The Fall of the Old Pale Empire

The Planar Conformation was a catastrophe for Magicians' End comparable only with the Sundering but without doubt even greater than that terrible calamity, both in respect of its chaotic short term effects and less obviously its profound long term consequences.
Sometime in the middle of the summer night of 12th Tivith of year zero, when the people of Myruthea were sleeping, a supernatural event on a truly momentous scale transformed Magicians' End forever, reshaping the far side of the planet and making a new continent where before there had only been open ocean.
The arrival of the Dark Domains precipitated great tidal waves and dramatic changes in the weather, so that the second half of the summer of year zero was characterised by a constant series of unseasonal storms with high winds and heavy rainfall affecting Myruthea, Tinturbean and Punjuki. The Harmonic Resonators of the Way of the Harmonic Path had all shattered simultaneously and every magically adept individual could sense that there had been a powerful change in the operations of the fields they manipulated.
Confronted by the land of Novanoir, which came complete with a host of strange and hostile denizens who began to spread over the world, the Old Pale Empire faced its sternest and final test.
A timeline of the last seven years of the Old Pale Empire, as detailed below, is shown at the bottom of this article, under the timeline button.

The Expeditions to the Dark Domains

13th Doloph 0 APC to 12th Findil, 1 APC

When it became clear that something vast and new and strange had happened far out in the Orothonian Ocean, Emperor Leonard V ordered two expeditions to be sent to gain further much needed intelligence. The first was to be an aerial reconnaissance survey, with the aim of discovering the extent and nature of the changes. Four airships were sent from the western Tinturbean city of Oroth. They were able to plot the limits of the Dark Domains, discovering an enormous hexagonal depression, marked by great vertical escarpments along the edges, framed along the upper surface by a narrow band of ragged hills of irregular dimensions which held back the ocean, more or less effectively. In some places, where the boundary was low, there were overspills where cascades of salt water descended onto the dark land below. These were observed to fill large and presumably salty lakes, which then became the source of rivers flowing into a small sea at the centre of the new continent. In some way, this sea was a sink, a whirlpool at its centre draining the new land (who could say where?) and apparently maintaining an equilibrium with the influx matching the outflux.

Magicians' End - Novanoir Expedition Flying by DMFW with Midjourney

At the safe altitudes of the early surveys, little could be made of the nature of the land itself. On the western and eastern borders, which followed a nearly exact north to south line, the morning and evening sunlight made great palls of shadow from the intimidating cliffs. There was smoke and fire down there and tall forests of leafless, but thickly branched trees, through which could be glimpsed the movement of unidentifiable shapes. There were buildings too; black piles of twisted stone that looked like keeps and castles, seemingly larger and more numerous closer to the central sea. A mountanous area in the north west quadrant had peaks tall enough to rise above the surrounding ocean. Their slopes were bare, hostile and hot.
It took around twenty days to complete the preliminary survey of the Dark Domains but then Captain Quade, who was in command of the airship "Cloud Runner", asked for volunteers to join her on a short foray to gather samples of the flora and fauna and she became the first person from Magicians' End to set foot on the alien continent. Her party barely escaped with their lives...

Magicians' End - Novanoir Expedition Climb by DMFW with Midjourney

The second expedition crossed the ocean in a fleet of four heavy transport and three gun ships. They did not set sail until 16th of Authon, 1 APC because even given the urgency of the task, it took time to provision the ships with equipment and supplies for every conceivable eventuality and wait for the exceptional winter storms to ease at least a little before the voyage could be risked. As the fleet of ships drew closer to the new continent, the crew could feel the palpable sense of danger emanating from the dark land before them. Powerful gales howled with a fury that shook the very timbers of the vessels, and the waves were so high that they threatened to capsize the ships at any moment.
There were only a very few inlets that might be used as harbours but the aerial surveys had identified two candidates, with the best of them providing some shelter from the wind even though it meant the shorebound explorers had to row through shallow channels, broken by sharp and tretcherous rocks just below the surface.
Base camp was established on the lee side of a low and barren hill and then the soldiers set about the difficult business of organising the expedition's descent, down the cliffs and onto the dangerous lands below. It was far from easy. They began with simple rope ladders but then spent a full ten days, building a more robust system of pulleys and open pallets they could use to transport horses and heavier equipment into the depths.
By the 19th of Chiroth a large encampment had been established not far from the base of the cliff, guarded by a ring of sunken gun emplacements with canons and light infantry to stand watch. At this point they had encountered no living creatures, save for a few disturbingly large bats which lived in a colony high in the rocks but close to the vital lift.
The ground was a thick noisome blanket of rotting black matter which squelched unpleasantly beneath the soldiers' boots but there was no fresh water. The only streams were cascades of salt water spilling from the ocean up above, so all food and drink had to be supplied out of the stores they had brought with them and carefully rationed.
Major Thomas Wildheart always knew that unless they could find some way to replenish their supplies, the expedition would have to be fast, short and swift. This had always been a possibility based on the intelligence from the first expedition and so they were still within the parameters of the mission planning, but the Major hadn't really believed conditions would be so difficult.

A wide track led through the apparently dead woodland in the direction of a tower which expedition surveyors had mapped from the top of the cliffs. It was thought to be a little less than an hour's ride assuming conditions on the ground did not deteriorate along the route and their horses could keep to a reasonable pace. So on the 20th of Chiroth, Major Wildheart led a fifteen strong company of cavalry troops inland to scout the tower.

Magicians' End - Novanoir Expedition Mounted Troops by DMFW with Midjourney

It was an eerie and unsettling journey. They were less than half way there when pale yellow wills-o'-the-wisp flanked them, flickering through the trees by the side of the road, caught in the corners of vision and whispering in some unintelligable language. One of the men, started to whistle a traditional melody sacred to the Way of the Harmonic Path but since the distressing destruction of their Harmonic Resonators, faith in the Harmonic Order had been shaken. The spirits of the black forest snickered openly and to rally the hearts of his men, the Major led them in a round of rousing choruses of the stoutest tunes from the Imperial Faith song book.
They were interupted on the fifth verse of "Bold Men of Pale" by a less than appreciative audience of vile creatures, perhaps half the height of a man with many clawed legs and great mouthfuls of venomous teeth, which, scuttling and swinging out of the shadows in the branches came to be called the "Forest Bugaboos" by the ambushed soldiers. It was a messy little fight. There were perhaps twenty to thirty of the murderous vermin, and although the men were well armoured, the biting and scratching was well targetted at the intruder's weak spots, primarily their faces and the exposed flanks of their horses. Two good cuts with a sword, or a single well placed pistol shot was usually enough to dispatch the soft bodied assailants, but the problem was to find clean opportunities to strike against an agile enemy attacking in numbers. Eventually the company emerged victorious but two men had been killed, three more were suffering the effects of the poison of the Bugaboos claws and they'd lost five horses. It was a similarly unprovoked attack which had ended Captain Quade's mission, but this second expedition was better equipped and prepared to deliver a more robust military response. Still, the men were undeniably shaken and the Major revised his provisional plans.
The tower, when they reached it, rose up through a break in the trees to reveal grey clouds. A solitary yellow lamp illuminated a heavy and intricately carved wooden door.

Magicians' End - Forest Bugaboo by DMFW with Midjourney

Magicians' End - Am'Kraxhun's Tower by DMFW with Midjourney

The encounter that followed was the first interaction on Magicians' End between intelligences from two different worlds brought into a hostile conjunction by the Planar Conformation. Under the strained circumstances of the expedition there was little opportunity for a meeting of minds when Major Thomas Wildheart came face to face with Am'Kraxhun, the custodian of the tower, and a member of a species the world would come to know as the Verdarian. Although the Verdarian are humanoid in appearance and in some of their behaviour, they are poorly understood even now, but it has been learned that on Magicians' End and in the Dark Domains, they serve some mysterious race of overlords they call The Ancient and Glorious, acting in a number of capacities within the strange society of that benighted continent.

Magicians' End - Dark Dog by DMFW with Midjourney

Am'Kraxhun by DMFW with Midjourney

Lacking any shared language and in the absence of a more diplomatic plan, the Major followed orders that had come directly from the Lightstaff. If the opportunity arose, suitable natives of the new continent were to be captured and brought back to the Empire where they could be interogated by specialist mages. This was not easy. Am'Kraxhun, was able to call on a pack of dark dogs, some kind of domesticated relative perhaps of the wild forest bugaboos, and in the ensuing fight, three more men were killed before the dogs were silenced. After a short struggle, the prisoner finally submitted to the binding of his arms and legs. They slung him over a horse that now lacked a rider and made all speed back to the camp at the base of the cliffs.
During the early days of Mald, four more forays were conducted in different directions but they were unable to discover much of significance and the Major grew increasingly uneasy, calculating finally that it was time to withdraw only hours before the camp was attached. It was fortunate timing indeed, for the prisoner and the most important samples of flora and fauna had already been lifted clear when waves of dark dogs struck, backed by an organised intelligence. The last few soldiers perished defending the retreat but somehow the ships sailed clear reached Oroth harbour on 12th of Findil 1 APC

Trouble at Sea

16th Doloph 1 APC to 4th Tuzlle 3 APC

On the 16th of Doloph in the year 1 APC, the first of the sea monsters rose against a ship, "The Pride of Linmelle" which was sailing round the south western tip of Tinturbean, bound for Oroth. The monster was black and orange with eyes like vast glass lanterns, shiny teeth, tentacles and bloody suckers. Somehow the crew fought it off with hatchets, staves and the curved sailor's knives they favour in Punjuki. Later, others would not be so lucky. Larger ships than the "Pride of Limnelle" started to go missing. A few fortunate survivors in small boats brought stories of maddened giants of the deep which chewed up their vessels like so much matchwood.

Magicians' End - Trouble at Sea by DMFW with Midjourney

By the middle of 2 APC, no ship dared to risk the open ocean. Only small cutters shuttled round the shallows of the coastlines, with their crews keeping an anxious watch on the deeper water. If it were not for aerial services, the continents would have been disconnected. The Lightstaff's advisors told him that the sea monsters probably did not come from the Dark Domains. "We think they are native creatures that have always lived in our deep seas", they said. "Changes in magical fields have maddened them."
It hardly mattered. The average citizen of the Empire, though yet to be directly confronted by invaders, began to feel the economic effects of the new state of affairs to add to a growing sense of existential dread.

The Burning of Oroth

5th Tuzlle 3 APC

The first large scale open conflict between the denizens of the Dark Domains and the native inhabitants of Magicians' End began in the early morning of 5th Tuzlle 3 APC, when the citizens of Oroth woke to find their port under attack.

Magicians' End - Oroth Aerial Invasion by DMFW with Midjourney

The raiders came with toothy wyverns and giant bats, agile and swift and bearing goblin riders armed with spears and bows. They were just the vanguard. Accompanying them were dragons, massive fire breathing beasts, the like of which had never been seen on Magicians' End before.

Magicians' End - Fall of the Old Pale Empire - Oroth Attacked by DMFW with Midjourney

Two enormous ships packed with infantry forced their way into the harbour and disgorged ground troops, inflicting chaos on defenders who were not prepared for this level of assault.

Magicians' End - Oroth Sea Raid by DMFW with Midjourney

It was fortunate for the inhabitants of the town that despite its ferocity and apparent strength, the attack was not the beginning of a full scale invasion and the attackers did not press their obvious advantage. Military analysts concluded in the aftermath of the assault that the strike probably had two objectives. Firstly the raiders sought to liberate Am'Kraxhun, who was being held prisoner in the North Fort at Oroth, and secondly they wished to test the strength of any forces who might oppose them and demonstrate their own capability for fearful destruction. They didn't have the numbers or the logistics to hold any territory and more than likely they had no interest in doing so either, at least in respect of this specific engagement.
If this analysis is to be believed, the forces of the Dark Domains were completely successful in all their goals. When they withdrew with the liberated prisoner, they left behind a shattered and demoralised town acutely conscious of how much damage they had suffered and how little of their own they had inflicted in return.

The Shadow Spies

4 APC to 7 APC

The burning of Oroth was not immediately followed by further incursions into Pale Empire territory and this did allow efforts to be made to increase the strength of the military, which had not faced any serious enemies for so long that their numbers had been reduced over the peaceful preceding centuries. At this time of crisis, unfortunately, divisions between Emperor Leonard V and the Ecclesia hampered the development of a co-ordinated strategy for the defence of the Empire.
The lack of any obvious aggression from the Dark Domains, however, did not mean that its rulers were idle. Instead, the Ancient and Glorious had begun a covert campaign to learn more about this complex world they now inhabited. Their aim was information gathering and in the service of their rulers, an eldritch variety of loathesome creatures found their way in secret onto the continents of Tinturbean, Myruthea and Punjuki
A mage in northern Tinturbean, travelling on the road between Appunhold and Elmbank was unfortunate enough to encounter a huge and hostile winged monstrosity emerging from the woods. He barely escaped with his life to tell the tale, but perhaps that hadn't been simple luck. The spreading of terror required surivivors.

Magicians' End - Dark Domain Spy by DMFW with Midjourney

All across the world in remote settlements, stories began to circulate about giant flying multilegged creatures, drifting in on wind and moonlight which came to be called stalkers.

Magicians' End - Dark Domain Stalker 01 by DMFW with Midjourney

Magicians' End - Dark Domain Stalker 02 by DMFW with Midjourney

The stalkers could scuttle over the land at a remarkably rapid pace and they seemed to be serving as map makers for the intelligences that ruled the Dark Domains.

Magicians' End - Dark Fake, Octavia Khol by DMFW with Midjourney

The most dangerous of the shadow spies were less obvious. An insidious operation, later known as the Mirror Substitutions, began sometime after 3 APC. It was only with the benefit of hindsight and the magical research conducted in later years by the Hylacon Peoples that it became possible to piece together the story of this particularly cunning strategem. Dark Fakes were bound magical spirits sent from the Dark Domains and able to infiltrate into the mirrors of carefully selected targets. Through the power of reflection magic they acquired the knowledge to imprint upon their victim. How much time this process took remains uncerain but eventually the shadow spies were ready to replace the prey. Subtle and unsettling subliminal differences in the behaviour of a mirror would make an unsuspecting victims uneasy, hypnotising them and drawing them closer until the dark fake could pounce, dragging the target into the mirror world and jumping through the glass to take their place.
The dark fakes were remarkably accurate physical copies but their mental maps were sketchy immediately after the substitution. The first ones could not function for long in human society. Friends and relatives of the victims had no idea that their loved ones had been imprisoned behind the mirror and thought that the living images which had replaced them must have been afflicted with mental disturbances of some kind, which in fact the substitutes did suffer from. But this disorientation and dislocation was also a way for the Dark Domain to rapidly learn about human society. And as they learned more they found ways to make the mirror substitutions more effective. Their most successful replacement was the daughter of the Lightstaff, from whom they learned much...

The bombardment of Honirham

23rd to 27th of Tivith, 7 APC

On the 18th of Tivith, 7 APC a flock of black bats flew over Honirham, circling, wheeling and seemingly seeking out the most important public buildings. This was later thought to be a means of identifying the primary targets in the coming bombardment, but a side effect was to fill the citizens of the Empire's capital with fear and forboding.

Magicians' End - Bats over Honirham by DMFW with Midjourney

Five days later, in the early evening of 23rd of Tivith, the city was struck by a rain of meteors which, although it was not continuous, persisted with interuptions for four days and nights. The Palace of the Emperor and the Ecclesial Chambers were both destroyed on the first evening. Emperor Leonard V and his annointed successor were killed when the palace was hit. The Lightstaff died in his own home and the majority of the effective leaders of government were removed even before the evacuation of the city could begin.

Magicians' End - The Bombardment of Honirham 01 by DMFW with Midjourney

Magicians' End - The Bombardment of Honirham 02 by DMFW with Midjourney

On the 24th, the headquarters of the Institute of Magical Knowledge was struck by two heavy meteors and by the 27th the entire city was in ruins. The destruction was so thorough and complete that it affected the course of the river Honir and to this day, the entire region is known as the Punctured Lands.
After the destruction of Honirham in that fateful summer of 7 APC, the Empire fragmented and failed and the world entered an even darker time, vulnerable to all the monsters from the Dark Domains and seemingly with no hope of an end to their predation.