Perniam War

[Note: the content of this article is merely scattered thoughts about this historical event, and are not yet finalized or organized into a plot]

Background

• At the time this begins, Viko and Artheus are attempting to stop Daedrius’ plans to resurrect Thatos, believing him to be the most likely candidate to do so. They are engaged in battle with him and [insert other enemies/allies of Daedrius) • At some point before this, Daedrius retrieves Thatos’ Axe from his ancient armory and sends it to Gaion for Lord Goruk to claim • Haku is currently in his homeland • Kiara is currently at one of the Waria nexuses, perhaps the one closest to the Waria Gaiostone itself • Hyla is in Bannessar, serving in her capacity as High General and commander of the army • Garen is leading a charge with the Grettanian Army on [insert place of interest] • Nezzarae has the Blaidrin Gaiostone (now in the form of a currently unnamed Gaiostone weapon), and is home

Early War Period

The Resurrection of Thatos/Battle of Vornis

The orcs of Volsemar, led by Goruk, breached Vornis, the capital city of Banatar and make it to the palace. They are successful at taking the temple by force, forming a defense once they are inside to continue its hold. Goruk, Daldruk, and the rest of the Bloodfire Order (Lord Goruk’s elite warrior group) make their way to the Gaiostone room, and begin preparing it for the Resurrection of Thatos: • Daldruk lies down and the orcs paint the symbol of Thatos on the floor of the temple, using the blood of fallen Banatarian soldiers. The symbol’s center is painted on Daldruk’s chest as he lies there, preparing for his sacrifice • Lord Goruk grasps the Rouzhai Gaiostone in his right hand, activating its destructive power tenfold. As the stone burns and scars the entire right side of his body, Goruk jams the stone into the axe, which destabilizes due to the stone’s power. As it cracks through the entire weapon, Goruk uses Bloodfire to seal the weapon closed, which stops the stone’s infection in its tracks. Exhausted from the effort, Goruk falls to the ground, but insists on completing the ritual. As the remaining members of the Bloodfire Order stand in designated spots of the symbol, they begin chanting in Ancient Dakian and spread their arms, forming a circle of Rouzhai Fire. Goruk charges the axe with both Rouzhai Fire and Bloodfire, jumps into the air, and brings the axe right into Daldruk’s chest. While this begins to kill him, it also ignites the blood of the symbol and lights it up completely with these fires. The energy stays swirling within the circle, however, due to the orcs controlling its flow and channeling it into the axe (therefore, into Daldruk). Daldruk’s body begins to transform, growing larger hand/feet claws as well as bone protrusions on the outside of his forearms and calves. His head also grows horns: two big ones on the sides of his temples and smaller ones along the middle of his head down his neck/spine. Other parts of his body change until he fully resembles Thatos; a 8’5 demonic-looking orc. Goruk pulls the axe out of his body and steps back as the fires subside and Thatos stands up, fully resurrected.

Finishing the Battle of Vornis

After a few moments of divine awe from Goruk and the others, Thatos thanks the orcs and ensures that they will be rewarded for their continued loyalty. He also tells them to leave the temple and continue charging further north through Bannessar. After the Bloodfire Order is out of the temple, Thatos decides to test the power of his newly-improved weapon by supercharging it with Rouzhai Bloodfire and slamming it into the ground. This completely spreads through the temple and destroys the foundation and most of the building, reducing the remains to rubble.
Thatos leaps from the rubble and into enemy lines, using the axe to spread Rouzhai Bloodfire throughout the ranks. He then begins brutally killing the survivors of the first attack using his axe as well as his hand-to-hand skills. The orcs fight alongside him in awe as he kills each remaining soldier one by one, even throwing his axe at multiple foes and calling it back to him with.
Hyla flies down on her dragon and sees Thatos, landing in front of him. Noting this new challenger, he commands his orcs to fight others and leave her to him. She, however, shows no fear towards this gesture, and takes on the war god with the full force of her abilities. While Hyla fights well, utilizing her sword, dragon, and Rouzhai attacks to take the offensive, Thatos easily counters and disarms her weapon by weapon. He destroys the sword with one throw from his axe as she drew it back from the ground (after performing a Rouzhai attack with it) and physically grounds her dragon, knocking it out with the sheer force of the attack. Without her weapon or ally, Hyla launches a Rouzhai attack, but Thatos dodges and closes the distance between them, then starts pummeling her hand to hand. While she briefly holds her own, a Thatos easily overwhelms her, using punches, kicks, and slashes from his arm spikes to destroy her helmet and put her on the ground. As she lay bloodied and beaten against a rock, Thatos called his axe and brought it down on her, but she was able to grasp it and resist him briefly. While Thatos pushed through the resistance, she surprised him with an eye blast of Rouzhai fire, briefly staggering him and pushing him off. With her remaining strength, Hyla charged at Thatos with a Rouzhai-fire drop kick, but he catches her legs with one hand and uses the axe to completely cleave through her, effectively chopping her in half from the waist down. After screaming in agony and lying on the ground, Hyla still showed her bravery by firing another eye blast at Thatos, but he simply blocks it with the axe. When her beam runs out, Thatos brings the axe right down into her chest, finally disintegrating and killing the brave warrior.

Fighting Garen/Taking the Goultani Gaiostone

Thatos flies to the location that the Grettanian Army is marching. He commands Hyla’s dragon to spit Rouzhai fire to separate Garen from his army, then physically grounds the dragon with enough force to snap its neck. As Garen processes this, Thatos dismounts and tells Garen to give him the Goultani Gaiostone. When Garen refuses, Thatos gives him a choice: 1. to fight against him on his own and keep his men from interfering, or 2. allow his army to fight and watch as Thatos slaughters them all, after letting them know that Garen could have prevented it
Garen’s pride wins out and he orders his men to stand down, challenging Thatos himself. They dramatically introduce themselves by name and goal, where Thatos reveals his true name and their mutual goal of conquering Gaion (though Thatos means this in a different sense) As Garen realizes the mistake he has made, Thatos jumps at him and the two warriors fight. While evenly dueling at first, Garen briefly gains the upper hand, showing his prowess with the hammer and getting a couple good hits in with it. Thatos hurls his axe while Garen is firing a beam and disarms him, knocking both the hammer and the axe away. He taunts Garen, saying he had hoped that he himself would be the strongest weapon, not the hammer. Garen responds with a multitude of Gaioforce attacks from himself, showing great skill and keeping Thatos at bay. He uses a Goultani Clap to stagger him, jumps in the air, fires Goultani Lightning into the war god, and comes down with a Goultani Stomp. After this, he uses a Goultani Wave to throw him back yet again, both angering and impressing the god of war.
This streak of good luck ends, however, as Garen charges towards him with Gaioforce-enhanced speed and attempts to land a Gaioforce-enhanced punch. Thatos catches this punch with ease and catches the other one when Garen tries to retaliate. He then holds both punches and drives a big headbutt into Garen, completely knocking him backwards to the ground. Thatos then proceeds to beat him brutally, countering every hit from Garen and hitting him even harder. After a brutal hit that knocks him back yet again, Thatos calls his axe and leaps into the air, prepared to finish him off. Garen, bloodied and weakened, uses his power to compress a Goultani Bomb, hurling it at an unexpecting Thatos and blowing him far away.
Garen uses this opportunity to scramble over to the Hammer of Kalos and grab it again. He then charges and fires a Goultani Beam backed by the full power of the Goultani Gaiostone, aimed directly at Thatos. The war god managed to telekinetically twirl his axe in front of him, shielding him from the beam. However, the parts that split off from Thatos continue behind him, destroying the mountains that stood there. Thatos notices the axe is beginning to crack under the immense pressure, with a few pieces of Dakatrite shrapnel flinging into his shoulder and angering him. As a last-ditch effort, Thatos uses his strength to leap high into the air (partially scathed by the beam in the process) and brings the axe down on Garen. Garen, seeing this change, tries to move the hammer upwards to catch him, but is not quick enough to strike him with the beam. The two weapons collide and shatter over the combined pressure of the Rouzhai and Goultani Gaiostones, causing a massive explosion that launches both warriors and the stones from the epicenter.
As the dust settles, Thatos stands up, clearly banged up by the blast but otherwise unharmed. Seeing the remains of the axe handle in his hand, he remarks that it was short-lived and tosses it aside. He makes his way across the battlefield, picking up the freed Rouzhai Gaiostone along the way and showing no signs of discomfort from holding it. As he gets closer to Garen, he commends him for his skills and power, but mocks that “an ancient weapon containing more raw power than any other” exploding in his face tends to do the trick. He then remarks that while the hammer was impressive, it, like all mortal things, was only temporary, looking down at the now-freed Goultani Gaiostone and commenting that it is bigger than he imagined (it is the physically largest of the Gaiostones in solid form). He walks to pick it up, but Garen stirs, seeing the stone and crawling over to it in his battered form. Thatos chuckles but is impressed that he survived such an explosion as a mortal. Kicking him aside, Thatos picks up the stone and allows its immense energy to surge through his body, restoring his magical powers to their former glory. The Grettanian Army takes this opportunity to charge the war god, as their king has fallen to his hand. Unfazed, Thatos announces “Soldiers of Grettania, for the crime of arrogance by your king, and crimes committed by your ancestors before you, I sentence you to death”. As he says this, his body erupts into a Bloodfire wall, spreading far to each side of him. This wall is revealed to be a portal to Dakia, which releases the Dragon King’s Army upon the Grettanian Army for a brutal battle. Garen is caught up in this portal and (unknown to the audience/readers at this time), teleported to Dakia as a defeated mess. The Grettanians fight the demonic army with great prowess but is eventually defeated and slaughtered.

Returning to Dakia/Meeting and making a Deal with Nezzarae

After opening the portal, Thatos found himself in Dakia again, for the first time in thousands of years. He immediately teleports to his ancient armory and reminisces over his vast collection of weapons and armor, passing by his various swords, handaxes, fighting chains, etc. He makes it to the main wall to find his signature weapons: The Dragonbone Spear, Dakatrite Mace, and two empty weapon stands. He knows that one held his Dakatrite Battleaxe (which was just destroyed), but pays special note to the other stand, which held his prized Dakatrite Sword. Noting that it was “stolen from him”, he decides to retrieve it after his mission and work with what he has for the time being. He magically produces the Gaiostones and looks at his Dragonbone Armor, noting that it could use some modifications.
1. Thatos and Nezzarae make a deal: •he will give them the location of the Waria Gaiostone so her and her forces can attack the Waria. Also, with her Using the Blaidrin Gaiostone and him using his Gaiostones, they will destroying the stone permanently, along with all of the Waria Seregans at once •In return, Nezzarae will lend him the Blaidrin Gaiostone for a short period of time, and her forces will remain loyal to him during the Perniam War 2. Thatos calls down a meteor of Goultani/Rouzhai Bloodfire to completely annihilate the Akijaran Islands, killing every Pluronis except for Haku (who involuntarily merged with the Pluronis Gaiostone during this) 3. Viko goes to the ruins of the jungle to find Kiara, and they both recover a Gaiostone-merged Haku. After catching each other up on what’s happening, the three head to the Waria Gaiostone’s location 4. Thatos, Nezzarae, & the Blaidrin forces attack the stone’s location, met by the Waria Sentinels and Viko, Haku, Kiara. Thatos primarily fights Viko & Haku, while Kiara and other notable Waria take on Nezzarae. Thatos uses Wrothbane (his mace), his dragonbone spear, and his shield in conjunction with his enhanced Bloodfire abilities 5. Kiara and her team defeat and successfully kill Nezzarae. Thatos, however, is able to trick Viko into killing Haku unintentionally, staggering him emotionally. Thatos uses this opportunity to beat and knock Viko aside, temporarily knocking him out. He and the Blaidrin then gain the upper hand in the battle as he commands the Spear himself, laying waste to all who stood between him and the temple 6. Having broken through to the stone’s chamber, Kiara stands with the last line of defense, and resorts to using the stone in her battle against him. Despite her efforts to purify him with Arcian Magic, Thatos turns it on her, corrupting her spirit and (unknown to the audience) expelling her soul from the mortal realm. Thatos successfully uses all three stones in his possession to destroy the Waria Gaiostone. Viko comes to next to Haku’s body, just in time to watch all the remaining Waria disintegrate into Gaioforce dust. This happens all over the world
Perniam Wars Campaign of the Realms
Dakian Alliance •Thatos, Vulca, & Cyr (and their pantheons) •Infernal, Bloodfire, Swamp, & Frost Dragons •Demons, monsters & denizens of the Blood Realm •Demons, monsters & denizens of the Frozen Night •orcs, ogres, goblinoids, giants, Frost & Night Elves, Naelin
Forces of Light •Syna, Jakun, Ionus, Arthina •Forest & Solar Dragons •humans, Wood/Sun Elves •Kiara •creatures of the Aurovian Wilds

Campaign of the Heavens
Sky Eternal •Hytheron and his pantheon •Storm Dragons •angels, celestial creatures & Sky spirits
Solar Imperium •Dahli and new members of her pantheon •mixed alien army of solar-gifted warriors
Campaign of the Seas
Neutral parties
•T’Nar •Garen (fought Thatos in the end, but more for personal gain than any one side)
Final Battles of Perniam War [non-canon]
•Kiara and Garen track down Viko, who has been sent by Thatos along with an orc army to engage the Gaians and non-Gaians that Kiara freed by killing Daedrius. They are able to intercept him right before he engages them, leading to an intense duel between Garen and Viko while Kiara assisted her freed forces in fighting the orcs. (1st battle of the Final Campaign, played as Garen)
•Eventually, Garen was able to hurt and incapacitate Viko long enough for Kiara to enter his mind and find his corrupted spirit. Unable to simply untangle Viko from the Thugora, Kiara is forced to fight Viko’s spirit, all the while providing messages of love and support to Viko’s trapped consciousness. The outpouring of emotion that occurs is enough to strengthen Viko’s spirit and weaken the Thugoras hold on him, which allows Kiara to reconnect him with the Warian Aura. (2nd battle of the Final Campaign, played as Kiara)
•With Viko’s consciousness returning, he forcibly separates the entangled Thugora from his soul, which morphs into a Dakian version of himself that would have been had he completed Thatos’ training. Done with his hate, depression, anger and grief controlling him, Viko uses the love, compassion and hope Kiara reignited to fight and finally defeat Dakian Viko, killing him and permanently expelling the Thugora from his body. (3rd battle of the Final Campaign, played as Viko).
•With the Thugora gone and Viko purified of its corruption, Viko’s aura turns green, which was the original color of Gaios’ magic. He immediately hugs and kisses Kiara all over, who embraces the return of her best friend and returns the gesture with love. He then turns his attention to Garen, and thanks him for his part in freeing him from himself. In a move of true character transformation, he forgives Garen for killing Arathes, as they were enemies before and no longer have any reason to hate each other. Agreeing, Garen says the only person he hates right now is Thatos, and it was time to end him once and for all. Both Kiara and Viko agree, but for once, Viko agrees to do so out of a desire to redeem himself and save the world from his violent reign of terror, rather than out of anger and hatred like the first time he fought him. Kiara echos this sentiment, and thus the group plan out how to take him down with their multi-national army at the ready.
•Realizing that they need to fight Thatos on their own turf to win, the trio decides to draw Thatos back to the mortal world by teleporting themselves and their army to multiple locations across the world, decimating Rouzhai/Blaidrin armies and liberating every major city/civilization taken over by these armies.
•Thatos and Cyr recognize what is happening, with Thatos excited and Cyr enraged. Since the Blaidrin Gaiostone cemented a lot of her influence on Gaion and the Frost Elves were being wiped out in droves without it, she breaks with Thatos and heads to find the Blaidrin Gaiostone (this is what leads her to final battle with Akana and the Blauri Merfolk). Meanwhile, Thatos recalls all his troops across the world and assembled a final force to take on Viko, Garen, Kiara and their growing army.
•Thatos appears at [significant location] to head off the trio with a fully assembled army:
1. Rouzhai Orcs 2. Blaidrin Frost Elves 3. Perniam Army of the Undead 4. Some monsters and dark spirits from Dakia
•However, the forces of good arrive as follows:
1. Green Aura Viko, Warbreaker Garen, and Deathbane Kiara 2. Pluronis Seregans 3. Warian Elves 4. Goultani Humans 5. Various non-Gaian warriors and mages

Conflict Type

War