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With but a single swing she severed the branches, sending the hoard and its unholy mistress crashing to the ground. The soil of the Wood, wet with the blood of Long and the deluge of water and viscous fluid leaking from the shattered House's plumbing, turned to mud and began to greedily swallow up the Crone and her ill-gotten spoils. She screamed her unending hatred of the Serpents, but knew she could take no vengeance upon them. For every moment of her days must now be spent finding more loot to keep her hoard afloat on the mud. The thought of flying away and abandoning it did not even occur to her, as lost to greed as she was. The site of the nest's ruin became known as [[The Sunken Place]]. A cursed, evil place, where everything living is poisoned by the Cuckoo's hatred.
Some Hours moved to set themselves against this rising monstrosity, but by the time the truth was known, the damage had been done. The Peacock had amassed a wealth of stolen power from the other gods, its forces' numbers swollen innumerably by vast hoards of Long dominated by the Peacock's power and put under his control. He at last used these "Stolen-Long" against The Peacock's influence was compounded by the other Hoursnumber of thralls he commanded, overwhelming and his influence spread and twisted the Upper House like a cancer. Upper Mansus and driving was overwhelmed by a plague of madness, the swell of bodies so great all Hours but the Maker and the Anvil were driven from their own domains. This vast army of thralls came to be known as [[The Choir Unceasing]] for the unending, obscene cries and otherworldly music they made. Many Keys aligned themselves with this rising power, and for a time the unholy alliance of the Keys and Nowhere reigned dominant over the Upper Mansus.
The Doors were fortunate in that their investigations into the Upstart managed to uncover the Empire of Keys before it could grow into the vast powerbase power base the Keys needed to secure final victory over the Doors. Immediately, the Doors moved to put down this rising threat and undermine the power of the now ascendant Keys. Unable to assault the Empire themselves without breaking the treaty, they instead settled into a proxy war. The Empire of Keys standing in for the Keys, and the Doors selecting the fierce soldiers and brave explorers of their kingdoms to fight in their stead.
The Cuckoo whispered into the minds of mortals, filling their dreams with visions of treasure and riches on the other side of the sea. The Star guided their ships so that they were certain to arrive on the Empire's shores. The Hours of Edge concentrated their power and bestowed upon their soldiers great prowess in battle.
One man among these explorers and conquerors was chosen as the Doors' champion. The saw his cunning, ruthlessness, and most notably his greed. All were qualities they were certain would cause this man, Hernan Cortez, to attack the Empire the moment he laid eyes on it. They concentrated their collective power into him, turning him into a mighty warrior it was said could not be defeated. Despite being outnumbered ten-to-one by the Keys' forces, Cortes' conquistadors decimated the Keys' forces and laid siege to their capitol in a matter of months. The Empire's Priest-Kings were either captured for forced to flee, and as Cortez settled in to occupy the city it appeared that the threat was over. However, the waning of his power as the Doors turned their attention elsewhere, as well as whispers at home that Cortez was disloyal infuriated him greatly.
==FNORD WIP material==