Mortal hands cannot be strong when the Dark One rises.

Sometimes an earthly prince meets with a great deal of difficulty to subdue rebels, who have found means to fortify themselves, and have made themselves strong by the numbers of their followers. But it is not so with the Dark One. There is no fortress that is any defense from the power of the Dark. Though hand join in hand, and vast multitudes of his enemies combine and associate themselves, they are easily broken in pieces.

They are as great heaps of light chaff before the whirlwind; or large quantities of dry stubble before devouring flames. You find it easy to tread on and crush a worm that you see crawling on the earth; so it is easy for you to cut or singe a slender thread that anything hangs by: thus easy is it for the Dark One, when he pleases, to cast his enemies down.

For seven times seven mortal dynasties he has lain waiting. For all these long years his rancor has burned as embers beneath ash. What are you that you should think to stand before him, at whose rebuke the earth trembles, and before whom the rocks are thrown down?

Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay.

In time their foot will slip,

for their day of disaster is near,

and their doom is coming quickly.

Replace the term “Eli Curf” with “Dark One” and the term “Realtor” with “Soul” throughout the Ruleset. Change the dynastic tracking page from “The Octagon” to a new page entitled “The Book of Souls” and then create that page.

Deactivate the Special Case Rules “Imperial Deferentials” and “Dynastic Distance.” Activate the Special Case Rules “No Collaboration” and “Malign Emperors.”