虑，女神接受了她女儿的请求，美杜莎无与伦比的娇美相貌变成了象征着可怕力量的脸孔。但是她一刻也没有对自己的抉择后悔。她明白，睥睨万物才是值得拥有的美貌--这才是能够改变世界的力量。 Timbersaw
Rizzrack could still hear the screams in his mind. He worked, frantically turning wrenches, twisting screws, building and carving and forging. Sleep eluded him; he only built. Months had passed since he had shut himself in his uncle's workshop, and his deliverance was nearly complete. He rubbed his back as his eyes drifted shut, and saw a blanket of flowers floating on the placid waves of Augury Bay before exploding into a cloud of pollen that silenced lives as it seized the lungs. He woke with a choking start. For hours the rhythmic sound of a whetstone filled the shop as he sharpened a set of massive blades, his mind filled with images of strangling vines garroting neighbors, enwrapping homes. The flooding of Augury Bay had been nothing compared to the violent horrors the waters left to take root beyond the city walls. But the saw-suit would make him strong and safe he thought, allowing himself this sliver of hope before the full might of his fear crashed into his fading mind. Branches and bark and blood. When the city fell, Rizzrack fled trees that walked, and fought, and killed. Trees had shattered the gates and swarmed into the city. Trees had crushed and thrashed and stomped the last that Augury Bay could muster in defense, and stalked the few fleeing refugees. In addled silence Rizzrack unspooled the thick chain from the suit's arm, his hands quaking as he inspected each link and ran a trembling finger along the claw attached at its end. The saw-suit was ready.
With his hand trembling he sparked the bladed machine to life. Terror drove him, terror of what awaited him and of what he would have to face to have any hope of calming his mind. As the saw-suit shuddered to life he knew he must face this fear, and he knew he wouldn't like it one bit.
伐木机
直到现在瑞兹拉克的脑海中仍然还萦绕着那尖叫声。他原来的工作是马不停蹄地转动扳手，扭紧螺丝，搭建模型，切割模具，锻造机器。睡眠离他而去；他终日都在制造机器的工作中度过。就这样，他把自己关在了他叔叔的工坊里。一晃数月过去，工作即将完成，他马上就能得到解放。一天，他抬了抬直掉的眼皮，站起来揉了揉背，看着窗外预兆湾那徐徐的波浪，上面竟飘来了满满的花朵，花朵开始爆裂，变成了花粉云团，直奔肺部而去，碰到的人纷纷倒地。他被呛地一激灵，睡意顿时一扫而空。之后几个小时工坊里尽是抑扬顿挫的磨刀声，他将一套巨大的刀刃磨得锃亮。他的脑海里满是邻居因窒息而死青筋暴起的惨状，被花树包围的房屋。但预兆湾的花潮相比潮水过后城墙外的哀鸿遍野就不值一提了。不过他眼里这套锯齿机器强大而富有安全感，他抱着这一丝希望，这样逐渐模糊的意识里才没有被恐惧全部占据。城市里遍地可见花枝和鲜血。在城市毁灭时，瑞兹拉克逃离了那些能够行走战斗还会杀人的花树。花树毁坏了城门，涌入城市。预兆湾最后召集的守卫也被他们肆意碾压践踏，寥寥无几的难民后面花树还在紧紧地追赶。虽然瑞兹拉克的头脑还是一片混沌，但是他静悄悄地从机器手臂里拽出一根巨大的链条，双手颤抖着检查了每个节点，用战栗的手指按了按链条末端的钢爪。这套锯齿机器已经就绪待命。
他颤颤巍巍地用双手将这浑身带着刀刃的机器启动。恐惧，无论是萦绕已久的恐惧还是他接下来要面对的恐惧都在驱使着他，他还怀有让自己头脑冷静的希望。随着机器的震动开始运转，他知道他必须面对这恐惧，他也知道这恐惧他一点也不想要。 Slark
Little known to the inhabitants of the dry world, Dark Reef is a sunken prison where the worst of the sea-bred are sent for crimes against their fellows. It is a razor barbed warren full of murderous slithereen, treacherous Deep Ones, sociopathic meranths. In this dim labyrinth, patrolled by eels and guarded by enormous anemones, only the vicious survive. Pitched into Dark Reef for crimes unknown, Slark spent half a lifetime without kin or kindness, trusting no one, surviving through a combination of stealth and ruthlessness, keeping his thoughts and his plans to himself. When the infamous Dark Reef Dozen plotted their ill-fated breakout, they kept their plans a perfect secret, murdering anyone who could have put the pieces together--but somehow Slark discovered their scheme and made a place for himself in it. Ten of the Dozen died in the escape attempt, and two were captured, hauled back to Dark Reef, then executed for the entertainment of their fellow inmates. But Slark, the unsung thirteenth, used the commotion as cover and slipped away, never to be caught. Now a furtive resident of the carnivorous mangrove scrub that grips the southern reach of Shadeshore, Slark remains the only successful escapee from Dark
Reef.
斯拉克
除了水下住民，暗黑之礁很少为世人所知晓，这是座沉没之牢，关押的都是犯下滔天罪行的海洋生物。这座监牢外围装满了倒钩，里面充斥着心狠手辣的鱼人，狡猾歹毒的深海住民还有嗜杀同类的南海人。在这阴暗的迷宫中，鳗鱼四处巡逻，巨大的海葵担任着守卫的工作，在里面想不死就只能为恶。斯拉克被投入暗黑之礁的罪名已经不得而知，他在里面待的半生泯灭了亲情和良知，信任的只有自己，信奉的生存之道是鬼祟的行动和冷酷的心肠，他的脑海中不断酝酿自己的想法和计划。当臭名昭著的暗黑之礁十二恶棍密谋着越狱时，他们完美地将计划保密，发现蛛丝马迹的人都被他们杀害-但是他们的阴谋不知怎么的被斯拉克发现了，他在这计划中给自己找到了容身之地。越狱过程中十个恶棍遭到击毙，剩下两个被擒获，押回了暗黑之礁，作为那里犯人们的消遣活动被处以极刑。但是斯拉克，无名的第十三个越狱犯，利用暴乱作掩护逃之夭夭；永获自由。现在斯拉克隐居在紧靠影承废墟南部的食肉红树林灌丛中，迄今为止，他仍是唯一成功从暗黑之礁越狱的逃犯。 Centaur Warrunner
It's said that a centaur's road is paved with the corpses of the fallen. For the one called Warrunner, it has been a long road indeed. To outsiders, the four-legged clans of Druud are often mistaken for simple, brutish creatures. Their language has no written form; their culture lacks pictographic traditions, structured music, formalized religion. For centaurs, combat is the perfect articulation of thought, the highest expression of self. If killing is an art among centaurs, then Bradwarden the Warrunner is their greatest artist. He rose to dominance on the proving grounds of Omexe, an ancient arena where centaur clans have for millennia gathered to perform their gladiatorial rights. As his fame spread, spectators came from far and wide to see the great centaur in action. Always the first to step into the arena, and the last to leave, he composes a masterpiece in each guttering spray, each thrust of blood-slickened blade-length. It is the poetry of blood on steel, flung in complex patterns across the pale sands of the killing floor. Warrunner defeated warrior after warrior, until the arena boomed with the cheering of his name, and he found himself alone, the uncontested champion of his kind. The great belt of Omexe was bestowed, wrapped around his broad torso, but in his victory, the death-artist found only emptiness. For what is a warrior without a challenge? The great centaur galloped out of Omexe that day with a new goal. To his people, Warrunner is the greatest warrior to ever step into the arena. Now he has set out to prove he is the greatest fighter who has ever lived. 半人马战行者
相传半人马所到之处，尸横遍野。对于名为战行者的半人马，这场面的确相当壮观。外界谣传，这杜鲁德大草原的四足部落里都是头脑简单，性格残暴的生物。他们虽有语言，但无文字；他们的文化没有图画记录，成型音乐，或是正式宗教。半人马认为，战斗是思想的完美阐释，自身实力的最高体现。如果杀戮是半人马部落中的艺术，那么战行者布拉德瓦登就是其中最伟大的艺术家。他获得主宰部落的地位是在古老的欧梅克斯竞技场，半人马部族千年以来聚集于此，行使他们格斗的权利。随着他声名远扬，不少观众都是不远千里前来目睹这名半人马的雄伟风姿。他总是第一个踏入竞技场，最后一个离开，在血肉横飞、刀光剑影中谱写着战斗的巨著。这是鲜血与钢铁织就的诗篇，赛上暗淡的沙尘间看到的只有挥舞得眼花缭乱的兵器。战行者将挑战者一个接一个地击败，直到竞技场里欢腾着他的名字，作为部族里无与匹敌的冠军，他感到异常孤独。他被授予竞技场的巨大腰带，系在他伟岸的身躯上。但是这死亡艺术家在他的胜利中只感到空虚。没有挑战的战士还有什么意义？那天强大的半人马就这样带着全新的目标奔出了欧梅克斯竞技场。在他的族人中，战行者是踏入竞技场中最为强大的战士。现在他要证明，自己是有史以来最为强大的斗士。 Magnus
The master-smiths of Mt. Joerlak agree on only a single point: that the horn of a magnoceros is more precious than any alloy. And of all such horns, the largest and sharpest belongs to the beast they call Magnus. For half a generation, Magnus took easy sport goring hunters come to claim the treasures of his kin. Each time he would return to his cave with hooves and horns stained red, until his Matriarch urged him and all their kin to seek refuge to the north beyond the shadow of the mountain. But Magnus scoffed, having never failed to defend his people. The magnoceroi would stay, he decided, for a magnoceros does not believe in chance? nor does it ever change its mind. But when Mt. Joerlak erupted without warning, and half his kin perished in the fire and ash, Magnus changed his mind after all. The survivors pushed north, until they reached a blockade watched over by a hundred hunters armed with bow and steel. Magnus expected no less. He led his fiercest brothers and sisters in a charge against their enemies, and fought with a ferocity matched
only by the fire-spewing mountain at his back. Meanwhile the magnoceros elders, mothers, and calves vanished into the drifts. The master-smiths are divided about what happened next. Some say Magnus reunited with his kin, while others claim he suffered mortal injuries and expired alongside the body of his Matriarch. Neither theory is correct. Magnus did vow to rejoin his kin?but only after seeking out those responsible for the eruption of Mt. Joerlak and watching them die upon his horn, for a magnoceros does not believe in chance.
马格纳斯
杰尔拉克山的铸造大师们只对一件事达成了共识：半人猛犸的角比任何合金都要珍贵。而这些角中，形状最大、最为锋利的角属于被称作马格纳斯的野兽。在半个世代以来，马格纳斯的运动就是用角冲撞那些前来猎取他同胞的猎人。每次他回到洞穴，蹄上和角上都是血迹斑斑，直到族里的女族长要求他和他的族人在山脉阴影之外的北边寻找避难的居所，但是马格纳斯对此嗤之以鼻，他从未在守卫族人时倒下。他决定，半人猛犸将留在这个地方，因为他们从不相信侥幸?抑或是改变自己的主意。但是在杰尔拉克山毫无预兆地喷发时，他一半的族人都消失在烈火和烟尘中，马格纳斯终究还是改变了想法。幸存的族人开始向北边进发，结果遇到了由上百名装备着铁甲和弓箭的猎人组成的封锁线。马格纳斯不希望族人有伤亡，他率领着最为勇猛的兄弟姐妹向敌人发起冲锋，战斗中透着的那股狠劲儿只有他身后冒着熊熊烈火的火山才能相提并论。与此同时族里的老弱妇孺纷纷消失在战场的沙尘中。对于之后发生的故事铸造大师们众说纷纭。有人说他统一了他的族人，而其他人则 声称他受了致命伤，倒在了女族长的身旁憾然离世。这些说法都不正确。他的确发誓要使族人重聚?但是要在找到使杰尔拉克山喷发的罪魁祸首，看着他们在自己的角上死去之后，因为半人猛犸从不相信侥幸或偶然。 Meepo
\need to scrounge, you need to know your strengths. Some of the beasts up there can kill you, so you need a way to trap the weak and duck the strong. On the upside, the ruins have history, and history is worth a lot to some people. There used to be a palace there, where they had all these dark rituals. Bad stuff. If you survived the ceremony, they would shatter a crystal and split your soul into pieces. They made great art though! Sculptures and such. Let me tell you: sometimes you stumble onto some of those old carvings. Take a pack full of those to town and sell them, then get yourself food for a few weeks. If luck is really on your side, you might find a Riftshadow crystal. Get it appraised and start asking around. Someone always knows some crazy fool looking for this kind of thing. If all else fails, sell it to a Magus the next time one's in town. They love that stuff. Still, whatever you do, be careful handling those crystals. You do not want one to go off on you. It really hurts.\
米波
“对我而言，生活就是你所知和所能发现的一切。当你住在裂影荒墟时，想要找到食物并不是一件容易的事。因此，你需要走捷径，你需要会忽悠，你需要对自己的能力充分了解。有些野兽能够杀掉你，那么你就需要躲开强壮的，捕杀弱小的。在荒墟之上，有过一段往事，一段对某些人意义重大的往事。曾经那里有个宫殿，他们在宫殿里面举行黑暗的仪式，非常邪恶。如果你从仪式中幸存下来，他们还会以击碎水晶的方式将你的灵魂撕裂成碎片。不过他们的艺术成就也很高，比如雕塑之类的。记住这点：如果你在某个时候发现了这些雕塑，一定把他们全拿到市场上去卖掉，然后你接下来的一周都不会饿肚子。如果你走运的话，你可能会发现影墟水晶，那赶紧找人帮你估价，多问问，总有人能帮你找到需要这玩意的疯子买主的。就算别人都不要，你也可以卖给城里的魔导师，他们喜欢这玩意。不过，不管你怎么做，一定要小心这些水晶，这玩意要是在你身上炸开，可是很疼的。 Nyx Assassin
Deep in the Archive of Ultimyr, shelved between scholarly treatises on dragon cladistics and books of untranslatable spells, there is an ancient tome of entomological curiosities. Compiled by scholars, the book describes the telepathic talents of the zealot scarab, a strange species of social insect with abilities unique to all the seven planes.
Unlike most grubs of his colony, Nyx Assassin did not arise from metamorphosis with the plodding thoughts and blunted appendages common to the worker caste of his kind. For his was a special transformation, guided by the grace of Nyx. He was the chosen one, selected from the many and anointed with an extract of the queen goddess herself. Not all
survive the dark blessing of the queen’s chamber, but he emerged with a penetrating mind, and dagger-like claws–his razor sharp mandibles raking the air while his thoughts projected directly into the minds of those around him. Of all zealot scarabs, he alone was selected for the highest calling. After his metamorphosis, he was reborn, by grace of Nyx, with abilities which shaped him for one thing and one thing only: to kill in the name of his goddess.
司夜刺客
在秘湮学院的禁断圣所中，在那些研究龙类遗传学论文和艰深晦涩的咒语书之间，藏有一本记录着古代昆虫学的珍贵书籍。这本凝聚了学者们心血的书里面记录了一种天生具有读心术的狂热圣甲虫，这种具有社会性的昆虫在七个位面的所以世界中都是独一无二的。
和他领地中的其他幼虫不一样的是，司夜刺客的变形并不是被那种工兵般无聊乏味的思想所引领的。他的变化很特别，受到了夜神妮克丝的恩赐。他是天选者，被女神从万千族人中挑选出来并赐予了女神精华。他的族人大多都在虫后密室的黑暗祝福下死去，而后他出现了，有着犀利的读心术，尖刀般锋利的爪子和剃刀一样的下颚，通过空气感知着他身边的那些同类的想法。在所有的狂热圣甲虫中，只有他被最高存在召唤。在妮克丝的恩惠下，他变体了，重生了，被赋予了各种能力，去完成他的创造者唯一的要求：以女神之名杀戮。 Visage
Perched atop the entrance to the Narrow Maze sit the looming shapes of sneering gargoyles, the paths into the hereafter forever in their gaze. Beasts and birds, men and monsters, all creatures that die and choose to travel beyond must someday pass beneath their sight. For an untethered spirit, the decision to journey through the veil of death is irrevocable. When chance comes, and by craft or cunning some restless soul escapes their hells and heavens, it is the dreaded gargoyle Visage, the bound form of the eternal spirit Necro??lic, who is dispatched to reclaim them. Ruthless and efficient, unhindered by the principles of death and fatigue, Visage stalks its prey without mercy or end, willingly destroying all which may give shelter to the fugitive essence. That which flaunts the laws of the afterlife may never rest, for while it is true that the dead may be revived, it is only a matter of time before Visage finds and returns them to their proper place.
死灵飞龙
面目狰狞的石像鬼庞大的身影蹲坐在狭窄迷宫的入口，永恒地凝视着通往往生之境的路径。无论走兽还是飞鸟，人类还是怪物，一切服从生老病死并选择进入冥府的生物终有一天会经过它们的面前。对于一个离开肉体的灵魂而言，一旦做出了穿过死亡幕帘的决定就再无回头之路。不过总有一些不安分的灵魂凭着智力或机巧，借着偶然的契机得以从天国或是地狱逃离。这时候，令人胆寒的石像鬼维萨吉，承载死灵飞龙不朽灵魂的形体，就会被派遣出去寻回他们。维萨吉精明强干又冷酷无情，不受死亡或是疲倦的支配。它无休无止、毫不留情地追踪它的猎物，一心只想摧毁一切逃亡灵魂的藏身之处。谁敢嘲笑冥界的法则，谁就永远不得安宁。虽然亡者的确可以被复活，但他们迟早会被维萨吉找到，并且遣送回他们本来该在的地方。 KotL
Upon a pale horse he rides, this spark of endless suns, this Keeper of the Light. Ezalor long ago escaped the Fundamental plane, separating from the other ancient forces to which he was bound within the great Primordial harmony. He is a power grown sentient in the dawn of the universe, and now rides forth in all planes at once, one step ahead of pursuing chaos, bearing his gift with him at the end of a radiant staff. His majestic truth lies hidden beneath the outward appearance of a slightly doddering old man who barely stays in the saddle. However, when faced with the challenge of chaos, or the forces of darkness, his primordial light bursts forth, and his full power is revealed, transforming him once again into a force to be reckoned with. 光之守卫
他座下是一骑白马，他是无尽千阳之辉，他就是光之守卫。早在许久以前，伊扎洛就挣脱了将他束缚在浩浩原初谐律之内的其他远古力量，从而由原始位面逃离。在宇宙的黎明，本是无形力量的他萌生了知觉。如今他高举承载着光之力量的辉光之杖，同时奔走在所有的位面，将追寻着他的混沌抛在身后。乍一看去，他似乎是一个在马上都坐不稳的衰朽老头，然而掩藏在这副外表下的却是他高贵的真身。只有在面对混沌或黑暗军团的挑战时，他的全部力量才会显现出来。原初之光从体内迸射
而出的一刻，他也将再次化身为璀璨的力量之芒。 Naga Siren
Among the high-sworn of the Slitherene Guard there is a solemn vow often repeated before battle: No Slitherene may fail. In truth, these words are equal parts oath and enforceable covenant, for those who fall short of their duty are banished from the order. To fail is to be other than Slitherene.Once most highly esteemed of her race, Slithice for many years commanded a battalion of her fellows, using her formidable voice as her greatest weapon. Powerful, sinuous, serpentine, she led her deadly Guard in defense of the Deep Ones, and the great wealth of the sunken cities. But in the final battle of Crey, her forces were driven back by a marauding army of leviathans intent on finding tribute for their god Maelrawn. After the long and bloody onslaught, as the bodies were cleared from the sunken halls, a single jeweled chalice was found missing from the trove. Of her hundred Guard, only a handful survived, but their bravery and sacrifice were of little consequence. What mattered was that treasure was taken. Honor destroyed. And so Naga Siren was cast out. Banished to search for the stolen chalice. Though she might add a hundred times her weight to the golden trove, she is doomed to live apart until that day she returns that which was taken. For no amount of gold is equal in honor to the honor she lost. 娜迦海妖
在鱼人卫士团的誓言中，有一句誓词最广为流传：鱼人不能失败。事实上，这句话既是誓词，又是命令，所有失败的人都已经被放逐。鱼人族内不容败者。司里希丝曾经是她族群内最受尊敬的战士，多年来她一直指挥着一支军队，她最强力的武器就是她那让人畏惧的声音。强大，婉转，难以捉摸，她一直用她这一致命武器守卫着深海住民以及沉没之城中的财富。然而在克雷之役的最后一战中，在面对一帮想给他们的深渊之神献上财宝的狂热深海巨怪时，她的军队节节败退。在他们将敌人猛烈的攻击抵御下以后，开始清理战场，却发现宝藏中的镶嵌着珠宝的圣杯不见了。她的百人队中只有寥寥数人活了下来，然而同胞们的勇敢和牺牲却无关紧要了。重要的是他们的珍宝被那走了。他们的荣誉被毁掉了。娜迦海妖被驱逐了，她被放逐去寻回失窃的圣杯。不管她能够做出多少倍的补偿，她也注定不会被原谅，除非她带回了失窃的宝藏。她所失去的荣誉，千金难抵。 Gyrocopter
After serving through a lifetime of wars, upheaval, riots, and revolutions, the brass figured Aurel had seen enough. But in addition to a few trinkets and his considerable pension, the erstwhile engineer left with something far more interesting: a long-forgotten, incomplete schematic for a Gyrocopter, the world’s first manned, non-magical flying device. Retiring to the tropical obscurity of the Ash Archipelago with little else but time and money, he set to work building the device. As the years wore on and the remains of failed prototypes began to pile up, he began to wonder if mechanical flight was even possible. A decade and a day after his retirement, on a sunny afternoon with a southerly breeze, Aurel sat in his latest attempt bristling with indignation and expectant failure. With a grunt of effort he pulled the ignition cord and covered his head, waiting for the inevitable explosion. However to his great surprise he began to lift and, following a few panicked adjustments, stabilize. Within an hour, he was ducking and weaving with the breeze, level with the gulls, and Aurel found himself filled with the breathless wonder of flight. As dusk settled in he set a course back to his workshop, but no sooner had he turned his craft when a cannonball tore through his tailfin. Disentangling himself from the wreckage, he swam toward the nearest piece of land in sight, and cursed to see the ship responsible for the cannonball collecting the debris. Days later, when Aurel returned to his workshop, he set to work on yet another gyrocopter, this one capable of carrying a much heavier, more dangerous payload.
矮人直升机
在毕生为战争、起义、暴动和革命服务后，军中名人奥雷尔终于感到厌倦了。退役时除了一些琐碎物品和一笔可观的退休金，这位前工程师还带走了一样很有意思的东西：一件被遗忘了很久的，未完成的旋翼飞机设计图，这将是世界上第一架有人驾驶的，不依靠魔力的飞行装置。退休后他身无旁物，只带着时间和资金来到灰烬群岛，在这片隐蔽的热带岛屿中着手制造他的飞行装置。随着时间一年年过去，原型机失败作的残骸越堆越多，他甚至开始怀疑依靠机械飞行是否真的可能。在退休后第十年的第一天，一个阳光明媚、南风微拂的午后。奥雷尔坐在他最后的试验机中，充满愤怒和此次也将失败的预料。拉动点火绳后，在引擎的咕哝声中他护起脑袋，