Axaar

''The planet is a fanon location created for the Bulwark's storyline, no one is forced to accept this as existing, we simply ask that criticism be given to help us continue improving this fanon location. - Lantos''

Axaar is a planet that was taken over by the Burning Legion after two devestating invasions of the planet over the span of thousands of years.

Geography
Before it’s destruction, Axaar Prime was a land of both dark trees and badlands with a large mountain range splitting through the center. Around the central continent is a sea once known as the Golden Ocean, but became the Black Sea due to the amount of volcanic activity and fel residue.

Mount D’Kaar was once a massive acropolis located in the center of the large super continent that was surrounded by the Golden Sea. However, the detonation of a strange magical device caused the mountain to become a volcano, also consuming it’s inhabitants, the Axaari.

North west of Mount D'Kaar, nearly three hundred miles away sits a large mountain range, while the name it once held has been lost to us, the name it's known as now is 'Archimonde's Revenge.' Underneath this mountain range lay an intricate series of tunnel systems which lead to a hive inside the mountain. This mega-hive was once home to the insectoid Vek. After the Legion came and conquered the world, the Vek were nearly destroyed and were able to flee to a small string of islands in the Golden Sea known as 'The Glades.'

Further north, getting close to the pole of the world is the remains of an Axaari city. Once known as "Anathria" this once great bastion of civilization and hope on the world has become a heavily fortified Fel Reaver manufacturer center, known now as the 'Soul Forge.' The region around the Soul Forge is barren wasteland, with large pits going deep into the ground where pure fel residue is blasting into the air. Other Fel Reaver manufacturer centers around the planet are also made from the remains of the Axaari settlements.

At the eastern end of the continent lies a large cauldron with the main portal to Azeroth, known as the “Door to Heaven.” This portal is massive, rivaling (if not outright being larger than), the Dark Portal. It was created this way so that the large Fel Reavers that are in mass production can be sent through to Azeroth to rain destruction down on the world. At the other end of the massive super-continent, lies Archimonde's Revenge, the remains of the Hive-City of the Vek that has now been turned into the Legion's main base of operation on the planet.

Recent
(Taken from the Bulwark's event summaries.)

The Defense of Camp Fordring
Hope's Bay, night time. Situated within the unfixed sector lies the portal that all the Argents had likely heard about, the portal to Heaven. Ranks upon ranks of Argents and seige weaponry sat idle near the entrance to the portal, waiting in silent anticipation of an assault. A whole army, ready to go through a portal the size of a small gateway. It would be one hell of a fight if demons did indeed enter Azeroth.

Gathering only meters from the portal were champions of the Bulwark. Led by the Lord Commander, the task force was to enter the planet and do the first reconnaissance. The men and women of the Bulwark were briefed on the situation by Lantos and Teolon.

The first opening of the portal was planned to be a quiet event, but it wasn't. Demons had quickly swarmed the portal and entered Azeroth, whilst the brave men of the Bulwark and the first defenders of Hope's Bay assaulted these invaders. Zolthar, the cultist, was lost in the fighting, last seen within the portal heading south. However, a small building and fighting force was sent in to the portal to create the fist line of defense against the demons.

Lantos proceeded to brief the Argents on the troop situation. We had around 10 companies going in to the portal, and an indeterminate amount of support and heavy weaponry teams. With that, they moved in to the portal for the very first time.

Within the portal lay a total hellscape. As they stepped out of the twisted, stone wrought portal, there lay spikes and spires upon the cliffs. At their feet was twisted, black soil, dotted with Fel energies. The cliffs were a broken and dusty brown, and the sky above them was a blood red. Stars only barely poked through the sky.

As the Argents chose the only path they could, forward, they felt watched from the cliffs. Something quickly moved out of sight to the east ridge, and groans could be heard. Scattering the ground were broken swords and boards, alongside deceased Argents and demons that littered the soil. As they were examining this destruction, a scream broke the piercing silence of the abandoned portal camp. A cart shortly followed, crashing down near the edge of the camp.

As the Argents approached the edge of the camp, trails of green sickly blood covered the ground, as corpses were more common. Near the exit to the valley lay a Pit Lord! Within it's body stuck ballistae bolts and swords from it's fight with the Argents. It was obviously very injured. The creature screamed at them for "defiling Axaar". With that, the Pit Lord attacked.

Teolon and Andrew both took the good idea of using spears, but in different ways. Andrew used a lighting spell to shock the tip of a ballista spear, whilst the Vindicator shot a spear in to it's gullet using Light magic. Lantos took a hobbling strike at the creature, whilst Zak'onn and Cael used magics to assault the creature's mind and body.

Roaring in pain, the creature continued it's assault. Andrew's next spell fizzles out, while Cael continues to assault it's mind. Zak uses more lighting to assault the creature, whilst Teolon, Gunerin, and Lantos all attack the creature using their blades. The creature wasn't going down without a fight, even in it's heavily injured state.

In response to these heavy attacks, the Pit Lord slammed it's fist in to the ground, causing the earth to rupture. This caused Teolon, Andrew, and Cael to lose their footing and slip. Zak was able to assault the demon with elemental fury, whilst Gunerin and Lantos both assaulted the Pit Lord with their blades. The Pit Lord was becoming weaker by the moment!



The creature was getting battered on all fronts. Another strike by Lantos was able to give Teolon an advantage to cut off one of the Demon's tusks. Gunerin used an arc of Light to give even more pain to the demon, and Zak burned it even more with the power of the elements. Finally, the last blow was struck by Andrew, burning the creature in to a bunch of Fel bacon.

Aftermath.

There was little time for celebration over the Demon's death. Echoing from outside the canyon were the screams of demons, likely having noticed their master had fallen. Over the communicator system, the Argents received a cryptic message: the build team and soldiers were located at a place known as Camp Fordring.

They didn't have any other choice than to head through the tunnel dead ahead and see if they could meet up with the Argents at Camp Fordring. Beyond the mountain range was a cracked red hellscape, known as the Cracked Plains. This was a stark contrast to the Door to Heaven, as it was a rolling and burning area filled with demons. Although they didn't encounter much resistance to their approach at Camp Fordring, they found a rude welcome party.

To the south of the camp was a massive array of demons. A whole company of fel guards, felhounds, and assorted horrors of the nether stood bombarding the camp. Luckily, due to the small army's position, the champions were able to enter the camp relativley undetected. Meeting with the Captain, they explained the situation: G company, the special forces and assault squadron, had been wiped out or captured in the initial assault. Although the commander kept speaking, they were assaulted by the fel cannons.

Using magic and general avoidance, most of the Crusaders were unharmed. Zak was thrown about 9 feet to the right, but the Captain was hit by some fel slag. This would take him out of commission, and possibly killing the man. Instead, the Argents devised a strange yet effective plan. Andrew went to enchant the Balistae, whilst Zak charged a massive attack to sunder the demons. The rest of the task force would mount themselves on the wall and prevent any demons from entering the holdout.

Atop the walls, the Argents begun their assault. Andrew's ballistae were shockingly effective as Gunerin and Asha tore a swathe through the enemy demons as if they were paper. It was an impressive display. Cael, Amare, and Teolon all assaulted the creatures with the power of the Light. Within the keep, Zak continued to channel the spell.

The assault marched on with another barage from Andrew, effectivley killing many demons. Asha and Gunerin continued their assault with the powers of light and dark, whilst the trio on the walls went on with their attack. Without warning, however, Zak'onn's attack hit.

It started simple. Large cracks on the ground and rumbling. Great cracks created a circle around the remaining 130 demons. It was too late for the demons to retreat, but the leader ordered one as the assault hit. The ground rose in a great circle, but crashed back down and slammed in to the earth. It consumed all the demons that were in it's path as if a great whale devouring krill.

This left total desolation of the demon army. The result was a safe Argent foothold on Axaar, and a massive crater filled with suffering and dying demons. The company cheered on this fantastic event, as the remaining demons fell back. The day was won, and Camp Fordring was safe.

Casualties:

243 Argent Crusaders. Complete destruction / capturing of G company.

231 Demons. Death of one Pit Lord and destruction of a small army.

---

''"What is it, Mol'rag?" The creature spoke in a venemous tongue, every word smooth and terrible. The Gan'arg at her feet knelt in prayer, either for himself, or for anything else.''

''"M'lady, we have had some... complications with the mortals." It spoke softly, with fear.''

''"Complications?" She rose from where she was and begun to walk to a window near her throne. "What sort."''

''"The company you sent to destroy their foothold was utterly destroyed." It breathed no more with a flick of the woman's wrist, erupting the Gan'arg in green fire. It writhed on her carpet as she positioned herself on the ledge.''

''Lady Ulaana, a red Eredar, looked out upon the black plains of her kingdom. Fel Reavers marching, demons creating, but to the southeast there was unmistakable smoke. A great rumbling also shook the fortress, causing unease in the workers. With a wry smile, Lady Ulaana spoke to herself, as the only one who could was burning.''

"Welcome to Axaar, mortals."

The Storm
With a whole bunch of new soldiers in tow, all recently recruited, Lantos Swiftsong went on patrol with these men and women. Their mission was to scout out the Broken Plains on Axaar. Taking Northlae, Jorgen Bellic, Sildar, Amare Suncrest, Valtre and Andrew Storme they pushed out through the Broken Plains, encountering nothing for many miles. The climate was arid as they trudged across the scorched red landscape and the only close to welcome relief for them was the horizon spanning black ocean to the south.

As the Bulwark men and women pushed on they finally encountered something different. As they crossed over a metalic bridge over a large ravine, the Bulwark members saw a large dust storm in the distance. But for whatever reason, it didn't seem to be a normal dust storm. No in this storm they could hear a large roaring noise and small dots of azure blue in the storm.

As the Bulwark saw the storm racing towards them they quickly made for cover under the bridge. The storm quickly got to them and the roaring only got louder but it seemed to be from the top of the storm. Whatever this roaring came from it became louder as it moved from the top of the dust storm to the bridge, landing on it and then it was gone along with the storm.

Waiting in silence, the men and women of the Crusade began hearing odd alien voices, talking to each other. Seeing the need to find out what this threat was, Lantos sent North up above to check out this threat. As she moved herself to the bridge she would see them, five figures clad in metallic full body armor with large rifles. North was able to figure out that the blue dots from the storm were their eyes. Though she remained hidden for a few minutes it wasn't long lasted. The metallic men saw her and quickly raised their rifles at her, with one of them stepping forward to start talking to her. Something strange happened as this soldier spoke though, slowly his voice translated from the alien language to common, though a low form of common that would be more used by someone still learning the language.

With the threat of North being captured though, Lantos sent Valtre, Andrew and Sildar around the ravine to flank these soldiers. Taking Bellic with him, Lantos attacked after a few more minutes of waiting for the others to get into position. Blasting into his horn the Argents attacked the beings, it took a lot of work, but they were all successful in killing four of the five soldiers they saw, with one of them (mostly wounded) escaping into the large metallic machine they arrived in. No one was majorly injured, Valtre and Sildar took an energy bolt to the shoulder but besides that it was a successful mission.

With the help of Andrew he teleported the bodies back to Camp Fordring where they were to be analyzed by the Argent Medical Chief on base.

A Chance Encounter - The Vek
Axaar. Still on the broken plains after their initial assault and entry of the planet, Camp Fordring stood as a stoic junk heap. The buildings were filled with holes and generally worse for wear, whilst the only undamaged area was the Tavern. Argent banners, tattered and singed, flew high on the larger buildings and some of the smaller flagposts already snapped and in the red dust.

Across the camp was the general sense of unease and general discomfort. It seemed even the land was unsettling to the Argents. Near the center of the camp was an uncorrupted stone, and the Argent Bulwark's main task force. Kereithsol, Sildar, Northlae, Teolon, Lantos, and others stood at the ready to enter the Plains on their first scouting mission.

The Bulwark's mission on this night was to enter the Broken Plains and patrol the perimeter. The secondary mission, although not directly stated, was to discover if there were any local inhabitants, with the added target of Legion camps. The briefing was a short event, but the Bulwark was quickly on their way as swiftly as they had come.

The march begun with silence. The only sound that permeated the plains were a few rumbles and a harsh wind that kicked up the crimson dust. In the distance over the mountains was a large black cloud, not unlike the ones that decimated the scout groups. As soon as they saw it, however, it appeared to veer to the north. They would be safe, for now.

As they approached a small outcropping of rocks, the sound of battle could be heard. The sound of clanging blades and low grunts were apparent, but there was something else amongst the struggle. It was the sound of chittering insects. Although disturbing, it didn't seem to phase the Argents too much. Instead, they kept trudging onward.

As they hit the canyon, the battle was seen. Standing over around 15 demons was a group of insectoid humanoids. Seeing this event, the Bulwark team ran behind a small outcropping of rocks to their right as to hide. As they looked to the insects, debating what their next move should be, they were rudely interrupted by a team of 8 of these insects.

The creatures begun to spoke to the Crusaders in a strange guttural language. Mixed in with the clicks and whirrs of the insects were short and incomprehensible words. One of the strangest aspects of them were small blueish-silver devices on their mandibles. As the Bulwark began to speak to them, the devices begun to whirr and click.

They continued to utilize diplomacy on the creatures. As they did, they begun to speak a low form of common with broken sentence fragments. These creatures, although strange, appeared to not desire conflict. The Bulwark continued to speak, until the insects sheathed their weapons and spoke in a more casual tone.

These things called themselves the 'Vek'. The commander, a lieutenant, called itself 'Tyu'lkk'. Their species had been fighting demons, and inquired on what the Argents (labeled as Outsiders) were doing on the Planet. We explained that we were also there to destroy demons, which they looked to the battlefield and laughed at. The Vek then looked to the skies, and spoke about a place called 'The Glades'. They urged the crusaders to come there, before spreading their wings and flying to the southwest.

They picked up their weapons and begun to make for the southwest, in pursuit of the Vek. Soon after they begun their pursuit in the canyon, they entered a patch of white rocks and outcroppings like hives. This appeared to be an insectoid base, likely long abandoned... or something below the surface. The Bulwark approached a mountain range, before they noticed something strange: dark pieces of metal strewn by a rock outcropping.

Just as they begun to wonder what it was, a mighty Fel Reaver rose from behind the small hill and gripped it, cracking the peak. Seeing the might of this abomination of Fel and steel, the Bulwark elected that running was the best choice. Seeing this action, the Reaver burst through the mountain in pursuit like a pissed off dog through bushes.

The Bulwark proved to be a bit too quick on their mounts, and outran the Fel Reaver. As they escaped it's sight, it let out a horn of frustration before slowly walking to parts unknown.

The Argents returned to their camp to meet Darehilde, the Quartermaster. After a short briefing, the Bulwark was dismissed for the night. Come the next, they would face this Fel Reaver head on.

Casualties: None.

Discoveries: Fel Reaver and native insectoid species.