History (Sarosian Supplement)
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History of the Planes[edit]
To tell the History of Miriandis, the cosmos must first be explained, as Miriandis more so than any other planet amongst the stars has effected how all the deities and higher powers interact with the worlds.
In the beginning, the universe was void of life, there was a single thought, and only this thought. The thought however grew a will, the will formed a host, the host became the first complex being and it was good. However the being was lonely and bored, though it was pleased with existing, it sought to change its environment. From the shadowy darkness the being created toys of earth, water, fire and air, some were lopsided with one of the components and the being would discard these. The being continued to craft these toys endlessly, Miriandis was but one of many the being created and discarded, it stood out only because the being spent the most time out of all the planets on this one, adding and adding to try to balance the mix. In the end the being thought it best to create other beings of thought to help he create a better toy. He created many beings which he called friends, they would try to steer the creations in one way or another, when the toys were inevitably discarded the friends would gobble them up, if it was a planet they had sufficiently influenced. The friends became so fat they could not move, stuffed in around the universe surround the being, until one day one of the friends gobbled up a planet yet to be finished, this angered the being immensely, and fury was first seen. In a moment of this fury the being acted wickedly and sealed the 'friends' into a solid mass, which became the planes and the multiverse. In sorrow for his lost friends the being created a myriad of lesser beings he called gods, but as soon as the core deities were born he saw in their eyes the eyes of his friends, the being left the multiverse that day, never to return.
The gods were alone, in a universe of lifeless floating orbs of elements, surrounded by a mass of dead beings so immense they created planes of existence from their corpses. The gods, aware of the bodies, first feared the orbs thinking them the cause of the death, shorty though the gods of life, creation and curiosity became toying and testing the orbs, and soon all the gods were gathered together so they could share what they learned.
The Planets, they called them, were near endlessly spanning all around them, the gods were born at the very center of the multiverse, the gods of life purposed they bring an orb to life, which they did in front of the other gods despite protest, the orb showed creatures so small they gods barley could see them, but all the beings were in the creating gods image. The gods of life, creation and curiosity all gave life to another, and it became a diverse world full of life. And so the deities purposed that all the gods come together, channel their energy and create life on all the multiverse, together the gods would create a pulse of life bringing energy from all of their powers equally, which worked to an extent, the pulse did indeed spread life among the planets, and those planets deeper in the cosmos were very mixed, however the central planets were very biased towards whichever god was in front of it, creating worlds of creatures all with a Elven Subtype, or Spider Subtype, or Ooze Subtype, however Miriandis was far enough out to receive a healthy blessing of life from all the gods.
This was a happy time for most of the gods who had little care for any planets but the ones they were nearest and had most influenced. However one deity whose name no longer exists, who had since gone beyond the realm of vestiges, came to Miriandis in its infancy, the deity was a lord of undead, and cursed the world with a plague of vampirism that could not be contained, he tainted Miriandis so heavily that no god could remove the curse without stripping the planet bare. The curse was so powerful the vampires it made are very unlike the vampires of the 3rd age, these monstrosities were capable of walking in the sun, cross moving water, go well over five decades without eating before the hunger drove them craven, and were far stronger in a physical sense as well, 1st age vampires are beyond and power short of Saros or his generals in any age since. And so the gods punished the lost deity, destroying his essence more thoroughly than anything before and since. One god, ironically an elven god, had purposed a plan of reintroducing a healthy force on the planet. And so the gods did create an island, and from this island human beings were born who were taintless and could advance along side the vampiric world around them without becoming of it. The world was harsh for them, the seas were full of dead fish, which would eat any ill prepared fisherman, the people of the island would be at constant alert, for one intelligent undead meant that this land would be taken.
The Vampiric Age[edit]
And so Miriandis grew, as did the other worlds, with life or in a few cases unlife, and the gods grew, changed, and became new gods, formed lost pantheons and eventually warred with each other.
The gods were and are still in some ways a petty bunch, children who never had to fear their own mortality. They would venture into the bodies of the dead ancients, the planes of existence, and carve out divine realms in the organ tissue of the planes, the deep parts that still help dieing power. The gods who first carved their realms became the greater deities, those who joined them became lesser and lesser until the pantheons were formed within the divine realms, the lines were drawn and structure, civilization, society was born. These gods called themselves the gods of Reason, many of them were lawful at first but in some ways even chaotic god sought the structure of divine realms and began to be counted amongst their numbers. Many hold out lords such as Asmodeus and the devil lords, all of the demon princes, the far-realm gods, the original ethergaunt gods, and others would not submit to this arbitrary label. It was over this petty term that the first divine blood would be spilled.
The gods who were yet undecided banded into pantheons, the devil lords and demon princes for example, and defended against the forces of Reason by ironically creating their own realms from which to attack. Many gods refused to fight seeing the obvious ridiculousness of the conflict, they instead chose to stay neutral as long as they could, some did join a side eventually, others like the ethergaunt gods were destroyed simply for space or liability. Many worlds were godless and fell twisted to other less caring gods. In the cosmos places like Miriandis should of been, a mix of many gods wills, did not feel the loss. Perhaps a generation of lament for a god that would be soon forgotten, replaced by the stronger gods mortal armies. Miriandis however was unique, creatures felt the call of their deities but could not escape what they were, vampires. They would try to be good and honest but their nature would lead them to lash out in hunger, vampiric blood could not feed vampires, and without the food it lead much of the world to be insanity unleashed. All creatures born awoke motherless and with the hunger feeding on them. They grew to maturity then stopped, seeking only to feed on living flesh that did not exist. Many of the weak willed fell to insanity and rage, however the strongest of the sentient vampires were able to resist the insanity to a point and remain functional.
It was at this time that the forces of Reason, specifically Heironeous, Kord, Moradin, and Corellon Larethian, created the first empowered man. On the island that had been made as the first seed of life on the undead world the deities came together and blessed a selected ten men with powers matching that of the vampires, even surpassing them in many respects. The men were told to protect the living, be defenders and bastions of truth, and to each of them was blessed an island on similar size to the first to be the land for his people, and so the ten men gathered their extended families and moved to their islands, the central island being left near bare. The humans found it hard but their populations grew, and though they were spread out the chosen men, who were called Kings but refused the title, were able to fend off all the vampiric drift that came from the sea, so much so that living fish and other creatures began to thrive in the waters between the islands. This increased the number of vampires that came to the islands however, all manner of vampiric sea creatures, sahuagin, sea elves, even more 'mundane' threats like vampiric sharks and dolphin could take a whole boat of fisherman. The Kings on a regular basis would save fishermen from undead swarms. The central island had even been turned into a farming community at this point, to little help as the living humans were growing fast. The Kings of mortality were just, and had many children each, upon the first ones death his eldest son began showing the powers his father had been granted, the Kings would always be numbered ten men, until one night, when a vampiric ship spotted a mysterious island chain.
The ship was manned by elvish vampire pirates, they had recently taken a haul of living birds found on the near by mountains, from there they had seen this small island chain in an odd configuration and set sail, meals in hand (for some of these vampires these birds were the first living thing they had ever eaten). The vampires sailed day and night until they saw the island, and its people. The Kings of mortality were already on their way to the boat, running along the waters surface, two of them were flying. The flying two Kings went high up and the other eight came on deck, the vampires, energized by their avian meal, lunged on the living flesh, however the eight Kings were more than enough to slay these crew on deck, the two flying kings came down at lightning speeds, one on the crows nest obliterating the vampire hiding there, the other straight through the deck into the hull of the ship. Below deck the vampires scrambled to collect the birds, the only thing worth taking on the ship, the captain of the vessel was a elvish sorcerer who had been below deck using some of the birds in a spell, the other vampires were going to set upon him in a fury for wasting all the blood on magic when a shock wave of epic proportions rang out, tearing the ship to splinters, killing all the vampires and the Kings. While the Kings power transferred to their decedents, the gaseous vampires had no coffins to return to, and while they could go for days without them (being of the 1st age) they were still unable to return in time and died. The shock wave was not missed however, and soon other vampires who knew the sorcerer and his ship would come looking for him.
The Kings power revived in their children, nine of them were men, ready for the task that was before them, the tenth was a child however, a boy who was unable to deal with the power he had been given, his island would be guarded by its two neighboring Kings while this young boy grew. The forces of Reason toted this victory as a sign that with minimal influence the gods could reclaim Miriandis, and so the deities all began pouring their power back into the planet, setting aside the near three hundred years and countless divine murders in a blink, as these beings were but children with godly bodies, subject to the winds of fancy. However the gods did begin to make changes, small areas mostly untouched by vampires began supporting living wildlife, small colonies in remote areas were able to stay hidden all along the northern parts of the continents. The vampires didn't know or truthfully care about the increase in cattle, just that they wanted more and that they were finally as a race beginning to sustain themselves, many insane elder vampires were coming out of the hills, returning to their homes. The vampire population was centralizing and forming the Three Pureblood Houses, each house claiming lordship over their continent. House Barov, lead by a noble vampire who had been lost in the wild for many year, claimed Mirudia the twin continents. House Malfu gained control over Junbe with force, and did so swiftly. The House Moncarl controlled the largest continent, Rogsa, through vassalage and capitulation. The Three Houses became what all of mortal society base life off of today, in undeath or life society grew, and advancements came.
Where as the Kings were first discovered by vampires the world was steeped in magic, shamanism and cults formed for all sorts of twisted quasi-deities that held worship from but a single generation of insane vampiric minds. These formless masses ate all the souls of the dead vampires, making resurrection or any form of afterlife impossible, as long as the creatures felt sorrow for what they were the quasi-gods would form and eat their souls. With the centralization of un-life into the Three Pureblood Houses a formal pantheon began to form, this pantheon was originally formed mostly of devils elevated, after a time a religious upheaval lead by House Malfu led to the adoption of the formal Burnsider Pantheon. Adopted from a local legend into full blow worship on Junbe after Lord Malfu began to lose his iron grasp over his continent, he lead a small religious crusade that the other Pureblood Lords observed and adopted as well, Rogsa and Mirudia both added portions to the story, and its said that even Lord Malfu didn't have the original story correct.
The Pureblood Lords were solid in their control over the largest landmasses on Miriandis, but time and time again another elder vampire would cause a schism in their rule, the civil wars were always small until a long gone dead house found an apparent heir, the civil war grew in size under the flag of this dead house. This war was known as the War of the Fourth House, it was the only true war the vampires fought amongst themselves, and the only war to span all three continents at the same time. The war was vicious on Mirudia the twin continent, the central divide known as the crater ocean became a graveyard of ships, and even into the third age the center of the crater ocean is still a mass of swirling wreckage. The eastern side of Mirudia was where the rebellion began, and before Lord Barov even began to try to quell the false house most of the eastern side was allying itself with the dead house and reformed under a its heir the new Lord Nanok. House Nanok began to set its defense to the west against House Barov, but also attacked to the east leaping its army across the oceans to Rogsa taking its southern tip, Lord Moncarl made the same mistake of a lax defense against this upstart lord. With his house deeply entrenched House Nanok began to try to take the Crater Ocean so that supplies from western Mirudia could no longer aid the small resistance in House Nanok's territory, House Moncarl sent aid to House Barov but Lord Nanok was able to use this opportunity to strike a few key battles against House Moncarl and was able to claim a large area of Rogsa. House Malfu stayed out of the conflict, at first giving shadow supplies House Nanok the later ceasing ties with all the other houses, Lord Malfu began building his army and training them to be elite soldiers, Lord Nanok never forgave House Malfu for cutting ties, and once all of East Mirudia fell to House Nanok they began to move on Junbe. However once House Malfu entered the war they unleashed their army, supported by a mass of wizards and siege engines the world had yet to know House Malfu was able to easily crush House Nanok's control in Rogsa, gifting it back to House Moncarl in a land deal known as the Pact of Houses which would come into use in later ages, in this age however it bound the Three Pureblood Lords into a binding agreement which would force the other lords to return lost territory to its original House. After the Pact of Houses the Three Pureblood Houses began a massive invasion of eastern Mirudia, the invasion was successful in regaining the territory but by this point those in deep Nanok territory were resistant to change and violently resisted the other Houses authority.
The religious upheaval, the formation of the Pureblood Houses, The War of the Fourth House, all these things left the isles of the Kings untouched, while word of the islands had spread to the Pureblood Lords they let it be as just another outcropping of cattle. The Kings were in decline, the nine who were adults after the vampire vessel attacked were now old men, the boy was the only King who was still at his peak. To regain their people the Pureblood Lords turned their attention to the Kings, not knowing anything about the islands the Pureblood Lords sent a small force but sent them with items that would let them see what the explorers saw. When the explorers ships were attacked by the only King still able to travel over water, the Pureblood Lords were emboldened believing if the rumors of many powerful guardians was false then the power of these guardians must be as well. The Pureblood Houses first step was to use the threat of the Kings as a unifying force to the remaining Nanok sympathizers, House Malfu insisted upon unity among the Houses and would not commit to any action against the Kings. It was at this point he revealed the truth of the Pact of Houses, signed in the immortal blood of the three most powerful vampiric forces on the planet Lord Malfu was able to use the Pact of Houses to craft a mighty rod. Malfu's Rod was a device built for one purpose, control. Lord Malfu revealed the Rod at a meeting of the Houses where he unleashed the full power of the Rod first on Lord Moncarl, a beam of incredible force came out of the rods end and when it struck Lord Moncarl it seemed as if reality turned grayscale slowly sucking color into the rods head as time seemed to slow as well. Lord Moncarl was vaporized in the effect but afterwards the vampires at the meeting who were of Moncarl blood now were under the sireship of Lord Malfu directly. Lord Barov however escaped, throwing countless vassals in front of Lord Malfu till he was able to enter a gaseous state and slip out of the castle where the meeting was held.
House Barov retreated its holdings on Rogsa and Junbe as House Malfu absorbed House Moncarl. Mirudia was alone, with a continent of hostile vampires either way you traveled Mirudia was alone. House Malfu took its time absorbing the rest of House Moncarl, however Lord Malfu never forgot about the island with the living humans. Vampires of the First Age had never had living sentient blood at this point. The occasional migrating bird was captured or live fish, ironically because of the Kings presence these creatures had been expanding their habitats, but these were so rare that only a handful of the lucky had fed at all, Lord Malfu was among them and he was not about to pass up this opportunity to feed. However the island was nearest to Barov waters and possibly protected by House Barov. Lord Malfu bent his new nations towards a heavy war footing, building dreadnaught ships capable of crushing lesser ships without breaking pace. House Malfu tried to annex the coastal region of Mirudia that was closest to the King's Isle, over the course of a year House Malfu lead four attempts to annex the region, the last attempt was lead by Lord Malfu himself, all failed.
Over time the gods of reason who had poured their power into Miriandis to repopulate it saw the raging tides of war lead by the vampire infestation. The gods, Heronius specifically, came down and transplanted the islands, forming them into a single land mass forcing that body or earth into a large lake on the south end of Junbe. As the body of water spilled over the lands around the lake were made verdant again, Obad-hai to this day denies he caused the wave of life but no other god had both the motive and power at the time to cause it.
This act of moving the island had repercussions throughout vampire politics. House Barov was able, through a war of attrition, weaken House Malfu's hold on Rogsa and allowed House Barov to reclaim the southern half before the war itself halted, even with the massive forces of House Moncarl at Malfu's disposal he had to allow the largest landmass, Rogsa, to be carved up. Barov took this opportunity to fund many small independent houses, all of which were bent on Malfu's death and none of which Malfu could use to reignite the fervor of his spawn. Whats more is the King's presence in Junbe was completely ignored, Malfu didn't became aware of the Kings till the first Sarosian King would drive Malfu's rod through his heart.
With no way to channel his peoples innate ire Lord Malfu's reign became stagnant, House Barov was able to cut ties with Rogsa and Junbe by creating a blockade of magical force walls that to this day remain at the core of the coral ring on Mirudia. It is held true by most historians that the erection of the force walls around Mirudia is the end of the vampiric age.
Rise of Saros and the Second Vampire Age[edit]
For a time the as life spread forth the vampires of Miriandis fed well, but as the tidal wave of living began to swell and swell along the edges of vampire territory the living eventually overwhelmed the dead. The vampires wise enough to see what had happened theorized that the gods focused on the surface of the planet leaving the underdark cavernous regions lightly populated, this was true to a point as the gods did indeed ignore the underdark, however darker more powerful creatures created in the light did flee to the embrace of the underdark. When the vampire nations, realizing the cows were in full revolt, decided to flee to the underdark they were not expecting the creatures they encountered. The Drow were their first meal, although plentiful the Drow were much harder to capture than their surface dwelling cousins and when the vampires began to settle near their food they realized the fury of the Drow's vengeance and were driven deeper where even more twisted aberrations began to feed on the unsuspecting vampires.
When the vampires fled the surface entirely the living began to absorb the abandoned infrastructures. In doing so many people taught themselves science, engineering, basic animal husbandry and magic. The societies of the living were harsh and cruel, lead by escaped slaves who taught the incoming free peoples how their masters cities functioned, the former slaves sense of morality were irrevocably changed. The vampiric idea that the living were lesser than themselves was carried over except that it was those who failed to embrace the vampiric technologies left behind that were considered lesser.
The Kings society on the south of Junbe was different. As the free peoples began moving to the dead cities the Kings began sending envoys to the nearby settlements offering them a different outlook on their new lives, one of peace of community, ideas about living along side the environment and how the presence of the living spreads life. The southern nations were where druidic magic was discovered and its said that the first druid was one of the Kings decedents.
The Kings themselves were all long lived, their first few generations never reached this advanced age as their former island was always beset by vampiric sea monsters, combined with the fact that their people, the descendants of the Kings who aged as normal, were spreading wide and their bloodlines thinning the Kings felt they had to secure their lineage. The youngest King, who at this point was elderly and infirm himself, was imbued with the might of the other Kings, their power transferred to him in the hopes that this increase in power would make that King strong enough to send his boon to his nearest relative. The act of transferring their power prematurely worked however it killed the other nine Kings and sent the last King into a catatonic state with a look of pure horror and dread frozen across his face. As no new Kings were born in the south of Junbe that day the guardians of the infirm Kings assumed the transfer was successful and they needed only to wait for their last King to die.
In truth the power transfer worked to a point, the last King received the raw power of the other Kings but none of the wisdom to control it. The raw power gave the poor King many gifts including a vision of the one that would take his powers after his death and the things he would do with the boon. In fact the King would of been able to at least stay functional after the transfer if it had not been for this vision, the knowledge that their decision to pool their power would release a being of such evil is in fact what sent him into a catatonic state.
Life continued for many years of relative peace, minor conflicts between the living were often settled with insignificant amounts of bloodshed, most death and wickedness experienced by the average man was by his own people not that of his neighbors.
Then in the south of Junbe in the nation of Orz there was a thief caught stealing bread. His punishment was death by arena, this little man was emaciated, untrained and not very skilled but in his first bout in the arena his name would be burnt into history.
Historians have many interpretations of the events that day but the most commonly agreed upon account of the events were taken by a young scribe for a local wizard who was at the fights studying common wounds in combat taking detailed notes, his scripture begins as a thorough blow by blow account and as the events begin he continues the thorough scientific account of the events.
Saros: move to parry downstrike, takes a wide stance
Degan: down strike, puts a hop into the attack
Saros: parry fails, cut across shoulder, flayed across shoulder bone, moves to nurse wound, drops to one knee
Degan: lurches back for gut stab, takes a wide stance, pauses as glow begins to emit for Saros
Saros: lets out a howl as a golden light pours out of his hand, he removes his hand shoulder wound is now healed, normal stance, looks confused
Degan: takes a step back, shakes head then charges, lets out howl before reaching Saros
Saros: notices charge, tightens to closed stance, side steps charge, short sword flurish, sundered Degan's blade
Degan: begins pleading with Saros, backing away, trips and backs away on sand pit
Saros: slowly approaching, calmly reaches Degan as Degan reaches the wall, takes a wide stance, stabs Degan through the neck, he holds his blade in Degan's throat for 30 seconds, degan's body immolates
Degan: burns away to a fine black ash
Saros was the vessel for the Kings power, within him hummed the collective knowledge and wisdom of the Kings as well as many boons similar to theirs, however within him the Kings power became twisted and rotten. Saros' rise to power is only sparcely documented, as the tales tell he slowly gained fame in the Orz-lands and became a knight to the Queen. After he was gifted a small portion of land he ventured east. It is in this venture east that Saros became entangled in plot by a wizard that foolishly attempted to tap into the Kings power.
As Saros visited the region known as Dugmore now he was set upon by a cabal of sorcerers, lead by an elderly wizard, this wizard captured and tortured Saros for weeks, casting all manner of preparatory spells before he attempted to wrench Saros' heritage from him, however this wizard was too weak to fulled extract the Kings power from Saros, he did succeed in drawing the Kings power closer to the surface however.
An accurate record of what transpired between Saros and the cabal is not available. What is known however is the cabal's leader was a member of the mage council that ruled the Dugmore region and that the cabal was a feeder organization for the mage council. After they captured Saros the cabal was lost to antiquity, no one is quite sure how they died off except for their leader who became a servant of Saros, his name is Michael 'Magmus' Karanok. Other than this piece of history nothing more is known about the origins of Magmus, though his partnership with Saros lasts till the current era.
Saros left Dugmore with Magmus and continued east, he crossed a mountain pass and entered into a region unlike his home, this area is known in the current age as Enia, its original name has been lost. In Enia Saros acted much as he did in Orz territories, as an adventurer of great renown. Ancient Enia was secluded from the rest of the world and had no central power, there where no nations to speak of or even royalty, the lands were wild.
One event recorded was found in shipping records from a merchant guild operating in the area at the time. One expedition record makes mention of a massive iron mine operated by Quag'goth who had been pushed out of the underdark. The merchants who found the iron mine were wiped out by a small settlement of gnomish inventors except for one man. Figby, a lower member merchant who survived the assault and was left stranded, hired a mercenary he came across in the wild. This person is made mention on the records as a Saros Darnk. The records were abandoned near the site of a burned village of gnomish design. Though Figsby was not seen for some years the next mention of him in historical documents shows a radically different man. Originally Figby was a simple merchant, he had little to no experience in combat, the next mention of him is at the side of Saros leading his armies during the invasion of Orz. No mention of Magmus is made in the shipping records left by Figsby.
Though it is not recorded at some point between Saros meeting Figsby and Saros leaving Enia he came into contact with and befriended a dragon, it is known that when Saros left Enia headed north. He was accompanied by Figsby, Magmus and a large green dragon. This is known through an border scout's journal. The elven nation of Fezim was known to keep border patrols and advanced scouts, one of these scouts sensed an immense darkness approaching and sent word home, though she was never found her journal made mention of a wizard, warrior, young green dragon and an evil spirit possessing a man making their way north, the author dared not approach as the closer she came the more muddled her thoughts became, near the end of the journal her writings change into a language that would not rise to use for many years. Its thought that Saros and company did not kill her, current academic axiom states she went insane and ran wild south, away from the darkness.
In Fezim Saros was met with distrust and sometimes outright hostility. Saros was known to gather those who didn't support the current elders and lead terrorist raids in response to the welcome he received. Figsby was known at the time to be the more gentle of Saros' generals and would try to slow Saros' wrathful hands during those years. Eventually the nation of Fezim made Saros and his band enemies of the state, during the next year Saros rose no more rebellions and gathered no more support. Though no record of his passing was made it is known that he returned south to Enia.
In Enia Saros and Magmus worked together to do a number of horrible experiments on the sparse populations. During this time they met a young wizard named Cardon of En. Magmus took Cardon as an apprentice and eventually he was integrated into their party, this only happened at Magmus' request as Saros has never cared for Cardon even to this day. Cardon and Magmus invented a new style of magic, called weremagic it augments, empowers or inhibits were-creatures of all kinds. Magmus used a powerful curse to send out an infectious pulse and warped many of the inhabitants of Enia into were-creatures of all varieties. The cost for this spell was a sacrifice that Cardon ended up paying, he too was cursed and driven insane. Through further enchantments Magmus was able to bind the fate and will of all werewolves in Enia to Cardon, and Cardon to himself. Cardon thus became the first Were-Lord.
Saros used his new army to wage war on Fezim, the north passes of Enia were unprepared for the ferocity and woodland cunning of the werewolves and lost control of their borders. Figsby's restraint was not shown in those days. Over the course of a year Cardon and Figsby lead massive ground assaults on outlying villages, near the end of that year Magmus returned with a new wave of infected were-creatures. The ground forces were bolstered as well as new were-mage students Magmus had been training. The dragon made mention of in the border scout journal was seen again in this time, leading a small faction of were-ravens and a troop of pegasus as aerial support and suplly runners for the invasion. It should also be mentioned that this dragon was not large but gargantuan though it was still a green dragon, the dragon itself never used its breath weapon when it was engaged instead it relied on its impressive array of spells.
After the third year of the invasion the last holdout of the elves were in the fortified Fezim City. Fezim City had a contigent of druids that had adapted were-magic into a powerful tool against the Sarosian armies. It should be mentioned that Saros' invasions were easily prepared for, as his armies were tied to the sways of the moon and the druids had developed a spell that enchanted the area around Fezim City to have blades of silver razor grass for a short time but long enough to repel the werewolves. Magmus and Cardon developed a counter to this defense, one month shortly after a small faux invasion of the city Magmus and Cardon cast en epic spell creating a false moon low in the sky, it empowered and enraged the werewolves and the city was shortly torn asunder.
The druids from Fezim escaped the wrath of Saros, they spread their secrets as far as they could and the rumors of a dark spirit with a were-army spread with them. The Knights of Orz were wide spread and often went on long trips to gain fame and glory, Saros maintained contacts with the order throughout his years abroad and learned that the druids escaped when his order warned him of a threat near his last known location.
What is known of this time is that Saros maintained a presence in Fezim and solidified his control over Enia. Over the course of the next five years Saros maintained this hold and used his contacts with the Knights of Orz to spread misinformation. During those five years Saros built up and severed his presence in Fezim leaving a tyrannical puppet government. He sent Magmus back to Dugmore with the intention of influencing them to attack Fezim while Saros used his contacts in Orz to blame the darkness in the east on Dugmore. When Dugmore marched its army to Fezim it was hard fought but it fell to Dugmore's mage army, this however was seen as a provocative act by the Queen of Orz who then launched her own attack on Dugmore, this war left Saros the time he needed to build up his army in Enia and left his neighbors weakened.
Saros soon enough unleashed his hoards upon Fezim again, by this point Dugmore had pulled its main army back towards Orz and it fell to the Sarosian advance quickly, at the same time Saros sent another army over through the pass he used to reach Enia from Dugmore. Dugmore pulled some of its forces back, under Magmus' advice, assuming that Orz had launched some sort of sneak attack on Fezim. When this happened Saros' second army attacked Dugmore's outer cities and quickly cut Dugmore in half. Saros sent word back to Orz that he had found and tamed the 'dark spirit' that was plaguing Fezim and was now using it to attack Dugmore, the Queen responded by allowing Saros to return, army in tow, to Orz.
The Queen Morgan Ty maintains to this day that the decision to allow Saros entry to Orz was the correct one and it is true that of all the nations Saros attacked Orz faired the best. When Saros arrived in the city of Orz he and Queen Ty came to an agreement, she retained control over Orz and Dugmore in all things domestic while under the banner of Saros who would control her military and be allowed to press edicts as he pleased. Saros likewise left Enia and Fezim under Cardon's rule, his only edict was the were-plague should ever spread beyond Enia. Saros employed Magmus and his new wizard salves from Dugmore and created a magical curse so wide spread it is still unheard of to this day. Known as the Quarantine Effect were-creatures from Enia would only be able to spread their curse in Enian territory and those not from Enia who became cursed were unable to physically leave the zone.
This power base became the beginnings of the first Sarosian Empire. Much of whats known of these years are legends and vary greatly from one region to the next. Many historians think of themselves as experts on the Sarosian Empire till they learn the true nature of Saros. As it was Saros was a male human from Orz and many of the older legends describe him this way. The power within him became twisted when Magmus attempted to siphon that power out, the nature of the Kings gifts were tied to lineage and likewise so was the twisted empowerments of Saros. However with Saros his gifts were not the only thing transferred with his death, his memories and personality transferred as well, leading to the rise of a new Saros every so often.
Saros would die and be reborn in a bastard child that would be regarded as talented and destined for great things. The first time Saros died the nations of Orz and Enia split while keeping their neighboring states as colonies and the generals split as well, Magmus stayed with Cardon in Enia while the dragon stayed with Figsby in Orz. Saros was reborn to a bastard child in Orz and allowed his generals to bide their time unaware of his rebirth, it wasn't until Saros came of age and was conscripted into his own army that he convinced his former generals he was reborn. Saros swiftly regained Enia's support and began expanding again.
Over the next 50 years The Sarosian Empire spread north in bursts of strength the world had not known since the era of the undead. Occasionally their war machine would slow or halt when Saros would be assassinated or died in battle until he arose again and it continued. Near the end of that 50 year period Saros controlled more than half of Junbe.
This is where history begins to lose itself, Saros goes through a period of solidification and rapid rebirths as he and his generals enact large campaigns within their own empire. The group would do things on par with the magnitude of the Quarantine Zone, they gathered all the Gnomes, Halflings and Dwarves they had enslaved and created a large think-tank of gnomish engineering and Dwarven craftsmanship, the halflings were all given large quantities of hard narcotics to keep them addicted and lazy. The city was a massive success, the Dwarves and Gnomes bonded right away and the Halflings kept the city from becoming too organized or powerful to rise up against Saros.
During many of the early campaigns the legends begin to describe Saros as an Elf and later legends again as a Human. Shortly after the formation of The Complex, as it was known at the time, later would become known as (Diminuton), Saros enacted breeding laws, certain couples were paired in the more solidified states and monstrous races were conquered and forced into cross breeding programs. The slave children and half breeds were forced into a massive mining endeavor that was beginning just north of Orz territory in the Worlds Spine mountains.
Over the course of the next 300 years these types of massive campaigns continued, the south half of Junbe was radically altered, machines capable of replicating magical effects and the magical influences from Dugmore allowed Saros near limitless power to alter the world around him. The specifics of when these events happened are still a matter of debate but it is know that before Saros began he war efforts again the following occured:
- A massive highway was burrowed through the underdark, this Underdark Highway was carved from known existing tunnels and massive disintegration teams.
- Magmus opens a school called House Karanok dedicated to void magics.
- Saros is not seen for stretches of 30 years at a time, it is rumored that a Goblin is King during one of these stretches.
- A new magical device known as a Focusing Stone allows Saros' mage army to cast devastating magical effects without draining the mages.
- The Southern states of the Sarosian Empire begin seeing real government, they are allowed to live in a relative freedom and the breeding programs stopped.
- A small Vampire outbreak occurred in The Complex.
- All Elves and Half-Elves are moved to new homes in southern Dugmore next to the thin mountains that separate the Quarantine Zone.
- A new race is discovered and dredged from the Underdark, the Ixilithid is a large insect with a knack for physical modifications, the creature has the ability to remove glands and organs from one creature and make them function in another. The most skilled of their kind have been known have the ability to transfer brain matter giving the recipient new talents and memories.
- A method is developed to remove the Elf lineage from Half-Elves, the process is voluntary though because of the resettlement many Half-Elves choose to undergo the procedure.
A large rebellion broke out as sanctions against druidic magic drove many fey creatures out of their ancestral homes, Saros responded to this new threat as a test of his military might and militarized his populous, mandatory military service was always a part of the Sarosian empire but with this rebellion conscripted most able body men in his empire as well as all those capable of casting arcane magic. The army he raised was massive but untrained and rebellious itself. Saros again turned to Magmus who had already developed a form of pact magic that Saros used to bind his new peasant army to his will, those with talents or who were loyal were spared to pacts bind and made officers.
Near the end of the rebellion the Sarosian military began small incursions into neighboring nations, the weaker of these nations soon capitulated to the Sarosian Empire without prompting in an attempt to avoid massive bloodshed. These people were graciously accepted by Saros into his empire by allowing them to pay him taxes in wealth and resources, though from these people he wouldn't accept conscripts nor would he allow them to leave their nation under penalty of death.
The north half of Junbe collapsed like this, slowly and without bloodshed, however there were two holdouts, the Nation of Vane and the city-state of Jherico. Vane was a small nation nestled in the shadow of the world spine northeast of The Complex, it benefited from the cast off from The Complex and used this local resource to its utmost advantage. Aided by the city of Jherico, which was renown for its clerical orders, the two kingdoms were able to defend and reject the small invasion forces.
Little is known on why Vane and Jherico were left untouched by any of the Sarosian empires, what is known is that Vane and Jherico were quarantined and travel between them and the outside world were prohibited, towards the end of the Second Age the nation of Vane and the lands around Jherico had become a lawless haven for all forms of dissidents. Vane, to this day, has lost all record on who its rightful royal family is. The city of Jherico maintained its order through the cult of personality of its leader. Records show that in this area Jherico prospered and was eventually targeted for invasion but was able to rebuke it, the lack of records indicate an effort by Sarosian historians to remove the truth of those events leaving Jherico, which still stands to this day, shrouded in mystery.
The north half of Junbe felt swiftly under the might of the Sarosian war machine. Near the end of Saros' campaigns a series of way-gates were produced by Magmus using his new Focusing Stones, his experiments had yielded a series of way-gates for short distance travel however during his tests an accident occurred that opened a breach to the continent of Rogsa. Saros took advantage of this accidental discovery and commissioned a fleet of airships with these failed way-gates mounted to the front, he used these ships to launch a massive invasion on Rogsa from Junbe.
And so the Sarosian wars continued, Rogsa and Mirudia were not nearly as developed as Junbe and offered little to no resistance, it took Saros half the time to take over both Rogsa and Mirudia as it did for him to secure Junbe.
This ages beginning is marked by the rise of Saros and likewise is marked at its end with the rise of Malfu
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