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==Midsummer 451 MA== | ==Midsummer 451 MA== | ||
As the sun shone down upon the morning of the 25th of Midsummer in the year 451 MA, the sky | As the sun shone down upon the morning of the 25th of [[Midsummer]] in the year 451 MA, the sky | ||
wrenched open, exposing the [[Shadow Plane]]. After decades spent within the | wrenched open, exposing the [[Shadow Plane]]. After decades spent within the | ||
Shadow Plane, fighting the beasts and Shadowbound within, [[Severn]], the | Shadow Plane, fighting the beasts and Shadowbound within, [[Severn]], the | ||
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laughter: "I lost. I couldn't defeat them. They're coming." | laughter: "I lost. I couldn't defeat them. They're coming." | ||
==Lleian 451 MA== | ==Lleian 451 MA== | ||
As Lleian drew to a close, the sky yawned open once again, and the Shadow Plane was breached. Ati, the Shadow, | As [[Lleian]] drew to a close, the sky yawned open once again, and the Shadow Plane was breached. Ati, the Shadow, | ||
empowered by Its Mother Ohlsana, was joined by the Shadow Lord [[Murgraxis]], and shadows flooded downward upon | empowered by Its Mother Ohlsana, was joined by the Shadow Lord [[Murgraxis]], and shadows flooded downward upon | ||
the continent of [[Sapience]]. Seeking to free the Shadow Mother, the two leaders of the invasion threatened the | the continent of [[Sapience]]. Seeking to free the Shadow Mother, the two leaders of the invasion threatened the | ||
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the Gods, their beasts of shadow scourge the land. Of these, the most fearsome are the armies of Shadowbound, | the Gods, their beasts of shadow scourge the land. Of these, the most fearsome are the armies of Shadowbound, | ||
shapeshifting, mutable monstrosities that take on the visages of their victims. | shapeshifting, mutable monstrosities that take on the visages of their victims. | ||
==Lanosian 451 MA== | |||
Late in the month of [[Lanosian]], while shadows from the Shadow Plane | |||
continued to set upon the continent of Sapience, the silence on the | |||
eastern coast was broken by the sound of a hornpipe and drums. A fleet | |||
from the newly-reunified [[Nazedha Empire]], led by [[Baelak Shipbreaker|Emperor Baelak | |||
Shipbreaker]], sailed upon the east of the continent, intent on fulfilling | |||
the apocalyptic prophecies of their dark master, the mysterious [[Lanu Du]]. | |||
Though the God Slyphe attempted to prevent their landfall, a combination | |||
of dark magic and power from Lanu Du empowered the fleet, permitting | |||
them to resist the Tempest's storms and ultimately impale Him on the | |||
bowsprit of the Emperor Baelak's flagship. Though He survived the | |||
attack, He was forced to retreat, having only destroyed a small number | |||
of ships within the fleet. | |||
Making landfall, the Nazedha made their designs upon the City of [[Delos]] | |||
clear. A battle for the town raged, the people of Sapience against the | |||
Nazedha invaders. Soon the melee was joined by shadows, intent on | |||
devouring whatever they could reach - including the Nazedha. After | |||
sweeping through Delos and murdering many of the inhabitants, the sages | |||
of Baelak's fleet brought forth jade fire, which scourged the City from | |||
top to bottom. [[Qeddwyn]], the Wise was taken alive, and is now captive | |||
aboard the Nazedha Emperor's frigate. | |||
Nazedha now roam the eastern reaches of the continent, burning the | |||
forests and killing whatever stands in their path. The shadows appear | |||
violently opposed to their incursion, such that the two sides, despite | |||
holding in common a desire to obliterate the continent, include one | |||
another in their definition of 'continent'. | |||
==Niuran 451 MA== | |||
The Nazedha and the Shadow Plane continued to plague the realm during | |||
Lanosian and [[Niuran]], with no great incident beyond the former's | |||
occasional raids upon the eastern coast, and the latter's strikes | |||
against the Cities of Sapience. [[Arbothia]] was the second casualty of the | |||
Nazedha strikes, their inhabitants fleeing to seek refuge within the | |||
City of [[Enorian]] - at the forefront of the efforts to recover survivors | |||
from Arbothia were Rashar Kynoura, Aithene Silverain, Rivas Silverain, | |||
Tenshyo Tanarian, and Aarbrok Furor. | |||
The [[Ithmia]] was set ablaze once more by Nazedha raiders, further | |||
withering the trees and plants already choked by lack of sunlight. | |||
Meanwhile, as a major foci opened across the [[Siroccians]], the Nazedha - | |||
unsuccessfully - attempted to intercept it toward their own purposes, | |||
but were ultimately thwarted by the united forces of [[Bloodloch]]. | |||
Aarbrok Furor, employing a catapult, attempted to attack the Nazedha | |||
fleet with an explosive of his own invention, a combination of an | |||
assassination attempt by Nazedha blackguards and a miscalculation of | |||
range resulted in the explosive falling short and detonating harmlessly | |||
upon the eastern coast, rather than amid the Nazedha ships. | |||
The final Nazedha raid of Niuran struck the coastal town of [[Mournhold]] - | |||
and despite the efforts of the [[Kelki]] natives to fight for their | |||
homeland, the surface was razed. The warrens beneath, however, were left | |||
mysteriously untouched by the xenocidal invaders. In spite of continuing | |||
attacks from shadows and raiders, the month has not been marked by | |||
significant, devastating incident. | |||
==Slyphian 451 MA== | |||
Late in the month of [[Slyphian]], the Nazedha struck again - this time at | |||
Enorian. The city had spent much of the days before preparing for an | |||
attack from sea, aided in no small part by explosives from the Troll | |||
[[Ferlbo]], and the machines of the dwarven engineer [[Rhulin]], but the Nazedha | |||
attack proved too much for what defenses had been mustered. | |||
Making headway against ballista fire, catapult bombardment, and the | |||
combined forces of the brave defenders, the Nazedha swarmed the city, | |||
taking it and driving the surviving Enorianites into exile upon [[Mostyn]] | |||
and [[Ilhavon]]. Unable to destroy the Sparks, the Emperor has settled for | |||
flying the Empire's flag upon Enorian's palace. | |||
The defenders of Enorian were not the only forces to lash out at the | |||
Nazedha forces, however - days after the city fell, the [[Cabalists]], in a | |||
ritual led by the Commissar Akaryuterra Ryotega Junakutz-Lionheart, | |||
focused the heat of the realm upon the city, burning not only its | |||
buildings but many of the occupying Nazedha. The death toll from this | |||
magical attack is currently unknown, but it was not devastating enough | |||
to break control over the city. | |||
==Haernos 451 MA== | |||
Shadows swarmed the continent during the winter month of [[Haernos]], | |||
setting upon the four Cities of the continent and the countryside at | |||
large. Nazedha and Sapient natives alike fought tooth and nail against | |||
raids of unprecedented strength and ferocity, driven by Ati, the Shadow, | |||
and the Shadow Lord Murgraxis. | |||
A lull in the fighting was broken by Yettave Arcan Bouchard, inquiring | |||
of Ati whether the raids had come to an end - as if to spite him, yet | |||
more shadows descended in the wake of his question. | |||
Although there were fears that the Emperor Baelak Shipbreaker would | |||
attempt a ritual to bring about Lanu Du and the prophecies of the | |||
Nazedha during the month, it became clear that numbers within the | |||
conquered City of Enorian were insufficient to permit him to do so. | |||
Although a raid was attempted against the Enorianites taking refuge in | |||
the Ilhavon and Mostyn, the defenders successfully repelled the oncoming | |||
Nazedha. | |||
It became clear, in the wake of this small victory against the invaders, | |||
that dissent was occurring among the Nazedha ranks - forced to assert his | |||
authority publicly against the Chieftains of the tribes of [[Karthek]] and | |||
[[Adessim]], the Emperor recalled his forces, biding his time in spite of a | |||
previous promise to bring about apocalypse by the new year. | |||
Only time will tell whether the Emperor will attempt his eldritch ritual | |||
and try to bring about an end to all things. | |||
==Variach 452 MA== | |||
Upon the month of [[Variach]], the Nazedha Emperor Baelak Shipbreaker found | |||
a solution to the problem of too few sacrifices - intending to suppress | |||
rebellion within the ranks and fulfill the prophecy and the ritual | |||
simultaneously, he took the men of the Nazedha tribes Karthek and | |||
Adessim and put them to the blade alongside captured victims, using them | |||
to spill the necessary blood. | |||
He was not met without challenge, however - braving the Nazedha-infested | |||
City, the combined forces of Sapience, aided by explosives from the | |||
dwarven engineer Rhulin, attempted a last-ditch strike to stop the | |||
ritual in its tracks. The Nazedha forces proved fearsome, however, and | |||
hope seemed lost until a fragment of [[Omei]], taking the form of a glowing | |||
cat, opened a portal past the Nazedha lines and straight to the Nazedha | |||
Emperor - now ascended into the form of a [[Chaos Lord]]. | |||
The ensuing battle, in which the Duamvi Aban was mortally wounded, raged | |||
across a good portion of the day - many of the Nazedha fought amongst | |||
each other in the streets, driven to rebellion over Shipbreaker's | |||
slaughter of his own men. Surrounded by chaos, it was unpredictable from | |||
moment to moment what would serve to hurt the Emperor, and what would | |||
not - but in the end, the people of Sapience emerged victorious despite | |||
their losses in the battle of Enorian. | |||
That was not all, however - soon after the death of the Emperor, the | |||
skies opened, and it seemed for a moment that the ritual had worked. | |||
Unfortunately, however, for the Nazedha, it had not been sufficient to | |||
awaken Lanu Du, the Faceless God, merely to stir It in Its slumbers. In | |||
response, It lashed out at Enorian, flattening the City and much of the | |||
remaining Nazedha army before rolling back over and resuming its sleep. | |||
As the people of Sapience returned to the ruined lands, they discovered | |||
a crater where Enorian's palace had been, filled with ocean water - and | |||
just off the shore, the remnants of the Nazedha fleet. Boarding the main | |||
vessel and killing the Emperor's skald, they descended into its depths | |||
and rescued Qeddwyn, the Wise - [[Lenci]], the Luminary tutor - and | |||
capturing the Empress of Nazedha, [[Freydha Shipbreaker]]. | |||
While Qeddwyn traveled with Bloodloch, Lenci set off in an effort to | |||
save what was left of the Sparks following the devastation of Enorian. | |||
The Empress, meanwhile, was taken into the custody of Enorian, after | |||
commanding the remaining Nazedha forces to surrender. The Nazedha | |||
Empire, as it transpired, was no more - without Baelak to unite them, | |||
and with many of them frightened of Lanu Du after witnessing It | |||
firsthand, they had become splintered and fragmented into their old | |||
tribal rivalries. | |||
In the wake of this destruction, three new personages emerged - the | |||
first two were Goddesses. One was [[Ethne]], the Rekindled, the | |||
reincarnation of [[Mebrene]] into the Ogre smith [[Katshkele]]; the other, a | |||
Goddess of new origins altogether, was [[Avareti]], titleless and | |||
ill-understood as of yet. The third was a prophet, reincarnated from the | |||
soul of the first Illuminai whom Lenci had carried with her for many | |||
hundreds of years - and this was [[Kayalenki]], sent by the Gods to serve | |||
the cause of Light in Enorian. Avareti, being tethered to Shadow, made | |||
Her way north toward [[Spinesreach]], while Ethne remained in the south. | |||
Kayalenki went to the ruins of Enorian, however, and called upon the | |||
fragment of Omei embodied as a glowing cat - and together, with the cat | |||
sacrificing Her essence and Her being to the effort, they raised not | |||
only a Temple, but a [[Grand Flame]] that was an amalgamation of the Spark | |||
of the [[Luminaries]] and the Crescent of the [[Daru]]. Standing at the center | |||
of the ruins and casting its light downward upon the nearby territory, | |||
the Temple stands as a moment to the Gods and to the triumph of Light | |||
over the Nazedha. | |||
The shadows have remained quiet in Variach, though there is no telling | |||
when they will strike once more, and with still-greater vehemence. | |||
==Severin 452 MA== | |||
Upon the month of [[Severin]], rebuilding began in the ruins of Enorian - as | |||
Rhulin, the dwarven architect drafted plans in preparation for the | |||
reclamation of the city, refugees trickled from the Ilhavon and Mostyn, | |||
whether to return to the villages, to the sacred places of their various | |||
Gods, or simply to go to the Temple at the center of the ruins. | |||
The last vestiges of the Nazedha threat were resolved permanently as, | |||
under the authority of the Empress Freydha Shipbreaker, wife of the late | |||
Baelak, they surrendered to the forces of Enorian. The prophet, | |||
Kayalenki, prayed for cleansing - and was answered by hundreds upon | |||
hundreds of the defeated Nazedha, pure of Corruption, marching out of | |||
the waters. They had been reborn as [[Arqeshi]] - Nazetu free of [[Chakrasul]]. | |||
The Arqeshi, uniformly recognizing that they had no desire to return to | |||
their previous state, and that there would be no place for them in the | |||
islands they had left behind, agreed to join with the Enorianites; many | |||
divided amongst the guilds, while others entered into service as | |||
laborers and carpenters, ready to build a new city upon the ruins of the | |||
old. | |||
The shadow raids have remained steady but restrained, with no word from | |||
Ati, the Shadow nor the Shadow Lord Murgraxis. The rift grows ever | |||
wider, to the point where it eclipses much of the sky - with the Gods | |||
still giving no clear response, the time in which a solution to the | |||
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]] |
edits