The History of the Dead Lands
About fifty miles south-west of Kyron, I came across an ancient burial site. It was quite beautiful actually -- a large, white, marble structure jutting out of the pitch black obsidian ground, creating a brilliant contrast. Upon taking a closer look, I noticed a long brown sheet of paper resting against the doors of the tomb. Carefully, I unfolded the paper and began to read. The paper was old and crumbling, and some of the words were completely gone, but I made inferences and guessed at certain words along the way. After reading the story (which I believe to be a letter) I felt it would make an excellent addition to my entry on the Dead Lands, and so added it.
The History Of The Dead Lands--167th King's Age
Rajaat, The War Bringer. Rajaat, The Destroyer. Everything points back to him. It was he who instigated the Cleansing Wars. It was he who destroyed my people. It was Rajaat who found the survivors, the Hidden Ones. He, IT, was the wind behind the Obsidian Wave. The wave that slaughtered my bretheren, my wife, my other loved one, unknownd. Let no one tell you otherwise, dear reader (may have been refering to a specific person or to all readers in general, unknown), let no one steer you from the truth. It was Rajaat who was at fault. Never forget this. If I recall correctly (which is not such an easy task after two hundred years), Kyron is where everything started. Founded to be the ca[unknown] city for a group of Preservers known as the [unknown-two words], Kyron was of the few cities that some members of the nearly exterminated races could come to seek refuge and most likely not be found by the Champions hunting them. This was due to the remarkable magical and psionic wards placed around the city by Jel'se'ah (the cities founder), and the most recent (yet still ancient) wards placed by myself (over 200 years ago). It was also the best place to go for on-the-run Preservers. Here, the people lived in peace, if only for a few brief years. Kyron thrived for a short while, it's location was the best kept secret in all of Athas. Unfortunately, the best kept secret was no match for Rajaat's twisted, piercing eyes. The second he visited south of Celik, he could tell something was wrong. That hideous beast could sense the people living in peace, and the War-Bringer just couldn't have that.
But I will tell the tale from the beginning.
I remember like it was yesterday, but I will always try to forget. I was a bit over one thousand years old (powerful magics had much extended my natural lifetime) when Rajaat began his Cleansing Wars. It all happened so fast, we had no time to prepare ourselves, no time to flee. Many gnomes who could have escaped stayed behind to help others, engaging in a futile effort to preserve my people. I could not, however, stay behind, as I had a wife and child to take care of, and I couldn't bear to see any harm come of them. North to Kyron we fled, Gallard (the Champion assigned to slaying my kind) ceaselessly nipping at our heels. Kyron was my birthplace, and it was where I first learned to cast magic. Before meeting my wife, I had a brief romance with a beautiful human woman named Jel'se'ah. She was a Preserver, as was I, and we met during an attack we were both involved in, against Rajaat's evil Preserver Pillagers during the early years of Rajaat's jihad against them. Eventually, after she realized she could not save the world, she dedicated herself to saving the city of Kyron. With ample time (she was the one who co-created the Life Extension spell that had kept me alive for so many years), she eventually managed to make magical wards and barriers strong enough so that Rajaat's men couldn't even find the city. Soon, Preservers came to the city in droves. When the Cleansing Wars started, those people of the hunted races who knew of the city came. By the time my family had arrived, the city was so full that they were turning people away at the gates. It was such a terrible sight: hundreds of poor, hungry, tired folk from all races standing idly outside the gates, not knowing what to do next. Of course they couldn't stay where they were, as their presence would give away the city's location. They all knew that, and they all knew they would die by the hand of Rajaat.
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