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still giving no clear response, the time in which a solution to the | still giving no clear response, the time in which a solution to the | ||
threat remains viable is ever dwindling. | threat remains viable is ever dwindling. | ||
==Ios 452 MA== | |||
In the depths of [[Ios]], the Shadowbound, led by Ati, the Shadow, turned | |||
upon Bloodloch, intent on not only devouring and subjugating it, but | |||
bending it utterly to the will of the Shadow Mother, Ohlsana. | |||
Challenging Bloodloch to either perish or to surrender their Primus, | |||
[[Abhorash]] Nehekhara, they were answered by the Primus himself advancing | |||
into the cold desert, challenging the Shadow to come and take him. | |||
A fight broke out among the Primus and the Shadow, the two figures | |||
battling across the dunes. Though the Primus fought bravely, shredding | |||
the creature's flesh and spilling its dark blood upon the ground, he was | |||
ultimately rent apart by Ati's powerful limbs, his mist swallowed. It | |||
seemed, for a time, as if the Primus might have perished upon the | |||
[[Mhojave]]. | |||
As Ati rose to rejoin the Shadowbound, however, it soon became clear | |||
that Its victory was not sure - It began to struggle and shrink in upon | |||
Itself, devoured from within, unable to prevent the attack from within | |||
Itself. Moments later, the Primus reformed upon the desert - having not | |||
only slain Ati from within, but having absorbed Its shadowy essence as | |||
well. Time will tell what new capabilities he has been endowed with, in | |||
light of his gruesome victory. | |||
Shortly afterward, the Shadowbound and the other denizens of the Shadow | |||
Plane fled from Bloodloch, fearing that the Primus would devour them as | |||
well. The Shadow Lord Murgraxis, swearing vengeance upon the realm for | |||
Ati, the Shadow's demise, proceeded to unleash more of the Shadow | |||
Plane's creatures upon the realm, focusing upon the cities of | |||
Spinesreach and [[Duiran]]. | |||
==Arios 452 MA== | |||
In the month of [[Arios]], the Goddess [[Iosyne]], the Malevolent grew impatient | |||
with the seemingly interminable pace of the war against the Shadowbound | |||
and took more direct action - namely, by propelling Herself into the sky | |||
and engaging in direct combat against the creatures in the heavens. | |||
Tearing through them in droves, She engaged the rift, using Her own | |||
considerable power over shadow to temporarily stop it up, commanding the | |||
people of Sapience to march to Sterion. | |||
The [[Minotaur]] village was not only found open to the continent at large, | |||
but infested with Shadowbound - the combined forces of the continent | |||
pushed them back in spite of great losses, seeking the source of the | |||
rift. This lay beneath the ground, and the portal itself was guarded by | |||
the Shadow Lord Murgraxis, the sole General of the Shadow Mother's | |||
forces. | |||
Murgraxis proved a fierce and formidable foe, slaying warriors in droves | |||
as they advanced before him - the battle was long and difficult, but | |||
inch by inch they drove him back against the boundary between [[Prime Material Plane|Prime]] and | |||
Shadow and forced him through, slaying him and sealing him into the | |||
Shadow beyond. Though echoes of the Shadow Lord persisted, slaying | |||
several more in the wake of his defeat, he was gone - but not slain. | |||
The night sky was left empty for the first time in months - and Iosyne, | |||
the Malevolent retreated to nurse the grievous wounds She had sustained | |||
in battle with the Shadowbound. Shortly thereafter, the people of | |||
Enorian, aided by Ethne, the Rekindled, performed a ritual to raise the | |||
sun into the sky once more - afternoon returned in full force upon the | |||
fifteenth of Arios, the sun blazing down upon the lands with renewed | |||
strength and brilliance. | |||
In the wake of the War of Night, one third of the continent's living | |||
population has died - whether by sickness, by starvation, at the hands | |||
of the Shadows, or in combat with the Nazedha invaders. The greatest | |||
losses were suffered upon the eastern portion of Sapience, though the | |||
western part of the continent was by no means free of suffering, rent as | |||
it was by the Shadowbound. The presence of Shadow had permanently warped | |||
Sapience - time now passes differently, the days progressing slower than | |||
before, the sun and the night both imbued with a greater strength than | |||
they had previously possessed. | |||
Though the War of Night is ended, it has left its indelible mark upon | |||
the world and the heavens, a constant reminder to the people of Sapience | |||
that threats of great and unimaginable power lie barely constrained just | |||
beyond their reach. There is no telling what other consequences might | |||
befall the continent as a result of the extraplanar conflict that has | |||
wracked it. | |||
[[Category:History]] | [[Category:History]] |
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