This page conserves the character fiction forum of the Agora forums. The posts have been left unformatted to make it easier for users to copy them here and paste them into the new forums.

Oren Itanooren12/10/08 18:25View
Missy12/10/08 22:22View
The backstory of Vulpes.Vulpes12/11/08 01:46View
Erica KesselErica Kessel12/11/08 07:52View
Missy's Story.. a Do-over and another ChapterMissy12/11/08 22:38View
UsrBinPerl12/11/08 23:48View
oren12/11/08 23:57View
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UsrBinPerl12/13/08 00:35View
Eternal SunsetMissy12/13/08 12:19View
Kit Ristow12/14/08 00:01View
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MasksAlissa12/14/08 00:58View
Lorae12/14/08 01:24View
UsrBinPerl12/14/08 22:07View
Missy's Story Continued..Part 3Missy12/16/08 08:43View
Missy's Story Part 4: Innocence ShatteredMissy12/16/08 18:34View
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Zero....1Justa Zero12/19/08 18:26View
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Omega To Alphaerinnic12/23/08 16:49View
Her Bloody Tears [-Past Event-]Methias12/23/08 18:09View
Lost Kitsune - A Shattered MindKiera12/25/08 18:51View
Usr's story Part IVUsrBinPerl12/27/08 20:34View
The EssexHeir Maelstrom12/29/08 04:23View
Kwekwe's shameKwekwe Karu12/30/08 18:11View
Joint Round Robin Fic Anyone...?erinnic12/30/08 19:07View
God Was On Her Lips As She Diederinnic01/02/09 23:31View
Love and Betrayal - A New Beginningkessjuliesse01/03/09 13:46View
The Diary of Cody Woodhencodywoodhen01/05/09 21:35View
Missy's Story Part 6: Innocence AbductedMissy01/07/09 06:23View
Cursed BladeYannis_Martynov01/08/09 21:27View
Story Thread: Community Round Robin Ficerinnic01/09/09 23:25View
The demon withinCanly Fargis01/11/09 16:14View
Ziau- CoLA's Very Own CasanovaZiau01/13/09 02:09View
Twisted Attentionserinnic01/21/09 20:34View
Inspiration- music and roleplayZiau01/26/09 08:01View
Compilation! Where were you when it all happened?Ziau01/28/09 09:12View
The Clock Struck MidnightMalice Ashdene01/28/09 22:31View
With Precision- a poem by Kelly Welch A.k.A Ziau Jua.Ziau01/29/09 04:36View
Alisa's dicovery of a new world (character sheet + story)Alisa Draconia01/30/09 19:17View
The Shadow Stepper- Ziau the Enshadowed.Ziau02/01/09 07:26View
Krista Lemon arrives to the streets of Lost AngelsKrista02/03/09 00:09View
Back Story Upto the Excile of Rune.RuneCrimson02/03/09 21:59View
War with the Brood, war with the Coven, and the Pack.Ziau02/07/09 04:11View
-- Halcyon's Backstory --Halcyon Nacht02/08/09 00:22View
Planer/Exonar family (aka, Erinyse, Khalan, Viridian, Cummere, Selena)Cummere Mayo02/08/09 03:53View
Kit's BackstoryKit Ristow02/10/09 18:40View
Eyes in the DarkKeyla02/11/09 09:47View
Surfacing Part ILlyr02/13/09 22:21View
Surfacing Part IILlyr02/13/09 22:35View
Tama-Chan: A Cat's Story (Tamara's background)Tamara02/17/09 07:35View
Project: A map of Post Apocalypse North AmericaTamara02/17/09 19:21View
Dreamtime RevelationsWinter02/19/09 18:08View
Reaver-the echo of the BlackwindAntiZero02/23/09 00:43View
On the Origin of SpeciesTamara02/25/09 22:38View
ConfessionKit Ristow02/26/09 01:39View
Personnel File: Pointe, Zsuzsanna C. (Inactive, Deceased)Su Pointe02/26/09 03:32View
Malice, in a Different Kind of WonderlandMalice Ashdene02/27/09 18:07View
The Dark of InspirationKit Ristow03/01/09 21:42View
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The Sin of Wrathmolly switchblade04/02/09 21:28View
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**NSFW** A Typical Tuesday Night for MissyMissy05/06/09 20:48View
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Making Logan SufferAesendria05/12/09 07:09View
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The Vanguard's True PurposeLogan05/16/09 01:03View
Cortero's Infernal ArmorCortero Landar05/16/09 06:52View
Bookstore SurpriseAesendria05/16/09 23:16View
Post your profile links if you have in-story info in them!Cortero Landar05/18/09 10:33View
PromisesAesendria05/24/09 02:44View
Cyber Evolution Bios, Anur Seda, Cyber Reaper, and Commander of CETheassassin06/08/09 11:28View
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Going homeLudvig06/17/09 19:10View
'Ren in Japanoren06/18/09 23:11View
Thelma across the boardThelemaJuliesse06/26/09 15:09View
Pre-fiction: How Kayteear got here.Kayteear07/15/09 16:43View
Story TimeCharissa07/17/09 19:03View
Pack Airship RP.Tai07/27/09 02:49View
My CharacterLilith1308/05/09 22:34View
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Something Black and Violent...DavidJoshua Artful06/19/10 22:23View
Doctor Visiterinnic07/12/10 04:26View
Gabby Perdidevacantghost07/19/10 04:42View
PosterMessageDate
Heir Maelstrom[center][img]http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb312/Raktus1/contact.jpg[/img]


[i]Then I heard one of the four living creatures in a voice like thunder,
"Come!" I looked and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow...
And he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest."[/i][/center]


Old is a word that begins to become arbitrary when regarding the history of the Essex Coven. Tracing its roots to a region of India in the 8th millennium BC that would later come to be known as Punjab. They were called the vetala in the ancient tongue, scourge of cemeteries, demonically possessed bodies of the dead animated to trouble the living of this world. This, however, is a misnomer of mysticism. In truth the Vetala were estranged spirits of the dead who passed on without the proper funeral rites, these spirts were unable to move on, stuck between this and the next they found they were able to inhabit the bodies of the recently dead.

Due to the nature of the inhabitation, an Essex body will never decay as the process ceases from the moment the spirit enters the body. This gives the creature eternal life, or un death as the case may be, but one must realize that the body was dead to begin with. What this means is that depending on how long the husk was laid out before its occupation the state of decay involved is variable. Bodily damage is not a factor to the Essex, as the body is negligible.

The true form of the Essex is that of its spiritual incorporeally and as such may leave its current body at will. Typically a younger Essex will travel out of its body at night in order to prey on the weak or sleeping. Many an ancient story of demons flying in through a window to suck the soul out of the chests of the sleeping have been tales of an Essex. A more developed Essex can leave their form at any moment, as well as transfer the life essence of themselves and others to heal and feed other Essex around them.

The fact that Essex are mere spirits and are not prone to inhabit their own bodies are just minor differences between them and their vampire brethren. Unlike the classic impression the other, western, clans nurish themselves and feed the Essex uses a more direct method. Being of spiritual essence, the Essex will devour the life force, or soul, of their target rather than bleeding them. One might think this a minor difference, but what it does do in effect, is leave the Essex without the tell tale fangs most Vampires are known for. Instead the Essex share another common trait amongst themselves, due to their undead nature nearly all Essex bodies are pale while in some aspect or another. In addition, all Essex have dark eyes as they are the portal by which the souls enter and leave the body and are irrevocably tainted by the transference.

Their symbol has been likened to that of illuminati by those familiar with both. A mark usually hidden inside any Essex Chantry, its location indicates the Essex prescence to those who know it. Unlike the illuminati's 'all seeing eye' atop an unfinished pyramid, the Essex symbol represets the heirarchy as a complete and solid pyramid, the strength of which reaches skyward, breaking the heavens before its might.


___________________________________________________



The beginning of the Essex line began nearly 9,000 years ago in the place now called Mehrgarh. With the development of organized society came the creation of burial sites and the concentration of dead souls in a specific area. Souls which became disturbed from their own improper burials had a chance to become a 'vetala' depending on their distress and strength of will. With disease and violence much more rampant in the ancient world the presence of Vetala creations began to grow in number. As the small civilization expanded and grew out, the Vetala moved with them and spread themselves across a small but growing ancient world.

The original inhabitants of Harappa, a mystery to todays archeologists, they were the original 'Cemetery H culture' so labeled today. A notable difference between the other civilizations of the area was the notable use of cremation of dead bodies. This is associated with the occupation of a body by an Essex rendering it unoccupiable by any other Essex ever again, making the corpse useless and thus disposable. It was during this age that Essex and humans lived side by side during the day, their ways of the night known and documented by human writers, but it was a time that would not last.

The steady influx of invaders from the region now labeled as the middle east slowly dwindled the numbers of the ancient home of the Vetala without creating more. Those strong willed and having the strength to turn themselves tended to die in battle more often than not, focusing their final thoughts on the fight itself than retribution for their deaths. This accounts only for the decline, but the eventual fall can only be attributed to mother Earth herself. Great deserts expanded around them, slowly eating up the water and ground that sustained the living inhabitants of Harappa and driving them away.

Thus caused the slow acclimation of the Essex from a Hindu-India based entity to a North African/Middle Eastern one, following waves of invasions back to prospering capitals of civilizations and death. Where there was life there was always death. The Sumerians flurished as one of the first true powers of the ancient world, and with them the Essex gained earthly power that had previously been meaningless to them. In this period of time the city of Eridu would be the center of Essex power, with its diversity spreading out across the known, Sumerian world. This would be a mistake that would come to burn and haunt Essex history for centuries to come.

The newly formed power base an earthly Essex power maintained served only to corrupt those about them. Basing themselves primarily amongst the religious followers of Eridu, this caused a shift in loyalties for many that found the city to be a growing base of anti-religious sentimentality. This caused an influx of zealots to retreat to a nearby city of some religious accord, Uruk. It was during this time of religious upheaval that many Essex were 'killed' and their spirits snuffed from this earth. With the threat of virtual extinction at hand, the strength of the Earthly Essex abandoned their forms and escaped to the nearby growing power that would become Egypt.

In Egypt an interesting thing happened which would not be repeated in all of history. The Essex would be greeted as Gods, each being worshiped as a divine being in control of the afterlife. Bodies would be prepared upon death for preservation, for later use by the Essex themselves. Mummification became an homage to the divine as well as a honor to the dying, to become a host of your gods was no small feat. While the Essex were fewer in numbers than they had once been, they were unified as an Earthly presence once more. This time they were Demi-gods, worshiped and safe from the horror of extinction they once fled.

The history of the Egyptian Pantheon is full of murder and back stabbing as well as birth and renewal. Some of these stories are fabrications, but some of these delve into a deeper truth unseen by the mortal world. The Essex became divided, corrupted by their own power and the worship of masses of human followers. For the power of the Earth and the strength of the masses beneath them, Essex combat Essex destroying themselves in futile battles. Some stood alone and were destroyed, other grouped together and waged massive battles that the human followers would later record and set into history.

It was in this time that many Essex abandoned Egypt to escape these wars of attrition that only served to weaken the Essex as a whole. Those that remained continued to fight and pass on, and while few survived to rule on their own amongst the Egyptian Pharaohs, they too would meet their eventual ends. Unsupported and alone, they were easily weakened throughout millennia of decadence and the eventual decline of their pantheon of worship and destroyed as demons as the Christian religion set itself in at the first millennium. This would be the last great loss of the Essex as their organized and structured Hierarchy was formed to prevent such action from happening ever again.

Those remaining, far from the time and home of their origin, migrated across the Mediterranean towards an prefectures of Greece known as Pieria. For a short time, the worship of Horus took hold, the old ways often times being hard to stray from. For a time it was permitted amongst the Essex to continue this form of idolic worship amongst the native populations. Some continued their old personas and were either accepted or rejected, other created new personas and formed a new center of power atop a range once called Mount Olympus. The name derived for the death an honorary pyre, for so many Essex that had passed before, atop the mountain. The origin of this name would continue to elude historical observers even today.

By this time there were a mere twelve true original Essex remaining, and as had happened again and again so many times since the Essex evolution to taking long term control of dead bodies, the Essex began to combat themselves once more. This time around the Essex interacted on a human level for the first time since Eridu, but for a much different cause. For the first time Essex were creating new Essex in order to fill their ranks and keep their kind from extinction. The Hierarchy remained in place, commanding over these new creations. Younger and not yet learned from the past mistakes of the Elder Essex, they brought war on the Hierarchy in the form of rival Gods.

Spreading up the Continental arm that was Italy, they formed their own pantheons in a mimic of the Hierarchies own. Instead of the outright destruction that the Elders had wrought upon themselves so so long ago, these new upstarts attempted to write them out of existence completely. To make their Pantheon so strong and so indistinguishable from those of the Elders to ultimately press them from the face of their self created heaven on earth, that was their Godhood. A strong Empire rose up around them, carrying their word and strength with it as it spread across the entire Mediterranean.

This worked only to the Elders benefit as they silently slipped into the shadows, out of the limelight that had become their moniker for so many countless years, and from their pyre atop Olympus, they watched as the Ghouls of their own creation fell into the same time telling contests that they themselves had begun. Just as surely as it would have done to them, these new Ghouls all but destroyed themselves in their own internal squabbling. It was during this time that Jesus came and went, came back and then left again. At the time this would have very little effect of the following of the Essex as gods, but in the long run would shatter their disillusion of power as the new faith gained more and more power among the masses.

The unaligned Ghouls continued to fight amongst themselves for many generations in their attempt to topple the Hierarchy, expanding the source of their human empires might to the breaking point and making it a target of non-influenced human forces across the known world. This would lead not only to the slow loss of lands and allegiance in the western providences to invading Ostrogoth forces, but to the eventual incursion of their own power base by the Hierarchy. The Eastern Empire flurished not by the strength of its people, but by the grace and experience of the Essex elders.

Their vast coffers of riches and experience easily overtook that of the newer Essex creations, old as they may have been, they were nothing compared to that of the elders. By 610 Essex influence was so widespread amongst the flurishing half of the Empire that even the former Greek language was established over the base Latin known in the region. The recapture of the Italian providence was seen by many historian as ephemeral, though its true purpose was to end the threat of the cast off Essex once and for all, wiping away the upstarts in one decidedly fell swoop.

The Eastern Empire retained its visage of power and glory for quite some time past the death of its western half, but this would not last under the strength of the Hierarchy. It was not for the failings of the Hierarchy itself, but the religion that was allowed to fester in the old Empire that was an united Roman Empire. Christianity slowly replaced the idolatry to the Essex as its power base grew to even take over the human emperor of its campital, swaying them from the words of the Essex. So, it too was during this period that the Essex turned their back on the Byzantine. The Fourth Crusade came and destroyed the capital of the once great region, mighty Constantinople pillaged of its great treasures for the greed of men.

It was said that when Alexius III fled the city that he had taken a good portion of the cities remaining wealth with him, this is a falsity of history. The hierarchy, abandoning their holdings and following the Crusade back to the port city of Genoa, a return of the Essex to Italy. This is generally believed, amongst the Elder Essex, to be the cause behind the Golden age of Genoa and prosperous era of development the city incurred soon after. This period was, relatively, short lived for its human population as the black death was soon to follow. For the Essex this was a new chance to repopulate their numbers. Given the amount of deaths and the length of time the Plague lasted, this time things could be done right. The slow indoctrination of new Essex allowed their obedience to be assured without threat of a new uprising.

Containing themselves to the region, as they had done in so many incarnations through history, the Essex allowed the humans to rule. Christianity had long since proven its dominance as a religion in the region and though the Essex had always enjoyed their positions of power and reverence among the lesser populations, they accepted that time had past them by and if ever they were to enjoy such decadence again, it would be through force and strength. Such force would become impossible to amass in the vestiges of the world as it stood, war always constant and those native supernatural creatures of the region would be of some challenge to overthrow.

No effort was made during this time period to form a new power base, but instead was directed into holding that which had been their legacy for so long. It was during this time that a native of Genoa itself, long having since becoming a satellite of the Spanish Empire, discovered the Americas. Christopher Columbus would become a boon to the Essex, with his discovery came brand new, unclaimed land with which to rebuild and claim in their name. Hispaniola would be one of the first landmarks on the path to North America, as the Essex would travel and grow their new generation of spirits.

La Navidad, the first settlement of the new world, shadowed by the wreck of the Santa Maria would be the first birthing of the Essex, and would mean the death of any that remained behind. In the time between voyages, the Essex used the bodies of already dead natives to incite trouble between the Spanish left behind and the native inhabitants of the island. Assuming their people were being mistreated and killed by the foreigners to their lands, the Tainos retaliated by slaughtering all the settlers. On his return trip Columbus found only eleven bodies of the thirty-nine he had left behind. The rest now resided as Essex hosts, marching across the Gulf floor towards the Continental America.

[b]*Coming Soon*[/b] Modern History of The Essex [b]*Coming Soon*[/b]
12/29/08 04:23
Heir Maelstrom[u][b]Essex Related Fiction[/b][/u]


"I could use a drink, how 'bout you?"

Smirking at his companion, James nodded slightly and extended his arm towards the open doors of the Bar. Bowing slightly in an exaggerated gesture of chivalric behavior he indicated for her to go in first, following quickly behind her. Trailing his eyes down her back and slowly over the supple curve of her backside, one that he truly intended to appreciate later, he lingered just long enough that by the time he looked back up she had turned her head to watch him watching her.

"Enjoying the view? Come on Perv! I'm parched!"

Faking a grin as he marched around the side of the bar, she taking a seat on one of the stools on the other side, he grabbed a few bottles and two glasses and began mixing them some drinks. Chipping some Ice off into those two glasses he slid the tray back into a mini fridge below the bar. Pouring some lime and vodka into a mixer, he slapped the cap on and doing a little dramatic spin shaking it up before pouring the contents out over the ice in the glasses.

All the while he was at it she had found herself gazing over at a man seated not too far away from her. Sitting there, gazing away at a spot in the air that didn't seem to be in front of him, the ceiling or anywhere in between. Waving her hand towards him she took no reaction in anything he did to her. Leaning back a against the bar, she ran her tongue over her lips and thought for a moment.

"Hey James... whats with that guy?"

"That Guy? Oh... that guy." He shrugged, looking at him for only a moment before looking down at their drinks, picking hers up and handing it to her before sipping his own before going on. "He's always just there, rarely ever talks and doesn't really seem to pay all that much attention.... just like right now..."

_____________________________


[i]Their talking about you, you know.

You really shouldn't let them think you such an idle being.

Yes, it truly does us all an injustice to be contained in such a foolish being.[/i]

[b]If you weren't such a lively band of thoughts then maybe I wouldn't be stuck talking to you so much...[/b]

[i]Yes blame us, it's all our fault right?

Indeed, we asked you to eat our souls, completely on us.

My apologies Master, I'll do my best to keep them quite for you sir.

Hush you, as if you could silence us![/i]

[b]I can, unless you wish to experience the silence of ages you will cooperate.[/b]

[i]May we continue to experience through your senses during your inactive states?

And advise you if we deem the situation critical to our own survival?[/i]

[b]I care not for the chatter itself, but I wish again for the meaningful discussion of yore... A return to intelligent discourse over the mindless gossip of day to day life about myself...[/b]

[i]Ah, those endless discussions on the meaning of things.

And the debates of our respective times over those of newer ones!

Those were good moments of conversation, perhaps we should return to them[/i]

A deep and penetrating silence

_____________________________


"Names air, or here... something retarded like that. Look at him though, looks like someone dressed him and left him there. Somethings obviously wrong with him...."

"Heir..." he said, slowly and with a voice that sounded more like he was throwing up than actually talking. With a low groaning from his throat and what appeared to be a heavy gulp by the way his adams apple moved he tried again, observing their surprised faces through his dark goggles. "My name... is Heir. I would appreciate not being talked about as if I were not here..."

"Uhm, yes... of course..." she said and paused. He had stopped moving again, his head upturned to looking back at the ceiling as if he had never moved to begin with. Waving a hand in his general direction again, he responds in much the same way he originally had. That being by not responding at all. "He did just talk didn't he?"

James shrugged and took another sip of his drink, which he thought smelled slightly foul...
12/29/08 04:36
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