Quote from IoM-Christian on 2026-08-25, 12:32

This 'Tethlani Host' will be my Arisen army; It will be Clovincaz-themed and painted up as a sun-bleached, mud-dusted and algae-covered force.

Background lore.

Tlacaelel Tethlan — The Preserved Sovereign

When the cataclysmic Vular War swept across the Meso-bound reaches of Findon, the Great Empire of Tethlan stood at the precipice of absolute annihilation by the Vular, Jomzaar, Mermerant, and other hostiles. Tlacaelel Tethlan, Ah-Puch Emperor and living embodiment of the Third Age's most prestigious Clovincaz, refused to let his lineage be reduced to dust and led his defence as he could best. Vastly outnumbered they ended up besieged in their sacred temple-city, Tlacaelel, mortally wounded underwent the supreme ritual of royal preservation.

Entombed in sacred resins, gold leaf, and protective warding cloth, his body was suspended in a state of eternal embalming—his consciousness bound to the enhanced husk so his strategic brilliance could guide his people beyond death. Though physically immobile, until he was flushed by the deep blue tsunami, Tlacaelel's strong imperial will remained the unyielding pillar holding the Tethlani civilisation together through its darkest hour.

Xiuhcoatl Tethlan — The Sovereign of Ashes

Left to rule a kingdom surrounded by hostile forces and decaying borders, Tlacaelel’s son, Prince Xiuhcoatl, inherited a besieged empire and saw no other solution but to summon his great grand-uncle, Cipactli Ehecatl, a Gorge Lord and his legion of ghouls. Then the Fourth Age dawned, the fallen became Arisen and mayhem and chaos broke out outside the city. Traditional martial strength and ancestral rituals were no longer enough to stem the tide of invaders. Driven by an obsessive duty to protect his father's vision and secure the dynasty's survival, Xiuhcoatl made the ultimate sacrifice.

Seeing his father arisen, newgained power slip his hands, Xiuhcoatl turned to forbidden necromantic arts, he deliberately severed his mortal life force, binding his soul directly to the volcanic ley lines and ancestral ash pyres of his homeland. He bathed in the underground bassins tainted by the deep blue tsunami and emerged transformed: becoming the Sovereign of Ashes, a terrifying lich lord wielding raw elemental soul-fire. While his father symbolised the still, preserved greatness of the past, Xiuhcoatl turned into a fierce, eternal force of the present—bringing the defeated Tethlani warriors under his control to ensure that the dynasty would never collapse.

Cipactli Ehecatl Tethlan — The Gorge Lord

Although it created tension with his ghoulish master, Cipactli was summoned to do what they do best. Thus, the Gorge Lord called in his embraced court and their legions swarmed the Tethlani foes. The tsunami weakened mortal enemies had to withdraw, leaving room for a thriving Tethlani tribe.

But the trios influence turned every living being into arisen or food, and when Cipactli's master was slain the fog of madness slightly lifted, halting their mad expansion. Together, father, son, and uncle represent the pillars of the Tethlani Host:

• The Emperor's Mandate: Tlacaelel’s ancient authority commands the absolute loyalty of the immortal phalanx, providing divine order and defensive resilience.
• The Sovereign's Wrath: Xiuhcoatl’s dark sorcery fuels the army's march, raising fallen skeletal warriors directly from the battlefield to replenish the ranks.
• The Empirial Oath: Cipactli Ehecatl's hunger for energies, flesh, and marrow only steered by a faint spark of ancestral bond with the Tethlani lineage secured many a claw and fang.

Some of the skeleton skulls will be sculpted as those of the Paracas culture.