Destruction of Valossa

Disaster / Destruction

The Hetepkan nation of Valossa is destroyed in a cataclysm, leaving only the Black Isles behind.

Stretching 1,000 miles south to north and some 800 miles east to west, Valossa was the heart of the Hetepkan Empire in the eastern lands. These sorcerous reptiles ruled vast swaths of territory when humanity was young.   Scholars today often refer to Valossa as an evil empire. It is more accurate to say that its people were amoral rather than immoral. While it is true that Valossan sorcerers used questionable methods to advance their art, Valossa was no ally of dark powers. The mindset of the serpent people is difficult for humans or elves to understand, so malfeasance is often used to explain misunderstood evidence. For instance, although highly civilized, the Valossans had no concept of individual rights. If a high sorcerer required a hundred living test subjects to use in magical experiments, his request was fulfilled as long as the experiments were judged to be of importance to the empire as a whole.   No matter the moral compass used to judge the serpent people, their achievements cannot be denied. Valossa flourished for over a millennium, and its influence spread even out into other planes of existence. The empire resisted every outside threat, from barbarian incursions to infernal plagues to planar invaders. In the end, the true threat was internal.   The serpent people had long been worshippers of Yig, the great snake god. In the latter days of the empire, a cult dedicated to the worship of the Unspeakable One, a dread alien power, sprang up in the serpent people cities. Called the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign, this cult spurned the worship of Yig and embraced the madness of the Unspeakable One. The leaders of the serpent people, too arrogant and vain to see past their high towers, allowed the cult to fester among the discontented. By the time the priests of Yig were roused to action, it was too late: The Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign enacted a ritual to summon their dark god, and the Valossan Empire was smashed.   No witnesses survived to tell of the Great Old One’s appearance, but evidence of his destruction abounds. The mighty island of Valossa was rent asunder, and seawater rushed in to drown the serpent people by the millions. Those who survived were driven mad, losing their civilization and magic in one terrible moment. Nearly all of Valossa slipped beneath the waves, leaving only scattered islands as a testimony to the once-great empire.   The mad serpent people fled underground, where their degenerate descendants currently live. A small number of sorcerers and priests of Yig survived the Unspeakable One’s wrath with their sanity intact. These few retreated into the shadows as the younger races created their own kingdoms and empires. As the centuries passed, few remembered the Valossan Empire or that serpent people had once been a civilized race.