Excerpt re 'The Doom of the Stonebreaker' from Jedak's 'Tome of Betrayals'
.~.~.~.~.~ The below is an Excerpt from the lost “Tome of Betrayals” manuscript of Jedak No-Tongue. Posthumously known as Jedak the Unspeakable, he cataloged of the history of broken oaths and betrayal in Chaos Dwarf society. The manuscript and Jedak himself were destroyed in the period immediately following the defenestration of Kreklashik the Unfallable whose short and terrible reign was ended by an assisted plummet from the highest window of the Tower of Gorgoth into the smoldering depths of it’s hottest furnace. ~.~.~.~.~
… and yet beyond this there are even greater crimes against Hashut. Ne’er underestimate the lure of the forbidden.
The Stonebound, the most ancient of chaos dwarf sorcerers who practice their arts until their very flesh, blood, and sinew petrify into un-corruptable stone, are revered for their ascendance beyond the mortality of flesh into an ageless state of permanence for their devotion to Hashut. They are placed in places of prestige and honour amongst chaos dwarf society; their unchanging visage a reminder to all of the ultimate pinnacle to which they aspire.
However, within the underbelly of chaos dwarf society, there are legions of outcasts, slaves and downtrodden. Greed and lust for power is an ever present force within the confines of Chaos Dwarf society and social structure. Even those most shunned, the lowest of the outcast may aspire for power and place while barred from every normal avenue by which power might be gained. To harm the Stonebound is unimaginable and unforgiveable. Yet in the weakness of corruptible flesh, there are those who are tempted by the unthinkable. For the Stonebound are an untapped source of power that few realize exists within their midst.
A would be Stonebreaker may first seek out ruins, and long forgotten avenues and citadels where the rigid statues of forgotten Stonebound might still exist; untraveled places where the brutal source of their power will remain hidden. Their path will lead them to dark places fraught with danger where few dare trod and fewer return. If they survive, a Stonebreaker’s first trespass is unseen, unknown to the eyes of fellow Chaos Dwarves. However, once immersed in their unnatural path, the Stone Breaker’s power grows swiftly, and they become very, very strong sorcerers, far beyond normal or even naturally talented ability, and virtually overnight compared to the average sorcerers long and twisted path to power.
Further, the hatred of Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers may drive some of the more unstable K’Daai (essentially any and all of them) into a willing alliance with a Stonebreaker in exchange for a chance to exercise revenge against those who bind them. This allows the Stonebreaker to create powerful armor and engines of destruction with which to accomplish their wicked task.
There is a special and specific level of hatred and spite given over to Stonebreakers. However, only a concerted and very dangerous effort from multiple sorcerers working in conjunction ( most oft a more unlikely occurrence than that a would be Stonebreaker survives long enough to become one) can destroy one. As their power grows, it quickly becomes un-rivaled by all but the most ancient sorcerers. The cost to destroy a Stone Breaker is rarely worth the effort. Instead, they are shunned and outcast from the entirety of Chaos Dwarf society, forever separated from any benefits of the power they sought. Those who are known, live as hermits far from society, walled behind paranoid layers of arcane defenses and protections for their heinous crimes.
Still they are at their core Chaos Dwarves. In the darkest hours ,those most hated, will still sally forth from behind their defenses, often in the midst of a host of K’Daai fireborn, to do battle alongside their brethren.
There is much irony in the tale of a Stonebreaker though. In acquiring such enormous power so quickly, they acquire also the means of their own destruction. The petrification process is amplified beyond reason by the will of Hashut, and within a few short years they have paid for their sins in full, becoming as still and unmoving as the targets of their treachery. Such is the doom of the Stonebreaker, and the reason such a path to power is rarely taken by those who know of it.
Now let us also turn to another even more obscure vice of those shunned Chaos Dwarves who still seek power. I speak of course of the Void W…
~.~.~.~.~ End excerpt. Kreklashik ascended to power as a complete unknown with astonishing swiftness, and under more than questionable circumstances. His fall (quite literally) from power was equally swift. All copies of the text that could be found, as well as Jedak, his tongue, and any scribes who had the unfortunate circumstance to be associated with the hideous volume, were destroyed lest others fall into the unmentionable vices mentioned within its pages. ~.~.~.~.~