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| Shillendrah is the main continent of J’lunrah (the planet). It is peopled by a variety of races, each unique with their own history. The history presented here focuses mainly on the religious history, and the major events that had an impact on the world and its peoples. While time was not recorded for the early years of the world, the estimated dates have been given, as theorized by scholars of Shillendrah. The Great Creation (Estimated date spanning from 500,000 BS to 5,000 Before the Sealing) Before time existed, the Unnamed God (whose name is unknown to even the wisest scholar) began a great work, his desire to create heirs to his power. To this end, he created many great spirits. These spirits were represented as many varied forms, but without physical tangibility. He created the world, filling it with many beautiful and wonderful plants and animals, though no sentient creatures were found upon the planet. Shillendrah was the most varied and beautiful of the continents, so there he decided to place the first sentient creatures. Unsure of how well his children (as he called them) would deal with all the dangerous animals on the surface of the world, He created the dwarves first, who flourished in the dark caverns of the world. They collected their gemstones and precious minerals and built the first city to be found on the world, called the Vythgarn Citadel (though it was build completely underground). The Dwarves flourished, though they were troubled slightly with internal conflicts, and the dangerous creatures that dwelled beneath the earth. The Dwarves called the darkest and most dangerous portions of the underground “The Deep”. After a time, the Unnamed God created the Elves in the forests above the ground, giving them an affinity with the trees. The Elves created many great cities in far quicker time than it took the dwarves to establish themselves, and Pyleshire was built at the head of the Nire River. Because the Elves and Dwarves lived in completely different elements, thousands of years passed with neither race knowing of the other – hence the ageless debate between elves and dwarves as to which was the first inheritors of Shillendrah. Countless other races were created at later times, Humans being among the last created in the mountains of Shillendrah near the Meteoric Sea. The Five Prime Deities (Estimated date 250,000 BS) Seeing a need for organization among the deceased, the dead souls of those who had lived on the planet – under the direction of the Unnamed God chose the most dedicated of their causes among the dead (by one method or another), and named them Prime Deities. Each was given a name by which they could be known among the living; Duhran, Ramdure, Karrak, Praetius, and Sheidlak. The prime deities were each given a plane of existence that was inseparably connected to the Prime Material Plane, J’lunrah. Duhran was given a realm where good emotions thrived, and all was full of life and love, called the Overworld. Ramdure, a hateful and evil man in life, was given a realm called the Underworld where he would have complete dominion over all who came there – the absolute of evil power. Karrak’s Plane of Chaos exemplified chaos at its heart, with shifting landscapes and periods of peace and war. Those in his realm loved change so much that they embraced it in all its manifestations. Praetius’ realm, the Plane of Law, was arranged in very ordered patterns, the heart of the plane being the greatest and most ordered of the place. Sheidlak was a visionary woman who took joy in the balance between life and death, law and chaos, good and evil. She was given the greatest domain, known as the Midlands. The Midlands touched all the other outer planes (as the realms where each of the Prime Deities were called) and Sheidlak was also given the keys to the largest number of portals to the Prime Material plane – doorways between the physical world and the spiritual world. The First Arvrisan (Estimated date 9,920 BS) Of the elves, Kalema sel Ryllina became consumed with her lust for power, and in so doing made a pact with Ramdure; he channeled some of his own power directly to her. The physical contact of Ramdure marked Ryllina; her skin became dark as a moonless night. She convinced many sentient creatures to join her in her pact, and their skin too was darkened in the same manner. The elves ever after called Kalema sel Ryllina by another name: Kalema sel Arvris (meaning the evil one in the elf tongue). Those who allied with her and made the dark pact with Ramdure were ever after called Arvrisan. The Arvrisan had so much power, that they dominated their races with iron fists. No warrior, wizard or priest could stand against them, and none could stop them from the things they desired. For decades the Arvrisan held those who they thought to be lesser beings as their servants and slaves. The Ethereal Wall (Estimated date 5,000 BS) The Unnamed God took notice of the Arvrisan pact with Ramdure, and created a powerful barrier between the Prime Material plane and the planes of the dead called the Ethereal Plane; a realm of pure spirit. This wall weakened the powerful link between Ramdure and the Arvrisan, and allowed the members of races who would not make the pact with Ramdure the opportunity to drive the Arvrisan from their lands forever. The Arvrisan took refuge underground in abandoned caverns, which after generations became their permanent residence. After millennia underground, the Arvrisan became sensitive to natural sunlight, and relied only on their magical affinity given them by Ramdure to light their underground cities. They followed the tunnels they had found as their population grew, and eventually discovered a whole realm of massive caverns – the size of continents, under the earth. Using their dark magic, they filled the caverns with unnatural purple light, and there they remain, in a realm known as the Deep (hence the term Deep Elf, Deep Dwarf and Deep gnome, etc, refer to the Arvrisan elves, dwarves, gnomes, etc…). The Arvrisan discovered that no new dark pacts could be made with Ramdure through the Ethereal Wall, though the pact could be continued through child-birth. The females of the Arvrisan elves took advantage of this, and their society shifted into a matriarchal one. The Arvrisan dwarves and gnomes took it the opposite way, relegating their women into breeding machines, used to raise armies of Deep Dwarves for conquest or labor. A caste system was put in place, and the Arvrisan gnomes became the scribe class, while Arvrisan dwarves held leadership (and labor roles when there weren’t enough slaves) roles. Goblin Spawn 2,320 BS The Unnamed God, for his own reasons, created all goblin-kind (orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears, etc…) during this period all over the world. The goblinoids established an empire, ruled by Hagug Bloodbane, on the Crimson Peninsula. The empire was immediately named the Bloodbane Empire, and it encompasses the whole of the peninsula south of the Crimson Mountains. Almost immediately the Bloodbane empire annihilated the Aetrun, a sentient race of graceful avian humanoids that resided on the Crimson Peninsula; the peninsula on which the Bloodbane Empire was located was renamed The Orc Lands. The First War of Souls 0 AS As time ticked on, still unmeasured by the sentient races, a calamity occurred that shook the Planes of the Dead. Sheidlak died. At this time it was though impossible for a deity to die (as they were eternally bound in body and spirit after death and transit to the planes of death, just like all other souls there). A mortal under direction of Karrak apparently snuck into the Midlands and assassinated her there, mortal hands being the only that could possibly inflict ultimate death upon the deity (though unproven, it is largely believed that a soul of the planes slain by a mortal is obliterated completely; there are many theories to what happens when a mortal slays a soul of the planes). Upon her death, huge portions of the Midlands were invaded by the forces of evil and chaos, while the forces of goodness and law sought to protect the inhabitants of the Midlands. Many souls battled over the neutral ground (none could die at the hands of another soul of the planes, but if ‘slain’ would become a servant in the domain of the victorious – bound until released by his captors or freed by allies), though in the end it was the aid brought to the Planes by mortal races that gave the forces of good the advantage. On J’lunrah during the war, the sun and moon changed red, and countless demons and angels (physical creations of good and evil deities, either lacking a soul, or imprisoning the soul of a defeated enemy into a mindless warrior) battled across the land. This was the first time anyone had seen angels or demons, and the world learned of Sheidlak’s death. Many mortals joined the battle, and the world was steeped in the blood of both the righteous and wicked. After a long and bloody conflict (the estimates made by sages say that this war lasted over two thousand years), a replacement soul was found to fill Sheidlak’s position. The damage had been done though, and the Midlands had to fight desperately to regain the lands it had lost. At the end of the war, all the portals that had been thrown open from the planes were sealed by the newly appointed Sheidlak (the Midlands is the primary entry point for any portal that extends from the Planes to the Prime Material). The last day of the First War of Souls (the 30th of the 10th month), was named “The Day of Sealing” - named such because it was the day that the last portal from the Planes of the Dead into the Prime plane was sealed. The sentient races were instructed to record time from thence forth as A.S. (After the Sealing), while dates prior to that were later given the designation B.S. (Before the Sealing). The Great Divide 150 AS As the elves of Pyleshire advanced their magical knowledge, they began to separate themselves from the forests in which they dwelled. Many disagreed with this philosophy, and for such reason they went on a pilgrimage to the west, settling along the coast of the Eastern Sea. There the woodland dwelling elves met a council of unicorns, who governed the forests of the region. The elves that emigrated there from Pyleshire found that nature there had allowed creatures to grow very large indeed, along with the trees. They befriended the council of unicorns there, and also began to adapt to the new region by taming the wild creatures there, namely the giant spiders of the region. Soon their Arachnid Dragoons were the most elite cavalry of Shillendrah. The council of unicorns relinquished control of the forests there to the (newly named) Wood Elves, and they all prospered in their new home, at harmony with the wildlife there. The elves of Pyleshire, calling themselves High Elves, continued their study of magic in their great city at the head of the Nire River. Other elves chose to separate themselves from Pyleshire because their society had become too bureaucratic, and made a pilgrimage to the Wyvern Mountains. The Mountain Elves became a hard, tribal society who gloried in physical strength and prowess in battle. The Wyvern Mountains were so wild that they nearly failed in settling there, had they not domesticated many of the wild wyverns there. While they never established a kingdom of mountain elves, the Wyvern Mountains were never conquered or settled by another civilization. As the generations of elves passed, the physiological gap between each of the elfish divisions (Wood, High, and Mountain elf) increased until the distinction between one sub-race of elf and another were easily apparent. The Chastisement of Men 250 AS The Humans, largely ignored by history for all their wars and conquest, annihilated a race of peaceful creatures. The Shaetru, a race of dog-like humanoids, were made extinct by Humanity. Praetius, Duhran and Sheidlak (Karrak joined in later just for the fun of it), in an effort to teach the Humans humility, plagued the Humans to the brink of extinction with disease, famine, and war. History called this period of time as the Chastisement of Men. From this chastisement, mankind learned little; although they have never yet annihilated another sentient race from the earth. It was prophesied by priests of many faiths that should Humanity ever annihilate another race, it too would face annihilation by holy fire. The Deep War 509 AS The Deep Elves, fueled by their long hatred of surface-dwellers and led by Kalema sel Arvris, attempted to return to the surface. They invaded Pyleshire and in one evening lay waste to the city. Once captured, they wove powerful magic called a Mythal and cursed the city. Those dead in Pyleshire became cursed so they would never rest – undead for all time. After the curse was set, the Arvrisan waged a 200-year war with the High Elves of the Kingdom of the Nire. The High Elves called upon the people of the Sylstan Protectorate (the Wood Elves) and the Mountain Elf tribes of the Wyvern Mountains for aid. Wyvern Riders from the Mountain Elves and Arachnid Dragoons from the Sylstan Protectorate reinforced the Kingdom of the Nire in their battles against The Arvrisan. In the final battle, fought at the Maw of the World (the largest cavern on Shillendrah that leads directly to The Deep – located somewhere in the Hills of Navor), an Arachnid Dragoon named Yrltan sel Istar slew the matriarch of the Deep Elves – Kalema sel Arvris herself. It is said that Kalema’s first lieutenant sounded the retreat for the Arvrisan before Kalema’s body hit the ground. After that, the Arvrisan elves remained in The Deep consumed in squabbling and war over to whom the throne of the Arvrisan Elves belonged. The High Elves, unable to quell their undead brethren in Pyleshire, moved across the river, and built a new capital, New Pyleshire. New Pyleshire was nearly as great as the old Pyleshire; its spires were visible for leagues around. Many High elves bound their very souls to the mythals that would protect and preserve the beauty of New Pyleshire. The First Elf War 753-1252 AS The Elves and dwarves relations were weakened, and the many intrigues of forces benevolent and malignant led the dwarves of Ulan and the Kingdom of the Nire into a 500 year war. The Dwarves took control of the Hills of Xylor, and a large portion of New Pyleshire was destroyed. The Dwarves built massive cistern citadels in the hills of Xylor, and never lost the land by violence to the elves after that. The old elf-built cities were abandoned and left to ruin. The war ended when the Kingdom of the Nire signed a truce with Ulansia. The Second Elf War 1289 AS The Elves of the Kingdom of the Nire began a division amongst the people over what direction their arcane research should go; some said to leave dark magic alone, others said to embrace it. The arguing became so intense that it eventually led to a civil war, with the fiercest fighting happening on the streets of New Pyleshire. Karl sel Sylka, a wizard of incredible power and renown and a proponent of embracing dark magic, slaughtered hundreds of elves with a single spell he cast down the main street of New Pyleshire. The war itself lasted 25 years, at the end of which all proponents of dark magic were sentenced to death. A few escaped and fled to The Deep, though none knew whether they were welcomed there. Karl sel Sylka, the most infamous of the dark wizards, was drawn and quartered on the main street of New Pyleshire. His remains were left on display along the main street for ten years, after which the bones were sold as trinkets, or for other purposes. The display was to set an example of the dangers of becoming too enthralled with magic and the power it holds; never again would the elves openly condone the use or study of dark magic. The First Horde War 826 AS The Dwarves were invaded by the Bloodbane Empire, who retreated back over the Crimson Mountains after 30 years of fighting. During this war, a deep elf assassin named Iskaril sel Eska snuck into the great fortified Vythgarn Citadel, richest and oldest of the dwarven cities, opening the gates during a siege held by the Blood Bane Empire. The orcs, goblins and other ilk that swept through the city left none alive, and the assassin cast a mythal on the citadel. The mythal cursed the city with a twisted fate. It would always be a place where monsters and dark creatures would thrive, while neither dwarves, gnomes, elves nor man would every find safe haven there. In less than a decade after the First Horde War, the Vythgarn Citadel became known as a deathtrap to adventurers, a treasure-trove of wealth, and a haven for dangerous creatures and malignant powers. Thordbain’s Rise 900 AS (also 0 Y.T. – Year of Thordbain) A young red dragon was given to a priest of Ramdure in a human village on the Isle of Ivy. The dragon is named Thordbain, disguised as a human child, and swapped with a human noble’s child. The child grew up cruel and evil, but was largely un-noticed by the other Prime Deities. As a human adult, Thordbain conquered several human kingdoms, and ruled with an iron fist of tyranny. The elves of the Sylstan Protectorate guarded their borders using Orbs of Tirilaine, artifacts forged using ancient magic intended to protect their forests. While Thordbain conquered the remaining races of Shillendrah, he was unable to penetrate through the protective magic of the Orbs of Tirilaine and the great magical creatures these orbs summoned when any attempt was made to penetrate their influence. The elves were able to hold Thordbain’s armies off for nearly a century, when their magic mysteriously failed for a single day. In that day, not even the elven Arachnid Dragoons held up against his armies of Men, Dwarves High Elves, and the variety of other races he’d conquered and conscripted to his armies. After he conquered the elves of the Sylstan Protectorate, Thordbain dropped his human form, and showed his true form - that of a red dragon. The only lands Thordbain never bothered to conquer were the Wyvern Mountains – he simply annexed them (without even sending an army there), though the Mountain Elves would have fought him if he’d ever sent an army there, no one ever bothered the elves of the Wyvern Mountains. Conquests of the Dragon 120 YT to 200 YT His first conquest off the mainland of Shillendrah, Thordbain subjugates a race of cat-like humanoids called Tabaxi on the Frennix Islands. The Tabaxi islands suited Thordbain, because the main island housed a volcano of massive proportions, so Thordbain renamed them the Lands of the Dragon, and the Isles of Thordbain. Each year, Thordbain would require live sacrifices at the mouth of the volcano, lest his wrath falls upon the Tabaxi and he destroys them. The Tabaxi, rebellious at first, were pacified by the swift and brutal judgments that Thordbain would exact upon them (as he had done to all the sentient races). A large sect of monks fled secretly to the Forest of Jekyll in 120 YT, where they vanished. In modern times it is said that these monks craft airships for planes-travelers, but none who have ever ventured into the forests of Jekyll have ever returned, so all is left to speculation and myth. The rest of the world falls to Thordbain by 200 YT, aided by hundreds of powerful dark wizards and sorcerers and the Drakkon Guard. The Drakkon Guard were a creation of Thordbain, using his own blood he created the first of their kind, draconic humanoids with magical properties and abilities similar to a red dragon. The Drakkon Guard was the main tool by which Thordbain controlled all the islands and continents of the world. Thordbain held a month long celebration at the end of 200 YT at his newly created city, Drakkon City (a citadel at the head of the Nire River that stood nearly a league tall and was made of black obsidian), at the end of which he named his domain the Draxxyl Empire. The wizards and sorcerers that aided Thordbain in his conquest of the world were called Thordbain’s Council of Wizards, and what they spoke was upheld by Thordbain, so they became the proxy rulers of many kingdoms for Thordbain. Thordbain’s Council of Wizards unlocked the key to the Orbs of Tirilaine, bending the magic in them to their will and causing the orbs to emanate protection and summon creatures that are beneficial to the controller of the orb, rather than to protect against non-elves. The Council uses the orbs of Tirilaine to enhance their own powers, and many of them become liches. Killran’s fall 153 YT Duhran and Sheidlak attempted to overthrow Ramdure’s stranglehold on power on J’lunrah. They inspired a Tabaxi named Killran to incite a rebellion. Killran and his followers were slain by Thordbain in a very public display. Killran was banished to the negative energy plane, while enchanted to keep him from dying of old age, at his own hands, or at the hands of another. He remains in this state to this day, somewhere in that dark place called Delunha - from which all undead creatures draw their existence. The Sinking of Lapis Karina 300 YT Thordbain quells a resistant island nation in the Trade Sea by sinking the entire island into the ocean. Lapis Karina, the human city, was lost forever to the depths. Sheidlak and Duhran took pity on the people of Lapis Karina, and changed the people into Merfolk. They are immediately set upon by Sahuagin, an evil and territorial sea-dwelling race of humanoids. The Lapis Karinar managed to survive with the aid of Sea Elves (a distant relative of the land-locked Elves), but many thousands of Lapis Karinar and Sea Elves died in their wars. The Judgment of Ramdure 315 YT The entire southern Tabaxi continent of Jeziwa (far to the south of the Lands of the Dragon) revolted against Thordbain, and slew nine of his ten governing council members. The one that escaped told Thordbain of a council of gold dragons that were aiding the Tabaxi there. Thordbain gathers his armies, his remaining counselors from around the globe, and his Drakkon elite guard. The army was the largest force Thordbain had ever mustered for a war, and the armies of the new Jeziwa government were overwhelmed by Thordbain. Ramdure’s priests used an Orb of Tirilaine to open a portal to the Underworld, and Ramdure sent through it several legions of Baalok, demons created specifically to slay Tabaxi. The fiercest battle of the six month conflict was the battle of Antithor Dragonbane (the city designated as capital of Jeziwa after the revolt). During this battle, the council of gold dragons gave their lives to help protect the city. Thordbain’s Drakkon guard, allied evil dragons, and Baalok were too much for them though, and the city was left to waste. The battle did have its price though; Thordbain himself was struck a mortal wound by a Tabaxi priest named Kharis. Kharis pronounced a blood curse upon Thordbain (a cursing of such great power that only the one who pronounces it is able to remove it). Although Kharis was torn to shreds by Baalok, Thordbain was stricken unable to fly after that battle for the rest of his days. He compensated by crafting a ring that slipped onto one of his horns that enabled magical flight, but all would know the shadow of the dragon whose wings were locked tightly to his sides. In the end, though, Jeziwa was left desolate without a single Tabaxi alive on its soil. The Great War of the Deep Ocean 500 YT The Sahuagin, aided by Kraken, attempted to destroy the Lapis Karinar Merfolk. The battle lasted for weeks, and all seemed to be lost for the Lapis Karinar, but the Karinar Merfolk sorcerers summoned Laithor, the Great Leviathan of the Deep Ocean. It was said that Laithor pitied the Merfolk, and aided them in their hour of need. The Great Leviathan swallowed up an entire army of Sahuagin, and the kraken that were with them, in a single gulp. The Kraken abandoned the war, but the Sahuagin continued the fight. Laithor returned to the Deep to sleep, and warned the Karinar not to summon him again. The Sahuagin fought savagely after that and the war lasted for nearly 200 years, ending on 682 YT when the Sahuagin High-Priest Kahl Quai was slain by a heroic Karinar Mermaid warrior, Salhara of Karina. Salhara was cursed during the fight with Kahl Quai and as a result she was later caught by the Kraken, who enslaved her and the village she lived with in the depths of the abyss. It was foretold by Karinar priests that one day a hero would come to free Salhara’s descendants. The Sending 550 YT The Gnomes of Shillendrah, under the direction of Duhran, fled to the Great North Range and secretly began building an underground fortress there called Garwynd. Council wizards observed their efforts through magical scrying, and a contingent of Drakkon Guard was sent to destroy them. Duhran warns the gnomes, and they begin a hundred year pattern of hiding, building, and fleeing. Duhranian priests cursed each citadel as they left them; no race other than gnome kind would ever be able to inhabit the abandoned citadels (collectively called Citadels of Garwynd) in peace. In 663 YT the gnomes finally built an impenetrable fortress under the Six Judges, a unique mountain range southwest of Wystra. Granwar Dumarre was the most defensible fortress the gnomes had ever built, and probably the strongest the world had ever seen. All the armies that Thordbain sent to attack the citadel were annihilated, and Thordbain himself would not dare head an army into the underground. Those that survived an assault on the citadel would return claiming that the gnomes had mastered strange war machines, and destructive weapons that would destroy entire regiments in a single explosion. Ramdurian priests warned Thordbain that if he continued to seek the destruction of Granwar Dumarre it would be his undoing. Thordbain followed their advice, and in 675 YT he abandoned any further plans to conquer the gnomes of Granwar Dumarre. Once abandoned, the way to Granwar Dumarre became a mystery. Most of those who sought the citadel out found their deaths along the way, and few have ever returned from that place. A scant few traders have returned from that region, claiming to have done business with the contraption-loving gnomes. Most ignore such claims, though the firearms that some traders brought with them gave credit to their claims. For most, though, Granwar Dumarre remains either a lifelong ambition, or a story to be told over a tankard of mead. The Founding of Underhill 600 YT Thordbain discovers the Halflings on Shillendrah, having overlooked them in the past. He easily conquers them, and names their homeland Underhill (as most Halflings lived inside the rolling hills of the region). The Tyrant also renamed their capital to “The City of Giants” as a jest at the puny state of the Halflings. The Halflings embraced the name, and caused little trouble for Thordbain. The War of the Sky 635 YT Thordbain, having conquered the whole of the earth, looked towards the sky, and the beings that dwell there. The Sky Elves, winged elves that live among the clouds in floating cities, fall under attack. Unbeknownst to Thordbain, the Sky Elves had been preparing for the attack for nearly 400 years. With the aid of thousands of drakes, dragons and various other sentient flying races, the Sky Elves were able to defeat Thordbain’s flying Drakkon Guard. Thordbain, after 150 years of being unable to conquer a single air-born race, abandoned the idea of controlling the skies over Shillendrah, but that didn’t stop him from parading around as though he had won the war. He’d often send small raids into the sky, bringing back a few Sky Elves or other such creatures, claiming them to be fresh slaves from the skyward settlements. The aerial creatures couldn’t mount a good offensive against Thordbain’s ground based forces, so this claim was largely undisputed by Thordbain’s subjects. 900 YT Aristobulus, a young human and new council member, fell through a portal to the Overworld during the Conjunction of Power (a period of a few days each century when the magical energies that hold the world together are supercharged with magic to the point of being visible filaments in the sky). While in the Overworld, Aristobulus was brought before Duhran, who tells Aristobulus that Thordbain must be destroyed. The Deity told Aristobulus that because of Thordbain’s abuse of dark magic, the Plane of Shadow threatened to envelop the entire world at the next Conjunction of Power. If that were allowed to happen it would be the destruction of J’lunrah; the magical energies that held the world together would suffer a backlash of magic, tearing both the Plane of Shadow and the Prime Material Plane to shreds – nothing would live. Immediately after returning to his home on J’lunrah, Aristobulus began traveling the world gaining support to overthrow the dragon, Thordbain. 915 YT Aristobulus gathered together all that supported him and makes a stand at the ancient magical City of the Stars (a city carved from the body of a gigantic asteroid that fell into the sea far to the west of Shillendrah). The magical energies at that location, Aristobulus though, were enough that it could be focused into a magical attack against Thordbain. It would have worked, had there not been a traitor among them. Kulwik, a Halfling from the City of Giants, corrupted the tools Aristobulus intended to use on the eve of battle. With their main hope of slaying Thordbain lost, the battle is lost. Aristobulus and a few close allies fled through a portal to the Midlands, though most of his supporters were slain. Kulwik was spared by Thordbain, but disappeared shortly after the battle. The Death of the Dragon 1000 YT (also 0 AT) Aristobulus met with Aaron, a paladin of Duhran. Aaron was born of the wandering human tribes of the Meteoric Sea. With his aid, the help of a great Tabaxi warrior, and three other planes walkers, they were able to confront Thordbain on the Hills of Xylor on the day before the Conjunction of Power. Already the shadows had crept upon the world, and light of the noon-day sun was a dim candle to what it once was. If they had failed, the world would have been utterly destroyed. The Tabaxi warrior that was with Aaron struck the final blow, as Aristobulus spoke the finishing words on a new artifact stone, intended on trapping the soul of the dragon. It is said that Ramdure’s cry of hatred was heard in the final roar of the Great Tyrant; Thordbain’s soul was trapped and Ramdure was denied one of his most powerful princes on the Planes of the Dead. After that day, the Hills of Xylor were renamed the Hill of Thordbain. The Drakkon War 1 AT The Drakkon guard, without a master, showed their true colors; they began to slay every living thing they met. The war encompassed the entire globe in bloodshed, but in the end the Drakkon Guards were defeated. Near the end of the war (after nearly 30 years of constant battle), Baalok were let loose into the world. Ramdure had found an unguarded portal into the world somewhere in the Midlands, and made haste to exact revenge on the Tabaxi race. He did not know the name of the Tabaxi warrior that had struck the final blow against Thordbain, but that didn’t stop him from trying to kill them all. The Baalok slew any Tabaxi they met, and any other race that associated with them. The Baalok fell upon the Tabaxi like ravenous wolves, and within months there only remained a pair of cities: Kapu Tan and Mani. These were preserved in part by the gnomes of Granwar Dumarre, who sent a contingent of their gnomish riflemen and a few war machines to help defend them. The Tabaxi have never forgotten the great service the reclusive gnomes gave them while all other races left them to their fate. While Kapu Tan was preserved by the Gnomes, the other city was preserved only due to the great sacrifice of a human priestess of Sheidlak from Saija named Shara Naba. She forged a powerful mythal and sacrificed herself to it; the result was the strongest protective mythal the world has seen, as her sacrifice was selfless and for a race that was not her own. Her soul was absorbed into the Mythal, her consciousness becoming one with the city she sought to protect. With a shudder, the entire city sank down into the ocean. The Baalok, thinking the Tabaxi there would have rather drowned than be slain by Baalok, moved along and were later defeated by the Tabaxi and Gnomes fighting in Kapu Tan. In truth, Shara Naba had protected the inhabitants of the city, providing breathing air for them. The ground and walls of Mani responded to her thoughts. After being saved, the city unanimously votes to rename the city Naballor, in honor of her sacrifice. Every time the city has been threatened, the mythal protects it by sinking into the ocean and saving those within it. Aaron the Paladin used the Sword of Thordbain personally to help defeat the last of the Baalok on Shillendrah. The Fall of Aaron 20 AT Aaron the Paladin, the newly appointed ruler of Thordbain’s empire, became corrupted by the evil of the sword of Thordbain. Recognizing the curse he had fallen under, Aaron fled Drakkon City, never to be seen again. Rumors abound to his fate, but those that witnessed Aaron walking with the Sword of Thordbain lost their lives to him and that dreadful weapon, save a handful that were left insane from the experience. After two years of sightings and bloody encounters with Aaron the Fallen, he vanished from the world. Many said that to spare the world any further bloodshed on his part, Aaron had thrown himself into the sea. Scholars predicted that the Sword of Thordbain had been hidden somewhere and protected with powerful magic, but none were able to find its resting place. The Chaos War 25 AT to about 500 AT With Aaron the Paladin gone, no one was left who would take up the Throne of the World in Drakkon City. The world devolved into general warfare. Elves, Dwarves, and all other sentient races each sought the Throne of the World in Drakkon City. The fighting was the worst in Drakkon City, and the city was washed in the blood of thousands. Even the Deep races of the world sought the Throne of the World. In the end, the dark magic used by the council members and sorcerers of the Arvrisan consumed the city, leaving it a twisted, dark place where only the undead thrived. The land around the city was left to waste, and soon the bones of the hundreds of thousands that died covered the ground. The soil would provide no life to plants, save a few scraggily shrubs. The region was renamed The Desert of Bone, and Drakkon City abandoned by the sentient races of Shillendrah. The war continued to rage on, in spite of this, and the world fell into dark times. Brother would slay brother to gain their wealth, and the entire world was consumed in greed, bloodshed, and deadly intrigue. The war only came to a close when the sentient races finally gave up on their goals of world domination, and turned inward to their own affairs, though civil wars still raged on throughout the entire world. All contact between the continents of J’lunrah was lost. It was assumed by those that remained that the war had brought the other races of the world to the brink of extinction. Many sentient and highly enlightened races were annihilated in the wars that ravaged the world, though no single race bears the responsibility solely. The Second Horde War About 750 AT to 900 AT Hagug Bloodbane, preserved in through time from the Ring of Life (an Aetrun artifact designed to freeze the wearers body to the ravages of time), invaded the Ulan Kingdom of the Dwarves on his 4,920th birthday. The Dwarves, largely caught unawares of the attack, lost much of their lands to the Orcs. The Dwarves pleaded their case to the Elves, and the humans of Saija and Al Hadan. The humans of Saija slew the dwarven emissary, returning the dwarf’s head as a warning against further contact (The dwarves have never forgiven the Saijans for their actions – though each side has their own story regarding the incident). The humans of Al Hadan and the Elves of Rivan came to the Dwarves’ aid. A Halfling army from the Republic of Underhill, the largest little army ever seen by Halfling kind, numbering over 20,000 in strength, came to help. The war still lasted over 150 years, with innumerable losses to both sides. In the end, a Halfling barbarian named Quirtle Hagfoot slew Hagug Bloodbane and took the Ring of Life as his own. The Bloodbane Empire collapsed, bringing about one of the bloodiest wars since the fall of the Dragon in the Orc Lands. The Bloodbane Empire was re-forged in part of the peninsula, but the Orc Lands would never trouble the dwarves in such a vast number again. 1350 AT A group of adventurers from Aerelon were tricked into seeding the world with parasitic creatures created by Ramdure. The creatures were intended to enslave the world by turning its people into mindless followers of Ramdure. The attempt was thwarted on the very eve that the curse upon the world was completed, during the Conjunction of Power. 1475 AT A liche named Jarryl the Dead sought to open a large portal from the Lands of the Dead to J’lunrah. His attempt was thwarted, but the entire city of Brookville was destroyed in the destruction of his portal. The city was rebuilt in the decades that followed, and the crater where the city once stood was filled with water to become the Lake of Heroes. Present Day 1500 AT The world is as you see it. The Dwarves and Gnomes still dig into the earth seeking riches there, and plot to retake Vythgarn and remove its dark curse. The Elves of the Sylstan Protectorate and Rivan trade with the world advancing their own reclusive goals. The Tabaxi of the Lands of the Dragon still collect taxes for Thordbain, should he ever return. Saija is constantly at war with the Monzher. Wystra is content to merely survive in the frozen north, and Al Hadan has its own mysteries and problems with orcs from the south invading their desert lands, not to mention their trouble with desert ogres and fire giants. The Tarmanine Empire (the largest of the human empires) sits on the brink of civil war as its emperor reaches old age with no heir. The human kingdoms of Kreis and Akir are secretly plotting the demise of the Tarmanine Empire in hopes of expanding their borders with the death of Emperor Dughal. The adventurers that live all over the world seek both riches and glory, and there is much to be had indeed, both of fame and infamy. |
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| Korentil: History of the World |
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| New Classes |
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