Asherah is a broken and derelict world. Mankind and its allies survive only because of their faith in their nameless Goddess, and the power she grants to those who believe. Even with the Goddess' blessings, her followers have been forced to abandon the earth where they were born, for it has been almost completely consumed by a dark mist called Mourclesis, which gives birth to monsters.
The greatest remnant of order in this devoured world is Ascelia, the Dreaming City. Suspended in the clouds far beyond the Dread Sea that strangles the land by the power emanating from the impenetrable Goddess Tower, Ascelia is ruled by the priesthood that worships the Goddess, as it is sustained by her presence. Some other cities survived the coming of Mourclesis and its hellspawned children, but these places are centers of constant strife and human suffering as their people struggle against the black mist's advance. Only in Ascelia can a fragment of the world that was truly be found.
Even the eternal vigilance of the Goddess Tower is not enough for the people of Ascelia to live, however. Its people require sustenance and supplies that their Guardians cannot provide. Thus has Asherah become a world in need of heroes: brave guilds of warriors, adventurers, and opportunists willing to descend into the Dread Sea and recover whatever can be salvaged from the ruins of the earth the Goddess' people once knew.
This is the story of one such guild, and how they fought to change the world.
The Evening Star Guild
Ten years ago, Beido Arafan and several other Elven slaves managed to escape from Maelthrazra. During the chaos, a mysterious man called Lagarn ventured in from the mists and was able to "extract" Asher from his servitude to the Eladrin, with and for whom he had some plans to make it big in Arx sponsoring up-and-coming gladiators. Unfortunately, not many Elves made it out. A lot were killed, and a lot more were trapped in the city, including the young Inanna and Ereski.
Beido's tribe spent some time living in Mourclesis and eking out a difficult life there. One by one, though, they were killed by monsters, or succumbed to corruption and had to be slain by their friends to keep the group safe.
Beido was rescued by the Arxian warlord Rex Rhogar, who was leading a Brakenrock mission. It would also be his last. Instead of taking Beido to Arx, he ended up bringing him with him to Ascelia, where the two managed a steady existence that saw Beido trained to fight under Rex's tutelage.
Some years later, Karl Rhogar got himself in a lot of trouble in Arx. But luckily for him, his brother Rex still had some connections, and pulled some strings to get him the hell out of there. It just so happened that the same ship heading to Ascelia also contained many other great warriors—Rugen Sayahno, who had grown frustrated with Arx's stalemate, as well as the champion Gisuraxx and his two managers, who had been successful in Arx for some time now, but were off to bigger and better things. Karl's boasts about his brother forming a guild were probably half-drunk or worse, but he managed to get to them…
It was in the months leading up to this time that three more of the Evening Star's eventual members were set on their course. Inanna and Ereski finally followed in the footsteps of Beido's clan and attempted escape from Maelthrazra—on their own. Unfortunately, Ereski was captured and killed, while Inanna fled through Mourclesis alone. A wandering swordsman guided her toward Ascelia, where she was overjoyed to see Beido living a good life with Rex. This was happening at about the same time as Samara Sun's last jobs for Nightscape. Being one to finish things, she made a clean break after one more heist.
As a result, when the undead Ereski wandered into Ascelia, Samara was looking for a place to make use of her talents outside of the thieves' guilds. The former assassin encountered Alicia during this time; perhaps she took pity on the solitary Untouchable, or perhaps she was honestly impressed by her reputation as a warrior. Not unlike Karl, Alicia talked big about forming a new guild, and the two of them tried to get Ereski into it, because both of them noticed her obvious skill and controlled demeanor—and what better sort of guild than one founded by three equally tough woman warriors?
Ereski rebuffed them, but their idea gave her some direction: a way to use her anger constructively. Little did she know that this would also put her in the path of her sister.
It just so happened that Rex's not-really-asked-for band of men from Arx, Alicia and Samara, and Ereski all went to the Goddess Tower at the same time.
As fate would have it, the Guardian Thom Kallor was being attended by Hadrian that day. He was there at the behest of Guardian Patriarch Ward, who wished to form a new guild, to prove to Gustav Saynn that even with the pirate Padan Iskander raiding the skies, a strong enough group of men and women could succeed at running missions into Mourclesis. Whether or not he truly wished to get caught up in Executor politics, Thom had no choice but to obey his orders.
From disparate backgrounds, they all ended up being thrown in the same guild. In the natural confusion that results from four separate parties not really intending to work together, paperwork everywhere, "someone" put down Hadrian as the guildmaster, probably as a prank, but their charter ended up being approved anyway.
Now Beido, Rex, Karl, Rugen, Samara, Alicia, Inanna, Ereski, Lagarn, Gisuraxx, Asher, and Thom are the founding members of Evening Star, about to get their own ship and shop, and above all, some work to do.
