The Church Of The Root King

Origins
Millenia ago, in a small country village, there lived a young man. This young man was obsessed with magic, believing himself to be descended from ancient high wizards of a long-dead race. He engaged in bizarre rituals that he thought would unlock the magical power within him. The man was quickly ostracized by his community, and he left on a journey to find an ancient sceptre rumoured to be buried in the mountains miles from his village. He spent ten months out in the wilderness, returning empty-handed and a broken spirit. Soon after his return, a warning came from nearby villages claiming that invaders were heading that way. Sure enough, they were. The village would be overrun and destroyed, everyone killed. They had no way of defending themselves...

Three nights before the invaders would reach the village, a small meteorite crashed into the young man's house. His house was wrecked, and he was further distraught. He found the meteorite buried in a crater the following morning, and discovered that a plant was growing out of it. Over the next three days, it grew unbelivably fast, and proved itself to be sentient. It began to speak to the man, promising him great power if it helped him. The plant, which declared itself to be the Root King, immediately took over the village, digging into the ground and sending its roots throughout the village, growing ever larger. When the invaders arrived, the Root King single-handedly defeated them and enslaved them with his great magic. It eventually chose the young man who originally discovered it as the one to represent it, filling him with his magic. The Root King wanted to conquer the entire world, and thus the young man created The Church Of The Root King.

The young man assumed the position of High Priest, and took control of his village. They began to create their rituals and write their holy books, based on the desires and thoughts of the Root King. They developed their magical powers, and began to grow in power, quickly assimilating surrounding villages. Thus, the Root King had created his kingdom. And from there, his followers worshipped him as he extended his control over time. Until...

Conflict with Argorok, Sealing Of Kingdom
Word ran throughout the world, and eventually the Grand King Aramant Of Argorok, the greatest empire on Groveca at the time, ordered his armies to swarm and wipe out the Church. And so, a great battle broke out between the Church and the Argorokian armies. The First Army Of Argorok pierced the magical defenses of the Root King's kingdom, engaging his followers in direct combat, demolishing the outermost village and proving themselves to be more than a match for the acolytes of the Church.

Very early into the battle, the Root King acknowledged that eventually its followers would succumb to the military might of Argorok, and that despite his incredible and constantly-growing power, he would be wiped from the face of Groveca. When the First Army vanquished the outermost village and a good amount of his followers, he ordered his High Priest to call together his followers, particularly his most powerful mages, and had them combine their magical power with his, and he buried the land under his control (his kingdom, if you will) beneath the surface, suspending the area in time to preserve them. His kingdom buried, the Root King forged a mountain with stones and large rocks torn from buildings from his kingdom merged with the bodies of fallen followers and large roots. The Root King used up most of his magic during all of this, and in the time his kingdom was suspended underground, he slowly recovered. It would be centuries before the Church revealed itself again...

First Revival, during the Destroyed Era
Centuries passed, eras came and went. The Root King regained some of his power, and removed the seal on his kingdom, freeing his followers from their time suspension. His followers quickly set to work, restoring their villages and preparing their rituals and the like. They continued living underground for some years, before they decided to observe the world above them, to see how it had changed in the centuries they had been hidden away. The Root King pushed some of his roots up to the surface to search for trouble. The very air itself was corrupted with mana. The air itself was lethal to regular humans, but the Root King's corrupted followers could survive it somewhat. The Root King sent scouts to the surface, to find a ruined world coated in a thick mana fog.

Unbeknowst to them at the time, they had reawakened in the era known as the Destroyed Era, the thousands of years in which the planet was covered in lethal amounts of mana, brought about by the destructive death of Hellborn just two centuries ago. The Church Of The Root King withdrew back into the ground, believing all life had been wiped out in an apocalypse that they, by sheer luck, had avoided. They praised their King for saving them, obviously, and continued to live. Several more years passed, and soon the kingdom found itself besieged by weird, blue humanoid monsters. The Root King had his followers enslave and tame them to use as labourers, which they did with great gutso. However, they found themselves under attack from more than just the blue humanoids as several more perverse mutants crawled forth. The Root King chose to surround his kingdom with huge inpenetrable walls forged from his roots, and sealed his lands once again, hoping that the passage of time would do away with such unsightly beasts. A few millenia passed before the Root King felt it was safe to undo the seal and continue living. Whilst his followers were suspended in time, he spread his roots into the earth and throughout Groveca, starting to spread corruption throughout the land. The planet began to rot somewhat, and its denizens, having recovered from the Destroyed Era by this point, were corrupted by his influence. The Root King revived his kingdom for the second time...

Second Revival and The Extermination, during the Technological Revolution of Groveca
The Root King once more sent scouts to the surface, and what they witnessed excited him. Life had returned to the planet, life somewhat corrupted by his influence. Humans and several humanoid races were booming in size, and it seemed the country the Root King was buried under was entering a prosperous era of advanced technology. A new race of mechanical humanoids began to grow in number, first as servants to the other races, and then they were let free to create their own city. The Root King immediately began to send followers into this new, impressionable world, hoping that he would now finally be able to force the world to bow down to him, to become his to control. However, the newborn city of Astria and its mechanical citizens rejected his followers as well as their magic and teachings, proving unwilling to believe in what they felt was a load of bullshit. So the Root King had his followers go elsewhere, led by the High Priest, and they arrived in the country known as New Argorok, a place where magic and science coexisted peacefully. They set up the Church here, gathering influence.

However, once word of their sick rituals began to spread, many avoided them. The Root King's followers began to develop new rituals, incoporating several of the new types of magic into these. They began to sacrifice things, living or not, to the Root King, giving him sustenance in return for power. It eventually got to the point where they were labelled as a death cult and criminals. Several members of the Church were assassinated, having been picked out by enraged family members of new members and blamed for corrupting them. Soon, the Church turned to force to get people to join, and it all ended in the government of New Argorok getting directly involved, demolishing the massive chapel constructed by the Root King's followers. Those that did not stand and fight back fled into special underground passages beneath the chapel, fleeing back to the Root King's domain. The followers that stayed behind and eventually surrendered were arrested and executed. It was this resistance that angered the Root King, and he decided it was time to avenge his fallen followers and to show the new world what exactly it was dealing with.

The Root King began to assault the only continent he had not attempted to take as his own, using his roots to suck the land dry and rot the earth, magically corrupting the very air of the continent itself. His followers took to the streets of Astria and New Argorok's capital, proclaiming this hellish disaster to be a sign of his true power. However, there was one thing the Root King had not considered. He expected the continent to either bow to him or be annihilated, but he did not realise what exactly he was dealing with. This land he had assaulted...it was the accursed land known as Yurg Fri. The land of the demons, the land of the undead.

It was a well-known saying in the new world: "Don't fuck with the people of Yurg Fri."

Yurg Fri's monarch, Kranen Tosae IV, was not a demon to be messed with. He was cruel and merciless, and he immediately ordered his massive legions to take to the underground and follow the roots to their source. Yurg Fri was the most advanced country in terms of warfare at this point in time, and easily had the biggest military force on Groveca. Kranen's soldiers set fire to the roots of the King, and stormed his ancient domain. They easily outnumbered and overran the Root King's followers, despite their large growth in numbers and magical power. They discovered the Root King himself, a massive plant beast resting in the centre of the kingdom, armed with powerful, god-like magic and millions of appendage-like vines. However, they came at him with their own deadly magic; Yurg Fri, despite having the biggest undead population, also had the most powerful fire magic users on Groveca. The most powerful, a particularly nasty Cerberus, slaughtered entire hordes of the Root King's followers. The Root King dealt with him personally, and hurled his corpse at the Yurg Frian forces as a warning. Kranen responded as expected; he had his best scientists construct a powerful bomb.

It was a disastrous event for The Church Of The Root King. All of its future followers would know about this event, and forever despise the nation of Yurg Fri for it. A Yurg Frian bomb deployment squad made it to the centre of the main village, where the now massive Root King lay. They deposited the bomb there in the midst of a massive battle, and activated it. The entirety of the Yurg Frian forces fled, and the Root King believed he was victorious. Then the bomb was discovered a minute before detonation. There was nothing the Root King could do to stop it, so he used his magic to transport a seed containing part of his soul and his DNA, his High Priest and several of his top followers to a special realm he created for them. They were left there to rebuild their population, resurrect their King and find a way back to Groveca.

The Yurg Frian bomb went off, killing the Root King and exterminating his kingdom. There wasn't any trace left, apart from the dead, decomposing roots that somehow survived. It was called "The Extermination", as everything was wiped out. The technology used to build the bomb would later be marked as forbidden due to its terrible power.

In the special realm the Root King created for his followers, there was hysteria. It would be a long time before they could even find a way back to Groveca, let alone resurrect their fallen King.

Return To Groveca, Present Day
It would be ages until the Root King's followers returned to Groveca, just 20 years ago. A massive rift opened in the sky above a deserted valley, and from it the High Priest descended with the Root King's seed, alongside the now massive horde of followers. In 15 years, a massive tree grew up through the valley, taller than the mountains surrounding the valley. This tree became the fortress in which the Root King and his followers took up residence, and it is where the Root King resides today, his followers journeying around the world, spreading his world and trying to satisfy his lust for power. The Root King only speaks to his High Priest, meaning he is permanently hidden from the outside world. Now, the Church Of The Root King has established various strongholds throughout the world.

The Root King
The Root King is a massive beast from a long-dead planet, having arrived on Groveca millions of years ago. His current appearance is an odd one; a glowing bright core of power nestled in a massive bloodred flower, with tonnes of roots and vines extending from it, with three monstrous fanged vine monsters guarding it. His body is a massive structure of roots and vines, reaching 24 feet in height, 30 in width.

The Root King uses powerful magic (of both the Dark and Holy elements) to fight his enemies directly, alongside various physical attacks from his vines. Here is the list of spells:


 * Energy Ball: The Root King can create spheres of energy with relative ease, being his usual form of attack. His magic allows him to create up to five of these at once, and he can manipulate thirty at any one time (Creates up to five per post, can launch all of them in one post. No element).
 * Psychokinesis: The Root King can wield the astounding power of Psychokinesis. Using his mind, he can mentally manipulate objects of all kinds, but not living things that he does not have control other (he can lift and throw his followers about, but no-one else). His primary use of this is to stop projectiles coming at him and instead hurl them back (no element.)
 * Summon Spawn: The Root King can summon up his spawn to defend him. Each Spawn is 5ft in length, 2ft in height, and appears to take on the basic shape of a wolf (see Spawn segment of article). He can summon one Spawn at a time after creating a summoning circle from one to come through (takes one post to create, another for the Spawn to arrive, and two to recharge).
 * Wrath Of The Root King: The Root King creates a large magic circle (two posts to create, 10ft diameter), and then calls forth his wrath in the form of a divine beam from the centre of the circle (beam hangs around for 2 posts, then 10 post recharge. Dark Elemental attack).
 * Divine Right Of The King: The Root King's three guard vine monsters charge magic in their mouths (2 post charge), then fire destructive lightning-like beams at opponents (beams continue being fired for 2 posts), moving the beams if necessary (3 post recharge, Holy Elemental attack).
 * King's Glare: The Root King's core, his heart, is exposed briefly (1 post) in order to flash a bright light, that causes temporary blindness (at least 1 post) and damages dark elemental creatures/demons (Holy Elemental attack). Attack can be avoided entirely by covering your eyes or turning away from it.
 * Soul Of The Worshipper: The Root King summons a follower (1 post) and then has him/her begin to pray. Right at the climax of their prayer (prayer takes one post), the Root King's vine monsters mercilessly tear the follower apart, forcing his/her soul out (1 post, soul looks like glowing blue orb). The Root King takes this and fills it with his magic, then hurls it at his opponent(s), where it explodes (explosion range is 5ft in diameter, Dark Elemental attack).

The Root King is not without weaknesses, however. Being a plant monster, there are three things that cause much pain to him.


 * Fire. Fire is the bane of The Root King and his spawn. It destroys them fully, and can even vanquish some of their attacks. The Root King's worshippers fear fire as much as he does, and because of his corruption, they are as susceptible to it as he is. Fire was what killed The Root King the first time, and it will easily do it again (8x damage from fire magic, attacks and enhanced weapons).
 * Ice. Ice, while not as effective as fire, is a clear threat to the Root King. It slows him effectively, and is also very damaging (3x damage from ice magic, attacks and enhanced weapons. The Root King is also slowed by 50%, meaning all his attacks and spells take twice as long to be used/cast, for 4 posts). The Root King fears ice, but not as much as he fears fire. Ice doesn't affect his followers any more than it does the regular person.
 * Slashing weapons. Weapons designed to slash at things (most swords, for example) are highly effective against the Root King (2x damage from all slashing weapons, stacks with the Fire and Ice weaknesses).

As you may have noted, a person that wields a flaming sword would be able to kill the Root King rather quickly and efficiently. However, take note: '''The Root King is not dead until his core is torn from his body and then burned. '''So just beating him until he stops moving is not enough, for he will regain control of his body to fight again.

Root King's Spawn
The Root King's Spawn are wolf-like creatures comprised of a bloodred flower as the head and the rest of the body is comprised of vines, with a glowing red core in the body where the heart would be. They have four claws on each "foot", and a bladed tip on the end of the tail. The only magical ability that the Spawn have is the Root King's Energy Ball spell, and they can only fire one at a time (1 per post) and that it's far weaker. These creatures are weak and fast, and are born in huge numbers.

Root King's followers
The Root King's followers are frail wizards for the most part, with practically no melee fighters. The entirety of them use the same spells granted to the lot of them by the Root King, with their ranks determining their magical strength.


 * Energy Ball: See Root King's Energy Ball, though all followers can only have five at a time.
 * Light Cannon: A powerful burst of light is fired from the user's hands. One post charge, one post recharge.
 * Summon Spawn: Summons one of the Root King's spawn. Functions as the Root King's does.

And their weaknesses:


 * Fire. Fire devastates the followers, killing them outright (x10).
 * Ice. Ice is the best thing to use if you don't want to kill the followers immediately (x7). They'll die slowly if kept partially frozen, and are slowed incredously by ice (move at 1/4 speed).
 * Physical Attacks. The years of constant worship and little physical activity has greatly weakened the followers physically. Now they have practically no chance of surviving melee attacks (x8). This stacks with the other weaknesses.

In an attempt to lessen the effect of their crippling weaknesses, the followers always fight in groups of 10-15, and swarm opponents as effectively as possible. Ambushes are common, expect them.

High Priest
The High Priest is the second-in-command of The Church Of The Root King. He is the strongest of the followers, with his own unique set of spells as well as one granted to him by his lord. His magical power is bested only by the Root King himself, and he is actually fairly skilled in melee combat too, wielding a staff (oak, boosts magical strength by 1.5x) with a sword hidden inside (basic iron longsword).


 * Summon Spawn: See Root King's Summon Spawn.
 * Divine Right Of The King: Summons up three vine monsters (one post), and from there functions as the Root King's does.
 * Fear: A post is consumed for charging, and from there the High Priest targets one opponent and casts. The spell saps all motivation from the target, and renders them unable to fight, being in the throes of a terrible nightmare (3 post recharge, Dark Elemental attack).
 * Divine Protection: Summons a strong barrier to the front that deflects all attacks and can take quite a beating. One post charge, barrier lasts two posts, then three post recharge (Holy Elemental).
 * Unholy Scourge: Two posts are consumed for charging, then the High Priest selects an area of effect (circular, 10ft diameter). Anything in the area is stricken by sudden, severe pain for two posts. Three post recharge, Dark Elemental.

The High Priest suffers from the same weaknesses as the followers, only to lesser degrees (x6 from fire, x3 and 1/2 speed from ice, and 1.6x from physical attacks).