SatCoC player Bill

How it Came to Pass

Though we must be thankful for the here and the now, we must always remember what was. Some things must never be allowed to happen again. -- King Varulus of Throal, 1438 TR The following is abridged from a speaking by the ork troubadour Storymaster Jallo Redbeard to a group of dwarven scholar students in the great library of Throal, 1505 TH. Regardless of what one believes of the Therans, the story of the lands we now call Barsaive would not be complete unless we started with them. Without the Therans Barsaive might have ended up as nothing more than the scores of warring tribes and city-states that dotted the land a thousand years ago. Though the Therans brought us oppression, deceit, slavery, and inhumanity, they also gave us culture, politics, commerce, and a glimpse of the power that unity can bring. What we know of the origins of the Therans comes from their mouths and their writings. It is their tale, their legend, that we recount here. How much is truth, how much is lie, and how much falls between may never be known while the halls of Thera still stand. Despite that, it is a tale worth telling, the story of the creation of an empire. THE MARTYR SCHOLAR The saga of Thera begins nearly one century before the founding of the dwarven kingdom of Throal. The elf Elianar Messias, who will one day be revered or cursed as the Father of Thera and the Martyr Scholar, is an honored follower of the elven Spiritual Path. In addition, Messias is an important advisor to High Queen Failla of the Elven Court at Wyrm Wood, the center of elven culture. Messias has a falling-out with Failla over the desire of the elven nation of Shosara to loosen the cultural shackles that bind it to the Court. Messias believes the elves of Shosara should be allowed to develop their national culture as they see fit. Failla disagrees: the Court is the center of elven culture and all elven nations must emulate her. Failla will allow no exception. Failla declares Shosara "separated" from the elven Court, an act of such gravity it threatens to fracture that nation. Messias adamantly opposes Failla and her Declaration of Separation and is banished for his challenge. Queen Failla casts him from the Court for one hundred years, and orders that he may return after that period only if he "has learned the value of heritage and a quiet tongue." Messias never returns. As part of his banishment, he is dispatched to a small monastery set in the foothills of what are known today as the Delaris Mountains in southeastern Barsaive. There, along with a cadre of scholars dedicated to Mynbruje, the Passion of Knowledge, Messias works to recover, translate, and transcribe volumes of books and scrolls recently recovered from a nearby mountain cavern. The scholars believe this cache of knowledge to be thousands upon thousands of years old, dating from early in the time when the magical aura of our world still lay dormant, before it rose to become the vibrant energy of our own time. What little learned men had deciphered of the works prior to Messias' arrival indicated that the documents spoke of an even older time, when the world's aura was as strong as it is now. Messias focuses on a group of six books barely kept intact by the magic and climate of the cavern where they are stored. The six are a set, matched in size and style, even down to the odd, blood-inscribed rune on each of their covers. Messias can tell just by looking at them that they contain powerful, probably dangerous, information. He also believes them to be a warning, though against what he does not know. He devotes his life to untangling their secrets. In the end those secrets eagerly take the life he has offered. Late one evening some years later, his fellows discover his body twisted and wracked with his dying agonies. Messias has torn his eyes from his head and then thrust his clenched fists and their bloody contents into the fire raging in the hearth of his quarters. He has also left a brief note nearby. It says: These are the Books of Harrow. They are our doom and our salvation. Learn from them, or we will all perish. That night, something horrid stalks the corridors of the monastery and six of Messias' brethren die terribly. The next morning, an elder elven scholar named Kearos Navarim takes the six Books of Harrow, three of his fellow scholars, and ample provisions, and sets out on a long journey to the land of his birth far to the south and west of Barsaive. In that place, in the protection that he knows he can find there, he intends to continue Messias' work and unlock the secrets of the Books of Harrow. He and the others settle on an island in the midst of the great Selestrean Sea and found a place of learning called Nehr'esham, or "center of the mind." This place marks the beginning of Thera, the beginning of the learning that would reveal the Horrors to us, and the beginning of the great war of the mind to save us all. THE ETERNAL LIBRARY Word of Nehr'esham and of its Great Project to translate the Books of Harrow spreads quickly throughout the lands of the world. The island soon becomes a gathering point for magicians, adepts, and scholars of all types and races. Nehr'esham grows rapidly from its humble beginnings into a small city. Though Navarim nominally leads the burgeoning city, he keeps around him a tight circle of scholarly and magical advisors who administer the city's needs. Navarim himself concentrates on unlocking the secrets of the Books of Harrow. Realizing that more books like the Books of Harrow must have survived elsewhere, Navarim sends scholars and adepts out from the island to find these books and bring them back to Nehr'esham. To hold these tomes and scrolls the city's overseers arrange for the construction of what will become known as the Eternal Library. Magically protected and controlled, it will be a place where these and other ancient works can be kept and studied in safety for both the works and the reader. Ironically, as the first stones for the Eternal Library are laid, thousands of miles to the northeast dwarven miners are taking up permanent residence in the giant mines and caverns that will someday compose Thera's greatest rival: the dwarven kingdom of Throal. The Throal Calendar, by which Barsaive will one day mark its time, counts forward from that day. THE FIRST HORRORS As the Eternal Library nears completion, one hundred and fifty years after the founding of Nehr'esham, the first signs of the Horrors begin to appear in the world. In the city of Majallan, in the human-dominated lands of Landis, dark wraithlike spirits stalk the streets, driving men to violence against each other. For a year in the city of Draoglin, in the ancient dwarven kingdom of Scytha, every dwarven child shrivels and dies before reaching its first month of life, its essence devoured by something unseen. And across the entire land that will one day be Barsaive, hordes of twisted, insect-like creatures are found nesting in isolated urban and rural areas. In southern Barsaive their infestation is so great that sworn enemies find themselves working side by side to destroy the creatures. This time, known as The Burning, is the closest Barsaive comes to unification prior to the arrival of the Therans. Hopes of unity collapse, however, in the face of the tragic famine that grips Barsaive in the following years. To the aged Navarim and his followers, the dreadful tidings from Majallan, Scytha, and the city-states of southern Barsaive portend the beginning of something terrible. What these awful signs warn of becomes frighteningly clear shortly thereafter. Navarim's brilliant student and assistant, the dwarf Jaron, breaks through to understanding and completes the translation of the first of the six Books of Harrow. This book, named simply The First Book of Harrow, speaks of terrible days ahead, of the coming of the Horrors, their nearly unstoppable power, and the possible ruination of the world. The Horrors, the book says, are terrible spirits dwelling in the darkest corners of the netherworlds. When the magical aura of this world reaches a certain strength, the Horrors will be able to build mystical bridges between this world and the twisted realm where they dwell. And then the Horrors will come. Terrible and powerful, they are beyond reason. They seek only to consume. Some desire anything physical:

THERA IS BORN Word of the First Book of Harrow spreads quickly. The city around Nehr’esham begins to swell just as quickly until it covers the entire island. It is soon renamed Thera, meaning "foundation." In time, the island becomes a center of trade and commerce as well as the center of learning and thought in the eastern Selestrean Sea. The growth of Thera does not come without its price, however. Unable to support the enormous tasks of physical labor required to keep up with the swelling population and commerce, the Therans must import workers from other lands. Theran slavery begins with these laborers. The great Theran merchant houses that arrange for the transport of the workers maintain "control" over the workers they import. Financial arrangements must be made with the merchant house for the use of the workers. Soon, "control" of workers becomes commonplace as the powerful and influential arrange to import workers specifically as servants and minor laborers. Within seventy years from the arrival of the first work-ship, "control" becomes ownership and true slavery is as common on Thera as the ocean breeze. Within a year of the translation of the First Book, Navarim dispatches copies to all the leaders in all the lands he has ever heard of in an effort to warn them. Few listen. Meanwhile, work on deciphering the other Books of Harrow continues in the hopes of finding some way to stop or defend against the Horrors. Early on, Navarim establishes the School of Shadows as the center for this effort and charges it to find ways of defeating the Horrors. From that School groups of adepts and magicians travel across the known world to confront the burgeoning Horrors and learn what they can from those confrontations. At the same time, Thera’s leading citizens create a more formal organization to govern the island. Navarim, named the Elder of Thera, presides over a body of advisors and administrators known as The Twelve. This body controls and manages the various areas of Thera and her growing influence. In one of their first acts, The Twelve establish a military force to defend Thera against increasing bandit and pirate raids. The research conducted at the School of Shadows proves to have more uses than at first expected. Theran scholars and magicians discover insights and understandings into the ways and makings of magic that have farreaching ancillary results. Their research opens up to the Therans the ability to work the powerful elemental magic contained in the True Forms of air, earth, fire, water, and wood. Using that knowledge, the Therans build their stunning cities, none of which could exist without the aid of magic. They also create their airships, vessels of all kinds that fly through the air. Their research also gives them knowledge of magical warding and protection, illusion and healing, the transformation and manipulation of physical objects, and insight into the deepest reaches of the netherworlds. Thera becomes an island, a nation, and eventually an empire built on magic. THE THERANS AND BARSAIVE As Thera grows, the land that will someday become Barsaive exists in ignorance. Unnamed, the area is home to independent tribes and isolated city-states. Little trade exists between these powers, the only real contact coming through intermittent attacks on rich Thera by the poorer city-states. Occasional efforts by the Elven Court at Wyrm Wood to bring the area under their control fail. Though rulers of a great empire, the elves of Wyrm Wood do not see enough worth conquering in Barsaive to exert the necessary political and military pressure. Their failure ultimately leaves Barsaive vulnerable to Theran domination. In the Throal year 212 TH, the Therans finally arrive in Barsaive. They first make contact with the humans of Landis near the city of Vivane and what will someday become Sky Point. From there, Theran representatives and ambassadors travel across Barsaive making contact and trade alliances with every group they can find. This land, they discover, abounds with the natural and magical elements and materials the Therans covet. The Theran envoys promise a glittering future through trade to Barsaive’s citystates and tribes; dazzled by the prospect of Theran riches, the local leaders sign agreements without reading between the lines. The arrival of the first Theran trading fleet in 216 TH comes as a great surprise to Barsaive’s local powers. They had signed treaties and agreements with the Theran envoys, but without any real understanding of the implications. The sight of dozens of Theran airships drifting slowly through the air over their palaces, castles, and tents is a literal and symbolic blow to them. A new power has come to Barsaive now, and it is second to none. BIRTH OF AN EMPIRE The Therans enjoy their growing power. The island itself, its central citadel, the Eternal Library, and other great works of architecture and culture are renowned across the world. Thera’s position in the heavily traveled Selestrean Sea makes her an ideal port of trade and commerce. For mystical thought and pure magical power, There has no equal. The potency of her magicians and the skill of her adepts are envied the world over. She needs little else to seal her position in the world. Nevertheless, Fate gives it to her. Nearly four hundred years after the founding of Nehr’esham, in the Throal year 341 TH, Kearos Navarim dies of old age. His body is sealed in amber and placed in the great plaza of the citadel at the heart of Thera, next to the cenotaph of his friend Elianar Messias. Word spreads quickly that Navarim died while putting the finishing touches on the culmination of the Great Project and the researches of the School of Shadows. The rumors are correct. Five years after Navarim’s death, his successor as Elder of Thera, the human Meach Vara Lingam, announces to the world that though the scholars have found nothing beyond a keen blade and an iron will to defeat the coming Horrors, they have discovered something to protect against them. Lingam unveils to the world Kearos Navarim’s crowning and final work, Rites of Protection and Passage. RITES OF PROTECTION AND PASSAGE Despite Lingam’s brave words, the Rites of Protection and Passage does not offer any truly effective methods of protecting against the Horrors, but it does present the theoretical means by which that protection can be discovered. In his four-volume work, Navarim concluded that isolation from the Horrors is the only true means of protection against them. Because of their individual power and sheer overwhelming numbers, direct confrontation with the Horrors would ultimately prove suicidal. To hide from the Horrors, Navarim proposed to construct great underground fortresses. Dubbed kaers, these dwellings would protect their occupants against the Horrors on the theory that strong enough walls will keep out even the most physically powerful Horror. The natural, solid, earthen walls of the kaer would also provide protection against those Horrors that travel through astral space or by means as yet unguessed. However, Navarim warned an earthen barrier might not be enough to withstand every Horror. Navarim’s book also offered other means of protection. Cities could be shielded under domes woven of True Air. Kaers could be built beneath the sea and protected by True Water, and so on. Navarim believed that the underground kaer would offer the strongest defense, though even it might be breached. To shore up the kaers’ defenses, Navarim offered additional protections to defend against the Horrors on a primal level. Navarim believed that magicians could learn to create wards and runes that would "call" to a Horror through magic. Once the Horror examined the rune, its mind would become caught in the magical web and mathematical maze of the rune’s construction. Because the Horror comes from a place deep in the mystical netherworlds, a Horror must always devote some degree of its concentration to keeping itself in this world. A rune entrapping its mind would break the Horror’s concentration and force the thing either to retreat or lose its grasp in this world and be flung back to the pit from whence it came. Unfortunately for Thera and her sister lands, only the theory for these runes and wards exists. Navarim believed they could be devised and had charged the School of Shadows with their creation just prior to his death. In the meantime, he recommended that kaers be built wherever possible in preparation for the day when the infestation of Horrors would become so overpowering that they would render the surface of the world all but uninhabitable. This would occur, Navarim believed, in just over eight hundred years. The School of Shadows continues to work on mastery of the runes, intending to make them available to all once their secrets are unlocked. And unlock them they do, but instead of sharing them, Thera closely guards the secrets of the runes. Soon she will use them as a bargaining tool to extend the Theran sphere of influence. The immediate reaction to Navarim’s work is mixed. Many dismiss its conclusions outright, while others look upon it with almost religious reverence. Most, though, cannot take seriously a threat eight hundred years in the future. They read Navarim’s words and vow to prepare, later. ORICHALCUM WARS Thera, however, does not wait. The mighty, magic-rich island needs significant and perhaps extravagant protection against the Horrors. To this end its leaders begin to collect vast quantities of the magical metal orichalcum. The Therans begin striking favorable trade agreements in order to obtain large quantities of the rare material. No one can guess what manner of protection the Therans wish to build that requires so much of that metal, but as long as they pay well for it, no one much cares. For those who do not know, orichalcum can only occur from the natural mixing of certain other earthen materials that combine in the presence of True Earth. Though not a part of orichalcum, True Earth is always found in the same area as that rare ore. Orichalcum must usually be mined, but occasionally nodes of it are found close enough to the surface of the land to be gathered by hand. Orichalcum trade with Thera proves profitable for the rest of the world, despite the hue and cry of some deprived local magicians. It is so profitable that shipments become the target of bandits and raiders. Sixty years after Thera has begun its extensive importation of orichalcum, the trolls of the Twilight Peaks, called the crystal raiders, lead their ramshackle airships in a stunning long-distance raid against Shosaran orichalcum stores being prepared for shipment overland to Thera. Other raids quickly follow suit as the crystal raiders hone their skill of raiding by air. Rather than band together for protection against the raiders, the lords and leaders of various lands take the raid as a signal to start their own plundering. The provinces of Ustrect and Cara Fahd simultaneously attack Landis; Throal is nearly overrun by marauding bands of orks known as ork scorchers, the Elven Court in Wyrm Wood fights Scythan dwarfs and their human allies in a series of terrible battles. The wars last more than 40 years. Nations switch sides with a shift of the wind, migratory tribes become little more than mercenaries, and nobility plot against and betray their own kin. Only in Shosara and Throal are the rightful rulers not at least temporarily deposed. For the first 30 years, orichalcum and elemental mining and gathering operations are declared offlimits by unspoken agreement; each side needs the mines, and no one would profit from their destruction. The ork kingdom of Cara Fahd changes hands when Landis retakes the area around a lava field ripe with True Fire. In retaliation, the retreating ork commander, Cathon Grimeye, unleashes every bound or trapped fire elemental present in the field. No ork survives, most of the vanguard of the Landis army is destroyed, and the mines are severely damaged. This action sets the stage for the final, brutal years of the war. THERAN NAVY AND EMPIRE As long as the flow of orichalcum and other magical elements remains steady, the Therans care little about the war. As the Orichalcum Wars rage on, more and more Theran mining vessels sail over Barsaive. These barges rarely touch down, instead mining and gathering True Air from the clouds around the highest mountain peaks. Using new techniques known only to them, the Theran miners are very successful. That success makes them targets. The crystal raiders, having set off the Orichalcum Wars, sit back and watch them rage. Because the furious fighting has halted nearly all mining in the area, they make only the occasional supply raid. The Theran air barges, however, offer them a target they cannot resist. The raiders strike quickly and often, plundering and looting the air barges. Thera warns that they will not tolerate further interference with the air mining operations. The Therans begin protecting the air barges with warships, military airships. At first these ships are vedettes, air barges expanded and armored for war. The raiders thumb their noses at the Theran war vessels; they continue attacking the convoys, using their faster, more maneuverable airships to escape back to the Twilight Peaks with their booty. The Therans then begin protecting the mining convoys with kilas, sleek, stone-hulled vessels built specifically for war. Despite mounting losses, the raiders step up their attacks. The final straw for the Therans comes after they lose a massive fleet of air barges, vedettes, and kilas to the raiders. Sixty days later the Therans reveal their true power. As morning comes, the clan-moots of the crystal raiders awaken to the sounds of alarm across the Twilight Peaks. Drifting across the great plain to the southeast of the mountains, not far from Vivane, is the largest airship anyone has ever conceived of, let alone seen. Devoid of a true ship’s hull and sail, the vessel is a massive shard of rock nearly a thousand feet long propelled by raw magic in defiance of the laws of nature. The Therans call this terrible machine of war a behemoth. The crystal raiders are astounded by the sight, but swarm to their airships and move to attack. The Theran airship commander dispatches a messenger spirit to the raiders, telling them to surrender or be obliterated. Proud and defiant, the raiders destroy the spirit. Moving to attack, the raiders encounter a thunderous rain of weapons fire from the Theran ship. Siege engines, mounted onto the ship’s stone hull and guided by magic, catapult giant arrows of metal and wood at the attackers. Bolts of mystic energy lash from the airship as well, as Theran mages focus their powers against the raiders. The raiders scatter under the onslaught, straight into the waiting guns of kilas hidden in the clouds overhead. The battle continues for hours until the Theran behemoth finally reaches the edge of the Twilight Peaks. Then, it turns its terrible destructive power away from the remaining raider airships and directs it against their homes. The siege engines pound the moothomes, magics tear into the raider families who attempt to defend the surface buildings and caverns, and elementals unleashed from the Theran ship ravage what little defense remains. Stunned at the massacre they are witnessing, the raiders surrender. They are taken prisoner aboard the stone airship, to be brought back to Thera as slaves in chains. The Theran forces burn their airships, though they do not bother to destroy the few remaining 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 simply conduct trade and commerce subject to the whims of local lords, the Therans use Sky Point to show the world what awaits those foolish enough to interfere with Theran desires and aims. One hundred days later, in the nine hundredth and forty-third year of Throal, the thenhuman Elder of Thera, Thom Edro, proclaims the Theran Empire. Thera declares the lands of Barsaive a Theran province, promising all those who swear loyalty to her protection from the ravages of the Orichalcum Wars, as well as first rights to new 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 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 administration and calls upon the dwarfs of nearby Throal to assist him. Throal, unwillingly allied to Thera out of need for the Theran enchantments against the Horrors, agrees. 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. JARON AND THE SPHINX 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. 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 that Edro s turning Thera into a mockery of 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 expanding Theran Empire no longer considers him an asset. The night after the disappearance of Jaron’s closest apprentice, a great working begins in 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.