Silent Choir
| Silent Choir | ||||
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| Released | 26 July 2023 (Update) | |||
| Founding date | Third Age | |||
| Headquarters | Church of the Silent Choir | |||
| Locations | Lassar Undercity | |||
The Silent Choir was a cult dedicated to the worshipping of a strange totem made of blackstone, and, by extension, the entity that is linked to it.[1]
History
Imcandoria's Fall
Prior to the appearance of the totem and the formation of the cult, the former city of the Imcando dwarves, Imcandoria, was destroyed by a great evil (as detailed in the book Imcandoria's fall). The book describes how an Imcando acolyte had discovered a strange black idol with odd scratched markings along the beach of the Isle of Garmr. Presuming it to be a runic relic of the Fremennik tribes,[2] the idol was sent to the Elders of Imcandoria for safekeeping.[3] This resulted in the Elders becoming crazed and increasingly ferocious storms across Imcandoria, resulting in the dwarves seeking refuge elsewhere.[4] When a party of Imcando dwarves returned to the city five months later, they found the city's temple to be filled with piles of bodies and pools of blood, along with a grotesque mass of unknown origin resting atop "a throne of oily black rock".[5] The Elders, fully corrupted by the idol, surrounded the strange creature, chanting unknown incantations and completely covered in blood and black sludge. When the creature spotted the dwarves, it screamed, resulting in a fight and the temple burning down, with the Elders cackling as they burned, leaving the other dwarves with unimaginable terror as they sealed off the city. This also caused the storms to subside, though the surrounding area began to be blanketed with snow, forcing the dwarves to leave.[6]
The Totem Appears
At some point during the Third Age, after the Betrayal of Zaros, Sliske managed to find a strange totem, which he identified as being the idol that led to the destruction of Imcandoria.[7] Believing it to hold the answers to the Shadow Realm, Sliske brought it back with him to Lassar.[8] He would proceed to shield it with a protective barrier to prevent Lassar from suffering the same fate as the dwarves of Imcandoria,[9] and ordered a high-ranking official known only as "The Whisperer" to be stationed at Lassar in order to ensure research on the totem could proceed without any possible delay.[10]
As ordered by Sliske, Lassar's scientists began researching the totem, running tests and experiments on it in order to discover a potential use. Their findings would prove fruitful — its connection to the Shadow Realm could allow energy to be harvested from there.[11] Their findings would cause the Zarosians to progress to direct testing of the totem, directly exposing volunteers to it to study its effects on them. However, during this testing, something went awry, forcing the execution of some of the volunteers.[12] Here, the true effects of the totem were shown — it possessed the ability to reanimate the dead.[13] However, those reanimated by the totem kept their souls,[14] unlike normal necromancy, along with causing them to speak of nothing but the seas, curses, and "blackstone".[15] Any information regarding this or the totem in general was forbidden to reach civilians.[16]
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Around the exact same time, the Imcando dwarves that remained after the fall of Imcandoria began preparing to siege Lassar alongside Saradominists,[17] having been promised that they would receive the fortress and could use it as their new home. Sliske would speculate the true reason for the raid was out of a desire by the dwarves to avenge their lost home.[18] All of the Zarosians present at Lassar were forced to hide within the Lassar Undercity. The totem would also be moved to the Undercity on Sliske's orders to ensure research on it could continue.[19]
Knowing that the fall of Lassar was inevitable, Sliske ordered the Whisperer to remove the protective barrier in order to conduct a "more thorough test" and deal with the researchers in any way she desired.[20] The Whisperer would then send false orders to close the undercity off on the guise that Lassar had already fallen. To prevent these orders from being reversed, she killed the High Magister of Lassar, along with all of the researchers.[21] Sliske and the Whisperer would then remove the barrier. Without the barrier or any of the totem's expert researchers alive (which some falsely attributed to be from the result of an accident involving the totem),[22] a pair of civilians were corrupted by it.[23] These two would not be the last to be corrupted; many more civilians would begin to fall under the thrall of the totem.[24]
With Lassar's connection to the rest of the Zarosian Empire gone and its authority destroyed, the Silent Choir was able to take form. The totem, which was located in the cistern of the science district,[25] would begin to be worshipped, and a church would be built around it. Those already having succumbed to the totem would begin inducting ceremonies for non-members,[26] with all of them preparing for a "day of ascension".[27]
Judging by the large amount of skeletons that can be seen surrounding the totem, along with their positioning, it can be assumed that this "day of ascension" culminated in all of the Silent Choir worshipping it to death.
See also
- Song of the Silent Choir, music track played when fighting the Whisperer