The Empire of Mendax

The Empire of Mendax was the longest surviving Human nation state in the history of all of Remnant lasting for well over two thousand years, its foundation is shrouded in mystery with all known records declaring its origination as time in memorial, and those that exist disagree of the exact date. The city state itself was founded in the rocky deserts of Odite on its northern coasts on the plateau of the same name, east of the Faunus nation of Menagerie.

Created early on in Human history the self-proclaimed ‘jewel of the desert’ is one of the most controversial topics in world history with many historians saying that despite its success and contribution to modern society the ‘history of Mendaxi was built on graves and written in blood’. By far the most well known facts about Mendax were its encouragement of the global slave trade throughout much of Remnant’s history, its worship of the Grimm and its many wars fought with the Faunus and other early Human Empires.

''History
The Empire on Mendax is considered the most ancient Empire founded over 2000 years before the present day, although the exact date is unclear, however it is believed to have been created between 2000 and 3000 years ago, possibly more. What is known from historical records is that the Mendaxi divided their history along periods of time called ‘Ages’, these Ages were inconsistent spanning from only a few decades to over half a millennium at the most. However the fall of the Empire is well understood with it finally ceasing to exist around 300 years ago after generations of decay, although this is not discount its impact on the modern world.

Age of the Ash

Although no exact date can be found and the true founding of the city of Mendax is clouded in mystery there is a legend of its founding. It is said that in the age right after man was born the creatures of Grimm attempted to snuff them from the world, it was no different in the harsh sands of Odite were clans of Humans fought against one another for what little recourses the land offered. The land was harsh and its people harsher, dark of skin with eyes as black as coals the people fought and fought, killing everyone and anything, causing trouble for the Grimm even before the discovery of Dust. When the rest of Humanity seemed to be on the edge of extinction the people of Odite flourished in war and conflict. However it wasn’t until a lone warrior as part of his trials of manhood felled a mighty King Taijitu that all this changed. When the beast was slain the young man went to claim a tooth from the creature as his prize but found in the monsters mouth a baby.

This young child was different with dark red eyes and skin as pale as snow making him easily stand out against any of the people of Odite, and it is recorded that the first thing the child did when the warrior reached out to save him was bite the man’s hand. In Odite society this was a sign of a strong warrior and the man took the child back to his tribe naming him Mendax after the mountain on the northern coast with its ice capped peak. It is said as the child grew he proved his worth killing his first man at the age of eight and leading a successful raid at fourteen, by twenty he challenged the tribes chief for leadership and took control of his clan in a short but bloody battle. Legend tells that before the chief drew his sword the Mendax had sliced off his arm before cutting off his head.

After this Mendax went on a bloody campaign of unification forcing all those who would yield under his banner, the banner of Mendax, where he led his armies into battle riding into battle on the back of a Funesti Raptor (a violent and now extinct species of lizard from the Odite deserts). After only ten years all those who opposed him were either dead or enslaved and those who followed him were dedicated to his cause. It was at this point he marched his army north to the coast as he felt called to the great Mountain of Mendax were he ascended the mountain alone. Many variations tell of what he found there, some say he had a vision of his destiny, other say he nearly died in the snow only wanting to test his strength against his height, but the most popular theory is the most strange. When Mendax reached the summit he was greeted by a King Taijitu its two heads surrounding him and glowering down at him. It was then that it spoke demanding him to prove his peoples worth or that it would eat not only him but his very peoples souls. Wasting no time he lopped of the creatures heads with a single blow each and turned to leave, it was then that the creature rose from the grave sprouting two new heads, so Mendax decapitated them once more only for it to grow once again two new heads. Again and again Mendax killed the creature only for it to rise again and agin, after 4 nights Mendax collapsed from exhaustion facing the mercy of the creature with each head moving to one of his ears. Here each head whispered a different future for him and his people. The White head told of him a future where he and his people endure forever independent and proud while the Black Head promised one with eternal glory and riches beyond their wildest dreams, if and only if they served him!

Taking the Black heads offer Mendax descended from the mountain and told his people of the pact, when he finnished his people jeered not wishing to serve any master believing Mendax weak and they attacked. As they did his supporters leapt to his aid and a bloody battled ensued with brother fighting sister, mother fighting husband and children slayed parents. At the height of the battle a storm swirled overhead and mountain struck the mountain peak causing it to collapse, rock and ice fell upon Mendax’s enemies crushing them and leaving Mendax’s followers alive.

Taking what was left of his people to the now Mendax plateau and found in its crevices and cracks mounds upon mound of pure fire Dust. Seeing this as a gift from their new gods he decreed that he and his people would build a city and from here they would tame the Odite and become masters of all they surveyed.

And they did just that taking the dust they forced anyone who remained beyond their walls to join the or die and within a matter of decades the sparsely populated wastes was rid of the Grimm which nice plagued it, killing their new Gods as a way of worship. As they saw the Grimm as Ethereal and other worldly, coming only to this world to test their peoples strength and kill the weak

Despite the ludicrous nature of this story, it is admitted by many Historians that the success of the Mendaxi Empire was built on Dust, with them being some of the earliest recorded Dust users.

Age of the Fire

The age of Fire was one of those obscure ages named after the abundance of Fire Dust the Mendaxi possessed, with it they trades their services as mercenaries abroad and exported the weapons grade material all across the continent in massive trade convoys. During this time they started trade with all manner of people, especially the Faunus of Menagerie, trading the skins of the creatures of Grimm, jewels and metal from their mountain and dust for wood, food and loyalty. This was a profitable partnership and is one of the earliest records of Faunus in Remnant’s history, still records show that even before widespread prejudice against Faunus became common the Mendaxi were extremely aggressive in their dealings, using force to intimidate people. This early use of extortion became the groundwork of the first Mendaxi empire with these varying people united under the Archon descendants of Mendax himself.

With this initial empire the Mendaxi built up a massive trade fleet and spread to many of the neighbouring continents setting up trade colonies based around the exportation of Dust, having discovered they had the largest Dust mine in the southern hemisphere. Coupled with their use of Iron over Copper and Bronze weapons, mastery of Aura, an extremely aggressive nature and tendency to incorporate useful technologies and ideas into their empire they were essentially Remnants first superpower. All of which was done without a single war.

Age of the Victor

The Age of the Victor is said to have been more or less one of the shorter ages in lasting apparently a little over fifty years. Before this age the Mendax Empire had more an less been a partnership of continence between the city state and its trade partners, with the Mendaxi offering protection in return for recourses. However wishing to make this arrangement a little more permanent than its allies would like the Mendaxi attacked their allies forcing them to pay tribute and become vassals to the Archons. This age fortified the Mendaxi position in the world and turned them into the wealthiest people in the planet with their Empire slowly taking on Slavery as a matter of right. As if a people couldn’t protect themselves from being conquered they deserved to be enslaved!

Age of the Sand

In spite of their initial success the collapse of the Empire occurred a little over a century over its initial conception. Roughly two-thousand years before the present day the city states conquered by Mendaxi formed a confederation and rebelled against their war like conquerors driving them back to Odite and their well-fortified city. It was during this period that after hundreds of years of mining the Dust Mine in Mendax ran dry leaving the Empire without its primary export and best weapon. Without the Dust to sustain their armies they were easily forced back by the far more numerous confederation states but dealt them heavy casualties forcing them to sue for peace.

Thus this age was dubbed’ the age of sand’ as the only thing the Mendaxi had at the end of it was the sands of Odite they started with, as even their fabled Archon warrior kings were wiped out in the war, leaving them directionless and fractured. The only province the Empire had been able to keep hold of was the neighbouring state of Menagerie and its Faunus population which they exploited for Slave labour.

It is agreed that these events took place roughly 2000 years before the present day with historical sources and archaeological records pointing to numerous battles taking place across territory belived to been formally controlled by the first Mendax Empire. It should also be noted that the Mendaxi following the war began to accurately record their history with written documents. A decree made by its new system of Government as to substitute for a lack of Archons a Consul was chosen by the people to run the city every five years, making Mendax one of Remnants first democracies. Even though only men over the age of thirty could vote and it became infamous for its corruption.

Age of the Explorer

It is recorded that roughly after one-hundred years after the initial collapse of their first Empire he people of Mendax began to slowly expand again, sending ships further and further afield to locate new sources of Dust and material for an inevitable period of expansion. As such the age of the Explorer began with the Mendaxi inventing most of the newer boat designs and naval strategies, pioneering the use of sails over oars in naval combat. While on the surface many civilisations saw Mandax now as little more as an important trade hub of a once great empire with an extremely eccentric culture. However deep beneath the city in its labyrinth of catacombs and underground settlements weapons of war were being constructed, weapons which they aimed to use to conquer the world.

Age of Scourge

The ‘Age of Scourge’ is the only Age named after a person in Mendax history, Brutus Scourge was the cities raining consul at the time (by then named Chancellor) and was dedicated to bringing about the second great Empire. A man of a curious fanaticism he eschewed divine worship and praying to the Gods for aid, in the place of putting ones trust in themselves. He is credited for creating the world’s first trained military the ‘Dread Guard’, a contingent of full time trained soldiers instead of hired mercenaries, armed peasant bands or royal bodyguards. He equipped this new army with the many weapons of war created by the Mendaxi including their newest creation, Guns! These weapons were incorporated into a new way of warfare on mounted horses. While Cavalry had always been used in Mendaxi war tactics this new way of fighting allowed for a blitzkrieg warfare with the Dread Guard descending on their enemies in a matter of seconds firing at them from long ranges before falling back before their enemies got within range to use their bows or swords. True these weapons only had a single shot before being needed to be reloaded with Dust and are horribly inefficient compared to todays weapons, none the less their stopping power an d unique nature allowed their previously crushed military might to be reformed into a new fighting force.

Scourge used this army to win himself prestige in an event known as the sundering where he violently put down a multitude of uprisings in Menagerie engaging in a policy of ethnic cleansing against those he saw as impure, due to their animal heritage. Using the success of their campaign as evidence of their renewed greatness the Mendaxi launched systematic strikes against numerous fortified nations across the southern hemisphere, rapidly retaking the land from the people who drove them out long ago. Here Scourge wiped out entire cities which had once stood against Mendax and slaughter men women and children with Dust based explosive devices, throwing containers of lightning, ice and fire over the walls of cities to kill their population in any number of barbaric ways.

Eventually establishing a new empire Scourge returned home to Mendax a hero but upon his return he was poisoned by a Faunus slave who was vengeful for his murders of his her family in Menagerie. This event sparked a furious vendetta between the Faunus and the people of Mendax. As while in the past the Mendaxi had always looked down on the Faunus after this event the Mendaxi right to have Faunus slaves soon became a privilege and the very idea of Faunus being freed was outlawed. Moreover Scourges death allowed his cousin Judas Usurpator to lead an even greater expansion of the empire and eventually gather the political clout to crown himself the first Emperor.

However from this period it can be said that the Mendaxi contributed mostly to the world most of its modern military tactics, which while rejected by other nations as dishonorable at the time, they earned the Empire its massive swaths of territories. Moreover Brutus last name became a by word for death and destruction with the work Scourge becoming a byword for a plague on a land.

Age of the Jewel

The ‘Age of the Jewel’ began in the initial years following the ‘Age of Scourge’ with the Empire coming under the direct control of its Emperors. A relatively calm period the Empire reached its height roughly over three-hundred years after the first Emperor came to power, and at this point it covered 1 one sixth of the entire planets land mass. With its technology, well drilled navy, aggressive nature and professional army, the Empire of Mendax became able to crush anything and everyone who opposed them.

Age of the Gods

The Age of Gods was a joke term used by Mendaxi historians to describe the period of civil War which engulfed their people, a term which later stuck. Named after the man who caused it, Emperor Demens declared on his ascendance to the throne that he was a God and that people should worship him instead of the Grimm. Grimm worship in the Empire at this time had become more moderate and less combat orientated, with things such as sacrifices, blood trials and Grimm hunts being phased out around the time of the ‘Age of the Explorer’. However Demens claim upset many people, enough to cause dozens of separate individuals ranging from, Priests, Colonial Governors, Politicians to General’s to denounce him and declare themselves Emperor. Thus started the longest period of civil war in Mendax’s history with the city being taken and lost to many times to count.

Eventually seeing a chance many of the conquered people rose up and rebelled against Mendax, with many of the empires armies defecting to the people they were sent to guard. Thus the second Empire crumbled over a period of two-hundred years, slowly shrinking back to only a few dozen colonies and the deserts of Odite. As such this was not only an end of the Empire but it was the end of its technological superiority with many nations that sprung up from its ashes gaining access to their weapons and technology by those people who had emigrated their and defected during the rebellions.

Age of the stone

The ‘Age of Stone’ was named after it ended, as a way of showing the stagnation of the Empire as due to its loss of its technological edge its Empire continued to shrink over the next three-hundred years with every one of its colonies being taken from them. In the end only Odite and Menagerie and a few scattered Kingdoms on their continent remained sustained by exports of weaponry built by Faunus slaves for the profit of a now decadent and arrogant people.

Eventually this complacency would be their undoing weakened and in dire need for economic assistance the Empire stepped up its gladiatorial combat ring as a way of distracting the population from its misfortune. However in one of these fight pits a young Faunus girl named Kasumi Cheer, better known as ‘Champion would rise. Winning one hundred consecutive fights in a row she gained the attention of the Empress at the time who went to watch her, as soon as she arrived however Kasumi signaled her followers and they struck, launching a daring jail break and killing the Empress in the process. The Empire left reeling from the death of its current rulers sparked a power play for her replacement which allowed Kasumi to raise an army from the cities slave and gladiatorial population.

This mass uprising served to be the end of the Mendax Empire as with a multitude of simultaneous rebellions on their door step and faltering economy that now had no workforce and an army that had no pay, the Empire fell apart in a matter of months. Conceding defeat the new Emperor gave the slaves what they wanted, their freedom and let them return home, with him becoming the ruler of just Mendax, thus ending the ‘age of stone’ and starting the ‘age of death’!

The age of Stone lasted just over two hundred years and saw more Emperors rise and fall then with the entire empire put together, this age was essentially their final decline into nothingness, with the slave revolt seen as the last nail in its coffin.

Age of the Dead

After the ‘age of stone’ the Mendaxi splintered fracturing into separate people, many returned to the deserts of Odite and took up their wandering ways as they had thousands of years before, as with the decline the Empire the lands had become plagued with the Creatures of Grimm again. Most however left the city for one of the surviving colonies, with them hoping to find a new life and identity away from their peoples shattered past. Only the fanatical stayed with the city becoming a walled fortress for brigands, pirates and raiders and as the decades creped by less and less people stayed. In the end 300 years before the present day Mendax was finally snubbed out, the ‘final five-hundred’ citizens were slaughtered when a giant King Taijitu snuck into the city and devoured its inhabitants. Many of the Mendaxi who had left the city see this as the ‘Great Snakes’ final punishment for the cities weakness, it achieved glory but let it slip through their fingers with their decadence and arrogance. Now the city Mendaxi sits on the northern shores of the Odite as little more than a ghost town, Grimm are said to walk its halls and lurk in it depths, with the treasurers of the Empires Past locked away taken by the ‘Great Snakes’ as payment.

Fate

The Final fate of the Mendaxi civilization is clearly defined with many people seeing them as a dictatorial Empire who conquered and treated people like animals. Cruel and violent the word ‘Mendaxi’ has become a slur word for racially bigoted Humans by Faunus and Humans alike. Now a days Humans don’t talk about Mendax seeing it as a huge embarrassment for their race despite the technological advances it gave them. Moreover the last great mention of the Mendaxi in world history was the Mendaxi War Guard, a regiment of Human mercenaries who served the Human supremacist forces in the Faunus Rights Revolution, who apparently claimed to be descendants of Mendaxi colonists.

Historians also note that if not for the timely fall of Mendax the Faunus may not have been organized enough to stage their revolution in the first place, an ironic twist of fate for the people who see the Empire as a message of how cruel Humans can be.

''Civilization
It has been noted by many historians that there is a distinctive difference between the early Mendax society and the late one. In comparison the early Mendaxi were almost barbarians, heavily motivated by war and extremely ruthless. The later Empire better called the second Empire of Mendax was noted to be at the time as being one of the most civilized places on the planet, although with its own brutal twist on it.

1st Empire

The thing to note about the first Mendxi Empire is that the power lay in the hands of the Archon’s and Priests, there could be more than one at any one time and most of the time they were descended from Mendax, the first Archon, himself. The fixation point of the first Empire was strength, it was believed even before the ‘pact’ was signed with the ‘great Snake’ that a person would only pass on into the afterlife if they did something meaningful. Meaningful often meant being successful Hunters, Warriors, leaders or accumulating Wealth to show your worth, as such those in higher statuses often were granted by the priests the highest place in the afterlife. As such people who engaged in menial jobs were seen to go to the lowest stage of the afterlife, which is why Slavery became widespread as Mendaxi feared having to do the simple chores themselves, seeing doing it themselves as an unworthy task. As such war proved an effective outlet for this desire to excel and many served as Mercenaries all across the southern hemisphere even before the rise of their first Empire.

However once their Empire was founded the people of Mendax had the Mercenaries turn on the people they guarded essentially making their conquests that much easier. Following this the Mendaxi adopted a view of moral and physical superiority over their conquered people who they viewed as 'weak' due to their inability to defend themselves, often using this to justify their involvement in the slave trade. It should also be highlighted that in comparison to the later Empire discrimination against Faunus was actually non-existence due to them enslaving nearly anyone regardless of race, religion or culture. A quote from that time states that “everyone is equal under the boot of the Mendaxi”! Also they were extremely aggressive in exporting their violent religion and its blood soaked rituals abroad; often using slaves to compete in the ceremonial fights to the death (which later spiralled off into the ever popular Gladiatorial fights) and even in rare occasion Human sacrifices!

Although there is little archaeological evidence to support this claim, with it most likely being a slanderous remark from the people they conquered. In spite of this the 1st Empire did engage in the practice of adopting proven technology and prided themselves on logistics, knowing while martial strength was important it would not work without financial support. This is why the Merchant class was so highly prized as it sent back recourses to a city with practically none fuelling their empire.

Even so despite their martial excellence they were recorded as being extremely superstitious and their reliance on conquest eventually proved to be their undoing. Once they were stopped by the federation of states that united to challenge tem, the money, riches and trade earned by looting ceased to flow back to Mendax stalling their war economy. Coupled with the drying up of their chief Dust Mine and the lack of support they received from their conquered slaves it is any wonder why the first Empire only lasted a few centuries. It also has been suggested the Federation exploited the Mendaxi extremely superstitious nature by launching hit and run offensives against them so fast that many warriors felt they were under attack by ghosts. And fighting on what was then the first Tuesday of the month (the same day Mendax was founded, fighting during this day was strictly prohibited).

2nd Empire

After the ‘Age of the Explorer’ the Empire had lost most of its hereditary warriors and thus shifted away from its status motivated culture to one more in line with what was considered civilised at the time. One of the first steps is that power shifted from the hands of the priests to the newly elected ‘peoples gathering’ a political body that represented the city, with a consul being chosen by them once every five years to be the cities official head. Following the establishment of a new Government the Mendaxi began to set up colonies to send back recourses to fuel a new War Economy. This was done because without their famously violent warriors the people of the city chose to develop their technology to give them an edge in combat. As such the Mendaxi can be credited reluctantly for creating many of today’s modern military tactics and the original blue prints for many of its weaponry. In fact amongst the ruins of one of its oldest colonies was found one of the oldest examples of a transforming weapon, while it was based on a design from another Kingdom it was likely created as an experiment as their was never any evidence of widespread adoption of the technology in the Mendaxi military.

The second Empire itself was a Hegemony absorbing and obliterating and culture it conquered, installing its own beliefs onto its new people who were unlikely to be enslaved so long as they gave u willingly. However with this technology and success came the same arrogance and hatred that had plagued the old Empire, causing the kingdom to turn in on itself in the ‘age of the Gods’. The Mendaxi civilization became well known and detested for its decadence and extreme vanity, with the great monuments and statues of their homeland being built in their honor by the slaves of their conquered peoples. However the one positive that came out of the second Empire was a global shift to more secular forms of Goverments, moving away from Religion as a justification for people’s rights to rule. With the new Empeors ruling through the backing of the military and the people of Mendaxi!

Final Years

The final years of the Mendaxi Empire was one of a slow deterioration, those who visited the ‘city of the dead’ noted its abandoned houses and almost slum like conditions, with a extremely xenophobic people inhabiting the ruins or a once great civilization. Towers came down regularly in the city with people doing little to fix or maintain them, it is said that towards the end the people even came to hate the sun retreating into the plateau’s great under city and rarely coming out during the day, the reason for this is unknown. All that is understood is Grimm one day got into the city and murdered what was left of the population.

Religion
The Religion of the Mendaxi was focused around the worship of the Grimm ever since Mendax supposedly descended the mountain he was named after and told his people of the pact he made with the Black headed Snake. Ever since then living and dead Grimm were held up as Gods to be worshiped and slain in an unusual ritual were young Mendaxi would track down and goad the most massive of the beasts in one on one combat. What is believed from deciphered ancient texts is that the Mendaxi thought of the Grimm as Gods of strength with them descending from the sands to test their people and weed out the weak letting the strongest survive. It is well understood that the largest of the Grimm were treated as Demi Gods with the bigger and more powerful they were exemplifying a greater and more powerful challenge by the Gods for the Mendaxi to test themselves against. And for those who succeeded in killing one of these beasts were automatically ascended to the rank of Archon, one of the great Warrior Kings under the first Archon, Mendax’s, bloodline. So successful were these hunts and fight that within a century before the fall of the first Empire the Mendaxi had driven out or killed all the Grimm in the Odite Desert, hence why their warriors often travelled far afield as Mercenaries to find Grimm to kill.

The Priests in Mendax were treated early on in the city’s history as second only to the Archons with them holding a great deal of power with them ascending in rank from a lowly priest to the ‘Grand Snake’. The priests also doubled as Warrior monks in times of war marching out with the army in their own elite units, it is said they mixed the blood of dead Grimm with rare herbs and small amounts of a toxic mushroom from the caves beneath the Mendax Plateau. This drug was a hallucinogenic and often sent the priests into a blind rage killing friend and foe alike, swinging great morning stars like they were fighting with twigs. The Priests also played an important part in everyday life by acting as the bridge between those who could not fight and the gods, with them offering up sacrifices to show these Gods that in spite of them not being warriors they served te city and contributed to its survival. The priests burnt everything from food, money and even jugs filled with blood of defeated enemies and Grimm to show the gods of their worth, the bigger or more grand the sacrifice the more the gods would be pleased. But contrary to popular belief the Mendaxi did not engage in Human or Faunus sacrifice, believing that killing a man o his knees showed a weak character unless it was a mercy killing and or he begged for death. Also sacrificing Water was considered a taboo and in a desert water was needed for survival and sacrificing something you needed for survival was seen as just stupid. Suicide in the face of cowardice was also believed to an acceptable atonement for fleeing in battle while others stayed and fought, a view held by many Mendaxi all throughout their history. Although they did support the idea of ‘he who flees and runs away lives to fight another day’. A curious superstition they had though was that you should never fight on the first Tuesday of month unless it was life or death situation, this was because it is the same day that the city was founded by Mendax during the month it was founded.

The Afterlife for the Mendaxi was based on levels ascending downwards into the ground (hence why much of the capital was built into the rock) were they believed it was cool and filled with fresh water (an important recourse to them). There were twelve layers in total, with lowest apparently being the home of the greatest of the Grimm and the strongest warriors of the Mendaxi, only Archons and high priests got in here if they did not die in battle, unless they were weak and failed to furfill their oaths to protect the city. Descending the weaker you were apparently with the highest level being closest to the Sun which the Mendaxi hated as it had killed so many of their people when they lived out in the deserts of Odite.

However following the age of sand many of these beliefs became more honorary held up only for tradition, with many of the trials of manhood were faded out for rigged arena fights were young Mendaxi fought either weak Grimm or malnourished slaves. Originally it was deemed too costly to waste any more warriors on these test based hunts, although ceremonial expeditions into the deserts still happened but only in large groups. As time went on though and the second empire became more decadent these competitions devolved into gladiatorial competitions and the ritual trials were removed as barbaric rituals that were uncivilised. However a side effect of this was a weakening of the general populace and a drop in their traditional strong warrior stock, with only the priests upholding their original oaths and continuing to march to war when needed. By the end of the ‘age of the jewel’ though the number of priests had fallen to record lows and the last priests died in the slave uprisings in the ‘age of the stone’.

Deities

‘The Great Snakes’ the two heads of King Taijitu: one exemplifying endurance the other greatness and together the spirit of the Mendaxi

‘He who stings’ God of Hunters: apparently the largest death stalker that ever existed who managed to fell whole armies until he was apparently killed by the first Archon after ascending to the throne. Due to the sheer amount of men he killed he became revered by the cities Hunter both as the ultimate test and as the ultimate hunter himself, lying in wait under the sands to eat whole tribes who came his way.

‘The lord of Bones’ God of the Afterlife: a colossal Nevermore that apparently stripped the souls from dead warriors after they died, eating those of the weak or cowardly and escorting the strong to the afterlife.

‘The Blood King’ God of War: Apparently the reincarnation of the First Archon Mendax, the Blood Lord exemplified his love of ar and martial pride demanding his people to march to war for the glory or their city and the Grimm.

‘Master of Tests’ God of Knowledge: Another Nevermore and apparently The Lord of Bones brother, the Master of tests was the Grimm who sent lesser Grimm to the surface world to test mankind, if you slayed a Grimm you pleased him, if you fell in battle or ran he would curse you.

‘Karroon’ God of Strength: Ursa in Odite were a rare sight but those who lived there were among the largest and strongest of their breed and Karroon was apparently the greatest of their breed ever. It is said after Mendax reached old age he left the city alone to find a worthy death, one-hundred years after he left the creature was killed and in its cave and amongst the corpses it had eaten was the whip of Menndax, although his body could not be found.

‘Shade’ God of Protection and shadows: Not strictly a Grimm Shade was a left over deity of the old Gods of the Odite tribes, in their eyes the sun killed while the dark ‘shady’ caves offered protection to those who could survive what dwelled in them. If you found a deserted cave you were apparently ‘blessed’ by Shade.