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| − | How it Came to Pass
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| − | Though we must be thankful for the here and the
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| − | now, we must always remember what was. Some
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| − | things must never be allowed to happen again.
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| − | -- King Varulus of Throal, 1438 TR
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| − | The following is abridged from a speaking by the
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| − | ork troubadour Storymaster Jallo Redbeard to a
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| − | group of dwarven scholar students in the great
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| − | library of Throal, 1505 TH.
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| − | Regardless of what one believes of the Therans,
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| − | the story of the lands we now call Barsaive would
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| − | not be complete unless we started with them.
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| − | Without the Therans Barsaive might have ended up
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| − | as nothing more than the scores of warring tribes
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| − | and city-states that dotted the land a thousand years
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| − | ago. Though the Therans brought us oppression,
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| − | deceit, slavery, and inhumanity, they also gave us
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| − | culture, politics, commerce, and a glimpse of the
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| − | power that unity can bring.
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| − | What we know of the origins of the Therans comes
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| − | from their mouths and their writings. It is their tale,
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| − | their legend, that we recount here. How much is
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| − | truth, how much is lie, and how much falls between
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| − | may never be known while the halls of Thera still
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| − | stand. Despite that, it is a tale worth telling, the
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| − | story of the creation of an empire.
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| − | THE MARTYR SCHOLAR
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| − | The saga of Thera begins nearly one century before the founding of the dwarven
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| − | kingdom of Throal.
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| − | The elf Elianar
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| − | Messias, who will
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| − | one day be
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| − | revered or cursed
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| − | as the Father of
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| − | Thera and the
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| − | Martyr Scholar, is
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| − | an honored
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| − | follower of the
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| − | elven Spiritual
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| − | Path. In addition,
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| − | Messias is an
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| − | important advisor
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| − | to High Queen
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| − | Failla of the Elven
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| − | Court at Wyrm
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| − | Wood, the center
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| − | of elven culture.
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| − | Messias has a
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| − | falling-out with
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| − | Failla over the
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| − | desire of the elven
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| − | nation of Shosara
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| − | to loosen the
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| − | cultural shackles
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| − | that bind it to the
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| − | Court. Messias
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| − | believes the elves
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| − | of Shosara should
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| − | be allowed to
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| − | develop their
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| − | national culture as
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| − | they see fit. Failla
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| − | disagrees: the
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| − | Court is the center
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| − | of elven culture
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| − | and all elven
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| − | nations must
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| − | emulate her. Failla
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| − | will allow no
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| − | exception.
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| − | Failla declares Shosara "separated" from the elven Court, an act of such gravity it
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| − | threatens to fracture that nation. Messias adamantly opposes Failla and her Declaration of
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| − | Separation and is banished for his challenge. Queen Failla casts him from the Court for
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| − | one hundred years, and orders that he may return after that period only if he "has learned
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| − | the value of heritage and a quiet tongue." Messias never returns.
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| − | As part of his banishment, he is dispatched to a small monastery set in the foothills of
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| − | what are known today as the Delaris Mountains in southeastern Barsaive. There, along
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| − | with a cadre of scholars dedicated to Mynbruje, the Passion of Knowledge, Messias
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| − | works to recover, translate, and transcribe volumes of books and scrolls recently
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| − | recovered from a nearby mountain cavern. The scholars believe this cache of knowledge
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| − | to be thousands upon thousands of years old, dating from early in the time when the
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| − | magical aura of our world still lay dormant, before it rose to become the vibrant energy
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| − | of our own time. What little learned men had deciphered of the works prior to Messias'
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| − | arrival indicated that the documents spoke of an even older time, when the world's aura
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| − | was as strong as it is now.
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| − | Messias focuses on a group of six books barely kept intact by the magic and climate of
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| − | the cavern where they are stored. The six are a set, matched in size and style, even down
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| − | to the odd, blood-inscribed rune on each of their covers. Messias can tell just by looking
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| − | at them that they contain powerful, probably dangerous, information. He also believes
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| − | them to be a warning, though against what he does not know. He devotes his life to
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| − | untangling their secrets. In the end those secrets eagerly take the life he has offered.
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| − | Late one evening some years later, his fellows discover his body twisted and wracked
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| − | with his dying agonies. Messias has torn his eyes from his head and then thrust his
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| − | clenched fists and their bloody contents into the fire raging in the hearth of his quarters.
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| − | He has also left a brief note nearby. It says:
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| − | These are the Books of Harrow.
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| − | They are our doom and our salvation.
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| − | Learn from them, or we will all perish.
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| − | That night, something horrid stalks the corridors of the monastery and six of Messias'
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| − | brethren die terribly. The next morning, an elder elven scholar named Kearos Navarim
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| − | takes the six Books of Harrow, three of his fellow scholars, and ample provisions, and
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| − | sets out on a long journey to the land of his birth far to the south and west of Barsaive. In
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| − | that place, in the protection that he knows he can find there, he intends to continue
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| − | Messias' work and unlock the secrets of the Books of Harrow. He and the others settle on
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| − | an island in the midst of the great Selestrean Sea and found a place of learning called
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| − | Nehr'esham, or "center of the mind."
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| − | This place marks the beginning of Thera, the beginning of the learning that would reveal
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| − | the Horrors to us, and the beginning of the great war of the mind to save us all.
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| − | THE ETERNAL LIBRARY
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| − | Word of Nehr'esham and of its Great Project to translate the Books of Harrow spreads
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| − | quickly throughout the lands of the world. The island soon becomes a gathering point for
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| − | magicians, adepts, and scholars of all types and races. Nehr'esham grows rapidly from its
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| − | humble beginnings into a small city. Though Navarim nominally leads the burgeoning
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| − | city, he keeps around him a tight circle of scholarly and magical advisors who administer
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| − | the city's needs. Navarim himself concentrates on unlocking the secrets of the Books of
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| − | Harrow.
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| − | Realizing that more books like the Books of Harrow must have survived elsewhere,
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| − | Navarim sends scholars and adepts out from the island to find these books and bring
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| − | them back to Nehr'esham. To hold these tomes and scrolls the city's overseers arrange for
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| − | the construction of what will become known as the Eternal Library. Magically protected
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| − | and controlled, it will be a place where these and other ancient works can be kept and
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| − | studied in safety for both the works and the reader.
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| − | Ironically, as the first stones for the Eternal Library are laid, thousands of miles to the
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| − | northeast dwarven miners are taking up permanent residence in the giant mines and
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| − | caverns that will someday compose Thera's greatest rival: the dwarven kingdom of
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| − | Throal. The Throal Calendar, by which Barsaive will one day mark its time, counts
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| − | forward from that day.
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| − | THE FIRST HORRORS
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| − | As the Eternal Library nears completion, one hundred and fifty years after the founding
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| − | of Nehr'esham, the first signs of the Horrors begin to appear in the world. In the city of
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| − | Majallan, in the human-dominated lands of Landis, dark wraithlike spirits stalk the
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| − | streets, driving men to violence against each other. For a year in the city of Draoglin, in
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| − | the ancient dwarven kingdom of Scytha, every dwarven child shrivels and dies before
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| − | reaching its first month of life, its essence devoured by something unseen. And across the
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| − | entire land that will one day be Barsaive, hordes of twisted, insect-like creatures are
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| − | found nesting in isolated urban and rural areas. In southern Barsaive their infestation is
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| − | so great that sworn enemies find themselves working side by side to destroy the
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| − | creatures. This time, known as The Burning, is the closest Barsaive comes to unification
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| − | prior to the arrival of the Therans. Hopes of unity collapse, however, in the face of the
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| − | tragic famine that grips Barsaive in the following years.
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| − | To the aged Navarim and his followers, the dreadful tidings from Majallan, Scytha, and
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| − | the city-states of southern Barsaive portend the beginning of something terrible. What
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| − | these awful signs warn of becomes frighteningly clear shortly thereafter. Navarim's
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| − | brilliant student and assistant, the dwarf Jaron, breaks through to understanding and
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| − | completes the translation of the first of the six Books of Harrow. This book, named
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| − | simply The First Book of Harrow, speaks of terrible days ahead, of the coming of the
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| − | Horrors, their nearly unstoppable power, and the possible ruination of the world.
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| − | The Horrors, the book says, are terrible spirits dwelling in the darkest corners of the
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| − | netherworlds. When the magical aura of this world reaches a certain strength, the Horrors
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| − | will be able to build mystical bridges between this world and the twisted realm where
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| − | they dwell. And then the Horrors will come. Terrible and powerful, they are beyond
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| − | reason. They seek only to consume. Some desire anything physical:
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| − | THERA IS BORN
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| − | Word of the First Book of Harrow spreads quickly. The city around Nehr’esham begins
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| − | to swell just as quickly until it covers the entire island. It is soon renamed Thera,
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| − | meaning "foundation." In time, the island becomes a center of trade and commerce as
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| − | well as the center of learning and thought in the eastern Selestrean Sea.
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| − | The growth of Thera does not come without its price, however. Unable to support the
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| − | enormous tasks of physical labor required to keep up with the swelling population and
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| − | commerce, the Therans must import workers from other lands. Theran slavery begins
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| − | with these laborers. The great Theran merchant houses that arrange for the transport of
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| − | the workers maintain "control" over the workers they import. Financial arrangements
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| − | must be made with the merchant house for the use of the workers. Soon, "control" of
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| − | workers becomes commonplace as the powerful and influential arrange to import
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| − | workers specifically as servants and minor laborers. Within seventy years from the
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| − | arrival of the first work-ship, "control" becomes ownership and true slavery is as
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| − | common on Thera as the ocean breeze.
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| − | Within a year of the translation of the First Book, Navarim dispatches copies to all the
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| − | leaders in all the lands he has ever heard of in an effort to warn them. Few listen.
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| − | Meanwhile, work on deciphering the other Books of Harrow continues in the hopes of
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| − | finding some way to stop or defend against the Horrors. Early on, Navarim establishes
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| − | the School of Shadows as the center for this effort and charges it to find ways of
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| − | defeating the Horrors. From that School groups of adepts and magicians travel across the
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| − | known world to confront the burgeoning Horrors and learn what they can from those
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| − | confrontations.
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| − | At the same time, Thera’s leading citizens create a more formal organization to govern
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| − | the island. Navarim, named the Elder of Thera, presides over a body of advisors and
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| − | administrators known as The Twelve. This body controls and manages the various areas
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| − | of Thera and her growing influence. In one of their first acts, The Twelve establish a
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| − | military force to defend Thera against increasing bandit and pirate raids.
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| − | The research conducted at the School of
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| − | Shadows proves to have more uses than at first
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| − | expected. Theran scholars and magicians
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| − | discover insights and understandings into the
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| − | ways and makings of magic that have farreaching
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| − | ancillary results. Their research opens
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| − | up to the Therans the ability to work the
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| − | powerful elemental magic contained in the True
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| − | Forms of air, earth, fire, water, and wood. Using
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| − | that knowledge, the Therans build their stunning
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| − | cities, none of which could exist without the aid
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| − | of magic. They also create their airships, vessels
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| − | of all kinds that fly through the air. Their
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| − | research also gives them knowledge of magical
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| − | warding and protection, illusion and healing, the
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| − | transformation and manipulation of physical
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| − | objects, and insight into the deepest reaches of
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| − | the netherworlds. Thera becomes an island, a
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| − | nation, and eventually an empire built on magic.
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| − | THE THERANS AND BARSAIVE
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| − | As Thera grows, the land that will someday become Barsaive exists in ignorance.
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| − | Unnamed, the area is home to independent tribes and isolated city-states. Little trade
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| − | exists between these powers, the only real contact coming through intermittent attacks on
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| − | rich Thera by the poorer city-states. Occasional efforts by the Elven Court at Wyrm
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| − | Wood to bring the area under their control fail. Though rulers of a great empire, the elves
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| − | of Wyrm Wood do not see enough worth conquering in Barsaive to exert the necessary
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| − | political and military pressure. Their failure ultimately leaves Barsaive vulnerable to
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| − | Theran domination.
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| − | In the Throal year 212 TH, the Therans finally arrive in Barsaive. They first make
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| − | contact with the humans of Landis near the city of Vivane and what will someday
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| − | become Sky Point. From there, Theran representatives and ambassadors travel across
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| − | Barsaive making contact and trade alliances with every group they can find. This land,
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| − | they discover, abounds with the natural and magical elements and materials the Therans
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| − | covet. The Theran envoys promise a glittering future through trade to Barsaive’s citystates
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| − | and tribes; dazzled by the prospect of Theran riches, the local leaders sign
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| − | agreements without reading between the lines.
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| − | The arrival of the first Theran trading fleet in 216 TH comes as a great surprise to
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| − | Barsaive’s local powers. They had signed treaties and agreements with the Theran
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| − | envoys, but without any real understanding of the implications. The sight of dozens of
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| − | Theran airships drifting slowly through the air over their palaces, castles, and tents is a
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| − | literal and symbolic blow to them. A new power has come to Barsaive now, and it is
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| − | second to none.
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| − | BIRTH OF AN EMPIRE
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| − | The Therans enjoy their growing power. The island itself, its central citadel, the Eternal
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| − | Library, and other great works of architecture and culture are renowned across the world.
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| − | Thera’s position in the heavily traveled Selestrean Sea makes her an ideal port of trade
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| − | and commerce. For mystical thought and pure magical power, There has no equal. The
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| − | potency of her magicians and the skill of her adepts are envied the world over. She needs
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| − | little else to seal her position in the world. Nevertheless, Fate gives it to her.
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| − | Nearly four hundred years after the founding of Nehr’esham, in the Throal year 341 TH,
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| − | Kearos Navarim dies of old age. His body is sealed in amber and placed in the great
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| − | plaza of the citadel at the heart of Thera, next to the cenotaph of his friend Elianar
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| − | Messias. Word spreads quickly that Navarim died while putting the finishing touches on
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| − | the culmination of the Great Project and the researches of the School of Shadows. The
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| − | rumors are correct.
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| − | Five years after Navarim’s death, his successor as Elder of Thera, the human Meach
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| − | Vara Lingam, announces to the world that though the scholars have found nothing
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| − | beyond a keen blade and an iron will to defeat the coming Horrors, they have discovered
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| − | something to protect against them. Lingam unveils to the world Kearos Navarim’s
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| − | crowning and final work, Rites of Protection and Passage.
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| − | RITES OF PROTECTION AND PASSAGE
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| − | Despite Lingam’s brave words, the Rites of Protection and Passage does not offer any
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| − | truly effective methods of protecting against the Horrors, but it does present the
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| − | theoretical means by which that protection can be discovered. In his four-volume work,
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| − | Navarim concluded that isolation from the Horrors is the only true means of protection
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| − | against them. Because of their individual power and sheer overwhelming numbers, direct
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| − | confrontation with the Horrors would ultimately prove suicidal.
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| − | To hide from the Horrors, Navarim proposed to construct great underground fortresses.
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| − | Dubbed kaers, these dwellings would protect their occupants against the Horrors on the
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| − | theory that strong enough walls will keep out even the most physically powerful Horror.
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| − | The natural, solid, earthen walls of the kaer would also provide protection against those
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| − | Horrors that travel through astral space or by means as yet unguessed. However,
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| − | Navarim warned an earthen barrier might not be enough to withstand every Horror.
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| − | Navarim’s book also offered other means of protection. Cities could be shielded under
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| − | domes woven of True Air. Kaers could be built beneath the sea and protected by True
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| − | Water, and so on. Navarim believed that the underground kaer would offer the strongest
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| − | defense, though even it might be breached.
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| − | To shore up the kaers’ defenses, Navarim offered additional protections to defend against
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| − | the Horrors on a primal level. Navarim believed that magicians could learn to create
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| − | wards and runes that would "call" to a Horror through magic. Once the Horror examined
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| − | the rune, its mind would become caught in the magical web and mathematical maze of
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| − | the rune’s construction. Because the Horror comes from a place deep in the mystical
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| − | netherworlds, a Horror must always devote some degree of its concentration to keeping
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| − | itself in this world. A rune entrapping its mind would break the Horror’s concentration
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| − | and force the thing either to retreat or lose its grasp in this world and be flung back to the
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| − | pit from whence it came.
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| − | Unfortunately for Thera and her sister lands, only the theory for these runes and wards
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| − | exists. Navarim believed they could be devised and had charged the School of Shadows
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| − | with their creation just prior to his death. In the meantime, he recommended that kaers be
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| − | built wherever possible in preparation for the day when the infestation of Horrors would
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| − | become so overpowering that they would render the surface of the world all but
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| − | uninhabitable. This would occur, Navarim believed, in just over eight hundred years.
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| − | The School of Shadows continues to work on mastery of the runes, intending to make
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| − | them available to all once their secrets are unlocked. And unlock them they do, but
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| − | instead of sharing them, Thera closely guards the secrets of the runes. Soon she will use
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| − | them as a bargaining tool to extend the Theran sphere of influence.
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| − | The immediate reaction to Navarim’s work is mixed. Many dismiss its conclusions
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| − | outright, while others look upon it with almost religious reverence. Most, though, cannot
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| − | take seriously a threat eight hundred years in the future. They read Navarim’s words and
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| − | vow to prepare, later.
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| − | ORICHALCUM WARS
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| − | Thera, however, does not wait. The mighty, magic-rich island needs significant and
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| − | perhaps extravagant protection against the Horrors. To this end its leaders begin to
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| − | collect vast quantities of the magical metal orichalcum. The Therans begin striking
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| − | favorable trade agreements in order to obtain large quantities of the rare material. No one
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| − | can guess what manner of protection the Therans wish to build that requires so much of
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| − | that metal, but as long as they pay well for it, no one much cares.
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| − | For those who do not know, orichalcum can only occur from the natural mixing of
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| − | certain other earthen materials that combine in the presence of True Earth. Though not a
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| − | part of orichalcum, True Earth is always found in the same area as that rare ore.
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| − | Orichalcum must usually be mined, but occasionally nodes of it are found close enough
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| − | to the surface of the land to be gathered by hand.
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| − | Orichalcum trade with Thera proves profitable for the rest of the world, despite the hue
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| − | and cry of some deprived local magicians. It is so profitable that shipments become the
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| − | target of bandits and raiders. Sixty years after Thera has begun its extensive importation
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| − | of orichalcum, the trolls of the Twilight Peaks, called the crystal raiders, lead their
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| − | ramshackle airships in a stunning long-distance raid against Shosaran orichalcum stores
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| − | being prepared for shipment overland to Thera. Other raids quickly follow suit as the
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| − | crystal raiders hone their skill of raiding by air.
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| − | Rather than band together for protection against the raiders, the lords and leaders of
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| − | various lands take the raid as a signal to start their own plundering. The provinces of
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| − | Ustrect and Cara Fahd simultaneously attack Landis; Throal is nearly overrun by
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| − | marauding bands of orks known as ork scorchers, the Elven Court in Wyrm Wood fights
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| − | Scythan dwarfs and their human allies in a series of terrible battles. The wars last more
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| − | than 40 years. Nations switch sides with a shift of the wind, migratory tribes become
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| − | little more than mercenaries, and nobility plot against and betray their own kin. Only in
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| − | Shosara and Throal are the rightful rulers not at least temporarily deposed. For the first
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| − | 30 years, orichalcum and elemental mining and gathering operations are declared offlimits
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| − | by unspoken agreement; each side needs the mines, and no one would profit from
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| − | their destruction.
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| − | The ork kingdom of Cara Fahd changes hands when Landis retakes the area around a
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| − | lava field ripe with True Fire. In retaliation, the retreating ork commander, Cathon
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| − | Grimeye, unleashes every bound or trapped fire elemental present in the field. No ork
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| − | survives, most of the vanguard of the Landis army is destroyed, and the mines are
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| − | severely damaged. This action sets the stage for the final, brutal years of the war.
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| − | THERAN NAVY AND EMPIRE
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| − | As long as the flow of orichalcum and other magical elements remains steady, the
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| − | Therans care little about the war. As the Orichalcum Wars rage on, more and more
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| − | Theran mining vessels sail over Barsaive. These barges rarely touch down, instead
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| − | mining and gathering True Air from the clouds around the highest mountain peaks.
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| − | Using new techniques known only to them, the Theran miners are very successful. That
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| − | success makes them targets.
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| − | The crystal raiders, having set off the Orichalcum Wars, sit back and watch them rage.
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| − | Because the furious fighting has halted nearly all mining in the area, they make only the
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| − | occasional supply raid. The Theran air barges, however, offer them a target they cannot
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| − | resist.
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| − | The raiders strike quickly and often, plundering
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| − | and looting the air barges. Thera warns that
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| − | they will not tolerate further interference with
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| − | the air mining operations. The Therans begin
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| − | protecting the air barges with warships, military
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| − | airships. At first these ships are vedettes, air
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| − | barges expanded and armored for war. The
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| − | raiders thumb their noses at the Theran war
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| − | vessels; they continue attacking the convoys,
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| − | using their faster, more maneuverable airships
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| − | to escape back to the Twilight Peaks with their
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| − | booty.
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| − | The Therans then begin protecting the mining
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| − | convoys with kilas, sleek, stone-hulled vessels
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| − | built specifically for war. Despite mounting losses, the raiders step up their attacks. The
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| − | final straw for the Therans comes after they lose a massive fleet of air barges, vedettes,
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| − | and kilas to the raiders. Sixty days later the Therans reveal their true power.
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| − | As morning comes, the clan-moots of the crystal raiders awaken to the sounds of alarm
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| − | across the Twilight Peaks. Drifting across the great plain to the southeast of the
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| − | mountains, not far from Vivane, is the largest airship anyone has ever conceived of, let
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| − | alone seen. Devoid of a true ship’s hull and sail, the vessel is a massive shard of rock
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| − | nearly a thousand feet long propelled by raw magic in defiance of the laws of nature. The
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| − | Therans call this terrible machine of war a behemoth.
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| − | The crystal raiders are astounded by the sight, but swarm to their airships and move to
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| − | attack. The Theran airship commander dispatches a messenger spirit to the raiders,
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| − | telling them to surrender or be obliterated. Proud and defiant, the raiders destroy the
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| − | spirit.
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| − | Moving to attack, the raiders encounter a thunderous rain of weapons fire from the
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| − | Theran ship. Siege engines, mounted onto the ship’s stone hull and guided by magic,
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| − | catapult giant arrows of metal and wood at the attackers. Bolts of mystic energy lash
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| − | from the airship as well, as Theran mages focus their powers against the raiders. The
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| − | raiders scatter under the onslaught, straight into the waiting guns of kilas hidden in the
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| − | clouds overhead.
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| − | The battle continues for hours until the Theran behemoth finally reaches the edge of the
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| − | Twilight Peaks. Then, it turns its terrible destructive power away from the remaining
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| − | raider airships and directs it against their homes. The siege engines pound the moothomes,
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| − | magics tear into the raider families who attempt to defend the surface buildings
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| − | and caverns, and elementals unleashed from the Theran ship ravage what little defense
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| − | remains.
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| − | Stunned at the massacre they are witnessing, the raiders surrender. They are taken
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| − | prisoner aboard the stone airship, to be brought back to Thera as slaves in chains. The
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| − | Theran forces burn their airships, though they do not bother to destroy the few remaining
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| − | survivors in the Twilight Peaks. With what will become known as the Battle of Sky
| |
| − | Point, the Therans prove they are a power to be reckoned with. No longer content to
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| − | simply conduct trade and commerce subject to the whims of local lords, the Therans use
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| − | Sky Point to show the world what awaits those foolish enough to interfere with Theran
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| − | desires and aims.
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| − | One hundred days later, in the nine hundredth and forty-third year of Throal, the thenhuman
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| − | Elder of Thera, Thom Edro, proclaims the Theran Empire. Thera declares the
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| − | lands of Barsaive a Theran province, promising all those who swear loyalty to her
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| − | protection from the ravages of the Orichalcum Wars, as well as first rights to new
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| − | enchantments to defend against the Horrors. To enforce their power, the new Empire
| |
| − | places a permanent Theran military presence at Sky Point and founds the provincial
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| − | capital of Parlainth in the northwest corner of the land. Dozens of smaller city-states and
| |
| − | kingdoms quickly submit to Thera. More powerful kingdoms submit more slowly, but
| |
| − | visits from the Theran Navy prove persuasive.
| |
| − | A leading citizen of Thera, the human Kern Fallo, is named the first Overlord of
| |
| − | Barsaive. Though Thera controls the province, Fallo sees the practical value of local
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| − | administration and calls upon the dwarfs of nearby Throal to assist him. Throal,
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| − | unwillingly allied to Thera out of need for the Theran enchantments against the Horrors,
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| − | agrees.
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| − | Through this administration, Throal mediates between the Therans and Barsaive. The
| |
| − | dwarfs provide a buffer between the governments of Barsaive and their Theran overlords,
| |
| − | defusing much of the tension between them. Also through this administration, Throal
| |
| − | spreads and promotes the dwarven tongue as the trading language of Barsaive. For the
| |
| − | first time in its history, citizens of various Barsaive regions can communicate with
| |
| − | relative ease.
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| − | JARON AND THE SPHINX
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| − | When Thom Edro establishes the Theran Empire, he installs himself as its First
| |
| − | Governor. Many know it is only a matter of time before Edro secures the backing to
| |
| − | proclaim himself Emperor.
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| − | Other grumblings surface as well, rumors that Edro is using unnatural magics to extend
| |
| − | his life and those of loyal human and ork followers. Of course dwarven adepts had long
| |
| − | ago developed life-extending magics for themselves. . .but this is different.
| |
| − | Magic had extended the life of the dwarven
| |
| − | scholar-magician Jaron as well, though it left
| |
| − | him less energetic than previously. He fears
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| − | that Edro s turning Thera into a mockery of
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| − | the teaching of Elianar Messias, called the
| |
| − | Martyr Scholar. Each time Jaron voices his
| |
| − | objections, another of his followers
| |
| − | vanishes. He realizes that despite his
| |
| − | deciphering of the First Book of Harrow, the
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| − | expanding Theran Empire no longer
| |
| − | considers him an asset.
| |
| − | The night after the disappearance of Jaron’s
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| − | closest apprentice, a great working begins in
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| − | the open park across the harbor from Thera’s
| |
| − | central citadel. Three Great Form earth
| |
| − | elementals tear rock, stone, and True Earth
| |
| − | up from the very foundations of the island
| |
| − | and begin to sculpt them under Jaron’s
| |
| − | watchful eye. Theran imperial guardsmen
| |
| − | and magicians rush to the area, but a
| |
| − | powerful shield surrounding the park holds
| |
| − | them back. They gape in wonder as a giant stone sphinx takes form. Its head is sculpted
| |
| − | turning downward and seemingly asleep. As the sphinx is completed just before
| |
| − | daybreak, Jaron turns to address the masses gathered in the park. He speaks to them of
| |
| − | the teachings of the Martyr Scholar and the dreams of Kearos Navarim. He also speaks
| |
| − | of the dangers of power and the dark path he fears Thera is beginning to walk. He has
| |
| − | constructed the sphinx, he tells them, to watch over Thera and her governors. It will
| |
| − | remain in the park as the guardian of the beliefs of the past and an eternal reminder to the
| |
| − | future. As Jaron falls silent, the shield protecting the park dissolves. The three earth
| |
| − | elementals gather Jaron within themselves and together the four merge with the sphinx.
| |
| − | The crowds rush forward, and the sphinx slowly opens its stone eyes, which blaze from
| |
| − | within with a blue-white light. The sphinx lifts its head to stare out across the main
| |
| − | harbor directly at the central citadel and the heart of Thera. From that moment on, it
| |
| − | remains in that position.
| |
| − | Theran magicians examine the sphinx’s construction, but its magical weavings baffle
| |
| − | them. None can penetrate it enough to even glimpse the sphinx’s True Pattern, much less
| |
| − | learn enough to gain power over it. Because they cannot predict what may happen, they
| |
| − | fear trying to manipulate or unmake it.
| |
| − | To this day, the great sphinx sits staring out over the harbor of Thera as a reminder to all
| |
| − | who come and to all who rule there. The leader of Thera remains the First Governor.
| |
| − | None has dared call himself Emperor.
| |
| − | THERA AND THE DRAGONS
| |
| − | Thera’s domination of the cultures of the Selestrean basin and neighboring areas is not
| |
| − | total. Kingdoms and peoples continue to search for their own solutions to the problem of
| |
| − | the Horrors because success means greater independence from Thera’s increasingly
| |
| − | oppressive rule. They sponsor eager scholars and brave adventurers to seek out dragons,
| |
| − | for the creatures are known to have survived the last Scourge (as the invasion of the
| |
| − | Horrors has come to be known) remarkably intact. However, many dragons have no
| |
| − | desire to share their secrets, greatly reducing the population of eager scholars. Some
| |
| − | dragons, through bribery or entreaty, share the method of creating the dragon lair, which
| |
| − | scholars believe protected them. A rare few actually contact kingdoms on their own,
| |
| − | offering to help for their own dragon reasons.
| |
| − | The leaders of Thera see the dragon actions as a challenge to their power and position.
| |
| − | Proposed responses spark fierce debate; Edro has no desire to antagonize the dragons at a
| |
| − | time when Thera should be using all its power to prepare for the coming Scourge. But the
| |
| − | factions that profit most from the trade in magical elements mount effective pressure.
| |
| − | The Theran Navy organizes strikes against three powerful and influential great dragons.
| |
| − | The first two succeed in killing the target dragons and destroying their lairs, though the
| |
| − | action costs the Therans one of their mighty stone behemoths for the first time. The third
| |
| − | strike, against the great dragon Icewing, fails. The Therans find only his lair, largely
| |
| − | empty of anything of value and power.
| |
| − | Theran ambassadors pass firmly worded communiqués through discreet channels; they
| |
| − | refuse to tolerate dragon interference in Theran domestic policy. The dragons appear to
| |
| − | retreat; Theran merchants and guild adepts do a booming business as new orders for
| |
| − | Theran protective enchantments flood in.
| |
| − | Then, one sunset, sailors and dock merchants spot a dragon atop the head of the sphinx.
| |
| − | As the Therans hesitate between staring and fleeing, the dragon flies off. The next
| |
| − | morning twelve citizens are found dead. Two are provisioners to the navy, one an earthelement
| |
| − | smith, one a clerk to the treasurer, two guild adepts, one a moneylender, and five
| |
| − | are principal contractors for protective enchantments. Each of the twelve had agitated for
| |
| − | or profited from, the action against the dragons. Over the next two weeks the dragons
| |
| − | strike twice more. Two dozen more leading Therans die. Theran diplomatic channels
| |
| − | convey a second message: Therans are to leave dragons strictly alone. No further Theran
| |
| − | raids will be planned or executed. The dragons apparently take the Therans’ message to
| |
| − | heart and cease to disclose what they know of the Horrors and the coming Scourge.
| |
