Importance

The Holy City of Aslyd was the first and only city that the Cavari species ever founded. It was built atop the very spot that The Creator placed the first group of Cavaries deep within the central jungle of The First Continent. All buildings were constructed from black stone and etched with artwork depicting the tentacles of The Great One.

History

---

Founding

In the year 1017 BVE, before there was life upon Ayphieal, before there were even trees, The Creator created Onaalag, The Great One, while standing in the very place where Aslyd would one day rise. Placed upon the new but barren planet, Onaalag took refuge in a cave beneath a nearby hill and made it his lair. From within he watched the jungle be planted around the hill by The Creator, and watched the landscape be filled with monstrosities, failed creations that became deadly predators.

In the year 928 BVE, The Creator returned and placed his newest creations, the Cavaries, atop the hill. Deep inside the dangerous jungle, the first group of Cavaries struggled to survive. They built huts that were repeatedly destroyed during attacks from the abominations infesting the jungle. Many Cavaries abandoned the hill and ventured out into the jungle to survive on their own or in smaller groups. Those that remained continued to struggle for survival until Onaalag used his abilities to touch the mind of a chosen Cavari, a man that would later be known as The First Knowledge Holder, and he whispered ideas and visions into his head. He granted the man knowledge that would help his people survive.

With The Great One’s knowledge, they began to build stronger defenses. Over many years, the collection of huts atop the hill slowly grew into a true city of black stone. Naming their city Aslyd, they began to worship The First Knowledge Holder as their ruler. They built a great wall around their city made of black stone, protecting all they built from the horrors of the jungle outside.

Oasis In The Jungle

When The First Knowledge Holder died, Onaalag selected another man among the population to receive his guiding whispers. He continued to choose the successors to the throne of Aslyd with every generation, offering his knowledge to keep them safe. In return, he sought only to satisfy his nature by receiving fertile Cavari women, sacrifices granted by the population for him to impregnate, called Holy Mothers. Knowing the danger of his offspring, however, priestesses took the Holy Mothers when he was done with them and cut open their pregnant bellies, burning their tentacled children.

The Holy City of Aslyd became an oasis of safety in the deep jungle. Protected by walls, their population swiftly grew. They didn’t forget all those that had abandoned them, however, for they sent out warriors to capture members of the small Cavari tribes that had gradually spread throughout the jungle, bringing them back as slaves and potential Holy Mothers.

In the year 879 BVE, construction began on The Central Ziggurat of Aslyd, a structure that completely covered Onaalag’s hill. Completed in 867 BVE, the massive structure served as the residence of The Knowledge Holders and their families. Other smaller ziggurats were constructed around the central ziggurat several years later.

Apocalypse

During the reign of Knowledge Holder Mauron, in the year 768 BVE, a group of Cavari women were captured from the jungle and brought to the city to replace the latest Holy Mother. Among them was a woman named Aifa, who was selected by Onaalag to be his next sacrifice. She was brought into his lair and impregnated.

Unknown to the population, however, Onaalag had granted Mauron visions of a coming apocalypse brought by his tentacled children. Driven to madness, The Knowledge Holder secretly planned to murder The Great One to prevent such a terrible future. He commanded a group of trusted guards to slay Onaalag, though Aifa managed to escape with The Great One’s assistance.

Onaalag was killed, though Aifa and their tentacled child survived. Over the following two years she continued the bloodline of The Great One by having his descendants impregnate other Cavari women, slowly spreading into a swarm of tentacled beasts. She led her horde of slimy abominations and returned to Aslyd, unleashing a massive siege on the 50th of Silla, 766 BVE.

In a single day, The Holy City of Aslyd fell. Swarmed by tentacled beasts, the vast majority of the male population was slaughtered in the attack, including Knowledge Holder Mauron himself. The female population was enslaved as breeding slaves, reduced to living wombs with the sole purpose of birthing more tentacled abominations.

Darkness

After destroying Aslyd, Aifa, The Mother of Tentacles, ruled over the ruins of the city. Her eldest surviving children, Jynae-bal, Ayaalag, and Cycath, filled the ruins and landscape with bizarre sculptures and carvings. Onaalag’s eldest descendant, Vaecath, constructed a massive stature of Aifa in the center of what was once the market. The swarm of tentacled abominations gradually fastened themselves to the buildings, becoming living walls of tentacles, holding the squirming bodies of pregnant Cavari women, and they used the materials from many of the destroyed buildings to construct new structures, such as The Citadel of Cavari Dreams and several seeding pits.

On the 39th of Twic, 761 BVE, Aifa was betrayed by her eldest children. After tearing Vaecath apart, the trio captured and imprisoned The Mother of Tentacles deep beneath the ziggurat. Inside Onaalag’s former lair and tomb, she was used as another breeding vessel. The trio, calling themselves The Triumvirate, claimed the ruins of Aslyd as their own.

On the 19th of Onis, 758 BVE, The Creator returned. Discovering the terrible fate of the Cavaries, he sought to save the rest of his world from the tentacle swarm. He used his power to rip the center of the deep jungle from Ayphieal and banish it into another new dimension, trapping the tentacled abominations in another realm.

Having been torn from the world, the ruins of the once great city, the surrounding landscape, the buildings, the surviving Cavaries, all were locked away inside a new dimension of darkness separated from Ayphieal. The remnants of Aslyd were buried and consumed beneath generations of tentacled abominations breeding and spreading in the darkness.

On Ayphieal, a massive and deep basin was left in the center of The First Continent where the deep jungle had once been. It gradually filled with water from the ocean to form a new sea. The other inhabitants of the continent continued to spread legends and tales of the deep jungle that had vanished, though Aslyd and the Cavaries themselves gradually faded into myth.

Landmarks

---

The Great Wall Of Aslyd

Built using the knowledge of The Great One several years after 928 BVE, a massive wall of black stone encircled the entire city. For generations it protected the population from the horrors of the surrounding jungle, and the city never expanded beyond their reach. It had a single set of massive gates that served as the entrance to the city.

The Central Ziggurat Of Aslyd

Completed in 867 BVE, The Central Ziggurat of Aslyd was a massive step pyramid located directly in the center of the city. It had a staircase that surrounded the main entrance and ran up the side of the pyramid to the top. The flat top acted as a platform where the reigning Knowledge Holder and priestesses could look down at the city below, and it held a grand brazier where the bodies of scarifies and The Great One’s offspring were frequently burned. It acted as the residence of all rulers of Aslyd until 761 BVE.

Minor Ziggurats

Several smaller ziggurats dotted the city. One of them became the home of Sarui, Knowledge Holder Mauron’s eldest daughter.

The Market

A massive open plaza acted as Aslyd’s central market until 766 BVE. Located beyond the entrance of The Central Ziggurat, it was square and filled with many market stalls.

The Colossus Of Aifa

Constructed by Vaecath in 766 BVE after the fall of Aslyd, a massive statue of Aifa was placed in the center of what had once been The Market. Built from black stone, it depicted The Mother of Tentacles holding her spear at her side.

Seeding Pits

After Aifa’s conquest of Aslyd, several seeding pits were constructed throughout the city during 766 BVE. Consisting of vast but shallow holes dug into the ground, they were lined with sloping walls reinforced using materials taken from nearby destroyed buildings. They served as pits that were filled with tentacled abominations known as seedlings. Fertile women were dragged inside to be tormented and impregnated, and a mixture of slime and sperm pooled at the bottom to cover the ground.

The Citadel of Cavari Dreams

Named by Aifa, The Citadel was a prison constructed sometime after Aslyd’s fall that housed the children of the surviving Cavari population. Too young to be useful, they were kept away from the tentacle swarm inside the walls of The Citadel until they reached maturity, spared from the sight of the horrors outside. It was a monstrosity of black stone carved in bizarre patterns and topped with a high dome.

Appearances

---

• Vaid Empire: Mother of Tentacles
  • Chapter 1 (First Appearance)
    • Aifa Was Brought To The Central Ziggurat To Become A Holy Mother Before Being Bred By Onaalag.

[WORK IN PROGRESS]

Back To Top