This is the last of the deck reveal updates! Tomorrow we’ll have an update wrapping up the campaign, and I’ll slide a few reveals in there as well, but this is it! So, let’s get to it!

“He’s going to find out!” the scrawny demon screeched, wringing its clawed hands. “He’s going to be so mad when he finds out!”

“Hush now, Greezigrax. You’ll work yourself into another one of your stomach aches, and then you’ll be no use to anyone.” Seviathall stood and stretched, looking over the hordes of demons assembling before the black stone temple. “Between my plan and the army of Abbados, we may finally take the throne, once and for all.”

“And I am also here!” Greezigrax whimpered, both a plea to not be forgotten and a complaint that he had been forced to take part.

“Yes, little one. You are also here, and oh so instrumental to our plan.” As Seviathall turned to address the simpering demon, Abbados stomped up the temple steps, leaving cracks of fire in his wake.

“What are you two scheming?” the massive warrior demon grumbled, eyeing Seviathall and Greezigrax with unequal suspicion. “I assume your deceitfulness is pleased with my armies. But I still wait for your promised opportunity. When do we strike?”

“Patience,” crooned Seviathall. “All shall become clear soon enough. He has no idea.”

With a flash of brilliant light, a tall and beautiful figure appeared between the three demons, his flowing hair and shimmering raiment forcing all three of them to shield their eyes. Greezigrax squealed in horror as the incandescent figure turned his gaze across each of them in turn. “Who has no idea, my dear? I find myself most curious about your machinations.”

Without missing a beat, Seviathall stepped forward — only the momentary clenched jaw giving away what must have been incredible frustration. “Welcome, Lord Lusithar! We have been awaiting your arrival with bated breath! As per your wishes, we have assembled this army of Æternus to do your bidding! We await your command.”

“Ah, but I ordered no such assembly,” Lusithar purred, clearly pleased at having caught his would-be rivals in the midst of some plot that they hoped would be his undoing. “Mannock informed me of a gathering force, so I just had to come see it for myself. I am most eager to learn of your intentions, dearest friends.”

Greezigrax quavered as Lusithar turned to behold him. “G-g-great luminescent one. We, ah, that is to say, Seviathall had hoped… we all wanted-- WOULD YOU LIKE THIS ROCK?” Peeling a large stone from the black floor and holding it aloft, Greezigrax cringed with his entire being at the smiting that was sure to follow.

“Oh, my!” Lusithar said, his voice both feather light and millstone heavy, all at once. “What a lovely rock. Greezigrax, my faithful ally, why don’t you hang onto it for me. In fact, why don’t you craft a cord of silver and string that stone about your neck? From now on, whenever I see you, I expect that you’ll be wearing it, as a sign of our regard for each other. You wouldn’t want to end up like Belagorr, now would you?”

Greezigrax slunk away, holding the uncomfortably large stone with both of his spindly hands. Abbados had turned to survey his army, and he now turned back to glare at Lusithar. “Whatever our intent may have been, bright one, this army stands ready to follow whoever sits on the throne.” 

“I believe I happen to currently have that honor, correct?” said Lusithar, clearly not asking a real question.

Abbados gave a curt nod, “It is as you say. What would you have your army do?”

Seviathall had almost made it to the edge of the temple platform roof, clearly hoping to slip away. Lusithar’s words halted such an escape. “Sweet Seviathall! I am so eager to see this army that you and your friends here assembled. I would send them to fight against The Grey, which has been working its purposes at our borders once again. But! I would have you at the front of the vanguard! To show your dedication to this plan of yours!”

Seviathall swallowed with clear discomfort. “You know I would never question your brilliance, Lusithar. But fighting against The Grey? There is no fighting to be had there. It is only falling to its nothingness. Surely this army, and my talents, could be put to some better use?”

Lusithar met Seviathall’s entreaty with an unyielding stare. “Seviathall, my trusted advisor, you know just how important it is that we stop The Grey from encroaching any more than it already has. And I know no one better than yourself to lead such an effort.” With an idle adjusting of his glowing crown, Lusithar turned away, opening a shining portal, through which Seviathall and Abbados could see the Throne of Æternus. “Besides, I have important work to do. Torment is not going to happen on its own! I trust you both to use your planning and your army to carry out my bidding. Best of luck to you both!” 

As the portal closed behind Lusithar, Seviathall turned to Abbados, taking a breath, but Abbados’s massive hand swung out, grasping Seviathall by the face. “Not a word! You got us into this. You heard him. You’re leading the charge. I’m going to lose a lot of my army to this. Regretfully, you’ll likely prove clever enough to save your own skin. But I’m not letting you sneak your way out of this one so easily. We all want a shot at that throne, but we’ve lost once already this day. Next time you have some clever plan, bring it to someone else, witch.”

—

The Princes of Æternus fight for control of the throne. All the while, Æternus itself is more than content to allow their in-fighting, as all it cares about is torment, and the Princes at each other’s throats provides torment in spades. But if something were to happen to put enough Princes out of commission, the force of Æternus might be forced to take direct action…

—

Whew! OK, I thought it would be cool to do a backstory thing for the demon Princes of Æternus as a bit of a story… and then I just kept going? It’s very fun to write in their voices! Anyway, we created a lot of this around the time of The Letters Page episode #195, which was all about underworlds. We talked a bit more about the princes in particular in the Darkstrife and Painstake foes episode, linked in yesterday’s update.

So, how does The Ruler of Æternus work as a villain deck? Well, first, we need a character card!

It’s just a chair! But what a chair it is, at that! And the various Demons are going to fight for control of that throne! When a target would go in the Throne space, it goes ON TOP of the villain character card, covering up the chair art (the throne is no longer empty!) and also the setup text, since you don't need that anymore. It's part of the villain character card now!

As for that flip condition... I'll bet you can guess what just might be waiting on the other side of this villain character card... but showing it would be giving away too much!

In the Æternus environment update, some of the cards had an “Æ” icon on them, but that icon wasn’t the final version — you can see it on the character card, and also on these Prince cards!

Besides the various princes, we also have other demons who might want to try to take the throne!

Plus, other things the deck does, of course. Mostly in-fighting between Princes... but that's not going to go well for the Heroes, either.

Fighting all these Princes and Demons and surviving the torments of Æternus? It’s, well, in a word: hell. Good luck!

—

Oh, and I’m not going to do a whole Q&A section, but I will say in response to the most frequently asked question from yesterday’s update: yes, you can mix Darkstrife and Painstake variant cards.

Thanks everyone for joining us on this journey! We’re almost done, but there’s still time to save the Multiverse! See you all tomorrow.

-Christopher

Sorry about the delay in the release of this update — several people here at GTG have tested positive for Covid in the last 24 hours, so we’re making sure everyone is as healthy as possible and prioritizing people over productivity in the short term here, leading to me having to handle some logistical things this morning before posting this update. But I’m here now! Thanks for the patience.

In putting this update together, I realized I should have posted this update tomorrow instead, as the characters in this update were created on April 5th, 2022 — one year ago tomorrow. Oops! Oh well, you’re getting them today, instead!

Zane Sarkar and Akari Okada are an unlikely pair — Akari is a nice, normal girl from Kyoto, Japan, and Zane is an infernal princeling of Æternus! Or, at least, that is how they appear. The truth is far more bizarre than that…

Zane’s mother was trapped in Æternus while she was pregnant, tormented by the demonic denizens of that foul domain. She didn’t know she was pregnant, and the nature of Æternus accelerated that process, causing her unborn child to grow alarmingly rapidly; she gave birth in 9 days, rather than 9 months. 

At the same exact time that the first human child ever was born in the realm of Æternus, a demon in Kyoto was destroyed, returning its essence to Æternus, but also spawning a new demon larva, which is left behind on Earth. Due to the unique nature of a new human life coming into existence at the same moment as a new demon, they were linked across realms. 

The human boy grew up in Æternus, adopted by the demons as one of their own, and the demon larva imprinted on a human family, shifting its shape to match the toddler it first encountered. Not knowing its true nature, the demon larva grew up as a normal human girl — her adopted parents gave her the name Akari, and she and her adopted sister stayed very close as they got older. 

When young Zane reached his teenage years, he longed to visit the human realm. So many of his peers had been given opportunities to bring torment to the material plane, but he’d never left Æternus. It wasn’t fair! Just because he happened to have a human soul, that shouldn’t mean he didn’t get to engage in the Æternal torment that the other demons so enjoyed. He never even felt or used the soul! It just happened to be a circumstance of his birth. So, when he finally got his first opportunity to go on a torment mission, he was shocked to feel a twinge from his soul upon interacting with a teenage girl in Japan. 

Akari was shocked by the appearance of this dark-skinned, white-haired, flame-wreathed man before her. More of a boy than a man, on second consideration — his eyes betrayed his uncertainty, even while he gave a clearly rehearsed speech about bringing torment to the human realm. But the closer he moved, the more his eyes waved, and the more Akari felt a stirring from both inside and outside herself. For some reason, this demonic but also human boy was deeply connected to Akari, and she felt a demonic writhing within herself, not unrelated to the strange dark thoughts she worked so hard to dispel. 

Akari and Zane interact too many times for their meetings to be pure coincidence, each of them fleeing from the other and from the resulting strange feelings — Zane strived towards darkness and torment, and being near this girl brought a hope and light into him that he’d long ago locked away, while Akari struggled with the darkness inside her, but being near Zane gave her a reason to hope that she might be able to truly banish it. However, with that hope also came knowledge. When she first reverted entirely to her true demon form, it almost eliminated the shreds of her humanity. With Zane’s help, she learned to maintain her preferred form, which Zane helped her with by drawing Æternal power from her. Over time, they realized the depths of their connection, striving to learn the nature of their shared soul and the familial bond between them. They also learned how much Æternus had worked to keep them apart. They fled from their “families”; Zane knew he had to get away from Æternus before it reclaimed its hold on his spirit, and Akari knew the best way to protect her adopted family was for her to be far from them, for now at least.

They are on the run from Æternal forces, hiding their presence from its dread malevolence, but also fighting against its encroachment into the world they call home. Zane is known as Darkstrife, using the Æternal power that he trained his whole life to wield, but drawing it from his sister Akari rather than the realm of Æternus itself. Akari goes by Painstake, taking the pains of the world upon herself, using her connection to a human soul in conjunction with her magical nature to heal, nurture, and control… though when she’s in conflict, she’s never far from unleashing her true demonic form!

—

Darkstrife and Painstake are the edgiest heroes in the pages of Sentinel Comics, and they’re also the newest heroes to join the ranks of the Sentinels of the Multiverse!

We’ve talked about them a few times in the last year on The Letters Page podcast:

Darkstrife and Painstake each get their own Hero character card!

But they have one shared deck between them!

In their deck, they have cards with the “Æterna” keyword, pulling power from Akari and/or the dread realm of their origin.

They also have “Soul” cards, which use their joint soul to power their effects.

There are also some… other effects…

Darkstrife & Painstake have a lot of flexibility, given the breadth of their powers, but they’re also vulnerable Heroes. They will depend on each other to stay in the fight, against all odds.

Besides their First Appearance variants, they also have variants from their notable “Soulseekers” story, as well as variants from Disparation stories of when they embraced their Æternal roles.

—

Thanks for joining us for the penultimate deck-revealing update! Until tomorrow, keep on saving the Multiverse!

-Christopher

I hope you all had a great weekend! I debated doing a goof update on Saturday, but ultimately decided on keeping it to just the facts, ma’am. We’re into the final week now, so let’s start off with the very end!

Year: Immeasurably in the future

Global Human Population: 1 or 2

Global Robot Population: At least 3

Primary Species: Rats Beasts and Chupacabra Hybrids

In one of the timelines in the Multiverse, the monsters and bizarre creatures we think of as myths and urban legends grew stronger and stronger while hiding from the human race, which hated and feared them. Given enough time to flourish and multiply, they finally broke out of their hiding in darkness and obscurity, hellbent on revenge! They slaughtered their way through the human population of the world, destroying all they touched. The human race rallied, but ultimately, the monsters from their greatest nightmares were too strong and too numerous.

Decades turned into centuries, and centuries became millenia — the world, now overrun entirely by monsters of all sorts, is a terrible wasteland. The few points of light in the darkness have long been extinguished. This could be the most terrible era for heroes, lost in time, to end up.

Hope that you never do.

—

We talked about the Final Wasteland in Chrono-Ranger’s episode, linked in his update. But it’s also come up a few times on The Letters Page podcast:

The Final Wasteland is a terrible place! Avoid at all costs.

It’s full of dangerous cryptids!

Fortunately, there are some safe places.

But don’t get too comfortable!

Stay safe out there, Heroes.

—

See you tomorrow with NEW HEROES and the day after with NEW VILLAINS?!?! Exciting!

Keep on saving the Multiverse!

-Christopher

It’s the end of the last full week of this campaign! We wrap up next Thursday afternoon, so make sure to tell all your friends, family, allies, and foes! If you want in on Sentinels of the Multiverse: Disparation, now is the best time! 

Let’s talk about the strangest villain from this set…

When Sentinel Comics started publishing their new Tome of the Bizarre book in October of 1948, it was “hosted” by a strange and scary narrator who called himself “Grimm”. He appeared as a ghastly spirit haunting an old library, emerging from the shelves to share “blood-curdling tales”! What is now considered Volume 1 of Tome of the Bizarre only lasted until 1951, and when Volume 2 of the book launched in 1959, it was without its horror host. Grimm was gone and nearly forgotten, until issue #100 of Volume 2 of Tome of the Bizarre in April of 1967, which introduced a new villain: Grimm, Teller of Tales! 

This Grimm had much in common with the narrator from Volume 1 — he looked similar, narrated stories, and fit the same aesthetic as his earlier incarnation — but this Grimm was an actual character in the stories of Sentinel Comics! Grimm was an ancient figure, telling the primordial stories that hold power over humanity. He could force the heroes into roles, making them play out his tales, all to some unknown dread purpose. 

Grimm was a rarely appearing but memorable character throughout the Silver age of comics, appearing less often as the books moved into the modern age, until Tome of the Bizarre Volume 3 was abruptly canceled at issue #259 in October of 2009. Just two months later, issue #1 of Volume 4 was on the shelves, and Grimm was back! In both capacities! He introduced the book, proud to have his own title once again, and he seemed to have various amounts of control of the stories told in the pages of Tome of the Bizarre. He addressed the readers directly, taunting them that they could not save their precious heroes, informing them that they were the ones dooming the heroes by turning the pages of the very comics they were reading. But Grimm also appeared as a character — or, often, multiple characters in disguises that the heroes seemed unable to see through, while the readers could easily identify Grimm in all his forms. He taunted them, set up grand plots, pitted heroes against one another, and delighted in the twists that befell the protagonists. 

Grimm clearly has a story to tell, and the heroes are but players on his stage! But to what end? And how could the heroes hope to defeat a foe who seemingly holds editorial control over the stories they play out? Furthermore, how could such a strange villain work as an adversary in a cooperative card game? These questions and more can only be answered by reading more, dear backer! Grimm invites you to read the rest of this update… if you dare!

—

Grimm was VERY recently revealed and explained, including one of his plots that took up two comics, in this very week’s episode of The Letters Page podcast, Episode #243. (Huh. It’s almost like someone planned it this way…)

Dare you read what Grimm might do in a game at your very table? If you find yourself brave enough, read on!

Grimm cares deeply about the heroes playing the roles he assigns them. Those roles might even be beneficial to the heroes… but at what cost?

He has a variety of ways of getting the heroes to do what he wants:

And then, once the heroes are playing their roles, they’ll have choices to make, the outcomes of which may leave them no good options!

(A note: the “Role Icon” for Grimm’s cards is still in process by our totally badass graphic design team. They’ve got a lot of irons in the fire, but they’re making their way through everything as we wrap up development of this product! I’ll show off that and other things in future updates.)

Grimm’s plots are clearly dangerous and he has some nefarious purpose. Will you play into his hands? Or can you manage to turn the tables on the teller of tales?!

A question! No answer?

A: Now THAT is a question I’m not going to answer. Yet.

—

Have a great weekend, everyone! Maybe consider saving the Multiverse this weekend? Something to think about.

-Christopher

It’s time for an update about the last of the heroes for this set that were revealed from the beginning (by being on the banner at the top of the page). You knew this was coming, but I think you’ll still be delighted to see what all this Paige is up to!

Paige Huntly is K.N.Y.F.E., the Kinetic Neutralizer Yielding Flawless Execution. As ostentatious as her codename is, it was not at all a stretch by her superiors at F.I.L.T.E.R., as it was a later addition to her already impressive resume.

After only half a decade in the Scottish Marines, she was recruited personally by Warden Hoefle to head up The Block's Special Operations team. Her track record there was as impeccable as the rest of her official — and unofficial — records. However, spending over a decade around the The Block’s occupants and its temporal containment systems irrevocably altered her physiology, which took more of a toll on Huntly than it did on most. She spent weeks in the neo-superhuman development wing of the infirmary as energy spikes erupted all over her body. Her recovery time was impressive, yet the power fluctuations managed to deal millions of dollars of damage to the surrounding sick bay, medical equipment, and a few unfortunate members of the medical staff.

The fortnight out of commission only steeled Huntly for more action. She re-entered the field, now armed with not only her highly customized F.I.L.T.E.R. power-suit which augmented her not-inconsiderable strength, but also an array of close-range energy projection powers. Eager for a challenge, the agent now known as K.N.Y.F.E. began taking assignments in more and more dangerous environs. However, the more assignments she successfully completed, the more she noticed a trend towards certain timelines and realities. An event was on the temporal horizon, and one specific reality seemed to be the crux of that event.

When she brought her concerns to her superiors at F.I.L.T.E.R., she was admonished for considering interference. “We don’t mess with timelines ending or beginning: that’s too much trouble,” she was told. This was far from satisfactory, however. Paige Huntly had never been one to sit on the sidelines, and now, she was stronger than ever. Abandoning her post at F.I.L.T.E.R., she began her search for the temporal crossroads which drew the lines of the Multiverse closer with each cosmic event.

—

K.N.Y.F.E. is a rough, crass, and loud character with an exuberance about violence that borders on criminally concerning. She’s a lot of fun! She’s also incredibly dangerous. We talk about these things on The Letters Page podcast!

K.N.Y.F.E. is here, and she’s looking for a fight!

Remember how her name is an acronym that stands for Kinetic Neutralizer Yielding Flawless Executions? Seems like Neutralizing and Executing are pretty important to her…

Ah, sure enough! Those two cards give a good feel for what this deck is focused on: taking out targets. And she has a lot of methods of doing so, and benefits as well!

Her deck is fairly straight-forward, but with interesting combo opportunities. Plus, the art on her cards shows her progression from marine to F.I.L.T.E.R. agent to rogue agent to fae brawler to headhunter… K.N.Y.F.E.’s been through a lot, and she’s having a blast!

Many variants in this set are from other realities and universes… but K.N.Y.F.E. is already from another reality! She’s not the Paige Huntly of this universe, but there are quite a few different takes on K.N.Y.F.E. out there, so you’ll still get to see a wide variety of her tales across her many variants.

More questions! Now, with answers!

A: When it’s completed, which will be after the end of the campaign, but not, say, several months afterwards. In the not-too-distant future!

A: No, sadly, I cannot provide vague hints at this time. I can only do overt reveals, such as the fact that an environment in the next expansion is “The Court of Blood”. But no vague hints. Sorry to disappoint!

—

Thanks for reading, everyone! Another new villain tomorrow, and then lots of stuff next week as we wrap up this incredibly successful campaign! 

Keep on saving the Multiverse!

-Christopher