Graatel (3.5e Sourcebook)/History

Chapter 8: History

The Godlings' War

In the beginning their was nothing save the miasma of space and the Over Deities, unnamed and unknown individuals who existed outside of time that led to the construction of the universe. Many worlds were given form, though whether all worlds were formed at once or at different times is unknown; what is known is the Over Deities decreed that every world capable of sustaining life would be populated by a localized minor Over Deity responsible for that section of the universe. These minor Over Deities were given the title of High Gods, allowed to proceed as they will in completion of their task. Many High Gods fell to their work with abandon but the one assigned over the world that would become known as Graatel instead pondered the best way to proceed. After he finished his considerations Kelvrocek (phoenetic kel vro sek) decided the best way to approach the problem would be to start with gods and goddesses; this lead to the abduction of thirty thousand individuals from across the universe that had been infused with deific power. Upon arrival to the world after a small talk with Kelvrocek the godlings set to their task with abandon.

Mountains were raised and fell, oceans boiled and skies burned as the godling factions fought for supremecy. The Godlings War lasted from anywhere between 1,000 and 500,000 years with entire continents and landscapes remade at the whim of the powerful. In the end the victorious godlings were promoted to full Deity status by Kelvrocek and charged with creating life upon the planet; this spawned the race known as the del, a close cousin to the elf. The del lived in general peace and harmony for nearly 200,000 years prior to the Refuge Swarm which saw the introduction of non del races throughout Graatel.

The Dawning Age

The Dawning Age lasted from the end of the Godlings War for approximately 110,000 years during which the del expanded across the world, and honed their artistic skills in the creation of items and skills. Due to their incredible life spans most del were able to make great advances during their expected life times. The land was lush, food was plentiful and most violent creatures were essentially non-existent as the del hunted most predators to extinction. The del within 10,000 years had worked mithral, constructed vast homesteads and steadily improved the population in piece for 80,000 years. At the height of power for the del it is estimated that over the world more than 3 billion del existed in a hunter gatherer society; they did not farm or even keep livestock and they expected to increase manifold in the future.

The Dawning Age only saw one major source of conflict. The conflict occurred 30,000 years before the Refuge Swarm, when a breach was torn between the material plane and the Abyss. The del fought demons for nearly a century before pushing them back into their own realm and sealing the portal, though by this point their numbers had dwindled to less than 1 in 15 remaining. Some historians speculate that due to their massive losses and low birth rates, this was the primary cause for the del not expelling all other races after the events of the Refuge Swarm.

The Refuge Swarm

Approximately 90,000 years prior to the Exodus Magica (commonly known as: The Fall) great portals opened across the world of Graatel expelling all manners of creatures fleeing from an unnamed source. The del rushed to these portals, which had simultaneously opened on nearly every body of land (and some even over bodies of water) to see a war raging through the rifts the new refugees were escaping. Using their strongest magic many of their spell casting leaders sacrificed their lives, expending their own life force, to provide the raw fuel necessary to seal these portals and prevent the horrific scenes of carnage from replaying out in the world of Graatel.

One of the majorly violent creatures that participated in the Great War (the war raging on the other side of the portal) also came through the portals; the creature identified itself as Harat-Drogos a very violent being that commanded the loyalty of an extremely large and old silver dragon. Arriving on Graatel Harat-Drogos immediately demanded subjugation of the races before him and fell to a horrific slaughter among them until the god of war Megrados joined him in battle. Megrados fought and eventually killed the creature, as well as the dragon, though he plumetted to earth and created the Star Ocean when he impacted the ground. No other members of that race have been encountered since the Refuge Swarm.

Once the final rift was closed the del took stock; their magic user society was ransacked, as most leaders were consumed in the sealing projects. In addition to their own losses they were suddenly burdened with close to half a billion refugees all of strange origins. As the refugees fought and dispersed the del began in ernest a great convocation and discussed the fate of the newcomers. The debate lasted for a full two years during which most races were already in earnest claiming areas, building towns and returning themselves to a normal way of life.

The great convocation ended with the del agreeing they needed to locate a new permanent home for the refugees. This met with stuanch resistance as the refugees had already made Graatel their home and conflict arose; in the end the del did not possess the numbers to ensure expulsion from the world, and the other races stayed with a new found distrust of the del.

The Golden Age

The Golden Age began approximately 50,000 years after the Refuge Swarm when a great leader arose from the del; Thovasis Miristhal was an individual who seemed destined for greatness. He rose faster than any other through the ranks of the great magic users, and was the youngest individual to become part of the circle of leaders at less than 300 years of age. Thovasis recognized a need for peace between the races and advanced towards that goal, encountering staunch opposition from the other leaders of the del; at one point, early in his position, he was almost put to death due to his radical ideas. The vote for his life is what triggered the Purge, where most of the council died and were replaced by younger and less obstinant members.

Thovasis, now the leader of the council, declared that the long emnity must end and invited leaders from the races to come as guests of the del in their enchanted forests. While wary of the del most races sent a representative to these meetings and were surprised by the frankness of the del; truly peace was being sought. The gathered envoys and the council were however ill prepared for what followed.

At the council meeting a demon incursion took place. A hole was ripped in the fabric of the universe and through it poured a host that quickly fell onto the ambassadors. The only saving grace that allowed some of the meeting to survive included the participation of the del council, and the fact that most races sent seasoned veterans to the council as they expected some sort of trickery or betrayal. Although they managed to protect the majority of the group the meeting was forced to adjorn and abandon the meeting area as new demons arrived as quickly as they were dispatched.

At this point Thovasis called upon the highest ranked warrior of the del, Calisnor Vimasira, to lead the counter attack against the demons. Calisnor possessed a great tactical mind and forced the demons quickly into a hard pressed battle containing the field to a little over 10 square miles through use of magic and sheer power. However without resupply the del would not be able to hold the demon menace and he requested Thovasis to call upon the other races to send aid to defend Graatel.

Most races responded immediately, as their envoys had already returned telling their leaders what had occurred in the clearing. In a few cases the races forces were met by the del couriers part way to the ongoing fight, and resupply started to occur within weeks of the initial incursion. The dwarves, gnomes, orcs and giants were amongst the first to respond to the call and earned high recognition among the del for their quick action. However this served to irk some of the slower races such as humans which only joined the fight reluctantly.

Calisnor bottled the demon menace and with the aid of hundreds of spell casters finally rolled the demons back through the portal. While the losses were terrible the combined Graatel forces managed to get the casters close enough to seal off the great portal ending the exhaustless resupplies the demons received from their own plane. A furious slaughter brought the end of the first Crossing War and managed to cement the races into a peace; the realization that something like this could happen again brought them all to an understanding: if Graatel was threatened a coordinated response was necessary or else all would perish.

The Fall

Exodus Magica, commonly termed the Fall is a point in history convoluted and difficult that saw the expulsion of magic from the world to the moon of Rytar which had a huge variety of affects and problems. Two hundred years prior to the fall a young magician Tarthalis Silvanrithal, a direct line descendant from Thormasis, was born. Tarnthalis, much like his predecesor discovered he had a great gift for magic; unlike his ancestor he also possessed a monumental amount of arrogance and impulsiveness that served to get him into trouble. Five years prior to the fall started the conflict that lead to the Exodus Magica event.

Five years before the fall Tarthalis and his companions were adventuring when he came upon a spell that proved interesting and strange. It was a spell designed to clone the caster, within some preset limitations, but would otherwise be identical to the caster but with greatly reduced strength. Tarnthalis, in his arrogance, decided he could vastly improve upon the spell and increase its effectiveness dreaming of uniting the world for a common cause. Tarnthalis labored for a year to bring the spell to its pinnacle and cast it in a giant pomp driven ceremony; the spell worked with one major flaw: the clone that came through, while being nearly identical in power, was a complete inversion of Tarnthalis dedicated to fighting him and spreading discord and chaos. The clone who called himself Silas destroyed the hall ceremony and transported away from the proceedings to start building an army to reduce the world to ruin.

Tarnthalis arrogance shattered; many individuals he grew to love over the years had died in the ceremony attack, and he vowed to stop Silas through whatever means possible. Due to a unique function of the clone spell Silas knew everything Tarnthalis learned which prevented confrontation until a time and place of Silas choosing. During the last great battle at Mount Grehous (referred to as the mountain of the gods) Silas and Tarnthalis engaged in one on one combat. Dragging out for a day and a night Tarnthalis realized that he could not destroy his clone as they were too evenly matched. In an act of desperation he cast his final defense, the Wrecking, a spell designed to force all magical energies from the world which signalled the beginning of the Exodus Magica. As Tarnthalis and his clone were both magic users this crippled the two of them, but left Silas open to be killed by Tarnthalis' half brother Wren Silverbow who was able to overcome the wizard clone with ease.

The Age of Strife

The Age of Strife is the time immediately following The Fall and lasting for one hundred years, and is most renowned for destroying much of what was magic in the world. Due to the actions in The Fall almost all magic users were forced into a position where years of turmoil was required to enact the simplest spells. This in turn drove down the number of apprentices and greatly reduced the number of mages throughout the world. Clerical magic was affected though to a lesser degree, as their magic was primarily derived from their deity.

The Age of Destruction

The Age of Destruction is a horrific time approximately 10,000 years following the Fall and signaled a time of great darkness on Graatel and other worlds. The Colossi (a group of twelve colossal creatures scattered over various worlds) woke from their near eternal slumber and once again became active throughout the universe. The gods refused to respond to these incursions which left the dirty work to adventurers to remove the world from danger.

The Colossi of Graatel was Ygrdymsrl a Titanically portioned stone golem like creature. Ygrdymsrls' slumber made many individuals believe he was the third tallest mountain on Graatel with a height of more than 19,000 feet. The Meras Sharalle engaged Ygrdymsrl with subsequently disasterous results; without the proper equipment and rites Colossi are virtually indestructable, leading to the total obliteration of Tarnthalis and his group of long lived companions.

But all hope during this age was not lost, however, as Tarnthalis prepared a small group of adventurers to pursue the knowledge necessary to defeat the Colossi. While the Colossi laid waste to Graatel the team scrambled as quickly as possible to recover all the requirements to defeat the giant mountain. Laying on in an enormous battle the group forced the Colossi back into a deep slumber at the bottom of the vast ocean Kavasas. The world was in tormoil; vast expanses were decimated and millions were killed attempting to keep the beast at bay. With the defeat hope returned to the world, for a short time.

Then the second Colossi rose from the depths of the Star Ocean, and Maelestorus a gigantic slithering mass with a huge gaping maw emerged from the lake and started to attack every living creature in sight. The adventurers set forth to discover the second Colossi weakness, added by the Oracle, and eventually engaged the second Colossi in combat. After the second victory the adventurers became intimately aware of the problem Graatel now faced; survival.

The second Colossi destroyed most of what the first Colossi had missed; entire continents were decimated, many races were borderline extinct and several no longer had any living inhabitants throughout the world. Entire nations, and in the case of continents Faalden and Traven, reduced to a completely barren state.

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