History of the Known World

[Silvan Elves of Sith'ari]

History of the Known World

I.

Rise and Fall of Varinus

55 AE (Ancient Era)

The world knows many histories, many tales, told by many people. However, there is one undisputable tale that reigns true no matter which kingdom you're in, no matter what race you ask. The Rise and Fall of Varinus. It is the name of a compelling book written in half a dozen languages, the name of at least two ballads, and the prompt title of a true era in which the future was uncertain for all who lived under the Master of Shadow. The beginnings are not humble, nor are they certain, but very few have forgotten the tales.

Varinus was a wizard, though not as old as the wisest in the land, and not as powerful as the most capable. He was however, the most ambitious. The tale stems from the ancient mountains, mostly the Dwarves, and says that Varinus' rise to indomitable power began when he discovered the existence of several powerful, mythical artififacts. Separately, they could give a wielder the wits of a cat, the guile of a fox, the speed of a lion, but together, they could give unlimited power. It is still unknown how Varinus' managed to track all seven artifacts down in less than a decade, but it is known what happened immediately after it.

Originally, the Tower of Nùhr was surrounded by a huge forest, complimented by meadows and fields, but sometime around 47 AE the forest began to die. Those living in the area reported their crops failing and the hunting becoming scarce. Beasts normally passive became frenzied and wild. Farmers and hunters had to leave after a slew of night time massacres made the area unsafe for them to remain. Within two years the entire forest had given away and not even the slightest hint of vegetation remained. Scouts that patrolled on the edge of the wasteland often reported ghastly creatures roaming the endless barrens ; wrights and ghouls, snarling dire hyenas and dire crows.

Although the change in climate gave the neighboring kingdoms pause, they continued on with their daily lives. Bickering over trade agreements and dealing with their own problems. By the time kings and councillors began to realize what was happening, it was too late. Varinus had subjugated an entire horde of orcs to the far south, charming their warchief into vassaldom. He dug deep into the earth and bribed the petty Drow kingdoms with untold gold, rousing their necromancers under his whim. He began to breed goblins, utilizing arcane and ancient magics to increase their birth rates and raising an army in just a few years.

43 AE (Ancient Era)

Varinus struck outward, but he did not plan to divide and command. Instead he ordered his armies forward in every direction, throwing his armies against the various kingdoms that surrounded his tower of onyx. Hordes of orc berserkers, goblin raiders and drow sorcerers ravaged the land, bringing back fallen soldiers as wandering ghouls. The surrounding kingdoms, too worried about themselves and their petty cultural differences were hardpressed to mount a tangible defense. Millions were killed in the first months as kings and queens ordered their beleaguered armies back to protect the capital.

For nearly a year Varinus' armies ravaged those on the continent, overrunning several kingdoms and stamping several others into submission. He charismatically bribed a small tribe of lizardmen on the Eastern shores to join him, and their fleet gave Varinus' dominion over the seas as well. He dispatched them across the Known World and under his orders, the Green Fleet ravaged the coastline of half a dozen different kingdoms and destroyed several lesser navies in the process.

Separate, the kingdoms of the world could not stand against Varinus. Together, they had a minuscule chance. A council was held and those kingdoms ; some war ravaged and half overrun, others only now feeling the probing effects of Varinus' hordes into their borders. They decided that to win the war, they need to assail Varinus' tower and remove him from power. They combined what remained of their armies, momentarily pushing Varinus' hordes back to his huge tower. Forced with potential defeat, Varinus himself entered the battlefield.

The battle was a symphony of steel and blood. Over 600,000 soldiers on one battlefield. Varinus fell in battle. No one knew who was responsible, Varinus was both a powerful wizard and a skilled fencer, but each prospective kingdom claimed their own hero had killed him. His corpse was lost on the battlefield, the seven artifacts he possessed lost. His armies scattered, and the successful armies of returned to their kingdoms. That was forty-three years ago.

[Silvan Elves of Sith'ari]

II.

Rebuilding from the Ruins

1 SE (Standard Era)

The defeat of Varinus did not end the troubles of the land. The Dead Lands remained a huge and intrepid wasteland, incapable of sustaining life. The huge barren covers more than 10,000 square miles and at it's center, the dark and looming Tower of Nùhr, abandoned and decrept. The tarnished kingdoms have since continued the reconstruction process, their wounds nearly healed. Those humans who fought at the climactic battle in which Varinus' fell are easily into their later years, while the dwarven and elven soldiers are mere shadows of themselves, drained from the long war. The new generation know of Varinus' attempted conquest in only stories and songs and seem uncaring about the sacrifice of their fathers and grandfathers.

The seven artifacts are still missing, and many argue that they were mere trinkets and not items of power. None have surfaced so far, although treasure hunters of neighboring kingdoms have sworn that at least one artifact is holed up in the Tower of Nùhr, though none have dared the wastelands in recent times since the alleged rising of ghouls and ghasts in recent days that stalk the barrens looking to feed. Records indicate however that one artifact does indeed still exist, though it's position is unknown. Crafted by ancient Elven smiths, the Band of Fohsi imbues the wearer with near magical impunity and allows even the most incompetent user of the arcane to wield spells that would take decades to master. Originally intended for an Elven King centuries ago, it is unsure how Varinus' came into possession of it, and even stranger still where the ring went after his demise.

The Band of Fohsi did not remain hidden for long. Simpering and eager for riches, goblins from the Eastern Tribes of Kurgan often dared the dangerous of the Dead Lands, seeking riches in the various caverns and crypts that the drow had used as exits to the surface in the War of the Realm. These raids were mostly unsuccessful, as most caves had been blocked off when the drow retreated, or a huge dire spider or cave troll had made the first thirty feet of the cave their home. However, one such raid ended with the discovery of one of the Black Captains. Horrid and disfigured, the Black Captains were creatures of the night that served Varinus' during the war. His sword, still gleaming and a few trinkets were all they stole and within nine days the trinkets, a few rings and a necklace, had been sold at Kurgan markets.

Little did the raiders know that one of the fabled silverite rings was the Band of Fohsi. Word spreadly quickly and the King of the Kurgan Tribes quickly had his assassins hunt the unlucky goblin who had bought the ring down and had his entire finger sliced off and delivered to him. The ring was true, and upon equipping it, the Kurgan King displayed the innate ability for spellcasting, though he frequently complained of headaches and insomnia. Within weeks he turned ruthless, marshalling his troops and ordering small probes along the Sith'arian-Kurgan Border and the Dead Lands. The Silvan Elves were unaware of the ring and instead figured the small probes as routine Kurgan raids and thought nothing more of it. The ring itself was very powerful, though the Mad King of the Kurgan Tribes understood very little of it. When he wore it, the power of flame and ice came easily to him, but sleep was few and far in between. He became paranoid about those who might turn on him, and in the night the small silverite banded whispered in his ears. Whispered of conquest, whispered of destruction. Little beknownst to either the Mad King or those kingdoms around him, the Band of Fohsi would push him into the brink of war once again.

2 SE (Standard Era)