Abernon,
You wanted an assessment of the current state of affairs in the Eldeen Reaches, so here it is: this place is about to become the most contested stinkpit this side of Shavarath. As you probably already know most of what's happening, however, I'll attempt to keep this brief.
I made it up here about two months ago, right around the festivals celebrating the end of the Eldeen Cataclysm. Local tales about that disaster last year remain fairly mixed. Once you pick through the more outlandish stories, however, the eye witness accounts more or less corroborate the reports we received: Nahaz-Muraam, demon god of ruin and corruption, rose from the Demon Wastes and led a horde of monsters to march through the Reaches toward greater Khorvaire. It took the combined might of the Five Nations to halt his advance, but our armies met his on the dusty plains of Dawnshroud Vale. Noble knights battled foul beasts, holy magic clashed against demonic sorcery, mortal determination stood against immortal will, yadda yadda yadda. In the end, however, the forces of good and light triumphed over darkness and evil and blew Muraam's fortress of Neth Naggaroth to tiny smithereens. The Dawnshroud Vale was renamed Demonshroud and we all returned to our homes to live safer, more contented lives knowing that evil has been banished forever. The end.
I know, I know - leave the storytelling to the bards.
Anyway, you pretty much called the broad strokes. In a purely mundane sense, Muraam's armies left behind an atrocious amount of damage as they raped and pillaged their way across the western end of Eldeen Reaches. A third of the Great Forest has been razed down to the ground, and that ground is now so polluted by demonic essence that the druids think it might never recover. This, of course, also makes it prime breeding territory for everything ranging from grotesque aberrations to undead monsters to the foulest living spells you've ever seen. Worse, Neth Naggaroth was floating close to a mile off the ground when it exploded, and pieces of it landed all over the Eldeen Reaches. Now the shadows here are a little darker, the nights a little more sinister, and where the pieces of the fortress actually fell there are...things...coming out of the earth. Things I don't have names for. Things out of your deepest nightmares. There are wide swathes of the Reaches so infested with abominations that they're at least as dangerous as any place in the Demon Wastes or the Mournlands.
Still, it could've been a lot worse. The Five Nations stopped Muraam in the Demonshroud Vale, and as a result none of the contamination spread farther into Khorvaire. In fact, the parts of the Reaches bordering Aundair and Breland escaped Blackened Reach mostly unscathed, and the people there have made great strides rebuilding what they've lost. They move farther into the corrupted areas daily, driving back the darkness through sheer force of will and strength of arms. It's a sight to behold. Aundair has also offered a great deal of relief in the form of monetary aid, food, and medical supplies, but the Reachers seem inclined to give the gift horse a thorough cross examination. I'm sure that comes as a surprise to no one.
You may be aware that House Vadalis and their Handler's Guild has been a major source of funding for adventurers, sending them into the old Vadalis strongholds in the western Reaches over the past few months to retrieve family treasures or whatnot. Only the craziest - or the most competent - kept going back in after the first few groups didn't come back or came back less than whole, but all that effort has apparently paid off. About a month ago, a group led by Doranar the Loud went right up into the Endbringer's Scar and lived to tell about it. More than that, they brought back the biggest thing since...well, since we learned how to use dragonshards.
They've found some kind of new dragonshard, Abernon - something that's only forming in those areas where the pieces of Neth Naggaroth fell. They're not Khyber shards or even a variation thereof, as you might expect from a region so tainted. Near as anyone can tell they're something completely new, with vastly different properties from your standard shards. For one thing, it looks like they can substitute for any of the other three shard variants in almost any work of artifice. Think on that for a minute: ANY of the other shards. And initial experiments suggest that they could be used in all sorts of other exotic ways.
I know what you're thinking, and you're right. That would be the bad news. Doranar's known for his iron biceps and steely resolve, not for his ample brainpower or forward-thinking discretion, and he's called "The Loud" for a reason. I wouldn't be at all surprised if you see an article on the matter in next week's Korranberg Chronicle, and I'm sure every politician, dragonmarked lord, merchant king, and trader of any consequence has already managed to sneak a look at this new find.
In fact, you've probably got a piece or two already, don't you?
In any case, everyone's going to want a slice of this little pie. By this time next month the Reaches will be swarming with shard hunters, and those that don't get chewed to pieces will likely become very rich men indeed. I know for a fact that Houses Cannith and Tharashk have already made arrangements to fund two dozen expeditions next week alone into the ruins of Erlaskar. Two dozen! And they're not the only dragonmarked houses making moves - Ghallanda, Jorasco, Lyrandar, Orien, Deneith - they're all mobilizing to take advantage of these new winds in the economic and political climate. This could be the exact boost the area needs to recover from the Eldeen Cataclysm.
As a result of all this momentum, though, it doesn't look like many people are taking the time to really stop and assess the situation before going in. I'm sure the idea of a new magic with unknown properties going into the marketplace - a magic that is apparently only found in locations touched by the death of a demon god - troubles you as much as it does me. As much as I dislike some of the Cannith scions, I have to admit that I want them to get as many of these shards as possible. We need competent artificers to research the flaming hells out of them before they start circulating en mass.
I'll say this as well: these new shards might well be the new dawn for the Eldeen Reaches, but it's going to be a bloody one. Likely as not, all these factions are going to tear each other apart like rats in a sack, and that's not even to mention the meat grinder that all of these demon-infested ruins are going to become.
Send some people up here, Abernon. The best that you've got. For good or for ill we're looking at the start of something huge.
--B
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Monday, April 27, 2009
The Mazarain Correspondence
The Mazarain Correspondence
Abernon d'Sivis
My dear Faros,
It was wonderful hearing from you, and to receive the introductory draft of your "Lord of Ruin" historical report. It is indeed a most stirring piece of narration - a piece that, were it read aloud, would undoubtedly fan hot the burning flames of wanderlust and adventure in all Khorvaire. However, I'm afraid that your attempt to clear the Stain of Hearsay and Speculation from the Great Halls of History have resulted in, shall we say, a few minor ink blots of your own in select areas where your clear zeal for storytelling and epic adventure are particularly evident. I do not say this to upset you, for you are indeed a marvelous storyteller with a strong sense of the noble spirit of man, but we must remember that as historians, we are obliged to adhere somewhat more closely to fact and historical accuracy.
For example, you noted that the city of Sharn came crashing down. I admit this came as something of a surprise to me, particularly as I am looking out over the towers of Morgrave University in the heart of Sharn at this very moment. While it is true that we suffered some seismic disturbances that fateful summer, and that several towers toward the northern end of the city needed substantial repairs, to suggest that the city fell into ruin would be hyperbole somewhat on the level of calling a drunken goblin battering at the doors of the Tattered Dog Tavern an army of aberrant horrors come to raze Khorvaire to the ground. The magnitude of the problem was, shall we say, somewhat less than described.
You also mentioned that Keeper of the Flame Jaela Daran vanished, and that the faith of the Thrane lay broken after the events of Darkened Reach. While this may have been true at the time, "vanished" might be more accurately replaced with "was misplaced for an afternoon," whereas "lay broken" is probably better described with, "suffered a bit of a depression for a few weeks." I was fortunate enough to see Keeper Daran just last week, and she seems to be in fine form. Indeed, ever since High Cardinal Krozen was removed from his office, the spiritual health of Thrane has been flourishing - particularly among the more tolerant lines that Keeper Daran has been espousing for many years.
I am also somewhat puzzled by the fact that you chose not to include some of the more outstanding details of recent events occurring in the Eldeen Reaches - particularly in the area around Demonshroud. I would not for the world ask you to change or edit your work. However, you may wish to consider a somewhat different perspective. Toward that end, I humbly present to you a recent report sent to me by one Brion d'Phiarlan, one of my trusted field agents in the area.
----------
Abernon,
You wanted an assessment of the current state of affairs in the Eldeen Reaches, and here's the short of it: it's about to become the most contested stinkpit this side of the Nine Hells of Shavarath. I know how much you love details, however, so here's the lowdown on everything you probably already know.
I got up here about two months ago, roughly around the one year mark after Darkened Reach, which is only what greater Khorvaire calls that particular catastrophe. The locals call it the Demon March, and for the most part the stories about it are what we've heard: a demon lord named Nahaz-Muram rose from the Demon Wastes and led a horde of monsters to march on Khorvaire. It took the combined might of the Five Nations to halt his advance, but our armies met his on the dusty plains of Dawnshroud Vale. Noble knights battled foul beasts, holy magic clashed against demonic sorcery, mortal determination stood against ancient malevolence, yadda yadda yadda. In the end, however, the forces of good and light triumphed over darkness and evil and blew Muram's dark fortress of Neth Naggaroth to tiny smithereens. The Dawnshroud Vale was renamed Demonshroud to commemorate the event and we all returned to our homes to live safer, more contented lives knowing that evil has been banished forever. The end.
I should take up storytelling.
Anyway, I think you pretty much called the broad strokes. In a purely mundane sense, Muram's armies left an atrocious amount of damage behind as they raped and pillaged their way across the Western Reaches. Maybe a third of the Great Forest has been razed down to the ground, and that ground is now so polluted by demonic essence that the druids think it could be centuries before it recovers. This, of course, makes it prime breeding territory for things ranging from weird aberrations to undead monsters to the foulest living spells you've ever seen. Worse, Neth Naggaroth was floating close to a mile off the ground when it exploded, and pieces of it landed all over the Eldeen Reaches. The shadows there are a little darker now, the nights a little more sinister, and where the pieces of the fortress actually fell there are...things...coming out of the earth. Things I don't even have names for. Things out of your deepest nightmares. There are wide swathes of the Reaches so crawling with beasties that they're on par with the Demon Wastes themselves, or perhaps the Mournlands, as far as the most dangerous places on Eberron are concerned.
Still, it could've been a lot worse. The Five Nations stopped him in the Demonshroud Vale, and as a result none of the contamination spread farther into Khorvaire. In fact, the parts of the Reaches bordering Aundair and Breland escaped Darkened Reach mostly unscathed, and the people there have found the spirit to start rebuilding what they've lost. They move farther into the corrupted areas daily, driving back the darkness through sheer force of will and strength of arms. It's truly a sight to behold. Aundair has offered a great deal of relief in the form of monetary aid, food, and medical supplies, but the Reachers seem inclined to give the gift horse a thorough cross examination. Not that I particularly blame them, actually.
You know that House Vadalis and their Handler's Guild has been funding adventurers, sending them into the old Vadalis strongholds in the western Reaches over the past few years to retrieve family treasures or whatnot. Only the craziest - or the most competent - kept going back in after the first few groups didn't come back, or came back less than whole, but all that effort has apparently paid off. About a month ago, a group led by Doranar the Loud went right up into the Decaying Scar and lived to tell about it. More than that, they brought back the biggest thing since...well, since we learned how to use dragonshards.
They've found some kind of new dragonshard, Abernon - something that's only forming in those areas where the pieces of Neth Naggaroth fell. They're not Khyber shards, as you'd expect, or even a variation thereof. Near as anyone can tell they're something completely new, with significantly different properties from your standard shards. For one thing, it looks like they can substitute for any of the other shards in a work of artifice. Think on that for a minute: ANY of the other shards. And we're already seeing all sorts of other uses for them coming out of the House Cannith laboratories in the area.
I know what you're thinking, and you're right. That would be the bad news. Doranar's known for his iron biceps and steely resolve, not for his ample brainpower or forward-thinking discretion, and he's called "The Loud" for a reason. I wouldn't be at all surprised if you see an article on the matter in next week's Korranberg Chronicle, and I'm sure every politician, dragonmarked scion, banker, and trader of any consequence has already managed to sneak a look at this fantastic new find.
In fact, you've probably got a piece or two already, don't you?
In any case, everyone's going to want a slice of this little pie. By this time next month the Reaches will be swarming with shard hunters, and those that don't get chewed to pieces will become very, very rich men indeed. I know for a fact that House Cannith and House Tharashk have already made arrangements to fund two dozen expeditions next week alone into the ruins of Erlaskar. Two dozen! And they're not the only dragonmarked houses making moves - Ghallanda, Jorasco, Lyrandar, Orien, Deneith - they're all mobilizing to take advantage of these new winds in the economic and political climate. Word is, this could be the exact boost the area needs to recover from Darkened Reach.
As a result of all this momentum, though, nobody's taking the time to really stop and assess the situation before going in. If I know you, and I do, the idea of a new magic with unknown properties going into the marketplace - a magic that is apparently only found in locations touched by the death of a demon god - horrifies you as much as it does me. As much as I dislike some of the Cannith scions, I have to admit that I want them to get as many of these shards as possible. We need competent artificers to research the flaming hells out of these shards before they start circulating.
I'll say this as well: these shards might well be the new dawn for the Eldeen Reaches, but it's going to be a bloody one. All these factions will tear each other apart like rats in a sack. There are other forces at work here as well - more sinister ones - but I haven't been able to get even a hint of who they are or what they're up to. I think you know me well enough to know how much that worries me.
Send some people up here, Abernon. The best that you've got. For good or for ill we're looking at the start of something huge, and I don't think you'll want to miss it.
--B
--------------------------
That was sent to me about six months ago, and even as you've seen, Brion's insights have proven prescient. The dragonmarked houses even now fight for control of the prime gathering spots for these so-called master dragonshards, which already display powers far above and beyond those of your typical dragonshard. Who knows what they might be capable of? And who knows how many barrels of blood are spilled each day as we try to harvest enough of them to find out - the Corrupted Lands of Eldeen might as well be strewn with loose gold, the way adventurers have been throwing themselves into the Reaches for a rare chance to harvest some of these shards.
Once the artificers of the Twelve find a way to stabilize and harness them, however, we're looking at a resource that may completely re-write the face of Khorvaire. Ultimately, I must agree wholeheartedly with your closing remarks - we need brave and daring souls now more than ever. Souls willing to dare the dark depths of that haunted land and help us usher in a new age of artifice and arcane enlightenment. Perhaps, with the aid of the knowledge in the enclosed report, you might be able to stir the hearts of men into action, as I know you are capable of doing.
I remain,
Your faithful cousin,
Abernon d'Sivis
Abernon d'Sivis
My dear Faros,
It was wonderful hearing from you, and to receive the introductory draft of your "Lord of Ruin" historical report. It is indeed a most stirring piece of narration - a piece that, were it read aloud, would undoubtedly fan hot the burning flames of wanderlust and adventure in all Khorvaire. However, I'm afraid that your attempt to clear the Stain of Hearsay and Speculation from the Great Halls of History have resulted in, shall we say, a few minor ink blots of your own in select areas where your clear zeal for storytelling and epic adventure are particularly evident. I do not say this to upset you, for you are indeed a marvelous storyteller with a strong sense of the noble spirit of man, but we must remember that as historians, we are obliged to adhere somewhat more closely to fact and historical accuracy.
For example, you noted that the city of Sharn came crashing down. I admit this came as something of a surprise to me, particularly as I am looking out over the towers of Morgrave University in the heart of Sharn at this very moment. While it is true that we suffered some seismic disturbances that fateful summer, and that several towers toward the northern end of the city needed substantial repairs, to suggest that the city fell into ruin would be hyperbole somewhat on the level of calling a drunken goblin battering at the doors of the Tattered Dog Tavern an army of aberrant horrors come to raze Khorvaire to the ground. The magnitude of the problem was, shall we say, somewhat less than described.
You also mentioned that Keeper of the Flame Jaela Daran vanished, and that the faith of the Thrane lay broken after the events of Darkened Reach. While this may have been true at the time, "vanished" might be more accurately replaced with "was misplaced for an afternoon," whereas "lay broken" is probably better described with, "suffered a bit of a depression for a few weeks." I was fortunate enough to see Keeper Daran just last week, and she seems to be in fine form. Indeed, ever since High Cardinal Krozen was removed from his office, the spiritual health of Thrane has been flourishing - particularly among the more tolerant lines that Keeper Daran has been espousing for many years.
I am also somewhat puzzled by the fact that you chose not to include some of the more outstanding details of recent events occurring in the Eldeen Reaches - particularly in the area around Demonshroud. I would not for the world ask you to change or edit your work. However, you may wish to consider a somewhat different perspective. Toward that end, I humbly present to you a recent report sent to me by one Brion d'Phiarlan, one of my trusted field agents in the area.
----------
Abernon,
You wanted an assessment of the current state of affairs in the Eldeen Reaches, and here's the short of it: it's about to become the most contested stinkpit this side of the Nine Hells of Shavarath. I know how much you love details, however, so here's the lowdown on everything you probably already know.
I got up here about two months ago, roughly around the one year mark after Darkened Reach, which is only what greater Khorvaire calls that particular catastrophe. The locals call it the Demon March, and for the most part the stories about it are what we've heard: a demon lord named Nahaz-Muram rose from the Demon Wastes and led a horde of monsters to march on Khorvaire. It took the combined might of the Five Nations to halt his advance, but our armies met his on the dusty plains of Dawnshroud Vale. Noble knights battled foul beasts, holy magic clashed against demonic sorcery, mortal determination stood against ancient malevolence, yadda yadda yadda. In the end, however, the forces of good and light triumphed over darkness and evil and blew Muram's dark fortress of Neth Naggaroth to tiny smithereens. The Dawnshroud Vale was renamed Demonshroud to commemorate the event and we all returned to our homes to live safer, more contented lives knowing that evil has been banished forever. The end.
I should take up storytelling.
Anyway, I think you pretty much called the broad strokes. In a purely mundane sense, Muram's armies left an atrocious amount of damage behind as they raped and pillaged their way across the Western Reaches. Maybe a third of the Great Forest has been razed down to the ground, and that ground is now so polluted by demonic essence that the druids think it could be centuries before it recovers. This, of course, makes it prime breeding territory for things ranging from weird aberrations to undead monsters to the foulest living spells you've ever seen. Worse, Neth Naggaroth was floating close to a mile off the ground when it exploded, and pieces of it landed all over the Eldeen Reaches. The shadows there are a little darker now, the nights a little more sinister, and where the pieces of the fortress actually fell there are...things...coming out of the earth. Things I don't even have names for. Things out of your deepest nightmares. There are wide swathes of the Reaches so crawling with beasties that they're on par with the Demon Wastes themselves, or perhaps the Mournlands, as far as the most dangerous places on Eberron are concerned.
Still, it could've been a lot worse. The Five Nations stopped him in the Demonshroud Vale, and as a result none of the contamination spread farther into Khorvaire. In fact, the parts of the Reaches bordering Aundair and Breland escaped Darkened Reach mostly unscathed, and the people there have found the spirit to start rebuilding what they've lost. They move farther into the corrupted areas daily, driving back the darkness through sheer force of will and strength of arms. It's truly a sight to behold. Aundair has offered a great deal of relief in the form of monetary aid, food, and medical supplies, but the Reachers seem inclined to give the gift horse a thorough cross examination. Not that I particularly blame them, actually.
You know that House Vadalis and their Handler's Guild has been funding adventurers, sending them into the old Vadalis strongholds in the western Reaches over the past few years to retrieve family treasures or whatnot. Only the craziest - or the most competent - kept going back in after the first few groups didn't come back, or came back less than whole, but all that effort has apparently paid off. About a month ago, a group led by Doranar the Loud went right up into the Decaying Scar and lived to tell about it. More than that, they brought back the biggest thing since...well, since we learned how to use dragonshards.
They've found some kind of new dragonshard, Abernon - something that's only forming in those areas where the pieces of Neth Naggaroth fell. They're not Khyber shards, as you'd expect, or even a variation thereof. Near as anyone can tell they're something completely new, with significantly different properties from your standard shards. For one thing, it looks like they can substitute for any of the other shards in a work of artifice. Think on that for a minute: ANY of the other shards. And we're already seeing all sorts of other uses for them coming out of the House Cannith laboratories in the area.
I know what you're thinking, and you're right. That would be the bad news. Doranar's known for his iron biceps and steely resolve, not for his ample brainpower or forward-thinking discretion, and he's called "The Loud" for a reason. I wouldn't be at all surprised if you see an article on the matter in next week's Korranberg Chronicle, and I'm sure every politician, dragonmarked scion, banker, and trader of any consequence has already managed to sneak a look at this fantastic new find.
In fact, you've probably got a piece or two already, don't you?
In any case, everyone's going to want a slice of this little pie. By this time next month the Reaches will be swarming with shard hunters, and those that don't get chewed to pieces will become very, very rich men indeed. I know for a fact that House Cannith and House Tharashk have already made arrangements to fund two dozen expeditions next week alone into the ruins of Erlaskar. Two dozen! And they're not the only dragonmarked houses making moves - Ghallanda, Jorasco, Lyrandar, Orien, Deneith - they're all mobilizing to take advantage of these new winds in the economic and political climate. Word is, this could be the exact boost the area needs to recover from Darkened Reach.
As a result of all this momentum, though, nobody's taking the time to really stop and assess the situation before going in. If I know you, and I do, the idea of a new magic with unknown properties going into the marketplace - a magic that is apparently only found in locations touched by the death of a demon god - horrifies you as much as it does me. As much as I dislike some of the Cannith scions, I have to admit that I want them to get as many of these shards as possible. We need competent artificers to research the flaming hells out of these shards before they start circulating.
I'll say this as well: these shards might well be the new dawn for the Eldeen Reaches, but it's going to be a bloody one. All these factions will tear each other apart like rats in a sack. There are other forces at work here as well - more sinister ones - but I haven't been able to get even a hint of who they are or what they're up to. I think you know me well enough to know how much that worries me.
Send some people up here, Abernon. The best that you've got. For good or for ill we're looking at the start of something huge, and I don't think you'll want to miss it.
--B
--------------------------
That was sent to me about six months ago, and even as you've seen, Brion's insights have proven prescient. The dragonmarked houses even now fight for control of the prime gathering spots for these so-called master dragonshards, which already display powers far above and beyond those of your typical dragonshard. Who knows what they might be capable of? And who knows how many barrels of blood are spilled each day as we try to harvest enough of them to find out - the Corrupted Lands of Eldeen might as well be strewn with loose gold, the way adventurers have been throwing themselves into the Reaches for a rare chance to harvest some of these shards.
Once the artificers of the Twelve find a way to stabilize and harness them, however, we're looking at a resource that may completely re-write the face of Khorvaire. Ultimately, I must agree wholeheartedly with your closing remarks - we need brave and daring souls now more than ever. Souls willing to dare the dark depths of that haunted land and help us usher in a new age of artifice and arcane enlightenment. Perhaps, with the aid of the knowledge in the enclosed report, you might be able to stir the hearts of men into action, as I know you are capable of doing.
I remain,
Your faithful cousin,
Abernon d'Sivis
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Introduction: Lord of Ruin
The introduction to the D&D campaign I'm currently plotting, which also happens to be a sequel to my last one.
Lord of Ruin:
The True History of the Darkened Reach Crisis
By Faros Mazarain
There are few in the Five Nations, I am sure, who remain ignorant of the events that swept across the face of Khorvaire ten years ago like the Divine Broom of Fate – events easily as notable, and as disastrous, as the tragic Day of Mourning. However, there are far fewer who know the truth behind these events, about the hideous evil that ultimately linked them together, about the heroism of the few individuals who prevented a far darker fate from befalling Khorvaire…and about the lingering shadow that threatens us still. The purpose of this treatise is to put an end to the wild rumors flying about in the Great Halls of History like donkey dung at a country fair, befouling Truth with the taint of Hearsay and soiling Clarity with the loathsome touch of Speculation. What follows, therefore, is a first-hand account of what many have dubbed, in their puerile fashion, The Darkened Reach Crisis.
It would be futile attempting to place a beginning to the event – the roots of the Great Disaster stretch back into the beginning of Time itself. Events truly came to a head, however, at the end of one blisteringly hot summer in 1000 YK. The city of Erlaskar, jewel of the Eldeen Reaches, was struck down by a legendary and mysterious figure known as The Endbringer. Only the intervention of an adventuring group called the Guardians of Kessindra, assisted by my own humble invention, the Sanctum Quickening Device (or SQUID, for short), that the city of Sylbaren was able to avoid a similar fate. The Endbringer rampaged across the Eldeen Reaches, cutting a path of destruction which would eventually become the Decaying Scar before vanishing as quickly as he appeared.
Scant weeks after the Endbringer laid waste to Erlaskar, catastrophe befell The City of Sharn. Unbeknownst to all, a fell creature lay trapped beneath the sprawling metropolis – an ancient daelkyr, lord of aberrations and monsters, sealed into the dark depths of Khyber by the druid hierophant Rajavek. Aided by an insane Cult of the Dragon Below, the creature plotted to unleash the full force of its psychic might upon the world above. Only the Guardians’ timely intervention prevented it from engulfing all Breland in a tidal wave of nightmares and madness. With its death throes, however, the daelkyr lord’s potent energies unraveled the manifest zone of Syrania that sustained Sharn’s magic, and the floating city came crashing down.
Even while Breland – and indeed all of Khorvaire – staggered from the loss of its greatest metropolitan center, sinister forces seized the opportunity to take hold of Thrane. The so-called Silver Inquisition, a year-long venture ostensibly meant to purge the nation of demonic taint, had been marked by incidents of increasing intolerance, even outright cruelty. Before the dust had even settled in Sharn, Keeper of the Flame Jaela Daran mysteriously vanished, and High Cardinal Krozen – the self-styled Grand Inquisitor of Thrane – declared himself de facto ruler and sealed the nation’s borders. Although the Council of Cardinals aligned itself behind Krozen, those few cardinals alarmed at the turn of events appealed to the Guardians of Kessindra for aid.
The Guardians infiltrated the nation and uncovered the horrifying events taking place behind closed doors. Thrane was caught in the grip of an unnatural religious frenzy. Suspicious individuals, which included anyone who did not proclaim life and soul to the Silver Flame faith, were rounded up and imprisoned. Torture and witch-hunts ran rampant through the nation’s villages, and inquisition squads – Krozen’s executioners – roamed the countryside passing summary judgment upon nonbelievers. Yet things were still worse in Flamekeep, if such a thing could be imagined. Perverse magical energy gathered in Thrane’s capital, churning clouds turning day to night, bathing the city in a hellish scarlet light. Here, the Guardians of Kessindra discovered the source of Thrane’s madness – none other than the High Cardinal Krozen himself. No longer remotely human, the High Cardinal had surrendered himself not only to vile lichdom, but to the influence of a malign entity named Jashin-Suuvat. Jashin-Suuvat was a prince of Dal Quor, the dream plane, who had been imprisoned in a Khyber dragonshard since the glory days of Xen’drik. That same dragonshard now served as Krozen’s phylactery, granting Suuvat full dominion over the corrupt clergyman.
Although the Guardians of Kessindra ultimately proved victorious over the quori prince, it was a bittersweet victory. The Silver Inquisition had claimed over a hundred thousand innocent lives, and in its wake the faith of Thrane was left broken, shattered upon the jagged edges of atrocities committed in its name.
These three assaults upon the Five Nations were terrible individually and catastrophic in series, but even they proved to be only precursors of something far worse. Beyond the mountains of the west, a demon god broke his chains and rose like a vast, malignant cloud in the Demon Wastes. Called Nahaz-Muram; Whisperer; the Lord of Nightmares, Corruption, and Ruin; he led an army of horrors out of the Demon Wastes and swept over the Eldeen Reaches like a pestilent tide. This, then, was the source of the woes that had so plagued Khorvaire, the architect of its immeasurable misfortunes. The Endbringer, the daelkyr lord, and the quori prince, mighty as they were, had all been but pawns to this most puissant, most supreme of evils. It was the servants of Nahaz-Muram who had unleashed these other evils as a distraction and a vanguard, that they might neutralize the armies of the Five Nations. Breland was to have fallen to the daelkyr’s madness, while Jashin-Suuvat, in his guise as High Cardinal Krozen, kept both Aundair and Karrnath pinned down with the armies of Thrane, even as the Endbringer cleared the Eldeen Reaches of any who might prove a threat to the rising demon lord. Nahaz-Muram’s armies would have marched across the Five Nations with barely a token resistance, and hope would have fallen. As it was, hundreds of thousands were slaughtered as the demonic army marched through the Eldeen Reaches.
Unified by this singular threat, the armies of the Five Nations rallied and confronted the demonic invasion at the edge of the Dawnshroud Vale. What they saw waiting for them upon that haunted plain freezes the blood and chills the soul.
A sea of ravenous horrors – hags, ogres, demons, devils, and other indescribable things – stretched from horizon to horizon, their numbers vast and unknowable as the tears of the undeserved dead. They surged with unrestrained violence, all teeth and rending claws, eyes that blazed with hellfire and voices like the grinding of millstones, promising eternal damnation. The sun hid itself behind a veil of clouds, drenching the plains in a thunder-filled night, and over everything, its fearful form larger than mountains, floated the shadow of Neth Naggaroth, Nahaz-Muram’s dread fortress of whispers.
The clash of the two armies could be heard from countries away, and the thunderclouds glowed with prismatic light as magic pulsed across the battlefield like a living, breathing thing. Arcane fire clashed with netherworld darkness, sword and axe met hellborn claws, and the stalwart hope of man stared into the very face of evil. From the first it was clear that even the assembled armies of the Five Nations could not hope to stop the infernal horde. But then, such was never the intent. The confrontation was a gambit, a desperate ploy by the leaders of man to sell their lives dearly in exchange for time, opportunity, and a thin sliver of hope. Hope that six men might slay a god.
Aided by dragons from enigmatic Argonessen, the Guardians of Kessindra flew against the walls of Neth Naggaroth, breaching its defenses to strike at the very heart of Nahaz-Muram’s inner sanctum. No one knows exactly what transpired in that vast, dark bastion of all unholiness, but shortly thereafter a great light split the sky with a concussion like the death of worlds. Neth Naggaroth was torn apart by a ball of argent fire, pieces of it arcing across the heavens to land thousands of miles away. Of either Nahaz-Muram himself or the Guardians of Kessindra, there was no sign. With its leader gone, the demonic army quickly fell to internecine squabbles, and the forces of the Five Nations easily scattered them to the winds. The gambit had succeeded – the crisis was over.
Although the threat from the Demon Wastes had been defeated, the face of Khorvaire was irrevocably altered by the invasion. The Eldeen Reaches was ravaged beyond recognition, with much of the Great Forest burned to cinders and its druidic orders decimated. The Dawnshroud Vale, scarred by the titanic battle that had taken place there, fell under a strange gray pall, and has assumed a new name in recent years – the Demonshroud Vale. Breland, hobbled by the loss of Sharn, virtually retreated from the world to mind its own affairs, while Thrane remains even today a shadow of its former self. Worse, I have heard stories of a taint spreading from the lands where pieces of Neth Naggaroth fell to earth, of horrors that wander the unhallowed night, and of aberrant things that should never see the light of day. Drought and famine, pestilence and death run rampant through once fertile fields, and whispers of war reverberate like thunder through Aundair and Karrnath, the two nations least scathed by The Darkened Reach.
This is a time for heroes, my countrymen, my friends. The Guardians of Kessindra, may the Host guide their souls, proved to us the power and the inspiration that a few exceptional men and women may represent, the good that but six of us can accomplish. We have lived through dark and dire days, and though more lie ahead, we must remember that good folk, stout and hardy folk, still inhabit our lands. It is up to them to light our way through the night, to become the beacons of hope that cheer our hearts and our spirits, and to lift us from the clutches of despair. These heroes, these burning brands against the powers of darkness, live within us all. We have but to believe, to persevere, to try.
Lord of Ruin:
The True History of the Darkened Reach Crisis
By Faros Mazarain
There are few in the Five Nations, I am sure, who remain ignorant of the events that swept across the face of Khorvaire ten years ago like the Divine Broom of Fate – events easily as notable, and as disastrous, as the tragic Day of Mourning. However, there are far fewer who know the truth behind these events, about the hideous evil that ultimately linked them together, about the heroism of the few individuals who prevented a far darker fate from befalling Khorvaire…and about the lingering shadow that threatens us still. The purpose of this treatise is to put an end to the wild rumors flying about in the Great Halls of History like donkey dung at a country fair, befouling Truth with the taint of Hearsay and soiling Clarity with the loathsome touch of Speculation. What follows, therefore, is a first-hand account of what many have dubbed, in their puerile fashion, The Darkened Reach Crisis.
It would be futile attempting to place a beginning to the event – the roots of the Great Disaster stretch back into the beginning of Time itself. Events truly came to a head, however, at the end of one blisteringly hot summer in 1000 YK. The city of Erlaskar, jewel of the Eldeen Reaches, was struck down by a legendary and mysterious figure known as The Endbringer. Only the intervention of an adventuring group called the Guardians of Kessindra, assisted by my own humble invention, the Sanctum Quickening Device (or SQUID, for short), that the city of Sylbaren was able to avoid a similar fate. The Endbringer rampaged across the Eldeen Reaches, cutting a path of destruction which would eventually become the Decaying Scar before vanishing as quickly as he appeared.
Scant weeks after the Endbringer laid waste to Erlaskar, catastrophe befell The City of Sharn. Unbeknownst to all, a fell creature lay trapped beneath the sprawling metropolis – an ancient daelkyr, lord of aberrations and monsters, sealed into the dark depths of Khyber by the druid hierophant Rajavek. Aided by an insane Cult of the Dragon Below, the creature plotted to unleash the full force of its psychic might upon the world above. Only the Guardians’ timely intervention prevented it from engulfing all Breland in a tidal wave of nightmares and madness. With its death throes, however, the daelkyr lord’s potent energies unraveled the manifest zone of Syrania that sustained Sharn’s magic, and the floating city came crashing down.
Even while Breland – and indeed all of Khorvaire – staggered from the loss of its greatest metropolitan center, sinister forces seized the opportunity to take hold of Thrane. The so-called Silver Inquisition, a year-long venture ostensibly meant to purge the nation of demonic taint, had been marked by incidents of increasing intolerance, even outright cruelty. Before the dust had even settled in Sharn, Keeper of the Flame Jaela Daran mysteriously vanished, and High Cardinal Krozen – the self-styled Grand Inquisitor of Thrane – declared himself de facto ruler and sealed the nation’s borders. Although the Council of Cardinals aligned itself behind Krozen, those few cardinals alarmed at the turn of events appealed to the Guardians of Kessindra for aid.
The Guardians infiltrated the nation and uncovered the horrifying events taking place behind closed doors. Thrane was caught in the grip of an unnatural religious frenzy. Suspicious individuals, which included anyone who did not proclaim life and soul to the Silver Flame faith, were rounded up and imprisoned. Torture and witch-hunts ran rampant through the nation’s villages, and inquisition squads – Krozen’s executioners – roamed the countryside passing summary judgment upon nonbelievers. Yet things were still worse in Flamekeep, if such a thing could be imagined. Perverse magical energy gathered in Thrane’s capital, churning clouds turning day to night, bathing the city in a hellish scarlet light. Here, the Guardians of Kessindra discovered the source of Thrane’s madness – none other than the High Cardinal Krozen himself. No longer remotely human, the High Cardinal had surrendered himself not only to vile lichdom, but to the influence of a malign entity named Jashin-Suuvat. Jashin-Suuvat was a prince of Dal Quor, the dream plane, who had been imprisoned in a Khyber dragonshard since the glory days of Xen’drik. That same dragonshard now served as Krozen’s phylactery, granting Suuvat full dominion over the corrupt clergyman.
Although the Guardians of Kessindra ultimately proved victorious over the quori prince, it was a bittersweet victory. The Silver Inquisition had claimed over a hundred thousand innocent lives, and in its wake the faith of Thrane was left broken, shattered upon the jagged edges of atrocities committed in its name.
These three assaults upon the Five Nations were terrible individually and catastrophic in series, but even they proved to be only precursors of something far worse. Beyond the mountains of the west, a demon god broke his chains and rose like a vast, malignant cloud in the Demon Wastes. Called Nahaz-Muram; Whisperer; the Lord of Nightmares, Corruption, and Ruin; he led an army of horrors out of the Demon Wastes and swept over the Eldeen Reaches like a pestilent tide. This, then, was the source of the woes that had so plagued Khorvaire, the architect of its immeasurable misfortunes. The Endbringer, the daelkyr lord, and the quori prince, mighty as they were, had all been but pawns to this most puissant, most supreme of evils. It was the servants of Nahaz-Muram who had unleashed these other evils as a distraction and a vanguard, that they might neutralize the armies of the Five Nations. Breland was to have fallen to the daelkyr’s madness, while Jashin-Suuvat, in his guise as High Cardinal Krozen, kept both Aundair and Karrnath pinned down with the armies of Thrane, even as the Endbringer cleared the Eldeen Reaches of any who might prove a threat to the rising demon lord. Nahaz-Muram’s armies would have marched across the Five Nations with barely a token resistance, and hope would have fallen. As it was, hundreds of thousands were slaughtered as the demonic army marched through the Eldeen Reaches.
Unified by this singular threat, the armies of the Five Nations rallied and confronted the demonic invasion at the edge of the Dawnshroud Vale. What they saw waiting for them upon that haunted plain freezes the blood and chills the soul.
A sea of ravenous horrors – hags, ogres, demons, devils, and other indescribable things – stretched from horizon to horizon, their numbers vast and unknowable as the tears of the undeserved dead. They surged with unrestrained violence, all teeth and rending claws, eyes that blazed with hellfire and voices like the grinding of millstones, promising eternal damnation. The sun hid itself behind a veil of clouds, drenching the plains in a thunder-filled night, and over everything, its fearful form larger than mountains, floated the shadow of Neth Naggaroth, Nahaz-Muram’s dread fortress of whispers.
The clash of the two armies could be heard from countries away, and the thunderclouds glowed with prismatic light as magic pulsed across the battlefield like a living, breathing thing. Arcane fire clashed with netherworld darkness, sword and axe met hellborn claws, and the stalwart hope of man stared into the very face of evil. From the first it was clear that even the assembled armies of the Five Nations could not hope to stop the infernal horde. But then, such was never the intent. The confrontation was a gambit, a desperate ploy by the leaders of man to sell their lives dearly in exchange for time, opportunity, and a thin sliver of hope. Hope that six men might slay a god.
Aided by dragons from enigmatic Argonessen, the Guardians of Kessindra flew against the walls of Neth Naggaroth, breaching its defenses to strike at the very heart of Nahaz-Muram’s inner sanctum. No one knows exactly what transpired in that vast, dark bastion of all unholiness, but shortly thereafter a great light split the sky with a concussion like the death of worlds. Neth Naggaroth was torn apart by a ball of argent fire, pieces of it arcing across the heavens to land thousands of miles away. Of either Nahaz-Muram himself or the Guardians of Kessindra, there was no sign. With its leader gone, the demonic army quickly fell to internecine squabbles, and the forces of the Five Nations easily scattered them to the winds. The gambit had succeeded – the crisis was over.
Although the threat from the Demon Wastes had been defeated, the face of Khorvaire was irrevocably altered by the invasion. The Eldeen Reaches was ravaged beyond recognition, with much of the Great Forest burned to cinders and its druidic orders decimated. The Dawnshroud Vale, scarred by the titanic battle that had taken place there, fell under a strange gray pall, and has assumed a new name in recent years – the Demonshroud Vale. Breland, hobbled by the loss of Sharn, virtually retreated from the world to mind its own affairs, while Thrane remains even today a shadow of its former self. Worse, I have heard stories of a taint spreading from the lands where pieces of Neth Naggaroth fell to earth, of horrors that wander the unhallowed night, and of aberrant things that should never see the light of day. Drought and famine, pestilence and death run rampant through once fertile fields, and whispers of war reverberate like thunder through Aundair and Karrnath, the two nations least scathed by The Darkened Reach.
This is a time for heroes, my countrymen, my friends. The Guardians of Kessindra, may the Host guide their souls, proved to us the power and the inspiration that a few exceptional men and women may represent, the good that but six of us can accomplish. We have lived through dark and dire days, and though more lie ahead, we must remember that good folk, stout and hardy folk, still inhabit our lands. It is up to them to light our way through the night, to become the beacons of hope that cheer our hearts and our spirits, and to lift us from the clutches of despair. These heroes, these burning brands against the powers of darkness, live within us all. We have but to believe, to persevere, to try.
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