The History of the Realm

   In the beginning, when the realm was created and the spirits and deities
first entered it, with their still limited powers, the grandgod Ardean
separated the realm from the other planes, and created four titans to
control the realm, and the planes next to it.  It is said Ardean did this
for an important reason, for amongst the spirits that entered the realm
there were those who did it for their own will, and then there were those
banished to leave the timeless halls forever.  Ardean created a massive
shining temple, where it is said, when the time comes, a single mortal will
be chosen to represent the deities and gods of the realm, and depending on
that mortal would be the destiny of the realm.
   The deities were many, and separated from the grandgod, they now quickly
grew in power.  The deities, or gods as they now were, knew more than well
of the promise Ardean had made, and began their conquer over the minds of
the mortals.  Some did it by giving boons, protection and a good harvest,
others through fear and intimidation.  The land quickly became divided into
five large tribes, supporting different gods.  Very few, if any mortals knew
of the promise Ardean had made, and therefore acted accordingly, worshiping
their gods either for fear, or for love.  Some even for both.

      The Age of Five Tribes

   In the Northern part of the land settled the ferocious maiar people. 
Their god, Shar gave them strong power in war, bestowing their beasts and
horses with demonic powers.  It is said Shar created the dragons, the
balrogs and the fire spirits that are still spoken of in legends.  Shar was
the god of Fire and Death, taking her power from the fear, and lust of power
the mortals had.  Shar's priests built a large fiery temple for her, near
the Fire titans mountain.  It is said no-one but the highpriests have ever
visited the temple, for it is a sacred place, and legends tell of priests
talking to Shar there.
   In the far northeast of the land was the area of Thanas, the lord of
light and order.  The largest and mightiest city to ever exist, Termakis,
was positioned in the middle of the evergrowing plains.  The worshippers of
Thanas were holy, spiritual and balanced people.  Paladins trained in the
White tower Of Thanas were known for their skills and devotion, and the
people living near Termakis lived hundreds of years, with no fear for
diseases or catastrophes.  Thanas would quickly have become the greatest
god, if it wasn't for Shar and Charnack, who combined their forces
occasionally, and fought against the fair people of Thanas.
   In the Southeast, around the lake of colors lived the Amarakians, the
people worshipping the nature god Geol.  Geol made his people happy with the
best harvest in the land, and the tales of the hurricanes and tornadoes that
charged towards the approching enemy troops are still told to the children. 
Geol sought to find a perfect race, and created the elves, to represent the
gods of the timeless halls.  Geol was also the god of peace, and his people
were able to live in a peaceful harmony for thousands of years, before the
times of the darkening came.
   In the south, behind the tall mountain range later named as the Devil's
Fang, lived those who worshipped Charnack, the god of darkness and chaos. 
Most powerful of the deities entering the realm, Charnack was banished out
of the timeless halls not only for his lust for power, but also for the fear
Ardean had of him.  It is said that the grandlord himself was afraid that
Charack would soon became too powerful, and was content thinking that he
could not gather much worshippers in the realm.  Charnack created the orcs,
the allmighty dark wizards, the Nazgul and the Chaos Paladins.  Many people
were forced to worship him, for his armies were great, and soon conquered
vast areas of the realm.  Only the combined powers of the other gods held
him back, but everyone in the realm could feel his eyes on their backs,
feeling death and darkness present.
   In the west lived a small but respected tribe worshipping the elemental
god Waren.  Waren is said to have built a large flying temple, where his
worshippers and high priests could perform their sacred rituals.  Warens
priests were known for their immense magical powers, and Waren created the
Flounders, the Sprites and other supernatural beings to worship him.  Other
gods acted with a rather respectful manner against Waren's people, for they
knew that Waren too, was one of those banished from the timeless halls, but
none knew why.  Not yet.

      The Age of Heroes

   During his being in the timeless halls Waren, the elemental deity, had 
stolen a powerful artifact called the triangle of heroes from the 
grandgod Ardean, and he managed to hide it from him by his magical 
powers.  Ardean banished Waren for this, but was unaware that Waren still 
had the triangle when sent to the realm.  Waren, thinking the powers of 
the triangle could get him back to the timeless halls sent an audience to 
Charnack, the most powerful of the gods in the realm, and proposed a pact 
to use the triangle in the great summoning ritual of the titans, to open 
the gates to the timeless halls.  Charack, lusting for revenge to Ardean 
had no choice but to accept, and called forth his highpriests to perform 
the ritual.  What Waren did not tell to Charnack was that the power of the 
triangle would rip apart the god using it, and that only one god could 
enter the gate.  Waren too, however underestimated the powers of the 
artifact, and when the ritual was performed the skies turned red from the 
blood of the mortal worshippers of the five gods, and the gods 
permanently lost their immense powers over lesser life forms.  All the 
deities were ripped apart to three forms.  to the hero, to the Avatar, and 
to the remaining deity.  There was no way of reversing the ritual once 
begun, and the day is now called as the day of the heroes.
   Shar, the fire god lost all her worshippers, just like the other gods,
and was imprisoned into her temple of fire for an unknown time, as the
lavabursts from the fire titans mountains flooded the temple.  The old
firetitan now became the Avatar of Shar, spreading chaos and fires to
whereever he roamed, avenging for his god.  Shumar the Balrog, the old
highpriest of Shar now became his hero, equipped with the great firewhip of
the Balrogs, to find a mortal powerful enough to free his master from the
temple.  Shumar headed for Termakis, to find help from the holy men of
Thanas, but as before, the people and priests of Shar were seen as the enemy
in Termakis, and Shumar met the Avatar of Thanas in the northern plains, and
was never seen again, and is supposed to have been killed in the fight,
after setting on fire half of the plains, and killing the mightiest Paladins
of Termakis.
   Thanas, seeing how things were becoming early enough, cast a great spell
upon Termakis, forever sheltering the city under a holy shield, through
which nothing could penetrate, to either dircetion.  Thanas is still said to
live in his main temple in Termakis, but the exact location of the city is
lost, since the neverending plains were covered with dust and ash caused by
Shumar, the Hero of Shar, when he attacked Tarmakis.  Legends also tell he
is buried somewhere within the plains.  Thanas, how wise or powerful he was,
could not protect himself fully from the process, but rather than becoming
divided by the powers of the triangle he separated his immortal body from
his soul willingly, creating a powerful avatar, and a hero, embodied in the
same body.  Thuram, the great northern paladin, Avatar of Thanas was sent to
the southern lands to get the triangle, and to punish those not worthy.  It
is said Thuram weared ancient artefacts given to him personally by Thanas. 
The greatest Olog-Hai warriors soon fell under the might of Thanas's
Sunblade, and no dark force could penetrate through his Holy plate of
Termakis.  Thuram arrived at the Devil's Fang after a long journey, and
that's where he found a huge statue representing Charnack, the ruler of
darkness and chaos.  Charnack was eternally imprisoned within the stone
statue, surrounded by his dark priests, still chanting the spells to bring
back their lord.  Although Charnack was now limited at his powers, Thuram
could not enter the temple where the Statue was, and the dark spell chaneed
by the priests made him weaker.  Thuram directed his travels to the east
where he was about to meet Wram, the avatar of Geol.
   Most of Geol's worshippers died during the ritual of the triangle, and
Geol was stripped of most of his power.  As his last act he summoned a great
werewolf to take his spirit and find a peaceful place for it.  Within
minutes trees, bushes and other plants flooded the city and covered it from
the later generations for ages.  In the middle of the forest still stands a
huge oak reminding us of Geol's presence, but nothing has been heard from
him for eons.  Wram, the werewolf avatar of Geol met Thuram on the high
hills of Antark, where they declared an alliance between the men of Aramak
and Termakis.  The great arena of heroes was built on the hills, and from
here the forces of Thanas launched most of their attacks towards west and
south.
   Right after the ritual of the triangle the Dark Knight in orded of
Charnacks armies led a powerful crusade against the weak western forces of
Waren.  Most of Waren's forces were annihilated, and with them the knowledge
on the location of the gate, now open.  Leading back to the timeless halls. 
Charnack's reincarnation, Hrwack, the messanger of pain was summoned by the
dark priests in the temple at Devil's Fang.  Hrwack cursed the name of Waren
and Thanas, both who knew of the true nature of the triangle, and left east,
to slay the warriors of Aramakis, and to revenge the nonexistence of his
master by imprisoning Thuram.  On the first day of the year, Hrwack was seen
arriving at the Arena of the Heroes, ground ripping around him, air rushing
away from the beast, fires nearby going out from the chill and rivers
freezing from where he walked.  Legends tell that Hrwack wore the four
ancient amulets of the titans, giving him all their powers, taken away from
them in the ritual, and given to him as a last resort by the ruler of Devils
Fang, the highpriest wizard.
   The fight at the arena was great, for the mountains near the area are
still shaking from the blows delivered, and the sky is all covered in
cluods, the area resides in eternal twilight.  Wram and Thuram were both
slain, and Hrwack was drained to nothingess by Thuram's Sunblade, but before
dying Hrwack called for his master the last time, and for the first time it
was seen that the deities had not disappeared completely, for Charnack
answered, by summoning the orcs from their caves, the trolls from their
mountains, the beasts from the forests and the skeletal dragons from their
nests.  Sky was filled with dark, evil creatures, sent all over the realm. 
Many other deities responded by summoning their forces to resist, but none
seemed to be powerful enough to stop the invading forces of evil.  For
decades, long war were fought, and finally Charnack's rulership as the
primary god seems to have ended, although the presence of chaos, darkness,
and wars still can be felt throughout the realm.
   It is unknown what happened to Waren, the Deity of magic, but it is
generally believed he too was slain by the invading forces of Charnak, but
he lives forever in the hands of the magicians and priests soon appearing
over the land.  At the very year many people generated magical powers, which
had before been unknown for mortal men.  Waren's spirit is now devoted to
the magic spells, being cast all over the lands by those who still remember
him, and his gift to the realm.
   The gods again, are trying to get back their worshippers, but most of the
gods, still being imprisoned or banished, have very weak powers, and freeing
one of them would give the deity immense powers over the realm.  This is why
most worshippers of the gods are looking for brave or foolish heroes to free
their masters, for it is said that anything that the deities do, can be
undone by the mortals, and vice versa.  The realm is at the edge of
continual changes, and future is unclear.  Brave heroes keep entering the
world, others summoned by the deities, others from amongst the other
mortals.  Some of them just seeking for treasures and adventures, others
aiming to fulfill a quest given by some of the gods to free them, and some
trying to prove to be the best heroes in the land so they could represent
the realm when the time comes, and one of the mortals is chosen to meet
Ardean.

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Mud < Topics > Mudcon.2000.1