The Last Hope
Foreword
When I originally decided to write these accountings of The Fracturing of Karmadazan, I elected to travel across the Continent of Alteria and speak to the people themselves. I sought first-hand accounts and personal views about the cataclysmic event. I felt that if I simply did the research in the library stacks at the Royal Library at Tudor in the west, I wasn't really telling the tale that needed to be told. What struck me as I moved from city to city, town to town, camp to camp is that all of the People I met shared an incredible bond of sheer courage and unshakable resolve. So what began as a chronicle of one of the worst events in the history of Dayne became something altogether different, the celebration of a People and a Kingdom who can never be truly lost. Rubios Macron
Court Scribe, House Merryweather of The Three Ladies
Alfali Qunthilin, Dark Elf, Sailor
Stonend Mission, Kingdom of Kerak
Alfali was badly injured during The Last Hope, and had trouble speaking to me. She is currently living at the Stonend Mission even after these last 4 years. I've tried to record her story to the best of my ability.
"It was such a terrible thing... the green lightning . It ravaged everything in its path. It flattened trees, turned our ships into splinters and ash. It knocked over towers like they were made from parchment. It all happened in an instant. A rumbling sound, erupting from what I would guess was The City of Karmadazan itself. A massive wall of green energy... it was so high it blocked out the sun, greeting a green hue throughout the area. I thought that the world itself had split apart. The green electricity spidered out from the east, and passed through person to person changing them. It seemed to affect the Biata peoples more so than the other races of Dayne, twisted blue veins prevalent all over them, especially around their eyes. But i can say everything it touched, it altered. Even as it passed through me, i remember feeling overwhelmed, and feeling so absolutely hopeless just before i succumbed to a pressure within my mind and passed out. I woke up, washed ashore onto the beach next to town, All around me, a green hue had blanketed the area. There were so many dead around me, some clearly never even saw it coming. As I began to come to, I saw a Human man, tall as a giant it seemed, in a melee with a twisted Biata with bright blue veins all over its body. The Biata appeared feral with rage, clawing at the man with monster like strength and agility. I approached with haste hoping I could somehow help. It was at that point the Twisted Biata became fixated on me, charging me screaming. With The man laying there bleeding out. I tried to activate my magic necklace and it failed me. I then had the realization that the world itself had changed. Magic. It was gone.”
Squire Ellyiet Raadnav, Biata, Knight Squire
Morrow, Kerak
Ellyiet appeared to be heavily intoxicated during his account, but I felt it necessary to share what he went through regardless if it was fabricated or not.
“I failed to do my duty. I wasn’t there. I was sent to Baileon, just before the Kingdom was lost, by my liege Sir Abus Damon. I was on horseback, riding at full Gallup when it happened. I remember I was almost to Marrow, I felt the ground rumble and shake. Turning around, I saw the Green storm spreading all over the North. I turned around immediately and rode for Dazan. After a couple hours it started. The screaming. Inside my head, I could hear them. There was no one around for miles, but I could hear them still. All of them, screaming and crying out in anguish. The screams still haunt me to this day. Everyday I live, is a day where i have to relive those screams. My people. Gone in an instant. Gone, and i wasn’t there.”
Rawllins Perryford, Hobbling, Merchant
Baileon, Kerak
"I was a trader back then. Ran from Castle Kerak to Baileon and then clear across The Arin to Port Danl’gul. I remember like it was yesterday. I was floating southward down The Periphery near Pogdan, when the strangest thing happened. All of the noise around me stopped... the normal things one hears as they travel like the sound of the wind blowing through the treetops, the birds whistling and the bugs chirping from the forest. It was just deathly quiet. I felt a tingling sensation all over my body. A eerie shrill went down my spine as the air around me turned cold and still. Then from the north I saw it. I massive green thunderbolt shooting upwards and crackling out in ever direction. I saw the clouds themselves take on a green hue and fall from the sky, resting on the ground. Then came the violently rubbing and vibrations that resonated all around. Terrifying business that. So much loss. At least the Legion of Dawn gave themselves to save the rest of Dayne that day, just terrible The Kingdom of Dazan was the price for the rest of us to live on. Honor the Legion. True heroes.”
Kyvos Rankhammer, Dwarf, Blacksmith
Gnollengrom, Carn Mirdain
"The Last Hope didn't heavily affect The Blue Mountains of Carn Mirdain, but it touched many of the Dwarven people who lived there. A lot of us had friends in Dazan. Biata, like Dwarves, were a long lived people and some friendships had been built over generations. After that first day the events occurred we started receiving reports of widespread devastation throughout the entirety of Dazan and some parts of Kerak. I don't think a single night went by for months where you wouldn't hear someone openly weeping. It was a sad time for all of us. I don’t thinking people ever felt so helpless."
Mattius Dirbozi, Human, Farmer
Uniston, Kerak
"The ground... it just turned violent. There was almost no warning. I mean, we were what... perhaps a 20-30 miles from the nearest mountain range? It was like the Mountains themselves suddenly began to swallow up half of the valley."
I asked him to describe what happened from the beginning.
"I owned a farm, pretty far east of Uniston, between it and Klugil’don, in the northeastern region of Kerak bordering Karmadazan. We had just finished collecting all our crops and had brought them into Karmadazan for market. Everything was going well, the City was lively and full of life until it happened. Almost immediately, the ground rumbled and shook violently. The massive rumbling was coming from the Keep. From what I could see, an eerie green light begin spidering out from the central parts of the Capital of Karmadazan. Everywhere. It was like a great lightning storm happening on the ground shooting up green bolts into the sky. It was an ominous and dreadful feeling that overcame me even seeing it. Out of pure terror, I began to run, I had no idea where or if I could even outrun whatever this was. At first I ran towards the Keep of House Vandaar, Castle Rudgemier. All around me, people were desperately trying to save their livestock and their families from the creeping green haze that was quickly approaching us. Just when the ground shaking finally died down, and I had a moment to think, there was a horrible cracking noise. I'll never forget it, because I knew what it was before I looked. From the inside of Castle Rudgemier, the great keep that once sat House Vandaar, the ground erupted upwards. A great crackling green bolt shot upward. I heard the screams as those poor spirits were covered and crushed by the large stone rubble falling in on itself and raining down the sky. Forgetting my own problems, I looked over at fellow people who were all staring at the carnage unfolding before us. Suddenly, we all just looked at each other and ran to help. There must have been hundreds of the poor folks who lived outside the Castle walls helping Nobility and rich who lived in the City Center. Never saw anything like that. Seeing the good in people. I think we must have saved hundreds more that day. Even then, seeing such carnage would have never prepared us for what we saw as the green hue begun to encompass the city. Magic Users, Celestial and Earth alike, were crying out in unison. Their bodies slowly being ripped apart and twisted blue veins now prevalent all over their them, we could see the wildness in their eyes. It was terrifying. Whatever was happening, we all ran. Fast as we could. No looking back, they couldn’t be saved. That green lightning changed them. I don’t know, being someone who lived through The Last Hope, I can confidently say there could never been a greater travesty that befell Dayne. A lot of people died. Good people. Rest their spirits.”
When I originally decided to write these accountings of The Fracturing of Karmadazan, I elected to travel across the Continent of Alteria and speak to the people themselves. I sought first-hand accounts and personal views about the cataclysmic event. I felt that if I simply did the research in the library stacks at the Royal Library at Tudor in the west, I wasn't really telling the tale that needed to be told. What struck me as I moved from city to city, town to town, camp to camp is that all of the People I met shared an incredible bond of sheer courage and unshakable resolve. So what began as a chronicle of one of the worst events in the history of Dayne became something altogether different, the celebration of a People and a Kingdom who can never be truly lost. Rubios Macron
Court Scribe, House Merryweather of The Three Ladies
-The Last Hope-
Alfali Qunthilin, Dark Elf, Sailor
Stonend Mission, Kingdom of Kerak
Alfali was badly injured during The Last Hope, and had trouble speaking to me. She is currently living at the Stonend Mission even after these last 4 years. I've tried to record her story to the best of my ability.
"It was such a terrible thing... the green lightning . It ravaged everything in its path. It flattened trees, turned our ships into splinters and ash. It knocked over towers like they were made from parchment. It all happened in an instant. A rumbling sound, erupting from what I would guess was The City of Karmadazan itself. A massive wall of green energy... it was so high it blocked out the sun, greeting a green hue throughout the area. I thought that the world itself had split apart. The green electricity spidered out from the east, and passed through person to person changing them. It seemed to affect the Biata peoples more so than the other races of Dayne, twisted blue veins prevalent all over them, especially around their eyes. But i can say everything it touched, it altered. Even as it passed through me, i remember feeling overwhelmed, and feeling so absolutely hopeless just before i succumbed to a pressure within my mind and passed out. I woke up, washed ashore onto the beach next to town, All around me, a green hue had blanketed the area. There were so many dead around me, some clearly never even saw it coming. As I began to come to, I saw a Human man, tall as a giant it seemed, in a melee with a twisted Biata with bright blue veins all over its body. The Biata appeared feral with rage, clawing at the man with monster like strength and agility. I approached with haste hoping I could somehow help. It was at that point the Twisted Biata became fixated on me, charging me screaming. With The man laying there bleeding out. I tried to activate my magic necklace and it failed me. I then had the realization that the world itself had changed. Magic. It was gone.”
Squire Ellyiet Raadnav, Biata, Knight Squire
Morrow, Kerak
Ellyiet appeared to be heavily intoxicated during his account, but I felt it necessary to share what he went through regardless if it was fabricated or not.
“I failed to do my duty. I wasn’t there. I was sent to Baileon, just before the Kingdom was lost, by my liege Sir Abus Damon. I was on horseback, riding at full Gallup when it happened. I remember I was almost to Marrow, I felt the ground rumble and shake. Turning around, I saw the Green storm spreading all over the North. I turned around immediately and rode for Dazan. After a couple hours it started. The screaming. Inside my head, I could hear them. There was no one around for miles, but I could hear them still. All of them, screaming and crying out in anguish. The screams still haunt me to this day. Everyday I live, is a day where i have to relive those screams. My people. Gone in an instant. Gone, and i wasn’t there.”
Rawllins Perryford, Hobbling, Merchant
Baileon, Kerak
"I was a trader back then. Ran from Castle Kerak to Baileon and then clear across The Arin to Port Danl’gul. I remember like it was yesterday. I was floating southward down The Periphery near Pogdan, when the strangest thing happened. All of the noise around me stopped... the normal things one hears as they travel like the sound of the wind blowing through the treetops, the birds whistling and the bugs chirping from the forest. It was just deathly quiet. I felt a tingling sensation all over my body. A eerie shrill went down my spine as the air around me turned cold and still. Then from the north I saw it. I massive green thunderbolt shooting upwards and crackling out in ever direction. I saw the clouds themselves take on a green hue and fall from the sky, resting on the ground. Then came the violently rubbing and vibrations that resonated all around. Terrifying business that. So much loss. At least the Legion of Dawn gave themselves to save the rest of Dayne that day, just terrible The Kingdom of Dazan was the price for the rest of us to live on. Honor the Legion. True heroes.”
Kyvos Rankhammer, Dwarf, Blacksmith
Gnollengrom, Carn Mirdain
"The Last Hope didn't heavily affect The Blue Mountains of Carn Mirdain, but it touched many of the Dwarven people who lived there. A lot of us had friends in Dazan. Biata, like Dwarves, were a long lived people and some friendships had been built over generations. After that first day the events occurred we started receiving reports of widespread devastation throughout the entirety of Dazan and some parts of Kerak. I don't think a single night went by for months where you wouldn't hear someone openly weeping. It was a sad time for all of us. I don’t thinking people ever felt so helpless."
Mattius Dirbozi, Human, Farmer
Uniston, Kerak
"The ground... it just turned violent. There was almost no warning. I mean, we were what... perhaps a 20-30 miles from the nearest mountain range? It was like the Mountains themselves suddenly began to swallow up half of the valley."
I asked him to describe what happened from the beginning.
"I owned a farm, pretty far east of Uniston, between it and Klugil’don, in the northeastern region of Kerak bordering Karmadazan. We had just finished collecting all our crops and had brought them into Karmadazan for market. Everything was going well, the City was lively and full of life until it happened. Almost immediately, the ground rumbled and shook violently. The massive rumbling was coming from the Keep. From what I could see, an eerie green light begin spidering out from the central parts of the Capital of Karmadazan. Everywhere. It was like a great lightning storm happening on the ground shooting up green bolts into the sky. It was an ominous and dreadful feeling that overcame me even seeing it. Out of pure terror, I began to run, I had no idea where or if I could even outrun whatever this was. At first I ran towards the Keep of House Vandaar, Castle Rudgemier. All around me, people were desperately trying to save their livestock and their families from the creeping green haze that was quickly approaching us. Just when the ground shaking finally died down, and I had a moment to think, there was a horrible cracking noise. I'll never forget it, because I knew what it was before I looked. From the inside of Castle Rudgemier, the great keep that once sat House Vandaar, the ground erupted upwards. A great crackling green bolt shot upward. I heard the screams as those poor spirits were covered and crushed by the large stone rubble falling in on itself and raining down the sky. Forgetting my own problems, I looked over at fellow people who were all staring at the carnage unfolding before us. Suddenly, we all just looked at each other and ran to help. There must have been hundreds of the poor folks who lived outside the Castle walls helping Nobility and rich who lived in the City Center. Never saw anything like that. Seeing the good in people. I think we must have saved hundreds more that day. Even then, seeing such carnage would have never prepared us for what we saw as the green hue begun to encompass the city. Magic Users, Celestial and Earth alike, were crying out in unison. Their bodies slowly being ripped apart and twisted blue veins now prevalent all over their them, we could see the wildness in their eyes. It was terrifying. Whatever was happening, we all ran. Fast as we could. No looking back, they couldn’t be saved. That green lightning changed them. I don’t know, being someone who lived through The Last Hope, I can confidently say there could never been a greater travesty that befell Dayne. A lot of people died. Good people. Rest their spirits.”
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