Lorcades: The Lotharvannir and Damnation

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The Lotharvannir and the Keeper

At the height of the Devourer War, the Lotharvannir came to the Keeper with a plan to defeat the creature once and for all. The lord of the Lotharvannir, Olbrathan came to the Keeper at his throne of Asavaa Tao with the greatest of his smiths, Lorcades and Tyrinil. The three Lotharvannir planned to create an entire reality, what would become the Mortal Realm, to contain the destructive power of the Devourer. Its essence would be absorbed into every star, planet, galaxy and nebula, spread out across the universe. The Keeper immediately realised that his great craftsmen had the plan that would defeat and imprison his enemy set about a plan to lure the Devourer into Damnation, where the Lotharvannir believed they could set a trap for the creature. The Keeper knew that he would have to encounter the Devourer before this final confrontation in order to lure it to Damnation and he revealed to the Lotharvannir that he had discovered their world of Elkarad, which they had secretly created. He told them that he had decided to forgive their clandestine world smithing, but at a price. He knew that the Devourer sought new realms to devastate and that Elkarad would be an irresistable bait. The Keeper promised to prevent the beast from ruining their world and its people, but this was of course a lie.
The Keeper saw the destruction of Elkarad and the creation of the Grey Kingdom as a punishment that befitted the betrayal of the Lotharvannir who had secretly created new worlds and tried to hide the truth from their master. The Keeper had an eye on how the future after the defeat of the Devourer might look and he believed that breaking the power of the Lotharvannir was crucial to reasserting his rule. After the destruction of Elkarad and the murder of Olbrathan, the remaining Lotharvannir, led by Lorcades and Tyrinil agreed that they should continue the fight against the Devourer and the spring the trap that would defeat it at the final confrontation in the realm of Damnation. Both of the new lords of the Lotharvannir knew that the Keeper would mercilessly purge their ranks at the very moment the war was over and Tyrinil prepared escape routes to the many hidden worlds that the Lotharvannir had spent millennia creating and tending. Tyrinil believed that seeking revenge against the Keeper was a fools mission and would simply result in the final destruction of their order; instead he and his companions swore that they would remain forever hidden from the Keeper's gaze, and they knew their brethren the Athervannir would hide them from his sight.

Lorcades and Damnation

Lorcades had a different plan, however, and believed that the Keeper was a lord of irredeemable evil and wickedness and sought his downfall. Riven by the desire for revenge, he tried to persuade his brethren to stay with him in the darkness of Damnation, where he might create the means to destroy the Keeper once and for all. Lorcades was the greatest smith of the Lotharvannir, crafting everything from the light that shone from the stars of the Mortal Realm to the shields and swords of the great armies of the Graces. He confronted Tyrinil as the Lotharvannir prepared to leave and angrily demanded that he stay and fight, and whilst he failed to convince most of his brethren, a handful of the retreating Lotharvannir joined him. Elemnoch, Anbradh, Rosathande and Aelhandther became the four dark smiths of Lorcades, and together they rose from the black waters of Damnation the islands of Zaurathe, a dark, floating archepelago that mimicked the islands of Celestium. At the centre of Zaurathe was their capital Nenhkellor, where Lorcades made alliances with the fallen Fyrdan sentinels that had broken free of the power of the Athervannir Damophereon.
In memory of the sundering of their companionship with the other Lotharvannir, the Lorcadi placed a great prism of light on the plain of Locaris which the foul creatures of Damnation reviled and recoiled from. The Lorcadi knew that the dispersed Lotharvannir would be able to see the prism wherever they were in the far flung universes they had created and it would guide them back to the point of seperation if they ever chose to return.

The Smiths of Damnation

For millennia, the Lorcadi remained hidden in Damnation. The Keeper, weakened enormously by his wounds sustained during the Devourer War was unable to pecieve where his Lotharvannir had gone and without his master builders was unable to keep the Five Dimensions from falling into chaos. The Athervannir used their remaining power to prevent the Keeper from seeing into Damnation or the Mortal Realm, though the Keeper's most loyal Grace, Y' Tran 'a Khul always suspected that Damnation held secrets that were beyond the Keeper's grasp to see. Successive mortal venturers into Damnation from the Vannic era onwards, including wanderers called the Black Solustines (men and women from the The Solustine High Kingdom who wanted to find any surviving Tralanvannir) and the Skargoline of Skaris were captured by the Lorcadi, transforming them into creatures known as Grigorinians, replacing their blood with the black waters of the Sea of N'zar. These waters were corrupted by the decaying matter of slain abominations from the Devourer War. They are covered in intricate patterns of scars which allow them to channel the black waters of the N'zar that run through their veins, enabling them to grow into abominations. Their black blood can harden into thick tendrils and wickedly sharp blades which protrude from their limbs. Grigorians can morph into the beings that they kill, and have been sent out across the dimensions on the behest of Locardes to hunt down any mortal being that knows of the location of the Keeper. Locardes is convinced that the Keeper did not die in the Sundering