2019-04-29 Veruni Althena and Her Chosen

Althena and Her Chosen Report by Kaguya Alathfar

The lore of Lunar--specifically, the areas around Glenwood and Meribus--say that long ago, the Blue Star--Filgaia, as we know it--was the seat of humanity and all living things, the world from which they all came, until a cataclysm struck. This hit millennia ago, and the planet was unable to support life--sound familiar? I dunno if the timeline adds up, maybe it just happened /again/, but, notable. Anyway, point is, Althena is supposedly the very same goddess who brought all these people up to the moon and transformed it into a green paradise instead of a barren rock. She created the four Dragons to watch over the world, appointed the first Dragonmaster as her champion, made elemental spirits named Seraphim, and so on. She's watched over the people ever since in relative seclusion. Ordinarily, we would leave it at that; human religion is as human religion does.

However, the difference is that she came back out recently. She showed up, took residence in their capital of Pentagulia, and started cleaning shit up. Established four heroes, mobilized what we now know as the Guard, and so on. She's there; people can go and meet her, apparently, and she's done shit that demonstrates her power supposedly. I suspected at first that she might be one of us, but from what I've seen, her claims largely add up. Since, she also recently appeared in the skies, to all of Glenwood and Meribus, and declared a crusade against Sin.

Anyway the weird thing is that supposedly she also outlawed like, drinking alcohol, dancing, singing, gambling, music more generally, intoxicants, and so on, sort of all-in on the No Fun Zone. But, the idea seems to be that these things can spread Malevolence in humans, which is a sort of spiritual toxin that humans apparently secrete. Not present in Spira, but a big problem elsewhere, and has spread to Filgaia even. I can't actually say that it /doesn't/ contribute, so it might not be bullshit? I haven't done enough study to draw any conclusions, Malevolence is some ugly shit and I didn't really want to deal with it.

Anyway let's go on a rundown of her top folks.

THE FOUR HEROES OF ALTHENA

Yes, this is what they're called. They're called this 'cause they got there by being important and then by being infused with the power of the Dragons, which I mentioned before and are like, elemental beings who sort of embody some important... spiritual... whatever, the point is, they're a big deal. Kind of like Guardians who aren't such tools and talk less, as far as I can tell. The point is, these four are very key in the guard, the direct heads underneath the Dragonmaster himself who tends to fuck off and go wherever he wants when he feels like it, since, he can do that.

WHITE KNIGHT LEO

With the power of the White Dragon, Leo is a Beastman warrior who is real good with a sword and not a slouch with magic of Light and Earth, either. Very direct, a general, in command of the Dragonship Destiny--essentially a land and seafaring ship that has a big-ass cannon way beyond normal human technology--charismatic, tough. Not very bright, all the time, but he's real persistent. Does not know what we are, and it's convenient if it stays this way. Also, super honorable, like, classic picture of a knight. So, if you feel the need to mug an orphan or something for the cause, maybe do it away from him. (Kidding. Honest. But seriously.) Power of the White Dragon, which seems to be about protection or something?

BLUE MASTER LUNN

Haven't dealt with this guy much, but he's the big important ruler of Meribia, leader of a huge dojo devoted to the Blue Dragon Style of karate. Super buff, impressive mustache, older guy. Get a kickass vibe from him. Doesn't know what we are so far as I know. Power of the Blue Dragon, which seems to be super-tough?

BLACK WIZARD BORGAN

This man is huge for a human, like--he's around the same heights as one of us. ...Yeah, yeah, myself excluded. Anyway he runs around on this floating platform thing which is bullshit, I could've made one if I knew they were allowed, but whatever, he's a magic-user, has a lot of powerful spells and shit but mostly has both knowledge and command over Neo-Vane--which is their floating city of mages and the heart of their magic manufacturing stuff. Pretty sure he doesn't know what we are, but I give him a week tops to notice something's weird if one of us starts casting spells around him. Not dumb. Eats a lot. Kind of a dick, but in the kind of way where you want to hang out with him and see what he does next, not the kind where it gets on your nerves. Seems to have some rivalries going among his ranks. Power of the Black Dragon, which, does magic I guess??

RED PRIESTESS MAURI

Yeah, I haven't really had a lot of chances to hang with her, but she's apparently super-sweet and kind, and also like, super devout? Has great power over fire. Apparently she's also pretty hardcore about heresy, so we wanna be careful. The Carakin apparently fought her over one of the Guardian statues, which is why they're on Leo's shitlist--because she's his little sister. And I respect that, you know? Hope to work with her more later, but for now let's be nice as we can, we could develop a lot of problems if we made her mad. Power of the Red Dragon, which seems to involve just, a whole lot of fire.

DRAGONMASTER GHALEON

So, this guy's a big deal. Super powerful, apparently an actual dead historical figure from a thousand years ago or whatever who was resurrected from the dead to serve as Althena's new top guy. He's the real deal, just, you can basically feel the sheer force washing off of him if you know how to look. He also has a great sense of humor. He definitely knows what I am, and we have kind of an understanding there. I don't actually know his angle. Last I saw him, he was going to check into some things that 'only he'd have a reasonable time getting into', so presumably something dangerous and delicate or whatever. If things go wrong, he may be our biggest problem--just because there's so much I don't know. But we're on good terms right now.

ME

I'm here representing the nation of Hyland, which is on the Glenwood continent and was at war with another nation called Rolance before Althena broke it up and said we should all go fight the heathen monster Sin instead. I have command over that set of forces and, because I've been doing some extra work behind the scenes, have a good amount of pull generally. Also, the last time someone tried to sass me too hard I snapped his sword in half and hit him with the blunt side until he started crying. That took care of it.

So that's the lowdown on the hierarchy; under that there's tons of soldiers and mages and servants and shit, some of whom are notable, and some of whom are probably destined to die for their goddess which, at least, is supposedly an honorable kind of death in their culture, so there's that. There's also my forces, who are fairly elite, and I'll show them off to you when I get the chance. Any questions, I'll answer individually.