Iwaku World - The R.O.A Timeline

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Asmodeus

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The Hierarchy of Citizenship

In the wake of Asmodeus's victory, those citizens of Iwaku who chose to remain came under strict regulation by the new state. Every citizen is now classified under 1 of 7 narrative archetypes which are assigned at birth. The punishment for straying outside your role is incarceration in one of the State's Recasting Facilities.

Citizens can, of course, make formal applications to switch roles, but these requests must pass through a number of bureaucratic checks and official assessments in the royal archives.

Each role consists of 12 ranks, with associated benefits from the state. Those who achieve Rank 12 can then be initiated into the Circle of Angels who form Asmodeus's elite. Ranks are reviewed annually based on a full evaluation of a citizen's achievements, and promotion is automatic at certain age-ranges.

 
Re: The Hierarchy of Citizenship


ALLIES
Most citizens of Iwaku are assigned the Ally class. Their role from cradle to grave is to serve and assist. They are the factory workers, the waiting staff, the taxi drivers and construction workers. Ambition is frowned upon, as is self-serving behaviour. The allies are encouraged to adopt a group-mentality, whereby they work with a close group of friends and hang out with them in their spare time. And any ally who spends too much time alone is watched by the State Police for signs of heresy.



SHADOWS
In contrast, the smallest group of citizens are the Shadows. They are given the antagonising jobs of the Empire - jobs that bring them into deliberate conflict with the people. They are the drug dealers, the tax collectors, the gang leaders and the corrupt politicians. These individuals have a legal right to act as obstacles, and providing they don't go too far they are tolerated by the state. Shadows are essential in enforcing unpopular legislation and keeping people in their place. They enjoy great power at the cost of their popularity, and many of them are happy with this trade-off.



MENTORS
The teachers, wise men and instructors of Iwaku are known as the Mentors. Their job is to guide and empower others, while at all times never overstepping the mark with their own actions. The Mentor group comprises some of the oldest and most intelligent citizens of the realm.



SOULMATES
Because they are believed so dangerous, the Soulmates are the most regulated group in all Iwaku. 90% of them are now controlled through the Convent, who make sure they are properly groomed and placed in the correct positions of power. About three quarters of them are female and both men and women alike are trained to be pure, level-headed and conscientious. They go on to serve as advisors, artistic muses, TV presenters, spokesmen and medical staff. An unregulated Soulmate can cause untold disruption, such is their power to influence great changes. The last unregulated Soulmate, Simica, was responsible for the madness of King Gabriel, and Asmodeus is resolved not to make the same mistake. The Convent itself is one of the most secure places in Iwaku, as there is no shortage of young Romeo-types trying to break in and get a look at the gorgeous females within.



TRICKSTERS
While the Soulmates are the most reverred, the Tricksters are the most despised. In Asmodeus's Empire, comedy and randomness are seen as the lowest of the low. Anyone deemed a Trickster is denied all but the most basic of human rights. Tricksters are actors, entertainers and shapeshifters, the majority of them employed in the sex industry. They live on the scraps of the kingdom, surviving by their own good cheer and the charity of the few who dare to pity them. Like jesters they are treated as lesser forms of life, even if their comedy carries hidden wisdom.



HERALDS
Similar to Mentors, the Heralds are information-gatherers and dispersers. Their job is to proclaim new events and recount the tales of old. From gossiping housewives to media anchormen, the Heralds are simply there to spread the word. They do not teach, as Mentors do, but simply store and convey information. Many have jobs as historians, but most are bureaucrats dealing with car licences, tax records, office-work and citizen promotions.



GUARDIANS
Guardians are the second largest group of the citizenry. Like Allies they protect and support others, many of them being security staff or office clerks. And like the Shadows they are placed in positions to obstruct people, tripping up the unwary and blocking processes. The Guardians are checks and boundaries to other citizens, making sure they do not stray outside of their roles. Many of them form the police force and the Inquisition and are raised to be keepers of the order.

 
Asmodeus - the Crimson Eye

Asmodeus, the Crimson Angel, a half of the Dark Prince and a half of Paorou-Sama. The pinnacle of Confluence fused with the pinnacle of Reality-Bending, chaos and order incarnate.

The tyrant of the New Iwaku spends his days and nights in the ARC Tower, his existence one of constant schemes and bureaucracy. After absorbing the nations of Moonwings, Vandoosa and AFTA, his ambition grows ever stronger. He seeks ever more classification of his citizens and the animal and botanical resources of the kingdom. Some say he is seeking to produce a universal hierarchy of every man, woman, animal, plant and mineral. Whole wings of his Tower are filled by servants compiling exhaustive psychological profiles on the population as well as scientific mapping of all physical processes.

The goal is total knowledge... total prediction... total order.

Asmodeus has never left his Tower, which only adds to his reverence amongst the people. He is the ever-watching and ever-living God of Iwaku, his whims unknowable and his rule unquestioned.
 
Diana, the Bridal Moon

TBC
 
Palonis, the Serpent of Paradise

Public Enemy Number 1. Palonis goes by many names: the Devil's Smoke, the Veiled Terror, Black Pulse, the Cynic, the Prating Tongue, Heartsbane, the Grey Man. All good citizens of Iwaku have their own abusive terms for Palonis, or moreover the figure that Palonis is made out to be. Since walking away from Asmodeus, Grumpy and WMD at the end of the War, Palonis has been made the scapegoat for all that the New Iwaku despises.

He has been on the run ever since that day, leading the ragtag group of rebels and outcasts who still stand against the Crimson Eye. His tactics are based on stealth and guerilla raids, never staying in one place more than once. Some believe he has no true motive other than opposition itself, and some even believe he has succeeded Chaos and Razilin as the prime-receptacle of the Guardian Stream.

His creed is one of cynicism, criticism, free speech and scrutiny. Those who follow him do their utmost to counter the propaganda of the state, publishing flyers that point out the flaws in government and the hypocrisy of public figures. Whether this will achieve anything remains to be seen, but there is no doubting that he is a thorn in the state's side. The Inquisition and the Imperial Military expend vast resources trying to track and ensnare the Palonis rebels, but for the time-being, thanks to Palonis's ninja training, they remain elusive.
 
JackShade, the Winged Legacy

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Tain, the Winged Promise

TBC
 
Chaos, the Winged Torment

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Tegan, the Star Priestess

It is perhaps merely coincidence that the creature known as Tegan has now become such a central figure in Asmodeus's government. At the end of the War, shortly after Homac murdered his beloved, the Goddess Engel, a star fell from heaven. The impact site was discovered during the postwar clean-up, shortly after the alliance with AFTA. Asmodeus himself was summoned to the site and there encountered the celestial being known as Tegan.

Some Iwakuans believe that Tegan is a product of the Cycle's efforts to replace the Goddess, or at least to form a receptacle for the Goddess energy stream. Asmodeus himself does not believe this, but he understands the power of symbol to the masses. He therefore made a deal with Tegan, to put her powers to use in a new Church of the Goddess that Asmodeus created in honour of Engel.

Tegan is now the High Priestess of the Convent, a special order dedicated to raising young women as receptacles of the Goddess energy stream. These are women of unparalleled virtue and personal strength, groomed for positions in government and the arts where they will act as Muses to those around them.

Tegan's motives for taking this role remain a mystery, even to Asmodeus, but she clearly knows that she is being used. After the now-illegal Hero Class, the Goddess Class is the next most powerful type of citizen and for this reason the Convent exists to condition and control any would-be heroines, lest they inspire a contender to Asmodeus's throne. And central to this conceit is the praising of Tegan herself as Engel's representative on Earth.

The alliance between Tegan and Asmodeus is an uneasy one, but for now it is holding.
 
Warmaster Death - the Reaper

Of all the survivors of the Admin War, there is no doubt that Warmaster Death reaped the greatest reward in the New Empire. Now the undisputed Lord of the Imperial Police and Military, the Reaper inspires as much terror as Asmodeus himself. At his command is the feared Barship, the Karsikan Inquisition, the ISAF and the million-fold legions of Ego-Zombies.

Asmodeus has granted almost free reign to the Warmaster to conduct the conquests and policing of the Empire. And as the toll of blood and oppression gathers the Warmaster slips ever further into the grasp of the Ruinous Powers. Some say his old lieutenant, Sindri the Chaos Sorceror, has something to do with his corruption, while others blame Asmodeus or the Warmaster's regret for allowing Rory and Engel to be killed.

The Warmaster keeps the Empire safe from the threat of the Teknikan Fleet and the Palonis Insurgents, as well as suppressing the formation of Iwaku Cults, which are now illegal in the new Empire. The Warmaster also oversees the new initiates to the Circle of Angels, the elite advisors to the Emperor.

Loyal and utterly determined, the Reaper is a living legend in these times.
 
Grandmaster Karsikan - the Inquisitor

The right hand of the Warmaster, Grandmaster Karsikan heads the Imperial Inquisition and excels in hunting down and punishing enemies of the state. He is the head of the Empire's shock units, specialising in rapid and ruthless strikes on heretics and illegal cultists.

Karsikan is just as fanatical as the Warmaster, but it is a zeal not enforced by the hands of gods. His darkness is a chosen one, borne of utter self-belief and soul-consuming hatred. It is his personal quest to eradicate all heresy from the Empire, and heresy is anything he defines as antithesis to the order and dominance of Iwaku. Why a Grey Knight should serve a Chaos Marine is a question not yet answered, but many believe that Karsikan has become enslaved to his hatred. The Warmaster has helped Karsikan to unlock his psychic potential and with this their alliance has become set in stone.

The Grandmaster rose to prominence after assisting in the chemical attacks on the ISAF which infected them with the Prolific-X virus. It is also rumoured that he personally executed Commandant McCarthy. Since then he has presided over a string of public executions, always more comfortable in the public eye than the Warmaster. Many see Karsikan as a public role model and to this end he makes sure to uphold the appearance of the Honour Guard as 'knights in shining armour'.

This compliments the Grandmaster's own belief that he is a force of salvation to the people.
 
Porg - the Fay Shadow

The legend of the Fay Shadow is more obscure than the legends of Palonis and Myrnodyn combined. It is known by only a handful of old wives and madmen, and of course by Asmodeus's top advisors.

The legend began in the outskirts of Iwaku City, near the remains of Anirune Forest that are now kept as wasteland or development plots. A pair of 8 year olds went missing from their homes and a few days later the Inquisition was called to their school to "re-educate" some of their classmates who had begun spreading wild rumours. Since then, another six children, between the ages of 7 and 17 have vanished without a trace.

It was said that a spirit took the children - the ghost of a young man, red-haired and diminuitive, like a child who had refused to grow up. In nursery rhymes and children's poems intercepted by the state, the creatue is called the Fay Shadow and is said to exist beyond the Cycle whilst still having access to Iwaku. It's intent seems to be like that of Peter Pan, to draw away the innocent into a better world before they have a chance to grow up.

Asmodeus fears this creature to be either Porg, Faramond or Coffeecakesadist, each of them anomalies in the Cycle characterised by self-consciousness and metatextual affinity. From his interrogation of the survivors from the Legacy timeline, he knows that such individuals have the potential to disrupt the Cycle by breaking its Fourth Wall.

He has given orders that the Fay Shadow be annihilated and that any children who come into contact with it be shot on sight.
 
Grumpy - the High Necromancer

Equal in power to the Warmaster, and closest to Asmodeus, the Necromancer Grumpy is the Empire's liaison with the Undead Powers. He presides over the production of the Prolific X virus and ensures that its effects remain active amongst both the Ego-Zombies and the Corrupted ISAF.

Like the Warmaster, Grumpy is empowered by dark gods who lend him almost limitless power to invoke the forces of the Nether Realm. He is Asmodeus's oracle and royal mage, able to shape the seasons and turn the tides of history. At his command the ranks of the Ego Zombies are replenished by the infection of prisoners and vagrants. While the Warmaster is the blunt hammer, Grumpy is the precise needle, able to curse and assassinate those who oppose him. And like the other founders of the state, he has become the stuff of legends and bedtime stories, a name uttered to children to scare them into obedience.

The Necromaniac's principle role is to ensure that there are plentiful hordes of Ego-Zombies roaming the borders of Iwaku, preying on any who are foolish enough to stray beyond the borders. By this process he keeps the zombies fed and ensures that the citizens of the Empire never think outside the box he has built for them.
 
Torsty - the Chained Herald

For his betrayal of Asmodeus during the War, Torsty was permitted no mercy. Once a great warrior and leader of the Vikings, he has now become a permenant prisoner in the ARC Tower. Chained in the highest belltower, Torsty is enslaved by bonds both magical and self-inflicted, for he too shared in Paorou's despair for Iwaku - a despair made all the greater by Asmdodeus's tyranny.

Torsty is now the shell of what he once was, mad and raving. His mighty hammer is fused to his hand and with it he rings the Celestial Bell that signals the changes of the Watch and the days of celebration.

Those few who have studied the viking confirm that he is the current prime-receptacle of the Cycle's Herald Energy, as Gabriel Zero was before him. As such, Torsty is locked in an unending cycle of prophecy and pronouncement, ringing the bell and screaming unintelligible accounts of what has passed and what will come.

And so they call him the Chained Herald - a symbol of what happens to those who wrong the Crimson Eye.
 
Myrnodyn, the Street Preacher

With the massacre of the Shapeshifters at the ARC Towers, the once powerful and vibrant tribe was all but destroyed. Those who survived were shattered by grief or crippled by injury, and when Asmodeus formally banned the formation of cults in Iwaku, the last Shifters went their solitary way. They became vagrants and drifters, shunned by the other citizens who thought them a lesser race. Many got jobs in the sex industry, where their shifting abilities appealed to fetishists, while others were kept as pets by private households. Without the Lycan Queen and the Goddess Engel, the Shifters lost all the dignity of their kind.

But now there is Myrnodyn, a name whispered on street corners and around the vagrant fires. People talk of a bearded man in a longcoat, wielding two pistols of a technology long-lost, evading the authorities and passing like a shadow from any who try to ensnare him. A few remember the name as that belonging to a scientist serving under the Lycan Queen.

Myrnodyn's most audacious act to date was trespassing aboard the Legacy whilst it was docked in the Fantasy Quarter. The official investigation has yet to answer how he got through security, or what his motives were. Whether Myrnodyn will be a threat to the regime or something else remains to be seen. But one thing is certain... the Shifters are starting to believe again...
 
The Reign of Asmodeus takes place after an alternative ending to the Admin War.

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The point at which the timelines diverged was shortly after Paorou-Sama gained Asmodeus's allegiance following the Massacre of the Shapeshifters. In the closing hours of the war, Asmodeus chose to defend the gantry of Nerf Castle whilst Paorou-Sama went inside to plunge the Sword of Iwaku into the planet's core and bring an end to the realm.

It was on the gantry that Asmodeus was confronted by Palonis, Warmaster Death and Necromaniac Grumpy. However, in a decision that produced two alternate timelines, Asmodeus chose to talk rather than fight. The four heroes, now regarded as the Founders of the Iwakuan Empire, agreed that Paorou-Sama's plan was madness and that the war needed to be brought to an end.

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Their plan was simple. They would stand aside as the False God Homac descended to punish Rory and Paorou-Sama and retrieve the Goddess Engel. And this they did, keeping to the shadows as Homac stormed the deepest chamber of the castle and slew Prince Rory and the Goddess Engel.

But their plan was in vain, for Homac had arrived too late and his interference had only prevented Porg from stealing the Sheathe of Iwaku as he did in the original timeline. With the Sword and Sheathe still in his possession, Paorou-Sama fought a gruelling battle with the God and impaled him with the Sword of Iwaku.

All seemed lost. But then Asmodeus made his final sacrifice. He followed after Homac and used a Full Confluence Pulse within a few feet of Paorou-Sama. The combination of the Sword and Sheathe, plus the two High Practioners of Confluence and Reality-Bending, caused an energy discharge that tore apart Nerf Castle and ultimately averted the destruction of Iwaku.

And when Palonis, Grumpy and Warmaster Death picked through the ruins, they found only a single man.

An angel, built like the prince they had known, but with Paorou-Sama's cape, eyes half blue and half-red, the Sword and Sheathe in his hand, angel-wings, features half-Caucasian and half-Asian.

Grumpy and the Warmaster saw this abomination and accepted it as the leader Iwaku needed. But Palonis walked away.

The Reign of Asmodeus had begun.
 
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