The Past
After the rise and fall of the
Shadows of Exodus in the year 1000, Mellanvärlden lived a time of considerable peace and slow, yet steady progress. The former nation of
Snadov † had split into three new kingdoms,
Velden,
Vevia and
Legacya, all three which sought different paths and stances of politics in order to achieve greater stability and growth. Umera and Sarusa mainly remained the same, with the latter entering a golden age of technological advancement.
At the North, Thortyr kept its isolationist policy, with borders closed to other kingdoms and refusing most diplomatic missions targetting them. Further west Treria found itself slowly spiraling down economically and militarily, with each winter slightly colder and harsher than the previous. Although trerians are a hardy people, the cold bogs of
Treria puts their fortitude to its absolute limit, stagnating their population and keeping their tribes and settlements mostly autonomous from each other.
First Events
The Crisis of 1020 began during late summer, when the Queen of
Umera,
Délphine Anjou, got poisoned during a grand feast that was hosted in the Ruvoir Palace. At the time, strong evidence suggested that
Asgaror Lonigrad, the
Krateros of Treria to be the one responsible for the attempt, resulting in his immediate imprisonment as well as the cut of any diplomatic ties that previously existed between the city-state and the thalassocratic nation.
"At the time, the evidence seemed too clear to deny Asgaror's guilt. Nevertheless, those who truly knew Délphine or the Krateros himself were adamant that the trerian would rather give up his life than hurt one of his oldest and closest friends. The attempt was a clear frame to set them apart as both had crucial knowledge about what the catastrophe that would soon follow."
What had truly happened was that a grand plan, coordinated by agents of
Kaorar was in place to bring back the
The Shadows of Exodus, as they had the power to open rifts between the realms, thus allowing the hellish world to invade
Mellanvärlden with endless hordes of demons. This plan was coordinated mainly by the Demon Lord Eligos and his agent, the demon witch
Lamia. However, for centuries an agreement existed between
Larianor and Kaorar, in which neither side could directly intervene or act upon the middle realm, as such would be seen as a declaration of war between the worlds, one that neither could win or get benefit from. Yet, such a rule did not apply to cataclysms caused by mortals themselves.
The Världsmord
The first act from Kaorar would then be to bring forth the Världsmord or World-Killing in Engelian, a hypothetical catastrophe caused by the awakening of four wraiths of doom, also known as the four horsemen of the apocalypse: Famine, Pestilence, War and Death. Plans were carefully made and executed by Lamia through one of her agents, the necromancer Ozemorn, who had orchestrated the kidnapping of the Veldian Princess
Diana Zamoyski, who would be part of his ritual to awaken the Wraiths from their forgotten tomb in the
The Guardian Peaks.
Tackled by several adventurers, including Droug, a trerian giant of Asgaror who had been following clues concerning the imprisonment of his king in an attempt to have him set free, Ozemorn was ultimately killed, yet the ritual succeeded and the horsemen awakened, ready to bring cataclysm to Mellavärlden.
Each wraith then took human shape and traveled to a corner of the world to do their vile work. Skujdom, or Pestilence, took the mantle of a physician in Treria, spreading a terrible disease; War, or Krig to
Bratislen in the royal court of Velden; Death, or Dod shifted into an errant Knight, seeking adventuring jobs to spread his will, to spread death; Svält or Famine went to Sarusa, as a rich merchant that pulled strings to make food as expensive as possible for the population.
If left undisturbed, together the wraiths would seed chaos and destruction across the world. Still, hope still existed, as the adventurers from before took the mission of stopping the Världsmord, now joined by the young wizard Baldardash Fullmagick, another who also had been tricked by Lamia.
The Rogue Angel
As the weeks and months passed, the kingdoms slowly started to derail towards chaos, Sarusa nearing a popular revolt, Velden under a succession crisis due to the assassination of
Aleksandr Dabrowski and Treria suffering with the rapid spread of a new disease. However, not everything was lost, for far away in the
Realm of Order, Argentus, the Silver, gazed down from the skies at the darkness that spread across Mellanvärlden, filled with woe. Having his hands tied due to their non-intervention rule, Argentus took a difficult decision and went against his kind's law, he travelled to the Middle Realm in all his might and power, arriving at the trerian town of Granhall, where he defeated, utterly and without mercy, the wraith of Plague, Skujdom, saving Treria as a whole from his foul work. Unfortunately, it did not come without a price, for soon after the battle, Argentus's power started fading, his wings withered and decayed and his glimmering armor rusted to dust, the angel had become mortal, his punishment for intervening upon the middle realm.
Despite his fall, Argentus did not falter, instead, he joined Droug, the Giant, in his quest against the other wraiths and the returning of the Shadows of Exodus.
War
In her attempt to bring back the Shadows, Lamia employed a corrupt noble from
Velden to help her retrieve magical rings required for the grand ritual, which were safely locked away in the vaults of
Kronstad in
Thortyr. With his wealth and the help from the Witch, this noble gathered an adventuring group and sent it to steal the rings, an endeavour that were mighty successful, yet to a great price, as
the Order later found out about this ploy, the consequence was a change in attitude by Thortyr, as the stagnant kingdom declared war on
Velden.
In the meanwhile, Argentus and Droug had traveled far and wide in search for answers, allies and ways to stop
Kaorar, having passed through dwarven cities and infested caves and even fighting a high demon. Slowly, their quest progressed as they finally learned the enemy was but one step to their goal. At the same time, Baldardash pursued a different path, yet with the same objective as the pair, for while the trerian giant and the fallen angel persistently tried to stop the Wraiths and gather clues, the young wizard personally chased down Lamia in an attempt to stop her, despite her immense power.
"The Shadows of Exodus were never really killed, you know. They came upon our world in the year 1000, leaving their mark on the world to the point kingdoms were unmade because of them, like Snadov †. Their defeat came by the hands of Thortyan Mutes, who managed to not only trap them into a dimensional gem, but also to split their very essence. The souls remained trapped in the fabled Eye of Qohor, a legendary artifact that many stories talk about. Yet, it wouldn't suffice to bring them back in full power. To make them acquire physical form, the summoner would require two rings the Shadows had, two rings they wore at all times, two rings safely locked away in the vaults of The Order. Finally, with the help of Larianor, the final object of power was a pair of bladeless hilts, the main essence of their power. At the time no one had a clue as to where to find them, for the Larian hid it in the least imaginable place."
-Estella Aspietes, sorceress.
Final Confrontation
As the months passed, Droug and Argentus arrived at the Rakkaparat Mountains, the home of the last dragon of Mellanvärlden, Valaror, the White. The hilts of the Shadows lay hidden amongst his hoard, something Lamia had found out as well.
Threading through frozen wastelands and haunted woods, the angel and the giant knew this would be their last chance to stop the enemy, as they had no chance to defeat the Shadows themselves should they return.
On the other side, Lamia had her allies as well, the vampire lord Vernon Drabek and the master necromancer
Vadim Avexor. Together they had created a small army of vampires and undead, ready to storm the lair and recover the hilts. What the Witch didn't anticipate, however, was the betrayal of her allies, who sought Droug and Argentus to strike a deal: they would delay the storming of the lair in exchange for "special favors", which was accepted.
Together, they crept into the mountain, finding the great dragon asleep, though not for long, as their trespassing inside his lair could not be overlooked. There was no other way, Valaror had to be defeated.
Far away from there, Baldardash ought Lamia, wounding her significantly, although with a heavy price, as she took him as hostage. Despite this, Baldardash unwittingly helped Droug and Argentus from having to face the Witch.
Back at the mountain, the battle between against the dragon took huge proportions. In an attempt to find Baldardash, his friends, all spellcasters and powerful wizards sought and aided Droug and Argentus against Valaror. The beast proved to be the mightiest of enemies, nearly killing Droug if not for the invaluable healing power of a particular sorceress. In the end, Valaror was defeated and the hilts, found and destroyed, a definitive defeat to Kaorar. Argentus's power was restored and Baldardash was rescued.
The war in Velden came to a ceasefire after the vile noble had been killed and terms agreed between the kingdoms. Yet, a question remained in the minds of all "How long will the truce last?"
And so, in the spawn of little more than a year, Mellanvärlden went from a time of peace and prosperity to near cataclysm. If not for the unparalleled effort of a few heroes, it seems almost certain the world would have plunged into complete doom.
