In the grim lands of Rodburg, fervent chants of Melmora's cultists resound, lured by the promises of the Lady of Change and Pestilence herself. Warped by their deity's myriad gifts, these malevolent cultists and fallen knights weave a chorus of blight and decay, readying the world for their Lady's return from her planar prison. As her blight spreads, her power swells, inching ever closer to the hour of her resurgence.
Plague Knights
Once noble paladins of the Requiem Order, these fallen warriors have sworn allegiance to Melmora, Lady of Pestilence, allured by promises of power and vengeance. Clad in tainted corroded steel, they are a formidable force of corruption and betrayal, their axes and flails carrying the dread plague of their new mistress. The terrifying Plague Knights often raid the cities of the mortal realms together with the Ghouls of Rodburg Barrows, serving both as general and troops specialized in tactical warfare.
Fosco - Herald of Melmora
“Can you hear it? The symphony of
rot, the whispers of decay... Ah, Melmora sings through me!”
-
Fosco, Herald of Melmora
Once an esteemed arcane scholar in Eldanar, Fosco's pursuit of forbidden knowledge led him to the dark embrace of the Lady of Pestilence and Change. Seduced by her chaotic doctrines of decay and rebirth, he descended into madness, twisted by her corrupting influence. He became a grotesque manifestation of Melmora's will, a herald pestilence and rot. In this new form, he stands as a beacon of terror and devotion, wielding dark magic that echoes the entropy of his goddess.
Now, Fosco's aims intertwine with Melmora's desires: to convert Mundus into a realm of perpetual decay, generating enough energy for her beloved queen to be released of her planar prison.
In order to do so, the forces of Melmora must side with the vampires and monsters of Rodburg: together with the forces of the Tyrant-God, the cult of decay see its only chance to corrupt first the land of Rotvar, and later the rest of Mundus.
Fallen Saint Mordentus - The Penitent
“In the stillness of betrayal, I
found my truth. The path of the righteous is but a lie over our
eyes.”
- Mordentus, the Fallen Saint
In the annals of the Requiem Order,
Mordentus's saga stands as a cautionary tale of betrayal.
As a
Penitent Knight, he sought redemption for his failures, eventually
achieving sainthood for slaying one of the spawns of Melmora: the
terrible Raz’n’guul -father of the terrible Gnolls- tracing the deeds of Saint Sol when he killed
the Serpent Yn'aga. However, this victory was a ruse, a hidden pact
with the beast that marked his true fall from grace.
In the wake of his deceit, his temple became a nexus of dark happenings; mysterious deaths, sacrifices and unspeakable rituals. When his treachery was unveiled, Mordentus discarded his disguise of holiness. Empowered by Melmora, and with the true essence of Raaz’n’guul living inside his left arm, he now revels in his role as champion of plague and corruption.
He now leads the Plague Knights, once his brethren, now fellow servants of decay. The authoritative figure of this legendary commander helps maintain the delicate alliance between the forces of the Tyrant-God in Rodburg and the cultists of Melmora.
Blashpemia - Daughter of Decay
Born amidst the corruption of Rodburg, Blasphemia emerged as the dark legacy of Fosco, Herald of Melmora. Radiating a haunting beauty and nurtured by chants of pestilence, she embodies the seductive power of decay. With eyes glowing with eldritch light and a touch that withers life, she is both revered and feared within the cult. As a beacon of her father's madness and Melmora's will, Blasphemia lures souls into the embrace of decay, preparing the world for her Lady's return.
In her fervient faith, Blasphemia want to serve as simulacrum to embody the essence of Melmora herself, making her body the cradle of a divine soul, like a larva that turns into a moth once, she will be ready to break her planar prison and be back not as avatar, but as true rules of Mundus.
Melmora - Lady of Change and Pestilence
“Children of Mundus, do not
tremble before the passage of time. In decay, there is renewal; in
pestilence, purification. I am not just the end, but a new beginning,
nurturing life from the remnants of the old.”
- Melmora,
Lady of Change and Pestilence
In the pantheon of Mundus, the tale of Melmora is as ancient as time itself. Known across the realms as the Lady of Change and Pestilence, her existence has been recorded since the dawn of written history. Sister of Arba, Lady of Trees and Nature, Melmora is one of the firstborns among the Lords and Ladies of Mundus, instrumental in the creation of the realms.
Once a guardian of life's cyclical nature, Melmora embodied the balance between death and rebirth. However, the Daemon invasion and the War of the Lords shattered this equilibrium, and after Tialevor betrayed her and Duum, the Lord of Blood and War, she and many other Lords were confined in a planar prison, confined in other pockets of existence.
To resurrect or break free from her planar prison, a Lord needs an incredible amount of praying energy, generated through the prayers of believers, the worship of her cult through rituals or sacrifices, and the construction of temples; should a Lord be forgotten, they would vanish from existence...
Even while trapped, whispers of Melmora’s influence seeped into the mortal realm for ages, inspiring cults that revered her as the harbinger of Change. Her followers, drawn from the disillusioned and despairing, saw in her a symbol of the world's unspoken truth: that all must decay to give way to new life, and that change, no matter how painful, is an inevitable part of existence.
In her planar prison, Melmora awaits, her power growing with each new mortal converted to one of her cultists; with each prayer, ritual, and life claimed by her followers.
Melmora's ultimate goal, however, remains shrouded in mystery.
Some believe she sided with Tialevor just temporarily, only to expand her influence and return to Mundus and take her revenge, destroying not only the Tyrant-God, but all those who opposed her in the War of the Lords, engulfing Mundus in a perfect cycle of decay and rebirth, nourishing her soul and transforming her into an even more formidable queen of life and death.