Archive:The Caravan: Difference between revisions

==== The Caravan and The Four Piglins ====

Two separate wars began: Felu’s war on the proto-Pyrrhians and Maoilios, to drive them mad and speed up the process of natural selection, and The Caravan’s attempt to stop Felu’s meddling with the affairs of the ‘inquisition’. Maoilios and his driven followers were more and more inclined to banish Felu from the four realms with every atrocity they witnessed. More of The Caravan began attempting to stop Felu, their foresight getting blurrier with every intervention. The Caravan’s ability to assess the future from the sum of the present did not extend to events including themselves.

The Caravan’s primary motive was to stop Felu from infecting the various wildlife in [[Arith]]. To do this The Caravan took control of these various hosts, before Felu could, playing an elaborate game of chess where neither could even think about their next move. This game evolved from simply infecting wildlife to infecting the various livestock of proto-Pyrrhians and bandit clans alike. The afflicted animals quickly suffered from what was believed to be disease and fell dead. This began the 15 year long Four Piglins period.

This sudden drop in food supply caused unrest between the various warlords. Each attempted to sustain their own lifestyle, and when the supply shock grew some warlords resorted to war. The first conflict to break out was the Galli declaring war on the Lepontine for access to the Lepontine’s coastal region for fishing. Within weeks all the warlord clans were fighting each other for fertile land and coastal access. The proto-Pyrrhians were forced into fighting for their survival.

The proto-Pyrrhians needed to unify under these extreme conditions, however they remained split within two factions. The first were the proto-Exaltati, named such by their leader Maoilios. They believe leading the inquisition against the Devourer’s avatar would end the conflict immediately and lead to a prosperous future. The Pyrrhians saw the hubris of the proto-Exaltati as blasphemous against the Exaltatus from scripture. The Pyrrhians, a more civilized faction, created by [[Melevor]] the Elder, was unified under Melevor’s strong authority and collective conflict against the reigning warlords.

Maoilios had no clue how he would bring an end to the Felu fragment, although he wouldn’t share that information with his followers. Instead, he began a massive observational enterprise, leading various search parties to investigate Felu’s attacks as well as meet with priests and bishops to gather information on how the Devourer is to be banished. For years this information gathering led to no concrete leads, and many of Maoilios’ followers left to the promising revolution under [[Melevor]].

War, disease, and famine continued to cause incalculable sums of deaths for the various warlords, the proto-Exaltati, and the Pyrrhians. All groups suffered but as the years went on the Pyrrhians became more and more dominant. Their land lay in the center of two rivers, allowing for easy defense against oncoming attackers and keeping the dirt fertile through the various droughts. Life wasn’t easy for them, but it was much more manageable in comparison to the proto-Exaltati.

Felu had spent the years terrorizing the various groups of proto-Pyrrhians as well as the various tribes in the region. However, the constant hindering by the rest of The Caravan was growing tiresome for Felu. The Caravan had begun to adapt, each fragment having learned how to be in a complete thoughtless state while acting. Felu strangely enough had adopted a sentient emotion, it had grown tired of the meddling. Felu needed a way to disconnect itself from the rest of The Caravan.

Felu turned to sentients, specifically intellectual sentients. Felu moved on from infecting cattle and other livestock to infecting the large sum of elves at its disposal on Arith. Instead of staying in the body for a short period as Felu had done until now, Felu merged with the mind. No longer was the black liquid controlling the body through the veins, but instead had control through the brain. This prolonged symbiotic relationship led to Felu’s detachment from the hive-minded Caravan. While Felu could interact with the remainder of The Caravan, it was only through intention and not passively. This also detached Felu’s almost omniscient view of the world and began her transformation into a more sentient being.

The Caravan was concerned with this strange precedent. A fragment had broken off, regardless of it being the most detached fragment. But opportunity never shows itself twice, and a fragment moved into action. One of the proto-Exaltati had journey northward towards the small town of Raya where there was allegedly a priest who was well versed in knowledge regarding the Devourer. The Fragment took control of this priest at a moments notice and prepared for its discussion with the proto-Exaltati.