One like you roams the land, but they are just the first of many.

A merchant seeks to trade misfitting gifts. Five for one, but what is the one?

The eager warrior meets the Tyrant in battle. Outmatched and outwitted; he uses his strength to best his foe.

Failure twice draws the ire of higher ranking soldiers. They come to spill blood.

The trapped emperor unknowingly protects foul knowledge. Dark pages amongst bright treasures.

The trapped emperor unknowingly protects foul knowledge. Dark pages amongst bright treasures.

The trapped emperor unknowingly protects foul knowledge. Dark pages amongst bright treasures.

A hand scrawls on a wall, or carves into bone, a tale that undoes the world and teaches those who come after.

A device of great power once held by the prodigy spills forth the keys to new worlds.

Wet and slippery flesh, clinging feet and tongue. No matter the colour before, now the earth is green.

In a maze of green, the Plaguemaw sets a trap baited with treasures.

Bones fall from the sky and take the shape of the men they once were.

In a distant dream, six traps with the promise of treasure wait to be sprung.

The greatest threat, deep in dream, holds the key to another world.

A device of great power once held by the prodigy spills forth the keys to new worlds.

Ancient foes open new paths to the land they left barren.

The Red Queen holds the key to her vaults, and only death will loosen her grip.

To the realm of dreams the Feral Lord flees, and leaves in his wake a burning nightmare.

They run, they bite, they flee, they die. Swarms of fur and teeth and tail drown each and every room.

A man survives only by his greed, but a single weapon cuts down the man who has many.

Powerful soldiers of a forgotten time reunite and march once again.

A device of great power once held by the prodigy spills forth the keys to new worlds.

One like you roams the land, but they are just the first of many.

The depths of a dream hide a gauntlet that sharpens the body and mind.

An adversary, slain, briefly lives on in the lessons taught to the slayer.

A boy who grows up with everything learns to appreciate nothing.

Fall into endless night; a voyage into an ocean of oblivion.

{At the beck and call

of The Siren's hand,

winter ravages

the trembling land,

and the weight of ice that binds

will break the strongest of minds.}

For every threat you spy in the shadows, there are two others you don't.

{They fought the storm together as one,

Until the longest of days was done.

Their love grew stronger

with every breath,

Until it was broken apart in death.}

A map is only useful if you know where you stand.

"Many believe murder is a grisly, grim, and grotesque crime. Then there are those who simply make art of it."

"Only after one forsakes rage, can true power be found."

- Sekhema Asenath

Take small pieces of things and then assemble them together

You cannot journey to new lands until you have the courage to leave the safety of home.

Time and change

shall naught avail,

To dim the Light

of Truth's fair grail.

No matter where your dreams take you, Nightmare follows close behind.

The jeweller's true talent is the capacity to see a jewel's beauty before they draw it out.

A lucky number

For us all

To help us through

The perils told.

{Strange eyes on top of spines

Gaze beyond the veil of time

Deep down below the mines

A dream of crimson and of grime}

The thumb turns down

and the crowd roars,

they want death

and the blood is yours.

Perfection is the standard, excellence will be handled on a case by case basis.

The finer the brew, the harder it is to remember drinking it.

Though they were a pack of elite combatants, the Emperor's royal guards were not ready to face one of his notorious parties.

Beware the combatant who shows no confidence, yet still enters the ring, for they are surely hiding something.

{Thy knee shall bend

in shifting dark,

thy blade shall serve his vigil.

Thy oath shall bind thee

to his mark,

thy flesh shall bear his sigil.}

Wealth can, in fact, buy happiness.

On the 21st of Eterni,

two become one,

their light outshines

the setting sun.

Bound by fate,

inseparable by choice.

Whoever said 'more is always better' has obviously never met a rat.

"Only a fool looks to the occult for power and expects to be spared from its wrath."

- Voll, Emperor of Purity

{Many that have wielded the power of lightning have said that death by electrocution looks like the victim is more alive than ever before.}

Turn the crank,

close your eyes,

and pray to the gods

for a pleasant surprise.

Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it.

{I gave my mind without a fight,

The twelfth hour I lost control.

The day is gone but there is light,

eyes that glow like red-hot coal.}

Lethal, untouchable, keen, aflame. Just what I was looking for.

All dreams vanish when the dreamers wake.

The earth offers nourishment, growth and healing. Unless, of course, the sky has other plans.

"If I fall, we will fall together with my fangs in your throat."

Lucian lost himself in ancient scrolls and found in those scrolls a love whose power bridged a millennium.

{"Daughter of catastrophe, mother of pain. Amongst the filth of Wraeclast, she wanders, and her wrath follows." - Quintoon the Returned}

The house always wins.

{God had forsaken the land

And Victario wept.

Corruption consumed the land

And Victario's tears turned to blood.}

{He dispels dark realms

until mortal sufferings

yield to hopeful light.}

Some gifts are obligations while others are simply opportunities.

Necromancers, believe me, are more terrifying than their thralls.

{A weapon, a shelter, a prison.

The web's purpose changes

with the spider's needs.

A lesson we should

take to heart.}

The mind had much to endure before the advent of thaumaturgy.

{"I wanted to give you three things. I've given you my eternal love. I've sung to you my most beautiful song. I'd have given you the moon last, but it couldn't be found. I hope you'll accept this instead."}

No man may hope to turn back the storm. You can only hope you do not attract its ire.

Taste and grow strong. Drink too much and be buried.

Our world, dangerous as it is, is far safer than what lies just beyond our sight.

"No man can best me, no demon can fell me. For I vanquish all with my axe!"

Embrace the Light,

Await the Morrow,

No more Spite,

And no more Sorrow.

Two sides of a coin;

Heads for a friend,

tails a foe;

Gemini toss up

By the time their eyes meet,

the dark deal has long since been made,

and his fate long since sealed.

{A month's work, a year's wages, a foolish shortcut through a Rhoa's nest, and a grieving bride-to-be, who never received her betrothed's great gift.}

"I don't believe in karma. If it were real, I would never win."

To know the monster, you must become the monster.

Simple actions can lead the world to an early grave.

"Hold your tongue before I claim it." - Doedre Darktongue

Scarier than any criminal is an innocent man in chains, for when he breaks free, his revenge will be justified.

Accumulating wealth has its own costs.

"He might be lacking in vision, but his virtuosity is undeniable."

- Malachai, on Maligaro

Never dying, yet not living,

Endlessly they wander

beneath the harvest moon.

True to his title,

Voll, newly crowned,

had many of the

Eternal Empire's signature

extravagances destroyed.

{The end of the old,

the beginning of the new.

A unique opportunity for transformation,

for those with the power

to grasp it.}

{Brutus' first innovation as Lord Incarcerator was a weighted chain around every neck so that his prisoners would forever bow to him.}

The village elders had a curious rule: If you hear three voices scream for aid, flee as fast as you can.

Their whims left unknown,

Their life left for others.

Primed, curved and sleek.

Decisive and final.

For malice and righteousness.

There's but one solution.

The dead tell me great insights. They've had nothing but time to sit and think.

Maligaro may have valued function over form, but that did not mute his flair for the dramatic.

A tower built of the strongest stone is not eternal; a towering intellect is not enlightened.

Lioneye looked to the heights of glorious victory. And thus he missed the defeat right under his nose.

From death, life.

From life, death.

The wheel turns,

and the corbies wheel overhead.

{The mighty warriors traded in blows, the nimble archers in arrows, yet it was the brazen thaumaturgists who would bring catastrophe to all.}

The hermit's only friend is the greenery he can find.

It is with the smallest of words that we find the largest of truths.

When there is no other choice, even the meekest whisper can bring about the greatest storm.

{The Eternals lauded his valour. The Karui relished his defeat. Yet the final thoughts of Marceus Lioneye were naught but lament for his pride.}

When the dead raise and master their own, the land is truly lost.

"Fear controls the masses."

- Laszlo, the Scourge

Discovery can lead to beauty, or it can lead to ruin.

Our Lady Dialla,

as a symbol of our progress,

shines greater than all the gems.

{As their civilisation crumbled, the Vaal looked to their queen. In her, they saw a way out. In them, she saw a burden she was happy to free herself from.}

{A jolt, and it moves. Or smolders.

A current, and it lives. Or dies.

A surge, and it transcends.

Or... not.

Only one way to find out.}

To own a piece of the Nightmare, you must first belong to the Nightmare.

Chaos spread, wreaking havoc and death. They said none would be spared, and yet here I stand.

"Experiment 22A: Rhoas, when deprived of water, secrete a most delightfully potent toxin."

- Maligaro

Jump right in,

But beware

Of things broken

Or beyond compare.

{"Let us not forget the most important lesson the Vaal taught us:

Nothing is eternal."

- Siosa Foaga, Imperial Scholar}

The First Ones

may be blasphemy,

but they are

powerful blasphemy.

{There is no mistake so great that it cannot be undone.}

Beware the sudden calm, for it is a sure sign of a storm on the horizon.

The first quill separates the quick learners from the dead.

Boundless is the distance between where we start and where we start again.

{A mind as quick as lightning,

fists as hard as stone,

a heart that burns with fury,

and eyes that chill to the bone.}

The Ezomyte, desperate for aid, cried out to the gods.

{Born of relentless fury and abhorrence, warped by turmoil and anguish, tainted through desire and carnality, I thirst for bloodshed once more.}

As countless fractures weaken the divide, nightmares seep through from the other side.

The village elders had a curious rule: If you hear three voices scream for aid, flee as fast as you can.

An oath once made is an oath never broken. Do not delay in keeping it, for I take no pleasure in fools.

Nature was her domain,

Love was her song,

Family was her devotion,

Knowledge was her gift.

Be like water, friend.

I've never come upon a ship I could not command. I have however met sailors that were not willing to be led.

{A symbol of beauty and innocence

The gems corrupted her mind

Malachai corrupted her gems

All but a glimmer of

greatness lost in madness}

A taste of power brings a hunger for more.

They say it is the head that leads, but all must flow through the body at some point.

It's sad times we live in when a friendship has a price people are willing to pay.

{Blood flows not just through veins, but through worlds.}

{A wanderer in the wild strives

Against countless foes he survives

A fool pursues a quest contrived

By the gift of the witch, alive.}

One by one, they stood their ground against a creature

they had no hope of understanding, let alone defeating,

and one by one, they became a part of it.

It took the Bloody Flowers Rebellion to show the clans of Ezomyr the truth;

What kept them apart was just a fabrication.

Conjured rivalries from men who grew fat from the discord they sowed.

A gentle hand rarely leaves a mark on the world.

A gentle hand rarely leaves a mark on the world.

One by one, they stood their ground against a creature

they had no hope of understanding, let alone defeating,

and one by one, they became a part of it.

Man creates where nature cannot.

History teaches humility.

A token from the sea

A sign for Kaom

to lead his Karui to Wraeclast.

"Here the soil is more deadly than any swing of the axe."

- Oba of the Karui, Conqueror of Corruption.

History teaches humility.

Vaal bloodpriests were among the earliest intellectuals on record.

It was they who found that a newly freed soul would

desperately cling to any other source of life.

Forged from the blood of countless wars,

its thirst has only begun.

Hold in your hand the darkness

and never will the light blind you.

It took the Bloody Flowers Rebellion to show the clans of Ezomyr the truth;

What kept them apart was just a fabrication.

Conjured rivalries from men who grew fat from the discord they sowed.

When you have slain all of your enemies,

what is left to fear?

No metal slips as easily through the fingers as gold.

Land and sea did not dissuade,

nor did the Kelpie's maw;

the wild beast crossed half the world

to sate his hungry claw.

"Sirrius flew on wings of light, faster than wind, faster

than thought. But try as he might to outrun the darkness,

it was there, at every turn, waiting for him."

- Azmerian legend

"A raging Solaris seared and contorted the orb's surface.

A despairing Lunaris filled the scars with her tears.

Yet Viridi remained, trapped within, forever more."

- Azmerian Creation Myth

"A raging Solaris seared and contorted the orb's surface.

A despairing Lunaris filled the scars with her tears.

Yet Viridi remained, trapped within, forever more."

- Azmerian Creation Myth

The sea strikes the rock relentlessly.

Whether in one day or in ten thousand years,

eventually the rock will crumble,

and the Brine King's domain will grow.

That which was broken may yet break.

History teaches humility.

No metal slips as easily through the fingers as gold.