Branoos
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Origin
Branoos, the realm of eternal war was once known as Asteralon, an immense celestial realm, legendary across Heaven for its fantastic healing and reconstructive properties to ceiciels and souls alike. It felt during the Tenebris War to the mighty armies of the demon Arch-duke Zunvir'aat. It was permanently annexed and became Branoos. It was arguably the biggest prize of the war for the forces of Hell and a terrible loss for Heaven, although Heaven made prizes of its own of course.
Today, very little remain of the majestic serenity of Asteralon. The new masters of the realm started to amass damned souls and soon found out that the extremely powerful reconstructive properties of the realm remained intact, meaning that souls getting killed here would be revived and reconstitue themselves in a matter of minutes, no matter how severe their injuries.
Moreover the entire realm itself is constantly calling all inhabitants to defend it against what it sees as demonic invaders, even though the war has long ended, as a defense mechanism. However demonic energies twisted that call, turning it, instead, into an insatiable thirst for battle and violence, increasing tenfold the agressivity of its residents and turning them into creatures living only to fight. Thus Branoos, the realm of infinite war and perpetual conflict was born. Damned souls coming from countless worlds across many universes soon filled up the entire realm, creating enormous armies locked into a perpetual battle since those damned souls are never granted the mercy of a permanent death. Some ceiciels can be found in Branoos as well, most of them animals, rendered utterly mad and forever plunged in a perpetual state of berserk frenzy. A few angels are - somehow- trapped among the fighting masses. Haunted husks with crazed eyes, scarred by thousands and thousands of wounds, forever condemned to fight and to heed the desperate call of Asteralon With no way out. A tragic fate much worse than death indeed.
Structure
Branoos is divided into stratums, like immense mineral plates large as worlds on top of each others, slowly winding and ascending around an unseen axis. If one was to fly very high and get a glimpse at Branoos, they could think of a titanic spiral staircase, covered by billions of ants battling each others, falling, climbing again in a never ending and gruesome spectacle. Sometimes, clans begins to form, leading to regions where the fighting is noticeably more subdued and the fury directed at another group instead, although those clans typically are very short lived as the slightest disagreement or provocation among leaders will immediately descend into a mortal confrontation.
Like in other hellish realms, souls that stayed for long in Branoos start to change and to mutate into demonlings. That transformation make them -in turn- less affected by the extremely fast regenerative ability of the realm, thus leaving them more vulnerable, albeit with more powers as demonlings and less blinded by rage as well, as the call of Asteralon grow fainter to them. Eventually most demonlings that have changed enough get killed for good, ending their existence and their suffering at least and leaving the vacant spot for another unfortunate souls to come and take their place. It is said Branoos will last for as long as there will be conflict in the universe. Among those millions upon millions of demonlings, some survive past the point where any death would be permanent, ascending to further stratums where only legendary warriors remain, each worth hundreds or thousands of their kind. At this stage the fighting is a lot more focused and organized as well, with fortifications, factions and tactics.
At the very top of the realm are the demons living there. The endless torment and suffering provide a never-ending and sweet sustenance for them. Many of them come here as observers, enjoying the spectacle of immense wars being fought below them, commenting and taking bets. Some demons use the realm as an arena. It's not uncommon for a demon soldier to be sent by their masters for training or punishment in the upper stratums for a given time. Some demons use it as a recruiting ground, joining the fray to find and test mighty warriors to later recruit them in their armies. There are more than a few demon generals and battle-scarred warlord that started as demonlings lost in the endless battlefield of Branoos eons ago, who literally climbed to the top.
Among those demons using Branoos, the demise of kkrenymoys has become particularly infamous. He was a mighty warrior, very renowned among demons for numerous daring deeds during the Tenebris war and his amazing prowess at combat. kkrenymoys considered the upper stratums of Branoos as his personal training ground until, one day, he was slain there. To this day, nobody know who is the slayer, although many claimed credits afterward. The clean wound on kkrenymoys's corpse pointed to a skewering weapon such as a rapier, earning the unfortunate demon the posthumous name of kkrenymoys the skewered. Furious, his family rushed to Branoos to exterminate the whole stratum where kkrenymoys died for revenge but were opposed by others demons who insisted it was fair game. In the following days, it is said that many demons recruiters arrived to the realm and worked especially hard to find new fresh blood for their armies, in particular warriors using rapiers..
- Credits to Vaderaz for ideas to develop the realm.
