The Black Ring, also known as Black Circle, are a collective of dark mages, aligned to Damian, the adopted son of Lucian and host to part of the soul of Lord of Chaos as of 1300 AD.
Background[]
The League of the Damned[]
“Ancient demon writing on the sacred slabs of Vermillion tells of 13 sacred shrines deep below the lands of Rivellon. These shrines are the resting places to the ‘Generals of the Damned’, the deadliest demon knights ever trained. They served the Lord of Chaos during the Wars of the Mages and the Wars of the Damned. It wasn’t until Duke Ferol sacrificed himself to banish the Lord of Chaos did the Demon Knights lose their gift of immortality, so they fled and constructed shrines for themselves scattered deep below Rivellon in concealed locations.
„—Divine Divinity description [1]
Prior to the Black Ring, the precursor to the group was known as the Legion of the Damned: a mixture of necromancers from Stormfist Castle who were cast out for performing the dark arts, demons under the rule of the Lord of Chaos and other dark magicians. These mages were granted long life and great power by their lord and during the second assault on Rivellon in 611 AD were found side by side on the front lines with their demonic allies. After losing this battle and their lord to Ruben Ferol and the seven races, those that tried to flee were killed one by one as they retreated. Despite this, a few survived and lived in the shadows. Taking on the name Black Ring, they hoped to summon their lord back to Rivellon and rebuild their order with fresh blood. Their predecessors considered the Black Ring to be weak compared to the League; celebrating their various misdemeanours, but not knowing what true terror is.[2]
The Black Ring[]
Long established by 1218 AD, by those who survived the defeat of their predecessors, and led by the Demon of Lies they were ready to resurrect the Lord of Chaos. Although Chaos had been banished to Hell part of his soul lived on in the mortal realm through Ulthring's famed weapon, the Sword of Lies. Last carried by Ralph, the apprentice to Ruben Ferol, who sealed away the blade within the walls of Stormfist Castle to prevent Chaos' revival; The sword was later released by Janus Ferol and used in the ritual to give their lord corporeal form. [3]
Lucian the Divine was able to defeat the Black Ring and the Demon of the Lies rendering the ritual only partially successful. Damian, the child who was to become the form of Chaos, was imbued with the life essence of Chaos. Lucian, unwilling to kill the babe, took him into his care and attempted to raise Damian as his own.[4] The Black Ring, aware of his potential, resumed their attempts to return Chaos to the world and, during Damian's adolescence, sent Ygerna, a Black Ring operative to help him realize his potential and birthright.
Damian soon fell in love with Ygerna. Lucian soon discovered who the young woman was however and he had her summarily executed. Damian, still ignorant to her mission walked in on the execution. His reaction drove him to the Black Ring who anointed him their leader.
Damian's position at the head of the Ring suffered interruption in 1233 AD during the Chaos War. In the war the Divine Order used a deathfog bomb to turn the tide at the cost of the elven lands and all life. After this catastrophe the Ring turned briefly away from Damian, who was also suffering imprisonment by his father in Nemesis. The Black Ring turned toward the God King who had since contacted them.
The Black Ring's activities over the next 11 years were subdued. Although recorded sightings occurred in the region of the island Reaper's Eye, the Reaper's Coast and on Nameless Isle, they did not inspire the same fear as the world was more concerned with the Voidwoken attacks.[5]
After the Veil was sealed in 1242 AD the Black Ring reassembled in the Black Forest, once again under the lead of Damian whose activities during the Voidwoken invasion are unknown. The Ring set to war again a few years later in 1244 AD, this time turning a Dragon Knight against the Divine and slaying him, removing their main obstacle. Under Damian they managed to sow discourse throughout the realm, deflecting attention from themselves, their enemies now focusing on the Dragon Knights. During this time they managed to acquire flying fortresses, floating land masses from which they could launch their attacks in relative safety. [6]
By 1300 AD, they were largely forgotten or ignored. Only a handful of agents still focused on them: Zandalor, the Divine's right hand, and the Dragon Knight Talana. Talana's death, and the transference of her powers to a newly initiated Dragon Slayer as she was dying from an attack by slayer's order, prompted Damian's reappearance. The slayer's success in acquiring the Battle Tower on Sentinel Island prompted the Ring to launch an assault with their fortresses on Broken Valley and Sentinel Island, slaughtering those who lived in the valley and rendering the land uninhabitable due to the use of Deathfog.
The slayer turned Dragon Knight's attempt to remove Damian from his seat of power, resulted in the Ring having one of their martyrs returned to them: Ygerna, now at the side of Damian, allowed the Ring to refocus on Aleroth, the city which had already been besieged by the undead. This turn of events allowed the former League of the Damned general Behrlihn, who was also in the Hall of Echoes, to take advantage of the situation. Using the now trapped Knight as a vassal ensuring Behrlihn's release so he could return to the ranks of the Ring. Behrlihn's plan did not go as anticipated: the resurrected Dragon Knight took the fight to the Black Ring, crashing a ship into Damian's flying fortress, thus breaking the siege, killing Ygerna and returning Lucian to Rivellon once more. This forced the Black Ring into retreat.[7]
Hierarchy[]
Black Ring and the whole League of the Damned, structure is built around power. They take the phrase: might makes right quite literally, up to a point of generals and their associates gambling and insulting demons for sport. [8]
The Black Ring structure itself by 1300 AD is composed of splinter groups, who battle each other for more power as much frequently as they battle Divine Order. Such groups, involve Scorpions, band of brutal warriors born and bred in Yuthul Gor wasteland. [9]
Besides this, not much is known about the Black Ring structure itself, due to Black Ring being extremely secretive organisation, that would take in only those who are capable of defending themselves, and those who are useful to their cause. [10]
The Black Knights[]
"The Black Knight is one of the most feared enemies in Rivellon. During The Chaos Wars a number of knights fell out of favor with their feudal lords and were turned out. Some of them began a new existence as white knights, but the major part of the knights in exile left the path of virtue and sold their souls to the dark side. These knights were looking for a way to take their revenge on their former feudal lords. The Lord of Chaos heard their prayers and recruited them for his army of darkness. The knights who used to be virtuous, over time turned into cruel reflections of chaos, death and destruction. As Black Knights they became infamous among all seven peoples." - Divine Divinity website description[11]
Dragon Riders[]
"Others have reported dragon riders, a short race of evil minions trained in the art of dragon riding on smaller elemental class dragons. A mystery still remains on their Master’s identity. The sinister sect known as the ‘Black Ring’ usually commissions dragon riders on missions of assassination by decapitation, if a bounty is on your head, it is unlikely you can escape." - Divine Divinity website description[12]
Since 1218 AD, the Black Ring has been deploying Dragon Riders as their executioners and bounty hunters for the Black Rings most prized targets. The most famous target they had ever hunted were the Marked Ones, including Lucian prior to his ascension to Divinity. After the Great War between 1244 AD and 1250 AD, their numbers swelled as many young dragons have been drained of their will and bred for the purpose of defending the Black Rings Flying Fortresses.
Gallery[]
.png "Avatar Black Ring Female (Original Sin 2).png (1.04 MB)"){kind=avatar}
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References[]
- ↑ Divine Divinity website dragon page description accessed via Wayback Machine
- ↑ The Prophecy
- ↑ Divine Divinity
- ↑ Child of the Chaos
- ↑ Divinity: Original Sin 2
- ↑ Divinity II: Ego Draconis
- ↑ Divinity II: Flames of Vengeance
- ↑ Velanir a husband of Black Ring general who was beheaded by demon during gambling game. Behrlihn dialogue in Divinity II: Flames of Vengeance
- ↑ Scorpion Set description in Divinity II: Ego Draconis
- ↑ Child of Chaos novella and Divine Divinity
- ↑ Divine Divinity website black knight page description accessed via Wayback Machine
- ↑ Divine Divinity website dragon page description accessed via Wayback Machine