Nephilim Ways
Nephilim Lore is a description of the Nephilim race provided by the development crew of Shadowbane.
Original Article
Little is known with any certainty of the Tainted ones, for indeed their presence on Aerynth has only recently been revealed. When the broken lands of Maelstrom were somehow reflected across every fragment of Aerynth, the Tainted Ones simply appeared. Many, it seems, had been living among the Sons of Men in disguise for decades, and threw off their sorcerous masks to celebrate the Rise of Chaos. In the year since, the defenders of law and light have come to know them all too well.
Nephilim are cursed with natures as primordial and mutable as the stuff of Chaos from which they sprang. Their moods shift as quickly as a dancing flame, from lunatic mirth to blasphemous rage in a single heartbeat. Some are little more than savage killers, lashing out with inhuman fury at all the works of the Gods. Others are clever and cunning, as subtle in their machinations as the most jaded Elf. All of them share a limitless disgust for convention, tradition, and the morality born of the various creeds of Aerynth: many have made it their life's mission to poison and corrupt as many of the "law-bound sheep" as they can. Temptation and deception are their weapons, and the Tainted Ones do their work very well, drawing the faithful away from the light through greed, lust, or fear. Those who cannot be tempted or tricked into betraying all they believe are driven mad.
The Nephilim look upon all the races of Aerynth with a sneering, mocking arrogance. Only the Minotaurs, staunch servants of Chaos, are held in any esteem. Even the Elves are seen as thin-blooded, spoiled children of lesser gods who aspire to true evil but are doomed to fail. The only gods they venerate are the Dark Lords of Chaos, and the Nephilim live to spread their worship to every corner of Aerynth. In the wake of Maelstrom's appearance, dozens of cults devoted to Chaos have sprung up like weeds across all the fragments, despite the best efforts of Church and Temple. Almost all of them are led by a small coven of Tainted ones, doing the divine work of their masters. Nephilim have also teemed to the shores of Maelstrom itself, where they work side by side with the demonic troops of the Dark lords. As befits their nature, many Nephilim seem to wander without any purpose, joining mercenary groups or fledgling states without any apparent agenda. Whether they are vagabonds or agents of the Pit remains to be seen.
Rumor has it that other cadres of Nephilim, still hidden in Human guises, have infiltrated the Holy Church, Malorn's Temple, and even the Conclave of Wizards, rooting through libraries and ancient archives for the secret spell that will let them fling wide the Chaos Gate, admitting their dark overlords to Aerynth for the second scourge.
