The Incursion

More than a thousand years ago, magic was bountiful. Wizards, witches and warlocks held power over Merra, most good but some nefarious. The pantheon of gods guided their people from the Heavens, tempering the balance of the world.
The Cabal Aeternus of the Helstraad Empire, were obsessed with the Unknown Plane from whence the gods escaped from during the Great Exodus. In the search for answers, they caused the Rift in the material realm within their own capital city, Hel. The Rift radiated wild energies of unfocused Weave into Merra, and its corrupting influence spread further and further. The people of Merra would know this event in history as the Incursion.
Change and chaos engulfed Merra, until a band of heroes were chosen as avatars of the Pantheon. They gathered and trained at the Temple, of which all but ruins now remain hidden away in Forestlost. Satisfied, the gods invested a part of their essence into the heroes and these avatars set out to confront the Cabal and close the Rift.

The Rift

These Avatars fought the monstrosities and nightmares that had infested Hel. Protected, the Avatar of Azuth set about to close the Rift and heal Merra. One by one, the Avatars were defeated, until only the Avatar of Helm stood next to the Avatar of Azuth, protecting him. Azuth’s Avatar cast the most powerful spell in existence, and drew up nearly all the Wild Weave that had polluted Merra and used it to power the Mending of the Tear. Unfortunately this spell also destroyed him in the process, and even Azuth became suddenly silent. Helm would find it soon that his god-brother was no longer in the Plane.
As a new day rose upon Merra, the Rift was closed and the world saved. However, the remaining mortals with magic found that their spells no longer worked. Items of magical nature remained and wars were subsequently fought over these, until they were either destroyed or hidden away.
The Avatar of Helm was now but a shell of the person before. Yet the mortals of Merra saw him as their savior, the Hero of Helm, and belief in the god became ascendant.
Weakened from the Mending, Helm’s ascendancy had caused the other gods into slumber. Helm remained sober, but in His guilt He eventually turned His gaze away from Merra. To prayers He still bestows, yet takes no interest in this affairs of mortals. A thousand years have now passed and the rest of the pantheon has been all but nigh forgotten.
Following a thousand years, the Mending was evidently not perfect, like a tunic repaired that still shows scars. The Weave slowly seeped from it, returning some of the magic back into Merra. Witches and warlocks appeared from time to time, but were mostly found and killed by the kingdoms who saw Magic as evil, thanks to the actions of the Cabal. Only divine powers granted by Helm were revered.
Slowly, the trickle of the Wild Weave tugged at the stitches of the Mending, and the trickle increased as recent centuries passed. Now the Mending has worn away to the point where the first symptoms of another Incursion have appeared.

Period
4245AC - 4250AC

Affected Regions

Central Continent of Merra

The Dark East

Related Locations

• Forestlost