"So, the barrier between two realms has broken, and even of his own volition... What irony... I do not know how you found your way down, but I will allow only those who humble themselves before the Lords to pass. Answer my riddle, and the Deep Gate ahead shall open to you."
- Eden, the Angel's Blade
The cracking of the Material Plane would shake the very pillars on which Mount Karar'at was built, and so the laboratory that Artukos had kept hidden underneath would finally be revealed to the mortal peoples of the four nations. However, this would discovery would nog longer come with an age of exploration and expansion but rather with an age of dread and foreboding as a result of what lay underneath the earth.
From the many cracks in the soil would be found a world unique from that on the surface. Filled with fungi, biolumanescence, and strange peoples, this great labyrinth of caverns would become known in the common tongue as the Underdark. However, this place had a larger purpose, a celestial purpose. These ruined caverns were once the arcane playground of Artukos, a laboratory in which the Wraith Lord would experiment with the many divisions of magic, for he had not created them when the spear first pierced the void. The contents of the Tome of Esoterica had been put to paper in the twisted and labyrinthine caverns through continuous experimentation. With these experiments came byproducts, and a select few of those outgrowths would prove to develop a conscience of their own, for there has always been a faint link between life and magic.
These prisoners of the earth were damned by Artukos to spend an eternity in the darkness. The weakest of these either fought or allied against each other, becoming predator, prey, or both. However, there were a few powerful among them that were far above simple instincts. These mighty beasts were elemental beings of the earth and embodiments of the many branches of arcane energy. They raged against each other after the fall of Artukos, each growing their domain within their subterranean cage or falling before another. A few escaped into the echoes of the material plane, but of those who remained behind, only one endured to conquer all opposition.
This entity was Urgyzarlou, the first of the Seven Giant Spider Queens. A hideous reimagining of spider and Wraith, Artukos had wished to experiment and perfect the magics of suggestion and the mind, and so he infused an infernal amalgamation of thousands of spider corpses with necromancies and psychic magics. The beast that resulted was truly terrible, and not wholly something of the Wraith Globe. More powerful than even the Fegnaór, Urgyzarlou had inherent intelligence and wisdom on par with some of the members of the Lordly Pantheon; So much so that she memorized the incantations of her creation as Artukos was enacting the ritual to birth her. The first Giant Spider Queen had the ability to harness innate magic, an extreme rarity in the ages of the world before the Order of Wizardry. With the help of a devious mortal rogue, an individual whose only wish was to catch a glimpse beyond the curtain, Urgyzarlou gathered six powerful yet tangible souls and reenacted the ritual that had first brought herself into being. This was the only time in which such a thing was done, for the souls from the billowings of void are physical, but the souls of those born thereafter leave the body after life. This mortal, by the name of Razwind Vowlere, scoured the expanse of Artukos’ palace during his pilgrimage and trial, conquering six great foes and claiming their souls, entrapping them in a gift Urgyzarlou had graciously given him. Vowlere would remain as the first and only soul hunter of the Wraith Globe, for none but Urgyzarlou required yet did not already possess souls able to persist after death. The only successful trial of disobedience became a slaughter of the strongest guardians within the umbral depths of Karar’at, ultimately costing the lives of both Clamor and Koudoúni, two of Artukos’ keepers. Through Vowlere and his company, one became seven, just as Urgyzarlou had wished.
The six sisters of Urgyzarlou would be knit and sewn together around these potent souls, one soul to each sister. The weakest of the sisters and the first would be born from Argus, the Last Steward. With the death of Argus, the race of giants in the Wraith Globe would dwindle and find sanctuary in the sixteen stars, not to step into the material plane again into the final conflict of the eighth age. The most beloved of Urgyzarlou's sisters would be born from the soul of Koudouni himself, for this stood as a testament to Artukos' inferiority. The four other sisters would be born from the souls of Clamor the keeper of the well, Ignisbane the sentinel of creation, Shikon the hood of gluttony, and Ceriph the forsaken dragon. Each sister held immeasurably power, but in their Creation Urgyzarlou chose to limit their power below her own, for she still saw them as fabrications of her own perfection.
From the twisting of a single mortal was born the council of seven queens, and they gathered their archanid armies within the Underdark, waiting for strife and turmoil to aid their takeover of the material plane. They waited long and spread their tainted domain throughout a large portion of the Underdark, that which would become known as the Realm of Webs. Few returned from that place, but even fewer lasted long after they escaped, for the psychic scourge of the queens was a terrible force.
The calamity of the Lords’ Hammerblow was the chaos the queens had been waiting for, and so as the earth opened up, shattered across its axis, the armies of the seven queens hastening themselves upwards, ever ready to take the world above them. The beasts would ascend, planning to squash any resistance before them, for the queens had no sympathy for beings they deemed weaker than themselves. The seven Giant Spider Queens saw even the Lord of Wraiths, Artukos, as an inferior to themselves, for he had not had the will to overcome his own pantheon’s revolt.
The Rise of the Seven Spider Queens
"The Scourge of the mind is our salvation. It is a herald of the Pantheon, for it tells us that this was the true purpose of the Lords' Hammerblow. Can you not see it? These great queens are ordained by the Ladies and Lords themselves!"
- Kisla Nudoa, Archpriest of the Church of the Scourge
The conquest of the Giant Spider Queens began at the heart of Lorkay, the Great Tent. From the depths the legions of spiders seethed, fighting to never again be chained by their subterranean prison. In the countryside just outside of Lorkay’s capitol, the city with no name, the first of the hordes emerged from the cracks in the soil, accustoming themselves to this strange new world. These were the scouts of the seven Giant Spider Queens, and only a precursor to the coming wave of destruction. There were only a few at first, clambering across the craggy ledges surrounding the city, but once they receded back into the earth, the true horde emerged. The capitol’s defenses were meager and its location disadvantageous, for Lorkay only sought to provide a home for those affected by the travesties of the world. The indecision and pacifism of Lorkay had, in the end, brought only doom and destruction to the nation. Within a matter of days, the capitol fell to thesudden onslaught, the inhabitants killed, maimed, or enslaved by the scourge. Over the course of the following weeks, the Great Tent had been all but trampled by the invading abominations, and so the first of the four fell.
Sheer panic overcame those remaining on the main continent of the Wraith Globe, for they no longer had a benevolent pantheon to protect them. Viabaas no longer had the will to aid the darkness-touched mortals, and the rest of the pantheon now saw the mortals as a liability and a risk to the balance of this delicate world. If the three remaining mortal nations: Algos, Ban-Rock-Buren, and Ucrua, were to survive, they would have to do so with their own power.
However, a new evil would begin to fester from within. This was when the terror of the queens' Scrouge was revealed to the mortal peoples of the surface. The psychic magics of the queens was a disease that spread rapidly and without cure, turning others’ will to the that of Urgyzarlou and swaying them to give into their invaders of their own volition. Some even say the six sisters of the first queen were slaves to their own sibling, that Urgyzarlou had woven a web of deception and lies so dense that not even those identical to her could escape its reach. So much pain and evil had spawned from the Wraith Lord’s exploits, but the one who was left to rot alone, buried beneath the depths, would become the one to most embody his manipulative and ravenous nature.
From the influence of the Scourge a church of travesty and hideousness would be formed, for all the mortal peoples of the land already knew the truth of the world. The concept of religion was unnecessary, and so any instance of it stemmed from falsehood or philosophy rather than cosmological truth.
The Church of the Scourge was a concept birthed deep within the mind of Urgyzarlou, and it was set to slowly grow from the Mideast of the main continent. A carrier was sent, both of sickness and of ideology, to spread the stain of two intertwined ideas. The first was this: that the arrival of the seven Giant Spider Queens were ordained by the Lordly Pantheon. The second was far more potent: that Urgyzarlou alone could manipulate the border between life and death. Undeath was a rare form of arcane manipulation, but the first Spider Queen had managed to learn this unnatural knowledge, that which the One stood against since before the creation of the Pantheon. At first, the Church of the Scourge was small and powerless, but as the sickness spread, their influence grew. As the battle raged on in the west, the mortals failing to hold back the hordes of spiders, another front was being pushed in the east. Within a year the Church of the Scourge stepped into the light and denounced the rule of their false masters, revolting from the three mortal nations. In this way, the nation of Necrotus was born, a grey wasteland of failure and regret. Using their knowledge of the Underdark, the seven Spider Queens and their forces used Necrotus as yet another staging ground for their attacks on what remained of Ucrua, Algos, and Ban-Rock-Buren.
The nation of Necrotus was a place that eerily resembled the desolation that surrounded Artukos’ grand palace during the opening of the second age. Verdant forests were turned to sparse trees dried, cracked, and devoid of leaves. Clear rivers turned to murky flows of mud and blood. As a gift to her church, Urgyzarlou gifted her most loyal believers with an infusion of her own blood, a gateway to psychic and necromantic magics. For those who survived the ritual, the blood would sometimes manifest into physical features: extra black eyes, otherworldly mandibles, and even hairy appendages. This would mark the birth of the dark magics amongst the surface peoples, the first true mortal spellcasters of the age. All, even Urgyzarlou, would understand that these magics were unnatural, but the source of this intuition was equally unknown to all, for it could only be derived from the One hidden from sight.
Under the reign of the seven Giant Spider Queens, the newly created nation of Necrotus was a domain of evil. The inhabitants were already so bewitched by the influence of the Scourge that there was no need for well-being or rights, for revolt or reform. They were slaves of the mind, and so they would give anything for their queens. A towering citadel of shining silk, Urgoth, would be constructed at the center of Necrotus, a base of operation for the Church of the Scourge. From this tower, the queens would nurture the Scourge and spread their sphere of control. Even after the fall of the twisted matriarchy, the people of Necrotus would still harbor a semblance of the Scourge within their minds, lying and waiting until their last queen returned from below in a fated upheaval.
The War of the Seven Spider Queens
"Come, my sisters! This was the fate destined for us by that sickly shadow! It was no surprise that he fell before those around him, but we are strong. Twist their minds! Burn their fields! We are those who were buried away, but no longer!"
Urgyzarlou, One of the Seven Giant Spider Queens
There was now a dread growing within the free peoples of the main continent, a fear of yet another tyrannical oppression. This fear was warranted, for just as the whispering fingers of the High Lord of Wraiths had once touched the mortal peoples directly, its influence again had the chance to creep its way around their throats. Algos, the nation of the South, was battling on two fronts against both Necrotus and the late Lorkay, their strength bound to snap eventually. Furthermore, their tumultuous interworkings were starting to collapse, for the commonfolk could no longer be blinded from the truth: the free world fought and hoped for by the now absent Viabaas was on the brink of coming to an end. Ban-Rock-Buren had mostly receded from the fighting, determined to defend its borders, but no further.
However, a new coalition had been born from the Orcish nation, a collection of half-Orcs who had been seen as nothing more than scum by their pure-blood counterparts. Forced to face each other in gladiatorial combat, these abused individuals revolted and overtook their oppressors, raising high the first luminary of the Obrons, a Half-Orc by birth, as their symbol of power. These rebels would come to claim the deserts surrounding Mount Karar’at as their own. Taking this miraculous victory as a sign from Sadao, the Lord of Combat and Battle Strategy, they elected him as their patron Lord and delved into the depths of self-reflection and prayer, coupling Sadao with a being only known as Matrems, the Mother of the Sands. Despite Matrems not being one of the Lordly Pantheon, the half Ge'Nash saw her as equally potent to a lady of the pantheon. They expanded out and found a number of small settlements throughout this arid expanse, forming a loose confederacy. At the center of this structure would lie their capitol, Kragzbarg, the Emerald Champion. Built upon the ruins of the greatest late gladiatorial pit of Ban-Rock-Buren and the smote remains of the Lordseekers, naming it after the first warrior to fall in the revolt against oppression. In later years, Kragzbarg would become a hub for warriors wishing to test their skills in combat, whether that would be to join the renowned Khazanian Legion by participating in the Grand Tournament of the Champion or to simply experience the thrill of dueling in the Arena of the Unnamed Champions.
However, these half-breeds had a care for the world and for others that their predecessors did not, and so the coalition of Khazan would come to make a treaty with the industrial nation of Ucrua, the first mortal alliance seen since the collapse of the nation of Obron so long before. This union would be known as the Alliance of Rurobron. Made at the base of Mount Karar’at, in the Khazanian capitol Kragzbarg, the alliance would form a symbiosis between the two nations: Ucrua would provide weaponry for the warriors of Khazan, and Khazan would protect Ucrua's borders in return. In the end, a common enemy and self-preservation reunited the Finite Races once more. This first union would remain a turning point within the mortal history books. This alliance would be recorded by Quatar the Khazanian scribe and remain in effect until the sixth age, a long time for such an arrangement to stay resolute.
However, these developments would bring no solace to Algos; If that nation were to survive, it would have to crawl its way back from its own terrible hell alone. And so it did. With Algos' wealth came both manpower and technological might and so they sought to combat the strategy of the spiders. To fight these beasts head-on was a hopeless battle for all but the most trained, and so the tinkerers and engineers of Algos designed around their predicament. Heavy armor of barbed steel spikes was made to skewer even the most precise attacker, and blunted blades serrated and slotted to snap arachnid legs and shatter longswords were designed by the most skilled craftsmen. In this way, Algos saw the dwindling experience of their warriors resulting from innumerable deaths and worked around that inexperience, designing tools that nearly anyone could use to great effect with very little training. The Algorian army turned defense into offense, allowing even the most unskilled to fight back against the hordes. However, this brilliant strategy came with consequences. As more and more soldiers fell to the ever-encroaching evil, others had to be found to take their place, and so anyone, even the children and the elderly, were drafted for the sake of survival. Because of this sacrifice Algos endured, but it would come to pay for this wrongdoing after a time.
The borders of Ban-Rock-Buren, split by revolution with Khazan and pressed by the forces of the seven Giant Spider Queens, shrunk to a fraction of what they had once been, and so they would remain that way until their eventual downfall in the sixth age, their hubris still choking them of life and logic. However, the Orcish providence would nonetheless persist through the War of the Seven Spider Queens. Their brutal war tactics were composed of trickery and outright aggression, and so they did not care for anyone or anything, both their's and their opposition's.
A foothold had finally been regained by the Finite Races. Their spiral was slowing, perhaps just enough to pull them back from the brink of ruin. There was once again a glimmer of hope, the same hope that Viabaas had first seen in them. It may still live, deep inside that inky heart of void. In this time of hope, a Gemm’ar chant would come to encapsulate that which had come to pass:
Aye, though we fight long and heavy through the night
We will weather the darkness and dread
Ho, the torch wavers and the candle leaps
But the flame of our hearts remains silver and strong
The valley narrows and our dreams shatter
But hold on, friend, hold on
Aye, we’ll keep but one in our palm
A dream of hope and a hope for peace
A memory of an Obron long past
The Birth of Magic
"The material plane is a broken world. Since the first war between the Mortal Races and the collapse of the Obrons, we have been a scattered people. The time has come for us to no longer be the Mortal Races, and instead become a singular Mortal Race: one people. If magic is not widely accepted throughout all the world, do you expect all people, spellcasters and non-spellcasters alike, to be treated as equals? No! We must make this world one where magic is unanimously approved upon as a tool for good!"
- Words from a rally led by the Underground Mages of Kragzbarg
The necromancies of the Spider Queens would not remain the only magic mortals possessed. Those dark peoples who inhabited the Underdark had long known the arcane influences of the Underdark, for many of them had these influences ingrained into their very being. We shall call this influence of the deep laboratory the fumes of magic, for they would waft from the wounds in the earth, settling upon the mortal peoples of the surface. The young of Algos would be especially affected by the touch of magic, but many, old and young, from north to south and east to west, would feel the graze of the arcane's hand across their face.
These were the first sorcerers of the material plane. Some would choose to shun these gifted children as misfits and outcasts, especially in the nations of Khazan and Ban-Rock-Buren, where it was felt that physical strength alone was needed in combat. In these two nations, magic would be frowned upon as spineless, shameless, or unwanted. Ban-Rock-Buren would be the worse of the two, killing many who revealed their connection to the arcane. With time, Khazan would come to tolerate magicians of any kind, but in official contests of combat or military use of magic would be strictly banned. However, the culture of Khazan would still frown upon the use of magic until they eventually crumbled in the seventh age.
Unlike Khazan and Ban-Rock-Buren, the fast-dissolving Algos would use this unprecedented development to their utmost. An Order of Wizardry was born as a specialized fighting force, but it soon grew to be central to the conflict. The applications of magic both on and off the battlefield were endless, and these magics of the heart began to be translated to words and objects and incantation, documented in spellbooks. In the end, what had been truly giving the beastly hordes an edge was their manipulation of the arcane. Without that advantage, the ingenuity of the Finite Races finally had a chance to excel.
As its importance within the war effort grew, Algos’ Order of Wizardry grew its own hierarchy. With time, the many child mages within the ranks of the order would grow and find higher ranks within the organization. Some even say that the wisdom of the children was so great that a few were allowed to command as officers within the Algorian military. The first five to be awakened later became the head council of the Order of Wizardry, the High Mages. They would come to study magics of longevity and sustenance, becoming arcane beings themselves and ruling over their nation as one mind in five bodies. In this way, the great Arcane Serpent of the Wraith Globe would be born, a deity all on its own. It would become an intrinsic part of the world, even during the final conflict of the world during the eighth age. Before their coalescence, the five would each choose to study a unique domain of magic:
Divurtur, the High Mage of divination and prophecy studied things not seen. Whether in the future or simply hidden from sight, Divurtur was the seer of Algos and the ultimate aid to battle strategy. In the years of the third age, Divurtur watched over the northwest corner of Algos from the Tower of Aym, a great hovering spire covered in magnifying arcane sigils.
Haeralor, the High Mage of pyromancy, thermomancy, and cryomancy tinkered with the transfers of heat through magic. Half mage and half artillerist, Haeralor was a Gnomish enthusiast for industrial machinery. She studied the magic of thermal manipulation and therefore worked with both scorching flaming and freezing frost. Haeralor was known for her ingenuity, nimbleness, and unending enthusiasm toward both machinery and magic.
Ponere, the High Mage of conjuration and creation wished the power of creation in the hands of the Finite Races. Ponere was an aspiring yet overconfident young Cuirdhainn. Blinded by the stories of Artukos he heard as a child, he wished that this magic within his veins could lead to a change in the world, a change caused by a shift in power. The power of creation was in Ponere's sights, and so he studied all arrangements of magic used to conjure something out of nothing. But alas, what he wished for most in his studies, Artukos' tomes of esoterica and alchemy, were nowhere to be found.
Präeskan, the High Mage of abjuration and shielding wished to protect the world from the evil pervading throughout. As one who had survived the Algos frontlines in the early years of the war against the spiders, the Haerus Präeskan had been scarred by the terrors of war from a young age. She wished to use the magic she manifested for protection rather than war, and so she toured the main continent, studying philosophy, alchemy, art, and magic to gain a better understanding of how magic fits into the grand scheme of the world. In the end, Präeskan created magic that guarded minds and physical space from all sorts of malignity and wrongdoing, which would remain pivotal to during the dowturn of the seventh age.
Aniantes, the High Mage of illusions and dreams once again wished for a glimpse into the souls of others. He was of the same mind and being of soul hunter Vowlere, a man who wished to peer beyond the veil of the seen. In this end, Aniantes wanted to blur the lines of reality and perception, the border of the seen and unseen. However, he would not put up with the monotonous rituals of High Mage Divurtur's divination. Aniantes was an easily excited Vandor, and so he was curious of the mind and what lay within. He studied the anatomy of the Spider Queens when they were overtaken, making leaps and bounds within the psychic magics. Although, what fascinated him most was how Artukos' Tome of Prospects told of how Lords and Ladies of the antheon dreampt of timelines destined to never occur...
The Defeat of the Seven Spider Queens
"Ah, the six artifacts that you were inquiring about? "Yes, their souls are trapped within. High Mage Aniantes spent nearly a full rotation in the transfer, but that antediluvian green glow; That's their consciousness. Yes, the High Mages and all of the Order of Wizardry consider these some of their greatest trophies, you should feel honored to be holding them in your own two hands!
- Aerun Jari, Divurtur's Courtier of Wizardry
The tide of war was turning quickly with the birth of magic among the Finite Races. However, although they had a powerful new ally on their side, one that certainly balanced the scales, I do not believe that it was the power of magic that ultimately won the Finite Races the War of the Seven Spider Queens. The mortal peoples are strange, for they have a tinge of the darkest void within them, yet they have a hope that surpasses their meager form. Mortality itself is tied to the magic of the world, and so perhaps the birth of magic was a great reunion, the rejoining of two old pieces of the realm at large. Brimming with mortality, the Mortal Races had hope, a hope that I wish I would have received from the One I so desperately sought after.
In the last offensive of the last combat, all but three of the Spider Queens had been overpowered and dissected by the forces of the Order of Wizardry. It was a drizzling afternoon within the deep forests of westernmost Algos. The dark soil was stained with black and crimson blood as well as trickling water. One by one, the last of the Spider Queens fell... All except for one, that is. Urgyzarlou, the first of the seven sisters, used the last of her two sisters' strength and much of her own spawn to clear an escape back below, once more into the bowels of the earth and Artukos' laboratory. As the forces of ALgos pursued their prey deeper into the undergrowth, shadows lengthened and the darkness deepened, the air becoming thick and saturated with water vapor. The chase was nearing the center of this vast forest, a black gate of stone half buried in the ground, a large elaborate lock laying shattered at the base of the passageway leading downwards. The earth at the center of the forest began to rumble and shift as the soil and stone erupted forth with explosive power, and all that surrounded the last pocket of the many-legged abominations disappeared beneath the earth in a cloud of dust and stone. All that remained of the gate seen was jumbled earth and debris, not clear pathway down into the Underdark below remained. For those that were present, this place would become known as Bharudar, the Queen's Foothold. For many a month, the Order of Wizardry prepared for a counterattack from the last surviving sister, but none came…
Nonetheless, all of the mortal peoples of all the mortal nations celebrated how they had clawed their way back from the brink of utter destruction. With this great victory came Algos' realization that the Order of Wizardry had grown into something far greater than a simple military force. Instead, mages across the entire continent were calling for the Order to become a nation of its own.
Despite the threat of a civil war between Algos and the Order of Wizardry looming close for a number of years, the Algorian elite were eventually convinced by the mages of their nation to free the order. Promised with exclusive access to the arcane exploits of the new nation until the end of the next century, the king of Algos made a decree. The Order of Wizardry would become its own nation, inhabiting a small Western pocket of the main continent. The High Mages stepped forward to lead the fledging nation into a young and prosperous golden age, revolutionizing the studies of the arcane and the endless innovation which spawned from it. These five would be counciled by many Courtiers of Wizardry, numerous advisors to each of the individual High Mages elected democratically by the people of the Order of Wizardry to support the leaders of the Order.
Great spells were woven together, wondrous items were forged, and a trophy to the Order's prosperity was created by only the most skilled spellcasters and craftsmen. With High Mage Aniantes’ surgical dissections of the six defeated Spider Queens was revealed a strange anomaly within the beings: living housings meant to keep the creatures' souls forcefully bound within their arachnid bodies. Aniantes foolishly chose not to question this anomaly but instead claimed the magic as his own, proposing to the Order that the souls of the slain Spider Queens be housed as trophies and monuments to the Order of Wizardry. The other High Mages supported this idea, and so six ornate bone dice, carved from the teeth of a purple worm and reinforced with the Spider Queens' very own silk, were built to house the souls of the six sisters. The binding ritual was complex and extensive, yet Aniantes completed it with ease, remarking how he felt as if his hands were guided by the good Ladies above.
The influence of the Order of Wizardry exponentially spread beyond the borders of Algos, acting as a home for the new mages of the world. With the success of the Order came the acceptance and ultimately the normalization of magic among the nations. Within a hundred years, magic became a normal part of life, and so the three aspects of the Wraith Globe that Artukos had so furiously sought after, time, alchemy, and magic, were finally reunited as they were once intended to be by the One.
The Future of Necrotus
"...Ixthra is a strange place that represents yet another threat, grasping for a hold upon the Material Plane... The Necrotian government has hesitated to tell the other countries of the Material Plane about the strange keep in the middle of nowhere on this forgotten landmass, but I'm not sure that that choice is the right one."
- Anonymous Necrotian Delegate
With their psychic masters dead or dissappeared, the influence of the Scourge would fade, and yet the twisted nation of Necrotus would remain. However, despite this freedom the peoples of Necrotus would continue to pursue necromancy and psychic magics, if not less brutally then they did before. Slowly the nations of Khazan, Ucrua, Algos, and the Order of Wizardry began to do trade with Necrotus once more, but there would remain an amount of unease until the pivotal Treaty of Koldos was finalized in the fifth age. The tower of Urgoth would be torn down and the Church of the Scourge would be reviled, falling into obscurity. Nonetheless, the desolation of Necrotus, the sickly trees, murky waters, and tainted wildlife would remain.
Out of the ashes of Necrotus' malignant beginnings would come their new capital, the citadel of Sequestrum. Born near the convergence of Necrotus', Algos', and Ban-Rock-Buren's borders, Sequestrum would act as a safeguard for the Necrotian people. Tensions were high between Necrotus and their neighbors, the fear of the Scourge driving many to fear the birthplace of necromancy.
For this, Necrotus would act as a center for those ridiculed and rejected by the Wraith Globe. Sequestrum would be the first city of refuge with Necrotus, but two more would follow, forming a trinity of asylum. The citadels of Adyta, Adscitus, and Sequestrum would not only be bastions of asylum for the rejected, but also bastions of defense against the outside. Necrotus' growth nortward into the unknown lands of a distant pennisula would reveal exotic resources, which would help to fuel the growth of these citadels and their defenses. One such commodities would be the rare Black Charcoal Rose, a flower that reeks of death. These flowers are the very representation of death itself but are extremely valuable as magical components in spells of necromancy and time. The strong and sweet scent of the roses is strong enough to kill a full-grown man nearly instantly, but rare and dangerous resources such as these would fuel the early economy of the nation.
With this, the descendants of the Olüm, the Olümias, would finally find a home for themselves in the world. However, suspicion would remain a flaw of Necrotus, for the Scourge, although dormant, still lay in the minds of mortals. Powerful yet gentle commanders woud take control of the forces of Necrotus, filled with protectiveness towards their own peoples and cautioun towards all others.
However, as the nation would journey northward, they would also find mysteries and conflicts. As these conquests waned due to the seasons, the winter months would stretch longer than usual. One of the first commanders of Necrotus by the name of Suza, a rare descendant of the Serbantu who had chosen to betray their people, would have visions of the northern strait, claiming that "there was a strange cold air coming from the north that must be cleansed if Spring was to come." Suza would journey North alone, trekking through the winter wilderness until she came to what she had seen in her visions.
At the center of this shrouded continent Ixthra was an expansive pool, almost like a perfect pane of glass spanning the horizon. The bottom could not be seen, and the trees of the forests surrounding each had a natural hole formed through the center of their trunks. Suza looked to the grey skies above, streaking furiously, as spirits ascended from the waters before her. Raising her three-headed flail depicting that of thorny roses, Suza would fend off these spirits, returning them to their watery pit and supposedly bringing Spring back to the Wraith Globe.
This incident, known as Suza’s perfect blossom, would have a number of consequences, both positive and negative. The Spring bloom following Suza’s odyssey would be more beautiful than any before it, causing even the grey lands of Necrotus to blossom with color and vibrance. The ghosts of Ixthra would not forget this conflict, and the shadow of Necrotus would act as a place of commune for countless spirits, attracting the attention of the up and coming Lord of Death, Mozuir.
This disturbance would be settled by Mozuir placing a number of towers across the echo of Necrotus within the Shadowfell, homes to ferrymen of the lingering. These Spirit Guides would use the flow of dark rivers and the shining beacons of their towers amidst the darkness of the Shadowfell to shepherd lost souls back to their destined path. Outside of the Shadowfell, some Necrotians would say that they could sometimes see the forms of these guides walking under the grey trees, one moment a scarlet haired man or woman and and the next and a black and crimson serpent swimming effortlessly through the heavy air. Not much is known about these Spirit Guides except that they were once the most devoted within the church of Mozuir. While they lived they devoted themselves to the natural cycles of life and death, and now that they've passed on they live in a twilight between life and death, shepherding forth the gospel of inevitability.
The nation of Necrotus, purposefully seperated from the politics of the other mortal nations, would grow greatly in the coming years, developing traditions distinct from any others present on the surface of the Wraith Globe. From the birthplace of their founding queens the traditions of the peoples born below the earth would spread upwards.
Exploration of the Underdark
"In terms of life, any biological tool can be used for many purposes, whether that would be something as simple as a cell structure or as complex as a limb. Such biological pecularities and tactics are to be expected in an environment as hostile and complex as the Underdark."
- Mirus, Chief Alchemist of Ozryn
With the Seven Giant Spider Queens and their arachnid forces repelled, the mortals of the surface would cautiously dive into the bowels of the earth beneath their feet, unsure of what they would find. Some expected treasure, some danger, but very few expected life as abundant as there would be.
Within in the depths of the Underdark was not only life, but various interconnected ecosystems entirely unique to those on the surface. Once the deep laboratory of the Wraith Lord Artukos, the fumes of magic permeated eavily within this underground, causing those created or already living within to be touched by the influence of magic long before its escape into the outer world. It is said by those living within that the first beings infused with magic by Artukos were the Prismatic Archwings, great shimmering green butterflies with a wing span of nearly thirty feet. These archwings would spread the fumes of magic with their beating wings, benevolently gifting their shining scales to the mortal peoples living beneath the surface of the world. These mortal peoples resembling the Haerus, Logius, and Gemmar, with skin slate grey to match the colors or their home, would be blessed by the Prismatic Archwings in this way, gaining the ability to twist and shape the magic in the very air they breath.
These gifts granted to the mortals of the Underdark would cause them to worship beings of magic rather than the Lords and Ladies of the patheon, for the influence of the pantheon was small within the depths of Artukos' laboratory. As these underdwellers would come to the surface of the Wraith Globe and settle there, most would acknowledge the existence of the pantheon but continue to worship and rever their old gods. The Order of Wizardry's fascination with magic would welcome these peoples' knowledge and experience with open arms, causing a subtle shift in belief within the order over the coming centuries.
As many had hoped, there was the opportunity for greath riches and prosperity within the Underdark, but these riches were accompanied by ample danger. with the Lord's Hammerblow came a geological shift in the foundations of the Wraith Globe. When Artukos had first created the world, precious gemstones as well as rare ore veins were buried and formed far below the surface, too deep for all but the most skilled of the Gemmar to tunnel to. However, as the very cornerstone of the Wraith Globe shaked with the force of a thousand angels, the earth shifted and moved, causing some of those commodities to rise closer to the surface. These were in reach of the caverns of the Underdark, causing the Gemmar of the nation of Ucrua to be the first to make long-term accords and settlements within this new world. Their Underdark Brethren, known as the Duergar, would heartily accept these deals for the price of collaboration and information, harkening forth a golden age for the nation of Ucrua. Fueled by the large supply of precious jewels, minerals, and materials at their disposal, Ucrua would begin development of new pivotal techonologies, the progress of which would be abruptly halted by a fast approaching calamity. Nonetheless, the nature of this coming destruction would ultimately aid these innovations in a twisted sense.
With the tectonic shifts came a calamity within the Underdark itself. Pockets of the subterranean world would be cut off or collapse completely, but some of these buried oasises would survive, populated with life that die out after the Great Wish. This would be how the citadel of the underdwellers, the city of Gaudent, would meet its end and fade into the annals of history. Once the first center devoted to the study of the arcane, it was founded by the first of the Prismatic Archwings, that which would be simply called the Wings. Taking the form of a young white-haired women while travelling the streets, the Wings would help to form an unseen mirror to the City of Ansulf. Gaudent would be known across the Underdark for its celebrations and sport, for magic was not only potent, but beautiful. This city would be the birthplace for those who bend the fumes of magic into that of music, waging dramatic duels against one another while creating beautiful patterns of color and light. However, such revelry would come to an end when the Lord's Hammerblow struck, and the city was all but swallowed by the earth. With that, the underdwellers remaining in remote outposts and towns would have to fend for themselves against the horrors of the Underdark like they ahd so long ago, all the while searching out the cause of the tumult.
The immense danger within the dark was not limited to the Seven Giant Spider Queens, and the Realm of Webs was by no means the most treacherous caverns of the Underdark. That title would undoubtedly fall to the Vyi, a twisted species also known as the Tribe of Countless Legs. Each of the Vyi shared the same basic anatomy, being composed of a central worm mouth that spirals out into approximately thirty different needle-like legs. However, these are not just legs. Although they can serve as legs, they also double as skewers, antennae, stingers, or even proboscis. These legs are woven and twisted together in such a way that they can form a malleable changing body for the Vyi, allowing for it to slip through almost any space or form any basic body shape.
Marked by the distinct burrows they leave behind, made of countless needle sharp protrusions into the earth, the influence of the Vyi may not have been as intellectual as the Spider Queens', but it was far more brutal. Everything in the path of a Vyi colony, both living and dead, would be engulfed as the territory and appetite of these predators spread. A Vyi colony is led by a single Vyi queen which can live for almost a century if left unchecked, fattening itself on the encroaching madness of the world below. Such a queen is guarded by a select number of Vyi protectors armed with hundreds of legs each. Vyi warriors act as the frontiermen of the colony, growing the taint of the hive further and further, and Vyi workers would usually fulfill menial tasks around the colony or even act as food for the queen when the need is great.
The influence of the Vyi on the surface of the Wraith Globe would be small due to their aversion to sunlight, but a few mercenary and military groups, especially those in Ban-Rock-Buren, would hunt down and capture Vyi scouts and warriors, attempting to train them as war hounds. Although most of these endevaors would end in disaster, the few that succeeded would help to determine the distribution of power within the Orcish Nation. Such houndmasters would be known as Vyignati, a role that would be passed down between generation as a great honor with Ban-Rock-Buren.
Development of the Outer Nations
"Such is the way of separation. Pieces of a whole inherit so much, yet also so little. This is the doctrine of our order: To be birthed into that which separates and to drive a wedge so deep that something beautiful is birthed. The Unique. The Singular. Burying the Unwanted beneath the waves."
- Secerno, Chief of the House of Separation
With the destruction of the Lord's Hammerblow the central continent of the Wraith Globe would ultimately be shattered into nine. The remains of the singular continent would scramble to face the impending invasion of the seven queens, the island of Ixthra would remain silent and still until Necrotus would discover it, but the remaining seven continents would drift, moving ever closer to the boundaries of the Wraith Globe. As these land masses slowly grinded to a halt, those remaining on and within them would quickly realize that the edges of their world were home to many unnatural things.
Upon nearing the edges of the seal, that which the Wraith Globe is founded upon, the influence of the void as well as realms adjacent begin to permeate anew, causing logic to bend upon itself. Small stars float amidst the waters, wayward thoughs from this world or the next. The sky is clouded and inky, the upper boundaries giving way to the blackness they hold back. The sun and moon move along strange trajectories, for as they rise or set they are either much further or closer from the boundaries of the world. The countless balances of the world do not seem quite so balanced there at the edges of the Wraith Globe, where the seal that was placed was slowly eaten away until its perfect scion suceeded it.
However, as the waters receded outward from the hammerblow, they would slowly return to their origin, causing this continental excursion into the unknown to last only a few years, the six outer continents settling into a more comfortable position slightly closer to the center of the Wraith Globe, Mount Karar'at.
Nonetheless, those years would be enough to rewrite how those who lived on the outer continent saw their world. Some nations would embody curiousity in light of these strange new phenomena. The trio of Dwarven nations born from Ucrua: Ormir, Bontir, and Rhydarias, would be the first of all mortals to harness the power of thoughts as fuel, travelling to the space between spaces, known as the Astral Plane. Harnessing the logic of the Far Realm, where thoughts and minds are like that of stars and planes, they would creating sails capable of travelling the expanses of the Astral Plane. Such travel would catch the eyes of the Angels of Viabaas, who were searching for their missing Lord ever since the Lord's Hammerblow. The nations of Ormir, Bontir, and Rhydarias would be built into the Astral Plane and act as a web of port cities, Angels acting as honored guests and noble knights within the streets of the Starlit Cathedral. Each of these three nations would be under agreement with one of the three great commanders of the Angels of Viabaas: Starry Winds Pentrale for Ormir, Amber Eyes Offertor for Bontir, and Silver Hands Plastes for Rhydarias.
From these patron angels each of the three Dwarven nation would hold a unique celestial purpose. Ormir would become a messenger nation, delivering missives, goods, and people across the expanses of not only the Material but also the Astral. Bontir would become the armorer and weaponsmith of the Angels themselves, gaining great knowledge and insigts into divine craftsmanship. For this, Bontir wuld be the most secretive of the three, witholding their knowledge from others under the wishes of Offertor himself. Finally, Rhydarias would become a nation of great crafters, forming beautiful architecture, art, and even poetry befitting of a union between the mortal and angelic. Under the protection of the Angels of Viabaas, the Dwarven peoples of these islands would be protected from most of the dangers of the Wraith Globe's edges, preferring to retreat into the Astral Plane or call on their chapions when threathened.
The four other outer continents still inhabited would not fare so well in those early years, for on one of these yet another split would occur, forming nine distinct continents across the Wraith Globe. This split would form the nations of Istren and Astren, twin sisters in the wake of a second calamity. A splinter of the late Lorkay, this landmass would be separated down the center by a massive valley spanning its entire length, what had been once known as the Steepmire Ravine. with the Lord's Hammerblow the valley had cracked open along its length, revealing the Underdark below. However, more than ordinary caverns lay beneath Istren and Astren. It was said by those who lived through those years that a great maw of black was there, all consuming and omnipresent. In the night, the children of villages near to the ravine would walk, eyes closed, out of their homes and throw themselves into the ravine and consequentially the mouth of that thing. Beyond this the thing did not move or grow or speak, it simply remained.
But all of this smelled strongly of a bad omen, and so the many people of Istren and Astren toiled and tired to bury the maw underneath not stone but water. I do not know if they procured help from Lord or Lady, legionnaire or champion, but the two halves of the island were split and seperated, drowning the creature of the Steepmire Ravine under the force of the raging ocean. Utimately, relations between Istren and Astren would remain friendly, but to ensure that neither Istren nor Astren would ever forget the purpose of their split the House of Separation was formed, an idealogical child of the monumental action.
The final of nine besides the refuge of the Dragonborn would be Cygnar, yet another fragment of the Great Tent, Lorkay. With prowess those survivors and refugees would adapt to the unnatural pecularities of their isolation, learning to live off the land despite the extreme environment. Like civilization being built from the ground up once more, new methods of cultivating crops in spite of extreme heat and cold would be used to form the semblance of routine and normal life amidst the edges of the Phase Lands. For this, the peoples of Cygnar, many of them Vandor, would gain a greater belief in the autonomy of Artukos' Creation, how it could learn to survive even the most unlikely circumstances with time.
Another Path Forward - The Age of the Dredger
"I am but a mistress of the winds, sweeping the fumes of the arcane wherever they are needed most. And I must tell you, even the winds of my wings are not enough for such a monumental task, for there has never been greater need for the means to freedom of the mind."
- The Wings
Although unlikely, perhaps the rise of the Spider Queens was not so brief. Perhaps the Scourge spread to every corner of the upper world, poisoning the minds of every nation's leaders. Perhaps the complete dominion the Seven Giant Spider Queens fought for so ruthlessly was realized in the end. The grand majority of mortals across the surface of the central continent would be enslaved by the Spider Queens, put to work in destroying the natural landscape Artukos had so painstakingly created to make room for their towers and nests of web and venom. The Church of the Scourge was dissolved after a time, for there was no more purpose for its facade. It was no longer a church or belief, it was now life and it was now truth.
However, whether they were on the battlefield, within the Underdark, or simply cowardly enough to flee before the scourge began to grip mortal minds, a few survived with their minds free of the Scourge. Sensing the dire situation, the Prismatic Archwings of the Underdark would reach out the underdwellers, counseling them to find deeper and darker crevices in which to hide. This would be the last message heard from the Archwings as Urgyzarlou systematically removed any threats to dominion still lingering in the depths of Artukos' Laboratory. The Lords and Ladies of the Pantheon would do nothing, as they still saw the mortals as mere reflections of Artukos' own pride and brokeness. The angels of Ormir, Bontir, and Rhydarias would begin preparations to wage war on the Spider Queens in the stead of their missing Lord, but many decades would pass before such a campaign would come to an explosive start. In the meantime, the few free mortals of the central continent that remained would delve deeper and deeper into the caverns of the Underdark. In fact, the beautiful city of Gaudent would be unnearthed once more, for it had only been cut off from the Underdark and not buried underneath it. Under the guidance of the Wings, the last remaining being of power still intent on the survival of free mortal minds, all passages to Gaudent would be cut off.
For a time, survivors would live free within Gaudent, but the influence of the tyranny above would creep every closer as the years passed. Indignant to put the inhabitants of the city in harm's way again, the Wings would present them with a risky yet potent solution to their predicament. Somehow, the Wings were aware of the Elemental Crucible as well as the dragons underneath. It believed that it may be possible to find the Crucible above them, for the city Gaudent was far, far below the roots of Mount Karar'at. If the Crucible were to somehow be lifted and the poured out onto the surface of the Wraith Globe, the elemental strife may wipe away everything in its path, creating slate from which the subterranean survivors could rebuild.
Most with Gaudent would agree that this would be a last ditch effort. Unfortunately, the day would come when the location of Gaudent would be revealed to Urgyzarlou and her sisters. As their hordes rushed underground and towards the last free city, the WIngs took it upon themselves to bear that ultimate weight. Pulling at the very strings of the Wraith Globe, they absorbed all the magic of the world into themselves, giving them just enough strength to lift the Elemental Crucible for a time. Onus itself was poured out onto the surface of the world, like molten metal into a mold. Everything there was unraveled at its seams, leaving only barren soil in its wake. The oceans were mostly burned away, and the mortals living on the outer continents were burned away with it. The few that survived would be those in Ormir, Bontir, and Rhydarias who escaped into the Astral Plane before the wave of destruction reached them. The city of Gaudent survived thanks to the wanign strength of the Wings, and much magic and life was extinquished that fateful day.
There would be celebration in the subterranean streets of Gaudent, but it would not be like that city's celebrations of old. It would be dry and hollow revelry, for whatever may have been saved, tenfold of that had been lost.
