The History of the Third Age

The Story of the Zenethian Champions

The History of the Third Age is a historical document which recounts the ending events of the Third Age: The Age of Zenethia. It primarily covers the events of the Great War and the actions of the Zenethian Champions during and after this conflict.
This document was recovered in 4A 996 by the Zenethian Heroes from a dilapidated church above the Flower of the King in Endor, the First Mountain. The text is heavily stylized, and the language used is archaic. It is also partially damaged, as the conditions of its storage before its recovery were not ideal for the document's material.
As the original source text is damaged and old, translations of the text sometimes conflict or provide incomplete information. The text also struggles to define how much destruction was truly caused during the Great War. Still, the text provides a good general overview of its content.

Historical Context

The Great War was a major conflict which marked the end of the Third Age. During these events, Zenthai, The Dragon King, elevated the Zenethian Champions and they fought back against the armies of Esturk, The World's End.
The final battles of the war took place on 19 Adroth, 3A 2092, including the Battle of the Demons' Blood Marshes. Once Esturk was defeated, the Champions then aided with Azimuth's recovery into the start of the Fourth Age.

Known Readers

• In 4A 996, Brigitte thoroughly read the text the Zenethian Heroes recovered as she searched for answers to the darkness surrounding Rath.

• In 5A 352, Mortimr Gwathagoldrin read the text searching for information on residuum and the Eight-Pronged Residuum Ring.

Content

The Great War

The forces of Esturk, the Great Death, defiler of nature and order, gathered in the West. Daemons and unruly beasts at his command not enough, the Great Evil forged an ungodly magick, syphoning the lifeforce of those not under him, those Good and Honorable people, and added their lifeforce to his own. Thusly, he forced his nature to change and grow, and mutated his evolution into a power that rivaled the Great Dragon, the Dragon King.
The cycle of battle is long and arduous, but with Esturk’s evil changed, so too did the battle. Unable to meet the challenge alone, from the races of Good and Light the Dragon King chose six Champions, and forged for them six crystal weapons forged from His own heart. With their power to aid His own, the Dragon King brought the fight to the lowly Esturk and his ilk.
The battle spanned a century, and broke the world. The Kingdom of Gimora was sundered and split, great chunks of its land sent adrift into the sea. The mountain people’s land was ripped in twain, creating a sprawling chasm of ocean, and many dwarfkin were drowned in their holds. The fair folk expended much to protect their Holy Tree from destruction, and their peoples suffered greatly in sacrifice. But still, the Dragon’s Champions persisted, fighting on despite the darkness that took to the sea and skies.
At last, after conflict wrought death to thousands and shook the world to the edge of the precipice, an opportunity arose. A titanic battle force unseen of in the old ages sailed out towards the Lands of Evil, bringing every warrior each race had to bear. Daemonkin in their thousands met them on the beaches of the wildlands and from their ships the dwarfkin and elfkin and mankin and orckin fought for the life of the world for days. The Great Zenethian Dragon ripped apart the sky and joined the battle Himself, spewing gouts of holy fire and crystalline death upon the enemy. Many heroes, known warriors and unnamed defenders, gave their lives as sacrifices for the Dragon’s Champions to have the chance to push through. Far to the west, through the battalions of the enemy, the Zenethian Dragon carried his chosen, even as the battle continued on behind them.
Only those chosen six, and The Dragon himself know what transpired in Esturk’s fortress in the west. But when the final blow was struck, all those who remained across the world knew in an instant what had transpired. The Daemons were banished and the skies cleared from their unholy taint. Yet while the Champions returned, their Dragon King did not, mortally wounded in the final clash of gods. Esturk lay defeated, buried beneath the ground of the wildlands, and the Great Dragon retreated to the realm of Zenethia, to one day recover.
Thus, the Champions found themselves the caretakers of a broken land. They were not to be defeated by evil, and they would not let themselves be brought low by the destruction of their lands. The friendship which had grown among them during their journey was so firm, and this would not ruin in. And so, they set about to rebuild, to protect, and to stand vigilant against the Great Evil, when Esturk would one day return.

The Fate of the Champions

The orc Champions, Sanazi, Morazar, and Porgorag drove the remaining pockets of evil in the wildlands, and to give their people a chance in these destroyed lands, spent their lives driving away the corrupted beast races from their land, spilling them into the western oceans to spread their ilk to other dark places of the world. Morazar and Porgorag felt it best to keep a watch on the lands far above their slumbering enemy, and spent their lives guarding the lands so much blood was spilled onto. Sanazi felt differently, and headed north, where she oversaw the formation of a strong system of worship for her patron, before disappearing.
Angioletta returned to the elf lands to watch over the recovery of her people. For her efforts in the war, she was made a ruler of her kind, and through her efforts the elves prospered. Under her rule, the last of the monsters were driven from her homeland, sending them to the winds and away from the elven island. But the kin of monsters are tenacious, and they would not be stricken from the world wholly.
The Kingdom of Gimora was split, and the kingdoms of Brancana, Cascada, Burlandson, Konen, and Gardenbur were created. Ruin oversaw these budding kingdoms and helped stabilize them as nations. The humans were quick to recover from the destruction of years past, and each kingdom prospered with Ruin to bring war to those evil creatures that hung to this world still. Though, after his death, the Kingdom of Gardenbur would be lost to those monsters that remained.
Rita spent the first years after the fight with Esturk travelling the world, mapping the changes that a century of fighting wrought. She would travel to the kingdoms to spread this knowledge, spending much time with the dwarves in their mountains, fashioning friendly relations between those dwarves and the human peoples. Her final years were spent in these mountain kingdoms, until at last she was the last Champion to ascend to Zenethia.

Type
Manuscript, Historical

Date of Setting

3A 1992 -> 19 Adroth, 3A 2092