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Professora Tamerind
Subject: History
Alignment: Choleric
Orientation: Journeyman
Position: Chorus



Professora Tamerind is the second oldest, after Eleuthero, and she is very intelligent. As oppose to straight wisdom, like that of Eleuthero, Tamerind possesses great knowledge about many many subjects, in some cases nearly as much about other subjects as their own Professors know. Tamerind teaches History, and she stresses everyone pay close attention because all of the events that have gone before will repeat someday. As Tamerind would say, "Empyrean City is a cog in a giant clock, always ticking and turning. And when it reaches the places it was before, and all the other cogs are aligned, how can it help but relive the same old nightmares?"


Long ago, before the City of Empyrean was surrounded by walls and gates and protection spells, the world was at peace. The Outsiders and the Empyreans were not what they are now, they were both much more alike, and there was no war between them. On occassion, threats would come from beyond their two countries, and they would band together to fight them. Together, the Outsiders and the Empyreans worked towards greater pursuits of art, science and philosophy. They developed great technology and great weapons with which to defend their nations from the assaults of the foreigners from far off places.
Then, as both the Outsiders and the Empyreans had feared, the foreigners attacked en mass, and their numbers were so great, and so heavily armed, that both the Outsiders and the Empyreans feared they would be conquered. Desperate and nearing defeat, they decided to use a tempermental and experimental weapon. It had not been used against an assailant before, as it was not perfected, was not ready and most of all, the Outsider scientists that built it had no idea if it was safe to use. They were given orders to use the great weapon, and they followed their orders dutifully against protests from the Empyreans, having no idea what they were unleashing.
The explosion shook the world.
Smoke, ash and fire rained down on the Outsiders and the Empyreans and what was left of their cities. The air was filled with the smell of burnt bone, twisted metal and raw earth. The foreigners were obliterated, and many of the Empyrean and Outsider forces that were on the front-lines died from the blast.
The crator that was left behind, just beyond what is now the Eastern Gate, was smoking and stank of death. When the ash settled and the smoke cleared, the Empyreans when to investigate. They wanted to see what kind of damage the weapon had done, and if they could, they would try to salvage any possible survivors.
When they reached the hole in the earth, they were drawn by the pull of some invisible force. They wandered past the remains of comrades, against their wills right into the mouth of the crator, and there they began to change into what we now know of as Empyreans. Their flesh changed from the colous that the Outsiders bore, and their hair and eyes as well. Each of the Empyreans that day that touched foot on that open wound of earth was touched by what we came to know as the Essence. They did not stay long, at the crator, after they were touched by the Essence, because from that gaping hole the first of the Monsters began to crawl forth.
The First Empyreans returned to the city. The Doctors could find nothing wrong with them, in fact they seemed healthier than before. The Outsiders, when they heard the Empyreans had been discoloured and changed from the mouth of the Crator steered clear of it, and destroyed the machine, vowing to never use such a weapon again.
In time, the Empyreans began to discover magic. They experimented with it, played with it and came to recognize the four types that were possible to cast. They began to take their children down to the crator, to bind them to the Essence, to make them "Whole" as it came to be called. The secrets of their magic, and of the Binding of Essence were closely guarded secrets, as the Empyreans knew that without care and without proper study, the Magic could prove a greater and more destructive weapon than the machine had been, should it fall into the wrong hands. And seeing the rash and careless nature of the Outsiders, the Empyreans hid their knowledge from their neighbours.
The Outsiders began to see signs of Magic, and terrified and distrustful they began to pressure the Empyreans to divulge their secrets. The Empyreans refused, and began to draw away from the Outsiders, moving closer and closer to the crator.
Finally, the Outsiders built another machine, of a different sort than the prior, but clearly still a weapon, and they turned it on the cities of the Empyreans and threatened to use it, if the Empyreans did not share their power. The Empyreans flatly refused. The Outsiders lobbed their weapons.
More explosions filled the air than the Empyreans could ever remember. The Gas that fell on the cities killed many Empyreans, and their Essence became rooted to the spot. The Ruins that still lie in Melancholia District are all that remains of that war. They were not torn down out of respect for the souls of the Empyreans that still roam they, unable to return to the Ether.
The Empyreans that survived the gas found themselves sterile. A pure-bred Empyrean child has not been birthed since that time, long ago. We were forced to resort to making our children, using Magic and Essence, drawing from the Ether of the Crator.
The Empyreans finally built the walls that still stand around the City of Empyrean today. Our nation was reduced to a city, our citizens would ever again bear children of their own, the Outsiders would not cease in their attacks, and the number and variety of monsters has multiplied exponentially since that day.


Before the Crator, the Empyreans and the Outsiders were the same creatures, loosely referred to in many texts by many names. Some of the most commonly used names are: North Americans, Americans, Canadians, Westerners, Capitalists.
From what we have been able to gather, there were two massive countries in this part of the world before the wars. The Canadians resided around where Empyrean City now lies, and it was said to be a sparsely populated land, with nearly 90% of its population cling tot he border it shared with the Americans to the south of them. While the records at this ponit grow hazy, and often inconsistent, there are a few facts we've been able to determine. The Americans were a war-like race, and made many excursions tot he unknown lands beyond the oceans. During these excursions, the Canadians remained either neutral or supporting. By the end of the American's reign of power, the Canadians had become very supportive, though it looked like they had retained little control, with their government influenced heavily by that of the Americans. There have been some small references to threats being a motivating factor in this support, but there are not enough sources to substantiate these claims. When the Foreigners and the Americans clashed for the last time, it seems that the many types of Foreigners had joined up together to stand against the Americans and their Canadian Allies. The Americans at that point began to use their weapons of mass destruction, and the Canadians withdrew more and more from the fighting. Finally, when the Foreigners were obliterated, and nothing but the Americans and the Canadians remained, things became violent between them. The Canadians retreated up towards the lakes near their ancient capitol, and the Americans surged up into their land, taking over much of the prairie lands and the maritimes to surround the remaining populous. During this period called The Incursion there are no surviving records.
Afterwards there were no traces of the Americans or Canadians. It is believed that the fallout from the many weapons and chemicals used leading up to and during The Incursion caused the remaining people to become the race of the Outsiders. From that point onward war has raged between the Outsiders and the early anscestors of the modern Empyreans.
Restricted Knowledge (Permanent -2% Difficulty to related Class Skills)
1. Outsider Politics (History)
2. Demonic Incantations (Magical Theory)
3. The Crater (Physical Education)
4. Grafting (Crafting)
5. Essence Exposure (Rhetoric)
6. Plastique (Science)
7. The Alchemist's Stone (Cooking)
8. Genetically Modified Organisms (Botany)


There are few clear records, and the records that remain are largely disjointed. There seems to be large sections of history that have been left blank, making it impossible to draw clear conclusions between mentinoed people and place names. What has been determined is that there was a mighty ocean between the Foreign Lands and the lands of the Outsiders. Thte land mass on which Empyrean City now lies is what remains of the continent known in ancient times as North America. If there is a South America in mimick of the North is hard to determine, as the massive wastes of toxin south of the Saltless Sea prevent clear skrying and make travel certain death. The Foreigner's sea is far too dangerous to travel, constantly plagued by storms, massive waves and residual chemicals. There is rumour that some form of land remains past the tumultuous Salt Ocean where the Foreigners dwelt, but there has been no confirmation of its existence, and with both Empyrean and Outsider eyes pivoted on each other, concerns of mysterious Foreigners have been the least of our worries.
There has been no calendar since the Wars, and there have been no distinct "Seasons" as there were in literature of Ancient times. Due to the immense changes that were forced upon the natural atmosphere of the world from the Wars, there is a sort of constant summer-autumn weather out beyond the Gates. There is no change of season, but things like the Moon stilla ffect growing cycles of plants, and there are certain patterns of the length of days in which animals beyond the Gates breed. There is a loose collective of these signs that are considered "years" by the Metatrons, and each of these Years is given a name based on prophecy for what the year to come is likely to offer.
Restricted Knowledge (Permanent -5% Difficulty to related Class Skills)
1. The Mists (Animal Care)
2. Teachings of Jesu (Philosophy)
3. Pregis the Recorder (Literature)
4. Space Travel (Mathematics)
5. Divination of Spectres (Astronomy)
6. The Iconoclasms (Art)
7. Wireless Frequencies (Music)
8. Birth of the Metatrons (Law)