Excerpts of a Forthcoming Work

[VonEbs 1224]

In the boulevards of Caras Eldar, Sennisten, Markev, Ruriksgrad, Holm and Belvitz, a street urchin would approach you hawking a most unusual product: a slender tome containing quality printing. Intrigued, you pay a pittance for his ware. Some time later, upon your arrival at your destination, you take out the book, opening it to read of a most marvelous announcement:

 

Excerpts of a Forthcoming Work: Dramatic Chronicles of Historical Import

 

The elf Ebs Telrunya, last scion of that ancient and noble Malinorian line, wishes to inform all interested parties, scholar or otherwise, of the completion of the first half of his great life work. Many elven years has he labored over this account, the first ever attempt at putting to paper the trails and tribulation of our four great races, the Descendants. For you see, under the Seven Skys have the Descendants lived and died: Aegis, Asulon, Anthos, Athera, Vailor, Axios and now Atlas. The subject of this Chronicle, the Chronicle of the Seven Skies, is just that, the comprehensive and factually accurate events of our shared history. Glorious battles between great hosts, the rise and fall of empires, endless political intrigue and the lives of our greatest citizens, recorded and relayed in one fantastic work. Below are excepts from the first three volumes, covering the events of Aegis, Asulon and Anthos. These completed volumes, along with certain other works of scholarship, are to be released within the next elven week. In the meantime, however, enjoy these choice selections, amounting to not even one half of a tenth of the completed work, of some of the most consequential events in the Descendants' history.

 

From the First Sky: The Immolation of Kal’Bryst

 

Why the Undead chose the North as the focus of their initial onslaught is a matter of speculation, but regardless, the North bore the brunt of the attack. The first battle was at the now famed city of Kal’Bryst, then a backwater dwarven outpost in the North. Nothing could prepare the residents for the hell that would reign down on them that fateful night in 1303 when the relentless Undead hordes fell upon their helpless village. The resident dwarves were slaughtered, and by the time a call for aid was received by the peoples of Aegis, the city was being consumed by unnatural flame. Still, an army was marshalled and rode north, lead by the Wandering Wizard. The dwarven party was the first to arrive, and after a brief skirmish with the previously unknown enemy in which they suffered heavy casualties, they withdrew with whatever survivors they could find to the forward camp set up by Availer. As orcs, elves, humans and dwarves gathered for a counterattack, it became clear that this menace was like none other faced by the Descendants. Hordes of reanimated and decaying corpses milled about the city, falling upon any living thing. And pale skeletal archers kept sentry, ready to lose a flight of arrows at any that might challenge them. These horrors were small in comparison to the abominations found in the Undead themselves; neither living nor dead, their kept their grotesque faces and bodies shrouded in hoods so that all that could be seen were two soulless eyes. The full extent of their dark magic and necromancy was not known at the time, but it would soon become startlingly clear that the Descendants stood little match. 

 

A call went forth through the assembled armies that it was time for a great counterattack. The largest army ever assembled charged forth under the command of the Wandering Wizard. Unspeakable spells and boiling firebolts exploded through their ranks as they clashed with the hordes of skeletons and zombies, and warriors of all races fell in droves. The armies clashed back and forth, neither gaining the advantage, until a giant stomped and hammered a path through the Descendant’s ranks, and the great army wavered, almost breaking. But then, High Prince Native of Malinor and his elven archers appeared, bringing the giant down with a single volley of arrows, turning the battle against the Undead Necromancers. The archmages of the Mages Guild cleared a path to the city, and the great army charged through, entering bitter street fighting against the necromancers and what was left of their horde. Towers exploded as the Undead threw every incantation they had against the Descendants, but it was all in vain as each Necromancer was cornered and cut down. The price of victory was extraordinarily high, and Kal’Bryst had to be abandoned, for the Undead’s corruption was too much for any living being to tolerate. In the wake of the battle, still little was known of the Undead, but one name was on every tongue in Aegis: Iblees.

 

From the Second Sky: Trouble among the Elves

 

In Haelun’or, then still a new settlement that few believed would survive, debate swirled about the future of the high elves, or mali’aheral in the elven tongue. It was during this period that Haelun’or closed its gates to the outside world, just as a rising wave of hostility exploded in Malinor against what was viewed as a belief in racial supremacy from many within the walls Haelun’or. 

 

This would usher in a dark period in Haelun’or’s early days, as its increasing isolation made it a target from the orcs of Krugmar, with Rex Mogroka’Gorkil leading the Purge of Haelun’or on the city-state in 1373. The hastily armed high elven defenders held the orcish pillagers at bay, holding a line on the steps of the university. They fought on, exacting heavy casualties against the orcs, until Mogroka marshalled his best fighters for a final charge at the center, scattering the defenders in the tumult of screeching steel and war chants. The library was burned and city sacked, with the high elven bodies piled high among the once serene towers. The silver enclave just barely survived the catastrophic loss. Intensely shaken by the experience, the high elves of Haelun’or turned even further in on themselves. Following this crisis, Ellir’siol took over many of the responsibility of Maheral, emerging as the leading voice among the mali’aheral in philosophy, diplomacy and statecraft. She was the first to formulate the maehr'sae hiylu'ehya, which would come to dominate all facets of life within the Silver State of Haelun’or.
 

The mali’aheral were unprepared for the crisis that would grip them with the rise to prominence of one mali’aheral, Nelecar. Adopting even more radical variants of Ellir’siol’s philosophy, he began pitting citizens of the Silver City against each other, beginning a campaign of murderous terror in order to erode the democratic order that had been established with the okarir system. While he was ultimately unsuccessful, several mali’aheral were murdered, the experience proved formative for the young city state.

 

During the period, the studies and writing of Lucion Sullas took form, and among his initiatives was the discovery of the Kharajyr, an intelligent feline race native to Asulon. Not much was known about them during initial encounters with between the mali’aheral and the kha, but cordial relations were established, beginning a storied relationship between the two often misunderstood cultures.
 

From the Third Sky: Battle of the Dreadfort

 

An escalating set of confrontations between elements within the Holy Oren Empire lead to the creation of two factions, centered on the competing powers of Hanseti and Blackmont. The Order of the White Rose and House Chivay had thrown in with the Blackmonts, while the Shields of Salvus under the direction of James I Hightower supported the Sariants. House Carrion and Silverblade fell in with Blackmont, while House Elendil and Green swore oaths of support to Mirtok DeNurem. Emperor Horen V implicitly gave his support to a confrontation between the two groups under the auspices of low crown authority, and let it be known he would support whichever side prevailed in the coming martial contest. 

 

The Battle of the Dreadfort will perhaps go down as one of the most consequential assaults in the long history of internal human conflicts, rivaling in intensity to the Dukes’ War and the Courlandic Rebellion. The Sariants of the Teutonic Order, under the direction of King Mirtok DeNurem, launched an all out assault on the Dreadfort in 1431. The works were defended by the North Anthos Treaty Organization (NATO), which was comprised of the Blackmonts and their numerous allies. The Sariants bombarded the Dreadfort for hours, and launched repeated assaults on any breach they could establish in its walls, managing to break into the lower levels of the castle. As the Dreadfort crumbled around the defenders, things looks increasingly hopeless, until King Peter Chivay rallied the NATO forces into a final counterattack, directing his forces out a clandestine passage built into the Dreadfort’s foundations. With the fortresses’ towers collapsing around them the defenders gathered, leaving only a token force defending the walls. After he judged sufficient men had gathered for a sally, Peter Chivay lead them out in a great rush, overwhelming the scattered Sariants and allies scattered outside of the destroyed bastion. The Teutons were pressed back to the bridge connecting Hanseti to points south, and Mirtok ordered the bridge burned to prevent the Blackmonts from advancing any further.

 

The failure to seize the Dreadfort proved disastrous for the Kingdom of Hanseti, which was promptly dissolved by the Emperor. It also directly lead to the Massacre of Kingston the following year in 1432, where the Orenian Inquisition, under the direction of Thomas Chivay, utterly annihilated the Shields of Salvus and evicted House Hightower from Salvus, though House Hightower would eventually regain their Kingdom upon joining their House with House Horen through matrimony, becoming House Horen-Hightower. The accompanying White Rose proceeded to the sack the city, destroying much of its accumulated wealth.
 

 

[Vaynth 3005]

Moved to The Great Library. It shall be sorted into the appropriate category shortly.

 

If you feel this is a mistake, please contact myself or any FM and we'll restore it.