The Legend of van Vicci and the Panda-Ra

Species reached sapience and were granted a [System] on planet Ross with surprising regularity, but with the stiff competition for resources among that new Class of being, they fell just as regularly. One of the most surprising to fall however, were the Panda-Ra.

They were originally a red-furred creature with white markings in the face, black arms and legs, and known to be mischievous and dexterous to a degree that rivaled even the monkeys found elsewhere on Elderwood.

They shaped great homes and tools of stone, and traveled far and wide in search of friends and secrets. They were straightforward and honest, often to a fault, earning them enemies among those with prickly pride but also finding those sought after friends among more simple and joyful peers as a result.

When threatened they would fight using fists and feet and long sticks topped with rocks, yipping loudly, with each strike having the force to destroy boulders, and jumping and twisting to confound even the great champions of rival species, but the Panda-Ra never fought in a war of aggression.

They preferred to build, in stone, whose secrets had been teased out and made to last for millenia. When they had built their lands to the satisfaction of them and their children’s children, they would instead head for the lands of allies.

They went to the grand and mountainous regions of the Ogres and shaped things to their friends' liking, in great towering spires and with stone that looked melted and shaped as if by frothing waters. Even to the floating islands of the rarely seen inner coastal lands of the Ogres were the Panda-Ra welcomed and given free reign to practice their craft.

The Foxkin likewise were young at the time and full of willingness to learn and discover alongside the Panda-Ra. They both came from a carnivorous origin, but while the Panda-Ra embraced that side and felt no shame nor pride in it, they also lacked that tendency to act out in a bout of bloodlust if denied for too long.

The [System] seemed to reinforce this difference, but then again, the Panda-Ra had always been dubious of some of the more outlandish [Quests] and directions they had been given as a species, often neglecting to use Skills they were granted if they disagreed with the philosophy behind it, even if it meant getting stalled in levels. The Foxkin were quite the opposite, the respect of their [System] ingrained with the mother’s milk.

Despite their collective obstinance the Panda-Ra did continue to thrive for a long time in harmony with the magic they were granted. Their culture developed and their knowledge of the earth and stone deepened each generation. At a certain point they had over 50 names for seemingly the same type of stone, if you were to ask any other species.

The Panda-Ran artisans could tell a difference in the magic content and which direction the stone’s affinity was being taken. It was important, depending on the area where you were building you might see the facade start to crumble after a mere 950 years instead of lasting the guaranteed millenia Panda-Ran craft provided. If that was not proof of how these details mattered, then what was?

The fall of the Panda-Ra began when one of their most famous members discovered the wrong secret and angered a most calamitous and volatile Great Spirit. One of the worst to ever have reached such a status on Elderwood.

For generations this Great Spirit would torture them, erasing cities off the map and cutting off even their best hidden sanctuaries among the mountains. They were plagued, and none of their allies had what it takes to stand up for them.

And so their culture was crushed. Into something hardly recognisable. The things that remained were the bones of them, the way they were built from the ground up. Still exploring where it was safe from their tormentor, still making friends with everything from Cloven to Foxkin and eventually even Humans.

But a hero was born. After the brave Panda-Ra fled long enough and compromised their homes to survive another day, one of their members was raised who had no quit. Whose spirit refused to ever bow down to fear or oppression.

He leveled. And he grew. His name was van Vicci and by the time he was the leader of his people he had started schools and the rebuilding of their lands while they enjoyed a rare time of peace with the Great Spirit being engaged in other feuds. What was a generation to the Panda-Ra was a mere blink of the eye to that huge and maliciously intelligent creature who always remembered them.

But this time it was van Vicci who was at the helm of their preparation, and he was fearless. He knew what he was preparing for and no other contender could put a dent in his confidence, every enemy was considered a stepping stone. When he would be injured, he tried again. When his affinity was wrong, he found a master to develop his Class for a new evolution. And when his inspiration was drying up he went among the children and let himself be infused by their spirit of curiosity and innovation.

When van Vicci was reaching the final era of his life the calamity of the once grand and numerous Panda-Ra returned. As predicted. As always.

Unlike in times past they did not wait however, nor did they waver. They were done with accepting defeat from the first day and trying to survive this supposed natural catastrophe that their ancestors had inadvertently cursed them with.

They fought like demons and they failed. Van Vicci lost many of his greatest friends. But they tried again, and still failed. But no matter the pain van Vicci was always at the forefront, always surviving and leveling.

The day came when enough talents gathered behind to support him, when enough brilliant minds had put their heads together to prepare and develop the Classes and Skills necessary to take on the nightmare of their species.

They fought for days on end and so managed to slay the calamitous beast, by causing so much damage that not even sitting on top of a volcano could have provided enough magic to sustain the Great Spirit. They accomplished what even the [System] had thought impossible.

Its heart was carved out and the body turned to stone, and van Vicci reached level 100.

Despite the great losses they had suffered, the Panda-Ra celebrated the end of their nightmare and dreamt of a future where the sun would shine on their homes for millenia at a time once again.

The dream lasted for about two weeks.

The [Systems] of all the other species suddenly acted in strange synchronicity and issued [Quests] aimed at the destruction of van Vicci and the Panda-Ra as a whole, as if in a panic, effective immediately.

The war was begun, but the proud race of Panda-Ra were not about to go down without a fight. Van Vicci did his best to be everywhere, and there were none to match him. But although at first the ones to dare attack them were only the most greedy and foolhardy, eventually the [Systems] had upped the stakes so much that even rightfully calling it a suicide mission was not enough to deter the gloryseekers.

The one respite they received was when a strange new species came burning out of the skies and somehow convinced the [System] that something could be of an even higher priority than the destruction of van Vicci.

Humans took the heat off for a few short years, and van Vicci hatched plans to extend their chances until a solution could be found. The few members of the new race they met were natural allies and although they were few, a couple of key friendships were formed.

Nothing could stop the collective wrath of the [Systems] in the end though. The Panda-Ra fell, with van Vicci being the last known surviving member.

He was the calamity now, a force of destruction with enough targets of vengeance to last him a millenia. His run was mythical even as it happened, the foes he faced and defeated turned into mere sideshows of his legend. It lasted a hundred years with some change, then the old hero seemed to suddenly deflate. As if all that wrath had been spent. He walked the lands for a few years, acting strangely out of character, before ending up in the Cloven realms and suddenly disappearing for another year.

When he returned he made a public showing of his disdain for what the world had become and then threw himself into the Cloven volcano in his despair.

And so ended the legend of van Vicci.