The Black Moon Saga

 

  Players/Characters

Dave/Karth

Tim/Aye

Tyler/Radovan

Travis/Cicero 

A VOICE FROM THE PAST

“Hear this,” Shadesong said to the five that had assembled behind him. “On this night… we have been betrayed.”

         Thus begins the Fourth Saga, the Saga of the Black Moon, over 500 years ago. Atop a mountain whose name is lost to the mists of time, overlooking a fortress long forgotten, but that once was the seat of power for the Order of Othwyn, Shadesong told his four chosen Crescent Knights that he, and their brothers and sisters in death, would not see the morning. But they, these four assembled, would make the greatest sacrifice of all…

 

FIRE & FREEDOM - LATE SUMMER-EARLY FALL

         As Matilda Pennywhistle escaped the boat where she inadvertently helped Noctil free several Novix (All Chains Rust Saga), four men below deck, none with more than a week or so of memory – and all of these being chained in the hold of a ship – used the fire and distraction caused by her fight with the Iron Mongers and the Novix to escape. A dvaerg, an Orkan and two humans, they had only two things in common – a tattoo of black sword and black crescent moon on their necks; and the fact that all of them could see a black moon hovering just above the horizon, to the west.

         Having no memory, they named themselves Aye, Karth, Cicero and Radovan. On the road, starved, cold and just barely free of their chains, they interfered in an attack on a coach by a group of road agents. Two of the people in the coach had already died – an Imperium Legate, bringing Chief Engineer Vorena Arcadia orders to have the traitor Quintus Antius arrested; and a Wildren Druid, returning to the continent with a rare plant long extinct at the hands of the Necro-King – an aglanomea pictum, who can only survive if within reach of a living being at nearly all times, and whose spores can cure necrosis.

 

OFFERS

         That night, a voice from the shadows reached the one called Karth, offering patronage. The being – a creature of shadow with amber scars on their body – called themselves Nyx, and entered into a bargain with Karth.

         The four followed the moon, and found themselves on the island of Vinovium, where they encountered the eldren sage Anduil Blackquill. This one told them of the Crescent Knights who once bore that tattoo of theirs, how they served Shadesong when this one walked Eld. He showed them his own similar tattoo. He agreed to help them, and look for what knowledge he could gather from his tomes and scrolls.

         During this time, they cleared out a cave filled with pirates, getting some measure of revenge against the Iron Mongers who had enslaved them. They also freed four strange, grey-skinned eldren, who spoke of an artefact called the Purest Vessel, which they had stolen from their former lord, the Warlock Nuare. They spoke of a strange land beneath the earth, of a city built upside down, below which lived hordes of rat-people, the Novix. How they had long hidden the Purest Vessel, and how Nuare had bargained for it from them, only to be attacked by a group of heroes, among which were Vorena Arcadia, Quintus Antius, the dvaerg Sigrid Thorillsdottir and the Orkan thief Jurgen Ostara (The Fields of Asphodel Saga).

         The grey elves spoke of the plight of their people, hidden underground beneath the Magisterium, left to rot and suffer by the haughty eldren who rejected their children born different. Then, they traded the secret of the Purest Vessell’s hiding place to the four, in exchange for freedom.

         When they returned to Anduil, they found themselves prisoners of his tower. He told them of their past, how they were once bound to serve Shadesong, how their army had been defeated by the Order of Othwyn. He knew not how they survived, but could not afford to let go free, to regain their memories, and set themselves once more to the service of the dreadful Shadesong. But some of them argued that they no longer felt the same purpose they one did, that having been given a clean slate, they intended to bend their actions to the service of life rather than death.

         Seeing the care with which Radovan fussed over the aglanomea, and hearing the call to heroism in the voice of Aye, Anduil agreed on a bargain, and they traded the secret of the Purest Vessell’s location for their freedom, as the Grey Elves had just done. However, Cicero took it upon himself to cheat Anduil, giving him false information.

THE NEW LORD OF GODSMOUTH

         After their release, they encountered another messenger, eager to secure their services. It seemed that their past lives and skills had truly left some mark on the world. The Grey Eldren Cayleth Shine brought to them a gift from Darkath Illrune, the new ruler on Godsmouth island – where the Necro-King’s seat of power had once been. He offered the four ancient artefacts that had once belonged to them in exchange for them travelling to Godsmouth to hear what he had to say.

         Three of the four took the artefacts, and in doing so regained some of their memories, but Karth did not, stating his given oath to Nyx as being the only oath he intended to give.

RATS

         The four travelled to the nearest time for some rest. During that night, Radovan, Aye and Cicero remembered that fateful night when they had met Shadesong atop the hill, the night before his army was destroyed, and he disappeared. The night they accepted to follow the Sorcerer Archietor – who drew open a portal with his Four-Snake staff – and to slumber until Shadesong returned.

          They learned of Shadesong’s gift to them - a clean slate and a purge of their memories, that they might choose a different path for themselves. But they also learned of his last instructions: “Should you wish to remember, you will travel North, to the fallen giant embraced by the rock, and there you will remember, and will be brought to my service once more.”

         Radovan’s sister, Clothgylda, also was to be sent on a special mission for Shadesong, and the coldness of her goodbye to Radovan shook him to the core, even hundreds of years later, as he remembered.

         Radovan discovered upon waking up that the anaglomea pictum had begun to pollinate, motes of green and gold filling his room. As he and Karth hurried to provide receptacles for the spores, Aye and Cicero made a horrible discovery in the main room of the inn: rats.

         The hooded stranger known as Noctil (All Chains Rust Saga) summoned a plague, and then showed his true form as a were-rat. Hundreds of rats spilled from his cloak, and dozens of Novix assaulted the town, biting and infecting the population with necrophage.

         Outside, the four were confronted by a massive horror, a giant Ogre Rat. Though they had the opportunity to flee, Radovan and Aye convinced the others to stay and help the populace.

         As they moved to engage the enemy, the three sole members of the Order of Othwyn – Aleken Tainhammerin, Faine, and Garm Darkstone (The Saga Thanesdottir Saga) – arrived. They had been summoned by Anduil, and were to keep an eye on the four.

         Working together, the seven of them – four death-bound soldiers, and three life-bound sentinels – defeated the Ogre Rat, and forced the Novix to retreat.

         In the aftermath, Aleken and Radovan were able to use the anaglomea pictum to make an elixir that saved most of the villagers from the necrophage. Cicero disappeared into the crowd, intent on finding the Purest Vessel himself, while Karth swore he would come after him, slipping off into shadows, and calling upon his eldritch magic to track his former ally. He made no goodbyes and brokered no deals, save the oath he had already taken. The others were offered a place among their ancient enemy, the Order of Othwyn…

Knights of Life, Knights of Death

A brief history of the wars between the Order of Othwyn, and the Crescent Knights of Shadowsong.

THE ORDER OF OTHWYN

The ancient Order of Othwyn was created by Othwyn and his consort Jaedwyn (both worshipped by the Assyr as gods) to oppose Shadesong for thousands of years; however, the Order has fallen on hard times with the disappearance of the Assyr.

 

Awaiting the fulfillment of a prophecy announcing the coming of great heroes, the crone Aoshi Kiga was quited dispirited to find the prophecy nothing but a fable. While she waited along, underground, for hundres of years waiting for them to appear, she has now resolved that she must make do with what she has on hand.

 

The Order, disbanded after Shadesong was defeated, has now been re-activated, and placed under the patronage of the Eldren mage Anduil Blackquill, who long ago betrayed Sahdesong to the Order.

 

There are currently only three members of the Order:

Aleken Tainhammerin (Orkan Priest)

Faine the Plague Knight (Assyr Paladin)

Garm Darkstone (Dvaergur Priest)

They no longer have a fortress, but travel about, going where Anduil sends them to face whatever new threat arises.

THE CRESCENT KNIGHTS

Among the many who followed Shadesong during his first crusade, there were a few who earned his respect, adn served him better than others. These he elevated to the status of Crescent Knights, taking their mortality from them, and gifting them powerful artifacts with which to mete out death.

In his final hours, Shadesong abde four of them - whose names are forgotten in time - to enter a deep slumber and await his return.

Now that Shadesong walks Eld once more, his Crescent Knights cannot be far behind...

A Timeline Shrouded in Mists

 Here is the general - yet vague - timeline of events in the current spate of Sagas. This post will be updated as needed.

As with most mythical stories, I opted to leave the timeline vague. All of the current events take place over a fairly short period of time - many concurrently - but many in Eld will either never hear of them, or hear of them much later. What for one person is last week, might be many months ago for another. As such, the exact dates and times of the events in the overall arc of the Shadesong Saga remain veiled by the mists of time...

Book 1: Shadowsong

 

Saga 1: The Sacrifice of Saga Thanesdottir - Early Spring

Saga 2: The Fields of Asphodel - Late Summer

Saga 3: All Chains Rust, All Men Die - Late Summer to Mid-Fall

Saga 4: Black Moon - Late Summer to Early Fall

Saga 5: A Skin Made for Fire - Early Fall

Saga 6: Blood in the Water - Late Fall/Early Winter

Saga 7: The Well - TBD

Saga 8: Livsdottir - TBD

Saga 9: TBA - TBD

Saga 10: In the Shadow of our Pale Companion - TBD

Useful Links

Here you will find links to Google Docs containing some of the background information about the various civilizations and cultures of Eld. A useful primer to understand all the various Saga journal entries. These remain works-in-progress: I'm always updating and adding more details as the world fills out during the Sagas.

Cultures & Societies: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zSjUWHTtmoAJwfD2wgE7kGvY4XhkvYSk18lOgWx5_48/edit?usp=sharing

Civilizations:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WuyC00mC5KmoCn2A4t5crx87R366gS581YGEB-OUHU4/edit?usp=sharing

SAGAS

Book 1: Shadesong

1- The Sacrifice of Saga Thanesdottir (Complete)

2- The Fields of Asphodel (Complete)

3- All Chains Rust, All Men Die (Complete)

4- Black Moon (Completed)

5- A Skin Made for Fire (Ongoing)

6- Blood in the Water (Begins August 5th)

7- Lievsdottir (to be cast)

8- TBA

9- TBA

10- In the Shadow of Our Pale Companion (End of Book 1)

The World of Eld

 

The Third Saga - All Chains Rust, All Men Die

 

PLAYER/CHARACTER

Rebecca/ Matilda Pennywhistle, Human Gunslinger/Warlock

SEGOVIA - LATE SUMMER TO MID-AUTUMN

What led to the assassination attempt on Evoallah Sweetsong by the Iron Mongers, you ask? Well, as it turns out, a few days before, she had sanction a raid on one of their ships by a foreign agent of hers. The agent, a foreigner named Matilda Pennywhistle, had liberated a cargo hold full of slaves held in dock on the Iron Mongers' quay. However, in doing so, the stranger contracted a pestilence that had begun ravaging the poor quarters of the city, one that turned those afflicted by it into ravening, dead-flesh eating monsters. For betrayed by the stranger named Noctil, Matilda had unwittingly set free a cargo hold full of Novix. One of the ratmen had bitten her, and infected her with the necrophage.

Several Mongers were killed, and their place among the Shadow Syndicate of Segovia was now threatened by their breaking the anti-slavery laws of the Imperium.

 

But while the ship burnt, and four chained shadows fled the hold (see the Fourth Saga - Black Moon), Matilda had already moved on, heading north to the Karthoum desert, looking for a lost "elven" boy (what they call eldren across the sea) for her patron, as well as for a cure for the plague that now inhabited her body.

 

Along the way Matilda a woman wielding a powerful black-powder weapon and a shadow-laced whip gifted to her by her new patron, the Shadowking Nyx, liberated what first appeared to be a somewhat inconsequential dyavolk slave from the predation slavers (see the forthcoming A Skin Made for Fire Saga).

 

It is said Matilda travelled all the way to Dujrah, where she met with a seer, who told her of a dark future darkening her path. Later, after finding the lost eldren boy, she entered the Dreaming Caves to the west of the city. It is said that there, she encountered an old crone named Aoshi Kiga, who guided her to the hidden palace of the one they call The Salt-Eyes - Khavir, an Assyr bent on restoring the desert of Karthoum to the lush glory it was before his people destroyed it all in their war against their masters, the Gurak.

At Khavir's palace, Matilda learned how the Gurak had been decimated by a plague - the necrophage - and while their progeny the Assyr, were immune to it, they nonetheless spent the entire power of their society - and in doing so destroyed the green paradise that was Karthoum - in an attempt to destroy the plague. Their land in tatters, many fled west and north, disappearing in the mountains (the Saga Thanesdottir Saga). A few remained, living in the ruins of their once grand and powerful civilization, while humans moved in and took their place in the ancient cities of Karthoum - now a vast desert of white sand.

 

What occurred at the palace no one knows... What is known is that, some time later, Matilda emerged from it, healed, but leaving in her wake an ancient shadow, once long dormant, now finally awakened once more… Shadowsong. The stranger was now charged with a new quest: to find four people who recently fled a sinking slaver's ship, whose only distinguishing feature was the mark of a black moon and sword tattooed on their necks (the Black Moon Saga).

The Second Saga - The Fields of Asphodel

 

PLAYERS/CHARACTERS

Brenda/ Chief Engineer Vorena Arcadia, Imperium Artificer

Tony: Centurion Quintus Antius, Imperium Paladin

Brent: Jurgan Ostara, Orkan Rogue

Jen: Sigi Thorillsdottir, Dvaergur Fighter

SEGOVIA - LATE SUMMER

Demoted to Engineer, and banished to the distant port-city of Segovia to build sewers, Engineer Vorena Arcadia discovered even more problems. Her workers, it seemed, kept disappearing in the tunnels beneath the city.

 Meanwhile, in Laudanum, Centurion Quintus Antius discovered that the artifact he stole in the Tomb of the Ice Ogre carried with it a curse that inflicts a strange disease on whoever touches it. After two of his servants die and he is himself infected, he travels to Segovia to see Vorena Arcadia, hoping she knows something about the curse.

 Also moving in on Segovia was Sigi Thorillsdottir, a dvaergur envoy of Red Beryl sent to establish connections in Segovia. She was assisted by the Orkan rogue Jurgen Ostara, Heilwig Ostara's ne'er-do-well brother, representing his Master Merchant sister's interests. The two were charged by Evoallah Sweetsong, who has just survived an assassination attempt by the Iron Mongers after she exposed their slave-trading to the Imperium, with finding two of her missing folk in order to secure her help.

 The dvaergur and orkan descended into the sewers, encountering Vorena and Quintus, as well as a strange man with the features of a rat named Virgillius. The creature, a novix, guided them to a hidden chamber where the two missing workers were about to be sacrificed by a cult hoping to open an ancient sarcophagus hidden beneath the city. They arrived in time to prevent the Imperium agent Lucia Nero from completing the ritual and summoning whatever horror lied in the sarcophagus.

 Virgillius convinced them to help him return to his home, deep beneath the earth, in the ruins of the ancient civilizations of the Third Epoch. The plague that has seized Segovia, he says, has but one cure - and it is in the hands of the Novix's vile regent, King Hadesius.

 In Asphodel, the heroes helped Virgillius rescue the Novix hero Arex from the dreadful prison Tartarus. Then, with Arex and the rebellious Novix, they stormed the Palace of Hadesius, where they recovered The Purest Vessel.

 They also discovered that the Black and White Speakers of the Novix were working with a group of Grey Eldren, attempting to retrieve the Purest Vessel themselves in a bid to immunize themselves from the necrophage before unleashing it on the Magisterium. Betrayed, the heroes fought not only the Grey Eldren Warlock Nuare, but his other accomplice, Lucia Nero. In the fight, the Purest Vessel was lost (taken by a group of Grey Eldren), and while Nuare was slain, Nero escaped to return to whoever her true dark masters are.

 The heroes returned to Segovia, intent on bringing the dire news to Laudanum.

The First Saga - The Sacrifice of Saga Thanesdottir

 Players/Characters

Brenda & Tony: Sigrid & Sigrun, Norskring Barbarian twins

Alexandre: Kevahn Silverquill, Magisterium Sorcerer

Marc: Garm Darkstone, Dvaerg Priest

JARLSPORT - EARLY SPRING

 

And so it came to pass that a motley group of adventurers - the Norskring twins Sigur and Sigrid, the Magisterium sorcerer Keivan Soulsilver and the dvearg priest Garm Darkstone - were hired by the Ulthane of the Norskring, Thane Ivar Beornson, to rescue his daughter Saga who had been taken by warriors of Clan Black Dog. While the Ulthan's wife had recently birthed a son, he was sickly and crippled, and was to be put to death, as per the customs of the Clan. Thus, the Ulthan's daughter Saga was Thanesdottir, the next in line for the High Seat.

 

The group set forth from Jarlsport, heading north into the tundra on the heels of Helga Leifsdottir and her men from Clan Black Dog. Along the way, the group began encountering evidence of a strange disease spreading throughout the north, a disease that drove people mad, and made them hunger for the flesh of the dead - the necrophage.

 

HRAFANAGIL

 

In Hrafnagil, they were forced to confront the old Jarl, Beorn Koldstadt, who had desecrated the Clan Spirit by wearing the pelt of a dead bear against the customs of the land. There, they also confronted a mad Frost Giant. Both the Giant and the old Jarl seemed to have been driven to their madness by a stone effigy of a dark, ancient horned god. The Orkan master-merchant Heilwig Ostara, who travelled with the group, saw similarities with the brutal god Ermunaz the Black Blood, once worshipped by all Orkans, but now only revered among the barbaric Cragfolk Orkans.

 

ALFUR HEIMA

 

Travelling even further north, the group came across evidence of the Black Dog pack having been ambushed and decimated, and Saga taken by a new group of mysterious enemies. It seemed the Huldufolk - the Hidden Folk - were more than just myths or spirits of the tundra. The group encountered them, snow-white Eldren living hidden in the far northern mountains, in a place called Alfur Heima.

 

Their Queen, Valdgerthur, told the group how the humans of the Black Dog Clan had the Old Sickness, and she feared that killing them in her realm would re-awaken it. Her people, she said, were descendant of another ancient culture that long ago had come from the desrt in the east to live beneath the mountains. They had brought with them the Old Sickness, and while they were immune to it, they feared releasing it into the world, and so had buried themselves with it, deep beneath the mountains.

 

Their children - those now called the Huldufolk - were allowed to leave and settled on the face of the mountain. The Queen said she had allowed the humans to leave with their captive, as she did not want to kill them for fear of releasing the Old Sickness, but also did not wish to meddle in the affairs of humans and draw too much attention to her people.

 

It was then that a figure struck from the shadows, murdering Queen Valdgerthur before the group's very eyes. This shadow, the group would come to know, was the Orkan assassin Clothgylda. As the Queen's people began arriving, it was clear they would think the group of heroes had murdered their Queen. Against their better judgement, the group entered the mountain, and headed deep within.

 

HEILAGTH

 

Deep below the mountain, the group found the lost city of Heilagth, buried a thousand years before. After facing such horrors as Lamp Preys, Listeners and a Gloom Fiend, the group found refuge in the city itself, where they met the crone Aoshi Kiga, last surviving member of the Assyr race.

 

Aoshi Kiga had been waiting for the coming of a group of heroes, foretold long ago - but was mighty disappointed to find out these were not that group. Still, she told them how her people, the Assyr, had escaped the Old Sickness, which she called 'necrophage', that had decimated their creators and masters, the ancient, forgotten race of the Gurak. Her people had fled from the desert, but soon realized the necrophage - which infected living hosts in order to spread, and fed on necrotizing flesh - had followed them. They had buried themselves deep in the mountain to end it.

 

But, Aoshi Kiga said, one came a few hundred years earlier, a human with a  group of dvaergur guides. This human, a wizard dressed in green and purple, with a four-headed snake staff that dripped poison, had uncovered an ancient cache of necrophage and had taken it with him, using it to become the Necro-King who ruled over the southern Empire for hundreds of years. She identified the statue and symbol of the Horned God - a long forgotten evil that died long before even the Gurak, who had created the Assyr to serve as their slaves, were born.

 

In the Glorious Chapel, the group fought an ancient horror infected with the necrophage, recovering one of only a few artifacts said to possess the power to destroy necrophage - the Sun Spear of Jaedwyn, the ancient god of the Assyr. They also freed another Assyr, once a paladin, now a plague knight, called Faine, who helped them kill the beast and joined the group.

 

ANJARTHAR

 

With Faine guiding them, the group emerged in Anjarthar, the home of the dvaergur. There, the group encountered the enterprising Red Beryl, chief of the Black Opal Cartel - a group of thieves and gem traders. They were told how the gates of Anjarthar had been closed for hundreds of years because King Skuld Isbjord felt shame at having sanctioned the expedition that had led to the empowerment of the Necro-King, and he feared retaliation from the people of Eld.

 

Now, the dvaergur were being petitioned by the Jotun of Kettilheim, the Giants who tend to the World Tree, for help. It seems some of their people had become infected by a deadly sickness that turned them into dead flesh-eating mosntrosities. The Jotunbairn Skadi was in Anjarthar, reminding Kind Isbjord of the ancient pact between Jotun and dvaerg. Yet the King was hesitating, considering closing the doors to Anjarthar once more, and waiting for everything to blow over.

 

The group agreed to help Red Beryl in exchange for the means to convince the King to help the Jotun. A group of Imperium engineers, under the guise of a trade mission, appeared on the verge of claiming rich. newfound mines. The heroes, along with Red Beryl's mysterious agent Stovepipe and the dvaergur adventurer Laeknir, helped Master Engineer Vorena Arcadia and the disgraced Centurion Quintus Antius of the Seventh Legion defeat a family of Ice Ogres infected with necrophage, collapsing the mine in the process, effectively cutting off the Imperium from it.

 

Armed with Red Beryl's information - the contract signed by King Isbjord giving the human help in acquiring the necrophage - the heroes forced a confrontation with the King, eventually having him replaced by his daughter, the priest Thekla, first Queen of Anjarthar, who quickly agreed to help the Jotun as a way of making amends for her peoples' past actions.

 

Before setting off for Kettilheim, the group encountered a strange dvaergur named Grimnir who told them A Story of Life and Death. The group now understood that a horned creature had appeared in Kettilheim, bringing with it a sickness that turned the giantkin Titans against their parent. This horned creature's ultimate goal was the destruction of Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life protected by the Jotun. They also understood why Saga was taken - as a descendent of the first Human King, her blood was a potent weapon against the necrophage, and if it were to be corrupted by the horned creature, it could be sued to poison Yggdrasil, and spread necrophage throughout the whole of creation.

 

KETTILHEIM & MIRK DEDANFJOR

 

Deep below Kettilheim, the heroes confronted the Horned God reborn, a wicked and base creature of disease and corruption, and felled him, saving Saga - but seeing the Sun Spear destroyed in the process. 

But now the Titans, corrupted by the necrophage, were moving against their Jotun kin, ready to destroy them and burn the World Tree.

 

The heroes emerged from the dread mirk to help the Jotun protect the tree. Clothgylda, the Orkan assassin, appeared again to try and assassinate Saga but was foiled by the heroes. Loffey and the Titans were defeated, and the Jotun - and Yggdrasil - saved.

 

But as the celebrations began, the heroes heard of a new threat - a young woman carrying rotten apples, gathering about her an army of Norskring warriors infected with necrophage…

The Shadesong Saga

The Shaper sang a Song of Creation, and all life - good, evil and all in between - sprung from it.

 

Life, Death, Life in Death - all are part of the Shaper's Song, an eternal dance between what is living, what is dead, and what neither-yet-both. These forces - the Pale Aria, the Shadesong, and The Fugue - swirl around each other, altering the world with every step, every breath.

 

The continent of Eld is an ancient land that has already seen countless empires rise and fall. The current year is placed by scholars in the Fifth Epoch, but evidence exists that there might even have

been a great many more eras preceding the established calendar, which itself was created by the elves of the Magisterium over a thousand years ago. Bute even the great libraries of the Magisterium - the greatest trove of knowledge on Eld - have but scant information on the times before the Fimbulwinter that ended the Third Epoch.

 

Not much is known of the first three epochs, except that each likely lasted a few thousand years. All that remains of them are ancient, deeply buried ruins and artefacts - though it is also believed the Necrophage originated during one of the first three epochs.

 

At the end of the Third Epoch, the world had returned to a permanent icy state after a massive object fell from the sky and began the final years of civilization. It is believed many may have escaped the dying planet in some way, but no concrete records remain. This is now known as Fimbulwinter - the Longest Winter.

The first part of the Fourth Epoch is shrouded in mystery, and only the greatest scholars of the Magisterium or Karthoum still hold records of the days before the rise of Ghaul'Ra - The Necro-King.

1,500 - 1,750 - The Necro-King Ghaul'Ra rises. Most of the humans follow him; those who do not are enslaved. He rules from his dark fortress on the island of Godsmouth.

 

1,750 - 1,900 - The Sick, the Dead and the Dying: The Eldren of Starfall split into two nations, the Magisterium and the Wildbough. The Necro-King Ghaul'Ra cements his power, discovers the necrophage.

 

1,900 - 2,100 - Rise of the Imperium: After uniting the fractious Orkan Tribes, Ute the Black begins the process of civilizing her people. Ghaul'Ra rules in the South. The Imperium is created by escaped human slaves; in Ghaul'Ra's dark laboratories, the rat-like Novix are born.

 

2,111 - The Dark War: War between Imperium, Magisterium and Ghaul'Ra begins.

 

2,152: The Eldren of the Magisterium, the most ancient race known to currently inhabit the continent of Eld, have long hidden away safely behind the magical protection of the Well of Eternity, an ancient artifact that gives the Eldren near immortality and powerful magical abilities. A nearly successful attack by the forces of the Necro-King on the Well prompts them to join forces with the Human Imperium. Between the human's technical and soldiering abilities, and the Magisterium's arcane powers, the Alliance manages to destroy the Necro-King's army, and slay the tyrant. They do not, however, see the shadow that slipped by, escaping this defeat.

 

The Necro-King Ghaul'Ra is defeated. End of the Fourth Epoch.

 

The Fifth Epoch - The Great Renewal

 

The world is emerging from several hundred years under the rule of the Necro-King Ghaul'Ra - finally defeated by an unlikely alliance of Eldren and Humans. The humans and eldren declare this Year 0 of the Great Renewal.

 

Now, a decade later, an uneasy peace exists across the world. The alliance between the Magisterium and the Imperium - now called the Vorian Alliance - remains, and is on the verge of being strengthened by the marriage of the human Emperor's daughter, Clavia, and the Magisterium Prince Avellin, son of the Archmage Lorelei Silversong.

 

Yet, in several places around the world, whispers circulate among the shadows, speaking of a darkness yet to come. The necrophage resurfaces in the north, and the dark melodies of Shadesong can be heard in the distance, echoing warnings and ache...