ANDERS MAGE PAGE 2.0

In a calm and quiet realm on the edge of the Horizon, a quintet of elderly mages make their home. The entire realm consists only of a weathered house and a small vegetable garden beside it, softly lit by some unknown source. The borders of the realm fade off into the swirling darkness of the Deep Umbra, but the realm is carefully hidden and warded. Few can find the realm without the mages' consent.

The two women and three men that inhabit the realm live very simply. They take turns tending the garden, spending the rest of their time relaxing and playing games of strategy such as chess or go. The mages have no names for one another and little need for them. They rarely speak, and seem to intuitively know each others' needs. If an outsider needs to address them, the mages insist on being referred to by some minor term of respect, such as "sir" or "madam".

The five Devourers are reputed to have extensive esoteric knowledge on spirit lore, and younger mages will occasionally seek their advice. Not a few visitors have been lulled by the tranquillity of the realm to underestimate the mages' strength and the danger of this realm. The Devourers of Evil are under the burden of a terrible duty, one that few mages would be willing to bear.

Each of the Devourers has a potent and malignant spirit bound to their Avatar, imprisoned inside their very bodies. Most of the more powerful and malevolent spirits of the Deep Umbra are warded from entering the physical world. The spirits held by the Devourers are an exception. For whatever reason, these five spirits are not restricted from crossing the Gauntlet, and would likely do so immediately were they free, causing untold death and destruction.

Though outwardly calm, the five Devourers suffer nearly constant torment. It takes nearly all of their considerable power to keep the spirits bound. The demons struggle eternally to be free. The strain of their inner turmoil will sometimes show through, as one of the Devourers will wince or go stiff with pain. The mages have been known to bleed from the eyes and ears or have gashes appear on their torso, but these wounds heal rapidly.

The veneer of calm of the Devourers is thin. Given that they are always in terrible agony, their tempers are understandably short. So long as a visitor is quiet and respectful, and does not dig too deeply into their affairs, the Devourers are the very picture of the enlightened master. Harsh words and needless prying will quickly enrage them, however, and their wrath is terrible to see. The Devourers are perhaps of Oracular level in power, and even with most of their strength devoted to holding their prisoners, they can easily crush a lesser mage.

The Devourers will not reveal their burden casually, but they will do so to illustrate a point (such as "Why aren't you Oracles doing any real work like the rest of us mages?"). There is one secret which they will never share with any outsider: that one of the five demons may have already escaped. The Devourers suspect that one of their number has been consumed from within, and that a spirit now controls one of their comrades. This spirit is waiting for the right moment to strike, so that it may free the rest of its brethren. The demon's possession is so complete that there is no way to tell which of the Devourers has fallen, or even if the demon is there at all. The mages do not speak of this, even with each other, but they all know. They calmly await the inevitable day of confrontation with the traitor in their midst.

Story Ideas

Advice From the Oracles: The player characters can visit the Devourers, seeking information about a lesser demon that is plaguing them. The younger mages may get uppity, especially if it occurs to them that mages of the Devourers' power could easily solve the problem for them. The Devourers will then show them the true nature of their realm. A few moments in the twisted, shrieking landscape that is the Devourers' minds ought to humble the most arrogant upstart.

Trolling for Demons: The players character may need knowledge, not from the Devourers, but from one of the demons trapped within them. The Devourers would never agree to release the demon, or even allow it to speak. The mages will have to enter the mindscape that is the demon's prison and try to convince it to tell them what they need to know. Within the prison, the demon's power is supreme and the Devourers will not be able to protect the player characters.

The demon will be primarily interested in escape, and there is little else the mages can offer that will interest it. It might agree to tell them what they need to know, so long as they do the demon "a little favor" once they return to the physical world. If the demon is convinced that the player characters will do nothing to help it, it will try to trap them in the prison with it, so that it tortures them for its own amusement.

Devouring Evil: The ravages of time are at last catching up with one of the Devourers, and he is slowly dying. The Devourers have chosen a replacement, but are unable to leave the realm themselves to make the request. Instead, they recruit the player characters to speak to the mage for them. The mage in question is extremely powerful, and it will take some doing even to be allowed to speak to her. The mage is also very self-important, convinced that her role is crucial to the Ascension War. She will become even more reluctant once she learns of the true nature of the task; an eternity of pain is not exactly what she had in mind for her retirement.

The player characters must somehow teach the replacement the value of self-sacrifice. This should require a good deal of soul-searching on the part of the younger mages as well, for they can only teach this lesson by example. Should they convince the replacement to return with them to the Devourers' realm, they must still get her there safely. Even as the trapped spirit is transferred from one mage to another, the demon controlled traitor may choose to strike...