Tho'kiel's Crusade

Religious event

The Demigod son of Fern seeks to claim Asteria.

In the year 50, the demi-god Tho’kiel son of Fern travelled from Southlund to work his mother’s will. Knowing that even then, Folgrim the Forgelord was working on a moon to block the portal to the Barrens that gave great power to Fern and her followers, Tho’kiel lead a crusade to destroy the city of Nelos.
  Nelos was chosen as it was the first of the city states of Asteria to be constructed and held the greatest historical significance of any of the other cities.
  Tho’kiel and his forces arrived to find the city sealed off and intending to withstand a siege of some length. Rather than attacking the city, Tho’kiel gathered his priestly followers and began to circle the city preaching the word of Fern and disparaging the faiths of the other gods.
  Each day, for a year, did Tho’kiel preach and circle the city. His voice carried over the walls of Nelos and sapped the will from its defenders. The people were filled with despair, for since the fall of the Dragonlord, the people of Nelos had no other faith to turn to. Eventually, people began to commit suicide, and each one that did rose as a wraith in service to Fern.
  The people of Nelos no longer had the will to stand against Tho’kiel and so opened their gates and let the Demi-God inside. Once inside Tho’kiel utterly destroyed Nelos. Every man, woman and child was sacrificed to Fern and every object of value was smashed upon her altars. The dead rose as Wraiths and soon the entire city was lost in the haunting moans of their loss.
  With the added strength of the destruction Nelos, Tho’kiel chose Averton as the next target for his crusade, and marched south. Averton was a town of peaceful farmers and woodsmen and knew they did not have the might to stand against Tho’kiel’s army. Knowing they had no chance in a military conflict, the people of Averton turned to their faith in Meaghana to sustain them.
  The people of Averton began praying and making sacrifices to Meaghana, as they had been taught by their elders and the druids of the surrounding forests, begging for the goddess’ intervention. Tho’kiel saw this as humorous, for he knew that Meaghana had been sealed away by Hosia for her failings as head of the pantheon.
  So he was much surprised to find a woman of great power standing before him as he reached the gates of the city. This divinely empowered woman, was Valina Ravennian, servant of Meaghana and defender of the world tree. Seeing the opportunity to destroy such a powerful servant of the Gods, Tho’kiel ordered his minions to attack.
  But the power of Meaghana was strong in Valina and she called defenders of the natural world to her side. Their armies were evenly matched, and so the Demi-Gods were left to battle each other directly to settle the matter. Their combat lasted a day and a night with each giving their all to destroy the other. But as the battle went on, Valina found herself empowered by the faith that the people of Averton placed in her, while that same faith began to erode the power of Tho’kiel.
  With the coming of the dawn of the second day, Valina drew upon the faith of Averton and poured that power into a single mighty blow. This strike penetrated Tho’kiel’s defenses and shattered his mortal form, resulting in his dark power exploding from his body. Valina used her own power to shield the people of Averton, preventing the dark energies from harming them.
  After insuring that Averton was safe, Valina departed returning to her guardianship of the World Tree. At the site of her battle, the people of Averton constructed a shrine to Valina, and worship of her spread quickly in the town.