The Age of Saints, Gods and Devils (Foundation Lands Supplement)

This age started the day the devil Lord Gor' Guroth was summoned in the city of Heijanen. It is a time of intertwined periods of intrigue and war where both sides try to gain an upper hand with the patience of immortals. The religious fanaticism of old Astria reached its height, and Gadiria was the primary target, for only enchanted weapons could effectively harm the angelic and fiendish combatants. It marks the first time the outer planes acted directly in the material plane in a significant scale.

The Devil's Pact

The portal that summoned Gur' Guroth allowed for the passage of over three thousand devils, sources vary from 3 to 5 thousand, in the material realm. After trespassing the portal, the devil killed the clerics who had participated in the ritual, and immediately proposed peace to the remaining citizens. Many fled, but to those who stayed the devil kept his word.

He claimed he was charged to bring punishment for the pride and arrogance of the Astrian people, but for those who accepted their workload and payed honestly, there would be quarter. His hand would weigh heavier on those who defied their fate. The most powerful clerics followed the Wilhani religion knew those were lies for some of them could talk to the saints, but the demon silver tongue convinced many.

The Emperor Laord Humbel was ready to bring the full might of the Astrian Armies and would not be satisfied with less. Some of his advisors, including Mastraut himself advised against it, suggesting a fast and decisive strike before the devils could expand. It took them three weeks to gather an army of over two hundred thousand, with the march taking two more weeks.

In that month, Gur' Guroth and his demons seized seven cities in the region, each time with a display of power followed by a speech and generous offers to those who would accept divine punishment willingly. Each city fought, lost and was spared. No one had fought devils as such before and mundane weapons, even the sharpest and most well made, were inefficient. The devils accepted each city surrender, took no slaves and kept their promises. Taxes were high, but their spoils were limited to that which would serve them. They had little use for food, as their sustenance seemed to come from somewhere else. Wizards and powerful clerics were given the best conditions and offered wealth and power to help increase the army, most declined and yet were not killed. In that month, he brought his two generals from the outer planes: Rarzath and Tergreth.

When the Astrian troops arrived, the demon army left the city claiming that those who had accepted their punishment would only bear their burdens, not having to withstand a siege. With a strength of less than 15 thousand, composed of both demons and pactists, they left to face the Astrians on the field. Before the armies met, the demon sent a messenger, asking for a presentation of terms. The proud Emperor accepted, and proclaimed that it would be held in front of the army.

They met, and the emperor made his well prepared speech with an enhanced voice that could be heard perfectly by each soldier in both armies. The devil heard quietly. When Gor' Guroth spoke, he did not debate, he claimed they were allies, that it is their duty to do the bidding of the Sacred Couple and that he had to pass judgement. He passionately spoke about his compassion towards the emperor, who had been charmed by arrogant false prophets willing to prove themselves greater than their very deities and Saints. He urged the soldiers to join them and punish those who would violate holy laws for personal glory, pointing at the excesses of the temples and the wealth of the clerics. He finished his speech by stating that if the emperor kept listening his advisors and proceeded with the battle, he would fight, but only those who raise arms against their holy cause would be further punished. The emperor's speech was decent, Gor Guroth's was a masterpiece.

Speechless, the emperor baubled for some seconds, he wasn't ready for that. In anger he shouted that that meeting was over and they would not heed fiendish advice. Gor'Guroth retreated making a gesture of respect for the emperor.

The devilish army waited in the most advantageous position they could find. The Emperor sent the holy order of Saint Perenus first, 5 thousand strong, all oathsworn knights blessed by the Saint himself, closely followed by the Dwarven division of Abjurers and a division of battle clerics. The first round was fierce with two knights falling for each demon, the demons would not hold at this pace.

Unseen under the cover of magic, two devils approached the Emperor's guard from above. Invoking a rain of flames and molten stones they attacked the guard, their presence frightening many in the lower ranks. In this battle Aristen the first knight of the empire dealt the killing blow to Tergreth as Rarzath killed the emperor.

The speech weakened the army's resolve, the demons frightening presence made many foot soldiers to flee, and the death of the emperor followed by yet another rain of fire was too much. Despite losing less than 5 thousand soldiers the main army routed. The devilish side was still at peril, for the most powerful knights and clerics would not rout, still outnumbering them almost 3 to 1, and those were the most dangerous enemies.

Gor'Guroth army fled. they had lost more than half their numbers, but they had killed the emperor. The devil made his casters send a message to every duke, marquis and count of the empire, saying the emperor was dead and the proud empire of Astria was no more, destroyed by its own pride. Each was to atone or face divine punishment.

The Emperor's daughter in the capital received the message and immediately contacted her father's commander. The news shocked her and she ordered them to pursue the enemy, the commander refused as she was not yet empress and their army was at disarray, he would take the decision he saw fit since he had the connection to the divine couple. Many nobles were trying to contact the court to know what had happened, and the news traveled fast. The devil plan had limited success as only one province seceded, Erdsedam, as it had frontiers with the devil dominated cities and knew of his reputation and power.

The Aftermath and First Years

The Empire was still strong and for a week, until the coronation, the army had yet to move against the devils, their leaders were too occupied discussing tactics and punishing the troops for such display of cowardice. When the new Empress, Haleni Humbel ordered them to move and hunt the devils, they did so begrudgingly but could not find the devils' army. One week of search and the commanders decided to liberate the occupied cities.

When they reached the first city, the gates were closed and the wall manned only by dwarfs and humans. A message was written in white on the wall near the main gate: "They have taken our loved ones, we will defend the gates". The Astrian army ended up attacking and taking the city, costing it a week and over a hundred soldiers. The citizens were imprisoned as the imperial commanders did not know what to do to them.

The news then reached the army, while they were retaking that city, the devils had captured three more. Cities in Astria were ready to defend against mortal armies, but devilish tactics were far different. Furthermore, since the citizens had defended the city to the best of their abilities, the devil's released their hostages, unharmed.

The empress suspended the chase and ordered all the cities to raise defenses against the fiendish spells, deceptions and illusions. Gadiria offered their help, and Astria accepted. The Astrian Army left the field to garrison the most important settlements. In the next six months, the devils captured five more cities, having over a quarter of the empire under their control. Their progress was slowing down, or so it seemed.

In the next five years, while the war intensified and the empire was reduced to a little over a half its original size, Etrin Mastraut worked day and night to prepare another summoning ritual, to summon the warrior Saint Ferraz. In a dream the Saint had taught him how to do it, and just before the was completed five years and a half, the Saint was summoned. This time the ritual worked as expected. The Saint help however, was far from what was expected.

The Rise of Saint Ferraz

Deep green small eyes, light brown short hair, a wide jaw, perfect skin and an ever stern expression. The Saint would look human if not for its angelic wings and the radiant light emanating from his skin. He did not come alone, with him a horde of five thousand celestial crossed. As he was not to be contained, most of the energy of the ritual was used to bring the celestials.

Saint Ferraz was powerful, and in a single week he and his troops conquered a fifth of the devils territory. Gor'Guroth however had spent time and resources summoning more devils and preparing a trap, after a difficult battle, when the Saint was retaking the main keep of a city they came through a hidden portal, locking the celestial and one of his generals with them. The battle the followed destroyed most of the keep, two of Gor'Guroth Generals, the Saints General, and resulted in the retreat of the Saint and his followers.

After the defeat, Saint Ferraz decided to place a barrier, to make it difficult to bring creatures from the outer planes. He spoke to Mastraut with the instructions, it would take over six months and tons of gold in gems, offerings and fees. They would certainly need full imperial support. Mastraut contacted the Empress and requested a meeting with the full court the next day.

It was the first time he met the Empress and the nobles of the imperial court and he knew they would not be able to deal with this crisis. Using the legendary spell, called by the Gadirians Imprinsonment, he put the Empress in a state of slumber until Gor'Guroth and his generals are defeated. The court was perplexed, some reached their swords others cowared, a cleric even prepared an offensive spell when the Saint started speaking. He calmly told them to stop, that full commitment was needed and she was not willing to give it. He promised that his tactics to defeat the devil would work, but the wastes of society and mortal existence would have to be kept to a minimum. No more banquets or glamorous statues. The war demanded sacrifice, and the Saint was willing to extract it.

What ensued was a strong austerity policy that quickly spread through the empire. The celestials were harsh but efficient and in four months the ritual was performed. The next step was the manufacturing of sacred weapons for the angels and mortal soldiers who would fight the demons, tens of thousand of weapons.

The full fledged war lasted only five years, and the casualties on both sides were too high to maintain. Both Celestials and Fiends protected themselves behind mortals since mortals were much easier to replenish. After a specially bloody battle, Saint Ferraz decided to bid his time and use his superior resources to build up his strength, train specialists in fighting devils and forge equipment. The devil prepared to defend, for he knew he had little chance in a direct confrontation, he would have to wait and seize an opportunity.

The stalemate had started.

The Elvish Goddess and The Warrior of the Lake

Elmeyr forest felt the impact of both summonings and foreseeing the future consequences of the battle, performed a similar ritual. Since Saint Ferraz's barrier was still in place, they were only able to bring a single creature, their Goddess of protection and home Nasurien. She understood her role and started erecting magical defenses around the elvish settlements. Her magic guaranteed that any fiendish being that entered the forest would be detected (and some who where already were expelled or killed) and that teleportation and magic gates would not work near the settlements. A tenth of all elvish income would be given to the goddess cause and finance her and her followers protection building. Unlike the stoic Saint Ferraz, she enjoyed her time among the elves, singing, celebrating holidays and playing with them whenever a day of work was done.

The council of Jamaroos, the seven cities of the lake, also felt the need to protect their land, and among their nine great gods, elected Kounmani, the warrior of the lake as their defender. The cities put together enough money for the ritual and hired the clerics that assisted in the Saint summoning. Kounmani comes alone and as his first action he calls the council and listens to them, asking many questions about the state of the war. He then contacts Saint Ferraz, and the Saint urges him to join their battle when they are ready to attack. The warrior accepts and start preparing himself and his followers for battle. He then contacts Nasurien and they arrange a meeting in the forest. They spend many days together, she sings, he tells stories of his land and his time in this world. They become good friends, vowing to bring their people together in the struggle.

Gadirians enter the stage

Gadirians are the most divided. Some believe their wizards and warriors would be able to defeat the devils if it came to it, others consider it a much more serious threat. In the end the decide to supply weapons to Astria at a reduced cost, start training anti-fiendish troops, open calls for mercenary troops (to be paid by the Astrians) and place defenses in their cities, starting by the richest ones.

The first weapon delivery convoy was kept a secret, yet the devils attacked in force and stole the weapons. The second reached its destination. Before the third was sent Saint Ferraz, motivated by rumours of another heist, attacked and captured the weakest and easternmost provincial port. The saint claimed the devils had infiltrated the most important workshops and were receiving weapons directly and that province, responsible for the shipments was to blame. He had tried to convince Gadirians to take action for years, but for him their actions were weak and indecisive and the council dismissive. On their side the Gadirian had had many successes, dismatling dozens of smuggling operations and capturing over a hundred criminals, however the wealth inequality of their empire left many people interested in working for the devils. Each snatched weapon allowed them to live comfortably for a year. When Saint Ferraz captured the civil port there were talks of war, but the reasonable side of the debate won, and the Saint was offered the responsibility to oversee the weapon production and delivery directly, but he would have no say in any other Gadirian matters and would refrain from further outbursts.

By this time the war had already completed forty years.

Fiendish Spread and Followers

With harsh methods, the weapon's smuggling virtually ended, but the devil's network of informants was still working. In the third month of the 42nd year after the war started, the devils coordinated their most daring attack, leaving no Celestial working in Gadiria Alive. They did have defenses put, but they were spread thin and Gor'Guroth had much more information on the Saint's operation than the opposite. The attack was ruthless, and marked the start of the Gadirian war. The marginalized of the empire united under their own leadership, no devilish influence was needed to start the rebellion, but once started Gor´Guroth supported it as well and as secretly as he could.

Most in the rebel army did not want anything to do with devils.

To make matters worse, a number of necromancers and conjurers organized themselves and offered their services to the devil lord, in return they would have significant funding, protection and no limitation to their researches. They were few, but soon became hundreds. There were also those who were willing to serve in exchange for power, an arcane power different from those of mages, more direct and destructive. Gadiria named them Warlocks, and they were to be killed on sight.

This set the stage for the rest of the war. The devils took any opportunity they could to gather alliances and increase their power abroad. This kept their cause floating. They explored whatever they could and limited drastically the support other empires could give. Ferraz kept preparing for over a century and when he finally attacked, the devils power decreased to a point were many thought the war was won, however the devils fell back to their stronghold, when Gor'Guroth himself converted an angel to their cause. Caderoth became the first fallen angel, and the strike he dealt in his betrayal changed the course of war, allowing the devils to reclaim their place of power.

The conflicts were brewing everywhere, even the peaceful Elmeyr forest had dissidents and rebellions under the watchful eye of Nasurien.

Some elves were lured by devils' arcane gifts, and were banned. Some of their family followed, and they settled the mountains between the forest and the mountain. There they decided to show their valor by hunting ogres, giants and dragons that lived in the dwarven mountain. It took them fifty years, but they gathered five dragon heads, one of each type, and offered them to the elves in the valley as a proof of valor. The elves were impressed and granted them the right to return if they forsake their arcane pacts. They could not. Before leaving their leader made a speech stating that they were honoring the tradition of Aleanthur, the first mage, fighting the true enemies. They left, but they numbers were fivefold. The new group lived up to their promise and many took the pact, others became hunters and a few wizards. All missed the forest, but most endured. One day their leader received a order from his pact master. He was to befriend Nasurien and show their valor. He secretly entered the forest and hiding his powers started serving the Goddess. She accepted his service, and after many years, raised him to her intimate circle. He started using his influence to put more of his followers among hers. One day the order came they were to steal her artifacts of power, weapons she had spent decades forging. There was struggle, some left, but in the end, they did it. They sent one of theirs with the artifact and continued by her side. It did not take her even a full day to realize what had happened. She killed the betrayer immediately, then wept for spilling elvish blood in the forest. In a surge of power she cursed them and their companions, they would no longer walk proudly in the sunlight, their skins and hair would be colorless and dull to match their being and they were banned from the forest, they would become the drow.

A second problem was the everlasting debates between moderates and radicals regarding the war, which at a point became a true division, crippling the elvish power.

The Endgame

The war raged for four hundred years with many shifts in power, but none of great consequence. Three times Ferraz prepared for a great final strike, and three times he almost succeeded. Gadiria was but a reminder of its former power, only the richest westernmost provinces endured, the inequality greatly reduced, but so was their wealth. The Astrian Empire was no more, the Arasti speaking lands were under direct control of either the Saint or the Fiend. The non-astrian provinces were more independent, but weak and indirectly serving one or even both of them. The Elmeyr forest and the lands of the lake had suffered much from the fiendish influences and much more hatred and conflict was experienced in both lands, however they still kept strong, losing around a fifth of their total population in the years of the war. The Gadirians were reduced to half their number, the Astrians, to a third.

It was Gor' Guroth turn to execute his plan. He informed his generals he had found a way to summon two more demon lords each as powerful as himself. The ritual would happen next year, in third day of the ninth month. It is said that he then allowed one of his captains to be captured, so that Ferraz would know of the ritual, its location and its date.

It worked. The Saint took desperate measures throwing his soldiers in a rage war and using all of his resources to reach and destroy the devil as soon as he could. The Devil chose the best defensive places and managed his battles, losing all of them, but he lost them slowly and inflicting much heavier casualties to his enemies. The Saint finally reached Gor'Guroth capital and attacked. He was inside the city and they were about to conquer it, over a week before the rituals' date, but the devil was ready for them.

The devil had certified himself that both the elves and Jamaroosi were occupied, ordering his followers in both places to cause as much damage and confusion as possible, and so they did. The two nations were considering joining the battle, but were afraid the devil would take the opportunity to harm their lands, and the attacks were evidence that their fear was real.

He had hid most of his troops in tunnels beneath the fortress and prepared a spell impeding any to leave the city. The ritual had been a lie. Now the tired and battered army of the Saint faced the fresh, and for the first time more numerous, fiendish forces. It was a massacre, if not for the fresh troops from the Serralese province, virtually no one would have survived. The Saint was destroyed, and the world felt it.

Immediately, the Warrior of the lake contacted the elven goddess, they had to act. Using powerful spells they created magic gates between their followers' location and the fiendish capital, and in full force they attacked. If the devil had even the crippled Astria under his control, the rest was sure to follow.

This battle requires a book of its own, I will not even attempt to describe it in a decent level of detail. There is lack of information, conflicting accounts and far too many important events. What is clear is that Gor' Guroth died but so did Nasurien. The city was obliterated in walls of fire, explosions, stone rains and sheer brute strength. Even dragons are said to have fought and died for both sides.

Kounmani the warrior of the lake dealt the final blow, and the devil's remaining generals fled. The divine warrior said that his victory was only possible with the help of mortals, claiming that a group of seven reached Gor'Guroth with him, one of them kept Kounmani in battle with his healing prowess, a half-elven woman controlled the mind of one of the enemy generals, but it was the sacred halberd of Nashipur, a Gadirian-Baltra Dwarf that killed the other general and inflicted severe wounds in the Devil Lord. Of the seven, only Nashipur was alive by the end of the battle.

---

Back to Main Page → 5e Homebrew → Campaign Settings → Foundation Lands → Time and History