The Third Age (Dominaria Supplement)

The Third Age

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The Invasion of Grand Caliph Suzerain

XXXX The armies of the Caliphate crash through northern Arcadia, flattening two cities and cutting Felix off completely. They then pour into the Imperial West.

The Second Imperium Abandons the Eastern Territories

Against the onslaught of the armies of the Easterlings, the central powers of the Imperium agree to abandon everything east of Cormyr as well as much of Cormyr south of the Vale.

The rest of the war placeholder

By war's end, the second Imperium is a shattered remnant of its former self, hanging on to territory in Illyria and Cormyr for the most part. This state, and the memories of the central powers' 'betrayal' would color much of the first half of the Third Age in the West.

Post War Consolidation

The Imperial Army and Mages' Coalition attempt to retake much of the territory they'd abandoned and reform the full Imperium. This proves impossible.

Federation Independencia

A new confederation sprung up east of the Cormyri Vale and Nurim's Mountains. It was a loose alliance of many small, weak countries and cities ruled by various nobles and minor lords. The Federation maintained a ragtag army to guard the border with the Empire.

The Mantaéri Republic

A democratic Mantaéri state coalesces after the war. No longer confident in their ability to face the world or resist the encroachments of the Imperium alone, the Mantaéri city states bound together under a common compact.

The White Sword splits from the Imperium

After the burning of their fortress, the White Sword severs all ties with the Imperium as a whole. The emnity between them and the Mages' Council only grows when they agree to treat with individual lords of the Imperium, but never the Council.

The Second Imperium Evolves

The coming years and contemporary historians would be kind to the Mages' Council and their reformation of the Second Imperium. In many ways their decisions were logical and a path to survival and eventually victory. But their decision split the West irrevocably for the Third Age, and would serve to splinter it further down the road. Although the Second Imperium would continue to be a stabilizing force for growth and prosperity within its borders, and of trade without, the Mages' Council's actions here were the first in a long chain of events that would lead to the heinously violent Purge at the end of the Age.

XXXStarted to spread power to mages across the west? but not very much further than the mage class?XXXX

The Rise of the Wandering One

He has a wild, feral appearance but at the same time an immortal allure. Although he is now quite insane, the spirits trapped within him give him great stores of knowledge, know-how and reasoning ability. He is a quick thinker and is capable of strategizing and thinking on dozens of levels at once – all of this serves to make him a near-invincible foe. His reaction time and strength as well as spell ability is incredible and he has vast reserves of it. Many of his souls carry spells and some can cast them; through spirit-sense, they give him precognition and prescience for miles. He retains all the knowledge and skills of every soul he has ever absorbed and is therefore very adept at nearly everything - and a genius. He is a master of a hundred fighting styles, a dozen schools of magic, and many disciplines of higher learning. As far as I’m concerned, he is our world's first demigod.

From Reflections on a Demigod by Abu-Juhn Al-Beldrona, or Hector of Caprille, the Wandering One's chief Lexographer.

The early beginnings of the singular being known to history as the Wandering One are shrouded in mystery, but arcanists have loosely traced his beginnings back to the Island of Northover in the southern Najiki Archipelago. At some point in the deep past, terrible destruction was wrought on the island; what remains bears all of the Wandering One's early hallmarks. Before that, who or what he was, is unknown. He first appeared in the East, about one century after the Great Crusade. Tribes on the shores of the Shining Sea, nomads in the high desert of Kwazarmia, corsairs on the seas and islands of Golden Gulf, and the elves of the Far Shore all noted his coming. His coming and going was feared, and knowledge of him spread. He was known as a vengeful spirit, a mournful specter, or a force of nature. The tribesmen named him He who Walks, a tale from Bedou myth. The Corsairs named him The Reaper, a reference to the Death's Head myth that western pirates had taken from the Najiki tribes of the Carrib Spur. The Elves however, gave him a simpler name: The Wandering One. For a decade, the Wandering One stalked the high desert of Kwazarmia and the trade routes of the Janni's Anvil. He searched for something, what he did not know; but he knew he needed it. There was a power beyond the world that he needed and the search possessed him. Tales of him end for a time after the sack of Tarsaad and the Kwazarmian's subsequent campaign to drive him off. The sack was a shocking and cataclysmic event, and the campaign that occurred over the next months marked a break in the myth. The Wandering One and his army of "Husks", lifeless creatures he created with his magic by draining the living of their soul, sacked the city overnight and left it a misty ruin on the shores of the Golden Gulf. The Kwazarmians retaliated and, leaving nearly everything of value behind, the Wandering One and his horde vanished into legend.

From Tarsaad the Wandering One traveled west across the Janni's Anvil, possessed by his search. In that blasted waste he bested the Dragon Gargon the Dread and took him for his mount. Travelling along the coast of the Golden Gulf as it went north, the Wandering One and his army sacked the trade city of Al-Liyyun without warning. New husks in tow, he moved north into the Aktar Fells and the Dhazanti Steppes. Brief negotiation brought him the allegiance of several wytch clans of the Fells, and the Shamen of Firedeep Caldera - who would become the dread mages of his first campaign. Both the wytches and the shamen had read the portends of his coming, and welcomed his foul power. By lengthy campaign, he subdued the local beast nations and hill tribes, making the western Fells his domain and adding more to his growing stain on Dominaria's history. The Wandering One then moved west again, leaving a fledgling Dark Kingdom in his wake nestled into the foothills of the Fells. The Wandering One and his husks made an impact on the men of Dhazantar then as well. As word of a nameless power swept across the grasslands and scrub, several warlords and tribal leaders gathered together to fight this new enemy. The Wandering One defeated them at "The Place of Skulls", still held as holy ground on the Steppes, and moved on. This unity and common purpose laid the seeds for the future Dhazanti Caliphate.

The Wandering One continued west still, and north, into the frozen tundra of the north. The Khachak King Nuranbaatar II had heard of the Wandering One's advance and called on Dwarven, Ruulian, and some Dhazanti allies to confront the advancing army. They massed on the banks of the Ider River near the city of Tuul before confronting the Wandering One on the field nearby. The two armies fought a pitched battle from sunrise deep into the night, and the allied northerners were forced to quit the field despite holding the line for 15 hours. the Wandering One pursued them to Tuul and assaulted the city without preamble. Historians agree his knowledge of demonology and summoning must have been advancing at this time, or that he was actively making pacts with outsiders, because his assault on the city's low walls was bolstered by terrifying hulking monstrosities. He broke the gates down swiftly and killed everyone that could not escape. Over the following months, he ran off the remaining men able to fight and crushed the cities of the trade kingdom.

To this point, the Wandering One had been cutting his teeth and consolidating a base of support or cowed foes in the far corner of the world. He'd not faced a true challenge yet, and his army of husks was slowly being augmented as he learned to add intelligence back into them or as men willing to fight for him sought him out. Willing supplicants came in from the North, from Otaria, and from the Eastlands. But all of this was about to change; the further north he went, the closer he got to the ancient stomping grounds of the Vampire Houses of Dominaria, and the Lycanthrope tribes driven north alongside them. The two "species", mortal foes, had long been driven out of the West and their ancient fued now stretched across the Verge and into the North. Vampire scouts tracked his progress as his army moved along the River Ider northwest into their lands and began attacking his scouts and outriders as they neared the Cholu Basin and the dark forests within. The Wandering One, now aware of the threat, formed up his columns and advanced to force a fight before he could reach any of the castles in the basin.

The Battle of the Cholu Basin was one of the largest battles ever involving a Vampiric force. The amount of Blood Magic used during the course of battle forever cursed the lands to the east of the Basin. Ranks of skeleton and zombie troops and formations of Vampires of all ages and abilities faced down the Wandering One and soundly defeated him. The Vampires preternatural strength and magical prowess tore through the ranks of husk forces and the Wandering One's mages proved unable to counter the output of the Vampires' side. Wherever the Wandering One was, death followed. He was a maelstrom of death and power, but he'd not yet risen to his zenith and he was unable to single-handedly turn a battle as he would later do. The two sides battered themselves until even the immortal prowess of the Vampires was exhausted and the Wandering One stood across the silent field from the Lord Commanders of the Vampiric host. Then the Elder strode forth and raising his hand, stilled the billowing smoke and fumes of the field. As he held time itself in check, the two beings met in council. What passed between them none can say for sure, but after what seemed only an instant the Wandering One marched alongside the Vampiric Host - hellbent on the destruction of Elvenkind.

First though, there was one more ally to bring into the fold. Lycanthropes and Vampires have ever been in conflict, as both species rely on humans for their prey: both are alpha predators of an alpha race. Both had been driven from civilized lands long ago. The Orostran Kingdoms of the ancient Eldar had driven out the first Clans of Vampires, the first elves to succumb to the Red Thirst, and then the early victims of Lycanthropy were next. Examples and groups of both persisted of course, until the early Second Age, when agents of the 1st Imperium attempted to obliterate or drive off the vestiges of their kind. So while mortal enemies, the Wandering One believed they could be harnessed to a single purpose. So the combined host moved north in search of Lake Fangnarln and the Werewolves' easternmost "city".

When the host was a few days out, the Wandering One decided to go foreword alone and seek out the denizens of the "Lake of Blood". He was stalked, and allowed himself to be followed, the entire way. At the ramshackle gates of the city, several Lords of the Lycanthropes greeted him. Wolflord Njak Stormbringer led the party. After determining peaceful intentions, they retired inside the city and negotiatedover a night of feasting. The Lords of the Lycanthropes, led by Njak, Jekyl a werebear, and Varmando the hulking wererhinoceros, respected what the Wandering One was trying to do, and were eager to expand back into the "sunlands" of the south and west, but were leery of joining a "mortal" or allying with Vampires. They proposed a challenge: if the Wandering One could venture into the lair and destroy the Aboleth Lord known as "The Ancient", they would bend the knee to him and follow him into battle. The Aboleth was their enemy and also held sway over many of their kind, for his magic was strong.

The Wandering One agreed to the task, and set out to the volcanic hot springs near the northern coast of Barinsland. He fought his way north through possessed lycanthropes and the hideous abberations the Aboleth Lord possessed before reaching the steaming vents that led to its lair. The Wandering One did not even pause for rest, but lept into the column of steam and into the caves within. He fought like a being possessed through the labyrinth of horror that was the thing's lair before reaching the pit where the immense Aboleth lay. The beast was easily 50 feet long, and its immense eyes gazed on the Wandering One with eons of restful malice. And then it spoke to him. The Aboleth had seen his first blush with true power, on Northover, and tracked him on his journey east and then north. The being was ancient, and its influence stretched across the world and into others. It had summoned the Wandering One, and had a proposition for him. There were many powers of the netherworld, a network of abberant powers who had long vied for power amongst themselves, and they needed a champion. They could give him power beyond even his incredible abilities and as he fought for them, they could turn him into a God.

The Wandering One had found his answer, he had reached his first plateau. Now the Dark Champion of Abberation, he left the cave and returned to the lycanthropes' city. With the Aboleth's agreement to release his hold over any lycanthropes he held, and the Wandering One's newfound abilities, his story of conquest was taken in full stride and the lycanthropic horde streamed south with a chorus of howls. It joined with the Vampiric host within the week, and the horde began its march east.

The War of Fire

Dragon war yo.

The below need placement in this Age

The Great Crusade

The epic campaign that would break the grandest empires of man, west and east. After Wandering One? When should this go?

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