorcia Kayen.

Shay thought long and hard about his creation as we can tell from his original writings in the ancient library of Kayen. What we are today is the product of his vision for Shadow and we have hardly changed our ways since.

He is the only man I know of to form a warlike following of mortal's own volition.

Ishamael Rinji – The Assassin

"The red and black moons hung high in the sky, foretelling of their rise and trying to ignore the unavoidable intent of their fall. Nevertheless, they shone down upon Algoron like the sun, lighting it with that eerie, milky tone that made everything all that much more surreal. However, there was something more surreal headed towards the dusky mountains that rose up before the coastline north of New Thalos, the snow-capped peaks already suggestive of the coming winter, as if the brooding clouds were not enough. Two riders, coming from the south, both cloaked and shaded in darkness like it was their second nature, long tendrils of cape billowing behind in a fury, suggestive of their speed. Their mounts, no less foreboding, left trails of hellfire from hooves and mane that sparked and crashed upon the riders themselves, yet they seemed unshaken by this, their gaze aimed solidly towards the mountains and what lay within."

Ishamael Rinji did not care for honor, rather saw it as a useful tool to advance the cause, and pull in more recruits. In the early days, Kayen could not have held it together without Rinji. Ishamael was the strength of enforcement Shay needed. Ishamael Rinji saw what Shay Kayen and Malcom drak'Martys had, and saw the power and potential that lay there. He saw great power for himself, and he earned that with his time as Dark Lord and as a Shadowknight.

He felt the burden most heavily after Kayen left. Rinji worked the background to ensure all the pieces kept falling into place. The assassin was not best placed in the limelight of leadership. There are many that did not care for Ishamael, nor his history here within Storm. He was not charismatic, nor sought the friendship of others. He was only interested in the power. Rinji had a powerful following  and Kayen needed Rinji to keep the Purists and the Sons of Malice together in tight and rigid Order.

Gedral Sehin - The Osenwaza Purist

Lost from modern knowledge of the Purist Wars, little is known of one of the initial leaders of the Purist rebellion against Eclipse. He was intimate with the founders in their search of Gohdam’s vision. After playing a major role in the revolution of the Purists, he was missing in action after the Purists lost and presumed slain in the flight from San Gohdam Keep, or while wandering the deserts where the new Storm Keep would lie.

Some say that they have seen Gedral upon Algoron in many different guises, yet he has not made his home in Storm Keep.

Malcom drak'Martys – The Prophet

"My life was that of a vagrant, a wanderer, and a watcher of men. Gray is the word for my existence, a cloud of fog in perpetual motion. I saw little that surprised me and even less that brought hope to my troubled mind. It was a time of bleakness that I do not look back upon with favor." 

The most enigmatic of the founders was of course, the Prophet Malcom drak’Martys. Malcom was the spiritual catalyst, the visionary whose prophesying led to the conception of Shadow. Without him, the nature of evil on Algoron would be in a very different place.

After his research of the Eclipse archives, he had his divine revelation, the Prophecy.

In the Purist Wars he was an influential figure, leading the Purists along with Shay, Ishamael and Gedral to their defeat.

During his time in Storm Keep, he was a reclusive man, not speaking much, though sometimes would start raving, perhaps showing what the divine revelation did to his mind. He would go on at some length in his babbling, speaking in tongues and of things which no one present understood. This would often follow by periods where he would sit completely still, reacting to nothing around him.

There were those within who considered him a liability, but his contribution to the Shadowknights of Necrucifer was so profound that none dared move against him.

He vanished alas, without any one capturing his ramblings for future study. Being present, I curse my lack of foresight in capturing these words of Shadow’s great Prophet.

The Prophecy of Malcom drak’Martys

Unlike the book that sits in the library of Storm Keep, the Prophecy contains only one Singularity of purpose. Malcom did not receive his divine guidance when Ishamael slew the Highlord of Eclipse, Vokkyn. This happened after the research of the Eclipse library, otherwise why would there have been a mutiny? It was not till Shay Kayen had harnessed Malcom’s Prophecy that the revolution had begun.

Other fanciful ideas of what the Prophecy might include are stretches of the truth and cheapen the message. It says nothing of winning Eclipse, nor losing Gohdam’s Keep, nor their exile or the creation of Storm Keep. Malcom said nothing of the coming of the Godson Malachive.

The Prophecy is ONLY the Singularity.

“Assist Necrucifer return so that He will rule Algoron.”

The Shadowknights of Necrucifer wish to bring this to fruition because of the power that He will grant to us, his loyal servants. He will need His faithful to assist Him in governing His dominion of Algoron, and we will do His bidding.

The Prophecy and the Singularity of the Knights of Necrucifer

The Prophecy has but one purpose, to return Necrucifer to Algoron. Likewise, we are Singular in our purpose, to do whatever is required to see this done. We act in a way that delivers the Prophecy which will define actions as right or wrong, because the ends justify the means. We do what is required to see it done, using the way of San Gohdam. The ends are greater than the means.

Some of us will walk the way of Gohdam and Kayen, to seek honor, to be noble. In Evil there are those who will follow the paths of Antithesis, Reflection/Finality and Singularity as written in the Book of Evil. Those of Singularity consider the other ways reasonable, but they have distractions which must be forgotten when considering the Prophecy.

In order to achieve the Prophecy through our Singularity of purpose, we must come together in Unity, through the Brotherhood of the Shadowknights of Necrucifer, to see the Prophecy come to Finality.

Singularity allows us to act with only this one goal in mind, and in doing so, we shall reap the rewards of our faith and loyalty, from the rewards that Necrucifer will heap on us in his gratitude to our service. Nothing will distract us from seeing the Prophecy fulfilled.

Scribed by le Toad