Eclipse

Deity: Stygia, the Necromancer

The Lands of Eclipse

Population: Less than 25,000 living (millions more dead or partially-dead)
Capital: Marble City
Governing Body: The Gajji Council
- Necromancers, Shades, and Ghosts
Notable Locations: The Tempest Construction Yards, the Marshlands of Sunken Hollow, the Haunted Hills of Potter’s Field

Once known as the Northern Fields, the lands of Eclipse are now a cold, barren land fit only for the dead and those that harness dark energy. Eclipse gains its power through the souls of the dead. Some are smelted into horrible alloys to create huge war machines, while others are chained to dead flesh and animated in a macabre parody of life.

Politically, Eclipse has few “citizens.” They are a loose alliance of necromancers and their Stygian servants, the tormented souls of the dead, the life-drinking shades, and the dark abominations of steel and souls that are the Tempest war machines. Together, they stand as a unified faction, adding to their numbers with each enemy killed in combat.

To the Southeast, the land borders the great Ether Mines. To the South, Eclipse shares a border with the desert trade routes from the now-ruined Steelgate, and the fortifications of No Man’s Land on the northern edge of Scales.

Eclipse counts Scales and Silence as its primary rivals in the Second Great War, but raids from Strife across the jagged peaks of the Rage Mountains are becoming increasingly frequent. Eclipse uses the press of numbers and the ability to feed off the living as the primary tools in warfare – but when needed, can unleash devastating necromantic magick that can snuff the life from a foe.

The Champions of Eclipse

Imbued with power that elevates them beyond mortals, the Champions of Eclipse rule their land with cold, calculating hatred of the living. Their ultimate goal is to turn Terrene Gall into a world devoid of life, where the rule of Stygia is absolute.

Gajji Necromancer

Basic Deck Champion

The most visible member of the Gajji Council, the true name of this dark entity has been lost to the ages. It is said that he created the first Stygians and that, in the end, they obey his will above all others. What is not disputed is that he has been blessed by Stygia, as the massive energy that surrounds him causes the dead to rise by his mere presence.

The First

The First is said to have once been the paramour of Death. The tryst seems to have ended poorly, as when she was cast from Death’s arms, she was cursed by the Gods to forever be forbidden true life, but to yearn for it, eternally. Since Death would not have her, and life was forbidden to her, she was twisted into a dark quasi-life and became the first shade. Now she rules the lands of Eclipse on the Gajji Council, sharing her dark curse with those she deems worthy.

Grim Angel

Once an Elven princess of great renown, Grim Angel now exists on the borders of the Netherworld, seeming to mock the rites and rituals of the Elven nature with her existence. It is said that the princess, in life, was a sadist, torturing and murdering those she ruled over. She was driven from the city of Steelgate centuries ago, and was found by a powerful necromancer, wandering the endless graves of Potter’s Field. The necromancer introduced her to a new brand of pain, torturing and killing her over the course of a lunar cycle. She rose the next evening, melding her knowledge of Netherworld secrets and the necromantic powers of Eclipse into a new, blasphemous form.

Tempest Chaos Constructor

At the outset of the Second Great War, a Dwarven master smith was captured by Eclipse. The wretch was eventually killed and his soul used to breathe “life” into the Tempest Construction Yards. The twisted magick splintered the dwarf’s spirit, and a small shard awakened a huge constructor unit. This massive machine, imbued with a semi-sentience, exists only to gather materials, be they metal or flesh, and use that material to constantly upgrade itself. Today, it roams the Tempest Construction Yards, claiming scrap, souls and anything it might desire. All attempts to curtail the efforts of the Chaos Constructor has brought the wrath of other Tempest war machines, causing the other leaders of Eclipse to agree to leave the Champion to its own devices.

Sage of Scythe

Conquest Story Mode Boss Champion

The undead legions of Stygia have uncovered rumors of a long-hidden Sage. This powerful being could tip the balance of power in the favor of the necromancers. Travel the world, seeking to uncover this secretive new champion.

The road is long, but the Sage of Scythe promises untold might if we can find it!

Legend

Dual Faction Champion; Eclipse and Thorns
Release: 2024

This amalgamation of decayed wood and moss covering the great corpse of an ancient Stygian wyrm. When the druids of the bark came upon the great corpse, they bent their magicks, and the biofuel mechanisms of the hollow, to create life inside the corpse. The result is an abomination, filled with rage and life, but trapped in the bones of the dead. The long, serpentine body is reminiscent of Lung-style dragons, but the moss-covered stitches of skin are only notionally covering the tubing and bones beneath.

Magmarot Steelhorn

Dual Faction Champion; Eclipse and Strife
Release: 2024

In ancient days, the Slag Thane, Steelhorn, was gifted the horned helmet of the rage demons. With it, she was inured from flame, and used the helmet to great advantage. Eventually, she challenged the Cradle of Nymeer, who drowned her beneath the magma pools of the the Forge Fires. When she died, her loyal sergeants trekked across the Rage Mountains to call upon the Necromancers of Marble City. They paid in blood and souls, but bartered for a spell that gave back the life that the forges had taken. Now, the reanimated Magmarot Steelhorn, lumbers to the field of battle, swinging her burning axe through legions of enemies.

Eternal Warden

Dual Faction Champion; Eclipse and Scales
Release: 2024

The Eternal Warden is a once-proud knight that was dragged into the ranks of the Shades. The turret-sidecar belches a black essence that draws the life from a foe. Atop the great constructed steed, sits a knight-captain that has clearly abandoned his life for undying service. The coat is a reminder that the Warden once served

Blackstar

Dual Faction Champion; Eclipse and Delirium
Release: 2024

The Blackstar is a ghostly form that barely exists in our reality. It is said that it was formed at the outset of creation, when the gods created the notions of life and death. In this ancient time, the nightmare energies twisted the soul into the Blackstar, the Light that Never Shone. The Blackstar is a pulsing, radiant blue-tinged whirlpool that drifts and ripples with motes of energy of all colors and type. At the center is a great, unblinking eye that stares maddeningly into the void.

Hemlock

Dual Faction Champion; Eclipse and Silence
Release: 2024

By title, she is the daughter of two ancient gorgons of the desert. But from birth, she was crippled, incapable of flight. Over centuries, she sought ways to gain the abilities of her parents, eventually, seeking aid from the Tempest Construction Yards. She has been promised flight when she lays the last living soul to rest at the feet of the Chaos Constructor.

Thu'Balris

Dual Faction Champion; Eclipse and Essence
Release: 2024

Thu and Balris, most often seen as a single entity, was once a dying bog dragon. In its quest for life eternal, it sought to immerse itself in the ether mines of Essence. Once inside, the soul of the dragon was pulled from its body, but forever bound to its flesh. This white, beautiful spirit is now forever entwined with the rotting and desiccated flesh. The result is Thu, the soaring serpent, and Balris, the corpse lizard. Together, as they must always be together, they create the form of Thu`Balris.

The Armies of Eclipse

Eclipse is populated by four primary populations. While the vast majority could not be properly considered “alive,” they are at least sentient and aware of their surroundings.

The Stygians

Stygians are shadow spirits that have taken physical form inside corpses, and even mechanical chassis attuned through nefarious occult runes and sigils. The Stygian operate to serve the Lords of Eclipse, but the magicks that bind them to their host are tenuous at best, and as their tether dissolves, so does their allegiance.

Example Unit: Stygian Torchmen

The Shades

The Shades are corrupt parodies of the living created by the First. Her dark gift of eternal existence is paired with a thirst for the living. Her servants are often marked by a miasma of dark energy that gathers around them as foreboding black mists. The Shades serve Eclipse as a whole, but there is no doubt that their primary allegiance is to the First.

Example Unit: Shade Manipulator

The Tempest

Where the Stygian are shades tethered to the bodies of flesh, the Tempest are mechanical constructs imbued with the soul of the Netherworld. They are stronger, and more powerful than their Stygian cousins, at the cost of feeling, sensation, and other “human” aspects that make the experience sterile and unkind to the underworld spirits that crave physicality.

Example Unit: V13 Death Cycles

The Ghosts

Where Stygians are souls that are bound to a vessel, and the Tempest are bizzare machines given “life,” the Ghosts are the souls without the need for form. Their touch is painful to the living, and their appearance is often ethereal and dreamlike. Most ghosts have been conjured into existence by the blasphemous rites of Grim Angel, others are more traditional hauntings arising from a tragic death. In either event, their hatred of the living is without question.